Mayor Parker pushes to slash business taxes and spend millions on housing
Philadelphia would cut business tax rates every year and begin spending hundreds of millions of newly allocated dollars on housing and drug treatment programs under a proposed 2026 budget Mayor Cherelle Parker presented Thursday. In her second annual budget address before City Council, Parker celebrated sharp drops in violent crime during her first year in […]
Even in Philly, some support Trump’s mass firings
The Trump administration’s mass firings of federal employees last week sparked anguished denunciations from the affected workers and many others in Philadelphia. Congressman Brendan Boyle, a Democrat, spoke at a union rally outside Independence Hall and called the sudden dismissal of some 400 IRS workers in the city “a blow to these families, to our […]
IBEW Local 98 fined $25,000 for Dougherty lobbying
More than three years after a federal jury found former union leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty and former City Councilmember Bobby Henon guilty of corruption, the legal repercussions of their illegal activities from nearly a decade ago are still playing out. The union that Dougherty led and Henon worked for, the International Brotherhood of Electrical […]
Hundreds of thousands line Eagles parade route
Hundreds of thousands of fans from across the region have made their way to the 4-mile parade route to cheer on the NFL champion Eagles this Valentine’s Day Friday. The parade has just begun. Billy Penn will be posting throughout the day. If you can’t get to the parade, the event will be livestreamed on […]
Meet the 4 Philly artists who received the United States Artists Fellowship award
Last week, United States Artists, a Chicago-based arts funding organization, announced its 2025 USA Fellows, a cohort of artists and collectives representing 10 creative disciplines and 21 states. Philadelphia-based multidisciplinary traditional artist César Viveros, sculptor and public artist Karyn Olivier, choreographer and performer Nichole Canuso, and interdisciplinary artist Rea Tajiri earned this prestigious recognition. The […]
As Philly gets ready for NFC title game, here’s what you need to know
The Eagles will host the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game this Sunday at 3 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field, and — lt’s be real — things might crazy around 7 o’clock. City officials are rolling out plans for road closures, parking restrictions, and public safety measures. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. […]
Arden premieres “Holy Grail of Memphis,” running through Feb. 23
The story behind “Holy Grail of Memphis” first captured Arden Theatre Company’s producing artistic director. “Holy Grail of Memphis” is “a comedy about people who are unreconciled with their lives, with where they are at in their lives, and that really appealed to me,” said Terrence J. Nolen, who leads Arden Theatre Co. and is […]
SEPTA working on fix for cards that aren’t working
SEPTA officials shared Thursday that a card production issue was causing some student, senior, paratransit and reduced fare passes to be declined at subways, buses and Regional Rail locations. The good news? The transit agency reports that the issue isn’t affecting riders who use standard SEPTA Key cards or contactless payments methods like credit cards, debit […]
Billy Penn’s, and Philly’s, biggest stories of 2024
Philadelphia had an eventful year, yet again. A new mayor took office for the first time in eight years, the plan to build a downtown basketball arena ignited fierce opposition, and the city played its familiar starring role in a highly consequential presidential election. Philadelphians also had fun entertaining themselves, as we always do — […]
Luigi Mangione makes appearance in New York court, faces federal charges
Luigi Mangione, the former Penn graduate accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month, has been charged with multiple federal crimes, including murder, stalking, and weapons offenses. These charges are in addition to the state-level charges in New York and Pennsylvania already filed against him. During a brief court hearing in Lower […]