Paine’s Park, a public skate park adjacent to the art museum, officially opened to the public on Wednesday. Wedged between the Schuylkill River and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the park stretches across about three acres set on the Schuylkill Trail. The park is intended for pedestrians and not just skaters with the inclusion of green space, benches and cobblestone paths.

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A Philadelphia Police officer was arrested Tuesday in a sting operation by federal authorities for his attempt to rip off drug dealers, reports say.

Jeffrey Walker, who was suspended yesterday and may be dismissed from the force, was caught after he shared his plans to rob drug dealers with an FBI informant.

Authorities tailed the 24-year veteran Tuesday as he allegedly planted cocaine in a dealer’s car and then pulled the car over.

During the search and seizure, he stole the dealer’s house key, went to the dealer’s house after the arrest with the informant, and stole $15,000. FBI officials nabbed him on the way out.

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Memorial Day is a day to remember those military men and women who have died while serving the United States and its interests.

As the solemn occasion rapidly approaches, Sears Home for Heroes and Rebuilding Together reminds us it’s also important to take care of our living veterans.

On Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., a group of 15 volunteers will be doing rehabilitation work on the North Philadelphia home shared by Curtis and Robert Reed — a father-son veteran duo.

The Sears Home for Heroes program has raised $17 million in just six years to rehab more than 1,300 veterans’ homes through partners such as Rebuilding Together.

Curtis is an Air Force veteran who served in Japan after World War II and worked at the Navy’s Willow Grove air base upon returning to the U.S. He has lived in his home in the Logan section for more than 40 years.

Robert is an Army vet.

The Sears/Rebuilding Together volunteer team will be installing flooring, painting, landscaping and more at the Reeds’ North Marvine Street home tomorrow.

On the strength of 1,200 to 1,500 volunteers each year, Rebuilding Together’s Philadelphia chapter works on roughly 70 homes annually. The organization often concentrates its efforts on the same street — as is the case with North Marvine Street, where nine homes have received facelifts — or in the same neighborhood.

For volunteer opportunities with Rebuilding Together Philadelphia, visit www.rebuildingphilly.org or call 215-965-0777.

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Citi Bike’s big Memorial Day weekend rollout is just days away, but some people across the city are trying to slam on the brakes.

New Yorkers are famous for having seen it all, but the sudden appearance of bike racks has caused some quizzical looks of late. Come next week, these racks will be stocked with gleaming blue bikes available for anyone to use with the swipe of a credit card. Cycling and green transportation enthusiasts are thrilled, but not everyone is welcoming the development.

Criticisms leveled against the new program have ranged from saying the bikes are too heavy to calling them an outright safety hazard. A number of communities have already been successful in lobbying to have their local Citi Bike racks limited or removed, the New York Post reports—in one case mere hours after the first complaint, as an ambulance had difficulty reaching a 92-year-old West Village co-op resident in need of medical attention.

At least two more racks, also in the West Village, have been moved or whittled down in size in the last few weeks after complaints from neighborhood residents.

But cycling advocate Doug Gordon of Brooklyn Spoke has been vocal in his opposition to the people he and fellow bike enthusiasts refer to as “NIMBY’s,” short for “Not In My Back Yard.”

“I think it’s going to be a really great addition to the city,” Gordon said. “It’s maybe not unlike being around at the dawn of the subway age when people didn’t quite know what to expect.”

Gordon predicted that the program would end up appealing to all types of people, for various reasons: those who struggle to carry a bike up the stairs of a walk-up, but are reluctant to leave their bike out on the street; those who would like to bike to a movie or a sports game without worrying about their bike sitting outside for hours; those who would like to bike to dinner and not have to think about how much they’re drinking or where they’ll want to go next.

“For me, one of the biggest positives is it in a way changes the definition and the discussion surrounding cycling,” Gordon said. “It’s not just people living in Brooklyn and cycling to their so-called ‘hipster jobs.’”

Ultimately, Gordon anticipates the average Citi Bike user becoming “the guy from Jersey getting in to the Port Authority, or someone at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal biking a few minutes up the street to Wall Street.”

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Queens Borough President Helen Marshall appeared confused as to whether John Liu was running for mayor during a Monday event held by the borough’s Democratic Party to endorse Christine Quinn, Politicker reports.

A reporter for a Chinese-language newspaper asked Marshall, 83, if she wished the party had instead backed Liu, who has a solid base of support within Queens. Marshall’s reply seemed to indicate that she was under the impression Liu was running for re-election as comptroller.

She reportedly reacted with surprise when City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz told her he was running for mayor, saying, “Oh, I like him, I don’t know why we didn’t endorse him, then.”

Marshall’s spokesman Dan Andrews later said Marshall misspoke.

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The head of a Beacon Hill church was indicted Wednesday morning for allegedly taking money from the church and intimidating other members during his time in power. 

Edward MacKenzie Jr., 54, of Weymouth, faces charges including racketeering, mail fraud conspiracy, extortion and bribery, according to the US Attorney’s office.

MacKenzie has been director of operations for the Boston Society of the New Jerusalem church, also known as the Church on the Hill, since 2003. Federal agents were seen carrying evidence boxes out of the church earlier this month, according to the State House News Service.

The indictment alleges that MacKenzie looted the church of “its considerable financial assets” through fraud, deceit, extortion, theft and bribery, according to authorities.

MacKenize faces up to 20 years in prison on each charge if found guilty.

Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.

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While plenty of city politicians have recommended Vito Lopez stop his campaign for City Council, most recent among them being Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one City Councilmember has decided it’s time to take action.

Queens Councilman Peter Vallone is calling for city and state lawmakers to cut funding to the Lopez-controlled Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, “unless Vito’s cronies step away from that organization and we get a pledge from Vito not to run.”

Lopez recently resigned from the Assembly in disgrace, after the ethics committee produced a 68-page report detailing sexual harassment allegations made against him by his female staffers. They ranged from staffers contracting pink-eye after being instructed to apply eye drops to Lopez’s infected eyes, to a female staffer being scratched “by one of Lopez’s jagged fingernails” when he tried to push his hand up her inner thigh.

“A lot of people are saying that Lopez should not run, but no one is discussing the power base that he has in that district that allows him to run and be a viable candidate,” Vallone explained.

In the most recent campaign finance filing period, $1,700 of Lopez’s contributions came from employees of the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council.

Vallone also noted that the housing division of the organization is run by Lopez’s girlfriend, and it has consistently been peppered with his hand-picked friends and political allies.

A New York Times report last year noted that the Council’s offices close every Election Day so that employees can vote for Lopez and his chosen candidates.

“This Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council has for a long time been controlled by Vito and his cronies, and they need to go,” Vallone said. “Once they’re gone, once there’s a pledge for Vito not to run, then I think people can discuss whether to fund that group or not.” 

“But until then, nobody in government should do anything to help him run and abuse other women.”

Councilmember Erik Dilan, who had several member items for RBSCC in last year’s budget, declined to comment for this story.

Another steady supporter of RBSCC with member items for the organization in last year’s budget, Councilmember Domenic Recchia, did not respond to a request for comment.

Councilmember Stephen Levin, who once worked for Lopez and also had several member items for the organization in last year’s budget, put out a statement this weekend saying he believes Lopez should “voluntarily step down.”

But Levin said today that he would not support a plan to cut or withhold funding from RBSCC to put pressure on Lopez to drop out of the race.

“The truth is they provide good services,” Levin said, noting the work the organization does with youth programs, homelessness prevention, and seniors. “And so I don’t think that it’s appropriate to allow politics to dictate what programs get funded in that way.”

Vallone conceded that “the organization apparently does some good work.” 

“But so did some other organizations that were controlled by slimy elected officials,” Vallone said. “As with most villains, you have to go after the power source.”

Vallone wants to show voters that Lopez would be impotent on the Council, only harming his districts as legislators refuse to work with him.

“[RBSCC] unfortunately makes him a viable candidate,” Vallone said. “I’ve been wondering for a while why this organization, why Vito’s power base, has been unmentioned and untouched.”

Lopez’s competitor in the City Council race, Antonio Reynoso, noted to Politicker that while Lopez’s political allies outside of Ridgewood Bushwick may be falling away, he still maintains influence in that neighborhood.

Even after the ethics report outlining the abuse allegations female staffers made against Lopez, community members are apparently still standing behind him.

“Who knows if it was just someone making up lies?” one resident told Politicker.

“I don’t believe that’s true,” said another Ridgewood Bushwick resident of the sexual abuse allegations. “I don’t care what anyone says.”

The ethics report details, among others, an incident with a female staffer who Lopez coerced into massaging his hand. When the staffer began to cry, Lopez responded by saying, “I like that you’re holding my hand.” The young woman cried harder. The whole exchange occurred immediately after the staffer told Lopez she was raped in college and he responded by asking her if she “felt guilty.” He got her to massage his hand after telling her he “really believe[d] in her work” but wanted her to show more “intensity” and be more “adventurous.”

Ultimately, Vallone said he does not want a colleague who could potentially do with female staffers in the Council what the report said Lopez did with women who worked for him in the Assembly.

“He clearly does not understand that what he did was wrong, and he’ll do it again if you give him power,” Vallone warned.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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A small tech startup is being threatened with legal action by the New York Times after it created an easy-to-build imitation of the paper of record’s Pulitzer-winning interactive feature “Snow Fall.”

The labor-intensive multimedia project, which interwove text, video, photos and maps into a seamless narrative, was widely hailed as the future of online journalism and reportedly took months to code and create. But entrepreneur Cody Brown had been working on a simpler way to create a similar effect. He decided to build a replica of Snow Fall to demonstrate what his web design tool, Scroll Kit, was capable of.

“I was thrilled when I first saw ‘Snow Fall,’” Brown wrote on his blog. “For the past few years I’ve been working to help publishers break from their templates and craft powerful digital stories. So, instead of tweeting about how awesome “Snow Fall” was, I wanted to do something that would show its admirers that they can do it too.”

Brown posted a video demonstration of the entire process along with a statement saying, “The NYT spent hundreads of hours hand-coding ‘Snow Fall.’ We made a replica in an hour.”

A month later, Brown received a cease-and-desist letter from the Times’s legal team. He took the video down but left the text, and another letter was quick to follow, this one objecting to the use of the New York Times’s name at all. As of Wednesday, the text was still there.

“I emailed Deborah and asked why our claim is considered a copyright infringement, and am waiting to hear back,” Brown posted.

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Herbert and Catherine Schaible, the Northeast Philadelphia couple who prayed over their 7-month-old old baby Brandon last month instead of taking him to the doctor for bacterial pneumonia, have been charged with murder. Brandon died a few days after symptoms appeared.

This charge comes four years after Kent, their 2-year-old son, also died when the parents refused to get him medical attention for the same issue that killed Brandon. The couple belongs to a church that does not believe in medical care.

District Attorney Seth Williams today called the case a “tragedy.”

“Instead of caring and nurturing him,” Williams said at a press conference today, “they ultimately caused his death by praying over his body instead of taking him to the doctor.

The Schaibles were still on probation for Kent’s death from 2009. They have been charged with third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy and endangering the welfare of a child for Brandon’s April 18 death.

Williams said Brandon could easily have been treated with antibiotics. The couple admitted to police they chose to pray instead of seeking medical help after symptoms arose.

Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore called Brandon’s case “eerily similar” to Kent’s case. The day Brandon died, she got a call at home.

“I knew something like this could have easily happened,” Pescatore said today.

Pescatore’s referring to the fact that after Kent’s death, the Schaibles were convicted of involuntary manslaughter, and were sentenced to 10 years probation. As a condition of their probation, they were ordered to seek medical help if any of their children were sick. Pescatore said she wasn’t confident they would.

The Schaibles seven other children have been taken from their parents.

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Amid a series of violent anti-gay hate crimes that have unsettled a city known for its progressive values, New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott has announced an initiative that will ask all public schools to hold at least one anti-bullying program by the end of the school year.

“No student should fear going to school because of bullying or harassment,” Walcott said at a City Hall press conference on Monday, according to DNAinfo. “Given the recent events, I am asking that all schools incorporate anti-bullying lessons into end of year assemblies, programs and curricula to highlight the importance of treating people with respect and dignity.”

The initiative, aimed at keeping kids safe by fostering tolerance, was the brainchild of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Gotham Schools reports. Quinn would become the city’s first openly gay mayor if elected this fall.

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The New York Post sparked the furor on Monday with an article detailing how the guide stopped at a food pantry so tourists could gawk at the people in line. The company charged $45 for the three-hour tour.

Former City Comptroller Bill Thompson hailed the news that the tour had been taken down as “victory” and roundly condemned the tour operators, saying they were “pathetic and despicable.”

“The Bronx and its people have taken incredible steps forward, but clearly this company’s owners are pathetic and despicable,” he said in a statement. “Their tour is outrageous. Tourists from around the country and the world are welcome to the Bronx’s historic communities, vibrant culture and terrific restaurants. But this company should just get out of town.”

Former City Comptroller Bill Thompson today declared victory as the operators of Real Bronx Tours closed their doors under pressure from residents and officials. Thompson called the so-called ghetto tour “pathetic and despicable” for charging tourists $45 to see struggling New Yorkers.

“The Bronx and its people have taken incredible steps forward – creating economic opportunity, safer streets and vibrant communities for all of its people,” said former Comptroller Bill Thompson. “This outrageous tour got what it deserved. The only thing left to say is don’t let the door hit you on the way out of town.”

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A 56-year-old man was killed this morning after he was hit by a train, officials said.

The man was struck by a SEPTA Regional Rail car around 7:30 a.m. just north of the Philmont Station on the West Trenton Line, SEPTA spokeswoman said Kristen Geiger.

Authorities are investigating whether the death was accidental or intentional.

This is the ninth person to be killed by a SEPTA train in 2013. Twelve were killed in 2012.

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One of the original copies of the Bill of Rights is coming home.

The National Constitution Center, just steps away from Independence Hall where the original 10 amendments to the United States Constitution were conceived, will now display one of the 12 surviving copies on loan from the New York Public Library.

In an agreement between the library and the Commonwealth, the historic document will be displayed at various venues throughout both New York and the Commonwealth for the next 100 years. It will be on display at the Constitution Center from Fall 2014 until 2017.

“For the first time in decades, this historic document will be seen by ‘We the People,’ the people who were granted these inalienable rights and privileges that we are still guided by today,” said Gov. Tom Corbett, who spoke at the museum this morning.

The Federal Government and each of the 13 states received a copy of the Bill of Rights in 1789. Today, only 12 remain.

The library, which obtained the copy in 1896 ,hasn’t displayed the document for extended periods of time due to preservation concerns.

Scholars believe New York’s original copy was destroyed in a fire. Pennsylvania’s copy disappeared in the 19th Century.

The original 10 amendments to Constitution are referred to as the Bill or Rights. The 10 were added after the Constitution was signed at the request of revolutionaries.

Since the adoption of the list in 1791, 17 more amendments have been made.

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Philadelphia Police are looking for a man who they say used an AK-47 rifle to fire shots into a vehicle outside of Purple Orchard’s Gentleman’s Club on South 61st Street in Elmwood May 11.

They are also seeking a second man who drove the getaway car.

Shortly before 2 a.m., May 11, two men were involved in a dispute with the club’s management and bouncers, police said. Both suspects were removed from the club. A few minutes later, the first suspect, armed with a rifle, fired shots into a parked car in the lot. The suspect then fired several more shots inside the club, police said.

The suspect fled in a light-colored sedan driven by the second suspect.

One person was struck. The injuries are not life-threatening.

The first suspect has been identified as Henry Pettigrew, black, 21, 5’11,” 180 lbs., with a thin beard. His last known address is 5538 Belmar Terrace in Kingsessing.

The second suspect is a black male, 20-25 years of age, 5’9″ to 5’10,” medium build, goatee, with a dark hooded jacket over a plaid button shirt, with tan cargo shorts and tan boots.

The getaway car is possibly a Hyundai or Mitsubishi.

To submit a tip via telephone, dial 215.686.TIPS (8477) or text a tip to PPD TIP or 773847.

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According to New York Post exclusive, Mayor Michael Bloomberg had some choice words for Taxi Management CEO Gene Friedman at last week’s Knicks playoff at Madison Square Garden.

Friedman reportedly approached the mayor and inquired after “what is going on with the Taxi of Tomorrow,” the mayor’s proposed taxi-replacement that was shot down by a judge the day before.

The mayor reportedly responded, “Come January 1st, when I am out of office, I am going to destroy your f———ing industry.”

Friedman told the Post he tried to calm the mayor and asked, “Why can I sit down with you and figure out something that works?”

The mayor, reportedly with his face red and his jaw clenched, replied, “After January, I am going to destroy all you f———ing guys.”

As he and a friend walked away, Friedman told the Post he asked his friend, “Did the mayor just threaten me?”

To which his friend reportedly replied, “No, he threatened you twice.”

The mayor told the Post that all he remembered from the night was that “it was a great game.”

Taxi of Tomorrow was Bloomberg’s plan to replace the entire yellow cab system with a more spacious Nissan. Nissan won the right to design the car in an open competition.

The taxi industry challenged the plan in court, and state Supreme Court Judge Peter Moulton recently ruled that Taxi of Tomorrow could not stand because it violated a hybrid-cab option for garage owners.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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The city’s new innovation center, now called District Hall, will partially open next month in an area that city leaders hope will foster the next big idea. 

Mayor Thomas Menino took a tour Wednesday morning of District Hall, located in the Fort Point area now referred to as the Innovation District. The one-story, 12,000-square-foot building will be equipped with modular meeting and event spaces and short term space for start-up labs. The building was built with the purpose of serving as an open space and home base for entrepreneurs to make connections, build relationships, hold programs and events and “just hang out and start companies,” city officials said.

The Hall will open in mid-June with events like Mobile Monday Boston, a large gathering of startups and entrepreneurs in the mobile technology space, and LearnLaunchX, a series of meetups for start-ups working on educational technology. About 275 people are expected to visit the Hall on an average Thursday.

The Hall “is now going to be … one of the most important centers of activity in Boston,” said Tim Rowe, the founder of the Cambridge Innovation Center, who along with non-profit the Venture Cafe, will oversee its daily operations.

The city touts the $5.5 million is expected to fully open in the fall.

“Boston has many important halls – Faneuil Hall, Symphony Hall, many other ones – these places where people come together, inspire us, help us forward. I believe District Hall will follow in that great tradition and be home to some very special achievements and breakthroughs,” Menino said.

When asked about rising rent costs in the area that are pricing some businesses out, Menino said it’s because of the success the city has had in revitalizing the area. He said that there would be an abundance of space online soon, pointing to the various buildings currently under construction in the area.

Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.

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There will be no treetop adventure coming to Wissahickon Valley Park, officials said.

The city terminated the project after community resistance became too big an obstacle to overcome.

Bob Allen, director of property and concessions management for the city’s parks and recreation department, said the city didn’t want to ruin any partnerships with community organizations.

“There was actually a small but vocal group that I think misrepresented the project to the community and got the community to sign petitions against it, and we’re not about getting into adversarial relationships with folks from the community and park users, so we withdrew the project,” Allen said.

In late March, city officials discussed the proposal to build an outdoor adventure course, which included a zip line, on five acres in the Roxborough park.

Neighbors and community groups voiced concerns at a public meeting, pointing to environmental, traffic and vandalism concerns.

He “doubts very much” the project could be resurrected.

Friends of the Wissahickon were not immediately available for comment.

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Hundreds of military and 9/11 families will plant nearly 33,000 flags in Boston Common to support the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund.

According to a spokeswoman, the flag garden is meant to honor Massachusetts’ fallen heroes from the Civil War to present day. The 300 volunteers will continue to plant the flags until Memorial Day.

Gov. Deval Patrick, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Attorney General Martha Coakley will join families and volunteers at a ceremony Thursday morning for the planting of 170 flags, each representing a hero who died in service to the United States since Sept. 11, 2001.

The names of the fallen heroes will be read as the individual flags are planted in the ground.

Follow Morgan Rousseau on Twitter: @MetroMorgan
Follow Metro Boston on Twitter: @MetroBOS

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City Controller Alan Butkovitz easily took Tuesday’s primary with more than 61 percent of the vote — 38,002 votes — according to preliminary election results.

Brett Mandel claimed just over 30 percent of the vote, or 19,103. Mark Zecca garnered 4,917 votes (nearly 8 percent).

Twenty-five candidates vied for three open seats on traffic court. Omar Sabir, Marnie Aument-Loughrey and Donna Derose were the only three candidates to break five digits. Respectively, they earned 22,886, 12,668 and 14,216 votes.

The day wasn’t without drama though. Butkovitz’s campaign obtained an injunction barring Mandel from electioneering. Mandel, who said he was giving a man with tattoos a sticker and jokingly calling it a tattoo, said he was being “neighborly” and that he knows the rules.

For full election results, visit phillyelectionresults.com.

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City election officials said it could take weeks to determine which Boston mayoral candidates will appear on the September primary ballot.

Tuesday was the deadline for candidates to submit nomination papers with the signatures of at least 3,000 registered voters. Election workers will now verify each signature, which may take until the June 25 deadline.

Three hopefuls — Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley, City Councilor at Large John Connolly and former state Rep. Martin Walsh — have already been certified.

The Boston Globe reported that 12 others said they had turned in enough signatures to qualify.

The remaining candidates included city councilors Felix Arroyo, Rob Consalvo, Michael Ross and Charles Yancey; ex-school committee member and neighborhood leader John Barros; radio station executive Charles Clemons; Hyde Park resident William Dorcena; businessman John Laing; Dorchester David Portnoy; former state Rep. Charlotte Golar Richie; community activist Bill Walczak; and Roxbury resident David James Wyatt.

The top two vote-getters in the Sept. 24 primary will face off in the general election Nov. 5.

It’s the first open race for the city’s top job since 1983. The jockeying for position began as soon as Boston Mayor Thomas Menino announced in March that he won’t run for a sixth term.

Menino is the longest-serving mayor in U.S history. He took office in 1993, promoted from his position as president of the city council after then-Mayor Ray Flynn became U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.

Follow Metro Boston on Twitter: @MetroBos

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A former state representative from Lexington who once chaired a House ethics committee pleaded not guilty Wednesday to allegedly receiving a package of methamphetamine at the Jamaica Plain school where he worked as a tutor. 

Stephen Doran, 57, now of Dorchester, was ordered held on $10,000 cash bail during his arraignment for meth trafficking charges, according to the Suffolk district attorney’s office.

State police obtained a warrant to open an Express Mail package that contained the 480 grams of meth. The package was addressed to Doran, but bore the address of Match Charter Middle School, authorities said.

Doran was stopped by state police just after 12:30 p.m. Tuesday when he left the school in his car and opened the package.

Police also obtained a search warrant for his home, where they found another 38 grams of meth, authorities said. Doran is scheduled to face charges for that at a later time.

Doran served 14 years in the State House and decided not to seek re-election in 1994. At the time, he left politics to work at a mortgage program at the former Fleet Bank. According to a biographical note attached to a collection of Doran’s papers in the State Library, he served as chair of the Taxation, Education and Ethics Committee during his time in the House.

“During his 14 years in office, Doran focused on budgetary issues, consumer protection, drug/alcohol abuse, economic development, education, elderly affairs, employment, environmental issues, housing, local aid, social services and women’s issues,” the State Library note said.

Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike

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A 19-year-old man was gunned down in front of Rita’s Italian Ice stand at Stenton and 69th avenues in Philadelphia’s West Oak Lane section Tuesday night.

The shooting occurred just before 9:30 p.m. The teenager was shot in the chest, according to police.

Police on Wednesday identified the victim as Master Street resident Markquine Pickett. Pickett was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 9:39 p.m.

Police reportedly were looking for a silver Chevrolet Impala in which the suspect, or suspects, reportedly fled. The car was last seen heading east on Haines Street.

Investigators were reviewing surveillance videos in the area in an attempt to identify the suspect, or suspects.

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Four people were injured in three separate Philadelphia shootings early Wednesday.

One of the shootings occurred on the 5500 block of Broomall Street in Soutwest Philadelphia about 1 a.m., 6ABC Action News reports. A bicyclist reportedly shot a 21-year-old man in the face as he walked down the street.

The second shooting early Tuesday morning also occurred in Southwest Philadelphia, just a few miles from the first shooting. Gunfire injured a 31-year-old man and a 49-year-old woman on the 6100 block of Woodland Avenue about 2 a.m. following a large fight at a nearby bar, according to Action News.

The third shooting occurred later Tuesday morning in Germantown, where a man was shot multiple times on the 500 block of East Wister Street, NBC10 reports.

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Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks former state Assemblyman Vito Lopez should retire from politics.

Bloomberg said he believes Lopez should not run for City Council given the sexual harassment allegations that forced the assemblyman to resign, the New York Post reports.

“I do not think he is the kind of person we want in the City Council based on what’s reported about his actions,” Bloomberg said.

Lopez resigned on Monday, but the once powerful Brooklyn politician said he plans to run for City Council.

The mayor and Lopez had a close relationship in the past, the Post reports. Bloomberg sought Lopez’s help when he needed to persuade Brooklyn council members to allow him to extend term limits.

The relationship changed when the Department of Investigation released a report in 2011 detailing shady practices at the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, a nonprofit founded by Lopez, the Post writes.

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On the same day that Anthony Weiner announced his candidacy for mayor with a video, a new poll revealed that more New Yorkers believe the former congressman should not run.

When asked if Weiner should run for mayor, 49 percent said he should not and 38 percent said he should, according to the Quinnipiac University poll released early Wednesday morning. The same question last month returned slightly more favorable responses for Weiner: 44 percent said he shouldn’t run and 41 percent said he should.

Weiner still trails only City Council Speaker Christine Quinn among the Democratic candidates. Quinn leads with 25 percent of support from voters, Weiner follows with 15 percent, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former Comptroller Bill Thompson are tied with 10 percent, Comptroller John Liu holds 6 percent of support and former Councilman Sal Albanese has 2 percent.

Twenty-seven percent are undecided, according to the poll.

While Quinn still holds a strong lead, her support has dropped from 28 percent last month.

“With former Congressman Anthony Weiner seeking the Democratic nod, it still looks like Council Speaker Christine Quinn against the guys,” said Maurice Carroll, director of Quinnipiac’s Polling Institute. “But where she once was brushing up against the magic 40 percent number that could get her past a runoff, the wear and tear of the campaign, and possibly the addition of Weiner, are taking a toll on the front-runner.

“This poll says there’s a runoff. It just doesn’t say who’s in the runoff,” Carroll said.

The poll also found that former MTA Chairman Joe Lhota would lose to any Democratic candidate by 61 to 13 percent in a general election.

There is more support for a candidate who would create an inspector general for the NYPD, the poll found. Forty-five percent said they would vote for a candidate who favors an inspector general, 18 percent said they would not, and 32 percent said it would not affect their vote.

The poll surveyed 1,082 New York City voters from May 14-20 with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

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Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes early Wednesday as a three-alarm fire ripped through a church in Lynn.

The fire broke out before 6 a.m. at the El Siloe French Seventh-Day Adventist Church on Liberty Street.

“We started the evacuation of the apartment very early in the operation because of the amount of fire,” Lynn Fire Chief Jim McDonald told WCVB-TV. “We had everyone get out of the rear section of the building and along the right side, and then we went to work on the church.”

Dozens of firefighters from Saugus were called in to help. McDonald said part of the fire was snuffed out when the church’s roof caved in.

No one was hurt. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The church has been the target of recent break-ins, church members said.

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A 21-year-old Wilmington, Del., man was shot several times as he sat on the steps in front of his home Tuesday evening.

The shooting occurred about 6:30 p.m. on the 2600 block of North Madison Street, 6ABC Actions News reports.

A single gunman shot the victim several times in his torso.

The 21-year-old man was taken to Christiana Hospital for treatment. He was last reported to be in critical condition.

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Cops are searching for a man who sexually assaulted a 21-year-old woman aboard a Brooklyn 4 train last week.

The victim was riding a southbound 4 train at about 3 a.m. on May 15 when the suspect exposed himself to her, police said. The man tried to engage in a conversation with the woman while exposing himself. When the woman refused, the suspect grabbed her and forced her against the train door.

When the doors opened at the Saratoga Avenue station, the victim escaped and ran towards the train conductor. The train conductor opened the doors so the victim could get on the train and then closed the doors before the suspect could follow her.

The suspect fled the station onto Livonia Avenue. He is being described as black, in his late 20s, approximately 200-220 lbs. and 6 feet tall. He was last seen wearing a green and blue waist-length windbreaker and dark blue jeans.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577.

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An FBI agent shot and killed a Florida man who turned violent while being questioned about the Boston Marathon bombings early on Wednesday, the bureau said.

A statement from the FBI’s Boston division said the shooting took place early wednesday morning in Orlando, Fla.

“The agent, two Massachusetts State Police troopers and other law enforcement personnel were interviewing an individual in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing investigation when a violent confrontation was initiated by the individual,” the statement read. “During the confrontation, the individual was killed and the agent sustained nonlife-threatening injuries.”

Khusn Taramov, a friend of Todashev, told WKMG-TV in Orlando that Todashev and Tsarnaev shared an interest in boxing and mixed martial arts.

Taramov said he and Todashev were both questioned by authorities for several hours on Tuesday, and that Todashev planned to leave Florida.

“We had a feeling that a worst case scenario, that something like (a shooting) is going to happen,” Taramov said. “He had a ticket to New York. From there, he was going to go home. [The FBI was] pushing him to stay, saying, ‘We want to interview one last time.’”

Taramov said Todashev was not involved in the April 15 bombings, which killed three people and injured 264 others.

Tsarnaev was killed in a police shootout three days after the blasts, after allegedly killing an MIT police officer.

His brother, Dzhokhar, is being held on terrorism charges at a federal medical facility and could receive the death penalty if convicted.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said Todashev had been arrested on May 4 and charged with aggravated battery with great bodily harm. Details about the circumstances of the arrest were not immediately available.

With additional reporting by Reuters. Follow Metro Boston on Twitter: @MetroBos

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A Chester County man is accused of killing his longtime girlfriend at their home Tuesday.

Gregory Twyman, 44, was arrested after he allegedly shot his girlfriend to death inside their East Fallowfield Township home around noon, NBC10 reports.

Twyman is charged with criminal homicide and first-, second- and third-degree murder and weapons crimes in the shooting death of Jamaica Jones.

Police did not immediately release a motive for the slaying.

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