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 B and Ruth 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 program is made possible in part by Frank's Restaurant, a place known for the gathering of friends, family and colleagues where deals are signed over a handshake and a biscuit.

For information on catering menus and locations, go to franksrestaurantla.com We are just now going into entering fire season.

We are gearing up for a fight that's going to bring us far through September.

The aftermath of Louisiana's widespread wildfires.

Louisiana is not doing very well these days when it comes to college educated people.

Louisiana losing its best and brightest to neighboring states.

We know that a four year degree reduces recidivism down to 9%, two year degree reduces it to 14%.

So education is the key to helping recidivism in Louisiana.

Gubernatorial candidate Hunter Lundy shares with voters his vision over a cup of coffee.

I'm Kara St. Cyr.

And I'm Karen Leblanc.

A massive Category five hurricane is headed toward the northeast.

Hurricane Lee picked up 165 mile per hour winds and is expected to continue strengthening.

That's right.

Hurricane Lee is tied with Hurricane Matthew for a third fastest rapid intensification.

It picked up 85 mile per hour winds within a 24 hour period.

And we'll continue to keep an eye on this and monitor it for you.

Limited rainfall is contributing to the perfect storm for a wildfire outbreak across Louisiana, although many of the fires are partially contained, drought like conditions remain.

I traveled to the frontlines to survey the wildfire aftermath and the challenges ahead.

This is the largest fight that we have ever had, like hurricanes.

Louisiana's wildfires have names.

Tiger Island in Vernon Parish, Highway 113, northwest of Oakdale, Lions Camp Road, northwest of Leesville, and Elizabeth in southwest Rapids Parish.

Those are some of the 522 wildfires that have ignited in August alone.

But this isn't over.

And it's not the beginning, but it's the end of the beginning.

To get a sense of the aftermath of the wildfires.

I'm traveling to Vernon Parish to the point of origin of the Ida wildfire, which broke out on August 24th in the Kisatchie National Forest.

As we approach the Kisatchie National Forest, what is normally verdant green scenery is charred and blackened from the forest floor to the treetops.

Hi, Karen.

Lisa, Thank you for having me.

Absolutely.

So glad that you're able to join us.

So, Lisa, this wildfire in the national Forest started with a trash burn.

That's correct, Karen.

Actually, the point of origin is just right past what is left of this trailer.

Gentleman was out burning some debris during the statewide burn ban and some winds kicked up and he quickly lost control, burned down his neighbor's house, and about six outbuildings that were associated with it here.

So what was the total impact of this fire?

How much devastation did it cause in total before it was contained?

Well, it's still not totally contained.

We're still about 70% containment.

We still have crews out mopping up.

But as far as the resource damages and the timber loss, the total fire right now is about right at 4000 acres, 3900 acres.

And of that, about 1200 to 1300 actually on national forest lands.

So, Lisa, once the fire is completely contained, what goes into rehabilitating this land?

Okay.

Well, like I said, we're going to try to to do some timber salvage efforts out here.

Then we'll come back and actually replant with pine seedlings and we'll just go from there and wait about another 70 years and we'll have another mature forest out here.

Unlike a wildfire that spreads unchecked.

Controlled burning is an essential part of forest management.

Fire is part of the natural ecosystem when ignited under calculated and closely monitored conditions.

The Kisatchie is a leader in prescribed burning.

The national forest will burn somewhere around 130,000 to140,000 acres every year, which is, you know, extremely important.

And what we do for fuels reduction, wildlife management and just hazardous fuels reduction as well.

Controlled burns rid the forest of organic debris that can feed wildfires.

However many forested areas are still clearing downed timber from several hurricanes, which added fuel to the recent wildfires.

What we're doing with our method of fighting fire is we're attacking the fire triangle.

Okay.

The fire triangle basically has three sides.

It's a fuel side, an oxygen side and an ignition point side.

We can't do anything about the oxygen and the ignition by the time we're there has taken place.

So the side of the triangle that we can deal with is the fuel side.

Wade Dubea, is the state forester helping chart the plan of attack these wildfires?

They're tricky because they're ignited in the treetops.

They're known as crowning fires and they spread fast.

So fighting the flames happens from the air and at ground level.

So our dozers are trying to move that fuel out of the way and create bare mineral soil, get the fire back on the ground, and that fire burns into that fire line as we call it, that bare mineral soil.

And there's nothing for it to burn and it goes out.

And so, again, the challenges that we face with a crown fire, once we put those lines in, it's moving from crown to crown and it doesn't know we put a line on the ground.

So it goes right over that.

And so that's where the water drops Come in to help us get that far back on the ground so that our efforts with our dozers can be successful when fighting wildfires on this scale.

There is way more than meets the eye.

So I traveled to Deridder to take you behind the scenes here at the incident command center and show you the coordinated effort that's happening.

So we're building an incident action plan that lays out the daily actions and activities and explains to the firefighter what the task purpose and instate for the day is.

So it really is a big machine that runs behind the scenes to support all the folks out on the ground.

Steven Parrish is the incident commander of what's known as the Southern Area Red Team.

The red team is a it's a group of individuals made up from all different agencies across the United States, both federal, local, state, tribal governments that get together in an interagency effort to manage wildfires, floods, hurricanes, any other natural disasters.

We're attached to the big five land management agencies U.S. Forest Service, U.S.

Fish and Wildlife, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and Department of Indian Affairs.

The Red team coordinates nighttime flyovers of the burning sites to detect hotspots.

It maps out the fire activity for responders and tracks the weather, among many other, support services.

But now we're in the most important stage of the fires, which is the mop up phase, because the fires are burning so hot and intense, it scorches the canopy.

So you'll see the green pine needles turn brown.

Those will start turning loose in about 5 to 7 days, and then they fall when the wind blows.

That creates a new, fresh blanket of fuel and leads to unburned pocket of fuels from a stumphole.

So we have to keep going back and taking leaf blowers and opening the lines up to keep containment on the fire until sufficient moisture is received.

Fighting these fires has put a significant financial strain on responding agencies at all levels and exacted a toll on personal and public property.

And so we have been at a full court press and my total annual budget for firefighting is about $12 million, and I've been spending between 500,000 and $1,000,000 a day since the 22nd.

So rapidly, you know, we are depleting all of our cash resources.

Right now, the cost of suppression for this fire is over $1.2 million, 1.2 million, $1.2 million.

And, you know, but time we do see preparation and replanting, you know, that's going to be anywhere from, you know, 3 to $400 per acre to get that to get this back where we need to get it with more dry, hot weather in the forecast for September.

Louisiana remains on high alert, but we're now just going into our classic fire season or repeat that we are just now going into entering fire season.

We're not on the exit and yet we are entering it.

We are gearing up for a fight that's going to bring us far through September Louisiana's youngest and most educated minds are leaving for other parts of the country in search of a better life.

Some call this the brain drain.

Researchers point to three possible reasons.

Economics, affordability and family.

As part of our special gubernatorial coverage, The Way Forward Election 2023, I look into the brain drain and what can be done to stop it.

There's an epidemic spreading across the southern U.S. where educated people under the age of 34 are leaving their hometowns, taking their talents and expertise with them to other parts of the country.

The human brain varies somewhat from person to person.

The phenomenon is called the brain drain, and it's hitting Louisiana particularly hard.

But why?

Josh Augustus is a 26 year old college graduate with a degree in computer science from LSU.

He's a Louisiana native born in Baton Rouge, and he fits the average brain drain or description to a tee.

He's under 34, has a bachelor's, and he's over it.

Josh is frustrated with a few things here.

The city planning in Baton Rouge bothers him.

He's concerned about the politics and he doesn't think there's much upward mobility.

No room to grow.

Josh is looking at a few places Texas, Georgia, Michigan and Colorado, which is in line with the brain drain data for the most part.

Texas and Georgia are taking a chunk of Louisiana's educated young people.

The trend started in 2021, and it's showing no signs of slowing.

In fact, some researchers say it's getting worse.

How many people are we losing?

Louisiana is not doing very well these days when it comes to college educated people.

If you go back to 2000, which is the longest period in time that we have data in the last 21 years, we've lost about 110,000 college educated people on net.

So we've had some move in, but we've lost 110,000 more than we gained, which is about 5000 a year.

How does that compare to other states?

So we're doing worse compared to most other states, and we're doing much worse in the last five years.

You can really see the decline from 2017 to 2021.

Wagner says Louisiana is now eighth for population retention.

When we were 34th, just ten years ago in 2012.

So in the last five years, a lot of the metrics have really moved in a negative direction for us.

There are a few reasons for this.

People move to be closer to family members.

Job opportunities are limited in Louisiana.

And shockingly, housing affordability is also a reason.

But in Louisiana, our housing market is supposed to be more affordable to live here.

Yeah, I think that's a little bit of a misnomer these days.

When you look at the the ratio of median home prices to income.

Louisiana's competitiveness has really fallen in the last ten years.

So this is looking at outmigration of college educated individuals in Louisiana for the last 21 years.

That's the full amount of time that we have data.

And you can see all the states that are blue are states where we're losing people.

The darker the blue, the more losses.

And you can see Texas is a huge magnet.

Exactly.

You can also see we're losing a lot of people to other states in the south.

And then you'll notice those locations in green.

So those are states where over the last 20 years, Louisiana has been a net recipient of college educated people.

So, for example, if you look at Ohio and Pennsylvania, so we've had on average more people college educated, moving to Louisiana than are, say, moving from from Louisiana to Ohio.

But those numbers aren't enough to replace what we've lost.

Louisiana is losing thousands of people to Houston and Dallas, in particular.

Florida, Georgia, Colorado and Tennessee are also showing net gains.

Even Mississippi is cashing in.

But what can we do to prevent this?

What does Louisiana have to do to prevent people from leaving?

From an economic perspective, one factor that really has more of a local flavor is housing affordability.

So local communities can get involved and look at multifamily housing units.

So zoning is a big issue that affects housing costs.

And so rezoning areas from single family to multifamily can lower housing costs and make things more affordable.

So that's more of a local piece, I think, on a statewide piece.

You know, one of the things that I've observed over the last five or six years of living here is that Louisiana's tax system is really not that competitive compared to our neighbors.

So it would be something that in my mind, I'd like to see the state take into consideration and fundamental tax reform to put us in a position where we can be more competitive.

So before you go to the voting booth, make sure you think about these things.

Who you pick might just save Louisiana thousands.

Karen, Wagner says that these issues can be solved, but it ultimately comes down to policy changes, of course.

You know, it's interesting, the first televised debate, some of the candidates pointed to Louisiana's social policies as part of the reason for this outmigration or brain drain.

Yeah, and that really ties into what Wagner says.

So, yes, it is.

It's social.

It's economical.

It's a lot of different factors that lead to people leaving the state.

I'll be interesting to see what the legislature does in terms of social engineering with the new governor.

That's right.

In this week's Coffee with the candidates, I met up with gubernatorial candidate Hunter Lundy to chat over coffee at Frank's restaurant about where he stands on key voter issues, including the state's insurance crisis, income taxes and crime.

Here's what Hunter Lundy has to say about moving the state forward.

Hunter Lundy is a trial attorney running as the only independent candidate for Louisiana governor.

He was born, raised and currently lives in Lake Charles and has worked as a personal injury attorney with his own firm for more than 30 years.

Hunter Lundy, thank you so much for joining me here at Frank's Restaurant for our little coffee chat.

So before we get started, how about a fresh cup of coffee with a loved one?

All right.

Thank you, Karen.

Got to have coffee at Frank's.

Yeah.

Okay.

So here are the ground rules for the viewers.

Just so you know, each one of our candidates got the same five questions ahead of time each one of our candidates has 7 minutes total.

To answer the five questions, We will be timing this.

I will be keeping track of time and reminding the candidates as the clock runs.

So are we ready?

We're ready.

All right.

Well, let's take a sip and we'll get started.

So I am going to officially start the timer.

And here we go.

First question.

Louisiana is experiencing an insurance crisis as auto property and flood insurance rates continue to rise and some insurance companies have quit writing policies altogether.

How will you address the affordability and the accessibility of insurance for Louisianians?

I'll start with the auto question because you gave me the questions.

So we have one.

Number two, highest premiums paid in the state, in the nation in Louisiana for auto insurance.

And it's because our roads are terrible.

So Louisiana's pays $600 more a year than everybody else in the country for repairs to cars.

So your auto insurance is dictated to a lot by your roads.

And our roads are terrible.

On the property question, you know, have represented hundreds, if not thousands of people after Katrina, after Rita, after Laura Delta and pileup.

And, you know, it wasn't until this recent cycle in 2020 and 2021 that we really saw bad actors in the actors.

Were they insurance companies that would not advance money?

And so we can't we can't have that.

And we got to work with them.

And yes, the legislature has done some good things to try to reduce that with the roof program.

But I'll sit at the table with any any carrier anywhere in the country and in the world.

I know him personally.

And so we'll get the property rates down for the citizens of Louisiana.

And so there's a plan.

I have a plan.

We don't have time for me to explain it, but I'll work with the insurance commissioner and I'll remind him his duties to the consumer, not to the insurance company.

And I will remind him as to the flood insurance.

Our U.S. senators have filed legislation to change this 2.0 formula, which they need to change.

But I'll tell the citizens of Louisiana, you can go online right now.

And there are other carriers other than NFIB that you can get flood insurance from, and it's cheaper than going through the National Flood Insurance Program.

All right.

So moving on with the states temporary point four or five sales tax set to expire in mid 2025, declining gas taxes people pay at the pumps and other changing circumstances affecting our tax structure.

Some say Louisiana is headed toward a fiscal cliff.

What is your plan to create a sustainable tax base and a competitive tax environment?

So we'll never have a cliff.

You know, we're we're designed legislatively and constitutionally that we'll never have one.

That's always great political rhetoric for people to say that.

But I've said from the beginning that I want to get rid of state income tax for 65 years, and older residents that make less than $250,000 a year will offset that removal of that tax by keeping them to stay here and not move the taxes, not move to Florida.

And we'll where we be compensated through property insurance.

Now, as far as the tax structure, I'm for renewing the point four or five sales tax.

We need to renew that.

And the reason why is we need to pay our teachers, our police and our firemen and then what's left over.

We need to fix our roads with and that fixing the roads is going to reduce our insurance cost.

So that's my plan.

With respect to the 4.4 or five sales tax.

All right.

Louisiana has some of the highest incarceration and recidivism rates in the nation.

How are you going to lower crime and improve public safety?

Well, have you seen the push card?

I basically say that education, crime and poverty, they're all linked.

We can use education to attack poverty.

We reduce poverty in Louisiana.

We change the perception we have economic growth.

And when we reduce poverty, we also reduce incarceration with education.

We know that a child's brain is formed, you know, but by the time they're 3 their 80% formed, by the time they're five, it's 90% for them.

So we need children to get out of the fourth grade and read and read.

And if they can't read, they're in a pipeline to prison.

So literacy and incarceration match up.

So while they're incarcerated, they want to get out.

We want them to be out.

We got to make sure they have a GED and they have a two year degree, a four year degree.

We know that a four year degree reduces recidivism down to 9%, two year degree reduces it to 14%.

So education is the key to helping the recidivism in Louisiana.

They need a job.

They need a job and they need a place to live and then they go back.

So we have a little less than 3 minutes left.

Two questions, Hunter.

Recent studies show that sea levels are rising faster than we can rebuild a coast.

It's a consequence of climate change.

Renewable energy sources such as wind, water and solar power could help combat climate change.

What is your stand on developing renewable energy sources in Louisiana?

Well, I'm I'm for them I'm for the oil and gas community as well.

You know, we're letting the market dictate what we need to do in Louisiana.

That's the right way.

I'm a capitalist.

So you got Shell doing the biodiesel plant.

We've got we've got CO2 storage and sequestration.

This week, it was announced in Southwest Louisiana that they're going to build a multi hundred billion dollar CO2 sequestration facility.

We have a lot of salt in southwest Louisiana.

So I can go on and on.

We also have the manufacturing plants to build the metal that's necessary for the windmills.

I know that the windmill bids are going out for out of Cameron Parish in southwest Louisiana now.

So I'm all for renewable energy.

I'm all for our oil and gas.

I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bath water.

That's who we are.

That's what we were based on.

But we do both.

And my job as the next governor is to get every dollar I can and to keep every person with a job and to help the economy reduce the poverty and educate our children.

And so that's kind of the way I look at it now as far as this coastal restoration.

We've already started it.

We've got the money to do it.

But I'm clear about accountability.

We need those that cut those those canals through our marshes, thousands of canals through the marshland that haven't been fixed.

I'm going to catch up here because we got one minute left and I want to get this last question right.

Go ahead.

Recent studies show young people are moving out of Louisiana for better educational and business opportunities and quality of life.

How do you intend to stop this so-called brain drain and make Louisiana more attractive for younger generations?

And you have 50 seconds.

All right.

First of all, choose your words carefully.

You know, words do matter.

I did agree with one president on one thing that he said.

So the brain drain is a cliche that we should not be using and no political candidate should be using it because my kids are here.

I have a son.

That's a ship captain.

I got a daughter that teaches in college.

I got a son that's a fire captain.

I have six grandchildren.

They're all planted in Louisiana.

We love Louisiana.

We're going to stay here in Louisiana.

They were all educated in Louisiana.

One got graduate from Tech, one from LSU and one from McNeese.

So we're going to do that.

When you change the perception of Louisiana, when we get rid of poverty, we're going to do it through education.

When we reduce recidivism, they're coming back.

People are going to be moving here.

We have the greatest natural resources in the United States.

We should be at the top, not the bottom.

And that is well said.

And that is time.

7 minutes.

Thank you.

Now, before we go, I have one final question for you.

Biscuits or beignets?

biscuits.

I prefer biscuits and thank you.

That's our show for this week.

And now a milestone to note.

Next week, Louisiana, the state we're in, enters its 47th season as one of the longest running public TV programs in the nation.

And also LPB now celebrating its 48th birthday.

So we definitely needed birthday hats by wearing the right attire.

That's right.

Happy birthday to us.

Right.

So remember, you can watch anything LPB any time, wherever you are with our LPB,PBS app, you can catch LPB news and public affairs shows as well as other Louisiana programs you've come to enjoy over the years.

And please like us on Facebook X and Instagram.

For everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I'm Karen Leblanc And I'm Kara St. Cyr.

Until next time.

That's the state we're in.

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 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.