The COVID-19 pandemic of the past two years has possibly had a greater impact on restaurants than any other industry.

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Congressman Thaddeus Stevens was born in Vermont, practiced law in Gettysburg and represented Lancaster in Congress before, during and right after the Civil War. He was considered one of the nation's most fervent anti-racist and anti-slavery members of Congress. He also was one of the its most influential legislators.

Yet 160 years later, Stevens often doesn't get the kind of recognition for his accomplishments that some of his contemporaries do. That may be attributed to Stevens' personal characteristics. He was considered radical for his time and didn't hesitate to verbally attack political opponents with biting insults and a cutting wit.

Best-selling author Bruce Levine's 2021 book, Thaddeus Stevens -- Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice is the first biography of Stevens in 50 years and provides details of this important figure in the nation's history.

Levine discusses Stevens on Tuesday's Smart Talk.

[caption id="attachment_196426" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Thaddeus Stevens grave site in Shreiner-Concord Cemetery in Lancaster/photo: Scott LaMar[/caption]

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The Anti-Defamation League says there were 683 hate crimes against Jews in 2020, more than 2,000 anti-Semitic incidents of harassment, vandalism and assault and 327 cases where synagogues, Jewish community centers and schools were targeted. In late 2021, an American Jewish Committee survey found one in four Jews said they had experienced anti-Semitism in the last year.

The 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh where 11 people were killed was perhaps the most tragic, but just two weeks ago, the Beth Israel Congregation in Colleyville, Texas was attacked and four hostages taken. All four were able to escape.

The number of hate crimes and incidents are actually down, which probably can be attributed to the COVID pandemic, but it still happens way too often.

What's behind the anti-Semitism and what can be done to stop the violence and incidents?

Tuesday's Smart Talk features a conversation with Zev Eleff, the president of Gratz College in Philadelphia and a historian of American Jewish life.

 

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Saying it hasn’t happened anywhere else in Pennsylvania, LGBTQ advocates and allies are protesting a proposal by Chambersburg’s Borough Council to roll back an anti-discrimination ordinance, that was adopted last year by a previous council.

Students at vocational and technical schools relish the opportunity to get real-world experiences. Very few ever get the chance to contribute to out of this world projects, but that’s just what students at the Lebanon County Career and Technology Cente...

Does 5G wireless service, that brings greater speed and capacity to phones, pose a danger to aircraft landing at airports when there’s low visibility?

Depends on who you ask.

Verizon and AT&T wireless carriers, with agreement from the Federal Communications Commission, say yes and point out 40 other countries have airports near 5G towers that operate safely.

But the Federal Aviation Administration and major airlines aren’t so sure — claiming 5G towers could interfere with an aircraft’s altimeters which measure how far a plane is off the ground when landing.  Airline CEOs are demanding the cellular phone networks not use 5G technology within two miles of an airport. They add that there will widespread flight cancellations if they do.

Do airlines or the traveling public have anything to worry about?

Appearing Monday’s Smart Talk to discuss the 5G issue is Terrill L. Frantz, Ph.D., Ed.D., Associate Professor of eBusiness and Cybersecurity, Quantum Information Science Programs, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.

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Hemp has been making a comeback in recent years. It’s a crop that played an important role throughout history until it became illegal to grow because of its relationship to marijuana, although no one was getting high off of hemp.

Small businesses that don’t have many employees have struggled to offer retirement plans — often because starting a retirement package from scratch can be expensive.

The SECURE Act (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019) that became law last year, created a new type of 401(k) called pooled employer plans that allows multiple employers to join one single retirement plan.

Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors has launched the first pooled plan in the region called Central PA 401(k) that is geared toward employers with fewer than 70 workers. The plan will be managed by Conrad Siegel and is advertised as hands off for the employer.

Conrad Siegel Partner and Consulting Actuary Trevor Bare provides details of the new Central PA 401(k) on Thursday’s Smart Talk.

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The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says a third of the state’s streams are impaired or polluted — meaning those waterways are unsafe for aquatic life, recreation, fish consumption and water supply. All told, Pennsylvania has 27,

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court last week blocked an inspection of voting machine equipment in heavily-Republican Fulton County – a county where former President Donald Trump won easily. The machines Republicans want to look at have been decertified bec...