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  • Thousands of nurses go on strike at several major New York City hospitals

    Thousands of nurses go on strike at several major New York City hospitals

    NEW YORK — Thousands of nurses in three hospital systems in New York City went on strike Monday after negotiations through the weekend failed to yield breakthroughs in their contract disputes.

    “Nurses on strike! … Fair contract now!” they shouted on a picket line outside NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s campus in Upper Manhattan. Others picketed at hospitals in the Mount Sinai and Montefiore systems, where a 2023 nursing strike fed off pandemic-era frustrations and led to a deal to boost staffing and pay.

    “And now, it’s how they’re treating us: They don’t want to give us a fair contract, and they don’t want to give us safe staffing, and now they’re trying to roll back on our benefits,” emergency department nurse Tristan Castillo said as she picketed Monday outside Mount Sinai West.

    About 15,000 nurses are involved in the strike, according to their union, the New York State Nurses Association. The hospitals remained open, hiring droves of temporary nurses to try to fill the labor gap.

    The strike involves private, nonprofit hospitals, not city-run ones. But the strike, which the union casts as lifesaving essential workers fighting hospital executives who make millions of dollars a year, could be a significant early test of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new administration.

    The democratic socialist campaigned on a pro-worker platform and struck a similar note while visiting nurses on the NewYork-Presbyterian picket line Monday.

    “These executives are not having difficulty making ends meet,” said Mamdani, who extolled nurses’ work and said they were seeking “dignity, respect, and the fair pay and treatment that they deserve. They should settle for nothing less.”

    Some other Democratic city and state politicians also visited striking nurses, while Gov. Kathy Hochul sent state health officials to the hospitals to keep watch over patient care. She called in a statement for the sides to negotiate a deal that “recognizes the essential work nurses do.”

    The strike, which comes during a severe flu season, could potentially force the hospitals to transfer patients, cancel procedures, or divert ambulances. It could also put a strain on city hospitals not involved in the contract dispute, as patients avoid the medical centers hit by the strike.

    The nurses’ demands vary by hospital, but the major issues include staffing levels and workplace safety. The union says hospitals have given nurses unmanageable workloads.

    Nurses also want better security measures in the workplace, citing incidents such as an episode last week when a man with a sharp object barricaded himself in a Brooklyn hospital room and was then killed by police.

    The union also wants limitations on hospitals’ use of artificial intelligence.

    The hospitals say that they’ve been working to improve staffing levels but say that the union’s demands overall are too costly.

    After the nurses gave notice Jan. 2 of the looming strike, the hospitals hired temporary nurses, vowed to “do whatever is necessary to minimize disruptions,” and said they were prepared to deliver care no matter how long the strike lasts. Mount Sinai said in a statement Monday it had lined up 1,400 temporary nurses.

    Mount Sinai said the union was making “extreme economic demands.” Montefiore spokesperson Joe Solmonese said the union was pressing “$3.6 billion in reckless demands,” including exorbitant raises. The union hasn’t publicly disclosed its salary proposal.

    NewYork-Presbyterian accused the union of staging a strike to “create disruption.”

    “We’re ready to keep negotiating a fair and reasonable contract that reflects our respect for our nurses and the critical role they play, and also recognizes the challenging realities of today’s healthcare environment,” the hospital said.

    Each medical center is negotiating with the union independently. Several other private hospitals in and near New York City reached deals in recent days to avert a possible strike.

    The three-day strike in 2023 resulted in a deal raising pay 19% over three years at Mount Sinai and Montefiore. The pact also included staffing improvements, though the union and hospitals now disagree about how much progress has been made, or whether the hospitals are retreating from staffing guarantees.

    The sides also dispute whether the hospitals are trying to reduce health benefits. Mount Sinai, for instance, says its proposals would cut costs without changing coverage.

  • An artsy new restaurant and cocktail bar is coming to Kennett Square

    An artsy new restaurant and cocktail bar is coming to Kennett Square

    Birch Street will get a new restaurant and cocktail lounge this summer as its makeover in Kennett Square continues.

    Opus, a New American upscale restaurant with a second-floor cocktail lounge, will open at 201 Birch St., adjoined to Artelo, a 14-room boutique hotel. Opus is a new initiative for Square Roots Collective, an organization that builds businesses and uses the profits to support nonprofits in southern Chester County.

    Opus will boast 125 seats in its 6,000 square-foot building, with outdoor dining and a two-story terrace. During the day, the cocktail bar will serve breakfast to the public and guests of Artelo.

    The restaurant, which will be adorned by curated art pieces and a hand-painted ceiling mural, is an extension of Artelo, which Square Roots Collective opened in 2024. The hotel, which replaced the former Birch Inn, offers an immersive art experience, with each room painted by a local or regional artist, creating a living piece of art.

    That same principle will follow in Opus, said Luke Zubrod, chief of staff for Square Roots Collective.

    “It’s kind of the anchor to Birch Street,” he said. “It’s really kind of setting the tone for the street as a whole — and the tone it’ll set is really an artistic tone. This is a street kind of filled with beauty, and I think that that theme will be more evident over time.”

    It’s part of a larger effort to revitalize Birch Street, which has in recent years seen more development, including Square Roots Collective’s beer garden The Creamery, and streetscaping. In the coming years, the street will be resurfaced, and the borough plans to add a trail on one side and sidewalk on the other, along with new streetlights and crosswalks. Square Roots Collective worked with the borough to secure funds for that investment, leaning on grant dollars from the state and county, Zubrod said.

    “In addition to the Opus itself, there’s a lot to look forward to,” Zubrod said. “This street is really receiving some public investment that will make it a really vibrant and beautiful place.”

    Along with Artelo and The Creamery, 100% of Opus’ funds will go to the organization’s nonprofit, focused on community improvement, he said.

    “I think in addition to just being a really exciting restaurant concept, it’s also one people can feel really good about in terms of helping to make the community better,” he said.

    Another boutique hotel coming

    The Francis, a boutique hotel in central Kennett Square, is slated to open this year. The eight-room hotel will reimagine an 18th century home, and pay homage to the region’s history.

    Meanwhile, also coming this year, the collective will open another boutique hotel, at 205 S. Union St. The Francis, an ode to Francis Smith who named Kennett Square for his home back in England, will have eight rooms, each dedicated to the history of the town.

    The hotel will reimagine an 18th-century home, and offer single rooms and loft suites with kitchenettes, plus balcony or courtyard access.

    One room — “The Watchmaker” — will honor a former resident and watchmaker, Thomas Milhous. Another room, “The Gardener,” will pay homage to the region’s first big harvest: flowers. Others nod to battlegrounds, four generations of a local family, education, plus the region’s history with the Underground Railroad, the Lenni-Lenape tribe and its “rich immigrant history.”

    The collective plans on luscious landscaping, with a courtyard serving as “a little bit of an oasis,” said Zubrod.

    “There is an appetite to have kind of quaint boutique hotels in the area to meet the needs of people who are coming for Longwood [Gardens] especially,” he said.

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

  • The Trevor Project receives $45M from MacKenzie Scott after difficult years and federal funding cuts

    The Trevor Project receives $45M from MacKenzie Scott after difficult years and federal funding cuts

    The Trevor Project, known for its hotline for LGBTQ+ youth, received $45 million from billionaire and author MacKenzie Scott at the end of 2025, the organization said Monday.

    The gift is the largest in the organization’s history but also a major boon following years of management turmoil, layoffs, and the loss of significant federal funding over the summer.

    “I literally could not believe it and it took some time. I actually gasped,” said Jaymes Black, CEO of the Trevor Project, when they were notified of Scott’s gift.

    Scott, whose fortune largely comes from her ex-husband, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, gave more than $7 billion to nonprofits in 2025, but this gift to the Trevor Project was not included among the donations she disclosed on her website in December. Scott previously gave the Trevor Project $6 million in 2020.

    In July, the Trump administration stopped providing specific support for gay, trans, and gender nonconforming young people who called the 988 National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. The Trevor Project was one of the organizations staffing that option and lost $25 million in funding, the nonprofit said.

    The Trevor Project continues to run an independent hotline for LGBTQ+ young people that Black said reaches about 250,000 young people annually, but they served another 250,000 callers through the 988 Press 3 option, which was tailored for LGBTQ+ young people.

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reported more than 1.5 million contacts were routed through the service between September 2022 and July 2025.

    The Trevor Project has gone through years of internal turmoil after exploding in size from an organization with an annual budget around $4 million in 2016 to over $83 million in 2023, according to its public tax returns. The nonprofit’s board removed its CEO in 2022 and has gone through a series of layoffs, including one in July. Black said the project’s 2026 budget was $47 million.

    “We are a smaller organization than we were before,” Black said. “And we will continue to be really intentional and really mindful around growth and what growth really means for the organization.”

    After it lost the 988 funding, the Trevor Project launched an emergency fundraiser that brought in $20 million to date, Black said, which they also hope Scott saw as proof that the organization was determined to stick around and make it through this period.

    “MacKenzie Scott’s folks were clear, like this gift was made for long-term impact,” Black said, adding that they would take their time deciding how to use the funds.

    Thad Calabrese, a professor at New York University who researches nonprofit financial management, said it’s not at all uncommon for nonprofits that grow very quickly to run into financial problems. But he also said the cuts and general instability in especially federal funding for nonprofits has upended many organizations’ business models.

    “Academic research has often viewed public funding as very stable, as a signal to donors that you’ve arrived as an organization, but the reality is you are now also open to changing political fortunes,” he said.

    He said research is also unclear about whether diversifying an organization’s revenue streams is always a better financial strategy.

    “You’re less dependent upon a few funders, but on the other hand, if you have a lot of different revenue streams, do you have the management capacity for that?” Calabrese asked, speaking generally and not commenting specifically on the Trevor Project.

    Scott has distinguished herself among the biggest individual donors by giving large, unrestricted gifts to nonprofits, often with a focus on equity or social justice. With the exception of an open call in 2023, she does not ask for project proposals nor accept applications.

    Despite the size of her gifts, which now often exceed the recipient organization’s annual budget, research from the Center for Effective Philanthropy has found that concerns about nonprofits misusing Scott’s funds or growing unsustainably have largely not been born out. That may be because Scott’s team, the members of which are largely unknown, conducts extensive research on organizations before making grants.

    In an essay announcing her 2025 gifts, Scott said, “The potential of peaceful, non-transactional contribution has long been underestimated, often on the basis that it is not financially self-sustaining, or that some of its benefits are hard to track. But what if these imagined liabilities are actually assets? … What if the fact that some of our organizations are vulnerable can itself be a powerful engine for our generosity?”

    Black called Scott’s second gift “a powerful validation” of the Trevor Project’s mission and impact, saying, “We’re calling this our turnaround story.”

  • Long story short: ‘Joe Dirt’ tribute takes top prize in mullet contest

    Long story short: ‘Joe Dirt’ tribute takes top prize in mullet contest

    HARRISBURG — A packed crowd celebrated the much-maligned but enduring mullet hairstyle Monday in a contest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg.

    The short-in-the-front, long-in-the-back coiffure, once the province of Canadian hockey players and hair metal bands, attracted about 150 competitors and more than a thousand spectators for the day’s “mane” attraction.

    The top award, in the form of the rear bumper of a Corvette, went to 10-year-old Drew Fleschut of Dallas, Luzerne County — who wore a red-and-black shirt in an homage to movie character Joe Dirt and carried Joe’s trademark mop.

    Contestants were evaluated for the style of their cut, any props or accessories, their presentation and their overall sense of commitment, said judge Brittany Goldberg.

    “This is for fun,” said Goldberg, owner of Heavy Metal Hair Salon in Philadelphia. “It’s about the camaraderie and everyone having a laugh and a good time.”

    Ben Barley, a 7-year-old first grader from Red Lion, Pa., waits with his father, Robert Barley, for the start of a mullet judging contest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg on Monday.

    There were magic tricks, customized T-shirts, and even a “skullet” — a mullet sported by a balding man. One kid didn’t want to leave the stage. Another took the occasion to pick his nose. Some danced the worm, some dabbed, and a few ripped off their shirts, pro-wrestling style.

    Brittni Williamson of Harvey’s Lake brought along her 3-year-old son Mason, who ended up with a mullet when the hair on the back of his head grew more quickly than the rest of his hair when he was a baby.

    “We just clean it up in the front and keep the party going,” Williamson said. Mason didn’t win, but he did get to accomplish his New Year’s resolution by feeding a cow.

    Butter sculpture at Pennsylvania Farm Show honors nation’s 250th birthday

    Ben Barley, 7, of Red Lion arrived at the event wearing a T-shirt featuring his name and the words “MULLET LIFE 6-7,” a nod to both his hairstyle and the bafflingly popular youth catchphrase. He said he’d been working on his mullet for two years.

    Kyle Wertman said he was inspired to go with a mullet while watching old professional wrestling footage of Hacksaw Jim Duggan. He gets a lot of comments about it in his hometown of Murrysville.

    “They like to fluff the curls in the back, ‘Look at this thing, it’s got a mind of its own,’” said Wertman, 43, who works in sales and service of industrial air compressors.

    It’s taken Lancaster resident Brayden Shaner, 14, about four years to grow his mullet, which was good enough for third-place in the teenager category.

    “I like it because it’s different,” he said. “You don’t see, walking through the grocery store, people with a mullet. I think the girls like it.”

    Though mullets likely have been around longer than there have been barbers, the Oxford English Dictionary cites hip-hop legends the Beastie Boys for helping popularize the term mullet with the song “Mullet Head” on their 1994 recording, Ill Communication. As the venerable dictionary notes, it’s a term that is slang, humorous “and frequently derogatory.”

    The contest, in its third year, is one of the few at the Pennsylvania Farm Show open to people who live outside the state.

    Meredith Nelson smiles at her son, “Mikey Mullet,” an 8-year old-contestant from South Jersey in Monday’s hairstyle contest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
  • Drive-by shooting in Northeast Philadelphia leaves one dead, another injured, police say

    Drive-by shooting in Northeast Philadelphia leaves one dead, another injured, police say

    A man was killed and a woman was injured Sunday night after two shooters fired into a tow truck parked in Northeast Philadelphia, police said.

    The man, 25-year-old Aaron Whitfield, died at the scene of the shooting on the 2100 block of Knorr Street, police said. A 21-year-old woman struck in the leg by a bullet survived.

    According to police, Whitfield, who works as a tow-truck driver, and the woman were inside the vehicle when the shooters drove up to the truck’s passenger side and opened fire at 7:52 p.m.

    Officers who responded to a report of gunshots found Whitfield inside the tow truck. He’d been shot multiple times in his head and body, police said, and attempts by medics to resuscitate him failed.

    The woman, whose name was not released by police, was transported to Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital. Police said that she was stable.

    Investigators collected 17 bullet casings at the scene, police said. Bullets also struck nearby buildings, but no one else was injured, police said.

    No arrests had been made in the shooting as of midday Monday. Police said a motive for the killing has not yet been determined, and it’s unknown whether either Whitfield or the woman were intentionally targeted.

  • Mummers string band competition will duke it out at the Linc

    Mummers string band competition will duke it out at the Linc

    While the postponement of the Mummers’ string band competition could have put a damper on an otherwise joyous New Year’s Day in Philadelphia, the string bands may have gotten a sweeter prize out of the ordeal.

    The judged string band competition will now take place at Lincoln Financial Field on Jan. 31 at 2 p.m., after 30 to 60 mph winds on Jan. 1. forced organizers to reschedule, parade officials announced on Sunday.

    The annual competition is still open to the public, with tickets available on Ticketmaster for $12 to $25, and will be broadcast on the same channel as the parade, on WFMZ-TV. WFMZ has not announced a time for the television broadcast but said it will be later in the day on Jan. 31.

    City officials and parade organizers decided to postpone the competition once extreme wind and unexpected snow damaged several performance props and contributed to a few minor injuries, according to the Philadelphia Mummers String Band Association (PMSBA).

    Despite the postponement of the competition, string bands continued to perform for paradegoers in full costume and makeup, honoring the parade’s historic milestone of 125 years, said Sam Regalbuto, PMSBA president, in a statement.

    How to watch

    The Mummers’ rescheduled string band competition can be watched in person, online, or on television.

  • ‘Seeking Experienced Witch’: A woman asked for help hexing her ex. She’s part of a long cathartic tradition.

    ‘Seeking Experienced Witch’: A woman asked for help hexing her ex. She’s part of a long cathartic tradition.

    Driving to visit a friend, a Philadelphia woman had time to mull her recent breakup. She thought about all the things her ex hated: spiders, moth-bitten sweaters, overly soft avocados. She typed them on her phone, as curses.

    It became a flier: “Seeking: Experienced Witch to Curse My Ex.” She set up an email — for serious inquiries only.

    You may have seen her handiwork. The fliers dot telephone poles, originating in downtown Phoenixville, around where our witch-seeker was visiting family for the holidays. They now paper neighborhoods across Philadelphia — hung with a staple gun on New Year’s Eve while barhopping. (The 29-year-old asked to remain nameless for this story, so as to not affect future job prospects. It also, in a way, protects her ex.)

    And though it might seem a bit out of the ordinary, it’s part of a great tradition of cursing your ex that goes back to antiquity. Plus, it’s a way to regain a sense of power, experts say.

    So, it’s no surprise that the fliers have seeped online, circulating neighborhood groups and on socials, striking a chord. When the fliers appeared in Chester County, a Phoenixville community group sounded off: “I hope she gets him. Good for her,” one commenter wrote under a Facebook post about it. “I think I know the ex,” said another. “It’s a great idea,” writes another. (The witch-seeker also has her detractors: “That man dodged a bullet!” one commenter wrote.)

    The flier lays out her desired curses: his hair thinning, house plants withering, his bus seats feeling damp, his Wi-Fi buffering during video games, shoe pebbles remaining unshakeable — and the aforementioned too-ripe avocados, copious spiders, and hole-y sweaters (among other ill wishes).

    But, the flier requests no hexes on his well-being or romantic life.

    Across relationship research, one of the most consistent findings is that breakups produce a “profound sense of powerlessness,” said Jenn Pollitt, a professor of gender, sexuality, and women’s studies at Temple University.

    But how do you get from a list on your phone to asking witches to please curse your ex-boyfriend?

    It’s not that far a leap.

    “Witchcraft has become a more socially legible way to express rage,” Pollitt said. “If you’ve got someone who wants to curse their ex, really what they want to be able to say is, ‘I was harmed. I’m allowed to be angry about this, and my anger deserves to be acknowledged.’ The public posting of this is really like a deep desire and craving to have that person’s hurt and heartbreak be born witness to.”

    The witch-seeker said she needed a place to put her pent-up anger and frustration.

    It’s not all maliciousness to her ex, she said. It’s mostly catharsis: She thinks of her ex as a lovely person in a lot of ways. But she said when she expressed her emotional needs, he’d withhold affection, he’d disappear for a few days or block her number. Then he would return, with words of affirmation and promises of marriage. It became cyclical over the two-year relationship. She swallowed up her frustrations. But several months ago, they parted ways. And despite the turbulence, it was pretty amicable, she recalls.

    She grieved. She went to therapy. She journaled. She meditated.

    And then she logged on to social media, and saw he was in a new serious relationship that had started within weeks of them breaking up.

    “It felt like a slap in the face, and that was my impetus for doing this,” she said. “I couldn’t yell at him, and I didn’t want to yell at him, but I had to yell at someone.”

    She’s not alone. For millennia, people have pursued love magic, said Kristine Rabberman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who teaches about witchcraft and sexuality. Roughly 600 Latin curse tablets have survived from the Roman empire, with both men and women calling on various deities to curse their close relations, she said.

    These mystical beliefs served social functions, too, she said, addressing people’s lack of agency and control. They channel deep wells of emotion: anger, longing, frustration, hatred.

    “Having recourse to love magic could be one approach somebody could take to try to both find expression for those feelings and to also have a sense of agency and being able to act on them,” she said.

    Dating culture has changed rapidly, Pollitt added. There’s now a digital component: blocked numbers, social media handles unfollowed. A breakup by a thousand cuts, she noted.

    “Breakups often can be intensely private and deeply isolating. Any public display, even this — which is a little bit out of the ordinary — function as a way to reinsert personal pain into a shared social space,” Pollitt said.

    The community came fast. As the witch-seeker hung the fliers in Phoenixville, several people high-fived her, she said. Then the emails rolled in: A Caribbean witch who offered a hex. A bruja. A kitchen witch who practices herbalism and herbal manifestations. A helper who sent along a few shops and books, so she could do the curse herself (so it carries the appropriate “oomph”).

    But to her surprise, beyond the witches, there were others: People who wanted to know how the story would end. Someone boldly asking her out on a date. And the women who simply could relate.

    They wished her a happy new year, they told her they’d also had messy breakups, they told her they supported her.

    She did not expect the outpouring of support, or the attention. As a writer and a creative person, it was mostly a way to tap into that, in a way that felt a little more empowering.

    “It has made me feel so much better,” she said.

    She is thankful for the witches who offered their services, though she feels conflicted about going through with a hex. She won’t be papering the city with more witch requests, either, she said.

    The process has let her accept some of her bad, not totally socially acceptable feelings — and create something positive with it, by connecting with others, she said — as people reeling from heartbreak have done for centuries before her.

  • Philly public defender launches new immigration unit amid growing federal arrests and deportations

    Philly public defender launches new immigration unit amid growing federal arrests and deportations

    The Defender Association of Philadelphia has launched a new initiative to help people facing immigration consequences both inside and outside the criminal-justice system.

    The move comes as the Trump administration pursues aggressive new enforcement, where even minor legal cases can put undocumented city residents at risk of detention, family separation, or deportation.

    The agency’s Immigration Law Practice is expected to grow to up to 11 staff members. Its creation is to be officially announced at a news conference on Wednesday.

    “This is necessary right now,” Chief Defender Keisha Hudson said in an interview. “We’re going to have to sustain this work and expand this work if we’re going to meet the moment.”

    The practice will be led by veteran immigration attorney Lilah Thompson, who often represents migrants facing complex legal challenges. She said the work would be done in collaboration with trial attorneys, social workers, and mitigation specialists to shape defense strategies that protect clients and their families.

    One area of concentration will be on clients who are in immigration detention despite having no criminal charges, another on people who could face serious immigration repercussions because of what are often minor offenses.

    In Philadelphia, attorneys say, people have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as they’re enrolling in diversionary programs or heading to court to plead not guilty.

    The Trump administration maintains it is arresting dangerous immigrants, though figures show 74% of all those held in detention have no criminal convictions.

    The Defender Association also expects to handle more cases that push back against Trump administration efforts around mandatory detention. Federal judges in Philadelphia have ruled dozens of times against an administration policy that mandates detention for nearly all undocumented immigrants, joining a nationwide wave of decisions criticizing the government.

    A challenge is that those cases must be filed individually, and many of those in detention have neither a lawyer nor the money to hire one.

    The new practice consolidates and builds on work that was done at the Nationalities Service Center and the Pennsylvania Immigrant Family Unity Project, or PAIFUP.

    Thompson said the immigration practice will make sure that clients have accurate information, strong advocacy, and a chance to protect their futures.

    “The work changes every day, with the twists and turns of this administration, and the cruelty it inflicts on noncitizens,” she said. “We have to respond to the moment.”

  • Kids get free dental care at this Philly school. Officials say it’s a model that could be replicated in schools with empty space.

    Kids get free dental care at this Philly school. Officials say it’s a model that could be replicated in schools with empty space.

    Crystal Edwards didn’t see a dentist until she had a deep cavity at age 10: growing up in a struggling Philadelphia family, the resources to access dental checkups just weren’t there.

    So she jumped at the opportunity to locate a dental clinic in the school where she is now principal, W.D. Kelley, a K-8 in North Philadelphia.

    “This dental clinic is saving lives,” said Edwards.

    Parents and teachers want smaller classes and no school closures. Here’s what else they said in Philly’s facilities planning survey.

    Tucked into a converted science lab on the school’s third floor, the Dental Clinic at William. D. Kelley, operated by Temple University’s Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dentistry, is nearing its third year of operation. It is open to all Philadelphia children, including those who do not attend Kelley, regardless of insurance status.

    School district officials have pointed to the Kelley clinic as a model as it prepares to make facilities master plan decisions, which will result in closing, combining, and reconfiguring some school buildings. The clinic is an example, they say, of how the system could use available space in some of its schools for public good.

    Soribel Acosta arrives at the Dental Clinic at William D. Kelley public school on Thursday, with her children, Andrea Jimenez (left), 6. And Sayra Jimenez, 7.

    “This is certainly a great example of what can happen when a university partners with a school district to create life-changing opportunities and outcomes for young people,” Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. said in a statement in 2023, when the clinic opened.

    Temple dental school officials said more clinics could follow elsewhere in the city.

    Taking care of every child

    The underlying concept is simple, said Eileen Barfuss, the Temple dental professor who leads the clinic.

    “If your tooth hurts, if you’re not feeling well, you’re not going to learn,” said Barfuss. “In the past, there have been a lot of barriers to care for dentistry that weren’t there for medicine, but preventative care is so important so it doesn’t get to the point of pain.”

    The clinic accepts all comers, including those who are uninsured or underinsured, and sometimes treats students’ parents. (Most, but not all, patients have Medicaid dental, and grants help cover treatment for those without insurance.)

    Temple dentistry student Carly Pandit works on the teeth of Andrea Jimenez, 6, as her mother, Soribel Acosta, entertains sister Sayra Jimenez, 7, waiting her turn in the char at the dental clinic at William D. Kelley public school on Thursday.

    “We try to take care of every child in the Philadelphia School District,” said Barfuss. “There’s a place that they can come and get comprehensive care and establish a dental home.”

    To date, the clinic has seen nearly 700 patients, some of whom are repeat visitors. Patients are treated both by Barfuss and dental students she supervises.

    Students do come from other schools to the clinic; Barfuss said her team does outreach at community events and spreads the word through the district’s school nurses, who often send patients to the clinic. And staff teach lessons in Kelley classrooms on oral health and the importance of seeing a dentist twice a year.

    Being in a school helps normalize the dentist for many kids, who might poke their heads into the clinic to look around and see the friendly dental staff in their scrubs in the hallways, Barfuss said.

    ‘This is a good dentist’

    On Thursday, Fatoumata Bathily, a fourth grader with pink glasses and a bright smile, swung her legs down from a Kelley clinic dentist chair after a successful checkup.

    Eileen K. Barfuss (left), a pediatric dentist and Temple dentistry instructor consults with Fily Dramera after her daughter Fatoumata Bathily (rear), 9, was seen by a Temple student dentist at the Dental Clinic at William D. Kelley public school on Thursday.

    “It’s good here,” said Fatoumata, who attends nearby Robert Morris Elementary, and came for preventive care along with her brother, Abubakr. “This is a good dentist. I like that it’s colorful, and the people are nice.”

    Amid Ismail has wanted to bring such a model to the city since he became dean of Temple’s dental school in 2008. Decades ago, some schools offered dental care via city services, but as funding dried up, those clinics went away, Ismail said.

    Ismail raised the idea of a Temple-district partnership, but it took several years to get off the ground. Edwards, an award-winning principal who takes pride in bringing the community into Kelley, got the vision intuitively, he said.

    Two new ‘year-round’ public schools, with a special model and resources, are coming to Philadelphia

    Temple paid to transform a large science lab into the dental clinic; the district provides the space and does not charge rent. There are four chairs, including one in a space specifically designed for patients with autism who might need a quieter environment and more room. Rooms are bright and modern.

    “The message to the parents and caregivers is that this is a nice place where all treatment is provided,” Ismail said. “A lot of children do have dental problems, but here we can treat them easily — they miss one class, max, and they don’t have to stay a long time.”

    Soribel Acosta waits for their appointment with her children, Sayra Jimenez (left), 7; and Andrea Jimenez (right), 6, at the Dental Clinic at William D. Kelley public school on Thursday.

    The clinic, which is about to celebrate its third anniversary, just expanded its schedule — it’s open four days a week, and officials eventually hope it will be open five days.

    Edwards fought for the clinic to come to Kelley, and it’s been just the boon she had hoped, she said.

    “This is a historic community that was really devastated and hard hit by the crack and drug pandemic,” said Edwards. “The dental office has really given us leverage on how to serve the community better.”

  • Federal Reserve Chair Powell says DOJ has subpoenaed central bank, threatens criminal indictment

    Federal Reserve Chair Powell says DOJ has subpoenaed central bank, threatens criminal indictment

    WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Sunday the Department of Justice has served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations.

    The move represents an unprecedented escalation in President Donald Trump’s battle with the Fed, an independent agency he has repeatedly attacked for not cutting its key interest rate as sharply as he prefers. The renewed fight will likely rattle financial markets Monday and could over time escalate borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans.

    The subpoenas relate to Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June, the Fed chair said, regarding the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings, a project that Trump has criticized as excessive.

    Powell on Sunday cast off what has up to this point been a restrained approach to Trump’s criticisms and personal insults, which he has mostly ignored. Instead, Powell issued a video statement in which he bluntly characterized the threat of criminal charges as simple “pretexts” to undermine the Fed’s independence when it comes to setting interest rates.

    “The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” Powell said. “This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions — or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”

    It’s a sharp departure from the Fed’s understated response to Trump this year. The central bank has attempted to placate the administration by dialing back some policies, such as efforts to consider the impact of climate change on the banking system, that the administration clearly opposed.

    The renewed attacks on the Fed’s independence, and Powell’s full-throated defense, reignite what had appeared to be a dormant battle between Trump and the chair he appointed in 2017. The subpoenas will renew fears that the Fed’s independence from day-to-day politics will be compromised, which could undermine global investors’ confidence in U.S. Treasury securities.

    “We expect the dollar, bonds and stocks to all fall in Monday trading in a sell-America trade similar to that in April last year at the peak of the tariff shock and earlier threat to Powell’s position as Fed chair,” Krishna Guha, an analyst at Evercore ISI, an investment bank, wrote in a note to clients.

    “We are stunned by this deeply disturbing development which came out of the blue after a period in which tensions between Trump and the Fed seemed to be contained,” Guha added.

    In a brief interview with NBC News Sunday, Trump insisted he didn’t know about the investigation into Powell. When asked if the investigation is intended to pressure Powell on rates, Trump said, “No. I wouldn’t even think of doing it that way.”

    Powell’s term as chair ends in May, and Trump administration officials have signaled that he could name a potential replacement this month. Trump has also sought to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook, an unprecedented step, though she has sued to keep her job and courts have ruled she can remain in her seat while the case plays out. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in that case Jan. 21.

    At the Senate Banking Committee hearing in June, Chairman Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, said the Fed’s building renovation included “rooftop terraces, custom elevators that open into VIP dining rooms, white marble finishes, and even a private art collection.”

    Powell disputed those details in his testimony, saying “there’s no new marble. … there are no special elevators” and added that some of the controversial items are “not in the current plan.” In July, Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said in a letter to Powell that his testimony about changes to the building plans “raises serious questions about the project’s compliance” with previous plans approved by a planning commission.

    Still, later that month, Trump visited the building site and, while standing next to Powell, overstated the cost of the renovation. Later that day, Trump, speaking to reporters, downplayed any concerns with the renovation. He said, “they have to get it done” and added, “Look, there’s always Monday morning quarterbacks. I don’t want to be that. I want to help them get it finished.”

    When asked if it was a firing offense, Trump said, “I don’t want to put that in this category.”

    The Justice Department in a statement Sunday said it can’t comment on any particular case, but added that Attorney General Pam Bondi “has instructed her US Attorneys to prioritize investigating any abuse of tax payer dollars.”

    Timothy Lauer, a spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office, said they don’t comment on ongoing investigations.

    With the subpoenas, Powell becomes the latest perceived adversary of the president to face a criminal investigation by the Trump administration’s Justice Department. Trump himself has urged prosecutions of his political opponents, obliterating institutional guardrails for a Justice Department that for generations has taken care to make investigative and prosecutorial decisions independent of the White House.

    The potential indictment has already drawn concern from one Republican senator, who said he’ll oppose any future nominee to the central bank, including any replacement for Powell, until “this legal matter is fully resolved.”

    “If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none,” said North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who sits on the Banking Committee, which oversees Fed nominations. “It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question.”