Public art provides new opportunities for Philly homeless; Pa. bans dispensaries from cannabis fest | Morning Newsletter
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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
I’m sorry to report that it will once again be way too cold today. To warm your heart, at least, you’ll want to read up on a new program coming to Philadelphia that’s hoping to help the city’s homeless find a new lease on life. What sets it apart from similar programs around the country? It has a uniquely Philly twist. In less warm-and-fuzzy news, the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries are not pleased they’re being barred from Pennsylvania’s big cannabis fest next month. We’ve also got some updates this morning from Phillies spring training about someone named Bryce? Harper? Maybe you’ve heard of him?
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— Aubrey Nagle (@aubsn, morningnewsletter@philly.com)
Day-work programs that offer hope to the homeless have grown in popularity in recent years. Like at least a dozen other cities around the country, Camden County launched its own program a year and a half ago.
Now Philadelphia is getting one of its own — but it won’t have participants picking up trash or pulling weeds.
Instead, workers will make public art in a city known for its murals. In fact, the program will be run by Mural Arts Philadelphia and the nonprofit Mental Health Partnerships.
Pennsylvania’s largest annual cannabis fest is slated for (when else?) April 20. At least 10,000 marijuana enthusiasts, patients, and cannabis-curious onlookers are expected to join the Scranton celebration.
But the state’s biggest dispensaries, which provide medical marijuana to 100,000 registered patients, won’t be there.
Late last week, the state’s Department of Health prohibited dispensaries and growers from participating. The problem? The festival’s more about cannabis culture than medicine.
It pays to have friends in high places. During a radio interview from spring training Tuesday, new Phillie Bryce Harper said he has no problem stepping in to recruit New Jersey native and die-hard Eagles fan Mike Trout in 2020.
And sure, it’s conceivable that the Phillies could float both stars’ salaries. But in the meantime, Harper’s introducing himself to his new teammates before he makes his spring debut on Saturday.
Harper may be getting all the headlines, but he isn’t the only thing fans need to pay attention to during the Phillies’ spring training.
What you need to know today
A suspended Catholic priest was charged Monday with raping a teenage girl at his former Roxborough parish and recording the attack five years ago.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy proposed a higher marginal tax rate on income above $1 million in his latest budget address, unveiled Tuesday. He argued that the tax would help lift the middle class.
The Trump administration is proposing a change to how food stamps are distributed, a change that has anti-hunger advocates crying foul as it has already been rejected by Congress.
Cheyney University launched an ambitious fundraising campaign Tuesday. To balance their budget at the end of the year they’ll need $4 million.
Pennsylvania has joined 21 states in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s changes to the Title X family planning program that bar funding to clinics that make abortion referrals.
Police say at least five properties in Southwark and Southwest Center City associated with developer Ori Feibush’s company OCF Realty were vandalized Monday.
Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly
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That’s Interesting
Good news: JJ Redick has broken out of his shooting slump. Last night he scored 26 points in the Sixers’ 114-106 win over the Orlando Magic.
Are you joining the Broad Street Run? It’s time to start thinking about your race training nutrition.
Temple University is on the bubble. Their men’s basketball team could make it to the NCAA Tournament — if they win their last two games.
Drug prices are confusing, but just how out of whack are they? Well in Pennsylvania, one generic statin can cost $9 or $226.
In late August, the 50-foot-tall tower lights meant to illuminate the South Street Bridge went dark, and they’ll stay dark until at least late spring. Thanks, technology.
Philly has plenty of delicious donuts, but West Coast transplants looking for their beloved maple bars will be disappointed. There are, however, a few approximations of the bacon-topped treat in town.
Opinions
“What’s fascinating — arguably revolutionary — about what happened on Monday is the one word the Democrats tried so hard to go out of their way to avoid uttering as their moonshot of a corruption probe blasted off. ‘The i-word.’ Impeachment." — Columnist Will Bunch on the “shadow impeachment” of President Donald Trump.
Over the weekend President Trump pledged to issue an executive order to protect campus free speech, a move that would undermine the First Amendment, not protect it, writes University of Pennsylvania professor Sigal Ben-Porath.
Legalizing the home growing of marijuana in Pennsylvania could reduce mass incarceration and increase access in rural and disabled communities, writes cannabis journalist Danielle Corcione.
What we’re reading
Sprinkle some delight into your day by walking through the Ringer’s list of the 10 happiest days on the internet, from “The Dress” to that double rainbow.
On another positive note, a six-hour Wikipedia-editing marathon held in Philly recently helped add more gender fluid and Latina artists to the online encyclopedia. Al Día has the details.
Looking beyond “broken windows theory," City Lab has examined research on policing communities and city violence to dispel the myth of “dangerous neighborhoods.” It’s a fascinating read.
If not for the vintage photographs Curbed Philly collected for an updated map of Frank Furness’s long-gone Philly masterpieces, you might never have seen the demolished works.
ecoWURD’s look at bad air quality in Philadelphia and the data we do and do not have about its effects on black families is a concerning must-read.
A Daily Dose of | Chocolate
Former Broadway music director David Truskinoff’s second act is a hot chocolate truck in Center City. But it’s not just any old chocolate.