Philly’s historic heat wave of ‘93 | Morning Newsletter

Today should be a mostly cloudy day with a high of 80.

Happy Tuesday. We are one week away from Philly schools reopening. I think it’s fair to call this time “Back to School” season. We have compiled what you need to know about the upcoming school year.

Our lead story explains how Philly changed the way the world views heat disasters and how heat mortality is measured.

— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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Philadelphia officially recorded 118 heat-related deaths during the summer of 1993. Most of them were older people who lived alone.

Not everyone believed it. There was a lot of criticism and suspicion that it was an overcount. Nearby cities also experienced a heatwave, but didn’t have numbers like Philly. And if it was an accurate number, how could the city be that inept?

Philadelphia’s medical examiner at the time, the late Haresh Mirchandani, expanded the definition of heat deaths to include those where heat was determined to be a contributing cause. In the past, the strict criterion to qualify as a heat-related death was hyperthermia, a core body temperature of 105 degrees at the time of death.

The result: Both NOAA and the Centers for Disease Control concluded that was Mirchandani was right and that his method should become the standard. The CDC’s “excess mortality” figures — the number of deaths above daily averages — tracked neatly with Mirchandani’s running counts.

The city mobilized after the shock of the 1993 death toll and created a heat-response system. Chicago, Cincinnati, Dayton, and to have since adopted similar programs.

Read on for more details of Philly’s legacy.

When former Millville Municipal Court Judge Jason Witcher publicly accused the N.J. judiciary of discriminating against defendants needing Spanish-English translation or having Hispanic-sounding names, he knew it could’ve ended his career.

In his own words: “It was the right thing to do,” Witcher, Cumberland County’s first Black municipal judge, said. “I have no regrets because I had no choice. As a man and as a judge, my primary responsibility should always be the integrity of the justice system.”

Witcher resigned and filed a lawsuit in June against the Administrative Office of the Courts. The N.J. Attorney General’s Office then conducted a monthslong investigation, filing in August a civil-rights complaint corroborating bias claims against the City of Millville in Cumberland County.

Continue reading to understand the extent of the controversy.

A group of Philly 30-somethings raised more than $17,000 to buy more than $1.6 million in local medical debt.

They celebrated with an unofficial debt burning, complete with lighter fluid, shots, Roman candles and sparklers.

Notable quote: “We’re young, we’re party people, we want to light s— on fire,” said Claire Hirschberg, a South Philly union organizer.

More than 1,700 beneficiaries are slated to receive letters informing them that someone took care of part or all of their medical debt starting mid-September.

Read on to learn how the group got the idea to do it.

West Philly native Colman Domingo stars in Rustin, playing the title role of Bayard Rustin. The movie about the Black queer civil rights activist will hit select theaters and Netflix in November.

Where was Rustin born and raised?

A) West Chester

B) Coatesville

C) Malvern

D) Phoenixville

Think you know? Check your answer.

👀 Watching: Pennsylvania could move its 2024 presidential primary election date as early as March 19.

📰 Reading: Columnist Will Bunch’s latest argues that journalism is failing at explaining what’s happening to America.

Hint: The statue outside the Linc

CHILLY APPLIES

We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Amy Baxter, who correctly guessed Monday’s answer: pumpkin spice latte. Email us if you know the answer.

I’m off to go on my morning walk. Thanks for starting your day with The Inquirer.