Undercover officers were standing in as prostitutes on Kensington Avenue yesterday afternoon and Wednesday, cracking down on prostitution. Some lucky schmuck bought the winning Powerball ticket last week at the Turkey Hill Minit Mart in Willow Street, PA, just south of Lancaster. This Phillyist can sadly report that it wasn't him. But whoever it was will be revealed at 10 this morning. A group of residents in Yorktown feel their community is being threatened because......

Some updates on local criminal cases: the Bucks County mother accused of turning a sleepover into a sex party was ordered to stand trial yesterday. Andy Reid's son Garrett Reid was sentenced to two years in a relatively new state corrections program that combines incarceration and intensive drug treatment. Mumia Abu-Jamal lost his latest appeal for a new trial on Monday. Perhaps not surprisingly, the DRPA got an earful from angry commuters yesterday at......

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......

Remember that $85 million Hollywood-style movie-production studio they were going to build in Delaware County? Well the studio's developers say they could be only days away from securing crucial tax breaks. And they already have a filmmaker excited about using the studio: M. Night Shyamalan. "Nine months after the 10,000 Men movement was launched with great fanfare, the organization that vowed to mount a massive campaign to retake Philadelphia's crime-ridden streets has fielded only four......

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......

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......

Philly International will not see a great reduction in number of flights this fall, unlike other major cities like Las Vegas and Chicago. If you're counting on that trip to Vegas paying the heating bill this winter, better head out there now. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey will hold six town hall meetings in July. Each public meeting will focus on particular neighborhoods, and residents will be asked about local problems and suggestions on making......

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......

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......

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......

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......

The Daily News has a profile of the new Recreation Department commissioner, Sue Slawson, and is also talking about what Slawson and the Department of Human Services, amongst other organizations, are trying to do to boost programs and security in order to halt violence at the city's rec centers and neighborhood parks. Every year when the University of Pennsylvania's students go home for the summer, they leave a shocking amount and variety of appliances,......

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......

"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......

"Lane closures are scheduled this weekend on northbound and southbound Interstate 95 near the Betsy Ross Bridge (Exit 26) for bridge deck repairs." Click through for the details. The three men whose arrest and beating was captured on video by a news helicopter have their preliminary hearing scheduled for this morning. They're accused of taking part in a May 5 shooting that wounded three people in Feltonville. Meanwhile, police officials have changed their account......

The Inquirer takes a look at local folks and aid organizations trying to send help to China in the wake of the earthquake. All U.S. and Pennsylvania flags at state facilities will be flown at half-staff today for Peace Officers Memorial Day. And since it was Governor Rendell who gave the order there shouldn't be any complaints... "The Philadelphia Orchestra leaves Monday for a three-week tour of China, Japan and Korea." Eric DeShawn Floyd......

Say goodbye to Wireless Philadelphia. EarthLink is giving up and pulling the plug next month. There's just no money in it for them. That Jocelyn Kirsch. She seems to be getting up to more trouble out there in California. It appears she made a fake 911 call and got her stepfather arrested. The latest update in the Marvin Harrison-related shooting case is that... there isn't any update. Although actually, this article does offer more details......

We previously posted about SEPTA's celebration this past weekend of the 100th anniversary of service for 69th Street Terminal and the Route 100 Norristown High Speed Line. What we didn't realize is that SEPTA was more than a year late with its celebration. Fresh news on the Bonnie and Clyde front! We know you're excited. Looks like Jocelyn Kirsch is nearing a federal plea deal. Prison time is still likely, however, given the scope of......

Photograph of the Reverend Al Sharpton by Armchair Messiah on Flickr Gothamist watched a series of civil disobedience events, protesting the Sean Bell shooting verdict, unfold across the city--over 200 people, including the Reverend Al Sharpton, were arrested. Somewhat related, on behalf of a black freelance reporter for the NY Post, the NYCLU sued the city and NYPD for racial profiling.Phillyist took a look at how city employees are bankrupting Philadelphia. Not that they......

SEPTA will give away free rides to passengers of the Route 100 Norristown High Speed Line from 11AM through 4PM tomorrow, as part of a celebration of the 100th anniversary of service on the route. SEPTA is also celebrating the 100th anniversary of service to and from the 69th Street Terminal, so there will be a reception there and a series of related activities and events. In other SEPTA news, the agency will be providing......

Eric DeShawn Floyd, the third suspect in the murder of police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, was arrested last night when he was found sleeping in a boarded up rowhouse in Southwest Philadelphia at 11:10PM. He was unarmed and offered no resistance. Philadelphia police thus met their goal of capturing Floyd before Liczbinski's funeral. Meanwhile, the leadership of the Germantown Masjid has refused to conduct funeral services for Howard Cain, the bank robber who actually killed Liczbinski.......

Recent events over the border in New Jersey have brought to light the sad plight of some of the people who appear on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition—they're given a big amazing house and then can't afford to pay the taxes and utilities on it. In its typically overblown and melodramatic fashion, the Daily News takes a closer look at the phenomenon of cop-killers, in the wake of the murder of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski. The Daily......

The five blasts from a Chinese-made SKS assault rifle that killed Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski on Saturday have reignited the debate on gun control laws. Eric DeShawn Floyd is still being sought in the crime, and a reward of more than $140,000 is being offered for information leading to his capture. A vigil was held yesterday to honor Liczbinski. And finally, Mayor Nutter requested that all flags in the city be lowered to half-staff during a......

Beginning at 10AM today at City Hall, Philadelphia School District officials will present their proposed $2.28 billion budget to City Council. You can already see the budget and prepared testimony on the district's website. Members of the public will offer testimony on the budget tomorrow. The Inquirer investigates the lasting effects of the shooting death of 33-year-old Moroccan-born Ouadii Souliman. He was gunned down at the door Al Aqsa Mosque on the border between Northern......

"A man who was being evicted from his apartment in Yeadon, Delaware County, yesterday pulled a gun and shot the constable who served the eviction notice and the apartment manager, police said. The gunman fled into Southwest Philadelphia and hid in a rowhouse at 1846 Conestoga St, but a host of cops tracked him down and arrested him as he attempted to get away out the back door." The wounded men were listed in critical......

Yes, it's true, today is the pivotal Pennsylvania primary. A record voter turn-out is expected—which probably means there will also be a record number of problems. Clinton and Obama made their final push for votes yesterday. Obama didn't promise to win, but he did promise to keep things close. Meanwhile, the Clinton camp was talking comebacks. For more Philly.com election coverage, go here, or follow their live-blog of the election. Of course, a far......

The first weekend in April brought with it a host of grim violence, including two home invasions, a robbery, a stabbing, five shootings, and a homicide. Not on the list: A man was assaulted and robbed on the El Friday night by three men wearing black wigs. For those keeping track at home, that’s three assaults around the El in the last 10 days. Mayor Nutter assures us that they are just isolated incidents. Representatives......

We sure do love Pennsylvania politics. Someone started a fire at the Mount Carmel office of State Rep. Robert Belfanti Jr. Belfanti is unopposed in the primary and general elections, and had no idea why someone would try to burn his office down. Meanwhile, the South Philadelphia campaign office of Pennsylvania state House candidate Christian DiCicco, the son of City Councilman Frank DiCicco, was burglarized yesterday. There's a little disparity between the two Inquirer articles......