Update: Our math has been corrected, below. Thanks to Elliott C. Back for pointing it out so graciously. You know, it figures. Just as Philly was starting to wash the "egg of corruption" off its public face, city employees had to go and chuck a huge chicken baby bomb in its puss by embezzling $21 million …in office supplies. Office supplies! Gone missing: laptops, cell phones, office furniture, paper, pens, paperclips, those little tab things......

Last Friday & the weekend: Michael probably doesn't know it, but he got a shout-out from Hot Hot Heat frontman Michael Bays at last week's FREEZEtival before the band played "Bandages." What the connection between the song and our mayor is, we have no idea. And in real news, Michael named his appointees to the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority board. Monday: Michael joined a record-setting number of volunteers at this year's MLK Day of Service,......

Gotta love our politicians.........

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,......

Nutter's got an ad on TV again, this one designed to reintroduce himself to voters, and to hopefully increase what is threatening to be a very low voter turnout. Meanwhile, Delaware County Republicans have their own election problems, which include W., declining party registration, and the real chance that a Democrat might win a council seat for the first time in nearly 30 years. It's Fumo time! The good news for Fumo: his corruption trial......

Prepare to be insulted! A recent survey of visitors and residents of 25 cities ranked Philadelphia as the home of the least attractive people in the United States. Apparently we're also among the least stylish, least active, least friendly, and least worldly. Well, we don't know about all of those things, but these results certainly make us feel pretty unfriendly at the moment... (Via Jen) As another new tactic in the fight against crime and......

Michael Clayton is a wonderful example of learning to walk before you can crawl. Tony Gilroy, as a writer/director, evinces an offhand sense of authenticity and cool intelligence that has served the Bourne franchise well. It feels very much like the sort of old-Hollywood adult entertainment that, according to cranky movie critics (like, um, me), They Just Don’t Make Anymore. The title character, played by George Clooney, is a complex mixture of nobility, cynicism, and......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Suck: Freshman Orientation - Oh, lovely. Another comedy where a straight guy pretends to be gay for some stupid reason. We're already really tired of this genre. This one is also crossed with another of our least favorite genres, the college sex comedy. A freshman guy discovers that a freshman girl is trying to get into a sorority, and in order to do......

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets. The Video Games Live concert experience is coming to CD October 15th. Nerds, rejoice! Harmonix is taking their game Rock Band on tour. At the end, the two best bands will face off on MTV's TRL and the winner will open for a "yet-to-be-named mega band" at the Rock Band launch concert. And hey, guess what? The tour's coming to Philly 10/18-10/21. Nice!......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. You may vaguely remember from long ago the idea for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off show called Ripper that was meant to follow the adventures of Anthony Stewart Head's character in England, along with a whole cast of new characters. Well, good news! It sounds like it's actually going to happen now, with Joss Whedon in the captain's chair, and shooting beginning......

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......

Andy Reid's son Britt pleaded guilty yesterday to four charges. His lawyers are arguing that he's full of remorse and are angling for him to get probation, but he could end up being sentenced to six to 14 months in jail. We won't know for sure until later this year. The FBI is looking for a filthy dude in connection with the robbery yesterday of the Trumark Financial Credit Union at 1811 John F. Kennedy......

Hey, we got your mayoral race updates right here! First of all, looks like Fattah's much touted college-prep program might not be all it's cracked up to be locally, and he's also falling behind in the polls, but maybe his new TV ads will save his bacon. Speaking of TV ads, the Inquirer takes a look at Tom Knox's, and also takes a look at what the candidates in general are planning to do about......

We're sad to report that Milton Street is no longer running for mayor, but happy to report that he is running for City Council-at-large—against his own nephew! Which means a lot of relatives of mayors and former mayors will be on the May 15 ballot (May 15 being, as the Daily News helpfully points out, the day after Milton is scheduled to stand trial on federal corruption charges). Besides Milton and his nephew Sharif, there'll......

Milton Street's court-appointed lawyer in his corruption trial (not his NJ traffic ticket trial; try to keep up!) couldn't come to an agreement with her client on how to handle his case, so she's withdrawing from the case. Street can't afford to hire his own lawyer (what's he been spending his money on? Not paying traffic tickets, that's for sure), so he's being appointed a new one, although the judge pointed out he probably......

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......

Mayor Street's brother Milton and two officials with Philadelphia Airport Services were indicted this afternoon by a federal grand jury for corruption and tax fraud in relation to a contract at the Philadelphia International Airport. In January 2000, Milton Street "began hiring himself out as a highly paid consultant to area businesses who believed that Milton Street could help them obtain business with the city of Philadelphia." He also failed to report to the IRS......

Recent corruption probes have supposedly made local politicians nervous and potential campaign contributors skittish. So the upcoming Mayoral campaign will be clean and fair, right? Yeah, uh huh. We'll believe it when we see it. A U Penn criminologist and three colleagues have built a computer model for predicting which existing offenders are most likely to commit murder. They're going to turn it into a piece of software and deliver it to the probation department......

Somehow, the world of -ists managed to make it through the week despite news that Jen & Vince broke up. -Chicagoist had fall on their mind as they made squash and fudge, read "House of Leaves" and ">tried to figure out what's next for the Cubs. Not fall related, but still of utmost concern, the whole skinny black pants thing. -Torontoist fought off an evil scourge of raccoons and went to go see who......

- Philly voters are mad as hell about violence and corruption in our city (ed- ah, James, you're not alone!) - at least mad enough to voice their opinion in a survey. Opinion polls are all well and good, but the voting polls are what count. (via) - Last week it was identity theft, this week's crime - dealing illicit prescription drugs. - And speaking of drug-dealing - what's worse than getting picked up by......

Desperate for constant updates on the minutiae of the federal corruption trial of City Councilman Rick Mariano? Well, first of all, you're weird. But second of all, The Philadelphia Inquirer got what you need, man: they're blogging live from the courtroom. As of this writing, the most exciting thing that's happened is that one of the potential jurors walked in wearing a kilt. Weird crime time (which is starting to look like it's going to......

Best of the week is compiled and edited by Seattlest's Dan Gonsiorowski. DCist helps us make more sense of the world this week. Posts like this concert review are the reason for Scott Stapp. DCist also enumerates the reasons for playing ultimate frisbee, Condi's tight buns, their love of a local convenience store, and their jealousy of a person in Seattle calling the city. LAist documented graf artist Banksy's most recent visit to LA in......

What's new and/or interesting at Philly theaters this weekend: Most Likely to Suck: Aquamarine - Two teenage girls find a mermaid in their beach club's swimming pool. No, it's not M. Night Shyamalan's latest movie (although, unfortunately for him, the plot does sound pretty similar to his upcoming Lady in the Water), it's the latest teen romantic comedy from 20th Century Fox! The mermaid is named Aquamarine, and soon needs the girls' help in getting......

Oh, Neil Stein, how the mighty have fallen. Neil Stein, former Philly restaurant tycoon, will be sentenced today following his guilty plea last Summer on filing false tax returns. The government is expected to request a sentence of 18-24 months in the pokey - Stein lucked out: the max is nine years. No word on the future of Stein's sole restaurant, Rouge. Despite Philadelphia's ever-rising violent crime rates, crime is down by 10% in......

In our times of the Vice President's (now former) Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby, being indicted for obstruction of justice and perjury, (now former) House Majority Leader Tom DeLay being indicted for conspiracy and money laundering, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist being investigated by the FEC, and Philadelphia City Councilman Rick Mariano being indicted for several counts of corruption, it hardly seems possible that there are any decent and ethical politicians left in this......

Philadelphia Councilman Rick Mariano has officially been indicted. Mariano is expected to turn himself into the FBI tomorrow. Hopefully, City Hall security is keeping an eye on the observation tower. According the Philadelphia Inquirer, the 41-page indictment accuses Mariano of a host of corruption, bribery, money laundering, and tax charges. Mariano has publicly stated his intention to stay in office should an indictment be handed down. Now that it has, Phillyist is gratified to learn......

After the last election cycle, we were tired of seeing political ads. We were so sick of them, in fact, that we called up Comcast and ordered a DVR, vowing never to go through another bout of election year ads. After all, how many times can you sit through an ad basically accusing an opponent of roasting kittens and small children over an open fire and then partaking of their sweet, tender flesh? That......

Vital Stats - Brad Maule (a.k.a. B. Love) - 28 years old - Grew up in Tyrone, PA - Creator, phillyskyline.com What do you do for a living? I work for a web-hosting company, doing web site consulting and design. I am a freelance photographer for AOL CityGuide and I have contributed to skyscrapers.com, which features skyscrapers from all over the world. It’s called emporis.com now. I’ve been doing that for about three and......