5 stories to follow: March 18

Here's your daily look at five stories we're following:

1. Dropped sting: Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is defending her decision to drop an undercover sting operation that reportedly caught five public officials accepting cash, gfits or money orders, saying her predecesssors handled the case too badly to prosecute it. In another development Monday, sources told the Inquirer that Tyron B. Ali, a lobbyist working undercover for the AG's office, gave Bucks County legislator John Galloway Philles tickets.

2. Fast food protest: Fast-food workers are planning a demonstration outside a McDonald's on Broad Street near Girard Avenue today, coinciding with other protests planned nationwide. Labor organizers say they want to bring attention to the rights of low-wage workers.

3. Boyd demolition: Workers appear to be preparing to demolish the historic Boyd Theater, and officials from the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia say they plan to seek a court order today to stop the building's owner from proceeding. The alliance is planning to appeal a Historical Commission decision last week that gave the owner permission to demolish the theater.

4. N.J. budget: The New Jersey General Assembly Budget Committee is holding a hearing this morning to let the public weigh in on Gov. Chris Christie's $34.4 billion budget proposal.

5. Christie town hall: Christie will be in South River this morning for a town hall to discuss Superstorm Sandy relief efforts. The governor was heckled by protesters over the George Washington Bridge lane closures scandal at a similar event in Mount Laurel last week.