This week’s weather will try to convince us that spring is right around the corner. OK, we’ll take the bait, and remind folks that registration for youth sports leagues is upon us. Here’s a quick rundown of a few popular ones:

• Clark Park Youth Soccer

The registration deadline is March 1. The season runs March 19 through May 21. The cost of registration is $42 for one child, which includes membership in the Friends of Clark Park. Additional kiddos in the same family are cheaper. All the forms you need to make it happen are here.

Each 90-minute Saturday session includes instruction and a game. The league is open to kids 5-11.

• Fairmount Sports Association baseball and softball

Many kids from neighborhood play softball and baseball across the river in the Fairmount Sports Association youth leagues off Ben Franklin Parkway. T-Ball typically involves age groups (boys and girls) starting at 4-6 years old. Girls softball begins at the rookie level with league play for ages 6-10 years of age. There is also a junior–senior level league for ages 11-16 years of age.

Boy’s baseball begins at the Rookie level (7-9), Junior or Pony League (10-12) and Senior league (13-16). Travel teams will be made up upon coaches and players availability.

You’ve already missed the early bird registration for this one, so it will cost you an extra $10 to register now. Online registration is available here. Walk-in registration is also available at the FSA building near the fields every Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon and Tuesday/Thursday 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

• Taney Youth baseball and softball

This league headquartered in South Philadelphia is also a popular one for neighborhood kids. The league plays its games on a number of fields in Center City. Opening day is April 9. Early bird registration is closed for this one too. But be quick because there is a cap on the number of players that will be allowed to register. The league is trying to get everyone to register online here. The registration fee is $90 for the first child and $80 for each additional child. The league is open to kids ages 3-15.

A few protesters from today’s rally camped out on a crane parked nearby that was brought in for the demolition. (Photo by Mike Lyons)

Residents and protesters are back at the Windermere Court Apartments at 48th and Walnut this morning to rally for permission to reenter the building. Unfortunately,  the demolition crews are there too.

Reports come out of the protests now are that the city is pressing for the demolition of the building and that the owners are lobbying to stop it. Several residents who have snuck into the building in recent days to retrieve their belongings have said that many of the apartments have been ransacked by looters.

Former residents want to get into the building to look for lost pets and belongings left behind after the fire. The city has declared the building “imminently unsafe” and the absentee owners, who have not communicated with residents, have ordered the building to be demolished.

Here is an interview with one of the organizers and a former resident, J.B. Farley:

One of the mummies that will be on display at the Penn Museum beginning Friday.

As you might have heard, the mummies have made it. The Penn Museum’s “Secrets of the Silk Road” exhibit will be closed today through Friday, February 18 so that the museum can prepare artifacts and mummies from China that the Chinese government forbade it from displaying.

The exhibit opened to much fanfare last week, but about 100 pieces, including two mummies, were missing, prompting the museum to waive the $22.50 admission price when the exhibit opened on Feb. 5. The fragile artifacts are up to 3,800 years old.

The exhibit reopens on Friday at 1 p.m. mummies and all. The full exhibit runs through March 15. But then the mummies are back on the road and will not be part of the exhibit from March 17 to its close on March 28.

For the full background on the mummies controversy see this story from the Inquirer.

About 150 people gathered outside the Windermere Court Apartments at the intersection of 48th and Walnut Streets this afternoon to call for the building’s owners to let former residents in to gather their belongings and pets left behind after a devastating fire last month.

Protesters blocked the intersection, prompting police to close streets within a block of the building. Demolition of the Windermere Court building is scheduled to begin Monday. The organizers of the protest said they will file a court injunction Monday to stop the demolition until residents are allowed to enter the building to retrieve their belongings and look for pets, mostly cats, that are still missing after the January 10 fire. No one was injured in the fire.

The organizers also called on protesters to return to the building on Monday at 8:45 a.m. to continue the demonstration.

“People’s pets are in there,” said one organizer. “Their family heirlooms are in there. The ashes of their relatives in urns are in there.”

The city Department of Licenses and Inspections (L and I) has deemed the building “imminently dangerous,” which has led to the decision to demolish it. L and I offiicials have said that the owners of the building must decide whether residents can reenter. So far the owner, which residents say is nearly impossible to reach, has not granted that authorization.

The Walnut Hill Community Association has been very helpful to the former residents of the Windermere. Residents have advised us that any call for donations should go to Walnut Hill CA. They have a page set up for donations here.

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell stood with the protesters. Blackwell has pressed the city on behalf of the former residents.

Here is a slideshow of Saturday’s protest, which lasted from 2 p.m. to about 3 p.m.

I caught up with former longtime Windermere Court resident Patricia Brightful earlier this week at a Red Cross function in Center City at which she and a few other residents spoke. She talks about how residents are trying to maintain contact with one another and their efforts to get answers about the fate of the building and their belongings still inside.

Demolition of the building is scheduled to begin Monday. A rally will be held today at 2 p.m. outside the building at 48th and Walnut.

A spokesman for the mayor’s office told West Philly Local today that the demolition of the Windermere Court Apartments at 48th and Walnut Streets in West Philadelphia will begin Monday.

“The city and the owner have come to agreement and the building demolition will commence on Monday,” said Mark McDonald, a spokesman in Mayor Michael Nutter’s office. “The property owner is the one to talk to about the retrieval of anything inside the building. It is structurally unsound and has been declared imminently dangerous by Licenses and Inspections. But again, it’s under the owner’s control.”

The Windermere Court building was partially destroyed by fire on January 10. Residents have been pressing city officials and the owners of the building for access to retrieve their belongings and search for pets, which they have been denied. A barbed wire fence was erected around much of the building.

Many residents have organized their own security for the building to watch over what might remain from their belongings and to look for pets that were left behind during the fire and may still be alive.

“My biggest frustration is that we know that there are still pets in there alive,” said Lara Figueroa, a former Windermere resident.

Residents and the animal rescue group City Kitties are holding a rally tomorrow at 2 p.m. to protest the lack of information and cooperation from the building’s owners, who were not available for comment.