At-Large Candidate Lazin Calls Out Rizzo in City Hall (Updated)
Republican City Council At-Large candidate Malcolm Lazin met with reporters outside Councilman Frank Rizzo’s City Hall office today, calling on the current Republican Councilman – who’s gotten no love from establishment Republicans this year, whatsoever – to turn over his original DROP application and “all supporting documentation.” “These documents...
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DAILY GRINDER: Arson, Convenience Store Liquor, Radioactive Rain
Pennsylvanians love arson. Seriously. We’ve got the highest rate of arson deaths (more than 55/year) in the entire United States. In light of that, Delco State Senator Dominic Pileggi has joined with Montco Sen. John C. Rafferty and others in support of Senate Bill 903, which would strengthen punishments in cases of arson. Seems like a no-brainer. [Delco Times] From...
Continue ReadingNutter and Ramsey Call For New Ammunition Ban in U.S. Congress
House Resolution 308 just got two local backers: Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Police Chief Charles Ramsey. The action puts this Philly twosome perhaps even deeper in the gun violence debate, and will earn them their fair share of new critics. HR 308 is a gun violence-related bill which was introduced by New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy on January 18 and...
Continue ReadingPhilly May No Longer Build Day Reporting Centers
Temple University Criminal Justice Professor Stephen Balinko (pictured) was quoted in this week’s This American Life , which featured a hostile Georgia drug court judge and her relentless power-trips against first time drug offenders. Balinko tells TAL Host Ira Glass that he’s noticed drug courts have become more punitive over the years, however,...
Continue ReadingDAILY GRINDER: Priest Abuse Cases, School Control, Funds, Minimum Wage
Things got out of hand at Rev. Brennan’s sex abuse hearing on Friday, in which it was announced that his lawyer, Richard DeSipio, might be unqualified to serve the defendant. Turns out, DeSipio “may possess factual knowledge about abuse that occurred,” because he was a seminarian under Dean Monsignor William Lynn at one point. The lawyer then referred to...
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Union To Protest Against Art Museum Funding
On April 11, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will request $2.4 million in city funds for ongoing security at the Parkway endzone. They’ll do so before City Council at 12:45 pm and will be met by a mass protest organized by the Philadelphia Security Officers Union. For over a year now, the union has been fighting with the subcontracted security company AlliedBarton,...
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Holy Finance: A Church’s Price Tag
These Lasalle High School students pass out meals for the homeless outside of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter & Paul. For the first time since the recent Philadelphia grand jury report and removal of more than a dozen priests for sexual abuse allegations, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Thursday that they will not “derail” their...
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‘Maury’ Donates To Penn Journalism Program. Wait, what?
Maury Povich, of “The Maury Show” fame, has donated $1 million to the University of Pennsylvania. His reason: The establishment of the Povich Fund for Journalism Programs. The program and donations will mostly go toward workshops and seminars at the Kelly Writer’s House. Good for him, good for Penn, we guess? Is Maury Povich a journalist? Was he, even,...
Continue ReadingDAILY GRINDER: More Green Guilt
Philadelphia City Council supported a resolution that calls for renewing Growing Greener – a funding source to preserve “open space and farmland, protect water quality, provide parks and recreation,” etc. The resolution, though worthless (the Growing Greener Fund is going to dry up unless renewed by Governor Tom Corbett, and, c’mon) was applauded by,...
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Home Foreclosure Protest At City Hall/HUD Today
The Philadelphia Unemployment Project and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign organized a rally for those facing foreclosure outside City Hall at noon today. They were joined by Councilpersons Curtis Jones, Jannie Blackwell, Frank Rizzo and Maria Quinones-Sanchez, who were fresh from a unanimous-but-non-binding vote to further delay sheriff’s...
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