The Inquirer staff reports:

From  6 until about 8 this evening, there will be construction on the Sixth Street and Race Street approaches to the Ben Franklin Bridge. Delays are possible, the Delaware River Port Authority says.

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A coalition of activist groups will hold a noon rally today at the Loew’s Hotel in Center City where the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is holding a convention.

The rally will protest the Chamber’s stances on global warming, health care reform and workers’ rights, according to a statement issued by Adam Garber, a spokesman for PennEnvironment.

According to Garber, protesters will include members of Health Care for American Now PA, Greenpeace, MoveOn, SEIU, Sierra Club, UFCW Local 1776, Change to Win, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, United Steelworkers of America, Clean Energy Works.

The Chamber’s opposition to climate action has caused several corporate heavyweights — Apple, Exelon, PG&E — to quit the group and Nike recently resigned from its board, the statement said.
 

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Staff photographer Alejandro A. Alvarez reports:

Police blocked traffic for a time this morning at Broad Street and Lehigh Avenue after bricks fell from the facade of a building at the northeast corner of the intersection.

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David Rosario, 36, of Queens, will be sentenced this morning after pleading guilty in August for last year's rape of a South Street woman who was seriously injured when she fell from her third-floor window in a desperate attempt to escape. Rosario pleaded guilty as part of a deal that carried a prison term of 12 1/2 to 25 years but gave him a chance to avoid what likely would have been life behind bars.

He attacked two women in an apartment in the 200 block of South Street on Feb. 24, 2008.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Cipolletti said the victim who fell sustained brain damage but was doing "remarkably well for what she went through. . . . She's living at home but getting around on her own. "

But Cipolletti added that the 32-year-old can no longer work as a legal secretary and will also live with an increased risk of stroke.

Cipolletti said the woman and her 30-year-old friend, whom Rosario forced at knifepoint to undress and sit naked on the bed while he raped her friend, were both told of and approved of the plea agreement.

The woman who fell has no memory of the attack, Cipolletti said, and the guilty plea makes it unnecessary for her or her friend to testify.

Had Rosario been tried and convicted on all counts, Cipolletti said, he could have been sentenced to 30 to 60 years.

Defense attorney Jeremy-Evan Alva said afterward that the guilty plea was "the best result for all the parties involved. My client will at least be able to see a good portion of his life outside on the streets of Pennsylvania and New York, where he's from."

Rosario said nothing in court except one-word replies to the judge's questions about forgoing his trial rights.

Two women related to Rosario left court declining comment.

The night before the attack, Cipolletti said, the victim and her friend returned to her South Street apartment with some acquaintances from a nearby bar. Rosario, who was in the group, came along.

When the women awoke the next day, Cipolletti said, Rosario was in the two-story apartment's lower level.

Rosario refused to leave and then attacked the women, forcing them to undress as he brandished a butcher knife with a seven-inch blade.

After the rape, Cipolletti said, Rosario went downstairs, and the women locked the bedroom door.

Rosario ran upstairs and began trying to break down the door, Cipolletti said, and the victim climbed out the window, apparently to lower herself to the street, using a hanging sign for a store on the building's ground floor.

Rosario broke through the door, Cipolletti said, and the victim, startled, lost her grip and fell.

The victim's friend looked out the window, Cipolletti said, and saw Rosario leave, pausing momentarily as he passed her bleeding and prone friend.

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Inquirer staff writer Kristen A. Graham reports from Yankee Stadium:

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Inquirer staff writer Kristen A. Graham reports from Yankee Stadium: 

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Inquirer staff writer Kristen A. Graham reports from Yankee Stadium:

As they posed for a photo outside Yankee Stadium, a group of Northeast Philadelphia and Bucks County fans was confident.

"This is the new Yankee Stadium. The Phils are on top! What more can you ask for?" asked Greg Schnee, 34, of Warrington.

He and eight buddies rode up in a limousine. It was going to be a good night, they predicted.

Schnee knows the pressure is on the Phillies, who last night dominated the Yankees 6-1 on a stellar Cliff Lee performance. But Schnee is sure the Fightins will triumph tonight.

He even allowed himself to envision the scene: coming back to South Philadelphia, up two games.

"Coming backfor three at home," Schnee said. "The home Phillies crowd is pretty intense. I wonder if the Yankees can handle it."

Just after the stadium gates opened in the Bronx, the crowd streamed in. Fans in red ran to the line along left field, where a group of Phillies warmed up in long sleeves.

It's a chilly night at the ballpark.

Doesn't matter, Schnee said.

"Phils are going to win!" he crowed.
 

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