Camden school officials plan to investigate student allegations that police [NOT pictured] used excessive force to quell a cafeteria brawl that injured five students [NOT pictured] and a security officer Monday at Camden High. School investigators want to know whether police sprayed Mace and struck students with clubs during the melee, which shut down Camden’s largest high school, School Board President Philip E. Freeman said. At least 17 students were arrested, and more charges are possible, officials said. “There’s a whole lot we need to find out,” Freeman said yesterday. “These are very serious allegations.” Teresa Sicard Archambeault, a Camden […]
THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS: Pepper
Some will die in hot pursuit in fiery auto crashes. Some will die in hot pursuit while sifting through my ashes. Some will fall in love with life and drink it from a fountain that is pouring like an avalanche coming down the mountain. –Gibby Haynes
Middle School Principal Busted For Meth Dealing
The principal of Nitschmann Middle School in Bethlehem sold crystal methamphetamine to police informants three times this month, once in his school office, police say. John Acerra, 50, of 832 Chestnut St., Allentown, was arrested Tuesday in his office, where police found meth on his desk, according to arrest papers filed by Bethlehem police. Acerra faces felony charges of possession with intent to deliver meth and delivery of the drug and related charges. He is in Lehigh County Prison today under $200,000 bail. According to an arrest affidavit filed by Bethlehem police investigator Michael Mish: On Tuesday, police set up […]
HOT FOR TEACHER: Much Older Woman Sentenced
EASTON, Pa. – A 44-year-old woman who sobbed and said she felt “profound remorse” for having an affair with a 16-year-old boy was sentenced to 9 to 23 months in prison. Northampton County Judge Paula A. Roscioli said Suzanne Wagner appeared “interested in having her legal troubles go away.” Though psychological profiles showed a low risk of reoffending, Roscioli said Wagner should be punished because the boy “was too young, too vulnerable, and you truly took advantage of him.” Wagner had pleaded guilty to corruption of a minor. She was also fined $5,000, ordered to perform 100 hours of community […]
China Adjusts Underwear, Wall Street Shits Brick
WASHINGTON – Yesterday’s stock market plunge shows the start of a “correction,” the age-old euphemism for a steep drop in stock prices, but it may also signal worse news than that. A steady stream of recent data shows mixed signals about where the U.S. economy is headed. The old sage himself, Alan Greenspan, suggests recession could be looming. Fasten your seat belts – some economic chop could be coming. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 416 points, or 3.29 percent, in trading yesterday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was off 3.86 percent, and the S&P 500 was off […]
HIZZONER ’07: F.O.P. Declares Mr. Brady BEST IN SHOW, Likes His Moxie And His Air Of Inevitability
By Robert Moran INQUIRER STAFF WRITER With violent crime the overriding issue in Philadelphia’s mayoral race, U.S. Rep. Bob Brady (D., Pa.) tonight secured the coveted endorsement of the city’s police union. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, which represents thousands of city officers, will announce the endorsement tomorrow at a news conference. The FOP board of directors listened to presentations by Brady, former City Councilman Michael Nutter, State Rep. Dwight Evans, and businessman Tom Knox, who spoke last night. Brady spoke Feb. 13 and emphasized that he would listen to the concerns of ordinary officers working in the […]
GUNCRAZY:Two More Dead Since You Went To Bed
Police have released the names of two men murdered yesterday in the city. The killings brought this year’s homicide total to 60.Early last night, Jamal Slade, 19, was fatally shot in Logan, police said. Slade, who lived in the 5200 block of North Second Street, was shot multiple times in the torso shortly before 7 p.m. at 11th and Louden Streets, police said. He was transported to Albert Einstein Medical Center and later pronounced dead. Police reported no arrests. Yesterday afternoon, Mondez Lloyd, 31, of 2800 North Van Pelt, was fatally wounded yesterday in a shooting on a North Philadelphia […]
TODAY I SAW…
BY JEFF DEENEY “Today I saw…” is a series of nonfiction shorts based on my experiences as a caseworker serving formerly homeless families now living in North and West Philadelphia. I decided not long after starting the job that I was seeing so many fascinating and disturbing things in the city’s poorest neighborhoods that I needed to start cataloging them. I hope this bi-weekly column serves as a record of a side of the city that many Philadelphians don’t come in contact with on a daily basis. I want to capture moments not frequently covered by the local media, which […]
ROCKSNOB: Kill Yr. Idols
By Jonathan Valania For The Inquirer Somewhere in rock-and-roll’s journey from revolution to rite of passage, this much has become inevitable: One day your kids will turn on you. It’s impossible to say exactly what will set them off – lingering resentments over the great Santa Hoax, the sudden realization that we’re all bound to die, that good guys don’t always wear white, and that most of us won’t live happily ever after. It may seem like a phase to you, but it feels like the end of the world to them. And then they will turn to a band […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR ON WHYY Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh‘s latest article is about the administration’s efforts to undermine Iran. The article appears in The New Yorker magazine’s March 5th edition and is titled “The Redirection: Is the Administration’s New Policy Benefiting our Enemies in the War on Terror?” Hersh exposed the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in a series of articles published in the magazine early in 2005. He has been the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, five George Polk Awards, two National Magazine Awards and a dozen other prizes. He is also the author of eight books, including Chain of Command […]