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.

Federal immigration policies have put Louisiana crawfish farmers in a pinch.

We'll explain.

A Lafayette company leads the way in wound care with new 3-D printing technology and a nature center in the heart of Cajun country.

Connect visitors with nature through art.

Plus, our Young Heroes series continues.

Meet New Orleans native Charlotte Gomez.

Let's get started.

All right, let's go.

Through everything you know.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Christina Jensen and I'm Gianni Atkins and much more on those top stories in a moment on this week's edition of Louisiana, the State We're In.

But first, and nine days after they launched, astronauts aboard NASA's Artemis two capsule are almost home.

The world has been glued to their TVs and social media following their progress, and the Artemis mission has deep ties to Louisiana.

The main rocket crew capsule and the launch abort system were all built at the mission assembly facility in New Orleans East.

Alumni from both Southern University and Nunez Community College's aerospace programs were closely involved in the Artemis mission.

The four astronauts are expected to splashdown off the coast of San Diego just after 7:00 Friday night.

Their mission sent them to the far side of the moon, more than 250,000 miles away from the Earth.

In other news, energy is dramatically increasing the plans to fuel Meta's data center and Richland Parish.

The company plans to build seven new natural gas plants, upgrade existing nuclear plants and rebuild the 20 500MW of solar farms.

That's in addition to three other power plants that have already been approved.

The company also says the new power generation will help keep electricity rates affordable.

Critics say data centers and other states have driven up utility prices and caused problems for area water supplies.

Others are concerned about the huge amount of tax breaks that meta has received.

Republicans in the state legislature have once again killed a proposal to increase Louisiana's minimum wage.

We're forcing people to depend on Medicaid to depend on food stamps, even while working 1 or 2 jobs.

It is shameful that we support this level of market failure.

Who are these employees that are trapped in minimum wage, and why?

In the answer, and I believe the answer is that we're not providing them the workforce training that they need to be able to move up from those positions.

The measure would have established a minimum wage of $12 an hour in 2027, and then it would increase every two years.

Republicans on the House Labor Committee argue businesses would pass on the increased cost to consumers.

The bill failed with a 7 to 5 party line vote in the House Labor Committee.

And Louisiana Crawfish farmers are struggling to find enough workers right at the peak of crawfish season.

The Trump administration rules on temporary work visas have limited the number of people available to appeal and process the mud bugs.

I spoke to Agriculture Commissioner Mike strange to see what's at stake.

The 2026 live crawfish season is now in its prime.

The strongest part of the season is generally March, April and May because that's when supply is big.

But this year there's a problem.

Not with the unpredictable Louisiana hot and cold temperatures, and now with an extra rainy or dry season, but with hiring labor to peel those crawfish.

What I'm hearing is that our crawfish industry is in dire straits, because I can't get the workers that they normally do.

And, I've know that as a state legislatures, we're pretty much powerless to change that.

I've sent a letter and follow up phone calls, directly to the director of Homeland Security, Mr.

Kristi Noem, also to the Department of Labor, also, to the USDA and to the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs at the white House.

Letters followed up by phone calls.

Our federal delegation is involved.

Many of you are involved.

And you're right.

They simply cannot get their workers.

I'm a bit frustrated from the answers I'm getting from Washington, because they're basically saying, well, they've met the cap.

And you know what?

There's nothing else we can do.

The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry is working to bring in the new workers before crawfish season ends, and it's just too late.

Crawfish peelers are needed now, as crawfish are now in the prime of their season, but it looks like help is not on the way.

I don't think we're going to see a decision in the immediate future.

You know, I'm concerned that this is going to linger at least a few more weeks and with inaction, and then we're going to end our crawfish season, with a net loss to many of our crawfish farmers.

Mike Strain is of Louisiana commissioner of agriculture and forestry.

And he's right now dealing with the lack of guest worker visas causing shutdowns, appealing plants all around Louisiana, which means extra high prices for consumers.

If you just look at our large peeling plants, these peeling plants have anywhere from 75 to 150 workers.

On average, 15 of 20 don't have any workers couldn't get them in.

And so they were they were four that were lucky enough to get their workers.

One, they had a special lottery for some additional workers in that one.

Got that.

So but by and large, across the board, we did not get our workers.

Seasonal workers have historically peeled these crawfish in Louisiana in the short season, but this year they've not received necessary visas.

We normally bring in about 2500 H-2b workers for a six month period to be a crawfish.

Most of these workers have been coming back year after year after year.

So and this year we weren't able to get them.

So today, in the prime of crawfish season, crawfish are being harvested by the ton and sold in sacks for crawfish boils.

But the peeled Louisiana crawfish used in a two phase crawfish bisque, gumbo, and many other Cajun dishes are not getting peeled.

These are jobs that cannot be filled with the local labor market.

Cannot.

And so normally, if we need additional workers, there will be an additional allotment approved.

But now we were told, I'm sorry, when you reapply.

And so if you do this, that means they won't come in probably till May.

Well, by that time, crawfish season is over.

Today, strain is urgently working to bring in additional labor.

But the problems are growing bigger than anyone anticipated.

And unskilled worker can drive the pickup truck on the farm.

They can drive a tractor, they can drive, you know, the boats, they can do all these sorts of things.

But when you cross over, where the crawfish are boiled, you have to have a skilled worker h-2b to actually peel the crawfish.

That's just that's federal law.

So Louisiana is facing a major problem finding labor to peel crawfish that can be frozen and sold directly to restaurants and stores.

Farmers, they apply early.

They applied in November and December.

But there was an issues in Washington, D.C., where there was a government shutdown and those applications were, quote, set aside.

Louisiana crawfish farmers were then forced to apply a second time, but by the time they started reapplying, the allotment of workers had already been hired for other jobs.

Local businesses are now considering outsourcing their peeling operations to Mexico just to keep their businesses afloat.

But we have appealed, to Washington.

We have appealed to the Department of Labor.

You know, we appealed to Department of Homeland Security.

We've appealed to the USDA.

We've appealed to the white House.

Everyone said, look, something has got to be done.

The seafood most heavily impacted by the shortage of immigrant workers in Louisiana is crawfish.

But others in the seafood industry are facing similar challenges due to the heavy reliance on guest worker programs.

We have over a quarter million acres of oysters and over 360,000 acres of farmed crawfish.

About 8 to 10% of all the crawfish in addition to that, are wild caught.

And so the crawfish industry is, you know, on at the farm level, over $300 million.

So it is, you know, more than a half $1 billion in our economy.

You take aquaculture altogether.

It's $1 billion part of our economy.

The 2026 crawfish season was a big harvest, but the shortage of processors could mean frozen crawfish tails will be harder to find and a lot more expensive.

But my strain has one suggestion for the people in Louisiana to help.

So what can people in Louisiana do to help solve this problem?

Real simple.

Eat more crawfish.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers are considering several bills to strengthen laws dealing with imported seafood.

One of the bills would require businesses to keep all records of seafood purchases and make them available for the state inspection.

Another would empower the Department of Agriculture to seize and destroy any imported seafood found to be mislabeled as domestic.

Both bills are headed to the House floor for debate.

A Lafayette based company is leading the way in treating patients who suffer from chronic wounds.

Thai medical uses donated tissue from new moms or the patient's own bodies to create custom skin grafts.

Here's a look at how the technology works.

What began as a small operation in Acadiana has grown into a national biotech success.

Tide medical is taking what was once a byproduct of childbirth and turning it into lifesaving wound care solutions across the country.

We developed it here in Lafayette.

We're excited to bring it to market in 2017.

It all begins here in Lafayette, where every placenta donation is carefully collected and transformed into life saving grafts for hospitals, clinics and care facilities.

And one of the company's four clean rooms.

Two technicians at a time wash the tissue and separate its layers, preparing it for testing and use.

How are the skin grafts made?

So it's a process.

When a mother has a planned C-section, her OB will generally talk to her and tell her about a donation program.

So the mother will consent to donate it and go through a medical history like you're giving blood or any other type of organ.

And once she consents, our tech will go into the delivery and they'll take the placenta and put it in a sterile basin.

We bring it back here to our facility, where we run it through testing and make sure it's safe for transplant.

Once collected, placentas are stored in medical grade freezers for up to a year.

One placenta can produce about 40 skin grafts, and the process takes roughly two weeks.

After sterilization, the graphs are packaged to last up to five years.

So we are in all 50 states, and you know, we take care of some of the sickest patients out there.

A patient with, untreated chronic wound has her survivorship.

That's about on par with small cell lung cancer or pancreatic cancer.

So if it goes untreated, you will be dead within five years.

So we, we're trying to to make sure the patients get the care they need.

Last year, Tide's medical earned recognition as one of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S., a testament to their success.

But recent changes to Medicare reimbursement have shaken the entire industry.

Spending on skin substitute products has skyrocketed, jumping from 256,000,000 in 2019 to nearly 10,000,000,000 in 2024.

That's according to the centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

CMS says the increase comes from higher prices, wider use across the health care system, billing irregularities, fraud concerns, and in some cases, limited clinical evidence.

At the same time, new rules brought steep cuts to reimbursement rates, creating challenges for companies like Tide's Medical.

January 1st, there were some reform efforts, by CMS to reduce the pricing in our space, and it led to about a 90% cut in our reimbursement rate.

So it's been a really challenging year for us.

We've, had two rounds of layoffs already.

We're trying to retool how we sell, how we bring our products to market.

And, you know, hopefully that we could get, a better solution in, in the future.

There was a lot of fraud in the space.

So the government acted in a way that to try and eliminate that.

And, you know, now I think we'll have to continue to talk to them and hopefully get a little bit higher rate.

We've been about reform for a long time.

We saw the fraud happening and not that many more patients were treated.

While these industry setbacks are significant.

Tide Medical is already looking ahead, turning to cutting edge technology to shape the future of wound care.

The company is now the exclusive U.S.

distributor of the app for 3D.

The first FDA approved 3D bio printer that can create personalized graphs right in the operating room.

Invented in South Korea by Rocket Healthcare, the printer uses a patient's own tissue to make grafts tailored to their wound ready to be applied immediately.

So we're standing in front of the Aplicar 3D printer.

Take me through this process.

We start with an iPad that has, a camera technology that actually takes a picture, of the wound bed to create a customized graph.

From here, you would take a picture of the wound bed so you can make a customized file to be printed.

So this is the final product.

After the physician reads the wound, this would be applied directly into that wound bed and then dressed appropriately for the treatment process to begin.

These are typically performed in surgical suites.

We've currently treated with, our partner rocket over 300 patients worldwide, over 12 different sites.

And there's one actually in Louisiana at Opelousas General Hospital.

From advanced placental grafts to AI guided 3D printing.

Tides medical is transforming wound care and saving lives right here in Louisiana.

Innovation, resilience and a uniquely Louisiana spirit are turning what was once discarded into life saving treatments for patients across the country.

You know, we'd like to be the leader in 3D printing technology for for treatment of different skin conditions.

And I'd like to get back to where we're at a full scale employment model and creating a lot of new and interesting jobs.

Here in Lafayette.

Well, a small Acadiana town is turning creativity into conservation.

And Arnaud Ville, a new nature focused arts and education center, is bringing in the artists, the scientists and the community together to celebrate Louisiana's landscape.

LA 64 host Karen LeBlanc shows us how the project is inspiring people of all ages, connecting with nature in a whole new way.

If ever there were a fairy world tucked into the Louisiana woods, you'll find it right here in Arnold Ville, where mystical sculptures rise from the earth along a winding path through 30 acres of restored farmland.

I tell you, de la nature is a quirky immersion into the landscape, shaped by artist whose work is rooted in a deep passion for preserving Louisiana's natural habitat.

And we're a nature reserve, a steam education center, and we're really interested in the way that art and science and nature can be combined together.

Brandon Belanger is an artist and biologist, and his wife, Aurore, is a sustainable food educator.

Together with their family and several visiting artists.

They invited me on a nature walk where art and ecology meet, so we're walking through, like it's like an enchanted forest.

Yet we don't know what we're going to come across.

Dewey.

That's it.

That's part of the fun.

And if you look, there's lots of little details.

There's fairy doors, there's fairies hiding all over the place, and then some other things that are a little less hidden.

I took on the challenge of counting fairy doors along the trail, determined to find all 21 tucked into the tree trunks.

A place like this has a way of shifting perspective and captivating the imagination.

Many of these sculptures are bio art living, evolving pieces like this one, designed to grow edible mushrooms.

Blurring the line between art and science.

So a lot of the projects that we make, our collaborative, they're really cool thing about this one is it's a bio artwork or a living artwork.

So if you can see it's creating spores.

So we collaborated with a local Lafayette organization called All Caps Mushrooms.

And so underneath this is packed full of mycelium.

So it literally grows edible mushrooms.

Sculptures merge into the natural landscape, some revealing themselves in moments of surprise, others inviting reflection, and some even creating habitats like this one designed for bees.

Along the trail, I spot a piece by Carrie Hamburg quietly woven into its surroundings.

This is a replica of the infamous Magdeburg Siberian Unicorn, which was an early paleontology effort.

Scientists put together bones from cows and whales and even a narwhal horn, and thought it was a type of unicorn and put it in a museum.

And so people for a while believed it was a real animal.

What is this made of?

It's made out of styrofoam, which I like to work with material around my house like cardboard and styrofoam.

Repurposed objects also find their way into nature's art, such as this bottle sculpture.

But we run an organization called Louisiana Bayou Society.

We collect litter out of the waterways.

So this is an example of a bunch of bottles that we've pulled out of local waterways.

There are many, many different bottles, about 120, in this installation.

The bottles stretch back into the 60s.

The truth is that a lot of the, stuff can't be recycled, and it has that bayou silt in it.

So we, through a collaborative efforts, we got this up here within the nature reserve.

Restoration is reshaping the land, reestablishing the Cajun prairie, one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America.

At the same time, it opened itself as an outdoor gallery where artists create with Mother Nature as the canvas and conservation as the message.

New episodes of L.A.

64 airing now.

Next up, Karen heads to the First Parish where Acadians built a culture tied to the water.

We'll hear the unique twist that locals put on Cajun music.

See how Lafourche is making its mark on the film industry.

And watch craftsmen honor the region's history of handcrafted boats.

Be sure to check it out Monday night at eight right here on LPB.

This week's young hero is making a difference at home and abroad.

Charlotte Gomez is a senior at Ben Franklin High School in New Orleans.

She's another standout young person from Louisiana with a huge list of accolades.

But her passion is helping other young people hear Charlotte's story.

Charlotte is such a quiet light in this world.

She doesn't like the spotlight.

But when you spend some time with her, you just see that the light of love and joy that she has for life and people around her just radiates.

She is a quiet force of good.

She's always ready to give, to do, to help.

These are the words that Charlotte Gomez, mother and grandmother, used to describe their 2026 Louisiana young hero.

Charlotte and her grandmother share a common interest in books and helping others and volunteer each week at the Uno Children's Library.

Charlotte's grandmother, who sort of first suggested, you know, like, well, this might be an interesting thing.

She was a former librarian, a former principal.

So she said, well, you know, I can volunteer and can I bring my granddaughter?

And I said, love it.

I would say that the qualities I most admire about Charlotte are, stick to itiveness, serious of purpose.

You know, she's just all in it.

And so that's the kind of person I need as a volunteer.

It's so much fun to be with Charlotte in a working situation like this, where it's away from the home and where we just can interact like we're helping other people.

Being able to volunteer and work at a library has been a really important thing for me.

And just being able to help other kids, like, have access to books like I had when I was younger.

Charlotte's love of reading began early in life and led her to want to help others in a most profound way, not just here at home, but also abroad.

She loves books so much that when she was in second grade, when she found out about an opportunity to fund some books for, school in Kenya, Petal School of Africa, she was all in.

The school is in a small village where there were two warring tribes.

And so the school came about as a peacemaker because even though the tribes didn't get along, everyone wanted their children to have a great education and a safe environment.

So this school is really brought those tribes together.

There's no more war amongst these tribes, no more strife.

They are one community.

And so she's really eager to learn about that from their bravery and vulnerability and courage to open such a school.

And, for parents to send their children there.

Charlotte tells us how she first began fundraising for the Petals School of Africa.

It started, with like, smaller projects, like lemonade stands, like in my grandma's neighborhood.

And then over time, it grew to, like, going to craft fairs and then when I went with, like, a service group that I'm a part of when they decided to, like, go to that school.

It was really exciting because I had been, like, fundraising for them for a while.

So I had like a little bit of background and a part of, like, the requirements for the trip was to bring like a bag of, like the stuff you needed for the trip and then a bag of stuff to donate.

And I reached out to, like, the lady in charge of the school and asked them, like, what they might need.

And she said, a lot of the girls don't have access to like, period products, and so I worked to fundraise for that.

I was really successful.

I had like an Amazon like wishlist cart of all, like the things that I wanted to fundraise, and it sold out in like a few hours.

Charlotte started fundraising when she was a little girl.

That meant a lot to us because we were a very new organization and I was senior in high school.

She, you know, raised some significant money to do some things for the girls that they really needed.

Charlotte's involvement in the Petal School is transforming the lives of young girls in a country with limited access and resources at school and also in life.

The school is, like, very grateful for all of the work that, like I and my class did, for like myself specifically, which was the period products I they brought like all the girls that were, I think like fourth grade and up at the school and we all like went into a room and me and like a couple of my friends, we like taught them like how to use the stuff because they didn't really have that much access to it.

And I've gotten like positive feedback since that.

It was really helpful and like very like life changing for the girls because, oftentimes they would have to like, stay home on their periods because they didn't have, like, products to have a teenager like Charlotte decide that she wants to make a difference in the world is a very special thing.

And I think that's the kind of person that Charlotte is, that she saw a need, she was interested in it, and she actually decided to follow through and do something about it.

And so I just feel that's a really special quality.

She really loves those kids.

She has a sense of, compassion and kindness and really wants to be a helpful and a, in whatever way she can be.

I think, like volunteering and like giving your time can be so rewarding.

I think you can, like, see it in other people, and I think it brings them joy, and it brings you joy, too, and it's really fulfilling for me.

I'm Charlotte Combs and I'm a young hero.

It's amazing to see how she's helping all those young girls.

Yeah.

I'm enjoying seeing these young heroes in Louisiana.

Yeah.

Congratulations, Charlotte.

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. Dory family.

And with additional support from Community Coffee Demko 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 watch 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 Adkins.

And 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.