Smart Talk – WITF Smart Talk Podcast: Recent Episodes
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Students at vocational and technical schools relish the opportunity to get real-world experiences. Very few ever get the chance to contribute to out of this world projects, but that’s just what students at the Lebanon County Career and Technology Center (LCCTC) in Eric Tanger’s Industrial Machine Technology are doing. They’re making parts for NASA and … Continue reading "Lebanon County tech students make parts for Space Station"
Saying it hasn’t happened anywhere else in Pennsylvania, LGBTQ advocates and allies are protesting a proposal by Chambersburg’s Borough Council to roll back an anti-discrimination ordinance, that was adopted last year by a previous council. The Council could vote Monday night to repeal the ordinance that would have established a local human relations commission. That … Continue reading "LGBTQ advocates and allies fight efforts to repeal discrimination ordinance in Chambersburg"
Hemp has been making a comeback in recent years. It’s a crop that played an important role throughout history until it became illegal to grow because of its relationship to marijuana, although no one was getting high off of hemp. Farmers have been encouraged to grow hemp in the last few years because it’s cheap, … Continue reading "Lancaster County firm introduces hemp-fed, cage-free eggs"
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says a third of the state’s streams are impaired or polluted — meaning those waterways are unsafe for aquatic life, recreation, fish consumption and water supply. All told, Pennsylvania has 27,886 miles of streams that are impaired — almost 2,400 more than in 2020. The draft 2022 Integrated … Continue reading "DEP: Number of polluted waterways in Pa. up"
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court last week blocked an inspection of voting machine equipment in heavily-Republican Fulton County – a county where former President Donald Trump won easily. The machines Republicans want to look at have been decertified because another company without election experience examined those machines last year. The company found nothing consequential. WITF’s Capitol … Continue reading "Looking at Fulton County voting machine issues"
A poll by Muhlenberg College and Keep Our Republic finds that Pennsylvanians continue to be polarized when it comes to elections and voting. Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the poll is how Democrats and Republicans view the 2020 presidential election and see the threats to voting in 2022 differently. For example, 57% of Democrats say … Continue reading "Poll confirms Americans deeply divided on election issues"
The U.S. is in the middle of another COVID-19 surge – this one driven by the omicron variant. Almost two years into the pandemic, one of frustrations for the medical community and — really all of us — is the unpredictability of the virus. And that includes knowing where there will be a surge. Researchers … Continue reading "Penn State researchers find a way to predict COVID surges"
The nation’s blood supplies are at historically low levels and it could have real world impacts when patients need blood to be treated for an illness, condition or injury. The American Red Cross has called the current supply of blood a “national crisis” and dangerously low. The Red Cross provides 40% of the nation’s blood … Continue reading "Low blood supplies are a “national crisis”"
The Winter Olympics in Beijing begin in less than three weeks on February 4th. Figure skating will be one of the most watched competitions and one that garners the most interest. Central Pennsylvania has a robust figure skating scene itself. The Central Pennsylvania Figure Skating Club trains skaters and competes in competitions with other local … Continue reading "Central Pennsylvania figure skaters prepare for competition"
News is out this week about the new Giant Center for Advanced Agriculture and Sustainability at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology. When in operation, the center will provide “research, education, career pathing in sustainability, controlled environment agriculture, and clean water initiatives.” Ian Kanski, Director for Center is on Thursday’s Smart Talk with more details.