Month: November 2018

Pennsylvania has the tightest absentee ballot law in the country. Where most states allow them to be postmarked by Election Day, the commonwealth denies any ballot that doesn’t arrive at its county election office by the Friday before the election. It allows ballots to be sent out to voters just a few days before that—which can mean a pretty tight turnaround time.

This issue was displayed prominently in the aftermath of the midterm election when, facing a losing margin of less than 100 votes, State Representative and Democratic Senate candidate Tina Davis sued her county in an effort to get late absentee ballots counted.

Davis’s lawsuit failed. Her opponent argued it would amount to “changing the rules of the contest after the contest is over.” But she’s now determined to bring the issue to the legislature—and there are some Republicans on board.

Plus, the American Civil Liberties Union has a lawsuit pending that aims to ease the ballot policy once and for all.

On this episode, we’ll talk to all the people involved, and try to figure out the odds of anything changing.

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WITF, Transforming Health, and PA Post are launching a series on mental health called Through the Cracks. Over a number of months, we’ll be covering the realities of people who live with mental illness, the stigmas involved, and how public policy can help—or, often, hurt—vulnerable people.
The first installment was reported by Brett Sholtis, who took a close look at why people with serious mental health issues often wait a really, really long time for the services they need.
We’ll explain the wide-ranging impact of state’s transition away from institutionalizing the mentally ill, toward integrating patients into communities. We’ll discuss why state mental health funding has declined over the last 25 years, and we’ll preview some of the stories Brett is tackling later in the series.
Plus, Kiera McGuire, a producer for WITF and Transforming Health, will discuss a story she recently reported about one all-to-common side effect of chronic mental health issues: homelessness.

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The election is over, and you may have heard, Pennsylvania Democrats picked up some new congressional seats–and helped flip the U.S. House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, Democrats in the state House and Senate also made progress. The Senate flipped at least five seats and ended a Republican supermajority–and the House snagged at least eleven–thought to be their largest pickup since 1974.

That’s not enough to give them majorities in either chamber, but it will mean some changes in how Harrisburg operates.

Appearing on Smart Talk are journalists Marc Levy, Associated Press, and Charles Thompson, Pennlive to discuss the implications.

Democratic State Representative Patty Kim and Republican Representative Greg Rothman also join Smart Talk to explain how their caucus’s prospects will change–and what the shifting numbers mean for collaboration between the parties.

Also, this election saw four states voting to change their redistricting methods–Carol Kuniholm with Fair Districts PA will discuss what that will mean for stalled efforts to do the same in Pennsylvania.

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On Saturday, eleven people were murdered in a Pittsburgh synagogue, and six others were injured. A man named Robert Bowers was arrested and has been charged with anti-Semitic hate crimes. He has pleaded not guilty.

In the days since, members of Pittsburgh’s robust Jewish community have been grappling with the sudden deaths of their own, the hatefulness of the crime, and being thrust suddenly into a national political spotlight.

Lucy Perkins, Virginia Alvino Young, and Margaret Krauss—all of Pittsburgh public radio station WESA—join us this week to explain what’s going on, what people are feeling, and what the weeks ahead look like for the city.

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