Hey, it's time for turkey, not beef! Speaking of turkeys… If you're not up for cooking yourself, MéMé can help you out. And lest we forget there's some thankfulness in there. We don't do math, but tell us something might help ease the budget crisis and we're in. Where American democracy, reality TV, and riding crops collide: a naughty place indeed. Studio 34, our favorite mindful space, gets some love. And check out the week's......

The honeymoon is over. And just like with Brenda and Eddie, the fight comes when the money gets tight. No one's happy about Michael's closing of 11 city libraries as part of the budget cuts. And so now the question is, is there a way to save the libraries? And while the libraries (and fire company cutbacks) have gotten most of the publicity, the real disaster could be the city's pension system. Last week, we......

The recent election made us wonder what we could do for our country, and PW's Holiday Guide has some suggestions on what you can do for your city, in the form of nine charities to consider helping out this holiday season, including the Philadelphia Student Union. We hope we don't get burned out from our post-election bliss too quickly… Maybe holiday giving of the gift sort will keep us focused. Going green doesn't always come......

Who's ready for another good ol' casino throwdown? Well the City Council paved the way for one by passing the first approval necessary to move the Foxwoods casino to the Gallery. Michael has said that he supports "consideration" of the site, but there are about 23,000 people who disagree with him. Let the fun begin! This week in futile displays of power: Michael released the names of fifty business-tax delinquents, who owe a combined $27......

As mentioned earlier, Mayor Nutter is speaking today to the City of Philadelphia regarding some major budget cuts that will be taking place. According to the text in the draft of his speech as posted on 6ABC.com, some of the major changes will include: reducing police department overtime and leaving 200 vacant positions unfilled; reducing fire department overtime and cutting 5 engine companies and 2 ladder companies; closing 11 libraries and eliminating Sunday hours at......

Phillyist’s friend, Mayor Michael Nutter, will announce some new steps today that are expected to close a $1B gap in the city’s budget. Among the expected steps is the closing of 11 of 54 library branches. One suspect remains at large and another man is in custody following an attempted bank robbery in Deptford, NJ, yesterday. The missing suspect is described as a “black man wearing a black shirt and jeans.” The two were initially......

Game 5 of the World Series was suspended due to rain, and fans are not happy about it. And it's not even clear if the rain will go away in time to continue the game tonight. Lame! John McCain, Barack Obama, and Sarah Palin will all be campaigning in Pennsylvania today. It's all part of a last push for votes. Meanwhile, the Inquirer has coverage of local races. The Fraternal Order of Police Survivors'......

City Council this week approved Michael's proposal to memorialize seven slain officers by placing their names and badge numbers on the streets where they lived and died. Michael and City Council also sat down for a closed-door meeting to discuss the city's budget crisis, and where cuts have to be made. Maybe Michael can take comfort in the fact that he's far from the only mayor whose city is being absolutely screwed by the economy......

Despite the presence of a large number of very excited Phillies fans at the game, the Rays won the second game of the World Series last night. The problems are the same: the big players on the offense are not getting big hits. That doesn't mean it's easy to get Series tickets. Yesterday City Councilman Darrell Clarke moved to lift a little known, almost four-decades-old city law that bans men massaging women and women......

The Phillies won Game 1 of the World Series last night, 3-2. Of course, being a Philly sports fan, this Phillyist would like to have seen them win better; there were a lot of missed opportunities to score, and Howard really needs to get out of this post-season slump he's stuck in. Still, a win is a win. Check out a preview for Game 2, and ponder what it might mean if Game 3......

With the World Series starting tonight, it is all about the Fightin' Phils this morning. The Daily News has a whole playbook section, and even the presidential candidates are talking about our team. The Fumo trial is already getting a little nasty, with the defense essentially accusing the prosecution of racism in its jury selection. (We also enjoy the headline of that article, because we misread it as "Fumo-in-law.") After two Highway Patrol officers pulled......

McCain is still fighting for Pennsylvania, despite Obama's double-digit leads in the polls. His wife Cindy made four stops in Philadelphia and Yardley yesterday. Meanwhile, Philadelphia Democratic Party members are wondering if Obama will have any street money for them. On November 4th, voters will be asked to abolish the Fairmount Park Commission and merge it with the city Recreation Department, placing the whole under the mayor as a standard city department. The Inquirer looks......

With the great clash between Philly and LA coming up tonight, it's time to compare the cities and start trading barbs. (Meanwhile, as the Eagles seem to drift further and further from a championship, they at least have phone sex with Playboy Playmates to console them.) This weekend a number of political superstars will be coming to the region, including Sarah Palin, who'll be dropping the first puck at the Flyers' regular-season opener at the......

A really interesting piece of commentary in the Inquirer describes an exchange between Sarah Palin and a Temple student and how it got blown up into a bit of a national scandal. NFL star Marvin Harrison was never charged in a North Philadelphia shooting this spring, even though various pieces of evidence seemed to point in his direction. Now the victim is suing Harrison over the incident. "Two men and a 24th District police officer......

SustainLane has ranked Philadelphia eighth in sustainability among US cities. (Via Aaron) Philly.com has detailed coverage of the murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Patrick McDonald and its affect on the community. Residents of Northern Liberties, Kensington, and Fishtown are fighting a plan to convert the Jumbo Theatre, at Front Street and Girard Avenue, into a concert venue. "The Montgomery County mother who purchased an assault rifle for her teenage son, who was plotting a Columbine-style......

If you hurry, you can still bid on Michael's argyle sweater on eBay! We knew that the economic downtimes would mean bad things for the city, but we didn't realize it was this bad. Michael delivered the news to the City Council that the city's five-year financial plan was short by $450 million. Yikes. The first victim of the city's economic tightening: a would-be press aide for Michael's Managing Director. Michael unveiled the BenePhilly program,......

A report is due out today from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council comparing heart surgeries at area hospitals. John Jackey Worman, the Delaware County man whose child porn case we've been posting about here for some time, was convicted in federal court of dozens of child-pornography charges yesterday. Worman could spend the rest of his life in jail. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. An off-duty SEPTA police officer was......

SEPTA is getting pretty popular, with rail ridership up 12 percent from a year ago, to its highest point in 25 years of rail operations, but the popularity has brought with it its own problems: crowded trains and parking lots. 43-year-old Tarriq Ali, sentenced to a life term in Delaware, was being transported from California back to Delaware by a private prisoner transportation service when he escaped at Philadelphia International Airport. He is still at......

The Inquirer is covering some of the nightmarish testimony at the Worman child porn trial. D'oh. Philadelphians have been ranked the ugliest again. (Via Ross) Yesterday citizens and other officers paid their respects at the public viewing for Police Officer Isabel Nazario. An additional viewing is being held until 11 this morning at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, with a mass scheduled for noon. The bleak economy and overly optimistic budgeting have led......

Recently a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld Mumia Abu-Jamal's conviction in the killing of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, but said a new jury should decide whether he deserved life in prison or the death sentence for the crime. But Abu-Jamal is asking the federal appeals court to reconsider, and is still seeking a new trial. Despite a threat from Senator Fumo that their tax breaks......

Philly International will not see a great reduction in number of flights this fall, unlike other major cities like Las Vegas and Chicago. If you're counting on that trip to Vegas paying the heating bill this winter, better head out there now. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey will hold six town hall meetings in July. Each public meeting will focus on particular neighborhoods, and residents will be asked about local problems and suggestions on making......

"On the last day of the fiscal year, Gov. Rendell and legislative leaders struck a deal on a $28.2 billion state budget, averting a repeat of last year's employee furlough and partial government shutdown." The Inquirer examines what it meant (for the players and their families) for a team from Camden's Cramer Hill neighborhood to play T-ball on the White House lawn yesterday. A Daily News reporter gets a few minutes with John McCain.......

The Inquirer covers yesterday's early school closings due to heat, and points out that we'll see more of the same today. They also talk about the help and charity inspired by an article about a family struggling without air conditioning in the heat. A while back, state legislators increased pay for injured police officers and made it easier for them to resist returning to work. Now on any given day, roughly 250 Philadelphia police......

As promised, yesterday Mayor Nutter announced his plan to combat homelessness. Click through for the details. The 14-year-old Lansdowne boy accused of stabbing his older brother to death over a video game has admitted to voluntary manslaughter. The judge will determine his sentence at a hearing on June 5th; he faces a maximum of seven years of supervision until he reaches age 21. The polo team from the acclaimed equestrian program on Chamounix Drive in......

Soaring gas prices are leading to increased ridership on local public transportation services like SEPTA, which just passed a $1.1 billion budget for 2009 that includes major upgrades to handle all those new riders. Because of course, fuel costs are increasing for SEPTA, too. The Philadelphia chapter of the Boy Scouts sued the city in federal court late Friday to prevent being evicted from its city-owned headquarters or being charged $200,000 a year in rent.......

The big Michael Nutter news this week was, of course, the approval of his $4 billion budget. So it's time for the city to literally put its money where its mouth is. Is Michael ignoring the social problems posed by the digital divide by declining to use city funds to save Philly WiFi? The Michael lovefest continues, as the Democratic Leadership Council named Michael its New Dem of the Week. Congrats, Michael! In part due......

The Daily News points out that while the Philadelphia School District is looking for ways to balance its budget, the organization might want to consider cutting the abnormally high salaries of its legal counsel. "Jury selection is expected to begin today in the 19-year-old murder of a North Philadelphia black man in what has been labeled a 'racial killing.'" "The Esherick House, a rare private residence designed by revered 20th-century architect Louis Kahn and tucked......

Michael's been in office for a little over four months now, which apparently means it's time to start fund-raising for his reelection campaign. Michael appointed former Daily News columnist Mark Alan Hughes as the city's "sustainability director," charged with overseeing environmental initiatives. Michael's proposed budget easily cruised through a City Council committee, clearing the way for approval by the whole Council, which should come next week. Some people are accusing Michael of inappropriately excusing the......

The fourth annual commuter competition sponsored by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia started this morning at 8AM. Three commuters race from 45th and Spruce to City Hall, one on a bike, one in a car, and one in a bus. The BCGP is obviously expecting the cyclist to win, thus proving that two wheels are better than four. Philly's own Bonnie and Clyde are the "poster children for identity theft," according to Federal authorities.......

We previously posted about SEPTA's celebration this past weekend of the 100th anniversary of service for 69th Street Terminal and the Route 100 Norristown High Speed Line. What we didn't realize is that SEPTA was more than a year late with its celebration. Fresh news on the Bonnie and Clyde front! We know you're excited. Looks like Jocelyn Kirsch is nearing a federal plea deal. Prison time is still likely, however, given the scope of......