Story of the day: Republicans in Tampa said some stuff. It's all so dreary I can't bring myself to provide the full menu of links. So let's just look at the speech given by hometown Virginia hero Rick Santorum. Who trafficked in preemptively-discredited claims about Obama's welfare policies, but everyone expected that. And given Santorum's notable lack of enthusiasm for Romney back in the primary season, it's probably also no surprise that Santorum used the name "Romney" three times in a 1,200 word speech. (By contrast, he dropped his daughter Bella's name five times.) Sums things up pretty well. See you in 2016, Rick!

A pair of stories today about how city schools handle allegations of sexual misconduct. DA Stephen Zappala has announced an investigation into abuse allegations against a school cop that date back more than a decade. Our very own Lauren Daley, meanwhile, has a story on the district's admittedly fumbling response to more recent child-porn allegations against a teacher working with autistic kids.

Did you notice a sort of violent gurgling sound, like 1,000 enema bags being dropped on the floor, yesterday morning? That was the sound of stomachs dropping in newsrooms all across the state that the Harrisburg Patriot-News will be shifting to a three-day-a-week printing schedule next year. For readers outside Harrisburg, this may actually be a good thing: the Patriot-News plans to go all-in on online coverage, and it is of course perfectly positioned to keep track of state politics so the rest of us don't have to. But those of us in the business see job losses a-coming.

You've probably heard that former Senator Arlen Specter is being treated for cancer again. Early reports didn't sound good. But apparently he's out of the hospital now. May he yet take on Death in a game of squash ... and win.

So there's a thing called "The Majority Party PA" which believes that politicians should do what most citizens want them to do. Sounds dangerous to me. But however this newfangled "representative democracy" concept would work, a candidate for statewide office has signed up for it. Still waiting to hear if there's a "Tyranny of the Majority Party" in the offing.