Officials urged gay men to get vaccinated against meningitis after an outbreak in the city.

The Health Department reported that 17 cases have been reported since 2012, and 22 cases since 2010.

Seven of those cases were fatal, according to the Health Department.

Officials are worried that the danger will spread further.

“The meningitis outbreak in New York City is literally a life and death matter,” Assembly member Micah Kellner said.

LGBT advocates and elected officials are urging people to get vaccinated immediately

“Men who have sex with men should protect themselves from this potentially fatal disease,” City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said.

To find a location to get vaccinated, call 311.

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Mayor Michael Nutter will reportedly set aside $31 million toward a resolution in a long-standing dispute with Philadelphia firefighters.

With tax revenue up about $40 million, the Nutter administration would use the money toward whatever comes of the contract impasse between the city and firefighters’ union, CBS3 Philly reports.

Nutter contends the city cannot afford to pay firefighters the raises they were awarded in a 2009 arbitration ruling.

A spokesman for the Nutter administration told CBS Philly the mayor’s appeal of the arbitration ruling is “still in play” despite the move to put money aside.

The move comes one day after city firefighters voted out Bill Gault, a vocal critic of Nutter, as union president. The Nutter administration’s budget move is “a starting point for a fresh negotiation,” a union spokesman told CBS Philly

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Philadelphia police hope the public can help them locate a man they say shot a teenager in his leg as he sat in the driver’s seat of a car parked in South Philly in early April.

Police have identified Miguel Alomar, 38, of Swanson Street, as the shooter.

The shooting occurred about 11:30 p.m. on the 2800 block of Swanson Street.

A 16-year-old male who had been asked to move a Lexus he was a passenger in was shot in his leg when Alomar pulled out a gun and opened fired on him and the 31-year-old female driver who had just exited the car, police say.

The teen drove the car to 8th and Lycoming Streets, where he was picked up by another vehicle and taken to Temple University Hospital.

Also wanted in connection with the shooting is an unidentified black male whom police described as in his mid-30s, dark-skinned and of a thick build, with a missing front tooth and a Sunni Muslim beard.

Police ask anyone with information to call East Detectives at 215-685-9854. You can also call 911 or submit an anonymous tip by dialing 215-686-TIPS (8477), texting PPD TIP (773847), emailing tips@phillypolice.com, or by filling out this online form.

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An East Boston man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after admitting he killed an older man who allegedly molested him as a child.

Marco Tulio Flores, 19, pleaded guilty in Suffolk Superior Court on Thursday to voluntary manslaughter, arson, and attempting to escape. He was sentenced to serve 15 years of probation after he is released from prison.

Prosecutors said Flores, who was 17 at the time, strangled Galdamez with a metal dog chain and then set the 28-year-old man’s apartment on fire, after getting Galdamez to confess on videotape that he had molested Flores.

Flores’s lawyer, James Budreau, said his client acted because he thought Galdamez might abuse Flores’s young nephew.

Galdamez, a family friend, sexually abused Flores for several years, starting when he was 9 years old, prosecutors said.

“We hope that a 15-year sentence is enough to say we’re not going to give vigilante justice a pass,” Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum said, according to the Boston Globe. “I know there are people out there saying, ‘Let him go, don’t prosecute him at all.’… You can’t go out and kill somebody, no matter what he did to you.’”

Polumbaum said computers that Flores took from Galdamez’s apartment contained child pornography and chatroom transcripts in which Galdamez discussed his attraction to young boys, mentioning Flores.

Follow Metro Boston on Twitter: @MetroBos

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There is no cause for concern. This is only a drill.

That’s the message SEPTA wants to get out in advance of its simulated subway attack at its Fairmount station Sunday morning.

The drill is scheuled for 8:30 a.m. at the Broad Street Line station located at Broad and Fairmount Avenue.

The drill will involve SEPTA and Philadelphia emergency and first-response personnel, as well as about 100 volunteers who will act as victims.

SEPTA said this about the emergency preparedness drill:

There is an explosion in the SEPTA subway system, the cause of which is not immediately clear. SEPTA and city-wide emergency personnel are activated. The exercise will test plans for a coordinated response to an emergency incident, including a terrorist attack. The drill will also cover practices for investigating unattended or suspicious bags and packages.

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New York City will double its funding for teacher training beginning this June, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said.

Officials have set aside about $100 million to help prepare students for new Common Core standards that were introduced this spring, The Daily News reports.

The city spent about $50 million on teacher training last year.

Principals will have access to the funds starting next month, Walcott said earlier this week. They can choose how to spend the money as long as it helps students prepare for the tougher academic standards. Some ways to spend the money include adding teacher training sessions or buying new classroom materials.

“Doubling down like this is a significant step,” said Walcott. “It will build the strength and capacity of our teachers to deliver everything we expect of them.”

A portion of the funds will also help schools prepare for the new teacher evaluation system that the state will impose on city schools June 1.

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A black bear was spotted in a residential community in Bucks County on Wednesday.

It is believed the large black bear spotted the other day near Zimmerman Lane in Hulmeville  weighs about 400 pounds, the Bucks County Courier Times reports.

It is possible it is the same black bear spotted elsewhere in Bucks County earlier this month. There were reports of bear sightings in Solebury, Buckingham and Point Pleasant last week, the paper reports.

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Federal prosecutors in the upcoming murder trial of alleged mobster James “Whitey” Bulger want to conduct criminal background checks on potential jurors.

In a motion filed Thursday, prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Denise Casper for permission to perform the checks, in an effort to ensure that a fair and impartial jury is selected, to determine that jurors have truthfully answered questions on the jury questionnaire, and to reduce the chances of a mistrial.

The motion mentioned other cases in which juror background checks had been allowed, and pointed to the case of convicted killer Gary Lee Sampson. A judge set aside the jury’s recommendation that Sampson receive the death penalty, after it was learned that one of the jurors repeatedly lied on her jury questionnaire.

“As the court is aware, trial of this matter will likely take several months, consume considerable resources, and have an obvious emotional impact on the victims,” prosecutors said in their motion. “It is thus important to take steps necessary to address potential appellate issues in the first instance.”

Bulger’s trial is set to begin next month and will likely continue until September. He is charged with participating in 19 murders during the 1970s and 1980s. Bulger has pleaded not guilty and claims a former prosecutor granted him immunity from being charged.

Follow Metro Boston on Twitter: @MetroBos

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Police are investigating after a man and a woman in their 20s were found shot to death in a New Jersey park Thursday night.

Cops discovered the victims at approximately 10 p.m. near a bench inside Montclair’s Canterbury Park, NBC New York reports.

The investigation is ongoing. Relatives of the dead told NBC that the woman was from East Orange.

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A teen died in a one-vehicle crash in a Main Line town Thursday night.

The fatal accident occurred on the 1300 block of Eagle Road in Radnor Township about 7:30 p.m. , 6ABC Action News reports.

It is unknown what caused the 18-year-old driver to lose control of his SUV and be ejected from the vehicle.

The teen was not immediately identified by police.

Several media outlets initially reported a bicyclist was struck and killed in the Eagle Road accident.

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A Hofstra student and an armed suspect were shot dead early Friday morning during an apparent home invasion.

Police say a man wearing a ski mask forced his way into 213 California Ave. in Uniondale at approximately 2:30 a.m., the New York Post reports. Three women and one man were in the house at the time.

One of the women was allowed to leave the house, and she called 911, Nassau County Deputy Inspector Kenneth Lack said. The shooting that killed the suspect and the student occurred when police arrived at the home. It is not cleared who fired the deadly shots.

Police have not released any identities. The house is located near Hofstra’s campus.

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New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced Thursday night that he would take steps to recommend the expulsion of State Assemblyman Vito Lopez after a scathing report detailing sexual harassment allegations against Lopez was released on Wednesday.

Silver said Thursday that he would introduce a resolution on Friday asking the Assembly’s Ethics and Guidance Committee to “recommend appropriate sanctions including expulsion” against Lopez, the New York Times reports.

The announcement comes after Silver, a Manhattan democrat, himself has been under attack for his handling of the allegations following the Joint Commission on Public Ethics’ report and a separate report by Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan.

With Silver’s approval, the Assembly’s leadership secretly settled two sexual harassment allegations against Lopez and failed to refer the cases to an ethics committee for investigation, the Times reports.

Lopez has maintained his innocence. He was re-elected last year after the allegations first became public, and he has been eying a City Council run.

But the lengthy JCOPE report released this week has stirred more anger towards the assemblyman. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday that he believes Lopez should be expelled if he does not resign.

According to the report, Lopez demanded female staffers to massage him, send him flirtatious text messages, wear revealing clothing and stay overnight in hotel rooms with him.

Elected officials from both parties have called for Lopez’s expulsion, the Times reports. Republicans called for Silver’s ouster as well, while Democrats generally said they believe Silver has acknowledged his mistakes and will handle future allegations differently.

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Want the mayor’s ear? Have a bike? You’re in.

Mayor Michael Nutter will lead a group of bicyclists from Boat House Row, through the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to Love Park for National Bike to Work Day.

Nutter, who will be joined by members of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, will deliver remarks after the ride.

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Homeless LGBTQ youth from three shelters will be performing in an interactive theater festival this weekend. At one performance, city and state legislators will join, and turn audience ideas into policy proposals. A similar Legislative Theatre event in Brazil produced policy changes affecting human rights and prison conditions.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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After a series of anti-gay attacks in Manhattan, city and state legislators are joining homeless gay youth in an interactive theater performance based on the real-life experiences of the teens involved.

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  Homeless LGBTQ youth rehearse for Theatre of the Oppressed festival

The “legislative performance” is part of a theater festival presented by Theatre of the Oppressed NYC that will take place this Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19, at the Church of St. Luke in the Field in Greenwich Village. The legislators’ performance will be on Saturday at 2 p.m.

City Councilmembers Daniel Dromm, Jimmy Van Bramer and Rosie Mendez, City Council Candidate Corey Johnson and New York State Senator Brad Hoylman will join three homeless LGBTQ teen acting ensembles from three local shelters geared at LGBTQ youth: The Ali Forney Center, The Door, and the Hetrick-Martin Institute.

The teens will also be joined on stage by a U.S. Housing and Urban Development policy analyst, Homeless Coordinator Samuel Miller and Department of Justice Regional Director Reinaldo Rivera. 

The plays will deal with the issues that the homeless LGBTQ teens face. Katy Rubin, the 27-year-old founder of both the festival and Theatre of the Opressed NYC, said that one of the main topics is the shortage of shelter beds that are safe for LGBTQ youth and being victims of hate crimes in non-LGBTQ shelters for youth.

There are only 80 bed available in LGBTQ-friendly shelters in New York City, for an estimated 1,800 homeless gay teens.

Some of the teens rehearsing. Clockwise from top: Sophie Nimmannit, TONYC Joker, Member of Door Troupe, Kendall (floor). Credit: Theatre of the Oppressed.

The performances in the festival are interactive: the teens act out a scene and then invite the audience onstage to improv, act out, and brainstorm solutions to the issues portrayed in the scene. At the performance involving legislators, the audience’s ideas will be shaped into policy proposals by the legislators, and the audience will vote on the proposals.

In a similar festival in Brazil, this kind of Legislative Theatre has led to policy changes in education, prison rights, and civil rights, Rubin said.

The performance, as well as all other performances and panel discussions in the festival, are free of charge and open to the public.

“We really want everybody’s voice to be part of the dialogue,” Rubin said.

Legislative Theatre Performance

Saturday, May 18 at 2 p.m.

The Church of St. Luke in the Fields

487 Hudson Street

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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Philadelphia police will on Friday hold an “Art of Perception” training seminar at the Police Academy on State Road.

The professional development program trains law enforcement officials to enhance their observation, perception and communication skills by learning to analyze works of art.

Officials said the course – conducted by attorney and art historian Amy Herman in conjunction with Philadelphia police detectives – focuses on the role of perception and observation in analysis.

The skills carry over to investigators’ practices of surveillance, investigation and precise articulation when exchanging critical information.

Officers will perform analyses of George Tooker’s “The Subway,” “Face 2 Face” by JR, Cezanne’s “Life with Apples,” Diane Arbus’ “Two Ladies at the Automat,” “The Cello Player” by Thomas Eakins and Rene Magritte’s “Not to be Reproduced.”

The “Art of Perception” program was first conducted within the New York City Police Department and has since expanded to other local law enforcement agencies.

The technique is also used to train Navy Seals and members of the FBI.

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Many of these men were being monitored by the NYPD due to suspected connections to terrorists, including a top-level Hamas official, according to NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

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A Papa John’s delivery man delivered not pies, but up to $27,500 in cocaine, prosecutors said today.

Cops charged Ramon Rodriguez with delivering cocaine – and even sometimes pizza – in a pizza box while working for Papa John’s.

Officials said he sold cocaine at least 19 times to an undercover cop in Brooklyn.

They arrested him yesterday while he was selling a kilo of cocaine for $27,500 to an undercover officer, according to the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s office.

Dressed in his uniform, he would meet the undercover officer in front of the Sunset Park pizza shop, officials said.

They said he would go inside the store, then come back with a bag with cocaine and an insulated pizza box to hide it.

He was on the job at least part of the time he was selling drugs, prosecutors said – he wore his uniform and told the cops he was interrupting pizza deliveries to bring them drugs.

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The NYPD, the office of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and other law enforcement agencies took down several suspects in a “massive scheme” involving a cigarette smuggling ring. The arrested men were reportedly already on the NYPD’s radar for suspected connections to terrorists.

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  16 indicted in ‘Operation Tobacco Road’

The principal suspects were selling cigarettes untaxed, NYPD Police Commissioner Kelly said, “in a massive raid on the New York Treasuring in the form of cigarette tax avoidance.”

The NYPD had apparently been monitoring the suspects out of concern about the connection some of these men had to a top Hamas official as well as Omar Abdel Rahman, the “Blind Sheik” convicted in a 1995 trial involving a plot to bomb New York City landmarks.

One suspect, Yousef Odeh, reportedly told police he sold 15,000 cartons of untaxed cigarettes, with a total value of $780,000. These 15,000 cartons were sold to just three customers.

Odeh also ran a baby formula business. Over a decade ago, Rahman was one of his investors. He also had personal and financial ties to Ahmed Abdel Sattar, who apparently was a spokesman for the Rahman during his trial and transmitted messages to Rahman’s supporters in Egypt and Afghanistan. 

Another suspect arrested yesterday was Muaffaq Askar, reportedly a “confidante” of Rashid Baz. Baz was convicted in the 1994 killing of 16-year-old Ari Halberstam, when he fired on a van full of of Hasidic students on the Brooklyn Bridge. He was sentenced to 141 years. Baz, who was Lebanese, reportedly referred to Askar as his “Palestinian uncle.”

According to the Attorney General’s investigation, the ringleader of the organization was Basel Ramadan of Ocean City, Maryland, who, with his brother Samir, bought cigarettes in Virginia and stored them in Delaware. Several times a week, Adel Abuzarieh would drive from Brooklyn to Delaware with tens of thousands of dollars in cash to purchase cigarettes from the Ramadan brothers. Abuzarieh sometimes carried over $100,000 in one trip.

The Ramadans’ profits from cigarettes alone reportedly totaled some $55 million, in addition to $10 million from other illegal activities, the Attorney General’s office said.

The crime ring also included New York-based distributors and resellers in bodegas throughout the five boroughs. One of the resellers, Mohanned Seif, also sold cigarettes to grocery stores upstate near Albany and Schenectady.

It’s estimated that New York State lost far more than $80 million in tax revenue due to this cigarette smuggling network.

Kelly noted that “it hasn’t been established yet where the illicit proceeds in this case ended up,” but the NYPD is “concerned because similar schemes have been used in the past to help fund terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah.”

The federal agencies involved in the bust will continue investigating the money trail.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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The Taxi of Tomorrow just hit a road bump.

A judge ruled against the new plan for taxis Wednesday, saying the city’s own codes do not approve the planned ride.

According to The New York Times, a judge ruled that it did not provide a hybrid option as required.

City codes require that officials approve a hybrid option.

The Nissan NV200, which boasts transparent roof panels, would be the new face of the 13,000 cabs.

Taxi and Limousine Commission chair David Yassky said the ruling would not affect the rollout.

“The TLC is acting immediately to ensure that taxi owners will continue to have the option to purchase a hybrid vehicle,” he said in a statement to Metro. “This ruling will not delay the ToT’s implementation.”

The Greater New York Taxi Association had filed the lawsuit against the city’s plans.

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Mayor Michael Nutter was at the Sheet Metal Workers Union Hall in South Philadelphia on Thursday to host the 13th annual Mayor’s Centenarians’ Celebration, a birthday luncheon for Philadelphians aged 100 and older.

“The city is lucky to have individuals from whom we can gather wisdom and knowledge,” Nutter said while addressing the crowd of 108 centenarians.

“The stories you share with your children and your children’s children enrich all of us.”

The celebration’s attendees included longtime West Philadelphia resident Anna Henderson, 113, who is the oldest person in Pennsylvania and the sixth oldest woman in the country.

Henderson, a baseball fan and voracious political observer, has more than 20 grandchildren and has voted in nearly every election in the city.

Also at the celebration was Daniel Rendine, who will be 103 in July.

Raised in South Philadelphia, Rendine is a community activist who founded FDR Park’s Golf Association in the 1950s and loves singing Italian love songs.

The former lawyer once served as the Deputy Attorney General and Assistant City Solicitor for the city of Philadelphia.

When asked what advice he would give to generations that came after him, Rendine replied, “I would say moderation in all things – and to thank the good lord for all he’s done for them.”

North Philadelphia resident Anita Bowen, 103, had similar words of wisdom. “Trust in God and he’ll direct them,” she said.

In 2013, 201 Philadelphians reached centenarian status, bringing the city’s total number of residents who are 100 or older to 452.

Philadelphia has one of the largest centenarian populations in the United States.

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A 24-year-old Bucks County native was killed Tuesday in an auto accident in the Dominican Republic,reports say.

Megan Garven, who taught third graders in the Latin American country, is a a 2007 graduate of Council Rock High School North in Newtown.

Garven’s school, Santiago Christian School, canceled classes on Wednesday and has planned a memorial service for Friday evening, according to its Facebook page.

The accident, in which three others were injured, occurred in Santiago.

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New Jersey and New York might not agree on a lot of things, but they now agree on what age people should purchase tobacco.

New Jersey legislators will also attempt to raise the minimum age requirement to buy tobacco products from 19 to 21, as New York lawmakers promised to do last month.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said preventing youth smoking is now “a regional effort.”

New Jersey state senator Richard J. Codey, who will sponsor the bill, said the joint effort would make it impossible to cross state lines to purchase cigarettes underage.

“Neighboring states need to work together and that is what we are doing today,” he said.

About 14 percent of New Jersey high school students smoke, according to a 2010 study. In New York, the youth smoking rate has been at 8.5 percent since 2007.

“I am grateful that New Jersey is taking our proposal a step further to protect youth from the harmful health effects of smoking,” Quinn said.

The Council is expected to approve the bill this summer, officials said.

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Councilman Bill Green called the School District of Philadelphia “a drowning man.”

“In terms of its performance and in terms of its monetary funding,” he said.

At Thursday’s City Council meeting, Green spoke out against Mayor Michael Nutter’s tax plan, which was introduced Wednesday, that would tax cigarettes and liquor by the drink to raise money for the school district.

“While I support the Mayor’s revenue proposals for schools, they are unlikely to pass the general assembly, and frankly, missed the point,” Green added. “Even if they do, there is no more help coming from the general assembly so there will be a $200 million gap.”

“The city is simply not capable of filling the gap for the current failing system by itself,” he added.

Nutter’s proposal includes a $2 tax hike on cigarettes, and an increase on the liquor-by-the-drink tax from 10 percent to 15 percent. Along with plans for improved tax collections, the city expects to raise an estimated $95 million for the school district, which faces a $300 million deficit.

Green said that the issue today is “far more complicated than throwing more money at the school district.”

He asked: Is the school district just too big to succeed?

“The district continues to propose marginal and incremental change that condemns tens of thousands of students every year to a system that produces proficiency below 40 percent in most neighborhood schools,” he said. “No case for transformative change has been made to significantly improve outcomes for the students in our system.

“When they focus on presenting a realistic budget that balances income and expenditures and provides transformative change we should help,” he said

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Tennis legend Billie Jean King visits students from Little Flower Catholic High School and the Legacy Youth Tennis program at a dedication for new tennis courts built at Hunting Park, as part of the Hunting Park Revitalization Project.

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Starting next month, MBTA riders will be able to get faster, more reliable alerts about when they’re going to be late getting to work, school or just getting around. 

On June 4, the MBTA will relaunch it’s “T-Alerts” program that informs riders when their bus or train is running late or if there are service disruptions, the T said Thursday.

The existing system was launched in 2007.

The new customer notification system was “built to get  better information out faster and more reliably to more people,” the T said. The alerts on the T’s website and in text message and e-mail form will now be clearer and more detailed.

“The MBTA’s new T-Alerts system is built around data structures that enable sharing, encouraging innovative third-party development. It uses emerging standards introduced by Google in 2011,” the T said in a statement.

The more than 50,000 people already signed up to receive e-mail or text message alerts must sign up for the new service to continue to receive alerts, as the old service will be discontinued.

Riders can sign up for the new service on the T’s website.

Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.

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State Sen. Larry Farnese (D–Phila.) announced on Thursday the introduction of legislation protecting Pennsylvanians against frivolous lawsuits, also known as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation.

Farnese said in a release that SLAPPs are suits filed against a person or group in connection with positions they take regarding matters of public interest.

“Despite the legal theories supporting a lawsuit, the true purpose of a SLAPP is to deter critics by burdening them with the costs of a legal defense,” the release states.

Farnese’s bill would allow those who are wrongfully sued to more easily have the case dismissed or to recover attorney’s fees if they win.

“The legal system should protect free speech and not act as a hammer to silence people who speak their mind on important issues and neighborhood development,” Farnese said in a statement.

“The work that is done by our civic groups is essential to every neighborhood and the possibility that we might start losing these important forums is bad for everyone.”

Farnese said he introduce the legislation in part due to the recent announcement of the Old City Civic Association’s closure.

The neighborhood group will disband after 40 years of weighing in on zoning codes and liquor licensing matters due to rising insurance costs associated with lawsuits.

Farnese said he “was especially troubled because Old City had a thorough process for vetting issues before they weighed in publicly, like many other groups in the district.”

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A Roxbury woman accused of extortion to get herself breast implants was taken down by police who set up their own booby trap. 

Deborah Yi, 24, pleaded not guilty to a charge of extortion during her arraignment Wednesday in South Boston District Court, according to the district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors said the extortion victim was driving in the Seaport District Sunday when he brushed Yi with his car as she was walking near Seaport Lane and Congress Street. The victim, who is a lawyer, stopped and talked with Yi who said she OK and the two exchanged contact information.

An hour later, Yi allegedly called the man and said she would not seek charges or go after his law firm if he paid her $7,000 that she intended to use for breast implants, prosecutors said. The man went to state police who monitored the additional 10 text messages and calls Yi placed to the man.

On Tuesday, state police outfitted the man with an audio and video recording device for a meeting between him and Yi at a local restaurant. The man handed Yi an envelope with $3,000 and she allegedly demanded another $3,500 in the next day or two. That’s when state police moved in and arrested her.

Yi was released on her own recognizance. She is due back in court in July.

Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.

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Yale University has been fined $165,000 by the Department of Education for failing to report sexual assaults that occur on campus, according to a Business Insider report.

Yale allegedly did not report four “forcible sex offenses” in 2001 and 2002. Additionally, the school did not explain its policies for alerting students about crimes that occur on campus.

The Clery Act mandates that any school where students get federal financial aid must report crimes on campus yearly.

The DOE investigation into Yale was prompted by a 2004 piece by a law school graduate in the alumni magazine.

The writer, Emily Bazelon, recounted an incident in 2001 when a female Yale sophomore was pinned down by a male junior in a dorm room. The sophomore said “stop” and “don’t do this” while he masturbated on her. Yale’s “sexual harassment grievance board” confronted the junior after she reported the assault, and the junior confessed, but the school never included it in its Clery report.

Bazelon pointed out that this lack of reporting could be responsible for Yale’s low number of sex offenses relative to other Ivy League schools. Yale reported five sex offenses between 2000 and 2002. In the same period, Harvard reported 80 and Princeton reported 29.

In 2001, Yale reported 20 sex offenses.

In response to the $165,000 DOE fine, Yale told the New Haven Register that the school “fully supports the Department of Education’s mandate under the Clery Act and believes that student safety is of paramount importance.”

But they added that because the violations happened several years ago, the “imposition of maximum fines is not warranted.”

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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The Sixth Annual Utley All-Stars Animal Casino Night Wednesday saw Phillies stars Ryan Howard, Carlos Ruiz, Laynce Nix and more help Chase and Jen Utley’s efforts to fundraise for the Pennsylvania SPCA. The event — emceed by Michael Barkann and Susan Barnett — was held at the Electric Factory.

Read Metro’s interview with Chase and Jen Utley here.

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