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Baton Rouge’s downtown has plenty of vacant storefronts. This new effort seeks to change that.

A view of the Mississippi River and downtown Baton Rouge from the Louisiana State Capitol’s observation deck. Photo taken Nov. 12, 2021.
Aubry Procell
/
WRKF
A view of the Mississippi River and downtown Baton Rouge from the Louisiana State Capitol’s observation deck. Photo taken Nov. 12, 2021.

The city of New Orleans isn’t known for being easy to get around if you have a disability. It can even be hard to find a place to work out. But now, there’s Split Second Fitness, a gym specifically designed for people with disabilities. Louisiana Considered’s Managing Producer Alana Schreiber takes us inside.

These days, many storefronts across downtown Baton Rouge are vacant. But now, the Downtown Development District and Baton Rouge Area Chamber are partnering in an effort to identify empty storefronts and recruit businesses to fill the spots. Whitney Hoffman Sayal, executive director of the Downtown Development District in Baton Rouge, tells us more.

A recent study from Tulane found that racial and ethnic health inequities cost the U.S. economy $450 billion dollars in one year. These costs are a sharp increase from previous years when a similar study was conducted and shows the disparities in healthcare costs for people of color.

Thomas LaVeist, dean of the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, tells us more about this study and the economic burden of health inequities.

Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Adam Vos. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber and our digital editor is Katelyn Umholtz. Our engineers are Garrett Pittman and Aubry Procell. 

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12:00 and 7:30 pm. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play, and wherever you get your podcasts. 

Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.

Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

Adam is responsible for coordinating WRKF's programming and making sure everything you hear on the radio runs smoothly. He is also the voice of Baton Rouge's local news every afternoon during 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 and The Documentary Group in New York City.