Friday round-up: surprise morning edition

• Mayor Street has appointed a 35-person task force, which will review Philadelphia's school system and make recommendations, especially with regard to whether it's time to return to local control (after five years being run by the state). The group has an immense budget and 3.5 months to make their recommendations. Probably great, but I kept thinking, he could find 35 folks for this and not even one for the Board of Ethics??
  
  
• Speaking of which, the Daily News adds to the finger-wagging over Street's foot-dragging on ethics nominations. They note some prior lapsed deadlines...
  
  
• Continuing the theme, the current Ethics Board ruled yesterday on former tech-czar Dianah Neff's slither into a consulting firm that had done a half million dollars of city business on her watch (see previous, e.g., here). The board said that Neff broke no rules, but opined that they should have been consulted about at least an appearance of impropriety before she took the post. Or, ahem, make the rules more functional. More on the story here.
  
  
• Jill Porter rebuts a close-minded reader by pointing out that everybody pays the price of violence, not just those afraid to open their doors. Apparently a lot of people could use an empathy transfusion.
  
  
• Politicians:
  
  
  
  • The Daily News looks at Rendell's political savvy and how it's served him over the last few years.
    
    
  • The Weldon-Sestak race is now too close to call, according to a new Keystone poll. I thought this was the sleeper of the three hot suburban races, but looks like Sestak has been making things happen! Notable is that people concerned about Iraq favor Sestak over Weldon nearly 3 to 1.
    
    
  • Gar Josephs looks at the recent Council nominations and reveals a little of the back-room deals that got at least one nominee onto the ballot. Also news here that two female Councilfolk, Krajewski and Tartaglione, may both have decided against retiring this year, after improvements in their health. (Also a note that Nutter may use The Shame of a City against his mayoral opponents next year.)
    
    
  • In a somewhat amusing sidelight, apparently Mayor Street is too busy to renew his car registration or get it inspected. Shouldn't *somebody* be benefitting from the lesson of Angel Ortiz's embarrassment? Get real, kids!
  
  
• Finally, Tom Ferrick is getting his official pundit badge, starting a weekly series of podcast discussions on local politics. The first one is already up. Welcome to the cyberwaves!