The Week in Philly from KYW Newsradio

Rage, confusion, grief - saddled with heavy emotions, where do University of the Arts students and staff go now? What steps are being taken to ensure the stories of local Holocaust survivors get passed down to future generations? Why did the Free Library of Philadelphia send out an email saying their beloved Author Events series was cancelled...and then another saying it's still on? Why did North...

We live in an age where polarization and extremism are two significant qualities of our politics. It isn’t healthy, so how can it be addressed? Ranked choice voting is one potential tool that's already being used in some places. We caught up with Dr. Ben Berger, associate professor of political science at Swarthmore College and Executive Director of the college's Lang Center for Civic and Social R...

Standardized tests have played a key role in our educational system for a long time. But over the years, it seems that role has only grown, and now they are used to judge a lot about how a school and its students are performing. Is this a good thing? We spoke with Dr. Mary Williams, Professor of Education at La Salle University, to find out.

In a perfect world, every school would have all the money it needs, but that is clearly not the case now. In her new book, "Designed to Fail: Why Racial Equity in School Funding Is So Hard to Achieve" , Dr. Roseann Liu, visiting assistant professor at Swarthmore College, digs into school funding and why it is almost always children of color that get shortchanged. We talked with Dr. Liu about the b...

You may have heard that the bee population is under threat in recent years. Bees are critical for our environment and food production - a dwindling population could affect our ability to grow fruits and vegetables. But The Washington Post recently reported that America’s honeybee population is at an all-time high. So, what’s going on with the bees? Should we be worried? Vincent Aloyo is the master...

Millions of women are the victims of violence every year. This includes random attacks out in public, but also violence instigated by someone a woman knows or even an intimate partner. Barbara Jordan is a personal safety expert and the founder of the organization Always BEV . We spoke with Jordan about her organization and the tragedy that led to its founding. We also discuss how women can stay vi...

Talking about one’s mental health has become much more common, as has seeking treatment for mental health issues. A lot of progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go, and allowing mental health issues to go untreated can lead to a lot of problems. We caught up with Dr. Christopher Pagnani, the founder and medical director of Rittenhouse Psychiatric Associates in Philadelphia, to t...

In certain situations, plaintiffs in federal court are able to basically pick which judge hears their case by choosing which district and division they file in. Critics of this “judge shopping” say it has led to cases that overturned government policies, like the Texas case that suspended FDA approval of the abortion drug mifepristone before it was advanced to the Supreme Court. In March, a federa...

There has been a lot of attention on the 2024 New Jersey Senate race. But past the candidates, an important aspect of this race was a lawsuit that was filed by Democratic Congressman and Senate candidate Andy Kim, along with two other candidates. It could end up having a lasting impact on New Jersey politics, as it could change the way primary ballots are designed in the state forever - it already...

A lawsuit filed in March is trying to change the way Pennsylvania handles solitary confinement. There’s a lot of evidence showing the negative mental health effects of isolation, especially on people who already had mental health diagnoses - so why are people put into solitary confinement? Are there limits, and what would this lawsuit change? Dr. Jill McCorkel is a professor of sociology and crimi...

The National Association of Realtors settled a class-action lawsuit in an agreement that will change how realtors’ fees work. Where home sellers typically used to cover a standard fee for the buyer’s agent, now many buyers will likely have to cover that fee, but they’ll be able to negotiate the percentage. Dr. Carter W. Murdoch, Executive Director of the Henderson Real Estate Institute at Drexel U...

For stargazers, April 8th is going to be about as big as it gets. No matter where you are in North America, everyone will experience an eclipse of the sun in some kind of way. How does this eclipse differ from others? Deborah Skapik, an adjunct professor of astronomy at Saint Joseph’s University, is fascinated by all facets of the April 8th eclipse. She shares information about the once-in-a-gener...

The federal government doled out a lot of money during the COVID-19 pandemic. A significant amount of that money went to schools across the country in the form of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. Tens of billions of dollars from these funds have been spent, but there are still billions unspent with a deadline approaching by which to utilize the funds. Lindsay Dworkin...

We survived a global pandemic, but did we take away the lessons we needed about emergency preparedness? Trust for America’s Health recently released their annual report called “Ready or Not: Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism” , which measures emergency preparedness by state. Pennsylvania and New Jersey are categorized as high performing, but the report says...

We’ve seen a huge drop in people pursuing teaching careers in the last decade or so. It seems even more exacerbated in the past few years, with the pandemic and political debates making the role of a teacher even harder. That has led to some teachers being hired with lower levels of training. How can we address this shortage and get people who are passionate about education properly trained? Dr. G...

In a presidential election year, the political news coverage can be overwhelming. It seems like there’s a new poll every week, watching the stats like the score of a football game. But is the media actually getting the most important information out to voters? We're looking at a Biden vs. Trump rematch - what should we expect of the press in such a contentious and high stakes election? Dr. Geoffre...

The Supreme Court recently heard arguments in a pair of cases about state laws that regulate how social media companies control content on their platforms. The laws were enacted by Republican state governments to prevent conservative voices from being silenced on social media - but do the laws violate the First Amendment by saying private companies can’t choose how to moderate their content? Dr. M...

Sweden has been a historically neutral country, but when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Sweden and their neighbor, Finland, began the process of joining NATO. Finland became part of the alliance in April 2023, but Sweden just officially joined this month. What was the delay? And how could this change global politics going forward? Dr. Johannes Karreth, associate professor of politics and internat...

Recent medical discoveries have made Alzheimer’s disease and dementia easier to identify and manage, but these conditions still have a disproportionate impact on Black communities. Research shows that African Americans are more at risk for developing Alzheimer’s and are less likely to be screened for it. Dr. Doris Molina-Henry works with the Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute at the Univer...

In the face of trauma, just how resilient are kids? Conventional wisdom says they bounce back quickly, but that's not always the case. Dr. Marc Hauser is a evolutionary biologist and researcher. He wrote a book called Vulnerable Minds: The Harm of Childhood Trauma and the Hope of Resilience. He explains how trauma can affect early childhood development, and what's at stake if the ripple effects go...

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos being held for IVF are children according to the state’s laws. While the state government has now introduced bills to protect IVF, the decision has opened a can of worms - what would it mean for an embryo to have the same rights as a child? Can you claim a frozen embryo on your taxes? How would that conflict with the rights of a person carrying a...

Legendary music artists The Supremes and Harry Belafonte passed through there. It was a place of prestige and pride for Philadelphia's Black population. Such was the early legacy of the Nile Swim Club, which, in the late 1950s, opened in response to racial segregation in the borough of Yeadon. But with the passing of time, the club’s allure began to change. Declines in enrollment became so sharp t...

Heart disease was thought to be a men’s health problem for decades, but now we’ve learned that women die of heart attacks at twice the rate of men and women of color are nearly 50% more likely to die from heart disease. Part of the problem is that women and their doctors often don’t consider heart disease as a factor in their medical care. Dr. Stacey Rosen is on the Scientific Advisory Board of th...

This week marks two years since Russia first invaded Ukraine. As the war continues, there is concern about what the stalling of the latest U.S. financial aid package in a GOP-led House of Representatives could mean for Ukraine’s cause. This week, the conflict was pushed back into the headlines after the death of Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin's opposition leader, in a harsh Russian penal colony. T...

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel was sworn into duty in January 2024, and has been tasked by new mayor Cherelle Parker with dramatically reducing crime in the city. Gun violence, retail theft, ATV riding, and strengthening community relations are all on Bethel's mind, as is growing his own department. In an exclusive interview with KYW Newsradio Crime and Justice reporter Kristen Joha...