Center City

THEY WERE the last words a Center City pediatrician ever spoke: "Please stop, please stop. I'm sorry. I'll do whatever you want. " That's according to the confession from Jason Smith, 37, the Bucks County exterminator arrested in the Jan. 21 slaying of Dr. Melissa Ketunuti. His statement to police was read aloud at his preliminary hearing Wednesday, after which Municipal Judge Teresa Carr Deni ordered Smith to stand trial for murder, abuse of a corpse and related offenses. Smith, of Levittown, told homicide detectives that he had gone to Ketunuti's home on Naudain Street near 17th to exterminate mice but that he got into an argument with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia pediatrician while explaining the problem in the basement.

A PRISON guard at the Federal Detention Center in Center City started having sex with an inmate, then he tried to help her escape, authorities said. Lamont Lucas, 47, was charged Thursday with sexual abuse of a ward, providing contraband in a prison, and instigating or assisting an attempted escape, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Lucas worked as a tool-room supervisor at the facility during the affair from February to May 2012, the office said. Investigators also allege he gave the inmate sterling-silver studded earrings.

There is a specter haunting Philadelphia; it is the specter of job loss. In each economic cycle in the last four decades, the number of jobs attained at the top of expansion was less than what we had at the prior peak. There are 264,240 fewer jobs today than in 1970 - a decline of 25 percent. At the rate we are going, there will be 60,000 fewer opportunities for Philadelphians by 2023. Mayor Nutter's Five-Year Plan put it out there for all to see: We have the second-highest poverty rate among the 20 largest American cities, behind only Detroit.

iPipeline, an insurance-software maker based in Exton, is the latest suburban tech firm to add a Center City office in hopes of luring young engineers, programmers, and information-technology salespeople. The firm, which employs 390 in the Philadelphia area and its U.S. and foreign offices, and hopes to add 50 more this year, has leased a suite on the 33d floor at 1818 Market St., a 40-story building soon to be known as Beneficial Place, the new headquarters for the city's largest remaining bank.

Looking at the north side of Philadelphia City Hall, most people see a broad sidewalk that should be available for pedestrians hustling up from the train station or crossing town for work or entertainment. But a privileged few in this city see that paved surface as a parking lot for the entitled. Imagine what would happen happen to an ordinary citizen who pulled his car up on the sidewalk and ditched it there? It's a good thing members of Philadelphia's elite don't think they can pull up and park on Independence Mall or in front of the Art Museum steps, where large, flat surfaces also can be found.

THE FIRST warm days of spring in Philadelphia mean water ice, walks in the park and the wearing of shorts. For a couple hundred rowdy teenagers who took to the street on Chestnut near 15th about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, the warm weather meant a chance for mayhem. Police said the teens flooded the area, several fistfights broke out and 14 people were arrested. Police saw one fight erupt and were attempting to break it up when several of the teens began throwing bottles at officers, officials said.

iPipeline, an insurance-software maker based in Exton, is the latest suburban tech firm to add a Center City office in hopes of luring young engineers, programmers and information technology salespeople. The firm, which employs 390 in the Philadelphia area and its U.S. and foreign offices, and hopes to add 50 more this year, has leased a suite on the 33rd floor at 1818 Market St., a 40-story building soon to be known as Beneficial Place, the new headquarters for the city's largest remaining bank.

Fourteen people were arrested Tuesday afternoon when police confronted an unruly teenage mob in Center City, authorities said. About 3:50 p.m., 100 to 200 young people were seen running near 15th and Chestnut Streets, Police Chief Inspector Cynthia Dorsey said. Officers tracked the crowd and tried to bring it under control as it moved between nearby blocks, Dorsey said. Two girls were arrested for fighting, Dorsey said. "We don't know at this point if they were here to watch a fight or a fight spontaneously broke out," said Dorsey, a city officer assigned to the Philadelphia School District's Office of School Safety.

A fight between two teenage girls Tuesday afternoon in Center City drew a large crowd of young people in the area of 15th and Chestnut Streets, said parents of some of the teens arrested at the scene. It was not a planned "flash mob," and the crowd had not gathered for any particular purpose, the parents said Wednesday. "My son wasn't out there fighting," Dwayne Louis, 39, said outside the Youth Study Center, where 10 juveniles were awaiting hearings Wednesday. Whatever happened, police arrested 14 people - including Louis' son - amid rumors of a flash mob. The Wendy's restaurant at 15th and Chestnut locked its doors during the mayhem.

A robber who city police and FBI agents believe to be responsible for three bank holdups this year struck again Saturday, authorities said, this time in Center City. Surveillance video at the TD Bank at 111 S. 11th St. shows a white man believed to be in his 40s wearing a dark-blue hooded sweatshirt entering the branch about 8:55 a.m. Saturday. He demanded money from a teller, then fled with the cash, authorities said. He was described as about 6 feet tall with a slim build, a goatee, and salt-and-pepper hair.