July 8: DNC Fence | Silencing Thunder Road | Bok is Back | Loose Booze Blues | Hugs!

The United States Secret Service released a map of road closures for the DNC, and Katie Colaneri has the details. It’s no Pope Fence, but may still be a bit annoying if you live or work near the stadiums.

Over in New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie’s #NJTranspocaylpse rides on. Hopefully the Four Horsemen’s steeds have good shoes, because hundreds of transportation construction projects across the Garden State will shut down today, reports NewsWorks’ Phil Gregory, as the state’s Transportation Trust Fund runs dry. For lots of transportation infrastructure projects, crews can only work in relatively warm and dry weather. It’s not that the guys in neon green vests can’t handle a little cold and rain: roads and bridges only get built right when the conditions permit. The failure to find money now could cost Jersey more later, adding around 10 percent to the total cost of each suspended project. If this keeps up, Thunder Road will be silent, because who can race down Highway 9 with all those potholes?

On top of the old Bok Technical High School down on Eighth and Mifflin, Bok Bar opens this weekend, reports Michael Klein. Last year, the space hosted Le Bok Fin, a pop-up beer garden. The opening of a permanent, seasonal drinking space will surely bring more wrenching recriminations about the closed school’s rebirth as a melange of maker spaces, art studios, and a dramatically viewed rooftop bar. Before you pen an angry screed aimed at a new neighborhood amenity in a barren building, read Kelefa Sanneh’s excellent essay on gentrification.

Over at Governing, the magazine for bureaucracy nerds, Amber Tong asks who benefits from the recent push to deregulate alcohol sales in states like Pennsylvania. A few years ago, I took a look for Slate at how expensive liquor licensing schemes and other booze laws lead to regulatory capture.

Just in time for constantly cramped conditions on SEPTA’s regional rail, our friends at WHYY’s The Pulse remind us that hugging feels good—and reporter Taunya English explains the science behind why. So maybe embrace the squeeze, regional rail riders?*

*Note: Don’t actually do this. This is a joke. Hugging strangers on the train is not okay.

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