Stephan Bisaha
Stephan Bisaha is the wealth and poverty reporter for the Gulf States Newsroom, a regional collaboration between NPR and member stations in Alabama (WBHM), Mississippi (MPB) and Louisiana (WWNO and WRKF). He reports on the systemic drivers of poverty in the region and economic development.
Before joining the team, Stephan spent three years as an education reporter for the Kansas News Service, a network of member stations in Kansas. He also spent a year as a Kroc Fellow for NPR, where he did the data analysis for an investigation into the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, produced Weekend Edition and reported in Birmingham.
He was born and raised in New Jersey. His hobbies include cooking, improv and physical fitness.
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Wages have gone up as restaurants try to hold onto their staff amid a record number of people quitting their jobs in the U.S., especially in the South. -
Charities in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana say giving people money is faster and gives them back agency. But experts say cash alone can’t solve all the problems after a storm.
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Entergy does not yet have a timeline for when it will restore power for the residents along Louisiana’s coast still waiting to turn their lights on.
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A record number of women are becoming truck drivers, changing the face of an industry that has historically been dominated by men.
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After losing jobs during the pandemic, more and more women are becoming truck drivers. Many have been attracted by the high demand and higher pay.
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Almost all of New Orleans and Baton Rouge have power back, Entergy officials said Friday, with the company expecting the city’s remaining dark pockets to be fixed by the end of the evening.
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Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards signed an executive order Thursday delaying the state’s fall elections into November due to the disruption caused by Hurricane Ida.
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More than 95% of New Orleans now has power back, Entergy officials said Thursday, but about 220,000 customers of Louisiana's largest utility are still without power 11 days after Hurricane Ida made landfall.
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More than 85% of New Orleans has power back 10 days after Hurricane Ida made landfall, a level of progress that Entergy officials described as miraculous during a call with media members Wednesday.
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There are still roughly 370,000 customers without power across the state, with about 50,000 of them in New Orleans. Entergy expects 90% of its customers in the city to have power back Wednesday.
