Poor Philly. We've been named the city with the most unattractive people, the fattest, and the most miserable. But, finally we've caught a break. Walkscore.com—an online tool to help people find great neighborhoods to live in—named Philadelphia the fifth most walkable city in the country. San Francisco was number one on the list, with New York and Boston coming in second and third, respectively. Although, one has to wonder how San Francisco is so walkable......

Recently a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld Mumia Abu-Jamal's conviction in the killing of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, but said a new jury should decide whether he deserved life in prison or the death sentence for the crime. But Abu-Jamal is asking the federal appeals court to reconsider, and is still seeking a new trial. Despite a threat from Senator Fumo that their tax breaks......

Remember, Eagles fans: tickets go on sale this morning at 10AM. The Inquirer offers tips on how to score some for yourself. Today is Philadelphia City Council's last meeting before summer break, so they're going to try to make decisions on a lot of leftover items at the last minute, including proposals to hike fines for littering, privatize the city's sludge plant, take control of Fairmount Park, force contractors to keep sidewalks open during construction......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Medicine and Rats: Authors William Frankl and Harris Cohen read from their respective works The Merger and Rat Tales and Other Stories (the latter set in West Philly) at Robin’s Bookstore (108 S 13th), 6PM. Free Folky: The Fairmount Park Commission sponsors a folk dancing session with instruction (no experience or partners needed) every Tuesday on the Art Museum Steps (26th and the Parkway), 8-10:30PM. $3 White Rabbits:......

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......

No, we'd never heard of Victor, either, and we wouldn't exactly know that these photos were taken in Philly if someone didn't tell us... but hey, it's cool nonetheless.......

All seasons have their harbingers, but spring's seem to be the prettiest, especially in the D.C.-to-Boston corridor that we're strategically placed in. What makes springtime so lovely in these parts, you might ask? Well it's certainly not the weather we've been having of late. We were thinking more along the lines of the annual appearance of fluffy pink and white cherry blossoms on trees throughout Fairmount Park, commemorated annually with the Subaru Cherry Blossom......

We're having a hard time figuring out how many stores are participating, but the Starbucks in the Gallery at 9th and Market is closed today out of respect for Sean Patrick Conroy, the Starbucks manager who recently lost his life in an attack on a SEPTA platform. A sign at the store says it will reopen tomorrow. The latest on the PA primary race: Barack Obama spoke in Allentown yesterday, criticizing Republican nominee John McCain......

Remember those makeshift stables in Strawberry Mansion that animal cruelty investigators raided yesterday? Well, the owners of about 40 of the horses living there removed their animals yesterday, as ordered. About 20 more horses were allowed to stay in three garages on Fletcher Street near 27th that had been made into stables while owners of those properties made repairs. The other structures will be bulldozed today. Yesterday, City Council gave final approval to a lease......

Governor Rendell said that he would back the indicted Senator Fumo's reelection bid if Fumo just asked him. Ed says: "We would be lost in Harrisburg without him because of his skill. He has done great things, and we are lucky to have him." The Inquirer is getting excited about the Philadelphia Flower Show, which will have a preview opening for selected guests tomorrow, and then open to the general public on Sunday. Catherine......

Philadelphian Karen Kilimnik has been selected as one of the artists for the 2008 Whitney Biennial, an exhibition of recent American art at the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC. (Via Jill, via Lenny) Frank Funaro, who runs a nightclub and a real estate business on South Street in Philadelphia, was robbed of $40,000 yesterday morning at his home in Washington Township, New Jersey. A gunman, apparently deliberately targeting the family, was hiding in......

Raise your hand if you enjoy live music festivals. *Phillyist raises hand* Now, raise your hand if you’re an un-American communist who doesn’t like the idea of live music in a beautiful Philadelphia park (or cute little kids raising their hands, like at left). *Select members of the Fairmount Park Commission raise their hands* Yesterday, the Fairmount Park Commission voted to table a multi-day, multi-stage festival in Fairmount Park and your help is needed. As......

Oh, man. Did you see that Rick Santorum is writing an opinion column for the Inquirer now? Ugh. In vaguely related news, John Street's post-mayoral employment, beginning in January, will be at Temple University as a professor of urban politics and policy. Governor Rendell, who himself is an adjunct at U. Penn, encouraged Street to make the move. Officials responding to a report of a fire at a home in Upper Darby yesterday discovered......

A male and female student are hospitalized, the former in stable condition and the latter with serious injuries, after a shooting at around 1AM this morning at Delaware State University. The campus has been locked down and classes are cancelled for today as police search for the gunman. Praxis released their preliminary recommendations on how to redevelop the face of the Delaware River at a community meeting yesterday. They suggest a public park every......

Tuesday Join the Bucks County Choral Society for their open Summer Sing of Orff's 'Carmina Burana.' Trinity Episcopal Church (6587 Upper York Rd., Solebury); 7:30 PM; $10 Wednesday The Holy Trinity's brown bag lunch series continues with the Father John D'Amico Jazz Trio. Holy Trinity Rittenhouse Square; 12:30 PM; FREE Friday The Haddonfield Players continue their run of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance. 957 E Atlantic Ave, Haddonfield, NJ; 8 PM; $18......

Finished within the last year, this newly-landscaped part of Fairmount Park lies between the Waterworks Restaurant and the Spring Garden Street Bridge, from which the photo was taken. Photo by author, SkyscraperSunset.com, July 10, 2007.......

Wednesday The Chester County Concert Band will delight audiences with a program of patriotic, Broadway, and classical tunes. Rose Tree Park (Media); 7:30 PM; $8 Thursday Bring a lawn chair and a flashlight and head to the Delaware Valley Opera Company's Summer Festival performance of Mozart's The Magic Flute. Paul D. Osimo Outdoor Theater in back of the Hermitage Mansion (Fairmount Park); 7:30 PM; $20 Friday The Atlantic Coast Opera Festival presents "It's a......

Highway and transit funds are currently the subject of much debate in this state and others around the nation. Rendell has given up on his idea of increasing PA's sales tax because, he says, the economy is doing better than expected, and it won't be necessary. Better get practising, folks, because American Idol is coming to town. The reality show will be holding auditions, with Simon, Paula, and the whole crew, at the Wachovia Center......

A mother who had been barred from contact with her son for being physically abusive towards him managed to sign him out of his elementary school on Tuesday and police are now searching for her and the boy. The boy is seven years old and asthmatic. Call Southwest Detectives at 215-686-3183 if you have any information. "A recently completed 'citizens' inspection' of a third of the 140 parks operated by the Fairmount Park Commission and......

Area anti-casino forces are attacking on various fronts. Next month the City Council will vote on whether to include a question on the next ballot which could put the decision of whether to have casinos in the city or not in the hands of voters. Bill Cosby gave another of his patented controversial talks at a Save Our Children forum at the Community College of Philadelphia on Wednesday. Meanwhile, (perhaps at Cosby's insistence?) cops......

Landon Donovan continued to put ’06 in the past with a stellar performance against Mexico last night. He capped off USA’s victory with a blistering charge through midfield, in which he shed two defenders before deftly turning to the left to avoid keeper Oswaldo Sanchez and slamming the ball home to make it 2-0 at the 90 minute mark. In his last two games he has 3 goals after going 18 international appearances without a......

A 65-year-old woman and a 70-year-old man recently morphed into Catwoman and Batman. According to this article, Jim and Nell Hamm, married for almost 50 years, kicked some mountain lion ass this weekend. We think it went down like this: When a mountain lion began to maul Nell Hamm’s husband, she took off her old-lady hiking clothes, exposing a patent leather Catwoman suit. Cartwheeling over the cougar that was gnoshing on her husband's head, she......

Though MLS hopes to create a revolution in American sports with the signing of David Beckham to the L.A. Galaxy, it's more likely the move will have much more modest results. Über-celebrity that he is, one has to keep in mind that Beckham’s best playing days are behind him. As of today, it seems doubtful he’ll see any playing time with Real Madrid’s first team during the remaining 6 months of his contract with the......

We always thought that whole "criminals return to the scene of the crime" thing was a myth, but this 20-year-old apparently robbed the same 7-Eleven (on Stenton Avenue near 18th) eight times. By the eighth time, the police had kind of caught on, and had two plainclothesmen stationed there, waiting for him. He didn't drop his weapon immediately after being ordered to, so they shot at him, and missed. They caught up with him a......

No doubt about it, Philly's got a lot to offer: a thriving theatre scene (don't forget, Fringe is just around the corner), fabulous museums, loads of live music and more historical hoopla than you can shake a stick at. However, there are some hotspot trends in places far, far away that look cool too, and Phillyist is wondering why local entreupenuers aren't jumping all over them. Dammit! We want them too! Private room karaoke: It's......

Today a new family-friendly attraction is opening at 6th and Race, courtesy Once Upon A Nation and Fairmount Park, and in celebration of Ben Franklin's 300th birthday. It's the new Franklin Square (more on its history here), featuring an old-fashioned carousel with 30 horses; a restored 19th century fountain; a picnic area (with food provided, it sounds like); an 18-hole Philly-themed mini golf course (called, appropriately enough, Philly Mini Golf); and two new "state-of-the-art"......

- The fire that burned in Fairmount Park church Eden Hall Chapel is believed to have been intentionally set. - A decomposing body was recently discovered in Old City, right on the heels of a body being found in South Philly. -This Phillyist works out in Bala Cynwyd, and has been witness to the slow-but-steady demolition of the old Adam's Mark Hotel, so we were especially disturbed to hear that a worker was trapped in......

(a.k.a. the only day of the year where Philadelphians try not to hit bikers in Fairmount Park): 1. Where do I get me one of THOSE guys? 2. How do they go to the bathroom? Check that -- I'd rather not know. 3. Wait, what bank sponsors this race? I don't think I heard you the first 600 times, and those signs really aren't big enough. 4. Spandex should only be embraced by a......

Thursday afternoon, two men, one of them wearing a full burka, kidnapped a woman as she entered a Philadelphia International Airport terminal. They took her cash, jewelry, and cell phone battery, and then dropped her off on Polar Drive near Kelly in Fairmount Park. Since the police believe she knew her kidnappers, and the incident took place outside the airport security checkpoint, this is not being considered a terroristic crime, or a threat to travellers......

The Penn and Drexel Cycling Clubs are co-hosting The Arkema Group Schuylkill Challenge Bicycle Race in Fairmount Park this weekend. (Note that the title of that last page we linked to predicts the winner as Penn - we wonder if the folks at Drexel, not to mention the other schools, have noticed that yet.) It's actually a series of bike races and time trials taking place in various places and at various times on Saturday......