Yo, Philly in the News

• Good news: looks like they may have nabbed one of those "splash and grab" convenience store robbers.
• In case you haven't heard enough about the violence in our town, the Daily News points out that "Philadelphia is the most murder-plagued big city in the country," and they even throw up some numbers to prove it.
• Those aren't the only interesting numbers Daily News has for us, either: a poll which they conducted with Keystone says that if the 2008 presidential election were held today, McCain or Giuliani would win against Clinton or Obama. We have to admit to being a little surprised by this result!
• PA's slots are really paying off! Rendell says, based on early returns, they'll easily generate the $1 billion needed to fund promised property- and wage-tax cuts.
• After hearing presentations by a number of the mayoral candidates, the Fraternal Order of Police decided to give their endorsement to Bob Brady. If you haven't decided who to give your endorsement to yet, the Daily News is helping out by giving you a run-down of how each of the candidates feel about the Kenney bill (which makes it easier to increase pensions for city workers; more on it here).
• Meanwhile, the school district is in turmoil, as usual. Another one of Paul Vallas' handpicked advisers (Tomas Hanna, senior vice president for human resources) has left, this time for a post in Rhode Island. Meanwhile, Philadelphia City Controller Alan Butkovitz is worried about the fact that the district's bond rating has lowered, which could make it harder for the district to fund construction projects in the future. Thus he wants greater fiscal oversight.

A photo of our next president (?) by Flickr user hatch1921