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  • After Philly’s biggest snow in 10 years, a very big chill is coming

    After Philly’s biggest snow in 10 years, a very big chill is coming

    For the Philly region Monday it wasn’t so much a matter of digging out from the heftiest snowfall in a decade, it was more like a chipping, shaving, scraping, expletive-inducing, and ice-chunk hurling operation.

    Public transportation appeared to be getting back on track, and major roads were open for business with speed reductions removed, thanks to crews working through the weekend.

    But expect some side streets in the city and elsewhere to remain fit for sleigh rides this week and trash pickup to be delayed. City offices will be shut down again Tuesday, as will Philly school buildings, with Camden and more calling for a snow day or opting for remote learning.

    And if you’re stepping outside, get used to that underfoot crunching sensation. The removal operation isn’t going to get much help this week from the atmosphere. It’s about to turn about as frigid as it ever gets around here. New Jersey officials are warning of “historic” demands on energy.

    “We’re going to be in the freezer all week,” said Mike Gorse, meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly. Philly may have its first zero-degree reading in 32 years later in the week.

    It’s as if after recent wimpy winters, the Arctic is reacquainting with Philly and much of the rest of the East.

    And did we mention another snow threat for the weekend?

    “There’s a chance,” said Marc Chenard, meteorologist with NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center in iced-over College Park, Md., who was among those who had to chuck some frozen boulders before leaving for work Monday morning. “I had to chip it and carry it in pieces,” he said. Sound familiar?

    Why this storm was particularly challenging

    Snow totals for the biggest snowfall since Jan. 22-23, 2016, varied throughout the region; the inconveniences, not so much.

    A general 8 to 12 inches of snow and sleet accumulated while temperatures remained mostly in the teens Sunday, 10 degrees or more below forecast.

    A shallow layer of warmer air caused a changeover to sleet, and the tiny ice balls remained frozen for the entire trip through the stubbornly cold air near the surface. As much as 2 to 3 inches of sleet piled on, containing the same amount of liquid as several inches of snow.

    That added weight to the snowpack. Based on the amount of melted precipitation measured in the 9.3 inches at Philadelphia International Airport, the snowpack weighed about as much as a 12- to 15-inch pile of the pure flaky fluff.

    On a 200-square-foot driveway — a 10 by 20 — what fell Sunday weighed about 1,100 pounds. On a 100-square-foot sidewalk — 5 by 20 — that would be about 550 pounds.

    In addition, ice tends to be rather shovel resistant.

    This is going to be a memorably cold week in Philly

    The ice and snow isn’t going to give up easily. On Monday, temperatures topped out in the upper 20s, and that’s going to be warmest day of the week.

    Based on the forecast, it may not get above 28 degrees until next week, said Chenard, a cold streak the region hasn’t seen in decades.

    Chenard said the upper-air patterns remain in place to import Arctic air on winds from the northwest for at least the next several days.

    In fact, temperatures may have trouble getting out of the teens in Philly until the weekend, and Philly has a shot at reaching zero for the first time in 32 years.

    The forecast lows are in the single digits all week, and down to 1 degree on Friday morning and 2 degrees on Saturday, the National Weather Service says. Both would be record lows for the dates.

    The stubborn snow cover “absolutely” will increase the chances of the airport reaching zero for the first time since January 1994, Gorse said. Snow is ideal for radiating daytime warmth (such as it is) into space.

    Temperatures will moderate some on the weekend, he said, but that might come in advance of yet another storm.

    Said Chenard, “There will be coastal low. It’s a matter of how close it is.”

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    One historic footnote in the Philly weather annals

    Philly’s official snowfall total for the winter stands at 15.7 inches, almost double normal for the date and double what fell all of last season.

    Sunday’s was not only the biggest snow in 10 years, it also set a record for a Jan. 25.

    It beat the 8.5 inches of Jan. 25, 2000, a day that the weather service just as soon would like to forget.

    The storm came as a surprise, just a week after a weather service honcho announced a computer upgrade that would bring the nation closer to a “no surprise” era.

    Expect surprises to continue.

    Staff writers Ximena Conde, Kristen A. Graham, Maddie Hanna, Rob Tornoe, and Nick Vadala contributed to this article.

  • Trash pickup, school closures, and rescheduled meetings: What you need to know post-snowstorm in Cherry Hill

    Trash pickup, school closures, and rescheduled meetings: What you need to know post-snowstorm in Cherry Hill

    The largest snowstorm in a decade just hit the Philadelphia area, closing schools and coating the roads with a sheen of slippery white stuff.

    Cherry Hill received 7 inches of snow as of Sunday evening, according to the National Weather Service.

    Winter storm totals: How much snow and ice fell in the Philadelphia area?

    Garbage and recycling will not be picked up in Cherry Hill on Monday. There will be a one-day delay on all pickups.

    Cherry Hill’s township offices, the public library, and the Cherry Hill schools are all closed Monday. The King’s Christian School and the Y.A.L.E. School in Cherry Hill are also closed, as is the Katz J.C.C.

    The township has urged residents to stay off the roads so that crews can continue plowing.

    The township council meeting scheduled for Monday night has been moved to Wednesday, with the caucus meeting beginning at 7 p.m. and the council meeting beginning at 7:30 p.m.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • Declaring a state of emergency, Sherrill urges safety as storm approaches

    Declaring a state of emergency, Sherrill urges safety as storm approaches

    Saying “it’s been a while” since New Jersey faced a storm like the one being forecasted for Sunday and Monday, Gov. Mikie Sherrill urged state residents to stay off the roads and to not “commit to anything on Monday.”

    Sherrill said in a press conference in Newark late Saturday afternoon that while “we’re tough” in New Jersey, “we have to be safe.” She declared a state of emergency starting 5 p.m. Saturday.

    Sherrill said she was expecting snowfall to range from eight inches to 18 inches throughout the state. It will be a storm “the likes of which we haven’t seen in a decade,” Sherrill said.

    Heavy snow and ice are coming to Philly, and may stick around for a week, or more

    The governor said extremely cold temperatures are expected to make things more difficult, and she suggested that people watch football and play board games with their children on Sunday.

    “We are prepared for the moment, but we do need the people of New Jersey to stay safe,” she said.

    The governor was accompanied by State Police Acting Superintendent Lieutenant Colonel David Sierotowicz, Department of Transportation Acting Commissioner Joseph Bertoni, and NJ Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri.

    With challenging conditions expected, Acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport and the Division of Consumer Affairs warned sellers that price gouging New Jersey’s consumers during the declared state of emergency wouldn’t be tolerated.

    Sellers can’t excessively increase prices (10% more than normal or higher) during a declared state of emergency, or for 30 days after the termination of the state of emergency, according to New Jersey law.

    “As a former prosecutor, my administration will not tolerate price gouging, and we will be vigilant during this winter storm,” Sherrill said, adding that there’d be “zero tolerance for those who prey on New Jerseyans during this state of emergency.”

  • Heavy snow and potentially dangerous icing are expected in Philly this weekend

    Heavy snow and potentially dangerous icing are expected in Philly this weekend

    After the coldest morning of the winter, Philadelphia could experience more snow this weekend than it did during the entire winter of 2024-25, accompanied by a potentially nasty mix of ice.

    The National Weather Service on Saturday was holding serve on its call for 8 to 12 inches in and around Philly, and those amounts may be tweaked depending on the best guesses on how much sleet and freezing rain enters the mix. AccuWeather Inc. was going with 6 to 10.

    Subtle changes to accumulation forecasts are likely, but that merely would mean, “We’re just getting a different blend of horrors,” said Mike Lee, a meteorologist in the Mount Holly office.

    One thing is certain: Whatever falls won’t melt. Temperatures dropped into single digits throughout the region, and got as low as 11 at the Philadelphia International Airport banana belt. . Temperatures won’t get above the mid-20s while anything is falling from the skies Sunday and early Monday.

    The weather service has issued a profoundly predictable winter storm warning, in effect from 7 p.m. Saturday until 1 p.m. Monday.

    Whatever the outcome, the storm still in its formative stage already has had significant impacts on the region and may have set an unofficial record for pre-storm buildup and preemptive closings.

    Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker declared a state of emergency for Sunday, as did Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill. PennDot is imposing speed restrictions. SEPTA is expecting issues.

    Some schools already were planning for multiple-day closings, as the snow and ice will be accompanied by one of the region’s more impressive cold snaps of the last several years.

    Philadelphia schools will be closed Monday because of snow; others will likely follow

    Were it not for the storm, in fact, the cold might be getting headlines.

    Wind chills Saturday morning are expected to drop below zero. Sunday’s high of 25 degrees may make it the warmest day of the week.

    It is likely that layers of snow and ice will harden into a frozen mass that the January sun won’t be able to do a whole lot about.

    As a public service, for now we will hold off on mentioning another potential storm threat.

    The latest on the timing of the storm in Philly

    While the weather service warning goes into effect 7 p.m. Saturday, flake sightings could hold off until daybreak Sunday, said Alex Staarmann, a weather service meteorologist.

    Snow may accumulate rapidly Sunday morning with temperatures in the teens. Models were suggesting sleet could mix in as soon as early afternoon, said Tom Kines, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc.

    Temperatures in the bottom 5,500 feet of the atmosphere are going to remain well below freezing. However, as the coastal storm intensifies, its onshore winds from the northeast are forecast to import warmer air from over the ocean into the upper atmosphere, which would change the snow to sleet and rain.

    It’s possible the precipitation will flip back to all snow and accumulate maybe another inch early Monday, Staarmann said. But at that point it would have all the impact of drizzle in the ocean. The mass of snow and ice evidently will be vacationing in Philly for a while.

    “It will stick around for a week, maybe two weeks,” Staarmann said.

    How much for Philly?

    Just how much snow and ice would be on the ground remained unclear Friday. And it’s all but certain the projections are going to change. For the record, a grand total of 8.1 inches fell all of last season in Philly.

    Louis Uccellini, former head of the National Weather Service and one of the nation’s most prominent winter-storm experts, said some later modeling was cutting back on the ice in areas west of the city, suggesting the possibility of higher snow amounts.

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    “It’s not that we’re getting 2 to 4 [inches],” said Staarmann. “We’re going to get a lot of snow.”

    However, some icing was a near certainty throughout the region.

    The ice potential for the Philly region

    The weather service is predicting a quarter-inch of freezing rain, which is probably about the last thing the people at Peco wanted to hear. Freezing rain is a greater threat to power lines and trees than sleet.

    Yes, Peco is well aware of the storm and has crews on standby, said spokesperson Candace Womack.

    Sleet develops when a partially melted snowflake or rain drop freezes on the way to the ground. It doesn’t accumulate efficiently like snowflakes. Freezing rain is rain that doesn’t turn to ice until it lands on a surface and freezes on contact.

    During a winter storm, both hold down snow accumulations. Typically, an inch of liquid precipitation can yield a foot of snow. A similar amount of liquid would yield about 4 inches of sleet.

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    Both can fall when surface temperatures are well below freezing, if the upper air is warm enough.

    A big difference is that sleet bounces off surfaces, but ice gloms onto them, a menace to power lines and tree branches.

    An ice storm resulted in over 700,000 Peco outages in 2014, a winter record. In that case, freezing rain came 18 hours after a heavy snowfall.

    An overnight freezing rain storm swept through the Philadelphia region Feb. 5, 2014, leaving downed trees and power lines in its wake, along with icicles everywhere as evidenced by these streets signs in Downingtown.

    When will the snow and ice disappear?

    The snow and ice are going to be around for as far as the computer models can see. Temperatures may not get above freezing the rest of the month, as NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center has the odds favoring below normal temperatures through Feb. 6.

    The U.S. model was indicating another storm threat for around Groundhog Day, a week from Monday, Uccellini said.

    Phil might want a pass this year.

  • Gloucester County warehouse project has been undermined by a ‘rogue’ employee and rival firm, lawsuit says

    Gloucester County warehouse project has been undermined by a ‘rogue’ employee and rival firm, lawsuit says

    The developer behind a massive mixed-use project in South Jersey has filed a lawsuit accusing a “rogue” employee of derailing municipal approvals and plotting to steer the property to Rowan University and a rival firm.

    For more than two years, Seth Gerszberg and his Englewood, N.J.-based firm Active Acquisitions have been pursuing a development at the intersection of Route 322 and Route 55 in Gloucester County including proposals for 10 warehouses, a wholesale retail club, a hotel, and 117 single-family homes.

    An affiliate of Gerszberg’s firm agreed to buy the property — totaling 429 acres, about 29 times the footprint of Lincoln Financial Field — in May 2023 for $23 million from Madison Richwood Village LLC, the suit says.

    But the government approval process hit a snag in recent months, the suit alleges, as Gerszberg’s project manager, Sean Earlen — a land-use consultant, former mayor of Lumberton, and chair of the Burlington County GOP — “leveraged his close personal relationship” with Harrison Township’s mayor, Republican Adam Wingate, “to sow doubt within the township” about the viability of the development.

    Yearslong saga

    It’s the latest twist in a development saga that dates to 2008, when plans for a walkable town center in Harrison’s Richwood section were unveiled, including talk of a new elementary school and liquor licenses for restaurants in what had been a dry town.

    But development efforts went nowhere, and the new push for warehouses — in a region that’s added tens of millions of square feet of warehousing space in recent years to meet demand for online shopping — has faced some resistance from residents in the affluent rural town of 14,000.

    Now those plans could be in question.

    According to the suit, Earlen has been pushing the current property owner, Madison Richwood, to do a deal with Rowan and Ohio-based Fairmount Properties LLC, which has been pursuing a “wellness district” at the university featuring proposals for a headquarters for Inspira Health, a hotel, as well as shops and restaurants.

    Rowan University in Glassboro.

    At some point last year Rowan negotiated a deal with Madison Richwood to buy the property for $31 million, plus another $10 million in 2026, the complaint says, in an effort to “fulfill the university’s vision for a comprehensive plan at the Route 55/Route 322 interchange.”

    As the township’s confidence in the warehouse project has eroded, the suit alleges, a neighboring property owner filed a lawsuit in October challenging Active’s government approvals.

    The developer — which has industrial and residential projects across New Jersey — has sunk roughly $4 million to obtain the necessary approvals for the project and $7 million in “consultant and development expenses,” according to court records.

    Gerszberg, who before his work in real estate was cofounder and president of hip-hop fashion brand Marc Ecko Enterprises, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

    What does Rowan say?

    The most recent suit, filed this month in Bergen County Superior Court by Active affiliate ActiveRWHA Property LLC, names Earlen and Fairmount Properties as defendants. It alleges interference with contractual rights, misappropriation of trade secrets, and defamation, among other counts.

    Representatives for Fairmount and Rowan — a public research institution that isn’t a party to the suit — did not directly answer questions about whether they intend to buy the property. Neither Earlen nor Wingate — who took office as mayor last year — responded to requests for comment.

    Randy Ruttenberg, a Fairmount principal, said the suit is “completely without merit” and called it an “ill-advised attempt to disrupt the very straightforward development process we continue to diligently pursue for the benefit of the entire region.”

    “Fairmount Properties is focused fiercely on executing their own world-class development, and no matter what obstacle is placed in our path, we will not be distracted, bullied or deterred,” he said in a statement.

    Joe Cardona, a spokesperson for Rowan, said it would be inappropriate to comment on pending litigation. “Rowan remains focused on its academic mission and on conducting all institutional planning activities responsibly and in accordance with applicable laws and governance standards,” he said in an email.

    Madison Richwood affiliate Madison Marquette — a Washington, D.C.-based real estate investment and operating company — said in court papers that Gerszberg’s concern about a sale to Rowan is “without merit.”

    Madison Marquette “will not sell the property, as defined in the [purchase and sale agreement], to Rowan, Fairmount, or any other entity while the PSA is in full force and effect,” firm president and managing principal William Sudow said in a court filing in a related case that has since been resolved.

  • Removing history next to the Liberty Bell

    Removing history next to the Liberty Bell

    I have walked through Independence National Historical Park many times looking at the many interpretive panels, exhibits and historical materials after President Donald Trump’s March 27, 2025 Executive Order 14253.

    “You Are Here” sign in the square behind Independence Hall July 23, 2025.

    Titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” the order directed the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, to review over 400 national sites to remove or modify interpretive materials that it deems “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times).” The order aimed to focus on the “greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”

    At first I looked at the many interpretive panels, videos, exhibits and historical materials in Independence Hall, Liberty Bell Center, President’s House and Ben Franklin Museum, wondering which ones the Interior Secretary might identify that “perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.”

    An Uncle Same hatted headband is left on a park bench Philadelphia’s Historic District during the Independence Day weekend celebrations Jul. 2, 2025.

    I took a lot of photos, but realized there wasn’t a way I could write a caption reading, “the administration doesn’t like what this panel says about slavery.” So I put any photos I made in a file for later use.

    In July, the New York Times broke the story that employees of the National Park Service had been flagging descriptions and displays at scores of parks and historic sites around the country for review — and they had examples of a few here in Philadelphia.

    The next day, armed with the specific panels at the Liberty Bell and the President’s House they reported, I went back and re-photographed them all for our own story.

    My colleague Fallon Roth obtained and reviewed the internal comments submitted by NPS employees here with many more details so in the following days I made many more photos.

    I was even told to re-photograph some panels for a third time, grumbling (to myself) when told “we need higher resolution versions, shot head on, without any distortion,” for an interactive project. Which, I had to admit later (again, to myself) turned out great!

    The President’s House came under particular scrutiny, and the removal of noncompliant displays was initially slated to come on Sept. 17.

    I went back many times, through protests and even the federal government shutdown.

    Farugh Maat, with Avenging the Ancestors, Coalition, takes down signs at the President’s House exhibit following a ceremony on the site Dec. 21, 2025 marking the 15th anniversary of its opening. The photo at left, known as “The Scourged Back” is copy of one that was removed from display at Fort Pulaski National Monument in Georgia following an order from President Trump’s “disparaging” executive order.

    The administration’s deadline came and went. We got tips that signs had been altered, but I checked, and nothing actually happened. Until Thursday.

    I was on assignment near Independence Hall, and as always, walked through the President’s House. It was quiet except for a local TV news crew using Independence Mall as a location for their report on this weekend’s coming winter storm.

    Later while editing that assignment, we got a tip that workers with tape measures where looking and poking around “behind the panels” there. I rushed down where my colleague Maggie Prosser was already asking them what they were up to.

    It wasn’t long before it finally happened.

    I photographed the entire removal, and was joined by photographer Elizabeth Robertson who even made an overall photo from our newsroom overlooking the site.

    Finally, I ended up returning after dark, just because.

    A single rose and a handwritten cardboard sign – “Slavery is part of U.S. history learn from the past of repeat it”- are inside an empty hearth at the President’s House site Thursday night, Jan. 22, 2026 after workers removed display panels.

    Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:

    January 19, 2026: A low-in-the-sky winter sun is behind the triangular pediment of the “front door” of the open-air President’s House installation in Independence National Historical Park. The reconstructed “ghost” structure with partial walls and windows of the Georgian home known in the 18th century as 190 High St. is officially titled, “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation” (2010). It is designed to give visitors a sense of the house where the first two presidents of the United States, George Washington and John Adams, served their terms of office. The commemorative site designed by Emanuel Kelly, with Kelly/Maiello Architects, pays homage to nine enslaved people of African descent who were part of the Washington household with videos scripted by Lorene Cary and directed by Louis Massiah.
    Deepika Iyer holds her niece Ira Samudra aloft in a Rockyesque pose, while her parents photograph their 8 month-old daughter, in front of the famous movie prop at the top of the steps at the Philadelphia Art Museum. Iyer lives in Philadelphia and is hosting a visit by her mother Vijayalakshmi Ramachandran (partially hidden); brother Gautham Ramachandran; and her sister-in-law Janani Gautham who all live in Bangalore, India.
    January 5, 2026: Parade marshals trail behind the musicians of the Greater Kensington String Band heading to their #9 position start in the Mummers Parade. Spray paint by comic wenches earlier in the day left “Oh, Dem Golden Slippers” shadows on the pavement of Market Street. This year marked the 125th anniversary of Philly’s iconic New Year’s Day celebration.
    Dec. 29, 2025: Canada geese at sunrise in Evans Pond in Haddonfield, during the week of the Winter Solstice for the Northern Hemisphere.
    December 22, 2025: SEPTA trolley operator Victoria Daniels approaches the end of the Center City Tunnel, heading toward the 40th Street trolley portal after a tour to update the news media on overhead wire repairs in the closed tunnel due to unexpected issues from new slider parts.
    December 15, 2025: A historical interpreter waits at the parking garage elevators headed not to a December crossing of the Delaware River, but an event at the National Constitution Center. General George Washington was on his way to an unveiling of the U.S. Mint’s new 2026 coins for the Semiquincentennial,
    December 8, 2025: The Benjamin Franklin Bridge and pedestrians on the Delaware River Trail are reflected in mirrored spheres of the “Weaver’s Knot: Sheet Bend” public artwork on Columbus Boulevard. The site-specific stainless steel piece located between the Cherry Street and Race Street Piers was commissioned by the City’s Public Art Office and the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation and created and installed in 2022 by the design and fabrication group Ball-Nogues Studio. The name recalls a history that dominated the region for hundreds of years. “Weaver’s knot” derives from use in textile mills and the “Sheet bend” or “sheet knot” was used on sailing vessels for bending ropes to sails.
    November 29, 2025: t’s ginkgo time in our region again when the distinctive fan-shaped leaves turn yellow and then, on one day, lose all their leaves at the same time laying a carpet on city streets and sidewalks. A squirrel leaps over leaves in the 18th Century Garden in Independence National Historical Park Nov. 25, 2025. The ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) is considered a living fossil as it’s the only surviving species of a group of trees that existed before dinosaurs. Genetically, it has remained unchanged over the past 200 million years. William Hamilton, owner the Woodlands in SW Phila (no relation to Alexander Hamilton) brought the first ginkgo trees to North America in 1785.
    November 24, 2025: The old waiting room at 30th Street Station that most people only pass through on their way to the restrooms has been spiffed up with benches – and a Christmas tree. It was placed there this year in front of the 30-foot frieze, “The Spirit of Transportation” while the lobby of Amtrak’s $550 million station restoration is underway. The 1895 relief sculpture by Karl Bitter was originally hung in the Broad Street Station by City Hall, but was moved in 1933. It depicts travel from ancient to modern and even futuristic times.
    November 17, 2025: Students on a field trip from the Christian Academy in Brookhaven, Delaware County, pose for a group photo in front of the Liberty Bell in Independence National Historical Park on Thursday. The trip was planned weeks earlier, before they knew it would be on the day park buildings were reopening after the government shutdown ended. “We got so lucky,” a teacher said. Then corrected herself. “It’s because we prayed for it.”
    November 8, 2025: Multitasking during the Festival de Día de Muertos – Day of the Dead – in South Philadelphia.
    November 1, 2025: Marcy Boroff is at City Hall dressed as a Coke can, along with preschoolers and their caregivers, in support of former Mayor Jim Kenney’s 2017 tax on sweetened beverages. City Council is considering repealing the tax, which funds the city’s pre-K programs.
    October 25, 2025: Austin Gabauer, paint and production assistant at the Johnson Atelier, in Hamilton Twp, N.J. as the finished “O” letter awaits the return to Philadelphia. The “Y” part of the OY/YO sculpture is inside the painting booth. The well-known sculpture outside the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History was removed in May while construction continues on Market Street and has been undergoing refurbishment at the Atelier at the Grounds for Sculpture outside of Trenton.
    October 20, 2025:The yellow shipping container next to City Hall attracted a line of over 300 people that stretched around a corner of Dilworth Park. Bystanders wondered as they watched devotees reaching the front take their selfies inside a retro Philly diner-esque booth tableau. Followers on social media had been invited to “Climb on to immerse yourself in the worlds of Pleasing Fragrance, Big Lip, and exclusive treasures,” including a spin of the “Freebie Wheel,” for products of the unisex lifestyle brand Pleasing, created by former One Direction singer Harry Styles.

    » SEE MORE: Archived columns and Twenty years of a photo column.

  • Teen who wanted to join ISIS admits to attempting to kill South Jersey police officer, officials say

    Teen who wanted to join ISIS admits to attempting to kill South Jersey police officer, officials say

    A Virginia teen who admitted in court that he wanted to join ISIS pleaded guilty Thursday to attempted murder and related offenses for a stabbing attack last year on a Florence Township police officer, Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw said Friday.

    Fasihullah Safar, 17, of Alexandria, Va., was charged as an adult and will be sentenced to 18 years in prison under a plea deal, Bradshaw said. He is scheduled to be formally sentenced on March 26 in Superior Court in Mount Holly.

    The police officer who was stabbed several times in the chest was wearing a ballistic vest that prevented more significant injuries, Bradshaw said.

    On March 21, 2025, Safar, who was 16 at the time, was driving a stolen vehicle when he intentionally caused a crash with another vehicle, Bradshaw said. A Florence police vehicle responding to the scene was then struck multiple times by Safar’s vehicle.

    Safar’s vehicle became inoperable on Route 130 near Station Road. When officers arrived, Safar charged them while armed with a knife, Bradshaw said. Besides the officer who was stabbed, suffering a laceration to his torso and facial injuries, two other officers sustained minor injuries. During the struggle, Safar also cut himself.

    In court, Safar admitted that in the months before the confrontation, he had begun following the Islamic State organization, Bradshaw said. Safar had indicated on social media that he planned to join the group.

    Safar admitted that he shouted “Allahu akbar” during the confrontation with police, and that he intended to kill one of the officers, Bradshaw said.

    Prior to the violent encounter with police in Florence Township, he was being sought by authorities, including the FBI, after he allegedly trespassed at a school in Fredericksburg, Va., causing the local district to close all schools.

    A school resource officer approached Safar, who then fled and later allegedly stole a vehicle.

    One report later said Safar had been investigated by the FBI after the teen allegedly posed on social media with what appeared to be a firearm.

  • Getting ready for the snow and cold? Here are tips to prepare yourself, your house, and your car.

    Getting ready for the snow and cold? Here are tips to prepare yourself, your house, and your car.

    Brace yourself for the cold, Philadelphians, because the first double-digit snowfall in 10 years is potentially heading our way, followed by sub-freezing temperatures that could last the rest of the month.

    Since nowhere is safe from the cold, here are some tips on how to keep yourself from freezing and your property from damage (no burst pipes in sight):

    How to prevent frostbite or hypothermia

    Staying indoors is the best way to keep frostbite and hypothermia at bay, but some must brave the temperature for work, other needs, or emergencies, as even waiting for the bus can take longer if SEPTA experiences storm-related service delays.

    With temperatures forecast in the teens and lower 20s, it is important to keep an eye on your core temperature.

    When you rapidly lose heat or stay wet for too long, it can cause hypothermia, even indoors. This can affect your brain and body, causing slurred speech, confusion, clumsiness, and extreme tiredness.

    Continued exposure to the cold can cause frostbite, as blood stops reaching your fingers, nose, ears, and extremities properly. You can get frostbite even under winter clothing, and it can lead to losing the affected body parts. If you start feeling tingling, numbness, or your skin looks gray or pale, head indoors.

    Frostbite can happen without hypothermia symptoms, and vice versa. Children, older adults, and people with circulation issues are especially at risk

    To prevent both afflictions, stay dry, covered, and layered up, keeping your skin from being exposed.

    Read more for additional tips on staying warm.

    Where to stay warm if you have no heat or are experiencing homelessness

    Four out of five warming centers reached capacity on Thursday, but the city plans to open more and add beds as needed.

    The warming centers remain open at select libraries from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. And shelter beds have been added under the Code Blue declaration.

    Some recreation centers will also serve as warming centers from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. Find the selected libraries and recreation centers closest to you on the city’s interactive map of warming centers.

    Folks in need of a warm place can go to their local police precinct to be transported to the nearest warming center.

    Read more about the warming centers.

    Avoid slips and falls

    Broken bones and head trauma are no fun. Stay grounded by wearing footwear with enough traction (no sneakers or dress shoes), or traction cleats.

    You can’t control the city roads, but salting your sidewalk properly can help avoid starting your day on the ground, or worse, in the emergency room. As you walk, make sure to lean slightly forward and take shorter steps. You may look like a penguin, but it’s worth it to avoid the pain and medical bills.

    Doing some balance exercise can also help.

    Tips to prevent frozen pipes and safely heat your home

    Much like your body, your home also loses heat in the cold, putting pipes at risk for freezing and bursting. Disconnecting garden hoses and shutting off the valve that feeds them, and keeping faucets slightly open and running can prevent expensive repairs.

    Pipes will begin to freeze when a thermostat is at 39 degrees and lower. Maintaining the thermostat at 50 degrees or above is ideal.

    Read more for tips on how to spot a freezing pipe or what to do if it bursts.

    How to prep your car for freezing weather

    Though they won’t burst, cars get cold too, reducing battery power and creating a risk of being left stranded, especially if the battery is older than two or three years.

    Be ready to jump-start your car. Jumper cables and a portable jumper pack can be helpful. Remember, red clamps to the positive post of the dead battery; black clamps to the negative post of the working battery and to the unpainted metal surface on the engine of the dead car.

    Here is a step-by-step guide on how to jumpstart a car.

  • Is Wegmans collecting shoppers’ biometric data at its Philly-area stores? The company won’t say.

    Is Wegmans collecting shoppers’ biometric data at its Philly-area stores? The company won’t say.

    Grocery chain Wegmans came under fire earlier this month after signage at its New York City stores revealed it was collecting biometric data on shoppers.

    But the Rochester, N.Y.-based supermarket chain won’t say whether it’s collecting biometric data on shoppers at eight Philly-area stores. There are Wegmans stores in Cherry Hill and Mount Laurel in New Jersey and in Glen Mills, Malvern, King of Prussia, Collegeville, Warrington, and North Wales in Pennsylvania.

    Patrons at some New York City Wegmans locations learned earlier this month that the supermarket chain had begun to collect, retain, store, and share data on their faces, eyes, and voices. The information, Wegmans said, was being used for “safety purposes.”

    “This is information that can be used to identify or help identify you,” a sign posted at Wegmans in New York City said, according to reporting from the online news site Gothamist. “We use facial recognition technology to protect the safety and security of our patrons and employees, and do not lease, trade or otherwise profit from the transfer of biometric identifier information.”

    Wegmans does not “get into the specific measures used at each store” for “safety and security purposes,” Wegmans spokesperson Marcie Rivera said in an email.

    Rivera said Wegmans has deployed cameras equipped with facial recognition technology in “a small fraction of our stores that exhibit an elevated risk.” Wegmans is using the technology in a “handful of states.” It posted mandated signage in New York City to comply with local regulations, Rivera said.

    Wegmans has previously said that the surveillance software is used to help identify individuals who “pose a risk to our people, customers, or operation.”

    Biometric surveillance is becoming increasingly common but is not yet widespread, said Gus Hurwitz, senior fellow and academic director of the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition at Penn’s Carey Law School.

    Companies that use biometric surveillance do so for a number of reasons, but seldom tell consumers what their data is being collected for. Data collection can help companies understand what consumers are purchasing and how they’re moving through stores, Hurwitz said. Biometric data collection can also be used for dynamic pricing, when retailers change prices in real-time depending on a number of factors, including time of day, demand, weather, and consumer behavior.

    Hurwitz said it’s important to distinguish between real-time and non-real-time biometric screening. Non-real-time screening has been happening for decades in the form of security cameras and other data collection tools, often used for market research purposes.

    Real-time screening, however, is a newer frontier with a far murkier regulatory landscape.

    Businesses in New York City that collect biometric data are required to post signage notifying customers, per a 2021 city law, however the agency in charge of implementing the law has no enforcement mechanism for noncompliant businesses, a city official told Gothamist.

    A bipartisan bill regulating biometric data collection is currently moving through the Pennsylvania legislature. A recently introduced bill in the New Jersey Legislature would require any entity collecting biometric information to post a “clear and conspicuous notice” at every entryway to their business, like in New York City.

    Hurwitz said we’re “still very much in the development era of these sorts of technologies,” and that he expects more and more government entities to hone in on regulating them in the near future.

  • Snow, perhaps more than a foot, is all but certain this weekend for Philly

    Snow, perhaps more than a foot, is all but certain this weekend for Philly

    Based on what the computers and their human interpreters are saying, a key question this weekend will be whether measuring the snow in the Philly region will require a ruler or a yardstick.

    This no doubt will be a moving target, but on Friday morning, the National Weather Service in Mount Holly was seeing eight to 14 inches for Philly, said meteorologist Alex Staarmann. Several inches were possible even at the Jersey Shore.

    For Philly, that would be the first double-digit snowfall in 10 years.

    A wild card would be a potentially unpleasant atmospheric parfait that would add ice to the mix on Sunday, and computer models Friday were suggesting that mixing was likely near I-95 and in Delaware and South Jersey. However, the weather service expects that to yield to all snow Sunday night.

    While this is all quite a complicated meteorological setup, in essence Arctic air is pressing southward and it is going to interact with an impressively juicy storm to the south.

    “Having the Arctic front come through before the onset of wintry precipitation, that’s really concerning,” said Ray Kruzdlo, the staff hydrologist in the weather service office, where “it’s all hands on deck.”

    Below-zero windchills are expected Saturday morning, prompting a cold-weather advisory, and temperatures in Philly may stay below freezing the rest of the month.

    What time will the snow start and end?

    The timing and duration of precipitation aren’t among the strong suits of computer models.

    The weather service’s winter storm watch, which covers the entire region, all of Delaware, and most of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is in effect from 7 p.m. Saturday until 1 p.m. Monday.

    The daytime Saturday “looks fine if you have to get out,” said Tom Kines, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc.

    The weather service is listing the likeliest starting time as the early morning hours of Sunday, with snow likely into the early morning hours of Monday.

    Sunday is going to be one of the colder days of the winter with temperatures in the teens and lower 20s. The weather service introduces the possibility of freezing rain and sleet by 1 p.m., with a forecast temperature of 19 degrees.

    The promise, peril, and whimsy of a potential double-digit snowfall in Philly

    Wait, it can rain when it’s 19 degrees?

    Yes, it can rain when it’s below 20 degrees at the surface, and precipitation doesn’t get much more dangerous.

    Snow and sleet, liquid that freezes on the way down, can at least provide traction on the roads. Rain that freezes on contact becomes an ice sheet. Also, when freezing rain accumulates on fallen snow it can bring down trees and power lines.

    Peco has heard the storm rumors (who hasn’t?) and will have crews on call through the weekend, said spokesperson Candace Womack.

    The threat of ice is related to the possibility of warm layers of air, borne on onshore winds from the ocean, at levels of the atmosphere where precipitation is formed.

    That could well happen Sunday as the coastal storm intensifies, said Kruzdlo, and winds build from the Northeast, perhaps gusting past 20 mph. Any rain or sleet would encounter very cold air at the surface, locked and dammed in place by the Appalachian Mountains.

    “That’s the complexity of living where we are so close to the ocean,” Kruzdlo said. “We have tens of thousands of observations at the surface,” he added, but data from the upper atmosphere is wanting, adding challenges to forecasting changeovers.

    Along the I-95 corridor, storms of purely snow are the exceptions, Kruzdlo said.

    What are chances that the storm is a bust?

    In the chess matches between science and the nonlinear chaos of the atmosphere, chaos has been known to win.

    One of the more notable busts occurred in January 2015 when forecasts called for an I-95 East Coast snowstorm so ferocious that the mayor of New York imposed a curfew.

    Philly was supposed to get a foot or more, and ended up with an inch or two. That prompted the head of the Mount Holly weather service office to issue a public apology.

    His boss at the time, weather service head Louis Uccellini, said no apology was necessary: Science has its limits. Busts have been known to happen in the battle of science against nonlinear.

    This time around, meteorologists are all but certain something “impactful” is going to happen.

    Said Kruzdlo, the slim chance of this storm “not being significant is leaving us.”