Philadelphia City Council passed a resolution Thursday creating a special committee to begin hearings on child separation practices and policies with Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services (CPS). The vote happened after the bill was initially put on hold, but a revised version was introduced and voted on through a rules suspension.
 
The original resolution was introduced last week by co-sponsoring Councilmembers Cindy Bass (D-District 8) and David Oh (R-At Large). Much of the interest in CPS and their policy stems from a social worker investigating Oh for child abuse following his eight-year-old son’s collarbone injury last summer as Oh was teaching them martial arts.

While Gov. Tom Wolf (D) tries to negotiate a greener future for Pennsylvania, some major names have already committed to using more renewable energy. Among them, SEPTA recently agreed to purchase a portion of their expected electricity needs from two solar farm in Franklin County.
 
The state’s largest regional mass transit operator announced in July their plan to purchase from the farms, which will be owned and operated by Lightsource BP. The farms will exclusively produce electricity for SEPTA with a rate locked in for 20 years.

Philadelphia City Council passed three bills Thursday to bolster protections for transgender and gender non-conforming citizens. 
 
Councilmember Helen Gym (D-At Large) introduced the legislation in September, which includes plans for new gender-neutral bathrooms in city buildings, new policies for dealing with youth, and new definitions of gender identity and sexual orientation for discrimination purposes. These protections come as federal regulations are being weakened.

Former presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein traveled to Philadelphia Wednesday to appear before a federal judge, seeking enforcement of the 2018 settlement that would supposedly change the way votes were counted in Pennsylvania and otherwise.
 
Stein was lead plaintiff in the 2016 Stein v Cortes case, seeking remedy and recount over the 2016 presidential election. The settlement two years later created new guidelines for machines, notably that they must be verifiable, auditable, and have paper ballots. 

Philadelphia City Council Thursday unanimously passed a bill to allow for lead inspections in apartments and rented homes, starting next year.
 
The bill, introduced by Councilmember Blondell Reynolds Brown (D-At Large) earlier this year, creates a staggered schedule for residences rented to families with small children for inspections and testing for lead paint. This is the third bill Reynolds Brown has authored on lead in facilities that council has passed this year.