Students at vocational and technical schools relish the opportunity to get real-world experiences. Very few ever get the chance to contribute to out of this world projects, but that’s just what students at the Lebanon County Career and Technology Center (LCCTC) in Eric Tanger’s Industrial Machine Technology are doing. They’re making parts for NASA and … Continue reading "Lebanon County tech students make parts for Space Station"
Saying it hasn’t happened anywhere else in Pennsylvania, LGBTQ advocates and allies are protesting a proposal by Chambersburg’s Borough Council to roll back an anti-discrimination ordinance, that was adopted last year by a previous council. The Council could vote Monday night to repeal the ordinance that would have established a local human relations commission. That … Continue reading "LGBTQ advocates and allies fight efforts to repeal discrimination ordinance in Chambersburg"
Hemp has been making a comeback in recent years. It’s a crop that played an important role throughout history until it became illegal to grow because of its relationship to marijuana, although no one was getting high off of hemp. Farmers have been encouraged to grow hemp in the last few years because it’s cheap, … Continue reading "Lancaster County firm introduces hemp-fed, cage-free eggs"
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says a third of the state’s streams are impaired or polluted — meaning those waterways are unsafe for aquatic life, recreation, fish consumption and water supply. All told, Pennsylvania has 27,886 miles of streams that are impaired — almost 2,400 more than in 2020. The<a href=”https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b9746eec807f48d99decd3a583eede12″> draft 2022 Integrated … Continue reading "DEP: Number of polluted waterways in Pa. up"
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court last week blocked an inspection of voting machine equipment in heavily-Republican Fulton County – a county where former President Donald Trump won easily. The machines Republicans want to look at have been decertified because another company without election experience examined those machines last year. The company found nothing consequential. WITF’s Capitol … Continue reading "Looking at Fulton County voting machine issues"
A poll by Muhlenberg College and Keep Our Republic finds that Pennsylvanians continue to be polarized when it comes to elections and voting. Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the poll is how Democrats and Republicans view the 2020 presidential election and see the threats to voting in 2022 differently. For example, 57% of Democrats say … Continue reading "Poll confirms Americans deeply divided on election issues"
The U.S. is in the middle of another COVID-19 surge – this one driven by the omicron variant. Almost two years into the pandemic, one of frustrations for the medical community and — really all of us — is the unpredictability of the virus. And that includes knowing where there will be a surge. Researchers … Continue reading "Penn State researchers find a way to predict COVID surges"
The nation’s blood supplies are at historically low levels and it could have real world impacts when patients need blood to be treated for an illness, condition or injury. The American Red Cross has called the current supply of blood a “national crisis” and dangerously low. The Red Cross provides 40% of the nation’s blood … Continue reading "Low blood supplies are a “national crisis”"
The Winter Olympics in Beijing begin in less than three weeks on February 4th. Figure skating will be one of the most watched competitions and one that garners the most interest. Central Pennsylvania has a robust figure skating scene itself. The Central Pennsylvania Figure Skating Club trains skaters and competes in competitions with other local … Continue reading "Central Pennsylvania figure skaters prepare for competition"
News is out this week about the new Giant Center for Advanced Agriculture and Sustainability at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology. When in operation, the center will provide “research, education, career pathing in sustainability, controlled environment agriculture, and clean water initiatives.” Ian Kanski, Director for Center is on Thursday’s Smart Talk with more details.
Fourteen percent of American farmers were Black a century ago. Today, only 1.4% of farmers are African-American. An organization that is trying to change that and help other minorities become part of the agriculture industry is MANRRS – Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences. Derek James is the MANRRS advisor and Coordinator of … Continue reading "Getting more minorities involved in agriculture"
Agriculture is touted as Pennsylvania’s number one industry. It has a wide-ranging impact from the food we eat to the businesses that sell or serve that food. The Pennsylvania Farm Show, that is going on now, is the world’s largest indoor agricultural exhibition, that highlights and celebrates the state’s products and farmers every January. It … Continue reading "The state of agriculture in Pennsylvania"
Sunday morning, 17 people, including eight children, died in an apartment fire in the Bronx, New York. Twelve people, including eight children, were killed in a Philadelphia row home fire last Wednesday. A 69-year-old man died a house fire in Dauphin County last weekend. The Philadelphia and New York fires were unusual because of the … Continue reading "Fire safety in spotlight after tragic fatal fires"
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has just begun his final year in office. The governor appears on Wednesday’s Smart Talk to discuss a wide range of issues. We’ll talk with Wolf about his legislative priorities in 2022. Topics may include what Wolf’s last state budget blueprint will look like, continuing efforts to fight COVID-19, climate change, … Continue reading "Gov. Tom Wolf’s 2022 priorities on Smart Talk"
It’s estimated that 200,000 American adults are addicted to pornography — defined as “a person becoming emotionally dependent on pornography to the point that it interferes with their daily life, relationships, and ability to function.” Some 40 million people visit porn sites on line on a regular basis and that includes both women and men. … Continue reading "Support for men and women addicted to pornography"
Surprise medical bills or surprise balance billing could be a thing of the past under a new law that became effective the first of the year. Patients, covered by health insurance, that were treated with a surgery or procedure would sometimes get a bill later, charging them for services performed by an out-of-network provider.often those … Continue reading "New law restricts surprise medical bills"
After almost two years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., the omicron variant is driving the biggest surge of cases yet. There are some differences from early 2020 though. Most adults are vaccinated and omicron doesn’t appear to cause as serious of an illness and as many hospitalizations as the delta … Continue reading "When to get tested and is it a cold, the flu or COVID?"
The nation’s first president George Washington was certainly the most revered person in young America and maybe the most beloved chief executive the country has ever had. When Washington was president, most people only knew him by reputation or that he was the commander of the army that won independence from Great Britain. As president, … Continue reading "Travels With George — In Search of Washington and His Legacy"
Pennsylvania continues to trail other states in meeting its goals for the Chesapeake Bay restoration. According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, The Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint is a federal/state plan established in 2010 to restore water quality in the region’s rivers, streams, and Chesapeake Bay. It includes pollution limits allocated to each jurisdiction, specific plans … Continue reading "Pa. lags in meeting Chesapeake Bay restoration goals"
WITF’s StateImpact Pennsylvania reports most communities across Pennsylvania will likely face higher flood risks by the end of the century due to climate change. That’s according to research from Penn State. The state’s latest Climate Impacts Assessment expects Pennsylvania to face more extreme rainfall and flooding by 2050 because of climate change. The top three cities … Continue reading "Penn State study says Pa. could see more flooding due to climate change"