Locations

In the 67 years that the Manna Bible Institute has trained clergy for the ministry, the private, independent school has moved 12 times. The low point in that pilgrimage was 1999, when its home on Church Lane in Germantown went up in flames in an arson. Every move since then has drained the school of its enrollment and prominence in the community. "When I would say I was with Manna, people would say, 'I didn't know Manna was still around,'" said Cleonia J. Walker, the college's academic dean.

SEPTA riders will face sweeping changes starting July 1. First, fares will go up. Then, by the end of the year, new "smart" cards will replace tokens, passes, and transfers on subways, buses, and trolleys. After that, Regional Rail travel will be transformed by subway-style gates in Center City stations, electronic card-readers in the suburbs, and new fare zones everywhere. Gender designations on passes will be eliminated. The cashiers who now sit in subway booths will emerge from behind the glass, retrained as "customer attendants" to help riders use the new fare cards.

The Cherry Hill Police Department is one of four added sites where people can drop off expired or unwanted prescription drugs to be destroyed under a state initiative intended to curb abuse of medications, Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa said Thursday. The state Department of Consumer Affairs had installed lockable metal boxes that resemble mailboxes at three other police departments in November, but residents turned in more pills than expected, making it expensive for the local agencies to destroy them.

RICH LANDAU is a magician. What other explanation is there for the amazing tricks he pulls off with vegetables? Fingerling Potatoes with Creamy Worcestershire Sauce? Roasted Cauliflower with Black Vinegar and Kimchi Cream? In every case, the veggies retain their flavor essence while surprising and delighting. It's a culinary feat that seems beyond mere mortals. And it's no fluke: From the "Food of the Future" days of Horizons Cafe in Willow Grove to the last days of "Modern Vegan Cuisine" Horizons off South Street, and now their latest project - the sophisticated "vegetable restaurant" Vedge - Landau and his wife and partner, Kate Jacoby, have consistently wowed even the carnivore crowd with vegan creations that prompt the awestruck "how do they do it?"

Any day now, unemployed Pennsylvanians will receive new debit cards to access their unemployment benefits. But there's a wrinkle: The funds on the old blue cards won't transfer onto the new ones. "My fear is that people will think that this transition works the same way as a new ATM card and they'll throw the old one away," said Sharon Dietrich, an employment lawyer who follows unemployment policy as part of her job with Community Legal Services in Philadelphia. "The point is," she said, "use all the money.

Calling it a building spree might be premature, but at least four hotels are now under construction or proposed for Philadelphia, the most since such development came to a halt for several years with the recession and its accompanying lending crunch. The newest project, not yet formally announced, is a Hotel Indigo planned for the Bailey Building at 1218 Chestnut St., less than two blocks from a proposed W/Element Hotel at 1441 Chestnut. A representative of InterContinental Hotels Group, which owns the Indigo brand, said late Thursday that the proposed hotel was expected to have about 150 rooms and open in the first half of 2014.

YOU PROBABLY give little thought to the mug that holds your morning cup of joe. For some, that vessel is a work of art unto itself. On Thursday morning, the Clay Studio, a gallery and retail space in Old City dedicated to handmade ceramics, hopes to change the way some local coffee drinkers think about their own usual mugs. During the studio's Guerrilla Mug Assault, volunteers will gather at six secret locations to surprise morning commuters by replacing their usual cup with a one-of-a-kind handmade mug. Five hundred mugs crafted by 50 artists, many from the Philadelphia area, will be given away.

ATLANTIC CITY - It is best remembered for its diving horse and performances by such classic entertainers as Annie Oakley, W.C. Fields, and the Three Stooges. But for generations, the famed Steel Pier also introduced visitors to products and technology from a dazzling modern age. General Motors offered its first showcase of the newfangled horseless carriage there. Even the structure was a marvel for its time: Its steel beams extended 1,600 feet from the Boardwalk over a roiling sea, and thousands of Thomas Edison's lightbulbs gave the showplace the look of a fairyland.

A Bucks County couple and six others were charged yesterday by federal authorities in connection with a scheme to sell Pennsylvania commercial driver's licenses to unqualified drivers. Prosecutors said Vitaliy Kroshnev, 48, and his wife, Tatyana, 45, of Richboro, ran the International Training Academy (ITA), which trained those seeking commercial driver's licenses. Authorities said that between May 30, 2007, and June 2 of this year, the Kroshnevs and the others conspired to produce phony residency documents so their customers, many of whom were Russian-speaking, could first obtain state driver's licenses.

Where do you store your lawn mower, your gardening implements and other tools? If the answer is the garage or the basement, odds are your gear is hard to get to or tough to find when you need it. An outdoor storage shed might be just the ticket - if you have the room. Need to know: Whether your town has zoning rules about sheds. The information generally is available from municipal building departments. But even if there are no rules, consider your neighbors. Nothing creates ill will as quickly as a shed that blocks sunlight to the garden of the folks next door.