Monday: Remembering Ronald Reagan with Author Leo Honeycutt and Former LA State Representative Ron Gomez; Commander of the State Police Colonel Mike Edmonson

HOUR ONE

REMEMBERING RONALD REAGAN With Leo Honeycutt and ron Gomez

Jim remembers Ronald Reagan as it has been 25 years today since Reagan's commencement speech at an LSU graduation.  

Author and Journalist Leo Honeycutt comments on Reagan's legacy and shares his brushes with the late president in the Oval Office.  

Former LA State Representative from Lafayette Parish, Journalist, and Businessman Ron Gomez also remembers Reagan's commencement speech in Tiger Stadium 25 years ago.  "He wrote every one of those commentaries you hear back in the 80s," Gomez says of Reagan's radio commentaries.   

HOUR TWO

Mike Edmonson

From Left to Right: Lieutenant J. B. Slaton, Colonel Mike Edmonson, and Major Doug Cain

Colonel Mike Edmonson is the Commander of the Louisiana State Police.  They discuss human trafficking and the update to the New Orleans Police Department.  Col. Edmonson shares preventative measures the Louisiana State Police has taken in preventing crime, especially in New Orleans.  He also shares his recent trip to Rome in which he received information on human trafficking.  

Friday: Remembering B.B. King and Orson Welles, The Gumbo PAC Against Vitter and NY Times on Tom Brady

Producer: Frank Barnett

Hour One

Temple University Professor & Author Ralph Young

Temple University History Professor and Author of Dissent in America: The Voices That Shaped a Nation. Image Credit: www.vaclavhavel-library.org 

Ralph Young is a history professor at Temple University. He has done extensive research in the history of protest movements, terrorist organizations, and 17th-century Puritanism. He is the author of Dissent in America: The Voices That Shaped a Nation that is a compilation of primary documents written by American dissenters over the past four hundred years. Young has won several teaching awards at Temple University and has taught his Dissent in America seminar as a Fulbright Specialist at the University of Rome and at Charles University in Prague. 

 

Film Historian Joseph McBride

Legendary Film Director Orson Welles (left) and a young Joseph McBride (far right, in glasses). Image Credit: www.wsws.org

Joseph McBride is an American film historian, biographer, screenwriter and professor in the Cinema Department at San Francisco State University. He's the author of seventeen books, including two about Orson Welles entitled Orson Welles and What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career.

 

Johnny Palazotto & Herman Jackson

Blues Musician B.B. King. Image Credit: http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/362epg/rip_bb_king/

Johnny Palazotto and Herman Jackson join Jim in studio today to discuss the life and times of Blues musician B.B. King. King passed away peacefully in his sleep at 9:40 pm PT on Thursday, May 14, 2015. Rolling Stone Magazine lists B.B. at #6 on the top 100 Guitar Players of all time, but his impact on Blues is immeasurable. Herman Jackson, who frequently played with B.B., remembers the last time he played with King on stage in Chicago last October at the House of Blues; and Johnny reminisces on the time he first B.B. back stage before a concert.

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Hour Two

New York Times Sports Writer Jeré Longman

New York Times Sports Writer Jeré Longman. Image Credit: topics.nytimes.com

Jeré Longman has been a sports reporter for The New York Times since October 1993, covering a variety of international sports, primarily those of the Olympics. He grew up in Eunice, La., and received his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Louisiana State University in 1976. He joins Jim on the show today to discuss his take on Tom Brady and "Deflategate," and he tells Jim how he feels that what Tom Brady did was mere "gamesmanship" rather than cheating. 

Trey Ourso

Former Executive Director of the Louisiana Democratic Party, Trey Ourso. Image Credit: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/trey-ourso/b4/742/a52

Former Executive Director of the Louisiana Democratic Party, Partner at Ourso Beychok Inc., and Gumbo PAC head Trey Ourso joins us to talk about David Vitter. Vitter is the front runner to become the next Governor of Louisiana, but Trey Ourso and GumboPac are pushing to make sure Vitter does not get elected. Visit gumbopac.com for more information. 

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THURSDAY: "What is the point of a professor?"; "Meal or menace? No controversy in nutrition is bigger than wheat."; Honore For Governor?; Sex Selection; Gus Weill; Ember in the Ashes

Hour 1

Professor Mark Bauerlein

Mark Bauerlein, Professor, Credit Emory College: 

Mark Bauerlein is an English professor at Emory, a senior editor at First Things and the author, most recently, of “The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30).”

Bauerlein writes in the New York Times on Sunday, "What's the Point of a Professor?" and says, in part, what they should be is examples of "moral authority," but that for a number of reasons they are increasingly becoming morally bankrupt “accreditors” instead.

Stephen Yafa, Author of Grain of Truth: The Real Case For and Against Wheat and Gluten

Author Stephen Yafa, Photo Credit Amazon

"No topic in nutrition is more controversial than wheat. While mega-sellers like Grain Brain andWheat Belly suggest that wheat may be the new asbestos, Stephen Yafa finds that it has been wrongly demonized. His revealing book sets the record straight, breaking down the botany of the wheat plant we’ve hijacked for our own use, the science of nutrition and digestion, the effects of mass production on our health, and questions about gluten and fiber— all to point us towards a better, richer diet."

Hour 2

Political Consultant/commentator Jim Brown

Political Consultant and Political Commentator, Former State Senator, Secretary of State and Insurance Commissioner Jim Brown, Credit Facebook

Jim and Jim discuss the following issues in Louisiana politics:

• The full House has approved legislation that would prohibit gender based abortions. The bill's author, Houma Representative Lenar Whitney, says there have been no documented cases in Louisiana. But she cited an article from Forbes Magazine about pregnancies ending early in US Asian communities because the sex of the unborn child was a girl. Whitney's legislation passed on an 84-2 vote. 
• Retired Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore, who gained fame in his no-nonsense approach to relief efforts in post-Katrina New Orleans, says he’s considering running for Governor. On the Jim Engster Show, Honore says the only reason he wouldn't run is if another one of the candidates ended up mounting a serious challenge to US Senator David Vitter.

Louisiana Political Consultant Gus Weill

Famed Louisiana political consultant, author, and mentor to James Carville, Gus Weill , Credit Talk 107.3

Weill discusses a variety of topics with Jim including the possibility of Honore running for Governor, the state of higher education in Louisiana and the importance of delivering a solid commencement speech. James Carville will give the commencement address at LSU Friday.

sabaa tahir, Author of An Ember in the Ashes

sabaa tahir, credit http://sabaatahir.com/bio/

"A “deft, polished debut”  (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Sabaa Tahir‘s AN EMBER IN THE ASHES is a thought-provoking, heart-wrenching, and pulse-pounding read. Set in a rich, high-fantasy world with echoes of ancient Rome, it tells the story of a slave fighting for her family and a young soldier fighting for his freedom." From Amazon. 

Wednesday: Swoosie Kurtz, "The Mercy in the Sky", Recent La. Poll Numbers, and LT. General Russel L. Honoré, US Army (Ret)

Producer: Frank Barnett

Hour One

Actress & Author, Swoosie Kurtz

Swoosie Kurtz discusses her new book "Part Swan, Part Goose: An Uncommon Memoir Of Womanhood, Work, And Family" at the Roundabout Theatre Company on April 28, 2014. Image Credit: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/yysMamKFLab/Swoosie+Kurtz+Reads+New+Book+Part+Swan+Part/LHTQfF4Aaw9

Emmy Award-winner and two time Tony Award-winning actress Swoosie Kurtz joins Jim on the show today to promote her new book Part Swan, Part Goose: An Uncommon Memoir of Womanhood, Work, and Family. The book celebrates Swoosie's life and career, and candidly reflects on the choices that empowered her, the wrong choices that enlightened her, and the intimate journey of caring for an aging parent.

Yahoo News National Correspondent, Holly Bailey

Yahoo News National Correspondent and Author, Holly Bailey. Image Credit: https://twitter.com/hollybdc

Yahoo News National Correspondent and Oklahoma native, Holly Bailey joins us today to discuss and promote her new book The Mercy of the Sky. When Moore was hit by a tornado in 2013, Bailey went back to her home state as both a journalist and former resident. In The Mercy of the Sky Bailey does for the Oklahoma flatlands what Sebastian Junger did for Gloucester, Massachusetts, in The Perfect Storm - telling a dramatic, page-turning story about a town that must survive the element or die.

Pollster, Bernie Pinsonat

Pollster Bernie Pinsonat and Jim Engster.

Bernie Pinsonat, Founder of Southern Media & Opinion Research, joins Jim in studio to discuss the results of a statewide poll his company conducted. The poll asked Louisiana residents about their opinions on Common Core, the Religious Freedom Bill, the 2015 Louisiana Governor's Race, and much, much more.

 

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Hour Two

LT. General Russel L. Honoré, US Army (Ret)

U.S. Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore in Cameron Prairie, Louisiana on September 25, 2005. Image Credit: http://www.newsweek.com/former-army-general-lambasts-oil-industry-hijacking-democracy-269086

Native of Lakeland, Louisiana and retired Lieutenant General, Russel L. Honoré joins Jim in studio today as the lone guest for Hour Two to discuss his latest environmental efforts at the Capitol, and his "seriously considered" bid for Governor of Louisiana. Honoré served as the 33rd commanding general of the U.S. First Army at Fort Gillem, Georgia, and as the 2nd Infantry Division's commander while stationed in South Korea. He is best known for serving as commander of Joint Task Force Katrina, responsible for coordinating military relief efforts across the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. He served until his retirement from the Army on January 11, 2008. He's currently active in environmentalism, and heads up the GreenARMY: an alliance of civic, community, and environmental groups and concerned citizens from around the state ready to effect meaningful social, political, and environmental change in Louisiana. For more information on the GreenARMY, visit gogreenarmy.com.

Tuesday: An MLB take on Tom Brady, Jazz Listening Room Series, TOPS, and the Louisiana Legislative Session

Hour One

Former MLB Detroit Tigers Pitcher, Denny McLain

Former Detroit Tigers Pitcher Denny McLain graces the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1968, the year he won 30 games. Image Credit: 2guystalkingmetsbaseball.com

Former Detroit Tigers Pitcher, and the last man to win 30 games in a season, Denny McLain starts the show today with Jim to talk about something different: Football. With the recent four-game suspension handed down to Tom Brady and the $1 million fine given to the New England Patriots for deflating footballs during last years AFC Championship game,  Denny shares his opinion on the severity of the punishment, and even draws a few comparisons between "Deflate-gate" and MLB's "spitball".

Jazz Musician & Saxophonist Brad Walker

Jazz Musician and Saxophonist Brad Walker will perform with his Quintet Thursday May 14th at the Shaw Center for the Arts as part of the Jazz Listening Room Series. Image Credit: schedule.sxsw.com

Jazz Musician/Saxophonist Brad Walker joins Jim as the second guest today to promote his upcoming performance in the Jazz Listening Room Series on Thursday May 14th, 2015 at 7:30pm.  Presented by The Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, Brad and his Quintet will play in the Hartley/Vey Theatre of the Manship Theatre at the Shaw Center for the Arts in downtown Baton Rouge. Tickets are $10 each, and for more information or to buy tickets visit www.manshiptheatre.org/events.asp or www.bradwalker.me. The concert will also feature special guest vocalists Quiana Lynell and Peter Simon (of Minos the Saint), as well as internationally renowned trumpeter Brian Shaw (LSU). Originally from North Carolina, Brad came to study music at LSU where he earned a Bachelors Degree in Saxophone Performance and a Masters Degree in Jazz Studies. After school Brad moved to New York City and spent three years honing his craft until ultimately deciding to move back to Louisiana to the Big Easy where he now resides. In New Orleans Brad enlisted some of Jazz's heaviest players (Simon Lott, Brian Seeger, James Singleton, and pianists Oscar Rossignoli and Doc Sharp), and together they created, and still create, what the Arts Council calls "a distinct sound that stands out in today’s vibrant New Orleans music scene" by seamlessly blending "the language of modern jazz with electric flavors of rock, funk, and soul." 

LSU Chancellor Emeritus James H. Wharton

Chancellor James Wharton speaks to students regarding a tuition hike of $48 per semester in 1989. Image Credit: http://www.lsu.edu/departments/gold/2011/07/alley.shtml#!prettyPhoto

LSU Chancellor Emeritus James H. Wharton talks with Jim about the TOPS program, and addresses his concerns for the future of TOPS amid possible, massive cuts to higher education. Wharton was named chancellor of LSU in 1981, and as Chancellor he established high admission standards for LSU that enhanced the national image of the University, and he was instrumental in restructuring the Alumni Federation to form the LSU Alumni Association. He led the LSU Foundation to be more dynamic in its fundraising efforts, and in 1987 the Carnegie Foundation designated LSU as a "Research University I” the highest advanced-research ranking given by the foundation. The designation put LSU in the top two percent of the nation's 3,300 universities; a group of 45 public and 25 private national institutions. Today he serves as a Member of the Board of Trustees for the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation and remains a highly regarded education expert.

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Hour Two

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist, Tyler Bridges

Author and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Tyler Bridges joins us over the phone from the halls of the Louisiana State Capitol as the lone guest for Hour Two of today's show. He and Jim discuss the possible outcomes in the upcoming 2015 Louisiana Governor Election; the latest news concerning the Legislative Session from the Capitol; and much, much more.

Author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Tyler Bridges. Image Credit: www.tylerbridges.com

A graduate of Stanford University, Tyler's career as a journalist spans over 30 years. He's reported for The Daily Journal in Caracas, Venezuela, The Times-Picayune, The Lens, and The Miami Herald where he was a member of two Pulitzer Prize-winning teams. His career includes freelancing stints with such publications as The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.  He is the author of The Rise of David Duke (University Press of Mississippi, 1994) and Bad Bet on the Bayou: The Rise of Gambling in Louisiana and the Fall of Governor Edwin Edwards (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2001). In 2011-2012 he spent a year at Harvard University on a Nieman Fellowship studying the coverage of politics and government in digital media. Currently, Tyler is covering the 2015  Louisiana Legislative Session for The Advocate.

MONDAY: Tobacco Tax, Author Steve Fiffer, and the Public Affairs Research Council

HOUR ONE: 

State Government Relations Director at the American Heart Association Stasha Rhodes join the show to discuss the tobacco tax.  "I think that if we're going to increase our tobacco tax we need to make sure it has a public health impact for the positive."  Louisiana has had the third lowest cigarette tax since 2002.  3 out of 10 people in Louisiana smokes.  Rhodes cites the website as the authority on how much money raising the tobacco tax would bring to the state in terms of raising revenue and lowering healthcare costs.  

223 million would be made in the first year if the tobacco tax was raised back to the $1.18 tax.  

30 states have the tobacco tax at a dollar or higher. 

15 states have the tobacco tax at two dollars or higher. 

When a tobacco tax is increased a dollar, 43,000 smokers in Louisiana would quit.  

Author Steve Fiffer shares his book.  He shares the experiences that lead to the violence of Bloody Sunday and racial tensions in the 1960s during the fight for racial equality.  Fiffer also asserts that these marches pushed for the voting rights legislation to be passed.  

The Patriots have been fined 1 million dollars and a first round pick.  Tom Brady will be suspended for the first four games.  

HOUR TWO: 

President of the Public Affairs Research Council Robert Travis Scott comments on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots punishments for deflategate as well as state legislative issues.  

They discuss why the tobacco tax did not go higher.  "I think part of what they want to do is stay on level with neighboring states." 

Scott comments on Governor Jindal's new book coming out in October.  

Assistant News Director at Louisiana Radio Network Michelle Southern discuss the punishment for Quarterback Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.  

"I do think it's a sad day because Tom Brady is one of the most likable players in the NFL." 

"He ALLEGEDLY cheated," Michelle says, "I think four games is just way overboard." 

Southern thinks that Brady will appeal his suspension.  "I think they're just picking on him." 

"You don't boo your team," Southern says, "You never ever ever boo."