Inky and Daily News Cutting 37 Jobs

Inquirer and Daily News to Cut 37 Positions From Edit/Art Staffs. Yesterday afternoon, Victor Fiorillo learned that the Philadelphia Media Network, the papers’ parent company, plans to eliminate 37 positions from its editorial and art departments. Staffers will be offered an optional buyout until February 29th when the remaining cuts will be made based on seniority.

Brass Interfering With Coverage of Inky, DN and Philly.com Sale. A New York Times piece tells us that CEO and publisher Gregory J. Osberg is said to be interfering with the way the Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com have been covering the potential sale of the company to a group of investors organized by Ed Rendell. [New York Times]

Pro Football Talk Founder Points Out Why PMN Struggles. Jeff McLane—the Eagles guy at the Inky—took to Twitter yesterday to lament about the cuts at PMN. He appeared to take a shot at Pro Football Talk, the most popular football site on the web. PFT founder Mike Florio responded by pointing out why he thinks the Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com are struggling. [Crossing Broad]

Protest Your Parking Ticket Online. That’s the idea behind a bill Councilman Bill Green will introduce today. The process of protesting a PPA ticket is excruciating and archaic. Councilman Green’s bill would allow you to contest a ticket via the Internet, fax (in case you’re trapped in 1985), or via snail mail (in case your carrier pigeon is injured). Um, what about text messages? [Daily News]

Pregnant Woman Killed in South Philly. A 24-year-old woman was killed in South Philly last night. She was six months pregnant and had a three-year-old daughter. Police believe she died of blunt force trauma during a home invasion. [CBS 3]

UPDATE: Reports now indicate that the woman was shot once in the head and that she may not have been pregnant (she reportedly had a history of lying about pregnancy). [6 ABC]

It Doesn’t Feel Like Baseball Season … But don’t tell the people lined up at the Phillies box office. Single-game tickets for the Phils go on sale at 8:30 this morning and people have been lined up since 3 p.m. yesterday. Oh, and spring training is a few days away. Let’s go eat.

Broad Street Run Sold Out in Five Hours. If you were pulling your hair out and mumbling obscenities while trying to register for the Independence Blue Cross Broad Street Run yesterday (we were), it’s because more than 30,000 people registered for the 10-mile race in the first five hours it was open. The website experienced some, um, technical difficulties, which may have prevented some people from registering on their first (or second, third, and fourth) attempt. An additional 2,500 racers will be selected from a lottery. [Inquirer]

Sixers Fall to Magic. The Magic shot the lights out and the Sixers looked less than stellar in a loss in Orlando last night. [The 700 Level]