The Montco kid-turned-VP contender | Morning Newsletter

The new day also brings a new month, Philly, and with the turn of the calendar comes yet another heat advisory. After two of the region’s warmest months on record, expect an August encore.

For 20 years, history buff Alice Smith has tried to solve a Civil War mystery in Burlington County. Her search for a buried submarine prototype has been strewn with tantalizing, but ultimately disappointing clues. Now, she’s on one final quest.

But first, our politics team has the story on the kid from Montgomery County who is now in contention to be the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Their finding: The Josh Shapiro effect has always been there, according to the people who have known him since he was a teenager.

Read on for these stories and many more.

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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Who is Josh Shapiro?

As a politician, he’s charismatic and ambitious, rising from state rep to Montgomery County commissioner to state attorney general to governor in a matter of years.

But before he ever sought public office, he was a teen growing up in Upper Dublin Township, a point guard on Akiba Hebrew Academy’s championship-winning basketball team, and a freshman voted student body president at the University of Rochester.

The Inquirer’s politics team takes a look at his early life, featuring insight from those who know him well.

✅ Plus, here’s a recap of what’s working for and against Shapiro in the veepstakes.

Alice Smith has been on the hunt for Alligator Jr. for 20 years.

History lurking below: The possibly 30-foot-long, 30-ton iron prototype of a Union Civil War submarine was built in 1859 and spent time at the Philadelphia Navy Base and Marcus Hook. It is believed to have been sunk somewhere in the Rancocas Creek watershed.

One more try: Even with the help of expert volunteers and tech such as magnetometers, sonar, and drones, Smith’s search has only ended in dead ends — until now, she hopes, thanks to a promising new clue. It’s a “last-ditch effort” for the now-76-year-old former president of the Riverside Historical Society.

Behind the scenes: Reporter Frank Kummer’s latest comes 20 years after The Inquirer first covered Smith’s efforts. The time that had passed added to the tale’s intrigue — and brought a challenge, too. “The hardest part of tracking the story down was to locate the four main people involved in the search over the years, understand what technology they had tried, [and] pull archival stories,” Kummer told me.

Read on for details about the two-decade quest to find the sub.

P.S. Here’s another one for the history buffs among us: Two years after remains of Revolutionary War Hessian soldiers were found next to Red Bank Battlefield in New Jersey, Rowan University researchers share what they’ve learned.

From food trucks to fancy restaurants, Philadelphia’s hot dog scene is getting spicy. Let dogged food reporter Jenn Ladd explain the local glizzy resurgence:

“Royal Tavern’s blockbuster Dog Days of Summer isn’t the only reason to think our inveterate cheesesteak-and-hoagie town might be coming around (again) on hot dogs. Several bars put them on their menus after the Phillies announced the demise of Dollar Dog Night this spring. In May, a hot dog specialist opened in the Fashion District mall; a completely different one is on the way in Haddonfield. And in Northern Liberties, two dog developments are emerging: a newly styled ‘hot dog bar’ at a familiar club and a forthcoming sausage shop from the owner of El Camino Real.”

Frankfurter fans, do yourself a flavor and bite into Ladd’s story of how Philadelphia’s best hot dogs get made.

The New Jersey Conservation Foundation is pleading with wildlife officials not to remove which animal from the endangered species list as planned?

A) Blue-spotted salamander

B) Bald eagle

C) Queensnake

D) Peregrine falcon

Think you know? Check your answer.

💸 Eyeing: The latest round of debt relief for student loan borrowers.

🎃 Mourning: Pumpkin, the South Street BYOB closing Sunday, just shy of its 20th anniversary.

🤺 Watching: The U.S. women’s foil team, which includes Philly’s Maia Weintraub — plus a bunch of other local Olympians.

Eagles offensive tackle and sauce connoisseur.

ADAMANT JAILOR

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Sheltimah Jay, who solved Wednesday’s anagram: Fringe Festival. Philly’s annual experimental theater extravaganza returns this September.

Have a great rest of your Thursday. See you back here tomorrow.

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