Waiting to be cast out | Morning Newsletter
And the end of an era.
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Grab your sunscreen for this gorgeous, mostly sunny day, with a high near 75.
Before you run out for a last-minute grocery store trip over this holiday weekend, see what’s open and closed in Philadelphia on Memorial Day.
Our lead story highlights the looming threat of displacement at encampments with people experiencing homelessness.
If you see this 🔑 in today’s newsletter, that means we’re highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.
— Paola Pérez (@pdesiperez, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
Norristown wants to move homeless encampments. But there’s nowhere for them to go.
About 20 homeless encampments in the borough expect to be cleared in the coming weeks, with no plans to store people’s confiscated property, according to advocates.
Officials have not confirmed or denied what advocates call a “sweep” of an estimated 160 people living mostly in tents in various parts of the municipality. But a spokesperson for Peco said individuals living in tents on land along the Schuylkill River Trail in Norristown “will need to relocate” at an unspecified time so “hazardous waste and trash” can be removed.
Homelessness is a prevailing issue in the borough, with 21% of the population of about 35,000 living in poverty. Residents, advocates and those experiencing homelessness coexist in a tense environment.
Sources close to the issue have said county officials are against any potential sweeps, but feel powerless to stop them.
In their own words: “They’re moving us around like we’re dirt. It makes you feel unstable. Things are falling apart fast.” That’s Adam Edgington, 41, a former salesman. He and his wife have lived in a tent on the Peco site since the fall.
Some complain that because Norristown is home to numerous substance abuse and mental health programs, outsiders are drawn to the borough, then live off the grid.
Continue reading about the ongoing fight to stop the camps from being dismantled.
What you should know today
Renting a vacation house in Philly or New Jersey? Airbnb just announced stricter “anti-party crackdowns” ahead of the summer holidays.
SEPTA will enforce a ski mask ban after multiple violent incidents involving people obscuring their identities with full-face coverings. Explore how Cherelle Parker, likely to be Philly’s next mayor, would focus on transit crime. 🔑
The Philadelphia Water Department will resume shutoffs for households on Wednesday, but a new initiative makes it easier for some families to keep the taps flowing.
Longtime Middle Eastern deli Bitar’s plans to sell its building. It’s not closing down, though, just switching gears.
Need to hitch a ride? Turns out your wallet is better off if you pick Uber over Lyft in Philly.
The Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion closed for good on Saturday, marking the end of a legal battle that has plagued the museum for years.
Keep your pet cool this summer: Check out this Philly pet ice cream shop or make some treats at home.
May is National Lyme Disease Awareness month, and Pennsylvania has more cases than any other state. Learn more on protecting yourself and your furry friends.
🎤 And now I’m passing the mic to my colleague Mike Newall.
The handwritten sign hung on the door of the newsstand at 30th Street Station. It offered one final headline from a shop that will carry no more. “No newspapers,” it read, underlined four times for emphasis.
That’s because earlier this month Faber, the New Jersey-based newsstand and bookseller, stopped selling newspapers at its 30th Street location. The store’s shelves remain stocked with magazines, periodicals, books, snacks, greeting cards, and travel trinkets. But the iconic station’s sole newsagent is now a newsstand without newspapers.
The explanation, sadly, is old news. Nearly no one was buying them.
Slumping sales would hardly come as a surprise. Not in the Age of Smartphones. Not when the pandemic only worsened the newspaper industry’s existential struggle to survive its digital transformation. And not as newsstands themselves, like coin-operated newspaper boxes before them, slowly disappear.
Still, under the station’s vast, gilded ceiling, it is easy to conjure days long past. Sepia-toned days when the tops of broadsheets poked over station benches. When newsagents in ink-stained aprons hollered out headlines from the city’s many daily papers.
Continue reading on the lost charm and nostalgic memories of print.
❓Pop quiz❓
This Romanesque-style landmark in Center City celebrates its 150th birthday this year.
A) City Hall
B) Independence Hall
C) Masonic Temple
D) Mütter Museum
See if you know the correct answer.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram 🧩
Hint: Dropshippers are mass-producing knockoff versions of a Philly artist’s design of this sparkly accessory worn by Beyoncé.
MARLBIRTHR ALO
Think you got it? Email us your best guess. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Russ Hoblitzell who correctly guessed Friday’s answer, Wildwood, with a memorable message to boot: “As the villain said to Liam Neeson in Taken ... GOOD LUCK!!!”
Photo of the day
🎶 For today’s Sunday track, we’re listening to: “Catch me if you can / Working on my tan .... Salvatore can wait / Now it’s time to eat soft ice cream.” 🎶
👋🏽 This newsletter will take a break for a few days, so expect Taylor back in your inbox on Wednesday. Take care!