The Spark

A month before the November election, Pennsylvanians are being bombarded with commercials on TV. The commercials have been airing for months and there are more of them as we approach election day. It didn’t used to be this way. Campaign season and especially the TV spots didn’t used to start until after Labor Day and usually became more frequent the last few weeks before the election. But today, most voters learn about candidates through the ads and here’s what is troubling. Most of the ads are increasingly negative toward a candidate’s opponent and many if not most are misleading with only half truths or edits without context. To discuss TV advertising and commercials for candidates is Alison Dagnes, Professor of political science at Shippensburg University and author of multiple books on politics.

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This year, almost 288,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer and over 51,000 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the United States.

According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, over 43,000 women in the country are expected to die in 2022 from breast cancer. The overall death rate from breast cancer decreased by 1% per year due to treatment advances and earlier detection through screening.

More than 2,700 men are also diagnosed with breast cancer each year and over 500 men die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.

In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month this month, Natalie Kopp, Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition Communications Director, and Teresa Spittle, Breast Cancer Survivor and Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition York County Captain join us to discuss breast cancer, early detection methods, and resources to help those living with cancer.

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Lung health is the focus of our discussion on today’s Smart Talk. A recent report from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of American listed Harrisburg at number seven nationally in their list of the Top Asthma Capitals in the country. That means Pennsylvania’s capital city has one of the highest prevalences of asthma nationally. Also, the American Lung Association is out with a report of how many lives could be saved by transitioning to zero emission trucks and other vehicles.

Appearing on today’s Smart Talk are Bryan Burton, Advocacy Manager, Healthy Air, American Lung Association and Dr. Albert Rizzo, Chief Mission Officer, American Lung Association

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Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia – the three states that produce 90 percent of the pollution that enters the Chesapeake Bay collectively are not on track to meet the 2025 deadline toward restoration of the Bay. Pennsylvania in particular is not on track to meet its goals of reducing nitrogen and phosphorus runoff into the bay. That’s the conclusion of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s 2022 State of the Blueprint report released yesterday.

The report indicates that Pennsylvania is behind in reducing both nitrogen and phosphorus, but is on track for reduction of wastewater.

On today’s Smart Talk, Harry Campbell, Science Policy and Advocacy Director for Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Pennsylvania said there is reason for optimism though,"With the passage of the most recent state budget, back in July, Pennsylvania established something called the Clean Streams Fund, and as part of that, which included $220 million investment in clean streams initiatives across the state of Pennsylvania. As part of it, it created an agricultural cost share program, a program that will help farmers across the state of Pennsylvania, but particularly in the Bay Watershed, design and implement best management practices that keep soils and nutrients on the land instead of in the water. It has been the Achilles heel to Pennsylvania's effort that we did not have such a plan or such a program across the state of Pennsylvania. We have created that and now we are poised. There's a lot of momentum to become the bay's hero."

That money will be a big boost to farmers who have sometimes struggled to pay for ways to mitigate runoff as Campbell described,"We have over 54,000 family farmers across the state of Pennsylvania, over 30, roughly 32,000 in the Bay Watershed of Pennsylvania alone, which is that middle part of the state. And each and every one of those individual farms have an opportunity to be a conservation hero, a steward of the land, and by providing them the resources, the technical and financial assistance to design and implement these practices, not only are we helping improve our rivers and streams and the Chesapeake Bay, but also to provide them for economic vitality into the future and sequester carbon to deal with carbon, to deal with the issue of climate change and other factors. So this is an investment in our farms, in our families and in our communities in order to restore not only rivers streams, but the bay, too."

Campbell stated it's doubtful the states in the Bay agreement will meet the 2025 deadline but that they should stay committed.

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Rick Steves is a popular television host, best-selling guidebook author, travel writer, and an outspoken activist who encourages Americans to broaden their perspectives through travel. He is the founder and owner of Rick Steves' Europe, a travel business with a tour program that brings more than 30,000 people to Europe annually.

Steves spends about four months a year in Europe, researching guidebooks, fine-tuning his tour program, making new discoveries for travelers, and filming his TV show.

Beginning Saturday, October 15th, Steves will have a new TV series airing on WITF called Rick Steves Art of Europe. Steves joined us on Wednesday’s Smart Talk to tell us about the series and provide tips and trends about the travel world this season.

"Thomas Jefferson said travel makes a person wiser, if less happy," Steves said.

Steves shared a look at his latest six-episode series.

"Going from cave paintings 20,000 years ago in southern France to the beautiful murals that covered the streets in cities like Glasgow and Lisbon and Athens," Steves said. "Distilling it into six hours was a challenge. But we did it."

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Amy Goodman is the host and executive producer of the daily national broadcast Democracy Now! -- described as a national, independent news program that airs on more than 14 hundred public television and radio stations worldwide.

She has co-authored six books and been on the front lines covering some of the world’s most contentious issues and events.

Amy Goodman is slated to speak at Penn State Harrisburg Wednesday night at 7 addressing "Democracy in Crisis: The Power of Independent Journalism." Amy Goodman joins us.

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Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.