The high-speed car chase and wreck on Roosevelt Boulevard that led to the death of a 17-year-old boy appears to have come out of a dispute over a 14-month-old baby—a baby who died early yesterday morning from injuries sustained in the crash. 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......

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......

Your traffic restriction updates for today: the northbound I-95 ramp to Broad Street is closed from 8AM to 4PM for structural steel repairs. There will also be lane closures this week on I-95, the Vine Street Expressway, and the Schuylkill Expressway. Due to the recent loss of $1.4 million in federal funding, and accreditation problems, the Berean Institute, a North Philadelphia landmark that has provided vocational and business education to African-Americans for 109 years, could......

Wiretapped conversations being used as part of an investigation into organized crime in North Jersey could help federal authorities build their case against mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo and Elkins Park businessman Salvatore Pelullo in an unrelated financial fraud probe that stretches from Philadelphia to Texas. Jocelyn Kirsch is scheduled to plead guilty this morning in U.S. District Court. Four more murders took place in the city this past weekend. In honor of the fact......

Photo by squeakyrat from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Torontoist discovered a warning label affixed to some of the newspaper boxes of one of its daily papers.DCist was saddened by the tragic death of 22-year-old bicyclist Alice Swanson, who was killed when a garbage truck ran her over in a busy intersection. A "ghost bike" was erected in her honor just north of Dupont Circle.Shanghaiist was caught up all week with the gruesome murder of......

Former Rep. Mike Veon, the No. 2 Democrat in the state House, 10 former and current legislative aides, and one sitting lawmaker were all charged, in varying degrees, with theft and conflict of interest for running a massive political campaign machine out of government offices. According to prosecutors, they were paying staffers, with taxpayers' dollars, to work on political campaigns while on the government clock. More charges are expected. In one particular case, Michael......

"There will be overnight traffic restrictions on Route 202 at the Route 29 interchange in East Whiteland Township, Chester County, tonight and Monday." Also, I-95 North in Philadelphia will have a lane closure tonight, tomorrow night and Saturday morning for barrier construction. Newly released estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau reveal that Philadelphia lost more residents between 2000 and 2007 than any U.S. city except New Orleans. Ouch. High fuel costs are also affecting......

Penn now has a building named after a former editor of The New York Post Page Six gossip column. (Via Jill) Expect backups late tonight into early tomorrow morning on the westbound Schuylkill. Click through for details. Also expect upcoming delays with SEPTA as it makes another push to finally complete its overdue, overbudget reconstruction of the Market-Frankford El. When a 46-year-old Upper Darby meter maid tried to write a ticket for a Yeadon......

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......

Jocelyn Kirsch, aka Bonnie, aka Stealy McFakeBirthdayBoobies turned herself in to the US Marshall’s Office a little before 2 PM today. Kirsch and her boyfriend Edward K. Anderton, aka Clyde, aka Grifty MyDadIsGonnaKillMeberg were arrested last December for allegedly scamming their friends, neighbors and co-workers out of more than $116,000 with which they bought expensive presents, took elaborate trips to places like Paris and the Caribbean, and inspired the Jocelyn Kirsch is scandalous Facebook Group.......

For the first time in almost ten years, fewer people in the Philadelphia area are predicted to travel 50 miles or more this Fourth of July weekend than did the previous year. The change is believed to be due to high gas prices, increases in the price of food, and other expenses. And it's probably just as well, because cops are hiding out there on the roads in PennDOT trucks, ready to tip off other......

Phillyist reader Adrian Holovaty tipped us off to EveryBlock Philadelphia. They aggregate City Council actions, restaurant inspections, crimes and other useful data and make it searchable by address, ZIP, neighborhood or even Council District. It's a great resource for those of us looking to move elsewhere in the city limits or just trying to stay informed about our surroundings. The media coverage and photos sections can be especially interesting, depending, of course, on where exactly......

The Phlash Center City trolley will have special hours this Friday and Saturday to accommodate Independence Day celebrations. The Phlash will operate until 7PM on Friday and until 11PM on Saturday. (Via RJ) The Inquirer tells the story of how a plan to convert an empty convent in Germantown into apartments for formerly homeless men went south, in order to underscore the problems Mayor Nutter is likely to face with his initiative to fight......

"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......

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment. So, anybody want to pool their cash and buy Phillyist a deluxe LEGO Death Star? (Via Amy) Cinematical takes a look at the pros and cons of Netflix's recently released set-top box, the Roku. Yay! Finally a new episode of GameTrailers' Star Wars Retrospective! Spider-Man video games have generally been a disappointment, but we've gotta say this preview for Spider-Man: Web......

It's not Philly-related, but we were shocked to learn this morning that comedian George Carlin died Sunday evening of heart failure. He was 71. Allentown and New Galena Roads in Bucks County will close today for maintenance work. Click through for the full details. The Inquirer takes a look at some of the big success stories from the 2008 U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials, held this past weekend right here in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania hunting licenses for......

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......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. An amusing music video from Mindless Self Indulgence, directed by Jhonen Vasquez. (Via) A recent Wii update closed up a loophole that allowed hackers to run homebrew software through Twilight Princess, but apparently hackers have already broken the new code and opened up the loophole again. Good old hackers. Sienna Miller has confirmed that she will play Maid Marian in director Ridley Scott’s......

Remember, Eagles fans: tickets go on sale this morning at 10AM. The Inquirer offers tips on how to score some for yourself. Today is Philadelphia City Council's last meeting before summer break, so they're going to try to make decisions on a lot of leftover items at the last minute, including proposals to hike fines for littering, privatize the city's sludge plant, take control of Fairmount Park, force contractors to keep sidewalks open during construction......

Well, we'll be damned. A group of local investors (including former mayoral candidate Tom Knox) got together and saved Philadelphia's city-wide WiFi program yesterday. They closed a deal with Earthlink to take over the existing network. The plan is to create a wired network for premium, paying customers, like hospitals, universities, companies and the city. This would be connected to the existing wireless system, which would be free to use anywhere the signal can be......

City Controller Alan Butkovitz will release an audit of the city's recreation centers and playgrounds in an 11:30AM press conference today. Charter schools in the city of Chester seem to be successful, but the school district is having a hard time coping with the drain they put on available resources. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission will hold the first of two scheduled public hearings today on the proposed closing of two troubled city......

Although I frequently lament abuse of the English language, I'm also the first to admit that the internet has a language of its own. I'm not talking about L337, I'm not talking about LOL, and I'm not talking about the bad grammar that permeates most MySpace profiles. I'm referring to the language of hypertext, which makes it possible for us to write sentences like: "Don't be that guy" and "Her attitude toward adoption reminded......

The 14-month-old boy mistakenly left in the backseat of a hot car by his grandfather died Saturday afternoon at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia after five days on life support. The mother of the child has forgiven her father for the mistake. Pretty soon Mayor Nutter will have to negotiate new contracts with Philadelphia's four municipal unions; the Daily News suspects the ordeal will be the end of Nutter's honeymoon. A four-alarm fire struck......

Sixteen men will receive fatherhood awards from the Father's Day Rally Committee at a reception in North Philadelphia tonight. 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......

The Inquirer profiles a Germantown clinic whose services are described as indispensable, but which may shut down soon due to a lack of funds. Suspended Episcopal Bishop Charles E. Bennison Jr. testified yesterday in his ecclesiastical trial, trying to explain why he had not told anyone that his brother was sexually abusing a high-school student in the 1970s. A preliminary hearing was held yesterday for the five North Philadelphia teens arrested in the beating and......

Yesterday a Delaware County trade-school instructor mistakenly left his 14-month-old grandson in the backseat of his sweltering car in the Lawrence Park Shopping Center while he went to work for several hours in Broomall. Apparently he typically picks the child up in the morning and takes him to day care, but yesterday he forgot the boy was with him, and only realized his mistake when he came back in the afternoon to get something out......

The Inquirer covers yesterday's early school closings due to heat, and points out that we'll see more of the same today. They also talk about the help and charity inspired by an article about a family struggling without air conditioning in the heat. A while back, state legislators increased pay for injured police officers and made it easier for them to resist returning to work. Now on any given day, roughly 250 Philadelphia police......

It was an amazingly asshole-free week in Philadelphia news. For a little while there, it was looking like we weren't even going to be able to find an Asshole of the Week. Fortunately, when all else seemed lost, a couple dumb criminals saved the day for us. Not that these two women were dumber than your average petty criminal, but the circumstances around their arrest are just too glorious to resist calling them out. The......

Well, Jocelyn Kirsch isn't going to jail, but she has been placed under house arrest, where she's to be under the custody of her parents or grandmother at all times. She'll also continue to wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet, and her bond has been increased from $50,000 to $100,000. Click through for some of the strange and goofy details of her various crimes in California. Two women were sitting in a van parked......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. The teaser poster for Oliver Stone's W highlights some of our president's more infamous verbal gaffes. Apparently a feud has already begun between Abel Ferrara, maker of the original Bad Lieutenant, and Werner Herzog, who's doing the remake. The possibility of an actors' strike in Hollywood had pretty much dropped off our radar, but it sounds like it could still be an issue.......