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Doula pilot is a game-changer for pregnant women in prison

A pilot program that provides doula services to people who are pregnant behind bars in Pennsylvania is being hailed a major success, and will be expanded.

• Nearly 60,000 pregnant people are incarcerated each year in the U.S., and most lack support. But seven women in Pa. have gotten help bringing babies into the world, thanks to doula and educator Gerria Coffee.

“She makes us feel like people,” an incarcerated new mother told Billy Penn contributor Courtenay Harris Bond, who also spoke with Coffee about her work.

The Philly history of the Choco Taco, now being discontinued

Yesterday’s confirmation by Klondike that it’s discontinuing the folded snack novelty known as a Choco Taco was met with mourning across the nation.

• The history of the frozen treat, like so many things, originates in Philadelphia. According to an Eater deep dive from 2016, it was invented by a former ice cream truck driver while in management at Jack & Jill.

If you’re broken up over the treat’s pending disappearance, or just want to relive some tasty nostalgia, here’s our summary of the Choco Taco’s Philly history.

RECAP: What else happened?

$ = paywalled

• A plan to use a nearby solar farm to feed Philadelphia’s power grid was announced in 2018 by Mayor Kenney, but three years later, the farmland remains unused, without a solar panel in sight. [Curbed Philly/NBC10]
• Philadelphia has been continuing to attract movers from Brooklyn and Manhattan, which were in the city’s top 10 counties of origin for new residents, based on cell phone number research. [Inquirer$/placer.ai]
• OCF Realty’s Naked Philly blog, which has been around for a while, is going viral on TikTok with videos that chronicle development in Philly. [Axios]
• Artist Jayson Munson is turning the history of art into a bite-sized sitcom at Philly’s Fabric Workshop with 10-minute videos that have a vibe of “Sesame Street” meets “Frazier.” [WHYY]
• Founded by a local trainer, activewear brand All + None is a small-batch line of gender neutral gym basics, with a size chart that doesn’t involve arbitrary numbers. [Philly Mag$]
• Northeast Philly’s Coppa Rage won the U.S Youth Soccer National Championship in the under-17 division last weekend, marking the second year in a row the team made it to the finals. [Inquirer$]
• Stephen Starr’s new restaurant in the Wells Fargo Center club level, part of his partnership with Aramark, will be called “Adrian” in homage to Rocky. [PhillyVoice/Wells Fargo Center]

MAYOR WATCH

Mayor Kenney is slated to return to work tomorrow, per his office. Meanwhile, the city Health Department announced it received more monkeypox vaccines and is distributing them to five area medical purveyors for patients at higher risk.

ON THE CALENDAR