🔔 Understaffed National Park Service | Morning Newsletter
And May restaurant openings.
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Happy primary day, Philly. Live election results will be updated here once polls close at 8 p.m. You can also check Inquirer.com for the latest throughout the day.
Independence National Historical Park is short staffed, and workers have been leaving the National Park Service regional office amid a chaotic first few months under President Donald Trump’s administration. What will it mean for the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations next year?
And May has been one of the busiest months lately for splashy restaurant openings, with La Grange, La Jefa, the Little Gay Pub, and more ready for taste tests.
— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Pennsylvania ranks among the states with the most National Park Service employees, counting about 700 staffers who maintain and conduct tours for Independence National Historical Park, Valley Forge National Historical Park, and several other sites in the Philly region and beyond.
🔔 Yet union leaders say that figure is far too low to keep these sites preserved and welcoming to the millions of tourists who visit them each year.
🔔 Amid deferred resignation offers, fired probationary staffers, and proposed federal budget cuts, that figure is also shrinking. Members of the already-stretched-thin workforce are taking on more shifts. Morale is low, and potential layoffs loom.
🔔 Meanwhile, the city and nation are preparing for the United States’ 250th anniversary, when national parks and historic sites will likely be a focal point.
Reporters Ariana Perez-Castells, Fallon Roth, and Frank Kummer have the story.
In other federal budget news: City officials met with Mehmet Oz, the newly confirmed administrator for the nation’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, in Kensington on Monday to advocate for protecting Medicaid from cuts proposed by congressional Republicans.
Fresh off the announcement that the Michelin guide is coming to review Philadelphia’s best restaurants, the city is ready to show off a new slate of highly anticipated eateries. Among the nearly 20 that just opened or are coming soon:
Little Gay Pub, the Philly outpost of D.C.’s celebrity-fave gay bar
La Grange, a French brasserie in a restored stone barn in Lower Makefield that aims to replicate the vibe of Parc
La Jefa, a bar-restaurant connected to Center City’s Tequilas that’s being billed as “Guadaladelphian”
Restaurant reporter Michael Klein has the full roundup of May openings.
🍕 More food news: A pizza shop and arcade will open for the summer at the former Gillian‘s Wonderland Pier on Ocean City’s boardwalk — but sorry, kids, no rides. Plus, eat your way through South Jersey via these five standout pizza shops.
What you should know today
Former President Joe Biden is being treated for prostate cancer, one of the most common cancers among men. Here’s what to know about the disease.
Authorities have found the body of the man who was reported missing after a boat capsized in the Delaware River last weekend.
The Philly District Attorney’s Office on Monday touted the convictions of two men who killed four people across two weeks in 2022.
A West African man was wrongly detained for nearly two weeks in a Philadelphia jail because he shares a name with a man who had an open warrant against him, a new lawsuit says.
The teen who filmed an April incident involving the alleged “Delco Pooper” testified during a preliminary hearing Monday. He’s become somewhat of a local celebrity.
New Jersey governor candidates on both side of the aisle are using artificial intelligence in their ads. But is it ethical — or effective?
Local lawmakers and riders rallied in support of SEPTA on the first day of public hearings on the transit agency’s proposed doomsday operating budget for fiscal 2026.
Rutgers University has tapped the leader of Louisiana State University as its 22nd president.
🧠 Trivia time
Statewide progressive group Indivisible Pennsylvania is calling on which elected official to resign, accusing them of having “failed to fulfill the most basic duties of office”?
A) Sen. John Fetterman
B) President Donald Trump
C) Sen. Dave McCormick
D) Mayor Cherelle L. Parker
Think you know? Check your answer.
What (and who) we’re...
🦅 Congratulating: Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, who agreed to a multiyear contract extension.
🤔 Wondering: Who stole the “gayest” truck in Philadelphia?
❗ Revisiting: The Fairless Hills Big Lots, one of 11 Pennsylvania locations set to reopen in June.
🌳 Excited to see: The $3.5 million renovation of this Gilded Age mansion on the Delaware River.
🩺 Checking: How local hospitals rank for emergency room visit wait times.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: Old-timey neighborhood name, and home to Wissahickon Brewing’s second location
STOOD KENNELING
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.
Cheers to Qing Hu, who solved Monday’s anagram: Autism Challenge. The Eagles Autism Foundation hosted the eighth annual fundraiser Saturday, where players signed baby bumps and biked alongside fans.
Photo of the day
🧶 One last artsy thing: Maybe you caught a glimpse of the life-size crocheted Jason Kelce and Phillie Phanatic during the Italian Market Fest last weekend? I’m a forever fan of artist Lace in the Moon, a.k.a. Nicole Nikolich — she did a custom crochet piece for my living room wall in 2021 — so I’ll take any opportunity to shout out her work. This one is about as Philly as it gets.
Wishing you a cheer-worthy Tuesday. Back at it tomorrow.
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