As a parent of a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old who play baseball in West Philly’s Philadelphia Athletics Youth Sports Association (PAYSA), I know firsthand how hard it can be to find space to play organized sports. The league has grown from 170 kids in 2014 to around 300 today, with a waiting list of 20.
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As the oldest of nine children, Shevy Sputz was her mother’s kitchen assistant in their Brooklyn household. Sputz’s mother, a talented cook and baker, wisely gave her daughter responsibility for making desserts. Decades later, that early family apprenticeship and an heirloom recipe led to the formation of Sputz’s burgeoning Fairmount-based business, Shevy’s Babka Paradise. Although
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The sound of percussion rang out at the Center City headquarters of the School District of Philadelphia as the youth drumline Mad Beatz Philly opened a celebratory press conference in early March. The Black-led, parent-driven organization Lift Every Voice Philly (LEV) was celebrating a major victory: after 18 months of advocacy by parents across the
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On a balmy Friday afternoon in late February, the teens who work at Fab Fits, Fab Youth Philly’s new youth-run thrift store, are waiting for their first customers of the day. A chirp through a walkie-talkie alerts staff member Brianna Valente, 18, to head downstairs to the building’s ground floor. She greets a pair of
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By Julia Lowe and Gabriel Donahue Nature lovers, mark your calendars for Love Your Park Week 2026. One hundred forty park friends groups care for the city’s parks year-round and are calling for volunteers to join the cleanup and beautification days hosted from May 9-17. “I think it’s a great way to be outside with
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“The Price of Everything,” a novel by Philadelphian Jon McGoran, was longlisted for the second Climate Fiction Prize, alongside 11 others in the running for a $13,550 prize. The Climate Fiction Prize is awarded by the UK-based organization Climate Spring, which supports the integration of climate crisis-related storytelling in digital media. “The Price of Everything”
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If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, the plan to renovate Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park in South Philadelphia might have proceeded without significant opposition. Workplace lockdowns and virtual schooling drove people outdoors to get some exercise and socialize in the fresh air. In South Philadelphia, many of them found the park’s shuttered golf course and fell
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State Rep. Chris Rabb, a five-term lawmaker for Pennsylvania’s 200th legislative district, is one of eight Democratic candidates running for the chance to take Congressman Dwight Evans’ vacant seat in the U.S. House of Representatives next year. Rabb has emerged as a progressive option in the lead-up to the Democratic primary in May, with positions
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I would need to book a flight to Portland, Oregon, to see shad runs like Philadelphians once did. That might surprise Delaware Valley residents accustomed to hearing how scarce the once-abundant fish are. But while shad have long suffered in their home range, they have flourished out West. The sleek silver herring is a celebrity
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When entering Cobbs Creek Park at Florence Avenue and Cobbs Creek Parkway, a mural on the sidewalk asks, “How far can you hop?” On an adjacent wooden display, a spinning wheel lists actions inspired by reptiles and amphibians in the creek — slither, crawl, jump — and challenges the player to cross a series of
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