Today – Sept. 5, 2023 – marks 51 years since the massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics, when members of a Palestinian terrorist organization murdered 11 athletes competing for Israel. One of the victims was David Berger, a Jewish-American Tulane graduate who lived in New Orleans before moving to Israel, the country he would represent as a weightlifter on the world stage.

Lafayette attorney and Cajun historian Warren Perrin’s recent book, “The Weight of History, the Power of Apology,” chronicles his own weightlifting journey alongside that of Berger and Walter Imahara, a Japanese-American weightlifter who spent his youth in an internment camp before becoming a national champion. Perrin writes about their cultural differences, the ways they all understood oppression and trauma – and why it’s important to remember Berger today. 

Perrin spoke with Louisiana Considered’s managing producer, Alana Schreiber, about Berger’s legacy and the ways Berger’s life intersected with his own.

But first, the Musaica Chamber Ensemble is gearing up for its 18th season with an adventurous repertoire. Musaica president – and Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra assistant principal violist – Bruce Owen joins us with details about the group’s upcoming concerts. 

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 12 p.m. and 7:30 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 summertime. Most of us hope to spend time on the beach, or by a river, or a pool, and we thought we'd try to understand why? Why do we want to be by water, and why does it make us feel so good? And it’s not just us. Understanding how the power of water makes us healthier and happier is actually a growing field of research.

Today, we're diving into our human connection to oceans and how we can harness that love of water to help us protect the largest gulf in the world -- our own Gulf of Mexico.

Last week on Louisiana Considered, we heard from Wallace J. Nichols, author of the book “Blue Mind,” about how being around water changed us. Today, in part 2, we hear from deep sea explorer Mandy Joye about the wonders hidden in the Gulf of Mexico and what we can do to save them.

Today's episode was hosted by Carlyle Calhoun. Sea Change is distributed by PRX and is a part of the NPR Podcast Network.

Made possible with major support provided by the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. WWNO’s Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Greater New Orleans Foundation and the Meraux Foundation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Baton Rouge Police Department is under scrutiny after news broke of its so-called “Brave Cave,” a BRPD warehouse at police that was allegedly used as an unmonitored interrogation room. One BRPD officer resigned shortly after the facility’s existence was reported Tuesday. 

Lara Nicholson has been covering this story for the Baton Rouge Advocate and she joins us for more. 

Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Workplace Justice Project in New Orleans signed a memorandum supporting workers who are paid low wages in Louisiana. The organizations will now partner to train workers to identify and report labor violations. 

Luz Molina, director and clinical professor for the Workplace Justice Project, and Troy Mouton, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s New Orleans office, join us for more information on this new initiative.

Even though we’re in a drought, many Louisianans are still preparing for floods. For those who live along the coast and in floodplains, they’re asking the same old questions: ‘Do I stay or go?’ ‘Raise my home or find a place out of harm’s way?’

The Louisiana Watershed Initiative is not only encouraging residents in flood-prone areas to relocate, but actually helping them do so through home demolition and rebuilding projects. Pat Forbes, executive director of the Louisiana Office of Community Development, tells us more. 

Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Bob Pavlovich. 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 12:00 and 7:30 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.

Last week, a series of wildfires broke out in Beauregard Parish in southwestern Louisiana, near the Texas border. Several communities received evacuation orders and the parish sheriff’s office estimates that 40,000 acres have burned so far. According to the most recent reports from Wednesday August 30, the fire is 50 percent contained – but dry vegetation and high winds are beginning to push the flames east.

Mike Strain, Louisiana’s commissioner of agriculture and forestry, gives us the latest on the Tiger Island fire, which the states of Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma are teaming up to fight.

Council for a Better Louisiana recently released a suite of rankings and figures that measure the wellbeing of Louisianans. Known as the Louisiana Fact Book, the findings offer a collection of 35 indicators in five key areas of public policy, including education, the economy, and health.

The organization’s CEO and president, Barry Erwin, tells us more about these findings and why they are released during election years.

Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Adam Vos. 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 12:00 and 7:30 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.

In the final days of June, the federal Environmental Protection Agency suddenly closed what environmental advocates once hailed as a landmark civil rights investigation into Louisiana’s permitting process for industrial projects. The investigation’s abrupt closure came after months of negotiations between Louisiana’s Department of Environmental Quality and federal regulators. The year-plus investigation was closed without a resolution – and the EPA didn’t explain why. 

The Coastal Desk’s Halle Parker has been following up on the investigation and abrupt closure – and joins us today to talk about what she’s found.  

The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra opens its 33rd season with a new music director and conductor on the podium. Indiana native Matthew Kraemer will make his official debut when the LPO’s 2023-24 season begins in mid-September. Kraemer and orchestra executive director Anwar Nasir join us to talk about their vision for the ensemble in this upcoming season.

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 12 and 7:30 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.

Earlier this summer we spoke with Mark Raymond Jr., who has been fighting for more accessible buildings and services in New Orleans since a boating accident left him partially paralyzed in 2016. Raymond’s Split Second Foundation built New Orleans' first gym designed for people with disabilities. 

Now, he’s running the “Roll with Me” campaign, a program in which he invites local civic leaders to navigate their cities in wheelchairs. He hopes the effort will help them better understand the experiences of wheelchair users. He joins us for more on the project – and the message he is trying to send. 

Owen Tabor was 15 when he died by suicide in April. His family channeled their grief into a suicide prevention and awareness campaign. 

Owen’s parents, Jordan and Lisa Tabor, join us to discuss their foundation, Rain Will Bring Flowers, and their mission to de-stigmatize mental health. Baton Rouge licensed clinical social worker Robyn Gilmore joins the conversation to share resources available to Louisianans struggling with mental health needs.

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

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

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12:00 and 7:30 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 summertime. Most of us hope to spend time on the beach, or by a river, or a pool, and we thought we'd try to understand why? Why do we want to be by water, and why does it make us feel so good? And it’s not just us. Understanding how the power of water makes us healthier and happier is actually a growing field of research.

Today, we're diving into our human connection to oceans and how we can harness that love of water to help us protect the largest gulf in the world -- our own Gulf of Mexico. We talk with Wallace J. Nichols, author of the book “Blue Mind,” about how being around water changed us, and then we talk with deep sea explorer Mandy Joye about the wonders hidden in the Gulf of Mexico and what we can do to save them.

Today's episode was hosted by Carlyle Calhoun. Sea Change is distributed by PRX and is a part of the NPR Podcast Network.

Made possible with major support provided by the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. WWNO’s Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Greater New Orleans Foundation and the Meraux Foundation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last year, the state of Louisiana moved dozens of incarcerated children to an old death row facility at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, the largest maximum security prison in the country. Advocates say the kids — mostly Black youth — are suffering from isolation and extreme heat. And at a recent hearing in Baton Rouge, civil rights lawyers asked a federal judge to take emergency action to remove them from the facility. 

Bobbi-Jeane Misick, a reporter for Verite, has been following the situation, and sat down with the Gulf States Newsroom’s Drew Hawkins to discuss the hearing.

As efforts continue to remove teenagers from Angola, a new study shows minors incarcerated in adult correctional facilities have an increased risk of early death between the ages of 18-39.

Joseph Nedelec co-authored the study and is a professor at the University of Cincinnati. He joins us to discuss his research and what it reveals about the psychological health of youth held in adult detention.

But first, it’s Thursday, which means it’s time to catch up on this week in politics with The Times-Picayune | The Advocate's editorial director and columnist, Stephanie Grace. Today we hear what new polling reveals about voters’ opinions on the upcoming governor’s election.

Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Bob Pavlovich. 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 12:00 and 7:30 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.

It’s not easy to picture what’s in the air we breathe. But earlier this month, a researcher debuted a new tool that could help visualize pollution in the Gulf South region. The Coastal Desk’s Halle Parker tells us how some environmental groups are already using the new device.

Baton Rouge’s Tigerland district, near Louisiana State University, is a popular after-hours hangout for college students, when the bars fill up and the beverages flow freely. But after her friend was hit by a car while crossing the street there, LSU student Taylor Lasorsa envisioned a neighborhood that is safer and more pedestrian-friendly. 

She tells us about her vision for the district, which was part of her senior capstone project at LSU’s Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture. She recently presented the proposal to city officials. 

Back in 2019, Baton Rouge named its first poet laureate – and just last week, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome revealed this year’s honoree: Taylor Scott, a professor at Southern University. She joins us to discuss her work and the importance of teaching literature.

Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Adam Vos. 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 12:00 and 7:30 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.

This month marks 18 years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the southeastern United States, uprooting the lives of many who lived in New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf states. It took the storm only a matter of days to wreak havoc on the region. But it took – and continues to take – years to repair all of the damage, which is just as much emotional and psychological as it is physical. 

In his new book, “Connecting After Chaos,” Tulane professor Stephen Ostertag writes about the ways many New Orleanians turned to social media to cope with the aftermath of the storm. He joins us for more on the book, and what he learned in his decade of research leading up to its release. 

The Louisiana governor’s race is heating up, so we thought now would be a good time to revisit a story on P.B.S. Pinchback, who became the first Black governor of Louisiana – and in the country – over 150 years ago. 

In December, Louisiana Considered managing producer Alana Schreiber spoke with Joseph Dawson, a retired history professor from Texas A & M University and editor of the book, “The Louisiana Governors: From Iberville to Edwards.” Today, we give their conversation about Pinchback’s life and legacy a second listen.

The cost of – and the demand for – diapers shot up during the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbating the “diaper divide.”  For the Gulf States Newsroom, Maya Miller reports on a medical supply company’s efforts to tackle this problem by pushing to eliminate the sales tax on diapers.

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 12 and 7:30 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.