Our content partners at Pittsburgh’s Public Source are doing great work documenting what’s happening in the once-sleepy Pittsburgh suburb of Springdale Borough. Over the last 12 months, the town has become a local flashpoint for two of the nation’s most contentious issues: data centers and immigration enforcement.

Springdale police and ICE signed a formal task force agreement in November. Several people have been arrested in joint operations involving Springdale police and ICE since then.

That agreement, along with a contentious data center that’s set to be built a stone’s throw from family homes, have set off street protests, rallies outside the borough building, and a forceful arrest of a resident at the public speaker’s lectern. (The charges have since been dropped in that case.)

During one ICE protest earlier this year, a passing ICE supporter stopped his car and confronted protester Ian Hill, of Springdale, who was holding a stick. The ICE supporter punched a different protester. Video from the incident published by TribLIVE shows Hill neither striking nor being struck. Hill was still charged with simple assault nearly three months after the incident.

US Army veteran Norman DeLay, who lives with post-traumatic stress disorder, moved to neighboring Cheswick for a peaceful life. But with plans moving forward for a 50-acre data center across the road from his home in Springdale, he’s looking to uproot his family and settle in rural Tennessee.

DeLay said he went to a council meeting last fall to voice his opposition to the planned data center, but was told he couldn’t speak because he’s not a Springdale resident.

“I moved here because I have PTSD,” he said. “[…]I’m hoping to be out of here before they build it.”

You’ve been asked to show newly-minted 76er LeBron James around Philly. Where’s the first place you’re taking him?

Here’s where you’d take the GOAT:

“Citizens Bank Park. He’ll feel the intense passion of the best sports fan in the nation.” — Paul Devine, Blue Bell

“I would take LeBron back to the cathedral, The Palestra, where he once played a game as a high schooler.” — Matt Engel, Wilkes-Barre 

“I’d take him first to Cheesesteak Alley and let him decide between Pat’s and Geno’s!” — Mary G., Northeast Philly

“Art Museum, only he’d run there from the sports complex (I’d drive, LOL!) so he can run up the steps like Rocky!” — Stefan, Bucks County

“I’m a retired real estate agent, so my instinct would be to take him to look at houses. First stop: Rittenhouse Square. And I’d come out of retirement for that commission!” – T.K., Philadelphia 

“I’d take him around to some of the local public basketball courts so he could get a feel for how much we love hoops in the city.” — Ben O’Donnell, South Philadelphia

“Reading Terminal Market, so he can get a crash course in the local delicacies!” — Robert, Conshohocken

Where’s the first place you’re taking LeBron in Philly? Reply with your answer below and please let us know where you live!

Sunflowers begin to bloom at the Hagen History Center in Girard on July 28. (USA Today Network via Reuters Connect)

This weekend is your last chance to catch some great music at Bethlehem’s annual Musikfest. A little further north in NEPA, there’s a festival celebrating one of Pennsylvania’s favorite delicacies, the kielbasa, while the peak bloom season for sunflowers will attract thousands to the Erie area.

Here’s a look at what’s happening around the state this weekend.

Musikfest – Bethlehem

Dates: through Sunday, Aug. 9

The country’s largest free music festival, Musikfest, winds down this weekend with plenty of free shows. You can catch some of that free live music and other performances across 15 stages, and ticketed shows at the Wind Creek Steel Stage, including Bailey Zimmerman (Aug. 6); Parker McCollum (Aug. 7); Yellowcard and Taking Back Sunday (Aug. 8); and AJR (Aug. 9).

Goschenhoppen Folk Festival – Perkiomenville (Montgomery County)

Dates: Aug. 7-8

You can enjoy traditional food, handmade crafts, and folk music at the Goschenhoppen Folk Festival, where more than 500 volunteers in period clothing will demonstrate what Pennsylvania German life was like in the 1700s and 1800s. 

Plymouth Alive Kielbasa Fest – Plymouth (Luzerne County)

Dates: Aug. 7-8

For more than 20 years, the Plymouth Alive Kielbasa Fest has been a cornerstone festival in NEPA, with dozens of vendors and attractions, and live music. And of course there’s a kielbasa competition where several NEPA meat stores and vendors compete for the best tasting kielbasa in categories like smoked and regular.

Barrel & Flow Fest – Pittsburgh

Date: Saturday, Aug. 8

Pittsburgh’s Barrel & Flow was the first Black craft beer and arts festival in the country, and has been recognized as one of the best beer festivals in the country by USA Today. The tradition continues this year with dozens of local and national breweries participating, the majority of which are Black-owned. 

Girard Sunflower Festival – Girard

Dates: Aug. 9-15

There won’t be as many sunflowers as the 1.2 million that bloomed last year, but thousands are expected to be at their peak for the Girard Sunflower Festival, which kicks off Sunday. Visitors this year will be able to walk on pathways through the sunflower fields at the Girard campus of the Hagen History Center and take in a free performance from the Erie Philharmonic String Ensemble on the festival’s opening night.

• The American Federation of Children has renewed its calls for Gov. Josh Shapiro to opt in to President Donald Trump’s Education Freedom Tax Credit, which opponents fear will give tax breaks to wealthy individuals while diverting funds away from public schools and into the coffers of private and religious schools. Find out more in this story.

• An environmental group claims that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is failing to properly assess how underground coal mining is affecting streams and properties across the state. Get the story here.

• Democrats in the Lehigh Valley are crying foul over a Green Party candidate’s attempt to get on the November ballot in the race for Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District. Find out why here.

• Following a six-month investigation, the Bucks County District Attorney’s office said it will not prosecute any police officers or additional student protesters involved in a student-led ICE protest in Quakertown that turned violent after the police chief charged a group of students to detain a protester. Get the details here.

• Episcopalians from 13 counties will meet to elect the ninth bishop of the Erie-based Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania and the first woman to hold the position, if all goes as expected. Learn more here.

Root beer float. (Shutterstock)

To those who celebrate, here’s wishing you an early happy National Root Beer Float Day, which falls on Thursday.

Ahead of the big day for root beer, here’s something you may not know: If not for Philadelphia pharmacist Charles Elmer Hires, root beer as we’ve come to know it may have never existed. Hires is credited with developing the first commercial root beer in the US by creating a liquid formulation for a carbonated root beer beverage, which he introduced at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial exhibition. 

You can learn more about Hires’ creation, and other food and beverages you may not have known were invented in the commonwealth, in this story.

Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Patrick Berkery with stories from Kalena Thomhave, Sean Kitchen, USA Today via Reuters Connect, Jamie Wiggan of Pittsburgh’s Public Source, and Ian Karbal of the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. It was edited by Crystal Niforos.

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