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Kenney shoots straight on personal life

Also: Jamie Apody's Holocaust history and Congressman Brady's restaurant recs.

Councilman Jim Kenney announces he plans to step down from his office in Philadelphia Pa. on January 27, 2015. Kenney said his last council session with be Thursday. ( DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer )
Councilman Jim Kenney announces he plans to step down from his office in Philadelphia Pa. on January 27, 2015. Kenney said his last council session with be Thursday. ( DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer )Read more

WHILE announcing his plans to resign from City Council yesterday, Councilman Jim Kenney was straightforward about his personal life, saying that he was separated from his wife.

That's quite the change from politicians of the past, who may have kept up appearances, especially ones mulling a run for mayor. By getting his personal life out of the way early, Kenney essentially makes it a nonissue.

Although he did not elaborate, spokeswoman Lauren Hitt told me that Kenney has been separated for years. "He's a very straightforward guy," Hitt said. "There's nothing scandalous here, it's just what works for them." She added that Kenney's wife and kids are private people.

Although Kenney and his wife have been separated for some time, Hitt said that his less-prominent role as a councilman was probably why the information had not been published in the past.

Apody's Holocaust history

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, carries special meaning for 6ABC sports reporter Jamie Apody. On Monday, she posted on Facebook that all four of her grandparents are Holocaust survivors, and that her grandmothers actually knew one another at Auschwitz.

"When I think about what they went through, the horrors they lived through, the sorrow of losing their parents, and siblings, the fight for survival, all because of their religion, I just become overwhelmed with emotion," Apody wrote. "They rose up in the face of evil, they persevered, and because of it, I am here today, and my CHILDREN are here today! And we are blessed to live in a country where we are free to practice any religion we choose."

Apody even got a message from a man from Caracas, Venezuela, who shared one of her grandmother's maiden names. He said that his grandfather was her grandmother's brother and that he had pictures of her grandmother. One Facebook post, reposted to a page for children of Holocaust survivors, made it to South America in less than 24 hours, introducing Apody to a relative she never knew she had.

Brady's restaurant recs

U.S. Rep. Bob Brady was tasked with recommending some Philly faves for Democratic leadership when they are in town looking at national convention sites. Although Brady said he was limited in his recommendations to spots close to the hotel where the likes of Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz will be staying, he offered up such suggestions as the Prime Rib, Pat's Steaks, City Tavern and Warmdaddy's, among others.

"We've got great restaurants. I'm trying to showcase this city," Brady told me.

When I asked if he had any particular favorites to visit, Brady laughed and responded, "I probably go to too many of them."

Getting romantic on 'Steve Harvey'

Downingtown's Omar Harris will compete to see if he's the most romantic man in the country today on "Steve Harvey."

Harris was nominated by his wife of 10 years, Dionna. The two met online while Omar was deployed overseas, and had a five-month email courtship. When he returned for a two-week leave, he proposed. His first wedding gift to Dionna? All of the love (e-)letters they sent to one another while he was serving 6,000 miles away, bound in albums.

Catch "Steve Harvey" at 2 p.m. on NBC10.

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