Featured Story:
City details contact tracing, warns of COVID-19 second wave
by Kate Dolan Last week, Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley shared the process and status of contact tracing efforts and announced that “the second wave of the epidemic has now reached Philadelphia,” as COVID-19 daily cases increase in the Philadelphia region. The city reached 141 confirmed cases on Friday, July 30 bringing the total to […]
Latest Stories
Crowds, trash overwhelm Wissahickon
By Kate Dolan What is happening at the Wissahickon Park, near Devil’s Pool? On Saturday, August 1, about 30 young people took turns doing flips and dives off the rock towering more than 15 feet above Devils Pool, a small basin where the Cresheim Creek meets the Wissahickon Creek. On its rocky shore, more than […]
Hill native and Juilliard-trained Caeli Smith launches online school for aspiring musicians
by Pete Mazzaccaro As nearly every cultural event in the country was cancelled in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic in March, Chestnut Hill native, Juilliard viola instructor and New York City chamber musician Caeli Smith saw her entire calendar disappear. Everything from concert performances to in-person music classes for New York City public school […]
Piano teacher, Eleanor Sokoloff, dies at 106 after teaching for 83 years
by Michael Caruso When Eleanor Sokoloff died Sunday, July 12, at the age of 106, she closed out a remarkable career as both a piano student and teacher at the Curtis Institute of Music that reached back to 1931. When she entered the elite school on Rittenhouse Square, Curtis had been founded a scant seven […]
Local musician recovers from (most likely) coronavirus
by Len Lear In late June, Germantown musician Charlie Cooper, 70, leader of the Humbleman Band, which has played at numerous music venues in Northwest Philly, began experiencing the widely publicized symptoms of coronavirus — a fever that eventually hit 102.5, fatigue, achiness, nausea, vomiting, blotches on the skin, loss of appetite, headaches and “Covid […]
St. Paul’s newest pastor always sought spiritual path
by Len Lear The Rev. Daniel Kline, 31, the newest clergy member at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill, grew up in Roxborough, the son of a roofer, went to Phil-Mont Christian Academy in Erdenheim, a small school with just a 10-to-one student-to-teacher ratio, and then the University of Valley Forge, an Assemblies of […]
Letters: Discovering Chestnut Hill and removing Confederate monuments
Discovering Chestnut Hill My husband and I are newcomers to Chestnut Hill and are eager to learn all about the area. The Chestnut Hill Local is a great source of information about our town. We read with interest the article in last week’s Local about International Rock Day and the importance of Wissahickon Schist as […]
Crime Report: Man arrested in battery theft attempt
The following crime report is for crimes reported in Chestnut Hill from July 27 to August 2, 2020. July 27 Theft at CVS, 7700 Germantown Avenue. Complainant said four young men came into the CVS store and took approximately $50 worth of various snack foods and left without paying. July 30 8000 block of Cherokee […]
Campus is closed! What now?
Reflections on distance learning at Plymouth Meeting Friends School By Jessica Lember We were a week away from the start of Spring Break and every adult in the Plymouth Meeting Friends School community was tracking the news of COVID-19 and its spread across the U.S. Would PMFS be able to remain open until Spring Break? […]
News:
Crowds, trash overwhelm Wissahickon
By Kate Dolan What is happening at the Wissahickon Park, near Devil’s Pool? On Saturday, August 1, about 30 young people took turns doing flips and dives off the rock towering more than 15 feet above Devils Pool, a small basin where the Cresheim Creek meets the Wissahickon Creek. On its rocky shore, more than […]
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Opinion:
The waiting is the hardest part
As I think back on how the coronavirus pandemic played out in the months since March, I can’t help but be struck by the prevailing changes in outlook from one week to the next. The only thing that has been certain has been uncertainty. In the early weeks of the pandemic, as the Local closed […]
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Community:
St. Paul’s newest pastor always sought spiritual path
by Len Lear The Rev. Daniel Kline, 31, the newest clergy member at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill, grew up in Roxborough, the son of a roofer, went to Phil-Mont Christian Academy in Erdenheim, a small school with just a 10-to-one student-to-teacher ratio, and then the University of Valley Forge, an Assemblies of […]
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Sports:
SCH prepares for football season as pandemic restrictions begin to ease
by Greg Starks While Coronavirus still remains a threat, high school teams across the country are trying to figure out how to work out together while also abiding by the social distancing rules. The summer is typically a time during which football teams workout together to prepare for the upcoming season, but with the virus […]
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Arts & Entertainment:
Hill native and Juilliard-trained Caeli Smith launches online school for aspiring musicians
by Pete Mazzaccaro As nearly every cultural event in the country was cancelled in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic in March, Chestnut Hill native, Juilliard viola instructor and New York City chamber musician Caeli Smith saw her entire calendar disappear. Everything from concert performances to in-person music classes for New York City public school […]
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Business:
Pandemic spurs bike sales, says local ‘spokes-person,’ 87
by Erin Flynn Jay Walter Hudson, owner of Walt’s Bike & Barber Shop at 5128 Germantown Ave., is in no rush to retire. Soon to be 88 years old, his shop has been in business for 34 years. “I’ve worked enough years,” said Hudson, who is still cutting hair in addition to selling bicycles. “I […]