Author: julrich

What to look for on Smart Talk Wednesday, July 11, 2018:

The site of the bloodiest battle ever fought on North American soil may not seem like a logical place to have a discussion about peace and civility.  But that’s exactly what we’re doing on Wednesday’s Smart Talk.

A Smart Talk Road Trip travels to the George Spangler Farm on the Gettysburg Battlefield Wednesday.  During the program, we’ll be talking about peace and civility.  How does that tie in to the Gettysburg Battlefield?

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Eternal Peace Light Memorial on the battlefield.  It was dedicated on July 3rd, 1938 by President Franklin Roosevelt.  On that day, President Roosevelt said, “Sometimes the threat to popular government comes from political interests, sometimes from economic interests, sometimes we have to beat off all of them together. But the challenge is always the same- whether each generation facing its own circumstances can summon the practical devotion to attain and to retain that greatest good for the greatest number which this government of the people was created to ensure.”

The front of the memorial says, “An enduring light to guide us in unity and fellowship.”

Those words were referring to the Civil War, but they just as easily could be describing what’s needed in today’s society that is divided politically and often harshly.

During the Smart Talk broadcast, we’ll discuss civility with Dr. Matthew Moen, President of the Gettysburg Foundation, Dr. Jean Pretz, Professor and Chair of the Psychology Department at Elizabethtown College and Lucie Shiffman, one of the award winners for the 2018 Student Prize for Civility in Public Life at Allegheny College.

Also, the George Spangler Farm was used as a field hospital after the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.  Up to 1,900 men from both the Union and Confederate armies were treated at the Spangler Farm when it was a field hospital.  Some lived but others died, including Confederate General Lewis Armistead.  This summer, visitors are getting an opportunity to see an 1863 working farm and what a field hospital looked like in 1863.

Joining us on the program are Paul Semanek, Site Coordinator, the George Spangler Civil War Field Hospital, Harry Sonntag, 2^nd Corps, Field Hospital, Confederate States of America and Ron Kirkwood, Historian and Spangler Farm Volunteer.

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What to look for on Smart Talk Tuesday, July 10, 2018:

One-fifth of medications prescribed to construction workers contain an opioid.  Construction workers are almost twice as likely to have a substance abuse problem than the general population.  What it adds up to is the construction industry has been hit hard by the opioid crisis.

However, the construction industry is fighting back and reaching out to help its workers deal with the issues in several ways that we’ll discuss on Tuesday’s Smart Talk.  Could it be a model for other industries?

The last week in July has been designated as “Construction Opioids Awareness Week” in Pennsylvania.

Joining us on the program is Jon O’Brien, executive Director of the Keystone Contractors Association.

Also, a recent survey shows trends in employer-based healthcare benefits of higher deductibles and increased limits on coverage of spouses.  Both moves are to keep costs from rising faster.

Conrad Siegel, a company that works with employers on benefits, questioned more than 100 Central Pennsylvania Businesses for it’s annual healthcare survey.

Robert Glus, a Partner & Consulting Actuary at Conrad Siegel is on Tuesday’s Smart Talk to explain.

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What to look for on Smart Talk Monday, July 9, 2018:

Pennsylvania is the first state in the country with a “clean slate” law.  It allows those who were arrested for non-violent crimes that carried a year or more in prison to have their records sealed if they don’t break the law again for 10 years and have paid all fines and court costs.

Under the law, criminal records aren’t expunged and are still accessible by law enforcement.

More than a third of Pennsylvania’s working-age population have criminal records.  The law’s proponents say it will allow those who stay out of trouble to find a job or rent an apartment.

To discuss the clean slate law on Monday’s Smart Talk is one of its co-sponsors — Republican Rep. Sheryl Delozier of Cumberland County.

Also, so far this year, West Nile virus has been found in 33 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.  Cases of West Nile virus occur during mosquito season, beginning in the summer and continuing through the fall.  Mosquito bites are the primary cause for infection and the state has developed plans to keep mosquito breeding under control.

The virus first appeared in Pennsylvania in 2000.  In response, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) developed a network to trap and control mosquitoes, while also monitoring people and animals that could be infected.

Currently, counties have only tested positive from mosquito samples and there have been no cases of human infection in Pennsylvania.  Many counties have taken precautions through neighborhood sprayings of mosquito insecticides, but there are many other actions people can take to prevent mosquito breeding.

Matt Helwig and Mike Hutchinson from the DEP’s Vector Management team joins us on Monday’s show to discuss controlling West Nile virus.

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What to look for on Smart Talk Friday, July 6, 2018:

WITF and Smart Talk have focused a spotlight on the opioid crisis often over the past five years.  We’ve heard it called the worst drug epidemic many people have ever seen.  There have been stories of death and grief, but also of hope and finding a solution to the scourge.

WITF is one of more than 50 print, digital and broadcast news organizations that are teaming up for a project called State of Emergency: Search for Solutions to Pennsylvania’s Opioid Crisis.  Stories from every area of the state are being published or broadcast to show how government agencies, businesses, first responders, families of victims and ordinary citizens are battling opioids.

More than 2,200 Pennsylvanians died of opioid overdoses in 2016 and there are very few signs the overdoses are slowing down.

Cate Barron, Vice President of Content at PennLive and the Patriot-News is one of the editors overseeing the project and she appears on Friday’s Smart Talk.

Also, the Counsul General of Canada was in Harrisburg last month and joined us on Smart Talk.  This week, Canada imposed tariffs on some American imports in retaliation for President Trump ordering tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from Canada.  We’ll hear that conversation with Consul General Phyllis Yaffee on Friday’s Smart Talk.

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What to look for on Smart Talk Thursday, July 5, 2018:

A survey recently conducted by the Bucknell University Institute for Public Policy found that residents of six key Trump states are pessimistic about the impacts of free trade.

These states – known as the “Trump Coalition” – voted for President Trump in the 2016 election and Barack Obama in prior elections. They include Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa.

Approximately 60 percent of people in these states said free trade negatively affects economic growth, employment prospects and wages. This figure was about 10-20 percent lower in states that voted consistently Republican or consistently Democrat in the last two elections.

Additionally, the survey showed that Republicans and Democrats prioritize different goals in trade agreements. Republicans tend to emphasize the internal effects of trade, while Democrats often focus more on conditions in partner countries.

To discuss the survey’s findings, political science professor and director of the Bucknell Survey Research Laboratory, Chris Ellis will join us on Thursday’s Smart Talk.

Also, gerrymandering has been a contentious topic in Pennsylvania and the rest of the nation lately. On Thursday, former State Senator Franklin L. Kury is on Smart Talk to discuss his book Gerrymandering: A Guide to Congressional Redistricting, Dark Money, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

The book examines the Supreme Court case regarding gerrymandered maps used in Wisconsin elections. Last month after the book was published, the Supreme Court pushed the case back down to a lower court, avoiding coming to a decision on the legality of the maps.

Kury’s book also looks at the mechanics of redistricting in Pennsylvania and throughout U.S. history, and it includes information that readers can use to understand gerrymandering and redistricting in their states.

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What to look for on Smart Talk Tuesday, July 3, 2018:

As you are well aware, Wednesday is the Fourth of July — Independence Day — or the day most people point to as the birth of the United States of America. The Declaration of Independence that declared the 13 colonies independent from Great Britain was announced on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia — even though it was agreed to two days earlier. 

A young Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence — a document that many historians hail as significant as the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

On Tuesday’s Smart Talk, we discuss Jefferson and writing the Declaration with Professor Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy, a historian from Jefferson’s Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia.

There will be a lot of celebrating Wednesday with picnics, swimming, family get-togethers and, of course, fireworks.  Pennsylvania has a new law for this Fourth of July.  Some fireworks that weren’t legal in the state before are now.

On Tuesday’s Smart Talk to describe what’s different is Bill Leidy, Store Manager of Gettysburg Keystone Fireworks.

With any discussion of fireworks should come some caution and talk of safety.  Harrisburg Fire Chief Brian Enterline joins us to discuss why we need to be even more cautious this year.

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What to look for on Smart Talk Monday, July 2, 2018:

There many things in life we Americans take for granted.  Clean drinking water that’s coming from the tap in your kitchen is one of them.

But a months-long investigation by PennLive shows that the drinking water in Pennsylvania may or may not be safe or at least could result in someone in your home becoming sick.

The investigation found that budget cuts have led to fewer inspectors of water systems, an aging infrastructure that includes old-falling apart pipes, treated and untreated water, and lead in some state water systems.

• Read the report on PennLive

So, what’s being done about and what can you do?

PennLive investigative reporter Wallace McKelvey appears on Monday’s Smart Talk to describe what he found.

Also, farmers who supply milk to Turkey Hill Dairy will have to have a conservation plan in place moving forward.  The Turkey Hill Clean Water Partnership will help farmers develop plans to limit soil and manure from running into waterways. 

Turkey Hill President John Cox and Jenna Mitchell Pennsylvania State Director for the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay joins us on Smart Talk to explain.

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What to look for on Smart Talk Friday, June 29, 2018:

The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots 41-33 in one of the most exciting Super Bowls in NFL history last February.  The Eagles hadn’t won a championship since 1960 and were underdogs entering the playoffs after starting quarterback Carson Wentz suffered a season-ending injury.  But in stepped back-up and former starter Nick Foles, who played a game for the ages and was named the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player.

Foles will be in Harrisburg Friday afternoon and he joins us on Smart Talk to discuss his just released book  Believe It: My Journey of Success, Failure, and Overcoming the Odds.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement earlier this week effective at the end of July.  So what does this mean for the court and the nation moving forward?

Michael Dimino, Professor of Law at Widener University Commonwealth Law School.

Many Pennsylvanians stood up and noticed in the last few weeks with more attention focused on the poison hemlock plant.  With good reason, the plant is poisonous to humans and can actually cause blindness.

To tell us more about posiion hemlock on Friday’s program is Kelly Sitch, a botanist with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

 

 

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What to look for on Smart Talk Thursday, June 28, 2018:

Eighty-one percent of Evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.  More than a year-and-a-half later, they overwhelmingly still support the president’s policies.  Many question how devout Christians can fall in line behind Trump, considering he has been married three times, been accused of having multiple extramarital affairs, has been documented to not always tell the truth, and labeled as racist and xenophobic.

John Fea, Chair of the History Department at Messiah College has written a new book entitled Believe Me — The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump.  It explains that Evangelicals support Trump out of a fear of a changing society, their distaste for Progressives, Trump’s pledge to appoint conservative and anti-abortion judges and promise to “make America great again.”

Fea, who says he is an Evangelical himself, appears on Thursday’s Smart Talk.

John Fea appears at Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg Saturday at 6 p.m.

Also, Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman joins us to discuss how the 25-year-old murder of Christy Mirack was solved.  A well-known local disc jockey, Raymond Rowe was arrested and charged with strangling and sexually assaulting the 25-year-old elementary school teacher.  Rowe reportedly was never a suspect in the case but DNA evidence obtained from the crime scene and matched with genetic material submitted for genealogy research by a family member narrowed it down to Rowe.

It could be the first time genealogy analysis was used to crack a murder case in Pennsylvania.

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What to look for on Smart Talk Wednesday, June 27, 2018:

The Federal Middle District of Pennsylvania spans 33 counties, from Pike County in the East to Cameron County in the West. It covers almost half of the state and includes about 3.2 million Pennsylvanians.

David Freed is the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. U.S. Attorneys are responsible for representing their districts in addition to serving as the administrative leaders. They are also the head federal law enforcement officers in their districts.

Drug trafficking has been a very significant issue in the Middle District Court recently. Other topics frequently addressed by the court include child pornography, financial fraud and firearms offenses. Often cases involve both drugs and gun violence.

On Wednesday’s Smart Talk, Freed joins us to discuss federal crime in Central Pennsylvania.  Illegal immigration is also a topic we’ll discuss.

Prior to being appointed the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District, Freed was the District Attorney of Cumberland County.

Also, there may not be another St. Patrick’s Day parade in York without new community support.  Dan Reilly, president of the committee that stages the parade, is on Wednesday’s Smart Talk.

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