DAILY GRINDER: Homeless Feeding Ban Hearings Today
Federal court hearings begin today over the homeless feeding ban in Philadelphia. The ACLU and the law offices of Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing & Feinberg LLP are representing several religious groups who say feeding the poor is their religious right. The law technically went into effect on June 1st though the city hadn’t yet fulfilled its obligation to...
Continue ReadingWill Corbett Accept Medicaid Expansion Money? [UPDATED]
Opponents of health care reform did get one win in last week’s Supreme Court decision to uphold most of the law: Medicaid expansion will be left up to the states. And now, throughout the country, Republican governors are going on record saying they do not support the provision and will refuse the federal money to expand their states’ program. So, what’s...
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What You Should Know About This Week’s Potential Liquor Vote
Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai has taken it upon himself to make the privatization of the state’s liquor industry his pet project. And on Friday, he promised a vote on a bill which would do just that. The vote is set to come up this week—possibly today. But like the history of this issue, from prohibition’s demise to the present, it’s...
Continue ReadingRepublican Has Comical Cash Lead in Pennsylvania Attorney General Race
According to a campaign financial reports (the latest numbers of which come from May 14), Republican Attorney General candidate David Freed has a $440,000 to $2,000 lead over Democratic opponent Kathleen Kane. And yet, according to the latest Public Policy Polling numbers, Kane leads Freed 42 percent to 33 percent. Both candidates are prosecutors and both maintain...
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Voter ID Mess Passes House with ‘What’s the Big Deal?’ Closing Argument
If there’s a lasting legacy of the debate surrounding Pennsylvania’s Voter ID Bill—which passed the House today, 104-88, and Gov. Tom Corbett has promised to sign as soon as possible—it’s this: In partisan legislation put forth for likely nefarious purposes in Pennsylvania, facts don’t matter. That is, unless the state’s constitution is set to be...
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Pennsylvania Voter ID Bill Passes Senate
The Pennsylvania state Senate passed Bill 934, also called the Voter ID bill, a little after 5 p.m. today after an hours-long debate. The final tally was 26-23. Three Republicans, Sens. Greenleaf, Jane Earll and Mary Jo White crossed party lines to vote against the bill, which many believe will disenfranchise elderly, minority and perhaps college students in...
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DAILY GRINDER: Nutter ‘Absolutely’ Stands Behind ‘Idiots and Assholes’ Remark
Conservative website The Daily Caller caught up with Mayor Michael Nutter at the U.S. Conference of Mayors fantasy camp in Washington, D.C. on Friday. Daily Caller journalist Nicholas Ballasy had a few questions for Nutter—including what the federal government has/hasn’t done for U.S. cities to fight crime and what he had to say to ‘critics’ who say the...
Continue Reading![Philly NAACP Bashes Gov. Corbett Over Education Cuts, Then Admits to Waste [VIDEO]](http://blogs.philadelphiaweekly.com/phillynow/files/2011/04/harrisburg-150x150.jpg)
Philly NAACP Bashes Gov. Corbett Over Education Cuts, Then Admits to Waste [VIDEO]
Harrisburg in all its beauty (Photos: Matt Petrillo). Education is changing in Philadelphia and across the nation, and the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP is making it a civil-rights issue. Jerry Mondesire, president of the Philadelphia NAACP, led more than 800 public school advocates from across the state to Harrisburg yesterday to praise the recent NAACP...
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