Taxi Driver

A United Cab driver was fatally stabbed by a passenger two blocks from his home in the Kensington section about 2:45 a.m. yesterday, police said. Police identified the victim as Paul Leone, 55, of the 200 block of East Indiana Avenue in Kensington. Detective Lt. James Hansen of the Homicide Division gave the following account: Leone was working a 4 p.m.-to-4 a.m. shift when, about 2:30 a.m., he picked up a fare under the Market-Frankford elevated line at the intersection of Kensington and Allegheny Avenues.

Adam Jelsey and fellow Penn Cab driver Darryl White had a pact. "Me and him, we had this philosophy," Jelsey said yesterday. "If anybody ever tried to rob us, we would just floor it and take off. We work too hard for our money. We just wouldn't give up our money to just anybody . . . We talked about it a lot. " White, 34, apparently tried to live up to his pledge early yesterday when a gunslinging robber confronted him in his cab at 21st and Medary streets, less than 50 feet from the West Oak Lane rowhouse White shared with his mother and sister.

A Yellow Cab driver who had been shot and robbed was found unconscious in his taxi yesterday in a parking lot in the city's Hunting Park section. Russell Coleman, 21, a cabdriver for four months, was taken to Temple University Hospital, where a spokeswoman said he was in grave condition with a bullet wound of the head. He was found slumped across the front seat of his taxi in a parking lot behind a business in the 3900 block of Dell Street. It was the second time in little more than two weeks that a cabdriver was attacked.

When actor Judd Hirsch drove a taxi in the TV sitcom "Taxi," he was best known for giving out advice. If he had been giving advice yesterday, it probably would have been to take the subway. Yesterday, while Hirsch was driving his car in Greenwich Village, where he lives, the "Taxi" driver was involved in an accident with a taxi. Police said Hirsch's vehicle, which was going west on Jane Street, and a medallion taxi heading north on Eighth Avenue, collided just before 7 p.m. Neither Hirsch, 52, his son, Alexander, 21, nor another passenger, Catherine Danielik, 24, was hurt.

Police are looking for the driver of a blue-and-white taxi that struck a man crossing Aramingo Avenue in Port Richmond early Thursday and fled after stopping briefly. The injured 26-year-old man was reported in stable condition at Temple University Hospital. Police said he was crossing Aramingo Avenue in the middle of the 3300 block shortly after midnight when he was hit by the northbound cab. The taxi stopped briefly and then drove off northbound on the avenue, police said, adding that the cab probably had some front-end damage.

MILTON David Stackhouse had his own way of ministering to people: He drove them in his cab. "My son knew the Lord," said his mother, Estella Stackhouse. "He accepted Christ at an early age and was baptized at Mount Carmel Baptist Church. "He did not attend on any regular basis, however. As I think about it, he was engaged in a type of ministry of his own as he served his taxi customers. " His customers must have loved him and his message because they kept coming back. Milton had customers who continued to call him over the 35 years he drove for various taxi companies.

A Delaware County jury decided yesterday to spare the life of the Upper Darby man convicted in the 2007 Christmas Eve killing of a taxi driver. Ramir Steve, 20, showed no reaction as the jury foreman read the decision to sentence him to life in prison with no parole. On Monday, he was found guilty of first-degree murder, robbery, and possession of firearms without a license in the killing Gregory Cunningham, 42, of Clifton Heights. "There is no winner in the outcome of this tragedy, only two families who have lost their son and brother," the Cunningham family said in a statement.

The United Cab driver killed with a single shot to the head yesterday morning was "a scrappy kid who wouldn't let people shove him around," said United vice president Bernie Goldberg. "He was the kind of guy who would help somebody if he could," Goldberg said of Joseph Johnson, 29, whose body was found in his cab on Sansom Street near 59th at 8:45 a.m. "If he had to interfere in a fight, he would do that, too," Goldberg said. "He was a big, tall, heavy-set guy who was never afraid of anything.

It was only a small article in Monday's Inquirer: "Taxi driver found slain in cab in Germantown. " The follow-up item in the Metro Briefs section of Tuesday's newspaper was even shorter: "Germantown man charged in slaying of cabdriver. " They spelled the victim's last name correctly in Monday's paper, his first name correctly in Tuesday's paper. He was Hazem Najar, 31, a resident of Bensalem, and a friend of mine. Not much information there. No family in Philadelphia to relate detailed information.

Maninovsky Lubin knew that driving a cab was dangerous work. "He knew very well. But we got to take chances to make a living," said Lubin's father, Fritz, 69, also a cab driver, as he mourned his 41-year-old son's slaying during a robbery early yesterday in West Philadelphia. "Manny" Lubin, who drove for City Cab Co., was gunned down about 3:45 a.m. inside his 2000 Ford Crown Victoria at 44th and Sansom Streets. He was pronounced dead at the scene. He was last seen leaving Philadelphia International Airport around midnight in his cab, No. P-463.

Hello there In September 2009, the dating site eHarmony told Lisa and Ray that they might make a good pair. Looking at his profile, Lisa saw that Ray "was passionate about making a difference in the world, and I was intrigued by that. " Ray, who grew up in Cherry Hill, had moved to Camden to try to help revitalize that city. He is CEO of the nonprofit Latin American Economic Development Association, which helps to start and grow small businesses. Lisa, who lived in the Art Museum neighborhood, sent him a message through the eHarmony site.

Man finds mother dead, father unconscious * Winfield Avenue near West Chester Pike, Upper Darby A taxi driver found his mother dead and his father unconscious in an apparent murder-suicide attempt yesterday at their home behind the Upper Darby police station, cops said. Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said a taxi driver in his 20s received a garbled call on his cellphone from his father about 1 p.m. asking him to come home. When the son arrived, he found his mother, who was in her 40s, dead in bed. His father, who is in his 50s, was next to her. He was breathing but unconscious, police said.

POLICE COMMISSIONER Charles Ramsey yesterday urged a driver to come forward after three passengers in his car fatally assaulted a man Saturday in the city's historic district, suggesting that he might be able to wrangle a better deal for himself. "Right now he [the driver] is part of the murder case," Ramsey told the Daily News . "But if he comes forward, there is a possibility that the district attorney might work with his attorney. " That doesn't mean the driver would get off scot-free, Ramsey said, but he could be "given consideration" by prosecutors if he offers information.

An elderly woman was killed in Atlantic City on Saturday afternoon as she crossed Pacific Avenue and was struck by one or more vehicles. The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office identified the woman as Bu Do Jo, 88. Television news reports said police were questioning a taxi driver. The Press of Atlantic City quoted witnesses at the scene as saying the woman was a resident of a nearby apartment complex in the 1300 block of Pacific Avenue, near Ocean Avenue. She was struck about 3:50 p.m. The witnesses said a resort taxi, seen speeding away, might have hit her. The woman reportedly was struck a second time, by a jitney.

An Atlantic City taxi driver who was stopped after a hit-and-run that killed an 88-year-old woman Saturday evening has been charged with traffic violations but no criminal charges had been filed by Sunday night. The Atlantic County Prosecutor's office identified the driver as Jean A. Sene, 43, of Atlantic City. Prosecutors said he left the scene of the incident, in the 1300 block of Pacific Avenue. Prosecutors said the investigation was ongoing. The victim, Bu Do Jo, was struck by the cab and subsequently hit by a jitney.

Reprinted from Wednesday's Inquirer. It's not hard to see why Martin Scorsese fell in love with The Invention of Hugo Cabret , Brian Selznick's Caldecott Medal-winning graphic novel for kids. For decades, Scorsese has devoted great energy and effort to the preservation of old films, and in Selznick's voluminous fantasy, French magician-turned-moviemaker Georges Méliès not only figures prominently, but so, too, does his work. Among Méliès' dreamlike flights of filmic whimsy to show up in the book: "A Trip to the Moon," that 1902 one-reel gem with the giant rocket flying right into the Man in the Moon's eye. A 3-D spectacle (yes, be sure to put on those 3-D spectacles!

PONTRESINA, Switzerland - I had not realized how many helpful hands await a man traveling alone with a small child. At JFK Airport, an Australian woman and her grown son volunteered to roll my caravan of luggage to the check-in counter, freeing me to push my 21-month-old son, Ryan, in his stroller. My biggest concern was that I not lose Ryan's security blanket, which he named Meeno, in the measured confusion of boarding an international flight. The woman at the Swiss International counter efficiently worked through my check-in with toddler, stroller, and overstuffed bags; at the gate, another Swiss employee motioned us coach-class boys into the business-class line for immediate boarding, ahead of captains of industry and upgraded poseurs.

TORONTO - Albert Brooks became a father at 51 and a villain at 64. He highly recommends both. The Daily News spoke with the veteran multi-hyphenate (comedian/writer/director/actor) at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he jovially talked about his new movie, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive," in which Brooks plays a gangster who's 10 percent empathy and 90 percent ruthlessness. It's a big change of pace for the longtime funnyman, who became famous as a stand-up comic, but has a long list of movie credits, including "Taxi Driver," "Broadcast News" and "Finding Nemo," plus his own written-and-directed movies such as "Modern Romance," "Lost In America" and "Defending Your Life.

MILTON David Stackhouse had his own way of ministering to people: He drove them in his cab. "My son knew the Lord," said his mother, Estella Stackhouse. "He accepted Christ at an early age and was baptized at Mount Carmel Baptist Church. "He did not attend on any regular basis, however. As I think about it, he was engaged in a type of ministry of his own as he served his taxi customers. " His customers must have loved him and his message because they kept coming back. Milton had customers who continued to call him over the 35 years he drove for various taxi companies.

ATLANTA - Nick Charles, the former taxi driver who became CNN's first sports anchor and served in that role for nearly two decades, died Saturday after a two-year struggle with bladder cancer, the cable network reported. He was 64. He died peacefully at his New Mexico home, his wife Cory, a CNN International producer, told the network. Nicholas Charles Nickeas grew up in Chicago, working late-night jobs in high school to help his family, according to CNN. He eventually went to Columbia College Chicago to study communications and drove a taxi to help pay his tuition.