That King Tut can sure draw a crowd. In just over six weeks the Franklin Institute’s Tutankhamun exhibit has attracted 616,000 visitors. That’s already 13,000 more than the fascinating Body Worlds exhibit, which ran there from October 2005 to April 2006 and which was previously the most well-attended traveling exhibit in the city’s history. [Via Dan Gross]
HIZZONER ’07: Idle Hands Are The Devil’s Plaything
Mayoral candidate Tom Knox amused observers in a City Hall courtroom yesterday when the businessman whipped out an emery board and began filing his nails, according to an e-mail sent to us from the courtroom. The well-groomed Knox attended a hearing regarding U.S. Rep. Bob Brady‘s status on the May primary ballot. He and state Rep. Dwight Evans are supporting a challenge over Brady’s financial-disclosure forms. [Via Dan Gross]
GUNCRAZY 2: Cops ‘Put Down’ Gun-Wielding Motorist
Philadelphia police last night shot and killed a man who allegedly pointed a handgun at officers after a traffic stop in Kensington.The confrontation — the fifth deadly shooting involving police this year — occurred about 9:30 p.m. near Cambria and Rosehill Streets. Police late last night were poring over the scene and did not divulge many details of what happened. Some witnesses, however, said the shooting occurred after a white Plymouth sedan heading east on Cambria was pulled over just past Rosehill, in front of a brick rowhouse. The driver exited the vehicle with a gun in his hand, they […]
GUNCRAZY: 8-Year-Old Suspended For Toy Gun
An 8-year-old girl who took an authentic-looking toy gun to school in Delaware County on Monday will be suspended for 10 days, police said yesterday. The girl, a third grader at Highland Park Elementary School in Upper Darby, thought the gun was real, township Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said. She took it because she knew her older brother would not be able to walk her home from the bus stop that day, as he usually did, Chitwood said. “She’s afraid to walk home from the bus stop alone, so she takes this gun with her for protection,” Chitwood said. INQUIRER: […]
ELEPHANT 3: Baltimore Tells Stampy To Bacdafucup
The Philadelphia Zoo’s three African elephants will not move to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, which announced today that it has delayed the expansion of its elephant habitat and would not be able to accommodate Petal, Kallie and Bette this spring as planned. Officials at the Philadelphia Zoo, which is closing its elephant exhibit, said they are working with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to find another home for the animals. Dulary, the Philadelphia Zoo’s Asian elephant, is still scheduled to move to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, most likely in April. INQUIRER: Alas, The Great Philly-Pachyderm Assimilation Experiment […]
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 […]
GAYBO: BEYOND THE BEYOND
BY SARA “I’m Not Gay But I’m Willing To Learn” SHERR GUEST COLUMNIST While Tommy Zane is on vacation this week, I’ll continue to advance the gay agenda, since according to Margaret Cho, fag hags are the fabric of gay society. However, if I get my pronouns wrong, please remember that at the end of the day, I’m a boring old straight girl in an eight-year relationship who hasn’t worn a pair of pants since the end of the Clinton administration. But, having gone through puberty during the early years of MTV, I love a man in eyeliner and a […]
TRANSIT: Woman Attempts Suicide By SEPTA
Pennsylvania – A 46-year-old female attempted to commit suicide Friday morning at the SEPTA subway station at 40th and Market streets, Philadelphia Police Department officials said. The woman — who was unaffiliated with the University of Pennsylvania — jumped in front of the eastbound Market-Frankford train at about 11 a.m. Philadelphia Police received a radio call at 11:44 a.m., and SEPTA, Philadelphia and Penn Police and the Philadelphia Fire Department responded to the incident. The victim was trapped under the train and freed at 12:10 p.m. by the Fire Department. She was transported to the Hospital of the University of […]
GAMBLOR: Send Lawyers, Guns And Money!
DAD, GET ME OUT OF THIS! FROM THE INQUIRER: A ballot question seeking to exclude casinos from residential areas cannot be stopped by court action, City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. has advised Mayor Street. Diaz said that if the ballot initiative approved unanimously by Council last week is passed by city voters on May 15, it will eventually be voided by the courts because state law takes precedence over city codes. Nevertheless, Diaz wrote Friday in a memo to Street, he cannot prevent the proposed amendment to the city charter from being voted on in the May primary election. […]
FIGHT CITY HALL: Vern Anastasio 1, Frank DiCicco 0
[Hat tip to da Wook, HOLLA!]
THE MICHAEL SMERCONISH EXPLAINER: Wiping The Smirk Off Mr. Clean With The Dirty Rag Of Truth
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Michael Smerconish looks like Mr. Clean, or, as he is known to Russian housewives, Mr. Proper. Michael Smerconish is also a country club Republican, a talk-radio host and, as of late, a regular fixture of the Inquirer’s Sunday Op-Ed page. Bully for him, we’re all for equal time and open debate even if we think he has his head up his ass most of the time. Sadly, because of guys like Smerconish — Machiavellian media climbers that will say ANYTHING to ensure their butt space in the game of musical chairs that is the talking head punditocracy […]
GUNCRAZY: Number 84 Bagged Near City Hall
A Kensington man died early this morning after being shot several times on a subway concourse near Philadelphia City Hall. The shooting took place just before 2 a.m. near 15th Street and JFK Boulevard. Kenny Philogene, 22, of the 3100 block of Arbor Street, was found shot in the chest, stomach and left shoulder, police said. He was pronounced dead about a half-hour later at Hahnemann University Hospital. The homicide was the city’s 84th this year. [Via the Inquirer]