The Week in Philly from KYW Newsradio

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How to make a third political party work in America Mar 02, 2021

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What would it take to have a real, functional, impactful third political party in America that actually has a meaningful chance of being competitive in elections? It's something we talk about just about every national election cycle -- but is it something that could actually happen in American politics? Dr. Joshua Weikert, Assistant Professor at Immaculata University in the Department of Civil Engagement joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to talk about if it could happen, what party organizers would need to do to be competitive, and if we could see something like a Patriot Party or Trump Party split off from the GOP.

“You approach people where they are.” Using knowledge and compassion to overcome vaccine hesitancy Feb 26, 2021

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The COVID-19 vaccines are here and becoming more accessible every day. And while much of the population would do just about anything to get vaccinated, there are a significant number of people who are hesitant, if not outright hostile, about the vaccine. So the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative are launching a new COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative to try and meet people where they are to try and answer the questions people have and get them to a point where vaccine hesitancy turns into confidence. Dr. Georges Benjamin, American Public Health Association Executive Director, and Michelle Hillman, Ad Council Chief Campaign Development Officer joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to talk about how they're trying to get answers to people who have questions about vaccines.

Is that a sign of economic recovery or are you just happy to see me? Feb 26, 2021

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The stock market has had a couple rough days in a row. What’s up with Wall Street, and the dip be a sign of better days ahead in real life? A significant drop in unemployment as jobless claims dropped by a hundred thousand. Is that statistically significant enough to point to a recovery? And as vaccinations keep ramping up and coronavirus cases keep dropping, what’s a realistic timeline for our economy to finally start building momentum again? Time for our weekly look at the American economy with David Fiorenza, Associate Professor of Practice at Villanova School of Business who 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.

FDR's radio and Trump's Tweets: Presidents and the media they mastered Feb 26, 2021

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It's hard to imagine Donald Trump the President, or even Donald Trump the candidate, without Twitter. And after four years of being able to count on the former President to tell you exactly what he was thinking about and who he was angry with and which show he was watching on television as it was happening, the internet feels downright quiet after Twitter deplatformed Trump. Have we ever seen anything like President Trump's use of Twitter before? Plenty of presidents were good at communicating through one medium or another, so how does Trump's mastery of Twitter and use of the platform compare? Will we see politicians in the future strike communications lightning the way 45 did? Dr. Matthew Kerbel, Professor of Political Science at Villanova University joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to break down how former President Trump became so effective at messaging to his base in 280 characters or less and what it means that he can't do it anymore.

Read more from Dr. Kerbel here: www.wolvesandsheep.com

The 51st state of the United States of America Feb 25, 2021

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There's been momentum building behind the idea of adding states to the USA, with most of the buzz around Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. It's an interesting idea, but could it ever happen? What would have to happen if America wanted a 51st or 52nd state? How would it change the political landscape? And what are DC and PR missing right now by not being states? Dr. Miguel Glatzer, Associate Professor of Political Science at La Salle University joins KYW Newsradio in Depth to explain how to add states to the US and the most realistic way it could happen.

Does Joe Biden's presidency change the future of the Affordable Care Act? Feb 24, 2021

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In an early move on the healthcare front, the Biden administration recently opened a special enrollment period for people to sign up for the Affordable Care Act. So what does that mean, and how big of a deal is it? The Affordable Care Act was stress tested by a pandemic and a presidential administration that actively worked to dismantle it -- so what is the current state of the healthcare law? What could we see from the Biden administration to strengthen it? Dr. Katherine Hempstead, Senior Policy Adviser at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to talk about how the ACA has weathered the last four years and what's next for healthcare in America.

Police departments are using the BolaWrap to take down suspects without inflicting pain Feb 22, 2021

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The city of Philadelphia is looking at getting police officers a new tool for taking down suspects. It's called the BolaWrap, it's nonlethal, and it's a device a little bigger than a smartphone that shoots a Kevlar cord with weighted hooks on both ends. So how does it work exactly? And why have police departments started looking at distributing the device to police officers? Tom Smith, President and Interim CEO of Wrap Technologies joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to break down what the BolaWrap does and how it's different from other nonlethal tools cops have right now, like Tasers.

You can find more information about the BolaWrap from KYW's Newsradio's crime and justice reporter Kristen Johanson here: https://www.radio.com/kywnewsradio/news/local/philly-police-consider-new-device-to-subdue-people-safely

You are always being watched: "Most people, if you asked them, would have no idea." Feb 22, 2021

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The world of forensics is very different than it was 50 years or even a decade ago. To say the field has changed would be a complete understatement -- the tools of surveillance in place today would look like farfetched science fiction to all but the most inventive mystery writers of the previous generations. Most people today have probably accepted that we're being watched whenever we go somewhere, but do people really understand the extent of the surveillance? Samuel Hodge Jr., Professor of Legal Studies at Temple University’s Fox School of Business joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to talk about the staggering amount of time all of us spend on video, how law enforcement and private business alike have embraced surveillance, and how facial recognition and other forms of surveillance are being used to track down and prosecute the insurrectionists who stormed the US Capitol on January 6.

How the Perseverance rover will look for extinct life on Mars Feb 20, 2021

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Big space news this week, as NASA landed the rover Perseverance on Mars. It was an incredible achievement to just get the rover on the planet, and now Perseverance has an important mission: to seek out signs of what used to be life. We had tons of questions about the mission and the technical achievement that was just landing on Mars, so we called a friend of the podcast to explain what happened and why it matters. Dr. Eric Jensen, Professor of Astronomy at Swarthmore College joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to talk about what exactly goes into building a robot and flying it to Mars, and what the team behind Perseverance hopes to find.

Trickle-up economics: When you send people money, they spend it Feb 19, 2021

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The bad news: jobless claims were astronomically high this week, coming up on the anniversary of even astronomically higher unemployment. The good news: it’s looking like whatever the opposite of trickle down economics is might be the greatest economic policy ever, after emergency stimulus checks caused retail sales to go bonkers. Time for our weekly look at the American economy with David Fiorenza, Associate Professor of Practice at Villanova School of Business who 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.