| Bipartisan event raises $2 million for Flight 93 park May 17th 2012, 06:00 In an overheated election year, Tuesday night's event was a picture of nonpartisanship: some of the nation's most prominent Republicans and Democrats coming together for a good cause at a Washington site almost equidistant from the pinnacles of power, the Capitol and the White House. | | Route 52 Causeway ready for the season in Ocean City, N.J. May 17th 2012, 06:00 OCEAN CITY, N.J. - As Memorial Day weekend bears down on this popular Cape May County resort, where the population increases tenfold on summer weekends, the highlight of the tourist season may already have occurred. | | A media peek at the new Barnes May 17th 2012, 04:57 About 200 reporters, critics, and photographers from the United States and abroad descended on the Barnes Foundation on Wednesday as the clock ticked down toward the Saturday opening of the new gallery on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The assembled journalists toured galleries filled with the early modernist collection assembled by Albert C. Barnes and listened to foundation officials and board members tout the new building and the museum’s controversial move from Merion to the city. Architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien and landscape architect Laurie Olin — designers of building and grounds — also spoke briefly. | | Family of Vietnam War hero from Pa. receives Medal of Honor May 17th 2012, 04:54 WASHINGTON — It’s the rarest and most prestigious military honor, made rarer still by a 42-year delay attributed to lost paperwork. But Wednesday, Army Spec. Leslie H. Sabo Jr. finally was recognized for an act of wartime heroism that took his life at age 22 as he saved comrades when his platoon was ambushed in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. | | WWII soldier’s family fights for his honor May 17th 2012, 04:53 The souvenirs Tony DiNardo saved from the war were parceled into five lockboxes he stashed around his South Philadelphia rowhouse. This week, when those chests were pried open, DiNardo’s family learned a little more about a life he’d only hinted at. He kept a copy of the Evening Bulletin from Dec. 8, 1941, with its banner headline, “Bombers Attack Hawaii Twice,” and its bookend, the victory edition from nearly four years later that trumpeted, “The War Is Over.” | | Dancer who nearly died after “pumping party”: I thought Black Madam was a nurse May 17th 2012, 04:52 One by one, the five women waiting for buttock-enhancement injections went into the room with Padge Victoria Windslowe, the so-called “Black Madam” charged with performing the illegal procedures as an underground business. After five to 10 minutes, each woman returned with cotton balls Krazy-Glued to the injection site on her instantly larger rear end. Windslowe left as soon as she was finished, according to one former client, but not before leaving instructions for the women. She told them to lie down for four or five hours so the silicone would not leak, to drink plenty of water, to avoid sitting for three days, and to get deep-tissue massages. She also took their phone numbers, pledging to check on how they were doing. | | At KIPP, dreams of an Ivy League education May 17th 2012, 04:51 Nasir Harker, an 11-year-old student at the KIPP Charter School in North Philadelphia, knows everything about wealthy Ivy League colleges like Penn, Princeton, and Harvard: They’re the places where people in the movies get to go to college. | | Blackwell, others fined for campaign violations May 17th 2012, 04:50 The Philadelphia Board of Ethics announced Wednesday that a councilwoman, a former City Council candidate and three political-action committees have been fined for accepting or giving contributions in 2011 that went above the city’s annual campaign-finance limits of $2,600 per individual and $10,600 per political committee. Here are the details on the sanctions: | | Black Madam held for trial for illegal butt injection May 17th 2012, 04:46 Wednesday’s preliminary hearing for the Black Madam featured testimony about “butt pumping parties” and a woman who goes by the name of “Back Shots.” But perhaps the most bizarre moment came when Black Madam’s attorney argued that one reason his client isn’t a flight risk is that she always wears 4-inch heels. Judge Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde didn’t buy the argument. She held the case for trial and refused to reduce the $750,000 bail for Black Madam, a transgender gothic hip-hop artist whose real name is Padge Victoria Windslowe. | | Tax charges not so Nifty for restaurant owners May 17th 2012, 04:46 “WATCH US do it fresh,” is how the owners of the local restaurant chain Nifty Fifty’s pitch customers on the chain’s website. A bit too fresh for Uncle Sam, apparently. The U.S. attorney in Philadelphia have charged two owners and three managers of the chain — which includes five locations in southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey — with tax evasion for allegedly masterminding a long-running scheme to evade millions of dollars in personal and employment taxes. | | There’s nothing appealing about these parking tickets May 17th 2012, 04:45 WELCOME to the latest installment of Parking Vile-ations, a regular feature of this column. Erin Bagley has lived in Chinatown long enough to know that, on Sundays, parking is free on the 1100 block of Race Street. | | Controversial Norris Square zoning change moves forward May 17th 2012, 04:45 What had been expected to be a tempestuous hearing on a proposed rezoning in the Norris Square community ran smoothly Wednesday, although some residents claimed that City Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez was trying to “fast-track” the rezoning to limit a development project. “The bill is an attempt by Quinones-Sanchez to block the progress of the Norris Square Civic Association’s housing development known as St. Bonnie’s, while impacting housing alternatives to current homeowners of large residential properties,” Patricia DeCarlo, NSCA’s executive director, said of the development at the old St. Boniface church site. | | Lawyers: Clients guilty, but not of murder May 17th 2012, 04:43 IVAN RODRIGUEZ is guilty of stealing a motorcycle at gunpoint and Donta Craddock is guilty of the same robbery and of involuntary manslaughter or vehicular homicide, but neither murdered four people killed by the speeding getaway Pontiac Trans Am minutes after the June 2009 robbery, the two defendants’ attorneys told a Philadelphia jury during opening statements Wednesday. Craddock, 21, who was behind the wheel and paralyzed from the waist down during the fiery crash, sped away not because he was fleeing the robbery but because he thought that a pursuing police officer was going to arrest him on a warrant for not returning to a juvenile-detention center after Easter break, defense attorney Michael Farrell said. | | Philly’s white population rises May 17th 2012, 04:40 KATE CLARK and her husband had their first child, son August, last June and plan to continue living in the city. “We’re here. We’re not going to the suburbs,” she said. | | Lengthy sentences for shooters whose gun battle claimed Camden preschooler May 17th 2012, 04:24 Stephanie Thompson wanted justice for the death of her 4-year-old son Brandon. The energetic, happy, and loving child was playing near his uncle in August 2008 in Camden when he was killed instantly, caught in cross fire between his uncle and another man fighting a petty feud. | | West Chester swim coach accused of sex with student May 17th 2012, 03:40 A West Chester high school swim coach was arrested Wednesday on charges that he posed as a swimmer’s father, plied her with beer, and had sex with her. Kenneth William Fuller, 47, head coach of the Bayard Rustin High School swim team, was charged with felony sex assault and corruption of a minor. | | Twp. solicitor suspended as Waterford feud escalates May 17th 2012, 03:40 A months-long legal battle in Waterford Township over the posting of allegations of police misconduct and photographs of off-duty officers drinking at area bars on a now-defunct website that attracted a local following took another turn Tuesday night when the Township Committee indefinitely suspended the municipal attorney. The committee contends that in March, solicitor John Maroccia leaked news of the suspension of Sgt. Joseph McNally to the website — WaterfordTwpTeaParty.com — after the officer was accused of threatening a resident with whom he has a long-running dispute. It has also asked the state attorney general and the state Supreme Court’s Office of Attorney Ethics to investigate the incident. | | Nifty Fifty’s owners charged with tax evasion May 17th 2012, 03:40 With five locations, in Northeast Philadelphia, Ridley Township, Bensalem, Clementon and Turnersville, Nifty Fifty’s restaurants are nostalgia-themed throwbacks to the glory days of sock hops and drugstore-fountain milkshakes. “Not just another restaurant,” the company touts on its website, “but a way of life.” Federal prosecutors, in a criminal case filed Wednesday, say that way of life included a long-running scheme by the company’s owners and top managers to evade more than $2.2 million in federal employment and personal income taxes by skimming mountains of cash from the 26-year-old chain. Participants in the alleged conspiracy improperly recorded $15.6 million in gross receipts, according to charges filed by U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger. | | SRC hears more comments on proposed overhaul May 17th 2012, 03:34 As it prepares to make a decision on a complete transformation of the way the Philadelphia School District is structured and run, the School Reform Commission heard from more members of the public on its plan Wednesday night. The plan calls for a lean central office and “achievement networks” — groups of 25 schools run either by district staff or outside nonprofit providers, such as universities or charter organizations — to replace the current structure. | | Lightning sparks fire at Bucks chemical plant May 17th 2012, 03:34 Lightning struck two chemical storage tanks at Dow Chemical’s Rohm & Haas Bristol plant Wednesday morning, touching off a three-alarm blaze that sent a large orange ball of flame and thick black plume of smoke into the predawn sky and blanketed the area with fumes for hours afterward. A Bristol Fire Police officer, identified as David Wintz, 65, who was helping direct traffic and went home after complaining about not feeling well, suffered a heart attack and later died at Aria Health-Torresdale Campus, officials said. | | Sandusky renews effort to have charges thrown out May 17th 2012, 02:34 Jerry Sandusky again asked a judge to throw out the child sexual abuse charges against him on Wednesday, arguing that some counts are too vague to defend and others involve alleged victims whose identities have not been determined. | | Sanctuary of St. Peter’s Church closes amid fears of collapse May 17th 2012, 01:20 The sanctuary of the historic St. Peter’s Church in Society Hill has been closed after several roof trusses were deemed at risk of collapse, the Rev. Ledlie Laughlin told congregants in an e-mail Wednesday. An architectural engineering firm concluded that the trusses “are sufficiently at risk of collapse that the sanctuary must be closed at once,” Laughlin wrote. The firm said the sanctuary could be reopened in several months if the roof is stabilized. Replacing the roof could take two or three years. | | Colwyn lifts state of emergency May 17th 2012, 00:45 Its police department in turmoil since an incident in which an officer allegedly Tasered an imprisoned teenager repeatedly, Colwyn has lifted its latest state of emergency and reinstated another officer who had been placed on administrative leave. In contrast to a raucous meeting this month that was punctuated by shouts and a fistfight, at a brief and uneventful emergency meeting on Wednesday night Mayor Daniel Rutland and Council President Tonette Pray announced that Lt. Wesley Seitz, suspended after he reported the alleged Tasing incident, would return to work. Two other officers in the six-man department — Trevor Parham, who allegedly Tased the teenager, and Officer Michael Drucktor, who purportedly witnessed the Tasing and failed to report it — remain on leave. | | Ethics Board hands out fines for excess contributions May 16th 2012, 23:27 City Councilwoman Jannie L. Blackwell has agreed to pay $3,250 in fines for accepting four campaign donations last year that exceeded the city’s contribution limits. The city Board of Ethics disclosed the fines Wednesday, one of five settlement agreements involving violations of the contribution ceilings. During last year’s elections, candidates were allowed to accept no more than $2,600 from individuals or $10,600 from political action committees. | | Water-main break snarls traffic in Manayunk May 16th 2012, 23:18 Water-main break snarls traffic in Manayunk A water-main break Wednesday afternoon caused basement flooding in nine businesses and snarled traffic in Manayunk. | | Man charged in slaying at Camden chicken shop is arraigned May 16th 2012, 23:18 A Camden man who authorities say fatally shot a bystander at a fast-food eatery last month was arraigned Wednesday on a charge of aggravated manslaughter. David Porrata, 33, was found by the U.S. Marshals Service on Tuesday night hiding in a Camden apartment, where a relative had been bringing him food. He had ignored calls from family members to turn himself in, Assistant Prosecutor Christine Shah told Superior Court Judge Irvin J. Snyder. | | Two years into new law, no lobbyist disclosure website May 16th 2012, 22:42 Nearly two years after City Council and Mayor Nutter approved an ordinance requiring lobbyists to register and disclose their expenses, there’s still no computer software to make the program work the way it was intended. The city Board of Ethics and the Nutter administration’s technology chief, Abel Ebeid, say that Perficient Inc., a St. Louis firm, was unable to deliver on a $227,000 contract to handle lobbyist registration and disclosure statements and put the information on a public city website. | | School social worker charged with sexually assaulting student May 16th 2012, 19:11 A Vineland Public Schools social worker was arrested today and charged with sexually assaulting a male teenage student under her care, Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said. Stacey L. Johnson, 44, of Bridgeton, also was charged with witness tampering for allegedly telling the boy not to talk to police. | | Secret Archives deployed to undercut Monsignor’s innocence May 16th 2012, 18:56 “On the job training,” was what Msgr. William J. Lynn told the grand jury in 2004, describing the preparation he had to be the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s chief investigator of allegations about priests sexually molesting minors. There was little direction from then Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua and only “rare” questions from the archbishop when he filed a report on a wayward priest, Lynn’s testimony reads. | | Big lottery paydays for two local tickets May 16th 2012, 18:55 Here’s a roundup of the latest lottery news. Camden County ticket wins $872,215. A Jersey Cash 5 ticket sold at Liquor Ranch, 4950 Marlton Pike, in Pennsauken matched all the numbers drawn Monday: 8, 18, 22, 26 and 36. | | Chester County’s Hispanic gangs may be small, but are still lethal May 16th 2012, 18:45 Six months ago, it was the bedroom of a small-time tough named Cuahuctemoc Bedolla. Now, it is his shrine, a tribute to a short life with a bad ending. A Mexican flag covers one wall of the narrow nook in his parents’ house in the West Grove woods of Chester County. Votive candles flicker near a statuette of Our Lady of Guadalupe. On the bed are his mechanic’s tools, green T-shirt emblazoned “El Paso, Old Mexico,” and a red wool beanie, a partial tableau of his 27 years. | | Delco grandma wins ‘Best Mom on Wheels’ May 16th 2012, 18:05 A “dumbfounded” Edna Escher-Gaston, 61, of Swarthmore, was tearfully happy to learn this week that she’d won the “Best Mom on Wheels” contest run by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. The grandmother of six was one of 10 finalists but got about 25 percent of the almost 2,000 votes tallied online by the foundation. | | Marshals capture fugitive wanted in fast food killing May 16th 2012, 16:52 A Camden man wanted for fatally shooting another Camden resident at a fast food restaurant three weeks ago was arrested last night and will be arraigned today, authorities said. David Porrata, 33, allegedly killed Franklin Parker, 36, on April 27 at a Crown Fried Chicken on the 200 block of Broadway, the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office said. The shooting, which began as an altercation between Porrata, his friend and a group of other men about 5 a.m., was captured on the store’s surveillance video. | |
