Tipsters are asked to call the Philadelphia Police Northwest Detective Division at 215-686- 3353 or x-3354, or text information to the department at PPDTIP (773847).
Fatal crash victim
A North Philadelphia was killed late Thursday when his out-of-control car rammed a wall and burst into flames on the Roosevelt Boulevard in Nicetown, police said.
Noah Blake, 33, was speeding in a Mercury Grand Marquis just before 11 p.m., police said, when the vehicle struck the center median at 17th Street and then slammed the retaining wall on the sunken section of the roadway.
Blake, of Huntingdon Street near 23rd, was trapped when the car burst into flames, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:35 p.m.
Murder victim ID'd
A man shot at least 10 times and killed early Thursday in South Philadelphia was identified Friday as James Knight, 22.
Knight, who lived near the scene of the shooting, was pronounced dead at 12:15 a.m. at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania after police found him riddled with bullets on 23rd Street near Mifflin, police said.
Cops: He's a bad Santa
A Germantown man has been arrested in connection with a string of robberies in Kensington, Fishtown and Juniata Park.
Nikos Santa, 24, of Hansberry Street near Morris, was identified as the suspect in four robberies that occurred between Nov. 2, 2011 and Dec. 2, 2011, police said.
Police recognized Santa from surveillance footage and took him into custody on July 27. He's been arrested nearly 20 times before - mostly for robbery, weapons violations and drug offenses, according to court documents. His criminal history stretches from 2004.
Santa is being charged with four counts each of robbery, simple assault and weapons violation, and is being held on $1 million bail, according to court documents.
He is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 24, according to court documents.
Temple prez lined up?
The next president of Temple University could be a senior college administrator from Indiana University in Indiana who is an expert in education finance, officials announced Friday.
Indiana University senior vice president Neil Theobald is the sole finalist to lead the Philadelphia institution, Temple trustees said. Theobald will visit the school next week before trustees vote on his appointment Tuesday.
"At Indiana, he made the tough decisions demanded by our times, while creating greater opportunities for student scholarship," Temple trustees chairman Patrick O'Connor said in a statement. "I can't think of a better set of values to bring to the Temple presidency."
Theobald, an education finance professor at the main campus in Bloomington, also serves as chief financial officer at Indiana, overseeing a budget of about $3.1 billion.
PENNSYLVANIA
2 nabbed in thefts
Police say two 20-year-old suburban Philadelphia men stole more than $9,500 after crashing three country-club events earlier this year.
John Connor Adair and Perry Longo Jr. stole cash and checks from events at two Northampton, Bucks County, country clubs between April and June, authorities said. Longo allegedly would wait in a getaway car while Adair would walk into parties. Authorities said the pair stole or tried to steal containers in which guests placed envelopes containing cash and checks for newlyweds or other guests of honor.
-Phillip Lucas and wire reports
