Penn Prof Wins $800,000 MacArthur “Genius” Award
Plus, we're now on track for the lowest homicide count since 1967.
University of Pennsylvania professor Dorothy Roberts, who just won a $800,000 MacArthur “genius” grant
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Penn Prof Dorothy Roberts Wins $800,000 MacArthur “Genius” Award
Congrats are in order for University of Pennsylvania professor Dorothy Roberts. She just won a prestigious MacArthur Foundation “genius” award. That’s $800,000 in unrestricted (read: no-strings-attached, you can do with it what you want) grant money.
Roberts is a legal scholar whose work focuses on racial inequities in the social services sector. According to a press release sent out about the award, her “work sheds light on how systemic inequities threaten the wellbeing of Black children, and encourages us to reimagine a system that supports — instead of polices — families.” This is work she’s been doing since the late ’80s.
“To get this kind of recognition is very gratifying,” Roberts, 68, told the New York Times. “Not only for me personally, but for all the people, especially Black women, who’ve been devalued in these systems.”
To learn more about what Roberts has to say, pick up her books Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families — and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World, and Shattered Bonds: The Color Of Child Welfare. (Both are currently available at the Free Library, too.)
Roberts is one of 22 recipients of this year’s MacArthur grants and the only one from the Philadelphia area, or the entire state of Pennsylvania, for that matter. Since the awards began in 1988, the foundation has awarded 18 grants to people from the Philadelphia area.
Philadelphia Homicide Count On Track to Be Lowest Since 1967
You’re probably sick of hearing me talk about how the homicide stats in Philadelphia continue to improve and how Philadelphia isn’t nearly as bad as Steve Keeley makes it seem. Well, sorry, but I have more good news to report.
The latest crime stats are in, and the homicide count in Philadelphia as of this morning is down 42 percent from what it was on this day last year. And let’s keep in mind that those “dangerous summer months” are officially behind us. If we stay on this course — and let’s hope and pray that we do — this means that Philadelphia is on track to have 238 homicides this year, the lowest number since 1967, when we had 234.
Facts matter.
The Return of Farmer Bob
Earlier this week, I told you about Main Line farmer Bob Lange and his wife Kristina Chadwick Lange, lifelong Republicans featured in a TV commercial explaining why they are voting for Kamala Harris. The Langes have had no shortage of problems since that commercial debuted last week, due to them taking a pro-Harris stance. All sorts of harassing emails, phone calls, and threats. I asked them if, given all that, they regretted doing the ad. Kristina said, bluntly, “Absolutely not. Not for one second. It’s very scary, but we as Republicans must stand up.” And stand up the Langes are doing once again. Farmer Bob is back with another commercial. Take that, haters.
By the Numbers: The Phillies Edition
76: Forecasted high for Saturday, when the Phillies will play their first playoff game of the 2024 postseason against whoever wins tonight’s Mets/Brewers game. The forecasted high is 73 for Game 2 on Sunday. Full sun all weekend. Talk about great baseball weather. Go Phils!
$215: Starting price for tickets on StubHub to Saturday’s Phillies game. That’s for standing-room tickets. And that’s before you factor in those pesky fees. Plus the beers. And hot dogs. And parking/Uber.
4:08 p.m.: The weirdly specific starting time for both Phillies games this weekends. Apparently not everyone is happy with this time slot.
Local Talent
If you’re a fan of Hallmark holiday movies — and, I mean, who isn’t? — get ready for Christmas on Call. It’s set in Philly and features a cameo from none other than Donna Kelce, as in mother of Jason and Travis Kelce and the predicted future mother-in-law of Taylor Swift. I already have my DVR set.
