Ruffin Nichols Memorial AME Church coming down | PA transportation funding | Platt Bridge closure | PICA approves budget | Nutter speaks @ DNC tonight

Is the Ruffin Nichols Memorial AME Church at 11th and Mt. Vernon collapsing or being demolished? Naked Philly reports that the church was sold to a developer last year, and wondered if there had been a partial collapse or if the developers were simply taking the building down in favor of clean-slate development. Commenters noted that the church was recently featured on the “salvage-themed” TV show “Abandoned” on National Geographic.

Turnpike tolls can’t fund all of the state’s transportation improvements and the state law requiring that is driving the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission toward bankruptcy, writes James Dodaro, a former member of the Commission, in an Inquirer op-ed. Dodaro instead proposes increasing tolls to cover PennDOT projects, securing toll revenue as dedicated highway funding, use gas-tax revenue for non-highway infrastructure projects, and for mass transit he calls for restored state funding and giving cities the option to raise revenue independently for their systems.

The Platt Bridge will be closed at 9:30pm tonight through 5:30am Friday morning for expansion joint replacement and relocation of barriers.

Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority approved the city’s proposed 5-year financial plan on Wednesday, the Daily News reports. PICA had been concerned about an award to firefighters as a result of contract arbitration, which is not built into the budget.

Mayor Nutter will speak at the Democratic National Convention tonight, the same night as President Obama. Nutter was originally slated to speak on Wednesday, and as the Inquirer notes, speaking on the same night as the president is something of a promotion. The time of Nutter’s speak has not been made public.

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