🎢 The last park standing in Ocean City | Morning Newsletter
And Philly federal workers on edge
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Welcome to Sunday.
It should be a partly sunny Sunday with a high near 70.
Less than five blocks from the defunct Wonderland Pier, another amusement park is alive and ready for visitors down the Shore.
And for federal employees who remain on the job in Philly, work evokes a mix of anxiety, guilt, and resentment. Further down, hear how they’re coping with the stress of the shake-up spurred by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
— Paola Pérez ([email protected])
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Gillian’s Wonderland Pier shut down last year, but there’s still fun to be had at Ocean City.
Playland’s Castaway Cove opened for the season on Friday. Brian Hartley, vice president of the family-owned landmark, says their existence surprises some people. “They think there are no rides in Ocean City,” he said.
🎡 Consistent crowds: Still, the park has attracted visitors for years, even after an electrical fire destroyed its arcade and signature pirate ship.
🎡 But not too crowded: With concerns that Castaway will absorb all of Wonderland’s patrons, Castaway is making space to allow for people to better move around.
🎡 In with the new: New rides and an arcade building will open this season. Expect another roller coaster in the future.
Read Amy Rosenberg’s latest for more on Castaway’s history and what park goers can expect this year.
Their colleagues are being fired. Their union rights are being stripped. And they have to deal with the fear they could be next on the chopping block.
For those federal employees still on the job in Philadelphia, they simply have to try to carry on and do their work. But they are distracted by the instability and chaos around them due to the government’s upheaval of their departments.
And as some prepare to take on more work and try to adjust to new procedures, others have already been living in that reality.
In their own words: The last few months have been “incredibly stressful,” said Andrew Kreider, an environmental protection specialist who is no longer “sure that concluding my career at EPA will be possible.”
Ariana Perez-Castells and Fallon Roth have the story.
What you should know today
A woman was shot to death in a car late Friday night in West Philadelphia, police said. An 8-year-old was reportedly found unharmed in the vehicle.
A former commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police will conduct an independent security review of the arson attack on the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg. Here’s a timeline on how it happened within minutes.
The Museum of the American Revolution on Saturday unveiled the largest exhibit of American Revolutionary War flags in more than two centuries, featuring about half of the 30 flags still known to exist.
Just a couple of blocks away from that ceremony, about 2,000 people gathered with flags and signs at Independence Mall Park for the “No Kings!” protest and march against President Donald Trump.
Anna Paulson, a career economist at the Federal Reserve’s Chicago bank, is set to take over as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
A panel of Commonwealth Court judges reversed a lower court’s decision to remove Lower Merion’s school board president from the Democratic primary ballot over financial disclosure omissions.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins accused Gov. Josh Shapiro of playing “political games” when he urged the department to restore a $13 million contract to provide funds for Pennsylvania food banks to buy food from local farmers. Shapiro’s agriculture secretary shot back saying Rollins had incorrect information.
Wilfredo P. Rojas, cofounder and retired director of the Philadelphia Department of Prisons Office of Community Justice and Outreach, has died at 73.
It’s been more than a week since Community College of Philadelphia ousted its president, and an interim leader has not been named. The uncertainty has left some a little uneasy.
âť“Pop quiz
Which fashionable celebrity from Philly was tapped to cochair the 2025 Met Gala?
A) Quinta Brunson
B) Will Smith
C) Colman Domingo
D) Jazmine Sullivan
Think you know? Check your answer.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: The first album in 20 years by West Philly’s Fresh Prince
ANDY BOOTS TREASURE
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.
Cheers to Kianga Tchume who correctly guessed Saturday’s answer: Sharswood. Poetry is popping up on sidewalks in this section of North Philadelphia. Here’s why.
Photo of the day
🎶 Today’s track goes like this: “We’ll give each other all of our best and then / Time can do what it wants with the rest.”
One more musical thing: A Philly health expert is trying music to reduce stress without medication. As a believer of music’s therapeutic benefits, I can get behind that.
👋🏽 Thanks for spending a bit of time with me this Easter morning. Take care.