Shield

Word of Hazem Najir's death was spreading even before reporters finished talking with the cops. Cab drivers have more than a passing interest in the murder of another cabbie, and Najir was the third cabbie killed this year. The cabbies' first question: "Did he have his shield open or closed?" Police said there was no shield at all in the leased Yellow Cab driven by Najir, 31, of Bensalem, Bucks County, who was found shortly after 8 a.m. yesterday slumped over the steering wheel of his cab on Bloyd Street near Woodlawn in Germantown.

Randall Cunningham's newest fashion statement is so ultra cool, it's illegal. At training camp yesterday, the Eagles quarterback sported a plastic eye shield on his helmet that allows him to look out but reflects like a mirror at defenders. However, league rules prohibit the use of reflector shields, said Greg Aiello, director of communications for the NFL. "What is permitted, according to our game-operations manual, is a plastic face shield either clear or lightly tinted for eye protection - provided the league is supplied in advance with appropriate medical documentation that the shield is needed," he said.

The question is not whether Eric Lindros will play in the Flyers' regular- season finale tonight, against the New York Islanders in Uniondale, N.Y. He won't. It's how well he will play this weekend in the NHL playoffs wearing a face shield. Never having worn a shield before, Lindros didn't seem to know how it might affect him. He was just glad that the cut under his left eye from Sunday's 2-0 loss to the New York Rangers will not keep him on the bench. "I'd much prefer not to have to wear it," Lindros said yesterday of the shield, which will attach to his helmet and cover his face from eyebrows to nose.

When you drive a cab, you have to figure: Do I try for the green light, or take the alley? Do I pick up the guy in the Eagles cap, or head down the block for the guy in a suit? Do I take the cab without the plexiglass partition behind the driver's seat, or do I wait 20 minutes for one with the shield? You figure the odds. That's what Phyllis Cox did when she got behind the wheel of Yellow Cab 847 the other day. It was the cab that Hazem Najir was driving Saturday night when a killer stuck a gun to his head and fired twice.

Cabbie Eddie Byrd had planned to install a protective plexiglass shield yesterday in the new taxi he'd recently leased. But on Sunday, Byrd was killed in an incident he'd hoped the shield would prevent. The United Cab driver was shot to death in an apparent robbery attempt in Southwest Philadelphia. Police said his pockets were turned out when they found him shot once in the back of the head outside his cab on Whitby Avenue near Cobbs Creek Parkway. He was at least the eighth cab driver slain here in the past five years, and the fourth this year.

It wasn't the 18 points that Monty Mack scored in the first half. It wasn't even the 14-2 run by Massachusetts in the second half. The Minutemen beat the St. Joseph's Hawks, 72-66, yesterday at the Fieldhouse mostly because reserve guard Jonathan DePina bothered Rashid Bey even more than Bey's plastic face shield did. Known for their intensity more than anything this season, the Minutemen once again displayed a smothering defense and opportunistic...

Tired of seeing the game through what he said looked like a "dirty windshield," Flyers center Eric Lindros skated through practice yesterday without the plastic face shield he had worn on the ice since he injured his left eye on April 30. Afterward, Lindros did not say whether he would wear the shield in Saturday's Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against the New Jersey Devils, but he made it clear that he did not like wearing it. ...

UMBRELLAS ARISE to shield the masses at 95th Street Beach in Stone Harbor. The beach was hopping yesterday, but the modern beach-goer is armed to keep the rays at bay.

KANSAS CITY, MO. - The charge is only a misdemeanor, but if prosecutors can win a conviction against Kansas City Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Finn, they could be opening up a new front in the national priest-abuse crisis. Finn is accused of violating Missouri's mandatory reporter law by failing to tell state officials about hundreds of images of suspected child pornography found on the computer of a priest in his diocese. Experts say a criminal conviction against Finn, the highest-ranking church official charged with shielding an abusive priest, could embolden prosecutors elsewhere to more aggressively pursue members of the church hierarchy who try to protect offending clergy.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - A man who witnesses say was watched via webcam kissing a male Rutgers University student who later committed suicide told jurors Friday that he saw the camera pointed in their direction while they were being intimate. "I had just glanced over my shoulder, and I noticed there was a webcam that was faced toward the direction of the bed," the man, identified only as M.B., said in court, later noting that there was no light indicating it was on. "Just being in a compromising position and seeing a camera lens, it just stuck out to me. " The man testified that he had met Tyler Clementi in August 2010 through a social-networking site for gay men and said he texted repeatedly after their third and final rendezvous.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court sounded prepared Tuesday to shield multinational corporations from being sued in the United States for allegedly violating human rights in other countries. The justices heard arguments in a suit brought against the Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. by Nigerian survivors of atrocities carried out by the Nigerian regime in the oil-rich delta region. The suit alleges that the Dutch oil company aided the regime. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy opened by stating that no nation allows for suits against foreign corporations for actions that took place outside its territory.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court gave churches and religious schools a new shield against civil rights claims from their employees, ruling Wednesday that the principle of church-state separation bars bias suits from teachers who serve as "ministers" of the faith. In a unanimous ruling, the high court for the first time held the Constitution includes a "ministerial exception" that protects churches and their schools from undue interference from the government and its courts. The First Amendment protects the "free exercise" of religion, and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said "the state infringes" on this religious freedom if it forces a church or its schools to accept or retain "an unwanted minister.

MOSCOW - Russia's president threatened Wednesday to deploy missiles to target the U.S. missile shield in Europe if Washington fails to assuage Moscow's concerns about its plans, a harsh warning that reflected deep cracks in U.S.-Russian ties despite President Obama's efforts to "reset" relations with the Kremlin. Dmitry A. Medvedev said he still hoped for a deal with the United States on missile defense, but he strongly accused Washington and its NATO allies of ignoring Russia's worries.

With assaults on bus drivers increasing, many transit agencies are installing shields to protect drivers from their customers. NJ Transit has put shields in 10 buses and is adding 55 in a pilot project to see if they work well enough to be installed across the fleet. Shields also have been installed or are being tested by agencies in New York City; Chicago; Washington; Rochester, N.Y.; Seattle; and other cities. In the Philadelphia area, SEPTA officials and leaders of the drivers' union are skeptical that the shields provide enough protection to offset operators' concerns about comfort and the ability to get out quickly in an emergency.

BENGHAZI, Libya - Libyan rebels have broken off their assault on a key city south of Tripoli after discovering that forces loyal to ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi there had placed Russian-made Grad rockets and mortars on the roofs of houses filled with civilians, the rebels' military spokesman said yesterday. Col. Ahmed Omar Bani said the decision to halt the rebel offensive on Bani Walid, where Gadhafi's son Saif al Islam is believed to be hiding, made it unlikely the rebels would have full control of the country before the end of September.

JAMES SHIELDS is racking up complete games for the Tampa Bay Rays. Shields tossed a four-hitter for his major league-best 11th complete game yesterday in St. Petersburg, Fla. and the Rays beat the AL West-leading Texas Rangers, 5-1. "Whether they're stressful innings or not, I condition myself enough to go that deep into games," Shields said. Shields (14-10) struck out six and walked two. The only run came on Michael Young's grounder with one out in the ninth. He became the first AL pitcher since Randy Johnson in 1993 to have at least 200 strikeouts and 10 complete games in the same season.

The Philadelphia School District on Tuesday withdrew its attempt to exempt some teachers from layoffs. The district had tried to skip over teachers at Promise Academies - its turnaround schools - when it cut about 1,500 teaching jobs in June because of a massive budget gap. But the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers said that ran afoul of the union contract, which calls for layoffs based only on seniority. At issue were the layoffs of 174 teachers who were issued pink slips because of the Promise Academy teachers' exemptions.

John Judd Shields, 100, a longtime pediatrician in eastern Montgomery County, died Wednesday, July 6, at his apartment in the Rydal Park retirement community. On Feb. 2, relatives from across the country had gathered to celebrate Dr. Shields' 100th birthday. "We had a big party," daughter-in-law Jane Shields said. For 38 years, starting in 1962, Dr. Shields served on the staff of Abington Memorial Hospital; he was hired as chief of the pediatrics department. Although he stepped down from the post in 1986, he stayed on the staff until 2000.