What to know about Trump’s threat to send feds to Philly | Morning Newsletter
Plus, Philly's heat emergency has been extended.
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Philly’s heatwave isn’t letting up. The city extended its heat emergency declaration through 8 p.m. tonight as heat indexes are forecast to climb past 100 again. Try to stay cool out there.
In today’s newsletter, we have a long read on a man who trained and mentored many Philly sports legends but is now turning his attention to fighting cancer and the tobacco industry. My colleagues also explain what President Donald Trump’s threat to send federal agents to Philly might mean. And, don’t forget to check out today’s Daily Dose, where we have a video of a tortoise getting its shell scratched.
— Josh Rosenblat (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, and Bob Boone all credit Gus Hoefling with teaching them to strengthen both their minds and bodies through grueling workouts rooted in martial arts. The 85-year-old’s former proteges still show wonder about him, like they’re sharing stories that are too wild to be completely true.
But for the last two years, he’s been fighting a vicious disease — Stage IV metastatic head and neck cancer. Hoefling blames the illness on an addiction he developed to smokeless tobacco products in the 1970s when he worked for the Phillies and Eagles. He’s suing a pair of tobacco giants and a Philadelphia pharmacy, alleging that the industry gave free samples to pro sports teams while knowing they were harmful and addictive. Even today, pro athletes still rely on smokeless tobacco.
Following President Trump’s controversial deployment of federal agents in Portland, Ore., he said Monday that he could send federal law enforcement to cities including Philadelphia. Protests here and in other cities have been almost entirely peaceful for weeks. My colleagues Sean Collins Walsh and Ellie Silverman put together a list of questions and answers about what the president is threatening and what federal agents can (and can’t) do if they’re sent to Philadelphia.
The Southeastern Veterans’ Center is a state-run nursing home in Chester County. Dozens of residents there have died of the coronavirus as the nursing home failed to protect elderly residents and defied infection control guidelines, according to state health inspectors.
My colleagues William Bender, Vinny Vella, and Allison Steele reported on an inspection that revealed that the nursing home was failing to screen the temperatures of staffers entering the building each day, disregarding social-distancing, allowing employees to work on the same day in units that were both coronavirus-positive and coronavirus-negative, and creating an atmosphere where workers were afraid to speak out about problems.
What you need to know today
The latest data released by Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health shows how Philly’s coronavirus hospitalizations break down by race, age, and neighborhood. For example, Black Philadelphians have accounted for nearly 60% of all of the COVID-19 hospitalizations in the city.
The seven-day average of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania has more than doubled since mid-June.
People in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are set to lose the extra $600 they’ve been getting in unemployment benefits this week.
A judge ruled that a South Jersey gym that originally reopened in May against Gov. Phil Murphy’s orders can remain open if it follows the state’s guidelines. But that’s not going to happen, according to the gym’s owners.
Our latest PolitiFact fact check focuses on whether Joe Biden wants to ban fracking or kill the jobs it supports in Pennsylvania. In short, he doesn’t.
Philly’s city budget could face a deficit next year because of the coronavirus, according to a warning from a state board.
Through your eyes | #OurPhilly
Raccoons have been making a habit of popping up during the coronavirus pandemic. And this photo reminded me of Philly’s Animal Care and Control Team’s tweet from April referring to a raccoon as the “Philadelphia Trash Panda.” Thanks for sharing this mural, @jeffphl.
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 Flyers are aiming for their first Stanley Cup since 1975. They’re hoping the long layoff (and a potential injury to a young star) doesn’t derail their momentum.
💼Here’s some advice on finding a new job during the pandemic.
🎙️The parking lot at Citizens Bank Park will have drive-in live concerts and comedy shows starting in August.
🏀Before the NBA restarts, the Sixers are enjoying their “best Disney life,” my colleague Keith Pompey reports.
🔬Jaye Gardiner is a Fox Chase Cancer Center researcher studying pancreatic cancer and the tumor microenvironment. Sounds complicated, right? Well, Gardiner is not just a scientist, but a science communicator who uses comics to explain scientific concepts and diseases to non-scientists.
🍽️These empanadas are worth a trip to the Shore, my colleague Craig LaBan writes.
Opinions
“Philadelphia doesn’t need clandestine federal law enforcement to tear gas, shoot rubber bullets, and conduct mass arrests of protesters — not when the Philadelphia Police Department is here, doing the same.” — writes the Inquirer Editorial board about President Trump’s threat to send federal agents to Philly.
Gov. Tom Wolf’s sales restrictions on alcohol “have created a no-win situation for restaurants,” writes Erin Wallace, the owner of Devil’s Den in South Philly and the founder of a nonprofit that supports women working in the brewing profession.
Public schools need help. Columnist Maria Panaritis writes about Republicans’ need to back a coronavirus relief bill to avoid a “calamity.”
What we’re reading
Philadelphia Magazine reports on allegations of Fox 29 being run by “toxic, super-white, and Trump-apologizing management.”
You might not see product names such as “Trader José‘s,” “Arabian Joe’s,” or “Trader Ming’s” anymore. Trader Joe’s had been trying to get rid of the names on some products that critics say are racist, but an online petition has put more pressure on the grocery store chain to “remove racist branding and packaging from its stores.” NPR has the story.
OK, this is a little out there, but stay with me. Some of my favorite college football reporters joined together to write an ebook about how college sports came to look the way they do today. Here’s where the book gets a little wild: It’s an illustrated fiction and nonfiction work that combines time travel, the American West, and the rise and fall of amateurism in college sports. For the Win has an excerpt of the project’s first chapter.
Your Daily Dose of | Back-scratching
The Philadelphia Zoo built a tortoise back scratcher that satisfies itches on the shells of turtles and tortoises. “I imagine that it would feel like tickling,” said the zookeeper who built the scratcher.