12/09/08 5:00am
The South Street Bridge had only been closed for five hours, but people on the west side of the Schuylkill were already anxious about the effect of the closure on their work commutes.
The bridge closed at 9:30 a.m. yesterday so Driscoll Construction Company could begin its projected two-year reconstruction of the bridge.
12/05/08 5:00am
The South Street Bridge will close at 9:30 a.m. on Monday so Driscoll Construction Company can begin its projected two-year reconstruction of the bridge.
Since the entire structure will be demolished, no traffic - cars, bicycles or pedestrians - will be able to use the bridge after Monday morning.
12/03/08 5:00am
Developers' plans to build an 11-story extended-stay hotel at 40th and Pine Streets received unanimous approval from the architectural committee of the Philadelphia Historical Commission last week. The committee's decision has no legal bearing on the hotel's construction, but its recommendation will be factored into the decision of the full historical commission.
11/25/08 5:00am
Wharton sophomore Giresh Mirpuri isn't a serious gambler, but he visits Atlantic City about twice a month to bet $25 to $50 at its casinos.
But if a casino is installed in Center City, as might happen next year, he won't have to make that commute anymore.
11/19/08 5:00am
When the South Street Bridge closes for reconstruction in December, traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway will worsen and fewer taxicabs will prowl the streets of University City.
But on the bright side, results from an ongoing traffic study indicate that the bridge is mainly used for short trips between University City and Center City - so most of its traffic can be diverted to the Walnut or Chestnut Street bridges.
11/17/08 5:00am
Brandywine Realty Trust, with whom Penn is working closely to develop the postal lands, has indefinitely postponed work on an office complex next to Penn's territory because of the credit crisis, its CEO
recently told reporters in a conference call.
Penn officials say the announcement will not affect the University's own eastward expansion.
11/11/08 5:00am
Driscoll Construction Company has been awarded a $67-million contract to reconstruct the South Street Bridge, Mayor Michael Nutter announced yesterday.
Reconstruction of the bridge, which extends from 27th Street to Convention Avenue and connects University City to Center City, will begin with the demolition of the existing bridge in December and should be complete in two years.
11/07/08 5:00am
More youth turned out to vote on Tuesday than in any other recent election, but the number still underwhelmed some experts.
Only half of all eligible voters under age 30 voted Tuesday, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
11/06/08 5:00am
Gov. Ed Rendell was jubilant, and Republican Sen. Arlen Specter more muted, as they discussed the outcome of Tuesday's presidential election.
Before an audience of about 500 civic and business leaders, Rendell and Specter - Pennsylvania's most prominent politicians - made the differences in their views clear at a breakfast hosted by Philadelphia-based political watchdog group Committee of Seventy.
11/05/08 5:00am
A few machine malfunctions and names missing from lists of registered voters held up the voting process at polls around campus yesterday.
But most polling stations reported a smooth election day, and the long lines some had predicted didn't materialize.
The Penn Care and Rehabilitation Center at 36th and Chestnut streets was the only polling place on or around Penn's campus to report significant glitches.
11/04/08 5:00am
Political analysts widely predict major gains for the Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives today.
But few think the Democrats will win the nine extra Senate positions they need to have a filibuster-proof "supermajority" in that branch of Congress.
10/30/08 5:00am
The Philadelphia zoning board declared at a hearing on Wednesday that the city's only secure youth detention facility - the Youth Study Center - is permitted by the zoning code to relocate to 48th and Haverford streets in West Philadelphia.
That doesn't mean the city can begin constructing the new center yet, however.
10/29/08 5:00am
The exhaustive voter-registration efforts that marked this year's election may have resulted in more voters than Philadelphia's polling places can handle, according to the Committee of Seventy, a Philadelphia political watchdog group.
10/28/08 5:00am
Based on a celebrity-studded public service announcement of the same name, "Don't Vote / 5 Friends" is a viral video produced and distributed by Penn Leads the Vote - a nonpartisan organization dedicated to increasing voter turnout.
10/21/08 5:00am
The Philadelphia City Planning Commission convenes today to review legislation that would allow the controversial Foxwoods Casino to open in the Gallery at 11th and Market streets.
City Councilman Frank DiCicco, whose district includes the Gallery, proposed the city block containing the Gallery be designated a commercial entertainment district at an open Council session last Thursday.
10/21/08 5:00am
The whole 2008 election cycle played out in just under two hours at Clark Park on Saturday afternoon. Enormous puppets of elephants, donkeys, oil wells and ballot boxes wheeled and danced around the park's main lawn, as about 200 spectators alternately cheered and hissed.
10/17/08 5:00am
A vacant West Philadelphia lot is being prepared for the relocation of the city's only secure youth detention facility - but the elementary school across the street is so unhappy about the move that it also intends to relocate, according to the school's chief administrative officer.
10/16/08 5:00am
"Why can't I get sex more than every four months?"
"The government does not believe in global warming."
"Nobody listens to me."
Apparently, Philadelphians had a lot to complain about last month.
But that last grievance won't be true for much longer - those words are now in the chorus of a song that the city's first complaint choir will perform publicly in Center City on Nov.
10/09/08 5:00am
Political campaigns have made unprecedented efforts to register new voters this year - but attempts have already been made to scare some of them away from the polls on Nov. 4.
A flyer has been distributed around Philadelphia universities and in low-income neighborhoods over the last month, incorrectly stating that voters with outstanding arrest warrants or unpaid traffic tickets might be arrested if they show up to cast a ballot.
10/06/08 5:00am
As his campaign wraps up a vigorous voter registration drive in Pennsylvania, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama spoke on Friday in Montgomery County - a region closely divided between registered Republicans and Democrats.
Yet nearly one-third of Obama's 6,000 audience members on Friday will not vote in November.
