The Week in Philly from KYW Newsradio

During the Trump Administration, there was a lot of attention and talk about the rapid rate at which President Trump was filling federal judicial vacancies. Obviously the main focus was the three Supreme Court seats filled, but he also filled many lower federal judicial openings as well. You haven’t seen nearly as much attention on President Biden’s work filling federal court vacancies, but he has...

You’ve surely by now heard about the omicron variant of the coronavirus. There's a lot of concern about what this variant could mean with regards to vaccines, and not a lot of answers so far. Can it make you sicker? Is it more transmissible? We wanted to talk about what we know and what we don’t know, so we called Dr. Michael Levasseur, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Drex...

Are you seeing long lines at your pharmacy? Reduced hours, or even closed altogether? Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are strained across the country. Dr. Edward Foote, Professor and Dean of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy at University of the Sciences is on the podcast to talk about what your pharmacist is going through right now and why you might have to wait longer to get a prescripti...

The pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of kids and teenagers. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the number of kids who have contemplated or attempted self harm or suicide has gone up significantly. When the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia looked at data from its patients, it found depression and suicide risk increased as well. So are we doing enough for kids who...

For all the areas of our lives affected by the pandemic, schools still remain at the forefront. While the debates surrounding masks and online vs. in-person learning has been fierce and polarizing, much of the nastiness has been left to some of the more vocal defenders: parents and politicians. Meanwhile, the people who matter most in the equation — students and staff — don’t have much of a say in...

The Beatles were a band that truly changed everything when they came on the scene, and they're a band that still inspires awe even today. They left a mark on society musically, socially, and emotionally. The Beatles: Get Back is a new documentary series by Peter Jackson that takes a look at the Fab Four and the story behind one of their most iconic albums. KYW Newsradio's Larry Kane has his own hi...

Jim Pasquarette retired earlier this year as a three-star general officer after a 38-year career in the Army. He served in the Pentagon as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army G-8 and as Commander of the United States Army Japan before that -- the last part of a career that has taken him all over the world, from West Germany during the Cold War, to Washington DC amid a global pandemic. He sat down wi...

The COVID-19 vaccines have been a big focus of our society for months now. So much work went into developing them, and the work to get them out to people is still ongoing. So is that data being used to help Americans? Is it even being tracked? Are we doing ourselves a disservice by not have a centralized vaccine database to keep all the info of who got vaccinated, and where, and when, all in one p...

Ta'Rea Campbell has gone from the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts to the Broadway stage, and now she's back in town playing Angelica Schuyler in the touring cast of Hamilton. She says playing this iconic role in her hometown has been amazing, but the touring life isn't for everyone. Ta'Rea told us about the challenges the road brings - especially when a pandemic stall...

The jobs numbers revised up quite a bit, and retail sales looked good too. People are spending money, inflation and supply chain problems or not. What should we expect for the holiday season and black Friday? Philadelphia economist David Fiorenza helps us break down the all the economic news of the week that matters to you in your daily life.

That NFL Concussion settlement has been in the news for years since it was agreed upon, but recently there was a new chapter where we learned about an alarming concept that was being used in deciding who got paid and who didn’t or how much. It’s called race-norming. We wanted to talk about what it is and how it works and how something like it could still be around so we asked Ken Jacobsen, Practic...

Mark Segal may be known today as the founder of the Philadelphia Gay News, but some of his best stories happened earlier. He broke barriers for the LGBTQ community at Stonewall, was a marshal at the first Pride parade, and drew national eyes to the movement by disrupting major news broadcasts. We talked with him about the many bold actions he took to make himself and his community visible, the rem...

There has been a lot of focus on trying to reduce the number of incarcerated people in the US. There's been progress on that front, but that progress is not equal. In Pennsylvania, the numbers for men have gone down, but the number of incarcerated women continues to increase. We wanted to talk about this, find out why and what can be done to address it, so we called Dr. Jill McCorkel, Professor of...

It's finally infrastructure week. So what's in the bipartisan infrastructure bill just passed into law? Highways and bridges, high speed internet, electric vehicle charging networks, and safe drinking water, among a lot of other things. There’s been a lot of talk about the price tag of the bill, but not nearly as much about what is in it so we asked Scott Deacle, Associate Professor and Department...

The worker shortage is still here, a ton of businesses have help wanted signs in the windows. Most of the discussion and the hot takes about the worker shortage have focused on the workforce, what individual workers or job seekers want or aren't able to accept anymore. We wanted to take some time to focus on employers. What are bosses doing to adjust to this new normal? Do they appreciate that for...

You can visit the USS Olympia in her forever home at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. But before being decommissioned, the ship had one final and sacred task, to carry the Unknown Soldier home to America from France. The details of that journey were pieced together from scraps of history. Craig Bruns, chief curator at the Independence Seaport Museum tells KYW Newsradio In Depth how...

The immigration system in the United States has a lot of serious problems. While immigration was a constant focus during the Trump administration, the problems in the system predate that administration, and for the most part they still exist today. Why is immigration reform so hard to accomplish in America? What are the key issues everyone agrees on, and why don't they get fixed? And what can the...

One in four American Jews was targeted by antisemitism in the last 12 months. 39% have changed their behavior as a result of antisemitism. Those are just two of the alarming statistics in the 'State of Antisemitism in America' report from the American Jewish Committee, which released parallel surveys of American Jews and the general public to get a bigger picture view of both the experiences of in...

For leaf peepers, fall is a precious time of year. Green trees explode into vibrant colors, and many people even take road trips to watch it happen in places like the Poconos or upstate New York. So what makes the leaves change colors? And how does inclement or unseasonal weather, or even bigger and broader catalysts like climate change show themselves in the colors of the fall leaves? We asked Dr...

There is a $500+ billion problem in America called non-optimized medication use. It's when medications that should be used to help people get better are not used properly, not adhered to, or result in side effects that lead to an ER visit or hospitalization. The Temple University School of Pharmacy is joining several other institutions in working on developing frameworks and plans for optimizing m...

We saw a significant increase in jobs over the past month, and an increase in wages alongside it. On the other hand, the housing market is cooling and could be less friendly to first-time homebuyers. Philadelphia economist David Fiorenza digs into the numbers, plus what the Federal Reserve tapering means and how it's tied to inflation and interest rates. He also predicts what President Biden might...

With the battle over abortion rights in the spotlight, another Supreme Court case is flying under the radar, and it could impact the interpretation of the Second Amendment for about 80 million Americans. Oral arguments in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen got underway Thursday. Saint Joseph's University political science professor Dr. Susan Liebell explains the factors at...

The United States Constitution is the cornerstone of American government and society. It was also written a long time ago, and society has changed greatly since then. How does the document hold up? Why do conservatives and progressives read the same words and interpret them very differently at times? Why is it so hard to amend the Constitution, and why are both sides unlikely to change it with a c...

The Philadelphia Flyers Warriors hockey team is a group of disabled veterans who come together for companionship, brotherhood, and to play some ice hockey. This weekend the Flyers Warriors are playing in the Warrior Classic right over the bridge in New Jersey, taking on other Warriors teams from across the country. Tim Wynn is a Marine Corps veteran and a member of the team who talked with KYW's D...

So much of the national discussion these days is rooted in what is happening in Washington DC. The coverage of what is happening with the White House and Congress is really important. So, are the media organizations that focus on the Beltway doing a good job in giving the American people the proper reporting and context of what is going on? We wanted to dig into this so we asked David Mindich, Cha...