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One to go...

First Fumo, now Perzel... can anybody interest the Feds in Johnny Doc? [...]

Posted: November 16, 2009, 1:49pm EST

Holy cow! apparently Philadelphia area Congressman Jim Gerlach intends to quit to run for Governor next year. No idea what his chances are, but this means no incumbent in the 6th District -- where are you Lois Murphy?? [...]

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Posted: July 14, 2009, 12:58pm EDT

ACM's Democratic Primary voters' guide (micro-election, May'09)

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I've gotten to meet and/or hear from a large percentage of the candidates this year, but that hasn't always given me a clear sense of preferences, as you'll see. The big-ticket races tomorrow are District Attorney and City Controller, both important and interesting races, but most of the ballot contains' [...]

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Posted: May 18, 2009, 8:47pm EDT

Holy crap!

I suppose it was fated, but it's still hard not to feel the earth shudder when Arlen Specter switches parties! That should shake up the picture for the 2010 elections quite a bit; expect new life in the gubenatorial race and rather muted entries for a Senate primary battle with' [...]

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Posted: April 28, 2009, 2:08pm EDT

Fumo verdict

It took the jury foreman nearly 15 minutes to read all the verdicts: guilty on all 137 counts. Sorry, Vince, but looks like you're not as entitled as you thought you were.' [...]

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Posted: March 17, 2009, 9:34am EDT

Holy cow

The Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News has just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They say that daily operations will be unaffected, but one can expect this to have reverberations locally for some time. [...]

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Posted: February 23, 2009, 8:40am EST

Indefinite hiatus

It's probably been obvious that things here have gotten increasingly quiet since The Arrival, and I think I'm going to make it official. I just can't scan the dozens of regional sources I used to, let alone find the time to compose summaries or commentary. I'd like to say I'll [...]

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Posted: December 02, 2008, 1:41pm EST

Don't sit there reading; get out and vote!

A simpler ballot than usual, so no lengthy set of recommendations here. I think the Democratic ticket is generally good, with the possible exception of the Attorney General for PA, where there is some controversy over his rabid anti-immigrant views (but that's not really the AG's purview). A YES on [...]

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Posted: November 04, 2008, 1:27pm EST

One small blow for sanity

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I don't know whether I can really be said to be maintaining this blog anymore (sigh), but I did want to note this one story: that the PAC belonging to John Dougherty's electricians' union finally had to pay a penalty for their illegal meddling in the mayoral primary (even if [...]

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Posted: October 20, 2008, 12:17pm EDT

Ouch

Man, I've bookmarked so many stories that I never seem to have time to blog... Sigh.But anyway, was shocked by these statistics at YPP about gambling in other cities, which put the proposed Gallery placement of the Foxwoods casino in pretty negative light.* A survey of southeast Asian refugees in' [...]

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Posted: September 30, 2008, 5:43pm EDT

Casino chaos

I have to admit I was shocked to hear that Foxwoods was considering a move of their site not to someplace else remote like the airport or the navy pier, but to the Galleria downtown, and that this appeared to generate widespread approval from the political class. After some days' [...]

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Posted: September 12, 2008, 7:29am EDT

Casey sighting

PA Sen. Bob Casey is addressing the Democratic convention (thankless, the speakers against the din of meanderers). About John McCain's record of voting 90% with George Bush: "That's not a maverick; that's a sidekick!" heh heh... [...]

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Posted: August 26, 2008, 9:29pm EDT

Score 1 for the little guys

Congrats to Dan U-A and Ed Goppelt for forcing Philadelphia's election commisioners to do their job and make election returns available online to all citizens, not just a few priviledged insiders. Good work, everybody who helped pile on the pressure by faxing a password request or by giving this story [...]

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Posted: August 25, 2008, 11:18am EDT

Positive rumblings on casinos?

Front page in today's Inquirer is news that Foxwoods is open to considering other sites for its casino complex. Not clear where, or how serious, but this is unprecedented in the discussions, so will be interesting to see. Getting these big boxes off of the riverfront seems like a good [...]

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Posted: August 22, 2008, 11:25am EDT

Summer flotsam

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Just a few recent articles that update ongoing stories or bring up interesting new points:Remember that Fumo case? The one with several hundred indictments, and stories of everything from alpaca farms to shredding documents? It's still trudging along. A former computer aide appears ready to add his guilty plea to' [...]

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Posted: August 17, 2008, 5:39pm EDT

His own man?

Folks have expressed concern that Fumo's replacement in the 1st State Senate seat, while no known horror like Johnny Doc, might be a puppet, having gotten some late money from Fumo himself. Only time will tell, but here's a little video of Farnese claiming to be his own man and [...]

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Posted: August 17, 2008, 4:07pm EDT

Quick Friday notes

The city reached a one-year contract deal with its largest union of municipal workers this week (see also editorial here), leaving only the firefighters (arbitrated) and a couple of small union agreements to iron out. Everybody hopes that these one-year deals will give the new mayor and his advisors a [...]

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Posted: July 26, 2008, 4:36pm EDT

Thursday bits

Just a few things that caught my attention...Philadelphia's homeless problem has been on the rise, most notably in increased sightings in Rittenhouse Square, including fountain bathers et al., despite increased efforts at finding shelter for people living on the streets. Numbers are down, but I guess they're more visible -- [...]

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Posted: July 25, 2008, 5:34pm EDT

Ouch!

State Rep. Babette Josephs is depicted as a thorn in the side of reformers in an Inquirer article today for holding up a number of potentially important bills in her committee (most notably to me, the anti-gerrymandering effort). She says they all need improvement, but I think she needs to [...]

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Posted: July 22, 2008, 10:03pm EDT

Recent bits

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Three stories of interest today:The long-brewing Harrisburg scandal over use of legislative staff in campaign capacities (as revealed by unsubtle bonus payments) has reached the indictment stage. The Democrats (staffers, that is) took the hits, although future reviews of Republican behavior are promised.Closer to home, the labor union PAC which [...]

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Posted: July 11, 2008, 9:08pm EDT

Some bits

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After our giving Willy Singletary the thumbs-up for Traffic Court (in the absence of having met any other candidates, we will admit), we were a bit saddened by his subsequent troubles over unpaid tickets and the like. Happily, an article in today's Inquirer indicates that he's doing well on the [...]

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Posted: July 05, 2008, 3:08pm EDT

Recent news roundup

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A few recent stories have caught my interest, especially several that appear to be the culmination of events tracked here previously:Apparently, Philadelphia's trend-setting citywide WiFi effort will not end abruptly with the (inevitable?) departure of commercial partner Earthlink: a local partnership has taken over the network and hopes to figure [...]

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Posted: June 21, 2008, 1:58pm EDT

Don't count out those WWC's

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That is, white working-class voters. The ones that supposedly would never elect a black guy (or whatever your story of the week is). Because Obama has a large lead over McCain in Pennsylvania and several other WWC-heavy states according to a recent poll. So it looks like we (and the [...]

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Posted: June 19, 2008, 6:25pm EDT

Recent happenings

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Well! All sorts of interesting things brewing at the state level while I'm not watching (or at least not blogging, sigh). Much to my surprise, Pennsylvania passed a smoking ban at the state level! Where did that come from? Harrisburg is a mysterious place.Recent attempts to reform the effects of' [...]

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Posted: June 15, 2008, 9:13pm EDT

Yesterday's election

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Two things:My huge apologies to my readers for my absence on this one. Nobody needed my input on the national race, but there were some hot and fascinating local battles. In all honesty, I would probably have hurt myself trying to make a clear endorsement in the two races closest [...]

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Posted: April 23, 2008, 5:27pm EDT

Broadcast alert

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Radio Times on WHYY is about to air a discussion with the 1st District State Senate candidates -- John Dougherty, Ann Dicker, and Larry Farnese. Likely to be of interest to anybody in that district as well as political junkies generally. [...]

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Posted: April 07, 2008, 11:04am EDT

Things a'brewin

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Man, I've been absent here for a while, and have a huge backlog of things I'd like to yap about -- pols from Bill Green (a pleasant surprise) to Tony Payton (revenge of the Evil Insiders) to Vince Fumo (who's in, who's out, who might he tap to run his [...]

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Posted: February 19, 2008, 5:29pm EST

Political intrigues

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Two big and one small intrigue in the news over the last week, which could make the spring quite interesting:Showing that some incumbents are more equal than others, the Democratic City Committee is once again bypassing State Rep. Tony Payton in favor of endorsing one of his more establishment-connected opponents. [...]

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Posted: January 31, 2008, 6:35pm EST

Gleanings from last week

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(Sans Monday, which I had off in every sense...)Nutter revokes casino's license -- His reversal of Street will add to SugarHouse delay. More here. An unexpected move, to me at least, revolving around the riparian rights issue. Expect to hear more!City Council seeks fresh start with Nutter -- Today, with' [...]

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Posted: January 29, 2008, 6:44pm EST

Senate primary forum

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I've got some round-up stuff from last week to get to, but am totally working on half the sleep (and thus half the work-rate) that I need, so that's all on hold. Just wanted to point out Albert's write-up of the Neighborhood Networks forum for the 1st District Senate race, [...]

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Posted: January 28, 2008, 8:05pm EST

Gleanings from last week

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Forums will seek input for city plan -- Beginning tonight, the city holds a series of meetings to ask residents how Phila. should evolve over 30 years. I love that this dialogue is continuing.Rendell reiterates need for legislation to cover uninsured. Yeah, how about that Rx for PA? Doctors chip [...]

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Posted: January 25, 2008, 5:59pm EST

A smattering of recent stories

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A few that still stand out after several days have passed:Nutter's appointee as the Director of the Office of Research, Planning, and Policy is somebody well qualified to address the city's needs for zoning reform and community housing development, which bodes well for the new mayor's attention to those topics. [...]

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Posted: January 15, 2008, 6:58pm EST

Defibrillator, please!

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Can somebody tell me how we can still be at this point in discussions of property tax revaluations in Philadelphia? I mean, the numbers have been available (at least everywhere that homes have been selling), the issues have been pretty clear (nobody wants to tax grandma out of her house [...]

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Posted: January 09, 2008, 2:43pm EST

We have a new mayor

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Yunno, John Street just left a bad taste, what with his last-minute money-grab at the expense of city coffers. But for incoming Michael Nutter, it's all garlands so far. Inky: 'This is our city and we're taking it back' Educators hail Nutter's 'call to arms' on dropouts Editorial | A Fresh Start Daily News: First day [...]

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Posted: January 08, 2008, 6:27pm EST

Share the wealth

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Turns out that foodbanks have fallen on really hard times, just as economic and weather factors are driving demand to record levels. Trying to decide what to get your loved ones? Perhaps a donation in their name will give a warm glow that lasts a bit longer than chocolate or [...]

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Posted: December 21, 2007, 6:14pm EST

Interesting alliances

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Many Democrats were dismayed when Joe Hoeffel managed to secure a Commissioner position in Montgomery County only by displacing his fellow Democrat, Ruth Damsker, foiling hopes of a change in party affiliation in the county governing body. However, unexpected developments have put Hoeffel into an alliance with one of the [...]

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Posted: December 19, 2007, 7:00pm EST

Holiday hiatus

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I'm gonna take a break for the holidays, starting this week and extending possibly as long as the first week in January. No round-ups or weeks in review during that period, although any shocking or thrilling news might merit a break-through post now and again. Don't know what next year is [...]

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Posted: December 17, 2007, 1:06pm EST

Week in review: Theme IV = wireless

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Remember that? Citywide wireless, regional pride, blah blah?The Phila Story: Learning from a Wireless Pioneer Wireless project over budget: EarthLink, which skipped a Council hearing, couldn't say when the network would be done. Earthlink a no-show for Council hearing YPP: What the Wi-Fi? Albert: WiFi Philly at City Council [...]

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Posted: December 14, 2007, 8:50pm EST

Week in review: Theme III = Unions, minorities, and the Convention Center

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Clash over labor proposal looms: City Council will debate an amendment tomorrow that would allow nonunion labor on Convention Center work. Opinion: UNIONS LABELED FAILURES ON MINORITY WORKERS: COUNCIL AMENDMENT A GUTSY MOVE TO CHANGE STATUS QUO Nonunion-labor deal for center is in sight Uncertainty over bill on expansion Editorial | Diversity in the [...]

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Posted: December 14, 2007, 8:42pm EST

Week in review: Theme II = schools

CLASS(ROOM) WARFARE: NOW WE'LL SEE IF HARRISBURG IS SERIOUS ABOUT EDUCATION Deborah Leavy | How to help in the classroom Bringing Ethics Reform to the School District 37 finalists for CEO of city schools Extension OK'd for red-light plan but Senate nixes school $ Also, Red-light cameras in; school $ out and Why do things stay [...]

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Posted: December 14, 2007, 8:35pm EST

Week in review: Theme I = casinos

Shoot! I just deleted my Tuesday bookmarks. I suspect that that will leave some of my themes incompletely explored...Pa. high court allows probe of casino owner: A grand jury can continue to investigate if Louis A. DeNaples lied to get a slots license, it ruled. Also, Court: DeNaples probe can go [...]

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Posted: December 14, 2007, 8:28pm EST

Week in review -- nonthematic bits

Monday: Black majority in city, but lead lesser lives: Panel discusses fallout of 'Equality Index' and also As black middle class rises, black underclass falls and from the Weekly, A Black-and-White Issue: A new report identifies dramatic racial inequalities in Philadelphia. Progressives a-blog about Nutter-Brady and Nutter answer questions about party reform. Sort [...]

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Posted: December 14, 2007, 7:58pm EST

Lightning round

Here are some highlights from last week. It appears that I'm in a period without time for daily roundups...Monday: John Baer | The 'New Vince' tastes suspiciously refreshing Tuesday: Blackwell out; Tasco new Council majority leader and also Blackwell drops leadership post Wednesday: Rendell playing tough with insurance -- might some new [...]

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Posted: December 11, 2007, 8:10pm EST

Other Friday headlines

Nutter brings former DA's to bear on oversight of city functioning Nutter puts ethics team in place Nutter taps trio to be his ethics sentinels Opinion: 3 BRIGHT SPOTS YPP: Ever Heard of the Inspector General's Office? -- is a bad or a natural thing that powerhouse Seth Williams is being replaced? (Williams' own [...]

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Posted: November 30, 2007, 7:26pm EST

Friday's two top stories

Just to me:Blackwell gets out of way of Youth Study Center, scores perks along the way: West Phila. to get Youth Study CenterA $12 million community center in West Philadelphia will clear the way for a permanent home for the city's youth detention facility nearby and remove a looming obstacle from [...]

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Posted: November 30, 2007, 7:19pm EST

Thursday headlines

State: No more polls, says GOP in Pa. Senate It's a new generation of retirement homes Possible Amtrak strike is delayed Pa. proposals on public records advance City Nutter transition reaches to non-politicos and Nutter selects leaders for his transition team Oh asks D.A. to probe ballots from vets home Rally: City schools need $1 billion: Nutter joins call [...]

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Posted: November 30, 2007, 6:58pm EST

Wednesday -- hmmm, what happened to Wednesday?

Nutter chooses chief of staff: Clarence D. Armbrister, a Temple executive, was Phila.'s treasurer. He drew praise, though he isn't a political insider. Also, Nutter's new top aide no stranger SugarHouse gets a license to build And, City allows SugarHouse to build over river Dropout program's big 1st year: More than $10 million was [...]

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Posted: November 30, 2007, 6:30pm EST

Tuesday gleanings

Parents appeal to PPA, in vain Parking agency rebuffs schools plea: Parents seeking a share in Phila. Parking Authority profits were told most of the money is already earmarked. (what about the ballooning staff?) Parents visit PPA seeking school $ Opinion: PARENTS CHALLENGE PPA: THEY SPEAK TO A HIGHER AUTHORITY: EDUCATION No Lollapalooza for [...]

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Posted: November 28, 2007, 7:00pm EST

Not dead yet! Monday gleanings

Have been bookmarking the news, but apparently lacking the energy (between home obligations and an overheated cubicle) to blog. Hope that will settle out soon. Meantime, will wrap up the first half of this week by reducing each day to a handful of most interesting stories.City GOP benefits from Parking [...]

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