Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has refused to remove anti-immigration buoys in the Rio Grande, defying federal orders to do so. To discuss, we FEATURE Jessica Lavariega Monforti, who has worked with Texas Rio Grande Legal Aide. Lavariega Monforti is the vice provost of the California State University Channel Islands and the former dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at California Lutheran University. Her research primarily focuses on the differential impact of public policy according to race, gender and ethnicity. She is specifically interested in the political incorporation and representation of Latino/as, immigrants and women. Her latest research examines how major forces such as technology, the military system and immigration policy impact and are impacted by Latina/o youth. She has worked with organizations such as Texas Rio Grande Legal Aide, La Union del Pueblo Entero, and the South Texas Adult Resource and Training Center. Media includes: The New York Times, La Opinión, NPR’s All Things Considered.

SAG-AFTRA and WGA continue their strike against Hollywood studios, which have remained steadfast in not accepting both unions' terms. Both actors and writers are seeking better pay and studios' use of AI, among other issues. To discuss, we FEATURE Television Academy member Angela Marie Hutchinson. Hutchinson is a showrunner, screenwriter, and producer with over fifteen years of experience in the entertainment industry. She has worked for MGM, Warner Bros. Television and the GRAMMY’s. For nearly a decade, Angela has produced a diverse portfolio with her media company, BiH Entertainment. She also works as a career coach, public speaker and business consultant. Angela’s clients call her The Dream Builder. In 2005, Hutchinson founded BReaKiNG iNTo HoLLyWooD, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that helps entertainment professionals pursue their careers. Currently, Hutchinson is the engagement director at Environmental Health Sciences. Media includes: BBC, CBS, NPR.

President Biden will designate three memorials to Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. The memorials will be in Illinois, Mississippi, and Chicago. To discuss, we FEATURE Koritha Mitchell. Mitchell is a professor of English at Ohio State University. Her research centers on African American literature, racial violence in United States history and contemporary culture, and black drama and performance. She examines how texts, both written and performed, help communities to survive and thrive. She is author of From Slave Cabins to the White House: Homemade Citizenship in African American Culture and the award-winning book Living with Lynching: African American Lynching Plays, Performance, and Citizenship, 1890 - 1930. Media includes: Good Morning America, The Huffington Post, PBS Newshour, NPR's Morning Edition, CNN, NBC.

Robert A. Hadden, a former gynecologist, who has been sexually abusing patients for over two decades, is facing 20 years in prison. To discuss, we FEATURE Marissa Hoechstetter. Hoechstetter writes and speaks about sexually abusive doctors, enabling institutions, and corrupt politicians. She has been fighting for change since her own reports of assault by Dr. Hadden received totally inadequate responses from the medical system and law enforcement. Hoechstetter spearheaded a successful campaign in the New York City Council to allow patients to remove the names of abusive doctors from birth certificates, and her advocacy has led four bills to be introduced in the New York state legislature with the goals of curbing doctor sex abuse and holding enablers accountable. She has given testimony on medical abuse to lawmakers and medical boards, and she founded Reform the Sex Crimes Unit, a campaign for increased transparency and accountability within the Manhattan DA’s Sex Crimes Unit. Media includes: The New York Times, Buzzfeed News, Politico, USA Today, Bustle, CBS.

Protests have erupted in Israel following parliament giving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the ability to completely overhaul the country's judicial system, weakening the power of the courts. To discuss, we FEATURE Barbara Slavin. Slavin is a distinguished fellow at The Stimson Center, and an independent journalist, public speaker and commentator focusing on Iran, Arab political developments, the Arab-Israeli dispute and nuclear proliferation. Previously, Slavin was a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center and Washington correspondent for Al-Monitor.com, a website devoted to news from and about the Middle East. Slavin also served as a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where she wrote Bitter Friends, and as a senior fellow at the US Institute of Peace, where she researched and wrote the report Mullahs, Money and Militias: How Iran Exerts Its Influence in the Middle East. Media includes: The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, BBC, NPR.

The Guardian and the British Medical Journal (BMJ) recently published a joint investigation into the British National Health Service’s 212 trusts, revealing that they had recorded more than 35,000 cases of rape, sexual assault, harassment, stalking, and abusive remarks between 2017 and 2022. To discuss, we FEATURE Erin Pollitt. Pollitt is the executive director of District of Columbia Forensic Nurse Examiners (DCFNE), a nonprofit that is the sole provider of trauma-informed forensic care to adult survivors of violence in Washington, DC. Pollitt is a certified Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner and has practiced as a forensic nurse since 2011. Throughout her career, she has cared for patients that experienced sexual assault, domestic and interpersonal violence, human trafficking, elder abuse/maltreatment, strangulation, and attempted homicide. Pollitt has held several leadership positions within the International Association of Forensic Nurses. She has instructed at both local and international conferences on topics related to forensic nursing and provided expert consultation and testimony in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area. Media includes: The Baltimore Sun, WUSA9 News DC, NPR-WAMU, FOX 45 New Baltimore, ABC2 News Baltimore.

Thursday is Black Women's Equal Pay Day. To discuss, we FEATURE Julene Allen. Allen is a military veteran, and former insurance professional turned women’s rights activist, journalist, author, and CEO of Women of Color in the Workplace®. The new brand provides educational resources, research, and documents the experience of women of color in the workplace to formulate a bridge between the talent and companies. Other initiatives she spearheads is the Latinas Equal Pay Day Commemoration Project in which LEAN IN | Women of Color reached out to organizations such as the Hispanic Executive, The National Diversity Council and The Alumni Council and asked them to partner with the project by nominating an outstanding leader at their organization on Latina Equal Pay Day and the Black Women's Equal Pay Day Commemoration Project which launched in 2019. The project has a focus on black women who are at the top of their industries and offer advice to inspire more women of color to leadership. This initiative is in collaboration of Julene Allen’s newly released podcast series, Conversations for Equal Pay. Extensive media experience.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup continues in Australia and New Zealand. To discuss, we FEATURE Kavitha A. Davidson. Davidson is a sports writer based in New York. She was previously co-host of The Lead, The Athletic's daily podcast. Before that, she was a columnist at ESPN and Bloomberg, focusing on the intersection of sports and business, culture, race, and gender. Her work has also been published in Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and NBC News THINK, and has been noted in Best American Sports Writing. She has appeared attempting to sound smart on SportsCenter, Outside the Lines, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Yogi Berra Museum.