Columnists   

 

Ronnie Polaneczky: Support pours in for campers kicked out of suburban pool - 2:19am

YESTERDAY, for the first time since things fell apart for her campers at the Valley swim club, Alethea Wright's cries were joyful ones.

 

Elmer Smith: Maybe deseg suit was dead for years - 2:19am

NEWS THAT THE school desegregation suit is ending is like hearing about some celebrity that you didn't know was alive until you heard he was dead.

 

Clout: Lost Street papers found - 2:19am

IT'S BEEN 26 years since Geraldo Rivera breathlessly opened mobster Al Capone's "vault" in front of live TV cameras at a Chicago hotel, finding only a few empty liquor bottles.

 

Paul Domowitch: Camp Donovan set to begin in Arizona - 2:19am

DeSEAN JACKSON WAS a no-show last summer at Donovan McNabb's annual pre-training camp get-together with his receivers in the Arizona desert, yet still managed to catch a team-high 62 passes as a rookie.

 

Harry Gross: Big trouble on credit cards - 2:19am

Dear Harry: My 24 year-old son has gotten himself into financial trouble. He now owes about $23,000 in credit-card debt.

 

Christine M. Flowers: Que Sarah, Sarah - 2:19am

I COME not to bury Sarah Palin, but to praise her. Of course, after that somewhat rambling resignation speech last Friday where she talked about migrating fish and point guards in virtually the same breath, the praise part becomes trickier.

 

Tattle: Paris Hilton sued over promotion of DVD release - 2:19am

By Howard Gensler

PARIS HILTON arrived at a Miami courthouse yesterday for the trial of a federal lawsuit accusing her of failing to adequately promote the DVD release of one of her really bad movies - 2006's "Pledge This!"

 

Steve and Mia: Your hand. My leg. No deal. - 2:19am

Q: I'm a sales rep and have had a business relationship for several years with a man who represents one of my customers. We've gone to lunch from time to time, he's shown me photos of his wife and kids and I've shown him photos of my husband and I on vaca

 

Gary Thompson: 'Hurt Locker:' War from a 'boots-on-the-ground' view - 2:19am

THE war shelf. That's where director Kathryn Bigelow expects to see her movie "The Hurt Locker" when it's out on DVD. Right next to "They Were Expendable," or "Hell is for Heroes," or other movies about men in combat.

 

Joe Sixpack: Among the new stops: Brauhaus Schmitz on South St. - 2:19am

AREA GERMAN beer fans have been chomping at the bit ever since Ludwig's Garten closed last year. Where to wash down an authentic schnitzel with a glass of fresh Bavarian lager?

 

CasiNotes: 'Two Funny Guys' you won't want to miss - 2:19am

SO, DO YOU have to sleep in a Donovan McNabb jersey and include TastyKakes and soft pretzels in your four basic food groups to enjoy tonight's "Two Funny Guys from Philly" show at Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa? After all, the two multimedia entertainers have built solid careers mining the eccentricities of the Delaware Valley and its indigenous celebrities.

 

Poker Guy: Saul fails to cash in on the nuts - 2:19am

IF YOU'RE lucky enough to flop the nuts, or close to it, then you need to figure out how to win the maximum amount of chips.

 

Gary Thompson: Kirk delivers the thrills in 'Lonely Are the Brave' - 2:19am

A COUPLE mediocre thrillers this week - Nic Cage's "Knowing" and Dakota Fanning's "Push." So it's a good week to look for newly issued old stuff, and the best of the bunch is Universal's $8.99 (the price is right!) "Lonely Are the Brave," an offbeat, downbeat 1962 neo-western starring Kirk Douglas as a rowdy cowboy who busts out of jail and fights off the law (Walter Matthau) and the advance of the modern world.

 

Bill Fleischman: Stewart, Kyle Busch put scrape in rearview mirror - 07/09/2009

by Bill Fleischman

NO ONE WOULD blame Kyle Busch if he were upset after the last-lap crash in last Saturday night's Sprint Cup race at Daytona.

 

Ronnie Polaneczky: A SPLASH OF COLD WATER - 07/09/2009

WHEN YOU call The Valley Club, in Huntingdon Valley, a recorded message by a chipper-voiced man says, "Things are really starting to heat up here in July!"

 

Bill Conlin: Phillies should make prospect Taylor untouchable - 07/09/2009

ROY HALLADAY. Say it soft and it's almost like praying . . . Roy Halladay. Say it loud and it's almost like champagne-spraying . . .

 

Stu Bykofsky: When Barack met Michelle - 07/09/2009

GUYS, DO YOU remember when you met your wife? Ladies, can you say when you first laid eyes on your husband?

 

Paul Hagen: Big move possible but unlikely for Phils - 07/09/2009

THREE HOURS before the first pitch, Charlie Manuel sat in the dugout as the players filtered onto the field to begin stretching and endured his daily give-and-take with reporters.

 

Rich Hofmann: Taking a look out Phillies' window - 07/09/2009

EIGHT MONTHS after the Phillies finally kicked down the door, all of the talk is about windows. Manager Charlie Manuel said, "I think we have a window in there of at least 3 years. That gives us a chance to go back and repeat in the World Series for the next 3 years."

 

John Baer: Pa. employees burn up the Rendell request line - 07/09/2009

HE SHOWED UP well-tanned and then got tattooed. Of the 16 calls that Gov. Ed took during a 60-minute live call-in show on the Pennsylvania Cable Network last evening, 14 were openly hostile.

 

Harry Gross: Is reverse mortgage the way to go? - 07/09/2009

Dear Harry: I have been retired for the last six years. I get SS of $1,300 a month and I draw $1,500 from my IRA as the required minimum distribution. I am finding it more and more difficult to live on that money, so I have been eating into my savings to

 

Michael Smerconish: Pa.'s fireworks insanity - 07/09/2009

IGOT CARDED a few weeks ago, and, just like I used to do in high school, I lied. Back then I was trying to buy booze in Jersey. This time, I was just interested in some bottle rockets for the 4th of July.

 

Kimberly Garrison: Are you fat? No one to blame but yourself, author says - 07/09/2009

STEVE SIEBOLD says: Fat people quit easily. Fat people lack hope. Fat people see themselves as victims. Fat people see themselves as failures.

 

Tattle: LiLo gets sued for a mist opportunity - 07/09/2009

By Howard Gensler

YOU'LL HAVE TO wait to get to your Michael Jackson updates - Lindsay Lohan is getting sued. According to the St. Petersburg Times, Tampa chemist Jennifer Sunday says that she should be getting some green from LiLo's tan.

 

Jenice Armstrong: A question of character - 07/09/2009

IT'S EVERY woman's nightmare. No one wants to think she's living the ultimate life only to find out it's all a lie.

 

Dan Gross: Baby mama drama for Brock - 07/09/2009

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS defensive tackle Raheem Brock is behind on child support by more than $7,500, ex-wife Deziree Williams said. Brock and Williams wed in June 2002 and divorced in October 2005.

 

Ellen Gray: 'Drop Dead Diva': Weightier than you might think - 07/09/2009

DROP DEAD DIVA. 9 p.m. Sunday, Lifetime. THERE'S ALWAYS been a place for girls with big curves in Hollywood. Usually, it's just behind the female lead.

 

Tattle: Forever Young - 07/08/2009

By Howard Gensler

THE KING (of Pop) is dead, long live the King (of Pop). That was the message yesterday at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, where an overflow crowd mourned Michael Jackson in a somber ceremony that was not the comeback Michael or his fans had hoped for.

 

Sam Donnellon: Phillies' Victorino on campaign trail to make All-Star Game - 07/08/2009

HE WOKE at 7 and phoned some radio stations in Hawaii. Vote me into the All-Star Game, was Shane Victorino's message to a late-night audience there. The day before, he had met Mayor Nutter, and together the two went door-to-door throughout Philadelphia.

 

Jenice Armstrong: A reporter mourns the loss of her idol - in private - 07/08/2009

THANK GOD I don't work in the middle of the newsroom anymore and that I have a private office. I was in there yesterday afternoon, with my back turned to the glass so my colleagues wouldn't see the tears streaming down my face. You're never, ever supposed to cry at work - least of all over a celebrity you've never even met.

 

Rich Hofmann: McNair's shocking slaying shatters another myth - 07/08/2009

SHOCK GIVES WAY to morbid fascination, which turns to rampant speculation, which is followed quickly by moralizing and all of the rest. Steve McNair, this is your death.

 

Stu Bykofsky: Dying young: Lennon vs. Jackson - 07/08/2009

SOME LIKENED his passing to Elvis, but the worldwide PDEs (Public Displays of Emotion) were more like those poured out for John Lennon, who died 10 years younger than Michael Jackson, and also too soon.

 

John Baer: Tax-hike plan hitting GOP wall, for now - 07/08/2009

AT THE START of week two of the annual state budget impasse, Republicans are increasingly convinced that they're on stronger political footing than Gov. Rendell and Democrats, and many guarantee eventual passage of a no-tax budget.

 

Bernard Fernandez: Sugar Ray Jr. gets set for celebrity boxing match - 07/08/2009

IF THERE WERE a world sanctioning body rating the cutest kids to get television face time in the 1980s, you'd have to figure Ray Leonard Jr. would have been no worse than No. 3, a stern challenger to sitcom stars Emmanuel Lewis ("Webster") and Gary Coleman ("Diff'rent Strokes").

 

Harry Gross: Falling behind on car payments - 07/08/2009

Dear Harry: I bought a new car last December. At the time, my son said he would help me with the payments even though the car and the loan have only my name listed. Unfortunately, he lost his job in February, and the help stopped almost immediately.

 

Dan Gross: Nicholson in town - 07/08/2009

KEEP YOUR eyes peeled for Jack Nicholson. The screen legend, who is among the cast of the untitled James L. Brooks romantic comedy that started production here last week, has touched down in Philly despite a recently published report that he would not be here until September.

 

Jonathan Takiff: For new TVs, CR says: Get the LED in - 07/08/2009

THE GIZMO: Consumer Reports' latest take on new TVs. AT YOUR SERVICE: If this is (fill in the month here), you're likely to find a review of new televisions in Consumer Reports magazine.

 

P.J. Thomas: Plenty to do & see with just 3 days in Boston - 07/08/2009

IN A MOMENT of insanity, my husband, Weller, and I considered driving from Philadelphia to Boston, a grueling eight- to nine-hour road trip, before coming to our senses and buying train tickets instead for our recent three-day getaway.

 

Ellen Gray: Let's play Name That Network Channel - 07/08/2009

NOW THAT the Sci Fi Channel has succumbed to cable mission creep and redubbed itself Syfy, I'm thinking there must be some formula behind this sort of rebranding.