Results tagged “policecommissioner”

Last Friday & the weekend: Michael defended his decision to cut $21 million in funding to Philadelphia Safe and Sound, the program that, as we mentioned last week, John Street had shifted money to in the waning days of his administration. And he announced that the Department of Public Welfare would be auditing Safe and Sound's finances for the last couple years. Michael also ignited Governor Rendell's fury with his revocation of SugarHouse's casino license, as Rendell is all for the casinos.

It was the week where Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey unveiled his plan to tackle Philadelphia's crime problem. It should have been a week of optimism and feeling like we're gonna get things headed in the right direction. But alas. We were reminded of the city's problems by the fact that, on the day that Ramsey announced his plan, he was in the process of investigating four homicides that occurred in a 16-hour span. The most gut-wrenching of these was the shotgun murder of a 28-week pregnant woman. (The fetus is in critical but stable condition as of this writing.) So it's without a touch of humor that we declare anyone and everyone contributing to the city's crime problem—and particularly with regard to gun violence—our asshole of the week.

Last Friday & the weekend: Michael's search for a new CEO of the Philadelphia School District got down to two contenders—apparently—after Temple College of Education dean Kent McGuire withdrew his name from consideration for the position.

Last Friday & the weekend: Michael probably doesn't know it, but he got a shout-out from Hot Hot Heat frontman Michael Bays at last week's FREEZEtival before the band played "Bandages." What the connection between the song and our mayor is, we have no idea. And in real news, Michael named his appointees to the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority board.

The Inquirer takes a closer look at the Philadelphia policeman who was shot the day before the shooting of Chuck Cassidy, by a gunman who then fled and ultimately drowned in the Schuylkill. They also put the incident in the larger context of criminals in Philadelphia getting released from jail only to commit more crimes and be arrested again, over and over. Meanwhile, another Philadelphia police officer was injured this weekend, this time by...

The Pennsylvania Turnpike has been closed in both directions between the Philadelphia and Willow Grove interchanges, and is likely to stay closed most of the morning, due to a fiery five-car accident earlier today involving a tractor trailer and a pickup truck. Thankfully, as of this writing, no fatalities have been reported. The Fort Dix suspects are asking to be moved Special Housing Unit at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia due to the fact...

The Inquirer has the story of an American soldier from Bucks County who worked hard in Iraq trying to rebuild the country and is now home for the holidays. Princeton University scientists announced yesterday that they'd discovered a way to reproduce the chemical signals that the bacteria that cause cholera use to communicate with each other, which opens up the possibility of a new way to fight bacteria: talking to them in their own...

The Attorney General's Office has accused Former State Rep. Frank LaGrotta of giving his relatives fake jobs in order to pay them thousands in taxpayer dollars. A cheval-de-frise (an iron-tipped log that's placed in a riverbed along with many others in order to gore the hulls of enemy warships) was recently found at the bottom of the Delaware River at the Sunoco Logistics pier in South Philadelphia. It's a relic from the mid-1770s, and...

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you.

In the Inquirer article from which Phillyist learned that this crime deterrent strategy is under deliberation, a video clerk from Kingsessing said he would support the measure, saying, ""If you've got nothing to be guilty about, you should have no problem. I would put up with that level of inconvenience to make the neighborhood safer."

• Montgomery County resident David Downey can't keep it in his pants - less than a week after being freed on $250K bail for third degree murder charges for feeding a 17 year old 'escort' a lethal dose drugs and paying off a couple of people to dispose of the body, he violated his bail by having a professional booty call in Upper Merion. At least he didn't kill this one.
• Governor Ed Rendell is opposing a proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulation that would "limit public access to information about the chemicals companies legally release into the air." Current regulations state that any 500 pound release of certain chemicals must be reported yearly. The proposed regulations would raise the release amount to 5,000 pounds and require only biennial reporting. Perhaps the EPA should change their name to something else, because it certainly doesn't seem like the agency is too interested in protecting the environment. Six former heads of the EPA agree.
• There's a rapist on the loose in Center City - if you live in the Rittenhouse Square area, ladies, now might be the time to brush up on your self-defense skills.

There's good news a-brewin' if you're really into death and destruction -- the crime rate in Philly is up for 2005. Woohoo!