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A new state law bans marijuana use near schools and colleges.

Some groups have concerns, and Shreveport is gearing up for a major data center expansion.

And it could bring big changes and big investments to the region.

But LSU is getting ready for a big matchup against Ole Miss.

Look back at that rivalry.

Let's get started.

Let's get to it.

Hi everyone.

I'm Kristina 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 drawing a new line around schools and colleges when it comes to marijuana use.

People caught using cannabis within 2000ft of a school campus could now face prison time.

Here's a look at what that means for the students and the communities.

If you're within 2000ft of any private or public school, smoking, vaping, or consuming marijuana in any way is now classified as a felony.

That means a fine of up to $1,000 and up to one year in prison, with or without hard labor.

The law was already in effect.

It just amended the statute and acted some additional provisions.

David Stanley is a veteran criminal defense and personal injury attorney and has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1983.

There are basically three changes.

The first one is it added smoking, vaping or otherwise abusing controlled dangerous substances on school property within 2000ft of a school or on a school bus.

The new rule is prohibited conduct and applies to marijuana or any other controlled substance in the drug free zone.

The second change it made, carved out of the penalty provision in subsection D, a lower penalty for possession of more than 14g of marijuana.

More than 14g of marijuana can now mean arrest, much higher fine and mandatory potential jail time for schools and things like that.

You may not realize you're in a drug free zone because you're far enough away that you can't see the school, but you're still close enough that you're subject to these laws.

The biggest changes to previous laws are stricter penalties for cannabis consumption near schools, and expanded protections regarding police searches.

Having a medical marijuana card is also not an exemption.

The new law can carry felony level convictions even for people with a medical marijuana prescription.

Governor Landrieu announced that there is now a zero tolerance policy for drugs on campuses all across Louisiana.

When this legislative session, we worked hard and passed a bill that now is in law that increases the penalties of those who possess illegal drugs on our school campuses and our college campuses.

Representative Gabe Furman was the lead author of The New Marijuana Law.

As far as I'm concerned, there is nothing more important than protecting our families, keeping kids safe.

And I know this bill is going to be an important step in doing just that.

The 2000ft buffer zone already existed for other illegal drugs, but the new law closed a major loophole regarding small amounts of cannabis.

A lot of it depends on what's the drug, what's the quantity, how much is it way basically, what's the conduct and where were you and Louisiana's criminal justice system?

The state only has to prove that you knowingly possess the marijuana.

Someone is arrested, and they're excuses.

They didn't know they were within 2000ft.

How does that matter?

Lack of knowledge with respect to school buildings and drug treatment facilities.

It's not a defense.

You can't say I didn't know.

Okay, that that doesn't work.

The new law does not change based on time of day, specific location, or time of year.

Also, it doesn't matter under the law what the school is even in session or even whether their kids present.

So what's the difference of penalty from being 2000ft away from campus or 2001ft?

That's actually a good question.

If you're more than 2000ft away, the drug zone statute doesn't apply.

So if it's marijuana and it's a first offense, it's a misdemeanor.

If you're 1999ft, it could be charged as a felony.

The new law also dramatically changes the stakes for college students, turning what used to be a minor $100 misdemeanor ticket into a felony conviction with potential jail time.

I've heard a lot of mixed opinions like, thank God, it'll hopefully clean up the area.

But also, it's like a lot of people feel like it's unjust to do it.

So I've heard a lot of things.

I just try to stay out of it.

You're making it a felony, which is very, very intense.

Very intense.

For that, for that type of thing, which I don't think is a is a big enough deal to warrant it being a felony.

2000ft is kind of crazy.

I feel like as long as we're off campus, like, a lot of us live like off campus, but within 2000ft, like it shouldn't apply at home.

I would describe the law as a good thing, and that I would, positively impact the students here in the campus.

I don't think anyone's happy about it, because, I mean, people are still smoking cigars and stuff, so it's like they kind of just picking and choosing what they want to, you know, allow if you want to do that stuff in your own private privacy, you're not affecting other people.

You know, it's your life.

You do whatever you want.

You're an adult.

But having that influence on kids, having that influence on people around, and it just kind of ruins the smell.

You know, I don't want to smell that stuff.

So now in Louisiana, carrying marijuana outside of the 2000ft school zone may be treated like a minor traffic ticket.

But carrying near an education center is now a felony crime.

Freeport is positioning itself for a major economic boost as a new data center expansion moves forward.

The project could bring millions in investment and new jobs, but there are also concerns about power infrastructure and the impact on the community.

We're joined now by Tom Arsenault.

He's the mayor of Freeport, and there's a lot going on around the city right now.

And one of the big things is the data center.

Yeah.

How did this happen?

We rely for what I call the whale hunting on the North Louisiana Economic Partnership.

They have a we are a large contributor to them, and they really act as our agent for large scale investments.

So of course, this one is a total of 18 billion.

That's with a be $18 billion.

And so they they began working on this and contacted us.

And we we were able to coordinate with them to do that to to bring three data centers to Northwest and Caddo and Bossier Parish is one of which is will be in the city of Shreveport.

Okay.

And have you ever had anything like this before?

Oh, no.

This is this is the this will be the largest single capital investment in the city of Shreveport.

I believe, in its history.

So, you know, neither I nor anybody else has had this kind of investment.

How did this come about?

Did they approach you and ask for a possible building here, or was this something you sought out?

Well, in LEP, the North, we had an economic partnership constantly is seeking out opportunities, and it's a bit of a unique structure, as I understand it, in that there are three interrelated data centers, one in in the northern part of unincorporated Bossier Parish, one in the northern part of unincorporated Caddo Parish, and then one in an industrial park in West Shreveport.

That's pretty amazing.

So three buildings.

What's the size of these buildings going to be there?

They're hundreds of thousands of square feet.

They're very large buildings.

Is just you think about it's a building that houses thousands of computers.

Yeah.

Because that's what data centers, that's what data centers do.

So each of these will be extremely large, taking up tens, tens of acres of building space in each of them.

One of the things I had heard was a possible problems with electricity and water and things like that.

Could that be a problem for these buildings?

I don't think so.

The they they'll be using a maximum at any and any day, a maximum of 7.5 million gallons of water.

I'm not as familiar with the ones that are outside the city of Shreveport, but I'm sure that there is plenty of water.

We have plenty of surface water.

To be able to process city Shreveport could process 78 million gallons of water a day.

And we on our hottest days, our worst days, we process about between 48 and 55 million gallons of water a day.

So this is not an unusual some some of water.

And as a result, we have plenty of we have plenty of water.

And it's really advantageous to the people street for to sell that water.

Yeah.

Because once we produce it, the marginal cost, the marginal cost of producing the water is very small compared to the marginal revenue.

The extra revenue we'll get from selling water and sewer services to the data center.

Okay.

The people around Freeport, are they happy about this or questioning it at all, or is everyone excited?

Based on my own anecdotal, interaction with with citizens, the vast majority of citizens are very supportive of it.

Very excited about the jobs and the investment that it's going to bring.

And I'm certainly excited about it.

So there are there are some people who have questions about it, but we believe we've addressed all of those questions.

I have certainly looked at those questions, and I'm not the least bit concerned about it.

Okay.

And what about the jobs?

How many jobs do you think this will bring in for the people in Freeport?

It will bring in several thousand construction jobs.

And they that will take place over about a 4 or 5 year period.

So that will be a huge boost short term to our economy.

Long term.

It's about 600 really well-paying jobs.

There are 100.

And the jobs are going to be about 150% of the median income for Louisiana.

And so these are relatively high paid jobs.

So they should be real contributors to the community.

Yeah.

Why do you think they selected Freeport?

How did that happen?

I think they selected Shreveport for a couple of reasons.

One is we have already supply of water to I think that they found that the city was open to the idea and open to, being able to sell, sell that water to them.

You know, the interesting thing is we're also able to get them to agree that that all of the infrastructure necessary to get the water to them and to return wastewater, all that will be paid for by the data center doesn't require any investment by the people of Shreveport at all.

And I think they I think they found a, a welcome.

We wanted we wanted the data centers.

We wanted the jobs and the economic prosperity that comes from what they do.

We did our due diligence to make sure that these would be that, that we would have the capacity to service to service the data centers.

And I think they found that positive attitude.

Refreshing and energizing.

I would like to thank Tom Arsenault.

He's the mayor of Freeport being here today.

Thank you for filling in on the data centers.

It's my pleasure.

Well, this weekend, LSU is facing its first SEC matchup of the season when the seventh ranked Tigers take on the number eight Ole Miss Rebels.

At his weekly press conference, coach Lane Kiffin said he's not focusing on his history with Ole Miss.

His priority is making sure the Tigers are ready.

I know obviously it's going to be made about me, but this is about the players being prepared really well and playing really well.

You know Pete's not going to tackle anybody.

I'm not going to throw any touchdowns.

I just say say the same thing when we play Coach Saban.

And then he joked that he wouldn't do very well in coverage at his age.

But this is about our guys.

Like, I talked to him today.

You know, this is the first SEC game.

You know, both teams are two and.

Oh, and we've got to prepare really well.

And it won't be about all the other stuff and all the noise and everything.

It'll be about how well did we practice?

How would we prepare?

So how old do we play on game day?

Going into a place that has had a lot of success there.

You're going to play a team that has the second longest winning streak in the country.

Second long home streak in the country has phenomenal players.

You know, as you look at last year, at the end of the season, you're talking about the best playing quarterback, running back and kicker in the country.

You know coming back that's going to put your position in a lot of games.

The Magnolia Bowl rivalry dates back to the 1950s and reached its peak with Billy Cannon's 89 yard punt return in 1959.

The game comes on the heels of LP's newest documentary, Circles The Life of Billy Cannon.

Victor Howell has more.

Well, it is LSU, Ole Miss football weekend.

And of course, when you talk Tigers and Rebels, there's one big play that stands out each and every year from Halloween, a Halloween weekend.

In fact, on the field right behind us on this sideline, the Billy Cannon run.

And we're here talking about circles the life of Billy Cannon.

It debuted this week on LP and the two masters behind it, executive producer from LP, Linda midget and former Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State Jay Darden, and executive producer of the program.

Thanks for coming out to Tiger Stadium for joining me and talking about this.

Are you y'all taking a deep breath now?

Having it just air.

This has been a this has been a work of passion that I know you all have put a lot of time in.

It just hit the air this week on LP.

Have you been able to decompress?

No.

Sure.

Any time you get a chance to go to Tiger Stadium, I'll be there.

This is a great opportunity.

So this is decompression for me.

Take us back to the birth of this.

You know, we did some stories a year ago on OPB about the museum exhibition, and we talked to Bunny Cannon about that a week ago for everything that Billy Cannon had on display.

But take us back to the start of circles and what how this project came about.

Yeah, I'm happy to.

So a bunny cannon came to me about two years ago.

Actually, it's been a while.

Bunny is the youngest of the five cannon children, and it's really important to her to keep her father's legacy alive.

And during Billy's lifetime, he had been approached by ESPN and other media outlets repeatedly for a documentary about his life.

And he always turned them down.

So Bunny came to me and said, we want to do a documentary.

The family is behind it and we would like for OPB to do it.

And so based on that conversation, I invited Jay, since we had collaborated on Why Louisiana, Mississippi or any place else successfully.

And also Cathy Berry, who was very instrumental to that project and was also very important to this.

So we started working on it.

Jay, obviously, being a Louisiana man, you know the stories, you know the legends about a stadium that used to seat 60?

Oh, there were 6 million here that night when he had to run.

But when Linda contacted you and you start putting this together.

Where do you find the starting point?

Well, for me, the starting point was my youth and growing up in Baton Rouge and LSU fan and knowing who Billy Cannon was and like every kid in Louisiana wanting to be Billy Cannon.

So you go back to that and say, gosh, I'm reliving my childhood of, you know, my hero, the guy everybody wanted to be.

And then knowing his story as I did, as most sports fans did, just realizing what a tremendous story of redemption it is to talk about, really, the rise and fall of Billy Ken and how he came back, how he was accepted again as the hero that he always was, and then the work he did it, Angola, it just all that came together and we knew it would be a big undertaking, but it was a challenge.

We were all up forward excited about you not being a Louisiana native.

As you started to tell the story and you know about the football player and then the downfall and then the rise again.

What stood out to you since since you're not native to the Billy Cannon story or any ties to LSU?

Yeah.

I mean, yeah, what didn't stand out to me?

I mean, when Bunny first told me the full story of her father, you know, what really struck me was what a beautiful story of redemption.

This is someone who is a public figure who, made such a poor choice and really suffered the consequences.

But I love that the story didn't stop there, and that he went on to redeem himself.

And it really is the reason why I felt like this was a story that LPB needed to tell.

It wasn't just because of his amazing football career and what he contributed to not only college sports, professional sports, I mean, all of that is is worthy.

It's important, but it's really his transformation of character that I felt like made this a story that we had to tell.

And, you know, at that point, when I remember doing the story a year ago with Bunny at the museum exhibit, I think she had more pride showing the things post-football season, because what impressed me is that they don't shy away from the downtimes.

And he had his downtimes, but she was proud to show what he did at the prison, what the prisoners did for him.

He lifted them up, but they lifted him up as well.

And I saw that at the museum.

I can only imagine what it was like putting the story together, actually talking to people.

Well, well that's right.

I mean, it was reciprocal.

He did a lot for the for the inmates who were there, but he also gained a lot from them as he was returning to society, that that whole return to society was occurring as he went to Angola and really made this inflection point in his life where he was going to make an impact on these folks who who obviously were incarcerated and who people didn't think a whole lot about.

But he did.

He is, as we say, and as he said in the show or the inmates observed, he's an empathetic guy.

He wasn't sympathetic.

He was to what was going on.

He had experienced that in his downtime and his time in a federal penitentiary where he didn't have freedom, either.

All right.

Let's talk about some of the people you talked about.

Let me go back to you first about Louisiana.

We're going to get to some Mississippi in just a second.

But I know you all went down each and every avenue.

You found former players and family members.

Was there anybody on the Louisiana side, the LSU side, if you would, that stood out to you in terms of talking to them and maybe learning something you didn't know or just getting their perspective?

Well, hearing the former players talk about Billy and the respect they had for him and the incredible athlete that he was and to be his teammate, just just imagine what it was like to be on the field with the guy who, as Gus Kinch said, was the fastest guy on the field and the strongest guy on the field all in one fell swoop.

And he's bigger than most of the offensive and defensive linemen he's playing with.

So hearing those former players who many of whom I knew and had grown up recognizing their names and hearing them talk about their experiences was really special.

Also, I think Herb Vincent having herb come back to LSU, who's just announced his retirement, by the way, from the SEC office.

But the perspective that he gave about the process of bringing Billy back into the public spotlight, because Billy was very reluctant to to come out of his shell, he didn't think people wanted to see him anymore.

He didn't.

He's very concerned about the reaction he'd get.

And then he was obviously welcomed back.

And that's a, as Linda said, a big part of the whole redemption story.

Absolutely.

And of course, the redemption.

He comes back.

His name is on the circle just over your shoulder from where we're sitting here, of course, you've got the LSU side of the Louisiana side.

But Linda, what I loved in the in the in circles and everything you all did, you had to go across the border to get the other side.

Now I being in the building with game notes and I would hear you all laugh and talk about some of the personalities from Mississippi who stole the show for you.

And what was it like talking to those that were on the other side line that had the perspective of Billy Cannon?

Well, I mean, Richard Kaye steals the show.

He is.

This is a classic Mississippi gentleman.

And as Patrick Mulhern, who's part of the film community in Louisiana, who turned us on to Richard, he's friends with him.

Just a story from him of the old Cajun lady beating him river the shoulder with an umbrella.

It was worth the trip for that.

But we loved getting the the other side from the oldest players, from Jake Gibbs.

And for Mr.

Khayat, who played and you know, they are such tremendous athletes in their own right.

And it's something there's really something special about getting to interview these gentlemen so many decades later.

They all remember it just like it's yesterday.

I mean, it's their recall is unbelievable.

And it was just fun to relive it with them.

I mean, it was really special.

We're so used to the run back every Halloween being shown in decades of Louisianans have seen that and identify with the run.

We never heard the other side.

And to get to talk to Jake Gibbs, we I can.

I told Jake Gibbs this story that's not in the show, but, you know, he was the old miss baseball coach for 19 years, and he coached third base.

And he'd come into the Alex box, the old box with.

Nobody was there.

There were several hundred people in the stands, and my vintage folks in the 70s would sit by the third base line.

At one point in time, when he came out to coach third base, turned on the Billy Cannon run back.

If the Jake Paul, his voice and Jay Gibbs turned around and just kind of waved to acknowledge it.

Just a great sport.

And he remembered that very vividly that that had happened and the unique perspective, as you both mentioned, for people there.

Because much like when I finished playing my college basketball and transferred to LSU, I was in the stadium for the earthquake game.

The Tommy Hodson passed Eddie Fuller fourth down.

Everybody said they were there.

Would you actually talk to those who were there?

Because the legend, as you mentioned with Billy Cannon, the run is always replayed.

Everybody was there, even if they weren't.

But to actually get the perspective from the people who felt it that night, who were here when the legend became a legend, certainly had to be eye opening to get their perspective from both sides of the sidelines.

It was.

And, you know, we kind of dissect that run back a little bit to in the show as well, where some people talk about guys who missed tackles and where they could have gotten him.

You know, we had a I think one of the funniest things for me and for the my whole film team that was part of this.

We had our studios set up with that footage from LSU that they had graciously given to us, and we told the players, you know, we're going to walk in and just put you in front of this footage and you say whatever comes to mind.

I mean, we just it was not rehearsed, it was not planned.

And so all of those reactions that you see in the film of them saying, that's me and remembering that that's all them just having an honest response to footage that they hadn't seen in decades.

And so it just was really special.

It felt like an honor to be able to preserve those memories, because, you know, that generation is not going to be around forever.

And this is our chance to have the story for for posterity.

Yeah.

It's great to see the genuine reaction, even for people who look at the film, even noticing the official as fast as he's running down the sideline, you know, keeping up with the play again, being a Louisiana man and through your political career, you obviously are involved with so many people throughout the state, athletics and otherwise.

When you walk away from this now and you look back on it, was there something that stood out either from the LSU days, the Angola days, the afterwards, towards the end of his life that maybe you didn't know, even through all of your experience?

Well, there were there were a lot of things we didn't know that we learned about Billy Cannon, you know, several, a couple of decades or a couple of generations of Louisianans know the name Billy Cannon.

I guess if we did a poll about name recognition, Billy Cannon would be by most Louisianans.

But most Louisiana's don't know Billy Cannon.

And this film is going to enable them to to know the guy behind the great athlete and behind the orthodontist and behind the inmate, behind the guy who went and worked with inmates and made such an impact on those that folks.

Mangold.

So there's a lot people will learn by watching the show.

That certainly was a lot I learned, and I know and we all learned talking about Kathy Berry, who was our main researcher, she looked at 70 some odd hours of of Billy's Billy's interviews with Charles de Gravelle, who wrote the great book.

And and so there were all kind of little nuggets in there that came out, things you all learned personally.

But Linda, what do you hope people will take away from this when they get the chance?

If they haven't seen any of that, they get a chance to watch it.

What's your biggest hope?

From what you learned that you hope viewers will learn when you when they get to see everything about Billy Cannon, I have a better appreciation of how central Billy has been to Louisiana's history, not just LSU football.

I mean, he certainly I mean, he's an icon in LSU football.

But I think when you look at his whole story, he's just one of these people who was uniquely positioned in life.

I don't know, why is it that some people there just the right place at the right time?

I mean, he was there when weight training was just starting.

He was there on the forefront of the AFL, the NFL, like he just was.

He was always in that right place at the right time.

You could say that.

He fumbled, but he also he did something with his life.

He did something with all of that.

And I just really poked that.

They appreciate the full story of who the man was and everything that he's contributed to the state.

Well, what do you know the week of LSU, Ole Miss and we're debuting circles the Life story of Billy Cannon.

The week of the wasn't intentional at all.

No, nothing.

So nice job on that one as well.

It debuted as we mentioned earlier earlier this week on LP.

But Linda, for those who didn't have a chance to see it now, want to?

How can they view the program?

Well, if you missed the broadcast date, sign up for passport.

Passport as our member benefit.

It is like our version of Netflix.

It's our streaming service, so become a member, sign up and you can watch it anytime you like and you can share it with your friends family for you can find it there and watch it as many times as you like.

And before I let you all go, I've got to ask, you got a great project with Louisiana White Mississippi.

Now the Billy Cannon story.

What's next?

We have one brewing or we we're going to sit back now.

We're going to sit back a little bit, but we're going to talk about what we might do going forward working us to death here.

Oh, well you know what?

The next time you get it, let's get together and we'll talk about that as well.

Hey, congratulations on the project.

Very well done.

I know people enjoy it and you will enjoy it.

Two circles the Life of Billy Cannon Linda Mitchell with LP Jay Darden.

Congratulations to both of you.

Thank you, thank you.

And Johnny, we do know all eyes are going to be on this game.

Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss to come to LSU.

Security is going to be heightened.

It's going to be an intense matchup.

And these are two top ten teams seven and eight.

This is a big game.

Yeah it's going to be a great game I can't wait to see it.

And I know Ole Miss Rebels they're not ready to see Lane Kiffin.

Let's go Tigers.

Well that is our show for this week.

Remember you can watch anything LP B 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.