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  • 93-year-old, Mummer-obsessed Welsh grandma was banned from Instagram, part of a growing fight with Meta’s use of AI

    93-year-old, Mummer-obsessed Welsh grandma was banned from Instagram, part of a growing fight with Meta’s use of AI

    Avril Davidge, a 93-year-old Welsh grandmother, captured the hearts of Philadelphians on New Year’s Day as she lived out a yearslong dream to see a Mummers Parade in person.

    During her visit, Davidge posed with the string band captains from her wheelchair, collected an assortment of beads, made a TV appearance, had lunch at Marathon Grill, and drove by the Philadelphia Art Museum to see the Rocky statue.

    She’s 93, from Wales, and obsessed with the Mummers. She flew to Philadelphia to meet them.

    “I fell in love with Philadelphia and would love to go back,” she said from her Swansea flat, marveling at how total strangers stopped her during the parade asking if she was “the grandma from Wales.”

    “I will never ever forget it and I would love to go back tomorrow,” she said.

    Still, Davidge’s granddaughter, Fiona Smillie-Hedges, reports not all is well back home. Davidge’s Instagram account, “grandmas.adventures,” was suspended for allegedly failing to follow the platform’s “community standards on account integrity.”

    The family has inadvertently found itself among thousands of people who claim to have been erroneously banned thanks to faulty and overzealous artificial intelligence models. Like so many before her, Smillie-Hedges has not been able to get hold of a human.

    At stake for the grandmother, who jokes about never leaving her flat and the possibility of death with the slightest illness, is her window to the world, specifically Philadelphia. She had amassed about 400 followers who shared her passion for the Mummers.

    Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, did not respond to requests for comment.

    The whole ordeal has been a blow to the family. Instagram was how the family was able to connect with Mummers in the first place and touch base with other Philadelphians who offered parade advice.

    “She wouldn’t have been in the paper, or gone to the Mummers Museum, or met [Quaker City String Band captain] Jimmy Good, or had any of the other captains,” Smillie-Hedges said. “It would have been a completely different trip.”

    The family doesn’t know how to broach the subject with Davidge, though they feel they can’t keep her in the dark much longer. While Davidge doesn’t know how to navigate the platform, she likes to hear what people are saying and have her niece respond to comments. For now, she’s still responding to her TikTok followers.

    Smillie-Hedges doesn’t want to tarnish the Philadelphia experience and she doesn’t know how to relay Instagram’s reason for the ban. She’s not quite sure she understands herself.

    “We don’t allow people on Instagram to pretend to be someone well known or speak for them without permission,” read a standard explanation from Instagram, which also said no one would be able to see the account and Davidge’s information would be permanently deleted.

    The only peccadillo Smillie-Hedges can think of is calling Davidge “Queen Mumm” on some posts, a nickname given to her by Jim Donio, host of the String Band Sessions podcast. To the British, Queen Mum can be a reference to Queen Elizabeth, who was also known as the Queen Mother, and is long dead.

    While the stakes are somewhat low for Davidge and her granddaughter, they have found themselves in what Reddit forums claim is becoming a growing problem. Meta artificial intelligence models are inaccurately flagging and disabling accounts with little recourse for users.

    Smillie-Hedges can’t get past the automated responses to request another review of the decision.

    According to the BBC, paying for Meta Verified is one way to speak to a human, but even that is not a surefire way to address account issues.

    Businesses have reported losing thousands of followers after years of building their platform and in extreme cases, parents report being banned and accused of violating Meta’s child sexual exploitation policies.

    Reports of the bans extend to Meta’s other platforms Facebook and WhatsApp. A Change.org petition with more than 54,000 signatures demands the tech company address the AI banning issues across its platforms.

    For now, Smillie-Hedges made a quick post on TikTok telling people about the suspension and letting fans know the family was trying to get it back. She also began uploading some of Davidge’s videos on Facebook as an additional way to connect with people.

    “I was worried people were going to think something bad had happened,” Smillie-Hedges said. “Some people are really invested in her.”

    Donio, who first connected with Smillie-Hedges and Davidge on Instagram and made much of the VIP visit to Philly possible, said he has tried to spread the word of the account mishap. He can now communicate with Smillie-Hedges and Davidge through email and video calls but he understands their frustration.

    “I think the frustration that a lot of people feel is if you do something wrong or if you’ve miscommunicated something and then you want to resolve it, it’s virtually impossible to try to resolve it and explain your situation to a live person,” he said.

    Smillie-Hedges is still hopeful that something can be done to change Meta’s mind about the account. In the meantime, she and her grandmother continue to reminisce and upload snippets of video from the visit.

    Of the highlights there are many. There was the moment she met Good, who leads the Quaker City String Band. He surprised her while she visited the Mummers Museum.

    Davidge woke up in her Center City hotel overlooking Broad Street just in time to greet 2026. Down below she saw two children play-fighting with Mummers umbrellas.

    Then there was the parade itself, where Davidge was treated like a VIP. Though the string band competition was postponed because of heavy winds that led to performer injuries, she still got to see bands show off their costumes and perform. The string bands were the main draw when Davidge discovered the Mummers weeks after her longtime husband’s death. She felt it was something they would have enjoyed together.

    And who could forget the freezing cold, joked Davidge, adding people could hardly see her face because she was bundled deep in layers of blankets at certain points.

    “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” she mused. “What a wonderful opportunity to be able to go there and see it myself.”

  • Camden’s planned 25-story Beacon Building could get a boost from new N.J. tax credit bill

    Camden’s planned 25-story Beacon Building could get a boost from new N.J. tax credit bill

    New Jersey lawmakers on Monday approved a bill that would make it easier for development projects in Camden to qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits.

    That could be a boon to the Beacon Building — a planned 25-story office tower downtown whose backers have said they intend to seek state incentives — among other projects, according to the bill’s supporters.

    Under current law, most commercial real estate developers must show their projects would generate more dollars in economic activity than they would receive in subsidies in order to qualify for tax credits under New Jersey’s gap-financing program, known as Aspire.

    The new legislation — which was introduced late last month and approved by the Democratic-led Legislature days before Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is to leave office — would exempt certain projects from the program’s so-called net benefit test.

    Lawmakers on Monday also passed a bill increasing the cap on the size of the Aspire tax-credit program from $11.5 billion to $14 billion and authorized $300 million in tax breaks to renovate the Prudential Center in Newark, home of the New Jersey Devils hockey franchise. The team is owned by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the Philadelphia 76ers.

    ‘Competitive market’

    Supporters of the Camden bill, A6298/S5025, said it would make South Jersey more competitive in the Philadelphia market, while critics contended it would weaken a provision of a 2020 economic development law signed by Murphy that was intended to ensure fiscal prudence.

    The test has impeded big projects in South Jersey, said Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald (D., Camden), a sponsor of the bill. Since the law was signed, the region hasn’t attracted a single “transformative project” — a designation in the Aspire program for developments that have a total cost of $150 million and are eligible for up to $400 million in incentives over 10 years, Greenwald said.

    “We started to ask people, what’s the barrier?” he said. “And when you look at the competitive market of what [developers] can get in Philadelphia or Pennsylvania compared to other areas in the state that don’t have to compete with that, that net operating loss test, that net benefits test, is a barrier.”

    The legislation was not drafted with a specific project in mind, Greenwald said, but he acknowledged that one that might benefit is Beacon, which would feature 500,000 square feet of office space.

    Developer Gilbane is leading the project with the Camden County Improvement Authority at a vacant site on the northwest corner of Broadway and Martin Luther King Boulevard across the street from the Walter Rand Transportation Center and Cooper University Hospital.

    Map of the planned Beacon Building in Camden.

    “The goal is to attract projects, maybe like Beacon Tower, to capitalize off of the growth that we’ve seen in Camden city,” Greenwald said.

    Any project seeking Aspire subsidies must apply to the Economic Development Authority.

    Camden County officials have said they expect tenants to include Cooper University Health Care, which has said it needs additional office space to accommodate its $3 billion expansion. They also hope to entice civil courts to relocate there.

    County Commissioner Jeff Nash said last year that tenants had yet to commit, in part because the development team was still working on an application for Aspire tax credits.

    The incentives will help determine rent, he told the Cherry Hill Sun. The land is owned by the Camden Parking Authority, and Nash has said officials are still trying to determine who will own the site and the building going forward, according to Real Estate NJ.

    County spokesperson Dan Keashen said that those talks remain ongoing and that the improvement authority may issue a request for proposals for a new developer. Gilbane, the current master developer, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

    Wendy Marano, a spokesperson for Cooper University Health Care, said she didn’t have an immediate answer to a question about whether the hospital network planned to obtain an equity stake in the development.

    In 2014 the state awarded $40 million in tax credits to incentivize Cooper Health’s relocation of suburban office jobs to Camden, and Cooper later bought a stake in the development.

    The possible new state investment in Camden comes after Murphy’s administration separately allocated $250 million to renovate the state-owned Rand center — which serves two dozen NJ Transit bus lines and the River Line, and includes PATCO’s Broadway station.

    Construction on the transit center is expected to begin soon, according to county officials. While that renovation is underway, the Beacon site will serve as a temporary bus shelter, Keashen said, adding that possible construction on an office tower is still years away.

    Fast track

    Critics of the bill said that it was rushed through the Legislature with minimal public input and outside the normal budget process, and that it appeared to be designed to benefit specific projects. The bill passed the Assembly, 48-25, and the Senate, 24-14. It now heads to Murphy’s desk. The governor’s second term ends on Jan. 20, when he is to be succeeded by fellow Democrat Mikie Sherrill.

    The legislation applies to redevelopment projects located in a “government-restricted municipality” — language included in the Aspire program’s statute — “which municipality is also designated as the county seat of a county of the second class.” The project must also be located in “close proximity” to a “multimodal transportation hub,” an institution of higher education, and a licensed healthcare facility that “serves underrepresented populations.”

    “I say to you that there’s going to be one project that fits all those criteria,” Assemblyman Jay Webber (R., Morris) said on the floor of the chamber during debate Monday.

    “The net benefits test was put in as an accountability measure to make sure these projects were at least by some measure benefiting the taxpayer,” Webber added in an interview.

    “And now apparently one or more projects can’t meet that test,” he said. “And so rather than stick to the rules that they agreed to and pull the credits, they’re going to change the rules, lower the bar so that somebody can step over it. It’s wrong.”

    Greenwald said the legislation has “nothing to do with [Beacon] in particular,” adding that he hopes it is one of many projects that could benefit. Possible developments in Trenton and New Brunswick could also qualify for incentives under the bill, he said.

    Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald in 2019.

    The net benefit test

    The test relies on economic modeling based on data such as projected jobs and wages. Under current law, most commercial projects seeking Aspire credits must demonstrate a minimum net benefit to New Jersey of 185% of the tax credit award — meaning, for instance, an applicant that receives $100 million in credits must generate $185 million in economic activity.

    The credits can be sold to the state Treasury Department for 85 cents on the dollar.

    Projects located in “government-restricted municipalities” — a half-dozen cities, including Camden, selected by the Legislature — already face a lower threshold of 150%, according to the state Economic Development Authority.

    Some projects, including residential and certain healthcare centers, are exempt from the net benefit test.

    The test was strengthened in the Economic Recovery Act of 2020, signed by Murphy, because “we saw in previous iterations of the tax credit program that if the guardrails weren’t strong enough … then companies could simply not meet the test, or, you know, not follow through on their promises, and nonetheless collect the funds,” said Peter Chen, senior policy analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective, a liberal-leaning think tank.

    The 2020 law changed that, he said. “It’s one of the most important guardrails of the entire corporate tax credit program,” Chen said in an interview last week. “So exempting any project from the net benefit test requires a pretty large, pretty strong reason for doing so, and in this case, no reason was given.”

    Criminal case

    The renewed push for tax credits in South Jersey comes as a criminal case involving an earlier round of corporate subsidies continues to play out in court.

    Democratic power broker George E. Norcross III — founder of a Camden-based insurance brokerage and chairman of Cooper Health — and five codefendants were indicted in 2024 on racketeering charges related to development projects on the city’s waterfront.

    A judge dismissed the charges last year, and the state Attorney General’s Office is appealing the decision. Norcross has denied wrongdoing. He and his allies say state incentives have helped revitalize the city.

    During his floor speech on Monday, Webber alluded to “incredible allegations of corruption” in the earlier economic development program and noted that Murphy had previously championed reform of the system.

    The governor’s spokesperson, Tyler Jones, declined to comment on pending legislation.

  • Diamondbacks acquire Nolan Arenado in a deal with the Cardinals

    Diamondbacks acquire Nolan Arenado in a deal with the Cardinals

    PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks acquired eight-time All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado from St. Louis for minor league pitcher Jack Martinez in a trade Tuesday in which the Cardinals also are including $31 million.

    A 10-time Gold Glove winner, Arenado has played for the Cardinals the last five seasons and was shopped extensively after the 2024 season by the rebuilding team. The 34-year-old isn’t the offensive force he used to be but will still provide a veteran presence at the position after the D-backs traded slugger Eugenio Suárez at last season’s trade deadline.

    Arenado batted. .237 with 12 homers and 52 RBIs last season. He has two years remaining on his contract worth $42 million, with salaries of $27 million this year and $15 million in 2027. The Cardinals will be sending Arizona $22 million to offset this year’s salary and $9 million to offset next year’s pay.

    Arenado waived a no-trade clause to accept the deal.

    “We are grateful for Nolan’s five years as a Cardinal, on and off the field — for his drive, his competitiveness, and for all of the memories he gave us,” Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom said in a statement.

    “As we continue to move forward, we are pleased to add another intriguing pitching prospect to our organization, and excited for the opportunity this move creates for a number of our players to step up and further establish themselves at the big league level,” Bloom added.

    Martinez was an eighth-round pick by the D-backs out of Arizona State in 2025.

    Arenado is a career .282 hitter and has 353 homers over 13 seasons with the Cardinals and Rockies.

  • Three lessons the Flyers need to learn from back-to-back blowout losses to the Lightning

    Three lessons the Flyers need to learn from back-to-back blowout losses to the Lightning

    Rick Tocchet often talks about lessons.

    Well, after two straight sobering losses to perennial powerhouse Tampa Bay, in which the Flyers were outscored by 12-3 at Xfinity Mobile Arena, they surely learned a few tough ones.

    Here are three lessons from Monday’s 5-1 loss to the Lightning that the Flyers learned and need to carry with them as they move through a gauntlet before February’s Olympic break.

    Flyers fall again to the Lightning 5-1, extend losing streak to three games

    1. More consistency needed

    As the old saying goes, “you take it one shift at a time.” But, when you read between the lines, it’s really saying that yes, while you take it one shift at a time, you also do it by playing consistently.

    Does that mean they have to be perfect every single second? No. And the Flyers have their lapses. But, unlike Stanley Cup contenders who can get bailed out by their defense or offense, the Flyers aren’t there yet. They have great stretches, but as seen in even some of their wins, when they allow teams to creep back in, they need to be on their toes for a full 60 minutes.

    “These are the games that are important to us to see consistency-wise, hey, we need to play the right way,” defenseman Nick Seeler said. “We need to reload when it’s there. We have to help our D out. We have to block shots when it’s there.

    “We have to do the little things to be successful in this league. It’s important. I think we’ve done a good job this year and grown a lot, but it’s that consistency piece that we can continue to do better at.

    “We still believe in ourselves. These two games don’t change that. But we’ve just got to learn from a couple of games like that and be better from it, mature a bit as a group, and we’ll get on the other side of this.”

    2. Cut down on turnovers

    The record books will say the Flyers had 19 giveaways on Monday night. This comes after 14 on Saturday. In that game, at least four goals can be credited to giveaways. On Monday, Matvei Michkov turned the puck over twice in the offensive zone on one shift — although the official stats say he had just one giveaway in the game — and Trevor Zegras had the puck taken away before Jake Guentzel scored.

    It’s costing them games.

    “We’ve got some guys giving too many turnovers, especially some of our high-end guys, too many turnovers,” Tocchet said. “Because if you’re going to turn them over, if you have a chance, you’ve got to score if I want to play that type of hockey.

    Flyers right wing Travis Konecny was one of the players who was too loose with the puck on Monday night.

    “We’re giving up turnovers, but we’re not scoring. … I’m a big believer in that, that if you’re going to play risky, you better score, and our guys aren’t scoring, so you’ve got to tighten it up.”

    Across the whole season, the Flyers are one of the NHL’s best teams when it comes to limiting giveaways with the fifth fewest (639). However, across the last two games against the Lightning, they have 33 giveaways. Those 33 are the sixth-highest total in the NHL during that two-game span, with 24 teams playing twice.

    It’s a trend that needs to be quashed.

    3. Special teams need to step up

    Maybe it’s something in the water? Because no matter what — new personnel, new coaches — the Flyers’ power play is bad, and it may have come to a head Monday when they had two power plays and didn’t put a single shot on goal. In fact, they iced the puck once.

    Although the power play has been an ongoing issue since before the John Tortorella era — and it is now at 15.3%, tied with the New York Islanders for 30th in the NHL — the problem is that the once steady penalty kill is matching in futility. After going 2-for-2 with kills on Saturday, it went 2-for-4 on Monday and is just 9-for-16 (56.3%) since New Year’s Eve, which ranks 31st. Overall, it is at 79.9% and ranked 14th in the NHL.

    Flyers takeaways: Power-play struggles continue, Rick Tocchet frustrated about missed reads

    “I don’t know. It’s tough to say right after a game like this,” Sean Couturier said when asked where he sees the penalty kill now. “Obviously, it’s not good enough.”

    Special teams can make or break teams, and if the Flyers, who are precariously hanging on to third in the Metropolitan Division, want to stay there, the penalty kill and the power play need to step up.

    “Yeah, that’s something we have to improve on, no doubt about it. We had some looks on the power play, so it wasn’t all that bad, but we’ve got to bear down, and they’ve got a lethal power play themselves,” Christian Dvorak said. “And you know, it was a big part of the game for them. And, you know, made a huge difference. So we’ll have to do better.”

  • Jason Kelce defends Kevin Patullo but blasts ‘mediocre’ Eagles; Donovan McNabb points finger at A.J. Brown

    Jason Kelce defends Kevin Patullo but blasts ‘mediocre’ Eagles; Donovan McNabb points finger at A.J. Brown

    It’s been two days since the Eagles’ loss to the San Francisco 49ers and fans are demanding the firing of Kevin Patullo, calling for A.J. Brown to get traded, and looking ahead to an offseason of change — from free agency to the draft to the start of training camp.

    The Eagles season ended sooner than expected, and that means there are plenty of questions surrounding the team as eight others continue to battle in the playoffs. Here’s what they’re saying about the Birds after their early exit …

    ‘Mediocre across the board’

    Former Eagles center Jason Kelce believes the offensive coordinator isn’t the only person who should be blamed for Sunday’s loss.

    “I know that everybody is out on Kevin Patullo. I happen to know the guy, I love Kevin Patullo,” Kelce said on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown. “I know he’s a great coach. I know it wasn’t the best performance this year, offensively. They had the No. 1 highest-paid offense in the league and were mediocre across the board. That’s unacceptable. They had their chances to win that game [Sunday]. The players didn’t make the plays.”

    The 49ers defense held the Eagles to 19 points in Sunday’s loss at Lincoln Financial Field. Kelce praised the San Francisco defense for its efforts in the win over the defending champs.

    “What Robert Saleh did to that defense, it’s commendable what they’ve done to get to here,” Kelce said. “It’s absolutely a testament to that organization and how well they’re built and how they function across the board. Kyle Shanahan with the trickeration, finding a way to get things open. You tip your cap to them. But Philly had their opportunities.”

    The Jalen Hurts roller coaster is about to lose Kevin Patullo. How will the next rider fare?

    Patullo ‘needs to be gone’

    Although Kelce may not be among those calling for Patullo to get fired, his coworker Marcus Spears certainly is.

    “I’m not going to teeter around it, Kevin Patullo’s [butt] needs to be gone,” Spears said on Monday Night Countdown. “This was a horrible year of calling the offensive plays. And I don’t think the Philadelphia Eagles offense is as bad as we watched it based on the talent. That’s what kept us on the string all year long.”

    ‘They’re not trying unless they’re trailing’

    Patullo has been a member of the Birds coaching staff since Nick Sirianni arrived five seasons ago, but this was his first year as the offensive coordinator after he replaced Kellen Moore, who took the head coaching position with the New Orleans Saints. After the Birds’ short postseason run, ESPN’s Get Up show posed the question: Was Kevin Patullo the Eagles’ weakest link this season?

    “The frustrating part about watching that offense, and it’s happened all year and it’s very on display in this game, is that it appears as if they’re not trying unless they’re trailing,” Domonique Foxworth said on Tuesday. “What I’m watching in the second half, it’s second-and-8, it’s second-and-10, it’s third-and-10, it’s third-and-11. And they’re running the ball and throwing swing passes. I’m not a fan of the Eagles, I’m just a fan of football. Like, come on. I imagine Eagles fans are watching this like, ‘Try something. We won a Super Bowl last year. We’ve been together all year and our answer on third-and-10 is a swing pass to Saquon Barkley?’”

    Free-agent moves? Stars moving on? Answering all of the Eagles’ biggest offseason questions

    A lot was made about the Eagles going conservative in the second half Sunday, but it’s been an issue throughout the season.

    “This is the point that we made about this team all year. And maybe they just weren’t as good as we wanted them to pretend that they were,” Foxworth continued. “But the point that we made was, the reason we wanted them to be more aggressive offensively is that there will come a game where the breaks won’t come your way and you wish that you would have extended the lead. And I’m watching this game and they’re like, ‘We’re up by one, let’s go ahead and punt.’”

    Foxworth also noted the difference between how the Eagles and Niners attacked those situations, with San Francisco being proactive while the Eagles seemed content to sit back and wait for something to happen.

    “You watch this [49ers] team, which knows they’re not that good — or knows that they don’t have that much of a margin of error — they’re like, ‘Look, we’ve got to take shots.’ And we’re watching the Eagles like, ‘Come on. Do something, do something, do something.’”

    Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown had multiple costly drops in the team’s wild-card loss.

    ‘Our offense becomes dull and stale’

    Although most of the blame is being directed toward Patullo, there are some critics, including former Eagles running back LeSean McCoy, who have questioned Jalen Hurts’ role in this year’s predictable offense.

    McCoy went on The Speakeasy podcast after the game and said the quarterback was holding back the offense. “We can’t do different exotic looks, different formations, different motions because I’m hearing that [Hurts] can’t really do it,” he said.

    Nick Sirianni had a worse year than Kevin Patullo, Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, or anyone on the Eagles | Marcus Hayes

    But Hurts didn’t appear to hold back the offense a year ago, and former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb defended the Super Bowl LIX MVP on 94 WIP.

    “Let me break it down for this, and I know there’s a lot of rumblings about what Jalen wants to run and what he doesn’t like,” McNabb said. “He’s deserving of that decision as the quarterback of the franchise. He’s the face of the franchise. He’s won you a Super Bowl. He’s been Super Bowl MVP. You know he’s been in this league long enough where he decides what he likes and what he doesn’t like.

    “It’s our choice as the quarterback to be able to be comfortable with what we’re calling. So we can eliminate that whole mindset that everybody on the outside is trying to create. That whole narrative.”

    Instead, to McNabb, there was one critical moment that changed the Eagles offense for the rest of the season.

    “To me, with this offense, everything shifted ever since A.J. [Brown] started talking he wasn’t getting the ball,” said McNabb, who played alongside another outspoken wide receiver in Terrell Owens. “The offense shifted and everything was kind of going to A.J., and DeVonta [Smith] being the third option. And so, that’s kind of to me where it took us away from what we were very successful with last season to what’s going on with this season. And we didn’t make that change.

    “And so we’re trying to please people now. So, our offense becomes dull and stale because we don’t move guys around.”

    Will A.J. Brown be traded? Kevin Patullo fired? Is Jalen Hurts holding Eagles back? Here’s what they’re saying.

  • Greenland official calls it ‘unfathomable’ that the U.S. is considering taking over the island

    Greenland official calls it ‘unfathomable’ that the U.S. is considering taking over the island

    NUUK, Greenland — A senior Greenland government official said Tuesday it’s “unfathomable” that the United States is discussing taking over a NATO ally and urged the Trump administration to listen to voices from the Arctic island’s people.

    Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for business and mineral resources, said people in Greenland are “very, very worried” over the administration’s desire for control of Greenland.

    She spoke a day before a key meeting in Washington between foreign ministers of the semi-autonomous Danish territory and Denmark and top U.S. officials, at a time of increased tensions between the allies over the stepped-up U.S. rhetoric.

    “People are not sleeping, children are afraid, and it just fills everything these days. And we can’t really understand it,” Nathanielsen said at a meeting with lawmakers in Britain’s Parliament.

    Earlier, a Danish government official confirmed that Denmark provided U.S. forces in the east Atlantic with support last week as they intercepted an oil tanker for alleged violations of U.S. sanctions.

    The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly on the sensitive matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity, declined to provide details about what the support entailed.

    The U.S. interception in the Atlantic capped a weeks-long pursuit of the tanker that began in the Caribbean Sea as the U.S. imposed a blockade in the waters of Venezuela aimed at capturing sanctioned vessels coming in and out of the South American country.

    The White House and Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Danish support for the U.S. operation was first reported by Newsmax.

    Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland on Wednesday at the White House to discuss Trump’s interest in acquiring Greenland, according to a U.S. official and two sources familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting has not yet been formally announced.

    Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said earlier that Vance would host a meeting with him and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, in Washington this week, with Rubio in attendance.

    At a joint news conference with Danish Prime Minster Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen, Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen reiterated that Greenland isn’t for sale, Danish media reported. Nielsen said Greenland doesn’t want to be owned or ruled by the U.S.

    Frederiksen also underlined Denmark’s willingness to invest in Arctic security. She said it hasn’t been easy to stand up to unacceptable pressure from a close ally and there are many indications that the most difficult part lies ahead.

    Nathanielsen, the minister, said of Greenland’s people: “We have no intentions of becoming American … but we have worked towards more collaboration with the Americans for many, many years.”

    “We feel betrayed. We feel the rhetoric is offensive,” she added, “but also bewildering.”

    NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte refused to be drawn into the dispute, insisting that it was not his role to get involved.

    “I never, ever comment when there are discussions within the alliance,” Rutte said, at the European Parliament in Brussels. “My role has to be to make sure we solve issues.”

    He said that the 32-nation military organization must focus on providing security in the Arctic region, which includes Greenland. “When it comes to the protection of the High North, that is my role.”

    Tensions have grown this month as Trump and his administration push the issue and the White House considers a range of options, including military force, to acquire Greenland. Trump reiterated his argument that the U.S. needs to “take Greenland,” otherwise Russia or China would, in comments aboard Air Force One on Sunday.

    He said he’d rather “make a deal” for the territory, “but one way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”

    Nathanielsen said Greenlanders understand that the U.S. sees Greenland as part of its national security sphere.

    “We get it. We want to work with it,” she said, adding that “we understand the need for increased monitoring in the Arctic as a consequence of the growing geopolitical insecurity.”

    Nathanielsen said Greenland understands the need to “shake things up, to make things different … But we do believe that it can be done without the use of force.”

    She said “it is just unfathomable to understand” that Greenland could be facing the prospect of being sold or annexed.

    A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation is headed to Copenhagen for meetings on Friday and Saturday in an attempt to show unity between the United States and Denmark.

    Nathanielsen said she thinks the people of Greenland have a say in their own future.

    “My deepest dream or hope is that the people of Greenland will get a say no matter what,” she said. ”For others this might be a piece of land, but for us it’s home.”

  • Clinton fails to show for Epstein deposition, threatened with contempt of Congress

    Clinton fails to show for Epstein deposition, threatened with contempt of Congress

    House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) threatened Tuesday to hold Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress after the former president declined to appear before the panel for a closed-door deposition related to its investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

    “I think it’s very disappointing,” Comer told reporters Tuesday. ” … We will move next week in the House Oversight Committee … to hold former president Clinton in contempt of Congress.”

    Clinton, along with his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, were among 10 individuals the panel voted in July to subpoena for testimony related to crimes committed by Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. Hillary Clinton is scheduled to testify Wednesday but does not plan to appear.

    Neither Clinton has been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and both have said they have no knowledge related to the investigation. A spokesman for the former president has previously said he met Epstein several times and took four trips on his airplane, but knew nothing about Epstein’s crimes. Bill Clinton has appeared in Epstein-related photographs released by Congress and the Justice Department.

    The Clintons called the subpoenas from the panel “invalid and legally unenforceable” in a letter obtained and published by the New York Times.

    In the letter, the Clintons noted that they had provided Comer with sworn statements similar to those he had accepted from other subpoenaed individuals, who were later excused from testifying before the committee.

    “We are confident that any reasonable person in or out of Congress will see, based on everything we release, that what you are doing is trying to punish those who you see as your enemies and to protect those you think are your friends,” the Clintons wrote.

    Contempt of Congress is punishable by up to a year in prison. If Comer’s committee moves forward with a contempt finding, the full House would next vote whether to refer the matter to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.

    Comer initially issued subpoenas for the testimony of both Clintons in August, according to aides, who said the committee had made several attempts to accommodate both of their schedules.

    Both were first scheduled for appearances in October, which were later moved to December. Those dates were moved again after the Clintons said they planned to attend a funeral, according to committee aides. Both Clintons declined to suggest alternative dates in January, the aides said.

  • Jefferson and Temple join wide-ranging litigation over high insulin pricing

    Jefferson and Temple join wide-ranging litigation over high insulin pricing

    Temple University Health System and Jefferson Health are the latest area health systems to sue pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy benefit managers over high insulin pricing.

    The move follows similar lawsuits filed in recent years by the University of Pennsylvania, the city of Philadelphia, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, and Bucks County, as well as hundreds of other municipalities, companies, and unions around the country.

    Temple filed its suit last week, and Jefferson sued just before the new year.

    Eli Lilly, CVS Caremark, and Sanofi are among the major companies named in the suits, which accuse drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, of conspiring to drive up profits on diabetes drugs.

    PBMs work with drug manufacturers, insurers, and pharmacies, negotiating prices and developing formularies — lists of prescription drugs that are available on a given insurance plan.

    The health systems and other plaintiffs say drugmakers inflate prices for their insulin products in order to secure lucrative placements on formularies. Then, they pay a portion of the resulting profits back to PBMs, according to the lawsuits.

    Jefferson and Temple officials said they are paying more for employees’ insulin as a result, impacting the health systems’ budgets and hurting their ability to “provide necessary services […] to the larger Philadelphia community.”

    Representatives from both health systems declined to comment.

    Eli Lilly has worked for years to reduce out-of-pocket costs for insulin, the company said in a statement, noting that some plaintiffs filing the lawsuits are choosing higher-priced medications over more affordable options.

    Lilly capped insulin prices at $35 per month, the statement said, and in 2024 the average monthly out-of-pocket cost for its insulin was less than $15.

    CVS Caremark said pharmaceutical companies “alone are responsible” for pricing their drugs in its latest statement, released after Philadelphia officials joined the litigation last month. The company said it would welcome lower prices on insulin.

    “Allegations that we play any role in determining the prices charged by manufacturers for their products are false, and we intend to vigorously defend against this baseless suit,” they wrote in an email.

    A statement from Sanofi said that the company has always complied with the law when it comes to drug prices and works to lower prices. PBMs and insurers sometimes negotiate savings on drugs, but those are “not consistently passed through to patients in the form of lower co-pays or coinsurance,” the statement read.

    “As a result, patients’ out-of-pocket costs continue to rise while the average net price of our insulins declines.”

  • Penn graduate student workers could strike next month

    Penn graduate student workers could strike next month

    The union that represents about 3,400 University of Pennsylvania graduate student workers says they will go on strike Feb. 17 if they do not reach a contract deal with the university by then.

    “We love our jobs, but Penn’s administration is leaving us no choice but to move forward with a strike,” said Nicolai Apenes, a Ph.D. candidate and research assistant in immunology, in a statement shared by the union Tuesday. “We are ready to stand up and demand that our rights are respected.”

    Penn’s graduate student workers voted to unionize in 2024. The union has been negotiating with the university since October 2024 for a first contract, and some tentative agreements have been reached on a number of issues.

    Sticking points in bargaining include wages, healthcare coverage, and more support for international student workers.

    In November the teaching and research assistants voted to authorize a strike if called for by the union, which is known as Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania (GET-UP) and is part of the United Auto Workers (UAW).

    A spokesperson for the University of Pennsylvania said in a statement Tuesday that Penn has engaged in good faith negotiations with the union, and has reached 23 tentative agreements through 39 bargaining sessions with additional sessions planned.

    “We believe that a fair contract for the Union and Penn can be achieved without a work stoppage, but we are prepared in the event that the Union membership strikes,” said the Penn spokesperson. “Efforts are underway to ensure teaching and research continuity, and the expectation is that classes and other academic activities will continue in the event of a strike.”

    “While we hope that Penn comes to the table and negotiates a fair contract for these essential workers, we know that these workers are a powerful force that Penn cannot break,” said Daniel Bauder, Philadelphia AFL-CIO president, in a statement Tuesday. “We are proud to stand with them and the broader Coalition of Workers at Penn as they fight the biggest employer in the region and bring union power to the University of Pennsylvania.”

    Penn, the largest employer in Philadelphia, has seen a wave of student-worker organizing in recent years, including resident assistants, graduate students, postdocs and research associates, as well as training physicians in the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

    The region has also seen a couple other university strikes in recent years. In 2023 graduate workers at Temple University walked off the job for 42 days amid contract negotiations, and in a separate action at Rutgers University, educators, researchers, and clinicians went on strike for a week.

    University of Pennsylvania graduate students hold a press conference and rally calling for a strike vote against the university at the corner of South 34th and Walnut Street, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025.
  • The United Soccer Coaches Convention returns to Philly, with extra interest in a World Cup year

    The United Soccer Coaches Convention returns to Philly, with extra interest in a World Cup year

    Like so much of life, the year in soccer has raced out of the blocks without waiting for the starter’s gun.

    The Union’s preseason started Monday, while the English Premier League’s winter circus played at full blast. While their fellow Americans were vacationing, Medford’s Brenden Aaronson and the rest of the circuit’s U.S. players spent the holidays working not just to win games, but to earn places on the World Cup team.

    They’re at a sprinter’s pace in women’s soccer, too. Gotham FC will play in the inaugural FIFA women’s Champions Cup later this month in London and has already been in Spain for a week preparing.

    Next week, U.S. manager Emma Hayes will convene the annual January camp with 26 NWSL players, but that headline was overtaken by Sam Coffey’s impending move to Manchester City.

    Former U.S. men’s national soccer team manager Gregg Berhalter, now in charge of the Chicago Fire, speaking at last year’s coaches’ convention in Chicago.

    Amid all this, the event that’s usually American soccer’s annual curtain-raiser will take place in Philadelphia this week. From Wednesday to Saturday, the United Soccer Coaches Convention will draw thousands to the Pennsylvania Convention Center for the traditional festival of speeches, exhibits, and All-America honors.

    The association has organized conventions in almost all of its 85 years, and Philadelphia has been a frequent host. It was last here in 2023, and this will be the 11th time since 1989. That history has also been profitable for the organization, which is headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., but has many members in this part of the country.

    There’s always a little extra shine when the convention happens in a World Cup year, and this one will be no exception. Nor will it be lost on anyone that it’s in a World Cup host city.

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

    On top of that, Paul Payne, who became the association’s president in April, has strong Philadelphia ties. He grew up in the region and coached soccer at Conestoga High School, the University of Scranton, then Bloomsburg for more than 20 years.

    “I think it’s a great way for us as an association to kick off, with our connection with U.S. Soccer [and] our national teams,” said Payne, who noted that he delivered The Inquirer for two years as a child. “The World Cup doesn’t start in June — to me, it’s started already. And I think you’re going to see that ramp up with a lot of the activities of U.S. Soccer, and, obviously, the United Soccer Coaches Convention in Philly this year.”

    Former Union manager Jim Curtin (right) with longtime soccer broadcaster JP Dellacamera at the 2023 coaches’ convention in Philadelphia.

    Star players and coaches on stage

    As usual, the speakers will span the range of the sport. Amid the dozens of high school, college, and youth coaches, famous ex-players on stage will include Tab Ramos, John Harkes, Jozy Altidore, Jay DeMerit, and Delran’s Peter Vermes.

    Heather Mitts will share the stage with her husband, former Eagles quarterback A.J. Feeley, on Friday, while her former teammates, Lori Lindsey and Heather O’Reilly, have an event on Thursday.

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

    Lindsey also will join Carli Lloyd, Alexi Lalas, and JP Dellacamera for a Fox Sports panel on Friday previewing the network’s coverage of this summer’s World Cup.

    Guests from abroad will include former Manchester United player Nicky Butt, former England women’s manager Mark Sampson, and Portugal men’s manager Roberto Martínez. Expect Martínez to draw a big crowd — and perhaps face a few questions about playing the United States in March.

    Roberto Martínez (right) with superstar Cristiano Ronaldo at Portugal’s UEFA Nations League title game win last summer.

    The Union will be well-represented, with manager Bradley Carnell, academy director Jon Scheer, reserve team head coach Ryan Richter, and goalkeeper coach Phil Wheddon scheduled to speak.

    U.S. Soccer also will have lots of dignitaries there: from president Cindy Cone to CEO JT Batson, sporting director Matt Crocker, vice president of strategy Emily Cosler, and Soccer Forward Foundation executive director Lex Chalat. A number of coaches from across national teams will hold seminars, though Mauricio Pochettino and Hayes won’t be there because of other commitments.

    How Lex Chalat rose from former Philly community newspaper editor to become an agent of change in global soccer

    “It will be great to get insight into the preparation for the World Cup,” Payne said. “The youth coaches in Ardmore, they want to know what’s going on with the big shots. It’s neat to hear. … All of a sudden, you’re connected to the highest level, and you have a personal seat there to what’s going on.”

    Saturday night will bring the annual Walt Chyzowych lifetime achievement awards, named for one of Philadelphia’s soccer legends, at the Marriott next door on Market Street. Former U.S. men’s star goalkeeper Tony Meola is this year’s honoree, and it’s always special when the event is in Chyzowych’s adopted home.

    Emma Hayes has long been a regular at the coaches’ convention, but she won’t be there this year because of the U.S. women’s team’s January camp.

    The public can attend the convention, though it has never been cheap. It’s $665 for the week this year for nonmembers, with extra outlays for some of major ceremonies. (The Chyzowych event doesn’t cost extra, but its regulars often fill the room.) Most attendees will have already registered when they arrive.

    There are day passes available from Wednesday through Saturday for $250 each. There also are tickets just for the exhibit hall, $50 for Thursday night and $75 for the day Friday or Saturday. It’s quite a scene, with vendors hawking everything from newfangled soccer balls to travel packages for youth tournaments.

    Day passes haven’t always existed for the convention, but Payne wanted them to expand the audience — particularly to youth coaches who don’t have the money to pay for the whole thing.

    “If they’re unsure what this is really about, it gives them a chance to get a glimpse of it and experience what this convention is,” he said. “And hopefully it whets their appetite, so they say next year, ‘You know, what I’m going to ask my club to fund me to go all four days,’ or ‘I’m going to ask my high school for professional development money.’”

    To kick-start a generation of city kids playing soccer, it will take more than just a place to play