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President Biden’s campaign released an ad Saturday that will air in major battleground states connecting the president’s age with his ability to get things done during his first term, seeking to draw a contrast with former President Trump’s record.
“Look, I’m not a young guy. That’s no secret,” Biden says in the new ad, titled “For You.” “But here’s the deal, I understand how to get things done for the American people.”
Biden narrates the 60-second spot, highlighting his navigation of the COVID-19 pandemic upon taking office, the strength of the U.S. economy, legislation to lower prescription drug prices, the passage of a bipartisan infrastructure law and his commitment to protect reproductive health care after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — which ended the federal right to abortion access.
“Donald Trump believes the job of a president is to take care of Donald Trump,” Biden says in the ad. “I believe the job of a president is to fight for you, the American people, and that’s what I’m doing.”
In an outtake at the end of the ad, Biden says, “Look, I’m very young, energetic and handsome, what the hell am I doing this for?”
The ad is part of a six-week, $30 million ad campaign targeting voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, all of which are expected to be battleground states in November.
The spot will air on national cable and local broadcast and cable, and will appear on ESPN, TNT, FX and Comedy Central, as well as during the upcoming NCAA Tournament, the campaign said.
The ad tackles the question of the incumbent’s age, which polling has consistently shown is a concern for many voters as Biden, who is 81, seeks a second term. He is on track to face Trump, who is 77, in a rematch of the 2020 election.
A New York Times/Siena College poll released last weekend found 73 percent of registered voters said they either strongly or somewhat agree that Biden is too old to be an effective president.
Biden has repeatedly joked about his age, but he and his aides have argued voters should judge him on his record of accomplishments.
“Now, Joe Biden is 81 and he’s going to beat Donald Trump again because he wakes up every single day fighting for the American people while Trump wages a campaign of revenge and retribution focused on himself,” Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement.
“Trump may be four years younger than Joe Biden, but his ideas are old as hell and they’ve already been rejected by the American people,” Tyler added. “Joe Biden is running to make sure we reject them for good.”
It’s officially draft season and the Eagles are looking for that next wave of young talent to come revamp the team. The Birds have been rewarded four compensatory picks in the upcoming draft. These picks could be used to draft the next Philadelphia superstar, so they are important for the teams future.
The Eagles have been rewarded four comp picks. Pick 97 (3rd round), pick 170 (5th round), pick 171 (5th round), and pick 210 (6th round). The third round pick is from Javon Hargrave and the big contract the 49ers gave him. The rest of the picks were given because of losing Andre Dillard, T.J Edwards, C.J Gardner Johnson, Isaac Seumalo, Marcus Epps, Miles Sanders, Gardner Minshew, and Kyzir White. With the additions of these comp picks, the Eagles now have four picks in the top 100 picks in this years draft. They also went from having only four picks to now having eight picks in total.
The Eagles cut a few players this week including Avonte Maddox and Kevin Byard. It is likely that they will use one of their picks in the upcoming draft on a Cornerback who can fill in and play a role on next years team. They have needs at Safety and Corner, but the overall sentiment that I have heard so far from reporters and on social media is that they want to bring in a veteran Safety and find a Corner in the draft. The Safety free agent market is loaded this year and the Eagles will have a chance to bring in a really good player once free agency starts.
Losing players can suck, but it can benefit the team as well. Going from four to eight picks gives the Eagles the flexibility to move around and make trades if they want to. They can also use the picks if they choose and hopefully a star player comes of it. The off-season activities are just getting started, and it is going to be an exciting next couple of months for Eagles fans.
President Joe Biden on Saturday signed a $460 billion package of spending bills approved by the Senate in time to avoid a shutdown of many key federal agencies. The legislation’s success gets lawmakers about halfway home in wrapping up their appropriations work for the 2024 budget year.
The measure contains six annual spending bills and had already passed the House. In signing it into law, Biden thanked leaders and negotiators from both parties in both chambers for their work, which the White House said will mean that agencies “may continue their normal operations.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers are negotiating a second package of six bills, including defense, in an effort to have all federal agencies fully funded by a March 22 deadline.
“To folks who worry that divided government means nothing ever gets done, this bipartisan package says otherwise,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said after lawmakers passed the measure Friday night just hours before a deadline.
He said the bill’s passage would allow for the hiring of more air traffic controllers and rail safety inspectors, give federal firefighters a raise and boost support for homeless veterans, among other things.
The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 75-22. Lawmakers sought votes on several amendments and wanted to have their say on the bill and other priorities during debate on the floor. It had been unclear midday if senators would be able to avert a short shutdown, though eventual passage was never really in doubt.
“I would urge my colleagues to stop playing with fire here,” said Sen. Susan Collins, the top-ranking Republican member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “It would be irresponsible for us not to clear these bills and do the fundamental job that we have of funding government. What is more important?”
The votes came more than five months into the current budget year after congressional leaders relied on a series of stopgap bills to keep federal agencies funded for a few more weeks or months at a time while they struggled to reach agreement on full-year spending.
In the end, total discretionary spending set by Congress is expected to come in at about $1.66 trillion for the full budget year ending Sept. 30.
Republicans were able to keep non-defense spending relatively flat compared with the previous year. Supporters say that’s progress in an era when annual federal deficits exceeding $1 trillion have become the norm. But many Republican lawmakers were seeking much steeper cuts and more policy victories.
The House Freedom Caucus, which contains dozens of the GOP’s most conservative members, urged Republicans to vote against the first spending package and the second one still being negotiated.
Democrats staved off most of the policy riders that Republicans sought to include in the package. For example, they beat back an effort to block new rules that expand access to the abortion pill mifepristone. They were also able to fully fund a nutrition program for low-income women, infants and children, providing about $7 billion for what is known as the WIC program. That’s a $1 billion increase from the previous year.
Republicans were able to achieve some policy wins, however. One provision will prevent the sale of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China. Another policy mandate prohibits the Justice Department from investigating parents who exercise free speech at local school board meetings.
Another provision strengthens gun rights for certain veterans, though opponents of the move said it could make it easier for those with very serious mental health conditions like dementia to obtain a firearm.
”This isn’t the package I would have written on my own,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “But I am proud that we have protected absolutely vital funding that the American people rely on in their daily lives.”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said one problem he sees with the bill is that there was too much compromise, and that led to too much spending.
“A lot of people don’t understand this,” he said. “They think there is no cooperation in Washington and the opposite is true. There is compromise every day on every spending bill.”
“It’s compromise between big-government Democrats and big-government Republicans,” he added.
Still, with a divided Congress and a Democratic-led White House, any bill that doesn’t have buy-in from members of both political parties stands no chance of passage.
The bill also includes more than 6,600 projects requested by individual lawmakers with a price tag of about $12.7 billion. The projects attracted criticism from some Republican members, though members from both parties broadly participated in requesting them on behalf of their states and congressional districts. Paul called the spending “sort of the grease that eases in billions and trillions of other dollars, because you get people to buy into the total package by giving them a little bit of pork for their town, a little bit of pork for their donors.”
But an effort by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla, to strip out the projects mustered only 32 votes with 64 against. Murray said Scott’s effort would overrule “all the hard work, all the input we asked everyone to provide us about projects that would help their constituents.”
Even though lawmakers find themselves passing spending bills five months into the budget year, Republicans are framing the process as improved nonetheless because they broke the cycle of passing all the spending bills in one massive package that lawmakers have little time to study before being asked to vote on it or risk a government shutdown. Still, others said that breaking up funding into two chunks of legislation war hardly a breakthrough.
The first package covers the departments of Justice, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Interior and Transportation, among others.
As long as there have been movies, people have come from all over, hoping to make it in Hollywood. This year’s Oscar nominees are representing hometowns from coast to coast.
MARK RUFFALO
Mark Ruffalo, nominated for best actor in a supporting role, got his start in a 1989 commercial for Clearasil — long before he was a four-time Oscar nominee.
Mark Ruffalo arrives at the Governors Awards on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at the Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
EMMA STONE
Ruffalo’s “Poor Things” co-star Emma Stone made her screen debut as a teenage contestant on the VH1 competition series, “In Search of the Partridge Family.”
Stone won the part of Laurie Partridge in a Partridge Family reboot that lasted just one episode.
This image released by Searchlight Pictures shows Emma Stone, left, and Mark Ruffalo in a scene from “Poor Things.”
Atsushi Nishijima/Searchlight Pictures via AP
PAUL GIAMATTI
Paul Giamatti has credited the Howard Stern movie, “Private Parts” with making him a star.
Another memorable early role for Giamatti was the villain in “Big Fat Liar” – where he was dyed blue by Frankie Munoz and Amanda Bynes.
This image released by Focus Features shows Dominic Sessa, from left, Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph in a scene from “The Holdovers.”
Seacia Pavao/Focus Features via AP
AMERICA FERRERA
Before “Barbie” or “Ugly Betty,” America Ferrera was a Disney Channel star growing up.
She played Yolanda in the 2002 movie “Gotta Kick it Up!”
America Ferrera arrives at the 96th Academy Awards Oscar nominees luncheon on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
RYAN GOSLING
Ryan Gosling was also a Disney Channel start.
Gosling co-starred with Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears in “The All New Mickey Mouse Club!”
Ryan Gosling arrives at the premiere of “Barbie” on Sunday, July 9, 2023, at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
BRADLEY COOPER
Bradley Cooper’s screen debut came in “Sex and the City.”
He shared a passionate makeout scene with Sarah Jessica Parker after meeting her character, Carrie in a bar.
Cooper also starred in the ABC TV show “Alias” with Jennifer Gardner in the early 2000s.
This image released by Netflix shows Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in a scene from “Maestro.”
Jason McDonald/Netflix via AP
JEFFREY WRIGHT
Jeffrey Wright’s first starring role was playing artistJean-Michel Basquiat in the 1996 bio-pic, “Basquiat.”
Nearly 30 years later, he’s a first time Oscar nominee.
This image released by MGM shows Jeffrey Wright in a scene from “American Fiction.”
Claire Folger/MGM-Orion via AP
March 10 is Oscar Sunday! Watch the 2024 Oscars live on ABC.
Red carpet coverage starts at 1 p.m. ET 10 a.m. PT with “Countdown to Oscars: On The Red Carpet Live.” At 4 p.m. ET 1 p.m. PT, live coverage continues with “On The Red Carpet at the Oscars,” hosted by George Pennacchio with Roshumba Williams, Leslie Lopez and Rachel Brown.
Watch all the action on the red carpet live on ABC, streaming live on OnTheRedCarpet.com and on the On the Red Carpet Facebook and YouTube pages.
The 96th Oscars, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, begins at 7 p.m. ET 4 p.m. PT, an hour earlier than past years.
The Oscars are followed by an all-new episode of “Abbott Elementary.”
It’s a rare moment to see two high school basketball teams in euphoria at the end of a game just minutes apart. But that is exactly what happened on Tuesday night in the New Jersey Group 2 Semifinal Boys Basketball Game between Manasquan High School and Camden High School, across the River from Philadelphia.
Manasquan High School is located in Manaquan Village, just over four miles north of Point Pleasant on the New Jersey shore.
Camden took a 46–45 lead by sinking two free throws with 5.8 seconds left in the game. Manasquan High School then brought the ball up the court and, after a missed shot, scored on what appeared to be a put-back basket with no time remaining to win the game 47–46.
The entire gymnasium erupted into celebration.
Not so fast.
After a quick discussion, the NJSIAA Referees ruled that the basket was scored after time ran out, and suddenly, the #2 team in New Jersey — Camden High School — was in victorious celebration, 46–45.
On Thursday, Manasquan High School took to the legal courts, and a judge ruled that there was no jurisdiction for the case to come to Ocean County.
An appeal has been filed; however the, Saturday’s game in the next round has not be delayed to date.
The Flyers are still fully focused on the future, and while the trade deadline did yield some solid assets for tomorrow, they did go and make a couple of relatively low-cost moves that could still stand to help the team that is in a playoff position currently.
That the Flyers are even in this current spot to begin with is a good sign and well beyond the expectations that general manager Danny Brière had for them going in.
Still, what’s happening now is a far way from where they really want to be: An annual Stanley Cup contender, not just an inconsistent group that’s on the playoff bubble one year and out of it the next.
“It’s all coming together,” Brière said Friday after the 3 p.m. ET trade deadline passed. “But it doesn’t change at the end of the day what we’re trying to do and having an outlook toward the future. Making sure that it’s sustainable for years to come and not just one year.”
So here’s a look at the Flyers’ final deadline haul:
One of this season’s biggest, and pleasant, surprises was how Walker went from a salary dump the Flyers were taking on in the summer as part of the three-team deal to get Ivan Provorov out of Philadelphia to one of their best defensemen.
He formed an incredibly solid middle-pairing with Nick Seeler, which at one point was one of the most dependable in the league, but it always seemed inevitable that at some point the Flyers were going to have to pick between one or the other, with Walker always seeming the most likely to go.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Bringing a consistent two-way game but on an expiring contract, there was a match for Walker with the Cup-contending Avalanche, who were willing to put a first-rounder – albeit for a year from now – on the table. And Brière, head coach John Tortorella, and the whole Flyers front office have consistently maintained that this is still very much a rebuild despite the team’s current playoff standing. They had to take that.
Now, they did have to take that while absorbing Ryan Johansen, too, who just doesn’t seem to be in the plans at all.
He was put on waivers and sent to the Phantoms down in the AHL as soon as he cleared. Brière said on Thursday that the Flyers were looking for an opening to send him elsewhere, but nothing came of it.
So for now, he’s been asked to report to Lehigh Valley.
“Things change fast in hockey,” Brière said Friday, adding that there were a few teams interested, and with the Flyers willing to retain on his $4 million salary, but not enough to make a deal.
“You never know,” the Flyers GM continued. “Hopefully for him, he can get it going in Lehigh Valley and we’ll see where it goes. I really don’t know what the next step will be for him.”
Which is an odd spot for a center who a key part to some good Nashville teams not all that long ago to be in, for the Flyers to some extent too.
Granted, the first-rounder was the real prize for the Flyers here and they got it. Johansen’s situation can be figured out later.
And as Walker was on his way out, the Flyers came to terms with Seeler, which had been brewing in the background for a bit.
Seeler got to Philadelphia for the 2021-22 season, but his game only really started taking off last year under Tortorella and associate coach Brad Shaw, then soared to a career-best output this season at a plus-15 rating and an average of 16:58 of ice time. His 12 points on the year (1 goal, 11 assists) are also just two more shy of matching his current career-high from last season.
He’s also been a shot-blocking machine, which is a gift in that it takes away a lot of opponents’ open lanes but at the same time a curse in that those shots do hurt, and the one he took against St. Louis Monday night will have him sidelined for a bit.
Still, he’s come a long way on the ice and has been huge in helping establish a new culture for the Flyers off of it.
He’s 30 going on 31, sure, but the term is relatively reasonable and the Flyers believe there’s a lot more he can do in shaping the direction of the team.
“Nick really was adamant that he wanted to stay, didn’t want to go anywhere else,” Brière said Thursday. “I think it’s a deal both sides are happy and excited about. He’s the type of player we say he’s a Flyer. He’s really a Flyer.”
He came storming out of the gate but gradually fell off in the years that followed, which went on to see him get lost in the shuffle in Dallas, move on to Montreal, then go on to Nashville for this season where he spent most of his playing time in the AHL.
That skill is still there, as he did put up 12 goals and 30 points through 27 games for the Milwaukee Admirals, and the Flyers were willing to take a…well, flyer on him to see if he could recapture it again in the NHL.
“I know it’s been a little tougher for him the last couple years,” Brière said Friday. “But if he catches fire again, we’re a little thin on the left side and he brings us speed and size, so who knows where that goes.”
They’ll at least find out relatively quickly as they’re bringing him right on to the NHL roster ahead of Saturday’s game down in Tampa, though Tortorella will get the final say on the lineup there.
Still, he stands to bring at least a little depth to bottom-six and at the low-cost expense of Allison, who had intrigue within the organization for a while, but through injuries, stalled out stretches of play, and younger prospects like Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink leap-frogging him in development, just rapidly fell out of the long-term picture.
Both players are on expiring deals and Brière believed it was time for a change of scenery for Allison.
The Flyers’ final move before the deadline was one to bring in some veteran depth on the back end and Stanley Cup-winning experience.
Johnson, 35, was a fixture on the Colorado Avalanche’s blue line for years, overlapping with Brière’s final season playing in the NHL during a rebuilding process under Joe Sakic that he said influenced his post-career front office aspirations and culminated in the Avs winning it all seven years later in 2022.
Johnson signed a one-year deal with the Sabres in the summer and has had a rocky year for another lost season in Buffalo – posting just three assists and a minus-5 rating through 50 games and 13:48 of average ice time – and is close to the end. But whatever he has left will go toward trying to push the Flyers that are in the here and now into the playoffs while aiding the younger defensemen on the team the rest of the way.
He’s not going to be Sean Walker, but at the same time, the Flyers aren’t looking for him to be.
“What we’re looking for from Erik is to bring his experience and the fact that he’s played for a long time, the fact that he’s played a lot of playoff games, the fact that he’s won a Stanley Cup, hopefully he can share a little bit of that with our young group, especially on defense right now with all the injuries,” Brière said. “It’s a pretty young group, so we’re hoping that he can share a little bit of his experience with our team.”
Developers across the country are searching for ways to convert office buildings to residential. Here’s why Alterra Property Group’s 1701 Market St. possesses the features developers envy.
No one has seen more ups and downs in a season quite like Tobias Harris. His recent struggles have been hard for the Sixers to overcome, especially with the absence of Joel Embiid – and now Tyrese Maxey. Harris is the epitome of a rollercoaster player.
We’re at the top
There have been many stretches in Harris’ career as a Sixer where he’s played like an all-star. This season Harris is averaging 17.5 points on 49% shooting (35% from three), 6 rebounds, and 3 assists, which on a stat sheet, isn’t bad at all. His impact on the team may not seem so prevalent on the court at times, but it goes beyond what fans can see. He’s a leader, a mentor, and the type of character every team wants in their locker room. When he’s playing at his best this team is nearly unbeatable.
There are many instances where Tobias’ play, whether it’s his scoring, defense, or other overlooked stats, have lead the Sixers to victory this season, even though it doesn’t seem like it. Just recently, Harris led the way to victories against both the Hornets and Mavericks which made it feel like he was getting out of his recent slump. Or so we thought.
And here comes the drop
Following those two games Harris put up, let’s say, less than stellar performances. Actually, it was pretty unacceptable, especially against two teams who are fighting for draft positions. This is just a testament to how Harris’ season has gone. And let’s face it, Tobias has and always will be a streaky player. He seems to always go on cold stretches that happen at the worst times.
It’s easy to understand fans’ frustration with his shortcomings when there’s no Joel or Tyrese to pick them up. He absolutely needs to play better and take over the major scoring portion when they’re not playing, there’s no excuse for it. Only scoring a total of 8 points against the 13th seed in the West isn’t going to cut it now, and definitely not in the playoffs.
Entering the loop
Tobias is in his contract season. This is the final year of his five- year, $180 million contract with the Sixers and none of those five years have been easy. He’s made a lot of sacrifices in his role and style of play for this team which is not easy, but it isn’t an excuse either when Embiid and Maxey are not playing.
It’s normal if the shots are not falling, not everyone plays great all the time. That doesn’t justify some low effort and poor decision making that ends up infecting the rest of the team. The biggest factor for Harris right now to get back into a good rhythm is confidence. He needs to play with confidence, get to his spots, and be more aggressive. Whatever happened in the Charlotte and Dallas games, he needs to find a way to continue to put that same effort out there every night.
It’s not that Sixers fans need to give him a Trea Turner standing ovation, but while he’s on our team we still have to support him. It’s ok to boo and let him know we’re frustrated, but he’s just as frustrated, if not more. Hopefully he’s able to climb his way out of this slump before the playoffs and bring back that all-star Tobias we know and miss.
North America’s first Jordan World of Flight store, planned for Center City, took another step toward its conception on Friday with a modified look. One key sticking point is security.
The Senate on Friday approved a $460 billion package of spending bills in time to meet a midnight deadline for avoiding a shutdown of many key federal agencies, a vote that gets lawmakers about halfway home in wrapping up their appropriations work for the 2024 budget year.
The measure contains six annual spending bills and has already passed the House. It now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. Meanwhile, lawmakers are negotiating a second package of six bills, including defense, in an effort to have all federal agencies fully funded by a March 22 deadline.
“To folks who worry that divided government means nothing ever gets done, this bipartisan package says otherwise,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY.
He said the bill’s passage would allow for the hiring of more air traffic controllers and rail safety inspectors, give federal firefighters a raise and boost support for homeless veterans, among other things.
The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 75-22. The chamber labored to get to a final vote just hours before the midnight deadline for the first set of appropriations bills. Lawmakers sought votes on several amendments and wanted to have their say on the bill and other priorities during debate on the floor. It was unclear midday if senators would be able to avert a short shutdown, though eventual passage was never really in doubt.
“I would urge my colleagues to stop playing with fire here,” said Sen. Susan Collins, the top-ranking Republican member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “It would be irresponsible for us not to clear these bills and do the fundamental job that we have of funding government. What is more important?”
The votes this week come more than five months into the current fiscal year after congressional leaders relied on a series of stopgap bills to keep federal agencies funded for a few more weeks or months at a time while they struggled to reach agreement on full-year spending.
In the end, total discretionary spending set by Congress is expected to come in at about $1.66 trillion for the full budget year ending Sept. 30.
Republicans were able to keep non-defense spending relatively flat compared to the previous year. Supporters say that’s progress in an era when annual federal deficits exceeding $1 trillion have become the norm. But many Republican lawmakers were seeking much steeper cuts and more policy victories.
The House Freedom Caucus, which contains dozens of the GOP’s most conservative members, urged Republicans to vote against the first spending package and the second one still being negotiated.
Democrats staved off most of the policy riders that Republicans sought to include in the package. For example, they beat back an effort to block new rules that expand access to the abortion pill mifepristone. They were also able to fully fund a nutrition program for low-income women, infants and children, providing about $7 billion for what is known as the WIC program. That’s a $1 billion increase from the previous year.
Republicans were able to achieve some policy wins, however. One provision, for example, will prevent the sale of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China. Another policy mandate prohibits the Justice Department from investigating parents who exercise free speech at local school board meetings.
Another provision strengthens gun rights for certain veterans, though opponents of the move said it could make it easier for those with very serious mental health conditions like dementia to obtain a firearm.
”This isn’t the package I would have written on my own,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “But I am proud that we have protected absolutely vital funding that the American people rely on in their daily lives.”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said one problem he sees with the bill is that there was too much compromise, and that led to too much spending.
“A lot of people don’t understand this. They think there is no cooperation in Washington and the opposite is true. There is compromise every day on every spending bill,” Paul said.
“It’s compromise between big-government Democrats and big-government Republicans,” he added.
Still, with a divided Congress and a Democratic-led White House, any bill that doesn’t have buy-in from members of both political parties stands no chance of passage.
The bill also includes more than 6,600 projects requested by individual lawmakers with a price tag of about $12.7 billion. The projects attracted criticism from some Republican members, though members from both parties broadly participated in requesting them on behalf of their states and congressional districts. Paul called the spending “sort of the grease that eases in billions and trillions of other dollars, because you get people to buy into the total package by giving them a little bit of pork for their town, a little bit of pork for their donors.”
But an effort by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla, to strip out the projects mustered only 32 votes with 64 against. Murray said Scott’s effort would overrule “all the hard work, all the input we asked everyone to provide us about projects that would help their constituents.”
Even though lawmakers find themselves passing spending bills five months into the fiscal year, Republicans are framing the process as improved nonetheless because they broke the cycle of passing all the spending bills in one massive package that lawmakers have little time to study before being asked to vote on it or risk a government shutdown. Still, others said that breaking up funding into two chunks of legislation war hardly a breakthrough.
The first package now making its way to Biden’s desk covers the departments of Justice, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Interior and Transportation, among others.
This is what I heard when Celena Morrison yelled, “I work for the mayor!”
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Celena Morrison / Photograph via City of Philadelphia
The situation was hauntingly familiar: a viral video of a white law enforcement officer acting rather aggressively — arguably hostilely — toward a Black person during a tense traffic stop.
It doesn’t matter the time of day, the weather, the gender or sexual orientation of the Black person — we’ve seen all too often, particularly in the age of social media and omnipresent cell phones, that these situations can end in chaos, disgust or death.
Fortunately, the viral video involving a contentious confrontation on the Vine Street Expressway between a state trooper and Celena Morrison, the executive director of Philly’s Office of LGBT Affairs, and her husband, Darius McLean, chief operating officer of Philadelphia’s William Way Community Center, didn’t end in death.
It did end in disgust.
“I work for the mayor! I work for the mayor!” Morrison yells as she records video of McLean lying on the ground in the rain.
“Give me your hands or you’re getting tased,” the trooper is heard yelling before he approaches Morrison.
Seconds later, her phone’s camera is no longer trained on the encounter, and we hear her yelling that the trooper has “punched” her.
What sparked all this chaos? Authorities told the press that Morrison was pulled over for multiple vehicle code violations (such as driving with an expired and suspended registration). McLean, who was traveling in a different car, pulled over, presumably to assist his wife. There have thus far been no formal charges filed against Morrison or McLean following the incident on Saturday, March 2nd.
One would think that something so disturbing — or, as Mayor Cherelle Parker described it, “very concerning” — couldn’t get any worse. But then it did, when some corners of the media began parsing Morrison’s words.
In his Substack, Philadelphia journalist Ralph Cipriano argues that Morrison shouting her job title at the state trooper while her husband was on the ground being handcuffed in the rain was her asserting “executive privilege.”
Far-right conservative talking head Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire was quick to discredit Morrison, accusing her of “making it worse” and saying she was acting like an “a-hole” toward law enforcement. “She announced herself,” Walsh added in regard to Morrison naming her title during the incident. “And that was supposed to be it. … I don’t know if she pulled out her badge … however it unfolded, the fact that she was the executive director of the office of LGBT affairs apparently didn’t help her in this case.”
Of course, such rhetoric has only fueled racist, transphobic and bigoted discourse on social media that further assassinates the characters of Morrison and her husband.
I don’t know how to say this this politely, so I won’t: Give me a fucking break.
A Black transgender couple is on camera, trying to navigate a situation that could prove fatal in a heartbeat. I don’t know where Cipriano and Walsh have been for the past several years, but unarmed Black people confronted by law enforcement — regardless of perceived status — have too often been on the losing side of this power equation.
What Morrison did in that moment is more common than not for Black people in encounters with law enforcement; such moments are about de-escalation, not invoking some shroud of privilege.
I’m a Black man in America, so I was given “the talk” by my parents about how to interact with police before I even became a teenager. Sadly, as someone who has been interrogated by law enforcement, who has been stopped and frisked as a young adult, and who has endured the dehumanizing experience of being in a car during an unnecessary traffic stop — I would come to realize that the police will still incite fear, regardless of my respectability, in such moments.
Being an articulate, soft-spoken Ivy League grad didn’t shield me from being racially profiled by a cop — but it may have saved my life.
My nice suit and lack of a criminal record didn’t stop law enforcement from singling me out and patting me down while I was minutes away from an internship interview when I was 19 — but it may have stopped me from being unjustly detained.
My name recognition and massive following on social media didn’t stop me from being called into a counterterrorism unit and interrogated for over an hour for posting a harmless Facebook post — but it may have prevented me from experiencing such targeted bullshit again.
Translation: These were my attempts to humanize myself during encounters with a system that would easily discard me. As flawed and uncertain as the results can be, in such situations, signaling whatever status we can is, frustratingly, the only tool Black people currently have in an unjust society.
To ignore the role of race in policing interactions is intellectually dishonest. When I heard Morrison in that video yelling that she worked for the mayor, I didn’t hear a plea to avoid accountability. I heard a cry for harm reduction — an attempt to ensure that she and her husband survived the encounter. After what happened to George Floyd, after what happened to Eric Garner, after what’s happened to countless nameless, faceless Black people who were extrajudicially killed, I can’t hear it as anything else.
What Morrison was doing at that moment was attempting to ensure that she and her husband weren’t going to be another hashtag — and if she had to throw whatever ounce of influence or title or status she had to try to save him, so be it. That’s not “executive privilege” — that’s an act of survival.
(The Hill) — The rash of measles outbreaks around the country has sparked concerns that the U.S. risks losing its status as a country where the disease has been eliminated, a distinction held since 2000.
As of last week, 41 measles cases have been confirmed across 15 states and New York City, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That puts the nation already on track to surpass the 58 total cases that were detected in 2023.
“I think the year is not off to a great start. And definitely I think there is concern that this trend will continue and that we will see more cases. It is early, but I think it is cause for concern,” said Sarah Lim, an infectious disease physician and member of the Infectious Disease Society of America.
Much of the attention concerning measles cases has focused on Florida, where 10 cases have been detected across two counties so far.
But infections also have been confirmed in states including Arizona, California, Georgia, Indiana and Maryland.
When reached for comment, the Florida Department of Health said in a statement, “While details of epidemiological investigations are confidential, many media outlets are reporting false information and politicizing this outbreak.”
The department emphasized that while vaccination rates are falling nationally, at least 97 percent of students at Manatee Bay Elementary in Weston, where most Florida measles cases have been detected this year, have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
The concentration of Florida’s cases in schools, as well as Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo’s response to the outbreak, have drawn heightened scrutiny. In a letter to parents, Ladapo recommended keeping unvaccinated children at home for three weeks, as the CDC advises but did not mandate it.
The CDC recommends people without immunity to measles should isolate after potential exposure for 21 days. Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) cited Ladapo’s letter as reason for him to be removed from his position.
In his letter, Ladapo referenced “the high immunity rate in the community” as part of why the state would not require unvaccinated students to stay at home. That high immunization rate affords the U.S. the status of being a country that has eliminated measles, but if outbreaks like the one in Florida keep happening, experts worry that could change.
“Once you’ve lost that status, it just means that cases are transmitting locally, which they are, not imported. And so we’re already in that status, where we have local transmission, and if it keeps on going up, we have to say it’s not eliminated,” said Monica Gandhi, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and associate division chief of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine.
Comparable First World countries such as the U.K. have lost their measles elimination status in recent years, having only regained its status in 2021 after losing it in 2018.
As the CDC notes, the World Health Organization defines measles elimination as “the absence of endemic measles virus transmission in a defined geographical area (e.g. region or country) for at least 12 months in the presence of a surveillance system that has been verified to be performing well.”
“If a measles outbreak continues for a year or more, the United States could lose its measles elimination status,” the agency notes on its website.
Federal health authorities maintain a “Healthy People 2030” target of achieving 95 percent MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) immunization coverage. That rate among children has been on a slight decline since 2019, falling from the ideal 95 percent to 93.1 among kindergarteners nationally in the 2022-23 school year.
The CDC estimated this vaccination rate leaves roughly 250,000 kindergarteners at risk of a measles infection. Unlike vaccines for the flu or COVID-19, a complete schedule of the measles vaccine is nearly completely effective at preventing infections.
Lim emphasized that “eliminated” does not mean “eradicated.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has been blamed for interrupting vaccination rates among children, but Lim noted that an increase in people “catching up on travel” could concurrently be contributing to cases, as travelers return from countries where measles is not eliminated.
According to Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, two major events following the elimination of measles in the U.S. significantly impacted vaccination rates: the debunked study linking vaccines to autism, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Offit cites these as having bred sentiments adverse to public health.
“We leaned into this libertarian left hook, and you’ve seen now hundreds of legislative bills introduced to basically eliminate vaccine mandates, for masking mandates, for isolation mandates, quarantining mandates. It’s kind of, you know, this pushback against the weapons of public health, which are vaccination and isolation in the case of measles. And I think Florida represents that in a sense,” Offit said.
If people aren’t too concerned about a measles infection, Offit suggests it may be because they don’t have a good idea of what measles means, especially for children.
“I think not only have we largely eliminated measles, we’ve eliminated the memory of measles. I don’t think people remember just how sick measles can make you,” Offit said.
A measles infection usually presents with cold-like symptoms and a characteristic rash that forms a few days after symptoms begin. Offit emphasized that measles is “not a disease you want in a hospital” due to just how contagious it is, posing a threat to immunocompromised patients.
“If you let your guard down, measles will come back. I am scarred by the 1991 Philadelphia measles epidemic,” Offit said, recalling how an outbreak originating from local religious communities quickly spread out into the surrounding areas, ultimately killing nine children.
When asked what public health measure he would advise in light of the recent outbreaks, Offit, who recently authored a book on COVID-19 misinformation titled “Tell Me When It’s Over,” bluntly stated, “vaccination.”
At 93 percent coverage, the U.S. can still boast a robust population protection against widespread measles outbreaks. But for people like Gandhi, the professor of medicine, any case of a vaccine-preventable illness is cause for concern. Gandhi notes the paralytic case of polio — also considered to be eliminated in the U.S. — that occurred in New York last year as an example of why strong population immunization is so important.
“The concerns are that these are vaccine-preventable illnesses. It can help high mortality rates, especially in children, and there’s just no reason for it,” Gandhi said. “I think it makes infectious disease people really weary and scared to see old diseases resurfacing when we have to not have that occur at all.”
Lots of tears. Some dazzling elegance. And one huge scandal.
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Sylvester Stallone, Tom Hanks and Grace Kelly all made memorable moments in Philadelphia Oscars history (photos via Getty Images)
The 96th edition of the Oscars happens on Sunday, March 10th at 7 p.m. And this could be a big year for Philadelphia. Joy Da’Vine Randolph (The Holdovers), Bradley Cooper (Maestro), and Colman Domingo (Rustin) are all strong contenders. But this isn’t the first time that Philadelphia was represented at the Oscars. Here, a brief look back.
1955
It’s easy to forget that the elegant woman who eventually became known as Princess Grace was from right here in gritty old Philadelphia.
Many have probably also forgotten The Country Girl. That’s Grace Kelly’s 1954 film in which her thoroughly unglamorous role was that of an alcoholic’s wife. She made the movie just seven years after departing Philadelphia.
Philadelphia native Grace Kelly with her Oscars award (Getty Images)
For Best Actress, Kelly beat out Dorothy Dandridge, Judy Garland, Audrey Hepburn, and Jane Wyman. So, some heavy hitters.
This was Kelly’s only Oscar win. And she accepted it with all the dignity and poise one would expect. She’s probably rolled over in her Monaco grave more than a few time watching some of the Oscars antics that go on these days.
1977
One of the biggest surprises of all time at the Oscars came courtesy of the biggest Philly movie of all time: Rocky. The small-budget film that turned Sylvester Stallone into a Hollywood legend and our Art Museum steps into a tourist destination knocked out Taxi Driver, All the President’s Men, Network, and the Woody Guthrie biopic Bound for Glory in the battle for Best Picture.
Sylvester Stallone (Photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
That award technically goes to the producers. They oh-so-graciously invited Stallone — who conceived the whole damn thing — onstage to accept with them. His contribution was one of the shortest speeches in Oscars history: “To all the Rockys in the world, I love ya.”
1994
If you weren’t around in the AIDS-devastated 1980s, it’s hard to imagine how impactful Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphiawas when it debuted. AIDS was still viewed by many people as a “gay plague,” and homosexuality wasn’t yet mainstream.
Tom Hanks delivering his Oscars speech for Philadelphia at the Academy Awards (image courtesy the Academy Awards)
With scenes shot all over the city, the filmstarred Tom Hanks as a gay man with HIV and Denzel Washington as his initially homophobic lawyer. Just as we can’t hold back tears when we watch Philadelphia, Hanks couldn’t when accepting the award for Best Actor. “The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels,” he said of AIDS victims. “They number a thousand for each one of the red ribbons that we wear here tonight.” Not a dry eye in the house.
2022
who can forget the 2022 Academy Awards? To be honest, we have no idea who was nominated or who won what. But we do know it was one of the most scandalous ceremonies ever thanks to a slap heard around the world, courtesy of Philly’s own Will Smith.
At first, most of us thought his assault on Chris Rock was just part of the show. It wasn’t. And the Pride of Overbrook High’s life and reputation were upended as a result. Smith can still be nominated for Oscars (despite his extensive filmography, he’s only been nominated thrice and won once), but due to a ban by the Academy, he’s not allowed to attend the ceremonies until 2032.
Published as “Philly at the Oscars” in the March 2024 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
WASHINGTON — Most of America “springs forward” Sunday for daylight saving time and losing that hour of sleep can do more than leave you tired and cranky the next day. It also could harm your health.
Darker mornings and more evening light together knock your body clock out of whack – which means daylight saving time can usher in sleep trouble for weeks or longer. Studies have even found an uptick in heart attacks and strokes right after the March time change.
(video from 2023 daylight saving time)
There are ways to ease the adjustment, including getting more sunshine to help reset your circadian rhythm for healthful sleep.
“Not unlike when one travels across many time zones, how long it can take is very different for different people,” said Dr. Eduardo Sanchez of the American Heart Association. “Understand that your body is transitioning.”
When does daylight saving time start?
Daylight saving time begins Sunday at 2 a.m., an hour of sleep vanishing in most of the U.S. The ritual will reverse on Nov. 3 when clocks “fall back” as daylight saving time ends.
Hawaii and most of Arizona don’t make the spring switch, sticking to standard time year-round along with Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Worldwide, dozens of countries also observe daylight saving time, starting and ending at different dates.
Some people try to prepare for daylight saving time’s sleep jolt by going to bed a little earlier two or three nights ahead. With a third of American adults already not getting the recommended seven hours of nightly shuteye, catching up can be difficult.
What happens to your brain when it’s lighter later?
The brain has a master clock that is set by exposure to sunlight and darkness. This circadian rhythm is a roughly 24-hour cycle that determines when we become sleepy and when we’re more alert. The patterns change with age, one reason that early-to-rise youngsters evolve into hard-to-wake teens.
Morning light resets the rhythm. By evening, levels of a hormone called melatonin begin to surge, triggering drowsiness. Too much light in the evening – that extra hour from daylight saving time – delays that surge and the cycle gets out of sync.
Sleep deprivation is linked to heart disease, cognitive decline, obesity and numerous other problems. And that circadian clock affects more than sleep, also influencing things like heart rate, blood pressure, stress hormones and metabolism.
How does the time change affect your health?
Fatal car crashes temporarily jump the first few days after the spring time change, according to a study of U.S. traffic fatalities. The risk was highest in the morning, and researchers attributed it to sleep deprivation.
Then there’s the cardiac connection. The American Heart Association points to studies that suggest an uptick in heart attacks on the Monday after daylight saving time begins, and in strokes for two days afterward.
Doctors already know that heart attacks, especially severe ones, are a bit more common on Mondays generally – and in the morning, when blood is more clot-prone.
It’s not clear why the time change would add to the Monday connection, Sanchez said, although probably something about the abrupt circadian disruption exacerbates factors such as high blood pressure in people already at risk.
How to prepare for daylight saving time
Go to bed a little earlier Friday and Saturday nights, and try to get more morning light. Moving up daily routines, like dinner time or when you exercise, also may help cue your body to start adapting, sleep experts advise.
Afternoon naps and caffeine as well as evening light from phones and other electronic devices can make adjusting to an earlier bedtime even harder.
Stay tuned: Some health groups, including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have said it’s time to do away with time switches and that sticking with standard time year-round aligns better with the sun – and human biology.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama delivered her party’s response to President Biden’s State of the Union address Thursday night, in emotional remarks from her kitchen. “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell leads a panel to break down Britt’s speech.
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Collective groans emerge from under comforters each spring with the advent of daylight saving time and the loss of one hour’s sleep.
A recent poll conducted by Monmouth University found that 61% of Americans wanted to get rid of the twice-a-year time change – falling back an hour each November to standard time and springing ahead each March to daylight saving. Just over one-third of people wanted to keep the back-and-forth shifts.
Not only is switching from standard time to daylight saving the second Sunday in March wildly unpopular – it is also dangerous. Studies have shown it leads to increased behavioral health issues, cardiovascular events and traffic fatalities.
“That one-hour change may not seem like much, but it can wreak havoc on people’s mental and physical well-being in the short term,” Dr. Charles Czeisler, a professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School, told Harvard Men’s Health Watch last year.
Pushing clocks ahead an hour increases “our exposure to morning darkness and to artificial light at night,” which disrupts our circadian rhythm, the name for the physical, mental and behavioral changes we experience over a 24-hour period, said Dr. Zhikui Wei, a specialist in sleep medicine and neurology at Thomas Jefferson University’s Sleep Disorders Center. It may take “weeks to months to adjust to the lost hour” resulting in “ongoing sleep deficiency.”
The negative health impacts from this disruption range from mood changes to increased risk for suicide and substance abuse.
“It’s definitelynot uncommon for patients who struggle with circadian rhythm disorders to struggle with mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety,” Wei said.
People are at higher risk for heart attacks, strokes and traffic accidents in the days following the move to daylight saving time.
Behavioral, learning and attention issues are also common among adolescents who get less sleep. A 2015 study found that students had slower reaction times and were less able to pay attention in school in the days following the spring time change.
These findings are why the “medical community in general has voiced support for permanent standard time,” Wei said.
In 2020, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine published a position paper against the move from standard time to daylight saving time, stating that the “acute transition” leads to serious public health and safety risks.
“Daylight saving time is less aligned with human circadian biology – which, due to the impacts of the delayed natural light/dark cycle on human activity, could result in circadian misalignment, which has been associated in some studies with increased cardiovascular disease risk, metabolic syndrome and other health risks,” the paper reads, ultimately advocating for the move to a fixed, year-round standard time.
Legislation to eliminate the back-and-forth time changes has been languishing in Congress.
Last year, Sen. Marco Rubio, of Florida, reintroduced the bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act in the U.S. Senate. It would create a permanent, national daylight saving time. But the bill, which would generally mean less light in the morning, has stalled.
At this time, federal law still prohibits states from adopting permanent daylight saving time.
Plus, medical experts do not support permanent daylight saving since it causes a “misalignment between social clock and internal circadian rhythm,” Wei said.
“Many people’s circadian rhythms are somewhat resilient, but if you’re going to make a change, it would be much more favorable to go with standard time,” Dr. Patrick J. Strollo Jr., a sleep-apnea researcher and pulmonologist at the University of Pittsburgh, said in a post on the American Medical Association’s website.
When the United States experimented with universal daylight saving time in 1973, during an energy crisis, the sun generally didn’t come up before 8 a.m. across Pennsylvania. Parents objected to their children riding buses back and forth to school in the dark.
The shift to universal daylight saving was so unpopular that Congress halted the plan just 10 months into the experiment.
The tug-of-war time changes began in the early 1900s to preserve energy and resources and to promote commerce. The shifting between standard and daylight saving time started and stopped several times before becoming permanent with the 1966 Uniform Time Act.
What makes these biannual time changes especially unhealthy is that they exacerbate existing problems people have with sleep hygiene, Wei said.
“One of the biggest challenges in modern day is that sometimes there are other priorities that may take the place of sleep,” Wei said. “But from a health perspective and a life perspective, sleep is an essential function.”
Daylight saving time takes effect Sunday at 2 a.m., when clocks move one hour ahead.
To help ease the transition, Wei recommended that people start waking up 15 to 30 minutes earlier each day, starting Thursday. “That way, people may have an easier time adjusting to the earlier schedule,” Wei said.
He also suggested that people prioritize and protect their sleep even more than they normally do by:
• Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule • Getting 7-9 hours of sleep a night • Avoiding caffeine, alcohol and smoking • Reducing exposure to artificial light, such as from electronic devices, at least 30 minutes to one hour before bedtime • Seeking professional help for any mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression
How do you know if you need to see a sleep specialist?
If you have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or experience unsatisfying sleep, you might want to talk to a medical provider, Wei said.
Other reasons to think about having a sleep assessment include experiencing mood swings or mood disturbances during the day or suffering from impaired daytime functioning and alertness.
In honor of the upcoming 50th anniversary of Best of Philly this August, we’re taking a monthly look back. This month: Sports!
For this month’s Best of Philly lookback, we dive into 50 years of Philly sports. / Photograph by Tom Mihalek/AFP via Getty Images
It may seem hard to fathom now, but 50 years ago, there was only one Best Of Philly category dedicated to sports. (Hey, it was 1974; sports success around here was lean, aside from the Flyers.) That year’s sole winner? Immaculata University’s women’s basketball team, fresh off a third-straight AIAW national championship. Go Mighty Macs!
Compare that to last year’s issue. We put five freaking mascots on the cover! And handed out awards for everything from kickboxers to high-school basketball superstars to two bears at the Zoo named Kelce and Harper. Sports was everywhere. Does that mean we’re more intense fans now than we were 50 years ago? Nah. In 1974, we were still trying to figure this whole Best Of thing out. It was more service-focused, and winners in sports and city life were clearly an afterthought (though the old award for Best Parking Garage deserves some praise).
Plus, the list morphs and changes with time as staffers come and go and what we value as a city shifts. In 50 years, as we climb out of our flying cars, we might look back and think, “Damn, 2024, that was a LOT of sports.” Then again, this has been one of the best eras in which to be a Philly sports fan, so hopefully, future us will cut present us some slack.
BOP50 Sports Timeline
Notable wins and winners
1975 Best Local Dirty Hockey Player: Bobby Clarke
1979 At the time, the magazine still awarded “Worst Of” winners. That year’s Worst Sportscaster? An up-and-comer named Merrill Reese.
Jazzercise / Photograph by Jim Graham
1985 First Jazzercise mention.
1988
Best Jock, Hunk Category: The Flyers’ Peter Zezel
Best Jock, Ability Category: Charles Barkley, the post-Julius Erving pride of the 76ers
Photograph by Jim Graham
1992 Best Reason to Return to High School: “To see a basketball game starring the gifted Rasheed Wallace, a 6’11” junior at Simon Gratz High School. Experts are comparing him to a young Wilt Chamberlain. Catch him now, and say you knew him when.”
Philadelphia Bulldogs / Photograph by Ken Yanoviak
1996 Best New Sports Team: “Lacrosse hunks, step aside. We love the new Tony Danza-owned Philadelphia Bulldogs, the no-holds-barred roller-hockey team that brakes into the Spectrum all summer long.”
1998 Best Sports Superstar: “Give Allen Iverson a break. The kid’s only the second most exciting basketball player in the universe (after that old man from Space Jam). Yeah, he has a lot to learn, but how thrilling an education.”
Allen Iverson / Photograph by Tom Mihalek/AFP via Getty Images
Published as “BOP 50: Sports!” in the March 2024 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
Who would have thunk it? Plus, why there’s no body-cam footage of that viral state-trooper incident.
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Senator Bob Casey, who pulled his support for William Way Community Center after word of their sex parties got out (Getty Images)
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Boring Bob Casey Apparently Doesn’t Like Sex Parties
I never thought I’d write a sentence that includes “Bob Casey” and “sex parties.” But, the news is the news.
Early on Wednesday, we heard that senators Bob Casey and John Fetterman withdrew their support of $1 million in federal funding for the William Way Community Center. The Philadelphia nonprofit serving the LGBTQ community planned to use the money for a major expansion of its Gayborhood headquarters. This withdrawal of support for William Way came after some intense social media criticism, harassment and trolling by people, groups and movements like the far-right Libs of Tik Tok over The Aviary. And what on earth is The Aviary, you ask? Only Philadelphia’s “longest running kink and fetish party.” It happens monthly at William Way.
Casey and Fetterman both signed letters on Tuesday requesting the cancellation of funds for William Way. But then Fetterman said it was actually his staff that made the move (even though he signed the letter). Fetterman insisted that he’s 100 percent in support of William Way. “I do not believe that we should penalize this center based on events that are entirely legal among consenting adults,” he declared on social media. “I have no problem with what consenting adults do in their private time.” He then promised to help William Way secure the funding in the next round of appropriations talks.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Casey was a little less enthusiastic in support of William Way. In a statement, the spokesperson admitted that “consenting adults have the right to do whatever they want in their free time” but said that funding like this “warrants the highest level of scrutiny on behalf of taxpayers.” The spokesperson confirmed that Casey withdrew his support of the funding for William Way once he heard the “new information about the third-party use of the facility. … ” And Casey’s office made no promises about helping William Way out in the future.
All that said, the next sex party at William Way is this Saturday. Tickets are $35.
About that Celena Morrison State-Trooper Video …
Soon after seeing the video Philly LGBTQ chief Celena Morrison shot of a Pennsylvania state trooper arresting her and her husband on Saturday—a video that went viral and sparked concern from the Mayor’s Office—I thought to myself: We really need to see the trooper’s body-cam footage. After all, Morrison’s video only shows part of the incident, and the state police claim that Morrison’s husband was verbally aggressive and uncooperative before the trooper cuffed him. Alas, there is no body-cam footage. Why? Because state troopers in the Philly area don’t have body cams. Yet. “Our body-camera rollout is still being implemented across the state,” a state police spokesperson told me, confirming that they haven’t reached Philly troopers yet. “They will, however, be equipped with them in the near future.”
Is SEPTA Safe?
When I heard two days ago about a SEPTA bus-related shooting, I assumed the reports were referring to the SEPTA bus-related shooting from the day before. They weren’t. And when I heard yesterday afternoon about a SEPTA bus-related shooting, I again assumed the reports were referring to the previous day’s shooting — the one I had mistaken for a shooting from the day before that. Unfortunately, I was wrong again.
As of Thursday afternoon, there have been four separate shootings on or near SEPTA buses this week, the latest coming on Wednesday in Northeast Philly, where multiple armed individuals shot eight students. “Enough is enough,” Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said from the scene of that crime, flanked by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel, and other city officials.
Police and transit police have pledged to step up their efforts to provide safety on and around SEPTA buses, though it’s unclear how Philadelphia’s seriously depleted police forces can or will do that, considering there are more than 1,100 buses on the streets of Philadelphia on any given day.
1 in 1,000,000,000,000: Chance that Biden won’t mention his hometown of Scranton in his Delco speech.
50 percent: Likelihood Biden will try to mimic the famous Delco accent in that school speech.
$5 to $20: Range in ticket prices for the upcoming Erin Express. The Erin Express used to be free. The Erin Express also used to provide transportation, the whole idea behind it being a big bus full of drunk people. But there’s no longer a bus. So what exactly is going on here? And what exactly are you paying for? Erin McCarthy over at the Inquirerexplains.
The Oscars are this Sunday at 7 p.m., and Mount Airy native Da’Vine Joy Randolph is said to be a shoo-in for Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Holdovers. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing her. She told me all about her favorite water-ice truck growing up in Philly and the story of her big break in showbiz, which reminded me of Rosemary’s Baby. You can read the full interview here.
And From the This-Again? Sports Desk …
Still no Tyrese Maxey for the Sixers’ home game with the Grizzlies last night, and no Kyle Lowry either; he was being rested. So our starters were Cam Payne, Buddy Hield, Paul Reed, Tobias Harris and Nico Batum. This time, they started slow, lagging behind Memphis early but tying it up at 22 with four minutes left in the first quarter — before the Grizzlies had an 8-0 run. We started the second with them up 37-31, tied it at 43-43, and took the lead thanks to Paul Reed’s rebounding persistence with six to go. And then, suddenly, it was the half, and we were up 64-56. Did we mention Kyle Lowry was taking a breather? That meant more Jeff Dowtin Jr.:
Memphis made a stab at closing the gap in the third quarter, and K.J. Martin, who was having another good game for us, picked up his fifth foul, but we hung onto the lead, 93-81. In the final frame, the Sixers foundered — why does that sound so familiar? — with the Grizzlies closing to within three points more than once and then a mere two as the pace turned frantic. And damn if Memphis didn’t pull ahead on a 9-0 run with two minutes left. Luke Kinnard was killing us. Damn.
Another pitiful loss where the sixers had the lead. Can’t rebound. Can’t make a shot in the 4th quarter. And everyone is fouling. When is Maxey back ffs
They do, against the Tampa Bay Rays, with a 1:05 start. They had yesterday off.
Any Doop News?
No, but the U.S. Women’s National Team faced off against Canada in the Gold Cup semifinals last night at — I kid you not — Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, in conditions that were … less than ideal.
Our Jaedyn Shaw scored in the 20th minute, but Canada tied it in the 89th to send it to extra time. Sophia Smith gave us another in the 99th minute, and then Canada tied it up again at the 128th minute mark. Sheesh. That brought on penalty kicks, and the U.S. finally triumphed, if it felt like that, with three to Canada’s one. What a slog.
And in College Hoops?
Villanova lagged behind Seton Hall from the start last night in beautiful downtown Newark, down 30-24 at the half, and though they stayed even with the Pirates in scoring through most of the second half, they couldn’t overcome that early deficit in a 66-56 loss. It was much the same story for St. Joe’s in their game at Richmond; down 38-27 at the half, they never caught up and lost, 73-66, to the Spiders. Tonight, the University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers visit the Temple Owls, starting at 7.
The Flyers also play.
All Philly Today sports desk coverage is provided by Sandy Hingston.
