1) Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY) has launched a blog called Childwatch, where they wil "report on breaking news and stimulate discussion about how local and state policies affect children," and cover "child health, child care, education, family economic security and child welfare." Check out their post giving a side by side comparison of the Governor's budget versus the insanity that is the PA GOP's Senate Bill 850.

2) From yesterday's Daily News, we see that AJ Thomson is up to no good:

FISHTOWN native A.J. Thomson hunkered down in deep left field and scooped up a fistful of the small, sharp stones that cover the unforgiving playing surface of Shissler Recreation Center's baseball diamond, on Blair Street near Berks.

"This is what my 4-year-old daughter, Julia, plays T-ball on," he said.

"This is the last place in the city of Philadelphia where kids have to play on cinders. We've been trying for years to get the city to turn this into a grass-and-dirt field. We're still trying."

3) At SEPTA Watch, Mike Froelich gives a good example of why SEPTA needs to make sure that the schedule and locatin information of their vehicles must be free and public.

4) The Notebook's Erika Owens talks about the effort to get stimulus funding for broadband in Philadelphia, which is being led by the Media Mobilizing Project's Digital Justice Coalition.

The access is to broadband Internet and the speaker is Vice President Biden, who unveiled the rules for $7.2B in stimulus funds for broadband in Erie County, PA. The announcement was made in a rural part of the county, but the county is also home to the fourth-largest city in the state (and to my family - hello!).

Video of Biden shows him speaking about broadband access in the context of jobs and basic utilities like electricity, for people across the state.

Of the total, $2.5B of the funds are slotted for rural development, but that leaves the balance, $4.7B, available to "underserved" areas, including cities like Philly. Last week a variety of stakeholders met to discuss Philly's priorities in applying for those stimulus funds. The Notebook joined several organizing groups, other nonprofits, businesses, and numerous city workers and officials to outline our thoughts about the possibilities for this funding.

The Philadelphia Digital Justice Coalition drafted a set of core principles that helped direct our discussion of the funding. The four principles focus on connecting disenfranchised groups, building access in the home, working from a broad definition of digital inclusion, and ensuring access in the places where people already are.

5) Also from the Notebook, Dale Mezzacappa details the tensions between Arlene Ackerman and public school teachers, after she demanded that they each sign contracts for the first time in 20 years.