Daily News

THE back-to-school season has become so gadget-centric that it's now the second biggest selling season for electronics buying, after the year-end holidays. "Electronics actually make up most of the $80 billion back-to-school business," Consumer Electronics Association spokesman Jim Barry said recently. "And [it] is such a far cry from the pencils and notebooks we used to consider 'school supplies' back in my day. " Tops on any list for collegiates should be a "smartphone and a notebook computer," said this longtime industry tracker.

BACK IN THE '30s, the newspaper business was dominated by men, tough, cigar-chomping characters right out of "The Front Page," barking into telephones and bullying copy boys. In this rarefied atmosphere of masculinity, Dorothy May Love found her place as reporter, writer and editor, winning the respect of her colleagues and bosses, first with the Daily News and then with the Inquirer. Dorothy May Love Grover, as she became after marrying William O. Grover, a writer and editor for the Inquirer and Evening Bulletin, died Aug. 27 of congestive heart failure.

When a judge said Monday before sentencing a defendant who stabbed a man to death that the case was "a lot closer to self-defense" than murder, it was apparent Jonathan Lowe would not get the sentence prosecutors or the victim's family wanted. At a bench trial in May, Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner found Lowe guilty of voluntary manslaughter and a related offense in the death of Loren Manning Jr. in 2011. Lerner sentenced Lowe, 57, from 11 to 23 months in prison plus four years probation.

AMAR STANLEY made a living selling newspapers, including the Daily News , on the North Philadelphia street where he lived. But instead of selling papers today, he's inside their pages, for all the wrong reasons. Stanley, 63, was shot twice in the chest and once in his right hip in the second-floor apartment where he lived alone on Lehigh Avenue near 22nd Street about 4 a.m. Monday, police said. He was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital at 4:23 a.m. Police don't know who shot Stanley but they said the motive was robbery.

Daily News writers Becky Batcha and Molly Eichel and former staff writer Natalie Pompilio have won the national Clarion Award from Women In Communications for best newspaper feature story (circulation under 500,000) for "A Day in the Life of Children's Hospital. "   The Wall Street Journal won the category for newspapers with a circulation above 500,000. Other news outlets to win Clarions this year include BBC News, HBO, Sports Illustrated, Glamour and Marie Claire. The story ran last summer, with photographs by Sarah J. Glover, Alejandro A. Alvarez and Seven M. Falk, in a special section jointly produced by the Daily News and the Inquirer.

Officials of the company that owns and operates The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com welcomed members of the community and civic groups to its new, state-of-the-art headquarters Thursday. Robert J. Hall, publisher and chief executive officer of Interstate General Media L.L.C., which owns the newspapers and website, told the guests that the company's facilities at 801 Market St. are "a home that we're really proud of. " The company moved this month from its longtime home at 400 N. Broad St. Hall said the new location has 125,000 square feet of space on one floor, the third.

As they unveiled the new offices of the Daily News, Inquirer and Philly.com Thursday, company officials spoke of the strong tradition of journalistic excellence that took place at the old white tower building on North Broad Street, but said that they look forward to continuing that tradition at "our new home. "   Chief Executive and Publisher Bob Hall said that the new home is a state-of-the-art facility for multimedia projects and that staffers will deliver the news in print, online, or by video to people "when they want it and how they want to get it. " Interstate General Media is the parent company of the two newspapers, SportsWeek and Philly.com, which now operate in 125,000 square feet of space on the third floor at 801 Market St. The building was once home to the Strawbridge & Clothier department store.

DEAR HARRY: My wife and I are in our early 80s. So far, we are blessed with good health. We hope to wear out, not rust out. We are both employed with pleasant part-time jobs. Our home has long been paid for and is worth about $250,000. We are seriously considering your statement that it is sometimes better to rent than to own. We have seriously considered downsizing to an apartment, but we always looked at condos. Can you elaborate on why a rental might be better? WHAT HARRY SAYS: Regardless of the size of the rental, that $250,000 will go a long way to paying it. The interest (even at today's minute rates)

THE STUFF YOU SEE here might look like a bunch of junk, but to us in the Daily News sports department, these are treasures. The move to our new office at 8th & Market has allowed us to take stock of what we've collected. We've been at Broad & Callowhill since 1964, and, buried beneath the dust and mouse droppings was a cache of memories. Today, Friday the 13th, of all days, is our last day here on North Broad Street and the building services people kept sending threatening emails to either pack up the stuff or get rid of it. But before we ship it along (or toss it in the recycle bin)