Hot Water

A long run of goosebump showers at Cheltenham High School may be near an end. Plumbing problems that have persisted for more then a year, during the course of a two-year $23 million renovation of the school, caused shower in the locker rooms and taps at many sites in the school to run tepid, if not cold, water. The chilling effect has been especially noticeable in the boys' and girls' locker rooms, where a hot shower after a swimming lesson became impossible for youth in Cheltenham Township's swimming program.

A Common Pleas Court judge gave MOVE neighborhood residents mixed news yesterday afternoon: They can stay in their homes with hot water but no heat - at least until Thursday, when a full hearing will be held. At issue was whether the Philadelphia Gas Works could send inspectors into homes to shut down furnaces and hot-water heaters that the city believes could leak toxic levels of carbon monoxide. The city had planned to shut off the appliances yesterday and offer residents alternative housing until Sept.

The complaints were hot, but the water was not, so the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections declared the Drake Tower apartments in Center City unfit for habitation Friday. Although corrective action by the owners of the landmark former hotel on Spruce Street near 15th resulted in L&I lifting the unfit designation on Monday, many residents say a host of other uncorrected problems is forcing them out. "My biggest problem is they billed this place as a luxury building, but they are doing nothing to maintain it," said one resident, who described his almost two years at the Drake as a living hell.

The Army is investigating allegations that eight men in a Virginia National Guard company photographed and videotaped up to 21 women in the unit while the women showered at Fort Dix in Burlington County, officials said yesterday. The images were allegedly taken in the fall when the Manassas-based 266th Military Police Company was undergoing mobilization training at the fort. The 150-member unit was deployed to Iraq in December, said Carolee Nisbet, a spokeswoman at Fort Dix. "The investigation started while they're still serving in Iraq," she said yesterday.

If working nights as a mental health counselor and sleeping days ever threw off Ronald Dales' sense of time, he got a bracing reminder when the weekends rolled around: Ice-cold water even from his hot-water tap. Every weekend since the spring, said Dales and other residents of the Queen Lane Apartments public housing project in Germantown, their hot water has gone off, leaving them to either boil water for washing or wait until Monday morning when...

Suspended Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Bill Johnson has a substance- abuse record that might merit disciplinary action from the NFL if he is reinstated, the Plain Dealer reported. In addition to a June 19 conviction for driving under the influence in Cleveland, Johnson was convicted on April 22, 1994, of DUI in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, the newspaper said. The two DUI convictions could result in a suspension or fine by the NFL under its alcohol policy. Johnson remained under suspension, in part for punching teammate Gerald Dixon during a bar fight on June 10, the newspaper said.

I've got this thing about immersing myself in water - I like it body temperature or higher. So plunging into Ireland's frigid sea was out of the question; I'd limited my adventuring to manor houses, monasteries, and ancient Celtic sites. Then I glimpsed a little red notation on the road map. It read "hot seaweed baths. " I made a detour. Perched on a windswept cliff that overlooks six miles of pristine North Atlantic beach, Kilcullen's Bath House was built during the elegant Edwardian age. When Michael Kilcullen, great-grandson of the original owner, ushered me into my private bathing room, it was apparent that in all the intervening decades not a faucet or shower pull had been changed.

Dear Anne and Nan: Is there any way I can get rid of poison ivy without poisoning myself in the process? - Steve The best way to eradicate the awful stuff is to pour boiling water directly on each plant. Leave the plant there for a few days to make sure it is thoroughly dead and then, wearing protective leather gloves, either pry or dig it up. Do NOT burn. Discard the plants either in plastic trash bags or in a pile far away from the house. If, while you are doing the boiling water trick, you come into contact with the poison ivy, run straight to the house and wash the area with vinegar.

It takes just three seconds under a faucet pouring out 140-degree water for a child to suffer third-degree burns. Just a turn of the bathtub faucet while mom or dad steps out of the room. In 1988, 37,000 children under age 14 - nearly half of them under 5 - were treated in hospital emergency rooms across the country for burns from hot liquid, food or tap water. "Most parents have little understanding of just how dangerous hot liquid burns are," said Elizabeth Blunt, director of emergency and trauma nursing at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

If you think it's been hot the last two days, don't get arrested in Philadelphia, at least during this mid-spring swelter. Because of an air-conditioning problem in the city's Police Administration Building at Eighth and Race Streets, most offices in the building have become sweatboxes to the officers and civilians who work in them. The only cool spot in the three-story building yesterday was the radio room on the second floor. Because of all the computer and sensitive electrical communications equipment there, a separate cooling system was operating efficiently.

Nothing is more frustrating than finding the perfect cucumber or head of lettuce at the farmers' market, paying top dollar for it, and then tossing it out a week later when it has gone moldy or slimy in the refrigerator. No doubt, one reason so many of us eat too many convenience foods and too few fruits and vegetables is that it can be hard to get our busy schedules in sync with the produce we bring home. Food scientists, however, have discovered a remarkably effective way to extend the life of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables by days or even a week.

PACIFICA, Calif. - Crews removed an 82-foot yacht from a Northern California beach early Tuesday after authorities say three people stole it, stocked it with pizza and beer, then drove it a little more than 20 miles before running it aground. The luxury vessel "Darling" was pulled from the sand at Pacifica State Beach, where it was stuck for nearly a day. Pacifica police arrested Leslie Gardner, 63, Dario Mira, 54, and Lisa Modawell, 56, on suspicion of grand theft and conspiracy.

This is the very definition of a winning weeknight chicken dish. Lime and Fig Chicken Makes 4 servings 4 dried figs 1/3 cup hot water 4 or 5 limes Leaves from 2 stems each mint, cilantro 3 or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (11/4 pounds total) Kosher salt, fresh pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/3 cup fig jam or spread 1. Stem the figs; cut into quarters. Place in a bowl and cover with the hot water.

This is the very definition of a winning weeknight chicken dish. Lime and Fig Chicken Makes 4 servings 4 dried figs 1/3 cup hot water 4 or 5 limes Leaves from 2 stems each mint, cilantro 3 or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (11/4 pounds total) Kosher salt, fresh pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/3 cup fig jam or spread 1. Stem the figs; cut into quarters. Place in a bowl and cover with the hot water. Let stand while preparing other ingredients.

THEY MAY not have been so good with dates, but those Mayans knew a good thing when they tasted it. Historians believe that a savvy Mayan swigged the first chocolate beverage about 2,000 years ago - a drink made from ground cocoa, cornmeal, water and chili pepper. And while he's sadly known mostly for his revenge these days, the Aztec ruler Montezuma's court reportedly drank about 2,000 cups of xocolatl (Aztec chocolate) per day, 50 of which were consumed by the ruling leader himself.

ATLANTIC CITY - Atlantic City's poorest residents had next to nothing going into the storm, and they came out of it with even less. In the shadow of multibillion-dollar casinos that now boast of having come through Hurricane Sandy just fine, many of the seaside gambling resort's least fortunate endure hardship with quiet resignation - even gratitude for the help they're getting. Some lost heat, hot water, and electricity for days or weeks. They lost many of their meager possessions, their food, and most of their clothes.

RUSTY WATER IS showing up in University City, the Water Department said in a news release Monday night. Crews doing maintenance on water pipes found the rusty water, the department said. Emergency crews were flushing hydrants to move the rusty water out, and water-quality checks were to be made Monday night and Tuesday. "Rusty water is not considered a health concern, but it can be a nuisance," the department said. "Thus we urge our customers to limit the use of the water, especially hot water, until the rusty water has been cleared from the pipes.

Judy Smith does not comment on public-figure gaffes. What would Smith, quite possibly America's No. 1 crisis expert, have done last week to help Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney recover from his "47 percent" raw video reveal? She won't even speculate. She says it's bad for business. Business, as in being a corporate and personal reputation-fixer whose clients have included former Washington Mayor Marion Barry, BP (of oil-spill fame), and our own Michael Vick.

YOU HEAR ABOUT these collaboration beers by guys from competing breweries, and you can just imagine the unique creative process - the artistic inspiration, the sharing of ideas, the dynamic environment that feeds their invention. But first things first. "Are we measuring in Fahrenheit or Celsius?" Tim Roberts, a longtime area brewer now at Yards Brewing Co., dropped by Iron Hill Brewery's Maple Shade, N.J., brewpub for a collaborative brew with its head brewer, Chris LaPierre.

OH BOY, here we go again.   The former Drexel University student with a penchant for Olympic pole-vaulting tales and romantic horseback rides on the beach — yes, Jocelyn Kirsch — was arrested this month in California for shoplifting and other crimes, law-enforcement authorities said Thursday. What could have possibly led to her alleged relapse? A handbag, label unknown, police said. Kirsch's June 17 felony arrest at a Walnut Creek mall also violates her federal probation, and she again may have to face a federal judge and possibly go back to jail.