Monica Yant Kinney

Monica Yant Kinney joined the Inquirer in 1996 and was named a metro columnist in 2001 at the age of 30. She puts so many miles on her car roaming the region she finally bought a Prius. Monica has covered suburban trends and Philadelphia city government and, for two years, focused exclusively on crime, color and characters of South Jersey. In the early 1990s, she expensed her cable bill while she was the television critic at the St. Petersburg Times in Florida. Monica is a 1993 graduate of the University of Notre Dame. She grew up in Fort Wayne, Ind., but now lives with her husband (a fellow Notre Dame grad), and their two young children in a very old house in Haddonfield.

Her column appears Sundays and Wednesdays in Local & Region.

Reach her by phone, 215-854-4670. Friend her on Facebook (www.facebook/monicayantkinney) or follow her on Twitter (http://twitter.com/myantkinney)

Email Monica at myant@phillynews.com

Monica Yant Kinney: Sobering session confronts DUI offenders

By Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

Posted 02/07/2010

Folks lumber in with glum resignation befitting the occasion. No drunken driver desires to be humbled in public. No one's here by choice.

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Monica Yant Kinney: When housing the homeless isn't enough - 01/31/2010: By Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

Housing First suggests a simple, if revolutionary, means of helping chronically homeless people: First, move them into an apartment, away from the chaos of the streets. Then treat mental illness and addictions, reintroducing the concept of home as a refuge.
Monica Yant Kinney: Ed Rendell, Capitol wordsmith - 01/27/2010: The governor proves that it's a living language.

By Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

I tell my daughter there's something to learn on every page of the newspaper. That's why it's such a great deal.
Monica Yant Kinney: SSI cut could be Pa.'s cruelest yet - 01/24/2010: By Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

In Chester County, disabled and elderly people can spend $20 riding paratransit to and from the grocery store. That might not seem like much, but factor in $80 just to travel for food when you live on only $600 a month. Then imagine getting by with even less.
Monica Yant Kinney: Sort of a GPS for the dieter - 01/20/2010: By Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

I've never met Allan Borushek - "The Calorie King" - but he's usually with me wherever I go. His handy little book fits nicely in my purse, helping me decide when to resist tasty temptations and when to give in and chow down. If I'm stumped, I gaze at his wise eyes and mustard-yellow crown and ask, "What would The King do?"
Monica Yant Kinney: Tenants left in the cold - and consult a lawyer - 01/17/2010: By Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

I had hoped to wait a month or so to deliver a good-news update about the not-so-luxurious living conditions at the Marquis apartments in King of Prussia.
Monica Yant Kinney: A third certainty of life - 01/13/2010: To death and taxes, add the gross insensitivity of city government.

By Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

Two months ago, I had the grim task of telling readers that renowned local forensic sculptor Frank Bender is dying. The self-proclaimed "recomposer of the decomposed" helped solve cold cases around the globe before being diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma - asbestos cancer from his days in the Navy.
Monica Yant Kinney: N.J.'s cowardly adieu to same-sex I do - 01/10/2010: By Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

Marriage Equality died last week in New Jersey. He was a 20th-century ideal who gained international prominence in the last decade.
Monica Yant Kinney: At the Marquis, empty promises - 01/06/2010: By Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

In promotional materials, the Marquis Apartments promise luxury living, suburban serenity, and a sweeping view of King of Prussia. The 641-unit complex boasts of being an "exclusive, 24-hour gated community" with a "million dollar fitness center." The Marquis' 1,200 residents enjoy an on-site restaurant, two pools, and a party space called "the elegant Essex Room."
Monica Yant Kinney: Their stimulus idea? Shelved - 01/03/2010: By Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

I thought of Carmen and Anna Maria Vona over the holidays, and not just because I spent an inordinate amount of time in my cramped and ordinary kitchen.
Monica Yant Kinney: Revisited: Lives in transition during the year. - 12/30/2009: By Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

Every year at this time, I realize I've been negligent in bringing readers up to speed about the people you came to know and care about from previous columns.