So, this Phillyist decided to make a quick trip to the Starbucks in Fairmount this morning. I ordered my grande Pike Place and tried the Stella Berry Bar (eh… I should have had a mini vanilla scone). The cashier gave me my receipt and informed me if I brought it back after 2PM I would get a grande iced coffee drink for only $2! That’s cool, I thought. A little incentive for repeat business later......

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment. The Center City District is running a pretty cool contest: submit your best photos from Center City Sips and you could win $200 worth of Center City restaurant gift certificates. (Via RJ) The AV Club takes a look at 20 cases of The Darrin Effect, that being, when a character is recast and the result is jarring. (Via) The estimates say......

Starbucks announced earlier this month that they will be closing 600 locations between now and the first half of the 2009 fiscal year, sending millions of caffeine addicts into panic. Fortunately for the local addicts, at least, no Pennsylvania Starbucks closures have yet been announced. The Starbucks kiosk in the Cherry Hill Mall, however, is less fortunate.......

Jocelyn Kirsch, aka Bonnie, aka Stealy McFakeBirthdayBoobies turned herself in to the US Marshall’s Office a little before 2 PM today. Kirsch and her boyfriend Edward K. Anderton, aka Clyde, aka Grifty MyDadIsGonnaKillMeberg were arrested last December for allegedly scamming their friends, neighbors and co-workers out of more than $116,000 with which they bought expensive presents, took elaborate trips to places like Paris and the Caribbean, and inspired the Jocelyn Kirsch is scandalous Facebook Group.......

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......

We bring you the buzz in the 215 blogs. The Highstrung Loner was amused by SEPTA's new signage. (Warning: parts of this website are NSFW.) Philly Chit Chat was sad to find out that the TLA near the art museum is closing. We say look on the bright side: the inventory sale is a good opportunity to augment your DVD collection. Phawker pointed out the virtual media blackout on the Articles of Impeachment read against......

Photo by Cy Goldsbie Torontoist kept its readers in the know during a surprise transit strike—it was announced by the workers' union just after 11:00 p.m. on Friday night, and went into effect by midnight—with a continually-updated status post.Gothamist readers commented extensively on the not guilty verdict of three NYPD detectives who were on trial for fatally shooting Sean Bell, an unarmed man, on his wedding day in 2006.It was an accident-prone week at......

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......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. New Amsterdam (Mon, 9PM-10PM, Fox) It's the first season finale, and John is flashing back to his days as a con man in the 1920s while in the present he and Eva investigate the death of a woman who seems to have drowned. Also, John begins to suspect he was wrong about Sara being The One. American Experience (Mon, 9PM-11PM, WHYY & WLVT) It's a profile of......

If you are an elitist coffee nerd like us, you get Starbucks e-mail. Today we received a missive that totally got our caffeine-infused juices flowing. Starbucks is revealing something BIG on 4/8/08 (i.e. next Tuesday) at 12 noon (i.e. noon). In true marketing fascism fashion they are not telling us what it is, in the hopes of keeping us talking and blogging about it. Well, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Since we can only guess what Starbucks is......

We're having a hard time figuring out how many stores are participating, but the Starbucks in the Gallery at 9th and Market is closed today out of respect for Sean Patrick Conroy, the Starbucks manager who recently lost his life in an attack on a SEPTA platform. A sign at the store says it will reopen tomorrow. The latest on the PA primary race: Barack Obama spoke in Allentown yesterday, criticizing Republican nominee John McCain......

Dear Philadelphia: You are dubbed "The City of Brotherly Love" due to a very literal translation of your name, which comes from the Greek words philos (love) and adelphos (brother). When you were originally founded by William Penn, your state's namesake and the figure atop your City Hall, you were to serve as a beacon of hope to all those who had been persecuted for their religious beliefs in Europe. You're considered to be......

A state trooper tried to stop a white SUV for speeding in the northbound lanes of Route 42 about 4:30PM yesterday afternoon. When the car began moving erratically, the police had to break off pursuit for safety concerns. A few minutes later, the driver stopped on the Walt Whitman Bridge bridge, got out of his car, and started swinging a baseball bat at cars while holding a baby in his other arm. After he struck......

Around 2:46PM yesterday afternoon, in the underground SEPTA concourse at 13th and Market streets near the City Hall station, four teens shouted at a 36-year-old Starbucks employee named Sean Patrick Conroy, then surrounded him and attacked him as he crouched defensively. The victim lost consciousness on the concourse and was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:09PM. There appeared to be no prior connection between Conroy and his......

Starbucks may be closed for three hours this evening, but have no fear! Dunkin' Donuts to the rescue! About an hour ago, Dunkin' started serving up small lattes—of any variety—for 99¢. They'll keep slinging the discounted caffeine (or decaffeine) until 10PM or closing time – whatever comes first at each individual franchise. While you're down there, you may want to try out one of those new Flat Bread [sic] sandwiches they've started selling over......

OK, take a deep breath. Are you sitting down? Good. People, all the Starbucks in the country are going to be shut down for three hours on February 26th. Which, if our calculations are correct, means most of the stores in America will be closed. But don't freak out! It'll only be from 5:30PM to 8:30PM, which is well after most of us have already gotten our Starbucks fix. Also, they're only shutting the......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. Hey, it's Valentine's Day! Or, as we're going to call it from now on, Horny Werewolf Day! To celebrate the day, we offer you links to geeky valentines of the naughty, mean, and sweet varieties (via), as well as some super-nerdy comic book valentines from Chris Sims (definitely check out all of them, as the last one is seriously hilarious, and seriously wrong).......

When this Phillyist gets Starbucks, he's one of those guys with the forty-seven part order. You know the ones: Grande non-fat extra hot caramel no foam extra shot latte on the rocks with a twist little bit of oil hold the mayo. There's much to be said about Starbucks, both good and bad. One of the good things that can be said, and it's the thing that leads to those comically long orders, is that......

Local student Dan Magro wears many hats. He is (as mentioned) a student, at the University of the Arts. He is a Starbucks employee in Southampton. He is a writer/filmmaker. And tonight, he will add to that hat-list "philanthropist." Magro's movie, Portraits of Sari, premieres tonight at Gershman Hall (corner of Broad and Pine), but you'll be getting more than just a movie with your attendance. It turns out that the lead actor in Portraits,......

Disclaimer: This post relates to an event put on by First Person Arts, of whom Editor Jill is an employee. However, Editor Jill did not have a hand in writing or editing this post. (With the Festival going on this week, she wouldn't have time to, even if she wanted to.) A little while back, we told you about the First Person Story Tour and its colorful "mascot," the Story Tour Van. The Story Tour......

With the frosty mornings this week, there's no doubt fall has arrived, and with it thoughts of the impending winter holidays... and chilly commutes. The folks at Starbucks will be easing the transition to both tomorrow morning in celebration of the return of their red cup; greeters will regale commuters at 30th Street with oodles of goodies from 7-10AM. There will be samples of appropriate winter drinks, including Christmas Blend, Peppermint Mocha, and Hot Chocolate.......

Gothamist learned about the craziest urban nightmare come true: A huge python found in the bathroom pipes. It was also a nightmare for some Yankees fans, as manger Joe Torre declined to come back and manage the Bronx Bombers. At least the city's attempt to give some direction to subway riders was interesting, pranksters went shirtless at the Fifth Avenue Abercrombie & Fitch and the I Heart Brooklyn Girls calendars came out. And just......

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you. You might have heard about a little game called Halo 3 getting released late last night/early this morning. Game|Life has the details on the midnight release party at a Best Buy in Manhattan, while Joystiq covers a non-launch in Boston and an actual, celebrity-infested launch in LA. Beware, however! Rumor is that the limited edition packaging for the......

Dawn Landes...

This Phillyist started drinking coffee in college (we're just not all that precocious, what can we say). Those days, coffee consisted of a cuppa from the student center convenience store or, on good days, the spoils from a trip to Wawa. We're in danger of dating ourselves here, but a Starbucks didn't appear anywhere near campus until half-way through our tenure, and we didn't succumb to the green goddess's siren song with regularity until......

Once upon a time, there was a little girl from Wynnewood named Alex Scott. At one, she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. At four, even while she was being treated for the cancer herself, she started a lemonade stand to raise money for the pediatric cancer center where she was being treated. The little lady attracted a lot of attention across the country and beyond, but unfortunately, all the money in the world couldn't cure Alex's......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. Wow. Just, wow. You need to check this out. Dude decided to try to visit every Starbucks in Manhattan (that's 171) in one day - and purchase and at least partially consume a product from every one of them! He had to hit a store every seven minutes for 20 consecutive hours, spending $369.14, and the caffeine ended up leaving him dehydrated and......

So you thought that Starbucks was finished with its quest for total domination in the land of hot caffeinated beverages? Maybe they are. They are not, however, finished with their domination of early morning (and even mid-afternoon) munchies. Tomorrow (Tuesday, May 22), Starbucks will be launching its new warm food platform. With this platform will come five breakfast sandwiches and two lunch sandwiches. If you’re more of a bagel, pastry or cookie Philadelphian, don’t......