🌳 Avenue of the Arts goes green | Morning Newsletter
And a ‘Bachelorette’ alum’s recovery advocacy.
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The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Good morning, Philly. Our muggy week continues with a heat advisory in effect. Today’s temps will again reach the mid-90s, but it may feel more like 100 — or higher.
In other news about being outside, Avenue of the Arts is getting the beautification treatment. Check out the renderings of the revamped streetscape planned for South Broad Street, including a leafy median, street furniture, and tons of trees.
And South Jersey’s Zac Clark turned his Bachelorette fame into a platform for people in recovery. As the reality show’s latest season kicks off, we dig into how life as a sobriety influencer brought him back to Philadelphia.
Read on for these stories and many more.
— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Philly’s Avenue of the Arts is getting a $100 million glow-up.
🌷 The beautification initiative will introduce traffic-calming structures, street furniture, art installations, and lots and lots of plants.
🌳 Set to start in 2026, the 10-year project doesn’t yet have all the money it needs to complete the full stretch from City Hall to Washington Avenue. But the plan is to attract funders by first upgrading one pilot block from Pine to Spruce Streets.
🪻Avenue of the Arts, Inc.’s goals for the new streetscape are to boost safety and spur economic development, “to support the arts and to give people a reason to come down and visit,” its executive director told The Inquirer.
🪴 The announcement of the initiative comes after a weird few years for the Avenue, bookended by a struggle to reach pre-pandemic levels of attendance and the sudden closure of a prominent tenant, the University of the Arts.
What you should know today
A 24-year-old man has surrendered to police for an early June triple shooting that occurred in Center City, police said Monday.
Lawmakers in the state Capitol are finalizing the details of a new way to fund public education and nearing a budget deal, a week after the deadline to approve a new spending plan. They also returned to work Monday after two email threats forced evacuation of the Capitol building on Saturday.
A dormant Pennsylvania law still bans same-sex marriages, so State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta sponsored a bill to remove it from the books in an effort to better guarantee LGBTQ residents’ rights.
Philly’s 5,000-member electricians’ union, Local 98, wants its former leaders John Dougherty and Brian Burrows to reimburse it for more than $1.5 million in legal expenses.
A former executive at the nonprofit founded by music legend Kenny Gamble was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for his role in an embezzlement scheme.
A federal judge deemed small-business lender Par Funding to be a Ponzi scheme, clearing the way to start repaying investors who lost money.
WURD’s CEO accused the Biden campaign of pulling a “fast one” on the radio station when it sent former host Andrea Lawful-Sanders, who resigned over the weekend, scripted questions to ask in her interview with the president.
The first electric vehicle charging hub in the region funded by the federal government is expected to open this summer in Aston.
Plenty of reality show stars leverage their fame to earn lucrative brand deals as influencers. Zac Clark — best known for getting the girl on season 16 of The Bachelorette — does that, too. But he’s peddling Narcan instead of HelloFresh.
In 2020, the Haddonfield native became one of the first Bachelorette contestants to speak about a personal experience with addiction on air. He’s since turned to social media to spread awareness about recovery, and has raised over $1.6 million for his nonprofit providing scholarships for addiction treatment.
He’s now turning his work to Philadelphia. That includes partnerships with harm reduction orgs in Kensington.
“The last time I was there I was buying drugs for myself, and now I’m able to go there, get out of the car, and not think of anything else besides how to be of service,” Clark said of visiting the neighborhood. “The people that I met need to have an opportunity to actually recover. And if they’re not given that opportunity, they’re just going to stay in this cycle.”
🧠 Trivia time
As of today, Wawa has closed eight stores in the region since 2020. The latest casualty is also one of its oldest stores, with 45 years in this location. Where was it?
B) Bala Cynwyd
D) Lansdowne
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we’re...
🥾 Hiking: Huntingdon County’s 1000 Steps Trail, because we “hate [ourselves] and want to suffer.”
🦹 Visiting: SAIKA Cafe, a.k.a. pop-up events forging community around anime and nerd culture.
📽️ Watching: Free outdoor movies in Clark Park, at the Schuylkill Banks, and all over the city, all summer long.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Jalen Hurts joined this Philly icon onstage at the artist’s farewell concert with his band Maze this past weekend.
ELVYN FIREBREAK
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Marta Halij-Denysenko, who solved Monday’s anagram: Susan Seidelman. The Philly-born director and Drexel alum behind Desperately Seeking Susan reflects on her nearly half-century in film in her new memoir.
Photo of the day
🔥 One last smoky thing: The 4,000-acre Pinelands wildfire ignited by Fourth of July fireworks was still burning on Monday, when New Jersey Forest Fire Service officials said it was 75% contained.
Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.
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