Pennsylvania in Focus

(The Center Square) - The facts and figures around rural healthcare in Pennsylvania are grave. That’s why it was unsurprising to hear Gov. Josh Shapiro say in a press conference on rural healthcare that Sullivan County, home to just under 6,000 people and falling, did not have a single physician. Dr. Sam Schrack operates the Laporte Health Center where he’s been for three years. “I’ll be in office tomorrow as usual,” he wrote in an email to The Center Square. “If you really want to find out what the issues are with rural health, come up sometime and visit.” So, this reporter did just that.

Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx

 Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/article_1f8958aa-7ead-4cd7-b906-0fcbf4ac5561.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

(The Center Square) - House Democrats are once again making the attempt to turn 2021 recommendations from the bipartisan, bicameral Juvenile Justice Task Force into legislative action. Last year, they were successful in passing laws derived from just two of the task force’s 35 recommendations. According to Rep. Dan Miller, D-Mt. Lebanon, when broken down into action items the recommendations are more than double that. This year, they’re proposing 10 bills to begin to close the gap in what has been dubbed the CARE package. 

Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx

 Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/article_de0ba517-8681-48da-855a-f3321fd8a6fc.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

(The Center Square) - As Pennsylvania grapples with ways to better care for and rehabilitate the tens of thousands of people held in its prison system, a sweeping report shows the nation at a crossroads and taxpayers holding a $182 billion price tag for incarceration. The Prison Policy Initiative, or PPI, is a nonpartisan organization that advocates for criminal justice reform. In its recent view of the ‘Whole Pie’ of mass incarceration, the PPI pulled together data from the thousands of disparate local, state, and federal agencies responsible for the incarcerated in America. 

Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx

 Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/article_4d08b826-0426-11f0-ada0-ab67aa1af2e4.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

(The Center Square) – The Trump administration froze $175 million in federal funds to the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday, citing its promised crackdown on institutions that support athlete policies permitting men in women's sports. The president’s rapid response team confirmed the move on X, saying “promises made, promises kept” – an oft-repeated refrain meant to connect the administration’s latest policy moves with campaign-era rhetoric. The Ivy League college was thrust into the forefront of the debate in 2022 after it allowed Lia Thomas, competitor on the men's team for three years before switching to the women's team, to compete in the women’s NCAA swimming championships. 

Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx

 Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/article_5497c93c-5e18-4690-8700-331e7fae5625.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

(The Center Square) - Chester-Crozer Hospital is the nearest emergency department for thousands of residents, many of whom do not have private transportation. When news broke that it may soon be closing, it shed light on the role of private equity in Pennsylvania’s health care system. For now, doors are staying open thanks to funding from the Foundation for Delaware County, but a new buyer must be found soon. The Senate Democratic Policy Committee met this week to talk about the impact of hospital closures like this and what can be done to prevent them. Medical professionals and policy experts testified about the damage done to hospitals run with the goal of maximizing profit for equity firms like the now bankrupt Prospect Medical Holdings.

Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx

Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/article_c021c110-fe9d-11ef-9109-17a78014ee44.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

(The Center Square) - Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, signaled an appetite for additional cyber charter reforms this week. At least so it appears, according to an op-ed the No. 2-ranking Republican wrote detailing progress that’s been made and work still to be done. It's also significant given long-standing disagreements on how tuition for cyber charter schools should be calculated. 

Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx

Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/article_ac9e2c9a-fead-11ef-95d0-370fcaadff0e.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

(The Center Square) – The Shapiro administration’s handling of a sexual misconduct complaint against a cabinet member, and one reporter’s request to know more about the investigation behind it, may cost taxpayers a lot of money. In a court transcript obtained by The Center Square, an attorney representing the Office of the Governor says the state deleted internal emails sent and received over an eight-day period by a deputy aide in its Legislative Affairs Office who reported the inappropriate behavior. 

Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx

 Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/article_0b0f2a6c-fec3-11ef-9225-dff9a7e63065.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

(The Center Square) - Over 2 million Pennsylvanians receive funds from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Monthly, this brings about 367 million in federal dollars to the state. In budget hearings before the House Appropriations Committee, legislators sought to better understand who that money benefits, how it’s being used, and how it can be abused. According to Department of Human Services Secretary Dr. Val Arkoosh, the program largely benefits children in low-income families and the elderly, while creating downstream impacts on the local economy, including the state’s farmers. The state has about 10,000 grocers who participate in the SNAP program.

Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx

Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/article_baa575fa-f9f3-11ef-bf2a-17d63d9b84e9.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

(The Center Square) - The quality of life afforded the state’s prisoners is a perennial concern for families, human rights advocates and workers within the judicial system, including the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections itself. For the nearly 40,000 incarcerated Pennsylvanians, new approaches to corrections could make a big difference in their experience. For some, they already are. A program at SCI Chester called Little Scandinavia adopts principles from the prison model used in Sweden and Norway to lessen the disparity between life in prison and life in the real world. Residents of this unit, which can house up to 64 men, live in single cells where they have desks and even refrigerators.

Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx

Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/article_48b65a96-f86c-11ef-8a76-eb9894560de4.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

(The Center Square) — Pennsylvania will need to spend $2 billion over the next five years to cover its expanded Medicaid program. And while lawmakers are worried about finding the money to foot the bill, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services insists that doing so will lower costs in the long run. Senate Republicans are not yet convinced and hope the new Trump administration will agree to reevaluate the state’s waiver, approved just weeks before President Joe Biden stepped aside, amid the governor’s request for a $1.9 billion single-year increase in the Department of Human Services budget.

Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx

Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/article_c8d6711e-fa17-11ef-be59-fba6ad04a3cb.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.