Philadelphia (Pa)

Subterms

    More stories

    • 163 Shares199 Views

      in Elections

      Amtrak and NJ Transit Trains Suspended Because of Fallen Wires at Penn Station

      by

      Fallen electrical wires in New Jersey brought Amtrak and New Jersey Transit service to a halt on the Northeast Corridor, leaving travelers stranded, according to transit agencies.Train service along the Northeast Corridor south of New York City ground to a halt Wednesday evening because of fallen overhead power cables in Kearny, N.J., stranding commuters and travelers on trains and at stations as far south as Washington.The power outage disrupted service between New York and Newark, starting at 5:05 p.m. and the backups cascaded down the corridor that is the main line between New York and Washington. Some trains bound for Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, America’s busiest rail hub, terminated in Philadelphia, where passengers were left to find alternate transportation, said Jason Abrams, a spokesman for Amtrak.At 10:05 p.m., hundreds of people rushed the entryway of track 11 at Penn Station, where a train to Trenton was boarding nearly four-and-a-half hours behind schedule.At about 10:30 p.m., Mr. Abrams said trains were running again south of Penn Station. By 11 p.m., he said, northbound service had also resumed. But it was not clear if service would be fully restored before the Thursday morning rush.Sheydline Moise, 23, was shuffling forward in the crowd. She’d left work to catch a 6:27 p.m. train home toward Woodbridge, N.J., and had been waiting at the station ever since. At one point, she boarded a train for about 20 minutes, only for authorities to tell passengers to disembark, she said.“I almost started to cry,” Ms. Moise said, adding that Uber was quoting a fare of nearly $200. “This has been a super long night,” she said, sounding exasperated. “I’m definitely calling off tomorrow.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 100 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      Regulators Seize Republic First, a Troubled Philadelphia Bank

      by

      The relatively small bank, the first to fail this year, will have its deposits assumed by another Pennsylvania lender, Fulton Bank.Regulators late Friday seized Republic First Bancorp, a troubled Philadelphia lender, in the first U.S. bank failure this year.Republic First Bancorp, known as Republic Bank, had about $4 billion in deposits at the end of January and assets worth $6 billion, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said in a statement.“Substantially all” of its deposits will be assumed by Fulton Bank of Lancaster, Pa., the F.D.I.C. said, with Republic First’s 32 branches in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York reopening as soon as Saturday as Fulton Bank branches.Founded in 1988, Republic First was smaller than the midsize banks that collapsed last year — including First Republic Bank and Silicon Valley Bank, whose assets each topped $200 billion. The F.D.I.C. expects the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund to be $667 million.The failure comes amid continuing concern about the health of regional banks. In a presentation for investors in July, Republic First said that deposits were declining and that the bank’s mortgage lending business had become less valuable as interest rates increased.It had planned to exit the mortgage business and refocus on consumer deposits. It was delisted by Nasdaq in August, after it failed to file its annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and an expected $35 million investment in the bank was scuttled this year, as reported by Banking Dive.Feddie Strickland, a bank analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott, said that Republic First’s failure was likely to be an isolated incident and that the overall banking sector is stable.“I think small banks are in good shape,” Mr. Strickland said. “Some of the failures we saw last year were really banks with a certain specialization. I think there’s an importance of being diversified.”Mr. Strickland called Fulton, which is taking over Republic First’s deposits, “a boring bank in the best way,” calling the commercial bank “careful” and “good operators.”“Depositors should feel safe with Fulton,” he added.Maureen Farrell More

    • 125 Shares179 Views

      in Elections

      Ex-Philadelphia Officer Pleads Guilty in Fatal Shooting of Boy, 12

      by

      Edsaul Mendoza, a former Philadelphia police officer, could face up to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder.A former Philadelphia police officer pleaded guilty on Friday to third-degree murder in the shooting of a fleeing 12-year-old boy in 2022, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.The former officer, Edsaul Mendoza, 28, also pleaded guilty to possession of an instrument of crime in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County before Judge Diana Anhalt, court records show.Mr. Mendoza, who is scheduled to be sentenced on July 22, could face up to 40 years in prison.Mr. Mendoza fatally shot the boy, Thomas Siderio, during a foot chase on the night of March 1, 2022, after Thomas shot at an unmarked police vehicle that Mr. Mendoza and three other Philadelphia police officers were in, according to prosecutors.Mr. Mendoza had initially been charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and possession of an instrument of crime, according to prosecutors.A jury trial had been scheduled for May 13, court records show.Charles Gibbs, a lawyer for Mr. Mendoza, declined to comment on Friday.A lawyer for the Siderio family did not immediately respond to a request for comment.“Justice must be evenhanded,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement on Friday. “Everyone must be accountable under the law.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 113 Shares129 Views

      in Elections

      Philadelphia Man Is Freed After 34 Years in Prison

      by

      Police had hidden evidence showing that Ronald Johnson did not participate in the crime he was convicted of, his lawyer said.Ronald Johnson, who had spent more than three decades behind bars, was freed on Monday after a Philadelphia judge vacated his sentence and reversed his conviction, officials said.Judge Scott DiClaudio granted Mr. Johnson’s bid for post-conviction relief by doing so. Prosecutors informed the court that they would not pursue a new trial and moved to dismiss all charges, which the judge granted.That, his lawyer, Jennifer Merrigan, said, meant Mr. Johnson was a free man.“There’s no way that they could retry him because there is absolutely no evidence against him,” Ms. Merrigan said in an interview on Tuesday.Mr. Johnson, 61, had served 34 years after he was convicted of the 1990 murder of Joseph Goldsby. The conviction had been based “solely on the false testimony of two witnesses,” the nonprofit public interest law firm Phillips Black, which advises incarcerated individuals, said in a statement.The police had hidden evidence showing that Mr. Johnson did not participate in the crime, Ms. Merrigan said. She pointed to two witnesses who had given statements to the police after being interviewed multiple times, in which they said Mr. Johnson wasn’t present, and “actually identified a different person.”“The police then hid that evidence, and so when he went to trial, the jury heard from two witnesses who said that he was there. But he and his lawyers did not know that these witnesses had given many other statements,” she said.Ms. Merrigan said that “this kind of police misconduct has happened a lot in Philadelphia, and a lot around the country.”“It is really unfair both to the people who get convicted and lose many years of their lives, but also to the victims, who don’t learn what really happened to their loved one,” she said.After a Philadelphia judge vacated his sentence and reversed his conviction on Monday, Ronald Johnson hugged his son, Ronald Johnson Jr., left. His sister, Marian Johnson, is at right.Marg MaguireMr. Johnson, who had maintained his innocence throughout his years behind bars, said he had spent the first 24 hours of his newfound freedom taking a bath, shopping for clothes and getting a driver’s license. He enjoyed a big meal with his family, with rib-eye steak, shrimp and steak fries.“I’m starting a new chapter, and I’m not rushing in,” Mr. Johnson said in an interview on Tuesday, noting that “these long years, they’ve been rough.”“You might just cry at night,” he said, but “the next day you just got to pick yourself back up.”Mr. Johnson, who will turn 62 this summer, said he thinks he’s “going to have two birthdays now.”“The day I got out, and my regular birthday,” he said. “I think I’m going to celebrate them two days the rest of my life.” More

    • 175 Shares199 Views

      in Elections

      These Democrats Love Biden and Think the Rest of America Has Lost Its Mind

      by

      Andrea Russell is a fixture on Earp Street, the quiet strip of rowhouses in South Philadelphia where she has lived for 45 years. In the afternoons, neighbors come and go from her living room as her 16-year-old cat, George, sits perched above a television that is usually tuned to cable news.Ms. Russell, a 77-year-old retired legal secretary, thinks President Biden would fit right in. “He’d come on by Earp Street,” she said. “I could picture going up to him and saying, ‘Hi, Joe.’ I can see him here.” She identifies with him, she said, and admires his integrity and his record. She also loves his eyes.Her friend, Kathy Staller, also 77, said she was as eager to vote for Mr. Biden as she was for Barack Obama in 2008. “I am excited,” she said. “I hope more people feel the way I do.”Ms. Russell and Ms. Staller are ardent, unreserved supporters of Mr. Biden — part of a small but dedicated group of Democratic voters who think that he is not merely the party’s only option against Donald J. Trump but, in fact, a great, transformative president who clearly deserves another four years in office.They occupy a lonely position in American politics.Andrea Russell, 77, and her sixteen-year-old cat George, are fixtures of a quiet neighborhood in South Philadelphia. Ms. Russell is a committed supporter of President Biden. Mr. Biden, 81, has never inspired the kind of excitement that Mr. Obama did, and he is not a movement candidate, in contrast to his likely 2024 rival, Mr. Trump, who is 77. Historically, he has been far more skilled at connecting one to one on the campaign trail than energizing crowds with soaring oratory.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 125 Shares139 Views

      in Elections

      Storm Expected to Bring Snow to Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, Again

      by

      Two to four inches of snow were possible in New York City overnight Friday through early Saturday, forecasters said.A fast-moving storm system was expected to bring several inches of snow to parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions for the second time this week, with two to four inches predicted for New York City overnight Friday into Saturday morning and up to 10 inches in portions of West Virginia and Maryland.Dominic Ramunni, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in New York, described the system that was expected to move through as a “quick hitter.”“It’ll be in and out before folks may even wake up tomorrow morning,” Mr. Ramunni said.The greatest snowfall totals were expected across parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and southern Pennsylvania, where a winter storm warning was issued for late Friday through Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service.In parts of Maryland and West Virginia, up to 10 inches of snow were possible, with snowfall rates of up to two inches per hour at times, the Weather Service said.Austin Mansfield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Sterling, Va., said the snow could make travel difficult at times and reduce visibility.“Anytime you have a significant accumulation like that, you certainly start to see road impacts across those areas,” he said.Philadelphia could record four to six inches of snow, and Washington could see snowfall totals ranging from two to five inches, forecasters said.In New York City, where snow from a storm on Tuesday was still melting on Friday afternoon in parts of the area, there could be snowfall totals from two to four inches, Mr. Ramunni said.The storm system is expected to bring snow to some Northeast cities for the second time this week.A storm that moved through the region on Tuesday dropped 3.2 inches in Central Park and more than eight inches of snow in parts of Maryland, according to the Weather Service.Ahead of the expected weekend snowfall, the New York City Emergency Management Department issued a citywide travel advisory, warning that slippery roadways and reduced visibility were possible late Friday through early Saturday.Temperatures overnight Friday into Saturday were expected to be lower than during Tuesday’s storm, indicating that New York City could get a more powdery snow.“We’re not expecting that really heavy wet snow that we saw with this last event,” Mr. Ramunni said. “You’re not shoveling bricks of cement, so to speak, tomorrow morning.”Snow has been something of a rarity in New York City over the past couple of years. After 701 days without meaningful accumulation, a total of 1.7 inches fell in Central Park on Jan. 15 and Jan. 16.If more than 3.2 inches are recorded in Central Park on Saturday, it would be the city’s highest snowfall in two years, Mr. Ramunni said.“As a snow lover,” he said, “my tail’s wagging.” More

    • 75 Shares109 Views

      in Elections

      Providence Officials Approve Overdose Prevention Center

      by

      The facility, also known as a safe injection center, will be the first in Rhode Island and the only one in the U.S. outside New York City to operate openly.More than two years ago, Rhode Island became the first state in the nation to authorize overdose prevention centers, facilities where people would be allowed to use illicit drugs under professional supervision. On Thursday, the Providence City Council approved the establishment of what will be the state’s first so-called safe injection site.Minnesota is the only other state to approve these sites, also known as supervised injection centers and harm reduction centers, but no facility has yet opened there. While several states and cities across the country have taken steps toward approving these centers, the concept has faced resistance even in more liberal-leaning states, where officials have wrestled with the legal and moral implications. The only two sites operating openly in the country are in New York City, where Bill de Blasio, who was then mayor, announced the opening of the first center in 2021.The centers employ medical and social workers who guard against overdoses by supplying oxygen and naloxone, the overdose-reversing drug, as well as by distributing clean needles, hygiene products and tests for viruses.Supporters say these centers prevent deaths and connect people with resources. Brandon Marshall, a professor and the chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health, said studies from other countries “show that overdose prevention centers save lives, increase access to treatment, and reduce public drug use and crime in the communities in which they’re located.”Opponents of the centers, including law enforcement groups, say that the sites encourage a culture of permissiveness around illegal drugs, fail to require users to seek treatment and bring drug use into neighborhoods that are already struggling with high overdose rates.Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, said that while supervised drug consumption sites “reduce risks while people use drugs inside them,” they reach only a few people and “don’t alter the severity or character of a neighborhood’s drug problem.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 150 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      Amid a Fraught Process, Penn Museum Entombs Remains of 19 Black People

      by

      Skulls from a collection used to further racist science have been laid to rest. Questions surrounding the interment have not.There was very little that could be said about the 19 people who were eulogized on Saturday morning in a service at the University of Pennsylvania. Their names were lost, and not much about their lives was known beyond the barest facts: an old age spent in the poorhouse, a problem with cavities. They were Black people who had died in obscurity over a century ago, now known almost entirely by the skulls they left behind. Even some of these scant facts have been contested.Much more could be said about what led to the service. “This moment,” said the Rev. Jesse Wendell Mapson, a local pastor involved in planning the commemoration and interment of the 19, “has not come without some pain, discomfort and tension.”On this everyone could agree.The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, like cultural and research institutions worldwide, has been grappling with a legacy of plunder, trying to decide what to do about artifacts and even human bones that were collected from people and communities against their will and often without their knowledge.Human remains, which are in the repositories of institutions all across the country, present a particularly delicate challenge. The Samuel G. Morton Cranial Collection, which has been at the Penn Museum since 1966, is an especially notorious example, with more than a thousand skulls gathered in furtherance of vile ideas about race.Drummers at the start of the commemoration service at the Penn Museum on Saturday.Kriston Jae Bethel for The New York TimesThe museum plans to repatriate hundreds of craniums from all over the world, but the process has been fraught from the beginning. Its first step — the entombment at a nearby cemetery of the skulls of Black Philadelphians found in the collection — has drawn heavy criticism, charged by activists and some experts with being rushed and opaque.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More