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.

State leaders are rushing to redraw Louisiana's congressional maps as voters head to the polls, and we'll look at the impact the Supreme Court's redistricting ruling could have nationwide.

Plus, bought for a song.

The original Louisiana Purchase documents are now on display in Baton Rouge.

And we'll meet our next young hero to see how he's inspiring his community.

Let's get started.

Let's go.

Hi everyone.

I'm Christina 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, state lawmakers are now considering legislation to redraw Louisiana's congressional maps.

The push comes after a U.S.

Supreme Court ruling last week, which prompted Governor Jeff Landry to delay House elections, even as thousands of ballots had already been cast.

The decision is leaving voters uncertain and candidates facing new questions about the road ahead.

A landmark decision with immediate political and electoral consequences.

This legal battle began in 2022, when press, Robinson and other plaintiffs challenged Louisiana's congressional map, arguing it failed to include a second majority black district.

They pointed to census data showing black residents make up about one third of the state's population.

A federal judge ruled in their favor.

That decision sent lawmakers back to the drawing board, resulting in a new 2024 map that created two majority black districts.

But that new map quickly became the center of another legal fight.

On April 29th, the U.S.

Supreme Court ruled that the 2024 congressional map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

Just hours after the decision.

The impact was immediate.

Governor Jeff Landry moved to halt upcoming U.S.

House primary elections, saying new districts would need to be drawn.

That move was quickly challenged in court by Democratic candidates and civil rights groups, who say it could disrupt an election already underway.

There's been a reset over the last couple of decades.

Parties have used section two to basically legally entangle states in the redrawing of congressional districts.

This no longer does that.

With the map now in legal limbo.

Louisiana's congressional districts and election process remain unsettled.

Early voting has already begun in the state of Louisiana.

There are over 1000 ballots that have already been mailed out.

There are over 4300 ballots that have already been cast, which means that Louisianans already selected their congressional candidates.

So essentially, what this governor is asking us to do is to discard the selections for Congress, but to count the ballot and to count the votes for Senate, to count the votes on the constitutional amendments and to keep that whole.

This is something that's unprecedented.

It has not happened.

And the reason it hasn't happened is because it throws a statewide election into complete and total chaos.

However, state officials say the court's ruling provides necessary legal clarity.

This decision is a is a seismic decision for the Voting Rights Act and for the state of Louisiana.

It vindicates the position that we've taken from the outset.

When we originally defended the first map adopted by the legislature, and we said to the court then that we couldn't draw any map without violating the Equal Protection clause, that there was no way to to draw a second majority minority district without taking race into account, which we believe to violate the Constitution.

United States Supreme Court has now affirmed the judgment below that overturned our second map as a racial gerrymander.

So that opinion is hugely important.

Meanwhile, nonprofit organization leaders for a Better Louisiana say the decision could have nationwide implications.

We know how close Congress is, particularly in the House, in terms of the seats of Republican and Democrat.

It's a midterm election.

We know there's always kind of a swing during those elections.

So it's going to be close.

And I think when the Supreme Court ruling came down to states that are particularly in red states, but we're seeing it in blue states, two are looking at it and saying, well, we can see if we can redraw now really quickly and pick up some seats for our side, whichever our side is.

And so you're definitely seeing in the South with Alabama talk in Mississippi, Tennessee and of course, Louisiana's all over the place.

In the news for Congressman Cleo Fields, whose district was central to the case, the ruling strikes at the heart of minority representation.

What's your reaction right now?

It really puts, you know, you know, minorities, particularly those who live in the southern part of our country in a very tough position because the history dictates that they have never been elected.

Like take Louisiana, for example.

A black member has never been elected to the US Congress from a majority white district.

And so only when there is a creation of a majority black district where he, black, have the opportunity to get elected.

With multiple lawsuits still pending, Louisiana's congressional map and its election timeline remain in legal and political flux despite the uncertainty.

Civil rights groups are urging voters not to stay home.

If you were going out to cast an early vote, please do that.

This is going to work.

Work its way through the courts.

We still need everybody participating.

There's so many important amendments on this ballot.

There's so much happening in the state.

We cannot allow this confusion to distract us.

You could tell me.

I need to jump a certain height.

You know, I can perhaps do that.

You can tell me I need to run a certain speed.

I could perhaps do that.

But if you tell me I got to be white to serve in the US Congress from Louisiana, I can't do nothing about that.

At the heart of this case is a long standing question should race be considered when drawing electoral maps, or does doing so cross a constitutional line?

The Supreme Court's ruling could have major implications for voting rights across the country.

At the center of that impact is section two of the Voting Rights Act, a key provision used to challenge discrimination in election laws and district maps.

I spoke with a political science professor about what this decision could mean going forward.

Joining me now is David Hughes, political science professor at University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you.

You're lending us your expertise on section two of the Voting Rights Act.

What is that section and how does it impact or protect voters?

Historically, it was used to allow voters, specifically racial minorities, to challenge in a federal court the legality of of racial discrimination in elections.

And so that could touch on voter registration or access to the polls.

But it is also, over time, applied to the districts that states draw for things like the state legislature but also Congress.

Could this new ruling change the interpretation of section two and how it does so?

For the last 40 years, the Supreme Court has had a particular understanding of section two.

And when minority plaintiffs might win a lawsuit that challenges a legislative district.

And it had a few criteria that demonstrated when a racial minority could be successful in that challenge.

The Supreme Court's decision last week makes it significantly more difficult for minority plaintiffs to succeed in a section two lawsuit, meaning that states, particularly in the South, where we have large numbers of black populations, are not going to be as constrained by the federal courts as they have in the past.

And also, with the number of congressional seats, you were talking about how this could impact folks across the South.

How could this impact those seats across the South?

So in Louisiana, we have two black districts.

So those two are in play themselves as we currently watch the Louisiana government potentially redistrict itself.

But then in the other southern states as well.

Scholars are pointing out somewhere between 12 or so congressional seats that could potentially be flipped.

And could this significantly dilute the minority vote?

Significantly, yes.

So currently, Louisiana has two black elected members of the United States House of Representatives.

I think most scholars expect that number to go to zero.

And we could say the same thing in Alabama.

They currently have two black members in the House of Representatives.

We expect that number to go to zero.

And so, yes, there will be fewer elected members of the US Congress who are black as a result of this decision and also as a result, what does it mean for those voters who may be in those districts that could change?

Well, it means they're probably not going to have representatives who look like them anymore.

And that's something that, you know, we're oftentimes accustomed to in southern politics.

It's very unusual in statewide elections in the South to see African Americans winning statewide office, whether it's to the governorship or lieutenant governor or a significant position of statewide power.

And we're going to see this, this effect trickle down to US House elections, where at least since the 1970s and particularly 1990s, when you had a significant number of black lawmakers from the South, that that number is going to go down.

And the only states that are really going to have black representation left in Congress are going to be states like South Carolina, where you have Tim Scott, who's a Republican member of the US Senate, or places like Atlanta, where there's just too big of a population for the state to gerrymander every Democrat out of office.

It also impacts county and municipal, which some people may not realize because it's not talked about all that much.

Can you explain how this could trickle down to even local elections?

Yeah, this decision has huge trickle down implications.

The first place I would be interested in is the state legislature, because the Voting Rights Act applies to these, both the state House and the state Senate for for every state.

And so in places like Georgia, we've seen Democrats starting to pick off Republicans in areas where they've been weaker, places like the suburbs, where more affluent voters have been trending toward the Democratic Party in recent years forever, or at least since the 1970s.

You know, one constraint that that faced the states in redrawn their districts was protecting these districts that gave an opportunity for racial minorities to elect a candidate of their of their preference, usually a black candidate.

And this is going to be a huge gift to to lawmakers who want to, you know, ridge area mander districts that previously they might not have touched because they thought a federal court order would stay their hand.

Interesting.

Is there anything else on this topic that you want to add?

I know it's a big topic.

This is the big one.

Representation is is the big one.

And so voters will will see a difference because in some places, you know, right now I live in Clio Fields districts.

So they're going to see those who represent them change.

And that will have an effect on people's lives and possibly on the quality of representation that that they've enjoyed up until now.

But it's a change and it's a significant change.

This is probably one of the most significant Supreme Court Voting Rights Act decisions in the last 40 or so years, so it will cause change.

Well, thank you so much for stopping by and joining us.

Thank you so much.

Switching gears now, let's take a look at what's going on this week in the world of sports correspondent Victor Helen joins us now with more.

What's going on this week.

Great to see you all.

Look we've talked a lot of football.

We've talked a lot of baseball.

This sports segment it's for the ladies.

We had a lot of female teams making news in the state.

We're going to focus on that right now.

And let's start with the exciting times up in Monroe for the Lady Warhawks softball team this season.

For the first time in program history, the Warhawks won the regular season Sun Belt title, going 19 and five.

In conference play.

Head coach Molly.

She was named Sun Belt Coach of the year, the second straight year she won that honor.

So Thursday afternoon, the top seeded Warhawks faced Louisiana in Lafayette at the conference tournament, scoreless in the fifth inning.

When Olivia Fagot beats the throw home, she's safe at the plate.

Ulm led one nothing.

It's two nothing in the sixth when Megan Brown lines one up the middle.

Elle Carter scored to make it three nothing.

Ashanti McDade pitched all seven innings, and her only two strikeouts of the game were the last two outs of the game for Ulm.

The Cajuns season comes to an end.

Ulm moves on in the tournament as they got the win three to nothing.

The Southern Lady Jaguars earned some high accolades this season.

Brittany Williams was named Swac coach of the year, Aliya Zabala was pitcher of the year, and Layla Clark was named newcomer of the year.

Southern has been spending the week over in Gulfport, where the second seeded Lady Jags looking to stay alive in the Swac tournament.

They beat the Cookman 2 to 1 early on on Thursday.

Later that night, they faced Alabama State down three one in the fifth.

But check out the defense by the Jags to stay alive.

Look at this.

Catch two out two on diving in from left field.

No runs the score for Alabama State.

And that's when Southern's offense woke up scoring six runs in the bottom of the fifth to win 7 to 3.

Southern state alive in the Swac tournament.

Congrats to southeastern head coach Rick Freeman named Southland Conference Coach of the year, and to pitcher Haley Burns, who was named Conference Pitcher of the year.

Unfortunately, though, for the Lions, those accolades didn't help the team stay alive in the tournament.

They were eliminated by Lamar last weekend at home in Hammond.

What did that mean?

Well, that meant Lamar advanced to the championship round to face the number two seed.

Lady Cowboys from McNeese.

Played in Lake Charles.

Game one Thursday night down there in southwest Louisiana.

A lot of pitching, not a lot of hitting.

And through nine and a half innings there was no scoring.

But in the bottom of the 10th, one out, one on Maddie.

Weak slaps a double to the wall in right center field.

Pinch runner Adriana morales coming all the way around.

Get on your horse!

She scores and safe.

Now they are just one win away from an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, as McNeese would get the win over Lamar by the score of one to nothing.

So I told you a lot of news going on for a lot of our women's teams, a softball.

But I got one last thing for you, okay?

I want to bring you a suggestion for a competitive festival.

Will.

No, Louisiana likes festivals, right?

The music, the dancing, the costumes, everything else.

I'm going to take you overseas.

I'm blowing out the budget.

We're going overseas to show you a competition.

I think we should bring here for a festival that is literally for the birds.

Take a look.

Right.

This is the sixth European seagull screeching competition.

There is so much to take in.

Look at the face of the host.

We had some contestants from 15 different countries doing their best street.

Can you not see the Louisiana Seagull competition throughout the state coastline down to the southern part of the state, right?

I mean, come on, we can all get involved and excited for that one.

It's an interesting competition.

Well, Grand Isle, Calcasieu Parish, Plaquemines Parish, we'd like to get dressed up.

We like socializing, eating, drinking.

I told you, it's for the birds.

I think we should bring it.

I'm going to get on the horn, gusto right now.

We'll bring it in here.

We'll do it for the people.

Sports event for Louisiana.

Yes, indeed.

Thanks, Victor.

Well, a rare piece of American history is now on display in Baton Rouge to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American independence.

The original Louisiana Purchase documents give visitors a firsthand look at the agreement that helped shape our nation.

But for a song, a young nation expands, the Louisiana Purchase is often referred to as the greatest real estate deal in history.

It was a transaction that cost to us about $15 million, and the original documents have just arrived at the old State Capitol.

Hi, Johnny.

Married to Rousseau.

Welcome to the old state Capitol.

We're thrilled to have you here.

The key exhibit is here.

On loan from the National Archives.

Is the original treaty from the Louisiana Purchase.

It was 223 years ago.

And Napoleon Bonaparte has suffered grave losses in the Caribbean, meaning the Louisiana Territory had greatly lost much of its value for France.

The whole point of the negotiation was to get New Orleans, and to get the mouth of the great river that would open up inland trade for the United States, but also give us territory to expand west.

Mary Giarrusso is the executive director at the Old State Capital Museum, and explains the importance of the bot for a song exhibit 1,000,000mi², 828,000mi², and it all costs a total of $15 million, which translates to how much per acre.

It translates to about $0.04 an acre, $0.04 an acre.

It was one of the great land deals of anybody's time.

France was involved in a war with Britain and needed immediate cash.

America only hoped to secure access to the mouth of the Mississippi River for purchase, happened in 1803, and doubled the size of United States, all west of the Mississippi River.

With war looming in Europe.

Napoleon needed money and saw Louisiana as an expensive and difficult burden, but it was the perfect bargaining tool.

Thomas Jefferson had set aside $10 million for a small area, but got about 15 times the land for only $5 million more.

They got all this land that they weren't planning to get.

But President Jefferson had always been interested in expanding to the West.

The new exhibit, now on display, features the historical documents in the original bound velvet cover with the original signatures.

Tell me about these flags.

These were some of the states that came with the Louisiana Purchase.

Well, these are the states that ultimately come out of the Louisiana Purchase, their 15 states that are created and their places that people don't often think about, like South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming.

The documents are on loan to Louisiana from the National Archives in Washington as part of America 250, marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Experts spent months preparing to transport the valuable records from D.C.

to Baton Rouge.

So what did it take to bring this down to the Louisiana State Capitol?

So we did a lot of work with the Louisiana State Capitol to make sure that the light level, the temperature, humidity here in the building were stable and adequate for the document.

It's very important to keep all of that stable so that there's no accelerated deterioration while it's on display here.

Stephanie Lowden is the registrar at the National Archives and Records Administration, and she oversees the documentation and safety of the historic artifacts within America's national collection.

Out protected as this, we have 24/7 security.

We have cameras everywhere because these documents belong to the American people.

Not just now, but in the future.

So we want to make sure there's protected as possible.

Protecting the historical documents is critical, which means environmental controls and special enclosures with complete protection from heat and light for storage.

Our primary goals are to use environmental conditions to slow down the degradation of the records for, you know, the use by the American people.

So that means we have a lot of focus on the temperature and relative humidity in our storage areas, and we try and keep them constant and relatively low.

The old state Capitol has climate controlled storage and advanced security to maintain their safety.

Only Napoleon signatures in this one, because this is the what we call an exchange copy, so that it is the symbolic copy of the treaty that is sent.

It's a tamper proof way of making sure the treaty stays as it was agreed to.

This is actually the second time the Louisiana Purchase documents have been on display in Louisiana.

The first was in 1994 for the grand opening of the old State Capitol Museum.

The old State Capitol was built in 1850 and is now working to educate the public on Louisiana's history.

The new exhibit is just another part of the America 250 year celebration, highlighting Louisiana's pivotal role in the growth of our nation to inform and educate people from around the world.

So we will continue to do our work at the National Archives.

We'll keep them stored in conditions that slows the aging process.

And we do think that with proper storage, the last another 200 years easily.

This week's Louisiana Young hero overcame major obstacles to become a positive force in his community.

Yeah, John Parker has a range of interest, but his passion focuses on literacy.

Here's his story.

John is just amazing.

His drive, his ambition, his need to help others and just better himself and others around him just amazes me daily.

He's very much a leader in every aspect.

He's very smart.

He's not afraid to help people and help those around him.

He's very confident in what he does, and I'm very proud of every accomplishment that he's he's done.

2026 Louisiana young hero John Parker leads by example.

His mother and sister share how John is an inspiration.

His success is even more incredible because of the challenges he faced early in life.

The doctor told us a month before I got pregnant with him, that there was absolutely no way possible we could have another child, and that was devastating.

But when I prayed, I felt like, yeah, we're going to.

And sure enough, he's 17 now.

When he was born, he wasn't breathing.

They had to put him in the ICU.

And then we found out at three he had speech problems and he couldn't hear.

His sister was saying everything for him.

With a very close.

I was always able to tell like what he was saying and what what he was trying to get across.

And to me, it really like helped build our brother sister relationship because I didn't know what he was trying to say.

He had to have surgery and intensive speech therapy all the way up until second grade, and he advanced from that.

His public speaking now just amazes his dad and I daily.

Those who met John today would never realize the hurdles that he's overcome.

Now he uses his voice to help others facing their own challenges.

Somebody once told me that before you build a skyscraper, you need to dig down to rock bottom, and that applies to every aspect of our life.

And so, yes, it's unfortunate that I had to undergo hearing loss at such a young age.

But because of that, the good news is that I've been able to build my skyscraper ever since.

A big part of building John's skyscraper is building a beacon of hope for others.

He and his sister Sonia established their own foundation to bring the light of literacy to students at schools with high poverty rates.

The part of Life Foundation's mission is important to me, because I grew up in a household that instilled the importance of education in me from a very young age.

I can take something as small as a book and help out Louisiana's literacy rates, and that's what's important at the end of the day.

The first year we distributed around 50 books, the next year was 150, and then the next year was 800.

We'll go to these schools in need, and we'll give a short presentation on why education and literacy is important and distribute these books.

And this is really important.

Some of these students have told us that they've never received a book, and that might have been the only gift that they'd gotten that year to give.

Something that continues to give back in our community is really important.

We try to relay the importance of that to these students that think that it may be impossible.

It's not impossible.

And if you read and you never give up, it's it's possible.

John's natural leadership makes him a role model, inspiring his peers as well as his teachers and principals at his school.

John is very interested in not just his own success, but the success of people around him.

He has a heart helping those who are less fortunate.

John found a charity called One Way Love that supports Saint Tammany teens who have been abandoned, or they're homeless, or both.

We felt for that because we knew it was helping teens that were right here in our parish.

John always looks for ways to help.

He volunteers on the Saint Tammany Parish School Board superintendent Student Advisory Council, where he shares ideas to enhance the student experience.

You could just tell he cares for his peers.

He'll do anything for his peers, even teachers.

You know, he's just that guy that really, genuinely cares.

He don't realize how much of a hero he is to other kids on campus that see him.

Oh, I can do that.

I see John doing that.

I can do that.

He does stuff to where kids can follow in his footsteps and know that they, hey, John can do this.

I can do this.

He's encouraging me.

I just keep going back to leadership.

And he's got it.

Going to the National Honor Society in Washington, DC.

We were able to get to meet him.

So one of the really cool stories was we were walking towards the white House.

We said, hey, John, I think we can get a picture of you holding the white House.

So he stands in front of the deal and does this, and he gets the picture of him holding white House.

Well, everybody says, don't worry, John, that'll be your house one day.

And that's the whole group of individuals, you know, saying that whether he wants to do that or not, I think he's more than capable of being able to make that happen.

From creating a foundation to leading parliamentary procedures for the Future Farmers of America and the Louisiana Youth Advisory Council and so much more, John is charting a course to continue his service to others.

I want to live up to my fullest potential.

I don't want to be another case as somebody who could have gone the distance, but didn't, I do the most I can to see how much I can do for myself and others, to see how much I can do for my community.

I'm John Parker and I'm a young hero.

And what a great program giving free books to kids in need.

Yeah, and for someone to have been born deaf and to speak so clearly is really amazing.

Well, congratulations to him for being a young hero.

Well, LPB is Louisiana Young Heroes program is presented this year with a generous support of presenting sponsor the East Baton Rouge Parish Library.

The title sponsor, William J. Doyle, Ray.

Family.

And additional support from Community Coffee, Hotel Indigo and Demko.

And a special thanks to Louisiana's propane dealers, LSU football and McDonald's.

Well, that's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything LPB 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.