🚦 Fixing a dangerous intersection | Morning Newsletter

Welcome to a new week, Philly.

Most crashes in Philadelphia happen near intersections. Our top story today goes inside the eight-year effort to fix one of the city’s most dangerous.

And Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity is the GOP favorite to challenge Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro in 2026. She hasn’t even entered the race yet, but the jabs are already flying.

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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The intersection of Broad Street, Germantown Avenue, and Erie Avenue in North Philadelphia is a six-way stop for cars, buses, the subway, pedestrians, and cyclists. This constant tangle of activity and confusing design made it one of the most dangerous intersections in the city, clocking the highest number of crashes involving pedestrians in the last two decades.

But over eight years, the area has been transformed with traffic-calming measures aiming to reduce the number of collisions. Among the improvements:

🚦 New bollards and speed tables to slow traffic

🚸 Extended sidewalks to force cars to make wider turns

🚲 Sidewalk-level bike lanes, among the first in Philly

🚎 Removal of long-unused trolley tracks

Now, will it work?

The Inquirer’s Jasen Lo illustrates how the $7.3 million BGE project got done by incorporating neighbors’ feedback, and what challenges remain.

Pennsylvanians have 16 months before they must decide whether to grant Gov. Shapiro a second term or flip the state to Republican control, and two before the GOP even endorses a candidate.

That distance hasn’t kept Shapiro allies from issuing warnings to his possible challenger, Treasurer Stacy Garrity: Don’t even think about it.

Senate Republican women are now rallying around Garrity, calling a powerful labor union leader’s language sexist and driven by fear of losing to a qualified, well-liked official who in November earned the most votes in Pennsylvania history for a state-level candidate.

Politics reporter Gillian McGoldrick has the details.

In other gubernatorial news: Shapiro’s administration has yet to say how much repairing the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg will cost — and who is funding it — after the April arson attack.

In August, Davis, 24, will be one of more than 600 players to try out for the Women’s Professional Baseball League, which will launch six franchises next year. The Philly native hasn’t played baseball since 2020 — but she has stayed plenty busy.

As federal raids ramp up across the United States, the Mexican consulate in Philadelphia offers resources to undocumented Mexican immigrants threatened with deportation. What is not true of the consulate’s work?

A) It can recover a worker’s paycheck from their employer if they’ve been detained

B) It can aid in only Philadelphia-based cases

C) It can connect those detained to immigration lawyers

D) It is in communication with ICE authorities in the region

Think you know? Check your answer.

🐅 Meeting: The puppeteers bringing Life of Pi’s animal cast to life in Philly.

🎓 Cheering: The local adults who just earned their high school diplomas — some, decades after dropping out.

🫒 Asking Kiki: What olives are best for martinis?

⛳ Celebrating: The full-scholarship win for this Cristo Rey graduate, earned by caddying.

💻 Considering: How to help young boys defy the misogyny of the online “manosphere.”

Hint: One of the European cities connected to Philly’s Portal

ILL NUB

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.

Cheers to Anita Osmian, who solved Sunday’s anagram: Jay Sugarman. The Union’s principal owner calls the club’s first 16 years “the warmup.” Can he now deliver the trophies he wants?

P.S. The Union just opened a multisport facility in their training complex. They want it to be for the Chester community as much as for the team.

The 44-year-old Ambler native may have been voted Casty’s twin, but it was a 9-year-old with a painted-on beard who stole the show.

Think back to the night that changed your life that could only happen in Philly, a true example of the Philly spirit, the time you finally felt like you belonged in Philly if you’re not a lifer, something that made you fall in love with Philly all over again — or proud to be from here if you are. Then email it to us for a chance to be featured in the Monday edition of this newsletter.

This “only in Philly” story comes from reader Regina Barthmaier, who describes the kindness of a stranger:

When my Mother’s Day plans to have dinner at my son’s house were postponed because my daughter-in-law was sick, I decided to go to Lowe’s and get some plants for my garden. I live in Center City, don’t own a car, and had to take the bus.

When I got to the 79 bus stop at Broad and Snyder, there was a 25-minute wait for the next bus. An older gentleman came up to me, said he had called for an Uber that would take him to Second Street, and I was welcome to join him, since he was already paying for it. I told him that I would. Even though I was going a little further, I could walk the remaining distance. (I am 76 years old.)

We had a nice conversation on the ride. When we reached Second Street, he handed the driver a $20 bill — and asked him to drop me off at Lowe’s. Made my Mother’s Day very special.

Get out there and do something nice for someone today, and have a good one. I’ll be back with you tomorrow morning.

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