INQUIRER: The crash happened about 1:45 a.m. when the Buick, northbound on North 16th Street, ran a red light and slammed into a Toyota Corolla, which was westbound on Vine Street. The two men in the Buick then jumped into a Pontiac, which sped away down the nearby on ramp to the westbound Vine Street Expressway, Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told reporters at the scene. The Buick was last seen westbound on I-76 at Montgomery Avenue, he said. Two men in the Toyota were pronounced dead at the scene. Their bodies, covered by sheets, were still in the mangled […]
Charlie Gillett, Godfather of World Music, Dead At 68
BBC: BBC World Service DJ Charlie Gillett has died after a long illness, aged 68. Known as a champion of world music, the Lancashire-born broadcaster passed away on Wednesday morning, his official website confirmed. The author and publisher had contracted a disease of the autoimmune system, and last week suffered a heart attack. Gillett is credited with discovering Dire Straits in 1976 after playing Sultans of Swing from their demo tape on his Radio London show Honky Tonk. ‘Sorely missed’ He also wrote an acclaimed history of rock’n’roll, The Sound of the City, in the 1970s. World Service director Peter […]
THE PEACE CORPS DIARIES: Letter From Paraguay
EDITOR’S NOTE: Phawker South American Bureau chief St. John Barned-Smith just started a two year hitch in the Peace Corps teaching English in rural Paraguay. BY ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH Hello everybody. I hope you are all well. This will be my first blog entry since I landed on the ground in Paraguay about three weeks ago. There’s been a lot that happened since then. Lets start at the beginning. I landed in Asuncion with 48 other freaked out and excited American men and women – all young, below the age of 30. There are 24 in my group (including me) […]
THIS JUST IN: SEPTA Joyride Ends In 16 Car Pile-Up
INQUIRER: A 16-year-old boy is in custody after taking a SEPTA bus for a joyride this morning and crashing it into 15 vehicles. “The kid claims he took the bus because he wanted to practice driving for his driver’s license,” said Michael Chitwood, superintendent of the Upper Darby Police Department. The incident began about 11:25 a.m. at the 69th Street Terminal. The boy, who was playing hooky from school, was walking down Victory Avenue when he saw an unoccupied, idling bus. The temptation was too great to resist. Minutes later, Upper Darby police were alerted that a bus that the […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Karl Rove’s new memoir, Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight, details his lengthy time on the campaign trail and also responds to his many critics. In the book, Rove distances himself from the rumors that he spread false information during the 2000 election about John McCain fathering an illegitimate black child — a rumor credited with helping George W. Bush defeat McCain in the South Carolina primary. Rove also blames himself for improperly defending President Bush against accusations that Bush misled the American public about the reasons for the Iraq invasion in 2003. […]
SCRAPPLE TV NEWS: With A.P. Ticker
Bling heist at the Franklin Mills mall, smackdown at the Aramingo Diner. Sure sounds like March Madness.
JUNK SCI: The Birds, The Bees And Thoreau
BY ELIZABETH FIEND JUNK SCIENCE EDITOR I’ve been reading Wild Fruits, an unfinished, recently published manuscript by American naturalist Henry David Thoreau. The book is a combination of diary and essay, chronicling the ways Thoreau spent his days and what he learned during the final years of his brief life. With each page I get more jealous, wishing I too could spend my day stalking a bee to find its hive and to learn what type of flower the bee drinks nectar from and how that affects the flavor of the honey. Of all the things I love to do […]
Taking Some Of The Hurt Out Of The Hurt Locker
BY JEFF DEENEY Last week Municipal Court President Judge Marsha Neifield announced the official opening of Philadelphia’s Veterans Court. Veterans Court is a new problem-solving court along the lines of other initiatives like Drug Court, DUI Court and Mental Health Court. The problem solving court model is geared towards a specific population of non-violent offenders in the criminal justice system who can benefit from interventions other than incarceration, like drug and alcohol and mental health treatment. The public safety risk posed by the typical problem-solving court offender is low and the benefits of treatment are great, so these programs are […]
Harrisburg Kills Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment
COMMONWEALTH CONFIDENTIAL: For the third time in four years, lawmakers have defeated an attempt to advance legislation to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage. This time the Republican-majority Senate Judiciary committee voted 8-6 to table a bill (SB 707), introduced by Sen. John Eichelberger (R., Blair) to amended the constitution to define marriage as being between a man and woman only. The vote came before a packed hearing room without any debate. Opponents called it a victory for gay rights. “I believe that Senate Bill 707 is the antithesis of what Pennsylvanians need and want, and I am happy that the majority […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Writer Michael Lewis is the author of Moneyball, Liar’s Poker, and The Blind Side, books with vastly different subjects but a common theme: Outsiders with innovative ideas who find astonishing success. Lewis’s newest book continues that narrative. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine chronicles the 2008 financial collapse through stories of the people who realized what was happening to the U.S. economy while it was happening — and then made vast fortunes by betting against the markets. “Everybody [on Wall Street] was working with the same set of facts about subprime mortgage lending — about how subprime […]
CONSPIRACY THEORY: Lady Gaga And The Illuminati
THE VIGILANT CITIZEN: Lady Gaga’s 9-minute video featuring Beyoncé is steeped in weirdness and shock value. Behind the strange aesthetic, however, lies a deeper meaning, another level of interpretation. The video refers to mind control and, more specifically, Monarch Programming, a covert technique profusely used in the entertainment industry. We’ll look at the occult meaning of the video “Telephone”. Just when I thought I’d written everything I had to write about Lady Gaga, Telephone comes out. An inevitable deluge of e-mails instantly followed, demanding an article about it. So I watched the video and, gosh darnit, the people who wrote […]
Fired Police Officer Cops To Teen Boy Solicitation
DAILY NEWS: A former Philadelphia police officer [not pictured, above] and military veteran arrested in December for trying to solicit teenage boys for sex has pleaded guilty without going to trial. Adrian Makuch, 49, during a routine pre-trail conference in Common Pleas Court on Thursday, pleaded guilty to a felony count of unlawful contact with a minor for the purpose of prostitution and to misdemeanor counts of luring a child into a motor vehicle and of patronizing prostitutes. The 21-year police veteran could face from seven to 14 years in prison when Judge Karen Shreeves-Johns sentences him June 16. She […]
SIDEWALKING: Empire State Of Mind
7th and 32nd NYC 9:15 AM by JEFF FUSCO