Yo, Philly in the News

• It's all Fumo, all the time! Fumo might lose his defense counsel! Fumo might sell his house to pay for his defense! Fumo is still an important figure in local politics! Fumo, Fumo, Fumo!
• Speaking of "fumo," no fumo in PA! Well, sort of. The state senate passed a statewide ban on smoking yesterday, which would theoretically replace Philly's own smoking ban if it were to get signed into law, even though it has so many exemptions it's actually a weaker ban than the one we already have. It's all a moot point anyway as Rendell has already said he'll veto it, due to the fact that it would allow smoking at certain child-care facilities. Meanwhile, a tougher smoking ban with far fewer exemptions will be considered by the House later this week.
• Another couple of bills that Rendell dislikes and plans to veto are two aimed at reducing hospital infections. Although reducing such infections is a goal of the Governor, he's looking for bills that all parties can agree on, and these, apparently, are not them.
• The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts pulled kind of a weird stunt yesterday, dressing up a dude like Thomas Eakins and plying taxi drivers with water bottles and trinkets in an attempt to educate them in cultural tourism and "develop their roles as cultural ambassadors." Uh, okay. Good luck with that, guys.
• The Philly office of the FBI has recovered the priceless manuscript of Bucks County resident Pearl S. Buck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Good Earth. It was believed stolen for many years, but apparently it was taken "with all innocence and good faith," and no criminal charges will be filed.
• The Inquirer has an article pointing out that charter schools are doing great in the suburbs, with increased enrollment and rising test scores.
• Some quick crime notes: the Philly police officer accused of ordering two women to put on a sex show in a Fishtown jail has been fired; an electrical contractor has been charged with stealing money from a benefit plan, bribing a bank executive, and making illegal payments to John Dougherty (John Doc hasn't been charged yet, but the attorney in the case is keeping his options open); and police unexpectedly found a murder suspect hiding under the stairs when they came to a house in Kensington in response to a call about a disturbance.

Image Credit: Flickr user mary_gaston22