Two Northeast Philadelphians received guilty verdicts this week for separate crimes they committed earlier this year.

Traci Young was found guilty of being part of a mother-daughter prostitution ring. The 39-year-old and her 22-year-old daughter were accused of advertising acts of prostitution on Craigslist. They were arrested in October when they arranged a meeting with an undercover police officer at the home they rented on the 6100-block of Ditman Street. Young pleaded guilty in April.

An Oxford Circle teen was found guilty Friday of third degree murder. Marcquis Walker-Williams was convicted in the July 2007 attack on 69-year-old Kwok Wai-Ho, who suffered severe head injuries when the teen pushed him. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 16, and Walker-Williams could received 20-40 years in prison.

Pennsylvania recently released its list of Persistently Dangerous Schools for the 2009-2010 school year, and the top 25 are all in Philadelphia. Of those 25, five are in the Northeast.

A school is defined as persistently dangerous if it meets any of the following criteria for this year and one of the two previous years: at least five dangerous incidents in a school with enrollment of 250 or less; dangerous incidents representing 2 percent of a school’s enrollment for schools with 251 to 1,000 students; 20 or more dangerous incidents in schools with enrollments exceeding 1,000. continue reading »

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By Shannon McDonald

A man is dead a woman injured after a shooting in Holmesburg Wednesday night.

Robert Prince, 36, of Southwest Philadelphia, was shot twice in the chest around 10:15 p.m. on the 8800-block of Ditman Street. His companion, a 43-year-old women, is in critical condition at Frankford-Torresdale Hospital following a gunshot wound to the neck.

Police have not identified a motive or a suspect.

By Shannon McDonald

The next general meeting for the Holmesburg Civic Association will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 7:15 p.m. in the Holmesburg Community Center at Rhawn and Ditman sts.