New NJ governor sworn in, panel set to pick Philly school board, Cory Booker goes viral | Morning Newsletter

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Wendell Pritchett, former School Reform Commission member and current provost of the University of Pennsylvania, is one of 13 members of the nominating panel for the new school board.Read moreMARGO REED / Staff Photographer

Published Jan. 17, 2018, 6:42 a.m. ET

Good morning, folks. Today we're eyeing up the nominating panel set to shape Philadelphia's new school board and the new governor set to shape New Jersey for the next few years. Prep for a messy commute this morning: all that lovely wintry mix is set to turn to snow for a while. Don't forget the gloves!

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— Aubrey Nagle (@aubsn, morningnewsletter@philly.com)

Yesterday Mayor Jim Kenney named 13 city residents to the school board nominating panel. This baker's dozen of parents, educators and activists will consider applicants and nominees for the board, in the end giving Kenney a list of 27 nominees for nine seats.

The school board members they help choose will take over the Philadelphia School District from the School Reform Commission on July 1, the day the SRC will be no more. No pressure.

It's moving fast, too. The panel starts meeting this week and Kenney makes his appointments in March. Need a refresher on how this all started? Here's a primer on the new school board.

» READ MORE: New Jersey has a new governor

After eight years of Chris Christie, New Jersey officially has a new governor: Phil Murphy was sworn in yesterday.

Murphy's to-do list is already quite long. He campaigned on promises to nearly double the minimum wage, legalize marijuana and offer free community college.

But first he faces economic problems including (but not limited to) an under-funded pension plan, a billion-dollar hole in school funds and federal tax law changes.

Last month, Philly Police Officer Kevin Klein was charged with driving while intoxicated, smashing his personal vehicle into an occupied SUV and then pulling his service weapon on the victims.

Now a grand jury report is alleging the supervising officer on the scene may have tried to cover it all up. That officer also once settled a suit against a local man who accused the sergeant of using a Taser against him while he was handcuffed.

The actions taken by officers at the scene are under investigation by Internal Affairs. A spokesman for District Attorney Larry Krasner, who was sworn in on Jan. 2, said he couldn't comment on whether criminal charges are forthcoming.

What you need to know today

Are your streets never cleared when it snows? A deal between PennDOT and 93 towns across the region — some happy with their plowing, others not — could explain why.
Popular Old City eateries Fork and High Street on Market and a popular Starbucks were temporarily closed by the health department this month, as told by the latest in our Clean Plates series.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker went viral yesterday for confronting a top Trump administration official over the president's use of the word "shithole" to describe Haiti and some African countries. The video probably made Booker fans feel better, but it may have made Booker feel better, too: turns out calling out racists is actually good for your health.
On the heels of his controversial bestseller Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, author Michael Wolff stopped at the Free Library last night for his book tour, and it turned into a group therapy session for readers.
As he works to change the culture, District Attorney Larry Krasner will be tested by cases like that of Marcus Perez, one possibly tampered with by predecessor Seth Williams' office.
If the Vikings beat the Eagles Sunday, they'll have home-field advantage for the Super Bowl. But if the Eagles win they kind of will too, writes columnist Bob Brookover. Either way, the Eagles defense will go up against the NFL's No. 1 defense; expect a slugfest, folks.
A group of nuns will appear in Philadelphia at the federal appeals court this week to protest a pipeline being laid through their Lancaster farmland. They say the construction violates their religious freedom.
A 28-year-old Montgomery County Commissioner just announced he's joining the Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor's race. The only problem? You have to be 30 years old to hold office.
Could a 3-D breast cancer screening save your life? More doctors are offering the test, and it may be worth the extra cash.

» READ MORE: #OurPhilly

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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

Attention foodies: chef Jeff Michaud and restaurateur Michael Schulson are buying Marc Vetri's hit restaurant Osteria from URBN, the company that owns Urban Outfitters.
The first Phillies spring workout is less than a month away and they're still looking for another starting pitcher. (And fans still want it to be Jake Arrieta.)
Planning on donning your "pussyhat" to the Women's March this weekend? Some are saying the iconic hats aren't inclusive of all women and should be left at home.
At the end of last year Life Time fitness centers banned cable news from their big screens and so far their gym members are loving it.
Did you know some of Philly's favorite French bakeries are actually owned and run by Asian immigrants?
Film aficionados should keep an eye out for Philly folks on Sundance's 2018 lineup. Three movies by local filmmakers are hitting the festival.
It's official: there's a bar with a light-up ball pit coming to Center City next month. Prepare to see it all over Instagram.
That popular Google Arts & Culture app everyone's using to find their art history doppelgänger is raising privacy concerns among users.

Opinions

"It's hard not to believe that Democrats could ride a powerful wave election … if they are smart enough to tap the energy of this tsunami. Spoiler alert: They may not be that smart."

— Columnist Will Bunch asks if the #MeToo movement can carry former deputy mayor

Family biking advocate and 5th Square PAC co-chair Dena Ferrara Driscoll says Philly and bike share lovers should jump on the dockless bike trend to help diversify ridership.
President of Dickinson College Margee Ensign writes that, because of America's isolationism, we've failed to educate internationally literate citizens and are leaving geography and world history behind.

What we’re reading

I loved reading about Ambler BBQ master Chad Rosenthal over at Billy Penn; when he opens The Lucky Well in Callowhill this summer he plans to staff the attached commissary with Philadelphians struggling to overcome poverty.
The Philadelphia Citizen's column on "Ideas We Should Steal" is back this week with an interesting look at a Puerto Rican school district that's bringing Montessori techniques to public schools.
This profile on Dan Martino, a 33-year-old tattooed Northeast Philly native running in Pennsylvania's 177th House district on a progressive opioid platform, from Philadelphia Weekly makes a compelling case.
Temple professor and CNN commentator Marc Lamont Hill and professors from DePaul and Roger Williams Universities have written a book on gentrification, and NextCity has released an excerpt in which Hill talks about Philly and New York.
Now this one's just plain fun: The Shape of Water may be the film to beat at the Oscars, so Broadly has taken an…illuminating look at why, culturally, we're so obsessed with sexy monsters.

Your Daily Dose of | Laundry

Meet the Lattanzio brothers. They own a decades-old South Philly dry cleaning business with one very important client: the Philadelphia Eagles.