TUESDAY: Louisiana Cooking, The Gridiron Show, and Governor Jindal

HOUR ONE: 

Author Maggie Richardson joins us to share her book Hungry for Louisiana.  "A year long celebration of food with a specific to each season really makes us unique," Richardson says.  The book has eighteen recipes through a food narrative with light history.  Louisiana has 400 festivals, most are food centric.  Maggie Richardson writes for the Baton Rouge Business Report.  

Director Ronnie Stutes comments on The Gridiron Show.  "We are the longest continually running show."  It has been on 64 years.  Tickets are at gridironshowbr@yahoo.com for $25.  "Drew Brees will be played by Smiley Anders."  Jim comments that Jeremy White looks "a lot like the portrait of Governor Jindal."   "We want to make sure we are taking valid portrayals," Stutes says.  

Red Shtick Publisher Jeremy White also joins us in studio to comment on The Gridiron Show in which he plays Governor Bobby Jindal.  "We've got to have the only governor in America to deliver a baby and perform an exorcism," Jim comments.  White asks, "Is there a Republican running for president using their real first name?"  The prayer rally will be covered in The Gridiron Show. 

HOUR TWO: 

Associate Professor Jeff Sadow and Political Consultant Tom Aswell discuss the era of Governor Jindal.  Sadow definitely thinks Governor Jindal is running for president, "All signs pointing in that direction right now."  Sadow says, "I would say up for the first six and a half years... he's transformed the state more than any other governor."  He compares them to Huey Long and Edwin Edwards.  

"He's put this state decades behind the rest of the country," Aswell says, "There's nothing good about Louisiana... and this guy is at the helm of the ship."  He comments, "We cannot allow Grover Norquist to have say in our state." 

Louisiana has the third lowest cigarette tax in the United States.  

They discuss the budget crisis and the upcoming legislative session.  

"It sounds a little crass, but smoking saves in healthcare costs," Sadow says.  Aswell comments, "We can't have people living longer, now can we?" 

"The sales tax is a very regressive tax.  It works against the poor," Aswell says.  

A listener refers to Charles Blow's recent column.  

"I think a lot of the controversy surrounding Common Core is overblown," Dr. Sadow says.

"He has a very thin skin," Aswell says of David Vitter regarding the alleged assault against Mercedes Hernandez. 

MONDAY: Candidate for Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser and Author Raymond Strother

HOUR ONE:

Candidate for Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser discusses his campaign for Lieutenant Governor.  "I feel I could work with any of the people running <for governor>." Nungesser says.  
He has lost 100 pounds from a sleeve surgery.  "If you stand up for the right thing, you can make a lot of changes."  

Jim asks for the importance of the position of Lieutenant Governor since many have suggested doing away with the office.  Nungesser asserts its importance.  He says, "We need to utilize all of our rivers and waterways... it <the Lieutenant Governor position> is what you make it."  

Nungesser suggests that the Republican Party is here to stay.  "I think it's a trend that has taken off here in Louisiana." 

"I think what sets me apart from my opponents is my passion... people who do everything physically possible to make this state a better place." 

He comments on his position on the proposed inventory tax.  Nungesser says that the way to solve the budget is to cut "wasteful spending," and he says that "everything must be on the table." 

He is good friends with Kevin Costner.  

Nungesser says, "Please honor our veterans and go out and vote." 

Son of the great boxing writer, Journalist Mark Kram, Jr. has been covering sports nationally for many years.  He remembers NFL legend Chuck Bednarik.   

HOUR TWO: 

Author and political consultant Raymond Strother comments on Governor Jindal's presidential quest.  He has written books about the genesis of the political consultant.  "We've been partially responsible for the increase in spending in campaigns," Strother says of political consultants.  

He spent a year in the Governor's mansion with Buddy Roemer.  Strother handled most of Bill Clinton's campaigns for governor in Arkansas.  

"I didn't graduate from Northwestern University, I was kicked out for political activity." 

They discuss the cover of The New York Times and Bobby Jindal's chances for the presidential nomination.  "I've never thought he was a viable candidate." 

Strother comments on The New York Times article.  

"I think you're in tough shape when you lose Fox News."

Strother remembers his time working with former president Bill Clinton and former vice president Al Gore.  

FRIDAY: LSU Budget, The Greek System and SAE, and Buddy Amoroso and Darrell Ourso

HOUR ONE: 

Boyd Professor J. Gerald Kennedy joins us in studio to discuss LSU and Flannery O'Connor and his works on Edgar Allen Poe.  

"He is a writer who continues to be very contemporary," Kennedy says, "I think today he would be diagnosed as bipolar."  Poe was not a lifelong drug and alcohol abuser as commonly believed.  

Dr. Kennedy says he feels that after Flannery O'Connor was diagnosed with lupus her writing improved tremendously.  "It really crystalized the urgency for her work."  He continues, "You can't read Flannery O'Connor without cracking up."  LSU will celebrate her 90th birthday at Barnes and Nobles at 3 pm on March 22nd.  

Editor in Chief of the Reveille Chandler Rome and graduate student Joseph Hollands comment on the SAE fraternity scandal and the article in the Reveille about how this relates to LSU Greek Life.  

Hollands says, "You were going to either be a black Greek or nothing at all... and even if you were accepted by the white Greeks, would you still be accepted by your own people in general?" 

"It was mandated that they had to take a certain amount <of minorities>," Rome says as he tells a story of a sorority alumni board rejecting a qualified girl because she was African American.  

"People are labeled Greek or non Greek," Hollands says, "When running for student government positions, you start counting votes on whose Greek or not."  

"I don't see much <hostility and division> between Greeks and non Greeks," Rome says, "it's an unspoken division."

HOUR TWO: 

Republican councilman Buddy Amoroso and former councilmanDarrell Ourso join the show to debate their views before the District 66 election on March 28th.  

"I will not raise taxes on the hardworking taxes of Louisiana, I will not expand Obamacare," Amoroso begins, "Education is a yes to competition and a no to Common Core."

"The BESE board is our constitutionally charged office to deal with Common Core," Ourso says, asserting that it is not the governor's issue.  "We need to amend our state constitutions to allow for independent school districts." 

 They both support St. George.  

"I have never said that I am for expanding Obamacare," Ourso says.  He continues, "No, I'm not signing the pledge<Grover Norquist>.  I'm not saying I'm for taxes, but we have to look at all options."

"I give the Governor an A+ when he's in the state," Amoroso says.

"We don't have a revenue problem," Amoroso says, "We have a spending problem.  I'm opposed to raising new taxes." 

"You don't have the right to have a nondisclosure as a public official," Amoroso says. 

They comment on the Fairness Ordinance. 

"We need to give autonomy to universities to have control over their tuitions," Ourso says. 

"We need to protect LSU as our flagship school," Amoroso says.  

THURSDAY: Hemp, Coastal Erosion, University Tuition, and Insurance Commissioner

HOUR ONE: 

Chris Boucher joins us from California to discuss his hemp company, Cannavest.  "The word cannabis means canvas."  Boucher sent Jim a small container of hemp oil.  "Hemp oil is legal in all fifty states."  He comments on marijuana, "I think it's a states' rights issue at this point."  Boucher also says that the legalization of marijuana will decrease the amount of prisoners and therefore income for prisons.  

Spokesperson for the Coalition of Coastal Erosion Restoration for Louisiana Jimmy Frederick comments on what's being done to save the Louisiana coastline.  "We work to reconnect the Mississippi River to its wetlands."  Frederick says, "Just last year we planted 265,000 plants."  16 miles are lost each year to coastal erosion.  

Representative Franklin Foil discusses the recent Reveille story about a university's ability to change tuition prices.  "What I'm trying to do is give colleges the ability to raise fees in courses as they see fit," Foil says, "to give the university some flexibility as opposed to coming to the legislature for permission."   

Representative Foil comments on TOPS and says that he likes the TOPS program, but he thinks the GPA requirement should be higher. 

He thinks that the BESE Board should be the ones addressing any Common Core issues.  

Foil did not sign the Grover Norquist tax pledge.

"If there is any raising of a cigarette tax, we're going to have to make sure that money goes to higher education or healthcare."

Foil shares his new bill called the Able Act.  

HOUR TWO: 

Former Insurance Commissioner and Secretary of State Jim Brown shares his career in political life and his views on current events.  

"I was on a plane once with Edwin Edwards flying the plane dedicating a new hospital, and the door actually flew open."  

"<Mike Foster> He was very involved compared to Governor Jindal quite frankly."  

"If you're an American citizen, you're child ought to be conceived here," Jim Brown says.  He comments further on illegal aliens.  

Brown gives his opinion on the controversy surrounding higher education and the budget.  He calls Jindal "irresponsible" in his handling of the budget.  

"They all should do it," Brown says enthusiastically as he discusses the private email scandal with Hillary Clinton.  "Every major republican out there has done the same thing." 

He comments on the new change Facebook made, which allows users of the messenger app to send money from their debit cards to each other.  

WEDNESDAY: Meditation, Foreign Policy, Sale of Louisiana Lottery, Budget, The Gridiron Show

HOUR ONE: 

Author Christina Crook shares her book The Joy of Missing Out: Finding Balance in a Wired World.  She discusses the nostalgia of hand written letters and comments on the strange and inappropriate places people are on their phones, such as funerals.  

Washington Journalist and Blogger Jim Lobe comments on his recent post about Senator Cotton.  "I do see him as being very consciously promoted by the neo-conservative movement," Lobe says of Cotton, "Cotton is clearly taking as much advantage as he can of the spotlight... he's very ambitious, and quite smart also."  One of Tom Cotton's professors at Harvard was Elizabeth Warren.  

State Treasurer John Kennedy comments on the reports that Governor Jindal will sell the Louisiana Lottery to balance the state budget.  Kennedy says, "The whole treasury is under a lot of pressure.  I wouldn't dangle 400, 500, or 700 million dollars in front of them right now."  He continues, "It'll take more than one legislative session to get out of this mess.  It took us seven years to get into it."  The treasurer confirms that there is irrefutable evidence that talks about selling the Louisiana Lottery are currently in the works.  

HOUR TWO: 

Executive Director of the Louisiana Democratic Party Stephen Handwerk discusses the GOP candidates and their strategic distancing from Governor Jindal.  "This governor seems to be conducting his own personal fire auction, and I wish I could say that it's surprising," Handwerk continues, "All he's doing is pailing water out of a sinking ship."  He also comments on Common Core.  He calls Senator David Vitter and Governor Bobby Jindal political "weathervanes."  He adds, "I don't know how anyone can swear an oath to office and then pledge to something like Grover Norquist."  Handwerk says, "Taxes are not popular, but you know what else is not popular?  Potholes!"  There is a report that Louisiana is 3rd in the country for unemployment.  Handwerk calls the three Republican candidates running for governor "minions." 

Lawyer and former Journalist Julie Baxter talks about the upcoming WAFB Gridiron Show.  It is a week from Friday and Saturday at the American Legions Hall.  The tickets are 25$.  The tables are for tables of ten.  "It's all in good humor," Baxter says, "though we have had some people get testy."  

"I think Mike and Alice Foster enjoyed it the most," she says.  

TUESDAY: Healthy Eating, WBRZ Program, Catholic Church, and Mike the Tiger

HOUR ONE: 

Author Alice Randall shares her book Soul Food Love: Healthy Eating Inspired By 100 Years of Cooking in a Black Family.  She studied under Julia Child and currently lives in Nashville writing country songs.  "I'm proud to say I live to eat, but I also want to eat to live."  She continues, "I'm grateful to my husband... no matter how big I got, he seemed to think I was pretty and beautiful."  

She also comments on her editorial in The New York Times, Black Women and Fat.  Randall says that reducing body weight by 5% reduces the risk for cancer.  Reducing the body weight by 10% reduces the risk for diabetes.

Randall comments, "How many white girls prayed for big thighs?" 

"I love our red bean and brown rice creole salad," Randall says, "These are accessible ingredients that we turn into wonderful food." 

She worked with Glen Campbell on country music.

Whitney Vann joins us from WBRZ to discuss her career and her new Sunday program.  "My dream job was to design my own television show."  

"Baton Rouge was the trailblazer for every bus boycott before Rosa Parks," Vann says.  That was in 1953.  

"I've had four co-anchors, but Leo Honeycutt was my first," Vann says.  

"I got to hold a hummingbird in the palm of my hand," she says, "can you imagine?" 

Vann comments on the recent Brian Williams scandal and asserts that she feels the network behaved appropriately.  

HOUR TWO: 

Author Dr. Garry Wills shares his book The Future of the Catholic Church with Pope Francis.  He was a Jesuit seminarian.  "The order was oppressed one time by the pope and when they came back they became super conservative in their training methods," Wills continues, "That was a lesson to me that the church often gets stuck at a certain point."  

"It <the Catholic Church> changes constantly," Will asserts.

"It's like being an American, there are great historical sins in our past... but we still love America... the same thing is true for the church."  

"The only original thing America has done is the separation of church and state," Wills says.  He recalls an interview with the Dalai Lama in which this was discussed.  

Paul Marks Jr. discusses his article in The Advocate about Mike the Tiger's reluctance to get into the cage to travel to games.  He was the caretaker of Mike the III from 1963 to 1965.  

He shares a story from when he was caretaker in which he took Mike the III from his habitat in the travel cage to his own home in the garage to save Mike from Ole Miss fans determined to harass the tiger the night prior to a game.  

"Nobody's trash talked about Mike that's for sure," Marks comments.  Tiger stadium is one of the only stadiums to be named not for a donor but for the mascot.