Support for Louisiana: The State We're In is provided by Enterg 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. Zigler Foundation and the Zigler 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.

State employees want their fair share of Social Security benefits.

A look at a long standing effort to end the inequities.

And inflation rates still not where economists expected.

A world famous artist brings Louisiana scenes and themes to a global audience.

And lastly, our next young hero is a lifesaver, literally.

Let's get started.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Karen LeBlanc and I'm Kara St. Cyr.

Much more on those top stories in a moment on this week's edition of Louisiana, the state we're in.

But first, a long standing push for fairness and Social Security payouts is gaining traction in Congress.

The Social Security Fairness Act, which aims to eliminate laws that reduce Social Security benefits for state and other government employees, is set for a hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee on April 16th in Louisiana.

These so-called double compensation laws affect more people per capita than most states.

Here's a look at how this can affect Louisiana retirees.

Ann Douglas enjoys gardening in her retirement.

It's a relaxing refuge from the realities of daily life.

She recently downsized, forced to sell her family home where she raised her children alone.

When my husband was killed, he was 42 and we had two young daughters.

My oldest daughter, ten second daughter was 5.

And I had so many family responsibilities to take care of.

So many years passed.

And then I realized I needed to turn to the workforce workplace.

And I was offered a position with the state, with the Louisiana Attorney General's office, Ann went to work in 1996 as a secretary and later as a paralegal.

She retired at age 77 a year ago.

She shows me her Social Security statement, the benefits she was getting as a widow, and how they were slashed once she retired as a state employee.

You were getting $1,749.30 per month in Social Security before you retired from the state.

Correct.

You no longer get that amount.

It's all been eliminated since I'm retired, yes.

How much are you now getting from Social Security?

Well, since I'm do month quarters with Social Security also able to claim Social Security.

I'm paying the by the time you back out everything, you're actually getting $475.10 a month.

Ann█s situation is common in Louisiana, where thousands of retired state employees are not receiving full Social Security benefits, even if they paid into the system in a private job prior or post state employment.

The Social Security windfall elimination provision known as WEP and the government pension offset known as GPO, make state employees ineligible to receive full Social Security benefits.

It's almost tantamount now to taxation without representation because they've contributed, but they're being deprived of a benefit that legally they should be getting.

Frank Jobert is a retired state employee who worked for 30 years with the Department of Corrections.

He now serves as the legislative and governmental affairs director for the retired State employees Association, advocating for the Social Security Fairness Act, first introduced in 2002.

The proposed legislation repeals WEP and GPO State employees are not asking for a handout.

They're asking for what they paid into the system.

That is absolutely correct.

They're paid in.

They were deserving of the benefit had the law not changed.

But the logic seems robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Exactly.

It's exactly what it is they're taking money from once that are in the various a group and giving it to the other one.

And of course there is a cost to fixing it because they're not giving the people credit for what they've contributed to the system.

The Social Security Fairness Act sits in the House Ways and Means Committee.

Louisiana lawmaker Representative Mike Johnson has authored a resolution to force a vote on the House floor.

When it's time for them not to reap benefits but to get what they've paid in, they're told that because you chose a profession of public service, you're going to be treated differently than everybody else, and you're only going to get a small percentage of your Social Security.

That's not wrong.

That's a crime.

That is a legalized theft of what people have contributed.

Congress passed the legislation in 1983 during the Ronald Reagan administration.

Lawmakers were trying to shore up the Social Security system to keep it solvent.

Congressman Garret Graves has 311 co-sponsors.

Out of the 435 House members.

A companion Senate bill has more than half of the 100 senators as cosigners.

It was a flawed drafting of the law back in the late seventies and early eighties.

Folks have been trying to fix this for 40 years and they've gotten pretty much nowhere.

We are near a high watermark for the most progress ever on this bill.

If you add up everybody in all 50 states that are affected, Louisiana is one of the most affected in the country.

Its biggest obstacle is the cost to the Social Security system, which by its own estimates anticipates depleting its trust fund reserves by 2037.

Unlike those other items that spent trillions of dollars on these people have already paid into the system.

And but for their contribution, it would already be bankrupt.

Ann is the face of hundreds of thousands of Louisianians penalized by WEP and GPO.

She testified in a November 2023 Social Security Subcommittee field hearing on Social Security's disservice to public servants.

It is just very unfair to so, so many people.

It really hits hard at a time when you really, really need it.

From hashtag to headlines, here's what's trending this week.

And it was storms state offices were closed.

We actually got the day off.

We did.

I don't know if that was such a good thing just because there were three tornadoes that touched down in Louisiana.

In fact, this morning, the Louisiana Department of Health reported that there is one storm related death in Rapides Parish.

But how did you fare during this?

I mean, I was woken up early in the morning by very, very, very strong winds.

And of course, like I could hear that outside of my window and it didn't quite sound like hurricane type weather, but it was still very, very nerve wracking.

So I'm really not surprised they had all of these tornadoes.

And actually that was something that I was very paranoid about while I was waiting this storm out.

How about you?

Same thing.

I woke up to wind howling.

The wind was really the scary thing for me.

Not so much the rain.

Right.

But there is some some silver linings to this.

Some community organizations and companies are stepping up.

U-Haul company of Southern Louisiana is providing free 30 day storage for New Orleans residents affected by this storm.

I thought that was really nice.

So definitely that was a nice thing to see The community step up.

All right.

So shifting gears, it is festival season and this is something Louisiana does really well, is festivals.

They've got hundreds, starting with this weekend.

It is the French Quarter Music Festival.

Yes, French Quarter Music Festival is always exciting.

You can always see amazing artists.

And of course, there are so many really awesome vendors there.

But I mean, French Quarter Fest is going to be especially exciting for you, isn't it?

Yeah.

So I will be interviewing Amanda Shaw, one of our very own famous musicians.

She'll be performing at the French Quarter Fest, but she'll also appear on next week's episode of Louisiana Speaks.

All right, So make sure you want to tune in for that.

But And of course, speaking of New Orleans, I wanted to bring this up so Food and Wine magazine named New Orleans is number two as the number two food city in all the United States.

And the number one was New York City.

And I have to disagree with that.

I think it's you know, I really think it's a competition.

York City is very upscale, Michelin star, dare I say, a little pricey.

The great thing about New Orleans cuisine in Louisiana cuisine in general, that's like one of our greatest natural resources is our food.

So I agree we should be number one.

I think we should be number one, because I've been to all of these other places that were on the list, and I'm not saying that they weren't good before people attacked me.

I'm just saying that we do it better.

And I got to say, New York City cannot cook a gumbo or an etouffee like New Orleans or Louisiana can.

They absolutely cannot.

But, you know, speaking of food, on a more serious note, a lot of people are worried about food prices and how much it costs to go to the grocery store.

Consumers are still feeling the burn of inflation for years following the pandemic, while rates did drop significantly in the past two years.

A new economic report shows that rates still haven't quite reached that benchmark experts were hoping for.

I sat down with LSU economist Dr. Dek Terrell.

Take a look.

First off, I just wanted to say thank you so much for joining us and we appreciate your time.

Well, thank you.

We're going to start with these questions.

So in March, consumer prices came in at 0.4% over the previous month and 3.5% above March of last year.

That's above economists forecasts.

So these numbers sound pretty scary.

Does this mean that efforts to cut inflation have stalled?

So there are few answers to that.

One is that inflation peaked out at over 8%, so it really shouldn't be scary.

However, what I would say is that it is a signal that inflation is going to be a little bit more sticky than we might have anticipated.

Correct.

Since COVID, if we had been at 2% inflation, most things would be up by about 8% over the prices in March 2020.

Today, if you look at the prices of food, whether it be in home or out at restaurants, they're up about 25%.

So that means when someone goes to the grocery store or if they go to a restaurant, they're paying a lot more to eat.

If you look at prices of used cars and trucks, they're off by even more than that.

And regular people can definitely feel that, especially here in Louisiana.

You're mentioning just everyday prices going up.

But, you know, this this report also specified how housing and energy prices are largely, largely to blame for higher inflation numbers.

Both are already really big topics here in Louisiana.

Is this report more bad news for people in our state specifically?

I think it's it's bad news for people who struggle month to month because in that CPI, it's a market basket of goods and services is what we tell our students.

For wealthy people, it's a big benefit that the price of television sets is going down.

I mean, you can get a 75 inch television for much less than you would pay back.

pre-COVID.

On the other hand, your rent is a lot more.

Your gas is a lot more, your food is a lot more.

So I do think in a poor state like Louisiana, inflation is a bigger deal than it might be in a lot of wealthier state.

Something that you brought up was food and how food is cost, it costs more.

And that's in my experience, a lot of people base inflation off of what they're paying at the grocery store.

Is it likely that we're going to see any of those prices come down even more, or are we kind of stuck with them?

Even if inflation goes down, you don't see prices go down.

So inflation going down means the rate of growth and items goes down.

So if I saw that now, there are some exceptions.

Eggs have gone down since their peak price.

And we all remember that it was terrible.

Right?

There was a terrible time as the price of some items, but the overall price of food are higher than they were and they're likely to continue to go up.

A new report says that, you know, a single person would need to make $96,000 a year and a family of four that jumps to a combined income of $235,000 a year.

I mean, is this true that this is the new standard to live comfortably here?

You have a lot of people in Louisiana that are earning very low incomes.

I mean, consider someone who's earning not minimum wage of $7.25, but $10 an hour that they're advertising on McDonald's or even $15 an hour.

That's a very low annual income.

And then you look at trying to pay rent, trying to buy food, particularly if you're a single mother and you're trying to support a child.

One or more children on that.

Pay for a car.

Pay for car insurance.

It's just almost impossible to do.

So in your opinion, as a as an economist that has been looking at the numbers?

Is it possible that we could see prices return to an area that we're all comfortable with or an area that we're familiar with in the next few years?

I think it's possible that the inflation rate, if you ask me what I would predict.

I think it's very reasonable to think that the inflation rate may subtle around 3% or a bit over 3%.

Now, that's not getting back to 2% price growth, but that's not as bad as eight or 9%, which is the the worst inflation we saw that's really generated these really high prices that we're seeing right now.

So it's safe to say that the inflation conversation is going to stick with us Americans for a while now.

But thank you so much for sitting down with us and talking through.

All right.

Thank you.

Artist Hunt Slonem is a huge name in the art world.

The graduate of Tulane University calls Louisiana his second home when he's not creating in his New York City studio.

Hunt█s Art brings Louisiana scenes and themes to a global audience through international art shows, galleries and collectors.

I joined the artists for a tour of his new exhibit at the Building Museum in New Orleans.

Artist Hunt Slonem signs each copy of his latest book with his iconic bunny drawing a recurring theme of his work with that hipness quality and its simplicity.

Doing the rabbits became like calligraphy to me.

I used to call these my studies and I started singling things out of earlier paintings such as the rabbit and doing individual studies.

The artist is a critical and commercial success with close ties to Louisiana, his second home.

His signature bunny paintings belong to a prolific body of work on display at the Cabell Doe in New Orleans.

In a retrospective.

I have to start by saying that everything in this show is owned by people in Louisiana.

We didn't bring anything in for this show.

That's not only a survey of my work, but it's also a survey of what's been collected in the state.

So that's a very important fact to consider how much support I've had here and how what a difference it's made in my life.

Walls are filled with artwork depicting birds, bayous and bunnies.

Popular subjects enhance art, especially the rabbits, which appear in art, sculpture, fabric and wallpaper.

It started putting rabbits at the feet of the saints, among other animals.

That's where I first remember painting them.

We could not swing contemporary frames, so I went to the flea market all the time and came up with antique frames for most of the work.

I started painting paintings for the Frames, which these were originally Victorian photo portrait frames.

This juxtaposition of colorful whimsy framed by a nod to the past has evolved into other iterations of the bunny, including diamond dust paintings and works in resins, neon and light boxes.

So this is about a 35 year use of one of my easels.

When I crosshatch I like paint off of the painting and it winds up on the easel of 35 years.

Hunt splits his time between his New York studio in Midwood, one of several historic homes he refurbished.

He's owned three in Louisiana over the past 25 years.

Hunt says Louisiana is his muse, but he prefers to creatively recharge when visiting rather than create.

One of my favorite things about Louisiana is live oaks and Spanish moss.

So I guess the wild, the plant form of Louisiana is very unique and completely memorable.

Louisiana is a lifelong subject in Hunt storied career, starting with his days at Tulane University, where he first fell in love with Louisiana's architecture and history.

Across catching that you talked about, this is a sugar refinery of Albania.

A plant?

Yes.

And it doesn't exist anymore.

But it was on after the Grevemberg family.

Today, Hunt Sloan, whose works are collected and shown worldwide.

His use of color and ever evolving techniques and art forms resonate in the art world.

I'm looking at the bird paintings, and I see repetition, which is a signature of your work.

What's the subtext of this, this repetition?

Well, to me, repetition to all divinity is kind of repetition.

The Rosary, the Mall of Montra you know, repeating things.

You kind of become one with them.

And so it's the way of doing a prayer, basically, for me.

Hunt's name recognition doesn't come from his signature, but rather a sentiment, a certain style and a look recognizable as distinctly Hunt's Slonem It's why he doesn't sign the front of his artwork, a calculated gesture calling attention to the work itself.

I prefer not to say more and let the work speak for itself.

The artist's idiosyncratic interests continue to propel him in new directions.

Hunt says he was born under the sign of the bunny in Chinese astrology, an enduring subject of his art with bigger things to come.

I just feel like I'm at my best when I'm on a very large scale.

You know, I've done 100 foot paintings that have never been shown.

I wanted to show more and more new places, just, you know, experiencing the world.

That's always been part of my work.

Hudson Mobley█s family and friends describe him as a self-motivated and dependable young person with an eye for the arts.

He's captain of the swim team, manages a girls basketball team, and plans to study biomedical engineering in college.

But perhaps one of his greatest achievements happened when he was just 16 years old.

He saved a man's life.

Take a look at this week's Louisiana young hero.

Life is a series of indirect decisions.

Some lead to inconsequential outcomes, but others dramatically shift the trajectory of your life.

For Hudson Mobley, that decision would start with swimming.

When I was in sixth grade, I didn't do any extracurriculars.

I was just kind of a student and I wanted to do something.

So I decided to join the swim team with a couple of my friends.

It's really changed my life.

You know, I've done it for so many years.

Hudson rose through the ranks of his middle school swim program, quickly becoming a beloved member of the team.

But his decision to join would indirectly affect his journey.

Swimming would lead to lifeguard jobs, CPR training and ultimately Hudson, saving someone's life.

Think of it like a set of circumstances made possible by impeccable timing.

I knew something was wrong and I jumped out of the car.

I made sure to see what was happening.

A man collapsed on a golf course at Hudson's Country Club job when he was 16.

Normally on lifeguard duty this day, he was working the courses with a friend.

When both decide to stop.

Another one of life's small decisions.

You're walking up.

There's all of these people that are crowded around this man.

What did he look like at this point?

He was laid down.

They put something under his head to make sure he wasn't, like concussed or anything.

And it was I mean, he couldn't breathe in this moment.

Everyone around Hudson was terrified.

The man was older and suffering from cardiac arrest.

It wasn't clear when the ambulance would show up.

So Hudson drew deep within himself, searching for knowledge that could help.

Lifeguard training came to mind.

I made sure just to start doing compressions at the proper rate, and it was pretty scary.

You know, that's very stressful.

But someone came out with an AED administered that and then waited for authorities to come.

Just keep giving compressions, keeping the AED on.

How long were you doing compressions?

You know, in the moment I was not entirely sure.

If I had to guess, I'd say around like five or 6 minutes.

Hudson kept compressing until the ambulance showed up and took over.

His quick thinking saved this man's life.

Over time, I mean, it got a little easier to accept.

And, I mean, I definitely realized that's something that I did.

And it's a great thing that I did.

It's very wonderful that I was there at that moment.

I'm very lucky to have been replaced right time and allow that man to keep keep living.

Something you said it was easier to accept that you did this.

That's an interesting way to put it.

Easier to accept.

What do you mean?

A lot of it was fear because I didn't know whether that man had lived or died.

Hudson's heroics earned him a certificate of appreciation from the chief of Kenner's fire department and the general manager of the country club.

But very impressive talking to both the fire department and the people that were there about, you know, they've seen, you know, people that knew what to do but didn't jump into action and do it.

This event, though life altering, is hardly Hudson's only achievement.

He's a leader among his peers.

He's up for swim captain at his school, even though he wasn't the captain.

The coach is always calling Hudson.

Get everybody over here.

Hudson You know, because they know he's just a natural leader.

Everybody swarms around and follows what he says to do.

And it's just amazing to watch that in action.

And he manages the girls basketball team.

And when that schedule gets too grueling, he participates in Louisiana Association of Student Councils.

He just recently ran for executive board vice president for next year.

And he was telling us about the speeches they had to give speeches.

He's like, you know, some of the other guys were talking about all the accolades and everything they'd accomplished, and I just told them what student council meant to me and what it's done for me.

And I hope that it could do the same for them.

When Hudson is finished with high school, his goal is to continue helping others with a biomedical engineering degree.

I want to do research on stem cells, heart attacks and strokes and stuff.

They permanently damaged cells in your heart that can't regenerate.

But if we were to be able to successfully use stem cells to help that, I mean, the death by heart attack and stroke and heart problems would go down significantly.

This is yet another decision in Hudson's life.

Who knows where it'll take him this time.

But if his past is any indicator of his future, it's definitely a bright one.

And Hudson is a really great kid.

I can't imagine saving somebody's life at just 16 years old.

And, you know, he said that was really difficult for him to work through.

So I'm glad he was able to get through it and go on with his life and do incredible things.

And what a great series, you know, honoring our young heroes, younger kids that really deserve the recognition, doing amazing things.

So I love what you're doing with this series.

Yes.

And we've got more to come now.

LPB█s Louisiana Young Heroes program was presented this year with the generous support of the East Baton Rouge Parish Library and the Gayle and Tom Benson charitable Foundation with additional support from Community Coffee, the US Army, Baton Rouge Recruiting Battalion, Demco, McDonald's and Origin Hotel, Baton Rouge That's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch LPB anytime, wherever you are with our LPB app, you can catch LPB news and public Affairs shows as well as other Louisiana programs you've come to enjoy over the years.

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

I'm Karen LeBlanc, and I'm Kara St. Cyr.

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 and Ruth Zigler Foundation and the Zigler 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 by visit Baton Rouge and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.

Thank you.