Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

A dying teacher wants asbestos out of Philadelphia schools | Morning Newsletter

And whom the Eagles could be playing.

Handout photos from Family members of Lea DiRusso, when she was in the hospital after she had surgery.
Handout photos from Family members of Lea DiRusso, when she was in the hospital after she had surgery. Read moreJESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer / JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

    The Morning Newsletter

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

Today, protests against business closures that have taken place across the country are coming to Philadelphia. Multiple groups plan to gather at City Hall and demand a plan to reopen the city. Officials are urging residents to “stay the course” as coronavirus statistics improve in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

We also have more on Gritty’s parade in Delco, Temple University’s unconventional graduation ceremony, and what the Eagles schedule looks like — if there’s a full NFL season.

— Lauren Aguirre (@laurencaguirre, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Lea DiRusso spent her 28-year teaching career at two South Philadelphia elementary schools. The schools had crumbling asbestos that was largely papered over for decades. Nine months ago, DiRusso was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer caused by asbestos. It’s incurable. She wants her death to mean something, her diagnosis to be an impetus for Philadelphia to finally rid its schools of the carcinogen.

DiRusso said she imagined a silver lining when schools closed in March due to the coronavirus. The district would have the time to carefully remove asbestos. But since the shutdown, the district has still grappled with high levels of airborne asbestos. One of the schools with a contamination is also a city-designated site for families to pick up meals once a week during the pandemic.

Since the lockdown began, Pennsylvania has paid out more than $5.34 billion in unemployment benefits, officials said Monday. More than 1.7 million Pennsylvanians have now filed claims. And the need is rapidly depleting unemployment funds, which will force many states to borrow money to make up the difference.

With so many Pennsylvanians out of work, Gov. Tom Wolf signed an executive order extending a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures through July 10. It was originally set to expire Monday. Wolf said the extension is a public-health necessity to make sure people stay in their homes to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday reversed the convictions of two onetime allies of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The two were involved in the political scandal known as “Bridgegate,” and had faced or even served prison time.

Their convictions stemmed from a 2013 scheme in which prosecutors alleged that they had caused massive traffic jams near the George Washington Bridge in order to exact retribution against a New Jersey mayor for his refusal to endorse Christie’s reelection campaign.

What you need to know today

  1. Philadelphia Police Sgt. James O’Connor IV was fatally shot last month and will finally be laid to rest today. His funeral had been delayed by the coronavirus.

  2. Pennsylvania has allowed for a big reduction in poll workers for the 2020 primary election to help counties during the pandemic.

  3. Two more homicides in Philadelphia raised the city’s total to 132 for the year. That’s up 19% from the same point last year.

  4. A federal judge in Harrisburg dismissed a lawsuit by a former student at the Milton S. Hershey School who alleged that he was subjected to gay-conversion therapy there.

  5. Villanova University will study the long-range toll of COVID-19 on front-line medical workers over the next 20 years.

  6. A missing 13-year-old boy from Bucks County drove away in his family’s minivan. He was last spotted in Virginia.

Through your eyes | #OurPhilly

Glad you could snap this shot. It’s a beautiful Philly sunrise. Thanks for sharing, @phillyfaddist!

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. 🧡 Gritty paraded through Delaware County in his first public appearance since coronavirus stay-at-home orders went into effect.

  2. 🦅 If there’s a full NFL season this year, here’s whom the Eagles are slated to play.

  3. 🥂 Center City District Sips is canceled for the season. But if you’re looking for a drink, cocktails to go might be coming to Pennsylvania soon.

  4. 📚 Need a new read? Here are Philly-area indie bookstores you can still shop at during quarantine. (If you’re out of ideas, our sports staff has some recs for you.)

  5. 🌬️ If you’re feeling stress, there are a few breathing techniques that can help.

  6. 🎂 How are you celebrating birthdays during the pandemic? We want to know.

Opinions

“I’m a strict coronavirus rule follower, but choosing between following the rules and feeding your family is not a choice. And while claiming a God-given right to haircuts is an idiotic thing to protest about when thousands of people are dying every day, closing barbershops that are vital in communities for so many reasons beyond a close cut make this national isolation even harder.”writes Inquirer columnist Helen Ubiñas on local barbers saying the mandatory corona shutdowns have created Prohibition 2.0.

  1. Many young patients fear gun violence as much as COVID-19, writes Philly pediatrician Dorothy R. Novick.

  2. America can’t avoid a Great Depression II because we’re hard-wired to cheat the working class, writes Will Bunch, Inquirer national opinion columnist.

What we’re reading

  1. You might have heard of the salon owner in Dallas who was jailed for reopening her business during the pandemic. The Texas Supreme Court has ordered her to be released. The Dallas Morning News has the latest.

  2. Philadelphia’s controller office created a data visualization tool to clarify the city’s newly proposed budget. Technically Philly breaks it down.

  3. With its stores forced to close, a Philly ice cream company shifted to online sales and deliveries. Its revenue has shot up 132%. Eater Philadelphia has more.

Your Daily Dose of | Graduation

This year, Temple University canceled its in-person graduation ceremony due to the coronavirus. But that didn’t stop graduates from showing up on campus. On Thursday, many of them went to pose for photos and celebrate their commencement. Instead of a traditional ceremony, graduates were directed to a website where they could see prerecorded messages by university leaders and a video time capsule.