40 years ago, a legendary Philly columnist helped defuse a prison hostage situation

The Graterford crisis was one of many negotiated by well-trusted Chuck Stone, who spent two decades at the Daily News.

How racial profiling drove away Philly’s first heavyweight boxing champion

"I'd rather be a lamppost in Denver than the mayor of Philadelphia."

The Philadelphia ties of the Soviet refusenik once called a ‘modern-day Moses’

When Masha and Vladimir Slepak were released after 17 years, they had Philly friends to thank.

The Philadelphia pennant race that brought 200 cops to a baseball game

Thanks to comments by Athletics' manager Connie Mack, Philly fans piled on the threats against Detroit's Ty Cobb.

The ‘war tax’ resistance movement and the Philly athlete who pioneered anthem protests

After they were arrested at a 1961 sit-in, Philadelphians Juanita and Wally Nelson and Eroseanna Robinson continued activism throughout their lives.

An abbreviated tale of Smedley D. Butler, the ‘fighting Quaker’ recruited to overthrow President Roosevelt

The Marine Corps major general and onetime Philadelphia director of public safety later became an outspoken critic of war.

How the ‘Grande Dame of Broad Street’ led to the discovery of Legionnaires’ disease

It took months to pinpoint the cause of the outbreak at the Philly hotel.

That time a match nearly torched a newlywed on the Atlantic City boardwalk

A Broadway actor who also showed up in Hollywood movies, she was saved by a comedian known as "the jolliest man in America."

The Phillies pitcher who married a movie star’s daughter and was nominated for a Pulitzer

Born in 1942, Larry Colton had a fascinating life.

One century ago, Philadelphia was ground zero in the battle to define free speech

As World War I raged, the local Socialist Party came under fire — and sparked a challenge to the Espionage Act.

35 years before ‘Hamilton,’ this legendary DJ was using rap to teach history in Philly middle schools

The "Ace from Outer Space" worked locally at WDAS — when he wasn't cutting records, running for office, or helping educate kids.

Stealing Royal Paulownia trees used to be a thing people got arrested for in Fairmount Park

Those thefts don't happen much anymore, officials say, but people do sneak in and take fruit or edible plants.

After a 1958 arson, Delco town tried to seize local NAACP leader’s new house

Civil rights leader George T. Raymond tried to move into an all-white suburb.