For months, I’ve advocated for detailed annual audits of the nearly $3 billion the Philadelphia School District spends. Despite efforts by City Controller Alan Butkovitz to make that happen, those audits still have not taken place. Yet when I spoke with Dr. William Hite, the district superintendent, in a radio interview nearly nine months ago,…

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Top 5 Live-WURD Wednesday December 23 1. Pa. House relents, prepares to pass budget deal The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Tuesday reversed course and positioned itself to vote on the $30.8 billion budget plan long touted by Gov. Wolf and Senate Republicans. The shift came just a day after the Republican-controlled House had proposed…

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Top 5 Live-WURD Wednesday October 21 1. Ryan to seek speakership if unity candidate of House GOP Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan told GOP lawmakers late Tuesday that he will run for speaker, but only if they embrace him by week’s end as their consensus candidate – an ambitious bid to impose unity on a disordered and divided…

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Top 5 Live-WURD Wednesday July 1 1. Chris Christie announces 2016 presidential bid New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie formally jumped into the crowded Republican presidential field here on Tuesday, stressing his leadership of a blue state and blaming both parties for the gridlock in Washington. “We need a government … that remembers you went there…

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Top 5 Live-WURD Wednesday June 24 1. Autopsy shows Freddie Gray died of ‘high-energy injury’: Baltimore newspaper  The autopsy of the Baltimore black man who died after being hurt while in police custody shows he suffered a “high-energy injury” like those in shallow-water diving accidents, the Baltimore Sun reported on Tuesday. The spinal injury to Freddie…

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Top 5 Live-WURD Monday June 8 1. Jury convicts female LA officer of assault in deadly arrest Jurors on Friday convicted a female Los Angeles police officer of felony assault charges for repeatedly kicking a handcuffed woman who later died. The jury of 11 women and one man reached its verdict after about two days…

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Top 5 Live-WURD Tuesday April 21 1. Bobby Brown’s Lawyer Clarifies His Comments About Bobbi Kristina  After Bobby Brown told concertgoers in Dallas Saturday night that his daughter, Bobbi Kristina, “is awake,” Brown’s lawyer Christopher Brown is scaling back the singer’s exuberant claim that Bobbi “is watching me.” “Bobbi Kristina’s condition has changed since moving…

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Top 5 Live –WURD Monday March 2  1. Millennials could be political force in Philadelphia, if they voted For years, Philadelphia fretted about the “brain drain” – college students leaving town as soon as their education ended. That trend has been reversed with millennials – those aged 20 to 34 – now representing the largest…

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Top 5 Live –WURD Tuesday February 19  1. SRC votes to approve 5 new charter school applications The Philadelphia School Reform Commission voted Wednesday night to approve five new charter schools from among 39 applications. The approved schools were offered three-year charters and have until May 31 to agree to terms with the SRC. Absent…

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Top 5 Live –WURD Monday February 10 1. Wolf scraps Corbett plan, opts for traditional Medicaid expansion  Gov. Wolf on Monday said he is dismantling his predecessor’s alternative to Medicaid expansion and will transition to traditional Medicaid insurance for low-income Pennsylvanians. “Today is the first step toward simplifying a complicated process and ensuring hundreds of…

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