Yo, Philly in the News

• Weird crime time: A 25-year-old Lancaster County man named Brett Steidler mailed an explosive device to the Chicago surgeon who performed his penile enlargement procedure because he was "extremely unhappy with the results." Apparently! Luckily he thought better of his act and alerted police before the bomb was delivered. He subsequently pled guilty to weapons of mass destruction charges, which sounds a bit over-the-top for a little vengeful mail bombing of your penile enlargement surgeon, as Steidler's lawyer, Luis Ortiz, is arguing: "You shouldn't group this guy with people who drive truck loads of explosives to buildings or gather anthrax or do things for political reasons." The WMD charge could bring 4 to 8 years in prison, while a normal mail bombing charge means roughly 2 years, so we wish Steidler good luck with his case. And his penis.
• Ah, Philly politics. They're just so trashy. Case in point: a Tuesday press conference in Rittenhouse Square that was supposed to be about District Attorney Lynne Abraham endorsing Larry Farnese's campaign in the upcoming Democratic primary was crashed by supporters of Farnese's opponent, Babette Josephs, and quickly dissolved into "a noisy shouting match." Maybe all these folks should go in together on a future episode of MTV's new trash-talking show, "Yo Momma."
• Speaking of trashy, there's a zoning fight over a proposal by Scores to build a new strip club at 6th Street between Callowhill and Spring Garden. The location, which used to be a club anyway, is about 500 feet from a church. So, the church isn't very happy about it. Plus, some people think the club could bring with it crime and other "bad things," while other people want to develop the area (which has been "up-and-coming" for some years now) into Philly's Soho, so the club doesn't exactly fit into their picture of the future. It'll be interesting to see who comes out on top in this battle. Phillyist is going to stay to one side and watch what happens.

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