South Philadelphia High School Students Rally To Stop School Violence
A year ago, the sight of Asian and African-American students standing together outside of South Philadelphia High School would have been difficult to envision. After a series of violent incidents on school grounds that led to an eight-day boycott by Asian students protesting a lack of safety, a coalition of Asian and African-American students stood together on...
Continue ReadingA Friday Politics Video Dump
It’s Friday and that means you probably just want to slack off, not read too much, huh? Well, here’s some video clips to get you through the rest of the afternoon: First off, Rick Santorum appears in an early (the first?) actual campaign ad for the 2012 season. The candidate’s name is Fred Karger, he’s a Republican and he’s…wait for it…seriously…keep...
Continue Reading
Mayoral Candidate John Featherman on Taxes, L&I, Marijuana and More
Did anyone know there’s a mayoral race next year? While we wait with baited breath to see if any Democrats will actually nut up and challenge Mayor Nutter in the primaries, let’s not overlook the fact that there is already one contender for the general election, realtor John Featherman, who announced his candidacy as a Republican back in June. Featherman...
Continue Reading
DAILY GRINDER: Santorum To Again Argue For Theocracy
So, Rick Santorum used to have this speech. The media calls it his “faith speech.” He calls it “A Charge to Revive the Role of Faith in the Public Square” and likes to say it’s his retort to John F. Kennedy’s September 12, 1960 speech in Houston, Texas to Protestant ministers, in which he explained his Catholic faith and how, though strong,...
Continue Reading
City Council: Citizens Speak Up, Tow Drivers to Fight Back
Today marked the first day average citizens are permitted to comment during the Thursday City Council meetings. “We need to deal with the issue of ‘public comment,’” Council President Anna Verna said, icy venom audibly dripping from her lips at the very idea (UPDATE: Anna Verna’s office contacted us to clarify that, all editorializing...
Continue Reading
Pennsylvania’s New Food Safety Law And You
Anyone who’s ever had a job at Wawa knows that when you get a call from another local store at, say, 2 p.m., it’s bad news: The health inspectors are coming and it’s time to clean the fuck up. We assume this experience isn’t unique to our (my) favorite purveyor of sandwich meat, but inspections often differ based on the establishment. That’s all about...
Continue Reading
DAILY GRINDER: Nutter’s Heart Grew Three Sizes That Day
Nutter’s putting the “Christmas” back in Christmas Village (next to the Holiday tree, haha – no, seriously.) He claims he did so after “personal reflection” and realized – Hey! Christmas Village isn’t about religion! And neither is Christmas! It’s about consumerism! M. Nutt’s feelin’ reckless! Bring on the ACLU! [Philly Clout] The appropriate...
Continue ReadingBruce Nichols, Co-Founder of Philly Beer Week, Dies at 62
Two-and-a-half years ago, Bruce Nichols co-founded Philly Beer Week as a way for Philly to celebrate craft beer in a style that was, well, very Philly. Today it’s the largest beer celebration of its kind in the United States. Nichols died of leukemia yesterday at the age of 62. Our condolences to his family and friends. He will be missed, and for those who...
Continue ReadingDoes Anyone Care About Business-Tax Reform?
PhillyNow column in our Dec. 1 print edition: The city is about to make major changes to the way it collects business taxes—which could potentially become law by the end of the year—but are businesses paying attention? To briefly recap: Council members Bill Green and Maria Quiñones-Sánchez have proposed a bill that would eliminate the net-profit portion...
Continue Reading
Curtis Jones On Business Tax Reform: “It’s A Wild-Ass Guess”
After seven hours of testimony from a lot of smart, important-sounding people, the city is no closer to reaching a consensus about the efficacy of a business tax reform plan currently before Council. Curtis Jones summed up the whole debate pretty succinctly: “A lot of this is the WAG theory,” the councilman said. “It’s a wild-ass guess.” The...
Continue Reading
