Philadelphia tries to register its lobbyists June 30
Hour 1 Last year, Philadelphia became the last major U.S. city to adopt a law requiring lobbyists to register with the city. Its passage was one of Mayor Michael Nutter’s campaign priorities, and government watchdogs said it would [...]

Saving the World's Sea Turtles June 30
Hour 2 All the Earth’s seven sea turtle species are endangered. The United States waters are home to six of the species, including the Gulf of Mexico, where the 2010 BP oil spill devastated much of the turtle [...]

Our nation's debt, its economic policies & the road to recovery June 29
Hour 1 The debate on Capitol Hill over raising the debt ceiling – the $14 trillion limit on how much the federal government can borrow to pay its debts and keep things going — rages on.  If a [...]

A nip, a tuck & our quest to look perfect June 29
Hour 2 Saggy eyelids and too many wrinkles got you down?  To fix it, all you need is a little courage, some faith and enough money.  Cosmetic surgery and non-surgical procedures to improve appearance have, for more and [...]

Pennsylvania Politics Roundup June 28
Hour 1 It looks like, for now, the $27.15 billion Pennsylvania budget agreement is going to be approved before the Thursday deadline.  And Governor Corbett got most of what he wanted including no tax increases and no natural [...]

How Technology is Changing the Role of the Doctor June 28
Hour 2 Does your doctor use a computer at your appointment?  Or maybe a smart phone?  Technology has always been an important part of medicine, giving doctors better tools to detect, treat and mend their patients but today’s [...]

Have charter schools fulfilled their promise? June 27
Hour 1 Since 1997 when Pennsylvania first authorized the establishment of charter schools, over 70,000 students in grades K-12 have enrolled in one of 135 "bricks and mortar" charter schools and a dozen cyber charter schools state-wide .  [...]

The Effects of Violence on Kids June 27
Hour 2 It’s no surprise that soldiers fighting in war zones develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from the fighting and the bloodshed. But far more children suffer from PTSD from the violence they witness or experience at home or [...]

Philadelphia City Council wrapup June 24
Hour 1 A day after Philadelphia City Council voted to approve the budget, we convene a journalists roundtable to assess a busy June at City Hall. We’ll discuss what we learned about the Nutter administration, about Council in [...]

The Curious Collection of Swallowed Objects June 24
Hour 2 [Rebroadcast] Philadelphia is home to the Mutter Museum, a medical museum famous for its anatomical specimens and medical oddities.  One of the most interesting collections is in a set of drawers that contain nearly 2,000 objects [...]

Shoring up the Delaware River waterfront June 23
Hour 1 The Delaware River waterfront may be rounding the last turn of a marathon planning process. The Delaware River Waterfront Corporation unveiled its new master plan (pdf) for the city’s famously underdeveloped riverfront, and it calls for [...]

The Optimism Bias June 23
Hour 2 Do you maintain the glass is half-full even though the reality is the liquid is clearly close to the bottom? You’re in the majority of people who have an irrational outlook on life. Our guest neuroscientist [...]

The way forward in Afghanistan June 22
Hour 1 In a speech tonight, President Obama is expected to outline his plan for withdrawing 10,000 troops from Afghanistan as well as a schedule for bringing home the 33,000 "surge" troops sent to the region last year. [...]

Rejoice and Shout June 22
Hour 2 A new documentary about the story and evolution of Gospel music, told with rare archival footage, is opening at the Ritz movie theaters in Philadelphia this Friday, June 24. “Rejoice and Shout” traces Gospel from its [...]

Debating the War Powers Act & today's wars June 21
Hour 1 Sunday marked 90 days since the U.S. began a military intervention in Libya, officially extending past the later of two deadlines set forth in the War Powers Act for presidential war-waging without congressional approval. Through his [...]

Colin Quinn's Long Story Short June 21
Hour 2 Comedian COLIN QUINN comes in to the Radio Times studio to discuss how he tackled reducing the history of the world in 75 minutes. Just coming off a successful run on Broadway, “Long Story Short,” directed [...]

Revisiting the War on Drugs June 20
Hour 1 It’s been 40 years since President Nixon declared a war on drugs.  Now, four decades later, two reports conclude that the war has been a failure.  The Global Commission on Drug Policy, which is made up [...]

Sexual violence against journalists June 20
Hour 2 Before the news of the sexual assault of CBS correspondent Lara Logan, few cases of sexual attacks against journalists had ever been documented.  Now, more and more female journalists are coming forward with similar stories.  They [...]

Joshua Foer's Moonwalking with Einstein June 17
Hour 1 [REBROADCAST] Journalist JOSHUA FOER has proven one can improve one’s memory. His recent book, Moonwalking with Einstein, describes his year learning mnemonic techniques, some going back to the Greeks and Romans, to become the 2006 U.S. Memory Champion. [...]

Demon Fish: Our Fear and Fascination with Sharks June 17
Hour 2 As people flock to the beach to sun, swim and surf this summer, we thought we’d take a look at one of the ocean’s most ancient and mysterious creatures – the shark.  Ever since Jaws, few [...]

Saudi women fight for the right to drive, then a NJ schools update June 16
Hour 1 There’s a protest planned in Saudi Arabia on Friday that's encouraging women to get into their cars and drive.  Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are banned from driving – they [...]

Hollywood's fathers, with film historian David Thomson June 16
Hour 2 In time for Father’s Day, we take a look back at memorable fathers in film history with film historian and critic DAVID THOMSON, author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film and a library’s worth of [...]

An update on Philadelphia public schools June 15
Hour 1 In Philadelphia, there is still no plan for closing a $629 million budget gap facing the Philadelphia School District.  Superintendent Arlene Ackerman has asked the City to kick in $102 million to keep things like smaller [...]

Celebrating Bloomsday on and offline June 15
Hour 2 Leopold Bloom’s walk around Dublin on June 16, 1904 will be celebrated tomorrow, Bloomsday. What could be an ordinary day for many, this day in James Joyce’s novel has captivated and confounded many readers for almost [...]

The Pentagon Papers June 14
Hour 1 Yesterday, forty years after the New York Times published its first article on the Pentagon Papers, the federal government released in full this secret government study of the Vietnam War.   The Pentagon Papers provided a full [...]

Why Sitting is Harmful to Your Health: The Science of Inactivity June 14
Hour 2 Millions of American workers spend most of their day inactive.  We may spend eight hours sitting at a desk in front of a computer.  All this sitting turns out to be deadly.  Researchers in the growing [...]

An hour with Delaware Governor Jack Markell June 13
Hour 1 When Governor JACK MARKELL took office in 2009, he pledged to grow Delaware's economy, create jobs, strengthen schools and protect taxpayers. Over the past two years, while unemployment remains high, the Democrat's administration has worked to [...]

Teens and Summer Jobs June 13
Hour 2 Teens around the country are having trouble finding work this summer.  The competition for jobs at pools, camps, restaurants, and retail stores is fierce.  While the adult unemployment rate remains high at 9.1 percent, the teen [...]

National Politics — the week in review June 10
Hour 1 Republican presidential contenders — some official, some not so  –made the rounds this week. Rick Santorum announced his candidacy, Tim Pawlenty laid out his economic plan, and Sarah Palin was in Boston talking American history.  Back [...]

Living a Long, Healthy Life June 10
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] How does one live a long and healthy life? Does being married ensure your long-term health? Is a happy-go-lucky type person going to thrive into their twilight years? Conventional patterns of life choices will surprise [...]

The crises in Yemen and Syria June 9
Hour 1 The government crackdown in Syria has resulted in the killing hundreds of protesters amid reports of extreme human rights violations .  Pressure on President Bashar al-Assad  is mounting as the U.N. considers an official condemnation on [...]

Eli Pariser confirms our online confirmation bias June 9
Hour 2 New ideas are great, right? But what if you don’t know they’re out there? Time spent online can limit one’s exposure to new ideas narrowing our pre-existing confirmation bias, says ELI PARISER. A-founder of moveon.org has [...]

Rape and War in the Congo June 8
Hour 1 A recent report on sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo found that rape is even more prevalent than previously thought.  During a one year period, nearly 400,000 women were raped – that’s an [...]

The challenge of preparing students for college and, once they are there, finish June 8
The Obama administration has set an ambitious goal for the nation's students –by 2020, every American should get at least a year of post-high-school education. But many high school graduates now enter college ill-prepared to tackle the coursework.  [...]

Cyberwarfare and Cybersecurity June 7
Hour 1 The Pentagon will soon release its new cyberwarfare strategy  that will classify a cyberattack from another nation as an act of war, possibly leading to a military response.  This news comes on the heels of two [...]

Thoughts without Cigarettes with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Oscar Hijueles June 7
Hour 2 How does a writer become a voice for his culture but still needs to reconcile his heritage twenty years later? Pulitzer-prize winning writer OSCAR HIJUELOS returns to Radio Times to discuss his new memoir. He was [...]

A reality check on the future of Medicare June 6
In a  somewhat contentious meeting at the White House on Wednesday, the President and Republican members of Congress agreed to disagree on the best way to reform Medicare.  The Republicans have accused the President of mischaracterizing their proposal [...]

Lorene Cary – If Sons, Then Heirs June 6
Hour 2 Philadelphia writer and poet LORENE CARY returns to Radio Times to discuss her third novel, "If Sons, Then Heirs” that tells the story of the Needham family’s migration from the South involving the complexity of love, land [...]

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett June 3
Hour 1 Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett is off to a running, and controversial, start in Harrisburg. His $27.3 billion budget proposal kept his campaign pledge not to raise taxes, but at the cost of severe cuts to public [...]

Charles Fishman: The Big Thirst June 3
Hour 2 The Chinese government has a $62 billion plan to correct their depleted depleting drinking water supply that involves diverting trillions of gallons of water from one river to another. Philadelphia is moving along with their $2 billion stormwater [...]

A check-up on the economy — is it growing, stalled or just going through a soft patch? June 2
Hour 1 It's been two years since the official end of the Great Recession, the worst economic downturn in 75 years.   Economists say we are in a recovery mode and big businesses, large banks and wealthy Americans are [...]

Teresa Nicholas: Buryin' Daddy June 2
Hour 2 Writer TERESA NICHOLAS went home to Yazoo City, Mississippi to reconcile her father’s death and comfort her mother. She had been a book publicist for more than 20 years, a Northeast life she wanted to escape [...]

Overcoming homophobia in sports June 1
Hour 1 Gay Americans are living and competing openly in the workplace, in politics and elsewhere. But what about the playing field and sports arena? Are they safe spaces for athletes to come out of the closet? Recent [...]

Kids and sports — when is it too much? June 1
Hour 2 For parents with kids involved in sports, spring and summer schedules are overflowing with and dictated by Little League, soccer and lacrosse games and swim meets — but could all this focus on athletics detrimental to [...]