Philly.com NewsFri May 18 16:46:10 EDT 2012
The Barnes opens with trumpets, tears and celebration at its new Philadelphia home
With a trumpet fanfare that seemed to erase an eternity of angst and anticipation, the Barnes Foundation’s new campus in Philadelphia was officially dedicated Friday morning in honor of its founder, Albert C. Barnes, with executive director Derek Gillman promising to “dedicate ourselves anew to his passions.” “Philadelphia, our cultural star is rising,” Mayor Nutter told the hundreds of dignitaries, officials, donors and the general counsels of Italy, Germany, France and Mexico, assembled in the inner courtyard just outside the galleries.
Security cameras catch burglar at work in S. Philadelphia
Police today released a pair of surveillance videos in the hopes of finding a burglar who struck two Vietnamese restaurants on the same block in South Philadelphia this week. In both cases, the video caught the burglar prying open the doors at the restaurants to get inside.
Fumes prompt evacuation of South Philadelphia alternative school
An alternative school in South Philadelphia was evacuated this morning after a staff member reported smelling acrid fumes. Some 25 students spilled from the Ombudsman South Accelerated School, on the 2700 block of S. Front Street, about 10:40 a.m. as officials called the fire department. One student was taken to Methodist Hospital for chest pains, and two other students were went home early after reporting they did not feel well, said district spokeswoman Deirdre Darragh.
Montco assistant D.A. is fired
A Montgomery County assistant district attorney has been officially fired apparently for failing to follow standards set for employees in the prosecutor’s office. Karen Grace Ricca, who oversaw the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition unit (ARD), was terminated Thursday fired during a regularly scheduled meeting of the county’s salary board. No official reason was given and efforts to reach Ricca were unsuccessful.
Cops: Uncle stabs nephew, 20, to death in S. Jersey
Authorities say an uncle stabbed his 20-year-old nephew to death during an argument in the Deptford Township apartment they shared with the victim’s mother. Chad Gatewood, whose age was not yet available, was charged today with murder, according to the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office.
Railroad worker crushed by roll of newsprint at Inquirer/Daily News printing plant
A railroad worker was killed today when he was crushed by an 1,800-pound roll of newsprint at the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News Schuylkill Printing Plant in Upper Merion. Mark Block, a spokesman for Philadelphia Media Network, the newspapers’ parent company, said the roll apparently had shifted in its boxcar during shipment and fell out about 9:30 a.m. when the train’s engineer opened the door.
Cherry Hill woman with walker struck, killed in parking lot
A 92-year-old woman was fatally struck by a car Thursday when a fellow resident of a Cherry Hill senior housing complex lost control of the vehicle in the facility’s parking lot, township police said. Rose Weber, who was pushing a walker in the lot of the Raymond and Gertrude R. Saltzman House in the 1400 block of Springdale Road, died at the scene shortly before 3 p.m. Authorities believe Shirley Braverman, 82, “stepped on the gas instead of the brake” while backing out of a space on the north end of the parking lot, said Lt. Sean Redmond.
Family pleads for answers in Lawndale man’s murder
IN THE LAWNDALE apartment complex where her 22-year-old son, Lawrence Jackson, was gunned down April 12, Denise Wilson looked to the sky during a vigil for her son Thursday and uttered a plea. “If anybody saw anything that night, please say something,” she told residents who peeked out their third-floor windows at the crowd of about 75 who gathered at the complex on Oxford Avenue near Levick Street. “I’m begging y’all. Please.”
Philadelphia police release names of 3 slain in separate attacks on Thursday
Police today identified the three people killed in separate incidents on Thursday in Philadelphia. Tanisha Finch, 31, of the 3600 block of North Percy Street in Franklinville, was shot in the head and fatally wounded about 2:05 a.m. while sitting in a car with a man on the 1100 block of Mount Airy Avenue in East Mount Airy, police said.
Motorcyclist critical after plunging 40 feet from Philadelphia highway
A motorcyclist struck a concrete barrier on the Roosevelt Boulevard bridge over the Schuylkill and flipped off his bike early today, plunging 40 feet into a gorge under the highway, Philadelphia police said. The 36-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was reported in extremely critical condition at Albert Einstein Medical Center.
Philly's white population rises
KATE CLARK and her husband had their first child, son August, last June and plan to continue living in the city. “We’re here. We’re not going to the suburbs,” she said.
White migration to Center City unlikely to save Philadelphia
Philadelphia's great white hope is back in the news, and I'm not talking about Rocky Balboa.
For the first time in 60 years, the city is adding white residents more quickly than it is losing them: 3,980, to be exact, as reported in Thursday's Philadelphia Daily News.
Chester County's Hispanic gangs may be small, but are still lethal
Six months ago, it was the bedroom of a small-time tough named Cuahuctemoc Bedolla. Now, it is his shrine, a tribute to a short life with a bad ending. A Mexican flag covers one wall of the narrow nook in his parents’ house in the West Grove woods of Chester County. Votive candles flicker near a statuette of Our Lady of Guadalupe. On the bed are his mechanic’s tools, green T-shirt emblazoned “El Paso, Old Mexico,” and a red wool beanie, a partial tableau of his 27 years.
Get up and van Gogh-go: Art Museum free today
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is free to the public today. The Art Museum’s website says admission will be free all day in celebration of International Museum Day. The free admission includes the Museum-administered Park Houses, Cedar Grove and Mount Pleasant.
Time for pols to joke for charity
With warm weather bringing out swimsuits, it’s time to think about fitness, and a return to the gym. So there I was at the gym, and there it was, up against the wall, a gleaming new machine I hit hard for half-an-hour. It had everything I wanted:
Surface parking lots hurt more than they help
Back in 1993, Philadelphia committed a radical act. It opened a new downtown convention center without a single public parking space. Despite the modest inconvenience, the city’s hospitality industry exploded. Suburbanites flocked in for the popular flower show and other special events, often choosing to take the train instead of driving. Since then, the city’s fortunes have picked up and more cultural attractions have opened, yet the city’s resolve to limit parking has weakened. Both the Kimmel Center and the National Constitution Center included garages in their buildings, although they smartly took pains to hide them underground. But increasingly, aboveground garages are being built close to these venues, and recently a 530-car behemoth was sanctioned for next door to the Convention Center — one block from City Hall.
A Q&A with Anne O’Callaghan
After heading the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians for almost a decade, Anne O'Callaghan recently handed the reins to a new chief executive officer at the nonprofit immigrant-services organization she created with $90,000 in grants in 2003. Today, its budget is $1.6 million. Over the years it has trained thousands of legal immigrants in English and job skills, and placed 1,100 in jobs.
More than half of children born in a year are minorities
Valeria Galarza, program manager for the New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids, did not need Thursday's high-profile announcement by the U.S. Census Bureau to learn that minorities now account for more than half of American newborns.
Philadelphia conducts new homeless census
In an attempt to get a more complete picture of homelessness in Philadelphia, more than 50 volunteers fanned out to all corners of the city Wednesday night and counted 583 people living on the streets. Usually, the city only includes Center City, Philadelphia International Airport, and a few select neighborhoods in its quarterly count of unsheltered homeless people. But this time, more people were enlisted to reach more areas of the city.
Ocean City waterfront mansion to be sold at auction
OCEAN CITY, N.J. - Luxury appointments abound in the 7,000-square-foot, 12-year-old Victorian-style mansion overlooking Great Bay, such as a marble fireplace that once graced a Biddle estate mansion, a crystal chandelier that at the touch of a button lowers from the 30-foot foyer ceiling for cleaning, and boat slips big enough to berth a pair of yachts.
N.J. to consider marijuana decriminalization bill
TRENTON — An Assembly panel is set to hear a bill Monday that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, making the offense similar to a parking violation. The bill, which has 18 sponsors, including three Republicans, would punish anyone caught with a half-ounce or less of marijuana with fines instead of arrest. Currently, marijuana possession is a disorderly-persons offense — the equivalent of a misdemeanor — and is punishable by up to six months in jail, $1,000 in fines, and a criminal record that cannot be expunged for five years.
Prosecutors rest in Philly clergy sex abuse trial
After calling nearly 50 witnesses and presenting close to 1,900 documents over eight weeks, prosecutors on Thursday rested their case in the landmark trial involving child sex abuse by Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests.
Delco police officer charged with Tasering handcuffed teen
The Delaware County district attorney brought charges Thursday against a Colwyn Borough police officer who allegedly Tasered a handcuffed 17-year-old while the teenager was shackled in a jail cell, and then made fun of the incident in a text message to another officer. Cpl. Trevor Parham of Upper Darby was charged Thursday with simple assault and official oppression, both misdemeanors, the District Attorney’s Office said. He was released on $25,000 unsecured bail.
Rule One for Nutter aide: Don’t mess with the playlist
If Mayor Nutter’s personal aide has one rule to live by, it’s this: “Don’t mess with the playlist.” “There’s some room for requests, but he drives the music choice,” said Luke Butler, 28, who recently finished a two-year gig as Nutter’s special assistant — a job that meant he spent more time with the mayor than anyone else in city government, traveling with him to meetings and events and listening to Nutter relive his former DJ days in the car.
Philly resident reflects on life at age 102
At Thursday’s 12th annual Centenarian Celebration luncheon, Roxborough resident Daniel Rendine, age 102, answered a few questions, with help from his son. Question: Why do you think you’ve lived so long?
Position will help activist fight youth violence
Being raised in tough neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Jamira Burley learned firsthand the impact of drugs and violence on families in the city. Two of her brothers served time in prison on robbery charges. A third brother was shot to death in his home.
Woman, 92, fatally struck by car in Cherry Hill
A 92-year-old woman was fatally struck by a car Thursday when a fellow resident of a Cherry Hill senior housing complex lost control of the vehicle in the facility’s parking lot, township police said. Rose Weber, who was pushing a walker in the lot of the Raymond and Gertrude R. Saltzman House in the 1400 block of Springdale Road, died at the scene shortly before 3 p.m. Authorities believe Shirley Braverman, 82, “stepped on the gas instead of the brake” while backing out of a space on the north end of the parking lot, Lt. Sean Redmond said.
DONNA SUMMER 1948-2012
NEW YORK - Michael Jackson was the King of Pop. Aretha Franklin was the Queen of Soul. Like them, Donna Summer, who died Thursday of lung cancer at 63, was given a title befitting musical royalty: Queen of Disco.
Colwyn cop arrested for Tasering teen
COLWYN POLICE Cpl. Trevor Parham said the movie he was making with his identical-twin brother would be “like the black ‘Godfather.’ ” After his arrest Thursday, he may be gaining the right experience to make the film.
Cop speaks of ‘mangled little bodies’ from crash scene
DEFENSE attorneys for two men charged with murdering four people with a car speeding away from an armed robbery persuaded a judge Thursday to bar the most graphic death-scene photos from the trial. The photos of the severed limbs and crushed bones of the three children and young mother killed on the sidewalk at 3rd and Annsbury streets on June 10, 2009, would serve no purpose other than to inflame jurors’ passions, said attorneys for Ivan Rodriguez, 23, and Donta Craddock, 21, who are charged with four counts of second-degree murder.
Donna Summer, a disco diva who defined an era
The news of Donna Summer’s passing Thursday at age 63 shook me to my dancing shoes. Of all the so-called disco divas, I thought Summer would be the one to live forever. Ah, disco. The pulsating beat exploded onto the music scene in the mid-’70s like the inferno the Trammps sang about. A mirrored, rotating cherry bomb that just as quickly flamed out. Those one-hit wonders it produced, so relevant then, forgotten now. (Alicia Bridges? Dorothy Moore? Somebody? Anybody?)
Ex-Montco detective charged with stealing guns, drugs
A former detective-sergeant in the Hatboro Police Department stands accused of stealing firearms, cash, and narcotics from the police evidence room, and also of using a police informant to buy illegal drugs for him. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said Thursday that John Becker, 42, of Horsham, had been arraigned before District Judge Paul Leo on numerous charges and had been released on $10,000 bail pending further court action in Montgomery County.
Black Madam held for trial for illegal butt injection
Wednesday’s preliminary hearing for the Black Madam featured testimony about “butt pumping parties” and a woman who goes by the name of “Back Shots.” But perhaps the most bizarre moment came when Black Madam’s attorney argued that one reason his client isn’t a flight risk is that she always wears 4-inch heels. Judge Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde didn’t buy the argument. She held the case for trial and refused to reduce the $750,000 bail for Black Madam, a transgender gothic hip-hop artist whose real name is Padge Victoria Windslowe.
Judge dismisses conspiracy count against Monsignor, priest
After calling nearly 50 witnesses and presenting close to 1,900 documents over eight weeks, prosecutors rested their case Thursday in the landmark trial involving child sexabuse by Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests. The team of district attorneys ended by letting jurors handle what they contend is the closest thing to a smoking gun in the case: a tattered gray folder that had been hidden away in a locked safe at archdiocesan offices for more than a decade.
Woman pleads guilty in Chesco slaying
Melanie Ann Ray, accused of participating with her boyfriend in the shooting death of another man to steal his truck, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Wednesday in Chester County Court.
At KIPP, dreams of an Ivy League education
Nasir Harker, an 11-year-old student at the KIPP Charter School in North Philadelphia, knows everything about wealthy Ivy League colleges like Penn, Princeton, and Harvard: They’re the places where people in the movies get to go to college.
Asian Pacific American festival Saturday
Thousands of people are expected to converge on Franklin Square Park, at 6th and Race streets in Center City, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday for the sixth-annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Festival. Highlights include a children’s fair and other kids’ activities, music and artistic performances. Various cultural and other organizations will host information booths. May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
2 dead in overnight violence in Philadelphia
A 52-year-old man was stabbed to death in West Philadelphia and a 31-year-old woman was shot in the head and fatally wounded in East Mount Airy in violence overnight, police said.
Blackwell, others fined for campaign violations
The Philadelphia Board of Ethics announced Wednesday that a councilwoman, a former City Council candidate and three political-action committees have been fined for accepting or giving contributions in 2011 that went above the city’s annual campaign-finance limits of $2,600 per individual and $10,600 per political committee. Here are the details on the sanctions:
Person killed by Amtrak NE corridor train
A person was struck and killed today by northbound Amtrak train in Claymont, Del. Danelle Hunter, an Amtrak spokeswoman, said the person was hit about noon by a train en route to Boston from Richmond, Va., with 429 passengers on board.
Powerball ticket sold in NJ scores for $1 million
No one won Wednesday night’s Powerball jackpot but a ticket sold in New Jersey scored for $1 million. The New Jersey Lottery says the ticket was sold at the Super Stop & Shop, 24 Summerfield Blvd., South Brunswick, Middlesex County.
Controversial Norris Square zoning change moves forward
What had been expected to be a tempestuous hearing on a proposed rezoning in the Norris Square community ran smoothly Wednesday, although some residents claimed that City Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez was trying to “fast-track” the rezoning to limit a development project. “The bill is an attempt by Quinones-Sanchez to block the progress of the Norris Square Civic Association’s housing development known as St. Bonnie’s, while impacting housing alternatives to current homeowners of large residential properties,” Patricia DeCarlo, NSCA’s executive director, said of the development at the old St. Boniface church site.
On the lookout for drugged drivers
Add another D to the report card for the nation’s most dangerous drivers: Drugged. Drunk and distracted drivers have rightly raised of hue and cry, but more and more, those who patrol the highways are on the lookout for those driving under other influences.
Healthy helping of laughter and food in 'The Cooking Show'
Performance artist Robert Karimi, in character as chef Mero Cocinero Karimi, makes a claim as big as a half-pound bacon cheeseburger: He can teach people to improve their diets without ever uttering such unappetizing words as healthy or nutritious. During a cooking demonstration at Reading Terminal Market on Tuesday, he proved his point by persuading two 11-year-olds, waffle cones in hand, to put a dollop of his radish-greens, mint, onion, and lime dip on top of their ice cream. Sometimes, success lasts only as long as ice cream on the tongue.
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