Another stabbing in ’Hood
Three people were stabbed earlier this week in the Gayborhood.
Police say three men inside the Midtown II Restaurant at 11th and Sansom streets got into an argument of unknown origin with another patron at about 12:30 a.m. April 7. The man allegedly attacked the trio with a knife, stabbing a 51-year-old man in the chest and hand, a 26-year-old in the hand and a 27-year-old in the arm. None had life-threatening injuries.
It was reported that the alleged stabber is in police custody, but his name has not been released as of presstime. Police Public Affairs Office did not respond to a request for comment as of presstime.
The incident comes after a spate of violence in the Gayborhood — including a double stabbing outside Venture Inn, several gunpoint robberies at local businesses and knifepoint robberies of passersby.
Police said patrols have been increased in the area.
— Jen Colletta
Transwoman’s anti-bias litigation ends
The job-discrimination litigation of transwoman Janis Stacy has ended.
Stacy filed a federal lawsuit in September 2010, contending her employment as an engineer at LSI Corp. was terminated due to gender, gender identity and disability bias.
But last year, a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s dismissal of Stacy’s case before it got to a jury, citing insufficient evidence of discrimination.
In December, the full Third Circuit Court of Appeals declined to hear Stacy’s case.
Stacy had 90 days to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but she did not file an appeal within that time period, according to court records.
Stacy, of Kunkletown, worked at LSI for about 10 years prior to her termination in 2008.
LSI maintained Stacy was terminated due to an “adverse economy” and because Stacy lacked the requisite skills to help move the company forward.
Neither side had a comment for this story.
AIDS funding info remains confidential
The state Office of Open Records has ruled that the AIDS-funding recommendations of a city panel aren’t in the public domain.
HIV/AIDS activist Jacob P. Fyda filed a Right-to-Know Law request, seeking recent recommendations from the city’s Resource Allocations Advisory Committee.
The committee makes recommendations for the allocations of millions of HIV/AIDS dollars in the nine-county region.
City Health Commissioner Donald F. Swartz makes the final funding decisions.
In an April 3 ruling, the OOR said records of the RAAC’s funding recommendations reflect internal “predecisional” deliberations and are exempt from public disclosure.
Fyda said he won’t appeal the OOR’s ruling in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.
“The intention of [creating] the RAAC was to allow for community members affected by the HIV epidemic to have an active role in the provision of funds for HIV prevention and treatment,” Fyda told PGN. “Yet, these meetings are closed to the public, have a secret membership and their recommendations are immune from public inspection. We need transparency at the Department of Public Health to promote an exchange of knowledge and ideas that would have the potential to improve the quality and effectiveness of HIV treatment and prevention services in Philadelphia.”
Mark McDonald, a spokesperson for the Nutter administration, had no comment at press time.
— Tim Cwiek