Burger King

A pair of armed robbers has hit nearly a dozen gas stations in suburban communities in the last month, threatening to shoot attendants and getting away with hundreds of dollars each time, police said. Police are also searching for suspects in a separate string of related robberies at suburban Burger King restaurants. Gas stations in Norwood and Upper Chichester were struck Wednesday night by the robbers, who had silver revolvers. At 8:15 p.m., police said, one gunman approached the lone clerk behind the counter at the Twin Oaks Mobil Station in Upper Chichester while another guarded the front door.

QUOTE "No, I haven't, because if I have to fly, I . . . fly first class. " - Ubiquitous Priceline.com spokeman William Shatner, asked by "48 Hours" if he's ever used the service Wyclef Jean has an answer to the candidates' nagging question, "Are you better off today then you were eight years ago?" Pleather to leather, baby. That's how the singer describes the results of his success of the last few years: From slinging burgers to singing with the Fugees to working as a solo artist, it's paid off in a material way. "I went from brass to gold to silver to pleather to leather," the singer brags on Friday's "Queen Latifah Show.

The Middle East's latest Arab-Jewish flap - the Burger King war - has the fast-food company in a pickle. Jewish organizations are planning demonstrations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and in cities as far away as New York and Amsterdam, to protest Burger King's decision last week to close one of its restaurants in a Jewish settlement on the West Bank. "Burger King is behaving like a chicken, not a king," is how Benny Kashriel, the mayor of Maale Adumim and a Jewish settlement leader, put it yesterday.

Emilie Colavecci set her half-eaten burger on the Formica tabletop and said she had no intention of returning her grandson Joey's "Pokeballs" - despite the Pokemon toy's apparent role in the suffocation of a 13-month-old child in California. "He's 3 1/2. I wouldn't give them back. He old enough to play with them," she said of her grandson, who owns four of the 25 million small, toy-bearing balls that have been handed out in the most financially successful promotion in fast-food history.

Burger King Corp. said yesterday it was recalling millions of plastic Pokemon balls enclosing toys given away with its children's meals after half of one ball reportedly suffocated a baby in California. The company said it was voluntarily recalling all 25 million spherical containers distributed in a U.S. promotion involving the popular Pokemon toys and trading cards, which are based on Japanese video-game and movie characters. The plastic or plush toys inside the balls are not being recalled.

They pouted, they glowered, they hollered. And the children were not too happy either. All over Pokemon toys. Hard-to-find Pokemon toys. Eager parents and speculators this week have made a run on Burger King, draining toy supplies and sapping patience at many of its 8,000 restaurants, where the $1.99 to $3.49 meals are supposed to include a Pokemon toy and cards as part of a $22 million promotion that will include 57 different toys over two months. In town after town, stories spread of frayed nerves and gall amid the french fries.

Rashan Brown started laughing upon learning he is listed at 5-9 and 165 pounds on John Bartram High's football roster. Try three inches shorter. Try 10 pounds lighter. "That's probably our coach's doing," Brown said, referring to Frank "Roscoe" Natale. "He always says to make yourself bigger. "It doesn't bother me for people to know the truth. How big you are and whether you can play is going to be found out on the field anyway. " Yesterday, Brown earned a spot among the headliners as the Maroon Wave downed visiting Martin Luther King, 21-6, in a non-league game.

MEDIA I FCC changes the rules for TV station ownership Media companies will be able to own two television stations in the same market for the first time under rules adopted yesterday by the Federal Communications Commission. The change, long sought by the broadcasting industry, will be limited to the largest markets with at least eight separately owned TV stations and would prohibit any of the four top-rated stations in a market from combining. The plan also allows a company to own as many as seven radio stations in a market where it also owns one TV station, or six radio stations in a market where it owns two TV stations.

Free lunch Each week through Labor Day, "as a way of offering a brief respite in the middle of the week," Sansom Street Oyster House owner David Mink will give away a free lunch. So if you're dining at the 1516 Sansom St. eatery, fill out an entry form. Mink will select a name from that week's entries. Steaking out a new location Come mid-July, Morton's of Chicago will have new digs in Philly. The restaurant is moving from its 14-year address at One Logan Square to take its place on Restaurant Row (otherwise known as Walnut Street)