Handouts

Thanks to a cat that's apparently part homing pigeon, one potentially sad superstorm Sandy story has a happy ending. In early November, 8-year-old Porsche was evacuated by rubber boat from Chadwick Island, Toms River, along with his owners, Uranie Roberts and her daughter Carol Baumann. They'd stayed through the storm, but after losing power, gas and water, went to stay with in-laws in Point Pleasant, about eight miles away. After just a few days, Porsche escaped. The animal authorities were alerted, and the family followed up every so-called sighting for nearly six months.

If you look up the statistics on Oxford Circle's 62nd Ward, you'll find that the majority of voters are Democrats, led by ward leader Marge Tartaglione, a combative, tough-talking city election official who reacted to recent heart problems by telling reporters, "At least, now people know I have a heart. " But to judge from the sample ballots that were most prevalent in the 62nd Ward yesterday, the ward organization's heart belongs to a Republican - Frank L. Rizzo, the former mayor whose picture still hangs in Tartaglione's City Hall office.

It's never been easy to get legislators from around Pennsylvania to help Philadelphia solve the gritty problems of city life - unemployment, violent crime, drugs, child neglect and lack of adequate health care. One of the common raps is that Philadelphia doesn't do enough for itself, that it would rather approach the state for a handout. The thing is, that just isn't so. Consider a few snippets of statistical reality: Point One. City Hall spending on social problems - the kind of troubles, by the way, that no city alone can be expected to solve - is growing faster as a percentage of the city operating budget than the cost of police and fire protection, sanitation and culture and recreation.

The admonition "Do not feed the bears" has long been drilled into vacationers visiting national parks. Now at Grand Canyon National Park, there's a new mantra: Do not feed the condors. Officials at the Arizona park have taken emergency measures to keep visitors away from endangered California condors that have been seen landing in areas frequented by people. Authorities aren't happy about that - they're afraid if the big birds grow used to the contact, or, worse yet, start to rely on handouts, it will hurt their chances of survival.

Nothing tells as much about the present as its view of the past. And it's a good sign when Booker T. Washington makes a comeback in black historiography. For decades, he was pilloried as some kind of Uncle Tom because he emphasized economic rather than political gains. But now that the political gains have been made and formal equality established, something seems to be missing, namely equality. What's missing is the kind of equality that flows from economic power, the kind that Booker T. Washington spent a lifetime advocating.

Once upon a time, boys and girls, there was no Social Security or Medicare. At the time, experts were saying government had no business guaranteeing income or medical care for its older citizens. The experts were wrong. Now no one messes with Social Security and Medicare. We even call them "entitlements. " We should also call them the first steps toward a national family policy, although few in authority dare make the connection. There is an important lesson here for helping the 130,000 Philadelphia families headed by single mothers - families spotlighted in Tuesday's Daily News supplement, "Women and Children Alone.

The halls of the old Gloucester County Courthouse building were crowded last week with boxes full of 10,000 white plastic bandage dispensers and 5,000 white plastic bags. Emblazoned on both were the county seal, the address of the Department of Health, and the names of Stephen M. Sweeney, who is director of the all-Democratic freeholder board, and Freeholder Helene M. Reed. The cost to county taxpayers: $4,567.50. Republicans and other county officials say that, as taxpayers, they are outraged to be paying for what they see as a Democratic campaign ploy.

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A World Food Program handout of corn rations to Somalis trying to survive a famine turned deadly Friday after government troops opened fire, killing at least seven, witnesses said. Residents of Mogadishu's largest famine refugee camp accused government soldiers of starting the chaos by trying to steal some of the 290 tons of dry rations that aid workers were trying to distribute. Then refugees joined in the scramble, prompting soldiers to open fire, witnesses said.

A visitor's peanut proved deadly fare for Kutenga the elephant. A necropsy, or animal autopsy, on the remains of the African elephant that died July 31 after a fall at the Philadelphia Zoo has determined that the 6- ton beast couldn't arise, even with the help of a tow-truck winch, because she was suffering from severe degenerative arthritis of the left front leg. Zoo officials said Kutenga's medical records showed the arthritis stemmed ...

It was just before 4 p.m. Monday when the son of Springfield school board candidate Ann Marie Hill arrived home from Scenic Hills Elementary School. The second grader was carrying a letter passed out that afternoon to all 479 students. A letter recruiting workers to defeat his mother at the polls on Nov. 7. Unfair, Ann Marie Hill decided. "I'm outraged. . . . I just feel it's totally wrong," said Hill, 30. "I do not think it is the right place to hand out political information, and this is definitely political.