City evicts homeless as critics demand compassion | Morning Newsletter

Good morning, friends of The Inquirer Morning Newsletter.

First: City workers on Wednesday evicted more than two dozen homeless people from two encampments along Kensington Avenue as critics and decision makers debate imperfect solutions.

Then: Biden’s big infrastructure bill promises $100 million to expand broadband across Pennsylvania, where about one in five households doesn’t have a broadband internet subscription.

And: Get ready to roll up your sleeve. Again. COVID-19 booster shots will be available to more people starting in September.

— Tommy Rowan (@tommyrowan, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

About two hours after sunrise on Wednesday, city workers told more than two dozen homeless people, spread out over two encampments along Kensington Avenue, to get out.

The evicted were offered space in local shelters, services at mental-health facilities, and connections to addiction-treatment centers.

Their personal belongings were stored in plastic containers and filed away. Later, neon-vested workers dumped folding chairs, cushions, milk crates, suitcases, wooden barriers, shoes, and shelving left behind into a garbage truck. And street sweepers washed away any other remnants left by the people who made their home on the sidewalk.

Meanwhile, critics and decision makers continue to debate the effectiveness of clearing out encampments, and disagree over myriad imperfect solutions to a nuanced problem.

Read the full report from reporters Oona Goodin-Smith, Ellie Rushing, and Anna Orso.

Scores of offline Pennsylvanians could get access to high-speed internet if a historic infrastructure bill is passed by Congress, bringing aid to about one in five Keystone State households that don’t have a broadband internet subscription.

The state could receive $100 million though the bill to expand broadband infrastructure in rural areas where there isn’t enough population density to provide an incentive for companies to set up the pipes and towers needed to carry the signal.

Funds could also be used to subsidize service and devices for families who have access to internet but can’t afford it, such as low-income families in Philadelphia.

Reporter Julia Terruso has the full story.

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“We will see in the coming days if America is truly a democracy. And it won’t be measured by our ability to convince groups like the Taliban to adopt our political philosophies. It won’t rest on our ability to airlift desperate people out of Kabul. It won’t be tied to our willingness to frankly assess our missteps during America’s sloppy exit from Afghanistan,” writes columnist Solomon Jones, asking how American leaders thought they could build a strong democracy in Afghanistan when they don’t have one at home?