SPORTS
June 17, 2013 | By Bob Brookover, Inquirer Staff Writer
Not everything Ruben Amaro Jr. has done as Phillies general manager has gone wrong. It just seems that way these days. In the beginning, Amaro's moves were mostly good. His first transaction after replacing Pat Gillick was to acquire John Mayberry Jr. from Texas for Greg Golson, an exchange of two underachieving former first-round draft picks. By no means was it a blockbuster deal, but Amaro at least got an extra outfielder who is still with the team while the Rangers took on a draft bust who is long gone.
BUSINESS
June 15, 2013 | By Marjorie Olster, Associated Press
One of the big goals of President Obama's trip to Europe may be in jeopardy, with French objections threatening to hold up the launch of negotiations on a U.S.-European Union free-trade pact. The proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership has raised expectations of boosting growth and jobs by eliminating tariffs and other barriers. It would create a market with common standards and regulations across countries that account for nearly half the global economy. And it would be a sharp departure from years of squabbling over such matters as agriculture, food safety, climate-change legislation, financial deregulation, and intellectual-property enforcement.
NEWS
June 14, 2013 | BY TOM FERRICK, AxisPhilly
HERE'S A SNAPSHOT of the makeup of the building-trades union members in Philadelphia at the end of 2007: 99 percent male, 74 percent white and 70 percent living in the suburbs. Not exactly a diverse workforce. City Council and Mayor Nutter certainly didn't think so. "Economic apartheid," the mayor called it. In a get-tough mood, Council passed resolutions requiring 50 percent of the workers on the soon-to-rise $760 million expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center be minorities and women.
NEWS
June 9, 2013 | By Malin Rising, Associated Press
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Swedish Princess Madeleine fell in love in the Big Apple. Now she has said "yes" to New York banker Christopher O'Neill in a lavish and emotional wedding ceremony in Stockholm. Madeleine, 30, was wearing a stunning silk organza dress with a lace top and 13-foot trail, designed by Valentino Garavani, when she tied the knot with British-American O'Neill on Saturday. In addition to celebrities and New York socialites, the guests included the United Kingdom's earl and countess of Wessex, Prince Edward and Sophie; Princess Takamado of Japan; and princes and princesses from Norway, Denmark, Greece, Luxembourg, and Monaco.
NEWS
June 7, 2013 | By Molly Eichel
FORMER Lenny Dykstra business manager, Dan Herman , has filed a complaint against former Fox 29 weatherman John Bolaris , after a text-message battle between the two resulted in Herman going to the Pennsylvania State Police. The dispute began when Herman, the owner of Chinga Chang Records, pitched a documentary called "Race in the Ring," about the 1982 fight between boxers Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney . On June 28, 2012, Herman says he entered into a contract with Bolaris to narrate the documentary, in exchange for a one-fifth ownership of the film.
SPORTS
June 4, 2013 | By Phil Sheridan, Inquirer Columnist
Baseball trade-deadline talk is like Christmas decorations at the mall. It starts earlier every year, and that is not a good thing. Already, there is buzz about whether the sub-.500 Phillies will trade Cliff Lee in an effort to begin rebuilding a championship team. In Dallas, the talk-radio topic last week (in between jabs at Jerry Jones) was whether the first-place Rangers should bring Lee back. In Boston, the Globe's Sunday notes column led with an item about Lee's being the No. 1 name in the trade market, based on an informal poll of dozens of baseball people.
NEWS
May 30, 2013 | By Jeff Gammage, Inquirer Staff Writer
Neil Jacob lives on the edge. And, yes, he occasionally cuts himself. The people who seek him out for help, or who happen across his stand at weekend farmers markets, often assume that his breed and his craft died out about the time of the Great Depression. Jacob is living proof otherwise - a traveling knife sharpener, a man who turns dull into pointed and whose growing market extends across the Pennsylvania suburbs, south into Philadelphia, and as far north as Hoboken and Brooklyn.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2013 | By Linda Loyd, Inquirer Staff Writer
Gov. Corbett and senior agricultural officials from Chile gathered at Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in South Philadelphia on Tuesday to mark what they say is a growing Chilean and South American fruit trade to Philadelphia. On a pier behind them, the Bahia Castillo, a refrigerated cargo ship, was unloading fresh Chilean fruit. About 10,000 pounds of the grapes, kiwis, apples, and pears were donated to Philabundance, the hunger relief group, which took the fruit by truck to area food pantries.
SPORTS
May 15, 2013 | By Marc Narducci, Inquirer Staff Writer
A day before facing the Los Angeles Galaxy, the Union traded midfielder-defender Gabriel Farfan on Tuesday to Chivas USA for allocation money and a 2014 Major League Soccer SuperDraft first-round pick. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Farfan had started three games and appeared in six this season. He played the entire game at outside back in Saturday's 1-0 victory over the host Chicago Fire, filling in for Sheanon Williams, who missed the game due to suspension. The twin brother of Union midfielder Michael Farfan, the 24-year-old signed with the club in 2011 and appeared in 51 games, making 43 starts in three seasons, scoring one goal and adding three assists.
NEWS
May 12, 2013 | By Jennifer Peltz and Ted Shaffrey, Associated Press
NEW YORK - The World Trade Center's rebirth has long revolved around creating a centerpiece of unsparing symbolism: a skyscraper 1,776 feet tall, its height an homage and a bold statement about looking forward. The new 1 World Trade Center reached that height with the lowering of a silvery spire from a crane on Friday, officially taking its place as a signature of the city's skyline and, with some argument, the nation's tallest tower. After years of waiting for and watching the building's rise, the moment resonated for many, from workers who looked on from the building's roof to visitors on the ground.