Street improvement work will take place in West Philadelphia during the week of May 27th in the areas covered by the 16th and 19th Police Department – including portions of Vine Street, Aspen Street, Malvern Avenue, Wynnefield Avenue and some other areas. The work schedule includes temporary full street closures and parking restrictions. The work will be completed in separate phases – milling, adjusting of manhole covers, and resetting of utility boxes – which will take place in separate activities over the course of the week.  Continue Reading

On Saturday, June 1, the Activities for Community Education in Science (ACES) outreach program at the University of Pennsylvania, is inviting students in grades 3rd-8th to perform a diverse and exciting line-up of experiments. Each student will have an opportunity to perform and discuss several different experiments in small groups, engaging in science demonstrations with other attendees.

Experiments will include:

• Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream
• Balloon-Powered Cars
• Colorful Chemistry
• Gold Nanoparticles
• Separating Dyes with Electricity
• Marshmallow Spaghetti Towers  Continue Reading

Jamie Gauthier

Political newcomer Jamie Gauthier pulled off the biggest upset in Tuesday’s primary election, handily defeating longtime incumbent Jannie Blackwell in the City Council 3rd District race. The win appears to end the 45-year reign of the Blackwell family in the district, which has undergone massive demographic changes in recent years.

Gauthier garnered about 56 percent of the approximately 25,000 votes cast and with no Republican candidate in Tuesday’s primary, the win almost assures her victory in the November general election.  Continue Reading

Plans for the 7-story apartment building coming to the former site of the Christ Memorial Church at 43rd and Chestnut came before the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee on Monday as part of the civic design review process, the final community-focused step before building begins.

Residents could suggest things like facade materials and types of street trees, but it’s unlikely the plans will change much.  Continue Reading

The Walnut Street ramp to I-76 East at 30th Street will close tonight at 7 p.m. for 25 days of construction, according to an announcement by PennDOT. Motorists will be redirected west on Walnut Street, left on 38th Street to University Avenue, and then south on 34th Street to access the ramp to eastbound I-76. The ramp is scheduled to reopen on Friday, June 14 (weather permitting).

The ramp repairs are part of PennDOT’s $103.6 million project to rehabilitate the Chestnut Street bridge over the Schuylkill River and seven other nearby structures, including the westbound I-76 ramp to 30th Street and the Walnut Street on-ramp to eastbound I-76 at 30th Street. The Chestnut Street bridge over the Schuylkill River is scheduled to close for approximately one year beginning in mid-June for major rehabilitation — including steel repairs, repainting and re-decking.

For more information about the project, visit chestnutstreetbridges.com.

Primaries for registered Democrats and Republicans around the city are Tuesday, May 21 in an election that could reshape city politics for years to come.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow. You can find your polling place by going here.

The mayor’s seat and all 17 City Council seats (10 district and 7 at-large) are up for election this year. And in Philadelphia, where Democrats dominate local politics, most races are decided in the primaries.

Instead of providing an exhaustive list of candidates, we have decided to provide links to folks who have compiled a variety of perspectives.  Continue Reading