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The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, which criticized electric utilities for insufficient social media outreach during several 2011 tropical storms, has finally joined the Twittersphere itself. The PUC on Thursday launched a Twitter page - @PA_PUC - as well as a Facebook page for PAPowerswitch.com, its website that assists customers shopping for competitive electrical suppliers. "We think this is an ideal time to ramp up our communications efforts, and the use of Facebook and Twitter is bringing us into the 21st century," PUC Chairman Robert F. Powelson said in a video news release.

A Wilmington man has been charged with kidnapping and murdering a 65-year-old woman who was out walking her dog, police said Tuesday. Dwight L. Smith, 24, of West 36th Street, was held without bail after his arrest Monday night. He is accused of killing Marsha Lee of Whittier Road in the Brandywine Hills section of Wilmington. Smith's Facebook page indicates that he is an Army staff sergeant. His father, Dwight Sr., told television news reporters that his son was a combat veteran who was wounded during his second tour in Afghanistan.

DEERFIELD, Ill. - Now that Derrick Rose is out for the rest of the playoffs with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, most of the attention in Chicago is on point guards C.J. Watson and John Lucas III, who have been forced into much larger roles. The Bulls, however, expect the most in the backcourt from Richard "Rip" Hamilton. After nine years in Detroit, in which he averaged more than 20 points in 120 playoff games, the Coatesville native signed a two-year deal in December with Chicago, which leads its Eastern Conference playoff series with the 76ers after one game.

A Bronze Star recipient from Berks County, Pa., who was engaged to be married was killed Monday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, the Army announced Wednesday. Staff Sgt. Sean Michael Flannery, 29, of Wyomissing, was killed by an improvised explosive device in the village of Ghotamudkha in Kandahar province, a Taliban hotbed. Also killed in the incident was Spec. William Kyle Middleton, 26, of Norfolk, Va. Flannery, who was engaged to Christina E. Martin of Raleigh, N.C., was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Ky. He also had served in Iraq.

K ARMA'S A BITCH. The man who police say twice pulled a crossbow during a road-rage incident in Mayfair on Tuesday night described himself on his Facebook page as a Buddhist who "holds tolerance in great importance. " The ill-tempered archery enthusiast was Kenneth Butterworth, 44, of Friendship Street near Crispin, police said Wednesday. Butterworth allegedly threw tolerance out the window when he got behind the wheel Tuesday evening. Shortly before 6:30 p.m., a motorist who was traveling west on Harbison Avenue allegedly saw Butterworth weaving in and out of traffic in his gold Dodge Stratus.

"Shame on you Hospital and whole America!" "You can not be so arrogant as Croatia can be generous!" "How can you be so cruel????!!???????" "America has always been laughing matter in entire world with their 'pay for health' policy . . . " "Go f--- yourself!" The Facebook page for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was overflowing this morning with nasty comments related to the case of a little Croatian girl with cancer. Nora Situm, 5, has acute lymphoblastic leukemia, according to reports, and, to try to save her life, a campaign in the economically distressed Balkan country collected contributions from thousands of people, raising $600,000 to pay for experimental treatments.

A 31-year-old pedestrian killed Tuesday night when he was hit on Route 130 in Pennsauken was a local musician who performed under the name Hipstar. Branden K. Johnson died at the scene when at least one vehicle, and possibly three, struck him around 11:10 p.m., Pennsauken Police Sgt. Chris Sulzbach said. Johnson was hit in the left northbound lane at the Drexel Avenue intersection. It was unclear why Johnson, a township resident, was in the road. Sulzbach said authorities had yet to determine whether Johnson was walking or standing.

The violent-rap-lyric-as-therapy failed as a defense in the Facebook threat trial. Anthony D. Elonis, 28, who claimed posts on his Facebook page threatening to kill his wife, a classroom of children and an FBI agent were only his way of coping with an emotional crisis was instead convicted in federal court Thursday. The U.S. District Court jury deliberated for about two hours. The quick verdict came after the jurors spent the morning watching Elonis periodically smirk as he was cross-examined by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri A. Stephan.

Score a big one for social media. When plans to merge secular Abington Memorial Hospital with Catholic Holy Redeemer Health System collapsed Wednesday, many credited a social-media blitz. Citizen activists, who objected to the merger for various reasons, chief among them the possibility that it might curtail doctors' ability to provide abortions. organized meetings via e-mail, battered news outlets with information, hailed e-messages on doctors and administrators, fired salvos of Twitter tweets, and ran an incredibly potent Facebook page and Change.org petition.

A FACEBOOK page called "I Support Chancier McFarland & Rafael Jones" - the two alleged cop-killers who gunned down Officer Moses Walker Jr. on Aug. 18 - sparked outrage among law-enforcement authorities before it was taken down Sunday. It was created by former Philadelphia restaurant worker Joshua Scott Albert, who became infamous as the creator of the Staph Meal blog, which criticized the restaurant industry. And, as if that's not enough, Albert also launched a Facebook page earlier this month called "Kill Mitt Romney.