Smart Talk

Coming up on this week's edition of The Spark Weekly: Flag football and wrestling are the newest sanctioned girls’ sports in Pennsylvania. According to Lyndsay Barna, the Assistant Executive Director of the PA Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) says both sports passed with flying colors with support from the PIAA board. Also, on the program. Jack Crowley, President of the Water Street Rescue Mission in Lancaster, recently marked World Homeless Day, by spending 24 hours outdoors, in support of those who are unsheltered. Crowley discusses the reasons behind his demonstration, and the issue of homelessness in general, especially as the weather begins to turn colder. We’ll also be joined by member of the Water Street Board Rick Rutter, who himself was once homeless.  Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie Meyer and Stephen Caruso of Spotlight PA joined The Spark's journalist roundtable for a segment on Pennsylvania House and Senate Elections. Democrats' hold one seat margin in the House, while Republicans control the Senate by six seats. "Right now, the Senate is controlled by Republicans and the House is controlled by Democrats by just one vote. So, I mean, both of them are in play. Republicans have held the Senate for a very long time. So that is, I think, less likely. But the House could really go either way. And there are a number of races that Stephen in particular has been sort of laser focused on as the most important ones that could flip control. So it's very important. Right now, Pennsylvania's the only divided legislature in the country, I think, still. And we have a Democratic governor. So that makes it difficult for them to really do anything. And so this is going to be it's going to have a huge impact on Pennsylvanians, "Said Meyer. Caruso shared which districts are competitive in this years

Jack Crowley, President of the Water Street Rescue Mission in Lancaster. Just a few weeks ago, Crowley marked World Homeless Day by spending 24 hours outside on a bench in support of those who are currently unhoused. “The idea is not to imitate or pretend that we're experiencing what our friends who are unhoused actually are going through, “said Crowley. The demonstration created an opportunity for different organizations to come together and brainstorm how they could better serve the homeless population. Crowley livestreamed his entire experience. “We had conversations the whole 24 hours. I got like a four-hour window in the middle of the night where it was quiet. I didn't really sleep because it was cold out and I was on an uncomfortable bench. But we had tons of conversations with leaders from across the community, “said Crowley. Crowley gained some new perspective when he camped out all night. He says the experience was way more than just sleeping in the cold. During his demonstration, a former visitor

Shippensburg University has just finished it’s 12th growing season at the Campus Farm. Dr. Sean Cornell has been a faculty advisor since tit’s inception. “it's been a really exciting opportunity for the university with a student led project, the students from biology and geography and Earth Science, as well as social work departments. We all kind of got together and developed the campus farm concept actually in response to both the students’ interests, but also the needs in our community. At that time, you know, the Shippensburg Produce and Outreach Organization had posted a sign indicating they wanted individuals to grow a role for SPO so that you would have this excess harvest that could go to community members, “said Cornell. Seember Agbajir is a student at Shippensburg University and says being involved in the farm was a great experience for her. “That was my first time ever being on the farm, so it was actually a great experience for me. Prior to that time, I had to get close to Dr. Ross, so I felt like

Voting registration in Pennsylvania ended on October 21 and mail and absentee ballots are due by November 5. WITF Democracy Reporter Jordan Wilkie voted absentee and recorded himself voting. “I took the sort of unusual step of voting by mail in person. So I went to my elections, my county elections office, and I requested my mail in ballot. They approved the request. They handed me the ballot. I filled it out. I put it in the secret envelope. I put it in the return envelope. But instead of putting it in the mail back to them, I just turned around and went to the office window and said, well, here you go. They recorded accepting it. And, you know, not a lot of people know that this is part of the process in Pennsylvania. Jordan documented his experience because it’s a method that many Pennsylvania voters are not experienced with yet. “Well, when people vote, they get in a habit of voting a certain way. People who vote in person on Election Day tend to vote in person. Election Day, you know, for years and years

Hurricane Milton and Helene devastated many states including Florida. ABC 27 Meteorologist Dan Tomaso planned a family vacation in Florida, but it was postponed for a few days due to Milton. “So, I was there about three days after the hurricane hit. And again, luckily, the Orlando area did not experience major issues, especially in the area that I was in. But the farther west you went across Florida, the more damage, wind damage like rain and wind gusts in excess of 100mph for a few locations.” Unfortunately, according to Tomaso, the Hurricane season for 2024 is not over. The waters of the Caribbean are currently warm and that’s where storms begin. “And there are several models that are that advertised, computer models that have advertised something happening either right near Halloween or in the days following Halloween from the Caribbean northward to, say, possibly Florida. We're hoping that's not the case or even along areas of the East Coast. So, what essentially has been happening lately for us is just t

The 5TH annual Red Rose Film Festival takes place November 8-10 in Lancaster. Ryan Shank, Executive Director of festival says participants can expect private screenings, award ceremonies, Q&A, and so much more. “We also have five different industry breakout panels where we're inviting industry experts from around the state to come and share their expertise, “said Shank. Actress and Filmmaker Sugey Cruz began her filmmaking career as a documentary film producer for the Oscar-qualifying film, “The US of Autism.” She’s also collaborated with Universal Pictures, Disney, Blinding Edge Films, and Phi Phen Studios. She is from Lancaster and will participate as a judge during the festival. “So, you have an hour and a half long film that you have to sit through and like, you know, examine and actually be thoughtful about them and, and give good feedback because somebody put that energy into that, and you want to make sure that it gets viewed. So that's it's been a pleasure to actually be involved with something li

According to the Adams County Historical Society, the Civil War greatly impacted American funeral practices. The ACHS is hosting Mortuary practices:  How the death profession was changed by the Civil War October 30th at 7 p.m. Maria Lynn, Archives Assistant says Duane Hills and Neva FinGado will be discussing the history of embalming practices in the United States and how the Civil War played a vital role in moving the death care profession and the preparation of the deceased into a new direction. “They talk about not only the Civil War, but the one of the gentlemen that wrote books. He actually worked for many years for Joseph Gobblers Sons, which was in Washington, DC, Funeral Home. It's still there today, and they still have very high-profile funerals. And I do believe that President Lincoln, after he was killed, he did he was taken eventually to the Sons Funeral Home, “said Lynn. During the Civil War, there were no dog tags to identify soldiers or federal hospitals. Andrew Dalton, Executive Director of th

The red zone is a period of time on a college campus when the risk of sexual assault is the highest, typically from the start of the fall semester to Thanksgiving break. Lili Duarte- Evans, Vice President of the YWCA Carlisle & Cumberland County says it’s a time where students experience the most sexual assault. “So, we have students for the first time being away from home. And when you're going into college, what you hear a lot is trying new things, right? Get out of your comfort zone and befriend all. And that really makes students vulnerable. For people that are wanting to cause harm in this type of way.” The YWCA Carlisle & Cumberland County provides support and services for all people. One of the programs Duarte-Evans oversees is the sexual assault and anti-human trafficking services where they help victims, survivors, and their loved ones in the aftermath of violence, sexual assault, or trafficking. If a student experiences something traumatic like sexual assault on campus, Durate-Evens recommen

Widener University Commonwealth Law School is launching a professional closet, a donation-based initiative providing free professional attire to law students. The initiative was launched by students involved in Phi Alpha Delta. The students realized other schools had professional closets, and it was something they needed too. So students reached out to the Dean of Career Advising to get it started. “She was very gracious that we were going to actually put it into form. So she advised us, you know, start reaching out to maybe like other, you know, the local bar association and just other outlets that maybe we can get donations from to go beyond just Weidner itself. So we took it from there and it's been really exciting to see it, you know, now coming to the ribbon cutting and kind of how it's built the community, “said Kira Meager, student at Widener university Commonwealth Law School.   This initiative is especially significant as 90% of our 2024 entering class are first-generation law school students, and 32

The Feel Your Boobies Foundation is celebrating 20 years of service by encouraging women to “feel their boobies” at a chance to survive breast cancer. The founder of this organization is breast cancer survivor Leigh Hurst. Hurst was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004 at age 33. “After my diagnosis, I just realized that the messages were out there that were out there were not resonating with me. I never thought about breast cancer before. So, I wondered why. And I made a T-shirt just for fun that said Feel Your Boobies. And it went viral, “said Hurst. The foundation is even offering “feel your boobies” pledge to women who take part and those who participate can receive a free shower card in the mail for a daily reminder. “It’s actually a monthly reminder and you can get a text or email reminder to. You know, just a nice little magic letter. Hey, did you feel your release today? And yet they also get a home kit, which is a shower card that has symptoms on it, has a little bit of information on what you should

Flag football and wrestling are the newest sanctioned girls’ sports in Pennsylvania. According to Lyndsay Barna, the Assistant Executive Director of the PA Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) says both sports passed with flying colors with support from the PIAA board. “a sport needs to hit emerging sport status to have 25 teams across the state to sponsor the sport. And then when we reach 100 teams, that way we can bring it to the board and start trying our sanctioning process. The board needs to approve of the sport on three separate readings. And for each of the sports they passed with flying colors with the support from our board. And it's really awesome to say the last two years we've been able to sponsor or sanction a girl sport across Pennsylvania, “said Barna. As of now, there’s currently 100 schools in Pennsylvania that offer girls flag football. Barna also credits the Eagles and Steelers for their support. “So the NFL has an initiative with girls flag across the whole United States and the Ea

  Laurel and Hardy were a comedy team that is widely regarded as the greatest in film history. Stan Lauren and Oliver Hardy made more than 100 comedies together between 1921 and 1950. Danny Bacher and Berine Hogya co-authored an upcoming publication, Collecting Laurel and Hardy. Bacher has always been fascinated by old silent film stories. “We would sit and watch these old silent film strips of like, you know, comedians like Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, of course, Laurel and Hardy, because my brother and I, there were two of us. We got into Laurel and Hardy. And, you know, I just I guess my cousin had given us a set of Laurel and Hardy dolls when we were really little, and we played with those. Then it was between that and the films. I just said, I want to try and find more of this. So, I really kind of started and amassed a huge collection of all these years, “said Bacher. Bacher realized the comic duo Laurel and Hardy were timeless when his brother showed an old film to his kindergarten stu

On This Week's Edition of The Spark Weekly: Sydney Roach of WPSU in State College, will discuss her story on legislation approved by the PA Senate, providing funding to create “safe exchange zones” for child custody exchanges and online marketplace sales. These zones will have video surveillance and be near a law enforcement office or in a public area. and Stephanie Sigafoos of LeighHighValleyNews.com will speak about one of her stories about a gas explosion. Also, on the program. Andrew Dalton is the Executive Director of the Adams County Historical Society and Beyond the Battle Museum. As a Gettysburg native, Dalton has always been drawn to history. “We have a lot of people who are connected to Gettysburg through family history, whether their ancestors lived here or there are millions of Americans undoubtedly, who had an ancestor that fought at the Battle of Gettysburg. And so, connecting those people to Gettysburg is something that I really enjoy because, you know, I found my own connection early on.” Andr

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Fallingwater's listing the in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The State Museum of Pennsylvania has an exhibit honoring the place that held so much significance. According to Dr. Curt Miner, the Chief of Interpretation and Senior History Curator for the State Museum of Pennsylvania, the exhibit will be on display until January 5, 2025. "One of the things that we did in the course of researching this project is come across what I think is an absolutely fascinating fact. I believe it would be, which is that falling water in surveys is often ranked as the most recognized private residence in the world. Let that sit in for a little bit in the world. This building, this house that was built by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1938 for Edgar J. Kaufmann, who was, by the way, a department store magnate from Pittsburgh, has been heralded as the most recognized and most famous private residence in the world. And where is it? It's in Pennsylvania. It's in the small town of

Sydney Roach at WPSU in State College recently reported on legislation approved by the Pennsylvania Senate to provide funding to create safe exchange zones for child custody and online marketplace sales. She was drawn to report on this story because she does a lot of shopping on Facebook Marketplace. “I just thought it would be something that would be of interest to a lot of people and especially whenever I discovered some of the story behind it. There was a woman killed in Jonestown a few years ago. And so, after that, Johnstown police put up a safe exchange zone to prevent more tragedies like that. So basically, what it is, is it's just like a parking spot or some sort of spot in public view. In this bill, they define that as either 100ft away from like a law enforcement agency or some sort of like public park or some sort of public place. So, it's in the public eye. And then there also has to be surveillance cameras. And there also has to be a sign saying that it's a safe exchange zone. So, it's a pretty e

According to the American Cancer Society, when breast cancer is detected early and is in the localized stage, the five-year relative survival rate is 99%. Dr. Mai Gandhi is a breast surgeon with UPMC. She agrees its important to get screened as early as possible. “Treatment of breast cancer has come so far, and it's always amaze me every day how much things change by the month. The second reason that early detection of breast cancer is important is that it is less aggressive treatment potentially. So, if you have early detection sometimes can allow for less aggressive treatment options, meaning less expensive, less invasive surgery, fewer potential complications, fewer side effects from radiation or chemotherapy, or maybe skip chemotherapy altogether, “said Dr. Gandhi. Sheri Murray is celebrating five years of being cancer free this October. She shared her story on how early detection saved her life. “I had always been I was diagnosed at age 53, and I had always been receiving mammograms. And as Dr. Gandy had

A retired teacher donated $10,000 to the Gutherie Memorial Library after the Southwestern School Board decided to cut the $10,000 donation made to the library. According to Lizzy Baldwin, former director of the Gutherie Memorial Library, it all happened after a decision to remove a book from a classroom library in a middle school. “And so, you know, book banning, and censorship has been on the rise in the nation. You know, as a librarian, I'm well-tuned into that kind of news. And so, you know I, I saw that it started to happen in Hanover. And I, you know, as the public librarian who served that school district, they were in our service area. I decided that, you know, I should. You know, say something and, you know, advise against going down this road. Right. I'm so I sent a letter to the school board, and I basically said that. And I you know; censorship is an issue in my professional opinion. We need to be, you know, having viewpoints and books that show different experiences, from a, you know, a wide range

Andrew Dalton is the Executive Director of the Adams County Historical Society and Beyond the Battle Museum. As a Gettysburg native, Dalton has always been drawn to history. “We have a lot of people who are connected to Gettysburg through family history, whether their ancestors lived here or there are millions of Americans undoubtedly, who had an ancestor that fought at the Battle of Gettysburg. And so, connecting those people to Gettysburg is something that I really enjoy because, you know, I found my own connection early on.” Andrew’s passion for history began as he grew up at what was once the Gettysburg Country Club. With a curious spirit, he soon learned about the story of what happened on that property before, during, and after the Battle of Gettysburg. “A 16 year old girl lived there and wrote an incredibly vivid account of her experiences during the battle. Her name was Amelia Harmon. And because this happened literally just a few hundred yards from where my modern-day house sat, I was just captivated

October is Hispanic Heritage Month. Carlos Graupera is the CEO of Tec Centro Workforce Center and spent 50 years as the CEO of the Spanish American Civic Association. He joined The Spark to share the importance of highlighting Hispanic Heritage month. “It is appropriate that Latinos and Latinos in Pennsylvania, because that's where we're at, that community is celebrated because it's roughly 8% of the state population. It is not an insignificant group of people, and it's continues to grow and it's making its presence in some very important urban areas. Allentown, Bethlehem. Redding, of course, Philadelphia, Lancaster and beyond. Those city centers are being revitalized by the influx of Latinos, setting up businesses, buying homes and really providing the energy so that these cities are able to rethink themselves.” Tec Centro in Lancaster offers bilingual education and skill training in Lancaster. Throughout the month, the organization will highlight the impact of investing in diverse workforce development. “We