🖌️ The Dr. J mural that started it all | Morning Newsletter
And flu season hits Philly hard.
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 the first Monday of March, Philly. The month’s reputation for windiness isn’t all bluster, as the region learned Saturday, when gusts up to 50 mph in the region knocked out power to more than 16,000 Peco customers.
Philadelphia is the “mural capital of the world” thanks in part to Dr. J, who agreed 36 years ago to sit for a portrait. Today’s top story explains how Mural Arts got the former 76ers star on board, giving an essential boost to the then-fledgling nonprofit.
And as the flu slams the Philly region, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration canceled a meeting on next season’s vaccines. Here’s what to know today.
— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Mural Arts Philadelphia’s beginnings can be traced to a portrait of Julius Erving.
🖌️ In 1989, Jane Golden, working with what was then called the Anti-Graffiti Network, asked the basketball legend if he would agree to be painted by a famous muralist alongside a crew of young Philly artists. To her surprise, Erving agreed.
🖌️ The portrait of the suited Dr. J that has towered over Ridge Avenue ever since helped launch a vital program in the city.
🖌️ “It reinforced to us the hunch that we had: that art mattered and that it would matter in the life of young people and the life of a community,” Golden told The Inquirer. “It was catalytic in so many ways.”
The first week of February saw more flu cases in Pennsylvania than any other week over the past five years with almost 29,000 infections, data from the state Department of Health show.
Meanwhile: Actions from President Donald Trump’s administration are raising questions for public health experts about federal agencies’ approach toward annual efforts to protect people with vaccines.
Among their concerns: The FDA last week canceled a meeting of the advisory committee that helps to identify the strains of flu that should be targeted by next season’s flu vaccines.
Also worrying: Childhood flu vaccination declined 16% in Pennsylvania and 8% in New Jersey over the past five years.
Health reporter Aubrey Whelan and data reporter Lizzie Mulvey team up to explain.
Plus: Montgomery County officials have released additional details about the region’s first 2025 confirmed case of measles, including the places the unvaccinated child visited before their emergency room diagnosis.
What you should know today
An argument outside a North Philadelphia sports bar left a man shot dead early Sunday.
A former Philly prosecutor seeking to clear her name has sparked a unique legal battle with District Attorney Larry Krasner.
Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr. introduced bills to add more bike lanes to three high-traffic Philly streets.
With rallies, a letter-writing campaign, and more than $300,000 raised, neighbors are mobilizing for the Haddon Township restaurant owners arrested by federal immigration agents.
Most New Jersey districts would get an increase in state aid for the 2025-26 school year under Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed budget, but cuts pose challenges for some in South Jersey.
Well-qualified Black and Hispanic homebuyers were more likely to be denied loans in Philadelphia in 2023, despite efforts to reduce mortgage lending disparities.
A Delaware River waterfront site once home to a shipyard and an aircraft manufacturing plant is becoming a residential neighborhood in Bristol Borough.
The SS United States has reached the Florida coast — and found new fans — on its way to become an artificial reef.
George Washington High’s cheer team walked the red carpet Thursday at the premiere of Spirit, a docuseries about their improbable, triumphant rise.
🧠Trivia time
Which is not the name of a cereal-themed cocktail at the nostalgia-soaked pop-up Cereal Cocktail Bar under the Divine Lorraine?
A) Got Milk?
B) Cinnamon Toast Crunch Shot
C) Apple Jack Lady
D) Krispy Whiskey
Think you know? Check your answer.
What (and where) we’re...
🎢 Watching: The implosion of Six Flags’ Kingda Ka roller coaster.
🏀 Asking: Is it time for the Sixers to tank? Here’s what fans think (and what our columnist thinks).
🪕 Remembering: Pete Seeger, his music, and his legacy.
🧠Considering: This lesson from the Schuylkill riverbank’s Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: The Eagles’ Delco-native associate performance coach, and one of the women who boosted the team behind the scenes in a Super Bowl-winning season
UNCLOUD ATOM WOK
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Stephanie Bailey, who solved Sunday’s anagram: Scot Loeffler. The longtime Bowling Green State head coach is set to become the next Eagles quarterbacks coach.
Photo of the day
In her latest column, The Inquirer’s Helen Ubiñas asks: How could anyone steal from a memorial garden for gun violence victims?
Your “only in Philly” story
📬 Think back to the night that changed your life that could only happen in Philly, a true example of the Philly spirit, the time you finally felt like you belonged in Philly if you’re not a lifer, something that made you fall in love with Philly all over again — or proud to be from here if you are. Then email it to us for a chance to be featured in the Monday edition of this newsletter.
This “only in Philly” story comes from reader Joseph Kelly, who describes a multigenerational Eagles fandom, beginning at the team’s original home on the University of Pennsylvania campus:
I was born in Philly in 1945 and as long as I can remember, our family rooted for the Eagles. My father and his best friend had 50-yard line, third-row seats behind the Eagles bench at Franklin Field. When his friend passed away, my father assumed the seats and started to take me to the games on the Penn campus. A highlight of that time was that I was able to attend the 1960 NFL Championship game against the Green Bay Packers and savor a glorious victory.
My father passed away shortly thereafter, and the tickets came to me. I continued to attend home games until they moved to Veterans Stadium. By that time, I was recently married and living in New Brunswick, N.J. Unfortunately, I could not afford the cost of comparable tickets but did not want to give up season tickets. Begrudgingly, I accepted affordable “nosebleed” seats in section 700. Quite a change for the near-front-row seats I used to enjoy.
Due to logistics, I had to sell several single-game tickets over the years, but always retained the rights to any playoff games. I even kept the tickets when I moved to Massachusetts for work, but eventually let my beloved season tickets go in the late 1980s.
My son moved to the Philly area for work, and we attended a few games over the years. This year, he was able to obtain two tickets to the NFC Championship game against the Washington Commanders. While I had a wonderful father-son experience that day, I could not help thinking that after 65 years almost to the day, my father was there in spirit, celebrating another win for the Eagles.
Thanks for starting your week with The Inquirer. See you tomorrow.
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