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.

A new report shows Louisiana poised for a major boom in solar energy, and what started as small community cleanups is now a region wide effort to clean up the issue of Basin Plus.

Southern University's nursing program is the best in the country.

We'll explain.

And we rolled out the red carpet for a 2026 Young Heroes on Young Heroes Day.

Let's get started.

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, a federal lawsuit has been filed seeking to block Governor Jeff Landrieu's decision to postpone House primary elections.

The governor issued the order after the U.S.

Supreme Court ruled the states congressional maps were illegally drawn based on race.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit want the court to restore the scheduled elections and ensure absentee ballots already cast are counted.

The governor's ruling does not delay Senate primaries, constitutional amendments and other races on the May 16th ballot.

And billions of dollars and jobs are coming to Louisiana over the next decade, thanks to a big boost in solar energy.

And the experts from UL Lafayette Solar Energy Lab are leading the way.

Check it out.

Solar farms are growing fast, impacting the workforce, the use of land and the US economy.

Louisiana is experiencing a rapid surge in solar farm developments now, with 111 projects totaling over 18,000MW of planned capacity, a new study shows.

The expansion of new solar farms in Louisiana will deliver billions of dollars of benefits over the next decade.

It's actually cheaper now to build a brand new solar facility than to continue to operate an existing coal plant, and that's why in the US, ever since 2019, we have installed more solar and wind projects in the whole United States than we have coal.

Terence Chambers is the director of the Louisiana Regional Test Center for Emerging Solar Technologies, and it was also behind the creation of the Louisiana Solar Energy Lab.

Solar energy in Louisiana is not as cost effective as it would be in, say, Arizona or California, but it's better than Maine and New York or Alaska.

The Louisiana Solar Lab is one of the premier research and testing facilities in the country for evaluating solar technology, and to Hall is Solar energy Lab.

And they're not just making rays, they're making history.

It's a place where engineers are able to really experiment with the latest technologies and make sure that we are optimizing how those technologies are deployed to generate the most amount of energy for a given project.

Their solar field is more than six acres, with over 4200 panels and a 40 500 square foot building dedicated to testing and research.

So what makes this specific solar plant a little different?

One of the things that's really great about this facility is that solar panels and utility scale solar facilities are something that is really going to be new for a lot of communities in Louisiana.

Solar plants not only produce power, they're also known for zero emissions water conservation and noise reduction.

They also produce jobs across the state and construction, engineering and maintenance.

With nearly 10,000 jobs expected by 2035.

When it comes to economic benefits, there's the creation of jobs.

So that happens both with project development and installation to actually building the facilities.

It's a lot of construction jobs, but also some jobs in the planning side of that.

And then you have operations and maintenance jobs.

Once the solar facilities are built and solar energy is now the cheapest source of electricity in many regions of the country, with competitive costs and always predictable returns, each of them produces about 325W of power at peak conditions.

We have over 4000 of these modules here, which make up about 1.1MW of our power production.

Another unique part of the solar farms are tests for growing plants.

Some crops prefer a partial shade and wetter soil.

This is broccoli sprouting right now, and we do specialty crop rotations to test how the technology affects the plants and if the fruit produced or the vegetable produced is of the same quality, and if the plants are able to thrive in this environment.

Landscaping involves sheep grazing around the farm.

The panels provide shade during a hot Louisiana summer, and she maintain the low vegetation and they fertilize the soil.

So you think this is the future of solar farm?

It's a perfect solution for somebody who's looking to maintain their farmland, but also adds some energy production to it.

More tests performed at the UL solar farm involve Louisiana's unique weather.

If there's extra Wendy or extra sunny, is there something that changes?

Extra sunny is always good because that means more power, but it can get hot, so extra windy would help that to kind of stay cool and and breeze on the back of the modules.

Do you lab also tests power storage and solar panel maintenance with drone and robot inspections, and they're testing solar technology for the home.

Solar panels have been a growing trend in the last few years, but with the new technology, they look nicer and bring in more power.

These products replace the shingle entirely and connect to each other through this channeling to produce power for your home.

But I think the the most effective application of solar is utility scale.

The Solar Energy Lab in Lafayette is one of five labs in the country working with U.S.

Department of Energy.

Here they test panels with high humidity, high heat, and high amounts of rain.

I think for our size, we really punch above our weight class and we truly are a world class institution, especially when it comes to this kind of technology.

We are trying to figure out how many microgrids we need.

We want to get back to the grid as quickly as possible.

The U.S.

Department of Energy continues testing the solar panels in different environments, but UL Lafayette is the only university in the nation selected to lead this $13.5 million initiative.

So the raging Cajuns are on top when it comes to solar energy.

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

Bush correspondent Victor Howard joins us now with more.

What's going on this week?

Great to see you all.

I know we're just starting the month of May, but a lot of football news.

And that's what we're going to start with a look back from one week ago.

Because one phone call made a life changing decision for a lot of young men in our state.

Three schools from Louisiana led to nine athletes from the state being drafted in the NFL draft last weekend, and it was the Tigers from LSU that led the way.

It started with the first round, another draft, another Tiger taken in the first round.

This year, it was Mansoor Dillon who was taken the consensus All-American defensive back who played one year for the purple and gold.

He was a wanted man.

The Kansas City Chiefs traded up three spots in the draft to get him and put him in the red and gold.

He was the first defensive back taken in this year's draft, and it would take until day three to find out he'd be joined by another Tiger.

It was late in the seventh round when the Chiefs picked Garrett Meyer.

Number was hampered by injuries his senior season at quarterback, which might have been a reason for his slide in the draft.

But if he can get healthy, the Chiefs might have picked up one of the bigger steals, The strapped.

I think it just goes back to the reason why I went to LSU.

You know, I run into the competition, I run to, you know, the best.

And you know, now being able to go against those guys in practice or you know whenever that that time comes.

I think that that gets me to be the best player I possibly can be.

So I'm just grateful I can go against those high caliber level players.

And, you know, I help my game.

I'm so excited to be in a room with those guys and coach Reed and his unbelievable offensive mind and and obviously, you know, sitting behind Patrick and and getting to learn from him hopefully, you know, steal some things from him and see the game through his eyes.

It's going to be an unbelievable experience for me, something that, you know, I'm really grateful for.

As I mentioned, there were nine players drafted who played their college ball in the state.

Seven were LSU Tigers, with four of those drafted in the sixth and seventh round.

Raging Cajuns standout Jayden Dugger was taken in the fifth round by San Francisco.

And how about southeastern Caleb Proctor going to Arizona in the fourth round now?

Proctor was taken 104th overall.

He's the first lion drafted since Harlan Miller was a sixth round pick of the Cardinals back in 2016.

Proctor was a consensus All-American and the South End Conference Player of the year last season, and with nil and the transfer portal taking over college sports, his coach, Frank cellphone, knew there were offers for him to leave Hammond, but he's proud he didn't.

He asked me, he said, do you think I can go to the next?

I said, I know you can.

I've been there, I know it.

You you belong there.

So if you give yourself a chance, you'll be able to get there.

I don't know if they're paying you starter money.

They're paying you back up money right now.

So some of these schools got either up to Annie or stay here.

Roll a dice and bet on yourself.

And that's what he did.

Some big news was announced for Southern and Grambling, the two major HBCU schools in Louisiana.

This season will debut the Black College Football poll, which will include teams from the Swac and mIAC, as well as two Division two conferences.

In addition to weekly top ten polls, they'll also be awarding weekly awards specifically to HBCU teams and players.

It's a move universities hope will boost recognition for and promotion of black college football teams and athletes.

The first poll were released July 1st this summer and on the high school level, widely considered the number one high school player in the country for 2027, Elijah Haven from the Dunham School in Baton Rouge, made his college pick this week, announcing he will roll Tide in Tuscaloosa when he heads to college for the 27th season.

Haven chose Alabama over Georgia.

Over the last three seasons, Haven has thrown for over 9200 yards and 134 touchdowns, and he led his Dunham Tigers to the state title this past December.

Of course, that's great news, certainly being the number one player in the country.

But that also means if he's going to Tuscaloosa, they'll see him every year when the Tigers and Crimson Tide go at it right there.

Yes, indeed.

We missed out.

All right.

Thank you.

Victor.

The Louisiana Bayou Society is leading a major push to restore and protect the HR basin.

Volunteers are moving trash and debris from the swamp to protect wildlife, improve water quality, and preserve the region's natural beauty.

The basin is known for its beauty, but across its waterways, a different story is piling up.

Out on the water with the Louisiana Bayou Society.

The scale of the problem is hard to ignore.

A houseboat sitting on stilts, metal roofing tangled in trees.

Even abandoned trucks left along the waterways for years.

Out here, it's hands on work.

Volunteers with the Louisiana Bayou Society spend hours pulling out trash and debris from these waterways, everything from plastic bottles to larger, discarded items.

The nonprofit leading these efforts is working to clean and restore Louisiana's waterways.

We do on the ground litter pickups, so we organize with local communities, local stakeholders.

We bring logistical support boats.

We have our own dumpster, and we'll come out there with grabbers and bags.

We're currently in the Henderson Swamp in this area.

Were moved over ten tons of trash in the last year.

We have pictures and weight scales and like it's been an unbelievable effort.

And quite frankly, a lot of that was accomplished before we had all of the volunteers and all of the people.

What started as a small community, cleanups has grown into a larger effort across the region.

It just started with us being volunteers and donors and and spending the money that we had in our bank accounts to buy boats and buy the basic equipment we needed to start.

And we've taken our efforts over to Bayou Tech, and we've done some locks over at the Bayou Catawba, over near Cross Springs.

We're finding everything from the components of floating docks to house boats that come apart, to barge pieces that go away, to derelict vessels, to plastics, to aluminum, metals, fishing, string, basically everything.

As those efforts grow, so does the work from volunteers, constant and physical.

When I saw what the Louisiana Bayou Society were doing, I knew that we had to get together and collaborate.

We did a clean up together, and it was just a good marriage between our interests.

So for me, when we take good care of our waterways, we are doing the most important thing that we can do.

Water underlies our cuisine, our culture, our recreation, tourism.

So it's important to all of those things.

And the the healthier that we can keep our waterways.

The more benefits that we can see in all of those areas.

And protecting it takes more than volunteer effort.

Some of the debris is simply too large to remove alone.

That's where groups like the Osprey Initiative come in, partnering to handle heavy cleanup and track what's being found in the water.

We want to get as much data from even our nonprofits as possible to be able to incorporate into our master data set for for all waterways throughout Louisiana.

For people out there who don't know how polluted our waterways.

So unless you live right next to a body of water, it's really hard to describe what you see when you go out there on a boat or in a canoe and you're out there having a nice day, and then you look into that tree line and you see all of the litter, all of the debris that may be out there, and it is an eyesore.

And, you know, as a sportsman's Paradise, it's not just any one person's water to take care of.

It's everybody's watering to take care of.

Removing these items helps restore access and reduce hazards for both wildlife and boaters.

But even with these efforts, the challenge remains.

If it's in your front yard, it's going to be in your ditch.

Once it's in your ditch, it's in your coulee.

Once it's in your coulee, it's in the bayou, and once it's in the bayou, it's in the ocean.

We can solve this problem at home, you know, maybe we can start something that outlives both of us and actually maybe inspire a new generation of people to start picking up after themselves.

Caring for Louisiana's waterways is both a challenge and a responsibility for groups like the Louisiana Bayou Society.

It's a mission filled with community consistency and care for what's at stake in the basin.

The work continues one cleanup, one volunteer, one bayou at a time.

The basin isn't just some swamp.

This is where our people came.

Like we settled here.

It sheltered us.

It gave us food.

It gave us the trees to build our homes.

It protected our language.

This.

This is Louisiana.

Well, for the second year in a row, Southern University's nursing program has been named the best nursing school in the country.

Now, the university is working on a big expansion to keep up that momentum.

Joining me now is Doctor Sandra Brown.

She is the health care leader, researcher and educator at Southern University in Baton Rouge.

She serves as both the dean of the College of Nursing and Allied Health, and she's the vice chancellor of health initiatives.

Senator, you've done a great job.

Tell me some about things that you're doing at southern.

Oh, we're doing some amazing things.

This is a wonderful time for us.

We're growing as far as our enrollment is going.

We're expanding programs, and we're also taking health care to the people who need it most.

Well, one of the amazing things I was just reading is you were named best nursing school two years in a row.

How did that happen?

It's amazing.

We keep asking ourselves that.

But what I tell my faculty and my students, if we do small things well, then we can do big things.

Great.

We were recognized for our impact that we're having both in our outreach, both in our academic success and in our large number of male students that we have in our program.

So lots of different.

First, for the state of Louisiana.

I know in Louisiana and across the country, there's a shortage of nurses.

And that's one of the things that you guys are doing.

You're bringing in more nursing students.

How does that happen?

Absolutely.

Our enrollment has grown.

We have over 2100 students or in our College of Nursing and Allied Health.

And so if you were to walk on our campus and talk with our students, one in every four is within our college.

We are expanding our facilities so that we can double our enrollment.

So we're scheduled to do some groundbreaking on our new facility, probably in the summer sometime.

Yeah, I was reading about this new nursing facility, and there's a lot of money going into it.

Where does that money come from?

Yes.

We're so grateful to our industry partners.

Women's hospital has donated $5 million, and Our Lady of the Lake Hospital has given us 5 million.

It's scheduled to be about a $20 million project.

So the state is going to match the other ten.

Well, I think that's something that the whole country can use with recruiting more nurses.

Let's see.

There's some new technology at the Southern University that I was reading about.

Tell me about that.

So when the students are actually testing what they've seen on actual mechanical patients.

Yes.

So we have a skills lab and we have a simulation center.

And in the simulation center, we have what we call high fidelity mannequins that can have heart sounds and lung sounds and cry real tears.

So what we're trying to do is create a learning environment that's as close to real world, so that the students can practice, make all the mistakes they want to make on these mannequins before they get into the real world.

Yeah.

So what are the kind of things do the students learn at the Southern University?

Oh, they're learning all kinds of high touch, high tech.

We have what we call an anatomic table that's like a real live cadaver, but it's all within a digitalized format.

So they're able to look at the body, look at the cells, look at organs, really taking the knowledge from the books to the practice setting.

Yeah.

I was reading about the JAG mobile health clinic.

Yeah, that's pretty amazing.

So you're actually driving out to see the patients?

They're not coming to you.

You're actually going to them.

We're going to them.

We say the mighty jags of Su bringing health care to you.

That's our slogan.

It is a 42ft an RV if you will.

It has two fully equipped examination rooms.

We go strategically to zip codes that have a shortage of health care professionals.

Some zip code areas might have one physician to serve 10,000 patients.

So with our nursing students and our faculty, we bring health care to those communities.

And what kind of treatments do you give that?

A lot of people need preventive.

So we do blood pressure screenings, check the cholesterol, the blood sugar.

We do cancer screenings, pap smears, prostate cancer screenings, lung cancer screenings.

We've been in operation for about three years, and in those three years, we have provided over 10,000 health screenings to over 3000 individuals.

Another thing that was pretty amazing is the male nursing students, which I hadn't heard much about growing up.

It was mostly female nursing students, but you've got a lot of male.

Yes, nursing is a predominantly female discipline.

However, we're seeing more and more males.

We have the largest number of male nursing students in the country.

We're just super excited.

We weren't strategic in recruitment, but I think as students experience a positive experience they shared with their fellow classmates.

So we're super excited about that.

And do you have any other programs coming up?

Yes.

We're excited.

We're waiting for final approval to launch our postmaster's psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner certificate program.

As you know, you know, our mental health is we're in a crisis right now, and we need more providers to provide that type of care.

All right.

Thank you.

A lot of good information from Doctor Sandra Brown from Southern University.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for having me.

Our 2026 Young heroes got the royal treatment this week on Young Heroes Day Monday, all seven outstanding young people met at our studios for a whirlwind tour of Baton Rouge, all in their honor.

2026 Young Heroes Day was phenomenal.

It might have been the best ever on record.

The key for this for me are those young people.

They are establishing themselves with purpose, with calling, with potential and ultimately service to other people.

That service to others deserves recognition.

And that's why each year for the past 30 years, LPB has hosted a day packed full of surprises for these young heroes.

We did a tour of studio A and B, we got to see the Ziggy's Arts Adventure set.

You got to see the Louisiana, the state we're in set.

The kids got to see what it looked like to be on television.

I think that was a real thrill for them.

I got to tour the LPB building today and it was crazy.

We got to go through all of it, and I thought, I didn't realize this is how much it went into entertainment.

It was amazing.

After the tour of LPB, the young heroes and their families boarded a bus to LSU for a behind the scenes look at football operations.

Greater environment in all sports than Tiger Stadium at night.

Right now we're at the LSU Stadium and we actually just came from the locker room.

It's been an amazing day.

I mean, I can't wait for what's next.

We got to explore the locker room.

We got to learn more about the Nil shoe and the whole brand.

And we got to go and just explore, like where all the athletes are even bigger than that.

Like, we got to meet some of the leaders and just kind of see like how the, the, the machine is all behind the scenes.

The young heroes are so important for us here at LSU, especially the LSU department.

We have been supporting the young heroes for many, many years and we continuously make it the biggest and the best thing ever, especially for the young leaders in the state of Louisiana.

After taking the field at Tiger Stadium, they headed to the Louisiana Governor's Mansion for a meal that began with a moment of thanks and gratitude.

Their courage, compassion, resilience, and generosity remind us that leadership has no age and that hope often arrives through through the quiet, steady actions of those who choose to serve others.

Even with the legislature in session, Governor Jeff Landry made time to meet our young heroes and hear some of their stories.

While at the mansion, Miss Louisiana Cabral McLeod offered words to encourage our heroes as they continue to lead by example.

Each of you have proven that you don't need permission to make a difference.

You don't need a title or a certain number of years or a perfect plan.

What you need is exactly what you have already shown, which is a willingness to show up, speak out, and to keep going even when it is not easy.

We're really honoring our future.

These are going to be our leaders for tomorrow.

After photo ops with Miss Louisiana and supporters of the Young Heroes program, it was time to board the Young Heroes Motor Coach for our last stop of the day.

Therefore, be it resolved that the House of Representatives of the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby designate Monday, April 27th, 2026, as the Louisiana Young Heroes Day at the State Capitol and does hereby commend LPB for their outstanding contributions to the state and to its citizens.

Congratulations young people!

They've overcome adversity.

They have contributed the community to their schools and to their fellow classmates in wonderful ways.

And what a better way to celebrate than here in the House of Representatives.

After our seven young heroes were recognized by House lawmakers at the state Capitol, they headed back to their hometowns with a collection of gifts from program sponsors that will serve them well in their upcoming school year.

So what does young heroes mean for the state of Louisiana?

I think it means that we have a really bright future ahead of us as a state.

This is just a small cross sample of the kind of wonderful youth that we have in this state the driven youth, the youth that are inspired to help others.

And I have great faith in the future of Louisiana.

Without LPB, this would never happen.

Be sure to watch every year when the nominations come for young heroes, and nominate a young person that you think is a hero, they may be able to enjoy this special day.

On behalf of LPB president and CEO C.C.

Copeland, the selection committee, the Young Heroes Committee, everybody at LPB, we just want to say how proud we are of the 2026 class of young heroes.

And Johnny, what a wonderful day.

They had a great time touring our studios and they got to meet our governor.

How cool.

Yeah, it's very impressive kids, and we'll be seeing a little more of them in the next few weeks.

Yeah, they congratulations to our young heroes.

Congratulations.

And LP's Young Heroes program is presented this year with a generous support of presenting sponsor the East Baton Rouge Parish Library, the title sponsor the William J. Delray family, and with additional support from Community Coffee, Hotel Indigo and Demko.

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

That is our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything LPB anytime, wherever you are with our LVF, 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 X, 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.