Free Republic

Two people were caught on surveillance video rummaging through the pockets of a Philadelphia man who was dying on a sidewalk after being shot, police said. The 38-year-old victim took three bullets to his chest after getting into a fight with a man in the city’s Hunting Park neighborhood Wednesday evening.

Following a Philadelphia shooting, an 11-month-old boy was left clinging to life after his father used him as a “human shield” to thwart a potential angry drug dealer, prosecutors said in a new report. Yaseem Munir Jenkins was struck in the head, neck and buttocks while in the back seat of a moving car in the city’s Hunting Park section Oct. 19. Authorities said at the time that Yaseem’s father, Nafes Monroe, his stepmother and another man were also in the car when shots suddenly rang out. Now, Monroe — who was previously taken into custody on a probation violation...

Update: The principal and four teachers at Cayuga Elementary School in Philadelphia's Hunting Park section have been charged with fostering a culture of cheating on standardized state tests there over a 5-year period, Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced Thursday. Kane said the educators changed student answers, provided test answers to students and improperly reviewed Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) test questions before giving the tests. After the cheating stopped in 2012, the schools test scored dropped dramatically, Kane noted. In 2008-09 state proficiency tests, Cayuga's fourth graders excelled: 88.8% pass math and 83.9% pass reading. By 2012-13, the most...