Closings

THE CITY PLAN to close five fire companies to save $3 million is as outrageous as it is dangerous. Overall fires are up and fire deaths are through the roof. There is a surplus of more than $160 million and this plan is being pushed to save a paltry $3 million. The mayor is gambling with the safety of every resident and their families. Let your councilperson know that you won't stand for being used as a pawn in the mayor's game of political Russian roulette. Joseph Lee Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA government and city schools will again be closed Tuesday as the region recovers from Hurricane Sandy. Schools Superintendent William Hite said Monday that district staff will check buildings after the storm passes to decide when they're ready to reopen. CITY GOVERNMENT: All city employees, except for emergency personnel will have another day off. Trash pickup scheduled for Tuesday won't be picked up until next Tuesday. COURTS: State and federal courts will be closed.

A shouting and chanting crowd of hundreds told officials Thursday night exactly what they thought of a Philadelphia School District plan to close 37 schools and change grades and shut programs at dozens more. "SOS! Save our schools!" hundreds yelled as they marched up North Broad Street toward district headquarters. "Whose city? Our city! Whose schools? Our schools!" It was a dramatic stand against the planned closings of one in six city schools, announced last week. Closings were not on the agenda of the School Reform Commission's voting meeting, but they quickly became the hot potato of the evening, with students, teachers, parents, and community members demanding answers.

RE "THE disappearing maternity wards" by Dr. Jennifer Simmons (April 18): Dear Doctor, Repeatedly, all I hear are the complaints from doctors and politicians about jury awards. Why is it you never hear a doctor criticize another doctor about his lack of skills? Maybe medical-school standards need to be higher. I wouldn't want a surgeon - or any doctor - who just squeaked by in school to practice on me. Nor would I want a doctor who is not fit to practice caring for my family or me. Doctors know which colleagues shouldn't be practicing, but you never hear that - publicly.

Here are the list of Archdiocese of Philadelphia's school closings/mergers, announced Jan. 6: BUCKS COUNTY St. Michael the Archangel , Levittown, merges with Our Lady of Grace , Penndel at the Penndel site. St. Mark , Bristol, merges with St. Ephrem , Bensalem, at the Bensalem site. Assumption BVM , Feasterville, merges with St. Bede the Venerable , Holland, at the Holland site. Holy Trinity , Morrisville, merges with St. John the Evangelist , Lower Makefield, at the Lower Makefield site.

President Bush has ordered federal agencies to close Tuesday, the day of former President Gerald R. Ford's funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington. The Postal Service announced that mail deliveries would be suspended, with normal service resuming Wednesday. U.S. stock markets will close Tuesday, as will energy and agricultural exchanges. Also, bond and currency trading will be conducted in abbreviated sessions. philly.com Read and view much more about Gerald Ford?s life and presidency and share your thoughts about him via http://go.

Calling all Catholics. Our church is in trouble and we need to act now if we hope to save it. By the end of this month, more than a dozen Catholic churches and schools will be suppressed and the Eucharist removed from their communities. Alarmingly, recent history indicates that this is just the beginning. In Detroit, more than 30 neighborhoods lost their churches in a year. In Chicago, more than 70 worshipping communities were wiped out over two years. If we don't act now, Philadelphia will be similarly affected.

These emergency storm measures were announced Friday by area transit, bridge, and parking agencies. Conditions may warrant changes. SEPTA: All operations will cease at 12:30 a.m. Sunday.* Selected Regional Rail routes will end service at 5 p.m. Saturday.* Operations will resume at midday Sunday or later. NJ TRANSIT: Rail service will be suspended at 12 p.m. Saturday.* Bus service and light-rail transit ends at 6 p.m. Saturday.* Access Link Service will be suspended at 6 p.m. Saturday.

By Tina Richardson Last year the School District of Philadelphia closed six schools. This year it will close 23 - almost quadruple last year's level. Closing schools is only half of the challenge; the other half is relocating displaced students in new schools and ensuring that their transition is seamless, with no interruption to their learning. That means their records and the support services they depend on have to transfer with them. While we have been reassured repeatedly that services will follow the 8,500 affected students into their new schools, there is reason for concern.

City officials in 1990 settled on sex-shop spies as a reasonable alternative to more drastic action. They initially considered shutting down sex shops where potential deadly sexual activity was encouraged, according to a seven-page unsigned memo circulated within the department two months before the July 1990 program began. The memo shows that health officials were particularly concerned about bathhouses - popular gathering spots for gay men. The bathhouses "for many years provided a unique environment conducive to multiple sexual encounters, drug use and unprotected sex," the memo said.

PHIL MICKELSON apparently wants to savor every last second of preparation for this week's U.S Open some 2,745 miles away from Merion Golf Club at his home in Southern California. In other words, he isn't real eager to get to Philadelphia. How close is Mickelson cutting it? According to USA Today, Mickelson's private jet was scheduled to leave Carlsbad, Calif., at 8:30 p.m. PDT (11:30 p.m. EDT) yesterday and arrive in Philadelphia at 4:30 this morning. His tee time at Merion today is 7:11 a.m. That will leave him just enough time to shower, shake off the jet lag, and whack a few balls before competing alongside Steve Stricker and Keegan Bradley.

WASHINGTON - Defying GOP critics, President Obama named outspoken diplomat Susan Rice as his national security adviser Wednesday, giving her a larger voice in U.S. foreign policy despite accusations that she misled the nation in the aftermath of the deadly attack on Americans in Benghazi, Libya. The appointment, along with the nomination of human-rights advocate Samantha Power to replace Rice as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, signals a shift by Obama toward advisers who favor more robust American intervention overseas for humanitarian purposes.

WASHINGTON - Rebuffing President Obama's latest plea, House Republicans on Monday proposed keeping open the military-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by barring the administration from transferring its terror suspects to the United States or a foreign country such as Yemen. The provisions dealing with the fate of the remaining 166 prisoners are part of a defense policy bill drafted by Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R., Calif.). The chairman released the bill Monday, two days before the committee is to vote on it. Overall, the bill would authorize $638 billion for the military in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, including $86 billion for war costs.

FOR 165 YEARS, the high stone walls along Girard Avenue from Ridge to College have sheltered the students of Girard College from hard circumstances like those from which they had come. Now, under the strain of shrinking funds and the millions needed to repair the aging campus, the walls no longer will serve the same function - at least not full- time. The North Philly boarding school, founded and sustained by the estate of early-American banker Stephen Girard, will consolidate into a day school for grades 1 through 8 beginning in 2014, in what administrators say is only a temporary fix to relieve the school's financial woes.

Linda Fleming was baptized at St. Leo the Great on Father's Day in 1958, exactly two weeks after she was born. She received the sacraments of communion and confirmation there, and attended the church's grade school. The Funeral Masses for her parents were said at St. Leo's. And even after moving to Bustleton in 2010, Fleming still attended services at the church in Philadelphia's Tacony section. In short, Fleming said Sunday outside the church on Keystone Street, "This is our home.

The Flyers are close to signing Maxim Lamarche, a 20-year-old defenseman in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren, in a text message Thursday night, said the club was interested in Lamarche but had not yet signed him - even though Lamarche said on Twitter that he had signed. Lamarche had nine goals and 34 assists last season with Baie-Comeau Drakkar, and he is expected to play for Adirondack in the AHL if he signs with the Flyers. He is listed at 6-foot-3, 218 pounds, and is a righthanded shooter.

BOSTON - The boos were meant for the closer in his New England homecoming, but they could have just as easily been directed to the manager in the visiting dugout at Fenway Park last night had they been sounded off by the healthy flock of Phillies fans in town. Jonathan Papelbon, who spent his first eight major league seasons in Boston, was called on by Charlie Manuel to take the ball in a two-run game in the ninth inning. Cliff Lee, who spent the first eight innings making the Red Sox bats look limp, was told to take a seat.

Banks    Optional in Pa., NJ Savings & loans    Optional in Pa., NJ Federal agencies    Closed in Pa., NJ   Federal courts    Closed in Pa., NJ   State agencies    Closed in Pa., NJ     Local/state courts *    Closed in Pa., NJ    Liquor stores    Closed in Pa., NJ    Postal service **    No delivery in Pa., NJ  * Arraignment court at the Criminal Justice Center,...