Voices of the pandemic

America Amplified wants you to shape our election reporting

• Ed Mahon
  BioRecent Stories

  

  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.

In a video on April 10, 2020, Andrew Cousins, left, speaks with PA Post reporter Ed Mahon.

In a video on April 10, 2020, Andrew Cousins, left, speaks with PA Post reporter Ed Mahon.

Erie County is one of 24 in Pennsylvania that moved to the yellow phase of the coronavirus closures at 12:01 a.m. today, meaning that people can leave their home for any reason, not just for essential work, errands and exercise. Some retail businesses can reopen, as well.

Andrew Cousins, a 37-year-old rideshare driver in Erie, doesn’t expect too much to change for him. I spoke to him several times over the past month about how the coronavirus affected his life.

Andrew said his income dropped by more than half, as the stay-at-home orders eliminated demand for most travel. Some days, he was lucky to earn $40 total from  Uber and Lyft customers. His efforts to land an IT job stalled. And the coronavirus separated him from friends, which made his depression harder to manage.

I worked with WITF’s Joe Ulrich to turn my Zoom interviews with Andrew and video journals he recorded into a non-narrated radio story. I hope you give it a listen. It’s the first story I produced as part of America Amplified. Here’s more about the initiative:

• What is America Amplified? It’s a $1.9 million national public media collaboration funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The goal is to put people, not preconceived ideas, at the center of the reporting process this election year. Nationally, eight public media networks are involved, covering many states, including Ohio, Georgia, Florida, Colorado and Missouri (to name a few). In Pennsylvania, WITF, Keystone Crossroads, WESA, WPSU and PA Post have come together under the StateImpact Pennsylvania collaboration. America Amplified is driven by community engagement and listening to what residents say is happening in their communities — and building stories from there.

• What communities in Pennsylvania are you focusing on? I’ll be covering Erie. Other reporters on the project are listening to and reporting from Chambersburg, Bradford, Williamsport, the Hill District in Pittsburgh and Reading. Listen for stories on air at the partnership stations, or watch for them online from now through the election.

• How does the coronavirus affect this reporting? I still have plans for lots of on-the ground reporting in Erie, but we’ll be using crowd-sourcing, polls and social media to listen to communities.

• What can you listen to? The weekly “America Amplified: Life, Community and COVID-19” is a good place to start. The program is hosted by stations across the country with a call-in/talk show format. The Voices of the Pandemic page features audio diaries, including Andrew’s story.

• How can you help us? As I mentioned in the memo, I’ve created an online form that you can use to help guide my reporting in Erie. Remember, this isn’t about me asking you questions about what my editors and I think are the big issues in Erie. We want to know what issues you and your neighbors and family are talking about. If you’re not able to access the form, you can also reach out to me at emahon@papost.org or at 717-421-2518. And follow me on Twitter @edmahonreporter.

Speaking of Erie: Nearly three years after the county submitted its original community college plan, the state Board of Education is moving closer to a decision on whether to approve or deny the application. The board plans to hold a virtual hearing in June to gather evidence from supporters and opponents.

Best of the rest

On May 8, 24 counties will begin to reopen. (Governor Tom Wolf/Twitter)

• What other counties will move to yellow? Gov. Tom Wolf plans to announce that today, PennLive reports. PennLive has a very handy map showing the number of cases over a two-week period, which is one of the benchmarks the Wolf administration is using. Most southwestern Pennsylvania counties are below the benchmark (except Beaver). In south-central Pa.., York County  is also below the benchmark. But all of its neighboring Pa. counties are not.

• Frustration in SW Pa.: Some elected officials in southwestern counties are suing in federal court to force Gov. Wolf to immediately lift coronavirus restrictions. “Citing growing frustration with emergency orders that closed businesses and halted political campaigns, three state lawmakers and U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, Thursday joined a group of local business owners and four southwestern counties in a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of” the lockdown orders, TribLive reports. In Greene County, moreover, the local prosecutor has told business owners that he won’t prosecute any who decide to reopen. “I cannot in good conscience stand by and watch our economy and the small businesses in my community perish,” District Attorney David Russo said. “If large conglomerate shopping centers, gas stations and businesses deemed essential such as beer distributors can safely operate with thousands of customers entering their stores each day then there is no reason the small business owner should not be allowed to operate under the same guidelines.” KDKA has more here.

• COVID-19 death of Philly meat processing worker: WHYY’s Aaron Moselle has the details of a wrongful death lawsuit filed against one of the country’s largest meat processing companies. It was filed by the family of a Pennsylvania shop steward who died last month from COVID-19, Moselle reports.

• Evictions/foreclosures delayed: Gov. Tom Wolf has extended a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions by two more months, Spotlight PA reports. Under an executive order he signed Thursday, the moratorium is extended to July 10.

• Zoom bombs: PA Post reporting intern Benjamin Pontz explores how local elected officials are making the switch to digital meetings and how they can avoid disruptions from remote hijackers.

Coronavirus must-reads

• The Morning Call: With gas tax revenue plunging during coronavirus pandemic, Pa. looks to Congress to bail out transportation projects

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Questioning management and state officials, Rep. Lamb calls for federal probe of Brighton nursing home

• PennLive: Even for a nurse who has dealt with infectious diseases, COVID-19 is ‘scary’

• Reading Eagle editorial: Learning to live with the virus

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Bike shops are booming as pandemic rolls on

• New York Times: Travel From New York City Seeded Wave of U.S. Outbreaks

• The Atlantic: The Problem With Stories About Dangerous Coronavirus Mutations

• The New Yorker: How Racism Is Shaping the Coronavirus Pandemic

A non-coronavirus must-read

• Road Warrior: Did someone slip a dirty license plate past the PennDOT censors?