🛒 Neighborly aid amid the shutdown | Morning Newsletter

Happy Halloween, Philly. Today’s forecast is dry but still a little scary, as gusts may reach 50 mph.

The government shutdown hits the one-month mark this Saturday, the same day SNAP benefits are set to freeze. Below, find details on where to find food assistance, and on how Philly-area residents are taking a grassroots approach to help their neighbors in need.

And massive spending campaigns, personal attacks, and political division plagued suburban school board races in 2023. This year, not so much.

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

P.S. Friday means trivia. Our latest news quiz includes questions on train fires, a Surfside lawsuit, and more.

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Nearly 2 million low-income Pennsylvanians, including 500,000 Philadelphians, rely on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to help pay for groceries.

🥕 Those benefits are set to freeze tomorrow, as the federal shutdown continues and President Donald Trump rejects the idea of tapping into contingency funds to keep aid flowing. Learn how SNAP works and how the pause might impact Philly residents.

🥫 Local food pantries and mutual aid groups are stepping up to feed their neighbors amid surging demand. We rounded up where to find free groceries, meals, and community fridges around the region.

🛒 Similar to efforts seen in the early days of the pandemic, some folks are also distributing lists of resources on social media or becoming “grocery buddies” with neighbors in need by picking up the tab for their supermarket bills.

⚡ The federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program has also been frozen. Beginning Nov. 1, Philadelphia Gas Works and Peco said they will onboard customers into their energy assistance programs, and will not disconnect services to those households amid the shutdown.

🏛️ See our rundown of everything that’s been affected by the government shutdown so far, and what could be next.

There’s less controversy — and less money — in this year’s school board races in Philadelphia’s collar counties.

In Central Bucks, for instance, contentious races attracted national attention as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign spending over the last two election cycles. Democrats in 2023 seized control of the board from a conservative majority that had banned books and Pride flags in the district.

Now, candidates on both sides are mostly avoiding issues related to identity, instead focusing on local issues like taxes.

Notable quote: “School districts are struggling financially,” a Democratic consultant told The Inquirer. “[Parents] don’t want to have a debate about DEI anymore, they want to make sure their kids are getting a good education.”

Reporters Fallon Roth and Katie Bernard have the story.

In other suburban news: A sweeping grand jury investigation found smoke shops sell unregulated and often dangerous drug products — sometimes to children — in Montgomery, Bucks, and Chester Counties. And a Delaware County museum wanted to “expand the narrative” around slavery, but under the Trump administration, the funding disappeared.

Welcome back to Curious Philly Friday. We’ll feature both new and timeless stories from our forum for readers to ask about the city’s quirks.

This week, we’re resurfacing an explainer from 2019 on how the area between the Delaware River and the Schuylkill and between South and Vine Streets got its name.

In Philadelphia’s earlier days, it was called “Old City Proper” and, according to Inquirer ads from the 1870s, “centre of city.” (How posh!) “Center City” started appearing around in the 1920s. See the full story for fun facts about the original plan for the city, and why “downtown” never quite caught on.

Have your own burning question about Philadelphia, its local oddities, or how the region works? Submit it here and you might find the answer featured in this space.

Which of these Philadelphia Zoo animals do not get to partake in the social media phenomenon that is pumpkin-feeding season?

A) Tortoises

B) Hippos

C) Primates

D) Vultures

Think you know? Check your answer.

🍝 Remembering: The Halloween 1989 assassination attempt at Dante & Luigi’s.

😱 Trying to forget: The 10 most haunting Philly sports moments since 2000.

⚾ Wishing would go: Nick Castellanos, according to the results of our Phillies Stay or Go poll.

🥩 Anticipating: Charles Barkley’s new steakhouse and cigar lounge at Valley Forge Casino Resort.

🔥 Smelling like: A barbecue grill, courtesy of Jason Kelce’s new cologne.

Hint: New Jersey university

CONE PRINT

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

Cheers to Scott LaQuay, who solved Thursday’s anagram: West Chester. The Chester County borough’s eponymous university will launch a School of Nursing in January.

🐶 One last rescued thing: This good boy, Ron the pit bull, was once scheduled to be euthanized. He’s now working in narcotics detection for a South Jersey police department.

P.S. Also saved? The Wanamaker Light Show and Dickens Village, both of which will reopen to the public on Friday, Nov. 28. (OK, so that’s two more rescued things.)

I got a peek at the darkened holiday display on Wednesday night while heading to the Wanamaker Building’s Greek Hall for the Pipe Up! concerts’ silent horror film series. There’s something special (and creepy!) about walking through such a cavernous, now-empty space that once meant so much to so many Philadelphians. The experience will surely make me appreciate Frosty’s return even more.

Have a good one. Paola has you covered with the news this weekend.

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