Lawyer for contractor convicted in building collapse claims secret deal spared developer

The lawyer for Griffin Campbell - the demolition contractor convicted in the deadly Center City collapse - told a Philadelphia judge Friday he believes a secret deal with prosecutors kept millionaire property developer Richard Basciano from testifying at Campbell's trial.

William D. Hobson made the assertion at a post-conviction hearing on his contention that Campbell's manslaughter conviction should be overturned because of "selective racial prosecution."

Changing Skyline: University City reinvents itself - again - with apartments, offices and shops

Maybe the third time will be the charm for the place we've grown used to calling University City.

Originally an African American neighborhood known as Black Bottom, the portion between Market Street and Lancaster Avenue was a tight mesh of rowhouses and small businesses until the early 1960s, when it was leveled to provide growing room for Penn and Drexel. As a token, the city set aside a full block on 36th Street to build a cutting-edge, science high school. It lasted all of 33 years.