Detained protesters, a brawl and reforms mark tense day in Philadelphia | Morning Newsletter

For almost a month, people in Philadelphia have been marching and protesting against racism, police brutality, and more. And after a City Council meeting yesterday, reforms aimed at the city’s police department could be coming this week, including one that calls on the department to end “unconstitutional stop-and-frisk.” But outside of that virtual meeting, the city was on edge yesterday. Officers detained people protesting at the Municipal Services Building and hundreds gathered near the boarded-up Christopher Columbus statue in South Philly.

— Josh Rosenblat (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Philadelphia officers detained more than two dozen people who staged a sit-in yesterday at the Municipal Services Building. They were calling for the city to defund the Police Department, while hundreds marched on Broad Street to support the same cause. Among those detained was my colleague Samantha Melamed, who was reporting on the protests.

And in South Philadelphia, a brawl ensued at Marconi Plaza, when 50 people who came from the Center City protest were engaged by more than 100 men who had gathered, wielding baseball bats and hammers. They were among hundreds more who were at the boarded-up statue of Christopher Columbus, some of them there to protest “‘white supremacist vigilantes’ and the Police Department’s handling of a group of people — some armed with weapons — who stood near the statue for days, claiming they were guarding it from protesters,” my colleague Anna Orso reports.

As protests continued throughout the city, City Council looks set to pass a package of five police reform measures, according to reporting from my colleague Sean Collins Walsh. Three of them will go through tomorrow, at Council’s final meeting before its summer break.

Major League Baseball players will report for “spring training 2.0″ mostly in their home cities on July 1, my colleague Scott Lauber reported yesterday. This comes one day after the Players Association voted down a proposal, and after months of battles between team owners and players that saw other American sports leagues find common ground during MLB’s infighting.

Commissioner Rob Manfred is expected to set a 60-game schedule. While details aren’t finalized, Lauber reports that opening day could be July 23 or 24, with the regular season ending on Sept. 27. There could also be a universal designated hitter in place and other rules and roster changes.

Though outdoor dining and retail have started back up in Philadelphia, most white-collar office workers are still at home, my colleague Christian Hetrick reports. And that’s crushing already struggling downtown businesses.

The economic impact, Hetrick reports, could be long-lasting, with the potential that companies who have largely gone remote won’t need as many in-office employees anymore.

@feri_streets captured some scenes of a march that happened over the weekend. Thanks for sharing.

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“I miss my mom. I worry that after this long time apart, she will no longer recognize me or my sisters. I worry that she will have fewer words when we see her again. I worry that she is declining more quickly and that March 11 might be the last time I got to see her alive.” — writes Ann E. Green, an English professor at St. Joseph’s University, about not being able to see her mother, who has dementia, because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Colleen Donovan’s love story began as a divorced mother of four and a never-used wedding dress hanging in her closet. Then, three years ago, when a friend was getting married, Donovan gave the dress to her, and Blessing Brides Ministry was born. Her full-time job is being a hospice nurse, but Donovan’s Downingtown storefront collects donations and has dresses that are deeply discounted.