What will it take to #SaveTheUSPS? | Morning Newsletter
And, reactions to Castor’s opener at the impeachment trial.
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Good morning from The Inquirer newsroom.
Snow is back, and it’s an interesting one. These are the absolute best sledding hills in Philly, the Pennsylvania suburbs, and New Jersey.
First: You might plan on keeping your mail delivery expectations low. Here’s the whole story about what’s going on with the struggling Postal Service that no one could save yet.
Then: The widely criticized impeachment trial opening from defense lawyer Bruce L. Castor Jr. was, he says, “by design.”
And: Hospitals are finding a powerful way to make the vaccination effort more equitable.
If you’re celebrating Sunday, we’ve got some options for a deliciously decadent Valentine’s Day in a special section below.
— Ashley Hoffman (@_AshleyHoffman, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
What’s it going to take to save the struggling Postal Service?
Democrats got together to rally behind #SavetheUSPS to draw attention to an agency in crisis after the pandemic coupled with Trump appointee and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s leadership led to severe cuts to service. Even now in power, Democrats believe that they can do nothing to fix it.
The USPS had a massive job last year, and did it, delivering 543 million pieces of political mail. But now Philly’s seeing the worst delays yet. We’re anticipating more potential issues as DeJoy rolls out additional changes next week, when the Postal Service’s delivery infrastructure might get only more troubling as people wait for checks, medicine and vital documents stuck in mail limbo.
As usual, neither snow nor rain nor heat can keep reporter Ellie Rushing from delivering the latest news on the financial and political turmoil facing the USPS.
After defense lawyer Bruce L. Castor’s opener on the first day of Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, Castor said that Trump had no issues with his defense team’s display, which drew criticism from GOP senators and pundits alike.
With his viral 50-minute monologue, Castor sought to flatter Senators and even got personal, using some time to talk about his own career as Montgomery County’s district attorney.
And he listened as his own congresswoman, U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean (D., Pa.), began laying out the case for conviction. Reporter Jeremy Roebuck has the story.
Bonus: From “embarrassing” to pleas to ”cut him some slack,” you’d better believe that people from Montco had a thing or two to say about it in this story from reporter Anna Orso.
Where can you get a vaccine in the Philly area if you’re eligible? Use our lookup tool and find out.
Symptoms of COVID-19, flu, common cold, and allergies can be similar. This is how you can tell the difference.
The coronavirus is mainly transmitted through the air. Here’s how to know whether your ventilation is OK.
Here are the updated coronavirus case numbers as COVID-19 spreads in the region. You can see our chart from John Duchneskie below.
What you need to know today
Hospitals are using churches to get vaccine doses to Black communities across the city.
Should Philly use the Linc as a mass vaccination site? It’s a political fight now.
The coronavirus variant first identified in the U.K. is likely spreading across the Philly region at a higher rate than it is being detected, with new cases confirmed yesterday in Montgomery County and at the University of Pennsylvania.
Rural commercial airline access keeps disappearing, leaving rural Pennsylvanians feeling stranded.
Police say the Philly cop whose car crashed into a home while he was intoxicated, injuring a couple and killing a dog, is expected to be fired.
The Wolf administration is refusing to release the details after the Department of State’s failure thwarted Pa. clergy sex abuse relief.
Susan Love, who was CEO of Lions Gate, spent months trying to effectively block COVID-19 from her Voorhees retirement community. Then the virus claimed her life.
Meet the resourceful woman who might be the only person in the Philly area running a food pantry out of her own home.
Through your eyes | #OurPhilly
Here’s to love in all its versions warming things up for us through this stretch. Thanks for sharing, @ryanmcg215.
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
💖 We have a guide to takeout, dining and cooking for a deliciously appetizing Valentine’s Day. If our extraordinary circumstances don’t stop you from marking the occasion, consider this an excellent excuse to be indulgent for any reason.
💞 Warm up with this rich hot chocolate from Shane Confectionary.
💘 These are essential chocolatey Valentine’s Day recipes from editor Jamila Robinson’s kitchen.
💗 Hotels are offering special packages if escapism is your love language. This is Jenn Ladd’s list of date night specials for a change of scenery.
💘 And with all these romantic entanglements (with chocolate) in the air, these are the questions you should ask before you go on a date during the pandemic.
Opinions
“I’m suggesting a fund-raising campaign for the kind of cold, hard cash that might entice Mayor Jim Kenney to speak to a constituent who is (literally) starving to have a conversation with him about a resolution to declare gun violence a citywide emergency,” — columnist Helen Ubiñas writes about Philly’s Fraternal Order of Police “accountability” bonus.
President Joe Biden needs to use executive orders to move our country forward toward a clean energy future without delay, Whitman Strategy Group president and former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman writes.
Former Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter writes that we need to put an end to violence for the sake of children.
What we’re reading
The New York Times talks to people who have never had a better reason to break up with Valentine’s Day.
Your Daily Dose of | Sailing
One Craigslist seller’s trash, a free cement sailboat, has become another inspiring individual’s “Float Jawn” that they want to set sail on. Not to mention, they’d like the restored boat to possibly, ideally stage a drag show on the Delaware River. Hop aboard the adventure with their YouTube series.