Yo, Philly in the News

- Thanksgiving is coming - which always means travel headaches, but Philadelphians may have more long-lasting travel woes. It has been proposed that the gas tax be raised 12.5 cents a gallon, and, naturally, there's still the ever-looming threat of raising SEPTA fares while cutting their service sometime next year. Clearly, we all need to find jobs where we walk to work. (via)

- Geno's owner and champion of English-only ordering, Joey Vento, has donated $10,000 to the city of Hazelton to assist them in combating illegal immigration.

- The first PA casino opened in Wilkes Barre yesterday. The state is claiming the newly permitted gambling industry will help lower PA property taxes. It seems to Phillyist many people fear it shall inadvertently do so by lowering property values in areas where the casinos emerge.

- Philadelphia's Microsoft School got kudos all around during an open-house event yesterday - but this tech-loving Phillyist must protest: a library with no books? We know e-reading is the wave of the future, but...damn. It breaks our bibliophilic heart.

- Speaking of books, one of our news tipsters points out that Philly is one of the cities in the running to have 20,000 books provided to the community, courtesy of SuperPages.com and First Book. And whereas we'd like to be sad that we're on a list of 10 cities with a large enough populace of disadvantaged youths to be considered, we're pro getting books into the hands of children, so we encourage you to go vote.

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