Journalism

Harp

The bar is dim and not crowded. Grayish white soot is tracked across the white tile floor. It coats my black shoes and the bottoms of my pant legs. Noel, the bartender with the brogue, sets a pint of Harp in front of me. I tip it back, the cool lager sluicing away the soot that coats my throat. “Crazy day,” Noel says, both asking and telling.

More...

BY CHRIS BRENNAN

THE MORE Gov. Corbett talks, it seems, the closer Democrats get to defeating him next year.

Corbett, a governor with a gift for gaffes, talked a politically bad situation into a much bigger problem yesterday during a television interview in Harrisburg.

Corbett then had to apologize for his remark – comparing same-sex marriage to brother-sister incest.

“My words were not intended to offend anyone,” Corbett said in a news release issued by his office. “If they […]

By CHRIS BRENNAN

STATE SEN. Mike Stack sounds close to announcing a run for governor in the 2014 Democratic primary election.

The four-term senator from Northeast Philly and his family could also be close to a multimillion-dollar jackpot if developer Steve Wynn wins a license to build a casino on the banks of the Delaware River in Fishtown.

Stack, his four siblings and their mother, Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Felice Rowley Stack, own about one-fifth of the 60 […]

BY CHRIS BRENNAN


State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, the sponsor of the state’s controversial voter-ID law, last week offered to WHYY’s “Fresh Air” program the story of a fellow House Republican as proof that in-person voter fraud occurs.

But now, state Rep. Bernie O’Neill of Warminster, Bucks County, says the comments he made on the House floor during a debate about the legislation last summer were not accurate.

O’Neill, speaking on June 23, 2011, said he had shown […]

Remapping provides him with more white voters, spurring criticism

BY CHRIS BRENNAN

Bob Brady, member of the U.S. House and chairman of the Democratic City Committee, says he was making the best of a situation over which he had little control.

It turned out well for Brady.

The state General Assembly redraws the lines for state and federal legislative districts every 10 years, based on the latest census.

With Republicans in control of both houses of the General Assembly […]

Military officers set Council hopeful’s National Guard record straight

By CHRIS BRENNAN

THE SHORT VERSION of David Oh’s political resume:

The former city prosecutor enlisted in the Army National Guard, joined an elite Special Forces unit and then came home to run a law practice.

But two high-ranking military officers familiar with Oh’s National Guard record say his claim to have been a Green Beret is bunk.

Oh, a front-runner for a Republican at-large City Council seat in the Nov. […]

By CHRIS BRENNAN

DES MOINES, IOWA – The attacks landed on former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum before he could even reach this Midwest state.

Robo-calls branding Santorum a “pro-life fraud” were made to voters across the state Monday, one day before he was due to be the keynote speaker at the conservative Iowa Christian Alliance here.

That was followed by an e-mail that falsely claimed to be a “policy announcement” from Santorum . The e-mail linked to a […]

Guv calls him victim of media attack

By CHRIS BRENNAN

GOV. RENDELL’S controversial choice to lead the state’s new Gaming Control Board stepped down yesterday, saying media scrutiny of his appointment and the scandal that ensued created too great a distraction.

Frank Friel also said the attention has “had a tremendous and harmful impact on my family.”

Rendell then railed at reporters gathered at the press conference to hear Friel’s resignation, calling him a victim of “seek-and-destroy journalism. ”

“I […]

Agency’s unity is manifest at memorial

By CHRIS BRENNAN

HOUSTON, TX – The spokeswoman usually doesn’t choke up and weep between interviews. The chief hydraulics engineer does not seem the sort to discuss haunting pictures of history he can’t watch.

But that was the kind of day NASA had here yesterday during a memorial service for the seven astronauts who perished in the space shuttle Columbia Saturday morning while returning home after 16 days far above us.

President Bush […]