The Morning Agenda

By: WITF Inc.
  • Summary

  • Sometimes, your mornings are just too busy to catch the news beyond a headline or two. Don’t worry. The Morning Agenda has got your six. Each weekday morning, host Rachel McDevitt will keep you informed, amused, enlightened and up-to-date on what’s happening in central Pennsylvania and the rest of this great commonwealth.

    2025 WITF
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Episodes
  • PA’s data privacy bill expands and a coal mine expands—underneath the PA Turnpike
    Apr 29 2025

    The Pennsylvania House is broadening and advancing a consumer data privacy bill. WITF’s Jordan Wilkie reports it would allow Pennsylvanians to ask companies to not collect certain data and have them delete other data already on-hand.

    A Johnstown-based mining company has gotten the go-ahead to expand an underground coal mine in Westmoreland County. LCT Energy operates the 2800-acre Rustic Ridge “Number One” coal mine in Donegal, just south of the Pennsylvania Turnpike exit there. The company recently got approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to expand the mine northward, underneath the Turnpike. Reid Frazier, from our friends at the Allegheny Front, reports opponents of the project worry about the potential for environmental damage.

    Dauphin County officials admit a 911 dispatcher did not appropriately escalate a call in accordance with county policy, early Sunday morning, April 13th, an hour after an arson attack on the Governor's Residence.

    Campgrounds, boat ramps, welcome centers and other recreational facilities run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in six states are being closed or seeing hours reduced due to funding cuts by the Trump administration. The cuts include Blue Marsh Lake located near Reading, in Berks County.

    Mike Sullivan’s nearly decade-long tenure running the Pittsburgh Penguins is over. The team announced Monday that it was parting ways with the two-time Stanley Cup winning coach just over a week after the Penguins missed out on the playoffs for a third straight season.

    And the Hershey Bears open their Calder Cup playoff run this week. Game one is Wednesday night in Hershey, versus the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in an Atlantic Division best-of-five semifinal series. Hershey is seeking its 14th AHL championship overall.

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    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    7 mins
  • Steady progress on Michaux wildfires. Bhutanese refugees, former PA residents, now stateless. And Harrisburg’s Bishop reflects on Pope Francis’ legacy.
    Apr 28 2025

    Firefighters are making steady progress fighting a pair of wildfires in Cumberland County... despite gusty winds over the weekend. The fires cover more than 27-hundred acres in Michaux State Forest, between 30-50 miles from Harrisburg.

    At least 12 Bhutanese refugees and former Pennsylvania residents are now stateless people in India and Nepal after U-S deportations. WITF’s Jordan Wilkie reports the men were sent to Bhutan, despite the fact that they are not considered citizens of the Himalayan nation.

    Meantime, a suburban Philadelphia sheriff's office is teaming up with US Immigration Customs and Enforcement. Emily Neil from our friends at WHYY reports, if the agreement goes into effect, ICE will provide training to Bucks County sheriff’s office deputies to assist with and carry out arrests for immigration violations and more.

    It was exactly a week ago... last Monday... when we received the news that Pope Francis had died at the age of 88. The leader of the Harrisburg Catholic diocese attended Saturday’s funeral services for Pope Francis. WITF’s Rachel McDevitt reports the bishop is reflecting on the legacy of the late pontiff.

    Following Pope Francis’s death, a mural in Philadelphia commemorating his visit to the city of brotherly love nearly a decade ago has become a memorial site. Cory Sharber from our friends at WHYY has more.

    And the Philadelphia Eagles will visit the White House today. Bernie Sanders is coming to Central Pennsylvania this week as part of his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour. And Selinsgrove would become more walkable, pedestrian and bike-friendly, under a trail connectivity plan.

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    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    11 mins
  • RFK Jr's autism comments spark outcry from PA lawmakers--including two who are autistic. And PA lawmakers take on highly-processed foods, dyes and chemicals.
    Apr 25 2025

    Comments on autism by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are drawing fire from Pennsylvania representatives -- including two who are autistic themselves.

    A state lawmaker who has built a bipartisan coalition around food health and nutrition. Rep. Natalie Mihalek wants Pennsylvania to take on highly-processed foods and other health concerns. She's assembled a package of seven bills she’s calling Healthy PA.

    Presidents at several central Pennsylvania colleges and universities are among the 300 nationwide who have signed a statement condemning what they say are the Trump administration's unprecedented government overreach and political interference endangering American education and public research funding.

    By the end of June, creditors of a former Lancaster County-based drug and alcohol rehab center should be paid and its remaining Ephrata property should be sold. That’s what court-appointed receivers for Retreat Behavioral Health told a Lancaster County judge on Wednesday. Retreat closed abruptly last June following the suicides of its founder and chief administrative officers. The company was in debt for at least $30 million.

    The company that owned the railcar that caused the devastating East Palestine, Ohio train derailment in 2023 will NOT have to help pay for the $600 million dollar settlement Norfolk Southern agreed to with residents. An Ohio jury decided Wednesday that GATX isn't liable for the settlement, even though the failure of a bearing on its railcar carrying plastic pellets caused the pileup on Feb. 3, 2023.

    Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    9 mins
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