Historian Richard Beeman's behind the scenes look at the Continental Congress May 20
Guest:  Richard Beeman In his new book, Our Lives, Our Fortunes, & Our Sacred Honor: The Forging of American Independence, historian RICHARD BEEMAN documents the turbulent 22-months during which the First and Second Continental Congresses met in Philadelphia [...]

Pennsylvania's Office of Open Records and the Right-to-Know law May 16
Guest: Terry Mutchler Pennsylvania had long been considered one of the least transparent states in the country until 2008 when lawmakers rewrote the Commonwealth’s open-records law. The Right-to-Know Law mandated the creation of an independent Office of Open [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Solitary confinement: the historical and contempory practice April 30
Guests:  Sean Kelley, Jules Lobel and Shirley Moore Smeal There are upwards of 25,000 prisoners in the United States who are housed in solitary confinement units, some of whom reside in these units for decades. In Pennsylvania, where [...]

Pennsylvania politics with Baer and Micek April 29
Guests:  John Baer and John Micek There are some interesting things going on in Harrisburg.  Next week's three scheduled Senate hearings on the effort to privatize Pennsylvania's liquor stores could tell us more about what it will take [...]

Local, award-winning poets DAISY FRIED and LYNN LEVIN April 25
GUESTS: DAISY FRIED and LYNN LEVIN “Women’s poetry is like a car – it might have purple lights underneath, or outrageous hubcaps, or an enormous spoiler jutting off the back, but underneath it’s still a car.” You’ll hear [...]

Debating gun regulation April 11
GUESTS: JOHN GRAMLICH, BOB CAVNAR and GAREN J. WINTEMUT Firearm background checks may expand to include online purchases, guns bought at shows and through private sales. A bi-partisan bill was announced yesterday sponsored by Senators Joe Manchin III [...]

The problem with Pennsylvania's system of halfway houses for paroled inmates April 9
Guests: John Wetzel and Sam Dolnick A new report by the Pennsylvania Corrections Department shows that the state’s halfway houses are failing.  Recidivism rates are higher for inmates paroled to halfway houses than inmates released directly to the [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Pennsylvania's new Megan's Law March 22
Guests: CAPTAIN SCOTT PRICE, TED GLACKMAN and GREG ROWE Pennsylvania's new and stricter Megan's Law took effect in December making the Commonwealth the sixteenth state to comply with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.  The [...]

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 [...]

The justice gap — the challenge of providing legal services for poor people March 13
Guests:  MARC BOOKMAN, CATHERINE CARR, JAMES FUNT Fifty years ago this month, in the case Gideon v. Wainwright, the U.S. Supreme court ruled that poor people charged with a felony were entitled to government-financed legal representation.  Over the [...]

Cell phone video & public-police relationship March 7
GUESTS: DAVID RUDOVSKY, JERRY RATCLIFFE, TIMOTHY B. LEE Cell phone video footage captured then-Philadelphia Police Lt. Jonathan Josey striking a woman in the face at the street celebrations in North Philadelphia following September’s Puerto Rican Day Parade. When [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

85th Academy Awards preview February 22
GUESTS: PIERS MARCHANT, MATTHEW QUICK and SAM FRENCH The 85th Academy Awards are this Sunday, February 24th, and we’re going to listen back to Marty’s interviews with local connections to two nominated films: writer MATTHEW QUICK, whose debut [...]

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 [...]

Black Media in the 21st Century February 11
GUESTS: SARA LOMAX REESE, IRV RANDOLPH and LORI THARPS What is the role of Black Media today? As the landscape of journalism is exponentially changing, and those working in the field are taking inventory of how they cover [...]

Philly Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey; then Barbara Laker on 'Tainted Justice' 4 years later February 6
Philadelphia Police Commissioner CHARLES RAMSEY joins us to brief us on his contribution to the Gun Violence Panel convened by Vice President Joe Biden and appointed by President Obama. That panel’s work culminated in four ambitious legislative proposals [...]

'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 [...]

William Ecenbarger on the 'Kids for Cash' scandal January 17
[REBROADCAST] Between 2003 and 2008, Luzerne County juvenile court judge Mark Ciavarelli sentenced thousands of children who committed minor offenses to months of incarceration in two private, for-profit juvenile detention centers in Pennsylvania.  The youngsters and their families [...]

Guns & gun laws, after Newtown, CT: US, PA, Philly January 16
In advance of President Obama’s much anticipated news conference later this morning outlining his agenda regarding gun and safety regulations in the wake of the horrific massacre in Newtown, Connecticut last month, we check in with three people [...]

#innovateRT: The Arts Community January 16
“Kids are everything. Poetry is my passion, but PYPM is my purpose,” says our guest, poet PERRY “VISION” DIVIRGILIO, referring to his work with the Philly Youth Poetry Movement. The third part of our PHILADELPHIA INNOVATORS series drums, [...]

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: 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 [...]

Abolitionist Pennsylvania U.S. Representative, Thaddeus Stevens January 10
If you’ve seen the recent film, “Lincoln,” you may have walked away wanting to know more about the character played by Tommy Lee Jones – outspoken abolitionist Pennsylvania U.S. Representative, Thaddeus Stevens. Our guests will help us understand [...]

Gov. Corbett's suit vs. the NCAA over Penn State/Sandusky penalties January 8
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett sued the NCAA last week on behalf of the Commonwealth, claiming that the governing body for college sports went overboard in penalizing Penn State in response to the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal. In [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Gun violence in cross-hairs, in Philly & U.S. December 27
As many families gathered over the holidays, the issue most hotly debated and discussed was guns and gun violence in the United States. With the Dec. 14 massacre of 20 first-graders and seven adults in Newtown, Connecticut, still [...]

Remembering South Philadelphia's Jim Croce December 27
[REBROADCAST] South Philadelphia native Jim Croce left an indelible, musical mark in the world of singer-songwriters. When he died in a plane crash at the age of 30 in 1973, he left behind five studio albums and 11 [...]

How make believe is important to our survival December 25
[REBROADCAST] Once upon a time, we told stories through oral tradition, moved on to words and pictures and fast-forwarded to video games. Drawing on research in evolutionary biology, psychology and neuroscience, Washington and Jefferson College English professor, JONATHAN [...]

Nikki Johnson-Huston: from homeless to lawyer December 12
City of Philadelphia tax solicitor and 2012 USA Eisenhower Fellow, NIKKI JOHNSON-HUSTON, returned recently from a six-week trip to India and New Zealand, to study what social safety nets look like in two, very different countries. When she [...]

Philly legal shenanigans: DA's cash machine & Traffic Court ticket-fixing December 6
On today’s Radio Times, we look at two recent investigative reports raising questions about two different parts of the legal system in Philadelphia. In the first half of the hour, ISAIAH THOMPSON, who just left the City Paper [...]

PA Task Force on Child Protection, post-Sandusky December 5
The Pennsylvania Task Force on Child Protection has been meeting for 10 months with experts in all facets of child care and protection, tasked with reviewing the commonwealth’s laws and procedures protecting children, and where and why they [...]

John Baer's years on the front lines of Pennsylvania politics November 28
Harrisburg native and Philadelphia Daily News veteran reporter and columnist JOHN BAER comes in to discuss his irreverent observations on Pennsylvania politics from Governor  Shapp to Governor Corbett. In between these administrations, we’ll hear about how close Baer [...]

William Ecenbarger on the 'Kids for Cash' scandal November 26
Between 2003 and 2008, Luzerne County juvenile court judge Mark Ciavarelli sentenced thousands of children who committed minor offenses to months of incarceration in two private, for-profit juvenile detention centers in Pennsylvania.  The youngsters and their families were [...]

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 [...]

Same-sex marriage election victories and LGBT rights November 15
Hour 2 Same-sex marriage supporters have a lot to celebrate this election.  In Washington State, Maine and Maryland voters chose to legalize gay marriage through ballot referendums.  In Minnesota, voters rejected a proposed State Constitutional ban on same-sex [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

Hurricane Sandy, Day 2: Jersey Shore, Philly water, Delaware October 30
Hour 2 Our coverage of Hurricane Sandy continues in this hour of Radio Times. We start with a live update from WHYY reporter TOM MacDONALD from the Jersey Shore, where he spent the morning touring the devastation, including [...]

Hurricane Sandy hits the Delaware Valley October 29
Hour 1 With Hurricane Sandy roaring into the Delaware Valley, Radio Times covers the storm’s approach, the preparations made by residents and public safety officials throughout the region, and the early word of impacts. We’ll start the hour [...]

Hurricane Sandy: Philly & Delaware responses, weird weather & storm science October 29
Hour 2 In our second hour examining Hurricane Sandy's impacts, we'll talk with Philadelphia Mayor MICHAEL NUTTER about the city's preparations for the storm's approach and aftermath. And we'll talk with MICHAEL LEMONICK senior science writer for Princeton-based [...]

A Conversation with The Philadelphia Orchestra's Music Director, Yannick Nezet-Sequin October 22
The Philadelphia Sound will continue to resonate in its 113th season under Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s baton – after conducting under the director-designate title for two years, he has officially become the eighth music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra. The [...]

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 [...]

Remembering South Philadelphia's Jim Croce October 10
Hour Two South Philadelphia native Jim Croce left an indelible, musical mark in the world of singer-songwriters. When he died in a plane crash at the age of 30 in 1973, he left behind five studio albums and [...]

Parent-trigger laws October 8
Hour 1 The movie “Won’t Back Down” starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis is about a crusading single mother and inspiring teacher who are trying to fix their children’s failing Pittsburgh public school. It doesn’t sound like it [...]

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 [...]

The latest on the Pennsylvania voter ID law October 2
Hour One Last week, for the second time since August, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson heard arguments in a challenge to Pennsylvania voter ID law, enacted last March. Proponents of the law say having photo identification at [...]

Pennsylvania school update: Achievement, school choice, and student drug-testing October 1
Pennsylvania student achievement scores dropped last year for the first time since the tests began in 2002.  Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Ron Tomalis blamed the decline on a statewide crack down on cheating but others say that recent [...]

Pennsylvania's Voter ID law back in court September 26
Hour 1 Yesterday, for the second time in two months, Pennsylvania’s controversial voter ID law was debated before Commonwealth Court judge Robert Simpson. Judge Simpson previously heard arguments about the law in August and failed to issue a [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

How make believe is important to our survival September 17
Hour 2 Once upon a time, we told stories through oral tradition, moved on to words and pictures and fast-forwarded to video games. Drawing on research in evolutionary biology, psychology and neuroscience, Washington and Jefferson College English professor, [...]

A local rower-turned-filmmaker goes "Backwards" September 14
Hour 2 A promising Olympic rowing candidate is chosen, yet again, as an alternate for the U.S. team, and quits, goes home and tries to reconcile her rowing dreams and family life, as she coaches crew at her [...]

Assessing the Democratic convention's messages, impact September 7
Hour 1 President Barack Obama made his case for re-election last night inside the Charlotte arena that has hosted the Democratic National Convention this week, moved inside from the much larger stadium by the threat of rain. His [...]

Assessing the GOP Convention: Romney, Ryan & the race for the White House August 31
Hour 1 Last night, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made his case to his party and the American electorate for why he should replace President Barack Obama in the White House. Romney’s speech followed three days of speeches [...]

Joe Posnanski's controversial biography, 'Paterno' August 30
Hour 1 When acclaimed sportswriter JOE POSNANSKI set out, in early 2011, to write the definitive biography of Penn State football coaching legend Joe Paterno, he had no idea what he was in for. Months later, a grand [...]

The writers' teacher publishes his first book August 23
Hour 2 The founder and facilitator of the Rittenhouse Writers’ Group, JAMES RAHN, will be celebrating 25 years of helping writers get their stories out – some to big publishing house, and some to the page from their [...]

Update: The drought, PA's voting laws, and Philadelphia's state test cheating scandal August 21
Hour 1 We get updates on three news stories we've been following.   We'll start off talking about this year’s drought, the worst drought in U.S. history since the 1950's with writer CHARLES FISHMAN.  In his recent New York [...]

The Common Core Standards for public education; then PA's voter ID law August 15
Hour 1 When No Child Left Behind (NCLB) became law in 2001 it promised to improve public education by raising standards and establishing measurable goals for student progress.  While the law was praised for making schools more accountable, [...]

Voter ID laws and voter fraud August 14
Hour 2 A ruling in the legal challenge to Pennsylvania's voter-identification law is expected any day.  The measure, which was signed into law by Gov. Tom Corbett in March, requires Pennsylvanians to present a state-approved photo identification at [...]

Our aging infrastructure & what to do about it August 6
Hour 1 Investment in infrastructure helped fuel America’s economic growth in the 20th Century, but our once-world-class system of roads, bridges, sewer systems and waterways are in desperate need of modernization.  More than 4,000 of Pennsylvania’s bridges are [...]

Two Vietnam War Marines' journey of friendship August 6
Hour 2 Two young Marines with very different backgrounds – one a rural Pennsylvanian, and the other from a small Japanese city – are wounded while fighting in Vietnam in 1968 and reunite decades later. Our guests — [...]

How the recession is affecting children's health August 3
Hour 1 Often lost in the staggering and numbing statistics about U.S. households suffering these hard times is specifically how children in those households are affected by threats like unemployment, hunger, foreclosure and poverty. On today’s Radio Times, [...]

Gun violence Philly: Victims & City's perspective August 2
Hour 1 The grim tally of homicide victims in Philadelphia continues to grow, with 208 lives lost in 2012 thus far, and the vast majority slain by gun. That’s 16 murder victims since our last show on this [...]

Debating Pennsylvania's prison system August 1
Hour 1 Two months ago, we had Pennsylvania’s Corrections Secretary JOHN WETZEL on the show, discussing his work leading the commonwealth’s corrections policy, management and reform. Wetzel, who rose up through the ranks from corrections officer to cabinet [...]

Pennsylvania's complicated voting system July 31
Hour 1 How much control do Pennsylvania voters have over their state's election process? Registration deadlines are restrictive compared to other states; early and mail-in voting guidelines are incompatible with on-site voting; and those living in the Keystone [...]

The Money in politics July 31
Hour 2 The 2012 Presidential election looks like it will be the most expensive race in history. Between the campaigns, the national committees and the super PACs, billions will be poured into TV ads, polling, and staffing.  So [...]

Jim Thorpe's 1912 Olympic dominance & a London preview July 27
Hour 2 Before the Opening Ceremonies of the London Olympics tonight, we look back to the remarkable Olympics 100 years ago in Stockholm, Sweden. Those games were a fascinating moment in time – differences from today’s Olympics included [...]

Americans with Disabilities: The Act's anniversary & today's challenges July 26
Hour 1 Twenty-two years ago today, the first President Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act, which recognized and protected the civil rights of people with disabilities ranging from physical conditions affecting mobility, stamina, sight, hearing, [...]

Character and leadership July 25
Hour 1 What makes a great leader? Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty and others fail? New technologies, the unstable economy and the unconventional habits of high-profile CEOs show leadership has different skills and sensibilities. Our guest, [...]

Penn State, the NCAA and next steps July 24
Hour 1 At a news conference yesterday, Mark Emmert, the president of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), outlined a set of unprecedented "corrective and punitive" sanctions on Penn State in response to the actions and inactions of [...]

America’s Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the S.S. United States July 23
Hour 2 “Getting there is half the fun,” is rarely a desire of the modern traveler, but back when the S.S. United States made its maiden voyage, this passenger luxury liner was built for speed and comfort. It [...]

The Abington Memorial Hospital and Holy Redeemer plan to partner July 18
Hour 2 Abington Memorial Hospital and its neighbor the Holy Redeemer Health System recently signed a letter of intent to create a new regional health care system.  Over the years, Abington has earned a reputation for its stellar [...]

The life of a New Yorker receptionist/Scranton's financial trouble July 16
Hour 2 JANET GROTH had big dreams when she moved to New York in 1957.  Fresh from the Midwest, she landed a big interview at The New Yorker and was eager to begin a career as a writer.  [...]

The Freeh report's damning conclusions about Penn State's Sandusky scandal July 13
Hour 1 Last month, former Penn State football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of child sexual abuse, for a reign of terror in his home, in his car and in the locker room of [...]

The future of Philadelphia's oil refinery workers July 12
Hour 1 The future of United Steelworkers’ (USW) jobs at local oil refineries futures looked bleak last September when Sunoco announced plans to sell or close their South Philadelphia and Marcus Hook facilities. Later that month ConocoPhillips announced [...]

More on Pennsylvania's Voter ID law July 10
Hour 2 Pennsylvania government officials disclosed last week that approximately 750,000 registered voters do not have Department of Transportation photo IDs they could need to cast their ballots in November. The figure, which represents 9.2 % of all [...]

Pennsylvania's gas & energy politics July 9
Hour 1 Energy issues continue to connect Pennsylvania politics to the global economy, and on today’s Radio Times, we’re going to catch up on several important recent developments and what they mean for our region, our wallets, and [...]

Making sense of Philadelphia City Council's session June 29
Hour 2 Three voices from WHYY’s Philadelphia reporting staff join Marty in studio to discuss the City Council session that wrapped up yesterday, especially the showdown over Mayor Nutter’s Actual Value Initiative, the controversial tax overhaul that raised [...]

Radio Times Pennsylvania Political Roundtable June 28
Hour 2 The Pennsylvania state budget’s deadline is tomorrow and the cuts proposed for the $27.3 billion limit, set by Governor Tom Corbett, are controversial. So far, state university funding is untouched, and a block grant for public [...]

Ed Rendell sees 'A Nation of Wusses' June 26
Hour 2 Former two-term Pennsylvania Governor and Philadelphia Mayor ED RENDELL comes in to discuss his new book, “A Nation of Wusses: How America’s Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us Great.” He looks back on his years [...]

Catching up on courts: Sandusky & Lynn trials June 22
Hour 2 The nation’s courtrooms are always providing newsworthy cases and verdicts, and recent weeks have been full of important legal battles. The U.S. Supreme Court has been keeping the media, political, legal, medical and other sectors in [...]

Immigration, the White House & the Supreme Court June 19
Hour 1 President Obama’s “DREAM Order” last Friday, along with the pending Supreme Court ruling on Arizona's immigration law, are reshaping immigration policy on the state and federal levels and have put immigration squarely in the center of [...]

The role of public unions in the American workforce June 11
Hour 2 What is the role of public unions in today’s work force? Big changes in Wisconsin and California may be setting precedents for popular support in traditional union states like Pennsylvania. Have workers been given too good [...]

Conversation with local child advocates Shelly Yanoff and Joe Carruth June 7
Hour 2 After 25 years as the executive director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth, SHELLY YANOFF is stepping down.  Since the 1980s she has worked tirelessly to increase funding, change policy and improve programming in child [...]

Celebrating 25 Years of Radio Times June 4
Hour 2 We look back on the 25 years Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane has been on the air by playing clips from some of our favorite live moments, listening to commentary from the producers and having a [...]

Pennsylvania's prisons, with Corrections Secretary John Wetzel May 29
Hour 1 Pennsylvania’s Corrections Secretary JOHN WETZEL has worked in the field for 20 years, starting as a corrections officer at the Lebanon County Correctional Facility, rising through the ranks at Berks County Prison, and serving as warden [...]

Young Farmers May 29
Hour 2 Farmers markets are popping up in all around the country and many people are buying shares in CSAs for the season.  But even with all the talk about eating locally and community supported agriculture, the USDA [...]

Survey says PA schools struggling; then, the Orie sisters in power, in trouble May 24
Hour 2 An annual survey of Pennsylvania school districts (pdf) found that schools are in financial crisis and are planning deep cuts to education programs. Things like summer school, Advanced Placement classes, tutoring, music, gym, arts education and [...]

A critical look at Philadelphia's school reorganization plan May 23
Hour 1 Last month, leaders of the School District of Philadelphia unveiled a radical reorganization plan that would transform – or “blow up” – the district’s structure, closing 40 schools over the next two years and more each [...]