Haven Philly co-owners Marcus Hall (left) and Chris Scott.

This is a precarious time to open a business, but Marcus Hall believes he may have hit on a remedy for those stay-at-home blues.

Hall and partner Chris Scott launched likely the city’s first board game rental service on Saturday in West Philly (and eventually a full blown board game café near 51st and Baltimore). Haven Philly offers contactless drop off and pick up of board games in the West Philly zip codes of 19143, 19139 and 19104.

We’re talking everything from classics like checkers, Scrabble and Sorry to newer games like Catan and Ticket to Ride and, yes, even Pandemic. They have some 200 games available. Rental costs will be based on the game’s purchase price. Games that cost under $20, for example, will be available for $2.50 per day with a slight discount for multiple days (up to five days total).  Continue Reading

Here’s a great new way to dispose of unwanted clothing and electronics in an environmentally safe way instead of sending them to a landfill.

The City’s SmartCityPHL initiative has recently launched a new pilot recycling program with Retrievr and what’s even better is that your unwanted items will be picked up from your doorstep! Retrievr’s service covers the entire city, all you have to do is schedule a pick-up time with them, then bag or box your items and leave them by your door!

The service is absolutely free for clothing and small electronics pickup, but the company charges a small fee for large electronics like TVs, microwaves, and air conditioners. Note: you can recycle these items for free at sanitation convenience centers.  Continue Reading

Most Penn undergraduates won’t be coming back to campus this fall, the university announced yesterday.

The university revised its plan for on-campus undergraduate housing for the 2020 Fall semester due to continuous spread of COVID-19. The revised plan was announced on Tuesday and now includes very limited on-campus housing for the Fall semester for international students and students experiencing significant housing or personal hardships.

Penn announced earlier this summer that the majority of instruction for undergraduate students would be online during the Fall semester, but the plan allowed for students to move onto campus.  Continue Reading

UPDATE (8/12/2020): Joyce Miller has been found and reunited with her family, according to neighbor reports. We’re still waiting for confirmation from police.

Joyce Miller, 70, has been missing from her West Philadelphia residence since Sunday, Aug. 9, according to police. She lives on the 3600 block of Hamilton Street in the Powelton Village neighborhood and was last seen early Sunday morning. She is 5 feet tall, weighs 150 pounds and is physically very fit, but she suffers from dementia and easily gets lost, according to police.

If you have any information about this person please call Detective George Williams, PPD, at 215-686-3160.

The City’s Streets Department is expected to collect this week’s trash and recycling a day behind the normal schedule beginning Monday, Aug. 10. Residents should set their trash and recycling materials one day later than their regular day. The Streets Department will use Monday, Aug. 10 to only collect recyclables that have been accumulating curbside from previous weeks.

Streets Department crews have been working hard in the last several days to return to a regular trash and recycling collection schedule after significant delays over the past month due to staffing shortages, increased amount and weather. Trash collections have been on or close to a regular collection schedule over the last week, according to Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams. However, recycling collections have been significantly delayed as the Department prioritized trash collections for health and safety reasons.  Continue Reading

A 33-year-old woman was shot several times on the 46th Street platform of the Market-Frankford line just after 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

The unidentified woman was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and her condition is “unknown,” according to police. She was shot several times in the stomach and once in the leg. No weapon was recovered and no arrests were made as of Thursday morning, police said.