It’s this time of year again when Penn students are leaving their dorms in a big two-day move-out event, which prompts the closure of a large section of Spruce Street to all traffic except for emergency vehicles. Here’s a traffic advisory for this Tuesday and Wednesday from Penn’s Public Safety Division:

“Spruce Street will be closed between 34th and 40th Streets on Tuesday, May 10th and Wednesday, May 11th between 7 a.m.-8 p.m. for student move-out.

No taxi cabs will be permitted access. Vendors will be permitted access to enter the street prior to the 7 a.m. street closure. Bikes will need to be walked on Spruce Street while the streets are closed to traffic. Septa Route 42 will be re-routed. Emergency vehicles and hospital patient transport vehicles will be permitted access. Access will be provided to the Ryan Vet Hospital.

During this street closure: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Wistar Institute and Ryan Vet Hospital deliveries will be allowed to enter Spruce Street at 38th Street. Garage 14 will be open and accessible throughout move-out.”

UPDATE (May 8, 2016): Police say 59-year-old Calvin White died in the fire. Our deepest condolences to Mr. White’s family and friends. 

One person died and one person was injured after a morning fire on the 4700 block of Hazel Avenue. The blaze broke out at about 7:35 a.m. on the first floor of the three-story twin building at 4714 Hazel Ave.

Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer told 6ABC that a man died trying to put out the fire, reportedly with a fire extinguisher.

Eight people escaped the blaze thanks to a fire alarm in the building. One of them, a 64-year-old man, was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania with injuries and was listed in stable condition.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. The fire marshal noted no suspicious circumstances, according to a police report.

@WestPhillyLocal Woke to this😥💓 pic.twitter.com/6UmzMrc34p

— Spyral Storm (@juliemurphyarts) May 7, 2016

Montrose building at 47th and Baltimore (Photo West Philly Local)

Many people have been wondering what business is coming to the vacant storefront in the Montrose apartment building at the northeast corner of 47th Street and Baltimore Avenue. It was revealed last week (Michael Klein of Philly.com’s The Insider broke the news) that a Fishtown-based L.A.-style taco bar, Loco Pez, is branching out to West Philly and chose this location. No further details were revealed, including the timeline for the opening, and we couldn’t get more info from the restaurant folks either at this time.

One of our readers asked about vegetarian options at the restaurant, and there are quite a few at their Fishtown location, which offers brunch, lunch, dinner and happy hour. What’s interesting is that they only accept cash. Check out their website for more info and the menu. And we’ll keep you posted on this new location.

And here’s a little bit of history of the old Montrose building, which has housed many businesses in its four ground-floor retail spaces over the years. The beloved Carrot Cake Man, Vernon Wilkins, used to have a store in the building for 17 years until 1996.

The School Reform Commission last night approved the conversion of the three more public schools to charters, including the Samuel B. Huey School at 52nd and Pine.

The Global Leadership Academy Charter School, which currently operates a school at 4601 W. Girard Ave., will take over Huey beginning in the fall. The SRC also voted to convert Cooke (Logan) and Wister (Germantown) Elementary Schools into charters. The charters are tasked with turning around the “chronically under-performing” schools, often against the wishes of parents. Huey has an enrollment of about 550 students.

Meanwhile Councilwoman Helen Gym, who was elected last fall in part for her dedication to public schools, called for a moratorium on charter conversions.

The 2016 Pennsylvania Primary Election results are in, and here are some local results and a breakdown by wards on the vote for presidential candidates. Overall, West Philadelphia’s Democratic voters supported Hillary Clinton, except for the 27th Ward where Bernie Sanders came out on top. Note: the results below are unofficial and incomplete. To view more results, go here.

PA Representative, District 190

Vanessa Lowery Brown – 36.45 percent (5381 votes)
Wanda Logan – 28.37 percent (4188 votes)
Ray Bailey – 12.02 percent (1775 votes)
Darryl Thomas – 11.37 percent (1679 votes)

PA Representative, District 188 

James Roebuck (incumbent, unopposed) – 99.87 percent (12134 votes)

Representative in Congress, District 2 (Democrats)

Chaka Fattah (incumbent) – 36.76 percent (58821 votes)
Dwight Evans – 43.51 percent (69622 votes)

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Bids to convert three Philadelphia public schools, including Samuel B. Huey Elementary in West Philadelphia, into charters have received support from the District’s Charter Schools Office (CSO). The CSO has recommended the School Reform Commission to approve with conditions all three charter school applications. The SRC will vote on the applications on Thursday, which will determine whether Global Leadership Academy would take over Huey in the 2016-17 school year.

Samuel B. Huey Elementary School (Google Street View image).

Huey parents gathered outside the school at 52nd and Pine last week to protest its proposed conversion into a charter, saying that the school instead needs more resources, according to a report by The Notebook. They also said that they are not getting enough input on the school’s future.

Global Leadership Academy currently operates a K-8 school at 4600 West Girard Ave. The CSO found that the application for Huey, a low-performing school, from Global Leadership Academy is “rooted in culturally competent, progressive education that improves academic performance but also increases attendance and family engagement while decreasing student violence and suspension rates.”

Read the full report about the recommendations by the Charter Schools Office on The Notebook.

The Charter Schools Office recently released its first Annual Charter Evaluation (ACE) for all Philadelphia charter schools as part of its Authorizing Quality Initiative. The ACE includes school-specific performance evaluations based on academic success, organizational viability and compliance, and fiscal health and sustainability. The ACE can be viewed on the School District’s website.