The Mark Cuban solution | Morning Newsletter
And Will Bunch takes on “Cop City.”
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
It’s Friday! Sorry, today will probably not look like summer weather. We’re in for more rain and that will likely set the tone for the weekend. I had plans to be out and about but it looks like the cozier — and drier — option is to watch the new Season 2 of The Bear. The good news is that the weather shouldn’t push back the I-95 repair schedule. In fact, it’s ahead of schedule and will open at noon today.
We have a full news day so let’s get to it.
Our lead story explains how Mark Cuban teamed up with a Cherry Hill business executive to cut prices on a lifesaving drug.
— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
Drew Katz, a Cherry Hill business executive and the son of former Inquirer owner Lewis Katz, can afford the drug that saves his life.
The drug that prevents a toxic buildup of copper in his body was sold for less than $1 a pill for decades. But then the manufacturer kept raising the price, increasing it in 2015 to more than $200 per dose.
Although it doesn’t break his bank, he knew that wasn’t the case for others with a rare disease. It outraged him that the price didn’t seem to follow supply and demand. Through his family’s NBA connections, he recruited billionaire Mark Cuban.
The result: Cost Plus Drug Co., an online pharmacy that Cuban cofounded, is collaborating with a generic drugmaker, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, to sell the drug direct to consumers for $3.55 a pill. Cost Plus also said it would sell an alternative treatment for about $4.40 a pill.
Continue reading to learn how the business works.
In a special edition of his newsletter, Will Bunch went south to see the Atlanta Public Safety Center, more commonly known as “Cop City.”
During his four-day trip, he spoke to community leaders and activists to try to understand why this $90 million project that would train the city’s police, firefighters, and emergency responders became the last stand for activists. It was just three years ago that the activists believed that aggressive, militarized, and racialized policing was going to phase out in the United States.
In his own words: “For civic leaders, Cop City is less a construction project and more of an in-your-face mission statement — that 2020′s protests were a moment of temporary insanity and that an aggressive public safety regime is the vehicle for maintaining boundless growth. Activists see stopping Cop City as a turning point that could reveal a different path — a green and sustainable Atlanta where money is spent not on police but on what the city’s majority-Black working class needs to stay here, such as affordable housing, mental health services, and public recreation centers.”
Read more to see a complete timeline of the project and what this means for the future of America.
If you like what you see, you should sign up for The Will Bunch Newsletter. Get a new edition every Tuesday.
What you should know today
The U.S. Coast Guard said a missing submersible imploded near the wreckage of the Titanic, killing all five people on board.
The I-95 collapse made congestion severely worse all across the Philly region initially. But drivers adapted quickly within a few days, an Inquirer analysis shows.
A Philly judge dismissed a lawsuit the local police union filed against the District Attorney’s Office over a police misconduct list.
Comcast will require most workers to be in the office four days a week.
Nurses at Einstein Medical Center voted to approve a contract which ended months of contentious negotiations that almost led to a strike.
The first foundation ever assembled for a wind turbine in the U.S. is in New Jersey and it weighs 3 million pounds. It’s headed for the Jersey Shore but its maker sees potential problems ahead.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro indicated that he supports school choice vouchers, infuriating public school advocates.
🧠 Trivia time 🧠
Pennsylvania company Godshall’s Quality Meats now holds the Guinness World Record for the longest piece of turkey bacon.
What is its measurements?
A) 20 feet long, 5 feet wide exactly
B) Just over 17 feet long and nearly 2 feet wide
C) Roughly 16 feet long and about 1 foot wide
D) None of the above
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we’re...
📷 Viewing: A gallery of the collection of Charles Blockson. The renowned historian dedicated his life to collecting Black history. See Jackie Robinson play a 1947 baseball game at North Philly’s Shibe Park.
🗳️ Reviewing: The many controversial issues Philadelphia City Council is slated to tackle in the fall such as the proposed Sixers arena, crime, and who will be president.
🏀 Reminiscing about: It’s been almost 20 years since LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade were called on draft night. Philly stylists look back at the boldest — and tackiest — looks.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram 🧩
Hint: Amusement park 🎡
ANDREY PORK
We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Nesa Oswald, who correctly guessed Thursday’s answer: Longwood Gardens. Email us if you know the answer.
Photo of the day
I hope you enter your weekend this joyful. Enjoy the day! Paola will handle your weekend news fix on Sunday.