The Morning Call Podcast

Opioids are medicine, and that’s why it’s been easy enough for the masses to point fingers at doctors and pharmacists in the midst of the opioid epidemic gripping the nation. In our second roundtable -- in a series of six by The Morning Call on the opioid crisis -- we heard what medical professionals had to say about this. Reporters Binghui Huang and Carol Thompson discussed the roundtable and how the medical field has responded to the epidemic as our series continues. Valley View is a production of The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Music in this episode is by Lee Rosevere, Gavin Skinner, Paul Lawler and George Beck.

There's a disconnect between the general Lehigh Valley community and its hip-hop culture, panelists at an Allentown NAACP community forum said in early April. This comes after a large hip-hop concert at Allentown's PPL Center drew news headlines about the fights that broke outside the venue instead of the people and music inside. This episode features the voices on the panel, as well as The Morning Call's music critic, John Moser. Valley View is a product of The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, sponsored by the Lehigh Center for Clinical Research. Music in this episode is by Lee Rosevere, Paul Lawler, George Beck and Oscar Lo Brutto.

The field of candidates vying to temporarily replace Allentown’s former mayor Ed Pawlowski, found guilty on 47 federal corruption charges, narrowed from 31, to 15, and now down to one: former city council president Ray O’Connell. But the range of candidates - from business owners to community organizers to the owner of a soap opera fan site - and the process of whittling them down has been, let’s just say, interesting. Allentown City Council gave 15 candidates the floor for three nights in the last week of March before making its decision. The Morning Call's city hall reporter, Emily Opilo, chats with host Kayla Dwyer about this whirlwind of a week and what’s next.

This week, The Morning Call published the results of a ten-month investigation into a little-known tax law that has shifted billions of dollars from the tax bills of certain kind of landowners - farmers, millionaires, golf course owners - to the local tax bills of, well, everyone else. The law is called Act 319, also known as Clean and Green. We take you behind the scenes of the reporting on this project with its authors, Morning Call reporters Riley Yates (Northampton County courts) and Steve Esack (Harrisburg correspondent), as well as Terry Rang, The Morning Call's managing editor. To read the whole series, go to themorningcall.com/acres. Valley View is a production of The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Music in this episode is by Huw Jones, Sam Brown, Lee Rosevere, Matthew O'Connor and Timothy Whitelaw.

The Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, arguably Pennsylvania’s most successful casino with a decade of history in the area, is being sold for $1.3 billion to Wind Creek Hospitality, a group owned by a Native American tribe in Alabama. In this week’s episode, we have three questions to answer: Who are these new owners, why would they be interested in the Bethlehem casino, and what does this mean for the old structures of the now-defunct Bethlehem Steel Plant, which are now changing hands? Guests: Nicole Radzievich, Bethlehem City Hall reporter, and Jon Harris, business reporter for The Morning Call; as well as Tony Hanna, director of the Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority. Valley View is a production of The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, sponsored by the Lehigh Center for Clinical Research. Music in this episode is by Huw Jones, Sam Brown, Gavin Skinner and Matthew O'Connor.

How did we know when a verdict was coming? Did we catch wind of goings-on before the FBI started investigating? What's next? Our two journalists at the forefront of the reporting on Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski's six-week federal corruption trial -- a story that actually spans back almost three years -- answer these questions and more about the newsroom perspective. Emily Opilo, Allentown city hall reporter, and Peter Hall, federal courts reporter for The Morning Call, present the story behind the story. The Morning Call is a production of The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania. This episode is brought to you by the Lehigh Center for Clinical Research. Music in this episode is by Paul Lawler, Timothy Whitelaw and Matthew O'Connor.

In response to the massacre of 17 people at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14th, students in the Lehigh Valley and across the country are mobilizing, calling on legislators to enact change and organizing collective school walkouts to honor the victims. On this week’s podcast, a conversation with two of those students, and how the schools are responding to their calls for action. Valley View is a production of The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, sponsored by the Lehigh Center for Clinical Research. Music in this episode is by Martin Gratton, Gavin Skinner and Paul Lawler.

Pennsylvania’s congressional map has been through the wringer in the past month. And because of that, so have the candidates running for Congress. On the podcast this week: Laura Olson, The Morning Call’s DC reporter, breaks down what all this map hullabaloo means for Pennsylvania’s midterm elections, including some key races we seem to be forgetting about. Plus, Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg college, reveals the implications of a poll of residents of the Lehigh Valley’s congressional district, which now looks even more competitive. Valley View is a production of The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Music in this episode is by Lee Rosevere, Timothy Whitelaw and Matthew O'Connor.

Media throughout the country have been reporting on the opioids epidemic for years, but it's been plaguing the country for much longer. So what are our paths forward? In a yearlong, six-part series, The Morning Call seeks answers from community stakeholders. This episode is the first installment. Reporters Laurie Mason Schoeder and Pam Lehman and cops editor Will Scheihing sit down with host Kayla Dwyer to break down the inspiration for this project and reflect on the first roundtable discussion, featuring five local first responders. Valley View is a production of The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Music in this episode is by Martin Gratton and Paul Lawler.

A natural gas pipeline connecting Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale region to lower parts of the state and New Jersey has received conditional federal approval, and now, landowners in its path are faced with the choice to grant the company access to their property, or be taken to court. In this episode, Morning Call reporter Christina Tatu discusses the history and future of the proposed PennEast pipeline, and landowners weigh in on the issue at a rally held at a local farm. Valley View is a production of The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, sponsored by the Lehigh Center for Clinical Research. Music in this episode is by George Beck, Lee Rosevere and Moritz Schmittat.

We have so many layers of government, it can be hard to keep track. So what do the counties do? The answers may surprise you. Featured in this episode are two stalwarts of the functions of county government: Morning Call reporter Tom Shortell and former Northampton County Executive Jerry Seyfried. Valley View is a production of The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, sponsored by the Lehigh Center for Clinical Research. Music in this episode is by Paul Lawler and Timothy Whitelaw.

On Jan. 22, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dropped a bombshell when it told lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional map by next month because it was rigged to favor Republicans. But this is not Pennsylvania’s first jig with gerrymandering. A similar case was heard back in 2012. That time, the chief justice, who was Ronald Castile, singled out someone who drew a much better map: a piano teacher from the Lehigh Valley. That's Amanda Holt, now a Lehigh County Commissioner and a guest on this week's episode. Also: a discussion on this most recent case, and its place in history, with Morning Call columnist Bill White. Valley View is a production of The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Music in this episode is by Matthew O connor and Timothy Whitelaw.

The story started as a missing persons case. It ended as a murder case, which prosecutors say was executed as part of a rape and murder fantasy. The Lehigh Valley, and beyond, has been trying to figure out what happened to 14-year-old Grace Packer for more than a year. The pre-trial hearings for her adoptive mother, Sara Packer, and Sara's boyfriend, Jacob Sullivan, who have been charged with the rape and murder, start the week of January 22. In this episode, host Kayla Dwyer discusses the case to date with courts reporter Laurie Mason Schroeder. Valley View is a general news podcast by The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, sponsored by the Lehigh Center for Clinical Research. Music in this episode is by Gavin Skinner, Marvin Gratton and Thomas Brown.

The explosion of terms like "snow bomb" and "bombogenesis" amid the giant snow storm in the Northeast last week is just the latest example of how weather stories can take on lives of their own in the media. But when and how did the weather come to dominate the news cycle? This week, a brief history of the media's obsession with weather news and how this manifests today. Guests: Robert Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University; Ed Vallee, meteologist, Vallee WX Consulting; Stephanie Sigafoos, online producer for The Morning Call. Music is by Ian Boddy, Andrew White, Anthony James, Huw Jones and Sam Brown. Valley View is a production of The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Medical marijuana, downtown development, mayhem in Washington and maybe a few mini casinos -- here's a look ahead at what we're expecting for 2018. Host Kayla Dwyer chats with five reporters from The Morning Call about the biggest stories on the docket for the new year. Valley View is a production of The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, brought to you by the Lehigh Center for Clinical Research. Music in this episode is by Paul Lawler, Martin Gratton and Timothy Whitelaw.