BRIDGES OVER TROUBLED WATER: Rendell Lists 1,100 PA Bridges That Are Not Safe At Any Speed

INQUIRER: Gov. Rendell is expected today to call for repairs on hundreds of aging bridges statewide – including many in the Philadelphia area. Rendell will also list more than 1,100 bridges that are structurally deficient at an 11 a.m. press conference in Harrisburg. The bridge repair program would require legislative approval. Last year, the legislature approved a transportation funding bill to provide about $530 million for Pennsylvania bridges and roads. The state Department of Transportation last year found 6,000 structurally deficient bridges statewide. Of those, 60 heavily traveled bridges were in the Philadelphia region and rated as bad as, or […]

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HEAR YE: Clinic Memories

Now playing on Phawker Radio! Well, TURN IT UP! BY ED KING ROCK SNOB An appealing sense of revenge and antisocial impulses run through the music of Clinic, the surgical masked quartet from Liverpool that’s been making pretty much the same passively sinister album since their first long-player in 1999. On Do It! the band does it again, and why not? Every psychological horror movie is worth a sequel or four. Do fans of The Omen series bother complaining that the third installment was not as good as the first one? I think not. Such films work within a narrow […]

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MEOW MIX: Hugs, Uggs, Juggs & Greed

Droll, ironic question: Does this picture of Jennifer Aniston in Philly (we assume for the Middlebrow & M shoot) count as distasteful paparazzi dreck? No, for many reasons, but nobody’s about to waste your time waxing all smug-like on the deep, reasoned and ultimately, understandable only to myself thought process I used to decide…DEVELOPING… I will, however, acknowledge being unsurprised at the speed with which Aniston embraced the city’s native dress code of pajama bottoms and out-of-style footwear. (Dude. Those things look new. ) All she needs is a Kathy Van Zeeland handbag and no car insurance and bam! she’s […]

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NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006

FRESH AIR In 1964, Democrat Lyndon Johnson won the presidency in a landslide victory; eight years later, Republican president Richard Nixon was reelected in an equally lopsided race. In his new book, Nixonland, historian Rick Perlstein looks at the chaotic years between those elections, a time marked by protests, social upheaval, assassinations and an unpopular war. Perlstein is a senior fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future, where he writes the blog The Big Con. He has written for The New Republic Online, Slate, the Village Voice, Newsday and The Nation. Richard Nixon: Speeches, Writings, Documents, a Nixoniana collection compiled […]

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CONTEST: Question The Parking Authority

While the majority of the money the Philadelphia Parking Authority collects from parking tickets and fines goes directly to Harrisburg’s coffers, a set percentage is earmarked for the cash-strapped Philadelphia School District. However, according to reports in the Daily News and Inquirer, the PPA has not paid the school district a dime since 2004, and is in fact in arrears to the tune of $20 million to $45 million depending on who you ask. There is a word for organisms like the PPA that are all take and no give: Parasite. Dictionary.com defines ‘parasite’ as the following: par·a·site /?pær??sa?t/ Pronunciation […]

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THE BEATDOWN: Same As It Never Was?

INQUIRER: In 1977, Philadelphia police pounded unarmed motorist William Cradle so hard that their nightsticks snapped. Frank L. Rizzo, then the mayor, remarked: “It’s very easy to break some of those nightsticks nowadays.” In 2000, nearly a quarter-century later, a group of Philadelphia police swarmed over carjacking suspect Thomas Jones, hitting him at least 59 times. It took police brass more than two years to penalize the officers. The most serious sanctions: 15-day suspensions. Given this history, the swift and harsh punishments of eight officers Monday by Philadelphia’s new police commissioner look even more unusual. What is less clear is […]

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THE BEATDOWN: D.A. To Turn It Over To Grand Jury

INQUIRER: District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham said today that the cases of the officers videotaped beating three shooting suspects would likely be handed over to a grand jury soon. At a press conference called to announce an alternative treatment program, Abraham said: “I’ve pretty much decided that we will turn it over to a grand jury….We’re going to give it to a grand jury to review the evidence.” She added: “It will be given to a group of citizens with a diverse background to reach a conclusion.”    

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THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW: 11th & Tioga

[Photos by JUSTIN ROMAN] BY JEFF DEENEY Near the corner off 11th and Tioga is a memorial set up around the base of stop sign for Tim Haines, aka Boosa, a 24 year old who was gunned down here one early Saturday morning late last month during a violent weekend that left five dead citywide. This is a neighborhood I know fairly well; as a social worker I had a client who lived nearby and longtime readers might remember that around this time last year I got caught in the middle of a daytime shoot out around the corner on […]

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KILLADELPHA: Mayor Nutter Vs. The Gun Nuts

INQUIRER: New city laws to control the number of guns sold in Philadelphia is meant to stop the illegal flow of guns to criminals and not meant to stop legal sales, Mayor Nutter emphasized in a morning press conference. The conference was scheduled hours before city officials return to court this afternoon battling whether the city can independently pass legislation to limit gun sales here. The mayor has already signed legislation backed by City Council. The National Rifle Association, along with others, including gun dealers, has filed a civil lawsuit to block the laws. With Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey […]

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