Kobe Bryant to Play Basketball in Italy

Kobe Bryant Reaches Agreement With Italian Club. As if the NBA lockout situation wasn’t already bleak enough, now Kobe Bryant will be playing in at least the first 40 games of the Italian league season for $3 million. Bryant is the first superstar player to sign a foreign contract during NBA labor negotiations. [FOX 29]

Fewer Students Graduate From College in Four Years. A new report shows that a number of factors—like part-time enrollment, families and jobs have made it less likely for college students in Pennsylvania to earn a degree in four years. The Scoop gets what they’re saying, but would attribute much of that change to happy hours and Netflix instant streaming. [CBS 3]

High School Bans Drinks. Sneaking booze into high school football games via Wawa tea coolers and fruit punch is a time-honored tradition in the ‘burbs. That tradition has been threatened now that Southern Lehigh Valley High School has banned all outside drinks from nighttime sporting events because they’re worried that the parents may be smuggling in adult beverages using the classic ruse. [FOX 29]

Police in West Chester Search for Suspect in Attempted Child Luring. A man—on two separate occasions—has attempted to lure a child into his car in the West Chester area. The second incident ended when he exposed himself to a young girl at a bus stop after the girl refused to get into his car. [6 ABC]

Woman Presumed Dead After Driving Into the Schuylkill. Witnesses alerted authorities to a one-car accident near East Falls yesterday after they watched a car slam through a divider and fall into the Schuylkill River. They heard a woman yell for help but never saw her emerge from the water. Police recovered the car and the woman’s cell phone. The search for her body resumed at 7 a.m. [Philly.com]

Two Montco Pastors Charged With Home-Loan Fraud. A married couple who were pastors at the New Millennium Restoration Life Fellowship have been charged—along with a few others—for their involvement in a home-loan fraud ring in which they took $3 million from Chase Manhattan Bank  via properties in Montgomery County. [Philadelphia Business Journal]