A ‘hit list’ revealed | Morning Newsletter
And an inaugural carnivorous plant show.
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Welcome to a new week, Philly! Today will be partly sunny, with a high near 82.
Philadelphia Register of Wills John Sabatina Sr. is keeping up the office’s tradition of patronage hiring (and firing). An internal spreadsheet, listing employees his administration was planning to fire, lays that bare.
Plus, carnivorous plants will get their due at an upcoming plant show at Haverford College.
— Erin Reynolds (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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After John Sabatina Sr. ousted Tracey Gordon as Philadelphia’s register of wills, he set to work cleaning house.
The relatively obscure office in City Hall is a time-honored patronage den whose employees do not have the civil-service protections afforded other city workers.
Since early 2024, the city has faced a wave of wrongful termination suits, and during discovery in those civil cases, Sabatina’s so-called hit list surfaced.
Exhibit A is an annotated spreadsheet listing 30 employees, many of whom are described by their connection to Gordon.
The suggested action for most: “Terminate.” When: “Immediate.”
“This list confirms what we all expected,” the Committee of Seventy’s vice president of external affairs told The Inquirer. “That hiring in row offices is too often based on who you know instead of the ability to do the job.”
Reporters William Bender and Ryan Briggs explain how the document sheds new light on the costly fallout of leadership changes at the register of wills office.
The Mid-Atlantic Carnivorous Plant Society connects murderous-flora enthusiasts and self-described nerds from New York state to Virginia.
The group’s forthcoming plant show, scheduled for Oct. 11 at Haverford College, promises something for everyone.
Come for the predatory plants. Stay to learn how to care for them. Rule number one: No tap water.
“We’re really hoping to show ... that it’s not just about that flytrap you saw one time at the store — there’s a whole world out there of plants, and they’re super fascinating,” said board member David Wallace.
Reporter Maggie Prosser shares more about what you can expect from the inaugural event.
What you should know today
A conservative social media provocateur confronted District Attorney Larry Krasner in a Philadelphia park this past week, prompting an early-morning spat between the two. It’s the second time the pair have quarreled in recent weeks.
An Iowa school superintendent detained by ICE last week was previously cited for a gun charge in Pennsylvania. The Inquirer asked Ian Roberts’ lawyer about the time Roberts paid a $100 fine.
Thousands of employees are expected to be dropped from the federal government’s payroll in the days ahead. Here’s a look at how President Donald Trump’s plan to shrink the federal workforce unfolded in Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia School District is investigating the possible mismanagement of money at a Northeast Philadelphia elementary school. Thousands of dollars are missing.
A Berks County woman discovered a secret camera in her bathroom — and then it got much worse. She and her family have been tight-lipped about their trauma, until now.
The death of 27-year-old Philadelphia schoolteacher Ellen Greenberg has remained a mystery since 2011. A Hulu docuseries about her case premieres Monday.
What can a renter looking for a home in the Philadelphia area expect to get for roughly $1,900 a month? We rounded up rental options in Fishtown, Bala Cynwyd, and West Philadelphia.
A Puerto Rico native found community riding SEPTA’s Route 47 bus. She’s turned that story into a musical, which was teased in Sunday’s Puerto Rican Day Parade.
Cam’ron Klotz almost flunked out his freshman year of high school. Now he’s starting medical school, and credits his success to a Camden “village” of supporters.
This Mount Laurel couple went viral after pretending to spend $150 on a decorative rock. It’s led to a paid partnership with Anthropologie.
Quote of the day
About 35 unionized Starbucks workers and supporters from other unions gathered Sunday in Center City, with a message summed up in a four-word chant: “No contract? No coffee.”
The union, Starbucks Workers United, has been bargaining its first contract since 2021. Now, amid sudden closures to hundreds of Starbucks locations nationwide, members say they’re getting ready to strike, just in time for the holiday season.
🧠 Trivia time
Philadelphia’s homestead exemption lowers the assessed value of your home by how much?
A) $25,000
B) $10,000
C) $100,000
D) $50,000
Think you know? Check your answer. (And learn more about which Philly property tax relief programs you’re eligible for.)
What we’re...
📺 Spotting: Locales such as Upland Diner and the Turnpike in Task, Episode 4.
✅ Rating: All the good, bad, and weird news that came out of our region last week.
👏 Cheering: These two Office stars who plan to donate their game show winnings to a Philly-area food bank.
🖼️ Anticipating: A sweeping Surrealist retrospective at the PMA. Did you know Man Ray was born in Philly?
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: Yet another Philly-area thriller from Berwyn’s hottest screenwriter
CELLO HEAVY
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.
Cheers to Karl Miller, who solved Sunday’s anagram: InstaFoodz. The new restaurant in Chinatown is doubling down as a showroom for kitchen robots.
Photo of the day
📬 Your ‘only in Philly’ story
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 pays tribute to an arts hub in the city once known as the “Athens of America”:
I always wanted to be an artist growing up in South Philly but was not raised to believe it was a practical economic pursuit. Luckily, the Fleisher Art Memorial was there to provide me and all of us closet artists with an affordable outlet to learn about and make art in our free time.
I started taking classes in the early 1980s and could soon be found there three nights a week after work, being taught by some of the best artists on the East Coast. Homer Johnson taught me how to draw. Filomena Dellaripa taught me how to paint in watercolor, and her weekly art lectures helped me understand more about art than my art history class at Penn would many years later.
One of my favorite teachers was Frank Gasparro, who had been chief engraver at the U.S. Mint for 30 years before retiring. Just about any coin in my pocket had his mark on it, and he had amazing stories about how each one came to be. He was a small, stocky man with kind, twinkly eyes and gnarled, stubby hands that could whip up an amazingly realistic human head in a half-hour demonstration, deftly showing us the difference between light and dark colored eyes with just a flick of his clay-smeared fingers.
He would select a few students who showed dedication to come up to the tiny back studio to work in stone, and after a few semesters working in clay, he convinced me to join him there. Soon I was pounding away at soapstone and marble, learning how to uncover the hidden beauty inside using old-school techniques. I loved every minute of it.
Work and family pressures eventually ended my time at Fleisher until my own child was old enough to take classes, and we could return together on Saturdays to enjoy making art together. I’m sure there are lots of opportunities in your community to make art and there are so many places in Philly to see great art, so get out there.
👋 Thanks for starting your week with The Inquirer. Julie will be back tomorrow to bring you the day’s news.
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