PHL Gets Al-Qaeda Coverage
Budget Talk. Mayor Nutter is going forward with presenting his $4 billion city budget tomorrow to City Council, though no one knows what will happen once Corbett takes an ax to the state budget or how things will be affected by the school district’s more than $400 million deficit. Good news: Funding is in place to open all pools this summer! [Inquirer] Bad news: Federal cuts might mean a loss of $149 million to the city, in which case we can say goodbye to the redesign of Dilworth Plaza. [Business Journal] With rather good timing, this New York Times article from yesterday had a look back at Rendell vs. city unions in the early ’90s.
Al-Qaeda Covers Philly. A photo of the search of a UPS cargo plane at PHL last October is the cover shot on a recent issue of “Inspire,” al-Qaeda’s magazine. The inside story tells readers that the whole plot cost less than $4,200. The Scoop assumes “Inspire” borrows heavily from ReadyMade. U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah and Sen. Bob Casey seem to disagree about how much this should bother us (the cover shot, not the ripping off ReadyMade thing). [Inquirer]
Teacher Layoffs. Impending job cuts are stressing out Philadelphia teachers, including one “teacher of the year” in West Philly who is peacing out because of all the turmoil. Way to retain talent, Arlene. [Newsworks]
Death Penalty for Kermit Gosnell? D.A. Seth Williams plans to file notice today that he’s considering the option. [NBC 10, Inquirer]
Ramsey Blames Daily News. Charles Ramsey says that a DN story ruined his chances of prosecuting now-fired narcotics cop Joseph Sulpizio. [Daily News]
Priest to Catholic Church: It’s On. Jim St. George, the priest fired from his Chestnut Hill College teaching job for being gay, is running newspaper ads promoting his Blue Bell St. Miriam’s Church (which is “Old Catholic Apostolic”) with lines such as “Our church has never had a sex abuse scandal.” [Fox 29]