The Why: Philly Explained

A full two weeks after the election, the Trump campaign is still challenging the Pennsylvania vote. Today, a federal judge will listen to the campaign’s arguments at a hearing in Western Pennsylvania.

But legal experts say Trump’s barrage of lawsuits doesn’t have merit. In addition, President-Elect Joe Biden won the state by 70,000 votes, and that 1% margin means those lawsuits won’t win the commonwealth for Trump. 

But Trump is forging ahead anyway.

Ryan Briggs of WHYY’s PlanPhilly explains Trump’s legal challenges and why he’s suing.

As COVID cases soar, Philadelphia is unrolling a new round of restrictions: no more indoor dining at restaurants, and gyms and movie theaters must close. City officials initially tried to avoid taking these measures, and even increased indoor capacity at restaurants as cases were rising, likely because they were concerned about the impact they could have on businesses already struggling during the pandemic. Instead, they previously pressed residents to take personal responsibility, repeatedly encouraging them to wear a mask, wash their hands, and stay six feet apart from others.

WHYY health reporter Nina Feldman explains why Philadelphia is changing its course.

Delaware politicians are known for their civility and a spirit of compromise. It traces back to one of the state’s oldest traditions: Return Day, an 18th-century ritual that includes a carriage ride, a town crier, and a hatchet that literally gets buried in the sand. It usually occurs every two years and attracts the state’s leading elected officials, though the coronavirus limited the celebration this year.

Still, President-Elect Joe Biden is a fan of Return Day and seldom misses one. 

How have Return Day and Delaware’s unique brand of politics shaped Biden? And will he be able to carry Delaware’s ideals to the White House?

Our guest, Mark Eichmann, deputy managing editor of WHYY’s Delaware desk, explains this historic Delaware tradition.

Last week, New Jersey voted overwhelmingly on a constitutional amendment to make recreational marijuana legal, a law that has been 10 years in the making. Philadelphia Inquirer cannabis reporter Sam Wood walks us through the Garden State’s path to legalization, which included framing legalization as a social justice issue. He says some cannabis activists disagree with this framing and claim new regulatory structures exclude people of color who don’t have big investors behind them.

A cell phone video of the killing of  West Philadelphia resident Walter Wallace Jr. was viewed more than a 1 million times. Then, on Nov. 4th, the Philadelphia Police Department released the official body camera footage of the shooting, which was undeniably disturbing. 

There are two schools of thought about whether videos of police killing Black men should be released. One says they should, because they raise awareness about police brutality and systemic racism, while another says no, because watching them could be traumatic, especially for Black and brown people.

Guest Layla A. Jones of WHYY’s Billy Penn explains about the mental health effects of viral police videos and what people who are traumatized by them can do to help themselves heal.

All across the United States,  election officials are counting votes — not just for the presidential race, but for Congressional races, too.

In New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District, U.S. Representative Jeff Van Drew leads challenger Amy Kennedy. But it’s a tight race.

Van Drew has been a South Jersey politician for over two decades, but this is the first time he’s run as a Republican. Last year, he did something that is rare in politics — he switched parties from Democrat to Republican and pledged his undying support for President Trump.

Why did Van Drew flip to the Trump playbook? And what does his fight to keep his seat say about the political divide driving the 2020 presidential election?

Our guest, WHYY New Jersey political reporter Joe Hernandez, breaks down a story that has received national attention.

Over the weekend, President Trump said he wanted to see election results by the end of Election Day and suggested that Democrats may try to steal the election if the votes weren’t counted by then.

But with record numbers of mail-in ballots this year  — more than 3 million voters requested them —  and the fact that Pennsylvania is among a handful of states that won’t be able to start counting votes until Election Day, it’s highly unlikely the commonwealth will be able to process its ballots in one day. 

Our guest, WHYY reporter Aaron Moselle, has been digging into ballot-counting operations in Philadelphia and the suburbs and explains why results will take longer in a battleground state that could decide this election.

Tomorrow is Election Day. More than 2.4 million early ballots have already been collected in Pennsylvania. Millions more people are expected to head to the polls in person on Tuesday, masks on.  WHYY and Keystone Crossroads have been talking to voters across the state —  from proud Trumpers to folks ridin’ with Biden, from the burbs to the city to rural Pa.  Today, we step aside and bring you the voices of people voting in what could be the most important swing state this election. 

Walter Wallace Jr.’s family says they called for an ambulance on Monday afternoon because the 27-year-old was in the midst of a mental health crisis. Police arrived instead, and Wallace was shot and killed by two officers. Only three weeks earlier, the department announced a new program calling for a clinically trained behavioral health worker to help identify 911 calls that require a different kind of response. WHYY reporters Ximena Conde and Nina Feldman explain why that initiative wasn’t implemented in time, potentially costing Wallace his life.

On Thursday, Philadelphia City Council is expected to pass a ban police officers’ use of tear gas, rubber bullets and other “less lethal munitions” against protesters. The city’s police department already put a moratorium on these tactics after police clashed with racial justice demonstrators in late May and early June. That policy was put to the test Monday night when violence erupted in response to the death of Walter Wallace, a Black man who was shot and killed by police in the city’s Cobb’s Creek neighborhood. Darryl C. Murphy of WHYY’s PlanPhilly and WHYY reporter Ximena Conde covered more than six hours of public hearings on the bill, and join us to explain why residents and some city council members pushed to make that ban law.