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College admissions scandal highlights inequality; Conference tournament season begins for Villanova, Temple | Morning Newsletter

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Senior Eric Paschall, right,  of Villanova and Coach Jay Wright exchange hugs as he exits his final home game.  Villanova defeated Butler at the Wells Fargo Center on March 2, 2019.
Senior Eric Paschall, right, of Villanova and Coach Jay Wright exchange hugs as he exits his final home game. Villanova defeated Butler at the Wells Fargo Center on March 2, 2019.Read moreCHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

    The Morning Newsletter

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

Happy Pi Day, the nerdiest holiday of the year. To mark 3.14, the numerical constant known as pi, Philly is celebrating with pizza, pies, and even marriage. This morning’s news is aptly filled with stories from school, but they’re not about hitting the books. For starters, we’ve taken a look at the fallout surrounding the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal through a local lens. But on a much more pleasant note, we’ve also got our eyes on the local basketball teams gearing up for conference tournaments.

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— Aubrey Nagle (@aubsn, morningnewsletter@philly.com)

It’s conference tournament season in college basketball, and first-place Villanova’s next stop is the Big East Tournament. But an evenly-matched conference means the defending champs won’t have it easy, even with the leadership of senior Phil Booth.

Temple is hoping for a bid to the NCAA tournament, but first they have to go through the American Athletic Conference Tournament, which begins tonight. The outcome of Friday’s game could cement their spot.

Securing a return to the NCAA has been the obsession of senior guard Shizz Alston. Both he and the team have come a long way since their last appearance at the big dance.

One Villanova researcher who has studied the youth sports pipeline calls the charges against dozens of people accused of buying their kids’ way into college just another example of a corrupt admissions system.

Local college students and faculty agree, saying the scheme undermines notions of higher education as a meritocracy and exposes bias towards the wealthy.

In Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania is still reeling from an admissions fraud case of its own.

It could be a steamy summer for SEPTA as they face the heat of a lawsuit with effects that could ripple across its services.

The suit argues that the state’s use of turnpike toll revenue to support public transportation is unconstitutional.

If it’s successful, it will cost the state $450 million a year and upset the future of transit in our region.

What you need to know today

  1. The Federal Aviation Administration followed the lead of countries around the world by ordering Boeing’s 737 Max jets grounded Wednesday after a deadly crash Sunday in Ethiopia.

  2. Philadelphia is launching a new low-interest loan program to help low- and middle-income homeowners get funds to fix up their aging homes.

  3. Late last week, police escorted a female security officer who is suing Pennsylvania Senate officials over sexual harassment at work out of the Capitol. Now her job is in limbo.

  4. The fight between Philly’s Chinatown and Callowhill neighborhoods is getting ugly again as the communities seek competing business district designations.

  5. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced to an additional three and one-half years of prison in Washington and charged in a new indictment in New York City Wednesday.

  6. A North Philadelphia man who fatally shot a Rite Aid store manager during a robbery 16 years ago was resentenced Wednesday to life in prison after the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office said it would no longer pursue the death penalty in his case.

Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly

This looks like a whimsical movie set, @jasoncoopman. In a great way.

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. The Peco building used to display the temperature on its LED “crown.” Key words: used to. The reason it stopped might make you laugh.

  2. Foodies, mark your calendars. The LOVE Park Welcome Center is transforming into a modern restaurant with gleaming new windows, a balcony, and a terrace.

  3. Try not to tear up while reading the goodbye letter Nick Foles wrote to thank his Eagles teammates, Philadelphia, and the fans.

  4. Childhood and adolescent anxiety is reaching epidemic proportions and researchers now say they have a new way to help: treat their parents.

  5. On the lot where Center City’s last porn theater once stood, Philly’s Parkway Corp. wants to bring a rarity to the neighborhood: a new office building.

  6. Thanks to the arrival of Bryce Harper, the Phillies are under the kind of spotlight they haven’t seen in years. The team will have to get used to those packed crowds.

Opinions

“Perhaps the wealthy will have to get used to being second-guessed the way so many black students have been for so many years. They’ll see how it feels when classmates demand to check their grades or SAT scores to see if they qualified for their spot at an elite university.” — Columnist Jenice Armstrong on the college admissions bribery scandal and the privileges of the wealthy.

  1. Just 202 voters chose the Republican nominee (and likely the next Congressman) from Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional district earlier this month and that’s a big problem, writes political analyst David de la Fuente.

  2. Editorial cartoonist Signe Wilkinson has drawn college admissions woes for two decades. Take a look back with us.

What we’re reading

  1. Some food for thought for a city filled with memorials and historic sites: New York Magazine wonders, do they really teach us history or do they teach us to forget?

  2. Speaking of historic sites, PlanPhilly reports that a local man just won protection for the decorative, cast-iron subway entrances around Philadelphia.

  3. The New York Times caught up with Eastern State Penitentiary and its pivot to taking a stand on the mass incarceration crisis. It might just make you want to take a visit.

  4. Following the college admissions bribery scandal, BuzzFeed has published an anonymous essay from a former admissions counselor and its contents are concerning, to say the least.

  5. The Last Stop, a recovery center that’s run in Kensington for 18 years, is going legit. Billy Penn has the details on how it’s recovering from a $1.7 million lawsuit.

A Daily Dose of | Advocacy

Hazel Edwards left Boys Latin of Philadelphia Charter School after coming out as trans. Now she’s an advocate for LGBTQ students and leads trainings at Boys Latin.