AltWeeklies Wire
Sister Pact: Finding Strength After Convictionnew
With just charm, drive, nickels and dimes, reformed ex-on Michelle Simmons has mustered up a program that is accomplishing what the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections—with its bloated budget of $1.8 billion—states as its No. 1 goal: reduce the recidivism rate of ex-offenders.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
08-11-2011 |
Crime & Justice
Organized-Labor Pains: MilkBoy's Union Saga, Continuednew
MilkBoy Coffee owners Tommy Joyner and Jamie Lokoff are mild-mannered artists-turned-entrepreneurs building a new concert venue in Philadelphia. The landlord didn't hire all-union labor, and they found themselves caught in the middle of a public debate about the role of unions in the U.S. "Honestly, we feel like we’re being picked on by a large, highly funded, highly organized organization, not to be redundant," says Joyner. There’s just no way to get back at them because you think you’re getting somewhere, and [then] your place gets lit on fire.”
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
08-04-2011 |
Business & Labor
Reality Check: Pennsylvania's Rape Laws Perpetuate the Mythsnew
It’s easier to get away with sexual assault in Pennsylvania than anywhere else in U.S.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
06-22-2011 |
Policy Issues
Philadelphia Editor Spews Vile Rape Commentarynew
Dan Rottenberg, editor of online arts mag Broad Street Review (and way back, editor of this publication when it was Welcomat) wrote an editor’s letter last week that’s drawing criticism from national media watchdog outlets like Women’s Media Center—and deservedly so.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Murtha |
06-15-2011 |
Civil Liberties
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
Nation's Leading Pro-Marijuana Group Is Too White to Succeednew
Image is everything, and the absence of minorities within NORML has created the perception that the organization is primarily working to ensure that the white pot smokers of the world can get high without worry.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Michael Alan Goldberg |
04-25-2011 |
Policy Issues
Tags: NORML, Marijuana Reform
Blunt Assessment: The Need for Legal Weednew
A look into the policies and practices behind marijuana prohibition reveals a gully scheme in which weed culture is supported by the very agencies charged with eliminating it. The result? The increasing criminalization of just one demographic: inner-city blacks.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Nina Hoffmann |
03-02-2011 |
Race & Class
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
Doomed To Failnew
Pennhurst Asylum is haunted by its past, unsure of its future.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Michael Alan Goldberg |
10-18-2010 |
Economy
Philadelphia's Soda Fee is Not as Taxing as we Thinknew
To say that Mayor Nutter’s proposed “Healthy Philadelphia Initiative” (the two-cents-per-ounce junk-drink tax) is in disarray would be charitable. City Council grows increasingly hostile toward the plan. A loophole might negate its stated health goals.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Jacob Lambert |
03-29-2010 |
Economy
Maybe it's Time for Philadelphia to Consider Banning Pit Bullsnew
On the weekend of Feb. 19, there were three serious pit bull attacks across Philadelphia. A 52-year-old woman nearly lost her left hand to one of the dogs. Ten-year-old Philip Sheriff was found facedown on a ballfield, his right arm almost severed.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Jacob Lambert |
03-15-2010 |
Animal Issues
Asian Students Under Assault in Philadelphia Schoolsnew
Community organizers say 30 or more Asian students were attacked Thursday, Dec. 3 at South Philadelphia High School. In September, Philadelphia Weekly's George Miller wrote this cover story about how Asian students are regularly targeted in Philadelphia schools.
Philadelphia Weekly |
G.W. Miller III |
12-07-2009 |
Children & Families
Recession Diaries: Tales of Philly's Young, Educated and Underemployednew
While the less educated are getting hit the hardest, things are quickly deteriorating for the college-educated work force. Experts say that one in five college graduates say they're overqualified for their current jobs.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Daniel Denvir |
11-30-2009 |
Economy
How the Health Care System Brought Me to the Brink of Madness and Bankruptcynew
Like many Americans, my fiance, Dan, and I, have been silently destroyed by the behemoth known as the American health insurance industry. And if wanting affordable, quality health care makes us communists, socialists or flag-burning anti-patriots, then so be it.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Carrie Ann Eldridge |
10-26-2009 |
Science
