From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!
“The work stoppage involving District Council 33 and the City of Philadelphia is OVER,” Mayor Cherelle Parker announced on social media early Wednesday morning.
A marathon negotiation session Tuesday between the city and its blue collar workers’ union responsible for trash pick-up and other duties around the city has resulted in a tentative contract agreement.
DC33 President Greg Boulware was exhausted after the 12-hour negotiation session and said they did what they had to do.
“There’s a lot of factors involved in what was going on and we ultimately did what we thought was in the best interest of all of our membership,” Boulware said.
The deal appears to be a complete win for the city because it got just about everything Parker wanted with a 3% raise in each of the three years of the deal. It’s a deal the Parker administration is calling “historic.”
When adding in the 5% increase the city agreed to last year to extend DC33’s contract by one year, the increase for the union over Parker’s four-year term will total 14%. That’s still well below the 32% total pay increase the union was fighting for.
“Your union stood up and fought for you and we did the best we can with the circumstances we had in front of us,” Boulware said.
Those circumstances include workers expecting to miss a paycheck Thursday.
Union officials have told workers to return to the job pending a ratification vote.
Nine thousand members of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33 went on strike July 1. The strike has resulted in massive piles of trash piling up on city streets and around trash drop-off sites designated by the city.
The strike also resulted in changes to the city’s annual Fourth of July concert with headliner LL Cool J and city native Jazmine Sullivan both dropping out.
Get ready for the Blood Moon next week! Our natural satellite will turn crimson as it is experiencing a total eclipse. It will happen during the evening between September 7 and 8 (depending on the timezone) and will be seen by an enormous number of people worldwide. The moon will first go black as the Earth’s shadow covers it during the partial phase, before going full red, when it is completely eclipsed. The full event, from partiality to the full eclipse and then back to partiality, will take 3 hours, 29 minutes, and 24 seconds.
Where Will The Blood Moon Be Visible From?
If you want to see the whole spectacle from start to finish (including the dimming of the penumbral phase), you have plenty of places to pick from. Most of Asia, a sliver of East Africa, and Western Australia will get the complete eclipse. The rest of Africa, Australia, much of Europe, and the east coast of Brazil will get at least part of the totality and the partiality.
You can check Time&Date.com for precise timings to see the eclipse at your location.
How Is This Lunar Eclipse Record Breaking?
Thanks to the planetary alignment at the time of the eclipse, a record-breaking 7 billion people will be able to see the celestial event. Obviously, weather permitting, but up to 60 percent of the world’s population will be able to see the full eclipse, which is truly incredible.
If we consider at least partial views of the event, then the number goes up to 87 percent. We’re sure people in the Americas will be annoyed that they were not invited to this party… let’s consider it a cosmic retaliation for the first lunar eclipse of 2025, which took place in March and was basically an American exclusive.
For the March eclipse, the lunar mission Blue Ghost was on the Moon and operational at the time. It captured the incredible event as a solar eclipse, which you can see here.
To consider a completely different record, the longest eclipse observation, and likely the one with the least spectators, happened back in 1973, where scientists used a Concorde plane to travel across the path of totality for 74 minutes.
Excitingly, the longest eclipse of this century is still to come. It will happen on August 2, 2027, and it will last around 6 minutes and 23 seconds.
How Do Eclipses Happen?
The orbit of the Moon is slightly slanted with respect to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. If the two were the same, we would get a lunar and solar eclipse every month. Instead, they tend to happen more rarely, every six months or so (but certain years are better) when the Moon is at a node.
A node means that the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon are aligned or in syzygy. A total lunar eclipse occurs at full Moon when the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon line up, so the Moon passes completely within the shadow. There are partial lunar eclipses, where the Moon doesn’t fully enter the shadow, and penumbral eclipses when the Moon only crosses the half-shadow.
For the Sun, there are total eclipses when the Sun is fully covered, partial, when only a bit of the Sun is obscured, and annular, when the Sun is fully covered but the Moon is at its most distant point in its orbit, so it doesn’t look big enough to block the whole solar disk.
The total lunar eclipse is also known as the blood Moon because, once in the shadow of the Earth, it turns red. The reason for this is that sunlight filters through the atmosphere of the Earth, losing the blue colors, just like the sky at sunset and sunrise. Our planet’s shadow has a bit of a crimson hue, coloring the Moon when no direct sunlight is reaching it.
The Powerball jackpot has surged to an estimated $1.1 billion after no ticket matched all six numbers in Saturday’s drawing, according to a news release from the Multi-State Lottery Association.
Monday’s Labor Day jackpot will be the fifth-largest prize in the game’s history, the agency noted.
Saturday night’s winning numbers were white balls 3, 18, 22, 27, 33, and red Powerball 17, with a Power Play multiplier of 3.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, the association said.
If a player wins Monday, they can choose between the $1.1 billion annuity or a one-time payment of nearly half a billion dollars, both before taxes.
“America has waited all year for the chance to play for a billion-dollar jackpot,” said Matt Strawn, Powerball Product Group Chair and Iowa Lottery CEO.
In the first case, winners will be paid over 30 years, with one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5% each year. If the winner chooses a lump sum, they will receive $498.4 million, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs the game.
Monday’s drawing will be the 40th since the jackpot was last won on May 31 in California.
The largest Powerball jackpot on record was a $2.04 billion prize won in California on November 7, 2022.
The longest Powerball run without a winner is 42 consecutive drawings, set in April 2024.
Powerball tickets cost $2 and are sold in 45 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
The eBay Labor Dale Sale has kicked off with a 20% off coupon code: “HAPPY30TH” to celebrate eBay’s 30 year anniversary. This coupon happens to work on several TVs, including the new 2025 LG OLED TVs. Right now you can pick up a 65″ LG Evo C5 4K OLED smart TV for just $1,299.19 after you apply 20% off coupon: “HAPPY30TH“. Alternatively, you can get a 77″ LG Evo C5 for $1,837.59 after the same code. These are the lowest prices I’ve seen all year and at least $200 less than other retailers’ Labor Day deals. The seller Buydig is reputable and has over half a million postive reviews. It is also an authorized LG reseller so you’re getting the manufacturer warranty.
LG Evo C5 4K OLED Smart TVs Are on Sale for Labor Day
65″ LG Evo C5 4K OLED Smart TV
2
77″ LG Evo C5 4K OLED Smart TV
3
The LG Evo OLED TV has been our favorite TV for gaming, especially for the PlayStation 5 console for three years running thanks to its outstanding image quality, low input lag, and high refresh rate. The C5 is LG’s newest generatoin (2025) model in the lineup. The C5 uses LG’s proprietary Evo panel, which offers higher brightness level and contrast ratio compared to traditional W-OLED TVs (similar to QD OLED panels on Samsung TVs). OLED TVs offer the best image quality of any TV currently available at consumer prices thanks to near-infinite black levels, near-infinite contrast ratio, and near-instantaneous response times. This is easily the best TV for streaming 4K HDR content in its intended glory.
The LG C5 has all the features you’d want in a gaming TV as well. It has a native 120Hz panel that can be pushed to as high as 144Hz and all four HDMI ports are 2.1 spec for running games in 4K at up to 120fps on a PS5 or Xbox Series X without any tearing. The C4 also supports variable refresh rate (VRR) and auto low latency mode (ALLM). The C5 is also pretty lightweight because the rear cabinet housing is made of a composite fiber; 65″ model weighs only 36 pounds without the stand. That makes it easier to install, especially if you plan on wall mounting it.
What are the updates over the 2024 LG Evo C4 model?
The LG Evo C5 improves upon the C4 with an updated Alpha a9 Gen8 processor and a higher peak brightness level, the latter of which is the more significant upgrade. Higher peak brightness means the C5 is able to deliver slightly better contrast ratio, slightly wider color gamut, better glare and reflection handling, and greater usability in bright rooms.
The 77″ LG Evo C4 4K OLED TV is also on sale
77″ LG Evo C4 4K OLED Smart TV
19
If you don’t mind stepping down to the 2024 model, you’ll save around $160 going with the 77″ LG Evo C4 4K OLED smart TV. The C4 uses a similar Evo OLED panel to the C5 for increased brightness levels. It also has four HDMI 2.1 ports and a native 120Hz refresh rate that can be pushed to 144Hz for high-fps gaming on the PlayStation 5 console.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
