This morning, Daniel Lewis Lee was executed in the first federal execution in 17 years. To discuss the death penalty, we FEATURE Diann Rust-Tierney. Rust-Tierney is an expert in the movement to eliminate the death penalty in the U.S. In 2004 she became the Executive Director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP). Founded in 1976 in response to a Supreme Court decision permitting executions to resume, the NCADP unifies an extensive network of affiliates, dedicated advocates and volunteers, and prominent national human and civil rights organizations to fight the imposition of the death penalty in the United States As NCADP Executive Director, Ms. Rust-Tierney manages and directs the program for the national organization and 100 affiliates seeking to change public policy on the death penalty. Media experience: Good Morning America, BET, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, ABC, BBC.

On Thursday, the United States Supreme Court ruled that half the land in Oklahoma belongs to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. To discuss, we FEATURE Rebecca Nagle. Nagle is a citizen of Cherokee Nation and a two spirit (queer) woman. Nagle is a community organizer and writer currently living in Tahlequah, OK and studying the Cherokee language. Nagle was recently named one of the National Center American Indian Enterprise Development’s 2016 Native American 40 Under 40 for her work to address violence against Native Women. Media includes: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Teen Vogue, Jezebel, NPR, BBC, Fox News.

Donald Trump has decided to commute the sentence of Roger Stone. To discuss, we FEATURE Valena E. Beety. Beety is professor of law at Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and the deputy director of the Academy for Justice, a criminal justice center connecting research with policy reform. Previously, Beety served as a law professor and the founding director of the West Virginia Innocence Project at the West Virginia University College of Law. Her experiences as a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., and as an innocence litigator in Mississippi and West Virginia, shape her research and writing on wrongful convictions, forensic evidence, the opioid crisis and incarceration. Media includes: Charleston Gazette, The West Virginia Lawyer, The Undisclosed Podcast, Jackson Free Press.

The NFL has announced that the Washington sports team will be retiring its name, after years of protests against the team's racist name. To discuss, we FEATURE Adrienne Keene. Keene is a Native scholar, writer, and blogger and is passionate about reframing how the world sees contemporary Native cultures. She is the creator and author of Native Appropriations, a blog discussing cultural appropriation and stereotypes of Native peoples in fashion, film, music, and other forms of pop culture. She is currently an Assistant Professor of American and Ethnic Studies at Brown University. Media includes: The New York Times, Time, Washington Post, NPR, CNN.

Racial justice protests continue in cities across the U.S. as people call for police accountability. To discuss, we FEATURE Celese Faison. Faison serves as a founding director of the Blackout Collective, a training organization with a mission to train 20,000 Black direct action strategists and practitioners by 2021. She is a strategist and trainer who cut her teeth organizing in the Blackbelt, with 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement. Faison has been active ever since, working around issues of labor, electoral justice and policing. She is currently the NDWA Director of Black Organizing, where she launched “We Dream in Black,” a multi-state initiative that increases the leadership capacity of Black workers organizing for respect, recognition, and inclusion in labor protections. Media includes: USA Today, Alternet, San Francisco Bay View, KPFA, NBC News.

Betsy DeVos is insisting that children return to schools in the fall despite the ongoing pandemic. To discuss, we FEATURE Oleta Garret Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is Director of the Children's Defense Fund's Southern Regional Office (CDF-SRO), a position she has held for 25 years. Ms. Fitzgerald serves as a board member for the Mississippi Head Start Association, the Mississippi Children's Museum, the advisory committee for the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University, and is a member of the State Children's Welfare Coalition and the Global Women's Action Network for Children. Media includes: Jackson Advocate, The Clarion Ledger, Nightline.

ICE recently announced that they would be deporting international students who do not have in-person classes this coming school year. To discuss, we FEATURE Janet L. Holmgren. On the frontlines of higher education for more than 35 years, Holmgren was appointed President of Patten University (Oakland, CA) in 2012. She served as President and Susan Mills Professor of Mills College (Oakland, CA) from 1991 to 2011, after which she continued at Mills as a senior tenured professor of English. Holmgren has also served as chair of the Boards of the American Council on Education, the National Council for Research on Women, the Executive Committee of the Women’s College Coalition, and the California Governance Task Force for the Revision of the Master Plan for Pre-K through 16 Education. Media includes: San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune, San Jose Mercury News.

On July 20, labor unions and organizations have planned a walkout to protest racism. To discuss, we FEATURE Erica Smiley. Smiley is the executive director of Jobs With Justice. She is known for developing innovative strategies to expand collective bargaining power—including strategies that position working people to negotiate directly with the corporate actors that impact all aspects of their lives. She also teaches a class on Contemporary Labor Studies at the City University of New York (CUNY) via the Joseph S. Murphy Institute. And as a fellow with the Women in Labor Leadership (WILL Empower) program, she is working with leaders at Rutgers University and Georgetown University on a project to better expand on collective bargaining as a pillar of a healthy democracy. Media includes: Chicago Tribune, The Washington Free Beacon, Reuters, MSNBC.

President Trump plans to finalize changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on Wednesday, scaling back the 50 year-old statute that requires the federal government to analyze how decisions will impact the environment and local communities, making it easier for mines, highways and pipelines to be constructed. The change is expected to impact communities with less access to financial and legal resources the most. To discuss, we FEATURE Deborah Goldberg. Goldberg is the Managing Attorney of Earthjustice's Northeast regional office, where she supervises and conducts legal advocacy and litigation related to global warming and environmental health. Her arrival at Earthjustice in July 2008 marked a return to the practice of environmental law, where she spent the first decade of her legal career. As an attorney at the law firms Berle, Kass & Case and Arnold & Porter, she concentrated in cases involving environmental impact review, historic preservation, and hazardous waste issues. She was lead counsel at the U.S. Supreme Court for the county intervenors in New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144 (1992) (overturning portions of the Low Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act). Media includes: The New York Times, The Nation, Roll Call, WABC.

Half a million Hong Kong residents have cast a protest vote against China's new security law. To discuss, we FEATURE Afra Zhao Wang. Wang is a writer, researcher, and podcaster. As a writer, she covers a wide range of issues such as nationalism, gender, Chinese millennials, U.S. politics, and social changes in U.S. and China. As a historian, Wang’s master’s dissertation focuses on contemporary US-­China, UK-China relations and soft power regarding the negotiation over Hong Kong’s sovereignty. Media includes: The New York Times China, ChinaFile, Iris Magazine.