Cab driver shot dead at 47th & Chestnut St.
Leis Desir, a 56 year-old taxi driver, was shot dead at a gas station at 47th and Chestnut St. early Monday.
Police arrested 20 year old Ives Artis of Delaware County less than a day later, and charged him with murder.
Desir was one of 17 people who were killed in the city over an eight day span last week.
As of Monday, 2006 had seen 214 murders in Philadelphia, which is 8 percent more than this time a year ago.
-- Michael Gulinello
IRS eyeing old postal land building for office
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) is working with Penn on a possible lease of the old U.S. Postal Service building located at 30th and Chestnut streets for use by the Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS is closing its current facility in Northeast Philadelphia and says it wants to relocate to the building which will soon be in University hands.
Penn is set to take ownership of the Postal Lands in March and has released plans for an ambitious, 30-year project to redevelop what many see as a harsh border between Center City and West Philadelphia.
-- Ross Avila
Barbaro stable after health scare last week
Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro's health is now stable after his condition was listed as grave last week, according to his doctors.
An infection in one of Barbaro's good legs complicated his recovery from the three fractures he sustained in his hind leg during his May 20 running of the Preakness.
The prize racehorse is being treated and monitored closely at the Intensive Care Unit of the George D. Widener Veterinary Hospital at Penn's New Bolton Center.
-- R. A.
