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......

Philadelphia Safe and Sound, a local non-profit focused on improving the health, safety, and well-being of children, sent out a press release yesterday revealing that the board of directors had voted to cease all operations as of June 30, 2008. The press release doesn't go into a lot of detail as to why PSS is shutting down, but it seems pretty clear it has to do with recent budget cuts. You can read PSS's letter......

The presidential race will be coming to the area tomorrow when Bill Clinton travels to Cherry Hill, New Jersey to campaign for his wife. 23-year-old Chante Wright, as part of a deal to cut her boyfriend's jail sentence, agreed to testify in a murder case. It was a dangerous move, and her testimony was crucial, so "she became the first state witness in Philadelphia to enter the federal witness-protection program." She was given a......

Lynnise Burnett, a 14-year-old freshman at Germantown High School, had been missing since Thursday, and had sent distressing text messages over the weekend, one saying that "she was in a dark room and she was hungry and that someone was going to kill her." Apparently she was able to sneak back into her home recently, as police found her on the roof of the house Saturday night threatening to jump. She was taken to......

Guess who's surging in the polls now? It's Michael Nutter! He's taken a very close second place to Tom Knox, and the Inquirer has a profile. Philly's three African elephants now have new travel plans: Pittsburgh. Here's hoping that this deal doesn't fall through like the last one did. And that they don't become Steelers fans. A Germantown High School teacher got to face the two students that injured him at their sentencing hearing......

The kid with the iPod who participated in the assault of Germantown High School teacher Frank Burd pleaded guilty yesterday to aggravated assault. Also pleading guilty was a man who stole 165 Civil War documents from the National Archives Philadelphia office. He sold between 70 and 80 of them on eBay - which is actually what got him caught. Now he could spend as many as 10 years in jail. Looks like Tom Knox's momentum......

According to somebody on Craigslist, there's a guy around who likes to ride the Broad Street sub, sit across from female passengers, and masturbate. Click through for the description. (Via Editor Jill) There are 14 full-service passport agencies in the country, including one in Philadelphia, and all of them, including the one in Philadelphia, are seeing an incredible increase in business this year due to the fact that, since January 23rd, U.S. citizens are......

There was a cool marathon at the AMC at the Neshaminy Mall on Saturday: all five Best Picture nominees in a row. Kind of wish we could have made it to that... If you can't wait to see the result of the legal proceedings against Senator Vince Fumo... well, get used to disappointment, because the trial isn't likely to start until early 2008, and it'll probably go on three to four months. Check out......