🚍 A bus revolution | Morning Newsletter
And your guide to gluten-free Philadelphia.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/pmn/NKTMQO6CYNBTPGF5NBMDCFYNPM.jpg)
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Morning, Philly. Today will be cloudy with a chance of afternoon showers and high temps near 72.
SEPTA’s Bus Revolution aims to streamline bus routes to boost reliability and ease of use. Our top story examines a new, equity-focused report on how the proposed changes might affect riders.
And restaurant critic Craig LaBan has been working on something special for the past three years: a guide to gluten-free dining in Philadelphia, from doughnuts to pasta (yes, really).
Let’s dig into these stories and more.
— Julie Zeglen (@juliezeglen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.
Changes are coming to the SEPTA bus network. Eventually.
An efficiency-minded bus route overhaul called the Bus Revolution has been in the works for three years, including a public engagement period. SEPTA paused the project in February, just as its board was poised to adopt the fourth draft of route changes, after some City Councilmembers voiced concerns that their constituents hadn’t had enough time to weigh in.
A chief concern throughout the process has been whether the new plan will exacerbate transportation inequalities — say, by lengthening travel times in certain neighborhoods.
Yet per a new independent analysis of SEPTA’s plan, proposed service changes would, instead, deliver increased access to opportunity or preserve existing levels of access for most Philadelphia riders.
Tom Fitzgerald has the full story, including details on how riders’ access to jobs, hospitals, groceries, and rec centers might be affected.
What you should know today
A shooting erupted during an Eid al-Fitr event in Parkside on Wednesday afternoon, injuring three people and causing pandemonium near one of the city’s largest mosques.
Six months after Officer Richard Mendez was shot and killed in an airport parking lot as he and his partner tried to stop a car theft, FOP headquarters honored him with a memorial plaque.
A Montco judge ordered Bryn Mawr Film Institute to hold an Israeli Film Festival of Philadelphia screening that had been canceled the day before amid mounting objections to the festival from organizations critical of Israel.
An Islamic center at Rutgers University was vandalized on Wednesday morning, and authorities are investigating the act as a hate crime.
Pennsylvania’s “fair funding” formula only distributes a small fraction of the education budget equitably, this Swarthmore professor and author says.
The Kensington building that served as Mighty Mick’s boxing gym in the Rocky movies is slated to become a tasting room for Lost Time Brewing Co.
The Bicentennial Bell, a 10-ton replica of the Liberty Bell gifted by Queen Elizabeth II, is back out of storage and on view at Third and Walnut Streets.
Apparently, it’s gotten harder to book a big table at Philly restaurants — unless you plan ahead or pay upfront.
Gluten-free Philadelphians, this is your moment. Restaurant critic Craig LaBan has put together a definitive guide to local gluten-free restaurants and bakeries.
Awareness of gluten allergies, and accordingly, allergy-friendly dining options have grown a ton in recent years. LaBan personally knows what he’s talking about here: He writes that his two-part guide “comprises nearly 70 options around Philadelphia my family has come to trust since my daughter Alice was diagnosed with celiac three years ago.”
Just a few typically gluten-filled food items that Philly chefs and bakers are making gluten-free:
🍞 Bread: Find your classic seeded long rolls, but also quinoa sandwich loaf and challah, at places such as Taffets Bakery in Bella Vista.
🍩 Doughnuts: If you’re craving a quirky flavor like birthday cake or strawberry rhubarb, pop over to Okie Dokie Donuts in South Philly.
🍝 Pasta: Yes, really. Settantatré Pasta Company sells its own from a Delco storefront, while Cry Baby Pasta in Queen Village or Tulip Pasta & Wine Bar in Fishtown will gladly replace housemade pastas with gluten-free noodles.
🍗 Fried chicken: Run, don’t walk, to the excellent Doro Bet Ethiopian Chicken House in Spruce Hill, which uses allergy-friendly teff flour.
Check out LaBan’s full guide to gluten-free dining in Philadelphia, including his lists dedicated to bakeries and to restaurants and bars.
Yesterday we told you about the five issues that have most defined Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s time in office so far, especially stabilizing Kensington.
Today, which marks 100 days from her public inauguration (one day after she was privately sworn into office on Jan. 1), we hear what the mayor herself says about the start of her tenure.
Most prominently, her focus on stabilizing Kensington.
“What has been allowed to become the status quo, standard operating procedure for how life is lived in the Kensington area, it didn’t happen in a day,” Parker told The Inquirer’s Anna Orso and Sean Collins Walsh. “I know we’re not going to fix it in a day. This administration has been intentional.”
Take an in-depth look at how she has navigated her first 100 days in office, from hiring to management to the issues she’s chosen to elevate.
🧠 Trivia time
Which team will the Philadelphia Eagles face in the 2024 season opener in Brazil?
A) Washington Commanders
B) Green Bay Packers
C) Cleveland Browns
D) Kansas City Chiefs
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we're...
🗣️ Hearing: The hoagiemouth loud and clear in this roundup of the best and worst Philly accents in movies.
🧢 Loving: This apparel line honoring the city’s Negro League baseball team.
🎙️ Downloading: This podcast on a local journalist’s dive into the (very personal) history of donor insemination.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Philly’s traveling beer garden kicks off for the 2024 season on April 17.
Hint: 🌳🚰
ASTOR KNAPP
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Grace Romo, who solved Wednesday’s anagram: Scrub Daddy. The Pennsauken company makes TikTok-famous smiley-face sponges — and soon, a new bathroom-cleaning product.
Photo of the day
See you back in your inbox 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.