Texas’s attorney general sued an out-of-state nurse practitioner Monday for allegedly mailing abortion pills to women in Texas, where the drugs are illegal — the latest in a string of similar lawsuits by conservative officials seeking to limit access to the pills.
Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) filed a lawsuit against Debra Lynch, who runs Her Safe Harbor, a Delaware-based service that remotely prescribes and mails abortion pills to women across the country. Paxton’s court filing suggests that he learned about Lynch’s operations from news interviews she’d done over the last year, including with the Austin American-Statesman and the New York Times.
In those interviews, Lynch “boasted” about mailing abortion drugs to Texas, the court filing says.
“The day of reckoning for this radical out-of-state abortion drug trafficker is here,” Paxton said in a statement Tuesday. “No one, regardless of where they live, will be freely allowed to aid in the murder of unborn children in Texas.”
Lynch and Her Safe Harbor did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday afternoon.
She and her group join a growing list of out-of-state abortion providers and groups that Texas has sought to punish. All so far have worked out of states with “shield laws” enacted after the Supreme Court threw out the constitutional right to an abortion, to protect abortion providers from out-of-state prosecution.
That legal strategy has come under fire from officials in states with abortion bans, with Texas leading the way. Paxton, his allies at the Texas Capitol, and antiabortion advocates and attorneys have for months worked to thwart access to the abortion pills that are still flowing into their state.
Last year, Paxton sued a doctor in New York for sending abortion pills to Texas. This year, he sent cease-and-desist letters to a California doctor, along with Her Safe Harbor — Lynch’s group, which prescribes and mails pills — and another organization that provides information on where to access pills. Louisiana has indicted the same New York and California doctors, also accusing them of illegally sending mailing abortion pills.
New York and California have declined to cooperate with the actions by the red states.
When she spoke with the American-Statesman and the Times this year, Lynch let reporters and photographers shadow her work, allowing them to chronicle her process of taking patient phone calls and packaging the pills alongside her husband.
Across the country, there are eight states that explicitly protect abortion providers that mail pills to patients in states with abortion bans, but that group does not include Delaware, where Her Safe Harbor began providing services in June 2024. Delaware is one of more than a dozen states that offer varying levels of protection for telehealth providers of abortion and gender transition care.
The New York Times reported in June that Lynch had decided to move to one of the eight states with the strongest shield laws. It is not clear whether she did so.
Saying the Trump administration is using the federal government for “pure evil” in its immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Gov. Josh Shapiro revealed on late-night television Monday that he’s preparing Pennsylvania to respond should the state face such an incursion.
Shapiro’s wide-ranging remarks on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — which included Shapiro deriding Vice President JD Vance as a “sycophant” and a “suck-up” — sounded at times like a speech before a studio audience that applauded him vigorously. Making the rounds to promote his new book, Where We Keep the Light: Stories from a Life of Service, Shapiro also appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America on Monday, and The View on Tuesday.
On Colbert, the governor sharply criticized the Trump administration’s actions in Minneapolis, where he said “untrained” agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been creating “chaos” by fatally shooting two American citizens.
“I think Americans are outraged by what they see,” Shapiro said, adding: “The mission in Minnesota must be terminated immediately.”
When Colbert said there are “rumors” that federal troops will be sent to Philadelphia “to foment fear,” Shapiro nodded. On The View, he said troops could show up in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, or Lancaster.
“We have spent hours and hours and hours doing tabletop exercises to prepare for it,” Shapiro said, without being specific. The governor did not elaborate.
He added that “it’s a sad day in America that a governor of a commonwealth needs to prepare for a federal onslaught where they would send troops in to undermine the freedoms and the constitutional rights of our citizens. This is un-American.”
“But I want the good people of Pennsylvania to know — I want the American people to know — that we will do everything in our power to protect them from the federal overreach.”
Asked for comment, Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said Tuesday: “It’s pure evil when Democrat leaders provide sanctuary to dangerous criminal illegal aliens who assault, murder, and rape innocent American citizens. President Trump is keeping his promise to the American people to deport criminal illegal aliens.”
Referencing ICE agents wearing masks, Shapiro said that members of the Pennsylvania State Police “have strict rules on when they can wear a mask. You want to be identified as folks who are keeping people safe.”
He added, “Of all the tools that we give our law enforcement in Pennsylvania, the most important tool you need to have is trust with the community that you police.”
When the conversation turned to Vance’s statement that the ICE officer who shot andkilled Minneapolis resident Renee Macklin Good on Jan. 7 has “absolute immunity,” Shapiro retorted that it was untrue.
He added that Vance is “such a sycophant, such a suck-up. He embarrasses himself daily as he seeks the affirmation of Donald Trump.”
ICE agents “are not above the law,” Shapiro added moments later. “I don’t care what B.S. Vance [says.]”
The governor’s reelection bid this year, as well as rumors that he may be a presidential candidate in 2028, did not come up. Instead, Colbert touted Shapiro’s book.
Shapiro said that the courts, Congress, and public opinion need to be marshaled to prevent the Trump administration from sending more troops to U.S. cities.
“All of you have powerful voices,” Shapiro told the audience. He added: “The story of America is ordinary Americans rising up, demanding more, seeking justice.”
For months, President Donald Trump’s administration has been trying to force Minnesota’s Democratic leaders to turn over detailed information about the state’s voters, including driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
State officials have said no. Now, Attorney General Pam Bondi is repeating those demands in a letter that also references the federal government’s aggressive deployment of immigration agents to the streets of Minneapolis.
Her letter, dated Saturday, presses the state on sharing the voter information, turning over public assistance data and assisting the federal government with immigration enforcement. It was sent the same day border agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse, in Minneapolis.
Bondi’s approach has led Democrats in Minnesota and other states to accuse the administration of blackmailing and bullying them into ceding more power to the administration. It comes as she tries to extract similar data from dozens of other states.
“The states have power,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) said. “And Trump is saying, ‘No you don’t, not while I’m president. We’ll run you over. We’ll kill your people. We’ll shoot pepper balls at you. We’ll invade your city. We’ll terrorize everyone. We’ll kill citizens.’”
The Department of Homeland Security launched Operation Metro Surge last month and has sent thousands of agents to Minnesota since then. Pretti’s death came2½ weeks after another agent killed Renée Good in her vehicle. Both victims were 37.
The federal government has sweeping authority to enforce immigration laws, as a federal judge made clear Monday as she repeatedly expressed skepticism in responseto Minnesota’s arguments in a lawsuit seeking to halt the surge of immigration agents to the state. The administration has far less power when it comes to elections because the Constitution gives states the primary responsibility for voting policies.
Bondi’s letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) appeared to try to leverage immigration enforcement to get the state’s voter list. Minnesota officials rejected the demand and said Bondi was trying to force them to give up sensitive voter data that the Justice Department is not entitled to have.
“This was never about immigration,” Ellison said. “It was never about fraud. It’s about coercion and bullying.”
The Justice Department recently launched an investigation into whether Walz and others were impeding immigration enforcement. Trump on Monday struck a new tone, writing on social media that he had talked to Walz and believed they were “on a similar wavelength.” He said he expected them to talk again soon.
But in court, the two sides clashed at a hearing over the surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcementagents. U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez asked a Justice Department attorney whether Bondi with her letter to Walz was trying to “achieve a goal through force, which it can’t achieve through the courts.” Justice Department attorney Brantley Mayers waved off the possibility the enforcement activities were linked to what Bondi sought in her letter.
“I have all of these quotes in the record,” Menendez said. “You’re telling me that I’m reading them wrong?”
Throughout the hearing, the judge expressed skepticism that she has the power to curtail the administration’s immigration enforcement and said she would rule soon.
In a statement, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Trump “wants to work with local leaders to remove the worst of the worst from American streets.” The Justice Department declined to comment on the record.
Georgetown University law professor Stephen I. Vladeck said Minnesota officials, in their lawsuit trying to stop the federal immigration surge, were testing a legal theory about the limits of the federal government’s power that is “designed for novel times.”
“Our existing legal doctrines were not designed for rampant lawlessness on the part of the executive,” he said.
Ahead of the hearing, Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) said she was watching the case closely, particularly now that immigration agents have flooded into her state. Mills, a former state attorney general, said Republicans were acting hypocritically, given the party’s historical support of states’ rights, which are granted in the 10th Amendment of the Constitution.
“Republicans have always loved the 10th Amendment,” she said. “Suddenly, they’re against it.”
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) said he has a “long-standing pro-states’ rights, pro-10th Amendment point of view.” But the federal government has clear authority over immigration, he said.
He said Bondi was making a “policy recommendation” to Minnesota when she urged the state to change how it cooperates with immigration authorities. He said he didn’t think she was linking the request to the surge of agents in the state.
“She’s not threatening to do something,” he said. “I don’t think it’s coercive.”
The federal government has a right to data on public assistance programs because it funds them, he argued. The request for the voter rolls may be “tangential” to what is happening in Minnesota, Kobach said, but he believes the federal government has a right to that data, which he supports using in an effort to find illegal voters.
The dispute over the connection between voter rolls and immigration enforcement has played out over social media in recent days. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) said online that Bondi’s letter showed the surge of immigration agents “was always about rigging elections.”
Vice President JD Vance responded to her on Monday by stating that Democrats are effectively saying, “We really want illegal aliens to vote in elections and will riot to ensure that it is so.”
Democratic-led states have brought dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration over the past year. California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said litigation has been an essential check on a federal government intent on pushing the limits of its power.
“The check of the Congress is completely absent,” he said. “A Republican-led Congress is completely supine, ready to jump when asked to jump by the Trump administration, and they ask how high it is.”
The Justice Department’s demand for Minnesota’s voter rolls comes after the agency spent months suing states to get personal information on voters, including their dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
In all, the Justice Department has sued two dozen states for their voter lists, but judges have not ruled in most of the cases. A federal judge this month threw out the lawsuit against California, saying the Justice Department is not entitled to the information. That case could sway how other courts look at the issue.
Justice Department officials have said they want the lists so they can check whether states are properly maintaining them. It has been sharing data it has received from some states with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement.
Under the Constitution, states, rather than the federal government, are responsible for running elections. Congress has not given the administration the authority to “centralize the private information of all Americans within the Executive Branch,” U.S. District Judge David O. Carter for the Central District of California wrote in his recent decision rejecting the Justice Department’s attempts to get that state’s voter rolls.
Allowing the Justice Department to get the list “would inevitably lead to decreasing voter turnout as voters fear that their information is being used for some inappropriate or unlawful purpose,” the judge wrote.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon (D), who oversees the state’s voter rolls, rejected Bondi’s latest demand and noted that most states have taken a similar stance.
“This isn’t a defiant Minnesota on its own,” he said. “A large majority of states that have been asked for this information have said no on a similar basis to ours.”
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) has fought the Justice Department’s demand for the voter list in her state.
“I think what Bondi’s letter makes clear is that ICE invading Minnesota and Maine was never about immigration, but rather about inflicting violence and creating chaos to try to control our states and our elections,” she said.
If the administration gathers state voter rolls, it can use them to challenge the ability of people to vote, said Uzoma Nkwonta, an attorney who represents Democratic voters who have intervened in the litigation over voter lists.
“This is how you steal elections,” he said. “This is the path — taking these lists and then submitting them either to prevent people from voting or after the fact in order to reject the results of an election.”
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday for the third time this year, seeking to shore up a softening labor market even as inflation builds and leaving the prospect of more cuts next year unclear.
“It’s a labor market that seems to have significant downside risks,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference following the meeting.
Although Fed officials tentatively penciled in at least one more rate cut before the end of next year, estimates about where the economy is heading varied significantly and Powell suggested the central bank might wait before returning to any additional cuts.
“We are well positioned to wait and see how the economy evolves from here,” he said.
Wednesday’s widely expected move lowers the Fed’s benchmark rate to a range of 3.5 to 3.75 percent, the lowest level in about three years. But officials remain sharply divided over how to respond to an economy sending mixed signals: Inflation remains above the Fed’s target, which would typically argue for holding rates steady, while slower hiring and a modest uptick in unemployment suggest a case for easing.
Investors cheered the news, with major financial indexes ending the day higher on Wednesday afternoon.
Nine Federal Reserve officials backed Wednesday’s cut while three dissented. Two officials — Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid — favored no rate reduction, while Fed governor Stephen Miran preferred a larger, half-point cut. It was the most dissent since September 2019.
In another sign of division among top Fed officials, the latest economic projections also released on Wednesday showed seven officials penciled in no additional cuts next year, while 12 favored at least one or more.
Fed policies influence what households and businesses pay for mortgages, credit cards and other loans, and investors are watching closely for guidance on the central bank’s next steps.
The Fed’s job is to keep prices stable and to maximize employment, but it is split on howto navigate what some describe as a light version of stagflation — elevated inflation alongside a labor market that is slowing but far from collapsing. Those divides were exposed at the Fed’s last gathering in October, where officials expressed “strongly differing views about what policy decision would most likely be appropriate,” according to the meeting minutes.
Further complicating the decision, the Fed received far less official data about the health of the economy, because of the government shutdown that delayed or canceled the release of reports on the jobs market and consumer prices. Some Fed officials, relying on alternative data or surveys of the business community, argued that progress on inflation had stalled and warned that cuts risked undermining hard-won gains. Others countered that rising unemployment and weakening consumer demand suggested a need for action.
Powell defended cutting rates now rather than waiting for the Fed’s next meeting in late January, when officials will finally have a better sense of the status of economy thanks to a trove of upcoming official reports. Wednesday’s call reflected mounting evidence of a cooling job market, he noted, saying that after readjustments and revisions, job growth may have been slightly negative since spring.
“I think you can say that the labor market has continued to cool gradually, maybe just a touch more gradually than we thought,” Powell said.
With unemployment rising to 4.4 percent in September, the Fed no longer characterized that rate as “low,” in a statement announcing the rate cut.
Former Philadelphia Fed president Patrick Harker said this week that Wednesday’s move is shaping up to be a “hawkish cut” — a rate reduction paired with a signal that policymakers may soon pause further easing. Harker said the Fed’s internal divergence reflects an unusual degree of economic “fog,” with inflation not worsening as much as feared, unemployment claims relatively stable, and labor-market signals increasingly difficult to interpret. He noted that monthly job gains below 100,000 would normally be a red flag, but demographic trends and uncertain immigration patterns complicate the baseline.
Those disagreements are unfolding amid unprecedented political pressure from President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized the Fed for not moving quickly enough to lower rates and has threatened to fire Powell. Trump renewed those attacks ahead of this week’s meeting, telling Politico that support for aggressive rate cuts is a litmus test for whoever he taps to succeed Powell, whose term as chair expires in May. The president plans to nominate a successor early next year, though he has already signaled he knows who he is likely to pick.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, who was top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, said he is perplexed by Trump’s push for cuts, because inflation remains above target and the broader economy continues to expand. The data shows cooling — not collapsing — labor conditions, which wouldn’t normally justify an urgent push for easing rates, Toomey said.
Toomey warned that the president is taking a much bigger political gamble than he appears to realize. If inflation were to spike again, he said, Trump would “completely own” the fallout after pressuring the Fed when “there’s no obvious need to ease.” That makes the campaign for faster rate cuts “surprising,” Toomey said.
Although Powell secured enough board support to approve Wednesday’s cut, future easing would depend on keeping that alliance.
The split appears to pit a “hawkish” coalition of regional Fed presidents focused on preventing inflation from resurging against a group of governors in Washington who see the greater risk in a softening economy. Officials such as Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, who said she would have preferred not to cut rates in October, have argued that inflation remains stubbornly above the bank’s 2 percent target and warned that reducing rates too soon could keep prices rising.
Meanwhile, other officials continue to emphasize that a cooling labor market and softening consumer demand call for cuts, to ensure the economy does not slip further.
It’s hard to think about going outside right now with the subfreezing temperatures in town, but here’s another reason to hope things will be better in a few weeks.
The Union announced Tuesday that they will host a youth soccer tournament with teams from around the world, including some big-time European clubs, from Feb. 9-14 at their WSFS Bank Sportsplex in Chester. Fittingly for the time of year, it will be called “The Snow Bowl.”
There will be under-15, under-16, and under-18 age groups, with Union teams competing in all three. The under-15 group has the biggest visiting headliners: England’s Manchester United and Newcastle United, Germany’s Borussia Dortmund, and Mexico’s Monterrey.
The under-16 division is headlined by Germany’s Borussia Mönchengladbach, the Netherlands’ PSV Eindhoven, and Portugal’s Benfica.
PSV’s sporting director is former Union and U.S. Soccer sporting director Earnie Stewart. Its youth academy chief, Aloys Wijnker, worked for U.S. Soccer around the same time Stewart was in Chester.
The Union have hosted many visiting teams at their facilities in recent months, including England’s Chelsea and the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams.
Benfica is in the under-18 group too, as is Denmark’s Lyngby is in both of those age groups. That’s notable, since the Union have an ownership stake in Lyngby.
Another team in the under-18 group will bring a familiar face back to Chester. Former Union midfielder Roland Alberg now runs a youth soccer program in South Africa and has entered one of his squads.
“This event is about high-performance preparation and showcasing our Academy’s elite youth development environment,” Union director of academy and professional development Jon Scheer said in a statement. “It provides our Union Academy players with the opportunity to test themselves against the very best ahead of the upcoming Generation adidas Cup and MLS Next playoffs, while also highlighting the world-class facilities we have built here at the Sportsplex.”
The tournament will give the Union a chance not just to show off their facilities and youth teams, but the full scale of their development setup. One of the title sponsors is The SWAG, a no-cost, year-round soccer training program for players ages 4-11 from communities of color, which the Union helps promote.
The SWAG is a free program for underprivileged kids from 4-11 to play soccer and get to know the world’s game.
“With all eyes on soccer this summer, especially here in Philadelphia, the Snow Bowl is designed to inspire the next generation of youth soccer players and introduce them to the highest level of international youth competition,” said Richie Graham, Union part-owner and academy financier, whose brother, Steve, helped launch The SWAG in 2022.
All of the games will be played on the indoor turf field at the Union’s complex (one concession to the time of year), and they’ll all be livestreamed on the team’s website. The schedule, streaming links, and more details are available at philadelphiaunion.com/snowbowl.
U-15 division: Union, Manchester United (England), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Newcastle United (England), C.F. Monterrey (Mexico), Chicago Fire (USA).
Amazon will be closing all its physical Amazon Fresh stores, including six in the Philadelphia region, as it expands its Whole Foods footprint and grocery delivery services.
“While we’ve seen encouraging signals in our Amazon-branded physical grocery stores, we haven’t yet created a truly distinctive customer experience with the right economic model needed for large-scale expansion,” the company said.
People shop inside the Amazon Fresh in Warrington in August 2021. The store and all other Amazon-branded grocers are closing.
The statement did not specify which Amazon Fresh stores would become Whole Foods, and company spokespeople did not answer questions about whether any Philadelphia-area locations would be converted.
Amazon Fresh has stores in Broomall, Bensalem, Langhorne, Northern Liberties, Warrington, and Willow Grove. The Northern Liberties location on Sixth and Spring Garden Streets opened this summer after years of construction.
Two more potential Amazon Fresh stores seemed to be in the works in Havertown and Northeast Philadelphia as of the summer, according to PhillyVoice.
Customers use the Amazon Dash Cart at the Amazon Fresh grocery store in Warrington in 2021.
As the company winds down its Amazon-branded physical stores, it says it will “double down” on online grocery delivery, including by expanding its same-day services to more communities.
Whole Foods has 550 locations nationwide, including more than a dozen in the Philadelphia area. Amazon spokespeople did not answer questions about whether more Whole Foods stores were in the works in the Philly region.
Amazon also expects to open at least five more smaller-format Whole Foods Market Daily Shop stores by the end of the year. The company said that decision was based on “strong performance” at the five existing shops in the New York City area and Arlington, Va.
The Center City Whole Foods Market as pictured in February 2025.
The online retailer said it plans to continue to experiment with new ways of shopping at its physical stores.
In its statement, Amazon gave a shout-out to one such test in the Philadelphia area: “The store within a store” experience at the Whole Foods in Plymouth Meeting.
Since November, customers at that store have been able to browse the physical aisles of Whole Foods, while digitally ordering unique products from Amazon and Whole Foods. The orders are then packaged in minutes in an automated micro-fulfillment center within the grocer’s back-of-house area.
The Flyers were riding high after a solid week out west. But they crashed back to reality, losing a four-point game against Metropolitan Division rivals, the New York Islanders, on Monday.
Here are three interesting things said postgame:
Rick Tocchet: ‘You’ve got to handle prosperity.’
Standing outside the coaches’ room in the bowels of Ball Arena on Friday in Denver, Rick Tocchet was asked if the win against the No. 1 team in the NHL, the Colorado Avalanche, could serve as a springboard for his team. The coach calmly responded that they could enjoy it for a moment but that everything needs to remain on an even keel.
It’s a smart mindset amid an 82-game grind, as there will be winning streaks, losing streaks, highs and lows, and everything in between. But while the Flyers won Friday to seal five of six points across a three-game gauntlet of games, Trevor Zegras said what everyone watching was thinking postgame Monday, “We just kind of came out and thought it would be easy, I guess.”
What does Tocchet mean when he says his club needs to handle prosperity better? Part of it is that the Flyers need to sustain wins; they need to know that just because you win Night 1, it doesn’t mean Night 2 will be easy. And it’s something they should know since they have only won two straight once in 2026, have lost eight of their past 10, and are 3-10-4 after a regulation win this season.
Noah Cates: ‘I think we were kind of perimeter.’
The Flyers have been focusing on getting to the middle and driving to the net. But they struggled with it on Monday.
According to Natural Stat Trick, at five-on-five, the Flyers had 13 shots, with just five from high-danger areas. It was a noticeable difference from their games the past week, where, against the Avalanche and Utah Mammoth, they had 12 and 13, respectively, at five-on-five.
Captain Sean Couturier said Monday that the team wasn’t “at our best on winning battles” and “going to the dirty areas,” as was evident from the eye test, too. Was it something the Islanders, who deploy a 1-1-3 system, were doing or that the Flyers weren’t driving to the net?
“Yeah, I think both,” forward Noah Cates said. “I think we were kind of perimeter, not getting guys to the front of the net and different things like that. But they’re so structured, and that’s just kind of their MO, has been for the last couple of years, kind of their hard and stingy defensively, and just kind of winning battles down low, and then getting pucks to the net and getting bodies there is tough against them.”
The Flyers struggled to get to the front of the net against the New York Islanders on Monday night.
Tocchet: ‘Some guys accepted it.’
The coach wore this one, saying it was on him. But he’s not the one on the ice making the plays. His players are the ones who need to step up.
“We just got our butts kicked on home ice in a game where it’s probably tough to get to, and a lot of fans in the building,” Jamie Drysdale said.
It seemed that as soon as the Islanders found the back of the net — while the Flyers were the ones on the power play — in the first period, it sucked the life out of the building and the team.
“There was no effort coming back,” said a frustrated Tocchet, who answered a follow-up question that it was Hockey 101. “We didn’t even have the puck, and then we had two guys go to the same guy, and then one guy doesn’t backcheck.
“We don’t have the puck, just come back in the slot hard. One guy stays in front, the other guy takes him, there’s no goal. And who knows, if we’re zeros after the first, maybe. But it seemed like when they scored it, some guys accepted.”
The 2025 Eagles season may be over, but the work to retool the roster and position the team for success in 2026 has already begun.
Jeffrey Lurie, Howie Roseman, and Nick Sirianni are tasked with making a variety of staffing and personnel decisions over the next several months in an attempt to return the Eagles to Super Bowl contention next season. The offensive coordinator vacancy is generating the most buzz, but it’s far from the only consequential move they will have to make ahead of training camp in late July.
With the coaching carousel spinning and free agency and the draft looming, here’s where the triumvirate could start with their decision-making:
Would the Eagles let a candidate like Matt Nagy cook, and run his own side of the ball the way the team has with Vic Fangio?
Hire the best candidate as offensive coordinator — no matter their expected longevity
The Eagles are well into their interview process as they work to identify their next offensive coordinator. Like Kevin Patullo before he was promoted last offseason, some interviewees have never called plays (including Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach Sean Mannion), while others have ample experience (such as former Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy).
Play-calling experience shouldn’t be the sole determining factor. The Eagles ought to prioritize the candidate who, in Sirianni’s words, can help “evolve” the offense and make it a more explosive unit than the one that trotted out on the field last year. That candidate ought to put players in positions to work to their strengths while also implementing modern, fresh concepts. That candidate should also have the autonomy to run the offense he envisions.
No, the Eagles shouldn’t necessarily seek out a Vic Fangio-type — a veteran coach with no aspiration to move on to a head coaching job — to fill that role. Who would turn down a candidate who puts them in the best position to field a championship-caliber offense simply because of the threat that he would get poached at the end of the season? The Eagles lost Kellen Moore after the 2024 season but they also won a Super Bowl, an outcome they wouldn’t trade given a do-over. Such is life when the head coach doesn’t call plays.
“It’s a great compliment when guys get head coaching jobs from here because it means we’re having tremendous success,” Roseman said on Jan. 15. “As much as you’d like to have continuity and would like to have guys here for a long period of time, we want to win. We have an urgency to win right now. If that comes with the ramifications that we lose good people because they’ve earned head coaching jobs, we’ll live with that.”
The occasional headaches that come with the A.J. Brown experience don’t outweigh his elite playmaking ability.
Keep A.J. Brown
Will A.J. Brown remain an Eagle in 2026, let alone finish out his contract that runs through 2029?
No one can read Brown’s mind and determine whether he still wants to be in Philadelphia. He hasn’t spoken publicly since Dec. 8 following the Eagles’ overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Earlier in the season, though, he voiced frustration with the listless offense and his role within it, both online and in interviews with the media. His concerns, especially given the state of the offense, were understandable.
But his performance hit some rough patches this season, especially in the wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Brown had three receptions on seven targets for 25 yards, including a couple of drops and a spat on the sideline with Sirianni (the Eagles head coach later said he had been trying to get Brown off the field after the offense went three-and-out).
Roseman didn’t explicitly rule out a trade when asked about Brown’s future at the end of the season. There would be short-term financial ramifications that come with a trade, either before or after June 1, but the Eagles would experience some salary cap relief in future seasons.
Still, the Eagles are often at their best offensively when Brown is thriving. He remains one of the best receivers in the NFL, which ought to be a boost to a team fighting to keep its Super Bowl window open. It should be in the Eagles’ interest to keep him in the fold, especially given the difficulty of replacing WR1. Hire an innovative offensive coordinator, ensure that Brown is still on board with the new scheme, and move forward.
Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis (90) comes off a breakout year.
Extend Jordan Davis
In a span of approximately eight months, Jordan Davis showed why Roseman made the right decision by picking up his fifth-year option.
The 6-foot-6, 336-pound defensive tackle ascended into a nearly-every-down role in 2025, his fourth season with the Eagles. He played a career-high 61% of the defensive snaps, and perhaps most importantly, his strong performance was consistent from the outset of the season through its conclusion. Davis finished the year with career highs in run stops (50, according to Next Gen Stats) and sacks (4½).
His rare blend of size and athleticism is just one facet of his importance to the team. Davis stepped into a leadership role and helped set the culture in 2025, too.
“My leadership style … it’s just mainly keeping the guys together and being an example, being a positive influence and being a positive force in the locker room, on the field,” Davis said at locker clean-out on Jan. 12. “That’s not going to stop. That’s how I live life. That’s not going to stop. I’m excited to see where it can go and where it could go and the potential of it all.”
Players like Davis are hard to find. It would behoove Roseman to extend him early, just as he has with other key players in recent years, in an effort to prevent him from testing the open market.
Nolan Smith Jr. (3) and Jalen Carter (98) are approaching option decisions.
Pick up Jalen Carter’s and Nolan Smith’s fifth-year options
Speaking of fifth-year options, Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith are eligible to have theirs exercised this offseason. Roseman will have until May 1 to make that decision on his 2023 first-round draft picks.
The Eagles ought to pick up both, even though Carter and Smith saw their 2025 seasons impacted by injury. Roseman may even consider extending Carter as early as this offseason, provided he’s convinced Carter’s shoulder issues won’t be long-term concerns.
Even though Carter finished the season with a career-low 7.7% pressure rate, according to Next Gen Stats, he played his way into a potential raise in Year 5. Carter was named to his second Pro Bowl on the original ballot this season, which places his fifth-year option in the highest salary tier possible at his position. His fifth-year base salary would be equivalent to the defensive tackle franchise tag value in 2026, which is projected to be $25.6 million, according to Over The Cap.
Smith’s fifth-year option is projected at approximately $15 million, the lowest salary tier among outside linebackers.
Jaelan Phillips (50) and Nakobe Dean (17) are popular in the Eagles locker room, but a tough business decision around both looms.
Let Nakobe Dean and Jaelan Phillips walk
In the creative writing business, this step would be referred to as “killing your darlings.”
The Eagles have 18 pending unrestricted free agents and Roseman can’t keep them all, nor would he want to bring them all back due to poor performance from certain members of that group. But even some of the team’s more talented, beloved players likely won’t stick around, especially Nakobe Dean.
Roseman has displayed a preference in the past to reward his homegrown talent with extensions. In a vacuum, Dean would be a worthy candidate, given he rebounded from a major injury and proved he’s still a starting-caliber talent in 2025. But with Jihaad Campbell waiting in the wings, Roseman may want to let his 2022 third-rounder out of Georgia walk. Campbell and Baun are a strong starting pair and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is a capable backup.
What about Jaelan Phillips, the 26-year-old outside linebacker whom the Eagles acquired from the Miami Dolphins at the trade deadline? Phillips led the team with 34 pressures after he joined in Week 10, according to Next Gen Stats. But he turned just two of those pressures into sacks, good for a 5.9% pressure-to-sack conversion rate (10th lowest among 97 defenders with at least 15 pressures since the trade deadline).
Unless the Eagles can bring Phillips back on a team-friendly deal, they may have no choice but to allocate money elsewhere. Spotrac projects Phillips’ market value at $17.3 million annually.
Safety Reed Blankenship’s spot on the 2026 roster is far from assured.
Re-sign Reed Blankenship and Braden Mann, barring unreasonable asking prices
Among the pool of pending free agents, a couple of candidates for extensions stand out who might not break the bank — Reed Blankenship and Braden Mann.
Blankenship, the 2022 undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee State, was a captain and a key communicator in the Eagles secondary in 2025. He wasn’t flawless, as evidenced by his late holding penalty in the wild-card loss to the 49ers that eventually led to a touchdown.
Still, the 26-year-old safety has a solid body of work over the course of four seasons. His departure would leave a leadership hole in the secondary and a question mark alongside Drew Mukuba, who is still in the process of proving himself as he rebounds from a fractured fibula that ended his up-and-down rookie campaign.
Of course, whether Blankenship returns will depend on his asking price. The Eagles were eager to get C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s contract off the books this time last year, and he was making $9 million per year. Blankenship has a market value of $7.2 million per year, according to Spotrac’s projection.
Mann, the 28-year-old punter, is also set to become a free agent at the start of the new league year. He undoubtedly earned himself a new deal, potentially with the Eagles, as he averaged a franchise-best 49.9 yards per punt in 2025.
The Eagles can’t assume Jake Elliott’s shaky performance in 2025 was an anomaly.
Bring in competition for Jake Elliott
Even though Jake Elliott had a rough stretch of games in 2024, making 19 of 25 field goal attempts in the final 10 games of the season (76%), the Eagles stuck with him as their kicker in 2025.
This offseason could be different. Once again, Elliott had a shaky showing over a 10-week span during the regular season, going 13-for-20 (65%) on his field goal attempts. Elliott also missed a critical extra point while battling the wind in the wild-card loss to the 49ers. His 74.1% field goal percentage on the season was the second-worst rate of his career (73.7% in 2020, although he only attempted a career-low 19 field goals that year).
Elliott may have some equity given his otherwise robust nine-year Eagles career, but it’s fair to wonder if that equity has run out given his struggles in consecutive seasons. It might be time to evaluate other options at kicker in training camp if Elliott’s best days are behind him.
Given Lane Johnson’s age and recent injury history, the Eagles must do some serious scenario planning at right tackle.
Figure out (and potentially enact) the RT succession plan
After a Lisfranc injury in his right foot curtailed his 13th season with the Eagles, does right tackle Lane Johnson still intend to play in 2026?
Johnson, who turns 36 in May, is technically under contract through 2027. But is he healthy enough to continue playing or is he contemplating retirement this offseason?
Regardless of his decision, Roseman must figure out the succession plan at right tackle. He could have an opportunity to find Johnson’s heir apparent through the draft. The Inquirer’s Devin Jackson identified a handful of tackles (some with guard versatility) the Eagles could target with the No. 23 pick in the draft, including Alabama’s Kadyn Proctor, Utah’s Caleb Lomu, and Georgia’s Monroe Freeling.
Could Roseman look internally to eventually fill Johnson’s role? The Eagles drafted a pair of tackles last year in Myles Hinton (sixth round out of Michigan) and Cameron Williams (sixth round out of Texas). Both players spent a chunk of the season on injured reserve, and only Williams earned playing time, in the season finale against the Washington Commanders. They weren’t blue-chip prospects, but Jeff Stoutland has a history of developing lesser-known players into starting tackles (i.e. Jordan Mailata).
Dallas Goedert and Grant Calcaterra are both set to become free agents.
Figure out (and most likely enact) the TE succession plan
For a second straight year, Dallas Goedert enters the offseason uncertain about his future with the Eagles.
The 31-year-old tight end is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year, which could mark the end of his eight-year career in Philadelphia. Goedert was a revelation in the red zone in 2025, scoring 10 of his 11 touchdowns during the regular season inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. Given his scoring ways, though, he might have earned himself a raise on the open market.
With Goedert, Grant Calcaterra, and Kylen Granson all poised to become free agents, the Eagles will likely have to draft a tight end this year and sign one (or two) in free agency. Given the importance of the ground game in the Eagles offense, it is imperative that the TE1 of the future can run block in addition to his responsibilities as a receiver. Goedert appeared to take a step back in his run-blocking performance in 2025, as did most of the unit that paved the way for Saquon Barkley.
Could some offensive playmakers be in the cards on draft day 2026?
Lean offense in the draft (including a wide receiver and a quarterback) …
Over a span of five years from 2018-22, the Eagles invested loads of premium draft capital into the offensive side of the ball. Roseman hit on a number of early picks, including Goedert (2018), Jalen Hurts (2020), DeVonta Smith (2021), and Landon Dickerson (2021), plus he acquired Brown from the Tennessee Titans in exchange for the 2022 No. 18 overall pick.
Aside from Goedert, each of those players have since been rewarded with contracts that will account for at least 3.4% of the salary cap in 2026 and as much as 10.4% in Hurts’ case. Beginning in 2022, Roseman balanced out what would become his expensive players on offense by adding defensive players on rookie deals, drafting Davis (2022), Dean (2022), Carter (2023), Smith (2023), Quinyon Mitchell (2024), Cooper DeJean (2024), and Campbell (2025). Roseman called this the “natural arc” of the team on Jan. 15.
“I think that when you look at our team, we draft a lot of offensive players, we re-signed a lot of offensive players, [and] we drafted a lot of defensive players that were young on rookie contracts,” Roseman said. “There’s natural transition in what we do.”
It’s time for the draft pendulum to swing back in the direction of the offense. With many of those aforementioned defensive draftees becoming eligible for extensions, Roseman is going to replace costly offensive veterans with players on rookie deals over time.
The Eagles already have an immediate need for a WR3, with Jahan Dotson a pending unrestricted free agent. As previously discussed, the team could also be in the market for a tackle, and even upgrades on the interior offensive line. Plus, with Sam Howell set to become a free agent and Kyle McCord signing a futures deal with the Packers, Roseman may want to add to the quarterback factory through the draft, too, although this year’s class lacks depth.
Is there another Jalyx Hunt in this year’s draft who could help the Eagles off the edge?
… but keep drafting edge rushers
Still, the Eagles have needs to address on the defensive side of the ball. Roseman is seemingly always good for one edge defender in every draft class. Smith and Jalyx Hunt are the only 2025 active-roster edge rushers who are under contract next year, so Roseman will need to make additions through the draft and free agency.
The Eagles will also be on the market for a CB2, as Adoree’ Jackson is set to become a free agent. Kelee Ringo has one year remaining on his rookie deal, but given his inability to win the starting role in Year 3, it seems unlikely that he will earn the job in 2026. While the Eagles could attempt to identify their next starting outside cornerback opposite Mitchell through the draft …
The Eagles might look to an Adoree’ Jackson-type veteran to lock down the opposite corner to Quinyon Mitchell.
Sign a stopgap veteran CB2
… the free-agent route worked well enough for them in 2025, and they could go down that path again in 2026. Few NFL teams invest heavily in all three cornerback spots. Given the Eagles’ needs on offense, Roseman could make another Jackson-esque signing (or even re-sign Jackson) to hold them over for another season or two instead of investing premium draft capital at the position again.
The social video platform was one of three companies — along with Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube — facing claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. A fourth company named in the lawsuit, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc., settled the case last week for an undisclosed sum.
Details of the settlement with TikTok were not disclosed, and the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At the core of the case is a 19-year-old identified only by the initials “KGM,” whose case could determine how thousands of other, similar lawsuits against social media companies will play out. She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials — essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury and what damages, if any, may be awarded, said Clay Calvert, a nonresident senior fellow of technology policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
A lawyer for the plaintiff said in a statement Tuesday that TikTok remains a defendant in the other personal injury cases, and that the trial will proceed as scheduled against Meta and YouTube.
Jury selection starts this week in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. It’s the first time the companies will argue their case before a jury, and the outcome could have profound effects on their businesses and how they will handle children using their platforms. The selection process is expected to take at least a few days, with 75 potential jurors questioned each day through at least Thursday. A fourth company named in the lawsuit, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc., settled the case last week for an undisclosed sum.
KGM claims that her use of social media from an early age addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Importantly, the lawsuit claims that this was done through deliberate design choices made by companies that sought to make their platforms more addictive to children to boost profits. This argument, if successful, could sidestep the companies’ First Amendment shield and Section 230, which protects tech companies from liability for material posted on their platforms.
“Borrowing heavily from the behavioral and neurobiological techniques used by slot machines and exploited by the cigarette industry, Defendants deliberately embedded in their products an array of design features aimed at maximizing youth engagement to drive advertising revenue,” the lawsuit says.
Executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are expected to testify at the trial, which will last six to eight weeks. Experts have drawn similarities to the Big Tobacco trials that led to a 1998 settlement requiring cigarette companies to pay billions in healthcare costs and restrict marketing targeting minors.
“Plaintiffs are not merely the collateral damage of Defendants’ products,” the lawsuit says. “They are the direct victims of the intentional product design choices made by each Defendant. They are the intended targets of the harmful features that pushed them into self-destructive feedback loops.”
The tech companies dispute the claims that their products deliberately harm children, citing a bevy of safeguards they have added over the years and arguing that they are not liable for content posted on their sites by third parties.
“Recently, a number of lawsuits have attempted to place the blame for teen mental health struggles squarely on social media companies,” Meta said in a recent blog post. “But this oversimplifies a serious issue. Clinicians and researchers find that mental health is a deeply complex and multifaceted issue, and trends regarding teens’ well-being aren’t clear-cut or universal. Narrowing the challenges faced by teens to a single factor ignores the scientific research and the many stressors impacting young people today, like academic pressure, school safety, socio-economic challenges, and substance abuse.”
A Meta spokesperson said in a statement Monday the company strongly disagrees with the allegations outlined in the lawsuit and that it’s “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.”
José Castañeda, a Google Spokesperson, said Monday that the allegations against YouTube are “simply not true.” In a statement, he said “Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work.”
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
The case will be the first in a slew of cases beginning this year that seek to hold social media companies responsible for harming children’s mental well-being. A federal bellwether trial beginning in June in Oakland, Calif., will be the first to represent school districts that have sued social media platforms over harms to children.
In addition, more than 40 state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against Meta, claiming it is harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms. The majority of cases filed their lawsuits in federal court, but some sued in their respective states.
TikTok also faces similar lawsuits in more than a dozen states.
MILAN — News that a unit of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would be present during the upcoming Winter Games has set off concern and confusion in Italy, where people have expressed outrage at the inclusion of an agency that has dominated headlines for leading the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Homeland Security Investigations, a unit within ICE that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events like the Olympics to assist with security. HSI officers are separate from the ICE arm at the forefront of the immigration crackdown known as Enforcement and Removal Operations, and there was no indication ERO officers were being sent to Italy.
That distinction, however, wasn’t immediately clear to local media on Tuesday morning.
Italy reacts to U.S. security deployment
The reaction among some in Italy reflects not only a worsening perception abroad of the administration’s tactics on immigration but also underscores a broader rift between the U.S. under President Donald Trump and its international allies.
Vague reports that ICE would be deployed in some capacity surfaced over the weekend, resulting in a series of online petitions gathering support of people opposed to the presence of ICE at the Games. They followed a RAI news report that aired Sunday showing an Italian news crew being threatened in Minneapolis by ICE agents. Trump’s immigration crackdown has in recent weeks intensified in Minneapolis, leading to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal immigration officers.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said that ICE would not be welcome in his city, which is hosting the Feb. 6 opening ceremony to be attended by U.S. Vice President JD Vance, as well as most ice sports.
“This is a militia that kills, a militia that enters into the homes of people, signing their own permission slips. It is clear they are not welcome in Milan, without a doubt,” Sala told RTL Radio 102.
ICE units breakdown
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is broken into various arms. Enforcement and Removal Operations is the part of the agency that is tasked with monitoring, arresting, and removing foreigners who no longer have the right to be in the U.S. They’re the officers most directly tasked with carrying out Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
Another arm of ICE is Homeland Security Investigations. Agents from HSI conduct investigations into anything that has a cross-border nexus from human smuggling to fentanyl trafficking to smuggling of cultural artifacts. Agents from HSI are stationed in embassies around the world to facilitate their investigations and build relations with local law enforcement in those countries.
The ICE agents deployed to Italy for the Games will have a different role from the one seen in immigration crackdowns in the U.S., officials have stressed.
“Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,″ the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Tuesday.
“At the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations is supporting the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations. All security operations remain under Italian authority.”
A U.S official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security measures said the general public likely wouldn’t even see or be aware of the HSI agents on the ground during the Olympics. The official said HSI agents would be working behind the scenes, mainly in offices or the U.S. consulate in Milan, as they have done during previous international events.
For years HSI distanced itself from anything having to do with deportations or immigration enforcement. At one point they got new branding and email addresses to set themselves apart because agents working in parts of the country with strong political opposition to immigration enforcement wouldn’t get their emails answered because they had an ICE.gov address.
Under the Trump administration, however, HSI agents have been working closer with ICE’s other arm — the deportation officers — to focus more on immigration issues. They’ve been going out on operations with deportation officers and focusing more on immigration fraud cases.
Reaction underscores fraught ties
The International Olympic Committee said in a statement that security “is the responsibility of the authorities of the host country, who work closely with the participating delegations.”
The reaction in Italy highlights increasingly fraught relations between Trump and the U.S.’ traditional allies in Europe, which have been tested during the president’s second term over his threats to take over Greenland.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told reporters Tuesday that the ICE agents deployed for the Games will not be “those with machine guns and faces covered. They will be functionaries who belong to the anti-terrorism department.″
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi met in his office with U.S. Ambassador Tilman Fertitta in the late morning for a conversation that was described as cordial. The Interior Minister is Italy’s top law enforcement officials, charged with security for the Games, which is coordinated with regional prefects.
Asked about the potential deployment over the weekend, he gave a diplomatic shrug: “I don’t see what the problem would be,″ the news agency ANSA quoted him as saying.
Cortina Mayor Gianluca Lorenzi told the Associated Press that the municipal administrations defers to the prefecture and Italian law enforcement on matters of delegation security — which he assumes are in line with Italian guidelines.
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Barry reported from Milan. Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana and Matthew Lee contributed from Washington and Graham Dunbar from Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
