We've heard it for years - a violent culture begets violence. Conventional wisdom says, if you want to understand the not-so-subliminal reasons for incivility, you don't have to look any further than the movies, the music, and the video games - the elements of pop culture we so readily identify with and glorify.

Possibly ending nearly 16 years of litigation, a Superior Court judge ruled against a prominent South Jersey developer who sued Medford Township to try to push through housing and commercial developments on a vacant parcel off Route 70 and Eayrestown Road.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said Friday he was angry that "a senior member of the archdiocesan staff stole more than $900,000 of our people's resources," but relieved that the missing money will have relatively little impact on the church.

Police are searching for a North Philadelphia man who they said shot and wounded a woman and her 13-year-old daughter in Nicetown last week.

Chester County Court Judge Thomas G. Gavin declared a mistrial this morning in the murder case against Morgan M. Mengel.

Two Gloucester County men appeared in federal court in Camden today on child porn charges Friday, one to be sentenced for advertising it, the other to plead guilty to possession.

RAISING NEW dough is on City Council's to-do list, and members see dollar signs on school buses. Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown introduced legislation yesterday that would allow advertising on the city's 1,250 school buses. That would yield roughly $1 million a year to help the school district, which recently said that it must cut another $61 million from its budget.

A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killers of Camden bodega owner Deogones Miguel Almonte, officials announced Friday.