Yo, Philly in the News

• If you're wondering what all those cops are doing hanging around near the Gallery this morning, it's not because somebody stole a rhinestone "You look better on MySpace" T-shirt; it's because W is coming to town! Yes, the President himself is coming to Philadelphia to speak at the American Legislative Exchange Council's Thomas Jefferson Freedom Breakfast at ALEC's 34th Annual Meeting at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown at 1201 Market Street. Plenty of other big-name political superstars will be there, too. So, it might be best to avoid the area entirely if you can.
• Some news on area bridges: first, be aware that the South Street Bridge is going to be closed overnight tonight, from 9PM to 5AM, for routine maintenance (read: they're going to try to keep it from crumbling into the river for a little bit longer). Second, the Inquirer has an article with some more details about next year's $100 million-plus reconstruction project on the Walt Whitman Bridge.
• A sexual abuse report was apparently the impetus for Villanova University to kick out three incoming freshmen football recruits. Although the three unnamed athletes have not been charged with a crime, they have been found in violation of the school's code of conduct.
• 63-year-old Steven L. Strawbridge Sr. of Gladwyne, a former senior executive at the family's department store chain, "has been charged with possessing child pornography and could face four years in federal prison."
• Controversial website whosarat.com "lists more than 4,300 informants from around the world," and is just one part of a deeply entrenched stop-snitching culture. Cops say a couple of local people took information from the site and plastered it around a government witness's neighborhood in an attempt to intimidate him. They've been arrested and charged.
• The fight over Rick's Philly Steaks continues! The leader of the market's Amish merchants threatened to cancel the annual Amish festival if Olivieri is not given a new lease, a move which forced market officials into a meeting with Olivieri yesterday afternoon to try to work things out. Olivieri says he thought the meeting "was very productive," but the market spokesman will only say that they want to think about things and will respond in several days.

Image Credit: Flickr user SansPoint