Support for Louisiana.
The state we're in
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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 B
and Ruth B Zeigler Foundation
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located in Jennings City Hall.
The museum focuses on emerging
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and cultural center
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and the Foundation
for Excellence in Louisiana
Public Broadcasting.
With support from viewers
like you.
Generally considering
how much money they had,
they spent it on
some really smart things.
A quick wrap up of this year's
session.
And other sessions on the books.
And what it means for the state.
Men are a little higher
risk for health issues
than women are.
Men are less likely to seek
medical help.
My mom likes it, and I like it
because it's about science
and math and me and my mom
both like science and math.
And it's finally summer
for kids in Louisiana.
Hi, everyone.
I'm Kara St.Cyr And I'm Andre
Moreau.
Mass shootings
are dominating the news
cycle these days.
So far
this year, as of June 5th,
246 such shootings in America.
That number from the Gun
Violence Archive.
It's a database that records
gun violence in the US.
You can find them on Twitter
at gun deaths.
On Capitol Hill,
some congressional members
have scramble
to enact tougher gun laws,
but they've been met
with opposition.
The House passed a gun
control bill
that would raise the age of gun
ownership to 21, ban
the sale of semi-automatics
and make tighter restrictions
on gun storage regulations.
The bill is expected
to fall apart
in the evenly divided Senate,
where some lawmakers
are negotiating lighter, more
lenient amendments.
The deal is still on the table.
The massacre in Uvalde,
Texas, has put actor
Matthew McConaughey
front and center.
Uvalde, population 15,000.
It's his hometown.
He took the podium
at the White House
news conference this week
urging for gun reform.
He spoke on behalf of parents
and children and rob
elementary school
where 19 children
and two teachers died.
A Miami day
wanted to be a marine biologist.
She was already in contact
with Corpus
Christi University of A&M
for future college enrollment.
Nine years old,
May Day
cared for the environment
so strongly that
when the city asked her mother
if they could release
some balloons
into the sky
in her memory,
her mom said, oh, no,
maybe they would want to litter
my they wore green,
high top converse with a heart.
She had hand drawn on the right
toe because they represented her
love of nature.
Camilla's got these shoes.
Can you show these shoes,
please?
Wear these everyday
green converse
with a heart on the right toe.
These are the same
green converse
on her feet
that turned out to be
the only clear evidence
that could identify
her after the shooting.
Have had that.
A very powerful plea
coming from McConaughey.
But in Louisiana,
the regular session of the state
legislature has ended
but the governor has called
for a special session
to begin next Wednesday,
June 15th.
Still unsettled Louisiana's
congressional map.
A federal judge
rejected the redistricting map
that lawmakers adopted earlier
this year. U.S.
District
Judge Shelley Dick ruled
the map was a violation
of the Voting Rights Act.
She also ruled that it must be
fixed by June 20th.
Now, June 20th
is the final day of this brief
special session.
Secretary of State Kyle
O'Dwyer says that deadline
doesn't
allow enough time
to rework the map.
Judge Dicks says
it's more than enough time
and the delay would only harm
voters who sued the state.
So what I can tell you
is that in the next day or so,
I will be issuing a call
for a special session
to do exactly
what the middle district of
Louisiana
has told us to do.
What is required
by Section
two of the Voting Rights Act,
but is required by basic
fairness and basic math
And that is to come in
and redraw the district.
And so I'll be doing that
in the next day or two, because
we don't have longer than that.
And now let's
look at some of the other news
making headlines
across the state.
Starbucks employees in Louisiana
are beginning
to unionize.
In New Orleans,
one of the chain's coffee
shops got enough votes
to join Workers United,
making them the first chain
in Louisiana to do so.
This comes on
the heels of a series
of wins for Starbucks employees
around the country.
Just last week, an
Alabama store voted 27
to one to join.
The push to organize
has been sparked
by years of employee complaints
about being overworked
and understaffed.
Starbucks says the company works
better when corporate workers
directly deal with employees.
A hazing
investigation is underway
in Lafayette.
The Pi Kappa
Alpha chapter at Yale
was suspended
after a hazing incident
involving sleep deprivation
and strength training exercises.
In March.
Eight men
involved were issued
misdemeanor summonses
by the campus police.
Seven of them were current
students and 2022.
One was no longer
attending the university.
To expand a pair,
sheriff's are facing charges
for reportedly committing fraud.
Both deputies, Michael
Arthur and Andre
Weber were charged with theft.
And malfeasance.
In a statement,
the sheriff's office wrote
that the two men
were getting payments
for security work and off
duty security work,
while one the clerk
at the sheriff's office
Lawmakers are starting
to announce their bids
for the state treasurer.
Representative Scott McKnight
in East Baton Rouge Parish
put in his bid to take over
after John Schroeder,
who's expected to run
for governor in 20, 23
elections, start October 14th
next year.
On Saturday, June 4th,
New Orleans
Habitat for Humanity held
its first ever Pride
billed LGBTQ
plus community members
and supporters gathered to help
build a home for a New Orleans
mother
and her twin ten year old sons.
The family will move
into the new three bedroom,
two bathroom
house in a few months.
And another
session is in the books.
That's what Governor John Bel
Edwards said this Monday.
After the 2022
legislative session
at 6 p.m.,
there were few controversial
topics put a spotlight
on Louisiana's lawmakers.
The governor says he is pleased
overall
with the way
the session concluded.
Tonight,
a recap of what happened.
An unprecedented number of mass
shootings and resurfacing
debates about abortion
rights colored
much of the news cycle.
This session with a microscope
on Louisiana's lawmakers,
each debating where
the state will stand.
Now, the session is on the books
and quite frankly,
I'm very happy
with the way
the session turned out.
But as the. Clock struck 6 p.m.
on Monday at the Capitol,
the session wrapped
without the usual confusion
and last minute
votes of previous sessions.
Governor
John Bel Edwards says this year
was a successful one.
You don't always get everything
that you want.
Sometimes you get some things
you don't want, but on balance,
very pleased with
what's happened.
When session
first began in March.
Lawmakers were given
a $39 billion budget
to work with.
They voted on a 1500 dollar
annual pay
raise for teachers,
plus a $750.01
for supporting staff.
Legislators
also put some money aside
for infrastructural
improvements.
300 million
was put toward a new Mississippi
River Bridge.
Both items
were included in the proposal
the governor announced
at the beginning of the session.
That he was especially pleased
with the money
put aside for early childhood
education.
We know that
we have too many kids
who by the second grade
are not reading at grade level
and they're not performing other
things at grade level either.
And we don't do a
very good job
of catching them up.
The truth is, no state
does a very good job
of catching them up.
But we have too many of our
kids, more than other states
who are behind so early
childhood is so important
to prevent those children
from being behind
in the first place.
And so this is what I mean
when I talk about
transformational change
for our state.
And if we will find the will
and muster
the discipline to make sure
that we maintain
these investments
for a generation
it will change our state
in ways that we can hardly
fathom today.
The budget vote
wrapped on May 19th,
freeing up time for lawmakers
to focus on other pressing
and even controversial issues.
The bill to arm teachers
with guns died in the Senate
in the final hours of session.
At one point,
the bill would have nixed
the permit requirement
for gun owners.
21 and older
But after news of the shooting
and you've already Texas
lawmakers rewrote the language
to arm teachers instead.
I do believe that
we need to look in things like
expanding background checks.
I don't
know that there should be
any commercial purchases
of firearms,
whether they happen
at a typical
retail establishment,
whether they're online,
whether they're at a gun show,
they ought to all
have to have a background check.
And then I think we have to
look at red
flag laws.
How do we take guns
from people
who have demonstrated that
they are a serious
risk of harm to themselves
and others?
And there are
some other states
who really do that
extremely well,
and that's
where we have to look.
But some controversial
legislation did pass.
If Roe
versus Wade is overturned, then
abortion will become illegal
in Louisiana.
The session lawmakers took it
a step further
by subjecting doctors
who perform abortions
to ten years in prison.
Governor
Edwards was not fully on board
with the legislation.
He'd hoped for more exceptions
for rape and incest.
I favor those exceptions.
And I do it.
It's it's not easy for people.
And I understand
that I've got a long
history
as a legislator,
as the governor,
being pro-life myself.
However, I believe that
the force of law
should not compel
a lady
or a girl
to carry rapist's baby to term.
Among other
polarizing topics, SB 44
The Women in Sports Bill,
which would stop trans girls
from playing
with biological girls
and youth sports.
The governor vetoed the bill
last year, prompting an override
veto session
that ended in failure.
But this time, both the House
and Senate passed it,
and the governor said
he would not veto it
a second time.
Louisiana
is now the eighth state
to implement such a law.
I've allowed that bill
to become law
without my signature,
not because
I thought the bill was good.
And you all know
my views on it haven't changed.
Once again, a brief
special session starts next
Wednesday, June 15th.
It will end on June 20th.
So let's delve
into what happened
at the state capitol.
And for that I've got
Melinda Taylor, research
director of PAS,
and Greg Hilburn of
USA Today Network.
We've got, of course, money.
The overriding issue, abortion
trends, gun rights, education.
And Melinda, you have written
a commentary already for PA,
so let's start with you.
Well, I mean, from
from our perspective,
the big issue of the session
was the budget.
I mean, the money,
they had so much money that came
in, they had $3.7 billion
in just short term.
Revenue from state surplus
from federal pandemic,
aid from money
that was recognized
after they had already adopted
the budget for this year.
So they just had a lot of money
and that drove policy
pretty much all session long.
They used it to put
record amounts of money
in higher education
and K-through-12 teacher
pay raises.
They spent
record amounts of money
on infrastructure projects.
They also,
unfortunately, wasted
some money in PA's
mind on pet projects
for legislative districts back
home.
Yeah, well, there are a lot
of pork projects like that.
There are more than $100 million
of that.
Hundred million.
Yeah.
So it's it's a lot that may be
a historic figure
in terms of how much
they directed that way.
But look, generally considering
how much money they had,
they spent it on
some really smart things.
They made investments
in paying down debt.
They made investments
in education
areas that everybody agrees
the state
should spend more money on.
They made investments in these
big megaprojects
that the state has not spent
any money on for years.
But that the state
has wanted to do for decades.
So so they did
some really smart things
and hopefully put the state
on a better
financial footing long term.
What did your
viewers
talk about more than
anything that you covered?
Well, hot button
issues, abortion.
And I think that's not only just
in Louisiana,
but nationally,
because as you know
of the leaked opinion
of the Supreme Court,
it appears that Roe
v Wade might be overturned.
So anti abortion rights bills
were at the top of mind
of my readers
and so were gun issues,
which is also on
everybody's mind
because of equality
and other buffalo and other
mass shootings everywhere.
As you know, Louisiana
has been a state
that you could
generally count on
for restrict abortion rights
laws, bills.
And that's
the will of the people.
I think they said through in a
in a 2020 amendment
to the Louisiana Constitution
and 62%
voted in favor
of an amendment
that said abortion
should not be a guaranteed right
if it was ever overturned
by the Supreme Court.
But the real controversy
is there some people who
are anti abortion rights
were upset that
they didn't include exceptions
for rape or incest.
And there was some
really heated debate
and compelling arguments on the
on the floor of the of the House
chamber and Senate chamber about
you know what 11
or 12 year old who
who might have been raped
and would have to carry a baby
to term.
And you know those hard
kind of issues in the end
they passed this bill
which is a trigger bill.
In other words,
if Roe v Wade is overturned,
then Louisiana
will automatically ban
abortions.
There was an original bill
in 2006
to do that
this kind of cleans it up,
finishes it off,
put a bow on it
and that's where we are.
OK, there's that trans.
Well transgender sports ban.
This was the second year that
Beth Marcell,
the senator from Frecklington,
a Republican senator
from Franklin
had brought this bill,
as you remember, last year.
Vetoed by the governor.
Was vetoed by the governor.
The bill bans
transgender athletes
from competing on girls
and women's sports teams.
Senator Mazie
brought the bill back again
this year.
It passed
with a bipartisan margin again.
This time, the governor
allowed it to become law
without his signature
while still objecting to it.
Education huge for part
of what people or money
making money
moneywise
spending gas, et cetera.
Those are all huge
for everybody.
Right? Right.
And education, they did some
they did a lot of things
this year.
But again,
a lot of it was driven
by money.
They gave
K-through-12 teachers
a 1500 dollar pay raise.
They gave support workers
a $750 pay raise.
That is less than what
the governor wanted.
He wanted $2,000
and $1,000 for those raises.
But the legislature
was concerned about the ongoing
financial impact
to the state on that.
But they also invested
$84 million
in new funding
for early childhood
education, which is a big area
of interest for PA
and for so many organizations,
because that is where
you can make
the most difference.
And the legislature
spent a lot of time
debating literacy issues.
Obviously, Mississippi has done
some great things in
terms of advancing
the reading skills of younger
readers,
and Louisiana is sadly trailing
Mississippi on that front.
And so legislators
have started
looking at more literacy,
literacy assessments
for children and new ways
to get books
in the hands of children
and to try and invest
in literacy initiatives
to help them
get long term education skills.
Let's just
touch overall on the climate.
What did you come away
with on that?
And you may write about that.
Certainly you feel it.
We all feel it.
The climate continues to be more
divisive, doesn't it.
At the Capitol?
It is.
It is more partizan
than it used to be.
And some of that is
because term limits
have cleared out
people who had long
term relationships,
who had been there for years
and years,
and the new people coming in
seem to model more
their more of their behavior
on the things that are done
in Congress.
And in Washington.
And also, I mean, younger
people
are coming into the Capitol
and they've grown up
in a more partizan environment
than perhaps
the people who came before them.
I think when you see a lot
of these culture war issues
that the legislature
has debated,
even if they don't end up
passing these things,
it does create friction
among the groups.
And that friction sort of bleeds
into everything else
that they're doing.
So, Greg,
what's that going to say
going forward?
Well,
I think you'll continue to see
an even greater divide now
here, of course, in Louisiana,
that divide
is smaller among
the minority because
Republicans now
control a near supermajority
in the legislature.
They do in the Senate and are,
I think, two short in the House.
So that divide
between those two groups is big,
but there's there's
really no way to fight back
much for the Democrats
right now.
All right, guys,
thank you
so much for your input in depth
and love
to hear the analysis thank you.
Thanks to you.
It seems like
men will do almost anything
before going to the doctor.
The Cleveland Clinic found
that men will prefer
cleaning the bathroom
or mowing the lawn.
Instead, but
if they're avoiding
these appointments,
they're missing
important checkups.
That's
why this men's health month
bendaroos general experts
are asking more men
to get screened
before it's too late.
A man
is more likely to complete
household chores
or go shopping with a loved one
than visit the doctor,
even if something is wrong.
According to the Cleveland
Clinic,
men are far less likely
to seek medical help than women.
Jacob Wood at Baton Rouge
General Hospital says
that's not far from the truth.
I think men tend to not
go to the doctor
for a couple of reasons.
One is it just
doesn't seem very macho
to go get checked out
and have somebody tell you
if there's something wrong
with you.
The other one is fear.
There's some fear of going
and finding out
what may be wrong,
and they just don't
want to peek under the hood.
And see if there's if there's
something wrong there.
So I think it's a combination
of both of those.
And for different people, it's
one more than the other.
In addition to that,
some men don't
want to change their lifestyle
The Cleveland Clinic found
that 36% of the men
surveyed didn't want to admit
they had unhealthy eating habits
or made bad health choices.
46% said
they were just embarrassed.
Woods
says these types of hiccups
make men more susceptible
to long term health risks,
like cancer or
high blood pressure.
Women are more likely
to have high blood pressure,
more likely
to have heart disease,
obviously more likely
to have prostate cancer,
which is one of the things that
we screen for. And
you know, across the
board,
men are a little higher risk
for health issues
than women are,
partly because women are better
at the screening and prevention
and partly just because
of the genetics of being male.
Men are also more
at risk for lung cancer,
liver cancer and Parkinson's.
Wood says
that these types of illnesses
can sometimes
develop under the radar,
so you might not be able
to detect them
until the symptoms are present,
which can be dangerous
or even fatal.
Men between 30 and 50
are in a combination situation
where they really need
to be going to the doctor
more than the ones
that are younger than that
and are less likely
to go to the doctor
than they need to be.
So as they get on past
50 into their sixties
and even older, they tend
to get a little more likely
to come in and be seen.
But that really needs to start
before that so
we can prevent those things
that they end up coming
and seeing us
for when they're 67
and things have started
falling apart
that we could have started
preventing
when they were 42.
Wood says that screenings
and general checkups
should become more common,
especially because the risks
associated with men's health
change all the time.
The screening recommendations
are always in the process
of being updated and changed.
And so just because you went
and saw your doctor,
you know, two or three years
ago, and we're told,
hey, everything's
good, does not mean that
you don't need to go back in
and have another checkup
because age recommendations
change things like colonoscopy
has changed from 50 down to 45.
And so people like me who. Are.
Between 45 and 50,
have all of a sudden
found
themselves to be in a situation
where they need a screening that
previously wasn't needed.
So going in and, and going over
those preventive care aspects
on a regular
basis helps you not fall
behind on the recommended
screening protocols.
All right.
Banners General
Hospital is hosting
a Men's Health
screening day on June 25th
on their main campus.
Be sure to stop by
for a checkup.
Andre.
I was scheduled
to clean my bathroom,
but I will make a change.
I think you need to change
that screen.
Definitely go get a screening.
That's
it is a kids
takeover around the studios
and grounds of LP.
Summer camp is underway.
Here's a look at some of the fun
and some of the learning.
If you are cooking something
and you're mixing
ingredients together.
You take them
out or
take them apart afterwards.
So what we do
every day is a different thing.
And we use a PBS character.
Two episodes
that we borrow the idea
from making a cardboard city.
The murals that they're doing
on the glass here actually came
from an episode of My Allergies
where I'm really drawing a dog.
What is an Angel Doll?
My teacher says
I should be an artist.
So that's what I'm going to be.
We went outside with the iPads.
The theme was Eleanor
wonders why,
and she's very curious
about things in nature.
And we took the iPads out.
They took pictures
and they're in the process
of making their own
little photojournalist
with the pictures that they.
Took a little photo book.
A little photobook.
So it's teaching them
and it's allowing them
during the summer to what.
Explore.
We have some children
that may go to underprivileged
schools where those
resources are not available
right now until COVID.
They have been doing
virtual learning,
so they were not able
to get out that much.
We use a lot of STEM projects,
so they're able to do
a lot of things
with the STEM project.
And most of all, it's
the creativity of what
they want to see.
This year,
they're creating a city.
I'm done with the cardboard
hospital.
I'm going to start
to make a card for
dentist's office and stuff.
So whoever needs clean teeth,
they can just go to the office.
I'm working
on a chocolate factory
because I am like Willy Wonka
and the Chocolate
Factory and Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory.
And it's really fun
because you can see
all kinds of stuff
because we're all
working on different things.
I know
it's what you cook,
somebody that cooks things.
We take every single activity
from PBS Learning Media.
We don't invent anything.
It's all ideas that are there.
So the teachers do
have access log in.
They can get the same ideas
that we do here at camp,
but they materials activities.
So really, it's
just for everybody.
My mom likes it and I like it
because it's about science
and math and me, I'm
mom both like science and math.
I want to be a scientist
and a doctor.
It's just another example of how
leave PBS is children's
education.
Exactly.
And we have fun
with the kids, and learning
is supposed to be fun.
And that's what we try to
establish here is a
learning great environment.
And today is the last day,
so we won't see them around here
anymore.
Very sad about it.
They were adorable this summer.
And everyone
That is our show for this week.
Remember, you can watch anything
LPI any time,
wherever you are
with our LPB PBS.
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,
Twitter,
Tick-Tock and Instagram for.
Everyone here at Louisiana
Public Broadcasting, I'm Andre.
Moreau and I'm Kara St.Cyr.
See you next time.
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