The Signal

Pride Month Is a Riot, with Marlene Pray

Marlene Pray (she/her) is a queer activist, sexuality educator, and community organizer whose work spans over three decades of LGBTQ+ advocacy, anti-racism, and social justice movement-building. She founded and directs the Rainbow Room, Bucks County’s LGBTQ+ youth center at Planned Parenthood Keystone, which has been a lifeline for queer youth in the region for 24 years. 
A PhD candidate in Human Sexuality Education, Marlene has trained educators, organizations, and communities across the country on LGBTQ+ inclusion, racial equity, and youth empowerment. Her public service includes serving on Doylestown Borough Council, where she championed the borough’s LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination ordinance, and she continues to lead through board roles with the NAACP and NAMI Bucks County. Marlene lives in Doylestown and brings her whole self to the work — as an organizer, mother, homicide survivor, and earth-based celebrant committed to collective liberation.
She joins me today to kick off Pride Month, to talk about its history as a riot, as protest, and as a demand, and what the fight for LGBTQ+ rights looks like today.
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ALSO LISTEN TO:
How Local Journalism and Pro-Democracy Reporting Can Protect Main Street from Hate and Political Extremism, with Phil Williams
Journalist Jordan Green on Why the Neo-Nazi Movement Is an Escalating Threat to US Democracy
The History of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in America, with Bill Mullen and Christopher Vials
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
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Post Bucks County Democratic Primary Roundup with Kevin Mahoney and Cyril Mychalejko

Welcome, welcome everybody to a special edition of The Signal from the Bucks County Beacon. Today guest host Kevin Mahoney talks with Cyril Mychalejko, the editor-in-chief of the Bucks County Beacon, about this week’s primary elections. We’ll take a look at the results and focus on two of the contested Democratic primaries: the PA 01 House race to face Brian Fitzpatrick in November, and the PA 16th State Senate race that will challenge Moms for Liberty darling, Jarett Coleman. What do the results mean in November's mid-terms?
We’ll also take a little stroll down memory lane as Cyril celebrates his fourth anniversary with the Beacon! That’s right, Cyril basically has the equivalent of a presidential term with the Beacon - and what a few years it has been.
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Why We Need 'AI for the People', with Congressman Ro Khanna

"I believe if we just give the AI revolution to tech billionaires we're going to have political unrest in this country." Ro Khanna is a Bucks County native who is a U.S. Representative in California’s 17th District. He is also vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Last month he wrote an article in The Nation, “AI for the People”, which laid out his vision “for an AI revolution that works for the many not just the billionaires.” He joins us today to talk about why he is an an AI-democratist, his policy vision for regulating this disruptive technology, and why we cannot allow Big Tech oligarchs to build a society where “AI ‘progress’ is defined by their wealth rather than by our democracy.”
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READ:
AI for the People, by Congressman Ro Khanna
“The Nation” Is Siding With Humanity, by Katrina vanden Heuvel and John Nichols
What We Need to Ask Ourselves About AI, by Senator Bernie Sanders
As AI Breathes Down Our Necks, It’s Time for a Luddite Renaissance, by John Nichols
ALSO LISTEN TO: 
Reading George Orwell in Trump’s America, With Laura Beers
How Local Journalism and Pro-Democracy Reporting Can Protect Main Street from Hate and Political Extremism, with Phil Williams

Democrat Tim Hayes Wants to Flip a Bucks County State House Seat from Red to Blue

Tim Hayes is an Army National Guard Veteran, Dublin Borough Council President, and Environmental Legislative Manager running for State Representative in Pennsylvania’s 143rd District. He joins us today to talk about growing up in Bucks County, his dedication to public service, and why Republican Shelby Labs has failed her constituents.
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READ:
TIM HAYES: State House Bill Seeks to Protect Pennsylvania Communities from Data Center Impacts
Three Bucks County Republican State Lawmakers Voted to Keep Pennsylvania’s Minimum Wage at $7.25 Per Hour
Here’s How Bucks County State House Lawmakers Voted on Three Gun Safety Bills
Pennsylvania House Passes 4 Bills to Protect ‘Obama Care’ for Pennsylvanians. Here’s How Your Bucks County Lawmakers Voted
Bucks County Republican State Representatives K.C. Tomlinson and Craig Staats Vote Against Free Lunch for K-12 Students
ALSO LISTEN TO:
What Did Sheriff-Elect Danny Ceisler’s Victory and Bucks County Democrats’ Blue Wave on Election Day Teach Us?
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
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Every Day Is Earth Day, with Delaware Riverkeeper Network’s Anneke van Rossum

Anneke van Rossum is the Advocacy and Advancement Coordinator at Delaware Riverkeeper Network. She has been in her staff role for just over 3 years but has a storied history with the organization going back to childhood. Anneke graduated from Ithaca College with her Bachelor of Arts in Politics and minored in Environmental Studies. She then went on to Vermont Law School where she graduated with her JD in 2022. Anneke role centers around education, community organizing, and overall uplifting of the powerful work Delaware Riverkeeper Network does.
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ALSO LISTEN TO:
Barbara Simmons on International Women’s Day and Organizing for Peace in Bucks County
Solidarity Journalism Can Help the Mainstream Media Restore Public Trust and Strengthen Democracy, with Dr. Anita Varma
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
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How Local Journalism and Pro-Democracy Reporting Can Protect Main Street from Hate and Political Extremism, with Phil Williams

NewsChannel 5 Chief Investigative Reporter Phil Williams is one of the most highly acclaimed investigative journalists in America. He has been recognized with journalism’s most prestigious honors on multiple occasions throughout his 40-year career. He is a five-time recipient of the George Foster Peabody Award and a five-time recipient of the duPont Columbia Award, both considered broadcasting’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. 
He was inducted into the ranks of some of America’s best-known reporters in 2023 when he was honored with the highly coveted John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism. That award is administered by Columbia Journalism School. That same year, on his Last Week Tonight show, HBO’s John Oliver presented a 10-minute segment about Williams’s reporting, famously dubbing him “Nashville’s Nosiest Bitch” and citing his work as the type of unflinching journalism desperately needed in America. 
He joins us for Local News Day to discuss the importance of local media, his own pro-democracy reporting, and why for the last few years he and his team have refused to surrender to the fascist mob and continue to center their work on investigating and reporting about hate groups and political extremists looking to seize power and grow their influence in Tennessee (and beyond). 
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READ:
Hate Comes to Main Street  - Phil’s Newsletter
ALSO LISTEN TO:
Journalist Jordan Green on Why the Neo-Nazi Movement Is an Escalating Threat to US Democracy
The History of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in America, with Bill Mullen and Christopher Vials
From Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio to Bucks County’s Fred Harran: Why ICE 287(g) Partnerships Are So Dangerous, with Jessica Pishko
Katherine Stewart Discusses Her New Book ‘Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy’
Former FBI Agent Who Once Infiltrated Neo-Nazi Groups and Militias Explains Why Law Enforcement Fails to Take Far-Right Extremism Seriously
How Donald Trump and the MAGA Movement Will Legalize and Deploy Vigilantes to Push Their Agenda, with David Noll
Unmasking Moms for Liberty’s Extremism, with Olivia Little and Diana Leygerman
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
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Tom Taft on Bucks County Democrats' Efforts to Defeat Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in PA-01

Tom Taft comes from a family with a 200 year history of dedicated public service. Tom wanted to add to that and his own legacy with a run for Congress as a Democrat in PA-01 but had to end his campaign after failing to gather the required number of signatures. Nevertheless, he joins me today to talk about politics in Bucks County’s first congressional district and the race for the Democratic nomination in May for a chance to unseat Republican incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick. 
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ALSO LISTEN TO:
What Did Sheriff-Elect Danny Ceisler’s Victory and Bucks County Democrats’ Blue Wave on Election Day Teach Us?
Could Progressive Congressional Candidate Lucia Simonelli Shock PA-01 With a Victory in the May Democratic Primary?
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
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Barbara Simmons on International Women’s Day and Organizing for Peace in Bucks County

Barbara Simmons serves as executive director of The Peace Center, an educational peace and justice non-profit organization in Bucks County. After retiring from the role in 2019 (after 30 years in the position), she came out of retirement in October 2025 to once again lead the organization after it was announced it was planning on closing—something she couldn’t let happen. Barbara spoke with me today to talk about International Women’s Day, what’s new at The Peace Center, and the organizing work around making Bucks County a more just, inclusive, and compassionate community.
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READ:
Transcript: Barbara Simmons on International Women’s Day and Organizing for Peace in Bucks County
Bucks County’s Peace Center Isn’t Going Anywhere
On International Day of Peace, Let’s Pledge to Make Peace a Bigger Part of Our Lives
Why I Commemorate the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Raising Our Children as Future Leaders in an Era of Book Banning and Attacks on ‘Critical Race Theory’
ALSO LISTEN TO:
The Radical History of International Women’s Day and the Feminist Movement, with Liza Featherstone
Radical Independent Media, Feminist Struggles, and International Women’s Day: A View from Latin America, with Dawn Paley
Peace Activism from Bucks County to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with Barbara Simmons
Sylvia Pankhurst – Suffragette Socialist and Scourge of Empire, with Dr. Kate Connelly
The 365 Foundation’s Natalie Venezia on Promoting Women’s Empowerment Through Art, Advocacy, and Community Service
After Misogyny: How the Law Fails Women and What to Do about It, with Julie C. Suk 
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
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