Day of prayer, disrupted | Morning Newsletter
And Parker shares full safety plans.
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The Morning Newsletter
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Happy Friday. It’ll be a wet one, with showers and possibly thunderstorms throughout the day, with high temps near 65.
Philly Muslims are reeling after Wednesday’s Eid al-Fitr shooting, as police investigate what sparked the gunfight that wounded three young people. They’re also looking forward to solutions.
And marking her 100th day in office, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker finally announced her formal strategy to increase public safety and stabilize Kensington.
Here’s what you need to know today.
— Julie Zeglen (@juliezeglen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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After a shooting interrupted a festive Eid al-Fitr celebration in Parkside, Philly’s Muslim community is left to make sense of an event that made international news.
On Wednesday afternoon, at least 30 gunshots cut through the crowded holiday festival at Clara Muhammad Square. Two people were shot in the cross fire, while one was shot by a responding police officer. Five people have since been charged with reckless endangerment and firearms violations, including four juveniles.
In Philadelphia, gun violence is declining, but shootings involving multiple juvenile victims have been steadily rising. Meanwhile, the region has seen an uptick in Islamophobic incidents since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Many mosques already hire security guards for Friday prayer services and throughout Ramadan, one mosque leader said.
Those who helped clean debris from the park Thursday hope for more holistic solutions.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker formally marked her 100th day in office by detailing her much-anticipated plans to boost public safety and stabilize Kensington.
🌆 For Kensington, where she has focused much of her political energy so far, she detailed a plan to ramp up law enforcement, including for officers to arrest anyone seen using illegal narcotics. (She made a point by riding the El and walked along drug-strewn Kensington Avenue to get to the announcement event, held at Russell Conwell Middle School.)
🌆 For public safety, the police department will be directed to focus on getting guns off the streets — such as by deploying “surge teams” to especially violent intersections — as well as property crimes and retail theft.
What you should know today
Philadelphia reaches settlement in case against two ghost gun manufacturers.
Former President Donald Trump’s first stop in Pennsylvania on Saturday will be a fundraiser in Bucks County, near U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s district office. Here’s why the self-described moderate Republican may avoid it.
During Black Maternal Health Week, Philly advocates are traveling to Harrisburg to raise awareness of the Black maternal mortality public health crisis.
As the city considers changes to the Department of Licenses and Inspections, a construction company with a long history of harm destroyed a family’s Francisville home while they were in it.
A new $137 million funding stream included in Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposal is intended to reimburse high-taxing school districts. About a third of Pennsylvania’s 500 districts would get the “tax equity supplements” if approved.
O.J. Simpson has died of cancer at 76. As The Inquirer’s Kerith Gabriel writes about his 1995 trial that divided a nation, decades later social media shows we’re still divided on what it meant.
Community College of Philadelphia unveiled its new logo, website, tagline and ads aimed at attracting and retaining students after a period of declining enrollment.
In celebration of “Mamba Day” — this Saturday, eight years since Bryant’s last NBA game — Nike will release a special edition Kobe Bryant sneaker that honors the legendary hooper’s Philly roots.
The designer behind The Inquirer’s “Horse 95” game got to ride Freeway, the real runaway horse that galloped down I-95 North in February. It came with a lesson on getting back in the saddle.
Welcome back to Curious Philly Friday. We’ll feature both new and timeless stories from our forum for readers to ask about the city’s quirks.
This week, we’re resurfacing an explainer from 2019 on why the highest section of the City Hall tower is a different shade of white than the rest of the building. Was it an oversight during a renovation project or is there a technical reason?
Well, kinda both, it turns out. Here’s the full explanation.
Have your own burning question about Philadelphia, its local oddities, or how the region works? Submit it here and you might find the answer featured in this space.
🧠 Trivia time
Employees of this Philadelphia collar county are now eligible for 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave — more than any other Pennsylvania county or the state government, per the commissioner who spearheaded the effort.
A) Bucks County
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we're...
🔔 Streaming: The series premiere of Franklin, despite its distinct lack of Philadelphia.
🐋 Mourning: The humpback whale found in the Long Beach Island surf.
🏆 Cheering: The “Kelce” doc team for their two Sports Emmy nominations.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
John Oates (of Hall & Oates fame) will be a headliner at the 2024 edition of this Upper Salford Township-based summer music fest, called the Philadelphia ...
Hint: 🪕
SKIFFLE VOLTA
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Char Janiec, who solved Thursday’s anagram: Parks on Tap, which is Philly’s traveling beer garden that kicks off for the 2024 season on April 17.
Photo of the day
Wishing you a wonderful weekend! See you back in your inbox next week.
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