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EBR Schools’ board rejects rehiring superintendent; drought and fire price tag; new BRAC report

Pine trees sport dead, brown needles and charred bark in a forest along Lonzie Doyle Road near the Westport community in Rapides Parish on Sept. 5, 2023. This forest burned in the Highway 113 Fire, which has consumed about 8,000 acres.
LSU Ag Center
Pine trees sport dead, brown needles and charred bark in a forest along Lonzie Doyle Road near the Westport community in Rapides Parish on Sept. 5, 2023. This forest burned in the Highway 113 Fire, which has consumed about 8,000 acres.

School board members in East Baton Rouge Parish rejected a proposal to rehire Superintendent Sito Narcisse last week. Many are pointing to Narcisse’s proposed salary bump as one of the main reasons.

Charles Lussier reports on education for The Baton Rouge Advocate. He joins us for more on Narcisse’s rift with some newer board members and what might happen next.

According to a report from the LSU Ag Center, Louisiana’s agriculture and forests suffered $1.6 billion dollars worth of damage due to drought and excessive heat this past summer. The long months of record high temperatures and little rain not only impacted crop yields, but also led to animal health problems.

Two of the report’s authors, economist Kurt Guidry and forester Robbie Hutchins, join us to break down their findings and discuss potential solutions.

The Baton Rouge Area Chamber just released its 2024 economic outlook report. It highlights record-breaking numbers in terms of employment, household incomes, population and higher education enrollment. But it also finds the region struggles to keep young workers from leaving their jobs, and sometimes the state altogether.

BRAC Senior Vice President of Business Intelligence Andrew Fitzgerald joins us for more on the report and what it means for the economy in the capital region.

Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Karen Henderson. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber and assistant producer is Aubry Procell. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12 and 7 p.m. 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!

Karen Henderson is an award-winning journalist whose stories have aired nationally on NPR.
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.