Resort

LOOKING FOR a change of location for this summer's fun-in-the-sun family vacation? You might want to consider Ocean City. No, not that Ocean City. We're talking Ocean City, Md. A few clicks less than 150 miles southeast of Philadelphia City Hall, this Ocean City offers the familiar - but in a somewhat different setting. Visitors from the Delaware Valley will likely find the seaside town - which, like so many Jersey Shore resorts, is on a barrier island - most similar to Wildwood.

To help pay for the construction of the long-awaited connection between the Pennsylvania Turnpike and I-95, turnpike officials plan to borrow $200 million from wealthy foreign investors. The investors, expected to be primarily from China, could get green cards for themselves and their families to live in the United States in exchange for their money. The complex deal is being brokered by officers of a prominent and politically connected Philadelphia investment management company.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Sands Casino Resort - which in January eclipsed Parx as the leader in table-game revenue for the fourth time since July 2010's start of blackjack and poker in the state - marked the grand opening Thursday of the latest arrivals to its new shopping mall. The Shoppes at Sands, a high-end outlet mall, is the first in a Pennsylvania casino. A half-dozen stores opened Nov. 1, followed by staggered openings over the last 3 1/2 months. Four more shops were added Thursday: Coach Factory, Chico's, Peeps & Co., and Corningware Corelle & More.

THERE'S NO question that to a large degree, Atlantic City has cast its lot with the twenty- and thirty-something, party-hearty crowd as it attempts to transform itself from a gambling destination that happens to have dining, nightlife and entertainment to a dining, nightlife and entertainment destination that happens to have gambling. But that doesn't mean casinos have put up "No Kids Allowed" signs along the Atlantic City Expressway. As a matter of fact, several gambling dens this summer are betting that fare far more wholesome than beer pong tournaments and fishnet-clad "new burlesque" dancers will improve their bottom lines.

ATLANTIC CITY - Maybe you've noticed the new lighting on the Boardwalk. Or the dozens of "ambassadors" along it eager to answer questions about where to dine, shop, or just have fun. Most likely, you've seen the splashy "DO AC" ads on TV and billboards, or heard them on the radio. All are part of a bigger effort, along with the Atlantic City Tourism District that was created last year by Gov. Christie and the Legislature, to boost tourism and give the Queen of Resorts a makeover.

Seventeen years ago, a program was formed in Doylestown to help embattled parents take control of their lives and address problems with their children in a clear and deliberate manner. Called Tough Love, the program now has an international presence and a growing number of chapters. Phyllis York of Doylestown, the group's founder and a Tough Love International board member, said the program's resurgence is due in part to growing referrals from professional psychologists and legal authorities.

In this town, where high-rollers are routinely wooed by those who run the casinos, big spenders of a different breed began arriving late Thursday. They came to buy art, and they, too, were being pampered. Specifically, they arrived to check out the art of Donna Summer. Yes, that Donna Summer, who in 1975 became the queen of the discos with a hit titled "Love to Love You Baby. " Covering one entire side of an LP, it amounted to a marathon orgasm. But the number sure did have a beat.

WILDWOOD - Wildwood, long one of New Jersey's most popular beaches in part because it's free, will remain that way. The city commissioners have rescinded a ballot question that would have asked voters whether Wildwood should start charging a beach fee, an idea opposed by businesses. Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. said Thursday that the city instead would start talks with Wildwood Crest and North Wildwood on the possibility of sharing services, including fire and police, lifeguarding, and beach maintenance.

THE PAGAN stationed on a corner of Atlantic Avenue in Wildwood stood with his burly arms crossed over his belly, guarding the infamous motorcycle club's hotel-turned-fortress like a living, breathing gargoyle. Behind him, yellow caution tape and blue tarps draped the Binns Motor Inn - a signal from the Pagan's Motorcycle Club for "citizens" and nosy cops to keep out during the 2011 Roar to the Shore biker rally this month. It's the same hotel where federal prosecutors say that leaders of the Pagan's Long Island chapter at last year's rally told their minions to prepare for death or prison as they plotted a hand-grenade attack on the rival Hells Angels.

"THE IMPOSSIBLE," a distant cousin to "Flight," uses a disaster as the pretext for a probing insight into the responsibilities of the individual amid catastrophe. It's based on a family who experienced the Indian Ocean tsunami that hit Thailand in 2004, fictionalized here as the story of Harry and Maria Bennett (Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts) and their three children, spending the holidays at a beachfront Thai resort when a giant wall of water smashes into the hotel. Director J.A. Bayona ("The Orphanage")