It's Book Quarterly time! They got fiction, non, and some excerpts. Politics get under their skin, and may keep someone from coming home again. Meanwhile, the PA delegates to the RNC had quite a trek from bed to boardroom. As if Chester didn't have enough issues, now they got the Bloods and Crips running around. Frankly, Philly has enough to worry about without nursing homes, so we tend to agree: get out of the business.......

Drama Queen alerts us that Mayor Michael Nutter announced the opening of the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, a "Frankenversion of the old Office of Arts and Culture (OAC)." You may recall that the OAC had been closed by former Mayor John Street four years ago, leaving the city as an embarrassing example of a major American city without a cultural affairs office.......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Screenings Under the Stars: The Bourne Ultimatum at the Great Plaza at Penn's Landing (Chestnut and Columbus Blvd). Activities start at 6:30PM, movie around 8PM. Free You Can Has Outdoor Movies: Laughter on the Banks Summer Movie Series presents Office Space at Walnut Street Dock (25th and Walnut, underneath Walnut Street Bridge), 8PM. Free Srsly: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the Northeast Philadelphia Airport......

The Comcast Building has a gigantic TV! Who'd have thunk it? Note to self: posting a YouTube video of yourself waving a gun while threatening cops is not protected by the first amendment. Mayor Nutter has endorsed a long-term waterfront development plan for the Delaware River. Because it's likely that the casinos planned to be built in the area will interfere with his vision of a pedestrian-friendly extension of the city grid, expect some major......

We’ve often seen our relationship with SEPTA as a “loveless marriage,” too: The City and our beloved transportation system are promising a more cooperative relationship leading to “a vibrant, clean, safe and efficient transit system.” And they got a bridge they can sell ya, too. Police fear a serial robber who has hit 20 businesses is getting bolder, which may lead the armed bandit to become violent. The description is as vague as usual, but......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: First Person Salon: How Philly Moves, a multi-disciplinary documentary of dance from photog JJ Tiziou and sculptor James Peniston, and featuring Andrew David Watson, Nicole Bindler, and Miss Koco, at the Gershman Y (401 S Broad), 7PM. $10 Sheets of Sound: Author Francis Davis will read from his biography of John Coltrane, Sheets of Sound, presented by Ars Nova Workshop, at the Kelly Writers House (3805 Locust Walk),......

The first weekend in April brought with it a host of grim violence, including two home invasions, a robbery, a stabbing, five shootings, and a homicide. Not on the list: A man was assaulted and robbed on the El Friday night by three men wearing black wigs. For those keeping track at home, that’s three assaults around the El in the last 10 days. Mayor Nutter assures us that they are just isolated incidents. Representatives......

Highway Patrol Officers were passing a house on Jefferson Street near 26th on Friday night when they spotted a man who matched the description of someone who had robbed and shot another man earlier that night. When they arrested him, they discovered that the house had a cache of drugs, money, and weapons, including seven loaded handguns, an AK-47 assault rifle, a shotgun, two Kevlar vests, $3,000 in cash, and $25,000 worth of cocaine. In......

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......

Teamsters plan to rally outside the Four Seasons Hotel at 18th Street and the Ben Franklin Parkway at 1:30PM today because AmerisourceBergen Corp.'s annual shareholder meeting is being held there at that time, and the teamsters are accusing the company of unfair labor practices. Remember how Rick's Steaks was fighting to stay in the Reading Terminal Market? Well, the fight continues. A recent court ruling dismissed most of Olivieri's claims against Reading Terminal, but Olivieri's......

SEPTA will announce its "Go Green Go SEPTA" initiative this afternoon at Market East Station. (We've already seen the ads up there; they're posters with real moss or grass glued to them.) The idea is to increase ridership to reduce emissions that contribute to global warming, and they've timed it for the Philadelphia Flower Show, which runs March 2-9 at the Convention Center and is typically a time of increased ridership. General manager Joseph......

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 close look at Mayor Nutter's first budget proposal. The subtitle of the article is: "The $3.98 billion plan seeks bonds for pensions and a kitty for unions." Awww, that's nice! He's getting a kitty for the unions! We hope it's a cute kitty. David C. Sicoli, a Philadelphia priest with "a long history of abusive and manipulative relationships with adolescents," according to a grand jury report, has finally been defrocked by......

Sons of Ben and other Philly area soccer fans rejoice: the Inquirer says sources are telling them that "Major League Soccer is moving swiftly toward an agreement that will grant a long-sought expansion team to the Philadelphia region." Saint Joe's will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 5PM today to officially open its new Hawks' Landing parking and retail facility at 54th and City Avenue. Hawks' Landing is a $19 million project that features a five-story,......

The Inquirer takes a hard look at the soccer stadium that's being proposed for Chester and whether it will really help the city as much as some people say. "The fate of the city's public golf courses is in the hands of City Council today in a hearing to examine a proposed contract to run them and, hopefully, improve them." Well, it's good to know City Council is taking care of the really important things.........

Mayor Nutter has cut taxpayer-funded nonprofit Philadelphia Safe and Sound's funding by $21 million, and City Council's majority leader said she would call today for hearings to look into how Safe and Sound conducts its business. The funding cuts will result in the closing of ten school-based community centers; the termination of a parent-truancy program; and the elimination of many after-school programs. As the head of one after-school program put it, "It's a fiasco."......

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......

Proofreading Philly tries to capture typos, wordos, and all other kinds of grammatical mistakes that we see around the city. But we need your help! Email photos to us from your computer or your phone, and show the city that you care about good grammar. Mr. Philadelphia Will Do himself, Dan McQuade, submitted this gem from Mayor Nutter's itinerary from last Friday. Surely, a mayor with a new plan for public education (PDF) should hire......

"A weekend Philadelphia police clash with partygoers at a Latina girl's 'Sweet 15' celebration ended with at least 20 people alleging they were beaten by officers, prompting the first major internal investigation of officer misconduct under new Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey." A woman 28 weeks pregnant was killed with a single shotgun blast to the back shortly after 1AM this morning on the 4600 block of Griscomb Street. She was found by police......

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......

The Inquirer takes a look at a local and national trend of gay CEOs coming out. Mayor Nutter has tapped a Philadelphia native, and city planner who specializes in urban revitalization, to be the city's next commerce director and deputy mayor for economic development. Key Pennsylvania lawmakers have yet to say whether they support the construction of a riverfront stadium that would be necessary to bring a Major League Soccer team to the Philadelphia area,......

The Daily News analyzes Paris Hilton's visit to the area yesterday, and comes to the rather surprising conclusion that she's a nice lady and her only real fault is that she's not punctual. The Philadelphia Museum of Art's exhibition of American artist Bruce Nauman has been selected to appear in the US Pavilion of the the 53rd Venice Biennale, "one of the most important art gatherings in the world." Mayor Nutter revoked a license given......

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 Inquirer takes another look at the troubling recent increase, both locally and nationally, in the shooting of police. Mayor Nutter, in his first speech outside the city since the election, as the keynote speaker at the Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry's annual dinner, got a standing ovation before and after, and urged Southeastern Pennsylvania to come together and work as one to achieve greatness. Police are still investigating gunshots fired shortly before......