Cash

A 29-year-old North Jersey man was sentenced Friday to 18 months in federal prison for smuggling more than $150,000 in cash on a flight from Philadelphia International Airport to the Dominican Republic. Juan Adames, 29, of Ridgefield Park, was a US Airways employee and was able to bypass screeners at the airport to board his flight in 2010, federal authorities said. He pleaded guilty in June to bulk cash smuggling and other charges. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations said the case identified a major vulnerability in the screening system that has since been fixed.

JUST AS THE ball drops in Times Square every year, the compilation movie is becoming an annual tradition. While the Brit-inflected "Love, Actually" (2003) is the mack daddy of the genre, the American counterparts began in earnest with "He's Just Not that Into You" (2009) and Garry Marshall's "Valentine's Day" (2010). Marshall continues his holiday streak with "New Year's Eve," celebrating the one day when, as Ashton Kutcher's bearded comic book artist puts it, "People who don't drink or party all year suddenly are going all Kanye on you. " As with "Valentine's Day," the stories of many freakishly attractive normals mix and mingle, coming together as the story sees fit, whether it's Zac Efron's bike messenger helping Michelle Pfeiffer's repressed secretary check off her resolutions or Jessica Biel and Seth Myers attempt to have the first baby born in 2012 in order to win a pile of cash.

Lucky Beer Distributor indeed. That's the name of the retailer, at 39 Snyder Ave. in South Philadelphia, where someone bought a Cash 5 ticket worth a record $1,685,206 - before taxes. The ticket matched all five numbers that came up Tuesday night: 10, 27, 31, 32, and 38. The win broke the mark for a single ticket set early this year, when Ronald Flickinger of Somerset County won $1,570,330 in the Jan. 9 drawing. The biggest Cash 5 jackpot was $1,867,253 from the April 15, 2008, drawing, but two winners had to split it - Wendell Reynolds of Upper Darby and Agnes Makarewicz of Sugarloaf, Luzerne County.

ATLANTIC CITY - Authorities were searching Sunday for an assailant who chased after and shot a man who had just left an Atlantic City casino. Police told the Press of Atlantic City the victim, a 21-year-old Egg Harbor Township man, was carrying "a substantial amount of cash" when he was shot once in the back early Sunday not far from the Tropicana Casino & Resort. Police say the assailant fired several shots, and a gun was found farther up the street. The victim ran to a friend's nearby home after being shot and remained hospitalized Sunday.

Early on the afternoon of April 1, Jim Duffy of Havertown unwittingly dropped a couple of rolls of bills while paying at the register of an Upper Darby Wawa. A woman snatched the $2,300 in cash from the floor and made a dash for the door, as seen on surveillance video. This morning, Stephanie Paparo, 28, a mother of three from Clifton Heights, was arraigned on misdemeanor charges of theft and receiving stolen property, according to Upper Darby Police Superintendant Michael Chitwood.

THE WOMAN had no money to give, but that didn't stop the robber who held her up at gunpoint in an Upper Darby alley about 8:30 p.m. Jan. 17. "You are going to give me something," he said, according to police reports. With that, the robber took something far more precious than cash from the 19-year-old woman. He took her body. Police said the attack happened in the rear alley of Wiltshire Road near Patterson Avenue. The victim was walking home from a friend's house when the suspect grabbed her from behind and took her behind a bush and performed various sex acts on her, and forced her to perform them on him, police said.

Just as in It's a Wonderful Life , a "cash mob" of about 100 people crammed into the Newtown Hardware House on Saturday morning to help bail out the store and its popular owner. "It's like George Bailey - everything George did was for everyone in the town," said Michelle Knobloch, referring to the Frank Capra movie. "This is all for Dave Callahan. He is quietly philanthropic and giving in so many ways. " Callahan, who has run what he calls Bucks County's oldest hardware store for 27 years, represents "the integrity of this borough," Knobloch said.

Luck arrived last night for a lottery player in Delaware County, but is about take a hike for another in Montgomery County. Together, we're talking more than a million dollars here. Monday night's Cash 5 jackpot was worth $728,528.50, and the winning ticket was purchased at the Wawa at 600 S. Governor Printz Blvd. in Essington . The winner matched all the numbers: 9, 13, 20, 29 and 31. Time is running out, however, for a Cash 5 ticket worth $325,000 for the March 18, 2012, drawing.

Met-Pro Corp., the Harleysville company that makes pumps, filters and water-treatment equipment, has been acquired by CECO Environmental Corp. for $202.1 million in cash and stock.   The deal calls for Cincinnati-based CECO, which makes air pollution control and industrial ventilation systems, to pay $7.25 in cash and $6.50 in stock for each Met-Pro share. Met-Pro shareholders can choose to receive either $13.75 in cash or an equivalent value of CECO shares.   Based on Met-Pro's 14.7 million outstanding shares, the deal is worth $202.1 million.