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Days after a Philadelphia police sergeant was killed with a semi-automatic rifle, Mayor Nutter and Gov. Rendell called upon Congress to enact a new federal assault-weapons ban that would remove such weapons from the streets."The time has come for politicians to decide," said Rendell at the City Hall news conference attended by top police brass and state elected officials. "You have to decide whether you're on their side - the men and women who wear blue - or whether you're on the side of the gun lobby."The federal assault-weapons ban, which lasted from 1994 through 2004, outlawed an array of...

PHILADELPHIA (May 7) - Fifteen police officers were taken off the street as authorities investigate a video showing three suspects being kicked, punched and beaten after they were pulled out of a car during a traffic stop. "At a glance it does appear to be a bit beyond the pale," Doug Oliver, a spokesman for Mayor Michael Nutter, said Wednesday. "Officers are not allowed to operate outside of the law." The police department identified the 15 officers who were involved in Monday night's arrests in the city's Hunting Park section, where police had been investigating a triple shooting, Oliver said....

PHILADELPHIA, April 17, 2008 – The World Affairs Council of Philadelphia honored U.S. troops and veterans of service in Iraq and Afghanistan during a dinner here yesterday. U.S. Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hands a commemorative coin to a soldier before the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia dinner in Philadelphia, April 16, 2008. The council presented its Atlas Award to U.S. troops and veterans of Iraq and Afghanistanin to recognize their service. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Adam M. Stump   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

Philadelphia - While the Commission on Human Relations may think the fight against cheesesteak tycoon Joey Vento is out for the count, the steak slinger himself said he's got one more round in him. Advertisement From the brick walkway honoring fallen Philadelphia police officers outside Geno's Steak in South Philadelphia, Mr. Vento, flanked by his attorneys, said he is giving the Commission on Human Relations 30 days to decide whether or not to change a vital piece of its policy - or else they will sue. On March 19, the commission, in spite of pressure from City Council to press...

A Philly Tax Cutter Can Mayor Nutter cure the city’s cancer? With 380 homicides recorded already this year, a spate of recent cop shootings, and one particularly gruesome cop killing that led to a nationwide manhunt, Philadelphia is among America’s most dangerous big cities. The crime issue dominated this year’s mayoral race, which Michael Nutter, a blunt and sometimes histrionic former councilman, eventually won. But while crime gets the most attention, Nutter’s success as mayor will ultimately rest on improving the city’s dysfunctional economy. Notwithstanding the glitzy renaissance taking place in its center, Philadelphia is an economic basket case. The...

Last Edited: Thursday, 27 Mar 2008, 6:06 PM EDT Created: Thursday, 27 Mar 2008, 4:43 PM EDT An armed man continues to keep authorities at bay on the Walt Whitman Bridge. The Walt Whitman Bridge between South Philadelphia and Gloucester City, N.J., has been closed since about 4:30 p.m. New Jersey State Police Capt. Al Della Fave says troopers tried to stop a vehicle for a minor speeding violation, but the driver wouldn't pull over. He says troopers stopped the pursuit after a few minutes because the man was driving erratically and police feared someone would get hurt. After that,...

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia agency has ruled that English-only signs at a famous cheesesteak shop are not discriminatory.

Prime beef is the highest-quality, tenderest, most richly marbled meat from a small percentage of cattle. Ultimately, about 2 percent of American beef makes the cut and is stamped USDA Prime. Most prime meat goes to high-end restaurants. Only a few retail sources, mostly in major cities - Philadelphia included - and online/mail-order sources sell prime beef to the public. Many butchers will custom-order it. Prime beef and branded products of near-prime quality are available at Wegmans and Whole Foods markets. Branded beef is typically at the high end of its designated grade level. Unless labeled prime, that's Choice or,...

NEW YORK - A former Philadelphia TV news anchor accused of hitting a New York police officer left court a free woman Monday after a judge said she will dismiss newly reduced charges if the defendant behaves for six months. Charges against Alycia Lane, 35, were downgraded to misdemeanors after prosecutors said scratches on the female officer's face weren't serious enough to warrant felony assault charges. Lane's lawyer David S. Smith denied she hit the officer early Dec. 16. A police complaint said she put a video camera in the face of another officer as he tried to put a...

A Philadelphia teenager celebrating his 16th birthday is fighting for his life after a shooting over a snowball fight. Authorities said the Feltonville teen, identified as Tavin Rutledge, was shot in the head at point-blank range while playing with neighborhood friends in the 4800 block of D Street. Witnesses say the shooting was sparked from a casual snowball fight amongst children. "Everyone was playing and throwing snowballs and one little boy ran and got his dad. His dad came around with a gun and shot him," said Renay Reeves, Tavin's aunt. Police said an adult male used a gun to...

FOLSOM, Pennsylvania (AP) -- The skies won't seem especially friendly to anyone taking off from Philadelphia International Airport if they notice what a suburban couple wrote on the roof of their home. "(Expletive) U FAA," the message reads, though one letter of the profane word is substituted with an underline. Below that it is a picture of a plane with a slash through it and the words "no fly zone." Homeowner Michael Hall and his girlfriend, Michaelene Buddy, are angry that jets have been flying over their house since last month, when the Federal Aviation Administration altered departures heading out...

The Philadelphia School District says they will launch an investigation into a disturbing video posted on Myspace. The video shows two girls fighting as other kids and adults egg the fight on. ---snip--- In the background of the video, you can hear a man's voice saying "uppercut her, uppercut her." At some point, Shaquia says "I can't breathe." Another voice, a woman's says "I'll give you five seconds

PHILADELPHIA - For the second year in a row, city officials are being asked how police officers responding to celebratory New Year's Eve gunfire ended up shooting innocent bystanders. This year, police chasing an armed reveler shot into a house filled with partygoers, leaving one man in a coma, a second wounded and a 9-year-old boy with a graze wound to the chest. A year ago, police fatally shot a man in the back of the head as he tried to flee when neighbors started shooting guns into the air. The latest shootings came as Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson ends...

SO I'M lying on a sunshiny beach in Florida earlier this week, enjoying 84 degrees of warmth, and find that I'm thinking about Joey Vento. No, I wasn't yearning for a "cheeze-wit." I was reading about a language dispute even more insane than the decision by the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission to haul Vento into court. As we all know, Vento is charged with discrimination for asking his customers to speak English. (The sign at Geno's reads, "This is America. When ordering, please speak English.")

Despite progress, the city's murder rate is No. 1 among big cities. Figures tell the story, but don't nail the solution. AS Philadelphia approaches the new year and a new mayor, the murder rate remains an appalling blight on the city's reputation and a threat to our quality of life. While shootings and other violent crimes are down from last year, there's only slight improvement from the 406 homicides recorded in 2006. As of last night, the city had suffered 391 murders in 2007, the highest rate per 100,000 residents among the nation's 10 largest cities. It hasn't always been...

A hearing was expected to continue into the evening on whether Geno's Steaks owner Joey Vento discriminated against non-English speaking patrons by posting an "Speak English" sign at his South Philadelphia shop. The Rev. James Allen, the chairperson of Commision on Human Relations, was the first witness to testify late this afternoon, followed by University of Pennsylvania professor Camille Charles. Charles, a professor of sociology, said the number of foreign-born residents living in the South Philadelphia neighborhood near Geno's grew more than 200 percent between 1980 and 2000. When shown historical signs from the Jim Crow era in the South...

The Urban League of Philadelphia's 2007 State of Black Philadelphia report paints a grim picture on the issue of race and inequality. It's a pretty dismal report. But it reflects the level of poverty in Philadelphia," Elijah Anderson, Yale University sociology professor, said yesterday. Anderson, formerly with the University of Pennsylvania, is among several experts invited to an Urban League symposium on the report at the Loews Hotel at 9 a.m. today. Crafting its findings as the "Philadelphia Equality Index," the Urban League's report says that black Philadelphians' quality of life ranks as just 72 percent of that of their...

PHILADELPHIA -- This may be the last free Thanksgiving dinner for the Boy Scouts of Philadelphia. Citing a local 1982 "fair practices" law, the city solicitor has given the Scouts until Dec. 3 to renounce its policy of excluding homosexuals or forfeit the grand, Beaux-Arts building it has rented from the city for $1 a year since 1928. "While we respect the right of the Boy Scouts to prohibit participation in its activities by homosexuals," the solicitor, Romulo Diaz, said last week in an interview, "we will not subsidize that discrimination by passing on the costs to the people of...

City Wide Youth Leadership Agency's William Mackey spends a lot of time talking about toys, but he isn't playing around. He and other anti-violence advocates believe children playing with fake guns can potentially turn into a game of life or death, and Mackey's group is dedicated to boycotting stores who carry them. "This is very, very important," Mackey said. "Philadelphia's streets are a bloodbath." With the holiday season right around the corner -- and people already shopping for presents -- Mackey and his friends want stores that carry toy guns to hear their message. He and others promise to not...

COMMITTEE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL JUSTICE P.O. Box 306, Cheltenham, PA 19012 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 10, 2007 Contact: Don Adams, ###.###.#### Teamster Beating Victims Appeal Judge’s Order To Pay Union $15 Grand Philadelphia – Two Clinton protesters, viciously beaten up by a group of pro-Clinton teamsters outside Philadelphia’s City Hall during a presidential visit nine years ago, last week appealed a federal judge’s order to pay two teamster unions $15,000.00 in legal costs stemming from an October, 2000 Federal Civil Rights suit. Five members of Teamsters Local 115 eventually pled guilty to criminal assault, conspiracy, and various other charges in the...

Philadelphia police and black community leaders called on Wednesday for 10,000 men to volunteer to patrol the streets of America's most dangerous big city in a bid to halt a surge in murders and violent crime. In an initiative that organizers hope will be copied in other cities, the unarmed and non-uniformed volunteers would patrol selected areas in an attempt to deter drug dealing and other street crimes that have given Philadelphia the highest murder rate among the 10 largest U.S. cities. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson, a key backer of the plan, said it will be officially launched on...

A good article written by a trauma surgeon comparing his Iraq experience with that of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Besides this there is this: "...More young men are killed each day on the streets of America than on the worst days of carnage and loss in Iraq. There is a war at home raging every day, filling our trauma centers with so many wounded children that it sometimes makes Baghdad seem like a quiet city in Iowa. "...Unlike the Iraq conflict, this war is not on the front pages of The Post or on CNN. You have heard of the Washington area...

(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA -- Governor Ed Rendell called attention to the deplorable condition of many Pennsylvania bridges, following a deadly bridge collapse in Minneapolis during the height of rush hour Wednesday. “We’re first in state owned bridges that are over 75 years of age. We are also first in the nation in number of structurally deficient bridges", Rendell said. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, there are roughly 25,000 bridges in Pennsylvania, 5,900 of which are structurally deficient. According to a Federal Highway Administration web site, a “deficient” rating does not necessarily mean a bridge is likely to collapse;...

A killing spree this morning began with a triple homicide outside a Southwest Philadelphia bar and ended with two more shooting deaths in other parts of the city. The deaths bring the total homicides this year to 233, on pace to be the highest in a decade

A little after 8 p.m. Tuesday, gunfire erupted on a Germantown street, and after the shattering noise receded, three men lay wounded, one fatally. The death of Akir Thomas, 29, of the city's West Oak Lane section, was the 162d homicide in Philadelphia this year. The triple shooting, on the 5100 block of Henley Street, mirrored other killings in the city, and with the city on a pace to surpass last year's 406 homicides, officials have taken notice of a quirk in the crime figures: While shootings overall are down, the proportion of homicides caused by gunfire is up. Through...

(CBS) PHILADELPHIA The city of Philadelphia is planning to unveil three dozen street signs marking the ‘Gayborhood’ Wednesday. The 36 signs adorned with the internationally recognized symbol of a rainbow, also known as the ‘Freedom Flag,’ will be placed from Chestnut to Pine Streets between 11th and Broad Streets. During a brief ceremony at 13th and Locust Streets, the Philadelphia Gay Men’s chorus is expected to sing “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” as confetti canons cap off the celebration. Philadelphia will join four other cities, San Francisco, Chicago, Montreal and Toronto, who have dedicated permanent installations designating gay-friendly neighborhoods.

With about 85 percent of Philadelphia’s homicides involving guns, gun control advocates are urging state lawmakers to limit handgun purchases to one per person per month.

Angel Rodriguez told NBC 10 that he needs crutches to get around because at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, police beat him and broke his ankle. "I was right here looking down right in front of the house," Rodriguez said. Rodriguez said police were on his block making a drug arrest, but then he started videotaping what he thought turned into police brutality. "There was like five cops on each person. They had the one lady on the floor they was kicking her and the other guy they had handcuffed against the car and they were beating him with the sticks,"...

--snip-- Philadelphia marked its 100th homicide of 2007 yesterday --snip-- The scene quickly grew even more surreal. The mother of a third shooting victim arrived and told police: "I know who did it, and he's in this crowd." As the woman looked around for the gunman, the crowd berated her and told her to keep silent, the officer said. "People were telling her to be quiet and saying, 'We'll get you, bitch.' " Police called for reinforcements. "How are we supposed to end this when we're up against these kinds of societal values?" asked the officer

(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA -- A violent night left two people dead, several injured and the city marked a grim murder milestone. The city’s 100th homicide this year occurred on the 4900 block of Aspen street around 5:45 a.m. Saturday morning. 36-year-old, Dwayne Green was shot in the torso and taken to HUP where he was later pronounced dead. Three males were shot, one fatal, on the 2800 block of North Ringold Street in North Philadelphia around 10:00 p.m. Friday night. The fatally injured male was 14-year-old Taron George of North Philadelphia. One of the injured males is in critical condition,...

High levels of radioactivity were detected Thursday after officials found the stolen nuclear gauge device that had been taken from a construction site on Monday, police said. A piece of the device was missing and the case was opened when officials found it near Germantown and Hunting Park avenues. Authorities blocked off the area because they said there's a good chance the gauge was crushed at a nearby salvage yard. The Department of Homeland Security was on the scene to assist in the investigation. The gauge, which contains small amounts of radioactive material, is used for measuring the density of...

In an unusual display of police might, Mayor John F. Street and Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson yesterday announced plans to deploy 80 additional police officers in the 12th Police District in Southwest Philadelphia. For emphasis, the officials, after inviting media coverage, conducted a roll call of 80 uniformed police officers in the parking lot of Woodland Village Plaza at 60th Street and Woodland Avenue about 4 p.m. The roll call, in which officers drilled in formation and displayed their handguns, was held "so the people of this community can see that we are serious about the problem of crime and...

At a minumim, I will be running a van (bus if need be) from the Philadelphia area to the Gathering of Eagles this coming March 17th in Washington DC. Those who want to go, Freep Mail (i.e., "Private Message") with your availability and contact information or email me at raouldeming@hotmail.com. Plan on a 6:30 AM departure and a 10:00 PM return.

English-only cheesesteak fight continuesBy PATRICK WALTERS Associated Pres The battle over an English-only ordering policy at one of Philadelphia's signature cheesesteak joints is apparently far from over. The city's human relations commission found evidence that the owner of Geno's Steaks may have discriminated against immigrants by posting a sign telling customers, "This is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING 'PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH,' " according to a letter sent to owner Joe Vento last week. Vento's attorneys had hoped the matter would be dropped, but the commission said in the Jan. 31 letter that it found probable cause that discrimination occurred and was moving...

A federal appeals court refused yesterday to revive civil-rights claims against Gov. Rendell, District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham, and Teamsters Local 115, part of a lawsuit filed eight years ago by a man who says he was beaten and falsely prosecuted after protesting a 1998 appearance by President Clinton. The opinion by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is likely the end of the federal suit filed by Don and Theresa Adams, although Adams has said he will press civil claims involving state law in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. Neither Adams, 46, of...

Philadelphia Police were involved in the third deadly shooting in the city in just a week. Last year, police shot and killed 20 people. Just after 1 a.m. Saturday. Police responded to a report of a man burglarizing a house in the 6300 block of Ditman Street. Initial reports claim a 16 year-old male ran from police, allegedly pulled a shot gun, and turned and shot three times. Police returned fire killing the man.

Four murders on the day before Christmas pushed the city's 2006 homicide total to 400 for the first time in nearly a decade. The last time the city reached the 400 mark was 1997, when the year ended with 418 murders. That marked the last of eight years in the 1990s in which there were at least 400 killings, including a record 500 in 1990, according to police statistics. The spate of overnight violence started when a pizza delivery man was shot while trying to make a delivery in the city's Frankford section at about 11:45 p.m. Saturday. He was...

It's a sad record to match, but Philly's trigger-happy thugs have managed to pull it off. The city recorded its 380th homicide yesterday, matching the disturbing total of murders from 2005. With a few weeks still left in December, police officials admit this year's final tally could reach 400. Homicide investigators said the latest slaying occurred in bizarre fashion inside a house on Clearfield Street near F in Kensington. Police said Ronald Santiago, 35, and an unidentified 44-year-old man were exiting the house about noon when they were confronted by three men who were dressed in dark clothing and who...

PHILADELPHIA - City prosecutors struggled in a high-profile case this week to get fearful witnesses to stick to their stories, finding a deeply entrenched "code of silence" at work even in the slaying of a 5-year-old girl. In an example of witnesses "going south," or recanting testimony, four key witnesses in the Sept. 25 drive-by shooting of Casha'e Rivers took the stand in city court and withdrew statements they previously gave police. In the most striking reversal, a witness whose statement was videotaped by police one day after the slaying told the judge he had just told police what they...

After talks between Philadelphia's two largest papers and their biggest union bogged down over pension issues last night, the head of the union urged management to "sober up" or face a strike as early as today. Representatives of the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia warned evening-shift workers at The Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News to be prepared for a walkout today after yesterday's bargaining session ended. Guild president Henry J. Holcomb said in a memo that the papers' owners refused to compromise on their "desire to take full control of our [pension] fund" and stop contributions to the plan. "The...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The largest union at Philadelphia's two biggest daily newspapers is planning to launch an online newspaper to compete with the company Web site if workers go on strike after midnight on Thursday. Employees from The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News would contribute local content that will be edited and posted online, said Stu Bykofsky, a Daily News columnist and spokesman for their union, The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia. ``It's to provide news and information for the community so they won't be deprived,'' he said. In competing with Philly.com, the union's PhilaPapers.com would sell ads and...

There was real pain in Andre Waters' voice. This was April. Waters was on his cell phone, driving a carload of at-risk teenagers to a barbershop and then on to a barbecue place. He was working with court-adjudicated youths, but still trying desperately to get back into the one business he knew best. "I love the kids, I really do," the former Eagles safety said that day, just six months before he apparently took his own life. "But football, that's where I believe I have the most to offer. I just can't get a chance." Waters, 44, died early yesterday...

CBS / AP) PHILADELPHIA A Philadelphia civic group and the city's top cop will hold a news conference Monday morning calling for an end to the bloodshed after an especially violent weekend. Men United for a Better Philadelphia will join with Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson at 10 a.m. at Philadelphia's City Hall calling for a "Cease Fire" in neighborhoods plagued with violence. The location of the news conference is near the scene of one of the city's most recent shootings. A man was wounded from gunfire in downtown Philadelphia, rounding out a deadly weekend with several unrelated fatal shootings around...

Marimow Predicts 'Painful' Cuts At 'Philadelphia Inquirer' Jed Kirschbaum/Baltimore 'Sun' Bill Marimow By Joe Strupp Published: November 09, 2006 10:55 AM ET NEW YORK Incoming Philadelphia Inquirer Editor William Marimow told his new staff Wednesday that cuts are likely at the legendary paper, but promised that the daily would continue to provide quality news, although more of it local, the Inquirer reported Thursday. "With the paper facing a costly fall in national advertising and tough union contract talks with a Nov. 30 deadline, Marimow warned of 'painful' staff cuts and narrower horizons at a paper that has prided itself on...

In precincts 7, 19, 51 in Philly, PA, the crowds are going wild. Inside several voting locations, individuals have poured white out onto the polling books and the poll workers are allowing voters to go into the polls and vote without first registering. Several individuals are on hand demanding that voters vote straight Democrat. RNC lawyers have headed to the scene of the incidents, which are occurring in mostly hispanic precinct locations. The District Attorney has also been contacted.

The Philadelphia Inquirer newsroom has received a request from Philadelphia Media Holdings CEO Brian Tierney. “We’ve been asked to plan for as many as 150 people to be laid off,” says Inquirer managing editor Anne Gordon. That figure represents more than a third of the newspaper’s editorial staff. At the end of last week Inquirer columnist Tom Ferrick had issued a memo cautioning the staff not to panic and reminding them the layoff threat had arrived during tough contract negotiations. The Newspaper Guild, which represents Inquirer and Daily News editorial employees, is refusing to accept several of management’s contract proposals,...

WHEN YOU GO to vote on Tuesday, you might find your polling place has moved since you last voted, thanks to new laws and court action. And if you're in a Latino area of the city, the Justice Department wants a judge to order federal observers into your polling place. The feds say they're protecting your rights; the city fears voter intimidation. At least one thing should be reassuring: City officials have figured out what caused more than 200 electronic voting machines to break down in May, and they're confident that won't happen again. Of the city's 1,681 divisions, 142...

Proving that local owners are under the same pressure that big newspaper chains face, one of the new owners of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News told employees this morning the papers are set to report one of the worst declines in ad revenue in its history. Brian Tierney, publisher of both papers, issued a memo to employees outlining the tough environment facing newspapers after meeting with several union representatives yesterday. The guild and management are currently negotiating new contracts. In the memo, Tierney explained that advertising revenue for July and August was down compared to the same months last...

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A couple found a man raping a young woman in their driveway and tried to flee with her but were shot to death by the attacker, police said. The teenager was also shot and was expected to recover, police said. A suspect was arrested. The couple came upon the attack when returning to their home in the Fern Rock neighborhood from a night out late Wednesday, police said.

In this summer of gun deaths, T-shirts promoting violence are popular in the city HAMEEN NURIDDIN is no stranger to what the streets can dish out. He works for the city school district, in the office that is responsible for school safety. It's his office that responds when students are affected by violence in or out of school. That's why Nuriddin was so dismayed when his 16-year-old son, Yusef, brought home a shirt he had recently purchased from Kicks USA in the Quartermaster Plaza, at 22nd Street and Oregon Avenue in South Philly. The white T-shirt has an oozing, blood-red...