Episode 70: Lackawanna County Budget Crisis– Chris Chermak, PJ LaBelle, Carlon Preate & Len Dobrzyn
In this hard-hitting episode of What A Week, we dive into the ongoing budget crisis in Lackawanna County with an incredible panel of guests who’ve dedicated themselves to tackling this issue head-on. Joining us this week are Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak, his solicitor PJ LaBelle, retired CPA Carlon Preate, and retired professional Len Dobrzyn. These individuals have worked voluntarily over the past five years as part of a Budget Study Commission led by Commissioner Chermak to address th...
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Ep. 112: Jessica from PCIC – Informed Consent, School Exemptions & the Fight in Harrisburg
Jessica from the Pennsylvania Coalition for Informed Consent sits down on What A Week! and does not start with a slogan. She starts with a kid who was always sick. She grew up fully vaccinated. Allergies, sinus infections, a list of antibiotics that made her break out in hives, sinus surgery at ten. Three miscarriages by 25. Pregnant with her oldest, her doctor said get the flu shot or the baby could die — and that was the entire briefing. Her husband, also in healthcare, sat her down with a do...
Ep. 111: Rik Little – Xerox, Belushi, NYU Film, Eviction & Why Scranton Feels Broken
In Episode 111 of What A Week!, Rik Little sits down for a long, looping conversation that starts in Wheaton, Illinois and ends in a Scranton housing fight. Born in Dallas and raised outside Chicago — Billy Graham’s town, Goldwater signs in the yard, his father on city council and selling Haloid machines before they became Xerox — Rik talks about growing up inside “the rectangle.” TV, Twilight Zone, the feeling of watching his own life from outside his body. He went to school with the Belushis,...
Ep. 110: Chef Von & Marcus Moody – Coming Home, Food, Race in Scranton, and No Filter
Chef Ryan “Von” Smith is back on What A Week! with cousin Marcus Moody. They eat, talk trash, and then go where a chef interview usually will not. This episode is about coming home after you’ve already seen the rest of the world, growing up Black in Scranton, East Side versus West Side, family history that does not make the brochure, and why Von still will not pretend the city is easy just because he built a restaurant here. Next Level Chef is in the mix. So are God, church, slurs, old-school di...