Local Group

On Saturday afternoon in their Newtown Square home, Mohammad Ahadi and his American-born wife, Frances, received gifts from Mohammad Ahadi's family in Tehran, Iran. The gifts included two packets of spice, a pocketbook, a satchel, a handmade pillow covering and rug. Their friend Mahmoud Baghan of Philadelphia, who recenty returned from Iran bearing the cheerful gifts, also informed the Ahadis that "everything" was still needed for victims of the June 21 earthquake that devastated northwest Iran, leaving more than 50,000 people dead, 200,000 injured and 500,000 homeless.

The scene at King Street Espresso Bar in Gloucester City gave new meaning to the concept of variety show. Ernest Cipolone, 87, of Brooklawn, who has been writing poetry for 60 years, read his verses before an audience for the first time. Afterward his 12-year-old grandson, Peter Cipolone, also of Brooklawn, hoisted his accordion and led the audience in a rousing "Beer Barrel Polka. " The eclectic open-mic night June 21 was the latest event sponsored by the Gloucester City Cultural Arts and Heritage Society, a new group that aims to foster artistic expression among residents of the working-class community of 12,000 on the Delaware River.

They're out there, that label-hating, Web-browsing, 'zine-reading, grunge-dressing crew. They eke out a living in a subsistence-clerking economy. They act locally, but sneer globally. And they don't seem to much care, most of them, who gets elected president. They're the American citizens who are of voting age, but below 30. And they've been reported as political "missing persons. " From "College Students Talk Politics," prepared for the Kettering Foundation by The Harwood Group, comes this portrait: "While [older]

When Freedom Academy Charter School was put on state probation last year - its charter was in jeopardy because of poor academic results - it hired a New York charter management organization as an academic consultant while continuing a partnership with a local group to oversee its finances. Eventually, both of those groups submitted bids to run the troubled Camden school as it came up for a five-year charter renewal this year. On Thursday, the state Department of Education renewed Freedom Academy's charter after asking for and receiving a management agreement between Freedom and Democracy Prep Public Schools, the New York charter school network that recently received a $9 million federal grant to expand its footprint.

Nearly 55 years ago, when the Dorchester was torpedoed by a German U-boat, four U.S. Army chaplains drowned after giving up their life vests to soldiers on the sinking troop ship. Unselfish as they were, the clerics probably wouldn't ever want to see two non-profit charitable groups, one old and one new, fighting over use of the name "Four Chaplains. " But the fight has moved into federal court in Philadelphia, and neither side seems willing to call a truce. Friends of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains, a Philadelphia-based group which has been honoring the clerics' memory for more than 50 years, contends that the new group, The Four Chaplains Foundation, based in Minneapolis, Minn.

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the Boy Scouts of America could set rules as a private organization, even if that meant excluding homosexuals, the Philadelphia chapter disagreed with the exclusionary policy. The local group, the Cradle of Liberty Council, thought scouting should be open to everyone. And the council even adopted a resolution saying it opposed any form of discrimination. But retired Cradle of Liberty CEO Bill Dwyer told a federal court jury Tuesday that he and other leaders realized "in our heart of hearts" that "we couldn't repudiate totally the national position.

The Grateful Dead's Bob Weir performed with local group Swirled Whale at a benefit concert for Clean Water Action/Vote Environment Committee at the Barn at the Bensalem Country Club on Sunday. Democratic U.S. Rep. Peter Kostmayer, who helped bring the event together, was there. Four hundred tickets were sold, at $20 each. The event was for people 18 - the voting age - and older.

Two mourners linger at the gravesite after others have left the burial service for Pamela Gleason, the Philadelphia police officer's widow and 36- year-old mother of six children who died in a car accident Sunday. She was buried yesterday next to her husband's grave at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Cedarbrook. Gleason, founder of a local group for widowed spouses of police officers, was praised during funeral services as a woman who "shared her cross with others. "

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the Boy Scouts of America could set rules as a private organization, even if that meant excluding homosexuals, the Philadelphia chapter disagreed with the exclusionary policy. The local group, the Cradle of Liberty Council, thought scouting should be open to everyone. It even adopted a resolution saying it opposed any form of discrimination. But Bill Dwyer, a retired chief executive of the council, told a federal court jury Tuesday that he and other leaders realized "in our heart of hearts" that "we couldn't repudiate totally the national position.

Another of the original investors in The Inquirer's parent company has agreed to join a local group seeking to buy the media firm at a bankruptcy auction Tuesday. William A. Graham, chief executive officer of Graham Co., a Philadelphia regional insurance broker, said he agreed to be part of the group Thursday at the request of Brian P. Tierney, chief executive officer of Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C., which owns The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com. Graham was asked to join the effort after Bruce Toll, vice chairman of home builder Toll Bros.

When Freedom Academy Charter School was put on state probation last year - its charter was in jeopardy because of poor academic results - it hired a New York charter management organization as an academic consultant while continuing a partnership with a local group to oversee its finances. Eventually, both of those groups submitted bids to run the troubled Camden school as it came up for a five-year charter renewal this year. On Thursday, the state Department of Education renewed Freedom Academy's charter after asking for and receiving a management agreement between Freedom and Democracy Prep Public Schools, the New York charter school network that recently received a $9 million federal grant to expand its footprint.

THERE'S no question that the region's theater scene has undergone many changes during the past decade or so, especially the increase in the number of professional companies. But one constant remains: The demographic makeup of the audience. There are no hard numbers available, but anecdotal evidence paints a picture of a customer base with a median age on the far side of 40. At least one local group is hoping to change that with events like Wednesday night's "UMAMI" at the Power Plant Basement in Old City.

A fledgling theater group in Chester County has landed a bit of bigtime help from showbiz dynamo Tina Fey. The Upper Darby High grad turned TV and film star filmed a surprise, unpaid pitch for Facetime Community Theatre, a Phoenixville-based nonprofit that offered its first program this summer, a theater camp for kids. "Hi, I'm domestic television personality Tina Fey, coming to you from here, the set of 30 Rock in New York City," the former Saturday Night Live star begins.

PHILADELPHIA has been looking in recent years to amp up its convention business - but this might not be exactly what officials had in mind. A wing of the fast-growing Occupy Wall Street protest movement raised a stir yesterday with a proposal for a months-long convention of 99 Percenters angry about wealth inequity in America - to take place here in Philadelphia, starting on July 4. A plan that leaked out from the so-called Demands Working...

BARNEGAT LIGHT - Although the Barnegat Lighthouse has stood as a beacon to sailors and beachgoers along the Jersey Shore for almost 150 years, the state's fiscal constraints might force a local agency to take control of the park. During the last two weeks, a variety of groups, including the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce and the Borough of Barnegat Light, have expressed an interest in operating the Barnegat Lighthouse State Park. The state Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Parks and Forestry runs the park now. "We would love to see it stay as is," said Kirk O. Larson, mayor of Barnegat Light.

NEW YORK - For 22-year-old Sean Kitchen, politics started the day back in the 1990s when his dad came home and announced that he'd lost his well-paying union job with Acme Markets. And it kicked up a notch this spring on the campus of Kutztown University when he learned that newly elected Gov. Corbett planned to cut state aid to Pennsylvania universities by as much as 50 percent. So, when Kitchen, who grew up in Philadelphia and whose family now lives in Horsham, learned of the growing Occupy Wall Street protest 100 miles to the Northeast, it didn't take much to motivate him to launch an offshoot here in the Cradle of Liberty.

Buried under the rubble, unable to move, Wilner Pierre remembered the cell phone he carried in his pants pocket. He figured it was the only way rescuers would detect life from underneath the death and debris that clogged the streets of Haiti. Hours had passed since the last scream of a dying classmate grew silent. He felt around until he found his lit cell phone, and was pulled out hours later from the concrete grave. Days later, he was flown to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Center City where doctors tried several times to repair his spinal cord, but to no avail.

With a new auction for The Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News one week away, at least one past bidder is saying he will likely take a pass this time around. Ronald N. Stern, president of Stern Partners, a Canadian investment group, said he did not expect his firm to bid on the papers' parent company, Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C., this time around, despite having made an $88 million offer for it in April. "We are looking at it as we speak, but to be forthright with you, I doubt we will be there," Stern said Wednesday in a phone interview.

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the Boy Scouts of America could set rules as a private organization, even if that meant excluding homosexuals, the Philadelphia chapter disagreed with the exclusionary policy. The local group, the Cradle of Liberty Council, thought scouting should be open to everyone. It even adopted a resolution saying it opposed any form of discrimination. But Bill Dwyer, a retired chief executive of the council, told a federal court jury Tuesday that he and other leaders realized "in our heart of hearts" that "we couldn't repudiate totally the national position.