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WASHINGTON — A grand jury in Philadelphia indicted four men Tuesday for an alleged plot to support the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah through illegal schemes, including buying the group more than a thousand machine guns. The indictment comes just a day after officials in Philadelphia said they disrupted a similar scheme to acquire anti-aircraft missiles and send them to Syria — though in that case, authorities have yet to accuse anyone of trying to help a specific terror group. The indictment filed Tuesday says two suspects sought to provide roughly 1,200 Colt M4 machine guns to Hezbollah, but their efforts...

Note: The following text is a quote: Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMonday, November 23, 2009 Arrests Made in Case Involving Conspiracy to Procure Weapons, Including Anti-Aircraft Missiles Arrests were made today in a case involving a conspiracy to procure weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles. A criminal complaint, unsealed today, charged Dani Nemr Tarraf with conspiring to acquire anti-aircraft missiles (FIM-92 Stingers) and conspiring to possess machine guns (approximately 10,000 Colt M4 Carbines). In addition, Tarraf and other defendants — including Douri Nemr Tarraf, Hassan Mohamad Komeiha, and Hussein Ali Asfour — were charged with conspiring to...

The trip from a strict Pakistani boarding school to a bohemian bar in Philadelphia has defined David Headley’s life, according to those who know the middle-age man at the center of a global terrorism investigation. Raised by his father in Pakistan as a devout Muslim, Mr. Headley arrived back here at 17 to live with his American mother, a former socialite who ran a bar called the Khyber Pass. Today, Mr. Headley is an Islamic fundamentalist who once liked to get high. He has a traditional Pakistani wife, who lives with their children in Chicago, but also an American girlfriend...

A Philadelphia newspaper has apologized to readers for mistakenly running an ad congratulating the Philadelphia Phillies on winning back-to-back World Series titles. The Yankees held a commanding 3-1 lead in the championship as of Monday, the day the ad was printed in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

For the third year in a row, residents and visitors have voted Philadelphia the city with the least attractive people, according to a survey by Travel + Leisure. But that's not all; the City of Brotherly Love also ranked as the least stylish, least active, least friendly and least worldy by 60,000 respondents who ranked 30 cities in several categories ranging from food to nightlife to culture. On the bright side, the beauty of the museums and art galleries was enough to boost Philly to the third spot in the Historical Sites/Monuments category.

MORE THAN six months after President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package was passed into law, the city of Philadelphia has spent less than $1 million in recovery money and retained just 52 jobs. The data was laid out in a memo sent to Mayor Nutter from Budget Director Steve Agostini, and obtained by the Daily News. Agostini, who was recently assigned to oversee the city stimulus program, also reported that the city's efforts to manage stimulus dollars have been hampered by limited communication between departments. The news comes as the local unemployment rate continues to climb. The Philadelphia jobless rate...

Some fans will do anything to go to the World Series. Bensalem police said they arrested a Philadelphia woman Tuesday after she offered to perform various sex acts to an undercover officer in exchange for tickets. According to police, Susan Finkelstein, 43, posted an ad on Craigslist that read: "DESPERATE BLONDE NEEDS WS TIX (Philadelphia) "Diehard Phillies fan—gorgeous tall buxom blonde— in desperate need of two World Series Tickets. Price negotiable--- I'm the creative type! Maybe we can help each other!" An undercover officer responded to the ad, police said, and arrested Finkelstein after she made her offer. Finkelstein, of...

SNIPPET: "Search at Grundy County plant called part of ongoing probe" SNIPPET: "But a source said the owner of the plant, which processes lamb and goat, was taken into custody at his home in Chicago. Documents and records were taken from the plant and from a Chicago travel agency on West Devon Avenue, also owned by the same person, the source said."

Transit system workers in Philadelphia voted to authorize a union strike Sunday, less than a week before the Phillies play their first home game of the World Series, but a transit spokesman said he hopes a deal can be concluded before then. Willie Brown, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 234, said the 4,700 workers voted overwhelmingly to allow him to call a strike if negotiations with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority fail. Talks are slated to resume Monday. Brown said he hoped a walkout would not affect the series, but he said workers have been without a contract...

The 1989 movie “Field of Dreams” was about an Iowa farmer, Ray Kinsella, who was supernaturally commanded to build a baseball field on his farm. Once built, the 1919 Chicago White Sox were reincarnated to play on it. There is a Field of Dreams in Philadelphia – like the movie, this field also has reincarnated a past team - because the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies seem to be a reincarnation of the 1929 Philadelphia Athletics. They have several things in common. The 2009 Philadelphia Phillies ...

As we know, ACORN has claimed that conservative journalists Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe were turned away from the Philadephia office and that a police report was filed to that effect. Has anyone tried filing a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the Philadephia police to determine when, if at all, ACORN filed that police report?I'm thinking it might be illuminating.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Police in Philadelphia say a homeless man sleeping in a trash bin wound up in the back of a garbage truck and was killed by the vehicle's compactor. Investigators say the truck collected the contents of the trash bin at about 4 a.m. Wednesday in North Philadelphia. The truck's driver activated the compactor a little later. Police say the driver told officers he thought he heard someone say, "Yo! Yo! Yo!" but did not know where the voice was coming from. He heard the cry again, fainter, at his next stop and alerted authorities.

The strangest thing about the Philadelphia Phillies' two-out, two-run game-winning rally in the bottom of the ninth inning Monday night was how many players swore it was inevitable. "You're sitting on the bench visualizing what's going to happen, and then it just happens," said closer Brad Lidge. "We always expect to win," said reliever Scott Eyre. "It's just belief," added shortstop Jimmy Rollins.

VIDEO: Another ACORN "Pimp and Prostitution" video, this time from Philadelphia, has been released by BigGovernment.com, an Andrew Breitbart website, starring the dynamic due of James O'Keefe, and Hannah Giles.

The latest undercover sting video showing ACORN advising a fake pimp and prostitute on how to break the law was released today.... This new video is especially significant because ACORN claimed repeatedly and strenuously that ACORN's Philadelphia office threw the make-believe pimp (James O'Keefe) and prostitute (Hannah Giles) out when it learned of the planned illegal behavior. ACORN lied through its teeth -- and the new video showing what really happened in Philadelphia proves it.

PHILLIES WON!!!!

Drip. Drip. Drip. Breitbart has been brilliant on this. Absolutely brilliant. Release little pieces at a time. Give ACORN time to dash out and tell some lies, then expose those lies with more video. Then, after waiting for the media frenzy to die down, release some more tapes to stir things back up again. Remember when ACORN was first exposed and they tried to tell us about the cities where this expose failed? They claimed that those cities included Philly. Hmmmm....not so much it seems. Roll the tape: [VIDEO AT SITE] (Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net

James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles have released another ACORN sting...

Here is new video from James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles of their visit to the Philadelphia ACORN Office. This video has O'Keefe systematically showing evidence contradicting what ACORN has said publicly about what happened in the Philadelphia office. Hannah and James are true American heroes! NOTE: At times this video appears to show still shots while you hear audio in the background. (VIDEO)

Watch the video

PHILADELPHIA — An anti-Islamic Dutch lawmaker's visit to Temple University was cut short after a question and answer session turned nasty. Geert Wilders (VIL'-durz) was escorted from the Philadelphia university's lecture hall as some in the crowd of several hundred students began shouting jeers at the Dutch politician. Wilders' previous 30-minute address was met by a mixture of applause and boos Tuesday night at the public university serving about 34,000 students. He touched on common themes in his speeches, including calling the Muslim holy book, the Quran, "an evil book" that promotes violence and intolerance. The event was organized by...

THE DAY after the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced plans to close two of the city's storied Catholic high schools - Northeast Catholic and Cardinal Dougherty - livid parents and crestfallen students protested the decision. Hundreds of students from Northeast Catholic, commonly called North Catholic, blew air horns and yelled outside the school last night in exuberant defiance of the archdiocesan decree to close the schools at the end of the school year.

Opponent: Butkovitz, GOP had PPA deal Schmidt claims he was told to lay off controller by party leaders. They deny it. By BOB WARNER Philadelphia Daily News warnerb@phillynews.com 215-854-5885 DID CITY Controller Alan Butkovitz pull his punches in a recent investigation of the Philadelphia Parking Authority as a favor to city Republicans? The GOP's candidate for controller, Al Schmidt, says that it looks that way to him, based on the tepid results of the probe and the warnings that he received from a couple of Republican leaders, telling him to tone down his criticism of Butkovitz. " 'Back off him...

PHILADELPHIA - Jury selection has begun for a Philadelphia man accused of fatally shooting a teenager over a snowball fight. Twenty-five-year-old Jose Mendez is charged with murder for allegedly shooting 15-year-old Teven Rutledge in the head in Feb. 2008. Police say Rutledge was having a snowball fight with friends when Mendez was accidentally struck. They say he went home, returned with a gun and shot Rutledge in the side of the head. Rutledge died a day later. Jurors are being picked Tuesday and attorneys for both sides say opening statements could begin Wednesday.

This Party Sucks For half a century, the Republican Party has been a joke in Philadelphia. But now a few upstarts have a radical idea: Let’s try to get Republican candidates elected! By Jason Fagone Page 1 of 9 THIS IS THE story of the biggest group of losers in the city and their struggle not to be such losers anymore, and it begins with the story of the biggest loser of all. His talent for losing was epic. He worked at it. He was good at it. He built an empire on top of losing, and by doing so,...

About 60 members and supporters of the community-action group ACORN gathered at a North Philadelphia church yesterday to sing the praises of the beleaguered organization. "There are two ACORNs out there," said Ian Phillips, ACORN's Pennsylvania legislative director and one of the organizers of the event. "We wanted to talk about the ACORN that people who live in the community know." The 90-minute session, at the House of Prayer Episcopal Church on Limekiln Pike, was part pep rally, part revival meeting. Speakers included State Rep. Mark Cohen, retired city labor leader Tom Cronin, city Consumer Affairs Director Lance Haver, and...

My Dear Activist Friends in Philadelphia, I have spent as much time on the city budget and the impact of the federal budget on Philadelphia as anyone here--and for more than 25 years. In 1980, I led a town meeting in South Philadelphia on the Reagan Budget cuts that was later blasted in a column by Pat Buchanan as 'fomenting class warfare.' I helped Mayor Wilson Goode coordinate the town meetings on the City budget that propelled him to run for Mayor. As a Councilman, I reported regularly on what the Reagan cutbacks were doing to us as a city....

A Philadelphia man was shot to death after trying to rob an off-duty cop Sunday, according to police. It happened around 2a.m. in the 5800 block of Catherine Streets in West Philadelphia. An off duty officer who was headed home after working the night shift at the 19th District, was approached by two men who announced they were going to rob him, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. One of the men put a gun to the officer's chest. The officer, who had his gun with him, fired one shot at the suspect who later died at the Hospital of the...

To get booted off the street, a police officer has to do something pretty serious - like shoot a suspect or be accused of brutality. But in the 35th District, which covers Logan, Olney and adjacent neighborhoods, apparently a hairdo will do it. A cop who got cornrows was ordered off the street and kept on desk duty for two days until he cut his braids off, sources said. While dozens of black officers across the city wear cornrows, Officer Thomas Strain is white. So when the five-year veteran showed up for work Sept. 3 with the traditionally black hairstyle,...

More than 60 campers from Northeast Philadelphia were turned away from a private swim club and left to wonder if their race was the reason. "I heard this lady, she was like, 'Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?' She's like, 'I'm scared they might do something to my child,'" said camper Dymire Baylor. The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers' first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.

ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis announced today the closure of the organization's Philadelphia office and the termination of its Philadelphia-based employees after evidence surfaced of a pervasive judgmental attitude toward, and discriminatory treatment of, citizens involved in the sex industry, and especially the youth portion of the industry. "Reports have been circulating that 'mystery shoppers' posing as a sex worker and her supervisor approached our Philadelphia office seeking assistance in obtaining a mortgage to purchase a location for their business," said Lewis. "Our internal investigation indicates that these employees not only refused to assist the young entrepreneurs, but even alerted the...

The City of Brotherly Love isn't showing much to book lovers. All 54 of Philadelphia's libraries are scheduled to close because the state of Pennsylvania has not been able to pass a budget to fund the library system. "All branch and regional library programs, including programs for children and teens, after school programs, computer classes, and programs for adults, will be cancelled," the Free Library posted in a notice on its Web site. All 250,000 books, disks and other items that have been borrowed are now due Oct. 1, and nothing can be borrowed after Sept. 30. Pennsylvania lawmakers are...

Philadelphia police said a man out buying drugs flagged down officers after he couldn't find the car he'd parked with his 6-year-old stepson inside. The man, 31, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person. Police said the suspect had driven from Lehigh County to Philadelphia to buy drugs before he flagged down a police car around 4:30 Saturday morning. Authorities said he explained that he couldn't find the car with the boy inside.

From ALERT PHILA (sorry, you need to be registered to access the site): President Barack Obama will be visiting Philadelphia this afternoon to attend a fund-raiser for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter at the PA Convention Center. There will be intermittent street closures upon his arrival and departure between 3:30 PM and 4:30 PM and again between 6:30 PM and 7:30 PM. As with all presidential visits there will be traffic implications along the I-95 corridor as the motorcade arrives and departs. In addition, protesters are expected to gather at 12th & Arch Streets, including the Independence Hall Tea Party Association...

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET: "That's the way Nick George, a senior at Pomona College, in California, sees what happened to him at the Philadelphia airport two Saturdays ago. George, of Wyncote, Montgomery County, was about to catch a Southwest flight back to school when stereo speakers in his backpack caught the eye of screeners at the metal detector. When they looked though his bag, George said, they found his Arabic/English flash cards, and escorted him to a side screening area. He figures it didn't help that his passport had stamps from Jordan, where he'd studied a semester, and Egypt and...

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. - September 10, 2009 (WPVI) -- Police in Montgomery County say a one-time security company worker stole about $40,000 worth of electronics from offices his former employers monitored. Kevin Mack, 31, of Philadelphia faces nearly 200 counts, including burglary, theft and criminal trespass. Police say he committed nearly 50 break-ins. Authorities say Mack used his training to get around alarm systems at buildings monitored by his former companies, Kastle Security in Philadelphia and Electronic Systems in Woodlyn, Pa. Police say Mack admitted to the crimes after he was arrested breaking into an office building in Plymouth Township

As some of you may know, Independence Hall Tea Party Association has many buses leaving for DC for 9/12. Please let potential passengers know that WE ARE STAGING A 14th BUS (last chance bus) leaving from Fox Chase, Center City, and South Philly. This bus will begin to board at 6:45 AM and will depart from Fox Chase at 7 AM--15 minutes earlier than other buses because it has an extra stop. It will continue on its way to 3rd and Chestnut for a 7:30 am pickup (on 3rd Street,outside the National Park Service Living History Museum. At 7:45 am,...

The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility has begun an inquiry into the dismissal in May of a civil complaint against the New Black Panther Party and two of its members who disrupted a Philadelphia polling place during last year's presidential elections. The inquiry was disclosed in an Aug. 28 letter to Rep. Lamar Smith, ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee who first raised questions about the case's dismissal and asked Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., to make available the head of the department's Voting Section for a closed-door briefing about the decision. In the letter, Mary Patrice...

According to sources, Rep. Frank Wolf R.Va. and Rep. Lamar Smith R-Tx received a letter today from the Dept. of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility (DOJ) about the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense ( NBP), which was mysteriously dismissed by the DOJ after President Obama took office. Questions about this unusual dismissal have been asked by Messrs. Wolf ...

Attorny General Eric Holder noted it was hard to talk about race, but it was cowardly not to try. In that spirit, he should answer questions about the dismissal of a voter-intimidation case involving a black hate group in Philadelphia. On last presidential election day two black men in paramilitary uniforms, one wielding a nightstick, were reported harrassing voters at a polling place. The Justice Department was prepared to act. Samir Shabazz, head of the Philadelphia chapter of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, and Jerry Jackson, a party member, were deployed 15 feet from the polling place "in...

A Northeast Philadelphia woman has been found guilty on charges of being part of a mother-daughter prostitution operation. Traci Young, 39, went on trial Monday and was found guilty. Prosecutors said Young and her 22-year-old daughter Tami Smith, a mother of three, allegedly advertised acts of prostitution on the popular online classifieds site Craigslist. Young and her daughter were arrested in the Wissinoming section on October 2, 2008. Police said an undercover officer arranged a meeting with the women, who were under police surveillance for three weeks, via the Web site Craigslist. Their business was found under the exotic services...

Nutter's Tax Increase Makes Him A Joke BY CHRIS FREIND It was a rainy, warm March back in 1936, and the snow in the hills around Johnstown began to melt. This caused the unfortunate city to be leveled by yet another flood. To help rebuild Johnstown, Pennsylvanians were forced to pay a temporary 10 percent tax on all wine and spirits. The key word being “temporary.” Even though the town was back on its feet in a few years, the tax remains. And it now stands at a whopping 18 percent. About the only joke bigger than a politician telling...

Southwest Detectives are going door to door trying to get information about a robbery and assault that left a 100-year-old man beaten to the ground. According to police, the disturbing attack happened in broad daylight on the 6700 block of Grovers Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia. "He placed his hands around his neck, threw him to the ground and began striking his head against the cement sidewalk," said Lt. John Walker. "He took the man's groceries and $30 out of his pocket and fled on foot." Neighbors, who said the man was "very nice" and "friendly," are shocked and concerned that...

Why did the Justice Department dismiss such a clear case of voter intimidation? President Obama's Justice Department continues to stonewall inquiries about why it dropped a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party. The episode—which Bartle Bull, a former civil rights lawyer and publisher of the left-wing Village Voice, calls "the most blatant form of voter intimidation I've ever seen"—began on Election Day 2008. Mr. Bull and others witnessed two Black Panthers in paramilitary garb at a polling place near downtown Philadelphia. (Some of this behavior is on YouTube.) One of them, they say, brandished a nightstick at...

Thursday, August 20, 2009 Local investors bid to own Philly newspapers A group of local investors led by real estate executive Bruce Toll is offering a plan valued at $92 million to purchase the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and philly.com, and lead the organization out of bankruptcy. According to a release, the new ownership group would include the Carpenters’ Union Pension Fund and Penn Matrix Investments. “Today, Philadelphians once again stepped up in a big way. The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and philly.com filed a reorganization plan that will allow the company to emerge successfully from bankruptcy while...

Activists affiliated with several dozen groups on the east coast will again descend on the Army Experience Center at Franklin Mills Mall in Philadelphia at 2:00 pm on Saturday, September 12, 2009. A protest on May 2, 2009 at the Army’s interactive video recruiting center was attended by 250 people and saw 7 arrests, but failed to generate mainstream print media coverage. This time, demonstrators are being encouraged to form small affinity groups and enter the mall through one of several locations. Protesters are encouraged to express their outrage in creative, nonviolent ways. At 2:00 pm people will come...

Janie Holsey told a funeral home employee that the man in the casket was not her husband. "That's how they look when they die," a funeral home employee told the grieving widow, according to the Daily News. “How they look when they die” is a completely different person in the case of 80-year-old Kenneth “Tex” Roberts at the James L. Hawkins Funeral Home at 1640 Federal St. Monday, reports the Daily News’ Kitty Caparella. Despite Roberts’ wife’s disturbing proclamation, the funeral service went on the next day, with more than 200 mourners passing by a casket containing an unknown man...

Philadelphia's court system will face a "virtual shutdown" if the cash-strapped city does not get state approval for a sales tax increase and changes to how it makes its pension payments. That's according to Mayor Michael Nutter and court officials at a news conference Wednesday. Philadelphia is facing a $1.4 billion five-year budget deficit. The city has asked the state to approve a temporary sales tax increase in Philadelphia and allow changes to how the city makes its pension payments. Without those changes, Nutter says nearly 1,000 police officers and 200 firefighters would be cut. District Attorney Lynne Abraham says...

Roman Catholic leaders are stepping up their fight against the Obama administration’s healthcare plans, urging their faithful nationwide to contact legislators to protest abortion provisions in Democratic bills. Catholics who attended Mass Sunday in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, for example, received weekly bulletins with a call to action from Cardinal Justin Rigali, head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' pro-life committee. The archdiocese, one of the largest in the nation, serves 1.45 million Catholics. “While this legislation is still in draft form, the request for action at the local level is imperative,” the cardinal wrote. “[W]e must take...