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 …

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 e…

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 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 …

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 ou…

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…

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 s…

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 …

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 a…

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 exhib…

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…

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 mu…

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…

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 a…

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 c…

The joro spider has been discovered in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in September. The Joro Spider is about four inches long according to Michael Skvarla, Assistant Research Professor of Arthropod Identification at Penn State University. "They're kind of gray and green stripes. The males look. So that's the adult females. The males look a little bit d…

The American Red Cross of Greater Pennsylvania is working to support states in need impacted by Hurricane Milton and Helene. According to Laura Burke, Executive Director of the American Red Cross Central Pa Chapter, says their work begins before the first drop of rain. “Our work actually began before that first drop of rain. And then with our partn…

Ted Czech spent 25 years as a journalist before he left the industry in 2021. He just published a book, Saving the Beast: A recovering reporter reflects on America’s broken media and how to fix it. Czech got his official start in news in 1996 in Rhode Island. “There's a guy that he was a millionaire, Ernie, and he wanted to start up a newspaper. An…

Coming up on this week's edition of The Spark Weekly: October 9 is commemorated as National Ageism Awareness Day. The National Center to Reframe Aging works to end ageism by advancing equitable and more complete story about aging in America according to the Executive Director, Trish D’Antonio. The PA Council of Aging provides advice to the governor…

RSV is a common infectious respiratory virus that usually causes cold-like symptoms but can lead to serious illness or even death. Sue Peschin, CEO and President of the Alliance for Aging Research and Dr. Robert Hopkins, Jr., Medical Director for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases share information about the virus. Support WITF: https:…

Jaxon White of LNP | Lancaster Online, Jordan Wilke, WITF’s Democracy Reporter and Katelin Mentz, Program Manager for the civics education group Project Citizen discuss final report on the Franklin and Marshall College Deliberative Forum on Voting and Elections Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/ See omnystudio.com/listener for pri…

Asia Tabb interviews author Dr. Richard Smith, who tells us everything we need to know about coral reefs, sea creatures, and his new book "The World Beneath: The Life and Times of Unknown Sea Creatures and Coral Reefs" Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

A new self-guided walking trail has opened at Gettysburg Historic Daniel Lady Farm. Chris Jones, Lady Farm Facilities Manager, and Lauren Wilmoth, Museum Curator says the trail has been in the works for years. “When the idea was presented to Chris and I, we jumped at it because it gave us the opportunity to really do a lot of deep digging into what…

October 9 is commemorated as National Ageism Awareness Day. The National Center to Reframe Aging works to end ageism by advancing equitable and more complete story about aging in America according to the Executive Director, Trish D’Antonio. “What's most important here is that we're raising awareness, because one of the things we've learned in our w…

Adam Zurn has always had a passion for history. He is the founder of Uncharted Lancaster, a website that offers self-guided scavenger hunts. “I think when you live somewhere your whole life, you kind of take that local history for granted.” The idea for the scavenger hunts came into fruition about six years ago while Zurn was walking his dog. “A fr…

College is a time where students realize their interests in the future careers. Trinity Johnson is a senior at Millersville University. Trinity is studying Media Arts and produces a weekly news show on campus. “I actually started thinking about media arts back in high school. I did a broadcasting class in the high school, which was basically the sa…

The Lancaster airport is the third busiest airport in the State of Pennsylvania. Ed Foster is the Executive Director of the Lancaster Authority Airport, says more changes are underway to the airport. “We are ramping up for our launch of the nonstop service with British Airways. This coming Tuesday, we have an exciting time lined up, the flight is w…

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Psychology Today released a report in 2020 that research suggests that when an NFL team lose, domestic violence increases. Dr. Rafat Omar, clinical psychologist with UPMC says several factors goes into how sports can intensity a domestic violence relationship. “Sporting events can often be high stress s…

Women in Medicine Month is celebrated to honor the contributions of women in the medical field. For Dr. Sheela Vivekanandan, she knew she wanted to practice medicine at the age of six years old. “My sister was a brain cancer survivor, is a brain cancer survivor, and she was diagnosed at age nine. So, I was six. So that's what really drove me into m…

On this week's edition of The Spark Weekly: Our Journalist Roundtable covers the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in the southeastern US. We’ll be joined by Lilly Knoepp of Blue Ridge Public Radio and Jeffrey Collins of the Associated Press. Also, on the program: The Valley Jazz Orchestra just released a new album “Vicious Fishes” for the first time i…

It’s been over a week since hurricane Helene made landfall near the Florida panhandle. Along with Florida, there’s been extensive damage in Tennessee, the Carolinas, and Georgia. At last count and time of recording at 10 a.m. Friday Oct 4, the death toll has exceeded 200 and is expected to increase. In this journalist roundtable, Lilly Knoepp of Bl…

Our Braver Angels segment for the month of October was about how to prepare for the election no matter who wins. Nita Landis is a registered Independent, Monica Guzmon (Blue), and Chris Hausner (Red) was apart of the discussion today. During the podcast, Monica also discusses her book, "I never Really Thought of it That Way" and speaks about her ex…

Menstrual products are coming to some Pennsylvania schools thanks to Governor Shapiro’s million-dollar program. Dr. Khalid Mumin Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Education says it’s important to create conditions where students can learn without having barriers to the basic needs that may be acquired. “First and foremost, the governor an…

AI: Unpacking the Black Box is a WITF original production. The first episode ‘The Origins of AI’ premiered on Thursday. John McElligott the host and producer of the series says the purpose of the show was rooted in the future of AI. “I think one of the big things for us is this show might seem like it's about A.I., but it's actually about the futur…

There have been over 100 confirmed deaths in the aftermath of hurricane Helene that caused destruction in parts of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and Carolinas. Mennonite Disaster Service responded to the damage in Ashville, North Carolina. Kevin King is the Executive Director of the Mennonite Disaster Service. He expressed what he’s experienced whil…

Paulus Farm Market was established in 1991 in Central PA by Jim Paulus. What started out as a small business selling potatoes out of a garage, produce at the town’s square farmers market, is now approximately 1,000 acres located on South York Street in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Amy Paulus, Co-owner of the Paulus Farm Market, shares what most vis…

A new social media trend has been circulating showing children as young as ten years old using antiaging and skincare products. Dr. Kate Berry, Dermatologist at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center says it’s concerning. “I think it's a big issue. These social media trends really can create a lot of problems as children are buying thes…

The Valley Jazz Orchestra just released a new album “Vicious Fishes” for the first time in over 50 years. Co-directors of the album Dr. Jeffrey Lovell and Dr. Justin Morell. Their paths first crossed at the University of Oregon where they both earned their doctorate degrees. They’re now professors at Lebanon Valley College. Students in the “Big Ban…

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence was founded in 1976. Since then, the organization provides free and confidential direct services to victims and survivors of domestic violence in all 67 counties of the Commonwealth. “We provide technical assistance and ensure that every local domesti…

Asia Tabb speaks with Reid Frazier and Rachel McDevitt for our Journalist Roundtable. Also, on the program, Asia speaks with Brandon Buterbaugh Director of Bands at Hershey High School and Eric Farkas, Band Director at Cumberland Valley High School about all things marching band! Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/ See omnystudio.c…

If you are a regular listener for WITF or NPR, you may have heard of State Impact Pennsylvania, or the Allegheny Front. Reporters from the inatitve Reid Fraizer and Rachel McDevitt joined this weeks discussion. Both talked about the importance of reporting on the environment, the fracking industry in Pennsylvania, and the reopening of Three-Mile Is…

Cooler temperatures are expected in Pennsylvania soon, and that means another season of respiratory illnesses. The CDC is recommending the updated 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccines and the updated 2024-25 flu vaccines to protect against severe COVID-19 and flu this fall and winter. Dr. John Goldman, UPMC Infectious Disease Specialist seconds the vaccine re…

September is marked National Recovery Month. Kristin Primus is the Deputy Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol programs. Primus says this month is special to her, because she is also a woman in long term recovery. I've been in recovery since September 2nd, 2005. And, you know, when I first started hearing about National Reco…

ABC 27 Meteorologist Dan Tomaso joined The Spark to discuss the latest weather pattern and Hurricane Helene. "We go from this area of low pressure today. That's to our north and northeast, and that's going to clear. However, as that clears, it leaves a window for Hurricane Helene. Make landfall later tonight along the Big Bend of Florida, still in …

Daryl Davis a black blues musician will be speaking and performing at the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design in Lancaster Oct 4 at 3:30 p.m. Davis is currently the subject of an Independent Lens documentary. Davis says he was inspired musically by Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry. “I thought, my goodness, that's what I want to do. And what, you know…

Asia Tabb Speaks with Amanda Jones, author of "THAT LIBRARIAN: The Fight Against Book Banning in America" about banned book week, and her experiences with book banning in a small Louisiana town. Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.Oleh WITF, Inc.

High school marching band students spend countless hours preparing for their competition shows and halftime performances. Brandon Buterbaugh is the Director of Bands at Hershey High School. Eric Farkas is the Band Director at Cumberland Valley High School. Buterbaugh says at first, he didn't really enjoy his marching band experience in high school.…

Coming up on this week's edition of The Spark Weekly: The Main Street Matters (MSM) program is designed to support local downtowns and surrounding neighborhoods with tools to create welcoming communities. This 20-million-dollar initiative will impact smaller communities like Hummelstown Borough. Rick Siger, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department …

Artificial Intelligence, also known as AI, is a field of study that involves the creation of machines that can mimic human intelligence. AI systems use algorithms and data to learn and improve, and can perform tasks like analyzing data, making predictions, and responding to language. AI and misinformation has been a huge topic leading up to the 202…

Asia speaks with Dan Tomaso about what we can expect this week and coming into fall. Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.Oleh WITF, Inc.