The Philly Thread

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Developers plan to break ground next month on a $20 million affordable housing project for elderly gays now that it has received the necessary state, federal and local approvals and funding has been secured, officials said Thursday.

The project, planned for a section of Philadelphia’s downtown affectionately known as the Gayborhood, had long been stalled before receiving tax credits earlier this year from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.

The Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld Fund, which is spearheading the project, said in a statement that the project has received all federal, state, and local agency approvals and building permits, and plans to break ground in late October. Wells Fargo Bank also has signed on as an investor, tax credits have been allocated and all funding for the project has been secured, the group said.

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Irate that his McDonald’s hamburger had a piece of unwanted cheese on it, a Pennsylvania man allegedly assaulted a female employee of the fast food restaurant, police report.

According to cops, the customer knocked over a trash can and threw a high chair after discovering that his burger order had been botched. When the man exited the eatery, a McDonald’s worker followed him to the parking lot in an effort to record his license plate number.

When the female employee sought to call 911, the patron attacked her, reported Springettsbury Township police. After taking the McDonald’s workers phone and throwing it across the parking lot, the suspect fled in his auto.

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Daymn!

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City says Yuengling owes $6.6 million in taxes

WHEN Dick Yuengling bought a round of beers for more than 10,000 Philadelphians on National Drink Beer Day last year, he said "the city has truly shown our family business brotherly love, and we'd like to raise a glass to that."

Now, Dick Yuengling may be throwing back a few of his own brews after receiving a civil lawsuit from the city that claims his brewery, D.G. Yuengling and Son Inc., has failed to pay more than $6.6 million in city taxes, interest and penalty fees.

How does a Pottsville-based beer company that doesn't have a brewery or a plant in Philadelphia come to owe millions in business-income and -receipts taxes to the city?

It's not clear, because no one from the city would comment on the suit or explain even the basic foundation of the claims.

The business-income and -receipts tax (BIRT), formerly known as the business-privilege tax (BPT), can be levied on any person or corporation that engages in taxable activity within the city, even if that business is not in the city.

What the city constitutes as a taxable activity "is essentially a factual determination made on a case-by-case basis," according to the regulations listed on the city's website.

The civil suit against Yuengling was filed in Philadelphia last week and claims that America's oldest brewery failed to pay its business tax, though the suit does not detail what activities Yuengling conducted within Philadelphia that the city determined to be taxable.

Because Yuengling refused to allow the city's Revenue Department to audit its records from 2008 through 2011, the BIRT assessment was based "solely on the accounts payable list" of a Philadelphia beer distributor, the suit said.

That assessment amounted to $3,960,335, according to the suit. With an accrued interest of $963,126 and penalties of $1,710,830, the city is seeking $6.6 million from Yuengling.

The attorney who filed the suit for the city referred all questions to the Mayor's Office. Mayoral spokesman Mark McDonald declined to comment on the suit .

A spokeswoman for D.G. Yuengling did not return repeated requests for comment from the Daily News.

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Yep, this guy figured out the easiest way to get shot in Philly. Not that getting shot in Philly is difficult thing to accomplish.

In 2013, no one expects to see a man dressed in a Ku Klux Clan robe mid-morning in Center City, Philadelphia.

“I think that’s nonsense,” said one woman on the street.

“He needs to be committed to the jail system,” said another onlooker.

The man, who stood on the corner of 13th and Filbert on Tuesday, is not out to lynch or kill black people. In fact, he is black.

Thirty-five-year-old Sixx King says he’s using the offensive symbol to highlight a serious problem: black on black crime.

“We’re bringing awareness to the black hypocrisy, complacency and apathy in the African-American community,” said King.

According to the FBI, in 2011 more than 7,000 black people were killed. King’s sign reads that the KKK killed 3,446 blacks in 86 years, while black on black murders surpass that number every six months.

“All my anger for my ancestors who went through that terror of a Ku Klux Klan hood and what that symbolizes to me, evoked anger,” said Philadelphia Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. “I was angry!”

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DID YOU KNOW that Philadelphia prison inmates collected unemployment benefits while sitting in their cells?

They did: 1,162 of them got an average of $344 a week for, on average, 18 weeks. That's more than $7 million.

And many of the 25,500 inmates in other county jails in Pennsylvania did the same.

We're talking cash for cons - tens of millions of tax dollars paid by employers and employees fraudulently scammed by incarcerated crooks.

Makes you want to get up every day, go to work and pay your taxes, right?

Well, hold on. Before you pick up torches and pitchforks, you should know that the state says such payments are ending under a program put in place by the Corbett administration, and unemployment-compensation payments to 3,000 inmates have stopped, saving up to $18 million a year.

But how'd this cons' con happen?

"Not sure," says Philadelphia Prison System information officer Shawn Dawes. "It just wasn't on anybody's radar."

Philly prisons commissioner Louis Giorla issued a statement to the Daily News praising state efforts, adding: "Offenders who are already in custody and supported by public funds should not be able to collect twice."

But they did. And getting the money back, even by attaching tax returns of scammers, is difficult, officials concede.

http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/...yment.html

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Just found out my NH concealed carry permit is valid in Philly. Next Eagles game I am packing baby!

http://www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/nhsp/...plupr.html

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Just found out my NH concealed carry permit is valid in Philly. Next Eagles game I am packing baby!

You can bring it up to the entry gate, but then they'll make you put it in the box since it is not allowed in. don't worry, it'll be there when you come out.

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You can bring it up to the entry gate, but then they'll make you put it in the box since it is not allowed in. don't worry, it'll be there when you come out.

Why would they take it? Do they fell bringing a gun into the Linc is a bad idea?

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Why would they take it? Do they fell bringing a gun into the Linc is a bad idea?

I can't find any video on it, but one year a guy got a flare gun in there and shot it off at the end of the game. That was a year or two before I got my season tickets.

This is a clip from that game, but doesn't show the flare incident... but its when Monday Night Football was good (and the cheerleaders wore much more clothing)

[youtube]Ysi5MTgIVh0[/youtube]