Patty Satalia / WPSU Producer

Pennsylvania’s Governor Tom Corbett faces a December 14th deadline over whether to create a state-run health insurance exchange program -- or leave it to the federal government to create. A requirement of the Affordable Care Act, the online marketplace will help Pennsylvanians compare and buy individual health insurance policies. WPSU’s Patty Satalia talks with Antoinette Kraus, the project manager of…

Coal is king when it comes to electricity generation in Pennsylvania, and worldwide. But a new book confronts the fuel’s supremacy when it comes to human health! WPSU’s Patty Satalia talks with the author of The Silent Epidemic: Coal and the Hidden Threat to Health. Author Alan Lockwood is a neurologist and board member of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

In his latest work, renowned photographer and researcher Richard Ross opens our eyes to the harsh realities of America’s juvenile justice system. For his new book,” Juvenile In Justice,” Ross photographed and interviewed more than 1,000 youths over a five-year period, in juvenile detention facilities across the country. The result is powerful and haunting. WPSU’s Patty Satalia talks with Ross,…

With the presidential debates in full swing, WPSU-FM will shift focus for one hour on a contest that hits closer to home. Two-term Republican incumbent Glenn Thompson and Democratic challenger Charles Dumas face off in the race for the 5th Congressional district. Who are the candidates? What have they accomplished? And what do they stand for? WPSU’s Patty Satalia begins…

This month marks the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring.” The book changed the way we think about pollution and human health and led to the creation of the EPA and to a ban on DDT. What would the Pennsylvania native have to say about hydrofracking? WPSU’s Patty Satalia poses that question to biologist, best-selling author and cancer survivor,…

Last August, Chuck Felton organized a reunion for the Cresson TB Sanatorium. The retired aerospace engineer now living in Texas, spent 16 months at the state-run tuberculosis facility that was located on a remote mountain top outside of Cresson. For more than 50 years, Felton had kept his experience there mostly to himself. Then, in 2009, he decided to create…

In 1955, Chuck Felton was seventeen, president of his senior class at Towanda Valley High School in northeastern Pennsylvania, with plans to attend Penn State. Then he was diagnosed with TB--tuberculosis—at the time, one of the world’s deadliest diseases. He was sent to a state TB sanatoruim in Cresson, where he stayed for 16 months. It was an experience he…

Altoona is having financial problems. Without help, from the state, the city is at risk of not making payroll for city workers. Two political newcomers say they have what it takes to help the city overcome its money issues. They’re fighting for a seat in Pennsylvania’s 79th District, located in Blair County. WPSU’s Patty Satalia begins her report with a…

Since 1938, the American Library Association has awarded a Caldecott Medal to the year’s best American picture book for children. This year, Penn State’s Steven Herb chaired the committee that reviewed more than 1,200 books to select this year’s winner, a wordless picture book titled “A Ball for Daisy.” WPSU’s Patty Satalia picks up the story at one of Penn…