Police have arrested an 18-year-old man in connection with the rape and robbery near 48th and Springfield on Tuesday night. The man faces 19 charges, including rape, robbery, and kidnapping. Police are not releasing his name because he’s a suspect in other crimes in the city.

Police Captain John Darby said that several agencies were involved in the arrest, including the FBI.

Police say that two teenagers robbed a 32-year-old woman, a teacher, and 40-year-old man at gunpoint at about 10 p.m. Tuesday. One suspect, who police say was 17-19 years of age, then sexually assaulted the woman while holding the gun to her head. The other suspect was a male approximately 14 years of age. Darby said during a press conference this morning that the younger suspect ran away before the sexual assault. The male victim confirmed that report.

Darby said that the search for the younger suspect continues.

Police are searching for two teenage suspects they say were involved in a rape and robbery at about 10 p.m. last night near 48th Street and Springfield Avenue.

The police Special Victims Unit said a 32-year-old woman and 40-year-old man were walking along 48th Street when they were approached by two young males one of whom flashed a black handgun. The two young men led the man and woman to the back of a nearby home on the 900 block of S. 48th Street and robbed them. One suspect, who police say is between 17 and 19 years old, then sexually assaulted the woman.

The first suspect is described as a black male age 17-19, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and wearing a black t-shirt. The second suspect was a black male age 13-14, about 5 feet 4 inches tall and wearing a plaid shirt. Anyone with information can contact the Philadelphia Police Department’s Special Victim’s Unit at 215-685-3251.

As we all know green is in. And I don’t mean the color of Kermit the Frog. Green as in clean, organic, natural. Sarah Holmes brings that idea of natural to a pretty fantastic line of health and beauty products, which she will show off on Saturday at VIX Emporium (5009 Baltimore Ave.) as part of the annual Go West! Craft Fest, which runs from noon to 5 p.m. at Cedar Park and nearby businesses.

Holmes, who owns Gritty City Beauty Co., is putting on a makeup workshop at VIX called Rock that Chartreuse Eyeshadow: Create Your Own Custom Color. Participants will learn how to blend natural mineral eyeshadows into the color you have always wanted. Stop by the workshop at VIX anytime between noon and 5 p.m. and Sarah will hook you up with everything you need. She’ll also show you how to make it happen. The cost for the workshop is $10. Folks can also check out all her products, from natural face wash to organic men’s aftershave.

Go West! will also include an all-day vintage and used bike sale at the friendly neighborhood bike shop Firehouse Bicycles (above Dock Street Brewing). A whole bunch of vendors will be set up in Cedar Park selling all manner of West Philly delights.  Singer/songwriter Loren Gilder will play at 1 p.m. A special children’s program begins at 2 p.m. with Pamela Draper playing kids classics. And, oh yes, there will be face painting and other fun kid stuff. The West Philly band Sour Mash (Facebook page) will play at 3 p.m.

Tonight will be a sort of homecoming for Jon Foy.

Foy, the West Philly house-cleaner-turned-award-winning-documentary-filmmaker, will be at the International House Philadelphia (3701 Chestnut St.) tonight for the Philadelphia premiere of Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, a film that prompted the jury at Sundance to name him “Best Documentary Director.” The screening begins at 7 p.m.

Resurrect Dead follows three Toynbee enthusiasts as they try to solve the mystery of the cryptic, license plate-sized tiles embedded in asphalt streets from Buenos Aires to Boston. The tiles typically contain a cryptic message from referring to the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey and are thought to be named after historian Arnold J. Toynbee.

Philadelphia is a hotbed of Toynbee Tiles and there are a few embedded in the streets of West Philadelphia. You’ve very likely walked over them.

Foy has quit his job as a house cleaner since winning the Sundance award, but the life of a documentary filmmaker is never secure (unless you’re Ken Burns, I suppose), so he could use the support of his friends and neighbors at the screenings. As an added bonus, Foy and the cast will attend every screening to answer questions and talk about the film.

Screenings will also be held:

• Saturday, September 10 at 7pm
• Saturday, September 10 at 9:30pm
• Sunday, September 11 at 7pm
• Monday, September 12 at 7pm

Tickets are $9/$7 for students and seniors/Free for International House members. Advance tickets are available here.

Here’s a trailer:

Resurrect Dead Trailer from Resurrect Dead on Vimeo.

Students returned today to a brand new West Philadelphia High School, which many people hope will serve as a symbol of a new era.

Junior Sydney Dickerson told hundreds of students, alumni and dignitaries, who ranged from Mayor Michael Nutter and State Senator Vincent Hughes to the Philadelphia Eagles mascot “Swoop,” that she hopes the new school building at 49th and Chestnut will help break through stereotypes.

“For some it means a new experience, a new beginning,” she said of the school. “For others it means a chance to prove that they’re smart. For me the new West means a chance to fight the stereotype about us West kids. About how us West kids are stupid. About how we’re bad. Well, that’s not true and I’m standing here to tell people that that’s not true. This new school provides us with the ability to fight that stereotype.”

The student body as well as dozens of alumni, many of whom wore the school’s colors of orange and blue, applauded Dickerson.

Approximately 900 students attend the school. The 170,000-square-foot school has a three-story, state-of-the art design with computer labs, science classrooms, two gyms and an auditorium. It replaces the Gothic-style building that has stood along Walnut Street between 47th and 48th streets since it opened in 1912 and was one of the longest continually operated school facilities in the state.

The new building, along with the designation of West as a “promise academy,” meaning among other things that the school will have extended days and enrichment programs, is an effort to help improve a school with chronically low test scores.

“It’s a brand new day,” State Senator Vincent Hughes told students gathered in the school’s gymnasium, which sits along Market Street. “This is about your future. Don’t let anybody snatch that future from you. It’s yours. Take it.”

The school will benefit the community as well. Its gyms, libraries and auditorium will be open to the public and have separate entrances in an effort to make it a true neighborhood high school.

The school was designed with West’s “academies” in mind. These include special programs in urban leadership, creative and performing arts and business technology.

Nutter reminded students that a new building will only get them so far.

“Great buildings are wonderful, but education is more than a great building,” he said. “Great students are even better.”

No decision has been made about the fate of the old West Philadelphia High School building, which stands in an area that could see much development in coming years.
 

West Philly’s newest bike shop, a branch of the Glenside-based Keswick Cycle, opened this weekend just in time for the return of students to the area. The shop occupies about half of the first floor in the building that formerly housed the Strikes Bowling Lounge at 4040 Locust St. Workers were still moving in bikes and other merchandise Saturday afternoon, but customers were invited in to have a look around.