Commonwealth Charter Academy expands real estate footprint into Philly with Navy Yard site | PhillyVoice www.phillyvoice.com/commonwealth...

Pa.'s largest cyber charter school expands real estate footprint into Philly

Commonwealth Charter Academy acquires a 32,000-square-foot Navy Yard building for staff offices and a center for students.

phillyvoice.com

"Public response to the Planning Commission’s report was wholly oppositional to data centers. No one spoke in favor." www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

Planning Commission considers how — and if — data centers should be built in Philly

While no data centers have been proposed in Philadelphia, city planners are preparing for the debate to come.

inquirer.com

Interesting look behind the scenes in Bob Brady's failing leadership of the Philly Democratic Party byclaudiavargas.substack.com/p/inside-phi...

Inside Philadelphia's Democratic Machine

How Bob Brady has held together one of America's last urban political machines — and why its future matters beyond Philadelphia.

byclaudiavargas.substack.com

In a year when Philly's hospitality sector is surely going to see great profits from World Cup, Semiquincentennial, etc., City Council chose to axe $20 million for homeless services that Parker proposed funding through increased taxes on hotels & short-term rentals. www.inquirer.com/politics/phi...

PHILLY (anywhere from 41 to 33% of Bluesky): Are you curious why the school district budget continues to be in crisis? Want to know how to avoid laying off reading teachers in the middle of a literacy crisis? Wednesday at 5pm, a smarter person than me will explain. RSVP here: luma.com/e7cgfzb8

Have you noticed a deluge of ads bashing or venerating candidates running for state legislature? If so, you are witness to a slugfest between gambling interests with big implications for who calls the shots in Harrisburg. www.spotlightpa.org/news/2026/05...

Gambling interests pour millions into key PA Senate primaries

Sports betting and skill games interests have spent more than $8 million in PA Senate primaries, with opposite goals.

spotlightpa.org

A Pa. grassroots activist and a flurry of right-to-know requests has the receipts on Josh Shapiro's cozy relationship with Amazon as its $20B push for energy-guzzling data centers angers locals Did Amazon deliver a blow to Shapiro's White House dreams? My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/tech...

Did Amazon just deliver a blow to Josh Shapiro’s White House dreams? | Will Bunch

As public revolts against data centers, emails expose cozy relationship between a tech giant and Pennsylvania’s governor.

inquirer.com

New @mapthepower.bsky.social and ACRE report found that "the largest beneficiary of the [EITC and OSTC] school voucher tax credit programs is a company led by the state’s richest man and prolific school privatization advocate, billionaire Jeff Yass" littlesis.org/reports/comp...

Companies run by Pennsylvania billionaires among top recipients of state's school voucher tax credit program - Little Sis

Top beneficiaries of the tax credit include entities led by Jeffrey Yass, Joel Greenberg, and Arthur Dantchik of Susquehanna Investment Group

littlesis.org

The sadly ironic part of this circus is that a major cause of the School District facilities dilemma is the exodus of students to charter schools. Some of the loudest Council critics of the school board like Isaiah Thomas have also been supporters of charterization. www.inquirer.com/education/li...

School board shifts meeting to virtual format after City Council protests

The Philadelphia school board plans to vote Thursday on a facilities plan that includes closing 17 public schools. Lawmakers and advocates showed up to protest in an effort to shut down the meeting.

inquirer.com

Latest filing by 314 Action Fund, the Super PAC supporting Ala Stanford, shows a $500k contribution from a mysterious "Kimbark Foundation" on 3/9/26. The "foundation" just filed its incorporation on 12/19/25. Seems highly sus as possible AIPAC pass-through. 1/ docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/form...

Here in Philadelphia, Uber, your friendly neighborhood monopolist, is blanketing the city with ads to stop a rideshare tax that would prevent cuts to 340 School District of Philadelphia teachers, reading and math specialists, counselors, and more.

A budget is a moral document! In an op-ed for @inquirer.com, Amistad's Co-ED, Nikki Grant, and Vivian Chang of Asian Americans United call on Mayor Cherelle Parker to show up for Philadelphians with the financial investments our communities need to survive. www.inquirer.com/opinion/comm...

Philly needs a budget that reflects our grim reality | Opinion

Federal assaults and continued disinvestment threaten the city. Mayor Parker’s fiscal plan does not adequately address these issues.

inquirer.com

The PA Governor's money race: Garrity's top donor to date is University City Housing Co., a real estate firm owned by Michael Karp, who is also the founder of a West Philadelphia charter school www.spotlightpa.org/news/2026/04... via @SpotlightPA

PA governor’s race: See how much the candidates have raised

Explore how much money Democrat Josh Shapiro and Republican Stacy Garrity have raised in their campaigns for PA governor.

spotlightpa.org

We demand a city free from Trump’s deportations, fear & violence. ICE Out bills put our values into law & prioritize immigrant communities' safety. Show up Mon. 4/13 for Council hearing & 1st vote to demand no city $, personnel, data or space be used to help ICE! RSVP www.mobilize.us/ndwa-c3/even...

From airlines to telecommunications to construction and engineering, a host of private, for-profit businesses are cashing in on the Trump administration’s violent crackdown on immigrants. Join us for this training on the 26th to learn how to research ICE contracts. littlesis.org/training/res...

"Garrity’s single biggest donation was $250,000 from University City Housing Co., a real estate firm providing housing near Drexel and the University of Pennsylvania." www.inquirer.com/politics/pen...

Big-money and out-of-state donors helped Josh Shapiro raise $30 million while Stacy Garrity raised $1.5 million from Pa.’s grassroots

The Inquirer analyzed the candidates' latest campaign finance filings to find who — and how much money — is pouring into the Pennsylvania governor's race.

inquirer.com

What does collaboration with ICE look like in PA? ICE can access state data without a warrant. Troopers cannot ask about immigration status, but can and do tell ICE if they otherwise discover someone is undocumented. And prisons honor some ICE detainers. www.spotlightpa.org/news/2026/02...

How PA agencies under Shapiro’s control cooperate with ICE

Gov. Josh Shapiro has not hidden that PA works with ICE, nor has he promised new limits on existing cooperation.

spotlightpa.org

The Parker administration is failing so many of our most vulnerable neighbors while hanging our overworked, underpaid library workers out to dry www.inquirer.com/news/philade...

Library warming centers strained workers and left people without help for complex issues, staff say

Library workers and volunteers say people in mental-health crises, struggling with substance-abuse issues, and requiring wound care are coming to the warming centers and they have no backup.

inquirer.com

Reminder that the Parker admin chose to allow this tax hike for small businesses rather than trying to defend against a lawsuit challenging the BIRT exemption. But the people most to blame for rising taxes for Philly small businesses are the PA Republicans who refuse to change the uniformity clause.

Joseph N DiStefano @phillyjoed.bsky.social · 7mo ago

How Philly small businesses are coping with a 'tax cut' that is forcing tens of thousands to pay the city's unusual revenue and income taxes for the first time www.inquirer.com/business/bir...

Two Philadelphia City Council members will introduce legislation this week to restrict cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The push comes as ICE faces mounting national scrutiny over its tactics in Minneapolis.

Philly lawmakers want to restrict cooperation with ICE and ban agents from wearing masks

inquirer.com

Despite several attempts to export the idea, Seattle remains the only U.S. city with a democracy vouchers program, which provides money to residents to donate to the local candidates of their choice.

Seattle Renews Its Unique Approach to Public Campaign Financing

The democracy vouchers program hands residents $100 to donate to local candidates and it’s credited with broadening civic involvement. Voters on Tuesday extended it by 10 years.

boltsmag.org

Pretty consistent with the last round of disparate school closings in Philadelphia

David Lapp@davidlapp.bsky.social · 6mo ago

www.inquirer.com/education/ph...

Level up your data analysis skills at our new mini-training series! We’ll feature a few intro-level tips and tricks to get you started cleaning, combining and understanding data. Register: littlesis.org/trainings/

Philadelphians demand a city free from Trump’s deportations, fear and violence. The ICE Out legislation puts our values into law and prioritizes the safety of immigrant communities. Show up Tuesday to launch this legislation and get ICE out of our city! RSVP here: www.mobilize.us/ndwa-c3/even...

NDWA PA - ICE Out of Philly! · National Domestic Workers Alliance C3

This week, ICE Out legislation will be introduced at Philadelphia City Hall, led by Philly immigrant communities and Councilmembers Kendra Brooks and Rue Landau. Join us outside of City Hall, Tuesday...

mobilize.us

TikTok has been under new leadership for like a day and I made a slideshow with posts from the ICE rally today and it immediately got out under review and is not being published. Incredible.

"The group of investors that officially bought TikTok’s US assets includes an affiliate of Susquehanna International Group, the Pennsylvania investment giant owned by billionaire Jeff Yass, which will gain a spot on the spinoff venture’s board." technical.ly/entrepreneur...

The firm owned by Pennsylvania’s richest man is now co-leading US TikTok

Financial powerhouse Susquehanna International Group, an early ByteDance investor, is now central to the app’s new US leadership.

technical.ly

pnwpolicyangel aka Angelita 👼@pnwpolicyangel.bsky.social · 6mo ago

TikTok has been under new leadership for like a day and I made a slideshow with posts from the ICE rally today and it immediately got out under review and is not being published. Incredible.

"The American version of the Nuremberg Trials are coming for ICE, and ICE should be afraid. And until they happen, the poets, the helpers, the nurses, the educators, the mothers will be sharing, recording, and watching." thank you @spfelocal28.bsky.social

SPFE28@spfelocal28.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Yesterday, we joined tens of thousands to march. This am, ICE responded with violence. Alex was an ICU nurse, a union sibling, & an observer who stepped in to help. This is a union state. We will continue to show up, to watch, to document, and fight ICE is not welcome here.

The firm owned by Jeff Yass, Pennsylvania’s richest man, is now co-leading US TikTok Financial powerhouse Susquehanna International Group, an early ByteDance investor, is now central to the app’s new US leadership. technical.ly/entrepreneur...

The firm owned by Pennsylvania’s richest man is now co-leading US TikTok

Financial powerhouse Susquehanna International Group, an early ByteDance investor, is now central to the app’s new US leadership.

technical.ly

20 #PHLed schools would close, 6 would co-locate, and 159 get upgrades under the long-awaited facilities master plan proposed by Supt. Watlington today. More: www.inquirer.com/education/ph...

Philly could close 20 schools, co-locate 6, and modernize 159: Superintendent Watlington shares his facilities plan

The 10-year blueprint comes with a $2.8 billion price tag, $1 billion of which would be covered by district capital funds. The rest would depend on philanthropy or state funds.

inquirer.com

Check out our latest post: Six Steps for Researching the Corporate Enablers of ICE We briefly highlight a few campaigns that are targeting ICE’s corporate collaborators and provide a guide on how you can research these corporations. littlesis.org/news/six-ste...