Phili News

Kimlime Chek-Taylor, a veteran Philadelphia educator of Cambodian descent, has been named assistant principal at troubled South Philadelphia High School, fulfilling Superintendent Arlene Ackerman’s earlier notice that she would name an Asian to the post.

Chek-Taylor was previously dean of students at John Taggart, a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school.

She immigrated to this country as a child with her family, learning to speak English through school classes, a life experience that mirrors those of many Asian students at South Philadelphia High.

The mean streets of the City of Brotherly Love are once again coming to television.

“Wreck Chasers,” a reality show about the city’s notoriously aggressive tow truck drivers, is shooting and is slated to premiere in late October on TLC.

Production crews are following several drivers with one unidentified Philadelphia towing company, often on nights and weekends when more crashes occur, as they try to beat the competition to wrecks. Filming started in May and is expected to continue until sometime in October, Jim Kowats, the show’s executive producer, said Thursday.

Ship builder Aker Philadelphia Shipyard said Wednesday it has delivered a new oil tanker to tanker fleet operator American Shipping Co.

The ship, named the Overseas Anacortes, will leave the shipyard in a few days and begin ferrying petroleum products for oil refiner Tesoro Corp., Aker said.

Unsigned labor contracts have stalled Tuesday’s scheduled bankruptcy sale of Philadelphia’s two major newspapers.

A judge has now set a Sept. 14 deadline for creditors to close their purchase of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. The two-week delay gives them time to hammer out contract differences that mostly concern pensions.

Bellator Fighting Championships’ lightweight titleholder Eddie Alvarez will have a hometown advantage when he faces Roger Huerta in October.

A previously announced non-title fight between Alvarez and Huerta will take place Oct. 21 at Bellator 33 in Philadelphia, the promotion officially said today. It will be the first show in the Mid-Atlantic region for Bellator, which also mulled Atlantic City as a possible location for the event.

A police bomb squad had to be called to a Philadelphia construction site after someone found an old, inert torpedo.

PennDOT spokesman Charles Metzger says a transportation department archaeological team found two men sitting on the torpedo drinking beers on Friday morning. He says the men told the archaeologists they had found the munition.

The director of the Philadelphia Housing Authority has been placed on leave amid news the agency secretly settled at least four sexual harassment complaints filed against him.

Meanwhile, U.S. housing officials are starting an immediate audit of the Philadelphia agency and its use of public money under longtime director Carl Greene.

A kerfuffle over cupcakes in the City of Brotherly Love has dessert lovers sour on Philadelphia’s confusing business regulations.

The Department of Licenses and Inspections seized a converted mail truck on Tuesday that’s used by a woman known as “the cupcake lady,” who roves the city selling 400-500 cupcakes a day.

If you’re a blogger in the city of Philadelphia, get out your checkbook.

Just like everyone else, Philadelphia is struggling to get through the tough economy, and city officials want bloggers to do their fair share and pay up.

There’s no specific blogger tax, as some media outlets reported today. But the cit does have a business tax that covers any Philadelphia-based bloggers who are now making any money from their online efforts.

I met Congressman Sestak during the Pennsylvania Primaries, and just like many people form Wilkes-Barre. I was very impressed. Sestak was running for the Democratic nomination to the United
States Senate. Sestak overcame great odds and a seemingly insurmountable lead to defeat the incumbent, Senator Arlen Spector, who was endorsed by the Democratic Party Hierarchy. The upset victory is even more impressive when we consider that Senator Spector was a political giant for a generation.