News Conference

THE PHILLIES do not yet have a news conference scheduled for seven-time All-Star Michael Young, who agreed to a trade to become the team's third baseman on Saturday. But Young, 36, who had spent his entire major league career with the Texas Rangers, spoke with media in Dallas on Monday. Young took more than 48 hours to waive his no-trade clause. "Baseball was easy. I wanted to go . . . It was a great opportunity in Philadelphia," Young said. "I was very pleased with the role outlined for me. I was ready, ready for a different challenge.

Hamlet and Olesia Garcia were humiliated by their arrest and say they have been stressed ever since. Their crime? Allowing their daughter to remain in the Lower Moreland School District while the girl was living in Philadelphia. They are charged with theft of services and conspiracy to commit theft of services. Now they want those charges to go away. "We never had any intention to deceive anyone," Hamlet Garcia said Thursday at a news conference also attended by education-reform activists who questioned why the Garcias - or any accused "district jumpers" - should be prosecuted.

TRENTON - Gov. Christie and Democrats may be putting aside partisanship in Washington to fight for federal money to rebuild the Jersey Shore after Hurricane Sandy. But back in Trenton, the Republican governor and the Democratic Legislature have used the storm to resurrect arguments and shove them in each other's faces. All in the name of bipartisanship. On Tuesday, Assembly leaders announced a $20 million package of job-creation bills, some of which Christie previously vetoed.

WASHINGTON - A few of the family members were together again Tuesday, gathered inside the Capitol - the building that might have been struck had their relatives not fought for control of United Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, bringing it down in a Pennsylvania field. "It's good to be together again, as it always is," said Gordon Felt, wearing an American flag tie and 9/11 pin. Felt's brother, Edward, was a computer systems engineer on the Newark-to-San Francisco flight that was hijacked and turned toward Washington - headed toward the Capitol, authorities believe - before the passengers and crew fought back.

A 23-year-old woman who was slashed across the face in a violent South Philadelphia robbery asked the public Wednesday to help find her attacker. Ashley Hackett was followed by a man Nov. 11 as she returned to her home on the 700 block of South Ninth Street around 4 a.m., police said. The man stalked her, said Philadelphia Capt. Laurence Nodiff, then pounced from behind, slicing open her cheek and throwing her to the ground before taking her purse and running. Hackett said she lost a significant amount of blood, needed more than 100 stitches to close the wound, and sprained a shoulder.

SEARCHERS returned from the forests and fields Sunday night, their voices hoarse from calling Autumn's name, and those who loved her the most huddled close together in Clayton, holding fast to hope. Meanwhile, at 8:16 p.m., a 15-year-old Clayton boy logged onto Facebook and, along with nearly 17,000 other people across the country, clicked "Like" on the FIND AUTUMN PASQUALE page. But authorities say Justin Robinson knew exactly where Pasquale was - because he allegedly had lured her to his home on East Clayton Avenue on Saturday afternoon and then beat and strangled the seventh-grader with the help of his brother, Dante Robinson, 17, before they stuffed her into a blue recycling container.

Lower Merion basketball standout B.J. Johnson will commit to play for Syracuse in a 3:15 p.m. news conference Wednesday in the Aces' gymnasium, according to several sources. The 6-foot-7, 175-pound senior swingman, who visited Syracuse last weekend, also considered Temple, Villanova, and Rutgers. Last season, Johnson averaged 15.8 points in helping lead the Aces to a 29-4 record and the PIAA Class AAAA state final. He was an Inquirer second-team all-Southeastern Pennsylvania selection.

Lower Merion basketball standout B.J. Johnson will commit to play for Syracuse in a 3:15 p.m. news conference Wednesday at the Aces' gymnasium, according to several sources. The 6-foot-7, 175-pound senior swingman, who visited Syracuse last weekend, also considered Temple, Villanova, and Rutgers. Last season, Johnson averaged 15.8 points in helping lead the Aces to a 29-4 record and the PIAA Class AAAA state final. He was an Inquirer second-team all-Southeastern Pennsylvania selection.