Gun-Rights Activist Among Several Arrested at the Smoke Down Prohibition Event
This weekend’s Smoke Down Prohibition demonstration at Independence Mall ended in arrests when federal park rangers and Philadelphia police officers descended upon the protest at 4:20 p.m., breaking it up and handcuffing several activists who lit up joints on the federal grounds. The event was organized by PhillyNORML and comedy troupe the Panic Hour,...
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PhillyNow Calendar: Civic Events, May 20-25
There’s something I was supposed to do this week. Something important. It involves me going to a place and picking people to represent me. …Something… News flash: Election Day is Tuesday and you should give a shit. There’s a vacancy for the Judge of Superior Court, the City Controller, District Attorney, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Traffic...
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Students March Down Broad Street for School Funding
Thousands of students poured off SEPTA buses and emerged from the Spring Garden stop on the Broad Street Line today to rally at the School District Building in Philadelphia. They were there to protest the ongoing school district budget cuts and to put pressure on both the Philadelphia government and the state government to fund the $300 million funding gap looming...
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Philly Students to Walk Out, Protest at Noon Today
Philadelphia students, organized by the Philadelphia Student Union, Youth United for Change and other youth and adult-led groups, are walking out of their schools at noon today to protest budget cuts to the school district. “Schools are going to be operating on a bare bones budget that would call for, basically, the removal of all programs other than police...
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Philly Marijuana Advocates Pushing for Full Legalization
In their most recent “Politically Uncorrected” column, G. Terry Madonna and Michael L. Young reflect on the most recent Franklin and Marshall polling of Pennsylvania voters by calling marijuana legalization “arguably the litmus test of whether one is culturally conservative or liberal.” They continue to note that while recreational marijuana is still...
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Sen. Hughes Wants a Vote on Medicaid—and the Public is With Him
Since Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett openly rejected adding 500,000 Pennsylvanians without health insurance to the state’s Medicaid rolls during his 2013 budget address, state Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia) has made reversing that decision a front-and-center issue. And yesterday, he issued what’s called a discharge petition to get his bill regarding...
Continue ReadingThe Kermit Gosnell Case: Verdicts
On the tenth day of deliberations, a jury of Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s peers—including eight African-Americans—rejected the defense’s premise that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s case against Gosnell was a “racist, elitist prosecution.” At 2:45pm yesterday, Sheriff Jewell Williams walked into the courtroom donning a small sheriff’s star on his blazer...
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Bills to Eliminate Philadelphia Traffic Court Flying Through Legislature
The Philadelphia Traffic Court has had its share of problems over the last few years. In January, nine judges or former judges were charged with fixing tickets for friends and political allies by the U.S. attorney’s office. The feds alleged “a widespread culture of giving breaks on traffic citations to friends, family, the politically-connected and business...
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PhillyNow Calendar: Civic Events, May 13-17
You like bicycles? Sure you do! This week, there are two bicycle-heavy events meant to increase two-wheeled awareness. Wednesday night will be the annual “Ride of Silence,” in which bicyclists ride around the city with a police escort to remember those riders killed on the road. And Friday is “Bike to Work” day. Recent numbers show that just 1.8 percent...
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Cheri Honkala is Marching to U.S. Chamber of Commerce Next Weekend—From Philly
Honkala holds a protest outside the sheriff's office in 2011. Her former campaign is knee-deep in a federal audit by the Federal Election Commission, but former vice presidential candidate and veteran Philadelphia economic activist Cheri Honkala is headed to D.C. this weekend. On foot. “We’re marching to the Chamber of Commerce,” she says. “We’re...
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