U.S. Customs and Border Protection ramped up enforcement in the New Orleans area last week. Officials say the operation, known as “Catahoula Crunch,” aims to arrest 5,000 criminals who are in the country illegally.

Reporter for The Times-Picayune/The Advocate, Lara Nicholson, joins us with an update. 

The United Way of Southeast Louisiana is expanding its footprint of one-stop financial capability centers, called Prosperity Centers. They open in areas where more than half of parish households are facing financial hardship. The latest center opened this month in St. Bernard Parish and will offer an assortment of free, year-round financial services.

United Way CEO Michael Williamson joins us to discuss how the organization is addressing financial needs for low-income families.

An audit released this month finds that Louisiana ranks near the bottom among states and U.S. territories for the collection of child support payments. The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s review of the Child Support Enforcement Program run through the Department of Children and Family Services found the agency collected just over half of court-obligated payments last year. 

Editor for the Louisiana Illuminator, Greg LaRose, joins us with more on the results of the audit.

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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!

This is part 1 of a 2-part series exploring the future of farming seafood in the Gulf. Americans eat a lot of farmed seafood — but the vast majority of it comes from overseas. We just don’t farm fish on a big scale in U.S. waters. Now that might start to change. There are proposals to build massive fish farms in U.S. federal waters. And guess which coast is likely to be the first home for these new farms? You guessed it, the Gulf.

So is this a miracle cure or a looming ecological disaster?

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This series is produced in partnership with the Food and Environment Reporting Network. This episode was hosted by Carlyle Calhoun and Boyce Upholt. Boyce also reported this episode. Editing by Jack Rodolico. Carlyle Calhoun is the executive producer. The episode was fact-checked by Garrett Hazelwood. Our theme music is by Jon Batiste, and our sound designer is Emily Jankowski.

Voices featured at the top of the episode in order of appearance: Melvin Jackman in Newfoundland, Fay Orfanidou in Greece, Nick Underdown in Scotland, and Leticia Caro and Claudio Carocca in Chile.

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.

Conditions at an ICE processing center in Pine Prairie, Louisiana, are reported to have deteriorated over the past year. There are multiple reports of overcrowding, and a lack of beds, hygiene products and medical care at the Evangeline Parish facility.

Verite News’ Bobbie-Jeanne Misick joins us for more on these findings. 

Often, the conversation around childcare revolves around the high costs of enrollment, low wages for workers and barriers to access. But a new study by the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children offers insights into at-home childcare options that can support working or struggling families. The Louisiana Policy Institute for Children highlights the way that families and home-based care fill in the gaps in that system, and the struggles the people providing that care at home face.

Research and policy director at LPIC Mattilyn Karst Batson tells us more about the childcare alternatives.

Historic preservation and revitalization are two of the central values of the Louisiana Main Street organization. The program seeks to help communities develop sustainable strategies to preserve historic assets and stimulate economies.

The organization’s director, Ray Scriber, tells us more about the organization’s successes and its recent pivot to the Lafayette metro area.

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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!

Louisiana’s surgeon general has been critical of vaccines. Now, Dr. Ralph Abraham has a new job as the second-in-command at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

WWNO and WRKF’s Rosemary Westwood has spent the year reporting on Abraham’s leadership at the Louisiana Department of Health. She joins us for more on his appointment and why some doctors have been critical. 

The once-mundane process of college accreditation has become political, ever since the Trump administration began targeting universities’ diversity, equity and inclusion mandates. Now, six southern schools have formed their own accreditation agency rather than rely on the national model that has been around for decades. 

Reporter for Stateline Robbie Sequeira tells us more about the Trump administration’s ongoing influence in higher education.

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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!

Over the weekend, LSU announced that Lane Kiffin would take on the job of head football coach. This comes after a weekslong search following coach Brian Kelly's ouster earlier this season. Kiffin will come to LSU from Ole Miss, and the mid-season switch is already generating a strong reaction, with the New York Times dubbing the move an “all-time hypocrisy in college football.”

Koki Riley covers LSU baseball and football for the Baton Rouge Advocate. He joins us for more on Kiffin’s decision and Gov. Jeff Landry’s role in his hiring. 

A new study from Tulane University’s Newcomb Institute found that while rates of sexual and physical violence are down in Louisiana, more than half of adults in the state will experience violence in their lifetimes. 

Executive director of the Newcomb Institute, Anita Raj, joins us to break down the study. 

Nicholls State University has partnered with the Audubon Aquarium and the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program to launch the first-ever turtle hatchling initiative in Louisiana. The tiny terrapins will enjoy their new home at the Audubon Aquarium while they gain weight before being returned to a protected marsh. 

Tim Clay, associate professor of biology at Nicholls State University, tells us more about the program. 

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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!

After New Yorkers elected democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as their new mayor, Louisiana’s Economic Development (LED) forum took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal that said, “In Louisiana, we value capitalism, not socialism.” Gov. Jeff Landry was also on Fox News to promote the campaign to attract New York-based businesses to the state. 

Capitol Access reporter Brooke Thorington spoke to LED Secretary Susan Bourgeois about the advertisement.

Louisiana company NovaSpark Energy says it has developed the world’s first mobile atmospheric hydrogen generator. The machine uses electricity and air to produce hydrogen that can power energy-hungry devices, such as those used in the defense industry or in disaster recovery scenarios.

Now, NovaSpark Energy is partnering with another Louisiana-based company, Maven Scouts, and LSU’s FUEL Energy Institute to figure out how to commercialize this technology and employ veterans.

CEO of NovaSpark Energy, Rick Harlow, and founder and CEO of MavenScouts, Grant Rogers, join us for more.

In Baton Rouge, the charitable organization St. Vincent DePaul is offering a free Thanksgiving meal. It aims to give those who attend the feeling of a family sitting down for the holiday.

WRKF's Report for America corps member, Alex Cox, spoke with Sunnie Johnson-Laine, the CEO and president of the Baton Rouge St. Vincent DePaul, to talk about the significance of the day.

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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!

Last week, news broke that roughly 250 U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents were headed to south Louisiana for an operation dubbed “The Swamp Sweep.”  As agents aim to arrest close to 5,000 undocumented people, fear and concern are growing within immigrant communities, and among educators and advocates. 

To help us understand what’s ahead — and what rights people have — WWNO’s Sara Henegan spoke with Marco Balducci, an immigration attorney in New Orleans, and Laila Hlass, professor of Immigration Law at Tulane University.

Report cards are out for Louisiana’s public schools. The state’s overall score inched up again this year, and many schools earned higher grades. 

But that’s expected to change next year under the state’s new accountability system.

WWNO and WRKF’s education reporter, Aubri Juhasz, joins us to break down these findings.  

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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!

You’ve probably heard of Ruby Bridges, the first grader who helped desegregate New Orleans’ public schools in 1960.

But have you heard of the three other girls who desegregated another local elementary school that same morning? Aubri Juhasz takes us to that school — now a museum — where students are learning why the fight for equitable education isn’t over.

The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, has resigned. David Richardson only spent about six months in the position, and was known for being inaccessible during the early hours of the Texas flood disaster over the summer.

Sarah Labowitz, senior fellow in the Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, tells us more about what this means for the agency. 

The holidays are usually a season of joy — family gatherings, big meals and celebration. But for people in recovery, it can be one of the hardest times of the year. Stress, travel, financial pressure and constant social drinking all add up. Relapse rates spike between December and January.

Two people who know that struggle personally are Dan Forman and Chris Copeland. They’re both in long-term recovery and the co-founders of NOLA Detox, a New Orleans–based recovery center that’s reimagining what addiction treatment can look like. 

The Gulf States Newsroom’s Drew Hawkins sat down with them to discuss strategies to stay sober through the holidays, and what families can do to support struggling loved ones.

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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!

As AI technology gets bigger and bigger, so do data centers. Meta is building the largest data center in the world in a small Louisiana town. It’ll have a footprint nearly the size of Manhattan, and the construction has brought an onslaught of heavy traffic.

An investigation from the Gulf States Newsroom’s Drew Hawkins found that trucks contracted to work at the Meta facility are causing delays and dangerous roads for the people who live there.

There are few writers as closely associated with New Orleans as Anne Rice. Born and raised in the Irish Channel, Rice was famous for her Gothic fiction, notably The Vampire Chronicles. Throughout her career, she never forgot her New Orleans upbringing and Catholic roots, which played major roles in her writings. She died in 2021

Earlier this month, the Orpheum Theater honored her life with An All Saints Day Celebration. And the celebration will be broadcast worldwide this Thanksgiving on AnneRice.com.

Anne’s son, Christopher Rice, and friend, Eric Shaw Quinn, produced the event and documentary. They join us for more on Anne’s life and legacy.

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Alana Schreiber. 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 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!

Over 4000 anthropologists have descended on New Orleans for the American Anthropological Association’s annual meeting. They’re here to share their latest research, professionally develop and do a little networking. 

Their theme is Ghosts, thanks to New Orleans’ reputation as “the most haunted city in America.” Anthropologist and host of the podcast Sonic Anthropology Radio, Tom Miller, joins us with more. 

Each week, award-winning columnist Tammy C. Barney publishes a column in “Back in the Day,” a series from Verite News. She explores often-overlooked chapters in Louisiana history, including profiles on historical figures and deep dives into the state’s French and Spanish colonial history. 

Barney joins us now for more on her column with a historical bent, and her long and accomplished career in journalism. 

If preparations for your Thanksgiving dinner involve making reservations, reporter on food and lifestyle for the Times Picayune/The Advocate, Ian McNulty, has some advice. He joins us today with insights on dining out during the holidays.

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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!