Eagles down Cowboys to move closer to the playoffs; the stories that captivated us most in 2019 | Morning Newsletter
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How are we feeling on this Monday morning, Philly? The Eagles aren’t quite playoff bound, but they’re awfully close after a 17-9 win over the Cowboys yesterday. One more win, and they’re in.
My colleagues have spent 2019 working hard on stories that captivated, entertained, interested, and informed you. They’ve made you question things you thought you knew. They’ve made you laugh. They’ve made you cry. And those are the stories that make Philly, well, Philly.
— Josh Rosenblat (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
“The Eagles weren’t great, but they were good enough. Good enough to take control of a bad division, perhaps, but good enough,” columnist Bob Ford wrote about the game.
Carson Wentz was able to help an injured offense to 17. But the story of the game was Fletcher Cox and the Eagles’ defense. They held Dallas and Dak Prescott to just 9 points, tied for their lowest output of the season.
Now, the Eagles have to beat the New York Giants to secure a spot in the playoffs.
As the year draws to an end, it’s a great time to look back. From an angry Eagles fan who turned out to be Penn’s admissions director to the long criminal history of the man who was accused of shooting six Philly cops on an August night, my colleagues did so much amazing work this year.
Lisa Gartner worked to expose the mistreatment of young men at Glen Mills Schools. Ellie Silverman made us smile with her profile of the usher who helps 200 women make it through 16 stalls in a 20-minute intermission during Hamilton. Aaron Carter covered the realities of food insecurity for the city’s high school athletes.
From the tens of thousands of stories we published in 2019, we compiled the ones you all seemed most interested in reading and watching. Check it out.
New Jersey power broker George Norcross and his friends got a deal — a really good deal — on land on the Camden waterfront. My colleagues sifted through hundreds of pages of property records and previously undisclosed government documents. They disclosed that Norcross and his fellow investors’ holdings on the waterfront, access to rental income from tax-credit recipients, and ability to tap into additional lending on those properties go beyond what has been previously reported.
In all, projects Norcross has invested in along the waterfront have benefited from nearly $290 million in tax credits and other incentives from New Jersey. And, Norcross was able to purchase land appraised at $2.3 million for just $350,000.
What you need to know today
Continuing coverage of last week’s fire in South Philly, where a body was recovered on Friday and another was recovered Saturday: Neighbors rushed to help, the scene was eerily similar to the one following a nearby explosion 51 years ago, a dramatic video shows firefighters diving into the blaze, and we have information on how you can help and what local businesses are doing for the displaced families.
How will impeachment mark President Donald Trump’s legacy? Our Washington correspondent reports from D.C.
Not only does the political party that has the majority in Pennsylvania’s legislature get to control, to a certain degree, the legislative agenda in the state, but in 2020, the winners’ influence will reach Washington. That’s because they’ll be the ones drawing the congressional maps.
The teenager who killed a Spring Garden activist in September 2017 escaped from a juvenile facility two months earlier.
A state representative from Philadelphia introduced a bill last week that’s designed to hold contractors accountable for properties they damage in construction accidents.
The Philadelphia 76ers banned two fans for a year following an incident with a Washington Wizards player at a game Saturday night.
Through your eyes | #OurPhilly
This mural never gets old. And I’m never surprised when I see it pop up after a big Eagles win. Thanks for sharing, @whatiloveaboutphilly.
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
🍎New Jersey’s teacher of the year will now get to share her award-winning philosophies and strategies with others.
📖Fairytales and children’s stories are getting reimagined at an exhibit at the Brandywine River Museum of Art.
🏀Think this was going to be a down year for Villanova men’s hoops? Not so much. The Wildcats took down the No. 1 team in the country on Saturday, behind the play of one of their leaders.
🏞️“Have you ever hosted a large gathering and then they leave and you have cleanup? Imagine 40 million guests coming to your house on an annual basis," said the president of a group that advocates for parks. Pennsylvania’s state parks are bringing in more visitors, but there might not be enough money to keep it up.
⚽An NBA star met with owners of the Philadelphia Union last week. But the team isn’t saying why.
🍝Police have to direct traffic to contain the Christmas Eve chaos outside an Italian market in Ardmore.
Opinions
“So no – impeachment is not about personal feelings. It is about something much bigger and more important – it is about love of country and our precious Constitution.” — Rep. Madeline Dean, a Democrat who represents Pennsylvania’s Fourth District, writes for The Inquirer about her vote regarding the impeachment of President Trump.
A fifth-grade class wrote a piece for The Inquirer about how much the First Amendment means to them.
How did Philadelphia do in 2019? When it comes to a number of issues — gentrification, soda tax, police body cameras, environmental injustice — what did research teach us? Abraham Gutman has the answers in his Brain Trust column.
What we’re reading
Experts are saying to stay away as seals start arriving at Shore beaches, WHYY reports.
What seemed like a popular messaging app was actually a spy tool, the New York Times reports.
I will not see Cats. But I have been laughing at reviews of the new movie. And, Vulture’s made me giggle, especially at the line, “To assess Cats as good or bad feels like the entirely wrong axis on which to see it. It is, with all affection, a monstrosity.”
Your Daily Dose of | Home 🏠
Lykia Turner and her 12-year-old daughter couch-surfed for months. She rebuilt her credit score and paid down her debt. She sold homemade dinners and her possessions. Turner put everything she had into buying a house. But she didn’t know when she’d be able to get furnishings like a bed or a coach. But a team of volunteers stepped in over the last couple of weeks to furnish and decorate the house on the Camden-Pennsauken border.