We’re a bit late on this, but it would be a shame if we fail to mention this great achievement by one of our neighbors.

Congratulations to West Philly’s Jacob Soll for receiving the MacArthur award, sometimes called the ‘genius award.’ Soll, a history professor at Rutgers University-Camden, is among this year’s 22 recipients of the prestigious award, which recognizes “exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work.” The award includes a $500,000 grant that the recipients will get “no-strings-attached” over the next five years.

Newsworks.org has a great interview with him on this page.

A fire destroyed the third floor of a three-story building at 4006 Market St. this morning. The building houses the Bo Sing Chinese restaurant on the first floor. The fire appeared to have started on the third floor of the building. Firefighters had to cut part of the roof off to check for flames. A cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

We have learned that there were still a number of West Philly residents without power as of last night as a result of Hurricane Irene. Resident Ben Jacobs wrote us that there was no power on the 400 block of S. 43rd Street since 9 a.m. yesterday morning.

PECO couldn’t provide estimates for West Philadelphia in particular, but there are 5,000 PECO customers in Philadelphia County without power today. Director of Communications for PECO Karen Muldoon Geus said in an email that they expect that power to some 90 percent of customers will be restored by Wednesday and the remainder by the weekend.

Help keep us and your neighbors up-to-date on power issues at your place by dropping a comment below.

PhillyCarShare is ending its experiment as a nonprofit and has been sold to Enterprise Holdings, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Many neighbors are probably wondering what will happen to the PhillyCarShare membership and its fleet (26 locations in West Philly) once the sale is finalized. According to Enterprise officials, they are going to retain the PhillyCarShare name, its 25 employees and even expand the fleet, which has been shrinking since 2009.

There was no mention of whether this transaction will affect membership fees and other rates. Currently, a PhillyCarShare residential member pays $15/month ($125/year), $0.25/mile, and hourly rates begin at $4.45.

The Inky quotes PhillyCarShare executive director Gerald Furgione:

“Enterprise definitely saved us. The only thing we regret is that we will no longer be a nonprofit.”

A bill for $2.7 million in back taxes and penalties has apparently led to the sale.

The debate over whether car sharing firms should be treated the same as regular car rental firms, which pay an excise tax in most states for each car rented, has been heating up in recent years and may be behind the sale as well.

Markets/Bakeries

Milk and Honey Market (4435 Baltimore Ave.)
Dec. 24. – Close at 4 p.m.
Dec. 25 – Closed.

Supremo Shop ‘n Bag (4301 Walnut St.)
Dec. 24 – 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Dec. 25 – 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Mariposa Food Co-op (4726 Baltimore Ave.)
Dec. 24 – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Dec. 25 – Closed

Fresh Grocer (4001 Walnut St.)
Dec. 25. – Regular hours (24 hours)

CVS (4314 Locust St.)
Dec. 25 – Store – Regular hours, Pharmacy – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Pubs, restaurants and cafes

Local 44 (4333 Spruce St.)
Closed Dec. 24-25

Green Line Cafe
Baltimore Avenue and Locust Street locations • Dec. 24 – Close at 6 p.m., Dec. 25 – Closed.
Powelton • Dec. 24 – Close at 2 p.m., Dec. 25 – Closed

Cafe Clave (4305 Locust St.)
Dec. 24 – Close at 1ish
Dec. 25 – Closed

Satellite Cafe (701 S. 5oth St.)
Dec. 24 – Close early afternoonish
Dec. 25 – Closed

Koch’s (4309 Locust St.)
24 – 12 p.m. – 8 p.m.
25 – Closed

Beer, Wine and Liquor

Wine and Spirits shops
Baltimore Ave
Dec. 24 – 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Dec. 25 – Closed

Market Street
Dec. 24 – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Dec. 25 – Closed

Brewer’s Outlet (309 S. 48th)
Dec. 25 – 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

University City Beverage (4300 Walnut St.)
Dec. 24 – Regular hours
Dec. 25 – “I don’t know, maybe we’ll open for a little bit.”