Jersey Shore

Police were investigating the death of a 26-year-old woman found Saturday in the bathroom of a Center City condo owned by high-profile criminal defense lawyer A. Charles Peruto Jr. A maintenance worker found the woman unresponsive just after 10 a.m. in the building at South 20th Street and Delancey Place, said Officer Tanya Little, a Philadelphia police spokeswoman. The woman, whose identity police did not immediately release, was pronounced dead shortly before 10:30. A police source identified the woman as Julia Law. Law described herself as working for the Peruto firm as a paralegal, according to her profiles on Facebook and LinkedIn.

JERSEY SHORE, Pa. - If you travel to this small riverfront town with the odd name, don't expect to find TV's Snooki and The Situation or see wide sandy beaches with a boardwalk and a big blue ocean. They're in another state, 250 miles to the east. But if you want to drive along the western branch of the Susquehanna River, view the changing fall foliage in the surrounding mountains, hike or bike a 65-mile trail along scenic Pine Creek, or fish and hunt in nearby state parks and forests, then this north-central Pennsylvania town of 4,000 would be worth the four-hour drive from Philadelphia.

It's a happy, happy day for the Garden State: Jersey Shore has decided to pack up and leave. (That'd be the TV show, not the locale, though I wouldn't mind if Wildwood took a hiatus.) On Thursday, MTV said the coming sixth season of its educational reality show will be its last, "bringing the party to a close after three years, two continents and one lil' bambino     (not to mention countless punch-ups, blowouts and catchphrases). " The final season will premiere Oct. 4, but the cabler will have a full slate of programming to say goodbye to Paul "Pauly D. " DelVecchio , Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino , Jennifer "JWoww" Farley , Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi , and the rest of the cast.

Editor's Note: Due to a technical error, a feature story on the MTV program "Jersey Shore" that was written by Yvonne Villarreal of the Los Angeles Times appeared briefly on philly.com as a column written by Chuck Darrow of the Philadelphia Daily News. LOS ANGELES - Like a tan growing pale, "Jersey Shore" is fading into the TV sunset. Thursday marks the beginning of its sixth season - its last. It began as just another low-budget MTV reality show, with lower expectations, that would chronicle the fist-pumping antics of its ultra-bronzed, ultra-average stars cooped up in a house in Seaside Heights, N.J. But when the series aired in December 2009, it quickly and curiously morphed into a surprisingly potent pop force that made "Snooki" a household name and turned an unknown cast into late-night punch lines.

And so the great cultural experiment draws to a close. In this week's fourth-season finale, the dim denizens of Jersey Shore ended their long exile in Florence. So what did we, the viewers, learn? (Pauly D and the gang clearly learned nothing.) For one thing, that Italy was an inspired destination. If any world leader can endorse the "gym, tan, laundry" lifestyle, it's Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. Although I believe he refers to it as palestra, abbronzatura, lavanderia . I think we can also agree that classy is the same in any language.

Justin Bieber hurt his head during a Paris concert Thursday, even lost consciousness for a bit, but not before, trouper that he is, he wrapped up the set. J-Bieb, 18, walked into a glass wall, sustaining what docs later called a concussion. He sang the closer, then passed out backstage, says he, for 15 secs. He tweeted later that you "gotta laugh at yourself sometimes. " All this a day after girl riots in Oslo. TMZ relays unconfirmed reports of 49 young women hurt, unseriously, and 14 taken to hospitals during a free short Bieber set at the Oslo Opera House.

Advocates for renters and lower-income people displaced by Sandy say they are glad the Jersey Shore is open for business. But don't forget the bulk of the people who live there, they say. In an extraordinarily tight rental market, one whose noose was pulled tighter by summer rental rates that kicked in last month, the advocates say not enough is being done to help those people. Many of the renters work in that same Shore tourism industry being touted by everyone from Gov. Christie to President Obama and Harlem Globetrotter Handles Franklin.

The Eagles cheerleaders will host their annual calendar shoot in New Jersey, as a way to help rebuild parts of the Shore devastated by superstorm Sandy. Each of the 38 members of the new cheerleading squad, selected late last month, will be photographed at locations "that make the Jersey Shore unique and memorable, whether it's Lucy the Elephant in Margate, the Cape May Lighthouse, or Morey's Piers in Wildwood," according to a news release. All net proceeds will go to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, which is chaired by Pat Christie, the governor's wife.

LOOKING FOR a change of location for this summer's fun-in-the-sun family vacation? You might want to consider Ocean City. No, not that Ocean City. We're talking Ocean City, Md. A few clicks less than 150 miles southeast of Philadelphia City Hall, this Ocean City offers the familiar - but in a somewhat different setting. Visitors from the Delaware Valley will likely find the seaside town - which, like so many Jersey Shore resorts, is on a barrier island - most similar to Wildwood.

Heading to the Shore over an expressway isn't for everyone. Some folks prefer the backroads. But for the experienced trekker, writing down the names of the roads can be tricky. Notes can include phrases such as "past the car dealerships," "that farm stand with the peaches," "that graveyard" and "666. " Jersey Shore backroads can be hard to pin down. Except for adventurous drivers wandering off the Atlantic City Expressway or Garden State Parkway's standard routes with a map or GPS in hand, most Shore routes were handed down by parents and grandparents.

Advocates for renters and lower-income people displaced by Sandy say they are glad the Jersey Shore is open for business. But don't forget the bulk of the people who live there, they say. In an extraordinarily tight rental market, one whose noose was pulled tighter by summer rental rates that kicked in last month, the advocates say not enough is being done to help those people. Many of the renters work in that same Shore tourism industry being touted by everyone from Gov. Christie to President Obama and Harlem Globetrotter Handles Franklin.

Official failures behind collapse If my house were infested with rats, should I blame the rats or the exterminator who failed to control them? There are irresponsible real estate speculators and contractors who accept jobs they are not qualified to do. These people will always be in the environment, and we have to exercise some control to ensure that their actions do not result in a tragedy like last week's building collapse. Why did Licenses and Inspections issue this demolition permit?

THE MEDIA was delighting last week in the antics of what a headline writer labeled "Jersey Boys II" - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and President Obama strolling the boardwalk, reassuring the public on the eve of summer that the Jersey Shore was open for business. Superstorm Sandy certainly has made Christie a rock star, with skyrocketing approval ratings and a public fascination that landed him on the cover of People magazine this week. It's safe to say, however, that environmentalists in his state aren't nearly as smitten with Christie as others seem to be. He may have handled the aftermath of Sandy magnificently, but his leadership on reducing the environmental problems that helped create Sandy in the first place has been unimpressive.

Is there a more appropriately named summer resort than Wildwood? Few beachcombers visit this Cape May County boardwalk haven, which last summer celebrated its centennial, for the peace and quiet. But enough is enough. Now, Mayor Ernie Troiano wants to make Wildwood a little less wild. In two weeks, he is confident that he and his two fellow commissioners will pass a boardwalk ordinance banning sagging pants and going shirtless after sunset, or shoeless anytime. Violators could pay $25; repeat offenders, possibly more.

As a metaphor for lofty but frustrated aspirations, it's hard to beat a stuck elevator. Last weekend at Revel, Atlantic City's newest, most ambitious, and possibly least lucky casino, more than 50 patrons had to be hoisted out of a pair of marooned elevator cars in separate incidents early Saturday. Amid a generally upbeat opening of the high season at the storm-struck Jersey Shore, it was a reminder of the inexorable decline of the gambling-fueled city's fortunes. As policymakers in Pennsylvania and around the country rush to create new opportunities for gambling, the Atlantic City story should give them pause.

MEDFORD, N.J. - A Marine Corps helicopter used in support of transporting President Obama made an unplanned landing outside a school in South Jersey, authorities said yesterday. First Lt. Agustin Cruz Solivan tells The Courier-Post that the Boeing CH-46 Sea Knight had developed a maintenance issue while it was returning to Quantico, Va., on Wednesday. The helicopter had taken off from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, where Obama had landed on Tuesday before touring parts of the Jersey Shore damaged by Superstorm Sandy.

Thousands of New Jersey residents have begun chasing $1.8 billion in federal disaster relief, with the state's ultimate goal of restoring the unique character of the Jersey Shore. Applications for post-Hurricane Sandy aid have been pouring in since Friday, with nearly 5,700 homeowners seeking a piece of the first money allocated to New Jersey from the U.S. government, and 1,000 additional applications being completed, Richard Constable, commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs, said Wednesday.

ASBURY PARK, N.J. - The boys of October came back, just in time for summer. "Jersey, you've still got a long road ahead, but when you look out on this beach - this beautiful beach here - even in the rain, it looks good!" President Obama said to thousands who screamed approval on the Asbury Park boardwalk despite a chilly rain Tuesday afternoon. The Democratic president had just taken a tour of the Jersey Shore with Republican Gov. Christie - reminiscent of the last tour they took, in October, immediately after Sandy battered the state's coastline.

REESE MURRAY loved the water. When he wasn't piloting his 25-foot boat off the coast of Atlantic City, he and his wife were on cruises through the Caribbean. "Anything to be close to the water," said his wife, the former Lisa Miller. "That's why we had a house in Atlantic City, to be near the ocean. We could see it from our deck. "When he couldn't keep up maintenance on the boat, we took cruises to keep that feel of water running through his veins. " Unfortunately, the interior of their Shore house was badly damaged by Superstorm Sandy last October.

The boys of November are back, just in time for summer. "Jersey, you still got a lot of road ahead, but when you look out on this beach here, it looks good!" President Obama told the Jersey Shore this afternoon. Invoking the phrase officials have adopted as part of the Jersey Shore tourism campaign, Obama said: "You are stronger than the storm. " "After all you've dealt with and after all you've been through, the Jersey Shore is back and it's open for business. " Obama and Gov. Christie, the bipartisan duo that worked closely in the aftermath of Sandy - and in the process triggered controversy of seismic levels in the lead-up to Election Day - toured the Jersey Shore together Tuesday.