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Andrea Russell is a fixture on Earp Street, the quiet strip of rowhouses in South Philadelphia where she has lived for 45 years. Ms. Russell, a 77-year-old retired legal secretary, thinks President Biden would fit right in. “He’d come on by Earp Street,” she said. “I could picture going up to him and saying, ‘Hi, Joe.’ I can see him here.” She identifies with him, she said, and admires his integrity and his record. Her friend, Kathy Staller, also 77, said she was as eager to vote for Mr. Biden as she was for Barack Obama in 2008.

Persons: Andrea Russell, George, Russell, Biden, “ He’d, ”, “, Joe, ’, Kathy Staller, Mr, Barack Obama, Ms, Staller, Donald J, Trump Organizations: Democratic Locations: South Philadelphia

☆ The Exercises (and Ping-Pong Robot) That Keep This 89-Year-Old Sharp
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Jen Murphy | Photographs Michelle Gustafson For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Rachel Williams has a master plan for staying healthy and spry at 89 that revolves around a ping-pong-playing robot. She bought the Zxmoto ping-pong machine for $200 in 2020 to help maintain her mental and physical fitness after the pandemic shut down the gym at her senior living community in Lancaster, Pa. She carries it from her apartment to what is called the Pong Zone in her complex to train for regional and national competitions.

Persons: Rachel Williams, spry Locations: Lancaster, Pa

☆ Maker of Iconic Martin Guitars Competes With Fulfillment Centers for Workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-29 | by ( Ben Kesling | Photographs Michelle Gustafson For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

NAZARETH, Pa.— For nearly two centuries, workers have hand-built guitars and other acoustic instruments here in the Lehigh Valley, with applicants sometimes waiting years for apprenticeships. But over the past decade, economic changes have put C.F. Martin & Co. in the odd position of having to compete for workers.

Persons: Martin Organizations: Co Locations: NAZARETH, Pa, Lehigh

☆ U.S. Postal Service’s Search For Savings Brings Riskier Drivers
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Christopher Weaver | Photographs Michelle Gustafson For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones

☆ Pope Francis Calls for Peace in Ukraine and Syria in Easter Message
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Hottest Tech Topics Among Older AdultsA retirement community in Lancaster, Pa., is integrating tech more and more into the lives of their residents, proving what experts on aging have been saying for years: Older adults are just as keen on new technologies as anyone else. WSJ family and tech columnist Julie Jargon joins host Julie Chang to talk about what tech appeals most to older adults and why. Photo: MICHELLE GUSTAFSON/ WSJ

☆ Hundreds Mourn Russian Pro-War Blogger Killed in St. Petersburg Cafe
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ China Launches Military Exercises Around Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Mary Barket, a 66-year-old widow with a degenerative muscular disorder and no family around to help, has had seven different caregivers come through her home in the past six months. On a recent Saturday morning, she was told by the home care agency that her caregiver wasn’t coming that day and that it couldn’t send a substitute, she says. Ms. Barket had one meal to last her until Monday, when the next caregiver was due.

☆ A New Sister Act: College Students Move Into a Convent
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Melissa Korn | Photographs Michelle Gustafson For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ASTON, Pa.—A group of students at Neumann University here spent an evening last month painting pumpkins, making s’mores and dancing to a DJ’s playlist. Their neighbors—a bunch of sisters, and not the sorority kind—joined in the fun. Call it a match made in heaven: Neumann wanted to increase campus housing for students. The Catholic Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia had extra space in their convent.

Officials in Philadelphia voted at an emergency meeting Tuesday morning to reinstate a security measure that could dramatically slow vote counting in Pennsylvania's most populous city. The procedure, known as poll book reconciliation, requires temporarily halting vote counting to scan poll books into the voting system to ensure those who've voted in person did not also vote by mail. Philadelphia is the only one of the 67 counties in the battleground state that will use the procedure during the count. Turnout is expected to be much higher Tuesday, with the hotly-contested Senate race between Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz. He also said his group had been trying to work with Philadelphia election officials for weeks, and "if there are delays, only the commissioners are to blame."

☆ The Funeral Industry Plots a Rebrand: We’re Fun
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Dominique Mosbergen | Photographs Michelle Gustafson For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Morticians are finding ways to put the fun in funeral to get customers to think about their final farewells—and open their wallets—long before the end. At an industry convention in Baltimore last month, funeral directors were invited to a workshop on how to “build your preneed customer pipeline” and “generate warm leads.” Among the pro tips some have implemented: Dinners at cemeteries, so-called death cafes and burial-plot lotteries.

☆ Democrats are focus-grouping Fetterman’s health. Swing voters think he’s getting sharper.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Jonathan-Allen-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Jonathan Allen | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

The consensus, according to two people familiar with the responses given to Democratic operatives, was that persuadable voters believe Fetterman is fit to serve and getting sharper. Four months after the stroke, Fetterman has not released his medical records. But Oz has made sure that Fetterman’s health problems remain a top topic of political conversation. Michelle Gustafson / Bloomberg via Getty ImagesEarlier this summer, Pennsylvania Democrats privately expressed concerns about Fetterman’s health and lack of transparency, but Fetterman seems to have eased their fears. That helps explain why Republicans have been split on how much to focus on Fetterman’s health.

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