Ship Bottom Brewery will host a “keg drop” to usher in the new year.
The countdown to 2026 is on, and there’s no shortage of ways to celebrate the end of one year and the start of another.
We’ve rounded up over a dozen celebrations nearby, including Media’s annual ball drop, Ship Bottom’s keg drop in Swarthmore, noontime celebrations for kids, as well as spots to dine on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
Trash and recycling pickup days will be impacted for the next two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s Day. Not sure when your holiday collection will be? Check the Media or Swarthmore websites. If you live in Nether Providence Township, check with your private trash collector.
Three area projects have been awarded Local Share Account grants, including $28,000 to install 16 license plate readers at four intersectionsin Nether Providence Township. Other funding includes $454,604 to replace equipment at the Fair Acres Pump Station and $150,000 for lighting updates at the Delaware County Emergency Services Center, both in Middletown Township.
Friends of Ridley Creek State Park is hosting a “First Day” hike on Jan. 1 along a 3.5-mile loop with creek views and a stop at historic hilltop Russell Cemetery. Looking for other locations to get outdoors? We’ve rounded up 10 walking and hiking spots in the area.
Rose Valley Borough recently adopted its 2026 budget, which calls for a slight increase in the millage rate, from 1.32 this year to 1.39 next year. See the borough’s budget here. (The Swarthmorean)
L.L. Bean is planning to open a 20,300-square-foot store at the Concordville Town Centre in Glen Mills next year, taking over a former Staples. (Philadelphia Business Journal)
Wawa is the 21st largest private company in the country based on revenue, according to the latest Forbes ranking of America’s Top Private Companies, released last week. The beloved convenience chain reported $18.639 billion in revenue in its most recent fiscal year and is the largest private company in Pennsylvania.
The Media Theatre’s main stage is currently hosting Broadway hit Annie, which continues its run through Jan. 4. NBC Philadelphia recently caught up with Violet Roche and Faye Lorena Stockmal, who share the titular role, along with director Hannah Catanoso, about lessons they’ve learned from the musical, favorite songs, and more. See the segment here.
🍽️ On our Plate
Looking for a great natural wine? Residents don’t need to look further than 320 Market Cafe. Jack Cunicelli’s shop, which has locations in Media and Swarthmore, is one of the best independent wine shops in the Philadelphia area, according to Inquirer contributor Sande Friedman. It showcases minimal-intervention wines with a global representation.
🎳 Things to Do
🍿 Movie Matinee: See a screening of the 1980s holiday classic Gremlins. Registration is required. ⏰ Saturday, Dec. 27, 2-4 p.m. 💵 Free 📍Helen Kate Furness Free Library, Wallingford
🎭 Little Women: There are just a few days left to catch Hedgerow Theatre’s adaptation of the popular Louisa May Alcott novel. ⏰ Through Sunday, Dec. 28, times vary 💵 $20-$35 📍Hedgerow Theatre, Rose Valley
This Media home has a classic look thanks to a combination of brick and siding on its façade. Spanning five bedrooms, it has an eat-in kitchen with granite countertops, living and dining rooms, an office, as well as a family room with vaulted ceilings and a fireplace. The finished basement has an additional family room, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a bar. Other features include a deck, patio, and covered front porch.
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The word was out among Chester County teens: West Grove Smoke Shop wasn’t checking IDs.
“Many students frequented it,” a student told a Pennsylvania State Police officer investigating how scores of local high schoolers were getting their hands on an array of marijuana products. “So many, in fact, that there were long lines at the smoke shop after school.”
The tip — revealed in a grand jury report released in October — launched one of the largest stings of smoke shops in Pennsylvania this year. While those shops are allowed to sell hemp-based THC products that fall below a certain potency threshold, undercover detectives found widespread deception. After investigators made purchases from 19 stores in Chester, Delaware, and Lancaster Counties, lab tests determined all but one were selling unregulated marijuana falsely labeled as hemp.
It was a striking, if rare, example of local law enforcement cracking down on smoke shops selling hemp-based THC products, which an Inquirer investigation this year found are often just black market weed, sometimes contaminated with harmful toxins and chemicals. Several teens in Chester County told police they got sick from such products, with one landing in the hospital.
A view looking into the front window of the former West Grove Smoke Shop in West Grove, on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025.
Confusion over federal hemp law, and the inability of lawmakers in Harrisburg to pass regulations in a state lacking a recreational cannabis program, has led to smoke shops popping up all over Pennsylvania. But the emerging effort to police these shops has so far been inconsistent and haphazard.
Philadelphia City Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson has advanced a series of bills designed to crack down on scofflaw operators, who typically pull fraudulent grocery store licenses to open up shop. An Inquirer analysis found that the city has taken a stricter approach to smoke shops that operate under grocery store permits while peddling drug products and paraphernalia — with investigators doubling violations for improper licensing over the last two years.
“[It] marks important progress in the city’s efforts to better enforce against illegal smoke shops and nuisance businesses devastating our neighborhoods,” Gilmore Richardson said.
But block after city block, smoke shops remain open and continue to operate with relative impunity — sometimes within view of a similar shop that authorities have closed down.
Many use thinly veiled references in their names, such as “High Time Convenience” or “Hi Baby,” the latter featuring a logo meant to resemble the popular RAW rolling paper brand. Since 2022, nearly 100 zoning permits filed by the Frankford-based permit expediter Tina Accounting & Tax Services on behalf of would-be grocery store proprietors were later cited by inspectors as invalid, an Inquirer analysis found. (“There is no assumption that they are aware that these businesses may later become nuisance businesses,” a city official said.)
With the city short of investigators, many shops simply reopen even after they are shut down. Philadelphia has cited at least 42 stores, many of them smoke shops, for resuming operations after receiving an official shutdown order from inspectors over the last two years. One store, Market Mini Mart, located in the shadow of the 52nd Street El station, was cited 10 times for illegally reopening, records show.
City officials said the lack of a specific “smoke shop” permit makes it difficult to track the scope of the problem. Yet an Inquirer analysis of the city’s list of top 35 “nuisances businesses” found more than a third either had “smoke shop” in their names or advertised drug paraphernalia.
Going after technical violations remains one of the few tools available to local authorities, short of conducting raids and lab tests to determine if the over-the-counter products comply with federal law.
The supply line for smoke shops, however, could dry up next year. A provision in a federal spending bill would ban intoxicating THC products derived from hemp nationally, potentially closing a loophole that has created a glut of these quasi-legal products across the country.
The grand jury investigation acknowledged that the growing number of smoke shops presents a daunting challenge. The lead investigator in the Chester County case “quickly realized the sheer number was overwhelming, and many stores were interconnected, operating across multiple counties,” according to the grand jury report.
That investigation resulted in the September arrest of Satish Parsa, 33, the owner of three establishments, including the West Grove Smoke Shop, a redbrick storefront that now sits empty. Parsa faces more than 60 counts of drug trafficking and related charges, according to court records.
His attorney, Elliot Marc Cohen, said Parsa, who has pleaded not guilty, intends to “vigorously” fight the prosecution.
Ellie Siegel, CEO of Longview Strategic, a Philadelphia-area cannabis consultancy firm, argued that selective enforcement is ineffective.
When the federal ban goes into effect late next year, she reasoned, many smoke shops will shut down as the supply line dries up, while others will attempt to pivot toward the regulated marijuana market.
“The manufacturers won’t have a way to manufacture the intoxicating hemp products they’re making now,” she said. “It’s the closing of a loophole.”
A sample of hemp-based THC flower that was purchased by The Inquirer and sent for lab testing this summer.
The rise and fall of the Philly smoke shop
In interviews with about a half dozen Philly-area smoke shop owners over the last month, several told The Inquirer that they are bracing for closure, saying survival is nearly impossible in an already saturated market.
Others said they are confident they can endure.
On South Street, more than a dozen smoke shops crowd the mile-long stretch east of Broad Street. The longtime operator of Munchies Reloaded recalled thriving years when bongs and pipes brought in roughly $600,000 annually, before he expanded into hemp.
Now, he said, business has plunged nearly 80%. City inspectors have increasingly fined and shuttered stores for selling glassware used for smoking. Those items are easier to classify as “drug paraphernalia” prohibited by city codes, rather than quasi-legal hemp, which is superseded by federal laws.
“There used to be good money in it,” said the store owner, who declined to give his name. “Now there is no money.”
Smoke shops proliferated during the pandemic, often launched by marijuana enthusiasts, immigrant entrepreneurs, or small grocers looking to replace revenue lost to increasingly strict tobacco sale regulations.
Pedestrians walk along South Street by Two J’s Pushin’ Weight shop in Philadelphia, on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025.
Some shop owners have migrated to Philadelphia from the New York City area, lured by lower rents and higher demand in a state without legal recreational cannabis. A business permit for Green Broad Smokeshop on Broad Street, for instance, lists an owner based in Queens.
At the peak, a single shop could net between $250,000 and $1 million annually, depending on foot traffic and product line, according to two owners who spoke with The Inquirer on the condition they not be named so they could speak frankly about their businesses. Low overhead and high demand made for a tempting copycat model — a cheap pound of hemp might cost $600 in bulk but retail for more than $5,500.
On the same block as Munchies Reloaded, Abtein Jaeger and his brother in January opened Two J’s Pushin’ Weight. Jaeger said he sources high-grade hemp from West Coast farmers, positioning his store as a premium dispensary amid competitors selling a lower-quality product.
He said he is upbeat about surviving a potential crackdown on stores like his next year.
“It’s not the worst thing in the world,” Jaeger, 34, said.
He added that he would comply with any testing requirements and try to apply for a license, and that he already enforces a 21-plus age limit.
Reforming the Wild West of weed
Unlike in state-run cannabis programs, which mandate costly contaminant testing, hemp products need only carry a certificate of authenticity showing the flower tested under 0.3% Delta-9 THC at harvest.
The Inquirer, in its investigation earlier this year, commissioned a lab to test 10 products. Nine of them exceeded that limit, and most were tainted with banned pesticides, harmful mold, or heavy metals. Manufacturers had also used forged certificates to make their products appear safe and legitimate, The Inquirer found.
But the complexity of federal drug law makes it difficult to prove products are illegal, as many hemp-based products use THC variants like Delta-8 or Delta-10 that are not specifically banned.
For now, most shop owners say, local police leave them alone. Undercover stings, like those led in the suburbs, remain rare because they demand expensive lab testing and significant resources.
One South Street establishment has a singular strategy for surviving a potential crackdown.
South Street Cannabis Museum, whose logo includes a Liberty Bell festooned with marijuana leaves, exhibits a small collection of Reefer Madness-era newsprint, historical pamphlets, and other weed-themed memorabilia.
Exterior view of South Street Cannabis Museum in Philadelphia, on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025.
“We are a museum, first and foremost, where we can engage with the public about the history, science, culture, and art of cannabis,” said owner Kristopher Wesolowski, 42, a former neuroscience lab manager and event planner, who pivoted into hemp sales after the pandemic.
The back half of the museum is a gift shop where visitors can buy hemp-derived THC flower under glass display cases.
“It’s almost like a simulated dispensary,” Wesolowski said. “But it’s not like some spot where people can just go and get high. … You can get historically stoned at our museum, in a sense.”
Like other proprietors, Wesolowski said the hemp industry has been “screaming for regulation,” as “bad actors” gave well-intentioned store owners a bad name.
But he also cautioned that overregulation would only create new problems, like increasing demand for unpredictable designer drugs on the black market.
“When you close one door, another will open,” he said. “And that one might be a little bit more dangerous.”
Sonia Lewis endured the worst year of her life when she was a senior in high school — her mother almost died and Lewis had to step up to take care of her family.
But the principal and teachers at her Philadelphia high school lifted her up, helped her get to college, and Lewis took care of the rest — multiple advanced degrees, a thriving career, a national profile.
As Lewis racked up accomplishments, it was always in the back of her mind to return the favor to her school, somehow.
“For me, who I am today is really a huge part is Bodine High School,” she said.
Bodine High School for International Affairs senior students cheer after learning former student, Dr. Sonia Lewis, donated $16,200 to cover senior school fees on Friday, December 19, 2025. Dr. Lewis is giving back after the Northern Liberties high school helped her during a difficult time, while she was a student 20-yrs-ago.
So on a December day, Lewis walked into the auditorium of the Philadelphia School District magnet school with a surprise — the largest donation ever given to the nonprofit that supports Bodine. She gave $16,200 to cover the bulk of every senior’s class dues — funds that most students struggle to pay.
Aaliyah Bolden, a Bodine 12th grader, was jubilant after the announcement.
“I’m just so grateful,” Bolden said. “Coming from an underrepresented community and having financial hardships, this just makes a big difference to me.”
‘Can you work with me?’
Lewis was a standout student at Bodine, an international affairs high school in Northern Liberties. She was class president, active in student government, a strong student in the Class of 2005, a leader.
She was raised by her single mother and grandmother, both Philadelphia teachers, told from a very young age that she was college-bound.
But when Lewis was 16, her priorities shifted, out of necessity. Her mother was gravely ill with bacterial meningitis and other complications. Her grandmother had just beaten cancer, but it fell to Lewis to advocate for her mother, to take her to appointments, to navigate the healthcare system on her behalf. She worked three jobs to help bridge financial gaps.
School just could not be at the top of her priority list.
Dr. Sonia Lewis takes a seat before speaking to Bodine High School for International Affairs senior students on Friday, December 19, 2025. Dr. Lewis gifted $16,200 for the 2026 senior class, to cover senior school fees. Dr. Lewis is giving back after the Northern Liberties high school helped her during a difficult time, while she was a student 20-yrs-ago.
“I had to tell my high school, ‘These are my circumstances. I’m going to have to leave school to make some of these appointments,’” Lewis said. “I was just really clear with everyone at Bodine about what I needed, and I said, ‘Can you work with me?’”
They did. But some deadlines are firm, and Lewis missed the federal student-aid loan deadline because her mother had just gotten out of a coma, had cognitive issues, and was unable to gather the necessary information or complete the form.
“I had to become the mom,” Lewis said. “I would have to ask her, ‘Did you brush your teeth today?’ Nobody was thinking of the FAFSA.”
As students’ college acceptances were rolling in, Bodine’s principal noticed that there were none for Lewis. The principal asked her what was happening.
Lewis’ grandmother contemplated taking out a mortgage on her house to send her to college, but Lewis was too practical for that.
“I told the principal, ‘We don’t have any money. We missed the deadline,’” she said. “There was no money coming in from my mom. We had my grandmother’s retirement, but that wasn’t enough.”
Lewis figured she would work for a year, saving money and filling out the FAFSA form for the next cycle. But Karen P. Hill, the principal, just shook her head.
A busybody for good
The principal’s plan became evident at Bodine’s senior awards ceremony, Lewis remembers, when “they just kept calling my name” as prizes were announced.
At the end of the evening, Lewis walked off with an envelope full of checks totaling $16,000 — enough to allow her to enroll at Bloomsburg University and pay her first year’s tuition.
Once she got to Bloomsburg, Lewis continued to grind, working multiple jobs, earning scholarships, making connections. Then, after she earned her bachelor’s degree, Lewis moved on to working in higher education, spending time at Peirce College and elsewhere as an academic coach and in admissions.
She earned her master’s degree, and eventually her doctorate. Now, she’s “the Student Loan Doctor”; Lewis believes her 13-employee company is the first Black woman-owned student loan repayment firm in the United States.
Dr. Sonia Lewis stands with the Bodine High School for International Affairs mascot Amby during a a senior class assembly on Friday, December 19, 2025. Dr. Lewis gifted $16,200 for the 2026 senior class, to cover senior school fees. Dr. Lewis is giving back after the Northern Liberties high school helped her during a difficult time, while she was a student 20-yrs-ago.
Lewis coaches clients to create plans to pay off their student loan debt — through repayment, loan consolidation and forgiveness, and more. She’s a sought-after expert, quoted in national publications, offering free weekly classes, growing her business by the year. She has 150,000 followers on Instagram.
Lewis is allergic to sitting still. Her nickname in her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, was “Busybody.” She has channeled that for good — the Student Loan Doctor has now served over 50,000 clients since 2016, helping get an estimated $55 million in student loans forgiven.
The business is hard work, but a joy for Lewis, who gets to know she makes a direct impact on her clients’ lives — like the surgeon who had $997,000 in loans, including loans that were in arrears.
“He didn’t know what to do,” Lewis said. “He got his loans forgiven. He wound up paying us like $300. We’re very affordable.”
The hardest worker
A few days before winter break, Lewis entered the Bodine auditorium with a massive smile on her face.
Her gift — hatched after Lewis presented a $1,000 scholarship to a Bodine graduate in the spring, then decided to go much bigger — was a surprise for the students, who knew only that a successful alum was visiting.
David Brown, the Bodine principal, reminded the students gathered in the auditorium that the small school was a special place.
“Our leaders don’t just leave with diplomas,” Brown said. “They leave with a global perspective.”
Then Marty Moyers, a Bodine teacher and president of the Friends of Bodine, a nonprofit that raises money for the school, presented Lewis: “Her journey has been a great one, and it started right here in this building,” Moyers said.
Bodine High School for International Affairs senior students cheer after learning former student, Dr. Sonia Lewis, donated $16,200 to cover senior school fees on Friday, December 19, 2025. Dr. Lewis is giving back after the Northern Liberties high school helped her during a difficult time, while she was a student 20-yrs-ago.
When he announced Lewis’ plan, there was stunned silence at first. Then, wild applause broke out. Students’ faces were jubilant.
Remember this, Lewis told them: She didn’t have a 4.0 grade-point average. But she showed up in every way possible.
“Even in my professional life as a super-successful entrepreneur, I’m not the best, but I’m a really hard worker,” Lewis said. “You guys got that. That’s the discipline and the spirit you want to have about yourselves as you’re leaving Bodine and you’re going into college, or you’re going into the workforce or entrepreneurship.”
De’Anna Drummond, a senior, is deep into her applying-for-scholarships-and-worrying-about-paying-for-college season. Class dues were another stress to think about, but she was delighted at the news that they are mostly covered, thanks to Lewis.
“Any donation is appreciated,” Drummond said. “It all adds up — senior trip, senior brunch, yearbook, everything.”
Bolden, Drummond’s friend, nodded.
“And someday,” Bolden said, “we should also give back when we can.”
Two people were killed and more than a dozen were injured after a possible gas explosion rocked a Bucks County nursing home Tuesday, triggering a widespread emergency response and dramatic rescues and causing destruction that Gov. Josh Shapiro described as “quite catastrophic.”
Just before 2:20 p.m., an explosion and fire were reported at the Bristol Health & Rehab Center — formerly known as Silver Lake Healthcare Center and Silver Lake Nursing Home — at 905 Tower Rd. in Bristol Township, Bristol Fire Chief Kevin Dippolito said at a news conference with Shapiro and other officials Tuesday night.
Bristol Police Chief CJ Winik said during an update Wednesday morning that two women — one resident and one employee — had died. Nineteen people remained hospitalized, he said, including one person in critical condition.
As of Wednesday, he said, all residents and employees of the facility had been accounted for.
Emergency responders who rushed to the scene Tuesday found a major structural collapse, with parts of the first floor falling into the basement and people trapped, Dippolito said. Firefighters immediately went into rescue mode.
“They pulled many residents out of the building via windows, doors, stuck in stairwells, stuck in elevator shafts,” Dippolito said.
The people rescued from the building were handed off to police officers who “came from every direction, and I believe every municipality around here,” Dippolito said.
“There was one police officer who literally threw two people over his shoulders and ran with people to help,” the fire chief said.
Gov. Josh Shapiro comments on the explosion at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, at Lower Bucks Hospital on Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol, Pa.
Many people were injured, but the number was unknown early Tuesday night, Dippolito said. Two people were rescued from the collapsed area in the basement.
At one point, Dippolito said, there was a heavy odor of gas and the firefighters evacuated the building. Within 15 to 30 seconds, there was another explosion and fire, he said.
“There’s still a lot of unanswered questions,” Shapiro said.
Peco crews responded shortly after 2 p.m. to reports of a gas odor, a spokesperson for the utility said.
“While crews were on site, an explosion occurred at the facility,” Peco spokesperson Greg Smore said.
“Peco crews shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility to ensure the safety of first responders and local residents,” Smore said.
After the blast, a patient bleeding from his head was wandering the campus saying to himself how he had repeatedly told staff of a gas smell that lingered throughout the day, said a passerby who did not wish to be identified. The man was eventually treated and transported from the site, the passerby said.
First responders work the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol, Pa.
The nursing home said in a Facebook post: “Emergency crews are responding to the incident here at Bristol Health & Rehab. We are currently working with local emergency authorities.”
As of 2024, the facility housed 162 residents — more than 75% of whom were 60 years or older — and had 129 full- and part-time staff members, records show.
The facility was recently acquired by Saber Healthcare Group and rebranded as Bristol Health & Rehab Center, which announced the new ownership and name in a Facebook post this month.
At the news conference, Shapiro noted the change of ownership.
“The Department of Health at the state level conducted a visit here on Dec. 10, and there was a plan put in place in order for these new facility owners to upgrade the standards at this facility. That work will obviously continue with the new owners to ensure that they do what is necessary to keep residents safe,” Shapiro said.
In an emailed statement Tuesday night, Saber Healthcare Group confirmed that workers at the nursing home “reported a gas smell to PECO. PECO personnel were on site investigating the matter prior to the explosion.”
Saber Healthcare Group thanked the first responders: “We are forever grateful for their bravery and support in protecting our staff and residents.”
The statement added: “Just 23 days ago, Saber Healthcare Group became affiliated with Bristol Health and Rehab Center — formerly Silver Lake Nursing Home. We have worked to improve and fix prior issues, and we will continue that work in the wake of this tragedy.”
The former owner, CommuniCare Health Services, a privately run for-profit nursing home operator based in Cincinnati, took over operations at the nursing home in 2021. The company manages more than 80 healthcare centers across five states.
The nursing home had been cited for unsafe living conditions, including the absence of a fire safety plan and adequate extinguishers, according to state inspection records.
First responders work the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol, Pa.
During an Oct. 29 site visit, Pennsylvania Department of Health inspectors flagged the facility for failing to provide a floor map showing fire exits, fire barriers, and smoke barriers.
Officials also found the facility “failed to maintain portable fire extinguishers” on all floors. The state ordered corrections by Nov. 30.
It remained unclear whether those fixes were made before the blast, or whether the deficiencies affected residents’ ability to escape on Tuesday.
Other fire safety deficiencies have been documented. A 2024 inspection report found the nursing home hallways were not equipped to handle heavy smoke.
“The facility failed to ensure corridor doors were maintained to resist the passage of smoke, affecting two of four smoke compartments,” inspectors wrote.
Federal inspectors have cited the facility for deficient healthcare and management, issuing dozens of violations for substandard care. The most recent inspection, in March, indicated the center had failed to maintain proper infection prevention among residents and inadequately maintained medical records, among other problems.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the facility a one-star rating — far below the national average — based on recent inspections. The nursing home’s operators were fined more than $418,000 in penalties in 2024, records show.
First responders work the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol, Pa.
In a statement, a spokesperson for CommuniCare Health Services, the former owner, said: “Our hearts go out to all those affected by the incident at the Bristol nursing home facility, formerly known as Silver Lake Nursing Home. We want to extend our deepest sympathies to the residents, families, and staff impacted, and are keeping all of them in our thoughts during this difficult time.”
The statement continued: “While we are not affiliated in any way or operate the facility, and it is no longer part of our organization, we recognize the severity of this incident and the profound impact it is having on the community. We are monitoring the situation closely and our thoughts remain with everyone impacted by this tragedy.”
Federal records indicate the building had an automatic sprinkler system.
The facility, composed of low-slung brick buildings, sits on a two-acre campus in Lower Bucks County. As of 2024, the facility housed 162 residents, more than 75% of whom were 60 years or older, according to the most recent inspection records.
The facility had 129 full- and part-time staff members as of 2024, records show.
On Tuesday evening, the smell of smoke and the sound of sirens from ambulances and fire trucks pierced the blocks surrounding the facility hours after the explosion led to a mass evacuation of nursing home patients.
Kim Wilford, 60, was visiting family for the holidays roughly two blocks from the facility when she felt the house shake, as though something had fallen on the roof.
Bristol Health & Rehab Center
When Wilford and relatives realized the explosion came from the nursing home, where her 87-year-old mother lives, they rushed to the campus and were met with chaos.
“It was something out of a Die Hard movie,” said Deanna Rice-Bass, 59, one of Wilford’s relatives, who recognized local nurses, not affiliated with the nursing home, evacuating people.
Patients were being wheeled out of the facility, but in some cases they were simply placed on mats outside, Wilford said.
First responders were instructing the able-bodied to take those with non-life-threatening injuries to nearby Lower Bucks Hospital.
Wilford panicked as she saw the outside of her mother’s room.
“Her window was blown out,” she said. “Naturally I freaked out.”
Wilford would later find her mother among the crowd of evacuees cleared to go to Lower Bucks Hospital.
“She said she and her roommate were lifted from their beds and back down,” said Wilford, adding she had never had issues with the nursing home before.
A reunification center was established at Truman High School, officials said.
Langhorne Police Chief Kevin Burns said about 35 families came in and filled out forms with their loved ones identifying information along with details such as their room number.
Greg Wolnomiejski, 59, spent Tuesday night trying to find out what happened to his 86-year-old father, who has been a resident at the nursing home since 2021.
Wolnomiejski, who lives in Florida, finally got a call from a police officer that his father was transported to Lower Bucks Hospital, but the officer had no other information.
“I know he’s alive,” Wolnomiejski said in a phone interview. “That’s all the information I have so far.”
Wolnomiejski said he had no complaints or concerns about the nursing home, which he visited on Saturday with his wife as part of a holiday trip to see his father.
“There was nothing that led me to suspect it was going to blow up in a couple days,” he said.
Staff writer William Bender contributed to this article.
The Trump administration is deploying 350 National Guard troops to New Orleans ahead of the New Year, launching another federal deployment in the city at the same time that an immigration crackdown led by Border Patrol is underway.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Tuesday that Guard members, as they have in other deployments in large cities, will be tasked with supporting federal law enforcement partners, including the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. Parnell added that the National Guard troops will be deployed through February.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, praised President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for coordinating the deployment and predicted the Guard’s presence would have a positive impact.
“It’s going to help us further crack down on the violence here in the city of New Orleans and elsewhere around Louisiana,” Landry said in an appearance on the Fox News’ The Will Cain Show. “And so a big shoutout to both of them.”
Critics have argued a National Guard deployment is unwarranted and could cause fear in the community, and they point out that New Orleans has actually seen a decrease in violent crime rates.
The deployment of the National Guard to the Democrat-led city comes as Border Patrol agents have been carrying out an immigration crackdown since the beginning of the month. According to the Department of Homeland Security, agents have arrested several hundred people during the first couple weeks of what is expected to be a months-long operation that has a goal of 5,000 arrests.
Back in September, Landry asked Trump to send a 1,000 federally funded troops to Louisiana cities, citing concerns about crime. Landry has praised Trump for sending troops to other cities, including Washington and Memphis, Tenn.
The president has also taken a shine to Landry. Trump on Sunday announced he was appointing the governor to serve as his special envoy to Greenland, the strategic, vast, semi-autonomous territory of Denmark that Trump has said the U.S. needs to take over.
New Orleans has been on pace for much of the year to have its lowest number of murders in decades, according to preliminary data from the city’s police department. There have been 97 homicides in 2025 as of Nov. 1, including 14 revelers who were killed on New Year’s Day during a truck attack on Bourbon Street.
A U.S. Army veteran driving a pickup truck that bore the flag of the Islamic State group wrought carnage on New Orleans’ raucous New Year’s celebration as he steered around a police blockade and slammed into revelers before being shot dead by police.
There were 124 homicides last year and 193 in 2023, according to city figures. Armed robberies, aggravated assaults, carjackings, shootings, and property crimes have also trended downward.
New Orleans is no stranger to having National Guard members in the city. In January, 100 Guard members were sent to the city to help with security measures following the New Year’s Day truck attack. Guard members were also present for major events in the city this year, including the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras.
ATLANTIC CITY — Elected officials, religious leaders, and community activists gathered Tuesday in City Hall to condemn recent “aggressive” and “appalling” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the resort town.
“The reason I’m here is because just last week, our community was attacked,” said Alexander Mendoza, a community organizer with advocacy group El Pueblo Unido of Atlantic City. “Fathers, friends, family members, hardworking people were taken away from us by an inhumane system called ICE.”
El Pueblo has been highlighting recent ICE activity in Atlantic City on its social media, including a car stop on Dec. 12 that led to the detainment of two men, one of whom subsequently missed the birth of his daughter earlier this week after being taken to Delaney Hall. The group called the car stop illegal and said the Mexican Consulate is working to provide the man with legal help.
“He and his partner had just moved into a new apartment and were ready to begin a new chapter in their lives,” Mendoza said. “That morning changed everything. He was taken by ICE and is now being held at Delaney Hall.”
Mendoza said this and other recent activity, including ICE agents establishing a base of operations at the city’s Bader Field, the former municipal airport, have left community members fearful and officials alarmed and outraged.
“There’s a lot of hysteria, a lot of fear in our community, rightly so,” said Cristian Moreno-Rodriguez, executive director of El Pueblo. There were rumors this week that businesses, particularly laundromats, would be targeted this week in Atlantic City and Pleasantville, he said.
“We strategically placed ourselves throughout different traffic hubs where our community is, our immigrant working-class community,” he said.
Moreno-Rodriguez said his organization has tracked some of the same ICE vehicles conducting activity in Bridgeton, Cumberland County.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding activity in the area.
El Pueblo has been educating community members of their rights and training volunteers to document and respond to reported ICE activity. He said the response time in Pleasantville is about two minutes; in Atlantic City, it’s 4 to 5 minutes.
Atlantic County is home to about 12,000 undocumented immigrants. Moreno-Rodriguez said the volunteers include non-Hispanic allies and young Latinos, “children who are standing up for their parents and neighbors.”
City Council Vice President Kaleem Shabazz said the council adopted a resolution last week condemning the ICE activity, which he said had made his constituents wary of leaving their homes without carrying documentation of their citizenship. He said police had not been informed about the raids or the use of Bader Field.
Moreno-Rodriguez said the city is about 33% Latino or Hispanic, and about 29% immigrant, with most Spanish-speaking immigrants coming from Mexico and the Dominican Republic, and smaller numbers from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Nearby Pleasantville is about 50% Hispanic and has a sizable Haitian population, he said.
Both Moreno-Rodriguez and Shabazz called on businesses, which employ many immigrants, to support their workers. Moreno-Rodriguez said one man who self-deported after being picked up by ICE had worked for one of Atlantic City’s iconic bread bakeries.
“If you go into any of the small businesses of Atlantic City, they are powered by immigrant labor,” Moreno-Rodriguez said. “And we want to put out a call to action to all the business owners of Atlantic City that if you employ immigrants, please be there for them when they are detained. Please be there for them after they’ve given you hours of labor, years of blood, sweat, and tears to your business.”
From left, advocacy group El Pueblo Unido of Atlantic City rapid responders Karen Pelaez-Moreno and Christopher Arellano, executive director Cristian Moreno-Rodriguez, Atlantic City Councilman Kaleem Shabazz, and El Pueblo board president Irvin Moreno-Rodriguez, who was recently appointed a Pleasantville School Board member. The group and elected officials held a press conference Dec. 23, 2025 to condemn recent ICE activity.
Also attending the news conference were the Rev. Collins Days, an Atlantic County commissioner, and religious leaders Imam Amin Muhammad of Atlantic City’s Masjid Muhammad mosque, Cantor Jackie Menaker of Ventnor’s Shirat Hayam synagogue, and the synagogue’s president, Joe Rodgers, a criminal defense attorney.
“I am appalled at what’s been happening in our community by ICE,” Days said. “We stand together because an attack on one group is an attack on all groups.”
“When we see the harms of our government, we are obligated to speak out,” Muhammad said. “We need engagement in the political process to make a change.”
Mendoza said activists believed the targeted raids of last week were “the beginning of a large raid on our community … a major escalation.”
“When we drove down Iowa Avenue, we saw an ICE agent and a Border Patrol agent questioning a woman, attempting to extract information in order to detain her,” he said. “When the agents noticed us, they allowed the woman to walk away.”
One of the agents claimed to be looking for a fugitive, he said.
Activists followed the man to Bader Field, where they saw a transport van and eight other vehicles. “That’s when we knew this wasn’t a small operation,” he said. “As soon as the agents realized they were being watched, they left quickly and quietly. It just took two Latino organizers standing by, holding cameras, for ICE to retreat from Atlantic City. ICE operates in the shadows. When people know their rights and when there is accountability, they scatter.”
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s National Assembly on Tuesday approved a measure that criminalizes a broad range of activities that can hinder navigation and commerce in the South American country, such as the seizure of oil tankers.
The bill — introduced, debated, and approved within two days — follows this month’s seizures by U.S. forces of two tankers carrying Venezuelan oil in international waters. The seizures are the latest strategy in U.S. President Donald Trump’s four-month pressure campaign on Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro.
The tankers are part of what the Trump administration has said is a fleet Venezuela uses to evade U.S. economic sanctions.
The unicameral assembly, which is controlled by Venezuela’s ruling party, did not publish drafts on Tuesday nor the final version of the measure. But as read on the floor, the bill calls for fines and prison sentences of up to 20 years for anyone who promotes, requests, supports, finances, or participates in “acts of piracy, blockades, or other international illegal acts” against commercial entities operating with the South American country.
Venezuela’s political opposition, including Nobel Peace laureate María Corina Machado, has expressed support for Trump’s Venezuela policy, including the seizure of tankers.
The bill, which now awaits Maduro’s signature, also instructs the executive branch to come up with “incentives and mechanisms for economic, commercial, and other protections” for national or foreign entities doing business with Venezuela in the event of piracy activities, a maritime blockade or other unlawful acts.
The U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday seized a Panama-flagged vessel called Centuries that officials said was part of the fleet moving sanctioned cargo. With assistance from the U.S. Navy, it seized a rogue tanker called Skipper on Dec. 10. That ship was registered in Panama.
Trump, after that first seizure, said the U.S. would carry out a “blockade” of Venezuela. He has repeatedly said that Maduro’s days in power are numbered.
“If he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’ll ever be able to play tough,” Trump said of Maduro Monday as he took a break from his Florida vacation to announce plans for the Navy to build a new, large warship.
At least two people died in an explosion and fire at the Bristol Health & Rehab Center in Bucks County on Tuesday afternoon.
Several people remained unaccounted for Tuesday evening, officials said, and multiple people were injured. The total number of injured was not clear, as patients were sent to multiple hospitals.
Residents of the facility were evacuated by emergency responders, bystanders, and staff.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately known. Peco said it had responded to the scene for reports of a gas odor shortly before the explosion occurred.
The facility was previously known as the Silver Lake Healthcare Center, but was recently acquired by Saber Healthcare Group and rebranded.
// Timestamp 12/23/25 8:53pm
Recap: 2 dead, multiple people injured after explosion and fire at nursing home in Bucks County
At least two people were killed and multiple people injured after a possible gas explosion rocked a Bucks County nursing home Tuesday, triggering a widespread emergency response and dramatic rescues and causing destruction that Gov. Josh Shapiro described as “quite catastrophic.”
Just before 2:20 p.m., an explosion and fire were reported at the Bristol Health & Rehab Center — formerly known as Silver Lake Healthcare Center and Silver Lake Nursing Home — at 905 Tower Rd. in Bristol Township, Bristol Fire Chief Kevin Dippolito said at a news conference with Shapiro and other officials Tuesday night.
Emergency responders found a major structural collapse, with parts of the first floor falling into the basement and people trapped, Dippolito said. Firefighters immediately went into rescue mode.
“They pulled many residents out of the building via windows, doors, stuck in stairwells, stuck in elevator shafts,” Dippolito said.
The people rescued from the building were handed off to police officers who “came from every direction, and I believe every municipality around here,” Dippolito said.
“There was one police officer who literally threw two people over his shoulders and ran with people to help,” the fire chief said.
Majority of families have been connected with loved ones, police chief says
The ebb and flow of families seeking information about loved ones who’d been at Bristol Health & Rehab Center slowed to a trickle at Truman High School by 8:30 p.m.
The Levittown high school had been serving as a reunification center for families.
Langhorne Chief of Police Kevin Burns said about 35 families came in and filled out forms with their loved ones’ identifying information along with details such as their room number.
An officer would then relay that information to another officer stationed at Lower Bucks Hospital who would then find the person.
Burns said it took some time but the majority of the families were connected with their loved ones.
The reunification center will likely close this evening, he said.
Operations at the site of the explosion also slowed with many emergency vehicles leaving as excavation equipment stayed behind and police continued to block the perimeter.
// Timestamp 12/23/25 8:11pm
State officials repeatedly cited Bristol nursing home over fire safety deficiencies
The Bristol nursing home rocked by an explosion and fire on Tuesday had been repeatedly cited for unsafe living conditions, including the absence of a fire safety plan and adequate extinguishers, according to state inspection records.
During an Oct. 29 site visit, Pennsylvania Department of Health inspectors flagged Silver Lake Healthcare Center — now operating as Bristol Health & Rehab Center — for failing to provide a floor map showing fire exits, fire barriers, and smoke barriers.
Officials also found the facility “failed to maintain portable fire extinguishers” on all floors. The state ordered corrections by Nov. 30.
It remained unclear Tuesday whether those fixes were made before the blast, or whether the deficiencies affected residents’ ability to escape after an explosion leveled a portion of the building at 2:19 p.m.
Bristol Township Fire Chief Kevin Dippolito said Tuesday that a second explosion — and subsequent fire — erupted at the nursing home while firefighters attempted to rescue people.
Other fire safety deficiencies have been documented for years. A 2024 inspection report found the nursing home hallways were not equipped to handle heavy smoke.
“The facility failed to ensure corridor doors were maintained to resist the passage of smoke, affecting two of four smoke compartments,” inspectors wrote.
State and federal officials have also repeatedly cited the facility for substandard medical care.
Ownership of the nursing home has shifted among for-profit operators in recent years. CommuniCare, an Ohio-based company, acquired Silver Lake in 2021. Earlier this month, Saber Healthcare Group took over and rebranded the facility as Bristol Health & Rehab Center.
Saber manages 140 assisted living facilities across six states. At a Tuesday night news conference, Gov. Josh Shapiro said the health department visited the facility again on Dec. 10. New owners agreed to make more fixes, though the governor did not provide details.
“There was a plan in place in order for these new facility owners to upgrade the standards,” Shapiro said. “That work will obviously continue.”
2 people dead, multiple hurt, and some maybe missing as rescue effort continues
Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks about the explosion at Bristol Health & Rehab Center.
Two people were killed, several others were injured, and as many as five people were unaccounted for after an explosion at a Bucks County nursing home, where officials continued a search-and-rescue operation into Tuesday evening.
The deceased have not been identified.
Gov. Josh Shapiro said investigators were still working to determine what caused the explosion and to locate anyone who may be missing, urging the public to remain patient as crews work to identify victims.
The total number of injured residents remains unclear because victims were transported to multiple hospitals. Bucks County officials said up to five people were unaccounted for, though Shapiro cautioned that the figures are preliminary and could change as the investigation continues overnight.
“There are still a lot of unanswered questions,” Shapiro said at a news conference Tuesday night. “You’ll have to bear with us as we work to confirm who was injured and who may be missing.”
First responders arrived at a harrowing scene shortly after the 2:19 p.m. explosion. Part of the brick nursing home had collapsed, and residents were streaming out of the burning facility.
Firefighters pulled people from windows, doors, stairwells, and elevator shafts. While crews searched through the rubble, a second explosion erupted inside the building, helping officials identify the source of the gas fueling the fire.
“[They] were literally carrying the patients,” said Bristol Township Fire Chief Kevin Dippolito. “There was one police officer who literally threw two people over his shoulders and ran” them to get medical help.
Photos from the Bucks County nursing home explosion
// Timestamp 12/23/25 6:33pm
Shapiro heading to explosion scene
I'm on my way to the scene of the explosion at Silver Lake Nursing Home in Bucks County to receive a briefing and meet with the brave first responders and law enforcement on the ground.
To the Bristol community: I’ve got your back, and I’ll be with you soon. https://t.co/RZHS95YJYE
Peco crews were responding to gas odor when explosion happened
Peco said Tuesday evening that its crews had responded “shortly after 2 p.m.” to reports of a gas odor at the Bristol Health & Rehab Center on Tower Road — minutes before an explosion rocked the nursing home.
“While crews were on site, an explosion occurred at the facility,” Peco spokesperson Greg Smore said in an emailed statement. “Peco crews shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility to ensure the safety of first responders and local residents.”
Bucks County emergency management officials said they received the report of an explosion at approximately 2:17 p.m., according to the Associated Press.
Shortly after the blast, a patient bleeding from his head was wandering the campus saying to himself how he’d repeatedly told staff of a gas smell that lingered throughout the day, said a passerby who did not wish to give their name.
The man, they said, was eventually treated and transported from the site.
Timely investigations key in reconstructing explosion events
Investigators and workers at the scene of the Barclay Friends Senior Living Community on North Franklin Street in West Chester.
Daniel Purtell, whose law firm, McEldrew Purtell, represented the families of two victims in the 2017 Barclay Friends senior living complex fire in West Chester, said there are several possible causes of a fire in a nursing home, including those involving medical equipment, combustible gases and utilities.
He said preserving evidence at the Bristol Health & Rehab Center — and obtaining witness interviews before memories fade — will be key to reconstructing what happened.
“The timely investigation in cases like this is absolutely imperative,” Purtell said. “Was it electrical? Were there fuel sources? Were there sparks? Was there ongoing work in the facility? What in the facility is combustible?”
Purtell, whose firm has already received a call about the Bristol explosion from a possible witness, said he has noticed a trend toward cost cutting among for-profit operators of nursing homes.
“What you see in the for-profits is everything is scrutinized from a corporate perspective and everything is cost-benefit,” he said.
Purtell said the Bristol investigation should look closely at whether the facility’s fire prevention and suppression systems were adequate and functioning.
Relative describes feeling house shake, seeing windows blown out
The smell of smoke and sirens of both ambulances and fire trucks pierced the blocks surrounding the Bristol Health & Rehab Center hours after an explosion led to a mass evacuation of nursing home patients.
Kim Wilford, 60, was visiting family for the holidays, roughly two blocks from the facility when she felt the house shake, as though something had fallen on the roof.
When Wilford and relatives realized the explosion came from the nursing home, they rushed to the campus, where they were met with chaos.
“It was something out of a Die Hard movie,” said Deanna Rice-Bass, 59, one of Wilford’s relatives who recognized local nurses, not affiliated with the nursing home, evacuating people.
Patients were being wheeled out of the facility, but in some cases they were simply placed on mats outside, said Wilford.
First responders were instructing the able-bodied to take those with non-life-threatening injuries to nearby Lower Bucks Hospital.
Wilford panicked as she saw the outside of her mother’s room.
“Her window was blown out,” she said. “Naturally I freaked out.”
Wilford would later find her 87-year-old mother among the crowd of evacuees cleared to go to Lower Bucks Hospital.
“She said she and her roommate were lifted from their beds and back down,” said Wilford, adding she’d never had issues with the nursing home before.
Authorities said there were injuries, but had yet to say whether there were any fatalities.
Bristol Township Police Lt. Sean Cosgrove said there were injuries, but that he wasn’t aware of any critical injuries.
“A lot of the details at this point are still unknown,” he told reporters at the scene.
Residents had been evacuated by emergency responders, bystanders and staff, he said.
— Associated Press
// Timestamp 12/23/25 4:44pm
Nursing home has been repeatedly cited, federal records show, and recently changed ownership
First responders work the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol, Pa.
Federal records indicate the building had an automatic sprinkler system.
The 174-bed facility, comprised of low-slung brick buildings, sits on a two-acre campus in Lower Bucks County. As of 2024, Silver Lake housed 162 residents, more than 75% of whom were 60 years or older, according to the most recent inspection records. The facility had 129 full- and part-time staff members as of 2024, records show.
CommuniCare Health Services, a privately run for-profit nursing home operator based in Cincinnati, took over operations at Silver Lake in 2021. The facility was recently acquired by Saber Healthcare Group, and rebranded as Bristol Health & Rehab Center. Operators announced the new ownership and name in a Facebook post this month.
Federal inspectors have repeatedly cited Silver Lake for deficient healthcare and management in recent years, issuing dozens of violations for substandard care. The most recent inspection, in March, indicated the center had failed to maintain proper infection prevention among residents and inadequately maintained medical records, among other problems.
The Department of Health & Human Services awarded the facility a one-star rating — far below the national average — based on recent inspections. Silver Lake’s operators were fined more than $418,000 in penalties in 2024, records show.
In 2023, inspectors wrote that management “failed to ensure a clean, homelike environment” for residents on both floors of the two-story facility. They saw dirty floors, paint peeling off the walls, and holes punctured in bathroom doors.
‘Car after car after car was a fire truck or ambulance from all over the city’
State Rep. Tina Davis, whose district includes the center, said she got near the scene in her car but did not want to interfere.
“I saw smoke and I saw car after car after car was a fire truck or ambulance from all over the city, from all over,” Davis said.
She said there was talk of using a nearby school as a temporary evacuation area.
Jim Morgan, president of the Bristol Township School Board, said district buses will be taking people from the emergency scene at the nursing home to a reunification center at Truman High School. He said officials were working on setting up beds and providing water and other needs to residents. As of 4 p.m. no one had showed up at the school, Morgan said.
“It’s just so sad — it’s that hopeful time of year. This is just something that is sad for everybody and the families and the workers that are there. I hope there’s positive results from this. We don’t know at this point,” Davis said.
— Associated Press
// Timestamp 12/23/25 4:09pm
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick urges residents to avoid the area
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents the area, said on social media that he had been briefed on reports of an explosion at the nursing home.
“My team and I are in direct communication with local officials and emergency responders, and we are closely monitoring developments as authorities work to secure the scene and care for those affected. We will continue to stay engaged and share updates as more verified information becomes available,” Fitzpatrick said.
“For everyone’s safety, I urge you to please avoid the area. Please also join me in praying for the safety of the residents of the nursing home, the dedicated staff who care for them, and our brave first responders who rushed to the scene and ran toward danger without hesitation,” Fitzpatrick said.
I have been briefed on reports of an explosion at Silver Lake Nursing Home in Bristol Township.
My team and I are in direct communication with local officials and emergency responders, and we are closely monitoring developments as authorities work to secure the scene and care…
Emergency responders reported multiple injuries after an explosion rocked a nursing home Tuesday afternoon in Bristol Township in Bucks County.
Firefighters and police responded to the explosion and fire at the Bristol Health & Rehab Center, formerly known as Silver Lake Healthcare Center, at 905 Tower Rd.
It was not immediately known how many people were injured.
Firefighters from neighboring Pennsylvania counties and from New Jersey have responded to the scene.
The University of Oklahoma has fired an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.”
The university said in a statement posted Monday on X that its investigation found the graduate teaching assistant had been “arbitrary” in giving 20-year-old junior Samantha Fulnecky zero points on the assignment. The university declined to comment beyond its statement, which said the instructor had been removed from teaching.
Through her attorney, the instructor, Mel Curth, denied Tuesday that she had “engaged in any arbitrary behavior regarding the student’s work.” The attorney, Brittany Stewart, said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press that Curth is “considering all of her legal remedies.”
Conservative groups, commentators, and others quickly made Fulnecky’s failing grade an online cause, highlighting her argument that she’d been punished for expressing conservative Christian views. Her case became a flashpoint in the ongoing debate over academic freedom on college campuses as President Donald Trump pushes to end diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and restrict how campuses discuss race, gender, and sexuality.
Fulnecky appealed her grade on the assignment, which was worth 3% of the final grade in the class, and the university said the assignment would not count. It also placed Curth on leave, and Oklahoma’s conservative Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, declared the situation “deeply concerning.”
“The University of Oklahoma believes strongly in both its faculty’s rights to teach with academic freedom and integrity and its students’ right to receive an education that is free from a lecturer’s impermissible evaluative standards,” the university’s statement said. “We are committed to teaching students how to think, not what to think.”
A law approved this year by Oklahoma’s Republican-dominated Legislature and signed by Stitt prohibits state universities from using public funds to finance DEI programs or positions or mandating DEI training. However, the law says it does not apply to scholarly research or “the academic freedom of any individual faculty member.”
Home telephone listings for Fulnecky in the Springfield, Mo., area had been disconnected, and her mother — an attorney, podcaster, and radio host — did not immediately respond Tuesday to a Facebook message seeking comment about the university’s action.
Fulnecky’s failing grade came in an assignment for a psychology class on lifespan development. Curth directed students to write a 650-word response to an academic study that examined whether conformity with gender norms was associated with popularity or bullying among middle school students.
Fulnecky wrote that she was frustrated by the premise of the assignment because she does not believe that there are more than two genders based on her understanding of the Bible, according to a copy of her essay provided to The Oklahoman.
“Society pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth,” she wrote, adding that it would lead society “farther from God’s original plan for humans.”
In feedback obtained by the newspaper, Curth said the paper did “not answer the questions for the assignment,” contradicted itself, relied on “personal ideology” over evidence and “is at times offensive.”
“Please note that I am not deducting points because you have certain beliefs,” Curth wrote.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to allow the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area to support its immigration crackdown.
The justices declined the Republican administration’s emergency request to overturn a ruling by U.S. District Judge April Perry that had blocked the deployment of troops. An appeals court also had refused to step in. The Supreme Court took more than two months to act.
Three justices, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, publicly dissented.
The high court order is not a final ruling but it could affect other lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump’s attempts to deploy the military in other Democratic-led cities.
The outcome is a rare Supreme Court setback for Trump, who had won repeated victories in emergency appeals since he took office again in January. The conservative-dominated court has allowed Trump to ban transgender people from the military, claw back billions of dollars of congressionally approved federal spending, move aggressively against immigrants and fire the Senate-confirmed leaders of independent federal agencies.
The administration had initially sought the order to allow the deployment of troops from Illinois and Texas, but the Texas contingent of about 200 National Guard troops was later sent home from Chicago.
The Trump administration has argued that the troops are needed “to protect federal personnel and property from violent resistance against the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
But Perry wrote that she found no substantial evidence that a “danger of rebellion” is brewing in Illinois and no reason to believe the protests there had gotten in the way of Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Perry had initially blocked the deployment for two weeks. But in October, she extended the order indefinitely while the Supreme Court reviewed the case.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the west Chicago suburb of Broadview has been the site of tense protests, where federal agents have previously used tear gas and other chemical agents on protesters and journalists.
Last week, authorities arrested 21 protesters and said four officers were injured outside the Broadview facility. Local authorities made the arrests.
The Illinois case is just one of several legal battles over National Guard deployments.
District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb is suing to halt the deployments of more than 2,000 guardsmen in the nation’s capital. Forty-five states have entered filings in federal court in that case, with 23 supporting the administration’s actions and 22 supporting the attorney general’s lawsuit.
More than 2,200 troops from several Republican-led states remain in Washington, although the crime emergency Trump declared in August ended a month later.
A federal judge in Oregon has permanently blocked the deployment of National Guard troops there, and all 200 troops from California were being sent home from Oregon, an official said.
