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đź’” Rules for a small-town breakup | Morning Newsletter

And today’s top stories.

    The Morning Newsletter

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

Good morning. Saturday will be another hot day, with a chance of hit-and-miss showers in the evening.

Should you surrender your favorite neighborhood haunts just to avoid running into an old flame? Inquirer staffers offer some tips.

Plus, there’s a new supermarket coming to Northwest Philly, widespread support for a South Jersey child hurt in a baseball accident, and our report card for this week in Philly news.

— Paola Pérez (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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What you should know today

  1. Officials were searching for a man who jumped into the Delaware River early Friday morning, but shifted the focus to a recovery effort. Over in Wildwood, officials called off the search for a Philadelphia teen who went missing after entering the Atlantic Ocean.

  2. Sen. John Fetterman has reportedly decided against blocking the nomination of President Donald Trump’s pick for a federal judge in Pennsylvania. The nominee, Antonio Pozos, is a Philly law firm partner and former federal prosecutor.

  3. Philadelphia City Council passed a pair of bills aiming to further tighten rules on smoke shops selling unregulated drugs. Next week, Council plans to vote on legislation that would ban horse-drawn carriages.

  4. The downfall of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s tax proposals on big tech is her biggest legislative defeat yet. Her primary obstacle was close to home.

  5. Members of Philly’s teachers union and education advocates implored school officials to restore 340 classroom positions on the chopping block.

  6. Veteran Philadelphia State Sen. Anthony Williams says his bid for reelection in November will be his last, and he didn’t commit to completing another four-year term.

  7. A Giant supermarket will open at the Andorra Shopping Center on June 19.

  8. Support for Xavier Taylor, a 12-year-old boy from Maple Shade who was critically injured after being struck with a baseball, has grown nationwide.

  9. Between remembering Martha Graham Cracker and Cristopher Sánchez making more baseball history, catch up on the good, bad, and weird from recent stories out of Philly.

A reader asked: I keep running into my ex at the same bars. We both live in the same small town outside Philly and there isn’t much else around unless you drive for a while, so I knew it was inevitable, but it’s uncomfortable every time. How many favorite spots am I expected to surrender? Or do we just keep running into each other and let time heal the awkwardness?

Inquirer reporters Dugan Arnett and Beatrice Forman tackled this question with straightforward solutions. For instance, they suggest self-reflection (consider if the happy hour is truly worth the ex cameo) and confidence (live your life freely and don’t mess up your routine!). Besides, as Forman put it, “Who says it has to keep being awkward?”

That is, of course, all under the assumption that the breakup wasn’t wildly toxic.

“I think a lot of the awkwardness around seeing our exes is very manufactured because you don’t want to be perceived as being cold or hurting their feelings,” Forman said. “But, now the only thing tying you together is that you both live in the same town.”

Read their full verdict here. Need advice, or want to share your thoughts? We want to hear it. Email us here.

The University Avenue Bridge, designed by the esteemed French-born Philadelphia architect Paul Philippe Cret, is nearly a century old.

In a column, culture writer Peter Dobrin calls the Philly gem that connects West Philadelphia and Grays Ferry “a monument to decrepitude.”

“The bridge may have newfound prominence, but a rescue is not on the way anytime soon,” Dobrin writes.

Get Dobrin’s perspective on why he believes it’s embarrassing how the bridge remains neglected.

📍 Find the location

Think you know where these paraders are marching? Our weekly game puts your knowledge of Philly’s streets and places to the test. Check your answer.

đź§© Unscramble the anagram

Hint: Burlington County township

ROILING BOWL

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

Cheers to Anne Mackin, who correctly guessed Friday’s answer: Toll Brothers. The Fort Washington-based luxury homebuilder was one of nine Philly-area companies that made this year’s Fortune 500.

Harlem-bred rapper A$AP Rocky brought his “Don’t Be Dumb” tour to South Philly on Thursday. The two-hour show was “a Hollywood-style production with Rocky in the director’s chair,” writes arts and culture reporter Earl Hopkins. Get the full recap here.

Somewhere on the internet in Philly

🏒 Chowder is canonically a Flyers fan.

đź§€ Dean Norris (of Breaking Bad fame) weighed in on the never-ending Philly cheesesteak debate.

🌱 Before she headlined the Roots Picnic, Erykah Badu spent some time “checking out some Philly electrons.” She said we have the softest grass in the world. (I wonder if she’d like Outdoorsy.)

🎨 Check out this awesome basement mural of Citizens Bank Park.

👋🏽 That’s it for now. Go Phils.

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