The Week in Philly from KYW Newsradio

Every morning we have a reporter's meeting at the station. We're all working from different places because of social distancing, so we do a video chat. And pretty much every time KYW Newsradio Suburban Bureau Chief Jim Melwert gets on the call from his office at home, his six year old daughter Lizzie is right next to him helping him work. We've really enjoyed having Lizzie with us in the meetings....

This is the last episode of our series checking in with people from different parts of the world to see the ways their day to day life is similar or different to life here in the Philly area and the United States. The coronavirus pandemic started in China, and early this month, lockdowns were lifted in Wuhan. For episode number four, we're checking in with Darius Pleasant, in Beijing. Darius went...

This is the third episode of a series we're doing on KYW In Depth trying to put this pandemic in perspective -- checking in with people from different parts of the globe and seeing how their lives right now are similar or different to what day to day life looks like here. In Germany, officials started warning people about the coronavirus back in the beginning of the year. And it's kind of an anoma...

This is part two of our series looking at life in other parts of the world during the coronavirus pandemic. Today, we're checking in on Jeff Rey and his daughter Juliette in France. Jeff lives in Lille, France with his wife. It's about two hours north of Paris. Juliette is a student who was interning in Kenya before she decided to come home. Jeff and Juliette join KYW In Depth to talk about living...

In the midst of social distancing and way more isolation than we're using to living with, it's easy to forget that you're not the only person going through this incredible, intense disruption of lifestyles and routine. This is happening everywhere. We wanted to check in on some people from different places around the world who are all doing the same thing we're doing, to see how things might be di...

More than 22 million people became newly unemployed in the last month, after another 5.2 million filed claims last week. One of the more interesting proposals that been talked about a lot recently has been giving unemployed Americans $2,000 a month to help alieve the pain until unemployment returns to pre-coronavirus levels. David Fiorenza, Assistant Professor of the Practice in Economics at the V...

Can you contract COVID-19 multiple times? What is herd immunity, and will we get to the point where we have it before a vaccine is released? What happens if we open everything up too quickly?  How long will we have to practice social distancing? A month? A year? Longer than that? Dr. Helen Koenig, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine and an infectious disease expert at Penn Medicine joins KYW...

As all the parents who have had to become homeschoolers suddenly during the coronavirus pandemic can attest to -- teachers are among the closest professions we have in the real world to superheroes. But a newfound appreciation for the people who educate our kids is far from the only way the coronavirus pandemic has made its mark on education in America. Dr. Cori Brown, associate dean in Rowan Univ...

Retail sales were hammered by the coronavirus pandemic in March, dropping 8.7%. Most stores will reopen after social distancing guidelines are relaxed, but how many will find themselves doing business as normal? And in the case of malls and department stores, will Americans even want to shop in places designed to attract crowds? Dr. Michael Solomon, Professor of Marketing at St. Joseph's Universit...

It seems like every part of society has been changed in some way by the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing and in Philadelphia that includes the court system. KYW's crime and justice reporter Kristen Johanson talked with three judicial leaders in Philadelphia, Judge Idee Fox, President Judge for the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia and Chair of the Administrative Governing Board, Judg...

With the closure of restaurants and food service facilities, the coronavirus pandemic has thrown a major wrench into the agricultural supply chain. John Urbanchuk, Assistant Professor and Chair of Agribusiness at Delaware Valley University joins KYW In Depth to break down how the markets farmers rely on have been shut down, which farmers are being hit the hardest, and how long it will take for thi...

What if you could fight the spread of COVID-19 with your smartphone? Apple and Google are working on tracing software designed to tell people when they've come in contact with someone who has the virus. A team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced last week that it's developing a system based on Bluetooth. So what would a system like this look like, and how it would work? Dr. Karl M...

Not all pandemics are created equally. The global response to COVID-19 is unlike anything in memory, especially compared with the response to past outbreaks, like H1N1 in 2009. Dr. Ebbing Lautenbach, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Pennsylvania joins KYW In Depth to talk about how this coronavirus compares to outbreaks like SARS and Swine Flu, what is it about the...

Credit card debt is growing, more people are having trouble paying bills, and it's up in the air which businesses will still be here when social distancing guidelines are eased. This is part two of our conversation with Beverly Harzog, credit card expert and consumer finance analyst for US News and World Report. Harzog is back on KYW In Depth to talk about what the recovery from the coronavirus pa...

Are you turning to credit cards to pay for the basics during the coronavirus shutdown? Many Americans are, and because this is such an extraordinary situation, the best practices and advice for managing money are changing. Beverly Harzog, credit card expert and consumer advocate and a consumer finance analyst for US News and World Report joins KYW In Depth to talk about using credit cards, how to...

If you're anything like us, there's a good chance you've consumed more information about pandemics, diseases, and health emergencies in the past month than in your entire life before that. One thing that keeps coming up -- Philadelphia has played a central role in some pretty extraordinary situations.  In this episode Curator of the Mütter Museum Anna Dhody, President and Chief Executive Officer o...

You think back to the best times of high school and you might think of graduation, or prom, or senior week. Maybe the last school play or dance recital, the last year on the soccer or field hockey team. For seniors right now, there's a very real possibility that none of these things will happen. KYW's Suzanne Monaghan talked with five students, four high school seniors and one college senior, abou...

Right now, we're living in a world with no sports. They'll be back and chances are, pro sports will eventually look the same. But what about college sports? Losing the NCAA Tournament in March was a huge financial blow. Could that landscape shift? Could some schools cut back on programs or maybe decide to eliminate sports altogether? Dr. Karen Weaver, Associate Clinical Professor at Drexel Univers...

80% of Americans say flattening the curve during this pandemic is more important than their personal freedom. 4% percent of us think the bars should be open. 21% of us think golf courses and gun stores should be open. These are just a few of the findings SurveyUSA has been getting from polling during the coronavirus pandemic. SurveyUSA founder and CEO Jay Leve joins KYW In Depth to break down some...

Loss and grief are difficult to face during the best of times. But right now, those feelings can be even more acute because of the isolation that comes with social distancing. Director of the Counseling Center at West Chester University Dr. Rachel Daltry joins KYW In Depth to talk about the ways social distancing has changed how we grieve and memorialize the loss of a loved one, and what kind of e...

America is facing record unemployment and with so many people suffering economic hardships, some bills aren't being paid. So what happens if a lot of people can't pay their water bill? President of Aqua New Jersey Larry Carson and President of Aqua Pennsylvania Marc Lucca join KYW In Depth to talk about how the water companies coping with the crisis and what options people have if their water has...

New Jersey Congressman Andy Kim is trying to get a federally funded COVID-19 testing site in South Jersey. He called in to KYW Newsradio on Friday morning, April 10th to talk to KYW's Brandon Brooks about his efforts to get FEMA to open another site. Congressman Kim is also the only member of Congress from New Jersey on the small business committee in the house, and Brandon Brooks asked him what's...

A lot has happened and quickly in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania since a few weeks ago, when it looked like the county was primed to be a focal point for COVID-19 cases in the Philadelphia area. Today, Friday April 10th, Montgomery County Commissioner Dr. Val Arkoosh called in to KYW Newsradio to talk about the new testing site at Montgomery County Community College, the status of equipment in th...

Every week, KYW Newsradio's Matt Leon checks in with Villanova Economics Professor David Fiorenza on KYW In Depth to go over the unemployment numbers and take a look at where the economy is at during this unprecedented time. Today Fiorenza talks about whether we could see another week like this in terms of unemployment numbers, the actions taken by the federal reserve this week, if he thinks we'll...

The White House’s coronavirus task force says Philadelphia could be on the verge of becoming a hot spot where there could be a surge in new cases. Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Tom Farley came on KYW Newsradio on Thursday morning, April 9th to talk with KYW Newsradio's Brandon Brooks about the attention from the White House, how we would know if the city is becoming a hot spot, if there are...