Bad News

So the candidate of Nancy Pelosi, your favorite speaker of the House, for the position of House Majority Leader, Rep. John Murtha, didn't quite make the grade. Boo-hoo! You had this on Page 28 of the Nov. 17 edition. Had it been a Republican issue, it would have appeared on Page 1 with some "snappy" headline that somehow, someway would be connected to President Bush. A few suggestions. First, after looking at the photo of John Murtha, may I suggest he eat some prunes.

The good news is that the SEPTA strike is over. The bad news is that it's going to cost more to ride the buses and subways. Probably another quarter - up to $1.25 - and that's just for starters. Once the one-dollar barrier has been breached, it will be easier for SEPTA to return every now and then with requests for a little more. The strike gave SEPTA another justification for the fare increase it would have requested anyhow. More revenue would have been necessary even if the authority had been able to get by with no concessions at all to the Transport Workers Union.

WHEN ADVERSITY strikes, we have two choices. We can either wallow in sorrow, or we can find the blessings which lie beneath each of life's many tests. When the Lord visited my family with a serious health challenge recently, we weren't prepared for the bad news, but we should have been. Now, we are solely focused on turning this adversity into joy, which is often a daunting task. My companion of 16 years Natu, a health advocate and alternative health practitioner, was diagnosed with colon cancer.

The Boston Red Sox, who lost an opportunity to move ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East by losing to the New York Yankees yesterday, got more bad news after the game when it was announced that ace Roger Clemens would not pitch today, or for the rest of the regular season. Clemens, who has been sidelined for three weeks with tendinitis in his right shoulder, was scheduled to make his return today against the Yankees. But Boston manager Joe Morgan said Clemens was still suffering pain in the shoulder and would be scratched.

In the last two weeks, two collections of songs by unknown, on-the-horizon popular-music talent have been released on record: Ten of a Kind, produced by the college-radio tip sheet College Media Journal, and Musician Magazine's Winners of the Best Unsigned Band Contest, which was judged by Elvis Costello, Mitchell Froom, T-Bone Burnett and Mark Knopfler. As a barometer of new thought in the music business, they are discouraging statements: Listen to these records and you discover that most of the bands are playing the game of catch-the-latest-sound.

The hydrocarbons that produce ozone come from a variety of sources - from vapors at the gas pump to the baking of yeast-raised bread. But environmental officials say there isn't much the average person can do to stop the formation of ozone. The best bets are driving less, and getting ready for a possible new round of pollution controls at gas stations or in new cars. "It's too early at this point to start looking at the very, very minute amounts that, when taken as a whole, contribute to the ozone problem," said Joseph Otis Minott, executive director of the Delaware Valley Clean Air Council.

Doctors have told Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter that the tumors found on his brain likely are malignant, according to news reports. The tumors were diagnosed last Saturday after the former New York Mets star began experiencing headaches and forgetfulness. Doctors at Duke Medical Center told the 57-year-old Carter that they are "90 percent certain" the tumors are malignant, according to a report on the New York Daily News website. "It was very hard for all of us to hear, as we have been hoping and praying that the tumors would be benign," one of Carter's daughters wrote on the family's website.

The first edition of a new weekly paper aimed at Philadelphia's black community makes its debut tomorrow. Ernest A. Edwards Jr., the former developer of the Osage Avenue homes, is owner, publisher and editor of the new Philadelphia Sunday Press. "Ours is a positive newspaper," Edwards said. "It's progressive, upbeat and upscale with no blood or guts or gore. We're not interested in whose house burned down or who got robbed. "We're interested in the success of black people, and in helping black people feel good about themselves, giving them a belief they can do something about their circumstances and condition.

OUR FIRST reaction to a new report from Pew's Philadelphia Research Initiative that found the number of people moving into the city is rising faster than those moving out was . . . anxiety. Does this good news mean we're going to be forced to finally abandon the last vestiges of low self-esteem and actually start believing we live in a cool, happening city? The forces for such civic confidence have been working on us for a few years now - thriving neighborhoods, big new buildings, gains in education, and, of course, a certain October parade back in 2008.

Let's see now. They once had an insurmountable lead in the National League East, but now the New York Mets are a clear and present danger to surmount it. The only guy in their lineup who is a real threat to hit a home run is in the middle of a two-week enforced absence with a sprained ankle. The second baseman revealed recently that the guys on the team aren't exactly palsy-walsy. And all of this came after an incredible string of injuries that must have caused a shortage of medical supplies in the greater metropolitan area.

GOV. CORBETT has been telling his fellow Republicans in the state Senate that the legislation to privatize liquor stores is essential to his re-election next year. But a Daily News /Franklin & Marshall College Poll shows that may be a bad bet for Corbett. The poll shows that support for privatization of state-run liquor stores is slipping. And voters rank that goal as a low priority compared to creating jobs and helping the state's economy. "Voters aren't invested in it," said G. Terry Madonna, the poll director.

A federal auditing agency has charged that former Philadelphia Housing Authority executive director Carl R. Greene falsely certified that his agency was not using taxpayer money for lobbying and has recommended that Washington take action against him "up to and including debarment. " In a 35-page report Friday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development inspector general also recommended that HUD take actions against Greene under a federal anti-fraud law. Assistant HUD Secretary Sandra B. Henriquez said she would review the inspector general's report with her agency's attorneys before a decision is made on how to proceed with the recommendations.

After painful protests over school closings and other cuts, the Philadelphia School District's incomplete proposed budget is understandable but still unrealistic. Superintendent William R. Hite Jr.'s first proposed spending plan features a gaping $304 million hole in funding for the financially flailing system. The $2.7 billion budget relies on a big hoped-for infusion of new money: $120 million from the state and $60 million from the city. That's too much uncertainty in this murky fiscal climate.

THREE GAMES into the season and the 0-3 Flyers are rapidly approaching rock bottom. Without even playing a game on Wednesday, Peter Laviolette's squad took two nasty hits. Last year's leading scorer, Scott Hartnell, will be out indefinitely with an injury, and promising forward Brayden Schenn (see below) will serve a one-game suspension Thursday against the Rangers. Oh, and the Flyers are already without Danny Briere (wrist) and Zac Rinaldo (leg laceration) until at least the weekend.

Adapted from a recent online discussion. Question: Twenty-plus years ago, my husband and I used to be good friends with another couple. We grew apart over time, with different values and child-rearing philosophies. After they treated our son and me extremely rudely at a gathering about 15 years ago (not my being oversensitive, my husband agreed), we stopped seeing them. Periodically the guy would get in touch, trying to sell things to me professionally. About a year ago, he and my husband reconnected.

For the third consecutive game, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be without their star quarterback. At least it appears as if they'll have the quarterback of their defense and the reigning team MVP back on the field. Ben Roethlisberger will not play Sunday in Baltimore, meaning Charlie Batch will make his second consecutive start at quarterback for the Steelers (6-5), who have lost each of the first two games Roethlisberger missed. Unlike a defeat at home two weeks ago to the rival Ravens (9-2)

It's been a month of bad news: Sandy was relentless, the country's CIA chief resigned disgracefully, and Middle East peace is just a dream. Still, we knew good news existed somewhere, and we asked readers for their best of the year. Full steam ahead, young Riley The best news I got this year was that our grandson, Riley James, born Aug. 9, survived open-heart surgery on the sixth day of his life. His congenital heart disease affects about two in 10,000 children. Kudos go to the obstetrics staff at Riddle Memorial for a quick diagnosis of his condition, and then to the cardiology staff at A.I. duPont for Children, where Riley was transferred and had his "walnut"-size heart operation.

LANDOVER, Md. - The bad news, of course, if you really, really want the bad news, is that the Washington Redskins are a pretty awful football team. Not so awful they couldn't lay a 31-6 pasting on the somnolent Eagles on Sunday, the kind of outing that Ray Rhodes used to call a "good old country butt-kicking. " Ray knew about those, about what happens when a team ceases to either believe or care. His tenure as head coach ended in that kind of disarray and now, 14 years later, the guy who replaced him is facing the same situation.

Sammi Kane Kraft, 20, whose real-life baseball skills landed her the role of the pitching ace in the only film she ever made, 2005's Bad News Bears , died Tuesday in a car accident in Los Angeles. She was a passenger in an Audi that was speeding about 1:30 a.m. when it rear-ended a big rig and was then struck by another car, according to the California Highway Patrol. She was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, her brother Frankie said. Molly Kate Adams, 21, the driver of the Audi, was treated for moderate injuries and arrested on suspicion of felony drunken driving, the CHP said.

There was a song in 1994 called "A View of Camden" about a Philadelphia woman whose apartment overlooked the Delaware River and a New Jersey city she could hardly see. People living in Camden in 2012 say they, too, can barely recognize the city - particularly in recent headlines about horrifying crimes, floundering schools, and pervasive poverty. There's also that counter-intuitive plan to replace the city police department with a new county force. Posts on Facebook, YouTube and elsewhere bemoan the media's focusing on the city's potentially record-breaking homicide toll (48 so far this year)