Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz didn’t speak to reporters or roll out new policy prescriptions during his visit to Western Pennsylvania Wednesday — but the visit itself did make a kind of statement.

Walz, a native of Nebraska and the governor of Minnesota, largely bypassed the kind of urban areas from which Democrats have traditionally drawn their electoral strength, and instead headed to a farm in Trump Country.

To be sure, when Walz landed at the Pittsburgh International Airport in a campaign jet a little after 2:30 p.m., he was greeted on the tarmac by Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato. (She later said the two talked about the fact that “we’d be seeing a lot of each other.”) Soon after, Walz and his daughter Hope stopped the campaign caravan at the Moon Township Milkshake Factory. There they purchased chocolate-covered pretzels and a milkshake that, according to campaign sources granted anonymity to speak candidly about sensitive issues, was mint cookies and cream.

But from there, it was a drive of well over an hour to the Maple Bottom Farm outside Dawson, Pennsylvania.

Surrounding Fayette County was once solidly Democratic, but in 2020 backed Donald Trump by two-to-one margins. And while Trump signs seemed somewhat less visible than in previous election cycles, there were several lining the road to the farm itself.

But the presence of Walz there symbolized presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ ambitions to compete for votes everywhere in the state. Earlier this week, the campaign announced the opening of its 50th state field office, boasting that Democrats were “reaching out to voters in every part of Pennsylvania, from Allegheny County to … deep-red counties like Jefferson and York.” And on Wednesday, Walz did his part by taking a tour of the farm, while reporters watched the livestock and the livestock watched the reporters, with somewhat less evident interest.

As security personnel in tactical gear looked out over a field of sunflowers, Walz inspected a cow shed and fed a calf (“I was making you work too hard!” he exclaimed after it latched onto the bottle he was holding.) And he spoke with members of the Baker family, who own the farm, about the rigors of agriculture.

“There is no holiday,” he said.

Eventually, Walz and the family sat down at a picnic table to sample some of the farm’s wares — “he can’t do spicy,” Hope warned in a reprise of a campaign joke — and discuss some of the challenges facing agriculture, as well as energy policy. And while the issue is considered a hot-button in Pennsylvania, due to Harris’ previous hostility to fracking for natural gas, there was ready agreement around the table that, for example, solar panels would be a great addition to barn roofs but shouldn’t occupy fertile land.

As for the arguments over fossil fuels and green energy? “You can do both,” Walz said, objecting to “this false choice that you can’t have one or the other.

“We’re producing more oil than we ever have at any time, which is fine,” he said. But investing in solar and wind energy were also important, he added: “Give people a choice.”

Soon after, reporters were corralled back to the caravan for the drive back to Pittsburgh.

Much like a one-day tour of the area made by Walz and Harris last month, the trip eschewed stump speeches or policy discussions for a series of tableaux that situated the candidate in backdrops identifiable to locals — and identified with them. Walz stayed the night in Downtown Pittsburgh with plans to travel to Erie on Thursday … having been seen, if not herd.

Despite a Pennsylvania law setting new requirements around addressing lead in school drinking water, a report released Wednesday highlights loopholes in the law — and says schools, and the state, are failing to adequately protect children from a contaminant that can cause nervous system damage and learning disabilities.

The findings, which come from a series of Right-to-Know requests sent to nine districts — including three in the Philadelphia suburbs — show problems with both frequency and methods of testing, as well as how results are reported, according to PennEnvironment, an environmental research and advocacy group.

“It’s the tip of the toxic lead iceberg, I think in some ways,” said Stephanie Wein, a clean water advocate with PennEnvironment.

Here’s what the report found, and how some districts are avoiding testing their water or publicizing test results:

What does Pennsylvania law require?

Starting in the 2018-19 school year, schools have been required to either test drinking water for lead annually or “discuss lead issues in the school facilities” at a public meeting. Districts with results that exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standard must report them to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which posts the elevated levels and how districts are addressing them.

That provision allowing districts to not test is a problem, PennEnvironment says — as is the fact that schools are not required to test a minimum number of water outlets, such as sinks or drinking fountains, or to report the results directly to parents or others in a district.

What are some Philly-area districts doing?

PennEnvironment sent Right-to-Know requests to nine of the largest districts across the state, including Norristown, Upper Darby, and West Chester. (Other districts included in the review were Altoona, Bethlehem, Harrisburg, Hazleton, Scranton, and York.)

The responses from each of the districts indicated flaws with the law and how districts are following it, according to PennEnvironment. Norristown has not tested its water for lead since 2019, the report says, and has “instead simply held the required meeting in which they stated their intent not to test, thus satisfying the requirements of the law.” It said the district appears to be planning to test in 2024-25.

In West Chester, according to the report, no testing was performed in 2020-21, though all school drinking water fountains were closed that year. Testing was conducted in 2021-22, but wasn’t in 2022-23; instead, the subject was discussed in a March 2023 school board committee meeting, where minutes indicate the committee was advised that “testing was completed last year and would continue to be tested on a 2-to-3-year cycle.”

Testing “so infrequently provides no real protection,” the report says, because lead is a moving contaminant absorbed into water from pipes and fixtures; how quickly that absorption happens depends on environmental factors.

While Upper Darby is testing two outlets in each school — the nurse’s office and kitchen — PennEnvironment says that sample size is “useless as a basis for determining whether that system contains lead contamination,” again because of the way lead is absorbed into water.

The report also says it couldn’t find any discussion of lead in drinking water on Upper Darby’s website, and while it found some reference to testing in board minutes, it didn’t find test results.

The Norristown district said in a statement Wednesday that it was “fully compliant” with the law.

”The health, safety and well-being of our students, families, and community members is and will continue to be our top priority,” said Superintendent Christopher Dormer.

Upper Darby and West Chester did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

What do advocates say needs to happen?

The report — which also found that some elevated test results from districts were missing from the state education department’s website — said Pennsylvania policymakers need to adopt a new approach to lead in schools, shifting from a “test-and-fix” model to requiring that schools replace drinking fountains with lead-filtering water bottle filling stations, and install lead-capturing filters “on all other taps used for drinking, cooking and beverage preparation.” There should be one filtered outlet for every 100 students and staff, the report said.

By installing filters, “you don’t need to tear out every pipe,” Wein said. Though lead-containing infrastructure always remains a risk, she said, the filters provide “peace of mind that, 24/7, our water is being treated, our kids are being protected.”

Wein noted that Philadelphia schools have been installing filters, with a new City Council requirement that the district remove lead from its drinking water by 2025. The district has received federal money for the effort.

Legislation introduced in the Pennsylvania House and Senate would require school districts to install filters by 2026; under the proposal, the department could award up to $10 million in grants a year for three years to support the requirement.