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Behind The Lens episode 190:’A big one-time spending spree’

Reporter Nick Chrastil on the state's backlog of inmates awaiting transfer to the state's psychiatric hospital, Joshua Rosenberg on an ongoing Lake Maurepas project and Michael Isaac Stein how the city's managed its federal COVID relief funds.
by Carolyne Heldman

On this week’s episode, the state is struggling to find beds for inmates who’ve been found mentally incompetent to stand trial and are languishing, sometimes for months, in jails instead. 

Local residents and elected officials of the Lake Maurepas area gathered in Baton Rouge on Tuesday evening to voice opposition to a proposed project in which a Pennsylvania-based company would pump millions of tons of carbon dioxide under the lake.

And a new report from the Bureau of Governmental Research finds the majority of the $388 million dollars the city received in Covid relief has yet to be spent.

Our guests this week are Lens reporters Nick Chrastil, Joshua Rosenberg, Michael Isaac Stein and editor Marta Jewson. 

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Carolyne Heldman

Carolyne Heldman has been in media for 35 years, most recently as Executive Director at an NPR member station in Colorado where she was responsible for new multi-platform content initiatives, strategic planning, research, branding, and non-traditional revenue generation. During her tenure she also created and launched four weekly news, public affairs and cultural affairs programs and monthly live Town Hall broadcasts. Heldman moved to New Orleans last summer with her husband and canine companion and they live happily in The Marigny.

View all posts by Carolyne Heldman