Walk by any neighborhood park, and you’ll usually see some kids running around and playing. It’s supposed to be a place where they’re safe, but that’s not always true. At some parks, there’s a poison lurking in the soil:  lead. 

Verite News, a partner news outlet of WWNO and WRKF, tested sites across New Orleans. As health reporter Halle Parker explains, most playgrounds in the city had unsafe levels of lead.

The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane returns to The Crescent City March 12-15. The annual event will feature bestselling authors, filmmakers, politicians, musicians, TV personalities and more.

Cheryl Landrieu is a lawyer, author and founder of the book festival. She joins us for more on this year’s event. 

February — Black History Month — is the shortest month of the calendar year. But it is rich in African American cultural contributions and celebrations. Anthony Bean, Founder & Artistic Director of the Anthony Bean Community Theater & Acting School, is celebrating more than 50 years of Black Theatre rooted in New Orleans. 

Bean joins us to look back on the legacy he and his late Monroe began with the Ethiopian Theater in the 7th Ward to center Black artists and storytellers.

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Diane Mack. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber and our assistant producer is Aubry Procell. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.

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!

A new law that took effect Feb. 1st requires a camera to be in place in special education classrooms in all Louisiana public schools.  It expands on an existing law that required cameras in special education classrooms, but only if parents requested them. The new law followed an audit that found most special ed classes did not have cameras installed.

Safura Syed, a reporter for Verite News, has been covering this story. She joins us today with more.

Louisianans are no strangers to poor air quality, particularly for those who live in the state’s industrial corridor. Over the last few years, some residents began taking air quality into their own hands, tracking pollution with commercial air sensors. 

But now, these grassroots air monitoring efforts are under threat.

Illan Ireland is a reporter for the Mississippi Free Press who’s been covering this story. He joins us with the details. 

Since 1981, the Spanish Town Mardi Gras parade has rolled through the streets of Baton Rouge. As the largest parade in the city, it's known for its pink flamingo mascot and the saying “poor taste is better than no taste at all.” It rolls this year on Valentine's Day, Feb 14.

Robert King, president of the Mystic Krewe for the Preservation of Lagniappe (SPLL), joins us for more on the history of the parade and what to expect this year. 

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Karen Henderson. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. We receive production and technical support from Garrett Pittman, Adam Vos 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!

Elyse Stevens earned a reputation as a New Orleans doctor who provided flexible care. She sought out patients who were experiencing homelessness, had histories of addiction, or other issues, and aimed to provide them with treatment plans.

But in 2024, the treatment she had once been praised for was suddenly scrutinized by her supervisors. And Stevens eventually left the city of New Orleans, and her patients, behind.

KFF Health News reporter Aneri Pattani tells us more about Stevens' story and what it says about addiction treatment.

Between oil spills, land loss and other consequences of climate change, times haven't been easy for the small, largely indigenous town of Dulac. Thankfully, one resource has long helped keep the Terrebonne Parish town afloat — the Dulac Community Center. It served as a hub for emergency response during disasters and was also an important cultural resource for the Indigenous residents of the town.

But now, after almost a hundred years, the center is closing its doors. 

Coastal reporter Eva Tesfaye went down to Dulac to talk to board member Bette Billiot, along with former board member Kirby Verret. They discussed the center and what closing it means for the Native community.

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Alana Schreiber. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. Aubry Procell is our assistant producers. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon 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!

It’s Thursday, and that means it’s time to catch up on politics with The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate’s editorial director and columnist, Stephanie Grace. Today, she tells us what went down at D.C. Mardi Gras and how the election year changed the tone of the event. 

As we cocoon and try to keep warm in the winter months, our normal patterns of helping others typically drop off. And blood donations, like other critical needs, become short in supply.

Dr. Tim Peterson, Medical Director of The Blood Center in New Orleans, joins us for more on why it's important to donate during the colder season. 

Recently, the New Orleans Museum of Art unveiled its latest exhibit: “Hayward Oubre: Structural Integrity.” The exhibit features the sculptures created by Oubre, which he often created out of found objects like wire coat hangers or TV antennas. 

For more on this exhibition and what it tells us about American southern art in the 20th century, we’re joined by NOMA’s chief curator, Anne Collins Smith. 

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Bob Pavlovich. 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!

A Louisiana organization that examines how public policy decisions impact the care, education and development of our youngest children has developed a new interactive online tool. The tool shows how funding decisions at the parish level affect early childhood resources for infants and toddlers.

Mattilyn Karst Batson, policy & research director of the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, joins us for more on this new technology.  

Researchers at the LSU LCMC Health - Cancer Center and LSU Health New Orleans have published new insights into one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. They analyzed triple-negative breast cancer in 250 Louisiana patients and identified genetic markers and immune differences that may play a role in treatment and therapies. Researchers say their discoveries could lead to more personalized, more effective breast cancer treatment.

Dr. Lucio Miele, director at LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center, joins us now for more.

If you consider yourself a baker and you celebrate Mardi Gras, making a king cake is a rite of passage. And in New Orleans, where the dessert is practically sacred, the pressure is on to get it right and make it your own. 

Aubri Juhasz joined local culinary students for their first attempts.

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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!

A documentary by a New Orleans-based filmmaker was recently selected for screening at the Olympic Winter Games Cultural Olympiad and will be screened multiple times during the upcoming competitions in Milan. The film, “Unseen Olympiad,” focuses on young athletes with big dreams and unites competitors across nations. 

Filmmaker Casey Shaw tells us more about the film and its upcoming screenings.

The New Orleans premiere of “Fat Ham,” a reimagined take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is in its final days. The Pulitzer Prize-winning work by playwright James Ijames is being presented by The NOLA Project: Theatre for the Bold in conjunction with Dillard University.  

The NOLA Project’s artistic director, Tenaj Wallace, joins us for more.

The NFL announced there will be a game played in Paris, France, this year. This is the first time a regular-season game will be played there, and the New Orleans Saints will play in it. 

The Gulf States Newsroom’s Joseph King has more.

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Diane Mack. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber and our assistant producer is Aubry Procell. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.

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!

Louisiana’s parole rates have sunk to their lowest number in 20 years under Gov. Jeff Landry. This is perhaps the clearest example of the “tough on crime” agenda he campaigned on.

Richard Webster has been reporting on the plummeting parole numbers for Verite News and ProPublica. He joins us for more. 

A new exhibit at the West Baton Rouge Museum examines the lost burial grounds of enslaved people across West Baton Rouge Parish. It also tells the story of cemeteries in danger of becoming lost — due to nature or land development. 

For more on the exhibit “Gone But Not Forgotten: Black Cemeteries of West Baton Rouge,” we’re joined by genealogist and cemetery mapper, Debbie Martin, and museum curator Lauren Davis.

Tulane University biomedical engineering professor J. Quincy Brown has been named a 2025 fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) for his pioneering work in cancer imaging technologies.

His invention, MAGIC-SCAN, allows surgeons to confirm within minutes that all cancerous tissue has been removed during surgery.

J. Quincy Brown joins us for more on this advancement and his recognition. 

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Karen Henderson. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. We receive production and technical support from Garrett Pittman, Adam Vos 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!

State legislative sessions are well underway in both Mississippi and Alabama. In Mississippi, education has been a major subject of multiple bills that have passed the House, while in Alabama, immigration and social media are dominating much of the conversation. 

The Mississippi Free Press’ Heather Harrison and AL.com’s Mike Cason join us to break down the sessions.

Good fiction is often not too far removed from reality. Or at least that’s the case for New Orleans author Delaney Nolan. She’s also an investigative journalist, covering topics like heat death, pharmaceutical exploitation and coastal land loss, so she spent years reporting on the very systems of neglect and bureaucratic cruelty that drive her fiction.

Nolan’s first novel, “Happy Bad,” just came out.

The Gulf States Newsroom’s Drew Hawkins sat down with Nolan to discuss the book and how her journalism informs her fiction.

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

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon 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!

It’s Thursday, and that means it’s time for our week in Politics with The Times Picayune/New Orleans Advocate’s editorial director and columnist Stephanie Grace. Today, she joins us from Washington, D.C. to discuss Mardi Gras at the nation’s capital, and how Louisiana congresspeople missing their home state led to this new tradition.

Gov. Jeff Landry is unveiling what he's billed as a framework to better connect state agencies, utilities and the energy industry to Louisiana's economic development. It’s called the Whole of Louisiana Energy Strategy. The effort will be led by the development arm of Landry's administration (LED), and Landry says he wants to establish Louisiana as the 'industrial power leader' of the U.S. 

The Coastal Desk’s Michael McEwen has been going through the report. He joins us today for more.

Each February, we observe and celebrate the achievements of African Americans, recognizing their role in U.S. History. This year, Black History Month occurs a full century after the founding of Negro History Week by historian Carter G Woodson and other African Americans in 1926.

The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History sponsored the observance, choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. 

Joining us to talk about that anniversary is the president of Xavier University of Louisiana, Reynold Verret. 

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Bob Pavlovich. 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!

Earlier this month, an East Baton Rouge Parish judge denied the state of Louisiana’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit regarding gender affirming care. The plaintiffs — five minors and their parents — are challenging a 2023 law banning medical professionals from providing trans health care to minors. 

Drew Costley, reporter for Verite News, tells what comes next.

You’ve heard of spelling bees. But did you know that academic ‘bee’ competitions have expanded to include other areas of interest, like history bees, geography bees and science bees?

Now, local chambers of commerce across the U.S. are working to bring civics bees to middle school students nationwide. The St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce is bringing it to Louisiana.

Michelle Biggs, vice president of the St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce, tells us more about the civics bee headed to Louisiana.

Back in 2021, Hurricane Ida caused more than $65 billion worth of damage throughout Louisiana, including the destruction of many century-old buildings in New Orleans. One of those buildings was the old Karnofsky tailor shop on Rampart Street, where Louis Armstrong spent much of his childhood with the Jewish family that lived there.

WWNO’s Alana Schreiber paid a visit to the newly rebuilt structure, where architects from Studio West are working to restore the space and recognize its contributions to jazz history.

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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!