☀️ Your summer playlist is here | Morning Newsletter
And fewer fireflies create concern.
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The Morning Newsletter
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We made it to Friday. The forecast calls for sunny but hazy skies with temps in the high 80s. There’s a slight chance of showers in the evening, which should help improve our air quality.
I love making playlists all year round, but there’s something special about crafting them in the summertime. Our music critic Dan DeLuca agrees, and he’s got you covered with the top picks to add to your queue.
— Paola Pérez (@pdesiperez, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
Before you hop in the car, roll the windows down and drive into the sun, you need some good tunes.
Here are some of Dan DeLuca’s picks for your listening pleasure:
“America Has A Problem (Remix)” by Beyoncé feat. Kendrick Lamar: This is my personal favorite. The beat, the bass, the bounce. ... It’s a banger. Once I hear this song, I can’t get it out of my head for days, and like Dan says, Kendrick adds extra juice. Catch Queen Bey at the Linc in South Philly on July 12.
“Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift: This track is four years old, but just recently got the single treatment and is blowing up again. It may not be Tay’s biggest track right now, but it’s drumming up all the heartbreak feels. As for me, I’m looking forward to Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) dropping on my birthday.
“Barbie World” by Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj: I’m glad they made this track happen for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie, due July 21. Who else is ready for the Barbie-Oppenheimer double feature weekend?
And I’ll shamelessly share two of my favorite songs worth bumping this season: “Sunset” by Caroline Polachek and “4EVA” by KAYTRAMINÉ feat. Pharrell Williams.
📻 What’s your top summer track? Send me an email back, and get our full 25-track playlist here.
You know my colleague Jason Nark by now. He reports on rural parts of Pennsylvania and the outdoors far from city life, and you can always read his stories in our (free!) Outdoorsy newsletter.
Jason recently ventured out to the Linn Conservancy in Lewisburg to learn more about fireflies, which seem to be disappearing.
Researchers say firefly numbers are in decline globally, but they don’t really know why. There’s a concern their appearance in Pennsylvania and everywhere else could become rare.
In their own words: “We just don’t have enough data. There’s so much we don’t know about them,” says Sarah Lower, a biology professor at Bucknell University.
✨ The decline in recent years has been both anecdotal as well as scientific. People report seeing fewer fireflies than usual, but some people are also spending less time outside.
✨ There’s some nostalgia involved, too. Fireflies are often one of our first positive interactions with nature because they don’t sting, bite, or suck our blood.
✨ There’s even a firefly festival kicking off today in Forest County in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Continue reading what recent studies show about the glowing beetle in our region.
What you should know today
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled to end race-based admissions in colleges. This is what Philly-area schools are saying.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report on its investigation into the crash and fire that led to the June 11 collapse of I-95 in Northeast Philadelphia, but there’s not much new information. Check out this scrollable time-lapse of the I-95 bridge repair livestream.
Restaurants and shops that lost income due to the highway collapse are eligible for low-interest federal loans of up to $2 million.
A Philadelphia man was convicted of murder in the death of a 3-year-old boy who was shot when he was 11 months old and, after a long struggle to survive, died last year of complications from his injuries.
Experts say extreme rains are increasing in the Philadelphia region. Locally, Chester County is estimated to experience what’s now considered a 100-year storm nearly every decade.
You won’t have to break the bank to celebrate the Fourth of July. Fireworks cost about the same as last year, but you can expect to save big on gas and spend less on dairy products.
Walnut Garden, a month-old outdoor restaurant less than a block from Rittenhouse Square, was shut down over what the city cited as health and safety violations.
🧠 Trivia time 🧠
A Philly man listed a bathroom mirror covered in paint pen graffiti and stickers from a “now-closed Northern Liberties dive bar location” on Facebook Marketplace. What’s the asking price?
A) $100
B) $400
C) $750
D) $2,000
Think you got it? Check your answer here.
What we’re...
🎆 Planning: Where to watch July Fourth fireworks in our region.
🗑️ Intrigued by: A new giant troll sculpture made of trash in South Jersey.
🏀 Watching: What’s next for James Harden. He chose to opt in to his Sixers contract for $35.6 million — but not because he plans to return to Philly.
🍳 Cheering on: Middle Child! The eatery is representing Philly in facing off against competitors from other cities in Good Morning America’s United States of Breakfast segment.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram 🧩
Hint: They fry ‘em, you buy ‘em. Want one on waffles? That can be arranged.
CHADWICK REDEFINES CHINS
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to John Piernikowski, who correctly guessed Thursday’s answer: David Corenswet.
Photo of the day
👋🏽 Have a great holiday weekend, and I’ll see you on Sunday morning.