🏈 Vic Fangio, hometown hero | Morning Newsletter

Good morning, Philly.

Vic Fangio’s journey to becoming one of football’s most revered defensive minds began as a high school coach in a small town 120 miles from Philadelphia. Ahead of the Eagles’ playoff run, get to know Dunmore’s hometown hero.

And after federal health officials on Monday announced sweeping changes to the United States’ childhood vaccine schedule, we spoke to a Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia expert about the implications.

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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Local legend

Those who knew Vic Fangio around the 1970s say he’s always been like this — stern, focused, and endearingly gruff.

🏈 The lifelong Philly sports fan grew up near Scranton in Northeastern Pennsylvania. He coached the football team at Dunmore High School, his alma mater, gaining a reputation among players for his love of film and attention to detail when developing plays.

🏈 Now the Eagles’ well-regarded defensive coordinator, Fangio has a Super Bowl win and citywide fame under his belt. But locals still see the same understated guy, who they say maintains firm ties to the place where it all started.

🏈 Fangio’s former players even see traces of their high school coach in Philadelphia’s defense: “When we watch the Eagles now, we’re like, ‘Hey, we recognize that,’” one told The Inquirer.

Sports reporter Alex Coffey visited Dunmore for this deep dive on the famously reserved coach.

Childhood vaccine schedule changes

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its childhood vaccine schedule this week, decreasing the number of universally recommended shots for children from 17 to 11. Among those no longer recommended are immunizations for hepatitis B, the flu, RSV, and the gastrointestinal illness rotavirus.

The move was widely criticized by pediatricians and infectious disease experts, including Paul Offit, a CHOP physician and nationally renowned vaccine expert who co-invented a vaccine for rotavirus.

Notable quote: “I think the goal of [Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.] is to make vaccines optional,” Offit said Monday. The health and human services secretary and longtime anti-vaccine activist, he said, “is doing everything he can to make vaccines less available, less affordable, and more feared.”

Reporter Aubrey Whelan has more on the announcement’s potential impact.

In other health news: University of Pennsylvania researchers recently won a $25 million grant to see if they can fight heart disease with a game that promotes a healthy behavior — walking.

What you should know today

• The city of Camden last year reached its lowest homicide total in four decades, police said — 12, the same number recorded in 1985.
• A man died Sunday after being placed in the back of a Philadelphia police cruiser that was parked in Mayfair, police said.
• A new lawsuit alleges that the deadly explosion at a Bristol nursing home on Dec. 23 was the result of negligence on the part of the facility’s operator and its natural gas supplier.
• Philly District Attorney Larry Krasner was sworn in to his third term Monday. In a speech, he recounted wins and took shots at President Donald Trump. City Controller Christy Brady was also sworn in, and promised to examine spending related to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s signature housing plan.
• Sen. John Fetterman praised Trump’s order to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, breaking with most Democrats’ messaging on the military operation.
• New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s digital innovation office has been made permanent in what appears to be the first move of its kind in the nation.
• A new slate of Chester County elected officials took their oaths of office over the weekend.

🧠 Trivia time

A decade after teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and being taken over by its home state, which city just signaled that it had found its financial footing by earning an investment grade rating by Moody’s Ratings?

A) Wilmington

B) Trenton

C) Atlantic City

D) Philadelphia

Think you know? Check your answer.

What we’re …

🥚 Mapping: Philly’s best flaky, custardy, and barely sweet egg tarts.

🛒 Noting: Changes to how Giant handles online orders.

🐧 Picking: A name for the new baby African penguin at Camden’s Adventure Aquarium.

🍖 Learning about: The lawsuit over the ingredients in the McDonald’s McRib.

🫴 Considering: Pennsylvania’s hidden human trafficking problem.

🧩 Unscramble the anagram

Hint: _ Township in Camden County

DAD HON

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.

Cheers to Rosie Ladeau, who solved Monday’s anagram: West Bradford. The Chester County township is lowering property taxes this year — a rarity that other towns may not be able to copy.

P.S. Want more Chester County news? Sign up to get your free weekly guide to the news and events shaping life in your community.

Photo of the day

🎨 One last artistic thing: Media-based painter Rinal Parikh is redefining Indian folk art with contemporary themes and local imagery. “What inspires me is my surroundings, and I’m blessed with an amazing backyard,” the biochemist-turned-artist said. “That is my main inspiration.”

Thanks for starting your day with The Inquirer. See you back here tomorrow.

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