Capitol Access
10:29 am
Fri April 26, 2013

For or Against: Votes in the Medicaid Expansion Debate

Lawmakers face an onslaught of decisions every day at the capitol: vote up or down, pass this amendment, defer that bill... A few key players in this week's Medicaid expansion debate explain why they voted the way they did.

Read more
Business
7:27 pm
Thu April 25, 2013

Baton Rouge's Family Definition Ruled Unconstitutional

Since 1954, the definition of family has prohibited more than two people not related by blood, marriage, or legal adoption from sharing a house in East Baton Rouge Parish.

Read more
The Jim Engster Show
5:19 pm
Thu April 25, 2013

FRIDAY: Pennington Center's Dr. Jeffrey Keller, Author Marcus Cox, Bluesman Johnny Palazzotto

Dr. Jeffrey Keller, with the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, talks about Alzheimers and dementia research.

Local blues music producer and aficionado Johnny Pallazzotto on the upcoming Slim Harpo Music Awards

Author Marcus Cox on his book, "Segregated Soldiers"


Read more
Politics
3:58 pm
Thu April 25, 2013

Food Banks Appeal for State Funding

The Louisiana Food Bank Association is asking lawmakers for $5 million dollars in state funds to assist with the purchase of food from farmers, fishermen, and vendors. Food banks have hit a wall with many grocers finding more efficient ways to keep food fresher longer and giving away less of their inventory.

The $5 million dollars would buy more than 2 million pounds of food. Historically the association has received state funding, but didn’t receive any funding for food last year.

Read more
Politics
1:14 pm
Thu April 25, 2013

Bill To Create Mental Health Courts Heads To House

Legislation seeking to allow for more mental health courts to be set up in Louisiana has been approved by the Senate. These new problem-solving courts would work much like drug courts do now.

Read more
Education
10:50 am
Thu April 25, 2013

Lawmakers Endorse Delay of Teacher Evaluation Consequences

The House Education Committee has agreed to a proposal that would delay the disciplinary effects of a new teacher evaluation system for another year while school districts work out any kinks.

Read more
Capitol Access
9:13 am
Thu April 25, 2013

House Turns Down Medicaid Expansion

The legislature technically decided Wednesday to put off accepting federal funding for health care expansion, which would include more low-income individuals under Medicaid.  A series of bills were voluntarily deferred, both in the House and Senate, to be taken up next week. A bill by Rep. Barbara Norton was involuntarily deferred - that’s typically a death sentence for a bill. 

The representatives that voted to shelve Norton’s bill did so because they’re unsure of what will happen if they accept the money - despite that the Legislative Fiscal Office testifying that the program would initially save the state money.

Read more
Education
3:21 pm
Wed April 24, 2013

Committee Backs Delay of School Performance Score Changes

Performance scores starting with the current school year are set to rely heavily on the ACT. Results from the college entrance exam would account for 25 percent of a public high school’s score.

Read more
Credit Doby Photography / NPR

Andy Carvin (andycarvin.com, @acarvin on Twitter) leads NPR's social media strategy and is NPR's primary voice on Twitter, and Facebook, where NPR became the first news organization to reach one million fans. He also advises NPR staff on how to better engage the NPR audience in editorial activities in order to further the quality and diversity of NPR's journalism.

During his time at NPR, Carvin has been interviewed on numerous NPR programs, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation, Tell Me More and The Diane Rehm Show, as an expert on Internet policy and culture and related topics.

As co-founder of PublicMediaCamp, Carvin has helped NPR and PBS stations around the country bring local tech communities and public media fans together to develop collaborative projects both online and offline.

Prior to coming to NPR in 2006, Carvin was the director and editor of the Digital Divide Network, an online community of educators, community activists, policymakers and business leaders working to bridge the digital divide. For three years, Carvin blogged about the impact of the internet culture on education at the PBS blog learning.now.

During natural disasters and other crises, Carvin has used his social integration skills to mobilize online volunteers. On September 11, 2001, he created SEPT11INFO, a news forum for the public to share information and help refute rumors in the wake of the 9

11 attacks. Following the tsunami off the coast of Indonesia in 2004, Carvin served as a contributing editor to TsunamiHelp, one of the leading sources of tsunami-related citizen journalism. More recently, he worked with CrisisCommons, to help with their development of shared technology solutions to improve emergency management and humanitarian activities in response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

In 1994, Carvin created the pioneering online education resource EdWeb: Exploring Technology and School Reform, one of the first websites to the impact of telecommunications policy on education. Carvin is the founder and moderator of WWWEDU, the Internet's oldest and largest email forum on the role of the Web in education.

Well known as a leader in technology and innovation, Carvin was named by Washingtonian magazine as one of the 100 leading technology innovators in Washington, D.C., in 2009. In 2005, MIT Technology Review magazine included Carvin on TR35, an annual list of 35 of the world's leading high-tech innovators under the age of 35. The District Administration magazine named him as one of America's top 25 education technology advocates in 2001. Carvin received similar honors from eSchoolNews in 1999 when they named him a member of its Impact 30 list of education technology leaders.

After graduating with a bachelor of science in rhetoric and a master of arts in telecommunications policy from Northwestern University, Carvin received the prestigious Annenberg/Washington postgraduate policy fellowship.

The Jim Engster Show
11:21 am
Wed April 24, 2013

THURSDAY: BRAC's Erin Wesley, Civil Suit Opponents Steve Myers and Paul Naquin

Erin Monroe Wesley, C.O.O. of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, discusses her group's legislative agenda for this year and other matters.

Local businessman Steve Myers and Paul Naquin, a resident concerned about occupants of some of Myers' rental properties in his neighborhood. Myers recently won a court case on the matter and they'll talk with Jim about it.

Read more

Pages