Alexis Cobbs has been operating trains on the Broad Street line for five years.   But today she's spending the day on the picket line with about a half dozen coworkers.

Cobbs says she makes fifty thousands dollars a year plus benefits….and she says she understands riders frustration about the strike,

Cobbs: I understand that there are people who don't have as much as I have.  But I also understand that they strive to get what I have.  And I should not accept less because other people don't have what I have, I should make a way for the people who don't have, to get more.  And that's what this is.

Dickson: Good morning My name is Larry Dickson.  I'm a Yardman at Fern Rock.  When I come in at 11 all the trains that got pulled of the line for the morning service I'm responsible for walking through, making sure they're set for afternoon service.

Larry Dickson a Yardman at Fern Rock talks with about 15 other striking workers who lean in to keep warm around a fire that's burning in a barrel.

Dickson says after nearly 30 years at SEPTA, he's focused on the same issues as many other workers.

Dickson: Basically all I care about now is my pension and my health care coverage. When it's time to say goodbye to SEPTA I want to know that I'm on a nice pension.  I don't want to get something now and ten years from now the cost of living is so high that I can't afford a — okay, [truck pulls up] Oh Lord — [Reporter] What just happened?  Some of the managers that are like in tune with what's going on and they have sympathy for us.  So they got us some pretzels.  Deep down inside a lot of the upper first line managers they're hoping we get something nice because if we get something nice it means they have to get something better.  Yeah, see it's one of those things – Want a pretzel?

For now, many who rely on mass transit wait eagerly not for a pretzel, but for the sound of a bus, train, or trolley ready to whisk them away.

Listen to the radio reports:

New Jersey National Guard Chaplain Joanne Martindale is just returning from a national conference for military chaplains – and says she and her colleagues are concerned about anxiety levels among military families following the shootings:

Martindale: They are wondering well, will Ft. Dix be the next base, or what will the next base be where somebody will do a copy cat shooting. So I think families are anxious.

Martindale plans to reach out to families, especially to children already in support groups, and encourage them to talk about their worries.

Michelle Sherman is a psychologist who works with military families. Sherman has written several books, among them "My Story, Four Blogs by Military Teens". She says in families that have a loved one in the service, parents should discuss the issues with their children, but they should limit exposure to media coverage of the shootings.

The shooting in Fort Hood has focused the attention of the nation on the state of mind of a single soldier. But mental health providers in the service say the shootings don't reflect on the military's increasingly pro-active approach to soldiers' mental health.

West Point psychologist Dr. Michael Matthews says the military has started to focus on resilience with its comprehensive soldier fitness program. Developed in collaboration with the Center for Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, it screens soldiers for potential mental health problems – and provides tools for improvement:

Matthews: If they come out a little low on any of the domains, there will be a series of recommended actions that they can get and resources they can tap into on their own to get better.

Matthews says focusing on what keeps soldiers mentally healthy reduces the stigma of seeking help for a mental health issue.

In terms of preventing future shootings – experts say there are often warning signs such as changes in behavior, or mood – but Temple University psychiatrist William Dubin says they easily go undetected because they tend to be isolated and random.

Listen:

The blueprint always includes goals for preventing infant deaths, cancer and helping Americans lose weight, but this time the plan also tackles the societal determinants of health. Rear Admiral Penelope Slade-Sawyer explains.

Slade-Sawyer: In a nutshell health is too important to be left to the health sector alone. It means that there are many other areas of our lives that effect our health. Where you live and what school you go to, what's the quality of the air you breathe. What about the water you drink?

Slade-Sawyer directs the federal Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. She says other new topics include genomics and the drug-resistant infections the get passed from patient to patient in the hospital.

David Nash is dean of The Jefferson School of Population Health.

Nash: The dissemination of the report helps employers and others who pay for health care. It gives them ammunition to sponsor more effective prevention and wellness programs. This is especially critical given the recession.

Nash says poor health is jeopardizing America's competitiveness because chronic disease and preventable illness cost the national millions of dollars.

Slade-Sawyer says the new national agenda tackles health equity.

Slade-Sawyer: In other words someone in a small rural community should have access to the same services as someone in a major metropolitan area might have. We understand that they might have to drive to get there, but never the less, we want these people to access services no matter where they are.

Slade-Sawyer says the 2010 plan wasn't able to prevent increasing rates of overweight and obesity. She says the nation has continued to pack on pounds in recent years.

Officials are unveiling the 2020 plan as hundreds of researchers and scientists descend on Philadelphia. The annual meeting of the American Public Health Association begins Saturday.

Jefferson School of Population Health
Connelly Auditorium

1001 Locust Street

Philadelphia, PA
www.healthypeople.gov
www.jefferson.edu/population_health/

Listen:

Now that Pfizer and Wyeth have merged, and so have Merck and Schering Plough, tens of thousands of employees face layoffs.

On top of that, add the 8000 job cuts that Johnson and Johnson announced last week, and another 7000 cuts from Astra Zeneca. All told…

Staton: You're looking at a blood bath in pharma.

Tracy Staton is the editor of Fierce Pharma. She calculates that drug companies have trimmed more than 100,000 positions in the last eighteen months.

Many of these firms have facilities in this region, but the job loss is spread globally. Staton says many of the positions have been in sales.

Staton: A lot of the companies are going to more high tech methods of sales, where they do drug promotion over the Internet. So you're going to see the kinds of technology-replacing-people things that you've seen in other industries.

Most recently, companies are eying research and drug development jobs for elimination — looking instead to outsource that kind of work. Colleen Hamilton's group, the Life Sciences Career Alliance, is working to find those laid off workers new positions in the Delaware Valley.

Hamilton: I think it's probably the most difficult task for the research and development life science professionals to look to see what their future may be, because typically they would like to try to stay in the same type of company doing the same job.

Bill Ashton is the dean of the Mayes College of Healthcare Business and Policy at the University of the Sciences. He says salespeople, researchers, and even executives are getting the axe.

Ashton: I've got these people, to be frank with you, calling me looking for teaching jobs because there's just nothing out there and typically they want to stay in the area. So this is draconian from what I've seen before.

Job cuts and mergers among pharmaceutical companies have been propelled by the anticipation of top-selling, brand-name drugs like Lipitor losing their patent protection. The upside to this trend is that generic manufacturers, like Pennsylvania's Teva, are considered to be thriving.

So our news staff, which is full of people who bike to work, has stepped up to help. From WHYY's Susan Phillips, Peter Crimmins, Kerry Grens, Shai Ben-Yaacov and Elizabeth Fiedler, here are five helpful tips on how to bike to work safely.

Listen to the audio only below or click on the link to the right to view the audio slideshow:

Just some of the many bikes that popped up around the city this week.

Listen:

This week on What Are We Thinking:
- Can lessons from Tuesday's election results serve as predictors for next year's 2010 midterm elections?

- Are so-called 'moderate' Republicans increasingly marginalized in the GOP?

- What should we pay most attention to in terms of judging the health of the economy – the unemployment rate or consumer confidence?

- Which countries are most appealing to immigrants? (assuming no barrier to entry)

Listen:

Music's still streaming out of the headphones around 25-year-old Macha O'Brien's neck.

Obrien: I just came back from a run and seeing people give you fist pumps and being like "Hey Go Phillies!" It gives you a sense of community.

O'Brien moved to Northern Liberties from San Antonio, arriving just before the Phillies' World Series win last year. She says it's been a long couple weeks watching night playoff games, then waking up early for her job as a Barrista in Center City.

Not long ago, critics blasted baseball as a slow game with little appeal to the young. There's little evidence of that problem now in the city that worships Chase Utley and Shane Victorino.

Even bars better known for hosting rock shows got onboard with Phillies' fever..

Self: We've been showing it here at work so I've been working and watching the games while working. Fiedler You guys don't usually have a TV do you? Self: We don't we just put it up for the World Series and the games before.

Dea Self moved to Fishtown from Arkansas a year ago. She works at Johnny Brenda's restaurant and bar.

She says the team makes her feel differently about the city,

Self: Kind of gives you a sense of like being proud you know? Pride for the city, pride for the team and I live here and the Phillies are doing great. I've never really paid attention to Major League baseball so it's um I don't know now everyone's into it so I feel like I've been getting into it too.

A few blocks up Frankford Avenue, Kensington resident Caleb Auston is grabbing a noontime coffee. The college student moved here from Miami three years ago. He says it's been a blast to be part of a city mesmerized by baseball.

Auston: Sometimes it's hard to enjoy the city because there's so much violence and thievery and all sorts of swashbuckling. But when you can go out and can high five a stranger for watching a baseball game, it's a lot of fun so you start to enjoy the city a little bit more.

And for Phillies fans, new or old, who are still feeling down… there's always next year.

As the Phillies crept closer to Game 7 of the World Series, most people spent their evenings glued to a TV instead of going to plays. Now with the strike, theater have gone from the frying pan to the fire.

Seth Rozin is the Director of Interact Theater near Rittenhouse Square. He says people are putting off theater-going until after the strike.

Rozin: There is a significant drop between Thursday and last night coinciding with World Series and the strike. I don't know how much either one is a factor, but we are hearing across the city from our colleagues that are all having trouble selling tickets this week.

Rozin says even in the best of times many people wait until the final weekend to buy theater tickets.The strike may compound that effect to the point where they will be forced to turn people away.

Listen:

They go to Indonesia. In preparation for a win, thousands of Championship shirts and hats are printed for both teams. For the losing team, Major League Baseball donates that merchandise to a relief organization, World Vision. First the shirts will get shipped to Pittsburgh, where they are packed with other relief supplies on their way to the site of a recent earthquake in Indonesia.

Karen Kartes, works for World Vision and has helped distribute the supplies.

Kartes: Some of the apparel and hats have Major League baseball stickers and holographs, and they'll take the stickers off and put them on their forehead, and they'll dance around, and some of the kids will wear the shirts as dresses and they just absolutely love having new clothing and when you see what they're wearing some of them have never had a piece of new clothing in their lives.

Kartes says the organization also gets all the counterfeit merchandise seized by customs agents, as well as the losing team's gear from the Superbowl.

New Jersey's Governor-elect, Republican Chris Christie, says he's looking forward to a good working relationship with the President.

Listen:

During the gubernatorial campaign Governor Corzine repeatedly referred to having a partner in the White House. Now Governor-elect Chris Christie says he's had a phone conversation with Barack Obama and there's no hard feelings between them

Christie: We talked about those things that we have in common. We talked about merit pay for teachers and more charter schools an education agenda that we agree on. And I told him that I'm looking forward to working with him.

Christie also says he talked on the phone with the Governor and now that the campaign is over Christie says he expects they'll resume the good relationship they had in the past. They're expected to meet in person next week.