Jill Biden, who grew up in Willow Grove, is a fervent Eagles fan and has never been shy about her passion for Philly sports. She’s talked about watching the Phillies with her dad, and in 2020, wore an Eagles shirt to a fundraiser with former Dallas Cowboys star Emmitt Smith — as any “good Philly girl” would do.
Husband Joe, a Delawarean, hasn’t been so forthcoming about his allegiance; ahead of the ill-fated Super Bowl LVII, then-POTUS tweeted, “As your president, I’m not picking favorites. But as Jill Biden’s husband, fly Eagles, fly.”
The first measurable snowfall of the winter of 2025-26 evidently is all but a done deal for Philly this weekend, and it has a chance to be the biggest in two winters — not that the bar is ultra-high in a period when snow has been mightily lacking.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for 3 to 5 inches of snow across the region, with a near 100% likelihood of at least an inch of snow.
That was in line with the AccuWeather Inc. outlook.
The weather service has a 76% chance of at least 4 inches and 43% of 6 or more.
With the caveat that timing and duration of precipitation aren’t in the wheelhouse of atmospheric science, the weather service is expecting snow or snow mixed with rain to start late Saturday night.
If it’s a mix at the outset it would quickly become all snow as temperatures fall below freezing, and continue into midmorning.
The snow would be generated primarily by an upper-air disturbance, said Matt Benz, senior meteorologist for AccuWeather. It’s possible that the storm may regroup off the coast, however, that “probably will form too late to have any impact.”
In a forecast discussion, the weather service said inch-an-hour snowfall rates are possible early Sunday.
“There is a potential for a concentrated area of 4-5 inches of snowfall somewhere near the I-95 corridor and immediately south and east,” the forecasters said.
They noted a 20% to 30% chance that some places get over 5 inches.
And the snow is likely to stick around until at least midweek, with high temperatures Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday expected to be around freezing or lower and the sun angles about as low as they get.
After that February storm, the temperature climbed to near 50 a day later, and the strengthening sun made quick work of the snow cover.
That February snow turned out to be the biggest of a season in which the 8.1-inch total at Philadelphia International Airport barely bested the 8 inches of New Orleans. That winter, the I-95 corridor found itself in a snow hole, and Philly a snow hole within a snow hole. The highest total in the winter of 2023-24 was 4.6 inches during a snowy January week.
Snow fell to the north, west, and south, and that trend has continued in the early going. With 6 inches so far this winter, Richmond, Va., now has measured 22.8 inches since last December, nearly triple the Philly total.
Official totals at Philadelphia International Airport have been less than half of normal for four consecutive winters. The normal for a season is 23.2 inches.
The meteorological winter, which began Dec. 1, certainly is off to a wintry start, with temperatures averaging more than 6 degrees below normal.
It is not off to a particularly wet start, however, and whatever falls this weekend isn’t expected to exceed a half inch of liquid.
In its long-term outlooks through Dec. 26, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is on the fence regarding whether precipitation will be above or below normal.
With high confidence it is calling for a national warm-up.
In any given year, the odds are greatly against Christmas snow in Philly or elsewhere along the I-95 corridor.
But it does look like the region is about get a white Sunday.
Approximately 3.4 million state agency letters intended for Pennsylvania residents — including some detailing whether they are eligible for health benefits or food assistance, or need to renew them — were not delivered to residents from Nov. 3 through Dec. 3, officials said Friday.
Late last week, Pennsylvania state officials discovered that a month’s worth of mail had never been sent to residents by a government-contracted vendor, resulting in a pileup of millions of unsent state communications. Once the issue was discovered, the state fired the vendor, Harrisburg-based Capitol Presort Services, and hired another vendor for a $1 million emergency contract to work through the backlog.
Now, the state says 1.7 million letters sent by DHS, which oversees the care of Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable residents and the delivery of critical public benefits, were not delivered because of the vendor issue, said spokesperson Brandon Cwalina.
Residents may not have received letters detailing whether they need to renew their health benefits or if they are required to submit additional information to continue receiving SNAP food assistance, Cwalina confirmed. Administrative hearing notices — which could determine someone’s eligibility for public benefits, appeals about alleged elder abuse, or approvals of new foster homes — as well as child abuse clearances were also among the affected mail, he said.
Cwalina said the contents of some of the letters were also communicated to some intended recipients virtually, if they had opted to receive email or text notifications. Child abuse clearances are available online.
SNAP cutoffs, which are administered by DHS, were set to begin under the federal government’s new work requirements in December and must be appealed within 15 days. The federal government has said it will not count the month of November as part of its three-month timeline to implement SNAP cutoffs, so eligibility didn’t “occur during the period affected by the mail delay,” Cwalina added.
It remains unclear whether any Pennsylvania residents lost access to their benefits due to the vendor issue that went unnoticed for a month, or if they are at risk of missing deadlines to maintain their benefits. It’s also still unclear how many DHS hearings had to be rescheduled — and the impact of those delays on the care of Pennsylvania’s most at-risk residents.
Another 1.6 million letters from the state Department of Transportation were not delivered last month, including driver’s license and vehicle registration renewal invitations, driver’s license camera cards, vehicle registration cards, and address card updates, said Paul Vezzetti, a spokesperson for the Department of General Services.
Driver’s license suspensions were not impacted by the stalled mail. Vehicle registration and license renewal registrations are sent three months in advance, so anyone who was due to receive one at the start of November will have until February to submit it, Vezzetti said earlier this week.
All of the unsent letters from PennDot and DHS were successfully mailed by a new vendor this week and should reach residents within a few days, Vezzetti said.
The Elkins Estate, which already hosts weddings in its main mansion, is set to add a boutique event space and a distillery in the new year.
In the fall, the Tudor-style Chelten House will open for smaller gatherings of 100 or fewer people, and include 16 guest rooms, said Jeanne Cretella, cofounder of By Landmark hospitality.
“We’re really looking forward to our next phase,” Cretella said, noting that the Chelten House “will be the perfect setting for those much more intimate events, whether it’s seminars or retreats or business meetings.”
In 2019, Jeanne and Frank Cretella’s company, By Landmark, bought the sprawling Cheltenham property for $6.5 million from the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine de Ricci, who had used the grounds for religious retreats. At the time, the couple said they intended to spend $20 million to restore six historic buildings on the site.
A couple walks through a room in the Elstowe Manor at Elkins Estate.
By Landmark’s final investment numbers were not available Friday, according to a spokesperson, as renovations are ongoing.
The Cretellas initially envisioned a luxury boutique hotel with more than 100 guest rooms, a spa, a restaurant, and other amenities. At one point, they even considered installing a heliport on the site.
Then the pandemic happened, Jeanne Cretella recalled Friday.
Despite the challenges of that time, “we are so proud that we were able to open up Elstowe Manor,” the estate’s 70,000-square-foot centerpiece that required extensive plumbing, electrical, heating, and ADA upgrades to be brought up to code, Cretella said.
A room at the Elkins Estate’s Elstowe Manor, its main mansion, set up for a wedding reception.
“We made the decision after COVID that it would be best … to have the rooms only open to event guests,” she said.
With 50-foot frescoed ceilings and a grand ballroom with a glass skylight, Elstowe Manor can host 300-person events and includes 69 guest rooms.
More than 100 weddings and events have been held at the manor in the past two years (The venue also hosted weddings in the early 2010s when it was briefly owned by a nonprofit that went bankrupt).
A couple kisses during their wedding ceremony outside the Elkins Estate’s Elstowe Manor.
At the estate these days, couples and their guests feel like they “are somewhere really special, and have the ability to really enjoy utilizing the estate for the whole weekend,” Cretella said.
With its more intimate setting, the Chelten House is meant to complement the Elstowe Manor, Cretella said. The home features Italian Renaissance Revival designs, with terracotta roof tiles, large arched windows, wood-paneled rooms, and marble fireplaces.
While each part of the property is set apart and has its own entrance, Cretella said she foresees the Chelten House being busy during the week (when most corporate retreats occur) and the Elstowe Manor bustling with wedding festivities on the weekends.
Some larger weddings may use both the manor and the Chelten House for their events and accommodations, she said.
Cretella said they don’t foresee adding more amenities to the property in the near future.
“The original plan to have a restaurant was definitely in conjunction with having a hotel that was open to the public,” not just event guests, she said. So “opening up a restaurant is not on the horizon.”
But, she added, “we won’t say never.”
For now, Cretella said they are focused on their events, including opportunities to welcome the public onto the historic site.
Earlier this year, the estate opened a podcast recording studio and demonstration kitchen, which Cretella said they hope local school students can use. They are also looking to bring professional actors and creators into the space.
In November, By Landmark opened the estate up for paid public tours. A tour in early January, which costs $30 a person, is already sold out.
Cretella said the estate plans to host a Valentine’s Day dinner, open to the public, with an optional overnight stay after the meal.
For the Chelten House, booking for small private events will open in the new year, Cretella said.
Based in North Jersey, By Landmark operates nearly 30 venues in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. They include the Hotel du Village and the Logan Inn in New Hope.
In the late 1800s, the Elkins Estate was built as a countryside retreat for railroad magnate William Lukens Elkins, who is credited with helping to form what would eventually become SEPTA and the Philadelphia Gas Works.
AfterLincoln University’s homecoming in October ended with seven people shot, including one killed, the rural Chester County township where the school is located plans to pass new regulations on large events.
Several officials in Lower Oxford Township said there have been ongoing problems with parking, trash on neighbors’ lawns, disturbances and, in some cases, crime when the 1,650-student university hosts events. After the Oct. 25 shooting, when thousands of people gathered for homecoming, emergency personnel had to use all-terrain vehicles to transport patients on stretchers because ambulances could not access the campus, given how many cars were parked around the venue, they said.
“We have had meetings with people at Lincoln,” said township supervisor Noel Roy, who oversees emergency management. “They’ve been somewhat reluctant to do what needs to be done to try and control the situation.”
Lincoln University has declined to answer specific questions from The Inquirer, but President Brenda Allen at a board of trustees meeting last month acknowledged that changes were needed, especially around the school’s large events, and that the school has to do a better job of collaborating with the township.
“Our top priority remains the safety of our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community,” the school said in a statement to The Inquirer Thursday. “The university continues to refine our safety measures and protocols.”
At a township supervisors meeting this week, university officials pledged to work with the township.
Lower Oxford Township officials meet and discuss a potential large event ordinance following the homecoming shooting at Lincoln University.
“We want to come together because we are a part of this community as well,” said Venus Boston, Lincoln’s general counsel.
Yeda Arscott, Lincoln’s associate vice president of facilities and program management, told supervisors the university is considering several steps to improve safety, including ending all outside events at dusk, eliminating open invitations, requiring guest registration, and canceling large events such as Spring Fling. The school also is looking at parking and safety protocols, she said.
Yeda Arscott, associate vice president director of facilities and program management at Lincoln, speaks at the Lower Oxford Township meeting and shares actions the university is considering following the homecoming shooting.
“This shows real commitment,” said Arscott, who lives five minutes from Lincoln, “but real safety requires joint planning between the township, Lincoln, other major businesses, our neighbors, and emergency services.”
Township and Lincoln officials said they plan to meet privately to discuss solutions.
“Our goal is to work with Lincoln to make this better,” said Kevin R. Martin, chairman of the board of supervisors. “We need to think this through, but we also have a sense of urgency because it does affect our community.”
Kevin R Martin, chairman of the township supervisors, said the township wants to work with Lincoln on improvements.
Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell said county officialsand the university also will meet in January to discuss best practices for emergency services and student and community safety.
“It’s important that the kids feel safe,” said Maxwell, who also is an adjunct professor at Lincoln. “No one wants this to ever happen again.”
The shooting remains under investigation.Jujuan Jeffers, 20, of Wilmington, was killed, and six others, ages 20 to 25, including a student, were also shot. Zecqueous Morgan-Thompson, 21, of Wilmington, was charged with possessing a concealed firearm without a license. Neither Jeffers nor Morgan-Thompson have any known connection to Lincoln.
Arscott also urged township leaders to “broaden the conversation beyond event permits” and look to address the problem of gun violence.
“We were a victim, too,” Boston said.
“We were a victim, too,” said Venus Boston, Lincoln University’s general counsel.
Tensions with neighbors
The proposed township ordinance would require those seeking to hold special events to apply for a permit 30 days in advance and outline how they will control the number of guests, traffic, alcohol, and security, said township solicitor Winifred Moran-Sebastian. The township couldapprove or reject applications.
Township supervisors last spring passed a parking ordinance to cope with access problems created during past large events at Lincoln, but parking at homecoming still led to issues for emergency responders.
Several residents who attended this week’smeeting were skeptical of Lincoln’s intent to make improvements and called for larger fines than the $1,000 proposed in the ordinance.
Vanessa Ross lives about a half a mile from campus and said she was afraid for her family the night of the homecoming shooting. She spoke at the Lower Oxford Township supervisors meeting.
“I feel my life is in jeopardy with how things are being currently managed,” said Lincoln neighbor Celestine Getty, fearing what could happen if vehicles were unable to get to her house in the event of an emergency.
Vanessa Ross, who has lived about a half mile from Lincoln for 14 years, said crime and disruption have happened at large Lincoln events for half those years.
“There is no excuse whatsoever why the college cannot increase their police force and install the metal detectors that are necessary,” she said. “I can’t even go see Barry Manilow in Philadelphia without going through a metal detector.”
Founded in 1854, Lincoln is known as the first degree-granting historically Black university in the nation. Its 429 acres are nestled in a township of farm fields with a little over 5,000 residents, the majority of them white. Racial tensions have come into play over the years, with township residents saying they have been unfairly accused of racism for raising safety issues.
Allen, the Lincoln president, has not pointed to racism as a factor in the conversations about safety, said Boston, the university’s solicitor.
A storied institution with recent safety issues
Lincoln has a storied history. The first presidents of both Nigeria and Ghana are Lincoln graduates, as are Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and poet Langston Hughes.
The school hasreceived $45 million in gifts fromphilanthropist MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Jeff Bezos. And Allen, who in 2020 had survived an internal battle to oust her and had her contract extended to 2030, was named a top historically Black college leader by a national nonprofitin 2021.
But over the last decade, the university has struggled with safety issues.
In spring 2023, two women were shot and injured on Lincoln’s campus during its annual Spring Fling event. In 2022, a student was fatally stabbed during a fight inside a dorm by the sister of a student. During an on-campus dance in 2018, 15 students were taken to the hospital following a brawl in which a security officer was assaulted. In 2016, there was a robbery and shooting on Lincoln’s campus following homecoming. And in 2015, Lincoln tightened security after shots were fired in a dorm.
Some residents said it’s time for the township to put in additional controls.
“We can no longer wait and see or hope the university will simply do the right thing,” said Andrew Cope, who lived near Lincoln for nearly two decades and still owns property there. “The pattern is too long, the consequences too severe, and the community’s trust too damaged.”
Carmina Taylor, former president of Lincoln parents association, addresses the Lower Oxford Township supervisors.
Carmina Taylor, who led Lincoln’s parent association from 2013 to 2016, said she has had longstanding safety concerns.
When a student was killed in the dorm in 2022, Taylor told The Inquirer she had previously sounded the alarm: “I had said, ‘If Lincoln doesn’t do something, we’re going to have a death on campus.’”
The university’s response to the homecoming shooting, said Taylor, who got a master’s degree from Lincoln in 2011 and whose son graduated from Lincoln in 2016, is “beyond fluff.”
“Until someone does something from the outside to bind them,” she said, nothing will change.
Security expert Brian Higgins said measures, including controlled entrances and screening of guests with hand-held wands, metal detectors or bag checks, are typically used for large crowd events. He acknowledged that imposing strict guest screening may not create the welcoming, upbeat environment characteristic of college homecomings.
“But in light of what happened, it’s very prudent to do so,” said Higgins, president of Group 77, a public safety and security consulting firm, based in the New York metro area.
Higgins, whosecompany has colleges among its clients, said drones increasingly are being usedas part of safety monitoring at large events. Traffic control measures and the setting of crowd size limits are other issues the school should consider, he said.
Anthony Floyd, a former police chief at Lincoln and a Philadelphia city police officer for about 20 years, said the university’s police chief and president should attend every township meeting and work more closely with the township on addressing safety issues.
Anthony Floyd Jr., who was police chief at Lincoln in 2013 and also had been a Philadelphia city cop, told the supervisors at the meeting that better coordination is needed between the community and the university. The school’s police chief and president should attend the supervisor meetings every month, give updates on safety and security, and be held accountable, he said.
Lincoln says it’s working on changes
Last month at a Lincoln board of trustees meeting, Allen, the president, said the campus had been focused on restoring a sense of safety for students and making sure they and staff had counseling support. Allen, a 1981 Lincoln graduate who has led the school since 2017, said the university was examining “safety protocols, parking, traffic, registration for guests,” and the process for inviting guests as part of its review process.
Lincoln University President Brenda A. Allen (left) announces plans for an after action review following the homecoming shooting.
Allen said the university is seeking feedback from the student government association and faculty and staff.
Roy, one of the township supervisors, saidparking restrictions put into place earlier this yearwere not heeded, and the township had to tow 60 cars the night of the homecoming shooting.
“Every time they towed a car, another car would pull into that space,” he said.
An event that would draw 10,000 people to a township with half that population and no police force is concerning, said Moran-Sebastian, the township solicitor. Lower Oxford relies on Pennsylvania State Police for law enforcement. For the homecoming event, the university requested state police, but only got two, Arscott, the facilities’ head, said.
Deborah J Kinney, secretary/treasurer and code enforcement officer, listens during the Lower Oxford Township supervisors meeting.
Township officials have been frustrated with the responses from Lincoln in the past. When a meeting was held in November 2024 to discuss parking-related problems during the previous Spring Fling event, Allen said she didn’t need the township’s help, said Deborah Kinney, township secretary/treasurer and codes enforcement officer. Kinney said she had suggested an event process that would have included a plan for parking.
“So we decided we needed to be proactive on our end, not just for our residents but for their students,” Kinney said. “It’s not the students. It’s the outside influences that are coming in to these events.”
She also said that in 2024, Lincoln accounted for 183, or 26%, of the township’s emergency calls.
Winfred Moran-Sebastian, Lower Oxford Township solicitor, outlines the proposed ordinance to regulate large events in the township. The ordinance is still under draft.
Veronica Carr, a 2016 Lincoln alumna, said she had been concerned about safety when she was a student, and conditions seem to have gotten worse. She did not attend homecoming.
Carr, who works for an African American heritage consulting firm and lives in North Carolina, said she is concerned that two people have been killed on the campus in less than four years.
The first measurable snowfall of the winter of 2025-26 evidently is all but a done deal for Philly this weekend, and it has a chance to be the biggest in five winters — not that the bar is ultra-high in a period when snow has been mightily lacking.
The National Weather Service Saturday has issued a winter storm warning for 3 to 5 inches throughout the region, listing a 98% likelihood of at least an inch.
The AccuWeather Inc. forecast was similar.
The weather service foresaw a 76% chance of 4 inches in the immediate Philly area, and a 43% chance of 6 or more.
With the caveat that timing and duration of precipitation aren’t in the wheelhouse of atmospheric science, the weather service is expecting snow or snow mixed with rain to start late Saturday night.
If it’s a mix at the outset it would quickly become all snow as temperatures fall below freezing, and end around daybreak. As the weather service pointed out, the timing couldn’t be much better for minimizing disruption.
However, snow showers and wind chills in the teens are expected when the Eagles host the Oakland Raiders in South Philly.
The accumulating snow would be generated primarily by an upper-air disturbance, said Matt Benz, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather. It’s possible that the storm may regroup off the coast; however, that “probably will form too late to have any impact,” Benz said.
The weather service said inch-an-hour snowfall rates are possible in the early morning hours of Sunday.
And the snow is likely to stick around until at least midweek, with high temperatures Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday expected to be around freezing or lower and the sun angles about as low as they get.
After a 3.1-inch snowfall in February, the temperature climbed to near 50 a day later, and the strengthening sun made quick work of the snow cover.
That February snow turned out to be the biggest of a season in which the 8.1-inch total at Philadelphia International Airport barely bested the 8 inches of New Orleans. That winter, the I-95 corridor found itself in a snow hole, and Philly a snow hole within a snow hole. The highest total in the winter of 2023-24 was 4.6 inches during a snowy January week.
Last season, snow fell to the north, west, and south, and that trend has continued in the early going. With 6 inches so far this winter, Richmond, Va., now has measured 22.8 inches since last December, nearly triple the Philly total.
Official totals at Philadelphia International Airport have been significantly below normal for four consecutive winters. The normal for a season is 23.1 inches.
The meteorological winter, which began Dec. 1, certainly is off to a wintry start, with temperatures averaging more than 6 degrees below normal.
It is not off to a particularly wet start, however, and whatever falls this weekend isn’t expected to exceed a half inch of liquid.
In its long-term outlooks through Dec. 26, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is on the fence regarding whether precipitation will be above or below normal.
With high confidence it is calling for a national warm-up.
In any given year, the odds are greatly against Christmas snow in Philly or elsewhere along the I-95 corridor.
But it does look like the region is about to get a white Sunday.
The odds are almost always stacked against a white Christmas around here, but it is looks like the region will experience a white Dec. 14.
The National Weather Service on Friday said Philadelphia was all but certain to get at least an inch of snow during the weekend, with a general 2 to 4 inches expected, said Joe DeSilva, a meteorologist in the Mount Holly office.
The weather service issued a winter-weather advisory for the entire region from 7 p.m. Saturday through 1 p.m. Sunday.
A storm forming along an Arctic front combined with a strung idsturbance in the upper atmosphere were forecast to begin shaking out snowflakes very late Saturday night or early Sunday. It’s possible that the snow may be mixed with rain, at least at the outset, especially south and east of the city.
And while this may be shocking, computer models continue to tweak outcomes, leaving “still a little bit of uncertainty how this low is going to track,” said DeSilva’s colleague Eric Hoeflich.
However, recent model runs overall have been a shade more bullish on snow amounts than they had been, and the U.S. model has bumped up amounts slightly, said DeSilva.
Timing and duration issues remained to be resolved, and snow could cause commuting issues in the morning. In addition to church-goers, tail-gaters will be commuting commuting to the Eagles game at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philly, and supermarkets typically experience brisk traffic in the run-up to Eagles’s games.
The snow, however, is forecast to end well before kickoff at the Linc, scheduled for 1:15 p.m., DeSilva said.
Some flakes were evident Thursday in the region, with Philadelphia International Airport, where winds gusted past 30 mph, reporting its third “trace” of the season.
The renegade flakes were flying from lake-effect snows, said Bill Deger, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc.
The winds have shut off, and both Friday and Saturday were expected to be tranquil with daytime temperatures mostly in the 30s.
And this time, that holiday least-favorite, the “wintry mix,” wouldn’t be in the mix.
How much snow for Philly?
AccuWeather Inc. was calling for up to 3 inches.
If the storm is a quick mover, expect the inch, but if slows down and ripens a bit, it could be as much as 3, said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Bill Deger.
The weather service was pretty much on board with that estimate.
It painted 3 nches for Philly on its Friday morning snow map.
One near-certainty: This will change.
What time would the snow start?
It is likely to begin very late Saturday night or very early Sunday and continue until mid- or late morning, forecasters say.
Temperatures throughout the day are not expected to get past 30, with wind chills in the teens.
It might feel even colder if the Eagles lose to the lowly Las Vegas Raiders.
Regardless, everyone should be able to make it home.
“We’re not talking a major snowstorm,” Hoeflich said.
But this would be something a little bit different compared with recent local snow history.
Hoeflich noted that, as happened last winter, generous snow has fallen to the north, south, and west, leaving “a giant snow hole” over the Philadelphia area.
Aaron Goldblatt, 70, of Philadelphia, award-winning museum services partner emeritus at Metcalfe Architecture & Design, former vice president for exhibits at the Please Touch Museum, exhibit designer, sculptor, adventurer, and mentor, died Sunday, Dec. 7, of lung cancer at his home.
He joined business partner Alan Metcalfe in 2002 and specialized in constructing canopy walks, glass floors, elevated walkways, net bridges, abstract playgrounds, multimedia exhibits, and other unique designs in prominent locations. Visitors encounter their creations at the Museum of the American Revolution, the Independence Seaport Museum, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem, Pa., and the Whiting Forest at Dow Gardens in Michigan.
He and colleagues built the Lorax Loft on the Trail of the Lorax at the Philadelphia Zoo, the innovative garden and playground at Abington Friends School, and the lobby at Wissahickon Charter School. At Morris Arboretum, they built the celebrated Out on a Limb and Squirrel Scramble “treetop experiences” that Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron called “an irresistible allure, to young and old alike.”
He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sculpture, hitchhiked from adventure to adventure around the country and South America after high school, and said in 2019 that “learning, laughter, and creating genuine connections between people, nature, and history … really inspire my design.”
Play, he said, is one of those genuine connections. “Wherever people are, as long as they are there long enough, play will happen,” he said in 2019. “It happens in schools, museums, and even prisons. Play is fundamental to being human.”
Together, Mr. Goldblatt, Metcalfe, and their colleagues earned design awards from the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the American Association of Museums, and other groups. In 2022, they earned the Wyck-Strickland Award from the historic Wyck house, garden, and farm for outstanding contributions to the cultural life of Philadelphia.
In a tribute, colleagues at Metcalfe said Mr. Goldblatt “transformed our studio into the place we are today.” They said: “His generosity, wisdom, and passion for play emanated throughout every conversation, punctuated only by his wit and sense of humor.”
This photo and story about Mr. Goldblatt appeared in the Daily News in 2013.
From 1990 to 2002, he designed and developed exhibits at the Please Touch Museum. Earlier, he was director of exhibits for the Academy of Natural Sciences, assistant director at the Wagner Free Institute of Science, and studio assistant to sculptor Alice Aycock and other artists.
He helped design the Rail Park and was a cofounder and longtime board member of Friends of the Rail Park. He served on boards at the Print Center, the Wagner Free Institute of Science, and other groups, and taught postgraduate museum studies at the University of the Arts for 20 years.
“He developed a love of the process and philosophy of building,” said his daughter, Lillian. His wife, Susan Hagen, said: “He was always engaged, always asking questions. He was curious, funny, and extremely smart.”
Friends called him “lovely, smart, and witty” and “warm, wise, and creative” in Facebook tributes. One friend said: “He always had a spark.”
Aaron Shlomo Goldblatt was born March 22, 1955, in Cleveland. His father was in the Army, and Mr. Goldblatt grew up on military bases across the country and in Germany.
Mr. Goldblatt and his wife, Susan Hagen, married in 2023.
He graduated from high school in Maryland and earned his bachelor’s degree at Philadelphia College of Art in 1982 and master’s degree at Rutgers University in 1990. Before settling in Philadelphia, he worked on farms, painted houses, and spent time as a carpenter, a welder, and a potter.
He married Diane Pontius, and they had a daughter, Lilly. After a divorce, he married Laura Foster. She died in 2019. He married fellow artist Susan Hagen in 2023, and they lived in Spring Garden.
An engaging storyteller and talented cook, Mr. Goldblatt enjoyed all kinds of art, music, and books. He watched foreign films, wrote letters to politicians and the editor of The Inquirer, and visited the Reading Terminal Market as often as possible. He and his wife started birding during the pandemic.
“Aaron led with his heart, engaging deeply with the people and ideas around him,” his daughter said. “He could burst into song at any moment.”
Mr. Goldblatt smiles with his daughter, Lilly.
His wife said: “He was a family person, and everyone talks about his love and kindness.”
In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Goldblatt is survived by a grandson, a sister, a brother, his former wife, and other relatives.
For that, the Southwest Philadelphia woman was sentenced Friday to 10 to 20 years in state prison.
“I am not God. I can’t decide who lives and who dies,” Williams, 31, told Judge Kevin F. Kelly. “This is the biggest mistake of my life, and I hate myself for it.”
Williams pleaded guilty in August to third-degree murder and third-degree murder of an unborn child for fatally shooting Latoya Davis in the parking lot of a Wawa store in Collingdale last year.
At the time, Davis, 32, was six months pregnant, something Williams said she did not know when she pulled the trigger of her Ruger .380 handgun on that night in October 2024.
“Not a day goes by where I don’t cry my eyes out,” Williams said. “I am sorry for the Davis family for the pain I have caused. I took something so precious, and I’m embarrassed, ashamed, remorseful, shattered.”
Davis, who left behind two young daughters, was shot once in the back during the dispute, which prosecutors said began inside the Wawa and continued in the store’s parking lot, where the two women had parked next to each other.
Latoya Davis, a mother of two, was killed outside of a Wawa in Glenolden. Davis was six months pregnant at the time.
As Williams went to drive away, Davis continued to argue with her and, at one point, threw a beverage at her. In response, Williams shot her with the gun she was licensed to carry.
Williams’ attorney, Anna Hinchman, said a lifetime of trauma, including sexual abuse as a teen and violent domestic assaults by her ex-husband, left Williams with a severe case of PTSD that was triggered when Davis confronted her.
Assistant District Attorney Dan Kerley called the shooting a “senseless act of violence” and said that, despite Williams’ perception that she was defending herself, her actions forever ruined two families.
“It’s undisputed that Ms. Williams had a license to carry her gun, but that did not give her a license to kill,” he said. “It does not give you the ability to shoot someone during an argument.”
Still, Kerley credited Williams for remaining at the scene, performing CPR on the grievously wounded Davis, and cooperating with police.
Gabou Jean Pierre Toure, Davis’ longtime boyfriend and the father of her unborn son, said no amount of remorse or accountability can heal the pain he feels.
“I want to forgive you so bad. I’m trying to forgive you,” he said. “But I still feel this is a nightmare that I want to wake up from.”
Toure said he and Davis were soulmates, and were both eagerly awaiting the birth of their son after struggling with fertility issues. The two shared a birthday and celebrated together every year.
This year, he said, all he could do on that day was weep for his lost love.
“You are a mom. You can imagine how it feels to lose your child,” he said to Williams. “I hope you regret what you’ve done.”
NEW YORK — Pennsylvania’s political elite will return this weekend for the first time in seven years to where the annual out-of-state glitzy gathering all began: the Waldorf Astoria New York.
The Pennsylvania Society began in 1899 in the Waldorf Astoria, after historian James Barr Ferree invited 55 fellow Pennsylvania natives living in New York to the iconic hotel to talk about how they could better their home state. Early members of what was originally called the “Pennsylvania Society of New York” included industrialist titans like Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon, both of whom began their empires in Pennsylvania.
In the 127 years since, the society has evolved into a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that has raised millions of dollars for student scholarships and hosts the annual dinner in New York, in addition to events around the commonwealth each year.
Gov. Josh Shapiro is slated to deliver a speech at the dinner, as is tradition for Pennsylvania’s governors. Another tradition: honoring a notable Pennsylvanian, and this year that person will be former U.S. Ambassador to Canada David L. Cohen, a Philadelphia stalwart whose long career includes stints as an executive at Comcast, chair of the University of Pennsylvania’s Board of Trustees, and five years as Ed Rendell’s chief of staff during his mayorship.
President Donald Trump waves in 2015 to a crowed outside Trump Tower in Manhattan as he heads to the nearby Republican luncheon that kicks off Pennsylvania Society during his first campaign for president.
Why does the Pennsylvania Society meet in New York?
The society hosted its annual dinners at the Waldorf for 119 years, until it was forced to find a new home while the iconic hotel was closed for prolonged renovations.
“This is where it started: a group of Pennsylvanians living in New York who wanted to come together around their shared love of Pennsylvania,” said Trish Wellenbach, president of the Pennsylvania Society. “There’s no place like home.”
But that home is not in Philly or Pittsburgh.
Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria, decked out for the Pennsylvania Society dinner.
The dinner has faced scrutiny for decades for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars that could be spent within Pennsylvania to a different state, as well as often being a tone-deaf showing of wealth while many Pennsylvanians are struggling.
A standard ticket to attend the black-tie affair cost $1,000 per person, with lower rates available for emerging leaders under age 35.
Wellenbach acknowledged the longtime criticism, but she said she believes that the weekend away from Pennsylvania helps form new relationships among lawmakers that otherwise would not be forged.
“New York’s a kind of neutral territory,” Wellenbach added. “No part of the state has a brighter light shining on it than another. … Sometimes you have to get out of your own home territory to think more expansively and strategically.”
Shapiro, a first-term Democratic governor up for reelection next year, has delivered a speech at the Pennsylvania Society each year of his governorship, breaking from his immediate predecessor, Tom Wolf, who skipped the event during his tenure.
Shapiro’s likely 2026 opponent, Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the state Republican Party’s endorsed candidate, will also be among the officials attending the annual dinner, where politicians try to position themselves for higher office or reelection.
Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) will also be among the officials turning up for this year’s dinner. McCormick attended last year’s event just weeks after he ousted longtime incumbent Sen. Bob Casey in November 2024.
Then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, left, talks with David Cohen at the Pa. Society dinner in 2013. Cohen, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada, will be honored at this year’s dinner.
The former Comcast executive has been attending the Pennsylvania Society, the place where his career paths in politics and business merged, for nearly 40 years. Getting the award this year is a “huge honor,” he added.
“I’ve been [to the Pennsylvania Society] almost 40 times. I’ve seen 40 gold medal winners,” Cohen said in an interview this week. “I never imagined myself being a gold medal winner.”
After spending four years away from Philadelphia as an ambassador, Cohen said, he has become keenly aware of the importance that the city and Pennsylvania hold internationally as the origin of modern democracy, ahead of America’s 250th birthday next year.
“There’s a common perception in the world that Philadelphia and Pennsylvania was the birthplace of democracy,” Cohen said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’d get stopped and asked, ‘You live in Philadelphia? Does that mean you can see the Liberty Bell?,’ just marveling at living in a place where there was so much history relating to the founding of democracy.”
Guests mill about during cocktail hour at the New York Hilton Midtown before the start of the Pennsylvania Society’s 121st Annual Dinner in 2019.
Cohen will be honored for his decades of contributions to Pennsylvania and Philadelphia.
He said his personal proudest achievements include his ambassadorship in Canada, his work during Rendell’s administration to improve the perception of the city, and his work at Comcast to improve internet access across America.
