Brian Tierney, chief executive officer of Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C., said today that the company would sell the Inquirer Building*, which also houses the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com, and downtown property to reduce debt and reinvest into the company’s media businesses. The company will offer the 18-story building for sale to real estate developers in an offering memorandum mailed nationwide in September. The company also is soliciting in the memorandum ideas for where to put the 950 journalists, ad people, executives, computer technicians, clerks and others who now work in the building, company officials said. The property entails the […]
NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For Your Eyeballs
LABAN UNMASKED AND UN-ANONYMOUS, AGAIN Larry Platt on the unmasking of Craig LaBan and why his mag is running his photo in the September issue: In his editor’s letter, Philadelphia magazine’s Larry Platt writes that LaBan’s photo has already appeared in the Chestnut Hill Local and Ted Beitchman‘s Real Philly magazine. Platt says Philly mag has always protected LaBan’s identity, but “this whole debate of his anonymity just smacks of so much self-importance. Listen, the guy eats meals and writes about them. He’s not Valerie Plame, okay?” [via Gross] * BLOG WARS, THOSE CRAZY BLOG WARS From Attytood, the latest […]
HOLLA: Once Upon A Time, I WAS Superbad
BY JAMES ‘WOOK’ DOOLITTLE During the monotony that was my youth, the Granite Run Mall was a weekly destination of choice for the geeks I hung with, due in large part to the proximity of the new AMC multiplex (8 screens!), the mall’s two arcades, and the fact that there was — by popular misconception — a school of thought that the girls of western Delaware County were a notch or two above the girls of eastern Delaware County in the looks department. Not that we ever progressed past gawking at members of the opposite sex. We were, after all, […]
BREAKING: Michael Vick Pleads Guilty
RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 20 — Michael Vick, the star quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons, has accepted a plea offer from federal prosecutors in a criminal case stemming from a dog-fighting ring that was run from a property Mr. Vick owned. Michael Vick’s plea deal likely calls for prosecutors to recommend a lighter sentence as long as Vick cooperates with the government’s investigation. Mr. Vick will probably face a sentence of at least a year in prison under the deal. His future in the National Football League appears bleak. [NEW YORK TIMES]
EXCLUSIVE: Terry Gross To Guest On The Simpsons
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TODAY I SAW…
BY JEFF DEENEY “Today I saw…” is a series of nonfiction shorts based on my experiences as a caseworker serving formerly homeless families now living in North and West Philadelphia. I decided not long after starting the job that I was seeing so many fascinating and disturbing things in the city’s poorest neighborhoods that I needed to start cataloging them. I hope this bi-weekly column serves as a record of a side of the city that many Philadelphians don’t come in contact with on a daily basis. I want to capture moments not frequently covered by the local media, which […]
SHOWDOWN: The People vs. Vincent Fumo
BY DAVE DAVIES/DAILY NEWS It’s official: State Sen. Vince Fumo won’t get a pass next year. Anti-casino community activist Anne Dicker has posted a Web site announcing plans to run against Fumo next April, promising a “break from the old idea of self service over public service.” Fumo is scheduled to stand trial in February on a 139-count federal corruption indictment. “It’s absolutely ridiculous Vince Fumo is still in office — he should resign,” Dicker said in a telephone interview yesterday. “I’ll let a jury decide his guilt or innocence, but his actions have brought a great deal of shame […]
GAMBLOR: Ex-Flyer Turned Bookie Sentenced
As expected, former Philadelphia Flyers hockey player Rick Tocchet was sentenced Friday to two years’ probation for his involvement in an illegal gambling operation. Tocchet, 43, who now lives in Phoenix, Ariz., pleaded guilty three months ago to counts of promoting gambling and conspiracy (see related story). Tocchet is on an indefinite leave from his position as assistant coach of the Phoenix Coyotes. Tocchet admitted he was part of an illegal sports betting ring between September 2002 and February 2006. The ring, based in the South Jersey and Philadelphia areas, took in millions of dollars in bets from all over […]
KILLADELPHIA: 3 More Dead Since U Went To Bed
BY PETER MUCHA/INQUIRER As midnight approached last night, a period of violence started scattering across the city, leaving three men dead and four others wounded, police said.This year’s murder toll now stands at 262. Shortly after 11:30 p.m., a 21-year-old was shot at least twice in the 1900 block of South Salford Street. Jeffrey Parks was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was pronounced dead a few minutes before midnight, according to Officer Raul Malveiro. At 11:46 p.m., police found a stabbing victim outside in the 800 block of East Willard Street. The 29-year-old, who […]
KILLADELPHIA: The Kindness Of Strangers
BY STEPHANIE FARR/DAILY NEWS In her cramped basement, standing at a workbench lit by a single desk lamp, Lizz Brown stares at the picture of the boy who was slain for his dirt bike, the picture of the boy who didn’t get out of the way fast enough, the picture of the boy whose obituary was left blowing in the street. Then, she paints. Using only items from her local craft store, Brown, 57, of Northeast Philadelphia, has created more than 200 personalized memorial plaques for families of the city’s dead children. Brown buys unfinished, precut wood pieces from a […]
KILLADELPHIA: 5 Shootings, 3 Dead, 6 Maimed
INQUIRER: A series of shootings during a two-hour period this afternoon — at least four separate incidents in different neighborhoods in the city — left five people with sever wounds and two people dead. The first incident occurred about 4 p.m., when a 23-year-old man was found severely wounded in East Germantown. The fourth in the cluster happened shortly after 6 p.m., when a gunfight broke out among spectators attending a youth basketball game at a recreation center in North Philadelphia near Brewerytown. When that exchange was over, a 17-year-old boy was left dying of multiple shots to the torso; […]
THE EARLY WORD: A Phish Called Wanda?
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DAYS OF FUTURE PAST: William Gibson Overdrive
BY MAVIS LINNEMANN BOOK CRITIC William Gibson, acclaimed sci-fi author, noted futurist and coiner of the term “cyberspace,” will be the first to tell you that all his books have actually been about the present — the fact that they feel like the future only points out our chronic alienation from the moment we are in. You see, it’s our fault, not his. His new novel, Spook Country, is actually set in the recent past, 2006 to be exact, and focuses on the edgy exploits of rock star-turned- journalist Hollis Henry, who has been assigned to do a piece on […]