Philly’s Instagram angel | Morning Newsletter
And declining enrollment at Temple University.
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Good morning. It’s set to be a partly sunny day, with temps in the mid-70s. Spring really has sprung.
Did you get to see the eclipse yesterday? If you missed the celestial spectacle because of clouds or lack of safe eyewear, catch up on how Philly celebrated with The Inquirer’s full recap. Then save the date for the region’s next total solar eclipse: May 1, 2079.
A Point Breeze teen is behind PhillyAngelsss, an Instagram page honoring the city’s gun violence victims. Last summer, her brother became one. Reporter Ellie Rushing spoke to her about how she navigates her own grief while helping others memorialize their loved ones.
And amid the search for Temple’s next president, some faculty think university leaders need to do more to reverse troubling enrollment trends. Let’s get into it.
— Julie Zeglen (@juliezeglen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Point Breeze native Kameenah Bronzell started an Instagram account to honor the city’s gun violence victims when she was just 15.
She’s now 18 and has featured hundreds of young people on her page, PhillyAngelsss, while gaining more than 30,000 followers. It’s become “a safe place” for the thousands of Philadelphians who have lost someone to a shooting to celebrate their loved one publicly.
A tragic turning point: Last summer, Bronzell’s own brother became one of those gun violence victims. The heaviness of the account suddenly felt too much to bear — until she realized, PhillyAngelsss was an opportunity to share his story. Hers, too.
Behind the scenes: Inquirer gun violence reporter Ellie Rushing has known Bronzell for two years, since she first found PhillyAngelsss and reached out, she told me. At the time, the account was run anonymously, and the teen wasn’t ready to go public. But the two stayed in touch, occasionally connecting each other to families whose loved ones had died.
In the reporter’s words: “Her work is so important and story so poignant,” Rushing said. “This is a teenage girl — who should be texting with friends and flirting and going to basketball games — but who is quietly shouldering the weight of so much grief, both her own and of her community. She does not pick sides, she does not see victims of gun violence as ‘innocent’ or ‘guilty’ — she sees each of them as human beings deserving of respect, and puts their stories before her own almost every day.”
Bronzell’s story is well worth your time. Read it here.
As leaders at Temple University prepare to hire its next president, some faculty members worry the North Philadelphia institution isn’t doing enough to reverse some troubling trends. The numbers are stark when it comes to declining enrollment and selectivity:
🦉 Nearly 40,000 students were enrolled in 2016-2017, down to 30,530 in the current school year.
🦉 About 52% of applicants were admitted seven years ago, up to nearly 83% now.
🦉 Faculty cuts, a lower average GPA for freshmen, and a lower sophomore retention rate also signal challenges.
“This is an existential crisis,” one long-time professor told Inquirer higher ed reporter Susan Snyder. “Temple is becoming a zombie. It is becoming a shell of itself.”
Read on for the full scoop on faculty members’ concerns, as well as Temple execs’ stated plans for improvement.
What you should know today
In two weeks, Pennsylvanians will vote in the primary. And this year, the presidential election isn’t the only race with national implications. Here’s why the state attorney general’s race matters.
Vice President Kamala Harris visited a North Philadelphia school on Monday to promote the Biden administration’s latest plan to provide student loan debt relief.
Philadelphia has a new prisons commissioner: Michael R. Resnick, the city’s former public safety director under the Nutter administration. He inherits a jail system where advocates say years of disorder has led to violations of prisoners’ constitutional rights.
A Bucks County woman pled guilty to killing her longtime boyfriend, a popular Chalfont pizzeria owner, by shooting him and later hiding his body in their home.
Two nonprofits that provided child welfare casework for half of Philadelphia have declined to renew their contracts with the city. The city says it could cost taxpayers $66 million and affect several hundred families.
Rite Aid announced the closure of six more stores in Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey, for a total of 27 in recent weeks.
A Chadds Ford property once managed by the du Pont family was rented as an Airbnb in defiance of a local residential zoning law, officials say. The owners now owe $17,000 in fines.
It’s official: “The Bear” star Jeremy Allen White will play Bruce Springsteen in a forthcoming biopic.
🧠 Trivia time
This year, the United States has a record number of neighborhoods where the typical home is worth $1 million or more. Which is these is not a so-called “million-dollar” community?
A) Malvern
B) Gladwyne
C) Avalon
D) Villanova
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we're...
🚎 Riding: The 34 trolley, right into the new and much-improved Drexel Station at 30th Street.
🥖 Checking out: Breezy’s Deli & Market in Point Breeze, run by former fine-dining chef Chad Durkin.
🤖 Impressed by: Marylyn Ritchie’s new title — she’s the first vice dean of AI and computing at Penn’s medical school.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
This North Philadelphia native just led the University of South Carolina women’s basketball team to NCAA Tournament victory.
ALYDA NEWTS
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Kristin Kimmell, who solved Monday’s anagram: Grape Room, the recently shuttered bar and venue that was a live music hotspot in Manayunk for decades.
Photo of the day
Check out more fun photos of Philly celebrating eclipsemania.
Have a great Tuesday! I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow.
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