The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank provides meals to almost 50,000 people each week or 453,000 annually in its 27 county service area.

Of the clients who the Food Bank serves, 86% live in households that are "food insecure" meaning all people at all times don't have access to enough food for an active, healthy life.

About 65% of client households have incomes that fall at or below the federal poverty level.

Why are there so many people in Central Pennsylvania who don't have enough food to eat? It goes back to the Great Recession that began in 2007. Nine years later, many families haven't recovered.

WITF is partnering with Wegmans and the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank Thursday to raise money to provide meals for those in need.

Joining us on Smart Talk to discuss hunger are Jennifer Powell, Director of Development for the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank and Bob Finn, the store manager at Wegmans in Mechanicsburg.

Also, seemingly out of nowhere, the Penn State Nittany Lion football team has turned its season around and could be on the way to their best record in almost a decade. Just over a month ago, Penn State had just been beaten 49-10 by Michigan. It seemed to be a low point in the almost five years since the NCAA imposed sanctions on the football program as the result of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case.

The Nittany Lions had a two win two loss record and fans started calling for Coach James Franklin's job. But since then, they've won four games in a row, including a huge victory over then second-ranked Ohio State, and are ranked in college football's top 25 for the first time since 2011.

PennLive's Penn State reporter Greg Pickel explains the turnaround on Thursday's Smart Talk.

Less than 15% of the American electorate turned out to vote in the 2014 mid-term election. That is a startling low level of political engagement, especially in a country that prides itself on its citizens' freedom to vote.

Six political analysts collaborated to determine the degrees of civic engagement in each state and the District of Columbia. Commissioned by WalletHub.com, the experts found very high involvement in Wisconsin, Colorado and Maine and very low engagement in Texas, West Virginia and Oklahoma.

Smart Talk will speak with Keith Gaddie, one of the authors of the report and the Chair of the Political Science Department at The University of Oklahoma, about the state of political engagement in both the United States and Pennsylvania as we are less than a week away from one of the most contentious election in memory.

Then we meet with Ted Herman and Mike Aumiller - collectors of political buttons. They will share their favorite pieces from their collections and talk about the role memorabilia plays in presidential campaigns. They will be showing their collection at the Hershey Derry Township Historical Society tonight at 7:00pm.

Also, we speak with Paul Rizzo, the Libertarian candidate running for the seat in Pennsylvania's 15th Congressional District. The district includes all of Lehigh County and parts of Berks, Dauphin, Lebanon and Northampton Counties and is currently represented by Republican incumbent Charlie Dent.

With just a week before Election Day, Smart Talk continues conversations with the candidates - giving voters the opportunity to learn more about the candidates on the ballots they'll see next Tuesday. Tuesday, we'll talk with two candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mary Ellen Balchunis is a Democrat looking to represent the 7th Congressional District. The 7th district includes parts of Lancaster and Berks Counties along with Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties. She is running against incumbent Republican Congressman Patrick Meehan.

The 11th Congressional District features a matchup of two former Mayors of Hazleton - Republican incumbent Congressman Lou Barletta and Democrat Mike Marsicano. Mayor Marsicano joins us on Tuesday's program.

The 11th District includes parts of Dauphin, Cumberland and Perry Counties as well as all of Columbia, Montour and Wyoming Counties and parts of Luzerne, and Northumberland Counties.

"The notion that there is greater comfort with personal attacks in the political process is terribly concerning."

That's Allegheny College President Jim Mullen upon receiving the results of a Zogby commissioned survey measuring the level of civility in contemporary political discourse.

"It is now clear that voters not only view this year's campaign as the most uncivil in recent memory," he says. "But many are beginning to lower their standards for civility in politics."

The report can be viewed as startling. Of 1,286 polled adults, 63% called the 2016 presidential election as "extremely or very uncivil." That's up from the 20% who regarded the 2012 election in the same way.

Jim Mullen will be a guest on Smart Talk on Monday to discuss the findings of these polls and why he fears they are "bad news for our democracy," as he sees it.

Also, Republican Donald Trump didn't like Jeffrey McCausland, the former dean of the Army War College in Carlisle, questioning the presidential candidate's foreign policy acumen.

"You can tell your military expert that I'll sit down and I'll teach him a couple of things" Trump told ABC's George Stephanopoulos in response to McCausland's assertion that the candidate doesn't understand military policy when it comes to reclaiming the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Jeffrey McCausland is a retired Army Colonel, a former Ranger with a West Point degree and a Ph.D. in law and diplomacy. A veteran of the first Gulf War, he has served as an advisor to the National Security Council, the Pentagon, and an array of tactical and diplomatic positions that cements his bona fides as a military expert.

Before you conclude that the 2016 presidential campaign is the strangest ever, read Erin McHugh's book Political Suicides: Missteps, Peccadillos, Bad Calls, Backroom Hijinx, Sordid Pasts, Rotten Breaks and Just Plain Dumb Mistakes in the Annals of Americans Politics. It is WITF and Aaron's Books Pick-of-the Month for the month of October.

What McHugh's book shows is that there have been a lot of bizarre politics and politicians over the past 240 years in the United States. Many of them have ties to Pennsylvania like Daniel Sickles, a former Congressman who almost lost the Battle of Gettysburg for the Union, lost a leg during the battle, saved the leg to view, had affairs with a prositute and the Queen of Spain and killed the son of Star-Spangled Banner author Francis Scott Key for having an affair with Mrs. Sickles, but was acquitted by pleading temporary insanity.

Also, the first Central Pennsylvania Whisky Festival is scheduled for Saturday at the Zembo Shrine in Harrisburg.

You're probably familiar with wine and craft beer festivals but a whisky festival is new to this part of the state. Events highlighting whisky have been successful in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is a partner in the whisky festival that include world-renowned brands, luxury spirits, as well as highly-rated, reserve and small batch products for sampling, according to the festival website. The tasting list will feature more than 200 varieties of whisky, scotch, bourbon, vodka, gin, rum, tequalia and other cordials.

Appearing on the program are Pam Bernd, Head of the Luxury Division for the Pennsylvania LCB and Andrew Martin, owner and proprietor of Thisle Finch Distillery in Lancaster.

Smart Talk takes a Road Trip Thursday to talk politics before next month's election.

The show is being broadcast live from the Cornerstone Coffeehouse, 2133 Market Street in Camp Hill.

Appearing on the program are Sarah Niebler and David O'Connell - both assistant professors of political science at Dickinson College and former Pennsylvania State Senator Franklin Kury. Sen. Kury is an author and is probably best known for championing the amendment to Pennsylvania's Constitution that guarantees clean air and water in the state.

Stanley Lawson, president of the Greater Harrisburg chapter of the NAACP also joins us to discuss issues important to African-American voters in the election.

Among the topics to be discussed is how to bring together a divided country after the election.

This Smart Talk Road Trip is supported by Boyer and Ritter, Certified Public Accountants and Consultants and Reager and Adler, Attorneys and Counselors at Law.

Pennsylvania's 15th Congressional District cuts a long and narrow swath from the New Jersey border in the east through the Lehigh Valley, Berks County, Lebanon County and southwest into Dauphin County. It includes parts of Allentown, Emmaus, Lebanon and Hershey. Democrat Rick Daugherty is challenging incumbent Republican Charlie Dent for the seat.

Smart Talk spoke with Representative Dent last week and on Wednesday Scott LaMar has a conversation with Rick Daugherty about his plans, policies and how he feels he can serve Pennsylvanians in the US House of Representatives.

Also, Lloyd Smucker has been representing people in portions of York and Lancaster Counties in the Pennsylvania State Senate since 2009. The Lancaster born-and-raised Republican is competing against Democrat Christina Hartman and Independent Shawn Patrick House for the vacant US House seat in Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District, covering portions of Berks and Lancaster Counties.

Smucker has built a platform on repealing Obamacare, strengthening our Southern border and reducing federal spending. Also on Wednesday he will join Scott LaMar to make the case why he can best serve the 16th District. His opponents, Hartman and House, have already appeared on the show.

The two candidates running the Pennsylvania State Senate in the 15th District -- Democrat Rob Teplitz and Republican John DiSanto -- appear on Tuesday's Smart Talk to debate the issues. WITF and the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and Capital Region Economic Development Corporation have teamed up tp produce the debate.

The 15th District includes most of Dauphin County and all of Perry County. Teplitz is the incumbent who is in his first term in office. DiSanto is a political newcomer who has operated a construction firm.

Judging by the competing TV commercials the two candidates are airing lately, the contest has become increasingly more negative. Both candidates have accused the other of not being truthful in their commercials.

Among the issues to be discussed are property taxes, education funding, spending and government reform.

Almost half of Americans have saved nothing for retirement. As more baby boomers reach retirement age and people are living longer, its obvious more planning is warranted. While soon-to-be retirees probably feel the most urgency, Gen Xers and Millenials maybe haven't even thought about saving for later in their lives.

These topics will be addressed at 6:00pm, Sunday, October 30th on WITF - TV on the documentary When I'm 65. On the Monday edition of Smart Talk, we will discuss some of the keys to successful retirement planning for Millenials, Gen-Xer's and Baby Boomers with Tracy Burke, Partner and Investment Consultant with Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors and Brad Neumann, Certified Financial Advisor, Roof Advisory Group.

West York Mayor Charles Wasko resigned earlier this month under pressure from constituents and fellow officials. Wasko had posted racist images to social media, including pictures of monkeys he compared to the Obamas and an image of Clint Eastwood holding a noose with a caption implying the lynching of the president. He initially resisted calls for his resignation, defending himself by refusing to be "politically correct," telling WHTM-TV "I will say what is on my mind and what I believe in. The racist stuff, yeah, I'll admit I did that, and I don't care what people label me as."

For weeks, the calls for resignation went unheeded by Wasko. When the West York Borough Council looked at ways to remove him from office, they were faced with a Pennsylvania law that places the power to remove elected municipal officials in the hands of the legislature. West Yorkers learned first-hand just how hard it is to remove politicians from office. Wasko's Monday night resignation eased that burden for both his constituents and state lawmakers.

WITF's Emily Previti reported on the removal process for Keystone Crossroads this week and she will join Smart Talk to explain why Pennsylvania is one of only three states that require this process for firing ineffective or inappropriate elected officials.

After months of not being a major issue, the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare has once again become a political issue in the presidential and other political campaigns.

One of the reasons is there are insurance companies dropping out of the federal health insurance exchange where those looking for insurance can shop and compare plans. Earlier this year, Aetna and UnitedHealth announced they're not offering plans in Pennsylvania. But perhaps the most significant reason is because rates have gone up significantly. Here in Pennsylvania, rates will increase an average of 42%. The Pennsylvania Insurance Commission sets those rates based on information submitted to them by the insurance companies.Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Theresa Miller appears on Friday's Smart Talk explained the higher rates.

WITF's Election 2016 coverage continues on Friday's Smart Talk as we're joined by Democratic 6th Congressional candidate Mike Parrish.

The 6th includes parts of Lebanon, Berks and Chester Counties.

Parrish is running against incumbent Republican Ryan Costello.