Louisiana sugar farmers are having a good year. As WRKF's Tegan Wendland reports, the yield is up, and so are prices.

Lafayette-based Skycraper Holding Company makes file storage products for all types of businesses. But the company started with an online file storage program designed for musicians on the road. Laptop Roadie was inspired by CEO Scott Eric Olivier's own career as a touring artist.

Olivier will speak at this month's Creative Louisiana event - a monthly meet up featuring creative speakers, sponsored by WRKF. WRKF's Tegan Wendland talked to him about being a young entrepreneur in Louisiana.

The Baton Rouge Area Foundation has announced the winner of this year's Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, which is designed to inspire and recognize rising African-American writers in honor of the renowned Louisiana author.

In his inaugural speech Monday, Governor Bobby Jindal made clear that he would be pushing for education reform to kick off his second term. But while Jindal went on at length about getting Louisiana’s students better opportunities, the speech was short on details for how he plans to do that.

A group of artists are filling New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood with an odd orchestra. They've created a whimsical village of fully interactive musical buildings on a vacant lot, and WRKF's Tegan Wendland went for a visit to see if houses really can make music.

With the holiday season now in full force, retailers are luring customers into stores to shop. Many people will use credit cards whether employed, underemployed, or unemployed. Getting in debt can negatively affect credit scores and have bigger implications than one might think, like gaining employment.

Many studies are being conducted following last year's Gulf oil spill. Two researchers at Louisiana State University published a study in the "National Academy of Sciences Journal" looking at the biological effects of the spill on sea life in the marshes of Louisiana. They produced the only known study with conclusive evidence linking toxic oil to harmful effects on sea life. Associate Professor Andrew Whitehead in LSU's Department of Biological Sciences explains, "most people think the oil is gone now because we can't see it from the surface anymore, but there's much oil that's still in the sediment. That sediment can act as a reservoir for long-term exposures to toxic levels of oil."

For many across the country, the day after Thanksgiving is a day of sharing. Storycorps has pronounced the day a "national day of listening," with a project encouraging people to record a conversation with a loved one and share it at nationaldayoflistening.org. WRKF's Tegan Wendland had a conversation with Storycorps founder David Isay about the value of telling and listening.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has offered to help move Tony to an accredited facility including paying associated costs. Delicianna Winders says the facility Mike Sandlin wants to move Tony to is problematic.

"GW Exotics is another facility we have monitored for many years. We conducted an undercover investigation there and found rampant signs of abuse including two healthy tigers who were killed and had their teeth cut out to give as gifts."

LSU is honoring veterans on Friday with a patriotic USO show at the Union Theater, the event is free and open to the public though tickets are required and can be reserved by calling the Theater Box Office at 225-578-5128.

A group of Baton Rouge social service agencies are pioneering a new model of providing help to the homeless. As WRKF's Tegan Wendland reports, the Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless (CAAH) held a ribbon cutting for their new one-stop services center on Thursday.

Executive Director of the Governor's Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration, Jerome Zeringue says they're hopeful about the technique but long-term success is yet to be determined. Zeringue says, "We need to make sure that we evaluate it and monitor it and if it works, there's potential to use it, but I think, for the most part all indications are that it can be used in certain situations. Whether it's the best solution, the most economical or feasible, additional tests in different habitat types and evaluations and projects will determine how effective it can be."

A class of journalism students in Baton Rouge got some hands-on experience with reporting this spring, and learned a lot about the struggles of the homeless in our city. Jay Shelledy's Feature/Column Writing class at the Manship School of Mass Communication were assigned the task of reporting on the reality of homelessness, which they did through telling the personal stories of people in our community and featuring them in a compilation book. Several of the stories are in the November issue of 225 magazine, on news stands now. You can also read the entire booklet in PDF format here.

Writer and photojournalist Frank McMains came by the studio to discuss an article he wrote in the November Visual Arts issue of Country Roads Magazine on newsstands now. He writes about Gregory DeWitt known for his impressive and uniquely styled murals around the world including some at Sacred Heart in Baton Rouge, St. Joseph Abbey in Covington where McMains visited to speak with some of the monks about DeWitt's work.

Writer and photojournalist Frank McMains came by the studio to discuss an article he wrote in the November Visual Arts issue of Country Roads Magazine on newsstands now. He writes about Gregory DeWitt known for his impressive and uniquely styled murals around the world including some at Sacred Heart in Baton Rouge, St. Joseph Abbey in Covington where McMains visited to speak with some of the monks about DeWitt's work.

Learn more about the event here. 

Learn more about the event here. 

LSU Opera presents the classic opera Puccini's La Boheme at the Claude L. Shaver Theater starting Thursday and running through the weekend. It is the fourth most performed opera in the world. It traditionally takes place in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the 1840s, but LSU's rendition comes with a Louisiana twist.

LSU Opera presents the classic opera Puccini's La Boheme at the Claude L. Shaver Theater starting Thursday and running through the weekend. It is the fourth most performed opera in the world. It traditionally takes place in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the 1840s, but LSU's rendition comes with a Louisiana twist.

Every year Baton Rouge Gallery hosts Movies and Music on the Lawn at City Park - a monthly outdoor screening of a silent film with a local band performing their take of the movie's score. Last month the Incense Merchants completely improvised the score to a trio of Laurel and Hardy short films.

Every year Baton Rouge Gallery hosts Movies and Music on the Lawn at City Park - a monthly outdoor screening of a silent film with a local band performing their take of the movie's score. Last month the Incense Merchants completely improvised the score to a trio of Laurel and Hardy short films.

Ann McCutchan discusses her new book River Music An Atchafalaya Story. At the center of the narrative is Earl Robicheaux who after a life changing event turned from musician to chronicling the Atchafalaya Basin through field recordings that are archived in museums and institutions such as the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Louisianans will have the opportunity to travel the world this Sunday right here in Baton Rouge. The Baton Rouge Center for World Affairs will host its 14th International Heritage Festival at the River Center from noon to 8pm. The event is free and open to the public. It will feature a Parade of Nations led by Mayor-President Kip Holden; an international music stage and Louisiana music stage; a craft bazaar and more.

The LSU AgCenter was recently awarded a competitive federal grant for $17.2 million to develop biofuels in the state. WRKF's Tegan Wendland had a conversation with Professor Vadim Kochergin of the Audubon Sugar Institute about the implications of the grant and the future of alternative fuels in Louisiana. Kochergin is the Director of the Louisiana Institute for Biofuels and Bioprocessing, and the principal investigator for the USDA-funded research project.

Seven of the candidates for Louisiana governor faced off in a debate on the LSU campus Wednesday night.

If you have seen businesses around Baton Rouge decorating their storefronts and entrances with pink ribbon, banners, and decorations, it most likely because of Susan G. Komen for the Cure Baton Rouge, which is an affiliate of the world's largest breast cancer advocacy group. Executive Director Janet Dewey-Kollen stopped by the studio to tell listeners about the organization and what it does.

Governor Jindal declared September as college savings month. David Roberts with the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance stopped by the studio to talk with WRKF's Swede White about a state savings program designed to help parents pay for their children's college education called the Student Tuition Assistance and Revenue Trust or START.

One of the most ubiquitous legends in Cajun culture is a woman whose reputation varies from region to region. The story of Madame Grands Doigts, the woman with the long fingers, has been told for decades to Louisiana children. This month the magazine Country Roads features a piece exploring how the legend varies across the state - sometimes Grands Doigts is a gentle, generous character who gives little new years gifts, while in other regions she is menacing.

LSU Theater Mainstage is kicking off its season with a play called Shapeshifter. The theatrical performance requires the actors themselves to shift.

Downtown Baton Rouge is hosting artists and business people from all over the southeast this week for a major conference. The four-day long Performing Arts Exchange aims to support performing artists along the east and gulf coasts by connecting them with agents and vendors, and includes a variety of workshops and live performances.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded five Louisiana school districts $8.2 million as part of an integration grant.

When you think about hunger in Baton Rouge the first thing that comes to mind may not be architecture, but one fundraiser is bringing the worlds of art and feeding the hungry together.

Mayor-President Kip Holden recently urged residents to support the food bank as they face a supply shortage and the Louisiana Art and Science Museum and the American Institute of Architects Baton Rouge have teamed up to put on a fundraiser to help solve the problem. WRKF's Tegan Wendland reports on how local architects are putting their skills to use to help solve the problem.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Animal Control and Rescue Shelter recently implemented a no kill policy for its animals since the Companion Animal Alliance has come on board to run sheltering services. The goal is to enable animal control to focus on enforcement while the alliance operates the shelter. Stray animals are a problem in Baton Rouge, and critics say unless adoptions increase or more space is built, the policy might cause problems.

Due to a smoldering marsh fire along Lake Ponchartrain which has lasted for about a week now, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has issued air quality alerts for much of southern Louisiana, including the Baton Rouge area.

Stand-up comedian Howard Hall has been performing in South Louisiana for eight years, and is now booking with venues nationwide. WRKF's Nausheen Parvez had a conversation with him about his career and experience as a comedian.

LSU hosts Louisiana Entrepreneurship Day at the LSU Student Union Ballroom on August 25. The event is organized by Entrepreneur's Organization and the LSU Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute.

East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore has been in office for the past two years after being in private practice for 16 years as a criminal defense attorney. Prior to that time he served as an investigator for the District Attorney's Office from 1977-1988. With Mayor President Kip Holden's failed bond proposal, and refusal to tack on money for the DA's office prior to its failing, Mr. Moore stopped by the studio to have a conversation with WRKF's Swede White about the challenges facing his office financially and whether or not he will put his own bond proposal on the ballot this fall.

Manuel Valencia who is founder of the pop up project 300 Seats has organized a forum called #socialREVOLUTION taking place at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday August 18, 2011 at the City Club of Baton Rouge. Among other topics, panelists will discuss social media's role in the so-called Arab Spring. Panelist Giles Whiting who has spent time in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and Iraq working in economic development stopped by the studio to discuss possible topics the panel might explore with WRKF's Swede White.

An organization dedicated to the conservation and enhancement of our city's trees will soon be livening up the Mid-City South area. Baton Rouge Green will hold its Green Paradise 2011 fundraiser this Friday at Live Oak Arabians.

Tucked away in the pine forests north of Covington, La. lies St. Joseph Abbey - a Benedictine monastery that houses 45 monks who have devoted their lives to prayer. In 2007, the monastery built a state-of-the art woodworking shop. The goal was to produce simple, hand-crafted, low-cost Cypress coffins for burials of monks and to sell the caskets to the public to help financially sustain their way of life.

Downtown Baton Rouge will host a celebration of all-things-hip-hop this weekend. WRKF's Tegan Wendland talked with Baton Rouge Hops organizer Roxi Victorian and Richard "LAH" Slaughter, of the group LAH Live, about what's so special about hip hop and why they want to educate the public.

The 2011 Baton Rouge Hops Festival will be held August 12-14 at The Manship Theater at The Shaw Center for the Arts, 100 Lafayette Street, downtown Baton Rouge.
Festivities begin at 10am.
For the full schedule and ticket info visit www.manshiptheatre.org.

An exercise phenomenon, set out to achieve more than your typical athletic training, is gaining momentum across the country as well as here in Baton Rouge. WRKF's Nausheen Parvez learned more about CrossFit, an unconventional, high-intensity workout practice that is designed around preparing its trainees for real-life occurrences.

Continuing a 27 year tradition, some Baton Rougeans will spend this Saturday reenacting a civil war battle held more than 150 years ago in an unusual setting - a cemetery. The Battle of Baton Rouge, fought in 1862, was an attempt by the Confederates to regain control of the city and led to many deaths on both sides.

An event for the IT community is taking place this Saturday at Taylor Hall at LSU College of Business that is free and open to the public. The event started around a computer language for databases.

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One Book One Community hosts an author event July 28 with Washington Post Journalist Pete Earley featuring his new book "Crazy: A Father's Search through America's Mental Health Madness moderated by WRKF's Jim Engster. Doors open at 6:30 pm and the event is free and open to the public. The event will include a panel discussion and a Q&A session from the audience. Earley will be signing books. Organizer Robin Kistler discusses the event with WRKF's Swede White.

Last week the U.S. House of Representatives sent a bill to President Barack Obama's desk aiming to relax water laws across the country. Many environmental organizations have taken a firm stance against HR2018, including the Baton Rouge chapter of the Sierra Club. They say the bill, which they call the "dirty water act," would jeopardize water quality in Louisiana and have a detrimental environmental impact across the country.

Saturday night in downtown Baton Rouge an event to raise money for children worldwide will take place called Light Up the Night. Organizer Lindsay Turner came by the studio to have a conversation with WRKF's Swede White about the event, the charity it benefits, and what motivated her to become involved. 

The Center for Planning Excellence, or CPEX, on Thursday hosted its Connect Policy Forum. The event focused on the possibilities of regional interconnected rail systems and improving street infrastructure. The policy aims to create what it calls a "super region" between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

The LSU AgCenter will likely need to declare a financial emergency - which will allow the institution to cut tenured faculty, eliminate research programs and reduce community outreach services.

LSU Chancellor Mike Martin will give an update on July 19 for LSU's monthly Breakfast to Business program on the legislative session's impact on the university and the future of the school.

The National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS is recognizing the 30 year anniversary of the discovery of the virus with an awareness campaign that includes a documentary telling the stories of the lives of women living with AIDS.

The Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge has just announced its lineup for the annual River City Jazz Masters 2011-2012 season. President and CEO of the Arts Council, Derek Gordon, and Baton Rouge artist and jazz enthusiast Ed Pramuk, joined WRKF's Tegan Wendland in the studio to talk about the lineup.

Baton Rouge residents had a final chance to weigh in on a major overhaul of the city's infrastructure. FutureBR, an update proposal for East Baton Rouge Parishes' master plan, held its last public input session Tuesday evening.

Downtown Baton Rouge will host a major art show this weekend. The 8th annual Forum 35 "Art Melt" will showcase about 100 pieces of Louisiana artwork, representing submissions from more than 35 parishes. Organizers call it a "multimedia experience" spanning several forms, genres, and perspective, both visual and performance.

A new monthly get together launched on June 29 called Creative Louisiana . This free event is inspired by Creative Mornings, a popular lecture series that takes place across the globe created by New York designer Tina Roth Eisenberg. Eisenberg was instrumental in helping organizer Wendy Overton start Creative Louisiana. The event is powered by Louisiana State University Continuing Education.

On the first Friday of every month, on the corner of Terrance and Perkins Road in Baton Rouge, a nondescript little brown building comes to life. The doors are unlocked at about noon and artists trickle into the big, empty, unfinished space to claim their wall space for the art show called Stabbed in the Art.

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In Baton Rouge exists a culture unique in many ways from its food, to tailgating, and the people who call it home.

One Midwest scholar says the key to decreasing dropout rates and increasing the academic and socio-economic success of young people is early childhood education. Rob Grunewald, of the Federal Reserve, is the featured speaker of the Distinguished Speaker Series hosted by the Academic Distinction Fund on June 23. WRKF's Tegan Wendland spoke with Grunewald about what we can do here in Louisiana to improve education.

TADMAN: About having fun and having freedom to do it. Although we do focus on events primarily, every now and then we have something to say about the political landscape of Baton Rouge or some issue that was really important to us, and we feel like if we had advertisers we wouldn't be able to do that because it would be too controversial for them and they'd pull out.

WENDLAND: Can you tell us a little about Dive Bar Girl or who she is?

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The Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine hosts Pets and Vets this month. It's an annual educational program for children featuring presentations on a wide range of topics relating to veterinary medicine including small animal surgery, the cancer treatment unit, and birds of prey.

WRKF's Tegan Wendland visited artist Leanne McClurg Cambric in her clay studio, Red Hot Center for Clay, to learn about what she does and why she does it. Cambric talked while throwing a pot using white clay, which she plans to fire and glaze and sell at her upcoming event - Red Hot Days of Clay.

WRKF's Tegan Wendland visited artist Leanne McClurg Cambric in her clay studio, Red Hot Center for Clay, to learn about what she does and why she does it. Cambric talked while throwing a pot using white clay, which she plans to fire and glaze and sell at her upcoming event - Red Hot Days of Clay.

Mayor President Kip Holden's office is launching an initiative to beautify Baton Rouge one city block at a time called Love Your Block. The program provides grants to improve the appearance of individual blocks in varying neighborhoods.

Two local groups want Baton Rouge residents to get out and socialize this week while supporting local art.

The George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts and the Tiger Athletic Foundation unveiled a new painting entitled "A Number One Tiger Fan" at the Louisiana State University Museum of Art at the Shaw Center.

Though the threat of major flooding along the Mississippi river has subsided, many are still reeling from the effects. Many of those who had to evacuate or lost their homes and property are still in need of resources, and one local organization is trying to provide help.

The Manship Theatre presents Films at Manship this weekend. The event features three days of film screenings, workshops with film professionals, movie-themed parties and live music. Professional Motion Picture Editor, Joe Binford, has worked on major films like The Fugitive and The Chronicles of Narnia. WRKF's Swede White had a conversation with Binford about filmmaking and his upcoming workshop at the Manship.

A Baton Rouge Magnet High School student says he's embarrassed by how science is taught in Louisiana schools - and he's taking a stand. Zack Kopplin is rallying support for Senate Bill 70, to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act. The bill, sponsored by State Senator Karen Carter Peterson, goes before the Senate Education Committee on May 26. If it passes there, it heads to the full Senate.

Floodwaters are not just affecting those near the Atchafalaya Basin or the Morganza spillway - those who live along the coast are bracing for the worst as the water makes its way to the Gulf.

Louisiana has a new Poet Laureate. Governor Bobby Jindal appointed Julie Kane, Professor of English and Creative Writing at Northwestern State University, to the position. She formally took over the title on Friday.

With the rising Mississippi River new words and terms have worked their way into our vocabulary. To provide a glossary for some of those terms, WRKF's Saiward Pharr spoke with Clint Willson, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Louisiana State University. He specializes in Water Resources, and models of the Mississippi River.

Concerned Baton Rouge residents attended a town hall meeting on flooding preparedness, hosted by Metro Councilwoman Tara Wicker and State Rep. Patricia Smith. Their districts overlap in Old South Baton Rouge and run along the river front. WRKF's Saiward Pharr was in attendance of the meeting, which both urged citizens to be prepared and reassured them that the city was prepared. City representatives urged residents to call the Mayor's Emergency Preparedness Office with any concerns, at 389-2100.

The Haynesville Shale in northwest Louisiana could be the largest natural gas field in the continental U.S. The 3 million-acre formation stretches into East Texas and holds about 251 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The current flood levels along the Mississippi River could change the face of a main Louisiana industry: Seafood. WRKF’s Ross Young spoke with Harlon Pearce, the chairman of the Lousiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, for his perspective on what the problems the floods might cause.

With the Mississippi River predicted to crest at more than 47 feet above sea level in Baton Rouge, people are preparing for potentially record-breaking floods, and the possibility of the Army Corps of Engineers opening the Morganza Spillway. If the Spillway is opened the Corps predicts areas around St. Francisville to take on  That includes crews at the River Bend Nuclear Station in Saint Francisville. WRKF's Marissa Barrow spoke with Victor Dricks from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about safety precautions at the plant.

Guiyuan Wang is president of Yang Guang Chinese Dance Troupe of Baton Rouge. On Saturday they'll be performing at the 2011 Chinese Culture night, sponsored by the LSU Chinese Student and Scholar Association.

The GROW Sunflower Project is a local partnership program that aims to put vacant land back into productive use and to beautify the street-scape of Old South Baton Rouge through planting sunflowers.

WRKF first covered the $2.2 million worth of state budget cuts to LOUIS, the Louisiana Library Network, last August. Since then, the program leaders have been cobbling together money to last through the fiscal year. And now, as WRKF's Marissa Barrow reports, its member librarians have started a grass roots campaign hoping to find stable funding.

Cut!, an exhibit featuring 43 costumes and accessories from major motion pictures, is coming to the Louisiana Art and Science Museum, or LASM. Museum curator Elizabeth Weinstein says industry-leading costume house Cosprop has put together the collection. She joined WRKF's Saiward Pharr in studio to discuss the coming exhibit. 

This is the third and final segment of our series on Voices from the Gulf, commemorating the one year anniversary of the start of the BP oil spill. Right after the spill, Storycorps did a series on gulf coast residents who were affected - one of them was Wendy Billiot, who runs Wetland Tours of South Louisiana. She said the oil spill made her realize the lives of those who live along the coast are precarious.

Right after last year's gulf oil spill Storycorps did a series on gulf coast residents who were affected. One of them was Peter Cooley, a poet and English professor at Tulane University, originally from the Midwest.

This is the first segment of our three part series commemorating the gulf oil spill, which started a year ago on April 20. Thadeus Pellegrin, a shrimper in Chauvin, was interviewed with his 14 year old grandson, Jacob Theriot, following the spill last year.....

The Grammys recently announced the Cajun and Zydeco music award would be consolidated into a larger category, along with other regional music traditions. WRKF's Saiward Pharr asked Cajun and Zydeco music historian and University of Louisiana at Lafayette French Professor Barry Ancelet what would be the effect of having such disparate music traditions in the same category.

Louisiana Arts and Entertainment of Baton Rouge believe kids should get more education in arts and entertainment, and that's why they're sponsoring the Academy of Motion Picture Development summer film camp for kids age 6 to 17.

This is the third and final segment of our WRKF special series on crime in Baton Rouge.

This is part two of WRKF's three part series investigating crime in Baton Rouge, leading up to a town hall tomorrow evening. Yesterday WRKF's Ross Young reported on how crime statistics are gathered and reported, and that murder numbers have been on the rise in Baton Rouge.

This is the first in a three-part series looking at violent crime in Baton Rouge and its effect on our community. WRKF's Ross Young explains the origins of crime statistics and why they're important.

Edward Said changed the study of history when he published "Orientalism," in 1978. Scholars have just recently begun to challenge Said's theories, including Dr. Suzanne Marchand, a History professor at Louisiana State University.

In a rural area south of Livingston, down a gravel road surrounded by woods, a major scientific research project is under way. Seeking to detect invisible gravitational waves from outer space, it was built in 1995. It's run by Caltech and MIT and funded by the National Science Foundation. WRKF's Tegan Wendland reports.

While Red Jacket is a local small business, more than 90 percent of their customers don't live in the Baton Rouge area.

Hayden's strategy has always been to find a national market for his guns. It was difficult at first, but he's seeing tangible results from that effort. Now he has an established base, customers and clients with expendable income for high-end toys. 

Congressman Bill Cassidy represents Louisiana’s 6th district, which is seated in Baton Rouge. He’s been back in the district during a congressional break, and he came by the station for an interview with WRKF’s Saiward Pharr.

Louisiana filmmaker Zack Godshall is a Lafayette native and current screenwriter-in-residence at LSU. He has new film, entitled "Lord Byron," that's heading to the Sundance Film Festival.

Six state legislators have changed their party affiliation in recent months. Now Louisiana's House has a Republican majority for the first time since Reconstruction and Democrats hold only a narrow majority in the state Senate.

Author Ed Cullen shares his short story "Christmas Calling" for the holiday.

November is National Adoption Awareness Month, and to explore how some Baton Rouge area families approach adoption today, this month's InRegister magazine profiles four area families with adopted children.

Baton Rouge resident, and InRegister magazine sommelier, commentator Scott Reis has some thoughts about wine for the fall, and why Merlot is a good choice this time of year.

As a professor in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University, commentator James Cowan has these thoughts on the matter:

The Gulf of Mexico received a lot of attention after the Deepwater Horizon Rig exploded and sank in April. Now that the well is capped and skimmers gone, people are wondering about the long term, the oil has lastingly damaged Louisiana's fishing industry. This is a valid question, but one that needs to be answered in context.

A day in the life of an elementary school student is usually pretty standard. The teachers make the rules and ask the questions, and the students follow the rules and answer the questions.

The announcement comes after two slayings that have drawn public outcry and media attention in Baton Rouge - one on the levee where 17 year old Darius Augustus was fatally struck by a stray bullet Saturday and the fatal shooting of 42 year old Alexandra Engler in Beauregard Town.

WRKF's Swede White sat down with host of NPR's "From the Top" and the James M. Syler Visiting Distinguished Artist at LSU Christopher O'Riley to discuss his recording of Radiohead's "Paranoid Andriod."

On Sat. October 2nd, East Baton Rouge Parish voters will consider a tax to fund the public Capital Area Transportation System, known as CATS. Brian Marshall is the CEO, and joins WRKF's Saiward Pharr in studio. This proposal is for a 3.5 mills property tax for 12 years. This would generate about $11 million dollars. Mr. Marshall discusses what would this millage would mean in practical terms for CATS.

All Things Considered's Three Minute Fiction Competition is back for a fifth round. WRKF's Saiward Pharr spoke with All Things Considered weekend host Guy Raz and asked him about the competition.

WRKF's Saiward Pharr gives an update after attending Governor Jindal's press conference in Baton Rouge.

He lives at the end of a street where the north side of Grand Isle meets Caminada Bay. The land is reinforced with mounds of concrete "fill" to prevent more of the land from disappearing into the water. Winter storms and summer hurricanes have carved away pieces of this island every year since the Army Corps of Engineers put levees along the Mississippi River.

A Washington-based non-profit group has come out with a list of 118 Playful Cities across the nation. New Roads, Louisiana is on that list. Mike Vietti is communications director for KaBoom!, the non-profit behind the list. He joins WRKF's Saiward Pharr to discuss why New Roads stands out for efforts to keep kids healthy and active.

After the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion that killed 11 people and created the biggest environmental catastrophe in U.S. history, the Obama administration issued a six month moratorium on deepwater drilling. It was challenged in court, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar issued a revised moratorium. WRKF sat down with Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) to discuss what he calls the "jobs moratorium."

In the middle of a sugar cane field near Paincourtville, Louisiana, a 7,200 foot exploratory oil and gas well blew early Wednesday morning. The well is gushing a brown mix of oil and gas 60 feet into the air. From one mile away, the gusher can be heard and it sounds like howling wind. A two mile stretch of state Highway 70 has been closed, and three tractor trailers with containment caps hitched to the back line the shoulder of the road.

Dr. Brenda Walker, Director of The East Baton Rouge Parish Children's Choir, is seeking as many voices as possible for the upcoming year. Auditions are being held on August 8th and 9th at Broadmoor Senior High School.

LSU Senior Erin Cromer majors in English. She says she uses the databases even in the summer to explore topics on her own. Cromer walks me through using a full text database called JSTOR. "I usually go to lsu.edu, go to the library's page, click on databases, and here's JSTOR." She shows me an example of a search for a favorite topic, "I study rhetoric a lot. You can type in something about rhetoric, and all these wonderful articles come up. Here we go; we'll click on ‘Aristotle and the Types of Rhetoric.' Normally there's an abstract and title information."

One Book One Community strives to bring Baton Rouge together to discuss a novel. This summer's book is In the Sanctuary of Outcasts, by Neil White, who joins WRKF's Saiward Pharr.

On a Coast Guard flyover to survey storm damage from fizzled Tropical Storm Bonnie, the surface of the Gulf of Mexico for the most part looks clean. The flight departs from the Houma jet center. Yellow helicopters line the tarmac used to transport rig workers and officials to the Gulf.

The presidential panel on the oil spill has its first public meetings Monday and Tuesday. Former Florida Senator Bob Graham co-chairs the panel. He says the panel's report will address a wide range of past problems. The panel's report is due in six months. WRKF's full interview with retired Senator Bob Graham can be found here.

Recently the Baton Rouge Big Buddy Program hosted its 4th annual WordPlay Teen Slam Poetry festival. Commentator Zayne Turner has been involved with all of the Word Play festivals, but she now lives in Charlottesville, Virginia while working on a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry at the University of Virginia. So she packed up her dog and drove the 18 hours from Charlottesville to Baton Rouge when it looked like she may miss the WordPlay festival.

Last Friday an administrative law judge with the state labor agency ordered that some 360 Filipino teachers working in Louisiana should be reimbursed $1.8 million in fees they'd paid to a recruiting firm. The ruling settles part of a suit filed last October. The American Federation of Teachers and the Louisiana Federation of Teachers filed the lawsuit on the teachers' behalf against the recruiting firm, California-based Universal Placement International. Steve Monaghan is president of that state teachers' union, and he joins WRKF's Saiward Pharr in the studio.

LACAP, short for the Louisiana Association of Community Action Partnerships, is a collective of parish action agencies. And its weatherization facility is brand new, state of the art, and training about 110 people every three months.

Kickball isn't just for kids, at least not anymore. Adult kickball leagues have sprung up in many cities across the nation, including Baton Rouge. Colleen Fava is a member and organizer of Red Stick Area Kickball, or RSAK.

Black t-shirts with the gold printed logo "Finish Strong" have cropped up in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and across the Who Dat nation.

As people in the United States look for ways to help people in Haiti after the devastating earthquake on January 12th, there has been a surge in interest in adopting Haitian children. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge is urging people to delay adopting Haitian children for the time being, and focus instead on relief efforts.

Louisiana State University turns 150 this year, and Chancellor Michael Martin

Sprite is putting on what it bills as the largest national step competition in history, and this Saturday night the Sprite Step Off comes to Southern University. Ed Pratt is director of media relations for Southern. He joins WRKF's Saiward Pharr to give some details of the event.

About 100 birders in the Baton Rouge area will spend January 2nd looking for and recording every feathered creature they can find in the city. The Audubon Society is in the midst of it's 110th annual Christmas Bird Count.