Category: Newsletters

Good morning, and happy Tuesday.

Today, we’ve got fresh polling on key political figures in Pennsylvania, showing Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro with a wide lead in his reelection race and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman with strong support — among GOP voters.

And we explore how a wave of new bagel shops in the region is testing local demand.

Plus, Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal is due in court, and more news of the day.

— Laura Benshoff (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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The governor’s race, by the numbers

With Election Day a little over two months away, incumbent Democrat Josh Shapiro holds a 16-point lead over Republican Stacy Garrity, the state treasurer, according to a new poll by The Inquirer, the New York Times, and Siena University.

It’s not surprising that Shapiro, who has a national profile and has far out-fundraised Garrity, is ahead. But new polling sheds light on how he has maintained that edge.

📊 He appeals to some Republicans. Overall, 35% of registered Republicans approve of the job he’s doing as governor, and 27% of those who voted for President Donald Trump in 2024 do, too.

🤔 Garrity lacks name recognition. A quarter of likely Republican voters still do not know enough about Garrity to form an opinion of her, according to the poll.

🔮 But a 2028 edge is not a given. Any discussion of Shapiro’s prospects are likely to touch on speculation about a potential 2028 presidential run. Democrats overwhelmingly say they would support him in a primary, but the poll didn’t match him against other candidates.

Inquirer reporters Gillian McGoldrick and Michelle Baruchman have the full story behind the numbers.

Bagel shops rising

Since the beginning of 2025, nearly a dozen bagel shops have opened or leased space in Philadelphia and its suburbs.

There are the homegrown shops, like Kismet or Bart’s Bagels, that have sprouted new locations.

Then there are the chains. PopUp Bagels. from Connecticut, and Call Your Mother, from Washington, D.C., each have multiple locales planned in our region.

This boom begs a question: How many bagels can Philadelphians eat?

“More is not always better,” said Jacob Cohen, who started Kismet six years ago with his wife, Alexandra.

Inquirer food writer Michael Klein set out to find the answer.

What you should know today

• Democratic Sen. John Fetterman isn’t on the ballot this year, but new polling shows that while he has gained among Republicans, his favorability has plummeted among Democratic voters.
• And one more piece of polling news: President Donald Trump, who won Pennsylvania in 2024, has seen his approval rating in the state drop to 39%, according to the Inquirer/NYT/Siena Unversity poll we’ve been citing.
• Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal will appear in court Wednesday to answer for delays plaguing the sheriff-sale process.
• Abington Township will vote later this week on whether to replace Flock, a surveillance tech supplier that has drawn fire for data privacy concerns, with a different company.
• The Phillies did not obtain a required state permit before installing an artificial turf field at South Philly’s FDR Park earlier this summer.
• New Jersey removed 5,100 registered voters from state rolls, part of the ongoing fallout from a vehicle registration gaffe that registered noncitizens to vote.
• The Market Street Bridge near 30th Street Station will be closed for vehicle traffic for at least the next year, but pedestrians can still cross.
• Dom DiSandro, the Eagles’ normally shy chief of security, sat down with Pete Davidson for perhaps his only extended on-camera interview ever.

P.S. This story’s link was broken in yesterday’s newsletter, so I’m sharing it again: Local plasma donation businesses are booming, as more people turn to them to make ends meet.

Quote of the day

Jenn has staked out her side in the great “is a hot dog a sandwich” debate. Not everyone agrees, even within The Inquirer newsroom.

(Plus, we compiled the best of the best in our new dining guide, featuring some truly indulgent dogs.)

🧠 Trivia time

How tall is the newly proposed PMC apartment building at 24th and Walnut Streets?

A) 358 feet

B) 372 feet

C) 409 feet

D) 387 feet

Think you know? Check your answer here.

What we’re…

🤸‍♀️Taking note of. Adults in niche sporting communities like acrobatics and arm-wrestling are holding skill shares to try to attract new adherents, and to make learning a new hobby more accessible.

📺 Watching. Inquirer reporter Aubrey Whelan and her dad take us to Citizens Bank Park and break down the analog pleasures of watching a baseball game while keeping score by hand.

⚾️ Considering: Speaking of baseball, is it worth risking heartbreak to believe in the Phillies again? Sports columnist Marcus Hayes thinks so.

🧩 Unscramble the anagram

Hint: This sporting event will return to Philadelphia next weekend after a 10-year hiatus.

APACHE PICCADILLY SCHILLINGS

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

Congratulations to Abbe Pescatore, who correctly guessed Monday’s anagram: Luis Arraez. Since 2021, the Phillies second baseman has traveled with a portable batting setup, which he uses to practice his swing. That may help explain why Arraez has more hits than any player since 2022.

Photo of the day

Your moment of rooftop zen. With the weather holding its beautiful, highs-in-the-low-to-mid-80s streak for one more day, I’m taking inspiration from these loungers.

👋 That’s all for today! See you Wednesday.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Welcome to a new week, Philly. The weather looks clear with highs in the low 80s.

Today we’re starting at home. Thousands of Philly homeowners face property tax hikes of 50% or more — and those who could be most impacted live in some of the city’s higher-poverty areas.

And, we’ll dig into which local entities have contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Plus, Amazon drones could soon take off from South Jersey, and more news of the day.

— Laura Benshoff (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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They ‘feel taken advantage of’

When the City of Philadelphia reassessed property values this year, most homeowners saw a modest increase. The median uptick was 3%.

But others were hit much harder. Nearly 6,000 homeowners in Philadelphia saw their property assessments climb by more than 50%, an Inquirer analysis found.

That spike translates to much higher property taxes in some areas with high poverty, such as Strawberry Mansion and Hartranft.

“[Residents] feel taken advantage of, and they feel like it’s coming out of nowhere,” said Jalon Alexander, a Strawberry Mansion native hoping to unseat his local city councilmember.

The Inquirer’s Anna Orso and Yaelle Tang mapped the uneven increases.

How local vendors supply ICE

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s budget has grown dramatically during President Donald Trump’s second term, with some of the windfall flowing to our region.

Since January 2025, ICE has awarded more than $17 million in contracts to vendors in the Philadelphia area, according to local data compiled by The Appeal.

More than half of that spend is for a contract with a firearms manufacturer in Montgomery County.

Another ICE vendor? The Philadelphia Parking Authority.

Inquirer reporters Fallon Roth and Jesse Bunch covered the full list.

What you should know today

• Amazon plans to start delivering packages via autonomous drones out of its West Deptford facility this fall.
• SEPTA’s bus operators are bracing for rider confusion following route changes rolled out during the weekend.
• Falling membership and excessive salaries for certain staff spurred the sudden takeover of District Council 21, one of Philly’s most influential labor councils.
• Local plasma donation businesses are booming, as more people turn to them to make ends meet.
• Jake’s & Cooper’s Wine Bar in Manayunk will close 39 years to the day after it first opened.
• Last weekend’s 17th Naked Bike Ride in Philadelphia happened to coincide with another semi-nude event — the inaugural “Go Topless Day.”

Quote of the day

Ashley Boudreaux has nearly completed two degrees — all while working full-time.

Reporter Ariana Perez-Castells profiled people in our region who are using job-provided tuition benefits to level up their careers.

🧠 Trivia time

Which one of these is a nickname Philadelphians have given LeBron James?

A) LeIbrahim Muhammad

B) LeBoul James

C) LeJawn

D) All of the above.

Think you know? Check your answer.

What we’re…

🦀 Daydreaming about: Going crabbing in Sea Isle City.

🪴 Rediscovering: a quaint, hidden alleyway in Jenkintown.

🎵 Listening to: Philly Music Fest’s newly-announced headliner.

🧩 Unscramble the anagram

Hint: The secret to this Phillies hitter’s success could be the portable batting setup he uses on the road.

LAZIER URSA

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

Cheers to Charlene M. Wiltshire who correctly guessed Sunday’s anagram: Jon Turteltaub. On Friday, the director of the National Treasure films announced to a live audience in Philly that there will be a third installment in the franchise. Turteltaub said the U.S. charged political climate was a contributing factor to the two-decade-long pause between movies.

Photo of the day

📬 Your ‘only in Philly’ story

This week’s “only in Philly” story comes from reader Marian Ronan, who describes a surprising way she connected with another Philadelphian in New York City:

A while back, a priest visiting my Jesuit parish church in Manhattan said in his sermon that he was from Philly, but that he now says “water” instead of “wooder.”

On the way out, I told him that I was from Philly and that I only say “wooder” when I have had too much to drink. To which he replied, “Me, too.”

Have an ‘only in Philly’ story to share? We’re looking for personal anecdotes about what makes you feel connected to the city. Think: an experience that could only happen in Philly; something that made you fall in love with the city; or something that makes you proud to call it home. Email us a few sentences for a chance to be featured in the Monday edition of this newsletter.

👋 Thank you for starting your week with The Inquirer! See you tomorrow.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Good morning. Sunday should be mostly sunny with a high near 83.

It doesn’t take much to clog up Philadelphia’s 72,000 stormwater drains. Our main read highlights the pronounced stress on the city’s century-old infrastructure.

And more people now pay for services that keep them off social media when self-control may fail.

— Paola Pérez (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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Why Philly flood drains fail

The city hadn’t seen normal levels of precipitation for 16 consecutive months. But when the rainfall made a return in July and August, the flooding followed suit.

The dread and anxiety are real among residents who say they feel helpless watching stormwater fill their basements, or when their local roads “become rivers.”

The city’s drains get blocked easily. There is roughly one stormwater inlet for every 20 residents, and ordinary objects like tree leaves, dirt, trash, and other street debris can get in the way.

Almost 3,000 requests for inlet cleanings were filed to the city’s 311 line last year, an Inquirer data review found. The city has closed such requests in under four days on average under Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration, but some residents report issues directly to the Philadelphia Water Department.

From Fairmount to Mount Airy, hear from Philadelphians on their frustrating experiences dealing with the water department and the uncertain atmosphere.

Paying to unplug

Our devices can make some parts of our daily lives convenient, but they can also put a strain on our mental health. The human-smartphone relationship has become a “paradox,” as one expert told The Inquirer’s Erin McCarthy.

People have become more aware of the cumulative hours they spend tapping away, but many find it hard to curb temptation by themselves, especially given the addictive designs of social platforms.

In response, McCarthy reports that a growing number of social-media-detox businesses have emerged. More consumers are using these services designed to block distracting apps. Ironically, some of the tools are apps themselves.

As a self-case study, McCarthy tried going without Instagram for two weeks. “After my experiment, I see why people are willing to pay to unplug from social media,” she writes.

Read on to learn about these services, and for tips to reduce screen time.

What you should know today

• About 113,000 Philly kids will return to classrooms on Monday. From half days to schools without air-conditioning, here are key things to know about the new academic year.
• New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a bill that protects reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare by making it a crime to interfere with such care.
• Philadelphia police are investigating after a pedestrian was struck and killed by an SUV near La Salle University on Saturday.
• Six Coatesville men were sentenced to state prison for their roles in an ill-fated revenge plot that left a friend dead. Two of them will be behind bars for life.
• One in three Philadelphia-area patients are often left in the dark about side effects of new medications given during hospitalization, according to a survey.
• West Chester will limit where future smoke shops can open within the borough. This comes after residents pushed back against a corner store in a residential neighborhood that became a brightly lit vape shop.
• Months of celebration for the World Cup and America’s 250th came with significant investments in Philly, from soccer pitches to park upgrades.
• A row of East Market Street pop-up storefronts will continue hosting small local businesses through the end of 2026.

This week in history

🎤 Here’s Tommy Rowan with a look back at the massive refinery blaze that killed eight firefighters and injured dozens more.

Investigators would later determine that inattentive workers let oil storage tanks overfill and unleash highly flammable vapors.

In the early hours of Aug. 17, 1975, those vapors snaked through the hulking Gulf Oil Refinery smeared along the Schuylkill in Southwest Philly.

What happened next is still considered one of the worst refinery disasters in recent memory, and one of the deadliest days in the history of the Philadelphia Fire Department.

Read on for the full story.

❓Pop quiz

Which soccer league will stream games for free in the United States through the summer of 2031?

A) Spain’s La Liga

B) Champions League

C) Germany’s Bundesliga

D) England’s Premier League

Think you know? Check your answer.

What (and whom) we’re …

🖼️ Chatting with: Four Philadelphia artists who are a part of this year’s Whitney Biennial.

🎤 Reliving: Isaiah Rashad’s set at the Fillmore.

🤤 Hungry for: The Chino breakfast sandwich from Chibanos.

🧠 Playing: This week’s Pillars, our new word game, built specifically for Philly.

🦁 Mourning: Makini, the last African lion at the Philadelphia Zoo.

🧩 Unscramble the anagram

Hint: Director of the National Treasure films

JETTON TUBULAR

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

Cheers to Kathleen Babcock, who correctly guessed Saturday’s answer: Willow Grove Park. A sale of the Montgomery County shopping mall is expected “in the near term,” according to property owner PREIT.

Photo of the day

Twenty years ago, Philadelphia almost lost Thomas Eakins’ 1875 painting The Gross Clinic forever. Almost. Then, Philadelphians raised $68 million in 45 days to keep it from being sold. Morgan Ritter recounts the iconic painting’s journey.

🎶 Today, I’m listening to Philly singer-songwriter Anna Shoemaker. The title track of her forthcoming record, Back to Pennsylvania, goes like this: “I didn’t plan on losing everything / You’re never planning for the ship to sink.”

One more musical thing: The bittersweet emotions were palpable at Rush’s first Philly show for the band’s “Fifty Something” reunion tour. The septuagenarian rockers will play the Xfinity Mobile Arena again on Sunday.

👋🏽 That’s it for now. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and take care.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Saturday is here. We’re expected to see more showers, and there’s a potential for flooding into the night.

A reader is feeling conflicted about micromanaging their child’s school lunch options. Inquirer staffers offer their advice.

Plus, we have news on the Philly Naked Bike Ride route, high-rise plans from the city’s largest apartment developer, and our report card for this week in Philadelphia stories.

— Paola Pérez (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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What you should know today

• A Philadelphia judge declined to issue an emergency injunction that would have prevented moving Kensington High students to an empty middle school in the Northeast.
• Newly surfaced surveillance video captures a previously unseen part of the encounter before an off-duty Philly officer was killed on Sunday.
• A tornado touched down in Delaware on Thursday amid severe weather and flooding, the National Weather Service confirmed.
• Pennsylvania health officials confirmed 89 new measles cases in the state in the last seven days, an escalation of a rapidly growing outbreak now impacting more than two dozen counties.
• The Philadelphia school board voted to spend up to $7 million on rental space to house a district high school in Center City.
• Philadelphia’s largest apartment owner wants to build a 31-story high-rise at 24th and Walnut Streets.
• This year’s Philly Naked Bike Ride will mark the bare-as-you-dare event’s 17th edition, starting on Martin Luther King Drive.
• A shuttered bridal shop in downtown Conshohocken will soon become the home of another family-run business with local roots.
• Between baseball blessings and everyone’s new favorite Philadelphian, catch up on the good, bad, and weird from recent stories out of Philly.

Got (chocolate) milk?

A reader asked: My child is about to start kindergarten and is excited about the school-provided lunch (he knows there is regular pizza). The menu looks mostly fine and I won’t stop him from enjoying it if everyone else is, but I noticed that he can choose to have chocolate milk every single day, which seems like a lot to me. Am I overthinking it or should I tell him he can only choose it once a week? I won’t even be there to see if he’s telling the truth. Do I ask the school to restrict it?

To tackle this case, we brought in Inquirer reporters Jason Nark and Zoe Greenberg. They discussed how they’d approach the situation, and the potential for hard-line enforcement to backfire.

“I would talk to the school, first, and if this was their policy, I would talk to my daughter and set some limits,” Nark said. His child is also starting kindergarten this year.

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

One viewpoint

In this week’s Shackamaxon, Inquirer columnist Daniel Pearson unpacks SEPTA’s new bus route changes, which feel like cuts to many riders.

“Although I sympathize with anyone who is losing their preferred bus route, these choices were not made without justification,” Pearson writes.

Get his take on what he dubbed a “quiet revolution,” as well as an upset victory in Western Pennsylvania, and the civic hero who squared up to Center City’s masked clown creeper.

❓Pop quiz

Small businesses selling ice cream, little cakes, and loaded baked potatoes are transforming this neighborhood:

A) Germantown

B) Graduate Hospital

C) University City

D) Roxborough

Think you know? Check your answer.

🧩 Unscramble the anagram

Hint: Shopping complex in Montgomery County

GLOW PREVAIL WORK

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

Cheers to Anita Osmian, who correctly guessed Friday’s answer: Nicole Cashman. Cashman takes the helm of Welcome America Inc., the nonprofit behind Philly’s Wawa Welcome America festival, after the former CEO departed earlier this year.

We were there

Fortescue in Cumberland County was once known as the “weakfish capital of the world.” That’s no longer the case, and it’s unclear why they disappeared.

Jason Nark, who reports on rural communities far from city life, took a trip to the sleepy Delaware Bay town to find out what locals and experts alike believe may have happened to the “tide runner” fish.

Somewhere on the internet in Philly

😬 You’ve probably seen the viral Jason Kelce ad where he’s asking for your … pee. To cool data centers, apparently. Here’s the actual story behind it.

🍽️ Reddit has thoughts on Dîner en Blanc after the 14th annual event was canceled due to severe weather. Would-be partygoers took the celebration elsewhere on Thursday.

⚽ The Union’s brawl with Inter Miami is a big talker this week. (I’m jealous of everyone who got to witness the chaos in person.) An update from The Inquirer’s Jonathan Tannenwald: Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi was fined for his part, and the Union’s Cavan Sullivan is eligible to play vs. Austin FC tonight.

👋🏽 Thanks for stopping by. Have a good one!

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Happy Friday! Today we’re finally getting a reprieve from the heat, with highs just scraping the low 80s.

We start with a development in the Olney house saga. Specifically, a newly unearthed photograph of one of four missing women linked to the property.

Next, we unpack what a federal plan to “deregulate” Head Start could look like in Philly.

Plus, how Pennsylvania’s new data center regulations stack up against other states, and more news of the day.

— Laura Benshoff

(morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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Missing in plain sight

Blair Tonzelli was reported missing in February 2023.

Friends last saw her the year before at a house in Olney. That property is now the site of a sweeping police investigation into the disappearances of four women.

The Inquirer has found that months after Tonzelli vanished, her picture remained on a pornographic website maintained by Raymond “R.C.” Horsch, a former occupant of the Olney house, who passed away last year.

Inquirer reporters recovered an archived version of his site, where Horsch posted hundreds of similar images of many still-unidentified women.

Reporters Ryan W. Briggs, Max Marin, and Ellie Rushing have the full story.

An uncertain future

One day early last week, Inquirer reporter Alfred Lubrano observed as 16 toddlers darted around a playground in Southwest Philadelphia, trailed by four teachers.

These were just a few of the estimated 7,500 low-income Philadelphia children who receive free education, health, or other services from Head Start.

Now, the 61-year-old federal program is poised for a major overhaul. The Trump administration plans to cut 1,400 of the program’s mandates.

Those changes would cause the number of students per teacher to rise “dramatically,” one Head Start provider told Lubrano.

Read his full story on the impact here.

What you should know today

• Following his executive order earlier this week, Gov. Josh Shapiro said Pennsylvania now has the “strictest guardrails in the nation” on data center development. We fact-checked that claim.
• In a related story, Pennsylvania’s DEP is currently weighing whether to issue permits for backup power generators for a planned Amazon data center in Bucks County.
• Police identified the man accused of chasing Center City pedestrians in a Chucky-style horror mask.
• The School District of Philadelphia faces a new lawsuit over its plan to relocate Kensington High students.
• Temple University will raise salaries for campus police.
• Scammers posing as WHYY’s Fresh Air host Terry Gross are conning media figures and celebrities.
• For the first time in its 14 years in Philly, organizers canceled last night’s Dîner en Blanc due to inclement weather.

Plus: What is the origin of Philly’s Shot Tower?

Welcome back to Curious Philly Friday. This is our forum for readers to ask about the city’s quirks and then we report the answers.

This week, we’re resurfacing an explainer from 2023 about a towering brick structure in Queen Village. Several readers wondered what its original purpose was, and how it came to be nestled among a playground and rec center.

It turns out, this building was once among the tallest structures in Philadelphia, and its height was key to its initial function. Read on for the full story.

Have your own burning question about Philadelphia, its local oddities, or how the region works? Submit it here and you might find the answer featured in this space.

🧠 Trivia time

What’s SEPTA’s name for its new bus route changes and updates?

A) SEPTA 2.0

B) On the Move

C) New Bus Network

D) Bus Revolution

Think you know? Test your local news know-how and check your answer in our weekly quiz.

What we’re …

🎬 Watching: Tony, the Anthony Bourdain biopic, starring South Jersey’s Dominic Sessa.

🤤 Salivating over: Jacket potatoes, matcha lattes, and other “little treats” in Grad Hospital.

📸 Discovering: That the first-ever selfie was taken in Philadelphia.

🪞 Envisioning: A new home for the Portal. [Spoiler alert: A lot of you like the Art Museum steps.]

🧩 Unscramble the anagram

Hint: The new CEO of Welcome America Inc., the nonprofit behind Philly’s Wawa Welcome America festival.

CHANEL MASONIC

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

Cheers to Nancy Gatti who correctly guessed Thursday’s answer: The Scottish Rite. A chaotic debate has broken out in Collingswood over who should be paying for the historic theater.

Photo of the day

Have a wonderful weekend, Philly! And if you or your kids are heading back to school on Monday, I hope you get to savor the final dregs of summer.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.