Frost advisories are up for Friday morning for areas just outside Philadelphia on both sides of the Delaware River as the region is about to experience its chilliest spell in more than six months.
While the urban hotplate areas of Philly and Delaware County were not included in the National Weather Service advisory zones, cooler areas of the city and Delco could see some patchy white.
“It is certainly possible,” said Zachary Cooper, a meteorologist at the agency’s Mount Holly office.
Conditions conducive to frost — relatively clear skies, temperatures in the 30s, and light winds — may whiten the pumpkins in the region through the weekend.
As per standard procedure, the weather service will be issuing frost advisories until the end of the growing season, defined as the first time temperatures reach 32 degrees or lower in a given area.
It won’t be freezing, just frosty
Philly’s first freezing reading typically doesn’t occur until mid-November, but frost can form with temperatures above 32.
The air temperatures are measured about six feet off the ground, but they can be several degrees lower on the ground and on cooler surfaces.
When winds are calm, they keep the air from mixing, and that allows thin layers of colder air to develop at ground level.
The winds won’t be completely calm Friday morning, but “they should be light enough for favorable” frost conditions, the weather service said.
The dry spell in the Philly region continues
Temperatures should be several degrees below normal into next week, with highs mostly in the 50s and lows 35 to 40 degrees, the weather service says.
Notably absent from the extended outlook is precipitation. Officially, at Philadelphia International Airport, only 0.81 inches of rain have fallen this month. That’s less than a third of normal.
One University of Pennsylvania faculty member was called into a university office to answer for assigning “a pedagogically-relevant reading about conflict in Palestine,” others for political posts on personal social media accounts.
One faced questions for wearing a stole with the Palestinian flag at an off-campus event.
These are among “unfounded accusations of antisemitism” that Penn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors said faculty and students have endured in the last year. Chapter representatives accompanied faculty to meetings at Penn’s Office of Religious and Ethnic Interests, which called the faculty in for questioning, according to a statement the group released Wednesday.
The religious and ethnic interests office oversees the implementation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, or shared ancestry. It was formed following accusations of antisemitism on campus in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, when Penn was roiled by dueling complaints of unfairly treating Jewish and pro-Palestinian members of its community.
Then-Penn president Liz Magill resigned in December 2023 following a bipartisan backlash over her congressional committee testimony regarding antisemitism complaints, and the following spring, pro-Palestinian protesters erected an encampment on the College Green that ultimately was dismantled by police.
Since January, President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted universities that it asserts have failed to respond adequately to antisemitism complaints, and the group of Penn professors said they are worried that the university is following the president’s lead.
“We are concerned that Penn’s own Title VI office may be responding to these external pressures in a manner that risks chilling faculty speech and potentially discriminating against faculty in violation of the law,” the group asserted in a statement published on its website Wednesday. “… Faculty members, who in some cases had already been subject to targeted harassment, felt that they were expected to take unsubstantiated accusations of antisemitism at face value and to express contrition or offer some concession to their unidentified accuser, or face the possibility of disciplinary action.”
Penn did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did the religious and ethnic interests office.
Penn announced the creation of the office in September 2024, noting it was the first of its kind nationally and saying it would ensure a consistent response across all of its schools.
“Over the past year, our campus and our country witnessed a disquieting surge in antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of religious and ethnic intolerance,” J. Larry Jameson, who was then interim president and was named president six months later, said at the time. “The Office of Religious and Ethnic Inclusion (Title VI) is being formed to confront this deeply troubling trend, and to serve as a stand-alone center for education and complaint resolution.”
The office formally opened in December with the foundational goals of educating, investigating, mediating, and evaluating. Its codirectors are Steve Ginsburg, who had served over a decade as an executive of the Anti-Defamation League, and Majid Alsayegh, founder of Alta Management Services LLC, which helped clients with criminal justice reform. The office’s chief investigator is Deborah Frey, who previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, working on discrimination complaints.
“Because of our own lived experiences as targets of bigotry, we know this work is not going to be easy,” Ginsburg had told Penn Today. “These issues are complex and require deep thought and sensitivity for those who are impacted.”
Faculty and students were not named in Wednesday’s statement and declined to comment through an AAUP executive committee member out of fear of retribution or harassment. The AAUP did not disclose the number of faculty and students involved.
But the reports “come almost exclusively from faculty who are Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and/or Black,” the group said, giving rise to concerns about potential discrimination.
The faculty and students referred to in the letter were not sanctioned or punished for their activities, but the mere act of being called in and questioned has “a chilling effect” on research, teaching, and speech, said the AAUP executive committee member, who asked not to be identified because the chapter wanted to speak with one voice.
“For instance, in one meeting, a faculty member whose peer-reviewed research was subject to a complaint was pressured to make a modification to the presentation of that research, although their work had the support of their colleagues and dean,” the AAUP chapter said.
In that case, the faculty member had been called in because the research “referenced a third-party resource that a complainant claimed, without evidence, promoted hatred of Israel and of Jews in the United States,” the letter stated.
The chapter called on the office to “clarify and modify its procedures to ensure the transparency, consistency, and fairness essential to carrying out the office’s mission.”
And it asked the office to respond to a series of questions, including about the criteria it uses to decide whether to pursue a complaint.
More than 300,000 Pennsylvanians who struggle to pay their heating bills will need to wait longer for assistance from the state government due to funding stoppages caused by the federal government shutdown.
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services said in a news release Wednesday that Pennsylvania will delay the opening of this year’s Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) untilat least Dec. 3 because of a pause in federal funding due to the shutdown.The program was originally scheduled to open on Nov. 3.
The opening date for the program will be reassessed once the shutdown ends and is contingent on the state receiving the delayed federal funds, Brandon Cwalina, DHS press secretary, said in a statement Thursday.
LIHEAP distributes benefits to utility companies or home heating fuel providers for Pennsylvanians who need assistance paying their heating bills. The state has received more than $200 million each of the last two years from the federal government to carry out the program.
Pennsylvania Human Services Secretary Val Arkoosh said in the news release that the program “is especially critical for older adults and low-income families” as colder months approach.
Once DHS receives federal funding after the shutdown ends, the department will begin accepting LIHEAP applications and will continue processing applications that had been received during the shutdown.
This announcement comes the same week that DHS said nearly 2 million Pennsylvanians will not receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) next month if the shutdown continues. The food assistance program provides $366 million a month to low-income people in Pennsylvania,including roughly 500,000 in Philadelphia.
Joline Price, an attorney in the energy unit at Community Legal Services who works with clients to advocate for their access to water, heat, and electricity, said many of the same households could be affected by a lack of SNAP benefits and assistance in paying their heating bills, creating a “huge and devastating impact.” The program assisted 56,000 Philadelphia households last season, she noted.
“Even if some of these benefits become available later in November, they’re gonna be making really serious choices between food and utilities,” Price said. “It’s gonna be — I don’t even know that I have the words — it’s going to be bad.”
Other resources are available in the meantime — for instance, some electric and gas companies offer assistance programs — but there are gaps that remain with LIHEAP help beginning later than expected. For instance, Pennsylvania has an annual winter utility shut-off moratorium for qualified residents from Dec. 1 through March 31, though it does not eliminate any outstanding home heating bills, DHS said.
Prior to Dec. 1, low-income Pennsylvanians who are already “drowning” in utility costs could see their electric or gas shut off, Price said.
“Until then, folks are vulnerable to having their electric or their gas shut off, which would then bring them into the winter without safe heating sources,” Price said.
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and members of his administration are arguing that impacts to crucial services are on the shoulders of Republicans in Washington, who hold both chambers of Congress and the White House. Meanwhile, Republicansare blaming the shutdown on Democrats because the majority party cannot pass funding legislation in the Senate without at least seven Democrats crossing the aisle.
Arkoosh echoed Shapiro’s messaging Wednesday, saying of LIHEAP: “Inaction from the Republican-controlled Congress now threatens access to this assistance.”
“I urge Congress and the White House to recognize the serious consequences that limiting heating assistance will have on the health and safety of people in Pennsylvania. Congress must come together for a solution that protects people most at risk,” she said.
A portion of the popular Schuylkill River Trail in Center City has been closed and fenced off indefinitely after a “chasm”-sized sinkhole formed under the asphalt.
The trail is closed between Race Street and JFK Boulevard, just north of the SEPTA Bridge, according to the Schuylkill River Development Corp. (SRDC), a nonprofit that has helped revitalize the section of the trail known as Schuylkill Banks.
The SRDC said that it is working with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, the Philadelphia Water Department, and engineers “to figure out what caused the large cavity to form and what is needed to make the necessary repairs.”
It has posted a map of a detour that can be used until repairs are made.
A map of a detour for the Schuylkill River Trail closure between Race Street and JFK Boulevard, which closed for emergency repairs after a sinkhole appeared Oct. 23, 2025
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Joseph Syrnick, president and CEO of the SRDC, said the hole first came to the attention of his staff when a trail user reported it last week. At first, it appeared to be only a small hole, Syrnick said.
“By the time we got to it, it was about the size of a cantaloupe,” he said. “And then within a short time, it opened up the size of a small pumpkin. We immediately barricaded it off and made it safe.”
Syrnick said the hole was covered with plywood and cones were placed around it to block access by trail users. Crews began to explore the hole more thoroughly.
“We stuck our heads down there through the hole the size of the pumpkin, and saw a huge void. It’s like 8 by 10 [feet]. You could park a car down there — almost. So this has obviously been going on for a long time and luckily we caught it before it collapsed.”
Syrnick called it a “chasm” under the asphalt.
On Friday, SRDC hired an engineer, and then brought in the water department. The decision was made to block off the trail completely.
Although part of the trail remained covered, it took until Monday to put fencing and signs in place, completely sealing off any access.
“Theoretically, it could have collapsed,” Syrnick said.
Syrnick did not have a time frame for when the trail would reopen. He said his team needs to find the cause first. A repair could mean minor or major construction.
A sign warning people that part of the Schuylkill trail is closed for repairs between JFK Boulevard and Race Street after a sinkhole was discovered.
“I think we’re lucky finding this in the middle of fall, heading in the winter,” Syrnick said, “which is way better than finding it in the middle of spring, heading in the summer.”
Brian Rademaekers, a spokesperson for the water department, said it is working with SRDC to investigate the cave-in along the trail at Arch Street.
Rademaekers said crews will use dye to trace the source in an effort to determine a possible cause. He said that the nontoxic dye may cause discolored water in the Schuylkill, but that it is not a threat to people or wildlife.
“Once the results from this testing are evaluated,” Rademaekers said, “the PWD will work with SRDC to determine next steps needed to reopen the trail. Trail users should follow signage and advisories issued by the SRDC.
Rademaekers said the water department would not likely have an update on the situation until at least Friday.
Keon King was charged with murder and related crimes Wednesday in the death of Kada Scott, the 23-year-old Mount Airy woman police say he kidnapped, then killed, before burying her body in a shallow grave.
The district attorney’s office approved the charges shortly after police announced that the Medical Examiner’s Office had ruled her death a homicide. Officials said Thursday that Scott died by a gunshot wound to the head.
In addition to murder, King was charged with illegal gun possession, abuse of corpse, robbery, theft, tampering with evidence, and additional crimes.
The announcement came as investigators said they believe at least one other person helped King, 21, move Scott’s body and bury it behind a closed East Germantown school in the days after she was killed, and detectives are working to identify those involved.
New court records, made public Wednesday, offered the most detailed look yet inside the investigation into Scott’s disappearance and death, including her texts with King in the days before she went missing, the police search for her body, and how others may have helped King try to conceal her killing.
A review of Scott’s cell phone records showed that on Oct. 2, a number believed to belong to King texted Scott: “Yo Kada this my new number.”
“Who dis,” Scott asked, and he responded “Kel,” according to the affidavit of probable cause for King’s arrest.
Kada Scott, 23, went missing Oct. 4.
Law enforcement sources said King appeared to use various aliases when communicating with people, including “Elliot” and “Kel.”
On the morning of Oct. 4, the document says, Scott texted King saying, “kidnap me again.”
King replied, “better be up too,” according to the filing.
What Scott meant in that text continues to perplex investigators, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. It’s not clear, the sources said, whether Scott was joking or being sarcastic, or if King had, in fact, abducted her before.
In any case, the affidavit says, the pair made plans to meet up later that night. Scott worked the overnight shift at the Terrace Hill nursing home in Chestnut Hill, and at 10:09 p.m., the records say, she texted King to call her when he arrived outside.
According to the affidavit, Scott received 12 calls from the number believed to belong to King between 9:25 p.m. and 10:12 p.m., ending with a 43-second call.
Around that time, a coworker later told police, she overheard Scott on the phone say, “I can’t believe you’re calling me about this,” before walking toward a dark-colored car.
At 10:24 p.m., Scott’s phone line went dead, the document shows.
The rear of Ada H.H. Lewis Middle School, where Kada Scott’s body was found buried in the wooded area.
By 10:28 p.m., the affidavit says, surveillance cameras showed King, driving a black Hyundai Accent, pull into the parking lot of the Awbury Recreation Center. King got out of the car and left the area, the filing says.
The next day, around 11:39 p.m., two people in a gold Toyota Camry believed to belong to King went back to the recreation center, the records show. They walked toward the playground area, then returned to the car around 3:56 a.m.
The two people then opened up the Hyundai Accent and appeared to “remove a heavy object, consistent with a human body,” from the passenger side of the car. They carried the object toward the playground and returned to the vehicle a half-hour later, the records said.
On Oct. 7 at 2:48 a.m., police believe King returned to the recreation center to retrieve the Hyundai. They said the car — which had been reported stolen a few days earlier from the 6600 block of Sprague Street — was set on fire near 74th Street and Ogontz Avenue a short time later.
Community members attend a candlelight vigil by flowers and balloons left at a memorial for Kada Scott near the abandoned Ada H. H. Lewis Middle School on Monday.
King turned himself in to police last week to be charged with kidnapping Scott. He was held on $2.5 million bail.
Earlier this week, prosecutors also charged King with arson and related crimes for the burning of the car. Now that he is charged with murder, he is expected to be held without bail.
King’s lawyer, Shaka Johnson, could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
On Wednesday evening, city leaders headed to a church in the Northwest Philadelphia community where Scott’s body was recovered, addressing a crowd of about 200 residents concerned about public safety.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel, among other officials, offered condolences to Scott’s family and commended police for recovering her body. Residents, too, appeared relieved, breaking into applause when Bethel said murder charges had been filed against King.
Bethel, a father of three daughters, said that as the search for Scott wore on, he felt at times as if he were searching for his own child. And Councilmember Cindy Bass told the crowd that Scott “could have been your niece, she could have been your friend.”
The commissioner said the investigation was continuing as police search for those who might have assisted King. And addressing concerns over safety at the city’s abandoned buildings — including Ada H.H. Lewis Middle School — officials said the city was in the process of reviewing vacant properties.
The Flyers, Sixers, and Xfinity Mobile Arena on Thursday announced a new partnership with Bank of America, which will serve as the arena and teams’ banking partner this season. In addition to naming rights for the Club Level, the deal includes community efforts aimed at benefiting small businesses and youth sports.
“It just is historic on many levels, in that we’re three iconic brands coming together,” said Comcast Spectator chairman and CEO Dan Hilferty. “We’re focused on being key players in Xfinity Mobile Arena, and Bank of America will partner with us on doing some really, really fun things in the community.” Comcast Spectacor owns both the arena and the Flyers.
The deal, for which financial details were not disclosed, is “the most significant partnership” Bank of America has undertaken in its 20-plus years in the Philadelphia market, said Bank of America Greater Philadelphia president Jim Dever. Among its focuses is serving as a presenting partner in the Sixers’ small-business initiatives, such as the Spirit of Small Business Program and the Enrich Program, which benefit independent local businesses with aid and promotion.
“This is an area that’s a prime focus to us, to be able to drive further economic mobility through small business and amplify their mission, and draw more patronage their way,” Dever said.
The company will also head a youth-hockey-focused initiative in which it plans to donate up to $250,000 worth of hockey equipment to Philadelphia-area schools. Additional programs aimed at youth development and small business support will also be established, the organizations said in a statement, but details remain forthcoming.
Tad Brown, CEO of the Sixers and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, said the partnership would allow the organizations to come together to “amplify all of our resources to benefit our fans and the region.”
Despite its new banking partner, however, Xfinity Mobile Arena will likely remain cashless, and Dever said the organizations were not envisioning ATMs on the premises. Though, the partnership may create a small change for Hilferty.
“I’m going to have to go elsewhere to get my cash,” he joked. “But that’s OK.”
Pinwheel Provisions opened in a new, larger space next to the Bryn Mawr Film Institute this week.
We may only be a month into fall, but the area’s culinary scene has been booming this season. Two new eateries opened in the last few weeks, with a third debuting today, and more on the horizon.
Heads up for drivers: Work on the North Narberth Avenue bridge between Elmwood and Haverford Avenues is set to begin next week, starting with vegetation clearing on Monday and Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Work will then transition to night hours, taking place from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. next Wednesday and Thursday.
Reminder for registered voters: Tuesday is the last day to request a mail-in ballot for the Nov. 4 election. You can apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot here.
Friends and family gathered outside Adath Israel in Merion Station last week to celebrate the release of Israeli hostage Alon Ohel from Hamas captivity following a ceasefire agreement earlier this month. Among those was Ohel’s cousin, Lower Merion resident Benjamin Mittman. A number of local residents have held vigils and rallies to support the families of hostages like Ohel. (6abc)
Rev. Carolyn Cavaness, who previously led the Bethel A.M.E. Church of Ardmore for 10 years, where she served as its first female pastor, recently reflected on her first full year as head of the historic Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia, where she is also the first female pastor. The Inquirer’s Nate File spoke with her about what it’s like leading the oldest church property in the U.S. to be owned continuously by Black people.
A more than 9,000-square-foot Gladwyne mansion has hit the market with an asking price of $8.5 million. The six-bedroom, 11-bathroom home has a terrace, pool, sauna, and a media room. It sits on 12.75 acres and has the potential to be subdivided into three parcels. (Philadelphia Business Journal)
Lower Merion Township is hosting an open house on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. where residents can tour the police and fire stations, get a close-up look at emergency vehicles, and enjoy balloon animals, music, and food.
Bryn Mawr College this month released new guidelines for students protesting on campus, including the use of bullhorns and which campus spaces students can occupy. The school is also encouraging students to schedule demonstrations through its facilities platform, something that’s left both professors and students concerned. (The Bi-College News)
🏫 Schools Briefing
LMSD is hosting one of four community events regarding its new strategic plan next Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The event will be held in the Lower Merion High School cafeteria, where residents can hear ideas and offer input on the five-year plan running from 2026 to 2031.
Mark your calendars: The district’s book fairs continue today and tomorrow. There will be a trunk-or-treat event at Penn Valley Elementary on Saturday from 2:30 to 4 p.m., with another planned at Merion Elementary next Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Saturday is also Lower Merion High School’s homecoming dance and next week is LMHS spirit week. See all the district’s events here.
Carlino’s Market is expanding, now selling its products at 10 Wegmans stores in southeastern Pennsylvania. The popular Ardmore market expects to triple its sales and production as a result. Its signature sauces will roll out to other Wegmans locations in Delaware, New Jersey, and New York in the coming months. (Philadelphia Business Journal)
🎳 Things to Do
👻 Halloween Funky Brunch & Market: This family-friendly event includes craft vendors, live music, and trick-or-treating for kids. ⏰ Saturday, Oct. 25, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Ardmore Music Hall
🎶 Wicked Singalong: In anticipation of the release of Wicked: For Good, watch the first movie and sing along to the hits. Registration is required. ⏰ Saturday, Oct. 25, noon-3 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Penn Wynne Library
🧙♀️ The Witches of Narberth: Kids can scour the borough in search of witches and treats ahead of next week’s Halloween parade. The hunt runs from 1 to 4 p.m. ⏰ Saturday, Oct. 25, 1-4 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Narberth
🎃 Halloween Party: Now in its fifth year, the Sean King Fund for Inclusive Practices event includes games, face painting, music, and dancing. Costumes are welcome. ⏰ Saturday, Oct. 25, 2-4 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Linwood Park
🍎 Heirloom Apple Tasting & Baking Contest: Get a taste of apples you won’t find in the grocery store and buy ones to take home. There will also be a baking competition. ⏰ Saturday, Oct. 25, 2-4 p.m. 💵 $7.18-$12.51 📍 Harriton House
🎭 The Phantom of the Opera: The original film, starring Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin, turns 100 this year. To mark the occasion, Bryn Mawr Film Institute will host two screenings of the silent horror flick, accompanied by a live performance from students at the School of Rock Main Line. ⏰ Saturday, Oct. 25 and Sunday, Oct. 26, 11:30 a.m. 💵 $11.75-$16.25 📍 Bryn Mawr Film Institute
🍫 Halloween Crafting: Kids can make four spooky, but edible Halloween-themed crafts while dressed in costumes. ⏰ Sunday, Oct. 26, 4-5 p.m. 💵 $21.20 📍 The Candy Lab
The home spans nearly 4,000 square feet and has a pool and outdoor kitchen.
This four-bedroom Penn Valley home has a sleek interior, with living and family rooms, a dining room, and an eat-in kitchen with an island on the first floor. Upstairs, the primary suite has a fireplace with a sitting area, two walk-in closets, access to a balcony, and a bathroom with a soaking tub and dual vanities. It also has a finished basement with another living room, a bar, media room, and a wine cellar, while outside there’s a patio with a built-in kitchen and a pool. There are open houses today from 4:30 to 6 p.m., and from noon to 2 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday.
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Swarthmore has tabled a proposal to implement an earned income tax after Swarthmore College stepped up to help fill a budget hole.
Swarthmore residents aren’t facing an earned income tax, at least for the time being.
The borough last week agreed to table an unpopular proposal to implement an EIT after Swarthmore College agreed to contribute $638,000 to cover a funding gap left by the closure of Crozer-Chester Medical Center earlier this year, The Inquirer’s Denali Sagner reports.
The borough is, however, considering implementing an emergency services tax. It will continue budget discussions at Monday’s finance committee meeting.
Task wrapped up on Sunday, delivering a bittersweet conclusion to the seven-episode show starring Mark Ruffalo. While the Delco-set HBO mini-series was undoubtedly a cops and robbers-heavy story, it also provided “a brooding, layered examination of fatherhood in various forms,” The Inquirer’s Rosa Cartagena reports. Its ending is exactly what show creator and Berwyn native Brad Ingelsby wanted. Read more about the finale here. (Warning: Spoilers!)
With the conclusion of Task, we’ve also put together a final map of the show’s local filming locations, including the Delaware County Courthouse and Government Center in Media, which was featured in the finale. We also gathered video of some of the cast’s favorite Delco phrases, which you can watch here. Those who watched were treated to some of the region’s wooded scenery, so much so that it prompted The New York Times to refer to the region as “rural America.” The Inquirer’s Jason Nark took issue with that characterization and with another journalist calling the region “downtrodden,” noting “Delco’s not much different from Philadelphia’s other ring counties.”
The Promenade at Granite Run continues to evolve, and come spring, will be home to an IKEA “plan and order point with pick-up” store. Unlike traditional stores, which are shoppable, the smaller format allows customers to meet with IKEA team members to plan out home spaces and then arrange delivery or pick up of their goods. The new store, part of a pad site near Middletown Road, will span about 3,755 square feet.
Despite Democrats holding power in Delaware County Council for the past few years, Republicans see an opening to regain representation after a double-digit property tax increase last year. Voters will elect two members to the five-person board on Nov. 4, and Republicans are hoping to build up traction.
Speaking of the election, Tuesday is the last day for registered voters to request a mail-in ballot for next month’s election. You can apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot here.
Ahead of the holidays, the Media Food Bank is seeking donations for an array of goods, including shelf-stable foods, personal care items, pet food, household goods, and items for babies. Find a list of needed supplies here.
Artist Susan O’Reilly is relocating her eponymous studio from Aston to 415 Dartmouth Ave. in Swarthmore next month, taking over the space formerly home to barbershop Cutz to Cutz. She will offer fine art classes and workshops, as well as individual sessions, with plans to add children’s programming later. The same block will also be home to secondhand store Heart and Soul’d come the new year, which is relocating to 407 Dartmouth Ave. It will maintain its current space at 14 Park Ave. until then, using its new space to show larger pieces like furniture by request. (The Swarthmorean)
Swarthmore is hosting a flu vaccine clinic on Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the borough council room. Those interested must register in advance.
🏫 Schools Briefing
Media Elementary School is hosting a trunk-or-treat event Friday, and fall theater performances kick off Saturday and run through Tuesday. There’s also a boys basketball tournament this weekend and a community blood drive on Tuesday. See the district’s full calendar here.
Tomorrow ispicture day makeups for Wallingford-Swarthmore students, and on Saturday, Wallingford Elementary is hosting its pancake breakfast and Halloween carnival from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. See the district’s full calendar here. WSSD is also hosting community conversation sessions on Tuesday with superintendent Russell D. Johnston. The morning session will be held from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.and an evening session will be from 6 to 7 p.m., both at Strath Haven Middle School.
Martinique Deux, the new live entertainment venue and bar in the basement space of the Phoenix building in Media, is hosting its grand opening tonight. The evening’s live music lineup starts at 7 p.m. with Mike Malloy, followed by Cordelia Blue at 8 p.m., and The Shevlins at 10 p.m.
🎳 Things to Do
🎭 Young Frankenstein: It’s your last chance to catch this musical comedy about a doctor who’s inherited his grandfather’s estate in Transylvania. ⏰ Through Sunday, Oct. 26, times vary 💵 $27-$47 📍 TheMedia Theatre
🍫 Creekside’s Halloween Party: Creekside Swim Club’s community party includes a mad scientist’s lab, costumes, face painting, raffles, and, of course, candy. ⏰ Friday, Oct. 24, 5-7 p.m. 💵 $10 📍 Creekside Swim Club, Wallingford
🛍️ Merchant Night Market: Swarthmore stores will stay open later for this special shopping event. ⏰ Friday, Oct. 24, 5-9 p.m. 💵 Pay as you go 📍 Swarthmore
👻Halloween Parade: Media Borough is hosting its annual Halloween parade, complete with performances by Penncrest and Strath Haven’s marching bands. Put on your costume and join the fun along State Street, where there will also be appearances by the Philadelphia Ghostbusters, and Star Wars cosplayers Garrison Carida and Kyber Base. ⏰ Saturday, Oct. 25, 11 a.m. 💵 Free 📍 State Street, Media
🍬 Haunted Trail: Middletown Township’s Halloween-themed event for kids ages 12 and under includes trick-or-treating and games. ⏰ Saturday, Oct. 25, 4-7:30 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Sleighton Park
🧙♀️ Costume Party: This month’s Teen Activity Day at the Rocky Run YMCA is a Halloween-themed party. It’s open to 13- to 18-year-olds. ⏰ Saturday, Oct. 25, 5:30-7 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Rocky Run YMCA, Media
🕺 Delco Dance Night: Put on your costume and dance to tunes at this 21-and-over Halloween-themed event. ⏰ Saturday, Oct. 25, 7-10 p.m. 💵 $15.75 in advance, $20 at the door 📍 Park Avenue Community Center, Swarthmore
🎃 PumpkinPalooza: The Media borough’s event includes a jack-o-lantern stroll and contest, as well as yard games and fall treats. ⏰ Sunday, Oct. 26, 6-7:30 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Media Community Center lawn
🗡️ Jack The Ripper: A Virtual London Walking Tour for Grown-Ups: Take a virtual walking tour following in the footsteps of the notorious 1800s serial killer. Registration is required. ⏰ Tuesday, Oct. 28, 5:30-6:45 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Helen Kate Furness Free Library, Wallingford
The home’s family room has a fireplace and connects to the kitchen and dining room.
Situated in the Mills at Rose Valley, this two-story townhome has three bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms. The first floor features a living room, a family room with a fireplace, a dining room, and an eat-in kitchen. The bedrooms are located on the second floor, including a primary suite with a walk-in closet and a bathroom with a soaking tub. The home also has a finished basement that has space for an additional bedroom or a home office, as well as a deck out back.
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South Philadelphia is set to get a new supermarket in early 2026.
New York-based Met Fresh is on track to open its first Philly location in January inside the former Walgreens at Broad and Snyder Streets, said owner Omar Hamdan.
The 13,000-square-foot supermarket will include a pharmacy, a fresh-cut produce department, and a deli counter, Hamdan said, and will offer free grocery and prescription delivery to area seniors. It is also applying for a license to sell beer and wine.
The former Walgreens at 2014 S. Broad St., where Met Fresh’s first Philly location is set to open in early 2026, photographed on Wednesday.
“We try to bring the human factor back into the market,” Hamdan said, adding that the company’s philosophy hearkens back to a simpler time: “That store owner who had the apron and was sweeping outside of his store, who said ‘good morning’ to everyone? That is what we do.”
Met Foods, a family-owned company, has been operating markets in New York City for 15 years, Hamdan said. It currently has locations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and northern New Jersey.
When the South Philly grocer opens, it will mark Met Fresh’s first location outside the New York City area, Hamdan said.
Since then, Hamdan said they continued to look for potential Philadelphia locations. The store at 2014 S. Broad Street seemed like “a perfect fit,” he said, due to the area’s walkability, dense population, and a demand for more grocery stores and pharmacies.
The “pharmacy” lettering is seen on a former Walgreens on South Broad Street, where Met Fresh plans to open a supermarket in early 2026 after “extensive” renovations, its owner said.
From the Broad Street store, the nearest supermarket is seven-tenths of a mile away. As for chain pharmacies, the Walgreens closed last year, and a Rite Aid across the street shuttered this summer as the Philly-based company went out of business. So the nearest large drugstore is a CVS off Passyunk Avenue, also seven-tenths of a mile away.
The Met Fresh will soon start hiring in South Philly, with Hamdan noting that his stores typically need 30 to 40 part- and full-time employees from the surrounding communities. The new location will open after “extensive” renovations, Hamdan said, and once the team gets ahold of refrigeration equipment, which has been impacted by tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Hamdan said he’s excited for Philly consumers to be introduced to Met Fresh, calling the Broad Street spot “a test pilot to see how we do in the Philly market.”
Three large stand-alone parking garages have been proposed in Philadelphia this year, unusual projectsin a city where parking operators have long complained that high taxation makes it difficult to run a business.
The latest is a 372-unit garage near Fishtown and Northern Liberties at 53-67 E. Laurel St. near the Fillmore concert hall and the Rivers Casino.
“There’s been about 2,500 units that have come online within a 5- to 10-minute walk” of the planned garage, said Aris Kufasimes, director of operations with developer Bridge One Management. “When you’re building those on 7-1 [apartments to parking spaces] ratios, that leaves a massive hole. Where is everybody going to put their vehicles?”
Despite central Philadelphia’s walkability and high levels of transit access, two other developers have made similar calculations this year.
In the spring, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) revealed plans for a 1,005-space parking garage in Grays Ferry along with a shuttle service to spirit employees to the main campus a mile away.
In August, University Place Associates unveiled plans for a 495-unit garage. About a fourth of it will be reserved for the use of the city’s new forensic lab, but the rest will be open to the public.
All three projects have baffled environmentalists and urbanists, who thought Philadelphia was moving away from car-centric patterns of late 20th-century development.
It’s also surprised parking operators in the city, who say national construction cost trends and high local taxation make it difficult to turn a profit.
Legacy parking companies in Philadelphia like E-Z Park and Parkway Corp. have been selling garages and surface lots for redevelopment as anything other than parking. They say the city has lost 10,000 publicly available spaces in the last 15 years, bringing the total to about 40,000 in Center City.
“I don’t think I’ll ever build another stand-alone parking facility,” said Robert Zuritsky, president of Parkway Corp. and board chair of the National Parking Association. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Zuritsky and other parking companies have long noted that operators in Philadelphia, who often have unionized workforces, get hit with parking, wage, property, and the Use and Occupancy Tax.
When combined with the soaring cost of building new spaces across the nation, it’s difficult to turn a profit in Philadelphia.
A rendering of the Fishtown garage, looking towards the Delaware River.
Zuritsky says it costs $60,000-$70,000 a space to build an aboveground lot in today’s environment and $100,000 to $150,000 below ground.
“It’s like building a house for a car,” he said.
Depending on hyperlocal peculiarities, Zuritsky says that taxation in Center City can eat up to 60% of the money they bring in and that to profit from new construction, an operator would have to charge $3,000 per space a month.
“I wish people luck, the ones that are moving in,” said Harvey Spear, president of E-Z Park. “Between taxes, insurance, and labor, it comes to, like, 70-some percent of what we take in. We have more equipment now that does away with a lot of labor; we’re trying to compensate with that.”
Urbanist and environmental advocates, meanwhile, have condemned the new garage projects, arguing that they will add to carbon emissions, air pollution, and traffic congestion.
“A massive parking garage less than half a mile from the El [in Fishtown] is the wrong direction for any city that claims to take climate action seriously,” said Ashlei Tracy, deputy executive director with the Pennsylvania Bipartisan Climate Initiative. “SEPTA is already working to get more people out of cars and onto transit, but projects like this one and the one from CHOP only make that harder.”
Here are the parking projects in the pipeline.
Fishtown: 372 spaces
The garage, with architecture by Philadelphia-based Designblendz, doesn’t just contain parking. It includes close to 14,000 square feet of commercial space on the first floor, which the developer hopes to rent to a restaurant — or two — on the edges of one of Philadelphia’s hottest culinary scenes.
Another over 16,000-square-foot restaurant space is planned for the top floor, with views of the skyline and river. Both the top and bottom floors also could be used as event spaces.
Kufasimes says that this aspect of the project could partly offset the kinds of costs that parking veterans warn of.
“Our due diligence team went through those numbers and vetted them pretty thoroughly: The returns are what they needed to be,” Kufasimes said. “It’s got a multifunction of income streams, so we think that that really will help play a larger role.”
Kufasimes also said a parking garage made sense in an area that’s seen more development than almost any other corner of Philadelphia. When investors purchased the land at 53-67 E. Laurel St. and approached his company for ideas, they met with other stakeholders in the neighborhood and determined parking would be appreciated.
“It wasn’t necessarily all about the profit,” Kufasimes said. “A lot of people this day and age, that is their number-one goal. If this is a slightly lower return in the long run but can be better accepted by the community as a whole, we think that actually raises the value of the asset.”
An overhead-perspective rendering of the Fishtown garage.
At an October meeting of the Fishtown Neighbors Association, that argumentappeared to pay off. Unlike most community meetings where a large new development is proposed, there were no adamant opponents of the project. The project also includes a 20,000-square-foot outdoor space, a green roof, and a to-be-decided public art component. All of that helped, too.
“It’s nice seeing a parking garage, of all things, be as pedestrian-friendly and thoughtful as this,” one speaker said during the Zoom meeting.
Dubbed University Place 5.0, it largely exists because of a major expansion of the municipal bureaucracy west of the Schuylkill.
For years the city has sought a new location for its criminal forensics laboratory. The debate became heated in City Hall, with numerous Council members making the case for locations within their districts.
Councilmember Jamie Gauthier pushed for its location in University City Place 3.0, a newly built, state-of-the-art life sciences building that was coming online just as its intended industry was slowing down in the face of higher interest rates.
To get the crime lab, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration said the police department would need ample parking. That’s where the new garage comes in.
In June, Gauthier passed a zoning overlay that cleared away the regulatory hurdles to the project. Six weeks later, the developers revealed University City Place 5.0, which has 29 parking spaces on the ground floor reserved for official use by forensics vehicles and 100 spaces reserved for city employees.
A rendering of the proposed University City parking garage as seen from 42nd and Filbert Streets.
Designed by Philadelphia-based ISA Architects, the garage is also meant to serve University Place Associate’s other large developments in the area. Akin to the Fishtown garage, they have also sought to make the development pedestrian friendly, with a dog park, green space, and public art.
The local community group, West Powelton Saunders Park RCO, also embraced the proposal.
“The community met regarding this project back in August, and … they were all in support of this project,” Pamela Andrews, president of the West Powelton Saunders Park RCO, said at the city’s September Civic Design Review meeting. “We have a tremendous problem with parking, and the community members felt this was a much needed and welcome addition.”
Grays Ferry: 1,005 parking spaces
CHOP’s thousand-car parking garage by far has been the most controversial of the proposals. But it also makes the most economic sense for the owner. Unlike the other garages — or those owned by Parkway and E-Z Park — it will be owned by a nonprofit and exempted from many of the taxes that make it so expensive to own parking in Philadelphia.
A rendering of the new parking garage CHOP plans for Grays Ferry.
The hospital purchased the property at 3000 Grays Ferry Ave., next to the Donald Finnegan Playground, for almost $25 million last year.
The seven-story development, which, plans show, would have far fewer amenities than its University City and Fishtown counterparts, is meant to serve CHOP’s new research facilities in Fitler Square and the new patient tower set to open in 2028.
“We recently secured permits and have begun construction on the new parking garage at 3000 Grays Ferry Ave.,” a CHOP spokesperson said. “The full construction is expected to go through the fall of 2026. CHOP continues to engage with the community by providing support, timely updates and addressing feedback during construction.”
At the time of its unveiling, CHOP argued that the massive garage was needed as SEPTA threatened to become unreliable due to a political funding crisis in Harrisburg. But detractors appeared almost immediately to denounce the hospital for worsening air quality in a lower-income neighborhood that is already a hot spot for asthma.
There are no regulatory hurdles to the development, but changes in the political or economic landscape could make it difficult to embark on a large capital project. Notably, the University of Pennsylvania proposed an 858-space garage in 2023 for the nearby Pennovation Center and has never broken ground.
