The Spark

Health officials in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania have confirmed a case of measles in an unvaccinated child, and it’s possible to sat members of the public were exposed. Dr. Banku Jairath at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical school shared what we need to know about measles and how to stay safe.

Asia: Can you start by explaining what measles are and why it is considered such a serious illness?

Dr. Jairath: Measles is a preventable, highly contagious, and airborne virus that can cause serious health complications. It is, it's a very serious illness and is one of the most infectious viral illnesses known to mankind. So, if you have a person who's infected with the measles virus, and you put that person in a room with 100 unvaccinated people, 90 of those 100 people would get infected. Its 90 percent is the infectious rate of this virus. It was officially considered eliminated from United States in the year 2000 due to the effectiveness of the MMR vaccine, which is the best way to prevent measles and also the best way to prevent its spread.

Asia: What symptoms take place once you've contracted measles?

Dr. Jairath: The common symptoms that are seen with measles are fever, which is anything above 100 .4 degrees Fahrenheit, which can last several days. You can have cough, runny nose, watery eyes, sensitivity to light, and then later you develop a rash. You can also develop pneumonia. You can develop brain swelling or encephalitis. and then get complications from that. And a person with measles is contagious for about eight days from four days before the rash appears until four days after.

Asia:  So, like you said vaccination has been key in keeping measles cases low for years but we're also seeing a resurgence. Could you explain the importance of the vaccine and how effective it is?

Dr. Jairath: So, measles vaccine, as I said, is strongly recommended for kids from the first dose is typically given after 12 months of age. And the second dose is given anywhere between four to six years of age. The One dose gives you close to 95 % protection and two doses give you close to 97 % protection. So, it is one of the highly efficacious vaccines that we have and effective.

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The historic Strasburg Railroad is hosting a one-of-a-kind experience. You can now solve a mystery on a train. Avery Klees and Terron Quailes, Director of Entertainment, shared more information about the experience.

Asia: Okay, so let's start from the beginning. Tell us where the inspiration came from to create an escape room on a train at such a historic place.

Terron: So, the entertainment department started at Strasburg Railroad in 2020. That was when we established the in-house team. I wasn't there at that time, but since then, the team has grown. It initially started with the escape room process in 2021, which happened on a moving train and that was Houdini's Great Escape. And then in 2022, there was Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes themed escape room that took place on one of our historic president's cars. and then in twenty-three we moved to the stationary car curse the bobber was twenty-three and twenty-four and then now we're back with two brand new ones disco down the tracks and crack the case.

Asia: What made you all decide to go from starting on a moving train to now a stationary experience?

Terron: So, I think part of that was just the logistics behind it. Again, if you're on a moving train, things are also more complicated that way. With limited amount of time, the train ride itself was a 45 -minute train ride, so that shortens the amount of time that you could even have in the escape room, where most escape rooms last about at least 60 minutes to try to get out of it. And so then being able to put it in the Bobber, which was one of our stationary cars, was super helpful, and then this year we have it. The second car is coach 20, which is one of the oldest cars that we have thre as well. So yeah, it was it was super fun to be able to have two different experiences happening at the same time.

Avery: Definitely, like, it's such a historic area, but even just in the complexity of designing something like that and the nature of a moving train, like if anyone's ever ridden a train before, it's very bumpy, you could have unexpected things. If we need to stop at a certain point, then all of a sudden, your timing is affected. There's a lot of external factors that go into just operating a train that then when you have the Complexity of then doing an escape room at the same time it They overlap in a very weird spot that you don't necessarily want when you're trying to create this experience for people.

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Spring is around the corner and so is allergy season. If you suffer from sneezing, itchy eyes, and congestion we’ve got you covered. Dr. Tyler Liebgott, Pharm D is a Pharmacy District Leader for CVS Pharmacy in the Harrisburg region. He shared advice on how to manage allergies before they start, the best over the counter treatments, and simple lifestyle changes to help you breathe easier this season.

Asia: Could you tell us the current pollen conditions in Harrisburg?

Dr. Liebgott: Yeah, so looking at the forecast, currently we're around the medium threshold for pollen. And over the next few days, we're about to see the same thing, but as we inch closer to spring, we're gonna see an increase in pollen and it's best to get ahead of the spring allergies before they truly hit oneself.

Asia: Why does it seem that in the spring, that's when allergies hit the hardest?

Dr.  Liebgott: It's just due to the pollen in the air. There's different allergens that people can be allergic to, and it allows our body to create a histamine, which is a chemical, which increases inflammation within the body and can have symptoms such as runny nose, itchy eyes, post -nasal drip, coughing and sneezing that we commonly see throughout the springtime. So... Um, my, you know, I'm excited to be able to talk through some of those things and how we can best prepare our, uh, the people of Harrisburg and central Pennsylvania to help prepare them through the spring season and hopefully control their allergies.

Asia:  Yeah, so what are some of those most common allergens that you were talking about that people experience in the spring?

Dr. Liebgott: The allergens that most people experience, pollen is number one. And then maple right now is really big. It's the number one allergen on the list as of right now. And elm is also an allergen as well. It's pretty common amongst people in central Pennsylvania. You know, one of the best things to do is what I say when you're preparing for allergy season, and if you know you have spring allergies, always try and start two to four weeks before those symptoms start. You can either go in by talking to one of our pharmacists in a store or chatting with one on cbs .com and they can really recommend over -the -counter products or natural ways to prevent allergies from really being bothersome this season.

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Some of President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs are on hold for now. However, they could have huge impacts in Pennsylvania as billions of dollars in goods comes from Canada annually. Kevin Schreiber, President and CEO of York County Economic Alliance and Jonathan Bowser, President & CEO of Steel Works Construction shared how this could impact businesses in Central PA.

Asia: Kevin, so could you give us an overview on these new tares on Canadian goods and what they mean for York County's economy?

Kevin: I think right now we're in a period of a little bit uncertainty. You know, I think what most in, you know, the country, let alone here in central Pennsylvania and across the Commonwealth are wondering are when the tariffs might go into effect, if the tariffs might go into effect, and then ultimately why and what they'll cover. But, you know, unquestionably right now with respect to the Canadian tariffs, Canada is our number one trading partner in Pennsylvania. So, you know, annually Pennsylvania exports over 14 billion worth of goods to Canada and we receive about 13 and a half billion worth of goods back from Canada. So, imagine 25 % tacked on top of that. Someone's ultimately going to pay that. And, you know, unfortunately the burden generally will fall to consumers or, as I'm sure Jonathan will talk about, businesses as they conduct their business. But here in central Pennsylvania, There's just shy of 40 ,000 jobs that depend on Canadian trade. So that's a significant amount of our workforce right here across Pennsylvania. There's about 300 ,000. And right here in central Pennsylvania, and that's generally Dolphin, Lancaster, York, and Cumberland counties. We're exporting about two and a half billion worth of goods to Canada and about 240 million worth of services to Canada. So, there's a lot of money on the line. And I think right now there's a lot of uncertainty. And as I noted, you know, I think we're just sort of trying to grapple with if these are going to happen, when they may happen, what they may cover, and then why.

Asia: So, like you said that Pennsylvania imports around 13 billion in goods from Canada. What specific industries in York County will feel those effects the most?

Kevin: These tariffs don't discriminate. They really will be across the board and felt mutually by everyone. Some of the biggest industries are agriculture manufacturing. York County specifically were a strong manufacturing hub in central Pennsylvania. About 18 percent of our labor force is employed in advanced manufacturing. There's steel going across border up to Canada there's parts going up to Canada. There's motorcycles going up to Canada. So, you know, obviously we're concerned about the manufacturing impact, but unquestionably agriculture, chemicals, energy, manufacturing, and then services as well. Professional services, travel, things of that nature, all from central Pennsylvania going up there.

Asia:  Jonathan steelworks constructions it relies on materials and goods and supplies kind of like what Kevin was just saying Are there any sourced from Canada from your supplies?

Jonathan: I would say that probably the largest Interiors that we see sourced in the construction industry and we're a general contractor Is usually in the steel and aluminum is probably the biggest ones that we've been really Just keeping an eye on and just trying to understand a little bit better one of the things that we've that we've seen Probably over the last month as these tariffs conversations have really ramped up has been in the proposals that we receive from a lot of our steel and aluminum contractors that are putting on 10 to 15 day price guarantees and they're not guaranteeing anything beyond that. And so for us, you know, that does create a lot of uncertainty in our marketplace because if we're pricing a project today, we may not get started on our project for six months. And so, you know, right now, we don't know where to really price some of these products. And if we're doing a steel building a superstructure, it could be a third of the cost of the overall project, and if you're looking at a potential up to a 25 % increase or more or anywhere in between there, it's really been hard to really wrap our arms around it. So, as Kevin said, we haven't seen that impact yet in the pricing, however the uncertainty of it has created a lot of angst and anxiety in what we do.

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PTSD is often called the invisible wound, a battle fought in the mind long after the war has ended. But for those who live with it, the struggle is very real. Kevin Macomber, author of Walking From The Shadows:  My journey With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder shared his personal path to healing on The Spark.

Asia: So, let's start off with your chapter called Accepting. You said that this book won't be focused on veteran -related PTSD and that you've come to the conclusion that trauma is trauma. Why did you take that approach?

Kevin: The book that somebody reads today is not the book that I started with. I think, you know, it's a natural tendency of all veterans to want to dive down and go into the detail of what they experienced. And you get into that, and it really is a somewhat narrow audience when you start writing that way. When I got into other chapters in the book, I needed people to read it. and I called upon people I knew, and I said, hey, I need you to take a look at some of the chapters I'm writing, and I wanted to see, you know, does it resonate with you? Do you relate to it? And it was really an interesting journey because people I knew I didn't really know. And they started opening up, and some of them just told me horrific stories about what happened to them in, you know, dysfunctional childhoods, abusive marriages. you know, I really had to do some self -reflection there and I said, you know, as bad as what I went through, I did not go through that. And there's probably as many as four chapters that were in the book and a lot of other content. I just took a pen and I whacked it. I just pulled all of it out and I said, my trauma is no worse than anybody else's trauma. I think as a society, a culture, and we see it on TV all the time, you know, exalting veterans, nothing wrong with that. It's great. but my book wasn't about the trauma, my book was about the healing. And we all share pretty much the same common healing issues and journeys as one another and it really doesn't matter what trauma you went through.

Asia: So, you said that the physical copy of the book today isn't what it was when you first began writing it. When did you first begin writing the book? And when did you make the change?

Kevin: Well, I didn't know I was writing a book. So, you know, back in the 90s, when I had a mental breakdown, and we just, I was in South Carolina at the time, which was probably a problem in itself. If you think that the mental health system now is not good, and you sometimes hear the criticism, oh, there's not enough counselors, or my insurance doesn't cover it, all these things, you still hear it. It's nothing compared to what it was like in the 90s. There was absolutely nothing. and culturally, it wasn't acceptable to talk about your weaknesses. There was a stigma to mental health, but particularly if you were a veteran, you wouldn't talk about, oh my God, I got really sick for my service. And so, you know, moving forward, I couldn't figure out a lot of the things. I was a smart guy, you know, I was a sales engineer by trade. I could pretty much sort of articulate on paper what I was thinking, what I was feeling, and I would just write and I'd write. So I journaled for about 20 years.

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The weather has been warming up and spring is getting closer. Planting a tree improperly, especially burying the root flare too dee or planting in a hole that’s too small, can lead to the tree’s death or stunted growth. Erica Jo Shaffer shared a breakdown of the common pitfalls to avoid when planting a tree.

Asia: Okay, so let's start at the very beginning. What are some of the common mistakes that people make when it comes to choosing a tree?

Erica Jo: Well, I think the first thing you need to do is look at where you're going to plant the tree before you even get in your car and drive to a garden center, because you might wander around. I remember people would come in and say, I want a dogwood, because they know that word, but then they're gonna plant it in full screaming sun and it's not gonna do well. So looking around your property and deciding where you're gonna plant a tree, and not only just looking there, look up. How many trees get like mauled because somebody planted them under a power line? So deciding where you wanna plant the tree and how big the tree should get are your first two things you need to do.?

Asia: How do you know that in advance? Because do you know typically how big a tree is going to grow?

Erica Jo:  See that's the thing you got to work backwards okay I don't know what tree you're gonna get yet but say that you know that the tree is underneath the power line and it's in hot screaming Sun and you want to make sure that you then don't choose a tree that gets over 20 feet tall Wow so then you go to the garden center and be like look this is what I need I need a smaller growing tree that doesn't get over 20 feet tall it's screaming hot Sun I'm I'm probably gonna forget to water it. What do you got? and then have somebody show you what your choices are and then move from there.

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The Stroud Water Research Center has been focused on the science of rivers and streams since 1967. Scientists at the center conduct studies on these systems and how to protect them. They work hard to advance our knowledge and stewardship of freshwater systems through global research, education, and watershed restoration. In this episode of The Spark, we spoke with Jessica Provinski, Director of Development, Lisa Blazure, Soil Health Coordinator, and David Bressler, Community Science Facilitator, about the work they do at the research center. We also discussed how the community can get involved to ensure fresh water is safe, clean, and available.

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Located in State College, Pennsylvania is Discovery Space of Central Pennsylvania. Discovery Space is a non-profit science center designed to provide engaging experiences with the experience of technology that sparks curiosity and creativity. Michele Crowl Executive Director of Discovery Space and The Rivet, says the center opened back in 2011 and has grown ever since.

“We've since moved to a larger facility. We've been able to expand the programs that we offer. So, we started out with a lot of pre-K programs and things for early elementary. And now we're able to, in our larger space, do things for up into middle school, high school. And when we get there to talk about the rivet or the other part of our organization, we have 87 -year -olds coming weekly to do things in our space.”

The program offers hands-on learning accessible to people of all ages outside of the traditional classrooms.

“In a lot of our programs, we're not only doing science experiments or engineering design challenges, but there's literacy woven in there into the whole experience. And so, we really level the playing field because things are hands on.”

The center has just received a baby California Round Ray. The exhibit is having a welcome party on 3March 14 from 5:30-7:30 pm. They are also asking the public’s help on a name for the stingray.

“You can vote right now if you go to our website. The four names are Sandy, Bubbles, Pearl, and Strawberry. So, one of those names will be the winning name for our baby stingray. It's aa California round ray. Right now, she's only maybe five inches wide. We'll have her for about a year and a half, depending on how quickly she grows. She just arrived with us. So, she's going through a period where she's acclimating to us and our environment and she's already been, um, really playful.

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Coming up on this week's edition of the spark weekly.

Avian Flu has been impacting Pennsylvania’s farms for nearly two years now. The virus has had a major impact on poultry farmers across the state. 

Our Braver Angels segment for the month of March was about the Braver Angels National Community Debate – National Debate Series:  Trump’s First 100 days. This free national debate offers participants from across the ideological spectrum will have an opportunity to speak and ask their questions. There will also be opportunities for participants to share their experiences in the past 100 days as well. 

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Our Braver Angels segment for the month of March was about the Braver Angels National Community Debate – National Debate Series:  Trump’s First 100 days. This free national debate offers participants from across the ideological spectrum will have an opportunity to speak and ask their questions. There will also be opportunities for participants to share their experiences in the past 100 days as well. John Wood Jr, National Ambassador for Braver Angels provided insight into the new initiative.

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