Former CBS3 anchor Larry Mendte is scheduled for a plea hearing at 9:30AM this morning at the federal courthouse at Sixth and Market Streets, where he is expected to plead guilty to hacking into the personal e-mail of onetime colleague Alycia Lane. Lawrence Scott Ward, 65, a former marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, is already serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison for trafficking in child porn, but yesterday new......

Oh boy, just look at all the articles about the Larry Mendte case. Apparently Mendte hacked into the email of Alycia Lane 537 times in 146 days, and did so wherever he was around the clock, from home, his desk at work, his Shore home in Ocean City, and even the Union League. He then passed on the information he obtained to a Philadelphia Daily News gossip columnist, in order to undermine Lane's ongoing......

Woah, we almost forgot! It's Wizard World this weekend! Starting today and running through Sunday, June 1st, the convention for all things geeky will be taking over the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The guest of honor this year is superstar comic book artist J.G. Jones. Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica (known to inhabitants of the thirteenth colony as Katee Sackhoff) will be making an appearance. We doubt they will let you embrace her and tearfully tell......

Police are asking for the public's help in locating the mother of a baby who was found swaddled in a blue and gray blanket and stuffed in a black garbage bag amid shrubs and branches in the front yard of a home on 58th Street near Chestnut yesterday afternoon. The baby, who had been born yesterday morning and whose umbilical cord was still attached, is healthy, and police say they are not looking to......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY The N Crowd: Weekly improve comedy show at The Actors Center (257 N. 3rd), 8PM. $10 Andrew Gregory: Andrew Gregory (CD release party), John Francis, and Ian Thomas at Tin Angel (20 S. 2nd), 10:30PM. $10 Leslie and the Ly’s: Leslie and the Ly’s, MC Digga and Sgt. Sass at North Star Bar (2639 Poplar), 9PM. $10 Intertwine: Opening reception for Intertwine, with work by Brooke Hine,......

The Inquirer takes a look at the political landscape on the morning of Super Tuesday. If you're from New Jersey or Delaware, remember to vote! As long as you've done your research, and you care at all. If neither of those things are true then please, don't vote. A federal lawsuit filed in December says that President Bush's housing czar, Alphonso Jackson, pressured the Philadelphia Housing Authority to transfer land worth $2 million to Kenny......

Ah, it's a bad photograph of a car! And that can mean only one thing: the Philadelphia International Auto Show is almost here! We're finding it hard to believe that it's already that time again, but it must be true, because whenever we go within a four block radius of the Convention Center, we see dozens of large trucks full of cars. And we snapped this shot this morning of one classic specimen already......

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,......

We learned yesterday that City Councilman Jack Kelly and his staff are being investigated by the FBI. Two sources close to the investigation told the Inquirer that what's being looked at are contributions to the councilman by Northeast Philadelphia's largest property owners, and the relationship between them and Kelly's chief of staff. The Delaware River Port Authority plans on spending $25 million on inspections and paint jobs on its bridges between Philadelphia and South......

If you have some free time this Sunday and just can't wait to hear more about Mayor-Elect Nutter's vision of "Philadelphia being the next great city," sign up as a volunteer for the The Great Expectations Citizens Convention. Volunteers are needed from 10:30AM-6PM to staff registration tables and act as guides to rooms between sessions. We're betting you'll be able to sneak a peak at some talks while you're at it too, including Michael......

Part of the Convention Center's westward expansion.......

A 21-year-old rookie Philadelphia police officer saw a motorist driving a Buick suspiciously in West Philly yesterday morning and approached the vehicle. Three teenage passengers (who turned out to be University City High School students) got out of the car. When he ordered them back to the car, the driver got on the hood of the car and shot the officer in the face with a sawed-off shotgun loaded with birdshot. The officer then chased......

A Pennsylvania man named Michael Curtis Reynolds took the stand in his defense yesterday in a case where he is charged with "using the Internet to help al-Qaeda attempt to blow up portions of the U.S. gas and oil infrastructure." He claims that he was actually just trying to lure out al-Qaeda operators so they could be captured. The SugarHouse casino is trying to smooth its way into Fishtown by throwing cash around - for......

We think this might qualify as some sort of meta-volunteer experience: Philly is hosting this year's National Conference on Volunteering and Service, and Greater Philadelphia Cares is looking for a few good volunteers to help everything move along smoothly. Volunteers will (fittingly) be involved in every aspect of the conference, which runs July 16-18 at the Convention Center. Best of all, this is one of those deals where you get concrete rewards on top......

This Phillyist recently took the giant leap from mild interest in comics to full-on weekly comic book collecting, with spreadsheets and everything, so we can understand the attraction of the giant comic book geek gathering going on at the Pennsylvania Convention Center this weekend. Yes, that's right, Wizard World is back in town. Starting today and running through Sunday there'll be tons of panels on every topic having to do with comic books imaginable,......

We always get a little sad when the main classical music season ends and all the musicians go to their fun summer festivals. But, this can only mean that the Mann Center's season is just around the corner! Monday For the 150th anniversary of Robert Schumann's death, the Kimmel Center presents "The Romantic World of Robert Schumann" with Jeffrey Siegel, piano. This program takes a look at the passion behind Robert Schumann's piano works......

Exciting news! Philadelphia (the Pennsylvania Convention Center, specifically) is going to host VideoGame Expo 2007, from November 2nd through November 4th. The cool thing is that this expo is mostly for consumers, which means regular joes can go in to play the newest games, meet people in the industry, maybe get a job in the industry, compete in tournaments, show off their nerd costumes, and, of course, buy buy buy! The entry price isn't......

Spring break strikes the city of Philadelphia this week. Not to worry, the failsafe Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and the Kimmel Center have a few tricks up their sleeves. Monday The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia under Ignat Solzhenitsyn continues with its Mozart Beethoven Haydn program. All the greats in one evening. Perelman Theater (Kimmel Center); 7:30 PM; $36-$81 The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presents Mark Kosower, cello, and Jee-Won Oh, piano in an evening......

In a disturbing article, the Philadelphia Inquirer points out that there are still serious problems inside the city's Department of Human Services, despite a big policy overhaul a few years ago. In case you were not aware, the Flower Show started this weekend. We'll be posting more about this later, but for now, enjoy the Inquirer's preview, which includes a short history of the show, and an explanation of its theme ("Legends of Ireland").......

What a great week in classical music for Philly! Anonymous 4 comes to Philly on Thursday. Sunday appears to be the perfect storm of concert scheduling - you can't go wrong on Sunday even if you pick a concert blindfolded. Monday There's still one more chance to hear Vivaldi's Four Seasons as rendered by the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. We know we could sure use a glimpse of spring. Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center; 7:30 PM;......

Cars of all kinds have taken over the Pennsylvania Convention Center this week for the Philadelphia International Auto Show, which runs through February 11. It's an auto bonanza with plenty of current cars on the floor, plus a few concept cars, antiques and tricked out autos. As someone who's attended the auto show every year since she was 10, it's hard to say how much is new about the show's concept, which is a......

You won’t be able to stop crooning "Summertime" after this week. Yes, Porgy and Bess is opening at the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Tuesday Temple professors Lawrence Indik, baritone, and Charles Abramovic, piano, will perform a recital of works by Temple faculty and students. Rock Hall Auditorium, Temple University; 7:30 PM; FREE Hailing from Germany, the Artemis Quartet has made a big name for itself all around Europe and has studied with several prominent string......

The Philly Auto Show is in town this weekend! We're reasonably certain none of the cars there will be able to transform into giant robots, but it will still be pretty cool. If you're interested in previewing the show, and you've got some extra cash lying around, festivities can start for you tonight at the Black Tie Tailgate Preview Gala. There'll be food, drink, and entertainment, and best of all, all proceeds will go......

Sigh…. Wouldn’t it be nice if the Philadelphia Orchestra could stay out of the orchestral gossip articles? Regardless, it, along with some gossip-free groups, have some great concerts coming up. Tuesday The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presents pianist Claude Frank in an all-Schubert recital. This Curtis faculty member will also give a free Master Class in Temple’s Rock Hall at 2:40 PM. American Philosophical Society (427 Chestnut St.); 8 PM; $22 Wednesday The Philadelphia Chamber......

There’s not too much going on this week in the classical music universe. It seems like most of the smaller groups around town are waiting until at least next week to start up with concerts again. Nevertheless, there are still shows to be seen! Tuesday Marin Alsop, of the acclaimed Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, comes up to Philadelphia to conduct a wide range of works. From the mysterious Prelude of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde to the......

Three fatal car crashes occurred in the area between Thursday night and Friday morning. One involved a speeding car travelling the wrong way on the Schuylkill Expressway. The vehicle collided with another car, killing both drivers. The highway was closed for three hours as a result. Meanwhile, another fatal accident early Friday on Route 42 in New Jersey blocked off the Walt Whitman Bridge for hours. The third incident was a hit-and-run and occurred Thursday......

This week’s classical music events seem to cluster during the weekend, but no matter. There’s plenty to see and hear with the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s La bohème and an assortment of chamber music concerts. Friday Puccini’s La bohème, put on by the Opera Company of Philadelphia, is not to be missed. One of opera’s most famous and most tragic love stories (the inspiration for Rent) continues to move us to this day with......

Wizard World, a convention celebrating comic books, genre movies, and pretty much everything geeky you can think of, is hitting Philadelphia and taking over the Pennsylvania Convention Center this weekend, starting today (in fact, we walked past the line to get in this morning on our way to work). Featured guests are filmmaker (and comic book dude) Kevin Smith (who's giving an exclusive presentation on his upcoming Clerks 2) and comics artist/creator Jim Lee, not......

With the wild weather fluctuations we've been having lately, Phillyist is hard pressed to guess what season it actually is; luckily we have things like Philadelphia's annual Flower Show to remind us that Spring is, indeed, on its way. Running from Sunday, March 5th through Saturday, March 11th, this hayfever-inducing, horticultural hoe down highlights the creativity of professional and amateur florists alike. This year's theme is "Enchanted Spring…A Tribute to Mother Nature," and promises 10......

Phillyist does it. Celebrities do it. And we bet your grandma does it too. Knitting, that is. (We don't want to know what you were thinking.) And on Sunday September 18th from Noon to 5PM, people are gathering at the Pennsylvania Convention Center to knit (and crochet) en masse. The 4th Annual Philly Knit Out offers a chance for local craftsters to socialize, trade secrets, learn new skills, and even do some good. But what......