$5.4M has been spent on ads for both sides of the soda tax this year — even though it passed last year

A severance tax that has bipartisan support is stalled in Harrisburg

Everything you need to know about a measure that would let city tax dollars finance political campaigns

Stay abreast of the latest news in coronavirus spread, government response and how our communities are dealing with it with our free morning newsletter.

Sign me up!

Billy Penn is powered by reader support. If you value our updates on the pandemic, will you give us a hand in return?

I support local news!

“I read you daily, so you deserve my support.” — Judith W., Billy Penn newsletter subscriber

If you value our updates, be like Judith and become a member today.

Join Billy Penn now!

Reader support powers our coronavirus reporting. A monthly membership helps lock it in.

Can we count on you as a Billy Penn sustainer?

Yes, I'm in!

Test your local knowledge — join us for the next Philly Quizzo virtual event, or take the quiz online.

I'm a Philly wiz

Lehigh and Aramingo Ave., abandoned train tracks

The barriers to safe injection sites in Philly

Hint: The law isn't the biggest thing standing in the way.

How the city is going to pay for the new police union contract: Dipping into reserves and a wave of ‘belt-tightening’

Everything you need to know about Pennsylvania’s budget impasse

Democratic candidate for District Attorney Larry Krasner

The Reentry Project

How Philly plans to ditch cash bail and what stands in the way

Democratic candidate for district attorney Larry Krasner has a plan to get rid of cash bail. He's not the only game in town.

Philly’s soda tax

Inside the TV ad war between pro- and anti-soda tax forces

Details about the City of Philadelphia’s lawsuit against AG Jeff Sessions re: sanctuary city status

PHL Airport enlisted millennials to help make it less terrible

One of the nation’s worst places to fly wants a makeover.

Strangelove's, a two-story pub in Philadelphia's Gayborhood, has five gender neutral bathrooms throughout the establishment, three of which are on the second level and bear the words: "Men + Women (don't make us separate you.)"

More than a year after Philly’s gender-neutral bathroom bill, no one’s been cited

The city's fielded just three complaints about public bathrooms that are supposed to be labeled gender-neutral

Andrew Patel, manager at Foodpoint Deli & Minimart, said the store orders about one-third as much sugary beverages it did last year.

Philly’s soda tax

Soda tax ‘killing’ corner stores that rely on summer sales

Water has been a major boon but not enough to make up for the decline in sugary beverages.

A representative with the United States Agency for International Development meets refugees in Syria.

How Trump’s restrictive immigration plans are affecting Philly

And further impacts his policies could have on the city

In campaign video, PA gov candidate Scott Wagner takes a ‘guess’ on property taxes

And, oddly enough, he wasn't that far off.

Here’s Philly’s big proposal for how it will be litter and waste free by 2035

Philly announced plans to digitze records back in 2014. None of four main projects are complete, and all are over budget.

Independence Beer Garden and others like it have contributed to a rise in liquor tax revenue.

Thanks, beer gardens: Liquor tax revenue is up nearly 40% over 5 years

Keep drinking outside, people. It's for the kids.

Philly’s soda tax

June soda tax totals were $6.9M, still placing Philly under its revised projections

A coworking space is the new HQ for Philly’s Office of Data and Digital Transformation ?

Philly’s soda tax

Big Soda appeals the Philly beverage tax to the PA Supreme Court

They've already been shut down by two courts.

Local coronavirus info in your inbox

We need your help in these weird times

Hey there, valued reader

Powered by you

Thanks for supporting Billy Penn!