Reporting from Odesa | Morning Newsletter
And the warmest Philly neighborhoods
The Morning Newsletter
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Happy Wednesday. It’ll be a hot one today. Please stay hydrated and expect a high of 90.
Russia recently backed out of a U.N-brokered deal that partially lifted a blockage that stopped desperately needed Ukrainian grain exports. Those exports helped prevent famine. Soon after President Vladimir Putin pulled out of the deal, Russia began firing missiles into Odesa’s port, its grain silos, and smaller Ukrainian grain ports on the Danube River.
Putin is now attacking the center of the city.
Our lead story is Trudy Rubin’s latest column, written from Odesa, after Russian missiles struck the largest Russian Orthodox church in Ukraine.
— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Putin’s military fired a missile through the roof of the historic Russian Orthodox Transfiguration Cathedral in the middle of Odesa. The missile tore off the roof and slammed into the marble altar.
In the aftermath, Columnist Trudy Rubin recounts her time walking through the shattered church as she watched workers and priests struggle to save icons and prop up pillars.
In her own words: “Russia’s deliberate attack on the Transfiguration Cathedral makes clear how little Putin cares about Russian-speaking Ukrainians — despite his claims that he started this war to protect them,” Rubin wrote.
Keep reading for a priest’s first-hand account from the night the missiles struck “the heart and soul of Odesa.”
We’re in for high heat and high humidity this week as we enter a heat wave.
Recent data from Climate Central ranks Philly as the sixth highest U.S. city in its share of residents who experience the “urban heat-island effect” of more than 9 degrees compared to those living in non-urban areas.
Important note: Climate Central did not base its study on actual temperatures. It’s based on modeling that combines data from satellite imagery, land cover, green space, building footprints, transportation, and census tract population data.
Scientists use the data to model which tracts would likely be warmer than others. For example, buildings and roads absorb and reemit the sun’s heat more than forests and rivers. Dark surfaces like black asphalt roofs reflect less light and retain more heat. This is why certain areas can become hotter during extreme heat compared to suburban and rural areas, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Keep reading to see how Philly compares to other major cities.
What you should know today
A Philadelphia woman who was shot in the head by a private security contractor hired to remove her from her home filed a first-of-its kind lawsuit Tuesday. It’s a challenge to the city’s unusual for-profit eviction system.
Philadelphia is suing three local gun shops for allegedly selling firearms to “straw purchasers,” or those who buy guns on behalf of people who are legally prohibited from doing so.
A former financial director for the Philly Pops and the Jewish Exponent was sentenced to more than a year in federal prison for embezzling more than $1.7 million. She used the funds to pay for everything including mundane bills, shopping sprees, her daughter’s private school tuition, and even her mother’s funeral.
Thomas Jefferson University agreed to pay $2.7 million to settle allegations over alleged misuse of federal student loan money.
A Mount Airy art gallery covered up its lesbian founder’s drawings. The move has since prompted a battle over censorship and homophobia.
In the latest My Summer Job weekly series, an adjunct professor divides his time between teaching a five-week money and economics class and helping to negotiate a first contract for the faculty union at the University of the Arts.
Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, is expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax offenses as part of a plea deal.
What’s happening now?
Prosecutors zeroed in on Biden’s failure to pay taxes in 2017 and 2018 and lying about his substance abuse on a firearm application form in 2018. After the investigation was opened in 2021, he paid back the taxes in full. Biden has not entered a plea to the firearm charge, but news reports say he will enter into an agreement with prosecutors to avoid jail time.
What’s the plea agreement?
Biden will plead guilty to two tax charges and reached a pretrial agreement for the gun charge. This likely means the gun case will be wiped from his record as long as he adheres to the agreement’s conditions.
Keep reading to learn how we got here and what happens next.
🧠 Trivia time 🧠
Philadelphians often refer to I-476 highway as the “Blue Route.”
Where did the color in its name come from?
A) The colored pencils planners used to sketch possible routes
B) The color of the highway
C) The main planner’s last name
D) None of the above
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we’re...
👀 Watching: The U.S. Department of Education launched a civil rights investigation into Harvard University’s policies on legacy admissions.
📷 Viewing: A gallery of three generations of Calder art on the Ben Franklin Parkway.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram 🧩
Hint: Go to the zoo and the beach
MACY PEA
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Robert Dickinson, who correctly guessed Tuesday’s answer: Cris Pannullo.
Photo of the day
I’m off for my first cup of coffee.☕ Thank you for waking up with The Inquirer.