Author: julrich

For months now, Democratic Governor Tom Wolf has been battling Republican lawmakers over how Pennsylvania should fund infrastructure improvements.

Wolf wants to implement a $4.5 billion plan funded by a tax on natural gas drillers. Republicans have adamantly opposed such a tax for years, and are casting Wolf’s plan as a nonstarter.

Now, two GOP senators are introducing an alternative: a $1 billion package funded by lifting Wolf’s four-year moratorium on drilling in state forests.

StateImpact Pennsylvania reporter Marie Cusick joins us for a discussion about the history of forest drilling, the politics behind it, and the reason why it still has an environmental impact even if most of the work happens far underground.

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This week on State of the State, we’re celebrating Memorial Day and the return of nice weather with a story about the impact—good and bad—people can have on the natural world.

First, a re-airing of a feature on a group of peregrine falcons living on the Rachel Carson State Office Building.

Their nest-placement seems fated.

In the 1940s and ’50s, the proliferation of DDT virtually eradicated peregrine falcons and other predatory birds from Pennsylvania. The situation only turned around in 1962, when biologist Rachel Carson published her landmark book The Silent Spring, about the harm unchecked pesticide use can do to the environment.

Since then DDT has been regulated, and falcons in Pennsylvania have nearly returned to their pre-DDT numbers.

We’ll also hear an extended interview with a group of falcon-watchers who were featured in the story, and who dedicate a significant portion of their days (and nights) to making sure the falcons stay safe.

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Efforts to seriously curtail abortion in Alabama, Missouri, Georgia, Ohio and other states may have dominated the news the last few days, but here in Pennsylvania, state lawmakers have been busy moving their own proposed restriction on the procedure.

The bill in question passed the House on about a week ago. It would ban abortions that are sought based on a Down syndrome diagnosis, and would carry heavy penalties for the doctors that perform them. They could be stuck with a third-degree felony and lose their medical license.

Debate on the House floor sounded like debate on lots of efforts to curb abortion. Opponents say it’s morally wrong, and those who want to keep it legal say the bill would burden an essential right.

Here to discuss where the issue stands in Pennsylvania, and why this bill is the top priority right now, are two Capitol reporters: John Baer is a Philly Inquirer columnist who has covered decades of abortion debates, and Stephen Caruso with the Penn Capitol Star has been taking a close look at how these votes have shifted in recent years.

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This week, the state Capitol hosted hundreds of gun rights supporters for an annual event they call the Rally to Protect Your Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Over the years, there have been lots of efforts to tighten Pennsylvania’s gun laws—like creating universal background checks, starting a gun registry, or banning bump stocks—accessories that help semi-automatic weapons fire like automatic ones.

Most proposals haven’t gotten very far, in large part because the state legislature is pretty sympathetic to gun owners.
But if you talk to the people at the rally, you get the sense that they feel a crackdown is coming.

In this episode, we take you inside the event, and then you’ll hear extended interviews with some of the people who spoke with us.

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Last legislative session, Pennsylvania’s General Assembly came to a rare, bipartisan consensus on criminal justice and passed the Clean Slate Act–a measure that helps former inmates get their records expunged.

Now, the House and Senate are trying to move the needle on other criminal justice bills.

This morning on Smart Talk, we’re spending the hour with a panel of Democrats who–among other things–have been central to negotiations on cutting down on the commonwealth’s long probation times, regulating the way criminal defense is funded, and making it easier for inmates to reintegrate after serving sentences.

We’ll hear from Democratic State Representative Jordan Harris and Senator Anthony Williams–both of whom serve as minority whip in their chambers, and are members of the Legislative Black Caucus.

We’ll also hear from two former inmates–newly-appointed Board of Pardons Secretary Brandon Flood, and onetime House Speaker Bill DeWeese.

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Last week, House lawmakers got together in the Capitol rotunda to celebrate passing a slate of bills intended to protect crime victims.

A couple of them look to reform the statute of limitations in child sex abuse cases. Others would allow certain victims to submit out-of-court statements instead of testifying in person.

One is actually an amendment that would put certain rights for crime victims into Pennsylvania’s constitution. It’s generally known as Marsy’s Law, and it’s particularly interesting because it has so far found its way into nine different state constitutions, in various forms.

It’s named for a woman—Marsalee Nicholas—who was murdered in 1983. The story is, when her killer was out on bail her mother unexpectedly saw him at a grocery store right after the funeral. Among other things, Marsy’s Law beefs up the requirement that victims be notified of case developments.

The amendment has a lot of bipartisan support. But it’s also gotten strenuous opposition from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, who say it could compromise the rights of the accused.

In this week’s episode we’ll get perspectives from the people who are most adamantly for and against the amendment.

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If you’re a person who is already invested in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, you may have noticed a sort of left-field issue getting a bit of press: abolishing the electoral college.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren called to dissolve the college in a recent town hall in Mississippi, saying it gives outsize electoral power to just a few swing states. Other abolition supporters argue it inflates the influence of rural voters, while those in favor of keeping the electoral college tend to say it keeps big states from holding too much power.

Although Warren has gotten attention for her anti-electoral college platform, she certainly isn’t the first person to pitch the idea. Controversy over the Electoral College goes all the way back to the founding of the US.

So on this week’s podcast, we discuss why the idea of abolishing it has tantalized Americans for so long, why a majority of voters consistently say they support a national popular vote, and how a creative scheme to invalidate the electoral college is picking up steam—though maybe not in Pennsylvania.

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Stepping back from the precipice: When April Fool’s day rolls around, people across central Pennsylvania aren’t in much of a joking mood. The crisis at TMI threatens to turn into a full-scale disaster. But, a visit from President Jimmy Carter and some good fortune appear to turn the tide.

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By mid-afternoon on March 28, 1979, people who live near the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant aren’t getting much information as they wonder if they’ve been exposed to too much radiation. Many find themselves facing a difficult decision: Wait out the crisis or evacuate.

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At 7:24 a.m., on Wednesday, March 28, 1979, something goes terribly wrong at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Middletown, Dauphin County. What unfolds over the next few hours is chaos and confusion as people are confronted with a partial meltdown in TMI’s Unit 2 reactor.

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