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March 31, 2008
Mantua Hall at 35th and Fairmount, one of the original 40 high-rise public housing towers built as part of the city's urban-renewal era, was imploded this weekend. It was the 21st such tower that the Philadelphia Housing Authority has imploded since 1995. The end of the building is considered a new beginning for Mantua. But the scandal involving the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Philadelphia Housing Authority could lead to the flow...
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| March 28, 2008
Michael will be seeing a number of bills on his desk—the legislative kind, not the curse your credit card company and feel bitter about still not winning Powerball kind—in the next couple days, as the City Council passed several of measures yesterday. One of them would require tour guides to take a geography and history test. (Hopefully, James Lewis will do a better job with that test than he did with his American Idol audition.)...
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A state trooper tried to stop a white SUV for speeding in the northbound lanes of Route 42 about 4:30PM yesterday afternoon. When the car began moving erratically, the police had to break off pursuit for safety concerns. A few minutes later, the driver stopped on the Walt Whitman Bridge bridge, got out of his car, and started swinging a baseball bat at cars while holding a baby in his other arm. After he struck...
Continue Reading "Yo, Philly in the News"March 27, 2008
Around 2:46PM yesterday afternoon, in the underground SEPTA concourse at 13th and Market streets near the City Hall station, four teens shouted at a 36-year-old Starbucks employee named Sean Patrick Conroy, then surrounded him and attacked him as he crouched defensively. The victim lost consciousness on the concourse and was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:09PM. There appeared to be no prior connection between Conroy and his...
Continue Reading "Yo, Philly in the News"March 26, 2008
And the last Philadelphia school standing is... Villanova. The women (17-15, 5-11) won their WNIT opening round game against American on a buzzer-beating rebound-and-putback by Duke transfer Laura Kurz. The Wildcats then went on the road and beat Wisconsin in round two. They're now in the WNIT Sweet Sixteen, and face Colorado in Boulder tomorrow night. Meanwhile, the Villanova men (22-12, 9-9) are the last local team standing in the Big Dance after Temple went...
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March 26, 2008
Interim Philadelphia schools chief Tom Brady will be heading to Providence, R.I. in early June to become superintendent there. The Liberty City Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club is endorsing Larry Farnese for the Pennsylvania state Senate, and Hillary Clinton for president. The club will also co-sponsor a presidential forum at 7:45 p.m. tomorrow at Woody's. Clinton's representative at the forum will be her daughter Chelsea, while Obama has Melissa Etheridge conference calling in on...
Continue Reading "Yo, Philly in the News"March 25, 2008
We sure do love Pennsylvania politics. Someone started a fire at the Mount Carmel office of State Rep. Robert Belfanti Jr. Belfanti is unopposed in the primary and general elections, and had no idea why someone would try to burn his office down. Meanwhile, the South Philadelphia campaign office of Pennsylvania state House candidate Christian DiCicco, the son of City Councilman Frank DiCicco, was burglarized yesterday. There's a little disparity between the two Inquirer articles...
Continue Reading "Yo, Philly in the News"March 24, 2008
You know, if their numbers are lagging so much, they may benefit from, oh, allowing women to join. Just maybe....
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The story of Roger Band, Bill Clinton's travel doctor, and Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania ER doctor. A look back at Easter in Philly—specifically, Philly's Easter Promenade & Finery Contest. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell agree that the Democratic campaign has become too negative and that it's getting to be about time to just pick a candidate and get behind that person. The problem is, they don't agree on...
Continue Reading "Yo, Philly in the News"March 21, 2008
We'd always wondered where the mayor gets his chow on. We'd figured he'd do his regular dinners at places like Fountain Restaurant and Lacroix. But no, not our mayor. You see, this Phillyist and Editor Jill both had crappy days on Wednesday and didn't feel like cooking dinner, so we decided to head to Mexican Post. About ten minutes after we sat down, who walks in but the mayor himself?! We were half-tempted to liveblog...
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The Inquirer reminds us that Monday is the last day to register for Pennsylvania's April 22nd primary. They also include a list of locations you can go to register, and a link to a site with more information. Meanwhile, the Inquirer has another primary-related article which reveals that since last November, according to state registration numbers, the Democratic Party has gained 111,227 new voters, and the Republican Party has lost 13,391. A helpful list...
Continue Reading "Yo, Philly in the News"March 20, 2008
In part, Barack Obama’s speech at Constitution Center denounced comments made by Reverend Jeremiah Wright in a 2003 sermon. The Illinois senator also tried to redeem his own credibility as a political figure, as well as the credibility of his church as a legitimate religious institution. Framed by a historical overview of the events and policies which inform lingering racial resentment, his speech provided a brilliant assessment of race relations in the United States. Here's...
Continue Reading "Reactions to Controversy"Because Obama's speech was delivered to a private audience in the middle of the day on Tuesday, many of you may have missed it. Phillyist contributor Warren Longmire posted his thoughts on the speech that day, complete with a link to a video of the speech found on Huffington Post. Because the speech is still making headlines, we wanted to take the opportunity to embed it in its entirety here. We are not posting this...
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The closure of I-95 has taken a toll on some, but the road did indeed reopen this morning around 6:30AM, and it's expected to remain open during the more permanent repair of the cracked column that will soon follow, and which should take about a month. After that comes the really major work: "Replacing the whole elevated stretch of I-95 between Spring Garden Street and Cottman Avenue." A split three-member panel of the Philadelphia...
Continue Reading "Yo, Philly in the News"March 19, 2008
Eliot Spitzer was a tireless crusader for the cause of cleaning up Wall Street corruption. He also was a sex-crazed fiend who would spend the gross per capita of the average Third World country on a blow job. O.J. Simpson was one of the greatest running backs in the history of both college and professional football. He also enjoyed wasting away his spare time by nearly decapitating people who pissed him off. Barack Obama may...
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March 19, 2008
So it's everyone's favorite time of the college basketball year: March Madness. That time of the year when everyone is a college hoops expert and every tournament pool you enter is guaranteed to be won by your buddy's girlfriend who picked her brackets based entirely on which school's color scheme she liked more in a head-to-head match-up. So in case you've been living under a rock for the last few days, here's what's up with...
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Editor's Note: We mentioned Mr. Colbert's impending visit to our fair city yesterday (and announced a contest, no less), but Phillyist Joshua felt this historic event deserved more in-depth coverage. Enjoy! If we’re to trust Hillary Clinton’s supposition that It Takes a Village, wouldn’t logic then dictate that a nation could get the job done faster and with far more efficiency? Philadelphians will soon have the chance to witness that theory in action up close...
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We recently reported on Jim McGreevey and his soon-to-be ex-wife Dina Matos McGreevey's three-way sex parties (aka "Friday night specials"), a story leaked by one of the ex-governor's ex-aides (sense a theme here?). While Dina vehemently denies the allegations, Jim has admitted that the trysts took place. Obviously, one of them is lying—but which one? Our money is on Dina, who stands to lose about $600,000 if her claim that the ex-gov defrauded her by...
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Lots of people are talking about Obama's speech in Philly yesterday, including the Daily News and the Inquirer (and us, of course). Hillary Clinton's response was sort of an "isn't that nice for him" kind of thing. Somehow the story of the twin gay porn star burglars keeps getting better. Now it's come out through court testimony that their mother served as a lookout during their rooftop break-ins. The Inquirer tells the story of...
Continue Reading "Yo, Philly in the News"March 18, 2008
History is something modern Americans often seem to view only in the past tense. Between the structured playtimes of our youth, the constant barrage of class and after-class activities through school and our busy 40+ hour work weeks, often it’s hard to remember what happened last week, let alone the effects of our past and impact of our present. Our only release often comes in the form of ironic cynicism, rendering statements like “history-making” at...
Continue Reading "A More Perfect Union: Obama at Constitution Hall"
Commissioner Charles Ramsey has ordered an Internal Affairs investigation into how the suspect that cops had cuffed and put in the back of a patrol car somehow drove off in the vehicle on Sunday. It appears that the suspect "slipped his hands under his feet and then squeezed through an opening in the Plexiglas panel separating the back and front seat." The question is, how was he then able to start the car? A police...
Continue Reading "Yo, Philly in the News"March 17, 2008
Not content to sit idly by while New York's elected leaders have all the illicit fun (albeit with a Jersey girl), Jersey's been brewing another scandal of its own. Remember how Jim McGreevey came out as a "gay American" and his wife purported to be as shocked as the rest of us? Well, it turns out that may have been just an act, because apparently she'd had three-ways with her husband and another man prior...
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The tiny Bucks County borough of Yardley is home to some of the most frequently flooded properties in the nation, thanks to the Delaware River's chronic deluges. Thus Yardley expects to receive $655,000 from a pilot grant program aimed at stemming federal flood claims in hard-hit towns. Apparently our new soccer club's anthem is "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover." Well it's appropriate for today, anyway. "Handgun-control proponents in the State House are attempting...
Continue Reading "Yo, Philly in the News"March 14, 2008
Firstly, we've got to congratulate Michael on the opening of his play. What's that? You didn't know Michael had a play? Well he does. Sort of. Michael is the honorary producer of the Arden Theatre's production of The Piano Lesson, which officially opened on Wednesday night. (Look for our review of the show next week.) Back in the more traditional political arena, Michael is becoming more active in the increasingly hostile Democratic primary. After an...
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March 14, 2008
Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross are getting married! We're freaking out!! (Via Sarah) The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Building at 16th and Callowhill Streets was evacuated yesterday morning when a white, powdery substance was found in a third-floor office. The substance turned out to be foot powder. D'oh. (Via Sarah) An accident on the westbound Pennsylvania Turnpike between the Mid-County and Valley Forge interchanges led to the death of the driver of a FedEx...
Continue Reading "Yo, Philly in the News"March 13, 2008
So says the building's website, and it's right. Just a few hours ago, phillyskyline.com broke news of a supertall skyscraper proposal for the property bounded by 18th, 19th, Arch, and Cuthbert Streets (currently a surface parking lot). At 1500 feet, the American Commerce Center would dwarf Philly's recently-crowned king, the Comcast Center (975 ft), and if completed today, would stand as the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and fourth-tallest building in the world. All...
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