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  • La Salle baseball ushers in a new era with 27-10 win over Maryland Eastern Shore: ‘This is almost six years in the making’

    La Salle baseball ushers in a new era with 27-10 win over Maryland Eastern Shore: ‘This is almost six years in the making’

    It certainly did not feel like baseball weather. Fans were bundled up in coats and blankets and hand warmers were the most coveted item of the day as mounds of snow sat behind the dugouts.

    Despite the 35 degree weather, there was an undeniable excitement in the air at Hank DeVincent Field — and for good reason.

    La Salle baseball was back for the first time in 1,728 days.

    The Explorer program shut down following the 2020-21 season but returned Friday for the first time since May 9, 2021, to face Maryland Eastern Shore. In front of a dedicated crowd braving the cold, La Salle beat the Hawks 27-10 to welcome the program back to the diamond.

    “This is almost six years in the making for me and two years in the making in this most recent run,” said head coach David Miller. “It’s just a lot of hard work with these kids.”

    La Salle’s loyal baseball community restored the program. Now it’s time to get it ‘back on the map.’

    La Salle’s on-field performance certainly left a strong first impression for fans, many of whom were getting their first look at Explorer baseball. They recorded 19 hits, led by second baseman Daniel Perez, who went 4-4 with a home run and three RBIs. Right handed pitcher Shawn Karpaitis threw five innings and gave up one run in relief after UMES tied the game at eight in the second inning.

    While the outcome is a bright spot for the program, the atmosphere brought even more excitement.

    A major tenet of La Salle’s three-step plan to bring back baseball was getting the field up to Division I standards. The program made sure there was new padding in the outfield and got the scoreboard up to date. The season-opener was not initially supposed to be in North Philadelphia, but issues with UMES’ field moved the first series of the year to La Salle.

    And the Explorer faithful were ready to support their program.

    La Salle outfielder Kosei Suzuki reacts after scoring during the first inning against the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks at Hank DeVincent Field.

    Fans filled bleachers behind the home dugout and parents occupied the grass along the first base line.

    “There’s a lot of excitement around the program,” said Ed Litsky, father of freshman pitcher Josh Litsky. “I know from a parent perspective there’s a lot of excitement. The coaches and players seem really into it. It’s just amazing.”

    The baseball team also got immense support from fellow student athletes. They helped fill the bleachers and the standing area to provide a boost to the players and even offered some heckling of the Hawks.

    “Other student athletes on campus were all very supportive today, coming to my office in the morning and wishing us luck,” Miller said. “I know I saw rugby out here, girls lacrosse, soccer and a couple of fraternities heckling a bit.”

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    The players enjoyed a chance to usher in a new era of La Salle baseball. Some, like center fielder Chase Swain, had been waiting since 2019 to play for the Explorers, while others, like Perez, followed Miller after he raved about his time at La Salle.

    “Coach Miller always talked about [La Salle] at Manhattan,” Perez said. “I knew the program had shut down and he has a lot of good words to say about this program. I knew he wanted to come back here and it sucked that when I hit the portal last year, I probably would have come here if there was a team. It’s just super special to be able to play for him.”

    La Salle’s Jayden Novak (left) celebrates with teammate Chase Swain during the fifth inning against Maryland Eastern Shore on Friday.

    Friday wasn’t about the past. La Salle is excited about its future and a chance to kick-starting a new era.

    “It’s a great day for La Salle Athletics and it’s a great day for La Salle baseball,” Miller said. “[The fan support] is Philly in a nutshell.”

  • Strip club shooter sentenced for killing a Good Samaritan, prosecutors say

    A Trenton man was sentenced to up to 60 years in Pennsylvania state prison for fatally shooting a bystander at a Morrisville strip club.

    On Friday, Pedro E. Rodriguez, 29, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, discharging a firearm into an occupied structure, possession of an instrument of crime, and four counts of recklessly endangering another person in the killing of 28-year-old Mekhi Norman in August 2024.

    According to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, Norman was shot at a Morrisville nightclub while acting as a Good Samaritan. He did not know Rodriguez but was helping the club’s staff following an altercation at the doorway.

    Surveillance video shown during the sentencing hearing shows Rodriguez walking to his car, getting a handgun, loading it, and returning to the club, according to a district attorney’s office statement. Then, he fired into the building as security staff were attempting to remove his nephew, according to the statement.

    Norman, who was helping the staff when he was shot, was struck in the back of the head, the left thigh, and under both armpits, as 17 patrons and employees remained at the club.

    Rodriguez fled but later turned himself in and was held on $5 million bail at the Bucks County Correctional Facility. He now faces between 30 and 60 years in state prison.

    Rodriguez’s nephew, 22-year-old Kevin Perez, entered a guilty plea in 2025 to several counts of simple assault, disorderly conduct, and harassment for assaulting staff. The Trenton resident was sentenced to 10 to 23 months in the Bucks County Correctional Facility, followed by a year of probation.

    During the sentencing hearing, Deputy District Attorney Ed Louka described Norman as a good father, a good son, and a good friend who died being a Good Samaritan, according to the statement.

    Offering an account of how life has changed, the mother of Norman’s daughter told the court that the child still cries waiting for her father to call in the mornings and nights, as he used to, according to prosecutors.

    “While this sentence ensures that the defendant is held accountable for his senseless and violent actions, we know it cannot fill the void left in the lives of those who loved Mr. Norman,” District Attorney Joe Khan said.

  • Brazilian au pair gets 10-year sentence for scheme to kill lover’s wife and another man

    Brazilian au pair gets 10-year sentence for scheme to kill lover’s wife and another man

    FAIRFAX, Va. — An au pair who schemed with her employer-turned-lover to kill his wife and another man received a 10-year prison sentence on Friday.

    Prosecutors had recommended Juliana Peres Magalhães walk free after she pleaded guilty to a downgraded manslaughter charge in the February 2023 killing of Joseph Ryan. Instead of being tried for second-degree murder, she became their star witness, testifying that she had fatally shot Ryan as Brendan Banfield was fatally stabbing his wife, Christine, in the couple’s bedroom.

    Brendan Banfield was convicted by a jury this month of aggravated murder in the deaths of his wife and Ryan.

    “I know my remorse cannot bring you peace,” Magalhães told the victims’ families on Friday, wiping away tears and muffling sobs. “I hope you can someday understand that I really did not believe his plan would actually happen.”

    Instead of sentencing her to time served, Judge Penney Azcarate delivered the maximum possible sentence to the woman from Brazil.

    “Let’s get it straight: You do not deserve anything other than incarceration and a life of reflection on what you have done to the victim and his family. May it weigh heavily on your soul,” the judge said.

    At Banfield’s trial, Magalhães testified that she and the IRS agent created an account in the name of his wife, a pediatric intensive care nurse, on a social media platform for people interested in sexual fetishes. Ryan connected with the account and agreed to meet for a sexual encounter involving a knife.

    Magalhães, then 22, said she and Brendan Banfield took the couple’s 4-year-old child to the basement, and then found Ryan surprising Christine Banfield with a knife in the couple’s bedroom. She said Brendan Banfield shot Ryan and then began stabbing his wife in the neck. When she saw Ryan moving, Magalhães said, she fired the second shot that killed him.

    The au pair wasn’t arrested until eight months later, and hasn’t left jail since. Prosecutors raised concerns that if she were to be allowed bail, she would flee to Brazil or be deported by immigration officials before they could finish their case. She didn’t talk with investigators for more than a year, until she changed her mind as her trial date approached.

    “I lost myself in a relationship, and left my morals and values behind,” Magalhães told the judge.

    “You were texting and speaking to Joseph Ryan, encouraging him to bring a knife and ultimately, through the phone conversation, getting his consent, knowing all along you were bringing him to his death,” the judge responded.

    Ryan’s mother, Deirdre Fisher, told the court that her son, born days before Christmas, was her “greatest gift.” Three years after his killing, she can’t bear taking down their Christmas tree. An urn with Ryan’s ashes sits in front of the decoration.

    “I say good morning to him each day when I turn on the tree’s lights,” she said. “But of course that’s not Joe sitting there. He can’t say ‘I love you’ back.”

    Sangeeta Ryan described her nephew as “inquisitive, curious, smart, charming and so dang talkative.” She said he loved martial arts and role-playing with his friends. She also noted that he had moved in with his octogenarian grandmother to care for her.

    “His sudden murder devastated his grandma — she could no longer live in the family home without Joe,” his aunt said. The woman quietly moved away, hoping to avoid her memories and the reporters knocking at the door.

    Christine Banfield’s relatives attended Friday’s hearing. A judge has said Banfield will be sentenced in May.

  • Feds open a perjury probe into ICE officers’ testimony about the shooting of a Venezuelan man

    Feds open a perjury probe into ICE officers’ testimony about the shooting of a Venezuelan man

    MINNEAPOLIS — Federal authorities have opened a criminal probe into whether two immigration officers lied under oath about a shooting in Minneapolis last month, as all charges were dropped against two Venezuelan men.

    Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons said Friday that his agency opened a joint probe with the Justice Department after video evidence revealed “sworn testimony provided by two separate officers appears to have made untruthful statements” about the shooting of one of the Venezuelan men during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown across the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

    The officers, whose names were not disclosed, are on administrative leave while the investigation is carried out, he said. Lyons said the two ICE officers could be fired and face criminal prosecution.

    “Lying under oath is a serious federal offense,” said Lyons, adding that the U.S. attorney’s office is actively investigating.

    “The men and women of ICE are entrusted with upholding the rule of law and are held to the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and ethical conduct,” Lyons said. “Violations of this sacred sworn oath will not be tolerated. ICE remains fully committed to transparency, accountability, and the fair enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws.”

    Earlier Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Paul A. Magnuson dismissed felony assault charges against Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who were accused of beating an ICE officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel during a Jan. 14 fracas. The officer fired a single shot from his handgun, striking Sosa-Celis in his right thigh.

    The cases were dropped after a highly unusual motion to dismiss from U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Daniel N. Rosen, who said “newly discovered evidence” was “materially inconsistent with the allegations” made against the two men in a criminal complaint and at a hearing last month.

    The reversal follows a string of high-profile shootings involving federal immigration agents in which eyewitness statements and video evidence have called into question claims made to justify using deadly force. Dozens of felony cases against protesters accused of assaulting or impeding federal officers have also crumbled.

    The immigration lawyer representing Aljorna and Sosa-Celis said they are “overjoyed” that all charges have been dismissed. Had they been convicted, the two immigrants would have faced years in federal prison.

    “The charges against them were based on lies by an ICE agent who recklessly shot into their home through a closed door,” said attorney Brian D. Clark. “They are so happy justice is being served.”

    It is unclear whether the men could still be deported.

    A chase, claims of an attack, and a shot fired

    Last month, an FBI investigator said in a now-discredited court affidavit that ICE officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Aljorna on Jan. 14. He crashed the vehicle and fled on foot toward the apartment duplex where he lived. An immigration officer chased Aljorna who — according to the government — violently resisted arrest.

    The complaint alleged Sosa-Celis and another man attacked the officer with a snow shovel and a broom handle as the officer and Aljorna struggled on the ground. The officer, who is not named in court filings, fired his handgun, striking Sosa-Celis. The men ran into an apartment and eventually were arrested.

    After the shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem attacked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, accusing the Democrats of “encouraging impeding and assault against our law enforcement which is a federal crime, a felony.”

    “What we saw last night in Minneapolis was an attempted murder of federal law enforcement,” Noem said in a Jan. 15 statement. “Our officer was ambushed and attacked by three individuals who beat him with snow shovels and the handles of brooms. Fearing for his life, the officer fired a defensive shot.”

    The Department of Homeland Security did not responded Friday to questions about whether Noem stands by those statements, which ICE — part of DHS — says are now under investigation.

    Robin M. Wolpert, a defense attorney for Sosa-Celis in the criminal case, said she was pleased ICE and the Justice Department are publicly acknowledging and investigating apparent untruthful statements by the two ICE officers.

    “These untruthful statements had serious consequences for my client and his family,” Wolpert said. “My client is a crime victim.”

    Clark, the immigration lawyer for Aljorna and Sosa-Celis, urged the government to release the name of the ICE officer who shot his client and charge him.

    Court filings show state authorities have opened their own criminal investigation into the shooting, though the FBI has thus far refused to share evidence, provide the name of the ICE officer who fired his weapon or make him available for an interview.

    Holes already apparent in prosecution case

    Rosen’s motion seeking to drop the charges did not detail what new evidence had emerged or what falsehoods had been in the government’s prior filings, but cracks began to appear in the government’s case during a Jan. 21 court hearing to determine whether the accused men could be released pending trial.

    In court, the ICE officer’s account of the moments before the shooting differed significantly from testimony from the two defendants and three eyewitnesses. Available video evidence did not support the ICE officer’s account of being assaulted with a broom and snow shovel.

    Aljorna and Sosa-Celis denied assaulting the officer. Testimony from a neighbor and the men’s romantic partners also did not support the agent’s account that he had been attacked with a broom or shovel or that a third person was involved.

    Frederick Goetz, a lawyer representing Aljorna, said his client had a broomstick in his hand and threw it at the agent as he ran toward the house. Wolpert, representing Sosa-Celis, said he had been holding a shovel but was retreating into the home when the officer fired, wounding him. The men’s attorneys said the prosecution’s case relied wholly on testimony from the agent who fired the gun.

    Neither Aljorna and Sosa-Celis had violent criminal records. Both had been working as DoorDash delivery drivers at night in an attempt to avoid encounters with federal agents, their attorneys said.

    Aljorna and Sosa-Celis retreated into their upstairs apartment and barricaded the door, so federal officers used tear gas to try to force the men out, the FBI agent said. Concerned about the safety of two children under 2 inside the home, Aljorna and Sosa-Celis surrendered.

    A third Venezuelan man, Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez Ledezma, who lived in the apartment downstairs was also arrested.

    Though he was never federally charged, a Jan. 30 court petition seeking his release says Hernandez Ledezma was detained without a warrant and within hours flown to an ICE detention facility in Texas. He alleges his removal was to prevent him becoming a material eyewitness who could undercut the federal government’s case and help the Minnesota state investigation.

    Hernandez Ledezma was returned to Minnesota and discharged from ICE custody on Monday after a federal judge ordered his release.

  • ‘Quad God’ Ilia Malinin falls twice in disastrous Olympic free skate; Mikhail Shaidorov claims gold

    ‘Quad God’ Ilia Malinin falls twice in disastrous Olympic free skate; Mikhail Shaidorov claims gold

    MILAN — Ilia Malinin wound his way through the tunnels beneath the Milano Ice Skating Arena on Friday night, trying in vain to explain — or even just understand — exactly went wrong in an Olympic free skate that could only be described as a disaster.

    In the arena, Mikhail Shaidorov was taking a victory lap wearing the gold medal everyone expected the American to win.

    Meanwhile, Coldplay’s song “Viva La Vida,” and the lyrics that begin, “I used to rule the world …” played over the loudspeakers.

    In one of the biggest upsets in figure skating history, Malinin fell twice and made several other glaring mistakes, sending the “Quad God” tumbling all the way off the podium and leaving a star-studded crowd in stunned silence. And that cleared the way for Shaidorov, the mercurial but talented jumping dynamo from Kazakhstan, to claim the first gold medal for his nation at these Winter Games.

    “Honestly, I still haven’t been able to process what just happened,” Malinin said. “I mean, going into this competition, I felt really good this whole day. Feeling really solid. I just thought that all I needed to do was trust the process that I’ve always been doing.

    “But it’s not like any other competition. It’s the Olympics, and I think people [don’t] realize the pressure and the nerves that actually happen from the inside. So it was really just something that overwhelmed me and I just felt like just I had no control.”

    Ilia Malinin falls during his free skate.

    Out of control is a good way to summarize the performance.

    The 21-year-old Shaidorov finished with a career-best 291.58 points, while Yuma Kagiyama earned his second consecutive Olympic silver medal, and Japanese teammate Shun Sato took bronze.

    Then there was Malinin, also 21, who dropped all the way to eighth. The two-time world champion finished with 264.49 points, his worst total score in nearly four years and one that ended a two-plus year unbeaten streak covering 14 competitions.

    “Honestly, yeah, I was not expecting that,” Malinin said. “I felt, going into this competition, I was so ready. I just felt ready going on that ice. I think maybe that might have been the reason, is I was too confident it was going to go well.”

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    Much of Malinin’ journey during the Milan Cortina Games had felt a little bit off.

    He was beaten by Kagiyama in the short program of the team event, later acknowledging for the first time the pressure of winning at the Olympics was starting to get to him. And he still wasn’t quite his dominant self in the team free skate, even though a head-to-head win over Sato was enough to clinch the second consecutive gold medal for the American squad.

    But by the time of his individual short program Tuesday night, Malinin’s fearless swagger and unrivaled spunk seemed to be back. He took a five-point lead over Kagiyama and Adam Siao Him Fa of France that seemed insurmountable entering Friday night.

    “Going into the competition,” Malinin said, “I felt like this is what I wanted to do, this is what we planned, this is what I practiced, and really just needed to go out there and do what I always do. That did not happen, and I don’t know why. ”

    Malinin had decided to practice early in the day at U.S. Figure Skating’s alternate training base in Bergamo, just outside of Milan, and that gave him a brief reprieve from the pressure of the Olympic bubble. And he was the essence of calm throughout his warmup, never once falling in all of his practice jumps while wearing his familiar glittering black-and-gold ensemble.

    Then came the performance that could haunt Malinin for the rest of his career.

    As the atmospheric music with his own voice-over began, he opened with a quad flip, one of a record-tying seven quads in his planned program. Then he appeared to be going after the quad Axel that only he has ever landed in competition and had to bail out of it.

    Malinin recovered to land his quad Lutz before his problems really began.

    He only doubled a planned quad loop, throwing his timing off. He fell on a quad Lutz, preventing him from doing the second half of the quad Lutz-triple toe loop combination. And in his final jumping pass, which was supposed to be a high-scoring quad Salchow-triple Axel combination, Malinin only could muster a double Salchow — and he fell on that.

    “He never messes up,” Italy’s Daniel Grassl said, “so, obviously, we’re all a little surprised by how it went.”

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    By the time the music stopped, Malinin was left trying to mask his sorrow for a crowd that included Nathan Chen, the 2022 Olympic champion, along with seven-time Olympic gold medal gymnast Simone Biles, actor Jeff Goldblum, and his wife, Emilie.

    “I knew that I could not have necessarily a perfect program and still manage to have a good skate. But just really, something felt off,” Malinin said, “and I don’t know what it was, specifically. I’m still trying to understand what that was.”

    Shaidorov seemed just as shocked as everyone as the realization hit that he had won the gold medal.

    He was only in sixth after the short program and an afterthought as the night began. But the world silver medalist, known for high-flying jumps but maddening inconsistency, delivered the performance of his life, landing five quads in a technically flawless program.

    “It was my goal,” Shaidorov said simply, when asked about the gold medal. “It’s why I wake up and go to training. That’s it.”

    Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan (right) reacts in the kiss and cry after his free skate on Friday.
  • Journalist Don Lemon pleads not guilty to civil rights charges in Minnesota church protest

    Journalist Don Lemon pleads not guilty to civil rights charges in Minnesota church protest

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — Former CNN host turned independent journalist Don Lemon pleaded not guilty to federal civil rights charges Friday, following a protest at a Minnesota church where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor. Four others also pleaded not guilty in the case.

    Lemon insists he was at the Cities Church in St. Paul to chronicle the Jan. 18 protest but was not a participant. The veteran journalist vowed to fight what he called “baseless charges” and protect his free speech rights.

    “For more than 30 years, I’ve been a journalist, and the power and protection of the First Amendment has been the underpinning of my work. The First Amendment, the freedom of the press, are the bedrock of our democracy,” Lemon said outside the courthouse after his arraignment. “And like all of you here in Minnesota, the great people of Minnesota, I will not be intimidated, I will not back down.”

    Dozens of supporters gathered outside the courthouse, chanting “Pam Bondi has got to go” and “Protect the press.”

    ‘We the people have to stand for our rights’

    Civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong was among the other defendants who pleaded not guilty Friday. The prominent local activist was the subject of a doctored photo posted on official White House social media that falsely showed her crying during her arrest. The picture is part of a deluge of AI-altered imagery that has circulated since the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers in Minneapolis amid President Donald Trump’s administration’s immigration crackdown.

    Levy Armstrong echoed Lemon’s defiant words after the hearing.

    “We the people have to stand for our rights. We have to stand for the Constitution. We have to stand for our First Amendment rights to freedom of the speech, some freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press,” she said.

    “Today we have the federal government trying to weaponize the Department of Justice in order to silence us, in order to prevent us from speaking the truth,” Levy Armstrong said. ”They are trying to prevent us from calling out a manifest injustice.”

    All of the defendants have been charged under the FACE Act

    Protesters interrupted a service at the Southern Baptist church last month, chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.

    In total, nine people have been charged under the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in relation to the church protest. The FACE Act prohibits interference or intimidation of “any person by force, threat of force, or physical obstruction exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.”

    Two more defendants accused in the protest are scheduled for arraignment next week, including another independent journalist, Georgia Fort.

    Penalties can range up to a year in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

    Attorneys for journalists seek to pierce veil of grand jury secrecy

    Lawyers for Lemon and Fort filed a joint motion with the court Friday seeking transcripts of the normally secret grand jury proceedings that resulted in the indictments against the nine defendants. They maintained that Lemon and Fort were at the church protest in their capacity as journalists covering the story.

    The defense attorneys noted that several judges — including the chief federal judge for Minnesota — found no probable cause to support the complaints that prosecutors first tried to file against the two journalists, so they refused to sign arrest warrants for Lemon or Fort before the government turned to the grand jury.

    They said those refusals raise serious concerns about whether the government made misleading or inaccurate statements of law and/or facts to the grand jury. And they expressed concern that President Donald Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi and other Justice Department officials put undue pressure on prosecutors to charge them.

    “In the United States of America, we do not prosecute journalists for doing their job. That happens in Russia, China, Iran and other authoritarian regimes. And yet the government sold this unconstitutional mess to the grand jury,” they wrote. “Disclosure of the grand jury proceedings is necessary to ensure the government did not mislead or mis-instruct it.”

    The attorneys also said prosecutors told them they will oppose the motion.

    Protest provoked conservative religious backlash

    Renee Carlson, an attorney with True North Legal, which is representing Cities Church, said in a statement that by pleading not guilty Lemon and others are “doubling down on their claim that the press can do whatever they want under the auspices of journalism.”

    “The First Amendment does not protect premeditated schemes to violate the sanctity of a sanctuary, disrupt worship services, or intimidate children,” Carlson said. “There is no ‘press pass’ to trespass on church property or conspire to invade religious worship.”

    The church protest drew sharp complaints from conservative religious and political leaders. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned in a social media post at the time: “President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship.” Even clergy who oppose the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics expressed discomfort.

    Former federal prosecutor is part of Lemon’s legal team

    One of Lemon’s attorneys who was in court Friday is Joe Thompson, one of several former prosecutors who have left the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office in recent weeks citing frustration with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown in the state and the Justice Department’s response to the killing of Good and Pretti.

    Thompson had led the sprawling investigation of major public program fraud cases for the prosecutors office until he resigned last month. The Trump administration has cited the fraud cases, in which most defendants have come from the state’s large Somali community, as justification for its immigration crackdown.

  • Philly’s tiniest used bookshop opens in the back of a children’s dress shop on Passyunk Avenue

    Philly’s tiniest used bookshop opens in the back of a children’s dress shop on Passyunk Avenue

    Little Yenta has to be the tiniest used bookshop in Philly. And it’s certainly the only one located in the back of a 40-year-old children’s dressmaking studio.

    Ariel and Simon Censor, partners in life and now books, opened Little Yenta Books, their self-described “micro-bookstore,” on East Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia on Saturday.

    Situated, speakeasy-style, in a postage-stamp-sized loft above the Painted Lady children’s boutique, the 150-square-foot shop is nearly bursting with over 1,500 titles, including literary fiction, science fiction, poetry, history, graphic novels, plays, and first-edition classics.

    Simon and Ariel Censor, owners of Little Yenta Books, showing one of their favorite books they acquired, “In Cold Blood,” a novel by Truman Capote, in their small bookshop in Philadelphia, Pa., on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026.

    “We can’t be everything to everyone,” said Ariel Censor, 27, preparing the spine-packed space with her husband on a recent afternoon. “But we want to be something to most people.”

    The shop is a passion project.

    The Haverford College graduates have long been aficionados of used bookshops — believers in the magic of unexpectedly stumbling upon a literary treasure in a sea of cast-off paperbacks. Their South Philly rowhouse could double as a secondhand store itself, the couple jokes.

    “You really couldn’t use the living room anymore,” Ariel Censor said with a laugh. “It was all books.”

    Last year, they decided to host pop-up used book sales around the neighborhood, including at the popular Cartesian Brewery. It was a hit.

    “We got lots of people coming and saying that they wished there was a permanent used bookstore around here,” said Ariel Censor, who works as an associate communications director at the Penn Center for Impact Philanthropy.

    Molly’s Books & Records on Ninth Street in the Italian Market has long been an iconic South Philly used book spot. A Novel Idea, a popular independent bookshop, opened on East Passyunk Avenue in 2018 and mostly deals in new books.

    The couple believed South Philly could handle another used book destination. Selling nearly 100 books at the brewery event, the couple decided to make their dream a reality.

    Searching for a brick and mortar space they could afford — and that boasted a little South Philly charm — they found it in the back of Painted Lady. It’s in a small storefront at 1910 E. Passyunk, where dressmaker Angela D’Alonzo has made custom baby outfits for decades.

    Little Yenta Books is a small bookshop in Philadelphia, Pa., on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026.

    It’s a case of old South Philly meeting new South Philly. For $400 a month, she offered the couple a little loft area storage space five steps above her shop, with no heat or hot water. Warmth creeps up from the basement, explained Simon Censor, 29, who works for a real estate firm. And hot water is not a must for book buying, they added.

    “Your hands are just a little cold, and that’s OK,” Ariel said.

    Ariel and Simon Censor have transformed the tiny space into a literary thicket, with shelves and stacks of titles from their home collections, and ones they’ve purchased from estate sales and sellers. Rare early editions and classics by Truman Capote, James Baldwin, E.L. Doctorow, Octavia Butler, and Willa Cather. Hard-to-find paperback editions of George Orwell, Albert Camus, Italian novelist Elena Ferrante, and cult favorite Charles Bukowski.

    “I always want to fit more books in here,” said Ariel Censor.

    Ariel Censor shows one of the books she and Simon Censor acquired, “The Plague,” by Albert Camus, in their small bookshop in Philadelphia, Pa., on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026.

    On a bulletin board hang keepsakes the couple have discovered in the books, including notes, prayer cards, letters, poems, baseball cards, a high school class schedule from the 1990s, and a vintage recipe for triple chocolate cake.

    “I actually want to make that someday,” said Ariel Censor.

    Opened Thursdays and Fridays from 4:30 to 7 p.m., and weekends from noon to 6 p.m., the spirit of the shop is found in its name, the couple said. In American Yiddish parlance, Yenta can mean matchmaker. For Ariel and Simon Censor, that means that special feeling of playing matchmaker between a reader and a book.

    “Just coming in and stumbling upon a book that you will love,” said Ariel Censor.

    “Complete Cheerful Cherub” by Rebecca McCann is a book in Little Yenta Books in Philadelphia, Pa., on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026.
  • Shane Gillis’ hit Netflix series ‘Tires’ receives $6 million in tax credits to film its third season

    Shane Gillis’ hit Netflix series ‘Tires’ receives $6 million in tax credits to film its third season

    The hit Netflix series Tires is returning to the Philadelphia area, with more than a few extra dollars to spare.

    The show, starring Mechanicsburg, Pa., native and former Mantua resident comedian Shane Gillis was approved for a $6 million tax credit for its forthcoming production in the Philly region.

    The tax credit was issued through the state’s Film Production Tax Credit Program, which is overseen by the Pa. Department of Community and Economic Development.

    A still from Mechanicsburg native Shane Gillis’ Netflix comedy “Tires” in 2025.

    The program offers a 25% to 30% tax credit to productions that spent at least 60% of their total operational budget in the state.

    Nicole Shiner, co-executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office alongside Erin Wagner, said incentives like these are vital for large-scale productions like Tires to land and remain in the region..

    “The tax credit program is the primary economic development tool that allows Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia specifically, to compete nationally and internationally for projects the tax credit supports,” Shiner said.

    “Film and TV production is very mobile, and production companies compare states based on infrastructure, financial competitiveness, workforce in the area, and overall reliability,” she said. “Without a strong incentive program, we simply wouldn’t be competitive in attracting major episodic TV or studio features.”

    Tires, created by Gillis and his longtime collaborators Steven Gerben and John McKeever, is set and filmed in West Chester. It premiered on Netflix in May 2024 and was soon renewed for a second season. In July 2025, the show was renewed for a third season.

    “When a series returns for additional seasons, that signals the area has stability,” Shiner said. “That consistency is what allows businesses and workers to grow with our industry. People can stay, create families, make plans, and pay mortgages.”

    The Greater Philadelphia Film Commission co-executive directors Erin Wagner (left) and Nicole Shiner pose for a portrait outside Philadelphia’s City Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025.

    She is glad the show is shooting on location. “When you see stuff on location, it gives you a Pennsylvania authentic feel that you really can’t make up. We love that,” she said.

    Pennsylvania Film Office officials expect the forthcoming production to generate an estimated $24 million to the local economy in return, including 1,709 jobs.

    Based on the local film office’s projections, Shiner said the show’s economic impact could reach as much as $50 million across the region.

    The estimate is based on professional services, goods, and production costs linked to shows of this magnitude. These operational costs include local cast and crew wages, equipment rentals, construction, transportation, catering, security, lodging, and other expenses, which are then injected into the regional economy.

    The state film office awarded $28 million to the Pittsburgh-set and shot series Mayor of Kingstown, starring Jeremy Renner, Dianne Wiest, and Edie Falco.

    Pennsylvania Film Office officials said the two productions combined are expected to inject more than $131 million into the economy in direct expenditures, creating and supporting nearly 3,500 state jobs.

    Shane Gillis as Shane in the second season of “Tires.”

    Since the beginning of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration, the state’s Film Office has approved 135 new productions through the tax credit program.

    These productions are projected to inject over $1.34 billion in direct spending in over 34 counties in Pennsylvania, while supporting nearly 40,000 jobs and $505.3 million in state resident wages.

    “We are sandwiched between New York and New Jersey, and the tax credit program has been increasing astronomically over the last few years,“ Shiner said. ”It’s really important that Pennsylvania pays attention to this, if we’re going to remain competitive.”

  • Trump says change in power in Iran ‘would be the best thing that could happen’

    Trump says change in power in Iran ‘would be the best thing that could happen’

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that a change in power in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen” as the U.S. administration weighs whether to take military action against Tehran.

    Trump made the comments shortly after visiting with troops in Fort Bragg, N.C., and after he confirmed earlier in the day that he’s deploying a second aircraft carrier group to the Mideast for potential military action against Iran.

    “It seems like that would be the best thing that could happen,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters when asked about pressing for the ouster of the Islamic clerical rule in Iran. “For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking.”

    The president has suggested in recent weeks that his top priority is for Iran to further scale back its nuclear program, but on Friday he suggested that’s only one aspect of concessions the U.S. needs Iran to make.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who traveled to Washington this week for talks with Trump, has been pressing for any deal to include steps to neutralize Iran’s ballistic missile program and end its funding for proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

    “If we do it, that would be the least of the mission,” Trump said of targeting Tehran’s nuclear program, which suffered significant setbacks in U.S. military strikes last year.

    Iran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels.

    Trump’s comments advocating for a potential end to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s rule come just weeks after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a potential change in power in Iran would be “far more complex” than the administration’s recent effort to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power.

    Rubio, during a Senate hearing last month, noted that with Iran “you’re talking about a regime that’s in place for a very long time.”

    “So that’s going to require a lot of careful thinking, if that eventuality ever presents itself,” Rubio said.

    Trump said the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, is being sent from the Caribbean Sea to the Mideast to join other warships and military assets the U.S. has built up in the region.

    The planned deployment comes just days after Trump suggested another round of talks with the Iranians was at hand. Those negotiations didn’t materialize as one of Tehran’s top security officials visited Oman and Qatar this week and exchanged messages with U.S. intermediaries.

    “In case we don’t make a deal, we’ll need it,” Trump told reporters about the second carrier. He added, “It’ll be leaving very soon.”

    Already, Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another regional conflict in a Mideast still reeling from the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Iranians are beginning to hold 40-day mourning ceremonies for the thousands killed in Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month, adding to the internal pressure faced by the sanctions-battered Islamic Republic.

    The Ford, whose new deployment was first reported by the New York Times, will join the USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying guided-missile destroyers, which have been in the region for over two weeks. U.S. forces already have shot down an Iranian drone that approached the Lincoln on the same day last week that Iran tried to stop a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

    Trump in exchanges with reporters on Friday still offered measured hope that a deal can be struck with Iran.

    “Give us the deal that they should have given us the first time,” Trump said about how U.S. military action can be avoided. ”If they give us the right deal, we won’t do that.”

    Ford had been part of Venezuela strike force

    It would be a quick turnaround for the Ford, which Trump sent from the Mediterranean Sea to the Caribbean last October as the administration built up a huge military presence in the lead-up to the surprise raid last month that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

    It also appears to be at odds with the Trump administration’s national security and defense strategies, which put an emphasis on the Western Hemisphere over other parts of the world.

    In response to questions about the movement of the Ford, U.S. Southern Command said U.S. forces in Latin America will continue to “counter illicit activities and malign actors in the Western Hemisphere.”

    “While force posture evolves, our operational capability does not,” Col. Emanuel Ortiz, spokesperson for Southern Command, said in a statement. U.S. “forces remain fully ready to project power, defend themselves, and protect U.S. interests in the region.”

    The Ford strike group will bring more than 5,000 additional troops to the Middle East but few capabilities or weapons that don’t already exist within the Lincoln group. Having two carriers will double the number of aircraft and munitions that are available to military planners and Trump.

    Given the Ford’s current position in the Caribbean, it will likely be weeks before it is off the coast of Iran.

    Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to agree to constrain its nuclear program and earlier over Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

    Iran and the United States held indirect talks in Oman a week ago, and Trump later warned Tehran that failure to reach an agreement with his administration would be “very traumatic.” Similar talks last year ultimately broke down in June as Israel launched what became a 12-day war on Iran that included the U.S. bombing Iranian nuclear sites.

    Asked by a reporter about the new negotiations, Trump said Friday that “I think they’ll be successful. And if they’re not, it’s going to be a bad day for Iran, very bad.”

    Long carrier deployments affect crews and ships

    The USS Ford, meanwhile, first set sail in late June 2025, which means the crew will soon have been deployed for eight months. While it is unclear how long the ship will remain in the Middle East, the move sets the crew up for an unusually long deployment.

    The Navy’s top officer, Adm. Daryl Caudle, told reporters last month that keeping the Ford longer at sea would be “highly disruptive” and that he was “a big nonfan of extensions.”

    Carriers are typically deployed for six or seven months. “When it goes past that, that disrupts lives, it disrupts things … funerals that were planned, marriages that were planned, babies that were planned,” Caudle said.

    He said extending the Ford would complicate its maintenance and upkeep by throwing off the schedule of repairs, adding more wear and tear, and increasing the equipment that will need attention.

    For comparison, the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower had a nine-month deployment to the Middle East in 2023 and 2024, when it spent much of its time engaged with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The ship entered maintenance in early 2025 as scheduled, but it blew past its planned completion date of July and remains in the shipyard to this day.

    Caudle told the Associated Press in a recent interview that his vision is to deploy smaller, newer ships when possible instead of consistently turning to huge aircraft carriers.

  • ICE operation causes students at Lindenwold bus stop to flee in panic, school district says

    ICE operation causes students at Lindenwold bus stop to flee in panic, school district says

    The Lindenwold School District reported Thursday that fourth- and fifth-grade students waiting at a bus stop ran away in a panic when a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement operation occurred nearby.

    The incident happened in the morning as the students were waiting to take a bus to school from the Woodland Village Apartments, the district said in a statement.

    Superintendent Kristin O’Neil said about 44 students were waiting at the bus when unmarked vehicles arrived at the complex. Officers in tactical gear and wearing masks fanned out, she said.

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    “The presence of multiple enforcement vehicles caused significant fear and confusion, and several students ran from the bus stop. Our bus driver acted quickly and responsibly, circling back multiple times to ensure as many children as possible were safely transported to school,” the district said, also thanking the bus driver.

    A Ring video from the apartment complex provided to some news outlets shows the children running with some shouting: “ICE! ICE!”

    “Upon arrival to school, many children were understandably upset and emotional,” the district said.

    “All students currently in school are safe,” the district said. “ICE Agents are NOT at the Lindenwold School District.”

    O’Neil said the students attend the district’s school No. 5. About 20 students didn’t show up Thursday, she said. The district will work with families of students who will be marked absent, she said.

    “To us, these are our children,” O’Neil said.

    About 60% of the district’s 3,100 students are Hispanic, according to its latest school performance report. O’Neil said it is not unusual for parents to keep their children home when there are reports of ICE activity in the area.

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    A district leader reached out to county and state representatives to alert them about the incident and to advocate for protocols that prioritize the safety of children during any future ICE operations, the district said.

    “Our students deserve to feel safe while waiting for their school bus and while attending school each day,” the district said.

    A spokesperson for ICE could not be reached for comment Thursday night.

    U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, (D., NJ), who represents the district, was among several dozen people who showed up Friday at an “ICE Out of Lindenwold” protest at Lindenwold Borough Hall. The protest was announced before the bus stop incident.

    “Schoolchildren are not criminals, and enforcement actions must reflect that,” Norcross said in a statement. “… Our community will not be terrorized, and we will keep fighting to protect our neighborhoods.”

    Lindenwold, located about 16 miles southeast of Philadelphia, has been among several communities in Camden County that have been subject to ICE operations.

    County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. said in a statement Thursday night that “the absolute chaos sowed by this ICE operation in Lindenwold this morning was appalling.”

    Cappelli added that “we are short on facts and details about the intentions of ICE,” however at some point ICE called 911 to request local police assistance.

    “That said, the impact and fear that struck the children of our county was painful to watch, and I can’t imagine the anxiety and trauma that came from this incident,” Cappelli said.

    He added, “As a community, segments of our population are being terrorized and scared to leave their homes. This is no way for any of us to live.”

    County Commissioner Jonathan Young said in a statement: “As a former Lindenwold resident, I’m disgusted to watch the videos of children running in absolute terror along a busy county thoroughfare.”

    Young said that “no one wants criminals in their community,” but added that, “under Trump, ICE has been inhumane in how it conducts its operations. We’ve seen that firsthand throughout other cities in the country, and now it’s happening here.”