State Representative Royce Duplessis and Peter Robins-Brown, Communications Director for the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice on House Bill 422, which would repeal the state preemption of local  control of minimum wage and family and sick leave policies. Mark Ballard, Capitol Bureau Chief for the Advocate, notes that social issues remain vibrant in the Legislature and Ballard assesses the Louisiana Senate reaction to Attorney General Bill Barr’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee of which John Kennedy is a member. Jason Baumann of the New York Public Library reflects on the 50 year anniversary of the historic Stonewall uprising.

Advocate Editor Peter Kovacs comments on the Pulitzer Prize won by the newspaper last month on the sixth anniversary of the change of ownership of the state’s largest newspaper. Conservative Activist, Colonel Rob Maness, surveys the national and local political landscape with Attorney General William Barr testifying before Congress and the Louisiana Legislature weighing the merits of capital punishment.

Businesswoman Beverly Brooks Thompson talks about her quest to succeed Dan Claitor in the Louisiana Senate. Claitor is term limited with two GOP House members, Steve Carter and Franklin Foil, vying for the post in the October 12 primary. Thompson is a Democrat who helped spearhead the Forever LSU Campaign which raised almost 800 million dollars for the university. Glenn Guilbeau, LSU beat writer who works for the USA Today Network, surveys new allegations of wrongdoing against embattled LSU Basketball Coach Will Wade. Author Thomas Lockley discusses his book, “African Samurai,” a true story of a legendary black warrior in feudal Japan.

Political strategist Mary Patricia Wray and LSU-Shreveport Political Scientist Jeff Sadow examine the politics of the Equal Rights Amendment in the Louisiana Legislature. Last week, a Senate panel advanced the measure on a party line vote 47 years after the Louisiana Senate approved ERA on a 25-13 vote. The Louisiana House killed the measure in 1972. Dr. Fiona Citkin, a Fulbright scholar from Ukraine, reflects on immigration in America. Her book “How They Made it in America” focuses on women who immigrated from 16 different countries, including Ivana Trump from the Czech Republic

Veteran Associated Press Reporter Beth Gardiner comments on her book “Choked: Life and Breath in the Age of Air Pollution.” Gardiner says research shows that air pollution prematurely kills seven million people every year. Jan Moller, President of the Louisiana Budget Project,  discusses issues of importance at the State Capitol: Medicaid Reform, Minimum Wage, Equal Pay and the Equal Rights Amendment. We go to the vault for an interview with Jazz legend Pete Fountain and Public Relations giant Gus Weill on the day that New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt died. Hirt’s death was on April 27, 1999 at 76. He and Fountain played at the original New Orleans Jazz Fest in 1970.

Fabled Political Consultant Raymond Strother chimes in on the announcement that Joe Biden will run for president, the fallout from the release of the Mueller Report a week ago today and 20 years since the death of New Orleans trumpet legend Al Hirt. Mark Ballard, Capitol Bureau Chief for The Advocate, reflects on sports betting prospects in the Legislature, the admission by Senator Karen Carter Peterson of her gambling addiction and budget maneuvering during the session.

Louisiana Family Forum Executive Director Gene Mills reviews legislation to allow sports betting in Louisiana. University of Kentucky Law Professor Joshua A. Douglas makes the case for more access to voting in America and the stopping of gerrymandering.

Louisiana Parole Project Executive Director Andrew Hundley comments on criminal justice reform in the state. Conservative Commentator Quin Hillyer, former top aide to Congressman Bob Livingston, sounds off about the Mueller Report. Washington Post Editorial Board member Charles Lane discusses his book “Freedom’s Detective, the Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the Man Who Masterminded America’s First War on Terror.” The work focuses on Hiram Whitley, who as head of the Secret Service chased down the KKK.

LSU Professors Nancy Isenberg and Andrew Burstein on the cult of personality and U.S. Presidents dating to John and John Quincy Adams. Their book is “The Problem with Democracy.” Dr. Steven Gundry, Director of the International Heart and Lung Institute in California, discusses his book “The Longevity of Paradox, How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age." Alexandria native Faye Williams, head of the National Congress of Black Women, assesses calls for impeachment of the president and the impact of music depicting women with vulgarity.

Investigative Reporter Dan Moldea, the journalist who exposed the sex scandals of Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingston and David Vitter, comments on the release of the redacted 448-page Mueller Report. Board members Greg Davis and Linda Johnson of the T.M. Landry College Preparatory School in Breaux Bridge assess the investigation into the small private school that gained national attention for sending underserved black students to elite colleges nationwide.