Disincentive to leave New Jersey about to increase mightily: It must be a Philadelphia plot to keep Jerseyites out. The Delaware River Port Authority has announced plans to increase the toll on the Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman, Betsy Ross, and Commodore Barry bridges to $4 in September, and $5 in September 2010. PATCO fees will also jump — 10 percent in September and another 10 percent in 2010. Public hearings on the increases will be held on July 22nd at Rutgers and July 23rd at the South Philadelphia Cruise Terminal. [KYW]

More details emerge about the Rohm & Haas sale to Dow: The Haas heirs who own a big chunk of the company (no, sadly, no relation) were advised last year to diversify their holdings, and CEO Raj Gupta worked quietly for months to develop a plan for the company to buy them out. An agreement was reached in June, but once word got around, offers from Dow Chemical and BASF were impossible to ignore. Dow won with a $78-per-share cash deal that values R&H at $18.8 billion. For now, it looks as if the headquarters will stay in Philadelphia and that there won’t be major employment cutbacks. [Inquirer]

City contemplates Garbage Mountain, quickly cans trash fees: The “pay as you throw” trash collection trial balloon floated a few days ago has been punctured and put in an appropriate receptacle. We should all be glad they listened to people like Dennis Lee, director of Project NEAT, who spoke truth to the Metro: “A fee will create more litter than recycling.” [Metro]

We’re going down!: Philadelphia has lost more residents since the year 2000 than any other major American city except New Orleans — and we don’t have a tragic hurricane as an excuse. New Census Bureau estimates put us at 1,449,634 residents — a loss of 68,000 in seven years — but it’s not a new trend: We lost about that many between 1990 and 2000 as well. “That’s pretty consistent,” demographer Greg Harper told the Inquirer. “Philadelphia is one of the fastest-losing cities in the country.” Woo-hoo, our new slogan! [Inquirer]

Money woes affecting SEPTA safety?: The National Transportation Safety Board yesterday released its report on the 2006 R2 train collision that injured dozens, finding that two SEPTA employees who ignored alarms and a missing fail-safe system contributed to the crash. The backup system still hasn’t been installed on a quarter of the Regional Rail network, which a SEPTA spokesman attributes to a lack of funding. [KYW]

More chips stacked against casino locations: Calling the proposed sites “problematic,” Mayor Nutter has signed on for the Dwight Evans/Vince Fumo effort to get the SugarHouse and Foxwoods casinos to hie themselves off the waterfront. Neither company wants to budge, claiming to have already spent millions on their sites. [Metro]

Welcome to Garbage City, U.S.A.: The Nutter administration has announced that it’s looking into the idea of charging a “pay as you throw” rate for trash collection, replacing the current tax-supported model. The goal? Increasing the city’s recycling rate by providing a disincentive for throwing away plastics, cans and bottles. The reality? Piles of stinking mess in front of abandoned lots and houses, plus the occasional murder when people put their costly Christmas detritus on someone else’s curb. [Daily News]

At least the Bulgarians understood English: The trifecta of fewer available work visas, increasing gas costs, and a weakening dollar has led to more American teenagers working seasonal jobs at the Shore this year. The successive waves of temporary immigrants, most recently from Eastern Europe, who have filled these jobs for the last few decades are actually better off staying home to work in their own growing economies. The end is nigh. [KYW]

Lawmakers bully schools into fighting bullies: A new Pennsylvania law, first introduced in 2002 by a state senator concerned about the connection between bullying and the Columbine attacks but passed only last Friday, mandates that all schools in the state develop and adopt an anti-bullying policy by January 1, 2009. For once, the Philadelphia school district was ahead of the curve, having had an anti-bullying system in place since 2001. [Metro]

What, you want me to prove I learned something in the last 12 years?: After “overwhelming opposition” from constituents, the Rendell administration and the legislature have agreed to hold off instituting mandatory graduation testing for Pennsylvania students. Money has already been allocated to develop the tests, which will be optional for at least the 2009-2010 school year. [CBS 3]

Skimming is never a good idea: As in skimming your bank statement, which might cause you to miss the fact that your credit or debit card info has been “skimmed” by a pair of thieves using small electronic devices they’ve been putting on some Wawa gas pumps in Delaware, Chester, Montgomery and Bucks counties and New Castle, Delaware, since April. State police are asking non-skimmers who notice suspect withdrawals on their statements to contact them. [KYW]

This skimming sounds like an awful lot of work: With metal prices increasing dramatically — a pound of copper has joined gas in the $4 club — thieves are going after formerly unwanted (for their nefarious purposes, anyway) objects like manhole covers and sewer grates. One brazen fellow has even been taking copper from fast-food restaurant bathrooms — at one place twice in three days. [Daily News]

Were you stuck in traffic over the holiday? Blame this guy: 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the first transcontinental family road trip, undertaken by wealthy Pennsylvanian Jacob Murdock and kin in a 1908 Packard. A publicity sensation that helped convince people cars were a comfortable means of leisure travel, Murdock’s 32-day slog from Pasadena to New York City led to a boom in road construction. At the time, Murdock noted that the roads in Eastern Pennsylvania were “the best of the trip.” If only. [Inquirer]

Pretty please, Mr. Casino Man?: With Dwight Evans and Vince Fumo now teaming up and vowing to strong-arm the developers of Philadelphia’s two new casinos if they don’t willingly relocate off the waterfront, Gov. Rendell has piped up to remind all and sundry that there’s no legal way to force them to move. He says he’ll meet with the developers and try again to persuade them to move, but tells community groups not to get “too excited” about the possibility. [KYW]

Open, rinse, toss in one big bucket: Single-stream recycling — which allows residents to put all recyclable materials into one container for pickup — is ready for prime time across the entire city starting today. Since the program began in select neighborhoods in 2006, the recycling rate has gone from 5.5 percent to 8 percent, and the Streets Department thinks we can hit as high as 18 percent by 2012. [Metro]

Seven score and five years ago …: Abraham Lincoln made a little speech in a little place called Gettysburg, then signed a guest book — the only thing he’s known to have put his name to that day. And now, in a historical coup made possible by one of the owners of the New York Yankees, that book will be on display at the National Constitution Center for the next decade. [Inquirer]

I’d pay to see one of these car chases: From the Pennsylvania State Police psy-ops department comes word that troopers will be patrolling in PennDOT trucks this holiday weekend. How will you be able to tell which ones are the cop-filled decoys? Well, I ask you, what unionized highway worker would be out filling potholes on a holiday weekend? [KYW]

Reform where it counts: Unlike the last guy — whose dithering managing director was against July 4th fireworks in a thunderstorm before he was for it minutes later, causing lots of confusion on the Parkway last year — the Nutter administration is 100 percent pro-rain-drenched pyrotechnics. So pack your poncho along with your patriotism Friday night — there’s a 40 percent chance of showers. [Metro]

Gladwyne residents rally ’round new neighbor McKie: An anonymous flyer hoping to stir up outrage against former 76ers player and potential coaching staff member Aaron McKie, whose new house on Youngsford Road is nearly complete, seems to have backfired. Probably much to the scribbler’s surprise, McKie’s nabes-to-be seem to regard his recent arrest on charges of attempting to buy two guns while subject to a protection order as an honest mistake. [Inquirer]

That filing is going to back up something awful: District Council 47, the union that represents white-collar municipal workers, voted last night to strike if it can’t come to an agreement with the city by July 15th. Union president Cathy Scott says the city isn’t budging on vacation and sick days or health and pension benefits. [Metro]

Puttin’ (the 48th story) on the Ritz: The new Residences at the Ritz-Carlton are one step closer to heading out for the night thanks to yesterday’s topping-off ceremony. The final steel beam was hoisted into place atop the building, whose condo units will sell for $500,000 to $12 million. The first tenants take occupancy this fall. [KYW]

Cue up the banjos: It’s dueling budgets in the news this morning. Gov. Rendell put on his Serious Leader face to announce a deal on a $28.2 billion budget — about $500 million less than he wanted — that keeps tax rates the same; it now goes to the legislature for a vote. New Jersey Gov. Corzine had to cut $600 million from his wish list, but he actually got to sign the state’s $32.9 billion spending plan. Bye-bye, fat property tax rebate check. [Inquirer: Pennsylvania, New Jersey]

With gas rising, it felt lonely: You’ll have to start digging deeper into your cushions to park in the city — the PPA has enacted a 5 percent increase in the parking tax, meaning you’ll have to come up with two extra quarters (or various assortments of dimes, nickels, and candy wrappers) for each $10 of your parking tab. The tax affects all parking facilities — city-owned, private, and valet. [KYW]

City, municipal unions still talking: Ahead of a strike vote scheduled for 6 this evening, white-collar District 47 granted the city a two-week extension on its current contract, which ran out at midnight. At issue, as always, are wages and benefits. Blue-collar District 33 has also agreed to keep its members on the job during negotiations. [Metro]

Advertisements for those formerly ourselves: A.J. Daulerio, who entertainingly fouled this space from its founding through this past March, has been named editor of the Gawker sports blog Deadspin. The Inky’s Dan Rubin gets points for finding this pic, which we hadn’t seen before. He also gets demerits for finding this pic, which we now wish we hadn’t seen. [Blinq]

No unexpected vacation for state records clerks: Gov. Ed Rendell announced a budget deal early this morning that’s $500 million less than he was trying to spend but beats the annual deadline and avoids a furlough of state workers. Here’s money we’re happy he’s allocated: $350 million to fix the state’s 400 most dangerous bridges. [KYW]

Templetown lives!: The resident student population at Temple University has doubled in the past five years, to almost 10,000, changing the institution’s image as a commuter school. But unlike the ’80s, when plans to expand Temple’s footprint were vigorously opposed as higher-ed imperialism, the school’s growth is being seen as a catalyst for neighborhood redevelopment. [Metro]

The internet claims another moron — thankfully: Andre Moore, a security guard at Albert Einstein Medical Center, really doesn’t like Philly cops. How do I know? Because he filmed a rant about killing them while waving a handgun around. And then put it on YouTube. Philly cops did not take kindly to that, and paid him a little visit yesterday. With a battering ram. Moore’s in custody now, charged with aggravated assault, corruption of minors (he made his son do the filming), terroristic threats and harassment. [Daily News]

Episcopal bishop found guilty of coverup: In a verdict released yesterday, suspended Diocese of Pennsylvania Bishop Charles Bennison was found guilty by a church tribunal of two counts of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy for failing to report his brother, a fellow priest, for sexual abuse of a minor in the 1970s. Bennison is expected to appeal the decision. [KYW]

Didn’t you hear? They changed the name to STANDA: With SEPTA ridership 12 percent higher than a year ago due to the gas crisis, Regional Rail patrons are enduring standing-room-only rush-hour commutes. The transit agency has 50 new cars coming in the next two years, and decided last night to lease 10 New Jersey Transit cars to alleviate at least 20 percent of the problem. [Metro]