Pa.’s most politically unpredictable town | Morning Newsletter
🚶 And car-free streets.
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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. This Tuesday is set to be overcast, with high temps near 80.
Can Democrats win back support in Pennsylvania’s Trump-friendly Rust Belt? Our lead story is the latest in The Inquirer’s series about the kinds of places that will decide who wins the swing state, and possibly the November election.
And our dispatch from the latest Open Streets: West Walnut event details the delight that can come from pedestrian-only zones — and what it would take to permanently ban cars on some city streets. Read on for the latest.
— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Some 120 miles from Center City sits a former manufacturing town in Luzerne County that could be a key to gauging who will win Pennsylvania and possibly the presidency in November.
Politically, 10,000-person Nanticoke is split. Republican Donald Trump won what was once a Democratic stronghold in 2016, and again in 2020, though less handily. Now, Vice President Kamala Harris hopes to improve on Joe Biden’s gains to reverse that rightward shift.
But in the largely white, working class post-industrial hub, Trump’s economic messaging on inflation and illegal border crossings — and blaming Harris for both — is resonating.
In other presidential election news: Trump made xenophobic comments about the growing Haitian population in Charleroi in western Pennsylvania just days after his false claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. Charleroi’s borough manager is pushing back.
Plus, Pennsylvania counties can begin printing and distributing mail ballots after the state on Monday finalized the list of candidates who will appear on them.
And U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean (D., Montgomery), one of three Pennsylvania lawmakers serve on the congressional task force investigating the Butler County assassination attempt against Trump, wants to expand the scope to include the Florida attempt.
Across seven blocks in the Rittenhouse Square area every Sunday this month, you’ll see street performers, expanded outdoor dining, yoga on Walnut Street, kids playing with bubbles — and no cars.
🚶 Permanent open streets can be found in other parts of the country and world, including Boston. Temporary programs have occurred sporadically in Philadelphia since 2015, when three square miles were closed to cars for Pope Francis’ visit.
🛍️ The latest iteration is a pilot by Center City District to encourage pedestrians to enjoy the area’s shopping and dining. There’s no guarantee it will return after September. But columnist Stephanie Farr hopes it will.
🐕 “As someone who loves to drive, I never thought I’d wish for car-free streets, but the more I travel, the more I realize how important pedestrian-only zones are to a city’s soul,” Farr writes. “Nobody remembers a street filled with cars, but they do remember a street filled with people and performers (and cute dogs, so many cute dogs).”
Read Farr’s report to find out what it would take to make Open Streets: West Walnut stick.
What you should know today
President Joe Biden touted his administration’s investments into Historically Black Colleges and Universities during his Monday appearance at the National HBCU Conference in Center City. VP Harris is set to visit Philly today for a National Association of Black Journalists event.
Two special elections will be held today for state representative vacancies representing parts of Northwest and North Philadelphia, after the Democratic incumbents resigned this summer.
Greg Fiocca, the nephew of former labor leader John Dougherty, cut a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor Monday in a case involving threats against his former boss.
Medical malpractice filings are spiking as lawyers target Philadelphia juries as a “slot machine.”
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts president and CEO Eric G. Pryor is stepping down from the respected and financially troubled museum and school after less than three years.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has tapped a top executive from Project HOME to take over the city’s embattled Office of Homeless Services.
The presidents of Temple, Lincoln, and St. Joe’s universities will serve on the new governing board overseeing Pennsylvania’s state university system.
“The Time Is Always Now,” a collection of figurative artworks exploring Black contemporary life, will make its American debut at the Philadelphia Museum of Art this fall.
Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, co-founders of Philadelphia International Records, on Monday honored the late Tito Jackson, who recorded two albums with them in the 1970s.
🧠 Trivia time
A rare, printed copy of which document — signed by a Philadelphian and likely worth millions — was recently discovered in a North Carolina family filing cabinet?
A) Articles of Confederation
B) U.S. Constitution
C) The Gettysburg Address
D) Declaration of Independence
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we’re...
🌺 Eating: Hawaiian BBQ, Brazilian-Philly fusion, and more new foods coming to the Linc.
🍫 Prepping: Our palates for this month’s Philly Halal Food Festival in Phoenixville.
🗣️ Respecting: Preferred pronouns along with columnist Jenice Armstrong.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
The summertime staple closing for good after this season: Gillians’ _ _
Hint: 🎡
DROWNED PRALINE
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Karyn Stockar, who solved Monday’s anagram: Ocean City. Read Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan’s dispatch from legendary boardwalk grill Brown’s Restaurant, where he took a turn working the doughnut window.
(P.S. This one may have been our most popular anagram ever! I loved reading your stories of Shore nostalgia. Will today’s challenge bring more?)
Photo of the day
🦅 One last Philly Special thing: Nick Foles has officially retired with the Birds. Watch as the Super Bowl star thanks Eagles fans on his way out of the NFL.
Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.
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