Tom MacDonald

Reporter

WHYY reporter Tom MacDonald is a lifelong Philadelphia-area resident who has worked in the region since the mid-1980s. Tom started in commercial radio covering the MOVE standoff with police for WFIL-AM. He was also City Hall Bureau Chief, covering government and politics for more than a decade, for WWDB-FM.

Tom has been heard on numerous stations in the region during the decade he worked for Metro Traffic, doing news, traffic, and weather.

Tom has also been heard nationally, filing reports for NPR, ABC News Radio, NBC Radio, and CBS Radio.

He has won the Associated Press award for his coverage of the protests of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and a Religious Communicators award for a post-9/11 documentary he did with the late Peter Jennings.

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Community

Re-gifting to help someone land or keep a job

Career Wardrobe helps job seekers afford professional clothing for interviews or work. The group is asking that you donate that unwanted clothing gifts.

7 years ago

Members of Cara Leom sing along as their band plays Golden Slippers at Broad and Spruce Streets. (Jonathan Wilson for WHYY)

Arts & Entertainment

Spring in their step as Mummers strut through Philadelphia

The unseasonably-warm temperatures helped Mummers and fans alike bask in Philadelphia's New Year's Day tradition.

7 years ago

Mayor Kenney signs bills at City Hall (Tom MacDonald/WHYY)

Politics & Policy

Kenney signs two bills to help Philly’s low wage workers

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has signed a bill that will give people at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder more predictable hours and another raising city worker pay.

7 years ago

In this Nov. 26, 2014, file photo, a fake handgun resembling a Colt 1911 pistol, taken from Tamir Rice after he was fatally shot by Cleveland police, is displayed after a news conference in Cleveland. (Mark Duncan/AP Photo, File)

Politics & Policy

Philadelphia DA: Stop sales of realistic-looking toy guns

Philadelphia's district attorney warns that realistic-looking toy guns can lead to fatal mistakes.

7 years ago

Heidi Wyandt, 27, holds a handful of her medication bottles at the Altoona Center for Clinical Research in Altoona, Pa., on Wednesday, March 29, 2017, where she is helping test an experimental non-opioid pain medication for chronic back pain related to a work related injury she received in 2014. (Chris Post/AP Photo)

Politics & Policy

Philadelphia asks doctors to prescribe non-opioids first

In the midst of an opioid crisis in Philadelphia, the city asks doctors to change how they prescribe pain-killers for after surgery.

7 years ago

Gene Dykes crosses finish line in record time at Jacksonville Marathon (Courtesy Mark Grubb)

Lifestyle

70-year-old Bala Cynwyd man sets marathon world record

Gene Dykes might have broken the record by a wider margin if he didn't have last-minute cramp.

7 years ago

Mayor Jim Kenney signs a bill Tuesday authorizing the Philadelphia Energy Authority — an independent municipal authority set up specifically to reduce the city's energy's consumption — to enter into a contract to purchase 22 percent of its power from solar provider Community Energy. (Tom MacDonald/WHYY)

Politics & Policy

Philly signs agreement to buy solar energy

The city of Philadelphia plans to fulfill 22 percent of its energy demand with solar power.

7 years ago

A bust of Harriet Tubman stands in the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center, a stop on the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, in Church Creek, Md. A group in Cape May, New Jersey, is planning a museum there in her honor. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Arts & Entertainment

Museum honoring Harriet Tubman destined for Cape May

The museum will include a permanent exhibit on Harriet Tubman, who spent time in Cape May during the 1850s raising money for helping slaves escape from the South.

7 years ago