Temple University workers, who are mad over recent layoffs, protested today outside the home of the school’s President Ann Weaver Hart on Rittenhouse Square. WHYY’s Tom MacDonald covered the event and will have a more this afternoon on 91FM. The union says the University badly mishandled the layoff’s of 18 workers last month by not [...]

By Monica Sellecchia
Soon-to-be college graduates at Temple University are trying to combat the stress of finding that first job for after graduation. Seniors Scott Weinhardt, Mari Saito, Annie Leitenberg and Pamela Hiddemen are preparing themselves for the real world of job searching, as they leave their college lives behind.
In a time when the national [...]

Tina Trenkner at The 13th Floor (a great blog for policy wonks and followers of “best” practices nationwide) found this humorous - or horrifying depending on your perspective - plan by several cities to deal with some minor infrastructure repair.
Fast-food chain KFC is offering to fix four cities’ pothole problems in a public-private partnership designed [...]

A story in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer indicates that folks in the PA and NJ region are driving fewer miles as a result of the recession and the gas price spikes last year.

Impact on the roads
Reporter Paul Nussbaum says Pennsylvania drivers in January drove 4.5 percent fewer miles and in New Jersey the decline was even [...]

Both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Business Journal are reporting that a residence in the recently renovated Two Liberty Place has just been purchased for nearly $7.7 million.
You read that right. $7.7 million is the record for any residential condominium property ever sold in Philadelphia. Joanne Davidow, known by most of us as the woman [...]

By Tom Ferrick
The bankruptcy of Philadelphia Media Holdings, announced late Sunday, isn’t a surprise. The company had already missed several payments on its $390-million debt owed to several banks. All newspapers generally have been hit hard by the downturn in advertising that has come with the recession.
What is a surprise - at least to me [...]

Philadelphia Media Holdings, the parent company of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. Both papers will continue to be published, according to Brian Tierney, one of the papers’ co-owners.  Tierney, who along with a team of investors bought the two papers in 2006 for $562 million dollars, [...]

In an effort to figure out what the stimulus package will mean for Philadelphia and the region, we dispatched online reporter Ben Bradlow (email) to try and find out how (or if) the money will find its way here.  In this first of what we intend to be ongoing explanations and observations of the stimulus [...]

by Elizabeth Fiedler, WHYY News
The recession is hitting Philadelphia area residents of all ages and professions.  The tough financial situation is also putting a crimp in the “Underground Economy,” people who don’t pay taxes or get permits, but who sell all sorts of things including illegal taxi rides, t-shirts, and CDs.  WHYY’s Elizabeth Fiedler has [...]

By Tom Ferrick
Talk about mixed emotions.
Imagine you are Mayor Michael Nutter reading the results of the public opinion poll released last week.
First, there’s good news. Your approval rating is 71%, despite the bumps and bruises you have taken over the budget cutting done so far.
Now, some bad news: Most folks hate the steps you’ve taken [...]