Atlantic City

In 1973, when the Philadelphia Orchestra made history in China, Inquirer music critic Daniel Webster was there. Now David Patrick Stearns reports on the 2013 visit, building on this long relationship. MACAU - Where else does your hotel serve cupcakes and ice cream for breakfast? And offer wake-up calls from Shrek? In Cantonese? This pleasure capital of Asia - one that is said to outstrip Las Vegas for superficial splendor - is only the latest unlikely host of the Philadelphia Orchestra on its 40th anniversary tour of China, but in two concerts that were sold out before Friday's video of the musicians playing Dvorak on their rain-delayed flight went viral (with 102,000 You Tube hits in 24 hours)

MORNINGS ARE LOOKING a little different at Fox 29. Dawn Timmeney , the former NBC10 anchor who was axed in December, is now full time on Fox, where she used to work part time. She'll be hanging with Mike Jerrick , Sheinelle Jones and Kacie McDonnell on "Good Day Philadelphia" more regularly now. Anchor (and former Sexy Single) Thomas Drayton , who usually takes the evening anchor chair, is moving to morning for the foreseeable future. Drayton will now be on 4:30 to 6 a.m. Relative newbie Iain Page will take over the nighttime in Drayton's absence.

ATLANTIC CITY - Can this casino resort be saved? This Memorial Day weekend, it's easy to see all is not well here. Eight of the 12 casinos predate the mid-1980s - carpets are grungy, paint is chipping off the walls, and far fewer employees are working the gaming floors. As the sun broke through after a blustery Friday and Saturday, the Sunday crowds picked up on the Boardwalk. By midafternoon, it teemed with strollers and patrons at the outdoor restaurants. But parking was available at several casino garages, a telltale sign this was not the hoped-for blockbuster weekend.

The two Canadian tourists stabbed to death with a 12-inch butcher knife by a deranged woman in Atlantic City were a mother and her daughter, officials said today. They were identified as Po Lin Wan, 80, and Alice Mei See Leung, 47, of Scarborough, Ontario. Antoinette E. Pelzer, 44, allegedly stabbed Leung in her upper body during a robbery around 10 a.m. outside the Bally's Atlantic City Casino and then stabbed Wan in her lower body, hand and shoulder as she tried to help her daughter, authorities said.

ATLANTIC CITY - Revel's new Pearl Lounge takes pains to show it is not just any slots parlor. With its canopy entrance, strung-pearl ceiling design, custom-print glass doors, and red oak floors, exclusivity is what it's all about. The 3,000-square-foot space just off the main gaming floor is intended as a complement to the casino's Ultra Lounge, a private space for high-end table players. "We needed this," George Mancuso, vice president of slot operations at Revel, said during a media tour Thursday on the eve of Pearl Lounge's opening.

Despite the much-anticipated addition of the Revel mega-casino, Atlantic City saw a heavy decline in gambling revenue last month, prompting some operators to question openly whether the $2.4 billion newcomer would provide the economic lift the resort had hoped for. The city's total gambling revenue was $263 million in May, down 9.5 percent compared with a year ago. Excluding Revel, revenue declined 14.3 percent. "Revel's results came in weaker than expected," said gambling analyst John Kempf of Wells Fargo Securities L.L.C.

IT WAS THE afternoon of May 25 when Bob Coleman tucked the sparkling marquise diamond ring behind the TV in his Roxborough home. His palms were sweaty. Kimberly "Kim" Jean Finnegan, his live-in girlfriend of a year, stood before him in a purple dress, her eyes dramatically rimmed with liner she rarely wore, knowing they were headed to the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City to see the rapper Pitbull. But first, Coleman had something important to do. The 27-year-old son of Common Pleas Judge Robert P. Coleman, dropped to one knee.

In 1979 I sold the Marlborough Blenheim Hotel to Bally's. It was the first casino deal in Atlantic City and it was big news. The New York Times asked me what Atlantic City would have to do to make gambling a success, and I opined that what was needed was a bulldozer eight blocks wide. What I was telling them then, and what remains true today, is that casino gambling could only be successful in the long run if the city, and not the casinos, became a destination. The entire city would have to undergo sweeping changes, from a bedroom community to an area of tourist attractions.

ATLANTIC CITY - Jeffrey Barton moved to the Shore from Redondo Beach, Calif., a year ago to cash in on an unprecedented building boom here. "I'm here for one thing," said Barton, 44, who makes $31.97 an hour as a tile finisher. "The work. " There are plans over the next four years for $20 billion worth of casino, hotel, restaurant and retail construction and renovation projects, many of which began in 2003. And in a slowing national economy, all that development is attracting construction workers from around the country.

The women have arrived in Atlantic City for the Miss America Pageant, and they're hard at work. Miss Nevada, Stacie James, works out on a Nautilus machine; Miss Texas, Jo Thompson, gives an interview. They're all hoping to be named Miss America 1988 on Saturday night.

This was the most rewarding school year of Dayshawn Reynolds' life. This also was the most challenging, complicated, and bittersweet school year of the Atlantic City senior's life. This was no coincidence. "It's really a minor miracle, the way he has been able to deal with everything," Atlantic City basketball coach Gene Allen said. "A young man like him doesn't come along very often. " Reynolds is The Inquirer's South Jersey senior boys' athlete of the year because of his excellence on the football field and the basketball court.

ATLANTIC CITY - Atlantic City's casinos still aren't playing "Back In Black" over their loudspeakers, but the decline in their revenue slowed significantly in May. The city's casinos won more than $253.1 million last month, down 3.8 percent compared with a year ago. The figure is far less than the double-digit declines the casinos registered in the first four months of this year. It was indisputably the best month of the year for the casinos. January saw a 13.7 percent decline, followed by plunges of 12.5 percent in February, 10.5 percent in March and 12.1 percent in April.

In 1979 I sold the Marlborough Blenheim Hotel to Bally's. It was the first casino deal in Atlantic City and it was big news. The New York Times asked me what Atlantic City would have to do to make gambling a success, and I opined that what was needed was a bulldozer eight blocks wide. What I was telling them then, and what remains true today, is that casino gambling could only be successful in the long run if the city, and not the casinos, became a destination. The entire city would have to undergo sweeping changes, from a bedroom community to an area of tourist attractions.

In 1973, when the Philadelphia Orchestra made history in China, Inquirer music critic Daniel Webster was there. Now David Patrick Stearns reports on the 2013 visit, building on this long relationship. MACAU - Where else does your hotel serve cupcakes and ice cream for breakfast? And offer wake-up calls from Shrek? In Cantonese? This pleasure capital of Asia - one that is said to outstrip Las Vegas for superficial splendor - is only the latest unlikely host of the Philadelphia Orchestra on its 40th anniversary tour of China, but in two concerts that were sold out before Friday's video of the musicians playing Dvorak on their rain-delayed flight went viral (with 102,000 You Tube hits in 24 hours)

IT WAS THE afternoon of May 25 when Bob Coleman tucked the sparkling marquise diamond ring behind the TV in his Roxborough home. His palms were sweaty. Kimberly "Kim" Jean Finnegan, his live-in girlfriend of a year, stood before him in a purple dress, her eyes dramatically rimmed with liner she rarely wore, knowing they were headed to the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City to see the rapper Pitbull. But first, Coleman had something important to do. The 27-year-old son of Common Pleas Judge Robert P. Coleman, dropped to one knee.

HERE ARE things passers-by had to say as bare-breasted Moira Johnston strolled through Rittenhouse Square: "I think she covered her nipples in a very sweet way, with flowers," said Center City's Leslie Hillel, who took delight in explaining to her grandson, Meyer Day, 3, that Johnston's breasts "stick out like your mommy's do when she's nursing [Meyer's baby brother] Max. " "At the end of the day, I think it comes down to being comfortable with yourself," said Akeem Lloyd, 25, of Atlantic City, who took no offense to Johnston's bare chest.

The apathy that generated a dismal 9 percent turnout in Philadelphia for Pennsylvania's primary election last month will likely be evident again when New Jersey voters take their turn at the polls Tuesday. Most New Jersey incumbents are unopposed within their parties, or they face opponents whose lack of name recognition and campaign funds doesn't add up to a winning combination. Many voters may choose to wait for the shootout in November. But the shooting has already started. Governor Gov. Christie's campaign has been airing TV ads for weeks attacking his prospective Democratic opponent, State Sen. Barbara Buono (D., Middlesex)

North Philadelphia's Jesse Hart (6-0, 5 KOs) is scheduled to take on Thomas Turner (3-3, 2 KOs) Saturday night at Bally's in Atlantic City in a six-round super-middleweight bout. The card, promoted by J. Russell Peltz, begins at 7:30. Tickets are available at the door. In the main event, Teon Kennedy (17-2-2, 7 KOs) is set to fight Carlos Vinan (10-9-5, 2 KOs) in a 10-round super-featherweight bout. Kennedy, also of North Philadelphia, has not fought since a fifth-round stoppage loss last June to Guillermo Rigondeaux in a WBA super-bantamweight title fight.

As a metaphor for lofty but frustrated aspirations, it's hard to beat a stuck elevator. Last weekend at Revel, Atlantic City's newest, most ambitious, and possibly least lucky casino, more than 50 patrons had to be hoisted out of a pair of marooned elevator cars in separate incidents early Saturday. Amid a generally upbeat opening of the high season at the storm-struck Jersey Shore, it was a reminder of the inexorable decline of the gambling-fueled city's fortunes. As policymakers in Pennsylvania and around the country rush to create new opportunities for gambling, the Atlantic City story should give them pause.

WILDWOOD - At Beachwear Fashions, a boardwalk shop in this honky-tonk by the sea, even the mannequins can't keep their pants on straight. Tiny short-shorts for girls and baggy sweats for guys are displayed pulled halfway down plastic derrieres. The fashions are decorated on the rear with pithy phrases like YOLO (you only live once) and Beach Barbie. You can think of it as art imitating life. But next month, this Jersey Shore town that has been trying for decades to combat its boozy, free-for-all image is likely to impose a boardwalk dress code that will turn into law the silent wish of many that other people hike up their pants.