A still from police video below.

Police are looking for a serial robber who targets Rite Aids and other commercial locations around West Philly.

Police say 49-year-old Cartel Wright (also known as “Kevin Jones”) of the 5900 block of Upland Street is a suspect in at least nine armed robberies dating back to September. Wright allegedly robbed the same Rite Aid on the 5000 block of City Avenue three times between late September and late December. He is also wanted for robbing another Rite Aid on the 5200 block of Baltimore Avenue in mid December and the McDonald’s at 52nd and Chestnut on Monday, Jan. 12.  Continue Reading

Here’s a roundup of some development projects going on in West Philly neighborhoods.

West Philadelphia Earthship

The Earthship is being built from recycled materials. (Photo from West Philadelphia Earthship IndieGoGo page).

A vacant lot at 675 N. 41st Street will soon become the location for the first ever urban Earthship, a completely sustainable building built from recycled materials, Generocity.org reports. The idea of an urban Earthship was proposed by Rashida Ali-Campbell, founder of Yeadon-based nonprofit Love, Loving, Love, Inc., and the lot owner, Thomas L. Miller, liked it so much that he donated the lot to the cause.

The West Philadelphia Earthship will house a Philadelphia branch of Love, Loving, Love, Inc., which specializes in holistic health education. The organization is planning to offer healthy-living workshops and other free community activities in their new Earthship office, according to Generocity.org.

The foundation of the Earthship has already been laid, and the main construction is planned to start in February. It will take about six weeks to complete, but it depends on how successful the fundraising campaign for the project is. To support the West Philadelphia Earthship, go to this IndieGoGo page. For more information about this project, read Generosity.org’s article here.  Continue Reading

Paul Steinke (photo from Linked In)

West Philly resident Paul Steinke, the former general manager of the Reading Terminal Market, will officially announce tomorrow that he will run for City Council.

Steinke’s announcement that he will run for an at-large Democratic seat in the May 19 primary was expected after he stepped down as general manager at the Terminal Market in early December. The announcement is scheduled for Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Field House, a sports bar adjacent to the Market.

The former finance director of the Center City District and the first executive director of the University City District, Steinke, 49, has overseen a 30 percent increase in visitors and $4 million in renovation and expansion of the Market in the 13 years he has overseen operations there, according to a statement from his campaign. Steinke is a 1986 graduate of Penn State University.

Steinke hopes to be the first openly gay person elected to citywide office. He lives in the Spruce Hill neighborhood with David Ade, his partner of nearly 20 years.

All 17 City Council seats are up for election in November – 10 district seats and seven at-large seats.

– Mike Lyons

Hai Street Kitchen Facebook photo.

Hai Street Kitchen, the modern Japanese burrito restaurant, is opening its second location in Philadelphia this week, at the new retail space at 125 S. 40th Street (corner of 40th and Sansom). The opening celebration will take place on Thursday, Jan. 15, with free sushi burrito giveaway to first 300 customers, starting at noon.

The restaurant will officially open on Friday, Jan. 16. It will be open daily, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. (the menu is available here).

Hai Street Kitchen is the fourth eatery at that location. The retail space at 40th and Sansom, which replaced an old church demolished in December, 2013, also houses Dunkin’ Donuts, Zesto Pizza, and Jake’s Sandwich Board.

Flier for missing dog Kara.

Our readers may remember Kara, a black Lab mix with white nose and white chest, that went missing more than two years ago from the Powelton neighborhood. Kara ran away from her home near 36th and Lancaster on December 3, 2012 and was last seen running down Spring Garden Street.

Kara’s owners continued their search for the dog for many months after he disappeared. They posted numerous flyers and ads, including one on West Philly Local.

And here’s great news: Kara was found earlier this week about five miles away in the suburbs! Kara’s owner, Ayse Gürsan-Salzmann, an archaeologist at Penn, says that her dog was sighted and picked up by volunteers at Francisvale shelter in Radnor. “He was found near the railroad tracks at Merion station,” Ayse wrote us in an email.

This is amazing, and we’re very happy that this story has a happy ending.

Kara, who originally was rescued in Turkey and brought to the U.S., looks more mature now (he’s now 3 and a half years), but his owners recognized him right away when they saw him at the shelter.

Check out this video by FOX29 News:

A fire and gas leak were recently reported in two separate incidents within one-block radius.

The residents of Garden Court Apartments at 47th and Pine were temporarily evacuated Thursday night due to a fire in one of the apartments, according to reader reports. The fire was reported at around 7:20 p.m. Fire crews put out the fire, and most of the building’s residents were allowed back in the building an hour later. It’s not known what caused the fire.

A gas leak was reported early Friday morning, around 1 a.m., on the 4600 block of Spruce Street. A pregnant woman was taken to the hospital and several others were evacuated from a house with apartment units where the gas leak occurred. The pregnant woman was taken to the hospital for evaluation. PGW was on the scene to repair the leak, 6ABC reports.