Vet implosion all set

The roaring crowds and booming home runs are long gone, but 2,500 pounds of explosives will provide one last - and very large - blast Sunday morning, when 33-year-old Veterans Stadium crumbles in a dusty, clockwise circle.

The Vet, home to Philadelphia's baseball and football teams from 1971 to 2003, has been reduced to a concrete shell, stripped of its masonry, lower seating bowl, lights, roofing and plaster walls. A wedge has been cut into the stadium's north side at column row 15 where the explosions will start at 7 a.m. on Sunday.

Jeff Sizemore, vice president of Demolition Dynamics Co., the implosion subcontractor, said yesterday that the stadium is set to fall inward onto the playing field.

Fog or a snowstorm might delay the implosion if officials can't see the stadium from the detonation site just north of Packer Avenue, he said.

Three Philadelphia Court Officers Shot

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Three court officers were shot, one fatally, early Friday while they were trying to serve a warrant on a man for failing to appear at trial, police said. The man who was being sought also was shot and wounded.

The gunfire started after a woman opened the apartment door and the three officers identified themselves and entered, Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said. Further details on the circumstances were not immediately released.

The officers, who work for the city court system, were serving a bench warrant for Darien Houser, 41, who had failed to appear at his trial on a charge of raping a 13-year-old girl. He was acquitted in absentia last November, but a judge issued a bench warrant on a contempt of court charge.

Court officers generally are armed, but police did not say if all three officers had weapons at the scene.

`It's a dangerous job when you go out there and try to apprehend people that have committed crimes, especially violent crimes,'' Johnson said.

The officer killed, Joseph LeClaire, 50, was a supervisor who died from wounds in his head and stomach. The second officer was shot in the stomach, and the third officer was shot in the hand. Both were in stable condition at hospitals, broadcast reports said.

Houser was shot in the leg and back. He tried to flee, but was captured a short time later and taken to a hospital. He was in stable condition late Friday morning.

New security director named at Philadelphia airport


PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Transportation Security Administration named a new federal security director for the Philadelphia International Airport on Friday.

William P. Leahy previously worked as the deputy federal security director at Hanscom Field and Worcester Regional airports near Boston. He has more than 35 years of experience with the U.S. Coast Guard.

The security director serves as the representative of the TSA and is "responsible for ensuring the safety of our skies," said Rear Adm. David M. Stone, the security administration's acting administrator.

The former airport security director, James B. Golden, was fired in February for hiring his son-in-law to a low-level management job.

Golden, a former top police executive in Philadelphia and Trenton, N.J., maintained that he had done nothing wrong. He said his son-in-law applied for the job through regular channels and was well-qualified for the work.

Todays guests on the radio show are Pat Gillespie, President of the Building Trades Council in Philadelphia, Sharon Pinkenson, Director of the Philadelphia Film Office and Josh Sevin from Young Involved Philadelphia to discuss Mtv's "The Real World" being run out of Philadelphia, also Pentagon correspondent Rowan Scarborough will be joining us later in the show to discuss plans to capture Osama Bin Laden.....


Picture courtesy of Rodney Anonymous 2004

Former U Penn Top Brass named President of Scholarship America

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Clifford L. Stanley, a former Marine Corps general who unexpectedly left a top post at the University of Pennsylvania last year, has been named president of Scholarship America.

The Minneapolis-based nonprofit, private-sector group has distributed more than $1 billion to nearly one million students since its founding in 1958.

"I can think of no higher calling than to serve an organization that is focused on the students of our country — particularly those who are traditionally underserved — and providing access to education beyond high school," Stanley said. "Scholarship America is all about fulfilling dreams - educational dreams."

Stanley, 57, was hired in 2002 as Penn's executive vice president, the top assistant to outgoing president Judith Rodin. He resigned a year later, saying only that he would pursue other opportunities.

Stanley will continue to pursue a doctorate in education at Penn.

SpongeBob SquarePants found smuggling Herion

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — SpongeBob SquarePants, the cartoon figure known to get into trouble in Bikini Bottom, is instead causing trouble at a suburban Philadelphia jail.

A Norristown couple tried to smuggle heroin into the Montgomery County Jail on stickers featuring the popular cartoon character.

"Defendants addicted to drugs will go to any length to satisfy their habits," Assistant District Attorney Barbara Ashcroft said.

Annjane Battallio, a work-release inmate, allegedly mailed fellow prisoner David Holmes cards with stickers on it that held small packets of heroin underneath. The pair, each 34, pleaded guilty Thursday to a conspiracy to possess heroin charge.

Under terms of a plea agreement, a judge sentenced Battallio to one year of probation. Holmes was sentenced to two months already served to 23 months in jail. They must also undergo drug treatment.

Phlash stays alive

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The city's tourist-geared bus service is returning to downtown streets, though the operator and the route will be different.

The 10-year-old Phlash buses, which had been operated for the city by SEPTA, faced an uncertain future last year after its $1.8 million funding was cut from the city's fiscal 2004 budget. Several city and state agencies pooled their resources to keep the service running in busy tourist months of July and August, and it attracted about 35,000 riders.

Part of Philadelphia's Gallery sold to owner of Lehigh Valley retail centers
Real estate investment trust to pay $32 million for popular mall.

PHILADELPHIA | One of downtown's most popular shopping spots is being purchased by the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust for $32 million, officials announced Tuesday.

PREIT has agreed to buy The Gallery at Market East II from the state's Public School Employees' Retirement System. The deal is expected to be completed in the next quarter, PREIT chairman and chief executive officer Ronald Rubin said.

Philadelphia gains 3 new charter schools..........and loses 3

PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ The Philadelphia School Reform Commission voted to approve plans for three new charter schools and renew four others open since 2000. But the panel voted Wednesday not to renew charters for three other schools.

Philadelphia now has 48 public charter schools with 21,000 students.

"Generally we are supportive of charters, but we are supportive of charters that work, that deliver, charters that provide legitimate options," Paul Vallas, the district's chief executive officer, said.

The three schools given permission to open this fall are the Philadelphia Montessori Charter School in Southwest Philadelphia; the New Media Technology Charter High School in East Falls; and Ad Prima Charter School in North Philadelphia.

La Salle University plans to break ground Thursday on a $26 million dormitory that will house up to 430 students on the Philadelphia campus.
The three-story dorm is expected to be finished by June 2005.

Philadelphia Leaders Named `Heroes of Liberty' by the National Liberty Museum

PHILADELPHIA, March 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Liberty Museum is pleased to announce this year's recipients of the annual "Heroes of Liberty" award. Penny and Robert Fox and Cheryl McKissack Felder and Fred Felder will be recognized at a gala awards dinner next month for setting the highest standards of citizenship through their exemplary service to their community.
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"The `Heroes of Liberty' Awards are presented each year to individuals whose lives reflect the ideals and principals to which the National Liberty Museum is dedicated," says Museum Executive Director Gwen Borowsky. "These deserving individuals have worked to create positive change in our community both personally and professionally."

Museum Board Member Robert A. Fox is Founder and CEO of RAF Industries. He is a board member at the University of Pennsylvania and the Wistar Research Institute, and creator of the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Esther "Penny" Fox is on the board of trustees of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Moore College of Art and the Pennsylvania Ballet.

Philadelphia Manufacturing is Growing

March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Manufacturing in the Philadelphia region expanded for a tenth month in March, a Federal Reserve report showed.

The Fed Bank of Philadelphia's general economic index this month registered a reading of 24.2 compared with 31.4 in February. A number greater than zero signals a higher percentage of the manufacturers surveyed reported an improvement in business than deterioration. The index reached a 10-year high of 38.8 in January and has been positive since June.

Mtv's "Real World" driven out of Philadlephia by Unions

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Real-world labor issues apparently were too much for the producers of a popular MTV reality show.

Bunim/Murray Productions said Tuesday it had given up plans to tape the 15th season of "The Real World" in Philadelphia. Taping had been set to begin in three weeks.

The production company had angered labor unions by hiring a nonunion company to renovate the former Seamen's Church Institute in Old City, where it planned to have seven strangers live together and have their lives videotaped. Members of the building trades unions picketed outside the building.

A Bunim/Murray spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the one-sentence statement issued Tuesday: "After considerable evaluation, we are disappointed to announce that Bunim/Murray productions has decided not to shoot 'The Real World' in Philadelphia."

It was unclear whether MTV would choose another city or delay its shooting schedule. A spokeswoman for the New York cable network declined to comment Wednesday and referred questions to Bunim/Murray in Van Nuys, California.

"I've got kids looking at me like I killed Santa Claus," Pat Gillespie, president of the powerful Building Trades Council, said Wednesday. "Look, they come into our town and make a decision to avoid union workers. Whether they were prepared for what would happen, it was a conscious decision that they made."

Pennsylvanians Gets a New Slogan

HARRISBURG, PA-March 16, 2004 — Governor Ed Rendell holds a news conference this afternoon to announce Pennsylvania's new official slogan.

Voters had the option of choosing from five potential slogans:


Liberty Loves Company
State Of Independence
Pursue Happiness
Discover Our Good Nature
Liberty's Landscape

DEVELOPING.... and the winner is.... State Of Independence

Homeless Man Accused Of Urinating In Holy Water

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Police say a homeless man in Philadelphia urinated in a holy water font, threatened a priest and harassed worshippers at a Roman Catholic cathedral.

Police have charged 27-year-old Joseph Canty with vandalism, simple assault, ethnic intimidation and related crimes.

Canty was charged on Friday, a day after a janitor at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul noticed the holy water had been defiled.

Monsignor John Close, the pastor, told police that Canty has caused frequent problems, sometimes taunting worshippers and loitering in a small park across the street.

Investigators say Canty had also tried to knock Close down on Wednesday and threatened bodily harm if he talked to police.

The cathedral is adjacent to the Philadelphia arcdiocesan headquarters in Center City.

Canty was released Saturday on $2,500 bail.

On the whole, it seems Owens will be in Philadelphia

One way or another, Terrell Owens appears headed to the Philadelphia Eagles -- not the Baltimore Ravens. After a grievance hearing Monday, several NFL sources said Owens was virtually certain to win his case, and the 49ers were working on a settlement so they wouldn't be left empty-handed.

Todays guests on the radio are Kenneth Timmerman author of the new book The French Betrayal of America, who is scheduled to give his first "exclusive" interview with Bill O'Reilley tomorrow (3/16) we get him TODAY, also Dr. Anton Koekemer will be joining us to discuss the latest Hubble telescope discoveries..........

Hubble Reveals Earliest Galaxies Yet Seen



Peering back further into space and time than ever before, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) captured this image of an assortment of oddly shaped galaxies forming early in the universe's history.

The new survey is sensitive enough to glimpse a period only 400 to 800 million years after the Big Bang--"within a stone's throw of the Big Bang itself," according to astronomer Massimo Stiavelli at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

Philadelphia Flower Show Shares the Wealth

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — About $1 million in proceeds from the Philadelphia Flower Show will go to help beautify city neighborhoods through the Philadelphia Green program.

The flower show, which ended Sunday, drew about 250,000 people to the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

The proceeds will go to Philadelphia Green, a nonprofit that will reclaim 1,000 abandoned city lots this spring, planting a few saplings around the perimeter of each at a cost of about $2 per square foot.

The latest strategy is simpler — and cheaper — than the community "pocket" parks attempted in the 1960s and 1970s and the community gardens that followed.

"We learned that to prevent dumping on these lots, a basic level of gardening is better than chain-link fencing or Jersey barriers," said Patricia Smith, director of the city's anti-blight program, which last year awarded Philadelphia Green a $4 million contract to clean and seed properties in six neighborhoods.

The organization cleared the lots — about 700,000 square feet — in the fall. The second phase begins next week with the plantings in Frankford, East Mount Airy, West Philadelphia, the American Street corridor bordering North Philadelphia and two sections of North Philadelphia.

SEPTA Stays on Track


The Philadelphia Inquirer reports SEPTA and its largest union averted a city-paralyzing strike tonight with a tentative one-year contract that preserves existing health-care benefits and gives 4,700 transit employees a one-time $1,000 bonus.........

SEPTA strike talks head down to wire

If tomorrow's deadline is missed, about 100 Philadelphia routes, serving 400,000 riders, could be stopped.

Bush, Kerry Visit Philadelphia Area

PHILADELPHIA -- Both President George W. Bush and Democratic presidential contender Sen. John Kerry, of Massachusetts, are visiting the Philadelphia area.

A White House official confirmed that Bush will be in Ardmore in Montgomery County on Monday. The president will tour a new affordable housing community at Spring Avenue and Simpson Road.

The president will also take part in a panel discussion with homeowners.

Kerry was expected to arrive Saturday night in Allentown. He will speak at a town hall meeting in Bethlehem.