Statement

A Delaware County man was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for the October 2011 shooting death of his Ridley Township neighbor. James Dellavecchia, 73, did not react as Judge Michael F.X. Coll handed down the mandatory sentence and added up to 14 years for additional charges. "What this does ... is triple-guarantee no matter what he will never be paroled," Coll said. It was before dawn on Oct. 10, that Dellavecchia lay in wait for his Ridley Township neighbor. When Scott Robins, left his house and headed to a nearby van to go to work, Dellavecchia stepped out and began firing a .40-caliber semiautomatic Ruger.

ED SNIDER, the chairman of Comcast-Spectacor, released a statement on Saturday regarding a Daily News story that was published in SportsWeek that morning. "An article appearing in today's Philadelphia Daily News is absolutely erroneous," Snider said in the statement. "I am a solid supporter of National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman and the league in this unfortunate situation. Like all fans, players, owners and league officials, I am extremely hopeful that an agreement can be reached and we can eventually be playing hockey again soon.

WASHINGTON - JPMorgan Chase and Credit Suisse have agreed to pay a combined $417 million to settle federal civil charges that ahead of the 2008 financial crisis, they sold investors risky mortgage bonds they knew could fail. JPMorgan did not warn investors that homeowners whose mortgages were tied to the bonds were behind on payments, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday. And both banks failed to properly disclose practices that allowed them to profit while investors lost millions, the SEC said.

NEW YORK - Investors drew little hope Wednesday for a quick compromise in U.S. budget talks after President Obama insisted that higher taxes on wealthy Americans would have to be part of any deal. Stocks fell sharply, and even a signal from the Federal Reserve that it could launch a program in December to speed job growth failed to encourage investors. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 185 points. Obama made clear he would seek higher tax revenue from the wealthiest Americans, an idea that faces Republican opposition in Congress.

WASHINGTON - A top adviser to Mitt Romney has backed away from his suggestion that fellow Republican Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama because both men are black. Former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu issued a statement late Thursday night saying Powell is a friend and he respects the endorsement. "I do not doubt that it was based on anything but his support of the president's policies," Sununu said in the statement. Appearing on CNN earlier Thursday, Sununu said he wondered whether Powell had "a slightly different reason for preferring President Obama.

Keisha Jones - the West Philadelphia woman accused of fatally crushing her husband with her car - took the stand in her own defense Thursday, sobbing as she told a jury that her husband's death was an accident. After the prosecution and defense rested their cases Thursday afternoon in Common Pleas Court, the six men and six women on the jury began deliberations. They will resume Friday morning. Jones, 31, is charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, and possessing an instrument of crime, a 2002 Acura SUV. On Nov. 27, 2011, prosecutors say, she struck her husband, Tyrone Taylor, with the car, crushing him against a wall in an abandoned lot in Grays Ferry after a quarrel.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon's prime minister linked the massive car bomb that tore through Beirut to the civil war in neighboring Syria on Saturday, the latest signal that the crisis is inflaming an already tense region. The blast Friday in the heart of Beirut's Christian area killed eight people, including the country's intelligence chief, Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan. The government declared a national day of mourning for the victims on Saturday, but protesters took to the streets, burning tires and setting up roadblocks around the country in a sign of the boiling anger over the attack.

TRIPOLI, Libya - The Libyan government on Saturday announced the capture of Moammar Gadhafi's former spokesman outside a besieged town, as the oil-rich North African nation marked the anniversary of the ousted dictator's death. The statement by the prime minister's office said Moussa Ibrahim, who became the international face of the regime in its final months, was captured as he was trying to flee Bani Walid. The town has been the site of fierce fighting between pro-government forces and fighters holed up in what was once a stronghold for Gadhafi supporters.

Public efforts by charlatan "victims" and their attorneys to interfere with Gary Schultz' right to a fair trial and to profit from the suffering of the real victims who bravely testified at Jerry Sandusky's trial compel me to issue this statement. The individual who claims to be the "victim number two" linked to Mike McQueary was interviewed on November 9, 2011, by an investigator, in the presence of the individual's mother. The individual claimed to be the boy in the shower with Jerry Sandusky when Mike McQueary happened upon them, but fiercely denied that Mr. Sandusky sexually abused him that night, or at any other time.

A man who allegedly drove the getaway car in a March 24 murder-for-hire at a Chinese restaurant in Grays Ferry was ordered Wednesday to stand trial for murder. Marcus C. Pough, 25, was charged with murder, possession of a prohibited firearm, and related charges in a preliminary hearing before Municipal Court Judge Patrick F. Dugan. Formal arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 7. The charges stem from the shooting death of Damon G. Stafford, 20, at the Twin Dragon restaurant. Called to the stand by Assistant District Attorney Lorraine Donnelly, Philadelphia Homicide Detective William Sierra read from a statement he took from Pough in which Pough acknowledged owning the van used in the murder.