Media Mentions

When Palestinians are finally celebrated for their contributions in a major American city and treated like any other community — that’s evidence of a brewing revolution. And it happened in Philadelphia on Monday. As an Israeli who has written publicly about Israel and...

Researchers have spent countless hours looking for solutions to the nation’s ongoing struggle with gun violence — their conclusions have filled volumes. But, as our partners at the Philadelphia Tribune recently reported, when one Philadelphia-based advocacy group went...

Gov. ​Tom Wolf was at the Mayfair Community Center last week, calling for legislative action on several proposals. Wolf was joined by state Sens. Tina Tartaglione, John Sabatina Jr., Nikil Saval and Art Haywood and Reps. Mike Driscoll, Joe Hohenstein and Mary...

In what organized workers at the Wyndham Historic District hotel are calling "Strikesgiving," over a dozen hospitality workers picketed outside the Old City hotel on Sunday, continuing an ongoing fight for increased pay and better working conditions. State Senator...

Hospitality workers at the Wyndham Historic District hotel in Philadelphia went on strike Sunday morning. Union officials said they want to secure livable wages and better conditions for their workforce, who are majority Black, Latino, and/or immigrants. The workers...

PHILADELPHIA, PA — State Senator Katie Muth (D- Berks/Chester/Montgomery), Chair of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Policy Committee, on Monday joined Senators Nikil Saval, John Kane, Christine Tartaglione and Lindsey Williams to host a public hearing to discuss...

A group of more than a dozen workers gathered outside of the Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District Monday (November 15) to protest their employer's low wages and heavy workload demands. The unionized group banned together for the strike amid contract negotiations...

Like many crime bills, Senate Bill 814 was born from tragedy. In 2015, John Wilding, a Scranton police officer, set off in pursuit of three teen armed robbery suspects. In the middle of the chase, he fell from a 15-foot drop and hit his head, eventually dying from his...

More than a dozen workers at the Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District demonstrated outside the Old City hotel Monday, the eve of contract negotiations between their union and the hotel's owner, RLJ Lodging Trust. The workers are part of UNITE HERE Local 274, which...

Pennsylvania's Senate has voted to pass concealed carry legislation that would make carrying a gun without a permit legal, getting rid of the state's existing license-to-carry system. The GOP-led senate voted 29-21 in favor of the bill, and it now heads to the House...

HARRISBURG — A deeply divided Pennsylvania Senate Tuesday night passed a bill to get rid of the state’s license-to-carry system and let adults carry guns in concealed or open fashion without a permit. The vote in favor of the bill, sponsored by Jefferson County...

Good Wednesday Morning, Fellow Seekers. People talk about bringing socialism to state government. State Sen. Nikil Saval walks the talk. Along with Reps. Sara Innamorato and Summer Lee, of Allegheny County, and Elizabeth Fiedler, of Philadelphia, Saval, of...

On Thursday, Oct. 14, longtime residents of the University City Townhomes in West Philadelphia joined with City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier and other elected officials to protest the sale of the rental complex at 39th and Market Streets. The tenants, many of them...

El jueves 14 de octubre, los antiguos residentes de University City Townhomes, en el oeste de Filadelfia, se unieron al concejal Jamie Gauthier y a otros funcionarios electos para protestar por la venta del complejo de alquiler de las calles 39 y Market. Los...

A state historical marker recognizing Philadelphia Gay News was unveiled October 13 at the site of PGN’s first office, 233 S. 13th Street. Before the unveiling, current and former staff members, community members, politicians, and supporters of the paper gathered...

A movement of Pennsylvania activists are working to end the state’s policy of sentencing incarcerated people to life without the possibility of parole (LWOP). They have coined the term ‘death by incarceration’ to describe this cruel punishment. The activists held a...

Legislation has been introduced in the state Assembly that would allow children age 14 and older to decide for themselves if they want childhood vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine. Introduced by Sen. Amanda Cappelletti, D-Delaware/Montgomery, Senate Bill 856 was...

he first thing State Sen. Nikil Saval (D–01) learned from watching his recently immigrated Indian parents run a pizza parlor in Santa Monica was that the restaurant industry is hard. The second thing he learned was that solidarity among working–class people of...

It feels most apt to mark the 10th anniversary of Occupy Wall Street by reviving a debate that is resistant to resolution, open to endless disagreement, and primed for messy expressions of political ideology. How very Occupy! If you had asked me at the time whether...

A Pennsylvania lawmaker is calling on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to halt evictions. Following the United States Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the eviction moratorium, Democrat Senator Nikil Saval of Philadelphia says the state’s highest court should...

Harrisburg, PA – August 30, 2021 – Today, State Senators Nikil Saval and Judy Schwank announced they will soon introduce legislation to support Governor Tom Wolf’s call for mask mandates in the state. Senator Schwank’s forthcoming bill would require general indoor...

Though it’s unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled Legislature, a package of bills requiring universal indoor masking for Pennsylvania’s K-12 schools and childcare programs is in the works. Days after House and Senate leadership denied a request from Gov. Tom Wolf...

Last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling rejecting the Biden administration’s last-ditch effort to extend a federal ban on evictions, which has put hundreds of thousands of American renters at risk of losing their housing, was not a particularly surprising one. But as...

HARRISBURG, Pa. — As thousands of students across the Susquehanna Valley return to the classroom full-time, some school districts have opted to follow the mask mandate — others have not. The decisive approach to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Senator Nikil Saval (D–Philadelphia) released a statement Friday on the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to eliminate the only remaining protection for renters:. “Hundreds of thousands of people across our state, and millions of people all across...

Following is a listing of executive and legislative action for the week of Aug. 23. Both houses of the General Assembly were in summer recess at press time. The Pennsylvania Senate was scheduled to come back Sept. 20 and the state House of Representatives was set to...

A progressive, first-term state senator has called for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to halt evictions in the commonwealth, after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal moratorium Thursday evening on landlords removing tenants from their homes during the...

More evictions can resume after the U.S. Supreme Court has ended the federal moratorium that was to last through Oct. 3 for areas with significant spread of the coronavirus, including Philadelphia and its surrounding counties. Millions of people nationwide are now at...

A group of Democratic lawmakers in Pennsylvania has introduced legislation aimed at preventing evictions and foreclosures while officials work to distribute federal relief funds to those in need. The bill, which was introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate on Monday,...

With some people still struggling to pay their bills and recover from the pandemic, a group of Senate Democrats is working on legislation to provide an alternative to evictions and foreclosures. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Nikil Saval, D-Philadelphia, Senate Minority...

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Two local state lawmakers are among a handful of Pennsylvania legislators putting forth a proposal to help keep residents in their homes longer during this time of uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic.

HARRISBURG, PA — Senator Nikil Saval (D–Philadelphia), Senator Jay Costa (D–Allegheny), Senator Vincent Hughes (D–Philadelphia/Montgomery), and Senator Art Haywood (D–Philadelphia/Montgomery) this week announced their plans for legislation to keep struggling...

Members of the House of Representatives returned from the Summer break on Monday, Aug. 23 and voting on the $3.5 trillion budget resolution will be one their main priorities. Senate Democrats approved the resolution on Aug. 11 and it was a vital step in securing a...

Nurses at Jefferson Frankford Hospital rallied outside the hospital on Friday morning, complaining about staffing shortages and calling on Jefferson to respect their federally protected right to pursue union representation. The nurses — carrying signs reading, “Safe...

British technology writer Danny O’Brien, in 2003, interviewed people he considered to be the most productive folks he knew. This group included computer programmers who implemented simple and technical strategies to improve their work. For example, they would rely on...

Nurses at Jefferson Frankford Hospital want to unionize, to address staffing concerns, retention issues, and the loss of retirement benefits. To call attention to those concerns — and alleged union busting from their employer — nurses gathered Friday with dozens of...

Four hours after City Councilmember Helen Gym held a press conference calling on the municipal courts to ban all lockouts and sent a letter with other members of City Council, the courts issued an order banning lockouts of tenants who have applied for rental...

Mayor Jim Kenney urged Philadelphians to apply for the city’s rental assistance program as the last emergency COVID-19 federal tenant protection, the CDC eviction moratorium, is set to expire Saturday. Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Acting Secretary Meg...

The Pennsylvania General Assembly has passed a $40.8 billion state budget with a fair amount of bipartisan support for the investments it makes in schools and continuing economic relief from the COVID-19 pandemic. On Friday, the budget passed the House on a 140-61...

“My District” gives NCSL members a chance to tell us about life in the places they represent, from the high-profile events to the fun facts only locals know. Commissioned by the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751, the Liberty Bell called legislators to session up until the...