Lower Merion Doc Accused of Assaulting Patients

Lower Merion Doc Accused of Sexually Assaulting Patients. At least six women say Arie Oren assaulted them while being treated by the doctor at Conshohocken Weight Control. The Montco D.A. says Oren touched the patients “in a way that was ‘inappropriate,’ ‘unprofessional’ and ‘creepy.'” [PhillyBurbs.com]

State of the City Report: Good News/Bad News. A Pew Charitable Trusts report shows that while recession job loss didn’t hit Philly as hard as it did other cities, our unemployment rate is higher than the national average, and the “city also has a higher percentage of adults who are neither working nor looking for work than any major city in the U.S. except Detroit and Cleveland.” More optimistic/depressing findings at the link. [Business Journal]

Police Inside Public Schools Soon? City Council heard from police commissioner Charles Ramsey yesterday on the idea of putting police into Philly schools and didn’t seem to object. Ramsey says officers would be “carefully chosen” and would be “mentors” to students. [Inquirer]

Gas Prices Highest In Almost Three Years. The average price of gas is now $3.75 a gallon—average meaning most of you will be pressed to find even that cost at a station near you. Those obnoxious cell-phone blabbers on SEPTA suddenly don’t seem so bad, huh? [Fox 29]

Foxwoods Backers Won’t Give Up. The business partners who aimed to open a South Philly casino and had their gaming license revoked last year have filed an appeal hoping to reverse that decision. Anyone else reminded of the old lady who sits at the penny slot machine for 16 hours? [Inquirer] In other casino news, Charles Ramsey told city council that crime around SugarHouse “has not been as bad as we thought it would be initially.” [CBS 3]

Catholic Church Issues Abuse Report. Philly Scratches Head. The new report shows that just last year more than 600 people in the U.S. reported new complaints of abuse by clergy. “But in the report … the Philadelphia Archdiocese was found fully in compliance with the abuse prevention policy…. Church officials say they were looking into the reasons for the discrepancy.” Discrepancy. That’s one word for it. [NYT]

Phils Suspended for Drug-Test Fail. Three minor league players are going to be sitting out games after testing positive for drugs. [CSN via AP]

Sixers Lose; Will Face Miami Heat In Playoffs. In case you’ve forgotten, there’s another Philadelphia sports team currently in season. Despite a miserable loss to the Magic last night (and even worse rebound stats), the Sixers are locked in as the #7 seed in the East. First playoff game (yes, first) is this weekend. [CSN]

Is Camden County Prison Safe? Post-layoffs, the officers at the prison say their safety is at risk. The county claims otherwise. [NBC 10]