Rehabilitating the Montco SPCA | Morning Newsletter
🍽️ And out-of-town restaurant boom.
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. The region likely won’t see a white Christmas, but look out for snow and ice that could impact travel today.
The embattled Montgomery County SPCA overhauled its troubled shelter leadership this fall after mismanagement was made public. Even with new executives who say they are committed to further improvements, trust remains fragile.
And a slew of out-of-town restaurants are opening Philadelphia outposts in 2025. Most hail from New York and D.C.
— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
P.S. This newsletter is taking a holiday break. After today, I’ll be back in your inbox Friday the 27th. Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa to all who celebrate!
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Three months since an Inquirer investigation exposed the Montco SPCA’s record of casual euthanasia, dangerous shelter conditions, and mismanagement, the well-funded shelter has undergone major changes.
The shelter’s new board president, Art Howe, and interim executive director, Tracie Graham, have vowed to spend more money saving animals and fixing rundown kennels. But trust won’t come easily for all of its critics. The nonprofit is still under audit by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, and key staff positions remain unfilled.
“It’s a mystery to me why it got to the point where it got,” Howe told The Inquirer. “It’s absolutely time for a change, and we have made a lot of progress in the last four or five weeks.”
Reporter Max Marin has the latest on the shelter’s long road to repairing community trust.
The region’s expansive food community has attracted another slate of restaurants from New York, D.C., and elsewhere to open branches here.
🍽 2025 entrants from NYC include Palestinian spot Ayat (opening in Rittenhouse), the pork-centric Pig & Khao (East Kensington), “Jew-ish” diner Gertie’s (Northern Liberties), and the speakeasy-ish Newsroom (Northern Liberties).
🍽️ And from the District, the city will welcome steak frites restaurant Medium Rare (Fishtown), queer hotspot Little Gay Pub (Washington Square West), and Mexican restaurant Mi Vida (Center City).
🍽️ Why here? Incoming restaurateurs name Philly’s expansive dining scene, of course. The city’s affordability and proximity to their home bases makes expansion easier, too.
In other food news: Sagami, the revered Japanese restaurant in Collingswood, is being sold to a longtime friend of the owners. And after more than four decades, South Jersey’s D&S Sub Shop has closed — and the White Horse Pike landmark will become a Super Wawa.
What you should know today
President Joe Biden commuted the sentence of notorious North Philly drug kingpin Kaboni Savage to life in prison. He had been found guilty in 12 murders.
A veterinarian found slain outside his Cherry Hill home earlier this month was fatally stabbed on his front lawn, officials said Monday, as police continue to search for his killer.
A teacher at Philadelphia’s Samuel Fels High School has been charged with sexual offenses and corruption of a minor after a 16-year-old student said he groped her in a classroom.
William Labov, the “father of sociolinguistics” who studied the Philadelphia accent, has died at 97.
As scientists brace for a fight over vaccines and health policy under the Trump administration, the Philly-based “godfather of vaccines” organized a strategy call with experts around the country. Plus, University of Pennsylvania scientists are tracking bird flu and developing a vaccine.
A “grandfatherly” accountant accused of duping Peco retirees died on Christmas last year. Investors are still wondering where the millions he was entrusted with ended up.
Health-care facilities received more negative Yelp ratings after COVID-19. Patient satisfaction still hasn’t returned to its pre-pandemic level.
The head of Philadelphia250, the nonprofit planning Philly’s 2026 semiquincentennial celebrations, resigned Monday.
Two bankrupt chains are closing their Philly-area stores soon: Party City will shutter 14 in the region, while Big Lots will close another 11.
At local toy shops, people are buying wooden blocks and basic dolls — perhaps hoping for a return to simpler times.
🧠 Trivia time
Bowen Yang of Saturday Night Live took on which regional news subject in a skit this weekend?
A) Philly’s Jalen Hurts look-alike contest
B) FedEx porch pirates
C) New Jersey’s “mystery drones”
D) Suburban school cell phone bans
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we’re...
💻 Googling: “Eclipse glasses near me,” Simone Biles, and 4DX theaters — all top Philly searches in 2024.
⚽ Cheering: These longtime friends from Montco have played against each other from youth to the pros.
🖼️ Seeing: The glittery, subversive homecoming of this Camden-native artist at the Barnes Foundation.
🧑🧒 Considering: The future of international adoption from China.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: Overbrook-based Catholic school: _ _ University
JANE SOPHISTS
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to tahnee simone, who solved Monday’s anagram: Toasted Walnut. Philadelphia’s last lesbian bar closed in January 2021. In its absence, the organizer of Sip City Mixer is considering opening her own.
Photo of the day
👋 Happy holidays, y’all. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you back here on Friday.
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