The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Hello, Sunday.
Our last official day of summer is shaping up to be a gorgeous one. As we welcome the autumn equinox, resident weather expert Tony Wood lays out what we can expect, from brighter nights to colorful foliage shows.
Down the Shore, modern-day treasure hunters scour heaps of garbage for golden nuggets. In our main story, meet Tucker Upper, the YouTuber making money with his finds.
And the Wanamaker Light Show and Dickens Village, two key traditions of Philadelphia’s holiday experience, are set to go on this year. However, without fundraising help, they remain endangered.
— Paola Pérez (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Mattresses. Dressers. Lawn chairs. Couches. And so much more.
One of the Jersey Shore’s premier trash pickers, James Graeff delights in these discards. He plays scavenger between Shore towns, grabbing curbside items before they get hauled away to a landfill.
Known as Tucker Upper on YouTube, Graeff and others like him scour wealthy beach towns, seeking to give a second life to a variety of goods found in people’s garbage.
With 220,000 subscribers and counting, Tucker Upper, 34, films himself trash-picking and clearing out homes and bids on storage units. As his viewers revel in watching him find and flip trash into treasure, he feels he’s doing his part in helping the planet.
In his own words: “We as a race need to realize it’s never going to be sustainable to continue buying new stuff even when the old stuff is still usable.”
🎤 I’m passing the mic to culture and identity reporter Mike Newall.
The lights are dark now.
The 100,000 individual bulbs that sparkle and dance during the Wanamaker Light Show, and the paneled Santa and Sugarplum Fairies and snowflakes, are stowed away above Wanamaker’s Grand Court in a tiny circuit room known as “Frosty Central.” The 154 branches of the show’s towering tree hang in a storage room behind the Wanamaker Organ, an expanse known affectionately as the “meat locker.” And the cobbled streets of Dickens Village are dark and deserted, the animatronic characters that display scenes of Ebenezer Scrooge’s Christmas redemption, frozen in place and sheathed in plastic, like ghosts all themselves.
Despite the closing of the Center City Macy’s earlier this year, the Light Show and Dickens Village, both beloved Philadelphia holiday attractions there, will be broken out of their boxes and wrapping once more come Thanksgiving. And while news earlier this summer that a fundraising effort would ensure the shows endured for at least one more holiday season fell on many merry ears like the joyous Christmas morning shouts of Scrooge himself, a question remained: What is yet to come for the future of the Light Show? ― Mike Newall
With less than 100 days until Christmas, learn more about the uncertain future of these cherished holiday fixtures.
What you should know today
The decomposing body found last week in the trunk of a stolen car in North Philadelphia has been identified by police as 27-year-old Malik Tribble.
Gov. Josh Shapiro charged that the Trump administration is “trying to stifle dissent” by wielding power to keep critics like late-night comedy host Jimmy Kimmel off the air.
Members of the two unions representing Temple University Hospital nurses, technical specialists, and other medical professionals voted Friday to authorize a strike if a deal is not reached for a new contract.
A South Jersey nonprofit has suspended its leader for asking a Salem school to have Black students portray slaves for a reenactment marking the city’s 350th anniversary.
The Pennsylvania GOP endorsed Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity for governor in the 2026 election at its massive organizational meeting in State College on Saturday.
Actor Gary Busey has been sentenced to two years’ probation for groping a woman at a Cherry Hill horror convention in 2022.
Lyft has paid $19.4 million to New Jersey’s Department of Labor & Workforce Development after the state found that the company had misclassified over 100,000 drivers as independent contractors.
Mark Frisby, retired publisher of the Daily News and associate publisher of The Inquirer, died Wednesday. He was 64.
Calder Gardens opened to the public today. It’s the next big contributor on the Parkway to the city’s cultural tourism.
The Birds host the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, and it could have playoff implications. Inquirer writers lay out their predictions for the matchup. Ahead of kickoff, use our viewers guide to catch up on what you missed heading into Week 3.
❓Pop quiz
When Phillies’ Nick Castellanos came off the bench in Arizona on Friday night, he hit his ____ career home run.
A) 75th
B) 100th
C) 250th
D) 300th
Think you know? Check your answer.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: A celebration of history and culture from Sept. 15-Oct. 15
AMINO PITCHING SHEATHER
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.
Cheers to Janet Bender who correctly guessed Saturday’s answer: Sabrina Carpenter. The Muppet Show is getting a reboot special starring the Bucks County native. But the pop star’s history with fuzzy green guys goes way back.
Dreamworld Bakes founder Ashley Huston said she is “constantly working.” Her perfect day in Philly would be a day when her bakery stays busy all day, so she tried to imagine a different one, outside of her shop. Here’s where she took us.
🎶 Today’s track goes like this: “You left me folded in the dark / And now I’m seeing stars again.” Consider yourself lucky if you witnessed Turnstile at the Mann on Friday night.
One more musical thing: David Pianka’s Making Time ∞ music festival is back this weekend at Fort Mifflin. Pop critic Dan DeLuca has the story on how Pianka turned a Revolutionary War-era fort into an international dance music destination.
👋🏽 I’m taking some time off, so my brilliant colleagues will emcee this newsletter in the next weekend editions. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Inquirer, and I’ll catch up with you again soon.