🌡️Falling back into summer temperatures | Morning Newsletter
And, Josh Shapiro wants to be governor.
The Morning Newsletter
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Good morning, good people. You’re reading The Inquirer Morning Newsletter, catching you up on all the news that’s fit to email. Today we look at summerlike temperatures in October, explore the state’s top law enforcement officer’s bid for governor, and dig into Four Seasons Total Landscaping’s first indoor concert.
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— Tommy Rowan (@tommyrowan, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
Not cool: On top of a generally warmer start to fall, the next few mid-October days are going to feel more like mid-June.
Despite a persistent sun-obscuring gloominess, temperatures so far this month have averaged about 6 degrees above long-term normals, and that figure is only going to grow the next two days.
Temperatures might reach the mid-80s Friday.
But it’s the nighttime warmth that has been extraordinary, with an average temperature of 61.3 degrees. The first 12 nights of October were the seventh-warmest for any Oct. 1-12 period in records dating to the 1870s, the weather service said.
Read reporter Anthony Wood’s full report.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a 48-year-old Democrat from Abington, has declared his intentions to run for governor.
Shapiro, who launched his long-expected campaign Wednesday in Pittsburgh, is already considered the presumptive Democratic nominee.
He is the only high-profile Democrat to enter the 2022 gubernatorial race, and he isn’t expected to face significant competition.
Party leaders have largely rallied behind Shapiro, seeing him as their best chance to hold on to the office after Gov. Tom Wolf’s term ends in January 2023.
Reporter Andrew Seidman has the full story.
What you need to know today
Marie Beren, 67, a former staffer for City Councilmember Mark Squilla, was federally charged Wednesday with falsifying election results for years at a South Philadelphia ward where she served as a judge of elections.
In terms of gun violence, Philadelphia is on pace for its deadliest year. Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Wednesday that the federal government is sending help. But, speaking at a City Council hearing on the city’s crisis, Outlaw and District Attorney Larry Krasner also said they need more help from local government.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal in a case to open the nation’s first supervised injection site in Philadelphia.
At labor leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty’s bribery trial, federal wiretap recordings showed that City Councilmember Bobby Henon sought campaign cash for helping a union in its spat with Verizon.
State officials are telling anglers not to eat fish caught along the Neshaminy Creek basin in Bucks and Montgomery Counties due to “extremely high levels” of a so-called forever chemical.
A 30-year-old Philadelphia man was sentenced to 39 to 78 years in state prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to strangling his ex-girlfriend, who was pregnant with his child.
People in Philadelphia and six other Pennsylvania counties affected by the remnants of Hurricane Ida now have until Jan. 3 to file federal and state returns.
Through your eyes | #OurPhilly
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🎤Four Seasons Total Landscaping is putting on its first indoor concert. And the Northeast Philadelphia landscaping company — which gained worldwide renown when Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani held a news conference in the parking lot in the days after last year’s presidential election — announced the concert Wednesday with a fake news conference. Gotta love it.
🤷Disgruntled all-star Ben Simmons was expected at the 76ers’ practice facility Wednesday night for an individual workout, the next step toward a potential reunion with the Sixers. Get your popcorn ready.
🦅The Eagles will play the defending Super Bowl-champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers tonight. Here are the predictions from the Eagles beat writers. (Psst: It’s not looking good.)
🍽️The New York Times food desk set out to find what it considers “the 50 most vibrant and delicious restaurants in 2021.” Three Philly spots — Down North Pizza, Korshak Bagels, and Laser Wolf — made the list.
Opinions
“One way we honor the dead is by learning from what happened, so their loss can save someone else in the future. We’ve tried to do this after 9/11 — think of how different air travel is today, compared with 20 years ago. But when it comes to COVID-19, we are falling short: Too many Americans are vilifying public health experts and limiting states’ powers to protect citizens against infectious diseases. The next pandemic is coming, and we are woefully unprepared,” writes Alison McCook, lamenting that Americans are trying to move on from the pandemic too quickly, and aren’t giving ourselves space to honor our dead.
Stephen F. Gambescia, whose father was one of the first deacons ordained in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, says it’s time for Pope Francis to decree the formation of women as deacons.
Free agency is not going to save the Phillies, writes columnist David Murphy. At least, not if they continue to approach the market the way they have the last four off-seasons.
What we're reading
In Philly Mag, an essay asking whether an occasional dose of retail therapy really does transform shoppers on an elemental level.
In The Conversation, a look at NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, which will launch into orbit Dec. 18. Dubbed “the most powerful telescope ever built,” the device might help astronomers answer key questions about the formation of galaxies.