Sugerhouse Casino reaches deal with two groups to fund neighborhood improvements projects but local opposition remains.

City budget cuts to hit Mural Arts program by a whooping $500,000 reduction

Camden’s Safe Surrender program a huge success

Stabbing victim becomes Philadelphia’s 300 murder in 2008.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter speaking in a taped interview at WHYY says the public shouldn’t just focus on what goes on inside a particular library branch. Nutter, who has proposed closing 11 library branches to help solve a projected budget gap, says many of the services from the branches can and will be provided in [...]

One of the things I’ve always liked about Radio Times was having on newspaper reporters to put into context all of the stories they’ve been writing on a particular subject.
So I love Philly.com’s latest video series on city hall news. They are calling it City Hall Press Room which features both Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily [...]

Phila City Council OK’s some of  mayor’s budget cuttimg measures
Elmer Smith describes how why power broker Carol Ann Campbell was so influential
WHYY hires Chris Satullo to oversee TV, Radio, Web News operations
Need gift ideas for the holidays: Download Fumo’s wishlist

The Mayor’s office has announced the passing of Carol Ann Campbell, who was a major power broker in Philadelphia politics. She wielded tremendous influence as a ward leader and secretary of Philadelphia’s Democratic Party.
She was appointed to the fourth district city council seat in 2006 but lost her primary election battle in 2007 to Curtis [...]

Here we go again, records show cop killer should have been jail
Former NJ State Senator Wayne Bryant found guilty on corruption charges
Montgomery County Republican Committee scolds James Mathews for not being republican enough
Former Phila Mayor John Street scheduled for rare public appearance (bring your cameras)
Senator Hillary Clinton to eulogize Lt. Gov Catherine Baker Knoll Friday
Save [...]

Guest commentary
By Ed Pettit
If you haven’t heard, Philadelphia and Baltimore have been locked in battle over the literary legacy of Edgar Allan Poe. Well, maybe it’s just me who has been locked in a battle, but there
has been a lot of media attention. Most recently, the NY Times ran a piece about the [...]

By Tom Ferrick
The weirdest thing about the debate over the budget cuts proposed by Mayor Nutter is not what is being talked about, but what is not.
The public debate is all about closing libraries and reducing the number of fire trucks.
There is no talk - zero, zilch, nada - about what may turn out to [...]

Templeton Foundation in West Conshohocken awarded National Humanities Medal
Phila Mayor to hold 8 town hall meetings to discuss budget cuts
City tries to explains logic of budget cut selection
Friends of Library plans donor summit to save libraries
City of Camden starts Safe Surrender program

Guest commentary by Ed Schwartz

In mid-October I delivered  testimony at a City Council hearing prior to Barack Obama’s election on November 4th urging that the Mayor hold back on budget cuts until after the election and then assess what additional support we might receive from the federal government to ease our fiscal crisis.  Everything I [...]

It’s Our Money’s Ben Waxman put together a helpful chart outlining exactly how Mayor Nutter’s many goals have been affected by the current budget shortfall.  Unfortunately, it looks like depending on changes to the pension fund to “improve fiscal health” seems to have been pretty short sighted and in desperate need of a plan B.  [...]