THURSDAY: Mark Ballard, John Treen, and Mona Simpson

HOUR ONE: 

Mark Ballard from The Advocate joins the show to discuss the challenges Governor Jindal will face in his final months in office.  "It would be about 60 thousand dollars if we docked his pay," Ballard says of Jindal's frequent absences.  He continues, commenting on the budget cuts to higher education.  "There's probably going to be an increase in fees." 

Recent AP news about 150 million dollars to healthcare and 376 million to higher education in tax credits.  Louisiana is over a billion dollars in projected debt.  Ballard says that Jindal is now looking at refundable tax credits.  "He has to balance the budget without everyone hating him... but he can't add new taxes." 

Jim says, "I think they both have healthy assessments of themselves..." of David Vitter and Bobby Jindal.  

"Everything all these politicians say is tainted by their partisanship," Ballard comments.  

Jay Dardenne is the only candidate for governor of Louisiana in favor of Common Core. 

"I kind of saw him running for president from the very beginning," Ballard says of Governor Jindal.  

HOUR TWO: 

Author Mona Simpson comments on her new book, Casebook, about children who spy on their parents through high tech walkie talkies.  

Long time David Vitter critic, John Treen says the Louisiana senior U.S. senator is the front runner in the October 24th Gubernatorial primary.  He is the only politician to ever have been defeated by David Duke.  "I never committed the original sin of being a democrat," Treen jokes.

"I've been told there is another scandal coming about concerning Vitter," Treen says.  He refuses further comment.  

Dean of the Louisiana Republican Party John Treen met David Vitter in 1989.  

Treen comments on the 1989 race in which he was defeated by David Duke.  He says, "It was probably better for me that I didn't win, maybe not for the state, but for me."  "He lied about me, that's how he won that election," Treen says.  

"I don't think you should be so beholden to your party that you blindly vote for whomever candidate they have," Treen says.  He discusses his past voting history on both sides of the aisle.  "I think Romney is one of the best candidates we've ever had."  He argues that experience is the most needed quality for an executive position candidate.  

"One of the things the Republican parties need to do is reach out to the African American community."

He also asserts the troubles with our education system and what can be done to better it.  "I think that taxes are absolutely essential... now to what degree?" Treen comments. 

WEDNESDAY: Alvin Augustus Jones, Lamar White, and Robert Adley

HOUR ONE: 

Dr. Alvin Augustus Jones discusses racial discrimination and the need for a positive African American movement.  He asserts that young black americans need positive role models to be more prevalent.  "You can do a plethora of things other than a rapper or a 'gangsta,'" Jones says.  

Dr. Jones recalls a story from his youth in which he was approached by a white officer, and he knew to "tone the situation down not escalate it."  He says there is a lack of accountability and responsibility.  He argues that young people living out the themes of rap music and pop culture.  "We have to let these young people see a diversity of options, not just rap, not just sports." 

Celebrated blogger of central Louisiana Lamar White Jr. joins the show to discuss Bill Cassidy and the report on his finances that recently came out about his 20 thousand dollar salary from LSU.  He says, "It was a good day for him, and a bad day for LSU."  They debate whether Bill Cassidy should continue work as a physician while he is a congressman.  

HOUR TWO: 

Senator Robert Adley, Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee comments on the budget cuts and the effect they will have on roads and bridges in Louisiana.  He will also comment on the Keystone Pipeline.

The budget for the transportation committee has recently been cut $22 million.  He continues, further explaining the debt crisis and how it is negatively impacting the transportation budget.  "There are bridges that are going to be closing down because they are unsafe because we've not got to that 80/20 match."  80% of the budget should be coming from the federal government.  Adley says the budget needs $70 million dollars.

Robert Adley served in Vietnam.  "I believe every man and woman ought to serve some service in their military... It's going down, and I regret that."  He briefly comments on Brian William's recent scandal.  

TUESDAY: Tuomo Reinkinen, Pat Smith, and Phil Preis

HOUR ONE: 

Dr. Tuomo Rankinen joins the show from Pennington Biomedical Center to discuss an ongoing study on genes related to obesity.  In the 1960s, the average American male weight was 160 lbs.  Now, the average weight is nearly 200 lbs.  The average male waist size is 40 inches.  "Abdominal obesity is more dangerous to your health than fat accumulation on your hips," Rankinen says.  He asserts that in this study, more than one hundred markers have been found to be linked to obesity.  

State Representative Pat Smith says Governor Jindal should drop his salary.  She asserts that the state is in a crisis.  "I think he's just left Louisiana in the dust and is on the way to bigger and better things he thinks he'll get to," Smith says of Governor Jindal.  

"When you look at the amount of money he spends on state police that go with him everywhere he goes," Smith continues, "it's a lot of money." 

"Unless we cut TOPS or decouple it from tuition we will be a bankrupt state," Representative Smith concludes.  

HOUR TWO: 

Lawyer and two time Louisiana Gubernatorial candidate says Louisiana should dump the 250 million dollar TOPS program.  He ran for governor in 1995 and 1999.  The TOPS program costs over 250 million dollars.

"TOPS is bad government policy as it relates to LSU... it's such a politically popular program," Preis says.  "They should do away with it across the board... make need based scholarships."  

He argues that students should have a 3.8 average and a financial need to receive a scholarship from the government.  He debates with a caller, Chancellor Wharton about whether the Louisiana should keep the TOPS program and the implications of the alternative.  "To suggest people won't go there because it's not free?" Preis argues Wharton, "I just don't believe that." 

Phil Preis comments on the Common Core standard.  "Common Core is nothing more than an ACT test that is given at the end of each grade... however, it is absolutely 100% the best solution right now," he affirms strongly.  

MONDAY: Jim Donelon and Jim Nickel

HOUR ONE: 

Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon gives his assessment of Obamacare nearly 5 years after the Affordable Care Act.

Donelon shares that his staff will have to be reduced from 250 (formerly 275) to 210 by July 1 because of the budget crisis.  He deems the budget crisis to have been caused by, "unreasonable bloating and unreasonable tax cutting measures to fund other priorities... that are not as worthy."  

53% of rebate money goes unclaimed.  The penalty for lacking health insurance is 1% of the household income.  184,532 Louisianians are enrolled in government healthcare.  A listener questions the government funded healthcare regarding the closing of a Baton Rouge Emergency Room.  

"We have seen significant improvements in higher education," Donelon says.  "LSU is struggling to keep the best and brightest of its faculty members because of the budget cuts."  

HOUR TWO: 

Lobbyist Jim Nickel weighs in on the influence of lobbyists at the State Capitol.  He also discusses the candidates for governor and the comments by John Bel Edwards from Friday's show.  

David Vitter has more money in his campaign than all of his components combined.  "I think we have four really good candidates for governor," Nickel says, commenting on the industrious nature of each man and their knowledge of Louisiana.  "The governor has made it crystal clear that he will veto any tax/fee increase," Nickel says as to the lack of tax proposals by the legislature.

Nickel continues, discussing the budget crisis and how it will affect higher education and what solutions can be implemented to ease the problem.  He also speculates on who will be the 2016 presidential candidates.   

"There's no partisanship in Mardi Gras," Nickel says.  He also answers a question about Common Core.  "Common Core was the result of a group of governors working with business leaders to come up with a set of standards to keep in competition with the rest of the world." 

They comment on last night's Oscar performance by Lady Gaga in her tribute to Julie Andrews and The Sound of Music.  

"I'm so fond of him I can't say enough," Nickel says of Henson Moore.  

FRIDAY: John Wirt, David Diamond, John Bel Edwards

HOUR ONE: 

Film writer from the Advocate John Wirt comments on the nominees for the Academy Awards on Sunday night.  Wirt feels that Selma was not presented to enough film critics to gain the proper traction for a nomination.  He says the Imitation Game was the best film of the year.  Though he thinks Michael Keaton will win best actor, Wirt says it should got to Benedict Cumberbatch.  Wirt says, "Alan Turing was a hero in his own right."  

"I think Brian Williams got kind of carried away with his own celebrity," Wirt says of the recent misrepresentation scandal.

Reverend David Diamond and Investigative Journalist John Camp discuss the Jimmy Swaggart scandal on its 27th anniversary.  The tape of Jimmy Swaggart's confession to the world about his sex scandal is played.  

"I think he <Swaggart> was somewhat surprised with how kind I was to him," Camp says.

"I was there in the back rooms with him... you'd be surprised what goes on in some of those back rooms," Diamond says.  

They each comment on the wide reach Swaggart's ministry reaches through direct television.  

HOUR TWO: 

Representative John Bel Edwards shares his plan for Louisiana should he be elected governor.  He also comments on the campaign finance report.  

Edwards begins, calling the Louisiana budget a "hot mess."  He says, "Cutting higher education... we would be a generation trying to overcome the damage that would do to this state."  He comments on the recent comments that Governor Jindal should abstain from a salary.  

He comments on Medicaid and the amount of money hospitals need to be reimbursed.  

Louisiana has the lowest cigarette taxes in the region and the third lowest in the country.  Edwards says, "I would support a reasonable increase in cigarette taxes... such as the Texas average."  

Edwards did vote for the pay raise in 2008.  

"We really need to figure if TOPS Is a program we can continue to have," Edwards says.  "The one thing that everyone should understand... every year unless we do something different the deficit is anticipated for $1 billion." 

The representative calls David Vitter, "Jindal on steroids," and he calls Scott Angelle, "Jindal Incarnate." 

"I'm going to have the resources I need to wage a very good and competitive campaign," Edwards continues, "I'm running because dammit it's time we had a governor that put Louisiana first... Do we want a third Jindal term?"  

Representative Edwards graduated from West Point.  "When you jump out of airplanes at 2 in the morning for a living, it prepares you for things in life." 

THURSDAY: Jessica Jain, Faye Williams, Clay Young, Dietmar Rietschier, and David Melville

HOUR ONE: 

Actress and singer Jessica Jain joins the show to promote her upcoming performance at the Swine Palace.  She is a 2013 graduate of LSU.  Jain describes her first time driving onto LSU campus.  She said, "The trees spoke to me... does that make me sound crazy?"  She performs a song from an upcoming show.    

Dr. Faye Williams and Political Consultant Clay Young discuss the upcoming controversial visit of Reverend Jeremiah Wright to Southern University.  "It doesn't matter who the speaker is... Education should teach you how to think not what to think," Faye says.  "I personally don't think that any racially incendiary comments are helpful to anyone," Young says.

"It always seems to come down to a racial or poor people thing," Faye says of social security debates.  

HOUR TWO: 

Dietmar Rietschier joins us to recollect the Dresden bombings at the end of World War II.  He was two years old during the bombing, and his mother carried him away to safety.  He describes a fence his family had to climb over to escape the area being bombed.  "The intensity was such inside the city that the air was basically sucked in... like a hurricane."  

He remembers his mother fondly and the "little stories" she would tell him over the years.  

United Methodist Minister David Melville describes his experience running against John Fleming.  He remarks that retrospect has shown what little chance he had because of amount of money he did not have.  "Sometimes pastors are too naive, too passive," he says.  

John Fleming and Bill Cassidy announced his official support for David Vitter today.

David Melville is the director of Christ in the City.  

He feels that Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright goes "overboard."