Biden’s win sets up Super Tuesday; supervised injection site halted for now | Morning Newsletter

Turning the calendar to March has apparently come with some legit springtime weather. (Philadelphia is actually getting its earliest spring in 124 years.) It could get into the 60s today and tomorrow. And that’s coming after some random snowflakes on Friday ambushed Philly’s run at a snow record. As far as the news is concerned, we’ve got you covered with a national political update, reporting on the now in-flux supervised injection site proposed for South Philly, and more.

— Josh Rosenblat (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

It might have been Joe Biden’s last stand, but the former veep won South Carolina’s primary on Saturday in decisive fashion. The Scranton native’s win pushed him to second in the delegate count behind Bernie Sanders and reshaped the presidential race by narrowing the path forward for other center-left candidates, according to my colleagues covering the race. One of those candidates — Pete Buttigieg — ended his presidential campaign yesterday.

Tomorrow, 14 states will have their primaries, and the outcomes could alter the outlook for the top-tier candidates. And with other states (including Pennsylvania) not voting until later in the cycle, the nomination could still be up in the air. We have a new weekly email newsletter that focuses on how Pennsylvania will shape the 2020 presidential election. You can sign up here, and don’t forget to share it.

Barely a day after the nonprofit Safehouse had announced a South Philadelphia location for a supervised injection site, the operators walked back their plans. Though they were armed with a judge’s approval, intense outcry from residents and city politicians about a perceived lack of community input forced the hand of the site’s operators.

Now, Safehouse and advocates for a site where people can use drugs under medical supervision, be revived if they overdose, and access treatment are mulling next steps. For now, the leader of the nonprofit is focused most on speaking with community members.

Most Pennsylvania districts provide full-day kindergarten. But those that don’t say it’s a challenge because they’re lacking money and/or space. And that leads them to question how they would implement a proposal by Gov. Tom Wolf to require it. In his budget address this year, Wolf called for “the expansion of universal, no-cost, full-day kindergarten so that it’s available for every child in our commonwealth.” Wolf’s budget plan doesn’t include funding designated for full-day kindergarten.

A few things are leading the full-day kindergarten charge, including research about the importance of early-childhood education, ramped-up standards for young students, and parents’ needs regarding work schedules and a desire for consistency for children who were in full-day pre-K.

Thanks for the pic, @thrudseyes. Today, we’re all looking back at the weekend like this.

Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we’ll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout out!

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is no longer a question of if there will be community transmission of coronavirus in the U.S., but when — an assessment shared by Thomas Farley, Philadelphia’s health commissioner. There is no reason to panic, but there is reason for urgency on the city’s part.” — writes The Inquirer Editorial Board about how the city is preparing for the potential of coronavirus.

Less than a day after Charles Brewer Jr. made his pro boxing debut, he returned to do his day job: being a police officer in Pennsauken. That’s what pays the bills while his long-term professional goals are in boxing. And it runs in the family. His father was a middleweight champion.