PhillyNow

About 200 people wrapped the sidewalk from the Apple store on 16th and Walnut Streets down to the corner of 17th Street today, waiting to be among the first to purchase the tech-holy iPad 2. The earliest birds arrived at 7 a.m., although the line started gaining most of its density between 2 and 5 this afternoon. Apple employees served coffee, water and pretzels...

This student in Spanish class at Excel Academy North, a Camelot-run charter school in North Philadelphia, uses a dictionary to translate words (photo: Matt Petrillo). The Philadelphia School District must give $1.3 million to  Walter D. Palmer Leadership Learning Partners Charter School after trying to force the school to cap its enrollment in 2008-2009 and...

Christine Frye, 21, showed visitors around the Pennsylvania Convention Center’s $786 million expanded interior today.  The soft opening of the more than 500,000 square feet of the new space almost doubles the original center, which Frye says will add to the redevelopment of North Broad Street to continue the attractions of the Avenue of the Arts. “It’s...

A paid-sick-day supporter leads dozens of others and holds a sign that reads, “Don’t Sneeze On My Cheesesteak” inside City Hall (photo: Matt Petrillo). More than 60 demonstrators rallied outside of City Hall today and flooded the building in support of paid sick days. About 210,000 workers in Philadelphia receive no paid sick days, according...

Candidate for First District City Councilperson Joe Grace encouraged Philadelphians to sign his petition for councilperson at the Broad & Snyder subway station, telling them that he’d “fight like the dickens” for them. Petitioning for signatures is a three week process, and yesterday marked day one of week two for candidates to garner at...

Jonathan Lloyd (wearing the tie) served six months in prison because he couldn’t afford his bail. He was accused of assault, but not convicted. He says when he applies for a job, a box that asks about his criminal history gives him a disadvantage. “I want to be able to get into my interview without being prejudged, and I want to be able to sit there...

Dennis Wright came to St. Luke & the Epiphany Church’s hospitality center in 1995, a place where people living with HIV or AIDS met in a faith-based support group. There was no other faith group like it. Without it, Dennis says, he would probably be dead. He says he owes his life to the Church, that it’s something priceless to him. Epiphany was...

The City of Philadelphia held a press conference today outside the Municipal Services Building to settle the confusion of Philadelphia’s mutual aid agreement with the State of New Jersey. The report explains that Camden’s and Philadelphia’s fire departments would “assist each other during catastrophic events,” despite the fact that...