We ready (Instagram/@ryansolimeo)

Temple University grad student strike gets ugly

It’s been a week since Temple graduate students went on strike, and the administration is not backing down on refusal to meet demands.

  • Union members are seeing health benefits canceled, and receiving notice that their tuition — usually covered as university employees — will be due in full next month, in amounts upwards of $20,000.

The move drew widespread condemnation from elected officials like Sen. Bob Casey. Is it legal? What are students striking for? Ben Seal has the rundown.

→ The TUGSA strike, explained

Temple University in North Philadelphia (Mark Henninger/Imagic Digital)

Super Bowl appearance = big bucks on social media

Beyond contracts and traditional endorsements, there’s extra cash on the table for sports celebs these days. 

  • Really high profile athletes can demand around $10 per 1,000 followers for one social media post, a sports marketing expert told Jordan Levy. Super Bowl appearances juice that potential.

Eagles QB Jalen Hurts has about 1.1 million followers on Instagram, so he “can easily make $50,000 in an hour” with just a photo and a caption.

→ The new trend of “brand-networking”

Jalen Hurts at a pep rally at Lincoln Financial Field a week before Super Bowl LVII (Stanley Weaver-Mendez/WHYY)

RECAP: What else happened?

$ = paywalled

MAYOR WATCH

Mayor Kenney delivers a proclamation at the Kimmel Center honoring Philadelphia Orchestra conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who just extended his contract through 2030 (4 p.m.). And a brief correction to what we wrote yesterday — his title was already “music director,” now it will be expanded to “music and artistic director.”

ON THE CALENDAR

🦅 Bring a piece of clothing to Yards Brewing on Spring Garden and have it spray-painted with an Eagles design by local artist Nero for just $20. (12 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11) 

💐 Shop for love from local women makers at Rex at the Royal’s Galentine’s Day market on South Street West, with vendors offering jewelry, candles, ceramics, tea, and more. (10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11)