POWER on, workers level up
No. 49 | Monday, May 12, 2025
City News
Much to the Chamber of Commerce’s dismay, DSA Councilmember Kendra Brooks’ POWER Act passed City Council, beefing up the Office of Worker Protections to enforce anti-retaliation laws for over 750,000 Philly workers.
As the primary nears, a desperate Dugan falsely claimed endorsements from six wards, including the 46th, which actually backed Krasner. After getting caught, he quietly scrubbed them from his website.
Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal is asking for a $20 million budget hike and a new office, even as watchdogs call for the office to be abolished. Meanwhile, someone in her HR department shot himself in the leg while sitting at his desk.
Nearly 300 teacher positions sit unfilled in the Philadelphia School District. One East Falls student hasn’t had an English teacher in ten months, yet she’s still expected to take a high-stakes English exam.
City Council passed a bill restricting where mobile vans can offer health care and harm reduction in Kensington, despite fierce opposition from outreach workers and activists who say it will put lives at risk. DSA Councilmembers Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke, along with progressive Rue Landau, voted no.
Temple has now suspended two students connected to the antisemitic bottle-service stunt at Barstool Sansom.
State News
DSA State Rep. Rick Krajewski’s bill to legalize recreational marijuana and sell it through the state store system cleared the House this week, beating back a GOP attempt to block it. Now, the fight to socialize weed heads to the Republican-controlled Senate.
Beaver County residents were jolted awake by an eerie red glow from Shell’s massive plastics plant, which flared for days while spewing noise, fumes, and possible toxins into nearby communities, with little warning or explanation.
In Allentown’s crowded City Council race, Lehigh Valley DSA is backing three candidates, Ben Stemrich, Patrick Palmer, and Natalie Santos, aiming to shift power into the hands of working people.
A Bucks County commissioner’s warning about creeping authoritarianism sparked backlash from a local sheriff, who accused the commissioner of comparing him to Nazis. The county fired back, calling the sheriff’s response “dishonest” and “absurd,” escalating tensions over his plan to collaborate with ICE.
More Fetterman lore dropped this week, featuring outbursts and yelling at teachers’ union reps who dared ask him to fight federal education cuts. Not a surprise, then, that the GOP is rallying around him.
Senate Republicans passed legislation to ban trans athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, joined by five Democrats, despite just one known trans athlete in PA schools. DSA State Sen. Nikil Saval condemned the bill in a floor speech.
Scranton DSA organizer Frankie Malacaria is running for City Council. He’s up against a better-funded opposition, but he’s betting Scranton’s working class history isn’t just history.
Under socialism, there will be no paywalls... until then, use this.
The Weekly Rose
This week, Italian media reported that Catholic cardinals watched Conclave to prep for the next papal election. But if they really want to understand the chaos of picking a pope (or, in our case, fifteen), they should crash our convention. Same vote whipping, same back-channeling, and way more binding resolutions that no one understands.
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