Friday, January 24 – Friday, January 31

President Obama will deliver his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday. Political commentator and blogger Ken Rudin joins us to assess the message the president needs to send.

Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George H.W. Bush, has tirelessly promoted diversity in health care and healthier lifestyles for all Americans for more than four decades. He joins us to discuss his new autobiography, “Breaking Ground: My Life in Medicine”.

In this week’s installment of our new series, “5 Things You Should Know About…”, Dr. Deborah A. Cohen, senior natural scientist at the RAND Corporation and author of “A Big Fat Crisis: The Hidden Force Behind the Obesity Epidemic — and How We Can End It”, lays out the surprising top five facts we should all know about obesity.

Regular commentator George Johnson offers his take on Seattle Seahawks defensive back Richard Sherman’s infamous rant after last week’s playoff win against the San Francisco 49ers.

The Academy Awards are just around the corner. Sharon Waxman, editor-in-chief for TheWrap.com, explains what goes on behind the scenes as Hollywood studios lobby for their films.

A cease-fire has been declared in the violent conflict that has claimed nearly 10,000 civilian lives and left 200,000 people displaced in South Sudan since mid-December. J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council, joins us to discuss the conflict.

Although Rosa Parks is best known for refusing to move to the back of a Montgomery, AL bus, it is not the first time she challenged the rules of the Jim Crow South. She had already spent years fighting for civil rights. Political science professor Jeanne Theoharis of Brooklyn College joins us to discuss her biography, “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks”.

Earlier this month, thousands of gadget geeks gathered at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to marvel at the latest tech wizardry. Yahoo! Tech founder and  columnist David Pogue tells us what to look for from the electronics world in 2014.

Award-winning photographer Camilo José Vergara has spent the last 43 years documenting the evolution of Harlem. He joins us to discuss his latest volume of photography, “Harlem: The Unmaking of a Ghetto”.