Changing Communities
Thousands of miles from home, Afghan evacuees start new lives, schools in Philadelphia
The local Afghan community, centered in Northeast Philadelphia, has nearly doubled with the influx of evacuees, who worry for family and friends left behind.
3 years ago
Listen 7:37The BLM movement found support in red, rural Pa. What will it mean for voting?
Protests happened across rural Pa., including Franklin County — elevating political fault lines and fractured alliances that have been lying beneath the surface.
4 years ago
Listen 5:06Reopening economy in a COVID-19 hotspot stresses doctors in rural Pa.
Businesses are hurt. Unemployment is unprecedented. But coronavirus cases in this rural Pa. town have still been spiking. Now, as restrictions ease, hospitals could be tested.
5 years ago
Life during coronavirus: the Pennsylvania shutdown in pictures
Across the state, Pennsylvanians are trying to adjust to a new normal. Life in our homes, our public spaces, and our economy looks much different than it did mere weeks ago.
5 years ago
Philly border fight: How a ‘secret’ working-class neighborhood built its own wall
Bridesburg is a working-class safe haven in Philly that rarely makes the police blotter. But it has a reputation of being exclusionary, and sometimes racist.
5 years ago
Listen 14:00At this barbershop in Chambersburg, Pa., red, blue and other come together for conversations of political ‘grace and mercy.’
5 years ago
Listen 5:20Speaking Mam in MAGA country: Immigration, education and the teenage boy in the middle
Where low-wage immigrant labor undergirds the local economy, stress is put on other institutions — especially public schools, which face a mandate to educate all.
5 years ago
Listen 7:21‘So tragic’: Volunteer firefighter shortage threatens Pa. traditions and public safety
Mike Kitsock never thought he’d still be fighting fires as a sexagenarian. ...
5 years ago
Listen 5:19‘Cancel culture’ in Coal Country: Two Trump-voting brothers on a mission to fight racism
After experiencing overtly racist behavior by a quasi-public official, two brothers are on a crusade for accountability. Will anyone in their community care?
5 years ago
Listen 7:56Far from home, new wave of immigrant truckers find comfort food along Pa. highways
Indian restaurants have been popping up along truck stops along major shipping routes in the United States, offering comfort foods to a new wave of drivers.
5 years ago
Listen 4:07‘History in the making’: Reading expected to elect first Latinx mayor
It’s a milestone in the decades-long transformation from industrial, white working-class roots to a majority Latinx city trying to redefine itself.
5 years ago
Listen 4:32Pa. parents with severely ill or disabled kids face deportation after Trump policy change
Recipients of the letters included parents of extremely sick children born in the U.S. and children receiving treatment for cancer, some of whom live in Pa.
5 years ago
Listen 4:19Implosion of former Bethlehem Steel HQ highlights changing face of the Lehigh Valley
Bethlehem Steel built a skyscraper in the 1970s, just ahead of the industry's collapse. The tower sat mostly vacant for a decade, but the city found other ways to revitalize.
6 years ago
Listen 4:38Still reeling from 2018 rainfall, Pa. farmers offered emergency USDA loan
Pennsylvania had one of the wettest summers on record last year. The intense rainfall and flooding caused farmers across the state to lose significant crops.
6 years ago
Challenged by college cost and access, students in rural Pa. find tech-based alternative
Students in rural Pennsylvania face two big obstacles to college completion: cost and access. A new college is out to change that.
6 years ago
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