New Orleans Public Radio

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.

11/19/2025

Planning documents reviewed by the AP show Border Patrol teams preparing to fan out across neighborhoods and commercial hubs throughout southeast Louisiana, stretching from New Orleans through Jefferson, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes and as far north as Baton Rouge, with additional activity planned in southeastern Mississippi.

Federal agents are set to conduct a two-month immigration crackdown starting Dec. 1. The operation aims to arrest around 5,000 people across southeast Louisiana and Mississippi.

10/31/2025

Our latest Sea Change episode explores the question: What does it take to stay rooted on the Gulf Coast, even as the land and weather change around us?

Documentarian Rachel Nederveld joins us to discuss her oral history series “No Matter the Water” () that follows five Louisianans finding creative ways to adapt and fight for the future of their communities.

Click the link in bio to hear the stories of Monique Verdin, Summer Skarke, Reverend Harris, and Buddy Blalock.

10/30/2025

The move makes Louisiana one of eight states — and the only state in the Gulf South — to fund SNAP benefits for residents or provide additional funding for food banks during the shutdown.

Gov. Jeff Landry said a temporary assistance program will provide benefits to the state's "most vulnerable" SNAP recipients in November amid the federal shutdown.

10/29/2025

“I can tell you right now, Scott is not selecting the next coach,” Landry said. “Hell, I'll let Donald Trump select it before I let him do it."

Amid allegations that he influenced the decision to fire former LSU head football coach Brian Kelly, Gov. Jeff Landry said LSU’s athletic director will not be picking the university’s next head coach.