Court

A BILL to abolish Philadelphia's scandal-plagued Traffic Court is on its way to the desk of Gov. Corbett, and his office says he'll sign it. The Senate voted unanimously in favor of a revised version of the legislation yesterday. It will move Traffic Court duties to Municipal Court. After Corbett signs it, Traffic Court's judicial elections will be canceled. A companion bill has been approved to remove the Traffic Court from the state constitution. It still requires a second round of approval in the House and Senate in the next legislative session and then passage in a voter referendum.

Santos Cruz says he has waited "in limbo" for 13 years as Mount Holly officials moved forward with plans to demolish his rowhouse and the rest of the 330 homes in his impoverished neighborhood to make room for a market-rate housing development. "We have to wake up every day with the feeling, is today going to be the day they declare eminent domain and start taking our properties?" he said. The U.S. Supreme Court may have some answers for Cruz and the 24 remaining homeowners as early as Thursday, when it is expected to announce whether it will take up the case.

The state Supreme Court on Friday denied Mayor Nutter's request to hear arguments on whether the city should be allowed to impose a contract on 6,800 municipal workers represented by AFSCME District Council 33. The city filed suit in Common Pleas Court in February seeking to impose terms on its blue-collar workers. The proposal includes modest raises, potential furloughs, reduced overtime, and a new pension model for future employees. D.C. 33 employees, along with their white-collar counterparts in District Council 47, have been working without a new contract for nearly four years.

HARRISBURG - Philadelphia's embattled Traffic Court is one vote and one key signature away from extinction. The state House on Wednesday, by a vote of 114-81, gave final approval to a bill to dissolve the court, just four months after federal indictments were issued against nine current and former judges in a ticket-fixing scandal. The Senate is expected to approve the legislation as early as next week. A spokeswoman said Gov. Corbett is "inclined" to sign it. Traffic Court functions would be transferred to Municipal Court, which would get two more judge positions.

HARRISBURG - The state House took action Tuesday on the first of two critical pieces of legislation that would abolish Philadelphia's scandal-plagued Traffic Court. Lawmakers, by a 117-81 vote, joined the Senate in approving a constitutional change to eliminate the court, where nine former and current judges have been charged in a federal ticket-fixing scandal. The vote fell largely along party lines, with Republicans leading the effort. Both chambers must again approve the legislation next session and schedule it for a referendum as early as 2015.

THE STATE House voted 117-81 yesterday to approve one of two state Senate bills to abolish the controversy-plagued Philadelphia Traffic Court. The second bill is expected to be approved by the House today. The bill passed yesterday would eliminate the court as part of a change to the state constitution. That bill will have to again be approved in the next legislative session and then approved by voters in a statewide ballot referendum amending the constitution. The second bill eliminates three vacant Traffic Court seats up for election this year and transfers the job of hearing traffic-ticket cases to appointed hearing examiners in Municipal Court.

WASHINGTON - A sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for police to take a DNA swab from anyone they arrest for a serious crime, endorsing a practice now followed by more than half the states as well as the federal government. The justices differed strikingly on how big a step that was. "Taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the court's five-justice majority.

CAIRO - Egypt's highest court ruled Sunday that the nation's interim parliament was illegally elected, though it stopped short of dissolving the chamber immediately, in a decision likely to fuel tensions between the ruling Islamists and the judiciary. The Supreme Constitutional Court also ruled that a 100-member panel that drafted the constitution was illegally elected. The immediate impact of the ruling is limited. The Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament, called the Shura Council, will remain in place until elections are held for a lower house, likely early next year.

FEDERAL AUTHORITIES yesterday filed suit against a food distributor in North Philadelphia's Fairhill section, saying the firm failed to improve improper conditions after four Food and Drug Administration inspections dating to 2011. The suit alleges that FDA inspectors who visited New Rich City Trading Corp., on American Street near Huntingdon, discovered "the widespread presence of animals such as rodents, birds, cats, and dogs, as well as the animals' feces and urine, throughout the facility, including on and around articles of food.

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania's Supreme Court has adopted the first set of statewide policies, procedures, and standards of conduct for elected constables who serve civil papers, transport prisoners, and do other work for local courts, Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille said Tuesday. The rules, the product of more than two years of work by a group that included judges, court officials, and constables, are a critical step toward reining in a system that detractors say has long lacked standards in such areas as qualifications and professionalism, the chief justice said.