NEWS
June 13, 2013 | BY WILLIAM BENDER, Daily News Staff Writer benderw@phillynews.com, 215-854-5255
IN BETWEEN compiling a sizable rap sheet and murdering the mother of his 6-year-old daughter last weekend, Anthony Serody got appointed this year to the commission that oversees the testing of new police officers in Folcroft Borough after working for the Delaware County Democrats. Police say Serody, 38, forced his way into his ex-girlfriend's apartment in Prospect Park on Sunday and shot her in the face and chest. Jennifer Corrado, 31, was pronounced dead at the scene. Serody later shot himself in the head on Mario Lanza Boulevard in Southwest Philadelphia.
NEWS
June 7, 2013 | By Toby Zinman, For The Inquirer
Global outsourcing, labor arbitrage, the HR of international economics - all important and controversial topics. Unfortunately, Some Other Kind of Person has little or nothing to say about any of them except the cliches that stopped being funny years ago; Eric Pfeffinger's flat farce traffics mostly in contempt. Here's the setup: Bill, a rumpled American (David Ingram), incompetent with people but great with numbers, has come to Cambodia on business with his crass colleague Lakshmi (the excellent speed-talker Nandita Shenoy)
BUSINESS
June 7, 2013 | By Jeff Gelles, Inquirer Columnist
Does Big Data threaten to play a Big Brother-like role in American electoral politics? Or are concerns about the micro-targeting of voters that arose during the 2012 campaign make a mountain out of a molehill - albeit a very busy and well-financed one? That was the stark range of opinion voiced Friday at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, where more than 30 data experts, scholars, and political operatives gathered to discuss the largely invisible ways Big Data tools are altering politics.
NEWS
June 7, 2013 | By Ellen Gray
* FALLING SKIES. 9 p.m. Sunday, TNT. IT'S BEEN only a few days since Philadelphia was apparently blown off the map by a self-styled "patriot" in the season finale of "Revolution," but TV is not done remaking the United States. TNT's "Falling Skies" returns for its third season Sunday, and though the enemies of the state may be very different - alien "skitters" instead of electricity-zapping conspirators - both shows deal with alternate realities in which embattled Americans might just get to create a more perfect union.
NEWS
June 4, 2013
THE MEDIA was delighting last week in the antics of what a headline writer labeled "Jersey Boys II" - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and President Obama strolling the boardwalk, reassuring the public on the eve of summer that the Jersey Shore was open for business. Superstorm Sandy certainly has made Christie a rock star, with skyrocketing approval ratings and a public fascination that landed him on the cover of People magazine this week. It's safe to say, however, that environmentalists in his state aren't nearly as smitten with Christie as others seem to be. He may have handled the aftermath of Sandy magnificently, but his leadership on reducing the environmental problems that helped create Sandy in the first place has been unimpressive.
NEWS
June 2, 2013 | By Charles Babington, Associated Press
HONEA PATH, S.C. - Four years after the summer of rage that fueled the tea party movement, the political circuit is much quieter - even in Republican bastions like this. It's not clear whether conservatives who rallied against President Obama's health-care overhaul during raucous town hall meetings are tired, wary, complacent, or simply saving their strength for a big push in next year's elections. Whatever the reason, the more muted tone was palpable as conservative lawmakers in South Carolina fanned out across their state to meet with constituents last week during the first congressional break since the disclosure that the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny.
NEWS
May 31, 2013
JUST ANOTHER reason why Philadelphians get fed up with politics! On one hand we have Alan Butkovitz claiming that only 32 percent of surveillance cameras ("worse than useless" was his quote) are currently working to help Philadelphia Police (who have been under fire of late) fight crime - while Mayor Nutter says that 85 percent of the cameras are working and that the audit has "many inaccuracies. " So, what the *&*%$ is it - 32 or 85 ?! Somebody obviously is way off! That is a 53 percent difference- not 5 or 10 percent - so who is BS'ing us?
NEWS
May 31, 2013 | By Chris Brennan
MARJORIE MARGOLIES re-entered the world of congressional campaigning yesterday with an act of political judo, converting an old weakness to a new strength. Margolies, 70, has seen a career spanning decades often reduced simply to "the vote," a decision in 1993 that cost her the suburban 13th Congressional District seat after just one term. That vote - Margolies switched sides after promising not to raise taxes and then casted the deciding vote to pass President Clinton 's tax-increasing budget - has followed her for 20 years.
NEWS
May 24, 2013 | By Chris Brennan
STATE SEN. Dominic Pileggi 's campaign committee held a fundraiser last week in Philadelphia with nearly 200 people packed into a hotel conference room. One of them stood out. Developer Bart Blatstein roamed the event, held at the Hyatt at the Bellevue on South Broad Street, with well-connected local attorney Bill Sasso . Blatstein, one of six bidders for the city's remaining casino license, is prohibited by law from making campaign contributions. Sasso, who was listed in the "Leader's Circle" hosting the Pileggi fundraiser, is also registered with the state Gaming Control Board as a representative of Blatstein's casino application.
NEWS
May 24, 2013 | Daily News Wire Reports
HARRISBURG - A group that aired a TV ad critical of Republican Gov. Corbett is the impetus for a planned hearing before the House State Government Committee, the panel's chairman said yesterday. Rep. Daryl Metcalfe said he believes the Pennsylvanians for Accountability group is required to register as a state political committee and disclose contributions and expenditures because it's trying to influence the outcome of an election. He said the committee plans an informational hearing June 5. "They appear to be a political committee more than anything else," the Butler County Republican said, also citing the group's ads last year that targeted four Republican candidates for the Legislature.