iradiophilly | News - Dancing For Our Future Stars, Kane Email Investigation, Soda Tax Comes Back

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Dancing For Our Future Stars, Kane Email Investigation, Soda Tax Comes Back

by: Rebel - Havertown, PA
started: 03/01/16 8:32 am | updated: 03/01/16 8:32 am

The 'Dancing For Our Future Stars' event is this Saturday at the Crystal Tea Room. The competition raises money for the Independence Mission Schools (IMS), providing the majority of scholarship money for 4,700 Philadelphia kids. Anne McGoldrick is President of the 15-schools cluster, and says the system was formed in 2013 after many key inner city Catholic schools were closed by the Archdiocese. Each school provides education, breakfast and lunch, and after-school activities in art and technology based programs. They gear the curriculum towards the success of each child. They start each child early in pre-K, and work to get each one reading on-level by the 4th grade. You can donate and vote by visiting: http://www.dance4ims.com/ For more about Independence Mission Schools: https://independencemissionschools.org/

Attorney General Kathleen Kaneâ€™s decision to hire special prosecutors to investigate controversial emails exchanged by state officials came under scrutiny as Kane appeared at state House budget hearings Monday. Bucks County House Republican Marguerite Quinn questioned Kaneâ€™s decision to authorize spending up to $2 million on the email investigation while asking state lawmakers for a five percent increase in her budget, five times what the governor has proposed. Quinn also expressed concern that Kane does not have the authority to appoint special prosecutors with her law license under suspension.

Lines are already being drawn on the idea of a soda tax in Philadelphia and it hasnâ€™t even been officially proposed yet. The tax is in the budget the mayor will present to city council on Thursday. Mayor Jim Kenney will propose a tax of 3 cents an ounce, which Finance Director, Rob Dubow, says would generate $95 million a year. The bulk of that money â€” about $52 million a year â€” would fund universal pre-K. Another chunk would pay debt service on 400-Million dollars in bonds the city would issue to fund investments in parks, recreations, libraries and an energy authority. About $8 million would be used to create community schools and the rest â€” an estimated $5 million â€” would go to stabilize the pension fund. The teamsters wasted no time dumping on the proposal, predicting job loss and consumer revolt and accusing the mayor of flip-flopping since he opposed a soda tax as a councilman. The teamsters have vowed to exhaust every available resource to defeat the plan, calling it unfair and illegal. They predict soft drink distributors will relocate outside the city. Kenney found support from Comcast executive David Cohen, who called on the business community to support funding measures for pre-K. Mayor Kenney calls the profit margin in soda, and other drinks with added sugar, "obscene," and says three cents an ounce, which would be levied on the distributor, not at the point of sale, is not unreasonable. Thatâ€™s a different tune than the mayor was singing when the Nutter administration proposed two cents an ounce.

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