• As part of an inspection for damage, some vaults have been opened - for the first time in a very long time - at Christ Church Burial Ground at Fifth and Arch Streets, "the resting place of more than 4,000 prominent Philadelphians, including Benjamin Franklin and four other signers of the Declaration of Independence." The vaults look quite a bit different than expected, and new sketches will have to be drawn.
• The PA budget got held up a bit yesterday by some further discussion, especially about the Senate plan to fund hazardous-sites cleanup by taking $40 million from a land preservation fund. Lawmakers have made the wise decision to not decide on the most contentious bits until later, so the budget did indeed get through both Houses yesterday and will be signed by Rendell later today... hopefully, anyway.
• One of the Street administration's last acts will be awarding a 20-year contract (probably the largest in Philly history) "to design, install and maintain... hundreds of new bus shelters, newsstands, trash receptacles, public toilets and benches." This would give a uniform look to the city's "street furniture." In return the winning bidder "will get the chance to sell advertising in places that so far have been ad-less." The deal would also mean a lot of extra cash for the city.
• A US Airways flight that was travelling from London to Philadelphia yesterday ended up making a stop in Canada yesterday when a female passenger became ill, and then stayed grounded for over seven hours due to a security issue somehow connected to the ill passenger. Hmm... very mysterious...
• Philly police officers were checking out a broken window at a rowhouse in the Spring Garden neighborhood when they ended up finding a weed jackpot. The rowhouse turned out to be "an elaborate, well-organized farm" with three floors full to the rafters of marijuana plants. The building was apparently used only for production, and there were no signs of anyone living there; no arrests have been reported as of this writing.
• The disagreement between Rick's Philly Steaks and Reading Terminal Market has entered a kind of Cold War, weapons build-up stage. Feeling threatened legally by Rick Olivieri and his lawyer, the Market lawyered up themselves, hiring renowned Philadelphia lawyer Richard Sprague.
• The University of Pennsylvania has issued an alert to about incidents on campus wherein groups of young men - or really, boys - aged from 9 to 13 "have been harassing, assaulting and robbing students, staff and residents." Patrols have been stepped up in the area, but we guess you should keep an eye out for nasty looking little kids. Wow.

Image Credit: Flickr user bubblemonkey