Philadelphia police have released the names of two men who violently lost their lives Tuesday.

When Villanova University's communication department invited the gay performance artist Tim Miller to campus, professors envisioned the program as another piece of an organized effort to spur dialogue on diversity issues at the Catholic school.

Philadelphia's nationally watched school turnaround effort gets high marks from a research study to be released Wednesday. Growth in student achievement and attendance both at district-run overhauled K-8 schools and at those turned over to charters outpaced gains at comparable city schools, the Philadelphia nonprofit Research for Action found.

HARRISBURG - A Chester County woman accused of selling thoroughbreds for slaughter after promising to put them up for adoption will avoid prison by agreeing to enter a first-offender program.

PITTSBURGH - A college in Western Pennsylvania sued the federal government Tuesday, saying regulations that require employers to offer birth-control coverage that includes drugs that abort fertilized embryos are "directly at odds" with its religious values, including the Sixth Commandment.

TRENTON - A sales-tax exemption measure designed to encourage major online retailers to locate in New Jersey has been introduced in the Legislature.

In this class, it's hard to see how Villanova University got the dubious nickname "Vanillanova," connoting its predominantly white, homogenous student body.

Scott A. Green, a Rehoboth Beach, Del., lawyer, was appointed Tuesday to be the executive director of the Delaware River and Bay Authority, which operates the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the Cape May-Lewes Ferry.

CITY OFFICIALS told Kensington residents at a meeting in late January that if they didn't want about 150 trees planted at McPherson Square Park, then the city would find somewhere else to plant them.

Gov. Christie is playing with budget numbers to make himself look good and is not doing enough to reduce the property-tax burden on New Jersey residents, Democratic lawmakers said in response to the governor's budget proposal Tuesday.