New Orleans Public Radio

01/02/2026

Farmers are used to facing challenges like unpredictable weather and fluctuating commodity prices. But the loss of the enhanced subsidies that many Americans rely on to purchase health insurance are set to expire at the end of this month.

This, coupled with the challenging economic conditions, will make coverage unaffordable for many.

Tariffs, inflation, and other federal policies have battered U.S. farmers' bottom lines. Now many farmers say the expiration of federal health care subsidies will make their coverage unaffordable.

01/01/2026

350 National Guard members deployed by President Donald Trump's administration arrived in New Orleans earlier this week ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations.

A couple dozen members wearing army fatigues, with guns in their holsters, could be seen Tuesday night throughout the city's historic French Quarter, home to Bourbon Street.

Troops will stay through Carnival season.

Ahead of the anniversary of the rampage, officials are ramping up security measures. Some 350 National Guard members arrived Tuesday.

12/31/2025

In New Orleans, amidst the preparations for tonight's New Year's Eve celebrations, people are also mourning those killed in last year's terror attack on Bourbon Street.

Drew Hawkins with the Gulf States Newsroom reports on efforts to heal.

Security is tight in New Orleans as people remember the victims of the New Year's Day attack on Bourbon Street one year ago.

12/31/2025

On the latest episode of the Gulf States Gumbo, the team looks back at 2025 and the stories we’ve told.

Listen here ⬇️

On this week’s episode, we look back at 2025 and the stories we’ve told.

12/23/2025

Attendance dropped across New Orleans-area schools the week after Thanksgiving, when the operation — dubbed “Catahoula Crunch” officially began.

In Jefferson Parish, which has the largest Hispanic population of any Louisiana school district, 12% of students were absent on Dec. 4, the day after the crackdown started, according to district data.

More than 5,200 students missed school, an increase of more than 3,300 kids compared to the same day last year.

Darwin was one of more than 5,200 students in Jefferson Parish who missed school after federal agents arrived in New Orleans on Dec. 3.

12/22/2025

The Trump administration announced a new $12 billion package of one-time bridge payments for American farmers, like James Davis, aimed at helping them recover from temporary market disruptions and high production costs.

"This relief will provide much needed certainty as they get this year's harvest to market and look ahead to next year's crops," Trump said during a White House roundtable event. "It'll help them continue their efforts to lower food prices for American families."

Davis says that type of help can't come soon enough.

"Without bailouts, it is hard to make crop loans work on paper," he said in an interview with NPR on Monday.

At the National Black Growers Council meeting in New Orleans, Black farmers respond to the $12 billion in tariff relief announced by the Trump administration and outline challenges farms are facing.

12/20/2025

In a meeting marked by tense moments of disagreement, the Louisiana Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved a new regulatory pathway designed to expedite electricity connections for large projects, such as data centers.

Proponents for the change say it’s necessary for the state to stay competitive and attract major economic development projects. Critics, however, say it weakens long-standing consumer protections and could expose residents to higher utility costs.

Proponents for the change say it will help the state be competitive for major developments. Critics, however, say it weakens long-standing consumer protections.

12/19/2025

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, families found themselves trying to recover and put the pieces back together during the holiday season.

In Mississippi, one museum is documenting what that looked like for folks on the coast twenty years ago.

More than a thousand letters were written and answered after the hurricane. They’re now housed in an exhibit at the Ground Zero Hurricane Katrina Museum.

12/19/2025

New Orleans Public Schools Superintendent Fateama Fulmore is waiting for the Orleans Parish School Board to tell her what to do with the Leah Chase School, she told parents on Wednesday night.

With board backing, the district could cover the school’s deficit, she said, keeping its doors open.

But the group of roughly 50 parents who attended the meeting didn’t seem convinced of Fulmore’s purported powerlessness, as they sat at circular lunch tables in the school’s cafeteria. Many left the meeting feeling frustrated.

With New Orleans' school board set to decide the school's fate at its Thursday night meeting, parents and some members of the Chase family are asking the board to believe in the school.

12/12/2025

The University of New Orleans is under a mandatory, campus-wide evacuation after university police were made aware of a potential threat on Friday.

Campus security confirmed that the threat was "confined to administration." A few minutes before noon, campus security told staff who were still on campus that they could return to their offices and shelter in place, but the evacuation order has not been fully lifted.

MORE DETAILS HERE ⬇️

UNO Emergency sent out the evacuation alert via email just before 11 a.m.

12/11/2025

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has named Dr. Evelyn Griffin, a Baton Rouge OBGYN who has supported the state’s abortion ban and repeated debunked claims of the link between vaccines and autism, as the state’s new surgeon general.

Griffin was recently hand-picked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former anti-vaccine activist, for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel.

The Baton Rouge OBGYN is also on the CDC vaccine advisory panel that voted to end recommending the Hepatitis B vaccine for all infants at birth.

12/01/2025

As southeast Louisiana braces for the potential arrival of U.S. Border Patrol agents, local Democratic lawmakers are speaking up.