28.6 percent of Pennsylvania’s residents are considered ‘obese.’ That statistic makes us 20th in the country (in 1995, our rate was about 16 percent) and will likely be used by soda tax proponents, whenever that becomes a thing again, forever and ever. The executive director of the Trust for America’s Health, which analyzed obesity data from the Center for Disease Control, says some of the statistics are tied to culture, and some to economic factors. It may be no surprise, then, that Mississippi is the country’s fattest: 34.9 percent of the poorest state’s residents are obese. Colorado has the lowest obesity rate, of 20.7 percent. Which proves something PW has been trying to explain for some time now: Jesus makes you fat and pot smoking makes you healthy.

Deadly statistic, meet Reason to Bang Head Against Wall: PennDOT has created a 2-page brochure called the “Philadelphia Cheese Steak Guide,” providing names, addresses and whatever else tourists may want to know about those hot sandwiches I keep hearing about. Since it’s PennDOT, it’s taxpayer funded, and this is considered an outrage.

[And it sort of is. There are plenty of cheesesteak places better or as good as Pat's, Geno's, etc. How come they're not in the brochure?]

Local Philly and Pennsylvania politicians are all over this supposed “They picked Rep. Paul Ryan for their vice presidential candidate” thing. I honestly just got back from a self-imposed media blackout yesterday, so am still trying to wrap my head around it (and haven’t ruled out the decision as a massive conspiracy and/or joke).

Anyway, here’s what Philly Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz said about the new ambiguous Republican duo yesterday: “The Romney-Ryan extreme budget will end Medicare as we know it today by turning Medicare into a voucher program and increasing seniors’ health costs by $6,350 a year,” said Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz. “The Romney-Ryan budget plan would clearly mean that future generations of Americans could not rely on Medicare.”

Added Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman Jim Burn: “Paul Ryan is the architect of the extreme republican budget plan, that would raise taxes for the middle class and turn Medicare into a voucher program, cut investments in education, infrastructure, and important veterans programming, all to fund millions in tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires like Mitt Romney.”

[Notice how you never see Paul Ryan and Eddie Munster at the same place and time?]

45-year-old Steve Barrick was recently arrested after going on a two-month exposing-himself-in-public binge, in Germantown. “In one case, a woman walked past a man she said was fully dressed, only to see him minutes later on the train platform wearing only his boots.” At least he wore boots, though: train platforms can be a bit dirty.

A report says a former Philadelphia police officer was bullied into a 3-year affair with an Internal Affairs boss in order to keep her job.

Philadelphia has its Chief Data Officer, finally. His name is Mark Headd (cool name!) and he says he’s going to begin working on the city’s open data portal.

The Philadelphia Archdiocese, still $6 million in debt, is being forced to sell their $6.3 million Villa St. Joseph, an 11-bedroom Jersey Shore home that spans an entire block in Ventor, New Jersey. Woe is the Philly church! They’ve owned the place for half-a-century, but now, with all the legal fees that’ve piled up, it’s goodbye to all the future The Situation/Philly Archdiocese jokes that could’ve been made.

Philadelphia City Council is awakening from their deep summer hibernation to hold a special hearing about violence at city rec centers. Thursday at 9 a.m., for those interested.

Bad to worse: The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, an accrediting body, has told Penn State that its status is “in jeopardy” in light of the Jerry Sandusky scandal you might’ve heard of from a friend. The warning was based on facts taken from FBI Director Louis Freeh’s report. Middle States is basing their decision not on “the quality of education” the students receive, the school said, but on “governance, integrity and financial issues” related to said report.

The state wants to change the parolee system, of course! Under a new law being designed in the Pennsylvania legislature, halfway houses would only house parolees, “because a decades-old practice known as pre-release will no longer be an option for inmates as of July 1, 2013, according to the law.” Prison: It’s fantastic.

Another study is released, showing nationwide, over 70 percent of Americans favor a voter ID law—and the GOP approves of that study! Of course, as we mentioned last week, most people polled on said law do not understand said law. But who cares? We approve, and that’s all that ever matters!

The Pennsylvania Voter ID court ruling is expected this week.