Yo, Philly in the News

• Well, we'll be damned. A group of local investors (including former mayoral candidate Tom Knox) got together and saved Philadelphia's city-wide WiFi program yesterday. They closed a deal with Earthlink to take over the existing network. The plan is to create a wired network for premium, paying customers, like hospitals, universities, companies and the city. This would be connected to the existing wireless system, which would be free to use anywhere the signal can be received (although customers might have to look at ads). Of course, it's the "anywhere the signal can be received" thing that might be the catch. Still, the investors say they're going to improve the technology of the network and finish building it so that it covers the entire city. So... sounds exciting! Woo hoo!
• Authorities yesterday released an enhanced video that may show the man who robbed and shot aspiring teacher and Starbucks employee Beau Zabel. Click through to view the video, and certainly contact police if you think you can identify the suspect.
• Actor Michael K. Williams, who played Omar Little in The Wire, spoke to students at Germantown High School yesterday, imparting life lessons he's learned in his native Brooklyn and on the Baltimore set of The Wire.
• "Three people were fatally shot and four more seriously wounded in the city in a spate of shooting incidents that started Monday night and continued into last night." There was also a shooting just after Strawberry Mansion High School's graduation ceremony at the Liacouras Center yesterday. It happened very near the center, just off Broad, and police believe it was the result of a fight over a girl that broke out between two cliques. The victim, an 18-year-old graduate, was shot in the back, and was in stable condition at Temple University Hospital last night.
• District Attorney Lynne Abraham announced yesterday that her office has cleared City Councilman Curtis Jones of alleged wrongdoing in his last job as president and chief executive officer of the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corp. The investigation of Jones was conducted last year by Seth Williams, the city's inspector general; Williams is a political rival of Abraham, so she took the opportunity to take some shots at him, saying the investigation was "poorly done" and based on "flawed reasoning" and "baseless" accusations.
• A report released yesterday reveals that the city's recreation sites are not in great shape, but Department of Recreation Commissioner Sue Slawson says some of the problems have already been addressed, and that they're "going to work extremely hard to ensure that our facilities are safe."
• The court fight over moving the Barnes Foundation's art collection from Lower Merion Township to Philadelphia looks to finally be over.
• A study being released today reveals the high cost of living in the region: "A Philadelphia family of four needs to make more than $50,000 a year just to survive."

Image Credit: Flickr user cogdogblog