Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in.

Is provided by.

Every day I go to work for Entergy.

I know customers are counting on me.

So Entergy is investing millions of dollars to keep the lights on and installing new technology.

To prevent outages before they happen.

Together, together, together.

We power life.

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

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is an historical and cultural center for southwest Louisiana and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

With support from viewers like you and crime, cleanliness and new attractions.

Could a state led plan restore faith in the French Quarter?

We're looking at ending large scale blight and making those investments real, not just letting people sit on valuable land until they can make the most money out of it.

What's blighted property and what's its status in Louisiana?

That's what a great cancer center does.

It focuses on doing the best research its area needs.

Enhancing the work of researchers to reduce cancer in the state.

Given the last few years, I don't think anybody's complaining.

We really did need a break.

Hot or cold.

But weather patterns, are we expecting for the end of this year?

The city of New Orleans welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife.

Yeah, they're going to be touring the French Quarter to discuss climate change with Louisiana's leaders and also honor the deep connection between France and Louisiana.

He'll meet with Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser.

I'll have more with Nungesser on other matters in a moment.

But first, some other news making headlines across the state.

Senator Bill Cassidy this week co-led a Senate hearing pushing for better mental health services and treatment for high school and college students.

Dr. Cassidy says three years of COVID have taken a toll, especially on 15 to 24 year olds.

Suicide is now the second leading cause of death of that age group.

He says it's time to give extra care to teenagers who are our future.

A proposed bill would offer treatment help in all facets of mental and behavioral health.

The Department of Justice, law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and community workers banded together to create the East Baton Rouge Public Safety Partnership.

It's an action plan to reduce gun violence throughout the parish.

The partnership spreads far and wide and includes efforts of all federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in East Baton Rouge.

It also includes the U.S. attorney's and district attorney's office.

Safe, hopeful, healthy Baton Rouge and the mayor president's office.

Next Wednesday, December 7th, an exhibition opens to honor the state's four Heisman Trophy winners at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum in Natchitoches.

You can find much more information on this event at Louisiana State Museum, North.

OC Police arrested a 15 year old, a 15 year old for shooting and killing an 18 year old in the French Quarter following the Bayou Classic football game this past weekend.

Gunshots also injured five others.

It's yet another example of the violent crime that has Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser upset and pushing for major changes to clean up the quarter.

Bill, it's good to see you.

What is step one with this to, I think, save New Orleans?

Yeah.

You know, we had made a proposal working with the mayor to manage the French Quarter 4.8 by four by May one by the state rep.

The police chief would sit on that committee and we would essentially have a partnership with the city to oversee the garbage cleanup, crime, all the things that need to be fixed in the quarter and really put an interest.

We offered 250,000 for friendly offices that the city would hire, then wear a vest that would say Louisiana for your soul to help tourist find where they're going.

And they would have a radio to report.

People doing things illegally are wrong in the quarter to bring attention and call the police were needed.

The plan included a camera in every street light, a bank of cameras in the in the in the police headquarters where somebody could watch what's going on throughout the quarter.

So the criminals would know if they come down there, they're going to get caught and they're going to get prosecuted.

And there are some businesses in the quarter that we need to take a look at how they attract and people that we want to attract to the Corps.

We need to see some of these clubs that are attracting the wrong kind of people revamped, hopefully, and get a jazz club back open and to get some things back open that would attract tourists.

So if a specific clubs are breeding the element of this, why can't you just shut them down?

Well, it's going to take the city enforcement in to really look at some of this.

And, you know, whether they're selling, there's dope going on or there's guns.

And when you hear somebody runs out of this club, pulls out a gun and starts shooting people, it's time to look at that establishment and say, do we really need that element in the tourist attraction for the city?

The the repair and maintenance of the streets.

We can't just patch these holes.

People have fallen.

There's not a day goes by that we don't bandage somebody up in one of the museums across the street there.

It's been that way for 20 years.

So to really take an interest in the quarry and fixing it, make it a design and start needs to be.

We get more negative letters, emails, calls about the quarter than positive.

We looked at the Gaslamp District in San Diego when they took it was rundown.

Yeah, they took it, managed it.

Just like we're proposing, whether it's a state park district or a historical preservation district, crime, cleanliness in new attractions have been trending the wrong way for the last eight years.

If we don't turn it around soon, we will lose the quarter.

We will lose the tourist attraction that makes people want to come here for conventions, conferences.

And it will it will devastate the city.

And I have committed, if we can get this managed separately, that we will clean it up, we will make it safe.

And we need 100 police officers in the quad.

And whatever it takes to do that, to have a police officer in every corner, it's that important of an asset to this city, in this state, that it deserves that attention.

You know, I had a conference call with the university, Padgett, and I told them I would talk to the governor about having state police down to make sure those young ladies and their escorts are protected for that pageant.

God forbid, during that pageant, we have an occurrence like happened this past weekend.

That would be news all over the world.

That we don't need.

The business community deserves support from the elected officials to clean up and make it safe.

They're hanging on.

They want to cover it.

And now we're dealing with this.

I mean, let's face it, people don't want to go in the corner.

Local people don't want to go down there.

What's the timeline for this to be in place?

So we're hoping we can get the legislators to support some legislation to manage that quarter separately, because that's got to.

Be next in the legislative session.

Hopefully, we failed last year to where we can see some state assets that would help make this happen.

You're not guess or mention the universe people.

He's talking about the Miss Universe pageant, which will be in New Orleans in January.

Also talked with Kelly Schultz of New Orleans and Company.

She emphasized safety for everyone in the Crescent City.

Yeah, well, you know, New Orleans, the company, when we talk about visitor safety, of course, we're concerned with visitor safety, but we're also concerned about all of us who live and work here.

All of us who come to work every day to promote and market and sell the city.

All of our wonderful hospitality industry employees who are out and about working around the city, taking care of our guests.

So we're a sales and marketing organization.

We're not law enforcement, but we do want to make sure that when we talk about safety, it means for everyone, not only our visitors, but for those of us who live and work here.

And that's why we have great partnerships with the New Orleans Police Department, with other city and federal partners to do everything we can to be a good corporate citizen and make sure that our city is as safe as it can be.

And in March 2022, LendingTree found that Louisiana ranked ninth for the most vacant homes in the country.

Sometimes when a home is left vacant for too long, it can deteriorate into blighted property.

In New Orleans, there's an effort to clear out these areas and create healthier environments.

Anthony Gilmore is president of Housing Louisiana, explains new solutions.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you so much for having me here.

So blighted property.

When people hear it, they think of just abandoned homes, tired things just being thrown in places they shouldn't be.

But it's actually a legal term.

What what does it mean?

That's right.

So guy right here, it's a legal term.

Blighted property means those commercial or residential premises, including LAX, which have been declared vacant, uninhabitable and hazardous by administrative and administrative hearing officer.

So it's a designation.

It's a legal designation.

What we what's happened is blight becomes just a catch all for rundown property, abandoned buildings and things like that.

But it's a legal definition and it's a set of rules that we that people need to be more aware of to understand how it gets enforced and how it gets triggered, and really what the underlying problem that blight represents.

How do we address that?

So in Louisiana, I mean, I just told you about that study from LendingTree, but how is Louisiana's relationship with blight?

It's complicated.

One of the things that we have to talk about is that underlying issue is often really disinvestment.

Blight is a symptom of a problem in a neighborhood and air or community where there's not enough investment.

People aren't able to keep their own home or keep up rental property or commercial property.

It falls into disrepair and it causes real problems for the people who live in that neighborhood.

But there's a reason it's allowed to fall into disrepair because people don't want to be in that neighborhood either because of environmental issues or there's been loss of jobs in that area or who lives there.

And so when those the folks who are there who are struggling with, you know, all kinds of vermin and overgrown grass and things, bad things happening in blighted properties, they want someone to respond.

And our elected officials and our policymakers have a set of rules to respond to.

And what should be happening is, is those properties should be putting put back into commerce.

And that often doesn't happen and gets interrupted by things like our property rights.

You don't want to take property.

We often think about an older couple struggling, not losing their property, but often that that that well-intentioned desire to help our neighbors and our family members often is used by unscrupulous bad actors to hang onto property until they can sell it and make the most money with it.

Well, I mean, what you were describing earlier, whenever you're talking about the conditions and what it's like living there, I mean, how does that affect the quality of life for people that do?

Oh, I mean, you've seen we've seen all kinds of bad things happen when there's too much blighted property in the neighborhood.

It brings down property values.

It attracts a bad individual.

Actors there fires vermin.

All kinds of things happen to the people who have to live with this.

So people absolutely have a right to be concerned.

But we have to be careful because what you want to do is not simply get rid of blight.

You want to attract investment, you know, investment that will make your neighborhood stronger.

You want to see things like community gardens and grocery stores and housing for your neighbors and your family members and your friends so that your network can stay together and people can and can live and thrive.

Instead, we kind of rush to just get rid of the blight and demo it, and that leads to all the problems.

Like, you know, people do dump on vacant land they very rarely dump on.

Now, you don't dump tires on a rundown raggedy house.

You dump tires on swaths of vacant lands where, you know, there was maybe dozens of homes that have been demolished because they were blighted.

And now it becomes an easier dumping ground because you haven't addressed the underlying disinvestment.

So is there a correlation at all between crime and blight?

It's a correlation.

It's not causal, but absolutely correlation.

Like I say, blight to symptom.

So in an area where there's going to be high crime, you're also likely to find higher higher rates of blight.

But again, you want to make sure that there's opportunity, there's investment.

When we look at who is committing crimes in our communities, it's young people without a lot of options, without a lot of opportunities.

You've got to interrupt that cycle of poverty, and that is best interrupted.

We're creating homes that people can afford and live in that will nurture them.

Homes that are healthy and strong and give people options and choices and a chance.

So let's talk solutions.

You've talked a lot about investment.

Is that the only solution to this problem or are there other things that can help if the best solution to the problem?

Because it means that the neighborhood, the community is stronger and it can self perpetuate and bring additional resources to bear, not just relying on government resources.

The government should be and acts as a regulator, as an organizer almost instead of the investment.

The primary investor.

So we want to make sure that the resources there that we and that it's a healthy community.

So it's not a food desert.

It's the housing is affordable.

You've got jobs and grocery stores and restaurants and things like that.

And so that kind of investment, that's what everybody wants when they picture their neighborhoods in their community, not raggedy buildings.

And so we also want to make sure that the rules prioritize, you know, addressing particularly large scale commercial blight and not just focusing on a senior citizens who are living and living check to check or struggling that we're looking at ending large scale blight and making those investments real and not just letting people sit on valuable land until they can make the most money out of it.

All right.

Well, we are out of time.

Thank you so much for talking with us.

So the gist is just investments, resources that can help with the blight problem.

That's right.

You got it.

All right.

Thank you so much.

That was only part of my conversation with Andrew.

Nico Morris on Wednesday will air the second part on as to why next week.

So be sure to tune in as we discuss the complexities of short term rentals and a worsening housing crisis.

In cancer is the second leading cause of death in Louisiana and nationally.

For all types of cancer, we have the fifth highest mortality rate.

It's tough.

Dr. Joe Ramos hit the ground running when he came on board as the new CEO and director of the Louisiana Cancer Research Center.

And he joins us now.

You're just back from a statewide tour of looking at all the facilities, the research people, and what did you come away with finding?

So for a little background, I came here as for the very reasons you just said, the problem here is among the worst in the country for cancer.

And the Louisiana Cancer Research Center is a partnership essentially of LSU, of Tulane, of Ochsner and of Xavier University.

And so for me, that was a great strength.

And one of the reasons that I came is that we have these universities and institutions pulling together to tackle this huge problem.

But I didn't want to get confined just to what we're doing in New Orleans.

I needed to see what we have going on across the state.

And so I went across the state to Monroe, to Shreveport, to Lafayette, to about in Baton Rouge, really trying to understand what we have on the ground there, what are our communities doing to to address the issues of cancer in their communities?

And you came away with good thoughts.

Yeah, it's been it was remarkable to see so many amazing folks committing their lives to the problem of cancer in their communities.

And again, this is going to be central to what I do as the director at the cancer center.

We really need to focus on doing work for our communities, with our communities that can have direct impact in those communities to make sure that we're solving the problems of Louisiana.

And that's what a great cancer center does.

It focuses on doing the best research its area needs, and that's what I'm very focused on.

It hits close to home for everybody in Louisiana.

And I think that's one of the reasons why with the with the numbers that we have, that we have a designation of Cancer Alley in part of the state.

I mean, these are things that you don't want to have.

Yes.

And it's a complex problem, as you might imagine.

There are issues here that have to do with genetics, but there are also issues of policy of of inequities for health access for for some of our other underrepresented populations.

Just getting to the doctor can be hard for some people.

Yeah.

And that brings up the point of what Louisiana offers now, what we can offer and need to offer.

And with a designation that's very important also.

Yeah.

So you often hear about people talking about the NCI designation and and I've been doing NCI designation work now for over ten years and my mom doesn't know what it is.

So the simple idea is that NCI designation is a grant that you get from the National Cancer Institute.

Right.

And it really goes to two places that are doing all the work they need to do to have that high impact, that high quality cancer research.

But specifically in service of the people that they that they serve.

And so for us, that would be Louisiana.

Yeah.

And so so people here can reach if they're sick, they can go to a trial, perhaps in-state, not have to travel to it, but there might be somebody to travel to.

That's right.

So we need to do more.

So we have areas of need.

And that's what I'm really focusing on.

We have to grow our clinical research specifically for this reason to make sure that we have the right trials here in the state for the people of Louisiana so that they don't have to leave the state to get the latest cancer care and cancer treatments, but also to make sure that we know what's going on.

So we have to work on our population sciences epidemiology so that we know better how cancer is affecting the state.

When you work on something like getting that designation and the research grants, how many years do something like that take or does it come in years?

So I came because we have so many fantastic researchers here, we have that core set and so there are specific areas we need to focus on.

But knowing that we actually already have in place a number of great researchers and research being done for Louisiana is one of the reasons I came so that we can focus on those areas that we need to to grow and enhance.

And so that can that'll probably take us, you know, 5 to 7 years.

I'm wary of giving any specific number because we're ready when we're ready for the designation.

But the important thing is, as we're working towards that, we'll be doing all of those things you need to do to make our cancer center do what it has to do to lift the burden off the shoulders of the people.

Louisiana for cancer.

So that we are constantly working on everything we need to make sure that we reduce that burden.

So for right now, though, in the immediate for people dealing with this, how can they find out if there are trials going on that are close to home?

Yeah.

Our partners have many trials going on here in Louisiana.

And you can go to our our website.

Louisiana cancer research dot org to find some of those trials.

But you can also go to clinicaltrials.gov, which is the national resource for clinical trials and search by community or by cancer types.

Dr. Romans, thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

You have been a busy man since you arrived from Hawaii to Louisiana and are making that transition.

Yes.

And getting to know with the state is doing.

It's been great.

The people here are incredible.

So thank you for being here.

I appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

And parts of the south received severe weather this week.

As of Wednesday morning, dozens of tornadoes touched down in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Heavy wind, flooding and hail as large as tennis balls were all part of a winter storm headed north.

But is this unusual weather for this time of year?

Here to talk with us about this is Barry Time, Louisiana state climatologist.

Thank you so much for joining us.

It's great to be here.

Thanks.

So first.

Let's talk about the severe weather on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.

What was happening?

Well, it was a very strong cold front actually pushed through.

And, you know, given how worn the sea surface temperatures are out in the Gulf of Mexico.

And this air coming out of Canada, it's pretty cold right now and dry.

And when you have these two air masses mixing up, some action can happen.

And that's exactly what played out over the past week across that particular region.

So in Louisiana specifically, did we have a lot of tornado activity?

I mean, there's only one reported tornado, possibly a second.

It may have been the same tornado being reported twice, but most of the action actually was in just to the east of Louisiana, into Mississippi, and it spilled over into Alabama.

So we had this big swath, but there were other types of damage in Louisiana in terms of high wind and hail.

So we were right in the mix with with you know, with all the severe weather that played out.

Now, more typically, we think of tornadoes occurring in the spring, and we do have a peak in the spring here in Louisiana, but we also have a secondary peak in November.

So it's not uncommon for us to get tornadic activity here in the state at this time of year.

Wow.

Okay.

So like a second severe bout of severe weather in November.

Why November specifically?

My suspicion is I mean, the fronts can be pretty cold at this time of year coming out of Canada and the sea surface temperatures are still relatively warm.

So that makes that combination of the lack of energy coming out of Canada, you know, mixing up with this very moist air coming off the Gulf of Mexico.

It just creates a very unstable, unsettled environment that can pop off some some really severe weather sometimes.

Okay.

So sometimes it's not it's not something that we should be expecting every single year.

I mean, we.

Well, yeah, we do get severe weather almost every year.

And, you know, sometimes you get the big tornado outbreaks.

You know, other times you might just pop off one or two tornadoes.

This was actually a pretty severe outbreak here.

And, you know, we were just unlucky that this go round.

But but it's not uncommon to be having these kinds of weather activities at this time of year.

So is it safe to say that, you know, going forward into December, we won't see this type of weather or are we still in that?

I would say.

I would say it's still possible, but maybe in terms of Louisiana, somewhat less likely as we look at the climatology and we tend to get more tornadic activity in November than we do in December and deeper into the winter.

And then it picks up again once we get into the spring.

But we can get tornadoes in any month, and we always have to be on our guard and watch with severe weather watches and warnings.

So here in Louisiana, our big thing is really hurricanes.

Not a lot of people have basements or places underground, hide out.

How do you stay safe during a tornado with it?

The best thing to do, especially if you don't.

I mean, obviously, a basement is the safest place to go.

I assume some places up in north Louisiana may have basements here in south Louisiana.

They're very uncommon with our water tables too high that, you know, would basically be you know, it would have water in a most of the time.

So they would be nonfunctional.

But if you're in a in a house without a basement and there is, you know, imminent tornadic activity, I would like to take place.

The best thing to do is get into a small interior room, like a bathroom where you have a lot of pipes and things like that, that that can add extra support for the walls.

But being in an interior room also or a hallway is much safer than being on your on a exterior wall somewhere that's more likely to be damaged.

And you can take cover.

I mean, if it is on and you see a tornado bearing down on you, I mean, you could pull in a mattress and kind of cover yourself because you never know what might happen.

I mean, in a very severe set of circumstances.

So the gist is make sure that you're basically barricaded somewhere, somewhere small, no windows and just, you know, tightly packed in there.

All all of that is correct.

You always get an interior hallway, an interior bathroom are probably the safest locations.

But a small bedroom, if it's in the interior of the house, is definitely a, you know, a smarter place to be than an exterior room.

All right.

So we've gone over the severe weather that happened on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Is there anything else, I guess, that you've noticed this year that you thought was interesting with weather patterns?

Well, I mean, obviously, this tropical season was very interesting.

I mean, the hurricane season is closing.

It was an interesting year relative to the last couple.

Better for us in a big way.

It ended up I mean, the forecast going into the season were for an above normal year and we ended up with 14, which were exactly average.

And now that's assuming we don't get any more in December, any December.

Two hurricanes, rather, will be attributed to this season.

So we still could get a late season hurricane.

I mean, we'll have to wait and see.

But as of right now, the of the season is officially over and we end with 14 named storms and that is considered an average season.

So and thank goodness none of those really affected the Gulf in any major way, with the exception of Ian, which was a big deal for Florida.

That was the signature storm this year.

Well, I'm sure it will be a retired name this season.

But given the weather patterns and the way it played out, Louisiana was relatively protected.

And everyone, that's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything, be any time, wherever you are with their live PBS app, you.

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Everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I'm Andre Moore and I'm Care Crossing.

Until next time.

That's the state we're in.

I know customers are counting on me.

So Entergy is investing millions of dollars to keep the lights on and installing new technology to prevent outages before they happen.

Together, together, together.

We power life.

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

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is an historical and cultural center for southwest Louisiana and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

With support from viewers like you.