Results tagged “regulations”

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. LAist has more fun photos from the writers' strike, this time featuring fans and employees of Mutant Enemy Productions (Joss Whedon's production company), who all came together last Friday to support the strikers. Aw, look at Nicholas Brendon in his hat and glasses. And Summer Glau is so cute! Nintendo claims they are surprised by the Greenpeace report which we posted about earlier,...

Pennsylvania ranks very low amongst other states in requiring breakfast to be served in its schools to the children of low income families. A new memorial design for the President's House, which "would allow visitors to peer down through a glass shed and view archaeological remnants of an 18th-century house once occupied by presidents and slaves," will be unveiled tomorrow night at Freedom Theatre. "The DRPA, whose board meets today to adopt its annual budget,...

Seattlest has a talk with the photographer from last week's "Segway Mom" and then experiences some dissension in the ranks over the question of wine vs. beer. It's not West Side Story, but about as close as they'll get. They're also still waiting on some inbox relief after a spammer is arrested.

, the fourth wall is broken. A few scenes later, it's broken again. I'd been okay with the dream sequences up to that point, but breaking the fourth wall felt obtrusive and out of place, especially this late in the game. And that's where the play would have lost me, if the material outside of these scenes had been weaker. Fortunately, playwright Kathy Anderson created a cast of thoroughly likable characters and a plot inventive and entertaining enough that I was able to ignore, if not forgive, the two clumsy addresses to the audience. Besides, this is a world premiere: there's still the possibility of improvement.

Besides offering a concise and appropriate representation of the times, some quotes are so incisive that they make a step back from the clarity of the moment nearly impossible.

Somehow, the world of -ists managed to make it through the week despite news that Jen & Vince broke up.

To the construction crews that I encounter daily on my walk to work:

• 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.

Come Fourth of July weekend, we can count on Philly residents with more enthusiasm than brains to take to the streets, illegal fireworks in hand. And we mean that literally. It is not unusual to hear the loud boom of fireworks, followed by gut-wrenching screams, the smell of burning flesh, and then ambulance sirens. Ah, the sweet sound of Philadelphia summers! Some people never learn to leave it the experts. Or, at the very least, to let go and run away after the fuse is lit. The PA Department of Agriculture changed the fireworks regulations. Items that are not grounded or that explode have been illegal in Pennsylvania for quite some time, and continue to be illegal. This means anything much past sparklers are verboten. But new laws say that you can buy all the firecrackers, M-80's, and various other fireworks you want in Pennsylvania...as long as you promise, Scout's honor, not to light them here. Drive to Jersey and blow your hand off, OK? Philadephia is now relaxing its own fire code regulations concerning the use of fireworks, according to CBS 3 Investigative Reporter Walt Hunter: "Despite demonstrations stressing fireworks safety, two fire department memos obtained by CBS 3 show the city is relaxing regulations and allowing more types of sparklers to be sold at more locations than in the past." Drinking at family picnics and street parties, combined with more powerful fireworks -- perfect together! Be careful this weekend, kids -- if you need to make an emergency room run, we fear that you'll be waiting even longer than usual.

Unless you live under a rock and/or have never clicked on a real-live-nude-girl website, thumbed through an issue of Playboy, or sashayed through your local sex shop, you've probably heard of Wednesday's passage of a new porn law by the Department of Justice. The legislation, known as Section 2257, could shut down a majority of the porn that you peruse. By invoking a noble purpose, the government has effectively found a way to circumvent that pesky concept of "free speech" and replace it with old-fashioned good intentions. Yet as a panhandler in front of 30th Street Station whispered to me the other day, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Requests for quarters aside, I'm starting to think he was right. With the ostensible goal of thwarting off teenage would-be starlets, the law requires that every depiction of real-life sexual activity in photographic or video form must be accompanied by a statement that indicates where age records are kept, and where to contact the record keeper. In addition, said record keeper must be available at a physical address 20 hours a week, lest Uncle Sam comes knocking at your door. The penalty for non-compliance? Up to 5 years in prison, and up to a $5000 dollar fine. As a result, thousands of sex workers – and no doubt countless Philadelphia vendors - may lose their livelihood as porn purveyors as they scramble to meet up with the Draconian regulations. And in a medium as tenuous as the Internet, it's hard to believe that the physical statistics of full name, stage name, age, location, and contact info can be filled-in with any promise of regularity. South Street may never look the same again.