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Germantown Quakers plan to give $500,000 as reparations
A meeting group in Germantown is running a legal clinic this weekend as part of an effort to give reparations for Quaker involvement in American slavery.
- It’s part of a Green Street Friends initiative intended to return $500,000 to Black residents over the next decade.
Polling shows many American see reparations as outlandish, outrageous, or simply out of reach. Jordan Levy has the story of why this Germantown group is bucking the trend to give wealth back to the neighborhood.
Zitner’s Butter Krak Eggs, a 100-year-old Easter tradition
If you’re from Philly, you know Easter means the arrival of Zitner’s — and the most beloved version of the chocolate-covered sweets: Butter Krak Eggs.
- The treats were born in 1922, when Sam and Anne Zitner began making and selling candy out of their home. Now Zitner’s is shipped nationwide, and sold in stores as far away as Texas and Arizona.
The business has changed hands, Asha Prihar reports, but it’s been turning out sweets from the same North Philadelphia factory for the past 80 years.
RECAP: What else happened?
$ = paywalled
- The city fell way short on its stated goal of 58% of contracts going to local firms, instead sending just 26% of spending to Philly-based companies. The excuse? “An overall shift to spending on COVID-related needs.” [WHYY]
- The Enterprise Center is raising $50 million to support businesses owned by women and people of color through a new, for-profit investment fund. [Technical.ly]
- Forty-one recruits graduated from Philly’s police academy last week, the first new officers to finish training in 16 months. [Axios]
- More than $580 million in new development is planned in the Philly region, including a 14-story apartment tower at Broad and Pine; 150 apartments next to Barcade in Fishtown; and a huge biosciences lab on Drexel’s campus. [Biz Journal$]
- As millions of birds swing through Philly during spring migration, many get killed flying into skyscrapers. The city is urging people and businesses in high-rises to shut off your lights at night. [Billy Penn/WHYY’s PlanPhilly]
- Local literary collective Blue Stoop just snagged a $25,000 grant from the National Book Foundation. [@bluestoopphl]
- Heads up if you’re keeping kosher for Passover: Mike’s BBQ in South Philly is running a delectable-looking holiday special of a fried matzoh brisket sandwich. [@mikesbbq_215]
MAYOR WATCH
City offices are closed today for the holiday, and we already know the mayor’s on vaca. His social media accounts, meanwhile, are still posting about important things — like the fact that there are now two open seats on the Philadelphia School Board. Want to apply? Check out the details here.
ON THE CALENDAR
? Billy Penn Philly Quizzo with Newbold Exchange: Our monthly trivia night heads to South Philadelphia this month — and there’s free beer for everyone who registers. Test your local knowledge and win prizes while hanging out at a new coworking space in a former silent motion picture house. Free with RSVP. (6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28)
? There’s a grand opening for the new Love City Gardens, a beer garden in the greenery-surrounded lot at 10th and Hamilton across from Love City Brewing. (4 p.m. Tuesday, April 19)
