Making a fortune in Philly with forged deeds, dubious deals, and the dead; A ban on balconies and bay windows? | Morning Newsletter
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Now that was a storm. While last night’s weather brought mainly thunderstorms and a delayed Phillies game to Philadelphia, areas outside the city saw wind gusts, quarter-sized hail, and reports of a tornado touching down in southern Berks County. And keep your umbrellas handy, Philly — the rainy weather looks like it’s sticking around. Moving on to today’s news: a Philly entrepreneur has quietly made $1 million off forged deeds, dubious land deals, and the signatures of dead homeowners, while Councilman Kenyatta Johnson is pushing for a ban on bay windows and balconies in his district.
And, bring out the cake (skip the candles, please, we’re flammable), it’s our birthday this week. Take a look back at 190 years of history on the Inquirer’s front pages here and check newsstands today for a special commemorative issue.
— Oona Goodin-Smith (@oonagoodinsmith, morningnewsletter@philly.com)
You’re invited: Thousands of young people will graduate from Philadelphia schools this spring. Come hear from some of the best and the brightest on Tuesday, June 4. Inquirer education reporter Kristen Graham will speak with students from a variety of schools, including Mastery Charter-Shoemaker and Strawberry Mansion about their hopes, dreams, and experiences in city schools. Register for free at philly.com/inquiringminds.
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Regarded as a success story among fellow entrepreneurs, Orin Clybourn has quietly made $1 million, buying rundown Philly properties and flipping them for a profit.
But his acquisitions have repeatedly been built on a foundation of forgeries.
An Inquirer investigation found Clybourn has pleaded poverty to dodge legal fees while making sizable profits, forged signatures on deeds — and, in at least seven deals, forged the names of the dead.
His long run of deals expose the weak official oversight over property transfers in Philadelphia, where blatantly suspicious documents fail to trigger alarms, let alone questions, writes reporter Craig McCoy.
Could bay windows and balconies be of buildings bygone in Point Breeze and Grays Ferry? Perhaps, if Councilman Kenyatta Johnson gets his way.
Amid rapid gentrification of his district, Johnson introduced a Council bill which would ban the architectural features across large portions of the neighborhoods and regulate them in others.
For some, balconies and bump-out bay windows offer two things that a traditional rowhouse can’t: additional space and light. But others see them as a defining symbol of gentrification — bringing with it anxieties about cost-of-living increases and displacement.
After the deadliest start to a year in Philadelphia since 2012, police say that nearly 90 percent of the killings in the city since January have been committed with guns, a proportion that Commissioner Richard Ross said Tuesday is “alarming.”
The announcement came less than a day after a North Philadelphia teen playing video games in his bedroom was shot in the leg as a bullet ripped through the wall of his home, and less than a week after three people were shot — two fatally — in separate incidents within a span of two hours.
Today, Philadelphians impacted by gun violence will take to the steps of the Art Museum to share their stories and put a call to action.
What you need to know today
Phillies centerfielder Odubel Herrera was arrested Monday night in conjunction with an alleged incidence of domestic violence involving his 20-year-old girlfriend at an Atlantic City casino. He was charged with simple assault and placed on a seven-day administrative leave by Major League Baseball.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to consider a challenge to the Boyertown Area School District’s policy allowing transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their gender identity, ending a legal fight that has roiled the Berks County school district since 2017.
Bucks County could have to pay out about $67 million — $1,000 for each of the 67,000 people who had been booked into the county jail from 1938 to 2013 — after a federal jury ruled against the county in a class-action lawsuit Tuesday, finding that officials had acted with reckless disregard or indifference in disseminating protected criminal-history information in an online inmate-lookup tool.
Does Philly need more schools? Or should some close or expand? The school district is launching a four-year examination of its current school programs and buildings to find out.
The levels of road salt in some Philadelphia-area waterways have reached levels toxic to aquatic life, newly released data shows.
In Pennsylvania and other battleground states, there’s strong support for immigrants who were unlawfully brought to the United States as children, a new poll shows.
Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly
Great eye, @catherinedkerr. 🏙️
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
When the HMT Rohna sank in the Mediterranean on Nov. 26, 1943 in WWII, it took more than 1,000 Americans with it, including 172 from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. But family members were kept in the dark for years about what happened.
Most of Philly’s east-west streets are named after trees, but are they also ranked by the density of their woods? Kind of.
In North Philadelphia, the Misfits Market startup offers subscriptions for imperfect produce — and jobs to those with imperfect resumes.
Fear not, Philly: the big brown boxes and wires mounted to city light poles are not part of government surveillance or an alien invasion. But you will be seeing a lot more of them.
They bought the Northern Liberties building in 1999, but it remained empty through two decades of property and banking battles. Now, this swanky black-owned boutique is open for business and local artists.
From meditation to salt baths to surfing the icy waters of the Jersey Shore, here’s what these notable Philadelphians said they do to stay balanced.
Opinions
“Let’s face it: Whether we live in this state or we opt to spend our vacation dollars here (thanks again for that), we are — all of us — choosing the Jersey Shore. And that alone bonds us together as brothers and sisters in what is perhaps the luckiest, most misunderstood and derided of clubs this side of the Ben Franklin Bridge. When it comes down to it, they’re not all that different, your camp and mine. We all eat our Chipwiches one bite at a time.” - Cape May journalist Diane Stopyra on the Shoobie/local divide at the Shore.
The lies of omission that our teachers committed in school regarding race in America after the Civil War mattered then — and now it’s just as critical that today’s Americans finally learn the real history, writes columnist Will Bunch.
As the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots approaches, the Inquirer’s Opinion Department would like to include a variety of LGBTQ+ voices about the significance of the anniversary and about the work that remains undone to achieve equality. Share your thoughts here.
What we’re reading
In Delaware, the number of child abuse and neglect cases has doubled over the past decade, but the number of social workers tasked with investigating the claims hasn’t. WHYY examines the caseloads of Delaware child abuse investigators, which are often double the legal limit.
What better way to enjoy the eventual return of sunnier days than by eating a sandwich or a hot dog (or is a hot dog a sandwich) in the great outdoors? Curbed Philly lists some of the best places to picnic or barbecue outside in the city.
Will Wawa overtake 7-Eleven in Philadelphia? In Center City, it’s closing in, Billy Penn reports.
A Daily Dose of | Royal flush
This summer, you can (finally) explore Philadelphia unencumbered by an active bladder. Reporter Anna Orso shares the city’s greatest semi-public restrooms, including perhaps one of the greatest post-potty views.