Over 65 parks across Philadelphia will host volunteer clean-up events on Saturday, Nov. 14 as part of the bi-annual “Love Your Park” Service Day.

Residents are encouraged to join local Park Friends groups and help them clean up parks after a busy summer season, collect leaves for compost, plant trees and flower bulbs, and more.

Clean up events are being organized at many West Philly and Southwest Philly parks as well, including Clark Park (43rd and Baltimore), Cedar Park (49th and Baltimore), Malcolm X. Park (51st and Pine), Barkan Park (50th and Spruce), Carroll Park (58th and Girard), Cobbs Creek Park (Cobbs Creek Pkwy and Whitby), Bartram’s Garden (54th and Lindbergh) and more.  Continue Reading

UPDATE (11/10/2020): Now you can support even more local businesses and organizations through University City District’s West Philly Forward campaign. Legendary local dance group PHILADANCO and Ethiopian restaurant Dahlak are now part of this fundraising campaign. Visit the West Philly Forward webpage to donate directly to participating businesses and organizations.

University City District (UCD) is offering more support to small local businesses and organizations trying to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. UCD has announced a new fundraising initiative, West Philly Forward, which will help many small businesses, non-profits and cultural organizations impacted by the pandemic.  Continue Reading

Philadelphia public schools will not return to in-class instruction until further notice, according to today’s announcement by the School District. The decision was made based on the most recent updates from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH). There has been an upsurge in COVID-19 cases in the city in the past few weeks (740 new cases were reported on Nov. 5 – the highest daily increase since the beginning of the pandemic).

Last month, the School District announced a hybrid learning plan that would allow public school students from kindergarten through 2nd grade to return to classrooms two days a week across the city beginning Nov. 30. However, this plan has now been postponed indefinitely.  Continue Reading

While the presidential election has been the focus of most media in the last several days, here are the results for local politicians.

Overall, 709,767 ballots were cast in the Nov. 3 election in Philadelphia (62.85 percent of all registered voters), according to unofficial results provided by the Office of the Philadelphia City Commissioners. 356,125 ballots were cast at the polls and 353,642 ballots were cast by mail (so far). As of this morning, mail-in ballots are still being counted in the city and it may take a few more days to finish processing them.  Continue Reading

The Philadelphia Police Department has released police bodycam video and 911 calls from last month’s fatal shooting of 27-year-old West Philadelphia resident Walter Wallace Jr. by two police officers, which prompted days of protests and civil unrest in the city.

The graphic video includes footage of the moment the police officers arrived at Wallace’s residence at 61st and Locust, Wallace exiting his house and walking outside, apparently holding a knife, the moment of the shooting and the aftermath when bystanders rushed to help Wallace. A woman can be seen trying to intervene and someone can be heard screaming “He’s mental!” before he was shot. The full video is available here.

Wallace’s family said earlier that he was going through a mental health crisis when 911 calls were made on Monday afternoon, Oct. 19, asking for help because he was reportedly assaulting his parents. The calls were placed by Wallace’s relatives and a concerned neighbor. Continue Reading

The 2020 General Election voter turnout was high in the Philadelphia area, including in West Philly. Dozens of polling places were open in West Philadelphia for in-person voting and long lines were reported shortly after 7 a.m. on Tuesday at many voting locations in the area:

We’re visiting polling sites across West/Southwest Philly all day today. First up: Mt. Olivet Church on N. 41st.

Lines were already long but we came with masks and hand sanitizer to hand out. pic.twitter.com/LNmeBGwW53

— Councilmember Jamie Gauthier (@CouncilmemberJG) November 3, 2020

Lines considerably decreased by 9 a.m. and voting went quite smoothly.  Continue Reading