Tuesday’s 9.5 inches of snow not only shut down South Louisiana for most of the week, the blizzard also underlined the fact that increasingly volatile weather occurrences – from hurricanes to tornadoes to floods –have consistently robbed school children of necessary days in the classroom, almost on a yearly basis.   Hy and Christopher propose a solution on this week’s edition of the Founders Show.
While current Orleans Parish charter school schedules have slowly, year after year, edged earlier, with students often coming to the class on or about the 5th or 6th of August, schools in other parts of the state (and much of the private system) continue in the trend of the last 40 years, starting near the middle of August.
Some claim that one of OPSB’s boost in test scores over the past decade has come about, in part, due to school sessions beginning at an earlier date. Weather was not the original motivation. Part of the reason for the shift to earlier in August by Orleans charter schools tended to deal with a real local problem, many parents had previously not thought that their children needed to be enrolled until after Labor Day. By starting near the beginning of August, that negative tradition has ameliorated somewhat.
Truant September starts might decline even further if schools would commence on about August 1throughout Louisiana. Children missing a whole month of school stands as a delay even the most reticent of parents can’t justify. Moreover, the impact of weather-related events suggests that school sessions should begin as early in August as possible, to make up for the likely loss of days that could become a common occurrence year after year thanks to climate change.
Louisiana school children no longer miss just a day in the classroom because of the weather. Increasingly losing an entire week has become common place – as the Jan. 21-24 snow event demonstrated – and as increasingly intense hurricanes are closing down the state every two to three years for several days. Beginning the school year on August 1 comes with a fiscal cost, undoubtedly, in higher teacher pay and adjustments on union contracts. Still, with a finite number of classroom hours until the all important high stakes testing of LEAP (and the associated advancement exams), students missing a week of education can make all the difference between passage and failure.
Legislators should take action in the April 2025 Regular Session to mandate that weather events will never deny our children the minimum number of school days to succeed.
Hy and Christopher go on to talk about the impact of Trump’s first days in Washington, Mike Johnson’s challenge in passing tax cut extensions, and a new scam plaguing the people of New Orleans.  Men impersonating Orleans Parish sheriff’s officers call, unsuspecting people, and say that there’s a warrant out for their arrest. After an extended period of time on the phone, where they encourage people to come in to the police station to deal with these warrants, they ask for money to be wired for a bail bond.

This week, while the nation focuses upon the second inaugural of Donald J. Trump on Monday, January 20, 2025 (ironically also the Martin Luther King holiday), the Louisiana political world will be focused on the following four-day weekend in the nation’s capitol.   Hy and Christopher talk about the major event and even go into how Opera influenced Mardi Gras— a major theme of the first event of Washington Mardi Gras.

Washington Mardi Gras may have begun 76 years ago as means for homesick Pelican State congressional staffers to throw themselves a Carnival Ball, yet from Thursday, January 23 to Sunday, January 26 the entire Louisiana political establishment will descend upon the Washington Hilton for a series of receptions so grand and well-funded that the main event of the Ball Saturday night almost feels like an afterthought.

Interest groups have good reasons to put on a cavalcade of parties and mixers, one after another, as every elected official in Louisiana is invited each year to the Ball, and as such, a good party allows facetime with a Parish President, Legislator, or member of Congress, all at the same time. Over 2000 Louisianas attend. Interestingly, this year, thanks to Louisiana’s GOP bent, many of the attendees will come for Trump’s inauguration and stay the week, with extends the parties to Wednesday night—where Gov. Jeff Landry will be feted with a major fundraiser.

Still, Washington Mardi Gras is supposed to stand as a non-partisan event.   New Orleans Democratic Congressman Troy Carter serves as the 2025 Chairman of the Ball Committee, and the various events welcome politicians and their staffs from both sides of the aisle.   This year’s King is Hispanic (Rico Alvendia, a decorated Iraq War vet, West Point grad, and founder of the Krewe of Mars) and Queen is African-American (Kendall Williams, a college student and noted civic volunteer who also founded the ‘Diversity Club’ at Louise McGehee School).

Even the events betray a non-partisan gist.  Thursday kicks off with the New Orleans Opera Association’s fundraiser/concert at the James Beard-award winning Equinox Restaurant from 11:30-2 pm with a Franco-Creole luncheon and a performance by LA-born Metropolitan Opera star Cadie J. Bryan (NOOA’s Susanna in 2023 Le nozze di Figaro) at $350 per person and honoring Opera-supporter LA PSC Commissioner Eric Skrmetta.

That is followed by 'economic development' lunches hosted by “Elevate Louisiana” and “Louisiana Alive”, invitation-only dinners for politicians and their supporters Thursday evening, the Chamber’s luncheon on Friday, then an endless number of private receptions in the Washington Hilton that afternoon, evening, and throughout the day Saturday.  The Ball is Saturday night at the same hotel, and JEDCO underwrites the breakfast-goodbye Sunday morning.

It is not an accident that the bar at the Hilton is draped with a banner reading “Welcome to the 65th Parish”.  It is the center of the political year for interest groups, a series of parties with the purpose of kicking off the legislative session, the state’s priorities in the next Congress, and the simple act of asking every politician necessary for support on a particular issue—when they are assembled in the same place, and unusually pliable after days of libations.

The fact that key political players from other states now clamor to attend the receptions and Ball underpins Louisiana’s growing Congressional power.   Steve Scalise is a long-time member of the Mystic Krewe of Louisianans, and he and Mike Johnson attend multiple events yearly. They draw fellow members of the leadership to the parties.   So does Troy Carter, who often is able to convince his fellow Democrats (sometimes including his one-time fraternity brother Hakeem Jeffries) to come by for a drink, food, or a second-line.   In other words, as the new Trump Administration comes to power, the Pelican State reminds all of Washington that week who is in control at the other side of Pennsylvania Ave.—and our tribunes in DC do it in the most Louisiana way; throw a party.

Modern Mardi Gras was Born Though Opera

Many know New Orleans as “America’s First City of Opera”.  After all, the performance of Sylvain in 1796 constituted the first staged opera in current boundaries of the United States.  Moreover, New Orleans would host the North American premieres works by European master composers such as Verdi, Rossini, and Bellini from 1830 to 1912, with dozens of major operas first presented to US audiences in the Crescent City.

Less well known was that French Opera House –Théâtre de l'Opéra– served as the center of New Orleans Carnival from 1859 until 1919 (when it was destroyed by fire).  Parading Krewes like Comus, Momus, Proteus, and Rex and society balls such as Nereus, Athenians, and Atlanteans all would meet at the French Opera House for their revels—which always included an operatic performance as part of their tableau.

Going to the carnival ball and going to the opera stood as almost synonymous terms, and many of the traditions associated with the formal pageantry of carnival—from the presentation of the king and the court, to the “casting” members— were adapted by New Orleanians from the pageantry of European Royal Court Operas (dating from as early as the 1500s) which they learned about from the opera performers themselves.

At the French Opera House, New Orleanians took the idea of a Carnival Masque Ball and built modern Mardi Gras out of it. That carnival tradition and legacy of 19th Century Grand Opera in the Crescent City have inspired the New Orleans Opera Association since its founding in 1943. NOOA’s H. Lloyd Hawkins Scenic Studio continues to outfit Mardi Gras balls and parades—along with the theatrical sets that it provides to productions in 35 states and three Canadian provinces each year.  This scene shop has now trained four generations of set designers, carpenters, and electricians, who have gone on to become some of the most noted names in New Orleans Carnival design as well as the world of opera staging.

NOOA has also consistently served as the leading presenting organization for opera in the Gulf South with Mario Lanza, Luciano Pavarotti and Beverly Sills all gracing our stage. Placido Domingo began his professional career in New Orleans at the age of 21.  The relatively unknown talent from Mexico sung Arturo in Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” and returned in 2006 for “A Night for New Orleans”,  first opera performance in the Crescent City since Hurricane Katrina. The famed tenor came again with great fanfare in 2012 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his first performance. Dozens of national and international stars commenced their careers in the Crescent City—with DC Mardi Gras’ performer, international Opera star Cadie J. Bryan, serving as a perfect example of the classical talent launched by the New Orleans Opera.

Christopher concludes the show talking about the similarities in the foreign policy of Obama and Trump, and the differences both good and bad that both men have with Joseph Biden.

Hy and Christopher are joined by the Rev. Byron Clay for the first segment. The famed civil rights leader and former head of the national Southern Christian Leadership Conference will be the keynote speaker for the MLK festivities and march in St. John Parish. He speaks about the need for love as an antidote to our broken politics, and emphasizes that the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King remain as relevant today as they ever were. He speaks about his relationship with the King family, and the importance of the holiday. The rally is at 9:00 AM on the MLK Holiday at the Percy Hebert Bldg., 1801 W. Airline Hwy., LaPlace.

In the second segment, Hy and Christopher urge our listeners to “ Save the Louisiana Live Performance Tax Credits”. Due to expire in 2025, they constitute almost quarter of the operating revenue of the New Orleans Opera, the LPO, and several other local artistic institutions.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, one of the few serendipities was a cavalcade of new economic development ideas.  Few came to fruition, but one, co-originated by Roger Wilson and Christopher Tidmore passed through the legislature through the tireless efforts of Bill Hines and the late David Voelker.  It extended the movie tax credits to live, legitimate theatre.  The idea was to create a live performance nexus in New Orleans and throughout the state in theater and live music, featuring our homegrown talent. Since the tax credit only began with productions of over $100,000 in revenue, it sought to create a large performance market where one effectively barely existed, and 50% of the credits were reserved for nonprofits, so that most of the money stayed at home— a protection that never existed in the creation of the film credits.

By midsummer 2025, these live performance credits are scheduled to expire, and without a major legislative initiative to renew them, the financial damage to storied institutions like the New Orleans Opera and the Louisiana Philharmonic could be catastrophic.

These tax credits are designed to encourage large productions which hire a lot of people, especially “below the line” personnel such as carpenters, electricians, set designers, and others involved in building major staged performances. These are well-paid skilled laborers, mostly in union jobs,   In total cost, the program amounts to only $10 million, a proverbial drop in the bucket of the $35 billion state budget, and each maximum tax credit is limited to $1 million maximum per production, so that one entity cannot claim it all.

The benefits to nonprofit performing arts organizations have been critical in their continued survival. The live performance credits constitute, for example, almost 25% of the revenue of the New Orleans Opera— and they are constructed to support Louisiana jobs and Louisiana-built productions.  For certified Louisiana expenditures, the state offers a 7 percent Tax Credit
between $100,000 and $300,000.  The credit jumps to 14 percent between $300,000 and $1,000,000 and to 18% for certified Louisiana expenditures over $1,000,000.  Not-for-profit organizations are issued credits in the form of a "refund of overpayment" by the Louisiana Department of Revenue.

More importantly, the credits support local jobs.  An additional 7 percent Tax Credit goes to payroll expenditures for Louisiana residents, with even greater incentives for the hiring of students at schools and universities.  The public’s (often mistaken) impression is the performing arts Institutions only employ singers, actors, or musicians, yet these incentives have allowed the Opera’s H. Lloyd Hawkins Scenic Studio to hire more than a half a dozen young people each year and train them in skills they vary from electrical repair to carpentry to technical skills.  The tax credit support a permanent set building staff of 20, who pack up and reconstruct sets for theatrical productions in 35 states and three Canadian provinces each year.   The 30,000 square foot building includes a design studio that has a full carpentry and metal shops, a spacious 80’x80’ paint deck, a stocked prop loft, and a fully equipped sewing room for costumes.

Louisiana always hoped to be exporting content with a film tax credits, but we export made-to-order sets and are are paid to re-construct them on stages in other states, thanks to the live performance credits.  The profits underwrite the Hawkins studio to construct the theatrical sets for schools, like George Washington Carver, effectively at cost, and the tax credits —in general—allow institutions like the Opera to invite hundreds of school children to watch operas for free as part of the “Schools Night Out” program. Other arts institutions like the LPO and the ballet use the credits to help fund educational outreach, at least in part. Revenue from the tax credits also funds master classes with university students and famous opera singers, as occurred last in Gallier Hall in October with the famed Raehann Bryce Davis and students from Xavier, Dillard, Southeastern, Loyola, and Tulane.

Large artistic organizations already lost a key funding resource when Governor Landry‘s 2024 tax reforms repealed the “quality jobs” tax credit.  That constituted almost 20% of the Opera’s operating budget, for example, with a similar impact on the budgets of other large artistic institutions.  Some political insiders view the performance credits as a painless method to cut the budget, not realizing the hundreds of jobs which are at stake.  Plus, the credits have proven very effective in the for-profit theatrical sector as well.  Since the tax credit is refundable or transferable on a one-time basis, productions from “Cirque du Soleil” to Broadway Road shows like the “Addams Family” were able to rehearse and stage their productions first here, hiring many Pelican State performers and production personnel.

However, unlike the film tax credits which were saved through a massive and well funded lobbying effort underwritten by Hollywood, there is no large cache of cash to save them. The live performance credits’ continued existence is dependent on legislators hearing from the general public— and being asked to keep them in place.

New Orleans staged the first Opera in what is now the United States in 1796.  As the city celebrates the 230th anniversary of that achievement, it’s critical that our leaders in Baton Rouge know that the continued existence of these live performances depends on their taking action.

Errol Laborde, the newest columnist for the Times-Picayune, joins Hy and Christopher for our Twelfth Night/commencement to Carnival program! The New Orleans magazine, editor and producer of WYES’ Informed Sources highlights excerpts from his new monthly “Streetcar” newspaper column in the T-P Living Section, including how he played a role in (re)creating the Phunny Phorty Phellows as “Heralds of Carnival”, and how in 2009 the King of Zulu joined them as guest of honor. Read the inaugural column here!


Speaking of Zulu, we also talk about Lundi Gras and how Zulu came to meet Rex each year on the day before Shrove Tuesday, outlined in Errol Laborde’s new book When Rex Met Zulu and Other Chronicles of the New Orleans Experience, available at The Garden District Book Shop, 2727 Prytania in the historic Rink, (504) 895-2266.

Briefly we mention the events of New Year’s Eve, but reserve that discussion for next week's show, when information is more available However, we do point out an upcoming article by Christopher in The Louisiana Weekly which questions: Why the bollards were replaced all at once?

NOPD Officers Reportedly Asked City Hall to Replace Bollards One-by-One
By Christopher Tidmore
Worries that construction would not be finished by Super Bowl may have enabled terrorist attack, as all bollards remained down at the same time.

A 43 year veteran active duty veteran of the NOPD told The Louisiana Weekly on background that Mayor Latoya Cantrell’s desire to install more attractive, stainless steel bollards in time for the Super Bowl may have left Bourbon Street unprotected from the New Year’s morning Bourbon Street terrorist attack.

NOPD Eighth District officers reportedly objected to the bollards being taken down simultaneously by Hard Rock Construction Co., LLC to replace the old bollards with new removable stainless steel bollards.

The process, which began in November, and was scheduled to end in time for the Super Bowl, many NOPD officers worried, would leave most of the French Quarter defenseless from out of control automobiles. Apparently administration officials at the Mayor’s behest in the Department of Public Works rejected calls to replace the bollards individually, block by block, worried that the work would not be completed by February’s big game.

According to the city’s website, work began on November 18, 2024 on a stretch of Bourbon Street from Canal to St. Ann Streets to replace the current exposed bollard system with “new removable stainless-steel bollards”.

As nola.gov explained, “These can be securely locked behind each crosswalk. Construction will focus on the first 60 feet of each block where the old bollards are. The road will be taken out and replaced to put in the new bollards. Some sidewalk repairs, like fixing missing bricks, will also be done. The removable bollards will help close the street to cars during pedestrian-only times but will be stored away when the street is open to all traffic.”

Personal observation by the author on New Year’s Eve noted that as late as 10:30 PM, many of the existing bollards bordering Bourbon Street remained down. Still, as former PANO President (and current President of the Victims Rights organization Crimefighters) Irv Magri told The Louisiana Weekly that, normally, in such a circumstance where no other substantial barriers exist, two police officers would park their units perpendicular to one another, in order to block traffic. The police cars would act as impromptu bollards. Instead, law-enforcement on the scene utiluzed multiple white and orange plastic barricades and fencing.

The lack of weighty obstruction allowed 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar to drive his white truck down Bourbon Street killing 15 and wounding 35 at 3:15 AM on New Year’s morning. Jabbar, an Army veteran, also had weapons and a potential improvised explosive device in the rented truck, the FBI said. There were other possible IEDs planted nearby in the French Quarter, two of which have been rendered safe. An ISIS flag was reportedly also in the truck.

The FBI is working to determine the suspect’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.

Jabbar served in the Army on active duty as an IT Specialist from 2006 to 2015 and then in the Army Reserve from 2015 to 2020, according to three U.S. defense officials. He had deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and was a staff sergeant when he was honorably discharged in 2020, the officials said.

In this final show of 2024, Hy and Christopher examine the top stories of the year through the lens of how they reveal the direction where local politics will travel over the coming decade. We have chosen seven different stories that give a glimpse at how the politics of the Pelican State has irrevocably changed over the last year.

• The City of St. George in Baton Rouge promises more incorporation to come - will it have a ripple effect across the state?
• Use of schools as a loophole to limit permitless carry.
• The fight over displaying The Ten Commandments in schoolrooms may stretch to other states soon.
• Loss of population brings fears of decline and the elimination of a Louisiana congressional seat.
• Income tax reductions reverse the legacy of Huey Long.
• Racial and demographic changes in Orleans and Jefferson parishes promise very different political futures for each.
• The insurance crisis in Louisiana threatens home ownership.

Hy and Christopher welcome you to the Christmas edition of the Founders Show.

Hy and Christopher host Louisiana GOP insider and Trump transition advisor Brian Trascher.  He gives us all the insights on the upcoming 2025 Regular (Fiscal) Session and whether Jeff Landry is going to pursue his tax reform agenda even further.  We also talk about the upcoming Washington Mardi Gras and how Troy Carter has become the “go to person” liaisoning between the parties.

Read more from the Louisiana Weekly:
Final deal for tax reform may not be the end of the battle

Book Launch: Justin Watson, 1919: The Romanov Rising
Tues. Dec. 10th, 6PM, Garden District Book Shop, Free and Open to the Public

Both Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill advocated intervention in Russia after WWI.  The Romanov Rising imagines the beginning of the beginning of the campaign to defeat the Bolsheviks and rescue Russia from a dark and terrible path.  

The authors of the Romanov Rising 1919 join Hy & Christopher to talk about this—and the event on Tuesday, Dec 10.

The premier of this second volume of groundbreaking Alternate History imagines the survivors of the imperial family stuck in a little out of the way town, with no road, rail or river connection for most of the year. Thus, already, with the corpses left from their rescue still being collected, Tsarina Tatiana, the First of Her Name, is striking out for better position. A battle must be fought against a seemingly overwhelming force of Bolsheviks, just to hold on to their tiny Tobolsk, in Siberia. Yekaterinburg, rich in precious metals must be taken to fund the war, with only a dozen men available to take it. The beautiful nun and imperial aunt, Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna, and her companions must be rescued from a vile fate. Also, the lines must be laid out for the various fractious anti-Bolshevik forces to unite under the Imperial Crown. Finally, the two possible successors, Maria Alexandovna and her sister, Anastasia, must be whisked to safety in the United States and the United Kingdom, where one of them will learn love not just of a man, but of his people, his country, and their way of life.

Clever spying, desperate battles, subtle diplomacy, terrorism, counter-terrorism, propaganda, and romance: the campaign to defeat the Bolsheviks and rescue Holy Russia from a dark and terrible fate continues.

Event date: 
Tuesday, December 10, 2024 - 6:00pm
Event address: 
The Garden District Book Shop
2727 Prytania St
New Orleans, LA 70130

Join Hy McHenry and Christopher Tidmore on this week's edition of The Founders Show as they review the recently concluded Louisiana Tax Reform special session, talk about proposed "Day 1" tariffs from President-elect Donald Trump, and more.

Hy and Christopher weigh in on Matt Gaetz withdrawing his nomination to become U.S. Attorney General, mostly due to a choice that Mike Johnson allowed his backbenchers to make happen.
      
Knowing that likely they were not enough votes in the U.S. Senate to confirm Gaetz as AG, President-elect Donald Trump had pushed Johnson to put the U.S. House in recess. The Senate was poised to enter recess for a few days as well, and absent Congress-in-session, Trump could appoint Gaetz into the AG position for up to two years without need of confirmation.
      
Instead, Speaker Johnson allowed some of his members to set a schedule to keep the U.S. House in session all the way through Christmas and the inauguration. The North Louisiana Republican leader could have used his influence to convince them to bang the gavel into recess. He opted not to do so, likely remembering the Gaetz tried to eject him from his job as House speaker.
Christopher observes how Johnson could’ve used certain procedural methods, similar to this, to diffuse the entire bathroom controversy.

Delaware elected the first transgender congresswoman, Sarah McBride, and in reply, Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican representative, had introduced a bill to ban transgender people, including congressional members, officers and employees, from using single-sex bathrooms and other facilities on Capitol Hill that correspond to their gender identity.

To thwart a legislative battle over that bill, Speaker Johnson declared the public bathroom access must be according to one’s birth gender, “It is important to note that each member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol. Women deserve women’s only spaces.”

The hosts speculate could Johnson have vocally urged Sarah McBride to use her member’s bathroom, and simply proceeded to ignore the problem?  What if Johnson had taken no action either way? Nancy Mace, a flamethrower, would have pursued her legislation, but the speaker could have quietly killed it in committee. No one would have been the wiser. Or maybe not.

Hy and Christopher then examine the results of the LA legislative session and wonder if raising the sales tax by a penny was the only politically possible alternative to fund an income tax cut.

We conclude the show talking about an exciting new partnership between the New Orleans Opera and SoFAB with guest NOOA General & Artistic Director Lila Palmer.

Dozens of times in the last 200 years, new works of opera have premiered in New Orleans, earning the Crescent City the moniker “The First City of Opera” in the United States.   
 
On December 8, The Cook-Off, a new comic opera in English about the creation of the Mac & Cheese, will premier at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in honor of SoFAB’s 20th Anniversary--and in honor of the retirement of SoFAB’s founder Liz Williams.  
 
The New Orleans Opera Association in cooperation with SoFAB brings a nationally acclaimed cast to put on the new production. They even debate in song whether the “Mac & Cheese” was invented in the Big Easy.
 
With Music by Shawn Okpebholo and Text by Mark Campbell, the new opera features three competitors from the nation’s favorite fictional cooking show, “America Loves Food”, as they battle it out to make the best version of a classic comfort food: macaroni & cheese!
 
The Cook-Off will premier in two back-to-back performances in the SoFAB’s main Museum gallery at 11:30 AM and 2:00 pm. on Sunday, December 8, to the musical accompaniment of members of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, at 1504 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70113.
 
The 11:30 AM performance will include a special curated brunch in SoFAB’s restaurant space.   Tickets are available at https://noo-internet.choicecrm.net/dist/#/event-details/S0:E475

The New Orleans Opera’s production of the opera The Cook-Off in the museum is the first of several planned partnerships between the two cultural institutions.  The joint ventures are the brain children of NOOA General & Artistic Director Lila Palmer and SoFAB Director Constance Jackson.  
 
Palmer has previously produced opera with heritage partners including the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Boston, London Transport Museum and Museum of London.   Jackson, a New Orleans native, also pioneered artistic partnerships in the UK capitol city as a non-profit executive over the past decade.

NOOA Premier of NEW English language opera The Cook-Off at Southern Food & Beverage Museum In celebration of 20th Anniversary
DATE: Sunday, December 8, 2024 
TIME: 11:30 AM and 2:00 PM 
LOCATION:  Southern Food & Beverage Museum, 1504 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70113
Tickets for Brunch & Opera: Call (504) 529-3000 or go online at www.neworleansopera.org