Staff photographer Clem Murray reports:

Motorists headed to - or driving on - the Schuylkill Expressway now have a new tool to help them navigate their trips.

Thirteen new electric message boards went into operation today, telling drivers how long it will take to travel to various interchanges.

Here, the message board on the westbound Expressway (I-76) at the interchange with the Vine Street Expressway (I-676) flashes the times to travel to the U.S. 1 and I-476 interchanges.

And the time to the U.S. 1 was accurate because it  took this driver the predicted 7 1/2 minutes to travel the 4 miles to get there.

Eight message boards are on the Schuykill and five others on roadways feeding into it.

PennDOT measures the travel times using vehicles with E-ZPass transponders that pass tag readers along the road.

“The sign reads the transponder and measures the time from point A to point B,” said agency spokesman Gene Blaum said. "This comes into the computer at the control center, and calculations are done through a computer algorithm."

PennDot hopes to put message signs on I-95 at Woodhaven Road, near Philadelphia International Airport, and at the Delaware line. 

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Sir'mone McCaulla

Inquirer staff report:

An Army reservist wanted in the killing of a man outside Manhattan’s main post office has been found dead in West Philadelphia.

The New York Daily News reports that Sir'mone McCaulla, 28, was found yesterday in his ex-girlfriend’s apartment, slumped in a tub with a plastic bag over his head in an apparent suicide.

McCaulla had been sought in the fatal stabbing of Christopher Gutierrez, 20, during a dispute that erupted Sunday when the two bumped into each outside the James A. Farley Post Office on Eighth Avenue, across from Penn Station.

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Staff photographer Clem Murray reports:

Crews worked through the night to fill in a sinkhole that appeared on the Whitemarsh Township side of Butler Pike between Germantown Pike and Plymouth Road yesterday afternoon.

They still had some more work to do as the morning rush hour got under way today.

The sinkhole, which was five feet deep, appeared after a water main break.

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Firefighters this afternoon battled a fire on the Ocean City Boardwalk.

The extent of damage at Johnson's Popcorn at 14th Street is not known. But Breaking News Network, which monitors official radio broadcasts, reports that the fire has been knocked down.

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Inquirer staff report

Forty-three passengers on a dolphin sighting cruise out of Atlantic City reportedly got more than they bargained for yesterday when rough seas forced them turn back and then ripped off a section of the boat’s bow.

The Press of Atlantic City reports that the Cruisin’ 1 with Capt. Jeff George at the helm encountered winds of 28 to 35 mph and 4- to 7-foot seas when he decided to turn back only 10 minutes out.

No one was hurt and the boat returned to its pier under its own power although a number of marine rescue craft responded to a distress call.

The boat usually does not operate on Mondays but booked a tour for a group of people who had off from school and work for Yom Kippur, the Press reports.

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

These security camera photos show the two suspects in today's robbery of a Wachovia Bank branch at 6912 Ridge Ave.

Inquirer staff report:

Two men wearing hoodies, baseball caps and sunglasses pulled out pistols and robbed a bank in the city’s Upper Roxborough section this morning, escaping with an undisclosed amount of cash, officials said.

No one was hurt in the 9:15 a.m. stickup at the Wachovia Bank Branch at 6912 Ridge Ave., police said. The bandits fled on foot on Ridge.

The FBI and Philadelphia Police are seeking the public’s help in identifying the gunmen, described as black males, in their 20’s, 6 feet tall or taller with thin builds. One of the men wore a Pittsburgh Pirates cap with a red bill.

The FBI said the men should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information was asked to call the FBI at 215-418-4000 or the Philadelphia Police Department.

Flyers of this and other bank robbery suspects can be found at www.ppdonline.org/det/det_vctf.php and clicking on the pdf files labeled Bank Robbery Digest.
 

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

 Inquirer staff report:

The Rev. John “Bootsie” Wilson, the last surviving member of the Philadelphia doo-wop group the Silhouettes, has died.

The Associated Press reports that Wilson, who was lead singer for the group from 1961 through 1968, died Sept. 21 in Spartanburg, S.C. His funeral was Saturday.

The group was best known the 1958 hit “Get a Job.”

Survivors include his wife, Pauline.

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Inquirer staff writer Tom Infield today won a first place award from the Military Reporters and Editors for best domestic print coverage in the largest newspapers/magazine category for his series, “Alpha Company,” a deep and penetrating look at a Pennsylvania National Guard unit on its return from Iraq. The series, edited by Avery Rome, also won a host of state and local awards.

Here's an excerpt from the series.

More than two years after coming home, and on the eve of the Iraq war's fifth anniversary, the 131 survivors of Alpha Company are still trying to sort out the meaning of their sacrifice.

These were citizen-soldiers, many of them family men, drawn from across the Philadelphia region. They are, today, police officers and prison guards, construction workers and drugstore clerks. One is an airport screener, one carries mail, and one digs graves.

The Inquirer set out almost a year ago to track down every Alpha member. About a third have left the Guard, and others have transferred to units as far away as Texas and Arizona. One died in a car accident, one went to prison, one melted into the shadows of Army Special Forces. It took court records to find some. Others, although still in the Guard and in the area, were wary of talking.

The newspaper ultimately reached all but one veteran, and all but five cooperated in reporting on how they were doing.

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Inquirer staff report

A 16-year-old South Jersey girl has pleaded guilty to drowning her newborn in a fairgrounds toilet.

Isamar Sanchez, of Bridgeton, told a Cumberland County juvenile court yesterday, that she gave birth inside the bathroom stall and drowned the baby boy in the toilet tank during a Cinco de Mayo celebration last year, the Press of Atlantic City reports.

She pleaded guilty to a charge of reckless manslaughter and will be sentenced Monday.

The newspaper says the girl, who was 14 when she gave birth, had another child when she was in seventh grade. That child is living with relatives.

 Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.