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New opera highlights racial injustice; NOLA embarks on massive plan to address homelessness

Soprano Krysty Swann performing in the contemporary opera “Blue,” in Detroit in 2021.
Mitty Carter
Soprano Krysty Swann performing in the contemporary opera “Blue,” in Detroit in 2021.

The state of Georgia recently promised nearly $2 billion in incentives to persuade Hyundai to open an electric vehicle plant there. But Georgia isn’t the only Southern state betting that EVs will usher in a manufacturing renaissance. As the Gulf States Newsroom’s Stephan Bisaha reports, other states in the region are also preparing for the EV industry to lead to carloads of good jobs.

The New Orleans Opera is putting racial injustice front and center at an upcoming performance of “Blue.” The contemporary opera was created by Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori and Emmy-nominated librettist Tazewell Thompson.

Timothy Douglas, the production’s stage director, talks about bringing this story to a Southern stage for the first time.

In May, the nonprofit Unity of Greater New Orleans found the city’s unhoused population had increased by more than 50% since 2022. Now, an ambitious project — backed by federal funds and homeless service nonprofits — is in the works to close down homeless encampments and provide housing for residents in need.

Mandy Chapman Semple, a managing partner at Clutch Consulting, the Texas-based group hired to lead the project, joins us for more on the initiative.

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 12 and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts. 

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"This is NPR's Morning Edition, at 89.9 WWNO. Good Morning, I'm Diane Mack."
Alana Schreiber is the managing producer for the live daily news program, Louisiana Considered. She comes to WWNO from KUNC in Northern Colorado, where she worked as a radio producer for the daily news magazine, Colorado Edition. She has previously interned for Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul.