Critics

They gathered in the shadow of the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, Philadelphia's main Catholic church, in an amen chorus of support for nuns. "For Sister Marie Timothy, who assured me I didn't have an attitude problem and that I was a strong woman in the making," said a school nurse. "For Sister Evelyn, who put my feet on the path of demonstrating in Washington in 1972," said a baby boomer. "To Sister Mary Paul, for teaching us the mysteries of sex in middle school!"

In rejecting PSA screening for prostate cancer, an influential federal panel has chipped a cornerstone of preventive medicine, declaring that it's not always best to catch cancer as early as possible. "At best, PSA screening may help only 1 man in 1,000 avoid death from prostate cancer," the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said Monday. "Most prostate cancers found by PSA screening are slow growing, not life threatening, and will not cause a man any harm during his lifetime.

Amid the many messages you will hear about screening for prostate cancer in the coming days, I hope these stand out: There is at best a small potential benefit from prostate cancer screening, and there are substantial known harms. We need a better test, and we need better treatment options. The panel I chair, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, has just issued a recommendation against screening men of any age for prostate cancer using the prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, blood test.

The hate sessions that George Orwell invented for enemies of the state in 1984 are a standard feature of theatrical gatherings. The object is always The Critics. When the collective attention turned to critics at the recent biennial meeting of nonprofit theaters at Smith College, the atmosphere crackled with hate. Delegates thundered denunciations of critics in general and some in particular. Critics, they complained, cover resident theaters on a production-by- production basis instead of taking the long view.

Steven Rea offers short takes, outtakes, information and interviews on films. @ ArtsWatch: Peter Dobrin tells you who's making news, noise and splash in the Philadelphia arts world and beyond.

As Jerry Jordan blasted School Reform Commission restructuring plans Tuesday night, heads turned to the back of the room, to a line of children, sporting a poster with a simple message: "We need better schools. " Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, spoke out against SRC proposals to overhaul the Philadelphia School District's structure and planned layoffs to nurses and other professionals at an "emergency community meeting" held at Bright Hope Baptist Church in North Philadelphia.

They gathered in the shadow of the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, Philadelphia's main Catholic church, in an amen chorus of support for nuns. "For Sister Marie Timothy, who assured me I didn't have an attitude problem and that I was a strong woman in the making," said a school nurse. "For Sister Evelyn, who put my feet on the path of demonstrating in Washington in 1972," said a baby boomer. "To Sister Mary Paul, for teaching us the mysteries of sex in middle school!"

CHICAGO - President Obama sought Monday to undermine Mitt Romney's key rationale for his presidential candidacy, sharply attacking his Republican challenger's background as a venture capitalist and arguing that profit-making alone is not a qualification for the White House. "His main calling card for why he thinks he should be president," Obama said, "is his business experience. " It was Obama's most expansive argument yet against Romney, and the president delivered it from a world stage in his hometown.

ATLANTIC CITY - New Jersey's chief justice didn't opine on the extraordinary upheaval and political controversies in the state's court system Friday during his annual "State of the Judiciary" speech at the state's bar association convention. But the new president of the New Jersey State Bar Association most certainly did, in an interview slamming as "borderline unethical" Republican Gov. Christie's recent criticism of one judge's ruling. In introducing the chief justice, bar president Kevin P. McCann, a Democrat with a practice in Bridgeton, told the gathering that judges should not be "looking over their shoulder" or "second-guessed by someone else.

A motorcyclist struck a concrete barrier on the Roosevelt Boulevard bridge over the Schuylkill and flipped off his bike early today, plunging 40 feet into a gorge under the highway, Philadelphia police said. The 36-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was reported in extremely critical condition at Albert Einstein Medical Center. Police said the motorcyclist had exited the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) at a "high rate of speed" and was northbound on the boulevard (US 1)

The Camden City Board of Education is set to vote Tuesday on a buyout package for Superintendent Bessie LaFra Young, who has drawn sharp criticism for having called out sick for the equivalent of more than a school year of time since being hired five years ago. Young, a former top administrator in the Philadelphia School District who has a year left in her contract, will be stepping down June 30 from her $244,083 job at the helm of the long-struggling...

Breaking News Desk A Mercedes Benz collided with a police cruiser early this morning in Falls Township, Bucks County, critically injuring the driver and causing multiple fractures to the officer. Lt. Henry Ward of the Falls Township Police Department said the crash occurred shortly after 4 a.m. as Officer Matthew Killeen was responding to a low-priority alarm, which later turned out to be false. Killeen was driving east on Tyburn Road when a gold, 1993 Mercedes Benz traveling west suddenly crossed lanes, Ward said.

A father and his 5-year-old son were killed, and a 3-year-old daughter was critically injured in a morning crash in South Jersey. Shortly after 7 a.m., their Pontiac Grand Prix collided with a tractor-trailer carrying a load of paper products on Route 40 near Buck Road in Pittsgrove Township, Salem County, according to state police. The father, 37, and his son died in the crash, and the daughter was flown by helicopter to Cooper University Hospital in Camden in critical condition.

I give Phillies star pitcher Cole Hamels credit for honesty, nothing more, in his stunning admission that he intentionally struck 19-year-old Washington Nationals phenomenon Bryce Harper in the back to "welcome him" to the game, alleging that risking injury to one's opponents is "old baseball. " Utter nonsense! Hamels holds himself out to the community as one who is working for its betterment and who engages in great philanthropic deeds. It is sad that such an individual, who has possessed a relatively clean, all-American image, would engage in the baseball of thugs rather than those who enjoy the greatness of this game.