Smart Talk discuss concerns of regional officials about the placement of mini-casinos in mid-state communities and we look at a program to encourage green improvements throughout the state and efforts to facilitate economic independence for Pennsylvanians with disabilities.

The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank estimates that one in nine people are at risk for hunger. So are one in six children. The Food Bank, along with Feeding America, released a study earlier this year that indicates 111,000 children are struggling with hunger in the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank's 27-county service area.

That's even though statistics from the federal and state governments show the nation's and Pennsylvania's economies are improving and there's a low unemployment rate.

Thursday's Smart Talk Road Trip travels to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank near Harrisburg to discuss hunger, who is at risk and the efforts being made to provide food to them.

The Smart Talk Road Trip comes on WITF's annual one-day fundraiser with Wegman's Food Markets and the Central Pensylvania Food Bank partnering to provide 17,000 meals to those without enough food.

Appearing on the program are Joe Arthur, the Executive Director; Dave Lloyd, Youth Program Manager; Jennifer Powell, Director of Development and two volunteers -- all at the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank.

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month and the American Lung Association is using some startling data from recent surveys to bring attention to lung health. The 4th annual Lung Health Barometer survey of 1000 men and women found that most people don't know that lung cancer screening is covered by Medicare and most plans at no cost and that many doctors aren't ordering tests for high-risk patients.

The ALA of the Mid-Atlantic is highlighting advance screening methods, such as computer tomography and emphasizing that in Pennsylvania, incidents of men with lung cancer have declined by 32% since 1978 while it has increased in women by 94% during the same period.

On the Wednesday edition of Smart Talk, we'll discuss the reasons for this disparity and talk about prevention and detection of lung cancer and how efforts to lower smoking rates and environmental hazards have helped lower cancer rates in the state.

Deborah Brown, executive vice president of the ALA of the Mid-Atlantic will join us in studio to parse out initiatives in the mid-state to raise awareness and we'll speak with Dr. Troy Moritz, a thoracic and cardiac surgeon who will describe screening and treatment methods.

Also, we'll catch up with Franklin Marshall College professor of public affairs and director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs G. Terry Madonna and discuss the impact of Tuesday's election results.

"There are more job openings in the United States than there have ever been. The problem is we don't have the workers to fit those jobs . . ."

Those are the words of Dan White, executive director of Moody's Analytics, speaking on Monday's Smart Talk about gaps in Pennsylvania's workforce. There is growth in the manufacturing sector - 21st century style industrial growth. This means using robots and computers for design, assembly and shipping logistics rather than human hands.

Those robots still require human operation, those computers are programmed and maintained by people, tracking monitored by human eyes rather than an algorithm. Those are the skills that White was referring and it is this skills gap that educators in Pennsylvania are addressing to ensure the economic stability and job growth in the region.

On the Tuesday edition of Smart Talk, we discuss preparing today's youth for the jobs of tomorrow and the need to shift away from the four-year college model of workforce preparation and re-focus on teaching industrial skills that are applicable for 2018, not 1958.

Lynda Morris, executive director of the Capital Region Partnership for Career Development, will join us to talk about CRPCD's efforts to develop partnerships with area schools in creating effective curriculum that includes core elements of STEM programming with practical workplace applications.

Also, the Association on American Indian Affairs is a non-profit organization committed to addressing issues confronting Native American communities including the repatriation of cultural artifacts from museums, the preservation of religious traditions and protection of burial sites.

The AAIA maintains the application of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 which keeps Native American families together by subverting efforts to separate Indian children from their parents. The organization also addresses disparities in the application of juvenile justice code on Native American youth.

Smart Talk will speak with Shannon Keller O'Loughlin, the recently appointed executive director of the AAIA about these and other issues facing Native Americans and the legacies of the Delaware, Lenape and Susquehannock tribes of Pennsylvania.

If states learned anything from the Great Recession, it was to spot the warning signs of economic collapse and prepare accordingly. America watched the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, it shouldn't have been a surprise to watch the real estate bubble explode in 2008. It is called a bubble.

This is why the findings of an October report from Moody's Analytics should raise red flags for Pennsylvanians; the Commonwealth ranks near the bottom of the fifty states insofar as being prepared to confront another economic recession.

Prior to the recession, the states had a combined reserve of nearly $60 billion. The impact of the recession on states' budget stabilization funds exceeded $117 billion. Pennsylvania lacks the cash reserves needed to make the fiscal adjustments necessary to flex with the economic stress of a recession. In fact, PA is carrying a negative balance in its annual reserve.

On the Monday edition of Smart Talk, we'll speak with the report's author, Daniel White of Moody's Analytics, about the ramifications of being unprepared for financial meltdown. We'll also be joined by Matthew Knittel, executive director of the state's Independent Fiscal Office who can speak to the status of the state's cash reserves and credit rating and, in turn, the state's overall preparedness.

Also, in the confusion following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, it was Secretary of War Edwin Stanton who stepped up to manage the messaging and the search for the president's assassin. As one of the architects of the North's victory in the Civil War, he modernized military supply and transportation methods.

Biographer Walter Stahr chronicles Stanton's career as the head of Lincoln's War Department and his administration of the Civil War in Stanton: Lincoln's War Secretary; Stahr joins Smart Talk to discuss the legacy of Edwin Stanton.

Walter Stahr appears at Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg to discuss the book on November 11.

The 429 page Republican tax bill was unveiled on Thursday; called the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act." The bill would lower the corporate tax rate to 20%, repeal most personal exemptions and increase the standardized deduction. The bill lays out an expanded child tax credit while reducing deductions for dependent college students. State and local tax deductions would be eliminated.

Supporters have claimed for decades that tax cuts encourage corporate investment and help working Americans keep more of the money they earn. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said the bill " . . . is for the middle-class families in this country who deserve a break. It is for the families who are out there living paycheck to paycheck who just keep getting squeezed."

Critics argue it is a wealth grab benefiting only the 1%; Public Citizen calls the bill "a massive payback to the political donor class, conferring untold riches on those who don't need it - the superrich and giant corporations."

On the Friday edition of WITF's Smart Talk, we'll discuss the bill with U.S. Representative Scott Perry, the Republican Congressman representing Adams and York Counties as well as parts of Dauphin and Cumberland Counties.

Also, Governor Wolf signed into law legislation that would substantially expand the state's gambling footprint. The passage of expansion took place, as stated by the governor before the Pennsylvania Press Club, because "There's been a lot of pressure from a lot of places in the Commonwealth to actually expand (gambling) and we do need some recurring revenue."

The bill allows for gambling at truck stops, airports and online as well as license ten new brick-and-mortar casinos to existing gaming entities. Pennsylvania trails only Nevada in commercial gaming revenues.

Critics have argued that gaming isn't an appropriate source of tax revenue; Peach Bottom state representative Bryan Cutler told the LNP in March "Every time we've counted on gambling in the budget those revenues have undershot it or something unexpected has happened, such as the decrease of the lottery fund in response to the expansion of table games." Last week, Cutler voted in support of the expansion.

A 2016 report from the Rockefeller Institute of Government indicated that "In the short-run, states indeed do raise additional revenues due to expansion of gambling activities and facilities. However, history shows that in the long-run the growth in state revenues from gambling activities slows or even reverses and declines." Smart Talk will speak with Dr. David Schwartz, director of UNLV's Center for Gaming Research about the viability of relying on gaming tax revenue to meet budget shortfalls.

Later, we'll discuss educating and preparing ourselves for acts of terrorism. A radicalized ISIS adherent drove a rented truck down a bike path in Manhatten on Tuesday, killing eight and injuring twelve.

Dr. Duane Hagelgans currently serves on the South Central Pennsylvania Counter Terrorism Task Force (SCTF) and the Lancaster County Emergency Management Agency and teaches diaster and emergency management at Millersville University; he joins Smart Talk to discuss ways to spot suspicious activity.

Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is undertaking an ambitious plan to connect a series of hiking and biking trails from the Conewago Recreational Trail outside of Elizabethtown to the Schuylkill River Trail in Philadelphia.

A series of existing trails, including the Conewago, the Enola Low Grade Rail Trail and the Chester Valley Trail would be linked creating a 62.7 mile path that would not only provide a continuous scenic recreation trail but also encourage economic development along the route.

On Thursday's Smart Talk, we'll discuss the plan to create this trail linking the central counties to Philadelphia and the environmental and economic impact of such an effort with Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn

Also, Pennsylvania took a big step Wednesday toward making medical marijuana available to Pennsylvanians who can use for seizures, pain and other conditions.

The state announced the launch of its patient and caregiver registry which will allow the Pennsylvania Health Department to start taking applications for people to participate in the program.

Pennsylvania's Acting Secretary of Health and Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine and John Collins, Director of Pennsylvania's Office of Medical Marijuana appear on Thursday's Smart Talk to outline the program.

Tuesday is the first day for individual health insurance enrollment through the Affordable Care Act's open market. Enrollment for 2018 will conclude December 15th. While the future of Obamacare could be uncertain, Pennsylvania's acting insurance commissioner, Jessica Altman, assures qualified recipients "Right now, nothing has changed . . . you should shop just like you have in previous years."

More than 412,000 Pennsylvanians receive health coverage through 'Obamacare' bringing the state's uninsured rate to an all-time low of 5.6%. Seventy-eight percent of PA's enrollees received financial assistance to offset the costs. The federal Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 75 percent of returning marketplace consumers will be able to find a 2017 plan for less than $100 a month, after financial assistance

On the Wednesday edition of WITF's Smart Talk, we'll navigate the system, address the changes and answer your questions about enrolling for insurance in the ACA's online marketplace with acting commissioner Altman. We'll also speak with Lynn Keltz, Executive Director and Health Insurance Navigator with the Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumer's Association and Susan Walther, Executive Director of the Mental Health Association in Pennsylvania.

ACA healthcare plans and enrollment information are available online at www.healthcare.gov.

A four-month-old state budget impasse may finally be nearing an end. It's up to Gov. Tom Wolf to give final approval to a revenue package okayed by the House and Senate last week that pays for a previously approved $32 billion spending plan.

The governor has already signed a bill to expand gambling. The gambling expansion solidifies Pennsylvania as the nation's second-largest commercial casino state. It also allows the state's 10 casinos to apply for satellite casino licenses, locate video gambling terminals at truck stops and permits on-line gambling.

The plan would also borrow from the state's share of tobacco settlement funds or profits from the sale of liquor.

What the revenue package doesn't include is a severance tax on natural gas drillers -- something Wolf has requested since he was elected three years ago. In an appearance before the Pennsylvania Press Club Monday, the governor was critical of House Republicans for not supporting a severance tax.

WITF's Capitol Bureau Chief Katie Meyer appears on Tuesday's Smart Talk to provide details on the budget and other state news. Also, Pennsylvania voters go the polls next Tuesday to elect municipal officials and judges. The judicial candidates for State Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth Courts are largely unknown to most voters. Franklin and Marshall College political analyst Dr. G. Terry Madonna joins us on Smart Talk to discuss the race for judges.

Halloween is creeping around the corner and on the Monday edition of WITF's Smart talk we'll dissect a pair of terrifying stories from the region that border on urban legend.

In late November of 1928, three men walked onto a remote farm in southeast York County and murdered the reclusive Nelson Rehmeyer. The ring leader, a down-on-his-luck transient named John Blymer, had convinced his accomplices that Rehmeyer was using witchcraft to cast spells. Lawyer and author J. Ross McGinnis has studied the case for decades, collating his research in the 2000 book Trials of Hex. McGinnis will join Smart Talk to tell a tale of destitution, mysticism and murder. Also, in 1879, six men in Lebanon County conspired to murder a neighbor. A hefty insurance policy was purchased on the victim right before his murder. The six defendants all had blue eyes, garnering the collective moniker the "Blue Eyed Six." Their trial was precedent-setting and the outcome favorable for the hangman. Gary Ludwig, author of The Blue Eyed Six, will join Smart Talk to break through the urban legends that have fascinated Lebanon residents for more than a century and share the true story of the first insurance murder in American history.