In preparation for her detective role in HBO’s “The Mare of Easttown,” set in suburban Philadelphia, Kate Winslet visited the city’s Kensington neighborhood to understand the opioid epidemic. As the Philadelphia Inquirer recently reported, a notorious heroin economy continues to thrive there. Some street corners gross more than $20 million annually.
In a New York Times interview, Winslet recounted heartbreaking scenes in Kensington, once described as the “Walmart of Heroin.” In one instance, she saw a man who “had been amputated from the knee down on his right leg, and he was injecting into the toes of the other foot.”
As the state eases distancing and mask mandates, health officials are still failing to successfully vaccinate communities that have been disadvantaged from the start.
WHYY May 26, 2021
Juan Frutos receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot from Penn State Health nurse Christy Daniels during a clinic facilitated by Latino Connection’s mobile unit. (Matt Smith for Spotlight PA)
This story originally appeared on Spotlight PA.
As restrictions on daily life during the pandemic are lifted, fewer people wear masks, and mass vaccination clinics scale back due to decreased demand, the same communities in Pennsylvania disproportionately harmed by the coronavirus are still more at risk.
About 73% of people who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in the state outside of Philadelphia are white, while 4% are Black and 4% are Hispanic.
CHRIS MORELLI cmorelli@lockhaven.com
TIM WEIGHT/FOR THE EXPRESS
The Brockerhoff House in Bellefonte will receive a historic âtablet.â The building has been a part of Bellefonte since the 1800s. Once a hotel, it is a residential facility today.
BELLEFONTE Bellefonte is host to a variety of historic sites. On Tuesday, the Centre County commissioners announced that one site will be getting a special designation.
The Brockerhoff House, located at 105 S. Allegheny St. in Bellefonte, will receive a historic “tablet” commemorating the location. The cost of the tablet will be a mere $280, which will be funded by the county.
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The Biden Administration is considering changing how many people have to live somewhere for it to count as a metropolitan area. That could have a big impact on Pennsylvania, experts testified during a public hearing hosted by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania Wednesday.
Right now, areas with 50,000 or more people are considered metropolitan areas. The proposal, recommended by the Office of Management and Budget in January, would double the threshold to 100,000.
Experts said nearly 1.2 million Pennsylvanians would be reclassified from metro to non-metro status under that change, the most of any state.
That could mean loss of federal funding for hospitals, higher education and transportation. It could also mean more competition for funding among local governments.