Nutter transportation chief floats parking garage gift program: Well, not exactly, but that in part would be the effect of deputy mayor for transportation Rina Cutler’s proposal to raise rates at on-street meters around town. The stated intent, of course, is to ease traffic congestion by making it less likely that drivers will circle the block 12 times looking for an open buck-an-hour space. [KYW]

Blue-collar union takes city deal: Less than a week after offering its first proposal, the city announced yesterday that it had reached a one-year agreement with AFSCME’s District Council 33 that offers members an $1,100 bonus but no raise and leaves unchanged the city’s contribution to their health fund. The city still has to come to terms with two other municipal unions, whose contracts ran out on June 30th. [Inquirer]

Levy to be sentenced today: Former Atlantic City mayor Bob Levy, who resigned in October after his public claims to have been a Green Beret in Vietnam were proven false, will be sentenced in federal court this morning on charges that he collected more than $24,000 in benefits after embellishing other aspects of his 20-year service record. He could receive up to five years, but is most likely looking at six months. [Inquirer]

Of course it’s going to take two hearings: The two hours allotted by the Zoning Board yesterday for discussion of Unisys’s petition to slap two two-story glowing red logos on Two Liberty Place (man, someone should set that to music) didn’t even give the company enough time to air its side of the case, so a second hearing has been scheduled for September to give opponents — including occupants of the building’s new residential spaces miffed that it will look like they live in an office building (which, in fact, they do) — their chance. [Inquirer]

I’d be OK with them going on permanent vacation, myself: No idea if this was a ploy to enact a pay increase without actually increasing the numerical wage or something more high-minded, but one county’s request to operate its courthouse on a four-day schedule has been quashed by state Supreme Court chief justice Ron Castille. There’s probably a case to be made for keeping the courts on a five-day schedule, but the legislature? Now that’s a different story. [KYW]

Yet another way computers make life easier — for cops: Interesting piece in the Metro this morning about the digitization of gang culture. Heedless as every other 20-year-old about the openness of the web, members of street gangs are documenting their nefarious doings on MySpace and YouTube, practically handing the police an evidence folder that’s only a print key away. [Metro]

Homeless in Rittenhouse Square: The Inquirer continues its series on the seemingly intractable problem of controlling the homeless population in Center City’s premier park. This morning’s somewhat shocking revelation: The police routinely let the homeless bathe in the fountain. “While you don’t want to see this in public, you almost have to turn a blind eye at some point,” says Sgt. Joseph Harper, who runs the city’s homeless detail. [Inquirer]

I guess they haven’t heard of Joey Vento: The Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau reports that a record number of international tourists visited the city last year. Explanations include the favorable currency exchange rate and aggressive marketing overseas. We also can’t discount the possibility that they’re trying to go somewhere else but get irredeemably stuck on the Schuylkill. [KYW]

The nicknames were worth it: Nicholas “Nicky the Hat” Cimino and Louis “Bent Finger Lou” Monacello, along with 15 others, were charged yesterday with running a $1 million-a-month gambling and loan-sharking operation in Delaware County. A State Police probe dubbed “Operation Delco Nostra” had been working since 2002 to gather evidence for the takedown. [Metro]

This is going to get him kicked out of the Union League for sure: U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid announced yesterday that ex-CBS 3 anchor Larry Mendte had tapped into former co-anchor Alycia Lane’s e-mail 537 times in the 146 days between the day Lane was fired for her role in an altercation with New York police and three days before the FBI raided his home early last month. According to investigators, he logged in from work, from home, from his shore place, and even from his club, the Union League, to spy on Lane’s private and legal woes. A hearing, at which Mendte is expected to plead guilty to one felony count of unauthorized access to e-mail, is scheduled for August 22nd. [Inquirer]

Now underfunding SEPTA for all those years looks like a virtue: Philadelphia has been named the fifth most walkable city in the country by walkscore.com, which measures how easily someone can reach both the necessities and the pleasures of life by foot in a given neighborhood. Ahead of us were Chicago, Boston, New York and San Francisco. Apparently the score doesn’t take pedestrian fear factor into account — otherwise Boston would have been struck off the list before it was even started. [KYW]

From zero bars to one — it’s a start: Daily usage on the city’s free wi-fi network has nearly tripled since a group of private investors bought the system from troubled provider Earthlink last month. Network Acquisition Company says it plans to bring more areas online in the next few weeks; in the meantime, Reading Terminal Market seems to be a great place to get signal, while Rittenhouse Square is not. [Metro]

Next week, manacled dungeon slots go on sale: The Eagles are releasing 12,000 standing-room-only tickets this morning at 10 a.m. for the upcoming season’s home games. Fifty bucks each — to stand, let me repeat — and there’s a limit of four per person. If you’d like to stand for three to four hours while other people luxuriate on their plush plastic thrones, click on over to Ticketmaster or call 215-336-2000. [Inquirer]

Can they put sensors on the prowling meter maids too?: The Philadelphia Parking Authority is considering a gee-whiz sensor technology that would allow you to use your cell phone to check for open metered parking spots as you’re driving around the city snarling at the lack of parking. Which is fine until Pennsylvania inevitably bans cell phone use while driving. [KYW]

Cabbie union gets tough: Well, alleged tough. With the merging earlier this month of the city’s various taxi drivers unions into the new Unified Taxi Workers Alliance, a new president had to be elected. Approximately 900 of the 1,000 voting chose well-known driver advocate Ron Blount — who also happens to be facing a hearing next month on simple assault and false imprisonment charges after an alleged incident with a passenger. [Metro]

Reassessment moves forward: The Board of Revision and Taxes voted yesterday to take the first major step in overhauling the city’s residential and commercial property regime since the idea was first floated by the Tax Reform Commission five years ago. The BRT expects to produce 100 percent valuations for all properties by the end of the year — a move meant to fix the inequities in the current fractional valuations without increasing overall tax burden — but says it won’t implement them until City Council develops programs to assist homeowners who are hit with unexpected increases. [Daily News]

Even the Good Witch would melt around here: With temperatures about to peg 95 or above and even more humidity rolling in, the National Weather Service says that if you go outside for more than 90 seconds between now and Sunday night, you will be excessively heated into burnt mush on the sidewalk. Or something like that. [KYW]

It’s raining money on the Parkway: Mayor Nutter and Gov. Rendell are scheduled to block traffic on the Ben Franklin Parkway this afternoon, but the transitory inconvenience caused by their presence in the middle of the road should be soothed by the millions in state and city money they’ll be pledging toward a $17 million facelift for our homegrown Champs-Elysées. All the prettying up should be ready by the time the Barnes settles into its new home. [Metro]

Police aid in backseat birth: Two Philadelphia police officers delivered a baby during rush hour yesterday in North Philadelphia. Officers James Pembrooke and Charles Waters realized the 37-year-old mother was about to give birth and acted accordingly, calling on neighbors to grab towels and sheets for the backseat of the patrol car. After smacking the baby’s bottom to make sure it was alive, both crying baby and relived mother were transported to Temple University Hospital.
[CBS 3]

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Save the Boyd!: Recent worries aired by Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron and others over losing the Boyd Theater, Center City’s last golden-age movie house, seem to have paid off: The theater gets another shot at protection when the Philadelphia Historical Commission hears its nomination this morning. An earlier attempt at designating the theater was turned down. [Inquirer]

Philly’s DUI epidemic: After a recent spate of drunk-driving accidents, including one that claimed the life of a visiting St. Louis Cardinals fan, the Daily News finds that year-to-date DUI arrests may be up as much as 20 percent over the same period in 2007. Most surprising: Half the city’s DUI cases involve not alcohol, but prescription drugs like Xanax and Percocet. [Daily News]

Generations clash over … skyscraper?: The City Planning Commission yesterday gave the public its first shot at weighing in on the humongous American Commerce Center tower proposed for 18th and Arch. For it: younger residents from nearby lofts, excited by the idea of what would be the country’s third-tallest building. Agin it: older residents from nearby Kennedy House, and Vince Fumo. Aux armes, anciens! [Daily News]

And the other ill-gotten shoe drops, quietly: Jocelyn “Bonnie” Kirsch pleaded guilty yesterday to seven counts of identity theft, bank fraud and money laundering stemming from a yearlong thieving spree with boyfriend Edward “Clyde” Anderton, who also pleaded guilty a few weeks ago. Kirsch, 22, may be looking at seven years in the federal pen; sentencing is scheduled for October. [Daily News]

Don’t look up — look down at the pretty flowers!: Developer Walnut Street Capital is slated to give a formal presentation to the Zoning Commission today about its proposed American Commerce Center. To make the idea of the gargantuan tower — which will exceed the height of the Comcast Center by more than 500 feet — more palatable, 30 percent of the property will be given over to public space, including an outdoor plaza, a sixth-floor garden, and an extension of SEPTA’s underground concourse with storage for hundreds of bicycles. [Metro]

It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it …: Akerman Wolf Block — a name it looks as if we’ll all have to get used to if, as expected, partners of the storied Philadelphia law firm WolfBlock and the Florida firm Akerman Senterfitt vote in the next few weeks to merge. The combined firm would employ more than 800 lawyers, making it one of the nation’s largest, and would be run jointly by Akerman’s Andrew Smulian and Wolf’s Mark Alderman, who was a big part of our April cover story on the last days of the Philadelphia lawyer. [Inquirer]

“Experimental” doesn’t necessarily mean “leave out the fuel gauge”: A 70-year-old pilot and his passenger fortunately escaped injury when the experimental light aircraft they were flying in crashed in someone’s front yard in Winslow Township, Camden County. The pilot, returning from a trip to the Shore, says he ran out of fuel, causing the plane to plummet. [CBS 3]

Cardinals fan dies: One of the two visiting Cardinals fans hit by an alleged drunk driver after the Phillies-Cardinals game on Juy 10th died Saturday at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Cindy Grassi, a 43-year-old former teacher from St. Louis, had suffered a brain injury, a broken pelvis and a broken leg when Philadelphian Joseph Genovese Jr., 18, ran into the pair as they crossed Broad Street near Curtin. Her friend, 36-year-old Sandra Wacker, remains in critical condition at HUP. [Daily News]

Rip currents kill three at the Shore: Two men drowned in Wildwood and another in Atlantic City over the weekend as wave effects from a distant tropical storm helped to create rip currents all along the Jersey shore. Conditions may stay hazardous for another two says, and some towns, such as Belmar, have banned swimming until the situation stabilizes. [KYW]