💡 Get Philly smart 💡
with BP’s free daily newsletter
Read the news of the day in less than 10 minutes — not that we’re counting.
Newsletter for Sept. 23, 2014
INSTAGRAM OF THE DAY
PHILLY’S CIGARETTE TAX-FOR-SCHOOLS PASSES HOUSE, HEADS TO SENATE
Yesterday, the state House passed a bill that lets Philly tax smokers to the tune of $2 per pack — again. (They’d done so before over the summer, but the Senate passed a version with an expiration date.) The money is earmarked to help plug the city school district’s $80 million budget shortfall. So now the bill heads to that same Senate, and it’s expected to pass there, too, before it hits Gov. Corbett’s desk. Fun fact: Every week that the bill languishes costs the district (and its students) $1.6 million.
PHILLY COP: GAY ATTACK SUSPECTS UNLIKELY TO FACE JAIL
A Philly cop thinks the suspects in a brutal attack on a gay couple likely won’t see jail time, despite injuries that left one man with his jaw wired shut. Why not? Because simple assault isn’t usually something the police investigate, the anonymous officer confessed to Philly Mag: “We have a pretty strict policy here of what’s aggravated and simple. Guy gets punched in the face and gets a tooth knocked out, simple assault, a private criminal complaint. If we had to handle every single fight involving black eyes and knocked-out teeth, we wouldn’t have time to do everything else.”
SEPTA TO RECEIVE $87M FOR STORMPROOFING, INFRASTRUCTURE
The Obama Administration is giving SEPTA a cool $87 million for infrastructure, which means the transit service will finally fix areas prone to flooding — such as $15 million being earmarked for Jenkintown. Other funds will improve or replace aging equipment, including a series of 19th century railroad cuts along the Regional Rail that need shoring up in Montco and Delco.
TO DO: HEAR ‘THE CASE FOR REPARATIONS’ LIVE AT PENN
WHAT: Ta-Nehisi Coates of the Atlantic Monthly discusses his controversial ‘The Case for Reparations’ story
WHEN: 5-6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Claudia Cohen Hall, Room G17, the University of Pennsylvania
HOW MUCH: Free
DETAILS HERE
BILLY PENN LIKES
NO TIPPING FISHTOWN RESTAURANT PLANS JOB FAIR
Cooks, servers and dishwashers who want a higher hourly rate should head to Fishtown on Thursday. The owners of Girard Brasserie & Bruncherie are planning a job fair there, and they’re implementing European-style pay — which means no tips but $11 per hour, plus sick days and benefits. They’re looking for a staff of 20, and they’ll be at Tendenza at 969 N. 2nd St. in Northern Liberties from 9 a.m. to noon.
BOK SCHOOL PLANS INCLUDE ROOFTOP CINEMA, OUTDOOR BEER TERRACES
A developer has revealed plans to turn the 300,000-plus-square-foot former Bok Technical School into live-work residences, art studios, ground-floor retail and maybe a rooftop cinema and outdoor beer gardens. The Passyunk Post has more details on the plan and the developer, Scout Ltd., run by Philadelphian-by-way-of-London Lindsay Scannapieco. (Her father Tom Scannapieco developed the ritzy 1706 Rittenhouse complex.)
