Food insecurity and hunger plagues older population – Advocacy group calls for greater effort to preserve local farmland

It is often hard to imagine that hunger exists in a state with so many abundant resources. The truth is that disparities remain and many people face the absence of basic needs.

The pandemic has impacted seniors in particular, with many experiencing food insecurity.

The Wolf administration is organizing state agencies and area non-profits to offer food assistance to this vulnerable population.

Pennsylvania First Lady Frances Wolf joins Smart Talk Tuesday, along with Caryn Long-Earl, director of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Food Assistance and Jennifer Brillhart, President & CEO, York County Food Bank, to share details of the initiative.

Advocacy group urges greater effort to preserve local farmland

Suburban encroachment and a lack of local funding is causing one central Pennsylvania county’s farmland preservation efforts to stall.

The Lancaster Farmland Trust published a report in June calling for increased funding by local governments to preserve farmland. The LFT recommends a goal that would put more than half of all agricultural land in Lancaster County into preservation status by 2040.

A farm in Stevens, Lancaster County. Photo Marie Cusick, for StateImpact Pennsylvania

Appearing on Smart Talk Tuesday to discuss the recommendations in the report are Jeff Swinehart, Chief Operating Officer and Karen Martynick, Executive Director, both with the Lancaster Farmland Trust.

 

Supreme Court noteworthy rulings – Breaking down President Biden’s climate plan

All eyes are on the Supreme Court this term as the conservative majority body makes their mark with several historic and important decisions.

Progressive observers have been somewhat surprised at a few of the case results, leading them to interpret the court as more ideologically neutral that previously thought.

There have been exceptions, however, especially in light of the court’s decision on a high profile voting rights case.

Michael Moreland, JD., Ph.D., Professor of Law and Religion and Director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy at the Villanova University School of Law will join Smart Talk Monday to discuss this and other Supreme Court actions making an impact.

Review of President Biden’s climate plan

President Joe Biden came into office with many promises. One pledge was to bring the US back into the Paris climate agreement; a climate change mitigation plan the Trump administration backed out of in 2017.

The new administration set new greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, as well as goals to transition to more renewable energy technology.

Appearing on Smart Talk Monday to break down details of the Biden climate plan is Reid Frazier, StateImpact Pennsylvania Reporter.

Guest host Marie Cusick is sitting in for Smart Talk host Scott LaMar.

 

The legacies of Chief Justices Roger Taney and John Marshall and slavery – Strike Out Covid

The legacies of two former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justices with ties to Central Pennsylvania — Roger B. Taney and John Marshall — are under scrutiny today because of their connections to slavery. The US House of Representatives voted in June to replace a bust of Roger B. Taney with one honoring the first African American Justice Thurgood Marshall.

The Taney Court is remembered most for its 1857 decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, when they ruled that blacks were not citizens of the United States and Congress had no authority to prevent the spread of slavery into federal territories. Justice Taney was a graduate of Dickinson College in Carlisle.

Justice John Marshall served early in the nation’s history and is considered to be a framer of Constitutional law. He was also known to have owned hundreds of slaves in his lifetime; purchasing and auctioning some to pay off family debts. In conflict to his personal interests, the Marshall Court heard many cases involving then current slaves’ claims of freedom, which could have influenced his opinions. The Marshall in Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster is named for Justice Marshall.

Paul Finkelman, Ph.D., President of Gratz College and author of Supreme Injustice; Slavery in the Nation’s Highest Court, appears on Smart Talk Thursday to reveal how slavery taints the legacy of both Justices.

Name image and likeness rights law for collegiate athletes – Project Rattle Cam

Should college athletes be paid was a question asked for decades as college sports — especially football and basketball — rivaled professional sports in popularity that included in-person attendance, TV audiences and merchandise sold.

Within just the last few weeks, the question was answered and athletes are in line to be compensated — not for playing, but for the use of their names, images and likenesses.

On Wednesday’s Smart Talk, we discuss game changing decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and the NCAA that allow athletes to be compensated.

Appearing on the program is Casey Floyd, Co-Founder and Chief Compliance Officer, NOCAP Sports.

Project RattleCam tracks rattlesnake behavior

The power of community is being tapped to better understand the secretive rattlesnake. Project RattleCam is seeking help from community scientists to sort through literally thousands of images taken inside a rattlesnake rookerie.

A black phase Timber Rattlesnake basking on a rock.

In summer, female rattlesnakes gather in rookeries to have babies and scientists have placed cameras in one area to capture all of the action.

This project partners Dickinson College in Carlisle, with California Polytechnic State University, and the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Scott Boback, Ph.D., is an animal ecologist and Professor of Biology with Dickinson College and he joins Smart Talk Wednesday to share details about the project.

The battle over teaching critical race theory – Also on the program: Older people’s risk of falling made worse by pandemic

Critical race theory is a hot-button issue in the news today. There are plenty of advocates arguing for teaching the theory in schools, and others challenging the construct outright.

Critical race theory, or CRT, is a way of understanding how racism shapes and influences government institutions. The debate around CRT is currently focused on how or if it should be included or inform curriculum in schools. It is a complicated topic that is certainly more nuanced than people on either side of the argument may appreciate.

Scott Hancock, Ph.D., is a Professor of History and Africana Studies at Gettysburg College, who has studied CRT for more than 20 years and he appears on Smart Talk Tuesday to share his knowledge on the issue.

Older people’s risk of falling made worse by pandemic

Seniors are at a greater risk of falling with age. This is due in large part to changes in physical strength, mobility and balance.

FILE PHOTO: Ita Aber, right, stops by the table of her old friend Rita Shliselberg after she finished dinner at RiverWalk, an independent senior housing facility, in New York, Thursday, April 1, 2021.

Falls can be deadly, too, particularly because of the dangers of head injuries. The pandemic has increased the risk to seniors because of isolation and inactivity, and experts worry the full extent of the impact is still unknown.

Dr. Rollin Wright, MD, Geriatric Medicine, Internal Medicine Penn State Health and Dr. Ayesha Ahmad, MD, Geriatric Medicine, Internal Medicine Penn State Health appear on Smart Talk Tuesday to look at the risks and offer insight to avoid falls.

For more on health considerations plus a deeper look at the changing tide of healthcare, check out WITF’s Transforming Health. Online at TransformingHealth.org, a partnership of WITF, WellSpan Health and Capital Blue Cross.

The Declaration of Independence annotated – Bucknell University poll finds support for voter ID laws and SCOTUS term limits

From a vantage point 245 years after the founding fathers declared independence from Britain, the men tasked with drafting the declaration were a veritable who’s who among American patriots.

The Congress appointed a committee to draft a blueprint, that consisted of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson, who took the lead drafting the historic document.

The final draft of the Declaration of Independence included a preamble, or an assertion of individual rights, a list of grievances, a formal declaration of independence and then signatures.

What does the Declaration of Independence say and mean to Americans? Smart Talk Friday is joined by Randy E. Barnett, J.D., a Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law and Director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, Georgetown Law to provide an analysis.

Professor Barnett is the author of many books including, Our Republican Constitution: Securing the Liberty and Sovereignty of We the People.

University poll finds support for voter ID laws and SCOTUS term limits

The Bucknell Institute for Public Policy (BIPP) published a new survey that indicates there is substantial support among Americans for universal voter ID laws and Supreme Court term limits.

However, the survey also found that fundamental changes to the way elections are run in the United States, were either unpopular overall or supported only along party lines.

Chris Ellis, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science and Co-director, Bucknell Institute for Public Policy will appear on Smart Talk Friday to present more details on the new survey.

 

Pandemic impacts students and halts education around the world

The global pandemic has taken a toll on many aspects of American society, particularly education.

In many parts of the country, schools closed in March 2020 and never went back to full in-person learning. Some districts are still unsure about what will happen this fall when schools are scheduled to begin a new academic year.

We often think only of the impact to institutions within our own country, but across the globe those same issues and problems are often amplified due to a lack of resources.

The question remains, will the largest, world-wide educational shutdown in history change how we educate in the future and how teachers are valued?

Smart Talk Thursday welcomes four 2020 Global Teacher Prize finalist teachers who will share their stories and experiences about how the pandemic has affected education in their regions of the world. Joining the conversation are Olasunkanmi Opeifa who will speak about Nigeria and the continent of Africa, Lusine Jhangiryan who will address education in Russia and Eastern Europe, Gustavo Calderón De Anda with details about education in Mexico and Central America and Jeff Remington, from the Palmyra School District in Pennsylvania.

 

2020 Global Teacher Prize finalists from top left, to bottom left, Lusine Jhangiryan, Jeff Remington, Olasunkanmi Opeifa and Gustavo Calderón De Anda.

Renewed calls for anti-discrimination law during LGBTQ Pride Month / How to beat the heat and stay safe during the heat wave

There have been many celebrations during LGBTQ Pride Month in June, but it also is a time to highlight issues or challenges facing the LGBTQ community.

Earlier this month, Governor Tom Wolf signed an executive order to add sexual orientation and gender identity or expression as protected classes for state workers under the commonwealth’s sexual harassment policies.

The governor also called on the legislature to approve the Fairness Act that would add sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression to the provisions of state law that prohibit housing, employment, education, and public accommodations discrimination. That bill hasn’t made it through the Republican-controlled State Government committee for years.

On Wednesday’s Smart Talk, we’ll discuss these and other issues with Rafael Alvarez Febo, Executive Director of Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs and Preston Heldibridle, Executive Director of the PA Youth Congress.

How to beat the heat and stay safe during the heat wave

Central Pennsylvania is in the middle of a heat wave where temperatures have been in the mid-90s and the heat index has risen to 100 degrees or above.

Not only is it uncomfortable outside, but it can be dangerous for humans, as well as pets.

Three of the biggest dangers are Heat Cramps, Heat Exhaustion, and Heat Stroke. Older people could be especially vulnerable if they are in a space that isn’t air conditioned. Babies and pets should never be in a vehicle with windows up. The American Red Cross is offering tips to stay safe during this heat wave and the others that are sure to follow this summer. Remember, it’s only June.

Laura Burke, Executive Director of the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross appears on Wednesday’s Smart Talk with safety and beating the heat tips.

Vulnerable Pennsylvanians still in need as pandemic winds down

 
The coronavirus pandemic disrupted millions of lives in so many ways: our health, jobs, education, social lives and more. For those who were struggling before the pandemic, the last 15 months have often made their situations even more difficult.

Nonprofit organizations on the front lines were impacted as well.

On Friday’s Smart Talk, we discuss how the pandemic affected Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable, what they still need, and how community members can help.

Appearing on the program are Kristen Rotz, President of the United Way of Pennsylvania, David John, Vice President of Government Affairs at Pennsylvania State Alliance of YMCAs, and Anne Gingerich, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations (PANO).

“Youz or yinz?” Pennsylvania dialects fascinate

Those who watched the recent HBO series Mare of Easttown were struck by how seamlessly British actor Kate Winslet adopted a Delaware County or Philadelphia regional dialect.

At least in the Philadelphia area, it started a conversation about dialects and regionalisms. It’s a topic that fascinates many who don’t even know they talk differently from other people around the country.

Joining us on Friday’s Smart Talk is Dr. Betsy Sneller, assistant professor of linguistics at Michigan State University.

How to protect yourself from ticks – UFO theories now mainstream

Ticks are a common threat during the warmer months in Pennsylvania, and their presence is more than just a nuisance. Black legged ticks, also called deer ticks, are the most common carrier of Lyme disease and anaplasmosis.

Ticks typically thrive in tall grass, brush and wooded areas, and they have been found in every county in the commonwealth. Domestic animals like dogs and cats can be bitten by ticks and serve as vectors, bringing the pests into contact with people when the animals come inside or are petted.

It is important to check for ticks on anyone and on animals whenever you’ve spent time outdoors. To remove a tick, use a tick removal tool or tweezers to pinch the tick near its head and pull the tick straight away from your skin.

Appearing on Smart Talk Thursday to discuss safety considerations are Michael Skvarla, Ph.D., assistant research professor of arthropod identification in the Department of Entomology at Penn State University, and Lea Lind, Pennsylvania Department of Health epidemiology research assistant.

How much does the government know about UFOs?

The federal government could release a report on what is known about unidentified aerial phenomena, or UFOs, by the end of this month. The report is expected to detail investigative findings over the years after UFOs were sighted – often by Navy or Air Force pilots.

The report is not expected to conclude the UFOs were operated by aliens, but also may not explain what the aircraft are.

The National UFO Reporting Center, which is not government-affiliated, received some 7,200 reports of sightings in 2020.

Joining us on Thursday’s Smart Talk to discuss what to expect from the report and their experiences are Stan Gordon, UFO phenomena researcher, UFO Anomalies Zone, and Anthony Pugliese, investigator with Paranormal Search of Pennsylvania.