FORBES: To determine which cities are most toxic, Forbes looked at the country’s 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas — geographic entities that the U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines and uses in collecting statistics — based on data provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We counted the number of facilities that reported releasing toxins into the environment, the total pounds of certain toxic chemicals released into the air, water and earth, the days per year that air pollution was above healthy levels, and the total number of Superfund sites — contaminated areas that the federal government has designated […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR As manager of President Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, David Plouffe stayed behind the scenes. Now, 10 months after Obama took office, Plouffe has written a memoir about the campaign, detailing the victory and the ways it changed the concept of campaigning. From the indecision surrounding Obama’s choice to run, to the Iowa caucus win, and through the final stages of the general election campaign against John McCain, Plouffe helped guide the campaign to a historic victory. His book offers an insider’s tale of a campaign that managed to harness — perhaps for the first time — the expansive […]
TONITE: Ryan’s Hope
[Illustration by JAY BEVENOUR] DAILY NEWS: The Most Valuable Player of the National League Championship Series is batting .158 in the World Series. He’s already struck out 12 times, a whiff-a-thon that has already tied the all-time record. So, Charlie Manuel, can your Phillies come back and win the World Series if Ryan Howard doesn’t find himself? “Yes, we can,” the manager said with conviction late yesterday afternoon at Yankees Stadium. Pause. “We can win it easier if he hits, though.” The Phillies trail the best-of-seven series, three games to two, despite getting little production from their cleanup hitter. And […]
SEPTA STRIKE: The R-5 Down In Flames
[Photo by PRISCILLA COLAN] INQUIRER: A fire broke out on a SEPTA R5 Paoli train packed with passengers in West Philadelphia this morning, adding to the transportation chaos triggered by the city mass transit workers’ strike. The smoky fire on the first car broke out about 7 a.m. and was contained within 40 minutes. Passengers evacuated safely and there were no reports of serious injuries. “I can tell you there is absolutely no indication it is strike related,” said SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri Williams. She said at the scene the fire was electrical in nature and started either in a heater […]
Italy Convicts 23 Americans In CIA ‘Rendition’ Trial
NEW YORK TIMES: MILAN — Twenty-three Americans, including a C.I.A. station chief, were convicted on Wednesday in a landmark case involving the seizure of a Muslim cleric from the streets of Milan more than six years ago. But three of the higher-ranking Americans defendants were given diplomatic immunity, as were the two highest-ranking Italian defendants. And while the C.I.A. station chief in Milan, Robert Seldon Lady, received an 8-year-term, and the other 22 Americans to 5 years each, all were tried in absentia and it is unlikely that any will serve. Still, the trial was an enormous symbolic victory for […]
1 STEP FORWARD 2 STEPS BACK: NJ Elects Karl Rove Stooge Guv; Philly Elects First Black District Attorney
INQUIRER: Christopher J. Christie, campaigning as an agent of change, overwhelmed a powerful Democratic advantage Tuesday to defeat Gov. Corzine and become New Jersey’s first Republican governor-elect in a dozen years. Portrayed by Corzine as a referendum on President Obama’s agenda, the campaign drew national scrutiny — and three visits from the president to support the incumbent. But Christie fought aggressively, campaigning in cities and other Democratic strongholds. Christie, 47, a former U.S. attorney from the North Jersey town of Mendham, turned back both Corzine and a vigorous campaign from independent Chris Daggett. Although New Jersey is a reliably blue […]
COMMERCE: An Apple Store Grows In Center City
PC WORLD: The Metro reports that on Wednesday, Apple will be presenting design plans for a proposed store at 1607 Walnut Street to the city Art Commission. An Apple Store will be a marked improvement for 1607 Walnut, especially since it is an empty storefront at the moment (flanked by an American Apparel and a hair salon called Bubbles Salon). This store would be the seventh Apple Store in Pennsylvania. Considering Apple’s trend of opening stores in upscale areas, Walnut Street fits the bill nicely. However, while the store might be amongst fellow upscale retailers like Tiffany & Co. and Burberry […]
ALBUM REVIEW: The Flaming Lips Embryonic
THE FLAMING LIPS Embryonic (Warner Bros.) The Flaming Lips are one of those bands you first heard about back in high school from the cooler kids who hung around in skinny jeans and wore Fugazi T-shirts. “You’ve gotta check em out man, it’s like Floyd but like… weirder.” You could never tell if they were telling you this to prove how much more music they knew about; or if it was more like a passing of the torch, a sacred gift from one generation of wouldbe hipsters to the next. Seeing as how I am currently in high school, take […]
Man Shot Himself In The Head At The Fire Sat. Nite
DAILY NEWS: A man who tried to commit suicide inside a Northern Liberties bar early Sunday remained on life support yesterday in critical condition, according to police. The 34-year-old man, whom police did not identify, shot himself about 1:45 a.m. at The Fire, the music venue inside the Philadelphia Bar and Grille, on Girard Avenue near 4th Street, police said. The bar, which has hosted such acts as My Chemical Romance, John Legend and Maroon 5, hosted five bands Halloween night into Sunday morning, including Cowmuddy, Hunter’s Cannon and iNFiNiEN, according to its Web site. It wasn’t immediately clear if […]
MUST SEE TV: The Animations Of Tobias Stretch
Tobias Stretch Reel I from Tobias Stretch on Vimeo. RELATED: TobyStretch.Com
DEENEY: Damning Facts Continue To Trickle Out
BY JEFF DEENEY The slow trickling out of information regarding the chain of events preceding the death of Charlenni Ferreira continues to reveal details that do not look good for DHS, or for the School District. New reports tell how the school nurse at Feltonville Intermediate urged Charlenni’s parents to take her to a doctor because she had a pronounced limp caused by the broken hip her abusive parents inflicted on her. Today’s Inquirer report, titled just that, “School nurse urged exam of Charlenni’s limp,” seems to imply that there was an effective attempt at advocacy on the child’s behalf […]
ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA: Charlie Dancin’
Charlie Shows His Dance Moves – watch more funny videos
SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO: Could Be Gone In 20 Years
NEW YORK TIMES: The ice atop Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania has continued to retreat rapidly, declining 26 percent since 2000, scientists say in a new report. Yet the authors of the study, to be published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reached no consensus on whether the melting could be attributed mainly to humanity’s role in warming the global climate. Eighty-five percent of the ice cover that was present in 1912 has vanished, the scientists said. To measure the recent pace of the retreat, researchers relied on data from aerial photographs taken of Kilimanjaro over time […]