Photograph of one of the man-made waterfalls under the Brooklyn Bridge by Jake Dobkin Gothamist enjoyed watching New York City's latest big public art project--four multi-story man-made waterfalls--rise up in East River and the debate about whether it's art or folly (but they sure look pretty at night).Londonist handed out advice on how to queue for Wimbledon tickets, then embarked on a gruelling fact-finding tour of drinking-holes at the capital's main terminus rail stations.Seattlest......

"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......

In the wake of last month's devastating earthquake in China, a group of Widener University professors is using video-conferencing to train faculty at East China Normal University in Shanghai to teach psychological first aid. State Rep. Darryl Metcalfe refused to apologize for the comments he made on the floor of the House on Wednesday, wherein he suggested that he was opposing recognizing a Muslim religious organization's convention because "Muslims do not recognize Jesus Christ as......

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......

The Eagles' 2008 schedule has been released, and one of the more exciting games will be the one they'll they'll play at home versus the Arizona Cardinals on Thanksgiving night. It will be nationally televised on the NFL Network. (Via Sarah) Barack Obama's wife, Michelle Obama, was apparently well received when she spoke at a rally at Haverford College yesterday. A new Daily News/Franklin & Marshall poll has Clinton still in the lead with......

In reaction to that AP series last month revealing that Philadelphia ranked first among 24 metropolitan areas reporting traces of an assortment of drugs in its water supply, today the City Council's committees on health and human services and the environment will examine the Water Department's data on the subject. Hopefully you're already aware that tomorrow is Tax Day. If not, you'd better get to work! Regardless, a warning: "According to a recent study......

A state trooper tried to stop a white SUV for speeding in the northbound lanes of Route 42 about 4:30PM yesterday afternoon. When the car began moving erratically, the police had to break off pursuit for safety concerns. A few minutes later, the driver stopped on the Walt Whitman Bridge bridge, got out of his car, and started swinging a baseball bat at cars while holding a baby in his other arm. After he struck......

Around 2:46PM yesterday afternoon, in the underground SEPTA concourse at 13th and Market streets near the City Hall station, four teens shouted at a 36-year-old Starbucks employee named Sean Patrick Conroy, then surrounded him and attacked him as he crouched defensively. The victim lost consciousness on the concourse and was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:09PM. There appeared to be no prior connection between Conroy and his......

The Inquirer reminds us that Monday is the last day to register for Pennsylvania's April 22nd primary. They also include a list of locations you can go to register, and a link to a site with more information. Meanwhile, the Inquirer has another primary-related article which reveals that since last November, according to state registration numbers, the Democratic Party has gained 111,227 new voters, and the Republican Party has lost 13,391. A helpful list......

The closure of I-95 has taken a toll on some, but the road did indeed reopen this morning around 6:30AM, and it's expected to remain open during the more permanent repair of the cracked column that will soon follow, and which should take about a month. After that comes the really major work: "Replacing the whole elevated stretch of I-95 between Spring Garden Street and Cottman Avenue." A split three-member panel of the Philadelphia......

Lots of people are talking about Obama's speech in Philly yesterday, including the Daily News and the Inquirer (and us, of course). Hillary Clinton's response was sort of an "isn't that nice for him" kind of thing. Somehow the story of the twin gay porn star burglars keeps getting better. Now it's come out through court testimony that their mother served as a lookout during their rooftop break-ins. The Inquirer tells the story of......

Commissioner Charles Ramsey has ordered an Internal Affairs investigation into how the suspect that cops had cuffed and put in the back of a patrol car somehow drove off in the vehicle on Sunday. It appears that the suspect "slipped his hands under his feet and then squeezed through an opening in the Plexiglas panel separating the back and front seat." The question is, how was he then able to start the car? A police......

Remember those makeshift stables in Strawberry Mansion that animal cruelty investigators raided yesterday? Well, the owners of about 40 of the horses living there removed their animals yesterday, as ordered. About 20 more horses were allowed to stay in three garages on Fletcher Street near 27th that had been made into stables while owners of those properties made repairs. The other structures will be bulldozed today. Yesterday, City Council gave final approval to a lease......

Animal cruelty investigators raided some rowhouse stables on Fletcher Street yesterday, giving the owners 24 hours to relocate the 60 horses on the site. The Daily News paints a pretty horrific picture of the conditions the animals were living in. Chelsea Clinton was at Penn yesterday, stumping for her Mom, and said we should expect to see her and her family a lot in the near future. Which sounds like a threat to us. Beware,......

Our very own state could actually be of key importance in the Democratic presidential primary, so the campaigns for both Clinton and Obama will be opening offices in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the coming days, and expanding their staff by recruiting local pros. The Inquirer takes a look at the battle going on over a proposed state-wide ban on smoking in Pennsylvania. A woman leaped from her third-floor apartment window on South Street near 2nd......

Philadelphia has one of the highest rates of police shootings in the country. The Daily News takes a look at what's being done about it, and is pretty underwhelmed. Apparently "many of the officers involved in these shootings are back to their regular street beats, even though most incidents are still being investigated without a determination that the officers were justified in firing their weapons." Due to the fact that local schools had received recalled......

The Inquirer takes a close look at Mayor Nutter's first budget proposal. The subtitle of the article is: "The $3.98 billion plan seeks bonds for pensions and a kitty for unions." Awww, that's nice! He's getting a kitty for the unions! We hope it's a cute kitty. 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......

Sons of Ben and other Philly area soccer fans rejoice: the Inquirer says sources are telling them that "Major League Soccer is moving swiftly toward an agreement that will grant a long-sought expansion team to the Philadelphia region." Saint Joe's will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 5PM today to officially open its new Hawks' Landing parking and retail facility at 54th and City Avenue. Hawks' Landing is a $19 million project that features a five-story,......

The Inquirer takes a hard look at the soccer stadium that's being proposed for Chester and whether it will really help the city as much as some people say. "The fate of the city's public golf courses is in the hands of City Council today in a hearing to examine a proposed contract to run them and, hopefully, improve them." Well, it's good to know City Council is taking care of the really important things.........

The Inquirer takes a look at the political landscape on the morning of Super Tuesday. If you're from New Jersey or Delaware, remember to vote! As long as you've done your research, and you care at all. If neither of those things are true then please, don't vote. A federal lawsuit filed in December says that President Bush's housing czar, Alphonso Jackson, pressured the Philadelphia Housing Authority to transfer land worth $2 million to Kenny......

City Council members will review minority-inclusion plans today, which they demanded in December from the Building Trade unions. If they don't approve those plans today, it could jeopardize the financial viability of the whole Convention Center expansion project. Britt Reid is scheduled to be released from jail today. Next he'll be entering a drug court treatment program. The state House of Representatives could vote as early as today on legislation that would require all records......

Last Friday & the weekend: Michael's search for a new CEO of the Philadelphia School District got down to two contenders—apparently—after Temple College of Education dean Kent McGuire withdrew his name from consideration for the position. Monday: Michael's choice for city commerce director, Germantown-born Andrew Altman, was sworn in, as was Managing Director Camille Bates Barnett. And the worst-kept secret of Michael's early administration appointments became official, as he named Lori Shorr his chief education......

Yesterday Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey unveiled his plan for getting Philly out of its "crime emergency." The plan includes deploying 200 more officers to dangerous parts of the city, and it will hopefully help Ramsey fulfill his pledge to reduce homicide in Philadelphia by 25 percent. Of the plan, Ramsey said: "There is nothing fancy about it. It's fundamental, it's basic. This is not Batman and Robin coming out of a cave somewhere." That's......

"A weekend Philadelphia police clash with partygoers at a Latina girl's 'Sweet 15' celebration ended with at least 20 people alleging they were beaten by officers, prompting the first major internal investigation of officer misconduct under new Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey." A woman 28 weeks pregnant was killed with a single shotgun blast to the back shortly after 1AM this morning on the 4600 block of Griscomb Street. She was found by police......

Heath Ledger died yesterday afternoon in a NYC apartment, and early indications are it was from an overdose, but an autopsy will be performed today to determine the facts. Gothamist has a detailed, much-updated post on the topic. Both the Inquirer and the Daily News are taking a look this morning at the three finalists for the job of chief executive officer of the School District of Philadelphia, and the Inquirer also has a look......

PATCO and SEPTA are thinking about working together to extend PATCO's service along Columbus Boulevard and perhaps to City Hall. The project would involve "reopening the long-closed Franklin Square station beneath Sixth and Race Streets to serve as the hub of the expanded service." This new service, however, would cost at least $1 billion, would thus require financial help, and would take eight to ten years to complete. Another wrinkle in the federal investigation into......

The Inquirer has the highlights from Nutter's first crazy day as Mayor, and they also take a look at his "almost impossibly ambitious goals for Philadelphia." Nutter's first act as Mayor was to declare that Philadelphia has a "crime emergency," for which our new police commissioner has only 22 days to develop a strategy. A high-profile area World War II veteran who has served as a frequent speaker, museum advisory board member, and reunion......

Hakim Glover, the cousin of the man who allegedly killed Officer Chuck Cassidy, pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of hindering apprehension and obstruction of justice. Glover is accused of helping his cousin flee to Florida. The Convention Center expansion project was halted on Christmas Eve when the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia obtained an injunction ordering wrecking crews to stop work. The preservationists want to save the two small but historic Broad Street buildings......

Lots of changes in local political leadership today. The judges in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas will vote to elect a new president judge. In Montgomery County they'll be swearing in the winners of the November elections. And the same will be happening in Philadelphia today as Nutter comes in and Street goes out. The body of 50-year-old Cynthia Cometz of Woodstown was found inside a BMW that had been submerged in......

CBS 3 anchor Alycia Lane was arrested at 2:04 AM yesterday at the corner of W. 17th Street and 9th Avenue in NYC for allegedly punching a female police officer in the face. She was locked up in a New York jail cell as of yesterday afternoon. More on this story later. (Via Jason) TV star Bam Margera of West Chester, along with business partner and bar owner Don Moore, plans "to open a theater,......