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In a normal year, the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra brings thousands of visitors to concerts, boosting hospitality businesses and adding to the cultural appeal of the region.

But this isn’t a normal year but the HSO has found a way to deliver world-class music to their audiences through technology. While many orchestras are shut down completely, the HSO continues to bring music to the region.

This year, in particular, is significant for the HSO’s “season like no other,” as they celebrate a milestone 90th birthday.

Maestro Stuart Malina, who is marking his 20^th year as music director and conductor, will join Smart Talk Friday, along with Matthew Herren, the orchestra’s Executive Director, to share news of the March Masterworks concert.

Area family to hit the trail and raise funds for a debilitating birth defect

More than 170-thousand children are born each year with a birth defect called clubfoot. Left untreated, club foot can lead to a lifetime of hardship and disability.

Clubfoot can be treated and corrected with simple casts and braces, but for people in the developing world the cost of a several hundred dollar treatment is often insurmountable.

A local family will hike the Appalachian Trail this spring to raise funds and awareness for Hope Walks, a charity that offers treatment for the disorder. Brian Long, owner of a Gettysburg-area business, will team up with daughter McKenzie, and two nieces, to hike the nearly 2,200 mile trail. The Longs join Smart Talk Friday to outline their fundraising plan.

Book details local author’s Himalayan adventure

Tracy Pawelski is a wife, mother of two, and a universally-respected and well-liked communications professional in Central Pennsylvania and in the halls of the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. But she also is an adventurer, who hiked the remote Annapurna Circuit in Nepal – accompanied by just a guide and porter.

Pawelski describes an unpredictable and often dangerous journey in her book, One Woman in the Himalayas: Not every idea is a good idea, but you don’t know until you try.

Tracy Pawelski appears on Friday’s Smart Talk.

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The boundaries between U.S. states don’t change, but voting district boundaries within each state do and are redrawn every 10 years to coincide with the U.S. Census count.

The expectation is that districts within the state must have populations that are roughly equal to one another. The potential is that when districts are redrawn, gerrymandering may occur.

Gerrymandering is the drawing of the boundaries in a way that gives one party an unfair advantage over other parties. This year there are several factors compounding the risk of gerrymandered districts, including incomplete and delayed Census data and proposed legislation to change how judges are elected.

To highlight the issues on Smart Talk Thursday are Carol Kuniholm, Fair Districts PA Chair and David Thornburgh, President and CEO, Committee of Seventy.

Public utilities vulnerable to cyber threats

It is a frightening report. In early February a Florida water system operator noticed his computer cursor moving around on the screen, independent of his actions. A cyber hack was underway with the intruder altering the chemical levels involved in the water treatment.

That event, which is now under investigation, alarmed state and local utility officials around the country.

How vulnerable are Pennsylvania public utilities and water systems to a cyber threat?

Nils Hagen-Frederiksen is the Press Secretary for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and he appears on Smart Talk Thursday to address system safeguards.

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Reports from around the country point to a disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 virus on minority communities.

That warning was sounded in Pennsylvania early in the pandemic, but data was not readily available through the Department of Health reporting system to make a conclusion. When the data was eventually reported, it confirmed that Black Pennsylvanians were disproportionately impacted, but because of some missing racial data, there were still no conclusions reached as to why it was occurring.

Now that vaccinations are underway, the Pennsylvania Department of Health is facing the same challenge to accurately report who is and is not receiving the vaccine.

Spotlight PA reported on the missing data and appearing on Smart Talk Wednesday to draw attention to the issue are reporters Jamie Martines and Eseosa Olumhense.

Political refugee to CEO

When Hagir Elsheikh, began advocating for democratic rule in her native Sudan, she found herself in the crosshairs of the ruling Sudanese government of Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

More than twenty years later, Elsheikh is in a very different place both literally and figuratively. Hagir Elsheikh joins Smart Talk Wednesday to share her personal journey to Central Pennsylvania and her transition to business owner and community advocate.

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The most recent Franklin & Marshall College state-wide poll found that only 36 percent of the state’s voters believe that Pennsylvania is “headed in the right direction.” That’s significantly lower (57 percent) than a poll taken before the COVID-19 pandemic and state-wide mitigation efforts impacted daily life.

The poll indicated 67 percent of those surveyed support increasing the state’s minimum wage and 59 percent favor legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes. Both are issues garnering a lot of attention right now, as is the polarization of vaccines.

The poll also gauged voters perceptions of President Biden and former President Trump’s records, as well as results of the state’s 2020 presidential election.

Smart Talk Tuesday will discuss the poll results with Berwood Yost, Director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin and Marshall College.

Pennsylvania farms feeling pressure of population growth

Every five years the US Department of Agriculture conducts a Census of Agriculture to count farms and ranches, along with the people who operate them.

The Census of Agriculture offers the only source of aggregate agriculture data for every county in the nation. The most recent Census, conducted in 2017 and released in 2019, found a significant decline in the number of farms in Pennsylvania.

A new report from the Center for Economic and Community Development in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, points to areas experiencing population growth as a primary reason.

Timothy Kelsey, a professor of agricultural economics and co-director of the Center for Economic and Community Development, appears on Smart Talk Tuesday, along with Emily Ciganik, undergraduate research associate in the Center for Economic and Community Development and the report co-author, to share their findings.

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Airdate: Monday, March 15, 2021

One year into the pandemic and vaccinations are underway throughout the country, which is remarkable given the virus was unknown to medical professionals before December 2019.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention track diseases and respond with guidelines to prevent the spread and severity of outbreaks like COVID. Throughout the pandemic they have responded by issuing guidelines for Americans, which government agencies have used to develop mitigation practices.

While there are still unknowns as to how vaccines will affect the spread of COVID-19, the CDC has updated guidance for vaccinated individuals moving forward.

Dr. Gerald Maloney, DO, is the Chief Medical Officer for Geisinger Hospitals and he joins Smart Talk Monday to put the guidance into context, as well as answer questions about the ecology of the virus.

Updated CDC Guidelines for vaccinated individuals:

• Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or staying 6 feet apart.
• Visit with unvaccinated people from one other household indoors without wearing masks or staying 6 feet apart if everyone in the other household is at low risk for severe disease.
• Refrain from quarantine and testing if they do not have symptoms of COVID-19 after contact with someone who has COVID-19.

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Relations with the People’s Republic of China loom large for the new Biden Administration. International security issues, allegations of genocide, and fallout from the pandemic have stressed diplomatic relations between the two nations.

China emerged internationally as a major economic power in the past 15 years and, as a result, the Asian nation has ramped up militarily and become increasingly active around the globe.

Bucknell University Professor Zhiqun Zhu, Ph.D.,Professor of Political Science and International Relations is a leading expert on U.S.-China policy. He joins Smart Talk to describe the challenges ahead.

Presidential memorabilia more than just a hobby for local historian

President’s Day federal holiday in February was just a few weeks ago.

For Smart Talk, it was an opportunity to look back at the men who have held our nation’s highest office, and enjoy some personal stories from a local collector and historian.

To continue that conversation and take a closer look into the personal side of the presidency, along with some little known facts, is Dr. Larry Cook, DC, an historian and lifelong collector of presidential memorabilia.

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Plastic pollution is everywhere and it’s getting worse.

From single-use food items to plastic bags, plastic products litter communities, overburden landfills and pollute waterways.

A report by the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center paints an alarming picture of the scope of the problem. Their research found that microplastic contamination existed in 100 percent of water samples taken from more than 50 of Pennsylvania’s most popular rivers, lakes and streams.

Municipalities want legislative action to address pollution

Communities across Pennsylvania are demanding the legislature take action, but in their absence not stand in the way of local communities enacting ordinances to address waste and litter from single-use plastics.

Philadelphia is the latest municipality to file suit to undo the General Assembly’s preemption law. Councilman Mark Squilla represents City Council’s First District, a diverse and growing area that stretches along the Delaware River and he appears on Smart Talk Thursday to discuss the legal action.

Also on the program are David Masur, Executive Director, PennEnvironment, along with Faran Savitz, Conservation Associate, PennEnvironment and John Wallace, Ph.D., Professor of Biology and Director, Millersville University Center for Environmental Sciences. They join Smart Talk Thursday to highlight the dangerous levels of microplastics in Pennsylvania waterways.

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In a rare court action, Chief Justice John Roberts filed a lone dissent, at the same time accusing the other Justices of expanding the court’s jurisdiction.

Chief Justice Roberts went so far as to accuse his colleagues of “turning into advice columnists,” after the court decided to allow a review of a case that lower courts had already dismissed without precedent.

Michael R. Dimino, Professor of Law Widener University Commonwealth Law School shares his perspective and analysis of the recent SCOTUS action on Smart Talk Wednesday.

Dog licensing fees and puppy health directly linked

The Department of Agriculture, along with veterinarians from the Pennsylvania SPCA and Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association (PVMA), are highlighting the need for a dog license fee increase to help pay for sick dogs housed in breeding operations.

Pennsylvania dog license fees help pay for dog wardens to perform unannounced inspections twice a year — inspections critical for maintaining healthy breeding kennels.

Legislators introduced legislation to raise the fees and Democratic state Representative Eddie Day Pashinski of Luzerne County will appear on Smart Talk Wednesday, along with Dr. Mary Jane McNamee, DVM, Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association to discuss the issue.

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The beautiful Susquehanna River is the longest river on the East Coast of the United States. It is also thought to be one of the oldest rivers in the world, even older than the Hudson, Delaware and Potomac Rivers.

For many years, the Susquehanna has been targeted by environmentalists because of the excessive pollution it receives from agricultural runoff, farming and untreated sewage. Because the river is a main tributary feeding in the Chesapeake Bay, Susquehanna pollution is blamed for endangering that important waterway.

The USA Today Network recently published an investigative series on how Pennsylvania is failing in its obligation to clean up the river, and by extension, the Chesapeake Bay.

Joining Smart Talk Tuesday to discuss their reporting are Scott Fisher, USA Today Network Central Pennsylvania regional editor, Mike Argento, investigative reporter for the York Daily Record and Julia Rentsch, environmental reporter for Delmarva Now.

Celebrating the Commonwealth’s 340th Birthday

Happy Charter Day, Pennsylvania!

There are no in-person events this year to recognize the state’s birthday, but anyone interested in learning more or seeing the 340-year-old Charter need only visit the Pennsylvania State Archives to view the original document.

David Carmichael is the Pennsylvania state Archivist and he appears on Smart Talk Tuesday to share the programs that are available through this week.

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Getting teachers back in the classroom and schools in session are top priorities for parents and administrators.

Last week, the Wolf administration, along with a bipartisan COVID-19 Task Force, announced that Pennsylvania’s shipment of the recently approved Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine will be earmarked for teachers and staff.

The administration is coordinating with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the departments of Education and Health to establish vaccination sites. The Pennsylvania National Guard and AMI Expeditionary Healthcare (AMI) will administer the shots.

Joining Smart Talk Monday to discuss details and the plan moving forward are Pennsylvania acting Secretary of Education Noe Ortega, followed by Republican state Senator Ryan Aument from Lancaster County, who is a member of the COVID-19 Task Force.

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