Another mayoral forum … and another mayoral candidate?
Another mayoral forum happens tonight at St. Joe’s. The focus is gun violence, with 8 of 10 Dem candidates confirmed — everyone but Amen Brown and Warren Bloom. It streams live on 6abc.com from 6 to 8 p.m.
- Does the crowded field really need another candidate? Apparently Mike Stack — former lt. gov. and onetime standup comedian — thinks so. That’s what Democratic Party boss Bob Brady told WHYY, anyway.
In partnership with CeaseFirePA and support from Lenfest’s Every Voice, Every Vote, WHYY and Billy Penn are also hosting a mayoral forum on public safety. In advance of the March 1 event, we’re gathering questions from community members — the first session happened this week in West Philly.
Free movie streaming service returns to Free Library
Good news for lovers of movies and free entertainment: the Free Library has brought back free access to Kanopy.
- With more than 3,000 titles, the streaming service was beloved by many Philadelphians — all you need to access it is a library card — but it was discontinued in summer 2021 because of high cost.
Kanopy fixed that by adding a new pricing tier specially for libraries, Asha Prihar reports, so now it’s easy to sign up and start watching for free.
RECAP: What else happened?
$ = paywalled
- Shapiro’s first executive order as governor: eliminating the college degree requirement for 65,000 state jobs. That follows a private sector trend to drop the discriminatory screening metric. [City & State/KQED]
- Federal authorities filed attempted murder charges against the person shot by a security guard outside the courthouse next to Independence Mall. Wearing makeshift body armor, he reportedly approached the officer with knives and refused to drop them. [AP/WHYY]
- Philadelphia’s “real” minimum wage — the $7.25/hr rate adjusted for the relatively high East Coast cost of living — is the fourth-lowest in the nation, per a new analysis. The only cities lower are Honolulu, New Orleans, and Plano, TX. Highest overall? Denver. [Capital-Star/BP 2018/SmartAsset]
- Determined to mitigate the shortage that’s kept Philly pools from fully opening, Parks & Rec has started recruiting lifeguards for this summer. Pay starts at $16/hr, there’s free training available — and it’s fun. [BP 2021/KYW/Phila Gov/BP 2022]
- Rittenhouse’s low-key but high-end Scandinavian-inspired cocktail bar Andra Hem gets spotlighted by the New York Times. [Andra Hem/NYT Style Mag]
- In advance of Saturday’s playoff game, there’s a Jalen Hurts jersey on the Rocky statue, cutouts of Eagles players on the Art Museum steps, a pop-up Eagles bar in Midtown Village, and a Bird Dog pep rally today from 11:30 to 1 at the Comcast Technology Center. Go Birds. [@RossDiMattei/Inquirer$/97.5 BEN-FM/BP]
MAYOR WATCH
Mayor Kenney is still in DC for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Meanwhile, NYC Mayor Adams is trying to trash talk in advance of Eagles-Giants this weekend — by offering to put up vegan cheesecake in a food-swap bet.
ON THE CALENDAR
🌇 Wharton hosts its annual Future of Cities Conference, this year focused on “transformations through equity, technology, and infrastructure.” Tickets start at $35 for virtual attendance. (8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20)
🧧 Lunar New Year celebrations fill Chinatown this weekend, and you can catch lion dancers parading through the neighborhood twice — Saturday night and Sunday morning. (10 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21 and 11 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 22)
