NBA free agency puts Sixers in spotlight, Philly prepares for 4th of July | Morning Newsletter

Happy Sunday everyone! This weekend’s Q&A looks at the extensive coverage of the recent explosion at the Southwest Philly refinery. We sat down with Andrew Maykuth, a business reporter who covers energy and gambling. He has been leading the charge in providing critical updates on the aftermath of the disaster.

-- Tauhid Chappell ([email protected])

Special offer: What happened? Why? Become an Inquirer and get more of your questions answered. Take the first step with Digital Access for just 77¢ per week for 13 weeks. Because you give a damn. Subscribe today!

The week ahead

Don’t have plans for the Fourth of July? Head over to the Parkway for the annual Party on the Parkway celebration. It’ll have performances from Jennifer Hudson and Meghan Trainor, plus a beautiful fireworks display.Speaking of fireworks, if you’re not planning on heading to the Parkway, we’ve compiled a list of other places around the region that will be putting on fireworks shows, from Philly and the 'burbs to the Shore.NBA free agency starts tonight at 6 p.m., and rumors continue to swirl around Jimmy Butler’s future in Philly. A potential trade could send him to the Rockets or even the Heat, if the Sixers decide they can’t keep him. Losing him could very well upend the team’s offseason.The Phillies were on a hot streak after taking four games from the Mets. But now they’re trying to avoid being swept for the second time in a week by the Marlins, who are still the National League’s worst team. After today’s game in Florida, they’ll take on the division-leading Braves beginning Tuesday.This week’s most popular stories

Hahnemann University Hospital to closePennsylvania GOP Chair Val DiGiorgio traded sexually charged messages with a Philly Council candidate. Then he sent her an explicit photo.Philadelphia Energy Solutions to close refinery damaged by fire; gas prices spikeThis Philadelphia woman recorded three decades of television on 70,000 VHS tapesRare fight erupts on Pa. Senate floor amid debate over program for the poorFrom juvenile delinquent to Juris Doctor: Camden woman keeps her promise to the judge who gave her a break 12 years agoBehind the story with Andrew Maykuth

Each week we go behind the scenes with one of our reporters or editors to discuss their work and the challenges they face along the way. This week we chat with Andrew Maykuth, who helped lead our coverage of the refinery fire.

Can you walk us through how you worked inside the newsroom on the day of the fire?

I’ve covered Philly refineries on and off for about 25 years, so the breaking news crew called my cell phone at about 5:17 a.m. Friday (June 21) to join the rapidly expanding team of reporters and photographers covering the story. Fortunately, I’m an early riser. I reached out to refinery contacts and quickly got a broad sketch of the scale of the emergency, which we posted online. The Inquirer’s journalists also shared contacts, suggestions and field notes through Slack, a cloud-based workplace collaboration tool that is an effective way to communicate internally. Our online team did a masterful job assembling a story quickly.

After the initial emergency subsided, I came into the newsroom to help out on the main story. Editors assigned several stories to focus on the neighborhood impact, environmental implications, and emergency preparedness. Other journalists pulled together timelines and histories from our archives, along with maps and graphics to help our readers comprehend the story’s scope. Scores of people were involved, not just those whose bylines were on stories. Considering what has happened to many media outlets, we’re fortunate that we still have a deep bench of resources that can be deployed on big stories like these. It’s amazing how everybody pitches in.

When it comes to big breaking news, what are the first questions you normally think about, and contacts you try to reach immediately? How did you apply this to the refinery coverage?

This story had clear public safety implications -- a series of frightful explosions, the potential harm for refinery workers and the possible release of a toxic cloud from the refinery. The first order of business was to get a handle on the scale of the emergency, and then to try to make sense of it. It helps to have some appreciation of the complexities of the refineries, the economics of the oil business, the concerns of people who live near the refineries and the professionalism of the people who work in the business. While I was calling refinery and industry contacts, other Inquirer reporters who have developed relationships with trusted law enforcement and government officials were also working the phones, expanding our collective knowledge of the incident.

Was covering this explosion difficult compared to other breaking news stories you’ve covered in the past?

One of the earliest and most memorable breaking stories I covered was the 1985 MOVE bombing, where I was one of many field reporters The Inquirer dispatched to the scene. There were no cell phones back then, so it was critical to find and secure a pay phone to dictate notes to a rewrite person in the newsroom. We were producing a news product that was printed on paper and distributed a few hours later. Now our reporters and photographers have so many tools at their fingertips to gather and to transmit news instantly. The public also is increasingly part of the conversation through posts on social media. Our news operation has expanded to embrace digital, so our deadlines are immediate. Some aspects of news gathering are easier now, but the pressure to deliver is relentless.

What comes next for the refinery? Is there a known timeline of when future plans for the site will start being put forward?

Philadelphia Energy Solutions said it will try to find a buyer for the property, and I hear several prospective saviors are trying to organize rescues. It may not come back as a refinery. But I suspect it will remain industrial -- the property contains lots of valuable energy infrastructure, including pipelines, rail, docks and storage tanks. I’ll be eager to see if any clean-energy entrepreneurs emerge with proposals. I would not expect a quick resolution. The Delaware City refinery shut down in 2009, and it took two years and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment before it reopened. Energy markets have changed, and PES is financially and competitively challenged. Our reporters will continue to cover the investigation into the cause of the accident and what happens to the people whose lives are linked to the property.

You can stay in touch with Andrew by following him on Twitter at @Maykuth or by emailing him at [email protected].

Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly

Dance like no one is watching ????. Thanks for capturing the moment @nbs2!

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!

#CuriousPhilly: Have a question about your community? Ask us!

Have you submitted a question to Curious Philly yet? Try us. We’re listening to our readers and doing our best to find answers to the things you’re curious about.

Our readers’ latest question: What’s up with the I-95 overcap park?

The answer: For more than a decade, the city has been planning to build this park. The good news: a key step in the transformation process is set to begin. The bad news: its construction won’t happen for a while.

What we’re…

Eating: at Monsu before it closes. Unfortunately the Sicilian BYOB in the Italian Market will close, but the silver lining is you have three months to dine there. And the owner is bringing back another restaurant.Drinking: Organics, by Red Bull. Yes, it may come as a surprise that a company known for energizing people is in the organic soda market. But here we are, and their sodas aren’t too shabby either. The bonus: they make for great cocktail mixers.Reading: our TV critic Ellen Gray interviewed Stranger Thing’s David Harbour right in time for season three, which premiers this Independence Day.Listening to: Originals, by Prince, an album that gifts the listener with demos of songs Prince gave to other artists, most of which were produced between 1982 and 1984.Comment of the week

Oh man. I am so proud of the commenters on this. I thought for sure that most would make this a situation where this guy harassed her but instead, everyone sees that both of them got lost in the mire of irresponsible flirting. This should not have been a published story. We are walking on very tenuous ground in this country. This exchange could have been done 30 years ago and people still would’ve made a big deal about it. We should start a new movement called #gotcha. Scary world. -- Let’s Be Fair on Pennsylvania GOP Chair Val DiGiorgio traded sexually charged messages with a Philly Council candidate. Then he sent her an explicit photo.

___

(c)2019 The Philadelphia Inquirer

Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at www.inquirer.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.