The Spark

For the last three years Lark Daniel and her colleagues have held the Soulfit Festival at Reservoir park in Harrisburg. The purpose of the SoulFit Festival is to bring awareness to the importance of health, pertaining to total mind, body and spirit. This year, the 4th annual SoulFit Festival will take place August 12th and August 13th at Camp Curtain Academy. The goal of the Soulfit festival is to educate black and brown communities to be healthier, stronger, and happier, in addition to providing the best chances to fight against diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. The fit fest is centered around the natural healing that comes specifically from African Arts and culture through dance, drumming, and spoken word. This years fourth annual festival promises to bring much of the same, including fun interactive presentations, DJs , demonstrations, vendors, community partners, local farmers, and of course fitness and dance instructors.

The festival was born out of the pandemic, and organizer Lark Daniel realized depression rates were going up, child abuse rates were going up. So she figured she had to do something! This two day event combines mind, body, and spirit fitness, with a mix a of health lectures from leading health professionals, health related activities, and health check-ups such as blood pressure. Bringing a healthy energy to the Capital city!

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Environmental disasters associated with climate change can have a big effect on teens’ well-being and academic performance. That’s according to new research from Penn State.

State Impact Pennsylvania reporter Rachel McDevitt’s beat is energy and the environment and was on The Spark Thursday.

The paper looks at data from a survey done over 15 years with more than 1,700 children in Peru.

Researchers looked at test scores, food security and health, and how much time kids spent studying and doing household chores. They also compared the types of trauma a teen went through like a parent's job loss, death of a relative or natural disasters like a flood or drought.

McDevitt quoted a researcher as saying the types of shocks that had the strongest and significant negative effects on young people were environmental shocks.

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The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced a big change on one of the major bridges crossing the Susquehanna River this week. The Veterans’ Memorial Bridge between Columbia and Wrightsville now has a 10-ton weight limit until further notice. That means no tractor trailers can use the bridge.

Joining us on The Spark Thursday was David Thompson, PennDot District 8 press officer who said,"During our most recent inspection, we discovered some unexpected deterioration to what I would call the load carrying members. And that's the floor beams and the columns that support the bridge deck. This damage was not apparent or visible when we inspected the bridge two years ago."

Thompson was asked if the bridge is safe to drive over,"The bridge is safe and this is not an emergency situation. The reason that we're implementing a ten ton restriction is just to simply ensure that the deterioration that we detected in our most recent bridge inspection, which was at the end of June, does not progress. And so this is something that we're implementing to ensure that the bridge remains open, number one, and that the deterioration doesn't advance."

A $79 million project was planned for the bridge and was scheduled to begin next year. Thompson said that's now on hold,"We're going to have to kind of go back to the drawing board and expand the project to include the the support sections underneath the deck. We're were just going to place the new deck on top of the old deck, but we don't want to do that now that we know that there's some support under the current deck that that needs to be replaced. So we're going to have to expand the scope of that project to include those elements. And so that's going to take some time. In the meantime, we we may be able to perform some interim repairs that may allow us to increase the weight limit on that bridge."

Thompson indicated the new project will cost more than originally planned because of the deterioration.

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Shippensburg University is one of three universities nationwide hosting a U.S. State Department International exchange program, attended by 20 university students from Europe from 13 different countries. The program is called The Study of the U.S. Institute for Students Leaders from Europe.

At Shippensburg, the students are working on environmental issues.

Joining us on The Spark Wednesday was Dr. Lonce Bailey, Professor of Political Science, Program Director for the SUSI Institute, Dr. Claire Jantz, Professor of Geography, Director of Shippensburg’s Center for Land Use and Sustainability or CLUS, and the Academic Director of the SUSI Institute, Petra Karjalainen, a program participant from Finland, and Alonso Ciscar Taulet, a program participant from Spain.

Dr. Bailey provided an overview of the program,"This program is one of many that brings university students to the U.S. and there's a variety of topics that are focused on it. And they're usually mostly done through universities, some nonprofits, to bring them here to have what we would call an authentic American experience. So not not propaganda, not critical, deep insight, but really an authentic, genuine experience. Give people a chance to interpret and see the United States through their own eyes. So we try to give them a variety of experiences, academic sessions, cultural experiences, everything from tractor pulls to farmer's markets. Great 4th of July celebrations. We go to a lot of people's houses for cookouts. They also do community service projects"

Dr. Jantz said there are three areas of the environment they're focusing on in the program at Shippensburg,"One is watersheds -- being in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and all of the things that we do in Pennsylvania to contribute to helping to clean that up and to contribute to some of the problems there as well. That was kind of a natural area of focus for us. We also focus on food systems. Again, Pennsylvania and where we are in south central Pennsylvania, Agriculture is a huge part of our economy, a huge part of our way of life. And so, again, that was kind of a natural fit for for an area of focus. And and then the third area of focus is on energy and policy. And again, Pennsylvania is a has been historically a huge energy producing state. And as we are transitioning away from fossil fuels and into alternative energies."

Petra Karjalainen is a professional chef in Finland and said food was an area of focus for her,"We focused a lot on the social side of things. So we've talked a lot about food insecurity and waste to just feed the local community, which is oftentimes forgotten when we talk about these big issues within the agriculture sector or food production. I mean, at least to me that's been very eye opening. And I feel like that is something that I would like to implement in Finland as well."

Alonso Ciscar indicated he's been eager top learn about the Chespeake Bay watershed,"Pennsylvania is one of the biggest water contributors to the Chesapeake Bay watershed. And knowing how the situation is there, where the important fish and seafood that is now slowly disappearing because the conditions are not suitable for biodiversity. I've been learning a lot about how from the smaller streams every contribution can support to a better water quality and knowing how important that estuaries in the United States and also for our global economy in general."

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Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted in 2012 on 45 counts related to sexually assaulting 10 boys.

The Sandusky scandal spawned new laws on the state level and new rules and offices to handle sexual assaults and harassment and other misconduct complaints at Penn State.

Eleven years later, a year-long investigation by Spotlight PA and the Centre Daily Times finds "distrust is rampant and many fear retaliation if they speak up." The report, which came out Wednesday, is called “Missed Conduct.”

Spotlight PA investigative reporter Wyatt Massey appeared on The Spark Wednesday and talked about one office in particular, "The university created this Office of Ethics and Compliance, which was supposed to be a real central piece of these reforms. It was designed to kind of be an independent investigative unit, so it would answer directly to the board of trustees rather than going through a bunch of administrators. And we found over a two-year period from basically late 2018 to early 2020, that that unit really struggled to handle complaints of misconduct, the types of complaints that that unit was designed to prevent. So, complaints of misconduct allege retaliation, and this was by the chief ethics officer. Basically, the person that was running the ethics office was accused of misconduct within the office designed to stop misconduct."

The report described that misconduct as the ethics officer of creating a hostile work environment, including mocking employees' physical appearances.

Massey described a lack of communication at Penn State as well,"The university has kind of a series of offices that do investigative or compliance work. And ten years after creating the system, there is not a university wide system for tracking reports of misconduct. So, one of the examples we found was a professor in late 2021 raised the complaint, and he even admitted it was a relatively minor thing, but he got no response for a year-and-a-half. And the university, when he confronted them, they said, well, there is maybe communication gaps, Maybe your report went to the wrong office and it got routed to another one and no one followed up."

The report indicates that transparency is an issue at Penn State when it comes to complaints and reports of misconduct. Penn State is not subject to all aspects of Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know law that was enacted in 2008.

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Congress is in the midst of negotiating a new Farm Bill. So, what should the priorities be in that bill, that comes up every five years?

A poll conducted for the Union of Concerned Scientists asked registered voters in Pennsylvania and three other states where agriculture is a major industry, questions about climate change, access to food and small farms being able to compete.

To talk about the results of that poll and what we can learn from it on The Spark Tuesday was Karen Perry Stillerman, Deputy Director of the Food and Environment Program for the Union of Concerned Scientists, who said crop failures from extreme weather was considered a significant threat by 73% of those polled and corporate consolidation squeezing small and midsize farmers and businesses was seen a significant threat by 76%.

Another major finding was 41% think Congress' focus should be on making sure people have enough to eat compared to 25% who said all the focus should be on making sure people receing doos assistance are working. 29% said it should be split 50/50.

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One of the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic is just how important child care is. It was a major challenge in 2020 and 2021 when child care facilities shut down and many parents couldn’t return to work because of it.

Every parent wants to make sure their children are cared for in a setting that is safe and in a learning environment. In another words, they want quality child care. The federal advocacy group First Five Years Fund sponsored a poll of Pennsylvanians that focused on child care and their Director of Communications, Christy Felling appeared on The Spark Tuesday and was asked to define quality child care,"Very top line, it means safety. It means there are enough people there per child to make sure that that child gets the attention that they need. It means that there is a clean and child friendly space for the kids to be in. And it also means enrichment activities. It means there are people who are teaching your kids and working with your kids on sharing and their emotions and reading and colors and all of the things that you associate with childhood that are happening, even if as a parent, you're not the one in the room doing that with them at a certain hour of the day."

But quality child care can be expensive, so we often hear the word affordable right after quality. and Felling said that's where the federal government comes in and needs to step up,"It becomes really important that we have this funding so that child care is accessible and affordable. And by accessible, I mean that there are a lot of places where you just can't find childcare. There aren't enough slots at the local child care center or the local pre-K or it's really far away or it doesn't match your hours. Maybe you're not working in 9 to 5. Maybe you're a server in a restaurant or you're working the night shift at times. Like there's all of these places that make it or things that make it really hard to find. And then when you do find it, it's really expensive, as I'm sure most people have learned if they have had little ones in the last few years. In many states, the expense of child care is for an infant is more than the average for a mortgage. It's more than the average for college. And that's why we need to figure this out and make sure that it gets funding. The system is such that if parents had to pay what it actually cost to hire people to watch their kids in a safe enriched environment, it's really expensive. Most couldn't afford it, especially people who are on the lower end of the income scale. At the same time, a lot of private providers are barely squeaking by with what they make at child care centers. A lot of people during the pandemic left working in child care to go work at a Target or at a local restaurant because they could make so much more and so were desperate to hold on to these amazing, wonderful people who care for kids."

The poll found 49% of Pennsylvania voters believe federal funding for child care and early childhood learning programs should be increased and 83% support providing tax incentives to businesses that provide or help employees find and afford quality early childhood education programs.

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Anyone who travels Route 30 in Gap, Lancaster County has seen the big, beautiful house and farm known as White Chimneys.

One of the most historic structures in south central Pennsylvania, White Chimneys dates back to the early 1700s, when it opened as a tavern.

Jessica Meyer, co-owner of White Chimneys Estate, appeared on The Spark Monday and talked about the estate's history,"Starting in 1720, the original portion of the house was credited to being built by a gentleman named Francis Jones, who was a Quaker himself and one of William Penn's purported church members. So he built the first part. And back then taverns were more like (places to) trade. It was where you slept, it was where you got the news, you were safe. So those sorts of things were happening. The next edition on the house was another room, and that was approximately in the 1750s. And at that point, one of Francis Jones's granddaughters marries a gentleman named Henry Schumacher, which was Anglicized to be Slaymaker. And at that point they took ownership. And it was in the Slaymaker family from 1779 until the year 2000, nine generations and over 200 years."

Through the years, there have stories that White Chimneys is haunted by ghosts. Meyer takes issue with the word "haunted," but says,"Whether you call it a heartbeat or a spiritual presence, I can tell you there is a presence here. But we have never had anything negative happen. And it's not a negative aura or anything like that. We had white smoke at various locations. We often we often hear children playing or we'll hear some voices and things like that. But I believe that throughout the years, I believe it was a very happy place. And there were many, many great memories that happened here."

Today’s White Chimney Estates is a wedding and events space as well as a working farm.

This Saturday, White Chimneys will host a living history day that will include a Civil War battle reenactment, house tours, food trucks and fireworks.

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Legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes has been proposed once in Pennsylvania. For years, Republicans, who held majorities in both the State House and Senate said legal pot wasn’t going to happen. But now Democrats have a majority in the House, there’s a Democratic Governor who supports legalization, and a few Republicans have come out in favor of making marijuana legal for adult use.

Maryland became the latest state and state bordering Pennsylvania to legalize adult use marijuana July 1st. Last year, Maryland voters approved a referendum to legalize adult use marijuana by about a two-thirds majority.

Pamela Wood, a state house reporter for Baltimore Banner, was on The Spark Monday and said the first two-and-a-half weeks of marijuana sales have been successful,"Maryland had a medical cannabis program. So there was already the infrastructure in place with growers, processors and dispensaries. Those are the retail stores. The vast majority of the dispensaries were given the option to pay a big fee and convert their license from medical to general use. So we had about a hundred retail locations throughout the state where selling weed gummies, extracts, all the products starting July 1st. And it went gangbusters right from the start."

About $21 million worth of marijuana was legally sold in Maryland during the first week. There's a state sales 9% tax on marijuana. Wood said the state estimates sales of up to $600 million for the first year.

Wood said she is curious whether Pennsylvanians will travel to Maryland to buy weed, even though that's illegal,"What I'm interested to see is will they figure out are people crossing state lines to come into Maryland? We're bordered by Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, D.C. D.C. and Virginia have legalized the use of cannabis, but they don't have markets in place. So are people crossing the border? Are people driving down 83 to come down to a health center or to Timonium to buy? We don't know that yet. Legally, you're not supposed to cross the state line and then cross back out. But you got to believe people are doing that."

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Researching family history or genealogy is booming.

On The Spark Monday, James Beidler, Interim President of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania explained a few of the factors contributing to genealogy's popularity,"More people with spare time. DNA analysis being available and the internet in general bringing records and documents to people's desktops. You triangulate the three of those things together. And yeah, it's been a real explosion."

The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania was founded in 1892 and says it was "among the first to recognize the value of collecting and preserving the vital and personal records of people whose lives comprise much of our American history."

Beidler described how to get started researching one's family history,"You want to figure out what do you have in house. Do you have your parents birth certificates? Do you have military discharge papers? Do you have a family Bible? Take an inventory of your home's sources and what names and dates do you know about people? Also, pay attention to the family stories, even ones that may be kind of wacky, because your pedigree is a whole lot more than names and dates."

Beidler said that once you've learned what you can at home and from family, past U.S. Census's provide a lot of information like listing people living in a household and where they lived at the times of the Census. Birth and death certificates, and newspaper archives also are valuable resources.

Beidler indicated DNA analysis had made a lot more information available,"It's now estimated that more than half of the people in America are represented in the DNA databases today, not necessarily because they've taken a test, but because a relatively close relative has."

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