Tuesday round-up

Lots of interesting stuff, not terribly much time...

• Why you won't get rich on slots. Insert snide remark here...
  
  
• What people did on the Martin Luther King day of service. It boggles my mind to think he'd only have been 78 -- already he's receded into distant memory, become a modern icon, and but for a bullet he'd have been here to chastize our current leaders... YPP alerts us to some showings of Eyes on the Prize, which traces the history of the Civil Rights movement, complete with discussions with folks who were there.
  
  
• Michael Nutter talks about his anti-crime plan, including declaring a state of emergency in some neighborhoods. More here, and probably much more tomorrow, since the press conference was late this morning. Ben Waxman worries there's too much about police here and too little about economic development.
  
  
• Three outgoing Republican state legislators file a fortune in per diem claims for their commutes from within a 30-mile radius of Harrisburg. Lovely.
  
  
• The Daily News looks at Councilwoman Blackwell's one-person block on a Youth Study Center that the city would like to build in her area, and explains the tradition of "councilmanic privilege." Dan UA points out that Blackwell's stubborness is also blocking the planned relocation of the Barnes Foundation to Franklin Parkway. In related news, Carol Campbell is also making her first move in Council an obstructionist one, keeping a school from getting fixed up.
  
  [Edited to remove my brain fart... Thanks to SS]
  
  
• A Daily News columnist reports how Amtrak is frustrating attempts to remove graffiti from a very visible wall. Senseless.
  
  
• John Baer reviews the mayoral contenders for the spring primary.
  
  
• An Inquirer editorial looks at how the candidates might address gun violence in the city.
  
  
• Three from AAJane:
  
  
  
  1. State House Speaker O'Brien convenes a bipartisan commission on legislative reform.
     
  2. Recent mentions of our Congressional Reps. in the Wall Street Journal.
     
  3. A brief report of Allyson Schwartz's victory party.
  
  
• Ben Waxman thinks the Philadelphia region should look into creating more jobs through embracing the production of alternative energy and other green prospects.
  
  
• Finally, I somehow missed this Inga Saffron piece from Friday on the latest Zoning Board mess, which overrides city law to allow a tower into the historic neighborhood around Betsy Ross House. More arbitrariness is described from there. (via )