Yo, Philly in the News

• As Phillyist Sarah pointed out yesterday in a comment on Philly in the News, Mark O'Donnell was arrested yesterday in the murder of Ebony Nicole Dorsey, the daughter of his girlfriend. He's been charged this morning with beating, strangling and sexually assaulting the 14-year-old. Dorsey's mother says the attack came after O'Donnell had been smoking crack all night, but O'Donnell says that's not true and that he caught the girl molesting his daughter.
• About 100 people attended a rally yesterday to "win legislative support for what organizers called 'sensible' gun-control measures." Amongst the attendants were Governor Rendell, dozens of police officers, Democratic lawmakers, and mayors from six Pennsylvania cities.
• "The New Jersey State Senate yesterday voted to abolish the death penalty, moving the state a big step closer to becoming the first to legislatively end capital punishment since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976." The law is expected to be passed by the General Assembly on Thursday, and "Governor Corzine has pledged to sign the bill into law by the end of the legislative session on Jan. 8."
• The Inquirer takes a look at the growing trend of people working in the Philadelphia region but living way out in Lancaster County.

Image Credit: Flickr user paul_everett82