Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by Entergy.

Louisiana is strengthening our power grid throughout the state.

We're reinforcing infrastructure to prepare for stronger storms, reduce outages, and respond quicker when you do need us because together we power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred B and Ruth B Ziegler Foundation and the Ziegler Art Museum.

Located in Jennings City Hall, the museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is a historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana public Broadcasting.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.

Louisiana's carbon capture boom is hitting political turbulence will explain.

And from rare finds to unbeatable deals, the LSU book bizarre turns the page on a milestone year.

The Louisiana Red cross is asking for volunteers.

We'll see how you can help.

And this week's young hero has a passion for helping others.

When we.

Marly Ozanne, let's get started.

Let's get to it.

Hi everyone, I'm Christina Jensen and I'm Johnny Atkinson.

Much more on those top stories in a moment on this week's edition of Louisiana The State We're In.

But first, Louisiana is quickly becoming a national hotspot for carbon capture.

But with that growth comes controversy.

Now, lawmakers are debating how and even whether these projects should move forward.

This legislative session, new bills address property rights, local control and who gets a say in what happens next?

Here's a look at the intense debate unfolding at the Capitol across Louisiana.

A quiet energy revolution is stirring up some of the loudest debates in the state Capitol in years.

Carbon capture, a technology meant to trap industrial carbon emissions, is now at the center of a high stakes political battle.

This session, lawmakers filed more than 20 bills related to carbon capture.

One of the first to get a hearing was House Bill seven, known as the Louisiana Landowners Protection Act.

The bill would have prohibited companies from using eminent domain to acquire private property for CO2 transport or storage.

A move opponents that could stall industrial projects worth billions.

My bill, if you will vote yes, will take that unusual and extraordinary power away at a nearly five hour standing room, only hearing stakeholders testified, sometimes shouting over each other, forcing the chairman to repeatedly call for order.

Do you think we have the right to change the rules in the middle of the game and think that we are business friendly state if we're going to change the rules?

No.

All right.

Hold on one second here.

Hold on one second.

Rep Bryant I get it.

One day, gentlemen, hold on one second.

During the hearing, industry groups including Louisiana Economic Development also testified against the bill, warning that restrictions could jeopardize about $75 billion in planned industrial projects tied to carbon capture.

Many of the industries that are working in this space, or the companies that are looking to develop wells, are also doing community impact studies and seeing how they can specifically give back and support particular elements in the communities.

We just look at the carbon capture related projects that we've announced in the state since about 2020 2021.

It represents $75 billion.

But then when we looked at those projects, look, the actual jobs, it's 16,000 jobs.

Despite the possible benefits, the hearing revealed deep discontent among rural and suburban communities concerned about property rights, environmental impacts and safety.

Those concerns are now being tested in court.

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade recently filed two lawsuits on behalf of residents who live near projects that have carbon capture components.

What are residents near these projects where these lawsuits are?

What what are they telling you on the ground?

Well, the reason that we filed suit is because we're collaborating with local residents who who have lived in Louisiana for generations.

They, you know, some families can trace their roots to the 1800s.

This is who we should be listening to.

Again, not a corporation from South Korea or from Texas or from somewhere else.

The group says the cases target the port of south Louisiana and the state, alleging improper procedures in approving project agreements.

The state of Louisiana is giving massive amounts of of our money, of public money to corporations.

And what we have found is that the state did not go through the proper processes for handing over so much money to corporations.

The underlying agreements that make these projects possible should be scrapped to weigh in on the broader implications.

We spoke with Doctor Gregory Upton, executive director of LSU center for Energy Studies, about landowner rights and the economic stakes.

So in the early days, what was happening, the neighbor would go and then they would drill a well, and then the neighbor would go and they would drill another well.

And this, of course, wasn't environmentally ideal, but also this wasn't economically efficient.

So what the state did is we implemented a regulatory process around this and it's called units.

So a company comes in the lease, all of the landowners within an area.

And once they get critical mass of those landowners, they can go to the state and establish what's called a regulatory unit.

But there's a legitimate debate.

Should we implement a regulatory regime similar to what we've done for oil and gas, or is this a fundamentally different issue?

Doctor Upton also points out that while local consent matters, the state also faces pressure to stay competitive in energy, infrastructure and industrial investment.

On the other hand, if we go, I call it the ostrich approach, where we put our head in the sand and say, I don't want to think about this.

That's another risk.

And what we might find is other parts of the world are able to produce these products not only that are cost competitive, but also at this lower emissions intensity.

The debate over HP seven was just the opening salvo.

Companion bills.

House bills five and six remain under consideration, one giving repeats parish officials a local vote on projects, the other extending that authority statewide.

And the reality is, is carbon capture is going to happen.

The global economy is simply demanding it.

This isn't a domestic issue as much as it is as a global economic issue.

We should be listening to the people who live in and love our state.

We don't want it.

I don't care if some other state may pursue this bad idea.

It doesn't mean that Louisiana should do it from standing room only committee hearings to ongoing lawsuits, the conversation over carbon capture is far from finished.

How it resolves will define the future of energy, industry and property rights in Louisiana.

Let's take a look at what's going on this week in the world of sports.

Sports correspondent Victor Harlan joins us now with more on Louisiana sports.

How's it going?

Victor doing great.

It's great to see you all.

It's Christmas in April.

Why?

Because the NFL draft is here on football.

Fans are excited because now everybody thinks their team can win it all.

It's an exciting time right now.

The 2026 NFL season kicked off last night in Pittsburgh with round one of the NFL draft, and the New Orleans Saints were on the clock with a pick in the top ten.

With the eighth pick in the 2026 NFL draft, the New Orleans Saints select Jordan Tyson, wide receiver, Arizona State.

Yeah, the Saints have three major needs in the draft wide receiver, rusher and defensive back.

And they decided to go offense to get Tyler Shuck another weapon at wide receiver.

Most consider Tyson either the number one or number two rated wide receiver in the draft, and he has all the talent to be an impact player.

He was injury prone last season, but the Black and Gold liked enough of what they saw to make Tyson their man.

He's the first wide receiver taken by the Saints in the first round since 2022, when they picked, well, Tyson's new teammate Chris Olave.

The draft continues through Saturday in.

The Saints have seven more picks in college football.

Louisiana Tech made it official this week that they have a new home in the Sun Belt Conference, and their 2026 schedule is now set and official.

Remember, we talked about this a couple of weeks ago.

The Bulldogs negotiated their way out of conference USA and are now official members of the more geographically friendly Sun Belt.

The dogs will open the season with three non-conference games.

Then they'll start conference play in October when the raging Cajun visit Ruston, followed by a quick trip down I-20 to face Ulm Monroe, their longest conference road trip of the season 20 about five hours when they'll travel to Troy, Alabama, to face the Trojans, tech president Doctor Jim Henderson told me last week.

It's the perfect move for the university geographically and financially, and they couldn't be happier to have them move finalized.

Congratulations to Louisiana Tech.

Hey, just down the road in Monroe, the Warhawks on the Monroe finishing up their spring drills.

The spring game will be on Saturday.

There was a rough end of last season for Ulm, who saw their last win come on September 27th.

Head coach Brian Vincent said he felt like he'd let the team down last year, wearing three hats as head coach, offensive coordinator and the school's interim aide.

But that is all changed now, and he likes what he has seen from his team so far this spring.

You know, this is our best team up to this point.

It's exciting.

They're very competitive.

They're very, you know, driven.

And this is and we're well we're more connected, you know, at April than any team that I've been a part of here so far.

So we're just trying to take the necessary steps.

And I feel like we're taking those as an overall program.

During this offseason.

Vincent added six new coaches to his staff following last year's three and nine campaign, five of those six on the offensive side of the ball looking to improve on averaging just 16 points per game after adding 20 kids on signing day, the Warhawks picked up 46 through the transfer portal.

They'll open the season and Starkville, Mississippi in week one.

They'll make their home debut in week three against southeastern.

Hey, speaking of the Lions from Hammond, America, some big congrats go out to the Lions softball team, who last week did something they've never done before, and they have been one of the best in the country with one week to go in the regular season.

Well the Lions, yeah, they already clinched the South End Conference regular season title, the first time they've ever done that in school history since March 5th.

The team is 28 and two and at one point had a 25 game win streak, the longest in the country.

It was also the longest in South End conference history.

Southeastern wraps up the regular season this weekend at home against Incarnate Word.

Then they will head to the conference tournament, where they will look to win their third straight season title.

So again, football, baseball, softball, college football, the NFL draft.

We always have something going on here in south of the get excited about so much in Saints with a top ten pick.

How about that.

Yeah number eight.

And if that's seven more over the next two days we'll see what they do with it.

Good news for Louisiana sports yesterday Victor.

Well for 50 years, the LSU Book Bazaar has been a treasure trove for book lovers and a major fundraiser for the university's library.

The milestone celebration sent bookworms searching for their favorite authors, the hidden gems and the rare finds.

Check it out.

If you heard the thundering sound of a stampede at the LSU Cow Palace last weekend.

No need to worry.

The livestock did not escape.

It was just the 50th annual friends of the LSU Library Book Bazaar.

It all started as a simple flea market at the LSU Union, but over the years it's become a massive regional operation now selling books in LSU.

John M Parker Coliseum.

Tell me some of the history of this book was a group of community members who were very passionate about books and reading.

They got together and put this together in a very small scale, and the sale moved around to various places because it wasn't big enough, it didn't have any kind of tradition.

Now books are collected at Book Barn on River road, and it sees lines wrapped around the Coliseum well before the doors open.

Stanley Wilder, as the dean of libraries at LSU and works on fundraising and public advocacy, making sure that everyone is aware of the LSU library's annual book bazaar.

We're going to see parents bringing their children in in large numbers and and just seeing reading passed on to the next generation.

This is a beautiful thing.

Another key figure is Mitch Forno, the outreach librarian with LSU libraries who works on the book Bizarre Planning, and he keeps track of all the books going up for sale.

Our wonderful, wonderful friends of the LSU libraries take these donations all year round, and they gather together, along with volunteers from the LSU libraries and the support of our administration, to have this wonderful three day event.

The doors open Thursday morning and ended Saturday afternoon with a $5 box clearance.

Well, the books sell out or you'll be refilling the table.

We're going to be refilling the tables constantly.

60 tables, 60 60,000 books.

The large archive of books range from brand new to well-loved items, consisting primarily of community donations.

And they're not nearly as expensive as you might think.

Fiber back books that normally sell for around $20 were on sale for just $2.

This includes books of all types, from regional cookbooks to history books to Sci-Fi classics.

I have all the hard back Harry Potter books, except for the last one for $2 apiece.

A lot of the book inventory is an excellent condition or brand new, and a lot of books are older and secondhand, being sold at a special bargain price.

It's the only place in town where you can walk in with $20 and walk you out with a handful of books.

Customers started lining up early on the first day, although the Parker Center did not open until 9:00.

What time do you get here in line?

Oh, we were here at around 530.

How many books do you think you're going to buy?

Our goal is around, like 300.

The 50 year anniversary kicked off with a ribbon cutting ceremony with announcements given by Mitch Fontenelle and Stanley Wilder.

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this amazing, remarkable community tradition.

You're going to have a great free days, and we hope to see you all three of them.

LSU has any special collections that is in every way comparable to the most prestigious universities in the country.

When the doors are finally open, mounds of students, eager shoppers and seasoned professionals rush the floor of the AG Center.

Oh, I've been coming to this event here for years and years and years and years.

I look forward to it.

It's a great opportunity to go around and look at books from all throughout the years and pick them up for a great price.

It's really cool.

His grandmother recommended that we come to it and we're glad we came.

The entire operation is built around the community with high volume donations and volunteer labor, keeping book costs shockingly low.

I'll probably about 50 or $60 worth at least.

Well, I've already bought $45 worth, so I'll probably buy $100 worth.

I can get it out of here with 5 or 6 books for less than the price of lunch.

Workers at the book matzah are not cashing in either.

Many are just volunteers who spent decades just sorting out the donated books and laying them out for people of all ages.

What kind of books are you picking up today?

Well, they got little ones because their machinery will do.

We have every kind of book imaginable art, history, textbooks, chemistry, biology, you name it.

There is something for everyone.

So if you're a student looking for that cheap textbook or maybe a book collector hunting for that rare first edition, there's no better place for book shopping than the LSU Book Bazaar celebrating its 50th anniversary.

What with hurricane season fast approaching, the Louisiana Red cross is searching for more volunteers.

I sat down with Red cross leaders to see how you can help year round.

Louisiana is no stranger to disasters, with hurricane season just a couple of months away.

The Red cross is already getting ready.

Joining me now is Kenneth Saint Charles.

He's the CEO of the American Red cross, Louisiana region.

Kenneth, the Red cross does a lot about everything.

But one of the big things you guys need is volunteers.

How do you go about getting those?

Volunteers are really the lifeblood of everything that the American Red cross responds to.

When you see someone with a Red cross vest on.

They are probably a volunteer.

90% of our workforce are made up of volunteers across the state of Louisiana who choose to support the Red cross, or to support their communities in responding to disasters.

The best way to join or to learn more about how to volunteer, just check out our website.

Red Cross Slash Louisiana.

There are many, many jobs, many, many opportunities for people who want to help their neighbors.

And that's what our Red cross volunteers do.

They help their neighbors when there's some type of disaster in their community.

Okay.

Well, I know one of the big things right now is hurricanes.

Hurricane season is coming back to Louisiana.

Yes.

And I know there are a lot of things that people can do.

What do you recommend?

You know, the most important thing to do during hurricane season?

Of course, it starts on June 1st.

It ends November 30th is to listen to your local officials.

Listen to what people are telling you about when it's time to evacuate.

When it's time to be safe.

Hurricanes, as we know, are much different than they were five, ten, 20 years ago.

What we advise people to do is to be prepared.

It's now.

It's never too early to have a emergency evacuation kit.

You know, you need to be cognizant of the fact that a you could be impacted not just by a hurricane, but but any disaster at any time.

Well, last year, I guess we were lucky there were no big hurricanes in Louisiana.

Do we have any predictions for this year?

Sure.

They're always prediction.

They talk about El Nino.

They talk about the winds.

You know, at the Red cross, we don't focus as much on predictions.

We focus on always being prepared.

Our biggest disaster and most people don't realize is are home fires.

Home fires will happen all the time in communities.

You know, on average, there are six home fires across Louisiana.

And the Red cross wants to respond when you are impacted by any type of home fire.

Of course, we don't want people to lose their lives, so we have special initiatives to make sure we provide free smoke alarms that we install for free.

All you have to do again is reach out to one 800 right cross to request a brand new smoke alarm.

Because we don't want people to die in fire.

Sauna alarm is sometimes we do these in communities where we will have volunteers that will walk through neighborhoods and knock on people's doors, and we do events.

But the bottom line is we want people to request a free smoke alarm if they need one.

The other disasters will respond to, you know, we respond to cold weather.

We respond to hot weather.

We opened up cooling shelters during the summer.

We open up warming centers during the winter.

We respond to man made disasters.

I guess there's something else that kind of surprised me.

You guys dealing a lot with parades and Mardi Gras and things like that.

But not what you think.

You're not in the parade.

Tell me some of the things you do with the parade in New Orleans, which is where we have our headquarters for the state.

We started a new initiative where we are supporting Mardi Gras parades.

And those parades basically are us helping first responders and behind the scenes workers.

We thank the workers who are there for their service, and we think they're for keeping their community safe.

Yeah, I guess you have like 90% of the volunteers that are there.

What kind of training do they have to go through to do all this?

So when you join us as a volunteer, the first thing you will do is you will tell us what your interest area is.

So if you're interested in transportation, if you're interested in working on the shelter, if you're interested in taking pictures, we have a job for you.

And then that job will dictate what your training will comprise of.

So it really depends on what your interests are.

The American Red cross has a wonderful network where we can help you with your wish to help other people.

And that's the beauty of being an American Red cross volunteer.

You really are helping someone.

But our volunteers love to help people and we're grateful to have them part of the team.

Okay, well thank you.

Our guest today was Kenneth Saint Charles and the Red cross.

That was very interesting.

Thank you for that.

Thank you for that.

Thanks for inviting us.

With this week's Louisiana young hero goes above and beyond helping others.

Mali Ozanne from Lafayette, draws inspiration from her siblings and her own experiences.

Here's her story Mali is a bright and radiant spirit.

She's spontaneous and optimistic.

She's that person that you want in your corner, the one that will definitely give you a good smile when you're having a bad day.

She's that leader of the pack, is what I call her.

She knows how to see the best in everybody, and she's always looking out for her friends.

That's how the parents of 2026 Louisiana young hero Mali Ozanne described their youngest child.

Her compassion toward others began at home.

Her older brother, Jackson, has autism.

Mali focuses on his well-being, using it as an inspiration to create inclusive opportunities for him and others.

Growing up with a brother who is autistic non-verbal, it needs supports throughout the day.

Many people could have looked at that as a hindrance, but instead it opened Mali's heart to help her brother and others like him.

Mali created a lending library called the Sound Sanctuary.

People can borrow noise canceling headphones to help in noisy situations.

When things get too loud, he tends to get upset, sometimes just overwhelmed.

So when the headphones go on, it dims the sound.

That way he can actually enjoy activities like basketball games or going to Disney or the movies, even just because things are too loud.

Seeing him be happy with all that support around him just makes me really happy.

As a sister, Mali also ensures Jackson can enjoy typical high school events, inviting him to their homecoming dance and prom as her plus one.

Her compassion for others also extends to her volunteer activities and her role as junior facilitator at the Confidence campaign.

I came to the confidence campaign where I saw that other girls were having the same issues as me, where we could all just talk about it and we can all just share our stories and just learn off of each other.

And I wanted that for every girl, where she can have a support of other people that are there for her and where she knows to go if she's having trouble.

Mali has been with a confidence campaign since 2023.

She has grown in ways that I can't even imagine.

She blossomed into this like leader, and it's so cool to watch because you see her in different aspects of her life here.

When she's working in our workshops and she's with her peers, you're able to see how she actually makes others comfortable, how she's able to relate to them and then empower them to answer questions and to feel comfortable in these different surroundings.

Mali's passion and leadership are what inspired Shaina Ozanne to nominate Mali for the Young Hero Award.

She's just wise beyond her years.

My daughter is non-verbal and even though Arby doesn't respond back, she still asks her question even though she knows she's not going to answer.

So that's something you don't see every day.

Kids like my daughter, they usually like, get ignored in the corner, but Mali always make sure she participates or just acknowledges her in general, which is amazing to me.

I do what I do to make an impact and to help people.

Helping people is what I'm centered around, because you always want to be the one that uplifts someone and doesn't be the person that tears them down, so I do, I do just to make sure everyone's included.

Everyone's happy and as happy as I can make them, because no one wants to be that person that's left out.

So I want to make sure everyone's included.

Mali is the daughter that every parent prays for.

She's the student that every school hopes for, and she is the friend that every person deserves.

Monica Guillory is Mali's mentor and has known her since she was in the sixth grade.

She's maintained a close relationship with Mali as her sponsor for lead one two, which encourages students to make a difference on campus and in their communities.

As a member of lead one to every month, members had the opportunity to write letters about staff members.

It could be the bus driver, a classroom teacher, a custodian.

It didn't matter.

And so every month, Morley wrote multiple letters about various staff members.

And she was so intentional about who she wrote letters about.

She would say, Miss Guillory, has one been written for part of the cafeteria crew?

And I would look through and I would say, no, not yet.

And so she said, I got it.

And so she would write so many letters.

And usually when they read their letter from Mali tears instantly.

And Mali's parents know that she is truly a young hero.

When I found out Morley was chosen to be a young hero, I was really speechless.

It was just beyond words.

I was in shock, just more than proud of my child.

It's an amazing feeling to see your daughter get recognized or anyone get recognized for the good that they do.

That's in their hearts.

So I was very excited about it and just can't wait to see what she's going to do in the future.

I'm Mali Ozanne and I'm a young hero.

LPB Louisiana Young Heroes program is presented this year with the generous support of presenting sponsor, the East Baton Rouge Parish Library.

Title sponsor the William J. Dora family and with additional support from Community Coffee, Hotel Indigo and Demko.

And special thanks to Louisiana propane dealers, LSU football and McDonald's.

That's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything LPB anytime, wherever you are with our LPB app, and you can catch LPB news and public affairs shows, as well as other Louisiana programs that you've come to enjoy over the years.

And please like us on Facebook and Instagram for everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting, I'm Christina Jensen and I'm Johnny Atkinson.

Until next time.

That's the state we're in.

Support for.

Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by Entergy.

Louisiana is strengthening our power grid throughout the state.

We're reinforcing infrastructure to prepare for stronger storms, reduce outages, and respond quicker when you do need us.

Because together we power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred B and Ruth B Ziegler Foundation and the Ziegler Art Museum, located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is a historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana, and by Visit Baton Rouge and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.