WASHINGTON — Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, declined to answer questions from House lawmakers in a deposition Monday, but indicated that if President Donald Trump ended her prison sentence, she was willing to testify that neither he nor former President Bill Clinton had done anything wrong in their connections with Epstein.
The House Oversight Committee had wanted Maxwell to answer questions during a video call to the federal prison camp in Texas where she’s serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, but she invoked her Fifth Amendment rights to avoid answering questions that would be self-incriminating. She’s come under new scrutiny as lawmakers try to investigate how Epstein, a well-connected financier, was able to sexually abuse underage girls for years.
Amid a reckoning over Epstein’s abuse that has spilled into the highest levels of businesses and governments around the globe, lawmakers are searching for anyone who was connected to Epstein and may have facilitated his abuse. So far, the revelations have shown how both Trump and Clinton spent time with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, but they have not been credibly accused of wrongdoing.
During the closed-door deposition Monday, Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus said in a statement to the committee that “Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump.”
He added that both Trump and Clinton “are innocent of any wrongdoing,” but that ”Ms. Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation.”
Maxwell’s appeal hits pushback
Democrats said that was a brazen effort by Maxwell to have Trump end her prison sentence.
“It’s very clear she’s campaigning for clemency,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a New Mexico Democrat.
Another Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia, described Maxwell’s demeanor during the short video call as “robotic” and “unrepentant.”
Asked Monday about Maxwell’s appeal, the White House pointed to previous remarks from the president that indicated the prospect of a pardon was not on his radar.
And other Republicans push backed on the notion quickly after Maxwell made the appeal.
“NO CLEMENCY. You comply or face punishment,” Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida wrote on social media. “You deserve JUSTICE for what you did you monster.”
Maxwell has also been seeking to have her conviction overturned, arguing that she was wrongfully convicted. The Supreme Court rejected her appeal last year, but in December she requested that a federal judge in New York consider what her attorneys describe as “substantial new evidence” that her trial was spoiled by constitutional violations.
Maxwell’s attorney cited that petition as he told lawmakers she would invoke her Fifth Amendment rights.
Family members of the late Virginia Giuffre, one of the most outspoken victims of Epstein, also released a letter to Maxwell making it clear they did not consider her “a bystander” to Epstein’s abuse.
“You were a central, deliberate actor in a system built to find children, isolate them, groom them, and deliver them to abuse,” Sky and Amanda Roberts wrote in the letter addressed to Maxwell.
Maxwell was moved from a federal prison in Florida to a low-security prison camp in Texas last summer after she participated in two days of interviews with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
The Republican chairperson of the committee, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, had also subpoenaed her at the time, but her attorneys have consistently told the committee that she wouldn’t answer questions. However, Comer came under pressure to hold the deposition as he pressed for the committee to enforce subpoenas on Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. After Comer threatened them with contempt of Congress charges, they both agreed to sit for depositions later this month.
Comer has been haggling with the Clintons over whether that testimony should be held in a public hearing, but Comer reiterated Monday that he would insist on holding closed-door depositions and later releasing transcripts and video.
Lawmakers review unredacted files
Meanwhile, several lawmakers visited a Justice Department office in Washington Monday to look through unredacted versions of the files on Epstein that the department has released to comply with a law passed by Congress last year. As part of an arrangement with the Justice Department, lawmakers were given access to the over 3 million released files in a reading room with four computers. Lawmakers can only make handwritten notes, and their staff are not allowed in with them.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, spent several hours in the reading room Monday morning. He told reporters as he returned to the Capitol that even if all the House members who triggered the vote on releasing the files “spent every waking hour over at the Department of Justice, it would still take us months to get through all of those documents.”
Democrats on Raskin’s committee are looking ahead to a Wednesday hearing with Attorney General Pam Bondi, where they are expected to sharply question her on the publication of the Epstein files. The Justice Department failed to redact the personal information of many victims, including inadvertently releasing nude photos of them.
“Over and over we begged them, please be careful, please be more careful,” said Jennifer Freeman, an attorney representing survivors. “The damage has already been done. It feels incompetent, it feels intimidating and it feels intentional.”
Democrats also say the Justice Department redacted information that should have been made public, including information that could lead to scrutiny of Epstein’s associates.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who sponsored the legislation to force the release of the files, said that after reviewing the unredacted versions for several hours, he had found the names of six men “that are likely incriminated by their inclusion.” He called on the Justice Department to pursue accountability for the men, but said he could potentially name them in a House floor speech, where his actions would be constitutionally protected from lawsuits.
Massie, along with California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, said they also came across a number of files that still had redactions. They said that was likely because the FBI had turned over redacted versions of the files to the Justice Department.
Khanna said “it wasn’t just Epstein and Maxwell” who were involved in sexually abusing underage girls.
Release of the files has set in motion multiple political crises around the world, including in the United Kingdom, where Prime Minister Keir Starmer is clinging to his job after it was revealed his former ambassador to the U.S. had maintained close ties to Epstein. But Democratic lawmakers bemoaned that so far U.S. political figures seem to be escaping unscathed.
“I’m just afraid that the general worsening and degradation of American life has somehow conditioned people not to take this as seriously as we should be taking it,” Raskin said.
Ernest P. Richards, 85, of Philadelphia, lifelong urban cowboy, musician, singer, building contractor, mentor, veteran, and volunteer, died Monday, Jan. 12, of cancer at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center.
Mr. Richards fell in love with horses when he was a youth in South Philadelphia and went on to own four of his own: Lucky, Jaheel, Pretty Girl, and Dancer. He became an expert in horsemanship and grooming, and dressed daily in cowboy hats, bolo ties, and western boots. He shined his collection of saddles as brightly as any car in the neighborhood.
“He loved animals, period,” said his wife, Sheila, “and horses are strong. He liked that.”
Over the years, Mr. Richards adorned his mounts in colors that matched his eye-catching outfits and rode in parades, on local trails, and elsewhere around the city and South Jersey. He started out supervising 25-cent pony rides at a farm in South Philadelphia as a teenager and later stabled his horses most often at a farm near the Cowtown Farmers Market in Pilesgrove Township, Salem County.
Mr. Richards was known for his distinctive western attire.
He became such a good rider, and his horses were so expressive, his family said, that he often led other concrete cowboys in holiday parades on Broad and 52nd Streets. “He was the star of the show,” said his daughter Passion. “My dad was sharp.”
Mr. Richards enjoyed watching John Wayne westerns and the TV show Bonanza, and he took his family on a memorable trip to a rodeo in Maryland. He taught his children, grandchildren, and anyone else who was interested how to safely ride and care for horses.
Out of the saddle, Mr. Richards was a gifted singer and guitar player. He formed a band, Fire and Rain, after he returned to Philadelphia from two years in the Army, and they played at the Apollo Theater in New York and at clubs all over Philadelphia for decades.
He specialized in love songs and covered many made popular by Teddy Pendergrass and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. “He was a romantic,” his wife said.
Mr. Richards (right) was an accomplished singer and guitar player.
He also had an eye for design and beauty, and a knack for construction. He built decks, repaired roofs, refurbished basements, and raised other buildings, sometimes from the ground up.
He constructed a barn and stalls for the horse farm he frequented in Salem County, and mentored young men in West Philadelphia who wanted to learn the construction skills he had picked up from his mentors and while in the Army.
“He loved to beautify things,” his wife said. “He was a beautiful person.”
Ernest Patrick Richards was born Feb. 25, 1940, in Philadelphia. He graduated from Edward Bok Technical High School in 1958 and spent two years in the Army.
Mr. Richards often dressed his horse to match his oufit when they rode in parades.
He met singer Sheila Sampson when she auditioned to sing with Fire and Rain, and they married in 1985 and had daughters Passion, Keshia, Tammy, and Sparkle. He also had daughters Jackie G., Jackie J., and Crystal. Jackie G. and Crystal died earlier.
Mr. Richards played basketball for years and whiled away many evenings strumming his guitar and singing songs around the house. He adored his family, they said, and attended the Church of Christian Compassion. “He was inspirational about his love of God,” his wife said. “He was all about family and faith.”
He had a hearty laugh, his daughters said, and tolerated no nonsense, his wife said. He helped anybody who needed anything at any time, they all said.
He valued independence and knew how to fix cars and home appliances. A friend said online that he had “a heart of gold” and was “an earth angel.” His nephew and nieces said he kept them “laughing and on our toes, teaching us great life lessons and how to repair anything.”
Mr. Richards was an expert builder.
Mr. Richards liked flashy western wear, and his wife nicknamed him Richie Rich because he dressed so snazzy. “He was never judgmental,” said his granddaughter Najzhay. “He was always offering help. He was truly my favorite person and the best cowboy.”
“He was funny,” said his daughter Passion. “He could light up a room. His presence demanded respect. He was the center of our everything.”
His daughter Sparkle said: “He was a great teacher and our best friend.”
On his 85th birthday last year, Mr. Richards told his family: “All my blessings are right here in this room. I’m so grateful, eternally grateful.”
Mr. Richards (rear, third from left) enjoyed time with his family.
In addition to his wife, daughters, and granddaughter, Mr. Richards is survived by five other grandchildren, two great-grandsons, and other relatives. A brother and a sister died earlier.
A celebration of his life was held Thursday, Jan. 22.
About 85,000 people who bought Pennie plans in 2025 did not renew for this year following the expiration of expanded tax credits that reduced what consumers had to pay, Pennsylvania’s Affordable Care Act marketplace announced Monday.
That meant that 18% of previously enrolled Pennsylvania residents dropped their coverage as premiums doubled on average across the state, according to Pennie, the state’s Obamacare marketplace.
Enrollment for 2026 totaled 486,000, down from 496,661 at the end of last year’s open enrollment period. For this year, roughly 79,500 newcomers to the exchange partially offset the people who dropped coverage.
The agency warned, however, that the number of enrollees could continue declining for several months. There’s a three-month lag between when consumers stop paying premiums and coverage ends. Open enrollment ended Jan. 31.
The agency had predicted last summer that as many as 150,000 people would drop coverage if Congress did not renew the expanded tax credits that were adopted in 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic.
New Jersey has not released final results for its ACA open enrollment period, which also ended Jan. 31.
As of the start of January, 493,727 residents were signed up for 2026 health coverage with Get Covered New Jersey. That’s up slightly from the 481,151 people who were enrolled last year.
Soaring costs for consumers
Average out-of-pocket costs were expected to double on average for people who benefited from the enhanced tax credits, Pennie said last year.
Under the ACA, people who earn less than 400% of the federal poverty level — about $64,000 for an individual and $132,000 for a family of four — are eligible for tax credits on a sliding scale, based on their income, to help offset the monthly cost of an insurance premium.
That tax credit is part of the law, and therefore did not expire at the end of December. The change affects an expansion in 2021, when Congress increased financial assistance so that those buying coverage through an Obamacare marketplace do not pay more than 8.5% of their income.
The expiration of the 8.5% cap means that a 60-year-old couple with household income of about $85,000 could see their premium triple to $22,600 this year from $7,225 last year, according to the nonprofit Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.
The tax credits were a key issue in the federal budget debate last year that ultimately led to the longest-ever government shutdown. Democrats wanted to permanently expand the enhanced subsidies, and Republicans refused.
Weaker coverage
About 33,000 more Pennie customers enrolled in plans that have lower monthly premiums, but typically come with high out-of-pocket costs in the form of deductibles and copays. That amounted to a 30% increase in the number of consumers choosing so-called Bronze plans, Pennie said.
“As the costs of groceries, housing, utilities, and other necessities continue to rise, higher healthcare costs mean more people will delay care, skip treatments, or take on medical debt,” Antoinette Krause, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Pennsylvania Health Access Network, said in an email.
Pennie noted that rural counties were particularly hard hit by coverage losses. Fifteen of the top 20 counties with the highest disenrollment on a percentage bases were rural, Pennie said.
That could put more stress on rural hospitals if people have to resort more often to emergency departments for care and don’t have the means to pay.
Inquirer staff writer Sarah Gantz contributed to this article.
At Shiroi Hana last Thursday at noon, plates, bowls, and ramekins filled the dining room tables. But this was not lunchtime at Center City’s longest-operating Japanese restaurant. It was a tag sale.
Owners Patti and Robert Moon were cleaning out the place in advance of the building’s sale in coming weeks. The kitchen was silent and the sushi bar cleared out.
Shiroi Hana served its last meal in January after 41 years. “It’s sad. Very sad,” said Patti Moon, who with her husband, Robert, took over in 1998. In 2010, the couple also opened Doma, a Japanese-Korean restaurant, at 1822 Callowhill St.
An order of delivery sushi from Shiroi Hana, ordered recently.
The modest Shiroi Hana opened in 1984 at 222 S. 15th St. — across from what was then Bookbinders’ Seafood House — as part of a nationwide group of restaurants owned by Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church. (Many of the restaurants shared the name “Hana,” meaning flower.)
In the late 1990s, Patti and Robert Moon, in their early 30s, were running Grill Master Deli at 17th and Spruce Streets when they heard that the restaurant was for sale. Given their last name, “for some reason that mattered to [the church],” Patti Moon said. “There were other people trying to buy it, but they gave it to us. We were young. I guess it was luck. It was meant to be.” (Robert Moon said he was not related to the self-proclaimed messiah, who died in 2012.)
Patti and Robert Moon in 2010, at Doma, their BYOB.
The restaurant, modest at first but bearing a quiet elegance after the Moons gave it a 1999 makeover, had a small brush with fame under its original ownership. In 1989, Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall rolled in with a bodyguard and manager, “gobbled about $100 worth of sushi,” signed autographs for the staff, and left a 25% tip, according to a Philadelphia Daily News account.
Shiroi Hana was a favorite among Inquirer critics. Shortly after its ’84 opening, Elaine Tait praised an offering called sushi heaven — “a generously and artistically filled lacquer tray crammed with sushi and sashimi” — and proclaimed it “almost too much of a good thing.” It was priced at $20 (about $61 in today’s dollars).
Patti Moon (left) and Robert Moon with longtime manager Michiko Kadekaru at Shiroi Hana on Feb. 5, 2026.
Last week, critic Craig LaBan said Shiroi Hana “remained a favored hideaway for an intimate lunch until the end, especially beloved by Elizabeth,” his wife. “My kids grew up eating there, and it was always her choice for lunch with a particular friend because the food was great and they knew just how we liked it, down to the tiniest details. She’ll forever miss their chicken katsu bento box.”
Patti Moon said they closed because of shifting trends. Japanese dining has increasingly moved toward chef-owned omakase restaurants, she said, a model that is difficult for non-chef operators to sustain. “For a long time, we were lucky,” she said. “Our head chef, Hiroshi Abe, had been there since 1984. He stayed almost 35 years. When he left about three years ago, people noticed. Business wasn’t the same.”
Manager Michiko Kadekaru looks through mementos from Shiroi Hana with co-owner Robert Moon.
Longtime manager Michiko Kadekaru — who started in 1990 and became, in Robert Moon’s words, “the heart and soul of the restaurant” — has indicated that she would retire, though the Moons hope that she will continue working for them at Doma.
“She started in her 30s and now she’s in her 70s,” Patti Moon said. “She was crying on the last day — and so were we.”
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — As the Eagles demonstrated last year, defense wins championships.
The Seattle Seahawks pounded the New England Patriots and their quarterback Drake Maye for three quarters and cruised to a 29-13 victory in Super Bowl LX on Sunday night at Levi’s Stadium.
The Seahawks had standouts on offense and special teams, as running back Kenneth Walker displayed in an MVP performance and kicker Jason Myers showed in making all five of his field goal attempts. But it was their “Dark Side” defense that set the tone and carried Seattle to its second title and first in 12 years.
What does the Seahawks’ achievement mean for the Eagles moving forward? Well, not much more than the Eagles realized a year ago when they made a future Hall of Fame quarterback look helpless. No matter how you do it, pressuring the quarterback is paramount.
Maye is no Patrick Mahomes, and few expected the 24-year-old and a young Patriots team to get this far in coach Mike Vrabel’s first season at the helm. Of course, the same could have been said for Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold, who once got lost in the NFL wilderness before general manager John Schneider signed the free agent last offseason.
But it was coach Mike Macdonald’s defense, Walker’s tough running, and Myers’ leg that compensated for an unremarkable passing attack. Here are five takeaways — with an Eagles slant — from the 60th Super Bowl:
Byron Murphy II (91) and the Seahawks’ front four got after Drake Maye all night.
A familiar defensive philosophy?
Schneider knows something about building elite defenses. Twelve years ago, the Seahawks’ “Legion of Boom” unit whipped quarterback Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos and won going away, 43-8, in Super Bowl XLVIII.
This group, led by another elite secondary, may not yet have the name recognition of Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas from that early 2010s Seattle defense. But third-year cornerback Devon Witherspoon and rookie safety Nick Emmanwori are already two of the best at their respective positions.
The Seahawks consistently pressured Maye, and their zone coverages and heavy dime personnel took away the quarterback’s few reads. There were just as many moments when the quarterback had little time in the pocket due to the pass rush.
The four-man front did its job, but Macdonald’s selective blitzes had Maye dipping his eyes as the game progressed. Witherspoon got to him four times from the slot. He forced two throwaways, registered a sack, and hit Maye just as he threw on a key play in the fourth quarter. The ball landed in linebacker Uchenna Nwosu’s arms and he went 45 yards the other way for a touchdown and a 29-7 lead.
A year ago, the Eagles famously didn’t blitz once and sacked Mahomes six times and forced three turnovers. The Seahawks weren’t a blitzing team in the regular season, and Macdonald followed that approach in the Super Bowl, sending extra rushers just 13.2% of the time, according to NextGen Stats.
Maye was sacked six times and pressured on 52.8% of his drops. And like Mahomes, he tossed two interceptions and fumbled once. The Patriots, meanwhile, went against their norm and blitzed Darnold on 53.7% of his drops.
There are different ways to skin a cat. The Eagles’ scheme isn’t changing, with defensive coordinator Vic Fangio returning after mulling retirement. But there could be room for a slightly more aggressive approach next season.
No other defense was as passive in 2025. The Eagles had the highest percentage of light boxes in defending the run and they had the lowest blitz rate in the NFL. Fangio’s approach worked for the most part, but he didn’t have the defensive front he had a year ago.
Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is headed to Las Vegas to become Raiders head coach, and elements of his scheme will show up in Philly next season with Sean Mannion.
How did the Shanahan-McVay scheme fare?
With the Eagles expected to change their offense after the hiring of coordinator Sean Mannion, the Seahawks offered an opportunity to see how the Shanahan-McVay system that Seattle operates offensively would fare on the biggest stage.
The results were mixed. But two staples of the scheme that have flourished under 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and Rams coach Sean McVay and their acolytes were effective against the Patriots: under-center play-action and outside zone runs.
Darnold was under center for almost half the plays — 35 of 71 — as coordinator Klint Kubiak stayed committed to the ground game. It helped that the Patriots never really threatened the Seahawks. But Walker was often allowed to run downhill and finished with 135 yards rushing on 27 carries.
He gained 71 yards on 12 carries (5.9 average) on runs outside the tackles. The Eagles long had an inside zone-heavy offense under run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland. But they tried to shift away from that tendency last season when they essentially took that responsibility from the offensive line coach.
It was a mild tweak, meant to create more diversity in the running game, but improvement was marginal. There will likely be a more significant transition under Mannion, who played under McVay and Kubiak, and coached under another from the Shanahan tree: Matt LaFleur.
Stoutland’s sudden resignation, after coach Nick Sirianni was prepared to hire tight ends coach Ryan Mahaffey to assume running game duties, was further evidence that change is coming. The Eagles want an offense that has more variables and under-center plays that give quarterback Jalen Hurts more layup throws.
Darnold’s lone touchdown pass came from under center when play-action caught Patriots linebacker Jack Gibbens. The quarterback found wide-open tight end AJ Barner for a 16-yard score early in the fourth quarter.
How far will Sirianni go in altering the offense? It’s been relatively the same structure since 2021. The Eagles had great success with it, but last season’s regression was stark, and wasn’t all on first-time coordinator Kevin Patullo.
How Hurts and the rest of the returning offense adapt is to be determined. But change is coming.
Milton Williams (97) had a sack and was around the football all night.
Milton Williams balled out — again
Milton Williams fell short in his quest to become the fifth player to win back-to-back titles for different teams, but the Patriots defensive tackle had nothing to be ashamed about.
The same could be said for New England’s defense. The unit kept the Patriots within striking distance despite the offensive struggles. But, ultimately, they succumbed after Maye and Co. went three-and-out on five of six possessions during one stretch.
Aside from cornerback Christian Gonzalez, Williams might have been the Patriots’ best defender. He gave Seahawks right guard Anthony Bradford fits and finished with six pressures, one sack, and one batted pass.
The former Eagle, who had two sacks and a forced fumble in last year’s Super Bowl, beat a double team before dropping Darnold in the backfield for a third-quarter loss. It was the Patriots’ lone sack of the game.
Williams wasn’t as dominant vs. the run and finished with just one tackle. But Walker had most of his success running away from New England’s interior defense.
Vrabel knew he had to hang his hat on his defense, but his game management and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ play-calling leaned conservative. Their most egregious moments came on McDaniels’ early run call on third-and-5, and the team electing to punt on fourth-and-1 at the Patriots’ 41 while down 12-0 in the third quarter.
Vrabel also erred in not going for two after a Patriots touchdown narrowed Seattle’s lead to 19-7 early in the fourth quarter.
Williams might not have won for a second straight year, but he further justified the Patriots signing him to a four-year, $104 million contract last offseason. The 26-year old told The Inquirer last week that he never wanted to leave Philly and felt slighted when the Eagles didn’t tender an offer.
The Eagles had first-rounders Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis, along with Moro Ojomo, returning at defensive tackle. It would have been difficult for general manager Howie Roseman to justify extending Williams with other necessary investments waiting in the pipeline.
But time will tell, assuming Carter and Davis eventually get signed to second contracts, if the Eagles made the right decision.
Mack Hollins (13) finally got the Patriots on the board and acquitted himself well overall.
How did the other ex-Eagles perform?
Williams was one of four former Eagles to play in Super Bowl LX. Josh Jobe was the only one to end the night with confetti on his head. The Seahawks cornerback started on the outside and was sticky in coverage and stout against the run. He finished with seven stops and one pass breakup.
Jobe, who spent his first two years in Philly, said he watched last year’s Super Bowl “[ticked] off” after the Eagles released him before the 2024 season. He revived his career in Seattle and will be one of the more sought-after corners on the market this offseason.
The Seahawks may not allow him to reach free agency, even if homegrown cornerback Riq Woolen is also slated to be unrestricted. Seattle has only four starters slated to become free agents. The Seahawks should, theoretically, be a contender again next season.
Woolen had a rough patch in the fourth quarter when Patriots receiver Mack Hollins caught back-to-back passes vs. him in coverage. Hollins’ first catch came over the middle for 24 yards and the second was an over-the-shoulder 35-yard grab for a touchdown.
Hollins, who won a Super Bowl with the Eagles when he was a rookie in 2017, was hoping to cap a journeyman career with a second title.
Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss played his first two seasons in the NFL for the Eagles before getting released late into the 2023 season. New England snatched him up a day later and he has risen the ranks since.
Elliss blitzed early and hit Darnold before he threw incomplete. He also notched three tackles. But he had a relatively quiet night.
John Schneider is on a short list of the NFL’s best GMs along with the Eagles’ Howie Roseman.
Best GM in the NFL?
Schneider joins the Chiefs’ Brett Veach and the Eagles’ Howie Roseman as the only current GMs to win more than one Super Bowl. While Veach has won all three of his with the same coach (Andy Reid) and quarterback (Mahomes), Schneider and Roseman have won their two titles with different coaches and quarterbacks.
The latter two men have been tied together since they became GMs just days apart in 2010. They took different paths to the top spot — Schneider came up the traditional way as a scout, while Roseman got his start on the business side — but both are now regarded by many as the two best NFL roster-builders.
Schneider can now say he’s not only been to as many Super Bowls as Roseman’s three, but he’s also matched him in Lombardi Trophies. The lone feather in his cap could be winning titles with completely different rosters and coaching staffs, while Roseman had several holdovers last season from the 2017 championship squad.
Some federal workers aren’t leaving public service altogether. They’re landing jobs in local government.
A job-seeking platform managed by national nonprofit Work for America is helping some workers find those new roles. The service is relatively new but predates President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce in 2025.
Some 350 workers with federal job experience in Pennsylvania and 169 in New Jersey have used the platform, called Civic Match, since it was founded in November 2024.
Nearly 900 state and local government roles in Pennsylvania have been posted on the platform since its start and 42 in New Jersey.
And, according to new data, 187 former federal workers across the U.S. have used the site and landed jobs in state or local government.
While that’s a small fraction of the total federal workers who have left their jobs in the last year amid the Trump administration’s shake-up of the workforce, the new data shed light on where workers are landing after leaving government positions.
In October, just after Trump’s deferred resignation program took effect, Pennsylvania and New Jersey lost roughly 6,000 federal jobs.
There really isn’t a centralized place where someone looking for a state or other local government job can go, said Caitlin Lewis, executive director at Work for America. The platform is open only to job seekers who have federal work experience or who lost their jobs because of federal funding cuts, but Lewis hopes to open it up to others in the future.
Who are these federal workers?
Austin Holland was working in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last year, when federal workers were instructed to begin working in the office full-time. He had been working remotely from Lancaster much of the time and commuting to Washington, a few days per pay period. Relocating to D.C. wasn’t feasible for him.
“I really enjoyed my federal job, and I had imagined that it was kind of something I was going to do for my entire career,” he said. “I was struggling with losing that and trying to figure out ‘Where is my career going from here?’”
Holland estimates that he joined the Civic Match platform in early 2025. Through a virtual job fair, he made a connection that ultimately led to a job at the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. He took a pay cut but was able to stay in Lancaster — and in public service.
Before leaving his job at the Environmental Protection Agency, Andrew Kreider uploaded his resume to Civic Match and attended some of the platform’s webinars.
“It was refreshing and validating to have such high-quality hiring officials participating,” Kreider said. “I think it helped remind those of us who maybe were a little bit disillusioned — or were feeling traumatized by what we had just been through — that there were places where we could continue to serve where we wouldn’t be subject to what we were going through at the federal level.”
Kreider, who lives in Chester County, also used LinkedIn to look for jobs and searched government websites. He ultimately landed a communications director job with Chester County, which he found on the county’s job listing board.
He’s been in the new job for roughly two months and says some days are “completely overwhelming.”
Andrew Kreider in Philadelphia in April 2025.
“County governments do a lot of work with not as many resources as federal agencies tend to have,” he said. “I’m working as a communication director for an organization three times the size of the one I came from, but I’m making significantly less money and sort of being responsible for communications related to far more things.”
He’s taken a pay cut but said he loves the new job.
“It’s been, for me, an affirmation of how many good people there are who just want to help,” Kreider said. “I’m surrounded by people who come into work every day to serve their neighbors and their communities.”
On a recent Thursday afternoon in February, Civic Match had seven jobs posted in Philadelphia. Available positions with the city included a chief epidemiologist, a director of tax policy, and a director of adult education.
The majority of the 187 platform users who have found jobs — 63% — are workers with at least eight years of public sector experience, according to new data from Work for America. Roughly 40% found jobs in human resources or other operations-related roles.
One-third of those hired have relocated for their new jobs out of state, with 22% reporting a move of over 100 miles from their previous position.
Their federal experience came from a range of departments, including the Departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation, as well as USAID, the General Services Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The aim of Work for America is to curb staffing shortages in local governments and help speed up their hiring process, Lewis said.
“Unlike the private sector, government does not really think about its employer brand and marketing itself as a potential employer,” she said. “Individual local governments don’t have the same amount of resourcing to actually think about expressing an employee value proposition and really marketing to folks who could be great fits for roles that they have open.”
Today, we look forward to another sports championship — indeed, the world’s largest — which will take place partly in Philadelphia this summer.
And we’ve debated “savesies” culture a few times in this newsletter, but with remnants of January’s storm still lingering, the topic is, maddeningly, as relevant as ever. Hear from the frustrated Philadelphians who thought they had a winter parking system, until the snow stuck around.
Did you know? The first event held at Lincoln Financial Field was a preseason friendly between European football club giants Manchester United and Barcelona in 2003. In a way, sports editor Kerith Gabriel argues, you could say Philly was built for soccer.
🏟️ Nine nations will compete in five group stage matches starting June 14, plus two more in a knockout game on July 4. Nearly 100 more games are happening in 15 other North American cities.
🏟️ Those countries include soccer superstars France and Brazil, as well as smaller teams with great stories. Haiti, for instance, could make history if Union midfielder Danley Jean Jacques joins his country’s team.
🏟️ See our guide for visitors on how to navigate the city and other major events — including the Wawa Welcome America festival — that will overlap with the Cup’s Philly games.
In other summer event news: We have more details about the city’s 250th celebration. Expect a massive parade, six days of fireworks, and … Floridian Segway riders?
Back in the wintry present and 15 days out from January’s big snowstorm, Philly residents are still wrapping themselves in cozy layers, penguin-walking over icy sidewalks, and digging out their cars.
That last one has kept tensions high in some pockets of the city where frozen mounds make parking tricky. Spot-marking folding chairs and traffic cones abound.
But if you dug out a space soon after the snow stopped falling, can you still lay claim to it now, weeks later? Could you ever? Philadelphians are grappling with this existential debate with renewed vigor after years of light or no snowfall. It’s about more than right and wrong.
Notable quote: “I don’t believe in the chair. But I’m going to obey the chair,” one South Philly resident told The Inquirer. Why? “I don’t want to get keyed.”
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman said Sunday that he “absolutely” expects the Department of Homeland Security will shut down Friday as negotiations over immigration enforcement have stalled.
The Pennsylvania Republican and Democratic Parties on Saturday both locked in their endorsements for the 2026 governor’s race.
The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission is working to keep alive the city’s project to cap the Vine Street Expressway after the federal government yanked $150 million in promised funding.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s campaign raised $1.7 million last year, though she won’t face reelection until 2027. The figure reflects the increasingly professionalized world of political fundraising in Philadelphia.
City Council President Kenyatta Johnson said he’s willing to hold up city funding to the Philly school district over concerns about its closure and consolidation plan.
Philadelphia-born Noam Chomsky counseled Jeffrey Epstein on how to handle media scrutiny in 2019, federal files show. The academic’s wife apologized for the couple’s “lapse in judgement.”
Amid White House efforts to shrink the federal workforce, hundreds of people in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have used a job site that connects federal workers to public service work.
A long vacant parking garage in Washington Square West could soon be the site of a K-8 Jewish day school.
Quote of the day
Chile native Muriel Crescenzo earned her United States citizenship Tuesday morning, after over three years of waiting and over seven with her husband, James. On Tuesday evening, they celebrated by watching the Flyers take home a 4-2 win against the Washington Capitals.
More hockey news: Flyers coach Rick Tocchet’s late parents emigrated from Italy. Now, he’s back there to coach Canada in the 2026 Winter Olympics. And Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is finally playing with his native Finland — the defending gold medalists — after years of injuries.
🧠Trivia time
The U.S. Mint’s production facility in Philadelphia employs a team of medallic artists who translate history into pocket-sized art. Which landmark is the facility near?
The corrugated metal culvert called the “Duck Tunnel,” a pedestrian passage way under the SEPTA tracks on the Swarthmore College campus.
📬 Your ‘only in Philly’ story
Think back to the night that changed your life that could only happen in Philly, a true example of the Philly spirit, the time you finally felt like you belonged in Philly if you’re not a lifer, something that made you fall in love with Philly all over again — or proud to be from here if you are. Then email it to us for a chance to be featured in the Monday edition of this newsletter.
Have a great week. Thanks for starting it with The Inquirer.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
Nine nations will compete in five group stage matches this summer, plus two more in a knockout game on July 4. Here’s what you need to know about those countries and their fans — and what those fans need to know about Philly.
When Jacqueline Spain’s now-grown kids were having a bad day, she would sit them down at the kitchen island and bake them something. Now, she has opened up that kitchen island to her community with her roadside home bakery, Devon Road Made.
“Food is love, love is food,” Spain said, standing in her kitchen recently, bread in the oven and cookies on the counter. “I like to put a lot of heart and soul into it. I feel if you’re going to put good energy into that, people are going to feel that. They’re going to taste it; they’re going to like it.”
Devon Road Made is one of the newer additions to a trend of microbakeries that are cropping up in Chester County, some with roadside carts and stands dotting residential roads in Paoli, Downingtown, West Chester, and elsewhere.
The Devon Road Made bakery cart outside the home of David and Jacqueline Spain for folks passing by to buy some home baked goods in Willistown, Pa., on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.
Statewide, interest in selling home-baked goods has been growing. Pennsylvania had 361 licensed home bakeries in 2023. That nearly doubled, to 663, in 2025, according to the state agriculture department, which oversees the inspections and licensing of food businesses that operate out of home, rather than commercial, kitchens. There has been a general bakery boom, too, in Philly.
Chester County appears to be a growing incubator of such little bakeries: It had 28 licensed home bakeries in 2025, compared with 16 in 2023, the department said.
Before issuing a license, the department inspects the baker’s food production site.Bakers must verify they have zoning approval to have a business on their property, submit ingredient labels, restrict pets or not have them, and have an approved water supply. It costs $35 to register.
In the few weeks since, Spain, 59, and her husband, David, 60, rolled their bakery cart to the foot of their yard at 60 Devon Rd. in Willistown, the community has indeed seemed to like it. Jacqueline Spain’s cookies and David Spain’s sourdough loaves continually sell out. People knock on their door to ask if things will be restocked. One woman sat at the Spains’ kitchen island, sampling freshly baked cookies, while awaiting her pickup order.
“Everything we make, she has been making for years,” David Spain said. “That’s kind of part of our DNA. It’s got to taste really good — something that we would only serve our friends and family.”
David Spain, of Willistown, Pa., and his wife Jacqueline Spain, chat with Inquirer Reporter Brooke Schultz about their Devon Road Made bakery cart at their home on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.
And Chester County seems like a place perfectly ripe for these little bakeries to thrive, several home bakers said: It’s not a wholly rural community, nor is it totally Main Line. There is an affluent clientele (Chester is the wealthiest county by median income in the state) with an interest in homemade, quality ingredients.
But they do face some headwinds: A number of municipalities restrict such carts through zoning codes, even if the bakers are licensed to sell.
Alexa Geiser, 28, of Lulu’s Bread & Bakery in West Chester, opened her home bakery in October, originally selling her sourdough first come, first served from her porch. But then the borough told her she was not permitted to sell from her residential porch, and she moved entirely online to sell her bread and the occasional chocolate chip cookie batch.
Though it’s a bummer — she said it was nice to talk with people stopping by for a peaceful hour on Fridays — she felt supported by the community, who offered their businesses for her to host her pickups.
“I think people really value homemade goods that people put a lot of effort into, and good quality ingredients,” she said. “I use all organic flours and filtered water and good salt in my bread, which is something I personally value. It’s what I want to give to my customers as well.”
The Devon Road Made bakery cart outside the home of David and Jacqueline Spain for folks passing by to buy some home baked goods in Willistown, Pa., on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.
But the stands are a niche the bakers feel they are filling.
“I noticed around here, at least where I live specifically, there aren’t really that many,” said Maddy Dutko, of Maddy Makes. “I’ve seen a couple that sell honey or some that sell flowers, but I haven’t really seen any that sell baked goods. I was like, why not? It’s a way for me to connect with people around here. Maybe bring them something that they didn’t know was necessarily in their community.”
Dutko’s stand, at 623 Sanatoga Rd. in East Coventry Township, is open on the weekends from spring to fall. Dutko sells bread loaves, coffee cakes, cinnamon buns, cookies, and dry mixes for pancakes or cornbread. She tries to keep things fresh and interesting, but also consistent for loyal customers. Dutko, 29, also sells orders online and at markets.
The physical presence has led to customers hiring her to bake for kids’ birthdays, or people approaching her at markets to tell her they always stop by for a treat when they end their walk on a nearby trail.
The Devon Road Made bakery cart outside the home of David and Jacqueline Spain for folks passing by to buy some home baked goods in Willistown, Pa., on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.
There’s something to be said for products baked with love in someone’s home, Jacqueline Spain said.
On a recent Friday afternoon in Willistown, the Spains stocked the baskets of their cart with baggies of cookies, breads, and dog treats — a customer request that their daughter, a veterinary nurse, fulfilled. A red open flag commenced their weekend hours of “noon-?” People pulled up onto the lawn to shop.
The long road to World Cup qualification isn’t over for six non-European countries.
Of those final six, three, in Iraq, Bolivia and Suriname will head to a FIFA playoff round in late March to battle it out for the last spot in Group I. Win, and in addition to a berth into the World Cup alongside Norway, France and Senegal, a stop in Philly awaits for one of the three group stage games to be played against France on June 22 (5 p.m., Fox29, tickets).
No pressure.
What’s that road look like? For Suriname and Bolivia, it’s a first-round, single-elimination playoff match in Monterrey, Mexico, on March 26 (5 p.m.). The winner will then face Iraq, again in Monterrey on March 31. That game is currently scheduled to start at 9 p.m.
Your matchups for the FIFA World Cup 26 Play-Off Tournament! 🆚
Here’s your guide to all three ahead of March’s playoff rounds, the key players who could help their nation get over the hump, and if any of these three nations have previously had a footprint here in Philly.
About the nations
BOLIVIA
Confederation: CONMEBOL; FIFA world rank: 76
A seventh-place finish in grueling CONMEBOL qualifiers is what led to the South American nation needing to win two more matches for a trip to what would be its fourth World Cup finals appearance. Coincidentally, it would be Bolivia’s first trip since 1994, the last time the event was held in the United States — should they qualify. Bolivia will look to advance out of the group stages, something it hasn’t done in any of its previous appearances in 1930 and 1950.
IRAQ
Confederation(s): AFC and WAFF; FIFA world rank: 58
The Lions of Mesopotamia, as this team is affectionately known are looking for just its second ever World Cup berth, qualifying for the 1986 edition in Mexico. The team qualified for this year’s FIFA playoff by way of originally finishing third in their qualifying group, and then needing to playing a pair of inter-confederation playoff matches. The first one against Saudi Arabia, saw the Saudis book its second consecutive trip to the World Cup at the expense of Iraq. Iraq would redeem itself by defeating the United Arab Emirates, securing this final opportunity to qualify. As the nation with the highest FIFA ranking of the three, Iraq will face the winner of March 26 first round playoff match between Bolivia and Suriname.
A second place finish in Group A of Concacaf World Cup qualifying is what kept hopes alive for this tiny South American nation which is home to a little over 600,000 people according to 2024 World Bank data. Nestled between, Guyana and French Guiana, this Dutch colony is just two matches away from qualifying for its first ever World Cup. To get it over the hump, the country appointed former Ajax manager Erik Ten Cate as its coach in December ahead of the March playoff match against Bolivia. Ten Cate, 71, has experience with the national team as its assistant in 2023.
Bolivia’s goalkeeper Carlos Lampe (right) celebrates with teammate Luis Haquin following their team’s 1-0 victory against Brazil in a 2026 World Cup qualifying match on Sept. 9, 2025.
Players to watch
Carlos Lampe (Bolivia): The longtime goalkeeper wasn’t in net for his nation in the 2024 Copa America tournament in the United States, but is expected to lead this team in March’s playoff round. Lampe, 38, who has dual citizenship in Argentina, plays his club ball for Bolívar La Paz in the first division of the Venezuelan league.
Sheraldo Becker (Suriname): Becker has had a healthy career in Europe as a forward since 2019. Currently, he’s signed with CA Osasuna in Spain’s La Liga, but is on loan with Mainz 05, in Germany’s top division. He appeared in in 20 matches for his country including six games during qualifying.
Aymen Hussein (Iraq): Hussein ranks fifth all-time on his nation’s list of top goalscorers. Since debuting for his national team in 2015, Hussein, 30, has had 88 appearances, scoring 31 goals, 12 of which have arrived in World Cup qualifying campaigns. He’s expected to lead again as Iraq will look to qualify for the World Cup for the second time ever.
Philly ties
While it would be a first for both Suriname and Iraq to have passed through the Greater Philadelphia Region as a soccer nation, Bolivia trained at WSFS Sportsplex took part in a June 12, 2024 friendly against Ecuador at Subaru Park in Chester as part of a tune-up game ahead of that summer’s Copa America tournament. Bolivia was in a group with the U.S. men’s national team and in the first match for both countries, the Americans trounced the South American nation, 4-0.
