The Week in Philly from KYW Newsradio

We’ve seen tremendous growth in the interest of women’s sports over the past few years. Whether it’s celebrating the 50th anniversary of Title IX or explaining drama between basketball players, women’s sports have been constantly in the news. Dr. Julie Lanzillo, the program director and associate professor of sports management and sports business at Neumann University, tells us about what’s drivin...

Federal student loan payments have been on pause since early on in the pandemic, but the break is over - those loans will start accruing interest again on September 1, and minimum payments will resume in October. What could that do for the national economy? Will we see people spending less on recreational activities, or will it be a benefit to have more money coming in for the government? We talk...

Earlier this month, Fitch downgraded the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA+. It was the first time the country’s rating dropped since 2011. What does downgrading the credit rating mean? How did it happen? And what does this all mean for us? Dr. Marco Airaudo is a professor of Economics at Drexel University's Lebow College of Business. He explains what it means for the U.S. credit rating to be down...

After the COVID vaccine rolled out less than a year after the pandemic was first announced, we wondered about progress on a similar front: how close are we to creating an HIV vaccine ? What do scientists know about HIV? And what did COVID teach us about immunization? Dr. Amelia Escolano is an assistant professor at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. She talks about the intricacies of the HIV vi...

At the height of the pandemic, we saw government assistance make a difference for a lot of people. They helped food banks like Share Food Program help a lot of Philadelphians get access to healthy food. But that pandemic-era relief has gradually come to an end. George Matysik is the executive director of Share Food Program. He discusses how the pandemic affected food banks, how they’ve had to adap...

Work is one of the biggest stressors in our lives, but it’s something we all have to do. So how can we decrease the mental toll work takes on us? Jeanette Bronée is the author of “The Self-Care Mindset” , a book about how to prioritize your mental health and do your best work. She says it’s all about how we think and the questions we ask ourselves. She joins us to discuss how to make that mental s...

Ozempic, and drugs like it, have been all the rage lately. Besides people with type 2 diabetes, we’ve also seen a lot of celebrities talking about it and using it to lose weight. What is it? Why are so many people using it? And, more importantly, is it safe? Jason Zupec, PharmD, BCACP, is a clinical associate professor in the department of pharmacy practice at Saint Joseph's University. He talks u...

Nonprofits are the glue to making the world a better place. Often they focus on issues like sustainability, health and wellness, and activism. But they need key resources to stay afloat. Enter, the Unless Project .It aims to help four local nonprofit organizations implement modern digital marketing strategies. Simon Rogers is the founder and CEO of A Little Better Company that’s piloting the progr...

On June 29, the Supreme Court, as was widely expected, effectively ended affirmative action, at colleges. What will this decision mean for students moving forward? How did the justices come to this decision? And, will this impact legacy admissions or the corporate world? Dr. Susan Liebell is a professor of political science at Saint Joseph's University. She takes a deeper look at the decision and...

No matter who you ask, James Buchanan is always, without a doubt, considered to be one of the worst presidents in United States history. This tends to happen when you are in the Oval Office and do nothing to try and stop the outbreak of a civil war. But why did someone so fit for the job, fail so hard? Robert Strauss is the author of “ Worst. President. Ever. : James Buchanan, the POTUS Rating Gam...

Last year, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which gave women a constitutional right to an abortion. Last month, they gutted affirmative action which ended race-conscious admissions at colleges. In addition to the controversial decisions, it seems like key principles like standing and precedent, in some cases are being pushed aside. Is this a fair conclusion? We spoke with Laura Little, th...

Before the pandemic, about 8 million U.S. students were considered chronically absent during the school year. Now, that number has doubled. Students who are chronically absent often have lower test scores, fall behind, or even drop out at higher rates than others. Which students are most affected by chronic absenteeism? What can parents and schools do to help them? And, with other problems like gr...

In June, several Reddit communities went dark in protest of new policy changes . Then, earlier this month, Twitter announced it would cap the number of tweets users can view. Now, Instagram released its new platform, Threads. With all of these changing social media platforms, what does this mean for the future of social media? What do users want from these new platforms? And, with there being so m...

The pandemic changed the way we look at work. The Great Resignation saw 50.5 million people quitting jobs in search of higher wages and remote work. Many people started prioritizing a healthy work-life balance and needed their jobs to reflect that. What does that look like? And, which people and populations are at the forefront of this?  Thane Lawrie is the author of The Buddhist CEO. The fictiona...

A few weeks ago, Yevgeny Prigozhin - chief of the Russian paramilitary group, the Wagner Group - led a rebellion against Russia's military leadership . Things appear to have fizzled out, but there are a lot of questions left unanswered. Did this rebellion weaken President Putin and his allies? Will it have any effects on the war in Ukraine? What do Russian leaders and citizens think of Prigozhin’s...

A recent study by the McKinsey Health Institute found that of the generations surveyed about the four dimensions of health: mental, physical, social and spiritual, Gen Zers were ranked worst across all categories. It also found that on average Gen Zers are more likely than other generations to cite negative feelings about social media, the Guardian reported. But is social media that bad? Can it of...

Industrial hemp can be found everywhere — in clothes, cosmetics and even automotive and construction fiberglass . But in the United States, the stigma surrounding hemp, and marijuana products in general, limit its use. Dr. Carla Garzon is the K.H. Littlefield Endowed professor of plant science at Delaware Valley University. She’s also the leader of their Cannabis Research Program. She explains wha...

After a portion of I-95 collapsed on June 11, many thought it would take months to reopen. Well, months turned into 12 days. Why were crews able to rebuild so quickly? What went into rebuilding? And, why can’t other projects be done as swiftly? Dr. Tripp Shenton is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Delaware. He explains the process of rebuilding I-95 and why i...

Children often come into kindergarten with the basic skills down: from academic skills like counting and simple math to softer skills like taking turns and learning right from wrong. But during the pandemic, many children weren’t going to preschool to learn these soft skills, making it that much harder for kindergarten students and teachers alike. Dr. Aimee E. Ketchum is a pediatric occupational t...

Between 1973 and 1980, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers, both of which enforce the Clean Water Act, defined the water they protected as “all waters that could affect interstate commerce.” Since then, a lot has gone into defining and redefining exactly what these waters are. Enter the Supreme Court. Their recent decision in Sackett v. EPA means that a significant...

The Supreme Court case Allen v. Milligan was a challenge to Alabama’s congressional map which was redrawn in the wake of the 2020 census. Despite more than a quarter of Alabama’s population being Black, only one district had a majority of Black voters. Activists argued that the new map directly violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which SCOTUS agreed with. What influenced the court's decis...

On June 6, the PGA Tour agreed to merge with its rival LIV Golf, which is backed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund. The fund is controlled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, a controversial figure who rules over a kingdom accused by many of human rights abuses. Why did the two organizations merge? What does this mean for golf? And, more importantly, how will this affect profession...

When President Biden lifted the COVID-19 public health emergency in May, he subsequently removed t he Title 42 provision limiting immigration into the United States on the grounds of a public emergency. What was Title 42? What will replace it? And, how does this affect the processing and number of immigrants coming to the U.S.? Fernando Chang-Muy is the Thomas O’Boyle lecturer of law at the Univer...

Days before the beginning of Pride Month, Target made headlines by announcing that, in select stores, it would be removing certain LGBTQ+ merchandise and pivoting its Pride strategy on the heels of backlash from a small but aggressive group of customers expressing anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment. Since then, the reaction from the LGBTQ+ and allied communities has been fierce. Bryan Buttler owns and operates...

When plastic surgery practices reopened after the initial wave of the pandemic, procedures increased by 44 percent, according to a 2021 report by the American Society of Aesthetic Surgery . The top three surgical procedures were liposuction, breast augmentation, and abdominoplasty. While these procedures are common, they overrepresent the types of plastic surgery that exist. Which surgeries are un...