Philly students to walk out, protest at noon today
Philadelphia students, organized by the Philadelphia Student Union, Youth United for Change and other youth and adult-led groups, are walking out of their schools at noon today to protest budget cuts to the school district. “Schools are going to be operating on a bare bones budget that would call for, basically, the removal of all programs other than police...
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DAILY GRINDER: No Joke: SEPTA Named Best Transit in U.S.
SEPTA…(SEPTA!)…has been named…the…best…“large transit system”…in…North…America…by the…American Public Transportation Association. That was hard to get through. But anyway, the group called them “the best” because of things like their environmentally friendly construction, hybrid buses and something about “financial management”?...
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DAILY GRINDER: PPA Aide to Collect $522 Thousand DROP Payment
Fer Gregory / Shutterstock Philadelphia Parking Authority Aide Carl Ciglar will retire from his position next year with a six-figure pension and $522,183 in DROP cash. Hey, remember DROP? Defense has begun in the Philadelphia sexual abuse case, and the first witness, Msgr. Joseph Garvin, said Lynn recommended an abusive priest be transferred, but that the cardinal...
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Community Action Groups Shut Down Center City, Protest Gov. Corbett
When Governor Corbett comes to Philly, he does so with good reason. Like, say, he speaks with the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, the one group in Southeastern Pennsylvania that may still support his budget priorities. That’s what happened yesterday at the Prince Music Theater—and protesters from several community action groups were ready for his...
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DAILY GRINDER: Mumia Blasts Philly Schools
Convicted Philly cop killer Mumia Abu Jamal is not happy with this Philadelphia School System we’ve got and thinks it needs to be changed. In a recent interview from the Frackville correction facility in Northeast Pennsylvania to Russia Today, a Russian government-owned website often dedicated to conspiracy theories in the United States, he said, “The...
Continue ReadingDAILY GRINDER: Philly Lays off 90 School Police
Just what we need: The Philadelphia Public School District is cutting 90 police officers today, as a way to begin dealing with the $61 million shortfall. Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown cannot catch a break. After being lambasted by all sorts of people for her “Let’s stay open past 2 a.m. for the schools” bill (SHE WANTS MORE PEOPLE TO GET DRUNK...
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“Our Senate is OK with Fascism” and 20 other Quotes to Think About Over Your Holiday Break
It’s been a long December, as a wise, dread-locked man once said. And we’ve been reporting/blogging/commenting on it as much as humanly possible. In light of that (and it being the Friday before Christmas and all) we’ve decided to give you some of those December-time quotes coming out of Philly and Pennsylvania politics, gossip and whatever else this blog...
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Does This NAACP Billboard Offend You?
It’s apparently too controversial to get a spot at Philadelphia International. And since it is, the American Civil Liberties Union is getting involved. What’s that mean? The usual: Passive aggressive legal political correctness for everybody! The truth hurts, bitches! It’s like this: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has...
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Philly Jobs by the Numbers
Pew sends us these awesome emails from time to time. They feature various statistics from various sources (Center City District, Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, others) and their own research about Philadelphia issues. Here’s a roundup of what some of the latest numbers say: 644,100: Philly’s labor force in July. 574,600: Number of Philadelphians...
Continue ReadingDAILY GRINDER: Philly Wants its Own Cigarette Warnings
Philadelphia is not waiting around for the federal government to force them to put pictures of extreme cancerous lungs near stores’ cigarette packs. While Big Tobacco-led lawsuits are dealt with nationally, the law’s meat grinder sets in motion, and Truth.com plans its next set of “hip” commercials, Philadelphia will require both “A pictorial...
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