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Read the news of the day in less than 10 minutes — not that we’re counting.
This has been a week of waiting for Philadelphia. Waiting for the snow that never fell, waiting for Jim Kenney to make the obvious official and waiting for the Wing Bowl to cease to exist. Here at Billy Penn we’ve recapped these stories and other important Philly news and combined them with music for a weekly news playlist (scroll to the bottom for Spotify).
“I Got Five On It,” Luniz
City Hall cybersquatting is getting out of control. Ori Feibush owns the domain of his rival candidate Kenyatta Johnson, and the political group 5th Square owns several more domains that are the names of other Council members. The 5th Square says it has dibs on all these domains to make a report cards for these politicians.
“The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy),” Simon and Garfunkel
Slow down Jim Kenney, you’re moving too fast. You should make this mayoral moment last. JUST KIDDING. Kenney is supposedly going to announce his mayoral candidacy but we’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting. He did quit City Council. Now just do it, man.
“Where is My Mind,” Pixies
Just thinking about the Wing Bowl and its early-morning, incessant misogyny is enough to make your mind feel like it’s about to dissolve.
“By The Way,” Red Hot Chili Peppers
State treasurer Rob McCord resigned Thursday, saying it was the right time to re-enter the private sector. Oh and by the way, he’s being investigated by the Feds for alleged campaign theft.
“Pass That Dutch,” Missy Elliott
Guys, medical marijuana could be coming to Pennsylvania. A bill for it got stymied last year, but the politicians could be coming around. Governor Tom Wolf pledged his support for it this week and so did Republican House leader Dave Reed. The bill died because of inaction from the House last year.
“We Like Sportz,” Lonely Island
Billy Penn is teaming up with Fox 29 to host a bracket for Philly’s Ultimate Athlete. You can vote for the final two selections right now, and the first round will start Monday.
“Ain’t Your Right,” Sky Ferreira
As Lyft prepares to launch, even City Council is saying PPA shouldn’t be regulating ride sharing and the state should allow Uber and Lyft here.
“Party Hard,” Andrew WK
New Year’s Eve was the craziest night in recorded history in Pennsylvania if you look at alcohol sales. The state’s liquor control board said we bought more beer and liquor in one day than we ever had. And then Philadelphia followed that up by buying ALL the booze on Monday in preparation for the snow storm that didn’t happen.
“Somewhere Only We Know,” Keane
When Michael Nutter was around Barack Obama last November, he got booed by a crowd at Temple. Such an embarrassing way to be treated around the POTUS. So this time — with Obama in town for a Democratic Congressional retreat — they met on the tarmac at PHL, somewhere as far away from the boos as possible.
“Oops I Did It Again,” Britney Spears
Meteorologists were, uh, less than 100 percent accurate about the forecast when the predicted heavy blizzard turned out to be a light sprinkling. But it wasn’t all for naught. We got to see Nutter wearing hardcore snow gear inside before it had even snowed. And TV weather reporters got to have their fun.
