More than just a game

With Bush cheering them on, the Little League team from the Cramer Hill section of the desperately poor city represented the pride and hopes of their largely Latino and immigrant neighborhood.

For a short time, they left behind the problems and plight of the inner city and their woefully inadequate playing facilities.

The pint-size goodwill ambassadors, ages 4 to 7, got a private tour of the White House and a baseball signed by Bush. They basked in the spotlight on the South Lawn in a sporting tradition started by Bush in 2001.

There was no winner in the one-inning game because official scores are not kept in T-Ball.

But the symbolism of the day was not lost on their grateful parents, who finally felt embraced and accepted by this country.

The message in those billboards

L&I officials cited the Pabst Brewing Co. for failure to obtain city approval for its Colt 45 outdoor ads. If the ads are illegal, they should come down.

It wouldn't be the first time a liquor-industry ad campaign flouted city rules. Across inner-city neighborhoods, small billboards - most of them put up without permits - have been a blight for years, often advertising alcohol or cigarettes.

Community leaders rightly object to the fact that these ads target mainly poor and minority audiences already struggling with health issues.

Whether legal or illegal, the liquor ads send the wrong message and blot the streets.

Shut up and drive

Across the state, local police have done a good job in recent months of spreading the word. Under a change in law in March, cops can stop motorists for talking on a handheld phone.

Violations jumped nearly eight times over the same period last year, with nearly 35,000 motorists learning the hard way that they need to switch to a hands-free device. Steep fines are a good means to get drivers to change their ways.

The best advice, of course, is to pull off the road before dialing - since studies show that the distraction of a phone conversation puts drivers at four times the risk of crashing their vehicles.

Last week, drivers in California and Washington state joined Jersey motorists in coming under a handheld-phone ban.

Driving around Philadelphia would be far safer if similar talking-and-driving limits favored by Gov. Rendell were enacted in Pennsylvania. Harrisburg lawmakers need to stop talking about a ban, and just vote one into law.

Cherry Hill recycles, and well

RecycleBank, a program founded by two Philadelphia natives, has provided Cherry Hill residents with containers equipped with bar codes.

Each week, a special truck weighs each household's recyclables and awards residents coupons redeemable at grocery stores, movie theaters and other retail outlets.

The township expects to save on landfill and incinerator fees to cover the cost of the recycling program. Residents are recycling more material, and there are fewer trash trucks on the road. Other towns should follow Cherry Hill's good example.

Helping with college

The College Opportunity Resources for Education program, or CORE, provides scholarships to help students planning to attend 21 Pennsylvania colleges and universities in the fall.

Students get up to $3,000 for first-year expenses not covered by other financial aid.

Created by U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, (D., Pa.), the program has awarded $21.3 million in scholarships to 10,000 public, charter, parochial and private high school graduates since 2004.

Even more impressive, more than two-thirds of the scholars stayed in school, according to Fattah. The Class of 2007 has an 85 percent retention rate.

The program is funded with city and school district dollars.

Last year, Fattah launched an ambitious $150 million endowment campaign to ensure continued funding for the program.

To help support this worthwhile effort, City Council should quickly adopt an ordinance introduced last month that would allow a "check-off" box on city water and gas bills for contributions to the CORE scholarship program.