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Revisiting the Philly police Facebook scandal | Morning Newsletter

🚧 And temporary lanes on I-95 will open this weekend.

File photo for use in place of police yellow tape. Photograph from double homicide on 4900 block of Hoopes Street on Thursday morning June 24, 2021.
File photo for use in place of police yellow tape. Photograph from double homicide on 4900 block of Hoopes Street on Thursday morning June 24, 2021.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
    by Taylor Allen
    Published 

    The Morning Newsletter

    Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter

Today will likely be another cloudy day, with a high of 73. Some showers could arrive in the afternoon.

Four years ago, the Philadelphia Police Department moved to fire 15 officers and disciplined others for making offensive Facebook posts. It was hailed as an unprecedented step for an agency often criticized for lacking internal accountability.

Our lead story revisits the scandal and takes a look of where things stand. We also have more I-95 reconstruction updates and local music festival news.

— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Police discipline overturned

Through arbitration, five of the officers who were forced off the job because of their offensive Facebook posts had their firings reversed.

Six other appeals remain pending, while three of the officers’ claims were resolved through settlements with the city. Of those who won their grievances, some opted to retire rather than return to the force.

Some officers who were suspended also saw their penalties downgraded, a decision that allowed them to get backpay for the some of the time they were benched.

Reminder: The officers’ posts first came to light in June 2019 when a group of advocates studying biases in policing published a database they dubbed the Plain View Project. It flagged hundreds of posts purportedly made by officers in Philadelphia and seven other jurisdictions, which the advocates cast as racist, intolerant or celebrating excessive force used by police.

Continue reading to learn about additional legal fights over the Facebook firings.

I-95 temporary lanes will open this weekend

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced the I-95 site will open for traffic this weekend, but long-term plans are still a bit up in the air.

Crews worked all weekend to clear out the damaged section of the Cottman Avenue exit ramp and fill it with a gravel-like material made with a recycled glass aggregate.

What happens next: Once the area is filled, crews will build a temporary six-lane highway and reopen the stretch of I-95 that’s been closed since the collapse. With I-95 partially reopened, crews will rebuild the outer sections of the bridge. One that’s finished, traffic will be rerouted so construction of the inner sections of the bridge can be completed. Ultimately, there will be four lanes of traffic in each direction.

Shapiro estimated that a permanent solution will cost $25 to $30 million, but didn’t provide a timeline.

Read more to see a step-by-step visual breakdown of the process.

What you should know today

  1. Less than a week after the nurses at Einstein Medical Center threatened to strike, they are on the verge of signing a new contract.

  2. The Girls High alumnae association is backing the principal who denied at least two graduates their diplomas for celebrating and dancing across the graduation stage.

  3. The new $25 million sports bar Bankroll will scale back its operations for the summer.

  4. A new book, The Westside: Ocean City in True Color, explores Ocean City’s original Black community. Black founders opened the first salt water taffy shop, built the fishing pier, and invested in real estate.

  5. A new report from the District Attorney’s Office concluded that Black Philadelphians are overrepresented at every stage of the criminal justice system.

  6. A new plan for downtown Ardmore avoids tall buildings, more density and less parking.

  7. The electronic music festival Making Time ∞ will return to Philly’s Fort Mifflin with over 100 DJs and artists in September.

🧠 Trivia time 🧠

What year did the Walt Whitman Bridge open?

A) 1967

B) 1957

C) 1961

D) 1931

Think you know? Check your answer.

What we’re...

👀 Watching: Hunter Biden will plead guilty to federal tax offenses. He’ll likely avoid time behind bars.

❗Explaining: What to know about the missing Titanic tourist submarine.

đŸ§© Unscramble the anagram đŸ§©

Hint: This cookie company was founded in Philly

MONICA OOKINESIS

We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Email us if you know the answer, and send us your own original anagram to unscramble if you’d like. Cheers to Karthik Bala, who correctly guessed Sunday’s answer: Rocksylvania.

Photo of the day

And that’s been your Wednesday morning news brief. Happy Hump Day, and I’ll catch you tomorrow. đŸ‘‹đŸœ