Kensington Voice

Kensington Voice is a news platform that focuses on highlighting voices that are often overlooked. It sheds light on the unique challenges, strengths, and complexities of the Kensington community while exploring both current and possible solutions to the issues it faces. We prioritize community involvement in our work, allowing local residents to influence the subjects we cover each month and encouraging them to take part in our reporting efforts.

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As Kensington narcotics arrests increase, residents wonder “who the hell is engaging them?”

Dec 6, 2024 | kensingtonvoice.com | Emily Rizzo |Jill Bauer-Reese |Sammy Caiola

As city officials announced Thursday that narcotics arrests in Kensington have more than doubled since March, residents at a Harrowgate community meeting questioned whether the increased enforcement has improved quality of life in their neighborhood. Residents continued to express concerns about the number of people living outside and using drugs, often in front of their homes.
Philly police, former Kensington cop sued over sex abuse, imprisonment of girls ages 9 and 11

Dec 4, 2024 | kensingtonvoice.com | Sammy Caiola |Jill Bauer-Reese |Emily Rizzo |Solmaira Valerio

Content warning: This story includes descriptions of sexual abuse and assault, including sexual violence against women and minors. Two women who were sexually abused as children by former Philadelphia police officer Patrick Heron are suing the Philadelphia Police Department, alleging it knew about Heron’s misconduct for more than a decade but failed to intervene.
Philly police to launch drone program in Kensington, cameras to fly beyond line of sight

Oct 31, 2024 | kensingtonvoice.com | Emily Rizzo |Sammy Caiola

Philadelphia police officer Ian Nance held a remote control on stage and flew a drone over an audience of about 10 people inside Willard Elementary School in Kensington on Tuesday night. The miniature aircraft hummed loudly as it filmed the crowd, sending live video and thermal imaging back to Nance’s remote screen.
Philly family sues city for wrongful death, medical neglect inside prison after Diabetic Ketoacidosis death

Oct 23, 2024 | kensingtonvoice.com | Emily Rizzo |Sammy Caiola

The family of Louis Jung Jr., who died from Diabetic Ketoacidosis while incarcerated inside a Philadelphia prison, is suing the city and its prison healthcare company, YesCare, for alleged wrongful death and medical neglect. The Abolitionist Law Center (ALC) filed the suit Wednesday morning. It claims that “deliberate indifference” to Jung’s need for emergency medical care led to his preventable death inside the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility (CFCF) on Nov. 6, 2023.
Kensington leaders argue for neighborhood repair and safe spaces as prevention ahead of opioid settlement appeal

Oct 2, 2024 | kensingtonvoice.com | Emily Rizzo |Sammy Caiola

Since Jessica moved into her Kensington home five years ago, she hasn’t been able to open her windows. The sills are rotting from water damage and opening them poses a hazard. “The front windows have to be screwed shut, because they'll literally fall in on you,” said Jessica, who asked to use a pseudonym for privacy reasons.
State lawmakers tour Kensington ahead of city's opioid settlement appeal: “I just didn’t know”

Sep 23, 2024 | kensingtonvoice.com | Sammy Caiola |Emily Rizzo |Jill Bauer-Reese

A large group of state lawmakers and city staffers walked down Kensington Avenue for about 90 minutes on Friday afternoon, navigating used needles, cigarette butts, and piles of litter. They also walked by dozens of people sitting or lying in varying states of consciousness on the sidewalk.
Protest targets Philly prisons commissioner after Amanda Cahill, Michael McKinnis deaths: “You have blood on your hands”

Sep 18, 2024 | kensingtonvoice.com | Emily Rizzo |Jill Bauer-Reese |Sammy Caiola

About 40 people disrupted a criminal legal system panel at the Parkway Central Free Library on Tuesday night to protest the recent deaths of Amanda Cahill and Michael McKinnis, the inhumane conditions inside Philly jails, and call for an end to mass incarceration. The panel event was part of the “Justice 101” series organized by the Eastern State Penitentiary, entitled “Excessive Punishment and Mass Incarceration,” and featured Michael Resnick, the Philadelphia Department of Prisons Commissioner.
Women inside Philly jail banged on cells for hours before Amanda Cahill died, “reiterating her calls for help”

Sep 16, 2024 | kensingtonvoice.com | Emily Rizzo |Sammy Caiola

Before Amanda Cahill died in a Philly jail cell following a Kensington police sweep earlier this month, “she was screaming” for help and others banged on their cells for hours trying to get her medical attention, according to multiple first-hand accounts from other women who were incarcerated near Cahill. “I heard her banging on her cell door,” wrote one woman, whose name has been withheld for privacy reasons, in an email to Kensington Voice. “She was screaming ‘help’ for over an hour.
Woman dies “utterly, unacceptably predictable” death in jail following Kensington police sweep

Sep 10, 2024 | kensingtonvoice.com | Emily Rizzo |Sammy Caiola

Amanda Cahill, of Roxborough, died in a Philadelphia jail Saturday morning after police arrested her for drug possession in Kensington three days earlier. Cahill, a mother of two sons, was one of 34 people arrested for narcotics violations and outstanding warrants in a coordinated police sweep under Mayor Cherelle Parker’s Kensington initiative. The Philadelphia Police Department’s East Division targeted G Street and the Kensington and Allegheny corridors on Wednesday.
Councilmember Lozada introduces bill banning mobile services in most of Kensington's 7th District

Sep 5, 2024 | kensingtonvoice.com | Emily Rizzo |Sammy Caiola

City Councilmember Quetcy Lozada has introduced a bill that bans mobile service providers from residential areas and certain public spaces within the 7th District — bound by Kensington and Frankford Avenues and Monmouth Street to Allegheny Avenue. If enacted, those who violate the policy could receive up to a $500 fine. A second bill Lozada introduced on Thursday mandates mobile providers to clean up litter within 50 feet of their vicinity. Not doing so could lead to another fine.