The Spring Garden Street on-ramp to I-76 West will close on Monday, Sept 22 until the beginning of December for repairs and construction work. PennDOT is planning to replace expansion joints, widen the bridge deck, and install concrete barriers during this time. Watch out for detour signs that will take passenger vehicles over Spring Garden Street, 33rd Street, Mantua Street, 34th Street and Girard Avenue to access the Girard Avenue ramp to I-76 West.

The Spring Garden St/I-76 West ramp repair is part of PennDOT’s $6.6 million project to rehabilitate the two deteriorating Spring Garden Street bridges over Interstate 76, Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Schuylkill River and the Schuylkill River Trail. The project is expected to complete in summer 2015.

Really tragic news this morning. An 8-year-old girl has died after falling from a 9th floor window of a high-rise apartment building near 43rd and Locust.

The incident happened around 7:45 a.m. The girl fell from a window located on the east side of the Fairfax apartment building at 4247 Locust Street, across the street from Penn Alexander School. She was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in critical condition where she later died. Our deepest condolences to the girl’s family.

Here’s a short roundup of some recent news from around West Philadelphia.

Christina Regusters.

• A West Philadelphia woman, Christina Regusters, was found guilty on Friday of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl in January, 2013. The verdict was reached by the jury of seven women and five men after several days of testimony, which included some harrowing details. The victim, now 7, also testified at the trial and is credited by the team of investigators for leading them to her kidnapper. The little girl required a surgery after being sexually assaulted. Regusters, 21, faces up to life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 15.

• University City Science Center opened a 13-story, 330,000-square-foot, $100 million, office building at 3737 Market Street on Friday. Eight floors of the building are occupied by University of Pennsylvania’s Health System patient care. Other tenants include: Spark Therapeutics (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia gene therapy spinoff), Good Shepherd Penn Partners, and Corner Bakery on the ground floor (opens in winter). Technical.ly has some more details here.

• The building at 40th and Ludlow, which until recently housed a pet store, is for sale, Naked Philly reports. The 3-story, approximately 4,300 sq. foot commercial-type property at 27-29 S. 40th St is currently listed for sale for $879K. The pet store that the building housed, Tradewinds Aquarium and Pet Center, closed in the Spring after decades of operation.

As West Philly Local recently reported, the Henry C. Lea Elementary School playground at 47th and Spruce was undergoing reconstruction, with a new set being transferred from the shuttered Alexander Wilson school. The installation work finished up yesterday and the playground will reopen on Monday, Sept. 15, according to a tweet by the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools.

Source: @WPCNS.

Good news for those home and business owners who didn’t manage to get a free tree for their yard during Philadelphia Parks and Recreation’s TreePhilly Spring Tree Giveaway campaign. Registration for the Fall 2014 TreePhilly Yard Tree Giveaways is now open and interested property owners are welcome to sign up through September 30.

Residents can register to pick up their free yard tree at one of four giveaway events across the city in October (in Southwest, South, Northeast and Northwest Philadelphia; see below). TreePhilly is also excited to announce a new option that will allow registrants to select their desired tree species upon registration. If you would like to get a yard tree but are not sure what species to pick, TreePhilly recommends logging on to TreeHarmony.org. There you can take a quiz to get matched with your SoulTree.

Registration is strongly encouraged for this program, but walk-ups will be welcomed at the end of each event while supplies last. Recipients will also receive a planting and care demonstration provided by tree experts, free mulch, and educational materials.

Go here to register.

Here are the four locations, including dates and times, where you can pick up your tree (residents with limited mobility can apply for free tree delivery and planting; contact Erica Smith Fichman at 215-683-0217):

• Saturday, Oct 11, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Pennypack Environmental Center (8600 Verree Rd)
• Sunday, Oct 12, 1 – 3 p.m., Connell Park (6401 Elmwood Ave)
• Saturday, Oct 18, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., Gorgas Park (6300 Ridge Ave)
• Sunday, Oct 19, 12 – 2 p.m., Columbus Square (1200 Wharton Street)

Please note that this program only provides trees for private property yards (front, back, and side yards). If you want a street tree for your property or for the whole block, check out this page.

For more information, visit: http://treephilly.org/

West Philly Tool Library space at 1314 S 47th Street. (Photo courtesy of WPTL)

Here’s some awesome news for the West Philly Tool Library: after a series of publications in local media, including West Philly Local, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and PlanPhilly, and great community support, their online fundraising campaign not only reached its goal of $10,000 but exceeded it by $900.

The crowdsourcing campaign on Indiegogo.com was seeking donations to help fund the tool library’s expansion and community outreach projects and allow them to purchase new, most needed tools.

Some 172 different funders donated to the campaign, according to Peter Foreman-Murray, the tool library’s executive director. “It’s really amazing to see all the support from the community,” Foreman-Murray wrote in an email.

Now, what’s the next step for the tool library after the successful fundraiser?

“We’re really excited to put the funds into use at the tool library,” writes Foreman-Murray. “We’ve already started to compile a list of tools to buy. We can never keep our most popular tools in stock; as our membership has grown, our available tools haven’t kept up. These funds will help us to ensure that things like table saws and weed whackers are on the shelves when people need them.”

The tool library also began the planning of their expanded education offerings, according to Foreman-Murray. “We’re really looking forward to providing community members with the knowledge they need to use our tools to improve their lives,” he wrote.

Visit the West Philly Tool Library website for more news, updates and information on how to become a member.