"Republican City Councilman Jack Kelly is suing a Lawncrest man for a smear campaign that Kelly says nearly cost him last year's general election." "Police are looking for the driver of a gray Ford pickup who may have been involved in or witnessed the wounding of a Glendora man in a road-rage shooting Sunday night near the Walt Whitman Bridge." Barack Obama will be all over Philly tomorrow, with rallies in four neighborhoods. A......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. We posted a link to an xkcd comic a while back wherein a character created a virus that would force commenters on YouTube to listen to any comments they tried to make by reading their words back to them aloud. The idea was to shame them with their own stupidity. Clever and funny—and now, reality. The developers at YouTube created an option that......

With the great clash between Philly and LA coming up tonight, it's time to compare the cities and start trading barbs. (Meanwhile, as the Eagles seem to drift further and further from a championship, they at least have phone sex with Playboy Playmates to console them.) This weekend a number of political superstars will be coming to the region, including Sarah Palin, who'll be dropping the first puck at the Flyers' regular-season opener at the......

A really interesting piece of commentary in the Inquirer describes an exchange between Sarah Palin and a Temple student and how it got blown up into a bit of a national scandal. NFL star Marvin Harrison was never charged in a North Philadelphia shooting this spring, even though various pieces of evidence seemed to point in his direction. Now the victim is suing Harrison over the incident. "Two men and a 24th District police officer......

The Daily News has a lengthy article on Philadelphia-based model Ray Armstrong and the circumstances that led to him being arrested for the murder of Anthony Williams. Police are seeking a rapist who assaulted a woman in a party bus parked at Lincoln Financial Field during Sunday's Eagles game. Albert L. DiGiacomo, the Chester County chief of detectives, has not been seen on the job in over a month, and no one seems to......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. VH1 Hip Hop Honors (Mon, 10PM-12AM, VH1) Tracy Morgan hosts the fifth annual event, which will honor Cypress Hill, De La Soul, Slick Rick, Naughty By Nature, and Too Short. Those folks will all also perform, along with Big Boi, Biz Markie, Bun B, Ghostface Killah, Wyclef Jean, Kid Rock, Lil Jon, MC Lyte, and Scarface. Animal Cops: Philadelphia (Mon, 10PM-11PM, Animal Planet; Tue, 10PM-11PM, Animal Planet)......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Religulous A documentary about world religion, directed by Larry Charles, of Borat and Curb Your Enthusiasm fame, and starring Bill Maher. The freshness rating is above average, but this Phillyist stopped finding Maher funny a few years ago, and doesn't really get the Larry Charles style of embarrassment humor either, so we'll be giving this one a miss. Trailer - Freshness Showing at: Ritz at the......

A mother and daughter prostitute team in Wissinoming, who promised to "double your pleasure" in Craigslist ads for their services, were arrested yesterday by an undercover police officer. At a defendant's sentencing hearing yesterday in a robbery and attempted rape case, the woman who had been the victim of the attack began hyperventilating in court and then collapsed in an anteroom. She was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and later released. The defendant was......

A note to those wishing to go through somebody's wallet: you might want to make sure that there's not a surveillance system in place. And if there is, like the one at DnA Salon in Northern Liberties, you should probably check to make sure that there aren't cameras all around the surrounding area, like there are in Liberties Walk. You're just asking to get caught. More information about this video here.......

How about those Phils? Their success is good, not only for fans, but also for the local economy. The election is getting closer, which means it's time for some voter intimidation! "An anonymous flier circulating in African-American neighborhoods in North and West Philadelphia states that voters who are facing outstanding arrest warrants or who have unpaid traffic tickets may be arrested at the polls on Election Day." This is false. A plumber was buried......

Bruce Springsteen will play a free show on the Parkway this Saturday as part of an open-air rally for Barack Obama. The latest poll shows Obama still leading John McCain in Pennsylvania. In fact, thanks to efforts by the Obama campaign in the area, Democrats now have a 1.1 million registration edge in Pennsylvania, with large gains in the traditionally Republican Philadelphia suburbs. Coverage of Patrick McDonald's funeral. 25-year-old Michael Thomas was held for trial......

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you. Finally, a couple of really important commentators give their opinions on the presidential debates: Statler & Waldorf (via Jill)! And while we're talking about the presidential election, check out Download Squad's handy list of nonpartisan fact-checking sites. And also keep in mind that you can register to vote through Xbox Live! We're really depressed that Terminator: The Sarah......

The House rejected the economic bailout plan yesterday and the Dow plummeted. The Inquirer takes a look at how local folks and small businesses are coping with the economic crisis, and the Daily News finds that things are going well for at least one set of businesses: secondhand shops. A second-grade student at Harrington Avery D School in West Philly brought a bag of marijuana to school yesterday and showed it off to his......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Mon, 8PM-9PM, Fox) Uh oh, looks like they might have already run out of story ideas on this show; in this episode they're falling back on that old TV cliche, the amnesia episode! A software glitch has landed Cameron in a halfway house with no memory of her identity. Meanwhile, Agent Ellison is probing Catherine Weaver's past after meeting with her about......

A fire broke out in City Hall shortly after 4:30AM on Saturday in a judge's chambers. The chambers were being remodeled and were not occupied. It's possible that an electrical problem was the cause. There were no injuries, although three other offices sustained smoke and water damage. Latrice Bryant, chief legislative aide to Philadelphia City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr., issued a letter of apology to Goode yesterday for holding up signs during a......

Hey kids, in case you haven't noticed, Powerball is up to $200 million bucks. That's pre-tax, of course, and only if you take the annuity payouts. Heck, even if you take the lump-sum, that's over $100 million before taxes, and you're still gonna clear in the mid-to-upper eight figures. Yahtzee! Okay, so odds are, we're not gonna win Powerball. That won't keep us from buying a few tickets, of course. Heck, we wouldn't mind winning......

The murder trial of Hakeem Bey goes to a Common Pleas Court jury today. Ten minutes into the prosecutor's closing argument yesterday, juror number nine signaled for a break; some heard her say, "I'm scared. I don't think I can do this." She was excused and replaced. The case has been fraught with witness intimidation. Meleanie Hain of Lebanon used to take her holstered Glock 26 handgun everywhere for personal security, but her concealed-weapons......

More information on Daniel Giddings, the accused killer of Philadelphia police officer Patrick McDonald. There's also more on McDonald himself and the area where he was killed, and details on his public viewing. "Service on SEPTA's R6 commuter rail line has been suspended in both directions after a person crossing the tracks this morning was struck by a train." With the presidential election fast approaching, and the key battleground state of Pennsylvania still up......

SustainLane has ranked Philadelphia eighth in sustainability among US cities. (Via Aaron) Philly.com has detailed coverage of the murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Patrick McDonald and its affect on the community. Residents of Northern Liberties, Kensington, and Fishtown are fighting a plan to convert the Jumbo Theatre, at Front Street and Girard Avenue, into a concert venue. "The Montgomery County mother who purchased an assault rifle for her teenage son, who was plotting a Columbine-style......

Thomas Daley, a 45-year old Phoenixville man who owns 16 apartments in Norristown, has been arrested and accused of spying on female tenants. Michelle Obama will make several appearances this week in the Philadelphia area. John McCain spoke yesterday at the Delaware County Courthouse. The new penny, unveiled yesterday morning, was designed partly in Philadelphia. A 52-year-old man was in critical condition after being shot in the Mill Creek section of West Philadelphia last......

"A two-alarm fire tore through an eastern Pennsylvania home late Saturday, killing three children only hours after a birthday celebration." Lane closures and traffic restrictions. "A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury this morning begins hearing testimony in the murder trial of Hakim Bey, an alleged member of a violent South Philadelphia drug gang." Four men were hospitalized—three in critical condition—after several shootings across the city last night. Contract negotiations are getting testy between the......

Yesterday, local Jewish leaders criticized a poll performed by the Republican Jewish Coalition that targeted 750 Jewish voters in swing states, including 150 in Pennsylvania. It sounds like the thing was a push poll that was attempting to convince voters that Obama is pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel. Authorities issued a warrant yesterday for Dorien Oberlton's arrest in the case of Tuesday's vicious beating of Eric Derrickson in an underground subway concourse. Several witnesses came forward to......

A report is due out today from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council comparing heart surgeries at area hospitals. John Jackey Worman, the Delaware County man whose child porn case we've been posting about here for some time, was convicted in federal court of dozens of child-pornography charges yesterday. Worman could spend the rest of his life in jail. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. An off-duty SEPTA police officer was......

Seven people were shot in five separate incidents within about a 12-hour span from Monday into yesterday. The judge for the Fumo corruption trial is still ill, a fact that may delay the trial for at least a month. Monday was the first work day with higher tolls on the DRPA's Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman, Commodore Barry, and Betsy Ross Bridges, so it's not entirely surprising that commuter traffic dropped on those bridges Monday,......

SEPTA is getting pretty popular, with rail ridership up 12 percent from a year ago, to its highest point in 25 years of rail operations, but the popularity has brought with it its own problems: crowded trains and parking lots. 43-year-old Tarriq Ali, sentenced to a life term in Delaware, was being transported from California back to Delaware by a private prisoner transportation service when he escaped at Philadelphia International Airport. He is still at......

As part of his attempt to convince Philadelphia business leaders to hire ex-convicts, Mayor Nutter hired one himself: Ronald L. Cuie, as director of the Mayor's Office for the Reentry of Ex-offenders. But Cuie was quietly demoted six months later. Nutter's explanation: "Needs and strategies change and evolve over time, and you utilize your personnel as best you see fit." But the Inquirer points out that while in the position, "Cuie nearly doubled his staff......

The Inquirer is covering some of the nightmarish testimony at the Worman child porn trial. D'oh. Philadelphians have been ranked the ugliest again. (Via Ross) Yesterday citizens and other officers paid their respects at the public viewing for Police Officer Isabel Nazario. An additional viewing is being held until 11 this morning at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, with a mass scheduled for noon. The bleak economy and overly optimistic budgeting have led......

On the anniversary of 9/11, the Inquirer considers the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville (John McCain will speak there today), and takes a look at how schools in the area observe the date. Pennsylvania's smoking ban goes into effect today. A 74-year-old grandmother of six was struck by a SEPTA bus Monday at Broad and Oregon. She died yesterday of her injuries. Only hours before her death, a man in a wheelchair was struck......

Sources say that Governor Rendell and Mayor Nutter will announce at a 1PM press conference today that Foxwoods Casino has made an agreement with the state and the city to move its long-delayed slots parlor, originally planned for the South Philadelphia waterfront, to the Gallery at Market East. In January, former President Bill Clinton will replace former President George H.W. Bush as chairman of the National Constitution Center. Bush suggested Clinton as his replacement and......

We're starting off with a very weird and disturbing story this morning. Shortly after midnight on Thursday, on the SEPTA subway near the Fairmount Avenue stop, a bearded, stocky, 5-foot-9, thirty-something black man in a yellow shirt and black pants, accompanied by a three- or four-year-old child, took out a hammer and, with no provocation whatsoever, began using it to viciously beat a 20-year-old man who was dozing off in his seat nearby. Surveillance......