Damon Allen Jr. carries on boxing tradition

In the crowded basement of Shepherd Recreation Center, Damon Allen Jr., 16, drives his fists into a heavy bag, his movements a blur. Sweat darkens his orange T-shirt, as his trainer, his 81-year-old great-grandfather, barks encouragement.

"Come on, Dame," says the gray-haired Mitchell Allen, former fighter and longtime trainer, looking on through his bifocals.

"Rhythm, rhythm. That's it. Jab. Jab. Right."

Nearby, Allen's father, Damon Allen Sr., 35, a former boxer, now trainer - who by day works at the airport fueling planes - guides the punches of a young boy two bags down.

On the other side of the ring, Allen's mother, Rasheeda Gantz, a USA Boxing judge and rec center employee, sits at a table, managing the West Philadelphia gym.

Allen, at 125 pounds, ranked second in the country in the male junior division and known in the ring as "Baby Dame," just returned from the National Junior Olympics in Denver.

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(Photo credit: Michael Bryant, Inquirer)

Under summer heat, some pools remain shuttered

On hazy, sun-soaked afternoons last summer, Andrew Christman, 35, regularly took his young son, Jozef, to the Fishtown neighborhood pool to splash in his water wings. But, because of city budget cuts, that recreation center pool is now closed. So is the Hancock pool, also a few blocks away. And so is the Cione pool, roughly a mile from his home.

As Philadelphia faced a fiscal crisis, there were predictions that only 10 of the city's 73 pools would open. Through private and public donations and money restored to the budget, the city this summer will open 46. The openings began this week and will continue through Friday, some marked by ribbon-cutting, music, and water ice.

In communities like Fishtown, where less than half of the pools in the Recreation Department district will open this summer, some residents are still questioning how the city decided which pools to reopen and which to shutter.

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(Photo credit: Akira Suwa, Inquirer Photographer)

Remembering MJ

Growing up in North Philadelphia, asking mom for money for the latest Right On! magazine, running to the corner store with the money, running home with the magazine, up in my bedroom, pulling this poster gently from the centerfold, deciding where it hang it, finally taping it to the wall on the side of the bed, staring at it, listening to Michael Jackson croon P.Y.T. on my record player in the light blue box, dancing, smiling.

Phila. caterer's specialty: Second chances

In the auditorium of the African American Museum in Philadelphia, with an hour left to prepare, David Simms buzzes from table to table: smoothing the blue tablecloths, centering the silver candelabras, fluffing the folded napkins blooming from their wine glasses.

"The glasses should be right next to the knives," Simms directs his tuxedoed waitstaff.

For the lunch for 100, Simms' sixth catering job of the week, he has prepared a menu of soul food, gourmet-style, including grilled salmon with orange pineapple demi-glace, baked macaroni and smoked Gouda cheese, collard greens, and "David's" potato salad, "because it's made my way," he explains with a wink.

Helping Simms put out the water glasses is Nasim Brown, who has a prison record for selling drugs. Hiring him is another thing Simms does "my way."

Twelve years ago, Simms, 43, lost his friends, his car, his catering business - everything he had - to a crack addiction.

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(Photo credit: Tom Gralish, Philadelphia Inquirer)

Tragedy in Feltonville

Under a light rain, two families gather around a makeshift memorial of teddy bears, candles and flowers, leaning on each other, crying, begging each other why.

Yesterday evening, around 7:30, on the narrow street of Third near Annsbury, Latoya Smith, 22, was sitting outside with her 11-month old baby, Remedy, watching niece Aaliyah Griffin play hand games with her friend Gina Marie Rosario, from two doors down, when a car fleeing police jumped the curb and mowed them down.

Two of the children were pronounced dead at the scene; another at the hospital.

Smith, taken to the hospital in critical condition, died this morning.

“It’s crazy. It’s senseless,” said Ted Canada, Smith's father and grandfather to Remedy and Aaliyah. “They were kids, innocent kids, playing together and this idiot jumps the curb. I can’t find no sense in that.”

Canada, a member of the antiviolence group Men United for a Better Philadelphia, has been touched by tragedy before. His son Lamar was murdered in 2005. Two years ago, another granddaughter was killed in a traffic accident.

Moments before the car jumped the curb, blocks away, police say two men stole a Yamaha motorcycle at gunpoint. Ivan Rodriguez, 20, rode off on the motorcycle. Donta Cradock, 18, who has a long arrest record, fled in a silver Pontiac Grand Am.

When an officer pulled behind the Pontiac at a light, police say Cradock sped off.

The car ended up on Third Street, wedged between a rowhouse and a utility pole, killing four.

Cradock and Rodriguez have been arrested and charged with murder.

“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Canada said standing on the corner, surrounded by family and neighbors, holding back tears. “I’m just … the only thing that holds me up is knowing that those babies are in the arms of the Lord.”

Two doors away, Tammy Rosario, stands outside, draped in her brother’s hooded sweatshirt, clutching a rosary, trembling.

“My daughter loved to dance,” she cries, remembering Gina Marie. “She was so bright and now she’s gone. She was only 7! I saw everything that happened. I will never forget it. I will never forget it! My daughter, my daughter is gone. My son has lost his sibling. My daughter was a beautiful girl….

“I was watching her,” she continues, her brother's arm around her shoulder, “and the car just came and hit her. I had two beautiful children. Now I just have one. She was my baby. She was going to be 8 soon. She was going to third grade.

“She was playing where the bears are. When I called her, it was too late.”

Read more on this story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Once-homeless Penn student aims high

Every day last summer, Steven Vaughn-Lewis would update his Facebook status: 64 more days . . . 63 . . . 62 . . . counting the days "until Penn."

What one freshman year will do.

Today, the tall and lanky 19-year-old who had barely left his Strawberry Mansion neighborhood has his sights on visiting China, a career in international affairs, and, at last, a driver's license.

For Steven, the University of Pennsylvania opened doors in ways this former foster child never imagined.

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Random Shot - Cat Nap

Under a gray sky, the lunchtime rush has quieted along Callowhill Street, a block of bistros and lofts. On the steps of an office building, a man lies still, bundled in a blanket. No where to go. No where to be.