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Louisianans with disabilities concerned over new absentee voting laws; Black Opry celebrates Black musicians in country music

The Louisiana State House in Baton Rouge
Kezia Setyawan
/
WWNO
The Louisiana State House in Baton Rouge

On Aug. 1, a slew of new laws passed by the state legislature in the spring will go into effect. Among them are sweeping changes to Louisiana’s absentee voting system, and many are worried this will make it tougher to vote by mail for November’s elections.

Times Picayune/The Advocate’s Megan Friedmann tells us more about these laws and why critics are concerned. Then, WWNO and WRKF’s Matt Bloom speaks with Andrew Bizer, a lawyer for Disability Rights Louisiana, to hear why his advocacy group has filed a lawsuit.

Historically, the images associated with the country music genre don’t include the contributions of Black artists. The Black Opry Revue is shedding light on those contributions by celebrating the role Black musicians have played in the folk, country and Americana genres.

Black Opry Revue founder Holly G tells us about her desire to to make a space for underrepresented voices in country music, and how the event will give opportunities for Black country musicians to share both their songs and their stories.

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

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon 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.