The Philadelphia Daily News (Philadelphia, PA) articles from November 2005

The Philadelphia Daily News (Philadelphia, PA) archives from November 2005

Sinatra's `58 TV series among new music DVDs.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Jonathan Takiff Some of the best concerts happening these days aren't at theaters but at your local video store, newly out on DVD. _Three icons of 20th-century pop greats collaborate on the hour-long "The Frank Sinatra Show _...

Mom dishes to daughter about sex life.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Steve and Mia Q: My wife and teenage daughter are very close. My wife believes that the secret to her relationship with our daughter is openness and honesty. I agree that this is a virtue, but she tells our daughter things about...

AAA, city's consumer rep accuse big oil of profiteering.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Gloria Campisi Nov. 1--If you believe the Wall Street Journal, Exxon Mobil made a profit of $74,879.23 a minute when gasoline prices shot to more than $3 a gallon in September. The Journal calculated that figure from a recent...

Philadelphia Daily News John M. Baer column.
November 1, 2005... Byline: John M. Baer Nov. 1--BAD TIMING FOR TRANSIT STRIKE: Oh, this SEPTA strike stinks. It's coming in the middle of astounding gains in SEPTA ridership -- 25,000 more per day -- thanks to exorbitant gas prices that have coaxed...

When they can, SEPTA riders take to the rails.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Don Russell Nov. 1--For a few thousand commuters, a SEPTA strike is a walk in the park. Or, more precisely, a walk to the nearest SEPTA regional rail line. On the first day of the Transport Workers Union strike, many el, bus...

City slows to a crawl.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Dan Geringer, Chris Brennan & My Nov. 1--What SEPTA chief negotiator Patrick Battel calls "the strike that should not have happened" did happen yesterday, turning the city into a mass-transit ghost town grimacing in the grasp of...

Boxing promoter Arum sends a heavyweight message.
November 2, 2005... Byline: Bernard Fernandez PHILADELPHIA _ Brother Bob's Traveling Salvation Show played the Delaware Valley last week, and, like a revival-tent evangelist, preached that now is the time for heavyweight boxing to repent, before it's too...

Kenney wants city to buy more hybrid vehicles.
November 2, 2005... Byline: Mark McDonald Nov. 2--The city's fleet manager told a City Council committee yesterday that hybrid vehicles, which use a combination of internal- combustion and electric-battery power, are here to stay. So far, the city has...

Shareholder urges Knight Ridder sale.
November 2, 2005... Byline: Janet Whitman Nov. 2--NEW YORK -- Knight Ridder Inc.'s largest shareholder, Florida money-management firm Private Capital Management, is urging the newspaper publisher to put itself on the block, citing the poor performance of its...

Riscoe Benson to head museum.
November 2, 2005... Byline: Joseph R. Daughen Nov. 2--Romona Riscoe Benson, architect of a plan to rescue the African American Museum in Philadelphia from financial woes threatening its survival, has been named permanent president and CEO of the organization....

Slot-parlor proposal offers something unique.
November 2, 2005... Byline: Chris Brennan Nov. 2--With the city's old incinerator site rising in prominence as a potential site for one of two slot machine parlors, a group of politically well-connected business people made their pitch yesterday to cash in on...

Philadelphia Daily News Plugged In column.
November 2, 2005... Byline: Jonathan Takiff Nov. 2--THE GIZMO: XM SIGNAL REPEATER; DOWNLOAD NEWS AND BLUES: Unlike conventional radio, satellite radio signals from XM and Sirius do not normally penetrate roofs and walls. To pick up those cool services, you...

Feel the pain.
November 2, 2005... Byline: Catherine Lucey Nov. 2--DID SEPTA'S powerful board of directors feel the pain of the city? Not as far as we can tell. Only about half of SEPTA's 15-member board returned calls for comment this week. Chairman Pasquale...

Harried commuters adapting.
November 2, 2005... Byline: Don Russell, Sono Motoyama & Dam Nov. 2--The huddled masses yearning to breathe free of the pain of the second day of the transit strike shuffled across the tiled floor of the Market Street East commuter rail station yesterday...

Philadelphia Daily News Urban Warrior Column.
November 2, 2005... Byline: Carla Anderson Nov. 2--SOMETIMES I THINK the Philadelphia Parking Authority is secretly trying to chase away all this city's residents, tourists and office workers. Consider the case of Carol Bennett, who lives in Sewell, N.J.,...

A dangerously radical nominee.
November 3, 2005... Byline: Jill Porter Some of you already know that Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito is such a regular customer at a coffee shop near his office that they named a drink after him: Judge Alito's Bold Justice Blend. What you don't know...

Virginia Tech-Miami showdown a marquee matchup.
November 3, 2005... Byline: Mike Kern PHILADELPHIA _ There was a time when Frank Beamer nearly got fired at Virginia Tech. That was obviously many moons ago. By the time he calls it a career, they're going to build a statue of him in beautiful, downtown...

Through it all, McNabb just plays.
November 3, 2005... Byline: Rich Hofmann PHILADELPHIA _ Donovan McNabb tends neither to acknowledge his struggles nor to alibi them. Through the years, there has never been any great public search for either sympathy or enlightenment. For the most part,...

Philadelphia Daily News Plugged In column.
November 3, 2005... Byline: Jonathan Takiff Nov. 3--THE GIZMO: XM Signal Repeater; Download news and blues. Unlike conventional radio, satellite radio signals from XM and Sirius do not normally penetrate roofs and walls. To pick up those cool services,...

SEPTA, union still at odds.
November 3, 2005... Byline: Dan Geringer, Alysha Brennan & D Nov. 3--AFTER THEIR angry, early-morning failure yesterday to break the negotiating deadlock at the bargaining table, strike-paralyzed SEPTA and striking Transport Workers Local 234 were shrouded in...

Portis the life of the party in Redskins' world.
November 3, 2005... Byline: John Smallwood ASHBURN, Va. _ Among the media that regularly cover the Washington Redskins, these Thursday interview sessions at Redskins Park with running back Clinton Portis have become known as "must-see television." You...

Still thirsting for Elvis.
November 3, 2005... Byline: April Lisante Nov. 3--So what do you get when you take a cup of water Elvis Presley drank onstage, store it in a freezer for about 10 years, thaw it, seal it in a vial, then stow it in a clothing trunk for another 18 years? ...

Online oddities.
November 3, 2005... Byline: April Lisante Nov. 3--Monstrous cereal chunks. Holy fish sticks. Papal pancakes. The Virgin Mary-emblazoned grilled cheese that earned a Florida woman $28,000 last December has inspired a bizarre wave of online food sales, from...

Philadelphia Daily News John M. Baer column.
November 3, 2005... Byline: John M. Baer Nov. 3--Think of characters from "The Wizard of Oz" locked together in a rubber room and maybe, maybe you'll get a picture of what happened yesterday in your Capitol. It was, even for such a place, bizarrely...

The great transit race.
November 3, 2005... Nov. 3--The Daily News, employing its own version of the Great Race, yesterday sent off six reporters to discover the best and fastest way to get from one point to another in a city stricken by the Great Transit Strike. One drove, one took...

Great Transit Race: Reporters tackle commuting during transit strike.
November 3, 2005... Nov. 3--The Daily News, employing its own version of the Great Race, yesterday sent off six reporters to discover the best and fastest way to get from one point to another in a city stricken by the Great Transit Strike. One drove, one took...

SEPTA, union still at odds.
November 4, 2005... Nov. 4--After their angry, early-morning failure yesterday to break the negotiating deadlock at the bargaining table, strike-paralyzed SEPTA and striking Transport Workers Local 234 were shrouded in silence -- no talks, no plans to talk, no...

No sympathy for the injured in Fantasy world.
November 4, 2005... Byline: Ed Barkowitz PHILADELPHIA _ Fantasy sports brings out the coldest hearts. Reuben Droughns gets a DUI and all the guys in your league chuckle, except for the poor soul who owns him. The Vikings' Daunte Culpepper rips up his...

Not all NFL scouts are sold on USC's Matt Leinart.
November 4, 2005... Byline: Paul Domowitch PHILADELPHIA _ Ever since Matt Leinart opted last January for ballroom dancing and a shot at a third straight national title rather than an early-entry ticket into the National Football League, it has been assumed...

Cartoon Network series uses race for its humorous edge.
November 4, 2005... Byline: Ellen Gray The list of things you can't say, do or show on television grows shorter every year. Not that this stops otherwise unshockable adults of my acquaintance from repeating entire passages of Fox's "Family Guy" to me,...

Moss finds greener pastures with Redskins.
November 4, 2005... Byline: Dana Pennett O'Neil PHILADELPHIA _ As a kid, Santana Moss used to watch from his grandmother's house in Miami as the cars turned the corner and accelerated toward the I-95 ramp. As they slowed around the bend, Moss would start...

Flyers to welcome fan No. 25 million.
November 4, 2005... Nov. 4--Tomorrow night, the Flyers will reach 25 million in all-time regular-season attendance. The person deemed to be that lucky 25M fan will receive a great many gifts, not the least of which is the prime rate interest for a day on $25...

Rendell poised to enter SEPTA talks.
November 4, 2005... Byline: Dan Geringer, Damon C. Williams Nov. 4--Gov. Rendell saddled up yesterday to ride to the rescue as Day Four of the transit strike frustrated Philadelphia with traffic gridlock in Center City and human gridlock at Suburban Station....

Road rage in NASCAR.
November 4, 2005... Byline: Bill Fleischman PHILADELPHIA _ Rush-hour road rage. That's the emotion felt by some Nextel Cup drivers in the homestretch of the Chase for the Championships. Points leader Tony Stewart called fellow Chaser Greg Biffle "an...

50 Cent's billboards are coming down.
November 4, 2005... Byline: Gloria Campisi Nov. 4--The billboards show rapper 50 Cent standing with his tattooed back to the camera, holding a gun in one hand and a microphone in the other. The billboards, which advertise rapper Curtis "50 Cent"...

As SEPTA strike marches on, Rendell may step in.
November 5, 2005... Byline: Barbara Laker & Regina Medina Nov. 5--The SEPTA strike is still on and, as of last night, no talks were planned between the transit agency officials and Transport Workers Union 234. The two sides haven't sat down at the Crowne...

McNabb makes it plain about Owens.
November 6, 2005... Byline: Rich Hofmann LANDOVER, Md. _ Well, it is over now. It has to be over, doesn't it? Donovan McNabb, for the first time in public, has now said that the Eagles are better off without Terrell Owens. There would seem to be no turning...

The Chef's Table.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Jim Coleman and Candace Hagan Q. I am presently incarcerated as a first-time, nonviolent offender. Being here, I have become the "Cook" for the housing unit, which holds approximately 60 guys plus a kitchen that is equipped with...

Repeater relays satellite radio signals wirelessly.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Jonathan Takiff THE GIZMO: XM Signal Repeater; Download news and blues. Unlike conventional radio, satellite radio signals from XM and Sirius do not normally penetrate roofs and walls. To pick up those cool services, you need...

The degree's in the e-mail.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Margaret O. Kirk Nov. 7--At first glance, what's not to like about distance learning? By completing coursework online and away from an actual college campus, students have the flexibility to balance jobs and family...

McNabb's father says Owens causes `hurts that create scars'.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Dana Pennett O'Neil PHILADELPHIA _ Reached on his cell phone Sunday, hours before the Eagles would tangle with the Washington Redskins and in the midst of the latest installment of the Terrell Owens saga, Sam McNabb, Donovan's...

Eagles should have tolerated Owens in hopes of making Super Bowl.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Rich Hofmann PHILADELPHIA _ Andy Reid has been so right, so often, for so many years now, that this is unfamiliar ground. You wonder what lessons Reid might have learned, on the day he removed Terrell Owens from his life. You...

Developer is back - after 11th hour.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Earni Young Nov. 7--Just when everyone thought she was out, North Philadelphia activist Paula Peebles has clawed her way back into the running for control of her bankrupt shopping center on Girard Avenue. After a court deadline...

The great transit race.
November 7, 2005... Nov. 7--The Daily News, employing its own version of the Great Race, yesterday sent off six reporters to discover the best and fastest way to get from one point to another in a city stricken by the Great Transit Strike. One drove, one took...

Investing in workers' higher ed a lesser degree of concern.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Kristen Gerencher Nov. 7--SAN FRANCISCO - While the number of companies offering financial assistance to employees keen on improving their knowledge remains high, the number is dwindling, a survey shows. The portion of...

Commitment-happy daughter worries Mom.
November 8, 2005... Byline: Steve and Mia Q: I wonder if you can offer some advice for my daughter. When she meets a man she likes, she gets in a rush to make a commitment. After a month or so, she'll ask for an exclusive relationship. Here's the problem: If...

Philadelphia Daily News Ellen Gray Column.
November 8, 2005... Nov. 8--I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since ABC and Apple last month announced a deal to put "Desperate Housewives" - and a few other shows - onto video iPods. Yesterday, it did. Starting in January, CBS will offer...

Minority business loans in short supply.
November 8, 2005... Byline: Earni Young Nov. 8--The more things change, the more they remain the same. At least for home lending. They're actually worse for small businesses looking to borrow dough. Back in 1995, a Daily News analysis of mortgage...

Philadelphia Daily News Ronnie Polaneczky Column.
November 8, 2005... Nov. 8--STRIKINGLY UNSATISFYING: So we're supposed to be grateful that the SEPTA strike is over. Me, I'm wondering where anyone gets off making their workplace beefs everyone's burden. Our cops and firefighters aren't allowed to...

Philadelphia Daily News Elmer Smith Column.
November 8, 2005... Nov. 8--STRIKE, YOU'RE OUT: Da guv stepped to a bouquet of microphones in the pre-dawn chill. You knew it was over. Reporters who had kept a vigil outside the Bellevue Hotel, where SEPTA and its unions had been locked in "nonstop"...

Workers 'hate to lose money'.
November 8, 2005... Byline: Sono Motoyama Nov. 8--Bus driver John Flannery has seen plenty of SEPTA strikes, but remembers one in particular -- the 44-day walkout on March 25, 1977. "My daughter was born on the first day of the 44-day strike," he said....

Time for NFL midseason report cards . . . and awards.
November 9, 2005... Byline: Paul Domowitch PHILADELPHIA _ We have reached the midpoint of another Bizarro World NFL season, in which the sexual escapades of the league's players and cheerleaders have become far more interesting than the battle for homefield...

Bottom line: Terrell Owens just never got it.
November 9, 2005... Byline: John Smallwood PHILADELPHIA _ I was wrong. I didn't think there was any way Terrell Owens could choke down enough of his pride to make the type of apology necessary for the Eagles to give him another chance to play for them this...

Sony's new anti-copying software: Where is the music?
November 9, 2005... Byline: Jonathan Takiff I knew the war against disc copying had escalated when I put a pressing of the new Neil Diamond "12 Songs" in my computer the other day, and the disc started working funny business on the system. As a reviewer,...

The reality is, reality TV sells big.
November 9, 2005... Byline: Ellen Gray In the latest answer to those who continue to ask plaintively, "When will `reality' television die?" CBS announced Tuesday that it's ordered the 13th and 14th editions of "Survivor" for next season. As of last...

Billboard firm trades rap violence for campaign to find a killer.
November 9, 2005... Byline: Regina Medina Nov. 9--Latief Lewis Abdullah's pensive face looks over the West Oak Lane neighborhood from a billboard way up high, not far from the spot where he was shot seven times by a killer still on the loose. Last night,...

Philadelphia Daily News Plugged In column.
November 9, 2005... Byline: Jonathan Takiff Nov. 9--Exactly how stupid do TV networks and subscription TV services think consumers are when it comes to using video technology? Yes, there are still millions of houses with "12:00" blinking on their VCRs,...

Philadelphia Daily News Urban Warrior Column.
November 9, 2005... Byline: Carla Anderson Nov. 9--GOV. Rendell and labor lawyer Deborah Willig certainly earned their keep this week when they found the millions it took to end the SEPTA strike. Willig, a veteran labor lawyer, realized that health...

Gillick takes on Phillies' bullpen dilemma.
November 10, 2005... Byline: Paul Hagen INDIAN WELLS, Calif. _ Phillies closer Billy Wagner is ready to hit the free-agent market, with the option of signing with the highest bidder. Ryan Madson, who was used primarily as a seventh-inning reliever last...

Hospital dining goes upscale.
November 10, 2005... Byline: April Lisante Nov. 10--IT'S NOT quite lunchtime, but Jamal Harris is tucked in his hospital bed, watching television, and he's already hungry. So the Graduate Hospital oncology patient peruses a five-page menu, picks up the...

Dinner auction benefits SOS.
November 10, 2005... Nov. 10--Want to help raise money to fight hunger and score a cool holiday gift for a loved one at the same time? Campbell Soup Co. has teamed with nine chefs from around the country, including Striped Bass executive chef Christopher Lee,...

Players union backing T.O., like him or not.
November 10, 2005... Nov. 10--Troy Vincent shook his head and frowned when the conversation turned to Terrell Owens' latest dispute with the Eagles. As the NFL Players Association president, the former Eagles cornerback said yesterday it's important Owens gets...

Philadelphia Daily News Plugged In column.
November 10, 2005... Byline: Jonathan Takiff Nov. 10--Exactly how stupid do TV networks and subscription TV services think consumers are when it comes to using video technology? Yes, there are still millions of houses with "12:00" blinking on their VCRs,...

Women teeing up for business contacts.
November 10, 2005... Nov. 10--NEW YORK - Golf, the unchallenged center of the old-boy network for business, isn't just for men any more. Now, women are beginning to reap the same benefits found on the green. "Women are seeing golf as an informal network to...

Philadelphia Daily News Stu Bykofsky Column.
November 10, 2005... Nov. 10--HONORING VETERANS, WIDOWS: Agnes Folger thinks her husband, Joseph - a decorated World War II infantry veteran who survived the Battle of the Bulge - was killed by indifferent nursing care right here in America. But her profound...

Race, income, education found to affect high-speed Net usage.
November 10, 2005... Byline: Michael Hinkelman Nov. 10--The digital divide is as deep as ever. In fact, it may be opening a new front: Between those who have a high-speed Internet connection and those who don't. And two new reports detailing this...

With loss of Owens, history isn't on Eagles' side.
November 11, 2005... Byline: Sam Donnellon PHILADELPHIA _ A reader called me on the carpet for characterizing Donovan McNabb's postgame comments Sunday as suggestive rather than declarative. He was right. McNabb didn't suggest the offense ran better without...

For Fantasy crowd, Larry Johnson is a godsend.
November 11, 2005... Byline: Ed Barkowitz PHILADELPHIA _ Larry Johnson went in the eighth round of our draft behind luminaries such as J.J. Arrington, DeShaun Foster and Michael Clayton. In fact, he was the fourth Johnson taken; selected well after Rudi,...

Rosenhaus' brethren criticize his actions.
November 11, 2005... Byline: Paul Domowitch PHILADELPHIA _ It takes a lot to nauseate a sports agent. But Drew Rosenhaus' outrageous curbside performance at the Terrell Owens news conference Tuesday had a lot of his colleagues reaching for a barf bag. ...

Philadelphia Daily News Jill Porter column.
November 11, 2005... Byline: Jill Porter Nov. 11--Sorry, but the taxpayer revolt that toppled a state Supreme Court justice this week isn't the unmitigated victory it seems. Sure, it's exhilarating that moribund Pennsylvania voters emerged from their coma...

City's inspector general resigns in residency dispute.
November 12, 2005... Byline: Mark McDonald Nov. 12--The Street administration's chief integrity officer, Inspector General William F. Gill III, resigned his $110,000 job yesterday in anticipation of a Fox 29 news report last night that he was violating the...

Philadelphia Daily News Jill Porter column.
November 12, 2005... Byline: Jill Porter Nov. 12--Sorry, but the taxpayer revolt that toppled a state Supreme Court justice this week isn't the unmitigated victory it seems. Sure, it's exhilarating that moribund Pennsylvania voters emerged from their coma to...

Union, SEPTA both see gains in contract.
November 12, 2005... Byline: Dan Geringer Nov. 12--The 5,000 members of Transport Workers Local 234 get copies of their tentative new contract with SEPTA tonight, featuring a 12.5-percent pay raise over four years and a health plan that will cost them only 1...

We're in the money-$16M due for center.
November 12, 2005... Byline: Michael Hinkelman Nov. 12--That long-awaited $16-million check to jump-start expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center has arrived. Gov. Rendell plans to hand over the money during a presentation at the center on Monday...

Profs get warned of freedoms.
November 12, 2005... Byline: Mensah M. Dean Nov. 12--Words such as "McCarthyism" and "chill" buzzed through a group of Temple University professors and students who gathered on campus yesterday to discuss a state legislative committee's investigation of...

The Chef's Table.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Jim Coleman and Candace Hagan Q: What is the difference between marinara, ragu, and spaghetti sauce? _Janie C. A. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you win "The Most Challenging Question of the Year"...

Who's going to buy VOD TV shows?
November 14, 2005... Byline: Jonathan Takiff Exactly how stupid do TV networks and subscription TV services think consumers are when it comes to using video technology? Yes, there are still millions of houses with "12:00" blinking on their VCRs,...

Philadelphia Daily News Stu Bykofsky Column.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Stu Bykofsky Nov. 14--TRUMPING THE RACE CARD: A screaming match broke out last week at a Philadelphia School Reform Commission meeting, where normally you could take a nice nap. Chaos followed a 3-2 commission vote to retain a...

NHL changes are taking a toll on goalkeepers.
November 15, 2005... Byline: Ed Moran When the NHL competition committee was discussing ways to change the game this year, a focus of its discussion was goaltending. Larger nets, smaller equipment, limit the way the puck can be handled. They were all...

Her beau's reading up on Scientology.
November 15, 2005... Byline: Steve and Mia Q: My boyfriend has been going through this "searching for spirituality" phase. He's been researching different faiths and going to services at various churches. I'm all for searching for meaning in your life, but...

Historic changes to Independence Mall.
November 15, 2005... Byline: Regina Medina Nov. 15--Come next spring, there'll be a new view in town for residents and tourists to take in. It will be "one spectacular vista from the Constitution Center to Independence Hall," said Rebecca Rimel, head of...

Knight Ridder seeking a buyer.
November 15, 2005... Byline: John F. Morrison Nov. 15--We're for sale. In the lofty chambers where corporate execs decide the best way to dispense delicate information, they are calling it exploring "strategic alternatives." But what it means is,...

Philadelphia Daily News Elmer Smith Column.
November 15, 2005... Nov. 15--MEDICAID? BETTER MEDICATE YOURSELF FIRST: You might want to get your agita medication handy and maybe a couple of drops of whatever you use to keep your eyes from glazing over. If you're on anti-depressants and haven't popped a...

Supermarket center coming to La Salle.
November 15, 2005... Byline: Earni Young Nov. 15--Once upon a time there was a supermarket at Chelten and Chew avenues where the late state Rep. Dave Richardson bagged groceries as a youth. Richardson has been dead 10 years, and the supermarket where he...