🎨 Reviving First Fridays | Morning Newsletter
And two weeks of Penn protest.
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The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Friday, welcome. Today we’ll see showers and temps in the mid-50s.
After a few years of First Fridays losing their sheen, gallery owners and artists report that the Old City art walk events are feeling vibrant once again. And two weeks in, the protest encampment at the University of Pennsylvania is still standing, but facing increasing pressure from both school and government officials to disband.
Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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First Fridays are back, baby.
🎨 The Old City showcase — held on, you guessed it, the first Friday of every month — has long been a staple of Philly’s arts and culture scene. Wander past Market along Second or Third Streets and you could expect to stumble upon a cool new exhibit, hear live music, or at least snag some free snacks from a gallery with wide-open doors.
🎨 That liveliness dimmed in recent years, as some galleries moved elsewhere or closed when longtime owners retired. But efforts from a new crop of curators, including those behind Paradigm Gallery + Studio, which moved to a three-story space on North Third Street last year, have led to a sort of First Friday revival.
🎨 Accessibility and highlighting new talent are key. As one local artist told The Inquirer: “Philadelphia is having its Harlem Renaissance.” Arts and culture reporter Earl Hopkins has the story.
P.S. Your next chance to join the party is Friday, June 7.
At the two-week mark of the pro-Palestinian encampment on University of Pennsylvania’s campus, tensions remain high and little progress appears to have been made in negotiations between protesters and Penn officials. Here’s where things stand now:
Encampment expansion: Protesters moved about a dozen tents to another section of College Green on Wednesday evening amid a 200-person rally.
Discipline for protesters: Six student protesters have been placed on mandatory leaves of absence from the school for participating in the encampment, including an international student who said she was evicted from on-campus housing.
Graduation plans: Penn announced heightened security measures for commencement on May 20.
A prominent voice: On Thursday, Gov. Josh Shapiro called on the university to disband the pro-Palestinian encampment “to restore order and safety.”
The Inquirer’s Beatrice Forman and Susan Snyder have the latest from the scene.
What you should know today
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s school board met publicly for the first time Thursday, electing leaders after some dissension in the ranks over who would serve as vice president.
The city of Philadelphia is setting aside $3 million to help preschools retain teaching staff for the school year ahead.
Pennsylvania has an insufficient number of public defenders in nearly every county, hampering the state’s ability to fulfill its Constitutional obligation to provide adequate representation for criminal defendants who can’t afford a lawyer.
Remembering Ondria Glaze: After the Olney High teacher was shot and killed in an apparent murder-suicide, her school family remembers her radiance.
A patient’s race isn’t necessarily a useful data point in determining what kind of care they should receive, according to a Penn study on racial bias in health care algorithms.
Environmentalists are battling to get Peco to increase its use of green energy. Meanwhile, the oil industry calls it a job killer.
Cavan Sullivan, the 14-year-old soccer phenom from Norristown, is turning pro with his hometown team, the Philadelphia Union. Yes, he’s really that good.
Welcome back to Curious Philly Friday. We’ll feature both new and timeless stories from our forum for readers to ask about the city’s quirks.
This week, we’re resurfacing an explainer from last summer about the missing state flags on South Broad Street. See, back in 2000, the Republican National Convention was coming to town. The city wanted to welcome the nation’s delegates with reminders of home — one flag per state, plus five U.S. territories, flying from Washington to Oregon Avenues. In 2016, the Dems came around, and the flags went up again.
Flash forward to 2024, and the flags are all gone. What gives? Here’s the full explanation.
Have your own burning question about Philadelphia, its local oddities, or how the region works? Submit it here and you might find the answer featured in this space.
🧠 Trivia time
The Philadelphia Phoenix, our pro ultimate frisbee team, let the internet vote for its new mascot’s name. What’d they pick?
A) Scorch
B) Blaze
C) Birdy McBirdface
D) Fire
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we're...
🥪 Watching: The spicy Middle Child v. Middle Child trademark debate unfolding on social media.
💐 Buying: Local flowers for mom (remember, Mother’s Day is Sunday!) and gifts for baby showers at the Babies R Us sections coming to these Philly-area Kohl’s stores.
⚾ Cheering: The Phillies, who are off to their best start since 1993.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
The 85th edition of this annual rowing event is happening this weekend in Pennsauken: _ _ Regatta.
ADVIL AD
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Debbie Bergen and Edel Howlin, two first-timers who solved Thursday’s anagram: North Wildwood. The shore town is banning tents and cabanas from its beaches in a bid to fight beach erosion.
(This may have been the most popular anagram yet! Thanks to everyone who played along.)
Photo of the day
You can meet 11-year-old Parsley and his hard-working goat friends in our story about Amazing Grazing’s efforts to preserve Sycamore Woods. As it turns out, goats are a growing trend in eco-friendly land management.
That’s it from me this week. Have a great weekend, Philly!
P.S. Yesterday’s newsletter included an error: La Colombe turns 30 this year, not 20. It was founded in 1994.
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