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An Italian national, previously convicted in the assault of a New Jersey police officer, was indicted today on charges that he attacked a Customs and Border Protection officer in May at Philadelphia International Airport, said U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger. Francesco Riccio, 51, currently lives in Philadelphia. On May 19, he was returning from Rome with his wife when he was detained at passport control. A lawful permanent resident of the U.S. since 1975, Riccio presented his passport but said his alien registration card had been stolen.

ATLANTIC CITY - Revel was supposed to be a job-generating machine - creating 5,500 full-time jobs with benefits as the biggest, most expensive casino ever built in New Jersey. That job figure was heavily touted by Gov. Christie and Revel's owner until just weeks before the casino's soft opening in April. By June, the $2.4 billion mega-casino had its 14 restaurants, two theaters, 10 swimming pools, a giant spa, a retail mall, and other non-gaming attractions open for business - as well as 1,400 of 1,800 rooms and a 130,000-square-foot gaming floor.

There were more than 191,000 foreclosure filings in July nationally, and while the numbers appear to be on the decline, there are millions of homeowners who continue to struggle to meet their monthly mortgage payments. Two of the nation's major lenders, CitiMortgage and Wells Fargo, will be in Center City next week, offering to meet with their customers fearful of the future. The fact that two lenders are in town to counsel their mortgage customers one-on-one is just a coincidence, however.

MADISON, Wis. - As much as President Obama wants your vote, he's not actually offering to pay your monthly bills. But thousands of Americans have been convinced otherwise, falling victim to a fast-moving scam that claims to be part of an Obama administration program to help pay utility bills in the midst of a scorching summer. Victims appear to be concentrated in New Jersey, where about 10,000 customers of Public Service Electric & Gas were conned. The first complaints arrived in May, but the bulk of them came over a six-day period in late May and early June, company spokeswoman Bonnie Sheppard said.

Updated at 12:50 p.m. Utility crews working around the clock have restored power to more than 140,000 customers who lost electricity in the weekend's deadly storms in South Jersey but three days later some 66,500 others are still in the dark. And officials say it might not be until Friday when everyone is back on line. Candles in the meantime are being blamed for a fire that destroyed a home without electricity in Mays Landing, Atlantic County. No injuries were reported in the 2 a.m. blaze in the one-story wood frame home on Garfield Avenue.

Philadelphian Elizabeth Robinson starts her summer vacation Tuesday in Languedoc-Roussillon, a small town in southern France. There, just 10 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea, she and husband Frederick own a stone house with walls four feet thick that dates from the 1300s. Regional wines are plentiful. So are cheeses, stews and escargot dishes. Amid that gastronomic bounty, what will Robinson be focused on? Getting you to lift, run and crunch (as in abdominals, not chewing)

Alaska Airlines ranked first and US Airways ranked last in customer satisfaction among traditional airlines, according to the latest survey by J.D. Power & Associates, released Wednesday. JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines were tops among low-cost carriers, with Frontier Airlines ranked lowest. The study measured overall customer satisfaction based on performance in seven factors: cost and fees, in-flight services, boarding/deplaning/baggage, flight crew, aircraft, check-in, and reservations.

A Lancaster County man who was involved in an altercation with Customs and Border Patrol agents at Philadelphia International Airport in 2007 was sentenced Wednesday in federal district court to time served and two years supervised release, with the first six months under home confinement. John Randall Gillenwater, 29, of Gap, was also ordered to undergo drug treatment. Gillenwater, who had been free on bail after a guilty plea in December, was taken into federal custody in February after he failed to appear for a court hearing.

Elnora Conner, 61, of Germantown, who was elected president of the Martin Luther King Mass Choir of Philadelphia and Vicinity in March 2011, died of heart failure Wednesday, May 30, at Einstein Medical Center Elkins Park. A tenor, she had been a member of the choir since 2006, her friend Gail Hoffman said in an interview. "She was kind of an independent person," Hoffman said, noting that after contacting a travel agency, Miss Conner went to the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 on her own. "The Olympics are in Beijing," Hoffman said Miss Conner told her. "I'm going to Beijing.

An African American shopper who says he suffers emotional distress and mental afflictions caused by a racist intercom announcement he heard two years ago at a Wal-Mart store in Washington Township, Gloucester County, is suing the retail giant for $1 million. Donnell Battie, 35, of Winslow Township, was in the crowded store on Route 42 the evening of March 14, 2010, when a male voice said over the loudspeaker: "Attention Wal-Mart customers, all black people must leave the store.