Hour 1 In his proposed budget, Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett would reduce overall  public school aid by over $1.billion dollars. School districts across the Commonwealth are being forced to make drastic cuts in basic education programs that directly affect student learning.  According to a recent survey, many districts plan on reducing or eliminating programs like [...]

Filed under: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, economy, education, family issues, politics |

Hour 2 INA MAY GASKIN has often been called “America’s leading midwife.” She has practiced for nearly 40 years at The Farm Midwifery Center in Summertown, Tennessee, attending well over 1,200 births, and she’s the only midwife who’s had an obstetric maneuver named after her. She is the founder of the Safe Motherhood Quilt Project, [...]

Filed under: author, family issues, health, medicine, parenting |

Hour 2                                                                                  [REBROADCAST] The United States higher education system is an international bragging right. Many overseas families send their children off to the States, investing in a commodity that is supposed to have infinite returns. Some brilliant non-legacy teenagers can get into Harvard University. But is there such as thing as equal opportunity for [...]

Filed under: author, education, parenting, teens |

Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Black-eyed peas, watermelon and okra came to American tables from the slave ships of Africa. The 19th century black cooks on the Pullman railroad dining cars and cowboy chuck wagons helped define what Americans eat today. Food historian and cookbook author JESSICA B. HARRIS joins us to discuss her career chronicling the [...]

Filed under: Philadelphia, cooking, world |

Hour 1 President Obama traveled to Europe this week, a four-country swing aimed at reassuring Europe nations that they remain our most vital ally.  Specifically the President has been talking about U.S. policy toward Libya and the Middle East and concerns about the U.S. economy, particularly the debt limit.  On Capitol Hill, Israeli’s Prime Minister [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized, criminal justice, economy, politics, world |

Hour 2 How did women enter the white-collar workplace? As secretaries and receptionists, mostly and at first. LYNN PERIL’s new book, Swimming in the Steno Pool: A Retro Guide to Making It in the Office, explores the history of secretaries, starting from the Civil War when men were scarce, continuing the wild-and-occasionally woolly days depicted [...]

Filed under: author, business, culture, social issues, technology, work |

Hour 1 Among Philadelphia's architectural treasures are the hundreds of places of worship built in the late 19th and early 20th century that were a vital part of a community's well-being.  But with age and changes in neighborhood demographics many of these magnificent buildings are now in a state of crisis.  Like most large cities, [...]

Filed under: Philadelphia, Uncategorized, arts, culture, religion |

Hour 2 If you are, or live with, a sports fan, you know all about ESPN, the “worldwide leader in sports.” Now, the writers who brought the world the acclaimed oral history of Saturday Night Live are back with a book, equal parts expose and oral history, about the rise to dominance of the Bristol, [...]

Filed under: author, culture, entertainment, media, sports |

Guest Host, Maiken Scott. Philadelphia just completed a Homeless Outreach survey as part of Outreach Week, a partnership with the national 100,000 Homes Campaign. 528 people were interviewed with the distinction of identifying who is the most physically vulnerable, giving them priority housing. The City of Philadelphia says about 51% of those interviewed were at [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized |

Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] We’re all warned as children not to give in to peer pressure but according to journalist TINA ROSENBERG, peer pressure can be a powerful force for social change, in fact, she calls it a “social cure.”  In her new book, Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World, Rosenberg shows [...]

Filed under: author, politics, social issues, world |