What we're working on | Philadelphia Inquirer

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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

What we're working on

As of 10:30 a.m., when Inquirer editors gather to review the day’s plan of attack, there are promising stories across the region.

The City Desk is hard at work on a piece on why William Allan Foster, the career criminal who allegedly killed a Philadelphia police sergeant in a Monday night car crash, was out of prison and on the streets in the first place. City reporters are also girding for City Council budget hearings this afternoon, taking a close look at one library on Haverford Avenue scheduled for closing, and covering the corruption trial of State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, now in its fifth week.

The Science and Medicine desk is looking at weightlessness in space and how it turns astronauts' bones and muscles to mush, this as a Philadelphia native commands the latest space shuttle mission. SMASH, as the desk is known, is also working on a piece on the sole surviving AIDS patient who appeared as an extra in the movie Philadelphia back in the 1990s. More than 30 others have since died.

In the Pennsylvania suburbs, Rafael Robb, the Penn professor who pleaded guilty to murdering his wife, is scheduled to be sentenced later today. And Jordan Burnham, the former Upper Merion High School student who attempted suicide by jumping off the balcony of his parents’ condominium—and survived—is speaking to high school students in Pottstown as part of a speaking tour sponsored by the National Association of Mental Illness.

Across the river in New Jersey, about a hundred individuals lined up at the Antioch Baptist Church in Camden to turn themselves in on minor charges in return for amnesty. The trial continues of five Islamic men who alleged threatened to kill U.S. military personnel at Fort Dix. And, in light of the conviction yesterday of State Sen. Wayne Bryant (D., Camden), where does the New Jersey legislature stand in terms of ethics reform?

The Features Desk, meanwhile, works on reviews of the movie Twilight, the return of Jack Bauer on Fox television Sunday night, and on a new album by Philadelphia R&B singer Jasmine Sullivan. Also, did you know that the former chef of the Four Seasons now works at the Union League? And what are good wines for Thanksgiving?

Finally, the Sports Desk will cover the Sixers-Timberwolves and Villanova-Niagra, while columnist Phil Sheridan writes on the Eagles meltdown and the staff takes a look at Ravens Coach John Harbaugh in advance of the Eagles-Ravens games on Sunday. Just a year ago, Harbaugh was on the Eagles sideline.