Senate acquits Trump; Philly’s incoming top cop was molded by Oakland, Calif. | Morning Newsletter
Plus, a Bucks County man who robbed 19 banks to pay bills gets his prison sentence.
The Morning Newsletter
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The U.S. Senate yesterday voted to acquit President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial. Party leaders from both sides in Pennsylvania, though, are skeptical about how much voters in the state really cared about or paid attention to the proceedings. Locally, a new police commissioner takes over in Philly on Monday. My colleague went to Oakland, Calif., to learn how that city molded Danielle Outlaw into the person she is today. Also, a Bucks County bank robber got his prison sentence yesterday following a spree of robbing 19 banks in nine years; Vice President Mike Pence visited a West Philly school; and the Sixers face the NBA’s best team tonight as they carry a three-game losing streak.
— Josh Rosenblat (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
Next week, Danielle Outlaw will take over as Philadelphia’s police commissioner. She’ll be the first black woman to lead the department, which has been rocked by racism and sexual harassment scandals. All the while, the city is trying to combat levels of gun violence not seen in years.
My colleague Chris Palmer spoke to nearly a dozen of Outlaw’s associates and friends in Oakland, where she spent the first two decades of her career. The discussions, he writes, “reveal that in the insular and testosterone-filled culture of policing, Outlaw, 43, has long approached her work with ambition, confidence, and determination.”
The U.S. Senate acquitted President Donald Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress yesterday. The votes ended a historic impeachment trial that split almost exactly along party lines. All but one Republican senator voted “not guilty” on the abuse of power account. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah was the only Republican to support Trump’s removal from office, making him the first senator ever to vote to remove a president of his or her own party.
When it comes to how the result of Trump’s impeachment trial will impact Pennsylvania, a critical swing state for his reelection, elected officials, party activists, and voters aren’t certain. “On the ground, I just don’t hear people talking about it,” said Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democrat who lives in Braddock, near Pittsburgh. “I think minds were made up a long time ago.”
Pennsylvania is the ultimate political battleground in the 2020 election. And soon, we’ll launch an email newsletter with everything you need to know. You can sign up to get it here.
Richard Boyle’s nine-year crime spree across the Philadelphia suburbs saw him rob 19 banks between 2007 and 2016. The Bucks County man was nicknamed “the Straw Hat Bandit” because of the disguise he wore — a makeshift sackcloth mask and a distinctive hat. Boyle stole more than a half-million dollars, using them mostly to pay his bills for, among other things, a used car, rent, dental debts, and his daughter’s tuition at Temple. The story goes that when Boyle was deep in his 40s, he read a newspaper article about a bank heist and thought he could do better, his former lawyer said.
The 60-year-old was in court yesterday to receive his sentence. “You are no Jean Valjean, sir,” said U.S. District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter, referring to the Les Misérables protagonist who was sentenced to 19 years of hard labor for stealing bread to feed his family. “You had enough skills that you did not have to steal to make money.” Pratter sentenced Boyle to 71 years in prison.
What you need to know today
One result of the meltdown in the Iowa caucuses is that the Pennsylvania primary in April is looking like a bigger deal.
A group that championed a Pennsylvania lobbying law was fined $19,900 for breaking it, Spotlight PA reports.
The Philadelphia School District has promised to take quicker action to address environmental hazards in its aging buildings. Even so, hundreds of reports of damaged asbestos in city schools are unresolved, teachers’ union officials said yesterday.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claims the bankrupt South Philly oil refinery owes the government millions.
VP Mike Pence was in West Philly yesterday, pushing school choice during a visit to a Catholic elementary school. And Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will be directly providing a scholarship to a Philadelphia girl mentioned by President Trump in his State of the Union address earlier this week.
A SEPTA board seat that represents Philadelphia has been empty since the summer. But now, Mayor Jim Kenney has made his appointment.
Through your eyes | #OurPhilly
This pic has us thinking of sunshine and spring, @laphillyphoto!
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
🙀"Chewbacca roar contest" fliers have been popping up around Philly and South Jersey. And if you call the number posted and leave your best impression of the iconic Star Wars character, you’ll become complicit in a high school prank.
🔬The Netflix documentary The Goop Lab is a six-part series that covers “energy healing,” exorcisms, and cold therapy. Goop is Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle company, and the way the documentary treats fake science like the real thing could be dangerous, experts say.
🔔The 76ers have lost three in a row and head to Milwaukee to play the league-leading Bucks tonight.
🤳An app lets you pay to get personalized messages from celebs. Here are our Philly favorites.
🦅The Birds were the stars of Amazon/NFL Films’ All or Nothing. It’s available to stream starting tomorrow. And my colleague Les Bowen has already seen the eight episodes. He shares his thoughts on the series’ portrayal of the Eagles’ absurd list of injuries, a 5-7 start, four-game winning streak, and eventual loss in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
👕Here’s how Adidas designed the Philadelphia Union’s new jerseys for 2020.
Opinions
“His rationale for his vote to acquit is cut from the same self-serving cloth. The senator makes sweeping conclusions about the president’s other possible motives for withholding aid as witnesses with direct knowledge of such facts sit muzzled on the sidelines.” — writes Thomas Harper, a military officer and attorney from the Lehigh Valley, about Sen. Pat Toomey’s impeachment votes.
The Inquirer Editorial Board writes that everyone should relax about what happened with the results of the Iowa caucuses. It’s important, the board writes, “to find a happy medium between being vigilant about our systems and panicking unnecessarily.”
Is it time for Philly to have rent control? Folks on both sides of the debate write about the issue for The Inquirer.
What we’re reading
Hidden City explores the history of South Street, looking closely at the legacy of architect and photographer Denise Scott Brown.
SB Nation has a story about Elinor Kaine Penna, a pioneer in pro football writing, a field where women weren’t welcome.
Around 1694, a ship wrecked near the foot of a mountain in Oregon. And for hundreds of years, there were rumors of treasure. No one found anything until one woman began digging, according to a story in the Atavist.
Your Daily Dose of | Things to do
Looking for things to do this weekend and next week? We’ve got you covered with previews of the Philadelphia Auto Show, an Oscars party, and, a pop-up love letter writing desk. If you want to get these recommendations straight to your inbox every week, you can sign up for our free email newsletter.