Mayor Nutter is scheduled to tour the recently restored baseball field at Hancock Playground in Kensington today, where he'll announce initiatives for recreation-center safety, summer jobs for youth, and new rules for the city's summer camp programs. The Inquirer has some more details on how the FBI got involved in the case of Larry Mendte allegedly reading Alycia Lane's email. This week the the Sheriff's Office Bench Warrant Unit in Delaware County is holding......

Thanks to bruhinb for this awesome video of the Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby! VIMBY - Sculpture Derby......

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"Common Pleas Judge Jane Cutler Greenspan yesterday ordered the city to temporarily halt enforcement of five gun-control laws passed by City Council last week and signed by Mayor Nutter. The city must stop writing police rules for enforcing the laws and training officers about them." Meanwhile, Philadelphia police officers confiscated 113 firearms in two separate incidents this week. West Philadelphia High School's Automotive and Technology Academy has become the first program of its kind......

Yesterday, Governor Rendell requested that New York City release more water from its three brimming reservoirs in the Catskills, on the chance that the lowered levels will help protect residents along the Delaware River from flooding. Obama came to Philadelphia to talk to the state AFL-CIO convention yesterday, a day after Clinton had done the same. No word on whether he compared himself to Rocky—or Apollo Creed, for that matter. Meanwhile, Clinton was talking economics......

At least Clinton and Obama can agree on one thing: neither of them likes McCain. The Philadelphia Inquirer has coverage of Obama's appearance on sports-talk radio station WIP (610 AM) this morning, where he talked about his poor bowling; the fact that he'd rather be Dr. J than president; and the fact that he prefers the Eagles to the Steelers, but he'll always be a Bears fan first. Meanwhile, Hillary was criticizing Obama and......

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Phillyist VIP: Matt Nelson...

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......

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It's nasty out, but don't let the weather keep you from exploring all that this city's artisans and art curators have to offer! Take, for instance, the special First Friday event the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts is throwing in honor of their new (aforementioned) Cecilia Beaux American Figure Painter exhibition, starting at 5PM. It's the first chance that Philadelphians will have to see the exhibit, plus, there will be live music and free food.......

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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......

Upper Darby police say that a sickly 84-year-old man in Drexel Hill, apparently unable or unwilling to imagine his blind 53-year-old daughter going on without him, killed her and their dog before turning the gun on himself Saturday night. A five-alarm fire blazed for more than three hours yesterday evening in a warehouse in the 1300 block of North Front Street in Kensington. Service on the portion of the Market-Frankford El that runs nearby......

Walking down Broad Street to the Allegheny stop one evening, Phillyist was deep in conversation about the psychology of cities. Discussing the El, when it is actually an El, one person remarked “No wonder people get depressed in Kensington, they can’t see the sun!” Philadelphia based artist Edward Epstein might agree. His new site-specific installation, City Without Expressways, presented by InLiquid.com at the Crane Arts Building, looks at the ways in which the building......

Hakim Glover, the cousin of the man who allegedly killed Officer Chuck Cassidy, pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of hindering apprehension and obstruction of justice. Glover is accused of helping his cousin flee to Florida. The Convention Center expansion project was halted on Christmas Eve when the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia obtained an injunction ordering wrecking crews to stop work. The preservationists want to save the two small but historic Broad Street buildings......

The Pennsylvania Turnpike has been closed in both directions between the Philadelphia and Willow Grove interchanges, and is likely to stay closed most of the morning, due to a fiery five-car accident earlier today involving a tractor trailer and a pickup truck. Thankfully, as of this writing, no fatalities have been reported. The Fort Dix suspects are asking to be moved Special Housing Unit at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia due to the fact......

Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Lisa Aversa Richette - a controversial advocate of society's disadvantaged - died of lung cancer this past Friday. She was 79. Here's an article about the complex planning going into tonight's Democratic presidential debates at Drexel. The Inquirer has the details on two local child-sex cases; a 52-year-old former scoutmaster from Mont Clare is looking at 16 to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to having sex with a......

An update on the Chester High School shooting: the victim was scheduled to be released yesterday from the hospital; the bullet went in and out of his leg and he didn't need surgery. Meanwhile, the suspect surrendered to detectives on Wednesday and was charged as an adult with attempted homicide and aggravated assault. The new principal of the school is trying to deal with the fallout, and change the perception of his school. Meanwhile, the......

A study released earlier this week revealed that Philadelphia area drivers spend an average of 38 hours a year sitting in traffic, which is up an hour from last year, but as it turns out, it's still not that bad as far as traffic delays in large American cities go: we ranked 33rd. But we ranked second in the level of impact that accidents and stalled vehicles have on traffic congestion. Kind of makes......

The Inquirer has an interesting article about Boys' Latin of Philadelphia Charter School - its popular summer sessions, and its position as "the first single-sex charter approved in Pennsylvania," "the first publicly funded school in Philadelphia that requires students to take Latin," and "the first charter in the region modeled after the rigorous Boston Latin School." The enormous amounts of traffic and congestion on the bridge across the Schuylkill linking Conshohocken with I-76 and......

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It's all Fumo, all the time! Fumo might lose his defense counsel! Fumo might sell his house to pay for his defense! Fumo is still an important figure in local politics! Fumo, Fumo, Fumo! Speaking of "fumo," no fumo in PA! Well, sort of. The state senate passed a statewide ban on smoking yesterday, which would theoretically replace Philly's own smoking ban if it were to get signed into law, even though it has so......

Highway and transit funds are currently the subject of much debate in this state and others around the nation. Rendell has given up on his idea of increasing PA's sales tax because, he says, the economy is doing better than expected, and it won't be necessary. Better get practising, folks, because American Idol is coming to town. The reality show will be holding auditions, with Simon, Paula, and the whole crew, at the Wachovia Center......

Remember that fire in Kensington earlier this week that we mentioned in the news yesterday? It really was worse than it seems on paper, which is why this video is worth a viewing. For information on how to help the victims of the Kensington Fire, go to thesimpleway.org.......

Six people were killed in Philadelphia yesterday, on the first day of summer. Three young men were gunned down in North Philly in the morning, two were killed and a third critically injured in Kensington in the afternoon, and the sixth person was shot to death in Kingsessing at around 10:30PM. That's 195 for the year now, if you're counting. Do any walking on the 1300 block of South Street? Then you probably already......

A veteran Philly cop got drunk off-duty, jumped in his car early Sunday, and promptly rammed it into a marked police car in West Philly, injuring a fellow officer. He's been "charged with aggravated assault, driving under the influence, recklessly endangering another person and related offenses." An abandoned warehouse in West Kensington was the site of the start of a 7-alarm fire Wednesday morning that led to the evacuation of people within a two-block......

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......

Philly police have a lot of bulletproof vests made with Zylon, a material shown to degrade under exposure to moisture and sunlight, thus making the vests less effective. Luckily, the manufacturer agreed not only to replace the vests with non-Zylon versions, but to also pay the department $100 for each one. Nice! The Youth Study Center near 20th and Pennsylvania Avenue is outdated, overcrowded, and just overall in very poor condition. It's really the......