"On the last day of the fiscal year, Gov. Rendell and legislative leaders struck a deal on a $28.2 billion state budget, averting a repeat of last year's employee furlough and partial government shutdown." The Inquirer examines what it meant (for the players and their families) for a team from Camden's Cramer Hill neighborhood to play T-ball on the White House lawn yesterday. A Daily News reporter gets a few minutes with John McCain.......

The Phlash Center City trolley will have special hours this Friday and Saturday to accommodate Independence Day celebrations. The Phlash will operate until 7PM on Friday and until 11PM on Saturday. (Via RJ) The Inquirer tells the story of how a plan to convert an empty convent in Germantown into apartments for formerly homeless men went south, in order to underscore the problems Mayor Nutter is likely to face with his initiative to fight......

It's not Philly-related, but we were shocked to learn this morning that comedian George Carlin died Sunday evening of heart failure. He was 71. Allentown and New Galena Roads in Bucks County will close today for maintenance work. Click through for the full details. The Inquirer takes a look at some of the big success stories from the 2008 U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials, held this past weekend right here in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania hunting licenses for......

In the wake of last month's devastating earthquake in China, a group of Widener University professors is using video-conferencing to train faculty at East China Normal University in Shanghai to teach psychological first aid. State Rep. Darryl Metcalfe refused to apologize for the comments he made on the floor of the House on Wednesday, wherein he suggested that he was opposing recognizing a Muslim religious organization's convention because "Muslims do not recognize Jesus Christ as......

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......

Philadelphia public and parochial schools plan to maintain regular hours today, but some schools in the surrounding area are closing or having early dismissals due to the excessive heat. Click through for the full list. A bunch of insane people actually had a bike race in Manayunk this past weekend, and other insane people actually went outside to watch it. Uh, whatever. We were inside keeping cool. The Inquirer discusses Mayor Street's already fading legacy.......

Photo by TObike from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Torontoist featured the astonishing story (and equally astonishing photos) of more than 200 cyclists spontaneously taking over the westbound lanes of the city's downtown expressway for 7 kilometers late on a Friday afternoon.Phillyist got to chat with singer/songwriter and internet phenomenon Eric Hutchinson as his major-label debut hit stores.Shanghaiist was annoyed by Sharon Stone's suggestion that the Sichuan earthquake was China's karma for its treatment of......

As promised, yesterday Mayor Nutter announced his plan to combat homelessness. Click through for the details. The 14-year-old Lansdowne boy accused of stabbing his older brother to death over a video game has admitted to voluntary manslaughter. The judge will determine his sentence at a hearing on June 5th; he faces a maximum of seven years of supervision until he reaches age 21. The polo team from the acclaimed equestrian program on Chamounix Drive in......

"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......

Philadelphia police were questioning Leroy Townsend, 53, about possible narcotics violations on May 18 when an officer noticed red dye on his pants and then recognized him (from wanted photos broadcast on television) as a serial bank robber believed to be responsible for five Center City heists. He was, of course, arrested. A group calling itself the Keystone State Skinheads has taken credit for a series of racist posters put up in Port Richmond......

Today, from 9AM through 5PM, Media Mobilizing Project and local broadband activists are urging Philadelphians to call Mayor Michael Nutter to demand that the city step in to save the Wireless Philadelphia network. If you want to give it a shot, the numbers are (215) 686-3000 or (215) 686-2250. The Delaware River Port Authority is conducting two public meetings about its planned efforts to ease congestion on the Philadelphia side of the Ben Franklin Bridge.......

Dear Manayunk: I love you. I think you're adorable. I'm even entertaining the notion of moving closer to you. But I have to say, 'Yunk, you scare the hell outta me. Not because of your crime rate. (The only scary thing about that is how low it is compared with the rest of the city!) Not because of your topography. It's because of your roads. Annoying though it may be, Manayunk, you either need......

The fourth annual commuter competition sponsored by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia started this morning at 8AM. Three commuters race from 45th and Spruce to City Hall, one on a bike, one in a car, and one in a bus. The BCGP is obviously expecting the cyclist to win, thus proving that two wheels are better than four. Philly's own Bonnie and Clyde are the "poster children for identity theft," according to Federal authorities.......

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......

While touring Pennsylvania yesterday touting his health care plan, John McCain also got in a dig against Obama for failing to endorse the proposal, supported by himself and Clinton, to suspend the federal gasoline tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. "City officials yesterday embraced the concept of bicycle sharing as a way to reduce traffic and pollution, but said many questions must be answered before Philadelphia becomes the first U.S. city to institute public......

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......

The Eagles' 2008 schedule has been released, and one of the more exciting games will be the one they'll they'll play at home versus the Arizona Cardinals on Thanksgiving night. It will be nationally televised on the NFL Network. (Via Sarah) Barack Obama's wife, Michelle Obama, was apparently well received when she spoke at a rally at Haverford College yesterday. A new Daily News/Franklin & Marshall poll has Clinton still in the lead with......

TV critic Ellen Gray at the Daily news takes a look at last night's Colbert Report, filmed right here in Philly, featuring appearances by Mayor Nutter and Benjamin Franklin. We have incredible amounts of news today related to the Pennsylvania primary. First off, applications for absentee ballots have to be in no later than 5PM today. Clinton is announcing a "major endorsement" at noon today at the state Capitol in Harrisburg. Obama admitted to......

The closure of I-95 has taken a toll on some, but the road did indeed reopen this morning around 6:30AM, and it's expected to remain open during the more permanent repair of the cracked column that will soon follow, and which should take about a month. After that comes the really major work: "Replacing the whole elevated stretch of I-95 between Spring Garden Street and Cottman Avenue." A split three-member panel of the Philadelphia......

Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross are getting married! We're freaking out!! (Via Sarah) The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Building at 16th and Callowhill Streets was evacuated yesterday morning when a white, powdery substance was found in a third-floor office. The substance turned out to be foot powder. D'oh. (Via Sarah) An accident on the westbound Pennsylvania Turnpike between the Mid-County and Valley Forge interchanges led to the death of the driver of a FedEx......

Beginning late Sunday night, a 30-year-old University of Pennsylvania dental student was held captive by three thieves who ransacked his apartment and then sat around for a while watching reruns of American Gladiator and old movies on his TV. After they finally left 11:30AM yesterday, they went on a shopping spree, buying sneakers, clothes, and gift cards using the man's credit cards and cash from his ATM accounts. Police caught one of the thieves last......

D'oh! We up and forgot to celebrate Pennsylvania Day yesterday! While we were forgetting, Pennsylvania was earning the national average grade of B-minus in the Pew Center on the States scorecard on the effectiveness of state government, which just happened to get released yesterday. PA "was praised for creating a plan to respond to its alarming backlog of bridges in need of repairs and furnishing meaningful information about programs funded with state money." Meanwhile,......

The Inquirer takes a close look at Mayor Nutter's first budget proposal. The subtitle of the article is: "The $3.98 billion plan seeks bonds for pensions and a kitty for unions." Awww, that's nice! He's getting a kitty for the unions! We hope it's a cute kitty. David C. Sicoli, a Philadelphia priest with "a long history of abusive and manipulative relationships with adolescents," according to a grand jury report, has finally been defrocked by......

Sons of Ben and other Philly area soccer fans rejoice: the Inquirer says sources are telling them that "Major League Soccer is moving swiftly toward an agreement that will grant a long-sought expansion team to the Philadelphia region." Saint Joe's will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 5PM today to officially open its new Hawks' Landing parking and retail facility at 54th and City Avenue. Hawks' Landing is a $19 million project that features a five-story,......

Have a nominee for Asshole of the Week? Send it to us! We love stories about local bureaucratic idiocy. They're always good for a laugh or two, but we do tend to forget about them five minutes after we've read them. And then there's the story of Edward Stanley Harris. By now, we're sure you all know the story. This guy had been hassled annually by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for 17 years over......

The Daily News takes a look at the problem of domestic violence in the city and the rather poor way that it's dealt with by officials. Foreclosures were down in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in November, as compared to October 2007 and October 2006. Governor Rendell called into 610 WIP to talk about Lanegate. Basically he wanted to explain what her phone call to him had been about (she just wanted someone to hear......

Crushed by The Big Bang Theory? Out of The IT Crowd? Has The Sarah Connor Chronicles already passed your expectable threshold of continuity errors? Have faith, young padawan. Though TV’s sudden embrace of geek culture has not lessened how crappy most of it is, there does remain some shows out there that speak to how the real nerds get down. And this coming Wednesday, one of the best is touching down right here in......

The big story this morning is about a young couple - him a Penn grad, her a Drexel student - who allegedly burglarized neighbors' apartments, stole identities, made fake driver's licenses, and opened phony credit card accounts, all in the name of living the high life. The two were arrested Friday, but are free on bail. The Daily News has a more detailed look at some of their scams in an article with a typically......

First, some updates on stories we linked to yesterday: the Inquirer has the unsettling details and about the shooting of a 5-year-old boy early yesterday morning, and how it connects with other recent incidents of violence in the city. As for the Turnpike shutdown, it lasted six hours, causing a ripple effect of traffic jams on adjacent roadways and stranding hundreds of motorists at the height of morning rush hour. The judge in the......

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......