The Week in Philly from KYW Newsradio

We're still taking stock of the fallout from the violence at the US Capitol last week. One ripple effect has been that many corporations have announced that they're now suspending financial donations to politicians who objected to the counting of the Electoral College votes that day. That seems like a big deal. Is it? Dr. Robin Kolodny, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at...

After years of political turmoil, the United Kingdom has finally left the European Union. So now that Brexit is official, what exactly has changed? What happens when a country goes through a massive divorce like this? And what does it mean for the UK, for the EU, and the rest of the world? Dr. R. Daniel Kelemen, Professor of Political Science and Law and Chair in European Union Politics at Rutgers...

2020 is done, over with, kaput, and good riddance to bad rubbish. Time to tackle 2021's unique challenges, which unfortunately look no less dystopian than last year's. The coronavirus pandemic, American political unrest, inequality and the K-shaped recovery, cyber warfare behind the scenes, and the ever present risks associated with climate change. So, are we equipped to meet the challenges we're...

The coronavirus pandemic upended our lives in just about every way -- including socially. A lot of people have been basically stuck in their homes for the better part of a year, and it's going to be a bit of a culture shock when this is over and people are vaccinated and it's time to get back to life as we knew it. So how do you prepare yourself to do that? Extroverts might be raring to go, but wh...

2020 was horrible for a lot of people in a lot of ways, and one of the main themes in the economy was the massive chasm between the haves and have nots that got wider and wider during the coronavirus pandemic "recovery." Call it a K-shape, or maybe it's more of a straight line -- the wealthy did very well in 2020 and everyone else did not. So what's in store for 2021? Now that Democrats have been...

Wednesday, January 6, 2021 was a day we will truly never forget, when the US Capitol was overrun by a violent mob that had just left a rally where President Trump spoke. We’re still learning about the extent of what happened, and how it was able to happen, but we wanted to talk about putting this moment in context and where we go from here. Dr. John Kennedy, Professor in the Department of Politica...

President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for Attorney General is Judge Merrick Garland. He's widely known as the Supreme Court pick of President Obama who never got a vote before Congress. But what else should you know about Merrick Garland? What does his nomination mean for the Department of Justice's priorities during the Biden Administration? And is it strange to nominate a judge for the job? Dr. Mi...

There are a lot of reasons to be positive about the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic as vaccines start to be rolled out around the world. In the meantime though, the virus is still spreading and there's news about a few notable mutations in different countries. One mutation was found in South Africa, while another highly contagious strain of the virus emerged in the UK and now is being found...

On January 6, as Congress met on Capitol Hill to formalize President-elect Joe Biden's election win, a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol, overwhelming police and pushing past barriers to breach the building itself. As the mob made its way through the Capitol building, members of Congress were told to hide in the building with gas masks at the ready or whisked away to safe...

For a long time in the United States it seemed like the one issue that could reliably get bipartisan support was infrastructure. Republicans and Democrats alike agreed that bridges should get fixed, potholes should get filled, water should flow through pipes with above average structural integrity. Unfortunately, a whole lot of talk turned into virtually no action, and right now America's roads an...

Congress finally passed another COVID-19 relief bill. We wanted to find out what's inside the bill, who it's going to help, and if it's going to be enough to get the country through this crisis -- or if the bill contains just a portion of the help America needs. Scott Deacle, Associate Professor and Chair of the Business and Economics Department at Ursinus College joins KYW Newsradio in Depth to b...

What can COVID-19 mean for you if you smoke or vape? And if you're looking to quit, what steps should you take? Dr. Susan Bailey, President of the American Medical Association and Matthew Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids join KYW Newsradio In Depth to talk about the connection between smoking and bad outcomes from COVID-19 and what to do if you decide it's time to quit. 

KYW Newsradio Crime and Justice Reporter Kristen Johanson sits down with Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw to recap her first tumultuous year on the job - from a soaring murder rate, to the civil unrest that gripped the city, to grappling with the pandemic.

Marijuana is legal in more places than ever, business is booming, and there's a huge market demand for bright young minds to advance the industry. We wanted to find out how colleges and trade schools are responding to that demand, so we reached out to a university right here in Philadelphia. Saint Joseph's University is rolling out four different certificate programs focusing on the cannabis indus...

KYW Newsradio City Hall Bureau Chief Pat Loeb sits down with Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney for a wide-ranging, honest take on an unimaginable year. Kenney reflects on the response to the pandemic and the criticism of his decisions, what he learned about leadership from civil unrest, and whether he felt equipped for the chaos that marked 2020.

A new report developed by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the non-profit Trust for America’s Health looks at the health impacts of climate change, including which states are at the highest risk and which states are the most prepared. Dr. Megan Latshaw from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health joins KYW Newsradio in Depth to talk about what they found overall and what t...

Toilet paper near me. Election results. Why were chainsaws invented? It's the end of the year and time for that age old tradition of revealing all of our browser histories to the world. Google Search Trends Expert Marley McAliley joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to talk about what you Googled this year. You're all weird. Check out the breakdown online at: google.com/2020

Our phone is our constant companion. It's a lifeline, a communication device, an internet machine, a workplace and an entertainment box. But, is it possible that phones and all the other technology we've invited into our lives are becoming too big a part of our existence? What happens when instead of aiding day to day life, they start to interfere with it? Dr. Jaime Zuckerman, a clinical psycholog...

President elect Joe Biden's cabinet is coming together, and one of the higher profile names is former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen, who's been asked to head up the Treasury Department. If confirmed, she would be the first woman to ever serve in that role. So what does it look like to take over the United States Department of the Treasury in the middle of an economic crisis? What kind of leve...

Election 2020 is finally, mercifully, over. But on social media, on the news, in conversations with loved ones -- it doesn't really feel like we've reached the understanding and reconciliation phase after the ugly and bitter political battles of the summer. And with the holidays coming up and families getting together, there are going to be conversations around the dinner table or through the Zoom...

The Lazaretto is a beautiful, stately building in Tinicum Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It's also the last surviving quarantine hospital in the United States. It has an incredible history, and it's been hiding in plain sight for decades. David Barnes, Associate Professor of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania joins KYW Newsradio in Depth to talk about the...

All through the pandemic, parents have been worried about their children. Months of uncertainty and instability are weighing on families, and now they're forced to alter holiday plans and traditions this year. Nationwide Children's Hospital recently conducted a survey that found two thirds of parents are concerned about their children's mental health and their ability to recover the longer this co...

Election day in America turned into election month, and obviously everyone was focused on the presidential race, the senate… but there was something else on the ballot in a number of states that turned out to be really significant. From New Jersey to Arizona to Oregon, voters pretty uniformly voted to loosen drug laws. So what happened, what does that mean for the country, and what does it mean fo...

2020 is drawing to a close. Just about every aspect of life changed quickly and dramatically this year, but for this episode we're zeroing in on the economy with the guy who's been with us every week all year, helping make sense of what's happening all around us -- David Fiorenza, Associate Professor of Practice at the Villanova School of Business​. Today on the podcast: what are the biggest lesso...

We still don't know the full scale of the damage of that massive SolarWinds hack that breached thousands of systems, including U.S. government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. So what do we know? Dr. Jason Thatcher, Milton F. Stauffer Professor of Management Information Systems at Temple University's Fox School of Business joins KYW Newsradio in Depth to break down what we know right now, how s...