Philadelphia Children's Hospital Gives Away Gun Locks as Sixers Arena Tax Plan Draws Scrutiny

Doctors at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia are offering free gun locks and advice on safe storage to families, hoping to reverse a worrying rise in children shooting themselves with firearms found at home.

Guns have become the leading cause of death for American children. In Philadelphia, 17 children and teens shot themselves in 2023, whether accidentally or otherwise. That is a sharp increase from five years earlier, and three of them died.

The hospital has handed out hundreds of free cable locks to families, and keypad safes are expected soon. Pediatricians are also holding conversations with parents who own guns about how to store them, without passing judgment. "We want to do everything we can to keep children from dying," the attending physician leading the effort told The Inquirer. CHOP aims to be the first institution in the region to formally build gun safety into its hospital system.

Separately, the 76ers are facing questions over how they would pay for their proposed $1.3 billion arena in Center City. The team has said repeatedly that it will not use city taxpayer money for construction. Experts say the project would likely draw on city resources anyway if the team pursues the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes arrangement, known as a PILOT, that it wants.

PILOTs are common among tax-exempt property owners such as universities and medical institutions, and what those organizations pay is often far less than a property tax bill would be. Stadiums use them too, though they are structured differently from nonprofit agreements. All three South Philadelphia stadiums benefit. Lincoln Financial Field, for example, has a hypothetical tax bill of nearly $7 million but pays $2 million through its PILOT.

Few specifics are available on what the Sixers would pay, but estimates put the figure at around $4 million a year. The arrangement is governed by a state law on stadium PILOTs, and the arena proposal remains controversial.

In other local news, three Penn student protesters tied to the pro-Palestinian encampment on campus were barred from Sunday's commencement ceremony for the College of Arts and Sciences. Most of New Jersey will list "uncommitted" as an option in the Democratic presidential primary, and progressive activists hope to gather 50,000 protest votes against President Joe Biden.

Lawyers for the estate of Collegeville accountant Joseph Pezzano say they have found no records supporting millions of dollars in investments he handled for dozens of clients. A grassroots parents group is also pushing for a "joy-based budget" for the Philadelphia school system, including a "chief joy officer" to oversee extracurricular activities and similar programs.

At Cabrini University's final commencement on Sunday, alumna Kylie Kelce addressed the graduates. "As our last graduating class, know that your network of alumni still exists and support from the Cabrini community will be surrounding you wherever life takes you," she said during a tearful speech. The forecast for Monday calls for mostly sunny skies and a high near 78.