Friday bits

• Striking Community College of Philadelphia faculty and staff held a demonstration in City Hall yesterday, demanding that the city better support the college and help settle the strike.

  Fein Calvin and the other demonstrators - including several students - called on city leaders to contribute a full third of the college's annual operating costs, as prescribed by the state formula for funding community colleges. Philadelphia currently contributes only 19 percent of the college's operations.

  City Council was polite but noncommittal.
  
  
• More promising news for anti-casino activists: more legal experts say it's not clear that a measure such as that going before voters in May would be overturned by the courts. A separate piece looks at the Casino-Free Philadelphia coalition and its current activities as a newly formed PAC. Also, an odd bit here noting an attempt to rezone the Foxwoods casino site so that a public hearing would be required before construction could begin.
  
  
• The Daily News offers two speculative pieces about Bob Brady and his prospects for mayor, one noting that his bridge-building skills may not generalize to running a city (noting many failings in the Democratic Party's operations), and the other a more flattering look at his success in past negotiations.
  
  
• Tom Knox has a new series of ads touting his independence from the machine and its culture.
  
  
• Two DN opinion pieces on election finance issues, one supporting the federal Fair Elections bill co-sponsored by Sen. Specter, and the other urging support for related legislation in the House.