Philly News Briefs: 4/7/16
1.) With the national tax filing deadline of April 18th less than two weeks away, now is the time to be thinking about how you will file your taxes, if you haven’t done so already. A Philadelphia nonprofit has paired up with a major bank to offer free tax prep services for working families… and it’s on a bus! The United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey has teamed up with BB&T bank to expand the United Way’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) onto a rolling platform! VITA is intended for families making $54,000 or less, or individuals making $20,000 or less. The bus started its journey in Florida and has cruised up the East Coast. It will stop in Philadelphia at the Shop Rite on Oregon Avenue on Friday. The United Way’s free tax prep services helped 28,000 people with $40 million in refunds last year.
Runners compete in last year’s Philadelphia Marathon. Registration is open right now.
2.) A local pizzeria has been described as the best in the country by Bon Appetit magazine. Pizzeria Beddia is what the Reading Eagle described humbly as “a hole in the wall at the corner of Girard and Shackamaxon in the hip Fishtown section of Philadelphia.” Pizzeria Beddia’s approach to selling pizza is novel: the small shop prepares only 40 pies a night (that’s all they have time for) and customers line up to order and wait for their pizza in person. The pizzas are around $20 and come in three varieties: a cheese pizza, a white pizza that changes weekly, and an “angry” pizza with hot peppers. Pizzeria Beddia is open Wednesday through Saturday, and is run solely by the proprietor, Joe Beddia, and one helper.
3.) Registration for the Philadelphia Marathon is currently open. Right now registration is $105. It will increase to $115 on April 16th, and on May 1st it will increase to $125. Registration is only open for the marathon right now. As per the Philadelphia Voice, “Those who want to run in the Philadelphia Half Marathon, Rothman Institute 8K or Kids Fun Run will have to wait until May 2 to sign up.” Around 30,000 runners take part in the marathon each year. The winner receives $10,000.
