Category: Uncategorized

February is Heart Health month and typically a time to investigate new treatments and approaches to heart disease. This year, however, COVID is top of mind and impacting heart health in ways few would have predicted.

The American Heart Association highlights a number of studies suggesting that some COVID-19 survivors may experience some type of heart damage, even if they didn’t have underlying heart disease and weren’t sick enough to be hospitalized for COVID. This understanding has health care experts worried about a potential increase in heart failure.

Their concern also has to do with the fact that many people have avoided going to the doctor over the past year due to COVID concerns. Their reluctance has the potential for long term health impact.

Dr. Rhondalyn McLean, MD., is a Cardiologist and the Medical Director for Heart Transplantation with Penn Medicine and she joins Smart Talk to discuss what is now known about COVID and the heart.

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Over the years, there have been many suggestions on ways to reform the state and federal governments — to make members of Congress and state legislators more responsive to their constituents.

Term limits for elected officials is often cited as one such change that could make a difference.

The organization U.S. Terms Limits has campaigned for and actually helped to enact term limits in some states.

The organization says “term limits provide fresh faces with fresh ideas to elected office. They reduce lobbyist and special interest influence and make room in Congress for the citizen legislator.”

Wednesday’s Smart Talk focuses on term limits for lawmakers.

Appearing on the program are Mike Riley, Legislative Advocate, U.S. Term Limits, Ken Quinn, Northern Regional Director, U.S. Term Limits and Republican state Representative Ryan MacKenzie serving parts of Lehigh and Berks Counties.

THE GENE Screening Event Explores the Genetic Revolution

Join WITF-TV for a free documentary screening and panel discussion around THE GENE: AN INTIMATE HISTORY, Wednesday, February 17 at 7pm. Powerful personal stories and breakthroughs reveal the historical search for the human genome and the promise of modern research.

Based on Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee’s best-seller on how genes impact heredity, disease and behavior and presented by Ken Burns. An event panelist, James Broach, Ph.D., Director, Penn State Institute for Personalized Medicine, joins Smart Talk to discuss how the evolution of gene science has revolutionized medicine.

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Each year during the cold winter months in central Pennsylvania something wonderful happens on a lake located in Lancaster and Lebanon County. Migrating birds numbering in the thousands stop-over at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management area on their way north to spring breeding grounds in the Arctic.

There are many factors determining the number and types of birds that make this stop, including snow and ice cover on the lake and grounds. When conditions are good, flocks of snow geese and tundra swans gather in huge numbers, creating a spectacle that draws nature lovers from around the region.

Joe Monfort is the Environmental Education and Outreach coordinator at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area and he joins Smart Talk Friday to provide an update on the annual migrations. (webcam here)

The big bird count is underway

The Great Backyard Bird Count begins Friday and runs through Monday, February 15. This is an annual event that asks for the public’s help to create a snapshot of bird activity in their area.

People are asked to count birds for as little as 15 minutes, or longer, on one or more days of the four-day event. Then, to report their sightings online at birdcount.org. Anyone can join the Great Backyard Bird Count, from beginning bird watchers to experts, and you can participate from your backyard, or anywhere you might be.

Appearing on Smart Talk to discuss the importance of the counts are Keith Russell, Urban Conservation Program Manager and Kelly McGinley, Network Engagement Manager, both with Audubon Pennsylvania.

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Michael Mann is one of the world’s most renowned climatologists and perhaps one of its most active and outspoken warriors against climate change. Mann is often the “go to” person for scientific information on historic climate change based on the temperature record of the past thousand years.

He has written five books, including 2012’s seminal The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars.

In his latest book, The New Climate War – The Fight to Take Back Our Planet, Mann describes how the fossil fuel industry and some media outlets have tried to cast doubt on climate change — not necessarily to deny that it exists but to deflect blame and delay action to mitigate a warming planet.

Michael Mann, Ph.D., appears on Thursday’s Smart Talk.

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Industry-wide layoffs, financial losses and threats of continued closures have hospitality owners appealing for help.

Restaurants and lodging organizations have been hit particularly hard during the pandemic. With little end in sight, they are petitioning the state for a financial life raft.

According to industry representatives, restaurants and bars are barely managing losses under viral mitigation restrictions imposed by Gov. Tom Wolf. Restaurants are operating at 50 percent indoor capacity, with no bar seating, and a strict liquor sale cutoff at 11pm.

Without any aid, it is estimated that nearly half of all Pennsylvania restaurants won’t survive.

John Longstreet is the president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association and he appears on Smart Talk Wednesday to discuss what is needed to turn the corner of this crisis. Joining him are Jim Fris, President & CEO, PJW Restaurant Group, the owners and operators of PJ Whelihans, The Pour House and The Chop House, and Chris Sirianni, owner and operator of the Brewerie at Union Station, Erie, Pennsylvania.

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When the pandemic hit Pennsylvania and mitigation orders closed schools and businesses, many workers suddenly found themselves out of work.

The Department of Labor & Industry ramped up unemployment online access but the system quickly became overwhelmed and difficult to navigate.

Nearly a year has passed, along with three federal stimulus plans to help offset the financial impact to workers. Has the current Labor & Industry compensation system been able to meet the challenge?

Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor & Industry Jennifer Berrier appears on Smart Talk Tuesday to discuss Pennsylvania’s unemployment system, programs and workforce development.

Some COVID patients may never regain the loss of taste and smell

The loss of taste and smell emerged early on in the pandemic as a sort of canary in the mine shaft, especially if no other symptoms presented in the patient. The medical community agreed that these symptoms confirmed an almost certain case of COVID-19.

A year into the pandemic and some still haven’t recovered their senses, and for a number of people who have, odors are now changed: unpleasant scents have taken the place of normally good ones.

Dr. Johnathan D. McGinn, M.D., is a Professor of Otolaryngology ­Head & Neck Surgery with Penn State Hershey Medical Center. He joins Smart Talk to discuss what is now known about the potentially permanent loss of taste and smell for some COVID patients.

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Gov. Tom Wolf presented his budget proposal to state legislators last week — a plan hinging on a multi-billion dollar tax increase with much of the money going to schools. A family of four making less $84,000 would pay less in taxes, according to administration officials.

The proposal is unlikely to pass in Pennsylvania’s GOP-controlled legislature, with Republican lawmakers saying Wolf shouldn’t be asking for tax hikes during a pandemic. Republicans also are focusing their attention on what they see as high-profile failures of the administration, like the vaccine roll out.

There is plenty of criticism being levied by one side against the other; Legislators against the Governor, Democrats against Republicans. With all of the acrimony, and little action to fix big state problems, one might ask, “is the state Government working?”

Two long-time government and political observers join Smart Talk Monday to tackle that question. G. Terry Madonna, Ph.D., is a political analyst and a Senior Fellow in Residence at Millersville University and he will appear along with veteran journalist and PennLive Columnist John Baer.

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Twenty-five million Americans live in the area known as Appalachia. The region includes portions of 13 states, including most of Pennsylvania.

Appalachia still lags behind the rest of the nation in many areas of economic development, and with more than a half a million jobs lost in Pennsylvania since February 2020 some of the progress here has been lost.

The ReImagine Appalachia Coalition published an infrastructure blueprint they say will create a quarter of a million jobs in Pennsylvania in particular, by focusing on sustainable industries that address climate impact. A video describing the plan found is posted on their Facebook page.

Joining Smart Talk Friday to highlight their plan are Steve Herzenberg, Executive Director, Keystone Research Center and Jacqui Bonomo, President and CEO of PennFuture and also a founding and executive committee member of the RA campaign.

US economy shrank in 2020 for first time since Great Recession

The coronavirus pandemic continues as the greatest threat to the global economy. A recent report showed that the US economy contracted 3.5% last year, which is the largest decline since just after World War II and the first since 2009.

Maria Ivanova Reyes, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Economist with Gettysburg College appears on Smart Talk Friday to analyze the report and talk about what the economy will need to grow and move forward from the pandemic.

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The Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion recently completed a post-election survey of Pennsylvanians who participated in the 2020 general election.

The questions surveyed included the most controversial topics of this election: mail-in ballots, ensuring a secure election, and the perception of voter fraud.

Christopher Borick, Ph.D., is a Professor of Political Science and the Institute Director and he joins Smart Talk Thursday to share the survey results.

An insider’s view of criminal justice reform

Former Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Bill DeWeese, a Democrat from southwestern Pennsylvania, was convicted on theft of services charges almost a decade ago, when it was alleged that his staff was campaigning on government time.

DeWeese was sentenced to 30 to 60 months in prison and served just under two years. He appears on Smart Talk Thursday to share his perspective on criminal justice reform during the pandemic.

Toward Racial Justice returns in 2021 with a look ahead

WITF’s series of virtual community conversations, produced to address systemic racism in Central Pennsylvania and beyond, returns Thursday, February 4 at 7pm on WITF’s YouTube Channel.

Series moderator Charles Ellison, executive producer & host of “Reality Check” on WURD in Philadelphia appears on Smart Talk to relay the goals for TRJ in the new year. We’ll also look back at the highlights from the past year.

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One year into the pandemic and economic data indicates how significantly employee plans have been affected by the resulting economic crisis.

Conrad Siegel is a retirement, investment, and healthcare consulting firm and they’ve conducted a survey that shows how local employers adjusted their benefit plans during the pandemic.

The survey results measured the likelihood that staff in some industries will continue to work from home, how PPP has helped, and the impact to retirement plans. Joining Smart Talk to share and analyze the survey results are Conrad Siegel advisors Rob Glus, Partner and Consulting Actuary and Scott Gehman, Retirement Plan Consultant.

Astronomers Discover Binary Planetary System

A team of Bucknell University Physics and Astronomy professors made history as part of a research team who discovered a new binary planetary system 450 light years away from Earth. The discovery is composed of two brown dwarfs orbiting around each other, called a Binary Planetary system.

Professor Katelyn Allers, Ph.D., Physics and Astronomy at Bucknell University was the principal investigator on the international research team who used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to make the discovery. She joins Smart Talk to help put the achievement into context.

Pittsburgh native selected for next moon-shot team

NASA recently announced the Artemis team that will send people back to the moon for the first time since the end of NASA’s Apollo program in 1972. NASA will announce flight assignments for astronauts pulling from members of the Artemis team.

Astronaut Warren Hoburg is one the 18 astronauts to form the team that will pave the way for the next missions on and around the moon. Hoburg, a native of Pittsburgh, joined the astronaut corps in 2017 and he appears on Smart Talk Wednesday.

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