A man has been arrested in connection with two shootings last year that left one person dead and another hospitalized.
Nasir Brooks, 24, turned himself in to the Philadelphia Police Department on Tuesday for the killing of 23-year-old Hasan Mason. Brooks allegedly fatally shot Mason near Broad Street and Packer Avenue in October and shot another 23-year-old that same day in front of the Chickie’s and Pete’s nearby, police say.
Police previously arrested Abou Keita, 22, a month after the shooting, charging him with murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, and other offenses in relation to the Oct. 9 shooting.
The shooting unfolded just after 6:10 p.m., when police responded to reports near Packer Avenue and Broad Street. What they found on scene was an Audi sedan filled with 15 bullet holes just south of the intersection, police said.
Police found Mason lying on Broad Street just north of the intersection with multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The other 23-year-old, who police have not identified, was found in front of the Chickie’s & Pete’s near the sports complex on Packer Avenue, with gunshot wounds to the torso. He was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was placed in stable condition.
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Sgt. Declan Coady had been checking in with his family from Kuwait every hour or two after the U.S. and Israel launched their military campaign against Iran, even as Tehran launched retaliatory strikes against Israel and Persian Gulf Arab states that host U.S. armed forces.
When he didn’t respond to messages Sunday, “most of us started to wonder,” Coady’s father, Andrew, told the Associated Press. “Your gut starts to get a feeling.”
A drone strike at a command center in Kuwait killed Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa, and five other members of the U.S. Army Reserve who worked in logistics and kept troops supplied with food and equipment.
The other soldiers identified Tuesday by the Pentagon were: Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minn.; Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Fla.; and Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Neb. U.S. Army base Fort Knox wrote on Facebook that the names of the other two will be released once next-of-kin notifications are complete.
The soldiers were assigned to an Army Reserve unit headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, which is temporarily operating under the 1st Theater Sustainment Command at Fort Knox in Kentucky.
“Sadly, there will likely be more, before it ends. That’s the way it is,” President Donald Trump said of the deaths. Trump will attend the dignified transfers of the soldiers when they arrive in the U.S., the White House said Wednesday. The ritual honors service members killed in action.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military “ensured that the maximum possible defense and maximum possible force protection was set up before we went on offense.”
“The terms of this war will be set by us at every step,” Hegseth said Wednesday.
Nicole Amor and Joey Amor in an undated photo.
A mother of two who loved gardening
Amor, 39, was an avid gardener who enjoyed making salsa from the peppers and tomatoes in her garden with her son, a senior in high school. She also enjoyed roller-blading and bicycling with her fourth-grade daughter.
A week before the drone attack, Amor was moved off-base to a shipping container-style building that had no defenses, Joey Amor said.
“They were dispersing because they were in fear that the base they were on was going to get attacked and they felt it was safer in smaller groups in separate places,” he said.
He last spoke to her about two hours before she was killed. He said she was working long shifts and they had been messaging about her tripping and falling the night before.
“She just never responded in the morning,” he said.
Childhood friend Natalie Caruso wrote on Facebook that she was “absolutely heartbroken” about Amor’s death.
“Nicole was always up for an adventure and she had such a contagious laugh!” Caruso wrote Wednesday. ”Growing up next door to you was some of my fondest childhood memories!”
‘He loved being a soldier’
Coady had just told his father last week that he had been recommended for a promotion from specialist to sergeant, a rank he received posthumously.
He was among the youngest people in his class, trained to troubleshoot military computer systems, but he impressed his instructors, Andrew Coady said Tuesday.
“He trained hard, he worked hard, his physical fitness was important to him. He loved being a soldier,” Coady said. “He was also one of the most kindest people you would ever meet, and he would do anything and everything for anyone.”
Coady trained as an information technology specialist with the Army Reserves and was studying cybersecurity at Drake University in Des Moines. He was taking online classes while in Kuwait and wanted to become an officer.
“I still don’t fully think it’s real,” his sister Keira Coady said. “I just remember all of our conversations about what he was going to do when he came back.”
A calling to serve his country
Khork was very patriotic and drawn from a young age to serving the U.S., his family said in a statement Tuesday.
He enlisted in the Army Reserve and joined Florida Southern College’s ROTC program.
“That commitment helped shape the course of his life and reflected the deep sense of duty that was always at the core of who he was,” said his mother, Donna Burhans, father, James Khork, and stepmother, Stacey Khork, in a statement.
Khork also loved history and had a degree in political science.
His family described him as “the life of the party, known for his infectious spirit, generous heart, and deep care for those who served alongside him and for everyone blessed to know him.”
Abbas Jaffer posted Monday on Facebook about his friend of 16 years.
“My best friend, best man, and brother gave his life defending our country overseas,” Jaffer said.
A loving father and husband
Tietjens lived with his family in the Washington Terrace mobile home park in the Omaha suburb of Bellevue, Neb. He was married with a son, according to a Facebook page.
Tietjens earned a black belt in Philippine Combatives and Taekwondo and was “an instructor who gave his time, discipline, and leadership to others,” the Philippine Martial Arts Alliance said in a Facebook post.
On the mat and as a soldier, “he carried the same values: honor, discipline, service, and commitment to others,” the organization said.
Army Staff Sgt. Jeff Coleman said Tietjens was his mentor.
“You could call him day or night,” Coleman told KETV. “He always took the time, you know, he made you feel important. And that’s hard to find sometimes in the military.”
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen on Wednesday ordered U.S. and state flags flown at half-staff until the evening of Tietjens’ burial. State lawmakers held a moment of silence Wednesday to honor the fallen soldier.
“Noah stepped up to serve and defend the American people from foreign enemies around the world — a sacrifice we must never forget,” Pillen wrote in a tribute Tuesday.
“We are holding the Tietjens family close in our hearts during this unbelievably difficult time and will keep them in our prayers,” he said.
Tietjens’ cousin Kaylyn Golike asked for prayers, especially for Tietjens’ 12-year-old son, wife, and parents, as they navigate “unimaginable loss.”
“We lost a brave soldier this weekend and many hearts are broken,” Golike wrote on Facebook Tuesday.
DALLAS — State Rep. James Talarico topped Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in an expensive and fiercely contested Texas Senate Democratic primary that once again has the party dreaming of a big upset in November.
Who Talarico will face depends on a May runoff between longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn and MAGA favorite Ken Paxton — a race expected to get increasingly nasty over coming months and could hinge on whether or not President Donald Trump offers an endorsement.
Texas, along with North Carolina and Arkansas, on Tuesday kicked off midterm elections with control of Congress at stake and against the backdrop of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
No Democrat has won a statewide race in the reliably Republican state in over 30 years, but in a statement after his victory, Talarico proclaimed “We’re about to take back Texas.”
Crockett concedes
Crockett on Wednesday conceded the primary in the Texas Senate race to Talarico.
“Texas is primed to turn blue and we must remain united because this is bigger than any one person,” Crockett said in a statement. ”This is about the future of all 30 million Texans and getting America back on track.”
Crockett’s campaign had said she planned to sue over voting issues in Dallas and she spoke only briefly on Tuesday night to warn that “people have been disenfranchised.” A spokesperson did not immediately respond to a question about those plans.
Republicans head to round 2
Cornyn, meanwhile, is seeking a fifth term but is facing a tough challenge from Paxton, the state attorney general. Cornyn hopes to avoid becoming the first Republican senator in Texas history to seek reelection and not be renominated.
The GOP contest also featured U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, who finished a distant third and conceded. But him making it a three-way race made it tougher for any candidate to reach the 50% vote threshold needed to win the nomination outright and avoid the May 26 runoff.
All three campaigned on their ties to Trump, who did not make an endorsement in the race. Now both Cornyn and Paxton will again fiercely compete to curry the president’s favor.
Cornyn was facing a tough enough battle that he didn’t hold an election night party. Instead, in comments to reporters in Austin, he sought to make the case that a runoff win by Paxton would leave “a dead weight at the top of the ticket for Republicans.”
“I’ve worked for decades to build the Republican Party, both here in Texas and nationally,” Cornyn said. “I refuse to allow a flawed, self-centered and shameless candidate like Ken Paxton to risk everything we’ve worked so hard to build over these many years.”
Addressing supporters in Dallas, Paxton made a point of saying he felt like he had during a recent trip to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida estate. He also proclaimed: “We proved something they’ll never understand in Washington.”
“Texas is not for sale,” he said.
Cornyn’s cool relationship with Trump is part of what made him vulnerable. He and allied groups spent at least $64 million in television advertising alone since July to try stabilize his support.
Paxton, who began campaigning in earnest only last month, has made national headlines for filing lawsuits against Democratic initiatives. He remained popular in Texas despite a 2023 impeachment trial on corruption charges, of which he was acquitted, and accusations of marital infidelity by his wife.
Senate GOP leaders, who are backing Cornyn, worry that Paxton’s liabilities would make it harder to defend the seat if he is the nominee — and require significant spending that could be better used elsewhere.
Confusion at some polling places
In the Democratic campaign, Crockett and Talarico each argued that they would be the stronger general election candidate in a state that backed Trump by almost 14 percentage points in 2024.
Voting was extended in Dallas County and Williamson County, outside Austin, after voters reported being turned away and directed to different voting precincts because of new primary rules. Paxton’s office later challenged a decision keeping the polls open longer, and the state Supreme Court ruled that ballots cast by people not in line by 7 p.m. should be separated from others.
It was not immediately clear how the court’s action would be carried out or how many eligible ballots remained to be counted in Dallas County, Crockett’s home base. Crockett said she would seek legal action after voting was concluded.
And in Harris County, which includes Houston, a spokesperson said that as of 10 p.m. there were still voters at 20 centers.
Democratic race featured clash of styles
Crockett and Talarico waged a spirited race as Democrats look for their first Senate win in Texas since 1988.
Crockett has built a national profile for zinger attacks on Republicans and focused on turning out Black voters in the Dallas and Houston areas. Talarico, a seminarian who often references the Bible, held rallies across the state, including in heavily Republican areas.
“We are not just trying to win an election,” a jubilant Talarico told supporters in Austin before the race was called. “ We are trying to fundamentally change our politics. And it’s working.”
Dallas voter Tanu Sani said she cast her ballot for Talarico because he “really spoke to me in the way he tries to unify.”
Tomas Sanchez, a voter in Dallas County, said he supported Crockett because “she cares about immigrants, she cares about the American people in a way that a lot of the Republicans have proven they haven’t.”
Talarico outspent Crockett on television advertising by more than four to one as of late February. He got a burst of attention — and campaign contributions — last month from CBS’ decision not to air his interview with late-night host Stephen Colbert, who said the network pulled the interview for fear of angering Trump’s FCC.
Other key primaries
Texas’ races also featured new congressional district boundaries that GOP lawmakers — urged on by Trump — redrew to help elect more Republicans. The result matched several Democratic incumbents in primary fights and set up new general election battlegrounds.
Republican former Rep. Mayra Flores was attempting a comeback but was defeated by Eric Flores, a lawyer endorsed by Trump, for the nomination to run against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez. Mayra Flores made history in a 2022 special election as the first Republican to win in the Rio Grande Valley in 150 years but lost her bid for a full term later that year.
Incumbent Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw lost his primary to state Rep. Steve Toth, who was endorsed by Sen. Ted Cruz.
Another incumbent GOP incumbent, Rep. Tony Gonzales, was considered vulnerable after an alleged affair with a staffer who killed herself. He was challenged by gun manufacturer and YouTube influencer Brandon Herrera, who calls himself “the AK guy.” The two will head to a runoff in a district that includes Uvalde, site of a deadly 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School.
Former Major League Baseball star Mark Teixeira clinched the Republican primary to succeed GOP Chip Roy in southwest Texas.
Democrat Bobby Pulido, a Latin Grammy winner, won his party’s primary in South Texas against physician Ada Cuellar. Pulido will face two-term Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz.
In suburban Dallas, Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson was facing former Rep. Colin Allred, a former NFL linebacker and 2024 Senate nominee.
Democratic Rep. Al Green was fighting to stay in office after his Houston-based district was drawn to lean Republican. Green, 78, ran in a newly drawn district against Democratic Rep. Christian Menefee, 37, who won a January special election for the current 18th District.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott easily won his primary and will face Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa. Roy advanced to a primary runoff with Mayes Middleton for attorney general.
The Senate is scheduled to take an initial vote Wednesday on blocking President Donald Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran, offering the first test of Congress’s support for a campaign that Trump launched without its consent.
Democrats — along with Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) — are forcing a vote on a war powers resolution over the opposition of most Republicans, who control the Senate. Democrats are imploring a handful of Republicans to break with their party to end the conflict and reassert Congress’s control over declaring war.
At least four Republicans besides Paul would need to support the resolution for it to pass if every senator is voting. One Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, has said he will oppose it.
“I pray so hard for my colleagues to exercise the judgment that this is not the right time for more war,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.) said Monday on the Senate floor.
But the resolution faces tough odds.
Congress has voted on seven other war powers resolutions since June, all of which failed. Most Republicans support the U.S. and Israeli air campaign that started Saturday, which has killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian leaders, and they are working to defeat the resolution.
“We should let him finish the job,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) told reporters, referring to Trump. “We should cheer him on, in my view.”
The House is set to vote Thursday on a similar war powers resolution, which Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) said he believes he has the votes to defeat.
“The idea that we would take the ability of our commander in chief … to finish this job is a frightening prospect to me,” Johnson told reporters. “It’s dangerous, and I am certainly hopeful — and I believe we do — have the votes to put it down.”
Even if the resolution passes the Senate and the House, Trump could veto it. Overriding Trump’s veto would require a two-thirds majority in both chambers. No war powers resolution has ever overcome a veto.
The Senate vote Wednesday is an initial procedural vote to advance the resolution, and any Republicans who support it could still oppose its final passage.
That’s what happened in January, when five Republicans — Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Todd Young of Indiana, and Paul — voted with Democrats to advance the resolution blocking strikes on Venezuela. But Hawley and Young flipped days later after Trump wrote on social media that they “should never be elected to office again,” though they extracted some concessions.
Democrats wanted to force a vote on the Iran resolution before the strikes, which Kaine said last week would increase its odds of passing.But they did not do so, in part because negotiations between the Trump administration and Iran were still underway.
Some Democrats have compared Trump’s strikes on Iran to the Iraq War, although President George W. Bush sought and received authorization from Congress before the U.S. invasion in 2003. Trump has not asked for authorization to strike Iran.
“I pray that my colleagues will vote to end this dangerous and unnecessary war that has already resulted in the loss of six servicemembers and injured others,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said in as statement. “We owe it to those in uniform, their families, and all Americans to not make the same mistakes that we made in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and occupied the country for nearly 20 years. While U.S. forces succeeded in killing Osama bin Laden, the architect of the attacks, in Pakistan in 2011, they never defeated the Taliban, which had sheltered bin Laden. The Taliban overthrew the American-supported Afghan government weeks before U.S. forces withdrew and remains in power.
The War Powers Resolution, which Congress passed in 1973 in response to the Vietnam War, allows a single lawmaker to force a vote to withdraw U.S. forces from a conflict or to block strikes when hostilities are imminent. It also requires the president to withdraw forces after 60 days — or 90 days if the president seeks an extension — unless Congress declares war or authorizes the use of military force.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) said Tuesday that he doesnot believe the Trump administration needed to seek authorization to continue the Iran campaign even if it lasts for longer than 90 days.
“I think the president has the authority that he needs to conduct the activities, the operations that are currently underway there,” Thune told reporters.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other administration officials held briefings for lawmakers Tuesday, which Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) said convinced him that the campaign could last a long time.
“I think they have contempt for Congress,” Murphy told reporters. “They have no plans to come to Congress for any authorization, even if they were to insert ground forces.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, as Washington and Israel intensified their bombardment Wednesday of Iran’s security forces and other symbols of power. Iran launched more missiles and drones and warned of the destruction of military and economic infrastructure across the Middle East.
The tempo of the strikes on Iran was so intense that state television announced the mourning ceremony for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the conflict, would be postponed. Millions attended the funeral of his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1989.
The U.S. and Israel launched the war Saturday, targeting Iran’s leadership, missile arsenal, and nuclear program while suggesting that toppling the government is a goal. But the exact aims and timelines have repeatedly shifted, signaling an open-ended conflict.
President Donald Trump praised the U.S. military Wednesday for “doing very well on the war front, to put it mildly.” Later in the day, fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate stood with Trump on Iran as they voted down a resolution seeking to halt the war.
Israel also traded fire with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah insurgent group in Lebanon, while Iran fired on Bahrain, Kuwait, and Israel. As the conflict spiraled, Turkey said NATO defenses intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran before it entered Turkey’s airspace.
The war has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran, more than 70 in Lebanon, and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. It has disrupted the supply of the world’s oil and gas, snarled international shipping, and stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers in the Middle East.
Both sides are unrelenting
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a torpedo from an American submarine sank an Iranian warship Tuesday night in the Indian Ocean.
Sri Lankan authorities said 32 people were rescued from the ship, which they said had 180 people on board and sank outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters. The country’s navy said it recovered 87 bodies.
Israel said it hit buildings associated with Iran’s Basij, the all-volunteer force of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that conducted a bloody crackdown on protesters in January. Thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands detained.
The Israeli military hit buildings associated with Iran’s internal security command. Israel and the U.S. have said they want to see Iranians overthrow the country’s theocracy, and strikes against Iran’s internal security forces may be aimed at hastening that.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said over the weekend that its forces have decentralized leadership, with units acting largely on their own according to general orders, which could blunt the effect of attacks on top command and control hubs.
Iranian state television showed the ruins of buildings in Tehran, with interviewees saying the attacks damaged their homes. Strikes have also been reported in the Shiite seminary city of Qom targeting a building associated with a clerical panel set to pick Iran’s next supreme leader. Iranian media said it was empty at the time.
Shifting timelines for U.S. operations
During his Pentagon briefing, Hegseth did not give a definitive timeline for U.S. operations.
“You can say four weeks, but it could be six. It could be eight. It could be three,” he said. “Ultimately, we set the pace and the tempo. The enemy is off-balance, and we’re going to keep them off-balance.”
Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, said American forces have damaged Iran’s air defenses and taken out ballistic missiles, launchers, and drones. Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said such damage has led to a decline in launches from Iran.
U.S. and Israeli military officials say launches from Iran have declined as the war has progressed. Israel’s Homefront Command announced it was easing restrictions that closed workplaces nationwide. It said workplaces could reopen Thursday if there is a shelter nearby. Schools were to remain closed.
Still, air-raid sirens and explosions could be heard across central and northern Israel on Wednesday. Israel’s military said Iran launched missiles toward the country. Hezbollah also fired rockets, as Israel pounded targets in the suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Iran has also struck around the region, and air sirens sounded Wednesday across Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
At least 1,045 people have been killed in Iran, the country’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs said Wednesday. Eleven people have died in Israel. Six U.S. troops have been killed.
The death toll has exceeded 70 in Lebanon, where the health ministry said Wednesday that three people died when drone strikes hit two vehicles on a Beirut highway. The Israeli military said it was targeting a Hezbollah member.
Israel says its offensive had been planned for midyear
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the offensive against Iran had originally been planned for mid-2026, but “the need arose to bring everything forward to February.”
He listed events inside Iran, Trump’s positions, “and the whole possibility of creating a combined operation here” as reasons.
The protests in Iran put unprecedented pressure on its leadership. Trump threatened military action in response to the crackdown before shifting his attention to Iran’s disputed nuclear program.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that the U.S. launched its operation partly out of concern Iran might strike American personnel and assets in the region first. A phone call between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the airstrikes began was also “important with respect to the timeline,” she said.
Energy supplies in the crosshairs
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard issued its most intense threat yet, saying the strikes against it would result in “the complete destruction of the region’s military and economic infrastructure.”
A Maltese-flagged container ship was attacked Wednesday while passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which about a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped. The ship was hit by two missiles, sparking a fire, according to Malta’s transport minister, Chris Bonett. Its 24 crew members were rescued.
Tanker traffic through the strait has fallen by about 90% compared with prewar levels, shipping tracker MarineTraffic.com said Wednesday.
Oil prices have soared as Iranian attacks have disrupted traffic through the strait, and global stock markets have been hammered over worries that the spike in oil prices may grind down the world economy.
Iran’s clerics are choosing a new supreme leader
Iran’s leaders are scrambling to replace Khamenei, who ruled the country for 37 years. This is only the second time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that a new supreme leader is being chosen.
Potential candidates range from hard-liners committed to confrontation with the West to reformists who seek diplomatic engagement. Mojtaba Khamenei, Khamenei’s son, has long been considered among them, though he has never been elected or appointed to a government position.
In a sign that Iran’s leadership will seek to consolidate its power as it faces its biggest crisis in decades, the head of the judiciary warned that “those who cooperate with the enemy in any way will be considered an enemy.”
The Israeli defense minister threatened whomever Iran picks to be the country’s next supreme leader.
“Every leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people — will be a target for elimination,” Katz wrote on X.
WASHINGTON — An operations center targeted by an Iranian drone strike that killed six American soldiers on Sunday was located in the heart of a civilian port in Kuwait, miles away from the main Army base, according to satellite images and a U.S. official.
The husband of one of the slain soldiers, who was part of a supply and logistics unit based in Iowa, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the hub was a shipping container-style building and had no defenses.
The development, reported earlier by CNN and CBS News, raises questions about the safety precautions that the U.S. military had in place as it, along with Israel, launched an attack on Iran, which has responded with retaliatory strikes against several countries in the region, including Kuwait. President Donald Trump and top defense leaders say more American casualties are likely.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that the six soldiers were killed in a “tactical operations center” when a projectile made its way past air defenses. A day later, the Pentagon confirmed it was a drone strike in Port Shuaiba when announcing the names of four of the soldiers who were slain.
A satellite image taken Monday and reviewed by the AP showed the main building in the complex destroyed, with a trail of black smoke rising from it. It is located in the heart of Port Shuaiba, a working seaport and industrial area just south of Kuwait City. The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a matter under active investigation, confirmed the image depicted the location of Sunday’s attack.
The Army base, Camp Arifjan, is more than 10 miles to the south. The operations center was just a little over a mile from some of the piers where merchant ships would offload cargo containers and was surrounded by oil storage tanks, refineries, and a power plant.
Joey Amor, husband of Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, said his wife had been moved off-base to what he described as a shipping container-style building a week before the Iranian strike. The 39-year-old from White Bear Lake, Minn., was one of the soldiers killed in the attack.
“They were dispersing because they were in fear that the base they were on was going to get attacked, and they felt it was safer in smaller groups in separated places,” he said.
After news reports about the operations center emerged, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on social media that the “secure facility was fortified with 6-foot walls.” He said the military has “the most extensive Air Defense umbrella in the world over the Middle East right now and control of the skies is increasing with every wave of airpower.”
Parnell’s office did not respond to questions about what role the walls would have played in defending against a drone attack or what air defenses were present in range of the command center at the port.
Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command, said “it would be inappropriate to comment given the incident is under investigation.”
A Tredyffrin office complex is being converted into housing, bucking a suburban trend. Here’s why. Also, East Whiteland Township’s meeting about a proposed data center was postponed after too many people showed up, the county’s CEO left the job Mondayand has been replaced, plus a West Goshen business could face fines after polluting a local waterway.
We want your feedback! Tell us what you think of the newsletter by taking our survey or emailing us at chestercounty@inquirer.com.
The office complex at 435 Devon Park Dr. in Tredyffrin Township is being converted into housing.
An eight-building office complex at 435 Devon Park Dr. in Tredyffrin Township is on its way to becoming housing, making it one of the only suburban office-to-housing conversions underway in the region. Zoning issues, demands on school districts, and economic feasibility often make these types of conversions difficult and costly.
Built in the 1980s, the complex is able to be more easily converted than many of its larger counterparts thanks to its layout and the fact that it already has operable windows.
Once complete, the former office buildings will have 162apartments, largely studios and one-bedrooms, breathing new life into the complex.
Chester County Library in Extonlaunched a new service this weekallowing residents to apply for a U.S. passport. The appointment-only offeringis for first-time passport applicants, applicants whose previous passport was issued before they turned 16, or applicants whose passport was lost, stolen, damaged, or issued over 15 years ago. Learn more about the program here.
💡 Community News
Over the weekend, a “milky white” substance and dead fish were spotted in Goose Creek in West Chester, prompting municipal and state officials to investigate. The leak in West Goshen Township was plugged after the substance was traced back to Atmos Technologies, a company with a location at 216 Garfield Ave. Drinking water wasn’t affected, but Aqua Pennsylvania will continue to monitor the area downstream. Atmos faces potential fines.
East Whiteland Township’s planning commission has rescheduled last week’s meeting about a proposed data center at a former Superfund site after there were more attendees than the room’s 98-person capacity could hold. The commissionis set to consider an amended application that calls for increasing the size of the two proposed data center buildings by roughly 61% from what was previously approved. The meeting at a larger venue is tentatively set for Monday.
An NBC10 Philadelphia investigation found that Honey Brook Constable David Jones Sr. is among two area law enforcement officers to have signed a 287(g) agreement, which authorizes agencies to carry out immigration enforcement. Jones told the network that he hasn’t heard from ICE since entering into the agreement in October.
The West Sadsbury Township zoning board will meet tomorrow at 6 p.m. to consider a proposal for a new storage facility at 5787 W. Lincoln Highway in Parkesburg.
There’s a town hall meeting tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at the Tredyffrin Township building to discuss the Pennsylvania Turnpike Milepost 320-324 construction project. The project calls for reconstructing four miles of the turnpike and widening the section from four lanes in each direction to six lanes.
Malvern Borough is hosting a public workshop on Monday at 7 p.m. for its Zoning, Subdivision, and Land Development Task Force as it considers amendments to its zoning ordinance and map.
Heads up for drivers: In Upper Uwchlan Township, Styer Road between Meadow Creek Lane and Morning Light Road will close Monday and isn’t expected to reopen for three or four weeks while crews work on the underside of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Overpass. U.S. 30 westbound between Lincoln Highway and the ramp onto Airport Road, an area that spanning Sadsbury and Valley Townships, will have a lane closure from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. today through Friday as crews make repairs. In East Pikeland Township, Spring City Road is closed between Township Line Road and Wall Street as crews work to replace the bridge there. The project is expected to last 12 to 18 months. Expect delays between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. on East Swedesford Road near the intersection of Church Farm Lane in West Whiteland Township for the next two weeks, while roadwork takes place.
Pennsylvania American Water is expected to replace water mains in Parkesburg Borough through April 3. Customers may experience no water, low water pressure, or discolored water while work takes place. Learn more about the project here.
Peco will begin updating the underground electrical feed in Kennett Township early this month, impacting Davenport and Cedar Croft Roads, as well as Donny Lane.The electrical system upgrade work is scheduled to be completed by June.
Residents will gather this weekend in Coatesville to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March, during which civil rights activists faced police attacks. The Together We Stand Project will host a march on Saturday at 9 a.m., with participants gathering at Gateway Park then walking along Route 30 from 1st Avenue to 5th Avenue. “This march is not just about remembering history — it’s about inspiring our community to take action and embrace their civic responsibility,” event organizer Linda Lavender Norris said.
A former employee at the Devereux behavioral health campus in West Whiteland Township has been convicted for soliciting sexual acts from a 14-year-old resident at the site. Shakur Austin, 28, of Philadelphia, will be sentenced at a later date.
🏫 Schools Briefing
Great Valley School District’s school board last week approved students’ request to start a “Club America” chapter at Great Valley High School. The chapter, affiliated with the national Turning Point USA organization, will “discuss the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government” and “give representation to conservative and Christian voices,” according to club leaders. A student and a community member spoke against the club’s formation, describing Turning Point as divisive, The Inquirer’s Maddie Hanna reports.
Registration is now open for Owen J. Roberts School District’s more than 40 summer enrichment camp programs.
Tredyffrin/Easttown School District is hosting a workshop for its 2026-27 budget on Monday at Conestoga High School following the Finance Committee meeting, which starts at 7 p.m.
Registration for new TESD students entering kindergarten and first grade next school year is now open. Learn more here.
Unionville High School’s robotics team took home first place in the United States Governors Cup’s FIRST Tech Challenge, held in Washington, D.C., last month. The Silver Wolves were the only Pennsylvania team to compete in the inaugural event.
🍽️ On our Plate
Two new eateries recently opened in West Chester. Cousin’s Burger opened last week at 211 E. Market St., taking over the former Miss Winnie’s space. The new spot, which has several other area locations, serves smash burgers, chicken sandwiches, loaded fries, wings, and chicken tenders. And West Chester Chicken, located at 34 S. High St., is also now open and dishing up fried and grilled chicken, sandwiches, boardwalk fries, and water ice.
🎳 Things to Do
🏀 Harlem Wizards: The traveling professional basketball team known for its entertaining hoops skills is coming to town. ⏰ Friday, March 6, 6:30-8:30 p.m. 💵 $21.99-$76.99 📍West Chester East High School
🩰 Spotlight Performance and Fundraiser: See performances from the Brandywine Contemporary and Brandywine Ballet companies, including a preview of the upcoming production of ThePhantom of the Opera. ⏰ Friday, March 6, 7:15 p.m. 💵 $56-$106 📍Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center, West Chester
🍁 Maple Syrup at Springton Manor Farm: Learn how to tap a maple tree and then boil the contents for syrup during one of three 45-minute sessions. Registration is required. ⏰ Sunday, March 8, noon-2:45 p.m. 💵 Free 📍Springton Manor Farm
☘️ Solas’ 30th Anniversary Tour: The Celtic ensemble blends traditional Irish music with Americana, bluegrass, and folk elements. ⏰ Sunday, March 8, 7:30 p.m. 💵 $41.78-$88.87 📍The Colonial Theatre, Phoenixville
The home spans 3,800 square feet and has a greenhouse.
This brick Malvern home is classic Main Line, with a twist. It has an attached greenhouse equipped with running water, drainage, and a heating system. Inside, the first floor features hardwood floors, a living room with a fireplace, a dining room, an eat-in kitchen with granite countertops and two ovens, a bedroom with a gas fireplace, and a full bathroom. There are several bedrooms upstairs, including the primary suite, as well as a family room with skylights. Downstairs, there’s a temperature-controlled wine cellar in the walk-out basement, along with another bedroom and full bathroom. Out back, the home has an in-ground pool, a deck, and a large yard. There’s an open house Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
Chefs Nana Araba Wilmot (left) and Laurence Louie compete on season 23 of “Top Chef,” which premieres on Monday.
Locals tuning into the season premiere of Top Chef Season 23 on Monday might spot a familiar face. Cherry Hill native Nana Araba Wilmot is competing on the popular Bravo show, where she’ll showcase her culinary skills and her Ghanaian heritage.
An East grad, Wilmot was raised in Cherry Hill, and today is the owner of Georgina’s Private Chef and Catering Co. and traveling supper club Love That I Knead.
Wilmot began cooking at the age of 7, learning the time-tested recipes and traditions of Ghana from her grandmother.
The developer who got the Plaza Grande 55-and-over apartment complex to the finish line has put the project on the market. Several developers had tried, but failed to complete the final piece of the $1 billion redevelopment of the former Garden State Park horse racing track. Developer William “Billy” Procida said he put “so much blood, sweat, and tears” into developing Plaza Grande, but added it’s time to sell, The Inquirer’s Michaelle Bond reports.
Typical home values in all three of Cherry Hill’s zip codes rose between January 2025 and this January, according to new data from Zillow. The 08003 zip code still has the highest home value, which averaged $549,594 as of this January, up 5.14% over the prior year. Residents in the 08034 zip code typically saw their home value increase 5.8% to $436,173, while the typical home value in the 08002 zip code rose 4.93% to $418,359. (NJ.com)
Last month, Mayor David Fleisher and Camden County Commissioner Jennifer Cooley Fleisher, who are married, gave proclamations to East senior Siana Armando for helping a coworker experiencing a medical emergency, including a seizure, during a shift at Nothing Bundt Cakes in the Barclay Farms Shopping Center. Armando said she had personal experience in similar situations and was able to help her coworker while waiting for emergency responders to arrive.
A rabid skunk attacked two dogs in the backyard of a Cherry Hill home recently. The dogs are being confined and under observation for the next four months. (NBC Philadelphia)
🏫 Schools Briefing
Two of the district’s basketball teams are continuing their post-season runs. The top-seeded East boys’ basketball team defeated the No. 4 seeded Atlantic City High School at home yesterday61-51, booking a spot in the Group 4 final. The Cougars will have home court advantage for the Friday game. Follow the results here and see the full group bracket here. And the West girls’ basketball team, top-seeded in Group 3, takes on Hammonton High School today after defeating Clearview Regional High School on Monday. Tip-off is at 4 p.m. at home. Follow the results here and see the full bracket here.
Seven Cherry Hill wrestlers are advancing to regional tournaments after successful outings in the NJSIAA District 28 wrestling tournament last weekend. Gabe Jones, Praise Okereafor, Clayton Tyson, Caden Rossi, Aiden Sanchez, and Jakob Ubarry, all of West, and Dominic Canzano of East are all competing. (Courier Post)
It was the end of the road for a couple of the district’s post-season runs. After making it to the Group A final, East girls’ swimming fell 102.5-67.5 to Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School last Wednesday. And East girls’ basketball defeated Atlantic City High School in its Group 4 first-round matchup before falling to Howell High School in the quarterfinals 55-41.
The school district has a board of education meeting on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. See the full calendar here.
SACC summer camp registration opens today at 4 p.m. There are two-, three-, and four-day programs available Monday through Thursday from June 29 through Aug. 13 for township residents entering first through fifth grade.
🍽️ On our Plate
The Kibitz Room’s gross revenue fell by about 12% last year, according to a recent bankruptcy court filing. The popular deli reported $2.2 million last year, down about $300,000 from the year prior. It’s unclear if a decline in revenue is a reason for the business’ abrupt closure earlier this year. The Kibitz Room has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, with a court date scheduled for early May. Former owner Brandon Parish has said he hopes to reopen the deli, which was being run by his mother, Sandy Parish. (Courier Post)
Looking for great dim sum? Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao is one of the best spots in the region, according to The Infatuation, which suggests ordering the “Lucky 6” at the Towne Place at Garden State Park spot. The colorful assortment includes six dumplings filled with things like black truffle, chicken, and scallops.
🎳 Things to Do
🤵 Project Prom: Teens or their parents can browse and take home a gently used formalwear outfit for the next big dance. ⏰ Wednesday, March 4, 4-8:30 p.m. 💵 Free 📍Cherry Hill Public Library
👹 Monster-Mania Con: Horror fans won’t want to miss this three-day event, where you can see stars from frightening films. ⏰ Friday, March 6-Sunday, March 8, times vary 💵 $41.74-$72.49 📍DoubleTree by Hilton Cherry Hill Philadelphia
🦜 Birds in Trees and Flowers and Bees Artist Reception: See the works of photography duo Wendy and Bruce Rubin, who have been together for almost 40 years, and turned their lenses toward birds and other wildlife. ⏰ Saturday, March 7, 1:30-3:30 p.m. 💵 Free 📍Cherry Hill Public Library
The stucco-fronted home spans over 3,000 square feet.
Located in the Olde Springs neighborhood, this home features a living room, a dining room, and an open-concept family room and kitchen. The family room has a gas fireplace, vaulted ceilings, and a skylight, while the kitchen has two spots for eating, as well as a dedicated pantry. There are four bedrooms upstairs, including the primary suite that has a walk-in closet, a tub, and a large vanity. The finished basement has a full bathroom and what could be a fifth bedroom.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
George Ball stood at the W. Atlee Burpee & Co. booth at the Philadelphia Flower show last week and lifted the company’s artfully designed 150th anniversary seed collection from a wooden rack.
Ball, 74, traced a finger down the list of nine packets of “Historic Breakthroughs” and told stories about some of them: Iceberg lettuce (1894). Big Boy tomatoes (1949). Snowbird sugar snap peas (1978).
Golden Bantam sweet corn (1902) wasn’t an instant hit, Ball noted, despite its sweet, buttery flavor. Americans were accustomed to white corn.
“This is the first yellow sweet corn. Before that, yellow corn was hog feed. The kernels were hard,” Ball said. “This yellow corn was a totally new taste. It’s delicious. But for two years, nobody bought it because to them it was hog feed.”
Only when an assistant coined the phrase “Looks like butter, tastes like butter” did the variety take off.
Burpee’s display at this year’s Philadelphia Flower Show highlighted the brand’s historical roots.
Burpee has been rooted in the Philadelphia area since its founding by W. Atlee Burpee in 1876. Now, more than a century later, having once teetered on the brink, it’s again thriving and positioned for the future with seed, plant, and product sales in big box stores and online.
“We’re celebrating our 150th” and still selling those same seeds, Ball said.
Regrowing Burpee
When Ball came to buy Burpee in the 1980s, the company was in serious financial trouble, and its staying power was anything but certain.
“Burpee was going to be padlocked,” Ball recounted. It had fallen 240 days behind on payments, some of which were owed to his family’s company, Ball Horticultural.
Ball had become president of PanAmerican Seed, a Ball Horticultural company, by the mid-1980s and was breeding plants in Costa Rica. When he returned to the United States, he read a story in the Wall Street Journal that industry giant Burpee was teetering.
Sensing an opportunity, Ball moved to buy the historic brand for a fraction of its value, or as he phrased it, for “kind of a poem.”
More than a century before that,W. Atlee Burpee, scion of a prominent Philadelphia medical family, started his seed company in 1876, the same year he visited the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It featured robust agricultural and horticultural displays. By 1881, a notice for the company’s Old City warehouse appeared in The Inquirer.
The first mention of W. Atlee Burpee & Co. in The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jan. 3, 1881.
Burpee seized on the emerging power of mail-order catalogs — the era’s version of the internet — and the catalog became a rural household staple since most of his customers were originally farmers.
In 1888, Burpee bought a farm on New Britain Road in Doylestown. He named it Fordhook and transformed it into the company’s experimental garden and began conducting thousands of seed trials. The 60-acre property still opens to the public once a year.
Burpee died in 1915, leaving the business to his 22-year-old son, David, who expanded the company’s flower offerings and cemented a reputation for innovation. The company soon found a market for its seeds with home gardeners.
Christopher DeMairo, a former archivist for the Smithsonian Institution and the author of a book on the history of Burpee, calls W. Atlee Burpee, “a really fascinating man, and one of the most prolific businessmen in American history.”
DeMairo credits David Burpee as a visionary who steered the company through the turbulent 20th century when many competitors went bankrupt. Under David’s leadership, Burpee pushed hard on innovation, pioneering hybrid vegetables through controlled pollination experiments.
“Even if you may not know Burpee now, your ancestors certainly did,” DeMairo said. “It is still really important when you think of where agriculture and gardening are today.”
In 1970, David Burpee sold to General Foods, and the corporate headquarters moved from Philadelphia to Warminster, where it remains.
Eventually, ownership passed to a private equity firm,and the company fell into financial trouble.
Then Ball, who views himself as a turnaround specialist, stepped in to save Burpee,officially becoming its sole owner in 1991. He’s run the companyever since and still lives at Fordhook Farm.
The Creekbed Garden at Fordhook Farm in Doylestown in 2024. The seed barn is second building from the right.
“I was very interested in the basic virtues and values of life,” Ball said, and felt that the nursery business fit with that essence.
DeMairo, the archivist, believes the founding Burpee family would be relieved to know the company is privately held by Ball, who has no plans to sell.
“I can almost say for a fact that both David and Atlee would be very happy to know that the company is in the hands of a true gardener,” DeMairo said, “and not a boardroom.”
Burpee today
Under Ball’s leadership, Burpee expanded into retail aisles and into the digital age.
When COVID-19 hit in 2020, Burpeeexperienced a surge in demand, CEO Jamie Mattikow said, and the companyhas retained much of that momentum.
He declined to share financial details or an employee count. But, he said, consumers spent $242 million on Burpee products last year, a 120% jump from 2019. Growth, he added, is in the “mid-single digits.”
“Fortunately, seeds have proven to be a recession-resistant type of category,” Mattikow said, “so the growth is pretty steady.”
Burpee president and CEO Jamie Mattikow (left) with owner George Ball at the Burpee Seed display at this year’s Philadelphia Flower Show.
Burpee has long focused on home gardeners. Its products appear in major chains including Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and Tractor Supply.
Mattikow describes Burpee as a full-service “gardening company” rather than simply a seed supplier, offering live plants and supplies like soil and cages. Online sales through Burpee.com and Amazon continue to expand.
The company also maintains a niche business sellingseeds to small growers who supply farmers markets and restaurants.
The company has leveraged social media to reach younger customers. It has about 725,000 followers across Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms, and offers advice such as “the easiest tomatoes to grow for beginner gardeners.”
Burpee relies on its own horticulturists and traditional seed breeders to adapt to changing customer preferences.
For example, a seven-year breeding process resulted in the company’s new line of “garden sown” tomatoes and peppers — seeds hardy enough to be planted in ground after the last frost, bypassing indoor tray-starting.
That painstaking breeding process has been with the company since the beginning. In his history of Burpee, DeMairo cites a Life magazine article describing the painstaking work behind developing seed varieties.
The company, the article noted, “hired 60 girls from Vassar, Smith, Bryn Mawr and other colleges to spend the summer with tweezers and brushes” to control pollination and create new hybrids.
Mattikow said Burpee faces typical challenges such as supply chain issues, tough competition, and tariffs.
“We do a great balance of holding on to a loyal base of customers, and every year we bring in new customers,” Mattikow said.
Residents of Syracuse, N.Y. — America’s snowiest city — once barraged a service hotline with street neglect complaints during blizzards, even if plows had passed two hours earlier but the work was hidden by fresh snow.
Now public trust seems to be rising as Syracuse and other cities across the U.S. integrate upgrades such as video monitoring, GPS mapping and artificial intelligence into snow operations that once relied almost entirely on manual planning.
Syracuse was one of the first to revamp the way it deploys its snowplows, and complaint calls have dropped by 30% under the new system, said Conor Muldoon, the city’s chief innovation officer.
“People will look out their window and say, ‘Hey, you guys are doing a terrible job,’” Muldoon said. “And we can point to a public map and say, ‘Here’s all the breadcrumbs for when that plow was there.’”
Snowier than usual in the U.S. snow capital
Each winter, Syracuse averages 126 inches (3.2 meters) of snow, more than any other U.S. city of at least 100,000 people. Even before the blizzard that pounded the Northeast last week, the city had already surpassed its typical average due to a record 2-foot (60-centimeter) accumulation on one day in late December.
With a goal of clearing every street within 24 hours after a storm, Syracuse partnered in 2021 with San Francisco-based Samsara to put live GPS tracking and dashcams on city fleet vehicles including snowplows. Integrated with GIS mapping software, the system allows officials to monitor live video and plow locations in real time.
While residents can’t access live feeds, they can view a public map that updates every 5 minutes to show which roads have been cleared.
Samsara started incorporating AI into its products in 2019. This winter, for the first time, it has provided customers with footage from other cameras within its large network, helping officials better understand conditions on a street even when no worker is there.
Kiren Sekar, the company’s chief product officer, cited an example of needing to dispatch the closest plow for a snow emergency in Plainwell, Michigan.
“Rather than having to sift through a list of vehicles, it can actually figure this out: ‘We’ve got Trevor in vehicle 203, 15 minutes away,’” Sekar said.
New York City’s approach
Samsara partners with communities of various sizes to upgrade their snowplow systems, but the nation’s largest city — New York City — developed its own.
Its tracking program known as BladeRunner monitors snow removal equipment (including garbage trucks with plows attached) while a human in a command center — not AI — analyzes the GPS data. The city is exploring AI in the future to process the thousands of 311 calls and online service requests it can get in a single day.
The other way the big city’s approach differs from its upstate neighbor of Syracuse is that each plow runs a specific route during storms, ensuring main and side streets get essentially the same treatment.
“So what it does is allow equity,” said Joshua Goodman, deputy commissioner at the city’s Department of Sanitation.
Typically 99% of the city’s roads will be plowed within the first four hours after a moderate snowfall under ideal conditions, but Goodman said it didn’t quite meet that mark during last week’s historic storm.
Cutting costs and insurance claims
With U.S. cities and states spending upward of $4 billion each year on snow operations, the new technology also helps assure roads aren’t overplowed or oversalted, which can cause environmental damage.
Fayetteville, Ark., launched a public-facing snow removal map for the first time this winter. It reported improvements in plowing time, labor costs and fuel savings, despite enduring about double the snow from a year ago.
“This is the first year some roads have ever been treated or plowed, and that goes right back to being able to see where we need to go and if we’ve been there,” said Ross Jackson Jr., the city’s fleet operations manager.
The township of Edison, N.J., reduced its spending on salt and brine by 35% and its insurance payouts by 60%, thanks to video that helped prove plow drivers usually weren’t at fault when the vehicles collided with another motorist’s car.
Video installed on snowplows in Iowa helped demonstrate that all but one of 12 snowplow accidents in a single day were the other driver’s fault, said Craig Bargfrede, the state’s winter operations administrator.
“How can you not see this big orange truck with flashing lights ahead of you?” he said. “Boom, they just drive right into us.”
Kalamazoo County was the first county in Michigan to employ turn-by-turn navigation to dispatch snowplows during a storm. Rusty McClain, assistant general superintendent of its road commission, called it a huge improvement in efficiency.
“The old-school way of doing it, that bird’s-eye view of where everyone needs to go to plow, was just in a large book with paper maps,” McClain said. “You’d have to pull over, find the page you’re looking for, call somebody on the phone and ask if they have plowed that area.”
