“The Kensington market is the most toxic thing I have seen in my career,” one of the nation’s top academic experts on open-air illegal drug markets and how to shut them down told Billy Penn.

BP’s Meir Rinde talked to experts from around the country about the ongoing effort to intervene. It’s an endeavor they say will require the city to dedicate officers and other city personnel to the effort for years, likely at a substantial cost, they said. Continue reading…

Brian Burrows, the former president of a Philadelphia labor union, has been sentenced to four years in prison for his role in what federal prosecutors said was embezzlement of more than $600,000 of union funds.

Burrows, 64, of Mount Laurel, New Jersey, was also ordered to forfeit almost $136,000 and to pay an amount of restitution to be determined later.

Burrows and John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty, the union’s longtime business manager, were convicted in December. Prosecutors said they used the money for items including home renovations, concerts, groceries and even a cookie tray for the christening of a relative’s baby. Dougherty is scheduled to be sentenced July 11. Continue reading…

RECAP: What else happened?

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• Sen. John Fetterman traveled to Israel and met with Netanyahu despite blowback on the left and said progressives who refuse to vote for President Biden over his handling of the war in Gaza could cost Democrats the election. [WHYY]