I recently had the opportunity to visit Norco, Louisiana, a city in the heart of so-called "Cancer Alley," a region in the United States with some of the highest rates of cancer.  This episode tells the tragic history of Norco as well as showing what it looks like today. I have made this episode as a way to bring these injustices to your attention.   

If you or someone you know is facing an injustice or a challenge that others need to know about, please comment below and contact me. I'd love to make a segment to bring that to the attention of the world.  I would like to thank the Louisiana Bucket Brigade for showing me around Norco and telling me the history of the area and bringing the tragedies to my attention so I can educate and inform others.   

Below are my references that I have used to make this , in addition to the narrative shared with me by Sheila of the Bucket Brigade.  This episode is the first in the new 'It's Not So Late Show' series: Changemakers, a series dedicated to showing individuals, companies, nonprofits and other forces making a positive change in their community.

Sources Cited:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBPMVbAJ56c https://scphistory.org/education-update/ https://naspweb.com/blog/today-in-history-1988-louisiana-shell-explosion/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3546767/#:~:text=In%20Cancer%20Alley%2C%20the%20mean,air%20toxics%20in%20ambient%20air.  https://www.nps.gov/mamc/learn/historyculture/mary-mcleod-bethune.htm https://louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/search/mods_subject_geographic_ms%3A%2522Norco%20%28La.%29%2522 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116445614/1973-shell-pipeline-explosion-kills-16/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-XH_pNfLgM    Relaxing Chill Music | ARNOR by Alex-Productions | https://onsound.eu/Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Today I sat down with Augustana college president, Stephen Bahls, to talk about his upcoming retirement and look back at his career as president of a small liberal arts college. We discuss what goes into managing and running a college as well as some other fun events that he likes to show up to. As I learn it is a lot more than administrative work. We also talked about what is changed over 19 years and what he looks forward to seeing over the next president‘s career. And many other topics!

This week I was joined by Carole Baskin . You may have known her from the hit TV series on Netflix Tiger King. This interview and conversation I wanted to get beyond what the tiger king show said about her and I want to focus on Tigers and how Carole strives to end big cat petting. We talked about a lot in a short conversation including the fact that tigers are very susceptible to COVID-19. We also covered various forms of media such as a prank call interview and her cameo. Carole also talked about how she coined her phrase ‘hey all you cool cats and kittens’ and so much more! You don’t wanna miss this!

I am on the road today in Davenport Iowa at the Gypsy Highway bar and Grill for an exit interview with TJ Regul. He is a magician on TikTok who has over a quarter million followers and I just had to get him on the show. We chatted about his career in Magic as well as some of the events he’s been featured at and we also talked about the logistics of Magic and how Magic is done in a virtual setting. He also recently started to make balloon animals after his TickTock audience mentioned that he should, so we discussed how that’s going and what goes into making a balloon animal. It’s a lot more challenging that may seem. At the end TJ was kind enough to even showcase one of his cool magic tricks where he switched the bills in my hand without touching it. You can follow TJ at the_Quad_Cities_Magician on all socials!

Today I was joined by mama‘s boy all the way from New Zealand. Is a band composed of Ryan and Andrea Stokes, A mother and son band that started during quarantine when Ryan decided to teach his mom how to play drums. We talked about how they came to be and what they enjoy doing such as making TickTock videos. We also talked about the recent live shows that they have done around New Zealand as well as some media attention that they are gaining as a result of mama‘s boy. They even played purple haze by Jimi Hendrix for me during the shell for you to enjoy. It was really fun talking to them and I hope you enjoy our conversation. You can tell him via mamasboy on TikTok and mamas_boy_official on Instagram!

Ken Bone became a viral sensation at the 2016 Presidential Debate, and became known as the Red Sweater Guy. He joined the ‘It’s Not So Late Show’ to talk about his experiences at the debate as well as what it was like to be a viral superstar. He explains in our conversation that at times he had to be in more than one place at time, and other times had to deal with the police raiding his house and many other topics!

You can follow Ken on Twitter @KenBone18

Today's episode features Lathan, a 6 year old who has made some amazing moves in the Umpiring industry. He has been featured on ESPN Sports and Barstool for his incredible umpiring abilities. I spoke with him about what he foresees doing in the future and what it has been like to work with various teams on and off the field!

The funniest part of our conversation was when Lathan's tooth fell out! You don't want to miss that! 

You can follow Lathan on social media under the name @lathantheekidumpire for more content! 

This week we are joined by Kody Hildebrand, also known as HildebrandMagic on TikTok. He is a magician who has won Connecticut's Got Talent and appears at various events around the world. He joined the “It’s Not So Late Show” to talk about how and why he became a magician and talked about how beginner magicians can learn how to perform tricks. He even performed a few magic tricks at the end of the show so stay tuned for those!

Freddy's Pizzaria owner Joe Quercia... talks about how he and his wife Ann Marie launched the popular west suburban Italian bakery. The bakery located at 16th Street and 61st Avenue in suburban Cicero offers a wide range of freshly made Italian favorites including Italian subs, chicken limone, raviolis, pizzas and favorites like tavolata, garbanzo bean salads, and freshly made gelatos and Italian ice.  Host Aaron Hanania gives you a front row table at one of the best and most popular luncheon spots in Chicagoland.

Nine time Emmy Award winning weatherman Paul Konrad talks about his career from news reporting to meteorology, his colleagues, and why the combination of serious news reporting and a strong edge of humor has made WGN's morning news show the top-rated news program in Chicagoland during an appearance on this weeks episode of the "It's Not So Late Show" with Aaron Hanania.