How many in Pa. got vaccinated and still got COVID? | Morning Newsletter
And, Craig LaBan’s top Shore picks.
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Hello, readers of The Inquirer Morning Newsletter.
First: Pennsylvania is not tracking all coronavirus cases in vaccinated residents, but other states are, and their data are telling.
Then: Food critic Craig LaBan shares his list of the best Shore dining from LBI to Wildwood.
And: Philly is pouring millions into violence prevention as shootings soar. What does that money buy?
— Tommy Rowan (@tommyrowan, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
New Jersey and Delaware have been tracking the coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths among vaccinated people and found that as inoculations increase, most of the people getting sick have not gotten their shots.
Pennsylvania is not.
And because of this, the state is without data that can help demonstrate vaccine efficacy, detect the spread of variants, and fully inform unvaccinated people of the risks they may face.
Read the full story on the state’s lack of vaccination data from reporters Justine McDaniel and Erin McCarthy.
Food critic Craig LaBan is back with a second round of recommendations as part of his quest to find the best restaurants at the Shore.
For his second helping, he focused on the towns strung between LBI and Wildwood. Among the seaside delights: a surprising trip to the Greek isles in Wildwood and the revival of two Ventnor landmarks.
“After the most difficult year,” he writes, “it was just what we needed: a summer menu serving a fresh taste of hope.”
Reopening resources
Track the latest data on cases in the region.
How to handle living in a state of discomfort.
Here’s what experts feel safe doing — and what they don’t.
No, you shouldn’t ask for someone’s vaccination status. Here’s what to do instead.
This is how to ease workplace anxiety.
What you need to know today
Lawmakers heralded anti-violence spending as the highlight of a new budget deal. But exactly how the money will be used — and how quickly — remains unclear.
The Philadelphia school board adopted a “sanctuary schools” position Thursday, affirming its promise to protect immigrant students and families from inquiries by federal immigration authorities.
In April, a state agency decided to strip the local WIC (the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) program from a North Philadelphia organization that’s run it for 42 years and award it to Temple University instead. Since then, the normally dull bureaucratic world of social services has been roiled in a swirl of puzzlement and disarray.
There’s renewed hope for Pennsylvania’s cocktails to-go legislation: The state House approved a revised bill that’s likely to meet Gov. Tom Wolf’s approval. The bill heads back to the Senate on Friday.
Philadelphia City Council approved legislation Thursday to restrict how landlords screen potential tenants and to inform renters about the criteria landlords use.
The co-owners of an Old City restaurant and nightclub have been sentenced to nine years in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $22 million in restitution for starting a 2018 fire that devastated an entire city block.
Through your eyes | #OurPhilly
Purple is Philly’s color.
Tag your Instagram posts with #OurPhilly, and we’ll pick our favorite each day to feature here and give you a shout-out.
That's interesting
🥁 The Roots Picnic won’t be held this year, Questlove told Dan DeLuca in a wide-ranging interview about the musician’s new movie, Summer of Soul. The event is expected to return in 2022.
📺 From Boyz N the Hood to Parks and Rec, the Philly Register of Wills is using pop culture to talk about estate planning with Philadelphians.
💰 The FBI did homework on Pennsylvania’s lost cache of Civil War gold, but came up empty, a recently unsealed document shows.
🦅 This Eagles fan has always picked his daughter over the Birds. Her response went viral.
🏡 Today’s Homeowner with Danny Lipford, a nationally syndicated home improvement TV show, transformed the backyard of a South Jersey resident.
Opinions
“As Lai sits in prison, his newspaper silenced, facing a possible life term, his example should remind us of pro-democrats in Hong Kong who still hope for America to set a democratic example, even if it can’t rescue them from despots in the short run,” writes columnist Trudy Rubin, arguing for Americans to learn from China’s shutdown of Apple Daily’s Jimmy Lai.
Aja Graydon, Kindred and the Family Soul vocalist and podcaster, advocates for cheering for Black girls with orange hair, long nails, tats, and lashes. Just a gentle reminder to support women who look like Sha’Carri Richardson, even when they’re not elite athletes.
Jonathan Zimmerman, who teaches education and history at the University of Pennsylvania, has reflected on the Supreme Court’s siding with a former Pennsylvania high school cheerleader concerning a Snapchat rant. His takeaway? He doesn’t want to live in a country where a school can monitor everything kids say — no matter where they are — to make sure they don’t hurt anyone.
What we're reading
Juliet Macur profiled gymnast Jordan Chiles in the New York Times, detailing the athlete’s loss of confidence in herself and love for her sport, and how she found her happy place — with her pal Simone Biles.
In The Atlantic, editor Ellen Cushing makes an argument for Amazon Prime customers to cancel their subscriptions, which she calls the company’s greatest — and most terrifying — invention. “A product whose value proposition is to help you buy more products,” she wrote.
Your daily dose of | Open spaces
Remember wide open spaces? Spread out and drink in the sunset with your drink at some of the biggest outdoor bar and restaurant spaces in Philly from the breezy Delaware to a pop-up garden.