A popular Spanish-language radio personality spurs tough conversations after making comments about Black tourists in Puerto Rico.

Allentown Black and Latino communities work toward unity after on-air racism row

If you travel along Route 30 in southern Pennsylvania, about a two hour and 20 minute drive separates two places of immense historical significance.

One is where the bloodiest battle of the Civil War was fought.
The other is where the last of the four hijacked jetliners crashed during the September 11th attacks.

While each is the scene of horror and heartbreak, they have come to represent sacrifice and bravery of the highest order.

WITF’s Tim Lambert takes a look at how the Gettysburg battlefield and Flight 93 National Memorial represent shining moments amid two dark periods in American history.

Hallowed Ground: How the stories of Gettysburg and Flight 93 intertwine in the nation’s history

In the 20 years since the attacks, Emily Schenkel and her dad have worked to preserve the memory of those who died when United Flight 93 crashed. At the request of Lorraine’s husband, Ed has served as the family representative at public events -- as a way to ensure the actions of the passengers and crew were never forgotten.

Lorraine Bay’s story: How one Flight 93 family from Pa. is working to keep loved one’s memory alive

Every year, more than 1,300 pregnant women in Pennsylvania get help through Nurse-Family Partnership programs. However, advocates say funding to keep them running is now at risk. 

Transforming Health’s Brett Sholtis shares the story of one woman who says a nurse saved her life — and now wants to make sure others will get the same help she received. . .  

As a note, this story briefly mentions thoughts of suicide.

When she was pregnant and on heroin, a nurse saved her life. She shares her story to help others.

The Chekhs start a new life in Ephrata, Lancaster County

witf Talks is our weekly programming discussion featuring commentary and insights about recent episodes of your favorite shows. Follow along each week as members of our staff are joined by local experts and enthusiasts to share thoughts, opinions, and favorite moments.

Downton Abbey Season 4, Episode 4 - 1/27/14

In 2009, WITF's Scott Detrow embedded with the Pennsylvania National Guard's 56th Stryker Brigade as it deployed to Iraq.

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The human brain is full of mysteries and potential which we are just beginning to understand. On occasion we get glimpses into its workings in unexpected ways.  Such is the case with Jason Padgett, a young man more interested in partying and bungee jumping than in anything academic. But after he suffered severe brain trauma and injury in a mugging, Jason developed a profound ability in math and physics. His brain now pictured the world for him in radically different ways. He began to draw incredibly complex geometrical patterns illustrating mathematical concepts he saw in the world around him. Some feel that he is living proof of the  genius potential exists in us all.

His story is told in a new book titled, Struck by Genius, How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel. Today on Smart Talk our guest will be the co-author of the book, Maureen Seaberg. Like Jason, Maureen has a form of synesthesia, and blogs about the subject for Psychology Today. Her synesthesia involves seeing colors associated with letters and music. Her first book described her experiences with the phenomenon, Tasting the Universe. Maureen Seaberg is also a member of Mensa, a non-profit organization open only to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardized, supervised IQ test.

Also on the program, a discussion with Kevin Lehman, founder of Lancaster Creative Factory  about some of his projects, including ArtSmart, which engages at-risk youth in the visual arts to help them develop self-expression.

Smart Talk 5/1/14 C: Kevin Lehman, ArtSmart

Nurse practitioners seem to be taking a on larger role in treating patients in Pennsylvania.  They are able to evaluate, diagnose, order and interpret tests, and manage treatments, including prescribe medications for patients.

What they can't do in Pennsylvania is operate independent offices or clinics because nurse practitioners must be affiliated with doctors.

The Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners want that changed.  They say it would make healthcare more accessible and affordable.

Doctors who oppose any change in law counter that physicians with their extensive training must be involved in decisions that could impact the health of patients.
On Tuesday's Smart Talk, we'll talk with Susan Schrand, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners.

Also, the American Revolution essentially began in one colony -- Massachusetts, where war with Great Britain was orchestrated by a small group of men.

The back story of what led to hostilities is not what American school children have learned over the years.
Appearing on Tuesday's program is Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the book The Battle of Bunker Hill - A City, A Siege, a Revolution.  In the book, Philbrick describes the era in and around Boston from the Boston Tea Party in 1773 to the first major battle of the war at Bunker Hill.

Nathaniel Philbrick will be appearing at Calvary Church in Lancaster Thursday at 1:30 as part of a fundraiser for Lancaster County Public Libraries.



Smart Talk 5/13/14 A: Battle of Bunker Hill author Nathaniel Philbrick

There is a growing body of evidence that we use cliches in our everyday speech more than we even realize.

It's not like we have to search for cliches like they are a needle in a haystack because they're a dime a dozen.
Before this post becomes one long cliche, let's look ahead to Wednesday's Smart Talk.

Appearing on the program is lexicographer Orin Hargraves, author of the new book It's Been Said Before -- A Guide to the Use and Abuse of Cliches.

We won't check to see how Webster's Dictionary defines a cliche, but make no mistake about it, most people probably already have an idea of what a cliche is: a word or phrase that is over used in speech or in writing.  Others may add that cliches don't take much original thought to use.  Still one other note -- some may find cliches annoying.

On Wednesday's program, we'll discuss the origin of some of the more popular cliches, what they actually mean and ask what are your favorites or maybe the ones you really don't like.

OK, this post has reached a tipping point so tune in.

Smart Talk 8/20/14 C: The use and abuse of cliches

Smart Talk 8/20/14 B: The use and abuse of cliches

Smart Talk 8/20/14 A: The use and abuse of cliches

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is conducting a pilot study to examine noise associated with natural gas compressor stations.

Gas compressor station noise

The health care provider shortage is often described as a primary care physician shortage. 

In all of Pennsylvania, about a thousand areas are designated medically underserved. 

But at least two other groups can help provide care to more people. 	

Physician assistants and nurse practitioners can do almost everything a physician can - like write prescriptions, perform minor surgeries and help out on major ones. 

As part of WITF’s Transforming Health project, Ben Allen reports PAs could be the future of primary care.

How physician assistants are re-shaping health care

Take a trip into a Pennsylvania forest where the landowner is trying to save her woods from what she sees as climate change impacts.

Changing climate changing forests

StateImpact Pennsylvania reporter Marie Cusick appears on Thursday's Smart Talk to discuss law enforcement surveillance of anti-fracking protestors and activists.

Marie reported earlier this week on the Marcellus Shale Operators Crime Committee, an intelligence-sharing network between law enforcement and the gas industry.  It allows the industry to share information with federal and state law enforcement about activists, protests, and potential threats.
Marie profiled activists who were visited by a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper about their activities.  One was asked about eco-terrorism and pipe bombs.

The activists feel they were targeted even though they say they were just exercising their First Amendment rights of free speech. 

The gas industry is concerned about security.
Also, Reading School District Superintendent Dr. Khalid Mumin joins us to talk about the challenges facing large urban districts like his and what they need to prosper.

Smart Talk 2/5/15 C: Surveillance on anti-fracking protestors

Smart Talk 2/5/15 B: Reading Schools

Smart Talk 2/5/15 A: Reading Schools

Jesse Krimes (www.jessekrimes.com) graduated from Millersville with a degree in Studio Art. Less than a month later, he was indicted for selling drugs and given a 70 month prison sentence. Prison didn't stop him from creating art, or from being a bit defiant. Among other works he created while incarcerated, one involved secretly acquiring numerous bed sheets from the prison laundry facility and creating a 15x40 foot mural. 

The mural, called Apokaluptein:16389067,consists of images transferred from newspapers using hair gel and a spoon and blended into a kind of landscape. "It was a way to bring these exterior events going on in the world outside inside the prison," Jesse says. "It was also a way of complicated this binary system of thinking between right and wrong, good and bad. So often when you read the newspaper, they'll have an image of an offender and then they'll have this narrative in the text describing this offense which is a representation of this individual at one point in time. Yet it doesn't accurately describe this entire individual's being."

Jesse was release from prison a year ago and has his work titled "Purgatory" on display at Palais de Tokyo. A modified version of Apokaluptein:16389067 can be seen starting this weekend at East State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. He's also done speaking engagements including a recent panel appearance for Amnesty International alongside Annie Lennox, Harry Belafonte and others.

Art and Incarceration

The small mountain town of Dushore, PA has pretty typical fare of food and activities during its Founder's Day celebration every August. But when the sun starts to set, things really go down the toilet.



The Outhouse Races

It's estimated that one in five children between the ages of 6 and 17 have some type of mental disorder.  Anxiety disorder is the most prevalent but behavioral disruption disorders like ADHD are also widespread.
It's also estimated that 79% of those kids do not receive any mental health care.
What can be done to ensure these young people get the treatment they need and what kind of treatment is that?
That's what the discussion focuses on during Monday's Smart Talk.
Dr. Ehsan Syed, who specilizes in child and adolescent psychiatry with the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, is on the program.
Also, the day before the Pennsylvania primary, we get a last minute update from political analyst and pollster Dr. G. Terry Madonna of Franklin and Marshall College.

Smart Talk 4/25/16 A: Kids mental health

Patrick White talks about why young son, who is named after his cousin Louis "Joey" Nacke -- a passenger on Flight 93

Flight 93: Patrick White

Lancaster-based folk/punk band Apes of the State talk about their music and their endeavors to help people recover from drug and alcohol addiction.

WITF Music: Apes of the State

For generations, American youth have been told that "if you work hard, do well in school and follow the rules, you can be anything you want to be."  George Mason University Associate Professor Paul Gorski feels this version of the American Dream is fallacious. 

In his book Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty, Gorski points to high-poverty school districts that are underfunded, yet have the same academic performance expectations as affluent districts as causation for a lack of achievement in low-income communities.  He identifies educational elements such as quality instructors, safe and modern facilities, extracurricular activities and educational tutors as advantages students in poverty do not have and the way these obstacles stunt academic development over time; how the 'achievement gap' is really an 'opportunity gap.'

Gorski explains that rote memorization and standardized testing do little to educate youths and suggests strategies such as using music, art and theater to teach, connecting the curricula to the students with applicable real-life examples and discussing poverty and class bias in the classroom.

Paul Gorski joins Smart Talk to discuss the inequities in today's educational system, identify the mistakes that schools make in addressing the needs of students who live in poverty and some of the changes that can be made to create more opportunities for today's students.

Highspire-Steelton High School Principal Sheri Woodall will talk about challenges faced by both the students and faculty at a high school where 75% of the students live below the poverty line.

Dr. Paul Gorski will be speaking to school leaders at the Capital Area Intermediate Unit on January 12th as part of an ongoing series focused on Equity and Excellence.
CAIU is a proud to support WITF's series  "Chasing the Dream:  Poverty and Opportunity in America"

Smart Talk 1/4/17 A: Students in Poverty

In November 2016, Brandi Keifer was placed on six months’ probation in Cumberland County Juvenile Court at the age of 17. WITF’s Tim Lambert  chronicles her journey from that day in court until the end of May 2017 to find out if the juvenile justice system made a difference in her life.  It's part of WITF's Real Life | Real Issues series.

Juvenile Justice: Meet Brandi Keifer

In November 2016, Brandi Keifer was placed on six months’ probation in Cumberland County Juvenile Court at the age of 17. WITF’s Tim Lambert chronicles her journey from that day in court until the end of May 2017 to find out if the juvenile justice system made a difference in her life. As part of WITF's Real Life | Real Issues series, the second installment introduces you to two of the people who are not only helping Brandi fulfill her probation obligations, but make some positive lifestyle changes.

Juvenile Justice: Brandi Keifer's Long Road

WITF's Real Life | Real Issues series has been looking at how the juvenile justice system works in Cumberland County. Tim Lambert has been following the case of 18-year-old Brandi Keifer, who was placed on probation for simple assault, harassment and retail theft. In part three, he checks in with Brandi one more time to see what she's learned and if she's made any changes in her life over the last six months.

Juvenile Justice: The Final Steps

An interview with Harrisburg, PA band YAM YAM.

WITF Music: YAM YAM

Republicans Lloyd Smucker and Chet Beiler, vying for the newly redrawn 11th Congressional District, will face off in Pennsylvania's primary election Tuesday.

Lloyd Smucker, Chet Beiler fight for conservative votes in 11th district

Martha Stringer's daughter, Kim, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in high school. Martha says Kim is a threat to herself and others.

There are few options when someone with a serious mental illness refuses treatment

A growing Amish population is putting pressure on Lancaster County

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