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Know your news? Test your skills with our News Quiz.

Take our news quiz on snowfall, the Olympics, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

By

Nick Vadala

and

Emily Bloch

Published Feb 27, 2026

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

The city got its biggest snowfall in a decade during a storm that officially dumped this much powder at Philadelphia International Airport Sunday into Monday:

CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.

Although the 14 inches measured officially at Philadelphia International Airport dwarfed the 9.3 inches of snow and sleet that accumulated in January’s storm, fears that the snowfall would reach what the National Weather Service called “potentially historic” levels didn’t quite materialize.

Question 2 of 10

According to recently released U.S. Census Bureau data, which county in the Philadelphia area was home to six of the 10 wealthiest towns in the region for the five-year period that ended in 2024?

CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.

Chester County towns held six of the top 10 spots, including the top four — Pocopson Township, West Pikeland, Birmingham, and Easttown. Pocopson, in fact, is in a rarified zone for wealth, with an annual median household income of $230,000.

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Question 3 of 10

When Team USA beat out Canada for the men's hockey gold medal in the 2026 Winter Olympics, how did they honor late New Jersey native Johnny Gaudreau?

CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.

Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, and Zach Werenski carried Gaudreau’s No. 13 jersey as they glided across the ice. And two players, Dylan Larkin and Werenski, scooped up Gaudreau's two oldest kids — Noa and Johnny Jr. — and carried them back out to the ice for a team photo.

Question 4 of 10

Veteran publicans, including Fergus Carey and Jim McNamara, will soon open Monto, a Celtic bar in the former Mac's Tavern in Old City. This Philly restaurateur will oversee the kitchen:

CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.

Poe, the proprietor of Poe’s Sandwich Joint and Poe’s Side Piece, plans to blend his South Philadelphia sensibility with Irish pub fare — a mashup he calls the “Poe-gues” menu. His existing lineup of cutlet sandwiches, cheesesteaks, and burgers will serve as the backbone of Monto's food offerings.

Question 5 of 10

Why did Saladine Sharad, a 34-year-old handyman from North Philly, recently go viral?

CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.

Sharad remembers one driver shouting at him “out of concern” as he rode his scooter. He let them know he was OK with a nod, and they drove off. But unbeknownst to Sharad, the driver had filmed him and uploaded the video to Instagram. “WHO MANS IS THIS??? Only in Philly. [an] electric scooter seen driving on Lincoln Drive,” the caption read.

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Question 6 of 10

A Gettysburg theme park is closing and everything must go — including this type of animal, of which 30 will be available for auction:

CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.

Sparkle, Pumpernickel, Russel’s Majestic Princess Gingerbread, Summer Wish, Shortcake and the other miniature horses will head for greener pastures at the Saturday morning auction, which will mark the end of the 55-year-old Land of Little Horses. Cameo, an 11-year-old chocolate mare with a bald face is expected to be the most popular and collect the highest bid.

Question 7 of 10

From national champions to top-50 contenders, a tight-knit club in Delco has quietly built one of America’s most competitive scenes to meet up and play this game on a weekly basis:

CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.

The Delco Scrabble Club is a weekly gathering with some of the best players out there. Soon, it’ll draw national attention when two of the club’s members compete on CW’s Scrabble game show, hosted by comedian and former late-night show host Craig Ferguson.

Question 8 of 10

This Doylestown native has been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.

The city’s biggest pop star, Pink, is among the 17 nominees in the running to be inducted later this year. Along with the Doylestown-born “Get the Party Started” singer, the list of potential inductees includes another artist with Philly ties in Lauryn Hill.

Question 9 of 10

Tired Hands Brewing’s Ardmore brewpub location is limbo as its owner navigates the future of the beer company. For now, it’s serving as this:

CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.

While the Ardmore Fermenteria location remains open, the brewpub has pivoted to a private event space. The owner said the decision to shift to private events was born out of a number of factors: having two Tired Hands locations in Ardmore was confusing for customers; ongoing construction in Ardmore created a “prohibitive environment” for doing business; and the changing landscape of brewing has prompted Tired Hands to begin reimagining parts of its business model.

Question 10 of 10

Kylie Kelce attended the Winter Olympics for work, but Jason Kelce was just along for the ride, enjoying his time as a spectator. A CBS tweet identifying the couple as “Kylie Kelce and her husband” went viral. Jason said he had no problem with it, but would’ve preferred if they referred to him as this instead:

CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.

“I really was just there to have fun and enjoy the Olympics,” Kelce said on the latest episode of New Heights. “So, I was 100% — [her husband] was the correct way to say it. I wanted to tell them I prefer ‘ball and chain.’”

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!

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Staff Contributors

Reporting: Nick Vadala and Emily Bloch

Editing: Molly Eichel, Emily Babay, and Kim Lyons

More Quizzes and Games

Citywide Quest: Do you know where in Philly these Lunar New Year-themed photos were taken?

We’ll show you a photo taken in the Philly-area, you drop a pin where you think it was taken. This week is all about the Lunar New Year of the Horse!

Know your news? Test your skills with our News Quiz.

Take our news quiz on ‘The Simpsons,’ cheesesteaks, and the Broad Street Diner.

Citywide Quest: Do you know where in Philly these Valentine’s Day-themed photos were taken?

We’ll show you a photo taken in the Philly-area, you drop a pin where you think it was taken. Closer to the location results in a better score. This week is all about Valentine’s Day!

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Take our news quiz on Tun Tavern, an iconic bar, and the Puppy Bowl.
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February 27, 2026
The Philly school board finally began considering the superintendent’s school-closing plan — and the community is not happy

Frustration and anguish spilled over Thursday night as Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. presented his sweeping, $2.8 billion facilities plan to the school board at a heated, lengthy meeting.

Watlington revised the plan to include 18, not 20 school closings — saving Conwell Middle School and Motivation High — and still wants to modernize 159 schools over a decade. He pitched it as a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to drive academic improvement.

But the community did not seem impressed — at an anti-school-closure rally prior to the meeting, and at the public session itself, which stretched on for more than eight hours, into the early hours of Friday morning.

Tony B. Watlington Sr., superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, presents his facilities plan during Thursday’s board meeting.

“Dr. Watlington, you’re breaking my heart,” said Amanda Chandler, a teacher at Harding Middle School, one of the schools on the chopping block.

The district’s plan “isn’t an opportunity — it’s calculated abandonment,” said Beth Cole, a teacher at Stetson Middle School, which is also slated to close.

Two of 20 Philly schools slated for closure would be spared under a revised district plan

Watlington first unveiled the facilities plan, which was years in the making, in January. After weeks of community meetings, the superintendent formally presented the blueprint — with some tweaks — to the school board Thursday. The board has not yet said when it will vote on the plan, but has scheduled a March 12 town hall to hear more public feedback.

‘Massive upheaval’

The district has 70,000 empty seats in schools citywide. For example: Watlington said he recently watched a recording of a 1969 Overbrook High graduation. The school educated 5,000 students then. Now, it has fewer than 500.

And while some schools are underenrolled, some are overfull, particularly those in the Northeast. Inequities are widespread, also. For instance, only half of city students have access to Algebra 1 in eighth grade, barring them from admission to Masterman, a top city magnet that requires algebra for admission.

The board must address all those issues, said Reginald Streater, school board president.

School board president Reginald Streater said the board must deal with 70,000 empty seats in city schools.

“We have chronic underfunding, coupled with enrollment shifts that have materially created structural challenges that no district board can simply absorb without consequence to the district,” Streater said. “These realities have materially affected our ability to accelerate our fight against systemic chronic underachievement within the School District of Philadelphia.”

Streater did not weigh in on the details of the plan, but some other board members did, indicating there may be some pushback when it comes time to vote.

Board member Crystal Cubbage said she wanted a “bolder plan” including more new buildings. (Watlington’s version proposed a single new building in the lower Northeast for the Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush.)

“I’m struggling to reconcile this massive upheaval, and the $2.8 billion price tag, with the fact the plan is not explicitly designed to produce better outcomes for all of our children,” Cubbage said.

Audience members in the packed board room cheered as board member Wanda Novales voiced criticisms of the plan.

Novales said she recognized the complex challenges the board and district face, but “the standard cannot simply be operational efficiency,” Novales said. “I am struggling to see the heart …that sees the lived realities of our neighborhoods.”

Areas like Kensington and Fairhill have long been underresourced, Novales said, and the plan falls short in providing opportunities to students there.

“This conversation cannot just be about buildings. It must be about students,” Novales said.

Joyce Wilkerson, the longest-serving member of the school board, and a member of the School Reform Commission, the board’s predecessor, said the district has known it had to “rightsize” for years.

“We can’t afford to be locked in inaction,” Wilkerson said.

More pushback

Students from the affected schools spoke pointedly about the proposed changes.

Jade Colon, a student at Stetson Middle School, in Kensington, said her school’s roof has leaked for years. It’s never been properly fixed.

“We are told this plan is about equality, yet we see our neighborhood — one that has already faced decades of disinvestment — being asked to sacrifice yet again,” said Colon. “True equality isn’t found in a swing space or a longer walk to a different building across dangerous intersections like Kensington and Allegheny. True equality is found in investing in schools we already have.”

Students rally before a School District of Philadelphia board meeting Thursday outside the district’s headquarters in Philadelphia, as community members protest proposed school closures.

David Samuel, who attends Parkway Northwest, another school on the closing list, said the school is “building strong children.”

Virtually all Parkway Northwest students are on track to graduation.

“Those are lives being moved forward,” Samuel said. “Closing Parkway Northwest wouldn’t be closing a school; it would be closing my home.”

The plan drew pushback from a number of politicians who showed up to voice displeasure to the board.

“I do not have the words to describe how disappointed I am by the district’s proposal today,” City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier said, underscoring concerns about harm to Black and brown students.

Removing Motivation from the closing list is a good step, said Gauthier, who represents a West Philadelphia district. But she wants Watlington to consider removing Robeson, Blankenburg, and Parkway West, too.

“Robeson did send a student to Harvard, and you still want to close it,” said Gauthier.

The superintendent said the district has done its best to spread opportunity, but he acknowledged the difficulty of the decisions in front of the board.

“In an ideal world, I never believe in closing schools,” Watlington said, a remark met with some groans from the crowd. “I would never want my child’s school to be closed, to be frank.”

February 27, 2026
Franklin Mall in Northeast Philly to reopen Friday after small fire last weekend
Franklin Mall will reopen Friday after being temporarily shut down since a small fire last weekend at the once-popular Northeast Philadelphia retail destination, property management said Thursday.

The mall has been closed since a fire on Saturdaywithin a single tenant space, management said. The city Department of Licenses and Inspections “issued a temporary closure notice while required inspections are completed to ensure building safety and building structural integrity.”

Management said on Thursday that “following this due diligence Franklin Mall has officially been granted permission to reopen” from L&I.

Franklin Mall will be open for normal business hours, but the management requested “patience with the property’s appearance while teams are actively making repairs to the affected areas within the mall while preserving a safe environment for shoppers.”

The Inquirer reported in early December that Franklin Mall, which many locals still call Franklin Mills, was listed for sale and that the 36-year-old, 1.8-million-square-foot facility at Knights and Woodhaven Roads could be repurposed or demolished for non-retail uses.

The mall opened in 1989 to great fanfare as the largest outlet mall ever, with a zigzag-shaped, one-story-tall concourse that stretched for 1.2 miles.

Franklin Mills once attracted 20 million visitors annually, but now the current version of the mall has less than a third of that traffic.

Under new ownership, it was renamed Philadelphia Mills, and most recently it has been called Franklin Mall, though a main entrance sign still says Philadelphia Mills.
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February 27, 2026
Three new baby penguins unveiled at Adventure Aquarium in Camden

Adventure Aquarium in Camden on Thursday unveiled three Little Blue Penguin chicks that hatched earlier this month.

Little Blue Penguins are the smallest species of penguin in the world — they are also called “fairy penguins” because of their diminutive size — and are naturally found along the coastlines of southern Australia and New Zealand.

At the Adventure Aquarium, the first chick — a male — hatched on Feb. 2, aquarium officials said. A female hatched the next day, and a second male arrived on Feb. 5.

The first chick is the offspring of Sheila and Spud, who are also the parents of Tater Tot (hatched 2023), Kiwi (2024), and Saquon (2025). This is Sheila’s 10th chick.

The younger chicks were born to Maremma and Bloke, who are also experienced parents. Their offspring include Lovie, hatched in 2024, and Griffin, hatched in 2021.

“Sheila and Spud are successful, proven parents and are once again doing a wonderful job with their chick, nicely allowing the biologists in the nest each morning to check on the chick’s growth,” Jamie Becker, biologist on the aquarium’s birds and mammals team, said in a statement.

“Maremma and Bloke have been doing a great job taking care of two chicks and are very protective parents,” Becker said.

The new chicks join 19 members of the Little Blue Penguin colony at Adventure Aquarium. The three chicks have been transitioned from parental care to biologist care in a nursery area, aquarium officials said,

Once they are fully grown and have developed juvenile waterproof feathers, they will gradually be introduced back into the colony.

Late last year, three new African penguins were hatched at the Adventure Aquarium. Duffy and Oscar made their public debut in late December. The third was named Scrappy after a public naming contest was held.

The Little Blue Penguin chicks will be named by aquarium staff.

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February 27, 2026
What we know and what we don’t know about Philly school closings

Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. on Thursday presented the Philadelphia School District’s long-awaited facilities master plan to board members, with revisions leaving two fewer schools slated to close than initially proposed.

Plans now included 18 closures and six other co-locations, as well as one new school building and other investments.

What’s happening to your Philly school under the proposed facilities master plan?

Here’s what we know so far:

What’s happening to the district’s buildings?

Of the district’s 307 buildings, most schools — 159 in all — would be modernized under the proposed plan. The district in January pointed to Frankford High, which closed for two years because of asbestos issues and just reopened in the fall with $30 million worth of work to spruce it up, as an example of modernization.

An additional 122 schools would fall into a “maintain” category, meaning they would receive regular upkeep. And six facilities would be co-located, meaning two separate schools would be housed under one roof, each with its own principal and team.

Finally, 18 schools would be recommended for closure. Among them is Penn Treaty, now a 6-12 school, which would close in its current form, but go on to house the current Bodine High School, a magnet in Northern Liberties. Bodine’s building would become the home of Constitution High, which now occupies a rented space in Center City.

As proposed, Watlington’s plan would cost $2.8 billion over 10 years. The district would put up $1 billion via capital borrowing during that time — leaving $1.8 billion unaccounted for that the superintendent said would need to be covered by state money or philanthropic support. If the district doesn’t get all or some of that amount, the plan would have to be amended.

Will some schools definitely close? Which ones?

Right now, the closures are just a proposal, and the school board is slated to have the final say. They could adopt all, some, or none of Watlington’s recommendations.

If the closures are approved, no school would be shuttered before the 2027-28 school year. And should some schools close, no job losses are expected, Watlington said last month.

Initially targeted for closure were Conwell Middle School in Kensington and Motivation High in Southwest Philadelphia, but both have since been spared. Both magnet schools accept students citywide, and their proposed closures saw opposition from powerful allies including several City Council members and Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton.

That change, Watlington said, was not due to politics, and came after the district “poured through thousands of feedback loops from a number of Philadelphians.”

The board, meanwhile, is expected to vote in the coming weeks, though no date has been set.

What will happen to students who attend closing schools?

Every affected student would be routed to a new school. A new transition office would work closely with impacted communities to make sure academics, attendance, and social-emotional needs don’t suffer, Watlington said.

“These families will get gold-standard, red-carpet treatment directly from the superintendent’s office,” he pledged.

Why are these changes necessary?

The district hasn’t had a facilities master plan in more than a decade. It has 70,000 empty seats citywide, with some schools overcrowded and others with entire unused floors. It’s also got a lot of aging buildings — the average district school is nearly 75 years old — and many have environmental and/or significant systems issues.

Officials said they want to solve district-wide disparities: Some schools have art, music, and ample space for physical education, plus extracurricular activities, and some have few of those things.

How were school buildings’ fates determined?

Watlington said there was no formula to determine his recommendations. But four factors entered into the decision: building condition, utilization, the school’s ability to offer robust programming, and neighborhood vulnerability — a new measure that considers things like poverty and whether the area has lived through prior school closings.

The district formally launched the final phase of its facilities master planning process in late 2024. Since then, officials have hosted 47 community conversations and received 13,700 survey responses from people in every zip code in the city. Officials heard from a project team of 30 members and received feedback from nine advisory groups composed of more than 170 members.

However, some of those members, and others, are skeptical of the process, saying they feel like their input was performative. In the fall, a grassroots coalition urged the district to pause the process, focus more on investments, and promise no closures.

Community conversations took place throughout February. Officials are also accepting input via the facilities planning process website.

How long did it take officials to get to this point?

The draft plan has been years in the making, and comes following a previous attempt to make one that ended before it went anywhere.

Watlington launched this final phase of the planning process in the fall of 2024. Decisions were originally promised by the end of 2025, but that was pushed off when officials said they needed more time to gather feedback.

The district later launched surveys to gain more input, with the topline result being that Philadelphians didn’t want their local schools closed. Many respondents outlined fears about potential hardships that closing schools could create, such as longer walks to school or tough bus rides in unfamiliar or unsafe areas.

And they flagged worries about merging schools and having large grade spans in a single building.

When did the district last close schools?

Mass school closures last happened in 2012 and 2013, when 30 schools shut.

That process hit economically disadvantaged neighborhoods disproportionately, did not yield substantial savings, and generally led to worse academic outcomes and attendance for students.

The mistakes of 2012 informed this go-round, officials said. They have promised better services for schools, students and families affected by any coming transitions.

February 26, 2026
SEPTA chief gets a three-year contract at $395,000 a year

SEPTA general manager Scott A. Sauer on Thursday was given a three-year contract with an annual salary of $395,000 as chief executive of the regional transit agency where he has worked for more than 35 years.

Board members approved the deal for Sauer, 54, who became interim general manager in late 2024 and then helped guide SEPTA through one of its toughest years, packed with crises over the budget, service cuts, and emergency repairs to Regional Rail cars after several caught fire.

Sauer was named permanent general manager June 2, 2025, and the contract approved Thursday was made effective on that day. When it expires in 2028, the contract automatically renews for two one-year extensions unless either party declines.

“I’d like to take a moment to thank this board for their continued confidence in me,” Sauer said. “I appreciate it.” He said members’ support and advice would be “the envy of any chief executive.”

Sauer would be eligible for cost-of-living pay increases under the contract, dependent on whether there are annual raises for all of SEPTA’s supervisory, administrative, and management employees.

Sauer had been making $300,879.

Sauer began as a trolley operator in 1990, following in the footsteps of his late father, Robert, who worked for the former Philadelphia Transportation Co. and SEPTA, its successor, for over three decades.

At SEPTA, the younger Sauer later became a transportation manager and safety officer. In 2013, he was promoted to assistant general manager of system safety.

Four years later, he was the assistant general manager for operations, including vehicle maintenance and station upkeep.

In 2022, Sauer was named SEPTA’s chief operating officer, with infrastructure maintenance, the Transit Police, engineering, and capital projects added to his portfolio.

February 26, 2026
Two of 20 Philly schools slated for closure would be spared under a revised district plan
Two of the 20 Philadelphia schools originally targeted for closure under Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.’s facilities plan have been spared and will remain open.

Conwell Middle School in Kensington and Motivation High in Southwest Philadelphia will not close after all, Watlington announced at a charged school board meeting Thursday.

As communities advocated to save their schools in the weeks since Watlington unveiled his plan, Conwell and Motivation, both magnet schools that accept students citywide, had powerful political allies. Several members of City Council opposed the Conwell closure, and Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) spoke out against shutting down Motivation.

Watlington said the change from 20 to 18 school closures was not because of politicians, though.

“We pored through thousands of feedback loops from a number of Philadelphians, to include parents, students, grassroots organizations, and certainly elected officials,” the superintendent told reporters during a briefing this week. “We took all of that feedback together and, in tandem, we landed on these recommended changes, not reflecting one voice or sector more than the others.”

Watlington’s $2.8 billion facilities plan, which now includes closing 18 schools, colocating six, and upgrading 159, is not yet final and continues to face strong opposition from affected school communities. He formally presented it to the school board Thursday, and the board is expected to vote in the coming weeks, though no date has been set. Schools would begin closing in 2027, and school building upgrades would take several years.

Under the revisions Watlington presented Thursday:
- Conwell would remain open and continue to be a magnet, but would also add a neighborhood admissions component. Students from nearby Elkin Elementary, a K-4, would move to Conwell beginning in fifth grade, and the school would still accept students from around the city.
- Motivation would absorb students from Paul Robeson High, which is on the closure list. Robeson and Motivation are both citywide admissions schools, and Motivation would remain so under the plan. Robeson had previously been scheduled to move into Sayre, another citywide admissions school.
- Lankenau High, the city’s environmental science magnet, had been targeted for closure and would have moved into Roxborough High. It would still close under the revised plan, but would instead move into Saul High School, the city’s agricultural science magnet. Both are in Roxborough.
‘Accelerating Opportunity’

In his presentation to the board, Watlington called the 10-year plan “Accelerating Opportunity.”

The proposed changes were spurred not by finances — though the district has 70,000 empty seats and has indicated it needs to shrink its footprint — but by a desire to accelerate progress, Watlington said.

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The district is making gains in academics, attendance, and dropouts, but still, the superintendent said, “the majority of our young people still don’t perform at grade level of reading and math.”

Philadelphia, Watlington told reporters, “must multiply that acceleration curve by five or 10. Because we can’t wait for generations to improve these outcomes and opportunities for all of our children. And we know that there’s a huge disparity based on where you live in Philadelphia.”

The 159 modernization projects to upgrade schools range from new roofs and fresh paint in some buildings to larger projects, including a $58 million refresh at South Philadelphia High. The district released the full list of proposed modernization project details this week. But funding for them is not yet certain; the district plans to pay $1 billion of the $2.8 billion cost and hopes state and philanthropic funding will cover the rest.

How did Conwell and Motivation get spared?

Students, parents, and staff at each of the 20 schools proposed for closure have made cases for why Watlington should change his mind since their schools landed on the closure list last month.

In Conwell’s case, Watlington told reporters the advocacy work of the “large, historic alumni base” of the magnet middle school helped move the needle.

Philadelphia School District Deputy Superintendent Oz Hill and student moderators listen to Andre Sanford-Adams, the school’s health and physical education teacher, speak about why he thinks it’s a mistake to close Conwell at a meeting at the school.

So, too, did “significant feedback from individuals about a part of the city where individuals felt very strongly that we have to figure out how to invest more in.” Conwell supporters spoke out strongly against divesting from a school in Kensington, the center of the city’s opioid epidemic. Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, for example, said at a meeting at Conwell that “we are saying to these families, we are punishing them because as a city, we can’t respond to the public safety issues that we have on the outside, and that is just not fair.”

Also, Watlington said, the distance between Conwell and the school its students would have been sent to — AMY at James Martin, more than two miles away in Fishtown — was significant.

Instead, officials decided to build Conwell’s enrollment by routing students from Elkin. Elkin students now attend Stetson Middle School, which remains on the closure list.

Conwell would remain a magnet school, open to students citywide only through the school selection process. Elkin students would be in separate classes, and Conwell would continue to offer accelerated classes to its magnet students.

Closing Motivation would have left Southwest Philadelphia with no magnet school. Watlington said officials liked the idea of routing Robeson, a strong citywide school in West Philadelphia, to Motivation.

“The building itself at Motivation is not at the bottom of the heap in terms of programmatic ratings,” the superintendent said. “The problem with Motivation is that we’ve lost enrollment.”

Relocating Robeson inside Motivation solves “the number one problem we’re solving for, is how do we build our enrollments, address under- and overenrollment so we can push in more high-quality academic and extracurricular programs. Our community, quite frankly, made some suggestions that had merit.”

Teachers, students and community members rally against closing Lankenau High School on North Broad Street outside the school board meeting last month.

Disappointment for Lankenau and other schools

The outcry around closing Lankenau was also significant; Watlington’s team did not retreat from a closure recommendation, but now wants to locate the school at Saul, another magnet with a complementary mission.

Saul has room to accommodate Lankenau, Watlington said. But he said district lawyers are reviewing a recent revelation that the Lankenau site must be offered back to the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education as a result of a 1973 deal. The district had proposed giving that school property to the city.

“We have to do our due diligence, and those sometimes can be a bit complicated, but we’ll work through all of the details as appropriate,” he told reporters.

The ball is in the school board’s court now. It has not set a date for a vote on the plan or said whether it will consider further public engagement.

But, Watlington said, “we look forward to the board of education receiving these recommendations and doing some thoughtful digesting of these very well-thought-out recommendations that reflect our community at large’s feedback.”
February 26, 2026
Five Philly police officers sue over DEI, backed by a Trump-aligned legal team

Five police officers say in a new federal lawsuit they were skipped over for promotions because of a Philadelphia policy change to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the municipal workforce.

The officers — Christopher Bloom, Kollin Berg, Joseph Musumeci, Marc Monachello, and Leroy Ziegler — claim they were victims of an “illegal and discriminatory” policy change adopted by City Council and Philadelphia voters in the aftermath of Black Lives Matter protests that swept the nation.

The lawsuit is a proposed class action on behalf of “all white male employees” of the Philadelphia Police Department who were passed over for promotions since 2021 in favor of a candidate with lower exam scores. The complaint was filed by a team of attorneys affiliated with President Donald Trump who have sued the city previously over diversity initiatives.

The change at the heart of the latest lawsuit is related to the so-called rule of two that required city managers to choose between the two candidates with the highest Civil Service exam scores. The rule was an often-cited reason for the limited diversity in the city workforce.

Voters got rid of the requirement through a ballot question in 2021, giving the city more discretion to tailor the number of finalists for a position.

The five officers sought promotions in November, three from lieutenant to captain and two from sergeant to lieutenant. All were “passed over for one of these promotions on account of their race and sex,” the suit says.

The complaint, filed Wednesday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, quotes from legislative documents and statements from politicians to argue that the rule change was racially motivated.

A 2022 resolution calling on then-Mayor Jim Kenney to study the impact of the rule change “repeatedly bemoans the fact that white men were obtaining too many promotions under the city’s merit-based promotion system,” the suit says, calling it “one of the many examples of the city of Philadelphia’s determination to impose illegal DEI practices that consciously and intentionally discriminate against white men.”

Another example cited in the lawsuit is a statement by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, a Council member at the time, who championed the change. She is quoted as saying that “for too long, the Rule of Two has held back Black and Brown employees.”

Internal documents shed light on Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s decision to end Philadelphia’s racial diversity goals in contracting

The suit is the latest filed by a team of conservative lawyers against Philadelphia over efforts to address racial inequity. The attorneys include Pennsylvania’s self-described “go-to” lawyer for Republicans, Wally Zimolong; Jonathan Mitchell, the former Texas solicitor general who is credited as the legal mind behind that state’s abortion ban; and attorneys from American First Legal, an organization formed by Trump adviser Stephen Miller.

In October, the group settled a lawsuit that claimed the city violated the Constitution by forcing bidders to sign agreements that included diverse workforce goals. The city agreed to pay $417,000 in attorneys’ fees and clarify that diversity benchmarks in project agreements were aspirational goals, not mandatory quotas.

Parker’s administration ended a Philadelphia policy prioritizing businesses owned by women or people of color in city contracting shortly after the settlement.

And earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit revived a lawsuit brought by Philadelphia School District parents challenging admission-policy changes to selective schools as racially motivated.

Delaware County-based attorney, Wally Zimolong, has been filing lawsuits challenging Philadelphia’s programs to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in hiring and schools.

The attorneys are not targeting Philadelphia, according to Zimolong.

“Philadelphia just so happens to habitually enact policies that violate the United States Constitution,” he said.

Zimolong declined to comment on the current lawsuit, as did the city’s law department.

The complaint names as defendants the city, the police department, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel, Deputy Commissioner Krista Dahl-Campbell, and Philadelphia Chief Human Resources Officer Candi Jones. It asks a judge to order the promotion of the officers and declare that the city’s current hiring policies are unlawful because they consider race and gender.

Passed over

Police lieutenants Bloom, Berg, and Musumeci sought promotions in fall 2025. There were 10 available positions, and the trio ranked eighth, 11th, and 13th, respectively, on the “captain eligibility” list based on exam scores.

After interviews, six candidates were passed over in favor of those with lower scores, according to the complaint. Five of those six were white males.

The lawsuit alleges a similar pattern when the department decided not to promote sergeants Monachello and Ziegler.

“Monachello and Ziegler were passed over for promotion in favor of lower-ranked female or minority candidates with lower scores on the civil-service examination,” the suit says.

The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 blasted the police department in a statement following the November promotions, saying the union filed grievances and was considering other actions against “unfair DEI practices in law enforcement.” The FOP also sent a letter asking the U.S. Department of Justice asking to review the promotion criteria, the suit says.

The first Philly police DEI chief was victim to the discrimination she was hired to fix, lawsuit says

The police department workforce is 50% white, 34% Black, 12% Hispanic, and 3% Asian, according to data from the city. Nearly 40% of new hires this fiscal year have been Black, compared with 33% white.

In comparison, the city’s population is 44% white, 42% Black, 16% Hispanic, and 9% Asian, according to the Census Bureau.

The department has faced racial discrimination lawsuits from employees, including regarding promotions. But usually the candidates allege they were passed over for a white candidate.

For example, in October, an Asian officer sued after not getting promoted to captain, noting in the complaint that “no person of Asian descent has been promoted to the rank of Captain since 1976.”

Leslie Marant, the department’s first DEI chief, was fired after less than two years and has filed a suit alleging she became a victim of the systemic sex discrimination she was tasked with fixing.

February 26, 2026
Eleanor M. Kelley, longtime French teacher, lifelong athlete, and mentor to many, has died at 79

Eleanor M. Kelley, 79, of Philadelphia, longtime French teacher at International Christian High School, onetime adjunct professor at Temple University, role model, mentor to many, and lifelong athlete, died Friday, Feb. 20, of complications from Parkinson’s disease at Rydal Park & Waters retirement community in Jenkintown.

An honors graduate at Abraham Lincoln High School and twice at Temple, Mrs. Kelley was a compassionate, faith-driven intellectual who excelled at languages, teaching, and friendship. She taught French for two years as an adjunct professor at Temple and then for 48 years, from 1972 to 2020, at Cedar Grove Christian Academy and its successor, International Christian High School.

She worked with thousands of students from around the world at International Christian in Olney and chaperoned nine trips to Paris with her French classes. She connected with students, they said in online tributes, by smiling often and singing songs and quoting the Bible in French.

Former students called her “intellectually challenging” and “fiery when it came to teaching French.” They said: “You never gave up on us.”

Mrs. Kelley was honored online by colleagues at International Christian High School.

Her achievements were recognized by educational organizations, and she told her husband, Bill: “I need to find new ways to challenge the students. I must avoid getting caught up in the routine of teaching.”

Nearly everyone called her Madame Kelley, and they dedicated three school yearbooks to her. Several of her online tributes were written in French. “Au revoir, Madame,” they said. “Merci.”

Survivors give advice about mourning their loved ones, as told to The Inquirer’s obit writer

On Facebook, Benjamin Brittin, head administrator at International Christian, said: “Mrs. Kelley was a devoted co-worker, wise, fair-minded, loving, and faithful in her support of both students and colleagues.”

She also taught English and health, and was the school’s discipline administrator and director of the Honors Society. She served on school and church committees, and helped her husband coach the International Christian boys’ basketball team.

Mrs. Kelley played basketball and volleyball at Abraham Lincoln High School.

“She was one in a million,” a former school colleague said in a Facebook tribute. Another said: “I will never stop striving for the perfection you maintained with incredible grace.”

Mrs. Kelley played basketball and volleyball in high school, and later earned 10 medals and trophies at local running events. One time, her husband said, she slowed near the end of a race so a friend could pass her and win a medal.

When parents die, even the mundane memories comfort their children. Here are their tales, as told to The Inquirer’s obit writer.

She earned three awards for coaching the boys’ basketball team at International Christian, and she and her husband ran often in Wissahickon Valley Park and along Kelly Drive.

“Teaching was her passion, indeed a promissory gift to so many of her students,” her husband said. “She was a fisher of minds and souls who made ideas matter.”

Mrs. Kelley and her husband, Bill, married in 1972.

Eleanor Mary Tolia was born Feb. 12, l947, in Philadelphia. She enjoyed family vacations in Atlantic City when she was young and graduated summa cum laude from Abraham Lincoln High.

She met Bill Kelley when both were students at Temple, and they married in 1972. He was on his way to basketball practice one afternoon when he saw her in her father’s diner, and he stopped in to meet her.

Surviving spouses always remember how they met their mate. Here are the meet-cute stories told to The Inquirer’s obit writer.

They lived in Roxborough, and he doted on her for more than five decades, including daily visits to her bedside over the last year. At Temple, she earned summa cum laude bachelor’s and master’s degrees in French.

Mrs. Kelley and her husband made memorable trips to Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts and the Jersey Shore. She loved flowers and Italian food, adopted three stray cats, and framed and displayed all 54 of the poems her husband wrote for her every Christmas.

Mrs. Kelley “gifted me more of my humanity,” her husband said.

She usually mailed more than 125 Christmas cards and stayed in touch with former students who became old friends. She wrote letters to the editor of The Inquirer about local events, filled 30 albums with photos, and saved practically every note and letter she ever received.

Friends called her Ellie Kelley. “She showed more humanity than anyone I ever met,” her husband said. “She gifted me more of my humanity. She was my life. She was my hero.”

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Kelley is survived by a brother and other relatives.

Private services are to be held later.

February 26, 2026
YBC indictment: A timeline of shootings and related charges
Law enforcement officials on Wednesday announced sweeping charges against 19 people affiliated with several Philadelphia gangs they say are responsible for shooting nearly three dozen people in two years.

The indictment caps a more than two-year investigation into the Young Bag Chasers, or YBC, and rival crews including CCK and the Parkside Killers. Authorities say the groups traded gunfire in brazen retaliatory shootings — sometimes on consecutive days, often in broad daylight, and at times on the same blocks over and over again.

The rise and fall of the Young Bag Chasers

Below is a breakdown of the shootings included in the indictment and the defendants charged in each case, according to prosecutors:

Sept. 21, 2022 — Shots are fired at 1400 N. 75th St. No one is struck.
- YBC members Mark “Yak Yola” Johnson and Kasim Brown, aka “FSdaBender,” have been charged.
Police investigate a triple shooting in the 1500 block of N. 13th street, where an 8-year-old girl was grazed in the head by a bullet on Sept. 22, 2022.

Sept. 22, 2022 — An 8-year-old girl and 20-year-old man are shot at 1500 N. 13th St.
- YBC members Salahhuddin Carter, aka YFA4our, and Jymir “Lil Mir” Burbage have been charged.
Oct. 7, 2022 — Shots are fired at 3900 Wallace St. No one is struck.
- YBC members Carter and Burbage have been charged.
Oct. 29, 2022 — Three people are shot at 3800 Aspen St.
- YBC members Burbage and Jerwayne Haywood have been charged.
Nov. 30, 2022 — Shots are fired at 4300 Reno St. No one is struck.
- YBC member Burbage has been charged.
In this music video filmed by Marlissa Monay, Tahjae Brooks sings his 2020 song “Hear Me Out.” Brooks, or “Jae100,” was a founder of YBC and the original face and talent of the group.

Dec. 5, 2022 — Tahjae Brooks, aka Jae100, is killed at 4300 Parrish St.
- CCK affiliates Ronnie Vincent-Quan, Herman “Cherm” Stigall, and Anthony Lacey-Woodson, aka “Pistol P,” are charged. Lacey-Woodson is serving 45 to 90 years in prison for three murders.
May 16, 2023 — Kameir “T.O.” Scott is killed at 600 N. Preston St.
- Markees Muhammad, of the Parkside Killers, is charged.
May 27, 2023 — Three people are shot at 5200 Jefferson St.
- YBC members Kasim Brown and Quamere Hall, aka Mere Pablo, are charged.
May 30, 2023 — Shots are fired at 5200 Jefferson St. No one is struck.
- YBC members Burbage and Brown have been charged.
July 8, 2023 — Sharif King, 34, is killed at 5200 Jefferson St.
- YBC members Stephen Weddington, Hall, and Johnson have been charged.
July 27, 2023 — Shots are fired at 100 Manton St. No one is struck.
- CCK member Hasaan Stafford, aka “Saany Goon,” is charged. Kydair “Honcho” Strickland, a CCK/7th Street member who was killed in August 2024, was also involved, prosecutors said.
Oct. 5, 2023 — A 20-year-old man is shot at 5200 Jefferson St.
- YBC members Weddington and Johnson have been charged.
Oct. 6, 2023 — A 20-year-old man is shot at 600 North Brooklyn St.
- Parkside members Muhammad and Paul Beckwith are charged.
Oct. 10, 2023 — Shots are fired at 2100 N 53rd St. No one is struck.
- YBC’s Weddington charged, and CCK affiliate Strickland also fired shots, prosecutors said.
Nov. 4, 2023 — Shots are fired at 1300 N 53rd St. No one is struck.
- CCK’s Stafford is charged.
Dec. 7, 2023 — Zyir “Booga” Stafford is killed while leaving his work at McDonalds, at 29th and Clearfield Streets.
- YBC’s Weddington and Burbage have been charged.
Zyir Stafford, a 22-year-old father of two, was shot and killed in December 2023. In this photo, he had just received his diploma from YES Philly High.

Dec. 11, 2023 — Shots are fired at 1400 S 56th St. No one is struck.
- CCK’s Stafford, Stigall, and Nasir “Jefe” Wells — who is serving life in prison for a separate murder — have been charged.
Dec. 15, 2023 — Shots are fired at 2900 Girard Ave. No one is struck.
- CCK’s Wells is charged.
Jan. 22, 2024 — Shots are fired at 1000 Arch St. No one is struck.
- CCK’s Wells and Stafford are charged.
March 13, 2024 — Shots are fired at 4300 Lancaster Ave. No one is struck.
- Parkside’s Muhammad is charged.
May 18, 2024 — Qaadir Cheeks, aka 55Qua, is killed at 5500 Baltimore Ave.
- YBC’s Weddington, Burbage, Hamzah Curry, and Hasin “HassPNB” Muse, have been charged with murder. Tatiana Edwards has been charged with criminal conspiracy to murder after officials said she lured Cheeks outside to ultimately be shot.
Dec. 8, 2025 — A 24-year-old man is shot multiple times at 4800 Folsom St.
- Hasaan Taylor, aka YBC Waters, who was recently released from federal custody, was arrested Wednesday and has been charged in the case outside of the grand jury indictment.
February 26, 2026