Top 5 Live-WURD Friday April 10
1. Williams rolls out endorsements in an attempt to counter Kenney
City Councilman Curtis Jones emceed an endorsement event for mayoral hopeful Anthony Hardy Williams on 6th Street across from the National Constitution Center.
The areas the endorsers represented ranged from Southwest Philly to the lower Northeast, a deliberate contrast to opponent Jim Kenney’s self-styled Northwest Coalition.
Kenney’s endorsers included Councilwomen Cindy Bass and Marian Tasco. Williams countered with Jones, Maria Quinones-Sanchez, Kenyatta Johnson and Jannie Blackwell. Kenney’s Harrisburgers included Reps. Dwight Evans, Cherelle Parker and Stephen Kinsey. Williams fielded Sens. Shirley Kitchen and Larry Farnese and Reps. Jordan Harris and Jason Dawkins.
2. Nutter: Philly to negotiate ‘hard’ in talks for new franchise deal with Comcast
Over a quarter of Philadelphia’s Comcast cable subscribers are dissatisfied with their service, according to a long-awaited report released by the city as it readies to negotiate a multiyear franchise agreement with the telecommunications giant.
Comcast regional senior vice president LeAnn Talbot called the report’s findings flawed.
But Mayor Nutter said the city will press Comcast to improve the customer service numbers unearthed by the report. He also called for Comcast to provide free broadband in underserved neighborhoods and high-speed broadband capacity at libraries.
The city’s four franchise agreements with Comcast will expire between August and October. The 15-year contracts, which allow the company to access the public right of way for installation of cable wires, are nonexclusive.
3. Judge to review firing of Kane aide
The judge presiding over the investigation into alleged leaks by Attorney General Kathleen Kane said Thursday that he will look into Kane’s firing this week of a top aide who had testified against her.
In a brief interview, Judge William R. Carpenter declined to discuss his inquiry or possible sanctions, but made clear that an order he had issued last fall to protect witnesses in the case from retaliation or harassment had not expired.
“The protective order is still in place,” he said.
Carpenter spoke a day after Kane fired James Barker, a longtime prosecutor and the chief deputy attorney general for appeals and legal services.
4. Clarke proposes alternative to Nutter’s tax increase
Council President Darrell Clarke launched his first official strike against Mayor Nutter’s proposed 9.3 percent property tax increase by introducing his own plan for a new school-funding stream.
Clarke introduced a bill Thursday that would authorize the city to sell liens on commercial properties and use the revenue for city schools.
The Council president was vague in how much money his proposal was expected to bring. A news release sent by his staff said “millions of dollars in new revenue from selling commercial liens could be sent to the School District of Philadelphia annually.”
The bill, however, hardly has teeth. The city already has the option of selling the liens. It just has chosen not to do so.
5. South Carolina police shooting: Authorities release dash cam video
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has released several dash cam videos in connection with the fatal shooting of Walter Scott. None shows the actual shooting, a spokesman said.
The video from Michael Slager shows the officer approaching Scott’s car. They speak, and then Slager returns to his patrol car. Scott then exits the vehicle, briefly, and Slager tells him to stay in the car. Scott then gets out of the car, again, and runs away, out of the area the camera could see.
A passenger was in Walter Scott’s car when he was pulled over by a North Charleston police officer who then killed him, according to a police report CNN obtained.
The passenger’s identity was not given in the report, but another officer responding to the incident said in the report that the passenger was detained and placed in the back seat of a police vehicle.
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Solomon Jones is an Essence bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He is the creator and editor of Solomonjones.com and morning host on 900 am WURD radio. Click here to learn more about Solomon
