Barbara Simmons serves as executive director of The Peace Center, an educational peace and justice non-profit organization in Bucks County. After retiring from the role in 2019 (after 30 years in the position), she came out of retirement in October 2025 to once again lead the organization after it was announced it was planning on closing—something she couldn’t let happen. Barbara spoke with me today to talk about International Women’s Day, what’s new at The Peace Center, and the organizing work around making Bucks County a more just, inclusive, and compassionate community.

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An anti-fascist, dystopian YA novel published last week, We Were the Cuckoos Bees, was inspired in large part by Central Bucks School District during a time when Moms for Liberty and right-wing Christian extremists captured the school board in the early part of this decade. This is a story the Bucks County Beacon has reported on in great detail. Today I speak with local author Rich Shifman, who writes YA stories under the pen name, R.B. Shifman, about his new book which he dedicated to local Bucks County residents who helped flip the school board in late 2023 to bring sanity, common sense and compassion back to the school district. 

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Arts and Culture journalism and criticism is thriving in Philly thanks in part to the Broad Street Review - which just received a citation from the Philadelphia City Council in honor of its 20 year anniversary. Two of the people responsible for this publication’s success  join me today. Alaina Johns has been editor-in-chief of Broad Street Review since 2018. She is a Philadelphia-based journalist and cultural critic covering our region since 2007. Associate Editor Kyle Hiller is born and raised in West Philadelphia. He practices Restorative Yoga, is a hobbyist DJ, and is the author of the 2016 novel The Recital. They talk about their work and the critical role of arts journalism in today's society.

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Tracy Hunt is a husband, father, hardworking attorney,  a Business Law Professor at DelVal University, and a Democratic candidate for Congress in PA-01. He joins The Signal to talk about why he recently left the Republican Party, his views on a wide range of policies, and why he believes he can bring pragmatic and effective representation to Washington at a time when it is sorely lacking.

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Lucia Simonelli is an Italian-American whose upbringing instilled a great appreciation for public services such as public education, public transportation, public parks, and more. Born in Landsdale, she has lived, travelled and worked around the globe, before settling down in Quakertown. Politically, she has worked to make change both inside and outside of government, from serving as a scientific advisor in the United States Senate, working on energy and climate policy, to organizing with the Upper Bucks United Indivisible Chapter. Now, she is running in the Democratic congressional primary in May for a chance to unseat incumbent Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick. Could Lucia be PA-01’s AOC?

I’ll be speaking to each of the candidates on this podcast to give listeners a chance to get to know them better. 

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On this episode of the signal I welcome Rob Strickler. Rob is a political outsider who is running in the Democratic Party congressional primary in May for a chance to unseat incumbent Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick. We discuss his blue-collar upbringing in Levittown, his political awakening, and why he thinks he is the best person to represent Pennsylvania’s first congressional district.

I’ll be speaking to each of the candidates on this podcast to give listeners a chance to get to know them better. 

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Back in December I read an article Laura Beers published in The Conversation where she compared White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s press conference on the so-called truth about the good news of the state of the economy under President Trump’s stewardship to the repeated pronouncements of the Ministry of Plenty in George Orwell’s ‘1984.’ This led me to pick up and read her book Orwell's Ghosts: Wisdom and Warnings for the Twenty-First Century. Beers is a professor of British history at American University whose writing has appeared in the New Republic, Washington Post, CNN, among other publications. She joined me today to speak about her book and the enduring value of Orwell's insights for modern society, especially under this new Trump Regime.

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Welcome to the first episode of season 4 of The Signal from the Bucks County Beacon. Today, Kevin Mahoney sits down with Cyril Mychalejko, the editor-in-chief of the Bucks County Beacon, to talk about what the New Year has in store for The Beacon. We also take a look back at some of the most significant stories published in the Beacon in 2025. 

We’re going to need independent, community supported progressive media in the weeks, months, and years ahead. There could not be a better time to take a moment to head over BucksCountyBeacon.com and click on the Support the Beacon button and become a supporter. You can become a monthly entry-level supporter for as little as $1/month. Or, jump right in as a regular supporter for just $5/month, or a yearly supporter for at little as $50/year. Or, you can drop a one-time donation to help keep the Beacon’s critical lens focused and sustainable. Just go to BucksCountyBeacon.com, click on the Support the Beacon button and become a supporter today.

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On this week’s episode of the Signal we welcome back Bucks County’s Steve Nolan. Steve spent 30 years in the military and 25 years as a mental health professional. He is the author of the 2020 book American Carnage, An Officer’s Duty to Warn, and today Steve is here to warn us again about the MAGA-fication of the military and How Pete Hegseth is running Trump’s Department of War.

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Malcolm Burnley is a staff writer for The Philadelphia Citizen. He has been a journalist in Philadelphia since 2013, contributing to outlets such as Philly Mag, WHYY, and Politico Magazine. Five days before the election he published, “What a Bucks County Sheriff's Race Can Tell Us about U.S. Politics.” He joins us today to talk about that race which Democratic challenger Danny Ceisler won handily, the Blue Wave that washed away so many other Republican officeholders in Bucks County on Election Day, and what this may signal for the midterms in 2026.

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