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Weed breathalyzer could be a ‘game changer’; city police stops of black drivers are skyrocketing | Morning Newsletter

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Officer Dan Gilbert stands guard out front of Beth David Reform Congregation. Over the past year, Jewish congregations all over the world have debated the best ways to welcome all who wish to pray on the holiest days in the Jewish year, while also implementing security appropriate for their community. This year for the high holidays Beth David Reform Congregation, in Gladwyne, has instituted a variety of measures including a safety information card in the pews of the sanctuary and an armed local police officer posted out front.
Officer Dan Gilbert stands guard out front of Beth David Reform Congregation. Over the past year, Jewish congregations all over the world have debated the best ways to welcome all who wish to pray on the holiest days in the Jewish year, while also implementing security appropriate for their community. This year for the high holidays Beth David Reform Congregation, in Gladwyne, has instituted a variety of measures including a safety information card in the pews of the sanctuary and an armed local police officer posted out front.Read moreEmily Cohen

    The Morning Newsletter

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Six people were shot yesterday afternoon in Philadelphia’s Fairhill neighborhood, including a 14-year-old boy. Check Inquirer.com for more developments throughout the day.

In other news, the Eagles fell to 3-3 after a lackluster performance in Minnesota. And, synagogues throughout the region have been contemplating security measures a year after the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

— Josh Rosenblat (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Since the shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh last October, congregations have thought long and hard about weighing their inherent openness with security measures. For some this High Holiday season, that has meant having photo IDs and bags checked, seeing bolted doors, and walking past armed guards.

Is this who we want to be?” a rabbi in Chester Springs asks. He and others see synagogues’ openness as a fundamental tenet of the Jewish faith. But violence has tested that.

Some legalization efforts are stalled because police can’t tell whether someone is high. For alcohol, a breathalyzer test can determine whether someone is over the legal limit. But for marijuana, there wasn’t an equivalent tool.

Until now.

A breathalyzer device has been developed in Northern California. It’s portable, can run tests for both alcohol and marijuana, and could change the minds of those opposed to legalizing marijuana. Plus, a Philadelphia growth equity fund is helping lead the financial backing.

Philadelphia police and civil rights lawyers have been monitoring pedestrian stops and frisks since 2011. But they haven’t studied vehicle stops as closely.

Now, police data show that cops have stopped a lot more vehicles from January through August this year than they did during the same period last year. And stops of black drivers have accounted for the bulk of that increase.

What you need to know today

  1. After a blowout loss in Minnesota, are the Eagles in crisis mode?

  2. The Rittenhouse Square stabbing trial will continue this week with a key question still unanswered: What provoked the fatal confrontation?

  3. A glitchy payroll system overpaid thousands of city employees in Philadelphia. But what the city doesn’t know is how much it overpaid.

  4. A mistrial was declared late last week in the hate-crime assault and civil rights case of a former New Jersey police chief. Here’s what the jury foreman had to say about what was going on behind closed doors.

  5. A local university warned students with unpaid bills that they would be kicked out if they didn’t pay up in six days. Then came the student backlash.

  6. Aramark’s new CEO answered questions about turmoil at the company, what he might say to now-nervous high-level execs, and more.

Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly

Cool shot from yesterday’s Gritty 5K. Thanks for sharing, @gritadelphia!

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

  1. A Temple professor did a favor for the police a few years ago. He didn’t realize that his work ultimately helped bring about an arrest in a cold-case murder.

  2. As Philly celebrated OutFest yesterday, some wonder who repainted the rainbow crosswalk.

  3. Two Philadelphia-area universities have outlawed betting on the schools’ sports teams if you’re affiliated with the colleges.

  4. You can get a newly listed Rittenhouse Square penthouse for a record $25 million. It’s an extreme example of a trend of new towers being built with high-end Philadelphians in mind, despite demand for affordably priced condos.

  5. After the Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2018, a hospital joked about delivering “super babies” nine months later. Did Philly actually have a baby bump in November 2018? We have the numbers.

  6. Meet a local lawyer who is fighting for immigrants with desperately ill children.

  7. A middle school teacher from a Delaware County school has been suspended after she was recorded in a racist tirade against a parent, according to school officials.

Opinions

“There may still be jurors who refuse to convict no matter how much evidence is presented. Especially if it’s a case involving a white cop and a black victim. That’s because we still have a lot of work to do in this country when it comes to race.” — columnist Jenice Armstrong writes about the mistrial in the ex-police chief’s hate-crime assault case.

  1. Now that Hahnemann is closed, should we expect more shootings to turn into homicides? The Inquirer’s Abraham Gutman explores that issue in his latest Brain Trust column.

  2. Why is this Supreme Court term so important? Because it could reshape life in Philadelphia, The Inquirer Editorial Board writes.

What we’re reading

  1. Is there a reason why mission-driven restaurants seem to fail in Philly? Philadelphia magazine looks into the closings of spots such as Rooster and EAT Café.

  2. A man was tasked with finding who the ashes in an urn belonged to. The mystery took months to unravel. In that time, he befriended those ashes. The Tampa Bay Times tells the story of a Vietnam veteran, who is now buried with honors.

  3. Feeling as if you’re not seeing your friends as often as you used to? The Atlantic says you’re not alone.

Your Daily Dose of | The UpSide

A Grammy winner from South Jersey was adopted at birth. And now he’s writing the story of his emotional reunion with his biological mother and seven sisters.