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Parents Of Starved Teen Suing City OfficialsPHILADELPHIA (CBS3/AP) ― The parents charged along with city workers in the starvation death of a bedridden teenager have sued Philadelphia officials in her death. A prosecutor blasts Andrea and Daniel Kelly for trying to profit from their daughter's August 2006 death. Andrea Kelly is charged with murder in the death of her 14-year-old daughter, Danieal, who suffered from malnutrition and severe bedsores. The father, Daniel Kelly, is charged with endangerment. Kelly, who suffered from cerebral palsy, was found starved to death in a sweltering, filthy West Philadelphia home in August 2006. "It's absurd,...

It's 6 a.m. in Rittenhouse Square, one of Philadelphia's most elegant parks. As the sun rises, its overnight summer residents - more than two dozen homeless men and women - are asleep on benches. --snip-- And while homeless people say they like the comforts of the high-end neighborhood, the Rittenhouse Square residents, managers of nearby businesses, and Fairmount Park Commission employees who maintain the grounds complain that the resulting problems have gotten worse this summer, making their jobs and neighborhood life more difficult

Philadelphia has one of the most backward and incompetent city governments in America. It suffers from a combination of failed civic institutions, a deeply embedded racial paranoia that undermines law enforcement, and a local culture that has come to shrug at the urban chaos this produces. In 2006, the one-or-two-a-day-and a-dozen-on-weekends murder spree that earned "Killadelphia" its rap as an urban abattoir resulted in 406 people dead. It's clearly not all about poverty. Miami, America's poorest major city, saw 79 homicides in all of 2006. In March 2006, more Americans died violently on the streests of Philadelphia than in Iraq...

The Boy Scouts of America's Philadelphia chapter has sued the City of Philadelphia in federal court to block the city's May 31 deadline for the scouts to open membership to gays and atheists, or vacate their historic 1928 headquarters off Logan Square. The civil rights lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in Center City, contends that the city's ultimatum violates the scouts' rights under the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions. "The City has imposed an unconstitutional condition upon Cradle of Liberty's receipt of a benefit that Cradle of Liberty has enjoyed for nearly eight decades, and that many other organizations that...

It's time for Philadelphia leaders to understand that lawlessness by the city government is one of the many factors contributing to the city's culture of crime and violence. The lack of respect city officials have shown for the laws of Pennsylvania by passing illegal gun-control ordinances sets a tone for residents that honoring the rule of law is optional in this city. When the City Council passed and Mayor Nutter signed a package of gun-control bills that limits the ability of law-abiding citizens to purchase and possess firearms, they brazenly declared themselves independent from the laws of the commonwealth. It...

Rendell joins Chelsea Clinton for 'gay pub crawl' in Phillyby BRETT LIEBERMAN, Of The Patriot-News Saturday April 19, 2008, 4:22 PM Christopher Murray embraces Chelsea Clinton Friday night when the former first daughter campaigned with Gov. Ed Rendell and actor Rob Reiner during a pub crawl of gay bars in Philadelphia. They loved her hair; they smacked her butt; they hooted and hugged Friday night as Chelsea Clinton hit Philadelphia for what campaign aides called a "gay pub crawl." BRETT LIEBERMAN, The Patriot-News "Chelsea, the gays love you!" Jeff Guaracino, 35, shouted as the former first daughter took the stage...

The Los Angeles Times: "Flush with payments from well-funded campaigns, the ward leaders and Democratic Party bosses typically spread out the cash in the days before the election, handing $10, $20 and $50 bills to the foot soldiers and loyalists who make up the party's workforce. It is all legal -- but Obama's people are telling the local bosses he won't pay. That sets up a culture clash, pitting a candidate who promises to transform American politics against the realities of a local political system important to his presidential hopes.” “Obama's posture confounds neighborhood political leaders sympathetic to his cause....

A Philly Tax Cutter Can Mayor Nutter cure the city’s cancer? With 380 homicides recorded already this year, a spate of recent cop shootings, and one particularly gruesome cop killing that led to a nationwide manhunt, Philadelphia is among America’s most dangerous big cities. The crime issue dominated this year’s mayoral race, which Michael Nutter, a blunt and sometimes histrionic former councilman, eventually won. But while crime gets the most attention, Nutter’s success as mayor will ultimately rest on improving the city’s dysfunctional economy. Notwithstanding the glitzy renaissance taking place in its center, Philadelphia is an economic basket case. The...

BY Tyesha Tazwell's count, there were a dozen of them - six girls, six boys - hanging around together. One of the girls tried to get Tazwell's attention by uttering a polite-sounding "Excuse me." Then they pounced. Tazwell, 24, said it took only a few seconds for the teens to knock her to the ground. They pounded her face with a barrage of kicks and punches, stole her purse and chanted "Watch your mouth! Watch your mouth!" when she finally got to her feet and tried to get help. It might sound like Tazwell received this brutal beating in some...

The incident occurred at about 2:35 p.m. before the turnstiles on the Market-Frankford Line concourse at 13th and Market streets, police said. One adult male was taken to Jefferson University Hospital but was later pronounced dead. Police said homicide investigators have been summoned to the scene. A transit police sergeant was on patrol on the eastbound platform at the time of the incident. "While on patrol, he notices across the way, on the westbound concourse, a white male adult, about 30-years-old, and he's being confronted by four, young black males. A disturbance is obvious to him. He goes to investigate,"...

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia agency has ruled that English-only signs at a famous cheesesteak shop are not discriminatory.

PHILADELPHIA -- A teenager riding SEPTA home from school said Wednesday she was attacked by a group of teenage girls over french fries, and wanted to thank the good Samaritan she said stopped the beating. The 16-year-old girl, who was not identified, told NBC 10 News she knew others had been attacked on SEPTA, but said she had no idea she would be the next victim. "It was just astonishing to me that many girls would come after just the three of us," she said. "I didn't think that was possible that me and my friends would be jumped on...

<p>Imagine living in a city with the country's highest rate for violent crime and the second-highest unemployment rate. As an added kicker you need more Superfund dollars allocated to your city to clean up contaminated toxic waste sites than just about any other metro.</p>

PHILADELPHIA - A small sign that asked customers to order in English at a famous cheesesteak shop was never meant to be offensive, the shop's owner testified Friday at a hearing to decide whether the policy was discriminatory. Joe Vento, the owner of Geno's Steaks, defended his policy before the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, which filed the discrimination complaint. "This country is a melting pot, but what makes it work is the English language," Vento told the commission. "I'm not stupid. I would never put a sign out to hurt my business." Vento posted two small signs in October...

Until eclipsed by the murder of Officer Chuck Cassidy, it was a jarring crime that rattled Center City - and seemed to signal a kind of open season on police. In an apparent hit attempt, a gunman fired into a parked car at 15th and Sansom Streets, wounding two men and a woman, then shot three times at a pursuing police officer. --snip-- Convicted of killing a 6-year-old girl in a 1994 shooting, Whitaker was released after serving 11 years. Several weeks before his Center City rampage, narcotics cops had locked up Whitaker again, this time when he was found...

PHILADELPHIA, (AP) -- It's a case that has been examined and re-examined for more than two decades: the murder of a white police officer by a former Black Panther. Mumia Abu-Jamal's fatal shooting of Daniel Faulkner has become one of the most prominent death row cases in the world. But throughout 26 years of litigation, one part of the story has been largely overshadowed. The officer's widow, Maureen Faulkner, talks about her side of the case in "Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain and Injustice," a book written with political pundit and conservative radio talk-show host Michael...

COMMITTEE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL JUSTICE P.O. Box 306, Cheltenham, PA 19012 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 10, 2007 Contact: Don Adams, ###.###.#### Teamster Beating Victims Appeal Judge’s Order To Pay Union $15 Grand Philadelphia – Two Clinton protesters, viciously beaten up by a group of pro-Clinton teamsters outside Philadelphia’s City Hall during a presidential visit nine years ago, last week appealed a federal judge’s order to pay two teamster unions $15,000.00 in legal costs stemming from an October, 2000 Federal Civil Rights suit. Five members of Teamsters Local 115 eventually pled guilty to criminal assault, conspiracy, and various other charges in the...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Through the last-place finishes, September collapses and every agonizing failure over the past 125 seasons, no team has lost quite like the Philadelphia Phillies. Futility has followed them since the day they were born, and Sunday night was no different for the losingest team sports history. Loss No. 10,000 came when Albert Pujols hit two of the St. Louis Cardinals' six homers in a 10-2 rout. Not surprisingly, this defeat resembled the thousands that came before. Bad starting pitching, brutal relief and hardly any hitting. And, of course, lots of booing. "I don't know too much about...

Philadelphia has big city problems. The murder rate is on the rise, and gangs make some areas unsafe even in the daytime. It’s no secret that fatherless, undisciplined boys are the main reason the streets are deadly. So what is the city doing about it? Let’s imagine for a moment that we’re in a Philadelphia City Council discussion. “How about a crackdown on gangs? Or a crackdown on drug dealers?” “Nah. Those people shoot back. I’ve got it! Let’s persecute the Boy Scouts! They won’t give the police any trouble.” “Yeah, this will be a great way to pay back...

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BOY SCOUT STORY http://www.philly.com/dailynews/opinion/8161352.html By MARK CHILUTTI Posted on Mon, Jun. 25, 2007 I'M WRITING THIS filled with disappointment due to the actions of the leadership of the city that I love. While in Atlanta several weeks ago on Boy Scout business, I was pulled aside and told we'd been blindsided, again with regard to the office that the Scouts have occupied and maintained in Philadelphia since 1928. I get frustrated when I read the side of the story that our city solicitor tells, as it seems to not fall in line with the first...

On the first day of summer, two violent outbursts less than 15 hours apart and about two miles from each other left five people dead and a sixth person clinging to life. And before the night ended, another homicide was recorded, this time in Kingsessing. Thursday's six slayings - three young men gunned down in North Philadelphia in the early hours; two people killed, one critically wounded, in Kensington in the afternoon; and an unidentified man shot to death about 10:30 p.m. in Southwest Philadelphia's Kingsessing neighborhood - pushed the year's homicide total to 195, compared with 177 at the...

Recently, while meeting with the editorial board of The Philadelphia Daily News, Mayor John Street suggested that the war in Iraq was the cause of the city's gun violence increase. According to a Daily News article, Hizzoner said, "I believe the fact that we are a country at war has something to do with the attitude of people in the streets. Let me tell you, it's not just this city. I have seen it everywhere and I've talked to people a lot about it ... . We are a country that is becoming less and less civil. We are a...

A federal appeals court refused yesterday to revive civil-rights claims against Gov. Rendell, District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham, and Teamsters Local 115, part of a lawsuit filed eight years ago by a man who says he was beaten and falsely prosecuted after protesting a 1998 appearance by President Clinton. The opinion by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is likely the end of the federal suit filed by Don and Theresa Adams, although Adams has said he will press civil claims involving state law in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. Neither Adams, 46, of...

The House yesterday passed a resolution "condemning the decision of St. Denis, France, to name a street in honor of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the convicted murder [sic] of Philadelphia Police Office Danny Faulkner." The vote was 368-31, with 8 members voting "present." Here's a list of what one might call the Cop-Killer's Caucus, the congressmen who voted against the resolution, all Democrats. [Snip] The most disturbing name on the "no" list is that of John Conyers. Granted, this is only a symbolic vote, but is it really a good idea to entrust the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee to a man...

In precincts 7, 19, 51 in Philly, PA, the crowds are going wild. Inside several voting locations, individuals have poured white out onto the polling books and the poll workers are allowing voters to go into the polls and vote without first registering. Several individuals are on hand demanding that voters vote straight Democrat. RNC lawyers have headed to the scene of the incidents, which are occurring in mostly hispanic precinct locations. The District Attorney has also been contacted.

This sign was prominently displayed in the window of a business in Philadelphia. Most would be outraged at the thought of such an inflammatory statement. One would think that anti-hate groups from all across the country would be marching on this business. And that the National Guard might have to be called to keep the angry crowds back. But, perhaps in these stressful times, one might be tempted to let the proprietors simply make their statement. We are a society which holds "Freedom of Speech" as perhaps our greatest liberty And after all, it is just a sign. You may...

A 14-year-old youth has been charged in eight sexual assaults across the city dating back to early summer - a string of attacks that occurred months after he was arrested in early spring on a similar charge and then released. While declining to call the teen a serial rapist, Capt. John Darby, commander of the Special Victims Unit, expressed amazement at the scope of the crimes. In an interview this afternoon, Darby said, "Obviously, the number of cases is extraordinary when you're talking about a 14-year-old." The youth, whose name was not released because of his age, has been in...

A kindergarten teacher found eight bags of heroin in a 5-year-old student's pocket, police said. The matter was under investigation and the boy's mother could be charged, police Inspector William Colarulo said. The heroin was discovered Oct. 25. On Tuesday, the school sent a letter home to parents. The letter did not explain why the school waited three weeks to tell parents. It was sent home after a story about the incident aired on WCAU-TV. Neither the child nor his classmates at Richmond Elementary School were harmed, a schools spokesman said. "We are shocked and saddened, outraged" that a parent...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The city's top cop donned a hidden microphone in 2002 to secretly record conversations with one of the targets of the FBI's sweeping probe of government corruption in Philadelphia, an agent revealed Thursday during a trial. Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson apparently wore the wire on just a single day in an attempt to collect evidence against Shamsud-din Ali, a politically connected cleric now on trial on charges including racketeering, fraud and extortion related to city contracts. The surveillance took place at a meeting of the board that oversees Philadelphia's jails. Ali, the leader of a West Philadelphia...

I recently suggested to Chris Satullo, the Inquirer's editorial page editor, that he may be able to organize a club to help biased journalists and pattern it after Alcoholics Anonymous. It appeared that he went on the wagon for a week. He even chastised his beloved Democrats for their actions on the Social Security issue. He was very reasonable and simply asked that they offer their own plan or solution to the problem. Then bang! On Sunday April 10, he had a Funky Winkerbean moment and fell noisily off the bias wagon. Tony Auth produced a hateful editorial-page cartoon lampooning...

The Eagles' faithful suffered through three consecutive losses in the conference championship game, and when their football team made it to the Super Bowl on Sunday for the first time in more than 20 years, they erupted in joy. "I've been to all the championship games, and this, I can't explain," said Easton resident Felipe Garcia as he sniffed back tears. "It's priceless. We deserve it." Garcia was one of about 200 Lehigh Valley residents who rode one of four Trans Bridge Lines buses to the landmark game at Lincoln Financial Field. "This was history today," said Jack Trimble of...