Mail delays are raising concerns over the election | Morning Newsletter
And, many more storms are likely after Isaias.
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
I hope you have a happy Friday, even though the Philly area is expecting more showers and thunderstorms over the next few days. Heavy rain won’t be as widespread as we saw when Tropical Storm Isaias hit this week, but there are still thousands of households without power. The rain won’t stop repairs, but more flooding could. (I guess the silver lining here is that it won’t be too hot outside?)
— Lauren Aguirre (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
The 2020 Atlantic Basin hurricane season has already set records and it’s just barely started, but forecasters are confident it will take a quite serious turn. Predictions include 19 to 25 named storms by the end of November.
This week, Tropical Storm Isaias (which was downgraded from a hurricane) brought strong winds and heavy rain, causing power outages and flooding across the Philly area. In Strathmere, N.J., and Delaware, there were even tornadoes that had winds of up to 100 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Voting by mail doesn’t work if no one can actually get their mail. Major mail delivery problems are raising concerns that voters could be disenfranchised. If residents can’t receive their ballots or return them in time, their votes can’t be counted.
This is especially important during the coronavirus pandemic, where voting in person isn’t the safest option for avoiding possible exposure to the virus. And even without mail delays, Pennsylvania was already facing significant challenges with voting by mail.
After 9/11, six men from the Philadelphia area were deployed to Iraq as part of a Pennsylvania Guard unit along with 130 other men, Alpha Company of the 1-111th Infantry. In 2005, within the same week, all six of the men were killed in a series of attacks that constituted the greatest loss of life suffered by any National Guard unit from the Philly region since World War II.
Now, 15 years later, the impact still reverberates among their families and the survivors of Alpha Company.
What you need to know today
Crews freed the 100-ton barge that was wedged under the I-676 bridge during Tropical Storm Isaias.
Pennsylvania wants to expand coronavirus testing, but is facing a shortage of supplies and lab result delays, Gov. Tom Wolf and Health Secretary Rachel Levine said.
Philadelphia schools and Comcast, with help from philanthropic and federal funding, plan to spend $17 million to bring free internet access to 35,000 families in the city in order to help with remote learning.
Philly officials announced they would begin enforcing a ban on employers asking job applicants for their salary history, which would avoid perpetuating pay inequities that stem from racial and gender discrimination.
For years, Pennsylvania’s 14 state universities have focused on recruiting more students of color, but those same students say the schools have continually failed to address racism on campus.
Workers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art decisively voted to unionize. Organizers say complaints of harassment and abuse against two supervisors provided energy for the movement.
After weeks of conflict and originally voting against it, Lincoln University’s board of trustees authorized the negotiation of a new contract for its president, Brenda A. Allen.
Through your eyes | #OurPhilly
I aspire to cook well-balanced meals like this one, as I’m sure many of you are. Also, everybody could use a little puppy love this Friday. Thanks for sharing, @noahpoobear_thepup!
Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we’ll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout out!
That’s interesting
📻 This is why you don’t hear the teletype sound on KYW Newsradio anymore.
🍕 Pizza Fresca is coming to a long-vacant restaurant space on Chestnut Street.
💞 Have you hit the COVID-19 wall? Here are some ways to cope.
🌧️ We’ve got the totals for just how much rain Tropical Storm Isaias brought to the Philly area.
🏀 76er Ben Simmons was sidelined after his left knee cap was partially dislocated.
🥫 Everybody Eats is giving away groceries in Southwest Philly on Saturday.
Opinions
“After spending a blissful summer with my family in China, where COVID-19 cases have dropped, the news that I could not return to school was like a bucket of iced water poured over my head.” — writes Lavender Huang, a rising junior at the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, about how President Donald Trump’s travel ban means that she is stuck in China while school reopens.
President Trump’s assault on the postal service attacks much more than voting, the Inquirer Editorial Board writes.
Philadelphia needs free air-conditioning and other tools to beat brutal heatwaves, writes Charles Ellison, executive producer and host of Reality Check, airing on WURD Radio, in a piece that first appeared in the Philadelphia Citizen.
What we’re reading
Philadelphia is set to rename a park where graffiti legend Darryl McCray got his start in the ‘60s. WHYY profiled him.
Trash pickup is backed up in Philly, but so is recycling. Billy Penn explains how you can help.
Pittsburgh police bashed in a resident’s door by mistake, and now she has to foot the bill, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Your Daily Dose of | Philly’s jazz cats
Chris’ Jazz Café has started streaming live performances from the empty club in Center City, after months of silence. The club has been around for 30 years, but plans to livestream performances were already in the works before the pandemic.