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Hundreds of anxious parents packed the auditorium as their kids lined hallways and swarmed around teachers in classrooms, clutching sheet music and instruments. The mission: excel at a Saturday morning audition, wowing teachers to be selected into the hypercompetitive Girard Academic Music Program, one of the city's few magnet schools at the middle school level and the only one specializing in music. The South Philadelphia middle and high school also has a strong academic curriculum, and always attracts many more applicants than it can accept.

For sufferers of the nation's most popular superstition, the arrival of 2013 opens the door to an annum of angst. Triskaidekaphobia - the fear of 13 - is a dread so common that some buildings don't label their 13th floors, some workers fall "sick" every Friday the 13th, and some passengers reschedule a flight if their only choice is a seat in the 13th row. For Margaret Downey of Pocopson, Chester County, a self-styled "treatment nurse" with...

When Mayor Nutter took office in 2008, he set some audacious goals for ending Philadelphia's long run as one of the nation's most violent big cities. Within two years, homicides had dropped by nearly a quarter and shootings by more than 15 percent. But the flush of early success has since been tempered by the city's toughest streets, where violent crime has proven once again to be deeply rooted. Progress in recent years has been more incremental. And with homicides - the most closely watched barometer of crime - ground has been lost.

  383 The Eagles set a team record for pass completions this season.   332 The Eagles' season total of first downs tied for the second-highest in team history. They had 356 in 2011.   46.5 Eagles punter Mat McBriar finished with the second-best gross punting average ever by an Eagle. Joe Muha had a 47.3 average in 1948.   1 Penalties for the Giants on Sunday. It was for 5 yards. The Eagles had six for 52 yards.

Janet Dollard was a few months into her first year as president of Conwell-Egan High School in Fairless Hills when the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced in January it planned to close the school as part of a broad restructuring of Catholic education. Ultimately, Conwell-Egan and three other endangered high schools were saved, a foundation was established to manage them, and Dollard's school now has one of its largest freshman classes in years. "It was a whirlwind, really," Dollard recalled in a recent interview.

Here are my picks to roll, and get rolled, in Week 15 of the 2012 season.   Watch 'em roll Josh Freeman, QB, Buccaneers at Saints. Freeman had his best game of the season in the first matchup between these division rivals (420 yards, three TDs), and he has continued to perform at a near-elite level since a Week 7 outburst. Meanwhile, no team has allowed more passing TDs this year than New Orleans. Mikel Leshoure, RB, Lions at Cardinals. Though he's splitting carries nearly evenly with Joique Bell, Leshoure remains the lead tailback, and Detroit's best goal-line option.

When a Delaware County nursing home owned by Leland Beloff, the ex-convict and former Philadelphia city councilman, asked the state for a $1.5 million grant in 2006, the money was supposed to address a pressing need for senior housing in the community. The facility, Harlee Manor, got $1 million and used it to replace 53 traditional nursing-home beds with 17 personal suites. State auditors have since concluded that the home, as a private for-profit entity, should never have been eligible for the funds.

As a wide receiver and kick returner, Coatesville's Chris Jones, a breakaway threat on every touch, has regularly wowed spectators. But despite his impact for the Red Raiders and eye-catching statistics, the 5-foot-11, 165-pound senior has not drawn a similar reaction from college recruiters. "I'm surprised I'm not getting much interest," he said. "But with the recruiting process, you just never know. It's tricky. " Villanova head coach Andy Talley and top assistant Mark Ferrante were at Coatesville last week to touch base with Jones and senior quarterback Emmett Hunt.