A thin elderly man sits on a stool by the door inside the Charles L. Durham library in Mantua, or as the locals call the area “The Bottom.” He chit-chats with the clerk at the check-out counter, and asks her to put on some Christmas music. The clerk returns with a cd and pops it into a boom box. A [...]

It’s only been four days since the South Street Bridge closed. But it already feels like eternity. The last two evenings, rush hour traffic leaving University City to get on the Schuylkill expressway or across the river to Center City has been horrendous. The back-ups along Chestnut Street and Market Street stretch from 29th street beyond 34th Street. [...]

Here’s the million dollar question. In the long run, do you think Philadelphians would benefit from an expanded central library branch and 43 branches, or keeping open 54 branches and having no expanded central library at all?  To answer this question and several others, take our poll below and we’ll pass on the results to city and library officials.

The $175 [...]

Thanks to all 189 of you who participated in our recent poll. In case you missed it, we asked our readers to weigh in on the issue about whether Philadelphia high schools should hand out free condoms. An overwhelming majority, 98%, voted YES. To get some national perspective on the issue, we looked around to see how our local poll [...]

The cold did not keep away 200 library protesters this afternoon for a rally at the Free Library’s Central Branch. Philadelphia City Council members, elected state officials from the city, activists and residents bundled up and pledged to reverse Mayor Michael Nutter’s decision to shut down 11 neighborhood branches at the end of this month. Many protesters expressed anger towards Nutter, including Philadelphia Student Union [...]

In an effort to eliminate 111 positions, city library officials are laying off 49 people today and leaving 62 positions vacant. The library workers are among the first victims to feel the ax of Mayor Michael Nutter’s $108 million budget cuts in response to the latest economic woes. Under Nutter’s plan, the library system is taking a 20% hit to generate $8 million [...]

President-elect Barack Obama summoned the nation’s governors to Independence Hall today to talk about how to pull our nation out of a recession. With 48 governors in attendance, he asked for their input to help shape his economic recovery plan, which he hopes to enact soon after being sworn in on January 20th.  Some of [...]

As part of our Citizen Spotlight series, we’re introducing you to Philadelphians behind the issues affecting our city everyday. One controversial topic out there is whether Philadelphia public schools should hand out condoms. To get the conversation started, we’re shining the spotlight on Sam Sitrin. She’s campaigning with ACT UP to increase school condom distribution through a program known as Policy 123, [...]

One of our readers Laurie Burras recently posted some questions on our site about Mayor Michael Nutter’s budget cuts. One of her questions includes “Can we make the money to keep our libraries open through bake sales, dinner shows, etc.?” To help answer this question, we contacted Sandy Horrocks. She’s Vice President for Communications and Development at the Free Library [...]

More than 50 people rallied last night in front of the Fumo Family Library in South Philadelphia along Broad Street. The crowd waved signs, chanted ”Heck No We Won’t Go” and solicited honks from passing cars. The Fumo branch is among 11 libraries on the chopping block under Mayor Michael Nutter’s proposed budget cuts.

What stuck out about this rally was [...]