🔔 To Bell or not to Bell | Morning Newsletter

Welcome to Labor Day Weekend. Cloudy skies should clear up this afternoon, with highs near 83.

For this week’s advice column, we have an only-in-Philadelphia dilemma. When hosting guests from out of town, is it OK to skip a trip to the Liberty Bell?

Plus, we have the latest on Johnny Doc’s release from federal prison, details about a second measles-involved fatality in Pennsylvania, and our report card for this week in Philly news.

— Laura Benshoff (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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What you should know today

• After a week with no additional details about the two measles-involved deaths in Pennsylvania, the Lancaster County coroner shared that measles had killed a 6-week-old Amish infant.
• Sen. John Fetterman is once again under the microscope following a report that he ducked meetings with constituents, among other allegations from former staffers.
• Former Philadelphia labor leader John Dougherty walked out of a federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pa., on Friday, one day after news broke that he would receive a presidential commutation for his corruption conviction.
• Labor Day kicks off campaign season in earnest, so we have your guide to the must-watch political races this fall.
• Phillies infielder Alec Bohm and his parents have settled a financial mismanagement lawsuit in which he accused the elder Bohms of enriching themselves off his baseball earnings.
• Oona Sperr, the daughter of the Please Touch Museum founder and a prominent Philadelphia architect, is suing her oil tycoon ex-boyfriend for $400 million.
• An all-cat band is playing in Philly this weekend, to sold out crowds.
• From Cecily Tynan’s last 6abc weather forecast to renewed hope for the Phillies, catch up on the rest of this week’s good, bad, and weird stories out of Philly.

🔔 Over the Liberty Bell

For this week’s advice column, a reader asked: My parents keep insisting we take visitors to the Liberty Bell. I’ve been five times this year. I can’t do it anymore but they want me to tag along because they think if I don’t I’ll just play my Switch at home. How can I convince them to go… anywhere else?

To help solve this quandary, The Inquirer tapped Life & Culture reporters Mike Newall and Zoe Greenberg.

To start, Newall and Greenberg suggested getting a more personalized feel for what out-of-town visitors might enjoy. Are they gourmands? Then take them to a meal at one of Philadelphia’s award-winning restaurants. History buffs? There’s Washington’s tent at the Revolution Museum, or Lewis and Clark’s journals at the American Philosophical Society.

For more on how they advised our dear reader to get their parents to think beyond the Bell, read Newall and Greenberg’s full conversation here.

Need advice, or want to share your thoughts? We want to hear it. Email us here.

One viewpoint

Potholes and sinkholes are a basic fact of life in Philadelphia, but fixing them shouldn’t take moving heaven and Earth, argues Inquirer opinion writer Daniel Pearson in his Shackamaxon column.

This week, Pearson chronicles the 13-year-long saga one block has endured to get their street fixed. He argues that the city shouldn’t institute a proposed delivery tax to pay for filling potholes until it cleans up the communication and coordination issues like those at play on the 1600 block of South Lawrence Street.

Read on for Pearson’s perspective, as well as his takes on banning Flock cameras and closing of the Academy of Natural Sciences.

❓Pop quiz

The U.S. Constitution, which was signed at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, turns how old this month?

A) 250

B) 247

C) 227

D) 239

Think you know? Check your answer.

🧩 Unscramble the anagram

Hint: A proposed 118-unit apartment building at 23rd and Walnut Streets would be replace a building that used to house a location of what now-bankrupt chain.

ARID TIE

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

Cheers to Nancy Bush, who correctly guessed Friday’s anagram: Gloria Steinem. In 1982, Steinem traveled to Philadelphia to receive an award. During her trip, she met with the Inquirer’s Kathy Hacker, who wrote this profile.

We were there

Inquirer video producer Lauren Schneiderman witnessed throngs of visitors packing the Academy of Natural Sciences on Friday.

Attendees told her they wanted their kids to experience the nearly 200-year-old museum before it shuts down at the end of the month.

Somewhere on the internet in Philly

🥸 Retired 6abc anchor Jim Gardner shaved his signature mustache, and people had feelings about it. Crossing Broad even compiled an homage to his famous whiskers over the years.

🚍 A SEPTA bus got stuck in freshly poured concrete outside of Termini Bros. Of course, there’s video.

👋 Thanks for hanging with me this Saturday. Paola Pérez is off so Sam Stewart will be your captain tomorrow.

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