Bryce Harper on Thursday declined to discuss an Inquirer report about a personalized video of the Philadelphia Phillies star that FanDuel Sportsbook sent in November 2024 to a VIP bettor who had a gambling addiction.
The Inquirer obtained a copy of the 21-second video, which is marked with a blue FanDuel logo and shows Harper offering a greeting to the bettor, Terry Thompson, and Thompson’s son.
Harper is not wearing FanDuel merchandise but mentions that he was reaching out at the request of Thompson’s VIP manager — “your host Bryttanni at FanDuel” — who wanted to ensure that he had an “extra special Thanksgiving.”
There is no evidence that Harper had a partnership with FanDuel, nor that he had any indication that Thompson was suffering from an addiction.
FanDuel on Thursday released the following statement:
“FanDuel is committed to fostering a culture of responsible gaming and protecting our customers. Unlike illegal offshore sportsbooks, FanDuel employees are trained to recognize and flag signs of problem gambling and offer resources and tools, and we continue to review and strengthen our policies to ensure we have the industry’s strongest consumer protection initiatives.”
The Inquirer previously shared the video of Harper with his agent, Scott Boras, as well as the Phillies and Major League Baseball.
Each declined to comment.
The Phillies were in Cincinnati on Thursday, preparing to play the Reds. It was there that Harper declined through the team to address the video before a reporter could directly ask him about it. Later in the day, Harper announced on Instagram that he had decided to participate in the All-Star Home Run Derby, which will be held Monday at Citizens Bank Park.
A portrait of Bryce Harper is on display at the 2026 MLB All-Star Village inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. The All-Star Game will be held next week at Citizens Bank Park.
Independent experts said the FanDuel video does not appear to be a violation of MLB’s current collective bargaining agreement, which allows athletes to appear in advertisements or make personal appearances for casinos, racetracks, or sportsbook companies, so long as the ballplayers do not encourage betting on baseball.
The current policy, which is scheduled to expire in December, does not specifically addresses interactions with VIP programs or bettors.
Still, the episode raises ethical questions about the league’s relationship with gambling companies, whose business practices are facing increasing scrutiny from state and federal lawmakers, said Jodi Balsam, a former NFL attorney who now works as the director of the Sports Law Clinic at Brooklyn Law School.
“Is this the kind of activity that either the union or the league want their players to be associated with,” Balsam said, “if it leads to addictive and self-destructive behaviors by a fan?”
Beginning in 2020, Thompson wagered $18.5 million with FanDuel and lost $1.5 million, according to a lawsuit that the Public Health Advocacy Institute filed in March in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia on behalf of Thompson and against FanDuel and DraftKings, to which Thompson also lost money.
Harper is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Thompson’s attorneys allege that he became addicted to placing microbets — in-game wagers on something as minor as the speed of a pitch during a baseball game — until he gambled away his final $10,000 on a DraftKings parlay bet in February.
Broke and afraid of disclosing the scope of his losses to his family, Thompson contacted his therapist and indicated that he planned to take his life.
He typically announces new endorsement deals, which in the past have included companies such as Under Armour, Gatorade, and Dairy Queen.
The circumstances of how Harper came to appear in the video for Thompson, and whether he received any compensation, remain unclear.
Staff writer Lochlahn March contributed to this article.
The Inquirer will continue to report on issues related to the growth of gambling addiction — among teens and adults — across Pennsylvania. If you, or someone you know, would like to speak with a reporter, please contact David Gambacorta or William Bender at dgambacorta@inquirer.com or wbender@inquirer.com
Flood warnings remainin effect in the Philly region as a result of episodic downpours that have been wringing out 2 to 3 inches of rain in a hurry, including in downtown Camden, which was hammered earlier in the week .
Flooding has been reported along numerous roads, with vehicles stranded, including in the vicinity of the Ben Franklin Bridge, the National Weather Service said. The rains could continue until 7 or 8 p.m., said Alex Staarmann, meteorologist inthe Mount Holly office.
Multiple water rescues have been reported in Wilmington.
Philadelphia broke a 74-year-old record for a July 9 with 2.4 inches of rain measured officially, according to the weather service.
Official more rain has fallen in Philly in the last six days than in any entire month since March of 2025.
At one point flood warnings had been posted for the city in all seven neighboring counties.
And the entire Philly region had been under a rinse-and-repeat flood watch Thursday for yet another round of downpours. A severe-thunderstorm watch has been posted until 10 p.m. for Camden and Gloucester Counties and all of Delaware.
But the rain lately has been random. And in the grand casino of the atmosphere, these storms once again are likely to be hit and miss.
“It looks like that’s going to be the case,” said Joseph DeSilva, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, which has the flood watch in effect until 11:59 p.m. Thursday.
Despite those rains earlier this week — close to 4.4 inches in Camden — in the weekly inter-agency U.S. Drought Monitor update posted Thursday, some degree of drought conditions persisted in all of New Jersey, Philly, and the neighboring Pennsylvania counties.
Strong thunderstorms also are possible in the Philly region
The atmosphere is energized, and thunderstorms are likely from midafternoon into the evening.
The federal Storm Prediction Center lists a 15% chance that some may be come severe, with wind gusts approaching 60 mph.
The weather service says the air is so saturated that storms could wring out 1 to 2 inches in an hour in localized downpours.
But, again, rainfall totals can — and likely will — vary radically within the counties.
The drought conditions will be stronger than the storms
The drought monitor has most of the region was in “moderate drought,” with some improvement in Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties.
But all of Chester County and most Montgomery County were in “severe drought.” Southeastern New Jersey, including the Shore towns, were in “extreme drought.”
Soil moisture levels will remain significantly below normal during the next week, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.
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Showers are possible Saturday afternoon, DeSilva said, but then it appears the atmospheric faucets are going to shut off for a while.
Richard H. Glanton, 79, formerly of Philadelphia, longtime lawyer, onetime executive deputy counsel to former Gov. Dick Thornburgh, business entrepreneur, former Lincoln University trustee, and innovative former president of the Barnes Foundation, died Sunday, June 21, of a heart attack at his home in Princeton.
Born and reared in rural Georgia and one of the first Black graduates of what is now the University of West Georgia, Mr. Glanton went on to become a prominent Philadelphia lawyer, state government policy and administration expert, corporate vice president, and indefatigable president of the Barnes Foundation’s collection of Impressionist, post-Impressionist, and modern art.
He was elected president of the Barnes Foundation in 1990, served until 1998, and championed a series of controversial initiatives to finance extensive gallery renovations and the operation of its art collection and related educational programs. To raise the money, he suggested, among other things, selling 15 of the collection’s hundreds of paintings, charging million-dollar fees for a worldwide lending tour of 83 paintings, extending visiting hours, increasing admission, building a new parking lot, selling a coffee-table catalog, and renting out its art studios.
All of his ideas, several of which did not take place, drew supporters and critics, and Mr. Glanton, also a Barnes trustee, spoke often of his policy discussions with other Barnes officials, art experts around the world, politicians, and neighbors of the foundation building in Lower Merion Township. In 1990, he told The Inquirer. “I never purported to know anything about art. But I can lead.”
His most successful project turned out to be a two-year world lending tour of 83 foundation paintings that raised about $20 million and drew raves from museum leaders in Washington, Paris, Tokyo, Fort Worth, Toronto, and Philadelphia. The exhibition in Paris drew a then-record 1.5 million visitors, and Mr. Glanton was feted at every stop.
“Richard is somebody who started out by wanting to do something good and important and substantial, and persevered to do it despite a great deal of criticism,” Glenn D. Lowry, then director of the Art Gallery of Ontario, told The Inquirer in 1995.
Some critics said Mr. Glanton and others valued the foundation’s commercial success over its original educational role and what The Inquirer’s Edward J. Sozanski called “the Barnes mystique.” When the lending tour ended at the Philadelphia Art Museum in 1995, Mr. Glanton told The Inquirer: “I never realized or understood that it could be controversial to make available to the public a collection that is a public trust.
“But I think if you think something’s right, you should do it, whether or not people disagree, and whether it is popular or not. … You have to think not only in terms of your lifetime, but in 100 years, 1,000 years. And when you do, these little slings and arrows don’t really matter that much.”
A story and this photo of Mr. Glanton appeared in The Inquirer in 1995.
Mr. Glanton was executive deputy counsel to Gov. Thornburgh from 1979 to 1983, and he met often with constituents and helped fill judicial vacancies. “Richard is a political animal,” Ted Pillsbury, then director of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, told The Inquirer in 1995. “He understands politics. He understands what makes politics work, and he understands people. And he does not take certain things personally.”
Mr. Glanton earned his law degree at the University of Virginia School of Law in 1972 and spent several years with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, United Airlines, and other companies. In Philadelphia, he represented politicians and other notable clients, and specialized in energy, insurance, and real estate cases for firms known now as WolfBlock, and Reed Smith.
He was also senior vice president of corporate development at Exelon Corp., founder of a local TV station, social media company, and consulting firm, and board member at Aqua America, the Morris Arboretum, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and other groups. He ended a workplace sexual harassment suit with a private settlement in the early 1990s and had public policy spats with local government officials and former Lincoln president Niara Sudarkasa.
He considered running for mayor in 1995. Former Gov. Ed Rendell said: “He was exceptionally bright, courageous, and never afraid to challenge the status quo in pursuit of what he believed was right.”
Mr. Glanton was at home in a suit jacket and tie.
One of 11 children, Richard Howard Glanton was born Nov. 21, 1946. He was reared in rural Villa Rica, Ga., didn’t start school until the fourth grade, and he and his siblings worked for years on the family farm.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in English and, in 2005, was awarded an honorary doctorate from West Georgia. He married Scheryl Williams, and they had a daughter, Morgan, and a son, David.
After a divorce, he married Eileen Candia, and they had a daughter, Georgia. They lived in Philadelphia and Chicago, and moved to Princeton in 2009.
Mr. Glanton was a doting father, his family said. He taught his children to ride bikes and read Shakespeare. “He taught me that there was no room in which I didn’t belong or couldn’t strive to enter,” his daughter Morgan said. “I love him for that.”
Mr. Glanton was an avid reader and golfer.
Nearly everyone he met remembered his laugh and perpetual suit jacket and tie. He played golf, was an avid reader, and would talk politics for hours.
“He was fearless in his conviction to do what he believed was necessary and proper to achieve his goals and provide for his family,” his son said. His wife said: “He was kind and generous. He made everyone he spoke to feel special. He was always bringing you in.”
In addition to his wife, children, and former wife, Mr. Glanton is survived by two sisters, four brothers, and other relatives. One sister and four brothers died earlier.
Memorial services are to be held at noon Saturday, July 18, at Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church, 119 Thomas Dorsey Dr., Villa Rica, Ga. 30180, and at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 18, at the Union League, 140 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19102.
After Brazil beat Haiti in a World Cup match last month, 29,162 fans swarmed NRG Station to catch the subway.It was SEPTA’s second-highest reported crowd for a single stadium-complex event.
And the largest? The 31,087 people rode the B line after the Eagles won the NFC Championship in January 2025.
For three summer weeks, Philadelphia visitors leaned on transit — 155,333 passengers rode the subway also known as the Broad Street Line alone, SEPTA said.
From June 14 through July 4, the city hosted six World Cup matches, FIFA’s Fan Fest, and celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Independence Day.
“This was a unique opportunity for SEPTA — possibly one we will not get again for many years,“ spokesperson Andrew Busch said. ”We think there is a lot we can learn that will help improve special event service and everyday operations.”
Regional Rail also saw bumps in ridership, as did transit, primarily bus routes, serving the Fan Fest at Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park, SEPTA said. Bus routes 32 and 48 provided direct service, while Routes 7 and 49 had stops within walking distance of the festival entrance.
It helped that Brazil and Haiti’s June 19 game fell on the federal holiday of Juneteenth … and that sponsor Airbnb paid SEPTA to provide free rides home for people using the Broad Street Line on match days between halftime and the final whistle.
On July 4, when Paraguay and France met in an elimination round game and people were coming to Independence Day events, ridership on the overall system was up 15% compared to the previous year. Broad Street Line ridership was 62%; Regional Rail was up 48% and the lines serving FanFest were up 21%.
Transit agency analysts focused on post-match boardings on northbound trains at NRG Station because it was the most straightforward way to identify fans who attended the game and traveled on SEPTA, officials said.
Some riders headed to the stadium area were going to Stateside Live or checking out pregame festivities.
Customer service lessons learned, according to SEPTA:
Using megaphones to communicate with riders in crowded stations broke through the noise, helping people unfamiliar with SEPTA navigate.
Bringing a DJ to NRG Station soothed post-match crowds waiting for outbound trains. “More than a couple of dance parties broke out, and we think it helped keep the atmosphere festive,” Busch said.
SEPTA moved its start and end point for the B Line for the Sports Express trips from Fern Rock to Girard, easing crowds in Center City and shortening turnaround time.
Ridership on the Airport Regional Rail line typically increased 20% or more on the day before and day after a match.
Regional Rail’s Trenton line on the Northeast Corridor also carried more passengers than usual, as people took NJ Transit from New York City and northern New Jersey and connected to SEPTA.
While there were complaints about crowding, few major incidents were reported.
SEPTA gets another test next week with the MLB All-Star Game July 14 and related events, though they are expected to have a smaller impact.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday formally indicted Eugene Albert Horsch, the Olney man at the center of a widening investigation into the disappearance of at least two women, on charges that he illegally possessed firearms and fake federal law enforcement credentials.
The two-count indictment accuses Horsch, 44, of possessing two loaded firearms despite having been convicted of a prior felony, which bars him from having guns. It also alleges that he had “fraudulent identification documents” that appeared to have been issued by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but that neither agency had produced.
The indictment stems from Horsch’s arrest on June 19. On that day, U.S. Park Police officers recovered two loaded firearms — a .38 Special revolver with an obliterated serial number and a Taurus .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol — from beneath a front seat of his black BMW, which was parked in a restricted area near Independence Hall in Center City, according to court records.
Officers said they also recovered counterfeit DEA credentials from the vehicle. And later, during a search of Horsch’s home in the 400 block of West Chew Avenue, federal and local authorities uncovered fraudulent FBI credentials and a desktop computer that may have been “used to facilitate” the fake documents, according to the indictment.
Horsch has remained in federal custody since his initial appearance in U.S. District Court last month, after a magistrate judge ordered him detained pending a trial.
Horsch’s attorney, Jerome Brown, said this week: “We believe Mr Horsch is innocent.”
The federal case has unfolded alongside a broader investigation that began after Horsch’s arrest. Authorities searching his deteriorating twin home found another firearm, equipment used to grow marijuana, barrels of chemicals, ashes of least one relative, documents connected to two women who have been missing for years, and an unsigned, handwritten letter describing violence and referencing serial killer Ted Bundy, officials have said.
Investigators have said they have not found human remains at the property, but found a “significant” amount of blood. They have continued examining evidence recovered from the home as they search for any possible links between Horsch and the disappearances of Blair Tonzelli, who was reported missing in 2023, and Amy McHale, his father’s former wife, who was last heard from at the Olney property in 2016.
Brown previously said he did not believe his client had harmed either woman.
“I’d be shocked if [police] found any harm related to those missing persons at that location,” Brown said after Horsch’s detention hearing.
Staff writer Ryan W. Briggs contributed to this article.
A sampling of retailers, takeout businesses, pharmacies, convenience stores, and food stores shows half are violating Philadelphia’s ordinance that bans plastic bags and requires a fee on paper bags.
That’s according to the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center, which sent members to purchase items in 80 stores across the city and in neighborhoods with varying demographics.
The nonprofit advocacy group’s survey found:
55% of businesses violated at least one key provision of the law.
50% of businesses failed to charge a 10-cent fee on paper or reusable bags.
20% of businesses provided plastic bags that have been illegal for years.
Faran Savitz, a zero-waste advocate for PennEnvironment, said during a news conference Thursday outside City Hall that the group didn’t just scrutinize chain stores like Wawa, although those larger operations were generally compliant.
He said the 80 stores surveyed were chosen to represent multiple types in all neighborhoods, although they amount to only a fraction of businesses in the city,
“We wanted to look at as many different types of businesses and hit as many different neighborhoods in the city as possible, so we could get a sense of is this concentrated on one neighborhood or is it spread geographically everywhere,” Savitz said. “We found that this is a pretty widespread problem.”
Charts from a survey of stores conducted by the nonprofit advocacy group PennEnvironment show what the report calls widespread noncompliance of Philadelphia’s revised plastic bag law that went into effect in January 2026.
Savitz said that chain stores tend to know the law and its requirements. Many small businesses remain unaware.
However, the survey did highlight some positive momentum. Currently, three-quarters of surveyed businesses no longer distribute plastic bags. That’s a significant improvement from the group’s previous investigations that caught half of all stores providing them.
The city’s updated bag ordinance
Philadelphia’s original plastic bag law, introduced by Councilmember Mark Squilla, was passed in 2019 but was phased in slowly. It went into full effect in 2021.
After that, paper bag usage skyrocketed, said Squilla, who represents the 1st District, including parts of South Philadelphia, Center City, and the River Wards. Although paper bags are biodegradable, they require more energy to produce and the cutting down of trees.
Squilla introduced an updated bag ordinance last year, which was approved by City Council, and went into effect in January. It required a 10-cent fee on paper bags.
The goal of the fee, Squilla said, is to change shoppers’ behavior and get them to bring reusable bags to the store.
Squilla called the violations found by PennEnvironment “disappointing,” but said he knew compliance would be a challenge.
“Our goal is to end single-use plastic bags in our waste stream and in the city of Philadelphia,” Squilla said.
To close the compliance gap, PennEnvironment is urging Licenses and Inspections to improve education and enforcement, and asking residents to report noncompliant businesses to the city’s 311 system.
Faran Savitz (left) of PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center and Philadelphia Councilmember Mark Squilla, at lectern, discuss PennEnvironment’s findings outside City Hall on July 9.
Plastic bags
Ryan Rabenold, environmental program coordinator at the Pennsylvania Resources Council, said the city’s law is key to reducing waste, noting that most reusable plastic bags do not get recycled.
Plastic bags contribute to litter, require fossil fuels to produce, and become microplastics in the environment when they break down.
“They either get lost in the system, are contaminated with food or grease, which makes them unrecyclable, or they simply get blown away when we’re trying to collect them,” Rabenold said. “When they do end up in our recycling system … they contaminate materials that are recyclable and force them to be removed from the system.”
Rabenold noted that microplastics have been detected in human blood and tissue.
“We are feeling the impacts of something that we may not be able to see, Rabenold said.
“It’s better for our health and the environment to use one thing 1,000 times,” Rabenold said of reusable bags, “rather than use 1,000 things once.”
In late April, Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), visited Philadelphia to assess the possibility of the city hosting the 2028 Democratic National Convention. He toured Xfinity Mobile Arena and met with Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and business leaders, who rolled out a “blue carpet” aimed at charming him.
It seemed natural to see business leaders working with local politicians to try to convince the DNC to choose Philadelphia, as well as helping to raise the funds required for the city to be eligible to host the convention. Democrats dominate the city’s politics, and its elected officials tend to share local business executives’ visions for economic development.
But these groups weren’t always aligned. In 1936, when Philadelphia made a similar push to host the Democratic Convention, the effort aroused skepticism in a city that had been a Republican stronghold for decades. Much of the skepticism was centered in the business community — where many vehemently opposed the policies of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
It took a push by coalition builders like Albert Greenfield, a powerful business leader, to win over skeptics. Greenfield sold his fellow businessmen by framing the pursuit not as something partisan or political, but as a venture in civic boosterism. This argument proved compelling, and business support helped land the convention for Philadelphia. Today, Greenfield’s efforts provide a model for how to bring diverse interests together to boost a city, even in times of polarization.
Before the 1930s, Philadelphia was firmly a Republican city. In this era, the national party’s platform was dominated by pro-business politics, aligned around policies aimed at enhancing economic growth and competition.
A thoroughly corrupt political machine led by William Vare dictated the city’s politics. Each ward had Republican committee people who purchased individual votes at a going rate of one dollar. Loyal to the Vare machine, they also ensured voters headed to the polls on Election Day. In exchange, many of these committee people were rewarded with spots on the city payroll.
The flow of money linked voters and committee people alike to Vare and the GOP. The machine’s dominance meant that the Republicans won most local elections, and the city gave its votes to their party in federal and state contests, including in every presidential election dating back to 1856. That even included in 1932 when Roosevelt was first elected by a large margin nationally.
The Democratic Party — which, in other cities, drew power from local machines — remained weak and made little headway because Democrats, too, relied upon patronage favors from the dominant Republicans. That made them hesitant to rock the boat or wage an assault on the Vare machine and the status quo.
At the beginning of Roosevelt’s first term, however, the city’s politics began to shift thanks to the new president and his New Deal. Struggling Philadelphians started to feel the tangible effects of New Deal policies at precisely the same moment that changes began to occur in both parties’ leadership locally. The result was a restoration of genuine two-party competition.
The same Depression-era pressures loosening working-class loyalty to the Republican machine also began to pull Greenfield — who had once been a staunch Republican, but had soured on Herbert Hoover — toward the Democratic Party. The businessman benefited from several million dollars in funding from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, the governmental lender of last resort, to prop up his business enterprises. Experiencing the benefits from New Deal policies firsthand, Greenfield started to express cautious support of Roosevelt.
From his position as chairman of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Convention and Tourist Committee, Greenfield also launched an effort to recruit the Democratic Convention to Philadelphia.
His colleagues in the Chamber of Commerce shared Greenfield’s vision of landing a party convention in 1936 — but they didn’t care which party. Greenfield himself, however, remained focused on the Democrats in part because of his friendship with the liberal newspaper publisher J. David Stern.
In December 1935, he began soliciting donations from the city’s business leaders with the goal of raising $150,000 (more than $3.6 million in 2026 dollars) to help lure the Democrats. He framed the convention not only as an opportunity to increase business activity, but also as a means of enhancing the city’s national reputation.
Greenfield appealed to a wide range of constituencies, at times striking an unrelenting tone in his correspondence with business leaders. In one letter, Greenfield wrote that members of the Chamber, “feel that each individual enterprise has a moral obligation and responsibility with respect to the financial requisites for securing the convention.”
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Greenfield’s efforts quickly bore fruit. Ledgers show contributions from both businesses and individual donors in sectors ranging from dentistry to distilling and hospitality. He also sold his fellow businessmen on their contributions being a non-partisan investment that would be “returned manyfold” to those who donated. This framing made it easier for many of his still staunchly Republican peers to support the bid.
In January 1936, after the Chamber formally invited the Democratic National Committee to hold its convention in Philadelphia, news headlines reflected the importance of the incentive package organized by Greenfield. When Philadelphia won the bid — with a financial package that ended up totaling $200,000 — The New York Times characterized the proceedings as an “auction and now a poker game.” The money Greenfield raised ultimately compelled national Democrats to shift their preference from Chicago to Philadelphia as their host city.
Greenfield soon became the chair of the city’s convention planning committee. In that role, he assembled a cohort of other prominent business and financial figures to orchestrate the programming surrounding the convention. He promised them pomp and circumstance — which he delivered.
When the convention finally arrived in Philadelphia in June, flags bearing the names of U.S. states and festive decorations lined Broad Street; ceremonial stamps depicted a triumphant, sun-illuminated city; press photographers documented a ceremony in which city officials registered a donkey that was part of the New York delegation to vote. The city even suspended its blue laws to allow Sunday drinking.
In bringing the convention to Philadelphia, Greenfield constructed his own alliance that worked to replace the system long sustained by Vare and the Republican machine. While he did not offer jobs and cash to individuals in exchange for loyalty like Vare did, he created a mechanism by which the success of the convention became materially valuable to the city’s business establishment.
If members of the city’s business community sought to access the economic benefits of this national political event, they had to do so through Greenfield, further aligning Philadelphia’s commercial interests with an individual who wanted the convention to succeed not only financially but politically as well.
What may have begun as tentative, pragmatic support for hosting the convention evolved into a more explicit embrace of the Democratic Party, with many businesses ultimately associating themselves with Democratic messaging. One newspaper advertisement praised the efforts of Roosevelt as a force behind Philadelphia’s economic revitalization. That message received endorsements from more than a dozen small businesses, whose names were featured alongside the message of support for the president.
At the close of the convention, Greenfield told delegates that their enthusiasm might one day lead historians to view the city as a Democratic stronghold — a prediction that ultimately proved correct. By constructing a new network of support within Philadelphia’s business community, Greenfield helped rally backing for a convention that proved to be far more than an economic boost or mere “convention fireworks.” Instead, the gathering would serve as an engine for a realignment that would hold the city for the Democratic Party through the next two decades.
The day after the 1936 election, the city of Philadelphia awoke to stunning results. Roosevelt had carried 43 of the city’s 50 wards and the city that the Philadelphia Bulletin had confidently described as unlikely to depart from “its long tradition” as a Republican stronghold had broken sharply with it. In 1940, when the city again explored hosting either the Republican or Democratic convention, the same committee which had led fundraising in 1936 initiated both efforts. Reflecting the changes in Philadelphia politics, however, the fundraising effort to attract the Democratic convention was far more successful than efforts to court its GOP counterpart. The business community in a city that had voted reliably Republican just four years earlier now raised three and half times as much money for potentially hosting the Democratic convention as the Republican one.
As business leaders in Philadelphia work to bring the convention back to the city, they are drawing from Greenfield’s playbook 90 years ago that brought together a new alliance of business leaders in support of a convention that proved to be a political inflection point.
Ethan Young is a rising senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying history and political science.
Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of The Inquirer.
With Philadelphia’s Fourth of July festivities for the United States’ 250th birthday having come and gone, this weekend will mark a celebration for a newly minted centenarian. And with any luck, that party won’t run so late.
The party will feature interactive historical displays, food trucks, music, and other activities. It’s open to the public and free to attend, and while not required, advance registration via the DRPA website is encouraged, officials said.
“For 100 years, the Ben Franklin Bridge has stood as more than a crossing over the Delaware River. It is a public promise,” John T. Hanson, DRPA chief executive officer, said in a statement. “We are proud to invite the public to celebrate its past, recognize those who have preserved it, and look ahead to the next 100 years.”
Here is what you need to know:
Closed to cars
Due to the event, the bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic in both directions from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, DRPA officials said in a statement.
Road closures around the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, officials said, should be expected during the event. However, the Walt Whitman and Betsy Ross Bridges will remain open for motorists.
While the bridge travel lanes will be open to foot traffic, the pedestrian walkway will be closed during the event. It will reopen at 2:30 p.m., and continue to operating until 9 p.m., the usual closing time.
Additionally, PATCO trains will continue to operate across the bridge Saturday, with enhanced service instituted to allow trains to run every 15 minutes throughout the bridge celebration.
How to get there
For those looking to get to the Camden side’s main party area, DRPA officials advise using the PATCO option from Philadelphia, which can get you to Camden’s City Hall station nearby.
There will also be a complimentary shuttle service operating continuously throughout the event. One shuttle route runs between the Camden City Hall station and the event entrance, and another from PATCO’s Franklin Square Station at 7th and Race Streets in Philly to the event site in Camden, DRPA spokesperson Mike Williams said.
And, of course, from Philly, you could just get to the Jersey side by walking across the bridge. Starting from the main event area in Camden is not required
“The bridge walk is really the centerpiece of the celebration, and we hope attendees take advantage of this rare opportunity,” Williams said.
Bikes are permitted on the roadway but are not permitted in the main party area.
For those who plan on driving, parking areas will be available on the Jersey side. They include free lots at Rutgers University, on-street metered parking, and a paid parking garage at Camden Technology Center, DRPA said.
What if it rains?
Saturday’s event will go on rain or shine, and there is no rain date, Williams said.
Officials had announced a rain date of July 12, but the event logistics made a rain date impractical, Williams said.
Things to do
In addition to the food trucks and vendors, the event will feature dance performances and special guests.
A “Winged Victory” statue, one of four that originally sat atop the bridge at its opening in 1926, will also be on display.
A family fun zone will offer an inflatable obstacle course and oversized yard games, as well as face painting and other entertainment, organizers said. And attendees will also be able to get up-close views of the vehicles that work on the bridge, such as a barrier mover known as a “zipper machine,” as well as front-end loaders, and dump trucks.
The first week of July has typically been one of Philadelphia’s most violent, with recent Independence Day weekends marked by mass shootings, police officers shot, and bursts of violence that left a dozen dead.
But this year, amid a dramatic decline in violence and a flood of visitors to the city, the holiday weekend was noticeably calmer than in years past, offering another encouraging sign that the dramatic decline in shootings held through one of its toughest tests.
Twenty-three people were shot from July 1 through July 7 — a slightly higher total than most weeks in 2026, but nearly half the average number of shooting victims during the same period over the last decade, according to city data. In 2021, at the height of the city’s gun violence crisis, more than 70 people were shot in that week alone.
If the current pace continues, Philadelphia is on track to record fewer than 200 homicides for the first time since the 1960s, a remarkable turnaround from just five years ago, when nearly three times as many people were killed.
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Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said in an interview that the July Fourth weekend is historically one of the most challenging for urban police departments.
Bethel said he and other city, state, and federal law enforcement officials spent about two years planning for this holiday weekend, preparing for potential crises that never came.
Anticipating hundreds of thousands of visitors for FIFA Club World Cup events and the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations, the department canceled many officers’ vacation requests over the last month and, on the Fourth, deployed more than 2,000 members of local and state law enforcement across the city, he said.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel, speaks at a press conference on the details for the Roots Picnic in May 2026.
Reinforcements from the Pennsylvania State Police and neighboring municipalities helped the city maintain staffing levels in neighborhoods that have historically seen more violence, Bethel said. Officers worked in the record-breaking heat, he said, with some starting their shifts at 7 a.m. and clocking out only after the concert on the Parkway ended at 3 a.m.
The FBI took the lead on monitoring the skies, Bethel said, intercepting several drones that were flying illegally. (None of the drones, he said, was flying with “nefarious” intent.)
He called the weekend a validation of the city’s planning and broader work that has contributed to the decline in gun violence.
“I can’t tell you how many people grabbed me and said they felt welcomed and felt safe,” he said of the events over the last month. “Let’s own the win. Let’s not hide from it.”
Bethel also said there had been no acts of violence around the approximately two dozen bars that were approved to stay open until 4 a.m. from June 11 to July 19 to accommodate crowds attending the FIFA, July Fourth, and MLB All-Star celebrations.
“We’re seeing zero issues,” he said.
Soccer fans gather to watch Mexico play South Africa on a giant screen during the opening day of the FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill on Thursday, June 11, 2026, in Philadelphia.
The reduction in violence over the holiday weekend fits a broader pattern. Shootings and homicides in the city began to decline in 2023, mirroring a national trend, and have continued to fall. So far this year, 90 people have been killed in homicides — less than a third of the number recorded at the same time three years ago, according to police data.
Just as there was no clear explanation for the spike in crime that began in 2019, criminologists and law enforcement officials say, it is similarly difficult to pinpoint the reasons for its decline. But there are theories: an overall return to normal life after the pandemic, expanded community-based violence prevention programs, more arrests in shootings and homicides, and targeted prosecutions of some of the city’s most violent gangs.
One measurable change has been the police department’s improved clearance rates, which researchers have long viewed as a potential deterrent to future violence.
The homicide clearance rate — the share of killings solved, including arrests made this year in both new and older cases — has climbed to nearly 99%, up from about 47% in 2022. The clearance rate for nonfatal shootings has risen to about 41%, roughly double what it was in 2021.
Bethel said those arrests take would-be shooters and victims off the streets and interrupt cycles of violence.
“We’re impacting retaliation, we’re impacting somebody being shot again, we’re impacting someone who may shoot and kill somebody,” he said.
Jeff Asher, a New Orleans-based national crime analyst, said because the decline is likely driven by many programs and societal changes, it is hard to know what will sustain the progress.
“I keep expecting [the crime rate] to stop falling, and it’s just not,” he said in an interview. “So, maybe this is the new normal. We just can’t say with a ton of confidence.”
Still, the quieter weekend was not wholly peaceful.
Three men were killed between Friday and Monday morning, leaving families and neighbors to mourn loved ones even as the city showed signs of sustained progress.
On Monday morning, Shawn Caddell, 32, was killed during a robbery inside a Logan beer deli, police said. And on Sunday, two men were slain in areas that have long been hot spots for shootings: Emanuel Aguirre, 27, was fatally shot in the Hunting Park section of North Philadelphia, and Donald McPhaul, 51, was gunned down on Salford Street in West Philadelphia.
A 16-year-old in South Philadelphia was among more than a dozen people who were shot and survived.
Philadelphia police examine a car with a bullet hole after a man was fatally shot along the 500 block of East Wyoming Avenue on July 5, 2026.
Bethel said the pockets of the city that have long experienced higher rates of violence — and that continue to see shootings, albeit fewer, today — remain a priority.
“We are never going to give up in those communities,” he said. “We are going to keep working in those areas.”
Recent polls have found that a majority of Philadelphians have noticed the decline and feel safer. But for residents on blocks where shootings remain a recurring threat, a citywide trend line can feel distant from daily life.
Chantay Love, president of the victim-advocacy organization EMIR Healing Center, said the communitiesseeing recurring violence are still grappling with “the trauma and collateral damage that is left behind” from the last six years.
Linda Days, 72, who lives in the area, said the shooting that killed McPhaul was another reminder of the violence she has come to expect since moving there seven years ago from Olney.
Standing in her doorway on Tuesday, Days said it feels as if gunfire has become part of the soundtrack outside her home. But during the Fourth of July weekend, she said, she is especially careful to stay inside.
“I don’t even come out to watch the fireworks,” she said.
As the 2020 NFL season kicked off, Terry Thompson picked up his phone and placed a wager with FanDuel Sportsbook on his favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles.
It was his first time gambling through an app, and he soon started placing microbets, which are in-game wagers on something as small as whether the next play would be a pass or run.
He grew addicted to the effortless, rapid-fire action. Every game, every quarter, every play — click, click, click. Thompson would ultimately wager $18.5 million with FanDuel, earning him VIP status with the company. That meant exclusive perks, from champagne to Super Bowl tickets, which made him feel important and enticed him to continue gambling.
By late November 2024, Thompson had incurred steep losses and resorted to desperate measures to fund his addiction. Then, one afternoon, he flicked open his phone and received a FanDuel reward that momentarily distracted him from his debts: a personalized video message from Philadelphia Phillies superstar Bryce Harper.
The Inquirer obtained a copy of the 21-second video. In it, Harper addresses Thompson by name and acknowledges Thompson’s young son. Harper ends by thanking Thompson for his support.
Harper is not wearing any FanDuel merchandise, but the video is marked with the company’s logo, and Harper mentions that he was reaching out at the request of Thompson’s VIP manager, “your host Bryttanni at FanDuel,” who wanted to ensure that Thompson had an “extra special Thanksgiving.”
Professional sports leaders had long recoiled at having any association with gambling. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that states could legalize sports betting, and each league now has lucrative partnerships with sportsbook companies, whose advertisements can be easily found in stadiums and arenas, and during game broadcasts.
Still, league officials preach about the importance of protecting the integrity of their games and have rules that are designed to maintain distance between professional athletes and bettors. Although Major League Baseball’s policy does not explicitly reference interactions with VIP gamblers, Harper’s personal message to a bettor — apparently arranged by an employee of a major sportsbook — is a unique test of how cozy the league will allow players to get with gambling companies.
There is no evidence that Harper has an official partnership with FanDuel, or was aware that Thompson had an addiction.
The Inquirer could find no other examples of an active athlete recording a personal message to a sportsbook VIP customer who, by definition, had to be regularly betting large sums of money.
The Inquirer shared the video with Scott Boras, Harper’s longtime agent, and asked if he or Harper would discuss how FanDuel had obtained the video.
Boras declined to comment.
The Inquirer also shared the video with the Phillies and MLB. Both declined to comment, and the players union did not respond to a request for comment.
Multiple experts familiar with the fraught intersection of professional sports and the gambling industry said that while Harper does not explicitly encourage gambling in the video, it still raises concerns.
Danny Funt, who researched sportsbook VIP programs for his 2026 book, Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling, said in an email that VIP bettors sometimes get to hang out with former athletes. He cited former San Diego Charger LaDainian Tomlinson, who worked in retirement for DraftKings, as one example.
But the Harper video is entirely different, he said.
Harper, a nine-time All-Star and two-time MVP, has been one of baseball’s most marketable stars throughout his 15-year career.
“I’ve never heard of an active player, let alone a former MVP, doing something like this,” Funt said.
Leigh Steinberg — an agent who represents Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and whose past clients included MLB All-Stars Manny Ramirez and Will Clark — called the Harper video “bad for sports.”
Steinberg said if one of his clients approached him about doing promotional work of any kind for a sportsbook company, he would advise them to walk away.
“It’s not good for your brand,” he said. “It’s exploitative and it’s not the sort of activity you want to be associated with.”
MLB’s collective bargaining agreement, which is set to expire in December, allows athletes to appear in advertisements or make personal appearances for casinos, racetracks, or sportsbook companies, so long as the ballplayers do not encourage betting on baseball.
NFL players are prohibited from marketing or promoting “any form of gambling” under the league’s current collective bargaining agreement.
The NBA, meanwhile, allows its players to own a passive ownership stake — less than 1% — in sportsbook and prediction market companies, and engage in promotional work for gambling companies, provided they do not encourage betting on basketball. As a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James appeared in advertisements for DraftKings.
Harper, 33, has been one of baseball’s most marketable players throughout his 15-year career. He has had endorsement deals with many companies, including Under Armour, Gatorade, Dairy Queen, and Blind Barber, a chain of barbershops and lounges of which Harper owns an equity stake.
He has also been famously unafraid of the spotlight, openly discussing everything from his Mormon faith — which prohibits gambling and alcohol use — to perceived criticism from his boss.
Professional sports leagues that once vehemently opposed any association with gambling enterprises have now embraced lucrative partnerships with sportsbook operators.
Jodi Balsam, a former NFL attorney who is now a sports law professor at Brooklyn Law School, said even if Harper’s video does not violate baseball policy, it raises ethical questions about the league’s relationship with gambling companies, whose business practices are facing increasing scrutiny from state and federal lawmakers.
“The first question I would have is, was [the Harper video] done by the sportsbook company precisely because they know they have an addicted gambler on their hands, and they’re trying to wring every cent out of him that they can?” Balsam asked.
FanDuel did not respond to a request for comment.
Balsam’s question is at the center of a lawsuit that attorneys for the nonprofit Public Health Advocacy Institute filed in March in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia on behalf of Thompson and another plaintiff. The suit alleges that FanDuel and DraftKings, another sportsbook company, use their products and VIP services to intentionally maximize addiction.
Harper is not named in the lawsuit.
Thompson, whose attorneys declined to make him available for this story, details the depths of his gambling addiction in his lawsuit.
Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was sentenced in 2025 to 57 months in federal prison for illegally transferring nearly $17 million from Ohtani’s bank accounts to pay off gambling debts.
He alleges that he covered his losses by taking out second and third mortgages on his home, which later fell into foreclosure, and then sold his shares of an investment company that he had run for two decades.
By late February, Thompson’s suit claims, he wagered and lost his last $10,000 on a DraftKings parlay bet.
His losses totaled nearly $2 million, according to the lawsuit. Desperate and feeling like he could not confess the scope of his financial ruin to his family, Thompson texted his therapist, who then contacted the police. Officers raced to Thompson’s home and prevented him from harming himself.
Balsam said Thompson’s tragic story should give sports leagues and its players pause.
“Is this the kind of activity that either the union or the league want their players to be associated with,” Balsam said, “if it leads to addictive and self-destructive behaviors by a fan?”
How MLB’s betting stance changed
“People know gambling is deadly,” Allan H. “Bud” Selig said. “I don’t have to conduct focus groups.”
It was November 2012, and Selig, then MLB’s commissioner, was being deposed for nearly three hours in Milwaukee. A lawsuit instigated by then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie sought to overturn a longstanding federal law that restricted legal sports betting to just four states.
Major League Baseball longtime commissioner Bud Selig (center) argued in a 2012 deposition that widespread legalized sports gambling would be harmful to baseball. He was later succeeded by Rob Manfred (left), who has overseen partnerships between the league and sportsbook companies.
Baseball’s leaders had sought for decades to avoid recurrences of past gambling scandals that had threatened the integrity of the sport. Selig had maintained the hard line of his predecessors, perhaps most notably by upholding the league’s 1989 lifetime ban of former Phillies first baseman Pete Rose, who was found to have bet on baseball while managing the Cincinnati Reds.
Selig said he understood why state lawmakers would welcome the tax revenue that widespread legalized sports gambling could generate. But he argued such a development could only increase the odds of new baseball betting crises, which would be “the end of your sport.”
“I’m just — guess I have to say to you that I’m appalled,” Selig said in the deposition. “I’m really appalled.”
In 2019, MLB — led by a new commissioner, Rob Manfred — entered into its first partnership agreement with FanDuel.
Manfred sent a memo to players outlining the league’s gambling policy. At that time, it prohibited players from performing services “in any capacity involving sports betting for any third party,” a categorization that included “promoting or endorsing sports betting products or services.”
A new collective bargaining agreement, reached in 2022, allowed players to do promotional work for sportsbooks. Colorado Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon soon became the first professional baseball player to secure a deal as a brand ambassador for a sportsbook company.
Not everyone affiliated with MLB has welcomed the new relationships between the league and gambling entities.
“We’re entering a very delicate and, dare I say, dangerous world here,” Tony Clark, then president of the players union, told reporters in 2022.
MLB gave a lifetime ban in 1989 to former Phillie Pete Rose for betting on baseball while he was the manager of the Reds.
Two years later, MLB Players Inc. — a licensing and marketing subsidiary of the players union — filed a lawsuit that accused DraftKings of using without permission or compensation photos of MLB stars on its betting app and in social media posts. FanDuel and Bet365 were also named as defendants in the suit.
Harper figured prominently in the lawsuit. The complaint against DraftKings, filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, included images of Harper’s face on the DraftKings app and a reference to a hypothetical wager on Harper hitting two home runs in a game. Attorneys also mentioned Harper in later courtroom arguments.
Being able to control how their names, images, and likenesses are used is a “crucial return on their substantial career investment,” the players’ attorneys wrote in the complaint. “It also enables athletes to avoid being associated with companies, commercial products, and industries that they do not wish to be perceived as supporting and endorsing.”
(The union ultimately dropped its case against FanDuel, and the lawsuit was settled earlier this year for undisclosed terms.)
In May 2024 — five months before FanDuel sent Harper’s video message to Terry Thompson — Manfred fired umpire Pat Hoberg for sharing a sportsbook account with a professional poker player who placed bets on baseball.
An investigation found no evidence that Hoberg himself had bet on baseball, Manfred later said. But the existence of the shared account — and the fact the umpire had deleted Telegram messages between himself and the poker player — created the “appearance of impropriety that warrants imposing the most severe discipline.” Hoberg appealed his dismissal but lost.
A year later, Bud Selig’s stark warning materialized.
Former Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase has been accused by federal investigators of conspiring with bettors in exchange for financial kickbacks.
Federal authorities indicted Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis L. Ortiz, and accused each of conspiring with bettors.
Clase and Ortiz “agreed to throw specific types and speeds of pitches” prior to games, and bettors wagered on those pitches, the indictment states. In exchange, the bettors wired thousands of dollars to the pitchers through a third party in the Dominican Republic. Clase and Ortiz have each pleaded not guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and related charges and are awaiting trial. MLB has placed them on paid nondisciplinary leave.
That same year, Ippei Mizuhara, a former translator for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for illegally transferring nearly $17 million from Ohtani’s bank account to pay Mizuhara’s gambling debts.
Those episodes have not resulted in baseball’s demise, as Selig had once imagined. But they also did not rupture MLB’s relationship with gambling entities, which collected a record $165 billion in sports wagers in 2025.
As part of negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement with MLB, the players union recently asked the league for to grant players more freedom to seek endorsements from sportsbook operators and prediction markets, ESPN reported.
The VIP treatment
FanDuel awards five points for every dollar that a bettor pays on a contest entry fee. To achieve VIP status, bettors must amass 600,000 points, which expire after a year of inactivity.
“But don’t worry,” the company explains on its website, “it’s easy to stay active.”
Terry Thompson earned a FanDuel VIP manager, Bryttanni Morgan, in 2021, court records show.
Morgan texted Thompson often about the fortunes of the Eagles, commiserating over the team’s ups and downs. Their conversations also veered into more personal terrain — favorite restaurants, travel plans, and family.
A FanDuel VIP manager allegedly offered tickets to Super Bowl LVII to bettor Terry Thompson, an Eagles fan who had a gambling addiction.
FanDuel’s intention, Thompson’s attorneys allege, was for Thompson to believe that Morgan was his friend.
Their exchanges often returned to Thompson’s betting activity. Morgan encouraged him to place more wagers, even when he showed signs of financial strain, the lawsuit states.
Morgan is named as a defendant in Thompson’s lawsuit. Her attorney could not be reached for comment.
In late December 2022, after Thompson had suffered more losses, Morgan texted him: “Are we gonna take a little break and start fresh in the New Year?”
“I’ll try,” Thompson wrote back, adding a smiley face symbol.
A few weeks later, on Jan. 13, 2023, Morgan offered a FanDuel VIP perk: two tickets to Super Bowl LVII in Arizona — where Thompson’s beloved Eagles would face the Kansas City Chiefs — along with free transportation, and tickets to Sports Illustrated and FanDuel parties.
On other occasions, Morgan provided Thompson with tickets to Eagles, Flyers, and Sixers games. FanDuel also flew Thompson and his son to Super Bowl LVI in California, with pregame access to the playing field and celebrities like Chris Rock.
Funt, the author, said he has major concerns about how the VIP programs are used to ensnare gamblers.
“They exist to egg on a reckless and potentially dangerous style of betting, using perks and other incentives that would be borderline irresistible for many sports fans,” he said. “I can only imagine how someone who loves Bryce Harper would feel indebted (no pun intended) to a sportsbook that facilitated a personalized video from him.”
Leigh Steinberg said he had not heard of other instances of sportsbook companies using active athletes to send greetings to a bettor.
“Because it’s not public, it’s hard to understand whether it’s ubiquitous or an exception,” he said.
Leigh Steinberg has represented numerous NFL stars, from Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes to NFL Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Steve Young.
But Steinberg, who publicly struggled with an addiction to alcohol, argues that interactions between athletes and bettors who wager heavily on sports are inherently problematic.
“Getting a phone call or a zoom or a Cameo from a highly placed player is so flattering,” he said. “It’s stacking the deck unfairly in favor of continuing addicting behavior.”
The glamour of Thompson’s Super Bowl trips and brushes with celebrities had long since faded when he reached the nadir of his gambling earlier this year.
There were no more offers of free betting credits to be had, or microbets to chase.
Broke and broken, Thompson entered a psychiatric facility to undergo treatment for gambling addiction.
The Inquirer will continue to report on issues related to the growth of gambling addiction — among teens and adults — across Pennsylvania. If you, or someone you know, wants to speak with a reporter, please contact David Gambacorta or William Bender at dgambacorta@inquirer.com and wbender@inquirer.com
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the university where Jodi Balsam works as a law professor. She works at Brooklyn Law School.
