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1. Hostilities deepen between warden and staff at Delaware County prison

By Todd Shepherd
 

Hostilities between the rank-and-file correctional officers and the warden of Delaware County’s prison have become so tense that dozens of officers refused to attend a planned recognition and awards ceremony as well as an appreciation barbecue as a part of National Correctional Officer Week, according to two sources with intimate knowledge of the prison’s day-to-day workings.

Those two sources also described several disciplinary events in recent months that the rank-and-file officers have perceived as being unfair to the point of being retaliatory.

Why It Matters. The persistent turmoil at the prison continues at a time when the county is facing new challenges and scandals.

Just last week, the county fired its emergency services director, Timothy Boyce, amid allegations of workplace misconduct.

Meanwhile, the county has been laying the groundwork for a large tax increase amid its spending on the prison, the new health department, and other projects. As Broad + Liberty previously reported, Councilwoman Christine Reuther said in a meeting that the county was facing a “sizable” tax increase.
 

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2. Cleanup on Kensington Avenue

By Paul Davis
 

Photos and stories of the Kensington open-air drug market and drug-addicted street people have been featured prominently in the press worldwide, and even Mexico pointed a disapproving finger at Philadelphia. I spent time in Mexico when I was in the Navy, and I saw impoverished neighborhoods and indigent people there, so for Mexico to offer criticism of our city is telling.      

I reached out to the former detective and asked for his take on the city government’s encampment closure on May 8th that took apart the street squatter’s tents and other makeshift dwellings on Kensington Avenue. The city workers picked up trash, garbage, discarded needles and scrubbed the streets and sidewalks.

Why It Matters. The city government stated that outreach teams have been engaging people daily, providing services, offering resources since the winter months and will continue to do so. And for the first time, the city government piloted an extended outreach effort that started on April 9th and included interagency outreach teams to engage from 4 to 8 p.m. three days a week in addition to their regularly scheduled outreach efforts – 32 of our placements came directly from that effort. 

They added that it did not require anyone to accept treatment or housing, and it was strictly voluntary. Their housing assistance included offers of low barrier shelter, recovery focused shelter, safe havens, and respite. Four people were connected to drug and alcohol services.

Quotable. “We should all remember that Kensington is not only the home of criminal gangs selling dope and the drug-addicted street people. There are also good people suffering who live in residential homes in proximity to the open-air drug market,” my friend said.

“I pray that this action is not just a Band-Aid, and that the area won’t sink back to its previous hellhole. This has to be an ongoing effort. I pray that the city can eradicate once and for all Kensington’s drug traffickers and the poor people who suffer and die from the criminal’s greed and the inhuman consequences of addictive drugs.”
 

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4. Lightning Round

• Richard Koenig: The EEOC swings the cudgel of ‘adverse-impact’ doctrine

• Casey showing fewer county visits than claimed

• McCormick pledges to serve only two terms if elected

• Delco prison union planning no-confidence vote against current management

• Thom Nickels: Cremation? Not for me.

5. What we're reading

In his Substack, The Liberal Patriot, Ruy Texiera writes about the continuing shifts of voters between the two major parties and, if the polls are to be believed, it’s dramatic. “Across the battleground, Biden is losing to Trump among working-class voters by 16 points. That compares to Biden’s national working-class deficit of just 4 points in 2020. It’s also slightly worse than Biden’s performance in last October’s Times poll which covered the same states, when he was behind among these voters by 15 points.” You might find it surprising that there would be such large shifts in four years, given that the candidates are the same, but we live in interesting times.