No debate: there’s no better, or more appropriate, place to celebrate the birth of our nation than right here in Philly. Here are a few things to help you enjoy your freedom this weekend. The best part? Most of it’s free. Today: Forget lunch, there’s cake! A reading of the Declaration of Independence is followed by an eight foot cake that’s needs some eating. Head over to the Independence Visitor Center at noon to snag......

Three Philadelphia Tour Guides are up-in-arms due to a City Council bill that says all guides must be certified by obtaining a license. The license is given after the guides pass an exam that tests their knowledge of Philadelphia history. They feel this is in violation of their rights and have filed a lawsuit against the city. Phillyist has obtained a copy of the guides' original complaint to City Council President Anna C. Verna: Dear......

And by "revisionist," we mean "drunken." Drunk History vol. 2 - Featuring Jack Black on FunnyOrDie.com Check out the continuation of the story here!" Thanks to Gothamist Dave for the tip!......

Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross are getting married! We're freaking out!! (Via Sarah) The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Building at 16th and Callowhill Streets was evacuated yesterday morning when a white, powdery substance was found in a third-floor office. The substance turned out to be foot powder. D'oh. (Via Sarah) An accident on the westbound Pennsylvania Turnpike between the Mid-County and Valley Forge interchanges led to the death of the driver of a FedEx......

Phillyist VIP: Matt Nelson...

Don’t know about you, but when we think about driving in the city we start to get slight palpitations. Part of it could be that we’re used to walking and Septa; the thought of paying exorbitant amounts to park in UCity on a Friday night convinces us that the El isn’t so bad after all. Plus, there’s storage: when we were living on the outskirts of Center City a parking spot would have cost 2/3......

Teamsters plan to rally outside the Four Seasons Hotel at 18th Street and the Ben Franklin Parkway at 1:30PM today because AmerisourceBergen Corp.'s annual shareholder meeting is being held there at that time, and the teamsters are accusing the company of unfair labor practices. Remember how Rick's Steaks was fighting to stay in the Reading Terminal Market? Well, the fight continues. A recent court ruling dismissed most of Olivieri's claims against Reading Terminal, but Olivieri's......

When the United States finally gained its freedom from King George III, the Founding Fathers went down to the historic City Tavern and got wasted on Thomas Jefferson’s special ale and Ben Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Shooters." OK, not really, but freedom from tyranny is a damn good reason to celebrate with a drink. That is why Cube Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar is offering complimentary "Cuba Libre" cocktails from Sunday, February 24 to Thursday, February......

Another new writer today, folks. Please help us welcome Don Montrey, who is a comedian and a writer. He has no criminal record as far as you know. Milton Street is my hero! Not because he has somehow managed to stay somewhat relevant all these years, not because he so delightfully called his consulting company Notlim, and not because he does the best Rerun dance this side of the Ben Franklin Bridge. No, he is......

The Ben Franklin Parkway at 18th Street. Photo by author, SkyscraperSunset.com, February 8, 2008.......

In honor of Ben Franklin’s birthday, lettuce-clothed PETA activists braved the cold yesterday afternoon to spread the word about animal cruelty. Dressed in nothing but iceberg lettuce, a bit of trim and a stretchy waistband, local Lettuce Lady Nicole Mathews passed out faux-turkey sandwiches, talked to tourists and answered bewildered Franklin Institute attendants in 30 degree cold. All, of course, prompting the perfectly reasonable question, “whaaaa?” It turns out our city’s great historical mascot (in......

We'd like to start this post off with something we just read in a press release: "If Ben [Franklin] were alive today, we believe that he would be brokenhearted to see the abuses endured by the same birds whom he sought to honor," says Lettuce Lady Nicole Matthews. "With so many delicious meat alternatives available, there's never been a better time to go vegetarian." We quote it because PETA's scantily-clad Lettuce Ladies will be......

Pennsylvania ranks very low amongst other states in requiring breakfast to be served in its schools to the children of low income families. A new memorial design for the President's House, which "would allow visitors to peer down through a glass shed and view archaeological remnants of an 18th-century house once occupied by presidents and slaves," will be unveiled tomorrow night at Freedom Theatre. "The DRPA, whose board meets today to adopt its annual budget,......

Photo from the Ben Franklin Bridge walkway. Photo by author, SkyscraperSunset.com, November 25, 2007.......

Wow-ee! At ten this morning, a brand new Ben Franklin sculpture (this one by James Peniston) was unveiled at 4th and Arch Streets, bringing the total number of sculptures of the founding father in Philadelphia up to 24,367.* To celebrate, we're going to be sure we do First Friday up right this month, starting with the very special reception to welcome the newest Ben in the city. "Keys to Community": The Ben Franklin Project set......

Lynnise Burnett, a 14-year-old freshman at Germantown High School, had been missing since Thursday, and had sent distressing text messages over the weekend, one saying that "she was in a dark room and she was hungry and that someone was going to kill her." Apparently she was able to sneak back into her home recently, as police found her on the roof of the house Saturday night threatening to jump. She was taken to......

CultureGrrl informs us that the movement fighting to keep the Barnes Foundation from moving is splintering into different groups, each with its own petition. The Inquirer has collected reactions to Alberto Gonzales' resignation from PA's Senator Specter, as well as from local attorneys and agents. A motorcyclist from Woodbury, heading back over the Ben Franklin Bridge to New Jersey early yesterday morning, ran into the back of a car near the Philadelphia entrance and was......

...this Phillyist will walk across the Ben Franklin Bridge. By the way... did you notice the typo?......

Wednesdays throughout July, Bleu Martini's Charity Happy Hours will be benefiting Once Upon A Nation. Go between 5:30 and 7:30 and enjoy free hors d'oeuvres and drink specials, and have 15% of your tab donated to this worthy endeavor. One thing we love about our historic city: all of the great opportunities to learn about the history and culture of this place. Well, really, we like going up to Ben Franklin and asking anachronistic questions,......

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Vacations stretching your budget too much? Fear not. Everything this week is free!Monday The Philadelphia Orchestra presents its second Free Neighborhood Concert of the summer, with works by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Ives. Pastorius Park (Chestnut Hill); 7 PM; FREE Tuesday Venture across the Ben Franklin Bridge to hear pianist Andrew Willis as part of Rutgers-Camden's summer lunchtime series. Mallery Room (2nd floor Rutgers-Camden University's Fine Arts Complex); Noon; FREE Thursday The Brandywine Valley Association......

Many things that had to wait while PA and NJ were in their impasse about dredging the Delaware can now move forward. One of those things is repainting the Ben Franklin Bridge. This holiday weekend, lots of folks were getting in as much fun as they could at the Jersey shore, despite the fact that, in Surf City at least, there was the possibility of blowing up. A beach replenishment project ended up digging up......

Forget Ben Franklin: the greatest inventor in the area was the Dutch gal who first looked at the bottom of a pot just used to make liverwurst and thought, there has to be something more here. And so was born scrapple, the breakfast delight of Phillyites everywhere (though we've heard they look at you funny in California), including Big Ben himself. To celebrate all things offal,Reading Terminal is hosting Scrapplefest tomorrow from 10 am-......

State Senator Robert Regola surrendered on Wednesday on charges that "he improperly stored a handgun that wound up in the hands of a 14-year-old neighbor who fatally shot himself, and then lied about it at a coroner's hearing." His lawyer says he's innocent and won't resign. He's "free on $25,000 unsecured bond until his preliminary hearing April 5." The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers have blown a big raspberry at all the mayoral candidates and......

Casinos may be coming our way, but they won't have table games anytime soon, according to Governor Rendell. So if you want to play Blackjack, you'll still have to head out to AC. T. Milton Street has pleaded...not guilty to charges of corruption and tax-evasion, as did one of the two other men indicted along with him. Thousands of local parents received letters about their children's truancy...and possible fines the parents could face if......

Looking east from 10th Street in Chinatown, with the Ben Franklin Bridge in the distance. Photo by author, May 3, 2006.......

We found this taped to the front wall of a building on 11th Street in Chinatown. Uh...interesting!But we think that any skinless individual with enough balls to railslide the Ben Franklin Bridge (while backhanding Jaws and dodging the Lightning Apocalypse) probably wouldn't be too concerned about knee and elbow pads.Photo by author.......

William Penn keeps his back turned to Lincoln Financial Field after being called "Ben Franklin" by this week's Monday Night Football announcers. Photo by author, October 3, 2006.......

Once in a while, our awesome skyline adds a little variety by changing the lighting scheme on a whole bunch of buildings. Our four tallest skyscrapers - One and Two Liberty Place, the Mellon Bank Center, and the Bell Atlantic Tower - will spend their October nights wearing bright pink in support of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The shift normally happens on October 1st, but since it falls on a Sunday this year,......

The School of the Future is opening today! The school, which has been aided by Microsoft, is in Parkside near the Zoo, and is supposed to have lots of cool features, like a laptop for every student instead of textbooks or notebooks (they hope it "will become the nation's first urban public school to be paperless"), an environmentally friendly building, a flexible class schedule that starts later in the day, and lots of help......