Month: October 2020

You’ve probably heard it said many times by now that Pennsylvania is one of the states that will determine who wins the presidency. In fact, some go as far as saying that Pennsylvania will crown the winner.

That’s the reason the candidates have been in Pennsylvania so often, there’s so much media attention and a different poll every day.

The polls show Democratic nominee Joe Biden with a lead over President Trump today.

But how are we to interpret the polls and what useful information can we get from them?

Berwood Yost, Director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College appears on Thursday’s Smart Talk.

Also on Thursday’s Smart Talk – we speak with Allen Clements, the director of the three-part TV documentary Dismantling Democracy that examines democratic structures in the U.S. and around the world.

Interviews offer perspectives as the series depicts factors behind the gradual deterioration of the effectiveness of the democratic form of government.

Dismantling Democracy is produced by MAKE Films and airs on WITF-TV starting Sunday at noon.

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[box]Smart Talk will not air at 9am today. The Senate Judiciary Committee is conducting hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Special coverage on WITF is expected to continue through Wednesday, October 14.[/box]

Social isolation impacts every facet of a person’s life. It not only affects one’s mental health, but it also raises the risk of disease progression in physical health.

Human beings are social by their very nature and when isolated, by geography or a global pandemic, negative things can happen on a profound scale.

Two social science researchers from Millersville University studied how poverty and social isolation in a rural area (Lancaster County) affects people with this experience. Now their research is expanding to include the impact of isolation during the coronavirus pandemic.

Appearing on Smart Talk to share their findings are Laura Brierton Granruth, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Master of Social Work director and Jennifer M. Frank, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work both at Millersville University.

Vitamin D is known to many as the vitamin that added to milk and other beverages because it works synergistically with calcium to strengthen bones. Adding Vitamin D to milk began in the United States in the 1930’s to help reduce rickets and bone deformities in children.

Health professionals now understand that the “sunshine vitamin” actually serves other important functions in the body, to include offering improved resistance to certain diseases and regulating mood.

Smart Talk is joined by Dr. Meena Venigalla, MD, Endocrinologist with Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health to offer more information about this important vitamin.

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[box]Smart Talk will not air at 9am today. The Senate Judiciary Committee is conducting hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Special coverage on WITF is expected to continue through Wednesday, October 14.[/box]

*The following is a recorded broadcast for the 7pm-8pm Smart Talk.

The world is on the precipice of major discoveries in quantum computing and it is nothing short of a game changer. The development of this technology will change the world in many ways: how we do business, medical research, managing and safeguarding data, exploring space and even understanding and predicting climate change.

Quantum computing involves an entirely new area of physics and it is so important that many cannot predict how dramatically these developments will change our lives.

Google announced last year that they achieved quantum supremacy in an article published in the scientific journal Nature. Google says that its 54-qubit Sycamore processor performed a calculation in 200-seconds that would have taken the world’s most powerful supercomputer 10,000 years.

Investing in this rapidly developing field involves big industry players and nation states. The race is on and it has been compared to the space-race in the 1960’s.

Appearing on Smart Talk to help distill this very complicated topic is Terrill L. Frantz, Ph.D., Ed.D., Associate Professor at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.

Also on Tuesday’s Smart Talk — former Penn State assistant football coach, son of legendary coach Joe Paterno and member of the Penn State Board of Trustees, Jay Paterno has written a novel about a major college football coach under pressure to win.

The book is called Hot Seat — A Year Inside College Football’s Pressure Cooker.

Some of the fictional stories come from real life experiences Paterno has witnessed or was aware of.

We’ll also talk with Paterno about Penn State and the coronavirus. The number of cases has increased significantly since students returned to school.

 

 

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WITF’s Election 2020 coverage on Smart Talk continues Friday with a candidate running for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Joining us on Friday’s program is Democrat Todd Rowley who is running for the 13th Congressional District.

The 13th district includes portions of Adams, Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Cumberland, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Somerset, and Westmoreland counties. The incumbent running for reelection in the 13th Congressional District is Republican John Joyce.

These conversations with candidates are designed to give voters an opportunity to hear where candidates stand on the issues before this fall’s election.

Healthcare coverage and the rising costs of care are a hot election issue in 2020.

The Wolf administration recently announced a health reform plan with a goal to improve affordability and access, and one that might also tackle the health care disparities in under-served communities.

Joining Smart Talk to offer details of the plan are Dr. Doug Jacobs, MD, Chief Innovation Officer with the Department of Human Services and Antoinette Kraus, Director Pennsylvania Health Access Network.

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A surge in gun sales and background checks across the state are getting a lot of attention.

In the past three months alone, a record-breaking 406,151 background checks were conducted through the firearm background check system. Some gun stores report increased sales and subsequent shortages in items ranging from hunting weapons to handguns. Ammunition is also difficult to keep in stock.

This is happening while Philadelphia is grappling with a 40% increase in homicides over last year’s total and city leaders are calling for action to address the problem.

Appearing on Smart Talk Thursday is Ryan Tarkowski, Communications Director with the Pennsylvania State Police, to talk about the increase in numbers and what is behind the trend.

Most public school districts in Pennsylvania are using a hybrid teaching model to protect students and staff from the coronavirus. That means that kids are either learning from home or going to school on alternate days to reduce the number of students in the buildings.

Once they go back to a full-time mode, getting students to the schools may be another problem to manage.

The Pennsylvania school bus industry warns the state is in danger of losing its school bus drivers and the businesses that employ them unless action is taken by the state.

Joining Smart Talk to offer context to this problem are Mike Berk, executive director of the Pennsylvania School Bus Association and Denille Girardat-Myers, school bus contractor and president of Pennsylvania School Bus Association.

Finally, the state Department of Environmental Protection has expanded drought warning to three northern tier counties and drought watches to 29 counties including Cumberland, Juniata, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder and Union Counties. Deb Klenotic is the Deputy Communications director with the DEP and she joins Smart Talk to detail what factors influence the alerts.

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WITF’s Election 2020 coverage on Smart Talk continues Wednesday as we’re joined by Jo Jorgensen, Ph.D., the Libertarian Party candidate running for President of the United States.

The Democratic and Republican Party candidates get almost all of the attention during campaigns – in part because candidates from those two parties win 99% of elected offices.

However, Smart Talk is giving candidates from other parties who are on the November ballot an opportunity to answer questions on the issues.

Also, the Pennsylvania Department of Health has released a 10-year plan aimed at improving oral health.

It’s called Oral Health Plan 2020-2030 and is aimed at increasing access to oral health care, preventing oral disease and reducing health disparities for vulnerable populations.

Appearing on Wednesday’s Smart Talk are Helen Hawkey, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Coalition for Oral Health and April Hutcheson, Director of Communications for the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

PA211.org is a Pennsylvania state resource to connect people to health care.

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The election countdown is on!

With less than 30 days to the general election there are many issues and questions facing Pennsylvania voters.

People want to know if the election will be secure, when they will know the results, and if they decide to vote in-person, can it be done safely? And for mail-in ballots – what are the deadlines?

There are certainly concerns about when election results will be tabulated. County commissioners across Pennsylvania are calling on state lawmakers to give them more time to process mailed ballots before Election Day. Right now, state law prohibits election administrators from preparing and counting ballots before 7:00 a.m. on Election Day. With the possibility of a historic number of mail-in votes, any delay in counting could delay state and even national results.

There are also new concerns about the reliability of Pennsylvania online voter services after the Department of State experienced a temporary system outage over the weekend.

Appearing on Smart Talk to discuss these and other related election issues are Pennsylvania’s Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar, along with Jonathan Marks, Deputy Secretary for elections and commissions with the Pennsylvania Department of State.

For more information on voting in Pennsylvania.

 

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WITF’s Election 2020 coverage on Smart Talk Monday with a Republican candidate running for statewide office.

Appearing on Monday’s program is Republican Tim DeFoor, who is running for Auditor General.

The Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General is the chief fiscal watchdog of the commonwealth. It is responsible for using audits to ensure that all state money is spent legally and properly.

Other candidates competing for Auditor General are Democrat Nina Ahmad, Green Party’s Olivia Faison and Libertarian Jennifer Moore.

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The nation and the world woke to the breaking news that President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the Coronavirus.

Other than the potential health implications for the Trumps, what other impact with this news have for the country? Will American’s become more compliant with their state’s pandemic restrictions? How will news affect the global fight to contain the virus?

Dr. John Goldman, MD, Infectious Disease specialist with UPMC Pinnacle, will join Smart Talk to analyze the impact.

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is home to illustrator Amy June Bates who was recently recognized for her work in Gittel’s Journey: An Ellis Island Story (Abrams Books for Young Readers).

Bates received a Christopher’s Award for her full-color illustrations depicting a young girl immigrating alone, after a health inspector determines her mother is not well enough to travel. Gittel’s story is inspired by the journey taken by the author’s grandmother and others.

The Christopher Awards were established by Christopher founder Father James Keller to salute media that “affirm the highest values of the human spirit.” According to their website, award winners encourage audiences to see the better side of human nature and motivate artists and the general public to use their best instincts on behalf of others.

Bates also illustrated “Bear in the Air,” “Minette’s Feast,” and “The Dog Who Belonged to No One.” A link to Amy June Bate’s portfolio can be found here.

 

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The arts in Pennsylvania communities are a vital component to the quality of life here. Performing arts venues, galleries and museums, all contribute to vibrant communities and active lifestyles.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the arts to a halt at the very beginning of the crisis and many venues are just now beginning to reopen. The economic impact to the people and businesses employed by them has been significant.

Appearing on Smart Talk to discuss the state of the arts in Pennsylvania communities are Karl Blischke, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Mayor Danene Sorace with the City of Lancaster, and Todd Fogdall, President and CEO of PA Presenters.

Ageism is the stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination against people based on their age. The scope of the issue is significant; today there are around 600 million people over 60-years old in the world, with more than 2.4 million people in Pennsylvania.

How big of a problem is ageism and what impact does it have on people and policies in the state?

Joining Smart Talk to shine a spotlight on the issue are Jane Conover, York County Community Foundation President and CEO, and Cathy Bollinger, the Foundation’s Embracing Aging Initiative managing director.

 

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