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Philly ICE ramps up arrests, two more accuse Hopkins of assault | Morning Newsletter

All the local news you need to know to start your day, delivered straight to your email.

Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

Good morning, Philadelphia, and welcome to what is apparently our first real day of spring. Today we've got the first part of a new special report for you that explores how Pennsylvania became a hotbed of ICE activity under the Trump administration, presented in partnership with ProPublica. The Philly office, specifically, is the nation's most aggressive. Plus, two more accusers have come forward to allege abuse by George Hopkins, the former director of Allentown's famed Cadets drum corps. There's also plenty of sports news this morning (some good and some bad) as the NBA and NHL head into the playoffs.

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

» READ MORE: In Pennsylvania, it’s open season on undocumented immigrants

Last spring, undocumented immigrant Ludvin Franco got in a car accident. By the time his wife gave birth to their baby girl at an Allentown hospital in October, he had been deported. He watched the delivery from 3,200 miles away in Zacapa, Guatemala on his cellphone.

As many immigrants like Franco know, since President Trump has taken office deportation officers have been "unshackled," as the White House describes it. But, according to an investigation by ProPublica and the Inquirer and Daily News, nowhere have federal agents embraced this directive as in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Delaware.

The Philly ICE office is also the most aggressive in the country, having arrested more undocumented immigrants without criminal convictions than any of the 23 other ICE offices in 2017. Reporters have analyzed more than 175 immigration arrests and, in doing so, found an organization that sometimes skirted the law with little accountability

Read the first part of an investigative series on ICE's work in our region, created in partnership with ProPublica. You'll find the second part of this story right here tomorrow morning.

» READ MORE: Woman says she reported sexual harassment by drum corps director and was ignored

The board which oversees the famed drum corps once led by director George Hopkins resigned en masse early Wednesday. Nine women have recently accused Hopkins of sexually assaulting or harassing them and he stepped down last week.

Now two more women have come forward to say they were raped by Hopkins. One of the new accusers says she once confided in a superior about Hopkins' other inappropriate behavior and was told, "You know how George is." That man was named Hopkins' interim replacement.

What you need to know today

  1. Wednesday brought a second day of testimony from the first of Bill Cosby's accusers in his retrial. She called him a "serial rapist" from the witness stand and a second witness later tearfully asked, "You remember, don't you, Mr. Cosby?"

  2. Mayor Jim Kenney visited Meek Mill in prison on Wednesday morning and, while he isn't supporting Mill's immediate release, his office said the case makes clear Philly needs criminal justice reform.

  3. An agreement the Abington School Board entered with billionaire Stephen Schwarzman in exchange for a $25 million donation, revealed Wednesday, originally included having his portrait "prominently" displayed in the school. More controversially, it also required some curriculum changes. 

  4. House Speaker Paul Ryan has announced that he will retire next year and will not be running for re-election. His retirement echoes the many other GOP departures from Philadelphia region.

  5. After winning Wednesday night's game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Sixers will face the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs beginning Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center. Star center Joel Embiid said he's unlikely to play, but he does have a cool new face mask to protect his eye injury.

  6. The Phillies swept the Reds for a 5-1 homestead ending last night, but the Flyers lost 7-0 in their first playoff match-up against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ouch.

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Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly

We want to see what our community looks like through your eyes. Show us the park that your family walks through every weekend with the dog, the block party in your neighborhood or the historic stretch you see every morning on your commute to work.

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. It finally feels like spring! Time to add the season's best music, food, and culture festivals to your calendar.

  2. Feeling stressed? Take a bath. A luxurious stress-free soak is all the rage, according to sales of rainbow-colored bath bombs and even new bath installations.

  3. Camden is joining the bike share game with a pilot program for bright yellow dockless bikes. Getting around town just got that much easier.

  4. Villanova guard Jalen Brunson, the player of the year in college basketball, will join teammate Mikal Bridges in heading to the NBA draft.

  5. Lacking an easy way to discover which parts of the city are accessible for wheelchairs, residents are rating and mapping the region themselves.

  6. A North Philly street was just renamed Smokin' Joe Frazier Boulevard after Philly's most accomplished (and nonfictional) boxing legend.

Opinions

"There is still time to rectify past missteps in building strong relations with near residents, and that – not a stadium – should now be the university's priority." — City Council President Darrell Clarke asks Temple University to put the brakes on its plans for a football stadium.

  1. Pennsylvania is behind the times when it comes to making prosecutors' campaign finance information public, putting voters at a disadvantage come election day, write for University of North Carolina law professor Carissa Byrne Hessick and law student Rachel Geissler.

  2. Now that Chris Christie has been replaced in the governor's office by Phil Murphy, writes clean energy advocate Dale Bryk, it's time for New Jersey to clean up its energy. 

What we’re reading

  1. Philadelphia Community Corps is doing some amazing things (think: new furniture and job training) with raw materials from demolished buildings and other building projects. Read all about it via Philadelphia Magazine.

  2. You may know Martha Stuckey as Red 40 of provocative local band Red 40 and the Groovement, but her new theatrical production is much more stripped down … literally. Her interview with Philadelphia Weekly about the show is a captivating look at womanhood.

  3. The Philadelphia Citizen's "Citizen of the Week" sure fits the moniker. Charito Morales's story of moving to Philadelphia from Puerto Rico in search of her brother and how his death spurred her personal war on the city's opioid epidemic is nothing short of heroic.

  4. The National Museum of African American History and Culture has learned one important lesson since its opening: don't mess with the food. Their struggle to get the museum's cafe menu just right, told by NPR, will make you hungry for authenticity.

  5. What's it like to make a million dollars a year? The Cut asked three high-earners what it's like and their tales are eye-opening, to say the least.