| Former Rutgers student asks judge to overturn webcam verdict May 2nd 2012, 06:49 NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Lawyers for Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers University student convicted of spying on his college roommate kissing another man, have asked a Superior Court judge to overturn the jury’s verdict, arguing among other things that the state’s bias-intimidation law was misused. In a motion filed Tuesday, Steven Altman said that evidence in the case did not support the invasion-of-privacy conviction and that the bias-intimidation charges were unfounded. Altman asked Judge Glenn Berman to throw out the conviction or grant Ravi, 20, a new trial. | | Camden moves to fight obesity May 2nd 2012, 06:38 In an effort to fight childhood obesity and promote healthy living, the Camden City School District will hold its first “Let’s Move Gala” Wednesday evening. The idea came from Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative to put children on a path to a healthy future, said Sharon Shields, district manager for youth services programs. | | Woodbury school wins national honor and $25,000 May 2nd 2012, 06:38 Woodbury Junior-Senior High School was named the recipient of a national award Tuesday for improving its academic environment and helping students achieve equitable access to higher education, The school was one of three high schools to win Gaston Caperton Inspiration Awards, which carry $25,000 prizes, the College Board announced. The other winners were Fort Lauderdale High School in Florida and JohnnyG. Economedes High School in Edinburg, Texas. Six schools were awarded honorable mentions worth $1,000 each. | | Obama: A new Afghan day May 2nd 2012, 06:05 BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - On a swift, secretive trip to the war zone, President Obama declared Tuesday night that after years of sacrifice, the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan is winding down just as it has already ended in Iraq. "We can see the light of a new day," he said on the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death and in the midst of his own reelection campaign. | | Announcement may be at hand on accused priests May 2nd 2012, 05:26 Archbishop Charles J. Chaput plans to meet Wednesday with hundreds of Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests, stirring hopes that he may announce the fates of nearly two dozen clergy suspended last year over child sex-abuse or misconduct allegations. | | Philly School District tells Bridesburg charter school to end administration fee May 2nd 2012, 05:22 The Philadelphia School District has told a charter school in Bridesburg that its pratice of charging students a $45 administration fee after they have been selected for admission may violate state law. Thomas Darden, a deputy chief who oversees charter schools, told Franklin Towne Charter High School last week that such a fee and pre-admission testing of students were not permitted by the state charter law and amounted to “illegal barriers to admission.” | | Second Mile charity objects to Sandusky subpoena May 2nd 2012, 05:22 The charity through which former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky allegedly met his accusers joined Tuesday in a growing chorus objecting to subpoenas issued by his defense attorney. The Second Mile, the nonprofit for underprivileged youth Sandusky founded in the ’70s, asked a judge to toss out requests for disciplinary files on clients and records of any internal investigations into alleged sexual abuse. | | Monica Yant Kinney: Hardware sold in the old-fashioned manner in Fern Rock May 2nd 2012, 05:21 They come for the humblest of plumbing products, the brass shower stem. From New York, New Jersey, Delaware, or just around the corner, old home lovers and cost-conscious flippers program their GPS units for the intersection of Fifth Street and Champlost Avenue seeking an $11 or a $19 solution to a leaky faucet. | | Story of ‘ladies man’ priest turned molester unfolds in court May 2nd 2012, 05:17 Just four years out of seminary, the Rev. Sylwester Wiejata was rapidly making a name for himself. Unfortunately for officials of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the reputation of the young, darkly handsome Wiejata was as a ladies’ man — and one with an eye for married women. | | In Occupy Philadelphia protest, two arrested May 2nd 2012, 05:14 Two people were arrested Tuesday afternoon during an Occupy Philadelphia protest that created traffic jams in Center City. About 125 Occupy members marched through Center City in honor of May Day, a traditional date for celebrating workers’ rights. | | New video released of fatal duck boat crash May 2nd 2012, 05:06 One week before a civil trial is scheduled to begin in the fatal 2010 Ride the Ducks boat accident, plaintiffs’ lawyers released a dramatic video showing detailed images of the crash that killed two students. An edited 10-minute, 22-second clip shows the 250-foot barge Resource slicing through the calm waters of the Delaware River on a warm July 7, headed directly for the tiny white amphibious vessel, stalled because of engine trouble. | | Sabina O’Donnell’s mother testifies in murder trial May 2nd 2012, 05:01 Rachel O’Donnell last saw her daughter, Sabina Rose, in May 2010, when Sabina took her to lunch for Mother’s Day. A few weeks later, Sabina O’Donnell was dead. Her clothes, makeup, camera, jewelry, and an uncashed paycheck were left strewed across a trash-filled vacant lot on the edge of Northern Liberties, along with her blood. Later, at the medical examiner’s office, Rachel O’Donnell was advised against seeing her daughter one last time. Sabina, just shy of her 21st birthday, had been raped, badly beaten, and strangled, her bra knotted so tightly around her neck that the underwire was embedded in her skin. | | Snafu in D.A.’s Office lets cop accused of lewd act go free May 2nd 2012, 04:40 THE CRIMINAL case against an ex-Philadelphia cop who allegedly ordered a woman to strip naked and watch him masturbate during a Kensington drug raid was thrown out Tuesday thanks to a screw-up at the District Attorney’s Office. To make a prolonged criminal-court case short: It took a city prosecutor too long to try Joseph Harvey, 37, violating his constitutional right to a speedy trial on charges filed in April 2010. | | Trial set in slaying of Bryn Mawr native May 2nd 2012, 04:35 BRANDON TIMMONS, an Overbrook man arrested in March and charged with fatally shooting and stabbing his girlfriend in her West Philadelphia apartment, waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Tuesday at the Criminal Justice Center. Timmons, 22, thin and bearded, told Municipal Judge Karen Y. Simmons that he had earned his GED, was treated for mental-health issues in the past and several months ago was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. | | Hot under the collar May 2nd 2012, 04:25 TWO GREAT streams of American political thought converged Tuesday outside the Daily News — strippers to protest a month-old story about strippers and prostitution, the other, Occupy Philly, to protest everything else. There were maybe a dozen dancers (none in their work attire) on hand, fewer Occupiers, and — wouldn’t you know it — more reporters wanted to talk with the strippers. | | For her killer, she was ‘the perfect prey’ May 2nd 2012, 03:25 THE WOMAN’S 5-foot-3, 100-pound nude body, beaten and bruised, with her bra strap tightly wrapped around her neck, was found behind her 4th Street building in a lot strewn with rubble and dog waste, a city prosecutor said Tuesday. “Tiny, small, petite but so vulnerable. Perfect prey,” Assistant District Attorney Richard Sax said of Sabina Rose O’Donnell during his opening statement. | | Bill would keep property-tax changes ‘revenue neutral’ May 2nd 2012, 03:25 STATE REP. Brendan Boyle is trying to throw a wrench in the city’s plans to bring in extra dollars for schools as part of a shift to a property-tax system based on market values. Boyle, a Democrat who represents parts of Northeast Philadelphia, has introduced a bill in Harrisburg that would require that the proposed changes to the property-tax system — known as the Actual Value Initiative (AVI) — be revenue-neutral. | | Haverford College selects new president May 2nd 2012, 02:45 Haverford College will wait more than a year to get its first choice for a new leader, Lafayette College president Daniel H. Weiss. The prestigious Main Line liberal arts college on Tuesday announced that Weiss, an art history scholar who has led Lafayette since 2005, would become Haverford’s 14th president in July 2013. | | Philadelphia health clinics get a boost from new federal funding May 2nd 2012, 02:45 At Project H.O.P.E. in Camden, a group of 10 behavioral health patients is sometimes packed into an exam room at midday while the doctor is at lunch. That is expected to change over the next few years as the health center for the homeless triples its size with the help of a $4.7 million grant, part of $728 million in capital funding to community health centers nationwide that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Tuesday in a visit to the Fairmount Health Center in Philadelphia. | | Official: Without more cash, classrooms might not open in fall May 2nd 2012, 02:08 The Philadelphia School District's financial situation is so dire that without a $94 million cash infusion from a proposed city property-reassessment plan, schools might not be able to open in the fall, leaders said Tuesday night. | | Ronnie gets tweet apology from Nutter May 2nd 2012, 01:55 MAYOR NUTTER apologized Tuesday to Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky for a Twitter comment by his press secretary, Mark McDonald, that appeared to question the ethics of her reporting on the Philadelphia Parking Authority. “I want to apologize to Ronnie, who I know, about what was sent out,” Nutter said. “It was inappropriate. I want to apologize directly and on behalf of our city government.” | | Story of ‘ladies man’ priest turned molester unfolds in court May 1st 2012, 23:35 Just four years out of the seminary, the Rev. Sylwester Wiejata was rapidly making a name for himself. Unfortunately for officials of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the reputation of the young, darkly handsome Wiejata was as a ladies man — and one with an eye for married women. | | Film shoot to close Center City streets May 1st 2012, 19:31 Forget about driving on the 1600 block of Walnut Street from dawn to dark on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Monday. From 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day, it’s going to be used in the making of a mob movie, “Dead Man Down,” which began shooting around the city a couple of weeks ago. | | Occupy protesters snarl traffic in Center City to mark May Day May 1st 2012, 19:20 About 125 Occupy protesters are snarling traffic Center City with a march to mark May Day. After marching from Market Street to the Rittenhouse Square area, the demonstrators doubled back to the area around 16th and Market Streets. | | 4 ways to score Flyers tickets May 1st 2012, 18:00 “A limited number of tickets” were released for tonight’s Game 2 of the Stanley Cup series between the Philadelphia Flyers and the New Jersey Devils, the hockey club announced about 9:30 this morning. Call 1-800-298-4200 or visit ComcastTix.com. | | 400 students switch schools again May 1st 2012, 17:21 For one more day, 400 Bayard Taylor Elementary School students are having their classes at Roberto Clemente Middle School. On Monday, bricks falling from an exterior wall prompted concerns about the building’s structural integrity, so the students were bused to the middle school, less than a mile away in North Philadelphia. | | New president named at Haverford College May 1st 2012, 17:12 The president of Lafayette College in Easton will become Haverford College's 14th president, but he won't start the job for over a year, Haverford officials announced Tuesday. | | Philly police seek thief who stole PlayStation at gunpoint May 1st 2012, 16:36 Police are looking for a thief who stole a PlayStation 3 and $250 in cash at gunpoint from a North Philadelphia video game store. The man walked into the Game Stop at 2900 N. Broad St., about 1 p.m. Monday and wandered around the store for about 20 minutes until one of the two clerks on duty went on break, police said. | | Barnes & Noble, Microsoft team up on Nook May 1st 2012, 13:45 NEW YORK (AP) — Books and bits united Monday as Microsoft provided an infusion of money to help Barnes & Noble compete with top electronic bookseller Amazon. In exchange, Microsoft gets a long-desired foothold in the business of e-books and college textbooks. | | W. Philly gunshot victim dies of his wounds May 1st 2012, 12:49 Doctors could not save the life of a 22-year man who was shot and critically wounded in West Philadelphia Monday night. Police found the victim, identified as Ronnie Romero, about 9:20 p.m. with multiple gunshot wounds on the 600 block of North 44th Street. | |
