Tony Bruno fills in for Nick Kayal as we open the final morning of August with Dawn Stensland, producer Dan and the crew tackling a packed news cycle. We begin with the deadly Trenton block-party shooting that leaves two people dead and eight wounded, gunfire near Temple University, and the Delaware bank robber police say wears tight women’s clothing and a wig during the robbery. We get into the launch of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, renewed U.S. strikes on Iranian rocket launchers near the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump’s Venezuela oil agreement, Pennsylvania’s measles dispute and Dolly Parton’s private Nashville burial. Phil Omquist brings us the Phillies’ sweep of the Angels, the Eagles carrying four quarterbacks, Curaçao’s Little League World Series championship and Scottie Scheffler’s FedEx Cup victory before we celebrate the return of the Philadelphia Cycling Classic and Philadelphia’s latest greased-pole spectacle.
We turn to politics as Kathy Hochul’s headscarf appearance, the coming 25th anniversary of September 11, CBC’s terrorism-labeling controversy and Doug Ford’s escalating trade fight with Trump all get the crew going. James Clyburn says he regrets backing Clarence Thomas decades ago, and we respond to his criticism of the Supreme Court justice and his support for expanding the court. Tim Cook’s final day as Apple CEO sends us into Apple-versus-Samsung arguments, Steve Jobs memories and the absurdity of lining up for a new phone every year. Notting Hill Carnival gives us 7,000 police officers, 169 arrests, a Mummers comparison and an inevitable karaoke detour before the morning takes a much more serious turn.
We spend a major portion of the show pressing the questions surrounding Josh Shapiro’s announcement of two measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania, the Lancaster County newborn whose cause of death is described by the coroner as a splenic laceration, RFK Jr.’s pushback, Pennsylvania’s proposed communicable-disease regulation and the Ellen Greenberg case. The cut sheet brings Bill Maher, Byron Donalds and Molly Jong-Fast into a fight over measles, immigration, Iran and what has happened to local television news. In the final hour we watch Oklahoma deputies confront a man using a makeshift flamethrower, debate Abington’s move away from Flock license-plate cameras, get a chaotic Fight Club, react to Novak Djokovic vomiting during his U.S. Open loss, and revisit the Trenton shooting. Phil closes his music-history segment before Dawn’s Big Three brings Kevin Warsh and Scott Bessent at the G20 finance meeting, a Newark Airport shuttle crash and Lindsay Clancy’s third day of jury deliberations
Aug 31, 2026
