A deer-culling expedition composed of USDA marksmen was preparing to run through Lower Merion for the next four nights to reduce the local deer population and prevent the transmission of Lyme disease. The deer carcasses will be donated to the local food bank.
The giant Irish deer -- the largest species of deer that ever lived, with antlers nearly eleven feet across -- went extinct about 10,000 years ago because of natural climate change that caused fewer plants to grow and starved the deer, scientists found.
Rather than hammer out a climate change agreement at the widely-anticipated Copenhagen conference in December, world leaders including President Obama agreed in Singapore over the weekend, they'll just come up with a less specific, non-legally binding pact that will have to be fully realized at a later international conference.
Alaskan governor Sean Parnell was suing the federal government to get polar bears off the list of threatened species, claiming that protections on the bears' habitat was preventing the state from developing lucrative offshore oil discoveries.
In anticipation of the impending healthcare bill, the pharmaceutical industry was raising the prices of drugs at the fastest rate in seventeen years: about 9 percent over the last year, which will add more than $10 billion to the nation's drug bill this year.
Teachers routinely paid thousands of dollars to obtain teaching jobs in the public schools of northeastern Pennsylvania, according to the results of an FBI probe that began in the spring. So far, six school board members have been indicted for accepting bribes from prospective teachers.
Former listings editor/award-winning City Paper writer Juliet Fletcher works at the Atlantic City Press these days. It's a daily newspaper, but I guess they do video stuff from time to time. (Don't we all?) In this report, Juliet ventures to the edge of an eroded sandbank in Sea Isle City. A little madness breaks out around the 3:15 mark.
Friday: Shed a tear for T&P Fine Art, the excellent South Phil cheapo art gallery, who will close their doors after this show. But then pull yourself together, Omnibussers! We have far too much to do. Such as watch Broken Lizard, they of Super Troopers, Beerfest and the upcoming Slammin' Salmon, do their thing. Or give it up for some kick ass ladies, literally, as the Liberty Belles roller derby team battles for supremacy at the Declaration of Derby. Mama Omnibus has faith that the Belles will wipe the floor with NYC's Gotham Girls…
Saturday: …but that ain't the only Philly v. New York action in town. Lorraine Ranalli (yeah!), writer of Gravy Wars: South Philly Foods, Feuds & Attytoods, will take on the Big Apple's Johnny DeCarlo (boo!) in the World Series Gravy Competition. Sigh, DeCarlo, it's not even worth it. Now that your appetite is whetted for blood thirsty competition (and you're already in South Philly), head to The Arena for CZW: Night of Infamy for some wrasslin' smackdown action.
Sunday: You might as well stay in the neighborhood 'cause next it's the Found Footage Festival at Connie's Ric Rac, who are subbing in for the on-hiatus 941 Theater (sad face). Then it's northward ho for New Zealand punks The Axemen, who share a bill with the totally awesome Times New Viking and The Mad Scene.
As Stewie might say, "as long as we're hitting these phenomena at the height of their popularity," but there's a fine line between dated and retro, and we say time's ripe for a Ren and Stimpy revival.
Little White Bag: Joey Ryan (behind cloud) hits Necro Butcher with a bag of "cocaine" in a November Ring of Honor bout.
Photo | Neal Santos
As a companion to this morning's cover story byShaun Brady on the South Philly indie wrestling scene — there are no less than four independent promotions working The Arena — we had our vid-man Neal Santos and intern Scott Yorko head down to the Nov. 5 Ring of Honor show to take some pics and record some audio to give a better sense of the scene.
Yes, it's difficult to argue that the Phils need fixing per se, but the need to do a little something something to get back to the World Series and get over a hump we'll call the Yankees.
Here at The Clog, we've isolated four main areas the Phillies need to lavish a little TLC on over the off season:
Third Base (Feliz has to go)
The Rotation (Is Moyer the best we can do at fifth starter? Will Happ repeat his strong rookie performance?)
The Bullpen (Can we count on Lidge to recover? Should we sign free agent? Should we groom hard-throwing youngsters Scott Mathieson and Antonio Bastardo for bigger roles down the line?)
The Batting Order (Can we really thrive with a .290 OBP at the top of the order? Can we please split up Howard/Utley vs. lefties?)
The Bench (No more Bruntlett?)
and have concocted a poll with what we believe to be the main options for the team.
The winners of the Internet Baseball Awards — essentially the MVP, Cy Young, Rookie and Manger of the Year awards as chosen by stathead fans — were announced of the last two days.
More than 1,200 ballots were cast in this year's installment. The hometown nine fared well in the National League though, much like this year's post-season, nobody took home any hardware:
MVP:
Chase Utley and Ryan Howard finished 4th and 10th respectively in the MVP voting. Jayson Werth (20), Raul Ibanez (24) and Cliff Lee (28) also made showings
Cy Young:
Cliff Lee finished 9th in the balloting, which is not bad considering he put in less than a half season of work in the red pinstripes. J.A. Happ placed 16th with Cole Hamels clocking in at 19th.
Rookie of the Year:
This was a nailbiter, as J.A. Happ finished 2nd to the Braves' Tommy Hanson in a photo finish. Happ racked up 5,473 points to Hanson's 5,487. To my knowledge, no other Phils rookies received votes.
Manager of the Year:
Charlie Manuel finished 4th, behind Jim Tracy (whose miraculous reversal of the Rockies season was deserving of praise even if his handling of the NLDS was not), Joe Torre (who's kind of coasting on reputation at this point) and Tony LaRussa (see Joe Torre).
Water cascaded through the streets of the Southwest Philly Eastwick neighborhood for three hours after a 30-inch water main broke around 3 a.m. this morning.
After an enormous 17,000-megawatt hydroelectric dam abruptly went off the grid last night, large parts of Brazil, including its two major cities, underwent a blackout for two hours.
For the first time, the Mormon Church has announced its support for gay rights legislation, specifically Salt Lake City laws that prohibit discriminating against gays in jobs and housing.
To mollify Iraqi officials upset about the fatal shooting of 17 civilians in 2007 in Baghdad's Nisoor Square, the security contractor group Blackwater tried to pay off those officials with about $1 million in bribes, according to former executives of the corporation.
"Predatory towing" companies are marauding the streets of Philadelphia, according to the City Controller, charging residents exorbitant fees to get their vehicles back.
Now, I don't think it's cool to throw anything at performers, but I have to think Morrissey came up really small here. Sure, have security remove the person who did it, even chastise them publicly as they are escorted out. I know he's has been sick lately, but punish all the other fans? Weak.
I just watched Morrissey get hit in the head like 10 times in a row, and let me tell you... it's kinda funny. First of all, it really does seem to be plastic. It bounces like a plastic bottle and Moz has to figure out what's going on. If it were a glass bottle, he'd be like, "Ow! Fuck! I just got hit by a glass bottle."
Like I said, I'm not condoning the action and I understand why he was upset. But be a pro man, hell, remember rock 'n' roll from your youth a bit. One of my favorite bands has glow sticks hit them regularly, sometimes they improvise with them. The intent behind the actions is different, but it's just a show, and the show must go on.
Am I wrong? What do you think your favorite performers might do?
The Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, Pa., expanded its Weatherization Training Center with federal stimulus funds to teach students about the installation of green technology in low-income households.
The president of the Maldives, a collection of islands in the Indian Ocean that is the world's lowest lying country and may be entirely submerged by rising oceans by the end of this century, censured rich countries for doing too little to stem climate change.
Marine scientists were summoned by the Environmental Protection Agency to study the Chesapeake Bay and understand why it remains polluted and unhealthy even after billions of dollars were spent to clean it up.
Though Democrats by and large celebrated the passage of the health care bill in the House of Representatives last weekend, a subgroup within the party vowed to fight an amendment inserted to avoid further delays in its passage: a clause that limits abortion coverage even for women paying for it by themselves.
The American Public Health Association is holding its annual meeting in Philadelphia this year, discussing topics such as H1N1, water safety and public healthat the Convention Center.
Saturday: Esquire writer A.J. Jacobs wouldn't miss the First Person Fest for the world, even after he met A.D. (who also rocked this week's cover story on the Top 10 Spectrum Music Moments). Show up in style by traveling along with the Tweed Ride. It's a good this thing is happening on today, rather than tomorrow because these riders would most certainly have to start a to-the-death brawl with the participants in the…
Sunday: …Snuggie Crawl. Do not scoff, haters. Mama Omnibus alway, always, always wanted a Snuggie and it wasn't until Art Department angel Allie bestowed one upon me that I felt my life was complete. Needless to say, it's glorious. But too many Snuggies and not enough substance leads to trouble so check out Life Without Parole, where excerpts of Mother California: A Story of Redemption Behind Bars by the incarcerated Kenneth Hartman will be read.
Nidal Malik Hasan, the Muslim, U.S.-born major who killed at least 13 people in an  attack on the army base at Ft. Hood, Texas, yesterday, had been the target of ethnic harassment and due to deploy soon to Afghanistan, which he called his "worst nightmare."
Partly in response to the recent deaths of five British soldiers, who were killed by an Afghan police officer they were mentoring, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave a speech informing the Afghan government that Britain would begin to withdraw support for the anti-Taliban fight if the country's pervasive corruption was not more effectively dealt with.
Robert Sturman, a financial adviser who preyed on retired school teachers in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs with quasi-Ponzi schemes that netted him about $4.6 million, pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court yesterday.
Spanish fishermen whose ship was seized by Somali pirates one month ago were urging their families to pressure the Spanish government to return two pirates captured the day after the hijacking, saying that their holders refuse to negotiate until those two men are returned.
Governor Rendell and U.S. representative Bob Brady reported that the striking Philadelphia Transit Workers Union is considering a revised contract offer from SEPTA, provoking speculation that the end of the strike may be imminent.
Ousted President Manuel Zelaya withdrew from a power-sharing deal that the United States had drawn up between Zelaya and interim leader Roberto Micheletti, saying the deal would be illegitimate unless Congress first voted to restore Zelaya to power.
Today, at-large Councilman Frank Rizzo introduced a resolution calling for the city to restore mechanical leaf collection, a service which Mayor Nutter cut last November, during the fiscal budget crisis.
The resolution was co-sponsored by Councilmembers Anna Verna, Jannie Blackwell, Curtis Jones, Joan Krajewski, Donna Reed Miller, Marian Tasco and Brian O’Neill.
It passed 14-2, with Councilmembers DiCicco and Green dissenting and Councilman Greenlee absent. (*corrected from an earlier draft, which gave the vote incorrectly as 15-2).
The Mayor's office has said that it opposes re-instituting the service, choosing to spend the money elsewhere: "We're asking citizens to work with us on this issue so we can meet our spending priorities such as police, fire, and libraries," said spokeswoman Maura Kennedy yesterday.
Rizzo, however, saw it a different way:
"There are certain things that the city has an obligation to do," he told the Inquirer.
"There are certain things you can’t put a price tag on," he told the Daily News.
Actually, putting a price tag on the service is pretty easy: it cost the city $400,000 annually.
And, it turns out, only about 10% of the city was ever getting the service. And, it turns out, that 10% includes the richest neighborhoods in Philadelphia.
Streets Department maps obtained by the CP show that only tiny pockets of the city were receiving mechanical leaf collection services in the first place.
I apologize for the poor image quality, and we're working on getting better maps. A Streets spokesperson confirmed that the different shadings (solid vs. striped) simply refer to different scheduled weeks of collection.
Shaded portions (only) received mechanical leaf collection in 2008
Among the pockets of Philly that did get the service, Chestnut Hill and West Mt. Airy seem to dominate in the northwest. Elsewhere: Somerton, Bustleton, and a few other pockets of the northeast; the small gentrified triangle of West Philly that extends west from the University bounded by Chestnut, Baltimore, and 52nd Street; and the swath of Overbrook that hugs City Ave; and a teeny, tiny little pocket of South Philly.
The rest of West Philadelphia, North Philadelphia, the River Districts, and South Philadelphia -- had to rake their leaves themselves.
Asked why these areas - and not others - received service, Streets spokeswoman June Canton pointed out that they have more leaves. And we don't doubt she's right: but they're also wealthier – a lot wealthier, in some cases – than the rest of the city.
There may be "certain things the city has an obligation to do," as Councilman Rizzo put it: but is this really one of them?
Staff Blog
