Louisiana Considered

When Hurricane Katrina happened 20 years ago, 4-year-old Nigel Tapp evacuated from the Lower Ninth Ward to Montclair, New Jersey – the hometown of managing producer Alana Schreiber. When his pre-K classmates learned that his family had lost their house to the storm, they wrote a book and sold it to raise money. 

Twenty years after Katrina – and the publication of “Nigel and the Hurricane,” Schreiber reunited Nigel with his classmates and the pre-K teacher who started it all.

Check out the full story here.

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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!

When Hurricane Katrina made landfall 20 years ago, New Orleans East was especially hard hit. This part of the city is home to a large Vietnamese population, many of whom had experienced fleeing their home in the aftermath of the Fall of Saigon. 

Yet the Vietnamese community bounced back, in larger numbers, and at a faster rate than many other enclaves. 

Cyndi Nguyen is a New Orleans East resident and former city council woman who currently serves as the community outreach strategist for New Orleans Regional Transit Authority.  She tells us more about how this community recovered.

In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, thousands of displaced people were looking for their missing relatives. Queries popped up on various websites, like Craigslist and Yahoo, but the posts were too scattered to be useful.

That’s when a group of tech-savvy volunteers came in, led by David Geilhufe. They compiled the information to create one centralized database to find the missing, called PeopleFinder. 

David joins us from California to discuss PeopleFinder and his work in the aftermath of the storm.

Many people displaced from Hurricane Katrina came to Baton Rouge en masse. Faith groups of all kinds took the call to help their needs both spiritually and physically. 

Report for America corps member Alex Cox spoke with retired interfaith federation executive director Reverend Robin McCullough-Bade about how Katrina weighs on people’s spirits to this day. 

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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!

When Hurricane Katrina made landfall 20 years ago, many residents were looking to find their way out of New Orleans, but journalists were descending upon the city looking for a way in. In the days and weeks that followed, the country was overwhelmed with a variety of media narratives, as journalists worked to report honestly on the situation without ignoring the fear and desperation they saw. For many, they had to toe the line between telling the story and getting involved in the story. 

Jeré Longman, a longtime New York Times sports reporter now on the Obituaries Desk,

and former WWL-TV anchor, Thanh Truong, tell us about their experiences covering Katrina. They’re joined by poet Shelton Shakespeare Alexander, who brought his camera to the Superdome when he evacuated, and sought to share the story from the inside. 

Media coverage in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has been criticized for amplifying rumors and spreading misinformation. Journalists in and from New Orleans – like some of the ones we heard from – worked to cut through the confusion. 

The Gulf States Newsroom’s Drew Hawkins reports on how smaller, local publications also played a role in keeping the city afloat.

This year, Be Loud Studios launched Born After the Storm, an audio storytelling project that brings youth – who were not alive for Hurricane Katrina – into the citywide conversation about the legacy of the storm. The stories will also anchor a new classroom curriculum that allows students to discuss the impacts of Katrina.

Today, we’ll hear from two of those storytellers. 12th graders Joi Metoyer and Mai Smith share how Katrina has impacted their families and their lives.

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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!

After Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans 20 years ago, public education in the city came to a complete stop. And when schools reopened, many of the city's educators didn't get their jobs back. Instead, they were replaced with young people who were new to teaching and new to New Orleans.

Education reporter Aubri Juhasz spoke with two teachers on opposite sides of that divide.

While all New Orleans public schools were forced into this all-charter system, the ways in which the schools bounced back were uneven. And some schools were dramatically different than they had been in the pre-storm years.

Marta Jewson, reporter for The Lens Nola, profiled one such school, John McDonough High from its integration in 1967 – seven years after the first New Orleans Schools were integrated – to its role as an elementary charter school today. She joins us now for more. 

Because it’s been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina, that means there are plenty of young people throughout the city who have no memory of the storm – they weren’t around yet. But many of them can still feel the weight of this tragedy, and have grown up hearing stories about how the storm impacted their friends, family and community.

The storytelling organization Be Loud Studios has recently launched a new curriculum, Born After the Storm, that gives teachers a way to discuss Hurricane Katrina with their students. Be Loud’s executive director Alex Owens tells us 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!

Hurricane Katrina destroyed an estimated 320 million trees in the Gulf Coast. This was not only a dramatic shift in the look of the landscape, but left the region more vulnerable to further disasters without the trees to absorb carbon and intercept stormwater.

Over the last 20 years, NOLA Tree Project has planted tens of thousands of trees to help rebuild New Orleans’ canopy. Executive director Connie Uddo joins us to talk about the project. .

Climate change is making hurricanes stronger than before. Five years ago, the Federal Emergency Management Agency started a program to fund projects that help prevent damage from disasters, before they happen. Louisiana was supposed to receive more than $720million dollars. Then the Trump administration cancelled the program.

The Coastal Desk’s Eva Tesfaye reports on what that means for New Orleans’ preparedness for future storms.

We can’t talk about Hurricane Katrina recovery without discussing Sankofa Community Development Corporation. The organization was founded and supported by Lower Ninth Ward residents and focuses on wetlands restoration, farming and health.

Founder and CEO of Sankofa CDC, Rashida Ferdianand, tells us how the organization is expanding to focus on economic advancement, workforce development and investing in the neighborhood’s overall future and sustainability.

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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!

Two decades after Hurricane Katrina and its devastating aftermath reshaped New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, we gathered to remember all that was lost, reflect on the lessons learned, and pay tribute to all the good that has been done in the two decades since. And, we look to the future: where do we go from here, and how can this region not just survive but thrive?

Renowned jazz musician Dr. Michael White performs original music written in response to Katrina and reflects on connections between recovering from the tragedy and the city's jazz culture. (Dr. White on clarinet, Mitchell Claire on bass, and Sevva Bennet on banjo.)

And we are joined by an esteemed panel:

Troy Carter - US Congressman. He was previously a member of the Louisiana State Senate, served on the New Orleans City Council, and was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives.

Colette Pichon Battle - Lawyer and Climate Justice Organizer. She's the vision and initiatives partner for Taproot Earth, a frontline organizing project working across the Gulf and Global South.

David Waggonner -Architect and founder of Waggonner and Ball, an award-winning, internationally active architecture and environment practice located in New Orleans.

Josh Lewis - Scientist and Schwartz Professor of River and Coastal Studies at the Tulane Bywater Institute.

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Sea Change is a WWNO and WRKF production. We are part of the NPR Podcast Network and distributed by PRX. Sea Change is made possible with major support from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Sea Change is also supported by the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans. WWNO’s Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Meraux Foundation, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation.

The Katrina 20 Local Planning Committee is commemorating Hurricane Katrina with performances, art and more, throughout the city, stretching to Mississippi and Alabama.

The Coastal Desk’s Eva Tesfaye spoke with Asali deVan Ecclesiastes, executive director of the Ashé Cultural Arts Center, to learn more about the events and how you can get involved. 

For months, the Trump administration has been cutting funding for university-based scientific research across the nation. But the Louisiana Biomedical Research Network recently logged a ‘win’with the renewal of one of its grants from the National Institute of Health–$20 million spread out over five years.

Dr. Konstantin "Gus" Kousoulas, a professor and department head in the LSU School Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Pathobiological Sciences and director of their Division of Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine, joined us to discuss the grant and how it will be used.

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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!

MakeGood is a New Orleans-based nonprofit that creates custom-designed, 3D-printed prosthetics for people with disabilities and limb differences. We speak with Noam Platt, the organization’s founder, and James Robert III, director of advanced fabrication, about how the group works directly with people to design devices tailored to their needs.

Next week, more than 75 young New Orleans actors will commemorate the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with “504: The Hip-Hop Musical,”  a production by the Anthony Bean Community Theater and Acting School. The one-night-only performance will take place on Saturday, Aug. 30. ABCT founder and artistic director Anthony Bean and actor Jordan Bates join us with the details.

A “zine” is a folded piece of paper showing off someone’s art or writing that can be found at libraries or purchased at gatherings. The medium has long been associated with countercultural movements. Report for America corps member Alex Cox visited a Baton Rouge Zinefest and found works on everything from trans joy to how the CIA used abstract expressionist art as a cultural weapon.

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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!

It’s been nearly 20 years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall, destroying countless communities in its wake. One neighborhood that suffered the wrath of the storm and never fully recovered is the Desire Area in the Upper Ninth Ward. 

Back in 2018, NPR’s Laine Kaplan Levinson reported on the history of this neighborhood and misconceptions about an area known for its public housing. Today, we give that story a second listen.

WWNO and WRKF have partnered with the producers of the PBS documentary, Caregiving, to shine a spotlight on America’s caregiving crisis. We talked to people in south Louisiana about the unique challenges the region brings when caring for others.

Today, we hear from Barbara Youngblood, a dedicated caregiver for her community and family for over 20 years. Now that she is the recipient of caregiving, she has seen the process from both sides of the relationship and considers the lessons she has learned.

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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 to catch up on politics with The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate’s editorial director and columnist, Stephanie Grace. Today we hear about the latest polls, dropouts and endorsements in New Orleans’ mayor’s race.

At the end of July, Jefferson Parish lost its bond rating. It wasn’t downgraded or reduced – it was lost completely, pulled by Moody’s and S&S Global Ratings. 

The Times Picayune/New Orleans Advocate’s Lara Nicholson has been covering this story. She joins us to discuss the impact of this loss and more. 

As the Trump administration continues to diminish or halt renewable energy initiatives, one wind energy technology program in Louisiana is notching early success. The Nunez Community College’s Wind Energy Technology is getting students involved with the Gulf Wind Technology.

The program’s chair, Kat Bell, and student John Tsai join us to share more about the projects. 

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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!