Rep. Sims Sworn In: LGBT Community Will ‘Hold Heads High as Equal Citizens’
An image from Buzzfeed. Rep. Brian Sims is not just the only new Philadelphia legislator headed to Harrisburg this legislative session, he’s the first member of the LGBT community ever elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature. (And one of two gay members of the state House; Republican Mike Fleck came out after the 2012 election.) On Thursday afternoon, members...
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DAILY GRINDER: Gov. Corbett Trails ‘Generic Democrat’ in Re-Election Bid
Gov. Tom Corbett has announced—surprise!—he will seek re-election in 2014. According to a PPP poll, the governor trails a “generic Democrat” by 10 points today. That might make many of you libs giddy, but know this: it’s hard to put faith in “generic” anything, because candidates are almost never generic. They have a personality, a face, a voice...
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DAILY GRINDER: Anti-“Sexting” Legislation Passes PA Legislature
Last week, the state House voted 188-3 to approve a bill the Senate had already OK’d that’d ban “sexting” by the young. Which means (pending Gov. Corbett’s signature), if you’re between the ages of 13 and 17 and you send naked pictures of yourself to a friend via text message, you could be “subject to anything from a summary offense, which involves...
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DAILY GRINDER: Stocks Drop on Philly Report
Fer Gregory / Shutterstock The Dow had its second worst day of the year yesterday, and it had a lot to do with Philadelphia. Apparently, a Goldman Sachs analyst told clients to bet against the stock market after two main problems: 1) reports of slumping manufacturing in China and 2) a report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve bank. The Philly branch reported...
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Committee of Seventy: Voter Claims Babette Josephs Is Campaigning Inside Polling Place
As Philadelphia Weekly has been telling you about since forever, there is a tough race going on between State Rep. Babette Josephs and challenger Brian Sims in the 182nd District. Earlier Today, the Committee of Seventy sent out their Election Day report with complaints they’ve been receiving. One of which was about Josephs possibly violating campaign rules. “A...
Continue ReadingCorbett on Ultrasound Bill: ‘You Just have to Close Your Eyes’
Nothing says rugged individualism gone creepsville quite like Gov. Tom Corbett’s remarks on the forced shaming of Pennsylvania’s female population. When asked recently about the controversial ultrasound bill working its way through the state House of Representatives, Corbett became a little less Juno, a little more Alien. A member of the press asked...
Continue ReadingState Legislature Members Form LGBT Equality Caucus
The state Legislature hasn’t taken up anti-LGBT initiatives the way some other swing and red states have. And perhaps to make sure they don’t in the future, members of the State House and Senate recently announced the establishment of the LGBT caucus. It includes 26 members of the Assembly, including Philadelphia-area members Reps. Mike O’Brien, Kevin Boyle,...
Continue ReadingDAILY GRINDER: Abortion, Liquor, ID, School Vouchers, Redistricting … Legislature Makes Self Look Busy Before New Year
The state General Assembly was really struggling to put together all their bills before they left for winter break. That included killing women’s rights by prohibiting insurance coverage for low income people under ObamaCare, passing architectural restrictions against women’s health centers, privatizing liquor, forcing grandma to show ID at the voting booth...
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Harrisburg Deal on the Way for Liquor Sales?
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board may be prepared to meet its critics in and out of government halfway. A Senate appropriations hearing today confirmed as much, with proposed concessions and sales updates seemingly OK’d by the PLCB, so long as it gets to stay in existence. Though its unclear how the changes might help out the state budget. Those proposed...
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Pennsylvania’s Redistricting – But ‘No One Messes With Bob Brady’
In the wake of the census numbers coming out, redistricting of the state is upon us. This is a bad thing if you’re a liberal, because it happens to coincide with the Republican-ing of the governorship and state legislature. Politico has some good info on how the census will affect our congressional districts with some interesting notes from the site DemConWatch,...
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