Yo, Philly in the News

• The ugly side of Independence Day: a 21-year-old man was shot to death over an argument about firecrackers Monday night. Also, it's good to always remember that the fireworks themselves can be dangerous; a dozen people were injured when an explosion occurred during a display late Tuesday night in Upper Merion Township.
• It's a "disaster!" The government shut-down in our neighboring state of New Jersey - which was brought on by the fact that lawmakers couldn't agree on a new budget - has already led to the halt of the New Jersey Lottery, and of various road construction projects and state agencies, but now it's causing the unprecedented and the unthinkable: it's shutting down the casinos in Atlantic City! That's right, the casinos need to be overlooked by state-employed casino inspectors, and those guys aren't working right now, so no blackjack, roulette, slot machines, or horse race betting! Argh! Ironically, the closing of the casinos means a huge loss of funds that could be used to balance the state budget. D'oh.
• That rape suspect we mentioned has been caught, thanks to the fact that he stopped a cop to tell him he wasn't the guy. Unfortunately for him, the attempt to throw suspicion off of himself had the opposite effect. What a dumbass.

Image Credit: Flickr user Zioluc