Two beavers sat in the shallows of the Delaware River eating breakfast as I met Jim Fries, project manager at Riverfront North Partnership, for a tour of the living shoreline at Lardner’s Point Park in Northeast Philadelphia. True to their reputation, the large rodents busily stripped the bark off branches they had clipped from willows
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At the start of December, Philadelphia City Council passed a bill to restrict the use of pesticides on public land. Titled “Healthy Outdoor Public Spaces,” the legislation was originally introduced by Councilwoman Cindy Bass to include an all-out ban on synthetic herbicides. This was later walked back to be a restriction in response to criticism,
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WASHINGTON D.C. – On January 6, a mob of angry Americans marched on Washington and successfully stormed the United States Capitol Building. Two weeks following the insurrection, on the eve of Joe Biden’s inauguration, it was evident that a repeat to the violence and conflict at the Capitol was not possible. Approaching the White House
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My dad used to say, “If you have a simple answer to a complicated question, you’re probably wrong.” In my youth, I strongly disagreed with that sentiment, and, for the most part, still do. Some things are crystal clear, black and white, right or wrong. Saying an issue such as systemic racism or our dependence
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When Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf shut down “all non-life-sustaining” businesses as a public safety precaution in March, Philadelphia created its own list of businesses it deemed essential, which included bike shops. Such was the beginning of a national bike boom throughout the country. As many businesses, like gyms and fitness studios, were forced to shut
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Sally Quigley is not a farmer. But today, at a food distribution event in the parking lot of CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton, she could fool anyone. She looks down at a table heaping with butternut squash and recalls wistfully how she planted this squash and later got to harvest it. Today, she’s proud to
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Before Melissa Torre brainstorms new scents and ingredients for skin care products, she thinks about food. Prior to founding Vellum St. Soap Company, in 2016, Torre spent about five years running her bakery, Cookie Confidential, as well as 10 years managing Tattooed Mom, on South Street. She credits her experience as a chef with sparking
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Far from any port in North Philadelphia’s Fairhill neighborhood are four massive shipping containers, retrofitted with doors and windows. North Philly native Chikrock Gonzalez ,42, converted two 20-foot and two 40-foot shipping containers into a tire shop after the pandemic forced him to close J&C Tire Shop. “The whole idea was, I had a tire
MoreEditorial Assistance from Cory Clark On January 4, 2021, one of the world’s largest security companies, G4S, published an intelligence report detailing the potential risks to Washington, DC, leading up to inauguration. In the report titled “January 2021 Washington, DC, Security Outlook,” G4S warns specifically about the security threats to the United States Capitol on
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In terms of domestic life, I think a lot about what angers me. As a cleaning lady, I’ve had clients who’ve pitied me, and others who’ve barked orders at me while offering me their scraps. I’ve had those who’ve stiffed me. Those who’ve looked down their noses at me. And those people made me mad.
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