Louisiana Considered Podcast WWNO/WRKF Newsroom

Extremely active. Those are the words used by scientists to describe forecasts for the 2024 hurricane season. Researchers at Colorado State University estimate that this year’s Atlantic season could see 23 named storms, the highest on record. Other forecasts also predict high numbers of storms. 

To help us better understand why forecasts are so high, we’re joined by Jay Grymes, Louisiana’s interim state climatologist and meteorologist at WAFB in Baton Rouge. 

Climate change is affecting all of our lives, but it’s also affecting the dead. Louisiana has been dealing with flooded cemeteries and caskets washing away for decades.

But the problem is only getting worse and more widespread. Many other states are now grappling with hurricanes, flooding, mudslides and other natural disasters that are destroying cemeteries.

And some are looking to Louisiana for help. Eva Tesfaye, reporter with the Coastal Desk reports in collaboration with Science Friday.

New Orleans Ballet Theatre presents a world premiere of Dracula as it closes its 2024 season. 

This new ballet, a reimagined  presentation inspired by Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale, is a dance created by resident choreographer Oliver Halkowich who joins the show to discuss the performance. 

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Matt Bloom. Our managing producer is Alana Schrieber. Matt Bloom and Aubry Procell are assistant producers. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12 and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts. 

Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.

Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!


See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A federal court has thrown out Louisiana’s new congressional district map. Judges ruled last week in favor of a complaint that stated the 6th District was drawn with the racial makeup of voters as the main motivator. The district was set to become the state’s second majority-Black district. 

To help us understand the ruling and what happens next, we’re joined by Piper Hutchinson, a reporter with the Louisiana Illuminator. 

NPR’s Tiny Desk has a new series host and producer, Bobby Carter. A St. Louis native, Carter’s public radio journey started in the South at Jackson State University. 

The Gulf States Newsroom’s Maya Miller recently sat down with Carter to talk about bridging the gap between music and news and his advice for young people hoping to become journalists.

Louisiana has been dubbed the  "sportsman's paradise" for its regions that present world class hunting and fishing. A new state website hopes to also brand it as a paradise for bird watchers. 

The state is located along one of the primary migration routes in North America, the Mississippi Flyway, and offers opportunities to see over 470 unique species. 

For more insight, we’re joined by David Booth, president of the Louisiana Ornithological Society.  

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Matt Bloom. Our managing producer is Alana Schrieber. Matt Bloom and Aubry Procell are assistant producers. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12 and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts. 

Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.

Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s Thursday, which means it’s time to catch up on the week in politics with Stephanie Grace, editorial director and columnist with the Times Picayune/The Advocate.

This week, we’ll be discussing the status of a potential constitutional convention in Baton Rouge this summer. 

Protests against Israel’s war in Gaza continued this week on many college campuses, including some in South Louisiana. 

Tulane University closed parts of campus and suspended several students after demonstrators set up an encampment on Monday. 

Protests off campuses have been happening, too. New Orleans police arrested multiple people in Jackson Square when they refused to leave the park after hours.

Drew Hawkins, reporter for the Gulf States Newsroom, and Matt Bloom, producer with Louisiana Considered, discuss their coverage.

Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans and Ochsner Health announced earlier this week that they will create the first historically Black college and university medical school in the Gulf South. 

Reynold Verret, president of Xavier, joins the show to share more about the plan. 

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Bob Pavlovich. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber; our contributing producers are Matt Bloom and Adam Vos; we receive production and technical support from Garrett Pittman and our assistant producer, Aubry Procell.

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12:00 and 7:00 pm. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play, and wherever you get your podcasts. 

Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.

Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A multi-year fight to form a new city out of an unincorporated suburban portion of southeastern East Baton Rouge Parish culminated last week with a Louisiana Supreme Court decision. Justices ruled in favor of the organizers working to incorporate the city of St. George. 

The court ruled against objections by East Baton Rouge officials, which had claimed the incorporation was “unreasonable,” that St. George couldn’t provide city services with a balanced budget and that the loss of tax revenues would hurt the city-parish. 

St. George organizers want to keep the area’s tax money within their own portion of the parish. The effort to incorporate sprouted from a desire to create a new breakaway school district more than a decade ago. 

To talk us through what led to this and where the city of St. George will go from here, we speak with Lara Nicholson, Baton Rouge city hall reporter for The Advocate/Times Picayune.

One of the most expensive parts of your water bill can be the sewage fees. That can be frustrating, especially when you don’t have a sewer.

That’s the case for our latest Utility Bill of the Month. Stephan Bisaha, reporter with the Gulf States Newsroom, went to a New Orleans community garden that has been fighting for years to fix their bills.

The Louisiana state legislature is considering multiple bills that would increase the number of political appointments the governor could make to various boards and commissions. The legislation would make an already-powerful governor even more powerful. One bill, if approved by voters, would let the governor appoint all state supreme court justices and would concurrently expand the state’s highest court by two seats, from seven to nine justices, making Louisiana’s supreme court among the largest state supreme courts in the nation. 

To explain what this legislation could do and what the chances are these proposals will survive the legislative process, we speak with Barry Erwin, president and CEO of Council for a Better Louisiana.

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Adam Vos. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber; our contributing producers are Matt Bloom and Adam Vos; we receive production and technical support from Garrett Pittman and our assistant producer, Aubry Procell.

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12:00 and 7:00 pm. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play, and wherever you get your podcasts. 

Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.

Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Abortion care is about to get even more difficult to access for people across the Gulf South when a new ban takes effect in Florida on May 1. 

The ban outlaws nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which is often before many people know they’re pregnant.

Rosemary Westwood, WWNO/WRKF reproductive health reporter, has more on  how abortion access is about to get even more difficult.

The busiest part of a highway is usually the cars driving on the road. But in one part of New Orleans, there’s a lot happening underneath the street.

The new Backatown Plaza recently opened in the city’s Treme neighborhood, directly underneath the Claiborne Expressway. The space is now a community event center, designed to connect a neighborhood that was fractured by the expressway’s construction in the 1960’s. 

Josie Abugov, reporter with Verite News, recently covered theplaza’s opening and joins us for more. 

The second weekend of the 53rd annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival kicks off later this week and an iconic girl group, The Dixie Cups, are the focus of the festival’s official poster. The trios 1964 hit “Chapel of Love” knocked the Beatles out of the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100. 

Kellie Talbot, the poster’s artist, joins us to talk about her work. 

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Diane Mack. Our managing producer is Alana Schrieber. Matt Bloom and Aubry Procell are assistant producers. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12 and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts. 

Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.

Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!


See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Louisiana is facing a Black infant and maternal mortality crisis.  Black infants in Louisiana are more than three times as likely to die from premature birth as white infants and Black mothers are more than twice as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as their white counterparts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, .

Legislation before the Legislature this session seeks to address this crisis. Advocate groups and survivors have been sharing their concerns at the Capitol as lawmakers hear proposed bills.  

Frankie Robertson, a consultant with the Amandla Group, joins us for more on potential solutions.

The legendary Dew Drop Inn has reopened its doors. The two-story music venue in New Orleans drew huge crowds in the 1950’s and 60’s, when it was a safe haven for Black performers during Jim Crow segregation. 

Musical greats including Ray Charles, Etta James and Aretha Franklin performed and stayed at the Dew Drop in its heyday.

Dew Drop closed down after Hurricane Katrina, when it suffered major damage. With the venue finally back open, reporter Matt Bloom takes us there to listen to some music.

Passover wraps up Tuesday at sundown. The holiday celebrates Jewish liberation from slavery in Egypt. This year, many Jews have grappled with how to celebrate the holiday amid Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza. Last week, one Jewish community group in New Orleans held a “liberation Seder,” or ceremonial dinner outside on X street.

Drew Hawkins, with the Gulf States Newsroom, was there and brings us a non-narrated piece.

The New Orleans chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, a grassroots organization that advocates for Palestinian freedom, organized the event. 

Rory Michelen, a New Orleans resident and membership manager for the group, and Marlana Fireman, a student at the University of New Orleans and member, tell us more about the action.

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Karen Henderson. Our managing producer is Alana Schrieber. Matt Bloom and Aubry Procell are assistant producers. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12 and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts. 

Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.

Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.