EPA Chief Scott Pruitt announced on Tuesday that the agency will roll back the Clean Power Plan - the Obama administration's policy to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electrical power plants. The plan emphasized the use of natural gas and renewable energy sources over coal-powered generation plants.

Critics of the plan said it unfairly targeted the coal industry and that implementation of the policy represented unconstitutional overreach by the Obama White House. The Heritage Foundation predicted the plan would result in a loss of 300,000 jobs annually and eliminate $2.5 trillion from the GDP.

Supporters of the Clean Power Plan point to carbon admissions as a primary catalyst for climate change and that the plan would help to slow down years of man-made environmental damage. They point to job growth as a result of wind and solar energy development.

Donald Trump has complained the CPP has led to a decline in employment in the coal industry; claims of up to 125,000 lost coal jobs have alternately been attributed to the plan and a shift to inexpensive natural gas as an energy source and an increase in automated mining. The industry has seen a drop of employment by 60% since 1980 and many experts say those jobs aren't coming back, regardless of energy policy.

John Quigley is a former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; he currently serves as the head of the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology's Center for Environment, Energy and Economy. Quigley isn't happy about the repeal, telling the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "It is bad public health policy and the way it is being contrived is even more troubling."

On the Friday edition of WITF's Smart Talk, we'll speak with Quigley about the impact the repeal of the Clean Power Plan will have on Pennsylvania. We'll also speak with Brendan Collins, a lawyer dealing with environmental issues with the firm, Ballard Spahr. Collins specializes in energy generation permitting and regulation, litigating on behalf of both conventional and renewable energy suppliers.

Also, President Trump signed an Executive Order Thursday that would offer less expensive insurance to Americans that doesn't cover as many medical conditions or procedures. However, critics say it will mean higher premiums for those who use their insurance more and doesn't require coverage of pre-existing conditions. Also, the Trump Administration said late Thursday night it would end the Affordable Care Act's cost-sharing reduction payments designed to help low-income Americans get health care.

Antoinette Kraus, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, appears on Friday's Smart Talk to explain how the state would be impacted.

On Monday morning of last week, Americans awoke to a another mass shooting. A gunman used semi-automatic rifles that were modified to be fully automatic to kill a large group of people. In this case, a 64-year-old professional gambler knocked the windows out of his 32nd floor room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas and shot at a crowd attending a country music festival. Stephen Paddock used some of the 23 guns he brought with him to kill 58 people and injure nearly 500 more.

While many still struggle to understand Paddock's motives, the narrative has shifted, as it usually does after these shootings, to whether more restrictions are needed on guns. More than 33,000 people are fatally shot in America each year. Those calling for more gun laws say many of the shootings could have been prevented with what they call common sense gun legislation.

Many gun owners and supporters of the 2nd Amendment fear more restrictions on firearms would open a door that would ultimately lead to a total firearm ban. They cite crime statistics that support the need for self-defense with guns and the rights of sportsmen to hunt as they wish. Mental health issues lead to mass shootings, they argue, not guns.

On Thursday's Smart Talk, we discuss guns in America from several angles.

One segment deals with how and why research into the public health implications of gun violence was halted in the '90s. Dr. Mark Rosenberg, a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control in the Clinton Administration joins us to share his experience as a leading firearm violence researcher. We also hear from 2nd Amendment defender, Larry Bell, a University of Houston professor emeritus who believes the government has no business in legislating gun ownership.

Also appearing on the program is Shira Goodman, executive director of CeaseFirePA, an in-state non-profit that works with "mayors, police chiefs, faith leaders, community organizations, and individual Pennsylvanians" to reduce gun violence. Kim Stolfer, president of Firearm Owners Against Crime, explains why he fights for the rights of Pennsylvania's gunowners.

Finally, Gary Smith is a handgun instructor and owner of Point Blank Defense in York. Smith discusses responsible gun ownership and where he feels both sides of this debate are missing each other and where they may find common ground.

Smart Talk encourages you to join the conversation by calling the program at 800-729-7532 or via email at [email protected]. Follow us on twitter at @SmartTalkWITF.

Wednesday's Smart Talk Road Trip takes the show to historic Bube's Brewery in Mount Joy, Lancaster County. We're broadcasting from the Catacombs Restaurant that is located several stories below street level. The Catacombs is one of several eateries in what is considered a destination in Central Pennsylvania.

History is a big part of Wednesday's discussion. German immigrant Alios Bube bought the business in 1876 at the height of a lager beer boom in the U.S. Bube's has been brewing beer off and on for much of the past 140 years since.

We'll discuss the rich history of beer-brewing in Pennsylvania, including the state's own Budweiser brewer. At one time, brewers could be found from Philadelphia to even the smallest towns. At a time when craft beers are so popular, the state is booming with brewers once again.

As Halloween approaches, we have to ask whether ghost reside inside the walls of Bube's. There have been rumors of paranormal activity for years. We'll hear a few of those unexplained stories.

Also, was Bube's a stop on the Underground Railroad that brought slaves to freedom in the 1800s? A hole that leads into darkness and maybe a tunnel in the floor of the Catacombs is being investigated by historians to find out. It's just one of the history discussions on Wednesday's Smart Talk.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It may be the most successful of all the awareness months or days. Most people that see a pink ribbon or almost anything pink this month will recognize it signifies breast cancer awareness.

While the number of breast cancer diagnoses have decreased in the past 15 years, some 250,000 women and men will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2017. More than 40,000 will die this year of breast cancer.

A woman's risk of breast cancer nearly doubles if she has a first-degree relative who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. However, the most significant risk factors are being a woman and age.

On Tuesday's Smart Talk we discuss breast cancer risks, the value of early detection and screening, and treatment options.

Appearing on the program are Pat Halpin Murphy, President and Founder, Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition; Leigh Hurst, Founder and President, Feel Your Boobies Foundation; and Danielle Lavetan, Senior Community Development Manager, MSABC Mega Events, Northeast Region / American Cancer Society, Inc.

State lawmakers continue to grapple with each other and Governor Wolf as they seek to close the $2.2 billion funding gap in the 2017-18 state budget. Wolf accused GOP legislators of playing politics with the budget, saying in a news conference last week "Too many Republicans in the Legislature are focused on the 2018 elections -- they'd rather see me fail than Pennsylvania succeed."

Republican lawmakers blame the governor and Democrats for failing to meet in the middle; House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "We were willing to go to the mat today to complete this process, but we've got to have a willing partner."

Wolf said last week he will borrow from liquor sales profits to plug the hole budget hole. Democrats (and a few Republicans) in the state house are still pushing for a severance tax on natural gas drillers. Republicans countered with a hotel tax and cuts in spending. The Senate wants to tap the state's share of the tobacco settlement fund. The House wants to transfer funds earmarked for transportation and environmental programs among other line items. Almost everybody wants to expand gaming.

On the Monday edition of WITF's Smart Talk, we'll bring you up-to-date on efforts to balance the state's budget with WITF's Capitol Bureau Chief, Katie Meyer.

Back in February, researchers at Facebook were forced to shut down two robots operating with a shared artificial intelligence program. The robots had "decided" that the English they were programmed with was inefficient and they developed their own language. Or did they?

While the robots weren't ejecting astronauts into space, a la HAL 2000 or initiating global apocalypse like Skynet, it did raise some concerns about the viability of relying on AI and its practical applications in the future. Smart Talk talks with Franklin Marshall computer science professor Erik Talvitie about whether we should start planning for an impending robot invasion.

Also, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region have been pairing area youths with role models since 1981 helping to develop relationships that are "built on trust and friendship that can blossom into a future of unlimited potential."

Big Brothers Big Sisters is hosting a truly unique fundraiser - an opportunity to rappel from the roof of Market Square Plaza in Harrisburg. "Over the Edge" takes place October 13th.

We'll speak with Maddie Young, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region, about the event and the positive impact of matching youths with mentors.

The number of employers pushing high-deductible healthcare plans has nearly doubled since 2012, from 13% to 25%. Lawmakers are looking to cut those deductible costs by offering individual health savings accounts hoping consumers would be encouraged to shop around for the best value. This hasn't been the result, according to Amy Wolaver, an economist at Bucknell's Institute for Public Policy.

"Very few people try, and of those who do try, they have difficulty in finding information." Wolaver told Brett Sholtis of WITF's Transforming Health desk. She found that lower-income and minority families are the least likely to compare pricing of health services. On the Friday edition of Smart Talk, we'll speak with Sholtis about the difficulty consumers have in comparatively shopping for healthcare.

Also, the Harrisburg Book Festival begins this Thursday and runs through Sunday. Located at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore and Café in downtown Harrisburg, the event will include poetry readings, children's book presentations and readings from regional and national and international authors as well as a keynote address from 2016 National Book Award Winner, Dr. Ibram Kendi, author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.

Smart Talk will discuss the importance of cultivating a literary identity in Central Pennsylvania and some of the events at the book festival with Alex Brubaker, director of the festival and Catherine Lawrence, co-owner of the Midtown Scholar.

Later, the Antique Automobile Club of America's 2017 Eastern Division National Fall Meet runs through Saturday outside of the Giant Center in Hershey. Every car conceivable will be there - from the Model T's of the 1910s to the Porsches of the '80s and everything in between. Steve Moskowitz, executive director of the Antique Automobile Club of America, will join Smart Talk to discuss America's love for cars - an affair that has been ongoing for more than a century.

As societies mature, its participants will look back with regret at behaviors once regarded as routine. Brett Jenks looks at these attitude shifts and wonders about the motivations and consequences for such changes in society and how they may apply to the approach to contemporary issues, such as climate change.

Jenks is the CEO of Rare, "a global leader in using behavior change to achieve long-lasting conservation results" and recipient of Dickinson College's 2017 Sam Rose '58 and Julie Walters Prize at Dickinson College for Global Environmental Activism. He will lead a discussion entitled "Why the Biggest Barrier to Solving Our Climate Crisis May Be in Our Heads" next Tuesday at Dickinson's Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium.

Jenks appears on Thursday's Smart Talk to discuss seismic shifts in human behavior and how our behavior effects climate change.

Also, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) works to create a safer, healthier world for future generations. The non-profit organization focuses on preventing nuclear war and eliminating nuclear energy, reversing the effects of climate change and protecting the environment from toxic pollution.

Next week, the Harrisburg-Hershey Chapter of PSR will sponsor a discussion with former Massachusetts Congressman John Tierney. A former member of the House Intelligence Committee, Tierney currently serves as the Executive Director of the Council for a Livable World where he uses his experience to fight the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Tierney will address the escalating threat of nuclear war and the treat nuclear armament poses to national security at the West Shore Country Club in Harrisburg next Wednesday; the event will benefit the Harrisburg Peace Garden. Smart Talk will speak with Tierney about the current state of nuclear proliferation and the future for national security as well as Dr. Robert Little, a Harrisburg physician and president of the Harrisburg-Hershey Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

We are in the midst of Pennsylvania Manufacturing Week.

Gov. Tom Wolf said, "Pennsylvania Manufacturing Week and Manufacturing Day, (Friday, October 6) are part of a movement to build positive perceptions about manufacturing, draw attention to the amazing career opportunities available, and highlight the industry's important contributions to our economy."

The manufacturing industry could use a boost. Over the past 30 years, much of the news about manufacturing focused on job losses and manufacturers shutting down due to overseas competition or technology. However, manufacturing is still a significant part of Pennsylvania's economy. According to the state, it has an $84 billion economic impact, almost 19,000 employers and offers an average wage of $59,000 a year.

Sheri Collins, Pennsylvania's Deputy Secretary of the Office of Technology and Innovation with the Department of Community and Economic Development appears on Wednesday's Smart Talk to discuss manufacturing.

Also, America is dealing with an opioid crisis that started with many people using painkillers that often led to heroin. Of course, opioids is just one of many substances that have led to dependence - alcohol, methamphetamines, and cocaine all come to mind. At the same time, there are tens of thousands of people who have worked hard to recover from substance use. And in Pennsylvania that usually means they went through a county program.

We talk recovery on Wednesday's program with Kristin Varner, Director of Training and Advocacy for The RASE Project as well as a Certified Recovery Specialist and Mike Krafick, Certified Recovery Specialist (CRS), and Supervisor with Armstrong Indiana and Clarion Drug and Alcohol Commission.

Pennsylvania's child welfare system is broken and is putting children's lives in danger. That's according to state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale in his year-long State-of-the-Child report that identified caseworker staffing at county Children and Youth services departments as the root of the problem. The report says counties don't have enough qualified professionals, inadequate training, staggering caseloads and inappropriately low pay that all contribute to uncontrollable turnover. For example, York County had a 90% turnover rate in caseworkers over a two-year period.

New laws took effect in 2015 as a result of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse case that expanded the definition of child abuse and increased the number of those required to report abuse. Consequently, the number of child abuse reports that counties had to investigate exploded.

DePasquale pointed out that 46 children died last year as the result of abuse or neglect while 79 others were close to death. All while the state spent $1.8 billion to protect the state's children.

On Tuesday's Smart Talk, we'll discuss the findings of the report and a few of the recommendations to improve the situation with Auditor General DePasquale.

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's epic documentary The Vietnam War resulted in many across the nation discussing aspects of the conflict that may have been difficult to talk about. With that in mind, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle is hosting a discussion with veteransTuesday night entitled "Recovering Sacred Ground for All Generations." The program will provide an opportunity for the audience to share and reflect on their own experience and help facilitate continued dialogue concering the impact of war on their lives.

At least 50 people were killed and 200 injured in the nation's worst mass shooting Sunday night in Las Vegas. On Monday's Smart Talk, we'll get an on-the-ground report from LasVegas journalist Dana Gentry.

The Senate's third attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, failed last week before the vote made it to the floor. It was the third attempt since the inauguration of Donald Trump, who campaigned with the promise to overturn the ACA, saying on many occasions the plan " . . . is unaffordable and it's a disaster."

Earlier in September, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders proposed a "Medicare-for-all" bill that, according to Sanders' own website, would " . . . create a federally administered single-payer health care program." The plan would cover all aspects of healthcare; preventative and emergency care, primary, specialized, vision, dental, mental - everything for everyone. People could choose any doctor and prescriptions would be covered.

Supporters of universal single-payer healthcare are thrilled that the bill brings the topic to the national narrative, though it has little chance of passing the Republican-controlled congress. Critics contend that further government involvement in the healthcare process would only take choices away from consumers and cost would skyrocket.

On the Monday edition of Smart Talk, we will spend the hour discussing the merits and drawbacks of a single-payer healthcare system. Pennsylvania State Representative Pamela DeLissio (D - 194th) will discuss her proposal - the Pennsylvania Health Care Plan - a single payer plan administered by the state.

We'll also speak with Dr. William Davidson, a cardiologist who has served Central Pennsylvania for 30 years and is a member of Physicians for a National Health Program, an organization of doctors advocating for a universal single-payer system.

We'll also speak with critics of the single-payer concept; Vince Phillips is a retired lobbyist who advocated for the Pennsylvania Association of Health Underwriters and Eric Beittel, a financial planner and the former President of the Board of the Central Pennsylvania Association of Health Underwriters. We'll also hear from Elizabeth Stelle, the Director of Policy Analysis for the Commonwealth Foundation.