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  • Judge rules feds in Minneapolis immigration operation can’t detain or tear gas peaceful protesters

    Judge rules feds in Minneapolis immigration operation can’t detain or tear gas peaceful protesters

    MINNEAPOLIS — Federal officers in the Minneapolis-area participating in its largest recent U.S. immigration enforcement operation can’t detain or tear gas peaceful protesters, a U.S. judge in Minnesota ruled Friday.

    U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez ruled in a case filed in December on behalf of six Minnesota activists.

    Thousands of people have been observing the activities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol officers enforcing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area since early December.

  • Justice Department investigating whether Minnesota’s Walz and Frey impeded immigration enforcement

    Justice Department investigating whether Minnesota’s Walz and Frey impeded immigration enforcement

    WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is investigating whether Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have impeded federal immigration enforcement through public statements they have made, according to two people familiar with the matter.

    The investigation focused on potential violation of a conspiracy statute, the people said.

    The people spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss a pending investigation by name.

    CBS News first reported the investigation.

    In response to reports of the investigation, Walz said in a statement: “Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous, authoritarian tactic.”

    Walz’s office said it has not received any notice of an investigation.

    Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s office did not immediately respond to an email and voicemail requesting comment.

    The investigation comes during a weekslong immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and St. Paul that the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation, resulting in more than 2,500 arrests.

    The operation has become more confrontational since the fatal shooting of Renee Good on Jan. 7. State and local officials have repeatedly told protesters to remain peaceful.

  • Justice Department says members of Congress can’t intervene in release of Epstein files

    Justice Department says members of Congress can’t intervene in release of Epstein files

    NEW YORK — Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor said Friday that a judge lacks the authority to appoint a neutral expert to oversee the public release of documents in the sex trafficking probe of financier Jeffrey Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.

    Judge Paul A. Engelmayer was told in a letter signed by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton that he must reject a request made earlier this week by the congressional cosponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act to appoint a neutral expert.

    U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, and Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, say they have “urgent and grave concerns” about the slow release of only a small number of millions of documents that began last month.

    In a filing to the judge they said they believed “criminal violations have taken place” in the release process.

    Clayton, though, said Khanna and Massie do not have standing with the court that would allow them to seek the “extraordinary” relief of the appointment of a special master and independent monitor.

    Engelmayer “lacks the authority” to grant such a request, he said, particularly because the congressional representatives who made the request are not parties to the criminal case that led to Maxwell’s December 2021 sex trafficking conviction and subsequent 20-year prison sentence for recruiting girls and women for Epstein to abuse and aiding the abuse.

    Epstein died in a federal jail in New York City in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide.

    The Justice Department expects to update the court “again shortly” regarding its progress in turning over documents from the Epstein and Maxwell investigative files, Clayton said in the letter.

    The Justice Department has said the files’ release was slowed by redactions required to protect the identities of abuse victims.

    In their letter, Khanna and Massie wrote that the Department of Justice’s release of only 12,000 documents out of more than 2 million documents being reviewed was a “flagrant violation” of the law’s release requirements and had caused “serious trauma to survivors.”

    “Put simply, the DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act,” the representatives said as they asked for the appointment of an independent monitor to ensure all documents and electronically stored information are immediately made public.

    They also recommended that a court-appointed monitor be given authority to prepare reports about the true nature and extent of the document production and whether improper redactions or conduct have taken place.

  • U.S. Soccer aims to build buzz for this summer’s World Cup, but many fans care about ticket prices

    U.S. Soccer aims to build buzz for this summer’s World Cup, but many fans care about ticket prices

    The exact details aren’t all set yet, but the picture is starting to come together in U.S. Soccer’s buildup to this summer’s FIFA World Cup.

    Four of the big pieces are well-known: the games the men’s national team will play before the tournament kicks off. They’ll face Belgium and Portugal at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on March 28 and 31, respectively, with the game against the Portuguese sold out at the 71,000-seat venue.

    The World Cup team will be announced at an event in New York in late May. U.S. Soccer Federation chief marketing officer Catherine Newman revealed the news during a speech Friday at the United Soccer Coaches Convention, and said the event will be open to the public in some form.

    She did not specify the exact date or venue, so it’s unclear just how many fans will be able to attend.

    U.S. Soccer Federation chief marketing officer Catherine Newman.

    The team’s training camp will start right after that at the new national training center in suburban Atlanta. U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino has already said he’ll set the roster before camp starts, not wanting to leave any choices until the last minute.

    There will be two tournament warm-up games: First, Senegal on May 31 in Charlotte, followed by a match against Germany on June 6 in Chicago. After that, the team will head to southern California to get ready for its World Cup opener against Paraguay on June 12 in Inglewood, Calif.

    USMNT stalwart Antonee Robinson is finally healthy again, and hopes to get back to the national team soon

    Another milestone along the way will be the unveiling of the team’s World Cup jerseys in mid-March. Some renderings have already made the rounds on social media, of a red-and-white horizontal striped primary kit and a navy alternate kit with a star pattern.

    “You’ve seen the leaks, I’m sure — I’m not going to stand up here and pretend that you haven’t,” Newman said. “And [I] will not confirm or deny if they’re true either. But what I can say is that the kits are absolutely fantastic, they look brilliant, and importantly, the players helped us to design them.”

    Perhaps the details of how that happened will become known upon the official announcement.

    Newman tried to make the case that “what we are trying to do with a lot of things at U.S. Soccer is to make sure that if you can’t attend a match, that you can attend things with U.S. Soccer … Just come in and be a fan, that’s all we ask.”

    Noahkai Banks knows he’s getting a lot of USMNT hype, but he isn’t thinking about the World Cup yet

    A focus on ticket prices

    But those words will be met with skepticism from some fans, for one big reason: ticket prices.

    People who’ve paid attention know that U.S. Soccer has no influence on World Cup ticket prices. In fact, the 2026 host nations’ bid book proposed prices far lower than what FIFA decided on.

    But there have been complaints for years about the prices of tickets for U.S. Soccer’s own games, whether in big NFL stadiums or smaller MLS venues.

    So it will be noticed that as of Friday, tickets for the Belgium game were available for $44 through the governing body’s official sales page, run by Ticketmaster. Unfortunately, the news was less positive for the other games: $73 and up for Senegal, $122 and up for Germany, and $193 and up for what’s left for Portugal.

    Brenden Aaronson is on a hot streak with Leeds United at an ideal time for his World Cup hopes

    That doesn’t seem to fit with Newman’s claim that “we are not an expensive option in the U.S.,” even as she referred to $40 tickets and a free “block party” at last year’s U.S. women’s team game at SoFi Stadium. That’s the venue where the U.S. men will play two of its three World Cup group games.

    “We try very hard to think about that as part of our pricing, and to make it as affordable as we can,” Newman said. “And if we think about those four matches, there will be fan activations for all fans that our commercial partners are helping us [with], and there will be no cost to the fans. It is very important to us that fans can participate and can be part of it.”

    Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium will host the U.S. men’s soccer team’s March games against Belgium and Portugal.

    She pivoted from there to more community-oriented events like watch parties, noting that U.S. Soccer is working with the American Outlaws supporters’ group to promote events across the country.

    “Soccer isn’t about just being in the stadium,” Newman said. “It’s about how you watch at home, and how you have those other parts. And that is where it’s incumbent on all of us as part of the soccer community to make sure that people feel part of that.”

    As true as that point is on its own, the words might not satisfy fans who want to take their family to a game, and look at ticket prices before anything else.

  • CHOP, Nemours targeted by Trump administration over transgender care

    CHOP, Nemours targeted by Trump administration over transgender care

    Escalating President Donald Trump’s fight against transgender rights, a top official at the Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday asked the department’s inspector general to investigate two Philadelphia-area children’s hospitals over their gender-affirming care for transgender children.

    Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Nemours Children’s Health in Wilmington are among a dozen hospitals that HHS general counsel Mike Stuart said in posts on X he had referred to the agency’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in recent days.

    A CHOP spokesperson declined to comment on Friday, and Nemours did not respond to a request for comment.

    Both hospitals treat children and teens with gender dysphoria — a medical condition in which a person’s body does not match their gender identity. Doctors can prescribe hormone therapy and puberty blockers to treat the condition, although Nemours has already limited its use of these treatments in response to threats from the Trump administration.

    The administration has targeted CHOP and other hospitals that treat transgender youth with subpoenas demanding patients’ medical records, including their dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and addresses, as well as every communication by doctors — emails, voicemails, and encrypted text messages — dating back to January 2020.

    CHOP filed legal action in response, asking a federal judge in Philadelphia to block the parts of the subpoena that sought detailed medical records of patients. In November, the judge ruled in CHOP’s favor.

    The Trump administration appealed the decision Friday. It has argued that it needs the records as part of its investigation into possible healthcare fraud or potential misconduct by the hospitals.

    Stuart said in a Thursday post on X that the administration is investigating hospitals in order to safeguard children from “sex-rejecting procedures,” adding: “There is no greater priority than protecting our children.”

    Corinne Goodwin, executive director of the Eastern Pennsylvania Trans Equity Project, called Stuart’s post part of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to intimidate doctors and hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to those under 19.

    “This action by the Department of Health and Human Services is yet another attempt to intimidate healthcare providers and to harm young people who simply want access to proven healthcare that helps them to live happy and productive lives,” said Goodwin, whose nonprofit organization provides services to transgender people in 42 counties, including Montgomery, Bucks, and Delaware.

    In the last year, the president has signed a slew of executive orders aimed at transgender Americans.

    The administration has said it recognizes only two genders, limited research into LGBTQ+ health, and phased out gender-affirming care at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

    Directly targeting children’s hospitals, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a declaration in December rejecting gender-affirming procedures for minors, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries.

    The American Academy of Pediatrics and other major medical associations, citing research, widely accept such care as safe, effective, and medically necessary for the patients’ mental health.

    HHS’s OIG declined Friday to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.

    Last month, the U.S. Senate confirmed Thomas “March” Bell to serve as inspector general over HHS. During his confirmation hearing, Bell submitted written testimony saying, “If confirmed as inspector general, I will examine, evaluate, audit, and investigate to support the initiatives of President Trump and Secretary Kennedy.”

    An ongoing legal battle

    CHOP runs one of the nation’s largest clinics providing medical care and mental health support for transgender and nonbinary children and teens and their families. Each year, hundreds of new families seek care at CHOP’s Gender and Sexuality Development Program, created in 2014.

    Nemours’ Gender Wellness Clinic, launched in 2018, provided hormone therapy and puberty blockers, as well as mental health support, to transgender patients in Delaware, and Nemours is the only hospital in the state that provides gender-affirming care for children.

    Starting last July, its clinic began accepting only new patients who need behavioral healthcare. Existing patients receiving hormones or puberty blockers at the clinic were allowed to continue their treatment, the hospital said at the time.

    On Thursday, Stuart wrote on X that CHOP and Nemours “appear to continue to operate outside recognized standards of healthcare and entirely outside @SecKennedy’s declaration that sex-rejecting procedures for children and adolescents are neither safe nor effective.”

    Kennedy’s December declaration says that these procedures “do not meet professionally recognized standards of health care.” Doctors who perform such procedures could be barred from participating in federally funded healthcare programs like Medicaid and Medicare, he said.

    More than a dozen state officials from around the country, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, filed a lawsuit in late December to block the declaration’s enforcement.

    The lawsuit says that Kennedy has no authority to define “a national standard of care,” and that any substantive changes to Medicare rules are legally required to be subjected to a decision-making process that includes 60 days of public comment.

    Officials at the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services have started that process, announcing alongside Kennedy’s declaration that they are proposing a rule that would bar hospitals from Medicaid and Medicare if they offer gender-affirming care to children under 19. They also proposed that Medicaid should not cover gender-affirming care for minors.

    But those rules have not yet been instituted, and the lawsuit alleges that Kennedy’s declaration is skirting the law by immediately imposing restrictions on gender-affirming care in hospitals.

    The Public Interest Law Center, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that advocates for the civil, social, and economic rights of marginalized communities, is representing five parents of transgender children in legal motions seeking to protect their medical records.

    Mimi McKenzie, PILC’s legal director, said the federal judge in Philadelphia was “very clear and on firm ground” when he ruled in November that the DOJ had no authority to issue the sweeping subpoena and that it violated the privacy rights of children.

    She noted that six other courts around the country have similarly ruled that DOJ “has no right to rifle through children’s medical records.”

    “Gender-affirming care is legal in Pennsylvania and endorsed by every leading medical association,” McKenzie said. “This is just another tactic in their ongoing attack against providers and patients.”

  • Snow is expected during the weekend in Philly, but how much is up in the air

    Snow is expected during the weekend in Philly, but how much is up in the air

    Some snow is possible in the Philly region during the holiday weekend, but about the only thing certain is that schools will be closed until Tuesday.

    Snow — not a whole lot of it — is expected Saturday morning, and possibly again during the day Sunday.

    “Definitely something,” said Ray Martin, a lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly, “maybe not a lot of something.”

    In short, he added, expect a “100% chance of forecast uncertainty.”

    How much for Philly?

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    Some snow is expected in the early morning hours of Saturday, said Dan Pydynowski, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc., and “sidewalks and streets could be slick for a time” in the Philly region.

    However, temperatures in the afternoon are expected to approach 40 degrees and that should melt any snow. If the precipitation lingers, it likely would turn to rain.

    That snow would be associated with a system from the west, and more significant amounts are expected well north and west of Philly.

    On Sunday when it will be colder, the source would be a coastal storm that has been befuddling computer models the last three days. On Wednesday, the U.S. model was seeing a significant snowstorm for the I-95 corridor. On Thursday, it said never mind and fell in line with other guidance that kept the storm offshore.

    On Friday, models were bringing the storm closer to the coast, but the model consensus was that it would be more of threat at the Shore and perhaps throw back a paltry amount to the immediate Philly region.

    “On the other hand, a slight shift … in the track could bring 1-2 inches into the urban corridor,” the weather service said in its afternoon discussion.

    Said Martin, “It’s always tricky with these offshore lows. It’s also possible that both systems pass us and we get basically nothing.”

    Far more certain is a rather big chill

    A Philadelphia firefighter spreads salt to control icing at a fire scene on Friday.

    That the region was about to experience its coldest weather of the season to date was all but certain.

    High temperatures on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, probably won’t get out of the 30s, and no higher than the mid 20s Tuesday and Wednesday, forecasters say.

    Overnight lows are due to tumble into the teens, with wind chills approaching zero early Wednesday.

    No more precipitation is forecast at least through Thursday, but with odds favoring continued below-normal temperatures through Jan. 29 and above-normal precipitation, it should be a robust period for virtual snow threats, if not actual snow.

    “Even if nothing really happens this weekend,” said Martin, “there’s always next weekend.”

    Pydynowski said that “some signs” point to a snowfall “late next week or next weekend.”

    But one uncertainty at a time.

  • ‘We aren’t done:’ The Union contends there are still more additions to come as preseason begins

    ‘We aren’t done:’ The Union contends there are still more additions to come as preseason begins

    Union manager Bradley Carnell addressed the media for the first time in 2026, as the club prepares for its preseason camp next week in Marbella, Spain.

    Carnell was accompanied by Jon Scheer, the Union’s director of academy and professional development, and, in the absence of sporting director Ernst Tanner, who has been on administrative leave, is part of a collective braintrust on sporting direction that includes Carnell, assistant sporting director Matt Ratajczak, and chief scout Chris Zitterbart.

    The two spoke on the Union’s approach to what was an eventful winter transfer window, one that saw the departures of all-star-caliber players from the club’s Supporters’ Shield-winning campaign last season in Tai Baribo, Jakob Glesnes, and Kai Wagner.

    But the Union were also active in acquiring players to retool its roster. The club spent a record $4.5 million to acquire Ghanaian striker Ezekiel Alladoh in December and made another deal to acquire centerback Japhet Sery Larsen for around $938,000.

    Even with the changes, Scheer said the club has some more shopping to do.

    Ezekiel Alladoh (center) joined the Union in the offseason as the team’s record signing all-time.

    Transfer talk

    Alladoh was the most significant of the Union’s acquisitions this offseason. The club paid a record fee for the 20-year-old striker, topping the $3.4 million fee it paid for striker Bruno Damiani last winter.

    The Union sold Baribo, last year’s leading goalscorer, to D.C. United and allowed Mikael Uhre to leave in free agency, clearing the way for Damiani and Alladoh to begin the season as the first-choice strikers.

    “[Alladoh’s] rise has been phenomenal,” Carnell said. “He’s been a target of the club upon my arrival, for example. So to get this acquisition, we’re incredibly excited about continuing his growth and development with us.”

    New Union striker Ezekiel Alladoh speaks softly but hopes to carry many goals

    The Union shored up their attacking line with Alladoh, but they also sought reinforcements on the backline after trading Glesnes to the Los Angeles Galaxy and sending Wagner to English Championship side Birmingham City.

    To help fill Glesnes’s spot at centerback, the club brought in 25-year-old Sery Larsen from Norwegian side SK Brann. Sery Larsen, a Danish national, made 80 appearances in three seasons with Brann. Carnell compared Sery Larsen’s arrival to Glesnes’, who joined the Union in 2020.

    “[Sery Larsen] is of a caliber of a young leader,” Carnell said. “Jakob came into this environment, I think at a similar age to Sery Larsen, at the age of 25, and developed into a real good leader in and around the locker room and the team. Sery Larson comes in from a caliber and a quality level that almost commands respect in and around teammates. But, you know, the performance has to fit.”

    Bedoya’s back

    While a few of the team’s more vocal leaders have left, Alejandro Bedoya returns for his 11th season with the Union. Carnell said that he and Tanner met with Bedoya to discuss the captain’s future prior to Tanner being placed on administrative leave, and left the decision up to Bedoya.

    “Knowing the impact that Ale’s had at this club, and knowing how important he is, in and around here, from setting the tone, the standards, the locker room, the leadership, we totally left it open to Ale Bedoya, if he would like to continue,” Carnell said. “Knowing the changes that happened in 2024, the conversation was so enlightening and so rewarding because, you know, he felt surprised that we were willing to bring him back.”

    Alejandro Bedoya (center, with ball) returns for what will be his 11th season with the Union.

    Bedoya’s on-field role has diminished in recent years, though the 38-year-old made 10 starts for the Union last season.

    “I’ve seen what Ale does on the training field,” Carnell said. “I’ve seen what he does in games, the commitment, the bloody nose on the shield game. I know exactly what kind of person Ale is. When he reached out to us in the offseason to say he’s still chasing the cup and he wants to come back, doors opened, conversations happened, and we were so happy to bring him back.”

    In addition to his playing roles as team captain and versatile midfielder, Bedoya will also continue his front office responsibilities as a player development and front office specialist.

    As the Union begin their preseason, the World Cup puts Danley Jean Jacques in an even bigger spotlight

    Who’s the next left back?

    The Union are shopping for a new starting-level left back to replace Wagner. For years, it was no secret that Kai Wagner wanted to go to Europe. It came up seemingly every offseason, even after the left back signed a new long-term contract with the Union in early 2024.

    At a certain level, that part of Wagner’s tenure in Chester will not be missed. But his contributions on the field obviously will be, as statistically one of the best left backs in MLS for many years. His departure ended up coming at a time when the Union’s depth chart at the position isn’t great.

    Union defender Nathan Harriel is an option at left fullback in the departure of Kai Wagner, but the club is still looking for a solution.

    Frankie Westfield and Nathan Harriel can play the role, but neither is a natural. So it will come as a relief to fans that the club’s brass made it clear Friday that they’re shopping for a new left back, presumably one who can start.

    “While we’ve made a few signings, we aren’t done,” said Scheer on Friday. “We’re very active in the transfer market. We look forward to continuing to attack, so that our club is in the best possible position come 2026 and the season’s start.”

    Ben Bender (right) is also training as a left back to support the team’s depth chart in the absence of defender Kai Wagner.

    “Kai is a player that has had a lot of interest over the years, and has had ambition to go across to Europe as part of his career,” Scheer said. “He’s been an important part of the team and certainly brought a lot of key characteristics. But certainly we feel like we’re in a position where this is something we’ve been planning for just in case, and it’s really important that Bradley has a lot of tools at has disposal.”

    Carnell said that, along with Westfield and Harriel, attacking midfielder Ben Bender has been training at the position in case of emergency.

    Cities are charging World Cup fans to attend FIFA fan festivals. Philly will not be one of them.

    “If we had to play a game tomorrow,” Carnell said, those three names would be the depth chart.

    “Like John mentioned, we’re always also looking,” he continued. “And we feel we’re not done in terms of our scouting and process to see what’s on the market. But we don’t want to make a rush purchase where it doesn’t make sense, or a rush purchase where we feel under pressure just to make an acquisition.”

    Cavan Sullivan (6) and the Union depart for Spain on Saturday, where they’ll play three matches over the course of a two-week preseason camp.

    Preseason match schedule

    The Union finalized its preseason schedule on Friday, with five games on the calendar. The team will leave for Marbella, Spain, on Saturday night, and will play three games there: Jan. 20 vs. Czech club Sigma Olomouc, Jan. 23 vs. Demark’s Nordsjælland, and Jan. 29. vs. Montenegro’s Budućnost.

    The Nordsjælland matchup could see Milan Iloski play the club he came to MLS from, moving first to San Diego FC before joining the Union in the middle of last year.

    After returning to Philadelphia on Jan. 31, players will get a few days off before the team heads to Clearwater, Fla. They’ll play the second-tier USL Championship’s Tampa Bay Rowdies in St. Petersburg on Feb. 7 and CF Montréal on Feb. 10 at the Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex in Clearwater.

    The Tampa Bay game will be open to fans. It’s not clear yet if the Montréal game will be, or if any of the five games will be broadcast.

    Follow the Inquirer’s complete coverage of Union soccer right here!
  • Prosecutor moves to dismiss indictments against Atlantic City superintendent, high school principal

    Prosecutor moves to dismiss indictments against Atlantic City superintendent, high school principal

    ATLANTIC CITY — The Atlantic County prosecutor said Friday his office would not go forward with a child abuse trial against Atlantic City Superintendent La’Quetta Small, the wife of Mayor Marty Small, after determining that their daughter no longer wanted the case to proceed.

    Their daughter, who turned 18 this month, testified for hours at the December trial of her father, who was later acquitted by a jury of charges that he beat his daughter with a broom and further abused her with terroristic threats.

    The office will also request dismissal of charges against Constance Days-Chapman, the principal of Atlantic City High School, who was accused of failing to properly report to the state hotline the accusations made by the daughter.

    In a statement Friday, the prosecutor said the decision was based on the daughter’s wishes and the prior verdict.

    “We believe it is prudent and responsible to dismiss the remaining indictments against them,” prosecutor Williams Reynolds said in the statement.

    The charges have been hanging over the Small family for two years. After being acquitted last month, Mayor Small shouted, “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, jury.”

    Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. speaks to the media after being found not guilty on all counts of abusing his teenage daughter, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025.

    His daughter attended the ceremony when the newly reelected Small was sworn in, and the mayor said the family had spent New Year’s Eve together like old times and begun the healing process.

    Small, 51, faced charges stemming from a handful of incidents in late 2023 and early 2024 in which prosecutors said he and his wife abused and assaulted the teen. The couple said the incidents stemmed from their disapproval of their daughter’s relationship with a young man, leading to escalating tension and arguments in the family home.

    The jury delivered its verdict at noon after having deliberated for two days. They found Small not guilty of endangering the welfare of a child, aggravated assault, making terroristic threats, and witness tampering. A conviction would have required Small to relinquish his office.

    La’Quetta Small was scheduled to stand trial in April on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and simple assault.

    Also facing a forthcoming trial was Days-Chapman, the principal of the Smalls’ daughter’s high school. Prosecutors say when the teen reported her parents’ abuse, Days-Chapman failed to notify child welfare authorities and instead told the couple of the report.

    Days-Chapman, who is Marty Small’s former campaign manager, was later charged with official misconduct and related crimes.

    Mayor Small could not be reached for comment.

    La’Quetta Small’s lawyer, Michael Schreiber, said Friday he was “happy they decided to do the right thing.”

    “It was a very difficult time for my client and her husband and their daughter,” he said. “We have to work on reunification, which is hard.”

    He said the matter should have been handled by counselors or in family court, “where you have therapists to help everyone involved.”

    “When the case is over, the prosecutor goes to the next case,” he said. “Where does that leave everybody? What is the benefit of the prosecution to the daughter? Whether it’s guilty or not guilty, how do you pick up the pieces and help this family?”

    He said he would now be officially appealing a ruling by the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency that made an initial finding that substantiated the allegations.

    He said the daughter has been living with her boyfriend and his mother.

    In the statement, the prosecutor said the victim had last week “received a threat, racial in tone, on one of her social media accounts pertaining to her accusations she made against her father.”

    “While we actively investigate this threat, we believe it is no longer in her best interest both emotionally and perhaps even physically for us to continue with our cases against La’Quetta Small and Constance Days-Chapman at this time,” the prosecutor said. “The further intent of this decision is to hopefully allow [the daughter], her family, and the community the time to heal and move forward.”

  • Brian Fitzpatrick talks Trump’s ‘lack of moral clarity,’ November’s midterms, and his hatred for the two-party system in Philly Mag

    Brian Fitzpatrick talks Trump’s ‘lack of moral clarity,’ November’s midterms, and his hatred for the two-party system in Philly Mag

    U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick didn’t vote for President Donald Trump in 2024, penciling in former Ambassador Nikki Haley instead.

    In 2020, he voted for Trump. Four years earlier, he wrote in former Vice President Mike Pence’s name instead of Trump.

    Those decisions by the moderate Republican, who represents purple Bucks County and a sliver of Democratic-leaning Montgomery County, underscore Fitzpatrick’s unique relationship with and perspective of the president, Philadelphia Magazine reported Friday.

    There are times when Fitzpatrick is blunt in his opposition, telling Philly Mag that Trump’s placation to Russian President Vladimir Putin is because of a “lack of moral clarity.”

    But in other instances, he couches his words against the Trump administration. Fitzpatrick, a former FBI agent, told the magazine that the state of the FBI under Director Kash Patel is “heartbreaking,” but that “we’ve seen the weaponization of the Justice Department now, I believe, in two administrations.”

    He also called it “unbecoming” for Trump to accuse six Democratic members of Congress — including U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Chester County — of committing sedition after they appeared in a video urging service members to refuse illegal orders.

    Trump claimed in a social media post that the lawmakers, all military veterans or former members of the intelligence community, had engaged in behavior that was “punishable by DEATH!”

    Fitzpatrick’s comments came in a Philadelphia Magazine profile that details how the Bucks County Republican — who rarely gives interviews to local media — is grappling with an American political system that he wishes was drastically less partisan.

    “I could talk for hours about this, but the two-party system needs to go away. We need to move to a coalition government and not the way it is now, which is a zero-sum, all-or-nothing game,” Fitzpatrick said, describing his preference for a form of government in which competing political parties govern and work together.

    “In the House, if you get 218 votes on a bill, you get everything. And if you get 217 votes, you get nothing,” he said. “Well, a 218-217 breakdown is representative of a very divided electorate that wants compromise, but they don’t get it. And that’s why we have this great, cavernous divide.”

    The interview comes as the lawmaker’s district has been named a key target for Democrats in the midterms, along with the seats of Republican U.S. Reps. Scott Perry of York County, Ryan Mackenzie of Lehigh County, and Rob Bresnahan of Lackawanna County.

    “I’m going to keep doing this as long as I can,” Fitzpatrick told the magazine.

    Fitzpatrick has strayed from voting with his party (and Trump) on several key issues. But other times, he toes the party line, and Democrats have said that Fitzpatrick votes with his party when it counts.

    Fitzpatrick said that party leadership discourages reaching across the aisle, but that he attempts to do so on certain issues.

    Recently, Fitzpatrick, Bresnahan, and Mackenzie joined Democrats to sign a discharge petition on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies. He also voted against the final version of Trump’s domestic policy package, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

    The latter vote earned Trump’s ire. Without using his name, the president said that Fitzpatrick was disloyal after Trump did him “a big personal favor. As big as you can get having to do with death and life.” This was in reference to Fitzpatrick’s family receiving permission from Trump’s acting secretary of veterans affairs to bury Fitzpatrick’s late brother, Mike Fitzpatrick, who held the seat before him, in a national veterans’ cemetery in Washington Crossing, Pa., that Mike Fitzpatrick had proudly established.

    The late representative, a former Navy ROTC enlistee, did not meet the required years of service.

    Fitzpatrick told Philly Mag that he thought Trump’s invocation of his brother crossed a line.

    “I was really upset to hear that,” he said.

    This story has been updated to clarify that Fitzpatrick wrote in Nikki Haley in the 2024 presidential election, following a revision to Philadelphia Magazine’s profile.

  • Chester County man who abused and tortured his daughter, killing her, pleads guilty to murder and is sentenced to life in prison

    Chester County man who abused and tortured his daughter, killing her, pleads guilty to murder and is sentenced to life in prison

    By all accounts, Malinda Hoagland was the kind of 12-year-old girl who would make any parent proud.

    She received A’s in school, loved unicorns and going to Wawa with her older sisters, and wrote her lunch ladies notes thanking them for stocking the cafeteria with applesauce and milk.

    But her father, Rendell, clearly didn’t see that little girl, prosecutors said Friday in Chester County Court.

    Instead, Rendell Hoagland and his fiancee, Cindy Marie Warren, tortured Hoagland’s daughter for months in their West Caln home, depriving her of food and medical care.

    They chained her to furniture and forced her into stress positions for hours, beating her if she moved or displeased them.

    Once, when the girl forgot her jacket at school, they forced her to do push-ups in the kitchen late at night, striking her with a belt. Other times, the beatings came with a metal spatula.

    The lack of care ultimately killed Malinda in May 2024.

    Medical examiners found the girl died from severe malnutrition, her organs atrophied from starvation. More than 70 bruises, ulcers, and sores riddled her body, which by then weighed just 50 pounds.

    It was the rare type of crime that brought tears even to a judge’s eyes.

    On Friday, that judge, Anne Marie Wheatcraft, accepted a guilty plea from Hoagland on one count of first-degree murder and related crimes. The 54-year-old will be confined in prison for life without the possibility of parole.

    “This was calculated, sustained cruelty inflicted on an innocent child,” said Malinda Hoagland’s maternal aunt, Christine Mayrhauser, as the girl’s family read tearful victim impact statements.

    Rendell Hoagland, a bald man whose size tested the limits of a red prison jumpsuit, gazed on.

    “A quick execution is too good for him,” Mayrhauser said.

    Warren is also charged with first-degree murder and related crimes. Her trial, scheduled for early January, has been delayed and she will receive a pretrial hearing in May.

    Lead prosecutor Erin O’Brien described Malinda Hoagland’s final years as a period of abuse no child should ever endure.

    After Rendell Hoagland separated from his wife, he received custody of Malinda in 2020 and moved with the girl from Monroe County to West Caln.

    He enrolled the girl at school, but she soon began missing day after day of classes. By 2023, Hoagland had pulled Malinda out of school entirely, and she was completing school online under his and Warren’s near-constant supervision.

    After the girl’s death in 2024, investigators recovered photos, videos, and text messages from both Hoagland and Warren that detailed the girl’s horrific life at home.

    She was often chained to an air hockey table or other pieces of furniture, even sleeping there, O’Brien said, or made to run in place or do jump squats at Hoagland and Warren’s command.

    They punished her with scalding showers and ice baths, forced her to hold books over her head for hours, and poured hot sauce down her throat. The couple monitored the girl through security cameras they had installed throughout the home.

    They also kept locks on the refrigerator and snack cabinet, and the girl lost more than a third of her body weight in the last two years of her life. She was often sleep-deprived or suffering open wounds; by the end of her life, she struggled to do her homework because of her eye injuries, O’Brien said

    The abuse ended only with death, prosecutors said.

    On May 3, 2024, Hoagland called 911 claiming that Malinda had fallen off her bike and had lost consciousness at a campground in Quarryville.

    But prosecutors say that the girl had been unconscious for hours, and that Hoagland had driven to CVS the night before, looking for smelling salts in an attempt to wake her up. He propped up the girl’s body so that she did not raise the suspicions of passersby.

    It was a common pattern in attempted cover-ups, O’Brien said, and Hoagland and Warren were also known to use makeup to cover up the girl’s bruises for the few people they allowed to see her.

    One of the last people to see Malinda Hoagland alive was William Delmedico, an emergency medical responder who wrapped the barely conscious girl in his sweatshirt as he rushed her to a hospital, where she died after surgery.

    “I kept telling her she’s not alone, she’s loved, and that we’re doing everything possible to help her,” Delmedico told the court, his voice breaking.

    Hoagland and Warren managed to keep the abuse hidden from Malinda’s extended family, prosecutors said, including her three older sisters, his biological children. The women were not living in Southeastern Pennsylvania during the time of the abuse, they said.

    In addition to murder, “You should also be facing several counts of robbery,” said Emily Lee, Malinda Hoagland’s older sister, addressing her father. “You robbed my baby sister’s future. You took a life she deserved.”

    Jamie Hoagland, another sister, said she begged her father for access to Malinda, sending her sister cards and gifts and playing Minecraft with her online when possible.

    “I fought for every inch of communication,” Jamie Hoagland said. She later lamented: “Instead of taking her to the movies, I visit her grave.”

    When given the chance to speak, Rendell Hoagland told Wheatcraft he had “nothing to say at this time.”

    Wheatcraft said she was not surprised that Hoagland did not express remorse.