AltWeeklies Wire
Megan's Flaw: When a Sexual Predator Isn't One in the Eyes of the Lawnew
Two and a half years after Derrick Cook almost killed Katrina Mansfield, she sits quietly in a courtroom, alone, awaiting what the justice system considers fair trade for what she calls her life sentence. By any reasonable definition, Cook is a violent sexual predator—except, after a drawn-out and botched hearing to determine the status, in the eyes of the law.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
05-25-2011 |
Crime & Justice
Man Seeks Answers 44 Years After Witnessing Brother's Deathnew
Charles Stecker was only 4 years old when he saw his foster mother kill his 2-year-old brother Eddie, but he remembers it like it was yesterday.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
05-11-2011 |
Crime & Justice
For Americans in the Sex Trade, Still Little Hopenew
Want to know how much sex with a teenager costs? Just ask Mimi. It cost her everything.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
02-09-2011 |
Crime & Justice
Tags: Prostitution, Trafficking
A Writer Finds Lust for Life in the Wake of Deathnew
“Sauntering, in the best sense, is when you’re walking the ground like it’s holy, and that’s how I wanted to view Philadelphia, and I do,” says local poet CA Conrad. “It’s not perfect. I’ve seen so many people kill themselves... die of murders.”
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
03-29-2010 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
David Dingwall Stuffs His Leopard-Skin Shorts and Shoots for the Starsnew
After a lifetime of starts and stalls, after all his preparation for a comeback, it's ironic that it's the brilliant comedy video White Boy that could transform this old-school Catskills crooner into a 21st century Internet star.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
09-21-2009 |
Performance
Michael Vick Comes to Phillynew
When the Eagles announced that they signed a one-year-on plus one-year-option contract with convicted animal abuser Michael Vick, networking boards lit up like pinball machines. But will Philadelphians make good on their love of animals? Or is the outrage a little too easy?
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
08-17-2009 |
Sports
A Domestic Violence Refuge in Philadelphia Suffers a Big Hitnew
Last November, $296,268 reserved for Philadelphia's domestic violence shelter - 15 percent of its operating costs — was quietly carved out of the city budget, a cut that went mostly unnoticed in the midst of public outcry over libraries closing and a shortened Mummer’s parade.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
02-09-2009 |
Policy Issues
Philadelphia Casino Debate Taxes Neighborly Relationsnew
In Philadephia's Fishtown neighborhood the battle between pro- and anti-casino neighbors was ugly from the start. The community battle over the casino has ballooned into accusations of secret alliances, online name-hurling, point-by-point chesslike sparring matches and even reports of physical intimidation.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
01-26-2009 |
Housing & Development
M.K. Asante Jr.'s Year of First Fruitsnew
The multitalented child of celebrated afrocentric parents takes the torch with a new book (It's Bigger Than Hip Hop: Rise of the Post-Hip-Hop Generation) and documentary on Kwanzaa (The Black Candle).
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
10-20-2008 |
Culture
Kate Watson-Wallace Throws Dance Theater into Overdrive with 'Car'new
A 2007 Pew Fellow in choreography and director of one of the most anticipated shows of this year’s Live Arts Festival, Watson-Wallace became a rising star of modern dance by dropping out of school and discovering that Philadelphia is a cool place for a young, stubborn and broke-as-a-joke dancer to land.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
08-25-2008 |
Performance
A Look Inside the Complicated Politics of Lyme Diseasenew
Lyme, the most politicized and contested disease since the emergence of AIDS, is also the fastest-growing infectious illness since AIDS. The medical establishment debates over almost every aspect of Lyme, and of course the wars rage on two levels: There are white-haired dudes pushing paperwork in offices, and there are the people in the trenches who deal with the fallout.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
06-23-2008 |
Science
Is Emily Gould the New Journalism?new
The real question brought up by the publication of one girl's 8,000–word finger–flip to an ex–boyfriend in the New York Times Magazine goes like this: Because web traffic determines ad cost, is the distinction between good and popular collapsing?
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
06-03-2008 |
Media
Deborah Harry on New Album, Biopicnew
A Jersey girl in a folk band doesn't become canonized as "the Marilyn Monroe of punk" without more than a little moxie.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
11-12-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Deborah Harry, Necessary Evil
