Top 5 Live –WURD Thursday March 5
1. Snow across the region overnight
Steady rain across the area continued until after midnight, when it changed over to snow from north to south.The snow fell steadily during the early morning hours and gradually shifted from north to south. In the north and west suburbs, the heaviest snow fell overnight into early morning, while areas south of the city had a slower changeover and see the steadiest snow during the mid-morning. The areas where the precipitation holds on longest as straight snow saw the highest amounts, and that bulls-eye looks to be areas just to the south and east of Philadelphia.
We are still forecasting a general 4-8″ around the greater Philadelphia area, with the best chance of those 8″ totals being in areas just south and east of the city (including parts of Salem, Cumberland, Kent and New Castle counties.
2. House committee to subpoena e-mails from Clinton’s personal account
A House investigative committee is preparing to send out subpoenas to gather a deeper look into former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s nearly exclusive use of personal e-mails to do her official business as the government’s top diplomat. The House Select Committee on Benghazi, which first discovered Clinton’s use of a personal e-mail based on a home server in its inquiry into a fatal 2012 terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, is asking for all e-mails related to the attack from all Clintonemail.com accounts and any other staff members’ personal accounts.
The move escalates the panel’s conflict with Clinton and could complicate her expected run for president. Numerous federal records and legal experts have questioned Clinton’s use of a personal e-mail for government business and whether it violated the Federal Records Act. Her practice was first reported by the New York Times on Monday.
3. Supreme Court justices split in key challenge to Obamacare subsidies
Supreme Court justices split along ideological lines Wednesday in questioning during the latest legal battle over the Affordable Care Act, making the outcome difficult to predict. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who saved the act from a constitutional challenge three years ago, this time asked no questions that would betray his thoughts. If there was a reason for optimism for the Obama administration, it came from Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.
Kennedy, a potential swing vote, questioned whether the challengers’ reading of the law — that federal tax subsidies should only be available in the 16 states and District of Columbia that have set up their own insurance marketplaces — would cause “serious constitutional problems” of coercion.
4. Nutter budget to seek 9.4% prop tax increase for schools
Mayor Nutter’s last budget will have several new spending measures. Nutter will also ask for a 9.43 percent increase in property taxes to provide more money for the Philadelphia School District. The district requested an additional $103 million last month.
The mayor’s three-page budget overview presented to City Council members this morning, only states that there will be a “moderate tax base growth.” Nutter’s annual budget address is scheduled for Thursday morning. Nutter’s budget proposal assumes $3.85 billion in revenues and $3.95 in expenditures. The brief blames the increase in expenses to rising pension and health care costs and a $27 million police arbitration award.
5. Justice Department clears Darren Wilson in Michael Brown killing
The Department of Justice on Wednesday cleared former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson of committing any civil rights violations in the shooting death of black teen Michael Brown Jr. The decision comes six months after Wilson shot an unarmed Brown dead, sparking massive outcry and galvanizing activists nationwide who have since called for an end to police brutality generally, and specifically, the killing of unarmed African-Americans by police. “Michael Brown’s death, though a tragedy, did not involve prosecutable conduct on the part of Officer Wilson,” Attorney General Eric Holder said at a news conference.
“The report we have issued and the steps we have taken are only the beginning of a necessarily resource-intensive and inclusive process to promote reconciliation, to reduce and eliminate bias and to bridge gaps and build understanding,” Holder added.
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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
