Economy Troubles
Meet Krokodil, the Dangerous New Drug Narcotics Officers Really Hope Doesn’t Make it to Philadelphia
These days, it’ll cost you anywhere from $10 to $50 to get high off of Oxycontin, depending on the size of the pill and the […]
Have Americans Become Too Comfortable Receiving Government Assistance?
The great fish moved silently through the water, and into immortality. Without question, Jaws was a classic, filled with memorable lines. But the one that […]
Liberals: Wrong on Community Service Mandate for Long-Term Jobless
The day before Congress sent tens of thousands of U.S. government workers into a state of involuntary joblessness, conservatives in the United Kingdom unveiled […]
The Truth About SEPTA’s Doomsday Scenario
Three weeks ago, SEPTA General Manager Joseph Casey went to Harrisburg and laid out what’s become known as the “doomsday scenario” before the state Senate […]
Philadelphia’s Economy Is Growing Exactly as Slowly as You Think It Is
A chart from The Atlantic: Philadelphia Business Journal puts it in perspective: Between 2009 and 2012, Philadelphia’s GDP grew by 9.4 percent, ranking 9th out […]
Can the Port of Philadelphia Remain Relevant?
Port officials in cities up and down the East Coast are scrambling to grab a piece of what’s projected to be a surge in maritime […]
Poverty Up in Pennsylvania, Down in Philadelphia
First, the kind of bad news: “The Census Bureau reported Tuesday that almost 1.8 million people in Pennsylvania, or 13.9 percent, were living in poverty […]
Economist: The Rich Stay Rich, the Middle Class Get Thriftier
Silly me. My career went into a ditch at the start of the Great Recession when I traded a good job and a comfortable income […]
Al Sharpton Says Tom Corbett Has Money for Jails, But Not Schools
Reverend Al Sharpton threw his hat into the Philly schools’ budget crisis ring over the weekend, saying that Gov. Corbett is willing to supply cash […]
Up to 8 in 10 Welfare Applicants Denied Assistance in Pennsylvania
As we begin to climb out of the Great Recession, rules for getting on cash welfare are getting tighter, and more people are getting denied. […]
Schoolmageddon ’13: Masterman and Central Lose Their Libraries
The brunt of Philadelphia’s schools crisis–think shuttered schools in low-income neighborhoods–has fallen on the less celebrated of Philadelphia’s traditional public schools. But the ongoing funding […]
Miss America Can’t Save Atlantic City
Wrapped in brown construction paper in my office are two Miss America composites that I bought last year from an antique store in Cape May. […]
Delco Teen Donates 500 Backpacks, School Supplies to Philly Students
Let it be known that there is good in Delaware County, no matter what anybody else says. Just ask Jillian Hughes, 15, a Radnor High […]
Holiday Weekends Create Trash Dilemma for Philly Renters
I’m just one person, living solo in Germantown on one floor of a three-story rowhouse. And since I live in a house with only three […]
Schoolmageddon ’13: Where Have All the Crossing Guards Gone?
With Philly’s students back in school as of yesterday, we all expected staff, material and program shortages thanks to the massive budget deficit the Philadelphia […]