The end of Tuesdays with Toomey | Morning Newsletter
And there are fewer injured cops after an Inquirer investigation
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The Morning Newsletter
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In a few weeks, Democratic Sen.-elect John Fetterman will replace Republican Pat Toomey. It’ll also mark the end of the six years of Tuesdays with Toomey, a weekly protest at Toomey’s Philadelphia office.
Our lead story centers the protesters’ reflections as they prepare to welcome a new senator.
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— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
As Sen. Pat Toomey prepares to leave office in the new year, the demonstrators who have protested outside his Philadelphia office every week since his 2016 reelection are looking forward to having their Tuesday afternoons back.
Some background: The group formed after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election.
A Philadelphia nanny, Alexandra Gunnison, visited Toomey’s Philadelphia office on a Tuesday afternoon when she had a break to raise concerns about Trump and rising hate crimes. She wasn’t satisfied with Toomey’s response and a weekly protest was born.
Over the six years, the weekly protest was sometimes just a couple dozen people. Other times, it swelled around major events, such as the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg or the early GOP attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
The leaders of the group say the experience heightened their level of civic engagement that will last beyond Toomey’s tenure.
Toomey said the protests didn’t affect his work.
Keep reading to learn what’s next for the demonstrators who protested the senator for more than half a decade.
An internal list of the number of police officers who were out of work but still getting paid first grew by dozens, but then by hundreds.
Cops stayed out longer with injured-on-duty claims while continuing to collect their full pay on top of a 20% raise in the form of tax breaks from a disability benefit for first responders.
Reminders: The Inquirer has investigated potential fraud and abuse in the police disability system for the past year as part of a series, MIA: Crisis in the Ranks. Some officers who were supposedly too hurt to do police work managed to also hold down second jobs, start new businesses, play sports, and run marathons.
Important figures:
By September 2021, the weekly list showed that 14% of all patrol officers in Philadelphia were injured, a vastly higher percentage than in other major cities.
Now, according to a recent list obtained by The Inquirer, the number of officers out with injury claims dropped by 31% while the number of officers cleared for court duty has more than tripled.
Keep reading to discover what else has changed in the department since the investigation published.
What you should know today
The House Jan. 6 committee made four criminal referral against former President Donald Trump for his role in the 2021 insurrection of the U.S. Capitol. The committee also referred Rep. Scott Perry (R., Pa.) and three other Republicans to the House Ethics Committee for ignoring congressional subpoenas.
The political director of the city’s powerful electrician’s union, Local 98, plead guilty to federal charges just weeks before former labor leader John Dougherty’s next trial.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts could miss two games after he suffered a shoulder sprain during Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears.
SEPTA is getting $56 million to make six subway stations more accessible to people with disabilities.
Philadelphia’s first rock and roll star, Charlie Gracie, died at age 86.
Local coronavirus numbers: Here’s your daily look at the latest COVID-19 data.
🧠 Philly Trivia Time 🧠
How many decades has DJ Robert Drake delivered an eccentric holiday marathon mix on WXPN?
A. Three
B. Two
C. One
D. Trick question. He hasn’t been doing it that long.
Find out if you know the answer.
What we’re...
📰 Reading: How the hiring of the cop who killed Tamir Rice almost completely imploded a Pennsylvania borough’s small government.
👀 Watching: Sam Bankman-Fried could be coming back to the United States to face criminal charges related to the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
✈️ Explaining: Why a fighter jet was flying over the Philly region yesterday morning.
🧩 Unscramble the Anagram 🧩
Hint: “A Long Walk”
JOLT LTSCI
We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Send us your own original anagram to unscramble if you’d like. Email us if you know the answer. Cheers to Johanna Greeson who correctly guessed Monday’s answer: James Harden.
Photo of the Day
And that’s what you need to start your Tuesday. I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow 📧.