Quakertown landmark rebuilds, Pa. closes in on primary day, Trump surprises with China move | Morning Newsletter
All the local news you need to know to start your day, delivered straight to your email.
Good morning, Philly. Hope you all had a nice, if rainy, weekend. We're kicking off a new week by prepping for tomorrow's Pennsylvania primary election. Candidates will make their final appeals today as voters ready for the polls. Thanks to an earlier shake-up of the congressional map, one of our columnists even thinks it may be the state's oddest election ever. In the meantime, my colleague Vinny Vella has taken a close look at an historic Quakertown boardinghouse rebuilding after a deadly fire. You won't want to miss the story of a community helping each other. Let's get started.
Reading this online? Sign up here to get this newsletter delivered to your inbox every morning.
— Aubrey Nagle (@aubsn, morningnewsletter@philly.com)
» READ MORE: Home for Quakertown’s vulnerable rebuilds after fatal fire
The Bush House Hotel, a 200-year-old Quakertown landmark, is a vital home base for the community's most vulnerable members. The sprawling boardinghouse offers shelter to 100 or so residents, many in need of support after financial or personal misfortune.
But when the stately, historic building was the scene of a devastating fatal fire just two weeks ago, a local volunteer called it almost "a blessing in disguise." The community banded together to help those displaced, revealing what its residents need most in the process.
» READ MORE: Pa. candidates make final push before primary day
It's almost that time again. Today candidates across Pennsylvania are making final stops to gather support before tomorrow's primary election — which, for what it's worth, columnist John Baer calls, "arguably Pennsylvania's most extraordinary election ever."
Many are hoping this will be the year the state sends more women to Congress. Democrats are wondering whether Bucks County will choose a millionaire, a veteran or an environmentalist for congressional nominee. Voters are comparing where Republicans running for governor stand on gun issues.
It's certain to be a lively primary, and we'll have coverage of it all day tomorrow. Prep for the booth with our complete 2018 Pennsylvania primary election voters guide.
» READ MORE: What if Philly let voters choose how to spend their tax dollars?
To many voters it sounds like a dream: a municipality takes taxpayer dollars and lets those contributors decide what to do with it. But in Freehold Borough in Monmouth County, N. J. it really happened.
Officials set aside $200,000 and asked their 12,000 residents how to spend it. They chose a new pedestrian bridge, downtown lighting, and sidewalk repairs.
In the past, the city has looked for opportunities to engage residents in their budget plans, but could this structure, called participatory budgeting, work for Philly? Let us know your ideas for taxpayer-funded projects.
What you need to know today
President Trump made a surprising move Sunday saying he'd help a Chinese telecommunications company get "back into business" and save Chinese jobs after the Commerce Department moved last month to block the company from importing American components.
A 34-year-old bicyclist was killed Saturday night after being hit by an SUV on Spring Garden Street. He was a courier working for a food delivery service at the time of the crash.
One of the ballot questions Philadelphia voters will face tomorrow asks if all city employees should receive mandatory sexual harassment training. But how much will it cost? And will it even work?
A decade-long campaign to stop a major redevelopment project from rising in Ardmore ended with the construction of a controversial building. Some neighbors have come around to the project, but others fear it represents the beginning of the end.
Soon after President Barack Obama commuted his life-plus-30 sentence in 2015, Thomas Daniels began driving for Uber in Philadelphia. But suddenly last month, the ride-sharing app kicked him to the curb.
In an email to billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, Abington School District Superintendent Amy Sichel described criticism of the $25 million deal to name the school after him "harsh and undeserving" and wrote, "thoughtless people have hurt you." Parents are not pleased.
Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly
Anyone have a good rhubarb recipe to share with @thejonarons? (Technically, it's a vegetable, by the way.)
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
Erin Connelly at Penn's Shoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies may have the quirkiest job in the city: she's on a quest to identify the stains in a medieval text that librarians jokingly call "the Harry Potter book."
Could a PG-15 rating be heading to a theater new you? A new Penn study shows parents think the level of gun violence allowed in PG-13 movies is too much for early teens.
Leftfielder Rhys Hoskins has become a leader for the Phillies as the club's union representative. All that leadership potential? He got it from his mother.
The reigning U.S. Scrabble champ is from Lancaster, and at a Philly tournament this weekend he let on a key (and devious) part of a high-ranking player's strategy: tricking the opponent with fake words.
Could wooing LeBron James really be on the Sixers' to-do list? It would cost a pretty penny, but Sixers owner Josh Harris has said, "I don't have any problem spending for good players."
After the arrests of two black men at a Center City location and the national backlash that followed, Starbucks says its bathrooms are now open to everyone.
Opinions
Committee of Seventy CEO David Thornburgh supports a City Charter amendment voters will see tomorrow at the primary polls. If the ballot question is approved, there will be adjustments made to the eligibility, appointment and removal of school board members.
Following the news of the harassment faced by women on NFL cheerleading teams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Cynthia M. Allen calls for the league's cheer squads to be disbanded.
What we’re reading
A war of words is breaking out between Mayor Kenney and City Council over funds for his Rebuild initiative for rec centers and playgrounds. PlanPhilly has the story, which begins with a fiery letter.
In the many opinions voiced over whether or not Philly should woo Amazon's HQ2, one that compares the city to both Havana and Silicon Valley seems unique, over at the Philadelphia Citizen.
As temperatures rise and iced drinks become inescapable at the shore, plastic straws are piling up on New Jersey's beaches. A new NJ.com report may have you investigating reusable options.
This Mother's Day, women in rare prison nursery programs were able to celebrate with the children they're raising behind bars. As the Washington Post reports, the programs have sparked a fierce debate.
Of course, Mother's Day also always prompts meditations on motherhood, and a touching essay from BuzzFeed has illuminated an often overlooked perspective: how difficult it can be for queer women to become mothers.
Your Daily Dose of | Lemons
When life gives you a lemon, enter it in a Mad Max-esque endurance race? That's what dozens of drivers do each year during 24 Hours of Lemons in Millville, New Jersey.