The Jewish Farm School, a Philly-based environmental education nonprofit, recently received a grant to run a series of early childhood garden-based education program in West Philadelphia. The Side Yard Seedlings program is launching May 31 and will offer a dozen sessions on weekdays and Sundays this summer and fall. Children ages 2 to 6 and their caregivers will be gathering at the Jewish Farm School garden at 50th and Cedar for 90-minute sessions to care for plants and for age-appropriate games and activities connected to the cycles of the seasons and the themes of the Hebrew calendar.  Continue Reading

Watson is available for adoption.

Editor’s Note: We are continuing our monthly publications provided by West Philly’s volunteer-run cat rescue organization Project MEOW. This post is about a cat currently available for adoption through Project MEOW and PAWS and also about the importance of keeping your cat away from toxic plants and flowers, like lilies.

Everyone, or almost everyone loves flowers. Especially in the dead of winter, what could be nicer than a big vase full of flowers to make us believe that spring has not abandoned us? Unfortunately, many kinds, including the lovely white Easter Lilies, gorgeous Asian Lilies and even plants in the lily family – Astromeria for example, are highly toxic to cats. Toxic in that they are lethal if consumed and sometimes the damage cannot be reversed even if you get your cat to the vet shortly after ingestion.

Most florists do not mention this in their shops, although Project MEOW gives a shout-out to any florists that DO tell customers that lilies are deadly to cats. Sadly, a few years ago one of our recently adopted cats died from ingesting lilies, so it’s not as unusual as we would like to hope. What do you do if someone gives you a stunning arrangement that contains lilies? Pull them out of the arrangement and give them to a pet-free neighbor.  Continue Reading

The Ed Bradley mural at 949 Belmont Ave. (Photo by Steve Weinik for Mural Arts Philadelphia).

UPDATE: The event has been postponed until Saturday, June 16 due to the weather.

Mural Arts Philadelphia will unveil a new piece honoring journalist and West Philly native Ed Bradley on Saturday, May 19 June 16 at noon at the intersection of Belmont and Wyalusing Streets (949 Belmont St.).

Bradley was best known as a reporter for some 26 years on 60 Minutes. He was the first Black television correspondent to cover the White House and won dozens of awards during his career. That career in journalism began at Philadelphia radio station WDAS. Bradley had also been a public school teacher in Philadelphia, soon after he graduated from Cheyney University.

Bradley died in 2006 at age 65 of complications from lymphocytic leukemia.  Continue Reading

Dominique Oglesby

Police have made an arrest in the killing of 23-year-old Penn State student Dominique Oglesby on March 18 near 52nd and Market. Julius Scott, 25, was arrested on Wednesday morning on the 5700 block of Pine Street, just a couple blocks from the 18th District police station.

Oglesby, who was a senior at Penn Sate and was expected to graduate this spring, was shot and killed outside the Galaxy West Bar and Grill at 52nd and Market on a Sunday afternoon. She was reportedly involved in an altercation with the shooter and another woman inside the bar and called her family for help. After her father and grandfather arrived to help her they were all shot. Oglesby was shot once in the back and died later that day at the hospital. Her father and grandfather survived the shooting.

Police released information on the suspect last month.

The holy month of Ramadan begins this week, and here’s what’s happening at two popular Muslim-owned businesses.

Saad’s Halal at 45th and Walnut will be closed for a little over a month while the owners take their annual vacation. The restaurant closed its doors on May 14 and will reopen on Monday, June 18, according to a sign posted on the window (see photo).

Manakeesh, the Lebanese cafe and bakery across the street from Saad’s, will have special hours until June 16. The restaurant will be closed during the day, but open nightly – from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.. Check out their Facebook page for updates.

The 2018 primary election results are in, and there are no surprises this year for West Philly Democratic candidates.

Incumbent Jim Roebuck beat his opponents, lawyer Jeff Curry and the president of the Kingsessing Area Civic Association Diane Settles, for the State House of Representatives District 188 seat, which includes parts of Spruce Hill, Squirrel Hill, Walnut Hill, Spruce Hill, Garden Court, Beige Block and University City. Roebuck received 56.17 percent of total votes, according to Philly Election Results, the website reporting unofficial election results.

Vanessa Lowery Brown, the incumbent seeking her fifth term in the State House of Representatives, District 190, which includes parts of Cobbs Creek, Belmont, Carroll Park, Cathedral Park, Mill Creek, Haddington, East Parkside, West Powelton, Allegheny West and Lehigh West, beat her opponents Raymond H. Bailey and Wanda Logan. Brown received 64.92 percent of total votes, according to Philly Election Results.

Candidates Joanna McClinton (District 191) and Morgan Cephas (District 192) were running unopposed.

For more election results, including the results by ward and division, go here.