News

Three years ago, a group of the lowest-performing schools in Georgia began receiving millions of dollars in federal money to fund an ambitious attempt to improve dramatically. As those schools enter their final school year receiving that money, the Southern Education Desk reports on one school’s progress.

Jim talks with author and former Baton Rougean David Madden, about his new book “London Bridge in Plague and Fire” and about some of Madden’s favorite writers.

From the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre, Molly Buchmann discusses this year’s performance of “The Nutcracker: A Tale From The Bayou”

Republican appeals court judge Jeff Hughes is moving up to Louisiana's highest court.

Hughes was the winner Saturday of a runoff election for an open seat on the Louisiana Supreme Court representing the eight-parish Baton Rouge region.

The seat is vacant because Chief Justice Catherine "Kitty" Kimball is retiring at the end of January.

Hughes, a former state District Court judge from Livingston Parish, defeated one of his colleagues for the position: John Michael Guidry, a Democrat and former lawmaker from Baton Rouge.

Tea party support wasn't enough to return Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry to Congress for a second term after Louisiana lost a U.S. House seat in redistricting.

His fellow GOP congressman, Charles Boustany, easily defeated Landry in Saturday's runoff election after the two men were forced into the same district.

Boustany, a retired doctor from Lafayette, will represent the 3rd District covering southwest Louisiana and Acadiana next year. It will be his fifth term.

Both men ran as conservative Republicans opposed to the policies of President Barack Obama.

We're celebrating Chanukah on this week's Louisiana Eats! First, we'll hear from Michael Twitty about the overlapping food customs between his African-American heritage and his Jewish faith. Then, Joan Nathan returns to the program to talk about Jewish culinary influences across the South. Plus, Andrew Zimmern recounts stories from around the world.

In November, Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center became the first in Baton Rouge to offer lung-cancer screenings to high-risk patients.

Rather than sending it to the landfill, you can easily recycle the seasonal confetti as mulch or compost.

Alma Stewart and James Gilmore, from the Louisiana Center for Health Equity, who want Gov. Jindal to reconsider his resistance to implementing elements of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Jim talks with LSU Professor of Music and jazz virtuoso Bill Grimes about the passing of jazz pioneer Dave Brubeck.

Baton Rouge area voters will pick the next state Supreme Court justice in a runoff election Saturday. 

John Pierre, professor and vice chancellor at the Southern University Law Center, says the new justice will likely help decide the biggest battles of the past legislative session. The fight over private school vouchers is just one of them. 

Residents of Melrose East and Mayfair will decide Saturday whether to charge themselves extra parcel fees to pay for more security in their neighborhoods.

WRKF’s Ashley Westerman visited one of the neighborhoods in Baton Rouge that already has a crime prevention district to see what impact it’s had.