Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by.

Every day I go to work for Entergy.

I know customers are counting on me.

So Entergy is investing millions of dollars to keep the lights on and installing new technology to prevent outages before they happen.

Together, together, together.

We power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred Bea and Ruth B Ziegler Foundation and the Ziegler Art Museum located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is an historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

With support from viewers like you.

It is actually a myth that everyone that commits suicide is mentally ill.

The rise in young men taking their own lives.

This month, it seemed like an appropriate time to start talking about insurance, particularly property insurance.

The insurance crisis escalate.

As you think about it, we're all having to pay more for gasoline.

We're all going to have to pay more for utilities.

Food banks need your help this holiday season.

Here's what you should know.

No woman has ever done it and no one would ever do it in our lifetime.

And lastly, remembering Raymond Blanco.

Hi, everyone.

I'm kerosene here.

And I'm Andre Morrow.

The day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday rages on with holiday shoppers online and in stores.

Some are getting an early start in Chesapeake, Virginia, Tuesday night when a gunman opened fire in a Walmart there.

He was a worker there.

He shot and killed six people, then took his own life.

Another crime of hate this week was at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs.

Last Saturday night, a young man evaded the state's red flag law in Colorado, shot and killed five people, injuring many others.

A year and a half ago, the same guy threatened to kill his mother with a homemade bomb.

The bomb squad and law enforcement came and talked him down.

So how did he have a gun and rounds to fire?

Yeah.

There's no record.

Prosecutors ever press charges or police or family tried to trigger that red flag law, which would have seized any weapons he had or kept him from getting any legally.

And now to other top stories.

And it's one year now since alarm sounded about suicide.

The second leading cause of death among people age 15 to 24.

And for young men that age up 8% from 2021 to 2020, then 2020 to this year saw the leader of Stanford's soccer team take her life, Katie Meier.

She was 22 years old.

And Ohio State football star Harry Miller revealed that he had attempted suicide.

Harry Miller was a prized catch.

A 4.0 student.

Good friend to everyone.

Valedictorian of his class.

Number two rated five star recruit out of Georgia.

And at Ohio State, he quickly began showing his talents on the football field.

From the outside, he appeared to have it all.

With NFL's fortune, fame and money to come.

But in silence, he was suffering for as long as he could remember, since he was eight.

Thinking about suicide so much soon from Nightmare Press, he went into my skin and stared down my reflection to see who were playing first.

Last season, he began to miss games.

Mystic Deus to fans who wanted to know why.

Then in March this year, announcing that he had attempted suicide again, sharing his struggles with his coach and getting help his Twitter post.

Stepping away from football, medical retirement shared more than 10,000 times.

He now speaks about it and there's plenty of opportunity saying the issue is not far and away.

It's right there in our homes.

If that can buy somebody ten more minutes listening to me up on my stage and soapbox.

Preaching about whatever.

Even if that's 10 minutes like this sucks.

That's ten more minutes.

Therapist.

Counselor.

Dr. Katie Collins.

Fetzer is here with us.

It's always great to see you and talk to you and talk to you about something that's so difficult and we don't talk about enough.

We just heard that young man say that he hopes his talks will by some one time.

Yeah, it it's interesting that he used that terminology buying some one time.

There's an organization called Living Works dot net, the assist model.

And it's actually the world's leading suicide intervention and prevention training.

It happens to be one that I'm trained in and certified in, in my experiences working with individuals who are struggling with suicide.

And one of the biggest things about that is that research has shown over time that those that are contemplating suicide, the thought of the future is terrifying.

It's scary, it's painful.

And so to ask them to think about the longer term plans is very hard for them.

And so when you think about helping them, just buying time for now in that moment or staying safe for now in that moment, it's one way that suicide intervention can be successful.

What's different about this program that makes it more successful, I guess?

Sure.

One of the things, first of all, is that the training is not just for helping professionals.

It's for anyone ages 16 and up doesn't you don't have to be a helping professional.

You can be a family member of a loved one who's been struggling with suicide.

Okay.

Yeah.

And it will equip you with exactly what you need to intervene if someone is attempting to take their own life.

The young men, 15 to 24, 38,000 versus young women the same age, 9600 who have committed suicide in this past year.

Yeah, I think the best way to explain that, to really understand it, is that we are all born with a different set of cards.

But we also know is that males and females are born having different makeups, and we each uniquely come with different stressors and pressures.

One thing that we have known about men, and especially with brains, is that there is a greater risk of them resorting to more lethal measures of attempting suicide.

So women might actually attempt more suicide, whereas men might actually successfully commit suicide because we're using a resorting to more lethal measures.

Got it.

Okay.

Suicide, not based on depression.

That surprised me.

It is one of those things that surprises a lot of people.

It is actually a myth that everyone that commit suicide is mentally ill when in fact those that do attempt or commit suicide actually may not meet full criteria for a mental illness.

There's other factors that are involved that may lead someone to making that decision.

If someone's self esteem is vulnerable, what is that say about them?

Sure.

It really what that would mean is that somebody is just at a more fragile state of mind at that time in their life.

That doesn't necessarily mean they'll stay there forever, but at that time in their life, they might be at a time or a place where they are fragile and said to be really careful about the influences on their brain, social media.

And it's a lot of it is information, but a lot of misinformation about this information.

Yes.

How is there help, especially we're in the holidays now.

So, yeah, that's a trigger.

Considered a trigger.

Yes, it it the holidays absolutely can be a trigger.

It's a myth that more people actually hurt themselves during the holidays.

It's actually a myth that suicide rates are highest in the spring, in the summer.

One of the conclusions they've come to about that has been that maybe people are more active, less lazy, physically, they're more out and about.

But it is a myth that it happens more in the holidays.

But the holidays can be a very big trigger for some.

One thing that's not a myth is that we don't talk about this enough.

It's still sort of taboo, hushed tones.

And that's not good.

Absolutely.

Yes.

We need to have more of what we know.

Prevention and education, those are the two biggest things that we can help to break the stigma and raise awareness.

The more that we're out there getting mental health checks, the more we're able to detect if something's going on and get people to help that they need.

In the same way, Andre, that we can go to our medical doctors and do our health checkups to prevent cancer.

Right.

Right.

I'm going to put some number up.

And also that website or you mentioned earlier, nine, eight, eight is a new suicide in crisis number to call?

Yes.

Amazing.

So instead of 911, we're encouraging, which you still can call.

Yes, we're encouraging people to call.

Nine, eight, eight, which is now a suicide and crisis hotline.

And you mentioned living works dot net.

Yes.

That website also.

For Living Works, the world's latest suicide intervention training that anyone can get the age of 16.

Love you.

Love talking to you.

Thank you.

Thanks so much.

Thank you, Andre.

And our state's insurance crisis.

That's what the experts are calling it now.

We brought you stories about this, the hurricanes, the failed companies.

Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has talked about it.

We've talked with others also, and it's always great to talk with Melinda, the research director of Public Affairs Research Council, because information about the insurance crisis came front and center to you and it's your webinar like this webinar, right?

Right.

We had a webinar, we have a monthly webinar series and this month it seemed like an appropriate time to start talking about insurance, particularly property insurance, because there are so many problems.

And people still watch this, right?

Yes, it is on our YouTube page.

If you search for the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana on YouTube, you'll find our YouTube page and it's there.

So you had a full complement of people to talk with.

And I watched it.

Saw it.

And what did you learn as your research was again kept coming up that this was not getting better yet?

Well, I think what what my biggest takeaway was was just that everybody on the call, including the insurance commissioner, Jim Donlin, State Senator Jeremy Stein, who lives in southwest Louisiana, which has been hit by multiple hurricanes.

And then we had an insurance industry lobbyist by the name of Kevin Cunningham.

They all agreed, even though they represent very different sectors, they all agreed that it was a crisis in their minds of what property owners are facing right now.

Well, insurance companies are coming insolvent and claims are rising and losses are rising also.

Right.

I mean, we've had 11 insurance companies at least that have become insolvent in the state since since Hurricane Ida.

According to the Legislative Auditor's office, there are another dozen or so insurance companies that are have indicated they're withdrawing from the state and won't write policies anymore.

So that's a lot of lost insurers at this point.

That's 184,000 policies that were held by the insolvent insurance companies.

And so they all get forced into either finding other places to get insurance through the private sector or they end up in the state run insurer of last resort, which is a citizen's property insurance.

Corporation they're thankful to have, but it has to be more expensive than in the others, right?

By law.

Right.

So by law, their citizens is required to offer insurance at a certain percentage higher than any insurance on the market.

So the and they're raising rates on people already.

I think the rate increase that's coming is 63%, give or take on people.

And so so people are losing their insurance.

A lot of them are being forced into citizens.

And then those rates are really high to pay.

So it makes insurance become this thing that that people are struggling to afford it.

Does this hit everybody because it hits those that were impacted by the hurricane or is it just those that lost their companies or does.

It I mean, obviously.

Our industry for us.

Right.

So so obviously people in south Louisiana have have larger problems because of the vulnerability to storms.

Hurricanes in particular have hit the state in 2020 and 2021 all across south Louisiana.

So.

So they are hit harder probably than the folks in north Louisiana.

But quite frankly, if an insurance company becomes insolvent, no matter where you live in the state, if you get insurance through them, you are then looking for somebody else to provide insurance.

As you did the webinar and people can go and watch it.

What were you finding as people called in Ask questions?

What was the top of the top question that was being asked?

Well, so people were trying to look for solutions.

They were asking, you know, what are the options?

That's how do you lower this?

There are a couple of programs that the legislature passed that they haven't yet funded that people seem very interested in.

One of them is called the Fortify Homes Program.

This would if the legislature puts money into this program, it would provide grants to people to fortify their roofs, to get stronger roofs on their houses.

And arguably, that should lower some insurance costs because the roofs would be less likely to fail in a storm.

And so a lot of people on the webinar seemed interested in is the legislature going to fund this program?

How much would the grants be?

When can they apply?

Would it be to right here or something?

You don't know.

Wait until the next session necessarily, but.

Well, and that's not the case.

I think that's going to be the case.

So the legislature on that particular program, it sounds as though there will be some discussions in the next legislative session that starts in April about whether or not they're going to fund that program and provide grants through it.

Now, I think the insurance commissioner, Jim Donlin, is interested in another program that the legislature has created that would allow, if it gets funded, it would put provide grants to insurance companies, the idea being giving them some money up front that they would then have to match, they'd have to commit to writing a certain amount of premium in the state.

But the idea would be that it could draw insurance companies to Louisiana by providing them some financial incentives.

The state did this after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita years ago, and it was successful, at least in the short term.

Although I will say some of those companies ended up being the ones that went insolvent later.

Yeah.

But the commissioner said he's hopeful that the legislature in December at their joint legislative committee on the Budget, meaning that they will talk about putting some money into that fund.

So that seems to be the more immediate one that might get funded.

Melissa, thank you so much.

Because you provide a great education for all of us.

Thank you for having me.

Great.

And donations from a food pantry can make or break the holiday season.

For some families following the pandemic and inflation, the need for more donations is increasing.

Second Harvest in New Orleans gives us insight into the demand this holiday season.

Do you see an increase in demand for foods during the holidays?

A little bit, but particularly this year, we're seeing an increase in demand.

And that's mainly it's not driven as much by the holidays as it is due to inflation and the possible possibility of a recession.

As we think about it, we're all having to pay more for gasoline.

We're all going to have to pay more for utilities.

And particularly here in south Louisiana, we're going to have to pay for homeowner's insurance.

And that really eats into the food budget in households.

And so people are turning to us.

We're seeing seniors who are on a fixed income and some of those families who are looking at those additional costs.

And they have to come to the food bank to see if they can get some relief for for for Thanksgiving meals.

Right.

And for you guys, where are you getting the food from?

And you're not purchasing this, are you?

That's a good question.

Historic.

We we have relied on donations mainly from retailers like Wal-Mart or Rouses or Winn-Dixie, as well as food manufacturers.

Some of our local south Louisiana food manufacturers are very generous and also national manufacturers.

However, they're facing the same costs as well as supply chain issues.

And they are becoming they don't have as much food to donate.

And so right now we are dealing with, let's say in October, we receive half as much food as we had received in September.

Our in the past year, the amount of donated food we've been receiving has declined by 33% here, right at the very time when our demand is actually going up.

And so we are going to have to dig in to our operating budgets.

I walk by a part of the warehouse that has a lot of our donated food every morning, and of the 200 slots that are available for pallets, 130 of them are empty right now.

So more than half.

Yeah.

More than half.

I'm sure that's devastating.

You know, from a managing standpoint.

It's challenging, not devastating, but it's challenging.

And it becomes particularly challenging when we receive calls from some of our partner agencies and we're not able to help them or to put it in a better way.

We're not able to help them as much.

But fortunately, we do have partners who do step forward.

Sometimes they're you know, we've had members of the New Orleans Saints come and give away turkeys.

And that's really nice.

So it's really helpful for them to come forward and do that.

So given those challenges and, you know, the inflation and the high demand, are you guys still able to meet that demand, meet the people where they are and give them what they need?

We are doing our best.

Our mission does not change.

It's to provide food, solve hunger issues, address food insecurity.

Our mission isn't going to change and it's going to stay the same no matter what the future holds.

Right now, there are one out of seven people in south Louisiana, roughly 375,000 who are food insecure and need our services.

And in a recession comes.

If it gets worse, we're going to anticipate that the number of food insecure people are going to increase, reflecting their greater need for our services.

And we're just going to have to dig deeper, reach out to our partners and donors to help us out during this time of need.

So speaking of programs and helping people out, are there any special holiday programs that Second Harvest is participating in this year?

We've been doing a lot of distributions at a number of our partner agencies.

I was in LA Plus on Friday afternoon with Mr. Jarvis Landry, who was handing out turkeys at the New Line Christian Fellowship in La Crosse.

I was a matthew 2335 pantry investor here in Louisiana on Saturday morning.

And then this morning I was at the Christian Fellowship in Violet and they were handing out turkeys.

And so those are the special programs.

We've had partnerships with People's House as well as our auctioneer.

There have been distributions that both of those organizations have participated in and donated food, turkeys or fresh produce.

Those are the programs that we're participating in.

So so I've heard a lot about turkeys, which makes sense because Thanksgiving is right around the corner and by the time this airs, it would have already happened.

But are there any particular foods that people are demanding right now are asking for that you guys are donating?

They are just asking for any kind, anything that can help them in the course of the defeat of family.

So Turkey comes in handy, but we've also handed out sausages, any kind of protein that they can get their hands on.

The cost of Turkey apparently is up 17% versus a year ago.

And so people are going to be looking for those substitutes.

So we have to come up with some kind of protein for them.

Wow.

So protein is really what people are looking for the most.

And that's something that I would never think to donate.

I would usually think like, you know, something like canned vegetables, but not protein.

Well, canned vegetables, we're not going to turn down anything.

We are not going to turn down anything.

Our retail partners and manufacturing partners who give us most of the food, donate most of the food, but we also do receive the canned vegetables from individuals.

So and we appreciate those because we turn those around and then we distribute them to those who need them.

All right.

Well, we are running out of time.

Is there anything else that anybody should know about Second Harvest or the upcoming holidays?

Well, we are always open to financial donations as well as food donations.

You can come by our office from 9 to 4 one here on 700 Edwards and Parowan or 425 East Penn Hook in Lafayette for those food donations.

But you can donate donate online at no dash hunger dot org.

Anytime it's best to donate foods like canned chicken, whole grain pastas or canned beans, anything with high protein in addition to canned fruits and vegetables.

Then Freeman Blanco, Louisiana's former first gentleman and husband to the state's 54th governor, Kathleen Blanco, died at his home in Lafayette.

He is remembered for his dedication to football and mentoring the youth through a lengthy career in academia.

He was also the state's very first first gentleman.

Tonight, we tell a little bit of his story through an interview in our archives.

Today marks the first time that an honor such as this has been earned by a daughter, a wife, a mother, a grandmother.

In 2004, Louisiana was on the cusp of change.

Kathleen Babineaux Blanco was sworn in as Louisiana's first female governor.

Her stint in office, though a controversial one, is remembered as a pivotal moment in the state's political history.

But behind her, quietly supporting her, every step was Raymond Blanco, her confidante and husband of 55 years.

She was a very, very respected.

When she would go to the mic, everybody would listen.

She didn't preach or do that.

And having been married to a football coach.

She were never intimidated by lawyers.

But Raymond story starts before he met Kathleen.

He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1935, where he developed an altruism that would follow him for the rest of his life.

He served as assistant coach at KIRWIN High School in Galveston, Texas, and head football coach at Catholic High School in New Iberia, Louisiana.

It was during his stint at Catholic High that he would take the title of high school coach of the year.

This, of course, led up to him meeting Kathleen in 1962.

We were at Super Bowl point in Vermilion Bay, and they and her aunt and uncle had a big laugh and we were almost late Sunday afternoon having beers and joking and fooling around.

And incomes of gentlemen and sailor.

And Kathleen had a Navy base here, and they had two officers.

Kathleen walked right by Raymond without a passing glance, but she'd eventually notice him.

He was hard to ignore.

She certainly wasn't, you know, opening up.

I mean, I had to kind of work at it.

I had never done that before.

And but she was very kind, but very much in charge, which people don't understand about our relationship.

So.

And begin and she was in charge.

But a quiet way.

The couple would be married in 1964 and Raymond would continue his career in sports.

He'd go on to be the assistant coach at the then University of Southwestern Louisiana.

He'd take the title of Dean of Men at the same school in 1969.

But of all Raymond's accomplishments, he's probably known best for being the first ever first gentleman of Louisiana.

After his wife became governor in 2004.

No woman has ever done it, and no woman would ever do it in our lifetime.

Legislature.

Public Service Commission.

Lieutenant Governor.

Gov.

You got to be good to do that.

It's like when the NFL every through, four times in a row and I think that four that survive in Louisiana politics the way she has is a hell of a thing to do.

Raymond balanced his duties as first gentleman while also acting as an administrator for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

He retired in 2008, but his legacy as an altruistic coach and chief gubernatorial strategist would be sealed in 2019, when he was inducted into Louisiana's Political Hall of Fame.

Raymond Blanco's funeral will be held on the 28th of this month at Saint John, the Evangelist Cathedral at 1:30 p.m. in Lafayette.

The outpouring of love will be enormous for him.

Could LSU face Tulane in the cotton Bowl?

It's a new year six ball and one forecaster at least is predicting that.

But first things first.

Both teams are having a very good season with a 92 records right now.

Yeah, they are.

They would finish ten and two in the regular season if the Green Wave beat Cincinnati.

That game is tonight and LSU beats Texas A&M tomorrow night and LSU State can do that.

We'll see.

We'll see.

I'm sure will.

Everyone, that's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything live any time, wherever you are with our live KPBS app.

You can catch OPB News and public affairs shows as well as other Louisiana programs you've come to enjoy over the years.

And please like so on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.

Yes, all of them for everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I'm Andre Moore.

And I'm care saints here.

Until next time, that's the state we're at.

Every day I go to work for Entergy.

I know customers are counting on me.

So Entergy is investing millions of dollars to keep the lights on and installing new technology to prevent outages before they happen.

Together, together, together.

We power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred Bea and Ruth Zeigler Foundation and the Zeigler Art Museum, located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is an historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

With support from viewers like you.