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  • Dozens more drug, gun cases tied to cops who defenders say ‘lied’ are thrown out. Some sent people to prison for years.

    Dozens more drug, gun cases tied to cops who defenders say ‘lied’ are thrown out. Some sent people to prison for years.

    More than 40 drug and gun convictions were vacated Wednesday, the latest batch in what could grow to 1,000 cases tied to three narcotics officers who prosecutors say repeatedly gave false testimony in court.

    Common Pleas Court Judge Rose Marie DeFino-Nastasi dismissed 47 cases — most involving defendants jailed because of their convictions — after prosecutors conceded that the testimony of three officers on the Philadelphia Police Department’s Narcotics Strike Force could no longer be trusted.

    In December, the district attorney’s office said that Officers Ricardo Rosa, Eugene Roher, and Jeffrey Holden were found to have repeatedly given false statements in drug-related cases after attorneys with the Defender Association of Philadelphia uncovered video evidence that contradicted their accounts.

    The defenders said the officers regularly watched live surveillance footage to monitor suspects in drug investigations, then did not disclose it to prosecutors or defense attorneys in court. The video footage showed they also testified to things that did not happen or that they could not have seen from where they were positioned, according to court filings.

    Prosecutors later said that they could no longer vouch for the officers’ credibility and are expected to dismiss scores of cases built on their testimony in the coming months.

    Nearly all the defendants at the center of the cases dismissed Wednesday were in custody, including several serving years in prison tied to their drug convictions.

    Among them is Hamid Yillah, 34, serving four to nine years in state prison, plus two years’ probation, on gun and drug charges based on the testimony of Roher and Rosa, prosecutors said.

    And Juan Lopez, 38, serving five to 10 years in prison on drug possession and conspiracy charges.

    DeFino-Nastasi vacated their convictions and sentences.

    Not everyone whose conviction was overturned will walk free. Some are also serving time for unrelated serious crimes, including murder and aggravated assault.

    But many without additional arrests could be released as a result of Wednesday’s ruling.

    The dismissals follow more than 130 convictions that were thrown out in December after prosecutors and defenders identified more than 900 cases built almost entirely on the officers’ word. Approximately 200 cases have been resolved so far.

    The officers at the center of the case remain on active duty, but have been temporarily reassigned from narcotics amid an ongoing internal affairs investigation, said police spokesperson Sgt. Eric Gripp.

    That investigation, which began in early 2024, remains incomplete because the district attorney’s office has not provided the department with the information necessary to complete it, he said.

    The district attorney’s office previously said it provided internal affairs with details of the officers’ false statements last March. But Gripp said the records and evidence offered did not appear to show wrongdoing.

    (Paula Sen, of the Defender Association’s Police Accountability Unit, said she and her colleagues have also provided internal affairs with a few dozen cases where the officers’ testimony did not match surveillance footage.)

    Since the first batch of cases was thrown out in December, Gripp said, the department has followed up with the district attorney’s office for more information about the alleged wrongdoing, including the nine cases identified in court records in which the officers were said to have given false statements.

    “To date, we have not been provided with those cases,” he said.

    Gripp said that some of the cases discharged Wednesday involved dangerous drug dealers carrying weapons, and that narcotics officers risk their lives to make arrests.

    “This work matters, and repeated dismissals without providing the department the information necessary to review and address the concerns does not advance officer accountability or public safety,” he said. “We continue to expect good faith cooperation from all partners in the criminal justice system. We remain ready to act immediately upon receipt of any substantiated information.”

    The district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Prosecutors have stopped short of accusing the officers of lying, but said “there’s enough of a pattern of inconsistencies across testimony that we can’t rely on them as critical witnesses in court.”

    Michael Mellon and Paula Sen work in the Police Accountability Unit for the Defender Association.

    Sen and Michael Mellon, of the defenders’ Police Accountability Unit, disagreed, and said the officers “straight up lied.”

    Sen and Mellon said they first spotted a pattern of testimony discrepancies in 2019 while reviewing surveillance footage that conflicted with statements Rosa had made in drug cases. Over time, they said, they continued scrutinizing his narcotics squad and identified similar issues with testimony from Holden and Roher.

    According to the defenders, the officers relied on the city’s surveillance camera network to watch suspected drug activity in real time but did not disclose that investigative method — withholding evidence that should have been turned over to the defense.

    In court, Mellon said, the officers denied using the cameras and frequently testified that they personally observed hand-to-hand drug transactions. Video later showed those exchanges either did not occur or would have been impossible for the officers to see because the suspects were out of view.

    A video camera used by Philadelphia police is positioned at the corner of D Street and Kensington Avenue.

    Sen said her office sent letters to all of the defendants whose cases were being reviewed to let them know they might be eligible for relief.

    Still, she said, the convictions often resulted in years of peoples’ lives spent incarcerated and on court supervision — time they cannot get back.

    “We are not talking about big drug busts. We are talking about the lowest of the low cases, hand-to-hand drug sales … within a quarter of a mile radius of Kensington,” she said. “That’s what makes this especially egregious.”

  • Judge gives Trump administration a deadline to restore President’s House exhibits

    Judge gives Trump administration a deadline to restore President’s House exhibits

    President Donald Trump’s administration now has a hard deadline to restore slavery exhibits to the President’s House.

    The Department of Interior and National Park Service must restore the President’s House to its condition before the exhibits were removed by 5 p.m. Friday, according to a new order from District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe. In a blistering 40-page opinion Monday, the judge had ordered the exhibits to be restored “immediately,” but without a specific time frame.

    Rufe wrote that the deadline follows the agencies’ “failure to comply” with the injunction’s instruction to take action “forthwith,” which is often defined in law to mean as soon as possible or within 24 hours.

    While the federal government appealed the injunction to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the judge noted, the Trump administration did not ask for a stay.

    “Absent a stay granted by this Court or the Third Circuit, this Court must enforce its own order,” Rufe wrote.

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania did not respond to a request for comment. The city declined to comment.

    The National Park Service last month removed exhibits telling the story of the nine enslaved people who lived in George Washington’s Philadelphia home. The city sued the federal government in turn, and following a tense hearing and the judge’s inspection of the exhibits and site, secured an injunction on Monday that required the federal agencies to restore the interpretive panels.

    National Park Service staff were at the President’s House site on Wednesday morning to hose down the walls, which are covered with protest signs in lieu of the exhibits, and place barricades around them.

    The National Park Service did not respond to questions about the activity.

    A spokesperson for the White House, Taylor Rogers, said in a statement Wednesday that the lawsuit brought by Philadelphia was “premature” because the removal of the exhibits from the President’s House and other national parks is not final.

    “The Department of the Interior is engaged in an ongoing review of our nation’s American history exhibits in accordance with the President’s executive order to eliminate corrosive ideology, restore sanity, and reinstate the truth,” Rogers said.

    Staff writer Fallon Roth contributed to this article.

  • Township should deny data center project proposed for Pennhurst, planning commissioners say

    Township should deny data center project proposed for Pennhurst, planning commissioners say

    Calling a developer’s plan for a data center at the historic Pennhurst site “technically deficient” and not in compliance with the zoning ordinance, East Vincent’s planning commission voted Tuesday to recommend that the township’s board of supervisors deny the proposal.

    The decision, which passed the commission unanimously and saw enthusiasm from residents who had been vehemently pushing back against the project for months, doesn’t hit the brakes completely. The township’s board of supervisors will still have a hearing for the project in March.

    The developer declined to appear at the meeting Tuesday, instead sending a letter indicating they intended to revise the submitted plan and pressing the commission for a positive vote.

    Their absence rankled the commission.

    “I take exception to the fact that the applicant and the applicant’s lawyers have declined to present this evening, and they informed us by letter” that morning, said vice chairman Lawson Macartney. “This is especially germane, given the lamentably poor technical quality of detail presented in the plans.”

    The commission’s vote is a win for the residents in the township — and surrounding municipalities — who have decried the plan that would bring five two-story data center buildings, a sixth building, an electrical substation, and a solar field, totaling more than 1.3 million square feet, according to sketch plans.

    The data center would sit on the property of the former Pennhurst State School and Hospital — known as Pennhurst Asylum during the Halloween season. It’s situated near the Schuylkill and borders Spring City, and would be a close neighbor to the Southeastern Veterans’ Center.

    “Based on the materials presently before the township, there is no factual or legal basis to conclude that the proposed development would create impacts greater than those ordinarily associated with a permitted conditional use,” Matthew McHugh, the developer’s attorney, wrote in the letter.

    But the commission found the plans lacking in detail and explanation of what impact it’d have on water, trees, employment, and more, saying the materials were “significantly technically deficient and do not comply with our zoning ordinance in some major ways.”

    The letter indicated the developer would submit a revised plan that would add private power generation consisting of natural gas and battery storage installation, and relocate the proposed substation. The overall square footage and building heights wouldn’t change, the letter said.

    “I just think this is the biggest, most impactful development that’s been proposed in our community since I’ve been on the planning commission,” said the commission’s chairwoman, Rachael Griffith. “I’m just shocked at the minimal detail that has been provided and just doing the absolute bare minimum, especially when data centers are just such a hot topic these days…I’m just sort of dumbfounded as to why they thought we might be interested in recommending this in the first place.”

    Residents praised the commission’s decision.

    “This is the kind of stuff that keeps people up at night, especially those of us who are impacted,” resident Larry Shank told the board. “You really made my night. Thank you.”

    State Sen. Katie Muth, who represents the township and is a resident, said commissioners protected the community.

    “I think that you all made the right decision tonight on a multitude of fronts,” she told them.

    In a statement, Kevin A. Feeley, a spokesperson who represents the developer, rejected the commission’s assertions, saying that they had “exchanged information about the development on a regular basis throughout this period.”

    He added that the developer would submit revised plans to “address some of the review comments, particularly with respect to onsite power generation and water usage.”

    East Vincent’s proposed data center comes as Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has championed data center development, promoting a 10-year plan that includes cutting regulatory “red tape” to make it easier to approve them. The governor’s office also announced Amazon would spend $20 billion to develop data centers and other artificial-intelligence campuses across Pennsylvania.

    Despite pushes at the federal and state level, 42% of Pennsylvanians say they would oppose the centers being built in their area, according to a recent survey.

    With the state’s strong private property rights, it creates a bind for township officials, who are struggling with residents’ pushback and zoning allowances.

    “Pennhurst LLC owns the land, so they can do what they want with it, as long as it aligns with our ordinances and what they’re allowed to do,” Griffith told attendees Tuesday. “They’re trying to do something that is not really allowed. It’s our role to uphold our zoning ordinance so that they stick to that.”

    In December, the township’s board of supervisors declined to move forward with a draft ordinance it had been penning for months that would govern data center development in the township, allowing the application to come before the planning commission and continue on to the conditional use hearings.

    The township’s solicitor said the scheduled March 16 conditional use hearing for the project would move forward. If the developer submits an updated plan, the proposal could come back before the planning commission.

  • 8 backcountry skiers found dead and 1 still missing after California avalanche

    8 backcountry skiers found dead and 1 still missing after California avalanche

    NEVADA CITY, Calif. — Crews found the bodies of eight backcountry skiers near California’s Lake Tahoe and were searching for one more after they were caught in an avalanche, the nation’s deadliest in nearly half a century, authorities said Wednesday.

    Authorities said the skiers had little time to react.

    “Someone saw the avalanche, yelled avalanche, and it overtook them rather quickly,” said Capt. Russell “Rusty” Greene, of the Nevada County sheriff’s office.

    Six from the guided tour were rescued six hours after the avalanche hit Tuesday morning during a three-day trek in Northern California’s Sierra Nevada, as a monster winter storm pummeled the West Coast.

    Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said investigators would look into the decision to proceed with the trip despite the forecast for relentless weather.

    Authorities have told the families the mission has moved from rescuing people to recovering bodies, Moon said during a news conference.

    The victims, including three guides, were found fairly close together, Greene said. The dead and missing include seven women and two men, ranging in ages from 30 to 55. The crews have not yet been able to remove the victims from the mountain because of the extreme conditions, the sheriff said.

    Three to six feet of snow has fallen since Sunday, when the group started its trip. The area was also hit by subfreezing temperatures and gale force winds. The Sierra Avalanche Center said the threat of more avalanches remained Wednesday and left the snowpack unstable and unpredictable in an area known for its steep, craggy cliffs.

    Rescuers were guided by beacons and a cell phone in dangerous conditions

    Rescuers reached the survivors just before sunset on Tuesday.

    The skiers all had beacons that can send signals to rescuers and at least one of the guides was able to send texts, but it wasn’t clear if they were wearing avalanche bags, which are inflatable devices that can keep skiers near the surface, Greene said.

    While they waited to be rescued, the survivors used equipment to shelter themselves and fend off temperatures dipping below freezing. The survivors located three others who had died during the wait, Moon said.

    Rescuers used a snowcat to get within 2 miles of the survivors, then skied in carefully so they didn’t set off another avalanche, the sheriff said.

    One of those rescued remains in a hospital Wednesday, Moon said.

    The area near Donner Summit is one of the snowiest places in the Western Hemisphere and until just a few years ago was closed to the public. It sees an average of nearly 35 feet of snow a year, according to the Truckee Donner Land Trust, which owns a cluster of huts where the group was staying near Frog Lake.

    The avalanche is the deadliest in the U.S. since 1981, when 11 climbers were killed on Mount Rainier, Wash. Each winter, 25 to 30 people die in avalanches in the U.S., according to the National Avalanche Center.

    It was the second deadly avalanche near California’s Castle Peak this year, after a snowmobiler was buried by one in January.

    Skiers were heading for the trailhead when the avalanche struck

    Greene said authorities were notified about the avalanche by Blackbird Mountain Guides, which was leading the expedition, and the skiers’ emergency beacons. The sheriff’s office said Tuesday night that 15 backcountry skiers had been on the trip, not 16 as initially believed.

    One skier had pulled out at the last minute, Moon said.

    Authorities were waiting to release the victims’ names to give the families time. “They’re still reeling,” Moon said. “I could not imagine what they’re going through.”

    The skiers were on the last day of the backcountry trip and had spent two nights in the huts, said Steve Reynaud, an avalanche forecaster with the Sierra Avalanche Center. He said the area requires navigating rugged mountainous terrain. All food and supplies need to be carried to the huts.

    Reaching the huts in winter takes several hours and requires backcountry skills, avalanche training and safety equipment, the land trust says on its website.

    The area near Donner Summit was closed for nearly a century before it was reopened by the land trust and its partners in 2020. Donner Summit is named for the infamous Donner Party, a group of pioneers who resorted to cannibalism after getting trapped there in the winter of 1846-1847.

    Blackbird Mountain Guides said in a statement that the group, including four guides, was returning to the trailhead when the avalanche occurred.

    When asked what went through her mind as her staff and volunteers responded to the scene, Moon said she was hoping they would be able to make it there safely. Once they did, she said she was “immediately thinking of the folks that didn’t make it, and knowing our mission now is to get them home.”

  • Trump officials limit FEMA travel to disaster areas amid funding lapse, emails show

    Trump officials limit FEMA travel to disaster areas amid funding lapse, emails show

    The Department of Homeland Security has halted almost all travel amid the ongoing standoff over its funding, restricting the ability of hundreds of Federal Emergency Management Agency staff members to move in and out of disaster-affected areas, according to emails and documents obtained by the Washington Post.

    Much of the department ran out of money over the weekend after negotiations stalled between the White House and Democratic lawmakers over restrictions on federal immigration enforcement. It is normal for the department to stop employees from traveling across the country for various assignments, such as trainings, during a funding lapse, 10 current and former FEMA officials said. But it is unusual for a government shutdown to impede ongoing disaster recovery efforts, the officials explained, saying it further reflects sweeping policies instituted under Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem.

    Typically, FEMA staffers who work on disasters are able to travel to and from ongoing recovery projects regardless of DHS funding issues. And a current veteran officials said that disaster travel is always allowed because it is mission-critical.

    In a statement, DHS criticized Democratic lawmakers over the stalled funding negotiations and said the department and FEMA are coordinating closely to “ensure effective disaster response under these circumstances.”

    “During a funding lapse, FEMA prioritizes life safety and property protection. FEMA continues mission-essential operations for active disasters, including immediate response and critical survivor assistance,” FEMA spokesperson Daniel Llargués said in the statement. “While some non-essential activities will be paused or scaled back, FEMA remains committed to supporting communities and responding to incidents like Hurricane Helene.”

    Congressional Democrats have demanded new restrictions on federal immigration agents after federal personnel killed Alex Pretti and another U.S. citizen, Renée Good, in Minneapolis in January.

    On Tuesday night, DHS sent out an email ordering a stop to all travel, including for disaster-related work, sparking confusion across FEMA as teams continue to respond to 14 ongoing disaster declarations as a result of brutal winter storms that hit parts of the country last month. In another message obtained by the Post, a FEMA official said that “ALL travel stopped” and noted that 360 people who were slated to go to trainings and other assignments had to stand down. People who were supposed to deploy could begin some work virtually, but DHS now had to sign off on their in-person assignment, the message said.

    The next morning, officials within DHS and FEMA had to scramble and negotiate guidance for how disaster-specific workers could continue to travel, according to an official familiar with the situation.

    “In most cases, FEMA’s ability to deploy staff to active disaster response and recovery operations is not impacted by a DHS funding lapse,” said former FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell. “Those personnel are funded through the Stafford Act’s Disaster Relief Fund, which is specifically designed to ensure continuity of operations during emergencies. If DHS experiences a shutdown, FEMA employees supported by the Disaster Relief Fund should still be able to travel and carry out response missions.”

    Emails and documents obtained by the Post show that FEMA officials must submit a justification to DHS headquarters explaining why a staffer needs to travel during the funding lapse, including employees who are paid through the Disaster Relief Fund. Officials also have to state whether the travel is “mission essential,” meaning it involves the “safety of human life or protection of property.”

    “DHS imposing restrictions on FEMA’s ability to deploy our response/recovery workforce slows us down and limits our ability to respond quickly and effectively to the needs of impacted states and communities,” said one official in a region still cleaning up from the heavy onslaught of sleet and snow.

    According to one email sent Tuesday night, agency staff members currently deployed in another region that was hit particularly hard can continue assisting communities. But those who were slated to travel to these locations after Thursday can no longer do so. Employees who were on a rotation — perhaps home for a week to see family or go to the doctor — are not able to return to their job under the order.

    These rotations are critical to disaster work because they enable people who have been working nonstop to take a break and then come back to their work. FEMA is also required to relieve employees who have been working too long in a state where they do not live.

    In the email, FEMA staff members who had not yet begun their deployments or returns from rotation were directed to cancel their travel and notify their point of contact to “receive updated reporting instructions.”

    “Additional agencywide information will be forthcoming,” it read.

    The snag with some FEMA employees being unable to travel for disaster work, take breaks or relieve their colleagues adds to the beleaguered agency’s long list of operational issues since President Donald Trump took office for a second time and his appointees implemented significant changes in how the agency functions.

    The travel pause has also halted some of FEMA’s other critical work, such as leading exercises and assessments for emergency plans and procedures at nuclear facilities, and flood-mapping meetings with communities, according to an email obtained by the Post and an agency official familiar with the situation. That “will delay flood map updates, which directly impacts people waiting on new maps for any number of reasons,” the official said.

    As the winter storms barreled in last month, Noem, who has been spearheading many of FEMA’s staffing reductions and reforms, was particularly hands-on, embedding at the agency’s headquarters, hosting a call with governors to show her support and holding news conferences with FEMA staff members in front of maps laying out where the weather would hit.

    DHS also made a big push to pre-position teams, millions of ready-made meals and liters of water, blankets, and hundreds of generators in several states that were expected to be slammed.

    That’s why instituting travel restrictions when staffers are still working on these storm responses is even more frustrating, several current employees said.

    “They are just trying to make it hurt, and the only people they are hurting are survivors and FEMA employees,” one veteran official said. “They just pull new rules out every day.”

  • Philly launches real-time public air quality monitoring network

    Philly launches real-time public air quality monitoring network

    Philadelphia residents can now consult a new online dashboard to gauge outdoor air quality before heading out to a park, going for a run, or cycling through the city.

    The city unveiled a real-time air quality network that collects data from solar-powered sensors at 76 strategic locations, blanketing every neighborhood. The system can warn residents when pollution spikes — for instance, if a junkyard fire sends particulate levels surging.

    “Starting now, every resident in Philadelphia will be able to see, almost in real time, the air quality in their own neighborhood,” said Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.

    What does the system measure?

    The weatherproof sensors, bolted to utility poles at 1.5-mile intervals, track two primary pollutants:

    • Fine particulate matter (PM2.5), tiny particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and cause respiratory issues.
    • Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a component of ozone.

    Parker, along with City Council members and officials from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s Air Management Services (AMS), introduced the Breathe Philly initiative Wednesday at Stinger Square Park in Grays Ferry.

    The monitoring system, manufactured by Clarity Movement Co., will cost the city $90,000 annually. It is currently funded through the nonprofit Philadelphia City Fund.

    The new network operates independently from the city’s existing 10‑sensor system that supplies data to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

    Parker said it represents a significant step toward environmental justice, especially in neighborhoods that previously lacked adequate monitoring. Some of the sensors will begin monitoring for ground-level ozone as soon as spring.

    Ozone is a potent pollutant formed from chemical reactions between vehicle, power plant, and industrial emissions in the presence of sunlight.

    “You can check it on your phone, your tablet, your computer,” she said. “You can access up-to-date information about the air that you and your family are breathing right where you live.”

    Paresh Mehta (right), an engineer with Philadelphia’s Air Management Services, explains to City Council President Kenyatta Johnson (left) and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker how air quality data is collected.

    ‘We knew right away’

    Palak Raval-Nelson, the city’s health commissioner, said the new air monitoring network has been in the works for years. The project is overseen by the health department’s AMS.

    “It’s amazing to finally see that it’s here,” she said.

    The system detected the air quality as poor during a fire last week, Raval-Nelson said.

    “The monitor went off, and we knew right away that we needed to communicate information,” Raval-Nelson said.

    The monitor displays colored circles and squares indicating the air quality at each monitor. Colors range from green, the best, to purple and mauve, the worst.

    A sample of the Breathe Philly online dashboard that gives residents real-time data on air pollution from 76 sensors placed around the city.

    The sensors detect levels of particulate matter, which are tiny particles in the air that can cause health risks. PM2.5 is the result of the burning of fossil fuels, such as by vehicles or power plants. They sensors also measure NO2, a gas also emitted by burning fossil fuels.

    Both chemicals can cause respiratory issues.

    “It is a concrete step to help keep all of us and our loved ones safe,” Raval-Nelson said of the new sensor system.

    Council President Kenyatta Johnson, who grew up in Point Breeze, said the system will help provide real-time information in the event of a disaster, such as the PES Refinery explosion and fire in 2019.

    And it will help those with breathing issues like asthma decide whether it is safe to go outside for extended periods.

    One of 76 solar-powered sensors made by Clarity Movement Co. for a new network of real time air quality data available for Philadelphia residents.

    A new layer of safety

    Alex Bomstein, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Clean Air Council, said the network adds a new layer of safety for city residents.

    “You can’t go very far in the city without encountering a monitor, which is wonderful, because that means that everybody in the city is being protected,” Bomstein said.

    He fears pollution will worsen in the future as the administration of President Donald Trump continues to roll back environmental rules and regulations, such as those governing vehicle tailpipe emissions.

    Sean Wihera, a vice president with Clarity Movement Co., said the company was founded in 2014 as a start-up at the University of California, Berkley. Similar systems have been installed in Los Angeles and Chicago, he said.

    The company owns the sensors and is responsible for them if they break or are stolen. The sensors are upgraded after three years for the latest technology. Wihera said it is possible that Philly’s system could monitor for benzene in the future.

    “We’ve been working now in 85 different countries, hundreds of cities,” Wihera said. “But this is one of the most successful integrations that we’ve seen.”

  • Man arrested for $175,000 theft at Morey’s Piers in Wildwood

    Man arrested for $175,000 theft at Morey’s Piers in Wildwood

    A man has been arrested in the theft of more than $175,000 worth of metal and mechanical components from the iconic Jersey Shore theme park Morey’s Piers.

    Wildwood police said they arrested William Morelli, 67, of Wildwood Crest. Police first became aware of the heist, which occurred over several days, on Feb. 4. The reporting party provided police with a suspect and vehicle description after reviewing surveillance video.

    Upon investigation, police said they identified Morelli, as the suspect who removed a large amount of metal from Morey’s temporary work site on the beach.

    Morelli allegedly removed metal from the beach before selling it to an unidentified scrapyard business, according to Wildwood police. Morelli was charged with theft of movable property and later released from custody.

    The theft comes at a time when the iconic Morey’s Ferris wheel is undergoing much-needed renovations at the South Philadelphia Navy Yard.

    Geoff Rogers, chief operating officer at Morey’s Piers, said although work crews remain optimistic, the stolen materials bring an “unexpected and disappointing setback” to the project.

    “We are heartbroken by this incident,” Rogers said. “The Giant Wheel holds deep sentimental value for not only the company and our team members, but the generations of families who have made memories on it.”

    Despite the theft, Rogers said that the planned Ferris wheel renovation should be complete by the start of the 2026 summer season, as originally planned.

    The Giant Wheel, a 156-foot LED-lit Ferris wheel and one of the tallest at the Jersey Shore, is disassembled, repaired, and repainted regularly, but this year’s renovation required transportation to the Navy Yard to work on its 16,000-pound centerpiece.

    Designed by Dutch ride manufacturer Vekoma Rides and installed in 1985, the Giant Wheel has been a recognizable symbol of the Wildwood skyline for decades. In 2012, they upgraded it with an LED light system.

    After last year’s closures of Gillian’s Wonderland in Ocean City and Wildwood’s Splash Zone Water Park, Morey’s Piers are the last beachside water parks and one of the Jersey Shore’s remaining large-scale Ferris wheels.

  • Fred Mann, former assistant managing editor at The Inquirer and retired vice president of communications at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has died at 75

    Fred Mann, former assistant managing editor at The Inquirer and retired vice president of communications at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has died at 75

    Fred Mann, 75, formerly of Wayne, retired vice president of communications at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, former vice president of national programming at Knight Ridder Digital and assistant managing editor at The Inquirer, freelance reporter, mentor to many, onetime baker, and longtime pickup baseball player, died Friday, Feb. 13, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at Woodridge Rehabilitation & Nursing Center in Berlin, Vt.

    Mr. Mann was many things to many people all the time. He advocated for hundreds of healthcare-related philanthropic projects for the Princeton-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and, as vice president of communications, served as its liaison with the media and public from 2006 to his retirement in 2019. “Health is more than just going to the doctor or staying out of the hospital,” he told The Inquirer in 2016. “Health is reflected in everything we do.”

    At The Inquirer from 1983 to 2006, Mr. Mann was features editor, editor of the Sunday magazine, assistant managing editor, and the first general manager of Philly.com, now Inquirer.com. He championed women’s ascension in the newsroom and established online standards and practices in the 1990s that remain relevant in today’s digital landscape.

    “Fred was the best boss I ever had,” said Avery Rome, who succeeded him as editor of the Sunday magazine. “Working for him was a team effort and a pleasure. He readily gave credit to other people and appreciated their input.”

    Mr. Mann (right) and Inquirer colleague Art Carey both wore bow ties on this day.

    Other former colleagues called Mr. Mann a “talent magnet” and “one of a kind” on Facebook. His son Ted said: “He was good at taking leaps. He was bold, always looking for something different.”

    In a 2006 letter of recommendation for a former colleague, Mr. Mann said: “I have learned that hiring the right people is probably the single most important accomplishment an executive can make. Find great talent, nurture it, let it bloom, and then try to keep it. That was my strategy. And I must say, it was a recipe that worked and brought a great deal of reflected glory and success to me personally.”

    As editor of The Inquirer’s Sunday magazine from 1986 to 1992, Mr. Mann penned a weekly message to readers on Page 2. In November 1986, he wrote about the differences in celebrating Thanksgiving in California as a boy and in Philadelphia as an adult. “Thanksgiving was made for crispness,” he said, “for changing seasons, for wood stoves. … It’s the day that makes the hassles of life back East all worthwhile.”

    He wrote his farewell Sunday magazine column on Jan. 19, 1992, and praised his staff for “offering important, in-depth stories that teach and inform our readers, and mixing in others that entertain and delight. … I think we’ve taught. I hope we’ve delighted a few times.”

    Mr. Mann spent a lot of time on baseball fields.

    He worked on several Pulitzer Prize-winning projects at The Inquirer and edited its annual fall fashion supplement as features editor. In 1995, he started managing what was then Philly.com and Knight Ridder’s national innovations in online publishing.

    Former Inquirer colleagues noted his “smile and easy manner,” “integrity and good judgment,” and “easy grace, puckish humor, and boundless devotion to family and friends” in Facebook tributes. Longtime friend and colleague Dick Polman said: “He had great story instincts and could sell the stories to reporters. He was good at managing up and down.”

    Former Inquirer writer Joe Logan called him “a prime example of everything that was right and good and rewarding about working at The Inquirer during those years.”

    Before The Inquirer, Mr. Mann spent three years as national editor and opinion editor at the Hartford Courant. In the mid-1970s, he worked for the Day in New London, Conn., cofounded the California News Bureau, and sold stories from Los Angeles, San Diego, and elsewhere to The Inquirer, the Courant, and other newspapers around the country.

    Mr. Mann and his daughter, Cassie, watched the Phillies in World Series games together.

    He also wrote freelance articles for Time magazine and was press secretary for Connecticut Sen. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. for three years. Later, he was a founding board member of the Online News Association, onetime president of the Sunday Magazine Editors Association, and on boards of the Communications Network, the Internet Business Alliance, and other groups.

    He bounced around the world for a few years after graduating from Stanford University in 1972 and even opened a bakery with friends in Connecticut. He played third base in dozens of Sunday morning slow-pitch baseball games over the years and won a league championship with the Pen and Pencil Club softball team in the early 1980s.

    “I don’t know why he loved baseball so much,” said his son Jason. “But I know I love it because of him.”

    Frederick Gillespie Mann was born Nov. 28, 1950, in Yonkers, N.Y. His father was Delbert Mann, an Oscar-winning TV and film director, and the family moved to Los Angeles when Mr. Mann was young.

    Mr. Mann (rear, second from left) won a softball championship with the Pen and Pencil Club team in the early 1980s.

    He delivered newspapers, graduated from Beverly Hills High School, and earned a bachelor’s degree at Stanford. He married Robin Layton, and they had sons Ted, Jason, and Lindsay and a daughter, Cassie.

    After a divorce, he married Nicole O’Neill in 1994, and welcomed her children, Andy, Hilary, and Brette, and their children into his family. He and his wife lived in Wayne before moving to Greensboro, Vt., in 2019.

    Mr. Mann enjoyed hikes in the woods with his dogs, card games and board games with family and friends, reading about history, and touch football games on Thanksgiving. He listened to the Beatles and knew every word to the soundtrack of My Fair Lady.

    He reveled in his “long days of glorious raking” in Rosemont and Wayne, and said in a 1989 column: “When all you’ve known is palm trees, piling up tons of autumn foliage is more blessing than burden.”

    He coached Little League baseball players, followed the Boston Red Sox closely, and attended memorable Phillies games with his children. On many Monday afternoons, he impressed teammates and opponents alike with his corner jump shots in basketball games at the Philadelphia Athletic Club.

    Mr. Mann and his son Lindsay enjoyed time in the countryside.

    “He was fun and funny,” his daughter said, “loved and loving.”

    Former Inquirer managing editor Butch Ward said on Facebook: “Fred Mann brightened every room he entered.” Former Inquirer columnist Steve Lopez said: “The very thought of Fred puts a smile on my face.”

    In addition to his wife, children, and former wife, Mr. Mann is survived by grandchildren, two brothers, and other relatives. A sister died earlier.

    Survivors give advice about mourning their loved ones, as told to The Inquirer’s obit writer

    A memorial service is to be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, April 4, at Haverford Friends Meeting, 855 Buck Lane, Haverford, Pa. 19041. A reception is to follow from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Pullman Restaurant, 39 Morris Ave., Bryn Mawr, Pa. 19010.

    Donations in his name may be made to the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, 100 S. Independence Mall West, Suite 600, Philadelphia, Pa. 19106.

    Even in sad times, said longtime friend Dick Polman, Mr. Mann shared his “irrepressible wit.”
  • White House taps Jay Bhattacharya, CDC critic, to lead agency for now

    White House taps Jay Bhattacharya, CDC critic, to lead agency for now

    Jay Bhattacharya, a top Trump administration health official and an outspoken critic of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, will lead the CDC on an acting basis, according to four people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe personnel moves.

    Bhattacharya, who will continue his role as director of the National Institutes of Health, replaces Jim O’Neill, who had served as the CDC’s acting director. O’Neill, who had also served as the deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, will be nominated to run the National Science Foundation after he declined a potential ambassadorship to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, two of the people said.

    The installation of Bhattacharya at the CDC is the latest move by the White House and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to shake up HHS’s leadership team ahead of the midterms, as the Trump administration seeks to stabilize a department rattled by internal fights and controversial messages.

    The New York Times first reported that Bhattacharya would serve as the acting head of CDC, which is charged with protecting Americans from health threats and issues recommendations on vaccines and other public health matters. Trump officials have said they are planning to find a full-time CDC director, a post that requires Senate confirmation. Susan Monarez, who was confirmed as CDC director in July, was ousted less than a month later after clashing with Kennedy over his plans to change vaccine policies.

    Bhattacharya, a Stanford University physician and economist, rose to prominence during the pandemic by arguing that the government’s response to the outbreak was too harsh, a stance that put him at odds with public health leaders who said his proposals would imperil the most vulnerable Americans. He co-wrote the Great Barrington Declaration, which was published in October 2020 and called for an end to coronavirus shutdowns. The declaration drew rebukes from government officials — a clash that ultimately boosted his profile and helped draw the support of Kennedy, a fellow critic of the government’s pandemic response.

    “The CDC peddled pseudo science in the middle of a pandemic,” Bhattacharya wrote on X in 2024, criticizing agency leaders’ past claim that widespread masking could end the coronavirus outbreak.

    As CDC’s acting head, Bhattacharya is poised to oversee the agency’s vaccine recommendations, which have emerged as a political flash point as Kennedy has worked to roll them back over the objections of public health leaders. A KFF poll published this month found that 47% of U.S. adults now trust CDC for reliable information on vaccines, down from 85% in early 2020.

    Bhattacharya has said he supports vaccination for childhood diseases.

    “I think the best way to address the measles epidemic in this country is by vaccinating your children for measles,” Bhattacharya said at a Senate hearing this month.

    Bhattacharya and other NIH leaders in January also published a commentary in the journal Nature Medicine that criticized the public health response to the pandemic led by other agencies.

    “Many of the recommended policies, including lockdowns, social distancing, school closures, masking, and vaccine mandates, lacked robust confirmatory evidence and remain the subject of debate regarding their overall benefits and unintended consequences,” they wrote. “Where enforced, vaccine mandates contributed to decreased public confidence in routine voluntary immunizations.”

  • The DOJ said authorities in N.J. have violated dozens of judicial orders in recent immigration cases

    The DOJ said authorities in N.J. have violated dozens of judicial orders in recent immigration cases

    Federal authorities in New Jersey have violated dozens of judicial orders in recent months as immigration cases have surged in the courts, the Justice Department acknowledged in a court filing, including by transferring some detained immigrants to other jurisdictions and, in one instance, improperly deporting a man to Peru.

    The admissions came in a declaration filed by Associate Deputy Attorney General Jordan Fox, who has recently been helping lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey, and who is also a top adviser to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

    They are the latest example of how federal judges in various jurisdictions have been seeking to hold the Trump administration accountable for episodes in which authorities have failed to comply with court orders as President Donald Trump has sought to rapidly increase deportations.

    Fox issued her declaration in response to an order from U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz, who has been overseeing a lawsuit from an immigrant challenging his detention. Farbiarz was frustrated that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had transferred the man to another jurisdiction — despite the judge’s order to keep him in New Jersey.

    So earlier this month, court records show, Farbiarz directed prosecutors to review similar immigration lawsuits filed in the state’s federal courts since December and “enumerate each instance in which the Respondents or people acting on their behalf violated an order issued by a judge of this district.”

    Fox, in her response filed last week, said her office had identified 547 such cases — known as habeas petitions — filed since early December. And in 56 instances, the declaration said, prosecutors did not comply with a judicial order.

    Some concerned lawyers’ behavior, the document says, including six instances in which attorneys missed filing deadlines, and 10 cases in which government attorneys did not provide complete discovery.

    But others outlined ways in which federal authorities handled immigrants in custody. In 17 instances, Fox wrote, ICE or other federal authorities transferred immigrants in detention after judges had ordered them not to be moved.

    Fox wrote that each of those mistakes “occurred inadvertently,” because of either communication delays or “administrative oversight,” and that prosecutors in each case had agreed to return the petitioner to New Jersey.

    In December, court records show, ICE also “erroneously removed” a man and deported him to Peru despite a judicial injunction prohibiting his removal.

    Fox wrote that the deportation “occurred due to an inadvertent administrative oversight by the local ICE custodian.” She said that authorities worked with the man’s lawyer to try to arrange his return to the United States, but that he “decided to remain in Peru instead.”

    Farbiarz, the judge, responded in a filing Tuesday by crediting Fox and her staff for providing thorough answers to his questions.

    Still, he wrote, he was concerned that the violation he observed in his case was apparently “not fully an outlier.”

    “Judicial orders,” he wrote, “should never be violated.”

    He instructed the Justice Department to file an affidavit “detailing the procedures that are in place (or that will be put in place in the near-term) to ensure that court orders issued by district judges in New Jersey are timely and consistently complied with.”