Emily Rizzo

Reforming gun laws is notoriously difficult in Congress. So some communities have taken to passing their own firearms restrictictions.

Five Democratic Central Bucks School District candidates pose with current school board member Mariam Mahmud at the Bucks County Democratic headquarters on election night. Pictured left to right: Heather Reynolds, Rick Haring, Mahmud, Susan Gibson, Dana Foley and Karen Smith.

Clockwise from top left are Philadelphia addresses that have Keystone Opportunity Zone tax abatements: 2275 Bridge St., 225 N. 38th St., 3400 Market St., and 3800-14 Market St. Developers that benefit from Keystone Opportunity Zones are supposed to be providing alternative revenue to the city school district, along with work and career-related opportunities for students. But on the whole, that’s not happening as promised.

Students, educators, and parents gathered at a pro-Palestinian rally organized by Philly Educators for Palestine outside the Philadelphia School District building on Thursday.

On a recent Sunday morning, Emily Wilson left her West Philadelphia apartment at 5 a.m. for a church in Wayne, Chester County, where she grew up.

Philly police have a “tentative strategy” to clear school pathways in Kensington and nearby neighborhoods affected by the open-air drug market, but with many students heading back to school, details remain unclear.

But in Pennsylvania, state officials have told Philadelphia it is spending the money on things that are too off the mark, such as repairing homes, schools and parks in Kensington, a poor neighborhood that the overdose epidemic has ravaged. Local residents say addressing the root causes of poverty and addiction is exactly what's needed to heal the community. The city is appealing the ruling.

Workers with Lyon Contracting Services install new windows in Tiffany's home in Kensington, a Philadelphia neighborhood that has been heavily impacted by the drug overdose epidemic. Free repairs at 400 homes in Kensington were paid for by settlement funds from opioid-related lawsuits. A Pennsylvania oversight board ruled that the repairs did not comply with guidelines on how the money should be spent.

The Philadelphia school ordered teachers to “stay neutral” on Israel's war on Gaza, but they helped students make pro-Palestine posters.

Amid a devastating drug epidemic in the Kensington neighborhood, one principal at a local public school said kids there “don’t have basic human rights.” But educators hope money from a legal settlement will provide students and families more support and opportunities.