Tuesday’s minor NFL moves, including elevations for tomorrow’s Christmas Day doubleheader:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles 

San Francisco 49ers

The Cardinals – who were eliminated from playoff contention Sunday – will close out the season without either of their starting tackles. Both Johnson and Williams are dealing with knee injuries, and they will be shut down for the remainder of the campaign. The former was a full-time starter as a rookie last year and made 14 appearances in 2024 upon switching to the blindside. Williams signed a one-year deal in free agency to handle RT duties, but two separate knee ailments will limit him to six games played this year. The 27-year-old’s free agent stock will take a hit as a result.

Wallace has made 13 appearances in 2024, his first season with the Broncos. The veteran has handled part-time defensive duties along the way, while also chipping in on special teams. As Denver returns to health at the CB spot, though, Wallace will hit the waiver wire. Should he clear, head coach Sean Payton said the Broncos would like to re-sign him via a practice squad deal (h/t Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette).

Fashanu exited the Jets’ Week 16 contest on crutches, and it was recently reported he would miss the rest of the season as a result. Today’s move thus comes as no surprise. Interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich said on Tuesday surgery to repair the first-round rookie’s plantar fascia would be needed, but the team has since clarified a procedure will not take place. Fashanu is expected to recover in full through rehab.

Source: www.profootballrumors.com…

First it was Canada, then the Panama Canal. Now, Donald Trump again wants Greenland.

The president-elect is renewing unsuccessful calls he made during his first term for the U.S. to buy Greenland from Denmark, adding to the list of allied countries with which he’s picking fights even before taking office on Jan. 20.

In a Sunday announcement naming his ambassador to Denmark, Trump wrote that, “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”

Trump again having designs on Greenland comes after the president-elect suggested over the weekend that the U.S. could retake control of the Panama Canal if something isn’t done to ease rising shipping costs required for using the waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

He’s also been suggesting that Canada become the 51st U.S. state and referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “governor” of the “Great State of Canada.”

Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, said Trump tweaking friendly countries harkens back to an aggressive style he used during his days in business.

“You ask something unreasonable and it’s more likely you can get something less unreasonable,” said Farnsworth, who is also author of the book “Presidential Communication and Character.”

Greenland, the world’s largest island, sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. It is 80% covered by an ice sheet and is home to a large U.S. military base. It gained home rule from Denmark in 1979 and its head of government, Múte Bourup Egede, suggested that Trump’s latest calls for U.S. control would be as meaningless as those made in his first term.

“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale,” he said in a statement. “We must not lose our years-long fight for freedom.”

Trump canceled a 2019 visit to Denmark after his offer to buy Greenland was rejected by Copenhagen, and ultimately came to nothing.

He also suggested Sunday that the U.S. is getting “ripped off” at the Panama Canal.

“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America, in full, quickly and without question,” he said.

Panama President José Raúl Mulino responded in a video that “every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to,” but Trump fired back on his social media site, “We’ll see about that!”

The president-elect also posted a picture of a U.S. flag planted in the canal zone under the phrase, “Welcome to the United States Canal!”

The United States built the canal in the early 1900s but relinquished control to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.

The canal depends on reservoirs that were hit by 2023 droughts that forced it to substantially reduce the number of daily slots for crossing ships. With fewer ships, administrators also increased the fees that shippers are charged to reserve slots to use the canal.

The Greenland and Panama flareups followed Trump recently posting that “Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State” and offering an image of himself superimposed on a mountaintop surveying surrounding territory next to a Canadian flag.

Trudeau suggested that Trump was joking about annexing his country, but the pair met recently at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida to discuss Trump’s threats to impose a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods.

“Canada is not going to become part of the United States, but Trump’s comments are more about leveraging what he says to get concessions from Canada by putting Canada off balance, particularly given the precarious current political environment in Canada,” Farnsworth said. “Maybe claim a win on trade concessions, a tighter border or other things.”

He said the situation is similar with Greenland.

“What Trump wants is a win,” Farnsworth said. “And even if the American flag doesn’t raise over Greenland, Europeans may be more willing to say yes to something else because of the pressure.”

The Associated Press Gary Fields in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: www.nbcphiladelphia.com…

The immigration officers sat in their vehicles before dawn near a two-story building. A New York subway line rumbled overhead, then an officer’s voice crackled over the radio.

After watching for about two hours, he said, “I think that’s Tango,” using a term for target. “Gray hoodie. Backpack. Walking quickly.”

The immigration officers surrounded and handcuffed a 23-year-old man from Ecuador who had been convicted of sexually assaulting a minor.

Kenneth Genalo, head of Enforcement and Removal Operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York, said a popular misconception is that officers can sweep into a community and pick up a wide swath of people who are in the United States illegally and send them to their home countries.

“It’s called targeted enforcement,” Genalo said. “We don’t grab people and then take them to JFK and put them on a plane.”

With Donald Trump returning to the White House, there is intense interest in how the Republican will carry out his immigration agenda, including a campaign pledge of mass deportations. His priorities could run into the realities faced by agents focused on enforcement and removals, including the unit in New York that offered The Associated Press a glimpse into its operations: The number of people already on its lists to target eclipses the number of officers available to do the work.

The Biden administration had narrowed deportation priorities to public safety threats and recent border crossers. Trump’s incoming “border czar,” Tom Homan, says officials in the new administration also will prioritize those who pose a risk, such as criminals, before moving on to immigrants whom courts have ordered removed from the U.S.

But Homan also has signaled that enforcement could be wider: “If you’re in the country illegally you got a problem,” he said recently on Dr. Phil’s Merit TV.

It’s a tall order.

Deportation orders far outnumber staff

About 1.4 million people have final orders of removal, while about 660,000 under immigration supervision either have been convicted of crimes or are facing charges. But only 6,000 officers within ICE are tasked with monitoring noncitizens in the country and then finding and removing those not eligible to stay.

Those staffing numbers have largely remained static as their caseload has roughly quadrupled over the past decade to 7.6 million. About 10% of that workforce was pulled from their regular duties last year to go to the U.S.-Mexico border at times when immigration spiked.

Jason Houser, ICE chief of staff earlier in the Biden administration, said the number of officers needed to pursue those deemed a public safety threat are at direct odds with the goal of deporting people in large numbers.

“You’re not going to be able to do both of those with the resources you have, with the deportation officers you have,” Houser said. “Just the arithmetic, the time-intensive nature of those sort of arrests will overwhelm any ability to get to those large scale numbers.”

Genalo said the officers in charge of individual cases have to get a lead, ensure they have the legal authority to arrest someone and then track the person down. They generally aren’t allowed to enter a residence, so they want to catch people outside.

How immigration removals work in the field

On this recent operation, about a dozen officers gathered before 5 a.m. at a White Castle parking lot in the Bronx. After putting on their body armor and checking their equipment, they circled around for a briefing.

Besides the 23-year-old Ecuadorian man, they were going after a 36-year-old Mexican man convicted of forcibly touching a young girl and another Ecuadorian also convicted of sexual abuse of a minor.

The first target, the 23-year-old man, who pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old girl, was believed to usually leave the apartment building around 7 a.m. or 7:30 a.m. Sometimes he was with a woman and child.

“Light came on in the first floor of the apartment,” an officer waiting outside said over the radio. Then later: “Someone came out of the basement, but it’s not our target.”

They finally spotted him, swept him into the back of a vehicle and quickly left the neighborhood.

Inside, the man’s 22-year-old wife didn’t know what had happened until he called later from detention.

In an interview, she said they met in Ecuador and had a child — a bubbly 3-year-old girl with braids — and she was pregnant with their second. He worked construction while she was a manicurist.

She said she knew why her husband had been arrested but felt there were important mitigating factors. She said they knew it was possible her husband could be sent back to Ecuador after his criminal case wrapped up but that it was still a shock.

ICE deported more than 270,000 people over a recent 12-month period, the highest annual tally in a decade, the agency said in a recent report. But it also said it made fewer arrests of noncitizens, in part because of the demand of sending staff to the border. Of those arrested, a greater proportion had serious criminal histories.

Working with local law enforcement

Some cities and states work with ICE to turn over people in their custody who aren’t U.S. citizens.

But many left-leaning states and cities have so-called sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. In New York City, for example, ICE used to have an office at the jail to easily take custody of noncitizens. In 2014, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio signed legislation kicking out ICE and restricting police cooperation.

His successor, Eric Adams, has shown willingness to revisit some of those policies. He recently met with Homan and told reporters they agreed on pursuing people who commit violent crimes.

Genalo said agents spend time and resources picking up immigrants few would argue should have the right to stay in America.

“How can you state that sanctuary policies help the community when you’re releasing all these criminals right back into the community?” he said. “We’re safer when we collaborate.”

Staffing is also an issue. He said he’s supposed to have about 325 officers, but in recent years, the number has been about 30% lower.

Many immigration advocates have long-standing concerns about ICE’s tactics, and those concerns are deepening with Trump’s return to office in January.

Advocates say the incoming administration’s position of going after public safety threats is already longtime policy. They object to rhetoric they say paints immigrants as people to be feared. They say there can be nuances in some cases: Maybe someone committed a crime a long time ago and has been rehabilitated, or someone facing a final order of removal moved and never got the notice.

During Trump’s first term, there were a lot of “collateral arrests” where immigration officers would detain others besides those being targeted, said Jehan Laner, a senior staff attorney for the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. That destabilizes communities, she said, adding, “We saw them go after everyone.”

Genalo said he couldn’t comment on the incoming administration’s plans but stressed that officers are going after specific targets with criminal histories. He said he has a docket of about 58,000 people who either have criminal convictions or pending charges.

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to be tied up for a while dealing with the criminal population,” Genalo said.

___

Associated Press reporter Cedar Attanasio contributed to this report.

Source: www.nbcphiladelphia.com…

December 20, 2024

During the final City Council session of 2024, City Council approved 11 bills that allow Philadelphia Sixers to build their new $1.3 Billion arena (76 Place) in Center City with a projected opening in late 2031.

The final vote on 10 of the 11 bills was 12 to 5. The yays were Council President Kenyatta Johnson (2nd District), Mark Squilla (1st District), Curtis Jones, Jr. (4th District), Mike Driscoll (6th District), Quetcy M. Lozada (7th District), Cindy Bass (8th District), Anthony Phillips (9th District), Brian O’Neill (10th District) and Councilmembers At-Large Katherine Gilmore Richardson, Isaiah Thomas, Nina Ahmad and Jim Harrity while the nays were Councilmembers Jamie Gauthier (3rd District), Jeffery Young, Jr. (5th District), and Councilmembers At-Large Rue Landau, Kendra Brooks (Minority Leader) and Nicolas O’Rourke (Minority Whip).

On the eleventh bill, Bill #241062-A, the final vote was 14-3. No votes were Young, Brooks and O’Rourke.

The approved Sixers Arena bills were:

• Bill #240963: Would remove the site of the proposed Sixers arena from the existing Gallery At Market East Tax Increment Financing District because the arena site will be City owned land and therefore not subject to taxation. Vote 12-5.
• Bill #240964-A: Creates a special services district to mitigate the impact of the arena on the surrounding community. The Arena Services District Authority will manage the district and provide services within it. The Authority would be funded by the Sixers through the Community Benefit Agreement (CBA). Vote 12-5.
• Bill #240966: Transaction ordinance, which includes approving the $60 Million CBA between the Sixers and the City of Philadelphia. Vote 12-5.
• Bill #240967: Authorizing and approving the execution and delivery of a Service Agreement between The City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development to promote the growth and expansion of business, commerce and tourism within The City of Philadelphia in connection with the development of a multipurpose sports and entertainment facility, including an arena to accommodate National Basketball Association games, and family entertainment, community, retail and other uses. Vote 12-5.
• Bill #240968: Removes Filbert Street between 10th and 11th Streets to provide space for the arena. It would allow changes to curbs, sidewalks, inlets, and fire hydrants as agreed by the Philadelphia Department of Streets and the Philadelphia Water Department. Vote 12-5.
• Bill #240969: Authorizes replacement of the existing pedestrian bridge over 10th Street with a higher pedestrian bridge. Vote 12-5.
• Bill #240970: Authorizes installation of protective bollards, planters, freestanding signs and bicycle racks on the sidewalks around the arena. Vote 12-5.
• Bill #240971: Amends Philadelphia zoning laws in the arena area to allow large signs, freestanding signs, a roof logo, and full motion digital displays. Vote 12-5.
• Bill #240972: Amends the Philadelphia Zoning code to set special rules for signs located in the arena area. Vote 12-5.
• Bill #240973: Removing the site of the proposed Sixers arena from the existing Gallery Neighborhood Improvement District because the arena site will be City owned land and therefore not subject to taxation. Vote 12-5.
• Bill #241062-A: Creation of a new Philadelphia Chinatown Overlay District. Vote 14-3.

The new arena will be in Councilmember Mark Squilla’s 1st District. Squilla first introduced the Sixers Arena legislation on October 24 to begin the arena discussion process. Resolutions #240999 and #241000 were approved back in October.

As has been the case at any hearing or Council sessions where the Sixers Arena legislation was discussed, this session was packed with people and raucous from the start. Several dozen protesters with the No Arena in the Heart of Our City Coalition came to the center of the Council floor minutes before the Council session was set to begin.

The protestors locked arms, sat on the floor and refused to leave after several requests from President Johnson. The protestors were removed by Philadelphia Sheriff Deputies and the Council session started 30 minutes late.

When the final votes on the arena were taken, the anti-arena protestors booed the councilmembers that voted yes while supporters of the arena burst into applause after the bills were passed.

Mayor Cherelle Parker held a press conference with President Johnson and other members after the vote. At the press conference, Parker and Johnson said the construction of the new arena will be the start of an economic renaissance for East Market Street.

The final vote on the Sixers Arena comes after Council’s Committee of the Whole held eight days of hearings in November and early December. Councilmembers had intense negotiations with Sixers officials from Dec 3-12 to address concerns expressed during the hearings by Councilmembers and the public. The Sixers bills had a first reading at the December 12 Council session and the final passage this week.

In the final days of negotiations, Council President Johnson pushed for the Sixers to increase how much they paid into the project’s CBA. The team initially offered $50 Million in the original CBA negotiated by Mayor Parker’s administration. The final agreement is now $60 Million, much of which will be used to aid the Chinatown community that will be impacted by the construction and operation of the arena.

Apart from the CBA, Council got Mayor Parker to pledge an investment of $20 million in city resources to support affordable housing in Chinatown as part of the deal. The pledge came in a letter sent to Councilmembers from Jessie Lawrence, Director of the City’s Department of Planning and Development.

Now that the Sixers Arena legislation has passed, demolition of parts of what is now known as the Fashion District would start in June 2026, construction would start at the end of August 2028 and 76 Place arena would open in August 2031. The area would have approximately 18,500 seats and 10,000 square feet of retail space.

Mayor Parker is expected to sign all the Sixers Arena legislation into law.

OTHER LEGISLATION WAS APPROVED DURING THE DECEMBER 19 CITY COUNCIL SESSION

Other notable bills approved on the December 19 final passage calendar were:

• Majority Whip Thomas and Minority Whip Nicolas O’Rourke’s legislation (Resolution #240834-A and Bill #240817) to create an independent Board and Office of Prison Oversight to address the city’s plagued justice system.

Now that the measure has been approved by the Council, it will soon be considered by the Philadelphia electorate on the May 2025 ballot.

The Board would be made up of four members appointed by the President of City Council, four members appointed by the Mayor, and one member appointed by the City Controller.

The appointments would not have to be confirmed by Council. The Council’s advice and consent will be required for the confirmation of the Mayor’s appointee to be the Director of the Office of Prison Oversight.

The duties of the Office of Prison Oversight would include, among other responsibilities determined by Council, increasing transparency and accountability, accessing and monitoring Philadelphia Department of Prisons facilities, databases and documents, meeting with staff and incarcerated people, and developing community education programs. The Philadelphia Prison Community Oversight Board would be tasked with holding monthly public meetings and making further recommendations to the Office and Philadelphia Department of Prisons on matters of policy and best practice.

The other resolutions and bills that were approved on final passage were #241134 (Gilmore Richardson for President Johnson), #241137 (Gauthier), #241142 (Driscoll), #241084 (Squilla), #240817 (Thomas), #241022 (Gilmore Richardson for President Johnson), and #241023 (Gilmore Richardson for President Johnson).

CITYWIDE STREETLIGHTING PROJECT CREATES JOBS, SUPPORTS PUBLIC SAFETY, AND FIGHTS CLIMATE CHANGE

The Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA) and Councilmember Harrity (At-Large) earlier this week toured the final assembly pod at American Power Electrical Supply Company – a manufacturing facility in West Philadelphia for 40,000 light fixtures being installed across Philadelphia as part of the Philadelphia Streetlight Improvement Project (PSIP).

American Power Electrical Supply Company, a minority business entity, set up an on-site final assembly pod and hired a local team of six young people to assemble and test 40,000 fixtures for use on PSIP. Youth Empowerment for Advancement Hangout (YEAH Philly) focuses on finding local partners and placing young people into paid work experiences and opportunities, along with supportive services.

YEAH Philly and American Power collaborated to hire young people who have been impacted directly by violence to staff the assembly pod. The project lead, Ameresco, and the lighting manufacturer Acuity Brands, worked with American Power and the PSIP team to devise and execute this local assembly strategy.

Preliminary results from a forthcoming study by the University of Pennsylvania’s Crime and Justice Policy Lab shows a strong link between the installation of new LED streetlights and reductions in outdoor and nighttime crimes, in particular. The study is tracking data as streetlights are installed citywide and will be continuously updated to quantify the impacts of the city’s new infrastructure as a key tool for improving public safety.

In addition to final assembly jobs, the Streets Department used its Future Track program to support PSIP’s alleyway clearing to allow access to fixture replacements, supporting employment of over 200 people and training for future City employment.

For more information on the PSIP program, go to phillystreetlightimprovement.com

PENNSYLVANIA GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO AND LT. GOV AUSTIN DAVIS’ ADMINISTRATION DELIVERS $4 MILLION IN NEW FEDERAL FUNDING TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE AND MAKE PENNSYLVANIA SAFER

Councilmembers Jeffery Young (5th District) and Cindy Bass (8th District) joined Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, who serves as chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD), last week and announced a $4 Million Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI) grant at Temple University Hospital, which runs a hospital-based violence intervention program (HVIP), a model that PCCD will work to expand across the Commonwealth with the new federal funding.

With the $4 million competitive grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, the Shapiro-Davis Administration is continuing to invest in evidence-based strategies to make Pennsylvania communities safer and combat gun violence.

THE 2025 COUNCIL SESSIONS WILL START ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 23

The December 19 special session of Philadelphia City Council was the final Council session of 2024. Council is now on winter recess from holding regular Council sessions and committee hearings, but Council offices will still be open to help with residents’ concerns and issues.

Council held 32 sessions this year. Council had two previously scheduled sessions postponed or cancelled due to the death of longtime City Council Chief Clerk Michael Decker in February and to allow councilmembers to attend the September funeral for the late Philadelphia Police Sergeant Jaime Roman, who was killed in the line of duty.

The Chief Clerk’s Office has announced that the next Council session will be on Thursday, January 23 at 10 a.m. in City Council chambers. Monitor phlcouncil.com for updates.

Council’s Communications Team wishes everyone a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year 2025.

Source: phlcouncil.com…

The Eagles suffered their first loss since September today, falling for just the third time this season at the hands of the division-rival Commanders. While Washington finally earned a win over a team with a current winning record, many will likely put an asterisk on the result because Eagles starting quarterback Jalen Hurts only played for one and a half drives.

Hurts exited the game early in the first quarter after Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner brought him down following a 13-yard run. As Hurts was taken to the ground, his helmet made solid contact with the turf, triggering the officials to pull him off the field before the next play. This forced Philadelphia to send in backup passer Kenny Pickett, and shortly after, Hurts was ruled out for the remainder of the game with a concussion.

Concussions aren’t usually reported on too heavily. This is partially due to the fact that the range of recovery times for concussions is a wide span. We’ve seen plenty of players go through the NFL’s concussion protocol in days and not miss any time. This year, though, we’ve frequently seen examples of concussions landing player on injured reserve. If the severity of Hurts’ injury is anywhere near the latter situation, that could prove detrimental for the Eagles.

This is just speculation, as we won’t know the full situation until further tests are run. Should the injury affect Hurts’ availability in the coming weeks, it could cost Philadelphia a chance at a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the playoffs. And if he’s forced to miss more than two weeks, he could miss time in the playoffs, as well. The team is one win (or one Commanders loss) away from securing a home playoff game, so they may not be able to afford to rest Hurts, despite their remaining two games being against the banged-up Cowboys and the lowly Giants.

A little rest could do Hurts some good, though, as a recent report from John Clark of NBC Philadelphia discloses that a broken finger on Hurts’ left hand has been affecting his play, mostly his ball security. The division-winners that currently hold the 3- and 4-seeds in the NFC won’t be able to catch up to the Eagles’ 12 wins, so if Philadelphia is willing to accept the 2-seed behind Detroit (the Lions only need one win in their final two games to secure home-field advantage for the playoffs) they may be able to allow Hurts some time for rest and recovery.

Source: www.profootballrumors.com…

Bluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk’s X, which they view as increasingly leaning too far to the right given its owner’s support of President-elect Donald Trump, or wanting an alternative to Meta’s Threads and its algorithms.

The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter, championed by its former CEO Jack Dorsey. Its decentralized approach to social networking was eventually intended to replace Twitter’s core mechanic. That’s unlikely now that the two companies have parted ways. But Bluesky’s growth trajectory — with a user base that has more than doubled since October — could make it a serious competitor to other social platforms.

But with growth comes growing pains. It’s not just human users who’ve been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites.

The skyrocketing user base — now surpassing 25 million — is the biggest test yet for a relatively young platform that has branded itself as a social media alternative free of the problems plaguing its competitors. According to research firm Similarweb, Bluesky added 7.6 million monthly active app users on iOS and Android in November, an increase of 295.4% since October. It also saw 56.2 million desktop and mobile web visits, in the same period, up 189% from October.

Besides the U.S. elections, Bluesky also got a boost when X was briefly banned in Brazil.

“They got this spike in attention, they’ve crossed the threshold where it is now worth it for people to flood the platform with spam,” said Laura Edelson, an assistant professor of computer science at Northeastern University and a member of Issue One’s Council for Responsible Social Media. “But they don’t have the cash flow, they don’t have the established team that a larger platform would, so they have to do it all very, very quickly.”

To manage growth for its tiny staff, Bluesky started as an invitation-only space until it opened to the public in February. That period gave the site time to build out moderation tools and other distinctive features to attract new users, such as “starter packs” that provide lists of topically curated feeds. Meta recently announced that it is testing a similar feature.

Compared to the bigger players like Meta’s platforms or X, Bluesky has a “quite different” value system, said Claire Wardle, a professor at Cornell University and an expert in misinformation. This includes giving users more control over their experience.

“The first generation of social media platforms connected the world, but ended up consolidating power in the hands of a few corporations and their leaders,” Bluesky said on its blog in March. “Our online experience doesn’t have to depend on billionaires unilaterally making decisions over what we see. On an open social network like Bluesky, you can shape your experience for yourself.”

Because of this mindset, Bluesky has achieved a scrappy underdog status that has attracted users who’ve grown tired of the big players.

“People had this idea that it was going to be a different type of social network,” Wardle said. “But the truth is, when you get lots of people in a place and there are eyeballs, it means that it’s in other people’s interests to use bots to create, you know, information that aligns with their perspective.”

Little data has emerged to help quantify the rise in impersonator accounts, artificial intelligence-fueled networks and other potentially harmful content on Bluesky. But in recent weeks, users have begun reporting large numbers of apparent AI bots following them, posting plagiarized articles or making seemingly automated divisive comments in replies.

Lion Cassens, a Bluesky user and doctoral candidate in the Netherlands, found one such network by accident — a group of German-language accounts with similar bios and AI-generated profile pictures posting in replies to three German newspapers.

“I noticed some weird replies under a news post by the German newspaper ‘Die Ziet,’” he said in an email to The Associated Press. “I have a lot of trust in the moderation mechanism on Bluesky, especially compared to Twitter since the layoffs and due to Musk’s more radical stance on freedom of speech. But AI bots are a big challenge, as they will only improve. I hope social media can keep up with that.”

Cassens said the bots’ messages have been relatively innocuous so far, but he was concerned about how they could be repurposed in the future to mislead.

There are also signs that foreign disinformation narratives have made their way to Bluesky. The disinformation research group Alethea pointed to one low-traction post sharing a false claim about ABC News that had circulated on Russian Telegram channels.

Copycat accounts are another challenge. In late November, Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the Security, Trust and Safety Initiative at Cornell Tech, found that of the top 100 most followed named individuals on Bluesky, 44% had at least one duplicate account posing as them. Two weeks later, Mantzarlis said Bluesky had removed around two-thirds of the duplicate accounts he’d initially detected — a sign the site was aware of the issue and attempting to address it.

Bluesky posted earlier this month that it had quadrupled its moderation team to keep up with its growing user base. The company also announced it had introduced a new system to detect impersonation and was working to improve its Community Guidelines to provide more detail on what’s allowed. Because of the way the site is built, users also have the option to subscribe to third-party “Labelers” that outsource content moderation by tagging accounts with warnings and context.

The company didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.

Even as its challenges aren’t yet at the scale other platforms face, Bluesky is at a “crossroads,” said Edward Perez, a board member at the nonpartisan nonprofit OSET Institute, who previously led Twitter’s civic integrity team.

“Whether BlueSky likes it or not, it is being pulled into the real world,” Perez said, noting that it needs to quickly prioritize threats and work to mitigate them if it hopes to continue to grow.

That said, disinformation and bots won’t be Bluesky’s only challenges in the months and years to come. As a text-based social network, its entire premise is falling out of favor with younger generations. A recent Pew Research Center poll found that only 17% of American teenagers used X, for instance, down from 23% in 2022. For teens and young adults, TikTok, Instagram and other visual-focused platforms are the places to be.

Political polarization is also going against Bluesky ever reaching the size of TikTok, Instagram or even X.

“Bluesky is not trying to be all things to all people,” Wardle said, adding that, likely, the days of a Facebook or Instagram emerging where they’re “trying to keep everybody happy” are over. Social platforms are increasingly splintered along political lines and when they aren’t — see Meta’s platforms — the companies behind them are actively working to de-emphasize political content and news.

___

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Source: www.nbcphiladelphia.com…

Donald Trump suggested Sunday that his new administration could try to regain control of the Panama Canal that the United States “foolishly” ceded to its Central American ally, contending that shippers are charged “ridiculous” fees to pass through the vital transportation channel linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The Republican president-elect used his first major rally since winning the White House on Nov. 5 to bask in his return to power as a large audience of conservatives cheered along, a display of party unity at odds with a just-concluded budget fight on Capitol Hill where some GOP lawmakers openly defied their leader’s demands.

Addressing supporters at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Arizona, Trump pledged that his “dream team Cabinet” would deliver a booming economy, seal U.S. borders and quickly settle wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

“I can proudly proclaim that the Golden Age of America is upon us,” Trump said. “There’s a spirit that we have now that we didn’t have just a short while ago.”

His appearance capped a four-day pep rally that drew more than 20,000 activists and projected an image of Republican cohesion despite the past week’s turbulence in Washington with Trump pulling strings from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as Congress worked to avoid a government shutdown heading into the Christmas holiday.

House Republicans spiked a bipartisan deal after Trump and Elon Musk, his billionaire ally, expressed their opposition on social media. Budget hawks flouted Trump’s request to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, which would have spared some new rounds of the same fight after he takes office Jan. 20, 2025, with Republicans holding narrow control of the House and Senate. The final agreement did not address the issue and there was no shutdown.

Trump, in his remarks in Phoenix, did not mention the congressional drama, though he did reference Musk’s growing power. To suggestions that “President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon,” Trump made clear, “No, no. That’s not happening.”

“He’s not gonna be president,” Trump said.

Trump opened the speech by saying that “we want to try to bring everybody together We’re going to try. We’re going to really give it a shot.” Then he suggested Democrats have “lost their confidence” and are “befuddled” after the election but eventually will ”come over to our side because we want to have them.”

Atop a list of grievances — some old, some new — was the Panama Canal.

“We’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal,” he said, bemoaning that his country ”foolishly gave it away.”

The U.S. relinquished control of the waterway to Panama in 1999 under a treaty signed in 1977 under President Jimmy Carter. Panama’s current president, José Raúl Mulino, is a conservative populist and the country is a strong U.S. ally. The canal is crucial for Panama’s economy and generates about one-fifth of that government’s annual revenue.

Mulino was expected to speak about Trump’s comments later Sunday in Panama City.

The canal depends on reservoirs to operate its locks. It was heavily affected by droughts in Central America in 2023 that forced it to substantially reduce the number of daily slots for crossing ships. With fewer ships using the canal each day, administrators also increased the fees that are charged all shippers for reserving a slot.

With weather returning to normal in the later months of this year, transit on the canal has normalized. But price increases are still expected for next year.

Ship crossings were recently limited on Sept. 30 to 31 from 32.

Trump said that when he’s president, “This complete rip off” of the U.S. “will immediately stop.” If not, he said, the waterway could “be returned to the United States of America in full and without question.”

He did not explain how that would be possible.

Trump’s appearance at Turning Point’s annual gathering affirmed the growing influence the group and its founder, Charlie Kirk, have had in the conservative movement. Kirk’s organization hired thousands of field organizers across presidential battlegrounds, helping Trump make key gains among infrequent voters and other groups of people that have trended more Democratic in recent decades, including younger voters, Black men and Latino men.

”You had Turning Point’s grassroots armies,” Trump said. “It’s not my victory, it’s your victory.”

Earlier Sunday, Trump said that Stephen Miran, who worked at the Treasury Department in Trump’s first term, was his choice to lead the Council of Economic Advisers.

And Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt announced he was donating $1.1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund to complement the $14 million that he said he already had given to the Make America Great Again Inc. super political action committee — making him one of the president-elect’s top donors.

Pratt is chairman of Pratt Industries, which uses recycled paper and boxes as a raw material in a process that produces new cardboard.

___

Weissert reported from West Palm Beach, Florida. Associated Press writer Manuel Rueda in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.

Source: www.nbcphiladelphia.com…

PHOENIX — President-elect Donald Trump dismissed any suggestion that he’s being usurped by his high-profile billionaire ally Elon Musk, coming off a week in which Musk helped derail an emergency spending measure to avert a government shutdown.

Trump said the notion that he has “ceded the presidency” to Musk is a fiction and that even if Musk wanted the job, he couldn’t get it because of the Constitution’s requirement that the U.S. president be a natural-born citizen. Musk was born in South Africa.

“No, he’s not going to be president, that I can tell you,” Trump said. “And I’m safe. You know why he can’t be? He wasn’t born in this country.”

Trump spoke for more than an hour Sunday at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, with thousands of conservative activists cheering wildly as he took the stage amid a pyrotechnic display. It was his first rally-style event since the election.

Smoke curled around the lectern and sparklers shot up from the floor as the crowd stood and cheered the incoming president, who wore his trademark suit and overlong red tie.

“Trump! Trump! Trump!” the audience chanted.

“The golden age of America is upon us,” Trump said.

In his remarks, Trump also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to meet with him “as soon as possible” and called for an end to the “horrible,” horrible” war between Russia and Ukraine.

During the campaign, Trump said he would bring a swift end to the war, using leverage and clout he believes he has attained with both Putin and Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Raising a different foreign policy issue, he reiterated a warning that he made on social media Saturday that Panama is charging excessive fees for use of the Panama Canal, the passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

If Panama doesn’t relent, Trump said he would insist on retaking control of the canal, which the U.S. relinquished under a treaty that then-President Jimmy Carter signed in 1977.

“We’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal like we’re being ripped off everywhere else,” Trump said.

The president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, posted on social media Sunday that the canal belongs to Panama and the sovereignty of the country is not up for negotiation.

“Every square meter of the Panama Canal and the surrounding area belongs to Panama, and will continue to,” he said in his video message. “The sovereignty and independence of our country are non-negotiable. … It’s part of our history of struggle and an irreversible victory.”

Trump also outlined a new plan for a campaign-style advertising blitz aimed at discouraging drug use.

“We are going to advertise how bad drugs are for you,” Trump said. “They ruin your look, they ruin your face, they ruin your skin. They ruin your teeth. If you want to have horrible teeth, take a lot of fentanyl.”

Trump’s appearance at the conference followed a tense standoff in Washington, D.C., over the past week that nearly caused a government shutdown.

Trump and Musk effectively scuttled Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson’s proposed emergency spending measure, forcing lawmakers to find an acceptable alternative that would keep the government running hours before the shutdown would have taken effect.

Musk, who owns the social media site X, posted more than 100 times about his objections to the original spending deal — a preview of how he may use his influence and his megaphone to shape policy in Trump’s second term.

Mockingly, Democrats have taken to calling him “President Musk.” History shows that anyone who upstages Trump or diverts attention from him doesn’t last long in his orbit.

Yet Trump’s remarks suggest that he doesn’t want a rift with Musk; for now, the two have shared interests. Musk spent more than $250 million to help get Trump elected.

After his victory, Trump tapped Musk to head a new nongovernmental office whose mission is to reduce government costs and inefficiencies. Looking ahead, Musk’s wealth could help keep Republicans in Trump’s fold. Any GOP lawmaker tempted to defy Trump may fear that the new president would orchestrate a primary challenge bankrolled by Musk.

Speakers at the conference downplayed any friction between Musk and Trump.

In a speech Thursday night, Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s eldest son, said: “You see what the media is trying to do to break up the relationship that my father has with Elon. They’re trying to cause that schism to prevent these guys doing what they’re going to do best, and we cannot allow that.”

Another speaker, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said in an interview with NBC News that Musk is filling an important role in helping eliminate government waste.

“We’re bringing in a consultant from the private sector to put a different set of eyes on what we’re spending money on,” Mullin said.

As for Musk’s use of his social media platform, Mullin said, “He has a right to do it. He’s still a private citizen. He’s no different than anyone else.”

Less than one month before the 45th president becomes the 47th, Trump seemed in a good mood. After summoning Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to the stage, Trump scanned the crowd and didn’t see him at first.

“Is he here someplace? Ted? Ted?” Trump said. “Oh, oh, he’s in trouble.” At that, Cruz emerged from backstage and the two shook hands and embraced.

At another point, Trump heard a strange sound onstage. “What the hell was that?” he said. “You get the little yips up here every once in a while.”

Trump, who faced two assassination attempts during the campaign, added: “I wonder why.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

Source: www.nbcphiladelphia.com…

Today’s minor transactions and standard gameday practice squad elevations:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Commanders

After being activated from injured reserve in early November, Bates only played two games before suffering a concussion. The 27-year-old has not played since Week 11 and will now miss the remainder of the season on IR. Bates is under contract through 2025.

Source: www.profootballrumors.com…

Cherelle Parker reflected on her first year as Philadelphia’s mayor and looked ahead to next year in her State of the City address at Temple University on Friday.

Léelo en español aquí

In front of a crowd of Parker administration and city employees at the Temple Performing Arts Center, Parker touted some of the positive trends in Philadelphia in 2024, including a 37 percent decrease in reported homicides compared to the same time last year, according to police data.

“We’re proud of where we are as Year One draws to a close,” Parker said. “Our city is becoming safer, our blocks are cleaner, and there is more educational opportunities in our schools. Let me be clear: We have a long way to go and much, much more work to do. But I’m proud of our administration and every official and city employee working for the people of Philadelphia.”

Parker also released her year-end report, highlighting her administration’s achievements in 2024.

Ahead of the 2 p.m. speech at Temple, Parker took the subway from City Hall to Cecil B. Moore Avenue. She then walked to the Temple Performing Arts Center.

Her speech took place a day after City Council approved the Philadelphia 76ers’ controversial plan to build an arena in Center City, which has sparked protests from groups in Philadelphia’s Chinatown community.

Parker addressed the arena plans during a speech Thursday afternoon and did so again during Friday’s address.

“This is an historic milestone for our City and let me say it again – we want a Chinatown that will not only survive, but thrive,” Parker said on Friday. “I’m proud of this deal – which compares favorably with any sports arena or stadium deal in Philadelphia history – and I am grateful for the incredibly hard work of my Administration team that worked on this deal, led by my terrific Chief of Staff Tiffany Thurman, as well as for the collaborative partnership with City Council that led 12 Members to vote for this deal.”

Read Parker’s entire State of the City address below:

Mayor Cherelle Parker’s State of the City address

Good afternoon everyone! Welcome to our first “State of the City” in the Parker administration!

I am very EXCITED to be here with all of you today –

Senior Leaders in our Parker administration, City employees, external stakeholders, Temple President Fry – and the many tremendous members of the incoming Parker administration’s Transition Committee who served even before I was sworn in as your 100^th Mayor —

In particular, our Transition Chair, Ryan Boyer and Vice-Chairs, Della Clark and Greg Segall, THANK YOU!

Elected officials at the City, State and Federal levels, and everyone in the City of Philadelphia!

I want to first say “thank you” to the Members of our Legislative Branch of City government who joined us today.

Councilmembers Quetcy Lozada, Cindy Bass, Jamie Gauthier, Rue Landau, Nicholas O’Rourke and Kendra Brooks, thank you for being here with us today, and for your service to our City.

From our STRONG Philadelphia delegation in Harrisburg, I want to thank House Appropriations Chairman Jordan Harris, and Representatives Jason Dawkins, Danilo Burgos, Anthony Bellmon, and Ben Waxman for joining us today.

And from our Senate delegation, Senators Anthony Williams, Sharif Street and Art Haywood, THANK YOU for being here and for ALL that you do in Harrisburg, fighting for Philadelphia.

To our many friends in the Labor movement, THANK YOU for your STRONG and UNWAVERING support for our agenda.

I know Omar Salaam and David Robinson from District Council 33 are here. We welcome TJ Lepara from IBEW Local 98, and Danny Bauder from the Philadelphia AFL-CIO.

THANK YOUR LABOR FOR YOUR STRONG SUPPORT OF THE PARKER ADMINISTRATION.

President John Fry, thank you so much for welcoming myself and our Parker Administration today to Temple University’s beautiful Performing Arts Center.

Our purpose today is to highlight our substantive efforts and accomplishments – working TOGETHER — during this First Year in Office of the Parker administration.

The People of Philadelphia elected me to this position – the 100^th Mayor in City History and the first Woman Mayor in Philly’s 341-year history – and I am INVIGORATED by the challenge every single day.

Before I begin my Remarks, I’d like to do two things.

First, I want to lift up a Gentleman who has served this great University so well for so many years.

Richard Englert served as President of Temple University during the current academic year while the University searched for its new president. It was not his first time serving in this role, and Dick Englert has served in almost every possible leadership role you can serve in at a great University like Temple – President, chancellor, provost, dean of several colleges and the graduate school here – Dick’s span of service to Temple University dates to 1976.

This was Dick Englert’s third term as Temple’s chief executive officer. He is the personification of service to Temple University and to our City.

So I would like to bestow on Dick a token of our appreciation from a grateful City. Dick, can you join me at the podium?

MAYOR GIVES DICK ENGLERT A LIBERTY BELL

Now, I’d like to take a minute and tell you about a moment I experienced just a week ago, as I was walking through the Municipal Services Building, the MSB, across from City Hall – a huge office building and the “Nerve Center” of City government.

I was walking through the basement level of the MSB – where a lot of city employees who do the hard work of helping residents with their water bills, their gas bills, their  problems at L & I – these are the workers who do the WORK every day to SERVE the citizens of our great City.

Being there took me back to my roots in City government. Handling EVERY kind of constituent service for Councilwoman Marian Tasco – my Political mother — it’s how I learned about city government, and what it can DO for people.

This work is not EASY. I know that, and you know it too.

But it is WORTHWHILE and I am honored to be leading our COLLECTIVE efforts to serve the 1.6 Million People of Philadelphia, as we work EVERY day to create the Safest, Cleanest and Greenest City in the United States, with Access to Economic Opportunity for All.

While my message today is one of the progress that we’ve made in the Parker administration during Year One – I want you to hear me say this out loud:

None of this progress would be possible without YOU.

NONE OF IT.

For 11 Months now, we have been recruiting the ‘Best and Brightest’ into this Administration.

To those who have chosen to serve our City and in my administration:

YOU are our Subject Matter Experts!

YOU make me stand TALLER as your Mayor, and I am profoundly grateful to you for that, and for your SERVICE to our City.

And I want you to know that this Mayor SUPPORTS YOU!

Today, we’re 11 months and 20 days into our Administration.

We’ve moving beyond the PROMISE now.  Let’s talk about what we’ve done – working TOGETHER.

Let’s start with PUBLIC SAFETY, my Number 1 Priority as your Mayor.

We are by no means resting, we know we have a long way to go, but the work of our Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel – the best Police Commissioner in the Country– and our Chief Public Safety Director, Adam Geer, is starting to show results for the People of Philadelphia.

Homicides are down 37 percent compared with one year ago, and shootings are down 36 percent.

A recent report from the Center for American Progress shows violent crime is down in big cities — with the steepest rate of decline in Philadelphia.

Let me be very clear about something: IT. IS. NOT. ENOUGH!

The numbers don’t mean a Damn Thing!

Last weekend, we had 24 people shot in Philadelphia. Four of them died. We had 3 young people shot – none fatally, thank God – outside an ice skating rink – a skating rink! — in our Christmas Village in Center City.

PAUSE

These are NOT statistics I am talking about. These are Human Beings! Someone’s brother, father or son. Someone’s sister, mother or daughter. A beloved family member.

IT SHOULD NOT GO DOWN THIS WAY.

We CANNOT and WILL NOT REST until every neighbor in every neighborhood feels safe in their homes and on their front steps …

Until EVERY child can walk to school safely, until EVERY Senior can sit on their porch on a Summer night and feel safe again.

WE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL WE ACHIEVE THAT FOR EVERY NEIGHBORHOOD IN PHILADELPHIA!

PIVOT

There is MORE we are doing on Public Safety.

On my first day in office, I signed an Executive Order directing Police Commissioner Bethel, Public Safety Director Geer, and Managing Director Adam Thiel to develop a comprehensive Public Safety Plan for Philadelphia. They delivered that Public Safety Plan to me in April – on our 100^th Day in Office.

We can already see its impact — progress in our efforts to combat gun violence, and targeted responses to persistent quality of life issues.

We now have more than 200 Police Officers walking the beat, riding bikes, getting to know the communities they are sworn to protect and serve again as our Community Policing model takes root.

Let me be clear: We cannot and will not police our way out of our problems. My public safety strategy is anchored by P.I.E. — Prevention. Intervention. and Enforcement – and it’s working.

Led by our Public Safety Director Adam Geer, we’re investing in proven anti-violence strategies and programs that WORK, particularly involving young people at risk of negative paths and negative outcomes.

We’re investing in Group Violence Intervention – GVI – with an emphasis on our Youth.

I’d like to mention several individuals hard at work in our GVI programming today.

Stanley Brown was a gunshot victim and survivor who became a participant in our GVI program. He’s made a real change in his life, and GVI supported him with housing and work and apprenticeship opportunities and today, Stanley is a fulltime city employee.

Deion Sumpter is Deputy Director of our Office of Safe Neighborhoods who oversees all the violence intervention programs in that office.

Dr. Kareem Brown is Director of P3 – Pushing Progress Philly, another violence intervention program we support.

Stanley, Deion, Kareem, WOULD YOU ALL PLEASE RISE?

We approved $28 million in my first One Philly Budget passed with the strong support of City Council to spend on grass roots community violence prevention programs – and we will CONTINUE that innovative work because we know it WORKS.

Thank you, Council President Kenyatta Johnson! Thank you, Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr.! Thank you to every Member of Council who voted to support these essential programs.

Our work is starting to gain national and international attention. I was recently asked to speak about P.I.E. at Bloomberg’s CityLab in Mexico City to Mayors from all over the world. It was a privilege.

But we are not resting on these laurels! We understand the job is not done until every resident in every neighborhood feels safe again.

Public Safety as I’ve said is NOT just Policing or even Violence Intervention. Public Safety is also City agencies COLLABORATING to break up ILLEGAL auto shops that operate illicit towing and storage yards in residential neighborhoods.

Just this week, our Police Department, working together with the Philadelphia Parking Authority and our Licenses & Inspections Department, issued Cease & Desist Orders on four illegal auto shop businesses, towed away 45 unregistered cars and vehicles, and recovered four stolen vehicles too.

“It’s a new day,” Richie Lazer from the Parking Authority told the media. “We’re cleaning up these vehicles, cleaning up their pollution, and we’re gonna make this neighborhood what it SHOULD BE for residents.”

I COULD NOT HAVE SAID THIS BETTER MYSELF! IT’S A NEW DAY IN THE PARKER ADMINISTRATION. AND WORKING TOGETHER, WE WILL MAKE YOUR NEIGHBORHOODS SAFER AND CLEANER AGAIN.

One more important thing to say about Public Safety – our Prison system is SLOWLY but SURELY starting to show signs of improvement.

It started when I appointed Mike Resnick – a tested, serious law enforcement veteran – as Commissioner of the Philadelphia Prisons System.

It continued when we recently graduated 48 Cadets to become Correctional Officers – the largest class of cadets we’ve had in years. (and we will have 60 cadets in the next class!)

I spoke at the Cadet Class graduation ceremony recently and it was so inspiring. It’s a New Day in our Prisons system and we’re working EVERY day to make things better there and I asked the family and friends of these new Correctional Officers to give them as much love as they possibly can.

There are 2 graduated Cadets from Correctional Officer Class 24-05 who are here with us today – Dawn McCoy, who’s now assigned to Curran-Fromhold [CUR-in Fromhold] Correctional Facility, and Joseph Slevinski, who’s assigned to Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center.

CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS MCCOY AND SLEVINSKI, WOULD YOU PLEASE RISE?

PUBLIC HEALTH

Let’s turn to Public Health.

We have built out a comprehensive Public Safety and Public Health Strategy to provide long-term care, treatment, and housing for those individuals who are unhoused and are suffering from substance use disorder, addictions and/or mental health challenges. 

In my One Philly budget signed into law in June, working together with City Council we invested $100 Million in capital funds for our rehabilitating and building of Riverview Wellness Village – a facility with up to 640 beds that will be a refuge for people living on the streets, a place to get the treatment they need, and a state of the art, dignified place to get themselves on a path to being self sufficient again.

As our first step we’re rehabbing existing cottages and buildings at Riverview. Then, we plan to issue an RFP to build a new state-of-the-art building on the campus.

We are excited to announce we will be opening the rehabbed facility early next year.

In fact, we’re going to hold our first Cabinet Meeting of the New Year at Riverview Village!

I cannot emphasize enough that what we are doing has never been done before. 

Our city workers, led by Managing Director Adam Thiel and Deputy Managing Director Crystal Yates-Gale, are working literally around the clock on this project and I am so very proud of EVERY worker working on this critical public health initiative for our city.

I’m also delighted to note that we’ve just named our new Commissioner of the Department of Public Health, Dr. Palak Raval [Rah-VALL] -Nelson, PhD/MPH – a career veteran of the Health Department, with deep experience, and cannot wait for her to get started (SHE STARTS ON MONDAY DEC. 23^rd)

With public health and public safety in mind, our team has made incredible strides in another one of my top priorities:

CLEAN AND GREEN

Under our new Office of Clean & Green Initiatives, run by Director Carlton Williams, we are DELIVERING on our promise to create “One Philly, A United Citywide Cleaning and Greening Program” – a proactive strategy to address chronic quality-of-life issues: litter, illegal dumping, graffiti, abandoned automobiles, vacant lots, and nuisance properties. 

After the first citywide cleaning program over the Summer, 20,517 neighborhood blocks and commercial corridors were cleaned.

Talk about a government you can see, touch, and feel!

That is how you do it! Thank you, Director Williams, thank you Sanitation Commissioner Crystal Jacobs Shipman, and EVERY City Department involved in this collaborative and important work!

The Office of Clean & Green Initiatives has also led our Citywide Cleanup Program, our Residential District-by- District Cleaning Program, and now our pilot twice-a-week trash collection program that we unveiled just a few weeks ago, with Council President Johnson and our House Appropriations Chair Jordan Harris in South Philadelphia.

Through all of these Clean and Green programs – we’ve cleaned OVER 40,000 City Blocks and Commercial Corridors! And that number goes up EVERY DAY!

We are done with the phrase, ‘Filthadelphia’ and we won’t stop until we END that terrible nickname once and for ALL!

That’s the CLEAN part of our agenda and work. Let me talk for a minute about the GREEN part of our work.

It is not enough to be CLEANING blocks and neighborhoods. We need to be GREENING communities – and we’re making progress there too.

Our Office of Sustainability released an Energy Poverty Alleviation Strategy over the Summer as a Roadmap to reduce our city’s emissions and achieve our Administration’s vision of a city where all Philadelphians can access and afford energy that is clean, healthy and safe.

Our Southwest Philadelphia community of Eastwick has long faced flooding from nearby creeks, damaging homes and increasing insurance premiums.

Creating an undue burden for too many people in Eastwick.

Our Sustainability Office is leading an Intergovernmental effort – ‘Eastwick from Recovery to Resilience’ – giving residents a seat at the table in strategic planning for THEIR community. We’ve secured nearly $3 Million to build community capacity and planning and install flood barriers as well.

There’s MORE we’re doing on GREENING –

We’re using MORE Renewable Electricity, and we’re GROWING and protecting the City’s Tree Canopy, and you can read a lot more about it in our Year-End Report that you’ve received a copy of today!

Let’s talk about ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY.

What does that mean exactly and how can the City play an active role?

I made it clear before I took the oath of office that all Philadelphians must have access to the path of self sufficiency that includes access to 21^st century, world-class education; affordable, luxury housing; and the opportunity to do business in Philadelphia.

In October, we launched one of my top initiatives – the City College for Municipal Employment – at the Community College of Philadelphia. 

CCME is a first-in-the-nation program that will be a pipeline for Philadelphia residents to obtain family-sustaining, stable municipal government jobs.

What does that mean?

That means competitive salaries, health benefits, and pensions. The kind of stuff that strengthens the middle class!

And filling vacancies in City Government positions to make Philly run better for everyone who lives here.

CCME would not be possible without the cooperation and coordination of the City, the School District, Community College, and Philadelphia Works.

Dr. Watlington, President Generals, Pat Clancy – we are grateful for the partnership!

Our first class of 59 CCME students are enrolled right now at CCP.  Our next class of incoming students will begin early in the new year.

I am SO excited about the promise of this program, and we are grateful to Chief Administrative Officer Camille Duchaussee and her team (Carol DeFries and Candi Jones) for ALL their work thus far.

In fact, 2 students in our first CCME class are HERE with us today.

Ms. Aleena Chandy (who’s studying to become a Computer Support Specialist) and Ms. Karen Abney (who’s studying Administration) are both enrolled in CCME and they’re working towards brighter economic futures for themselves.

ALEENA AND KAREN, WOULD YOU PLEASE RISE?

 
MORE on ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
 

During our first year in office, this Administration has focused on breaking down traditional barriers to access economic opportunities for everyone, no matter what you look like, where you are from, or how big or small your business is.

That is why I signed the PHL Open For Business Executive Order in the Spring. My administration is committed to making it more welcoming and easier to do business in Philadelphia, to locate a business here, and expand and grow businesses in the City.

We have continued to grow and expand PHL TCB to support our business corridors and beyond into our neighborhoods. This program has created hundreds of jobs that preserve the “curb-side appeal” and value of our business corridors.

A shout out this morning not only to Carlton Williams at Clean and Green and Crystal Jacobs Shipman at Sanitation – but to Alba Martinez our great Commerce Director for her leadership as we grow and expand PHL TCB – one of my babies.

Taking Care of Business is not just about cleaning Neighborhood Corridors – as important as that is.

TCB is about Creating Jobs that Pay an Individual a Living Wage. People like Hosea “Hassan” Austin.

Hassan works with TCB through the Frankford CDC.  He’s a Frankford resident for 35 years. He retired from Laborers Local 332, and suffered through some personal challenges.

But he heard about TCB and applied for a job. It gave him a renewed sense of Purpose. He’s worked with TCB now for 6 years, and he is a Goodwill Ambassador to everyone who comes in contact with him. He leads by example.

THAT’S WHAT TCB IS ALL ABOUT – Cleaning and Community and Opportunity. [APPLAUSE]

TCB is also about people like Yvette Watts, who owns Watts Facility Solutions and performs cleaning services under TCB in South and West Philadelphia. She’s excited to create job opportunities for others through TCB and with partners like our city’s Future Track program and the Philadelphia Parking Authority.

HASSAN AND YVETTE, WOULD YOU PLEASE RISE?

There are many ways the Parker administration is creating and supporting Opportunity.

We also support the Future Track workforce development program in the Streets Department, where individuals accepted into this program learn valuable jobs skills that put them on pathways towards good-paying city jobs with benefits in the Department.

My administration STRONGLY SUPPORTS the Future Track program!

Several of our Future Track program workers are here with us today.

Brittany Reid started in the program in December 2023, and began her job with the City in the Sanitation Department in October of this year.

Lamar Barnes started in Future Track in January of this year, and started his City job in Sanitation in October.

By the way, both of our Future Track guests are now working on our Clean and Green Initiative!

WE ARE PROUD OF THEIR PROGRESS! BRITTANY AND LAMAR, WOULD YOU PLEASE RISE?

We’ve also established the Office of Minority Business Success to give EVERY Philadelphia business and entrepreneur a fair and equal chance to succeed.

This Office is VITAL to our Economic Opportunity plans in the Parker Administration. And if you want to know the Standard, just look at the Economic Opportunity plan that we just negotiated in the Sixers Arena deal that I’ll speak about later. Nichole Stokes from our Law Department helped craft a comprehensive plan to provide REAL OPPORTUNITY for small- and minority-owned businesses and individuals to participate in that massive economic development project and THAT IS OUR STANDARD now.

Rachel Branson is heading up our Office of Minority Business Success and we have big plans for this new Office heading into next year!

We’ve also created a Mayor’s Business Roundtables, led by Donavan West, that’s a place for business leaders – representing large, small and medium-sized businesses across our City – to have a direct line to me and my administration and to bring their expertise to make Philadelphia a better place to do business.

And if I can say one more thing about a model for Economic Opportunity in this City, we need look no further than our world-class Philadelphia International Airport, where CEO Atif Saaed and his team are developing and IMPLEMENTING contract opportunities for minority-owned businesses and businesses of every kind that create REAL economic growth and jobs for our residents.

Now, let’s talk about EDUCATION.

You know I may be your Mayor, but I’m also a Certified, Secondary English Teacher by Profession! Public Education means EVERYTHING to me!

This fall, we launched the Extended Day – Extended Year Program to create educational enrichment opportunities for our children in 25 schools — 20 traditional public schools and 5 charter schools.

Extended Day – Extended Year is a FREE City-sponsored program in partnership with the School District to offer parents early care services starting at 7:30AM and after school care that provides programs ranging from coding to computer sciences to girls’ rugby – and MUCH MORE.

We’ve already created over 7,355 educational enrichment opportunities for our children – and MORE MORE MORE are on the way.

Our newest Chief Deputy Mayor, Vanessa Garrett Harley, working with our Chief Education Officer, Dr. Deb Carrera, leads our efforts with Extended Day – Extended Year and we are PROUD of their work.

But like EVERYTHING we do in the Parker administration, we don’t accomplish from the Top Down – we lead from the Bottom up.  And we would not be building an effective Extended Day/Extended Year program without the participation of teachers, principals and staff at the 25 Schools where this program is now underway.

One of those educators is here with us today – Dr. Shauneille Taylor, the Principal of Edward Gideon Elementary School, one of our Extended Day/Extended Year schools.

Dr. Taylor and her staff’s vision is for ALL children, regardless of race or ethnicity, language or religion, disability or gender or socioeconomic status, to have a GREAT SCHOOL in their COMMUNITY – and Extended Day/Extended Year is a part of their vision now.

DOCTOR TAYLOR, WILL YOU PLEASE RISE?

In my first One Philly budget and throughout this year, we increased funding for children in Philadelphia schools by nearly $250 Million over the next 5 years. 

$129 Million by increasing the amount of property tax going to Schools (millage rate shift from 55 percent to 56 percent for Schools), and $120 Million more through our careful revaluation process this Summer. 

We will continue to push for more resources for our schools because our children deserve the whole loaf, not crumbs!

Our education plan does not stop at our young people. Our Administration has made incredible strides in supporting adult education and workforce development.

Making all of these investments in education and workforce development will not have the desired impact without access to AFFORDABLE HOUSING.

HOUSING

Now, I have promised 30,000 units of housing through new construction, preservation, and repair of existing — with a focus on affordability.

We are focused on affordability, but our plan includes housing for all income levels: affordable, workforce, market rate and public.

We are building communities and neighborhoods contributing to a city everyone can be proud to live in. 

Working closely with our local, state, and federal partners through our new Director of Planning and Development, Jessie Lawrence, this Administration is developing a comprehensive Housing Plan which we’ll announce in the first quarter of 2025.

You can read a LOT more about the critically important housing programs we are investing in – like Turn the Key and Restore, Repair, Renew – in our Year-End Report.

I am PROUD to support a successful program like Turn the Key with Council President Johnson and his colleagues on City Council, who first funded this initiative under former Council President Darrell Clarke.

 
 
REFORMING GOVERNMENT TO WORK BETTER
 
I want to speak about something I’m enormously proud of.
 

Last month, leaders from across all City departments came together to address decades-old issues with the City’s procurement process.

In order to address the large backlog of unconformed contracts and unpaid invoices, I charged our Finance and Procurement leaders to come together and work through the silos and barriers and get our partners the money they deserve.

I want to praise Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson here for the excellent work that she and her staff have done on these issues involving non-profit providers, and ensuring they are being paid in a prompt and appropriate way by the City.

In just a little over a month, 550 contracts were conformed and over $221 Million were paid in outstanding invoices.

We’re NOT done yet but that is OUTSTANDING work. I want to lift up Cat Lamb from Finance, all of her colleagues in Finance, our Procurement leaders, especially LaShawnda Tompkins and T. David Williams, with clear direction from Chief Administrative Officer Duchaussee and her team for this critical work.

Anyone here who has ever done business with the City before, can understand what an amazing accomplishment that is!

It’s important to note WHY this reform work is so important. Many of the non-profit providers involved in these issues provide essential services to our residents. If their invoices are late getting paid or satisfied by the City, they might not make a payroll – leading to service interruptions and a real loss for residents.

Don’t take my word for it. Two hard-working non-profit leaders are here with us today, and they UNDERSTAND how important the work that our Administration has done to conform contracts, get organizations paid appropriately – enabling them to continue doing their vital work for our citizens.

OTIS BULLOCK WITH THE GREATER PHILADELPHIA COMMUNITY ALLIANCE, and JOANNE OTERO FROM WOMEN AGAINST ABUSE, WILL YOU PLEASE RISE?

But we are not stopping there. This collaboration exercise has taught us valuable lessons for how we can better streamline our procurement processes to move at the speed of business.

 
 
SIXERS ARENA
 

Yesterday, City Council gave its final approval to an historic $1.3 Billion economic development project for Philadelphia with no City subsidy – a new Sixers basketball Arena in Center City, with $700 Million in projected tax revenues, the largest PILOT payments ever for a Philadelphia sports facility and a $60 Million Community Benefits Agreement – paid for by the Sixers to benefit nearby communities AND the city as a whole.

This is an historic milestone for our City and let me say it again – we want a Chinatown that will not only survive, but thrive.

I’m PROUD of this deal – which compares favorably with any sports arena or stadium deal in Philadelphia history – and I am GRATEFUL for the incredibly hard work of my Administration team that worked on this deal, led by my terrific Chief of Staff Tiffany Thurman, as well as for the collaborative partnership with City Council that led 12 Members to vote for this deal.

I’d like to lift EVERY single Member up who voted for this deal: Council President Johnson, Councilmember Mark Squilla, whose district will house the arena, Councilmembers Katherine Gilmore Richardson (Maj. Leader), Isaiah Thomas (Maj. Whip), Cindy Bass (Deputy Whip), Curtis Jones Jr., Mike Driscoll, Quetcy Lozada, Anthony Phillips, Brian O’Neill, Nina Ahmad and Jim Harrity.

LABOR AGREEMENTS

Anybody who knows me knows I am an unapologetic Pro-Worker and Pro-Union Mayor. I also believe – I know — we have the best Municipal Workforce in the Country!

So I’m proud to report that my Administration was able to obtain contract extensions with ALL Four of our city Municipal Unions – FOP Lodge 5, Firefighters Local 22, AFSCME District Council 47 and the most recent agreement was with District Council 33.

We negotiated historic wage increases, we avoided any work stoppages for the People of Philadelphia, and we valued our municipal workers in a substantive way.

A big shout out to Chief Deputy Mayor Sincere Harris and every Administration official who worked on these agreements.

Our Team is ALREADY hard at work laying the groundwork to reach fiscally responsible multi-year agreements with all of our municipal unions.

Philly Stat 360

Earlier this week, we unveiled another new project that I had promised the People of Philadelphia – a brand-new City website and program called Philly Stat 360 – an online portal where residents can go to learn about all different kinds of city services, how they’re working (or not), and how to apply to get a service delivered in their neighborhood.

This new website, developed by my Chief Legal Counsel and Director of Philly Stat 360, Kristin Bray, is so good, we’ve already been invited to the White House to brief on how we’re tracking and using data in the Parker administration. And we’ve designed this amazing new website IN HOUSE!

Speaking of the White House … I need to say a few things before I close here today.

 
FEDERAL FUNDING FROM BIDEN-HARRIS
 

First, I need to express our deep appreciation as a City for all that the Biden-Harris Administration has done for Philadelphia in just our first year in office.

How about $1 Billion in Federal funds – that’s $1 BILLION WITH A B! – coming to Philadelphia, thanks to President Biden, Vice President Harris, and our Federal Congressional Delegation – Senators Casey and Fetterman, and Congress Members Dwight Evans and Brendan Boyle and Mary Gay Scanlon.

That is the power of Intergovernmental Relationships and we UNDERSTAND their IMPORTANCE to Philadelphia.

Now, as for next year? …

As I said after the election in November, the People of Philadelphia elected me to do a job, and I am laser-focused on doing it – working every day to make Philadelphia the Safest, Cleanest, Greenest City in America, with Access to Economic Opportunity for All.

No election result will change my focus. PERIOD!

Anybody who knows me knows I have never been accused of being shy. But as Philadelphia’s CEO, I do not seek fights either. I seek, and my Administration seeks, to serve the People of Philadelphia and get things done to make their lives better. That is our Mission every day. I shall NOT be moved.

2025 promises to be an interesting year. And we are moving that much closer to 2026 and the 250^th Anniversary of our wonderful Country.

People from all over the World will be coming to see our City, the Birthplace of our Democracy.

And with all of you – every single one of YOU – working in concert with my Parker Administration, we plan to be ready.

Never forget: Tourism and Hospitality create JOBS and REVENUES for our City. It’s a giant economic engine in Philadelphia, generating and sustaining tens of thousands of jobs in our restaurant and hotel sectors, so we want EVERY VISITOR coming here in 2026 to have a great experience in Philadelphia.

CLOSE

Remember the words of James Baldwin, a lifelong inspiration to me:  ‘I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.’

As Mayor, it is important to me that you watch what we do.

I want our residents to feel a sense of Hope and Pride in their City government again.

I do not promise perfection. But I DO promise that we will work hard every day, using the resources that we have, to deliver a government our residents can see, touch and feel.

And now, I’d like to ask all of my Cabinet Members, and every city government official – and every city employee here today – to STAND UP.

Stand with me, so that everyone can SEE their government, and understand what an honor it is for all of us to work for you.

Thank you all so very much for joining us here today. Stay on this Journey with us as we enter our Second Year.

May God bless each of you, your family and friends.

And may God bless the City of Philadelphia.

Put your Ones in the Air … One Philly! A United City!

Source: www.nbcphiladelphia.com…