TEEN ARRESTED OUTSIDE PEARL THEATRE SATURDAY 

Philadelphia Police removed several rowdy teenagers from the Pearl Theatre on West Oxford Street Saturday evening.

Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone said between six and eight juveniles had been causing a disturbance in the theater, and when the manager could not remove them, a Philadelphia Police officer stepped in.

Once the teens, all younger than 17 years old, were outside the building, they continued the disorderly behavior. Leone added several went to Wendy’s and one threw a milkshake.

Leone said only one teen was arrested because he was “the only one who was not compliant at all.”

He added the teen was later released to his parents.

-Julie Christie

TRIAL DATE SCHEDULED FOR BRANDON MEADE 

Brandon Meade will go to trial for the alleged murder of his girlfriend, Agatha Hall. Hall was a Temple student found dead in her apartment Aug. 31, 2015.

Her death was initially ruled a suicide, but further investigation resulted in the arrest and charging of Meade for her murder.

The trial is scheduled for Sept. 19, with a trial readiness conference Feb. 29.

Meade is charged with murder, possession of an instrument of crime with intent to use it, tampering with evidence, false reporting and falsely incriminating another. If Meade is found guilty, he will face either the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

-Julie Christie

COSBY ATTORNEYS APPEAL TO END CONSTAND CASE 

On Friday, Bill Cosby’s attorneys attempted to have his sexual assault case dismissed. Cosby’s attorneys argued that Bruce L. Castor Jr.’s 2005 deal with Cosby to never criminally prosecute him for the 2004 Andrea Constand case was binding.

Brian McMonagle, one of Cosby’s attorneys, filed the appeal notice to the state Superior Court, the Inquirer reported. He also appealed Judge Steven T. O’Neill’s decision not to disqualify District Attorney Kevin Steele.

Steele said his office opposes any further delay in the case, the Inquirer reported. He added he believes the defense should not appeal before the preliminary hearing.

A Massachusetts judge ruled on Thursday that Cosby’s wife, Camille Cosby, must sit for a deposition. The judge also declined her request for a formal protective order limiting the extent of questioning.

Cosby’s preliminary evidentiary hearing is scheduled for March 8.

-Lian Parsons

STUDENTS DISPLACED AFTER PIPE BURST IN 1940 

Pipes burst on the fifth floor of 1940 Residence Hall, displacing students about 9 a.m. Sunday. The students were moved from the dorm to Tomlinson Theater and then to the atrium in Annenberg Hall.

Maintenance spent the day vacuuming water out of the dorm, said Charlie Leone, executive director of Campus Safety Services.

Students were allowed to return after an email was sent out just after 5:15 p.m.

Leah Hetzell, the resident director of 1940 Residence Hall said in an email to residents the burst pipe was caused by “a campus-wide heating issue.”

That same morning, students in 1300 Residence Hall were woken by fire alarms that went off seven times between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. There was no damage to the building and residents were allowed in once the alarms were over, Leone said.

-Julie Christie

LOCAL CAFE RECEIVES SEVERAL HEALTH VIOLATIONS 

Saige Cafe received 17 health code violations during a Feb. 4 inspection.

The cafe, located on 1802 N. Warnock St. near the Temple University SEPTA station, will remain open, said cafe co-owner Ram Hegde.

“If [the inspector] didn’t think we weren’t going to be compliant, we wouldn’t be open right now,” Hegde said. He added most of the violations, which included food that was less than six inches above the ground and uncovered trash cans, were “fixed in a moment.”

The most serious violation was the absence of a certified food safety handler during the inspection, Hegde said. Several employees have already registered to receive the certification, and go in for the test next week, he added.

“It doesn’t mean that the place is going to shut down,” said Oliver Oyakhire, inspector from the Philadelphia Department of Health/Office of Food Protections. “It just means that the standards are going to improve.”

Oyakhire said he will return in two weeks to reinspect the cafe. If Saige Cafe fails to comply with the violations, it will be submitted for a $315 fine. Failing compliance after the fine may result in court summons.

“It is essential that [the cafe] address these violations,” Oyakhire said, citing inaccessible handwashing stations for employees and lack of proper temperature measuring devices for food. The solutions for many of these violations are easily corrected, he added.

If all goes well in Oyakhire’s next checkup, Saige Cafe will not require further investigation until next year’s annual inspection.

-Lian Parsons & Julie Christie

URSINUS CANCELS CLASSES AFTER VIRUS SPREADS

Classes were cancelled Thursday and Friday for students at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. after about 200 students got sick from a gastrointestinal illness.

6ABC reported that a norovirus—often know as food poisoning or stomach virus—caused the sickness. Students first began experiencing symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting and stomach pain on Tuesday night.

A Montgomery County Health Department report conducted on Wednesday found the campus dining hall to have 12 violations including dead bugs, improper hand washing practices and pesticides near food, the Inquirer reported. All of the violations had been fixed the following day. The illness that students and some faculty suffered lasted between 12 and eight hours.

Twenty-two students were treated at hospitals but none were admitted. Classes resumed Monday for the 1,681 students at Ursinus.

-Gillian McGoldrick

SUPREME COURT JUSTICE FOUND DEAD IN WEST TEXAS

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, 79, died of a heart attack on Saturday, according to multiple media reports.

Scalia was the leading conservative voice on the nation’s highest court and was on the bench for 29 years, the longest-serving justice on the Supreme Court.

Scalia was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and was best known for the landmark decision District of Columbia v. Heller that firearms in one’s home are protected under the Second Amendment. Scalia was also known for dissenting on the Roe v. Wade decision and the same-sex marriage decisions.

President Obama has announced he intends to nominate someone for the vacant seat, which is now split 4-4 between conservative and liberal views.

-Gillian McGoldrick

POLICE INVESTIGATING RACIAL SLUR DRAWN ON CAR

Temple Police are continuing an investigation after tweeting photos of three men suspected to be involved in drawing and writing offensive language on a car near Main Campus.

A student found a swastika and racial slur written in a thin layer of snow on a car behind White Hall on Carlisle Street about 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Police said they learned about it an hour later.

After reviewing cameras in the area, Temple Police released the pictures of the three men. One wore an Eagles jersey, the next wore a striped blue shirt with tan pants and the third wore a Phillies jersey.

Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone said police are following leads from tips to identify them.

Temple released an official statement condemning the “language in the strongest terms” and said those responsible would be held accountable.

Tipsters can contact Temple Police’s tipline at 215-204-6493.

    -Julie Christie

UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEE INJURED IN HIT-AND-RUN

A Temple security officer was released from Temple University Hospital after a hit-and-run outside the Campus Police headquarters at 1801 N. 11th St. Friday night.

A vehicle heading north on 11th Street hit the officer’s vehicle in the rear and fled, but was later stopped by Philadelphia Police at 11th and Diamond streets. The driver was arrested, however his name and the charges he will face are not yet known.

Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone said the officer had neck and back pain, but no serious injuries, which was “very lucky.”     -Julie Christie

ALUMNI win naacp awards

Three alumni and one faculty member were nominated for awards at the 47th NAACP Image Awards which aired last Friday.

According to the website, the NAACP Image Awards “celebrate the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts, as well as those individuals or groups who promote social justice through their creative endeavors.”

Jill Scott, a 1996 alumna, won awards in the three music categories she was nominated. She received the award for “Back Together” in the Traditional category for Outstanding Song, for her album “Woman” in the Outstanding Album category and the award for Outstanding Female Artist.

Terrell Stafford, director of Jazz Studies and chair of Instrumental Studies in the Boyer College of Music and Dance, was also nominated for his album “BrotherLEE Love: Celebrating Lee Morgan,” in the Outstanding Jazz Album category.

-Lian Parsons

COSBY ATTORNEYS MAY APPEAL 

A Montgomery County judge ruled last Wednesday the charges of sexual assault will not be dropped against alumnus Bill Cosby.

Cosby’s defense argued charges should be dropped because a former district attorney had promised to not prosecute Cosby. There is no binding record of the promise, said current District Attorney Kevin Steele, the Inquirer reported.

Cosby’s lawyers have 30 days to appeal the decision, which may halt court proceedings for several months.

Both sides argue whether the decision is one that can be appealed as well as the credibility of testimonies from former District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. and former Temple basketball manager Andrea Constand.

A decade-old deposition with Cosby’s testimony included that he had sexual relations with Constand and had purchased a sedative he intended to use during sex with women, the Inquirer reported.

–Julie Christie

CITY LAWYER JOINS ‘PORNGATE’ CASE AS MEDIATOR 

Prominent Philadelphia lawyer Richard A. Sprague has been added as a mediator to negotiate a deal for Justice J. Michael Eakin so he may avoid public trial. Eakin was suspended from his position in December 2015 as a justice for the Pa. Supreme Court after ethics charges for exchanging obscene, misogynistic and racially offensive emails.

The “Porngate” scandal arose and reached the Supreme Court in 2014 after Justice Seamus P. McCaffery resigned after accusations of his exchange of hundreds of obscene emails and photos on state computers. After Attorney General Kathleen Kane released emails that Eakin had sent or received.

-Gillian McGoldrick

UNIVERSITY ENDOWMENT INCREASES 

The university’s endowment rate increased by 3.06 percent from 2014-15, according to data from the National Association of College and University Business Officers and the Commonfund Institute.These numbers are higher than the national endowment return average of 2.4 percent, a decline from 2014’s endowment return rate of 15.5 percent.

The lowest endowment return rate in the past 15 years was reported to be in 2009, with an endowment return rate of -18.7 percent.

Temple’s full endowment for the 2015 fiscal year was $386,230,000. Harvard University had the largest endowment of $3.4 billion.

-Gillian McGoldrick

COSBY SCHEDULED TO APPEAR IN COURT 

Bill Cosby’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for today in Norristown.

Former university employee Andrea Constand has accused Cosby of sexually molesting her in his Cheltenham home in 2004. The Temple News reported in December that Cosby was charged with felony indecent assault charges, the first criminal charges pressed against him since dozens of women have accused him of drugging and/or sexually assaulting them.

Former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. is expected to be a key witness at the hearing today, the Inquirer reported.

It’s unclear how long the hearing will last, and neither prosecutors or Cosby’s lawyers have given a witness list, the Inquirer reported.

Constand had initially filed a civil suit against Cosby in March 2005. Parts of it were unsealed last summer before criminal charges were filed in December.

-Steve Bohnel

CITY TO INVESTIGATE WATER TESTING Philadelphia City Council is going to launch an investigation into the city’s water testing methods done by the Philadelphia Water Department.

The water sampling methods used by the Philadelphia Water Department don’t properly illustrate the level of lead in drinking water and could mask the sort of problems suffered in Flint, Michigan, medical ethnographer, Dr. Yanna Lambrinidou told The Guardian.

The Water Department gave faulty instructions to residents to find out about lead poisoning involving removing the faucet’s filter from the nozzle in a term known as “pre-flushing.” The Environmental Protection Agency advised against this testing method because it does not find the highest lead levels.

“It’s irresponsible, it’s immoral and it’s putting people’s lives at risk,” Lambrindiou said to The Guardian. “It misleads the public into thinking they will be OK with corrosion control treatment.”

-Jonathan Gilbert

STUDY: CITY COUNCIL SALARY HIGHER 

A new Pew Charitable Trust study found tenure for Philadelphia councilmen has decreased while their average salary has increased.

The study compared the average time served, salary and gender ratio of the City Council in 2010 to the same categories in 2016 for 15 different cities across the country, the Inquirer reported.

For 2016, Philadelphia ranked third in the longest tenure for city councilmen at 8.2 years, beaten only by Chicago and Baltimore. The city also ranks third in average salary at $132,789, trailing behind Washington and Los Angeles.

Women make up 35 percent of  City Council, placing Philadelphia behind Detroit, Pittsburgh, San Diego and Washington.

The 2010 study showed Philadelphia had an average 15.5 year tenure, an average $121,107 salary and women made up 41 percent of the council.

-Julie Christie