You know how Michael rolls – green. And not green like dollar bills with 19" wheels and reverse-spinning rims. Green like he's going to be reducing his carbon footprint. The new Mayoral wheels are a Chevy Tahoe Hybrid. And he even saved the city some coin, as he paid for the Tahoe with his leftover campaign funds rather than taxpayer money. Of course, we think that if Michael was really serious about helping save the......

The president and board chairman of the city-funded nonprofit Philadelphia Safe and Sound testified yesterday that they were forced by Mayor Street and his senior aides to spend an extra $21 million that they knew did not exist in the city budget. It's those expenditures that have forced Safe and Sound to cancel dozens of programs in recent weeks. You can find copies of Safe and Sound's testimony online here and here. Insiders say......

The Inquirer takes a look at the future of local public transportation fare systems. SEPTA could be going with a smart card that's more like a new-generation Visa or MasterCard than it is like PATCO's recently introduced Freedom card. Next up in Milton Street's fraud trial: testimony today from a Vietnamese business owner that Milton supposedly cheated out of $80,000 for a share of a nonexistent airport subcontract. Child-care advocates and children will be......

Last Friday & the weekend: Michael defended his decision to cut $21 million in funding to Philadelphia Safe and Sound, the program that, as we mentioned last week, John Street had shifted money to in the waning days of his administration. And he announced that the Department of Public Welfare would be auditing Safe and Sound's finances for the last couple years. Michael also ignited Governor Rendell's fury with his revocation of SugarHouse's casino license,......

Yesterday the state Gaming Control Board appointed a retired university president as trustee of the Mount Airy Casino Resort, due to the fact that its owner, Louis DeNaples, was charged last week with lying during his application for a state gaming license. In the wake of Super Tuesday, the Daily News and the Inquirer both take a look at how the candidates fared and what voter turnout was like in the area. The Daily......

The Inquirer takes a look at the political landscape on the morning of Super Tuesday. If you're from New Jersey or Delaware, remember to vote! As long as you've done your research, and you care at all. If neither of those things are true then please, don't vote. A federal lawsuit filed in December says that President Bush's housing czar, Alphonso Jackson, pressured the Philadelphia Housing Authority to transfer land worth $2 million to Kenny......

Yesterday Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey unveiled his plan for getting Philly out of its "crime emergency." The plan includes deploying 200 more officers to dangerous parts of the city, and it will hopefully help Ramsey fulfill his pledge to reduce homicide in Philadelphia by 25 percent. Of the plan, Ramsey said: "There is nothing fancy about it. It's fundamental, it's basic. This is not Batman and Robin coming out of a cave somewhere." That's......

Philly sure can attract the celebrity. Yesterday Senator Hillary Clinton graced our fair walks to secure support from Governor Rendell and Mayor Nutter for her presidential bid. But her appearance pales in importance against the paragon of womanhood who is visiting us today. Yes, folks, that’s right: Paris Hilton is in town. Again. This time she’s not shilling perfume, but rather her new film The Hottie and the Nottie. Although it doesn’t get an official......

The PA Guv is meeting up with New York Senator and 2008 Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at City Hall. The Inquirer reports that the 1:15pm meeting was added to her schedule late last night. Phillyist suspects a last-minute cheese steak craving may have been the motivating factor behind the visit, but it may have something to do with Governor Rendell's endorsement of the candidate-formerly-known-as 'first lady', which he will make official at the meeting today.......

Heath Ledger died yesterday afternoon in a NYC apartment, and early indications are it was from an overdose, but an autopsy will be performed today to determine the facts. Gothamist has a detailed, much-updated post on the topic. Both the Inquirer and the Daily News are taking a look this morning at the three finalists for the job of chief executive officer of the School District of Philadelphia, and the Inquirer also has a look......

Governor Rendell has proclaimed January 11, 2008 “Sister Rosetta Tharpe Day” in the State of Pennsylvania. There will be a benefit concert to honor the gospel music legend that night at the Keswick. (Via Bob) You can catch a film profile of Allen Iverson by rapper Nelly tonight at 10:30PM on IFC. The Inquirer has a short interview with A.I. about the project. "A federal judge refused yesterday to release on bail the five men......

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......

As Phillyist Sarah pointed out yesterday in a comment on Philly in the News, Mark O'Donnell was arrested yesterday in the murder of Ebony Nicole Dorsey, the daughter of his girlfriend. He's been charged this morning with beating, strangling and sexually assaulting the 14-year-old. Dorsey's mother says the attack came after O'Donnell had been smoking crack all night, but O'Donnell says that's not true and that he caught the girl molesting his daughter. About 100......

The "10,000 men: A Call to Action" campaign will get started in earnest on Saturday when they put the first 200 men on the streets. It'll be a field exercise for squad leaders, and apparently they'll also be doing a door-to-door campaign to alert neighbors of the effort. Then they'll be patrolling in South Philadelphia next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening. John Lewis, the suspect in the murder of police officer Chuck Cassidy, was......

The Inquirer has the story of an American soldier from Bucks County who worked hard in Iraq trying to rebuild the country and is now home for the holidays. Princeton University scientists announced yesterday that they'd discovered a way to reproduce the chemical signals that the bacteria that cause cholera use to communicate with each other, which opens up the possibility of a new way to fight bacteria: talking to them in their own......

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......

Hey, it's election day! And what with the Mayor's race being a foregone conclusion and everything, the interesting stuff is happening in the fight for two seats on the state Supreme Court. The search for John Lewis, the suspect in the murder of Officer Chuck Cassidy, is over. Police apprehended him at a homeless shelter in Miami at 7AM. They tracked him down after learning that a relative had bought a bus ticket to......

The Daily News takes a look at the high rate of shootings by Philadelphia cops in connection with the recent shooting of 15-year-old Ronald Timbers. The police version of that incident is told in detail here, while in this article the Inquirer talks about the investigation into which version of the story is true. In a vaguely related story, an American Bar Association report released yesterday says that the Pennsylvania death penalty system is......

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......

Remember earlier this year when Center City criminal defense lawyer Larry Charles was found naked with a partially dressed 14-year-old girl at the Criminal Justice Center? How could you forget, right? Well, his trial begins today at 9AM in Common Pleas Court. University of Pennsylvania sophomore "Anne Ryan, 19, was hospitalized Saturday afternoon in critical condition, and died early yesterday morning" of meningococcal meningitis. Penn has therefore issued a health alert for those who were......

A West Deptford High School student jumped into the Delaware River Wednesday night to help three friends whose boat was stuck on an island off National Park. Sadly, authorities now believe he drowned, though searching will resume for him this morning. Divers will also resume searching the Delaware River, in this case off Chester, for another missing person this morning: Floyd Nelson, the father of NBA player and former St. Joseph's University star Jameer......

Lawrence Richette, 48, the son of veteran Common Pleas Judge Lisa A. Richette, was arrested Tuesday for beating his 79-year-old mother at her Center City home. "He was released on his own recognizance yesterday - his birthday - pending a preliminary hearing Oct. 29." He was also ordered to stay away from his mother, for obvious reasons. But the story gets worse (better?). When NBC10 reporters knocked on his door for a comment, he......

Andy Reid's son Britt pleaded guilty yesterday to four charges. His lawyers are arguing that he's full of remorse and are angling for him to get probation, but he could end up being sentenced to six to 14 months in jail. We won't know for sure until later this year. The FBI is looking for a filthy dude in connection with the robbery yesterday of the Trumark Financial Credit Union at 1811 John F. Kennedy......

Famous rocker and local dude Bon Jovi doesn't like that the name of the Mijovi energy drink is so similar to his own, so he's got his lawyer sending them letters telling them to stop using it, and suggesting something like "My Jovi" instead. Which... actually makes it look more like "Bon Jovi" to us. (Via Jill) More news about toxic gas leaks! The Oxford Valley Mall in Langhorne was closed early yesterday morning when......

The latest on the Rick's Steaks controversy: the Reading Terminal Market Merchants Association has declared Saturday "Save Rick's, Save The Market Day," and will be holding a news conference at 10AM at Rick's Steaks. "T-shirts, hats and buttons will be sold to raise funds for Olivieri's legal defense." Marjorie Rendell (that's Governor Rendell's wife) was being driven in an SUV by a state trooper Tuesday night at 8th and Pine when a luxury car......

Late last night Governor Rendell made a deal with top lawmakers that ended the budget standoff and the partial shutdown of state government. The Daily News has a run-down of some of the crime that occurred in the city this past weekend, and it includes a story about a potential burglar getting his head caught in a trapdoor and suffocating to death while trying to rob a bar. In other crime news, a man......

Six people were killed in Philadelphia yesterday, on the first day of summer. Three young men were gunned down in North Philly in the morning, two were killed and a third critically injured in Kensington in the afternoon, and the sixth person was shot to death in Kingsessing at around 10:30PM. That's 195 for the year now, if you're counting. Do any walking on the 1300 block of South Street? Then you probably already......

Oops - 21 students, a teacher, and two chaperones on a field trip from a NJ elementary school got left behind in Philly yesterday. Apparently their duck boat got back late, and the bus they were supposed to be on left on time when nobody noticed they were all missing. Uh... how do you not notice that you're missing 24 people?! A woman from Germantown had her home invaded and was robbed and raped......

One of the suspects in the planned attack on Fort Dix applied to be a Philadelphia police officer in April, but luckily he didn't get very far in the procedure, as he was ineligible for various reasons. Remember that story about some of the Penn State football players getting into a fight? Well, the law hasn't sorted out what exact punishments they'll receive yet, but Joe Pa has. Good old Joe Pa. (Via Jill,......

The Inquirer points out that Bob Brady's pledge to wipe out nepotism apparently was meant to have an exception for him and his family. It's coming out now that the widening of the PA Turnpike's Northeast Extension will require more private property than previously announced, affecting "property owners in the Montgomery County communities of Plymouth, Whitpain, Worcester, Upper Gwynedd and Towamencin Townships." Governor Rendell has a Prescription for Pennsylvania, and it begins with "a......