Entergy is proud to support programing on LPB and Greener practices that preserve Louisiana.

The goal of our environmental and sustainability initiatives really is to ensure that our kids and future generations can be left with a cleaner planet.

Additional support provided by the Fred B. and Ruth B. Zigler Foundation and the Zigler 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 This will translate into an immediate increase in energy costs.

The impact of the Russian invasion on Louisiana and the U.S. we've become, as a people, very much less tolerant of corruption.

What fuels Louisiana politics today?

The fare will be on me.

All right.

The vital role of taxicabs for African-American travelers.

Why should I retire?

I'm having too much fun.

Grammy winner and soul legend Irma Thomas Hi, everyone.

I'm Andre Moreau.

Kara St.Cyr is on assignment.

President Joe Biden and the NATO alliance held a virtual emergency summit this morning to discuss the crisis in Ukraine.

The broad sanctions from Biden in response to Russia's invasion will affect Russia's biggest banks, its weapons industry, its largest energy company, and also families close to President Putin.

The invasion canceled plans for Vice President Kamala Harris and her planned trip to Louisiana State land Free Paris to talk up the expansion of broadband, which is a key piece of the Biden bipartisan infrastructure law.

We'll have more on the invasion in a moment.

And how it will affect Louisiana in the US.

But first, let's check on other news headlines from around the state.

The cost to keep the lights on will increase about $8 a month if energy is your power company.

This after the State Public Service Commission approved a plan for customers to absorb $3.2 billion in costs from five storms that hit the state in 20, 20 and 2021.

The PSC voted four to one with Foster Campbell of North Louisiana, the only no vote.

The money will be collected over 15 years.

Entergy will return to the commission to ask for another 1.4 billion in reimbursement for expense recovery from Hurricane Ida.

An investigation continues into the cause of an early week explosion at the Marathon Oil Refinery in Greenville.

And between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

Six workers suffered minor injuries.

Marathon has a refining capacity of 578,000 barrels a day, making it one of the biggest refineries in the country.

A federal judge approved a settlement for the Firestone Polymers plant in Sulfur two to pay $3.3 million in fines and $650,000 for improved air monitoring.

And several locations in southwest Louisiana The plant makes synthetic rubber.

Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser says litter in Louisiana is the worst he's ever seen.

Nungesser heads up the state's new task force to clean up Louisiana.

And the first meeting took place this week in Baton Rouge.

Nungesser is office oversees tourism state parks and museums and says the litter is unacceptable.

Mardi Gras festivities are happening.

Jazz Fest is right around the corner And the largest free festival that showcases the state's food, music and culture is also almost upon us.

COVID put all these events on hold, but in April, after two years, the French Quarter festival will also return.

Thursday morning, Russia invaded Ukraine, bombing several cities and seizing Chernobyl and its decommissioned nuclear plant.

President Biden issued several sanctions to discourage further destruction.

The impact of this invasion will be felt worldwide.

But in Louisiana, we will see our oil and gas industry experience a price hike.

David Dismukes, the executive director and a professor at LSU's Center for Energy Studies, says.

We could feel those changes.

First and foremost, you know, four, four customers in four households and businesses.

This will translate into an immediate increase in energy costs, whether it's at the retail gasoline prices you're paying at the pump Natural gas for heating, natural gas is up a little bit, not as much as crude, but it is bid up a little bit this morning as well that persist.

We're going to wind up continuing to see higher fuel costs potentially in your electric bill as we use a lot of natural gas for power generation.

And then the indirect effects where you're going to wind up seeing increase in transportation costs for food, for groceries, and for the delivery of all your packages, all sorts of things that'll ram.

They'll kind of roll through prices and add to the supply chain problems that we have already.

Dismukes tells us there isn't a dollar amount for possible increases yet.

He says inflation will depend on how long the invasion lasts.

Well, for decades, our political scene has been a source of interest, intrigue and perhaps shock for scholars and casual observers.

But what has made Louisiana so distinctive and so colorful, corrupt in some cases has faded a great deal as national trends have taken over There's a new book just out that takes a look at the shift in our politics.

Its release comes just before the legislature begins its regular session.

Here now, my conversation with the editors of the book.

The Party Is Over.

Pierson Cross and Kristi Malloy are both associate professor of political science at UT Lafayette.

You're the ones who assembled the writers, the analysts to make this book happen.

So what was the impetus that made you think this is the right time for a book like this?

It struck me that it had been a long time since anyone had a book that talked about all the aspects of Louisiana politics and policy.

In fact, the last thing was published by U.S. LSU Press by James Boehner back in 1982 And since then there hadn't really been a complete or at least a thoroughgoing look at Louisiana politics policy.

So it really felt like it was the time because frankly, a lot had changed.

What are the things that we often talk about with Louisiana politics historically?

We're such a unique state.

I mean, we just have the most colorful set of characters throughout our history.

But really, one of the things that's changed most dramatically, and we've seen this post-Katrina, is that Louisiana has really taken on a national flavor in its political landscape.

We've started to see the hyper polarization, the hyper partizanship in some ways trickle down and really inform the way that our institutions run, the way that candidates conduct their campaigns, and even the way that we talk about policy.

We've become as a people very much less tolerant of corruption.

And there's been a number a lot of legislation about that, particularly with regard to the legislature We're also no longer awash in oil money.

Back in the old days, it used to be that we had a lot of money and people didn't much care who stole the state's money.

Because it wasn't their money.

But now we're paying a lot more attention because we feel like, wait a minute, that money came from from me and mine.

And so it's changed the culture.

It's a lot in the state in terms of how we operate.

So there are some things that are very positive about this change, you know, like so we could say, well, we're more polarized and there's more partizanship.

And, you know, politics isn't quite as charming or unique.

But on the other hand, we are better at taking care of finances.

Typically, we are better at accountability.

We are not as corrupt as we used to be.

So there are some positive things as well, saying the national influence in political campaigns and following the Citizens United famous Supreme Court case in 2010 that really allowed what we call super PACs, these large conglomerations of people to invest money so that we see even in Louisiana in strange ways, a New Orleans school board race can court, you know, tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars or a single seat, much like our state board of education.

And so we say it's not corruption.

I don't mean to say that, but there certainly are national influences that are changing the way that we think about how campaigns are run.

A book like this and going into this session, then they seem to fit sort of like a glove Well, I would certainly think so.

And we weren't really trying to time this session or time Ronald Greene or any of those other things.

But I think it's our book really does deal with the reality that we are now strongly Republican state.

You know, if you go back to 1982, nearly everybody in state government was a Democrat.

If you go to 2022 40 years later we are dominated by Republicans.

We have a supermajority in the Senate, almost a supermajority in the House.

Every statewide elected officials are Republican except for one.

Instead of a Democratic governor facing a Democratic legislature and coming instead we have the Republican legislature and likely a showdown over the congressional district.

So it remains to be seen.

But these are some of the huge changes that have happened in just a blink of an eye, almost in political history.

What does that say for the people who are running the state One of the things that one of our contributors, Jeremy Alford, really touches on in a chapter that he wrote for us on the history of how the legislature has changed is really about how much term limits have shaped the conversation that's happening.

You know, it used to be the case that people would develop these long relationships after being in the legislature for many years, which gave them a lot of ability to negotiate back and forth, sometimes over decades.

And there was a lot of social capital that had built up.

But we have a newer, younger, more diverse, thankfully, legislative body.

But they're lacking some of that institutional knowledge and that the longevity of the relationships that would really facilitate the kind of compromise that I think many Louisiana voters would be hungry for at some point.

Governor Edwards is going to be a lame duck if he isn't one now.

It's going to happen very soon.

Next year is an election year.

And he still has power because of the Louisiana Constitution and a capital outlay and a few other things.

But one would think that if he's looking to make a big impact, this might be his time to do it and to really throw down the gantlet.

I think the governor could probably count on the Justice Department saying, yeah, in terms of section two, you could craft a second majority minority seat.

It's a gamble.

But he might decide that it's worth that gamble at this point.

He's got to be thinking about his legacy.

And I think Dr. Cross puts it perfectly that Governor Edwards has to be thinking about his legacy.

But there are also a lot of personal priorities for him, increasing teacher pay and investment in education that's on the table.

And if he does choose to veto the proposed redistricting maps, then that certainly will create some ill feelings that might undermine his ability to really effectively pursue some of his policy goals during the session.

The party is over.

The new Louisiana politics is on sale now.

Hotels, restaurants and taverns dominated the Green Book throughout its publication.

But the book also gave black travelers the 411 on every day services that otherwise would not have been available, like catching a taxi during the 1950s and sixties.

New Orleans had four black owned taxi companies established so African-Americans could safely move through white and black neighborhoods.

Munro Coleman of Coleman's Cabs was one of the owners, and he talked with Chris Sincere about how he navigated his business.

It's hard to believe if I were to travel just seven years ago, this little guide could potentially save my life.

I'm Kerosene Seer, and this is Safe Haven, Louisiana.

Green Book.

Today, more and more families are finding out how easy it is to become to board families following World War Two.

Their road trip became one of America's favorite pastimes.

More people than ever could afford cars, including African-Americans.

Hence the Green Book.

But in cities like New Orleans, black travelers, both local and visitors, needed other ways to get around.

Which is why four taxicab services were listed I'm meeting Monroe Coleman, who knows all about the Big Easy's cab business.

Hey, how you doing?

Nice to meet you.

I'm Karen.

How you doing?

Nice to meet you.

All right.

So I guess we're going to be waiting for one of your cabs.

Come pick us up.

We'll take a ride.

Okay.

That'll be fine.

All right.

It'll be.

The fare will be on me.

All right.

All right.

Oh, look it's coming now.

So, how long you been in the cab business?

I was born in the business.

I was born in 1946.

Our father started calling a cab company in 1947.

So I am truly a taxi cab, baby.

All right.

All the way through and through.

Completely.

So, back in the early days, how did black people get around?

What was their most common mode of transportation?

The common mode of transportation was taxi cabs.

We did have public transit, but public transit ran on a fixed route.

Taxi cab went into the neighborhood, and it provided what we call point to point pickup.

Were they getting into white taxi cabs before these particular cab lines appeared in the Green Book?

Only way you could ride airfields outside your race, you had to be called in by a white person and they would provide to service.

Though Coleman's family business never ended up in the Green Book.

He came up alongside black owned taxi services that did like the VA cab line.

We used to be right there.

That's it.

That used to be right there.

What it looked like Yeah, it was a ballroom and a lounge day.

Back in the Green Book Days, multiple businesses were often combined into one.

The AIDS cab line was flexible for black men juggling multiple jobs.

If you had a day job, when you get out of that, you come work the taxi cab late teens into the night.

Most black people had two and three jobs because we really weren't paid a lot.

But if you had a family you had to work a lot.

V8 was unique in the fact that it had a building to host cab drivers.

Many cab stands only had a street with a sign and a phone on a telephone pole.

All right.

That's a draft phone.

The gray box the caf will pull here.

And when the phone rang, they would answer it and go pick up the person.

Pull over right here, the telephone pole.

I had never heard of a drop phone before until Monroe showed me one.

Get a close up of the dial.

Oh, my goodness.

So how old do you think this thing is if we're on the phone with.

Hang on here.

So you just kind of sit around all day and wait for this story.

Will will be all day.

Carville is serving this area.

Okay, so people coming and going will call, and they know what a cab in so.

And the cab know the neighborhood, and you they give your name and everything cause, you know, neighborhood, they know people So we're people fighting to answer the phone.

No.

First in, first out.

All right.

Yeah, the first call would be right there.

All right.

And the next call here.

And next call here.

And then you had other cabs around, so they'll work their way onto the stand.

All right.

All the black taxis in the green book disappeared after 1955.

Only a few buildings and lanes are left as a reminder.

I'm shocked that things like the drop phone have survived this long, leaving little pieces of history for the next generation to find.

ExxonMobil, Baton Rouge is proud to support safe haven.

Louisiana's Green Book For more than 100 years, ExxonMobil has made a commitment to workforce diversity and the belief that reflecting on historic race relations is key to shaping a better future.

Thanks so much for that.

That is our last episode of Safe Haven.

But you can catch all of them online at PBS.org.

Slash Green Book When you hear someone refer to the soul queen of New Orleans, there's no doubt who they're talking about.

Irma Thomas, of course, she has been going strong for more than 60 years.

Her first single, Don't Mess With My Man, climbed to 22 on the US Billboard R&B charts back in 1959.

There's new documentary, Irma My Life in Music, and it takes a close look at her rise to fame.

This week, Charisse and Singer sat down with Irma Thomas to hear about her iconic career.

So to most people, you've lived a very exciting 81 years of life.

You've carved a name for yourself among the greats, and you've also won a Grammy.

Does it feel as iconic as it sounds to be?

Irma Thomas?

No, I'm Irma Thomas.

I'm just Irma.

I am who I am.

I've been doing entertainment practically all my life, not professionally, but being an only child, you do a lot to get attention So it's kind of been in your blood this entire time to do what you do.

It probably was because I've never been nervous getting in front of an audience, never even as a little bitty kid when when they used to give you things to say in church and little songs to sing in front of the crowd.

I was always anxious to get up there with the rest of the kids would be somewhere crying.

Do you want to tell me how you got into music?

I got fired for singing on the job twice, and that's how I got into the business.

The guy who I got fired the second time with was Sam.

Originally, his band was playing at the nightclub where I was supposed to be waiting tables, but I was singing on stage and my Caucasian boss said he didn't hire me to sing.

He hired me to wait tables and he fired me.

And Tom originally took me for an audition.

How audition on a Monday was in a recording studio, A.A. And the rest is history.

How did that make you feel whenever you were fired for something that was coming so natural to you?

Well, it was it was kind of difficult to understand because I was pleasing the audience.

Here's a club owner with a place full of people who ask.

And for the singing waitress, you mean to tell me, you too dumb to pick up on that which he was.

So, you know, once I got past that moment, I was all right with because I knew I was going to survive.

So it didn't bother me that much.

How did growing up in New Orleans develop your unique voice, your sound?

I don't know if my voice is all that unique.

It's recognizable but I don't know if it's that unique.

But when you grow up in a city like New Orleans with music all around you, like most folks, I assumed everybody could sing it because everywhere I went and where I was, people, all of us entertained each other and entertained ourselves.

There was always music around there, and in the neighborhood there was always some kind of celebration going on.

So I was always surrounded by music.

And then back then, all the local radio stations played all the local music and all the music that was national as well.

And so I had a large variety of music to listen to.

So I just sung what I liked.

Well, when people talk about your sound, you often get compared to Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Patti LaBelle.

But how do you think you've differentiated yourself as an artist?

I wasn't trying to.

I was just being me.

I have no problems with them comparing me to other folks the best way.

That's the only way they can describe who I am.

If they okay with it, I'm fine with it.

I know that I'm not those people, so I just beat me.

And what about you specifically?

Do you think sets you apart?

Well, I don't sing at my audience.

I sing to my audience.

And for years now, I do.

I've done things that most entertainers would you know.

You don't supposed to do that.

Well, who said I couldn't?

No one told me I couldn't do it.

So and I was doing with my audience in Joy, which is I would allow them to make requests, even if it was something that I didn't record and I knew it, I would sing it for them.

And I still do that.

I mean, I would I have gone as far as to switch from a three page, a three inch tablet with all the lyrics in it to an iPad with all the lyrics and add up songs that I know in case if someone asks for something I haven't done in a while and the band don't know what, I'll sing it acapella and there are a lot of entertainers that would bark at that, you know, that's not entertainment.

Well, what is it if it's not entertainment?

How would you like to spend 45 or $50 or $100 to go see somebody in it and sing your favorite song?

So how does that work to somebody?

Just like scream at you, Hey, can you sing this if they cannot do it?

Right.

Right, right.

That's it.

Right away.

I can read it and give it to me and I'll do it.

Sure.

I don't have a problem.

Either way, it's all entertainment.

I feel like that's the New Orleans mentality.

Everyone out here is very personable.

You can talk to them.

Yeah.

And I just think that's another thing that's interesting about you is that you've had the opportunity to go off to Los Angeles or go off to these big cities, but you've decided to stay here in New Orleans.

I went to Los Angeles, and I found out that is, for me, my inner city.

And I'm not a minor person.

I'm a I'm I'm open to, you know, being around other people and enjoying other people.

And when I went to when I moved to Los Angeles, I was hoping to get a job out there because my jobs had been stormed out, not canceled, but stormed out.

Camille canceled a lot of the work I had along the Louisiana coast in Mississippi, Alabama and so forth.

And so I made a big move to go to Los Angeles.

And when I got there, I was very disappointed at the fact that club owners that didn't care how much talent you had or they didn't have any records you had, they wanted you to pay it in the work in the club.

And I said, before, I'll pay you to work in your club.

I will get me a day job.

And that's what I did.

Do you think about that at all?

Maybe think would if I don't worry about what if I just move on?

So there's been a renewed interest in your career.

You've now had two documentaries come out.

Why do you think people are so interested now?

I haven't a clue.

I am more surprised and overwhelmed than anybody in the whole scheme of things, because, first of all, when they said they wanted to do a documentary, I said fine.

But am I that interesting?

Really, I did.

And they said, Sure you are.

And of course they're proving it because I'm sitting here with you and I've had several interviews since it's been out, and I'm still in awe of what's so interesting about me.

Is there anything coming out in Erma, my life in music that we don't already know about you?

I mean, I've had a new release, which is not new anymore.

It was released last November.

It's been out a year now.

It's on vinyl.

Vinyl is coming back and then the title of the vinyl record is called Love is the Foundation for a lot of folk may not be aware there, but I'm just being really enjoying a few jobs that I do accept and enjoy some of these interviews because they're beginning to be more interested in me.

But, you know, it's it's I feel honored, first of all, to be able to be here for a lot of young women who may be interested in getting into the field of music.

You still perform, you do Jazz Fest, you perform at music venues.

Do you have any performances coming up?

Yes, I'm doing French Quarter fairs the Friday after this interview.

And then I'm going of course, I'm doing my annual Jazz and Heritage Festival.

I'm doing a gospel seminar, also doing the rhythm and blues set, and I'm doing a few dedications system, deceased entertainers as well.

Do you ever think you're going to retire for what?

From singing and performing Why should I retire?

I'm having too much fun.

I just cut back on it.

I mean, at 81, there isn't a lot of things I would want to be out there doing other than in every now and then get a gig and to me, I'm having as much fun as the audience having.

So, you know, that's I don't see a reason to retire.

I really don't because I get to sing at my church every Sunday.

So, you know, I'm keeping the chops up the You Can Watch Irma My Life and Music on LPB Wednesday night, March 2nd at seven.

That is the day after Mardi Gras.

And everyone that is our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything lib any time wherever you are with our LPB PBS app, you can get LPB News and public affairs shows as well as other Louisiana programs that you've come to enjoy over the years.

And please, like us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok for everyone here at Louisiana Public Broadcasting, I'm on Andre Moreau until next time.

That's the state where Entergy is proud to support programing on LPB and greener practices that preserve Louisiana.

The goal of our Environmental and Sustainability Initiative aims really is to ensure that our kids and future generations can be left with a cleaner planet.

Additional support provided by the Fred B and Ruthie Zigler Foundation and the Zigler 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