mr. simmons, where are we as of today on this issue? guest: about where we have been. the senate democrats are still on the lam, out of state. there cannot be a vote until they return and the him threaten to set out as long as it takes, even weeks. it is still in limbo. host: the republicans in the legislature have no recourse on these actions and the votes to have to take until democrats come back? guest: exactly. host: we read about the influence of jesse jackson. guest: he was here. he led a rally last night. a couple of national labor leaders came in as well. the basic movement has been since monday and now the national leaders are coming in, but it is still pretty local. host: your paper reports that they're willing to make some concessions. can you expand on that? guest: the governor asked for three things. to end the union's right to collectively bargain and to increase contributions to health-care and pension. the unions, yesterday and said that they would agree to the second and third of those demands, and to contribute more to their pensions and health care,

mr. simmons was very connected with pier 39 and very much involved in the development of pier 39, and his family currently owns and operates the restaurants, so it is a big loss to see him pass away. we look forward to remembering him. finally, a former port staffer, nick larocca passed away. he was only 64. as you may recall, it was not that long ago that he retired from the port. barely over two years. he has unfortunately move back to new orleans and passed away just a couple of weeks ago. he had been set for quite a while, so he was thankful receiving pretty good care once he passed. briefly, just to remind you, and expense 17 years with the board of san francisco. he managed many of our commercial maritime peers. everything from cruise ships to fishing boats, navy ships, etc. he was previously the port agent and had been a merchant marine and recently located. he was renowned for his love of lsu football, which was as alma mater, we apparently played the trumpet -- i have not heard that before -- and he was fanatical about the roman culture and loved to cook anything roman and would

mr. simmons, where are we as of today on this issue? guest: about where we have been.enate democrats are still on the lam, out of state. there cannot be a vote until they return and the him threaten to set out as long as it takes, even weeks. it is still in limbo. host: the republicans in the legislature have no recourse on these actions and the votes to have to take until democrats come back? guest: exactly. host: we read about the influence of jesse jackson. guest: he was here. he led a rally last night. a couple of national labor leaders came in as well. the basic movement has been since monday and now the national leaders are coming in, but it is still pretty local. host: your paper reports that they're willing to make some concessions. can you expand on that? guest: the governor asked for three things. to end the union's right to collectively bargain and to increase contributions to health-care and pension. the unions, yesterday and said that they would agree to the second and third of those demands, and to contribute more to their pensions and health care, but th