"A two-alarm fire tore through an eastern Pennsylvania home late Saturday, killing three children only hours after a birthday celebration." Lane closures and traffic restrictions. "A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury this morning begins hearing testimony in the murder trial of Hakim Bey, an alleged member of a violent South Philadelphia drug gang." Four men were hospitalized—three in critical condition—after several shootings across the city last night. Contract negotiations are getting testy between the......

"Two bills aimed at cleaning up commercial breeding kennels in Pennsylvania are slated for committee votes in Harrisburg today." A new veterans cemetery to be known as Washington Crossing National Cemetery is scheduled to start construction in Bucks County next year, with the first burials starting toward the end of the year. The plans for the new cemetery will be available for review tonight during a public briefing by the Department of Veterans Affairs at......

Editor Diana Lind...

An Associated Press investigation has shown that "a vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans." That includes the drinking water supplies here in Philly, where testing uncovered "56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water, including medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems. Sixty-three pharmaceuticals or byproducts......

The president and board chairman of the city-funded nonprofit Philadelphia Safe and Sound testified yesterday that they were forced by Mayor Street and his senior aides to spend an extra $21 million that they knew did not exist in the city budget. It's those expenditures that have forced Safe and Sound to cancel dozens of programs in recent weeks. You can find copies of Safe and Sound's testimony online here and here. Insiders say......

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Just a reminder to all those folks who aren’t lucky enough to have an enlightened workplace: Monday is MLK Day, and local transit is adjusting their schedules a bit. PATCO will be running trains every 10-12 minutes during the day (6AM-7PM), which is only a real change for the rush hour (usually it’s 4-5 minutes, at least in theory). SEPTA has listings for various bus routes that will be affected; the El and the Subway......