March 31, 2026 • 30 mins
Part 2 - “With the heightened concern about biased media, we meet a local, young but seasoned journalist whose impartial, investigative reporting focuses on holding government accountable while empowering PA residents.”
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi. This is someby Moss, host of Inside and I
Heart Me, is public affairs director telling you that if
you missed part one of last week's show Boy, Oh Boy,
you mister Goodwin, that's okay because you can catch it
on any of your on your favorite podcast app and
mine's on a lot of those as well. My featured
guests from last week's with us again today. And I
(00:21):
got to say, is somebody who has worked in this
industry almost as strong long as well, twice as long.
Maybe I better shut my mouth. I don't want anybody
think I'm old enough to be your grandmother, maybe your mom.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Who knows.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I've never known any journalists quite like Ed mcgahann. Am
I saying it right?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
McCann, mahan, mahan.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Sorry, Anny, Okay, I'll tell you why he is a
remarkable journalist because he works for an organization and so
many this this public you don't call it a publication.
It's an online publication and publication well anyway, Edwards for
Spotlight pa dot org. It's an independent and I'm part
it's in nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that comes a great
(01:04):
deal of the Commonwealth, and it's headquartered right here in Harrisburg,
and I think talking in part one, all the stuff
I hear you people talk of, listening to you people, everybody,
my listeners, my guests.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
My family, when I hear them complain about things. Ed
is settling a lot of it.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
He's exposing a lot of stuff, and it's and the
people he works for. But anyway, to me, he embodies
what a real journalist should be. His work is thoughtful, meticulous,
deeply sourced. He's grounded in a genuine commitment to public service.
That's what I'm talking trying to figure out where some
word the way you phrase it in the in the
first part of this program. You're right, you wanted to
(01:44):
do something to make a difference, and you used your
talent to do it. I totally get that. And I'll
tell you why. He doesn't just report on stories. He
uncovers what's hidden. He asks questions that need to be asked,
and he brings forward the information that helps Pennsylvania's understand
what's really how in their government and their communities. Okay,
(02:04):
you were saying about how you wanted to do meaningful stories. Okay,
I want to pick up where we left off. We
talked about the medical marijuana. If people want to know,
you know, what happened with that situation, what you had
exposed and how you change things. What about voting access
and election administration? They need you in Washington.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yeah, well yeah, so my colleague gods got spollypa. You know, Yeah,
they've done a lot of great you know, I I've
they've done a lot of great work covering voting access.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
We have a partnership with vote be, we have a partnership.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
With UH with all sorts of organizations, but we do
a lot of work just you know, one of the
big things we did in the last year was just
explainers on Commonwealth Court racist, Supreme Court racist, Superior Court racist,
who these judges are and why these why they're important,
why they're important, And that was, you know, a huge,
huge source of traffic for us. A lot of people
(03:02):
were desperate and hungry for that information. People and it's
like and it's it's it's just the it's the basics
of democracies knowing what these positions are. But there's been
such a diminishment in media that not there's not there's
a few places people can give that information, so they
turn to us, and that's a vite. Overall we can
play well.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Do you you've done stories about well, let me ask
you this, how we doing in Pennsylvania as far as
the election.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Are we solid? I'm not asking who.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
About voting or politicians or anything. I mean, do Pennsylvanians vote?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Do they come out?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I think you see you see like higher turnout in
presidential election. We have a governor's election as well. I
don't have the stats in front of maybe in presidential
way a pretty high, very pretty high turnout. I think
it's in state wide races, it's considered it to be less.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I think we've you know, we've had you know, our
changes in in the mail ballot system. And there's still
ongoing conflict about how long it takes to count all
of the ballot in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
That's what I'm referring to.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Yeah, that's an ongoing concern.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
There's been efforts to try and you know, address that,
to try and have the counting you know, you know,
start start before election day and when you mail your ballot,
to try and have that happen fast. And you know,
there's been partisan you know, he's been partisan divide over
the solutions to that or even having a solution to that.
And so you know, there are definitely issues to address.
(04:24):
But I mean, for us, our big role is pointing
out problems, pointing out just like simple facts about who
the ki is are, why these races matter, and why
they're important.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Okay, that sounds great, And people don't believe me when
I say, yeah, people don't know. They're not informed about
they know. I mean, and seriously, I hear that all
the time. And here, well, what's you about? Because there
will be somebody I fam will tell me about them.
Now I can just say, hey, Betty go you know
SPOTLIGHTPA dot org. Because as I said earlier in the
other part of the program that if you want to
(04:55):
find out what somebody and you don't, it's all facts truth,
You're not biased at all. But you can check out
your legislator's record, how they voted, all kinds of good stuff.
Why is it do you think that all of a
sudden people have any interest in the courts?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Oh, that's a great question. I think we've seen the
importance of the courts. I mean, it seems like the
courts have always been important, obviously, but I think, like Pennsylvania,
a couple of things have happened. One, in like the
mid two thousands, mid twenty tens, we saw we got Democrats,
you know, one control of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and
there I think there have been a number of rulings
that you know, some more conservatives haven't liked that court
(05:31):
has done. But two, I think with so much with
twenty twenty and all the court cases over the election
results and all the heat and intensity over that election,
you know that the courts had a huge and important
role in that. And so I think that is sort
of the natural people at the state are much more
attuned to sort of the importance of state courts. And
you know, also when we had the COVID COVID shutdowns
(05:53):
and everything, that the courts were deciding a lot of
important issues and the cod COVID nineteen, that was a
huge reminder for everybody how important the decisions that state
government makes actually are. You know, state government, we can
sort of be in the background and sort of just
take it for granted that it's always there or that
it's always.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
Just chugging along.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
But when COVID nineteen came, it was a real eye
opening experience about unemployment claims. When that was a mess,
and some other issues that sort of showed how important
these state issues were. So that's why state lawmakers and
state state lawmaker, state judges, it's also important.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I want to ask you something else before we move
on to the next thing, is do you are you
assigned by your editor or is it you probably have
like a typical thing where you sit down if you
have decent So I use a news department. Everybody has
their ideas, their tips and everything, and you decide what works.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Do you bring your own stories in? How does that work?
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Yeah, so I do a lot of bringing my own
story So we meet.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
I meet once a week with my editor at Ladies
to and then meet with you know, the staff as well,
and so you know, and part of it, I have
sort of this area that I cover. State agency cover
like ones dealing with public health. So I cover like
Department of Health, Department of Drug and Alcohol programs. And
really what we try to do is, like you try
and know that beat well, you try to know the
sources there. You talk to advocates, lawmakers, people who are
(07:12):
people who are directly affected by those issues, and then
that way you can like bring these issues to your
editor as well, but I mean one of the ones
I was, you know, assigned, was these pharmacy closures.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Across the stay.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Had you brought that up go ahead?
Speaker 3 (07:24):
And so, you know, I had been aware of this,
and my editor was just like, can you look into this.
You know, sort of the last year there was these
right enclosures happening, and we just wanted to know what
the impact was. So we started with that basic idea,
just like, what's the impact of these right enclosures?
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Where do they stand?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
And so we got data from the state mapping out
where all these closures have happened. And one of the
things we found is that since two thousand, there have
been more than a thousand pharmacies to close across the state.
And it's not just right it as well, it's all
kinds of pharmacies, pharmacies in rural areas, urban areas, all
over the place. And we did a big story about it,
and we heard from a lot of people about the
(08:01):
impact that was having on their lives. One guy, you know,
I talked to him, he had to drive more than
twenty miles just to get his medication. He could get
all his medications because there were some that wouldn't he
couldn't get home delivery on and so that was one
way he had to drive.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
All these older people they supposed to do.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, and he was yeah, I mean I think he
was in the sixties or seventies and he was like
semi retired. But yeah, I mean a lot of people
with mobility issues to not have a place they can
easily get to it has a huge impact. There was
a guy who told us about how he has addiction
medication that was harder and harder to get and I
think his choice was like spending hours in the bus
to try and get it. And there were just people
who were missing that that community as well, that was there.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
So what did you find out about these middle managers?
Speaker 3 (08:42):
So, yeah, one of the big things we found is that,
you know, a lot of pharmacists, a lot of law
makers are blaming these middlemen, these pharmacies ban these pharmacy
benefit managers, and they're sort of like they you might
not even be very aware of them, but.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
They are the ones.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
If you have a health insurance plan through your job,
for instance, you know that insurance company has a pharmacy
benefit manager to deal with all of this pharmacy benefit
manage and stuff, and they're the ones who set reimbursement
rates for pharmacies.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
And you mean to tell me there's a middle management person.
We're blaming the guys at the top, and it's somebody
in the middle of.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
The big blame on the pharmacy benefit.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
The big thing that they get criticized for is that
they're accused of driving that profits for themselves while raising
costs for consumers and hurting these local treacies. They push
back on all of that, but that's the big concern
is that they control so much of the industry that
there's very little room, very little ways that pharmacies can
fight back.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
So they go out of business? Are they closed? That's blowney?
That's why should they have so much control?
Speaker 4 (09:47):
You know?
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I think the lawmakers have tried, and that's one of
the big issues I'm following now is like how can
lawmakers effectively rein in them? And they've had trouble trying
to rein them in. There was a law that passed
in twenty twenty four. It was very celebrated. People are
very excited about it, but there's been a lot of
disappointment from lawmakers about not doing everything they thought it
was going to do. And so one of the ideas
(10:09):
is these pharmacy benefit managers, if you try and get
them one way, then they'll just do something else. And
so that they're like, yeah, I mean that's that's that's
their analogy. I'm just sure they would push back on that,
but yeah, I mean there's some lawmakers they are very
against these pharmacy benefit managers and it's tough to be
and they're.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Hired by private drug drug companies.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
They are hired by like the insurance companies and insurance,
so they're in between the insurance company and they say
they're out there fighting to lower costs for everybody.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
So trust.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
But it's it's a huge issue, and it's the kind
of issue that you need time and resources to really
dive into. And that's what we've tried to do.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Being a journalist, especially a print journalist, it takes a
lot of time. But being an investigative journalists, that's exhausting,
I would think.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
But you're probably going on that.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
You know, you so pumped up about what you're going
to do and the changes you're going to make and
things are going to be better for people.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yeah, I think journalism is like the the most interesting
job there is. And I think why I that's why
I started becoming a journalism. Why I've stayed is because
of the impact it has exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Well.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I would try and explain that to my sister years ago,
and she said, no, it's not it's because you're nosy.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
I guess, yeah, yeah, maybe, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Would you encourage You've got two boys and they're little,
would you encourage your boys to get into journalism?
Speaker 4 (11:29):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
I would encourage them to keep all of their options open. Like,
you know, I think the skills you learn as a journalist,
and this is what I told students when I was
teaching high school students. Journalism is like the ability to write,
to communicate, to do it all on deadline, yep, that
to investigate.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Those are all crucial skills.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
So if you can do those when you're in high
school and in college, like that's valuable. And like how
the market's going to be, Like you gotta assess that
as as things change, because they're always changing, but like,
the skills are essential. And my son, he I mentioned before,
he is obsessed with Eagle staffs, my oldest son, and
so he does a lot of He's been reading a
(12:10):
lot of sports journalism. He's doing his own data analysis
at the Eagles Kid. Yeah, he randed the statistics project recently.
It's all about uh he did got all this data
about football teams and whether the bye week is really
helpful or not.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
He got his big data set. But those are all
journalism skills.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
So absolutely, you go out and talk to schools.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Yeah, sometimes, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
They want to know.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I mean I think there there are people love hearing
like the inside of how how we do our work.
I think that's the most interesting part I thing that
people want to hear. I mean there's there's all sorts
of other things that we can do about how how
they can trust us, all that kind of stuff. I
think people just want to know some insight into like
the day to day of what it's like.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Well, I think it.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Is trust, that's I mean, especially with what you're dealing with,
because I remember years ago I used to work for
a news network or radio news network at the Capitol
and it was a circus. It was it was cently
an enlightening situation because I went in they were all,
you know, everything is wonderful and everything and I remember, well.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
It wasn't. It wasn't. People weren't willing to open up
all the time.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
But I got sent a lot because these people would
open up to me, but send sometimes the gentleman that
opened up to me tell me stuff I don't want
to hear, you.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Know, but you've got it. You're right.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
They I was told they trust you, and that's it's
all about that. Yeah, it's all about your sincerity, what
you're there.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
For everything else.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
But I was gonna say, when I used to going
to talk to kids, they want to know how much
money did.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
You did you meet this person?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
And I said, look, the kid, if you want to
be a millionaire, you're not going to do it. It's
passionate is what fuels you. But learn, I don't care
if we're an electronic age. You're not a digital age.
You're not learn how to write.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
That's the main ye.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
You know, I've been so excited about when I saw
what you did, the award you got, and I'm real
familiar with it.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Tell us about and what it was for.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
In in the fall, I found out that I was
the recipient from the National Press Club Journalism Institute of
their Neil and Susan Sheehann Award for Investigative Journalism. And
so people might not know who Neils Neil Sheehan is
and Susan Shehan, But Neil Neil Sheehan he was a
New York Times reporter. He was the guy sort of
behind the Pentagon papers. He let the new newspapers coverage.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
So that's uh.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
And then Susan was like a Politzer Prize winning journalist
herself wrote these incredible nonfiction books. So truly to be
have my name in the same sentence to them is oh,
my god, honor.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
It means the national press comes to stuff that's a
big deal.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
But then to have them, yeah, And it was what
was support tell us about.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
So this was recognizing our opiate settlement coverage. This is
for the accountability works. So we've done a lot of work,
one showing where this money is going, but two not
just stopping there, giving people a say, giving people a
platform to share their views on how this element money
should be spent on what they think. And so I
think they really connected with our our idea of those
(15:09):
two pillars, and I think that's sort of why they
chose to recognize the work we were doing because like
the accountability work, but also doing more than just accountability work,
giving people a real platform.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
And you didn't mention the fact that you the impact
that you did. You made a lot of difference in
people's lives. And apparently these.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Two folks, the she Han they did, they were writing
the same page as you were.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Oh, yeah, thank you, it's real, it's real.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Tell me, okay when you found out about just say
this is a mistake, I.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Was like, I was like, I was like, that's amazing,
that's incredible. Yeah, So I called them up. I was like,
I was like, yeah, I called them. Yeah, I called
them up. I got an email and I was like,
that's cool. But I was like, I gotta I gotta verify.
I gotta verify. So I like, I looked up I
looked up their number and I called them directly and
just I just think I didn't call the listed number.
I like looked up the number and I called them,
(15:59):
and they're like, I was nice to take that you accepted.
I guess I'm very happy to accept. But it was
it was, yeah, it was, it was. It was it
was surreal. It was it felt unreal.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Why wouldn't you accept?
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Yeah, of course I would accept. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
I was like, yeah, oh my, that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
Yeah, and it was.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
It was in d C in December and so and
you know, and one of the things I had a
chance to speak to the crowd and I shared some
of the stories that I shared here with you today.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
But I talked about Tyler Cordero.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
I talked about Susan Osterman, and I talked about how,
you know, how what we've tried to do is to
to elevate and tell these stories for these families, and
how grateful I am for my own family and for
for all of these families who have made this work possible.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
You must have had two heck of amazing parents.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Thank you very much, I did. Yeah, they were. My
dad passed away five years ago. Yeah, no, thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Uh he was a great writer. My mom passed away,
uh more recently. She passed away in October. And so
I actually she I got to tell her about the
she Hanna Ward and she, I mean she she was
very excited. She I talked about her my speech as well,
but she she was very excited. But she also said, yeah,
you got to verify it. You can't just take the
word for it.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Did you come from it. Do you have a lot
of siblings.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
I have to have an older brother, older sister.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
You're right in the middle.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
No, I'm the younger, older brother older.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah, I'm the youngest. Yeah, so I'm that baby, the baby.
And my mom made sure to tell them what a
big deal.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
It was that I got this award. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Yeah, and so yeah, she so she she'd been sick
for a while, but she passed away in October, but
she got to Oh, thank you, I appreciate that. But
she got to hear about the award before then.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
What about what your wife would She.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Was very yeah, she was. Yeah, she was very excited
as well.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Did she make any jokes? She she was.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
She was very.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Excited, and it was it was great. She got to
come with me, come with me to d C. Yeah,
and so we got the incredible journalists. They're doing great
work as well. So it was a true honor.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Well, you're not doing it for the awards, but when
the awards come, it's like, oh my gosh, I am
making a difference.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
But what's what's tired than this?
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Yeah, And one of the things so many of my versus,
we're happy about the award as well, that was was
cool and stuck with me because it was it's the award.
You know, Obviously it's reorganizing me and I am grateful
for that, and I acknowledge that as well. But like
for them, it's in a lot of ways, it's it's
recognition of the stories that they were gracious enough to
tell me, that they were gracious enough to allow me
(18:18):
to tell, So it sort of elevates all of these issues.
And so for me, it's, yeah, it's it's a sign
that you're you're on the right track, and it's a
sign to try and live up to the legacy of
this award.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Oh my god, you passed. My goodness, I know this business.
You trust me? Yeah, okay, listen, we talked to the
beginning of last week's show about the way people don't
trust the media, and you talked about why you failed.
It was but maybe it's more like they lump everybody
in they see a report from like in my bit,
(18:50):
my end of it, the radio and TV end of it.
We had the talking hits that are politically you know,
blah blah blah, blah blah blah. But I don't think
I've seen much of that in unless it's huge paper.
I don't see that much in uh print media.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Where this goes on like they talking.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Yeah the bang and banging. Oh yeah, I talked that
like I'm saying it splits up fans.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah yeah, yeah, No, I mean, I think, I mean,
I mean, for a lot of the work we do
is like is trying. We've, like I mentioned before, we
get so many Republicans Democrats who cite our work, I mean,
and that just as an example of that. We did
a lot of reporting on the medical marijuana as I mentioned,
and there was a bill that includes doctor oversight measures
that was prompted by our reporting. It passed out of
the state House with large bipart partisan support. I think
(19:34):
nearly two hundred people voted for it. And so multiple
of our investigations have raised questions from experts, including medical
marijuana physicians, about the quality of care many patients received.
We've found that while most doctors approved fewer than one
hundred medical marijuana cards in the year, three doctors approved
at least eleven thousand in a year, and so that
(19:55):
raised a lot of concerns from.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
It's like a red light goes off or something.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
And we got when we heard that from both Republicans
and Democrats, and so I think, like when we focus
on issues and we spend a lot of time, the
hardest thing, the thing I think about the most is
what stories are we going to do, because like we
want to do things that other people aren't doing. We
want to we don't We're trying to replicate what every
other outlet is doing, just because I mean, I think,
you know, so many of the issues are you know,
(20:23):
affordability is a huge issue, and affordability and access to
the things they need and whether that's pharmacies, whether that's
addiction treatment, whether that's just the cost of living.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
I mean these are huge issue day life yea, every
day life.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
And you see, I mean we've had I was had
a chance to work as a state government editor for
a little while at spot i PA to fill in temporarily,
and you know, there was one of my colleagues, Kate Wangpu.
She did some great reporting about data centers and how
they're being rolled out across Pennsylvania and there's spent a
lot of lawmakers who were embracing these and Kate did
(20:58):
some reporting and found out a lot of people will
were upset about these.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
They don't want them in their area.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
And so she did some great reporting just about that conflict,
about that disconnect, about how people in Harrisburg weren't taking
any action, but people on the local level were upset
about it, and she connected the two issues. And since then,
we've seen more changes, and we've also seen she's done
great work about two billion dollars of a tax break
that is expected to benefit fit these data centers.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
It was originally going to be.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Like, benefit them or the people in the community.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Benefit these data that yeah, there were in community, Yeah,
these or there's that's the concern. And so these data
centers they there was this tax break that passed a
couple of years ago and it's it was originally like
tens of millions of dollars, but because they're expanding so much,
it's expected to balloon.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
And nobody else was.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Talking about that until Kate and Stephen Cruz, so Capitol reporters,
they called it out and they did some great reporting
about it.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Wow, Wow, whatrey interesting?
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Is there something our listeners may may be able to
tip you off on.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Oh yeah, I mean always looking at anything where there
might be misspending or inappropriate spending.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Yeah, how do you know it's not just a little
issue with me? How do you find out? Because you
know what people calling you all the time and say
and you're saying, oh, I cand of handle that if
you know, her medicine went up by fifty cents.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Yeah, you know what I mean? They can email me.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
I can email that Spotlight P eight out organ and
some of them with the pharmacy closures, we got, like
you know, dozens and dozens of tips, and like not
all of them are, like you know, on their own
are huge deals. But when you get that dozens of
those tips, it helps you understand how the whole system
is going.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
So what's the best part about what you do? Well
you told us for the last hour.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, I would say it's it's you know, seeing the
impact and knowing that if it wasn't for us, nobody
else would have done that.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
And what's the hardest time about you go? Because first
of all, being a journalists that's not easy. Yeah, being
an investigative journalist when you put everything on the line,
that's pretty tough.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Yeah, mean it can be.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
You know, you think about these stories can stick with you,
And I would say the biggest thing is trying to
make sure that we are forging this path to the
future to make Spotlight PA sustainable in the long term,
because like, if we're not here, if we're not doing
this work, then nobody else is. There's nobody else coming
to do this. And so that's the biggest challenge and
the biggest thing I'm most excited to be involved in.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
How do we get to read Spotlight.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Go to spotlight pa dot org and you can check
out all of our stories and you can sign up
for our newsletters.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
There as well. How do we support you? Oh?
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yeah, anything needs I mean read read. If you want
to follow me on uh X, I'm at ed Mahen
Reporter on LinkedIn. You can find me at ed mahe
if any of the social media.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, I mean change it looks like mahon.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yeah, it gets pronounced all many different ways, many different ways.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
It's Irish.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
So my my grandfather dropped the y when he came
to it was used to be mahonee mahoney. I mean
that mahoney would make mahoney would be easier to pronounce.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
I grew up that if you put why on it,
it's my.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Money, I would have been made my life easier, especially
when I worked in radio.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Yeah, I cannot thank you enough pleasure. No, seriously, it's
my pleasure. It's like I'm meeting some you give me confidence.
Thank you in in uh in in not only.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
In journalism but in the in the world.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
But I think, I think, let me ask you this
and I'll tell you what when people talk to me.
My son got into it. I told you he went
to the zooper journalism. It was in commercial radio when
he was in high school. But I don't I don't
encourage kids anymore to do it because I see what's
going on. How you know, Uh, corporations are running stations
(24:42):
and stuff, and there's a certain line that a lot
of them take. And the money isn't the way well
it was ever. Journalism is not if you want to
get rich. It's not a get rich thing unless you're
going to major market. But I'm sure, I'm sure you're
making millions.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
But what would you.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Say to young kids about to uh, don't listen to
Sylvia get into journalism. You know why I did because
I stopped seeing the passion in journalism that I used
to see when I started out on it. When you know,
we were inspired, we had people that you know, not
only our journalists but people around it.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
We saw every day. But I don't see that inspiration,
do you.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Yeah, I mean I see I see it. I think
it's still there.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
But I mean yeah, for for individuals, I you know,
I think have options. I mean, if you're if you're
a young person in your twenties, I think this is
great work to do.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
I think it's valuable work to do.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
But uh, you know, I would have a wide skill set,
and I think these skills are valuable and no matter
what you end up pursuing.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Oh, I can't thank you enough.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
I hate to lose to leave it right now because
there's so much I would like to ask you, but
I've got to thank it so much for coming in again.
Watch EDS go to spotlight pa dot or do it
right now? All right, don't wait, don't wait till it.
As I said, there's a lot of information there. When
it when the elections start coming up, and it's it's
they say it's not by, it's not by. They just
(26:05):
report the facts, ma'am right, which is worth But there's
so much more that's going on, especially what Ed's doing.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Get a hold of that. What is your email address?
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Emah and at spot I PA dot org.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Mahoney and E M A h O N at Spolet do.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
All I can say, keep it up because I'm so
very impressed with you.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Ours are conversations.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
They remind us why journalism is still some people still
have the.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
What can I say for the heart work because it's
public service, that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
If you want to if you have a passion for
serving people and want to make a difference in people's lives,
and you locked down this one, how about it.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
I thank you.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
I feel very fortunate to be with this.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
No, we're fortunate to have you.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Okay, I'll tell you what my buddy, our Jay Harris,
used to do warnings with himount of you know r J.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
He's on w HP. He always talks about.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
People being a fine America and ours look at me,
they're the glass and he's thinking, where's she going with
this one? Ed, you're a finding America. Thanks so much,
and thanks so much for coming. And we're not gonna
forget about you. We're going to have you back again
because you've got some great not only stories to tell,
but you're changing people's lives for a big time.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
For tour to add and also a reminder to my
listeners that Inside airs every weekend on tend of our
iHeart stations anytime on your favorite podcast stapp.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
And if you missed part one with that, please go back.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Please please please Part one air last week, find it
on your podcast staff and we'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
I'm Sylvia Moss. This has been Insight.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Thank you so much for listening, and again see again
next week.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
This is iHeart Public Affairs director and host of Insights,
Sylvia Moss. Each week on Insight, we address and try
to provide the best local resources for issues that you
tell me are the most important to you, the ones
that have the biggest impact on your everyday lives. Insights
also a place where we can let you know about
exciting community events and introduce you to many of the
incredible people who work hard every single day just to
(28:27):
make all of our lives better. If you're not able
to listen to Insight when it airs on this station
each week, then catch you on your favorite podcast st
at Thank you for listening. Smokey the Bear, Then you
know why Smokey tells you when he.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Sees you passing through.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
Remember he's be careful.
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It's the least that you can do.
Speaker 5 (28:55):
After eighty years of learning his wildfire prevention tips, Smokey
Bear lives within us all. Learn more at smokeybear dot
com and remember only you.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Can prevent wildfires.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Brought to you by the USBA for Service or State
Forster in the AD Council.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
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Speaker 1 (30:04):
M HM
Hi. This is someby Moss, host of Inside and I
Heart Me, is public affairs director telling you that if
you missed part one of last week's show Boy, Oh Boy,
you mister Goodwin, that's okay because you can catch it
on any of your on your favorite podcast app and
mine's on a lot of those as well. My featured
guests from last week's with us again today. And I
(00:21):
got to say, is somebody who has worked in this
industry almost as strong long as well, twice as long.
Maybe I better shut my mouth. I don't want anybody
think I'm old enough to be your grandmother, maybe your mom.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Who knows.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I've never known any journalists quite like Ed mcgahann. Am
I saying it right?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
McCann, mahan, mahan.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Sorry, Anny, Okay, I'll tell you why he is a
remarkable journalist because he works for an organization and so
many this this public you don't call it a publication.
It's an online publication and publication well anyway, Edwards for
Spotlight pa dot org. It's an independent and I'm part
it's in nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that comes a great
(01:04):
deal of the Commonwealth, and it's headquartered right here in Harrisburg,
and I think talking in part one, all the stuff
I hear you people talk of, listening to you people, everybody,
my listeners, my guests.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
My family, when I hear them complain about things. Ed
is settling a lot of it.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
He's exposing a lot of stuff, and it's and the
people he works for. But anyway, to me, he embodies
what a real journalist should be. His work is thoughtful, meticulous,
deeply sourced. He's grounded in a genuine commitment to public service.
That's what I'm talking trying to figure out where some
word the way you phrase it in the in the
first part of this program. You're right, you wanted to
(01:44):
do something to make a difference, and you used your
talent to do it. I totally get that. And I'll
tell you why. He doesn't just report on stories. He
uncovers what's hidden. He asks questions that need to be asked,
and he brings forward the information that helps Pennsylvania's understand
what's really how in their government and their communities. Okay,
(02:04):
you were saying about how you wanted to do meaningful stories. Okay,
I want to pick up where we left off. We
talked about the medical marijuana. If people want to know,
you know, what happened with that situation, what you had
exposed and how you change things. What about voting access
and election administration? They need you in Washington.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yeah, well yeah, so my colleague gods got spollypa. You know, Yeah,
they've done a lot of great you know, I I've
they've done a lot of great work covering voting access.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
We have a partnership with vote be, we have a partnership.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
With UH with all sorts of organizations, but we do
a lot of work just you know, one of the
big things we did in the last year was just
explainers on Commonwealth Court racist, Supreme Court racist, Superior Court racist,
who these judges are and why these why they're important,
why they're important, And that was, you know, a huge,
huge source of traffic for us. A lot of people
(03:02):
were desperate and hungry for that information. People and it's
like and it's it's it's just the it's the basics
of democracies knowing what these positions are. But there's been
such a diminishment in media that not there's not there's
a few places people can give that information, so they
turn to us, and that's a vite. Overall we can
play well.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Do you you've done stories about well, let me ask
you this, how we doing in Pennsylvania as far as
the election.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Are we solid? I'm not asking who.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
About voting or politicians or anything. I mean, do Pennsylvanians vote?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Do they come out?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I think you see you see like higher turnout in
presidential election. We have a governor's election as well. I
don't have the stats in front of maybe in presidential
way a pretty high, very pretty high turnout. I think
it's in state wide races, it's considered it to be less.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I think we've you know, we've had you know, our
changes in in the mail ballot system. And there's still
ongoing conflict about how long it takes to count all
of the ballot in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
That's what I'm referring to.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Yeah, that's an ongoing concern.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
There's been efforts to try and you know, address that,
to try and have the counting you know, you know,
start start before election day and when you mail your ballot,
to try and have that happen fast. And you know,
there's been partisan you know, he's been partisan divide over
the solutions to that or even having a solution to that.
And so you know, there are definitely issues to address.
(04:24):
But I mean, for us, our big role is pointing
out problems, pointing out just like simple facts about who
the ki is are, why these races matter, and why
they're important.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Okay, that sounds great, And people don't believe me when
I say, yeah, people don't know. They're not informed about
they know. I mean, and seriously, I hear that all
the time. And here, well, what's you about? Because there
will be somebody I fam will tell me about them.
Now I can just say, hey, Betty go you know
SPOTLIGHTPA dot org. Because as I said earlier in the
other part of the program that if you want to
(04:55):
find out what somebody and you don't, it's all facts truth,
You're not biased at all. But you can check out
your legislator's record, how they voted, all kinds of good stuff.
Why is it do you think that all of a
sudden people have any interest in the courts?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Oh, that's a great question. I think we've seen the
importance of the courts. I mean, it seems like the
courts have always been important, obviously, but I think, like Pennsylvania,
a couple of things have happened. One, in like the
mid two thousands, mid twenty tens, we saw we got Democrats,
you know, one control of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and
there I think there have been a number of rulings
that you know, some more conservatives haven't liked that court
(05:31):
has done. But two, I think with so much with
twenty twenty and all the court cases over the election
results and all the heat and intensity over that election,
you know that the courts had a huge and important
role in that. And so I think that is sort
of the natural people at the state are much more
attuned to sort of the importance of state courts. And
you know, also when we had the COVID COVID shutdowns
(05:53):
and everything, that the courts were deciding a lot of
important issues and the cod COVID nineteen, that was a
huge reminder for everybody how important the decisions that state
government makes actually are. You know, state government, we can
sort of be in the background and sort of just
take it for granted that it's always there or that
it's always.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
Just chugging along.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
But when COVID nineteen came, it was a real eye
opening experience about unemployment claims. When that was a mess,
and some other issues that sort of showed how important
these state issues were. So that's why state lawmakers and
state state lawmaker, state judges, it's also important.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I want to ask you something else before we move
on to the next thing, is do you are you
assigned by your editor or is it you probably have
like a typical thing where you sit down if you
have decent So I use a news department. Everybody has
their ideas, their tips and everything, and you decide what works.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Do you bring your own stories in? How does that work?
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Yeah, so I do a lot of bringing my own
story So we meet.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
I meet once a week with my editor at Ladies
to and then meet with you know, the staff as well,
and so you know, and part of it, I have
sort of this area that I cover. State agency cover
like ones dealing with public health. So I cover like
Department of Health, Department of Drug and Alcohol programs. And
really what we try to do is, like you try
and know that beat well, you try to know the
sources there. You talk to advocates, lawmakers, people who are
(07:12):
people who are directly affected by those issues, and then
that way you can like bring these issues to your
editor as well, but I mean one of the ones
I was, you know, assigned, was these pharmacy closures.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Across the stay.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Had you brought that up go ahead?
Speaker 3 (07:24):
And so, you know, I had been aware of this,
and my editor was just like, can you look into this.
You know, sort of the last year there was these
right enclosures happening, and we just wanted to know what
the impact was. So we started with that basic idea,
just like, what's the impact of these right enclosures?
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Where do they stand?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
And so we got data from the state mapping out
where all these closures have happened. And one of the
things we found is that since two thousand, there have
been more than a thousand pharmacies to close across the state.
And it's not just right it as well, it's all
kinds of pharmacies, pharmacies in rural areas, urban areas, all
over the place. And we did a big story about it,
and we heard from a lot of people about the
(08:01):
impact that was having on their lives. One guy, you know,
I talked to him, he had to drive more than
twenty miles just to get his medication. He could get
all his medications because there were some that wouldn't he
couldn't get home delivery on and so that was one
way he had to drive.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
All these older people they supposed to do.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, and he was yeah, I mean I think he
was in the sixties or seventies and he was like
semi retired. But yeah, I mean a lot of people
with mobility issues to not have a place they can
easily get to it has a huge impact. There was
a guy who told us about how he has addiction
medication that was harder and harder to get and I
think his choice was like spending hours in the bus
to try and get it. And there were just people
who were missing that that community as well, that was there.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
So what did you find out about these middle managers?
Speaker 3 (08:42):
So, yeah, one of the big things we found is that,
you know, a lot of pharmacists, a lot of law
makers are blaming these middlemen, these pharmacies ban these pharmacy
benefit managers, and they're sort of like they you might
not even be very aware of them, but.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
They are the ones.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
If you have a health insurance plan through your job,
for instance, you know that insurance company has a pharmacy
benefit manager to deal with all of this pharmacy benefit
manage and stuff, and they're the ones who set reimbursement
rates for pharmacies.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
And you mean to tell me there's a middle management person.
We're blaming the guys at the top, and it's somebody
in the middle of.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
The big blame on the pharmacy benefit.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
The big thing that they get criticized for is that
they're accused of driving that profits for themselves while raising
costs for consumers and hurting these local treacies. They push
back on all of that, but that's the big concern
is that they control so much of the industry that
there's very little room, very little ways that pharmacies can
fight back.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
So they go out of business? Are they closed? That's blowney?
That's why should they have so much control?
Speaker 4 (09:47):
You know?
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I think the lawmakers have tried, and that's one of
the big issues I'm following now is like how can
lawmakers effectively rein in them? And they've had trouble trying
to rein them in. There was a law that passed
in twenty twenty four. It was very celebrated. People are
very excited about it, but there's been a lot of
disappointment from lawmakers about not doing everything they thought it
was going to do. And so one of the ideas
(10:09):
is these pharmacy benefit managers, if you try and get
them one way, then they'll just do something else. And
so that they're like, yeah, I mean that's that's that's
their analogy. I'm just sure they would push back on that,
but yeah, I mean there's some lawmakers they are very
against these pharmacy benefit managers and it's tough to be
and they're.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Hired by private drug drug companies.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
They are hired by like the insurance companies and insurance,
so they're in between the insurance company and they say
they're out there fighting to lower costs for everybody.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
So trust.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
But it's it's a huge issue, and it's the kind
of issue that you need time and resources to really
dive into. And that's what we've tried to do.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Being a journalist, especially a print journalist, it takes a
lot of time. But being an investigative journalists, that's exhausting,
I would think.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
But you're probably going on that.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
You know, you so pumped up about what you're going
to do and the changes you're going to make and
things are going to be better for people.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yeah, I think journalism is like the the most interesting
job there is. And I think why I that's why
I started becoming a journalism. Why I've stayed is because
of the impact it has exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Well.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I would try and explain that to my sister years ago,
and she said, no, it's not it's because you're nosy.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
I guess, yeah, yeah, maybe, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Would you encourage You've got two boys and they're little,
would you encourage your boys to get into journalism?
Speaker 4 (11:29):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
I would encourage them to keep all of their options open. Like,
you know, I think the skills you learn as a journalist,
and this is what I told students when I was
teaching high school students. Journalism is like the ability to write,
to communicate, to do it all on deadline, yep, that
to investigate.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Those are all crucial skills.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
So if you can do those when you're in high
school and in college, like that's valuable. And like how
the market's going to be, Like you gotta assess that
as as things change, because they're always changing, but like,
the skills are essential. And my son, he I mentioned before,
he is obsessed with Eagle staffs, my oldest son, and
so he does a lot of He's been reading a
(12:10):
lot of sports journalism. He's doing his own data analysis
at the Eagles Kid. Yeah, he randed the statistics project recently.
It's all about uh he did got all this data
about football teams and whether the bye week is really
helpful or not.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
He got his big data set. But those are all
journalism skills.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
So absolutely, you go out and talk to schools.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Yeah, sometimes, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
They want to know.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I mean I think there there are people love hearing
like the inside of how how we do our work.
I think that's the most interesting part I thing that
people want to hear. I mean there's there's all sorts
of other things that we can do about how how
they can trust us, all that kind of stuff. I
think people just want to know some insight into like
the day to day of what it's like.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Well, I think it.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Is trust, that's I mean, especially with what you're dealing with,
because I remember years ago I used to work for
a news network or radio news network at the Capitol
and it was a circus. It was it was cently
an enlightening situation because I went in they were all,
you know, everything is wonderful and everything and I remember, well.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
It wasn't. It wasn't. People weren't willing to open up
all the time.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
But I got sent a lot because these people would
open up to me, but send sometimes the gentleman that
opened up to me tell me stuff I don't want
to hear, you.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Know, but you've got it. You're right.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
They I was told they trust you, and that's it's
all about that. Yeah, it's all about your sincerity, what
you're there.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
For everything else.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
But I was gonna say, when I used to going
to talk to kids, they want to know how much
money did.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
You did you meet this person?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
And I said, look, the kid, if you want to
be a millionaire, you're not going to do it. It's
passionate is what fuels you. But learn, I don't care
if we're an electronic age. You're not a digital age.
You're not learn how to write.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
That's the main ye.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
You know, I've been so excited about when I saw
what you did, the award you got, and I'm real
familiar with it.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Tell us about and what it was for.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
In in the fall, I found out that I was
the recipient from the National Press Club Journalism Institute of
their Neil and Susan Sheehann Award for Investigative Journalism. And
so people might not know who Neils Neil Sheehan is
and Susan Shehan, But Neil Neil Sheehan he was a
New York Times reporter. He was the guy sort of
behind the Pentagon papers. He let the new newspapers coverage.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
So that's uh.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
And then Susan was like a Politzer Prize winning journalist
herself wrote these incredible nonfiction books. So truly to be
have my name in the same sentence to them is oh,
my god, honor.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
It means the national press comes to stuff that's a
big deal.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
But then to have them, yeah, And it was what
was support tell us about.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
So this was recognizing our opiate settlement coverage. This is
for the accountability works. So we've done a lot of work,
one showing where this money is going, but two not
just stopping there, giving people a say, giving people a
platform to share their views on how this element money
should be spent on what they think. And so I
think they really connected with our our idea of those
(15:09):
two pillars, and I think that's sort of why they
chose to recognize the work we were doing because like
the accountability work, but also doing more than just accountability work,
giving people a real platform.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
And you didn't mention the fact that you the impact
that you did. You made a lot of difference in
people's lives. And apparently these.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Two folks, the she Han they did, they were writing
the same page as you were.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Oh, yeah, thank you, it's real, it's real.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Tell me, okay when you found out about just say
this is a mistake, I.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Was like, I was like, I was like, that's amazing,
that's incredible. Yeah, So I called them up. I was like,
I was like, yeah, I called them. Yeah, I called
them up. I got an email and I was like,
that's cool. But I was like, I gotta I gotta verify.
I gotta verify. So I like, I looked up I
looked up their number and I called them directly and
just I just think I didn't call the listed number.
I like looked up the number and I called them,
(15:59):
and they're like, I was nice to take that you accepted.
I guess I'm very happy to accept. But it was
it was, yeah, it was, it was. It was it
was surreal. It was it felt unreal.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Why wouldn't you accept?
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Yeah, of course I would accept. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
I was like, yeah, oh my, that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
Yeah, and it was.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
It was in d C in December and so and
you know, and one of the things I had a
chance to speak to the crowd and I shared some
of the stories that I shared here with you today.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
But I talked about Tyler Cordero.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
I talked about Susan Osterman, and I talked about how,
you know, how what we've tried to do is to
to elevate and tell these stories for these families, and
how grateful I am for my own family and for
for all of these families who have made this work possible.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
You must have had two heck of amazing parents.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Thank you very much, I did. Yeah, they were. My
dad passed away five years ago. Yeah, no, thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Uh he was a great writer. My mom passed away,
uh more recently. She passed away in October. And so
I actually she I got to tell her about the
she Hanna Ward and she, I mean she she was
very excited. She I talked about her my speech as well,
but she she was very excited. But she also said, yeah,
you got to verify it. You can't just take the
word for it.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Did you come from it. Do you have a lot
of siblings.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
I have to have an older brother, older sister.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
You're right in the middle.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
No, I'm the younger, older brother older.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah, I'm the youngest. Yeah, so I'm that baby, the baby.
And my mom made sure to tell them what a
big deal.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
It was that I got this award. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Yeah, and so yeah, she so she she'd been sick
for a while, but she passed away in October, but
she got to Oh, thank you, I appreciate that. But
she got to hear about the award before then.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
What about what your wife would She.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Was very yeah, she was. Yeah, she was very excited
as well.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Did she make any jokes? She she was.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
She was very.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Excited, and it was it was great. She got to
come with me, come with me to d C. Yeah,
and so we got the incredible journalists. They're doing great
work as well. So it was a true honor.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Well, you're not doing it for the awards, but when
the awards come, it's like, oh my gosh, I am
making a difference.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
But what's what's tired than this?
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Yeah, And one of the things so many of my versus,
we're happy about the award as well, that was was
cool and stuck with me because it was it's the award.
You know, Obviously it's reorganizing me and I am grateful
for that, and I acknowledge that as well. But like
for them, it's in a lot of ways, it's it's
recognition of the stories that they were gracious enough to
tell me, that they were gracious enough to allow me
(18:18):
to tell, So it sort of elevates all of these issues.
And so for me, it's, yeah, it's it's a sign
that you're you're on the right track, and it's a
sign to try and live up to the legacy of
this award.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Oh my god, you passed. My goodness, I know this business.
You trust me? Yeah, okay, listen, we talked to the
beginning of last week's show about the way people don't
trust the media, and you talked about why you failed.
It was but maybe it's more like they lump everybody
in they see a report from like in my bit,
(18:50):
my end of it, the radio and TV end of it.
We had the talking hits that are politically you know,
blah blah blah, blah blah blah. But I don't think
I've seen much of that in unless it's huge paper.
I don't see that much in uh print media.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Where this goes on like they talking.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Yeah the bang and banging. Oh yeah, I talked that
like I'm saying it splits up fans.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah yeah, yeah, No, I mean, I think, I mean,
I mean, for a lot of the work we do
is like is trying. We've, like I mentioned before, we
get so many Republicans Democrats who cite our work, I mean,
and that just as an example of that. We did
a lot of reporting on the medical marijuana as I mentioned,
and there was a bill that includes doctor oversight measures
that was prompted by our reporting. It passed out of
the state House with large bipart partisan support. I think
(19:34):
nearly two hundred people voted for it. And so multiple
of our investigations have raised questions from experts, including medical
marijuana physicians, about the quality of care many patients received.
We've found that while most doctors approved fewer than one
hundred medical marijuana cards in the year, three doctors approved
at least eleven thousand in a year, and so that
(19:55):
raised a lot of concerns from.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
It's like a red light goes off or something.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
And we got when we heard that from both Republicans
and Democrats, and so I think, like when we focus
on issues and we spend a lot of time, the
hardest thing, the thing I think about the most is
what stories are we going to do, because like we
want to do things that other people aren't doing. We
want to we don't We're trying to replicate what every
other outlet is doing, just because I mean, I think,
you know, so many of the issues are you know,
(20:23):
affordability is a huge issue, and affordability and access to
the things they need and whether that's pharmacies, whether that's
addiction treatment, whether that's just the cost of living.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
I mean these are huge issue day life yea, every
day life.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
And you see, I mean we've had I was had
a chance to work as a state government editor for
a little while at spot i PA to fill in temporarily,
and you know, there was one of my colleagues, Kate Wangpu.
She did some great reporting about data centers and how
they're being rolled out across Pennsylvania and there's spent a
lot of lawmakers who were embracing these and Kate did
(20:58):
some reporting and found out a lot of people will
were upset about these.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
They don't want them in their area.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
And so she did some great reporting just about that conflict,
about that disconnect, about how people in Harrisburg weren't taking
any action, but people on the local level were upset
about it, and she connected the two issues. And since then,
we've seen more changes, and we've also seen she's done
great work about two billion dollars of a tax break
that is expected to benefit fit these data centers.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
It was originally going to be.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Like, benefit them or the people in the community.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Benefit these data that yeah, there were in community, Yeah,
these or there's that's the concern. And so these data
centers they there was this tax break that passed a
couple of years ago and it's it was originally like
tens of millions of dollars, but because they're expanding so much,
it's expected to balloon.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
And nobody else was.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Talking about that until Kate and Stephen Cruz, so Capitol reporters,
they called it out and they did some great reporting
about it.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Wow, Wow, whatrey interesting?
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Is there something our listeners may may be able to
tip you off on.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Oh yeah, I mean always looking at anything where there
might be misspending or inappropriate spending.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Yeah, how do you know it's not just a little
issue with me? How do you find out? Because you
know what people calling you all the time and say
and you're saying, oh, I cand of handle that if
you know, her medicine went up by fifty cents.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Yeah, you know what I mean? They can email me.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
I can email that Spotlight P eight out organ and
some of them with the pharmacy closures, we got, like
you know, dozens and dozens of tips, and like not
all of them are, like you know, on their own
are huge deals. But when you get that dozens of
those tips, it helps you understand how the whole system
is going.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
So what's the best part about what you do? Well
you told us for the last hour.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, I would say it's it's you know, seeing the
impact and knowing that if it wasn't for us, nobody
else would have done that.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
And what's the hardest time about you go? Because first
of all, being a journalists that's not easy. Yeah, being
an investigative journalist when you put everything on the line,
that's pretty tough.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Yeah, mean it can be.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
You know, you think about these stories can stick with you,
And I would say the biggest thing is trying to
make sure that we are forging this path to the
future to make Spotlight PA sustainable in the long term,
because like, if we're not here, if we're not doing
this work, then nobody else is. There's nobody else coming
to do this. And so that's the biggest challenge and
the biggest thing I'm most excited to be involved in.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
How do we get to read Spotlight.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Go to spotlight pa dot org and you can check
out all of our stories and you can sign up
for our newsletters.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
There as well. How do we support you? Oh?
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yeah, anything needs I mean read read. If you want
to follow me on uh X, I'm at ed Mahen
Reporter on LinkedIn. You can find me at ed mahe
if any of the social media.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, I mean change it looks like mahon.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yeah, it gets pronounced all many different ways, many different ways.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
It's Irish.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
So my my grandfather dropped the y when he came
to it was used to be mahonee mahoney. I mean
that mahoney would make mahoney would be easier to pronounce.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
I grew up that if you put why on it,
it's my.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Money, I would have been made my life easier, especially
when I worked in radio.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Yeah, I cannot thank you enough pleasure. No, seriously, it's
my pleasure. It's like I'm meeting some you give me confidence.
Thank you in in uh in in not only.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
In journalism but in the in the world.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
But I think, I think, let me ask you this
and I'll tell you what when people talk to me.
My son got into it. I told you he went
to the zooper journalism. It was in commercial radio when
he was in high school. But I don't I don't
encourage kids anymore to do it because I see what's
going on. How you know, Uh, corporations are running stations
(24:42):
and stuff, and there's a certain line that a lot
of them take. And the money isn't the way well
it was ever. Journalism is not if you want to
get rich. It's not a get rich thing unless you're
going to major market. But I'm sure, I'm sure you're
making millions.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
But what would you.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Say to young kids about to uh, don't listen to
Sylvia get into journalism. You know why I did because
I stopped seeing the passion in journalism that I used
to see when I started out on it. When you know,
we were inspired, we had people that you know, not
only our journalists but people around it.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
We saw every day. But I don't see that inspiration,
do you.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Yeah, I mean I see I see it. I think
it's still there.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
But I mean yeah, for for individuals, I you know,
I think have options. I mean, if you're if you're
a young person in your twenties, I think this is
great work to do.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
I think it's valuable work to do.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
But uh, you know, I would have a wide skill set,
and I think these skills are valuable and no matter
what you end up pursuing.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Oh, I can't thank you enough.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
I hate to lose to leave it right now because
there's so much I would like to ask you, but
I've got to thank it so much for coming in again.
Watch EDS go to spotlight pa dot or do it
right now? All right, don't wait, don't wait till it.
As I said, there's a lot of information there. When
it when the elections start coming up, and it's it's
they say it's not by, it's not by. They just
(26:05):
report the facts, ma'am right, which is worth But there's
so much more that's going on, especially what Ed's doing.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Get a hold of that. What is your email address?
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Emah and at spot I PA dot org.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Mahoney and E M A h O N at Spolet do.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
All I can say, keep it up because I'm so
very impressed with you.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Ours are conversations.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
They remind us why journalism is still some people still
have the.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
What can I say for the heart work because it's
public service, that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
If you want to if you have a passion for
serving people and want to make a difference in people's lives,
and you locked down this one, how about it.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
I thank you.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
I feel very fortunate to be with this.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
No, we're fortunate to have you.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Okay, I'll tell you what my buddy, our Jay Harris,
used to do warnings with himount of you know r J.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
He's on w HP. He always talks about.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
People being a fine America and ours look at me,
they're the glass and he's thinking, where's she going with
this one? Ed, you're a finding America. Thanks so much,
and thanks so much for coming. And we're not gonna
forget about you. We're going to have you back again
because you've got some great not only stories to tell,
but you're changing people's lives for a big time.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
For tour to add and also a reminder to my
listeners that Inside airs every weekend on tend of our
iHeart stations anytime on your favorite podcast stapp.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
And if you missed part one with that, please go back.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Please please please Part one air last week, find it
on your podcast staff and we'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
I'm Sylvia Moss. This has been Insight.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Thank you so much for listening, and again see again
next week.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
This is iHeart Public Affairs director and host of Insights,
Sylvia Moss. Each week on Insight, we address and try
to provide the best local resources for issues that you
tell me are the most important to you, the ones
that have the biggest impact on your everyday lives. Insights
also a place where we can let you know about
exciting community events and introduce you to many of the
incredible people who work hard every single day just to
(28:27):
make all of our lives better. If you're not able
to listen to Insight when it airs on this station
each week, then catch you on your favorite podcast st
at Thank you for listening. Smokey the Bear, Then you
know why Smokey tells you when he.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Sees you passing through.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
Remember he's be careful.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
It's the least that you can do.
Speaker 5 (28:55):
After eighty years of learning his wildfire prevention tips, Smokey
Bear lives within us all. Learn more at smokeybear dot
com and remember only you.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Can prevent wildfires.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Brought to you by the USBA for Service or State
Forster in the AD Council.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
Every year, millions of pets go missing, leaving families heartbroken.
If you lose or find a pet, Love Lost is
here to help. Love Lost is a free, easy to
use database utilizing photo matching technology to search participating shelter
partners and social platforms to bring pets home. Simply upload
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pet today so you're ready if the unthinkable happens. With
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communities through technology to make a difference. Let's unite to
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reunite because every pet deserves a lifetime of love. Is
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Speaker 1 (30:04):
M HM
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