Yo, Philly in the News

• Today, President Bush and a dizzying list of dignitaries are scheduled to spend this morning at Kearny School, a K-8 school in Northern Liberties. For the last few days, there were Secret Service agents and White House aides all over the place, crews painting and sprucing up the building, and children in a state high excitement. Most of the school's 420 students live in poverty, and 16 percent receive special-education services.
• On Sunday, a man with no heart and sticky fingers stole a wad of cash in a jar placed in a gas station by a charity aimed at helping children with terminal illnesses, and then returned later to spend some of the money. The man (if you can call him that), at about 7 a.m., entered Rimbaugh's Exxon gas station, on Route 23 near White Horse Road in Phoenixville, where he tucked a small, clear, money-filled bucket with a red lid under his jacket and left the store. A surveillance video shows the man stashing the container in a light-colored Nissan and re-entering the store, where he made several purchases.





• MSNBC host and Philadelphia native, Chris Matthews, told his staff yesterday that he had decided not to run in next year's U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania, ending months of speculation. For several months, Matthews explored the idea of seeking the Democratic nomination to take on Republican Sen. Arlen Specter. He spoke with party power brokers and consultants about what it would take to win such a race, and word of those conversations leaked, sparking a flurry of news reports. Matthews, who is 63, lost the Democratic primary for a Northeast Philadelphia congressional seat in 1974.
• A Pottstown teenager admitted, after his case was transferred from adult to juvenile court yesterday, that he planned to go on a shooting rampage at his high school. Richard Yanis, 15, made the admission as part of an agreement that will allow him to receive treatment in a long-term residential facility instead of a prison term. Yanis is accused of hatching a plot to kill "everyone he did not like" and then himself at Pottstown High School with guns and ammunition he has stolen Nov. 10 from his father's gun collection.
• Thomas A. Leonard is the chairman of Obermayer, Rebmann, Maxwell & Hippel and also a long-time friend of former Senator Vincent J. Fumo. Daniel Whelan, former Verizon chairman, testified that the former senator had strong-armed the company to give almost $3 million in legal business to the law firm. Whelan said the work for Obermayer was part of Fumo's political price for dealing with an effort to break up Verizon's communications businesses in Pennsylvania. Fumo faces no charges in connection with the demand.

Image Credit: Flickr user: Image Editor