An abusive priest's line of casualties, 2 teens killed, fire at popular restaurant | Morning Newsletter
All the local news you need to know to start your day, delivered straight to your email.
How'd you sleep? The (finally) cooler temperatures helped make for a sounder slumber, and a brighter morning. Now that you're well-rested, grab yourself a hot cup of coffee and get caught up on the news of the day.
If you like what you're reading, it's free to sign up to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. I would love to hear your thoughts, ideas, and feedback, so please email me, tweet me @tommyrowan, or reach our social team on Facebook.
— Tommy Rowan
» READ MORE: Sex-abusing priest caused suffering for a generation, and walked free
Jimmy Cunningham was 45 when he became the latest casualty of the St. Cecilia Grade School Class of 1985. The former Bucks County elected official had built a pretty solid life for himself after graduating from the Catholic grade school in Fox Chase: He was a respected prison counseling supervisor, suicide standoff negotiations expert, father of two boys and a self-starter from the start.
But the final year of his life was a slide into despair that became more public as he neared the end. He had been abused by the same priest, he began telling people that final year, who had sexually assaulted possibly more than 100 other boys at St. Cecilia's and another church, but was never prosecuted. A must-read from Maria Panaritis.
» READ MORE: 2 students – from St. Joe’s Prep and Mastery charter – slain in South Philly shooting
A beef between teenagers in South Philly ended as a double murder when two 16-year-old boys — a junior at St. Joseph's Prep and a junior at a Mastery Charter School — were fatally shot, according to police.
Homicide Capt. John Ryan said Wednesday that investigators were still trying to sort out what happened, but that the shootings resulted from a dispute between two groups of teens, Chris Palmer writes.
Ryan said the situation was tragically similar to an incident two weeks ago in Oxford Circle when another 16-year-old, Messiah Chiverton, was shot dead during an after-school fight. "Petty disputes among school-age children, and when you introduce guns into the equation, there's tragedy," Ryan said.
» READ MORE: Fire rips through popular South Street restaurant
Bridget Foy's restaurant, a fixture on Philadelphia's South Street for nearly 40 years, went up in flames in a two-alarm fire early Wednesday.
The fire apparently started in the basement and spread quickly through the building at South Second Street on Headhouse Square. At least one firefighter reportedly required treatment for a non-life threatening injury, Joseph A. Gambardello and Julie Shaw write.
What you need to know today
Larry Krasner could bring big changes to the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office if he wins the Nov. 7 general election, writes Chris Brennan. Some people hope that is true. Some people fear it is true.
Two top political strategists for U.S. Rep. Bob Brady came out swinging after a federal court hearing on charges that they conspired to hide a $90,000 payment the congressman made to pay a primary challenger to drop out of a 2012 race. Ken Smukler and Donald "D.A." Jones both deny doing anything wrong.
Former President George H.W. Bush has issued a statement apologizing to the Upland-born actress Heather Lind, who this week accused him of sexual assault at a showing of an television show in which she stars.
Lawmakers in both chambers in Harrisburg worked late into the night Wednesday to approve key pieces of a long-overdue revenue package to fund the state's $32 billion spending plan and close a more than $2 billion deficit.
TV ads declare, "Say it with flowers!" But they probably didn't mean these flowers, or this cause. On Wednesday a host of local immigration groups staged a big, floral demand for the closure of the Berks County Detention Center – called the "the baby jail" by critics, because it generally holds mothers and their children who have slipped into the United States without papers.
A federal judge in Harrisburg dismissed more than half the claims in lawsuits former students have filed against the $14B Hershey School, a big win for the institution. Judge Christopher C. Connor agreed that the school's relationship with its minor students is contractual.
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services decided to close the civil unit at Norristown State Hospital to give patients the chance to live fuller lives in the community. It turns out that, for some, the community is another building on the Montgomery County campus.
» READ MORE: #OurPhilly
We want to see what our community looks like through your eyes. Show us the park that your family walks through every weekend with the dog, the block party in your neighborhood or the historic stretch you see every morning on your commute to work.
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 to build those followers!
That’s Interesting
As coal still burns under Centralia, trash piles up above: Last weekend, volunteers gathered to help clean up the Pennsylvania anthracite coal town that's been burning underground for decades. Centralia has a tiny sliver of residents who won a court battle to live there. Jason Nark spoke with volunteers and discussed the demise of the coal industry there.
Julia Terruso called the phone numbers on 59 'We Buy Houses' bandit signs searching for humans. She got secrets instead.
In a continuation of Alfred Lubrano's series that follows a group of first-generation college students through their freshman year at the elite University of Pennsylvania, he finds some Penn alumni for whom his story about working-class students' unease on campus conjured unwelcome memories.
Former Gov. Ed Rendell and Phillies legend Larry Bowa and his wife Patty will be honored for their efforts to help animals at a Pennsylvania SPCA gala next month. The nonprofit is celebrating its 150th anniversary.
Samantha Melamed went drinking at MilkBoy Philly first thing Monday morning. She has some regrets.
On Saturday, pedestrians and cyclists will rule a corridor running from Old City at Third and Chestnut Streets to Fairhill at North Fifth and Indiana Streets in the second installment of the Philly Free Streets initiative. The 3.5-mile stretch of road will be closed to car traffic from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Enjoy.
Opinions
In June, Helen Ubinas wrote about the need to hold Philadelphia's well-meaning but rarely scrutinized anti-violence programs accountable. Since then, she wrote this week, 100 people have been killed in the city and Philly is still evaluating the effectiveness of those programs.
Unless more of Sen. Jeff Flake's GOP confreres have the guts to confront Trump, writes Trudy Rubin, they will share the blame as the president degrades U.S. politics and lurches heedlessly toward war.
What we’re reading
Why does Pennsylvania have so many potato chip producers? [Atlas Obscura]
Did you know there was a version of the Game of Thrones pilot that was riddled with mistakes and had a clean-shaven Jon Snow? [Rolling Stone]
A mentally disabled North Carolina man was set free after spending 30 years behind bar for a murder he didn't commit, but a judge believes the man's lawyer tried to scam him. [The Marshall Project]
eBay is confronting an unexpected problem: trying to remain relevant in the ever-growing shadow of Amazon, and connect with millennial shoppers. [Racked]
Will you binge-watch the upcoming second season of Stranger Things, or parse it out over a few days? We won't be leaving the house for a few days, for what it's worth. [The Verge]
Daily Dose of | History
The story of Fishtown’s ‘Forgotten Olympian’: A swimmer who refused to salute Hitler.