The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) articles from October 2003

The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) archives from October 2003

Despite Big Month from New Casino, Atlantic City, N.J., Gambling Revenue Drops.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Amy S. Rosenberg Oct. 15--The Borgata, the billion-dollar new kid in town, did just fine last month, winning a hefty $42 million from gamblers in its third month of operation. But nearly every other casino in Atlantic City...

The Philadelphia Inquirer Andrew Cassel Column.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Andrew Cassel Oct. 15--Why do we worry so much about employment, anyway? Are jobs the main point of the economy? Do we measure our progress just by the unemployment rate, or the number of new positions added to payrolls each...

Pennsylvania Landscape Is Going Fast, Conservation Report Says.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Don Sapatkin Oct. 15--In a starkly worded call for action, conservationists warned yesterday that dramatic changes in Pennsylvania's landscape in less than a generation could permanently rob people of their outdoor heritage. ...

Tunisian National Enters Guilty Plea in Credit-Card 'Cloning' Scam.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Joseph A. Slobodzian Oct. 15--A Tunisian national yesterday admitted his role in a sophisticated counterfeiting scheme in which he "cloned" hundreds of credit cards at the bar where he worked and then reproduced them in a...

Philadelphia Lender Completes $450 Million in Borrowings.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Todd Mason Oct. 15--American Business Financial Services said yesterday it completed $450 million in borrowings, easing a cash crunch at the lender specializing in high-risk mortgage loans. "We're breathing easier this...

Mount Laurel, Pa., Gas-Line Explosion Draws New Attention.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Rusty Pray Oct. 15--MOUNT LAUREL, Pa.--Judith M. Perinchief recalled the day it started, the day a minor accident at a neighbor's home touched off a major explosion. It destroyed property and lit the fuse on a controversy over...

Three Historic Philadelphia Buildings Get Demolition Reprieve.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Linda K. Harris Oct. 15--Three historic buildings in the 1900 block of Sansom Street are temporarily out of harm's way, saved by a stay of demolition issued yesterday by the Board of Licenses and Inspections Review. About a...

Debate Continues over Intellectual-Property Boundaries.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Eils Lotozo Oct. 15--It used to be that most artists were doomed to labor in obscurity. But lately the work of a growing number of painters, filmmakers, photographers and musicians has been attracting the attention of major...

Firm Files Suit in Bid to Operate Irradiator in Philadelphia-Area Township.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Walter F. Naedele Oct. 15--CFC Logistics Inc. has filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia, challenging a Milford Township zoning ordinance that would prevent the firm from operating its cobalt 60 irradiator. The firm...

Judge Limited FBI's Eavesdropping of Philadelphia Mayor.
October 15, 2003... Oct. 15--The bugging lasted only two weeks. The device used to eavesdrop on conversations in Mayor Street's City Hall office was secretly planted about two weeks before Philadelphia police discovered it in the ceiling, people familiar...

Mexicans' ID Cards Gain Acceptance in Philadelphia.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Paola Ochoa Oct. 15--To muggers and immigration agents, Emilio is just another illegal immigrant with cash stuffed into his socks, a "walking ATM" from Mexico. But to a growing number of businesses and local governments, the...

New Ritzy Atlantic City, N.J., Casino Ups Ante for Cross-Town Rival Tropicana.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Suzette Parmley Oct. 15--ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.--A Brazilian band played the samba, salsa dancers danced the mambo, and Ricky Martin's "Livin' la Vida Loca" blared from the speakers. And as an added touch, fresh tobacco leaves...

Feds Spend Money to Sell Us on Colorful New Currency.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Steve Goldstein Oct. 15--WASHINGTON--Have you seen the new $20 bill? Have you seen the ads for the new $20? Chances are you'll see the ads before you get to spend a fresh Andy Jackson. The U.S. government is spending $32...

Wireless Phones with Digital Cameras to Be Hot Holiday Items, Analysts Say.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Akweli Parker Oct. 15--Some things seem made for each other: Peanut butter and jelly. Computers and the Internet. Cell phones and... cameras? As incongruous as the two devices may seem, wireless phones with built-in...

Letter Would Extend Salary of Delaware River Port Authority's Chief.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Elisa Ung Oct. 15--A letter attached to the three-year contract of Delaware River Port Authority CEO John J. Matheussen extends his $195,000 salary and benefits for nine months in another position if he is not reappointed to the...

Judge Defends Philadelphia-Area Transit Board's Decision on Construction Deal.
October 15, 2003... Byline: Jere Downs Oct. 15--A federal judge yesterday affirmed SEPTA's decision last month to choose the second-highest bidder on a $140 million project to rebuild four stations on the Market-Frankford El in West Philadelphia. ...

Judge Dismisses Last Claim in Fired Philadelphia Airport Chief's Lawsuit.
October 14, 2003... Byline: Joseph A. Slobodzian Oct. 14--A federal judge has dismissed the last claim in a civil-rights and defamation lawsuit that former airport chief Alfred Testa Jr. filed three years ago against the Street administration after his...

Pennsylvania Rules Beleaguer Noncitizens Trying to Obtain Driver's Licenses.
October 14, 2003... Byline: Maria Panaritis Oct. 14--Herni Dyan Stelikos has finished her shift at a King of Prussia mall pretzel shop and is seated beside her husband, who flashes a fistful of company ID cards and a streak of frustration. "We are not...

The Philadelphia Inquirer Personal Finance Column.
October 14, 2003... Byline: Jeff Brown Oct. 14--And... they're off! Although the third quarter ended two weeks ago, corporate earnings reports for the period are just starting to come in. How do things look for the rest of this year and 2004? ...

Operator of Philadelphia-Area Gourmet-Food Markets Files Chapter 11 Petition.
October 14, 2003... Byline: Tom Belden Oct. 14--Zagara's Fresh Markets L.L.C., the operator of three stores in the highly competitive business of selling fresh gourmet food, has filed a Chapter 11 petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden but will...

As Many Link Health Woes to Air near Ground Zero, EPA Papers Add to Concern.
October 14, 2003... Byline: Miriam Hill Oct. 14--NEW YORK--There are nights when David Rapp wakes up gasping for air. His days are largely confined to watching television in a small room in his family's Queens apartment. Just walking up a flight of stairs...

Cartographers Drive Roads, Use GPS to Help Others Navigate Byways.
October 14, 2003... Byline: Reid Kanaley Oct. 14--On the hunt for new roads one recent morning, Robert Blumenthal and Kevin Wagner drove the winding treeless streets of four fresh-minted suburban developments in the middle of Chester County. These...

Sweeps for Bugs in Mayor's Office Are Rare, San Francisco, Miami Officials Say.
October 14, 2003... Byline: Chris Gray Oct. 14--In Philadelphia, police have made periodic "bug sweeps" through the mayor's office since the W. Wilson Goode administration in the 1980s, according to Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson. But...

The Philadelphia Inquirer Business Summary Column.
October 13, 2003... Oct. 13--Coming soon to a breakfast table near you: A pitch to visit Philadelphia or one of six other Great American Getaways. The Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau has teamed up with six other groups to push their cities as...

The Philadelphia Inquirer Business People Column.
October 13, 2003... Oct. 13--Breaking up can be hard to do. Nevertheless, George V. Hager Jr. seems to have things under control as he prepares to take over as chief executive officer of Genesis HealthCare Corp., half of the soon-to-be-split Genesis Health...

Jury Finds Two Philadelphia-Area Salesmen Guilty of Helping Bilk Blue Cross.
October 13, 2003... Byline: Joseph A. Slobodzian Oct. 13--Two young Philadelphia-area motor salesmen who became millionaires supplying and servicing Independence Blue Cross' office tower were convicted yesterday of helping IBC executive Vincent J. Croce...

Hospital, Education Focus Pays for Harleysville, Pa., Fan Installation Firm.
October 13, 2003... Byline: Harold Brubaker Oct. 13--When Paul A. Tetley tells people he designs fans for a living, they usually think he's talking about small hand-held fans or the ceiling fans they have in their home. Far from it. The equipment...

Workers, Employers Try to Cope as Health-Care Costs Hammer Workplace.
October 13, 2003... Byline: Karl Stark Oct. 13--For Manuel Paredes, health insurance has come to this. The Cherry Hill Public Library pays him $3,000 a year to stay off its health plan and get coverage through his wife's employer, a public school district....

Bucks County, Pa., Town Blends New Development with Victorian-Style History.
October 13, 2003... Byline: Leslie A. Pappas Oct. 13--Ivyland had a problem: How do you increase the borough's population by half, build acres of new houses, and still remain a small, turn-of-the-century Victorian town? That was the dilemma borough...

As Head of Fundraising Campaign, New Jersey Senator Raises Profile.
October 13, 2003... Byline: Chris Mondics Oct. 13--WASHINGTON--As New Jersey Sen. Jon Corzine strode out of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Congress was in an uproar. No fewer than three committees, two in the House and one in the Senate, were...

Pennsylvania Legislators Pushing Bill to Allow Amish Teens to Work.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Steve Goldstein Oct. 12--PARADISE, Pa.--The whine of blades biting into wood pierces the air as rough-hewn logs stacked on the muddy ground wait to be fed into the maw of the sawmill. Men in Amish dress -- black trousers,...

Two Philadelphia Men Found Guilty of Helping Executive Bilk Blue Cross.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Joseph A. Slobodzian Oct. 12--Two young Philadelphia-area motor salesmen who became millionaires supplying and servicing Independence Blue Cross' office tower were convicted Friday of helping IBC executive Vincent J. Croce steal...

The Philadelphia Inquirer Andrew Cassel Column.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Andrew Cassel Oct. 12--All eyes were on the Philadelphia mayoral race last week, but as that contest heats up (and grows more bizarre) the fate of a second local leadership post also remains up in the air. And while there's...

Minority Firms Lost Millions in Philadelphia Government Contracts, Study Shows.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Anthony S. Twyman Oct. 12--Women and minorities lost millions in local government contracts from 1983 to 1995 because of rampant patronage and cronyism, according to a $1.1 million study that city officials never made public. ...

The Philadelphia Inquirer Consumer Watch Column.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Jeff Gelles Oct. 12--Rocky and Lisa Culpepper, along with nearly 70,000 other residents of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and almost 600,000 nationwide, face a deadline Tuesday. Their dilemma: Should they join the $484 million...

Shiloh, Pa., Farm Provides Sanctuary for Cows.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Joseph A. Gambardello Oct. 12--SHILOH, Pa.--Helga Tacreiter does not believe in Hamburger Heaven. No, this woman with an open face and easy laugh holds that when the time comes for a cow to be put out to pasture, the animal...

Pennsylvania Officials Fear Shortage as Doctor Workforce Ages.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Marian Uhlman Oct. 12--David Travis has offered a spot in his booming cardiology practice to 20 doctors. Despite a starting salary of about $180,000 and fully paid malpractice premiums, there have been no takers. Travis has...

Pharmaceutical Companies Duke It Out over Blood Pressure Medicine.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Linda Loyd Oct. 12--URL/Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. Inc. is embroiled in seven lawsuits across the nation with brand-name pharmaceutical companies to sell generic versions of drugs. One of the drugs is Quinapril, a...

Generic-Drug Companies Compete Aggressively against Pharmaceutical Firms.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Linda Loyd Oct. 12--Driven by health insurers' push for lower-cost prescription drugs and expiring patents on top-selling brand-name medicines, makers of generic drugs have come into their own. "Once the 98-pound weaklings of...

The Philadelphia Inquirer Personal Finance Column.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Jeff Brown Oct. 12--Note to the Securities and Exchange Commission: Democracy isn't such a dangerous thing -- just look at what happened last week in California. Were the SEC to take the California recall object lesson to...

Philadelphia-Based Urban Outfitters Stops Selling Ghettopoly Game.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Kathy Boccella Oct. 12--After two weeks of brisk sales and protests, Urban Outfitters on Friday stopped selling a Monopoly-like board game that critics called racist and insensitive to African Americans. Critics said...

Philadelphia-Area Residents Confront Higher Health Premiums.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Karl Stark Oct. 12--For Manuel Paredes, health insurance has come to this. The Cherry Hill Public Library pays him $3,000 a year to stay off its health plan and get covered by his wife's employer, a public school district. ...

Pennsylvania Officials Accuse Accountant of Hiding Truth about Insurance Firm.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Joseph N. DiStefano Oct. 12--The Pennsylvania Insurance Department has accused Deloitte, the nation's second-largest accounting firm, of contributing to the worst insurer failure in U.S. history by hiding its client's poor...

Once Utilitarian, Kitchen Is Now Near a Home's 'Social Heart'.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Alan J. Heavens Oct. 12--Howard Decker thinks the kitchen is the most fascinating room in the house. Not for what is produced there, but for what the kitchen represents in architectural and social terms. "I spent 30...

The Philadelphia Inquirer Home Real Estate Column.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Alan J. Heavens Oct. 12--Do homeowners make better lovers? According to a study by economist Robert Dietz of Ohio State University, homeowners at least tend to be happier than non-homeowners. The better-lovers thing was...

The Philadelphia Inquirer Technology Queries Column.
October 12, 2003... Byline: John J. Fried Oct. 12--QUESTION: My Windows XP Disk Cleanup tool stopped functioning. How do I get it back? -- jrpage51@msn.com ANSWER: The Cleanup tool can stop working if there is a corrupted file in the Temp folder. After...

Collingswood, N.J., Gets on Track as 'Transit Village'.
October 12, 2003... Byline: Jennifer Moroz Oct. 12--COLLINGSWOOD, N.J.--Take a stroll down Billson Avenue from Haddon Avenue to the PATCO station here and you won't see much but concrete and parked cars. It's hard to imagine people milling along a...