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 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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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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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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State Rep. claims welfare recipients spend state cash on drugs ‘in many cases’
Rep. Jerry Knowles When Governor Tom Corbett implied that Pennsylvania’s unemployed were a bunch of drugged-out deadbeats last week, he may not have realized at least one member of his camp was ready to put that message into legislation. After all, the media, the Democrats and just about everyone else called the governor out for his comments (”there are...
Continue ReadingRight-Wing Media Freak Out Over Philly’s LGBT Equality Bill
As PW and every other local media source reported last week, Philadelphia City Council passed a historic bill that would provide for more transgender rights and tax incentives for companies that provide for domestic partners’ health care coverage. That information has gone through the usual Internet outrage cycle and has come out the other side: David Horowitz’s...
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GunCrisis Reporting Project: One Year Later
It was this time last year that I first tagged along with Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Jim MacMillan and his colleague Joe “Kaz” Kaczmarek as they launched their new experiment: the GunCrisis Reporting Project, an open-source journalism initiative to explore Philadelphia’s gun-violence epidemic. I wrote about their efforts in PW; since then,...
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3 Councilmen Voted Against City LGBT Bill—Why?
Philadelphia City Council passed historic legislation this morning which gives incentives for private companies in the city to provide benefits to members of the LGBT community employed by said company and mandates the city government do more to avoid sexual discrimination. After a short debate and public comment, three councilmen—David Oh, Brian O’Neill...
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