The latest in the case of Ebony Nicole Dorsey, the 14-year-old girl allegedly killed by her mother's boyfriend: the Daily News has an exclusive interview with the girl's mother, Danielle Cattie, who calls her boyfriend a monster. Meanwhile, the Inquirer quotes Cattie's brother defending his sister; he says she's "a great mom who deeply loves her children," and "She's a good person who made some bad decisions. She's paid a horrible price." It may seem......

The Inquirer takes a closer look at the Philadelphia policeman who was shot the day before the shooting of Chuck Cassidy, by a gunman who then fled and ultimately drowned in the Schuylkill. They also put the incident in the larger context of criminals in Philadelphia getting released from jail only to commit more crimes and be arrested again, over and over. Meanwhile, another Philadelphia police officer was injured this weekend, this time by......

If you have some free time this Sunday and just can't wait to hear more about Mayor-Elect Nutter's vision of "Philadelphia being the next great city," sign up as a volunteer for the The Great Expectations Citizens Convention. Volunteers are needed from 10:30AM-6PM to staff registration tables and act as guides to rooms between sessions. We're betting you'll be able to sneak a peak at some talks while you're at it too, including Michael......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Nova (Tue, 8PM-9PM, WHYY & WLVT) - This episode apparently consists mainly of footage of a war between termites and fierce, dragon-shaped army ants. The ants are used by a Cameroon tribe known as the Mofu to protect their huts and granaries from the termites. Good times! Wired Science (Wed, 8PM-9PM, WHYY & WLVT) - As always, a great big hodge podge of crazy applications of science......

The Attorney General's Office has accused Former State Rep. Frank LaGrotta of giving his relatives fake jobs in order to pay them thousands in taxpayer dollars. A cheval-de-frise (an iron-tipped log that's placed in a riverbed along with many others in order to gore the hulls of enemy warships) was recently found at the bottom of the Delaware River at the Sunoco Logistics pier in South Philadelphia. It's a relic from the mid-1770s, and......

Part of the Convention Center's westward expansion.......

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment. Toren Atkinson (of the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, our favorite Canadian band that bases all its songs on the work of H.P. Lovecraft) has had a number of entertaining posts lately on his blog. Here's a list he put together of all the great stuff that's going to be on TCM this month. And here's a commercial he did a......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Magnificent Voyage of Christopher Columbus & Columbus: The Lost Voyage (Mon, 9PM-11PM, PBS [WHYY & WLVT]; Mon, 9PM-11PM, History Channel) - Celebrate Columbus Day the way he'd have wanted you to: by watching TV! PBS has a film edited from a seven-part BBC series which covers Columbus' first Atlantic crossing, and even features a recreation of the voyage with replicas of the three famous ships. Meanwhile, at......

Walking into the Wilma Theater's transformed auditorium, draped in white fabric with cardboard chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, all drawn aside and covered in artificial cobwebs, it's impossible not to feel completely immersed in the world of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, thanks equally to set designer Robert Pyzocha, costume designer Janus Stefanowicz, and lighting designer Jerold R. Forsyth. Soon enough, you'll discover that it's intentional: you feel a part of the play because you are.......

A 21-year-old rookie Philadelphia police officer saw a motorist driving a Buick suspiciously in West Philly yesterday morning and approached the vehicle. Three teenage passengers (who turned out to be University City High School students) got out of the car. When he ordered them back to the car, the driver got on the hood of the car and shot the officer in the face with a sawed-off shotgun loaded with birdshot. The officer then chased......

The Daily News has a lovely story about a young woman who was born prematurely some 25 years ago, and whose life was saved by a nurse at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children on Erie Avenue near Front Street. The young woman is now working at that same hospital with that same nurse to save other premature babies. The George School, a Quaker boarding and day school near Newtown, yesterday became "the recipient of what......

Remember the gull-killer? This is the dude who ran over 189 seagulls in a lot at the Packer Marine Terminal and went to trial for it. Well, the judge decided it was an accident, but also decided that according to the law the prosecution doesn't have to prove intent, so she has to convict the guy anyway. The best she could do was fine him the minimum amount of money per bird - which......

Police have charged Duane Jackson, 45, with attempted murder and attempted rape in the case of a woman who was stabbed and sexually assaulted in her home near Center City in July. Authorities suspect Jackson may be responsible for other attacks in the city and are looking into that now, so more charges are probably on the way. An appeals court panel has upheld the 81/2-to-17-year prison sentence given to a computer consultant for......

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment. Apparently in an attempt to destroy any hopes anyone might have had that the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still could be good, Twentieth Century Fox has cast Keanu Reeves as Klaatu. Gah! Perhaps you'll remember that Dark Horse is making movies now? Well, they're currently developing a sci-fi horror comedy called War Monkeys about "a janitor who, during......

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We're not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness – we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. After the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bostonist did a little research and found that Massachusetts......

Every Tuesday and Thursday, we'll be posting events that are going on sale during the current week. This Tuesday post only collects the early announcements, so definitely check back on Thursday for the latest ticket news. Get the Led Out House of Blues Atlantic City Fri, 10/5/07, 9PM $15-$20 On sale: Wed, 10AM, Live Nation Skillet Chameleon Club, Lancaster Fri, 8/31/07, 7PM $9.70-$12 On sale: Thu, 10AM, Ticketmaster Kings of Leon Tower Theater, Upper Darby......

A Pennsylvania man named Michael Curtis Reynolds took the stand in his defense yesterday in a case where he is charged with "using the Internet to help al-Qaeda attempt to blow up portions of the U.S. gas and oil infrastructure." He claims that he was actually just trying to lure out al-Qaeda operators so they could be captured. The SugarHouse casino is trying to smooth its way into Fishtown by throwing cash around - for......

Hey there, readers! I'm back liveblogging the second day of the First Annual BlogPhiladelphia "unconference." This post will be constantly updating throughout the day, so it's going to stay at the top of the Phillyist main index. But be sure to scroll down for the rest of our regular content, and see full liveblog after the jump! (Meanwhile, forgive us any resulting funny HTML, folks. We're fixing mistakes as soon as we find them.)......

We think this might qualify as some sort of meta-volunteer experience: Philly is hosting this year's National Conference on Volunteering and Service, and Greater Philadelphia Cares is looking for a few good volunteers to help everything move along smoothly. Volunteers will (fittingly) be involved in every aspect of the conference, which runs July 16-18 at the Convention Center. Best of all, this is one of those deals where you get concrete rewards on top......

We don't know about you, but this week has sucked so bad we wanted to pull Paris Hilton and cry, "Mommy, Mommy, it isn't fair." We blame our copy editor, who decided to ruin our week taking the second half of our deadline off to attend Wizard World. That's right, the comic book convention is in town this weekend. Let out your inner adolescent boy and get your ass over to the convention center this......

This Phillyist recently took the giant leap from mild interest in comics to full-on weekly comic book collecting, with spreadsheets and everything, so we can understand the attraction of the giant comic book geek gathering going on at the Pennsylvania Convention Center this weekend. Yes, that's right, Wizard World is back in town. Starting today and running through Sunday there'll be tons of panels on every topic having to do with comic books imaginable,......

The first-ever national sudoku championship will be held right here in Philadelphia, October 19th through the 21st, at the Convention Center. As one might expect, Will Shortz will preside over the event. Late yesterday morning, a tanker truck overturned and spilled a bunch of home heating oil onto I-95, closing the southbound lanes in Delaware County for over four hours. I-95 was finally mostly clear of tie-ups by 4:30PM. There was a march against......

Every Tuesday and Thursday, we'll be posting events that are going on sale during the current week. This Thursday post only collects the latest announcements, so definitely check the Tuesday post for any you may have missed. Fuel Crocodile Rock, Allentown; Chameleon Club, Lancaster Fri, 7/6/07, 8PM; Sat, 7/7/07, 8PM $20 On sale: Fri, 10AM, Ticketmaster (Fri show, Sat show) Brotherly Shove Fest with Gang Green and the Casualties The Troc Fri, 7/6/07, 6PM $14......

Every Tuesday and Thursday, we'll be posting events that are going on sale during the current week. This Tuesday post only collects the early announcements, so definitely check back on Thursday for the latest ticket news. COMEDY An Evening with Eddie Griffin & Sheryl Underwood House of Blues, Atlantic City Sat, 6/16/07, 8PM $42-$67 On sale: Wed, 10AM, Ticketmaster Steven Wright Music Box at The Borgata, Atlantic City Sat, 6/9/07, 9PM On sale: Sat, 10AM,......

We always get a little sad when the main classical music season ends and all the musicians go to their fun summer festivals. But, this can only mean that the Mann Center's season is just around the corner! Monday For the 150th anniversary of Robert Schumann's death, the Kimmel Center presents "The Romantic World of Robert Schumann" with Jeffrey Siegel, piano. This program takes a look at the passion behind Robert Schumann's piano works......

The Liberty Bell Forever stamp was released, complete with a speech next to the actual Liberty Bell, yesterday morning. A North Jersey business immediately bought 24,000 of them for a direct-mail program. Two state Senators held their third hearing Wednesday on the possibility of convening a constitutional convention for the reform of state government, and they did it at U. Penn Law School. There were three speakers: "an area lawyer and author, a Rutgers......

The Daily News has an amusing article about how fans let nothing stop them from enjoying yesterday's Phillies home opener - even inconvenient little things like the fact that the Phillies lost. One guy came even though the game was the same day as his pregnant wife's due date. Commonwealth Court upheld Philly's much discussed limits on campaign contributions on Monday, but Chaka Fattah said he would appeal the ruling, which would bring the......

Proofreading Philly tries to capture typos, wordos, and all other kinds of grammatical mistakes that we see around the city. But we need your help! Email photos to us from your computer or your phone, and show the city that you care about good grammar. We have to admit that we didn't find this one ourselves. When we went to the Arden last night, they gave us a program that had apparently already been in......

Exciting news! Philadelphia (the Pennsylvania Convention Center, specifically) is going to host VideoGame Expo 2007, from November 2nd through November 4th. The cool thing is that this expo is mostly for consumers, which means regular joes can go in to play the newest games, meet people in the industry, maybe get a job in the industry, compete in tournaments, show off their nerd costumes, and, of course, buy buy buy! The entry price isn't......

I had the pleasure of attending the 2007 Philadelphia Flower Show in the final of its 8-day run from the 4th to the 11th this past Sunday. I use pleasure in the most sensuous sense; walking into the Convention Center in the final throws of all its horticultural splendor, one is met by a kind of photosynthetic explosion with colors, fragrances, textures, palpable earthiness, and the sound of hundreds of other people expressing their feelings......