Homeless encampment must be cleared next week, city says | Morning Newsletter
And, ’Fresh Prince’ is coming back.
The Morning Newsletter
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New Jersey restaurants, movie theaters, and performance venues can resume indoor operations starting Friday, all with 25% capacity. “Again, none of that may be totally, completely, like-it-was-in-the-old-days normal. But those are big steps that we’re going to take together,” Gov. Phil Murphy said.
In Philadelphia, Mayor Jim Kenney apologized yesterday for dining inside a Maryland restaurant while indoor dining is still prohibited in Philadelphia. A photo of him dining circulated widely and drew criticism.
Residents of the encampment on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway must officially vacate the area by 9 a.m. on Sept. 9, the city announced yesterday. City officials posted their third eviction notice about a week after a federal judge ruled that the city could clear the camp. The camp has supported about 150 people experiencing homelessness for more than two months, my colleagues Ellie Rushing, Alfred Lubrano, and Samantha Melamed report. Residents of smaller encampments in the city must also vacate by next Wednesday.
The Evans brothers have been in prison for nearly 40 years for a robbery that became a murder when the victim suffered a heart attack and died. The Horton brothers have served 27 years for a robbery and fatal shooting. Both sets of brothers rejected deals that would have gotten them out after five or 10 years. They both say that a third perpetrator was the principal actor and is now out of prison.
Neither set of brothers has been granted clemency. But they now both have their best shots at Board of Pardons hearings. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman chairs the five-member Board of Pardons and has championed their cases, my colleague Samantha Melamed reports.
What you need to know today
The 2020 presidential campaign is making its way through Pennsylvania. Joe Biden spoke in Pittsburgh yesterday and Lara Trump was in Bucks County. Mike Pence will be in Luzerne County today. And Jill Biden will eventually wind her way through the state on her “back to school tour.”
Almost everyone that’s older than six-months-old is recommended to get the flu shot, according to the CDC. You can get it nearby.
Federal authorities have charged a manager at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center with accepting thousands of dollars in kickbacks to steer inflated or phony contracts to a couple in Florida.
This Philly charter school has started in person, even as most Philly charters are going virtual. Here’s a video of what it was like.
The biggest loan yet from the taxpayer-backed program to help mid-size businesses during the pandemic was for $50 million and given to the Mount Airy Casino Resort. It came from a Scranton-area bank directed by a landfill magnate whose children’s and grandchildren’s trusts now own the casino because the magnate relinquished ownership to resolve charges he concealed ties to organized crime.
When it comes to security deposits, what are your rights as a tenant?
Through your eyes | #OurPhilly
Cool framing here from @wickedawesometravels. Thanks for sharing.
Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we’ll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout-out!
That’s interesting
🏒Columnist Mike Sielski writes that Claude Giroux’s legacy with the Flyers is taking a hit.
🌲FDR’s “tree army” helped end the Great Depression. What are the chances that it could work again?
💍Even with their wedding plans disrupted, brides across the region are still saying yes to the dress.
👑The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is back. The cast is reuniting for a 30th anniversary special on HBO Max.
🏀Legendary Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson died Sunday. He “was a giant in every sense,” writes my colleague Mike Jensen.
⚾The Phillies beat yesterday’s trade deadline by grabbing a reliever to continue to remake the team’s bullpen.
Opinions
“The fall season’s cancellation is unnecessary, but reflects the overall incompetence and moral failure of those in charge to properly address the challenges posed by the virus. Our kids are sacrificing the best years of their lives to control the spread of the virus, even though we now have a better grasp on how to control it.” — writes Fishtown attorney A.J. Thomson about the debate over playing high school sports this fall.
Peak Johnson, a journalist and editor from North Philadelphia, writes about how Chadwick Boseman’s death has impacted Black people.
Hilco should do better for the community, the Inquirer Editorial Board writes.
What we’re reading
In a piece for Technical.ly Philly, middle school science teacher Ami Patel Hopkins writes about the support she and other local educators will need as the school year starts.
And another Philadelphia teacher is picking up garbage in order to raise money to buy his educational organization a used school bus.
ESPN interviewed epidemiologists and infectious disease experts about whether having college football fans at games this fall could impact COVID-19′s spread. They mapped out cellphone tracking data from three games last season to show what could happen.
Your Daily Dose of | Record-setting fish
A 68-year-old lifelong angler caught a brown trout that set a Pennsylvania record, according to the state Fish and Boat Commission. The fish weighed 20 pounds and nine ounces, and was 33.75 inches long.