Update 2: Tonya Dixon, the mother accused of abducting her 2-day-old baby from HUP yesterday, has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child recklessly endangering another person.

Update: Police found the child and his mother at about 5 p.m. on the 6000 block of Kingsessing Avenue. The mother is currently in police custody. No charges have been filed yet. The baby will be returned to HUP.

Police are searching for a 39-year-old woman who abducted her 2-day-old boy at about noon today from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The child is a black male who, police say, needs medical attention and had been in the custody of the Department of Human Services.

The child was wearing a diaper and a one-piece outfit and an alarm censor was attached to the child’s umbilical cord. Police say the child was taken by 39-year-old Tonya Dixon, who is described as a black female last seen wearing cream-colored pants, a yellow shirt, black jacket and a long black wig. Police say Dixon left with the child in a silver Dodge four-door sedan that was driven by an unidentified person. A police source said the mother is “extremely unfit” to care for the child but did not elaborate.

Anyone with information about the abduction is urged to call 911.

Market Street Promenade? Cliff Lee Commons?

We’re trying to think of a name for the new, soon-to-be opened public space outside of 30th Street Station that is the reason behind all of that construction over the last couple of months. The University City District needs your help in naming it. What’s in it for you? Bragging rights and a $500 Amtrak gift card.

The space will includes lots of seating and trees and plants, turning what has been one of the least pedestrian-friendly parts of the city into a gathering spot complete with activities like musical performances. The space should be complete by Labor Day weekend.

OK, back to the name thing. You can submit as many names as you like, but they must be submitted separately. If a name is chosen that has duplicate entries, one will be randomly selected. The entry deadline is midnight on Sept. 30 and a 10-person jury will choose the name from among the entries and announce it in mid October.

To enter, send an e-mail to newpublicspace [at] universitycity.org that includes:

• Suggested Name for Public Space
• Reasons for the suggested name (no more than 150 words)
• Your Name
• Phone Number
• Email

More information is available at the University City District Facebook page here.
 

Mariposa Food Co-op is throwing open its doors a few times over the next month so that West Philly residents can keep tabs on the renovation of its new space ahead of the official opening in the fall.

The first of the three open houses is Sunday, August 28, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Others will be on September 13 (5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.) and October 2 (4 p.m. to 6 p.m.). All three will take place at the soon-to-be Mariposa location at 4824 Baltimore Ave (see picture).

You can drop by the open house at any time and kids are welcome. Mariposa is encouraging people to RSVP here.

While sitting at the kitchen just before 2 p.m. today we heard a glass start to move. We figured since it was garbage day on our block that the truck was coming through. Or our dog fell off the couch. Maybe someone moving in next door. Nope, it was an earthquake.

Folks in West Philly were among millions to feel the effect of an earthquake that rolled up the East Coast just before 2 p.m. today. Buildings in Center City were evacuated.

SEPTA sent out a warning that trains and subways would be up to 15 minutes behind schedule. Fire and police crews scoured the city for structural damage and gas leaks. Police asked that people only call 911 for an emergency.

The quake was reportedly felt as far north as Rhode Island.

Six people were shot during halftime of a basketball league playoff game last night at the courts near the Kingesessing Recreation Center near 49th and Kingsessing at about 8:50 p.m.last night.

Police said some 500 people crowded around the courts during the game, including two police officers.

“All of a sudden they just heard gun shots,” said police spokesperson Christine O’Brien.

The game was part of the city-run Eggy Taylor and Pick Brown League.

Four men ranging in ages from 18-23 and a 20-year-old woman were shot in the legs, police said. One 19-year-old man was shot in the stomach. None of the injuries were life threatening, police said. A recreation official told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the victims were innocent bystanders.

The shooter was described as a black male, 22-24 years old with a dark complexion. He is about 5 feet, nine inches tall and was wearing a red and black baseball cap, a white t-shirt and black jeans.

View Basketball shooting in a larger map

The 22-year-old legally blind man who was involved in a scuffle with police Friday near 46th and Walnut has been charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, wrecklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Witnesses say that police used excessive force to subdue Darrell Holloway after he and two other men were stopped at about 9:30 p.m. A bystander was also charged in the melee, which sent Holloway and two police officers to the hospital.

Police stopped Holloway, who had no criminal record, and the other men for a “narcotics investigation” and Holloway soon began to “punch the officers in the face and body,” according to a police report. The Philadelphia Daily News is reporting that Holloway was “known” to police officers.

Witnesses say several officers struck Holloway with batons and flashlights. In a shaky cell phone video of the incident, bystanders can be heard shouting to police that Holloway was blind.

Holloway, who lives on the 5600 block of Pemberton Street, lost his vision four years ago after he was shot in the face, his family told the Daily News.

Holloway was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and later released. Two officers were hospitalized as well.

A 20-year-old woman, Nicole Boyd, was charged with aggravated assault and possession of an instrument of crime after she allegedly threw a flower pot at police from a second floor balcony.

Holloway and Boyd were released after posting bail. Both are scheduled for preliminary hearings on Sept. 6. Police would not say if an Internal Affairs investigation has been initiated.