July 15: Water Department updating lead testing methods | PGW eyes LNG expansion | Pokémon GOTV

The Philadelphia Water Department is updating its lead testing methods to comply with the EPA’s guidelines, reports Jared Brey. PWD had recently come under criticism as one of several US city departments who employed testing methods that critics derided as cheats. To learn more about the state context, our colleagues at Keystone Crossroads put together a top-notch reported series on lead contamination in Pennsylvania.

In a scenario that could easily have been the plot of a Veep episode, Angela Couloumbis reports Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Mike Stack nearly succeeded in inserting language into the Fiscal Code that would allow his motorcade to use flashing lights to bypass traffic on the way to events, but the amendment was discovered and removed by Governor Wolf’s staff. 

PGW released an RFP to expand their Liquefied Natural Gas production operations at their Port Richmond and Passyunk locations. A new policy brief from the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at Penn weighs the benefits and risks of the expansion.

Jacob Adelman reports on yet another Brickstone Realty project near Market East: a conversion of the Baum’s Dancewear building on 11th Street into apartments and stores, including a second location for the Devon & Blakely sandwich shop. The building is around the corner from Brickstone’s new mixed-use building The Collins, where Target is opening in a few weeks. 

Philly was awarded $9.3 million in federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits to build 495 affordable homes, Melissa Romero reports.

A week after its debut, the viral hit game Pokémon Go also turns out to be a useful tool for registering voters. The Hillary Clinton campaign is paying to lure Pokémon to various points in cities, and then registering voters there, including in Philadelphia. Also useful: Pennsylvania’s online voter registration page.