August 9: First day of school could be delayed | Home2 Suites, worst new building in city | Mantua collapse | Q&A with Nic Esposito | Regional Rail schedules change

Happy Friday, Streeters. Pay no attention to today’s humid gloom: the weekend promises to be beautiful. Here’s what’s buzzing this morning:

Unless $50 million can fall from the sky, Superintendent William Hite said schools might not be able to open on time, NewsWorks reports. But there is disagreement about where that $50 could even come from. As the Daily News explains, after a lot of talk among politicians and the teacher’s union yesterday the district was no closer to finding another dollar. Plus, as WHYY’s Dave Davies argues isn’t this a moment of leverage with the state, which is contributing next to nothing to help relive Philadelphia’s crisis.

Inga Saffron contends that there’s a new frontrunner in the competition for Philly’s worst piece of recent architecture: Hilton’s Home2 Suites at 12th and Arch that opened this week. So cheap, so strip mall, so unfortunate is its “production” (Saffron won’t even refer to it as design) and presence on this important corner that “the effect is like being handed a plate of plastic play food at a fancy banquet.” Plus, she notes, with the hefty subsidies involved, Philadelphia should have gotten a better quality building in the deal.

A vacant house on the 3600 block of Fairmount Avenue in Mantua partially collapsed Thursday, KYW reports. The house was reportedly slated for demolition today.

The Atlantic Cities has a Q&A with Nic Esposito, founder of The Head & The Hand Press (and occasional EOTS contributor) about the just-published Rust Belt Rising Almanac and the process of making art and community in our post-industrial river wards.

Don’t forget: Several of SEPTA Regional Rail lines will start different schedules on Sunday. Among the changes: More rush hour express trains on the crowded Paoli/Thorndale Line. Check your line’s schedule changes here.

The Buzz is Eyes on the Street’s morning news digest. Have a tip? Send it along. | Follow us on Twitter @EOTSPhilly | Like us on Facebook | Share your Philly photos in our Flickr Group

WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal