"nbc10@issue" starts now. is it discrimination against students for protection against noise and crime? local communities struggle with rules that regulate off-campus housing. we'll discuss a proposed bill that would stop towns from locking students out of local neighborhoods. plus, preparing for the pope, with more than a million extra people packing the area, will local hospitals be able to help you in an emergency? and they discovered vaccines for rabies and rubella. now this local institution wants to cure cancer, but you may be surprised by what's slowing them down. good morning. i'm chris cato for "nbc10@issue." today we begin with a discussion on college students living off

campus. some communities in this area regulate where those students can live and even how many of them can live under one roof. but a proposed bill in pennsylvania, house bill 809, would end those kind of restrictions that discourage students from renting off campus. the bill prohibits limitations on the number of unrelated people who can live in a house or apartment. now a lot of landlords obviously support this bill. they're feeling good about it, but neighbors fear that it will destroy their quality of life, and we've heard a lot about this recently. with me this morning to talk about it, two men with opposing points of view, scott zoloff and attorney daryl zas low. thank you both for being here today. >> thank you. >> scott, let's start with you and lower merion. you don't like this bill. tell us why. >> we don't like this bill, chris. it's a bad bill. we think it would be devastating for lower marion township, for surrounding townships. it would be devastating for any

community that has colleges in or nearby. we have six colleges in or adjacent to the township. college students have caused -- they have been disruptive in neighborhoods and communities for a long time. it's not a new problem, but we've found a solution. that solution was found 25 years ago when we amended our regulations to limit the number of student homes, they're not eliminated, we just limit them. we require separation, and there's a limit to the number of unrelated who can live in a home unless it's a designated student home. and so the rules have worked. we have a balance that's been achieved, and if this legislation were to pass, it would destroy the quality of life in those neighborhoods where students live off campus. >> the rules have worked for you and for certain neighbors but some would say maybe they haven't worked for college students, and that's the impetus behind this proposed bill.

there's a feeling like there's a discriminated class of citizen out there and that's the college student and we'll talk to you about that now. >> that's correct, chris. the days of discrimination in housing is long gone. it used to be people would say private citizens and even governments, we don't want those people living in our neighborhood, and you can add in the words for those people any religion, race, class or gender, any kind of special person who you are, we don't want them in our neighborhood. the last illegal discrimination is against students. to say students should not be able to reside where they wish to live because some students in the opinion of neighborhood residents act out is really not appropriate. the bill will correct that. it will have safeguards to make sure the students who live in these houses are well behaved, that parking is not an issue, that density is not an issue. there can only be so many

residents in a property. it's a privacy issue. for lower merion township, and it's across the state of pennsylvania, to be looking into the homes of people and say what are you? are you a student or are you not? you can have people who live together in a property the identical age, take three 25-year-olds who want to live together, they're friends and they're well behaved. they're allowed to do so if they work for a tv station or if they work on a construction crew. if they say we're students, all of a sudden we discriminate and say you may not live there and this bill will correct that. >> scott, do you think that's fair to compare what laws like the kind your township has that do designate where students can live, do you think that's fair to compare it to laws that discriminate against people renting on the base of race or religion or any other factor that makes up the person who they are? >> chris, absolutely, darrell has it all wrong. here is what he left out. the lower merion ordinance has

been tested in the courts. it was passed 25 years ago. the pennsylvania courts upheld the ability of townships to regulate land use for student housing. then there was a challenge for civil rights in the federal courts and the lower merion ordinance was upheld. this is old news. this happened 20 years ago. students are not a protected group. >> well, it's not old news now because this bill is pending now, so it is news again, and there are a lot of people that feel this could be unfair. but tell us why the courts in those cases decided that these laws, that townships have the capacity to pass and enforce these kinds of laws. >> well, the townships made the case that students are disruptive and impact the quality of life of neighborhoods. all the other categories that darrell mentioned, that argument cannot be made. >> if i can interject, the issue here is when he says the word

old news. that's really what's going on here. he mentions the lower merion case 25 years ago. that case was based on a federal case from 40 years ago. we have seen enormous changes in our society. we all know it in many different ways. the definition of a family has changed in the last year let alone the last 25 and the last 40 years so it is discrimination. and it may not have been in the days of the 1960s or even the 1970s. now it is. well behaved students regulated by proper ordinance of a township against people misbehaving, do all the kinds of things that students are accused of can be accomplished by enforcing the laws on the books. >> let's talk about these well-behaved students. >> i'd like to know where they are. bus they don't exist. they do exist but there's always students whose conduct disrupts the quality of life in a neighborhood. that's been the case. that continues to be the case today, and it will be the case

tomorrow. >> is it just anecdotal? no, some would say. in west chester they just had a big meeting to talk about this bill and west chester along with lower merion, those townships have taken action, passed resolutions. but in west chester the police chief said they have stats showing that the section of that town where college students are zoned to live in for lack of a better term, the rate of calls, police calls to that area astronomically higher than the rest of the city, the rest of the township, and there seems to be data according to law enforcement that shows that they spent a lot of resources in the area where is college students are and they fear if this passes it will destabilize neighborhoods. >> there's a reason for that. the students are watched like a hawk by the nimbys, not in my back yards. it's not surprising the police

receive phone calls by the residents who live next door watching with binoculars. we know it can be summed up in two words, and that is "animal house." what scott is saying and i understand he does a great job for his community. it's animal house. what scott is saying on your show is all animal house. all the students, every student who lives in animal house -- >> i haven't said that. >> that is not so. the truth is you have people who are well behaved people looking to get degrees, advanced degrees of any age. a student can be 50 years old or 70 years old. there are stories of people who at the age of 70 they graduate. if you have three senior citizens who wish to live together in a student housing environment, you're going to say to them, oh, you can't because you're going to misbehave? it's discrimination. enforce laws for proper behavior, enforce laws for parking. enforce laws for density. we do not want overcrowding. this bill would not allow for overcrowding.

don't enforce it by looking into the bedrooms of people and say are you related or not? even the concept of who is related to who has changed. the gay marriage issue has changed that drastically. people can be cousins or second cousins. i often do family law -- >> they want us to wrap this up but -- >> if i can just respond because what darrell misses is that actually with gay marriage now being legal, the opportunity to create a family is greater than it was, and so the concept of the definition changing makes it more -- makes the existing regulations even more valid because we say no more than three unrelated can live in a residential neighborhood. it protects families throughout the commonwealth of  pennsylvania. this is a bad bill and it will have devastating impacts throughout the commonwealth. >> we may stake scott and darrell offstage and have a locker room to themselves and setting this for themselves and we'll come back and report it

and paost it on nbc10.com. thank you for a spirited and very intelligent debate over this bill. it's not close to passing. the legislature isn't in session but it's something we'll be watching. scott and darrell, thank you both for talking. >> happy to come back again, chris. >> thank you, guys. next on "nbc10@issue," preparing for the pope. why you may need a family emergency plan when the pontiff comes to town next month. we'll explain next. >> this is "nbc10@issue."

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now $79.99 a month. go online or call now. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v preparing for the pope. you know it's a massive undertaking for local hospitals. if pope francis needs emergency medical care while he's in town, we know he will be taken to penn presbyterian's new trauma center, but there's 1.5 million people coming to see them and some of them may very well need some medical care of their own. what if you or a family member

has an emergency when so many people are here? are hospitals prepared to care for everyone? with me is mark ross, the regional preparedness manager. mark, thanks for being here. >> thank you, chris. >> this is a subject a lot of people, whether it's a mother-to-be who is expecting a child or someone with an elderly relative they care for, a lot of people have asked us at nbc 10 about access to hospitals during the pope's visit. we know the city's five major hospitals basically are all within that secure zone. are people going to be able to get to emergency rooms and hospitals? >> we are working very closely with our city and federal partners to make sure that that access is granted to our patients that need care. there is an overall plan for medical throughout the event like there is for any o vent that takes place in philadelphia. this is a little different with that 1.5 million people that you talk about this the city but we're working closely to make

sure the pregnant females, the people that need care are able to access our faciles and receive the care they want at the facility they're used to. >> what is the number one piece of advice for people at home if there is some type of emergency, there's an injury. do you go -- if your normal hospital is one of those five in the zone, in center city, do you go there or do you have a backup plan? >> we would like you to handle your emergency like you would on any day. if that emergency requires calling 911, you're still going to call 911. those services are still available in the city. our hospitals are still open. if you would drive and you're within that zone and can drive to the hospital, you're going to be able to get to your facilities to be able to receive the care you want. >> but let's talk about the crowd that will be here, and this is going to be such a diverse crowd from all over the country. and also a crowd many people who have physical ailments, disabilities, we know every time the pope holds a mass wherever it is, there are always a number of people who come to see him

that are hoping for miracles and are hoping for a blessing over their sick loved one and many of these people have some very, very debilitating disabilities. it's going to be a different crowd here in philadelphia. are the hospitals prepared to handle things that maybe they haven't dealt with in some times in terms of a person's care. >> i kind of think what we're dealing with here is more of a magnitude of the amount of people. we've proven in our regional hospitals, number one, we provide world-class care to our patients in this region every day. we're going to do that on a world stage now for all the people that are coming. we are making sure we have enough staff, enough supplies to take care of everybody who is at this event. the city has worked fantastic plans for medical care during the event and amonk with our brick and mortar hospitals that have existed in this city for hundreds of years, we'll be very well prepared to take care of the influx of patients. >> we mentioned earlier women

who are expecting a child, pregnant women, how there's a program, an effort going on now to house -- to provide a place for them to stay for some of the women who have to have their children -- women who are caring high-risk pregnancies in some cases or children that will need immediate care at c.h.o.p. there are people who are fostering these mothers-to-be at their homes. that's a very generous offer by a lot of people there. >> that's a wonderful thing, and there are many agencies and patients that come into this region that routinely stay at hotels or host organizations, so this is something that we do on a regular basis. that number may be up a little more because, again, the kind of care that we provide at our facilities in this city is world renowned, so we have people that come from all over to receive care in our facilities. >> i read that the hospitals, the five there in center city, are treating this as it was described, they're preparing for

this like a three-day snowstorm. they're having people -- staff stay overnight and ramping up the activity for this event. >> i will say i'm partially guilty for that comment. we did start it with a snowstorm and then realized in this region 24 hours and we're back out again so now we're calling it the three-day snowstorm. so we routinely do this. we routinely plan for large-scale events and snowstorms and, you know, hurricane sandy that impacted us. we have the ability to be able to take this influx and our staff have been fantastic at our facilities to do what they're doing and sleep in, little time away from their family, but to be able to provide the care we do on a regular basis. >> we're glad to hear they're ready. we're not surprised to hear that the hospitals are ready but we hope there's not a need for a massive amount of care during this historic event and this very important time for philadelphia. >> we sure hope we get to just see the pope and wave. >> mark ross is here with us. thank you for stopping by and

talking about hospitals preparedness for the papal visit. >> thank you. >> next on "nbc10@issue," we look at the high cost of funding cuts. how american innovation and local economies are taking a hit. we'll be right back. >> this is "nbc10@issue." 'm alex trebek. for over ten years now, i've been representing the colonial penn life insurance company. hi, everyone. i thought it would be interesting to hear from you what your customers say are some of the things they like best about colonial penn's whole life insurance. who's gonna start? (male #1) well, it's guaranteed acceptance for people over age 50. (female #1) they don't have to take a physical or answer any health questions. and it gives them peace of mind knowing that their family has some insurance

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this is "nbc10@issue." >> from developing new drugs to creating jobs here in the u.s., a proposed bill hopes to spur biomedical innovation. it's called the 21st century cures act and if it passes it could mean not just a healthier economy in this area, it could aid in the development of new cures and treatments for some of the most serious diseases out there. joining me now to talk about that, dr. dario altere, he's with the country's first medical

research institution. it's responsible for the development of life saving vaccines, rubella, rabies and nuke rumerous break throughs in cancer research. the funding for research like this isn't there like it used to be, doctor. >> it's not, chris, it's not. in fact, we've been seeing over several years biomedical support and funding sh, federal supportr research being eroded related to sequestration, they were particularly devastating for biomedical research in general. this is first time we see support from both sides of the aisle to really recognize that research is the answer for many of the chronic diseases we're studying. >> let's not understate what you mentioned. you talked about support from both sides of the aisle for this 21st century cares act. it passed by a vote of 51-0. this never happens in d.c. that

you have both parties wholeheartedly agreeing on the need for this. >> i think our lawmakers have finally reached the realization that really more biomedical research is going to be the only solution. >> what's the other impact of this to the economy? research provides a lot of jobs also here in the philadelphia area. >> absolutely, absolutely. and in our own backyard, this would be an amazing opportunity to really bring to philadelphia and to pennsylvania in general the very skilled, very dedicated workforce that's going to be a vehicle to promoting innovation. obviously philadelphia and pennsylvania are uniquely poised to create an innovation corridor and biomedical support and funding for research could be an extraordinary asset to promote the development. >> even though there was the overwhelming support in congress, we know there were some no votes and there are some critics who voiced concerns about how this bill could change

the privacy act and access to patients' personal information. what is the response to that and what kind of information could be exposed if this passes? >> well, i think this is obviously a very important aspect. i think there have been very thorough legislation -- pieces of legislation that have been passed in order to protect the privacy of patients and obviously human subjects undergo research. so i personally don't think this would be a serious threat to those pieces of legislation that are already in place and it would provide an amazing engine to really explore new targets and potentially new drugs in the development of very serious diseases. >> well, i think we're all waiting for the next big break through in cancer research. tell me what's on the horizon, what you guys at wistar are working on in terms of isolating some genes that really could have a lot to do with shutting off cancer. >> i think, chris, you're absolutely right. over the past ten years, we have

witnessed an explosion of knowledge related to genes. we've been able to sequence the genome of cancer patients. the costs of doing that have come down dramatically and it's time to harness what we've learned, identify new pathwayings apathways and new drugs. >> you are work ing on a pancreatic cancer right now. >> we do. pancreatic cancer is one of the major medical emergencies now. standard of care hasn't really changed significantly in the past decade and survival rates are extremely poor and disappointing. this is one of the major emergencies for our community. >> if the 21st century care act passes, which it appears it will, that will release a lot of federal funding for research into diseases like pancreatic cancer and so much more. doctor, thank you for being with

us and discussing this. next on "nbc10@issue," your calendar is full for the summer, but there's something important missing from your weekly planner. we'll tell you what that is when we come right back. welcome to fort green sheets. welcome to castle bravestorm. it's full of cool stuff, like my second in command... and my trusty bow. and free of stuff i don't like. and in my castle we only eat chex cereal. chex cereal. it's full of delicious crunchability. no artificial flavors, and it's gluten-free. and that's something even my brother ...

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this is "nbc10@issue." >> we are our relaxation. have you gotten away for a vacation this summer? a new poll finds more than half of american workers have not. the poll shows they have not taken a vacation in the past year. a vacation by this survey was defined as a trip of at least a week to a place more than 100 miles from home. so the weekend trip down the shore doesn't count although i count it as a mini vacation. that's it for this edition of "nbc10@issue." thank you for joining us. enjoy the rest of your sunday, which may include watching the birds in their first preseason game against the colts right here on nbc 10 beginning in just one hour. and we leave you now with some of the training camp highlights from this past week. enjoy.

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