The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Welcome to Sunday. Showers are expected in the morning, and temps will top out around 56.
Our main read focuses on a collapsing wall in Northwest Philadelphia that the city agreed to help fix. Little has happened since.
And are malls dying? In the Philly region, that doesn’t seem to be the case. See how many have refashioned to stay alive.
Read on for these stories and more.
— Paola Pérez (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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A retaining wall that stretches behind 26 homes in Mount Airy has been collapsing since 2018.
Residents say the city, which promised in a 2023 settlement to “swiftly abate the unsafe and/or immediately dangerous conditions” of the wall, has been slow to act. The wall has since become overgrown and difficult to clean safely.
In their own words: “Nobody goes out in the back alleyway because the wall is buckled in so many areas, it’s super unsafe to be back there,” one resident said.
Safety concerns aside, people are frustrated with the lack of updates from city offices, and from their local City Council member, Cindy Bass.
Century-old retaining walls like this are considered private property, and the city expects property owners to be responsible for maintenance. But with high repair costs and unpredictability in the mix, residents have long pushed for changes to this setup.
Ximena Conde reports on the city’s lag in response and the decades-long retaining wall problem.
We can’t quite replicate the unifying experience of shopping at malls of yesteryear, thanks to a handful of factors. But for Philly’s 17 area malls, a new normal is taking shape.
🛍️ Flashback to 1961, when the Philly region got its first mall, Cherry Hill. By 1983, most collar-county residents lived within seven miles of a mall. Then came the internet, which presented another test to malls’ resiliency.
🛍️ By the early 2000s, about 19% of malls nationwide were on their way to becoming financially obsolete. When the pandemic hit in 2020, existing troubles pushed some malls to crack under pressure while others stayed afloat. City malls were particularly slow to rebound after restrictions were lifted.
🛍️ Today, many shopping centers are being refashioned with a focus on selling experiences, not just merchandise. Retail experts say these shifts call back to why malls were built, but with a modern, e-commerce-influenced twist.
Consumer reporter Erin McCarthy takes us inside the retail revolution that’s transforming our malls.
What you should know today
New proposed rules that would govern “open expression” on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus have drawn harsh criticism from some students, faculty, and groups who fear they will “chill” free speech and unduly restrict protest.
The latest ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran appeared to fail Saturday before they began, as Tehran’s top diplomat left Pakistan and President Donald Trump told envoys not to travel to Islamabad.
Police are investigating after a Lower Merion High School student drew a swastika on his body Friday and showed it to a Jewish student at the school, and threatened another student in a social media video, administrators said.
The Bensalem Township school board voted this week to cut more than 30 positions, from teachers, counselors, and librarians to assistant principals, to balance its budget.
Authorities charged a Norristown man with allegedly running a violent shoplifting ring that stole over $155,000 from high-end stores across the Philadelphia region.
Local groups who aid unhoused Philadelphians wonder whether efforts to clean and beautify the city ahead of major late spring and summer events also mean hiding people who live on the street.
Black Americans face disproportionately high rates of kidney disease. Penn researchers are developing a blood test to identify those most at risk.
A bat found in the attic of a Haddonfield home tested positive for rabies, health officials said. Only three cats, which had already been vaccinated for rabies, were known to have been exposed.
For years, St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church has been a downtown sanctuary. A pastor there has written a response to President Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo XIV.
❓Pop quiz
Few companies in the U.S. are 100% employee-owned. A Downingtown firm just became the latest company to implement this structure.
Which other Philadelphia-area business operates with this model?
A) Tasty Baking Co.
B) Wawa
C) Honeygrow
D) Insomnia Cookies
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we’re ...
🍳 Craving: Greg Vernick’s go-to breakfast sandwich.
🏠 Intrigued by: How a couple landed their dream home, even though it had no interior photos listed online.
🍞 Ogling: 3,500-year-old loaves of bread at the Penn Museum.
⛵ Planning: A quick Wilmington getaway with great food, history, and waterfront vibes.
🍺 Raving about: Madras nachos at an Indian brewpub, among the best things we ate this week.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: Philly’s premier road race (3 words)
BARTENDER TOURS
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.
Cheers to Jane Auster, who correctly guessed Saturday’s answer: M. Night Shyamalan. Philly’s favorite horror filmmaker recently stopped by a baby shower at a Kensington pizzeria.
Photo of the day
🎶 Today’s track goes like this: “Started to thaw when I realized the worms in your dirt are the same as mine.” I discovered Philly-based “bluegaze” band Floating at a pub gig this weekend, and they blew me away.
🧡 One more nice thing: A 10-year-old fan was inconsolable when his signed Flyers jersey vanished after a chaotic game on Wednesday. Then the internet did its magic.
👋🏽 Thanks, as always, for reading. Have a good day.
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