Super Tuesday will be a tougher test for Joe Biden despite recent win and endorsements; properties from cheap Philly land sales owe $900k in back taxes | Morning Newsletter
Plus, a major Philly museum filed for bankruptcy protection.
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Yesterday and today are balmy, weather-wise. But 60 years ago was one of the biggest late-season snowfalls Philly’s ever gotten. And even that pales in comparison to the storm in early April 1915, when nearly 20 inches fell. While today’s weather will be fine in Philly, some voters across the country will have to contend with severe thunderstorms on Super Tuesday. Today, 14 states will vote in primaries that could change the direction of the race for the Democratic presidential nominee. We’ll be following those contests closely throughout the day and night on Inquirer.com.
— Josh Rosenblat (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
While Biden’s decisive win in South Carolina jolted the Democratic presidential primary, the 14 states voting today could reinforce Biden’s rise, swing energy back toward Sen. Bernie Sanders, or further complicate things with billionaire Michael Bloomberg now appearing on ballots. Those three candidates, along with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, will all be vying to earn delegates.
Today marks the first time candidates will compete in multiple states on one day, meaning that voting will range from heavily black electorates in the South to significant Latino blocs in California and Texas, to white, suburban voters in Virginia, and more.
Over the last few days, candidates who left the race have given Biden a chance to consolidate support among Democrats who may fear Sanders is too far left. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and ex-South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg have now endorsed Biden.
This year, winning Pennsylvania will go a long way toward winning the White House. And to cover how Pennsylvania is shaping the 2020 election, we’re launching a new email newsletter. Every Wednesday, beginning tomorrow, you’ll get reporting from counties across the state, insight into issues that impact you, fact checks on what candidates are saying, and more. Sign up here, and don’t forget to pass it along.
Philadelphia has basically given away thousands of abandoned properties that the city acquired as the population declined. In theory, new owners would earn their bargains by fixing up houses and sprucing up vacant lots. Then those land parcels would return to the city’s tax rolls.
But that didn’t always happen. As of January, more than a quarter of the people who bought city property for a dollar and haven’t resold it were late on their property taxes.
The museum filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, citing what officials call a crushing debt burden because of the construction of its home on Independence Mall a decade ago. In papers filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the museum said it owes about $30 million to bondholders and about $500,000 to unsecured creditors.
Officials also said that the proceedings would not impact museum staffing or operations. Those operations sometimes include unusual, quirky exhibitions for which the museum is known. But court records indicate that since it opened in 2010, "revenues from gate receipts and events have not reached the levels expected.”
What you need to know today
Some Philadelphia politicians who were furious with the rollout of plans for a supervised injection site last week say that the controversy has given new life to a state bill that would make opening a site without the local government’s support illegal.
The chief medical officer at Penn said Monday that the school has been working with several companies to develop a coronavirus test and that a test probably won’t be ready until mid-March. In the meantime, wearing a face mask isn’t the best way to protect yourself.
The cause of a gas odor that led to the evacuation of multiple buildings in Center City and an hours-long investigation remains undetermined, the Philadelphia Fire Department said late yesterday afternoon.
Here’s (almost) every member of Philly City Council on their 2020 pick for president.
Why did the co-leader of a Bucks County heroin mill get an unusually light sentence?
A Philly immigration judge says he retired because President Donald Trump turned appeals courts into “a Politburo-like rubber stamp.”
Through your eyes | #OurPhilly
Is this what happens when you’re playing hide-and-seek with One Liberty Place? Great shot, @shutter.sean.
Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we’ll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout out!
That’s interesting
🌨️Sixty years ago today, Philly got over 8 inches of snow. But that’s not close to the largest late snowfall the region has seen.
🍳City health inspectors shut down a popular brunch spot for having live cockroaches and dead roaches, along with a dead rat.
🏒The Flyers are the NHL’s hottest team, and they’ll try to stop one of the world’s best players in a marquee matchup tomorrow night. To keep up with the surging squad, sign up to get On the Fly, our Flyers newsletter, twice a week.
📦Is getting groceries delivered worth it?
💰An indentured servant left his $10,000 farm to Villanova. And it helped the financially struggling school survive.
🔴South Jersey students are getting a civics lesson as they push to make cranberry juice the state beverage.
Opinions
“Like too many parents, I’m trapped in an economy that doesn’t work for me and my family, no matter how hard I try. The main culprit: the extraordinarily high cost of child care.” — writes Jasmine Holliday, a Philadelphia mother, about the constant battle between wanting to work and not being able to afford child care.
Property taxes inflict far more pain than a potential “millionaires’ tax" in New Jersey, the Inquirer Editorial Board writes.
Paul Heaton, a Montgomery County native and academic director at Penn’s Carey Law School, writes that the firing of the county’s top public defenders is a step backward for criminal justice.
What we’re reading
Philly schools are named after a wide variety of people, from politicians to Civil War generals and America’s Founding Fathers. But just 5% of them are named after women, the Philadelphia Tribune reports.
A 25-year-old who lives in Boston ran her first marathon this weekend. And her second one will be at the Olympics this summer. The New York Times profiled Molly Seidel, who qualified for the Olympics this weekend by finishing second in the U.S. trials.
Have a trip coming up? The Washington Post talked to experts about how we should be thinking about travel as the coronavirus threat evolves.
Your Daily Dose of | A Miracle Shot
With 4/10 of a second left in the game and Holy Family losing to Jefferson by a point, they needed a miracle to go the length of the court and score. And they got just that. Sports columnist Mike Jensen was there, and he got the final full-court play on video. Then he asked the players and coaches to describe the indescribable.