Hour 1 The Obama administration announced last month that it would require religious hospitals, colleges and other institutions, like those affiliated with the Catholic Church, to provide health care coverage for contraception.  The decision has ignited a passionate debate over religious freedom, the conscience exemption and the rights of women to control their own health [...]

Filed under: family issues, health, history, medicine, politics, religion, social issues |

Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] PHILIP SCHULTZ is a famous poet and writer.  This poetry collection Failure won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize.  He founded and directs The Writers Studio in New York and has been teaching creative writing for years.  And yet, Schultz has dyslexia.  In his recent memoir, My Dyslexia, Schultz recounts his childhood struggles trying [...]

Filed under: arts, author, family issues, parenting, school issues |

Hour 1 Last week, Governor Chris Christie called for the voters of New Jersey to have the final say in the fight to legalize same-sex marriage rather than having the Legislature decide. He proposed that the issue be put on the ballot, giving it “the weight that it merits." He went on to say that [...]

Filed under: LGBTQ, New Jersey, family issues, history, politics |

Hour 2 SUZZY ROCHE and her sisters, Maggie and Terre, have been touring together and recording for over 30 years. Suzzy, the youngest, has written her first novel, "Wayward Saints," about the music industry, family and small-town ghosts of the past. We’ll talk to Roche about performing, writing in a different medium for the first [...]

Filed under: arts, author, culture, entertainment, family issues, music |

Hour 2 Mayor Nutter recently turned a few heads after he used some choice words when responding to the senseless murder of three Philadelphia teenagers.  The award-winning ABC sitcom Modern Family also found itself in a little bit of hot water thanks to an F-bomb dropped by a toddler.  Meanwhile the Supreme Court has begun [...]

Filed under: author, business, culture, entertainment, family issues, history, media, parenting, politics, psychology, social issues |

Hour 1 At a meeting of the U.S. Conference on Mayors on Friday, over 70 mayors from cities across the country announced their support for same sex marriage.  Proposed legislation and upcoming ballot initiatives in several states also signal interest nationwide for the rights of same sex couples to marry.  Last February, in a major [...]

Filed under: LGBTQ, family issues, history, politics, social issues |

Hour 2 The Corbett administration plans to begin asset-testing for food stamp recipients in Pennsylvania this May. Individuals and families with more than $2000 in savings or assets and seniors with assets worth $3250 would no longer be eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The number of Americans who receive food stamps [...]

Filed under: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, business, economy, family issues, politics, social issues, work |

Hour 1 Enrollment in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s elementary schools and high schools has been declining for decades, while the costs of running those schools have increased dramatically. Tuition fees, a decrease in the birthrate among Catholic families, and competition from public, private and charter schools all contribute to the Archdiocese's lower numbers. Furthermore, the [...]

Filed under: Philadelphia, economy, family issues, religion, school issues |

Hour 2 The state of African-American marriages has been the subject of heated debate and more so since Stanford law professor Ralph Richard Banks published his controversial book "Is Marriage for White People?" In it Banks posited that successful black women should pursue interracial relationships because of the dearth of eligible black professional men. Angela [...]

Filed under: family issues, social issues |

Hour 1 You’re playing in a public park with your kids, riding on public transit or shopping in a supermarket and witness a parent cursing at and/or pushing their child. What is the right thing to do? Is it the business of a stranger to intervene? Our guest, Philadelphia magazine reporter VICTOR FIORILLO, has had [...]

Filed under: crime, family issues, parenting, psychology, social issues |