During a weeklong search of a crumbling Olney twin, federal agents and Philadelphia police found guns and drugs, tubs of chemicals, a curious unsigned letter, and fake law enforcement badges as they were investigating the homeowner’s connection to at least two women who have been missing for years.
The unusual investigation began under similarly bizarre circumstances: U.S. Park Police encountered Eugene Albert Horsch, 44, acting suspiciously in his black BMW parked near Sixth and Market Streets on the morning of June 19, Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said.
As the ranger approached the car, Vanore said, he heard a woman in the backseat say, “You’re going to hurt me.” The woman then falsely identified herself to the officers using the name of a 38-year-old woman who had been reported missing in Kensington in February 2023, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
The woman, 39, later told investigators that she’d given the alias because she had open warrants for her arrest in ongoing drug cases, and that Horsch had previously made her fake identification cards in that name, telling her she could use it if she was ever stopped and questioned by police, the sources said.
And later, the sources said, she told officials that she did not know that missing woman — but feared something bad may have happened to her.
Eugene Albert Horsch, 44, of Philadelphia.
When police searched Horsch’s car outside Independence Hall, they recovered two firearms with obliterated serial numbers, as well as cocaine, fentanyl, and marijuana, according to an affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. What’s more, a source said, the car also contained a collapsible baton, a cattle prod, switchblade knives, and a fake U.S. Drug Enforcement badge with Horsch’s photograph under the name “Eugene Frederick Steiner.”
Horsch was taken into custody and charged with illegal gun possession and drug crimes. He’s currently being held on $500,000 bail at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.
Officials with federal drug enforcement began searching Horsch’s home on the 400 block of West Chew Avenue alongside Philadelphia police on June 19.
The house at the 400 block of W. Chew Avenue in Olney being investigated.
Vanore, in a news conference Friday, said the conditions of the boarded-up twin and materials recovered inside of it — including hidden compartments, drums filled with chemicals, and what appeared to be urns holding at least one of Horsch’s relatives’ cremated remains — only deepened the mysteries of the case.
And investigators soon found themselves confronting a second concerning thread: Horsch’s late father, R.C. Horsch, a convicted drug manufacturer and erotic filmmaker, had an ex-wife who was last seen at the Olney property in 2016 and has never been found.
Horsch’s attorney, Jerome Brown, said he did not have details about the ongoing police investigation.
Brown said R.C Horsch, who died in 2025, had been questioned in the June 2016 disappearance of his ex-wife Amy McHale, of South Philadelphia. She suffered from mental health and substance abuse issues, he said.
“This is much ado about nothing,” Brown said of the missing persons investigation. “They’re barking up the wrong tree.”
Inside Horsch’s home, investigators found another handgun, chemicals and bottles of liquid that forensics investigators in white hazmat suits were still working to identify on Friday, Vanore said. There was also a 55-gallon drum with connections to waterlines leading into a hole in the ground, he said, and materials to grow marijuana upstairs.
Federal investigators also found a multipage and unsigned handwritten letter that described references to hurting unspecified people, and references to the serial killer Ted Bundy, according to an affidavit of probable cause to search the home that was obtained by The Inquirer.
“Acting on emotion is where problems occur. What I don’t think I told you was that the first time it was planned ahead of time. The threat was made before you know who came over and I already had a 2ft zip tie in my pocket and a drum set up,” the letter said, according to the affidavit.
According to the warrant, it went on: “I had been ready and waiting and I damn sure showed no hesitation. And it was fun.”
Law enforcement sources said investigators were working to verify the authenticity of the letter, who wrote it, and whether it was meant to serve as a portion of a novel or screenplay. Horsch’s father published several works of fiction with masochistic themes, including one described as an “autobiographical memoir of a caring, empathetic serial killer.”
Police also found bank cards in the name of the woman who went missing in 2023, and also recovered what appeared to be a death certificate for another woman who died last year, the document stated.
Vanore said no human remains were found inside the home.
Forensic experts from the FBI are now analyzing the liquids and materials recovered in the home, he said.
Vanore said it wasn’t clear whether the chemicals were intended for a drug manufacturing operation or another purpose.
“We just don’t know what he’s doing, if he’s producing something, if he’s making something, if he’s irrigating something, we don’t know,” Vanore said. “I’m not a chemist, but from what I’ve been told … they could have been explosives.“
And, he said, it was too early to say whether the evidence would speak to any of the missing person cases tied to the property. He declined to identify the woman who had been reported missing in 2023 and did not answer questions related to the ongoing investigation into McHale’s disappearance.
“We’re certainly going to look into the activities that went on at that house,” he said.
Investigators on W. Chew Avenue.
News reports of the search of the Horsch home reopened wounds for McHale’s family. Gloria McHale said her daughter struggled with mental health issues and a drug addiction, and was married to R.C. Horsch for several years before disappearing June 14, 2016.
In an interview Friday, she said when police questioned R.C. Horsch at the time of her daughter’s disappearance, he said he last saw McHale drinking vodka before he went to bed, and that when he woke up, she was gone.
“I knew that wasn’t right,” McHale’s mother said. “She wouldn’t disappear. She had a daughter and grandkids. Her daughter was about to get married.”
Prior to his arrest last week, Eugene Horsch had a criminal history that included at least 10 other arrests for drug possession, dealing, assaults and drunk driving. He was sentenced to four to eight years in prison after police discovered $1.9 million worth of cannabis inside the Chew Avenue home in 2013, court records show.
He was arrested again in May 2025 for possession of marijuana and amphetamines and handed three years’ probation.
Then, in March, he was charged with aggravated assault after police said he stabbed a man in the stomach at Eighth and Market Streets. Prosecutors withdrew the charges in May after a witness failed to appear in court, court records show.
Since his release from jail, he appeared to be living back at his rundown home on Chew Avenue, a property that city inspectors cited as vacant and unsafe in recent years and that neighbors described as an increasingly off-putting presence on the block.
On Friday morning, anxiety swirled along the typically quiet residential neighborhood, about a mile from the Montgomery County border.
A security camera mounted on Horsch’s home between the boarded-up windows on the upper floors looked out over an overgrown yard where at least a dozen local and federal agents collected and tested evidence into the late afternoon.
Sid Brunson, a construction worker who lives nearby and occasionally cut the grass in front of Horsch’s house, said Horsch often had women who appeared to use drugs at his property. A fire broke out on the upper floors of the property several months ago, he said, which led to plywood covering the windows.
He described his neighbor as a “quiet” and “real jittery” man who kept to himself.
“He always had a nice shirt on like he was going to the office,” Brunson said, “but he never gave you enough time to talk because he was always rushing.”
Staff Writers Ryan W. Briggs, Samantha Melamed, Brett Sholtis, Michelle Myers, Isabel Maney, Andrea Padilla, and Jesse Bunch contributed to this article.
A U.S. park ranger last week conducted what seemed like a routine traffic stop near Independence National Historical Park, approaching a black BMW that was parked in front of a fire hydrant and asking to speak with the driver.
But just moments into the encounter, the ranger discovered a series of alarming pieces of evidence inside the car, according to a police report obtained exclusively by The Inquirer: switchblade knives, drug materials, a cattle prod and, eventually, two loaded guns.
The car’s occupants, too, were displaying troubling behavior, the report said — a woman inside said the driver was going to hurt her. And she then produced a fake identification that included her photo, but had the name of another woman who had been missing for three years.
The episode kicked off what has since become a weeklong investigation into the car’s owner and a variety of unsettling materials police have since found in the man’s Olney rowhouse.
And the probe has only intensified in recent days, growing to include Philadelphia homicide detectives, FBI agents specializing in chemical analysis, and unsubstantiated rumors spilling across social media about corpses being found in a basement.
Officials said Friday that they had no indication that Eugene Albert Horsch, 44 — the man who owns the BMW and the home in Olney — had actually stored human remains in his house on the 400 block of West Chew Avenue. But Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore cautioned that the investigation remained ongoing, and that law enforcement agents were examining a host of unusual evidence connected to Horsch and his home.
Horsch, in the meantime, remains jailed on gun and weapons charges that were filed after his initial encounter with the park ranger last Friday.
The police report obtained by the Inquirer, as well as the affidavit of probable cause for Horsch’s arrest, gave this account of how that episode unfolded:
Around 8 a.m. on June 19, a park ranger patrolling the area noticed Horsch’s BMW stopped on Sixth Street in a restricted area, and the ranger walked up to the car to speak with the driver.
When Horsch rolled down his window, the ranger heard a woman inside the car yell out that the man inside was going to hurt her. The ranger also noticed signs of potential drug use by the occupants of the car, including a butane lighter and tweezers, and he asked both people in the vehicle for identification.
The woman then provided an ID that had her photo but the name and other details of a woman who had been reported missing several years ago.
And when the ranger asked Horsch to step out of the car, he noticed Horsch had scissors, a switchblade knife, and a glass drug pipe. The ranger’s partner then searched the car and found more troubling signs under the floorboards: two loaded firearms.
The rangers then handcuffed Horsch and the woman, but Horsch told police the guns were not hers. He also then said he had crack cocaine in a compartment near his steering wheel.
Both Horsch and the woman — whom The Inquirer is not identifying because she has not been charged with a crime — then began hyperventilating, and were taken in separate vehicles to Jefferson Hospital.
Officers continued searching Horsch’s car and found more apparent drug materials, a baton, a cattle prod, another knife, and fake credentials that purported to identify Horsch as an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration.
After being released from the hospital, Horsch and the woman were taken to DEA headquarters. Horsch declined to speak with investigators.
The woman, however, said she’d met Horsch a few months ago, and provided enough details about their interactions at his house that investigators applied for a search warrant.
Vanore, of the police department, said investigators were continuing to sort through a mix of guns, drugs, chemicals, and even urns they’d found inside — including during searches Friday.
The possibilities of why such materials could have been on hand include drug manufacturing, explosive production, or other activities, he said, adding: “We’re certainly going to look into the activities that went on at that house.”
More funding for SEPTA and dozens of financially strained mass transit systems across Pennsylvania has beenon the back burner in this year’s budget debate, but it may get some more attention now.
“By dedicating a portion of skill game revenue to transportation, we can protect and strengthen transit services without placing additional burdens on taxpayers, while ensuring our transit agencies have the resources they need,” Republican State Sen. Frank Farry of Bucks County said Friday in a statement.
Transit advocates renewed what has become an annual public push for more money for SEPTA and fellow transit agencies at a news conference in front of the Fifth Street/Independence Hall Station — prompted in part by the court decision.
Farry issued the statement in support of that effort.
“I have the freedom to be able to come here, thanks to this elevator behind us, which was recently renovated,“ said Julie Rea, an organizing fellow for Transit Forward Philadelphia who uses a wheelchair and depends on the Market-Frankford El (now called the L).
“Without the long-term funding that SEPTA really needs, we’re not going to be able to keep the system accessible for all,” she said.
Last year, lawmakers and Gov. Josh Shapiro failed for a third time to reach agreement on his proposal to dedicate an increased portion of general sales tax revenue to consistently fund transit agency operations for five years.
Republicans, who control the Senate, did not want to take more sales tax revenue for transit, and the Democrats in charge of the House did not want to take up the GOP leadership’s counterproposal to use state money for infrastructure projects for operations instead.
Farry offered legislation in 2024 to regulate and tax skill games and dedicate 50% of the revenue to create a stable source of funding for public transit. The most optimistic assessments are that taxes on the games at or near the rate casinos must pay for their slots could generate up to $1 billion a year.
Taxing skill games has been discussed in budget deliberations for several years, though it never came together, in part because of differences of opinion in the GOP Senate caucus.
“Maybe the court decision will spur people to get their act together,” Farry, who is up for reelection in the fall, said in an interview. “We have a pathway.”
Meanwhile, this year, paratransit and shared-ride services are in trouble throughout the state and transit systems in Lancaster, Westmoreland County, and the Lehigh Valley are considering service cuts.
“We know that the rural-urban divide is manufactured, and that a public good, like transit, touches us all,” said Connor Descheemaker, statewide campaign manager for Transit for All PA.
Rachel Maddow’s brief turn as a Philadelphian began with her bicycle being stolen on the first day of a new job.
“I got to work at 9 a.m. and I got out for lunch before noon, because I didn’t have anything to do,” Maddow said. “My bike was already gone.”
MS NOW’s top star was in Center City on Thursday night to interview constitutional legal expert Sherrilyn Ifill live in front of nearly 2,000 people at the Academy of Music.
But prior to the event, she reminisced about her brief time in Philly in the early 1990s, shortlyafter she came out as gay during her freshman year of college at Stanford University.
“It didn’t go well at home, so it was a bit of a scramble in terms of like paying for college, figuring out what I was going to do, where I was going to live,” Maddow said. “And I got an internship at a think tank at Penn.”
Maddow lived in West Philadelphia and basically ate nothing but Ethiopian food for a few months, though she can’t remember the name of the street: “It was in the 40s and it was one of the tree-named streets.”
In college she was an AIDS activist and focused on healthcare policy, so landing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics seemed liked an ideal fit.
Maddow said her job was to answer the phone. But the internship didn’t last long.
“I was not an additive,” Maddow said. “I don’t think I was an asset to the organization.”
Kiyoshi Kuromiya seen here in 1992, was a gay civil rights activist who helped establish ACT UP Philly.
Maddow’s activism began when she was still in high school, when she began working at a hospice for people who were dying during the AIDS epidemic.
Still, those few months living in Philadelphia influenced Maddow’s developing political voice. She idolized ACT UP Philly, an activist organization fighting for people with HIV/AIDS, and thinks that gay civil rights activist Kiyoshi Kuromiya is the city’s most overlooked hero for the work he did helping connect people with hard-to-find information about the virus and treatment.
“He saved millions of lives,” Maddow said. “The city needs to build a statue for Kiyoshi Kuromiya.”
Maddow has returned to Philly a number of times over the years, and every time she does, it makes her feel like she’s 19 again. Things have changed — seeing Indego bicycles to rent on street corners after hers was stolen is pretty jarring — but though her time living here was brief, she didn’t hesitate saying, “Philly was really formative for me.”
“The thing I loved about Philly at the time, and that I kind of fell in love with, even before I really knew what to do with it, was the really sparky, edgy, impolite activist spirit,” Maddow said. “I think I’m just a middle-class polite kid who doesn’t like to offend anybody, and Philly kind of shook me out of that a little bit, and made me aspire to edgier things.”
More live events and a new app coming from MS NOW
Nearly 2,000 people attended Thursday night’s event at the Academy of Music.
A strong Philly current ran through MS NOW’s event Thursday night, which highlighted the messy history of the American experiment leading up to the country’s 250th anniversary next week.
“My mother’s best friend of 70 years lives here,” Psaki said.
Thursday’s event was part of a larger strategy of engagement at the network after breaking away from NBC and becoming part of Versant, hence the name change from MSNBC to MS NOW. Ratings are up, but the cord-cutting trend is undeniable, so MS NOW is attempting to secure a digital future while it remains a popular TV destination.
The network has now hosted three large fan events since 2024 and another is planned for Sept. 26 ahead of the midterm elections, though further details have not been announced. Attendees in Philly on Thursday night received a free, one-year subscription to MS NOW’s membership product that is set to launch soon. It will act as a streaming platform and online community for the network’s progressive fans and provide access to its biggest stars.
“We’re always looking for ways to connect with our MS NOW community, to meet more viewers where they are, and to engage them in new ways,” said Lauren Peikoff, the network’s executive producer of live events.
Cecil Parker, a Philadelphia musician, said the state of affairs in Washington compelled him to attend Thursday’s event.
“Urgency. That’s the all-encompassing word,” Parker said, who often tunes into MS NOW to get their take on the news. “They have their opinions, but it’s based on the facts. So I dig that.”
Some audience members traveled from as far as Arizona and California to have a chance to hear Maddow and her MS NOW colleagues in person.
Tony Clyburn and his wife, Lisa, drove more than 10 hours from West Columbia, S.C., to take part. A radio host back home, Clyburn said it was inspiring being in a room with people from different walks of life who want what’s best for their neighbors and their country.
“These gatherings are good because they’re as close to a town hall as we can get,” Clyburn said.
The region may be getting some significant drought relief during the weekend, and then it may be some time before it gets relief from heat that could persist through July Fourth.
Rounds of showers — possible Friday night into Saturday evening when Croatia and Ghana meet in a World Cup match in South Philly — should be more widespread across the region than Monday’s scattershot downpours, said Brian Hurley, senior branch forecaster with the Weather Prediction Center, in College Park, Md.
The severe storms likely would stay well to the south of Washington, D.C. However, “you always have potential” for a few thunderstorms, he said.
Then, after two decent days Sunday and Monday, what is looking like the longest-lasting hot spell of the season to date is due to get underway Tuesday as temperatures head to the mid-90s.
“That’s going to be main story,” said Hurley.
The wild card for the duration would be the possibility of “ring of fire” thunderstorms, forecasters said, which might have temporary cooling effects. Those are storms that form along the boundaries of high-pressure heat domes, and Philly may be near the eastern edge.
How hot might it get next week in Philly?
Expect some tweaking during the next few days, but with “increasing confidence” the National Weather Service in Mount Holly was seeing heat indexes in the triple figures next week.
Come Tuesday, daytime temperatures should be “off to the races,” said Bill Deger, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc., which has forecast highs up to 98 degrees late in the workweek.
It also will be steamy, and that will inhibit nighttime cooling as water vapor slows the escape of daytime warning. Readings are unlikely to get lower than the 70s Wednesday through at least next Saturday.
The heat could lap into the following week, said Deger. “It shows some staying power,” he said.
The region already has had 14 days with official temperatures of 90 or higher in 2026, about half the average total for an entire year.
The potential for those ring-of-fire storms would be a wild card, said Hurley and Deger.
Cooling thunderstorms can break heat waves, although they may come with a price. Ring-of-fire storms in July 2020 wrung out as much as 6 inches of rain that set off widespread flooding.
As drought continues, the Philly region could use more rain
Six inches might be a bit over the top, but the region could use more rain to ease the ongoing drought conditions.
Some areas received close to 2 inches on Monday and Tuesday; however, the jackpot zones eluded areas where the dry conditions have been most intense — parts of South Jersey and Chester County.
The entire region remained in some state of drought according to the interagency U.S. Drought Monitor, but Chester County was in “severe drought,” along with small pieces of Bucks and Delaware Counties. In “extreme drought” were all of Cape May County, other Jersey Shore towns, and areas bordering Delaware Bay.
In an analysis based on a network of measuring stations throughout the counties, the weather service’s Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center calculated that Cape May County received less than a half inch of rain, and Cumberland and Salem Counties about 0.6 inches.
In contrast, Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties weighed in with well over an inch.
On the other side of the river, Philly’s total was 1.28 inches, compared with 0.71 for Chesco, which, like New Jersey, is under a state-declared drought emergency.
The weeklong saga startedin late June 1783, when a group of unpaid Revolutionary War soldiers marched against the country’s primitive government, then called the Confederation Congress, and sent them fleeing from Philly to Princeton, N.J.
There was a two-year delay between England’s surrender in 1781 and the end of peace negotiations that culminated with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in September 1783.
And the troops who fought for independence and remained on duty wanted to get paid.
Financial overseer Robert Morris thought it could take years to figure out the claims and payments for members of the Continental Army and state militias. So our new Congress, backed by Gen. George Washington, encouraged soldiers to go home and make money while the government got its act together.
According to the history archives of the U.S. House of Representatives, members of the Pennsylvania militias in Philadelphia and Lancaster were among the least happy with the lack of back pay and their discharge dates.
So on June 20, 1783,they mutinied.
Fewer than 100 officers and militiamen from Lancaster marched toward the seat of the new government in Philadelphia, to meet up with the other disgruntled soldiers.
The show of force, despite being nonviolent, combined with unfounded robbery rumors riled up the members of this crude Congress.
New York’s Alexander Hamilton demanded that the leader of Pennsylvania’s state government, John Dickinson, call in members of the still-loyal state militia to put down the rebellion.
Dickinson objected.
So when the Lancaster troops arrived at the Philly barracks that night, Hamilton decided to try to talk to them, and urge them to return home.
It did not go well.
The troops took exception to Hamilton’s signature arrogance and condescending tone.
The number of troops grew to about 400 by the next day, and they protested outside Independence Hall as their leaders met with Dickinson.
Hamilton pushed for the Confederation Congress to meet for an emergency gathering.
“Soldiers shook their fists and jeered when delegates peered out the windows,” according to House archives. “In the afternoon local tavern keepers, in an effort to calm and cheer the soldiers, gave away drinks — a tactic that unnerved Virginia Delegate James Madison inside.”
Delegates, feeling unsafe and disgusted by the protest, announced on June 22 that the Congress would flee to Princeton.
But when they arrived, the then-small town did not have enough beds for all of the delegates, who would return to Philadelphia four months later.
Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, order was restored as mutiny leaders fled and remaining mutineers who stayed offered apologies for the attempted rebellion.
Jack Pinkowski relished his time as a photojournalist for Temple University’s student newspaper when he was enrolled there in the 1960s.
And he always admired the work of his father, the late Edward Pinkowksi, an historian and author who founded a small newspaper in the Montgomery County borough of Bridgeport.
This month, Pinkowski, a 1968 Temple grad, and his wife, Monica, gave Temple a $1.25 million gift, a portion of which will for the first time endow the editor-in-chief position for the Temple News, as well as increase other staff salaries and pay for some story-related travel and new equipment.
Pinkowski said the need for journalists has never been more important, and he lamented the struggles print journalism has faced.
“We hope to show it a lifeline, give it some support to encourage people to go into that as a field of endeavor,” said Pinkowski, 78, of Plantation, Fla. “This named editorship is a tribute to my father for starting a newspaper and having a lifetime as a critical mind that searched for facts and put them together and brought stories to the enjoyment of people.”
Of the gift, $250,000 will be used to create an endowment for the student newspaper, and the remaining $1 million will fund scholarships of up to $10,000 per academic year for students to study at Temple’s Rome campus. Applicants must have knowledge of, coursework in, or a commitment to promoting Polish or Italian studies, history, or culture.
The Pinkowskis made their money by investing in and managing real estate as well as through other careers.
The couple both worked in businesses with global ties — Jack as an importer of furniture and Monica as an importer of gourmet foods to restaurants — and saw the merit in global study. They also both attended a study abroad program for adults at Temple Rome in 2024.
Given the federal government’s policies affecting foreign students, Pinkowski said, he thought it was important to support the Rome campus so that students have an alternative way to attend an American university.
Temple president John Fry said he especially likes that the gift is so personal and that it is widening access to students to participate in both studying on the Rome campus and working for the student newspaper.
“These are two really important experiences that many students have to forgo, and I think the Pinkowskis are making both of those possible,” Fry said. “Its meaning and impact are significant.”
The gift comes as the college prepares to close a record fundraising year, led by a record $55 million gift from alumnus Christopher Barnett in October and a large gift in April from alumna Jane Creamer Sullivan and her late husband, Thomas J. Sullivan, to start its new honors college.
A boost for the Temple News
John DiCarlo, managing director of student media and adviser to the Temple News, said its portion of the Pinkowski gift will be incredibly important in supporting the newspaper with a staff of 37, which last academic year ran on a $115,596 budget that largely covers salaries and print costs.
Most of the costs were covered by the university, with the newspaper responsible for raising $23,500 through ad revenue and other means. If the publication exceeds that goal — which it did last year, raising over $29,000 — it can funnel the additional money back into operations, DiCarlo said.
The new endowment, DiCarlo said, will bring in an additional $10,000 to $12,000 annually, depending on its earnings.
Incoming senior Sienna Conaghan, 20, who will be the inaugural Edward Pinkowski Editor-in-Chief, said she is grateful for the funding, which will cover her approximate $5,400 salary. And she is glad that salaries for other staffers can get boosted, too.
“We’re asking them to do full-time jobs on a college student’s budget and a college student’s schedule,” DiCarlo said. “It takes a lot out of them because they really care.”
Conaghan, a journalism major from West Yellowstone, Mont., estimates that she spends about 30 hours a week on Temple News work. She freelanced freshman year, was assistant sports editor sophomore year, and worked as sports co-editor last year.
The experience is more important than the paycheck, said Conaghan, who plans to pursue a career in sports journalism, but the money helps.
“It has really been everything,” Conaghan said of her Temple News work. “I think I’ve learned so much from working at the Temple News, from how to be a journalist and also just how to be an adult and a person.”
The Pinkowskis initially gave a gift to the Temple News in 2023 to help it reach a fundraising goal. The college wanted to be able to pay student journalists a little more because some were having to take on second jobs to generate more income, DiCarlo said. At that time, he said, he had no idea the couple would return with such a large gift three years later; it is the largest gift the Temple News has ever received.
“Monica and I are avid readers and avid followers of print journalism,” said Jack Pinkowski, a graduate of Philadelphia’s Central High School.
Pinkowski said his father decided to start the now-defunct Bridgeport South Side Press in 1950 because the community did not have a local paper. He also wrote history books about the local area, using skills he developed as a journalist, Pinkowski said.
The Pinkowskis have had other career experience in addition to real estate and import businesses.
He was a general contractor and wedding photographer early on and later spent 18 years as an associate professor of public administration at Nova Southeastern University’s school of business and entrepreneurship in Florida.
And she was a flight attendant at one time and as a child grew up working in a family traveling carnival business in Missouri — which helped pay for her education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Jack Pinkowski said the common thread in their endeavors has been “inquisitiveness and intellectual curiosity and the ability to take something where there’s nothing and make something of it.”
Both Temple officials and the Pinkowskis hope their gift will motivate others.
“I do believe that other people pay attention to that, and it makes them say, well, maybe they can do something as well,” Jack Pinkowski said.
Think you know your news? There’s only one way to find out. Welcome back to our weekly News Quiz — a quick way to see if your reading habits are sinking in and to put your local news knowledge to the test.
Question 1 of 10
Four friends from outside the U.S. lied to their employers as part of a pact to travel to Philly for the World Cup this year. They’ll stay until the Fourth of July. In the meantime, they’ve enjoyed many Philly gems, including cheesesteaks, hoagies, Rocky, and the Eagles. Where are the four fans from?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
The Frenchmen have marveled over Cheez Whiz and sports culture in Philly. But they’re not completely sure where smoking cigarettes is allowed, aren’t impressed with SEPTA and are skeptical of Uber Eats delivery robots. Still, they’d like to come back for a Birds game.
Question 2 of 10
Upsala mansion, on the border of Germantown and Mount Airy is listed for sale at $995,000 and comes with nine bedrooms, 10 fireplaces, 15 parking spaces, and a 70-page agreement that includes one particular caveat written into the home’s deed for:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Built at the end of the 18th century on the site of a major Revolutionary War battle in Philadelphia, Upsala mansion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. As part of the home’s deed, once a year, the owner must permit “a re-enactment of portions of the Battle of Germantown” on their front lawn.
story continues after advertisement
Question 3 of 10
Oh, Mary!, the wacky and irreverent Tony Award-winning play about first lady Mary Todd Lincoln, will stop in Philadelphia on its first national tour next spring, and tickets go on sale this week. The play focuses on the Lincolns in the weeks leading up to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, who is called ____ in the play.
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
It’s Mary’s Husband. Written by actor/comedian Cole Escola, the dark, campy comedy first featured Escola in the role of Mary — which led them to win the 2025 Tony Award for best leading actor in a play — and has since hosted special guest stars like Maya Rudolph, Tituss Burgess, Jinkx Monsoon, and Jane Krakowski. The show also won the Tony for best direction of a play and was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Question 4 of 10
Camden, New Jersey’s latest viral dance that has earned over a million fans across the world. What’s it called?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Starting out on the basketball courts of Camden High School, the Camden Bop is a love letter to the city that’s often considered New Jersey’s most dangerous.
Question 5 of 10
Ronnie Gunter, a lacrosse player and recent Drexel graduate, made his TV debut Monday night on Love Island USA. But in 2024, Gunter went viral on TikTok for his resemblance to this public figure:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Two years ago, in a TikTok reshared by accounts including ESPN, Gunter’s then-girlfriend said he’d get mistaken for Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts “everywhere we go.” Gunter told The Inquirer at the time that the comparisons started coming around his sophomore year — along with stares and photo requests — but he welcomed the attention for the most part.
Subscribe to The Philadelphia Inquirer
Our reporting is directly supported by reader subscriptions. If you want more journalism like this story, please subscribe today.
Philadelphia's Blacktronika festival celebrates the artists and albums that helped shape Black electronic and futuristic music traditions. One featured event pays tribute to a landmark recording from a Philadelphia music legend. Which influential musician's album "Life on Mars" is included in the programming?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Musical trailblazer Dexter Wansel was scheduled to join a Philly all-star band with Black Buttafly on keys, Anthony Tidd on bass, Tim Motzer on guitar, Elliot Levin on sax, and singers Lady Alma and Tonja Dixon. Poet Ursula Rucker was also on the bill. Wansel died last month at 75, so the inaugural Blacktronika Icon Award will be presented posthumously to his son, producer Pop Wansel. Black Music Month founder Dyana Williams will host.
Question 7 of 10
This popular food vendor will operate permanently at Triple Bottom Brewing:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Triple Bottom owners Tess Hart and her husband, Bill Popwell, announced South Philly Barbacoa as their new permanent food vendor for the Spring Garden brewery. The South Philly Barbacoa menu at Triple Bottom features most of the same items found at its South Philly location inside Casa Mexico, where South Philly Barbacoa still operates.
Question 8 of 10
Mama-Tees, the community fridges around town notable for their bright yellow paint jobs, is selling flavor-infused olive oils as part of a fundraiser to combat food insecurity locally. There’s a basil oil, truffle oil, pepper oil, and this unique addition:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
It’s cheesesteak oil and it retails for $19. A survey of food reporters and local chefs had varying opinions on it. It can be purchased at Wegmans in King of Prussia, with other locations coming soon.
Question 9 of 10
Unsurprisingly, the Philly cheesesteak ranked high among World Cup tourists on a new survey about host city foods travelers looked forward to trying. What food landed in first place on the list?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Guadalajara’s torta ahogada landed in first place, but the Philly cheesesteak snagged the No. 5 position, beating out a New York slice significantly.
Question 10 of 10
Who was a guest bartender at Jason and Kylie Kelce’s sixth annual Sea Isle fundraiser, Shore Birds, this week?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
United States Women’s rugby player Ilona Maher made her bartending debut, also serving Jello shots with the event’s matriarch, Donna Kelce. Maher was also on Team Kelce for a round of flip cup, working with both Jason and Kylie Kelce and Beau Allen to secure the win.
Your Results
You have skipped .
You scored XX out of 10.
The average reader scored XX out of 10
Seems like you’ve been skimming more than reading there, buddy. There’s always next week.
You’ve read some articles (or made some educated guesses) but we wouldn’t come to you first for our local news recaps. Better luck next week!
Do you work here? You’re a local news stan with the latest updates on Philly happenings. Your friends definitely ask you for summaries on what’s going on and it shows.
Noted in the feds’ lawsuit: When the ordinance was making its way through the legislative process, City Solicitor Renee Garcia advised the mayor it would be “inaccurate” to suggest the city can “legally and practically enforce the Bill.”
The city responded Thursday afternoon to the Trump administration’s request for an injunction preventing the ordinance from taking effect next month by arguing the federal government doesn’t have standing until the city attempts to enforce its provisions.
Even if the administration had standing to sue, the bill’s provisions don’t interfere with the federal government’s work and “at most imposes an incidental burden,” the city’s response said.
Additionally, the filing contended the Trump administration can’t show irreparable harm because of exceptions that allow officers to conceal their identity. The city, meanwhile, has “a significant interest in protecting its residents and law enforcement officers,” it said.
“The Bill was enacted in response to the confusion and fear generated by the federal government’s deployment of large numbers of federal agents who subsequently applied aggressive enforcement tactics behind the mask of anonymity, undermining public safety and trust,” the city said.
The defendants in the case — the city, Parker, Garcia, and District Attorney Larry Krasner — are represented jointly by attorneys from the law firm Ballard Spahr.
“In essence, the city’s argument, which we have joined, is that this ain’t the right time,” Krasner said in an interview. “The City Council ordinance is not in effect yet. There has been no enforcement by the Philadelphia Police Department yet. You don’t even have a real case to consider.”
Krasner added that while he was in lockstep with the Parker administration on Thursday’s filing, further developments could necessitate his office to seek separate representation.
The Department of Justice declined to comment on the new filing.
A city Law Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ordinance at the heart of the litigation makes it a crime for law enforcement officers, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, to wear face coverings or conceal personal identifiers like badges and nameplates while carrying out their official duties in Philadelphia, and requires officers to identify themselves. It also prohibits the use of unmarked vehicles.
The bill includes exceptions allowing officers to wear masks in certain circumstances, such as medical emergencies or SWAT operations.
An officerwho violates the ordinance could be prosecuted, and risks up to 90 days in jail plus a fine.
The ICE Out package, including the mask law, goes into effect July 7.
The Trump administration has sued other jurisdictions, including New Jersey, over similar requirements. In April, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that a California bill requiring agents to “visibly display identification” violated the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause, which bars states from regulating federal government activities.
An awkward position for Parker
Defending the bill puts Parker and her administration in an awkward position.
Councilmember Kendra Brooks speaks during a news conference outside Philadelphia City Hall, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in Philadelphia. Organizers called on local and state officials to restrict U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement involvement in public safety operations during the FIFA World Cup.
Brooks said she did not want the lawsuit to hold up the Parker administration’s implementation of the law.
“There is nothing in the lawsuit stopping the administration from implementing our ICE Out package on time,” she said.
Brooks had good reason to question the administration’s commitment to the legislation given Parker’s handling of it.
After the bills’ passage, Garcia advised Parker not to sign the bill banning law enforcement officers from concealing their identity, saying doing so “would send an inaccurate signal to the public that the Administration can legally and practically enforce the Bill.”
Parker followed her solicitor’s advice, signing six bills and allowing the seventh to become law without her signature.
As for Garcia’s concerns about the bill, the new filing from the city only notes that her letter advising Parker didn’t address the issue of standing or whether the issue is ripe for litigation.
A West Philadelphia man who was convicted last year of seeking to build bombs in support of Islamic extremist groups was sentenced Thursday to 20 to 40 months in prison and six years of probation.
Muhyyee-Ud-din Abdul-Rahman, 20, was found guilty in September of charges including attempting to possess weapons of mass destruction after jurors concluded he had experimented three years ago in and around his Wynnefield home with dangerous chemicals often found in high-volume explosives.
Authorities said that Abdul-Rahman had done so after he communicated with Syrian extremists on Instagram, and that their arrest of Abdul-Rahman in 2023 had prevented him from unleashing a terror attack on the region.
Jurors, however, found Abdul-Rahman not guilty of the more serious charge of possessing weapons of mass destruction, suggesting they believed he intended to build a bomb but had never succeeded. Common Pleas Court Judge Michele Hangley also threw out a conspiracy charge after ruling that prosecutors had not proved Abdul-Rahman had been working with anyone else.
Abdul-Rahman told Hangley after being convicted that he had matured during his time in custody, much of it spent in a juvenile facility because he was arrested as a teen. And he said he had come to reject the radical beliefs promoted by the group he was following, Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad, or KTJ.
Still, District Attorney Larry Krasner said Thursday that he was “deeply concerned” by what he cast as an insufficient penalty for a would-be terrorist. Krasner said his office had asked that Abdul-Rahman serve at least 10 years behind bars because prosecutors believe he remains “an extreme danger” to the city.
“We ought to be able to live in a city where a terrorist is kept off the streets for a reasonable amount of time,” Krasner said.
Federal investigators looking into KTJ’s activities in the United States in 2023 found that Abdul-Rahman was the only person in the country exchanging messages with some of its key online propagandists. Further investigation later revealed that Abdul-Rahman, around that time, had also applied for his first passport, tried to reach out to a Syrian border-crossing office, and purchased or possessed wires and chemicals common in homemade bombs.
When authorities went on to conduct surveillance of Abdul-Rahman, officials said at trial, officers tailing him at a Lowe’s store saw him buy muriatic acid, a key component in a violent explosive dubbed TATP, also known as “the mother of Satan.” And a review of his internet search history around that time showed he had been looking up Philadelphia parade routes, trash can bombs, and nuclear power plants — something authorities said was consistent with “target and tactic” research.
When federal agents questioned Abdul-Rahman inside a police station, an official testified, he admitted conducting bomb tests near his house and said he wanted to become a “bomb guy” for KTJ in Syria.
Authorities arrested Abdul-Rahman in August 2023, just as he was to begin his senior year in high school. At the time, he was a promising wrestler with a college scholarship offer, and his father, Qawi Abdul-Rahman, is a well-known criminal defense lawyer who has mounted unsuccessful campaigns to become a city judge.
Abdul-Rahman’s attorneys said at trial that he had made mistakes, but that he was an impressionable teen who had fallen down a “rabbit hole” of online propaganda. They also said he had never succeeded in building a bomb and did not take serious, in-person steps to advance the radical views he expressed online or in his house.
At a hearing last month, one of his attorneys, Donald Chisholm, urged Hangley to consider that Abdul-Rahman’s path to the crime began when he was 16 years old.
“Even at the age he is now,” Chisholm said, “he’s not fully matured.”
Chisholm, said Thursday that he thought the sentence was fair, and that Krasner’s continued insistence on casting his client as dangerous was “disingenuous” and did not account for factors such as his client’s age at the time of arrest, or his growth over the last several years.
The case attracted attention in part because it was a rare example of the district attorney’s office seeking to convict someone it described as a would-be international terrorist.Although federal counterterrorism agents were heavily involved in the investigation, juveniles are rarely prosecuted in federal courts.
Krasner said Thursday that Abdul-Rahman likely would have faced a significantly harsher penalty if he had been convicted of similar conduct in the federal system, and he criticized the state’s sentencing guidelines, which prosecutors said Hangley cited when imposing her penalty.
Abdul-Rahman has already served about 34 months in custody, meaning he will face a maximum of another six months in prison under the penalty Hangley imposed.
Krasner said his office was weighing whether to appeal the sentence.
Staff writer Jillian Kramer contributed to this article.
