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  • Pa. and N.J. lost thousands of jobs after federal workers signed up for Trump resignation program

    Pa. and N.J. lost thousands of jobs after federal workers signed up for Trump resignation program

    The number of federal government employees in the Philadelphia region plunged in October, according to new employment data that appear to reflect the departure of thousands who opted into President Donald Trump’s resignation program.

    Trump’s cuts to the federal workforce over his first year in office became clearer Wednesday with the release of new employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, thousands of federal jobs were cut from September to October.

    It was the first time the government’s deferred resignation program has been reflected in local employment data. First offered in January 2025, this program allowed federal employees to resign from their jobs while continuing to receive pay. For many, the program ended Sept. 30. While it may have been months since they had completed duties related to their federal jobs, the end of the deferred resignation period is when they officially stopped being employed by the government for purposes of employment data.

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    “The federal workforce is …in communities like Philadelphia, and we are part of the economy,” said Philip Glover, a union leader with AFGE District 3, which represents federal workers in Pennsylvania and Delaware. The recent local job loss will have ripple effects, he said. It “affects stores, transit, it affects tax bases, all of those things are affected,” he said.

    139,000 Pa. jobs at risk

    Federal agencies in the Philadelphia metro area — a region that includes Camden and Wilmington — shed about 2,900 jobs in October, down 5.3% from September. It was the steepest month-over-month decline since July 2010 and the fourth biggest since at least 1990.

    Pennsylvania lost overall about 4,800 federal jobs in October, a 4.8% drop and the largest month-over-month decrease since October 2020.

    New Jersey lost about 1,200 federal jobs in October.

    In nearly five years, employment overall has grown 12.6% in the Philadelphia metro area, but regional gains in federal employment have now been completely wiped out by job losses in the past year.

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    The handful of larger prior declines in federal employment for Pennsylvania and Philadelphia came during the recessions of the early 1990s and 2000s, the Great Recession and its aftermath, or the COVID-19 pandemic — periods during which economic activity slowed and the federal government experienced a decline in tax revenue.

    The deferred resignation would have been reflected in a November release, but it was delayed because of the federal government shutdown, which stretched through early November.

    The federal employment figures include all full- and part-time civilian employees, including those of the Postal Service. But it does not include armed forces and intelligence agencies such as the CIA and NSA.

    Why federal workers resigned

    Paul Kenney spent almost 30 years at the National Park Service in Philadelphia — more than two decades in the Northeast Regional Office on Market Street in river protection and six years at Independence National Historical Park.

    All that came to a halt in March 2025. Kenney decided the Trump administration’s efforts to significantly reduce the federal workforce was too much. He felt demoralized and also concerned that a bill in Congress at the time would impact his pension.

    The 59-year-old decided to retire three years early, despite wanting to stay in the workforce. He had just scored some highly coveted grants for restoration efforts in the parks. He remains involved with his union, AFGE Local 2058, as a vice president.

    By the end of May, five people from Kenney’s 11-person team at the Northeast Regional Office left; almost all had opted to take an early retirement.

    These Philly federal workers loved their jobs. But amid Trump’s shakeup they chose to leave.

    “The pressure really was all DOGE,” Kenney said, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency Trump launched soon after taking office. It was a “grim” experience for those in the federal workforce, he added.

    Kenney is one of the thousands no longer on government payroll. Federal employees were laid off, took early retirements, and resigned in 2025 amid Trump’s workforce overhaul.

    Beyond layoffs earlier in 2025, the Trump administration sent termination notices during the government shutdown that started on Oct. 1. Those firings were ordered to be reversed under the deal to end the shutdown.

    Where are federal workers employed?

    In Pennsylvania, federal employment represented about 1.52% of all jobs as of November, down from around 1.69% for the same month in 2024, according to the new data.

    In New Jersey, federal workers represented about 1.05% of jobs overall as of November, down from around 1.13% in November 2024.

    The most recent BLS data are not broken down by agency or department, but data from March 2025 from Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry indicate that in Southeastern Pennsylvania, the largest employers of federal workers are the U.S. Postal Service, the Department of Defense, and the Department of the Treasury.

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    Nationally, the federal government shed about 162,000 jobs in October, down 5.6% from September and 8.7% from the previous October. The government lost a further 6,000 jobs in November.

    There were about 2.74 million federal employees nationwide as of November, compared with about 3.02 million at the start of 2025. The country experienced a loss of 271,000 federal jobs from January through November.

    That’s not far off the 300,000 federal jobs that the Trump administration had said would be cut by the end of 2025. Data for the remainder of the year will be available later this month.

    “What it’s doing is putting a strain on the remainder of the workforce to continue operations,” said Glover. “That increases stress levels, it doesn’t increase efficiency.”

    Meanwhile, the federal government could shut down again, albeit partially, if legislators don’t reach a funding deal by Jan. 30.

    And with that in mind, Glover said, additional federal workers may be thinking about quitting. “I think people are making decisions now whether they’re gonna stay if that happens again.”

  • Ocean City’s planning board deals another blow to the proposal to build a hotel at the defunct Wonderland Pier

    Ocean City’s planning board deals another blow to the proposal to build a hotel at the defunct Wonderland Pier

    OCEAN CITY, N.J. — Once again, the football was yanked away from would-be Ocean City boardwalk hotel developer Eustace Mita just as he was about to kick it.

    Ocean City’s planning board unexpectedly deadlocked Wednesday night on a request to declare the old Wonderland Pier site “in need of rehabilitation,” dealing a significant setback to Mita’s plan to build a luxury hotel on the boardwalk property.

    The vote is the second time Ocean City has thwarted Mita’s attempts to move his project forward (though, in loop-the-loop fashion, an earlier no vote by City Council was later reversed.)

    Mita, who has proposed turning the property into Icona in Wonderland, called Wednesday’s vote an “incredibly serious roadblock.” He said he indeed felt a bit like Charlie Brown to the city government’s Lucy, and revived thoughts of selling the property.

    A rendering of the proposed new Icona in Wonderland Resort, to be built on the site of the old Wonderland Pier. The proposal for a 252-room resort includes saving the iconic Ferris wheel and carousel.

    The board was split 4-4 with half the members agreeing that the property was significantly deteriorated and underutilized, two legal criteria needed for the designation.

    But half the board, including chair John Loeper, said they did not believe the criteria had been met, and noted some businesses were open last summer at the front of the property.

    The matter still will go back to City Council for a final vote on the designation, but Mita said if Council waits too long, he will unload the property.

    The “in need of rehabilitation” designation has been long sought by Mita, who wants to build a $150 million luxury hotel at 600 Boardwalk.

    The designation would allow site-specific zoning changes and possible tax breaks. The site is currently zoned for amusements.

    After the meeting, Mita said he was shocked by the failure of the board to recommend the designation. “It’s been deteriorated for decades before I bought it,” he said. “I’m very very disappointed. This is the poster child for rehabilitation. ”

    Gillian’s Wonderland Pier closed in October 2024, ending nearly a century of amusement ride ownership by the Gillian family in Ocean City. Mayor Jay Gillian had sold the property to Mita and leased it back from him, but said he could not make the enterprise profitable.

    Gillian recently declared Chapter 11 personal bankruptcy, listing nearly $6 million in debt.

    Wednesday’s vote brought about 150 people out to another iconic boardwalk structure, the Music Pier, on a pleasantly warm January evening.

    About three dozen members of the public spoke, including Mita himself, who said the city would benefit “tenfold” from his development plans. The speakers were evenly divided in their views.

    A visit from Will Morey

    Will Morey came up from Wildwood to lay bare what many in Ocean City did not want to hear — reviving Wonderland Pier as an amusement park would be next to impossible.

    “Starting from the ground up, it is not financially feasible,” Morey, the CEO of Morey’s Piers, told the city’s planning board. “It’s a very challenging lift.”

    The board could not agree that the property met the legal criteria for the designation: that it was significantly deteriorated and showed a pattern of vacancy and underutilization.

    “It’s an enormous piece of property that’s literally falling apart on the oceanfront,” said board member Dean Adams.

    But Loeper, the chair, called the abandonment “self-inflicted” and said he would need more proof of the deterioration.

    Engineering and other studies put the cost of repairing the carousel, Ferris wheel, and log flume at $6.5 million, and the cost of fixing the site’s concrete foundation and pilings at $3.9 million.

    The matter will still go back to Ocean City’s City Council, which is also awaiting a report from a boardwalk subcommittee.

    Eustace Mita arriving at the Ocean City Music Pier for a city planning board meeting on Wednesday. He was seeking a recommendation that the old Wonderland Pier site he owns be declared “in need of rehabilitation,” which he described as “Step 2” in his plan to build a luxury hotel.

    ‘The boardwalk is not thriving.’

    Opponents asked board members to deny the “in need of rehabilitation” designation. They scoffed when Jody Arena, a construction expert who testified about the property’s deteriorated state, acknowledged that Mita was a partner in his firm, Caritas Construction.

    They surmised that similar photos of deterioration could be taken of the Music Pier, where the meeting was held. One resident, Jim Tweed, said the designation would threaten “decades of restraint.”

    Business owners, including the owners of Manco’s, George’s Candies, Cousin’s Restaurant, Barefoot Trading, and Ocean City Bikes, asked the board to approve the designation to avoid further closures of businesses. They described a devastating impact from the closure of Wonderland Pier.

    Boardwalk property owner Mark Raab said three of his tenants had decided to close their shops. “People don’t know what’s been going on,” he told the board. “The boardwalk is not thriving. It’s going down piece by piece.”

    “We are a city based on tourism,” said Cousin’s Restaurant owner Bill McGinnity. “We’d appreciate a vote of ‘yes’ tonight so that we can move forward quickly,”

    Others resisted any fast-tracking of development. Donna Saber, owner of Here Comes the Bride shop, brought along a copy of the original 1881 deed that she said sought to preserve its original intent as a place for child amusements.

    “It was deeded as an amusement park,” she said.

    Donna Saber, owner of Here Comes the Bride bridal shop in Ocean City, holds a copy of the original 1881 deed to the property that was the Wonderland Pier. She’s opposed to a plan to build a luxury hotel.

    Marie Hayes, a full-time resident for 22 years, worried the designation would set a “dangerous precedent,” that would result in the town resembling Ocean City, Md., with high-rises along its oceanfront.

    The planning board was given reports submitted by Mita back in August, when council stunned some, especially Mita, by voting not to ask the board to study the site’s future. Mita immediately said he would sell the property.

    John Loeper, chair of Ocean City’s planning board, on stage at the Ocean City Music Pier. The planning board was set to vote on whether to recommend that the old Wonderland Pier site be declared in need of rehabilitation, a designation that could lead to a luxury hotel on the site.

    Sean Barnes, the city councilman liaison to the planning board, questioned Wednesday whether the rides should even be considered part of the property.

    “Amusement rides are not structures,” said Helen Struckmann, a resident who has opposed the hotel idea and vowed to save Wonderland Pier. She said the historic carousel was in better shape than the reports stated. “They don’t justify the need for rehabilitation designation for the property. Different amusement rides have been swapped out.”

    She and others questioned why Mita had not addressed deterioration of the property since purchasing it in 2021. Mita is “now requesting a benefit from his purposeful underutilization of the property,” said resident Bob Duffy.

    But Mita said he’d waived rent on the property so that Jay Gillian could try to make a go of the amusement pier. He said he’d put in $500,000 last summer to open the front portion of the property as an arcade, coffee and pizza shop, and bike shop.

    Engineer Matt Mowrer told the planning board the property was “heavily deteriorated,” with “concrete spalling” — chunks of concrete breaking off from the foundation. He said corrosion from salt air would get only worse.

    Board planner Randall Scheule told the board Wednesday he believed the structural deterioration of the property itself and the underutilization of the property met the standards. There was some debate as to whether the rides themselves should be included in any analysis.

    The board looked at whether the site met the legal criteria needed for the designation, which will allow City Council to rezone the site for a hotel and grant tax abatements.

    Will Morey, president and CEO of Wildwood’s Morey’s Piers, testifies in Ocean City at a planning board meeting to determine the future of the old Wonderland Pier.

    The board did not discuss Mita’s specific hotel plans, which have included the carousel and Ferris wheel and some kiddie rides.

    The old Wonderland Pier site on the boardwalk in Ocean City, N.J., as seen from Wayne Avenue on Jan. 6. The beloved amusement pier shut down in October 2024. A developer wants to build a luxury hotel. A report put the cost of repairing the Ferris wheel, carousel, and log flume at as much as $6.5 million.
    Five minutes before the 6 p.m. scheduled closing all but one of the gates are shut on the Boardwalk, on the final day for the beloved Wonderland Pier in Ocean City Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024.

    Last summer, four businesses operated on the site: Ocean City Pizza Company, Dead End Bakehouse, Wonderland Pier Arcade, and OC Bikes and Rentals. Mita entertained several offers to sell, including one from the Norcross brothers, who envisioned residential development.

    Planner Tiffany Morrissey told the planning board that showed the property was underutilized.

    The property is assessed at $15.8 million, which translates to an estimated market value of about $29 million.

    Saving the site as an amusement park has been the focus of much despair among community members and others with generations of memories at Wonderland Pier.

    But the reports lay out the deterioration of the pier’s marquee attractions.

    The report states that the carousel, which dates to the 1920s, would require as much as $1.5 million in repairs, including a new electrical system and repair or replacement of the telescopes, the poles that support the horses.

    The Ferris wheel is also in need of substantial repair, costing as much as $2.5 million, including replacing or repairing the lights, and rebuilding the spokes and “spreader bars,” which connect the spokes and form the arc.

    The Log Flume Ride, built in 1992, would need substantial repairs estimated at between $2.5 and $4 million, including rebuilding the upper troughs.

    No company has stepped forward with a plan to keep the site solely an amusement park.

  • A snow record is officially on the books in New Jersey … 30 years later

    A snow record is officially on the books in New Jersey … 30 years later

    NOAA announced this week that a New Jersey weather station set a state record for seasonal snowfall.

    It just took awhile to confirm. The season in question was the eventful winter of 1995-96.

    What took so long?

    “There’s nothing nefarious about it,” said David Robinson, the longtime state climatologist. “You can blame me.”

    Robinson, a Rutgers University professor and snow expert, said he was aware at the time of the 122-inch total measured at High Point in North Jersey during the eventful winter of 1995-96.

    The High Point total finally was confirmed in March 2022 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s State Climate Extremes Committee, of which Robinson is a member and whose mission it is to validate records, a sometimes complicated process.

    The findings, released Tuesday, were published in a 60-page memorandum authored by Chris Stachelski, an official with the National Weather Service’s Eastern Regional Headquarters.

    The report included several pages of images and discussion of the 1995-96 winter during which Philadelphia experienced its biggest snow in its 140-year period of record.

    As state climatologist, Robinson said he long had intended to vet the 122-inch figure.

    He said he was well familiar with the observer who was measuring all that snow and that he is “someone who is meticulous.”

    Robinson said one might ask why he didn’t seek to verify the record sooner.

    “I didn’t. It was too far on the back burner for far too long.”

    Robinson said the impetus was a national effort a few years back to assemble snowfall records for every state, and that prompted him to look again at the High Point record.

    He said the weather service ultimately took the lead in the investigation, and after a meeting with Stachelski, the committee decided 10 feet of snow truly fell upon High Point that winter.

  • Vineland educator is named new Camden superintendent, the first Hispanic to lead the district

    Vineland educator is named new Camden superintendent, the first Hispanic to lead the district

    A veteran Vineland educator has been named the state-appointed superintendent to oversee the Camden school system, state Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer announced Wednesday.

    Alfonso Q. Llano Jr. was selected after a national search that began in June. He will begin heading the troubled South Jersey school system starting March 1.

    He will be the first Hispanic superintendent to lead the district. Demographics in Camden have shifted in recent years, and 56% of its traditional public school students are now Hispanic, 42% are Black, and 1.2% are white.

    Dehmer made the long-awaited announcement at the monthly state Board of Education meeting in Trenton. The board unanimously approved the appointment.

    “I’m honored for the opportunity to serve the Camden City School District,” Llano said. “Together, we’re going to work through transparency and tough times. We’re going to achieve great things.”

    Llano will receive an annual salary of $260,000 under a three-year contract.

    In Vineland, he was the highest-paid superintendent in Cumberland County with an annual base salary of $206,000.

    Davida Coe-Brockington, a longtime Camden educator who has served as the interim superintendent during the search, will remain in that role until Llano takes over. She was not a candidate for the job.

    Llano succeeds Katrina T. McCombs, whose contract was not renewed after a group of city leaders, including Mayor Victor Carstarphen, called for her ouster. The group said Camden schools needed “a new vision for leadership.” McCombs left Camden in July for a state role after seven years as superintendent.

    Reactions to Llano’s hiring

    Carstarphen and other officials praised Llano’s appointment in a statement released Wednesday. The mayor lauded the state “for identifying someone who will bring meaningful change for Camden’s students.”

    “I am confident he will be an excellent leader who prepares our students for the future and always puts our students’ academic interest first,” Carstarphen said.

    N’Namdee Nelson, president of the Camden City Advisory School Board, said: “We want to ensure that every child in the school district has access to a great school.”

    Others, like former longtime school board member Jose E. Delgado, wished Llano well but were less optimistic. He said the selection of a Hispanic superintendent was “long overdue.”

    “He’s stepping into a very dysfunctional environment that will require a wide array of fiscal, administrative, and educational skills,” Delgado said.

    Llano inherits a district with declining enrollment — it currently has about 5,532 students — low test scores, and a high dropout rate. There have been modest gains since the state seized control of the district in 2013.

    The changing educational landscape in Camden poses the biggest challenge. Thousands of students have left the city’s traditional public schools for Renaissance and charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run and now lead the district’s enrollment.

    Camden is the only district in New Jersey with three school types. Charters enroll 3,236 students, and Renaissance schools have 6,664 students.

    Last spring, McCombs cited the declining enrollment in part for a $91 million budget deficit. She cut more than 100 positions and laid off teachers and support staff in a massive restructuring.

    Camden Education Association president Pamela Clark, who represents more than 1,000 teachers and support staff, said she hopes to meet with Llano soon to discuss concerns about possible layoffs and school closures.

    “I will continue to advocate fiercely to protect my members’ jobs and school closures, and I hope the new superintendent brings fairness, transparency, and unity to our city,” she said.

    Llano’s past work in Vineland and Trenton

    Llano has been superintendent of the Vineland district in Cumberland County since 2021. His five-year contract was set to expire in June.

    During a meeting in June, the Vineland board was bitterly divided over whether to renew his contract. The board must give six months’ notice if it plans to terminate a superintendent. The motion to not renew it failed, and it was unclear what direction the board would pursue.

    In Vineland, Llano oversaw a diverse district of more than 10,200 students enrolled in 16 schools. About 63% of the students are Hispanic, 14% are Black, and 18% are white. About 17.4% of its students are multilingual learners.

    Vineland has some of the same issues as Camden schools — low test scores and chronic absenteeism. The majority of the students in the sprawling 68-square-mile community are economically disadvantaged.

    Llano also spent 10 years in the Trenton school system, most recently as the interim schools chief for nearly a year prior to moving to Vineland. He previously was the district’s chief academic officer for six months. He also was an assistant superintendent and principal in Trenton.

    According to his LinkedIn profile, Llano also had stints in the Readington Township and Howell Township school districts in a career spanning 27 years.

    He is pursuing a doctoral degree in education at Seton Hall University. He holds master’s degrees from New Jersey City University and Kean University, and a bachelor’s degree from Rowan University.

    Interim State-appointed Camden school Superintendent Davida Coe-Brockington.

    Coe-Brockington said Llano’s reputation precedes him and that she was looking forward to working with him to “focus on the progress we’ve made in the district and focus on creating better outcomes for the students and families of Camden City.”

    It was unclear Wednesday whether Coe-Brockington would remain in the central office when Llano takes over or return to Creative Arts High School, where she has been principal since it opened in 1999.

  • Donkey’s Place’s walrus bone was stolen from the bar. Staff want it back.

    Donkey’s Place’s walrus bone was stolen from the bar. Staff want it back.

    Rob Lucas Jr. is not exactly sentimental about the 27-inch walrus penis bone that for decades has adorned the bar he inherited from his father.

    But on Dec. 29, a patron was captured on video stealing the Donkey’s Place oddity, Lucas said, and it’s not something he takes lightly.

    He wants his walrus penis bone back on his bar stat.

    “I do have a credit card, but I can’t get the information from my credit card company unless I file a police report and that would mean going down to the police station and spending hours,” he said Wednesday. “We’d rather just get it back.”

    The provenance of the bone is unknown to Lucas, third-generation owner, who grew up in the local cheesesteak spot and bar.

    His grandfather, Leon “Donkey” Lucas, a heavyweight boxing contender in the 1928 Summer Olympics, opened the bar more than 80 years ago.

    In Camden for 75 years, Donkey’s Place serves cheesesteaks – and so much more

    Donkey’s got a major boost in 2015 when Anthony Bourdain featured it in an episode of his travel food show Parts Unknown. Bourdain said “the best cheesesteak in the area might well come from New Jersey,” referring to the Donkey’s Place staple served on a seeded Kaiser roll.

    Donkey’s ambience has not changed much since Bourdain’s visit. It has the feel of a bar where everyone knows your name, cozy and packed to the gills with random decor, from beer memorabilia, boxing gloves, a megalodon tooth, and of course, the walrus penis bone, also known as a walrus baculum, for the citizen scientists.

    Lucas grew up with the megalodon tooth and walrus bone but never learned what they actually were until he took the bar over from his father about a decade ago and endeavored to take stock of what he had on his hands.

    Since then, the bone has been a great conversation piece — patrons guess what it is and pose for photos with it — and just another part of the local cheesesteak spot’s charm.

    It’s why the waitress working a Dec. 29 shift didn’t think anything of the three men’s interest in the bone. Lucas said they spent a few hours at the bar while the waitress juggled patrons and the grill that’s within sight of where the patrons were sitting.

    “They weren’t wasted or anything, but they had some sandwiches, bought some merchandise, and then walked out with the walrus bone,” he said.

    But after paying their tab, Lucas said security footage shows one of the men wrapped the bone in a large pashmina-like scarf and walked out.

    Little is known about the men. Lucas said they told the waitress they’d come to the area for HiJinx Fest, the two-day dubstep, electronic music festival, held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center across the river. Lucas said the man who took the bone claimed he was a traveling tattoo artist, originally from Cleveland.

    By Wednesday, Donkey’s Bar had posted a public plea on its TikTok account, asking for help in finding the bone, sharing screenshots of the trio walking out of the restaurant, bone in scarf.

    @donkeysplacecamden

    We want our “bone” back! Please help!

    ♬ original sound – Donkeys Place Camden

    The local response has been swift so far and one of downright indignation. Lucas said some tattoo friends have circulated the story and NJ Advance Media published an article about the search. Lucas imagines internet sleuths will do their own digging, though he does not want to get anyone in trouble.

    “They could mail it back if they want,” he said of the trio. No questions asked.

  • John Langdon, innovative award-winning graphic designer, has died at 79

    John Langdon, innovative award-winning graphic designer, has died at 79

    John Langdon, 79, formerly of Philadelphia, innovative award-winning graphic designer, painter, writer, and longtime adjunct professor of typography at Drexel University, died Thursday, Jan. 1, of complications from a heart attack at French Hospital Medical Center in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

    Mr. Langdon was a lifelong artist and wordsmith. He originated ambigrams in the early 1970s and created distinctive logos for corporate clients, artists, musicians, and others. Ambigrams are words or designs that retain meaning when viewed from different perspectives, and his work influenced countless other designers and typographers who followed.

    “They also present familiar concepts in an unfamiliar way,” he told The Inquirer in 1992, “and thus stimulate the reader’s imagination.”

    On his website, johnlangdon.net, Mr. Langdon described his work as “making abstract concepts visual, almost always through the design of words, letters, and symbols.” He called it “words as art” and said: “I specialize in the visual presentation of words.”

    His designs were featured in more than a dozen solo shows in galleries and museums in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and Delaware, and in more than 50 group exhibitions around the country and Europe. He created six ambigrams for author Dan Brown’s best-selling book, Angels & Demons, and Brown named his fictional protagonist, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, after John Langdon.

    “John’s art changed the way I think about symmetry, symbols, and art,” Brown told The Inquirer in 2006.

    What’s in a logo? More than meets the eye, by John Langdon

    Mr. Langdon’s own book about ambigrams, Wordplay, was first published in 1992 and updated in 2005. He also wrote the forwards of other books and articles for journals and newsletters. He said he had a “particular interest in word origins” in an interview on his website.

    He was featured several times in The Inquirer and wrote an op-ed piece in 2014 about the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s new logo. He opened the article with: “Please, beloved Philadelphia Museum of Art, before you print one piece of stationery or a single promotional flier, reconsider your new logo.”

    Mr. Langdon’s work was featured in The Inquirer in 2006.

    In 1996, he began painting what he called his “visual-verbal meditations and manipulations” on canvas. “My paintings still involve symmetry and illusion, a bit of philosophy, and a few puns thrown in for good measure,” he said on his website.

    He cocreated the Flexion typeface and won a 2007 award from the New York-based Type Directors Club. He spoke often about design at colleges and high schools, and to professional societies. He gave a TEDx talk about font and the future of typeface at Drexel.

    Douglas Hofstadter, a professor at Indiana University who coined the term ambigram in 1984, told The Inquirer in 2006 that Mr. Langdon had a “very strong sense of legibility but also a marvelous sense of esthetics, flow, and elegance.”

    Born in Wynnewood and reared in Narberth, Mr. Langdon graduated from Episcopal Academy in 1964 and earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. He worked in the photo-lettering department of a type house and for a design studio in Philadelphia after college, and began freelancing as a logo designer, type specialist, and lettering artist in 1977.

    He taught typography and logo design classes at Moore College of Art and Design from 1985 to 1988 and at Drexel from 1988 to his retirement in 2015. In an online tribute, one student said he was “one of my favorite teachers of all time.”

    He was interested in Taoism and inspired by artists Salvador Dalí and M.C. Escher, and authors Edgar Allan Poe and Ogden Nash. “In the early ’70s, I tried to do with words what Dali and Escher did with images,” he said in a 2006 interview posted on Newswise.com.

    John Wilbur Langdon was born April 19, 1946. He played high school and college soccer and drew caricatures of classmates for the Episcopal yearbook.

    After college, he took painting and drawing classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the old Philadelphia College of Art. He married Lynn Ochsenreiter, and they had a daughter, Jessica. They divorced later.

    Mr. Langdon enjoyed vacation road trips and told stories of hitchhiking around the country in the 1960s. He followed the Phillies, was interested in genealogy, and traced his family back to the Founding Fathers.

    Mr. Langdon stands with his daughter, Jessica.

    He lived in Darby, Woodbury, Wenonah, and Philadelphia before moving to California in 2016. “He was jovial, social, and amusing,” his daughter said. “People said he was clever, and everyone liked him.”

    He told The Inquirer in 2006: “It may seem counterintuitive, but the more ambiguity you invite into your life, the more things make sense and become understandable.”

    John Langdon: A true man of letters for ‘Angels & Demons’

    In addition to his daughter and former wife, Mr. Langdon is survived by a brother, Courtney, and other relatives.

    A memorial is to be held later.

    Mr. Langdon lived in Darby, South Jersey, and Philadelphia before moving to California in 2016.
  • The story behind a colonial-era Woodcrest cemetery | Inquirer Cherry Hill

    The story behind a colonial-era Woodcrest cemetery | Inquirer Cherry Hill

    Hello, Cherry Hill! 👋

    Did you know one of South Jersey’s first colonial families is laid to rest in Woodcrest? Learn more about the cemetery tucked into a residential part of town. Also this week, a new Inquirer analysis shows how Cherry Hill voters shifted toward Democrats in the last election, plus work is still underway to update H Mart.

    We want your feedback! Tell us what you think about the newsletter by taking our survey or emailing us at cherryhill@inquirer.com.

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    The story behind a colonial-era gravesite in Woodcrest

    The Matlack Family Cemetery is located at 535 Balsam Rd.

    The residential street of Balsam Road in Woodcrest is an unlikely spot for a gravesite, but tucked among the houses and sassafras trees, there’s a small cemetery that dates back nearly 300 years.

    The site is the final resting place for the Matlacks, one of South Jersey’s first colonial families, as well as an unknown number of servants and enslaved people.

    A township resident, curious about how the gravesite came to be, posed his question to Curious Cherry Hill. The Inquirer’s Denali Sagner set out to learn more about the family and its patriarch, who moved to New Jersey in 1677 from England as an indentured servant and ultimately began one of the largest colonial-era families in the region.

    Here’s what she uncovered.

    Have a question about town you want answered? Submit it to Curious Cherry Hill here.

    💡 Community News

    • There was a 3.9% shift among Cherry Hill voters to Democrats in 2024-25, with about 68% voting for Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill in November’s election. The Inquirer recently analyzed Sherrill’s path to victory, finding that the largest shift within Cherry Hill took place in District 10, encompassing Brookfield, where there was a 10.3% shift, followed by District 8 (9.4%), which includes Kenilworth, and District 2 (8.2%), which spans Cooper Park Village, Kingsway Village, and Waterford Park. See a map of how districts shifted.
    • Cherry Hill Township Council held its reorganization meeting on Monday night, where William Carter was reelected council president and Michele Golkow was elected vice president.
    • The new season of King of Collectibles began streaming late last month on Netflix, where Cherry Hill native Ken Goldin takes viewers inside his South Jersey auction house. One of the highlights of Season 3 is a jersey used by soccer legend Lionel Messi when he was a child. In a video by The Inquirer, Goldin gives viewers a glimpse. He also shows off some of the Philly sports gems in his possession.
    • The Eagles are heading into the NFC Wild Card playoffs as the No. 3 seed, taking on the 49ers at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. As the team gears up for the postseason, the Road to Victory Bus Tour is stopping in town Thursday, where you can shop for gear and enter for a chance to score playoff game tickets. It’ll be at the P.J. Whelihan’s on Marlton Pike from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
    • Work is still underway to overhaul the H Mart on Route 70. The popular chain Asian grocery store closed in July for renovations, including an expansion of the second floor and the addition of an open-concept food court. The Cherry Hill location, which was expected to reopen in October, remains closed as work on the entire complex continues. (42 Freeway)
    • Some retail shakeups are happening around town. The New Balance at Tuscany Marketplace closed its doors indefinitely on Dec. 27. At the mall, plus-size women’s apparel brand Torrid is closing on Jan. 19, athleisure brand Lululemon Athletica is relocating to a larger space, and jeweler Pandora is expanding next door. And on Route 70, Appliances Outlet will be taking over the space occupied by Whole Hog Cafe and part of Wine Legend. (A View From Evesham)
    • Fox29’s Bob Kelly recently dropped by D&Q Skate, Snow, and Surf shop in Cherry Hill to chat about trending gear for those heading to the slopes. Catch the segment here starting around the 5-minute mark.

    🏫 Schools Briefing

    • There’s a board of education meeting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
    • Teachers in Cherry Hill Public Schools made a median salary of $102,148 last school year, according to an NJ.com analysis. It is one of 30 districts statewide with a median salary greater than $100,000. The district’s median salary last year marked a 4.1% increase over the previous year and was nearly $20,000 higher than the statewide median.

    🍽️ On our Plate

    🎳 Things to Do

    😂 All Laughs, No Hate: Latin comedy and culture take center stage during this comedy night. ⏰ Friday, Jan. 9, 6:30-8:30 p.m. 💵 $36.09 📍Vera

    🌱 Winter Sowing: This workshop will teach you how to get a jump on your spring gardening. ⏰ Saturday, Jan. 10, 10 a.m.-noon 💵 $15 📍Camden County Environmental Center

    💡 Panoply: Test your knowledge of pop culture, sports, music, history, and more in this out-of-the-box game night. The event is 21 and older. ⏰ Saturday, Jan. 10, 7-9:45 p.m. 💵 $36 📍Katz JCC

    🍷 January Wine Down Wednesday: Sip five, two-ounce pours and enjoy appetizers at this event. ⏰ Wednesday, Jan. 14, reservations available from 6 to 8 p.m. 💵 $25 📍Randall’s Restaurant

    🏡 On the Market

    An updated five-bedroom Woodcrest ranch

    The home has an open-concept living and dining room.

    This Woodcrest ranch was recently remodeled to give its interior and exterior a modern makeover. It features an open-concept dining and living room, a sunroom, and an eat-in kitchen with quartz countertops and a gray-and-white herringbone backsplash. It has five bedrooms and three bathrooms, including a primary suite with a walk-in closet and its own bathroom. There’s also a finished basement.

    See more photos of the property here.

    Price: $759,900 | Size: 2,592 SF | Acreage: 0.29

    🗞️ What other Cherry Hill residents are reading this week:

    By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

    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.

  • The story behind a colonial-era grave site hidden in residential Cherry Hill

    The story behind a colonial-era grave site hidden in residential Cherry Hill

    Giancarlo Brugnolo moved to Cherry Hill’s Woodcrest neighborhood in 2014, but it wasn’t until last year that he heard about the centuries-old cemetery just a stone’s throw away from his house. When friends first mentioned it, he assumed they were joking.

    “I was like, ‘What are you talking about? What graveyard?’” he remembers saying. “We live in a residential neighborhood, there’s no way there’s a graveyard.”

    Yet tucked away under sassafras trees and in the shade of neighboring houses, members of one of South Jersey’s first colonial families are laid to rest.

    The Matlack Family Cemetery is located on the 500 block of Cherry Hill’s Balsam Road. At the small grave site lie the remains of William and Mary Matlack, some of their descendants, and an unspecified number of servants and enslaved people. William Matlack is believed to have died in 1738, at around age 90, and Mary Matlack in 1728, at around age 62.

    Wanting to know more about the cemetery, Brugnolo took his question to Curious Cherry Hill, The Inquirer’s forum for answering local questions. Who was the Matlack family, and how did their grave site end up in a residential neighborhood?

    » ASK US: Have something you’re wondering about in Cherry Hill? Submit your Curious Cherry Hill question here.

    William Matlack, a carpenter, came to New Jersey in 1677 from Cropwell Bishop in Nottinghamshire, England. He traveled to the Americas on a ship named the Kent as an indentured servant to Thomas Ollive and Daniel Wills. Wills was appointed as the commissioner of West Jersey and sent to make deals with the Lenni-Lenape people who had long lived on the land. Many of the Kent’s travelers, including Matlack, were Quakers. The ship traversed the Atlantic Ocean from England, ultimately heading up the Delaware River to present-day Burlington County. Matlack is said to have been the first European settler to put his foot on the shore of what is now the city of Burlington (however some historians believe Swedes settled there a half-century earlier).

    At the time Matlack and Wills arrived in South Jersey, the spot was “a bleak haven” from their English homes, covered in dense forest and impenetrable at night, according to a 1970 article in the Courier-Post. Yet South Jersey stood out as a “long-sought destination thousands of miles from the brutality of bigots” in England who persecuted them for their Quaker practices.

    Matlack owed Wills four years of servitude and, in 1681, was granted 100 acres of land in return. While working for Wills, Matlack helped build two of the first houses and the first corn mill in the area.

    The headstone in the Matlack Family Cemetery on the 500 block of Balsam Road in Cherry Hill.

    Matlack would become the patriarch to one of the largest families in colonial South Jersey. In the early 1680s he married Mary Hancock, who had recently come to New Jersey from England with her brother, Timothy. At the time of their marriage, William Matlack was 34 and Mary Matlack was 16. The Matlacks lived between two branches of Pennsauken Creek in present-day Maple Shade. William Matlack would come to own around 1,500 acres of land across South Jersey. The couple had six sons, three daughters, and an estimated 40 grandchildren.

    Though Quakers became one of the first religious movements to reject slavery, many Quakers in early America, including the Matlacks, enslaved people. Research turned up little information about the enslaved people buried at the Matlack grave site. Birth and death records for enslaved people were often poorly kept in the age of chattel slavery, making it difficult to conduct genealogical research and historical inquiries into the lives of people held in slavery.

    We do know, however, that slavery was pervasive in Philadelphia’s suburbs during and after the colonial era. Despite abolitionist activism, much of which was driven by Quakers in the Philadelphia region, thousands of people remained enslaved in New Jersey through the turn of the nineteenth century. New Jersey was the last Northern state to officially abolish slavery in 1866, when Gov. Marcus Ward signed a state constitutional amendment outlawing the institution. The amendment followed the 1865 ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which New Jersey had initially rejected.

    The Matlack Family Cemetery is a small graveyard in a residential neighborhood.

    One well-known descendant of the Matlacks was Timothy Matlack, a politician and delegate to the Second Continental Congress who inscribed the Declaration of Independence. In Facebook groups and blog posts, dozens of residents of the Mid-Atlantic region say they are descendants of the first New Jersey Matlacks — likely claims given the expansive Matlack family tree, but difficult to prove.

    William and Mary Matlack were not originally buried at the Balsam Road site, according to archival materials from the Rancocas Valley Chapter of the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America. They were initially buried on their son Richard’s farm near Springdale and Evesham Roads and were moved to the Balsam Road grave site in the late 1800s.

    The grave was discovered by a Girl Scout troop on a camping trip in what was then an apple orchard, according to a Courier-Post article from 1990. The housing development surrounding the grave site went up in 1972, but the graveyard was left in tact due to its historical value. Today, it’s owned and maintained by the township.

    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.

  • Camden reaches its lowest homicide total in 40 years

    Camden reaches its lowest homicide total in 40 years

    The city of Camden last year reached its lowest homicide total since 1985, police said.

    In 2025, Camden recorded 12 homicides, the same number as in 1985. Homicides dropped down from 17 in 2024, and the declining year-end total comes after Camden experienced its first homicide-free summer in 50 years.

    Camden had zero homicides this summer. City and county leaders credit the 2013 disbandment of its police department.

    Camden saw an overall 6% drop in violent crime in 2025 compared to the prior year, including a 32% decrease in sexual assaults and 12% decrease in robberies, according to police.

    “The consistent engagement with residents and community policing efforts have helped to build trust within our community,” said Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen in a statement. “There is still plenty of work yet to be done, but through this collaborative effort we are building a safer and healthier Camden.”

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    Leaders have attributed the shift largely to the disbandment of the city of Camden’s police department in 2013. Since then, the replacement Camden County Police Department and the city have embraced more community policing strategies, paired social workers with officers, and supported programming that provides better opportunities and care for at-risk youth.

    Homicides have dropped by 82% since 2012, the last full year of the former police structure. But leaders have also credited the city’s investments in third spaces and infrastructure in recent years, like $100 million in parks over the past five years and repaving streets.

    Thirteen years ago, “a homicide-free summer would have been a pipe dream for us,” Louis Cappelli Jr., director of the Camden County Board of Commissioners, said in a statement.

    Center for Family Services lead counselor Lyzza Tyson (left) works with Camden County Metro Police Capt. Vivian Coley (center) and Lt. Luis Gonzalez (right) talking with an unhoused person living in the park at Waterfront South Raingardens in July. Some of the department’s new social workers are stationed inside the downtown police headquarters for walk-ins while others are deployed in the field alongside officers doing door knocks, engaging transients at encampments, and making referrals for social services.

    Camden’s homicide and violent crime rates match national trends of decline after having surged during the pandemic. Philadelphia experienced its lowest homicide total in nearly 60 years in 2025, and other cities historically marked by higher rates of violence like Baltimore and Chicago have also seen major homicide declines.

    Crime researchers have been unable to identify any singular cause behind the nation’s drop in violence, but they theorize that cities, like in Camden, have broadly shifted toward greater investments in violence prevention programs and infrastructure, as opposed to traditional policing.

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    For Derrick Gallashaw, life in Camden today feels much different than it did when he was growing up there in the 1980s and ’90s. It was more dangerous back then, and the community’s relationship with police was more strained.

    “It feels like the city is safe now,” he said.

    Gallashaw is the regional director of Mighty Writers, a nonprofit offering afterschool writing programs for youth and food distribution. The Camden County police credited its partnership with Mighty Writers and other groups for helping to reduce violence.

    Gallashaw is a believer in the strategy, too. He said the community policing initiative, paired with support for programs like his, have made a major impact on reducing violence. They are able to reach more people in need and address the conditions that often lead to crime.

    “You give them options and you’re providing a need. If someone is hungry, you’re not giving them a reason to have to go out and steal something to eat. We’re finding a resource for you right now,” he said.

    As Camden resets its violence statistics at the new year, Gallashaw said sustaining the city’s success would require leaders to continue listening to community members about their needs and not impose solutions from the top down.

    It’s not just the city and police who are responsible for keeping the numbers low — he wants groups and community members to continue filling people’s needs as well.

    “We all have to get together because it expands that reach,” he said.

  • Adventure Aquarium unveils new baby African penguin, asks public to pick name

    Adventure Aquarium unveils new baby African penguin, asks public to pick name

    A new baby African penguin at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden was unveiled Monday and a contest was announced to name him.

    The unnamed chick was hatched Nov. 21 and was the third African penguin to be hatched at the Adventure Aquarium in 2025. The announcements of new chicks are held off until biologists determine the new bird is healthy and expected to survive.

    The other two baby African penguins, Duffy and Oscar, hatched earlier in November.

    “Although he’s a little bit younger than the other two, he does make up for it in size. He is quite a big baby penguin chick,” Maddie Olszewski-Pohle, a biologist, says in the aquarium’s introduction video posted on social media.

    Starting Monday, aquarium visitors can vote on one of four names offered for the new penguin: “Scrappy,” “Zero,” “Flounder,” or “Toothless.”

    The unnamed chick is being parented by Mushu and Hubert, who also parented a 2024 chick, Shubert. Mushu was named for a dragon sidekick from the Disney movie “Mulan,” so the aquarium’s birds and mammals team chose possible names using a dragons and sidekicks theme.

    The naming contest will close Jan. 19, and the winner will be announced Jan. 20, Penguin Awareness Day, the aquarium staff said.

    African penguins, which originate from the waters around southern Africa, are classified critically endangered, so the hatches are important to the survival of the species.

    The naming contest will benefit the Association of Zoos and Aquariums SAFE African Penguin program and the nonprofit Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds.

    “As an ambassador for his species, this chick is helping raise awareness and funds to protect African penguins in South Africa,” Olszewski-Pohle said in a statement.

    The three baby penguins will remain behind the scenes until they develop waterproof feathers and the weather warms up, aquarium staff said.