The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Hi, Philly. It’s that time again: Football has returned, with our Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles kicking off the 2025-26 season with a home game against the Dallas Cowboys tonight.
Alongside plenty of preview coverage and details on SEPTA’s express-train Hail Mary, The Inquirer’s sports team has a new trivia game called Bird Brains to test your knowledge on notable rivalries of years past.
And some federal workers in Philadelphia who loved their jobs are choosing to leave amid President Donald Trump’s shake-ups. Read on for these stories and more of the day’s news.
— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Welcome back, football fans. It’s been a long seven months since Super Bowl LIX, and we’re ready to cheer again. Here’s how to prepare for the first game.
🦅 Game on: Play your way through the Eagles season with our new interactive trivia game, Bird Brains. First, choose your fighter — Jeffrey Lurie, Kylie Kelce, Big Dom, or Donovan McNabb. Then make your way through the board game, where the questions are themed to each week’s matchup. Think of it like Trivial Pursuit for NFL greats.
🦅 No gridiron gridlock: Amid SEPTA’s 20% overall service reduction, the transit agency said Wednesday that it would run extra game-day trains after all for the home opener. FanDuel will foot the bill.
🦅 Fueling victory: If you make it to Lincoln Financial Field, check out the latest slate of stadium snacks, including ever-more-expensive Crabfries and the new Birria Fry Bomb. And if you’re watching from home, consider testing the new Rita’s water-ice-flavored vodka made in partnership with the Eagles’ Bird Gang Spirits (but, uh, no one would blame you if you choose to skip that one).
🦅 On the field: Need a refresher on who’s actually on the team this year? We analyzed all 53 players on the roster, from fresh faces to proven stars. Plus, meet South Jersey’s Jihaad Campbell, the Eagles’ first-round pick in the 2025 draft — and his uber-proud Birds-fan grandfather, too.
🦅 Catch up: The Inquirer’s sports reporters and columnists have plenty more Eagles season preview analysis. See Inquirer.com for live updates.
In a purported bid to cut costs by shrinking the federal workforce, the Trump administration has encouraged federal employees to leave government work via deferred resignation. Thousands of workers in Pennsylvania and beyond have taken him up on it.
Take Andrew Kreider, who in June ended a nearly 30-year tenure at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, for example. The demise of his federal career feels “bittersweet.” It’s also something of a relief.
“I didn’t need to struggle in this sort of space of cognitive dissonance where I’m committed to a mission that the administrator [of the EPA] himself doesn’t seem to want to fulfill,” he told The Inquirer.
What you should know today
A private-equity investor has been indicted in a Lancaster County ATM fraud that raised $770 million from investors, including Plain families.
Moody’s Ratings has downgraded its outlook on SEPTA’s financial health to negative.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s firing of top diversity and LGBTQ+ affairs staffers raised questions. The city’s inspector general is trying to answer them.
Is Joyce Wilkerson on the Philly school board? People for People Charter School, threatened with nonrenewal, filed a lawsuit to oust the Parker-nominated member.
A Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia expert was removed from the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee last week. He wasn’t told why, but has an idea.
Amid new restrictions and delays around COVID vaccine distribution, Pennsylvania’s regulatory body for pharmacists have expanded the authority to make vaccine recommendations to several leading professional medical organizations.
The William Penn Foundation is granting nearly $10 million in emergency funds to counter the Trump administration’s “unjust policies and actions.”
A developer plans to begin construction of a 103,000-square-foot warehouse within weeks on a mostly vacant property across from the Northeast Philadelphia Airport.
A Bala Cynwyd teen’s ice dance partner was killed in a D.C. plane crash earlier this year. Now, the 16-year-old skates in her honor.
Quote of the day
Farr polled readers on what they think should happen to the city’s Rocky statues — now plural, with one coming to the airport, and another still at the top of the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, months after it was supposed to be removed. She was surprised to find that most who responded agreed with her: We don’t need more than the one we already had.
🧠 Trivia time
As part of the United States’ 250th birthday celebration in 2026, which objects will be stationed in Philly neighborhoods?
A) Life-size Ben Franklin statues
B) Painted Liberty Bell replicas
C) Bronze copies of the Declaration of Independence
D) Red, white, and blue cheesesteak trucks
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we’re...
🍴 Anticipating: These dozen September restaurant openings in the region.
🔬 Impressed by: Local scientists turning toxic fungi, snake venom, and trees into medicine.
⚽ Applying to buy: Tickets for 2026 World Cup games at the Linc.
🎭 Making the most of: This year’s 346-show Fringe Festival, which kicks off today.
🎲 Considering: The surprising revival of Philly backgammon clubs.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: 10-year-old history lesson, told in song
LION MATH
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.
Cheers to Michele Jenkins, who solved Wednesday’s anagram: Sheinelle Jones. The Philly-native Today show cohost will return to the air on Friday after several months on leave. Her husband died from an aggressive form of brain cancer in May.
Photo of the day
🎶 On the subject of music: It’s a big night for hipster nostalgia, with big-a-decade-or-two-ago indie pop bands Rilo Kiley and Haim both performing in the city on Thursday. Alas, they’re playing at the same time as the Eagles season opener against the Cowboys — our “‘90s-coded rivals,” as features reporter Abigail Covington puts it. What’s a Philly millennial to do? (I’ll be seeing Haim.)
Have a good one. Go Birds.
Correction: An earlier edition of this newsletter said both the Eagles and FanDuel would pay for extra game-day trains to run after the home opener. FanDuel is the only sponsor.
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