Yo, Philly in the News

• The latest in the case of Ebony Nicole Dorsey, the 14-year-old girl allegedly killed by her mother's boyfriend: the Daily News has an exclusive interview with the girl's mother, Danielle Cattie, who calls her boyfriend a monster. Meanwhile, the Inquirer quotes Cattie's brother defending his sister; he says she's "a great mom who deeply loves her children," and "She's a good person who made some bad decisions. She's paid a horrible price."
• It may seem impossible after all the bad press about the violence in Philadelphia, but in fact all forms of violent crime are down this year compared to last year. It's the first decrease for Philly in four years. Homicides were down only 1 percent, but shootings were down 14 percent, and armed robberies were down 12 percent. Of course, as the Inquirer points out, "reported crimes tell only part of the story," but most are showing guarded optimism about this news.
• The Daily News reports on a disturbing hate crime in predominantly white Port Richmond, where a house, soon to be occupied by a black couple, has been covered in racist graffiti. Meanwhile, State Sen. Anthony Williams, along with a group of other black leaders and elected officials in Philadelphia, are holding a news conference this morning in City Hall demanding an investigation into a racist incident on October 1st in which a white worker allegedly waved a noose in the face of a black worker at the Comcast construction site.
• Pretty despicable stuff: people are actually stealing jars filled with donations for the family of Philadelphia Police Officer Chuck Cassidy. The suspect in a recent theft of one such jar from the West Oak Lane Dunkin' Donuts where Officer Cassidy was killed is still on the loose, but a man and a woman have been arrested for the theft of the jar from a Wawa on Tyson Avenue near Roosevelt Boulevard on Saturday.
• The Philadelphia School District is starting a new program called "Community Engagement" on Tuesday, wherein key community groups will meet with district officials to discuss the fiscal 2009 budget. "Then on Jan. 2, interim chief executive Tom Brady will start hosting a blog so people may keep up with the budget process and ask him questions directly." We suspect some people already want to ask questions about why the red-light camera program is continuing, but the school district won't be getting any of the money.
• Members of the City Council, "frustrated by what they called a lack of progress in minority inclusion by building trades unions," changed an agreement last week on the bidding process for the $700 million expansion of the Convention Center such that nonunion contractors and their employees would be allowed to bid for work. "They are expected to delay a vote on the accord today to give Gov. Rendell and state leaders a chance to forge a compromise."
• "Mayor-elect Michael Nutter yesterday selected Camille Barnett, a well-traveled professional city administrator, as Philadelphia's next managing director." Although Barnett "has held senior management positions in municipalities across the country," and although she currently works for the Philadelphia-based firm Public Financial Management, she has never lived in Philly or its suburbs.

Image Credit: Flickr user destinelee