Parade

HERE'S a breakdown of what's happening in Philadelphia on Thanksgiving and what's closed for the holiday: *  Thanksgiving Day Parade: The parade starts at 8:30 a.m. at 20th Street and JFK Boulevard and ends around noon at the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum. Some recommended viewing spots are the steps of the Art Museum, the south side of Eakins Oval near the museum and Logan Circle around the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. * Normal trash collection on Thursday will be collected on Friday.

ON THIS Thanksgiving eve, let's all think back to the opening number at Philadelphia's Thanksgiving Day Parade last year. It took place at 8:30 a.m. in front of the Art Museum. Lasted five minutes. (And, again, we're talking about the parade's very first act - not about the ensuing procession of marching bands, sponsored floats, giant character balloons, Cub Scout troops, etc. Nor are we delving into made-for-TV performances by Justin Guarini et al. Just the five-minute-long parade intro.

MIDLAND, Texas - The driver of a parade float filled with wounded veterans and their spouses that was struck by a freight train in West Texas is an Army veteran himself who is "in shock" over the accident that killed four people, an attorney said Tuesday. Dale Andrew Hayden was driving a flatbed truck that investigators say edged across a railroad crossing despite warning signals of a fast approaching train, Hayden's attorney, Hal Brockett, said. "Words can't express the sorrow and remorse for the people who got hurt and killed," Brockett said in an interview.

MIDLAND, Texas - A parade float filled with wounded veterans that collided with a freight train had crossed onto the railroad tracks after warning signals were going off, investigators said Saturday. Four veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan were killed and 16 other people were injured when the train crashed into the flatbed truck in West Texas. It was the second of two floats carrying veterans in Thursday's parade in Midland. The first was exiting the tracks when the warning bells and signals were activated, 20 seconds before the accident, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

MIDLAND, Texas - Cheered on by a flag-waving crowd, a parade float filled with wounded veterans and their spouses was inching across a railroad track when the crossing gates began to lower and a freight train that seemed to come out of nowhere was suddenly bearing down on them, its horn blaring. Some of those seated on the float jumped off in wide-eyed terror just moments before the train crashed into the flatbed truck with a low whoosh and a thunderous crack. Four veterans - including an Army sergeant who apparently sacrificed his life to save his wife's - were killed Thursday afternoon and 16 people were injured in a scene of tragedy and heroism.

Former Philadelphia Police Lt. Jonathan Josey, who gained notoriety in a cellphone video of him punching a woman in the face during a crowded street party on Sept. 30, was charged with simple assault Thursday. Josey, 39, a decorated 19-year veteran, is expected to turn himself in to police Friday. Josey was fired days after the video went viral. District Attorney Seth Williams said Thursday that he decided to charge Josey after reviewing the results of the Internal Affairs investigation.

Authorities are preparing to charge former Philadelphia Police Lt. Jonathan Josey with simple assault for punching a woman in the face during a street party in September, sources confirmed Wednesday. Josey, a decorated 19-year veteran of the department, was fired last month after a cellphone video of the punch went viral and drew international attention. John McNesby, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, the largest officers' union, said the organization would continue to support Josey and appeal to get him reinstated.

  The annual Pulaski Day Parade, on funding life support in 2010, was in full red-and-white Polish flag flowering on Benjamin Franklin Parkway Sunday afternoon. In the parade was a 16-year-old Lower Moreland High School student who has been studying the Polish language privately for 11 years. On the sidelines was a 21-year-old Polish university student visiting the region with her Polish parents. And across from the reviewing stand at Logan Circle was a German Irish American mother from Levittown with no Polish connections who was there to see her son march with a Bucks County school band.

The annual Pulaski Day Parade, on funding life-support in 2010, was in full red-and-white Polish flag flowering on Benjamin Franklin Parkway Sunday afternoon. In the parade was a 16-year-old Lower Moreland High School student who has been studying the Polish language privately for 11 years. On the sidelines was a 21-year-old Polish university student visiting the region with her Polish parents. And across from the reviewing stand at Logan Circle was a German-Irish-American mother from Levittown with no Polish connections, there to see her son march with a Bucks County school band.