Support for Louisiana.

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I know customers are counting on me.

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Together, together, together.

We power life.

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

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

With support from viewers like you.

And let's talk about who's in, I think that's easier to focus on that than who's saying they're not going to run.

What the governor's race could look like as key players opt out.

We're saying, okay, now let NOPD do their job.

Crime surging in Louisiana.

Is there a solution?

There's two different variants that are circulating, and that makes up probably about 65 to 70% of the cases that we see.

Covered in health trend updates.

This one stands out because of the amount of research that went into it.

One of the top rated diets of the New Year developed right here in Louisiana.

A former Louisiana senator was sentenced to 22 months in prison following charges of wire fraud.

Karen Carter Peterson admitted to a gambling problem and depression last year when she stepped down from the Senate seat.

Peterson admitted to taking more than $140,000.

Yeah, that money coming directly from the state Democratic Party.

Meantime, airports today and tonight running much better after the FAA on Wednesday had a mega computer meltdown that grounded flights across the country.

Of course, that includes all of Louisiana's airports as well.

Baton Rouge Metro Airport spokesperson Jim Caldwell said they experienced cancelations and delays all Wednesday.

And now we'll look at some other headlines from across the state.

A number of horse deaths in Louisiana are raising eyebrows for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

20 of them died last month after eating cubes of alfalfa hay from a manufacturer in Colorado.

Experts determined the hay was contaminated with the bacteria that causes neurological symptoms like trouble swallowing and eating.

FDA reported that at least 98 horses between Louisiana, Texas, Colorado and New Mexico have shown symptoms consistent with the bacteria.

A private school in Metairie abruptly closed its doors Wednesday, citing poor enrollment numbers and financial strain.

Ridgewood Preparatory School only had a little over 110 students enrolled before the announcement.

Parents were given a letter explaining the news.

The K through 12 school was founded in 1948 to state police.

Officers are suspended after their indictment in Ronald GREENE case.

Lieutenant John Cleary and Trooper Cory work will receive no pay during their hiatus, but both men can still access thousands of hours of accrued leave and pay.

Cleary and York are two of five officers indicted for crimes ranging from negligent homicide to obstruction of justice.

The school, desegregated by six year old Ruby Bridges, is finally a part of the Louisiana civil rights trail.

Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser spoke fondly of bridges efforts in the ceremony in front of William Frantz Elementary.

Bridges herself was unable to make the event, but family and friends stepped in for her.

William France was just one of two schools desegregated in New Orleans in 1963.

Black girls attended the same thing, and McDonald at number 19 on the same day bridges into France.

That school is also a part of the civil rights trail.

And this is the St Roch neighborhood in New Orleans in the middle of the day.

A doorbell camera captures a shootout with these three young men firing back at shots.

Fired at them?

Yes, two of them just happened to be carrying loaded handguns by last fall.

The Crescent City was branded with the title of America's murder capital because it has the highest rate of homicides per capita.

70 per 100,000 residents.

Homicides are up 140% in the past three years.

And in the past year, carjackings are up 167%.

What's down?

The number of police in NOPD says to date, the city has fewer than 1100 officers on the rolls.

And the department built for 1600.

Factor in leave and sick time and it's closer to 900 officers.

I talked with the founder of one of the many grassroots efforts underway in New Orleans.

And she says too few police is part of the equation, only part of it.

She's an attorney who has worked with law enforcement and first responders.

Her whole career, she's also regarded as one of the most successful prosecutors to ever work in Orleans Parish.

Laura Zero Rodriguez is a leader of one of the grassroots groups in New Orleans.

There are many, but it's the bayou mom of theirs.

You can see it on Instagram and Facebook.

And what you guys are doing is trying to make people accountable for what's happening and educating people.

Are you noticing a reaction from people?

You know, the reaction to the group in the Post has been somewhat overwhelming.

You know, it's a group of women who came together and really out of a fear in a large sense, because women were becoming the majority of victims of carjacking.

And it started to scare people.

You know, we weren't just getting carjacked in at 2 a.m. in dark alleys.

It was at 9 a.m. at Costco.

It was, you know, on in Mid-City in broad daylight when Miss Linda Frisky gets her arm ripped off, you know, leaving her insurance job.

Those things really started to scare citizens.

And women started coming together saying, okay, you know, how do we protect ourselves?

What is the next step here?

Do we have to move out of the city where we are born and raised and those sorts of things?

So that's what fueled sort of the momentum of the group.

And there has been a huge movement behind this because people are coming together saying, we want to be educated, we want to know what's necessary to make the change and we want to know what's causing the problem.

Well, one thing you hear over and over is a crime was committed.

People called the police and they basically don't show up for hours and hours.

There are way too few police on the force.

Right.

How can that change?

So the police department, you know, I like to say that they have been set up to fail, essentially.

You know, one of the analogies somebody said was as if it's if you cut off somebody's leg and then tell them to go run a marathon, but just do your best whatever you can, just give it your best.

And, you know, they really do not have the resources to man this type of crime wave.

One of the things we've talked about in the group is how the federal consent decree that started, you know, ten years ago or so now that the city pays about $150,000 a month to fund, it's about time for that to come to an end.

And OPD, they need to take the handcuffs off.

The police essentially let them be proactive in policing, you know, let them sort of be able to do their jobs without fearing that they're going to be accused of something they have already met their legal the legal standard that was required at the beginning.

And this is a sort of a complicated issue.

It's hard to educate people on all the nuance is of a consent decree, but essentially it's already been determined that they have met the constitutional standards of the department.

So we're saying, okay, now let NOPD do their job to some extent.

So we are seeing, you know, very, very long response times.

We're seeing citizens have to collect their own evidence now.

Collect their own.

Evidence.

I mean, really.

More than 4000 car thefts.

Right.

Last year.

Right.

And the new year has not started off any better.

One of the things that you have addressed lately in your posts is leadership.

If anything is to come of this group, it's really to get people out there to vote so that our leadership is a reflection of what we hope is the future of our city.

On a really good day in New Orleans, we have about 30% of our city turning out to vote, which should be shocking because we're the murder capital of the country.

So, you know, people should be really invested.

Do you do you want to stay here or do you feel like you're going to have to sell your house and get out?

You know, we should have certainly more than 30% of our residents invested in the future of the city.

And the leadership has been the biggest indicator of where our crime is going, because we had a major shift in leadership in 2019 and in 2020 in New Orleans.

And we are suffering major consequences as a result of that.

And in 2019, there were 119 murders in New Orleans, correct?

Last year, about 280.

That's right.

So in 2016, we started to see a steady decline of murders.

You know, I think it started around 174 in 2016, inching down and down every year until 2019.

In 2020, we elected a progressive D.A.

That's Jason Williams.

And not only that, but one thing that kind of flies under the radar that people forget about is our criminal court judges.

About 50% of our bench flipped.

That means about half of the criminal court judges were newly elected.

And we saw a lot of what we call progressive are more liberal on crime.

Judges get elected to that bench.

What that results in is lower bonds or a release of offenders.

When they are when they're brought in or brought before the judge with a crime pending.

So obviously, that allows them to return to the street to commit crime.

Right.

So that major shift in leadership, you know, we can start to study those numbers now.

What has happened?

What is the result of this shift in Orleans Parish?

Mardi Gras has begun.

The season has begun.

And this weekend Miss Universe will be broadcast worldwide from New Orleans.

And there is concern about some of the contestants I talked to the lieutenant governor a month ago.

They contacted him saying, we want to make sure our girls are safe.

Can you imagine that?

Well, you know, it's embarrassing.

In in any other time we would be so proud to be hosting this event.

You know, it's certainly such an amazing event for women.

And families would be happy to participate.

Now it's I do not see how they guarantee the safety of the the people traveling here.

And not only that, but the residents who may be affected by gunfire.

You know, one of the things when I was asked about the Miss Universe pageant coming here, I said something.

And it really has it makes people kind of step back a little bit.

But I am a I am a numbers person.

I like to see numbers and show me what's actually happening.

Happening.

And I said, you know, you are statistically more likely the candidates are statistically more likely to leave in a casket than with the crown.

And that's a horrifying idea.

But, you know, the reality is, is at the rate we're going of shootings and we're in mass shootings now, you know, it's not just one shooting here, one shooting there.

In fact, they're having a hard time identifying which bodies go to which gunshot.

You know, the whole idea and from being a prosecutor for a long time, each person comes into the criminal justice system at different phases, whether they're a first time offender.

And we have a chance then to either give them the tools to make a change in their life, to rebuild, to rehabilitate them.

And that's the most important time when we can sort of get involved in somebody's life in the criminal justice system.

So for us, just to catch and release without helping that person.

I gather that's not happening, that rehabilitation is not even.

It is not on the books.

Right.

Because, you know, there's this sentiment, oh, just release and back and that's sort of been the idea.

But that is not working.

And really we're doing a disservice to the people who are apprehended as well.

This is a chance to give them an opportunity to get some help that they wouldn't have had before.

You know, get some resources, get some job training to give them options as opposed to what the Street may offer them as a source of income.

This conversation will continue for a long time to come.

What can you leave us with today?

I think that the most important thing now is for people in Louisiana and New Orleans is certainly, you know, the hot spot there.

We see heavy crime in Baton Rouge and in Shreveport also.

But people throughout the state need to start educating themselves, whether it's through finding these grassroots groups that are really saying enough is enough, we're going to start informing each other and we're going to pay close attention to leadership.

What are they really saying and what is what does that mean?

What does it translate into?

Things sound great on a political campaign, you know, when you're out there talking about change, but what does it translate into and what have we seen it translate into, especially in New Orleans?

Is it working or do we need to shift that leadership?

We will see.

Thank you so.

Much.

Thank you.

And we're going to elect a new governor in Louisiana this year.

In the first weeks of 2023 have been given a surprises.

But Jeremy Alford, you've penned that.

It's been messy.

It has.

You're the editor, publisher of Love Politics.

You write for The New York Times.

You've written books.

You are a political guru in the state.

And so is it fun right now to see what's happening?

Oh, yeah.

I mean, welcome to the 2023 election cycle.

Yeah.

Who's in?

Who's out?

What do you forecast?

You know, nothing went as planned this week.

No one announced on the days that they were supposed to it.

It was incredibly messy for someone who writes about Louisiana politics.

Yes.

It couldn't have gone better.

Right.

Exactly.

But, you know, let's talk about who's in.

I think that's easier to focus on than who's saying they're not going to run.

On the conservative side, things are really coming into sharper focus.

You've got Attorney General Jeff Landry and you have Attorney Hunter Lundy of Lake Charles.

Those are two guys who have been in the field for months now and they are joined this week by Treasurer John Schrader.

He is the latest to announce.

So his statewide office is going to be open and the attorney general's office is going to going to be open because they'll be running for governor.

But we're got it.

We've got a few more announcements on the way.

Over the next week, you're going to hear an announcement from Senator Sharon Hewitt.

She's from the Slidell area, used to be an oil and gas executive.

And you're going to hear an announcement from Representative Richard Nelson, who is a freshman state representative from the Mandeville area.

He has an intelligence background with the federal government.

Really interesting guy.

So the conservative side is really coming into focus.

And a couple of names you haven't mentioned yet.

John Kennedy, of course, has said he will not run.

That's right.

And Billy Nungesser, who we thought would run if Kennedy didn't, is also not going to he wants to run to be lieutenant governor again.

That's right.

And of those two, I think we're going to hear from John Kennedy once again at some point, because I think all eyes and ears will turn to him and ask, who are you supporting?

So so at some point, he's going to get the spotlight back.

Got it.

On the Democratic side, yeah.

There's a lot of intrigue, a lot of mystery over there.

There's a lot of noise this week because there's a new poll in the field that is testing the name of Democratic Party chairwoman Katie Bernard.

She's going to have an announcement here soon.

She is seriously looking at the race.

Really?

That would be an interesting addition.

There's also Transportation Secretary Sean Wilson, who works for the governor.

Right.

He has pulled himself in this race.

He likes what he sees, but he's not made a final decision.

A couple of wildcards, both district attorneys, the district attorney from Saint Charles, Joe Castle, he was in the same poll as Katie Bernard.

But I'm being told that she runs.

He may be supporting her.

The other who is much more serious, who I've spoken to many times this year about this is Hill or Moore.

Yeah.

He the district attorney of East Baton Rouge Parish.

He is a white Democrat.

He very much fits that archetype of a John Bel Edwards, a conservative Democrat.

And he is looking at this race really seriously.

You know, at one time he's looking at attorney general, but now it looks like it may be the governor's race.

What surprises you the most about what has transpired?

You know, I think Billy Nungesser is it was it was a surprise.

And, you know, I'll be surprised to see what the rest of the field looks like, because right now, Jeff Landry is incredibly organized, maybe more organized than any gubernatorial candidate I've ever covered.

But does that mean that he would be the shoo in favorite?

No, I don't use terms like that for governorship races anymore.

I think we learned eight years ago that the fundamentals don't always apply to the governor's race that is an intimate race and that people treat this differently than they would something like the U.S. Senate or even mayor.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, you're going to come back because we're going to talk about this a lot more and we'll see what happens in the coming week or weeks.

Right.

With some of these other announcements.

Looking forward to it.

All right, Gerri, thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Always.

If you feel that everyone you've come in contact with recently is sick or is just getting over something, you're not wrong.

There's definitely something going around.

But experts with Baton Rouge General Hospital say it's nothing to worry about.

Here's a brief update on Louisiana's health trends when it comes to the flu and COVID 19.

For the past two and a half years, the sound of a cough or sniffly nose was enough to send even those with the fiercest immune systems into panic.

Now, it seems, will be dealing with the crest and trough of COVID.

Each year.

I think the last two years we've had fairly, fairly light flu seasons and this year we've seen an increase in cases of flu.

We're also seeing an increase in cases of streptococcal infections, which are usually come post viral.

So that's been one of the trends we've seen over probably the last 1 to 2 months.

The holidays always bumped flu and COVID numbers.

That's an inevitable trend.

When the weather is colder, people are closer to each other indoors, prompting a spread of viral infection.

But the current trends in Louisiana are positive.

The Department of Health reported about 2000 reinfections and about 6000 new cases from late December to January 8th.

But it seems the cases are mild.

So current trends with COVID 19 as well as flu.

Because of our recent holidays that have passed with Thanksgiving and Christmas, we have seen a slight uptick in hospitalizations due to both cases.

But more so, we're seeing it in the community not necessarily being hospitalized secondary to COVID 19 or influenza virus.

So the current dominant strains of COVID in our community are of the immigrant variant.

There's two different variants that are circulating, and that makes up probably about 65 to 70% of the cases that we see nationally.

There's a new COVID variant threatening to take on the current spot as the dominant strain.

SB 1.5 was listed as the most transmissible variant this year by the World Health Organization.

It doesn't appear to be any more dangerous than previous versions, but it does seem to reinfect at a higher rate, which could account for some of the sniffling and coughs going around this year.

I do think that we're beginning to see this virus become more endemic.

So something that we're going to have to live with.

Like Dr. Kalam said, I'm across accounts for most of the illnesses going around right now.

Just be careful and take precautions and the beginning of the new year means some people will be putting bad habits behind them or trying to with New Year's resolutions.

Andre, did you make one?

It sounds like a good idea.

I have never made a New Year's because.

You're just already so perfect.

Yeah, that's it.

Is it too late to make one now, though?

No, it's not too late.

Actually, I made one myself.

I always do, because I'm not as perfect as Andre here.

You know, she's joking.

And that has to do line has to do with healthy food.

And Pennington Biomedical Research Center may have the diet plan to help you meet those goals if you're like me.

So they have developed the Dash diet, and I spoke with Catherine Champagne, a.k.a Mustache, who helped developed one of the highest rated diets in the country.

When that ball drops on New Year's Eve, for many, it represents a new chapter, a second chance at self-improvement.

And if you're like me, it means making another New Year's resolution.

For like the 26th time this year.

My New Year's resolution is simple.

Eat healthier, and I'm not alone in my pursuits.

That's the most common resolution you can have.

And Pennington Biomedical Research Center is looking to help with that.

The dash diet they've developed once again is ranked one of the best diet plans ever made by the U.S. News and World Report.

The Dash Diet is part of a large study that looked to find a diet that was appropriate for hypertension and reducing or reducing blood pressure.

The Dash diet was developed in 1977 and still reigns king among others.

Katherine Champagne helped design some of the recipes.

Well, I like to call myself Mrs.

Dash just because, you know, it was it was really, I think, one of the greatest accomplishments of my career that I was even involved in that study.

And I had to tweak those menus to make them fit the parameters that the targets, the nutrition targets that were specific for Dash.

Those parameters.

Are simple.

Prioritize fruits and veggies.

Limit obvious culprits like sugar and too much salt things people with hypertension already have to do.

Dash just makes monitoring it really easy.

You have recipes you could follow, which were developed at Pennington and Taste tested by Rene Stelzer and you help with the recipes.

From what I understand, you've tasted these foods that you're.

Telling people to go out there and try.

Yes, absolutely.

In the metabolic kitchen, our main job is to develop and taste, test and prepare and serve meals to our study participants.

But we also do this for the general population.

And so for our whether it's for a recipe for the public or a recipe that we are going to serve in.

A study here at Pennington, after we've developed the recipe, we prepare it, we taste test it to make sure that it's going to be acceptable.

Were there any recipes that were just kind of that.

Didn't make it into the diet?

Yes.

Yes.

Some sometimes will prepare it and it might need a little more flavor or it might need extra sauce.

Because when we're designing the recipes, especially for a study, we have to make sure that the macronutrient composition is very specific.

We might have to have, you know, a certain amount of protein, fat, carbohydrates.

We might have to have a certain amount of the different fatty acids.

And the volume might be very specific.

We might have to use specific types of products or low sodium products.

So sometimes what looks good on paper doesn't always translate to tasting good or look even visually looking good in real life.

But taste aside, here's what you need to know to get started.

You need to lower your meat intake and focus on lean meats.

Instead, you'll eat more grains and veggies and fruits.

In fact, a good bit of the protein you eat will come from nuts.

There was a lot of interest in calcium, but calcium that was naturally occurring in terms of milk and dairy products, for instance.

And we also wanted to limit the amount of meat on the plate.

We incorporated lean meats and we did have fish and some seafood.

We also concentrated on nuts and seeds because of the magnesium content of those products.

And so basically our dash diet was slightly higher in protein.

It was not a high protein diet.

It was about 18% of calories as opposed to a normal recommended protein level of about 15%.

Well, why do you think this one is ranked so high?

I mean, they have so many other diets that are popular.

I mean, you have people that are doing paleo, there's there's keto, there's the Mediterranean diet.

Why do you think this one stands out so much?

This one stands out because of the amount of research that went into it.

So we did have we did feed two we had two cohorts of Dash.

We had the first dash, which was not focused on sodium.

And the second dash was exactly the same as the first, except that we focused on sodium because sodium is important as well.

And the other thing that is important is that we've had we had follow up studies where we've recruited hundreds of people at four different sites to see if we could instruct them on the dash diet.

Because, you know, it's one thing to come here and get your food for you.

It's pretty easy, very attractive, but in reality, you have to prepare your foods yourself.

There were other diets listed in the study.

Honorable mentions on that list were the Mediterranean diet and the Flexitarian Diet.

They were all in the top three.

So if your New Year's resolution is in fact eat healthier.

These are pretty good places to start.

But the dash diet is proven to work.

So the dash diet, it sounds like something that I should do.

You should do.

I look into it?

You should.

It looks very good.

All right.

I believe you.

Hey, everyone.

That's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything, lvb.

Any time.

Wherever you are with our live PBS app.

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For everyone.

Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I'm Andre Moore and I'm kerosene sirup.

The next time that's a state or 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.