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Jen Kinney/Keystone Crossroads

Jen Kinney curates WHYY’s recommendations for things to do in the Philadelphia region.

Her stories have also appeared at Next City, Philadelphia Magazine, High Country News, and elsewhere.

Latest by Jen Kinney/Keystone Crossroads


‘I’m an essential business’: Gun shops in Pa. packed ahead of coronavirus closures

“People are buying it like they’re buying toilet paper. I guess they went out and got toilet paper first, now they’re buying ammo.”
By Jen Kinney/Keystone Crossroads

‘So tragic’: Volunteer firefighter shortage threatens Pa. traditions and public safety

Longer working hours, longer commutes and the rise of dual-income households have left less time for volunteering.

By Jen Kinney/Keystone Crossroads

‘Cancel culture’ in coal country: Two Trump-voting brothers on a mission to fight racism in Schuylkill County

Andrew Barrow and his younger half brother Ronald Stanley ‘Stosh’ Webb Jr. could be poster children for the county, there’s a key difference. Andy is white. Stosh is Black.

By Jen Kinney/Keystone Crossroads

Supporters of arming teachers in classrooms claim victory in Schuylkill County in board election

"I still stand by, the only thing that’s going to stop a gun is a gun.”
By Jen Kinney/Keystone Crossroads

Pa. school board president banned from Olympic sports for sexual misconduct against a minor in the 1980s

Larry Wittig resigned from the board in 2017 after the Philadelphia Inquirer first published the allegations, but he remains school board president of the Tamaqua Area School District in Schuylkill County.

By Jen Kinney/Keystone Crossroads

‘Shooting people is deescalation’: Three days with teachers training to use guns in schools

Arming teachers to prevent or lessen the death toll of mass shootings is a controversial proposition, and the training teachers receive before being authorized to carry guns in the classroom is one of the biggest sources of debate.

By Jen Kinney/Keystone Crossroads

Some Pa. superintendents have been quietly armed in schools — and parents probably don’t know it

“In my opinion, it should be done out in the light of day, so citizens know, ‘Here’s what’s going on in our schools.'”
By Jen Kinney/Keystone Crossroads

Implosion of former Bethlehem Steel HQ highlights changing face of the Lehigh Valley

“I wish it wasn’t going to happen. It’s such a landmark of Bethlehem."
By Jen Kinney/Keystone Crossroads

Tamaqua parents shocked that armed teacher policy has been quietly reinstated

"If I find out there is a gun in my classroom with my teacher, I am going to ask to leave that room immediately."
By Jen Kinney/Keystone Crossroads

Equity advocates criticize Wolf’s plan to boost teacher salaries in Pa.

“I do not believe that a $22,000 starting salary is fair for someone who’s in charge of educating your children.”
By Jen Kinney/Keystone Crossroads
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