iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Emily Rizzo

Kensington Voice @kensingtonvoice.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

We need to raise $20,000 to start the new year strong and fully staffed. Every dollar fuels trusted, independent news that centers accountability, solutions, neighborhood voices, joy and resilience, and resources. Considering donating to our campaign: www.kensingtonvoice.com/kensington-j...

kensingtonvoice.com

Help Kensington Voice start 2026 at full strength. Local news doesn't fund itself.

Every dollar donated supports an act of journalism.

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Emily Rizzo @emilykrizzo.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

I work for the only news org reporting on Kensington from the inside. We hold power accountable, and center solutions and community voices. But we need help to stay running after January. If you've appreciated our work, please consider donating: www.kensingtonvoice.com/kensington-j...

kensingtonvoice.com

Help Kensington Voice start 2026 at full strength. Local news doesn't fund itself.

Every dollar donated supports an act of journalism.

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Emily Rizzo @emilykrizzo.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

I tracked the results of Philly's new "Wellness Court," a fast-track court which offers diversion to drug treatment or a same-day trial. The city loses touch with most (usually unhoused) people they arrest in Kensington, and two people have since died from overdoses. bit.ly/3J1kHvc

bit.ly

New Kensington ‘fast-track court’ lands most with warrants, back into the cycle of addiction and homelessness

Kensington Voice collected and verified data on 87 people who were arrested during the first months of the program and tracked their journeys through the court. Most ended up with Wellness Court bench...

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Emily Rizzo @emilykrizzo.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Turns out Philly is budgeting $167 million of its opioid settlement money for Riverview Wellness Village, long-term recovery housing. The city isn't planning to spend any more settlement funds on Kensington quality-of-life efforts, like it did in 2023. www.kensingtonvoice.com/philly-opioi...

kensingtonvoice.com

Most of Philly’s opioid settlement money to go to Riverview Wellness Village recovery housing facility

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration plans to allocate more to Riverview than to all other opioid settlement money initiatives combined.

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Emily Rizzo @emilykrizzo.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

City council is pressing Parker administration for Kensington Wellness Court data. But the city's top public safety official offered little data on the initiative’s effectiveness, saying, “It’s just too early to tell.” www.kensingtonvoice.com/en/city-coun...

kensingtonvoice.com

City Council presses for data on Kensington Wellness Court, city leaves key questions unanswered

As Philadelphia City Council considered Mayor Cherelle Parker’s $3.7 million request to expand the new Kensington Wellness Court program on Tuesday, the city’s top public safety official offered littl...

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Emily Rizzo @emilykrizzo.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

This week, Mayor Parker launched the Kensington "wellness court" — a fast-track court that targets people who use drugs by arresting them for summary offenses like disorderly conduct and obstructing the sidewalk. Wednesday was the first day of the pilot. How it went: shorturl.at/GSTow

kensingtonvoice.com

Three arrested during Kensington “wellness court” launch; two diverted to treatment, one jailed

The fast-track court initiative targets people who use drugs by arresting them for summary offenses.

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Emily Rizzo @emilykrizzo.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

ICYMI: A man died in police custody this week, after he was arrested for narcotics possession in Kensington. Drug paraphernalia was found in his cell. Sam Lew of Abolitionist Law Center says, "the city has blood on its hands.” www.kensingtonvoice.com/en/man-dies-...

kensingtonvoice.com

Man dies in police custody after Kensington narcotics arrest, drug paraphernalia found in cell

This marks at least the second death this year of a person arrested for drug possession in Kensington and held in a Philadelphia jail.

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Emily Rizzo @emilykrizzo.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

where could a girl go for a good piece of cake in the great city of philadelphia? real answers only

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Reposted by Emily Rizzo

Danya Henninger @danyahenninger.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

*loud whisper* OBJECTIVITY DOES NOT EXIST "No news outlet is truly objective. When I was metro editor at the Chicago Tribune, I didn’t green-light every story. I chose the ones that my fellow journalists and I thought were the most relevant to our city and our readership. It was a judgment call."

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Reposted by Emily Rizzo

Carly Sitrin @carlysitrin.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Public speakers at this Philly school board meeting are holding up this story and calling for the district to do more to protect teachers speaking out in support of Palestinian students

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Reposted by Emily Rizzo

Andrew Ujifusa @andrewujifusa.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Kensington’s Willard Elementary School is getting its first playground. It’s also getting something less whimsical: a bullet-resistant fence. Both have an unusual funding source: drug companies. www.chalkbeat.org/philadelphia...

chalkbeat.org

How Philly schools battered by the opioid crisis are using a financial settlement

Amid a devastating drug epidemic in the Kensington neighborhood, one principal at a local public school said kids there “don’t have basic human rights.” But educators hope money from a legal settlemen...

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Reposted by Emily Rizzo

Carly Sitrin @carlysitrin.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Students at Philadelphia’s Willard Elementary School are getting their first playground — paid for by the drug manufacturers that fueled the opioid epidemic in their backyard. Spend some time with this excellent @emilykrizzo.bsky.social story today if you can www.chalkbeat.org/philadelphia...

chalkbeat.org

How Philly schools battered by the opioid crisis are using a financial settlement

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Emily Rizzo @emilykrizzo.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Six Kensington schools are using opioid settlement money to build a playground, a fitness center, a drum line, hire a bilingual climate specialist, and so much more. A full break down of the $2 million, in collaboration with @ChalkbeatPHL: www.chalkbeat.org/philadelphia...

chalkbeat.org

How Philly schools battered by the opioid crisis are using a financial settlement

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Emily Rizzo @emilykrizzo.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Quetcy Lozada's bill that bans mobile service units from most of Kensington has passed through committee. “We have prioritized harm reduction and the harm reduction way for a very long time, while ignoring an entire community of people,” Lozada said. www.kensingtonvoice.com/en/philly-ci...

kensingtonvoice.com

After hours of contentious testimony, Kensington mobile service restrictions bill advances to Philly City Council for vote

The legislation will proceed to a full City Council reading and, if passed, will require Mayor Cherelle Parker’s approval.

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Reposted by Emily Rizzo

katherine 🍉 @katherineargot.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

My employer, the School District of Philadelphia, should be ashamed of how it’s treated teachers in the past year.

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Reposted by Emily Rizzo

The Intercept @theintercept.com · 03/12/2024

“With that many Palestinian students in our school, I would not be able to sit right with myself if, as a teacher, didn’t do anything while a genocide is happening.”

interc.pt

Three Teachers Tried to Give Palestinian Students a Safe Haven — and It Cost Them Their Jobs

The Philadelphia school ordered teachers to “stay neutral” on Israel’s war on Gaza, but they helped students make pro-Palestine posters.

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