Main Line School Board Un-Bans Banned Books After Emotional Testimony

Radnor resident Katherine Barrett-Risk holding a copy of the book Gender Queen at a Radnor Township school board meeting on Tuesday (image via Radnor Township)

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Radnor Township Un-Bans Banned Books Including Gender Queer

In February, Radnor High School banned the books Gender Queer, Fun Home, and Blankets, after a parent reportedly complained to township officials that the books, which are graphic novels, contained child pornography. The superintendent of Radnor schools put together a committee to examine the books following the complaint, and the committee voted five to one to ban the books. Well, less than two months later, those books are heading back to the library.

News quickly circulated about the book banning just after it happened, and the community at large was not happy with the decision. Parents and students wrote letters to school officials demanding that they reverse the book banning.

On Tuesday, Radnor’s school board held its regular public meeting, and it’s fair to say that attendance was a lot better than normal. Impassioned parents, former students, and other community members got up one after the other, telling the board why banning the books was the wrong move.

Here’s one such piece of testimony from Radnor High School graduate Katherine Barrett-Risk, who lives with her wife in Radnor:

“Books really can’t hurt anyone,” said local doctor Craig Press in remarks to the board. “What can hurt people is people, and that’s what’s happening in our community.”

Press also pointed out that you can’t “catch gay from a book.”

The board voted six to zero to restore the books to the library. Three board members abstained.

Now This Is a Ban I Can Get Behind

A South Jersey bakery is getting heat after issuing a statement saying that customers who insist on wearing strong perfumes or colognes should utilize the bakery’s drive-thru window. But I wholeheartedly agree. The vast majority of people who wear colognes and perfumes have no idea how to apply them. And if I’m five feet from you and can smell the scent you’re wearing, you are absolutely doing it wrong. All wrong. I stand in solidarity with you, Century Bakery. No matter what the haters say.

Jalen Hurts Is Officially a Married Man

The new issue of Men’s Health has a big feature on Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts in it. And there’s lots and lots of stuff about the guy’s career and what makes him tick. And that’s cool and all. But then there’s this little nugget ever so casually thrown in there: Jalen Hurts is now married to longtime girlfriend Bryce Burrows.

When the Men’s Health reporter was asking Hurts how he should identify Bryce Burrows, Hurts replied, “You can call her my wife.”

Jalen Hurts and then-girlfriend Bry Burrows after the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl (Getty Images)

It turns out that the two were married earlier this spring. Hurts met Burrows at the University of Alabama back in 2016. Hurts confirmed that they were dating after they were seen together after a big game in 2023. It was a pretty short engagement. Hurts reportedly proposed in September.

No word on how many beers Jason Kelce chugged at the reception.

By the Numbers

16: Months that that ridiculously-named steakhouse SIN—as in Steak-Italian-Nightlife—lasted in Northern Liberties. The replacement sounds much, much better. I mean, who doesn’t love the concept of American Southern meets African?

11,500 acres: Size of the treacherous wildfire burning through New Jersey right now. 3,000 people were evacuated yesterday, but the evacuation order has since been lifted.

3: Days before a man allegedly tossed Molotov cocktails into Governor Josh Shapiro’s Harrisburg residence that the man’s mother tried to get him involuntarily committed after he stopped taking his psychiatric medications.

Local Talent

Tomorrow night is the VIP preview party (VIP as in $200 to $650 per ticket) for the Philadelphia Show at the Art Museum. If you’ve never been, the Philadelphia Show is where a bunch of high-end art galleries and antique dealers (many of each from the Philly area) get together to try to convince you to part with lots of money. Should you wish to skip the whole VIP thing, the show runs all weekend. Tickets to that are $25 to $50 each. Yes, you have to buy a ticket to shop for fancy stuff. If you go to this, I better not hear you complain about the price of eggs ever again.