Author: Julie Zeglen

We made it to Thursday, Philly. In case you weren’t sure: Earth still has just one moon.

Is 2025 Philadelphia’s year of the parking garage? An unusual number of stand-alone garages have been proposed in the city this year, even as costs to build and maintain them surge.

And in Bucks County, plans for a massive data center has spurred a call to protect consumers from getting hit with power grid costs.

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Editor’s note: We’re sending this morning’s Sports Daily a little late after contending with some technical challenges. We apologize for the delay.

P.S. The Inquirer Food Fest at the Fillmore will assemble the Philly scene’s biggest stars for a day of food, live beats, and hands-on fun. Get your ticket to the Nov. 15 event now.

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‘It’s like building a house for a car’

In a city with too many cars and not enough places to put them all, few civic issues are as polarizing to Philadelphians as parking, especially in densely developed areas like Fishtown.

Three large stand-alone parking garages have been proposed for the city in recent months:

🚧 A 372-unit garage, plus commercial and restaurant space, near the Fillmore and Rivers Casino

🚧 A 495-unit garage in University City, about a fourth of which will be used by a new police forensic lab

🚧 A 1,005-unit garage in Grays Ferry for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia employees

That last project has drawn criticism from neighbors concerned about lost green space and worsened air quality.

Commercial real estate reporter Jake Blumgart explains why developers are keen on building, despite some community protest — and why longtime parking operators aren’t so sure the projects make sense.

In other development news: Councilmember Jamie Gauthier has authored legislation that would increase community scrutiny of major land-use decisions by universities. An antiquated industrial building on North Broad Street near Race Street is being converted to 99 apartments and over 4,000 square feet in restaurant space. And a New York supermarket chain is expected to open a location inside a former South Philly Walgreens.

Data center cost concerns

The capacity and reliability of electrical grids across the United States has emerged as a major issue as data centers rush to go online — including in Bucks County.

Gov. Josh Shapiro announced in June that a data center would be built on the site of a former Falls Township steel mill. It’s one of two big projects Amazon has planned in Pennsylvania to support its cloud computing and artificial intelligence efforts.

An independent monitor is now calling for a transmission service agreement between Peco and Amazon Data Services be rejected, saying it doesn’t go far enough to ensure the cost of heightened energy use is not passed to local consumers.

Environment reporter Frank Kummer has the story.

What you should know today

• Keon King has been charged with murder and may have had help burying the body of 23-year-old Kada Scott, officials said Wednesday. Text messages were also revealed.
• Three men were convicted of first-degree murder and related crimes for a 2023 shooting at a North Philly playground that left three people dead and one injured, prosecutors said Wednesday.
• Two men who set a Fairhill building on fire in 2022 that then collapsed, killing a responding Philadelphia fire lieutenant, were each sentenced Wednesday to decades in prison.
• The mother of a 20-month-old who died in a Harrowgate foster home is suing two child welfare agencies for placing the toddler in a crowded house.
• Dozens of local Catholics rallied outside the federal immigration office in Center City on Wednesday, joining a pro-immigrant push by church groups around the country.
• A grassroots coalition of parents, teachers, and community members is demanding that the Philadelphia School District halt its plan to close schools.
• A University of Pennsylvania faculty group says students and professors have been unfairly called in to stand against “specious accusations of antisemitism.”
• SEPTA must inspect 225 Silverliner IV Regional Rail trains by the end of October. As of midday Wednesday, the transit agency had inspected 78.

Quote of the day

Cahillites coach Rick Prete once turned to football in a moment of need. Now it has become a community for him and his wife, Gabriela, to lean on after their daughter Arianna died in a 2024 car crash.

🧠 Trivia time

New Jersey officials have sued which company, saying it misclassified and exploited its workers?

A) Comcast

B) Google

C) Amazon

D) Johnson & Johnson

Think you know? Check your answer.

What we’re…

🏀 Kicking off: Another season of wondering how our Sixers will perform.

⛳ Swinging at: Cherry Hill’s new PGA Tour Superstore.

🔬 Considering: How medical experts are stepping up to share credible scientific guidance.

🧩 Unscramble the anagram

Hint: Elected position in local government

LOT INCORRECTLY

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.

Cheers to Christine Sulat, who solved Wednesday’s anagram: Fort Washington. This suburb is home to one of 11 exciting new pizzerias around the region — plus, see four others our food team is eagerly awaiting.

Photo of the day

Take a stroll amid the changing foliage today, if you can. Either way, have a good one.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Good morning, Philly.

Getting out of Lincoln Financial Field after an Eagles game can be a slow-moving nightmare. Inquirer staffers raced by car, bike, rideshare, and public transportation to find the fastest route.

And Philadelphia’s violent Mafia power struggle of the 1990s is chronicled in a Netflix docuseries out today. Read on for a primer, told through reporting from that period by The Inquirer and the Daily News.

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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A race to beat the postgame rush

Getting out of any event at the South Philly sports complex is a harrowing experience. That goes double for Eagles games, when nearly 70,000 fans are trying to exit the Linc at once. Besides my own tried-and-true method of getting ahead of the masses — leaving early — what’s the most efficient route out?

For the sake of journalism, four colleagues and I agreed to put ourselves through mild torture via a race from Xfinity Gate to Dalessandro’s in Roxborough. We took off by foot a few minutes after the Oct. 5 Broncos game ended, then each traveled by a different mode:

🚕 Sports reporter Ariel Simpson hailed an Uber.

🚇 Graphics editor John Duchneskie took SEPTA.

🚗 Breaking news reporter Henry Savage drove from the Q lot to I-95.

🚲 Interactives developer Jasen Lo rode his bike along MLK Drive.

🚙 And this newsletter editor drove from FDR Park to I-76.

Was voluntarily inserting ourselves into postgame swarms of disappointed Birds fans more than a little stressful? Yes. Did I take the competition far too seriously, resulting in an end-of-race sprint from my car to Dalessandro’s? Unfortunately, also yes.

See who won — and if you’re guessing, you’re probably wrong.

Recounting Philadelphia’s Mafia power struggle

Netflix’s Mob War: Philadelphia vs. The Mafia is out today. The docuseries chronicles a bloody 1990s power struggle in the local La Cosa Nostra through the eyes of investigators and former crime family members who were there.

Throughout the decade, the violence led to several high-profile deaths and criminal trials, and a new mob leader in the city.

Reporter Nick Vadala explains how the mob war unfolded in the news more than 30 years ago.

Further reading: In the ’90s, mob boss John Stanfa didn’t have a nickname. The Daily News tried to change that. And a South Philly native was a central Mafia figure who now says he regrets ever having joined. Meet hitman-turned-informant John Veasey.

P.S. Another Philly-tied production begins streaming this week: Allen Iv3rson, the former Sixers star’s new Prime Video doc.

What you should know today

• Lawyers filed a petition seeking the release of Michael Gaynor, saying he was wrongfully convicted of killing a 5-year-old in 1988. The petition cited the work of a 2024 Inquirer investigation.
• Four years ago, the Philadelphia School District scuttled plans to redevelop the crumbling Ada H.H. Lewis Middle School in East Germantown. The discovery of Kada Scott’s body near the vacant building has reignited the debate over its future.
• Former President Joe Biden completed a round of radiation therapy at a Penn Medicine cancer center Monday as part of his treatment for prostate cancer, according to a representative.
• President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday asked a Center City federal appeals court to overturn an order that has blocked the deportation of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.
• Sen. John Fetterman, the Democrat from Pennsylvania, said he’d back a Republican plan to override the Senate filibuster if it meant passing a bill to reopen the federal government. Meanwhile, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration has entered the messaging battle over the cause of the disruption to SNAP benefits.
• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia filed a blistering legal response Monday to White House efforts to investigate doctors providing gender-affirming care.
• Pennsylvania still doesn’t have a state budget, with the Republican-led Senate on Tuesday approving a budget bill that Democrats say wouldn’t even cover the state’s obligations.
• Delaware County Democrats have dominated county government for six years, but Republicans think a recent property tax increase could change that trend.
• Philly lawmakers are trying for the third time to pass legislation requiring that stores charge customers a fee for paper bags. Again, it’s facing opposition from the mayor.
• Alycia Marshall, who has been serving as interim president of Community College of Philadelphia, has been unanimously endorsed for the permanent role.

Quote of the day

The Rev. Carolyn Cavaness has become something of a celebrity in the last year. She is the first woman pastor of Mother Bethel, known as a hub for Black activism and the oldest church property in the United States to be owned continuously by Black people.

🧠 Trivia time

Another Pennsylvania politician is releasing a memoir, this one in January. Who is it?

A) Gov. Josh Shapiro

B) State Sen. Vincent Hughes

C) Treasurer Stacy Garrity

D) District Attorney Larry Krasner

Think you know? Check your answer.

What we’re …

🗺️ Making one big map of: All the Philly-area locations you can see in the first season of Task.

🫴 Understanding, kinda: The “six-seven” meme’s maybe-Philly origins.

🌲 Pretty sure that: Delco is not … rural.

⚽ Wanting in on: The United States’ continent-wide bid for the 2031 women’s World Cup.

🏥 Considering: How frontline workers can drive change to stop emergency room violence.

🧩 Unscramble the anagram

Hint: Place in Montgomery County

FONTINA GROWTHS

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.

Cheers to Afrah Howlader, who solved Tuesday’s anagram: Point Breeze. A once-crumbling church in the South Philadelphia neighborhood is being preserved as a brewery and community space.

Photo of the day

Wishing you an easy Wednesday. I’ll be back with you tomorrow.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Hi, Philly. Expect another sunny, gusty day.

A charter school in Northeast Philadelphia has been roiled by upheaval and turnover. Now, its renewal is on hold.

And after another stellar regular season, another unceremonious end in the National League Division Series, and several core players set to hit free agency, it’s time to ask: Who should return to the Phillies in 2026 and who should move on? Swipe to tell the team who should stay or go.

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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‘Beyond frustrated’

Northwood Academy Charter School was for years known as a tight-knit community led by educators who stayed for decades.

Yet recently, parents and staff have reported problems such as administrators and teachers departing by the dozens, academic issues, and low morale. The Frankford school’s charter renewal is on pause amid a district investigation.

Some critics say the changes began when the Northwood board hired an external human resources firm to examine the school’s hiring practices. Instead of helping, they say, the firm pushed staff out.

“Every day, teachers and staff are thinking of walking away,” the school’s union president said. “And our families are beginning to look elsewhere, because they feel the shift. The school that we once knew and loved has become unrecognizable.”

Reporter Kristen A. Graham has the story.

In other education news: The Community College of Philadelphia’s board of trustees is preparing to select a new president, possibly as soon as this morning. Meet the four candidates.

Phillies’ fate

After a brutal ending to an otherwise thrilling season, our National League East-winning Phillies are solidly in the offseason. We’ve mourned the World Series that wasn’t. But now, we’re moving on.

⚾ It’s time to look forward to 2026.

⚾ This transition period comes as several key members of the core crew are set to hit free agency, including pitcher Ranger Suárez, catcher J.T. Realmuto, and home-run hero Kyle Schwarber.

⚾ Should the team choose to let them go, the Phillies can spend many millions of dollars to bring on fresh talent instead.

So, should they? Swipe to see our picks and make your own.

What you should know today

• Prosecutors on Monday charged Keon King, the man accused of kidnapping Kada Scott earlier this month, with arson, accusing him of setting fire to the car they say he used to abduct her — and said they soon intend to charge him with murder.
• A Montgomery County woman who let her son with cerebral palsy waste away in her apartment was sentenced Monday to decades in prison.
• Nearly 2 million Pennsylvanians, including 500,000 Philadelphia residents, won’t receive SNAP benefits in November if the federal government shutdown continues, state officials said. Medicare coverage for telehealth also has been suspended amid the shutdown, though two local health systems say they will continue providing virtual visits for patients.
• City Council members on Monday advanced legislation to make it easier for the city to shut down stores that sell cannabis and tobacco products without licenses. Their landlords could be next.
• Mayor Cherelle L. Parker is shaking up the board of the Philadelphia Land Bank, which helps control the sale of city-owned land, in a bid to further her housing plan.
• Cheltenham High’s football season has been canceled as officials pursue an investigation into alleged hazing by the team.
• Seven months after announcing his retirement following 15 seasons with the Eagles, Brandon Graham is set rejoin the team, league sources told The Inquirer.

Quote of the day

The Dallas Wings player recently visited Rome and met Pope Leo after attending Mass at Saint Peter’s Basilica. The new pope has gone viral for his White Sox fandom and has been pictured in Villanova hats on multiple occasions since assuming his new role, but on this visit, Siegrist said he was careful to stay impartial.

🧠 Trivia time

An Apple Studios movie with a very Philly name is now casting extras ahead of filming in the city next month. What’s it called?

A) Gritty

B) Cheesesteak

C) LOVE Park

D) Wooder Ice

Think you know? Check your answer.

What we’re…

👑 Thinking about: Past art thefts in Philly, thanks to the Louvre jewel heist.

🎭 Congratulating: The winners of the 2025 Barrymore Awards.

⚽ Attending: The Union’s playoff pep rally at City Hall on Thursday.

🏡 Ogling: The wooded Malvern-area home of a famous Main Line builder.

🗳️ Considering: The potential impact of mid-decade gerrymandering.

🧩 Unscramble the anagram

Hint: South Philadelphia neighborhood

PREZONE BITE

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.

Cheers to Brian Tucker, who solved Monday’s anagram: Jose Garces. Amada, the restaurateur’s flagship eatery in Philly, turned 20 — and got a glow-up.

Photo of the day

Run on and enjoy your Tuesday. See ya tomorrow.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.