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It's beginning to dawn on more of us that Philadelphia's school system could truly suffer a meltdown in the coming months -- fail to make payroll, fail to open schools in September, maybe see a federal judge take control of the More »
 
The three Democratic candidates for city controller in Philadelphia spent close to $1 million communicating with voters over the past few months. But I've encountered smart, socially aware people who, as recently as yesterday More »
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
 
Apple thinks not-so-differently from the rest of America's big corporations. It behaves like Westinghouse and the rest, whose armies of lawyers  minimize their tax bills.  Apple is just better at it.  The More »
Monday, May 20, 2013
 
The Republicans have been tormenting Obama for his entire presidency.  Now, equipped with what they imagine are dry twigs, wood chips, branches and limbs which they can ignite to destroy his presidency, they wonder why the More »
 
  How is it possible that a small city situated smack in the middle of Oklahoma's tornado alley, a community that had already been devastated by a tornado in 1999, does not require its schools and citizens to have More »
 
"Big government" is a convenient conservative bogeyman - until tragedy strikes.  But now, with death and devastation in their own backyard, here's Tom Coburn: "As the ranking member of the committee that oversees FEMA, I More »
 
The estimated 1,000 high-school students who marched Broad Street to protest School District budget cuts on Friday were not just visible. They were loud, rambunctious and utterly unmoved by the politics of the moment. More »
Sunday, May 12, 2013
 
I celebrated Mother's Day as I do every year — by celebrating the women who shaped me. More »
 
Someone asked me if I've seen the current local production of "Lend Me a Tenor," and I burst out laughing. That pretty much sums up the whole affair. The rest of the laughter you may hear is coming directly from Ambler, where More »
 
The women of ancient Athens are feeling repressed. They have equal rights, they even have the vote, but now the all-male Senate is trying to control their bodies with a "no womb left behind" act. More »
 
Gabrielle White was not surprised to find that a garden had suddenly appeared in a vacant lot on Broad Street opposite the Kimmel Center. More »
 
North of Philadelphia, in Bensalem, there is a mile-long dirt track, established in 1974. Then it was called the Keystone Racetrack. Now it is known as Parx Casino and Racing, on 417 acres, with 1,400 stalls More »
 
Let's try to do something that Washington has a hard time doing once a whiff of scandal is in the air. Let's keep our bearings. Let's survey all the moving parts of an issue. More »
 
If they ever make hypocrisy an Olympic sport, I think Philadelphia City Council has a real shot at the gold. More »
Thursday, May 23, 2013
 
Temple University hosted its annual Neighborhood Job Fair on Thursday, May 23. Over 65 employers participated, including many federal, state, and city agencies, along with many private companies including CBS Radio, More »
 
If an advertising agency gets money from clients to produce television ads touting the clients' products, the advertising agency has income on which income taxes must be paid. But if the advertising agency is a non-profit More »
 
"Why should young people vote in local primary elections?" Public education, climate change, civil rights, the justice system, taxes, services. Primaries are where most of the actual decisions in this city get made. "Why didn't More »
 
The Philadelphia district attorney has been criticized for its spending, yet Seth Williams himself has testified that his office was one of the most underfunded in the country. How much is actually budgeted to More »
 
Some are baffled and others saddened by the fact that humans put footprints on the moon more than 40 years ago and have not ventured a fraction of that distance from home since. Have we lost our spirit of exploration? More »
 
Shock and outrage were bound to follow when the famous biologist-writer E.O. Wilson proclaimed that many scientists are at best "semiliterate" in math. When this heresy appeared in an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal, More »
 
Using technology to make cities better. That's the theme of the 2013 Mayors' Innovation Summit. It's the work of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, of which Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter is current president. More »
 
More people seem to be ditching office chairs in favor of standing desks. A recent article in the New Yorker even tackled the trend of treadmill desks. A mounting body of research suggests that sitting is bad for you — More »
 
Celebrate books with wonderful events and author meet and greets from The Big Blue Marble Bookstore, and this year, a partnership with the Color Book Gallery. Lots of fabulous activities for your little bibliophiles!   More »
Friday, May 24, 2013
 
Gardeners wonder about those wads of what looks like brown styrofoam that you notice attached to stems and branches, usually once the leaves fall in autumn. They stick there all winter until the first unseasonably hot weather, More »
Friday, May 17, 2013
 
It's been a lovely spring; the dogwood and azalea flowers held on longer than usual so there hasn't been the typical fifteen minute intermission between the first and second acts in the garden. Now the iris are blooming, the More »
 
Top Stories
Ocean City, N.J. businesses regroup, reopen, reach out
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May 24 - Tom MacDonald @tmacdonaldWHYY

For businesses in Ocean City and other Jersey Shore towns that were spared the worst of Superstorm Sandy, the challenge leading into the summer season has been more than renovating or rebuilding.  More »

Island Beach State Park species try to rebound post-Sandy
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May 24 - Mary Cummings-Jordan @mcjwhyy

While the impact of Superstorm Sandy on human life has been glaringly visible, less apparent is how the storm has affected wildlife. Researchers and college students have been walking through Island Beach State Park looking More »

Boy Scouts approve plan to accept openly gay boys
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May 24 - David Crary for the Associated Press

After lengthy and wrenching debate, local leaders of theBoy Scouts of America have voted to open their ranks to openly gay boys for the first time, but heated reactions from the left and right made clear that the BSA's More »

Shapiro on Theater
Review: 'Lend Me a Tenor' but give me a romp
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May 24 - Howard Shapiro, @howardshapiro