Good morning. Sunday should be mostly sunny with a high near 83.
It doesn’t take much to clog up Philadelphia’s 72,000 stormwater drains. Our main read highlights the pronounced stress on the city’s century-old infrastructure.
And more people now pay for services that keep them off social media when self-control may fail.
— Paola Pérez (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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The city hadn’t seen normal levels of precipitation for 16 consecutive months. But when the rainfall made a return in July and August, the flooding followed suit.
The dread and anxiety are real among residents who say they feel helpless watching stormwater fill their basements, or when their local roads “become rivers.”
The city’s drains get blocked easily. There is roughly one stormwater inlet for every 20 residents, and ordinary objects like tree leaves, dirt, trash, and other street debris can get in the way.
Almost 3,000 requests for inlet cleanings were filed to the city’s 311 line last year, an Inquirer data review found. The city has closed such requests in under four days on average under Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration, but some residents report issues directly to the Philadelphia Water Department.
From Fairmount to Mount Airy, hear from Philadelphians on their frustrating experiences dealing with the water department and the uncertain atmosphere.
Our devices can make some parts of our daily lives convenient, but they can also put a strain on our mental health. The human-smartphone relationship has become a “paradox,” as one expert told The Inquirer’s Erin McCarthy.
People have become more aware of the cumulative hours they spend tapping away, but many find it hard to curb temptation by themselves, especially given the addictive designs of social platforms.
In response, McCarthy reports that a growing number of social-media-detox businesses have emerged. More consumers are using these services designed to block distracting apps. Ironically, some of the tools are apps themselves.
As a self-case study, McCarthy tried going without Instagram for two weeks. “After my experiment, I see why people are willing to pay to unplug from social media,” she writes.
Read on to learn about these services, and for tips to reduce screen time.
What you should know today
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About 113,000 Philly kids will return to classrooms on Monday. From half days to schools without air-conditioning, here are key things to know about the new academic year.
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New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a bill that protects reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare by making it a crime to interfere with such care.
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Philadelphia police are investigating after a pedestrian was struck and killed by an SUV near La Salle University on Saturday.
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Six Coatesville men were sentenced to state prison for their roles in an ill-fated revenge plot that left a friend dead. Two of them will be behind bars for life.
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One in three Philadelphia-area patients are often left in the dark about side effects of new medications given during hospitalization, according to a survey.
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West Chester will limit where future smoke shops can open within the borough. This comes after residents pushed back against a corner store in a residential neighborhood that became a brightly lit vape shop.
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Months of celebration for the World Cup and America’s 250th came with significant investments in Philly, from soccer pitches to park upgrades.
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A row of East Market Street pop-up storefronts will continue hosting small local businesses through the end of 2026.
🎤 Here’s Tommy Rowan with a look back at the massive refinery blaze that killed eight firefighters and injured dozens more.
Investigators would later determine that inattentive workers let oil storage tanks overfill and unleash highly flammable vapors.
In the early hours of Aug. 17, 1975, those vapors snaked through the hulking Gulf Oil Refinery smeared along the Schuylkill in Southwest Philly.
What happened next is still considered one of the worst refinery disasters in recent memory, and one of the deadliest days in the history of the Philadelphia Fire Department.
❓Pop quiz
Which soccer league will stream games for free in the United States through the summer of 2031?
A) Spain’s La Liga
B) Champions League
C) Germany’s Bundesliga
D) England’s Premier League
Think you know? Check your answer.
What (and whom) we’re …
🖼️ Chatting with: Four Philadelphia artists who are a part of this year’s Whitney Biennial.
🎤 Reliving: Isaiah Rashad’s set at the Fillmore.
🤤 Hungry for: The Chino breakfast sandwich from Chibanos.
🧠 Playing: This week’s Pillars, our new word game, built specifically for Philly.
🦁 Mourning: Makini, the last African lion at the Philadelphia Zoo.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: Director of the National Treasure films
JETTON TUBULAR
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.
Cheers to Kathleen Babcock, who correctly guessed Saturday’s answer: Willow Grove Park. A sale of the Montgomery County shopping mall is expected “in the near term,” according to property owner PREIT.
Photo of the day
Twenty years ago, Philadelphia almost lost Thomas Eakins’ 1875 painting The Gross Clinic forever. Almost. Then, Philadelphians raised $68 million in 45 days to keep it from being sold. Morgan Ritter recounts the iconic painting’s journey.
🎶 Today, I’m listening to Philly singer-songwriter Anna Shoemaker. The title track of her forthcoming record, Back to Pennsylvania, goes like this: “I didn’t plan on losing everything / You’re never planning for the ship to sink.”
One more musical thing: The bittersweet emotions were palpable at Rush’s first Philly show for the band’s “Fifty Something” reunion tour. The septuagenarian rockers will play the Xfinity Mobile Arena again on Sunday.
👋🏽 That’s it for now. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and take care.
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