Governor Rendell said that he would back the indicted Senator Fumo's reelection bid if Fumo just asked him. Ed says: "We would be lost in Harrisburg without him because of his skill. He has done great things, and we are lucky to have him." The Inquirer is getting excited about the Philadelphia Flower Show, which will have a preview opening for selected guests tomorrow, and then open to the general public on Sunday. Catherine......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: Be Kind Rewind Expect our review of this Michel Gondry comedy, starring Jack Black, Mos Def, and Danny Glover, later on this morning. Trailer - Freshness Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse The Band's Visit A fish-out-of-water comedy about the Ceremonial Police Band of Alexandria, Egypt arriving for a gig in Israel, only to find that their hosts and transportation have failed......

Performance: Litttle Girl Blue (Pheralyn Dove a.k.a. "Lady Dove") (No future performances) The last time I'd been at the Ethical Society it was to hear an ex-Buddhist monk discuss the Dharma for the modern age. Wednesday I went to see a one woman show about an African American woman's personal and spiritual journey. Gone was the Buddha statue adorned with lit candles. In its place were the props that would help the Little Girl Blue......

Despite the fact that Transformers is a film based on a cartoon, which itself was based on a story that a marketing company came up with to sell a line of toys, and despite the fact that it was directed by Michael Bay (a piece of news which, when it first came out, caused thousands of nerds to cry out in terror, and then become suddenly silent... before running to the internet to voice their......

The city's eighth annual "Report Card on the Well-Being of Children and Youth in Philadelphia" has been released, and the news is not good. The city got its worst rating - 5 for "problematic" and "very troubling" - in the category of child safety. D'oh. The city will be spending $1.3 million dollars to fix a mistake made years ago that violates the contract with the firefighters union. The contract states, reasonably enough, that......

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA......

Pretty much all the news today is about the six arrests made yesterday in an alleged plot to attack Fort Dix. ABCNEWS.com reveals to us that the terrorist attack was to involve Super Mario's pizza. No lie! The father of one of the attackers owns Super Mario's Restaurant near the base, which often makes deliveries there, and consequently has a map of the place "used by pizza delivery men to find their way around......

If you’ve got nothing to do tonight, or if you’ve got something to do, but want better plans, head over to the Gordon Theater, and check out DJ Spooky’s self-proclaimed “digital exorcism”: “Rebirth of a Nation.” Commissioned by the Lincoln Center Festival (amongst others), DJ Spooky created "Rebirth of a Nation" in 2004, and has been touring it ever since. It is based on the filmThe Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith (which gave......

Plenty of updates on the mayor's race! First of all, Brady cleared his first legal hurdle Monday when the judge in his case ruled that he could amend his forms, and thus he can be on the May 15 ballot. However, this is by no means a final ruling; an appeal has already been promised. Meanwhile, according to a recent poll of Philly's African American voters, Chaka Fattah has the number one spot by a......

Philly’s own, not Phillyist’s. Tonight, the Philadelphia 76ers will name Jim Ellis a "Hometown Hero." Since their 2001-2 season, the Sixers have honored one local a year with the title of Hometown Hero. Individuals are selected for this honor based on nominations, which can be made by anyone. In 2004, the award’s title was officially renamed "Hometown Heroes: In the Spirit of Alex Scott." Jim Ellis is the founder of the Philadelphia Department of Recreation’s......

Museums are cool, but they're even cooler when you can get into them for free. And that's what's happening on Museum Day, which is this Saturday, September 30th. Museum Day was started by the Smithsonian Institution, and used to be for subscribers to their magazine only, but its now open to the general public and celebrated by museums across the country, including many in the local area, like the African American Museum in Philadelphia,......

Philadelphia politicians corrupt? A lot of potential jurors at the Mariano trial sure think so. Looks like the region's flu season for this year is going to be a mild one, but the CDC warns it's not over yet. Fifteen inmates and three guards at the House of Correction in the Northeast (the city's oldest prison) were hurt last Friday when the ceiling of one of the facility's 14 shower rooms collapsed. To make......

We're number one! We're number one! For election fraud, anyway. Or so says the American Center for Voting Rights Legislative Fund, a self-proclaimed non-partisan group devoted to ferreting out the truth about dirty practices on election day.In a report released today, the American Center for Voting Rights Legislative Fund ("ACVR Legislative Fund") identifies Philadelphia as the number one election fraud "hot spot" in America. The report, "Vote Fraud, Intimidation & Suppression In The 2004 Presidential......