Philly shootings reached alarming levels last weekend | Morning Newsletter
And, the Phillies have their full schedule.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/pmn/KTIWR7DVEZEE7C6Z3KGA67WNHM.jpg)
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Storms in the region yesterday caused flash flooding and came with reports of half-dollar-sized hail. And, we’re also in our first official heat wave of the season with temps forecasted to remain about 90 degrees at least through Sunday.
Remember, if you’re registered in New Jersey, don’t forget to get out and vote today — safely, of course.
— Josh Rosenblat (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
Twenty-three people were shot across the city on Sunday, pushing Philadelphia’s gun violence epidemic to an alarming height. It’s the highest number of shootings in a single day in at least seven years.
So far in 2020, an average of 4.7 people have been shot a day in Philadelphia. The number of shooting victims has been rising steadily since 2014. If the pace established this year holds, it will be the city’s highest yearly total since at least 2007, according to my colleagues’ analysis of city and police data.
As the coronavirus brought on stay-at-home orders, “the region’s thirst for the freedoms attached to bike riding grew stronger,” my colleague Patricia Madej writes. There’s been so much demand that bike shops can’t always keep up with it, especially while limiting hours and staff to keep employees and customers as safe as possible. The shops are also dealing with shortages of budget-friendly bikes and such basic parts as tubes and tires.
What’s caused the boom? Madej reports that it’s likely some combination of essential workers looking for transportation alternatives with SEPTA’s schedule changes, gym rats trying to keep fit in new ways, and people trying to get some time off the couch and outside.
More than 90 Philadelphia-area companies and nonprofits received up to $10 million each from the Paycheck Protection Program, the federal program of (potentially) forgivable loans meant to help small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.
Yesterday’s data release is the most detailed picture we have on which industries and businesses received money from the program after months of resistance from Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin regarding the disclosure of who got the loans. But, it’s still not the entire picture.
What you need to know today
New Jersey’s primary is today. Here’s what you need to know.
In November, Philadelphia voters will have the chance to vote for the creation of a Citizens Police Oversight Commission. It would be an independent body with the power to review complaints against police and use of force by officers.
Since the start of the pandemic, the number of Philly kids and adults getting routine vaccines has dropped significantly compared with the same time last year, according to the city’s Public Health Department.
The owner of a Philly bar pulled a gun on someone who warned about social distancing and wearing masks.
By September, Bethlehem’s OraSure Technologies Inc. hopes to have a fast COVID-19 spit test that could get results within 20 minutes and sell for less than $50.
This is how the coronavirus has accelerated the shift to a cashless society.
Through your eyes | #OurPhilly
Click through to check them all out. Thanks for sharing, @robbfoglia.
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
⚾The Phillies are scheduled to play against these nine teams during the abbreviated MLB season. Their opponents are a bit different than usual as the team won’t leave the East Coast this season. Here’s the full schedule.
⛈️There were flash floods in the Philly area yesterday with nearly 5 inches of rain and reports of half-dollar-sized hail.
🐿️If you’re seeing more chipmunks these days, it’s not just because you’re bored at home. It’s all about the acorns.
🚚Though more truckers are going back to work, the coronavirus is still stunting U.S. production. That’s making the future cloudy.
🏒The Flyers and the 23 other teams participating in the NHL’s proposed playoff tournament will be playing north of the border — that’s if the NHL season is able to resume. The league and players association tentatively agreed to have the Eastern Conference teams in Toronto and the Western Conference squads in Edmonton.
⛪The new owner of a Fishtown church wants to demolish it as soon as possible.
Opinions
“Look, I support any and all police reforms, and this journey of 1,000 miles to end American policing as we know it needs to start with the baby steps. ... But does anyone honestly believe that a lukewarm new law or two and a couple of days of training can break through an entrenched culture of white supremacy?” — writes columnist Will Bunch about the “banal evil of the cops who killed” Elijah McClain.
Columnist Maria Panaritis checked in on Yeadon, Pa.‘s Nile Swim Club, the nation’s first Black-owned pool club.
A key part of the calls for police reform should be increasing funding for the Board of Pardons, writes Pa. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.
What we’re reading
The Press of Atlantic City has a story about more than 500 boats that participated in a pro-Trump parade around Absecon Island.
To get the food on your plate, hundreds of workers may have contracted COVID-19. Buzzfeed News investigates the human cost of your meal.
Quibi, the streaming start-up focused on Hollywood-quality short-form video, raised $1.75 billion and has celebs headlining nearly every cast list. But audiences haven’t bought in. Vulture looks at what went wrong.
Your Daily Dose of | Drawing
Artist and photographer RA Friedman left his job as a curator in the University of Pennsylvania libraries in March. As more and more people died due to the coronavirus, he began to try to “create a portrait of the living city through what it has lost,” writes my colleague Stephan Salisbury.