Capt. Deborah Kelly and Rep. Brendan Boyle honor the 8th District's Officers of the Month. Photo submitted by Elsie Stevens.

On Wednesday, March 3, the 8th Police District  Advisory Council met for its monthly meeting at Academy and Red Lion roads.

The evening’s guest speakers were State Rep. Brendan Boyle and James Donaghy from the city’s Department of Commerce. continue reading »

Here’s a summary of the week’s Northeast news we didn’t cover. See others here.

An Amtrak Northeast Regional train heading toward 30th Street Station struck and killed a man at the Holmesburg Junction station last night. The preliminary investigation shows the death was an apparent suicide.

Keep reading for news on how to get a tree planted, LCB raids and more. continue reading »

Councilwoman Krajewski (l) reviews the wall of her fellow inductees for the inaugural Northeast Philadelphia Hall of Fame. Photo by Christopher Wink for NEast Philly.

The Northeast gets called a lot of things: suburban, Republican, behind-the-times — and those are just the subtle insults.

But what people in other parts of the city — and even people from the Northeast — don’t realize, is that our region is as important, historic and evolved as the rest of Philadelphia. And if you need proof, look no further than the Northeast Philadelphia Hall of Fame.

In the video below, City Councilwoman Joan Krawjewski, one of last year’s inductees, talks about the Northeast.

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Photo courtesy of SEPTA Watch.

There is a 10-year age difference between the Costa brothers. They live in two different neighborhoods of the Northeast — William in Mayfair, Joseph in Parkwood. And they were victims of two separate attacks on the Market-Frankford El last week.

William, 47, told SEPTA police (and the Daily News) he was pushed to the ground by two teenage girls last Thursday as he was about to board the train at Frankford Transportation Center just after 8 a.m.

He told authorities two additional girls video taped the incident, while a boy kicked him as he lay on the ground. The group hopped on the train and fled. continue reading »

The driver responsible for a fatal New Year’s Day crash on I-95 admitted yesterday to using crack before causing the wreck that left two people dead and a third person injured.

Jesse Maiden, 36, crashed into the back of a vehicle that had stopped for a blown tire in the northbound lanes near the Harbison Avenue ramp. Maria Cox, 47, and Norman Wilkerson, 45, were killed.

Maiden’s bail was set at $650,000, and he’s facing two counts of vehicular homicide in addition to DUI charges.

An officer in the 15th Police District suffered a broken arm and leg after being struck by a van in Mayfair last night.

The officer was struck while on bike duty around St. Vincent Street and Brous Avenue around 7:30 p.m. The driver was arrested under suspicion of driving under the influence.

An 18-year-old died early Sunday morning when the driver of an SUV carrying three people drove into the back of a flatbed truck.

The accident, which happened around 5:30 a.m. on the 4200-block of Torresdale Avenue in Frankford, sent a 24-year-old female and a 17-year-old male to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. They were later released.

Rescuers worked for 45 minutes to free 18-year-old Francis Mole of the 4900-block of Cottage Street, but Mole died of his injuries. Police say no one in the SUV was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident.

Three men invaded an Ashton Road home Friday night, making off with a TV.

Reports say the men entered a home on the 9400-block of Ashton Road just after 11 p.m. Monday, and demanded money from the resident. The resident pulled out a kitchen night to try to defend himself, but was injured when the knife broke. Finding no money, the intruders left with a TV in their burgundy vehicle.

The suspects have no been identified.

Police are looking for two men who invaded a home in Lawncrest last night.

Reports say that around 11 p.m. Thursday, two men entered a home on the 300-block of Devereaux Avenue. A 24-year-old woman was in the back second-floor bedroom, when the two men came in wearing all black, with ski masks and guns.

The suspects tied the woman’s hands and feet, but untied her before leaving. Nothing was taken from the house, and the suspects remain at large.

Mayor Michael Nutter remained calm but tried to press on when confronted by a woman in Mayfair critical of one of his proposals to cut the city’s $150 million budget deficit, as shot by Fox 29.

Inside the Mayfair Diner with TV cameras rolling, the woman, who said her husband works for a regional Coca Cola soda bottling plant, expressed concern that the administration’s proposed tax on sugary beverages could result in more unemployment, including within her family.

“Coke and Pepsi: Everybody’s going to lose their jobs,” she said. As Inquirer City Hall blog Heard in the Hall suggested, Nutter at least deserves credit for inviting media to follow him into the unrehearsed polling of voters.

Watch the confrontation below.

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