Air traffic anxiety at PHL | Morning Newsletter

It’s a new week, Philly.

Philadelphia International Airport’s air traffic control tower is fueling national anxiety over flying — and there are no quick fixes to its troubles ahead of the busy summer travel season, according to experts and federal records. Today’s top story explains the state of PHL’s communication challenges.

And New Jersey is one of just two states electing a governor in 2025. Observers view Tuesday’s primary election as a test of the first year of President Donald Trump’s second administration. Here’s what our politics reporters are watching.

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

While flying in and out of Philadelphia remains remarkably safe, several recent outages within the communications network that connects PHL’s air traffic control tower and Newark Liberty International Airport have fueled anxiety for travelers across the country.

Contributing problems include a 17% controller vacancy rate and outdated technology, such as copper wiring that can’t hold the amount of data being transmitted and decades-old software.

The Federal Aviation Administration is working on solutions — fiber-optic lines to replace copper, for instance — but they will come over years.

Reporter Max Marin has the details ahead of a busy travel season.

The high-stakes New Jersey governor’s race wraps up its first round with Tuesday’s primary election. The answers to these questions will be a pulse check on national attitudes:

🗳️ Does a crowded field motivate Democrats? Six contenders, from moderates to progressives, are fighting in a tight race for the chance to be seen as an antagonist of the Trump administration.

🗳️ Does a mostly Trump-aligned Republican field bring out GOP voters? Unlike in 2017, all of this year’s candidates back the president.

🗳️ What does it all mean for 2026 and beyond? The state is solidly blue, but Republicans narrowed the gap in the last year, in terms of both voter registrations and support for Trump. This election’s turnout and winners could indicate how effective different messages will be in the midterms.

Politics reporters Aliya Schneider and Julia Terruso break down these questions and more.

In other Jersey news: Borrowers in the state can save six figures over the life of their mortgage if they get multiple offers from lenders, according to a LendingTree analysis.

Which Philly-area company did not make this year’s Fortune 500 list, despite ranking No. 171 on last year’s list of the country’s largest businesses by revenue?

A) Rite Aid

B) Comcast

C) Aramark

D) DuPont

Think you know? Check your answer.

👟 Swiping to see: The best sneakers from Got Sole and Rodney McLeod’s Sneaker Ball.

🍲 Stealing: This recipe for soul food black eyed pea salad.

🏀 Watching: Allen Iverson talk Reebok in Netflix’s new Power Moves docuseries.

🎖️ Learning about: The civil rights activism of Philly’s Tuskegee Airmen.

💰 Considering: What a city budget process could look like with participatory budgeting.

Hint: Philly drag queen

MARGARETHA RACK CHARM

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.

Cheers to Yvonne Bedden-Johnson, who solved Sunday’s anagram: Ocean City. The popular Shore destination has launched a new real-time system, including a phone app, to help visitors find available parking spots.

Think back to the night that changed your life that could only happen in Philly, a true example of the Philly spirit, the time you finally felt like you belonged in Philly if you’re not a lifer, something that made you fall in love with Philly all over again — or proud to be from here if you are. Then email it to us for a chance to be featured in the Monday edition of this newsletter.

This “only in Philly” story comes from reader Deb Olsen, who shares an appreciation of the city’s waterways:

Philly is a unique city hemmed in by its two waterways, the Delaware and the Schuylkill. Our waterways have been steadily getting cleaner since the passing of the Clean Water Act in 1972. My dad used to tell us about growing up in the ’30s and ’40s before public pools were built, when the kids would go down to the Delaware River off of Water Street to swim on hot summer days. They would draw straws to see who would jump in first to push the floating poop out of the way. And I remember smelling the sour mash while driving over the Walt Whitman Bridge in the 1970s from the Old Hickory whiskey factory and how we would all hold our breath to avoid the stench.

Yet Philadelphia has long been on the cutting edge of municipal clean water initiatives. The Philly Water Works was a marvel of construction for its time to combat cholera and other water-borne diseases. By the 1990s, Philadelphia had one of the best urban water filtration systems in the country.

One year in the ’90s, I had the pleasure of training some Bartram High School students for a summer program at Bartram’s Garden, and we took trips around the city each week. We visited the Water Works and water treatment plant. The marine police took the kids out on the Schuylkill where they were regaled with stories of recovered sunken ATM machines and dead bodies by the water cops. Finally, I took the kids out to our tidal pond to check out the micro and macro fauna. I will never forget that afternoon when the kids discovered a large golden rainbow trout trapped in the mud at low tide. It was about 20 feet from dry land. They were determined to save it and get it back to the river. After a half hour of getting stuck in the mud, shrieking and laughing, they triumphantly carried the fish over to the deeper water and watched it swim away.

I hope that experience helped cement for them a love of our precious Philly waterways and all the life they support — including us. Get out there and explore.

Thanks for starting your week with The Inquirer. Back at it tomorrow.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.