PHILADELPHIA – Believe it, Philly. The Fightin’ Phils are going to the playoffs. Considered all-but-out of contention just 2 1/2 weeks ago, the Philadelphia Phillies overcame a huge deficit in the standings, caught the Mets and won their first NL East title since 1993 on the final day. [via ASSOCIATED PRESS]
PAPERBOY: On-Time Delivery Is Not Guaranteed
BY AMY Z. QUINN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right — these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. Hey, we know how it is — so many words to read, so little time to surf for free porn. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you, freeing up […]
Back On The Block: Speaking Up For Hurley Street
Jeff Deeney’s recent Philadelphia Weekly cover story on Hurley Street has provided a fulcrum upon which several important and constructive conversations about the city’s future — and more urgently, its present — are tilting back and forth. Was it a realistic portrayal of the desperate straits in which poor families are forced to live, or a hatchet job on a section of the city which can still lay claim to many safe and stable residential blocks? Is it more important for the city’s next mayor to understand the problems or to solve them? Is it too little to simply expect […]
You Might Feel Some Pressure: City’s Official Boob-Crusher FOUND! ‘Girls’ Breathe Sigh Of Relief
Caught this earlier today on Heard In The Hall: The “out of control” Philadelphia Health Department lost a $67,000 mammogram machine, does not keep track of its prescription drug deliveries, and fails to remove expired drugs from its prescription stocks, City Controller Alan Butkovitz said Tuesday morning in releasing an audit of the beleaguered agency. Read the report here. But fret not, uninsured Philly women at risk of breast cancer! Your crack civil servants (the breast and brightest?) are on the case and the machine has been found! Jeff Shields updates: In order to avoid widespread panic, we inform you […]
EARLY WORD: In One Ear And Out The Other
Fujiya & Miyagi TOMORROW at JB’s, w/Dirty On Purpose $12. R5
Tough Boys Running The Street, Taking Bullets
Within the space of a few hours in West Philly yesterday, a rookie cop barely old enough to drink was shot in the face yet chased the suspect on foot for blocks, and an 18-month old boy at the playground with his Dad took two bullets meant for another man. Officer Richard Decoatsworth, 21, was seriously wounded by a close-range shotgun blast after he approached a motorist who was driving a battered blue Buick suspiciously at 9:05 a.m. in West Philadelphia, Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said. . . . After he was shot on North Farson Street near Market Street, […]
KILLADELPHIA: 2 DEAD SINCE U SAID ‘ADIOS’
Early yesterday morning, a North Philadelphia man died after being shot multiple times near Eighth and Somerset Streets. Brian Harvin, 27, lived in the 2800 block of North Darien Street. He was shot about 1:45 a.m. and pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital about a half-hour later. Early Saturday morning, a man died after being shot after being shot in the head on the the 200 block of Ramsey Street in West Philadelphia. Nalin Tilghman, 29, lived in the 5800 block of Cedarhurst Avenue, also in West Philadelphia. The shooting happened shortly after 2 a.m., and Tilghman was pronounced dead […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
IN THE PINES: Brett Sparks of Handsome Family, World Cafe Live, Last Night BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER If Edgar Allan Poe had an alt-country band, it would sound a lot like the Handsome Family: Stark, forlorn, and plumbing the tawdry depths of the dark night of the soul with a verbal acuity far beyond most mortal men. Nevermind that the lyrics are written by Rennie Sparks, Handsome Family bassist/banjoist and wife of Handsome Family singer/guitarist Brett Sparks, who lends Rennie’s darkside narratives a Mount Rushmore gravitas with his deep, resonant baritone. Uncommonly good lyrics is what separates Handsome […]
HOT DOCUMENT: Virginia Tech Redux
September 21, 2007 TIMELY WARNING NOTIFICATION Sept. 21, 2007 (5:10 a.m.) Classes Canceled due to Shooting on Campus (update) Classes on the Dover campus of Delaware State University have been canceled for Friday, Sept. 21 in the wake of an early morning shooting at the institution that has left two students wounded and a suspect at large. All non-essential personnel are directed not to report to work on this day. The primary priorities of the University at the point are the safety of the residential student population and the DSU Police investigation of the shooting. DSU Police Department with the […]
PAPERBOY: It’s The Deeney, Stupid!
BY AMY Z. QUINN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right — these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. Hey, we know how it is — so many words to read, so little time to surf for free porn. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you, freeing up […]
iMAYOR: Hooray! I Added Five More Cops!
When Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson announced with fanfare last week that state police would be patrolling high-crime neighborhoods to help control growing gun violence, officials declined — citing strategic reasons — to say how many troopers would be involved. Yesterday, Mayor Street let it slip. The number, he said, is five. Street, in unsolicited comments, mentioned the number of troopers working with city police while he was attending a city-sponsored job fair that drew 2,000 people to the Liacouras Center in North Philadelphia yesterday morning. He complained that the news media do not cover such events, but gave significant […]