• Yesterday morning, 20-year-old Community College of Philadelphia accounting student Fakhur Uddin was bound with duct tape and string, shot in the head, and left in the back room of the East Germantown gift and sundry store he was minding for his ailing father. Police believe he was killed during a robbery.
• Apparently one of the key witnesses against Vincent Fumo in his corruption trial will be his own son-in-law. In the hopes of keeping the trial from running overlong, the judge in the case has ordered prosecutors and defense attorneys to pare down their witness lists.
• The Inquirer takes a look at a continuing Philadelphia problem: dangerous abandoned buildings. The department responsible for inspecting properties in the city, Licenses and Inspections, just got a new commissioner earlier this week, and Mayor Nutter says she'll do a "top-to-bottom" review of the department.
• A prototype of one of the new, soon-to-be operational SEPTA Silverliner V railcars arrived from South Korea on Tuesday. SEPTA ordered 120 of the new cars for $274 million, and we're scheduled to see them in 2009. But as the Inquirer points out, nothing ever happens on time in mass transit.
• Dorrell Shaw is not the Frankford rapist, says his attorney, and Shaw has volunteered a DNA sample to clear his name.
• Suburban leaders and Mayor Nutter are considering a new regional caucus of elected leaders that would grapple with problems that transcend municipal borders, including everything from air quality to economic development.
• "A daylong series of raids in Southwest and West Philadelphia yesterday culminated with police serving 70 warrants and arresting 83 people on drug charges."
• In the wake of a dramatic increase in the number of animal cruelty cases, District Attorney Lynne Abraham has named Barbara Paul to serve as an advocate for the city's abused and neglected cats and dogs.
• In a feature entitled "America's 50 Worst Colleges" in the September issue of Radar magazine, Drexel University was listed as America's "Ugliest Campus." The vice president of the university says the report is out-of-date and contains various errors. And anyway, what about the cool dragon statue? That's got to count for something.

Image Credit: Flickr user wfyurasko