Basement

A Northeast Philadelphia man was charged Thursday with the starvation death of his 82-year-old father. Thomas Hauck, 57, was arrested Thursday morning on charges of murder, abuse of a corpse, reckless endangerment, and theft, among other offenses, the District Attorney's Office announced. Medics responded to a home on Kirkwood Road near Eden Street on Dec. 26 to treat Hauck's mother - who was malnourished - and found Leonard Hauck, 82, dead in the basement, District Attorney Office spokeswoman Tasha Jamerson said.

I received a letter from readers in Hatfield about the failure of a paint they had used on the concrete floor of their basement. Enclosed was a sample of what was peeling from the floor. Rather than quote from the letter word for word, I'll give you the gist of what happened: The couple had bought a washer and dryer that had to go into the basement. A year ago, they went to Lowe's looking for concrete floor paint to pretty the place up. They told the salesperson what they were doing, and he "highly recommended" Valspar Porch and Floor Paint.

Driving a scantily veiled race car is indelible business. I'll never forget my time behind the wheel of the fabled Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, a 617-horsepower two-seater that topped out around 200 miles an hour and listed for $452,500. More recently, I spent a week with another thinly disguised track denizen, the 2012 Chevrolet Corvette ZO6, a 505-horsepower two-seater that also runs out to about 200 miles an hour but lists for a bargain-basement $75,525. Granted, the Z06 is not as sophisticated and classy as the impeccable SLR was. But like its supercharged, 638-horse stablemate, the Corvette ZR1 ($111,600)

MILWAUKEE - When the malnourished 15-year-old awoke each morning, she could hear her family eating and getting ready for the day. If she felt especially brave or desperate, she would call to her stepmother and beg for food, but usually she just went back to bed and hoped her hunger pangs went away. The girl was 70 pounds when she was rescued. She told investigators at the hospital that most of the food she ate was scraps she found on the floor or in the garbage. She had spent most of five years in the basement of her family's Madison home, where she was beaten and sexually assaulted.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - For the first time in more than a decade, Edwin Sanabria awoke Christmas morning to find presents under the tree with his name on them. On New Year's Eve, he dressed in a pin-striped suit and tie, perched a cardboard top hat on his head, and posed for pictures. He had fun. "Too much fun," Sanabria, who turns 32 this month, said with a smile. "I got drunk. " Sanabria, one of four mentally disabled adults who were found imprisoned in a Tacony cellar in October, is free.

Neighbors said Ellen Walton had known Corey Conaway since he was born. And Conaway turned out to be the last person the 68-year-old Walton saw before she died - beaten to death with an iron frying pan, a Philadelphia jury found Friday - when she surprised her 18-year-old neighbor burglarizing her Germantown house. Now 20, Conaway seemed unmoved when the Common Pleas Court jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in Walton's death on Jan. 8, 2010. He was immediately sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole.

Neighbors said Ellen Walton had known Corey Conaway since he was born. And Conaway turned out to be the last person the 68-year-old Walton saw before she died - beaten to death with an iron frying pan, a Philadelphia jury found Friday - when she surprised her 18-year-old neighbor burglarizing her Germantown house. Now 20, Conaway seemed unmoved when the Common Pleas Court jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in Walton's death on Jan. 8, 2010. He was immediately sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole.

The couple evidently had a troubled and volatile relationship and, according to Montgomery County investigators, it ended in homicide. Officials on Friday said they had identified a suspect in the killing of Alicia Schmidt, 31, a mother of two, whose body was found Thursday morning at the bottom of the basement steps of her Pottstown home. They were asking the public's help in finding the suspect, Edwin Carrero, 32, who officials said had lived with the victim periodically. Schmidt's children, 7 and 12, were asleep upstairs when her body was found.

Whether Texas street preacher Eddie Ray Wright is a victim, like the four people found captive in a Tacony basement - or is part of the alleged conspiracy to steal their government benefits - is a question a Philadelphia jury will decide. After an hour-long second preliminary hearing for Wright on Thursday, Common Pleas Court Judge Paula Patrick ordered Wright held for trial on assault, kidnapping, conspiracy, and related charges. On Oct. 15, police responding to a complaint found four mentally challenged adults - malnourished, abused, and locked in a fetid basement boiler room in the 4700 block of Longshore Avenue.

Are you the sort of person someone at the turn of the 20th century might have called a "tinkerer"? I'm referring to the type who likes to build things or learn something new every day, no matter how old he or she gets. When I was a teenager, I lived next door to a guy who kept bees and sold the honey to neighbors and friends, after reassuring all of us that we had little chance of being stung if we just left the insects alone. To save money, my father took a night course at the high school to learn car repair - long before a tune-up required a laptop and automaker-designated software.