Plates

Senate: Dismiss filibuster suit WASHINGTON - Lawyers for the Senate are asking a federal judge to dismiss a suit by a citizens lobbying group challenging the Senate's 60-vote threshold for overcoming filibusters. Common Cause attorney Emmet J. Bondurant says the founding fathers never intended to allow a minority to block consideration of a bill. But the Senate's lawyer in the case, Thomas Caballero, said the Constitution gives the Senate the authority to make its own rules. U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan gave no indication Monday when he would rule on the Senate's motion to dismiss the suit.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Only 12 teams in baseball hit fewer home runs in 2012 than the Phillies. In attempting to add a couple of everyday players this winter, the Phils would ideally like to find someone who can deposit the baseball over the fence every now and then. They haven't found that player yet, but there was a guy at the Opryland Hotel who was volunteering for the job on Monday. Darin Ruf received the Jim Bauman Trophy for leading the minor leagues in home runs in a ceremony held at the hotel.

NEW YORK - A gasoline shortage caused by Superstorm Sandy forced 1970s-era rationing on New Yorkers, adding a fuel-gauge obsession to their frayed nerves and dwindling patience. "I take passenger, I look at gas. I take another passenger, I look at gas," New York City taxi driver Shi Shir K. Roy said Friday. "Tension all the time. " Though rationing that allowed private motorists to fill up only every other day seemed to help with gas lines, it didn't answer motorists' questions about why they had been waiting for days in hours-long lines to fuel up. The confusion led some, like Angel Ventura, to panic.

Ricotta is having its moment. Until recently, it was that bland, one-note, workhorse cheese, bought in supermarkets by the tub, mostly used as the paste that held together layers of lasagna. But that was before it got the fresh-local-artisan makeover. Now, ricotta - along with that other fresh Italian cheese, mozzarella - is stealing the spotlight from its more complex, aged curds-and-whey cousins at restaurants around the city. And for good reason. When made by hand, with premier ingredients, the airy textures and delicate flavors can stand on their own. Cheese this good needs only a pinch of flaked sea salt and a slice of oiled toast to make for a memorable bite.

HOUSTON - The second time Ryan Howard watched Chase Utley draw an intentional walk ahead of him Sunday, the slugger reacted in anger. He swatted the first pitch from Jordan Lyles, a curveball, off the left-field wall for a two-run double. To show the Astros just how disrespected he felt, Howard attempted to stretch it into a triple. He failed, but his point was made. So was the point by Houston's interim manager, Tony DeFrancesco. "Howard, for me, was struggling the first couple days and wasn't even getting a good swing," DeFrancesco said.

Gary Matthews learned to cook from his mother, who was widowed young and had to go out to work. The same fearlessness Matthews showed at the stove as a lad - and there's nothing he wouldn't try - served him well at the plate in baseball, where his lifetime batting average was .281. It came into play the other day at a cooking demonstration at Reading Terminal Market, where under TV lights, Matthews - color commentator for Phillies broadcasts - prepared seafood chowder in bread bowls for a lunchtime audience.

Young drivers in New Jersey must continue to display controversial red decals on their license plates after the state's high court Monday found the law constitutionally sound. In a unanimous decision, the court ruled the requirement, known as Kyleigh's Law, does not violate privacy laws or constitute unreasonable search and seizure, the same conclusions previously reached by the state appellate court. The decision has not ended the controversy, as a North Jersey lawyer vowed to go to the U.S. Supreme Court, insisting that the decals make young drivers vulnerable to prowling pedophiles.

TRENTON - Two state troopers, charged Friday with records tampering, turned a state highway into a "virtual speedway" in March when they gave a caravan of luxury cars a high-speed escort while taping over their own license plates to conceal their involvement, the state attorney general said. "No one is above the law," Jeffrey Chiesa said. "We will not tolerate officers who endanger the public they are sworn to protect. " Administrative charges also were brought against four other members of the state police in connection with a similar high-speed escort of luxury cars in 2010, and a fifth trooper for his handling of a ticket issued to the driver of a Lamborghini clocked at 116 m.p.h., also in 2010.

A SOUTH JERSEY police officer's clever — but creepy — scheme to flirt with a woman on Facebook could land him in jail for up to 10 years, officials in the Camden County Prosecutor's Office announced Monday.   Jeffrey Tyther, 44, was on duty in Voorhees on Sept. 9 when he saw a woman pass him on the highway then pulled his police cruiser up behind her car, said Jason Laughlin, a spokesman for the county prosecutor. Tyther pulled up beside the woman and waved, although the two did not exchange words.