From Philebrity:

So according to our source at the meeting this morning, two lawyers representing PNI, along with PNI VP of Finance Andrew Harrison, were grilled by a lawyer from the U.S. Trustee's Office, appointed by the court to oversee bankruptcy proceedings, on a variety of matters from status of current lawsuits on down to PNI's own current financial status. What was revealed was just a little cringe-inducing. As it stands now, PNI only really has two assets that are worth a damn: The PNI offices at 400 N. Broad, and its printing facility in Conshohocken. But whatever value those pieces of real estate have is somewhat sullied by this fact, also revealed this morning: PNI hasn't paid around $450K in real estate taxes owed to the City. What's more, PNI brass also confessed that they could be out of money -- as in out of money -- as soon as July.

In a stunning turn of events late Friday, a Philadelphia Common Pleas court judge disqualified Seth Williams, the leading candidate for Philadelphia District Attorney, on the ground that he "failed to report the receipt of expenses in excess of $10,000 from his campaign," as required financial disclosure forms filed with the city. In a related ballot challenge, Common Pleas Court Judge Allan Tereshko ruled that candidate Michael Turner has sufficient valid signatures on his nominating petitions to remain on the ballot. Before the ruling, there were five Democrats and one Republican on the ballot for the May 19 primary election.

In a written statement, the Williams campaign said it would appeal Tereshko's decision.

Starting today, playing hooky in Philadelphia is about to get more expensive.

City Council yesterday unanimously passed an ordinance that would slap a $25 fine on the parents of school-age children found wandering the city between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on school days.

The measure - endorsed by the school district and the Police Department - gives any city law-enforcement officer the authority to obtain the name, age, and address of the youth caught skipping school and of his or her parent or legal guardian. The officer will then issue a violation to the truant child, and a notice will be mailed to the household.

"The idea of this is not to be punitive, but to get the parents' attention that their kids are sometimes not going to school," said Councilman William Greenlee, sponsor of the bill with Curtis Jones Jr.

Violation of the daytime curfew would be a summary offense. Parents of repeat violators would face $300 fines.

The daytime curfew will supplement state law and a longstanding city anti-truancy program.

City Council's mounting frustration with Mayor Nutter boiled over during a contentious budget hearing yesterday as members questioned the administration's proposed property-tax hikes, its assumption that state legislators will act to help the city - and even the competency of a major department.

The daylong hearing - the first of dozens - foreshadowed a long and difficult negotiation between Council and Nutter. By law, Council and the mayor must pass a budget by June 30.

Much of the debate centered on which tax to raise to close a $1.38 billion five-year deficit.

From the Inquirer:

Hundreds of hotel housekeepers, bellhops, and waiters gathered in Philadelphia yesterday for their first convention as a new union.

"This is the most excited I've been in 42 years in the labor movement," said Edgar Romney, the president of the new organization, Workers United, adding that the new union would be better positioned to help workers achieve a better life.

The event even featured a guest appearance by one of the most charismatic and colorful leaders of the labor movement - Andy Stern, the president of the nation's fastest-growing union, Service Employees International Union.

Within moments of introducing his $3.84 billion budget yesterday, Mayor Nutter found his plan under attack by City Council members assailing his call for steep hikes in property and sales taxes, and by union members incensed at the exclusion of wage and benefits increases.

Though Nutter labeled his proposal and accompanying five-year spending plan the "People's Budget" - a tribute to the public input that shaped it - he acknowledged the considerable discord surrounding it.

"I don't like having to do some of the things I had to do," Nutter said in an interview in his office after delivering his budget speech in Council chambers. It is "not fun, and sometimes doesn't make you the most popular, but it is a sign of leadership, which is why we're here - to make the tough choices."

Together with the tax hikes, which would be temporary, Nutter's chief deficit-closing tactic is to target the pay, pensions, health care, and work rules of the city's 23,197-member workforce.

His proposals - which would freeze salaries for five years, lower city contributions to union health plans, reorganize the pension system, and reduce holidays, among other steps - would save $637 million over five years if he can clear a series of enormous political and contractual hurdles.

In addition to asking residents to accept higher taxes to help close a budget gap, Mayor Nutter will ask elected officials today to give up two of their perks.

He is expected to forward to City Council a bill that would disqualify Council members and other elected officials from participating in the controversial DROP pension program.

At the same time, the mayor has begun pleading with those officeholders in phone calls to return their city-issued vehicles.

Doing away with both perks would not save a tremendous amount of money, but residents complaining about about how the city spends money singled them out.

"I have to take it on at some point in time," Nutter said in an interview yesterday.

Good riddance. We've been waiting for this scumbag to go to jail since KP opened five years ago.

HE WAS a political powerhouse in Harrisburg who boasted of securing $8 billion in state largesse for Philadelphia.

He had about 90 state-paid aides and contractors at his beck and call to do his personal and political bidding.

He paid a private eye with state money to spy on his political enemies and tapped a tax-exempt nonprofit he founded to finance a lawsuit against a powerful Senate rival.

But today, former state Sen. Vince Fumo stands as a disgraced pol after a federal jury of 10 women and two men yesterday found him guilty on 137 counts of conspiracy, fraud, obstruction of justice and related offenses.

Former State Sen. Vincent Fumo was convicted of all 137 counts against him today as his marathon federal corruption trial ended in a stunning victory for prosecutors.

The jury also found co-defendant Ruth Arnao guilty of all 45 counts against her.

After a 30-minute hearing this afternoon, U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter agreed to let Fumo and Arnao remain free pending sentencing although he ordered them to post bail of $2 million and $500,000, respectively, by Wednesday.

Robert Gamburg confronted Nutter after the news conference, as Nutter chatted with reporters. He asked whether the mayor was aware that he was in the process of arranging to pay his taxes.

"I'd also like to know if we are the only three people in the entire city that owe back taxes," Gamburg said, and wanted to know why Nutter chose his building to hold the news conference.

"I'm not going to argue with you on the sidewalk - you owe the city money, pay your taxes," Nutter said.

When Gamburg questioned why Nutter was getting "upset," Nutter raised the bar.

"Oh, you've never seen me upset," Nutter said. "So I'm not upset. Just pay your taxes and everything will be fine."

As the most daunting fiscal crisis of a generation swirls around him, Mayor Nutter will present a budget next week to a City Council whose support for him remains stubbornly uncertain.

On March 19, Nutter will ask Council members and their constituents to accept deep service cuts, onerous tax increases, or both - requests that will severely stress the relationship between the mayor and Council.

"It's going to be testy," said Councilman Darrell L. Clarke, who as majority whip is responsible for rounding up votes in a body where allegiances are still evolving. "It may challenge that relationship."

Gov. Ed Rendell says he would seriously consider signing a bill to stop slot-machine gambling dollars from flowing to Philadelphia if the city continues to resist construction of two casinos there.

The former Philadelphia mayor made the comments Monday in response to a question about opposition to a pair of riverfront casinos that have been licensed by the state.

By law, Philadelphia gets a share of the state tax revenue from slots to lower the wage tax that is paid by people who live or work in the city.

For years, former state Sen. Vince Fumo affected your life in ways you probably never knew - how your bridge tolls were spent, who set your property taxes or ran Fairmount Park, who sat in judgment on your civil and criminal disputes.

In a 30-year career, Fumo accumulated power and influence on a scale rarely seen, raising and spending enormous amounts of money and building influence among elected officials, judges, and countless boards and agencies that make policy, control jobs and award contracts.

So what happens now, as Fumo awaits a jury's verdict in his federal corruption trial? Will the Fumo empire endure? Will it find a new leader?

No, say most Fumo allies and observers.

While friends, allies and appointees of Fumo will remain embedded in influential positions for some time, the network has lost its nerve center and will no longer function as a team.

To a generation of Philadelphians, they are known simply as "the free clinics" - city-run health centers where one can get care ranging from pediatrics to dentistry to OB-GYN.

But they may not be free any more.

Even as public-health officials consider massive disruptions in health care - among the options on Mayor Nutter's desk is closing the city nursing home and up to three of the clinics - one change is increasingly likely: Patients without insurance will face fees on a sliding scale at all the centers.

The fees won't be a lot - tentatively a $5 to $20 co-payment per visit - but no one knows the impact on people who are struggling.

"Some will be happy to pay," said Cheryl Bettigole, clinical director of Health Center No. 10, in the Northeast, "but there's no question that it's going to be hard. It's a working-poor population. People are proud. If they can't pay, they might not come."

Whether he wins or loses his federal corruption trial, former state Sen. Vincent Fumo will be remembered here as a sharp strategist, a charmer and a bully, and a champion for his hometown of Philadelphia and himself.

"I always thought Fumo was the kind of guy who would step on his own mother to get ahead," said William G. Williams of Camp Hill, a former aide to the late Republican House Speaker Matthew Ryan. "I never trusted the guy."

Fumo, a former banker and lawyer who boasted about his membership in a high-IQ organization, leaves a legacy after 30 years in the Senate of secret budget deals, huge sums of money for Philadelphia, the legalization of casino gambling, and passage of Act 44, the multibillion-dollar transportation funding law, say former legislative staffers, lawmakers and political analysts.

A federal jury Tuesday is expected to begin deliberations in Philadelphia in the 139-count indictment against Fumo, which alleges widespread abuse of power. Four months of testimony about Fumo's personal and political world only underscored the veteran Democrat's legacy.