RadioPA Roundtable

Radio PA Roundtable 09.07.12

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On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, Brad Christman and Matt Paul bring you reflections from the Democratic and Republican national conventions via political analyst Terry Madonna from F&M College in Lancaster. Also, Radio PA Sports Director Rick Becker spotlights the story of Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Ryan Clark who will be inactive for this weekend’s opening game in Denver.

Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting on the top news stories of the week.

Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast:

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/witfaudio/radiopa/Roundtable09-07-12.mp3]
Pittsburgh Steelers, Heinz Field

Steelers Safety Raises Awareness of Sickle Cell Disorder

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When the Pittsburgh Steelers open the 2012 regular season Sunday night in Denver, one prominent member of the defense will not be on the field.  Starting free safety Ryan Clark has sickle cell disease, and playing in the high altitude of Sports Authority Field at Mile High can be dangerous.

The last time Clark played a game in Denver, in 2007, Clark ended up going to the hospital – losing his spleen, his gallbladder and the rest of the season.  But Clark is trying to turn a disappointing week into something positive through a new initiative called the “Ryan Clark Cure League,” which will raise money for sickle cell research and patient care.

Clark says the public education is not where it needs to be when it comes to sickle cell disease, but he’s working with Dr. Mark Gladwin of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to change that.  “To be affected with it personally, through my own trials, I think you’ve finally found two people who have enough passion for it to get the word out.”

It’s hard for Clark to explain to people just how much pain he was in back in 2007, because the disease does not present itself visually.  “But your pain really is at a ten,” he says.

About 70,000 Americans have the blood disorder, because they’ve inherited two copies of the sickle cell gene.  It can cause pain, anemia or even death.

West Nile Virus a Nationwide Problem This Year

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While Pennsylvania is on a record pace for West Nile Virus positives this year,   it is hardly alone and not even among the states with the highest numbers. The virus has been found in 48 states,  with Hawaii and Alaska as the only exceptions. 44 states have reported human cases. Over 70% of those cases are in six states; Texas, South Dakota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Michigan and Louisiana.

Dr. Lyle Petersen, Director of the CDC’s Division of Vector Borne Infectious Diseases, says the number of human cases rose 25% in the last week, but it appears the epidemic may have peaked in August. He adds a great number of cases may still be reported because it can take 3 to 14 days for symptoms to appear.

Pennsylvania has had 16 human cases reported through September 6th, 11 of them were the more serious neuro-invasive form on the disease.  One of the victims died.  There have been 18 veterinary cases, mostly in horses. 103 dead birds have tested positive, including six Great Horned Owls, two American Kestrels and 11 hawks (Red tail, Cooper’s, Broad-winged and Sharp-shinned). The state has recorded 29 hundred positive mosquitoes.

With the recent heavy rains in some areas, people are advised to eliminate standing water around their homes.  The common house mosquito is one of the carriers of the virus and usually doesn’t stray far from where it breeds.  It can breed in about an inch of water. The rain may have washed away a number of larvae, but it will also create more breeding ground for the mosquitoes to reproduce.

Distracted Driving Debate Gets Jump-Start

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Six months into Pennsylvania’s texting-while-driving ban, there’s already a push for the state to do more.  Rep. Joe Markosek (D-Allegheny/Westmoreland), a former chairman of the House Transportation Committee, wants to ban drivers from using hand-held cell phones.

Markosek’s new bill would mirror the texting ban in terms of enforcement and penalties.  Hand-held cell phone use behind the wheel would be a primary offense punishable by a $50-dollar fine.  No points would be tacked onto the offender’s license, and the phone could not be confiscated.

“As much as we would like to think that, okay, we’ve got the texting ban passed and we can wash our hands of everything… and everything will be fine,” Markosek says, “we are just deluding ourselves into thinking that.”

Some police officers are backing the more comprehensive cell phone ban language too, because they’re finding it difficult to enforce a texting-only ban.  “How can we say they are pushing letters rather than numbers, and that they weren’t in fact using their cell phone?” asks Allentown Police Captain Daryl Hendricks.

But Pennsylvania’s texting ban was a product of compromises, and the will was not there to include a comprehensive cell phone ban this session.  “We have a lot of unsafe driving habits that not only are due to hand-held cell phones, but they’re due to Big Macs and shakes,” says Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson).  “I don’t know how we empower law enforcement to crack down on all types of unsafe driving.”

For his part, Markosek knows the bill likely won’t see action this session, but he’s hoping to set it up to be a priority when the 2013-2014 session of the General Assembly convenes next year.  “There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be.  It is about the safety of our citizens.”

Ten states already ban hand-held cell phones for all drivers.  32-states ban all cell phones for teen drivers.

BLOG: The National Conventions According to Google

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The candidates’ wives are proving to be real assets in the presidential race.  After Ann Romney stole the show last week in Tampa, Michele Obama was the most searched speaker leading up to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.  “We saw her searches skyrocket as she took to the podium, increasing 500% as she started to speak,” Abbi Tatton with the Google Elections Team tells us.

Political cartoonist Jeff Darcy says it better than I ever could.

When I checked in with the Google Elections Team from the Republican National Convention, last week, I learned that the related search terms are sometimes the most telling.  For instance, the top-related search term for GOP VP pick Paul Ryan was briefly “shirtless.”  In light of the famous actor’s eyebrow-raising RNC speech, it would seem that “Clint Eastwood” is one of the top-related search terms for President Barack Obama this week.

The platforms and issues may not be what’s hot online just yet, but give it time.  Tatton says Pew Research has found that one in three of us will be using online video to research the candidates this year.

Google’s most-searched DNC speakers leading up to the convention.

Random Octane Testing of PA Gasoline

Long Hot Summer at the Gas Pump Just About Over

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After two months of rising gas prices, we should soon be getting a break.   The nation saw the largest gas price increase for the month of August in seven years following on the heels of July’s rising prices at the pump according to AAA. Prices rose nationally more than 30 cents a gallon. The rise was 21 cents a gallon in Pennsylvania.

Jenny Robinson of AAA Mid Atlantic says prices rose 4 cents a gallon during the past week, but held steady over the Labor Day weekend.  She says they are hoping that prices will begin to drop as we head into September.

Several factors are now at play; summer driving demand is dwindling, Gulf Coast refineries are reopening following Hurricane Isaac, and refineries are beginning to switch to less expensive winter blends.

Refineries in the Gulf were shut down as a precaution and did not see any significant damage from the storm.

Last September, gas prices dropped by about five percent.

RadioPA Roundtable

Radio PA Roundtable 08.31.12

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On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, Brad Christman and Matt Paul remind you to pay that state sales tax when purchasing items online, as the state focuses on stricter enforcement of the existing law; also on this Labor Day weekend, you’ll hear the results of the “State of Working Pennsylvania” report; and we’ll give you a sneak peek into the new Joe Paterno biography that hit the book stores this week.

Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting on the top news stories of the week.

Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast:

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/witfaudio/radiopa/Roundtable08-31-12.mp3]

Lawmaker Calls on Turnpike Officials to Resign

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The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is sitting on $7.3-billion dollars in long-term debt, according to Auditor General Jack Wagner, and state Rep. Peter Daley (D-Washington/Fayette) is calling on two top Turnpike officials to resign.

In a letter sent to the Turnpike Commission, governor’s office and every member of the state House, Daley said it’s time for Turnpike CEO Roger Nutt and COO Craig Shuey to go.  “They have been trying to play this shell game long enough,” Daley said in an interview with WJPA-FM.

The rise in Turnpike debt can be attributed to a 2007 transportation funding plan known as Act 44.  The law, which Daley voted for, called for the tolling of Interstate 80.  While Pennsylvania never received approval for I-80 tolls, Act 44 still calls on the Turnpike Commission to make annual payments of $450-million dollars a year to PennDOT.

Daley’s letter acknowledges that Act 44 has added to the Turnpike’s woes, but he still believes that a lack of leadership is to blame, saying the Turnpike needs to put expensive new capital projects on hold.

While a Turnpike Commission spokesman declined to comment on Daley’s letter, he did provide us with a statement from Roger Nutt regarding their debt obligations.  It reads:  “I reassure you, there is no looming financial crisis at the Turnpike Commission; we continue to receive favorable bond ratings, and we fully intend to meet all funding obligations to PennDOT – as we’ve done for the past five years.” 

Daley says a House committee is expected to take a closer look at the Turnpike debt situation in the weeks ahead.  “We’re going to be asking that a special committee be set up to oversee what’s going on in the Turnpike Commission and to render a report back to the legislature”

BLOG: The National Conventions According to Google

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Ann Romney stole the show, Tuesday night, at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.  That’s not just this reporter’s opinion from watching hours of live C-Span coverage; that’s what the folks at Google tell me.  Abbi Tatton with the Google Elections Team says Ann Romney apparently succeeded in showing off the warmer, softer side of her husband because the subsequent deluge Google searches focused not just on her name – but on the personal details of her family.

Google searches for Ann Romney on Tuesday night topped those for her husband by 50%, and easily bested the number of searches for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who actually delivered Tuesday’s keynote address.  In Gov. Christie’s defense however, I couldn’t even stay awake long enough to catch the start of his post-10:30pm speech, let alone do any web searching about it.

Republicans will likely be pleased to hear that Google trends show an increasing number of searches for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in key states like Pennsylvania.  However, they still lag the overall number of searches related to President Barack Obama.  Also, they’re not always about politics.  “As the top related search term around Paul Ryan’s name, over the last couple of weeks, has been shirtless,” Abbi Tatton says. “People seem to want to see what this potential vice president will look like without his shirt on.”

That’s apparently a tip of the cap to Mr. Ryan’s well-known regard for a high-intensity workout routine called P90X.  While my own Google search for “Paul Ryan Shirtless” turned up 1.34-million results in a fraction of a second, I declined to click on any of them.

The Google Elections Team will be at the Democratic National Convention too, and we’ll check back with them next week for a look at what’s trending in Charlotte.

Hitting the Road for the Holiday Weekend?

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As Pennsylvanians approach the unofficial end of summer this Labor Day weekend, many will be setting out for one last road trip before fall. AAA Mid-Atlantic expects holiday travel to be up about 2.3% in this region over last Labor Day, with most people traveling by car despite higher gasoline prices and a sluggish economy.

Jenny Robinson from AAA says dining out, visits to relatives and shopping will top many holiday lists this weekend, with round-trips averaging about 744 miles. As of Wednesday, the statewide average for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is $3.78.

For the 8% or so expected to travel by air, Hurricane Isaac could throw a wrinkle into your travel plans, especially if you’re planning to fly to the south or Midwest. The storm was already disrupting travel the past several days, and after making landfall last night in Louisiana, the system is expected to amble north through Arkansas and Missouri and then into Illinois and Indiana.