🎽 Running for a second chance | Morning Newsletter
And Pa. lawmakers react to Trump threat.
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
At last, it’s Friday. The weather forecast for Philadelphia Marathon Weekend is cloudy with a chance of sweat.
Teens from juvenile diversion program MileUp will be among the thousands of athletes participating in this weekend’s races. They’re running for more than accolades.
And President Donald Trump accused six Democrats in Congress, all of whom are either veterans or members of the intelligence community, of sedition “punishable by death.” We spoke to the two Pennsylvania lawmakers who were targeted.
— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
P.S. Friday means trivia. Scroll to find The Inquirer’s weekly news quiz in a new spot.
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A group of teenagers will take the final steps toward getting their criminal records expunged by running the 13.1 miles of the Philadelphia Half Marathon this Saturday.
🎽 They’re students of MileUp, a juvenile diversion program that gives young people who are charged with certain offenses, such as auto theft and vandalism, the chance to clear their records.
🎽 Mentors help them practice accountability and responsibility while developing distance running. For the fall cohort, the Philly Half follows their completion of a 5K and the All-City 10 Miler.
🎽 Data from the District Attorney’s Office show the program is keeping teens out of the criminal justice system. Participants say they’re grateful for the opportunity to start fresh as they approach adulthood: “Everyone deserves a second chance,” one 16-year-old told The Inquirer.
Reporter Nate File has the story.
🎤 I’m passing the mic to politics reporters Aliya Schneider and Julia Terruso.
U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan was in her Washington office when she saw attacks directed at her and other military veteran members of Congress from President Donald Trump, days after they urged members of the military and intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders.”
Trump called the Democrats “traitors” in a Thursday post on Truth Social and, in a second post, accused them of sedition that he said is “punishable by DEATH.”
Houlahan, a Chester County Democrat and an Air Force veteran, was one of six Democratic members of Congress who released a video Tuesday contending that Trump’s administration is “pitting” service members and intelligence professionals against American citizens and urging them not to “give up the ship.”
“The idea that the most powerful man on the planet, who wields the power of the United States military and should be emblematic of all the things we value in this republic, would call for the death and murder of six duly elected members of the House of Representatives and the Senate — I’m speechless and I’m devastated," Houlahan told The Inquirer on Thursday afternoon. — Aliya Schneider and Julia Terruso
In other federal government news: The Trump administration said it wants to “completely deconstruct” the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Here’s what’s actually happening. Plus, the U.S. Department of Energy will loan $1 billion to help finance the reopening of Three Mile Island, a nuclear power plant near Harrisburg.
What you should know today
A woman was killed in a hit-and-run early Thursday in University City. State officials have identified the person killed in a South Jersey crash after another man allegedly fled from police last week. And an East Germantown man on Wednesday admitted he struck and killed a wheelchair-bound woman with his car in Lower Merion last year, then fled the scene without helping her or calling police.
An Ocean City woman who worked for U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew falsely reported a violent political attack when she’d actually paid an artist to cut her, federal authorities said.
A Pennsylvania Senate vote Wednesday means the CROWN Act is closer to protecting workers from being fired for wearing Afros, braids, or locs.
Philadelphia-based independent contractors and others who are self-employed could soon become exempt from paying certain business taxes, per new City Council legislation. Plus, a councilmember wants to make it easier for restaurants to get approved for outdoor dining.
The ACLU’s Pennsylvania chapter slammed Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration for invoking its name amid what leaders described as the mayor’s “DEI rollback.”
An organ donation nonprofit is accused of ordering an organ retrieval to continue despite the patient “reanimating” in a South Jersey hospital.
Haverford College president Wendy Raymond announced she will retire in June 2027.
City principals, working without a contract for nearly three months, showed up in force at the school board meeting Thursday.
Welcome back to Curious Philly Friday. We’ll feature both new and timeless stories from our forum for readers to ask about the city’s quirks.
This week, we have an explainer on the lunar module that’s been on display outside the Franklin Institute for nearly half a century. The engineering prototype served to test how parts and pieces would fit together in preparation for the real Apollo 11 lunar module that took Neil Armstrong to the moon.
But now, it’s headed back to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in D.C. Here’s the full story.
Have your own burning question about Philadelphia, its local oddities, or how the region works? Submit it here and you might find the answer featured in this space.
🧠 Trivia time
Task, the HBO show set in Delco, has been renewed for a second season. Season 1 starred Tom Pelphrey and which actor?
A) Mark Ruffalo
B) Cillian Murphy
C) Noah Centineo
D) Bradley Cooper
Test your local news know-how with our weekly quiz and check your answer.
What we’re ...
📬 Remembering: That time somebody from New Jersey mailed a fake bomb to the office of Dick Clark.
🍻 Learning: How the boozy business of the American Revolution went down in Philly bars.
🎙️ Following: The latest developments at the embattled World Cafe Live.
🦃 Welcoming: Gobbler season, courtesy of these Philly eateries.
📝 Considering: This call for creative resistance in the city and beyond.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: _ Meeting
HOT LUMPY
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.
Cheers to Veronica Herzog, who solved Thursday’s anagram: Bellwether District.
Officials for the project, which will bring industrial and life sciences campuses to the 1,300-acre former refinery site in South Philadelphia, said they could soon announce its first tenants. (Plus: Eli Lilly & Co. is opening a biotech incubator at 2300 Market St.)
Photo of the day
It’s time to put the week in the rearview and look forward to the weekend. Have a good one.
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