Boko Haram snatched Patience Bulus. Now, in central Pa., she’s starting over

• Ed Mahon
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  Ed Mahon comes to Spotlight PA from PA Post, where he covered state politics and policy, produced radio stories that were broadcast on public media stations throughout the state and on NPR’s national newscasts, and co-wrote a weekday newsletter. Prior to joining PA Post, Ed worked for six years as an investigative and political reporter for the York Daily Record, part of the USA Today Network. His reporting on failures in Pennsylvania’s system for protecting domestic abuse victims was a finalist in the national 2018 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists in the local reporting category. He was also part of a team whose coverage of the criminal justice system, including the aggressive use of civil asset forfeiture by York County prosecutors, received the 2018 G. Richard Dew Award for Journalistic Service from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. Before joining the York Daily Record, Ed covered K-12 education at the Centre Daily Times in State College and worked as a stringer for suburban sections of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He grew up in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

 Rachel McDevitt / WITF

Patience Bulus speaks with Professor Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob in his office at Dickinson College.

From The Context, PA Post’s weekday email newsletter:

Prepping for college

Rachel McDevitt / WITF

Patience Bulus speaks with Professor Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob in his office at Dickinson College.

• WITF’s Rachel McDevitt spoke with Patience Bulus, who was one of 276 schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok, Nigeria, by the terrorist group Boko Haram on April 14, 2014. The incident received international attention.

• Bulus and 56 other girls quickly escaped captivity by jumping out of moving trucks, Rachel reports. More than 100 of the kidnapped girls are still missing.

• Now 22, Bulus is participating in a special college preparatory program at Dickinson College. “Whenever I find something is going to discourage me, I would just pray, and then believe that everything is going to be all right,” Bulus said.

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Dani Fresh / Keystone Crossroads

Parent Amy Wilt believes that teachers in the Turkeyfoot Area School District should be paid more.

• WHYY’s Jen Kinney spent time in one of the lowest-paying school districts in Pennsylvania: Turkeyfoot Valley Area in Somerset County, which Jen says is also home to scenic views and some of the best whitewater rafting in the state.

• The process of applying for federal disability assistance will become longer and more complicated for many in Pennsylvania, Kate Giammarise of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., called the change “an attack on individuals with disabilities.”

• Members of the state House’s Legislative Black Caucus want to change laws governing police officers and the use of deadly force, WITF’s Katie Meyer reports. The legislative push follows the acquittal of a police officer in the shooting death of 17-year-old Antwon Rose II.