The Inquirer this morning ran an interesting piece about the latest controversy swirling around the proposed SugarHouse casino site on the Delaware River, on the border of Northern Liberties and Fishtown. It seems that the foundations of Batchelor's Hall, a building of some historical import (see Chapter 69 here), have been excavated beneath the casino's billboard on Delaware Avenue near Frankford. Needless to say, historians and SugarHouse are at-odds about what this discovery means. More......

The Phillies didn't just win last night—they absolutely brutalized the Rays to win Game 4 of the World Series 10 to 2. Philly, that puts us one win away from our first major sports championship in 25 years. Oh, and let's not forget the Eagles won, too. Good times for Philly sports fans! Police were investigating two homicides and at least two shootings in the city over the weekend. Police found a 20-year-old Bucks......

With the World Series starting tonight, it is all about the Fightin' Phils this morning. The Daily News has a whole playbook section, and even the presidential candidates are talking about our team. The Fumo trial is already getting a little nasty, with the defense essentially accusing the prosecution of racism in its jury selection. (We also enjoy the headline of that article, because we misread it as "Fumo-in-law.") After two Highway Patrol officers pulled......

Jocelyn Kirsch is due to be sentenced today in U.S. District Court. She could get as many as six or seven years in prison. Her boyfriend is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday. Democrats now outnumber Republicans in Pennsylvania by almost 1.2 million. Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has received threats at several of its Pennsylvania offices and is asking labor unions to help provide volunteer security at 27 of the offices between now and......

"Republican City Councilman Jack Kelly is suing a Lawncrest man for a smear campaign that Kelly says nearly cost him last year's general election." "Police are looking for the driver of a gray Ford pickup who may have been involved in or witnessed the wounding of a Glendora man in a road-rage shooting Sunday night near the Walt Whitman Bridge." Barack Obama will be all over Philly tomorrow, with rallies in four neighborhoods. A......

We'll miss Fumo because of the great copy; we didn't know there’d be math involved. Chinatown really doesn't want a casino. Really. We just want a Philly team to win a championship (and sorry Jaws, the Soul really doesn't count in this regard), so sure, we're frontrunners in this one. Luckily we now have a cheat sheet. Citizen Mom gets a shaming from students at Strawberry Mansion High, but promises to go to graduation. Broad......

With the great clash between Philly and LA coming up tonight, it's time to compare the cities and start trading barbs. (Meanwhile, as the Eagles seem to drift further and further from a championship, they at least have phone sex with Playboy Playmates to console them.) This weekend a number of political superstars will be coming to the region, including Sarah Palin, who'll be dropping the first puck at the Flyers' regular-season opener at the......

Michael may be getting yet another casino victory soon, as SugarHouse officials are offering to tweak the casino's design plan to conform more with Michael's waterfront development plan. Michael announced that there has already been improvement in DHS following the Danieal Kelly tragedy. Well that's reassuring—we can't imagine that DHS could have gotten much worse. Michael dissolved the Minority Business Enterprise Council because it, umm, failed to help minority businesses. Oops! He's replaced it with......

A mother and daughter prostitute team in Wissinoming, who promised to "double your pleasure" in Craigslist ads for their services, were arrested yesterday by an undercover police officer. At a defendant's sentencing hearing yesterday in a robbery and attempted rape case, the woman who had been the victim of the attack began hyperventilating in court and then collapsed in an anteroom. She was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and later released. The defendant was......

10. The rats in Rittenhouse Square start to change color. 9. Glen "Hurricane" Schwartz brings out his earth tone bow-ties. 8. Two words: City Hall corruption trials. 7. Pat's Steaks brings back their Pumpkin Spiced Cheesesteak. 6. Kerri-Lee Halkett in boots! 5. Watch the Phillies kick the Brewers' ass! 4. Remind ourselves that the Sixers are a professional Philadelphia sports team. 3. Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz in boots! 2. Mayor Nutter lets his goatee grow in......

A report is due out today from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council comparing heart surgeries at area hospitals. John Jackey Worman, the Delaware County man whose child porn case we've been posting about here for some time, was convicted in federal court of dozens of child-pornography charges yesterday. Worman could spend the rest of his life in jail. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. An off-duty SEPTA police officer was......

Sources say that Governor Rendell and Mayor Nutter will announce at a 1PM press conference today that Foxwoods Casino has made an agreement with the state and the city to move its long-delayed slots parlor, originally planned for the South Philadelphia waterfront, to the Gallery at Market East. In January, former President Bill Clinton will replace former President George H.W. Bush as chairman of the National Constitution Center. Bush suggested Clinton as his replacement and......

Officer Isabel Nazario was killed in a crash Friday night during the pursuit of a teenager driving a stolen Cadillac Escalade. A West Philadelphia teen was charged Saturday with third-degree murder and other offenses in the crash, and a vigil was held yesterday to mourn and remember her. A 22-year-old South Philadelphia man was fatally shot Saturday in the city's Point Breeze section, and on the same day, a 29-year-old man was shot to death......

"Police last night charged a Yellow Cab Co. driver with vehicular homicide in an early-morning hit-and-run in Logan that left a young mother clinging to life and her 5-year-old son dead." A couple of unrelated incidents involving firearms took place early yesterday morning in Philadelphia. In the first incident, a retired Philly cop working as a pizza delivery man was accosted by three teenagers, one of whom pointed a gun at him while the......

Michael must be running out of John Street appointees to remove from posts, because now he's doing it to his own staff. Ronald Cuie, whom Michael appointed as head of the Office for the Re-Entry of Ex-Offenders, has been removed from that position and will now be a "special assistant" to the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety. So much for being the good government guy who won't piss away our tax dollars on b.s. Michael......

Philly.com is breaking news that, following a meeting between representatives of Foxwoods and Mayor Nutter and Governor Rendell, Foxwoods is considering looking at a different location to set up shop if and when they finally get around to building their casino in Philadelphia. It has to be emphasized that Foxwoods is considering an alternative location to their proposed site in South Philadelphia/Pennsport. This is by no means a definite, but it is the first sign......

A look at how locals are faring in the Olympics. Police are still searching for the rapist or rapists who have been terrorizing the Frankford section of Philadelphia. A man was arrested Saturday in a kidnapping and sex assault, but police don't believe he's connected to the other incidents. The Inquirer takes a look at the crowded and sometimes dangerous conditions on the Kelly Drive bike path at Boathouse Row. The Daily News lists......

Another week, another deal between Michael and a union. The last union left without a deal now is the firefighters. Based on what happened out in Conshy the other night, Michael might want to get crackin' on that right away. The Inquirer took a look at Michael's watershed moments and took the position that maybe our mayor isn't as calm, cool, and collected as he's often portrayed. Michael had his own stern words directed at......

The train wreck that is the casino debate continued this week, as workshops conducted by the group that Michael had commissioned to "evaluate" the mayor's waterfront development plan vis-à-vis the casinos indicated that (surprise) there are some major concerns about whether the proposed casino designs fit within the city's plan. (Can't we just build the casinos under water and be done with this argument?) FUD is no match for Michael. (No, not that fud, that......

The Philadelphia area is under an excessive heat watch through Sunday. In response, the Philadelphia Senior Center, in conjunction with Comcast-Spectacor, will give away 300 fans on a first-come, first-served basis this morning. The Daily News examines how an alleged DUI killer's outrageous MySpace page is not exactly helping his case. (What a freaking idiot.) The city's Board of Revision of Taxes meets at 10AM today to vote on the Actual Value Initiative, a plan......

Recently a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld Mumia Abu-Jamal's conviction in the killing of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, but said a new jury should decide whether he deserved life in prison or the death sentence for the crime. But Abu-Jamal is asking the federal appeals court to reconsider, and is still seeking a new trial. Despite a threat from Senator Fumo that their tax breaks......

Philadelphia police were questioning Leroy Townsend, 53, about possible narcotics violations on May 18 when an officer noticed red dye on his pants and then recognized him (from wanted photos broadcast on television) as a serial bank robber believed to be responsible for five Center City heists. He was, of course, arrested. A group calling itself the Keystone State Skinheads has taken credit for a series of racist posters put up in Port Richmond......

Figures released yesterday revealed that $613 million of the money gamblers have been pumping into slot machines in Pennsylvania will go to property-tax relief for most homeowners and to lower the wage tax in Philadelphia. It's all thanks to Act 1, passed in 2006, which gave the state a portion of the gaming revenues from slots to use for tax relief. The Inquirer points out that finding the lowest gas prices in the area......

We bring you the buzz from the 215 blogs this week: Philebrity was as annoyed as we are with Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal's daily "one question for Obama" emails—especially since there is NO QUESTION MARK in the email. Oh... no question, Mark... no pun intended. Heh. The Philadelphia Turkey wrote about the battle for control of shrubbery at the Delaware Avenue casinos. The satire stars DiCicco and Nutter in the modern day version......

TV critic Ellen Gray at the Daily news takes a look at last night's Colbert Report, filmed right here in Philly, featuring appearances by Mayor Nutter and Benjamin Franklin. We have incredible amounts of news today related to the Pennsylvania primary. First off, applications for absentee ballots have to be in no later than 5PM today. Clinton is announcing a "major endorsement" at noon today at the state Capitol in Harrisburg. Obama admitted to......

Michael was on Face the Nation this past weekend, where he reiterated his call for the candidates to discuss urban issues and opined that the race is, and should be, about more than race. While Editor Jill and this Phillyist were getting lunch at the Subway at 17th & the Parkway, the Greek Independence Day parade marched on by us, and we noticed Michael right at the front of the parade. We didn't know Michael......

Beginning late Sunday night, a 30-year-old University of Pennsylvania dental student was held captive by three thieves who ransacked his apartment and then sat around for a while watching reruns of American Gladiator and old movies on his TV. After they finally left 11:30AM yesterday, they went on a shopping spree, buying sneakers, clothes, and gift cards using the man's credit cards and cash from his ATM accounts. Police caught one of the thieves last......

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......

Around 2AM yesterday, Joseph Kelly Sr. was driving along the Vine Street Expressway when he saw a homeless man in a wheelchair marooned on the median. He pulled over and crossed three lanes on foot to try to help the man across the street. As one car slowed down to let them pass, another struck that vehicle and then ran into Kelly and the other man, killing them both. A 17-year-old male knocked on the......