The Daily Numbers: 16,000 dollars, what officials alleged former Penn-Delco School Board member John Green ripped off from a high school boosters club. Yesterday the charges were withdrawn.
12-18 inches of more snow expected to hit the region tonight through Wednesday.
56.3 inches of snow so far across the region this winter. Tonight’s storm could push us over the all-time winter record of 65.5 inches, set back in 1995-96.
12 handguns stolen from a locker at the Boeing plant in Ridley Township.
18 million dollars, how much PennDOT budgeted for snow removal this winter. They’ve spent 55 percent of it so far this year.
1,250 tons of salt used last weekend by road crews in Upper Darby Township. The price tag for that comes to $74,500. The township has 750 tons of salt left.
14, age of boy killed when flames roared through his Clifton Heights home last March. Yesterday his father, Thomas Pierce, pleaded no contest to charges stemming from the fire.
3.9 percent tax hike given green light by Rose Tree Media School District.
2 times in the last 2 days that Granite Run Mall was closed by a gas odor. Not a great weekend for the mall, which was closed by snow on Saturday.
1.6 acres in Media that currently is home to the Media Inn. The landmark hotel will be demolished.
3 residents in Darby Borough treated overnight for carbon monoxide poisoning in a home on Sharon Avenue.
47, age of chiropractor from Bucks County charged with torching his own office.
30 percent decline in enrollment at St. John Bosco School in Hatboro, the latest that will close its doors in the archdiocese. A similar fate likely awaits St. Joe’s in Collingdale.
5 percent increase in TV ratings for the Super Bowl in Philadelphia. The audience for the show is estimated at 2.8 million, making it the No. 1 watched show in TV history, eclipsing the final episode of MASH.
5 DUI charges now racked up by a man in Ogletown, Del.
36, age of man found hanged in his jail cell in Philadelphia. His death was ruled a suicide.
24, age of janitor at Downingtown West High School in Chester County charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old female student.
2 goal deficit erased by the Flyers as they rallied to top the Devils, 3-2.
3 straight games now missed by Flyers goalie Ray Emery with a sore hip. Michael Leighton was in the nets last night.
19 points for Scottie Reynolds to lead No. 4 Villanova to a huge road win over No. 5 West Virginia.
21, where Temple now ranks, tumbling several spots after losing last week.

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Call me a Phanatic: A look at the ups and downs of being a Philadelphia sports fan.The Philadelphia sports scene is a little less fun today. They buried Tom Brookshier yesterday. Rest well, Brookie. They don’t make guys like that anymore.
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I Don’t Get It: A man in Philadelphia is charged with dousing a rag with drain cleaner and then rubbing it on the skin of a 20-month-old tot he was supervising. The child died. I don’t get it.
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Today’s Upper: The Winter Olympics start Friday night. Too bad they don’t hand out medals for shoveling. We’d all be on the winner’s stand.
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Quote Box: “He admits he was a lousy bookkeeper. But he is no thief.”
- Michael F.X. Gilllin, speaking about his client, former Penn-Delco School Board member John Green. Theft charges against him were withdrawn yesterday.

The curious case of John Green just got a little bit more curious.

Green used to sit on the Penn-Delco School Board. He was at the center of the storm that enveloped the district, and eventually led to criminal convictions for former school board President Keith Crego and Superintendent Leslye Abrutyn.

Green did not escape unscathed. It turns out Green never disclosed that a contract awarded by the district went to his employer, and that he got a commission out of the deal. He pleaded no contest to a conflict of interest charge.

Then there was the matter of the financial disclosure forms he was required to file for holding office. It turns out Green and the district’s former financial officer had problems with their forms. He was fined $500 by the state Ethics Comission.

But Green really found himself in hot water when he was charged with stealing money from a booster club for female athletes at Sun Valley High School. The charges alleged he pocketed $16,000 in club accounts.

Yesterday the district attorney’s office withdrew the charges.

Green’s attorney explained that his client had actually advanced the Sportsters Club $19,000, then reimbursed himself for the funds.

As it turns out, he only got $16,000 back. In other words, one way of looking at it is that the club actually owes him money, about $3,000.

Michael F.X. Gillin, who represents Green, says he might not be the best bookkeeper around, but “his is no thief.”

But the D.A. doesn’t sound totally convinced.

Despite withdrawing the charges, the D.A.’s office released a statement saying Green remains under investigation. The D.A. said county detectives have continued their probe of Green since the charges were first filed and new information in the case could lead to new charges against Green.

And so the latest chapter in the saga of John Green. And it sounds distinctly like this will not be the last.

Curiouser and curiouser.

All in a school district where curious endeavors by officials set new standards for curious.

It would not be an understatement to say that I am not a big fan of winter.

Which should give you some inkling of what kind of mood I have been in for much of this winter. The fact is I hate it. I don’t like being cold.
I have no use for snow.

So what exactly am I supposed to do with 28.5 inches? That’s how much snow fell at the airport, where they measure such things, on Saturday.

I happen to concur with George Carlin in these matters. Who cares what it does at the airport. No one lives there. Down in Ridley Park they are still digging out from 30 inches of snow recorded there.

All of which, of course, is prelude to what is expected to arrive tonight. More snow, of course.

And for me, that will be accompanied by more grinding in my stomach, and a yearning for spring.

The all-time record for winter snowfalls was recorded back in 1995-96, the year we got our all-time top snow storm of 30.7 inches. I didn’t make it home for two nights back then. It’s the only time I failed to get home in 28 winters of trundling in here to the office. That winter we totaled 65.5 inches of snow.

Right now, after our 28-inch snowfall on Saturday, we are sitting at
56.3 inches. In other words, the forecast for tonight and tomorrow could push us over the brink into the all-time top spot for winter snow.

Just in time for the arrival of the Winter Olympics. Too bad they don’t hand out gold medals for shoveling.

We’d all be up there on the winner’s stand.

They said goodbye to Tom Brookshier yesterday.

A who’s who of the Philadelphia and national sports worlds showed up to pay their final respects to the former Eagle, local TV sports anchor, and NFL broadcaster.

There were teammates from the Eagles’ last championship team. Tommy McDonald was there. So was Chuck Bednarik. There aren’t many of them left.

Brookie’s running mate back in his days as part of CBS’ lead broadcast team, Pat Summerall, was one of those who eulogized Brookshier.

The NFL doesn’t make players – or personalities – like Brookshier anymore.

Simply put, “Brookie” was one of us. How many superstar athletes can you say that about today? Thought so.

It was left to his daughter Betsy to offer perhaps the best view of Brookshier. She referred to her father as “a happy warrior.”

That is especially apt, for if there was a Brookshier signature, it was that infectious, raucous laugh.

Either from the broadcast booth, delivering the nightly sports, or chatting on radio as part of the birth of sports talk radio in the region, if Brookie was in the room, that laugh was not far away.

Sports could use more guys like Tom Brookshier. They don’t make them like that anymore.

We’re all the lesser because of it.

The Daily Numbers: 30 inches of snow in Ridley Park, the winner in the snowfall amounts from the Blizzard of 2010.
28.5 inches of snow officially at the airport.
56.3 inches of snow so far this winter. That puts this winter in 2nd place on the all-time list.
65.5 inches of snow back in 1996, the all-time record. Of course that was also the year of the historic No. 1 30-inch snow.
6-12 inches of snow now being forecast for Tuesday night into Wednesday.
200,000 students in public and parochial schools in Philadelphia that are getting the day off today to allow crews to continue clearing snow.
20 inches of snow in Washington, D.C.
90,000 customers without power at the height of the storm in New Jersey; 39,000 in Delaware, 190,000 in western Pa.
10 parents who led a protest outside Sunday Mass against the decision to close St. Joseph’s School in Collingdale.
2 days Granite Run Mall was closed this weekend, on Saturday by snow, and on Sunday by a fuel spill and gas odor.
60, age of man with dementia whose body was found in the snow in Delaware after wandering from his home.
229 votes, 28 more than he needed for Sen. Arlen Specter as he picked up the endorsement of the Pa. State Democratic Committee Saturday.
72 votes for Joe Sestak, who continues to lag in his challenge to Specter.
6,000 jobs that will be filled by the region’s largest employers over the next 6 months.
2.78, what we’re paying on average for gas in the Philly region, if you can get out of your driveway.
5 people killed in blast at power plant in Connecticut.
32 of 39 for Drew Brees as he led the New Orleans Saints to their first-ever Super Bowl title.
31 of 45 for Peyton Manning in losing effort, with one huge interception that was returned for TD.
9 days until pitchers and catchers report to Phillies spring training in Clearwater on Feb. 17.

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Call me a Phanatic: A look at the ups and downs of being a Philadelphia sports fan.What Dat? They’re the Saints, who forever buried the Aints image of New Orleans entry in the NFL as losers. You can call them Super Bowl Champions.
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I Don’t Get It: You knew this one was coming. In Delaware, a man has been charged with pointing a gun at a neighbor and threatening to shoot him in a dispute over a parking spot.
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Today’s Upper: Please tell me that spring is coming. Eventually.
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Quote Box: “You’ve got a whole city held captive here.”
- Gwen Dawkins, as she waited to get out of Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., during the storm.

Very funny, Punxsutawney.

Actually, this stopped being funny Friday night, when it became clear that for once, the forecast was right on the money.

Yes, we got hammered.

And guess what? It’s about to happen again. At least if the forecast again holds true.

Even as we continue to dig out from 28.5 inches of snow from Saturday’s storm, the National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for Tuesday night into Wednesday.

I guess that’s why so many local schools are operating on a two-hour delay this morning. OK, I’ll spare you the rant about schools and the way they deal with weather, which often seems to fly in the face of what the rest of us in the real world deal with.

Then again, if they had to navigate Oak Avenue, as I did as I headed into the office this morning, they might have a point. Someone must have forgotten Oak, which remained snow-covered this early a.m..

No doubt the thought of more snow is going to be less than music to the ears of the folks in Ridley Park, who are the winners of the Blizzard of 2010 Derby with a snow total of 30 inches.

Officially at the airport the snowfall checked in at 28.5 inches. That makes it the second biggest snowfall in local history, following only the 30-inch storm of the century from back in January 1996.

We’re also bearing down on the all-time record for snowfall in a single winter.

Right now we’re sitting at 56.3 inches of snow. The record is 65.5 inches, again set in the winter of 1996.

That might fall Tuesday night, when anywhere from 6-12 inches is expected to arrive, with snow falling in time for the Tuesday night rush hour.

I give up.

Yesterday I huddled in my official University of Colorado Snuggie and watched golf on TV, soothed by gorgeous sunshine and 70-degree temperatures from Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.

I’m reminded of a headline I once wrote that I just might have to dust off tomorrow: Take this weather and shovel it.

Please.

That boulder Joe Sestak is pushing up a hill just got a lot bigger.

And the hill is now a lot steeper.

That’s because, despite more than 2 feet of snow, the state Democratic Committee met Saturday in Lancaster. It did not go well for the upstart congressman from Delaware County. They gave their blessing to Sestak’s foe, Sen. Arlen Specter.

Sestak gave up the 7th District seat he wrestled away from 20-year incumbent Curt Weldon and the GOP, only to give it up after less than two terms to seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.

An equally imposing force of politics stands in Sestak’s way this time around as well.

Specter switched parties and was welcomed with open arms by everyone from President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Gov. Ed Rendell.

But someone forgot to invite Sestak to the party.

Irked at what he believes was a heavy-handed effort to clear the path the Democratic nomination for Specter, Sestak got into the race. And he’s not getting out, despite lagging in the polls.

Even the state Democratic chair indicated publicly Sestak was hurting the party with his run, and everyone would be better off if he got out of the race and ran for re-election to the U.S. House. Well, maybe everyone but Bryan Lentz, who himself is giving up his Pa. House seat to seek Sestak’s spot in Congress.

But the calls have fallen on deaf ears.

On Saturday Sestak took another body blow, when the state committee voted overwhelmingly to endorse Specter.

Sestak, the former admiral, is not yet ready to abandon ship. He said he fully expected the move and branded it merely another example of the kind of insider politics that he is fighting.

He said he was “a little too independent” for the committee members, and vowed “this is going to be a great fight.”

In other words, the admiral is sticking to his guns. Even if all the experts tell him he’s about to go down with the ship.