christmas philadelphia: Philadelphia Metropolis

More Than Tears

When I heard about the slaughter of the innocents in Connecticut, I headed to my basement to look through my archival collections of various reports, studies, task-force reports and other miscellany dealing with Philadelphia. I was looking for a study... (Comments)

A Day in the Life: The St. Francis Inn

The recession is over. At least that's what the media keeps saying. So why is it that on a rainy October morning, nearly two years after the Great Recession's end, there is a line of hungry people rounding the block at St. Francis Inn in Kensington waiting to be fed? The scene at St. Francis is a more accurate barometer of the state of the post-recession city, where the economic pain continues. As I make my way up to the century-old building that was once a corner bar, I am struck by the mélange of faces that have coalesced to embody the face of poverty in Philadelphia. (Comments)

A Day in the Life: The Trash Men

What's it like to be a trash man? It has to one of the worst jobs, especially in the summer, when the street swelter in the heat. To find out, we asked reporter Ada Kulesza to shadow a crew of city sanitation workers as they made their daily rounds. She returned with a fascinating tale about the job, the city, and our empire of trash. (Comments)

The Program

By Christopher Malo» Most poor, inner city kids are doomed when it comes to getting a good education. The numbers tell the story: half drop out of high school. Of those who do graduate, only a handful go on to college. We decided to track the fate of one sub-group of kids: the members of the 2006 Gratz High School basketball team. They won the city championship, but were they ready for the real life challenges to come? Reporter Chris Malo went looking for the teammates and came away with a remarkable story - one that defies stereotypes. (Comments)

The Program

By Christopher Malo» Normal 0 0 1 3578 16104 236 80 25050 11.1539 0 0 0 By Christopher Malo It wasn't the final buzzer in the 2006 Philadelphia Public League championship that signaled the game was over.  It was over moments after...