Featured Articles from Philly.com

Hello there Sanny and Justin met in a bar in late spring 2010. But the threads that led to that moment stretch back to Justin's toddling years in Lansdale. Until the summer before first grade, Graham was his best friend. Then Justin's family moved to Princeton, then Nashville, then Princeton again, following his father's sales career. Justin and Graham lost touch. In 2003, Justin began business administration studies at the University of Scranton. He asked students from Lansdale if any knew his childhood pal, and Joe said he and Graham were friends.

  Philadelphia City Council passed a bill Thursday to allow advertising on municipal property - an idea championed by President Darrell L. Clarke to raise money without hiking taxes. The bill is just the first step, giving zoning permission and setting up a task force that would explore which buildings and other property would be appropriate for advertising and what kinds would be allowed. Ultimately, Mayor Nutter would have to sign a contract with a vendor that would seek and manage advertising.

SAWS SAWED. Drills drilled. Sweat poured. An annual competition in the Northeast yesterday challenged area construction apprentices who will graduate from the Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship Committee of Philadelphia and Vicinity's four-year program this month to think - and work - on their feet. The 23 contestants, chosen based on their success on written tests, represented different areas of training offered at the facility - and made up the categories of the competition, including general carpenters, interior-systems carpenters, floor layers, millwrights and mill/cabinetmakers.

When Andreotti's Viennese Cafe opened in Cherry Hill in 1983, Marianne Andreotti would deliver her restaurant's seven-cheese spread to people sitting outside in their cars, waiting for a table. "We were so afraid they were going to leave," said Andreotti, whose father, Mark, started the restaurant on Route 70, then primarily a pastry shop with lunch seating. The patrons stayed, and the Andreottis expanded, over the years adding a dining room, piano, bar, and dance floor. The space evolved, but the traditions remained, including free hors d'oeuvres and desserts and music and dancing on Saturday nights.

If Wagner's music is as addictive as many say it is, the rehab centers are going to be jammed with Curtis Institute students after a Wagner-overdose concert Sunday at the Kimmel Center, aided by vocal performances from Heidi Melton and Eric Owens that the Metropolitan Opera's current Ring cycle would be lucky to have. Led by guest conductor Mark Russell Smith, the Curtis Symphony Orchestra excerpted five operas over 21/2 hours, playing with a muscularity that creating tsunamis of Wagnerian sound.

The killer drop in the price of gold last month prompted plenty of readers to ask about buying and selling the yellow metal - not only their investments, but also the actual gold bullion. Over the last 12 years, the prices of gold, silver, and platinum have soared and then corrected, and, as a result, fraudulent buyers and sellers have popped up as well - urging us to clean out drawers of old or unused gold and silver for sale at top-dollar prices. But precious-metal prices are also extremely volatile.

SO, WHO are the TV-mom role models for mothers on local TV? Our survey of eight area broadcasters found Clair Huxtable, the matriarch of the classic 1980s sitcom, "The Cosby Show," played by Phylicia Rashad, to be overwhelmingly the ideal small-screen mother. Renee Chenault-Fattah and Denise Nakano, of NBC 10, Sheinelle Jones, of FOX 29, Tamala Edwards, of 6ABC, and Kate Bilo, of CBS 3 all named the unflappable lawyer and near-perfect mom as the fictional character they'd like to emulate - but can't quite seem to match in terms of super-momdom.

Hello there Kayaks . . . takes nature photos . . . likes to travel . . . . This sounded very promising to Judy, now 32. "I had been a veteran to Match.com most of my adult life," she said. But no profile ever intrigued her like Ken's did. "This life is so short and I don't want to waste it watching lots of TV and complaining," he wrote in his profile, posted just two days prior. Judy sent him an e-mail. He checked out her profile: "I'm very happy with my life.

Before he walked into an honors communications course at West Chester University, Grant Hubbard's ethnic identity was the stuff of skin color and oral history. He was the white guy with European roots whose family came to the United States shortly after the Mayflower arrived. Then science took over. The swipe of a cotton swab inside his cheek and a DNA test indicated that he had ancestors from Europe, and elsewhere. "My results came back 60 percent Southeast Asian," said Hubbard, 20, of Downingtown.

Question: We moved into a home with 20-year-old sliding glass doors that were treated with what appears to be a thin plastic coating or plastic shield for sun glare. Is there any way to remove this coating? One slider has clouded over, and the coating has chipped and blistered in spots. It could be a broken seal, but the areas that have no coating are perfectly clear. Answer: The best solution I've read is from my buddies the Carey Bros. of San Francisco: Spray the coating with ammonia, cover it immediately with Saran Wrap, wait 45 minutes, and then scrape it off with a broad-blade putty knife.

At last, I'm zooming in on my dream. The island appears through the window just as the sun begins its descent. Tropical paradise is within my reach. Back up 25 years: With the birth of my daughter, my husband and I had chosen a dreamy Hawaiian name. It was chosen with karmic intentions, a name from paradise, and a name full of warm sun, free breezes . . . and of the ocean. We hoped the name would be a talisman for a good life, and we agreed the name was as beautiful as she was - Laina.

The court fight among former partners in 3B Orthopaedics P.C. took a bitter turn this week with a new lawsuit against the University of Pennsylvania and a former partner in the high-profile surgical practice. 3B Orthopaedics was affiliated with Pennsylvania Hospital until this year, when Aria Health bought it and moved its main office to Aria's Bucks County facility in Langhorne. One of the 3B shareholders, David G. Nazarian, took a job with the University of Pennsylvania Health System instead of moving.

Twenty-six years ago, I did something in Philadelphia that many believed was misguided. I promised all 112 sixth graders at Belmont Elementary School in West Philadelphia that I'd pay their college tuition. The reasons my commitment attracted such judgments were plain enough: These were kids from one of the city's most impoverished neighborhoods. Many were reading at a second-grade level. Nearly 40 percent of them had been classified as learning-disabled. In other words, they seemed to have no chance.