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A new front line: The public library | Morning Newsletter

And an open secret

The Children’s Room inside the Indian Valley Public Library, in the borough of Telford. A Telford council member has called to defund the library over what he says are inappropriate materials. The issue now involves the ACLU, the police chief, First Amendment rights, liberal and conservative activists, culture wars, social media posts, Moms for Liberty, the LGBTQ+ community, a bitter election, and something called the “Library Loophole.”
The Children’s Room inside the Indian Valley Public Library, in the borough of Telford. A Telford council member has called to defund the library over what he says are inappropriate materials. The issue now involves the ACLU, the police chief, First Amendment rights, liberal and conservative activists, culture wars, social media posts, Moms for Liberty, the LGBTQ+ community, a bitter election, and something called the “Library Loophole.”Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
    by Taylor Allen
    Published 

    The Morning Newsletter

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

It should be partly sunny with a chance of rain toward the afternoon. Temps will reach a high of 67.

In the Philadelphia area, we’ve seen bitter fights in school districts over masking mandates, curriculums, and books. Now the battles have stretched beyond schools to public libraries. Our lead story examines how a Moms for Liberty-aligned attack on a local library is upending politics in Telford.

— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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A political war over a suburban library

The Indian Valley Public Library is at the center of a heated culture war.

The conflict comes amid a Telford Borough Council race that has been effectively reframed as a moral crisis. The library and its funding have become a flashpoint in the campaign driven by Christian, far-right, Moms for Liberty-aligned candidates. They swept their primaries with claims that the library has obscene material available to children.

Reminder: The Southern Poverty Law Center calls Moms for Liberty an extremist parental-rights group.

Earlier this year, the Telford Council greenlit a 25% cut in the library’s funding. It also made its allocation to the library a line item that could be struck any month.

Note: The American Library Association reported in September that 2023 is on track to log the highest number of attempted library book bans since it began keeping data on book challenges 20 years ago. Last year, only 16% of book challenges were in public libraries. This year, it has skyrocketed to 49%.

For Telford, November’s election for the borough council races may be a turning point.

Continue reading to learn how this small and quiet borough got here.

An open secret

As the news spread Tuesday that a Philadelphia judge had dismissed all charges against the former police officer who shot and killed Eddie Irizarry last month, people took to Instagram to share their anger and plan a response.

People were pretty open about their plans to vandalize and steal from Philadelphia businesses.

Before the night was over, dozens of people broke into stores along popular shopping corridors from Center City to the Northeast to West Philadelphia, authorities said. The destruction was documented in videos through the night. By morning, 52 people had been arrested and most were between the ages of 18 and 22.

Notable quote: “Basically, people saw an opportunity and they took it,” said Benjamin Nachum, manager of Patriot Pharmacy in North Philly, which was looted Tuesday night for the third time since it opened in 2019.

Interim Police Commissioner John Stanford made clear in a news conference Tuesday night that the Irizarry supporters who marched during a peaceful protest earlier had nothing to do with the unrest that followed.

Read on for a full recap of Tuesday night.

What you should know today

  1. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney plans to veto a bill that prohibits supervised injection sites in most of the city.

  2. Beginning on Friday, SEPTA riders will be able to pay with credit and debit cards or flash a smartphone wallet to pay for trips.

  3. Nearly two dozen Philly-area Rite Aid stores closed in the past year. As the threat of bankruptcy looms, more may shutter.

  4. Cherelle Parker has raised almost seven times as much as David Oh in the Philadelphia mayor’s race.

  5. In the Philadelphia City Council races, two progressive members of the Working Families Party have outraised their Republican opponents and appear to have set a fundraising record for third-party candidates in the city.

  6. A Philly thief accidentally stole a vacuum filled with hundreds of giant hornets.

  7. We listed all the bribes Sen. Bob Menendez has been accused of taking over the years. Yes, it includes a lot of gold bars.

🧠 Trivia time 🧠

What was the Sixers mascot’s name in 1982?

A) Big Shot

B) Franklin the Dog

C) Hip Hop

D) None of the above

Think you know? Check your answer.

What we’re...

💰Sharing: How to lower your monthly student loan bill. Those first payments since the pandemic will start next month.

👀Watching: Sen. Bob Menendez pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to his recent federal bribery indictment.

🧩 Unscramble the anagram 🧩

Hint: 🌲 in Delaware County

BURLY ROTAMETER

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Carlo Silvesti, who correctly guessed Wednesday’s answer: The Bates Motel.

Photo of the day

And that’s all I have for you today. I’m off to start my morning reading old Normal People reviews now that I’ve finally finished the series. Thanks for starting yours with us.