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Philly houses stolen from the dead; new racial allegations surface about wrestling referee | Morning Newsletter

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Michael Dunn stands for a portrait outside the home at 1323 N. 27th St. in Philadelphia's Brewerytown section that was owned by his aunts Dorcas Moore and Harriette Dunn on Friday, Jan. 18, 2019. Dunn, who himself lived in the home for about 10 years until 1998, found out that the house was stolen by someone who forged a deed after his aunts died.
Michael Dunn stands for a portrait outside the home at 1323 N. 27th St. in Philadelphia's Brewerytown section that was owned by his aunts Dorcas Moore and Harriette Dunn on Friday, Jan. 18, 2019. Dunn, who himself lived in the home for about 10 years until 1998, found out that the house was stolen by someone who forged a deed after his aunts died.Read moreTIM TAI / Staff Photographer
    by Aubrey Nagle
    Published 

    The Morning Newsletter

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

It sounds almost silly: stealing a home. How could one steal a home? You can’t pick it up and move it. Yet thieves and forgers are managing to do just that in the city’s hottest neighborhoods. My colleague Craig McCoy’s look at the startling phenomenon is a must-read this morning. A little farther afield, there are new racial allegations against the New Jersey wrestling coach at the center of a recent controversy.

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

As Philly gentrifies, houses are being stolen from dead people

As neighborhood after Philly neighborhood has undergone gentrification, a strange and urgent problem has followed in its wake: the theft of homes.

Grifters prey on properties behind in taxes or mortgage payments, forging deeds to transfer ownership to themselves. Then they sell for a quick buck.

One local man, William Ernest Johnson III, has been linked to at least six suspicious home transfers from owners who were either dead or so aged their families have disavowed the acquisitions.

New racial allegations surface about referee embroiled in wrestling dreadlocks controversy

Last month, Buena Regional High School wrestler Andrew Johnson had 90 seconds to make a choice: have his dreadlocks cut or forfeit his match.

The referee that made him choose, Alan Maloney, has been at the center of a growing controversy since the incident went viral, prompting allegations of racism and harassment.

Now new allegations of racism have surfaced against Maloney involving interactions with other wrestlers.

Phillies great Roy Halladay elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

Roy Halladay, who spent the final four seasons of his career with the Phillies, is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, it was announced Tuesday.

The late, great pitcher will be enshrined July 21. Halladay, who died in November of 2017 when a plane he was piloting crashed into the Gulf of Mexico, is the first first-ballot Hall of Famer since Christy Mathewson in 1936′s inaugural class to be inducted posthumously.

What you need to know today

  1. President Donald Trump’s restrictions on transgender people serving in the military will once again go into effect while a legal battle continues in lower courts, thanks to Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision. 

  2. Harris Wofford, a lifelong civil rights activist and former Democratic U.S. senator from Pennsylvania who marched with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died Monday. He was 92. 

  3. The partial government shutdown is posing risks to national security, according to a new 72-page report by the FBI Agents Association. Meanwhile, dueling Senate bills to end the shutdown are headed for a vote. 

  4. What’s the latest on winter weather? Forecasters say the Philly region is poised for a colder, stormier turn over the next few weeks. 

  5. Sad news for Bradley “Jenkintown native” Cooper: he did not receive a best director Oscar nomination for A Star is Born yesterday, but he did get a best actor nod. See the full list of nominees. 

  6. Get out your grocery lists, Philly: another Trader Joe’s could be headed to Center City. 

Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly

Looks like winter is winning that challenge, @wittwering.

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. Sixers star Joel Embiid reached a milestone with the team’s victory over the Houston Rockets and James Harden on Monday. With all due respect to Harden, columnist David Murphy writes, there’s a case for Embiid as NBA MVP. 

  2. The Kimmel Center has scrapped its plans to build a tower over the Merriam Theater on the Avenue of the Arts. But to fund the theater’s renovation they now hope to sell its naming rights. 

  3. Jim Fenerty is retiring after his 30th season as Germantown Academy’s boys' basketball coach. The retirement was unplanned, but he has to stop cold turkey. 

  4. You might own everything from jewelry to pillowcases emblazoned with the Philly skyline, but it turns out lots of other people can’t distinguish it from New York and Chicago.

  5. The world has 7,097 languages and about 500 of them are seriously at risk of being lost. So a Pennsylvania man is on a mission to record them all, from Gullah to Klingon.

  6. As the acclaimed Comedy Central show Broad City enters its final season, Wayne’s Abbi Jacobson, the co-creator and co-star of the series, says the finish line is “very hopeful.” 

Opinions

“The beverage tax will help ensure that Makayla’s success in kindergarten becomes the norm in Philadelphia — that her story becomes so common, we don’t even need to boast about it.” — Rev. James S. Hall Jr., pastor of Triumph Baptist Church in Nicetown, on what Philly’s soda tax has done for children like Makayla Grant.

  1. Philadelphia is looking to replace its voting machines in time for use in 2019, but the process for choosing them isn’t getting enough oversight, writes Point Breeze resident and Election Verification Network member Rich Garella.

  2. As the Trump administration’s fight for a border wall continues, columnist Will Bunch is making the moral case against spending even $1 on such a project. 

What we’re reading

  1. Philadelphia taxpayers will want to read Billy Penn’s examination of the Philadelphia Activities Fund, a multi-million dollar grant fund divvied up by City Council with virtually no accountability. 

  2. At a time when U.S. immigration is at the forefront of the national conversation, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania is looking back the history of immigration from inside the Italian Market, via Hidden City. 

  3. NJ Spotlight is shining a light on New Jersey’s solar sector success, reporting that it may be a victim of that success with projects cancelled if a new state plan isn’t put in place. Not such sunny news, after all.

  4. New York Magazine has published an extensive look into homosexuality in the Catholic priesthood, talking with closeted gay priests who face tolerance and hostility both inside and outside of the church itself. It’s well worth your time this morning. 

  5. Neighborhood associations in New Orleans have found increased power in the city, post-Katrina — whether that’s good for its residents, posits NextCity, is still up for debate. Their experience could make a useful read for Philly, a city full of strong neighborhoods. 

A Daily Dose of | Ovahness

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is hosting a ball this weekend, but it’s no stuffy, black-tie affair. You’ll see more voguing than waltzing as the LGBTQ community gathers to celebrate ballroom culture.