CLOSE UP by Brian Rudnick

How would pro-life student regulate abortion?

A student who attends a Christian high school describes himself as "pro-life" and ponders how he would regulate abortion.

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I had off because I didn’t have a midterm test at school. I came in to work, 10:30 and after I’ll go sit down somewhere and study for the exam. WHAT’S THE EXAM ON? History, U. S. History. AND THIS IS AT..? Philmont Christian. AND WHAT ERA OF U.S. HISTORY DO YOU HAVE TO KNOW TODAY? It actually goes from the creation of the Constitution to modern day so we learn about cases and amendments, that stuff. DO YOU TALK ABOUT ROE V. WADE IN AMERICAN HISTORY CLASS? Yeah that’s one of the cases. WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT THAT DECISION? Which one is that, again? THE ROE V WADE RIGHT TO ABORTION DECISION? I’m definitely pro-life. I’m against abortion. A small percent of circumstances like rape and stuff like that obviously is really tough, a tough call but I think that even if someone isn’t born, the life is still important. HOW DO YOU BELIEVE THAT SHOULD BE REGULATED? It’s tough to say. I’m not sure, yeah, I’m not sure. Brett Steiger of Abington, Cedars Café, Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Watch video here.

Olsens turn shells into homes

Learn how the Olsens find dilapidated homes, gut them and turn them into beautiful, rehabbed homes. Watch video here.

Israelis jail him for peaceful protest

Lucas Koerner from the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia talks about being seriously roughed up and arrested by Israeli police as seen in the video here during a trip with a peace group to Israel. He was subsequently jailed for two days for peacefully protesting the annual Jersulem Day parade which celebrates Israel's capture of East Jerusalem during the 1967 Mideast War.  Koerner reports that this was the first time that the parade was deliberately winding its way through an Arab neighborhood. Watch interview here.

Homeless homeless advocate from DC comes to Philly

Eric Jonathan Sheptock was placed in foster care until the age of 5 after being battered in the head by his natural parents as an infant. At five, he was adopted by a Polish father and Italian mother into a family that eventually grew to 38 children, some biological, some adopted.

He has been in and out of homelessness for the last 17 years, and based out of a Washington DC shelter advocates for the homeless full time.

Sheptock was staying with a family in Chestnut Hill this past weekend while working on the campaign for Sheriff of Philadelphia homeless advocate Cheri Honkala.

Honkala, whose campaign motto is "Keeping Families in their Homes" promises that, as sheriff, she will not evict anyone - at least not until the economy gets better.

In the video here, Sheptock talks about growing up in a family of 37 kids.

In the video to be seen by clicking here, Sheptock talks about why he would find it difficult as a homeless advocate who has an adversarial relationship with the government, to work for the government himself but how Honkala would manage to do it if elected Philadelphia Sherif.

In the video to be seen by clicking here, Sheptock talks about his life, his struggles and the struggles of the homeless.

WHHY and the federal funding cut to NPR - CEO Bill Marrazzo

WHHY President and CEO Bill Marrazzo doesn't diminish the importance of the federal grants to public radio but points out that federal dollars consitute only a small portion of the station's radio stream. WHYY relies  primarily  on the support of thousands of indidvual radio listeners, TV viewers and website visitors and also on sponsorships by corporations and foundations. Watch video interview here.

Gadfly, Radio Host Ed Feldman writing book, interviewing candidates

SO ED, WHY AREN’T YOU TORMENTING CHESTNUT HILL ANY MORE? I got tired of it. I tire easy and I thought other neighborhoods need to be tormented a little bit, too so I didn’t want to concentrate all my efforts in one place. Besides, I think I’ve proved my point. After the attorney general investigated and fined the Chestnut Hill Community Association, it kind of seemed a natural ending of things. Certainly it will be in the book I’m writing…. I have an Internet radio show that airs Monday through Friday, 9 to 10 am called “Morning Feed.” It’s on Gtwon Radio dot com. And right now I’m interviewing all the city council candidates in district 8. This morning, April 5th, I broke some news about an allegation of extortion by one of the candidates against another.” Ed Feldman, radio host at WHYY Voter Forum, Commodore Barry Club, Mount Airy, Philadelphia. Watch video interview here.

Philly 8th District Council Candidates, in their own words, what they would do in office

Five of the seven candidates in the Democratic primary for Philadephia's 8th district City Council seat milled around 3 groups of about 12 particpants each and a swarm of reporters at a WHYY voter forum. Here are their responses to "What are 3 concrete steps you will take when you become councilperson?" In order of appearance: Robin Tasco, Greg Paulmier, Bill Durham, Howard Treatman and Andrew Lofton. Candidates Cindy Bass and Verna Tyner were not in attendance and there did not appear to be representatives from their campaigns. Watch video interviews here.

 

Gasland comes to Philly - fracking for natural gas in the Delaware River watershed?

Punctuated by first hand accounts  of health problems caused by fouled air and water and scary stunts  by homeowners across the country setting their polluted tapwater on fire, the film “Gasland”, an Academy Award nominee,  documents the dirty production side of  what’s marketed as clean natural gas.

On Tuesday evening,  about seventy five people attended a showing  of the banjo-playing filmmaker Josh Fox’s movie at the Germantown Jewish Center, organized by the synagogue, Weavers Way, the Neighborhood Interfaith Movement and the Unitarian Society of Germantown.

Afterwards. a panel of scientists and directly affected individuals and activists from the Marcellus Shale region of upstate Pennsylvania described the adverse health and environmental  impacts of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas (“fracking” in common parlance, “frac jobs” in industry terms). SEE PANELIST INFORMATION BELOW

It’s a process that injects water combined with several of some hundreds of available chemicals, many known toxins such as benzene,  at high pressure, to release the gas.  Developed by former Vice President Dick Cheney’s Haliburton company, fracking was exempted from the Safe Drinking Water act by the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

Under newly elected  Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, it appears to be open season for the drilling of new wells in Pennsylvania which may extend into the watershed area which is the source of drinking water in Philadelphia. This is cause for serious local concern as expressed by Linda Cherkas, a Mount Airyite attending the filming  and the subject of a  Philadelphia city council forum the very same evening.

After the showing, attendees flocked to tables to sign letters urging President Obama, who voted for the 2005 Energy Act, to direct his representative on the Delaware River Basin Commission to vote against finalizing draft rules on gas drilling and urging the President to call a nationwide moratorium until an Environmental Protection Agency study is complete.

Watch video here.

This account makes use of critical analysis of the film and counter-allegations of its critics in the New York Times by Michael Soraghan of Greenwire athttp://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/02/24/24greenwire-groundtruthing-academy-award-nominee-gasland-33228.html

Judicial candidate collects signatures to appear on ballot

WHERE DO YOU STAND ON MERIT SELECTION FOR JUDGES? “One of the great things, I think, about the election of judges, is that it really forces the candidates for judges to go out into the different neighborhoods and learn things by going on the ground that they wouldn’t have to learn otherwise through the merit selection of judges." WHAT ARE YOU LEARNING ABOUT CHESTNUT HILL? "Well, Chestnut Hill happens to be the community in which I reside so I’m not really learning anything by coming out into these streets so much as what I know from living here. But I was born and raised in the city of Philadelphia. I went to magnet school for middle school. I went to Masterman for high school. I went from Saul and one of the great things about going to a public school, a magnet school specifically is that it gave me an opportunity to learn about folks from all different neighborhoods all throughout the city of Philadelphia.” Drew Aldinger, Democratic candidate for judge with daughter Hannah.

Watch video interview here.

Signature collectors know little about their candidate

A young woman, wearing a large white button reading "Official Democratic  Petitioner" was one of three individuals collecting signatures just inside the Chestnut Hill Pathmark on a petition for Donna Gentile O'Donnell who is running in the Democratic primary for Philadelphia's 8th District City Council Seat. [Yours truly ran and lost as a Green in the general election for this post in the 2007 general election] The young woman solicited a signature from a shopper whom she had just misinformed that O'Donnell is running for Commissioner. Her two companions appeared equally unacquainted and uninformed about O'Donnell or her platform. Nor was there any campaign literature in sight.

Watch video here.

 

THIS IS FOR WHO?

{Signature Collector 1]Donna O’Donnell. Donna O’Donnell

AND WHAT IS SHE RUNNING FOR?

Eighth councilmanic district.

IT’S A PRETTY GOOD SPOT YOU GOT HERE RIGHT INSIDE THE STORE.

Well, we’re just trying to be creative, that’s all

AND WHAT’S HER POSITION ON THE ISSUES?

You have to speak to her about that. I won’t speak for her.

WELL WHY ARE YOU SUPPORTING HER?

I think she’s a good candidate.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN HER?

Let me finish my job.

[Signature Collector 2]…. She’s going to be one of the electors for City Commissioner….

CAN YOU TELL ME SOMETHING ABOUT HER?

[Signature Collector Jay Scott] Well, from what I’ve been told by my office, she’s been a city official for about 20 years and she seems like a fair person. And we feel as though the Democratic Party couldn’t be represented any better.

IS SHE OUT HERE TODAY?

No we came up here on our own because we’re trying to solicit and we don’t know the area good but we figure because the supermarket is where people shop on Saturdays and department stores, we’d try to affiliate that with that information.

DOES SHE  PAY WELL FOR COLLECTING SIGNATURES?

I couldn’t go in for  answers because I’m not getting paid but so much but it’s OK.