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![Welcome, America. It’s that time of year again! The city’s huge 11-day 4th of July festival kicked off this weekend with a taste of Philly and the first of three fireworks displays.
Tumblrer stacebundles snapped this photo of the bursting lights from Penn’s Landing on Saturday.
-VL
[stacebundles, Welcome America]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lndro66uQG1qbtofko1_500.jpg)
Welcome, America. It’s that time of year again! The city’s huge 11-day 4th of July festival kicked off this weekend with a taste of Philly and the first of three fireworks displays.
Tumblrer stacebundles snapped this photo of the bursting lights from Penn’s Landing on Saturday.
-VL
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A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words. Philadelphia school students silently sharing their thoughts with City Council during Thursday’s budget hearings.
-VL
Photos: JR Smith/NBCPhiladelphia.com
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![Yo Adrian, I Did It. Who knew you didn’t have to actually take part in a sport to make it into its hall of fame. Rocky himself Sylvester Stallone was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame on Sunday.
Thousands of spectators showed up to cheer on Stallone as he was added to the halls alongside Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez. No one can deny what Rocky did to further the sport, but is 20er Cristin McGrath right to say the move is “embarrassing” to the city?
Rocky has been a symbol of what this city is and can be, but is Sly’s addition just sad for us in the eyes of the rest of the country?
-VL
[@CristinMcGrath, Philly Daily News]Photo: Getty Images](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmqi2mYy3c1qfnxkko1_500.jpg)
Yo Adrian, I Did It. Who knew you didn’t have to actually take part in a sport to make it into its hall of fame. Rocky himself Sylvester Stallone was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame on Sunday.
Thousands of spectators showed up to cheer on Stallone as he was added to the halls alongside Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez. No one can deny what Rocky did to further the sport, but is 20er Cristin McGrath right to say the move is “embarrassing” to the city?
Rocky has been a symbol of what this city is and can be, but is Sly’s addition just sad for us in the eyes of the rest of the country?
-VL
[@CristinMcGrath, Philly Daily News]
Photo: Getty Images -
![Woman Fired Over Tweet: Social media specialist Vanessa Williams — not the singer — was booted from her job at the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation for tweeting this:
We start summer hours today. That means most of the staff leave at noon, many to hit the links. Do you observe summer hours? What do you do?
Sure it was from the organization’s account and they do get partial funding from taxpayer dollars, but PR maven and The20 member Annie Heckenberger does hit it on the head.
The company’s CEO says the tweet was “out of line” and that it only partly played into her firing. But could this be a case of being embarrassed by the truth? Here are the tweets the company sent out after the original:
“critical staff stay here all day. Always have someone here from (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) M-F.”
And
“Nobody teeing off today. Too much work to do — short week with Monday.”
Come on now, those aren’t fooling anyone.
-VL
[@anniemal, NBC Philadelphia, Morning Call]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmhlag39YO1qfnxkko1_500.jpg)
Woman Fired Over Tweet: Social media specialist Vanessa Williams — not the singer — was booted from her job at the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation for tweeting this:
We start summer hours today. That means most of the staff leave at noon, many to hit the links. Do you observe summer hours? What do you do?
Sure it was from the organization’s account and they do get partial funding from taxpayer dollars, but PR maven and The20 member Annie Heckenberger does hit it on the head.
The company’s CEO says the tweet was “out of line” and that it only partly played into her firing. But could this be a case of being embarrassed by the truth? Here are the tweets the company sent out after the original:
“critical staff stay here all day. Always have someone here from (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) M-F.”
And
“Nobody teeing off today. Too much work to do — short week with Monday.”
Come on now, those aren’t fooling anyone.
-VL
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![Canada Did Not Annex the Ben Franklin Bridge. If you’ve used Google Maps lately, you may have noticed an odd name pop up over roads like the Vine Street Expressway, Schuylkill Expressway and White Horse Pike in South Jersey.
US Route 30 has been mislabeled by the wayfinding giant as Quebec Route 366. The issue isn’t limited to our area either. US-30, which runs West to East across the country as a patchwork of major and minor thoroughfares, is mislabeled in other cities and states too.
After receiving several emails from readers and coming across loladelphia’s Tumblr post on the issue, we decided to hit up Google for comment. A spokesperson said the issue may have come from an inaccuracy in a third-party vendor’s data:
Google is committed to providing our users with the richest, most up-to-date maps possible. We’ve built our map from a wide range of authoritative sources, ranging from the U.S. Census Bureau to commercial data providers, and have used satellite, aerial, and Street View imagery to help complete the map. Overall, this provides a very comprehensive and up-to-date map of the US, but we recognize that there may be occasional inaccuracies that could arise from any of those sources.
Google says they’ve passed along the issue to their tech team for correction and ask users to report problems when they notice them using the report link at the bottom of every map.
We also looked for the real Quebec Route 366 and it runs just outside the city of Gatineau on the banks of the Ottawa River.
So rest your hearts Philadelphia, we are not going Canadian.
-VL
[Google Maps, loladelphia via mynoxide, Google Help Center]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmfe7zfsvW1qfnxkko1_500.jpg)
Canada Did Not Annex the Ben Franklin Bridge. If you’ve used Google Maps lately, you may have noticed an odd name pop up over roads like the Vine Street Expressway, Schuylkill Expressway and White Horse Pike in South Jersey.
US Route 30 has been mislabeled by the wayfinding giant as Quebec Route 366. The issue isn’t limited to our area either. US-30, which runs West to East across the country as a patchwork of major and minor thoroughfares, is mislabeled in other cities and states too.
After receiving several emails from readers and coming across loladelphia’s Tumblr post on the issue, we decided to hit up Google for comment. A spokesperson said the issue may have come from an inaccuracy in a third-party vendor’s data:
Google is committed to providing our users with the richest, most up-to-date maps possible. We’ve built our map from a wide range of authoritative sources, ranging from the U.S. Census Bureau to commercial data providers, and have used satellite, aerial, and Street View imagery to help complete the map. Overall, this provides a very comprehensive and up-to-date map of the US, but we recognize that there may be occasional inaccuracies that could arise from any of those sources.
Google says they’ve passed along the issue to their tech team for correction and ask users to report problems when they notice them using the report link at the bottom of every map.
We also looked for the real Quebec Route 366 and it runs just outside the city of Gatineau on the banks of the Ottawa River.
So rest your hearts Philadelphia, we are not going Canadian.
-VL
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Philly’s Education Funding Battle Isn’t Over. The School District of Philadelphia finally had some good news Friday about the impending budget apocalypse: cash to restore full-day Kindergarten and SEPTA’s decision to continue offering Transpasses for students.
While it’s easy to rejoice over the news, Mayor Michael Nutter cautioned that the funding battle is not over. Full-day Kindergarten will continue thanks to money from the Federal Title I program. The problem? Title I currently funds other initiatives. So basically, the district is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Nutter says it’s still unclear what line items will be nixed to keep full-day Kindergarten.
SEPTA’s agreement with the district will let officials offset payments for nearly 60,000 Transpasses until next September — ensuring students will have a free ride to school.
Still, Nutter points out the district passed their budget Friday on good faith that $57 million in charter school reimbursements would be offered up. There are also many other initiatives that remain unfunded. Not to mention the almost 1,500 teachers who will get pink slips Monday.
Meaning: the soda/property/parking tax issue is not dead and the fight is not over. Godspeed.
-VL
[@JoshCornfield, NBC Philadelphia, @newskag, School District of Philadelphia]
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![Beer Me, Philly. Philly Beer Week, the huge festival that pays homage to everything hops and barley, starts this weekend. In its fourth year, the 10-day festival highlights all that is great in the region’s bustling beer scene.
Even if you don’t usually drink beer, this is your chance to try out something new and most likely local — responsibly, of course. There’s plenty of specials, so no excuses!
-VL
[@PhillySmurfette, @PhillyBeerWeek, Philly Beer Week]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lm8gr3dubX1qfnxkko1_500.jpg)
Beer Me, Philly. Philly Beer Week, the huge festival that pays homage to everything hops and barley, starts this weekend. In its fourth year, the 10-day festival highlights all that is great in the region’s bustling beer scene.
Even if you don’t usually drink beer, this is your chance to try out something new and most likely local — responsibly, of course. There’s plenty of specials, so no excuses!
-VL
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![Track the Bus Using Your Phone. You know what that picture is above? That’s the location of every bus on SEPTA’s 21 bus route. The transit authority that everyone loves to hate raised the curtains on new web-based tracking systems for its buses and trolleys Thursday.
Dubbed TransitView, riders will now be able to see how long it’ll be before their bus arrives either online or with their smartphone. A text messaging component will also let people get schedules by texting SEPTA and the stop ID to 41411, officials say.
Many riders never thought this day would come, forcing some smart locals to come up with their own mobile system years ago. Finally, it looks like they’re “Getting There.” Sorry, couldn’t resist.
-VL
[SEPTA, @CristinMcGrath, SEPTA Watch, SETPA Fail, iSEPTA]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lm67hiTslU1qfnxkko1_500.jpg)
Track the Bus Using Your Phone. You know what that picture is above? That’s the location of every bus on SEPTA’s 21 bus route. The transit authority that everyone loves to hate raised the curtains on new web-based tracking systems for its buses and trolleys Thursday.
Dubbed TransitView, riders will now be able to see how long it’ll be before their bus arrives either online or with their smartphone. A text messaging component will also let people get schedules by texting SEPTA and the stop ID to 41411, officials say.
Many riders never thought this day would come, forcing some smart locals to come up with their own mobile system years ago. Finally, it looks like they’re “Getting There.” Sorry, couldn’t resist.
-VL
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Once this gets going, raising money won’t be a problem.
That’s what former Pa. Gov. Ed Rendell told Metro writer and 20er Brian Hickey in an exclusive about raising cash to build a
statuemonument to Philadelphia boxing legend Smokin’ Joe Frazier.Newly-renewed boxing champ Bernard Hopkins has in the past offered to pay for a statue at the least, but Hickey says Frazier’s masterpiece could be as large as a life-size boxing ring.
Guess that’ll make up for the fact we only had a statue to a fictional boxer instead of a real legend until recently.
-VL
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![Taco Truck War in the Making? Food trucks have always been a staple in this city, but there’s been a few upscale additions lately — particularly in the Mexican/taco cuisine area.
Food blogger and 20er Jessica Rossi likes La Marqueza when she takes a break from burgers. While others search the city for Iron Chef Jose Garces’ Guapos Tacos gourmet truck.
I volunteer to be the Chairman for any planned throwdown…
-VL
[@burgerbaroness, Drawing for Food, Philadelphia Weekly, Guapos Tacos, YouTube]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lm4fbwHIuj1qfnxkko1_500.jpg)
Taco Truck War in the Making? Food trucks have always been a staple in this city, but there’s been a few upscale additions lately — particularly in the Mexican/taco cuisine area.
Food blogger and 20er Jessica Rossi likes La Marqueza when she takes a break from burgers. While others search the city for Iron Chef Jose Garces’ Guapos Tacos gourmet truck.
I volunteer to be the Chairman for any planned throwdown…
-VL
[@burgerbaroness, Drawing for Food, Philadelphia Weekly, Guapos Tacos, YouTube]
