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Five South Jersey girls' basketball champions will be determined tonight and tomorrow night, and a third meeting between Gloucester Catholic and Bishop Eustace tonight will send the winner to a sixth championship game on Wednesday. GROUP 1 Florence (20-4) vs. Haddon Heights (20-7), at Washington Township, tonight, 6:30. Florence, the Burlington County Freedom champion, eliminated defending state champ Wildwood Friday night. That avenged a regular-season loss to the Warriors.

POLITICIANS cashing in as soon as they leave office may be the world's second-oldest profession - and, arguably, it's a job that nobody does better than Pennsylvanians. Consider ex-governor and ex-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge, who became a paid director of Home Depot a few years after his Department of Homeland Security urged Americans to stock up on duct tape. Or Rick Santorum, ousted senator-turned-presidential candidate - a career politician who recently has earned as much as $1 million a year, some of it consulting for companies whose agendas he fought for in Congress.

  In the pat phrase reserved for the occasion, President Obama said last week that "the state of our union is stronger. " The State of the Walmart Moms, however, is stressed, chaotic, and uncertain. They don't expect much. Ten women in the subset of swing voters expressed profound cynicism about government in a Bala Cynwyd focus group last week, doubting the nation's leaders understand their lives or want to work together to help people such as them. "They don't understand what it is to live in a neighborhood that you don't feel comfortable going out in at night, or to be fighting for a job that you have a degree in and you can't get hired for," said Christie, 30, a clerk-typist and mother of a 2-year-old.

While Haddonfield and Atlantic City each fell one win shy of reaching the Tournament of Champions final, they left indelible marks on their boys' basketball programs. Each won a T of C game for the first time. "That was one of our goals this year - to win a Tournament of Champions game," said Haddonfield coach Paul Wiedeman, mindful that the Bulldogs had been 0-2 in past tournament games. Haddonfield, the Group 2 state champion, scored a 61-46 victory over Shabazz - the team that routed Camden in the Group 3 final - in Thursday's quarterfinals.

David Freed, Republican candidate for Pennsylvania attorney general, said Tuesday that a controversial series of outside ads attacking his opponent's record on sexual assault cases have hurt him more than they helped. Speaking to the Inquirer Editorial Board, the Cumberland County district attorney emphasized his campaign played no part in creating the spots, which a nonpartisan fact-checking group dubbed "one of the most blatantly false attacks ads of the political season. " But Freed stopped short of describing the advertisement's claims as inaccurate.

STATE COLLEGE - Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the "Supa Six," and it could save the future of Penn State football. This upstart group of young Nittany Lions - namely, running back Bill Belton, wide receiver Allen Robinson, defensive end Deion Barnes, cornerback Adrian Amos, offensive tackle Donovan Smith and tight end Kyle Carter - all made big in-game contributions to a resilient 8-4 Penn State team this season. But more importantly, perhaps, the six seem committed to Penn State for the long haul, which could play a huge role in keeping Penn State football afloat through sanctioned times.

Jerry Sandusky's attorney wants the judge in his child-sex-abuse case to delay the start of his trial until mid-July. The former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach filed a motion Monday that says he needs more time to contact and interview witnesses, subpoena records, and hire experts. Sandusky, 68, faces 52 criminal charges that he sexually abused 10 boys over 15 years. He has denied the allegations. Two weeks ago, Judge John Cleland tentatively scheduled jury selection in the trial to start May 14 in the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte.

For four years, the Pitman Panthers stood on Joe Crispin's shoulders, reaching higher than anyone thought they could. All along, it was assumed that the Panthers would fall, that they would settle into typical Group 1 form. But the Panthers didn't slip. Crispin did. Pitman gave Union, the state Group 4 boys' basketball champion, all it could handle in last night's Tournament of Champions quarterfinal at Elizabeth High. The Panthers were down, 70-68, with 1 minute, 37 seconds left, and everyone, including Crispin, thought their senior sensation would carry them.

Hello there Katie and Pat met one night in spring 2006 toward the end of their junior year at Villanova University, when a group of friends and friends-of-friends hung out at Brownie's 23 East bar. By the time fall and senior year rolled around, Katie, who studied political science, and Pat, an accounting major, were Garrett Avenue neighbors. That meant they often walked home together after nights out with friends. Their friendship deepened. And by spring semester, the two would text each other to make sure both would be at group gatherings.

The Cherry Hill East girls' tennis team saw its season end yesterday with a 3-2 loss to Watchung Hills in the quarterfinals of the Tournament of Champions at the Inman Racquet Club in Edison, N.J. Watchung Hills notched a key point at first doubles. East's Christina Contrafatto and Leanne Silverman played Watchung Hills' Jackie Gavornik and Lauren Johns, the state doubles champions, to a tiebreaker in the second set before falling, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). "We were very aggressive; we turned them loose," Cherry Hill East coach Ralph Ipri said.