The Week in Philly from KYW Newsradio

Latest Episodes:

The Negro Leagues are Major Leagues: The Baseball Reference project Jul 30, 2021

Show notes

The great baseball statistics website Baseball Reference has been a go to resource for fans for years. Recently, the site expanded its coverage of the Negro Leagues, putting the leagues from the 20s, 30s and 40s on equal footing as the National and American leagues as major leagues. Sean Forman, President of Sports Reference, LLC is on the podcast to talk about the work that went into tracking down the statistics, the stories he discovered, and the response to the project since it launched.

Check out the site and read more about the project here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/negro-leagues-are-major-leagues.shtml

Pandemic economy update: A GDP to brag about, rising Delta uncertainty, and when will the Fed raise interest rates? Jul 30, 2021

Show notes

Good GDP numbers and other economic indicators are painting a pretty good picture for the health of the economy, but the Delta variant and uncertainty with the virus are keeping economists on their toes. People are still concerned about going back to work, jobless claims are going down, and job openings are still sky high -- it's an interesting puzzle worth taking a look at. And consumer confidence keeps rising even as prices rise too. David Fiorenza, economist at the Villanova School of Business joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to talk about what happened this week in the economy and what it means for all of us in our daily lives.

What the Jan. 6 investigation wants to uncover from 'some high profile people in uncomfortable situations' Jul 29, 2021

Show notes

We heard some powerful testimony earlier this week in front of the House select committee investigating the insurrection on January 6th at the US Capitol. The committee held its first hearing this week, but there will be many more. We wanted to dig in on what we should expect from this committee and what the committee is hoping to find out. Dr. Joshua Weikert, Associate Professor of Politics at Immaculata University & Chair of the Department of Civic Engagement joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to break down the scope of the committee's mission, the major players, who could be compelled to testify over the course of the investigation, and what kind of new information the committee is hoping to discover.

Behind the scenes: the people connecting Pennsylvanians with needed benefits Jul 29, 2021

Show notes

Benefits Data Trust is an organization headquartered in Philadelphia that helps connect people in Pennsylvania to benefits they may not have known they were qualified to receive. It also helps them navigate the process to get them. We wanted to talk about the work Benefits Data Trust is doing and also talk about some key initiaves they have going on -- one important one being working with Community Legal Services to provide help for people facing eviction. Another initiative is a partnership with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Health Plan that aims to improve the well-being of UPMC Health Plan members by helping them access critical public benefit programs. For this conversation we caught up with Trooper Sanders, the CEO of Benefits Data Trust, Rachel Garland of Community Legal Services, and Ray Prushnok, Executive Director of UPMC's Center for Social Impact.

The hottest places around Philly to buy and sell a house right now Jul 28, 2021

Show notes

The housing market is hot right now, and that includes Philadelphia and the suburbs. We wanted to find out where there's high demand and low demand, where the hottest places to buy and sell a house are right now, and even if there are any bubble concerns in the market - so we called Maria Quattrone, CEO and founder of Maria Quattrone & Associates at RE/MAX @ Home in Center City. Quattrone joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to break down what the Home Demand Index is and why some of the craziness in the housing market can be traced back to the Great Recession more than a decade ago.

COVID-19 vaccines are still emergency use. Why hasn’t the FDA given full approval yet? Jul 27, 2021

Show notes

There has been a lot of talk lately about when we will see the FDA give full approval to some of the COVID-19 vaccines. Which begs the question, what exactly is the difference between the emergency use authorization that the vaccines have been distributed under and full approval? How does the process work, and is not having full approval hurting vaccination efforts? Dr. Charles B. Cairns, the Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Dean and senior vice president of medical affairs at Drexel University's College of Medicine joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to talk about the difference between emergency use and full approval, how the FDA views the COVID-19 vaccines, and what mRNA technology means for science and public health moving forward.

Ask a South Philly pharmacist: real life questions about getting vaccinated Jul 27, 2021

Show notes

Truong Vu is a pharmacist at the Walmart in South Philadelphia. He has spent the last several months vaccinating people, actually getting needles in arms. We called him up to ask what he's been seeing, how vaccinations are going at this stage in the pandemic, how many people are coming in, and what the most common questions are that he's been getting from patients about the vaccines and why they should get vaccinated.

COVID economy update: Rising cases test Wall Street, and making sense of a jobless claims surprise Jul 23, 2021

Show notes

We got a bit of a surprise in the jobless claims numbers for the week as the numbers ticked up, but wages are on the rise as well. What do these indicators mean for the health of the economy? Wall Street got a little weirded out earlier this week over Delta variant concerns, and supply chain shortages keep presenting an issue, but how will the positive retail numbers show themselves in the GDP? David Fiorenza, economist at the Villanova School of Business joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to talk about what happened this week in the economy and what it means for all of us in our daily lives.

Record numbers of people are quitting their jobs, and not for just one reason Jul 22, 2021

Show notes

We've spent a lot of time on the podcast talking about the unemployment numbers and the layoffs that sadly became a dominant economic theme in this pandemic. But there's another aspect of the jobs world that we need to talk about too -- record numbers of people are quitting their jobs. In April the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 4 million people quit -- the highest quit rate since they started tracking it. We wanted to dig into this so we caught up with Jennifer Rossi Long, Director of the Career Development Center at West Chester University to talk about the reasons why people are quitting their jobs and what the labor force looks like to the generation entering it now.

How do you feel about your financial situation? Fascinating insights from the McKinsey opportunity survey Jul 22, 2021

Show notes

Some really thought provoking survey results were released recently by the management consultant firm McKinsey & Company that looked at how Americans view economic opportunity in the US these days, what they think about their economic standing, how COVID affected their financial situation and much, much more. We wanted to learn more about what was in the inaugural McKinsey American Opportunity Survey so we spoke with one of the authors of the article put together based on the survey. Kweilin Ellingrud, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company is here on KYW Newsradio In Depth to break down what the survey found and how Philadelphians and Americans feel about their financial health and their economic opportunity. Check out the survey here: https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/covid-response-center/inclusive-economy/unequal-america-ten-insights-on-the-state-of-economic-opportunity