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 B 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 I anticipate all of that will be done by the end of next month.

What's next for homeowners insurance in Louisiana?

It is my hope when the dust settles today and the votes are counted, that you all can sleep well tonight.

The controversy over the Dale Brown courts name change coming to a close.

This has been a problem for a long, long time.

Animal shelters reaching maximum capacity.

If there's a will, there's a way.

Remembering LSU's first black professor.

We begin with a shocking study that shows that almost 20,000 Louisiana students aren't attending school.

You have this new study by the Associated Press and Stanford University found that these absences can't be explained.

The majority of missing kids account for about 2% of the total population of school age children in Louisiana.

Louisiana had the highest percentage of truant students out of all the 21 states included in the study.

Yes, they did.

And now some other headlines from around the state.

In Monroe, woman filed a lawsuit after she was blocked from posting on a Louisiana state senators Twitter account.

The plaintiff, a proponent of abortion rights, tried to post on Senator Katrina Jackson's Twitter about the controversial topic.

Senator Jackson is a known anti-abortion activists who authored a trigger ban that would later become law in 2022.

The plaintiffs lawsuit argues that Jackson's Twitter is a public forum that shouldn't be allowed to block posts.

The goal of the suit is to prove that Senator Jackson violated the plaintiffs First Amendment right and to get a court order removing the Twitter block.

The Calcasieu River Bridge is coming up again and conversations about revitalizing transportation in Louisiana.

Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. transportation secretary, visited Lake Charles on Thursday to talk investment plans and grants.

State officials declared the bridge structurally deficient and accident prone footage emphasized the importance it holds as an evacuation route and highlighted a federally funded infrastructure investment that would allocate $150 million to fix it.

Parts of Louisiana are recovering after severe storms hit the state Wednesday night and he had to.

Tornado spawned a tangible whole parish, causing significant damage to the village of tangible.

Parish president Robbie Miller says the winds overturned some trailers and injured three people, two children and an older woman.

Several trees were also knocked out and a local store received some damage.

At this time, no deaths have been reported.

If TOS usually have wind gusts between 111 and 135 miles per hour, Wednesday night's storm was estimated to have gusts up to 115 miles per hour.

Sharing is something legendary LSU basketball coach Dale Brown got used to when he grew up.

His father left the family before he was born.

His single mother raised him and his two older sisters in a tiny apartment above a store.

They shared everything.

And LSU's Board of Supervisors meeting today.

We learned the court of the Maravich Assembly Center that they solely named for Brown just 18 months ago will now be shared with former women's coach Sue Gunter.

The new name Dale Brown.

Sue Gunter.

Court We've learned the discussion to add Gunter, whose name began just months after the ceremony at that Kentucky game a year ago that honored Brown.

You'll hear now some of the public comment and one remark from one of the board members.

I never could have envisioned standing before you for any reason, but I also never could have foreseen the unfortunate mess that brings a number of us here today.

Of course, all of you already know the background.

Unfortunate, although much of what has happened.

A private pressure campaign, direct participation of President Tate and Governor John Bel Edwards and others, countless additional behind the scenes conversations.

All of it has happened without including the public.

I am for naming something after coach.

I just think it could be done a different way.

Why not name the practice facility?

The scoreboard?

I asked you to vote no on this today and back up and rethink.

This has got to be a way that we can honor one without dishonoring another.

It's been said the decisions we make during a day often affect how we sleep at night.

It is my hope when the dust settles today, the votes are counted that you all can sleep well tonight.

Today I ask that you vote to honor one of the game's most worthy competitors.

I ask that you vote to honor a woman who broke down barriers by building others.

So here we are, 18 months later with the same mess name naming a court that's already been named for someone who was a great lady, a great coach, and is fully deserving of some honor.

But the process is still wrong.

And I believe the people up here believe that it's still wrong unless they've changed their mind and hadn't told me.

Louisiana Radio Network president and LSU sports historian Jim Inkster joins me now.

Jim, you know, as I look at this, that anybody really win today, it's hard to fathom that, Andre, because there was a lot of conjecture about this publicity and most of it was a case in which there were people on each side feeling passionately.

And even though one side got its way, the other side left disappointed and for those of us who were supporters of Coach Brown, we disappointed that an honor that was given to him in a year and a half, a little less than that was taken away.

And even though this was a nice way to honor Sue Garner, she's already been honored.

And it's in the view of many, I think probably the majority of those who followed this closely, It was more a taking away of an honor from coach for Coach Brown than bestowing one on Coach Garner.

Well, an oddity because I've never heard of anything named like a court name for somebody, then changed a year later.

It really makes no sense.

There's this there's a Skip Berkman Field at Alex Park Stadium.

I doubt that there's going to be another baseball coach there.

There's a Charlie McClendon practice facility.

I doubt that there's going to be another football coach on that.

And so we had the most prolific football coach and the most prolific baseball coach at LSU have been honored.

But in 25 years, they'll Brown was never given this kind of accolade by the university that he served for a quarter century.

And then he gets it.

And now it's kind of taken away.

Yeah.

Nothing in the board meeting was.

Neither side really agreed on what happened, even though we know what happened.

It was laid out and it was obvious, but neither side wanted to meaning the board side and the governor.

They didn't want to admit that the governor appoints the board members.

And John Bel Edwards is no different than previous governors and he appoints his friends and supporters and he doesn't fight a lot of battles.

But on this one, he felt it was a good idea.

And he told the board that what he wanted and by virtue of that, the vote that was 12 to 3, 17 months ago was basically 12 to 3.

This time there were only three members who were against this, and those were Glenn Armenta, Carlos Temple and and Jay Bosman.

Right, exactly.

And so everybody else voted the other way, which means there were a lot of people who changed their minds.

Yeah.

And Jay Blackman had an interesting point.

He was really hung up on the procedure the entire time, which he was.

Then again.

But he also was felt like, well, I haven't been told all these things going on.

As soon as two months after the naming, during the Kentucky game.

Well, LSU is board in recent vintage and perhaps in other years, but I think more so in recent times has basically taken action before board meetings.

Now, they do this without a quorum being present.

So they may be technically within the laws of the state of Louisiana.

But King Alexander, the former chancellor and president, he noted that when he was at a restaurant, that he was handed a napkin and saying, you're basically firing Joe Weaver, you're hiring Scott Woodward.

And this is the salary we're hiring Scott Woodward.

Well, I don't think that was done without consent of the board.

Yes.

And several board members were present at that meeting.

Ed Jubin says he calls it the Monday night massacre.

And it seems that even though the faces of LSU have changed, the process remains largely the same.

Well, the process may be largely the same since Huey Long.

That's true.

Essentially hired Biff Jones back in the day.

You would use that to watch for that, to go back, you know, Rice 34.

I think we're learning more to the question, is this the end of this?

Is this the end of this?

No, it's not the end of it, because there will be another governor and the board will flip over.

And if another governor has an inkling to change it either to the Dale Brown Court or the Sue Gunner Court or the Kim Mulkey Court, I would imagine that governor will have the cash to do whatever he or she wants.

All right.

The sun will rise tomorrow morning.

That's my dad always said after an LSU defeat.

So it'll come up.

I remember the former chancellor, Mike Martin, saying LSU was the most political place he had ever been and he had worked all over the country.

And I think the thing the more things change, the more they stay the same.

They certainly do.

Jim, thank you.

Thank you for always good.

Thank you, Michel.

And the purpose of the Insure Louisiana Incentive Program is to expand home insurance coverage in the state.

Now, this is what lawmakers went into their special session to take a look at, and they approved it.

Now it's time to see it go to work.

And Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon, who has had to work hard to make us get to the place where we are now and then we'll see where it goes from.

Now it's time to get going.

Absolutely.

We are sending out invitations to participate to all the companies writing property insurance in our state and and some prospects who have indicated a desire to participate.

In addition to those already here, and they will have 30 days to fill out the application, tell us what their plan is, how much grant money they want to access, and we will receive those during the next 30 days.

We'll have 15 days to compare and contrast those applications.

Then we will make our recommendations to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget and they have to review and approve what we recommend.

I anticipate all of that will be done by the end of next month.

Cash in hand for those applicants who participate by the end of March.

And how many people would possibly not have to worry about paying the higher premiums of the Citizens program with these new insurance companies, With 120,000 policyholders facing that 63% rate increase each month as their policies come up for renewal.

By that time, 30,000 will have felt that pain, but 90,000 will be in line to feel to feel it for the rest of the year.

And if we don't succeed in reducing that book of business, that citizens, which is now twice what it was when they bought their reinsurance for last year, then those same policyholders will face another large rate increase next year as the cost of reinsurance goes up for citizens.

Okay.

Commissioner, you had a template for this incentive program that you did successfully and 25 apps like Katrina and Rita.

And so that went well.

You feel like it did very different and you feel the same kind of thing can happen here.

And it and it did two things immediately.

The first year it depopulated 40,000 folks out of citizens into the private sector at cheaper rates.

The other thing it did is it showed the rest of the industry that it could be done successfully in coastal Louisiana and a two dozen more companies, small regional companies, came to our market and stayed successfully for 15 years thereafter, providing cheaper, myself included, homeowners insurance for consumers in our state.

So some came immediately and then grant recipients.

Right.

And then and then saw the success of it.

So, okay, well, we'll get our toes in the water now, too.

Absolutely.

And that's the norm in the insurance industry.

It's very herd like they come in the markets as a herd.

They exit markets as a herd.

And that's what we saw after Katrina.

Rita, we're seeing it play out again in this crisis.

This has been a battle, though, for you.

It appeared before the special session was announced that it would take place, that there were some people thinking that this maybe that was not the worst to go.

No doubt about it.

And each day myself and my senior staff, particularly my chief of staff, Denise Gardner, and I, when conversing and responding to negativity that came from different places, said, we're not going to make it.

And then the next day we were on top of the world.

Things are going well, things are going great, I have to say.

Governor Edwards, Senate President Cortez.

Speaker Shakes niner Were very, very supportive and wouldn't have happened without them, I do believe so.

The leadership of the legislature, the two insurance committee chairs, Mike Heuvel of New Iberia, Kirk Talbot of New River Ridge, were all in unison.

The chairman of the Appropriations Committee who handled the bill rang was also very supportive.

So things combined for the best outcome you can look for.

Absolutely.

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

Yes, that's right.

Well, that can be something that homeowners will look forward to also, no doubt.

Commissioner, thanks so much.

I appreciate it.

Good to talk to you again.

Same here.

Thanks, Andre.

And inflated prices are forcing pet owners to make difficult decisions, with some opting out of ownership altogether.

Companion Animal Alliance in Baton Rouge is over capacity after dozens of dogs and cats were surrendered.

Emily LeMoyne, a spokesperson for the shelter, gives insight on the growing problem.

So we have a guest with us today who has this.

We have a very special guest.

He's getting a little antsy here on my lap.

This is Chuck.

He's about five years old and he is one of our very lucky pups who is going on a transport tomorrow.

On a transport.

So can you explain what that means?

Yeah.

So we have this really robust program where we have a couple actually dozens of National Rescue partners with empty shelters who will tag pets in our shelter, who are in desperate need of homes.

And we will actually send flights of these animals out there.

And right now, that seems like something you guys desperately need.

Yes, we've done more than six already this year, and it's not even the end of February.

So this is definitely a program that we're very committed to.

It's a very effective and beneficial way to create space in our shelter and also send pets to rescues where we can guarantee a positive outcome.

So you guys are definitely over capacity at this time.

Yes.

As of this morning, we were a little over 100 dogs over capacity and there are 388 in our care as of this morning.

And about 150 of them are in foster care, still living, like I said, a surplus of about 100 dogs and they don't have space for.

Wow.

And I mean, you guys don't just care for dogs.

You care for lots of other animals.

Yes.

We've been putting a little emphasis on dogs just because of capacity crisis.

But we take in everything from livestock to wildlife or we'll find rehabilitation for them.

We sometimes have bunnies, little piglets, snakes, birds, anything.

So we do our best to try and find placement for every single one of these animals.

And that's been really difficult.

Are you guys overcapacity?

We believe that it's a combination of financial strains that a lot of people are dealing with right now, combined with not as many people spay and neuter in their dogs as should be.

So between those things, you know, there's an addiction crisis going on.

There are thousands of people who love their pets, want to keep their pets, and have to choose between themselves or their children and their pets.

And even though we're dealing with this crisis, we always want you to choose yourself.

You know, this is our job.

This is what we're here for.

And it's times like this that we really try to rely back on the community that we so often help for a little bit of help back.

So when did you guys notice that, hey, you know, this could be becoming a problem soon?

This has been a problem for a long, long time.

Last August, we made a call that was almost identical to the one we made last week.

We saw an immense outpour of community support.

We were able to empty an entire room of kennels, and that lasted for about five days, that piece.

So we are constantly, constantly struggling to essentially make ends meet and to save as many animals as we can.

Despite record low adoptions, record high intake, we still maintain to keep our safe rate at 89% and 2010, when we were formed, the save rate of animals in East Baton Rouge Parish was 20%.

So despite everything and despite the hard decisions that we do sometimes have to make, I think we're doing a great job, especially given what we have to work with, especially given what you have to work with, like chicken.

So you said earlier that Triscuit is one of a couple of dogs that are going to be transferred to different facilities around the country.

Right.

I guess how many are you guys planning to ship next?

I'm not sure how many of the one for tomorrow is.

They vary very vastly on how many dogs that we are sheltering specifically is able to send out.

We kind of serve as like a like a meeting point for many other shelters and rescues in the area.

So when we have these flights of dogs out, we will invite other parishes to bring their dogs here to join this flight.

So sometimes that means bumping a few of our own pets so that other shelters can have the opportunity to have more of their pets be tagged.

Sometimes that means that we send out 60 in a day.

Sometimes that means we send out two in a day.

It really just depends.

We give rescues full permission to select whichever dogs they would like to have sent over from our shelter.

Usually this means that little cuties like Triscuit get selected special specific breeds of dogs, heartworm negative dogs get selected.

And unfortunately, the reality is that this leaves our shelter with a lower numbers of highly adoptable dogs, which can sometimes make getting out the ones that we were left with even harder to get out.

So what we do to combat that and incentivizes adoptions is we have an entire one of five of our adoption rooms in which every single animal in the room has a waived adoption fee.

When I break down it, so many barriers to adoption as possible.

You know, we don't do yard checks.

We're not going to ask you for your Social Security number.

We are an open adoptions facility.

We believe that people belong with pets and we want to make it as easy as possible for someone who's wanting a companion animal to get one.

And last weekend, I mean, it seems like that effort worked out because you guys have had a lot of help recently.

Yeah, correct.

We were very fortunate to be based here in a community where, you know, for every person that doesn't care, there are ten people who care so much.

We have an amazing network of volunteers, fosters donors and advocates, and even our adopter alumni.

They're all such amazing people.

We always receive so much support.

They've received thousands of dollars in donations since last Thursday and things are going good.

Progress is being made.

We do want to urge that this isn't a victory.

This is a long, long journey that we're on right now.

So we want to maintain this momentum of this movement and hopefully continue that support and out of ICU.

So if anybody wants any other information about how to adopt a dog like Triscuits with where they need to go with it now, so on CAA be our dawgs adopt your find our.

All the details of our adoption process.

You will find a link to every adoptable animal that we have.

You'll find a link to every adoptable animal in foster care that we have.

And you'll also be provided with ways to contact a representative from our shelter or directions to our physical shelter.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for talking.

Of course.

But what could they buy if the capacity problem continues?

Some of the animals in the shelter will be euthanized.

So far this year, they've lost a few dogs.

They've had to put them down to accommodate the growing need.

And in 1961, Julian C White would graduate from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with a degree in architecture.

He take his knowledge and his drive to succeed down to Louisiana, where only one other black architect was successful enough to get a license.

Beating the odds White would not only secure his license, but eventually teach his craft to students at LSU, becoming the first black professor at the school.

His family explains his legacy.

It would take a lawsuit to fully integrate LSU in the 1950s.

It would take another 15 or so years before black professor would step foot inside a classroom.

That man would be Julian T White.

He really set that example for all of us, all his grandchildren, his children as well.

You see the lasting legacy in all of them, in their personalities and in just the way they carry themselves.

Aaron White joins Grandson says his grandfather's legacy is one to be remembered.

He was a graduate of the University of Illinois where he majored in architecture.

His taste for design and numbers was sparked by his cousin, Henry Thurman, who at the time was the only black man with an architectural license in Louisiana.

Aaron says that passion would take his grandfather to great heights.

I think he recognized that if there's a will, there's a way, right.

He had the passion for the interest for it.

And when you have that, it doesn't matter what kind of recognition or money you're going to make for it.

White would eventually gain his architectural license, becoming the second black man in Louisiana to do so.

He worked at a local firm designing medical facilities and schools.

Anything to help the community.

But his ultimate accomplishment was becoming an official member of LSU staff in 1971.

White's blueprint can be seen all over campus.

He paved the way for other professors of color.

And for that, Aaron says his legacy will never be forgotten.

A mural was painted in White's honor on LSU's campus this year.

He's pictured leading students and faculty through LSU's campus.

And finally, we're excited to introduce a new digital series from L.P. called Ritual.

The show was hosted by Grammy Award nominated musician, poet and New Orleans culture bearer Terry on a tank ball, and it explores rituals across the south.

Let's take a look at the trailer.

Ritual is an ancient art.

Simple or intricate, sacred or profane, timeworn or brand new.

Every ritual is a marker in time.

It is a recognition of the past and an offering to future generations.

And Ms.. Oppression and hardship ritual can be an act of resistance.

Embodiment of resilience.

A living memory of joy.

I'm sorry.

Unattainable.

A musician, poet, author and New Orleans culture bearer.

And I know the power that comes from holding onto your roots.

From African burial traditions shaped by resistance to how Southern river baptisms influence rock and roll.

We'll explore the ways many Southerners have kept their traditions alive and what they can tell us about our future.

Join me for the Discovery and Ritual, a show coming soon to PBS.

The series debuts this coming Tuesday, February 14th on the PBS Voices YouTube channel.

Valentine's is very easy to remember.

Absolutely.

And everyone.

That's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything lvb any time.

Wherever you are with our live PBS app, you can catch Lvb news and public affairs shows as well as other Louisiana programs you've come to enjoy over the years.

And please like us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I'm Andre Morelli, and I'm canvasing here.

Until next time.

That's the state we're in.

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 B Zeigler Foundation and the Zeigler 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.