Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by Entergy.

Louisiana is strengthening our power grid throughout the state.

We're reinforcing infrastructure to prepare for stronger storms, reduce outages and respond quicker when you do need us, because together we power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred and Ruth 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, Louisiana's wind energy efforts are picking up speed and hear from Louisiana's newest attorney general, Lizz mural.

And how a parade of red beans is making a difference this week on the state run.

Let's go.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Karen LeBlanc, and I'm crossing here.

Much more on the top stories in a moment on this week's edition of S.W.A.T..

But first, making headlines this week.

LSU announced an historic windfall for Louisiana's energy evolution.

It's the largest ever grant awarded by the National Science Foundation.

The grant provides up to $160 million to support Louisiana's energy industry.

It's the latest federal investment in Louisiana's energy transition.

In part two of my ongoing series, Winds of Change, I bring you up to speed on how wind is fueling the future.

You're looking at a mixed reality training program to inspect and repair wind turbines.

It was designed by a Louisiana professor to train a wind energy workforce.

We're using what we call mixed reality.

Mixed reality is when you have a headset and the headset has cameras and those cameras capture imagery of the real world.

Pass it through to the inside so that the user sees it.

So I partnered with Gulf Wind Technology.

And Top right Corner.

And together we put together this plan to create a virtual reality training program for turbine technicians.

Trainees wear the mixed reality headset and practice hands on here at a mock wind turbine tower.

It's located at the Gulf Wind technology Accelerator, which has taken up residence in the former Avondale shipyard of Jefferson Parish.

Basically, what you've got here is simulating the type of wind turbine blade.

So it's a really, really good idea as an innovative concept.

But you you combine the physical real size of an actual wind turbine component.

You simulate the fact that you might be hanging on a rope or you might be at heights.

And then the the virtual reality really puts you in amongst it.

James Martin is the CEO of Gulf Wind Technology.

The company designs, builds and test wind turbines.

It's a patient game.

You know, offshore wind is it takes a long time to get all the planning, get the permits, get the supply chain ramped up.

But when it starts, you need a lot of people.

You need a lot of skilled workforce.

Gulf wind technology is partnering with educational institutions to train a wind energy workforce to meet the needs of Louisiana's emerging wind energy industry.

Anything we can do to what we schools, colleges, universities to train energy professionals that are used to perhaps oil and gas that can use their same skills in wind.

This is the sort of physical facility and we try and be the the technical experts that can actually advise and support that transition.

In Lafourche Parish, Gulf wind technology is working to install a 187 foot tall wind turbine at Port Fourchon Coastal Wetlands Park.

It would generate wind energy and serve as a training site.

This will be the first wind power that is touching the Louisiana coast and the Louisiana industry powering the Fusion facility and providing a lot of the tenants and those that are going offshore to service in oil and gas with green power to refuel their operations.

Cameron Poole is with the G.A.

Wind Alliance, a part of Greater New Orleans Inc Regional Economic Development, the organization that aims to foster the wind energy industry and says efforts are picking up speed with Louisiana's recent federal designation as a tech hub with that were eligible for a 50 to $70 million of implementation funding.

And what we're seeking to advance is actually an offshore demonstration facility, leveraging that unique state water opportunity to create a national test bed where both local innovation is designed to.

Again, the hurricane technologies and those that will need to make the Gulf wind opportunity possible, but also for national innovators to plug in to and support what we know we need nationally and globally to support offshore wind in state waters.

Louisiana granted diamond offshore wind a lease in the waters Information parish in Cameron Parish, Cajun Wind LLC, was granted a lease in the Gulf of Mexico.

The federal government, through the Bureau of Offshore Energy Management, granted R.W.

a lease in the waters south of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Industry actually consumes about 30% of the United States hydrogen market.

The majority of that hydrogen that's being consumed is gray.

Hydrogen is coming from natural gas and in some cases other fossil fuels.

There's industrial customers who are looking at taking that gray hydrogen and offsetting it with green hydrogen and green hydrogen production.

And what I think is so exciting about the green hydrogen opportunity in Louisiana is that it not only preserves so many of our jobs in the industrial space and attracts new, cleaner, greener industrial partners to the greater New Orleans and South Louisiana area, but it also has the opportunity of reducing our emissions dramatically.

The Gulf Wind Technology Accelerator serves as a testing lab for these massive wind turbines.

Workers design and 3D print the blades and test them in wind tunnels under hurricane conditions.

The blades are made of carbon fiber, and they gave one a push to experience the pliability.

So imagine now I'll stand back.

So watch all of the movement, the whole thing.

Now.

We've actually got some facility in here to simulate a Cat five hurricane.

So you're really taking the pieces.

You're testing them and validating them in the accelerator.

More partnerships are in the works.

What schools, colleges and universities were working with Dillard, Xavier, Southern, Baton Rouge and Southern University of New Orleans to develop their first renewable energy curricula.

So soon you'll be able to go to any of those schools and major or minor in something within renewable energy.

From hashtags to headlines, here's what's trending this week.

This week was Groundhog Day and Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow, meaning an early spring is on the way.

But here in Louisiana, we have our own Cajun groundhog, the nutria.

His name is Pier Shadow, which is a very nice Cajun name.

But I just want to know, okay, so what happens if Phil sees something and Pierre sees opposite?

Does that mean that our weather is going to be inconclusive for the rest of the year?

Yeah, I think they're just going to have to throw down and go at it.

But actually fear, if he sees a shadow, that means he'll be a shorter spring and a longer, hotter summer.

Now, we had a crawfish that also weighed in on that.

And yeah, the crawfish claims he did not see his shadow, signifying, quote, 52 more weeks of random weather, which we are quite acquainted with now.

So speaking of crawfish, and actually this is no laughing matter.

We have been dealing with a drought and then the freeze that hit the cottage industry pretty hard, but it spoofed some social media videos just kind of joking about the high price of crawfish coming at us.

All joking aside, though, Congressman Clay Higgins did send a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture asking for assistance for the crawfish industry here in Louisiana.

Yeah, And I mean, the prices are pretty high.

I looked at them before we got on this desk, and in some places they're over ten bucks a pound.

Yeah, you're going to have to budget for your Easter crawfish.

We're letting you know right now.

But I mean, it makes sense.

Fishermen and these stores, they have to make up for that rush that's going on right now.

But also, speaking of social media and means Elmo, this week, Whoopi apparently has an ex account.

Who knew he got on social media to check in and ask everyone how they were doing on Monday.

And it turns out people are not doing so great.

Some people responded saying they were experiencing existential dread.

Some complained about being broke.

This post is my favorite.

This guy says, I'm going to keep it a buck with you, Elmo.

I'm not feeling very cash money.

Well, you know, it's kind of cute and endearing that he was able to to touch people's souls and elicit those kind of responses and open the conversation about mental health.

Now, Elmo did respond about 20 hours later.

He promised to check in with everyone more often and emphasized importance of emotional well-being.

Yes.

And the president even weighed in saying that this is very important and that, you know, basically he's glad that Elmo checked in on everybody.

So I hope you guys at home are doing okay.

Well, thank you, Elmo, for doing a mental health check.

Moving on in good news, Louisiana, the crew of red beans is one of the culture bearers of the New Orleans Mardi Gras, putting their unique spin on costumes and parading.

As with most Mardi Gras crews, red beans has an altruistic arm that extends into the community throughout the year to fund its many outreach projects.

The crew of Red Beans is opening a bean museum.

I'm taking you on a tour of being landed a.

Welcome to Bean Land DIA, a bean museum on Royal Street in New Orleans.

That's an homage to all things being and home to the crew of red beans.

So tell you about how this idea started.

Yeah, so this is probably the most unique space in New Orleans.

It began as a parade, and 15 years later we were kind of morphing into a community organization.

And we're creating a bean museum that's also a cultural center and a crafting center here in New Orleans.

So I'm literally looking at lots and lots of jars of beans.

So there's actually 30,000 types of beans in the world, and we are very slowly collecting as many as possible.

You know, there's not too many bean museums out there and so we want to both educate people about beans, celebrate them all of the different cuisines and dishes, but also use it as a way to teach about climate change and and build community.

Because turns out people love beans and you can use that as a way to bring people together.

This shared love of beans brings people together each Mardi Gras season as the crew of red beans parades in downtown New Orleans on Lundi Gras in elaborate hand beamed costumes right on a monday leading up to Lundi Gras, crew members meet for beaming sessions at being landed.

This is actually also a living museum.

And we're not just talking about beans and showing beans, but we're also a parade and a parade tradition.

So a big feature of our space is the costumes that are created.

Here are some photographs of seats from two years ago, and every year our crew members make a new costume.

On the day we visited.

Red Beans crew member Catherine Saint Paul Hill was crafting bean trophies and being land here to give to out standing volunteers with the organization and the crew's royal court.

What kind of work goes into making these costumes out of beans?

Well, it's a lot and it's a learning process.

But, you know, we kind of open it up to anybody.

Just it's more about creating community and and having fun doing something creative with each other.

And it's, you know, you can use raw beans or sometimes we paint them, as you can see.

So where do all the beans come from that they decorate with?

You may ask.

They come from the Camellia Brand being company.

They're donated.

The crew of Red Beans Parade started in 2009 with a small group of friends inspired by the parade style of second lines and the crafting of the Black Mask in Indians.

During COVID, the crew of red beans raised $1 million to feed frontline medical workers and started a sister nonprofit called Feed the Second Line.

With hurricanes, with tornadoes, with COVID.

Pretty much anything that we could do to connect people with job opportunities and a stronger safety net, that's what we've tried to do.

And so the crew has kind of morphed into this like mutual aid force.

And what I've come to understand is that beans and a bean parade can be a force for good in the community.

And that's really the whole purpose of the space is to further that.

And that's a way that we can make our city better, make our community better, and, you know, hopefully make more and more people just connected and happy and loving, basically.

Museum by day, cultural center by night being planned.

DIA aims to serve as sustainable tourism by raising revenue through the price of admission to fund community projects.

The later administration touts a full overhaul of Louisiana's criminal justice system.

At the helm of that effort is newly elected Attorney General Liz Merrill.

Her tenure will be historic for Louisiana.

She's the first woman to hold this position.

I sat down with the newest head of Louisiana's Department of Justice to talk about the future of the state's criminal justice system.

Well, first off, I want to say congratulations and thank you so much for joining us.

Well, thank you for having me.

It's great to be here.

All right.

So let's jump right into this, these questions.

So this is a historic moment for the state, because not only have you worked under the current governor, but you're also the first woman to hold this position.

So how do you think the shift in perspectives will further the state of Louisiana?

You know, I mean, I think that it's great to have two women now in statewide elected office.

I don't think we've ever had a secretary of state or we had a commissioner of elections, I think, some time ago.

So it is, I think, a really important thing that we now have two women in statewide elected office.

And being the first attorney general, the first woman attorney general certainly means something to me when I think about the legacy that I'll leave the state and and the mark that I might make on history.

But at the end of the day, I really think it's about my vision for the office.

And and I have a very I mean, I've had a vision for this office for some time.

And and it is based on, you know, professionalism, leadership and a commitment to the rule of law.

Jim, Governor Landry are no strangers.

You worked under him as a solicitor general for many years, and it seems the two of you are very politically aligned.

Is there any place that you think the two of you differ or a place that could separate you from his tenure?

You know, I don't think I could identify something specific that where we might have a difference of opinion.

I think that we come from different types of approaches to the job, and our experiences are different.

So, you know, just that that makes us different.

Right there, I taught at LSU Law School for 12 years.

I clerked in federal and state court for five years.

I come from a writing background.

I was editor in chief of the Law Review.

I was a journalist before I went to law school.

After I taught, I went to work for Governor Jindal.

So I was in state government for six years before I came to the attorney general's office.

Very committed view toward separation of powers and and what the role of the attorney general is.

I have always felt very strongly about that.

And I know that now Governor Landry shared that, that view of the job.

But I couldn't tell you that there's something specific that might might cause us to have a difference of opinion.

And I do think that we approached it from bringing different experiences in our backgrounds.

All right.

So the governor has stated that there will be a special session on crime.

And I just want to know, what priorities do you hope are pushed through the legislature that would help benefit you in your role in what you're trying to accomplish?

You know, crime is a problem that everyone is concerned about in this state.

And I think some of the the policies that have been discussed and and and enacted over the last eight years have probably moved us too far in the direction of increased crime in the state.

And so I'd like to see us move back a little more and getting a safer state where people feel they are safe in their homes and that they can go out and be safe in their cars and not be worried about being carjacked like in New Orleans.

I think that, you know, we're going to have to look at what the policies are that are brought up in the criminal session.

But I do support a lot of the policies that I think are being embraced by the district attorneys and the sheriffs.

And I think that some of the policies that are sometimes proposed have a negative effect on the people who are the most vulnerable in our communities up to it at first.

And and so I think we've seen a rise in crime, and we need to pay attention to where that rise hits the hardest.

When we talk about how to avoid making someone a victim of a or someone becoming a part of the criminal justice system and in terms of being and being an inmate in a prison or a juvenile in the juvenile justice system, I think that that starts with early education.

It starts with focusing on youth when they are young.

Truancy is an enormous problem in our community.

We need to invest in policies that will address that problem to try and prevent people from becoming part of that system in the first place.

But we can't ignore what happens once they are part of the system or people who continue to be churning in that system over and over again.

So you mentioned that sometimes the policies that are proposed end up hurting the people they're intended to protect.

Can you give me an example?

So I think if you look at some of the the communities that are struggling, right, those people who struggle to pay their bills every month.

Communities where there's higher crime rates, when you take some of these people, whether they are juveniles or adults and they have been arrested over and over again and they are put right back into those communities.

What we see is higher crime rates in those communities.

First.

So, you know, you're not talking about a community where someone can move and build a moat around their house.

You're talking about a community where these these particular actors are coming back into the community and committing crimes in that community.

And I think that's something that we really need to look very closely at.

Well, part of the former governor's legacy is crime reform.

Is there any policy from his administration that you would want to change?

I share the view of the sheriffs and the district attorneys that we need to be able to prosecute juveniles in the adult system.

We need to be able to move them at a younger age.

I think we have experimented with what they call raise the age where it is much harder to move juveniles who are 16 and 17 year olds out of the juvenile system into the adult system.

I think we've got to go back and look at that policy again, because we have seen some extremely hardened individuals being placed in our juvenile facilities.

They are attacking the staff.

They are attacking other juveniles in the facilities, are breaking out of the facilities.

They are destroying those facilities.

And they have demonstrated to us over and over again that they will not comply with the rules that are in place in those facilities.

So we have to have an ability to step up.

So that we can keep those individuals in secure facilities and protect both the younger individuals or the individuals that that are supposed to be there and also receiving services and protect staff and protect them from themselves.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for joining us.

We are out of time.

Thank you for having me.

When you hear the term derby hat, Kentucky women clad in colorful frocks and large headdresses may come to mind.

But there's a growing market for this style on the coast of Louisiana.

Jennifer Lofton and Carla Curiel created the brand chapeau to tackle the art of millinery with a Kentucky flair.

I sat down with both milliners as they explained the inspiration for their craft, a mixture of Southern charm and British practicality.

The Derby hat still stuns 149 years after its creation.

I'm wrong.

Let's start on the fast track.

There's an aunt to the derby hat.

It's a statement of your personality.

With lace silk.

Anything, really.

There's only one rule when designing your own.

Be creative.

No one knows that rule better than the women who founded Qipao.

Welcome.

Must be June.

I'm John Carlos.

Every time we're designing a piece, whether it's from our own inspiration or it's from a customer's inspiration that they've asked us to bring it to life.

Jennifer Lofton and Carla Coryell thought of the concept of Qipao after an annual trip to New York.

The Broadway plays and fashion exhibitions got them thinking What if?

What if they could create something as beautiful and moving as Moulin Rouge?

In about 30 minutes, the whole idea was fleshed out and our soft launch, our soft launch turned into a speeding train that has brought us here.

And now we're about two years in, two years in.

Okay, so this was two years in the making.

Where did you come up with the name?

What does it mean?

So chapeau is actually the French word for hat.

We thought it was perfect.

Know Here in Baton Rouge, especially, everyone likes to spell things like go tigers with EU X.

So Chapo captures the hat piece of our work.

But also, I feel like it really it really encapsulates our context here in the Baton Rouge and Louisiana area.

It also makes it sound very fancy.

And so Chapo was born first.

Carla and Jan started with making festive fascinators from materials like feathers and hot glue, the fun stuff.

But then the craft became more serious, sophisticated, and it attracted the clientele to match.

Carla says they made close to 250.

Has their opening year, and that was just for one event.

Did you think that chapel would grow to the size that it is now?

Not as quickly.

When we launched, you know, we said it'll take a few years.

We'll have a slow launch from day one.

Within a week we announced our launch maybe on a monday or Tuesday.

By Friday, we had an interview.

It never got slower.

It was more manageable.

They people at tea parties, weddings, birthday parties, or somebody might be having a white party, so they want a white fascinator to go with their outfit.

It's just nonstop.

Both Jen and Carla used Bailey and Silk imported from London to create a more upscale product attracting women from all over the country.

Even actual Kentuckians going to the Derby.

So we live here in Louisiana.

How many people pay attention to the Kentucky Derby?

And why did you think to include this in your brand?

Well, any time you're going to talk about hats, you're definitely going to think about the derby.

I feel like the derby is sort of the super Bowl of hats next to maybe Eastern Mother's Day.

Derby would probably be the Super Bowl of hats.

And you'd be surprised at how many people in Baton Rouge and Louisiana really are invested in the Derby as an event.

So there's charitable events that use the Derby as a theme on the actual derby day.

People have local derby parties with their friends and their neighborhoods and they get pieces from us.

And then also we've had by now, I think, close to 50 of our pieces have gone actually to Churchill Downs to be there for Derby weekend.

Each head can take anywhere from a few days or weeks to finish.

Hence why Carla and Jennifer take so much pride in each one.

So these are items that you really cannot get from vendors in the U.S.

So that's why for a custom piece, people typically order 4 to 6 weeks in advance.

So if we need to order materials that especially match their vision, we have time for those to come in.

All right.

And this one is very, very fancy.

We can have it makes me think of the royal wedding, something that Princess Beatrice would wear and and Carla designed this one.

It's extra special because the botanical piece is detachable.

Yes.

That's another thing that we really like to do.

A lot of is extra features that someone hasn't asked for, but they just bring our heart joy.

This hat business is taking off in directions Neither Jean or Carlo could have ever imagined, but this is only the beginning for them.

The sky is the limit.

I'm not sure what the future holds, but it's good, you know, both Loftin and Coryell.

So these hats, together with the best materials, and I was blown away by their skill level and their creativity.

Yeah.

The authenticity, that unique spin that they put on hats.

I love the Kentucky Derby style in the fashion.

Or as I say, we bring back stylish hats and in mainstream fashion, definitely, and with a Louisiana flair, just like they're doing.

Well done.

Well, that's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything Alpbach any time, wherever you are with our LBB 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 us on Facebook and Instagram for everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I'm Karen Lala and I'm Garrison Keillor.

Until next time.

That's the state we're in support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by Entergy.

Louisiana is strengthening our power grid throughout the state.

We're reinforcing infrastructure to prepare for stronger storms, produce outages, and respond quicker when you do need us.

Because together, we power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred V 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 by visit Baton Rouge and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.

Thank you.