New Job for Inquirer, Daily News Publisher Greg Osberg? [UPDATED]

We're hearing there may soon be an announcement about the future of Philadelphia Media Network publisher Greg Osberg. There has been speculation about whether Osberg will continue to preside over the Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com ever since the company's recent sale and the return of Inquirer editor Bill Marimow, whom Osberg demoted before Marimow left the paper last year. Though we haven't confirmed details on what Osberg's role will be with PMN, it now appears he will be giving up his publisher's seat. A source with knowledge of the situation says, "It isn't as clean as Osberg just leaving...

Here’s a Drawing of What Bart Blatstein Wants to Do on North Broad

The Philadelphia developer dreams of rooftop villages and sky bridges.

Bart Blatstein says the casino isn't the most intriguing part of his planned North Broad development. What he's most jazzed about is going on the roof. While Blatstein's proposed casino on North Broad Street faces a lot of hurdles: Will city politicians rally behind him, or some other potential developer? For that matter, who will be the casino operator? And will the state legislature even allow Philadelphia to keep its currently unused license for a second casino? But Blatstein's momentum may pick up, shortly after he publicly unveils drawings in several weeks for the most intriguing and ambitious part of his plan: a “rooftop village.”

Bill Marimow’s Leadership Doesn’t Buy Free Pass for Inquirer

The editor’s actions during last ownership change described by some as "inappropriate."

When it was announced that Bill Marimow would return as editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, it was taken as a given in most quarters that his renewed stewardship of the paper would be a good thing. The new ownership group includes businessman Lewis Katz, philanthropist Gerry Lenfest and high-powered insurance executive and Democratic operative George Norcross. Conflicts of interest are expected to abound. And on paper, Marimow is just the right guy to reassure a beleaguered newspaper staff that a steady hand is on the tiller during complicated times. He is Inquirer born and bred, winning two Pulitzers at the paper for his investigative reporting. He is renowned as a kind of journalism school on legs, advocating for tough but fair reporting. In his first tenure as Inquirer editor, from 2006 to 2010, Marimow bolstered the paper's investigative coverage and made the paper considerably tougher.

Philadelphia Firefighters Say Commissioner Reacts to Philly Mag Feature on Department

Racial tension grows over dismissal of African-American firefighter this week.

The complexities of racial politics inside the Philadelphia Fire Department may have deepened early this week with the firing of Deputy Chief Robert Wilkins. Wilkins makes an appearance in “Why Did No One Save Jack?,” a feature I wrote for April's Philadelphia magazine. In that story, which addresses the 2011 suicide of fireman Jack Slivinski Jr., the department's troubled racial history acts as both backdrop and foreground.

Marathon Grill Remains Open Despite Setbacks

Lawsuits don’t stop iconic local chain.

The Marathon Grill restaurant chain has been serving up as much drama as grilled chicken of late. First its University City location shuttered. Then the company left its 13th and Chestnut store over a not-so-little matter of $186,600 in back rent. And the 10th and Walnut location closed as part of a recent legal settlement with longtime partners Murray and Bernard Spain, who alleged in a lawsuit that co-owner Cary Borish had led the restaurants into a “series of … problems, and ... encountered severe financial distress.”

Was Racial Tension at Work in a Philadelphia Fireman’s Suicide?

The mysterious death of Jack Slivinski Jr.

When I first sat down to write the intro for my April Philadelphia magazine story on the Philadelphia Fire Department, I wrote: “The specter of reverse racism looms in the background of my feature on Philadelphia fireman Jack Slivinski Jr.” Then I realized that would be a lie. The truth is, race is this story's foreground. Slivinski, who killed himself with a gunshot at 32 after a run-in with department brass, was white. The fire commissioner who was ultimately in charge of disciplining him, Lloyd Ayers, is African-American.

Greg Osberg: Maybe Not Such a Savior of the Inquirer?

A writer ponders how he missed the signs of the exec’s implosion.

Well, I must admit: I didn't see all this coming. From the trainwreck Greg Osberg has made of his administration at Philadelphia Media Network to the emergence of Jeffrey Perelman as a bidder, the last month at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and philly.com has run counter to expectation. Back in the winter of 2011, I wrote a profile of Greg Osberg in which I assessed the chances of a business turnaround at this city's newspapers as low but lauded Osberg as fitting the template of a possible savior: A longtime Newsweek business executive, who embraced the Internet way before the majority of his print publishing competitors; a guy who led a dot-com—CNET—to profitability, a rare feat on anyone's resume; and a man with a real love for technology, as opposed to a fear of what it's done to his industry.

Attention, Philly Tourists: This Way to La Colombe

Sometimes being a good city ambassador means lying to our visitors.

I've been thinking a lot about Mayor Nutter's recent call for us all to remember our dual identities, as not only citizens of this promising, struggling city, but ambassadors. Nutter's speech, at the chamber of commerce, focused on the role businesses can play. But the challenge extends to all of us. And, well, yesterday morning, I think I answered it with true Philadelphia style. I was walking to work on 19th Street and crossing Chestnut when an owlish-looking little man stopped me. “Could you tell me,” he asked, “where the nearest Starbucks is?”

Goodbye Borders … Hello Walgreens?

The city doesn’t want a drug store in the iconic building, but finding another tenant is no easy task.

When the Borders at Broad and Chestnut closed last May, there was an appropriate sense of mourning for a store that once epitomized the new Avenue of the Arts and a revitalized Center City. Now comes news that the first potential tenant to emerge for that prized space borders on the tragic: Walgreens.