On this episode of Guest Commentary, a former City Council and School Reform Commission member weighs in on what a $300 million budget deficit says about School District leadership

Right out of the pages of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Republicans in Ohio proposed a bill that would "allow the government to track every pregnancy, beginning to end." Ali Velshi explains.

If you have unwanted rodent visitors, there are two docs from Drexel who are asking Philadelphians to put them in the freezer. For science. They even have a few pointers for catching the elusive pests.

On this episode of The Citizen Recommends, Roxanne Patel Shepelavy asks why pay Silicon Valley tech companies for your ride when locally-owned taxi cabs are faster, cost less and put money back into Philadelphia's economy?

Pups are everywhere these days, thanks to indulgent owners and business proprietors. Guess what else is everywhere -- sidewalks, street corners, soles of shoes?

In all the talk over closing and fixing up Philly schools, there is no mention of building new ones that might serve the community better. Can we look to New York City and Boston for solutions we should steal?

Picture more than a dozen pregnant teenage girls crammed into a single building, Ali Velshi explains. They're scared. They're alone. They don't know what's going to happen to them and they don't have access to adequate healthcare.

On this episode of How To Really Run A City, Michael Smerconish joins the show.

Smerconish is a Sirius XM and CNN host, a prolific political commentator, a nationally recognized author — and leader of the fight for a political center in the U.S., which means having a robust media.

"I think the press is being hollowed out," said former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. Local outlets are disappearing, the press is "functionally gutted; there's no longer a paper on your porch … and there's been a conservative effort to buy up local media because [it] still has credibility with folks."

Smerconish is also an activist for voters who refuse to align with either of the two major parties. "I became so disenchanted with the Bush administration (W.) for their inability to go kill bin Laden," he said. He then swam against the tide of his own listener base by announcing his support for Barack Obama's presidential run in 2008.

"How do you feel about that vote today?" asked former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

"Oh my god, I feel great about it," Smerconish said. "[My listeners] went crazy, but it was a breaking point and a wake-up call for me."

Join us for a thoroughly entertaining and important conversation about what local leaders and citizens alike can do to break through the partisanship of the moment and start meeting each other on neutral ground.

"Use the remote, mix it up," Smerconish said. "Don't rely on [others] to do it — do it yourself."

As cities go, so goes the nation!