ON FRESH AIR Republican pollster Frank Luntz advises politicians on the language they should use to win elections and promote their policies. Although he works on one side of the aisle, he says that what he does is essentially non-partisan, seeking clarity and simplicity in language. His critics disagree, and have accused him of using language that misrepresents policies to “sell” them to the public. Frank Luntz is the author of Words that Work. RADIO TIMES Should Philadelphia eliminate its onerous business privilege tax? We’ll debate this with BRETT MANDEL, executive director of Philadelphia Forward, which calls for eliminating the […]
Freedom Of Information Act Forces Santa To Disclose NAUGHTY OR NICE List: Inky Prints The High Crimes And Misdemeanors Of Penn Teaching Faculty
Paul Mosher, former vice provost and director of libraries, admitted in 1993 2003 to having downloaded 5,000 pornographic images of children onto his computers. Malcolm Woodfield, an English professor, ended up resigning in 1994 after being charged with harassment for having sex with a female student. Donald Patrick Ford, a psychiatric resident at the medical school, was sentenced in 2001 to five to 10 years in prison for killing his girlfriend’s baby by spiking the child’s infant formula with cocaine. Tracy McIntosh, a preeminent brain-trauma researcher, was found guilty last year of sexually assaulting a graduate student who was the […]
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PULP FICTION: Local Noir Lit Geeks Celebrate Legacy Of Philadelphia’s Forgotten BARTON FINK
Though [David] Goodis enjoyed early success, he spent the last decades of his life in relative seclusion, living at his parents’ house in East Oak Lane, helping to care for Herbert, his schizophrenic brother. Since his death in early 1967, the author’s name and work have grown increasingly obscure. After his second novel, 1946’s Dark Passage, was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post, Goodis was given a lucrative contract as a scriptwriter by Warner Bros., and installed in William Faulkner’s former office in Hollywood. The 1947 film version, with Humphrey Bogart as a wanted fugitive hunting for his wife’s killer, […]
EARLY WORD: Holy Soul Jelly Roll
Ars Nova Workshop and Kelly Writers House welcomes writer John Szwed and pianist Dave Burrell in a public discussion that hopes to shed more light on the significance of pianist/composer Jelly Roll Morton and the stride continuum that paved the way for the jazz avant-garde. Thursday, January 11 | 6pm FROM JELLY ROLL MORTON TO THE JAZZ AVANT-GARDE with JOHN SZWED & DAVE BURRELL Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania | 3805 Locust Walk Free Admission
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OFFICE SPACE: 34 Ad Reps Given Pink Slips
NEW YORK Less than a week after about 70 newsroom employees were laid off at the Philadelphia Inquirer, at least 34 advertising positions – including 16 part-timers – are being cut today at Philadelphia Newspapers, which handles business operations for the Inquirer and Daily News.Henry Holcomb, president of the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia, said the affected employees were being informed Monday morning one by one, with union representatives sitting in on the meetings with management. “We have just gotten word and they are in the process of informing them now,” Holcomb said about the impacted employees, who are among […]
GAYBO: Zane Insane For 2007! Sal’s On 12th Goes Way Gay! Dreamgirls Is Gay All Day! Hooray For Gay!
BY TOMMY ZANE Weeks have just flown by and I’ve been oh, so silent. But that just means more chat to share with you, my pets! Ah, The Holidaze — finally over. Yeesh. No hospitalizations or friendships ended in a fury of expletives, thank Goddess. After listening to James Brown for nearly two hours, New Years Eve I was wasted on champagne and vodka — a deadly combination. Frolicking in a makeshift Stevie Nicks-style skirt, spinning in circles to the sounds of Fleetwood Mac’s “Gypsy” nearly made me barf. Other New Year’s hotspots: Robert Drake and company held court at […]
Penn Brainiac Charged With Bashing Wife’s Brains Out
Prosecutors, however, said his alibi didn’t hold up. Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor has said the scene was staged to look like a burglary. “Dr. Robb lied to the police about an obvious motive for this murder, his knowledge of his wife’s recent plans to divorce him and obtain a significant portion of his wealth,” according to an affidavit by Upper Merion police Detective David Gershanick. Robb was charged with first- and third-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime, tampering with evidence and lying to authorities. His wife, Ellen Robb, 49, had told relatives and others that she […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos on today’s Fresh Air.
NOW PLAYING: At The Philadelphia Museum Of Art
A few moments later, the doors opened, and visitors began to pour in – a woman with a cane, a woman in a wheelchair, a man with a cane, a young man with an earring, a mother with toddler – all focused intently on the huge painting. This was the moment, the culmination of an intense campaign to raise a record amount of money to keep this iconic painting in the city. There were so many people crowding in and pointing and looking that the gallery and the crowded hall outside were enveloped with a blockbuster aura. Hundreds streamed by […]
GUNCRAZY: Death Knocks On Door Of Oxford Circle Man, Described As Tall, Dark And Evil
(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA Police are searching for any clues after a 25-year-old man was shot to death while answering the door to his Oxford Circle home Sunday. Officials said Jamie “Jimmy” Fuentes was fatally shot while opening the front door of his home on the 1200 block of Alcott Street just before 10:30 a.m. The suspect fired four shots at the entrance to the home while Fuentes? young stepson was inside, police said. Fuentes was transported to Albert Einstein Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. […] Investigators are hoping fingerprints from Fuentes’ front door will lead to a suspect. […]
HIGHER COURT: Ex-Supreme Court Chief Justice Rehnquist Was Drug Addict, Suffered Hallucinations, Believed CIA Was Out To Get Him, According To FBI
Also detailed in the declassified file was Rehnquist’s 1981 hospital stay for treatment of back pain and his dependence on powerful prescription pain-relief medication. The FBI investigated his dependence on Placidyl, which Rehnquist had taken for at least 10 years, according to a summary of a 1970 medical examination. When Rehnquist checked into a hospital in 1981 for a weeklong stay, doctors stopped administering the drug, causing what a hospital spokesman at the time said was a “disturbance in mental clarity.” The FBI file, citing one of his physicians, said Rehnquist experienced withdrawal symptoms that included trying to escape the […]