A Philadelphia family of four must make more than $70,000 a year just to survive, a new report says — a stunning sum beyond the reach of most residents in a city beset by high poverty and meager chances.According to the newly released study based on 2019 data, two adults with one preschooler and one school-age child have to take in $70,613 to meet their needs without receiving public assistance or help from relatives or friends. Read more

In the last decade, unconventional natural gas development has transformed American energy — as well as communities across Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale region.Often popularly referred to as “fracking,” this highly industrialized process is used to extract energy resources from underground geologies such as shale or sandstone. Read more

Medicaid is a longstanding partnership between states and the federal government to provide care to the poorest and sickest among us. A pair of proposals from Washington threaten to upset this joint commitment and fray the nation’s perilously thin safety net for vulnerable patients.Together, these proposals stand to trigger an erosion of the impressive gains we’ve made for patients across our country and region this past decade. Read more