Archive: February, 2012

The Bell Curve: CP's Quality-O-Life-O-Meter for Jan. 2

POSTED: Thursday, February 2, 2012, 11:10 AM

[-2] Two workers are injured in a flash fire at a Delaware County chocolate factory. “Oompa loompa doopity dee. I think these burns are second degree.”

[+2] A UPenn project will use crowdsourcing to map out the locations of the 5,000 automated external defibrillators scattered around the city. If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s Philadelphians in groups.

Posted by Samantha Melamed @ 11:10 AM Permalink | Post a comment

Gov. Corbett backtracks on food stamp crackdown amidst outcry

POSTED: Wednesday, February 1, 2012, 4:44 PM

Filed Under: News

Gov. Tom Corbett's administration today announced that he will limit the proposed exclusion of people from Pennsylvania's food stamp program after weathering harsh criticism from anti-hunger advocates, business owners, and local and federal officials.

Under new rules, people with assets in excess of $5,500 (and $9,000 for the disabled and elderly) will be excluded from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)―up from the initial proposed asset limit of $2,000 ($3,250 for the elderly). This excludes homes and first cars, but includes most savings.

While fewer recipients will be kicked off food stamps under the new proposal, advocates still question why the Corbett administration is spending the manpower to review nearly one million cases at a time when they have severely cut funding to the Department of Public Welfare (DPW)―and when its caseload has increased by more than 40 percent thanks to the recession.

Posted by Daniel Denvir @ 4:44 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Hall Monitor’s City Council preview: Land Banks, zero tolerance school policies, neighborhoods keeping taxes for themselves; Harrisburg “anti-Sharia” laws that don’t mention Sharia; and more!

POSTED: Wednesday, February 1, 2012, 4:03 PM

Filed Under: Hall Monitor | News

(Feeling Councilmanic? Follow Hall Monitor Isaiah Thompson on Twitter)

Philadelphia City Council’s 2012 session's just gotten rolling, but it’s already looking interesting. Over the next few weeks, Hall Monitor will keep you posted as the issues confronting this year’s Council take shape.

Probably the biggest news for tomorrow is that Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez and Councilman Bill Green plan to introduce a bill, long in the works, that would create a “land bank” — an entity that would hold and be able to distribute vacant land. This bill comes as the city administration’s task force on vacant land distribution still hasn’t produced a proposal for a “front door” system for the private acquisition of vacant land — after about a year and counting since they said they would.

Click for more. »

Posted by Isaiah Thompson @ 4:03 PM Permalink | Post a comment

"Noncontroversial" sure has an interesting meaning in Harrisburg these days

POSTED: Wednesday, February 1, 2012, 3:16 PM

First, Pennsylvania's House passed a noncontroversial resolution declaring 2012 "The Year of the Bible," (whatever that means). It was noncontroversial, perhaps, because no one wanted to be the guy who voted against God come re-election season.

Now, we have a new noncontroversial resolution introduced in the House: a declaration of support for and a request for federal funding of the Delaware River Main Channel Deepening — the same dredging project that has elicited lawsuits, Government Accountability Office audits and interstate disputes. Just yesterday, the National Marine Fisheries Service declared the project a direct threat to the Atlantic sturgeon, which was just added to the endangered species list. Also, even if you don't give a crap about sturgeon, a recent economic analysis suggests that the project won't really offer much in the way of economic benefit in our region.

So, noncontroversial seems like … maybe not quite the right word for it.

Posted by Samantha Melamed @ 3:16 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Pennsylvania man, ravaged by fracking side-effects, takes own life

POSTED: Wednesday, February 1, 2012, 11:48 AM

At 46, Carl Stiles suffered from memory loss, tremors and severe headaches even after fleeing his home, where fracking had contaminated the water. He took his own life last Thursday, and his widow believes the shale gas companies drilling near the Stiles' home in Sugar Run, Bradford County, are to blame.

Iris Marie Bloom of Protecting Our Waters, an anti-fracking advocacy group, spoke with Stiles' widow, Judy: "Carl was in so much pain. He had severe headaches, memory loss, and tremors; he was shaking. He went from medicine to medicine and nothing helped," Judy Stiles said. "People call us stupid because we drank the water. But we didn’t get replacement water [from the gas company] until October 2010… You still have to shower, wash dishes… You can’t live without water.”

Posted by Samantha Melamed @ 11:48 AM Permalink | Post a comment

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Second-class citizens to second-class shooting victims.
Massive student walkout shuts down North Broad Street
PHILAPHILIA Empty Lot of the Week: Hidden shitty grass lot
Chip Fattah's legal fund started amid apparently lavish spending
March to Harrisburg demands budget for people not prisons
Goldtex takes 'sex sells' to icky new heights
Media leaves Philly after Gosnell sentence. Poverty remains.
Philly Mag cover: Whites should criticize blacks
Pew report highlights three things you should know about AVI
Philly politicians receive generous gifts — but did they disclose it all?

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Here at The Naked City, you'll find breaking news, analysis, gossip and surprises about everything from crime and politics to the beating pulse of city life itself. We're good listeners, too:

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