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🍲🍾 Where to eat, drink, and safely ring in 2022 | Morning Newsletter

And the initiative hoping to bring equity to housing development

    The Morning Newsletter

    Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter

Today looks much different from yesterday, with temperatures approaching the 50s under partly cloudy skies.

Let’s get a jump on where to enjoy New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day — as safely as you can.

And how Philly hopes to even the playing field in real estate development.

— Kerith Gabriel (@sprtswtr, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Where to go for dinner or New Year’s Eve — or where to find a table for brunch on New Year’s Day — is always a tough choice. The fast-spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus makes it tougher.

But for those who are vaccinated and want to celebrate a new year, many restaurants require proof of vaccination and have ramped up their own safety measures to ensure yours.

Our reporter Nick Vadala has a list of the best dinner and brunch spots around for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. And in case you missed it, our restaurant critic Craig LaBan ran down his 2021 in Philly food. And check out our complete New Year’s Eve guide.

Just don’t forget to bring your mask.

What you should know today

  1. Philadelphia promised $68 million in new anti-violence spending. We checked in on how it’s going.

  2. A GoFundMe for the family in the deadly Quakertown fire on Christmas Day has been taken down due to “vile” and “cruel” comments.

  3. Despite mass cancellations worldwide, most flights are leaving Philadelphia International Airport as scheduled.

  4. Four more people died inside Philly jails, which are seeing their highest rate of deaths in recent memory.

  5. Eagles running back Miles Sanders is out for this weekend’s game with a broken hand.

  6. Meet the Philly start-up looking to bring high-quality health care to hourly workers who can’t afford it.

  7. A pediatrician and health policy researcher says something needs to be done about the high cost of infant care.

  8. And what’s a big part of the sustainability of both the Schuylkill and Delaware River watersheds? Mussels.

  9. Local Coronavirus Numbers: Here’s your daily look at the latest COVID-19 data.

In an effort to diversify the people developing Philadelphia, city officials are launching a pilot program to help minority real estate developers find more opportunities and contracts.

The Minority Developer Program, slated to begin in January, will:

🏠 Train participants on industry and business best practices,

🏠 Connect participants with seasoned industry leaders as mentors,

🏠 And offer public land and funding to boost developers who have been historically excluded in the industry.

Our reporter Michaelle Bond has more on what it all means for Philadelphia’s development boom.

🧠 Philly Trivia Time 🧠

There’s a lot of mystery surrounding the history of the Brandy Alexander, a widely known cocktail that may — or may not — have roots here in Philly. Today’s question: Do you know when the Brandy Alexander was invented? That answer is in this piece, along with theories on the origin story of this classic cocktail.

What we’re …

  1. Listening to: A few of these podcasts ranked by the Atlantic as the 50 best of the year. 🎧

  2. Considering: What to do with the kids while they’re off school this week — and this weekend. 🤔

  3. Upset about: The Fishtown flagship location of coffee giant La Colombe was involved in a smash and grab robbery just days before Christmas. A barista told me that after smashing the iconic glass entry doors, thieves attempted — unsuccessfully — to steal the registers. 😡

Photo of the day

I asked yesterday what your most memorable moment of 2021 was. Let me know if you haven’t, and I’ll use some of the best answers in Thursday’s edition. Email me at morningnewsletter@inquirer.com.

Thanks for starting your day with The Inquirer.✌️