NEWS
April 22, 2013 | By Chris Palmer, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Bucks County woman killed by her ex-husband in front of her 16-year-old daughter Thursday has been identified by the District Attorney's Office as Violeta Isackov. She had been the second wife of Kenneth Philipp, who, according to court records, had a history of menacing behavior. Philipp, 50, was killed Thursday in a shootout with police around 6 p.m., after he killed Isackov and injured her daughter by firing three shots from a 12-gauge shotgun point-blank into their car outside a Lower Southampton dress shop, according to District Attorney David Heckler.
NEWS
April 10, 2013 | By Craig Whitlock, Washington Post
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon said Monday that it would ask Congress to change military law so that commanders can no longer overturn convictions without explanation, a proposal that follows a public outcry over the handling of some sexual-assault cases. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he wanted to take away senior commanders' long-standing authority to toss out jury verdicts after a court-martial but before the case can be heard on appeal. While commanders could still reduce or even eliminate sentences, under Hagel's proposal they would have to justify their actions in writing for the first time and could not set aside convictions in major cases.
NEWS
April 10, 2013
Police asked for the public's help Tuesday night in locating a 21-year-old mother who was last seen at a club Saturday morning in the city's Ogontz section. Kimberly Wright was last seen around 5 a.m. inside the Robinson Ballroom, at 5749 N. Broad St., police said. She was observed having a conversation with three men. She left her mobile phone in the club. Anyone with information is asked to call the Southwest Detective Division at 215-686-3183 or dial 911. - Robert Moran
NEWS
April 10, 2013 | By Ellen Dunkel, Inquirer Staff Writer
Twenty years ago, Anne Lamott wrote Operating Instructions , a memoir about the first year of her son's life. She was single, 35, and a recovering alcoholic. Baby Sam came along and transformed everything, the way a baby does. That same year, Lamott's best friend died of cancer. Lamott captured the day-to-day details of both events in a timeless journal that is still popular today. So it seemed a bit stunning - even to Lamott - when last year she released a follow-up, Some Assembly Required , about that son's first son. But the shock of becoming a grandmother 10 years earlier than she expected gave way when she set eyes on Jax Jesse Lamott.
NEWS
March 29, 2013 | By Jennifer Lin, Inquirer Staff Writer
Through a combination of layoffs, cost cutting, and property sales, the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) hopes to offset by $23.3 million the shortfall in its budget caused by the sequester cuts. At Thursday's board meeting, PHA Commissioner Estelle Richman approved the budget plan for the fiscal year beginning April 1. PHA expects to raise $4 million by selling scattered sites of housing - mostly stand-alone rowhouses and vacant lots. The agency will reduce overhead through savings on its insurance policy, $2.6 million, and reductions in administrative costs, $6 million.
NEWS
March 25, 2013 | By Dan Morse and Jeremy Borden, Washington Post
WASHINGTON - Two Marines were shot and killed late Thursday at the Officer Candidate School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, and the suspected shooter, also a Marine, fatally shot himself inside a barracks on the base, authorities said. The shooter gunned down a man before seizing a woman and killing her and then himself, officials said. They declined to publicly discuss a possible motive in the attacks, but said the incident was neither a terrorist incident nor an attempt to cause mass casualties.
NEWS
March 19, 2013 | By Peter Dobrin, Inquirer Music Critic
Ah, look at all the happy people. Where do they all come from? If the Philly Pops is smart, it got their e-mail addresses, those young(ish) fans who came to hear what conductor Michael Krajewski called "authentic recreations" of an English band that broke up 43 years ago. Members of the Classical Mystery Tour, arrayed in hippie garb, sang and played Lennon and McCartney favorites in Verizon Hall Friday while Krajewski and his band played backup....