Maryclaire Dale

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia jury began weighing murder charges Tuesday against a doctor charged with killing five people, including four viable babies allegedly born alive in what authorities describe as illegal, late-term abortions routinely performed at his clinic.

PHILADELPHIA — A former abortion clinic worker capped the five-week murder trial of her former boss with powerful testimony that she saw more than 10 babies breathe before they were killed.

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — The Roman Catholic church in Philadelphia doesn’t need another public relations headache after years of priest-abuse and school-closure headlines, but it’s got one in the form of a pony-tailed 11-year-old athlete.

Sixth-grader Caroline Pla is fighting the archdiocese for the right to keep playing church-sponsored youth football.

LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP, N.J. — In its tear of destruction, the megastorm Sandy left parts of New Jersey’s beloved shore in tatters, sweeping away beaches, homes, boardwalks and amusement parks.

PHILADELPHIA — A lawyer for ousted Penn State President Graham Spanier attacked the university-sanctioned report on the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal Wednesday, calling it a “blundering and indefensible indictment” of the long-time school leader.

Defense lawyer Timothy Lewis called Louis Freeh, who had served as both FBI director and a federal judge before leading the investigation that produced the report, a “biased investigator” who piled speculation on top of innuendo to reach pre-formed conclusions.

Lewis’s remarks come at a press conference in downtown Philadelphia designed to address Freeh’s accusations that Spanier helped Penn State cover up complaints about Sandusky in 1998 and 2001. Sandusky was convicted this year of sexually assaulting 10 boys and awaits sentencing.

PHILADELPHIA — Ex-Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky could face several accusers after a lawyer for one young man said his client and at least five others were planning to testify at a preliminary hearing next week.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- A day after the former Penn State assistant football coach who is charged with sexual abuse of boys declared his innocence in a television interview, an email surfaced from a key witness against him, saying he stopped an alleged attack in the team's showers.