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Who votes for DA and who’s affected | Morning Newsletter

Your guide to voting in the primary tomorrow.

    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, dedicated readers of The Inquirer Morning Newsletter.

First: This week’s primary highlights a longstanding disconnect: Voters who choose the DA are unlikely to be the people with the most at stake.

Then: Go inside the effort to reach those experiencing homelessness with the vaccine effort.

And: Pennsylvania’s municipal primary election is tomorrow. Here’s your voting guide to everything from checking your ballot status to finding your polling place.

— Ashley Hoffman (@_ashleyhoffman, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Tuesday is a date that matters. It’s the day Philly voters choose. They choose between the incumbent DA Larry Krasner, known for exonerating wrongfully convicted prisoners, and Carlos Vega, a former homicide prosecutor for whom crime victims have emerged as some of his most visible supporters.

Running for reelection as a progressive prosecutor, Krasner hopes to win with a coalition of progressives and Black voters from areas with historically high turnout, as he did in 2017 on a campaign of criminal justice reform. Vega hopes to draw support from whiter, more police-friendly voters in Northeast Philadelphia and the Delaware River wards, bolstered by some Latino voters from neighborhoods with historically lower turnout.

The young, low-income, Black and Hispanic Philadelphians most likely to encounter the DA’s office will be largely unheard. Reporters Jonathan Lai, Julia Terruso and Ellie Rushing’s story covers why this particular election lays this uncomfortable disconnect even more bare than usual.

In Bucks County and the other suburban communities around Philadelphia, those experiencing homelessness tend to be less visible and harder to reach than in such places as Philly and Camden, which both have centralized sites.

That’s why reaching some of the counties’ most vulnerable people is a public health imperative as they face huge challenges when it comes to self-isolating, public transportation and communication. And many suffer from other health conditions that put them at risk for the virus.

At Bucks County’s previous clinics for homeless residents, about 35% of the people who had signed up to get a vaccine made it to their appointments.

Read on for reporter Aubrey Whelan’s story on the outreach services happening now for homeless people in the counties.

🆕 What are the CDC mask rules? Use our simple flowchart.

Whether you’re anxious about reopening, cautiously optimistic, or ready to go out now, here’s how to handle the social aspects of the new normal.

Symptoms of COVID-19, flu, common cold, and allergies can overlap. How to tell the difference.

Here’s our guide to safety and side effects of the vaccine for kids and teens.

Side effects mean your COVID-19 vaccine is working. But what if you don’t have a reaction?

What you need to know today

  1. Here’s your guide to voting in the primary election tomorrow.

  2. And we’re also bringing you a full guide breaking down Philly’s reopening.

  3. After a yearlong campaign, advocates hope to rename Philly’s Taney Street. Residents have expressed concerns about the street’s name for decades.

  4. Philly came much closer to being picked as Amazon’s “HQ2” office expansion than we knew until now.

  5. The Pa. Turnpike Commission’s actions raise questions about a state agency that does not deliberate in public about significant decisions impacting millions of lives.

  6. While some Kensington residents support Philly DA Larry Krasner’s reform-minded policies, others are frustrated to see addiction surge.

  7. New Jersey is moving toward allowing those convicted of drug felonies to receive General Assistance, a program that gives low-income adults with no dependent children a monthly stipend of $185, as well as job training.

Through your eyes | #OurPhilly

Thanks for sharing this interesting vantage point. Everything looks better from above.

Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we’ll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout-out!

That’s interesting

⚾ Writer Bob Brookover makes the case for the reunion of the players from the greatest season in Phillies history, after which “the amount of bad baseball and broken hearts by that point had stockpiled like cars in a junkyard.”

🚗 New and used cars are such hot sellers you might say car sales are in the fast lane.

🎸 “Few have made a mark so indelible without being rooted in one signature style, or by so equally balancing performing and behind-the-scenes achievements,” writer Dan DeLuca muses about Todd Rundgren’s prolific career.

Opinions

“We know what Farley chose, and even if someone made the right decision to disobey him, he has no business being the top doctor in this city.” — columnist Helen Ubiñas writes that this moment of reflection about the MOVE bombing presents the opportunity for the city to belatedly recognize and atone for the atrocities of its past.

  1. Columnist Maria Panaritis writes to make the case for rejoicing in this new day of the complex post-pandemic awakening as Philly emerges from the long haul.

  2. Not going back to “normal” anytime soon, columnist Jenice Armstrong writes about why she plans to wear her masks indefinitely.

What we’re reading

  1. NPR spoke with prominent physician Leana Wen about what Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month means to her.

  2. The New York Times has a timeline of how masking up has changed since the early days of the pandemic.

  3. Vulture has applied infinite knowledge of the Mare of Easttown universe and its inhabitants to bring us what every character would definitely order at Wawa, probably.

Meet the Ruffins, a pair of dedicated Penn Relays supporters. In fact, it was the track and field competition that brought the couple back together in Philadelphia in 1969 or ’70, shortly after they moved to Greensburg, Pa., and the event has always held a special place in their lives since. What began as their small Penn Relays pizza afterparty has grown to 68 people and a gourmet buffet.