The Daily News analyzes Paris Hilton's visit to the area yesterday, and comes to the rather surprising conclusion that she's a nice lady and her only real fault is that she's not punctual. The Philadelphia Museum of Art's exhibition of American artist Bruce Nauman has been selected to appear in the US Pavilion of the the 53rd Venice Biennale, "one of the most important art gatherings in the world." Mayor Nutter revoked a license given......

One-time rap music impresario Alton "Ace Capone" Coles is on trial for using his record company as a front for a $25 million, Southwest Philadelphia-based cocaine trafficking network, and yesterday a former girlfriend, and the mother of his two children, testified against him. A man was walking north on Broad Street near Somerset in North Philadelphia, just before 5PM, when someone ran up to him from behind and, he thought, punched him in the......

We're sure you've heard by now, but as we haven't had a chance to mention it here yet: on Monday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided that "City Council's longstanding failure to vote on SugarHouse's zoning and land-use requests" constituted "deliberate inaction" and therefore "cleared the way for construction to begin on the $550 million SugarHouse casino in Fishtown and Northern Liberties." SugarHouse officials say they expect to start construction in a matter of weeks. 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 New Philadelphia City Hall Tour Office and Visitor Center officially opened on Wednesday with a little ceremony and everything. But as it turns out, the tour of City Hall is so much cooler now, that it's also no longer free; adults pay $10 for the full two-hour tour of the building, and $5 to go up in the Observation Tower. (Via HughE) In vaguely similar news, the Silk City diner reopened last night.......

State Senator Robert Regola surrendered on Wednesday on charges that "he improperly stored a handgun that wound up in the hands of a 14-year-old neighbor who fatally shot himself, and then lied about it at a coroner's hearing." His lawyer says he's innocent and won't resign. He's "free on $25,000 unsecured bond until his preliminary hearing April 5." The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers have blown a big raspberry at all the mayoral candidates and......

The City Council's hearings on Mayor Street's budget opened Tuesday with Street's chief of staff painting a bleak portrait of the city's fiscal future: "a weak tax base, high tax burden, escalating costs, high service responsibilities and low state financial support." Healthcare costs, prison costs, the homeless, and tax cuts are all contributing to the problem, which may lead to the city's surplus slowly shrinking over the next five years. The snow led to......