The NJ man accused of viciously beating two Rangers fans after the Rangers-Flyers game in Philadelphia is back in custody, after a judge raised his bail from $100,000 to $400,000. more ›

A week after Philadelphia authorities released a video seeking suspects who beat a Rangers fan, a NJ man has turned himself in. Dennis Veteri, 32 (pictured), was charged with two counts each of aggravated assault, conspiracy aggravated assault, simple assault and reckless endangerment, according to Philly.com. more ›

Philadelphia police have released a video of Flyers fans beating up Rangers fans after Monday's Winter Classic outside of Geno's Steaks! One of the victims was Neal Auricchico, an off-duty NJ cop and former Marine, whose father said, "He got banged up pretty badly. "Stitches in the one eye, and the other eye is pretty puffed up. He went for a CAT scan today, and we're waiting for the results on that." more ›

If the playoffs started Sunday, the Jets would be in as the No. 6 seed and set for a date with the Patriots. That worked out well last season. But the Jets have three games remaining and their schedule, while not impossibly difficult, includes no freebies. They are three-point underdogs at the Eagles on Sunday, and they finish with a home game against the Giants and a trip to Miami to face the surprisingly decent Dolphins. more ›

Remember the 19-year-old Occupy Wall Street demonstrator who claimed that he lost his virginity during the protests and was "amped for it?" His name is Brandon Watts, and he's the same protester who was seen bloodied in photos following protests on the two-month anniversary of the movement. City Room found that he had been arrested six times since arriving in New York from his home outside Philadelphia, and his family believes he's less of an activist and more of a troubled teenager. His attorney notes, "You see from the nature of the arrests that Brandon has accumulated, they are clearly arrests of a provocative young man who is seeking attention." more ›

Chinatown buses are a cheap, easy way to get around the Northeast corridor, but man are they BORING. After the third replay of Ke$ha's new single we're searching for things to do. Yesterday, a Brooklyn man who decided to take matters into his own hand was arrested for masturbating on a Chinatown bus from Philly. "He was staring back at me the whole time," passenger Illiana Martinez tells the Post. "He wanted me to see him. He gave me a dirty look, like: 'Look what I'm doing on the bus.' " Yes but are you not entertained? more ›

As any billionaire mayor will tell you, having dead animals on your walls really classes up the joint. If it happens to be parts of an animal that are illegal to kill, all the better. But there's good news for people who hate jerks that kill elephants: an ivory dealer who shipped his wares from Africa via JFK airport, then down to his African art store in Philadelphia has been caught. According to a release from the DOJ [pdf], authorities seized "approximately one ton of elephant ivory—one of the largest U.S. seizures of elephant ivory on record." The smuggler, 68-year-old Victor Gordon was arraigned today in Brooklyn and will be charged with 10 felonies, with a maximum sentence of 20 years. more ›

A Philadelphia man is using Atlantic City not as a pleasant vacation destination, what with their pristine beaches and friendly locals, but as a lucrative money making scheme. The Post reports that 49-year-old Don Johnson has netted $15 million from Caesars, The Borgata, and The Tropicana, by playing blackjack. Johnson told the paper "I'll take luck over any other skill." We assume he's referring to the "luck" involved in counting how many cards there are in an auto-shuffle. more ›

Investigators are looking at whether a blown tire caused a bus headed from Chinatown to Pennsylvania to crash on the NJ Turnpike on Monday night, killing a passenger and the driver. The driver, Wei Wang, 50, of Forest Hills, Queens, was not wearing his seat belt and was thrown through the windshield "when the... Super Luxury Tours bus veered along a grassy median before striking a concrete overpass support." more ›

The Staten Island man who was arrested after streaking at a Philadelphia rally where President Obama was speaking won't have his freedom stripped away: A judge decided to sentence the 24-year-old to two years reporting probation (which can be served in NYC) even though prosecutors wanted Juan Rodriguez to serve at least three months. But Rodriguez always suspected he'd be able to get away with being naked in the city of Brotherly Love, "Philadelphia has a history of streaking... [I thought it] would be more lenient toward me and see it for what it was...[a guy just] chillin'." more ›

Gosnell, whose Women's Medical Society practice served lower income, minority women, is not a licensed OB/GYN and had his unlicensed staff (including a teenager) administer drugs to patients, according to the Philadelphia DA's office. The DA's office investigated the family practitioner after drug agents who raided the practice found out a patient had a fatal heart attack after being given a lethal dose of narcotics. more ›

If New York had to pick a 6th borough (or find a replacement for Staten Island if they ever secede), where would it be? A classic pick is Philadelphia, and more recently there's been CRAZY TALK of Cleveland, Ohio becoming a destination for priced-out New Yorkers. In fact, we received many personal messages from ex-New Yorkers living over there, singing its praises as the nation's "best kept secret." more ›

The driver of a blue station wagon with wood paneling, captured on a cell phone video driving north on a southbound I-95 lane near Philadelphia, has been found. According to WABC 7, Pennsylvania State Police say they interviewed an 84-year-old woman from Wilmington, Delaware. Charges are pending—while the driver did not crash, there were numerous collisions of vehicles trying to avoid her. more ›

The Transportation Security Administration is investigating reports of suspicious packages on UPS planes in Newark and Philadelphia. And now the NYPD bomb squad is investigating a UPS truck in downtown Brooklyn! Update: The packages have been cleared, but now officials think this might have been part of a dry run for a bomb-by-mail plot (more info below). more ›

Police are looking for the driver of a blue-with-wood paneling station wagon who was going north in a southbound I-95 lane near Philadelphia. A driver in the northbound lane took cell phone video of the incident and shared it with WABC 7; Tim Flemming said, "It was crazy, man, I thought I was going to see people die, I seriously thought I was going to see people die." more ›

Things got a little freaky in Philadelphia yesterday during President Obama's rally (to Restore Democrats' Will to Live). First, a man named Juan James Rodriguez took off all his clothes and repeatedly yelled, "‘Battlecam.com." He thinks he will get a million dollars because a British billionaire offered that amount to the first person who streaks the President shouting the name of his website "Battlecam" written on his or her chest. Of course, Howard Stern is mixed up in all this somehow; two of his regular guests reportedly videotaped the stunt. That footage has yet to surface, but to tide you over here's video of the President almost getting hit by a book someone threw at him. (23 second mark): more ›

According to Philadelphia, New Yorkers love moving to... Philadelphia! The Sixth Borough is taking away from the other five boroughs. The new data shows that "migration from New York City to Philadelphia more than doubled during the period studied, from 1,332 in 1993 to 3,100 in 2008, thereby supporting the notion that Philadelphia has become a haven for some New Yorkers priced out of that city." Well, you can get a pretty sweet place there for 800 bucks—if you're enticed, these people can help you, traitor. [via NY Mag] more ›

For all our muttered complaints, New York City's public transportation system is still one of the oldest and most extensive in the world. Dating back to 1910, the subway is today one of four in the U.S. to at least partially serve 24/7, 365 days a year, and is ranked fourth in the world for annual ridership, just under Tokyo, Moscow, and Seoul. But as in all other walks of life, though size matters, so does price. Following the horrifying news last month that the MTA greenlit a 7.5 percent fare hike for January, riders have been in an uproar. more ›

A 43-year-old married woman from West Philadelphia wasn't wearing underwear when she told an undercover cop, "I'm a whore. I love sex," in order to score World Series tickets, the officer testified yesterday. Susan Finkelstein of West Philadelphia, was arrested in late October and accused of offering various sex acts in exchange for tickets. Her troubles began after investigators noticed her Craigslist ad: "DESPERATE BLONDE NEEDS WS TIX. 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!" more ›

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter was in the Bronx on Friday, to settle his World Series bet with Mayor Bloomberg. The two mayors decided not to do a cheesesteak-cheesecake bet (Senators Schumer and Gillibrand did that with Senators Casey and Specter) and instead agreed "that the losing mayor would travel to the winning city to join the winning mayor in a volunteer service project, while wearing the winning team’s jersey." So Nutter wore a jersey with the number 55—for Hideki Matsui—while Bloomberg wore a #27 jersey (for the Yankees' 27th World Series win) while they painted the halls of J.H.S. 131, the Albert Einstein School. more ›

In 2007, a high-water mark in white truffle excess was reached when Le Cirque owner Sirio Maccioni dropped $7,000 on a 1.1 pound white Alba truffle. Now see how the mighty have fallen: Last year NYC restaurateurs were outbid for the biggest truffle of the season by Chicago, and this year Philadelphia has made the Big Apple look like small potatoes. Philly steakhouse Barclay Prime just outbid Daniel for the biggest truffle to hit town this year, a 1.1 pound monster bought for $4,100. Grub Street has video of that bad boy, which sure could upgrade plenty of cheese steak sandwiches. Of course, as Mauro Maccioni once told us, "what really matters is firmness, not size." more ›

Now that the World Series will see at least a Game 6, we have another day to enjoy Yankees fans talking smack about the Phillies and Phillies fans ridiculing the Yankees. Last night, the Daily Show tackled the rivalries that New York and Philadelphia fans have with each other in the Clash of the Cretins (yes, there was a woman with a Jagermeister thong outside her jeans—and she also had a "tramp stamp"). more ›

The New York Public Library is pitting Philly and NYC against each other in this fantastic catalog of old baseball images they put online. They say: "The 2009 World Series brings together two cities uncommonly rich in baseball history. Some of the game's earliest years are chronicled in over 500 photographs, prints, drawings, caricatures, and printed illustrations donated in 1921 to the New York Public Library by early baseball player and sporting-goods tycoon A. G. Spalding (whose name to this day is printed across every ball used in the National League)." more ›

What was billed as the "2nd Annual" Roots Picnic unfolded on the edge of the Delaware River in Philadelphia yesterday, with two stages (one in a massive air-conditioned tent) hosting over a dozen bands. The lineup had a substantial Brooklyn presence, with dance-punk singer Santigold, art-rockers TV on the Radio, hip-hop artist Kid Cudi and afrobeat preservationists Antibalas. The Roots, who are now commuting to New York regularly for their gig on Jimmy Fallon's show, kicked things off at high noon with a rollicking half-hour performance that set the tone for a day of relaxed partying, and returned later to put the cherry on top with a concluding set that started past 11 p.m. more ›

Hipster Grifter Kari Ferrell has been hanging out a safe distance from Brooklyn, in the unofficial sixth borough of Philly. The Observer's Doree Shafrir, who introduced the world to the grifster, was in the Philadelphia courtroom that Ferrell appeared at this morning. Reportedly Ferrell gave an address in Brooklyn as her current one (you know, aside from her really current one at Riverside Correction Facility in Northeast Philadelphia). She also told the court during her hearing that she had a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Utah, something that university was surprised to hear, as they'd never heard of a Kari Ferrell before and had no records of her ever attending. After a few more questions and answers, the hearing was over, and now Utah has 30 days to pick up their problem child. If they don't come and get her, "she has the right to habeas corpus, meaning that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania could decide it no longer wishes to keep her, and let her go." And if that happens, a few gullible Brooklynites are about to get grifted (albeit after some mouth handjobs). more ›

The Hipster Grifter herself was duped, and then she turned around and lied to us all. So no, it's not over yet. It seems that Kari Ferrell didn't turn herself in to the Philadelphia Police Department, if one is to believe this musician who claims to have lured her into the hands of the authorities there. His story is a long one, but basically: His band met Miss Ferrell in Brooklyn in December and once they read about her now very public story, they played aloof and got her to come visit Philly. Bandmate Sam Tremble says, "I didn't want Kari to know we were on to her, because I thought I could catch her. I talked with Sgt. Fred Ross in Salt Lake City during this time. He liked my idea, but couldn't encourage me to act on behalf of law enforcement. He said my only option was to call local police when I knew where she was. On Sunday, May 3, she finally agreed to take a bus to Philly." Consider the rest instant karma. Yet Ferrell went on to lie to her newfound press generators in NYC, saying she turned herself in. So there you have it. Currently her extradition hearing is set for May 15th, and her bail is a whopping $250,000. more ›

Everybody at Philadelphia's mass transit agency, "SEPTA", was so pumped for the city's upcoming Beer Week, and them some annoying blogger had to come along and point out that the pass they were about to sell to discourage drunk driving had one teensy error: It depicted the skyline of New York City. Trendspotters have been trying to position Philly as NYC's sixth borough for years, so one can understand the confusion. But the Phillyskyline blog was unsparing in its derision, and then the mainstream media picked up the story, and now the poor designer who grabbed the wrong stock photo is probably out of a job and won't be able to afford to even live in the glamorous sixth borough anymore. Don't worry, unidentified Beer Pass designer, this might actually turn out to be your big chance to move up here and live under the skyline of your dreams—NYC isn't immune to stock photo skyline oops, so you'll fit right in if you're looking for work. more ›

more ›

Elettaria: Hendrix shredded here once upon a time, when it was a music venue called The 8th Wonder, but now the stage is an open kitchen and South Asian-spiced American dishes are the stars. Decorated by the man behind Allen & Delancey, the seductive 72-seat interior (pictured) features a rustic reclaimed barn-wood ceiling, plush banquettes, old-world paintings and exposed brick walls. Appetizers include a dish of dayboat sea scallops with celery root puree, oxtail, Meyer lemon and cilantro leaves, while entrées like roasted chicken with sweet and sour tomato ravioli and smoked sunchokes sound irresistible. Behind the 14-seat steel bar, Death & Co. alums concoct their fancy cocktails. 33 West Eighth Street, (212) 677-3833. more ›