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Kensington talks safe injection sites, new census question could impact Pa., N.J. | Morning Newsletter

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Cecilia Ortiz, who lives in Kensington, speaks against a safe injection site during a meeting with city officials in Kensington on Tuesday, March 27, 2018.
Cecilia Ortiz, who lives in Kensington, speaks against a safe injection site during a meeting with city officials in Kensington on Tuesday, March 27, 2018.Read moreDavid Maialetti

Hello there, Philadelphia. Today we're recapping last night's Kensington meeting on safe injection sites; revisiting Pennsylvania's redistricting battle (spoiler alert: it's not over); and taking a look at how a new census question could impact our region. On a lighter note, your favorite Super Bowl speech-giver now has a bobblehead. Details on that and much more below.

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— Aubrey Nagle (@aubsn, morningnewsletter@philly.com)

» READ MORE: Kensington residents divided over safe injection sites

Tuesday night city officials held a meeting in Kensington to discuss safe injection sites for the first time. Unlike a recent meeting in Fox Chase, the event did not devolve into a shouting match. Instead, the conversation was marked with nuance from a community that's been plagued by drug use.

Neighbors and advocates for and against the sites voiced their concerns and asked detailed questions, many working under the assumption that a site would end up in their backyard.

Kensington has long been the epicenter of the city's opioid crisis. Despite its small footprint, 18 percent of all city overdoses occurred in the area in 2017.

» READ MORE: The next redistricting battle: Changing how Pa. draws its map

Pennsylvania may have a new congressional map and some brand new districts, but that doesn't mean the redistricting debate is settled. Far from it.

To some, that new map is only a solution for this year's elections. To change the process of drawing congressional maps in the future, Pennsylvania's Constitution must be amended.

And so the battle begins. Activists now hope redistricting can be turned over to a commission of independent citizens and taken out of lawmakers' partisan hands.

» READ MORE: A new census question on citizenship could be bad for Pa. and N.J

The Commerce Department announced Monday it would comply with a Justice Department request to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

The announcement quickly drew furor —  and threats of lawsuits — from a handful of states claiming the question will discourage immigrants from participating in the census, leading to a huge undercount in some areas.

So, how would it impact our region? Census data determines how federal tax money is spent and how many congressional seats a state gets, which could mean changes for Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

What you need to know today

  1. Thomas Jefferson University is continuing its consolidation spree. They've reached a preliminary deal to acquire Einstein Health Network.

  2. Good news for bike safety advocates: The city is bringing some improvements to bike lanes on Spruce and Pine Streets in Center City, where a cyclist was killed last year.

  3. Former Philly Sheriff John Green testified Tuesday that he was told handing out unwritten contracts worth millions of dollars to a campaign ally was legal. But a former aide has already testified that isn't true.

  4. Gov. Phil Murphy expanded New Jersey's medical marijuana plan Tuesday by upping the number of dispensaries across the state and adding to the list of ailments qualifying for cannabis use.

  5. Strawberry Mansion High School will graduate its final class in 2021, but the building won't be closing. It's being repurposed as an alternative education center.

  6. When fire devoured a North Philadelphia rowhouse last week, the bodies of three victims weren't found inside for three days. The owner of the building, authorities say, was running an illegal boarding house and is accused of using Philly properties to launder money.

  7. Uh-oh: Pennsylvania ranks second in the nation for excessive pollution in our waterways, according to a new report.

  8. The creator of the groundbreaking Freedom Seder from April 4, 1969 is marking the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination with another interfaith Seder for Passover.

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Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly

We want to see what our community looks like through your eyes. Show us the park that your family walks through every weekend with the dog, the block party in your neighborhood or the historic stretch you see every morning on your commute to work.

Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we'll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout out!

That’s Interesting

  1. Need another way to memorialize the Eagles' Super Bowl victory in your home or office? Of course you do. Get yourself a Jason Kelce-as-a-Mummer bobblehead. 

  2. Speaking of the Eagles, Carson Wentz is feeling great, but he may not play in the preaseason.

  3. Bigger isn't necessarily better at micro-hotels, the teeny-tiny trendy spaces for travelers looking to save. Philly's getting its own in Center City.

  4. Chester Upland School District is jumping on the coding bandwagon, starting on the basketball court. They're teaching hoops players first in hopes they'll help make coding cool.

  5. Free WiFi kiosks are coming to Philadelphia. But critics aren't huge fans of the surveillance cameras and obscure privacy policies that come with them.

  6. Our bar columnist Samantha Melamed says Oscar's Tavern is the best dive bar in the city, despite that chilling health inspector's report.

  7. A federal judge has awarded a group of Penthouse Club dancers $4.6 million after agreeing they were cheated out of their wages at the Port Richmond strip club.

  8. Adult film star Stormy Daniels will be in the spotlight for a bit longer thanks to her purported relationship with the president. She'll even be performing at three Philly strip clubs this fall.

Opinions

"Eighteen years before his arrest, my own father was charged with calling for the violent overthrow of the government. That was a lie, as my father was a Socialist and pacifist, but the U.S. had the late-Depression and prewar jitters."
— —

  1. Despite lessons learned, columnist Will Bunch writes that Americans have paid a steep price for ignoring the crimes of the George W. Bush era.

  2. Columnist and radio host Michael Smerconish had Penn professor Amy Wax on his show last week and, he writes, she clammed up when talking about the campaign against her on campus.

What we’re reading

  1. It's OK to be a bit jealous of the students in this WHYY story on a North Philly school's new drone-flying curriculum.

  2. In the midst of the opioid crisis, fears of over-prescribing have caused some physicians to crack down on legitimate prescriptions, Billy Penn reports.

  3. The Temple News has revealed the stadium proposal presentation administrators wanted to give to community members last month before administrators shut down a town hall meeting early.

  4. The amazing story of baby boy Green, born at just 24 weeks and now 16 months old and growing, as Wired reports, is a test for the future of neonatal medicine. 

  5. Christopher Steele of Russian dossier fame has provided another secret report to the FBI, this one about the death of RT founder Mikhail Lesin, BuzzFeed News reveals.

Your Daily Dose of | Science

Antoinette Campbell has been told, "You don't look like a scientist." So she's made it her mission to bring forensic science careers to more children.