Yo, Philly in the News

• The Inquirer takes a close look at Mayor Nutter's first budget proposal. The subtitle of the article is: "The $3.98 billion plan seeks bonds for pensions and a kitty for unions." Awww, that's nice! He's getting a kitty for the unions! We hope it's a cute kitty.
• David C. Sicoli, a Philadelphia priest with "a long history of abusive and manipulative relationships with adolescents," according to a grand jury report, has finally been defrocked by the Roman Catholic Church. No criminal charges were ever lodged against him. Numerous complaints were filed about his alleged misconduct with boys, however, and other priests warned about him, but the church continued to simply transfer him to different parishes, and even ended up naming him associate director of the CCD youth program for the entire Philadelphia area.
• According to recently released figures, the number of cesarean section births in the Philadelphia region is continuing to rise. The increase is part of a national trend.
• An accident that was jamming I-95 North was being cleared as of 8AM this morning. No injuries were reported.
• The reports out of the Milton Street trial have been pretty boring the last couple days, so we haven't even posted them here, but yesterday Milt took the stand in his own defense (whatever lawyer thought that was a good idea should be fired immediately), and it sounds like the results were freaking hilarious. Check out both the Daily News and Inquirer accounts. Milt's defense for not filing income taxes for three years? He researched the issue, found there was no law specifically allowing the IRS to collect a direct tax on Americans' wages, and decided not to pay them. Awesome.
• The hair from the heads of presidents Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and John Quincy Adams is scheduled to be on display this Presidents' Day weekend at the Academy of Natural Sciences. It's part of a large collection of human and animal hair put together by Philadelphia lawyer and amateur naturalist Peter Arvell Browne (1762-1860).
• "A $31 million land deal is in the works that could turn one of the largest privately owned properties in Chester County into a public playground." The property in question covers 1,718 acres, "and was assembled during the last half-century by descendants of the founder of Campbell Soup, the late George Strawbridge Sr. and his son, George Strawbridge Jr."

Image Credit: Flickr user bubblemonkey