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Mark Bucher grew up in Philadelphia but sought his fortune elsewhere. After developing casual, beef-based restaurants in the Washington area, he and his partners sought to expand to Atlantic City. During their drive to scout the site, Bucher decided to take a detour to his hometown. They saw a thriving Center City, Bucher said. "We decided that Philly was the place for us," Bucher said outside the future Medium Rare, in a new apartment building on the 1600 block of Sansom Street in Center City.

Starting next month, soil contaminated by asbestos and other pollutants is to be excavated and hauled away from a 112-acre section of Valley Forge National Historical Park that has been closed for the last 15 years. The restoration of the site is to be completed by the summer of 2014, but a date for a public opening is uncertain, Donna Davies, manager of the project for Valley Forge Park, said in Friday. Since the autumn of 2012, work has included surveying, archaeological clearance, and soil sampling.

HAWTHORNE, Nev. - A mortar shell explosion killed eight Marines and injured a half-dozen more during mountain warfare training in Nevada's high desert, prompting the Pentagon to immediately halt the use of some of the weapons worldwide until an investigation can determine their safety, officials said Tuesday. The explosion occurred Monday night at the Hawthorne Army Depot, a facility used by troops heading overseas, during an exercise involving the Second Marine Expeditionary Force from Camp Lejeune, N.C. Several Marines from the unit were injured in the blast, authorities said.

The body of a 60-year-old man was found about noon Saturday at a Waste Management facility in the city's Holmesburg section, police said. The man, who was not identified by investigators, was discovered by two workers at the facility at 5201 Bleigh Ave., by the waterfront. He was pronounced dead at 12:08 p.m. when medics arrived, authorities said. The man was in a pile of "paper recyclables," according to preliminary police reports. He had facial injuries and his right leg was broken.

DEAR ABBY: My husband and I read the letter you ran from "Dateless in Dayton. " We have a few thoughts for him and anyone else who is having bad luck getting responses on dating websites. Even though we deactivated our memberships in the dating sites we were part of, we still get emails daily that " 'So-and-So' sent you a message. " It appears these sites still show our profiles as active. So it's entirely possible that the women "Dateless" has contacted were inactive or expired members who were never able to see his messages.

A 50-year-old Gloucester County man died Monday when he fell through the roof of a recycling center in a Camden industrial park. The victim, of Franklinville, was cleaning the roof of the building on the 2200 block of Mount Ephraim Avenue when he fell to an elevated platform several feet off the floor shortly before 8:30 a.m., the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said. His identity was not released. The medical examiner ruled the death an accident. Authorities said the man died at the scene of multiple injuries.

VERNA TYNER was 10 when her family moved to Venango Street in Tioga 40 years ago. "I thought I'd died and gone to heaven," Tyner said of her new home. "It was just a gorgeous, beautiful neighborhood. The lawns were manicured. The trees were trimmed. " But as Tyner grew up, the neighborhood fell down. Dozens of factories that dotted Tioga, Nicetown and Allegheny West began closing, putting thousands of people out of work. Among them: the Budd Co., which made railcars and later automobile doors; Tasty Baking Co., maker of Tastykakes; and the Stanley Blacker suit factory.

The Gettysburg Cyclorama building is history. In a cloud of concrete dust, the 50-year-old battlefield landmark came tumbling down Saturday after a 14-year struggle over its fate. At once reviled by Civil War buffs and beloved by fans of modern architecture, the circular structure, designed by the world-famous architect Richard Neutra, was built to house the massive Cyclorama painting depicting the most important moment of the Battle of Gettysburg. By design, it occupied a prime piece of real estate on the battlefield, marking the Union line on Cemetery Ridge where Northern troops repelled Confederate forces during the climactic clash known as Pickett's Charge on the battle's final day, July 3, 1863.

Three perimeter fences and a berm separate the public from the East Park Reservoir and a look at the secrets of its urban man-made lake. No wonder so many canvasback ducks - a saddle shoe of a species with a splash of a white body and an elegant, sloping beak - have chosen the Strawberry Mansion basin for a winter home. Water Department supervisor Ricardo Everett notices them first. He has the keys to the site, off 33d Street between Oxford and Diamond, and most of the time, exclusive access to what the Audubon Society says is a rare and special place that should be transformed into an official bird sanctuary.

TUCSON, Ariz. - Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned to the scene of the shooting that wounded her and killed six people two years ago, urging senators Wednesday to pass background checks for gun purchases. It was her first public event at the site since the rampage. Giffords, who is still recovering from her injuries, spoke fewer than 20 words in the parking lot of the Safeway grocery store in her hometown of Tucson in a brief but emotional call for stricter gun control measures.