The last couple of years have been truly unprecedented times for local food pantries, as they have had to deal with levels of need that have skyrocketed. We wanted to check in with one group that has been working hard to make a difference -- so we caught up with Vince Schiavone, CEO of Caring for Friends.

For more information go to Caringforfriends.org or call: 215-464-2224

Independence Blue Cross presents Facts over Fear, a special pandemic mini-series from KYW Newsradio In Depth. In the third part of our series, we're talking with Dr. Perry Halkitis, the Dean of Rutgers School of Public Health, for a look at the public health angle of this pandemic as we move into another winter with COVID. What approach should we be taking now, and have we learned enough from this to be prepared for the next pandemic? We discuss Philadelphia's new vaccine mandate for restaurants, the long-term effects on the health care workforce, and why Dr. Halkitis thinks vaccines are not the definitive solution. 

Independence Blue Cross presents Facts over Fear, a special pandemic mini-series from KYW Newsradio In Depth. We're learning how to manage the fear that has come with a new surge of COVID cases right before the holidays. In part two of the series, KYW's Medical Editor Dr. Brian McDonough gets real about who's most at risk - the key being that vaccines provide significant protection. He advises us on whether or not to gather with family at Christmas, the usefulness of home testing, what we need to do to convince more people to get vaccinated, and how to shift our mental approach to look on the positive side.

Independence Blue Cross presents Facts over Fear, a special pandemic mini-series from KYW Newsradio In Depth. The holidays are here. Omicron is spreading rapidly. For many people, it’s a very scary moment in the timeline of this pandemic. So how do we keep ourselves from letting fear dictate yet another holiday season? For starters, we can arm ourselves with the facts. Omicron is now the dominant variant of coronavirus in the United States. It’s spreading rapidly. But what we’re learning about the variant is changing and growing daily – so we called Dr. Krys Johnson at Temple University’s College of Public Health to ask some questions about Omicron.

Nutrition misinformation is 'the original fake news.' That's what Melinda Boyd calls it -- the Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition at Cedar Crest College says an alarming amount of the information people find online about diet and nutrition is actually misinformation. So what are the biggest lies people constantly believe about nutrition? Diet shams that won't go away? Super foods that aren't so super? And when should you start wondering if the Instagram influencer you rely on for diet tips might not actually be qualified to give you advice? 

Checks in the mail from the American Rescue Plan. The Texas power grid failures. The Surfside condo collapse. January 6th. 2021 had no shortage of big news stories. The data intelligence company Morning Consult recently released a report that looks at the news stories that really resonated, and those that didn’t break through from this past year. We wanted to talk about the Seen Read Heard 2021 report so we caught up with Cameron Easley, Senior Editor at Morning Consult.

 Check out the report here: https://morningconsult.com/2021-seen-read-heard-series/

From the inflation roller coaster to house prices, Philadelphia economist David Fiorenza joins the podcast to break down the biggest stories of the year in a wild pandemic economy, and what he's keeping an eye on for next year. 

The US recently announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Several other countries have followed suit. We asked Dr. Mark Thomas, assistant professor of political science at La Salle University to come on the podcast to explain what it means to diplomatically boycott the games, how many times it's happened before, and what, if anything these actions are going to accomplish in China. 

The controversial abortion law out of Texas survived a Supreme Court challenge, and now California announced its intentions to use the framework of that law to target illegal guns. So was this inevitable? What kind of judicial Pandora's box have we opened? And what happens next? Dr. Michael Moreland, Professor of Law at Villanova University's Charles Widger School of Law is on the podcast to explain what the states are trying and how the strategy will test the federal courts. 

America's teachers are facing increasing needs and decreasing resources, and there just aren't enough teachers to meet the demand. We are in the midst of a teacher shortage, and the ripple effects can be seen just about everywhere. Dr. David D. Timony, Associate Professor and Chair of Education at Delaware Valley University is on the podcast to talk about why there's a shortage, the biggest problems teachers are facing right now, and how to start fixing them.