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Homicide numbers were up in Philly, down in Pittsburgh

Philly's mayor says state and feds won't act

  • Ed Mahon
Mayor Jim Kenney is sworn in to his second term, flanked by his mother, Barbara.

 Emma Lee / WHYY

Mayor Jim Kenney is sworn in to his second term, flanked by his mother, Barbara.

Mayor Jim Kenney is sworn in to his second term, flanked by his mother, Barbara.

Emma Lee / WHYY

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney takes the oath of office for a second term on Jan. 6, 2019. In his inaugural speech, Kenny said he wants to reduce homicides by 30 percent by 2024. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

  • Several news organizations looked back at 2019 to track trends in the number of homicides. Philadelphia ended the year with 365 homicides, the most since 2007, 6ABC reports.

  • And the city saw the highest number of female victims in more than a dozen years, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Justine McDaniel reports. That includes two-year-old Nikolette Rivera. Overall, 49 women and girls were killed in Philly last year. McDaniel’s story has several charts to put the issue of guns, domestic violence and deaths in context.

  • After taking the oath of office Monday for a second term, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said his administration’s top priority will be reducing gun violence, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Kenney told reporters that that the federal government and the state won’t do anything to control guns, so the city has to focus on education, job training and job creation.

  • Kenney is committed to reducing homicides by 30 percent by 2024, WHYY’s Jake Blumgart reported.

  • Meanwhile, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has a new leader of its Victim Services Unit. The Philadelphia Tribune looks at the big responsibilities Keziah Cameron has now.

  • On the other side of the state, homicides dropped in Pittsburgh. The city had 37 homicides — the lowest number in two decades, Lacretia Wimbley reports for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. But, overall, homicides rose in Allegheny County.

  • The Allegheny County Police Department is studying Pittsburgh’s use of the Group Violence Intervention program to see if the initiative could help elsewhere.

  • York city adopted that model several years ago, but the city saw an increase in homicides in 2019. There were 16 homicides, plus one other that was ruled justified, the York Dispatch reports. “We have set up programs for kids, but they’re not coming out and utilizing them,” York Mayor Michael Helfrich said. “We’re offering tuition to people if they are willing to change from their violent ways, and people are not buying into it.”

Best of the rest

Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., listens during a news conference Monday, Feb. 10, 2014, at a Fraternal Order of Police lodge in Philadelphia

Matt Rourke / AP Photo

Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., listens during a news conference Monday, Feb. 10, 2014, at a Fraternal Order of Police lodge in Philadelphia. (Mike Rourke / AP Photo)

  • Mike Fitzpatrick, a former Bucks County congressman, died at the age of 56 “after a long and arduous battle with melanoma,” his family said in a statement. His brother, Brian, currently represents Pennsylvania’s First District in Congress. “My heart is broken,” Brian said in a statement. “My big brother Mike was my hero and my best friend.”

  • Inmates held at prisons and jails in Pennsylvania often have access to commissaries to purchase personal items, like soap or extra food. Also available to buy are religious texts and items like prayer rugs. PA Post’s Joseph Darius Jaafari combed through some commissary lists for a story showing that Muslim inmates (about 20 percent of the state’s total prison population) are often asked to pay higher prices for religious items than Christian inmates. Read his story here.

  • LNP’s editorial board says it’s time for Pennsylvania to create extreme risk protection orders, which allow courts to temporarily remove someone’s gun rights if a judge determines they are a risk to themselves or others. “A red flag law wouldn’t solve all of our gun violence. But it’s one sensible step Pennsylvania can take — following in the footsteps of other states — to help save lives and reduce suicide deaths,” the board wrote. The editorial references a story that I co-wrote and reported with WITF’s Katie Meyer.

  • The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Samantha Melamed reports that new guidelines for resentencing people who violate their probation could “result in many judges imposing far harsher sentences on probation violators than they had in the past.”

  • Post-Gazette Reporter Julian Routh explains why some people have joined the “Pittsburgh Yang Gang.” They are all fans of Andrew Yang, a tech entrepreneur and Democratic presidential candidate who supports a $1,000-per-month universal basic income for all adults.

  • Press releases from Pennsylvania State Police troopers will now be posted online. Traditionally, these were released by fax to news organizations. I spent many cops shifts at the Centre Daily Times and York Daily Record wondering if the fax machine was working properly. So this digital update is exciting news for plenty of Pa. reporters.

  • Two noteworthy items from this morning’s Inquirer: 1) This story about how states where Obamacare exchanges cover abortion (Pa.’s does not) will have to bill exchange customers separately for abortion coverage; and, 2) an op-ed by the Committee of 70’s David Thornburgh about the need for redistricting reform in Pa.

  • In Monday’s Context, I took some comfort in the New England Patriots’ elimination from the NFL playoffs. Not everyone agreed with me. “I am a Patriots fan, and have been since about 1967,” Jeffrey Fox wrote to the Listening Post. “I take no comfort in the fact the Patriots lost to the Titans. I have enjoyed the ‘dynasty’. I am preparing for a bleak future.”


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