Top 5 stories to watch for in NW Philly this week

Here’s a look at what’s to come on NewsWorks this week:

1. For a minute there, it looked like 2013 would be the first year that Philadelphia wouldn’t be the site of a professional bike race. That minute, though, soon passed thanks to an influential congressman and a slew of sponsors. On Sunday, the first-ever Parx Casino Philly Cycling Championship took place. It’s a new race with a new course and NewsWorks was on hand for it all. Check back Monday for a full recap.

2. Mention Lincoln Drive and two adjectives will quickly come to mind for many city residents: fast and dangerous. To investigate those descriptions, we headed out to that curvy road and others last fall with a radar gun and clocked cars over the course of several sessions. Next week, our speed team will unveil the results of a new investigation that includes several spots around Northwest Philly, many user-submitted.

3. In less than a month, Germantown High School will close for good after nearly 100 years. To mark the end of an era, NewsWorks launched a month-long series set to wrap up on the last day of school. Next week’s installments will cover our conversations will two former alums turned state representatives. One of them, state Rep. Dwight Evans, pushed hard for charter school legislation that some argue paved the way for the district’s school closure lists over the past two years.

4. Last year, The Bridge Way School quietly opened in Manayunk to serve students in the region recovering from drug and alcohol abuse. Next week, the unique school’s second-ever graduation ceremony will take place. We caught up with one of last year’s grads to talk about life since Bridge Way.

5. It’s been missing for half a century. On Monday, a plaque dedicated to Charlotte Lovett Botswick – who, among other things, donated the grounds that Lovett Memorial Library sits upon in Mt. Airy – will be rededicated. The story involves a Manayunk scrapyard and a local resident.