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Wawa is switching things up; Did a Philly law firm get a judge fired? | Morning Newsletter

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Rachel Toner, part of the Fresh Food and Beverage Team pours boiling water into small cups of coffee grains during a procedure called "cupping" to test for the consistency and quality control of Wawa coffee at Wawa Corporate Headquarters in Media, PA on Thursday, March 28, 2019.
Rachel Toner, part of the Fresh Food and Beverage Team pours boiling water into small cups of coffee grains during a procedure called "cupping" to test for the consistency and quality control of Wawa coffee at Wawa Corporate Headquarters in Media, PA on Thursday, March 28, 2019.Read moreANTHONY PEZZOTTI / Staff Photographer
    by Aubrey Nagle
    Published 

    The Morning Newsletter

    Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter

Quick, grab your coffee. Wawa fans are going to want to sit down for this one. The beloved chain is making some changes to its menu to stay on top of trends. It’s also planning world domination — I mean, a major expansion into new markets. We’ve got all the details for you this morning. In other news, a politically-connected law firm complained about a Philly judge and just a few months later she was fired. Now the legal community is raising concerns.

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— Aubrey Nagle (@aubsn, morningnewsletter@philly.com)

Wawa is undergoing a huge expansion, from grain bowls to fair-trade coffee to catering

You didn’t think Wawa could get any better, did you? Well, lo and behold, the region’s favorite more-than-a-convenience-store is planning some major changes.

They’re opening 63 new stores this year and remodeling 59 others, but they’re also tweaking their product line to better meet modern consumer desires in Philly and beyond.

We’re talking specialty grade coffees, grain bowls, “clean” ice cream, and more trendy foods from the Wawa test kitchen.

Did this politically-connected law firm get a Philly judge fired?

After repeatedly complaining about a workers’ compensation judge who ruled against them, lawyers at Pond Lehocky Stern Giordano tried a new approach.

The politically-connected firm passed a tip to a member of Gov. Tom Wolf’s cabinet last year. They said the judge was romantically involved with a local workers’ comp lawyer.

Three months later, that judge was fired. Now the legal community is asking whether firms with political clout have undue influence on the court system.

Schuylkill Scrub is a wildly successful cleanup. Can it work for Delaware River in South Jersey?

Each year since 2009, volunteers have helped clean up dirty riverbanks from Schuylkill County to Philadelphia. It’s called the Schuylkill Scrub, and 20,000 volunteers are expected to take part this year.

In other words, it’s a huge success, one that South Jersey now wants to replicate along the Delaware River and within its watershed.

Will it catch on? Only time will tell. It kicks off this Saturday.

What you need to know today

  1. A 19-year-old man wanted in the fatal shooting of a Philadelphia police commander’s son last week was arrested Wednesday in Delaware County.

  2. Safehouse, the nonprofit working to open a supervised injection site in Philadelphia, has responded to a federal lawsuit with a countersuit stating the organizers’ religious beliefs compel them to save lives.

  3. The Community College of Philadelphia and its faculty and staff have reached a tentative labor agreement after marathon negotiations averted a threatened strike.

  4. Philly’s Democratic Party has revoked its controversial endorsement of Sheriff Jewell Williams, the subject of three sexual harassment complaints, ahead of May’s primary election.

  5. New York City is experimenting with congestion pricing, which charges fees to vehicles traveling in a city’s busiest areas at peak hours. Could the experiment make its way to Philly?

  6. Joe Biden released a video Wednesday in which he promised to be more “respectful of people’s personal space” after several women came forward saying he touched them in ways that made them feel uncomfortable.

Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly

The early bird catches the great photo, right @amoment_ofdisbelief?

Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we’ll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout out!

That’s Interesting

  1. Well, it couldn’t last forever. The Nationals handed the Phillies their first loss of the season Wednesday, 9-8, spoiling Bryce Harper’s return.

  2. The Mummers aren’t just for New Years. Head to South Philly’s Mummers Museum and you’ll find a feathered and bedazzled history.

  3. Clap your hands, everybody. Veteran big man Greg Monroe will become the newest 76er on Thursday. The Sixers need some good news; they suffered another ugly loss Wednesday, this time to the Hawks.

  4. Bill and Hillary Clinton are coming to Philadelphia for an event with an unusual guest: former Eagles cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha.

  5. Why was the Philly skyline blue Wednesday night? It was in honor of a fundraiser for Philadelphia police.

  6. Today the city plans to begin offering residents its new photo identification card, an option meant to help Philly residents who can’t easily get state-issued IDs.

Opinions

“I’ve long known that race plays an outsized role in how laws and policies are shaped. But in recent weeks, I’ve seen more clearly how class also determines who suffers injustice — especially in Philadelphia.” — Columnist Solomon Jones on why class and race shouldn’t decide who gets a voice in the opioid debate.

  1. This tax season it’s time to hold tax-cheats in the construction industry accountable, writes William C. Sproule, executive secretary-treasurer of Keystone-Mountain-Lakes Regional Council of Carpenters.

  2. Instead of passing reforms to help victims of child sex abuse, Pennsylvania legislators are offering empty promises, write University of Pennsylvania professor Marci Hamilton and attorney Sarah Klein.

What we’re reading

  1. Climate change is fueling the crisis at the U.S. border, the New Yorker reports in a must-read look at the events unfolding and why.

  2. In 1962 a trash fire ignited a coal seam beneath Centralia, Pennsylvania, eventually making the town uninhabitable. The Verge talked to researchers checking out the largely abandoned town who found a fascinating spread of non-human residents.

  3. Everyone wants a bit of the city curb, City Lab reports. But who will win in the city of the future: pedestrians, ride-hailing cars, delivery trucks, or scooters? It’s an important question for Philly, too.

  4. Beware: Philadelphia Magazine’s profile of a Philly couple trying to revolutionize pasta might make you a bit hungry.

  5. Students at the University of Pennsylvania are looking for mealtime companions, the Daily Pennsylvanian reports, and the school’s found an innovative way to bring people together.

A Daily Dose of | Sharp Edges

Have an axe to grind? You can throw one, at least, at the new Kick Axe location coming to Old City. It now has a grand opening date.