Partnership

Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale isn't quite the equivalent of Saudi Arabia and oil. But it is an extremely promising natural-gas investment play. So how can investors capitalize on a potential energy boom in Pennsylvania and beyond? Master limited partnerships (MLPs) are one vehicle. Or you can buy shares of public companies drilling these gas-rich shale deposits in Marcellus, which Terry Engelder of Pennsylvania State University estimates is part of the largest onshore natural-gas basin in America.

SANTIAGO, Chile - Striking a humble chord, President Obama said Monday that the United States has sometimes taken Latin America "for granted," but he promised a new relationship that did not consign the region to the status of "junior partner. " In a speech in Chile, Obama laid out a vision for the relationship that was rooted in a shared belief in democracy, stronger cultural ties, and expanded trade. "I believe that in the Americas today, there are no senior partners and there are no junior partners, there are only equal partners," Obama said at La Moneda Cultural Center, a modern art museum near the presidential palace.

A new group that wants to ensure that all Philadelphia students have access to good schools will begin by offering support to those who seek to turn around failing district schools. Mike O'Neill, chairman of the Philadelphia School Partnership, said Thursday that it would use $16 million it has raised toward its $100 million goal to encourage successful providers to apply for the district's next phase of turnaround schools. Many educators, he said, are hesitant to try because they don't have the $1 million to $1.5 million in startup costs needed for each school.

ATLANTIC CITY - The country's second-largest gambling destination will be bailed out of a $9 million budget deficit in an agreement that gives the state oversight of its financial management. The "partnership," announced Tuesday by the Christie administration, follows the layoff of 120 city employees, including 40 police officers and 30 firefighters, and the threat of sizable property-tax increases for homeowners and businesses. The resort's finances are closely tied to the fate of the local casino industry, which has been in a downward spiral for more than three years due to the recession and competition from out-of-state gaming.

When Stephen Gluckman was first asked to help Botswana stem its AIDS epidemic in 2001, the University of Pennsylvania infectious-disease specialist expected to be there only three months. But then he set foot in Princess Marina Hospital in Gaborone and was touched by what he saw: a crowded facility with patients on mattresses in the halls, people sicker than any he had seen in Philadelphia, and many babies infected with HIV passed on by their mothers. They were the face of Botswana, a country in the center of Southern Africa with one of the world's highest HIV/AIDS rates.

Drexel University and Haddonfield Memorial High School will announce tonight a first-of-its-kind partnership that includes free college-level courses for high-achieving students and online classes, as well as mentoring and faculty-training programs. As designed, the partnership will give Haddonfield students access to courses not available at the high school, such as Mandarin and electrical physics, and allow them to accumulate college credits early. And it gives Drexel special reach into a high-performing school where many students already apply to the university.

Saying Philadelphia "has more work to do" to end homelessness, Mayor Nutter announced yesterday the continuation of a partnership with the Philadelphia Housing Authority to place homeless individuals and families in permanent homes. At a news conference at Dilworth Plaza - where many homeless people sleep at night - Nutter said the Housing Authority would provide 500 apartments or rent subsidies in the year ahead as part of his ongoing initiative to address homelessness. That matches what the housing agency pledged a year ago, when Nutter launched his initiative.

"This is a story about an idea. An idea while pretty good to begin with . . . went horribly, horribly wrong. " Thus says the narrator in "Xena/Army of Darkness: What . . . Again?!" and that statement could easily have summed up this book featuring one of the more unlikely team-ups you'll see. It likely would have, if not for talented writers Brandon Jerwa and Elliott Serrano, who make the odd combination work. Granted, their concoction is more like cotton candy than beef stew.

A public-private partnership is stepping up to save three city skating rinks whose futures were on thin ice. Mayor Nutter and Ed Snider, chairman of Comcast-Spectacor, announced yesterday that the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation would take over operation and programming at three rinks that officials said were targeted for possible closing amid the city's budget troubles. Comcast-Spectacor owns the Flyers. At a news conference at the Rink at Simons Recreation and Teen Access Center at 7200 Woolston Ave. in the West Oak Lane section, Nutter hailed the partnership with the foundation.