CNN: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has apologized for “a serious breach of protocol” in which the parents of the late Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal were posthumously baptized as Mormons. The church also acknowledged that three relatives of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel were entered into the genealogy database, though not referred for baptism. Asher Wiesenthal and Rosa Rapp were baptised in proxy ceremonies in temples in Utah and Arizona, according to the database records discovered by researcher Helen Radkey in Salt Lake City. The Wiesenthal baptisms violated a 1995 pact in which the church agreed to stop […]

DAILY NEWS: The owners of Atlantic City’s Steel Pier, facing pressure from animal-rights groups, have scrapped a plan to bring back the diving-horse act that made the boardwalk venue famous for decades. “Instead of trying to rekindle the past, we’re going to preserve history and nostalgia in a new way,” said Anthony Catanoso, Steel Pier’s president. Diving horses began plunging off Steel Pier platforms into pools in the 1920s. Animal-rights groups put an end to the show in the 1970s and again in 1993, when Catanoso briefly brought the horses back. MORE ASSOCIATED PRESS: He had envisioned the Diving Horse […]

NBC PHILADELPHIA: The website of a U.S. company whose tear gas has been used against demonstrators in Egypt is the latest to be broken into by the Anonymous movement, hackers claimed Tuesday. In a statement posted to the Internet, hackers accused Combined Systems of being war profiteers who sell “mad chemical weapons to militaries and cop shops around the world.” Anonymous has claimed a series of Web attacks worldwide and has increasingly focused on security companies, law enforcement and governmental organizations. The group has often worked in tandem with the Occupy protest movement in the United States and has expressed […]

The charming Valentine’s Day ‘doodle’ on Google’s splash page. RELATED: Valentine’s Day 2012 is celebrated with a video-animation Google Doodle that also showcases the tender crooning of Tony Bennett at age 25, sweetly hitting the high notes of “Cold, Cold Heart.” The song was written by country boy Hank Williams, who said on “The Kate Smith Evening Hour” in a 1952 appearance that “Cold, Cold Heart” had “been awful kind to me and the boys,” providing them with “quite a few beans and biscuits.” It was a moneymaker. And it also was kind to Bennett. His version, with an orchestral […]

Love Park, Monday 2:12 PM by MEREDITH KLEIBER

REVEREND JOHN WHITEHEAD: Congress has just passed a bill, the FAA Reauthorization Act, mandating that the Federal Aviation Administration create a comprehensive program for the integration of drone technology into the national air space by 2015. The FAA predicts that there will be 30,000 drones crisscrossing the skies of America by 2020, all part of an industry that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year. This mandate is yet another example of the political power of the military-industrial complex, Congress’ disdain for the privacy of American citizens, and the rampant growth of government. With this single piece […]

NEW YORK TIMES: As the music industry struggled to come to terms with the death of Whitney Houston the night before, the Grammy Awards on Sunday appeared to crown a new queen of popular music in Adele, the British singer and songwriter who has dominated the charts on both sides of the Atlantic with her classic soul sound. The 23-year-old singer and songwriter, whose raw vocals and searing lyrics made “21” the best-selling album last year, captured six awards, sweeping record, song and album of the year. She seemed to be a perfect champion for a beleaguered record industry: a […]

Just sayin.’ Can’t believe we are still arguing about this in the 21st Century. And why the f*ck are we kowtowing to the pedophile factory that is the Catholic Church? The sentiments of the Catholic leadership should have no more impact on public health policy than any other registered sex offenders.

Tonight, for one night only at Milkboy Philly. RELATED: Lone Justice, a Los Angeles group fronted by 19 year old Maria McKee, anticipated the alt-country wave of the 90s by half a decade. Perhaps because they were ahead of their time, their infectious blend of high energy rock, country and gospel never quite caught on with the public the way it should have.  The members of cLone Justice (a collective of long time Philly music scene veterans from such bands as Slo Mo, Beretta76, John Train, Nixon’s Head, the Donuts and the Philadelphia Ukulele Orchestra) have long reveled in the […]