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Students miss school in light of immigration raids; NOLA rabbi with Sydney ties on recent shooting and rise in antisemitism

Hanukkah celebration at Riverwalk Spanish Plaza in New Orleans, Dec. 14 2025
Malkie Rivkin
Hanukkah celebration at Riverwalk Spanish Plaza in New Orleans, Dec. 14 2025

Student attendance dropped in New Orleans-area schools last week as immigration sweeps ramped up across the region. Many parents are keeping their students home in fear of raids from border patrol.

Aubri Juhasz speaks with some of the families about how they’re handling the situation.

Over the weekend, Australia’s Jewish community faced the country’s largest mass shooting in 30 years, when two gunmen attacked a Hanukkah celebration in Bondi Beach in Sydney. The gunmen — a father and son — opened fire as attendants lit candles, ate donuts, painted faces and marked the start of the festival of lights. So far, at least 15 have been reported dead and at least 27 injured.

For more on this tragedy, we are joined by Rabbi Mendel Rivkin, of Chabad of Louisiana. He discusses how Jews can feel safe amid the global rise in antisemitism, and his personal ties to the Sydney Jewish community, where he served as a rabbinical intern.

The Center for Literacy & Learning is a Louisiana-based nonprofit that helps educators address students with learning differences. CEO Dr. John Wyble tells us more about the center and how their new expansion will help the organization reach more families.

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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.

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Adam is responsible for coordinating WRKF's programming and making sure everything you hear on the radio runs smoothly. He is Newscast Editor for the WRKF/WWNO Newsroom. Adam is also the Baton Rouge-based host for Louisiana Considered, our daily regional news program, and is frequently the local voice afternoons on All Things Considered.
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.