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Professor-student romance rules examined at local colleges; Feds make record-breaking cocaine bust | Morning Newsletter

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Bridget Hunt, center, and her husband Steve Hunt, stand for a photo with their family. The two met in the mid-2000s at Gordon College in Massachusetts when Bridget, as a college freshman, took Steve's religion course. The two later began dating, and today have been married for 13 years. But had they met today, their relationship might not have played out the same, as Gordon now bans such relationships. More colleges are taking that step.
Bridget Hunt, center, and her husband Steve Hunt, stand for a photo with their family. The two met in the mid-2000s at Gordon College in Massachusetts when Bridget, as a college freshman, took Steve's religion course. The two later began dating, and today have been married for 13 years. But had they met today, their relationship might not have played out the same, as Gordon now bans such relationships. More colleges are taking that step.Read moreCOURTESY OF BRIDGET HUNT

    The Morning Newsletter

    Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter

What’s up, Philly? I’m Josh Rosenblat, your new friend that’ll send you emails (almost) every morning. First, I need to give a shout out to Oona Goodin-Smith, Ray Boyd, Tauhid Chappell, and Tommy Rowan, who shared the privilege of getting to communicate with you all over the past handful of weeks. Don’t worry. You’ll still get to hear from them in the future. Now for the news.

Yesterday, federal authorities made one of the biggest drug busts in U.S. history at a local port. On land, there’s been a beach umbrella battle brewing at the Shore involving a french fry company. Also, local colleges are re-evaluating their policies on professor-student relationships.

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— Josh Rosenblat (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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Until recently, many colleges and universities in Pennsylvania didn’t have any policies governing student-professor relationships. But that’s changed since the Title IX reckonings and rule changes in 2014 and the launch of the #MeToo movement in 2017.

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is exploring a policy addressing these relationships for its 14 member schools. Penn State, including its 20 campuses, is reviewing its rules. Local schools from Penn to Princeton to Rowan have revamped their policies in recent years.

Even with some higher ed institutions contemplating outright bans of sexual relations between students and faculty, attitudes on campuses remained mixed.

Federal authorities seized more than 16 tons of cocaine from a cargo ship docked at the Port of Philadelphia on Tuesday. One of the biggest busts in U.S. history, the drugs were worth an estimated total of more than $1 billion dollars.

The contraband was discovered in several shipping containers on a boat bound for the U.S. and Europe, according to a port employee. It had made prior stops in Peru, Panama, and the Bahamas.

Just three months ago, authorities seized 1,815 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $38 million at the same port, then the port’s largest seizure in over two decades.

In the wake of a violent weekend across the city, District Attorney Larry Krasner told The Inquirer that more than 98 percent of gun cases were approved for prosecution last year, which is up from 97 percent in 2016. That was the last full year that Krasner’s predecessor, Seth Williams, served as district attorney.

His comments come as a sort of rebuttal to something Police Commissioner Richard Ross floated on Monday about the reason cops had been arresting more people with illegal firearms. Ross mentioned that there might be a perception that offenders will receive “no consequences” for breaking the law.

What you need to know today

  1. President Donald Trump officially kicked off his reelection campaign with a rally in Florida last night.

  2. Gov. Phil Murphy vowed he’d veto an extension to New Jersey’s controversial tax-credit programs that are set to expire July 1. Earlier this week, a Murphy-appointed special task force released a report that said Philip Norcross’ law and lobbying firm helped shape the 2013 law to benefit his clients, including the insurance brokerage chaired by his brother, Democratic power broker George Norcross.

  3. Amazon has humans and robots working side-by-side at a fulfillment center in West Deptford, N.J. Is it effective?

  4. More than 550 sexual harassment and workplace misconduct claims were reported by state employees in Pennsylvania during the past five years. Few claims resulted in referrals to law enforcement, and a new report also indicates a $1.9 million cost to taxpayers.

  5. Pharmacies in New Jersey gave away free doses yesterday of a drug that could reverse opioid overdoses.

  6. Hundreds of Pennsylvania students who went to the now-bankrupt ITT Technical Institute will see millions of dollars in debt relief due to a national settlement. And, if you’re saddled with student debt, there are some companies that could help you.

  7. There might be a hidden driver of the rise of Pennsylvania’s prison population and bloating budget: parole violations.

Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly

Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream. Row, Row, R — oh, sorry. Got carried away there. Thanks for the snap, @gerardruns!

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!

That’s Interesting

  1. Frenchy’s french fry company is laying claim to swaths of beach in Ocean City, N.J. The move has started an umbrella war on the sand near Music Pier.

  2. Is hard seltzer the drink of the summer? We taste-tested 13 spiked soda water brands so you don’t have to.

  3. Six Philly buildings were awarded historic tax credits: two schools, an old brewery, an old library, and two office buildings.

  4. A Philly sushi master will be making tacos at someone else’s restaurant next week.

  5. A Philadelphia Museum of Art curator helped crowdsource a list of over 2,500 museum salaries and other information to help tackle a “culture of silence and fear” regarding salaries and working conditions at museums around the globe.

  6. At the edge of suburbia, an oasis exists, filled with 42 acres of lavender, wildflowers, and grazing horses. But the beauty isn’t always guaranteed.

  7. The “world’s youngest barber” is an 8-year-old in West Philly.

Opinions

“Without adequate representation, Pennsylvania has sentenced numerous defendants to death only to later find that they were severely mentally ill or innocent or intellectually disabled and thus ineligible for a death sentence.” Law professor and dean of Drexel’s Kline School of Law Daniel Filler on why Pennsylvania should abolish the death penalty.

  1. Following a weekend in which there were 19 shootings in Philadelphia with 28 victims, of which five are dead, The Inquirer Editorial Board writes that “we don’t have time or patience” for inaction.

  2. Later this week, Philly City Council is expected to raise the prices of driving tickets. Columnist Stu Bykofsky is on board, as long as the move helps unclog city streets.

What we’re reading

  1. Temple left the personal information of 160 students exposed for three weeks on the school’s website, The Temple News reports.

  2. A student at St. Cecilia School in Fox Chase alleged she was the victim of racist bullying. The student’s mother told The Philadelphia Tribune that after promising action, school administrators ultimately turned “a blind eye” toward the issue.

  3. The New York Times reports that cities across the country are starting to question a so-called “American ideal.” What’s the future of single-family zoning?

Your Daily Dose of | The Fab Five

Netflix announced Tuesday that its hit reboot, Queer Eye, has been renewed for two more seasons. The fifth season will be filmed in Philly starting later this month and will debut in 2020.