The final semester | Morning Newsletter
🍞 And a South Philly bakery gets help
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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. Expect clouds throughout the day and a high temp near 75.
Our main read takes us to the quiet halls of Cabrini University, which will close next month after 67 years, to see what it’s been like for the remaining students, professors, and administrators to wrap up the final semester in the school’s history.
Stick around for some good news about a beloved bakery, and a wholesome story about what the Phillie Phanatic does when he’s not hyping up crowds at the ballpark.
— Paola Pérez (@pdesiperez, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Cabrini, the only college founded by sister Francesca Cabrini and her Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, is in its final days of operation.
Catch up quick: Last June, the college announced it would close its doors. This came after years of financial pressures and falling enrollment.
What’s next: Its last day is June 30. The 112-acre, tree-lined campus will be sold to Villanova, a Catholic university just two miles away.
What about students and professors? The university set out this year to make sure undergraduates would continue their education elsewhere. Some students transferred before the year began. Meanwhile, some professors have already left for other positions.
“But nothing could prepare employees and students at the school, which has closely followed Mother Cabrini’s ‘education of the heart’ mission, for the emotional toll an imminent closure would take,” writes Susan Snyder, higher education reporter for The Inquirer.
Over the last semester, Snyder followed several professors, students, and faculty as Cabrini’s final days approached. Read on for her chronicling of the college’s final semester.
What you should know today
Protesters capped a march from City Hall to University City in support of Palestinians by erecting an encampment on Drexel University’s campus Saturday evening, drawing a rapid police response.
Nineteen pro-Palestinian protesters, including six University of Pennsylvania students, were taken into police custody on Friday night when they attempted to occupy a campus building. The brief encampment came a week after authorities disbanded another that lasted about two weeks and led to 33 arrests.
Philadelphia police last week identified two men they say are responsible for the shooting death of a 17-year-old girl in West Philly six years ago. Prosecutors say her death ignited a feud between neighborhood crews that left at least 28 people dead within two years.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration will endeavor to clean every block in Philadelphia over 13 weeks this summer in what a top official said Friday would be the largest effort to address quality-of-life issues in city history.
Philadelphia police are investigating a reported break-in and act of vandalism at Lombard Cafe, a Society Hill coffee shop whose owner claims her business was targeted for being vocally pro-Palestinian.
Mujahid Sabir, the 16-year-old nephew of Philadelphia City Commissioner Omar Sabir, was found fatally shot in Cobbs Creek Park in Philadelphia last Friday.
The animal tranquilizer xylazine’s spread into Philadelphia’s illicit opioid supply has introduced new hazards to an already-dangerous drug crisis. Now, another veterinary sedative more potent has emerged.
Philly has received a $578,340 grant from the William Penn Foundation to further support a pilot program equipping low-income residents with free SEPTA Key cards.
A $40 million proposal to build a new marina in Northeast Philly may soon lead to the demolition of the Quaker City Yacht Club building, part of an effort to spark revitalization along the Delaware River waterfront.
More travelers will soon be able to skip security lines at PHL, part of American Airlines’ expansion of its bus program, which launched last year.
For the first time in more than two decades, the Eagles and Cowboys aren’t scheduled to face off in prime time.
Faragalli’s, a South Philadelphia bakery that has served the community for generations, is known for its distinctive, old-world bread, and the century-old oven that bakes it.
When parts of the colossal oven collapsed months ago, the future became uncertain for the shop. Phil Faragalli, 72, closed the family bakery in Passyunk Square in early April, unsure if it would ever reopen its doors again.
Then customers, friends, and neighbors came to the rescue.
Hundreds of people donated nearly $34,000 to a GoFundMe campaign dubbed “Operation: Save Faragalli’s.” Although still short of the $50,000 goal, the effort raised enough funds for Faragalli to hire a repairman who is equipped to properly fix the ancient kiln.
In his own words: “It’s so overwhelming,” Phil Faragalli said on a recent afternoon. “Everybody and their mother gave. I can’t go nowhere without people coming up to me and saying they want to help. I just want to say thank you to everybody.”
Read on to learn about one more big change coming to the oven, and see when Faragalli hopes to reopen his bakery.
❓Pop quiz
Which Bucks County-raised pop singer was a musical guest on the season finale of Saturday Night Live?
A) Pink
B) Christina Perri
C) Sabrina Carpenter
D) Taylor Swift
Think you know? Check your answer.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: This famous actor — Taxi, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest — and proud Jersey native told The Inquirer that he prefers watching sunrises at the Shore rather than in California.
INVADED TONY
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Michele Southworth who correctly guessed Friday’s answer: Gopuff. This Philly-based service delivers beer, snacks, and other products on demand — and announced it was laying off hundreds this week.
Photo of the day
Didn’t have the Phanatic being a children’s book writer on my list of “cool Philly mascot trivia,” but there it is! All fans 14 and under at today’s Phillies game against the Nationals will get a copy of Burgoyne’s latest book. Dive into this story from sports features writer Matt Breen to get to know the writer and mascot living out two of his childhood dreams.
🎶 For today’s Sunday track, we’re listening to: “I try to live in black and white, but I’m so blue / I’d like to mean it when I say I’m over you / But that’s still not true,” the closing track to Billie Eilish’s new album. What’s your favorite record right now? Feel free to send over some recommendations.
👋🏽 Cafecito calls (and maybe a scooped bagel...). Thanks for spending part of your Sunday morning with me. Have a good day.