🍎 Back to school in style | Morning Newsletter
And the cost of being publicly pro-Palestine
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Happy hump day. You’re halfway through the work week. There are only two more days until the weekend.
It’ll be sunny with clear skies and a high of 89.
In today’s newsletter:
⚖️ A subpoena: Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner calls the latest effort to impeach him “illegal” and ”wholly illegitimate.”
🇵🇸 A discrimination lawsuit: Former athletic trainer Natalie Abulhawa is accusing her former employer of discrimination after they fired her for publicly supporting Palestine.
💸 Student loans: The Biden administration is expected to announce a plan to forgive $10,000 worth of federal loans for some borrowers today.
— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
It’s officially back to school season: Summer ended for thousands of Philly teachers this week.
Nicole Patterson, the principal at Zeigler Elementary, set the tone welcoming staff with a sprawled out blue carpet adorned with balloons and signs. People clapped and cheered before entering the building to grab gift bags.
“I have a blue-ribbon carpet for our blue-ribbon staff!” Patterson said.
Closures, changing rules around masking, new curriculums, and staffing challenges were constant worries last year. Some of that will linger but there’s a lot of hope in the air at Zeigler.
They’re fully staffed and ready to get to work. Not every school can say that.
Reporter Kristen Graham interviews educators as they share their hopes for the academic year after two years navigating the pandemic.
What you should know today
District Attorney Larry Krasner said he will not comply with a subpoena from a Republican-controlled state committee looking to impeach the progressive prosecutor over his handling of Philadelphia’s gun violence crisis.
President Joe Biden is expected to announce cancellation of $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers who make $125,000 or less. It might also come with an extended pause on repayment through December.
Pennsylvania updated its voter registration form to allow voters to simultaneously sign up for mail ballots. County election officials aren’t happy.
Delaware County Council approved a $38 million upgrade for the county’s 911 radio system.
Tower Health’s reserves sunk by $331 million over the last 12 months and it only has enough cash to keep running for 54 days without any new revenue.
Local coronavirus numbers: Here’s your daily look at the latest COVID-19 data.
Last November, Natalie Abulhawa was abruptly fired from her position as an athletic trainer at the Agnes Irwin School after members of her school community found her years-old, pro-Palestine social media posts that they characterized as antisemitic.
One year later, the once highly sought-after candidate keeps getting rejections. Her name is on Canary Mission, a website that creates profiles of college students, professors, and organizations that advocate for Palestinian rights. It bills itself as documenting “individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.”
Reporter Massarah Mikati chronicles Abulhawa’s next step: filing a federal discrimination charge against the Agnes Irwin School
🧠 Philly Trivia Time 🧠
The Bachelorette’s Rachel Recchia broke up with Tyler Norris after a date on the boardwalk.
Question: Which Jersey Shore boardwalk did he take her?
A. Ocean City
B. Wildwood
C. Atlantic City
D. Seaside Heights
Think you know? Find out.
What We’re …
Drinking: Canned rosés. It’s easy to pack for a quick trip and I like the convenience.
🍁 Fantasizing: About the one silver lining about the summer’s dryness: The upcoming season’s potential for a brighter fall foliage this year.
📰 Reading: A callout for Penn, Jefferson, and Drexel to pay more property taxes to help under-resourced schools.
🧩 Unscramble the Anagram 🧩
Hint: pizza in Strawberry Mansion
HOROWITZ PAND ZN
Think you know? Send your guess our way at morningnewsletter@inquirer.com. We’ll give a shout-out to a reader at random who answers correctly. Today’s shout-out goes to Carol Basile, who correctly guessed Robin Borlandoe as Wednesday’s answer.
Photo of the day
Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday. I’m off to go for a morning jog. See you the same time tomorrow