The Spark

What does professional golf have to do with future gas prices? Why is the U.S. Senate concerned about the merger of the Professional Golf Association or PGA, the European Tour and the LIV Golf Tour?

The new entity would be controlled by the Public Investment Fund – the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia and it has raised suspicions of "sportwashing."

Fletcher McClellan (Ph.D.), professor emeritus of political science at Elizabethtown College recently wrote about the impact and possible repercussions of the merger in LNP and joined us on The Spark Monday where he defined sportwashing,"That refers to efforts by a country, a nation state, to try to improve their public image internationally by associating itself with with athletic events, stars, teams, typically by investing or buying, you know, into a franchise."

McClellan pointed out that sportwashing is not new and cited examples of said Hitler's propaganda attempts for Nazi Germany at the 1936 Olympics and Russia using the 2014 Olympics in Sochi to distract from annexing Crimea.

Why would the U.S. Senate have concerns about the PGA/LIV merger? "When this deal was announced in early June, there were senators, other politicians, that a number of them, for example, were responding to the cries from 911 families about the Saudi's role in 911. And they they interpreted this effort as kind of an effort to of the Saudis to improve their public image and the take over sport that Americans tend to think is one of their own. We're the largest golfing nation, just not just in terms of professionals, but the number of people who play golf. So kind of a foreign takeover of a dominant sport by a country which is regarded in many circles as a pariah."

McClellan also said some politicians may have considered the merger as a monopoly of professional golf. But he added he doubted the Biden Administration would pursue an anti-trust investigation,"The Biden Administration is negotiating pretty hard with the Saudis on a number of Middle East issues. And the Saudis basically are the major player in among oil producing nations. They determine in large part what oil prices will be depending on how much oil they and other petro states produce. So, we have an election coming up. Inflation, gas prices is sort of front and center in this election. And I don't think the Biden Administration is going to do a whole lot to interfere with this deal."

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Central Pennsylvania students will be returning school in a few weeks.

Nowadays, back-to-school usually focuses on new school clothes or what’s needed in the classroom like pencils, notebooks, and backpacks.

But what about children’s health as they go back to school? It’s getting more attention since theCOVID-19 pandemic disrupted normal classroom and learning activities in the last three years.

With us on The Spark Friday was Wellspan Health pediatrician Dr. Chris Russo,

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The National Weather Service confirmed an EF1 tornado touched down in East Hopewell Township, in southern York County Monday evening. The tornado reached a top wind speed of 107 miles per hour and traveled under half a mile. When there is severe weather with unusually high winds, the weather service investigates to determine what caused damage from a storm. Why is important to confirm a tornado or not? Joining us on The Spark is John Bowen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in State College.

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Central Pennsylvania is a hotbed for folk music. In fact, folk music can be heard at venues throughout the region every weekend and not just in the usual places for concerts and live music either. Much of the folk music scene is centered on the Susquehanna Folk Music Society that stages the Susquehanna Folk Festival. There won’t be a festival this year but there will be folk music and workshops this weekend. Joining us on The Spark is Peter Winter Lee, Executive Director of Susquehanna Folk Music Society.

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Many Pennsylvanians are cutting their pills in half, skipping a dose or don’t get their prescriptions filled because they can’t afford their medications. In the first half of last month alone, 59 drug manufacturers raised prices on 105 brands. The cost of prescription drugs is near the top of the list of healthcare concerns for many Americans. At the same time, Pfizer had revenues last year of $100.3 billion dollars and Johnson and Johnson brought in almost $95 billion dollars. So, what gives? John Conradi of The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing is with us today to discuss ways to reduce the cost of prescription medications.

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THC is the chemical found in marijuana plants that gets users high.

There are three strains of THC – Delta 8, Delta 9 and Delta 10. THC is contained in some legal products like hemp and CBP.

There seems to be some confusion as to what’s legal and what’s not as businesses that sell the products are getting mixed signals from the federal, state and county governments.

LNP’s breaking news reporter Jack Panyard recently wrote about that confusion and joined us on the Spark Wednesday.

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Ken Jaworowski is a Shippensburg University graduate and a culture editor and critic for the New York Times. He has written plays that have been performed in New York, Scotland and France. But now the 55-year-old has written his first novel called Small Town Sins and it’s set in a fictional Central Pennsylvania town. Ken Jaworowski is with us on The Spark today.

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Most of us have seen video of four-wheel drive trucks or jeeps driving over rock strewn mountains or through creeks. Fewer of us have actually done what’s called Overlanding but it is becoming more popular. And it’s not just the thrill of how one travels through a remote off-road place but Overlanding also involves camping and enjoying the outdoors. Huntingdon, Pennsylvania will be the center of the Overlanding universe starting this weekend with the 2023 Mid-Atlantic Overland Festival. Joining us on The Spark today is Matt Henwood, President of Main Line Overland, Mid-Atlantic

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