Philadelphia Rabbi David Siff adopted his two cats, Zorro and Chrystal, back in 2003.

"We adopted them when they were tiny infants. I mean, they looked like little rats. They were the cutest things."

At the time, David and his wife, Tanya, were struggling with infertility, and the cats, who had always been inseparable, quickly became part of the family.

"They met each other at the shelter, and the adoption agency, they made us adopt both of them together because they were such good playmates."

When Zorro suddenly fell ill last April, Tanya took him to see the vet. David was out of town, but heard about the visit later.

"He said it was a fur ball, which, when I heard this later, I thought was completely absurd, and I was in shock. But he treated the cat for a fur ball, and Zorro did not get better, he got worse."

Less than two days later, Zorro died of complications from a urinary tract infection. The couple was crushed.

"I was really upset because the vet completely misdiagnosed him, never took his temperature, never did any labs, nothing for his diagnosis. You know, really just gave him a cursory look over and gave him his diagnosis, and we couldn't help thinking that if he had diagnosed him correctly, maybe we could have saved his life, could have treated him earlier and saved his life."

David took the case to the state veterinary licensing board, but they declined to take any disciplinary action. So he looked into suing the vet–briefly.

"It turns out cats are considered chattel, and you cannot sue for more than the value, which would be about 50 bucks at a pet store. So there was just no recourse."

While Siff could sue for the medical bills he incurred trying to save Zorro's life, he can't recover non-economic damages, like pain and suffering, that could apply in human cases. But some advocates, like Animal Legal Defense Fund Attorney Matthew Leibman, are trying to change that.

"It's an archaic way of looking at animals, but the law is often slow to catch up to how social norms have changed."

But veterinarians are pushing back, saying a change allowing people to get non-economic damages is riddled with complications, and could actually end up hurting animals. Adrian Hochstadt is Assistant Director for State Regulatory Affairs for the American Veterinary Medical Association.

"It would bring so much uncertainty and endless litigation over some questions that may seem simple, but when you really think about it, you know, who's a claimant or a plaintiff? What is a pet? How do you measure the emotional bond of one person and his or her animal versus another?"

On a more practical level, Hochstadt says, reform of this kind would forever change the cost of caring for animals.

"If lawsuits are not predictable, we're hearing from insurance carriers that they may not even insure veterinarians in those markets. So, you know, that is a concern. Defensive medicine, which is estimated to be over 70 billion dollars a year in human medicine, we'd start seeing that, unfortunately."

Animal Legal Defense Fund lawyer Matthew Leibman concedes allowing pain and suffering malpractice suits could drive up the cost of vet care, but he says it's not compelling enough to hold back change.

"If we really just saw animals as mere property, we wouldn't spend thousands and thousands of dollars to keep them alive. We would just discard them and get a new one at the shelter. So the veterinary industry certainly benefits from people having a connection, having a relationship and a bond with their animals. So I think it's only fair that when they cause that sort of suffering to someone who's lost a companion animal, that they compensate that person."

But Hochstadt says we shouldn't use human medical malpractice, one of the forces behind the high cost of health care, as a model for reforming veterinary care law.

So for now, David Siff is left – without recourse – to care for his remaining cat, Chrystal, who he says just isn't the same since Zorro died.

"She's much less interesting now. You know, she has nobody to play with. They used to go around. They used to have wrestling matches around the apartment, and now she just kind of sits around."

The move came during SEPTA's board meeting. Deon officially had to resign before another board member could nominate him to Martin's seat, which had just expired. At the same time, another member nominated Martin to replace Deon in his seat. The musical chairs effectively gave Deon an additional two years on the board. He's been there for twelve.

SEPTA Spokesman Richard Maloney says Martin prompted the move.

"He was not sure whether he would want to fulfill another full term. Basically, as the chairman has explained to me, the commissioners in Bucks County wanted continuity in their representation on the SEPTA board."

The maneuvers don't change Deon's role as chair of SEPTA's board. Both Deon and Martin were appointed by the Bucks County Commissioners. Martin himself serves as a commissioner.

Thirty-seven percent of Philadelphia public school students who start 6th grade will drop out but before graduating. For African-American males, that number jumps to 43 percent, and it's 51 percent for young Latino men.

For the past ten months, School Reform Commissioners Robert Archie and Johnny Irizarry have headed the task-force charged with quantifying the problem and finding solutions. Commissioner Irizarry says the report is blueprint for immediate action.

"We don't want the report to sit on a shelf, obviously. We don't want it to be another exercise of the mind. We definitely want it to be a template for action and for transformation."

The report recommends tailoring the curriculum to young black and Latino men, increasing their ranks in honors and advance-placement classes, and doing more early intervention for at risk teens.

In a letter to the school district, federal investigators said Asian students were indeed bullied and attacked at South Philadelphia High School, and that the district needs to settle a complaint filed by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Anil Kalhan is Associate Professor of Law at Drexel University. He says the federal government has gotten involved in such cases before, and can even pursue civil litigation against the district.

"It certainly isn't unprecedented when these kinds of issues with the level of severity that have taken place in this high school has occurred, there certainly have been some instances where the government has sued the school and then in that process entered into a consent decree."

The school district declined a request to disclose the letter, but issued a statement.

"We look forward to working with the Department of Justice to find the necessary solutions to these long-standing issues."

As of last week, 11 union locals in the area were operating without a contract. Some haven't had an agreement in place since 2008.

Pennsylvania State Education Association Spokesman Rob Broderick says long term negotiations have become the norm.

"This is about usual for this time of year. The negotiations seem to be taking a bit longer because of the state of the economy, but there are always a number of associations that start the year without contracts."

Benefits and wage increases continue to dominate discussions between unions and administrations.

Some unions in the area working without a deal are the Methacton and Hatboro-Horsham Education Associations, both in Montgomery County. Methacton teachers voted last spring to authorize its leaders to call for a strike if necessary.

For one night only, bars and coffee houses will donate about a third of their revenue to help people with AIDS through four local outreach organizations.

One of them is Action AIDS. Executive Director Kevin Burns says while medications have made living with the disease more manageable, it's still an epidemic, and it's spread beyond the stigmatized demographic of gay men.

"You know, AIDS is now the number one killer of women between the ages of 18 and 44, and Philadelphia has a national infection rate of five times the national average, so we really see this not only as an opportunity to raise money for services, but also an opportunity to engage the community and to educate them about the need to know their status."

Twelve bars and coffee houses are participating. Some include Fergies, Bike Stop, Cafe Cret, and City Tap House.

The looming teacher shortage was particularly bad at the city's Renaissance schools, which as part of their overhaul were required to turn over at least half of their staff. While some of these schools had nearly 50 vacancies just a few months ago, there were only three teacher positions open as of Tuesday morning.

School District Chief Talent and Development Officer Estelle Matthews says district wide, there are about 100 unfilled posts.

"We're in the process this week of filling those positions. We will definitely hit our mark this year. We didn't have a need to use a lot of externals. Most of our positions were filled with internal teachers that were moved around through forced transfers."

According to the school district website, West Philadelphia High School tops the list of open positions with just five vacancies.

In a rambling response, Carl Greene defended his record on workplace sexual harassment.  Accusations against the PHA head date back more than a decade – to his days as head of the Detroit Housing Commission.  Most recently, former PHA employee Elizabeth Helm claimed earlier this year that Greene made unwanted and aggressive sexual advances on her.  Greene says that's not the case.

"I certainly deny or refute any of the allegations that have been made," he says.  "And I do know sometimes that people could see things totally different from their point of view, and that's what the investigative and litigation process is for is to try to resolve the different sides of the case."

Greene contends PHA is a friendly environment to work in for both men and women, and that some of the claims against him have been grossly exaggerated.

All of the previous lawsuits were either settled or dropped.

Greene says he has nothing to hide.  Despite widespread conjecture about the reasons for his failure to pay his mortgage – which nearly resulted in foreclosure – Greene says he's simply a workaholic who didn't pay enough attention to his personal matters.

"The personal issues about my mortgage was more embarassing and humiliating to me and the cause of great stress," Greene said in an interview with WHYY, "and basically, I needed down time to sort of wrap my mind around the situation that I was dealing with."

Greene did deal with the situation, wiring the money he owed on his mortgage to the bank.  He says he's paid up through October.

As for a pending leave of absence – which a PHA spokesman said could be 3 to 4 weeks – Greene says he's no longer sure he'll take it.  He says he's trying to confront the problems and allegations – including a recent lawsuit claiming sexual misconduct on Greene's part – as a way to restore the public trust in him and his agency.

PHA's board of directors is scheduled to meet next week to discuss Greene's situation.

The series of calamities in Carl Greene's life began with media reports last week that he was facing foreclosure on a condo he could easily afford with his $300,000 salary – and that he'd recently paid a federal income tax lien for $52,000.

Greene disappeared from public view, then released a statement saying he's taking a leave of absence.

PHA Spokesman Kirk Dorn says Greene wanted to address some of his personal problems.

"Well, Mr. Greene felt he badly needed an extended leave to get the rest that he needs, and at the moment, he's looking at maybe three to four weeks," Dorn says.

Greene is now up to date on his mortgage payments, but he has bigger problems, including a lawsuit filed earlier this year by PHA employee Elizabeth Helm.  Helm alleges Greene sexually harassed her and threatened retaliation if she refused his advances.  The allegations include "unwanted touching, grabbing, and groping."  Helm's lawyer, John Elliot, sent a letter to the five members of the PHA board, accusing Greene of serial predatory sexual misconduct, but he says it got little or no response.

Accusations of sexual misconduct against Greene date back much further.  They include several lawsuits from former housing authority employees, and one from his days running the Detroit Housing Commission.  Governor Rendell, who was mayor of Philadelphia at the time, brought Greene on despite the Detroit suit, and defends his decision now.

"The charge in that specific case was serious, as all charges were," Rendell says. "But I didn't think it was serious enough for him to warrant dismissal. And again, I don't want to comment on any additional charges because they're charges, and I think Mayor Street, who remains as chair of the housing authority board, and the board will take what appropriate action that they deem is in fact appropriate"

The Detroit case was settled, and Rendell said Greene transformed what used to be one of the nation's worst housing authorities into, arguably, the best.

In addition, former lawyers at PHA have alleged in suits that Greene kept legal records hidden from the authority's general counsel.  Marcia Allen-Phillips claimed in a suit in 2008 that she was informed about so-called "secret cases" involving sexual harassment allegations that went to an outside lawyer.  Allen-Phillips was fired after just four days on the job.

Dorn says she was dismissed for concealing a past legal problem, which Allen-Phillips said was a minor procedural error that occurred seven years before.

The PHA board meets next week to consider Greene's situation.