🐀 Rats don’t run this city | Morning Newsletter
And a chat with Jersey Kebab owner
The Morning Newsletter
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It’s Sunday. It’s mostly sunny with a high near 50, and later there’s a slight chance of showers.
Does Philly have a rat problem? Not quite. Today’s lead story compares the city to its urban counterparts to get to the root of why rats are relatively rare here.
And Celal Emanet, owner of Jersey Kebab, came to the U.S. from Turkey for a better life for his children. As he and his wife, Emine, face deportation, he spoke with The Inquirer about his faith and journey to America.
— Paola Pérez (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Philadelphia has many of the conditions that usually breed a vibrant rat population. But to the surprise of many, it seems the city does not struggle with this aspect of urban life as badly as its neighbors.
In their own words: “I thought I would have to deal with rats as a homeowner, and I was steeling myself for that reality,” said Ilya Schwartzburg, who moved to Philly from New York City with his wife. “I always learned to be leery of basements in the city.”
What we do know: Area exterminators say they see house mice more often than rats, and the city has fewer rat control workers than it used to. Philly reports less complaints per capita than Baltimore; Boston; Washington, D.C.; and New York.
What we don’t know: Exactly how many rats are in the city, and why they are less prevalent in the region — or can hide better — than in other major metropolitan areas.
What fuels their presence: The city’s vector control unit gets dispatched all over the city, but some areas see more vermin activity than others. And global challenges, like a pandemic and climate change, spawn ideal conditions for rat population growth.
Fun fact: Philly’s rat control program was nationally renowned in the 1970s and ‘80s and is still highly regarded today.
Go inside Philly’s war on rats with reporters Jake Blumgart and Erin McCarthy to learn how the city has historically cracked down on the rodents.
What you should know today
Police are looking for a male suspect who shot and killed a 15-year-old boy during a “physical altercation” on a bus in West Philly on Saturday.
A man in addiction who died inside a Philadelphia jail days after his arrest had been flagged as an “emergency” case and should have received one-on-one supervision in the hours before he collapsed, according to records from the Department of Prisons.
Two young men were killed and two others were injured when a car lost control and plunged off an onramp to Interstate 95 onto the street below Friday night in the city’s Port Richmond section, police said.
Protesters turned out to greet President Donald Trump as he visited Philly to attend the NCAA wrestling championship.
In an unusual Saturday meeting, the Philly Land Bank brokered a deal with the Sheriff’s Office to resume land purchases, a core function the Land Bank has been unable to perform for years.
A Southwest Philadelphia gang member was convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of 15-year-old Antonio Walker Jr., who prosecutors say was gunned down in 2021 for simply walking on the wrong block at the wrong time.
A Black business woman says she was the victim of discrimination and that local officials sabotaged her efforts to open a cannabis dispensary in Swedesboro.
Prosecutors in the trial of three former Philadelphia homicide detectives charged with perjury for their testimony in a murder case spent hours Thursday reading aloud from court transcripts and highlighting DNA evidence to try to convince a jury that the men lied under oath to keep an innocent man in prison. Testimony will continue this week.
Pennsylvania’s $1.1 billion mushroom industry is facing an urgent labor shortage. The Trump administration’s new restrictive immigration policies will likely make the crisis worse.
Officials confiscated and rehomed a deer that was domesticated by a Pennsylvania woman. After Elon Musk chimed in, the deer’s story has turned into something of an outrage du jour for the online MAGA crowd.
The glass screen of the Portal video art installation at LOVE Park was recently found to have been damaged, but police say the damage occurred in January. Organizers say they are also struggling to find sponsors to repair and relocate it.
🎤 Now I’m passing the mic to immigration reporter Jeff Gammage.
Celal Emanet is sharing some of the books and articles he has written on Islam, scholarship undertaken in three languages, when the ICE monitor on his ankle interrupts, its flat metallic voice bleating that its battery is full.
People who know Emanet say he belongs at a university, teaching in a classroom, not cooking behind a grill at the family’s Jersey Kebab restaurant, and certainly not in the deportation proceedings that the federal government has brought against him and his wife.
“In the beginning,” Emanet said, seated in the living room of his family’s Cherry Hill home, “my heart was full of sadness. But later on, I focus on, ‘This is from God.’ God knows best. And I know God is mercy.”
Emanet said before the start of a lengthy interview with The Inquirer that he could not discuss the details of the immigration case.
He was willing, though, to talk about his life and work, his scholarship, and the deep interest and faith in Islam that took him to the United States three times in the years before the family opened the Haddon Avenue restaurant. — Jeff Gammage
Learn more in Gammage’s conversation with Emanet.
❓Pop quiz
PHL has how many daily nonstop flights between London’s Heathrow Airport and Philadelphia?
A) one
B) four
C) 10
D) none
Think you know? Check your answer.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: In Lower Merion Township
WYRM BARN
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.
Cheers to Nicholas Malfitano who correctly guessed Saturday’s answer: Avonte Maddox. The Eagles’ cornerback is leaving to sign with the Lions.
Photo of the day
🎶 Today’s track goes like this: “I’ve been taking some time to be distant / I’ve been taking some time to be still.” Thanks to Phil Levin, who wrote me to recommend this powerful song. It’s stuck with me since.
One more musical thing: Thousands poured into Center City Macy’s Saturday for a daylong serenade by the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ. Today is the store’s last day in operation.
👋🏽 That’s all for now. Take care, and have a good one.