When faulty equipment at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) oil refinery caused an explosion on June 21, 2019, Carol White jolted awake and raced downstairs in her Grays Ferry home to investigate. She opened her front door and ash swept into her mouth and eyes, nearly blinding her and blocking her airways. As plumes of
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When York Energy Storage LLC proposed in 2023 to turn the small valley of Cuff’s Run in York County, on the western bank of the Susquehanna River, into an energy storage reservoir, William McMahon, the engineer and energy entrepreneur behind the plan, billed it as a solution to the limitations of renewable energy. As is
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On April 13, the day Mayor Cherelle Parker declared Vegan Cheesesteak Day, the American Vegan Center, headquartered in Old City, held its annual vegan cheesesteak contest, but with a record-breaking challenge: create the longest vegan cheesesteak, totaling 76 inches as a tribute to the revolutionary year of 1776. Vegetarianism and Philadelphia may seem like odd
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Donald Rumsfeld famously, or maybe infamously, once said, “[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
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President Joe Biden visited Philadelphia in 2023 to make a big energy announcement: the Philadelphia area would be home to MACH2, a new hydrogen hub, one of seven nationwide. But a year and a half into the second Trump administration, the project’s future is uncertain. The Biden administration planned to pump $7 billion into regional
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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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