Last month, President Donald Trump’s administration slashed funding for the CDC’s HIV prevention programs. Administrators of similar programs in Louisiana — which has one of the highest rates of HIV per capita of any U.S. state — are bracing for the loss of federal grants too. Public health reporter Rosemary Westwood tells us what they’re doing to prepare for the loss of funding.

Also at the direction of the Trump administration, the National Endowment for the Humanities this month abruptly cancelled millions of dollars in disbursements for grants that had already been awarded. The NEH helps fund museums, archives, literary festivals, historic preservation and more.

A little less than half of NEH funds go directly to state-level endowments, like the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. LEH Executive Director and President Miranda Restovic discusses what these cuts mean for Louisiana.

A new technology competition is coming to Baton Rouge this June. The Nexus Technology Cup will award more than $100,000 to aspiring inventors and entrepreneurs. Tony Zanders, CEO of Nexus Louisiana, joins us for more on the competition.

—

Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Adam Vos. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. We get production support from Garrett Pittman and our assistant producer Aubry Procell.

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, the NPR App 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!