93-3-WMR Audio on Demand presents the Preston and Steve show podcast. And now Preston and Steve's

news updates with Kathy Romano. And it's Friday, May 7th. Good morning, Kathy. Good morning in the news

this morning. Just in time for Mother's Day weekend, Philadelphia restaurants have the green light

to expand their indoor capacity and increase table size. It's a great boost, but there's still a little

sting since the rest of the state is heading for a full reopening in just a matter of weeks. The city

moved at its own pace on lifting restrictions during the entire pandemic, partly because

officials say more people are physically closer to each other within the city. Starting Friday, May 7th, all restaurants in the city will move to 50% capacity up from 25% and 75% for

those who meet the city's enhanced ventilation guidelines, which is up from 50%.

Is the Mother's Day the biggest day for restaurants? Yeah, one of them, right? Yeah, because

Mother's Day brunch. Yeah, to cook, yeah.

Indoor table sizes can move to six people and they don't have to be from the same household. There

still needs to be a minimum of six foot distance from chairback to chairback. Restaurants can now also

see 10 people at tables outdoors, which is also the state limit. Indoor catered events such as weddings and proms will be allowed again,

but city officials still consider them to be high risk.

For now, only 25% occupancy is allowed with a cap of no more than 75 people indoors.

But that number could go up to 150 beginning Friday, May 21st,

if positive cases continue to fall.

Other outdoor gatherings and events are able to increase to

25% normal capacity and outdoor gatherings and events can increase to a maximum capacity of 50%.

To help bring in more business restaurants in Philadelphia, which have outdoor dining permits,

will soon be able to apply for a city permit to provide outdoor entertainment.

Leaders believe this is crucial since the city lost more than 200 full-service restaurants,

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