01/18 Monday: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Former LSU Coach Skip Bertman, and Commissioner Jay Dardenne

HOUR ONE: 

Raymond Jetson 

Raymond Jetson is a Baton Rouge Reverend.  Raymond was elected to the Louisiana Legislature in 1984 and served until 1999. In 1994, Raymond became the fourth pastor of Star Hill.  Under his leadership the congregation has grown to more than 1,500 members and is  continually recognized for its impact on the local community.  Raymond served as CEO for the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps in the coordination of local, state and national efforts to connect people and families with the resources needed to return, recover and resume their lives after surviving disastrous situations.  Raymond served as the state Representative for District 61 in the Louisiana House of representatives for 15 years.  Pastor Jetson has served as a source for media outlets including USATODAY, The New York Times, NBC Nightly News, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy.  

He remembers the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. today in celebration. 

Skip Bertman

Skip Bertman is a former baseball coach for LSU.  He discusses how to achieve goals in 2016 and political team building.  

Phyllis Horne

Phyllis Horne is the owner and CEO of Horne Creative in DC.  Her clients include the FBI and Indian Affairs.  The Louisiana inventor shares an idea to shelf process.  

HOUR TWO:

Jay Dardenne

Jay Dardenne is the Commissioner of Administration for Louisiana.  He is the former Lieutenant Governor.  He discusses the budget.  Dardenne also comments on taxes, tuition, and tags increases. 

Nick Bruno

Dr. Nick Bruno is the President of ULM.  He explains what cuts have done to ULM and programs in the last several years.  ULM has gone from being 70% state funded to 70% tuition funded.  The state only gives 24 million dollars now.  

Richard Lipsey

Richard Lipsey is a member of the Baton Rouge Board of Regents.  He comments on the Jindal administration's cuts to higher education and the Stelly Plan.  He also gives his suggestions on how to pull Louisiana out of the fiscal crisis. 

01/15 Friday: Climate Science, Friday Flashback with Former Coach Mack Brown, Principal of McKinley

HOUR ONE: 

Michael Mann

Michael E. Mann directs the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University and is the author of “The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches From the Front Lines.”  He discusses  his article in The New York Times: The Assault on Climate Science. 

Mann says 97-100% of scientists believe "that climate change is real and human caused."  He also asserts that 2015 will go as the warmest year on record in the warmest decade on record.  

Friday Flashback

Jim remembers the career of former football coach Mack Brown in this week's "Friday Flashback."  He discusses the tense rivalry that thrived between Tulane and LSU. 

HOUR TWO: 

Dr. Herman Brister Jr. 

Dr. Herman Brister Jr. is the Principal of McKinley Magnet School.  Dr. Brister gives an account of President Obama's visit to Baton Rouge and the town hall meeting at McKinley.  "It was an honor for our community," he says, "He's a very down to earth person...very personable." 

01/14 Thursday: Rising Tide of Mississippi River with John Barry, Louisiana House Speaker Election, Budget, and Powerball

HOUR ONE: 

John Barry

John Barry is football coach turned writer and author of two books: Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State and the Birth of Liberty and Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America.  Barry shares the latter given the recent rising of the Mississippi River once again. 

Franklin Foil

Franklin Foil is the Representative for District 70.  He is a Republican.  Foil comments on the recent election of the House Speaker and gives his opinion of the effect on the new governor.  He also discusses the budget and the special legislative session. 

HOUR TWO: 

Rose Hudson

Rose Hudson is the President and CEO of Louisiana Lottery.  Hudson joined Louisiana Lottery as it was starting up during the Buddy Roemer administration after serving as a legislative fiscal analyst.  She comments on the Powerball winners and the process behind it.  Thirty-five percent of the lottery goes to K-12 education, though none goes to higher education.  "We retain about nine million dollars a year in unclaimed money," Hudson says. 

01/13 Wednesday: Con Artists, Rolling Stone Interview of Mexican Drug Lord, Football Great Bert Jones, and Saying Goodbye to Bobby Jindal

HOUR ONE: 

Maria Konnikova

Maria is a contributing writer for The New Yorker, where she writes a regular column with a focus on psychology and culture, and is currently working on an assortment of non-fiction and fiction projects. Her first book, Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes (Viking/Penguin, 2013), was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into eighteen languages. It was nominated for the Agatha Award and the Anthony Award for Best Non-fiction and was a Goodreads People’s Choice Semifinalist for 2013. Her second book, The Confidence Game, is scheduled for publication by Viking/Penguin on January 12, 2016.

Jerry Ceppos

Jerry Ceppos is the Dean of the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication.  He discusses the ethics of Sean Penn's Rolling Stone Interview of the Mexican Drug Lord.  Ceppos condemns Penn, stating he would have given the actor/director an "F" for his writing.  He also comments on the Iowa Caucus.  

HOUR TWO: 

Bert Jones 

Bert Jones is a former LSU quarterback.  Jones is one of 14 players in the College Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2016.  He remembers his athletic career with Jim. 

Mark Ballard

Mark Ballard is the editor of The Advocate Capitol news bureau covering Louisiana government and politics.  He and Jim discuss his recent article, Political Horizons: Perks like free groceries, laundry come with the job of Louisiana governor, but they fade fast.  Ballard comments on the budget mess and the challenges Governor Edwards now faces.  He also gives his opinion on the new House Speaker. 

01/12 Tuesday: Governor John Bel Edwards, Nick Saban and Alabama, and Rising Crime in Baton Rouge

HOUR ONE: 

Mary Patricia Wray

Mary Patricia Wray is the former Director of Communications for Governor John Bel Edwards.  She is also the owner of Top Drawer Strategies.  She comments today on Governor Edwards transition and his first political disappointment as his House Speaker choice was not elected.  "He is extremely focused on work all the time... but he doesn't stop learning and growing," Wray says of Edwards. 

Michelle Southern

Michelle Southern is the Assistant News Director and a Producer at Louisiana Radio Network.  She gives her opinion on former LSU football coach Nick Saban.  "It's like when your husband leaves you for your best friend, who becomes a supermodel," Southern says. 

HOUR TWO: 

Hillar Moore 

Hillar Moore is the District Attorney for Baton Rouge.  He comments on rising crime in the area in and around LSU.  "The lack of education... has a lot to do with where we are," Moore says on crime.  He also asserts that "Faith based organizations do play a significant part," in crime prevention. 

01/11 Monday: Inauguration of Governor John Bel Edwards, Wealth Gap in the U.S., and the Budget Chaos

HOUR ONE: 

Marsanne Golsby

Marsanne Golsby was the former Press Secretary to Governor Mike Foster.  She discusses the inaugural of John Bel Edwards earlier today.  Golsby asserts that Edwards is starting off with a political challenge as he loses his choice for Speaker of the House. 

"If you're asking me if President Obama is coming to Louisiana because we have a new Democrat for our governor?" Golsby says, "Probably."  

Paul Kiel

Paul Kiel is ProPublica reporter who covers consumer finance.  He discusses his article in The New York Times, Debt and the Radical Wealth Gap.  "The average black family makes 60% of what the average white family earns." 

HOUR TWO: 

Tom Aswell

Tom Aswell is the publisher of Louisiana Voice. He comments on this morning's governor inauguration of John Bel Edwards.  "I think he might be a one term governor," Aswell says of Edwards," Unless something drastic happens."  Aswell also remembers the late C.B. Forgotston and his predictions of Bobby Jindal's political aspirations. 

Jeremy Alford

Jeremy Alford is the publisher and editor of LaPolitics.com.  He also comments on John Bel Edwards's inauguration and President Obama's visit later this week.  "It seems like he <Obama> is coming down to Louisiana to support John Bel Edward's expansion of Medicaid."