The LSU women’s basketball team has wrapped up the regular season and is headed to March Madness. The team last won the tournament in 2023. In 2024 and 2025, they lost in the Elite 8 round. Reed Darcey covers LSU women’s basketball for The Baton Rouge Advocate. He joins us for more on the team’s regular season and how they’re shaping up for the big dance.Louisiana’s state bird, the Brown Pelican, is among a variety of colonial waterbird species benefiting from the recently completed restoration of a small island off Louisiana’s coast. The Terrebonne Houma Navigation Canal Bird Island is a major nesting area that was shrinking due to erosion. Then, the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority stepped in to restore the land. Renee Bennett, project manager at the CPRA, joins us for more.This year, Mississippi’s legislature will decide how to spend millions of dollars meant to be used to fight the opioid epidemic.But as the Gulf States Newsroom’s Drew Hawkins reports, so far, the state has largely not invested in programs that support addiction recovery.—Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Karen Henderson. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. We receive production and technical support from Garrett Pittman, Adam Vos and our assistant producer, Aubry Procell. You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, the NPR App and wherever you get your podcasts. Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

A New Orleans initiative to increase citywide recycling is under threat. This is despite the fact that the city has more than 5 million dollars worth of support from the EPA and a national nonprofit to support this program.Reporter for Verite News, Katie Jane Fernelius, tells us more. Sea habitats are vanishing in the Gulf due to overfishing. Now, there’s a potential human-made solution for this human-made problem: artificial reefs. In the first part of the latest episode of Sea Change, we learn how artificial reefs are helping to provide a new habitat for sea life in Alabama. And next week, we’ll learn about a similar initiative being deployed in Cambodia.___Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Alana Schreiber. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. We get production and technical support from Garrett Pittman, Adam Vos and our assistant producer Aubry Procell.You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts. Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

The Louisiana legislative session is just around the corner, and conversations on the state budget are set to dominate. The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate’s editorial director and columnist Stephanie Grace joins us for a preview. The Tulane Book Fest is just around the corner. If you attend and decide you’d like more author discussions, writing contests and book sales, you might want to check out the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival in April. The 10th annual fest takes place in New Iberia, and will include a variety of discussion topics, like Creole trail riders, the history of swamp pop and the process of playwriting. Deb Lindsey, co-chair of the festival, joins us to give the details.The 2026 Paralympics officially kick off tomorrow with the Opening Ceremonies. More than 600 athletes from over 50 countries will compete in sports like sled hockey, para skiing and wheelchair curling. Among the competitors is Baton Rouge’s own Brenna Huckaby. The para snowboarder is a three-time Paralympic gold medalist and five-time world champion.Back in 2022, Huckaby joined us to discuss her latest win, her journey in the sport, and how she hopes to represent both the disability community and Louisiana winter athletes. Today, we’ll give that conversation another listen. ___Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Alana Schreiber. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. Matt Bloom and Aubry Procell are assistant producers. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts. Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

The trial has begun for three people, including two lawyers, accused of staging car accidents throughout the Crescent City. The trial is the first in a widespread insurance fraud scheme and is even connected to a possible murder plot. John Simmerman has been covering this story for The Times Picayune/The Advocate, and joins us now for more.LSU Health New Orleans has been selected to take part in a grant to help teach an often-overlooked element of medical care — compassion. This four-year medical education project will use “precision education” to provide individualized learning for medical professionals.Dr. Peter DeBleiux, assistant dean of advanced learning and simulation at LSU Health New Orleans, and Dr. Rachel Fiore, assistant professor and director for the Standardized Patient Project, join us with more. Louisiana’s Old State Capitol in downtown Baton Rouge has opened a new photography exhibit that documents Louisiana’s role in both the practices and the challenges to racial segregation. Members of the Louisiana Photographic Society used their cameras to capture present-day evidence of Louisiana’s complex history. It’s part of a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.Anne Mahoney, curator of Louisiana’s Old State Capitol, tells us more about the exhibit and the 19 photographers featured. She’s joined by Stacey Pearson and Marilyn Goff, two participant photographers in this exhibit.—Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Adam Vos. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. We get production support from Garrett Pittman and our assistant producer, Aubry Procell.You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, the NPR App and wherever you get your podcasts. Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you!Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

New Orleans Entrepreneur Week is back. More than 100 summit sessions, 12 city-wide events and numerous workshops, pitch competitions and founder stories geared towards promoting business ventures will take place March 9-14. Sam McCabe, director for the Center of Entrepreneurship and Community Development at Loyola University of New Orleans, gives us the details.The Marigny Opera Ballet continues its season with two premieres celebrating Louisiana culture and traditions. The two newly commissioned works, “Homecoming” and “Un Autre Soir…Another Evening,” will be accompanied by music composed and performed live by indie group Sweet Crude. Marigny Opera Ballet executive director Dave Hurlbert and choreographers Shane Urton and Amalia Najera tell us more. A brutal winter storm dealt some heavy blows to the South in January, when ice, sleet and freezing rain swept across the region.Across the Gulf States, thousands were left without power, with hundreds of outages persisting in northern Mississippi.While government services are still moving to reach people, communities are working together to recover. Elise Gregg of the Gulf States Newsroom and Mississippi Public Broadcasting tells us more.__Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Diane Mack. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber and our assistant producer is Aubry Procell. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, the NPR App, and wherever you get your podcasts. Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

Reproductive health is back in federal court. Louisiana lawyers are trying to persuade a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction against an FDA rule that allows abortion medication to be prescribed through telemedicine and sent through the mail. This is just the latest step in the anti-abortion campaign working to make abortion pills more difficult to access. Mother Jones reporter Nina Martin joins us with the latest. An LSU professor has developed a new method to track synthetic opioids through wastewater. He developed the system alongside an undergraduate and a graduate student. Bikram Subedi, assistant professor of environmental sciences at LSU, tells us more about this process. The Bayou Teche Museum in New Iberia has opened a new exhibit celebrating the life and career of Louisiana’s first and only female governor, Kathleen Blanco. Blanco, a democrat, was Louisiana’s 54th governor and served from 2004 to 2008. She led the state through the devastation caused by two hurricanes less than a month apart — Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.Museum curator Misty Pride tells us more about Blanco’s career and what viewers can find inside. —Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Karen Henderson. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. We receive production and technical support from Garrett Pittman, Adam Vos and our assistant producer, Aubry Procell. You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, the NPR App and wherever you get your podcasts. Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

It’s the end of the week and time to catch up on politics with The Times-Picayune/The Advocate’s editorial director and columnist, Stephanie Grace. She tells us about President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) in her challenge for Bill Cassidy’s Senate seat. When you’re approaching your 50s, most people don’t expect to learn about a life-changing family secret. But that was the case for Texas police sergeant and bomb squad commander Brad Ewell. At 48, he discovered he was adopted. Not only that, but he learned that his biological father was locked up at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, notoriously known as Angola Prison, serving life without parole for a murder he committed in 1972.Ewell and his “pop,” Jimmie Graves, join us to share how they connected after 50 years apart, and fought for Graves’ freedom.___Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Alana Schreiber. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. Matt Bloom and Aubry Procell are assistant producers. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts. Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

Louisiana will have to pay a larger share of its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) because of changes made in the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” to shift costs to states. Starting in October, Louisiana will be required to pay an additional $50 million. In October 2027, a cost increase could occur based on the state’s error rate.WRKF’s Alex Cox spoke with Gina Plata-Nino, SNAP director for the Food Research and Action Center, for more. When we think of researching ancient civilizations, we imagine archeological digs, bushwhacking through jungles and dodging wild animals. Yes, researchers still do that today, but they also rely on modern technology to learn about the past. Marcello Canuto, Tulane professor and director of the Middle American Research Institute, has spent much of his career researching Mayan civilizations, debunking many of the things we thought we knew. And a lot of research happens in a lab in New Orleans. He and his colleagues will present their findings at an upcoming Maya Cities Symposium at Tulane from March 5-7 — which is free and open to the public.Canuto joins us for more on the role of technology in archeology.For a long time, Louisiana has struggled with the health of new mothers and babies. Now, New Orleans is tackling that problem with the return of an old-fashioned practice: the house call. WWNO’s former reproductive healthcare reporter Rosemary Westwood shares more. ___Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Alana Schreiber. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. Matt Bloom and Aubry Procell are assistant producers. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts. Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

Louisiana public schools must display the Ten Commandments after a federal appeals court allowed the law to take effect late last week, overturning a lower court’s decision. But critics have vowed to keep fighting it. And schools are weighing what it all means for them.WWNO and WRKF’s education reporter Aubri Juhasz tells us more. Artificial intelligence data centers are growing across the country. In Louisiana, construction for a massive Meta data center is underway in Richland Parish.But what are the energy costsof these centers? And who will pay for skyrocketing electric bills? In Louisiana, that may fall to residents.Paul Arbaje, energy analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists, has been reporting on the costs of AI data centers for The Equation. He joins us with more. A new exhibit at the Louisiana Children’s Museum explores how children think, create and interact with the world around them. Curators say it’s not just for kids. It also presents it in a way grownups can understand and it encourages parents and educators to experience how young children process the world.Shannon Blady, the museum’s chief learning officer, joins us for more.—Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Adam Vos. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. We get production support from Garrett Pittman and our assistant producer Aubry Procell.You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, the NPR App and wherever you get your podcasts. Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you!Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

Norman C. Francis, the New Orleans civil rights leader, businessman, educator and president of Xavier University for nearly half a century, died last week. He was 94. Francis is remembered for his commitment to making the city a better place to live, whether through integration efforts or recovery after Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, then-president George W. Bush honored him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Patrick Francis, one of Francis’ six children, joins us to discuss his father’s life and legacy and constant commitment to civil rights. We’ll also hear a recording of Norman C. Francis himself from last July, reflecting on his own role in the Freedom Riders movement.The earliest-known full-length opera written by a Black American composer is now available as a new CD. The album of Edmond Dede’s “Morgiane” was produced by Opera Creole and features singers from across the country. Opera Creole founders Givonna Joseph and her daughter Aria Mason join us to discuss the details and explain the longevity of the 1887 work. __Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Diane Mack. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber and our assistant producer is Aubry Procell. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, the NPR App, and wherever you get your podcasts. Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!