This week on WURD: Philly’s $6 billion annual budget, access to abortion pills, unveiling the artistic achievements of Black Americans since the Emancipation Proclamation

Mayor Cherelle Parker joined Wake Up With WURD with Solomon Jones and addressed concerns with the $6 billion budget that passed this week and the open-air drug market in Kensington. Parker talks about stricter enforcement on the streets in July, the banned Fairmount triage center and the capacity for those seeking treatment and rehab. 

Jen Klein is Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Gender Policy Council. She spoke to Dr. James Peterson on Evening WURDs about the Supreme Court decision to allow access to the abortion pill, mifepristone and the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to restore protections that Roe V. Wade overturned. 

Vanesse Lloyd Sgambati of the Literary Cafe joined Tonya Pendleton on Reality Check to talk about award-winning author Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and documentary producer Donna Limerick. Both will appear at a free event on June 15 reflecting on the artistic and literary triumphs of Black Americans since the Emancipation Proclamation.

US Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE At-large District) is the first woman and first African American to represent Delaware in Congress. She discussed on The Source with Andrea Lawful-Sanders about the Biden Campaign’s outreach to Black communities in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania and how the campaign has provided student loan relief and invested in HBCUs.

April Lee of the newly-established nonprofit Philly Voice for Change talked with Amadee Braxton on Solutions about how the organization deals with the intersection of the opioid crisis, poverty, and child separation in Philadelphia. Lee spoke about the special hearing on the opioid crisis in City Council, harm reduction and the stigma of Black Americans partaking in the opioid epidemic.