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  • Delco homeless shelter system to close two shelters amid Harrisburg budget impasse

    Delco homeless shelter system to close two shelters amid Harrisburg budget impasse

    Delaware County’s homeless services, already overextended and stretched to its limits, are slated to lose two shelters and a much-needed rental assistance program at the end of the month as a result of the ongoing budget impasse in Harrisburg.

    The closures, though likely temporary until state lawmakers set aside partisan disagreements to approve a budget, would mark a major blow to a system some say is on the brink of collapse in one of Pennsylvania’s most populous counties.

    Delaware County officials have attempted to stave off suspensions in critical social services for the first few months of the budget impasse by dipping into their coffers. According to officials, the county typically spends $12 million a month on homeless shelters and other services for children and youth, mental health needs, and substance use disorders.

    Now out of options to pay for these critical supports, the county has notified local service providers that they won’t be able to help them any further. Only a budget can restore funding.

    “We had hoped the impasse would be resolved much sooner and had fully funded our providers through September, but unfortunately can no longer fully fund providers without the funds from the state,” county spokesperson Mike Connolly said.

    Men’s dorm at Life Center-Eastern Delaware County in Upper Darby on Friday.

    The Community Action Agency of Delaware County, which operates three shelters and a rental assistance program, among other services, has no choice but to make cuts to its services or even close, its executive director Ed Coleman said.

    Life Center, a shelter that has room for about 50 people, has gradually cut its capacity by half. Wesley House and Family Management Center, which have a combined capacity to house more than 110 people, are slated to close by the end of the month. Plus, CAADC’s rental assistance program, which helps approximately 270 families a year, will be paused until the state budget is passed.

    Remaining homeless shelters, such as Breaking Bread in Upper Darby and the Salvation Army in Chester, have already seen a surge in people seeking assistance in recent weeks as Wesley House Shelter and Family Management Center wind down operations.

    “We’re at capacity. We have no more room,” said James Stephenson, who leads the Salvation Army’s 40-person facility.

    Mental Health Partnerships, which provides services for people with mental health conditions or substance use disorders, has been assembling a weekly working group with local shelters and county government to prepare for a winter with at least one emergency shelter, in anticipation of more shelter closures, said its president and CEO, Jeannine Lisitski. Mental Health Partnerships officials have already begun seeing more people on the streets around Delaware County as part of their street outreach there due to the diminishing number of places that people can go to stay warm in these cooling months.

    “There’s a real crisis in Delaware County brewing now,” Lisitski said.

    ‘It’s childish for people to be so politically divided’

    With no state budget in sight, public schools, counties, and service providers that help Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable have been forced to find ways to keep their doors open as they await reimbursement from the state. School districts have had to make up more than $3 billion in expected state payments, while some counties have had to lay off staff or take out major loans.

    But the issues are particularly dire in Delaware County, where the budget impasse is just the latest blow to the threadbare safety net that has only been further stretched in recent years.

    Delco had the fourth-highest eviction rate in Pennsylvania in 2022, at 11.5%, according to a study by PolicyLink and Community Legal Services of Philadelphia.

    The persistent issue pushed Delco officials and dozens of other stakeholders to convene the following year to find ways to help the more than 300 people already facing homelessness and the 100 families on wait lists for shelters in the county, as well as all those in danger of losing housing.

    But just this year, Crozer-Chester Medical Center, which was the county’s only 24-7 crisis center for mental and behavioral health, closed in May. Shelter operators, such as the Salvation Army, believe they will have to step up to help the affected population.

    St. Joseph’s Family Hope Center closed in June.

    Breaking Bread, which until recently could serve 25 people, can take in only eight after moving back to its original building, which is in need of repairs and has limited space.

    And the county’s adult and family services agency, which contracts with shelter providers, saw a loss of $1 million in funding.

    Lisitski said Mental Health Partnerships — which serves Delaware County, the other three collar counties, and Philadelphia — has already taken out a significant amount of credit to continue operating. And she has grown deeply frustrated with the state government that leaders have not been able to come together to achieve a budget deal.

    “I’m really disgusted, I have to say. I hold myself to a very high standard as a CEO and as a leader. I would not leave my post if I did not take care of every program. I would not leave for the day until I resolved everything,” she said.

    “That’s my commitment. I want the same commitment from our elected officials. And it’s childish for people to be so politically divided,” she added.

    Separately, the federal shutdown is poised to delay funds from the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program, which help about 300,000 Pennsylvanians pay their heating bills, as well as the distribution of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

    Federal shutdown may bring a halt to food assistance for half a million Philadelphians

    As funds dry up, limited options for families

    At Wesley House, which can serve an average of 50 children at any given time, families like Grayson’s are scrambling to find temporary housing.

    The 52-year-old has been living in Wesley House for almost seven months after caring for his terminally ill mother drained the family’s finances and led his family of four to be evicted. He asked that his full name be withheld to protect the identity of his two young children, as not everyone knows the family became homeless this year.

    “This is people’s last resort. This is the last stop before being on the street,” Grayson said of the room with four bunk beds he shares with his family. “I feel like we’re being kicked while we’re already down.”

    With news of Wesley House’s closure, Grayson and his wife are working with social workers to get rapid rehousing so as not to disrupt their children’s lives, but it’s a race against time in between the three combined jobs the couple is working.

    John Weis, Life Center of Delaware County’s lead case manager (left) assists client Joseph Wallace Friday.

    For Heather Schearer, her several months living at Life Center were a necessary step up in her recovery process. She had been unhoused for about five months earlier this year, and was sleeping in her car until it got too cold. When approached, she agreed to stay at Life Center until she eventually was connected to longer-term provider Mental Health Partnerships for its rapid rehousing and peer support programs, she said.

    “[Politicians] don’t want to get their boots on the ground, take your ties off, and sit and talk,” Schearer said. “It’s the little things that matter that will get you to the next step.”

    According to Community Action, similar scenes are playing out at Family Management Center, which can serve an average of a little more than 30 children at any given time. And while the most significant service reductions in homeless services are not scheduled for another week, the impacts of cuts are already visible across Delaware County.

    Lisitski, of Mental Health Partnerships, which provides street outreach around Delaware County, said staff have already seen “a lot more people” than usual living on the street.

    When shelters close like this, it becomes a “life-and-death situation” for people who are unhoused, she added. If the people who access critical services — usually people who are homeless, have substance use disorder, or have serious mental health conditions — cannot do so, she said, it will result in their being jailed, institutionalized, or, in the worst cases, dead.

    In anticipation of the added need for housing due to the impasse, Mental Health Partnerships is working with Delaware County officials, faith-based entities, and other local groups to prepare emergency shelter space from December through April. It is also taking a line of credit to stay afloat.

    But loans are not a viable option for all service providers.

    Coleman, of Community Action, said even if the nonprofit could be approved for a line of credit, leaders have no way of knowing how much to ask for since they don’t know when a budget will be passed. Then there would be the question of interest.

    “There’s no way [shelters] can afford to pay back interest on a loan, and the interest on a loan cannot be charged to a grant, so it would just be money lost to them,” he said.

    Without a state budget, local government is the nonprofit’s last hope. Upper Darby, where Life Center is located, has awarded Life Center $120,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds, which will become available Jan. 1, according to officials there.

    It’s much-needed money, but only one thing can help Community Action’s two other shelters stay open.

    “We’re hoping that the legislators can do their job and pass a budget so the county doesn’t have to deal with some unfortunate situations,” Coleman said.

  • One dead, six others shot at Lincoln University

    One dead, six others shot at Lincoln University

    A 25-year-old man from Wilmington was killed and six others — including a student and an alum — were injured in a shooting Saturday night at Lincoln University, which was celebrating homecoming weekend, according to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.

    The man killed was Jujuan Jeffers, 25, of Wilmington, District Attorney Christopher de Barrena-Sarobe said.

    The other six shooting victims, all age 20 to 25, are expected to survive, de Barrena-Sarobe said at a news conference on campus early Sunday evening.

    Zecqueous Morgan-Thompson, 21, of Wilmington, was charged with carrying a concealed firearm without a license, de Barrena-Sarobe said. Authorities are investigating whether the gun found on Morgan-Thompson was used in the shooting, he said, but also said authorities suspect there were multiple shooters.

    Morgan-Thompson was being held at Chester County prison after his bail was set at $25,000 bail Sunday evening, according to court records. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

    “We don’t have a lot of answers about exactly what happened. What I will tell you is that today we’re operating as if this is not an incident where someone came in with the design to inflict mass damage on a college campus,” de Barrena-Sarobe told reporters during a news conference earlier on Sunday.

    He urged anyone with video from the scene or other information that could help the investigation to contact the FBI, and he repeated that request at the evening news conference. Lincoln which enrolls about 1,650 students, is the first degree-granting historically Black university in the nation.

    The shooting occurred at the university’s International Cultural Center building about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, leading to a chaotic scene.

    “It was a very packed scene,” said Dana Moore, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office. “The festivities had gone on. … It was all fun, football game, tailgate, a lot people had set up tents. And then chaos ensued.”

    Authorities discuss shooting at Lincoln University that left one dead, six injured.

    Moore declined to say where the injured were being treated or release their identities.

    “We are protecting all identities and locations at this time,” she said.

    The district attorney did not release other information about the injured at the evening press conference but said one victim was a student and one was an alumnus. The rest, he said, do not have direct affiliation with the university.

    “Everyone on campus is a victim in this,” he said, emphasizing the importance of healing.

    Josh Maxwell, chair of the Chester County Commissioners and an adjunct professor at Lincoln, said he knew the student who was shot and had spoken with her Sunday.

    “She said she’s had better days but she’ll be fine,” he said, noting that he planned to visit her on Monday. “She’s a phenomenal student, just an extraordinarily focused, really good kid who is hitting all the marks to have a really good life. And I expect that’s not going to be interrupted.”

    Maxwell said students choose Lincoln to get a good education.

    “There’s no downtown to walk to or bars, just the quiet borough of Oxford and beautiful farmland,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “The fact that violence could reach them here, and personally one of my students, tears at my heart.”

    The university announced in a statement Sunday afternoon that it would suspend classes Monday “for a day of healing and reflection,” though the school would remain open and staff and counseling would be available to help students and faculty.

    The university has invited the campus community to gather at noon in the Historic District, between Vail and Amos Halls, for “a moment of reflection, connection, and collective healing.”

    “Gun violence happens far too often in our country, and we are heartbroken that Lincoln University and its students are among the latest victims of such senseless violence,” the school said in the statement.

    On campus Sunday, police tape draped a parking lot strewn with trash — showing a scene of homecoming revelry abruptly abandoned.

    Investigators are on the scene outside Lincoln University’s International Cultural Center (ICC) Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, where one person was killed and six other people were shot the night before during homecoming weekend celebrations.

    Vanessa Ayllon, who lives across the street, said she saw the chaos on her Ring doorbell camera.

    “All I see is people running and just getting into cars, just trying to leave,” Ayllon said. “It was very hectic.”

    She said cars were traveling in the same direction in both lanes on the street, nearly causing a crash as people fled.

    Terina Clark, 61, of West Philadelphia, graduated from Lincoln in 1987 and said she came to homecoming weekend to reconnect with old friends. They left shortly before the shooting, Clark said, frustrated by a crowded scene where she said alcohol flowed freely and people rolled joints and smoked marijuana not far from security officers.

    “The crowds grew like you were going to a stadium game,” Clark said, adding she wanted to see school officials held responsible for allowing things to get out of control.

    “Parents trust these kids within these walls,” Clark said. “The walls have to control what comes in.”

    Delaware State University students Darius Lawson and Jake Ferguson, who attended the Saturday night homecoming, returned to Lincoln’s campus Sunday to try to retrieve a friend’s purse that was left behind in the woods as people fled the gunfire. The two were turned away by campus police who told them the purse was now part of a crime scene.

    “Everyone just started running and falling,” said Lawson, 21. He said he saw people lying on the ground after the gunfire, as ambulances arrived.

    Lawson called it a sad end to what had been a great party. He added that Saturday wasn’t the first time he attended a homecoming party marred by violence: Last year he attended celebrations at North Carolina Central University, where two shootings occurred.

    The scene at Lincoln University’s International Cultural Center (ICC) building Sunday morning Oct. 26, 2025, where one person was killed and six other people were shot the night before during homecoming weekend celebrations.

    University officials, including Henry Lancaster II, a 1976 graduate and member of the board of trustees, were mum on details about the shooting when reached Sunday.

    Marc Partee, Lincoln University police chief, declined to answer any questions about the shooting or estimate how many people were on campus at the time. The incident happened about a half hour before festivities were due to end at 10 p.m., said Partee, who has worked at the school since 2019.

    Gov. Josh Shapiro, who received an honorary degree from Lincoln in 2023, said the state had “offered its full support” to the university and local police.

    “Join Lori and me in praying for the Lincoln University community,” he said on X late Saturday.

    Lincoln, one of four so-called state-related colleges in Pennsylvania, is in rural Chester County, about 45 miles southwest of Philadelphia.

    The university’s alumni association said in a Facebook post Sunday morning that it was sending “thoughts and prayers to Lincoln University, our students, and the victims of last night’s tragic and senseless act of violence during Homecoming.”

    “Homecoming should be a time of joy and unity,” the Alumni Association of Lincoln University posted. “Today, we stand together in grief, in strength, and in unwavering support of our beloved alma mater.”

    Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker is a Lincoln alumna, and was on campus last week, posting to social media Saturday, “It was an honor to help kick off @LincolnUofPA‘s Homecoming earlier this week — celebrating 171 years of Black excellence and The Lincolnian’s 100th anniversary.”

    Parker did not immediately reply to a request for comment Sunday.

    She’s among several notable Lincoln alumni, a list which includes Thurgood Marshall, the first Black U.S. Supreme Court justice; Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes; Robert N.C. Nix, Sr., the first Black lawmaker from Pennsylvania to serve in Congress; Sheila Oliver, former New Jersey lieutenant governor and the first Black woman to serve as speaker of the New Jersey general assembly; and Harry W. Bass, the first Black Pennsylvania state legislator.

    The school has achieved some milestones in recent years. The university in 2020 received a $20 million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, which became the largest single gift in the school’s history.

    President Brenda A. Allen at that time called the gift “transformational” for the then-2,100-student school and said it would fund new investments in teaching, research, and faculty development, as well as support need-based scholarships.

    In 2021, Allen was named one of the 10 most dominant historically Black college leaders by a national nonprofit organization that advocates for the schools, and in May, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore delivered the commencement address at Lincoln.

    But the university also has weathered controversy, including an internal battle over Allen’s leadership in 2020. The board attempted to oust her, but later decided to negotiate a new contract with her.

    The school also has been the scene of prior shooting incidents.

    In 2023, two people were shot inside a residential building on campus; the victims were not students but had been visiting the school. And in 2015, the campus tightened security after shots were fired in a dorm, though no one was hurt in the incident.

    Staff writer Kristen A. Graham contributed to this article, which also contains information from the Associated Press.

  • $1M in taxpayer money will be used to make security upgrades at Gov. Josh Shapiro’s private residence

    $1M in taxpayer money will be used to make security upgrades at Gov. Josh Shapiro’s private residence

    Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters.

    HARRISBURG — Taxpayers are paying for roughly $1 million in security upgrades to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s private home in Montgomery County, according to information the administration disclosed to top lawmakers about its expenditures in the aftermath of the brazen arson attack on the first family earlier this year.

    In a Friday letter to legislative leaders, administration officials said improvements include “erecting physical and visual barriers on the property, installing enhanced security technology, and other steps.” They then noted that due to safety concerns, they could not provide more details about the work being conducted at Shapiro’s private home.

    The letter, authored by Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris and Department of General Services Secretary Reggie McNeill, also disclosed safety upgrades totaling $32.3 million at the governor’s official residence in Harrisburg, including $8 million to retrofit the mansion with new windows that are bullet- and shatterproof.

    The attack occurred at the 29,000-square-foot mansion this past April while the governor and his family were asleep inside.

    “The horrifying attack on the Governor, his family, and Commonwealth property, coupled with the unfortunate rise in political violence across our country, has made these updates necessary to protect the Governor and his family and ensure the continued operation of the executive branch of the Commonwealth,” Paris and McNeill wrote. “No family should have to live behind bulletproof glass or behind large walls — but the nature of the threats against elected officials today require us to take these important steps.”

    They added: “Unfortunately, the threat to a high-profile elected official like Gov. Shapiro does not end when he leaves the Governor’s Residence.”

    In a statement, Shapiro spokesperson Rosie Lapowsky said the State Police conducted a security review of the governor’s personal residence and recommended a number of improvements. Before carrying out any of those improvements, she said the administration “consulted the Ethics Commission … to ensure there is no improper private, pecuniary gain from these security improvements.”

    Last week, Harrisburg resident Cody Balmer pleaded guilty to attempted murder, aggravated arson, and other charges related to the attack in the dead of the night on April 13. That is when Balmer scaled the perimeter fence at the governor’s official residence along the banks of the Susquehanna River, broke two windows, and used crude, homemade Molotov cocktails to set fire to several rooms on the residence’s first floor.

    Shapiro, his family, and friends had celebrated Passover just hours before, and were asleep on the second floor of the residence when Balmer broke in. Balmer told authorities that he would have beaten Shapiro with a hammer he had with him if he had encountered the governor.

    The Democratic governor has said that he and his family are still struggling with the emotional toll of the attack, but stressed that he will not be deterred from continuing in public service.

    It is not clear what prompted Paris and McNeill’s letter. Earlier this week, Spotlight PA submitted a public records request for all taxpayer-funded expenditures at the governor’s private home.

    Also midweek, Republican state Sen. Jarett Coleman, who chairs the chamber’s Intergovernmental Operations Committee, fired off a letter to Paris seeking similar information about physical improvements to Shapiro’s Montgomery County home, among other items.

    Coleman told Spotlight PA on Friday that his committee will “continue to investigate” spending at the governor’s private residence “to protect taxpayers as this unprecedented project is being completed.”

    Spotlight PA last month reported that the state has spent more than $6 million to repair extensive damage from the fire at the governor’s official residence — but that the administration is shielding information about nearly a quarter of those expenses, including who was paid and exactly what the money was spent on.

    The news organization has also reported that private donors have separately contributed to a fund managed by a Harrisburg-based nonprofit to help restore the mansion. So far, neither the organization nor the administration has disclosed the donors’ identities, the amount they contributed to the fund, or provided a general description of what that money has or will be used for.

    In the letter sent to legislative leaders, the administration shed light on at least some of those questions. The officials said that to date, the state has submitted $4.5 million in expenses to one of its insurers, which in turn has so far approved $2 million in reimbursements.

    Security upgrades and improvements to the official residence, however, are not covered by the state’s insurance plans. The security improvements — recommended by a third-party review commissioned by the State Police in the wake of the attack — there include:

    • An estimated $14 million to replace the 6-foot fence that Balmer scaled with a “single material, 10-foot barrier resistant to vehicle damage or climbing.”
    • An estimated $6.3 million to install updated cameras, improve lighting, and add motion detection sensors in the residence’s yard.
    • An estimated $8 million to retrofit the residence’s existing windows with bulletproof and shatterproof glass.
    • An estimated $4 million to install a comprehensive fire suppression system in the residence, one of the largest state-owned buildings without one.

    “In addition to the visible and extensive building security enhancements outlined above, additional recommendations on things like staffing, internal systems, and other technology improvements have been implemented,” by the state, Paris and McNeill wrote. “To avoid risk of a successful security threat against the property or the Governor in the future, we cannot disclose all of those recommendations publicly.”

    The two men noted that the fire damaged multiple decorative items inside the residence, including chandeliers, china, pianos, and artwork. Most of those items, they said, do not qualify for insurance reimbursement, and their repair or replacement will be funded by private dollars.

    BEFORE YOU GO… If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.

  • King of Prussia Mall is getting a real-life gaming venue with a bar-restaurant

    King of Prussia Mall is getting a real-life gaming venue with a bar-restaurant

    Another experiential retail concept is coming to the region. This time it’s a live social-gaming venue at the King of Prussia Mall.

    Massachusetts-based Level99 announced this week that it plans to bring its next “sprawling adult playground” to the Montgomery County shopping destination in 2027. The move marks the company’s first foray into the Philadelphia market.

    The 46,000-square-foot venue will include 50 “life-size mini games” geared toward adults, according to a news release, and a full-service restaurant and bar serving local craft beer.

    “Level99 goes beyond your conventional entertainment venue — it’s a place to play, explore, and actively connect,” Matthew DuPlessie, founder and CEO of Level99, said in a statement.

    The venue is moving into the ground floor of the former JCPenney, which closed in 2017.

    It will be across the mall from the 100,000-square-foot Netflix House. The immersive experience for fans of the streaming service’s shows is set to open Nov. 12 in the former Lord & Taylor department store.

    Level99 customers race through the venue’s signature “Axe Run” game, one of 50 mini-challenges set to be part of King of Prussia’s location when it opens in 2027.

    “We’re thrilled to welcome Level99 to King of Prussia, further elevating our commitment to delivering dynamic, experience-driven destinations,” Mark Silvestri, president of development for mall owner Simon Property Group, said in a statement. ”This innovative concept brings a new layer of interactive entertainment to King of Prussia and is a perfect complement to our growing lineup of immersive offerings.”

    As more consumers shop online, experiential retail has transformed malls nationwide, helping complexes fill empty spaces and attract new customers.

    In the Philadelphia region, Cherry Hill Mall is set to open a Dick’s House of Sport next year. The 120,000-square-foot space will include a climbing wall, golf simulators, a running track, and batting and soccer cages.

    Cherry Hill Mall is getting a Dick’s House of Sport

    At the Moorestown Mall, an empty department store is set to be filled by a massive entertainment center with axe-throwing and go-karts.

    In Center City, the Fashion District’s owners are considering adding more experiential retail after the success of nearby spots like Puttshack mini golf and F1 Arcade.

    And along with the forthcoming Netflix House, the King of Prussia Mall recently opened the Philadelphia area’s first Eataly, a 21,000-square-food Italian-centric marketplace and wine shop.

    At Level99 venues, customers can choose from 50 mini-games that test mental and physical skills.

    Level99 has been riding this experiential retail wave, opening its flagship location in 2021 at the Natick Mall in suburban Boston. The company opened another location in Providence, R.I., in January 2024, then added a third this summer in the Washington suburb of Tysons, Va. It has projects under construction in Hartford, Conn., and at Disney Springs in Orlando.

    At existing Level99 locations, pricing starts at $29.99 per person for two hours of play, according to its website. Prices increase on weekends and holidays, and if a customer wants more time.

    Level99 is supported by Act III Holdings, a $1.5 billion private-equity investment firm led by Panera Bread cofounder and Cava chairman Ron Shaich. Last month, Act III executives announced a $50 million commitment to the chain’s expansion into new markets, including Philadelphia.

    Unlike some other Philly-area malls, King of Prussia is thriving, with more than 450 stores occupying 2.9 million square feet of retail space.

  • Two police officers in Montgomery County injured by driver in hotel parking lot, official says

    Two police officers in Montgomery County injured by driver in hotel parking lot, official says

    Two Plymouth Township police officers were hospitalized in stable condition Friday afternoon after a driver allegedly injured them intentionally with a vehicle in the parking lot of a DoubleTree Suites near the Plymouth Meeting Mall, Montgomery County officials said.

    Around 12:40 p.m., Plymouth Township police received a report of a person driving erratically in the area of Hickory and Narcissa Roads, and a few minutes later, an officer found the suspect driving in the parking lot of the hotel, Thomas Nolan, deputy chief of the Montgomery County Detective Bureau, told 6abc and other news outlets at the scene.

    The suspect backed into the police vehicle, and then struck the officer after he had exited his vehicle, Nolan said. The officer fired his weapon at the suspect, who drove away.

    The injured officer was applying a tourniquet to an injury when the driver returned and struck the officer again several times, Nolan said.

    As more police responded to the scene, the suspect struck another police vehicle, injuring a second officer before finally being taken into custody, Nolan said.

    The suspect was treated and released from a hospital and was being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office said Friday night.

    The investigation into what happened is ongoing.

  • Chester saw one of its safest summers ever in 2025. No one died from gun violence.

    Chester saw one of its safest summers ever in 2025. No one died from gun violence.

    For five glorious Sundays this summer, there was peace in Chester.

    In places like the William Penn Homes and Chester Apartments, where children are often encouraged to stay indoors, shut away from the threat of gang violence, it was finally safe to play outside during the height of what is normally the most dangerous time of the year.

    Roving carnivals nicknamed “Sunday Fun Days” were organized and held in Delaware County’s lone city, in areas that had weathered a surge in violence in recent years. A few bounce houses, some water ice, and communities breathing sighs of relief were rewards for keeping the peace, and motivation to continue that trend.

    The parties, according to Geo Stockman, the lead gun violence interventionist with Making a Change Group, came during one of the safest summers on record in the city: Not a single fatal gunshot was fired in Chester during that time.

    It was a result that local police and county prosecutors say they have been working toward these last few years, through a combination of advocacy work and interventions by groups like Stockman’s.

    “This opened up the neighborhoods. It gave them a reason to say, ‘Let’s try something else, people are really looking out for us now, maybe we should put this down,’” Stockman said. “People are always telling people to stop doing something without offering them something in this place. So that’s what we did this summer. We offered them something in its place.”

    The block parties were a new addition to the programs offered by the Chester Partnership for Safe Neighborhoods (CPSN), an initiative launched by the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office in 2020.

    Gregory Cottman left, Gregory Graves, center, and Geo Stockman say the Sunday Fun Day block parties sponsored by the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office served as both a reward for neighborhoods that have curbed gun violence, and an incentive to continue that trend in the years to come.

    The program takes a holistic approach to combating gun violence, targeting teens and young adults at risk of committing crimes and offering them services, mediation, or counseling before they resort to violence.

    In its five years of operation, CPSN has seen a 65% reduction in shootings overall and a 74% reduction in fatal shootings. And since the summer, only two fatal shootings have been recorded in Chester, which prosecutors say still puts the city on pace for one of its most peaceful years on record.

    “Violence comes from a place of, of hopelessness, of despair. Just anger, resentment, and feeling like you’ve been left behind, like nobody cares,” Stockman said.

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    He spoke from experience, as a lifelong Chester resident who spent time in prison for mistakes made on the streets of his hometown.

    “That’s what makes what we do so effective. Most of us want to be stopped, but nobody stops us,” he said. “Nobody takes the time to say, ‘I’m gonna be the one to calm you down.’ It really only takes somebody with a clear mind that they understand to say, ‘Nah, that ain’t it.’”

    Stockman said he and his team have successfully mediated 130 disputes between rival neighborhoods in the last two years. They settled petty arguments, usually started on social media, that were clearly heading toward a violent conclusion.

    “This is a small community, so your reputation goes further than just the neighborhood you’re from,” said Gregory “G-Code” Graves, who works with Stockman.

    Graves said the anti-violence messaging works because it’s coming from people the intended audience can identify with.

    “We’ve been through the vetting process in all these neighborhoods, so even if it’s a little hesitation at first, it doesn’t take a great deal of persuasion to get them to come to us,” Graves said. “And we come in with meaningful things that’s going to help the situation.”

    Residents of the Chester Apartments line up for water ice at a “Sunday Fun Day” block party held this summer in Chester.

    For District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, those results are exactly what he envisioned when he brought CPSN to the county five years ago, building it on models used successfully in other cities, including Boston.

    And he is confident that the program will continue to thrive without him, as he runs for a county judgeship in the Nov. 4 election.

    “People have bought into the strategy. They’ve seen it work now, and they just wanna keep it going,” he said.

    Stollsteimer said making Chester safe was one of his priorities when running for district attorney in 2019. Similar programs, he said, had failed before because of a lack of buy-in from officials.

    This time was different — Mayor Stefan Roots became a fixture at the Sunday Fun Day parties.

    Roots said the weekly parties presented a rare opportunity for residents to meet the people making decisions that affect their everyday lives. And, in turn, allowed him and other officials to have open, honest dialogue with people living in communities most affected by gun violence.

    The conversation flowed naturally, he said. No pressure. No pretense.

    “This is something that’s never, never happened before,” he said. “The relationship between the city and the county is really welcome. And the results are showing themselves.”

    Roots said he lost count of how many residents came up to him at the parties to talk about their own efforts to curb violence in their neighborhoods. People, he said, who told him that the block parties, and the gun violence interventions that preceded them, were a welcome sigh of relief.

    “They told me that, sometimes, they don’t want to be ‘the man with the cape.’ They want to go on and have a life, too,” Roots said.

  • Arthur Waskow, longtime social activist, pioneering rabbi, teacher, and author, has died at 92

    Arthur Waskow, longtime social activist, pioneering rabbi, teacher, and author, has died at 92

    ​​Arthur Waskow, 92, of Philadelphia, longtime social activist, pioneering Jewish scholar and rabbi, founder of the Shalom Center for public prophetic action, religion teacher, mentor, and prolific author, died Monday, Oct. 20, of chronic respiratory failure at his home in Mount Airy.

    A longtime expert in Judaism, prophetic justice, and peaceful civil disobedience, Rabbi Waskow was so disturbed by the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the social unrest that followed that he protested, wrote about, and lectured around the country on what he called the “overwhelming crisis” of whether humanity will “build a decent society or will poison or burn it empty.”

    For more than five decades, starting in Washington and then in Philadelphia, he connected contemporary social issues with Jewish traditions and championed prophetic justice regarding peace, nuclear disarmament, feminism, LGBTQ rights, same-sex marriage, environmental sustainability, and interfaith collaboration. “He consistently held that Judaism is not meant to stand above and apart from ordinary life, but rather to guide our actions in this life,” Rabbi Jill Jacobs said in a tribute.

    Colleagues at the Shalom Center said he dramatically “fused social justice with traditional Jewish themes and spirituality.” Jacobs praised his “legacy of non-violent protest, his prophetic writing, and his courageous leadership.”

    He established the Shalom Center for prophetic Judaism in Philadelphia in 1983, cofounded the Alliance for Jewish Renewal in 1993, and helped establish the National Havurah Committee, T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and other organizations. “He’s one of the most important figures to merge spirituality and politics since the 1960s,” Rabbi Tsvi Blanchard told The Inquirer in 2001. He “transcends categories and, as a result, he’s always crossing boundaries, but for good.”

    Strategic action with compassion was usually his favorite tactic. He called his many disagreements with Jewish orthodoxy “a continuous loving debate” and told The Inquirer in 1970: “Jews have a radical role and mission to join with other communities to remake American society.” In 1993, he said: “In our generation, the people of the earth at last have to learn to share the great round earth or risk ruining it.”

    He worked closely on social projects with Sister Mary Scullion of Project HOME, Rabbi Leonard Gordon of the Germantown Jewish Centre, and Imam Abdul-Halim Hassan of the Masjidullah Community Center Mosque. His embrace of the Jewish Renewal movement drew critics, but he never wavered in his support.

    “There’s an unpredictability to him, a drama to him, a charisma to him,” Rabbi Gordon said in 2001. “That is who he is and has to be in challenging the community. We would lose too much without it.”

    Rabbi Waskow celebrated the 50th anniversary of his Freedom Seder in 2019.

    Rabbi Waskow was arrested dozens of times for peacefully protesting about segregation, immigration, and other issues. He wrote so many books he lost track of how many were published. “It’s either 19 or 20,” he told The Inquirer in 2007. “My wife said it’s the same number as the times I’ve been arrested.” He never retired.

    He wrote and organized the first Freedom Seder in 1969 to recognize contemporary liberation efforts as well as the Exodus of the ancient Israelites. He was invited to President Clinton’s Middle East peace ceremony at the White House in 1993 and appeared in a TV ad in 2004 that denounced prisoner abuse in Iraq. “He found joy in reimagining Jewish holidays and prayers in ways that spoke to contemporary issues,” his family said in a tribute.

    Rabbi Waskow issues a new call to arms in 2019

    He came to Philadelphia from Washington in 1982 as a new faculty member at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and went on to teach religion at Swarthmore, Temple, Drew University in New Jersey, Vassar College in New York, and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.

    He wrote articles and op-eds for The Inquirer, Daily News, and other publications, and authored more than 25 books on all kinds of topics. His 1978 book Godwrestling and 1982’s Seasons of Our Joy are religious classics. In 1993, he wrote Becoming Brothers with his younger brother, Howard.

    Rabbi Waskow crawls under a barricade so he could get arrested at a protest in 2014.

    Rabbi Waskow won many awards and was recognized for his leadership and lifetime achievements by the Jewish Peace Fellowship, Neighborhood Interfaith Movement, and other groups. Newsweek named him one of the fifty most influential American rabbis in 2007.

    Recently, he focused on describing God in traditional ways with modern insights. “Watching your kids begin to parent feels like there is a spiral to life,” he said in 2001.

    Arthur Irwin Waskow was born Oct. 12, 1933, in Baltimore. He was always an avid writer and reader, especially science fiction, and fascinated by words.

    His father was a high school history teacher, and, with his help, Rabbi Waskow won a newspaper history contest that paid part of his college tuition. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Johns Hopkins University in 1954 and a doctorate in American history from the University of Wisconsin in 1963.

    Rabbi Waskow (center) celebrates the first Freedom Seder in 1969.

    He protested against the Vietnam War and other hot topics in the 1960s, and worked in Washington after college as an aide to U.S Rep. Robert Kastenmeier, and a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.

    He married Irene Elkin, and they had a son, David, and a daughter, Shoshana. After a divorce, he met Rabbi Phyllis Berman at a conference, and they married in 1986, and both adopted the middle name Ocean.

    Rabbi Waskow offers a new Freedom Seder for a divided nation in 2018

    Over the last 18 months, even though he couldn’t see, Rabbi Waskow wrote two more books. “He was very determined in the fullest sense of that,” his son said. His daughter said: “He was passionate about what he was passionate about.”

    His wife said: “He was playful, brilliant, creative, and fierce. He was generous in every way.”

    In addition to his wife, children, and former wife, Rabbi Waskow is survived by five grandchildren and other relatives. His brother died earlier.

    Rabbi Waskow (center) talks with his wife, Phyllis, and Imam Abdul-Halim Hassan in 2019.

    Services were held on Oct. 22.

    Donations in his name may be made to the legacy fund at the Shalom Center, 6711 Lincoln Dr., Philadelphia, Pa. 19119.

  • Democrats in Upper Darby accuse a GOP council candidate and former police officer of racist posts

    Democrats in Upper Darby accuse a GOP council candidate and former police officer of racist posts

    Bob Yantorno, a Republican candidate for a seat on the Upper Darby Township Council, is facing scrutiny over material he posted three years ago that Democrats have decried as racist.

    Yantorno, 65, is a former commanding officer of the Narberth Police Department, a former paramedic, and a veteran of other law enforcement agencies. He’s running in the township’s 3rd District.

    Yantorno denies that anything he has ever posted was motivated by racism and said his social media comments reflected his outrage over incidents of violence.

    The controversy stems from posts Yantorno made in 2022 on Twitter, now known as X, in response to crime news stories from Fox 29 that involved Black suspects.

    “Take him out back n bullet in occipital section,” Yantorno wrote about a suspect from Drexel Hill charged with two homicides.

    “Arrest convict bury,” Yantorno wrote in response to a booking photo of a Camden man accused of rape.

    In a 2022 reply to an Upper Darby Police Department statement about a rash of thefts from automobiles, Yantorno wrote under four photos of young men in hoodies walking near cars but not stealing anything, “Common denominator?”

    The race of the men was not obvious from the photos posted by the department.

    Democrat Noah Fields, 25, who is running for one of two at-large council seats, neither of which Yantorno is seeking, condemned Yantorno in an interview for what he said was “shocking” and “hateful” speech, as well as “violent rhetoric.”

    Fields said that “racism has no place in Upper Darby.” He added that “this guy is calling for the execution of people without due process. The violent rhetoric we’re hearing on the national level is trickling down to local politics.”

    State Rep. Heather Boyd (D., Delaware), who represents Upper Darby, said the posts were “really upsetting, offensive, and disappointing.”

    She added, “We don’t want anyone in a position of influence to not consider people’s right to due process and the rule of law.”

    Asked about the posts in an interview Wednesday, Yantorno initially said he was unaware of their existence.

    “I have no idea what you’re talking about. What Democrats are saying is slanderous. People put stuff out there about me that’s not true,” Yantorno said. “All I can tell you that in the Narberth Police Department, my reputation was stellar.”

    Yantorno said he didn’t know how posts with his name, photo, and personal details got onto X. His page says he joined the platform in 2022 and features a profile photo of him in police uniform.

    He bristled at being called racist. He added, “I would never put a picture of somebody of any color and disparage them because of their race.”

    Yantorno said that personal experience has made him sensitive to race bias. He said that when he and his first wife, whom he identified as a woman of color, moved into a house in Stonehurst, an Upper Darby neighborhood, someone stuck a cross in their lawn.

    It was, Yantorno said, a symbol of hatred aimed at his then-wife.

    Similarly, he said, when he was a police officer in Yeadon, he and his former wife “fell in love” with a house they wanted to buy, but had to back out of the deal because their real estate agent said if they moved in, “someone would burn down the house and the real estate office.”

    Yantorno added without being asked: “You will never see anything from me online using the N-word. That’s not how I roll, brother.”

    A statement emailed Thursday by the Upper Darby Republican Campaign Committee included remarks attributed to Yantorno that differed from his original explanation.

    In the new statement, Yantorno no longer said he was unaware of the posts. Instead, he said, “those comments reflected my frustration and anger over the senseless violence in our community and had nothing to do with race.” He added that “claims of racism are offensive and absurd.”

    A GOP committee statement, which was not attributed to a specific person, emphasized Yantorno’s commitment to public service and said that he does not deserve a “fabricated inference that has no basis in reality.”

    Jeff Jones, an Upper Darby real estate developer who has been a Republican candidate for the council in the past, defended Yantorno.

    “I read the tweets. They were comments made by a gentleman 35 years in law environment who’s seen criminals and victims at their worst, and the frustration came through in those tweets,” said Jones, who is Black.

    Melissa DiNofia-Bozzone, Yantorno’s Democratic opponent for the 3rd District seat, declined to comment on the posts, saying, “I’m focused on running a positive campaign.”

    Friends describe Yantorno, a veteran, as a gregarious person with a desire to help his community.

    In 2020, he biked across the United States to raise money for families of slain police officers. He also did the ride, he said, for the family of Daniel Faulkner, the Philadelphia police officer who was killed in 1981. Mumia Abu-Jamal received the death penalty for the shooting, which was later reduced to a life sentence without parole.

    Yantorno is also the author of a 1995 crime novel set in Philadelphia called Brutal Mercies. According to the publishing company, Trafford, the story opens with “a horrific act of mutilation” in Overbrook that “leaves the police asking, ‘Why?’”

    Staff writers Katie Bernard and Ryan W. Briggs contributed to this article.

  • A new bridge could replace another spanning the Delaware River. Eventually.

    A new bridge could replace another spanning the Delaware River. Eventually.

    Pennsylvania and New Jersey turnpike officials have settled on two alternative plans for replacing the Delaware River Bridge that has linked their toll roads for 70 years.

    Traffic has mushroomed since the interchange with I-95 opened in 2018, and the four-lane span is often congested, along with highways and roads in Bucks and Burlington Counties.

    “We have a lot more traffic here … and it will keep growing,” said engineer John Boyer, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s project manager. “We need additional capacity.”

    Before the I-95 connection was finished, about 42,000 vehicles a day crossed the Delaware River Bridge. Now, that’s up to around 67,000. Average daily traffic is projected to be 90,000 vehicles by 2050.

    What are the two ‘finalist’ options for a new bridge?

    In one scenario, the new bridge would be constructed at once about 75 feet north of the existing span over four years. Pennsylvania- and New Jersey-bound lanes (six in all) would be built 15 feet apart. When finished, all traffic would be moved to the new bridge. The existing bridge would be removed.

    The other option: constructing the new bridge in stages, about 40 feet north of the existing bridge — over eight years. Initially, the first half of the new span would go up. Then four lanes of traffic would be diverted to the new half while the old bridge is demolished, after which the second half of the new bridge would be built. When complete, there would be six traffic lanes.

    What are the next steps?

    Turnpike officials are preparing a new environmental impact statement, required for federal approval and funding. The 2003 version is outdated.

    The plan is to unveil the site decision in the spring. Then would come final design and the rest of the bureaucratic steps in building transportation infrastructure.

    Construction could start in 2031.

    The final cost of the project has not yet been estimated, officials said, but it won’t be cheap.

    What’s the history of the project?

    Talk of fixing the crossing started more than 30 years ago, and by 2003, after exhaustive environmental impact and engineering studies, authorities proposed building a modern bridge alongside the old one, which would be refurbished.

    Federal highway officials signed off, but it never came together.

    In 2010, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission formally deferred the project “due to funding constraints,” spokesperson Marissa Orbanek said.

    A crack in a steel truss supporting the bridge closed the span for six weeks in 2017 and rekindled the idea. Engineers combed through nine possible sites north and south of the bridge and decided to replace rather than refurbish the span, as first planned.

    The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and New Jersey Turnpike Authority are working together on the project.

    Beginning in 2007 with Act 44, the Pennsylvanian Turnpike assumed a major role in state transportation funding that limited its ability to spend on other things. The law used turnpike toll revenues to secure bonds that would provide revenue for public transit and highway and bridge projects.

    In addition, the turnpike prioritized the connection to I-95 and widening the roadway to accommodate the additional traffic, as well as other projects — including removal of toll booths and switching to gantries that charge drivers by reading an EZ-Pass or snapping a picture of a vehicle’s license plate.

    Act 44 was a workaround for a state constitutional prohibition on the use of the gas tax for public transit and legislators’ reluctance to hike that tax for highways and bridges.

    The turnpike would contribute $750 million a year to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, split evenly between transit and roads.

    That formula was tweaked in 2013 with Act 89, which raised the gas tax to finance roads and bridges and cut the turnpike’s annual payment to $450 million — with all of it going to transit — through 2022.

    The toll road’s obligation to PennDot then dropped to $22 million a year.

    Will the Pa. Turnpike need to acquire properties? Where?

    It’s too early to say. Officials working on the project said they would have a better idea after the final proposal is chosen, expected in spring 2026. The two northern options are seen as likely to have fewer impacts than other alternatives considered.

    What about a shared-use path for bikers and walkers?

    Pennsylvania Turnpike officials have ruled that out, citing regulations barring pedestrians or nonmotorized vehicles on turnpikes and interstates — the connector is part of I-95 — as well as future maintenance costs. Advocates still want access.

    John Boyle, a staffer for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, pointed to several toll bridges with free paths that accommodate cyclists and pedestrians.

    The Great Egg Harbor Bridge on the tolled Garden State Parkway, for instance, has bike and pedestrian lanes.

    So does the Mario M. Cuomo (Tappan Zee) Bridge, which carries the New York Thruway over the Hudson River about 20 miles north of New York City.

    And the Gordie Howe International Bridge, a toll facility between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, nearing completion, will have separate shared-use lanes.

    What considerations guide the choice?

    Boyer said they boiled it down to picking a site that would have the lowest negative impact on the built and natural environments.

    “We’re looking at it from a 10,000-foot view in the entire corridor: commercial impacts, industrial impacts, residential impacts, and potential impacts to billboards or cell towers in the area,” Boyer said.

  • Johnny Doc played a pivotal role electing his brother to the Pa. Supreme Court. Ten years later, things are different.

    Johnny Doc played a pivotal role electing his brother to the Pa. Supreme Court. Ten years later, things are different.

    As Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty knocked on doors in Northeast Philadelphia last month, a voter made a connection.

    Peering out his front door on a sunny September day, the man asked if the mild-mannered and smiling white-haired justice standing on his front porch was related to former labor leader John Dougherty. Widely known as “Johnny Doc,” the former head of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and a onetime kingmaker in state and local politics was sentenced last year to six years in federal prison on embezzlement and bribery convictions.

    Despite the public fall from grace, the voter said he missed John Dougherty’s leadership in Philadelphia, adding that he believed Dougherty had been good for workers in the city. They are brothers, Kevin Dougherty confirmed.

    Justice Kevin Dougherty (left) canvasses with his son, State Rep. Sean Dougherty (center) in Fox Chase Sunday Sept. 7, 2025, stopping at the home of a voter. The elder Dougherty is one of three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices up for retention.

    The justice had spent the day asking voters in his neighborhood to keep him and two other justices on the state’s Supreme Court for an additional 10-year term. At that stage, many voters were not even aware of the typically sleepy and nonpartisan contest on which both parties are spending millions in the lead-up to the Nov. 4 election.

    But in this year’s unusually high-profile state Supreme Court retention race, the connection has, in some circles, become unavoidable. Republicans seeking to oust Kevin Dougherty and two of his colleagues, all initially elected as Democrats, have sought to tie the judge to his brother’s misdeeds. The justice, a son of South Philadelphia who previously led Philadelphia’s Family Court, has sought to distance himself, and has seen the continued support of labor unions in his retention campaign.

    “Over the course of 25 years as a judge, including ten years as a Justice on the Supreme Court, Justice Dougherty has had the privilege and the benefit of meeting a multitude of Pennsylvanians including the working men and women of organized labor,” Shane Carey, Kevin Dougherty’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “Our campaign is proud to receive their support, as well as the support from almost 5,000 other individual donors.”

    How Johnny Doc helped elect his brother to the Supreme Court in 2015

    Kevin Dougherty didn’t choose to be related to one of the city’s most prominent power brokers, but he certainly benefited from his brother’s former union’s help, with significant support from the politically powerful Local 98 during his 2015 campaign for the state bench.

    Local 98, where John Dougherty was the longtime business manager, contributed more than $620,000 during Kevin Dougherty’s 2015 campaign for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Local 98’s spokesperson at the time also served as Kevin Dougherty’s campaign manager and appears from campaign finance filings that year to have been paid by Local 98. The union also spent more than $480,000 on in-kind contributions for “professional services,” mailers, merchandise, and more.

    Justice Kevin Dougherty talks with volunteers before they head out the canvass in Fox Chase Sunday Sept. 7, 2025. Dougherty is one of three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices up for retention.

    Kevin Dougherty is the only justice up for retention from Southeastern Pennsylvania. The other justices, Christine Donohue and David Wecht, live in Pittsburgh. They will each appear on the November ballot with no party and no home county. Voters will simply be asked “yes” or “no” whether each individual justice should be retained for another term.

    Republicans working to oust the three justices this year have tried to leverage Kevin Dougherty’s past support from his brother to encourage voters to oppose his retention.

    Scott Presler, an influencer aligned with President Donald Trump who has more than 2.4 million followers and runs a political action committee aimed at registering Republican voters, posted an AI-generated image of John Dougherty behind bars, tying, without evidence, Local 98’s contributions to Kevin Dougherty’s 2015 campaign to his brother’s convictions.

    “Coincidence?” Presler wrote.

    Johnny Dougherty, the former IBEW business manger, and his attorney Gregory J. Pagano as they leave the U.S. District Court, Reading, Pa. on the day he was sentenced to 6 years in prison Thursday, July 11, 2024.

    For months, the conservative influencer has posted on social media urging followers to vote against retaining Kevin Dougherty and his colleagues, citing the times his name was mentioned during John Dougherty’s trials, such as when prosecutors alleged the justice received free home repairs or snow removal on the union’s dime. Kevin Dougherty’s lawyer at the time of the embezzlement trial said the judge never knowingly accepted services paid for with union funds.

    While door-knocking in September, Kevin Dougherty dismissed attacks against him related to his brother as “misinformation,” noting his decades-long career as a judge.

    Kevin Dougherty, 63, spent more than a decade as a Common Pleas Court judge in Philadelphia before his election to the state Supreme Court. During his tenure on the state’s highest court, he has authored majority opinions and is leading a statewide initiative to improve how Pennsylvania’s judicial system interacts with people with behavioral health issues.

    “I spent close to a quarter of a century being a judge,” Dougherty said on a sidewalk in Northeast Philly. “I just don’t accept people’s comments and judgment. I want to know what the motive behind those comments are. Some of these comments are just partisan … and I believe in my reputation.”

    The justice should be vetted on his own merits, said John Jones, a former U.S. District Court judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania who was appointed to the bench by former President George W. Bush.

    “You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your relatives,” Jones, now president of Dickinson College, added. “You have to judge the justice on his own merits. This is not a country where we favor guilt by association.”

    This time on the campaign trail, Kevin Dougherty has new familial support. State Rep. Sean Dougherty, a Democrat who was elected last year to represent parts of Northeast Philadelphia, has joined his dad to stump for his retention.

    Kevin Dougherty still has broad union support, including from Local 98

    With John Dougherty no longer at the helm of Local 98, labor unions in Pennsylvania this year still overwhelmingly supported the justice for retention, contributing $665,000 to Kevin Dougherty’s campaign as of September. While trades unions contributed the most of any interest group to all three justices — for a total of $903,000 as of the latest filings — Kevin Dougherty is the largest beneficiary of that support.

    Among those contributors: Local 98. The union, which has reorganized and distanced itself from John Dougherty since he was first convicted in 2021, gave $70,000 to Kevin Dougherty’s retention campaign.

    “IBEW Local 98 does not support candidates based on personal relationships,” said Tom Lepera, Local 98’s political director, in a statement. “We support candidates who understand and stand up for the needs of working men and women in organized labor. Justice Dougherty, along with Justices Donohue and Wecht, have consistently demonstrated their commitment to protecting the rights and interests of middle-class workers across this commonwealth.”

    Kevin Dougherty’s campaign did not respond to several questions this week about his brother’s role in his 2015 campaign or whether his brother’s reputation has influenced the retention campaign.

    Anti-retention material featuring President Donald Trump as Uncle Sam was on display at Republican rally in Bucks County last month headlined by Treasurer Stacy Garrity, a candidate for governor. The material is from Early Vote Action, a group led by GOP influencer Scott Presler.

    Union leaders insist their support for Kevin Dougherty this year has nothing to do with his brother and is a reflection of his quality work in the judiciary. Labor unions often support Democratic candidates, who are often seen as more beneficial to unions and their priorities.

    “It’s about keeping good judges on the bench,” said Ryan Boyer, leader of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, an umbrella organization of local trades unions once commanded by John Dougherty. This year, the building trades gave just over $33,000 to each justice.

    “We don’t live on Mars where we don’t know that sometimes familial connections can be there,” Boyer said, “and they try to exploit those things.”

    Nonpartisan and Democratic groups favor Dougherty’s tenure on the bench

    Like his colleagues running for retention, Kevin Dougherty has earned broad support from nonpartisan and partisan groups alike.

    Dougherty was recommended for retention by the Pennsylvania Bar Association, which is a rigorous, nonpartisan decision based on a jurist’s behavior on the bench, and endorsed by several law enforcement organizations.

    Lauren Cristella, CEO of the Committee of Seventy, the Philadelphia-based good-government group, noted that the justice was never charged or found guilty of wrongdoing.

    Justices David Wecht, Christine Donohue and Kevin Dougherty sit onstage during a fireside chat at Central High School on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025 in Philadelphia.

    “The Committee of Seventy relies on the findings of law enforcement and professional oversight organizations, such as the Bar Association, when evaluating judicial candidates. This year, the Pennsylvania Bar Association has evaluated Justice Dougherty and recommended him for retention. Our focus remains on transparency, accountability, and maintaining public trust in Pennsylvania’s courts,” Cristella said in a statement.

    Dougherty and his fellow justices have also gained the support of Gov. Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s popular Democratic governor, who in a fundraising email to Pennsylvania Democrats on Thursday urged voters to mark “yes” on retaining Dougherty, Donohue, and Wecht.

    Justice Kevin M. Dougherty listens during a Courtroom Dedication Ceremony at the Supreme Court Courtroom in Philadelphia City Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025 in Philadelphia.

    “The threats to our freedoms are coming from all directions, and we need a Court that stands up for what’s right,” Shapiro said in the email. “Justices Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht have proven that we can count on them to protect freedom, reproductive rights, and the rule of law.”

    In a statement to The Inquirer, Kevin Dougherty didn’t mention his brother by name.

    “With regard to my personal relationship I love my big brother. For obvious reasons, my brother is not participating in my Retention campaign,” he said.