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President Bush’s landmark education reform law has just turned seven. While it still has plenty of critics, some feel the law has improved public education, especially for children who have traditionally underachieved. Now, the new administration in the White House could embrace No Child Left Behind or take education reform in a completely different direction. We’ll explore what NCLB’s fate may be.

Guests

• Mike Petrilli, Vice President for National Programs and Policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Joel Packer, director of Education Policy and Practice at the National Education Association
• Gary Huggins, director of the Commission on No Child Left Behind at the Aspen Institute

We'll also hear from

• Lyonel Tracy, commissioner of the Department of Education

New Hampshire is home to over 7800 nonprofits; they employ one in eight Granite Stater and they add 8 billion dollars in revenue to the state’s gross domestic product. A new report says nonprofits have grown by 50% over the past 15 years, but with today’s economic conditions, contributions have fallen off. We'll look at how nonprofits are faring and how they may weather the economic storm.

Guests

• Mary Ellen Jackson, Executive Director for the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits
• Lew Feldstein, president of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation

We'll also hear from

• Tom Blonski, president and CEO of New Hampshire Catholic Charities
• Monica Zulauf, executive director of the YWCA in Manchester
• Alec Doyle, executive director of the Colonial Theatre Group in Keene

New Hampshire's Chief Justice has given the legislature dire reports about the judicial system he oversees. There are vacancies on the bench, archaic technology, long waits, and even a suspension jury trials for the month of February. We’ll talk with Justice Broderick about the challenges facing the courts and how he’s re-thinking the way they operate.

Guest

• John Broderick, chief justice of the State Supreme Court

Since FDR, a president's first hundred days have taken on special significance - especially when a new president is dealing with an economic crisis. We'll talk about the "first first hundred" and what Franklin Roosevelt accomplished, as well as what people hope Barack Obama can do.

Guests

• Dean Spiliotis, New Hampshire-based political analyst and author of NHPoliticalCapital.com"
• Jean Edward Smith, author of FDR, an award-winning presidential biography

Gambling has come up many times in the Statehouse, and each year it’s been voted down. But with an economic crisis, huge state budget cuts and a call from many Granite Staters for new revenues, proponents hope to convince legislators that this may be the time to bring gambling to New Hampshire. But opponents say slots and scratch tickets would fuel addiction, destroy families and ruin the quality of life in the state. We revisit the gambling debate and see how it may play out in 2009.

Guests

• Lou D’Allesandro, Democratic state senator from Manchester
• Mike Marsh, former Democratic state representative from Greenland
• TBA