Homeless ex-pharmacist reconnects with community; Sixers stay alive in semifinals | Morning Newsletter
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The Morning Newsletter
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Falling upon hard times, a former King of Prussia pharmacist went from living with her two dogs in a 4,000-square-foot house to a car with a dead battery and no gas in a Target parking lot. But thanks to the goodness of the community, she now has an apartment to stay in and a renewed connection to her neighbors, Alfred Lubrano writes. And thanks to the goodness of Jimmy “Buckets” Butler, the Sixers are still alive in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and — clap your hands, everybody — headed to Toronto for Game 7.
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— Oona Goodin-Smith (@oonagoodinsmith, morningnewsletter@philly.com)
Growing up in King of Prussia, Lynn Schutzman said she was always "one of the haves” — until she wasn’t.
After absorbing the untimely death of her husband, a series of devastating illnesses, and financial ruin hastened by medical bills and relatives who she said took advantage of her, the 69-year-old former pharmacist found herself moving from her middle-class life in a 4,000-square-foot house to an apartment, then to her car.
Blasting the Mercedes’ heat in the winters and renting a motel room for the occasional shower, Schutzman and her dogs, Chaucer and Chase, lived for two years out of her vehicle, which was most recently stationed in a Target parking lot.
Then one day last month, a pair of strangers knocked on Schutzman’s car window with a promise to help.
Philadelphia officials are hoping to make it a little easier for first-time home buyers to put down roots in the city.
Launching in June, Philly First Home promises eligible residents $10,000 toward home down payments and closing costs, and will forgive the loan if the buyer stays in the house for over 15 years.
The program comes as an unprecedented wave of younger and wealthier residents move to Philadelphia, while the city poverty rate hovers at about 26 percent, longtime residents fear being pushed out, and starter homes have become more difficult to find.
Philly knows a thing or two about being the underdog, and last night, with their backs against the Wells Fargo Center wall and hopes of Eastern Conference finals fading, the Sixers proved that underdogs — hungry dogs — run faster.
With a 112-101 win over the Raptors and strong performances from Jim-my But-ler, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, the Sixers roared back to life in Game 6, tying the series and forcing a Game 7 in Toronto on Sunday.
And no matter how Game 7 ends, the Sixers have already proved something, writes columnist David Murphy.
What you need to know today
In West Wildwood, the mayor lives with the chief of the police department, which just hired his daughter — and that’s just the beginning of the tangled web of feuds and nepotism, lawsuits and local privilege, rumors, gossip and some tax hikes raising eyebrows in the tiny shore town.
New Jersey’s school-funding formula is held up as a model by education advocates. But the state is confronting a new legal challenge from a district that says the Garden State isn’t sending it enough money.
After spending nearly three decades on death row, a Philadelphia man has been released from prison after a judge agreed he was represented by ineffective defense, along with clear misconduct by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and the prosecutor who handled the case.
Do you know which Philly judges you’re voting for in the May 21 primary, what’s on the ballot, or why we even vote for judges in the first place? Reporter Andrew Seidman explains.
Because the federal government considers marijuana illegal, nearly every dollar of the U.S. industry’s estimated $8.3 billion in sales was handled outside the federally regulated banking system. Now, Attorneys General for Pennsylvania and New Jersey are among dozens asking congressional leaders to allow legal marijuana businesses to use the banking network.
Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly
Thanks for putting in a good word last night, Wilt. 🙏🏀 And thanks for the photo, @chuckseye.
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
Wawa has officially arrived in Miami, and while some are bemoaning the overhyped “cool gas station,” other Floridians have Wawa fever, and the only prescription is more Sizzlis.
As Philadelphia and other U.S. cities push to open supervised injection sites to stop fatal overdoses, one site has been operating in secret since 2014.
It might be in Kensington, it might be in Port Richmond, but for all retail purposes, this strip mall is being rechristened as “Fishtown Crossing.”
Long live the Linc. The Eagles organization has extended its stadium naming rights with the Lincoln Financial Group through 2032.
Opinions
“For this first-ever black triumvirate in pageant history to be a real beauty win, all black women need to be able to sit comfortably in their natural beauty wherever they are — work, school, play, and on the pageant stage. That means we shouldn’t have to explain our curves. We shouldn’t feel some kind of way about our full lips or our broad noses. We need not be brown versions of the white ideal.” - Columnist Elizabeth Wellington on the importance of natural hair laws.
To ensure that Philadelphia’s next mayor is held accountable to his specific position on “stop and frisk,” the Inquirer Editorial Board asked candidates to clarify their stances on the issue. Editorial writer Abraham Gutman provides an annotated look at those conversations.
For residents who respond to crises like gunshot wounds and overdoses on the regular, breaks are necessary and should be enforced by employers, writes Roz Pichardo, who works in the harm-reduction community in Kensington.
What we’re reading
If there’s one thing that defines a home in Fishtown, it’s a house-number fish sign hanging above its door. The history of the sign has “one fin in the old Fishtown, and one fin in the new,” writes Joel Wolfram for PlanPhilly.
At the Overbrook School for the Blind in West Philadelphia, WHYY reports, a new adaptive and accessible horticultural center is teaching students to take time to smell (and touch) the flowers.
In the era of tech bros and business-casual dress codes, suits are out and the Patagonia vest is in as the new uniform for male corporate power, The Atlantic observes.
Your Daily Dose of | Spirit 🦅
Last week, Kyle Tanguay became the first male Eagles cheerleader to join the squad in 35 years and only the fourth male cheerleader in the NFL. Where’d learn his moves? From his 98-year-old great grandmother.