The Spark

What may be the largest environmental rally and campaign since right after the Three Mile Island accident is scheduled for this weekend in Harrisburg.

The Pennsylvania Climate Convergence is staging the "Festival for the Planet" Saturday through Monday.

It will include advocates and activists sending a message to “Gov. Wolf, lawmakers and regulators to step up” to fight climate change.

The Festival will be made up of panel discussions, arts, music, theatre, rallies and a march on the Capitol.

Karen Feridun of Pennsylvania Climate Convergence is on Monday’s Smart Talk to explain what the group is looking to do.

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What was driven home the past two years to many Pennsylvania students, those who worked from home and businesses was how spotty or non-existent high speed internet service was. Expanding broadband internet became a priority.

The $1 billion dollars in infrastructure money coming to Pennsylvania from the federal government for broadband expansion was thought to be an answer. But local communities that wanted to build their own broadband networks are facing another challenge – an obscure 2004 state law intended to keep publicly-owned telephone companies from competing with utilities.

Spotlight PA reporter Charlotte Keith broke this story last week and is on Monday's Smart Talk to tell us why this has become an issue.

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Smart Talk makes a road trip Friday to the Carlisle Ford Nationals.

Carlisle Events stages some of the most popular events in Pennsylvania as some half million people attend their car related shows every year. For one thing, it’s evidence of just how many car enthusiasts there are.

This weekend’s event at the Carlisle Fairgrounds will center on an American icon — Ford.

On Friday’s program, we’ll talk about the unveiling of the new Shelby American, Ford’s plans for electric vehicles and meet Ford’s first black woman designer, Emeline King – the primary designer of a generation of Mustangs and author of the new book What Do You Mean A Black Girl Can’t Design Cars? Emeline King, She Did It!

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Memorial Day weekend is considered the unofficial start of summer. It’s when many public swimming pools and beaches open. A rare late-May heat wave helped to remind us there is a lot of hot weather on the way.

However, along with so many other things, there is a shortage of lifeguards.

The American Lifeguard Association estimates a third of the nation’s public pools may be closed this summer because there aren’t enough lifeguards. Several in Pennsylvania have already announced they won’t open this summer. There could be fewer beaches covered by lifeguards too.

Why are there so few lifeguards this year and what impact could the shortage have?

Thursday’s Smart Talk focuses on the lifeguard shortage with an assistant director of the Bureau of State Parks in the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

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About 560,000 people work in manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania. Even though that’s 400,000 fewer than 30 years ago, there are thousands of manufacturing job openings right now.

Many people who could fill those jobs don’t know about the openings or don’t have the necessary training.

Pennsylvania is actively campaigning to find training for would-be manufacturers, including providing funding to six Manufacturing Summer Camps through Nuts, Bolts and Thingamajigs, a charitable foundation of the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association International.

We’ll learn more about the summer camps and manufacturing careers on Thursday’s Smart Talk from Ed Youdell, President and CEO of Nuts, Bolts and Thingamajigs and the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association International.

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Original Airdate: Monday, March 28, 2022

Many of us have dreamed of making a cross-country trip – maybe in a car or motorhome. Some of us have actually done it.

But the journey across America from the deep south to the Rocky Mountains that Alan Jinich and Max Strickberger took last spring was unique.

The two University of Pennsylvania students traveled across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic – not as a vacation or to sight see, but to talk with ordinary Americans about the challenges they were facing and what they looked forward to afterwards. They chronicled their project on a website.

Alan Jinich and Max Strickberger join us on Monday’s Smart Talk.

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Educators are tasked with many responsibilities today that their predecessors didn't have to deal with. Technology has forced changes in the classroom too.

One that is most noticeable is the use of cell phones. Today, almost every high school student has a cell phone and even elementary age students do too.

Outside of school, it seems many kids, as well as adults, are gazing at their cell phones constantly. Inside the classroom, cell phones can be a major distraction if allowed to go unchecked.

As a result, most schools have cell phone policies and some have gone as far as banning them altogether.

However, some teachers and administrators see cell phones as tools for learning in their classes and say there are life lessons related to cell phones too.

Democratic State Representative Anthony DeLuca of Allegheny County has proposed banning cell phone use by students statewide.

The middle school in the Penn Hills School District in Allegheny County banned cell phone this year. Superintendent Dr. Nancy Hines joins us on Wednesday's Smart Talk with her observations.

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"You never forget the teacher who makes a difference." So many of our lives have changed or our futures influenced because of a teacher.

That's why a select group of teachers in Central Pennsylvania are honored each year with a Teacher Impact Award.

WITF and Rotary 7390 presented the 2022 Teacher Impact Awards last week.

Two of the award winners are on Tuesday's Smart Talk to discuss what their goals in the classroom, what makes them unique and what influenced them.

Joining us are Rosario Eppley, who teaches Spanish at Susquenita High School and Michael Bricker, a drawing, painting and photography teacher at Central Dauphin High School.

You can watch the Teacher Impact Awards television special on WITF TV June 23 at 8 p.m.

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[box]Listen to Smart Talk every weekday at 9:30 am and 7:30 pm on WITF 89.5 & 93.3. You can also stream WITF radio live on our website or ask your smart speaker to "Play WITF Radio."[/box]

Video games are no longer just associated with kids wasting their time while they could be outdoors playing. That''s what adults trying to get their sons and daughters away from video games sometimes thought. Today, video games are credited with broadening young people's interest and passion for science and the arts. And esports have created a whole new field of competition for high schools and colleges. The Whitaker Center for the Science and the Arts in Harrisburg has just opened a first-of-its-kind facility that they say "will capitalize on the massive popularity of video games and esports while offering educational, experiential learning in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) to
children eight years and older."
It's called the PNC Innovation Zone and it features a 2,000-square-foot Purposeful Gaming Studio along with
o Capacity for up to 30 gaming stations and 12 gaming consoles
o 10 75-inch, high-definition flat screen televisions
o 12-foot, high-definition projection screen
o Esports tiered seating for spectators. We'll learn about the PNC Innovation Zone on Tuesday's Smart Talk from Ted Black, CEO of Whitaker Center, Jim Hoehn, regional president of PNC Bank, and Amy Rote from Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region.

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For the first time since 2019, Artsfest in Harrisburg (May28-30) may feel normal this weekend. The biggest difference this year is that the event will be held at Riverfront Park after last year’s sojourn to City island. Normal probably is not a good word to describe Artsfest because it is one of the premiere events in Central Pennsylvania.

According to the City of Harrisburg, Artsfest will feature more than 150 juried artisans and craftsmen from across the country, selling handcrafted works in 14 categories.

There also will be 50 groups entertaining throughout the weekend and more than two dozen food trucks.

We’ll learn more about Artsfest in Thursday’s Smart Talk from Harrisburg’s Director of Communications Matt Maisel and Carrie Wissler Thomas, Executive Director of the Art Association of Harrisburg.

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