Due to the heat, the School District of Philadelphia has announced that all of its schools will close at 1:30 p.m. today.

Here is the statement from the District:

Due to extreme heat and humidity, all School District of Philadelphia schools will close early today, June 1, 2011.  According to the National Weather Service, the combination of temperatures in the mid 90s and high humidity could create a situation in which heat illness is possible.  The District is taking this excessive heat warning seriously by closing schools at 1:30 p.m. today.  At the 1:30 p.m. dismissal time, routine transportation will occur for students.  The heat advisory in effect until 8 p.m.

The general public and media are urged to monitor the District Web site at www.philasd.org for any updates. Updated information will also be posted on the District’s Information Hotline at 215-400-INFO (4636).

Our first Adopt-a-Pet, a sweet pit bull mix Ruby, has found a forever home. West Philly resident Alon Abramson, who organizes a local runners group called West Philly Runners, adopted Ruby last week after reading about her here. He says Ruby will be joining him on runs around the neighborhoods.

Reader Lulu Todorov, who does volunteer work for the PSPCA’s Animal Care and Control Team, was a great advocate for Ruby. Abramson wrote us that her description of Ruby “was really accurate and helped me with the selection.”

Adopt-a-Pet runs twice weekly, with a cat on Monday and a dog on Wednesday. This week’s cat is Demona and the pooch will be up later today.

Today’s pet is Demona.

Demona is a 6 year-old indoor cat. Her owner is moving soon and looking for a new home for her cat.

Demona likes scratches behind the ears, lazy afternoons in the sun, gourmet catnip and playing hide and seek between the shower curtains. Dislikes: other cats, dogs and sitting on laps.

Demona needs to find an owner who will give her the attention she needs to deal with her weight problem. She cannot be around other cats, as she might eat all of the food.

To set up a meeting with Demona, please contact her owner at demonathecat [at] gmail.com

Do you find it irresistible to pick through (or at least look over) stuff that students leave strewn along the sidewalks or in dumpsters after the school year? If so, WHYY’s Peter Crimmins has a good story for you (see the video below). Crimmins and a West Philly man named “Paul” went dumpster diving recently and came up with some interesting stuff, including a hard drive chock full of everything from Korean dance videos to complete details on a student’s bank accounts.

When picking over stuff, “How far are you willing to go,” Crimmins asks.

This is also a good time to remind folks who prefer to do their used-stuff shopping in a slightly more civilized, but less serendipitous, manner that the big sale of student stuff is this Saturday. The sale, sponsored by Penn MOVES to benefit Goodwill Industries job programs, will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at a warehouse at 3401 Grays Ferry Ave. For $5 you can get early admission and begin shopping at 8 a.m. Sales are cash only and there are no returns.

That warehouse is a little tricky to get to so Penn Transit is providing free transportation to and from any transit stop (except Johnson Pavilion and Fresh Grocer) every 30 minutes. Of course, there are limits to what you can haul onto the shuttle. Refrigerators and large furniture won’t work.

Spiral Q Puppet Theater (3114 Spring Garden St.) is hosting an open house tonight from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

A neighbor, Nancy, wrote us to describe a run-in she had very early Saturday morning. We wanted to pass it along just to keep folks alert. We have edited it for length.

I was sleeping and at 2 a.m. someone was repeatedly “buzzing” my front door. I live at 4702 Hazel, first floor. There are three apartment units in my building and 4 people who lived in the building.

There was a man standing at my door — tall, large (not overweight, but not a small person), black, wearing dark clothes and a dark baseball cap, in his thirties, no facial hair and no glasses. He did not seem intoxicated or insane. I did not open the main doors to the building and I only spoke to him through the glass.

He was holding a little piece of paper which he was acting like he was reading. He spoke very low so it was almost impossible for me to hear him. I could see the paper had just a couple scribbles or numbers on them. He said he was looking for “Lewis” (which is my name, and also on my mailbox in the vestibule). He told me my neighbors upstairs were in the hospital. It was very hard to communicate because of his low talking and mumbling. He said he was a tow-truck driver and he was dropping off their keys to a “Lewis.” It took awhile for the red flags to go off.

I think he was talking low so I would open the door in order to hear him. He wanted me to open the door for the keys (I never saw any keys, nor a tow truck…in fact there was no car running in the street or anything…he was clearly on foot).  He constantly referred to his little piece of paper, saying “Lewis.” Finally my boyfriend woke up and came out and said “who are you and why are you here?” and then we told him he had the wrong address and he left. We were both really frightened. It was all very suspicious. But if I had opened the door I do believe something really bad would have happened.

I called the police to let them know, but regrettably I did not have them come to my building for a report. I was very worried that he would try it down the road to someone else and someone would be hurt. I feel stupid for even engaging with him as long as I did, but I also feel very lucky. I am aware that there have been a string of robberies/muggings in my neighborhood and this guy had a lot of “tricks” so I want people to know and not fall for it and not get hurt.

Thanks for listening. And, by the way, none of my neighbors are in the hospital … they are all fine.

Thanks again and be careful. Don’t answer your door and always keep your door locked, especially if you have slacked off lately.