OK, here’s your chance to read about our vaunted neighborhood Southwest Detective Joe Murray, aka @TheFuzz9143, in action.

Murray and his former partner in Southwest Philly, Sgt. John Hoyt, agreed to serve as doughnut testers for a Philadelphia Inquirer review of Federal Donuts, the “new, fancy-pants doughnut and fried chicken shop in Pennsport.”

Murray on Federal’s Key Lime doughnut:

“It wasn’t overly tart. I won’t eat doughnuts with filling in them – you eat it and it’s all over you. It’s too much, it’s gross,” Murray said. “But this was absolutely perfect – the concept and texture. You get the crust and crumbs from it. It even had the little crisps on it.”

Murray and Hoyt were up front about the stereotype they were playing into, but both said they are way more of coffee snobs than doughnut snobs.

A 21-year-old man was in stable condition this morning after he was shot on the steps of a home near 50th and Florence last night.

The unidentified man told police he was standing in a doorway at 900 S. 50th Street at about 11 p.m. when two or three young men approached him on bicycles. One man pulled out a shot gun and fired once, striking the man on the porch once in the left arm. Police found the victim in the kitchen of the home running water over the wound.

Police said the alleged assailants fled west on Springfield Avenue on bicycles.

The victim described the attackers as black males wearing black clothing.

West Philly-based writer Patrick Kerkstra has penned the most comprehensive article to date on the enrollment issue at the Penn Alexander School (43rd and Locust), the school’s impact on the surrounding area and the possible reshuffling of enrollment patterns at other elementary schools in the neighborhood.

Published at Plan Philly and The Notebook, Kerkstra analyzed block-level census data in the article and concludes that there are actually fewer children in Penn Alexander’s catchment area now than in 2000, a year before Penn Alexander opened. This is possibly good news for parents hoping to get their children into the school because it suggests the overcrowding issue in Penn Alexander’s lower grades may ease without drastic measures such as a lottery or redrawing the catchment boundaries. (Kerkstra has graciously shared his data with us. Click here for a Google doc that has it arranged in very readable tables. Note the tabs at the top for each school.)

He also highlights a serious drawback to the school’s presence in the area. Census data clearly shows that the catchment area, and the school itself, is getting less diverse. As home prices have risen, the number of African Americans living in the catchment has decreased significantly.

Unfortunately, no one from the school or the District would go on the record with him to discuss plans to address overcrowding in the school’s lower grades or the long lines to enroll in limited kindergarten spots.

Kerkstra also goes through the implications of the possible closing of the under-enrolled Alexander Wilson School (1300 S. 46th St.), which was suggested in recommendations to the School District of Philadelphia published earlier this year. The final word on that will likely be announced in the next few weeks.

His article also includes the work of groups addressing school issues, including the West Philly Coalition of Neighborhood Schools, which is working with Henry C. Lea Elementary (47th and Locust) and Advocates for Great Elementary Education, which has focused on shedding light on the enrollment issue at Penn Alexander.

Be sure to read the whole article at Plan Philly here or The Notebook here.

More trees are coming! Here’s a good chance to help make our area greener. Neighbors are welcome to help with the UC Green and The Philadelphia Orchard Project tree plantings and orchard care projects in various West Philly locations starting this week.

The first project is this Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School (58th St. & Lindbergh Blvd.), where you can help with the orchard care, including mulching, weeding, bulb planting and fresh local fruit.

Next week three other projects are scheduled, two for October 25 – at Bartram’s Garden (5400 Lindbergh Blvd.) and Mastery Charter School and Conestoga Playground (53rd & Media) and one for October 29 at Ogden Gardens (Ogden & Preston).

For information about November projects, hours, and to RSVP go here.

Dear readers,

Put your thinking caps on and sharpen your knives. We are looking for spooky, funny, scary or downright outrageous jack-o-lanterns. Our 2011 Pumpkin Carving Contest is underway and we are looking forward to receiving snapshots of your creations. The contest is open through October 28. And don’t forget that local businesses are giving out prizes to the contest winners! For more information go here.

A program run out of Saint Joseph’s University is looking for non-profits and social entrepreneurs who want help in designing or bolstering their online presence.

Beautiful Social is a student-run social media consultancy designed to help non-profits and other entrepreneurs with everything from market research to website usability testing to developing a social media strategy. The idea is to help grow communities and civic engagement online.

The services are free of charge. Students put theory into practice and gain real experience while helping local organizations thrive. Two professors from St. Joe’s communication studies program, which incorporates social justice into its curriculum, oversee the students.

Beautiful Social has worked with a number of non-profits, including the Philly-based Power Up Gambia and InterAct Theater Company since it began last year.

Anyone interested in being part of the program should contact Mike Lyons at jlyons [at] sju.edu.

Full disclosure: One of the professors who oversees the projects is also a co-owner of this website.