Author Archives: Sergei Blair

Specter Visits Temple

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Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter held a town hall forum with students at Student Center, Friday, October 23.Specter discussed various issues such as the healthcare reform, economy, and college affordability. He promised the students that he will continue work with Governor Ed Rendell and lawmakers in Washington to ease the college debt to make sure all students have the ability to go through college, without have to worry about financing education on their own.

The forum, which was hosted by the Temple College Democrats, is a part of Specter’s campaign re-election. About 100 students attended the event of which 20 had the chance to read the pre-arranged questions and get the direct answers from Senator himself.

Specter took time to highlight special relationships he has with President Obama and Vice President Biden. In an exclusive interview with Temple News the Senator said the major reason the switched the political parties from Republican to a Democrat was because Republicans failed to align with the President when they were given the chance to vote on the Stimulus Bill early this year.

Specter is up for re-election to the Senate in 2010 and is expected to face challenge in the senatorial primary elections against Republican Pat Toomey later next spring.

For Phillies, World Series in sight-again

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The Phillies rallied for a dramatic 5-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies in Game 4 of the National League Division Series tonight. The victory ensures Phillies’ return to the divisional championship and puts the team just four wins away from a return to the World Series.

Down to the final out of the game, Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth came through in the clutch. While facing the Rockies closer, Huston Street, Howard hit a deep double into right field driving in the two runs to tie the game. Werth then hit the go-ahead single to drive in the series winning run.

The Phillies will now head to the National League Championship Series where they will face a familiar foe, the Los Angeles Dodgers. The final stretch series open on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium.

Spielberg awarded Liberty Medal Award

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Film director Steven Spielberg became the 20th recipient of the Liberty Medal Award last night at National Constitution Center.

The 90-minute ceremony was held outside on the front court facing the Independence Hall. This year’s theme was “Visions of Liberty,” honored Spielberg was for his work in capturing the plight of human suffering in movies like the Schindler’s List, and The Color Purple. Whoopi Goldberg, who starred in The Color Purple and was later nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in it, shared about her work with Spielberg.

Former President Bill Clinton, who serves as chairman of the Constitution Center, presented the shiny medal to Spielberg as the audience of several hundred people gave the standing ovation to the filmmaker.

It looked like Governor Ed Rendell still had work to do seconds before he gave speech as he was seen nervously jutting down some notes. Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter opened the 2009 ceremony calling Spielberg as the “ambassador of hope.”

World Series trophy pays campus a visit

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The Philadelphia Phillies franchise held an outside promotional event today at the Bell Tower as part of its annual College Spring Fling Week.

Hundreds of students got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get up close to the sterling silver World Series Trophy and take pictures with it.

One student said he couldn’t believe that he was seeing the actual trophy and asked if it was the replica of the original. He was assured by the event coordinators that his eyes were not deceiving him.

Read more and check out more photos after the jump.

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Gmail unveils “undo” feature

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Ever had those moments when you thought you should not have sent that message soon after hitting the “send” button? Worry no more. The Gmail engineers at Google have developed a new feature for the popular e-mail server called the “undo send,” which lets users to retract that sent e-mail before it pops up in the inbox of the person it was directed to. That’s right, with Google’s help you now can clean your mess up and avoid unnecessary troubles.

Although this new feature is helpful, time may not always be on your side, because you have only five seconds to change your mind and quickly hit the “undo” button before Google’s server sends your message.

Since Temple University uses Gmail system as its primary form of electronic communication, you have the ability to take advantage of this feature.

To activate “undo send” in your inbox, click on the “Labs” tab under settings on the main screen.

America’s Most Wanted stops by Temple

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John Walsh

Of course it does.

The production crew from America’s Most Wanted, the long-running FOX program, completed filming an episode Monday in sections of North and South Philadelphia for an upcoming show to be aired this Saturday.

AMW’s star John Walsh and crew were on hand Monday afternoon at 15th and Norris streets trying to trace steps of a runaway fugitive, Marshall “Munch” Thomas, 19, who critically shot and wounded Adrian Schultz in front of a Temple security booth on May 13, 2008.

The Temple News had breaking coverage of the shooting here, here and here.

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Students face snow, ice on campus

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As most of you know, Temple remained open despite the storm today, and most classes went on as usual.

The storm brought four and six inches of snow to the city and suburbs overnight, according to the National Weather Service, and another two to four inches were expected to fall before the end of the storm around 4 p.m.

Temple students made their way through snowy sidewalks while snow drifts made it hard to navigate the campus. The facility crew members were seen shoveling sidewalks and major campus roads and spreading salt at entrances of many buildings.

One student slipped and fell on icy walkway around noon today in front of the Student Center.

Many streets around campus are still snowy, though, and despite classes continuing as scheduled, the student population appeared spotty.

Breaking News: Philadelphia Police officer shot in North Philadelphia

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A Philadelphia Police detective is hospitalized in stable condition at Temple Hospital after being shot in the leg this afternoon near Germantown and Indiana avenues, about two miles northeast of Main Campus.

Police have not identified the officer, but said he is 42 years old and a 20-year veteran detective. According to police, the officer’s unit was serving a warrant for a man wanted in connection with an October 2008 shooting when a suspect opened fire.

The officer returned fire and shot the suspect, police said.

On Feb. 13, Officer John Pawlowski was shot to death in the line of duty near Broad and Olney streets in North Philadelphia.