‘Correcting for inequity’ | Morning Newsletter
And marchers hit Center City streets.
The Morning Newsletter
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We’ve got a scorcher this Sunday. It should be mostly sunny with a high near 90, and a slight chance of showers at night.
Our lead story today highlights a race-based formula in health care that resulted in delays in life-saving transplants for Black people.
If you see this 🔑 in today’s newsletter, that means we’re highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.
— Paola Pérez (@pdesiperez, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
Katherine Anderson’s kidneys have been in decline for years. She is often exhausted and has no appetite, losing 20 pounds in the last year alone.
On Jan. 27, Anderson finally got good news: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital placed her on the waiting list for a kidney transplant.
But two months later, the 59-year-old Norristown woman, who is Black, got a follow-up message: They are moving her up in line.
Important background: In the past, doctors estimated kidney function with a formula that included race as a variable, making Anderson and other Black patients appear healthier than they really were. Now, new federal requirements mandate that kidney function be estimated without taking race into account.
In Anderson’s case: When Jefferson used a newer, race-neutral formula to recalculate Anderson’s kidney function, it found that in fact, she should have been added to the transplant waitlist more than five years ago.
What happens next: Hospitals nationwide are required to go through their lists and recalculate the kidney function of all Black patients and determine who should get additional credit to shorten their wait for a life-saving transplant. They are sending similar letters to more than 3,700 Black people with kidney disease and expect to notify thousands more by year’s end.
Continue reading on why race was in the formulas in the first place.
What you should know today
President Joe Biden will come to Philly next Saturday to rally with union members in his first political event since announcing reelection.
A new state bill would require private insurers to pay for Pennsylvanians’ virtual doctor visits. It would also establish quality standards for telemedicine visits.
“This is all pretty stupid.” Residents of homeless encampments in Norristown decry the controversial plan to bus them to Villanova University.
Two apartment complexes in West Philadelphia have been plagued by elevator outages, in some cases leaving mobility-impaired residents trapped on the upper floors.
EducationWorks, a publicly funded nonprofit that runs after-school programs at Philadelphia public schools, has laid off 133 employees and stopped its school programs. The layoffs followed a difficult few weeks at the organization, including the sudden death Tuesday of CEO Miles H. Wilson.
Ice cream sandwich makers in Philadelphia aren’t beholden solely to tradition — they know how to stack ‘em. We round up Philly’s best, from refined to softball-sized.
One of the largest African American street festivals in the country returns to Philadelphia today. Here is everything you need to know about the free event.
🎤 Now I’m passing the mic to my colleagues Jeff Gammage, Jesse Bunch and Anthony Wood.
Chanting “we don’t trust the process,” marchers from a diverse coalition of groups joined a cacophonous, colorful procession from 10th and Vine Streets to a City Hall rally to protest the Philadelphia 76ers’ proposal to build a $1.3 billion arena on the edge of Chinatown.
The NBA team’s plan is an “existential threat” to one of the city’s most historic and culturally significant neighborhoods, said longtime Chinatown advocate Mary Yee, arriving at the march with a cardboard cutout of a massive bowl of ramen on her head.
“We’ve been threatened so many times before.”
The Sixers have pitched the proposed $1.3 billion arena as a huge win for the city, offering investment and development on a downtrodden stretch of Market Street East and moving the region toward a greener future with a focus on public transportation.
But no one at Saturday’s march and rally appeared to be buying it, emphatically siding with Chinatown residents and leaders who have voiced strong opposition.
Read more on the protest that shut down parts of Center City.
❓Pop quiz❓
This week, Taylor highlighted AI-driven cameras on seven SEPTA buses that have been monitoring for illegally parked vehicles in bus lanes and at stops along two Center City routes. It’s just a test, so no warnings or tickets have been issued. Yet.
About how many violations did the study find in over a month?
A) 2,000
B) 5,000
C) 10,000
D) 20,000
Think you know the answer? Find out here.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram 🧩
Hint: Once home to the third-largest cranberry operation in the United States, this land is now a New Jersey hiking gem.
KEVLAR NAPKIN PREFFERS
We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Send us your own original anagram to unscramble if you’d like. Email us if you know the answer. Cheers to Deborah Linahan who correctly guessed Friday’s answer: Kate Scott.
Photo of the day
🎶 For today’s Sunday track, we’re listening to: “Why we gotta be in a rush? / My watch is just for decoration.” 🎶
👋🏽 Hope you are enjoying the outdoors now that the smoke has cleared. Thanks for starting your morning with The Inquirer.