It's time to give this city some control over its own gun laws. Mayor Nutter and the City Council recently passed tougher firearms restrictions designed to fight Philadelphia's homicide problem. But thanks to a 1974 state law, Nutter's new gun law policies are probably unconstitutional, because only the state legislature has the right to regulate firearms. (18 )

It may have slipped under the radar, what with all the election news dominating the headlines - but at a little school to the north of here, a very different sort of controversy has been brewing. My friends at Yale haven't been talking Barack vs. Hillary. (9 )

I kind of felt like I'd been there before. Maybe it was the shameless opportunists selling Obama '08 buttons - one for $2, three for $5 (how could I pass one up?) I guess they did sort of remind me of those annoying venders hawking foam fingers and pennants along Yawkey Way and Lansdowne Street. (4 )