Archive for the ‘economy’ Category
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Oklahoma tornado recovery
May 23
Guests: Rachel Hubbard, William Coulbourne, David Martin The search for victims is over and recovery work has begun in Moore and parts of Oklahoma City after Monday’s tornado that killed at least 24 people including 10 children. With [...]
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Climate change milestone
May 21
Guests: Gavin Schmidt, Anthony Leiserowitz Last week carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached record levels — 400 parts per million, according to a monitoring station in Hawaii. Never in human history have carbon dioxide concentrations been that high. [...]
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Peter Edelman on why U.S. is 'So Rich, So Poor'
May 17
GUEST: PETER EDELMAN [REBROADCAST] PETER EDELMAN has been working to raise awareness about and fighting to end poverty in the United States for four decades. Touring the Mississippi Delta in 1967 with his boss, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, [...]
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The global garment industry: Bangladesh, workers' safety and us
May 15
Guests: Scott Nova and Pietra Rivoli After last month's factory fire in Bangladesh that killed over 1,000 workers, three of the world's largest clothing manufacturers have agreed to a plan that would require retailers to help pay for [...]
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Housing market recovery?
May 9
Guests: Todd Sinai, Stan Humphries Home prices are increasing at their fastest rate since 2006. According to the S&P Case-Shiller Index of 20 U.S. cities, prices for a single family house rose 9.3 percent from February 2012 to [...]
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Why your online purchases could get more expensive
May 7
Guests: Michael Mazerov and Megan McArdle Do you shop online? If so, your purchases could get a little more expensive. The Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act yesterday which will force Internet retailers to collect sales tax on [...]
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Pennsylvania, drug tests, unemployment and job creation
May 7
Hour 2 Guests: David Taylor and Paul Harrington In an interview last week about Pennsylvania's declining job growth numbers, Governor Tom Corbett said that among the challenges employers face in hiring is that too many job applicants can't [...]
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Analysis of President Obama's trip to Mexico
May 6
GUESTS: TIM JOHNSON and CHRISTOPHER WILSON Is a new Mexico emerging? That’s what President Obama said in a speech Friday during his two-day trip to Mexico, his fourth as President. He met with Mexico’s president, Enrique Pena Nieto [...]
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Health care law update
May 2
Hour 1 Guests: David Grande, Robert Field The Affordable Care Act, what’s popularly known as Obamacare, is three years old but a recent poll shows that 42 percent of Americans don’t even know it is law. According to [...]
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The ins and outs of federal tax policy
April 15
GUEST: ROBERTON WILLIAMS It's Tax Day. Have you filed your taxes yet for 2012? Are you claiming the right tax credits for education, a child and child care? ROBERTON WILLIAMS, Tax analyst and Sol Price Fellow at the [...]
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Keystone XL Pipeline debate
April 10
Guests: Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, Amy Myers Jaffe The Obama administration is expected to make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline expansion in the next few months. The pipeline would carry 800,000 barrels a day of tar sands crude [...]
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The debate on paid sick leave in Philadelphia
April 8
GUESTS: RANDY LOBASSO, MARIANNE BELLESORTE & WILLIAM DUNKELBERG Last week Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter vetoed the Earned Sick Days Bill recently passed by City Council. This is the second time around for the bill, championed by Councilman Bill [...]
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Debating 'no smoker' hiring policies
April 5
Guests: Harald Schmidt, David Asch Smokers need not apply to the University of Pennsylvania Health System starting this July when a ban on hiring nicotine users will go into effect. Penn Health system says this policy is an [...]
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200 Years of Latino History in Philadelphia
April 4
Guests: Erika Almiron, Sabrina Vourvoulias, Victor Vazquez Hailing from several different regions and close to half a million strong, Latinos have played a central role in Philadelphia, from politics to civic life. From the time of the founding [...]
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The financial lives of twenty-somethings
April 4
Guests: Annie Lowrey and Tamara Draut In an article in last week's New York Times Magazine, writer ANNIE LOWREY posed a provocative question — "Do Millennials Stand a Chance in the Real World? Victims of the financial meltdown, [...]
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US and American Airlines merger
April 3
Guests: Henry Harteveldt and Brian Kelly Last week a federal bankruptcy judge approved the merger of US Airways and American Airlines allowing the $11 billion plan to go forward. When joined, the two companies would become the world’s [...]
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The Supreme Court hearings on gay marriage
March 29
Guests: Ed Whelan, Tobias Wolff This week the Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases related to same-sex marriage. On Tuesday the justices considered Hollingsworth v. Perry, debating the constitutionality of Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage. [...]
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The health and stability of our financial system
March 26
Guests: Jesse Eisinger and Anat Admati Is the financial system any safer today four years after the bank bailout? The Dobb-Frank financial reform bill was supposed to bring stability, accountability and transparency to Wall Street but a lot [...]
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Jonah Berger on how products, behaviors and ideas catch on
March 22
Guest: Jonah Berger Why does a fad become a fad? Why does a video go viral? What makes some products catch on when others fail? Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger has spent the last 10 years researching the [...]
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Rethinking law schools
March 21
Guests: Brian Tamanaha, Lawrence Mitchell Law schools are in trouble. Applications are at a 30-year low and rising tuitions have led to high student debt. A weak job market has meant that many graduates can’t find a good [...]
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Should the PLCB be privatized?
March 20
GUESTS: LEW BRYSON and MARC STIER On Monday, Pennsylvania’s House Committee on Liquor Control presented their revised version of Governor Corbett’s bill to privatize the sale of wine and hard liquor. The plan includes potentially slowing down the [...]
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Dueling Budgets
March 18
Hour 1 Guests: Michael Tanner and Jared Bernstein Last week House Republicans and Senate Democrats unveiled their competing budget plans. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s proposal aims to balance the budget in a decade by cutting $4.6 [...]
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A conversation with Philadelphia activist and restauranteur Judy Wicks
March 18
Guest: Judy Wicks JUDY WICKS founded the White Dog Cafe on the first floor of her house along a row of threatened brownstones in West Philadelphia. Over the years she grew what began as a small muffin shop [...]
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Fishermen’s Energy & the future of wind energy in New Jersey
March 14
GUESTS: CHRIS WISSEMANN, JEFF TITTEL and STEFANIE BRAND We examine the future of wind energy in New Jersey from three different perspectives. Should wind farms come to the Garden State? First, we get an inside look from Fishermen’s [...]
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The pros and cons of working from home
March 13
Guests: Raymond Fisman and Jennifer Glass Like many technology companies, Yahoo had a corporate culture that encouraged employees to work remotely providing them with flexible work hours and less time spent commuting. All that will come to an [...]
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The Chavez Legacy
March 11
Guests: George Ciccariello-Maher, Francisco Toro Last week, former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died after a two-year battle with cancer at the age of 58. He was a polarizing figure in Venezuela and the world. To some, he was a [...]
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Proposals for a new Philadelphia Federation of Teachers contract
March 5
GUESTS: WILLIAM HITE, RON WHITESTONE, ANDREW ROTHERHAM Philadelphia School District leaders say that in order to prevent a deficit of $1 billion over the next five years, they will be asking teachers to make major concessions that would [...]
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Post-sequestration politics: Libertarian & progressive perspectives
March 4
GUESTS: MATT WELCH & MATT YGLESIAS To “resolve” the summer 2011 standoff over extending the federal debt ceiling, President Obama and congressional Republicans agreed to form a “supercommittee” to come up with a debt reduction plan. At the [...]
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New Jersey and Pennsylvania politics deconstructed
March 1
GUESTS: CHARLES STILE, JOHN BAER, JOHN MICEK We'll start off this hour of Radio Times with an update on New Jersey politics in the week of Governor Chris Christie's budget address, which surprisingly included a reversal expanding Medicaid [...]
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'A Place at the Table' for Witnesses to Hunger: A new documentary
March 1
GUESTS: BARBIE IZQUIERDO, MARIANA CHILTON, LORI SILVERBUSH and KRISTI JACOBSON “A Place at the Table” is a new documentary about the crisis of hunger in America today that was an Official Selection of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. [...]
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David Leonhardt on the sequester, the debt, the deficit and economic growth
February 28
GUEST: DAVID LEONHARDT Tomorrow is the day the sequester is set to kick in — that's the $85 billion in government spending cuts for the coming year that resulted from the failure of Congress in 2011 to raise [...]
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Peter Edelman on why U.S. is 'So Rich, So Poor'
February 28
GUEST: PETER EDELMAN PETER EDELMAN has been working to raise awareness about and fighting to end poverty in the United States for four decades. Touring the Mississippi Delta in 1967 with his boss, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, exposed [...]
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The history and legacy of mass incarceration in the U.S.
February 27
GUESTS: KEITH REEVES, JANE SIEGEL, HEATHER ANN THOMPSON As a result of stricter drug laws and more rigid sentencing guidelines enacted in the 1970s, the U.S. prison population has grown by 500 percent over the past thirty years. [...]
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A healthy economy based on a happy country
February 27
Guests: ANGUS DEATON and ARTHUR A. STONE How do we measure the health of the economy by how happy we are? Several national leaders and economists are increasingly looking at their countries’ collective happiness. The small Kingdom of [...]
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The 'moral hazard' & Sandy relief: Do federal funds invite disaster?
February 26
Hour 1 GUESTS: HOWARD KUNREUTHER and SCOTT KNOWLES This morning, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is briefing Philadelphia and Pennsylvania leaders about applying for federal aid in response to the storm called Sandy that ravaged the region at [...]
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The Past and Future of USPS
February 26
Hour 2 GUESTS: RICHARD R. JOHN Will the mail continue to be important as Americans are more engaged in the digital age? The financially strapped United States Postal Service (USPS) will be ceasing their Saturday delivery service, with [...]
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What is AVI, and what will it mean for Philadelphia?
February 25
GUESTS: ROB DUBOW, PATRICK KERKSTRA and KEVIN GILLEN Philadelphia is in the midst of a massive overhaul of its property tax system. Mayor Michael Nutter’s Actual Value Initiative, known by its acronym AVI, is attempting to match city [...]
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'A Place at the Table' for Witnesses to Hunger: A new documentary
February 20
GUESTS: BARBIE IZQUIERDO, MARIANA CHILTON, LORI SILVERBUSH and KRISTI JACOBSON “A Place at the Table” is a new documentary about the crisis of hunger in America today that was an Official Selection of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. [...]
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Obama's early education proposal
February 20
President Obama wants to provide quality early education for all low to moderate income 4-year olds. Last week the White House provided more details on the proposal which would involve a partnership with states to guarantee preschool for [...]
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Debating PA Gov. Corbett's budget proposal
February 15
GUESTS: DONNA COOPER and MATTHEW BROUILLETTE Earlier this month, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett unveiled a budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, and launched an annual battle over dollars and priorities across the commonwealth. The $28.4 [...]
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Cybersecurity and the growing threats
February 14
Guests: SIOBHAN GORMAN, ALAN PALLER and JAMES LEWIS On Tuesday, President Obama signed an Executive Order to protect the country’s critical infrastructure from cyber attacks. As he announced Tuesday night in his State of the Union address, the [...]
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Analyzing the State of the Union address and the Republican response
February 13
Guests: Ben Berger, Lara Brown and Imani Perry Last night, before Congress and the nation, President Obama addressed the state of the union and outlined his second term agenda. He focused on the middle class, pledging action on [...]
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California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom on 'Citizenville'
February 13
GUEST: GAVIN NEWSOM You may recognize the name GAVIN NEWSOM from his historic 2004 decision as San Francisco Mayor to allow same-sex marriages. He is now the lieutenant governor of the State of California, following his two terms [...]
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How to predict the next financial crisis, with Steve Clemons & Richard Vague
February 12
GUESTS: STEVE CLEMONS and RICHARD VAGUE Are we missing the forest for the trees by focusing on government debt and not private debt? According to a recent report, “How to Predict the Next Financial Crisis” (link to pdf), [...]
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Guns and politics
February 11
GUESTS: RICHARD FELDMAN and ROBERT SPITZER Vice President Biden is in Philadelphia today to hold a roundtable discussion on gun violence with law enforcement officials. He’s been leading the White Houses effort for tougher gun laws including a [...]
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A history of the financial crisis from economist Alan Blinder
February 4
In his new book, After the Music Stopped, economist ALAN BLINDER offers a history of the financial crisis — its causes and the government efforts to fight it — and provides his prescription for the work that needs [...]
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'Pull of Gravity,' a documentary about re-entry after prison
January 31
Seven hundred thousand inmates are released from U.S. prisons each year. A new documentary film funded by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania wrestles with the question: What happens when they come home? “Pull [...]
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Immigration reform: reaction and response
January 30
Yesterday afternoon, President Obama announced his blueprint for immigration reform in response to a set of principles laid out by a bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Monday. The President's plan calls for a quicker path to citizenship [...]
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Will Obama's second term change prospects for climate?
January 24
In his inaugural speech, President Obama made climate change a central priority of his second term: “We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future [...]
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The Inauguration and Obama's next term
January 22
Yesterday President Obama was sworn into his second term as commander in chief of the United States , something that has only happened to 16 other U.S. Presidents. The inaugural ceremony, though full of pomp and pageantry, didn't [...]
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#innovateRT: Sustainable Philadelphia
January 18
In the fifth and final hour in our series on Philadelphia Innovators, we look at sustainability in the city and the effort to make Philly the greenest city in America. We’ll find out how close we are to [...]
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The pros and cons of privatizing the lottery
January 15
Late Friday afternoon, the Corbett administration announced it had issued a "notice of award" to the UK's Camelot Group to run the Commonwealth's lottery. Camelot, the only bidder on the contract, promised that over its 20-year contract it [...]
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#innovateRT: A conversation with local tech innovators
January 15
Talk to local government officials, entrepreneurs and investors and they will tell you that things are happening in Philadelphia's technology sector. New tax incentives that benefit start-ups and venture capitalists who are committed to developing and nurturing them [...]
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Sarah Palin: Unlikely Liberal
January 14
Since her selection as Republican vice-presidential candidate in the 2008 election, Sarah Palin has become a popular partisan voice in conservative politics – she’s a strong Tea Party supporter and a commentator on FoxNews. But for people who [...]
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#innovateRT: Three Philly leaders innovating land-use
January 14
There are some cool and exciting things happening in Philadelphia: tech start ups and theater groups plus new ways of looking at land use and sustainability. Leading off our weeklong series on PHILADELPHIA INNOVATORS, we’re talking about some [...]
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Trips, adventures and vacations and how to get there in 2013
January 9
If you're like the staff of Radio Times, you're always planning your next trip or thinking about where you'd like to go — especially this time of year when we're counting down the days to warmer weather. There's [...]
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Sandy relief bill, the fiscal cliff and GOP politics
January 4
The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote today on a $9 billion boost to the federal flood insurance program sucked dry by the catastrophic damage caused by Superstorm Sandy at the end of October. The vote [...]
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Marijuana politics in NJ, PA & the U.S.
January 3
Last month, JAY LASSITER of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, purchased the Garden State’s first legal medical marijuana from Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair, New Jersey. Battling HIV for two decades, the advocacy consultant and former BlueJersey.com blogger campaigned [...]
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Congress, politics and the fiscal cliff
January 2
In the wee hours of January 1, the Senate passed legislation that would raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans — those earning over $400,000, extend unemployment benefits for 99 weeks, and delay for two months $110 billion cuts [...]
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A look at today's changing drug laws
January 1
[REBROADCAST] Recently Colorado and Washington voters passed ballot initiatives in support of the use of legal recreational marijuana. This is in addition to 18 states, including Washington, D.C., that have legalized medical marijuana on their books. The United [...]
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2012's big stories in the Delaware Valley: PA, NJ & DE
December 28
We look back at the year’s biggest political stories in the three states of the Delaware Valley with a trio of excellent reporters. Joining guest-host Tracey Matisak to discuss the year in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia political news is [...]
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Politics, foreign affairs and the year in review
December 26
In Washington, lawmakers are still wrangling over plans that would prevent a fiscal crisis in coming days and have put on hold further negotiations until after they take their Christmas break. Meanwhile on the city, state and federal [...]
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Garbology: a look at America's trash habit
December 26
[REBROADCAST] Americans make a lot of trash, more than any other country in the world. In fact, each of us produces around 7.1 pounds of garbage a day, or roughly 102 tons in a lifetime. And trash turns [...]
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National politics: Guns, fiscal cliff & more
December 21
In this week’s national news roundup, Marty chats with two Washington D.C.-based journalists about the big two topics dominating the national political discussion this week: the Newtown, CT, massacre and possible gun legislation in response, and the "fiscal [...]
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How to protect yourself from scams
December 20
Tens of billions of dollars are lost each year to consumer fraud and when the economy is down, fraud goes up. These last years have been boom times for scammers. While research shows that many of us are [...]
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Worker safety in the global marketplace — whose responsibility is it?
December 17
Over the past several months, major factory fires in Pakistan and Bangladesh have killed over 400 people working for companies that manufacture clothing for major American and European retailers and brands. The tragedies are raising awareness of the [...]
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The risks and rewards of older parenthood
December 13
Among the many changes in American families over the past few decades is the increasing number of parents who are having children later in life. While the average first time parent in the U.S. is in her twenties, [...]
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The Fiscal Cliff, government subsidies, and a carbon tax
December 7
The “fiscal cliff” debate continued this week with the President reiterating that tax hikes on the wealthy must be a part of any proposal and House Republicans pressing for entitlement and spending cuts. If the two sides can’t [...]
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Post-Sandy politics of rebuilding the Jersey Shore
December 5
As New Jersey struggles with the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, we follow up our look at the science and engineering with a look at the politics of whether, how, where and who pays for rebuilding the beloved Jersey [...]
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DNREC Secretary Collin O'Mara
December 3
COLLIN O’MARA serves as Secretary of the Environment and Energy for Delaware Governor Jack Markell. He’s the chief steward of Delaware’s natural resources, including its coastal programs and shoreline efforts, and leads the state’s efforts to ensure access to [...]
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National politics: Fiscal cliff & changing electorate
November 30
In this week’s national political roundup, Marty talks about the fiscal cliff and the politics surrounding the negotiations, which has brought President Obama to a Montgomery County toymaker today, and the changing face of the American electorate. President [...]
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Former FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair: from regulator to watchdog
November 29
Former Chairman of the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), SHEILA BAIR, will explain how she was one of the first people to identify and assess the subprime crisis of 2008. Currently a Senior Advisor to the PEW Charitable [...]
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Everything you need to know about holiday shopping 2012
November 27
With Black Friday starting on Thanksgiving evening (now known as Gray Thursday) and Cyber Monday extending to Cyber Week, retailers are doing everything they can to get holiday shoppers shopping in a still sluggish economy. Bricks-and-mortar stores and [...]
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States react to the Affordable Care Act
November 26
With President Obama’s reelection, the Affordable Care Act is here to stay. During the presidential campaign, Republican candidate Mitt Romney promised to dismantle parts of “Obamacare” if elected, but now with Obama in office for four more years, [...]
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Economist Mark Zandi looks at the ending of the Great Recession
November 19
We check in with MARK ZANDI, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, on the economic recovery of the last four years. While the effectiveness of the $800 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act continues to be challenged, Zandi reports [...]
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A look at today's changing drug laws
November 16
Last week Colorado and Washington voters passed ballot initiatives in support of the use of legal recreational marijuana. This is in addition to 18 states, including Washington, D.C., that have legalized medical marijuana on their books. The United [...]
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A second casino for Philadelphia?
November 15
Hour 1 Today is the deadline for proposals to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board for a second casino license set aside for the city of Philadelphia, and at least six proposals have been made public. Among them are [...]
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Healing, governing and leading after Election 2012
November 13
What became evident in the wake of the hard-fought, often heated 2012 election is that the United States is a deeply divided union — politically, philosophically, economically and racially. In recent days, the candidates and members of both [...]
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What new leadership in China will bring
November 12
Hour 1 Just days after our Presidential election, the Chinese began their process of appointing a new leader. In a meeting that happens every ten years, two thousand delegates are gathered in Beijing for 18th Communist Party Congress, [...]
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Money and ads in the 2012 election
November 8
Hour 1 The 2012 election was the most expensive in history and by a wide margin. At a cost of $6 billion, this year’s federal campaigns spent $700 million more than the second most expensive election in history, [...]
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The politics of hunger & poverty, post-election & post-Sandy
November 8
Hour 2 The election has passed, and many macroeconomic signs point to a recovering economy. But that still leaves so many Americans — 46.2 million people — in poverty, including about 30 percent of Philadelphians by U.S. Census [...]
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Election 2012 — local races, the political polls, and voter supression
November 7
Hour 2 We continue our conversation about the 2012 election. Starting us off is Muhlenberg College professor CHRIS BORICK who has been following some of Pennsylvania's more heated races. Then we'll turn our attention several interesting issues that [...]
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The Divine Lorraine and development on North Broad
November 6
Hour 1 The Divine Lorraine Hotel stands at 699 North Broad Street. The 10-story Philadelphia landmark was built in 1892 as a luxury apartment building, one of the city’s first skyscrapers. Later it became a hotel, the first [...]
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Election preview and analysis
November 5
Hour 2 With the election just a day away, we’re taking one more look at the Presidential race, the campaigns and the voters. We’ll talk about the impact of the super storm on Super Tuesday, the role of [...]
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Final election preview: Sandy-stricken campaigns in NJ, PA & DE
November 2
Hour 1 As we head into the final few days before Tuesday’s election, Radio Times looks at the presidential campaign and key races throughout the Delaware Valley. Joining us from New Jersey is BOB INGLE, senior political columnist [...]
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Sandy & the 2012 presidential election
November 1
Hour 1 Perhaps the greatest surprise this October had nothing to do with a political misstep. Instead it was Mother Nature who intervened in the name of Hurricane Sandy. With a week left before the 2012 presidential election, [...]
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What candidates are NOT talking about, Pt. 1: Climate change & infrastructure repair
October 31
Hour 1 The 2012 presidential election, for the most part, has been about the economy and more recently foreign policy. Among the issues that have received little or no attention on the campaign trail are climate change and [...]
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The real stories of bloody Libyan ends of Gaddafi, Amb. Stevens
October 24
Hour 1 Hours before the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked on Sept. 11 and Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens killed, the popular diplomat was “cheerful and relaxed” on the phone with ETHAN CHORIN, who was in Benghazi [...]
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Fracking, natural gas & energy issues in political campaigns
October 18
Hour 1 Energy issues, including natural gas extraction in the Marcellus Shale region, are a big issue in Pennsylvania, and a factor in political campaigns across the commonwealth and the presidential race. On today’s Radio Times, we catch [...]
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Presidential debate reaction
October 17
Hour 1 With the race for the presidency is in its last few weeks and the candidates locked in a very close race, the stakes were high for last night's second debate between President Barack Obama and former [...]
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Remembering U.S. Senator Arlen Specter
October 15
Hour 1 Former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania Arlen Specter died on Sunday in Philadelphia of complications from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. From 1966 to 1974, Specter was the Philadelphia District Attorney and in 1980 was elected to the U.S. Senate [...]
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Assessing the vice presidential debate
October 12
Hour 1 We'll dissect the vice-presidential debate last night between Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin with a pair of political analysts who have observed the candidates for a long time from nearby but [...]
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The Supreme Court and the future of affirmative action
October 9
Hour 1 On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas, the first affirmative action case since 2003 when the justices ruled that the University of Michigan Law School's could consider a [...]
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The first presidential debate analyzed
October 4
HOUR 1 The fact-checkers checked the facts, the spinners spun and the candidates are back on the campaign trail after last night's first presidential debate in Denver, Colorado. Did we learn anything new about how they would lead [...]
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Nobel-laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz on income equality in America
October 2
Hour 2 In a recent USA Today opinion piece, Nobel Prize winning economist JOSEPH STIGLITZ took on Mitt Romney's accusations against the "47%" by saying the real freeloaders are not those who rely on some kind of government [...]
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Joan Walsh asks "What's the Matter with White People?"
September 27
Hour Two Salon columnist JOAN WALSH has written a book looking at the parallel narratives of how the standard of living has changed drastically since the 1970s. She sees two arguments of the bankruptcy of America: one side [...]
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Arts and Culture in Philadelphia: Their contributions and their challenges
September 25
Hour 2 A new study released yesterday by The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance reports that arts and cultural organizations in the region generate nearly $170 million in state and local taxes each year and provide roughly 44,000 jobs [...]
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The Latino Vote
September 21
Hour 1 This week, President Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney got the opportunity to address Latino voters, trying to earn their support at a “Meet the Candidates” forum in Florida and on the Spanish language TV [...]
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Journalist Steve Coll looks at ExxonMobil's private empire and American power
September 21
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] According to our guest, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist STEVE COLL, ExxonMobil makes over $450 billion a year, the size of Norway’s GDP and about 3 percent of the U.S. GDP, positioning it as the largest [...]
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A look at drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region
September 20
Hour 1 The new technology that can extract the deep, gas resources of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale has created a complex divide among residents, government and industry about the promise of a low-emission, fossil-fuel bridge to American energy independence, [...]
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Oklahoma tornado recovery
May 23
Guests: Rachel Hubbard, William Coulbourne, David Martin The search for victims is over and recovery work has begun in Moore and parts of Oklahoma City after Monday’s tornado that killed at least 24 people including 10 children. With [...] -
Climate change milestone
May 21
Guests: Gavin Schmidt, Anthony Leiserowitz Last week carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached record levels — 400 parts per million, according to a monitoring station in Hawaii. Never in human history have carbon dioxide concentrations been that high. [...] -
Peter Edelman on why U.S. is 'So Rich, So Poor'
May 17
GUEST: PETER EDELMAN [REBROADCAST] PETER EDELMAN has been working to raise awareness about and fighting to end poverty in the United States for four decades. Touring the Mississippi Delta in 1967 with his boss, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, [...] -
The global garment industry: Bangladesh, workers' safety and us
May 15
Guests: Scott Nova and Pietra Rivoli After last month's factory fire in Bangladesh that killed over 1,000 workers, three of the world's largest clothing manufacturers have agreed to a plan that would require retailers to help pay for [...] -
Housing market recovery?
May 9
Guests: Todd Sinai, Stan Humphries Home prices are increasing at their fastest rate since 2006. According to the S&P Case-Shiller Index of 20 U.S. cities, prices for a single family house rose 9.3 percent from February 2012 to [...] -
Why your online purchases could get more expensive
May 7
Guests: Michael Mazerov and Megan McArdle Do you shop online? If so, your purchases could get a little more expensive. The Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act yesterday which will force Internet retailers to collect sales tax on [...] -
Pennsylvania, drug tests, unemployment and job creation
May 7
Hour 2 Guests: David Taylor and Paul Harrington In an interview last week about Pennsylvania's declining job growth numbers, Governor Tom Corbett said that among the challenges employers face in hiring is that too many job applicants can't [...] -
Analysis of President Obama's trip to Mexico
May 6
GUESTS: TIM JOHNSON and CHRISTOPHER WILSON Is a new Mexico emerging? That’s what President Obama said in a speech Friday during his two-day trip to Mexico, his fourth as President. He met with Mexico’s president, Enrique Pena Nieto [...] -
Health care law update
May 2
Hour 1 Guests: David Grande, Robert Field The Affordable Care Act, what’s popularly known as Obamacare, is three years old but a recent poll shows that 42 percent of Americans don’t even know it is law. According to [...] -
The ins and outs of federal tax policy
April 15
GUEST: ROBERTON WILLIAMS It's Tax Day. Have you filed your taxes yet for 2012? Are you claiming the right tax credits for education, a child and child care? ROBERTON WILLIAMS, Tax analyst and Sol Price Fellow at the [...] -
Keystone XL Pipeline debate
April 10
Guests: Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, Amy Myers Jaffe The Obama administration is expected to make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline expansion in the next few months. The pipeline would carry 800,000 barrels a day of tar sands crude [...] -
The debate on paid sick leave in Philadelphia
April 8
GUESTS: RANDY LOBASSO, MARIANNE BELLESORTE & WILLIAM DUNKELBERG Last week Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter vetoed the Earned Sick Days Bill recently passed by City Council. This is the second time around for the bill, championed by Councilman Bill [...] -
Debating 'no smoker' hiring policies
April 5
Guests: Harald Schmidt, David Asch Smokers need not apply to the University of Pennsylvania Health System starting this July when a ban on hiring nicotine users will go into effect. Penn Health system says this policy is an [...] -
200 Years of Latino History in Philadelphia
April 4
Guests: Erika Almiron, Sabrina Vourvoulias, Victor Vazquez Hailing from several different regions and close to half a million strong, Latinos have played a central role in Philadelphia, from politics to civic life. From the time of the founding [...] -
The financial lives of twenty-somethings
April 4
Guests: Annie Lowrey and Tamara Draut In an article in last week's New York Times Magazine, writer ANNIE LOWREY posed a provocative question — "Do Millennials Stand a Chance in the Real World? Victims of the financial meltdown, [...] -
US and American Airlines merger
April 3
Guests: Henry Harteveldt and Brian Kelly Last week a federal bankruptcy judge approved the merger of US Airways and American Airlines allowing the $11 billion plan to go forward. When joined, the two companies would become the world’s [...] -
The Supreme Court hearings on gay marriage
March 29
Guests: Ed Whelan, Tobias Wolff This week the Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases related to same-sex marriage. On Tuesday the justices considered Hollingsworth v. Perry, debating the constitutionality of Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage. [...] -
The health and stability of our financial system
March 26
Guests: Jesse Eisinger and Anat Admati Is the financial system any safer today four years after the bank bailout? The Dobb-Frank financial reform bill was supposed to bring stability, accountability and transparency to Wall Street but a lot [...] -
Jonah Berger on how products, behaviors and ideas catch on
March 22
Guest: Jonah Berger Why does a fad become a fad? Why does a video go viral? What makes some products catch on when others fail? Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger has spent the last 10 years researching the [...] -
Rethinking law schools
March 21
Guests: Brian Tamanaha, Lawrence Mitchell Law schools are in trouble. Applications are at a 30-year low and rising tuitions have led to high student debt. A weak job market has meant that many graduates can’t find a good [...] -
Should the PLCB be privatized?
March 20
GUESTS: LEW BRYSON and MARC STIER On Monday, Pennsylvania’s House Committee on Liquor Control presented their revised version of Governor Corbett’s bill to privatize the sale of wine and hard liquor. The plan includes potentially slowing down the [...] -
Dueling Budgets
March 18
Hour 1 Guests: Michael Tanner and Jared Bernstein Last week House Republicans and Senate Democrats unveiled their competing budget plans. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s proposal aims to balance the budget in a decade by cutting $4.6 [...] -
A conversation with Philadelphia activist and restauranteur Judy Wicks
March 18
Guest: Judy Wicks JUDY WICKS founded the White Dog Cafe on the first floor of her house along a row of threatened brownstones in West Philadelphia. Over the years she grew what began as a small muffin shop [...] -
Fishermen’s Energy & the future of wind energy in New Jersey
March 14
GUESTS: CHRIS WISSEMANN, JEFF TITTEL and STEFANIE BRAND We examine the future of wind energy in New Jersey from three different perspectives. Should wind farms come to the Garden State? First, we get an inside look from Fishermen’s [...] -
The pros and cons of working from home
March 13
Guests: Raymond Fisman and Jennifer Glass Like many technology companies, Yahoo had a corporate culture that encouraged employees to work remotely providing them with flexible work hours and less time spent commuting. All that will come to an [...] -
The Chavez Legacy
March 11
Guests: George Ciccariello-Maher, Francisco Toro Last week, former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died after a two-year battle with cancer at the age of 58. He was a polarizing figure in Venezuela and the world. To some, he was a [...] -
Proposals for a new Philadelphia Federation of Teachers contract
March 5
GUESTS: WILLIAM HITE, RON WHITESTONE, ANDREW ROTHERHAM Philadelphia School District leaders say that in order to prevent a deficit of $1 billion over the next five years, they will be asking teachers to make major concessions that would [...] -
Post-sequestration politics: Libertarian & progressive perspectives
March 4
GUESTS: MATT WELCH & MATT YGLESIAS To “resolve” the summer 2011 standoff over extending the federal debt ceiling, President Obama and congressional Republicans agreed to form a “supercommittee” to come up with a debt reduction plan. At the [...] -
New Jersey and Pennsylvania politics deconstructed
March 1
GUESTS: CHARLES STILE, JOHN BAER, JOHN MICEK We'll start off this hour of Radio Times with an update on New Jersey politics in the week of Governor Chris Christie's budget address, which surprisingly included a reversal expanding Medicaid [...] -
'A Place at the Table' for Witnesses to Hunger: A new documentary
March 1
GUESTS: BARBIE IZQUIERDO, MARIANA CHILTON, LORI SILVERBUSH and KRISTI JACOBSON “A Place at the Table” is a new documentary about the crisis of hunger in America today that was an Official Selection of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. [...] -
David Leonhardt on the sequester, the debt, the deficit and economic growth
February 28
GUEST: DAVID LEONHARDT Tomorrow is the day the sequester is set to kick in — that's the $85 billion in government spending cuts for the coming year that resulted from the failure of Congress in 2011 to raise [...] -
Peter Edelman on why U.S. is 'So Rich, So Poor'
February 28
GUEST: PETER EDELMAN PETER EDELMAN has been working to raise awareness about and fighting to end poverty in the United States for four decades. Touring the Mississippi Delta in 1967 with his boss, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, exposed [...] -
The history and legacy of mass incarceration in the U.S.
February 27
GUESTS: KEITH REEVES, JANE SIEGEL, HEATHER ANN THOMPSON As a result of stricter drug laws and more rigid sentencing guidelines enacted in the 1970s, the U.S. prison population has grown by 500 percent over the past thirty years. [...] -
A healthy economy based on a happy country
February 27
Guests: ANGUS DEATON and ARTHUR A. STONE How do we measure the health of the economy by how happy we are? Several national leaders and economists are increasingly looking at their countries’ collective happiness. The small Kingdom of [...] -
The 'moral hazard' & Sandy relief: Do federal funds invite disaster?
February 26
Hour 1 GUESTS: HOWARD KUNREUTHER and SCOTT KNOWLES This morning, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is briefing Philadelphia and Pennsylvania leaders about applying for federal aid in response to the storm called Sandy that ravaged the region at [...] -
The Past and Future of USPS
February 26
Hour 2 GUESTS: RICHARD R. JOHN Will the mail continue to be important as Americans are more engaged in the digital age? The financially strapped United States Postal Service (USPS) will be ceasing their Saturday delivery service, with [...] -
What is AVI, and what will it mean for Philadelphia?
February 25
GUESTS: ROB DUBOW, PATRICK KERKSTRA and KEVIN GILLEN Philadelphia is in the midst of a massive overhaul of its property tax system. Mayor Michael Nutter’s Actual Value Initiative, known by its acronym AVI, is attempting to match city [...] -
'A Place at the Table' for Witnesses to Hunger: A new documentary
February 20
GUESTS: BARBIE IZQUIERDO, MARIANA CHILTON, LORI SILVERBUSH and KRISTI JACOBSON “A Place at the Table” is a new documentary about the crisis of hunger in America today that was an Official Selection of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. [...] -
Obama's early education proposal
February 20
President Obama wants to provide quality early education for all low to moderate income 4-year olds. Last week the White House provided more details on the proposal which would involve a partnership with states to guarantee preschool for [...] -
Debating PA Gov. Corbett's budget proposal
February 15
GUESTS: DONNA COOPER and MATTHEW BROUILLETTE Earlier this month, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett unveiled a budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, and launched an annual battle over dollars and priorities across the commonwealth. The $28.4 [...] -
Cybersecurity and the growing threats
February 14
Guests: SIOBHAN GORMAN, ALAN PALLER and JAMES LEWIS On Tuesday, President Obama signed an Executive Order to protect the country’s critical infrastructure from cyber attacks. As he announced Tuesday night in his State of the Union address, the [...] -
Analyzing the State of the Union address and the Republican response
February 13
Guests: Ben Berger, Lara Brown and Imani Perry Last night, before Congress and the nation, President Obama addressed the state of the union and outlined his second term agenda. He focused on the middle class, pledging action on [...] -
California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom on 'Citizenville'
February 13
GUEST: GAVIN NEWSOM You may recognize the name GAVIN NEWSOM from his historic 2004 decision as San Francisco Mayor to allow same-sex marriages. He is now the lieutenant governor of the State of California, following his two terms [...] -
How to predict the next financial crisis, with Steve Clemons & Richard Vague
February 12
GUESTS: STEVE CLEMONS and RICHARD VAGUE Are we missing the forest for the trees by focusing on government debt and not private debt? According to a recent report, “How to Predict the Next Financial Crisis” (link to pdf), [...] -
Guns and politics
February 11
GUESTS: RICHARD FELDMAN and ROBERT SPITZER Vice President Biden is in Philadelphia today to hold a roundtable discussion on gun violence with law enforcement officials. He’s been leading the White Houses effort for tougher gun laws including a [...] -
A history of the financial crisis from economist Alan Blinder
February 4
In his new book, After the Music Stopped, economist ALAN BLINDER offers a history of the financial crisis — its causes and the government efforts to fight it — and provides his prescription for the work that needs [...] -
'Pull of Gravity,' a documentary about re-entry after prison
January 31
Seven hundred thousand inmates are released from U.S. prisons each year. A new documentary film funded by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania wrestles with the question: What happens when they come home? “Pull [...] -
Immigration reform: reaction and response
January 30
Yesterday afternoon, President Obama announced his blueprint for immigration reform in response to a set of principles laid out by a bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Monday. The President's plan calls for a quicker path to citizenship [...] -
Will Obama's second term change prospects for climate?
January 24
In his inaugural speech, President Obama made climate change a central priority of his second term: “We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future [...] -
The Inauguration and Obama's next term
January 22
Yesterday President Obama was sworn into his second term as commander in chief of the United States , something that has only happened to 16 other U.S. Presidents. The inaugural ceremony, though full of pomp and pageantry, didn't [...] -
#innovateRT: Sustainable Philadelphia
January 18
In the fifth and final hour in our series on Philadelphia Innovators, we look at sustainability in the city and the effort to make Philly the greenest city in America. We’ll find out how close we are to [...] -
The pros and cons of privatizing the lottery
January 15
Late Friday afternoon, the Corbett administration announced it had issued a "notice of award" to the UK's Camelot Group to run the Commonwealth's lottery. Camelot, the only bidder on the contract, promised that over its 20-year contract it [...] -
#innovateRT: A conversation with local tech innovators
January 15
Talk to local government officials, entrepreneurs and investors and they will tell you that things are happening in Philadelphia's technology sector. New tax incentives that benefit start-ups and venture capitalists who are committed to developing and nurturing them [...] -
Sarah Palin: Unlikely Liberal
January 14
Since her selection as Republican vice-presidential candidate in the 2008 election, Sarah Palin has become a popular partisan voice in conservative politics – she’s a strong Tea Party supporter and a commentator on FoxNews. But for people who [...] -
#innovateRT: Three Philly leaders innovating land-use
January 14
There are some cool and exciting things happening in Philadelphia: tech start ups and theater groups plus new ways of looking at land use and sustainability. Leading off our weeklong series on PHILADELPHIA INNOVATORS, we’re talking about some [...] -
Trips, adventures and vacations and how to get there in 2013
January 9
If you're like the staff of Radio Times, you're always planning your next trip or thinking about where you'd like to go — especially this time of year when we're counting down the days to warmer weather. There's [...] -
Sandy relief bill, the fiscal cliff and GOP politics
January 4
The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote today on a $9 billion boost to the federal flood insurance program sucked dry by the catastrophic damage caused by Superstorm Sandy at the end of October. The vote [...] -
Marijuana politics in NJ, PA & the U.S.
January 3
Last month, JAY LASSITER of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, purchased the Garden State’s first legal medical marijuana from Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair, New Jersey. Battling HIV for two decades, the advocacy consultant and former BlueJersey.com blogger campaigned [...] -
Congress, politics and the fiscal cliff
January 2
In the wee hours of January 1, the Senate passed legislation that would raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans — those earning over $400,000, extend unemployment benefits for 99 weeks, and delay for two months $110 billion cuts [...] -
A look at today's changing drug laws
January 1
[REBROADCAST] Recently Colorado and Washington voters passed ballot initiatives in support of the use of legal recreational marijuana. This is in addition to 18 states, including Washington, D.C., that have legalized medical marijuana on their books. The United [...] -
2012's big stories in the Delaware Valley: PA, NJ & DE
December 28
We look back at the year’s biggest political stories in the three states of the Delaware Valley with a trio of excellent reporters. Joining guest-host Tracey Matisak to discuss the year in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia political news is [...] -
Politics, foreign affairs and the year in review
December 26
In Washington, lawmakers are still wrangling over plans that would prevent a fiscal crisis in coming days and have put on hold further negotiations until after they take their Christmas break. Meanwhile on the city, state and federal [...] -
Garbology: a look at America's trash habit
December 26
[REBROADCAST] Americans make a lot of trash, more than any other country in the world. In fact, each of us produces around 7.1 pounds of garbage a day, or roughly 102 tons in a lifetime. And trash turns [...] -
National politics: Guns, fiscal cliff & more
December 21
In this week’s national news roundup, Marty chats with two Washington D.C.-based journalists about the big two topics dominating the national political discussion this week: the Newtown, CT, massacre and possible gun legislation in response, and the "fiscal [...] -
How to protect yourself from scams
December 20
Tens of billions of dollars are lost each year to consumer fraud and when the economy is down, fraud goes up. These last years have been boom times for scammers. While research shows that many of us are [...] -
Worker safety in the global marketplace — whose responsibility is it?
December 17
Over the past several months, major factory fires in Pakistan and Bangladesh have killed over 400 people working for companies that manufacture clothing for major American and European retailers and brands. The tragedies are raising awareness of the [...] -
The risks and rewards of older parenthood
December 13
Among the many changes in American families over the past few decades is the increasing number of parents who are having children later in life. While the average first time parent in the U.S. is in her twenties, [...] -
The Fiscal Cliff, government subsidies, and a carbon tax
December 7
The “fiscal cliff” debate continued this week with the President reiterating that tax hikes on the wealthy must be a part of any proposal and House Republicans pressing for entitlement and spending cuts. If the two sides can’t [...] -
Post-Sandy politics of rebuilding the Jersey Shore
December 5
As New Jersey struggles with the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, we follow up our look at the science and engineering with a look at the politics of whether, how, where and who pays for rebuilding the beloved Jersey [...] -
DNREC Secretary Collin O'Mara
December 3
COLLIN O’MARA serves as Secretary of the Environment and Energy for Delaware Governor Jack Markell. He’s the chief steward of Delaware’s natural resources, including its coastal programs and shoreline efforts, and leads the state’s efforts to ensure access to [...] -
National politics: Fiscal cliff & changing electorate
November 30
In this week’s national political roundup, Marty talks about the fiscal cliff and the politics surrounding the negotiations, which has brought President Obama to a Montgomery County toymaker today, and the changing face of the American electorate. President [...] -
Former FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair: from regulator to watchdog
November 29
Former Chairman of the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), SHEILA BAIR, will explain how she was one of the first people to identify and assess the subprime crisis of 2008. Currently a Senior Advisor to the PEW Charitable [...] -
Everything you need to know about holiday shopping 2012
November 27
With Black Friday starting on Thanksgiving evening (now known as Gray Thursday) and Cyber Monday extending to Cyber Week, retailers are doing everything they can to get holiday shoppers shopping in a still sluggish economy. Bricks-and-mortar stores and [...] -
States react to the Affordable Care Act
November 26
With President Obama’s reelection, the Affordable Care Act is here to stay. During the presidential campaign, Republican candidate Mitt Romney promised to dismantle parts of “Obamacare” if elected, but now with Obama in office for four more years, [...] -
Economist Mark Zandi looks at the ending of the Great Recession
November 19
We check in with MARK ZANDI, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, on the economic recovery of the last four years. While the effectiveness of the $800 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act continues to be challenged, Zandi reports [...] -
A look at today's changing drug laws
November 16
Last week Colorado and Washington voters passed ballot initiatives in support of the use of legal recreational marijuana. This is in addition to 18 states, including Washington, D.C., that have legalized medical marijuana on their books. The United [...] -
A second casino for Philadelphia?
November 15
Hour 1 Today is the deadline for proposals to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board for a second casino license set aside for the city of Philadelphia, and at least six proposals have been made public. Among them are [...] -
Healing, governing and leading after Election 2012
November 13
What became evident in the wake of the hard-fought, often heated 2012 election is that the United States is a deeply divided union — politically, philosophically, economically and racially. In recent days, the candidates and members of both [...] -
What new leadership in China will bring
November 12
Hour 1 Just days after our Presidential election, the Chinese began their process of appointing a new leader. In a meeting that happens every ten years, two thousand delegates are gathered in Beijing for 18th Communist Party Congress, [...] -
Money and ads in the 2012 election
November 8
Hour 1 The 2012 election was the most expensive in history and by a wide margin. At a cost of $6 billion, this year’s federal campaigns spent $700 million more than the second most expensive election in history, [...] -
The politics of hunger & poverty, post-election & post-Sandy
November 8
Hour 2 The election has passed, and many macroeconomic signs point to a recovering economy. But that still leaves so many Americans — 46.2 million people — in poverty, including about 30 percent of Philadelphians by U.S. Census [...] -
Election 2012 — local races, the political polls, and voter supression
November 7
Hour 2 We continue our conversation about the 2012 election. Starting us off is Muhlenberg College professor CHRIS BORICK who has been following some of Pennsylvania's more heated races. Then we'll turn our attention several interesting issues that [...] -
The Divine Lorraine and development on North Broad
November 6
Hour 1 The Divine Lorraine Hotel stands at 699 North Broad Street. The 10-story Philadelphia landmark was built in 1892 as a luxury apartment building, one of the city’s first skyscrapers. Later it became a hotel, the first [...] -
Election preview and analysis
November 5
Hour 2 With the election just a day away, we’re taking one more look at the Presidential race, the campaigns and the voters. We’ll talk about the impact of the super storm on Super Tuesday, the role of [...] -
Final election preview: Sandy-stricken campaigns in NJ, PA & DE
November 2
Hour 1 As we head into the final few days before Tuesday’s election, Radio Times looks at the presidential campaign and key races throughout the Delaware Valley. Joining us from New Jersey is BOB INGLE, senior political columnist [...] -
Sandy & the 2012 presidential election
November 1
Hour 1 Perhaps the greatest surprise this October had nothing to do with a political misstep. Instead it was Mother Nature who intervened in the name of Hurricane Sandy. With a week left before the 2012 presidential election, [...] -
What candidates are NOT talking about, Pt. 1: Climate change & infrastructure repair
October 31
Hour 1 The 2012 presidential election, for the most part, has been about the economy and more recently foreign policy. Among the issues that have received little or no attention on the campaign trail are climate change and [...] -
The real stories of bloody Libyan ends of Gaddafi, Amb. Stevens
October 24
Hour 1 Hours before the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked on Sept. 11 and Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens killed, the popular diplomat was “cheerful and relaxed” on the phone with ETHAN CHORIN, who was in Benghazi [...] -
Fracking, natural gas & energy issues in political campaigns
October 18
Hour 1 Energy issues, including natural gas extraction in the Marcellus Shale region, are a big issue in Pennsylvania, and a factor in political campaigns across the commonwealth and the presidential race. On today’s Radio Times, we catch [...] -
Presidential debate reaction
October 17
Hour 1 With the race for the presidency is in its last few weeks and the candidates locked in a very close race, the stakes were high for last night's second debate between President Barack Obama and former [...] -
Remembering U.S. Senator Arlen Specter
October 15
Hour 1 Former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania Arlen Specter died on Sunday in Philadelphia of complications from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. From 1966 to 1974, Specter was the Philadelphia District Attorney and in 1980 was elected to the U.S. Senate [...] -
Assessing the vice presidential debate
October 12
Hour 1 We'll dissect the vice-presidential debate last night between Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin with a pair of political analysts who have observed the candidates for a long time from nearby but [...] -
The Supreme Court and the future of affirmative action
October 9
Hour 1 On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas, the first affirmative action case since 2003 when the justices ruled that the University of Michigan Law School's could consider a [...] -
The first presidential debate analyzed
October 4
HOUR 1 The fact-checkers checked the facts, the spinners spun and the candidates are back on the campaign trail after last night's first presidential debate in Denver, Colorado. Did we learn anything new about how they would lead [...] -
Nobel-laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz on income equality in America
October 2
Hour 2 In a recent USA Today opinion piece, Nobel Prize winning economist JOSEPH STIGLITZ took on Mitt Romney's accusations against the "47%" by saying the real freeloaders are not those who rely on some kind of government [...] -
Joan Walsh asks "What's the Matter with White People?"
September 27
Hour Two Salon columnist JOAN WALSH has written a book looking at the parallel narratives of how the standard of living has changed drastically since the 1970s. She sees two arguments of the bankruptcy of America: one side [...] -
Arts and Culture in Philadelphia: Their contributions and their challenges
September 25
Hour 2 A new study released yesterday by The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance reports that arts and cultural organizations in the region generate nearly $170 million in state and local taxes each year and provide roughly 44,000 jobs [...] -
The Latino Vote
September 21
Hour 1 This week, President Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney got the opportunity to address Latino voters, trying to earn their support at a “Meet the Candidates” forum in Florida and on the Spanish language TV [...] -
Journalist Steve Coll looks at ExxonMobil's private empire and American power
September 21
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] According to our guest, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist STEVE COLL, ExxonMobil makes over $450 billion a year, the size of Norway’s GDP and about 3 percent of the U.S. GDP, positioning it as the largest [...] -
A look at drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region
September 20
Hour 1 The new technology that can extract the deep, gas resources of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale has created a complex divide among residents, government and industry about the promise of a low-emission, fossil-fuel bridge to American energy independence, [...]

