“You don’t have to like the fact that merit pay was in there,” Hibbs said of his contract at the board’s most recent meeting. But, he said, he is legally entitled to the payment on top of his $215,000 annual base salary because he met the goals listed in his contract.
And he is not the only South Jersey superintendent who has negotiated merit pay or other bonuses as part of a contract. The measure is a little-known way for New Jersey superintendents to earn higher salaries.
About 54 of the state’s 600 public school chiefs, or about 9%, had perks negotiated in their contracts in the 2023-24 school year, according to data from the New Jersey Department of Education.
Here’s what to know about the practice of giving merit pay to New Jersey superintendents:
How many superintendents get merit pay and how much is it?
In South Jersey, at least eight of nearly 100superintendents had merit or bonus pay provisions in their contracts in the 2023-24 school year, the most recent available state data obtained under the Open Public Records Act. The information may be incomplete because it is compiled from self-reporting by districts, and some superintendents have left their jobs since the data were compiled.
Among the districts offering merit pay are: Barrington, Black Horse Pike Regional, Clayton, Salem County Vocational, Washington Township in Gloucester County, Woodlynne, and West Deptford. Merchantville had it also, but that superintendent has since left the position.
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How much money do superintendents make in bonus pay?
An Inquirer analysis of state data found that bonus compensation packages ranged from $2,000 to $56,989 for the 2023-24 school year.
They included additional pay granted for meeting performance goals or obtaining a doctorate, orlongevity bonuses for years of service.
The districts with the most lucrative merit packages were in North Jersey: $56,989 in Bergen County Vocational; $43,272 in Hudson, and $36,489 in Union.
Clayton Superintendent Nikolaos Koutsogiannis, in his ninth year as schools chief, received $4,350 in longevity pay. He joined the district in 2008 as a principal and is one of the longest-serving superintendents in Gloucester County.
“I enjoy my job here,” Koutsogiannis said. “They wanted to keep me here. I was more than willing to stay.”
The Barrington, Black Horse Pike Regional, Salem County Vocational, and West Deptford superintendents did not respond to numerous email messages.
Some South Jersey districtswhere superintendents are among the highest-paid in the region do not offer merit pay, including Winslow, Lenape Regional, Burlington City, Mount Laurel and Cherry Hill.
Because of the cap, dozens of superintendents left the state for higher salaries elsewhere and districts had difficulty recruiting educators. Others negotiated merit pay and bonuses to boost their earnings.
Gov. Phil Murphy speaks with members of the media after meeting with Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill at the governor’s office in Trenton last month.
Superintendent salaries can vary, as boards negotiate contracts based on experience, district size, and other factors.
The New Jersey Department of Education must approve contracts,including merit pay provisions and goals. Executive county school superintendents review contracts for each district.
Purnell said his association, which provides guidance to more than 600 New Jersey school boards, generally steers them away from considering merit pay. Longevity pay, however, is encouraged as an incentive to keep quality superintendents, he said.
Many superintendents are less interested in pursuing additional goals because merit pay is not factored into pensions, Purnell said.
When merit pay is in a contract, the board and the superintendent establish merit goals at the beginning of the school year. At the end of the year, the superintendent must submit evidence that the goals were met. The executive county superintendent must sign off on the request before any bonuses are paid.
The state specifies quantitative and qualitative goals that may be included in merit pay. It also sets the value of each goal, a percentage of the superintendent’s base salary.
Based on a district’s needs, merit pay may be given for meeting goals such as reducing chronic absenteeism, increasing student achievement, setting up learning academies, or establishing a foundation.
Hibbs’ goals approved by the board include completing Google training presentations, taking online professional development courses, and beefing up security.
In September, records show, the executive county superintendent approved $9,072 in merit pay for Barrington Superintendent Anthony Arcodia for meeting two goals — improved parent communication and overhauling the parent-student handbook.
Barrington school board president Mark Correa said Arcodia waived his right to merit pay for the 2025-26 school year because of the district’s belt-tightening. He will be eligible for merit pay in future years, he said.
The district “believes in rewarding our high-achieving, long-serving superintendent when possible,” Correa wrote in an email this week.
Some school chiefs get a stipend for holding an additional administrative position, such as serving as superintendent and a school principal, typically in smaller districts.
What are the drawbacks of merit pay?
Purnell said merit goals can muddy the waters for districts because superintendents could become so focused on those goals that they lose sight of the overall strategic plan.
“The question would be why do you need to receive merit pay when it’s your responsibility to provide a thorough and efficient education,” Purnell said. “You don’t want the goal to become more important than the best interest of all children.”
“Student outcomes are the result of a whole system and are heavily influenced by factors outside one leader’s control,” Campbell said. “If a district uses merit pay at all, I recommend it be a small slice of compensation.”
West Deptford Superintendent Brian Gismondi poses for a portrait outside the West Deptford Child Development Center in West Deptford earlier this year.
How common is merit pay nationwide?
Merit pay does exist in other states.Earlier this year, the state-appointed superintendent for the Houston Independent School District received a $173,660 bonus based on his annual performance evaluation, which credited him with boosting standardized test scores. His annual base salary is $462,000.
Nationwide, the median salary for a school superintendent was $156,000 for the 2023-24 school year, according to the School Superintendents Association. The group does not track merit pay.
The median superintendent salary among 91 South Jersey school districts was $176,088 for the 2024-25 school year, an Inquirer analysis found.
In Philadelphia, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. recently received a contract extension that will keep him in the nation’s eighth-largest school district through 2030. He is paid $367,710. He does not get merit pay.
Philadelphia School District Superintendent Tony B. Watlington, Sr.
What’s happening with merit pay in Washington Township?
In Washington Township,Hibbs has the most lucrative merit package in South Jersey. He received $25,000 in bonus pay for the 2023-24 school year, according to district records obtained by The Inquirer under the state’s Open Public Records Act.
Hibbs has asked the board several times to approve $27,319 in merit pay for the 2024-25 school year, indicating he had met four of the five goals approved by the board. His contract allows an annual merit bonus of up to 14.99% of his salary, the maximum permitted by the state.
The request has been rejected by the board, failing to get five votes needed. The dispute is expected to lead to another legal showdown between Hibbs and the board.
During a heated exchange at a board meeting last month, Hibbs accused the board of retribution. He was suspended for five months earlier this year over an ethics complaint. A judge ordered his return and Hibbs was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
“My merit pay that was 100% approved and achieved has been consistently voted down by certain members,” Hibbs said at a recent school board meeting.
Hibbs was hired in 2023 with an annual base salary of $215,000, making him among the highest-paid superintendents in South Jersey. His contract runs through 2027.
Staff writer Kristen A. Graham contributed to this article.
Think you know your news? There’s only one way to find out. Welcome back to our weekly News Quiz — a quick way to see if your reading habits are sinking in and to put your local news knowledge to the test.
Question 1 of 10
This nearly 100-year-old pizzeria, considered Philadelphia’s oldest, closed on Sunday:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
The Marra family says they’re exploring a new location for Marra’s — one with better parking. The building, which the Marras bought in 1927, has been sold after being on the market for several years.
Question 2 of 10
There’s already a plan for what will replace Marra’s in its original Passyunk Ave. location. What kind of cuisine is it expected to be?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
EMei, arguably Philly’s most acclaimed Sichuan restaurant, is taking over the building occupied by Marra’s for the last 98 years. The East Passyunk EMei would roll out in phases, with takeout and delivery launching in February during renovations and full dine-in service targeted for summer 2026.
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This musician with Pennsylvania roots slammed the Trump administration this week for using their song without permission in a video promoting ICE.
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
On Tuesday, Sabrina Carpenter condemned the White House for posting a video featuring ICE arresting protesters and undocumented immigrants to one of her songs. The Bucks County native replied to the post, “this video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.”
Question 4 of 10
Quinta Brunson of Abbott Elementary has started a new fund in partnership with the Philadelphia School District to provide free ____ for students.
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Through the Quinta Brunson Field Trip Fund, district teachers and administrators will be able to apply for money for field trips by completing a short application subject to evaluation by an independent, internal group of educators. Field trip grants will be made twice a year. Brunson said she recalls her class selling hoagies to pay for field trips and that the trips played a seminal part in her Philly education.
Question 5 of 10
The Rittenhouse estate sale of the late lawyer Bill Roberts opened to the public this week. The house is said to be filled with 100,000 of this object:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Roberts, a longtime lawyer at Blank Rome LLP, was a bibliophile whose interests — and library — spanned genres and eras, touching on microeconomic theory, beekeeping, botany, classical music, poetry, and much else.
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Question 6 of 10
Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo's Moorestown house was pelted with what after the Eagles' Black Friday loss to the Bears?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
According to the Moorestown Police Department, Patullo’s home was vandalized with multiple eggs at about 2:50 a.m. Saturday, hours after the Eagles lost. Patullo, the first-year Eagles offensive coordinator, has shouldered the brunt of the blame for the Eagles’ struggles on offense. A website calling for his firing surfaced. Fans chanted for him to be fired during the game Friday. Police are still investigating.
Question 7 of 10
Philadelphia scientists won an Ig Nobel prize for studying this flavor of breast milk:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Julie Mennella was one of two scientists at Monell Chemical Senses Center to win a 2025 Ig Nobel Prize, the satirical counterpart to the Nobel Prize for her work illuminating how babies respond to garlic-flavored breast milk.
Question 8 of 10
What did N.J. Senator Cory Booker notably do over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
After a brief engagement, New Jersey U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and real estate executive Alexis Lewis celebrated their nuptials Saturday in Washington, after a courthouse wedding last Monday.
Question 9 of 10
Punk icon Patti Smith recently told The Inquirer that she was formed by her time in Philadelphia and rural South Jersey. Where did she grow up in Philly?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Smith calls Philadelphia a formative force in her life. “Culturally, it was the city that helped form me,” she said. “It was where I discovered rock and roll.” Smith grew up in Germantown with stops in Upper Darby and South Philly peppered in.
Question 10 of 10
Sixers’ Joel Embiid’s latest signature shoe has dropped. What brand is making the new sneaker?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
The SKX JE1 marks Skechers’ first foray into signature basketball shoes. For years, Embiid was signed to and developed signature kicks with Under Armour. Embiid entered a partnership with Skechers in 2024. “I’m excited to share it with the world,” Embiid said. The shoes will retail for $130.
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Seems like you’ve been skimming more than reading there, buddy. There’s always next week.
You’ve read some articles (or made some educated guesses) but we wouldn’t come to you first for our local news recaps. Better luck next week!
Do you work here? You’re a local news stan with the latest updates on Philly happenings. Your friends definitely ask you for summaries on what’s going on and it shows.
A second woman is accusingPhiladelphia doctor John Smyth Michel, the medical director and owner of Excel Medical Center, of sexual abuse. She said Michel touched her inappropriately when she worked for him several years ago, according to a recent court filing by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors charged Michel with felony rape and sexual assault earlier this yearafter a female patient said he raped her during an October 2024 office visit.
Michel, 55,of Jenkintown, told police and state medical licensing authorities that he had sex with the 39-year-old patient, but he claimed it was consensual, criminal and state licensing records show.
The new accusations involve a former female employee who worked for Michel as a medical assistant from 2015 to 2019 at his East Mount Airy office on Stenton Avenue and at another location in Germantown on Chelten Avenue.
She recently told law enforcement authorities that beginning in 2018 Michel touched her breasts over her clothing on multiple occasions while she was working in the office. He additionally groped her vagina over her clothing before she quit in 2019.
The accusations have not resulted in new charges at this time, but the investigation remains ongoing, according to Marisa Palmer, a spokesperson for the DA’s office.
Prosecutors are seeking to introduce the groping accusations as evidence to bolster its sexual assault case against Michel, given there were no witnesses to the alleged rape.
“The incidents reveal a common plan, scheme or design on the part of the defendant to engage in unlawful and similar nonconsensual sexual conduct with vulnerable women in his medical offices,” Assistant District Attorney Eamon Kenny wrote in a Nov. 24 court motion.
The judge presiding over the criminal case must decide whether to grant Kenny’s motion and put the 34-year-old former employee’s accusations before jurors at trial.
The Inquirer does not identify alleged victims of sexual assaultwithout their permission.
Michel did not return phone calls and emails from The Inquirer this week. His criminal defense lawyer, Andrew Gay Jr., declined to comment Wednesday.
Michel founded Excel Medical Center, whichgrew to more than a dozen medical clinics located throughout the city, with about 20,000 patients and 200 employees.
Last month, Excel’s general manager wrote a letter to patients informing them the practice “will be ceasing operations” as of Dec. 1. “We truly value the trust you have placed in us for your care,” the manager stated in the Nov. 11 letter obtained by The Inquirer.
A woman who answered the phone at Excel’s main location in West Mount Airy on Thursday said the practice was not taking any new patients in preparation of closing. She said the practice might resume operations and accept new patients after the new year. Michel’s lawyer declined to comment when asked about the practice’s status.
The criminal case, which is pending in Common Pleas Court, involves a then-38-year-old patient.
According to police and court records, she accused Michel of kissing her during a May 2024 exam at his East Mount Airy location.
She told him “no,” left the office, and did not report the kissing incident.
About five months later, she went to an appointment at Michel’s North Philadelphia office on West Diamond Street. During the Oct. 14, 2024, visit, she says Michel raped her with such force that her head banged twice against the exam room wall.
The exterior of Excel Medical Center at 2124 Diamond Street in Philadelphia.
In early November 2024, she told her husband what had happened and subsequently filed a police report. Michel was arrested and charged about three months later.
Michel’s trial was initially slated for Dec. 9, but during a hearing on Monday, a judge postponed it until Feb. 17 after the DA’s office asked for more time to investigate, court records show.
Michel’s suspension nears end
In June, the State Board of Osteopathic Medicine, which regulates and oversees licensure of osteopathic doctors like Michel, disciplined him for having sex with a patient — a violation of state regulations.
He apologized to the board in a letter, saying, “I fully acknowledge that I crossed a professional boundary” and is “profoundly contrite.”
The board suspended his medical license for six months, followed by 18 months of supervised probation, and fined him $4,000. Michel’s suspension is set to end on Dec. 11.
If convicted in the criminal case, Michel could permanently lose his medical license.
In an e-mailed statement on Thursday, the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees professional licensing boards, said its prosecution division “continues to closely monitor Dr. Michel’s criminal charges and review his compliance with the terms of the consent agreement.”
Abuse in office hallways
The accusations outlined in Kenny’s motion include new details of sexual misconduct. The former employee said Michel approached her from behind to “grab her breast over her shirt.”
She was stunned and “hated the feeling,” but she feared losing her job so she didn’t say anything to him.
Once, he simultaneously “cupped” her breast and vagina over her clothes with his hands. She turned around and screamed at him to stop touching her, according to the motion. He replied, “`You know you want it and you know you like it,’” she recounted.
She said she couldn’t quit because she needed the income and told her co-workers about the abuse. Those colleagues helped her “avoid him” while at work. She also told her husband, though she persuaded him not to confront Michel.
She resigned in 2019 after landing a new job. They had no contact until this year when he texted her.
When she asked why he wanted to talk to her after so much time had passed, Michel texted nevermind, the former medical assistant told prosecutors. She then wrote back, “explaining how she felt about his abuse all these years later, that the thoughts of it still traumatized her.”
Inquirer staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this article.
Right now, any Philadelphian 21 or older can go online or walk into a regional smoke shop and buy a THC-infused drink as potent as products in legal dispensaries.
But soon, that might all change.
The billion-dollar intoxicating beverage industry exploded in recent years, with THC-infused seltzers, lemonades, and teas that resemble popular products like Surfsides or White Claws. Sold in local gas stations, smoke shops, and liquor stores outside of Pennsylvania, these weed drinks deliver a cannabis high that is infused into bubbly, sweet canned beverages.
While marijuana is still federally illegal, the hemp industry had found a way to manufacture and sell hemp-derived THC drinks across the country through a legal loophole that is soon closing.
Last month, Congress banned all intoxicating hemp products, a slew of THC-infused smokeable, vape-able, and edible products that are derived from hemp plants but could be mistaken for actual marijuana. In many cases, the drinks are just as potent as conventional weed.
Starting in 2027, almost all of them will be illegal, spurring a nationwide movement within the industry to save the burgeoning market.
Arthur Massolo, the vice president of national THC beverage brand Cycling Frog, which sells its wares locally, saidthese restrictions will have devastating effects on the producers of thousands of hemp-derived products, like THC, but also CBD, the non-intoxicating cannabinoid popular for treating anxiety, sleep, and pain.
Will Angelos, whose Ardmore smoke shop and wellness store, Free Will Collective, relies on THC drinks for nearly 40% of its business, is hoping for some saving grace. “We’re either looking to pivot or we’re disappearing,” he said.
Adults share Cycling Frog canned THC drinks in this marketing photo provided by Cycling Frog.
What are THC-infused drinks?
Seltzers, sodas, teas, mocktails, and lemonades all infused with THC — and sometimes non-intoxicating CBD — exploded onto the scene a few years ago and grew into a billion-dollar business, said hemp market analyst Beau Whitney.
“These drinks have transformed the hemp industry into this low-dose intoxicating health and wellness, alcohol-adjacent product,” said Massolo, who is also the president of U.S. Hemp Roundtable, a hemp business advocacy organization.
The THC-infused drinks sold in gas stations, smoke shops, and liquor stores are supposedly formulated using legally grown hemp, which is allowed to be grown under the 2018 Farm Bill that opened the door to hemp farming in the U.S.
Lawmakers carved out an exemption from federal drug laws for cannabis plants containing 0.3% or less of THC. These low-THC plants are considered “hemp” and are legal to grow. Cannabis plants over that THC threshold are considered marijuana and can carry felony charges if the plant is not being grown by state-licensed growers in places where adult use or medicinal marijuana is legal, like New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
While intoxicating hemp products have enjoyed consistent growth in the past years, these THC-infused drinks have increasingly appeared in aisles of liquor stores and supermarkets in some states, allowing adults who normally don’t visit dispensaries to pick up a bottle of infused wine in the same place they grab groceries, said New Jersey cannabis lawyer Steve Schain.
Hemp products photographed at the Philadelphia Inquirer, November 21, 2025.
The ease of access to THC drinks allowed the national market to grow to $1.3 billion in annual sales, and if access continues, Whitney said, that figure could reach $15 billion in the coming years.
This is all thanks to what Whitney calls the “FPS,” or “Female Power Shopper.” These women, ages 29 to 45, are the ones who are likely shopping for a household in grocery and liquor stores, and may jump at the chance to try cannabis products without diving headfirst into dispensaries, Whitney said.
Mary Ellen, 55, of Bucks County, who asked to not to be identified by her last name over concerns for her cannabis use and employment, said these THC drinks are the perfect way to unwind after a long day, especially for adults like her who choose not to drink alcohol. As a medical marijuana patient, she uses regulated cannabis for a variety of ailments, but also enjoys THC drinks like Nowadays’ infused mocktails that she buys at Angelos’ Ardmore store.
“I’d rather come home and have a glass of Nowadays. That’s a lot better than having a glass of vodka or a benzodiazepine,” she said. “I’m not going to forget what I did the night before, and I’m not going to wake up feeling crappy the next morning.”
City smoke shop exterior in the 1000 block of Chestnut Street Monday, July 21, 2025.
What are the concerns over THC drinks?
As the money started to roll in for THC drinks, fear among local communities and law enforcement began to grow. In the Philadelphia suburbs, the Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery County district attorneys’ offices finished a 10-month investigation into intoxicating hemp products and the local stores that sell them.
The 107-page grand jury report speaks of a public health crisis unfolding in “plain sight” across Pennsylvania, where retailers have little to no oversight, in some cases selling actual marijuana.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said the industry created a “Wild West situation” and urged state lawmakers to regulate the industry similarly to alcohol and tobacco, including age requirements, licensing, and mandatory lab testing.
Stakeholders in the industry support regulation of some kind. While hemp-derived THC companies fear the economic collapse of their industry, Massolo and Angelos say there is concern that these products will leave overt brick-and-mortar operations known by local officials for more covert, illicit operations, similar to how these products were purchased before the 2018 Farm Bill.
“We’ve basically traveled back to 10 seconds before the Farm Bill of 2018 was signed,” Schain said.
Mary Ellen says the lack of regulation is a major sticking point for consumers who flock to these products, but would like some reassurance on the drinks they are ingesting.
But, even if the ban goes into effect, she said, “people will just figure out another way for us to get it. It’ll be like a prohibition that we’ve seen in this country with alcohol and marijuana.”
THC and CBD-infused beverages on the shelves of Free Will Collective, an Ardmore smoke shop and wellness store owned by Will Angelos. As Congress moves to ban most intoxicating hemp products, business owners like Angelos aren’t sure they will be able to keep the doors open long past 2027 if current regulations go into effect.
Will THC-infused drinks be banned or saved by 2027?
Now, as the industry’s yearlong grace period begins before the ban takes effect, companies are scrambling.
The intoxicating hemp manufacturers and retailers who spoke to The Inquirer said the game plan is to offload all of the intoxicating hemp products in stock, including THC-infused drinks, flower, vapes, and even CBD products.
Some companies will see almost their entire product catalog become illegal, in some cases dwindling from 45 products on offer down to two, Whitney said of the firms he works with. The far-reaching impact will also hurt industrial hemp products, cannabis tourism, alcohol distributors, and even the legal cannabis industry, as some of their products, including CBD, will now have to contend with these new regulations, Schain and Whitney said.
At the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, Massolo is having daily board meetings, including on weekends, to coordinate a response to federal lawmakers. It’s now a race against the clock to remedy or claw back some of the new regulations before damage is done to the industry’s distribution pipelines, Massolo said. The group hopes to rally other industries, like traditional beverages, wellness products, and supplements, to bolster its case.
Among the U.S. Hemp Roundtable’s recommendations to lawmakers are an extension of the hemp ban grace period to two years, raising the limit on hemp-derived THC products, and allowing states to regulate these products as they see fit, to name a few.
Stakeholders say they want regulations to help legitimize this billion-dollar endeavor and save it from annihilation, but smaller operators like Angelos hope it’s not at the expense of small independent businesses.
While precautions like rigorous age verification systems and lab testing are necessary, Angelos said, if regulators “overtax, or over gate-keep,” many of the smaller retailers — who he said enjoy the benefit of knowing their local government officials and community — won’t be able to compete in the market.
“There obviously has to be standards, but I’m scared of an overcorrection,” Angelos said of the hemp ban. “It’s not just a singular choice. If you want your kids to be safe, have a mechanism where you can keep your eyes on the product.”
Two of its tentpole baseball franchises — the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants — packed up before the 1958 season and moved to the West Coast. Leaving behind only the Yankees and the rival American League to carry the New York City banner.
Just down the (not-yet-under-construction) I-95 corridor, the Carpenter family wondered if their own N.L. franchise, the Philadelphia Phillies, could help fill the void.
Broadcasting Phils’ games to the New York market could help soften the blow of losing two beloved franchises. It could also be lucrative.
And it would help a Philly team build a fanbase in — of all places — the Big Apple.
A league of their own
Now they’re just organizing devices, but back in the 1950s, there was a difference between the two leagues under the Major League Baseball umbrella.
The N.L. was faster to integrate Black players, featured more competitive teams, and thus more competitive pennant races. The A.L., on the other hand, was mostly dominated by one glory-hogging franchise.
So Phillies owner Bob Carpenter, hoping to help fill the vacuum, made a deal with TV station WOR, which had previously aired Dodgers games.
New York would carry 78 Phillies games during the 1958 season: 58 from Connie Mack Stadium, and 20 from the road (including night games).
And they weren’t alone.
Willie Mays scores on an inside-the-park home run vs. the Phillies in the 1950s.
‘The market is shot’
The St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates made deals to broadcast two dozen of their games against the Giants and Dodgers to a New York audience.
Yankees brass reacted with trademark tact: They started making threats.
If Phillies (or Pirates or Cardinals) games returned to New York television sets the next season, then the Yankees would look to televise their games — featuring World Series-winning superstars like Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra — on a national network. They’d even partner with the National League’s Milwaukee Braves to complete the package. Together stealing away scores of diehards and converting scores of casuals, from sea to shining sea.
New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra tags the sliding Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Granny Hamner for an out at home plate and second half of double play in 4th inning in the fourth and final World Series game at Yankee Stadium in New York City in 1950.
So on Dec. 5, 1958, the three teams announced that they were dropping their New York broadcast plans for the 1959 season.
None of the team representatives admitted to backing down.
But the joke was really on us: Those left-behind Dodger and Giants fans in New York didn’t get much joy from Philadelphia’s signature brand of baseball.
The Phillies went 69-85, and finished in last place.
And to make it worse: the Mets would arrive four years later.
DALLAS — From the election of Zohran Mamdani to the intrigue surrounding the jewel heist at the Louvre, keeping up with this year’s news also left some Americans struggling with pronunciations. That’s put both the name of New York City’s incoming mayor and the famed Paris museum on a list of the most mispronounced words in 2025.
The language-learning company Babbel and closed-captioning company The Captioning Group on Thursday released a list of the words that news anchors, politicians, and other public figures in the U.S. struggled with the most this year, giving an overview of the people and topics that had Americans talking.
As Mamdani made his political rise, the democratic socialist’s name often was mangled. When he takes office in January, the 34-year-old will become the city’s first Muslim mayor, first born in Africa, and first of South Asian heritage. Babbel said his name — which should be pronounced zoh-RAHN mam-DAH-nee — was most commonly mispronounced when people swapped the “M” and “N” in his last name.
Mamdani has said he doesn’t mind if someone tries to pronounce his name correctly and misses but that some mispronounce it intentionally. During one mayoral race debate, he chided former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s pronunciation of his name, telling his opponent: “The name is Mamdani. M-A-M-D-A-N-I.”
The theft of France’s crown jewels from the Louvre in October had many people mispronouncing the name of the world’s most-visited museum. Babbel says the correct pronunciation is LOOV-ruh, with a very soft pronunciation on the “ruh,” which can be a challenge for English speakers.
“A lot of these words come from different languages and so we have to adapt to a sound that we’ve never made before,” said Esteban Touma, a linguistic and cultural expert at Babbel.
Other words and names on the list include:
Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in the Tylenol, is pronounced uh-SEE-tuh-MIH-nuh-fen. President Donald Trump gave comedians plenty of material when he stumbled over the word as he implored pregnant women to avoid taking the painkiller despite inconclusive evidence about whether too much could be linked to autism.
Alex Murdaugh, the prominent South Carolina attorney who was sentenced to life in prison for the 2021 fatal shootings of his wife and son, is pronounced AL-ick MUR-dock. This year the case was dramatized in a series on Hulu.
Mounjaro, pronounced mown-JAHR-OH, is part of a wave of diabetes and obesity medications that soared in popularity because of the weight people have lost while taking the injections.
Several words on the U.S. list, including Louvre and Mounjaro, also made the list for the U.K., which was compiled by Babbel and the British Institute of Verbatim Reporters, an organization for subtitling professionals. Storm Éowyn, which battered Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland in January, put that name on the U.K. list. Babbel says the correct pronunciation is ay-OH-win, said with a three-beat pattern.
Throughout the year, captioners note words that come up over and over as difficult to pronounce, spell or are newly emerging. Linguists at Babbel also track new pronunciation challenges they see.
In a pronunciation surprise of the year, actor Denzel Washington told late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel that he was named after his father and their first names are actually pronounced DEN-zul. But, he said, that became confusing so his mother decided to pronounce her son’s name Den-ZELLE.
DETROIT — RoboCop has finally found a permanent home in Detroit.
A statue looming 11 feet tall and weighing 3,500 pounds has been drawing fans since it began standing guard over the Motor City on Wednesday afternoon, after about 15 years in the making. Even in a snowstorm in the dark, people were driving by to see it, said Jim Toscano, co-owner of the FREE AGE film production company where the bronze-cast statue now stands bolted near the sidewalk.
RoboCop hit theaters in 1987, portraying a near-future Detroit as crime-ridden and poorly protected by a beleaguered and outgunned police force, until actor Peter Weller appeared as a nearly invincible cyborg, created by a nefarious corporation bent on privatizing policing.
There was a time when Detroit pushed back on anything pointing to its past reputation as an unsafe city, and the movie, which developed a cult following, spawning two sequels and a reboot, didn’t help its image.
But things have changed. Violent crime has been trending down for years. Homicide numbers have dropped below mid-1960s levels. And city officials offered no objections to the statue’s installation, Toscano said.
“I think there will be a lot more acceptance,” Toscano said. “Detroit has come a long way. You put in a little nostalgia and that helps.”
The statue campaign appears to have started around 2010 when Detroit Mayor Dave Bing was tagged in a tweet that noted Philadelphia’s statue of boxer Rocky Balboa and said RoboCop would be a “GREAT ambassador for Detroit.”
Bing tweeted back, saying there were no such plans. But some Detroiters ran with the idea, crowdfunding it through a 2012 Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $67,000 from more than 2,700 backers worldwide, and Detroit sculptor Giorgio Gikas finished the statue in 2017.
Then, it got stuck, stored away from public view.
The Michigan Science Center in Detroit ultimately nixed plans to host the sculpture in 2021, citing pressures from the coronavirus pandemic and the need to focus museum resources. Officials in Stevens Point, Wis., raised their hands, hoping to honor Weller, a native son of that city, by erecting it outside the police station or in a park.
The search for a suitable home for RoboCop remained in limbo until about three years ago when Toscano’s company bought a building in Eastern Market, an open-air produce market, shopping and entertainment district just northeast of downtown. Toscano says he thought they were “kidding” when he was contacted by the creator of the statue idea and Eastern Market officials. But he and his business partner gladly came on board: “It’s too unusual, too unique, too cool not to do,” Toscano said.
Toscano, 48, says he’s only viewed the first RoboCop movie.
“It wasn’t a big film in our house,” he admitted. But if there is one iconic line uttered by RoboCop that fits this moment, Toscano said it would be “Thank you for your cooperation.”
On Thursday, James Campbell approached the statue and told three picture-takers: “I own this. Do you guys know that?”
Campbell said he donated $100 to the original Kickstarter campaign over a decade ago, which makes him a “.038% owner of this statue.”
“I’m here to see this big, beautiful, bronze piece of art,” he said. “What a piece of cinematic history to represent the city of Detroit.”
Asked why RoboCop is an appropriate symbol for the city, Campbell said: “He’s a cyborg crime fighter! In the movie, in the futuristic Detroit, he’s there to save the city. He’s a symbol of hope.”
The mayor of Lumberton Township, who was charged earlier this year with driving under the influence, has been indicted on charges of failing to protect her then-2-year-old son who was in the car at the time of the incident, Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw said Thursday.
Gina LaPlaca, 46, was charged by a grand jury with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child and fourth-degree child abuse, Bradshaw said. LaPlaca is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.
After her March arrest, LaPlaca was censured by the township’s committee for alleged ethical violations, one of the committee members said, including allegedly driving under the influence, asking for Lumberton’s police chief while she was being arrested, and endangering her child.
Philadelphia’s principals are getting raises and, for the first time, paid parental leave.
Members of CASA — the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators, Teamsters Local 502 — overwhelmingly approved the new four-year deal on Wednesday night, and the school board sealed the deal at its meeting Thursday night.
Nearly 1,000 district principals, assistant principals, climate managers, and other administrators will get 3% raises every year, plus a $1,500 bonus this year and a $1,500 bonus in 2029.
They’ll also get five weeks’ paid parental leave, a new benefit also achieved by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers earlier this year, and more: a take-home vehicle stipend and incentives for principals who work at hard-to-staff schools.
“We didn’t get everything we wanted, but we are leaving feeling heard, and we are leaving with a what we believe to be a fair contract, and it was never our goal to try to break the bank or not be fiscally responsible,” Cooper said.
Cooper had concerns going into the contract about little differentiation in the salary scale between new administrators and veteran ones. Adjustments to the salary schedule will help, she said.
Principals at the top of the pay scale now make $167,608 annually; at the end of the contract, they will be paid $187,720. The union’s lowest-paid workers, school safety supervisors, now start at $40,256 annually. In 2029, a brand-new school safety supervisor will make $45,087 per year.
School board members and district administrators were full of praise for Cooper and CASA.
“You and your team are always strong advocates for all of your members and deeply committed to improving the lives of students, families, and employees,” chief financial officer Mike Herbstman said. “We appreciate all that you and all of the CASA administrators do.”
In November, U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R., Mich.) said that the House Education and Workforce Committee — which he chairs — would probe “disturbing reports of Jewish students being harassed and subjected to open antisemitism in their classrooms and hallways” in three school systems: Berkeley Unified in California, Fairfax County in Virginia, and Philadelphia.
Ridgeway, who testified Thursday night, is suing the school district over alleged civil rights violations. She was suspended and ultimately disciplined after allegations of antisemitism and violations of the district’s social media policy surfaced, but is now back teaching at a district school.
“All I’ve ever wanted was to protect students in the ways that I wasn’t protected from the racism and discrimination that permeates the SDP schools,” she told the board. “While recently the district has addressed antisemitism, it has not addressed racism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian discrimination with the same rigor.”
Ridgeway said the district “is at a crossroads right now, with a national spotlight looming.” She wondered whether it will “capitulate to McCarthyism tactics” or “channel the spirit of Harriet [Tubman] and Martin [Luther King Jr.] … our Black children deserve better. Our Muslim children deserve better. Our Palestinian children deserve better. Will you give it to them or will you disappoint them?”
Alex Volin Avelin, a district educator and member of Jewish Voice for Peace Philadelphia, called the congressional investigation “political theater. It’s government overreach. It is not about protecting students. It’s about intimidating and silencing teachers.”
Volin Avelin and Thomas Quinn, another district teacher, urged the district to learn from history. In the 1950s, the House Un-American Activities Committee singled out Philadelphia teachers for alleged communist ties. Twenty-six were ultimately fired.
“Looking back, we can all see the injustice and cowardice in the district’s choice to capitulate,” Volin Avelin said. “I urge the board today to learn from this shameful history and stand up for educators teaching critical content.”
Streater and Andrews stay on in leadership positions
The board, in its final action meeting of the year, also formally reorganized, setting meeting dates for 2026 and naming leaders.
Reginald Streater and Sarah-Ashley Andrews held on to their president and vice-president positions. Every board member supported Andrews’ candidacy; Streater won 8-0, with board member Crystal Cubbage abstaining. She gave no reason for the abstention.
Streater complimented his fellow board members for their work in the past year.
“We have demonstrated that steady leadership, not reactionary swings, produces real results,” Streater said.
The board has an enormous job in front of it in the next year: the facilities master planning process, which will bring school closures that will surely be unpopular.
“The responsibility is not lost on me,” Streater said, “and I gratefully accept.”
The holiday season at City Hall was kicked off Thursday night with a lighting ceremony for what is officially called the “Philly Holiday Tree,” followed by live musical performances by Grammy-winning artists Ashanti and Lalah Hathaway.
The 50-foot-tall, 75-year-old Concolor Fir, sourced from Stutzman Farms in New York, will be displayed on the north side of City Hall through Jan. 1. The tree is bigger and brighter this year, with a reimagined base that serves as a centerpiece and more than 6,000 lights.
Mayor Cherelle Parker smiles alongside Santa during the annual City of Philadelphia Holiday Tree Lighting ceremony at City Hall on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.Attendees wait in line for drinks during the annual City of Philadelphia Holiday Tree Lighting ceremony at City Hall on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.Attendees with Grinch hats gather for the annual City of Philadelphia Holiday Tree Lighting ceremony at City Hall on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.Ashanti performs at the annual City of Philadelphia Holiday Tree Lighting ceremony at City Hall on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.Ashanti performs a medley during the BET Awards on Monday, June 9, 2025, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker struck a replica Liberty Bell with a large hammer at 7:05 p.m. to signal the lighting of the tree.
Cassie Donegan, the current Miss America, sang “White Christmas” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” The show was broadcast live on 6abc.
The annual city-run event is part of a wider event schedule to ring in the holiday season in Philadelphia, organized by Welcome America LLC, which also organizes the Wawa Welcome America festival on July 4.
