Results tagged “chestercounty”

  • Voter-rights advocates and election officials argued yesterday in federal court over how to keep lines moving if Pennsylvania voting machines break down on Election Day. The Inquirer takes a look at how the Obama and McCain campaigns faired in the bad weather; Obama went ahead with an outdoor rally in Chester, despite the rain and wind. The latest Franklin & Marshall/Daily News poll shows Obama winning in Pennsylvania by 13 points. Meanwhile, traditionally Republican Chester County could go blue.
  • A debate between congressional candidates filmed Friday in Allentown by a local TV station was censored when it aired Monday to avoid causing financial harm. Democratic congressional candidate Sam Bennett stated that two major banks had failed when in fact they hadn't. WFMZ-TV muted the sound and blurred Bennett's lips as she made the erroneous remarks.
  • Police are seeking a rapist who assaulted a woman in a party bus parked at Lincoln Financial Field during Sunday's Eagles game.
  • Philadelphia photographer, founder of phillyskyline.com, and friend of Phillyist Brad Maule has sued The Colbert Report, and the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer for using his photographs without permission. He is seeking $1.25 million in damages.
  • In case you were wondering, no, SEPTA transit police did not strike yesterday. About an hour before the 2PM deadline, negotiations began at SEPTA headquarters in Center City, and continued until about 10 before ending for the night. Nothing has been resolved, but they were scheduled to meet again at 9 this morning, which means they'll probably already be talking by the time you read this post.
  • A group calling itself the Keystone State Skinheads has taken credit for a series of racist posters put up in Port Richmond and Northeast Philadelphia. The posters feature pictures of various white Philadelphia police officers killed in the line of duty, including Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, and read: "Guns don't kill people. Dangerous minorities do. How much longer can you ignore this?" The city's Commission on Human Relations said on Wednesday that the posters, while repugnant, are still legal.
  • For the first time in more than a decade, SEPTA has a monetary surplus due to a ridership increase, so yesterday the company unveiled a $1.08 billion operating-budget proposal for next fiscal year that actually includes service increases instead of cuts.
  • Eerie Legends

  • A 17-year-old male knocked on the door of the security booth inside the lobby of the Queen Lane Apartments late Sunday. When the cop inside opened it, the young man fired one shot with an assault rifle, striking the officer in the left hip underneath his bullet-proof vest. Luckily the officer was able to immediately slam shut the door of the bullet-proof booth before the gunman fired twice more. The youth then ran off and Zahir Boddy-Johnson was arrested an hour later for the crime, and will be charged as an adult with attempted murder, aggravated assault, robbery, firearms violations and related offenses. The officer is in stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery.
  • Meanwhile, the Inquirer takes a closer look at a federal lawsuit filed by the Philadelphia Housing Authority, implicating Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, a Bush cabinet member.
  • David C. Sicoli, a Philadelphia priest with "a long history of abusive and manipulative relationships with adolescents," according to a grand jury report, has finally been defrocked by the Roman Catholic Church. No criminal charges were ever lodged against him. Numerous complaints were filed about his alleged misconduct with boys, however, and other priests warned about him, but the church continued to simply transfer him to different parishes, and even ended up naming him associate director of the CCD youth program for the entire Philadelphia area.
  • The Inquirer takes another look at the battle between St. Louis and Philadelphia to be the next town to host a pro soccer team.
  • The Inquirer takes another look at the troubling recent increase, both locally and nationally, in the shooting of police. Mayor Nutter, in his first speech outside the city since the election, as the keynote speaker at the Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry's annual dinner, got a standing ovation before and after, and urged Southeastern Pennsylvania to come together and work as one to achieve greatness. Police are still investigating gunshots fired shortly before...

    Tuesday The Academy of Vocal Arts opens its season with Mozart's witty and timeless Così fan tutte. Academy of Vocal Arts (19th and Spruce); 7:30 PM; $48 Yo-Yo Ma comes to the Kimmel Center with Kathryn Stott, piano for an evening of Schubert, Shostakovich, Piazzola, Gismonti and Franck. Verizon Hall (Kimmel Cetner); 8 PM; $38-$94 Thursday Temple University faculty members Lawrence Wagner, clarinet, Jeffrey Solow, cello, and Charles Abramovic, piano give a concert of...

  • The Philadelphia Student Union is holding a rally tomorrow at 440 N. Broad at 4PM. "The specific aim is to proactively impact the way the school district deals with troubled schools, known as Corrective Action II Schools. More broadly however, PSU is pushing for educational equity across the state and school district."
  • Nominations are being accepted now for the Citadel Heart of Learning Awards, which honor the best educators in Chester County. Anyone can submit a nomination online at www.citadelheartoflearning.com between October 1st and December 31st.
  • About 12:45 AM yesterday morning, cops pulled over a car in the 6000 block of Master Street in West Philadelphia because the vehicle had a light out. The driver - Kevin Fletcher, 44 - was incoherent, officers smelled alcohol, and there appeared to be narcotics in the car. When they tried to get Fletcher out of the vehicle, he drove off, leading police on a chase through Delaware County and into Chester County. The chase finally ended on Baltimore Pike in Marlborough Township when the police made use of a spiked device to flatten the tires on the car. Fletcher was charged with aggravated assault on an officer, driving under the influence, and related offenses.
  • Remember to pack your bottled water and bug spray. Most of the concerts this week are outdoors.

    We're going to make this week's Suburban Fun column quick and to the point. This weekend is The Blobfest at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville.

    We've always wondered what the protocol is for celebrating a holiday weekend if the actual holiday falls squarely in the middle of the week. Should we be celebrating Independence Day this weekend? Or next weekend? Or should we just celebrate both weekends and spend two weekends in a row gorging ourselves on various grilled meats and icy-cold Coronas and margaritas? (This Phillyist votes the latter.)

  • The consensus on our recent storm? It could have been worse! The flooding wasn't as bad as feared.
  • A U. Penn researcher is using Science!TM to try to disprove a fascinating story about maidens ritually killing themselves in a Mesopotamian tomb 4,600 years ago.
  • to the train tracks, and why on earth it was marked with a state historic marker. After weeks of trying in vain to read parts of the marker as the train whizzed past, we turned to our trusty companion, the internet, to see what we could find.

  • One of the folks who won a casino license on Wednesday was so pleased he actually cried a little, but many people in Philly are not so happy. Various activists and politicians promise protests and legal reprisals. If Philly ever finally does get its casinos, it will do it kicking and screaming.
  • Don’t say I didn’t warn you - holiday concerts begin this week. But if you’re already sick of Christmas carols blaring at your nearby mall, there are other options for you as well.

    Student Opera Edition: This week both Temple and Curtis put on their fall operas. Why these two music schools put on their operas the same weekend is anyone’s guess. Regardless, both are sure to feature young opera singers headed for great careers.

  • Our second canine-related story has to do with a rather sad and unfortunate custody battle. That's right, a dog custody battle. A New Orleans family lost their dog during Hurricane Katrina, and it was later adopted by a family in Doylestown. The dog's new family made attempts to find its former owners, but were unsuccessful. Now the folks from New Orleans want their dog back, but the new family has become attached to it and are determined to keep it. Lawyers are being called, and it's all a big mess.
  • In other Philly sports news, boy our fans sure gave it to Barry Bonds Friday night, bless their hearts. Bonds is approaching Babe Ruth's record, but is widely rumored to have used steroids. Thus fans held signs like the one above, and others simply displaying asterisks, and chanted things like, "Just inject me." Perhaps not coincidentally, Bonds went 0 for 3. Oh, and the Phillies won, too. Woo hoo!
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