Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain on his recent farming tour with Governor John Bel Edwards and prospects for trade with Cuba.
 
WAFB anchorwoman Donna Britt on plans for the holidays.
 
LSU Music Professors Brian Shaw and Bill Grimes on their performances next week at the Manship Theatre.
 

  LSU and MIT Physics Professor Rainer Weiss on winning the 2017 Nobel Prize for his work with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory in Livingston Parish. A discovery in September of 2015 confirmed a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 theory of relativity. 
 
Thomas Kochan, Professor of Work and Employment Research and Engineering Systems at MIT, comments on disparities between low income and high income individuals. 
 
Author Steven Johnson discusses his latest work, Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World.
 

  Guest host Julie Baxter Payer discusses with Livingston Parish President Layton Ricks developments in the parish over the last year, including the failure of two drainage taxes proposed recently and what is coming up in 2018. 
 
Baton Rouge blues musician Larry Garner, who has gained international acclaim throughout Europe joins the conversation with Julie. He talks about why his songs appeal to European audiences and his experiences there. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Today's Talk Louisiana show is an encore presentation of Jim's show with Political Consultant James Carville.

Steve Cochran of the Restore Mississippi River Delta coalition joins the discussion to talk about their new best of the best recommendations from the new State Master Plan for restoring and preserving Louisiana's coast. 

Kyle Dacuyan, Senior Manager of Literary Outreach & Activism at PEN American, comments on fake news.

  Music and film writer John Wirt on the death of many legends of music this year, most recently David Cassidy and Mel Tillis. Others who died in 2017 include Fats Domino, Glen Campbell and Gregg Allman.
 
Mark Ballard, Capitol Bureau Chief for the Advocate, on the sudden resignation of the deputy chief of staff for Governor John Bel Edwards. Johnny Anderson has left his post amid allegations of sexual misconduct. The governor spoke about the issue of sexual harassment on his radio show this week. We will hear his remarks once again.
 
 
 
 

  Veteran Anchorman George Sells, who was the top rated anchor at WAFB in Baton Rouge for 24 years, reflects on allegations of sexual misconduct against many prominent men. The latest revelations center of Charlie Rose, the award-winning journalism fired by both CBS and PBS amid charges of inappropriate actions with employees at the networks.
 
Vincent Bugliosi, the famed prosecutor who wrote Helter Skelter, was a guest on August 8, 2014, the 45th anniversary of the deaths of Sharon Tate and six others at her Los Angeles home. Bugliosi died in June of 2015 at 81, and the man he prosecuted successfully, Charles Manson, died Sunday in a California prison at 83. We will hear from Bugliosi in an encore interview shortly before his death.

  WAFB reporter/anchor Kevin Frey on the collision of wills between the Legislature and the Governor’s office as we approach 2018 and the fiscal cliff slated for July 1st. Frey is the station’s capitol correspondent.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  Fairleigh Jackson of Preserve Louisiana on the tax bill approved by the U.S. House which eliminates a federal tax credit for historic preservation. Jackson says most of the recent renovations in downtown Baton Rouge would not have been accomplished without the tax incentive.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  Smiley Anders, the six day a week columnist for the Advocate for the past 38 years, celebrates his 80th birthday on Talk Louisiana.
 
Tyler Bridges, Pulitzer Prize winning writer for the Advocate, remembers the most talked about play in college football history. Thirty-five years ago, California beat Stanford 25-20 in John Elway’s last game for Stanford on a wild kickoff return on the game’s final play.
 

  Louisiana native and LSU graduate Donna Brazile discusses her book detailing the Hillary Clinton campaign of 2016. Brazile will reflect on what went wrong in the final days of Secretary Clinton’s bid for the White House and will also talk about a host of prominent politicians being engulfed in sex scandals.
 
Vastine Stabler of Swine Palace Theatre at LSU comments on “The Mountaintop.” The production, which details the final day of life for Martin Luther King, is now playing. We will visit with actors Curtis Wiley, who plays Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Sara Osi Scott, who plays the mysterious maid Camae.
 
Gary Mossor from Blue Cross Blue Shield Louisiana on the annual enrollment deadline for Medicare.
 

  Former State Representative and candidate for Treasurer, John Schroder, will be with us. Schroder is in a runoff to succeed John Kennedy. His opponent in Saturday’s election is Democrat Derrick Edwards.
 
Advocate Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Ballard opines on the number of elections in Louisiana and the prospect of a low turnout for Saturday’s statewide election. The turnout in Orleans Parish to select a successor to Mayor Mitch Landrieu could represent 30 percent of the overall vote.