Hour 1
This week's political news roundup turns to the city of Philadelphia, where: a second straight year of steep budget cuts looms as Mayor Nutter and Council lumber toward a budget deadline with reduced revenues and unpopular tax proposals; Nutter and his Council allies are trying to abolish the Clerk of Quarter Sessions office and marginalize the Board of Revision of Taxes; and the city grapples with the wild card of whether a second casino will come to the Delaware River waterfront even as the first, SugarHouse, prepares to open its doors as early as this summer. Helping Marty make sense of all this will be Philadelphia Inquirer City Hall reporter PATRICK KERKSTRA and It's Our Money blogger BEN WAXMAN of the Philadelphia Daily News and WHYY. Then, we'll speak to Daily News political columnist JOHN BAER about Harrisburg happenings, including the gubernatorial primary fast approaching on May 18th.

Filed under: politics |

Hour 2
Philadelphia's 1812 Productions' Artistic Director Jennifer Childs has adapted some of her favorite Woody Allen essays and short stories for the stage. The upcoming show, An Evening without Woody Allen is a world premier comedy of the prolific filmmaker and comedian's work. We'll talk to Childs and two 1812 actors, Charlotte Ford and Dan Hodge, and listen to them read selections from Allen's "The Whore of Mensa" and other hilarious favorites from the Allen Cannon. "An Evening without Woody Allen" will run April 29th-May 16th at the Plays and Players Theater in Center City Philadelphia.

Filed under: arts, entertainment |

Hour 1
Arizona's new immigration law will require law enforcement officials to check the residency status of those thought to be in the country illegally. The questions arising from this state law has prompted another call for immigration reform on the national level. Do we need to reform the immigration system and what would new federal laws look like? We'll also check in on the status of Hazleton Pennsylvania's controversial ordinance aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. Our guests are Temple University law professors PETER SPIRO and JAN TING, and KENT JACKSON of the Hazleton Standard Speaker.

Filed under: law enforcement, politics, world |

Hour 2
Something horrible happens in Anna Quindlen's new book, "Every Last One." The novel, Quindlen's sixth, is the story of a mother, father, a family, and the explosive, violent consequences of what seem like inconsequential actions. She joins Marty to talk about this book, her career and her take on a range of contemporary issues.

Filed under: author, teens |

Hour 1
Dorothy Height, the behind-the scenes heroine of the civil rights movement and women's movement died this week at 98. Our guest DR. BETTYE COLLIER-THOMAS includes the former president of the National Council of Negro Women in her new book, "Jesus, Jobs and Justice: African American Women and Religion." We'll talk to Dr. Collier-Thomas about Height and other resilient African American women who organized for a better life through our country’s two hundred years of evolving enlightenment. Dr. Collier-Thomas is a professor of history at Temple University.

Filed under: author |

Hour 2
Americans consume on average 1 ½ teaspoons of salt a day – that's more than twice the amount that we should be eating. Most of it comes from processed and restaurant food. High sodium intake has been linked to high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. In fact, the American Medical Association has said that has many as 150,000 lives could be saved if Americans cut their salt intake in half. Last week the Institute of Medicine released a report outlining strategies for reducing salt intake, including urging the government to set limits in salt levels in food. This hour, we'll examine our taste for salty food and look at ways to lower our salt intake. Our guests are Gary Beauchamp, director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, Lawrence Appel, professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, and Krista Faron, a marketing analyst with Mintel International.

Filed under: health, medicine |

Hour 1
The controversial passage of sweeping changes to American health care have spurred 14 states’ attorneys general to file legal challenges to the federal law. These efforts have enlisted language and legal precedents of “nullification” and “interposition” that have roots that date back to Madison and Jefferson, John C. Calhoun and the secession of the Confederate South, and the Southern resistance to Civil Rights law and integration. Joining Marty to discuss these efforts, their legal and political bases and the Constitutional questions they raise are Columbia Law professor and Constitutional legal scholar GILLIAN METZGER and Princeton historian SEAN WILENTZ.

Filed under: health, politics, social issues |

Hour 2
Last week a car crashed into a horse-drawn carriage in Philadelphia. The accident ended up involving four other carriages. Two of the carriage drivers were hospitalized along with car’s driver; however the horses were only scratched. The accident has sparked debate over the use of horse-drawn carriages for tourism in Philadelphia and other cities. This hour, we'll debate the issue and get a historical perspective on how horses have been used in American cities. Our guests include: Midge Leitch, University of Pennsylvania equine veterinarian, Edita Birnkrant, New York director of Friends of Animals, Michael Kates, vice-president of operations for 76 Carriage Company, and Ann Norton Greene, an historian at the University of Pennsylvania.

Filed under: transportation |

Hour 1
On today's "Radio Times," Marty will get an update on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from a trio of distinguished journalists. NPR's Baghdad Bureau Chief QUIL LAWRENCE will update us from Iraq about that country's post-election political upheaval as the withdrawal deadline for U.S. troops nears. Then, TRUDY RUBIN writes the Philadelphia Inquirer's Worldview column, and recently returned from a trip to Afghanistan and Iraq. In Iraq, she reported on the tragic fate of her Iraqi driver Salam, tortured and imprisoned for working with Iraqi authorities against the sectarian slaughter. Fellow Inquirer columnist MARK BOWDEN's most recent article in "Vanity Fair," meanwhile, profiled the architect of the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: General David Petraeus. We'll talk to these journalists about what their reporting tells us about modern U.S. warfare and the way ahead in both wars.

Filed under: military, world |

Hour 2
We're coming into the 150th anniversary of the American South's first organized attempt to secede from the Union. Our guest, University of Pennsylvania professor of history STEPHANIE MCCURRY, looks at the Confederate War through the experience of the South's women and slave struggles in her new book, "Confederate Reckoning." We'll talk to her about how women and slaves influenced the demise of the Confederacy, including how they took on the Jefferson Davis government on government enlistment, and tax and welfare policies.

Filed under: author, military |