The Week in Philly from KYW Newsradio

A few weeks ago we put out an episode on COVID weight gain and how to lose those unwanted pandemic pounds. And a lot of you had questions after the episode went out -- like what are some tactical tips to help you stay motivated? How does intermittent fasting work? How much of a role does water play in weight loss? And wait until you hear about what sugar does to your weight loss goals. Dr. Winifre...

There's been a lot of stimulus in the last 15 months, most notably the American Rescue Plan. So are we seeing results? Has it worked? Is it too early to tell? Are there downsides we eventually could see? Dr. Steven Balsam, Professor of Accounting at the Temple University Fox School of Business breaks down what the American Rescue Plan did, how the data tells us it worked, and what he would have do...

With intense heat and a crushing atmosphere, Venus is really hard to study. So NASA is getting creative. The space agency announced two missions, DAVINCI and VERITAS, will explore and learn about the planet hopefully by the end of the decade. We wanted to learn all about DAVINCI and VERITAS so we reached out to Dr. Eric Jensen, Professor of Astronomy at Swarthmore College to talk about what the ho...

A new NIH-funded study is being put together focusing on Alzheimer’s Disease, a disease that affects millions of Americans and is projected to affect millions and millions more in the coming decades. We wanted to learn about the AHEAD study, who they are looking for to take part, how to reach out if you are interested, and where we are in the fight against Alzheimer’s Disease, so we caught up with...

Before the NBA G League, there was the Eastern Professional Basketball League. It was a northeast league stocked to the brim with great players like John Chaney, Stan Pawlak, Jim Boeheim, and Hal Lear, with many of the teams calling Eastern Pennsylvania home. The league featured larger than life characters on and off the court, and the stories from the Eastern League are absolutely wild. Syl Sobel...

Over 550-thousand jobs were added last month as the US continues to emerge from the pandemic, and April's numbers were revised up as well. Average hourly earnings are up a couple percent, are we seeing the market compensate for the worker shortage? We're seeing some inflation now, but what's the difference between what's happening in 2021 and what happened in the 1970s? And we're finally seeing th...

A record number of people died of 'deaths of despair' in 2019 -- deaths due to alcohol, suicide, or drugs. And there's a lot of concern that 2020's numbers won't be an improvement. Trust for America’s Health and Well Being Trust released a new report on the numbers, and TFAH's Government Relations Manager Jonah Cunningham breaks down the Pain in the Nation Report, what the trends mean, and what we...

A lot of teens have been vaccinated, including kids in the 12 to 15 year old range, but some parents still have questions about their kids and the COVID-19 vaccines. We asked Dr. Lee Beers, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics to come on the podcast and talk about the most common questions parents are asking, the messaging around kids and the vaccines, booster shots, and the effort to c...

There has been a lot of talk lately about the origin of COVID-19, and more and more attention is being given to the theory that the virus could have emerged from a lab leak from a lab in Wuhan, China. So what's the evidence of the lab leak origination theory, and how does it stack up with the other theory of record, that the virus jumped from animals to humans? Dr. Joseph Amon, Director of the Off...

The travel and tourism industry was hit very hard by travel restrictions and stay at home orders, and airlines were a big part of that. So how have the airlines held up over the pandemic? What should we expect as life continues to return to normal, and how are the airlines positioned if we see a spike in demand in the summer as vaccine numbers continue to rise? Dr. Benjamin Altschuler, Assistant P...

The economy is roaring heading into the summer months and shore towns are trying have a year that makes up for the last one and then some. There are a lot of good signs for the economy including jobs numbers -- but we're also seeing inflation as well. There are a couple of reasons for this, including the stimulus checks, but how do we know how much inflation is too much inflation? David Fiorenza,...

2020 at the Jersey Shore was complicated. Coronavirus and restrictions to hold the virus at bay hung over the summer season, and a lot of businesses weren't sure if they would make it. 2021 is a totally different story, with a different set of challenges. Beach towns are welcoming back visitors without capacity limits and other restrictions. And in Wildwood, there's both surging optimism for a mas...

You wouldn’t think a cheerleader not making varsity squad would end up being the origin of a case being argued before the Supreme Court, but here we are. It’s actually a very fascinating case out of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. It involves big issues like free speech and how much influence and power school districts have on what students can say. Dr. Michael Moreland, Professor of Law at Villa...

From worker shortages at meat packing plants to supply chain failures that left crops to go bad in fields, agriculture has taken a shock to the system over the past year. Farmers needed to learn to adapt very quickly. The good news is that in a lot of cases, they did. And once some local farmers figured out to survive, they also figured out how to thrive. Dr. Jacqueline Ricotta, Professor of Horti...

It's been an incredibly challenging last 15 months or so in higher education. Colleges and universities had to keep their students and employees safe and figure out how to function during a pandemic that caused campus shutdowns and necessitated remote learning on the fly. So how did students, faculty, and administrators make it through? West Chester University President Chris Fiorentino says he an...

Can you imagine pre-pandemic unemployment levels? Don't blink, but we're almost there. And even though the jobless claims are coming down, the help wanted signs are not. Affordable housing feels like a pipe dream as home prices keep going up. And then let's talk about the shore. Rentals are booked through the season, which started early, and all signs are pointing to a record breaking beach season...

President Joe Biden has put forth a couple of pretty bold pieces of legislation over the last several weeks – an infrastructure bill, the American Jobs Act, and then the American Families Act. There's been a lot of talk about what the bills would do, but not as much as how they would be paid for. These bills would change the tax system a lot -- much more than just making rates higher for the wealt...

According to a Gallup poll, 47% of Americans say they don’t belong to a church, synagogue or mosque. That's down from 50% just two years ago. And it's down from 70% in 1999. So what's behind this seemingly dramatic shift in religious affiliation? What does it mean for the next generation of Americans? And did the pandemic play a role? Dr. Melissa Wilde is a professor of sociology at the University...

Virtually all of the conversation with regards to the future of the Republican party centers around former President Donald Trump. But what about his Vice President, Mike Pence? What should we expect out of him going forward? Dr. Courtney Smith, Professor of History and Political Science at Cabrini University joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to talk about Pence's political future in the GOP and what t...

When we talk about college these days, the discussion centers around cost. But you don’t hear a lot about the number of people who start college, but for all kinds of reasons can’t finish and get a degree. What can be done to help them and how much a game changer would it be? Is it time to reimagine our approach to college overall? And how do proposals made by President Biden in his American Famil...

The US Senate recently overwhelming passed a bill designed to help address what has been an alarming spike in violence against members of the Asian American community in the US. Assuming it will become law, it would do many things including creating a new position at the Justice Department focusing on the issue and also provides guidance to help increase the reporting of hate crimes on the state a...

Some people still have questions or hesitancy about getting the COVID-19 vaccine. And since vaccinations are our end game here - the safest way for everyone to move on with life is if everyone gets vaccinated - we wanted to ask some of those questions to someone who could give some good answers. Dr. Ross McKinney, Chief Scientific Officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges joins KYW...

New unemployment claims keep trending down, and low wage employers are trying signing bonuses to get employees in the door. The price of lumber is going bonkers. There was a pretty big increase in the Consumer Price Index, what does that mean for you and me? Retail sales stalled a bit, how much can we read into that? What kind of impact is the pipeline hack having on the economy? And should you be...

The FDA recently proposed a ban on menthol-flavored cigarettes. Advocates for the ban say this is a big and long-needed public health move, especially for African-American communities, because for years they have been targeted by tobacco companies. We wanted to dig into this topic so we spoke Portia Reddick White, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and De...

The hacking of that Colonial Pipeline has caused problems with gasoline supply along the East Coast. How could this happen? What vulnerabilities does this point out in the system? And while we are on the subject of gasoline, how are oil and gas industries positioned as we emerge from the pandemic and head into a summer of what looks to be really high demand? Dr. Scott Jackson, Visiting Assistant P...