PlanPhilly: Planning Philadelphia's Future

Mayor Nutter’s message to a group of students this afternoon in City Hall was simple: stay in school, graduate and do something positive.

Need proof this is an election year for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr.? Well he just took a principled stand in defense of...the rights of Philadelphia Phillies fans to travel to the nation's Capitol to root against the Nationals. Casey, in a letter to Nationals owner Theodore Lerner, decries a new team "gimmick" that gives priority to in home game ticket sales to customers from Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

A Philadelphia Media Network spokesman today confirmed that the company is not in discussions with Bart Blatstein or the group calling itself Philly Homegrown Media.

City Council president Darrell Clarke has hired a former journalist and native Philadelphian as his communications director.

Democrats in the suburbs seem to have found a candidate for the U.S. House who will never have a problem getting Mummers to show up for campaign events. We hear George Badey III, an attorney and Fralinger String Band member who led SavetheMummers.com when city budget cut-backs threatened the New Year's Day parade, is circulating nominating petitions to run in the Democratic primary election for the 7th Congressional District in Delaware, Montgomery, Berks and Lancaster counties.

It will mean the average user will pay more than $4 additional each month - a 6.5 percent increase.

We are happy to report that a baseball bat belonging to one of City Hall's longest-serving public servants is now going to one of City Hall's newest recruits.

City Council paid their respects today to the late Don Cornelius, host of TV’s legendary show “Soul Train.”

Today's Philadelphia Inquirer has an interesting story on page A3 about people from Pennsylvania and New Jersey who have donated to so-called "Super PACs" during this presidential election season. The last name listed in the graphic that ran with the story caught our eye: Ibin Yerkinoff, of Levittown

President Obama's re-election campaign released a list yesterday of 445 donation bundlers. A dozen of them are from Pennsylvania and all but two are from Philadelphia or its suburbs. They are: