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When the queen came to Philly | Morning Newsletter

And how to sell your rich ex’s stuff.

    The Morning Newsletter

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

Expect sunny weather heading into the weekend with a high of 84.

The biggest news worldwide: Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s monarch for 70 years, died yesterday. She’s one of the last links to the generation that fought World War II and the only monarch most Britons have ever known.

When the news broke, shocked crowds swarmed Buckingham Palace and sang “God Save the Queen.”

Immediately, an outpouring of grief spilled out across the world. President Biden ordered the American flag to be flown at half-staff at the White House. President Volodymr Zelensky of Ukraine offered condolences, calling her death an “irreparable loss.”

It’s also a complex moment for several of the territories that lived under her reign. She may be an individual person, but she also represented an institution that has a robust legacy of colonization. I just wanted to drop a note to be cognizant and respectful of people’s varied reactions to the longest-reigning monarch in British history.

In today’s newsletter:

🗳️ Mail ballot delays: How City Council members running for the mayor’s office may get in the way of Pennsylvania’s next governor and senator. 🔑

👑 One flashback: The queen’s visit to Philadelphia in 1976.

📚 Elon Musk’s college sweetheart: She’s selling mementos from their relationship.

If you see this 🔑 in today’s newsletter, that means we’re highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.

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

The primary risk comes from sex, according to increasing data on the outbreak that’s primarily spreading among men who have sex with men.

  1. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its online guidance stating transmission is “almost exclusively associated with sexual contact in the current outbreak.”

Some worry that emphasizing the role of sex in transmission could encourage homophobia, since monkeypox has primarily spread among men who have sex with other men. Members of the LGBTQ community remember all too well the dismissal early sufferers of HIV experienced because that virus, like monkeypox, originally spread primarily in the gay community.

  1. But others say a frank acknowledgment of how the virus is transmitted is needed to avoid panic that itself could lead to discrimination.

Health reporter Jason Laughlin uncovers who is most at risk and how to combat it. It’s all about addressing behavior (limiting partners), not identity.

What you should know today

  1. Philadelphia Youth Network promises changes in the Work Ready program after a summer of complaints centering on not paying working teenagers.

  2. Philly’s mail ballots could get delayed because of so many City Council members resigning to run for mayor.

  3. A home health care nurse whom former labor leader John Dougherty hired to care for his ailing wife pleaded guilty to pandemic unemployment fraud charges.

  4. Take some time to read the experience of a trans teenager in Central Bucks and how she feels increasingly unsafe with new school policies like book bans and removing Pride flags from classrooms.

  5. Local coronavirus numbers: Here’s your daily look at the latest COVID-19 data.

Elon Musk’s college sweetheart, Jennifer Gwynne, is auctioning off 20 items from her time dating the richest man in the world.

The reason: Gwynne said it’s to help pay for her 13-year-old stepson’s college tuition.

Some of the items include 18 never-before-seen pictures of Musk and an emerald necklace he gifted her. The emerald is from his father’s South African mine.

  1. The exclusive pictures include Musk in a Judge Dredd T-shirt, one of him in a tux, and one of him in a trench coat holding a bottle of orange juice.

  2. The emerald necklace comes with a card in which Musk wrote: “Happy Birthday Jennifer (aka Boo-Boo) Love, Elon.” As of Thursday, the signed card was going for $4,663 and the emerald necklace was going for $3,384.

Background: The two dated for a little less than a year when she was a junior and he was a senior. After he graduated, he moved to California and long-distance didn’t work out for them. They didn’t keep in touch, but over the years, she watched her ex-boyfriend found multiple companies on his road to build a net worth of $219 billion.

Read more of Stephanie Farr’s intimate interview with Gwynne as she reminisces about her time with Musk.

🧠 Philly Trivia Time 🧠

August 2022 was the hottest it has been in Philadelphia stretching back to 1874. The month ran 4.5 degrees warmer than normal and logged the most 90-degree days ever.

Question: What year was the second hottest on record for August in Philly?

A. 1980

B. 2016

C. 2021

D. 2001

Find out if you know the answer.

Queen Elizabeth II came to Philadelphia in 1976, the first stop on a six-day trip around the United States in honor of America’s Bicentennial celebration.

The one-day tour included City Hall, the Penn Mutual Building, the Independence National Historical Park Visitor Center, and ended with a 300-person dinner party at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

We compiled a gallery of the archived pictures.

What we’re ...

🎤 Reading: Entertainment reporter Dan DeLuca’s interview with Santigold about her new album, Spirituals, and her shout-out from Beyoncé.

💲 Planning: To check out the Baltimore Avenue Dollar Stroll this weekend.

🎾 Sharing: This beautiful send-off to Serena Williams and Sue Bird as two of the giants of women’s sports. 🔑

Photo of the day

That’s all you need to start your weekend ✌🏽. Also, Congrats to Alexis Lehman for guessing Thursday’s anagram answer, REC Philly. My colleague Ashley Hoffman has you covered Sunday. I’ll see you back here on Monday