Yo, Philly in the News

• SEPTA is getting pretty popular, with rail ridership up 12 percent from a year ago, to its highest point in 25 years of rail operations, but the popularity has brought with it its own problems: crowded trains and parking lots.
• 43-year-old Tarriq Ali, sentenced to a life term in Delaware, was being transported from California back to Delaware by a private prisoner transportation service when he escaped at Philadelphia International Airport. He is still at large.
• A fire on the tracks yesterday forced a PATCO train to stop on the Ben Franklin Bridge, stranding dozens of passengers for about 90 minutes during the evening rush, and backing up auto traffic on the bridge itself. No one was injured, and everything is back on schedule this morning, but the cause of the fire remains a mystery.
• That Bucks County mother accused of letting a teenage sleepover in her home turn into a sex party between some of the boys and an adult friend of hers, pleaded guilty yesterday.
• The Yeadon police have released descriptions of the two men who are believed to have shot a Philadelphia School District counselor Saturday morning.
• David Nam, now 31, was accused of killing a retired Philadelphia police officer in 1996, but fled to South Korea before he could be put on trial. Now he's finally been found, captured, and sent back to the U.S.; he's due to arrive in the city today.
• The city's annual Columbus Day celebration, including the parade and festival in South Philly's Marconi Plaza, might be canceled because organizers no longer have state funding.
• Councilman Darrell L. Clarke said yesterday that he will introduce legislation on Thursday that would keep closer tabs on students living near the universities in his 5th Councilmanic district.
• Bridge inspections will cause some traffic slowdowns in the city this week.
• Federal prosecutors rested their case yesterday against accused child-molester John Jackey Worman after presenting photographs that are so vile that the jury was spared from viewing them.
• A bomb was discovered on Monday afternoon outside a well-used, downtown West Chester parking garage, prompting building evacuations and detouring traffic for hours.

Image Credit: Flickr user G_link