Newsroom
City Council tells ICE to release Philadelphia man
City Council is calling on immigration authorities to release a 44-year-old Philadelphia man who has been detained for months and is at risk of being deported to a country he has never visited. In a resolution adopted Thursday, lawmakers also urged the city’s...
Philly Housing Prices Are Through the Roof. But There Are Ways to Fix It
For decades, housing in Philadelphia has been relatively inexpensive. Now? Not so much. Here's how the region can buck skyrocketing costs and return to affordability.
Bathrooms rock: Franklin Square to get $7.8M in upgrades
Straddling Philadelphia’s Old City and Chinatown neighborhoods, Franklin Square has a handful of park improvements on the way. The one that generated the most excitement at Wednesday’s announcement was the new bathrooms costing $2.2 million.
Local Lawmakers Press Penn to Uphold DEI
Local lawmakers walked out of a meeting with University of Pennsylvania officials on Tuesday due to what they said was insufficient support for diversity, equity and inclusion, WHYY reported. Pennsylvania state senator Art Haywood and state representative Napoleon...
Franklin Square Park to get new restrooms, playground updates and other improvements
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A new playground and restrooms are among the enhancements coming to Franklin Square Park over the next 18 months, as revealed by community leaders on Wednesday.
Franklin Square facelift – Center City park eyes multitude of projects
Millions of dollars worth of upgrades are coming to Center City’s Franklin Square. A significant playground renovation, expanded restroom facilities, a reopened PATCO station, traffic safety improvements and new lighting are all on the horizon, representatives from...
Franklin Square is getting a $7.8M upgrade with new playground, zip line, restrooms, and bike lanes
Franklin Square will undergo a major overhaul that includes adding new restrooms, playground equipment, LED lighting, and bike lanes. The projects will cost about $7.8 million and take about 18 months to complete, according to announcement from nonprofit Historic...
Philly-area lawmakers walk out of meeting with Penn president over DEI cuts
Two Philadelphia-area lawmakers walked out of a meeting with the University of Pennsylvania’s president on Tuesday after they say a university administrator referred to diversity as a “lightning rod.” City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier was among the elected officials...
‘Cowardice’: Pa. lawmakers express disappointment with Penn’s DEI response at meeting with admin.
Senior Penn administrators met with Pennsylvania lawmakers on Tuesday morning to discuss the University’s rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, with multiple elected officials expressing concern about recent changes — and one calling the meeting...
Philly elected officials say Penn’s removal of DEI websites ceded ground to Trump
A group of state and local elected officials on Tuesday slammed the University of Pennsylvania for its response to President Donald Trump’s attacks on diversity initiatives in recent weeks, saying the state’s only Ivy League school is preemptively ceding ground to an...
Philly and state officials confront Penn leadership over DEI policy removal
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Local officials have made it known to University of Pennsylvania leadership that they’re not happy with how the school scrubbed itself of anything related to diversity, equity or inclusion after an executive order from President Donald...
Senator Saval Criticizes Penn’s Decision to Remove DEI Language from Website
Senator Saval Announces $2 Million for Multimodal Transportation Initiatives
Philadelphia, PA − Monday, February 24 − Today State Senator Nikil Saval (D–Philadelphia) announced $2,031,000 in state grants for five infrastructure projects that will help make traveling through Philadelphia safer and more accessible. These grants are awarded through the Commonwealth’s Multimodal Transportation Fund and administered by the Department of Community and Economic Development.
UArts’ Hamilton Hall will go to the Philly company that repurposed the Bok Building
Hamilton Hall, the University of the Arts’ iconic building on South Broad Street, will go to Lindsey Scannapieco’s Philadelphia company Scout, which intends to preserve it for artist workspaces and the attached Furness building for subsidized apartments for artists....
State money will improve Murphy Rec Center
The Lawrence E. Murphy Recreation Center will see significant upgrades thanks to a $600,000 state grant. The beloved recreation center at 300 Shunk St. in South Philly’s Whitman neighborhood will undergo repairs and upgrades while plans formulate for a $7.5 million...
The Politics of Brutalism
Amid the flurry of orders President Trump signed on his first day in office was a memorandum: “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture.” It called for federal public buildings to respect “classical architectural heritage,” implicitly taking aim at a more recent...
Penn faculty join hundreds to rally against Trump administration’s federal research funding freeze
Over 300 individuals gathered together in Center City on Wednesday to protest recent federal funding cuts to academic research. The rally, held outside the office of Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) in Center City, was organized by Labor for Higher Education in...
Academics in N.J., Philly protest Trump administration cuts to scientific research
Dozens of protesters filled the atrium of the Life Sciences Building at Rutgers University-New Brunswick to show their opposition to President Donald Trump’s administration’s funding cuts and freezes targeting scientific research and higher education. The researchers...
Lead bidder for UArts’ Hamilton Hall plans art gallery, work space for artists, and restaurant
The lead bidder for the iconic Hamilton Hall on South Broad Street said Monday that the arts would be a focus for the building, with plans for a gallery in the front lobby where local artists’ work would be displayed and the public could view it for free. “Our goal is...
Rep. Fiedler, Sen. Saval, & Phila. Parks and Rec Celebrate $600,000 State Grant to Murphy Rec Center
Philadelphia PA − February 14, 2025 − Yesterday evening State Representative Elizabeth Fiedler (D–Philadelphia) and State Senator Nikil Saval (D–Philadelphia) joined Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Commissioner Susan Slawson and South Philadelphia neighbors to celebrate a $600,000 state grant for repairs and upgrades to Murphy Recreation Center, a beloved South Philadelphia institution.