Free Republic

Despite backing what became one of the nation’s first successful soda taxes, Mayor Jim Kenney is now blaming businesses for the resulting spike in the cost of sugary beverages. “They’re gouging their own customers,” he said of retailers who have been passing along some of the costs associated with the new tax.

Mayor Jim Kenney, who lead the charge for the passage of his city’s “soda tax,” is lashing out at the business community over higher prices, even accusing retailers of attempting to stir up resentment for the tax in the community . . . The 1.5 cents per ounce tax on sugary drinks is implemented at the distribution level, meaning that retailers must choose how much of the cost to pass onto consumers at the shelves. . . . “From Jan. 1, it’s been completely dead,” Mohammad Alqtaishat, owner at Roxborough’s M&M Market, told Billy Penn. “I’m not making money at...

A Pennsylvania lottery player who kept buying losing scratch-off tickets called her string of losses a conspiracy and threatened to kill employees at state lottery headquarters, authorities said. Towanda A. Shields is wanted on 53 charges, including harassment, stalking and terroristic threats, for phone calls and voice-mail messages that police said started as a “nuisance” last year and escalated into a “relentless” stream of hostile, sexually explicit and threatening statements to Pennsylvania Lottery officials in Lower Swatara Township. Police there issued a warrant for her arrest Tuesday and are working with authorities in Philadelphia, where Shields lives, to bring her...

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - A soldier’s mom is speaking out after a brutal attack on her son. The serviceman became a target for a violent group after the Mummers parade. He is now in the hospital with a long recovery ahead of him. "He's such a good kid. He did not deserve this." Lori Freni was supposed to see her 19-year-old Army serviceman son Austin head back to base after the holidays....

The contentious soda tax secured passage in June but consumers in Philadelphia are still flabbergasted by the price increases the tax is sparking. In some cases, shoppers found that they were paying more for the soda tax than the actual product they were purchasing. The 1.5 cents per ounce tax on sugary drinks is implemented at the distribution level, meaning retailers must choose how much of the cost to pass onto consumers at the shelves. A 12-pack of Lipton Diet Green Tea at a Save-A-Lot in the city is now priced at $8.03, instead the $4.99 it costed in December,...

A soldier who was gifted with a plane ticket to see his widowed mother on Christmas saw his holiday turn to horror when he was left with severe facial injuries by a gang in Philadelphia, his family said. . . . Freni, his mom and girlfriend were strolling through Philadelphia after the parade when they the large group of young men walked by them and made 'derogatory' comments about Freni's jacket, she said. She says that one of those men then hit Freni, and the others leaped in to attack him as well.

As homicide detectives continue their investigation, family, friends and neighbors are in a state of shock over the fatal shooting of a beloved 81-year-old South Philadelphia store owner. Relatives and friends cried and hugged Monday as they continue to grieve the horrific and inexplicable Christmas Eve murder of Marie Buck. "She was an unbelievably warm, loving person and the worst of people don't deserve to die like that, let alone the best," nephew Wayne Fantozzi said. Marie Buck operated her grocery store, simply called Marie's, at the corner of 6th and Titan. For 43 years, family members say, she never...

Former Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday on charges of money laundering, bribery and fraud. Fattah, 60, resigned from the House in June after being convicted on more than 20 counts of corruption. He'll have to report to prison by Jan. 25, 2017, to begin his sentence. Prosecutors had called for Fattah to receive 17 to 22 years in prison. Fattah had already lost the Democratic primary for the Philadelphia-area seat he represented for 22 years. His successor, Rep. Dwight Evans (D), was sworn in on Nov. 14 to finish the remaining weeks...

The Philadelphia medical examiner’s office says as many as 35 fatal drug overdoses over a recent five-day period might be part of a bigger problem: the national opioid crisis. Philadelphia police and the medical examiner’s office are working to determine the cause of the overdoses and possible reasons for the spike in deaths. “There are overdoses that occur every day and people don’t die,” said police spokesman Lt. John Stanford. “What’s coming to the forefront is the fact that people are overdosing and dying.” A dozen people alone died from overdoses Dec. 1. Another four died the following day. That...

The Most Bourgeois Sight Imaginable': Philadelphia Attorney Is Caught Spray-Painting 'F*** Trump' Graffiti While Wearing A Blazer, Chinos And Swilling A Glass Of Wine 3 December 2016 A lawyer from Philadelphia has been caught on camera daubing a wall with anti-Trump graffiti while dressed in smart blazer and holding a glass of wine. Duncan Lloyd, who is an assistant city solicitor has been identified in the surveillance footage that saw him and another man walking along Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill on November 25. Lloyd, who is smartly dressed in the video, is seen filming or taking photos, while a...

Though Hillary Clinton lost Pennsylvania by a smaller margin than reported on election night, the race still isn’t close enough to trigger an automatic statewide recount of the votes, according to new figures. Nearly three weeks after the election, the City of Philadelphia has finished counting votes, including absentee and provisional ballots. Those totals significantly cut Clinton’s loss in Pennsylvania to President-elect Donald Trump, who amassed a mere 46,000 votes more than the Democratic nominee. More than five million people across the state voted in this election. That’s a difference of about 0.8 percent. In Pennsylvania, votes must be recounted...

<p>A Philadelphia city attorney has been identified as one of two men involved in spraying anti-Donald Trump graffiti on a building in the City of Brotherly Love last week.</p> <p>According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, assistant city solicitor Duncan Lloyd was captured on video with another man who spraypainted “Fuck Trump” on a new grocery store.</p>

Updated 5:30 p.m. — As of close of business on Monday, the Philadelphia Board of Elections had received petitions from 74 (out of more than 1,600) divisions. Updated 3:45 p.m. — Jill Stein officially filed a lawsuit in a bid to force all of Pennsylvania’s votes to be recounted. Jill Stein’s effort to recount presidential votes in three swing states already appears to be sputtering in Philadelphia. While Stein, a former presidential candidate, has raised millions of dollars and filed for a recount in Wisconsin, the process in Pennsylvania is much more complicated. Candidates cannot file for a recount themselves....

An accused child rapist and Dominican national was released out of custody by Philadelphia police, ignoring federal immigration officials’ request to hand over the man. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released a news release describing how 40-year-old Winston Enrique Perez Pilarte, also known as Josue Duran-Cortes, was released by Philadelphia officials back in 2015 after failing to “honor” their detainer on Pilarte. “After confirming his identity using biometric data, an ICE detainer was lodged against Perez Pilarte while he was detained at the Philadelphia Curran Fromhold Correctional Facility in July 2015,” ICE stated in the release. “On Nov. 25, 2015,...

JUNIATA (WTXF) - Police are investigating a triple shooting that took place in Juniata Wednesday night. According to police, officers responded to a report of a shooting on the 4000 block of Howland Street at 10:46 p.m

Democrats are “making a big bet and a mistaken one” by defying the federal government to protect their city’s “sanctuary” status, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer said on Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” Wednesday. "Sanctuary cities were a scandal before Trump. It’s in defiance of federal authority,” Krauthammer said. President-elect Donald Trump pledged to withhold federal funds from cities that protect illegal immigrants from possible deportation—and Krauthammer said he’s well within his rights to do so. “The people who did this in the past were the racists in the south who defied federal authority on civil rights, so now it’s...

In a desperate 11th hour move to keep Pennsylvania from choosing Donald Trump for president, Hillary Rodham Clinton's team has sent out an urgent call for 1,500 supporters to make get out the vote calls into the state, and had President Obama give three Philadelphia radio interviews. "We need 1,500 people to call into Pennsylvania right now. Can you help?" said a Clinton email to supporters a day after ending her campaign in Philadelphia with Bill Clinton, Obama and Bruce Springsteen.

The city’s crippling weeklong transit strike ended early Monday, ensuring that all buses, trolleys and subways will be up and running by Election Day. […] Democratic city leaders had feared the strike could weaken turnout at the polls on Tuesday and hurt Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who needs a big haul of votes in the city if she is to win the battleground state instead of Republican Donald Trump. The big concern was people were spending so much time getting to and from work that some wouldn't have time to go to the polls. …

Bill Donohue comments on Hillary Clinton’s speech at an African American church in Philadelphia yesterday: Hillary Clinton took her campaign to Mount Airy Church of God in Christ yesterday afternoon. According to one report, “she urged parishioners of a black church in Philadelphia’s West Oak Lane neighborhood to choose ‘hope over fear’ and vote to send her to the White House.” Another story described how she stood “at a wooden lectern in the center of a purple-carpeted altar,” making her pitch to the faithful. There has been no complaint from the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State,...

The week-long work stoppage that sidelined subways, trolleys, and buses and threatened to complicate a closely contested presidential election ended in the predawn hours Monday as SEPTA and leadership for the Transportation Workers Union Local 234 reached a tentative five-year contract for 4,738 transit personnel. While the agreement needs to be formally approved by SEPTA's board and union members, it means workers will return to their jobs during the day. The city's mass transit system gradually returned to service Monday morning, with full service promised before Tuesday morning's commuters begin their treks to work — just in time for Election...