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Eagles-inspired love stories, Wolf rejects new map, family fight against ICE continues | Morning Newsletter

All the local news you need to know to start your day, delivered straight to your email.

From the players to the fans, love was all around amid the Eagles’ Super Bowl win and victory parade.
From the players to the fans, love was all around amid the Eagles’ Super Bowl win and victory parade.Read moreCarson Wentz via Instagram, Bernie Robbins Jewelers and MARK C PSORAS/For the Inquirer

Happy Valentine's Day, Philadelphia. Love is in the air or, is that just the warm weather we're having? We do have love stories for you today, but there are also critical updates afoot on Pennsylvania's congressional map and one local family's fight against ICE. So, spread a little Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection around today, folks; your neighbors could always use it.

If you like what you're reading, tell your friends it's free to sign up for this newsletter here.

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

» READ MORE: Celebrate Valentine’s Day with 10 love stories…from Eagles fans

No, Philly still isn't over it. (And won't be for a while.) But whether you've been struck by Cupid's arrow or you're scoffing at every happy couple you see, surely love stories of Eagles fans from Super Bowl Sunday to the parade, will warm your heart.

For an equally wacky holiday story, head to one local college where students are delivering valentines for a small donation. The thing is, they're dressing as Ninjas from door to door. If you're looking to send love notes around town, columnist Jenice Armstrong suggests Meek Mill, Larry Krasner, and Wawa as deserving recipients.

» READ MORE: Supporters seek freedom for family finding sanctuary in Philly church

Demonstrators took to the streets outside the federal office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tuesday. They were there to demand an undocumented family currently seeking sanctuary in a North Philly church be allowed to walk free as they pursue their legal case for asylum.

But when they tried to hand over a petition supporting the family, ICE officers told them to mail it and then turned State Rep. Christopher Rabb away.

The family has been living inside the Church of the Advocate for two months. Their children returned to public school last month and, so far, none of them has been detained.

» READ MORE: Gov. Wolf rejects Republican congressional map proposal 

Last week, Republicans submitted a new congressional map of Pennsylvania to Gov. Tom Wolf, meeting a deadline set by the state high court which ruled the current map unconstitutional.

It was immediately criticized for remaining gerrymandered by Republicans, and it looks like Wolf agrees: he rejected it Tuesday.

So, it's back to the drawing board. Now all parties are invited to submit a map and the court will draw its own or select from the new proposals.

What you need to know today

  1. District Attorney Larry Krasner says it will take months to fully address problem cops and their testimony following the revelation that the DA's office maintained a secret list of suspect police officers, but complications have already appeared for pending trials.

  2. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy doubled down on his campaign promise to strengthen gun control yesterday, vowing to introduce common sense gun laws to the state.

  3. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced officials had recently seized $2.6 million worth of fentanyl-laced heroin. Two men are being held for the seizure.

  4. The wait for medical marijuana is almost over: this Saturday, Pennsylvania's first dispensaries will officially open in Sellersville and Devon.

  5. The FBI is contradicting the White House about recently departed staff secretary Rob Porter, saying they gave the Trump administration notice on multiple occasions last year about his alleged domestic abuse.

  6. Investigators are saying human error may be to blame for the Russian plane crash that killed 71 people Sunday.

  7. A 60-year-old man has been charged with risking a catastrophe after he allegedly dumped potassium cyanide in a Bucks County storm drain.

  8. The nationwide workers' fight against unpredictable hours landed in Philadelphia Tuesday as workers marched to City Hall, kicking off a new local campaign for a fair workweek. 

Through Your Eyes | #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!

That’s Interesting

  1. Living legend Shaun White earned the U.S. its 100th gold medal (and his third) in the Winter Games early Wednesday on the halfpipe. Today's TV schedule features gold medal finals for luge (where two Pennsylvanians will compete), figure skating pairs, alpine skiing and more.

  2. Philadelphians are joining a nationwide effort to send local kids to see Black Panther for free, and columnist Helen Ubiñas is joining in, too. (Our movie critic gives the film a rare 3.5 out of 4 stars, by the way.)

  3. Not all heroes wear capes: for the past eight years, one local English teacher has been helping teens tell their own stories through the slam poetry league he founded and he has a new book coming out.

  4. The Port of Philadelphia welcomed the largest container ship ever to dock at its wharves Tuesday. It was longer than the Comcast Center is tall.

  5. The Philadelphia School District is helping school lunches go green. As of last month, they've officially ditched Styrofoam trays, keeping millions of them out of landfills annually.

  6. It isn't just the Eagles that love Meek Mill. A Slovenian snowboarder wrote a message for the rapper on his snowboard at the Olympics.

  7. Oat is the new almond? There's a new trend in Philly coffee shops and it's all about the (non-dairy) milk.

Opinions

"They often describe themselves as 'good men,' who like God, 'a lot,' and who are honest.
— (Cough, cough.) They use endearing names so they don’t confuse their victims from one another.“ —
  1. Now that Philadelphia officials have green lit safe-injection sites, they need to go on a community tour to set the record straight on how the sites will work, Center for Public Health Law Research's Abraham Gutman writes.

  2. Columnist Solomon Jones writes that people of color should not support these safe-injection sites, especially if they aren't accompanied by plans to right the wrongs of the crack era when addicts of color were incarcerated.

What we’re reading

  1. All eyes are on Sixers rookie Markelle Fultz, who remains off the court due to an injury. The Ringer writes that the Sixers organization is handling the potential star all wrong, while PhillyVoice went behind the scenes for six months to puzzle out what's really going on.

  2. Pennsylvania native Caity Weaver went on an epic scavenger hunt to win an Eagles mini-fridge at Super Bowl LII and her retelling for GQ is as hilarious as it is long.

  3. Olympic athletes often rely on brand sponsorships as their main source of income. But during the actual Olympics, as Refinery29 details, toeing the line of official sponsorship rules gets way more complicated than you'd expect. 

  4. In Morocco a group of female Quran experts have endeavored to fight radical Islam and the Atlantic's report on their work is a compelling look inside the spiritual community.

Your Daily Dose of | Love

Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture is back in its rightful place — after a quick jaunt around town, that is — and it looks better than ever.