🥾 Starting 2025 on the right foot | Morning Newsletter

Welcome to the last day of 2024, Philly. While rain is expected tonight, New Year’s Day has a forecast of partly sunny skies and high temps near 50.

If you’re looking to take advantage of that unseasonably warm weather, consider guided First Day hikes, which are soaring in popularity in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

And through City Hall’s actions in Kensington this year, harm-reduction workers have seen efforts to curtail their work.

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

P.S. This newsletter is taking a holiday break. After today, I’ll be back in your inbox on Friday. Wishing you a peaceful transition into the new year.

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For those who want to kick off 2025 in good health, there’s an option beyond counting resolutions: reconnecting with nature through a First Day hike.

🥾 On New Year’s Day, thousands of hikers across dozens of state parks in Pennsylvania and New Jersey lace up their boots to join these free, guided treks.

🥾 Think of them as a chance to “reconnect, rejuvenate and set a positive tone for the year ahead,” as one local parks commissioner told The Inquirer.

🥾 French Creek State Park in Chester County or Belleplain State Forest in South Jersey are among the sites hosting miles-long hikes tomorrow morning — but you could always map your own, too.

Environment reporter Frank Kummer has the details on the region’s First Day hikes, from Pennsylvania lakes to the Jersey Pinelands.

For New Year’s Eve: We have your guide on where to watch Philadelphia’s iconic fireworks along the Delaware. Plus, check out these local music shows to ring in the new year, and the list of what’s open and closed on New Year’s Day across the region.

Those Mummers, too: The 124th annual parade starts tomorrow at 9 a.m.

Addiction treatment services came under increasing pressure in Kensington, the epicenter of Philadelphia’s opioid crisis, in 2024.

Legislators’ efforts this year included a bill to limit where mobile clinics can operate to slashed funding for a long-standing syringe exchange program. Public health nonprofit Prevention Point has been hit especially hard by new restrictions.

The cuts came as Mayor Cherelle L. Parker took office in January and vowed to clean up Kensington for good — a crackdown that hasn’t panned out as many had hoped. Meanwhile, those providing harm-reduction services say City Hall’s approach will only worsen the crisis by making it harder for people with addiction to get medical care, and further hurt the neighborhood.

Health reporter Aubrey Whelan has the rundown of the restrictions made to Kensington addiction services enacted this year.

Which items are suddenly disappearing from grocery shelves, leaving Philly chefs scrambling?

A) Winter fruits like grapefruit

B) Filipino ingredients like bagoong

C) Dairy products like butter

D) Root vegetables like beets

Think you know? Check your answer.

🫶 Supporting: The final two Philly Gives nonprofits, Norristown’s ACLAMO and West Chester’s Young Men and Women in Charge.

🐾 Renovating: Our homes with pets in mind, from cat condos to doggie spas.

💉 Considering: How the Trump administration can protect public health.

🏈 Congratulating: Former Eagle Eric Allen and Philly native Jahri Evans, both named Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists.

Hint: The Philadelphia Union’s supporters club

BONNE FOSS

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Cookie Duncan, who solved Monday’s anagram: Pepé the King Prawn. The 30-year-old Muppet — created by a Bucks County native — is now going viral via TikTok meme.

Thanks for ending your year with The Inquirer. See you on the other side.

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