A planned merger between Wolf Block of Philadelphia and a Florida law firm has been called off due to the risks presented by the struggling economy. Meteorologists warn that Tropical Storm Hanna could hit the Philadelphia region with high winds and pounding rain tomorrow night and Saturday. A 62-year-old white electrician working at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia hung a noose in a black electrician's locker on August 11th. He says it was just a dumb......

"A Delaware County woman, who allegedly helped her boyfriend lure young victims to her babysitting service so he could secretly tape sexually explicit videos of them in what authorities have called the 'most horrific case' of child exploitation they have seen, pleaded guilty in a federal courtroom yesterday. " 29-year-old Anthony Derubeis of Upper Darby decided to barbecue some books on his grill yesterday morning. When firefighters arrived, he started throwing stuff at them,......

Four people were killed in the area over the Labor Day weekend, and this morning two more men were found slain in a second floor apartment over an electronics store in North Philadelphia. But good things also happened this Labor Day weekend, like a nice Labor Day parade, and Pennsylvania State Sen. Anthony H. Williams' annual street party in West Philadelphia where more than 2,500 people got free meals of hot dogs and turkey burgers.......

Michael's been living large at the Democratic National Convention. Apparently, Hillary Clinton heard about our mayor's wicked mic skills, because he was asked to serve as emcee of Hillary's pre-roll call reception, where she announced to her supporters that she would release her delegates to nominate Barack Obama by acclamation. Speaking of the convention, we really hope Michael's staffers are having a good time and getting our money's worth for their little excursion. It......

A 22-year-old New Jersey man found guilty of beating another man in the parking lot before a Phillies game last year, has been sentenced to at least a year of nonreporting probation, allowing him to be deployed to Iraq with the National Guard in just a few weeks. The military deployment is being considered part of his sentence. SEPTA bus schedule changes start tomorrow with Regional Rail changes following on September 7th. It's all part......

A new list, released yesterday by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, shows a 67 percent increase in Philadelphia schools that are deemed persistently dangerous. The Inquirer has both a simple list and a map of the schools The nationwide Million Father March—which consists of fathers taking their children to school, participating in home and school events, and signing a pledge of nonviolence—kicks off locally this Sunday night. A 15th District police officer suffered minor injuries......

Hey, we made it to the top of another good list, Philadelphia! Zagat says the citizens of our fine city are the most generous tippers in the nation. The Daily News talks to two Philadelphia area men about their experiences after being arrested and thrown into a Chinese prison. In an effort to cut costs and avoid layoffs, the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia voted last night to postpone until next August a $25-a-week......

Yesterday former skinhead Thomas Gibison was sentenced to up to 25 years in prison by a Common Pleas Court judge for conspiring to commit a racial killing more than two decades ago. A Philadelphia police officer was responding to a call to assist another officer around 1AM this morning when his police car collided with another car at a downtown intersection. The officer is listed in critical condition, but his prognosis is good. Yesterday, the......

The sustainability revolution is sweeping the nation, as consciousness shifts from a mentality of environmental degradation to one of preservation. According to the Inquirer, “Going Green” is quickly becoming the purview of local colleges, as administrators look for ways to contribute to the sustainability movement. Area schools such as Arcadia University, Muhlenberg College, and Philadelphia University have added courses or concentrations in sustainability. Villanova has gone one step further by naming is naming its coming......

"Police last night charged a Yellow Cab Co. driver with vehicular homicide in an early-morning hit-and-run in Logan that left a young mother clinging to life and her 5-year-old son dead." A couple of unrelated incidents involving firearms took place early yesterday morning in Philadelphia. In the first incident, a retired Philly cop working as a pizza delivery man was accosted by three teenagers, one of whom pointed a gun at him while the......

Well, sort of.You didn't think somebody was going to hire him after all the mess he's landed in, did you?......

Michael must be running out of John Street appointees to remove from posts, because now he's doing it to his own staff. Ronald Cuie, whom Michael appointed as head of the Office for the Re-Entry of Ex-Offenders, has been removed from that position and will now be a "special assistant" to the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety. So much for being the good government guy who won't piss away our tax dollars on b.s. Michael......

Former CBS3 anchor Larry Mendte is scheduled for a plea hearing at 9:30AM this morning at the federal courthouse at Sixth and Market Streets, where he is expected to plead guilty to hacking into the personal e-mail of onetime colleague Alycia Lane. Lawrence Scott Ward, 65, a former marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, is already serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison for trafficking in child porn, but yesterday new......

Philly.com is breaking news that, following a meeting between representatives of Foxwoods and Mayor Nutter and Governor Rendell, Foxwoods is considering looking at a different location to set up shop if and when they finally get around to building their casino in Philadelphia. It has to be emphasized that Foxwoods is considering an alternative location to their proposed site in South Philadelphia/Pennsport. This is by no means a definite, but it is the first sign......

Yesterday morning, 20-year-old Community College of Philadelphia accounting student Fakhur Uddin was bound with duct tape and string, shot in the head, and left in the back room of the East Germantown gift and sundry store he was minding for his ailing father. Police believe he was killed during a robbery. Apparently one of the key witnesses against Vincent Fumo in his corruption trial will be his own son-in-law. In the hopes of keeping......

Dorrell Shaw, 26, who was wanted for questioning in the recent series of sexual assaults in Frankford, turned himself in to police yesterday. But authorities warn the case is by no means closed; Shaw was in prison during the first of the assaults, and it's quite possible he was not responsible for any of them. The rebuilding of the Market-Frankford El, a project that is now $300 million over budget and two years behind schedule,......

We're so proud: one of the Eagles cheerleaders (Janelle Stangl) has been named by Maxim as one of the NFL's four "most gorgeous" cheerleaders in the magazine's September issue, which hits newsstands today. Click through for a pic. The Daily News describes a climate of fear and anger in Frankford, with residents on the lookout for a serial rapist. "Anticrime activists passed out flyers in the neighborhood yesterday while police—in a massive manhunt—took the unusual......

A look at how locals are faring in the Olympics. Police are still searching for the rapist or rapists who have been terrorizing the Frankford section of Philadelphia. A man was arrested Saturday in a kidnapping and sex assault, but police don't believe he's connected to the other incidents. The Inquirer takes a look at the crowded and sometimes dangerous conditions on the Kelly Drive bike path at Boathouse Row. The Daily News lists......

Another week, another deal between Michael and a union. The last union left without a deal now is the firefighters. Based on what happened out in Conshy the other night, Michael might want to get crackin' on that right away. The Inquirer took a look at Michael's watershed moments and took the position that maybe our mayor isn't as calm, cool, and collected as he's often portrayed. Michael had his own stern words directed at......

A lawsuit by the Philadelphia firm of Cozen O'Connor blaming the government of Saudi Arabia for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks is probably dead in the water now after a federal appeals court ruled yesterday that Saudi Arabia could not be sued for acts of terrorism. A 1-year-old child was slashed in the neck yesterday afternoon at a North Philadelphia home. The suspect is believed to be the child's father, but police are withholding the......

The big story is the huge fire that started early last night at the Riverwalk at Millennium apartment complex in Conshohocken. The fire destroyed three buildings and left three others damaged. Residents of the apartments are trying to cope with the loss of their homes and, in some cases, pets. This morning, fire trucks were still on the scene and firefighters were napping on the sidewalk as embers from the buildings smoldered. In the wake......

But in case you didn't, the Daily News was on the scene, too.......

When Eagles defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley returned to his South Philadelphia townhouse after a preseason game early Saturday morning, he found it had been ransacked. Someone forced open his back door and made off with $7,950 worth of guns, video game systems, and cameras. Police say evidence was collected at the scene that would hopefully lead them to a suspect. Yesterday, amid criticism that they were seeking to profit from their child's death, Andrea and......

This was the scene at the GameStop in the Gallery a little before 8AM this morning as folks lined up to get their copy of Madden NFL '09, which gets released today. Blurry picture taken by the author with his camera phone.......

The parents of Danieal Kelly have filed a lawsuit against their criminal co-defendants, blaming them for the girl's demise. Leonard P. Luchko, a top computer technician for State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo pleaded guilty yesterday and told a federal judge that he followed Fumo's orders to erase e-mails being sought by federal agents investigating the powerful Philadelphia Democrat. Apparently he failed to erase incriminating e-mails from his own devices, however. Police responded to reports......

August 11, 4:30PM – About twenty minutes ago, this Phillyist heard a loud crash in her Old City office and noticed a Philly Trolley Works trolley seemed to be stopped at an odd angle just past the southeast corner of Third and Market, near Pizzicato restaurant. We're not sure of the details, but it seems that the trolley hit a Ryder moving van near the Ben Franklin Post Office between Third and Fourth Streets,......

Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC, owner of the Daily News and the Inquirer, requested their union employees to forego a $25-a-week raise scheduled to begin September 1st, as a cost-cutting measure in the face of declining revenue that has afflicted newspapers nationwide. Members voted overwhelmingly to do so. Early this morning, someone called police to report a break-in at a South Philadelphia home. The homeowners were away at the Shore. While investigating, police critically wounded a......

Michael publicly blasted the DHS workers connected to the death of Danieal Kelly (and we are totally with him), but then had to scramble to do some damage control with other DHS workers, who apparently weren't too happy with his comments. And in connection with the above story, was Michael's passionate, off-color language inappropriate? (Obviously, we're going with a big fat NO on this one.) City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell urged Michael to aggressively address the......

Dan McQuade of Philadelphia Will Do (maybe you've seen us mention him) has been assigned the enviable task of getting paid (by Vanity Fair!) to watch television for the next two weeks—specifically, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, which kick off tonight on various NBC networks. You can check out his blog, chronicling as much of the 3,600 hours of coverage as he can stand, right here.......

Undercover officers were standing in as prostitutes on Kensington Avenue yesterday afternoon and Wednesday, cracking down on prostitution. Some lucky schmuck bought the winning Powerball ticket last week at the Turkey Hill Minit Mart in Willow Street, PA, just south of Lancaster. This Phillyist can sadly report that it wasn't him. But whoever it was will be revealed at 10 this morning. A group of residents in Yorktown feel their community is being threatened because......