Baton Rogue Floods, Transgender Rights, Equal Pay For Equal Work, Lead Poisoning, and National Parks' Centennial, all with Michele Jawando

Published: Aug. 25, 2016, 7:25 p.m.

Michele L. Jawando guest hosts the show today, as well as each Thursday from 3-4pm est. She is the Vice President for Legal Progress at American Progress.

Here are the guests Michele interviews along with the topics they discuss.

1. A. Khalil Shahyd, Project Manager for Urban Solutions Program at Natural Resources Defense Council. Her organization's Twitter handle is @NRDC.
B. Mustafa Ali, Associate Assistant Administrator for Environmental Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. His organization's Twitter handle is @EPA.
C. Dr. Beverly Wright, Director of Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Southern University in Baton Rouge. Her organization's Twitter handle is @DSCEJ.

During this panel, Michele and her three guests go beyond the headlines in discussing the Baton Rogue floods to delve deep into the issues affecting the victims. This includes how 'disaster profiteers' are buying damaged property in Baton Rouge for pennies on the dollar and planning to build luxury apartments that the people who have been displaced won't be able to afford. They also discuss how only 12% of the Baton Rogue flood victims had flood insurance. Finally, they discuss how inaction on climate change is likely bring back floods just like these, if not worse.

2. A. Claire Markham, Associate Director of Faith and Public Policy at the Center for American Progress.
B. Jennifer Pizer, Senior Counsel and Director of Law & Policy at Lambda Legal. Jennifer's Twitter handle is @JennyPizer and her organization's handle is @LambdaLegal.
C. Matt McTighe, Executive Director of Freedom for All Americans.

During this panel, Michele and her three guests discuss recent court rulings affecting the rights of Transgendered Americans, including the backlash to some of these rulings.

3. A. Joi Chaney, Campaign Manager for Equal Pay Today. Her organization's Twitter handle is @EqualPay2DayOrg.
B. Jocelyn Frye, Senior Fellow for Women’s Economic Security at the Center for American Progress. She tweets using the handle @CAPWomen.
C. Delegate Charniele L. Herring, Virginia House of Delegates. Her Twitter handle is @C_Herring.

During this panel, Michele and her three guests discuss #BlackWomensEqualPayDay, which highlights how African-American women only make 60 cents for every dollar a white male makes!

4. A. Rebecca Ullrich, Policy Analyst for Early Childhood Policy at the Center for American Progress. She tweets using the handle @CAPEarlyEd.
B. Dr. Lea Austin, Specialist at the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley. Her Twitter handle is @cscceucb.

During this panel, Michele and her two guests discuss discrepancy in pay for the early childhood workforce in America.

5. A. Hannah Change, Staff Attorney at Earth Justice focusing on lead issues.
B. Queen Zakia Rafiqa Shabazz, mother of a lead-poisoned son, Founder of United Parents Against Lead.
C. Linda Kite, Executive Director of the Healthy Homes Collaborative.

During this panel, Michele and her three guests discuss the devastating effects of the EPA still relying on lead standards from the early 2000s that don’t even take human health risks into account! (Source: https://thinkprogress.org/national-health-organizations-sue-epa-for-neglecting-to-update-lead-standards-c4ab47dfcc50#.ddzo8kg8n)

6. A. Jenny Rowland, Research and Advocacy Associate for Public Lands Project at the Center for American Progress. Her Twitter handle is @jennyhrowland.
B. Maite Arce, CEO of the Hispanic Access Foundation. Maite's Twitter handle is @maitearcedc and her organization's handle is @HispanicAccess.

During this panel, Michele and her two guests discuss the Centennial of America's National Parks Service. In addition to highlighting the importance of National Parks to our country, they discuss how we protect them from the assault they're under by some Republicans so that they can be enjoyed by future generations of Americans as well.

Michele Jawando's Twitter handle is @MicheleJawando. Before working at the Center for American Progress, she served as general counsel and senior advisor to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), where she was responsible for a wide-ranging portfolio of policy issues pertaining to the federal judiciary and nominations; voting rights; women and labor issues; LGBT issues; education; telecommunications; technology; and ethics.

The website for "The Center for American Progress" is www.AmericanProgress.org and their Twitter Handle is @amprog.