Philadelphia-area drivers can now fill up their tanks with less-expensive gasoline promoted by President Donald Trump’s administration, but details on the entire enterprise remain scarce.
The White House on Tuesday announced the opening of the first Freedom Fuel gas station in Upper Dublin Township, at a former Sunoco station.
In the undated video, drivers happily filled their tanks for $3.47 a gallon, which the White House said was to honor “our 47th President.” That’s cheaper than the least-expensive gas at nearby stations, according to prices posted by GasBuddy.
The Freedom Fuel station in Dresher is near a McDonald’s and across the street from a shopping plaza. But what sets it apart from other nearby gas stations is the assortment of American flags planted across its footprint — and the cheaper gas.
While a nearby Citgo station, about five minutes away, prices regular gas at $3.79 a gallon, and a Gulf offers it at $3.85, Freedom Fuel offers it at $3.47 a gallon.
For many patrons stopping by Tuesday afternoon, the branding was new — and secondary to savings.
The Freedom Fuel Network gas station at 1400 Dreshertown Road in Dresher.
Jessiah Brice, 25, said the Freedom Fuel station was convenient because it is near her job. She had noticed the new branding after the July Fourth holiday and had no idea what it was about, but she welcomed the idea regardless of the affiliation with Trump.
“Gas should be cheaper,” she said. “My only issue is: How is it $3.47 here and $5 by me?”
Another gas buyer, who declined to give her name out of privacy concerns, said she had heard of Trump’s efforts to bring cheaper gas to people but had not connected it to her local gas station.
“What’s not to love?” said another patron, before driving away with a full tank.
Seyer Hamidi, 36, stumbled upon the station after picking up his car, which he likes to fill up with premium gas, from the mechanic. He, too, welcomed the idea.
“Gas is going to be high whether you’re a Republican or Democrat,” the Republican said, noting the cheaper gas was a step in the right direction.
A lot remains unclear, including the names of the participating businesses and how they are able to sell gasoline cheaper than nearby competitors.
A White House spokesperson confirmed that a website for the Freedom Fuel Network, which showed 25 locations across the Philadelphia region and South Jersey, was accurate. The White House did not confirm that all 25 locations are open and did not provide information about the company.
The list includes stations in Elmwood Park, Bustleton, and Hunting Park, but it was unclear if every location on the Freedom Fuel website was open.
A White House spokesperson said the Freedom Fuel Network was a private company and not a government program, adding that the company was not purchasing gasoline at a discount and that the administration has not provided funding. The spokesperson said the business was simply making gas more affordable for drivers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey but did not elaborate.
The company behind the Freedom Fuel Network did not respond to a request for comment.
The fuel pumps at the Freedom Fuel Network gas station at 1400 Dreshertown Road in Dresher.
Beyond that, not much information was available beyond the White House social media post and a statement made by Trump, who wrote on his Truth Social account last week that a “very smart retailer” located throughout the Northeast was “stepping up” to offer a discount at the pump.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, crunched the numbers and said there was no profitable way for Freedom Fuel stations to sell gas so cheaply.
“Stations selling at this price, it’s not sustainable,” De Haan said. “Generally, when losses happen, somebody’s got to pay for it.”
De Haan had no insight on who owns the stations or what deals they might have made to purchase gas, but did confirm many of the stations exist in GasBuddy’s database, though the names were “vastly different.”
Gas prices have been dropping in recent weeks after peaking in May. Prices soared after the United States attacked Iran and the Strait of Hormuz — a key shipping lane — was shut down.
The average cost of a gallon of gas in Philadelphia on Tuesday was $3.95, according to AAA. That was up nearly 20% from this time last year, when the cost of a gallon of gas averaged $3.31.
Another Sprouts Farmers Market is coming soon to South Jersey.
The Sprouts in Washington Township is set to open Aug. 28, the company announced Tuesday in a statement.
The 23,000-square-foot organic grocery store is under construction on Egg Harbor Road in Sewell, with an attached 6,400-square-foot storefront for lease, according to marketing materials for the new development.
Sprouts plans to bring on about 90 full- and part-time employees, with hiring events scheduled next week for Tuesday and Wednesday at the Double Tree by Hilton in Cherry Hill.
This Sprouts in South Philadelphia opened in 2018.
The Washington Township location will be the Phoenix-based chain’s fourth in South Jersey. The grocer, which specializes in organic, gluten-free, and plant-based products, also has stores in Haddon Township, Marlton, and West Deptford.
Across the river, the company operates four Philadelphia locations, including Roosevelt Mall in the Northeast and the new Rivermark complex in Northern Liberties, as well as two Montgomery County stores in Upper Dublin and Montgomeryville.
Frontier Airlines has begun new nonstop daily service between Philadelphia International Airport and Detroit, taking over a route formerly operated by discount carrier Spirit Airlines.
The service began Sunday, the airline said, adding that it is offering a special introductory one-way fare of $79 between the two cities.
“We are pleased to grow our service at PHL, ensuring low-cost travel options remain available for consumers,” Josh Flyr, vice president of network and operations design at Frontier, said in a statement.
The airline is touting othernew products, including UpFront Plus seating, an option with extra leg and elbow room in the first two rows of the aircraft, the airline said. UpFront Plus customers are guaranteed an empty middle seat.
Frontier carried about 3.1 million passengers into and out of PHL during 2025, ranking second after American, the airport’s dominant carrier, with over 20 million passengers last year.
It operates primarily from 17 gates in Terminal E.
The promotional $79 tickets must be bought before 11:59 p.m. July 12. They apply to select nonstop flights for travel between Aug. 3 and Sept. 2, according to Frontier.
Spirit Airlines had been in chapter 11 bankruptcy and was seeking a $500 million federal bailout to keep going. No deal was reached, so it closed and liquidated its fleet of planes. Spirit had high debt and was struggling under the weight of rising costs, especially of fuel.
A Philadelphia man has been charged after authorities said he conducted a fraudulent cryptocurrency purchase for a valuable Pokémon card in Marlton.
After arranging the sale through Facebook Marketplace, Christian Elam, 26, allegedly met the seller at the Evesham Township Police Department Safe Exchange Zone, located in the lobby of police headquarters, Evesham police said in a statement posted to social media Monday.
Elam allegedly paid the seller for a Pokémon card worth $24,200 using cryptocurrency, which was later determined to be fraudulent, the department said.
Elam was charged with third-degree theft by deception and second-degree computer-related theft. He was being held at the Burlington County Jail awaiting a pre-indictment hearing scheduled for Aug. 26, according to the court docket.
The police department is encouraging residents to continue taking advantage of the 24-hour safe transaction zone but to remain diligent about potential scams.
“While the zone provides a well-lit, video-monitored location for in-person exchanges, residents are reminded to independently verify payment before transferring property, especially when cryptocurrency, electronic payments, or high-value items are involved,” the department said.
Cyber-enabled crimes are on the rise across the United States. The Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 1 million complaints in 2025, a 17% increase from the previous year, with total reported losses of nearly $21 billion, according to an April report from the FBI.
Cryptocurrency crimes are often the costliest, with more than 181,565 complaints totaling more than $11 billion in losses in 2025 alone.
A 13-year-old boy in Franklin Township died after getting trapped underneath an overturned farm tractor Monday night, according to officials.
A statement released by Franklin Township police Tuesday morning said officers from Franklin and Elk Townships responded to the 1100 block of Swedesboro Road around 5:35 p.m. and found the teen unconscious and unresponsive beneath the tractor.
Officers began lifesaving measures once the tractor was lifted, and the teen was taken to Cooper University Hospital, where he died of his injuries, according to the police statement.
An initial investigation showed that the teen was helping a family member dig a hole with the tractor. While riding the equipment with an adult male, the tractor overturned, trapping the teen underneath and leaving the adult with minor injuries. The adult was treated at a local hospital.
The adult who rode the tractor is a family member of the teen, though Police Chief Matthew DeCesari declined to share more about their relationship.
“The incident remains under investigation by the Franklin Township Police Department and the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office,” the police statement said. “The investigation is ongoing, and any potential criminal charges will be determined upon its conclusion.”
Cynthia Martini of Mantua Township visits Mood’s Farm Market every year to pick blueberries. During a typical summer, she collects 40 pounds of them. She used to bring her kids, but now that they’re older, she goes solo.
Her routine on June 30 didn’t look much different from the last 25 years. On a hot morning, she picked two Tupperware containers of blueberries in paint-streaked shorts.
“In an hour I picked 10 pounds,” Martini said. “So not bad.”
But rather than harvesting in the farm’s designated pick-your-own area, Martini kept to to an area typically reserved for staff.
Mood’s, a 180-acre fruit farm in Elk Township, Gloucester County, opened the off-limits fields as one strategy to survive the summer after a spring crop freeze destroyed about two-thirds of its blueberries and all its cherries, plums, nectarines, pears, and peaches. The farm will likely have only a handful of healthy apples come fall. That means no apple hayrides, even though pick-your-own operations are one of its primary revenue streams. A skeleton crew is working the land rather than a full staff, and it’s taking workers longer to pick fruit since there’s less on the bush.
After picking her own blueberries, Cynthia Martini (right) of Mantua talks with owners Richard Mood and daughter Patti Mood at Mood’s Farm in Gloucester County on June 30.
But South Jersey farms like Mood’s are getting creative to survive a summer with depleted income and damaged crops. From promoting frozen fruit to temporary closures to raising prices, here’s how farms are keeping on.
Spend less and plant more
Rowand’s Farm, a 20-acre sweet and sour cherry orchard in Glassboro, Gloucester County, is going through unprecedented circumstances.
Stephen Rowand, the farm’s third-generation owner, said he’s usually excited when a spring frost arrives, since the cold weather thins out the fruit and produces larger cherries.
“This season is unique for us as a first with NO CROP at all,” Rowand said via Facebook Messenger. “No income.”
Rowand decided to close the farm, but that hasn’t meant time off. To ensure the orchard blooms next season, the farm still needs mowing, irrigation, fertilizer, and trimming, and without the ability to hire farmworkers. Rowand, 60, is doing all that work himself through extreme heat. He said he’s currently living off his retirement savings and might have to get a job in the offseason next fall. He’s trying to stay frugal by avoiding vacations and eating out.
But Rowand has managed to find some solutions to survive.
To make sure they stay fed, his family planted a bigger garden of tomatoes, string beans, eggplants, cucumbers, greens, and herbs for their personal diets after figuring out the freeze had eliminated their income. He said he will likely apply for a loan from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency to pay bills, and a GoFundMe, which has raised $25,000 so far, has helped pay for some of Rowand’s farm expenses.
“It’s really helping keep the farm from going into debt,” Rowand said, “which is usually what puts a farm out of business in the end.”
Duffield’s Farm Market in Sewell, Gloucester County, like Mood’s, won’t have peach picking this summer and is still considering whether it’ll apply for loans. Since the freeze halved their apple crop, the farm won’t offer apple picking trips for local schools this fall, either. To ensure people have enough to pick in the fall, owner Tracy Duffield said, farmers planted a field of pumpkins early.
As for labor, without peaches to pit, Duffield said there’s less to do, which means reducing hours for the farm’s migrant workers from Puerto Rico.
“It’s not just us. Everybody is kind of in the same boat,” Duffield said. “Just support your local farm. We’ll recover.”
‘A silver lining’
South Jersey farmers say the natural laws of supply and demand mean fruit prices will rise this year. Mood said their farm’s blueberry prices have doubled, while Duffield’s increased the cost about 50 cents per pound.
“We still have a business to run, and we have to support the families involved with the business,” Duffield said. “They just have to understand for this year, anyway, that things are going to be a bit higher.”
Blueberries for sale at the farm stand at Mood’s Farm in Gloucester County.
Anthony DiMeo owns DiMeo Farms and Blueberry Plants Nursery, which has a large pick-your-own blueberry operation in Hammonton, Atlantic County. With significant damage to his crop, DiMeo said, he anticipates the season to end a couple of weeks early.
“But there’s a silver lining to this, and that is the price is very high,” DiMeo said. “Even for blueberries that might not be the biggest or might not be the best, the price is exceptional.”
DiMeo, though, said he decided not to significantly raise prices this year, keeping blueberries at $2.50 per pint, a cheaper price than most grocery stores and farm markets. The choice to eat the losses was influenced by the price consumers are already paying to get through life right now.
“They’re spending enough as it is with gas and tolls and everything else,” DiMeo said.
‘Just luck’
Bob Fralinger of Fralinger Orchards, a fifth-generation peach and nectarine farm in Bridgeton, Cumberland County, said it was “just luck” that some of his peaches survived the freeze.
His farm sits along the Cohansey River, and the heat emitting from the water kept the temperature a couple of degrees warmer for the crops. Fralinger said he still lost about half his peaches, but since nearby South Jersey farmers weren’t quite as lucky, nearly 100 farm markets, some hours away, have come to him for fruit. Duffield’s and Mood’s are on that list.
The increased interest has meant Fralinger has to make sure he has enough peaches for everyone, including his typical wholesalers. And even though Fralinger is having no problem selling, the reduced harvest means he worries that the revenue won’t be enough to pay next year’s bills.
“Your margins are so close that you can’t survive from one year to the next unless you do things just right, and that’s the problem,” Fralinger said.
Like Fralinger, Robson’s Farm in Wrightstown, Burlington County, also managed to salvage some peaches from the harvest this year, but not nearly enough to meet the summer demand.
Customers travel from out of state for Robson’s peaches, fourth-generation farmer Rose Robson said, and many will be disappointed to arrive to find no peaches in sight.
But once she overcame her initial grief over the lost crops, Robson said, she quickly hatched a plan to adapt to a potentially peachless summer on the farm.
“Just because the farm is really sad and not great in one way doesn’t mean the whole summer has to be,” Robson said. “This could be a really fun opportunity to be creative and to bring some new people to the farm and still have a really great summer.”
Robson had already started developing ways to boost business during the farm’s offseason in the fall, like a walking club on the farm, she said. The spring freeze just forced her to consider starting sooner and making it active year-round.
Plus, Robson’s is focusing on what they can still offer customers.
“We doubled up on our U-pick cut flowers,” Robson said, “which has been growing over the years anyway, so that’s kind of fun.”
But more than anything, Robson said her priority has remained the same: “making the farm as grand an experience as we can possibly make it,” she said.
Sandy Trifiletti (front) of Glassboro and her daughter Hope Welch and granddaughter Rosie, 6, of Pitman, pick their own blueberries June 30 at Mood’s Farm in Gloucester County.
As farms scramble to adapt, South Jersey residents, whether they’re in the market for fresh fruit or flowers, continue to support their local markets.
Back at Mood’s Farm, Hope Welch of Pitman picked blueberries with her two children and her mother, Sandy Trifiletti. The Welches have visited Mood’s for years.
Hope Welch, whose son spoke some of his first words during an annual Apple Festival, asked Mood about the fate of this year’s event. Mood said one would still happen, but it probably wouldn’t revolve around apples, since they won’t have very many.
“That hurts my heart,” Welch said. “We’ll be back for the fall festival. Whatever it’s called.”
The Cherry Hill Mall is soon set to welcome five new stores that have committed to more than 25,000 square feet of retail space at the South Jersey mall.
The additions include Aritzia, the viral women’s clothing brand, which is set to open a store at the 1.3 million-square-foot Camden County mall by spring 2027. The complex is also adding legacy brands such as Timberland and True Religion, according to executives with PREIT, which owns the mall.
“Retailers at this level are choosing their next locations very carefully right now, and the fact that six of them chose Cherry Hill Mall in the same leasing period speaks volumes,” Paula Charles, PREIT’s senior vice president of leasing, said in a statement.
“For shoppers, it means more of the brands they want in one place and an experience that keeps getting better every time they visit,” Charles added.
One of dozens of Dick’s House of Sport outposts, it will be represent “the largest single-tenant addition to Cherry Hill Mall in more than a decade,” PREIT executives said.
The new retailers will also join Crocs, which last month opened a 2,000-square-foot store near the future Dick’s House of Sport, and DoneRight Doner Kebab, a fast-casual Mediterranean food spot that mall executives said will open later this summerin the food court.
People walk by a new store, Pop Mart, at Cherry Hill Mall on Black Friday 2025.
But higher-end complexes like Cherry Hill and King of Prussia seem to be thriving. King of Prussia Mall, in Montgomery County, also just announced a slate of new openings.
Here’s what to know about the new shops coming soon to the Cherry Hill Mall:
Timberland: The boots and outdoor-wear company is set to open an 1,800-square-foot store later this summer. It will be near Dick’s House of Sport.
Indochino: The custom-suit-maker is set to open a 1,200-square-foot store before the 2026 holiday season. It will be off the Grand Court, near American Eagle and Pop Mart.
Aritzia: Set to occupy more than 20,000 square feet in the central Grand Court, its space will include not only a clothing store but also an A-OK Cafe, the brand’s in-house coffee shop. It is on track to open in spring 2027.
True Religion: The denim company is set to open a 2,230-square-foot store sometime early next year near Dick’s House of Sport.
Also at the mall, Pandora and Spencer’s recently moved into larger storefronts, and Lululemon is set to relocate into an expanded space in the Grand Court before the 2026 holiday season.
Mayor Victor Carstarphen said no fatalities or injuries have been reported, but by Monday afternoon, Camden City had received about 90 service calls reporting damages following more than 4 inches of rainfall, and he expected Camden to get more calls as people return home from work to potential flooding.
“Today, the rainfall exceeded what our stormwater system is designed to handle in such a short period of time,” Carstarphen said.
Countywide, Camden received about 1,000 911 calls just in the stretch of the morning storm, said Dan Keashen, Camden County’s public affairs director.
It will take a while for the county to determine how many homes were impacted and the estimated cost of damages. Public assistance teams from the state will work with the city and county to assess damages home by home in affected areas, said Morgan Callan, external communications manager for Camden County.
Dave Balog of Mullica Hill makes his way to his truck in the flooded parking lot at the Ferry Avenue PATCO station in Camden Monday, July 6, 2026, as a flash flood threat continues for the region. Balog said there were no warnings about a storm when he parked there four hours earlier for an appointment in Center City Philadelphia. His truck did start as it was not in the deepest area of the lot.
Flooding left vehicles stranded on roadways throughout the county, including two police vehicles and a fire department apparatus in Camden City, Keashen said. But most of the water has receded, according to a press release Monday afternoon.
Both city pools in Camden will be closed this week, Carstarphen said.
Camden City residents with damage to their properties can call the city emergency operations center at (856) 757-7132 or (856) 757-7139. Calling in those damages will allow city officials to report them to the state, which then could unlock regional and state disaster aid for residents.
Residents of other Camden County municipalities can report property damages to their respective offices of emergency management.
Carstarphen couldn’t confirm the timeline for how long it would take officials to visit properties to assess damages, but he said he encourages residents to file claims with their property insurance providers in the meantime.
On Sunday morning, the doors of Fellowship Alliance Chapel were open for prayer on schedule despite a fire in the Medford church’s worship center less than 48 hours earlier.
“Just the heartfelt praise, the worship, the prayer time that we had together — it was just wonderful praising God for all his goodness. So many things could have really been much worse than they were,” Fellowship Alliance vice chairman Dave Gutekunst said.
No one was in the building when church officials say lighting struck the building’s roof around 9 p.m. Friday and no one was injured.
The fire was contained between the roof and the ceiling of the worship center, limiting the scope of damage inside the church to smoke and water, Gutekunst said.
“We just felt really blessed and I think people have had a renewed sense of hope that this is just one in a long list of many chapters of the history of our church,” he said. “God sustained us through trials and tribulations before and he’ll continue to sustain us and carry us through this one.”
The roof of Fellowship Alliance Chapel was damaged by a fire on Friday, July 3, 2026.
Gutekunst also expressed his gratitude for the dozens of firefighters who responded to the scene during the peak of the weekend heat wave.
It’s still too early for a clear timeline for repairs, he said, but the church is forming a team of experts to spearhead recovery. In the meantime, services will continue to be held in the temporary worship space that was set up in another building on the church’s campus after the fire.
While church leaders believe the fire was sparked by a lightning strike, the Medford fire marshal has not determined an official cause of the fire and it is still under investigation, according to Medford manager Robert Dovi.
Per protocol, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has also been notified because the fire occurred at a house of worship, Dovi said.
But lightning-caused fires aren’t uncommon in this area, Dovi said.
“This is a common occurrence for our area due to the large trees and open space,” Dovi said. “This weekend due to the severe nature of the storms there were a number of fires potentially related to lightning strikes.”
A single-vehicle crash late Sunday night on southbound Route 55 in Deptford Township killed two women and injured another.
New Jersey State Police responded to the crash at 10:55 p.m., Trooper Christopher Postorino said via email. A preliminary investigation shows some of what happened, though the crash is still under investigation.
Ayzia J. Toledo, 22, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was driving a BMW with Henrietta F. Carter, 22, of Darby, Pennsylvania, in the front passenger seat and another passenger in the rear when she lost control of the vehicle and ran off the roadway. The BMW overturned and struck a tree. Toledo and Carter died of their injuries, and the rear seat passenger was transported to an area hospital for minor injuries.
The families of Toledo and Carter have been notified, Postorino said. No traffic delays were reported after the accident. A GoFundMe has been established in Toledo’s honor.
