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Ensuring every Pennsylvanian gets counted

  • Emily Previti/PA Post
Stephanie Sun, a commissioner with the Governor's Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs, speaks with a breakout group from Pennsylvania's South Asian community during the Asian American/Pacific Islander Town Hall On The 2020 Census on Saturday, September 7, 2019.

 Kriston Jae Bethel for WHYY

Stephanie Sun, a commissioner with the Governor's Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs, speaks with a breakout group from Pennsylvania's South Asian community during the Asian American/Pacific Islander Town Hall On The 2020 Census on Saturday, September 7, 2019.

Happy Monday! A timely recommendation for the work week ahead: An episode from Hidden Brain’s archives that explores “deep work” — meaning uninterrupted, highly-focused, flow-state type of toiling (NO “multitasking”). One takeaway: it’s not realistic or even valuable, necessarily, to work deeply all day, every day, depending on your job — but it could be worth trying for a small, set number of hours to start. The full half hour-ish episode is here. -Emily Previti, Newsletter Producer/Reporter

‘A community that nobody touches’

Stephanie Sun, a commissioner with the Governor's Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs, speaks with a breakout group from Pennsylvania's South Asian community during the Asian American/Pacific Islander Town Hall On The 2020 Census on Saturday, September 7, 2019.

Kriston Jae Bethel for WHYY

Stephanie Sun, a commissioner with the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs, speaks with a breakout group from Pennsylvania’s South Asian community during the Asian American/Pacific Islander Town Hall On The 2020 Census on Saturday, September 7, 2019.

  • Nearly half of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders might not get counted in Pa. during the 2020 census, according to Gov. Tom Wolf’s Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs. That risk prompted a town hall at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia over the weekend where community leaders from across the state brainstormed ways to maximize the count, including the use of social media and staffing informational tables at events. Emily Scott covered the gathering for WHYY and has more details in this story.

  • As part of its preparation, the U.S. Census Bureau has to verify physical addresses. The bureau can use satellites to do so in most cases, but still needs to send out workers to take care of about a third of locations, the agency explains. In-person address verification began earlier this summer and will conclude in about a month; this GIS-enabled tool  shows where it’s happening.

  • Please note: Legit workers will show up with official Census Bureau briefcases and ID badges. We remind ourselves of this following reports of a fraudster in Montgomery County. The perpetrator tried to get into at least one house by falsely claiming to be there on Census business, police told Patch.com at the end of last week.

  • In another recent edition of The Context, Ed Mahon gave a rundown of the latest efforts to prevent undercounting, including support from foundations to compensate for the complete lack of state funding from Pennsylvania’s government. It’s here, ICYMI.

Best of the rest

Rachel McDevitt / WITF

Corn grows in a York County field as a storm approaches on July 4, 2019.

  • Pennsylvania is set for a productive corn and soybean harvest after a relatively warm summer, according to results of a statewide survey by Penn State Extension. WITF’s Rachel McDevitt talked to researchers for this story.

  • Talks between Purdue Pharma and a group of state attorneys general — including Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania — unraveled at the end of last week after Purdue and the Sackler family rejected two offers to settle a case involving thousands of state and municipal government entities. The AGs told the Associated Press they expect the OxyContin manufacturer to file for bankruptcy. Shapiro says he’ll pursue a separate lawsuit against the Sacklers, referring to them as “sanctimonious billionaires who lied and cheated so they could make a handsome profit.”

  • The family of the 21-year-old man who died after being restrained by Dauphin County Prison guards wants an independent investigation. Demands from Ty’rique Riley’s relatives come after Dauphin County county closed its own probe. Coroner Graham Hetrick cleared corrections officers who’d restrained Riley just before he went into cardiac arrest, and attributed Riley’s death in the hospital days later to natural causes. Hetrick also noted the autopsy found cocaine — which could have prompted the aggressive behavior that led to the restraint, not to mention the physical stress caused by the drug — in Riley’s system. More here.


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