Promising cancer vaccine tested at Penn | Morning Newsletter
And the 9-year-old who escaped Horsch.
The Morning Newsletter
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Happy Friday. A nor’easter is bearing down on the Jersey Shore, but here in Philly we’re only expecting a chance of showers and highs around 70 degrees.
It’s been a newsy week. Today, we’ve got an exclusive interview with the 9-year-old girl who escaped abduction by Raymond Horsch.
Plus, we cover why Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and City Council aren’t on the same page about her housing plans, and more top stories.
But first, let’s start with a potential medical breakthrough: A novel treatment for melanoma tested at Penn could mark a turning point in using mRNA vaccines to fight cancer.
— Laura Benshoff (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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When mRNA vaccines were developed to combat the coronavirus pandemic, using Nobel Prize-winning research conducted at Penn, it sparked a clinical interest in using them to combat other ailments.
But at first, they were proven useful only against infectious diseases, not cancer.
That could now be changing. A late-stage clinical trial conducted at Penn and dozens of other sites extended the time it took for one type of cancer to return or spread, according to preliminary findings released by drugmakers Merck and Moderna.
In the trial, melanoma patients who had already had surgery to remove cancerous growths received a tailored mRNA vaccine to try to destroy any remaining cancer cells.
Participant Denise Fitzsimmons, a 63-year-old grandmother from Birdsboro, Pa., said she hopes the trial will lead to a more enduring remission for her cancer.
“My fifth granddaughter is on her way,” she said. “So I have a lot to live for.”
When she was just 9 years old, Ashley Rivera walked from her home in Kensington to the 7-Eleven across the street to grab a snack.
On her walk back, she noticed a man in his 60s, slowly rolling past in a green Jeep. He had long, greasy, stringy hair, and was looking right at her.
She ignored him, until he pulled up and asked her to get into his car.
This week, Rivera realized who the man who tried to abduct her was: Raymond “R.C.” Horsch, the shock-seeking pornographer now linked to at least seven missing women.
“I really do feel like I escaped something big,” Rivera told The Inquirer.
Read on for The Inquirer’s exclusive interview with Rivera and her mother.
What you should know today
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker hopes to pass a 20-year property tax break for large, deteriorating buildings that are rehabbed into housing, but not all of City Council is on board.
City Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr. has proposed a new zoning bill to keep the Academy of Natural Sciences building from being converted into housing or commercial space after the museum closes its doors.
A large majority of likely Pennsylvania voters have an unfavorable opinion of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to a new Philadelphia Inquirer/New York Times/Siena University poll.
The CDC showed one measles-related fatality on its online dashboard Wednesday, even as Pennsylvania counts a total of four, continuing a pattern where state and federal health agencies differ in communicating about the ongoing outbreak.
An Irish man with a green card application pending was arrested by ICE while trying to fly home to Philadelphia from California, part of a trend of increased immigration enforcement at airports.
Activists misled by a Philadelphia educator who lied about her ethnicity are asking the school district to “hold [her] accountable for the harm she caused.”
Welcome back to Curious Philly Friday, our forum for readers to ask about the city’s quirks and then we report the answers.
This week, we have an explainer from reporter Michelle Myers on a civic call that we’re all obligated to answer: jury duty. While it’s possible to be excused from serving on a jury for various hardships, a reader wondered if it’s possible to age out of this responsibility altogether in the state.
The short answer, as Michelle found, is it depends on which court has issued the summons.
Have your own burning question about Philadelphia, its local oddities, or how the region works? Submit it here and you might find the answer featured in this space.
🧠 Trivia time
Which Philly neighborhood housed the first Ronald McDonald House?
A) Center City
B) North Philadelphia
C) West Philadelphia
D) South Philadelphia
Test your local news expertise and check your answer in our weekly quiz.
What we’re ...
🦅 Monitoring. Eagles tailgates can get elaborate. Think DJs, tents and multicourse meals. But now, diehard tailgaters are concerned new parking restrictions at the Linc would rein in the fun.
☕️ Tracking. Call it the Miss Rachel effect. When the online educator shouted out Blended Joe Coffee Bar in South Jersey, customers started pouring in from far and wide, writes The Inquirer’s Sarah Nicell.
📖 Breaking down. The scandal currently rocking Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office can feel a little convoluted. Luckily, The Inquirer’s Chris Palmer made a gripping timeline of each twist in the underlying case.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: Crocs is suing this Philadelphia-based retailer, alleging it knowingly knocked off the footwear company’s ubiquitous foam clogs.
BELIEF VOW
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.
Cheers to Jim Keenan, who correctly guessed Thursday’s answer: Villanova University. A new ordinance seeks to give officials in Tredyffrin Township more power to address “raucous student housing” catering to those attending this school.
Happy 100 years to a jazz legend.
👋 We made it to Friday. I’m subbing in for Paola Pérez so I’ll see you tomorrow, too.
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