Slate

OCEAN CITY, N.J. - Luxury appointments abound in the 7,000-square-foot, 12-year-old Victorian-style mansion overlooking Great Bay, such as a marble fireplace that once graced a Biddle estate mansion, a crystal chandelier that at the touch of a button lowers from the 30-foot foyer ceiling for cleaning, and boat slips big enough to berth a pair of yachts. A "smart house" system controls window treatments, lighting, heating, air-conditioning, and music. Slate-covered turrets, little secret gardens, and gingerbread-laden porches make the exterior look more like Cape May than Ocean City.

One of the greatest aspects of Philadelphia's down-to-earth sophistication is its ability - with an abundance of affordable real estate and fresh talent - to perpetually offer opportunities for ambitious young restaurateurs to make their own space. The BYOB revolution was a product of this, as is the recent gastropub craze. And it's been a boon to the city's neighborhood dining scene, which has grown organically, often on a few shoestrings, and frequently with endearingly quirky character.

The city's first and only Latino councilman is back in the good graces of the Democratic Party. By a unanimous vote the Democratic City Committee last night put two-term Councilman Angel Ortiz on its slate of five at-large endorsements for the May 21 primary. That reversed a recommendation Thursday by the party's policy committee, which had sought to dump Ortiz in favor of newcomers James Kenney and Robert Barnett. Last night, it was Barnett who got dumped. So the slate has Kenney and incumbents Augusta Clark, David Cohen, Francis Rafferty and Ortiz.

Camden mayoral hopeful Frank Fulbrook yesterday introduced a slate of three City Council candidates for the May 9 municipal election, saying they will provide an independent voice for a body that has been a "rubber stamp" for Mayor Randy Primas. Fulbrook, a neighborhood activist and self-styled civic watchdog, said he and his running mates would wage an aggressive door-to-door campaign to challenge Primas' better-funded "machine. " "We're not in this for the exercise," Fulbrook told about 20 supporters at a news conference at the Market Street East Cafe.

EMILY Bazelon, John Dickerson and David Plotz of Slate (Slate.com), the online magazine of culture and politics, are bringing their acclaimed weekly political discussion to the Friends Center in Center City. They'll discuss the primary results and the hot political stories of the week. And you're invited to participate in the audience Q&A. When: Thursday, May 27 @ 7 p.m. Where: Friends Center, 1501 Cherry St. Tickets: $12, at phillygabfest.eventbrite.com

We should have known this was coming. Among the growing clan of webzines, Slate is the geeky new kid: someone who doesn't know all the regional rituals and traditions; someone extremely easy to pick on. It has been savaged in print, television and, most effectively, on the Internet. Upright for barely 90 days, Slate (www.slate.com) seems to have a "kick-me" sign posted on its back. The latest boot comes from a brilliant parody called, appropriately, Stale (www.stale.com). It's a direct hit, a devastating mimicry of Slate's been-there, litigated-that attitude.

Republican officials, still firming up their list of candidates for the May 18 primary, hope this is the year they will regain control of the Borough Council after losing the majority in 1991. If the Republicans can take the seats held by Democrats John T. Lawless, the council president, and Francis Getzfread, and keep Peter Vivian's seat, they would have a 4-3 majority. Mayor Michael A. Leonard, a Republican, also is seeking re-election. Upper Merion Republican Chairman Robert Montemayor said his party was "committed to whatever we need to do to support the Republicans and win back the majority in West Conshohocken.

The National Lacrosse League has announced the games that will be telecast live and in prime time on CBS Sports Network during the 2012 season, and the Wings kick it all off April 7. The 2012 TV schedule will consist of eight games, culminating with the 2012 NLL championship game. The schedule will begin with the Wings visiting the Buffalo Bandits at the First Niagara Center at 7:30 p.m. April 7. During the playoffs, CBS Sports Network will televise one divisional semifinal game, both divisional finals, and the championship game.

As campaigning wound down and ballots went out for the first mail election in the history of Roofers Union Local 30-30B, a federal judge was asked yesterday to decide whether the incumbents are ineligible because they have not paid their union dues themselves. Responding to a formal protest filed last month by the challengers' slate, Robert E. Welsh Jr., the "liaison officer" appointed by U.S. District Judge Louis Bechtle last year to oversee all activities of the local, filed court papers yesterday asking Bechtle to hold a hearing on whether the incumbents may run although their dues are paid by the local, not by themselves.

Two factions of Cherry Hill Democrats now slugging it out in a heated primary race have relied on vastly different campaign workforces, recent campaign spending reports show. One slate, run by Mayor Susan Bass Levin, has hired a firm to do much of the grunt work of the campaign - stuffing envelopes. In contrast, the slate supported by the Camden County Democratic Party has relied on longtime party loyalists for volunteer labor, and as a result has kept more of its war chest to spend on heavier campaign artillery.

Lynn L. Elsenhans, the former Sunoco Inc. chief executive, stands to bank $37.4 million for dramatically transforming the Philadelphia oil company that is being sold to a Texas pipeline firm. Elsenhans will receive a severance benefit of $6 million, according to papers filed Thursday - her last day as chairwoman - with the Securities and Exchange Commission. And, she will receive an additional $17.1 million if the $5.3 billion merger that was announced Monday with Energy Transfer Partners L.P. is consummated.

The Katie Samson Lacrosse Festival, in its 12th year, takes place Saturday at Radnor. Samson, a 1998 Radnor graduate who served as the team's lacrosse goalie, was paralyzed while sledding at a park the winter after she helped Middlebury (Vt.) capture the 1999 NCAA Division III title. In light of Samson's life-altering injury, the Katie Samson Foundation, with the festival at its core, was founded in 2001 to help raise money for spinal-cord injury research. This year's schedule includes the most teams in the event's history, 54 (28 girls, 26 boys)

The Coaches vs. Cancer Underclass All-Star Games, featuring top non-senior basketball players from high schools in the five-county Philadelphia area, will be played Tuesday at the Fellowship House, 5th and Harry Streets, in Conshohocken. Catholic League will meet Independent Schools at 6:45 followed by Public League vs. Suburban Schools at 8:15. ALL-STAR ROSTERS GAME ONE, 6:45 CATHOLIC LEAGUE John Davis, Ja'Quan Newton and Hanif Sutton, Neumann-Goretti; Shep Garner, Roman; Yosef Yacob, Carroll; Joe LoStracco and Pat Smith, Wood; Steven Griffin and Joe Robinson, Judge; Stephen Vasturia, SJ Prep.

The Eagles will open their preseason schedule against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Aug. 9. In a development that is sure to please South Philly traffic cops, the Phillies are off that night. The Birds make a visit to New England on Aug. 20 in a nationally televised Monday nighter. After a quick turnaround, the Birds are back on a plane for a game at Cleveland on Aug. 24. The final exhibition contest is the night of Aug. 30 when the Jets come to Lincoln Financial Field. (The Phils have a day game against the Mets at Citizens Bank Park.)

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Two 40-somethings will invade Phillies minor-league camp Monday. Jose Contreras is scheduled to pitch in a minor-league game, marking his first game action of the spring. And Jim Thome will play four or five innings at first base for the first time this spring. Contreras is recovering from elbow surgery last September, and Phillies officials believe the 40-year-old Cuban can be ready for opening day. Exactly how ready will be the imperative question. The Phillies have padded his throwing schedule with extra days.

FOUR MORE elementary schools will be overhauled next year as part of the school district's Renaissance Initiative, which aims to turn around "chronically low-performing schools. " The district will work with the community to select one of six companies to turn the struggling schools into charters. The School Reform Commission will vote on April 19 after getting recommendations from school advisory councils. The schools selected are: Cleveland Elementary School, 19th Street near Butler, in Tioga; Creighton Elementary School, Tabor Road near Arbor Street, in Olney; H.R. Edmunds Elementary School, Hawarth Street near Horrocks, in Northeast Philadelphia; and Jones Middle School, Memphis Street near Ann, in Port Richmond.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced last week that Archbishop Charles J. Chaput had approved 18 of the 24 appeals filed by Catholic elementary schools fighting closings and mergers. But the battle to save individual schools is not over. Several elementary schools affected by appeal decisions - including two blindsided by the news they would close in June - are seeking to appeal the appeals. Tom Castaldi, who heads the dads' club at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Media, which is slated to close, said that while others affected by a blue-ribbon commission's Jan. 6 recommendations had the opportunity "to appeal and state their case, we at Nativity have not been provided that 'luxury.' " A 16-member commission recommended closing 45 elementary schools and four high schools as part of a plan to address declining enrollment and to ensure the viability of Catholic education.

HERSHEY, Pa. - Malvern businessman Steve Welch won Republican Party backing Saturday in his bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey. But his party's imprimatur came at a price: exposing soft spots in Gov. Corbett's influence over the most conservative elements of his party. The governor - who had thrown his weight behind Welch days before this weekend's state GOP committee meeting - faced pushback from tea party activists, Republicans from the Philadelphia suburbs, and others who felt he was trying to force a candidate upon them.

The schedule makers in the Atlantic Ten Conference didn't do Temple any favors after the Owls played one of the nation's top nonconference slates. The Owls' early A-10 diet includes nothing but the best in six of their first seven conference games. And it would be all seven if not for the plunge of two-time defending conference champion Xavier (3-13, 0-3 A-10), which lost its superior talent to graduation and transfers, while former coach Kevin McGuff left after the season to fill the Washington vacancy in the Pac-12.