Dorrell Shaw, 26, who was wanted for questioning in the recent series of sexual assaults in Frankford, turned himself in to police yesterday. But authorities warn the case is by no means closed; Shaw was in prison during the first of the assaults, and it's quite possible he was not responsible for any of them. The rebuilding of the Market-Frankford El, a project that is now $300 million over budget and two years behind schedule,......

A lawsuit by the Philadelphia firm of Cozen O'Connor blaming the government of Saudi Arabia for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks is probably dead in the water now after a federal appeals court ruled yesterday that Saudi Arabia could not be sued for acts of terrorism. A 1-year-old child was slashed in the neck yesterday afternoon at a North Philadelphia home. The suspect is believed to be the child's father, but police are withholding the......

It’s only right to pick up a hard copy of this one: City Paper presents the Comics Issue! How subversive. Or not. Is oil animal by-product free? Vegans are hit hard by the rising cost of gas. Yeah, what has he done? A look at at-large City Council member Jack Kelly's record, which apparently includes parking garages and puppies (two of our favorite things!). A tale of two truthinesses: Another look at the bill requiring......

The parents of Danieal Kelly have filed a lawsuit against their criminal co-defendants, blaming them for the girl's demise. Leonard P. Luchko, a top computer technician for State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo pleaded guilty yesterday and told a federal judge that he followed Fumo's orders to erase e-mails being sought by federal agents investigating the powerful Philadelphia Democrat. Apparently he failed to erase incriminating e-mails from his own devices, however. Police responded to reports......

Philadelphia rock musician and songwriter Robert Hazard died unexpectedly Tuesday night after surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Leonard Luchko, a computer technician and former aide of Senator Vincent Fumo, is accused of illegally destroying years' worth of state Senate computer records, apparently in an attempt to hide the data from the FBI during its investigation into Fumo. Luchko will plead guilty on Monday, marking the first plea in the corruption case against......

"On the last day of the fiscal year, Gov. Rendell and legislative leaders struck a deal on a $28.2 billion state budget, averting a repeat of last year's employee furlough and partial government shutdown." The Inquirer examines what it meant (for the players and their families) for a team from Camden's Cramer Hill neighborhood to play T-ball on the White House lawn yesterday. A Daily News reporter gets a few minutes with John McCain.......

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......

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......

As promised, yesterday Mayor Nutter announced his plan to combat homelessness. Click through for the details. The 14-year-old Lansdowne boy accused of stabbing his older brother to death over a video game has admitted to voluntary manslaughter. The judge will determine his sentence at a hearing on June 5th; he faces a maximum of seven years of supervision until he reaches age 21. The polo team from the acclaimed equestrian program on Chamounix Drive in......

"The jury in the second murder trial of Wilfredo Santiago in the execution-style slaying of Police Officer Thomas Trench in 1985 will resume deliberations today." "Pennsylvania is taking steps to make gifted education available to more students, but that has done little to quell long-standing tension between parents and school districts over how the state's brightest are educated." Some more road closures for you poor motorists: the left lane on southbound I-95 approaching Bartram Avenue......

Michael Nutter wants to make college possible for more Philadelphians. As it stands, only 18% of Philadelphia residents have college degrees. A better educated community means a better economy, so he intends to adjust the budget to benefit the Community College of Philadelphia in an effort to achieve a higher percentage of educated citizens. This is all wonderful. So how come there are thousands of college grads without jobs? Sure, maybe we have jobs, but......

Picture yourself in fifth grade. Three of your classmates are cooler than you. Two think you are the cooler one, but you are unaware of this fact, and thus it has no effect on your opinion of them. Regardless of your rung on the social ladder of prepubescence, your elementary school has thrust new rules upon you all: 1) No sodas 2) Snacks must fall within limits of fat, sugar, and salt contents 3) Nutrition......

Editor's note: updated with Thom Cardwell's corrected title. We mentioned the other day that the Philadelphia Film Festival would be continuing its tradition this year of having a series of Evening with the Curators events running up to the launch of the fest. We also mentioned that we'd be attending one, and indeed we did so, last night at the Philadelphia Art Alliance in Center City. Speaking at the event were the executive Development Director......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. Looks like Paramount Pictures wants Sam Raimi to spearhead a revival of the Jack Ryan franchise. Clint Eastwood is going to direct and star in a film called Gran Torino. Details are being kept under wraps, but the rumor is the film might be a new entry in the Dirty Harry series. Feeling lucky, punk?! We're not a huge fan of the work......

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you. Bad news: star of the third Mummy movie, Maria Bello, says that not only will there absolutely be a Mummy 4, but she's signed on for three more sequels. Argh! In other news about sequels to bad movies, Bryan Singer has said yes, he is still planning to direct a sequel to Superman Returns. He and the writers are back in......

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......

Senator Vincent Fumo was eating dinner at his Spring Garden home at 7PM last night when he started experiencing chest pains. He was taken by ambulance to Hahnemann University Hospital where it was determined that he had suffered a heart attack and that his right coronary artery was 100 percent blocked. He had emergency surgery and remains in critical condition this morning, although he was alert and speaking with his family after the procedure. Hey,......

Teamsters plan to rally outside the Four Seasons Hotel at 18th Street and the Ben Franklin Parkway at 1:30PM today because AmerisourceBergen Corp.'s annual shareholder meeting is being held there at that time, and the teamsters are accusing the company of unfair labor practices. Remember how Rick's Steaks was fighting to stay in the Reading Terminal Market? Well, the fight continues. A recent court ruling dismissed most of Olivieri's claims against Reading Terminal, but Olivieri's......

Phillyist's favorite news item this morning is this one: twin 25-year-old internet hardcore gay porn stars Keyontyli and Taleon Goffney (apparently known as Keyon and Teyon in the biz), of New Jersey, have been arrested for a series of robberies in Philadelphia and New Jersey wherein they gained entry to businesses by cutting holes in the roofs using a handsaw and ax. In Nether Providence, they broke into Wawas, and Chief Richard Slifer of......

SEPTA will announce its "Go Green Go SEPTA" initiative this afternoon at Market East Station. (We've already seen the ads up there; they're posters with real moss or grass glued to them.) The idea is to increase ridership to reduce emissions that contribute to global warming, and they've timed it for the Philadelphia Flower Show, which runs March 2-9 at the Convention Center and is typically a time of increased ridership. General manager Joseph......

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......

Around 2AM yesterday, Joseph Kelly Sr. was driving along the Vine Street Expressway when he saw a homeless man in a wheelchair marooned on the median. He pulled over and crossed three lanes on foot to try to help the man across the street. As one car slowed down to let them pass, another struck that vehicle and then ran into Kelly and the other man, killing them both. A 17-year-old male knocked on the......

Colgate-Palmolive has a great little contest running where you vote for one of nine children's hospitals around the country, and the one with the most votes gets a Fun Center where sick kids can go to forget about their illnesses for a moment and remember how to have fun. Each Fun Center will be equipped with a flat screen monitor, DVD player and a Nintendo Wii. Sweet! The promotion has gone so well, all......

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you. In case you were waiting for the official word, yes, the WGA strike is really officially over now, and everyone is expected to go back to work immediately. Our long national nightmare is over. Even though Microsoft recently spent $240 million to buy a 1.6% stake in Facebook, Bill Gates recently decided to stop using the site because he was tired......

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,......

Last Friday & the weekend: Michael defended his decision to cut $21 million in funding to Philadelphia Safe and Sound, the program that, as we mentioned last week, John Street had shifted money to in the waning days of his administration. And he announced that the Department of Public Welfare would be auditing Safe and Sound's finances for the last couple years. Michael also ignited Governor Rendell's fury with his revocation of SugarHouse's casino license,......

Mayor Nutter has cut taxpayer-funded nonprofit Philadelphia Safe and Sound's funding by $21 million, and City Council's majority leader said she would call today for hearings to look into how Safe and Sound conducts its business. The funding cuts will result in the closing of ten school-based community centers; the termination of a parent-truancy program; and the elimination of many after-school programs. As the head of one after-school program put it, "It's a fiasco."......

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......

An interesting entry by a blogger describing some conversations overheard on a train involving a local politician and Republican presidential candidate John McCain. (Via Sarah) Delaware River Port Authority officials announced yesterday that a $4 million network of cameras with "intelligent" software will be installed along the PATCO rail line and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge starting in April and scheduled to finish up by the end of the year. The cameras are designed to detect......