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.

Matt is massive.

Data center promises to transform Louisiana's economy, but new transmission lines could change life for landowners along the route.

There was a major political shakeup in this week's elections.

We'll dig into Louisiana's results after years of storms.

Grand Isle is fighting to bring back the beauty that makes it special.

One tree and historic landmark at a time.

And the National Heritage Area is opening new doors while helping preserve the area for generations to come.

We've made it to the weekend.

Let's get started.

Let's do it!

Hi everyone, I'm Christina Jensen and I'm Victor Howell.

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

But first, Louisiana voters have made their decisions in a number of high profile races and on proposals that could shape the state's future.

I'm breaking down the results and what they could mean for the state.

There is so much excitement in Louisiana.

Don't believe the negativity.

There's so much opportunity.

Republican Julia has won Louisiana's U.S.

Senate race, defeating Democrat Jamie Davis in a contest that was far closer than many expected.

And I will say this right now, Jeff Landry, your own notice, buddy.

Let me run by just under 26,000 votes.

For months, she was expected to have a clear advantage.

But Davis, a ten, saw parish farmer, built a grassroots campaign that gained momentum as Election Day approached.

He also made history, receiving more votes than any black candidate in a Louisiana statewide election.

Jamie Davis had 34.4% of the black electorate out there, right?

That is 1.6% lower than Obama and zero eight when people show that level of excitement.

1.6% difference, right?

It shows that, number one, we can now use this momentum to push forward for Election Day.

The Democrats got the advantage on turnout, and that was evident in Louisiana, where the black turnout for the first time perhaps ever exceeded, on a percentage basis, the white turnout.

The Senate race wasn't the only contest shaped by a changing political landscape after the U.S.

Supreme Court struck down Louisiana's congressional map.

Lawmakers redrew the lines, eliminating one of the state's two majority black districts.

The redrawn sixth district is now majority white and more Republican leaning, but in a crowded ten candidate field, Democrat Shawna Banks finished first.

She and Republican Blake will face off in a December runoff.

But the redistricting fight isn't over.

The second Congressional District, still the state's only majority black district, is now the target of a new legal challenge.

Democrat Troy Carter, however, one another term in Congress in southwest Louisiana, Republican Clay Higgins also won another term in the third district.

And in the fifth, the seat left to run for Senate.

Voters will have to return to the polls.

No candidate received a majority.

Democrat Pat Moore and Republican gave ferment will advance to a runoff.

Opportunity to win that race does rest on high black turnout again.

And historically, that white vote, that Republican vote is going to turn out for the runoff more than the black vote.

Two of Louisiana's most prominent Republicans in Washington also won reelection.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and House speaker Mike Johnson both secured another term.

But with Democrats taking control of the House, Johnson says he will not seek the top Republican leadership post in the new Congress.

Scalise, however, is running to become House minority leader.

It's going to put them in a place where now Louisiana is kind of back at the drawing board because we're not shaping the future of America.

And since we're not shaping the future of America, that's going to call Republicans to say we need to reshape the future of Louisiana.

Beyond the races, voters also weighed in on ten proposed constitutional amendments.

Seven passed, including three that expand property tax relief for certain homeowners.

Those approved measures include a tax exemption transfer for surviving spouses of certain disabled veterans, additional tax relief for qualifying seniors, and expanded eligibility for property tax assessment freezes.

The other five amendments touched on issues from criminal justice to property rights.

Voters approved changes to post-conviction bail for certain crimes against children, funding to replace hazardous drinking water lines, and restrictions on Ford adversaries seizing property in Louisiana.

Voters also approved a change limiting governors to two terms over their lifetime.

Ultimately, I think the state of Louisiana is citizens like term limits.

And so this is a chance to probably, you know, making even stronger term limit regime.

And the election could also have a lasting impact on Louisiana's energy future.

Two seats on the Louisiana Public Service Commission were up for grabs.

Republicans Stephanie Hilferding and John Atkins, one.

Districts one and five.

Their victories gave Republicans a 4 to 1 majority on the commission.

Basically, it'll be a pro industry PSC, which it already was.

And that's not to say anything is inherently bad about industry, but that's the way it's going to be.

Louisiana voters have made their choices, but the impact of this election is still unfolding.

The results could signal a shift in the state's political landscape and set the stage for what comes next.

Will people stay angry for the next year or two?

Or can they lose any Democrats transition that anger into some action in another way?

Because if they can, then 2027 looks a lot different.

Another Democrat, Gary Crockett, who came in second to Davis in the Democratic Senate primary, announced this week that he also plans to run for governor next year.

In Richland Parish, some landowners were a new transmission lines intended to support metas data center and improve the statewide power grid could change the rural landscape.

Here's part three of my series, Louisiana's Digital Frontier.

About two months ago, I noticed a survey stake in the median in front of my barn, and I wondered what it was.

But then I started getting phone calls from neighbors.

Hey, did you know that Entergy wants to build a 500 kV transmission line right across the middle of your farm, on its way to Metas Richland Parish Data Center for generations?

Land has met more than property in northeast Louisiana.

It's been a place to build a life, to raise a family, to leave something behind.

Now, a proposed high voltage transmission line could change the landscape.

For families who have called this land home for generations.

Myself, along with members of my family.

And we went around and found other survey stakes and started slowly identifying other affected landowners who were as opposed to it as we were.

By the end of August, those property owners had formed the Louisiana Landowners Coalition for Susan Adcock, one of its members.

The proposed line threatens a piece of wooded property in Richland Parish, land her family worked to keep in the family.

I cried and cried and cried and cried, but it didn't do any good.

And finally I got the land man to come up here and so he could show me the map of where it's going through.

And I realized instead of going straight across, it's coming up through me and then down.

It's an invasion of our privacy and our private land.

And it's only for meta.

The proposed 500 kilovolt transmission line would stretch approximately 153 miles, connecting Richland Parish to Saint Landry Parish and affecting roughly 450 land tracks along the way.

But the proposed line is just one part of a much larger infrastructure plan centered around metas data center in Richland Parish.

In its application to the Louisiana Public Service Commission.

Entergy is seeking approval to build seven new natural gas power generators, three battery energy storage systems, and a new switching station.

Is this specific for the meta data center, or is it for also other data centers that are being proposed?

The seven natural gas powered plants that you talked about are part of Entergy plan to serve not only meta, but also to continue to reliably serve all of our customers across the state.

These are going to be some of the most fuel efficient natural gas plants anywhere in the country or the state.

And what I mean by that is they can produce electricity with a lower amount of fuel than our existing fleet, so they're more efficient.

It results in lower costs.

As for how the infrastructure will be paid for?

Entergy says its agreement with meta includes more than just the investments needed to serve the data center.

Not only are they paying the full cost of the investments that we need to make to serve them, but they're actually contributing over $2.5 billion more than that towards costs that would otherwise lower the cost to other customers in the state.

And that's in the form of storm restoration costs, resiliency costs, and just contributions to the overall cost to provide electric service across the state.

Meta also points to its ratepayer protection pledge, saying other electric customers should not see their bills increase because of its data center.

We pay for all of the infrastructure needed for our electricity needs, and that means that the average consumers bill doesn't go up because of any data center we build.

But what happens to that infrastructure when metas agreement with Entergy ends at the end of that term?

Our customers will have received and realized that over $2.5 billion of benefit.

And at the end of that, you know, to the extent there was a surplus capacity, we would have to decide what to do with that, whether that's shut them down and decommission them or sell them to a third party or continue to operate them.

But even with those agreements in place, landowners along the proposed path still have questions why this route?

Could there be another option?

And what happens when the land in the path of a transmission line isn't for sale?

Those questions follow the project into a public meeting in Jena on October 1st.

Landowners gathered with Entergy representatives, lawmakers and Public Service Commission members to challenge the proposal and demand answers after the meeting.

At least three lawmakers asked the commission to delay its expected vote on Entergy request.

Your job as the commissioner to promote economic development or to protect the consumers of our state.

That question speaks to a larger debate over the balance between economic development and protecting ratepayers and landowners.

The Commission is expected to consider Entergy proposal in mid-December.

Commissioner DeVante Lewis says that approval would be just one step in the process.

Well, that vote does.

It gives Entergy the ability now to build the gas power plants and the transmission.

But in terms of still acquiring the land, Entergy has to go through the normal legal procedures.

Entergy latest request is also raising broader questions about how Louisiana regulates major electricity projects.

The lightning Initiative, adopted in December 2025, created a streamlined approval process for certain large electricity projects.

Supporters say the process can help attract major investments to the state.

But critics question whether it does enough to protect other electric customers from higher bills.

In this case, Entergy is asking the commission to allow certain power generators and, if necessary, battery storage facilities to qualify for a waiver of some market based requirements.

Under the lightning initiative, questions about transparency have also drawn scrutiny to Meta's Richland Parish project.

At.

In August 12th meeting, commissioners voted 3 to 1 to reverse a judge's order requiring meta to disclose records related to its projected electricity demand, permanent jobs and economic benefits.

Meta argued the records contained confidential business information.

We have found a way at this commission, for some odd reason, to find every excuse to not do something when it favors Entergy and Meta, but we find every exception to our rules when it favors Entergy and Meta.

And that's why I oppose the motion to defer.

And I'm ready to vote on the issue at hand.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

For landowners like Dustin McCann.

The concern is whether decisions are being made with their interests in mind and what those decisions could mean for their land.

I'm not for sale.

The property's not for sale.

This is my legacy project for my my kid and my grandkids.

I've got a I've got a grandson on the way.

I want him to have the opportunity to to work with cows and to enjoy the land.

And if there's transmission towers sitting on it that run right across the middle of it, it will be a forever sign to me and to generations to come of my family that we don't actually own our property.

Louisiana is competing for some of the biggest technology investments in the country, but the future of that growth will be measured in more than dollars, buildings or megawatts.

It will also be measured in the questions the state answers about who benefits, who bears the cost, and who has a say.

All right.

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

Victor big weekend LSU and Bama.

We flipped that calendar to November.

And it always leads to the Tigers and the Crimson Tide.

There's a little extra on the line for this one between these two teams for sure.

Christina.

There are 7 or 8 major college football matchups this weekend with ranked on ranked teams, and one of those will be inside of Tiger Stadium Saturday afternoon when LSU hosts Alabama.

Could it be a borderline elimination game for the team that gets saddled with a third loss on the season?

Well, the first playoff rankings came out this week, and head coach Lane Kiffin told his team just focus on the task at hand on the field.

Yeah, we don't even talk about that.

So it has nothing to do with this game.

This is just one game that we've got to be ready to play, to get to want to know and not worry about who we're playing next or where we are and playoff rankings or anything.

And I took it.

Guys, don't watch that and don't watch it when it comes out, because it's going to move so much between now and the end of the year.

And you control a lot of it.

And so play really well.

And when you want anything to worry about.

And two Kiffin point the first rankings.

See LSU at 14.

On the outside looking in.

Bama is fifth in the initial rankings.

But LSU will play Bama, Texas and Tennessee in the next three weeks.

So take care of business and making the playoffs will take care of itself while football turns to the home stretch.

The college basketball season officially tipped off this weekend.

Plenty of storylines around the state.

Let's do a quick whip around and show you some of the highlights of things that took place.

And we will start in Natchitoches, where Alan Frey made his head coaching debut with the Lady Demons with a win.

But the story was transfer Chloe Donnell, who tied an NCAA record with ready 14 made three pointers.

Her career high had been four points.

She scored 46 in the season opening win for the demons.

Lady Dexter, head coach Brooks store, one of 20 coaches named the mid-major coach of the year watch list.

She watched her Lady Techsters open the season on the road at Toledo and come back from ten down to win.

Jordan Marshall had a double double in the win.

The Lady Texas will travel to Lake Charles Sunday to face the Cowgirls.

Fun McNeese.

It was a tough one on the road for the Lions from southeastern to start the season.

They opened on the Plains against Auburn.

Out of the SEC.

Kept it close through the first 20 minutes, but in the second half, the Tigers shot 60% and pulled away from SLU to get the win.

The Lions stay on the road.

They'll play Arkansas Little Rock Saturday night and round two of the Will Wade era got off to a good start at LSU.

The Tigers put 100 on the board and a relatively easy win over the privateers from now LSU.

New Orleans.

Donovan Dent led six Tigers in double figures.

The Tigers are back on the home court tonight actually hosting Texas Southern.

And while we're speaking of basketball.

How about on the pro level.

Hey the New Orleans Pelicans are on a win streak.

They struggled to close October.

They wound up winning the first four games in November.

And they will host Minnesota tonight.

So some good good basketball vibes down in the Big Easy.

Yeah let's go Tigers this weekend.

That's going to be a big one.

Yeah.

All right thank you Victor.

Well Grand Isle is known for its laid back lifestyle and natural beauty.

But years of storms have taken a toll on the barrier island.

Well, now, two local volunteer groups are working to bring back its green canopy and preserve historic landmarks.

Grand Isle is known for its beaches, fishing and natural beauty.

But life on Louisiana's only inhabited barrier island also means living with the threat of powerful storms.

Now, two local nonprofit organizations are working to restore the island's natural landscape and preserve its history.

Ronnie Samp leads both the Grand Isle Garden Club and Restore Grand Isle.

Two organizations with a shared commitment to the island's future.

We were able to kind of expand not just being a garden club, but more of a community, social and needs club.

That mission took on new meaning after Hurricane Ida made landfall in 2021.

Sambi says the club received donations from across the country and Canada, helping it provide assistance to residents as they began to rebuild.

We also had funding for people who were able to repair their homes.

And we also had a food bank.

They were part of the community, and we love what we do.

And the community of Grand Isle is very, very precious to us.

Hurricane Ida damaged granules natural landscape, including the live oaks that have long been part of its character.

Now the group is working to bring that canopy back.

Planting hundreds of live oaks across the island.

We have 340 oak trees we put in the ground over a four year period for sampai.

Those trees are more than a symbol of recovery.

He believes they are part of the island's natural defense, a living barrier between the community and the Gulf.

We have homes here that will build in the mid 1800s inside the oak forests that are still here.

They're still here and people are using them.

They're living in them.

So we want to continue with the oak tree barrier.

The group is also working to bring back native plants.

With help from Nicholls State University.

The Garden Club began restoring Louisiana iris plantings in the island's estuary, starting with about 600 plants.

Volunteers from across the state have since helped expand the project.

But even as a landscape begins to recover, the community itself faces an uncertain future.

It's a mixed feeling.

Most of the people who are in the Garden club don't live here on Grand Isle.

They are tourists, or there are people who have some homes here on Grand Island.

Our population has depleted.

And that makes me sad, because we really would like to keep the community of Grand Isle vibrant and growing.

For Sampai.

Preserving Grand Isle also means holding on to the stories that came before.

That's why Restore Grand Isle was formed to purchase and save the historic Oleander Hotel, built in 1929.

It is the last remaining hotel of its era on the island.

Restore Grand Isle was formed for the purpose of having a nonprofit to purchase the Oleander Hotel.

But the Oleander is the last standing hotels of its day.

At the time the Oleander was built, there were 17 hotels on Grand Isle.

Since purchasing the property in May of 2026, the group has been clearing out decades of debris and beginning the work of restoration.

16 dumpsters of debris have been removed.

New flooring has been installed, but the vision goes beyond restoring an old hotel.

Sampai envisions the Oleander as a community center, museum and art gallery with space for students and volunteers who come to Grand Isle to give back.

The goal is to open the doors in about a year and a half.

We have groups from the different universities in the state that come down and they want to do work here.

You know, they want to they want to put mulch around their oak trees.

They want to help you with the garden.

And now I have some groups that are standing by, and we're going to redo the whole landscape of the Oleander Hotel.

The work will take time, and the future of Grand Isle will always be shaped by the water that surrounds it.

For 20 years, the National Heritage Area has worked to preserve one of Louisiana's most treasured natural and cultural landscapes, from its rich wildlife and waterways to the communities that call the basin home.

The chapel is an essential part of our state's identity.

But as the heritage area celebrates its 20th anniversary, it also faces challenges that could shape its future.

There are places in Louisiana where the water does more than shape the land.

It shapes the way people live, the work they do, the food they eat, and the stores they pass down.

Here in the heart of the National Heritage area, nature and culture are tied together, a relationship that has endured for generations.

And the air is much more than just a swamp.

The HR layer is kind of like the lungs for the central part of Louisiana.

You know, it's the largest freshwater river swamp in North America.

It has a large role in migratory bird patterns.

It helps to store flood water.

It's part of one of the major parts of the Mississippi Rivers and Tributaries Project, which was a direct result of the flood of 1927.

And so the basin serves as kind of like a flood relief valve for the Mississippi River during times of flood.

And so it's important for navigation, it's important for commerce, it's important for recreation, it's important for commercial fishing and crawfish harvesting, as well as just being sportsman's Paradise.

In 2006, Congress designated the A a National Heritage Area, recognizing the region's importance to Louisiana's environment, way of life, and economy.

Spanning 15 parishes, the area's significance extends far beyond its borders.

Everyone really thinks about the floodway itself when they think about the issue.

But prior to the creation of the flood control works, the natural basin went all the way from Bayou Teche in the west to Bayou La in the east, and it starts basically where the at chapel River starts up in Concordia, and Pointe Coupee Parish is all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico.

It's a really big area, and it's an area that is essentially defined by water.

The designation opens the door for federal funding, not just for rehabilitation, but also education and expanded access.

On the 20th anniversary of the heritage area.

Staffers are using those resources to make the more accessible places like Louisiana Swamp Base, Cypress Cove and Basing Landing, luring thousands of visitors each year who want a closer connection to Louisiana.

They're working with partners around the region to increase visibility and awareness of all of those recreational access points, everything that's there, and even the potential of what could be there.

The program did a feasibility study with all of the parishes a couple of years ago to look and see if turning the tops of the levees into a long distance recreation trail would be an option.

Those improvements also benefit rural communities in and around the basin.

That's been a real big focus of the heritage Area program over the last five years, is to try to drive small, incremental, sustainable economic development growth in our rural communities so that they can kind of retain their cultural identity.

It's sort of that local flavor that makes it feel like a sort of the nickname of the heritage area is America's foreign country, because it feels like something so different from the rest of the U.S.

and it's it's what keeps, you know, millions of visitors coming back to the state every single year.

The Louisiana Office of Culture, Recreation and Tourism is working to teach younger generations about the history and importance of the ecosystem and how it connects to daily life, where we want to go as an agency, and particularly with the flier program, is to figure out ways to get into the classroom.

We've got a new video series that we're working with LPB on this year that's sort of highlights the different water systems.

And so teaching them how important all these different aspects of the basin and the natural systems are around it, so that they feel like they're connected, and it gives them some sort of incentive to want to actually go out into it, work to protect the it is an ongoing struggle.

New industrial development, changes to the Mississippi River, and even simple things like littering cause major issues in the bayou.

Sedimentation is a challenge, especially in our lowland swamp areas where a lot of water comes in from the the Mississippi at the old River control complex.

And sometimes that water brings too much sediment, and that sediment can fill in some of the lower lying areas of the swamp and kind of convert them from swamp to bottomland hardwood forest.

So that's the biggest challenge, especially because the primary function of the floodway is flood capacity storage.

During a major flood event to mark the 20th anniversary of the National Heritage Area, Keep Louisiana Beautiful launched Love Our Waterways Month in October to encourage people to organize litter cleanups on both a small and large scale.

The heritage area also commissioned a unique postcard by Lafayette based artist Denise Gallagher.

The card features numerous species native to the occasion in colorful designs, along with a companion lapel pin and even packets of native seeds.

For those who want to bring a bit of the occasion to their own backyards.

This is this magical, incredible environment that's so important for so many different aspects of our life.

If we could make sure that more of our residents felt that way, and we're champions for preservation and enhancement of that, that system.

I think the program will have done its job.

That's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch LPB wherever you are with our LPF.

You can catch LPB news and public affairs shows, as well as other Louisiana programs you've come to enjoy over the years.

And when you have a moment, please like us on Facebook on X and on Instagram for everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I'm Christina Jensen and I'm Victor Howell.

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.