Here’s what to expect from NinetyNine, NewsWorks’ new mayoral coverage blog

Three weeks ago, NewsWorks’ Brian Hickey left his hyperlocal post covering Northwest Philadelphia to pursue a new NewsWorks venture: NinetyNine, a blog covering the mayoral election.
The name, which Hickey confesses is a play on FiveThirtyEight, is a reference to November’s winner being the ninety-ninth Mayor of Philadelphia (or will they be the 125th?). So, what can we expect?
“Curation, comment and coverage,” Hickey says. “It’ll have some edge to it.”
Hickey will be curating and distilling content from all around town with a small injection of playful tone. “I’m going to be very generous with what I hyperlink out to,” he says. NinetyNine, he tells us, will be the city’s “one-stop shop” for election coverage.
It’s not all curation, though. Hickey will lead the charge in terms of original content with a small army of WHYY’s finest — including reporters Dave Davies and Katie Colaneri and WHYY VP of News Chris Satullo, with some help from a field of freelancers. Former WHYY reporter Holly Otterbein recently left the public broadcaster to lead up Philly Mag’s election coverage at its new Citified blog.
We’re perhaps most excited about NinetyNine’s charts and maps, which Hickey says will be provided by a new WHYY/NewsWorks data-journalism project called The Philly Index Project. We love charts and maps.
Check out NinetyNine’s first actual post (complete with a Technical.ly shoutout).