Philadelphia police have arrested a man suspected of killing one person and injuring another in a shooting last month near the sports complex at Broad Street and Packer Avenue in South Philadelphia.
Abou Keita, 22, was arrested Monday on the 2200 block of South Felton Street in Southwest Philadelphia, where police found him inside a parked vehicle. He was taken into custody and has been charged with murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, and other offenses in connection with the Oct. 9 shooting, officials said.
That incident unfolded just after 6:10 p.m., when police responded to reports of a shooting near the intersection of Packer Avenue and Broad Street. Responding officers found an Audi sedan with 15 bullet holes just south of the intersection, police said.
Police also discovered Hasson Mason, 23, laying in the street with multiple gunshot wounds to his face and body just north of the intersection on Broad. He was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Another victim, also a 23-year-old man, was found in front of Chickie’s & Pete’s, a popular restaurant near the sports complex on the 1500 block of Packer Avenue, with gunshot wounds to the torso. The victim, whom police did not identify, was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition.
Officials previously told The Inquirer that spent shell casings and a discarded ammunition magazine were discovered near the two shooting scenes. The Audi sedan police discovered struck another car on Broad Street, but the driver in the second vehicle was not harmed, police said.
Police have not said what may have led to the shooting.
A Main Line developer’s plan to turn a shuttered steel mill into a 2-million-square-foot AI data center on the outskirts of Conshohocken was stymied Monday when he was forced to withdraw his application over legal issues.
At the Plymouth Township zoning hearing board meeting, Brian O’Neill’s team had been set to make their case for an exception that would allow a data center to be built at 900 Conshohocken Rd.
The plan has faced neighborhood pushback, and hundreds of people packed the meeting room on Monday night. O’Neill did not appear to be among them.
Edmund J. Campbell Jr., an attorney for O’Neill, said they wished to move the hearing to the township’s December meeting. Then an attorney for Cleveland-Cliffs, the property owner, said the prospective buyer did not have legal standing to do so.
An agreement of sale had not been approved prior to the meeting, said Heather Fine, the attorney for Cleveland-Cliffs.
Heather Fine, an attorney for Cleveland-Cliffs, addresses the Plymouth Township zoning hearing board on Monday.
Campbell later asked Fine and then the board for permission to withdraw the application. Both declined to provide additional comment.
Residents who had spent more than a month organizing in opposition to the project said they had mixed emotions.
“It is the smallest of small wins, because we’re making it harder for something bad to happen to our community,” said Nick Liermann, an attorney who lives in a neighborhood near the former steel mill. “But we will be back in this room in a few months.”
“Communities can be effective,” said Patti Smith, a neighbor of Liermann who has spearheaded the local data-center opposition efforts. “We have to stand up for ourselves.”
With the withdrawal, the data center proposal is officially off the docket in Plymouth Township, zoning officer Joel Rowe said, but the applicant can resubmit a plan at any time, restarting the process.
What the data center proposal entailed
The now-closed Cleveland-Cliffs plant near Conshohocken is shown in this 2023 file photo. A data center has been proposed for the site.
This latest development in the Conshohocken-area data center saga occurs amid broader controversy about such facilities, which handle cloud-computing and storage for Big Tech companies.
The construction of data centers has been fast-tracked to meet the growing demands of power-hungry AI tools like ChatGPT. Politicians on both sides of the aisle, including President Donald Trump and Gov. Josh Shapiro, have pushed for more centers, while some neighbors near proposed sites have mounted fierce pushback.
In the Philadelphia area, Amazon is building a 2-million-square-foot data center on a former steel mill in Falls Township, Bucks County. And a 1.3-million-square-foot data center has been proposed at the former Pennhurst State School and Hospital in East Vincent Township, Chester County.
In Plymouth Township, O’Neill had not revealed the potential tenant for his proposed data center, but indicated it would be related to the life sciences.
The data center is proposed for a 66-acre property along the Schuylkill in the Connaughtown section of the township. The site is less than a mile from downtown Conshohocken. Its neighbors include the Proving Grounds sports complex, Tee’s Golf Center, and dozens of homes.
A crowd of people leave the Plymouth Township zoning hearing board meeting on Monday.
Some Connaughtown residents, along with other data center opponents from across the Philadelphia region, have rallied against the proposal. As of Tuesday, more than 1,000 people had signed an online petition urging township officials not to grant a zoning exception for the data center, citing concerns about light, noise, and air pollution; water usage; and electricity costs.
O’Neill, meanwhile, had argued that a data center should be permitted in the “heavy industrial” zone due its to similarity to a warehouse and laboratory, which are both permitted uses under township code. He had also touted the center’s potential economic benefits, saying it could bring in $21 million in annual tax revenue and attract other companies to the area.
“Industry hasn’t come and gone. It’s simply changed,” O’Neill said at last month’s planning board meeting. “What I’m proposing is to put 21st-century industry into an industrial building.”
Why the data center plan was withdrawn
The Plymouth Township zoning hearing board had been set to hear Brian O’Neill’s proposal for an AI data center outside Conshohocken on Monday.
At the start of Monday’s standing-room-only meeting, Plymouth Township officials were expecting a long and potentially tense night.
Solicitor Dave Sander began by warning the crowd that they must maintain decorum, and said he would cut off the proceedings at 10 p.m. Police officers stood outside the room.
Quickly, however, it became clear that Campbell, O’Neill’s attorney, had other plans, requesting a continuance to the Dec. 15 meeting. If granted, it would have marked the hearing’s second continuance: The proposal was initially supposed to be discussed at an October meeting.
“My client would like an additional opportunity to review with [community members] the project,” Campbell said. “When we proceed, if we have had a more robust dialogue with those participants, this hearing on the 15th would be significantly more efficient.”
Neighbors, some of whom had already attended a private meeting with O’Neill last month, objected to the last-minute request, saying that it was unlikely their minds would be changed if no significant changes had been made to the plan.
“Is the proposal significantly different than what was displayed to community members at the Oct. 8 meeting?” asked Smith, who organized neighborhood opposition.
Patti Smith, resident and organizer of anti-data center movement in the neighborhood, addresses the Plymouth Township zoning hearing board at Monday’s meeting.
“No,” Campbell responded, later adding that they wanted more residents to be able to attend the meeting and hear from their experts who could speak to concerns, including about noise and emissions.
Before the zoning hearing board could vote on the continuance request, Fine, the attorney for property owner Cleveland-Cliffs, took to the podium.
“There is no standing for the prospective buyer to proceed with the application this evening,” Fine said. “That authority was not extended to the prospective buyer from the owner. There is no LOI [letter of intent] in place.”
“My client delivered a signed agreement of sale to the owner this evening,” Campbell said. “Based on that, we have standing. … We made our application with the express consent of the owner.”
Sander turned to Fine, asking if that was true.
“It’s not entirely true, no,” Fine said. “The signed agreement that was transmitted to my colleague at 5:51 p.m. this evening had redline changes. Those have not been accepted by my client.”
She did not elaborate on what those changes entailed.
The zoning hearing board recessed before returning to accept Campbell’s motion to withdraw the application.
As a neighbor to the site, Liermann said the unexpected turn of events left him with a more sour taste in his mouth about the developer: “The last-minute request in an attempt to obstruct the process and dissuade the public from participating, and then this ‘confusion’ over whether or not an LOI was actually signed between the developer and the owner, is incredibly disturbing.”
This week in Philly music kicks off in Fishtown with six-time Grammy nominee Leon Thomas, continues in Atlantic City with a Brandy and Monica throwback pop double bill, and continues in North Philly with rising R&B singer and Justin Bieber producer Dijon.
Austin, Texas, hard rock band Die Spitz play the First Unitarian Church on Wednesday.
Wednesday, Nov. 19
Die Spitz
The music gets started on Wednesday with the four women of Austin, Texas. hard rock foursome Die Spitz, who recorded their unrelenting new album Something to Consume at Studio 4 in Conshohocken with producer Will Yip. Boone, N.C., queer punk duo Babe Haven opens. (8 p.m., First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., r5productions.com)
Leon Thomas
There weren’t a lot of surprises among the big names with the most nominations when the Grammys were announced this month. Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga topped the list, but Leon Thomas, who got six nods along with Bad Bunny and Sabrina Carpenter, was the surprise underdog.
The crooner and producer, who got his start as a Broadway child actor and star of Nickelodeon’s Victorious, is up for album of the year for Mutt, as well as best new artist and R&B performance for his viral NPR Tiny Desk version of the album’s title song — in which he compares himself unfavorably to a dog. His “Mutts Don’t Heel” tour comes to the Fillmore on Wednesday. (8 p.m., the Fillmore, 29 E. Allen St., livenation.com)
Also: There’s live music at Old City vinyl listening room 48 Record Bar. James Everhart of Cosmic Guilt teams with New York songwriter Keenan O’Meara on Wednesday; Hannah Taylor sings and Jake Zubkoff plays keys on Sunday.
Hannah Cohen plays Johnny Brenda’s on Thursday. Her new album is “Earthstar Mountain.”
Thursday, Nov. 20
Hannah Cohen
Hannah Cohen’s Earthstar Mountain is a dreamy, pastoral album that also delivers a sweet kick. She recorded it with producer partner Sam Evian at their studio in a barn in upstate New York. With Sufjan Stevens and Clairo guesting, it’s a 2025 standout releaser. (Salami Rose Joe Louis opens. 8 p.m., Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 Frankford Ave., johnnybrendas.com)
The New Mastersounds
British funkateers the New Mastersounds are saying goodbye — at least for a while. The band whose tight Hammond organ-heavy soul-jazz sound bears the influences of Philly keyboard greats Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff, plays its “Ta-Ta for Now” tour on Thursday. (8 p.m., Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, tixr.com)
Now, Gallo has a new album that takes him in a more personal direction, called Checkmate, his second on the Kill Rock Stars label. It’s filled with subtly evocative folk-flavored, even jazzy, music that detours from the bruising garage rock he’s become known for. Gallo plays Free at Noon at Ardmore Music Hall. (Noon, Ardmore Music Hall, eventbrite.com)
Brandy and Monica performing in Indianapolis in October on “The Boy Is Mine Tour,” which comes to Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall on Saturday.
Bar Italia
This month’s edition of David Pianka’s Making Time dance party has an intriguing live band headliner in Bar Italia, the London-based trio named after an iconic Soho coffee bar. The band’s new album, Some Like It Hot, wears the influence of Brit-pop band Pulp on its sleeve. New York rock band Voyeur also plays, along with sets by Dave P., Mario Cotto, Shai FM, and K Wata. (9 p.m., Warehouse on Watts, 923 N. Watts St., wowphilly.com)
Stinking Lizaveta
Longstanding West Philly doom metal trio Stinking Lizaveta‘s name was inspired by a character in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. The band released its 1996 album Hopelessness and Shame — recorded by the late Steve Albini — on vinyl for the first time this March. On Friday, they headline Johnny Brenda’s with Deathbird Earth and Channls. (8 p.m., Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 Frankford Ave., johnnybrendas.com)
Tom Morello
Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello plays the Music Box at the Borgata in Atlantic City. It will be an agit-pop act of resistance in a hotel casino within earshot of chiming slot machines. Morello’s repertoire is made up of roiling Rage songs, Woody Guthrie, MC5, and John Lennon and Yoko Ono covers, plus originals in his rabble-rousing folk singer mode as the Nightwatchman. He’ll have a full band behind him, plus the help of San Diego hip-hop group the Neighborhood Kids as his special guests. (9 p.m., Music Box at the Borgata, 1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City, ticketmaster.com)
Saturday, Nov. 22
Mo Lowda & the Humble
Philly quarter Mo Lowda & the Humble closes out a five-month North American tour for its new album, Tailing the Ghost, with a hometown show. (8 p.m., Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St., utphilly.com)
Brandy and Monica
Back in 1988, Brandy and Monica played out a feud over a dude in the worldwide hit “The Boy Is Mine,” which was cowritten and coproduced by South Jersey’s Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins. Twenty-seven years later, the pop-R&B singers are on a concert tour together that also features Destiny’s Child’s Kelly Rowland, Muni Long, and 2025 American Idol winner Jamal Roberts. The tour is presented by the Black Promoters Collective. (8 p.m., Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, 2301 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, boardwalkhall.com)
Grammy-nominated singer and producer Dijon plays the Met Philly on Sunday.
Sunday, Nov. 23
Dijon
Dijon released his debut Absolutely in 2021 and has quickly made his mark. He regularly works with Mk.gee, the guitarist and songwriter with whom he shares a twitchy, low-fi sensibility. He’s also teamed with Bon Iver and Justin Bieber and is up for producer of the year and album of the year at the Grammys. Sometimes, he sounds like Prince.
His new album Baby! is a joyous, shape-shifting adventure. Two measures of how hip he is at the moment: He’s among the musicians with roles in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, and on Dec. 6 will be musical guest on Saturday Night Live. He plays the Met Philly on Sunday. (8 p.m., Met Philly, 858 N. Broad St., ticketmaster.com)
Amy LaVere and Will Sexton
Memphis wife-and-husband duo Amy LaVere and Will Sexton are Americana artists who specialize in a brand of smoky Southern noir, perhaps best exemplified by LaVere’s “Killing Him,” about trying to rid oneself of a bad boyfriend only to find that he comes back to haunt you. (8 p.m., 118 North, 118 N. Wayne Ave., Wayne, tixr.com)
Those watching the Eagles’ winning matchup against the Detroit Lions on Sunday may have caught a glimpse of something absolutely “thrillifying.”
As the NBC Sunday Night Football broadcast headed to a commercial break, hosts pointed out a flyover view of Philadelphia’s iconic Boathouse Row. Only this time, the boathouses along the Schuylkill were lit up in pink and green.
Announcers said the special color treatment was brought to viewers by Wicked: For Good, the anticipated musical-to-film finale starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande (plus West Philly’s own Colman Domingo as the Cowardly Lion).
On social media, viewers were surprised and delighted by the marketing play.
“What do you mean ‘Wicked: For Good’ sponsored by Boathouse Row?” one X user wrote. “Boathouse Row being lit up in Wicked colors is HUGE for my brand,” said another.
It marks the latest effort in the film’s megamarketing campaign, which has ranged from Wicked dolls, to deodorant, to laundry detergent, to make up kits, to Swiffers, to cereal, and everything in between. Truly, no stone has been left un-greenified. And now that approach appears to extend to extremely hyperlocal stops, like Boathouse Row.
It also appears to be Boathouse Row’s first foray into paid movie promotions.
So how did this all pan out? And does it mean Wicked has paid the Fairmount Park Conservatory and Boathouse Row a boatload of sponsorship dollars?
Here’s what we know.
How do the Boathouse Row lights work?
The Boathouse Row lights debuted in 1979 and quickly became a beloved feature along the stretch of 19th-century historic homes. The strip is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2005, the homes transitioned to LED lights, according to the Fairmount Park Conservancy, which manages Boathouse Row. In 2023, the homes temporarily went dark as part of a $2 million refurbishing project. They were re-lit in March 2024.
According to the conservancy’s website, 6,400 individual LED lights are installed along 10 of the historic boathouses. The light configurations, which were installed by Philly-based firm The Lighting Practice can make 16 million color combinations.
Can anyone make a Boathouse Row light change request?
Surprisingly, yes.
After the homes’ lighting upgrades, Boathouse Row announced that seemingly anyone could become a “Boathouse Row Lighting Partner,” and make a special request in exchange for payment to the Fairmount Park Conservancy.
Of course, the conservancy gets first right of refusal, and there are some exceptions. According to its website, political events and observances, campaigns that conflict with City of Philadelphia laws, religious figures or organizations, and campaigns or events deemed “inappropriate” will not be considered.
You can also check on Boathouse Row’s website to see what color the lights are each day.
How much does a special lighting request cost?
It depends on the level of razzle-dazzle and its duration.
According to Boathouse Row’s website, prices range from $750 to $2,500 per day, depending on the display’s complexity. Fees go directly to the Boathouse Row’s ongoing maintenance. The limit for a display is one week.
How much did Wicked pay Boathouse Row to go green and pink?
It’s unclear exactly how much the Wicked display costs. The lighting scheme aired during Sunday’s broadcast. In reality, that B-roll was filmed in advance on Friday evening, a spokesperson with the Fairmount Park Conservancy said. It lasted about 20 minutes.
The conservancy declined to disclose the exact amount NBC paid. Wicked is a Universal film, which is under the NBC and Comcast umbrella. NBC also broadcasts Sunday Night Football.
Have other movies or marketing campaigns worked with Boathouse Row before?
It looks like this is the first movie campaign.
“We don’t think it’s ever been done before,” conservancy spokesperson Cari Feiler Bender said.
But there are no other mentions of entertainment-related tributes. (This week’s Wicked tribute did not make the row’s Instagram feed, which posts light color updates.)
Boathouse Row has traditionally lit up in color schemes to celebrate local teams or to observe special causes like breast cancer, Alzheimer’s awareness, and Pride months.
The spokesperson added that Boathouse Row would welcome future marketing partnerships to “help keep the lights on.”
Axalta, the Philadelphia-based automobile paint and coatings maker, is set to be acquired by AkzoNobel NV, the Netherlands-based maker of Dulux and other paint and coatings brands, in an all-stock deal worth $6 billion.
Both companies have plants in the Philadelphia area, among other locations worldwide.
AkzoNobel, which employs around 34,500, almost three times Axalta’s 12,600, last year promised to update its powder coatings plant near Reading. AkzoNobel also has a Sikkens vehicle refinishings plant near Malvern.
“The last few years have been really challenging,” Axalta CEO Chris Villavarayan told investors in a morning conference call. “The market has gone sideways at best. Coatings demand is still below 2019 levels. At some point there’s going to be some kind of recovery.”
He predicted that sales will benefit as soon as next year as auto, shipbuilding, and other cyclical markets rebound, and that the merger will help boost sales of both companies’ products, after cutting costs.
AkzoNobel CEO Greg Poux-Guillaume will head the combined company, with sales totaling around $17 billion a year, across 160 countries. Poux-Guillaume said in the conference call that’s large enough to earn it a listing on the S&P 500, like rival PPG.
Poux-Guillaume said the combined company will maintain Axalta’s main office in Philadelphia as a second headquarters.
AkzoNobel shares slipped around 3% to $55 on Tuesday. Axalta shares closed down 0.64% to $28, well below the $30 to $40 range where the stock traded last winter.
The deal, if completed on schedule by early 2027, ends years of Axalta merger talks that began soon after its 2013 spinoff from the DuPont Co., with Axalta periodically discussing possible deals with competitors including PPG and Kansai, as well as AkzoNobel. AkzoNobel’s Dulux is also a former DuPont brand.
“The stars have finally aligned for this longtime proposed transaction,” said Georgina Fraser, a stock analyst at Goldman Sachs, during the companies’ conference call with investors.
“The industrial logic has been very clear,” Poux-Guillaume said: combined, the company, whose new name hasn’t been chosen, can push more AkzoNobel products in the Americas and other areas where Axalta sales are concentrated, while Axalta paints can find bigger markets in Europe and Asia.
Axalta CEO Villavarayan will serve as deputy CEO in charge of cost-cutting $600 million from current expenses by 2030. Villavarayan said the company would also spend $400 million a year on research and development, enough “to drive growth.”
Rakesh Sachdev, a senior adviser at New Mountain Capital and Axalta’s chairman who served as interim CEO before Villavarayan took the job in 2022, will serve as chairman of the combined board, with four directors from each company and three outsiders. AkzoNobel shareholders will hold around 55% of the combined company’s shares.
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Philly earns three Michelin stars
The Philadelphia chefs acknowledged at the Michelin Guide announcements at the Kimmel Center Tuesday.
For the first time ever, Philadelphia has a Michelin star. Three, in fact.
Chefs Amanda Shulman and Alex Kemp won a prestigious Michelin star for Her Place Supper Club. She started in the biz by cooking for friends at her Penn campus apartment. The second star went to Chad and Hanna Williams’ Friday Saturday Sunday. And the third restaurant to earn a star was Nicholas Bazik’s Provenance.
Michelin added 21 Philadelphia restaurants to their “Michelin Recommended” category: Ambra, Forsythia, High Street, Hiroki, Honeysuckle, Illata, Kalaya, Laser Wolf, Laurel, Little Water, Mish Mish, My Loup, Pietramala, River Twice, Roxanne, Southwark, Suraya, Vedge, Vernick Food & Drink, Vetri Cucina, and Zahav. The broader Recommended (or “Selected”) category includes restaurants deemed noteworthy and reliably good.
Ian Graye at Pietramala won a Michelin Green star. This distinction is given to restaurants that demonstrate commitment to sustainability.
Below the star level is the Bib Gourmand, highlighting restaurants offering high-quality food at good value, usually in a more casual format. Philadelphia also got strong representation in that category. Angelo’s, Dalessandro’s, Del Rossi’s, Fiorella, El Chingon, Dizengoff, 4th Street Deli, Pizzeria Beddia, Royal Sushi & Izakaya, and Sally all were awarded Bib Gourmands.
Cheesesteaks dominated Philly’s surprising list of Bib Gourmands
A cheesesteak at Del Rossi’s.
Of all the Michelin choices, the most surprising category was the Bib Gourmands.
There are three cheesesteak specialists on the list — Angelo’s, Dalessandro’s, and Del Rossi’s — but only El Chingon as representative for the city’s huge Mexican scene.
Fiorella also seems like an odd choice for a Bib — sure, it’s “high quality food at a moderate price” but it’s in a difference price bracket than say, Dizengoff.
Of the three restaurants that actually received a star, only Friday Saturday Sunday received a majority of their vote, with 63.3% of readers saying they’ll win one.
Her Place Supper Club (34.9%) and Provenance (37.8%) fared much better in the real awards than readers gave them credit for.
A majority of Inquirer readers also gave stars to Royal Sushi & Izakaya (65.9%), Kalaya (59.3%), and Zahav (51.4%) – all three received recommendations but no stars.
It’s hard to overstate the broader influence of Her Place Supper Club, with its frequently changing tasting menus, TED Talk-like course narrations, and Instagram-stoked reservation scrambles that helped launch Amanda Shulman’s star. But the James Beard-nominated chef has never lost sight of the goal of making her original 24-seat gem into one of Philly’s most exquisitely polished dining experiences, with a thoughtfully concise drink program, an ever-whimsical vibe, and hyper-seasonal menus with French, Italian, and nostalgic Jewish influences, crafted together with chef de cuisine Ana Caballero and sous chef Santina Renzi. Whether it’s a refreshing red drum crudo over chilled cucumber-honeydew gazpacho, smoky lamb merguez with eggplant and chanterelles, or delicate caramelle dumplings stuffed with sweet corn over creamy blue cheese sauce, the dishes here are a pitch-perfect collaboration of an all-female kitchen locked in sync. Cultivating that team has been essential as Shulman’s gone on to open My Loup with husband Alex Kemp and readies another project on Fitler Square. Her Place’s continued success very much reflects that Shulman has allowed it to become their place, too.
The octopus and beans from the bar menu at Friday Saturday Sunday.
The buzz might seem impossible to live up to for Friday Saturday Sunday after being named most outstanding restaurant in America by the James Beard Foundation in 2023. But with one astounding bite after another on the recent tasting menu — starting with a shatteringly crisp, thimble-sized cup of nori pastry filled with a tartare duo of veal and tuna, all crowned with caviar — Chad and Hanna Williams are clearly not resting on any laurels. Their townhouse oasis off Rittenhouse Square, already the most exciting fine dining experience in Philly, has only gotten better. The airy beignet stuffed with braised oxtail and smoked yam purée was so ethereal, I wished it was more than just a singular “snack.” Pastry chef Amanda Rafalski’s strawberry tarte may also be the most beautiful strawberry confection I’ve ever eaten. It was so vivid, we needed to pause on the way out for a celebratory drink at the ground-floor Lovers Bar, whose leopard-print stools are designated for walk-ins only. It’s a worthwhile stop on any visit to spin Paul MacDonald’s brilliant cocktail carousel for a lucky mystery drink, sip through several obscure amari, and conclude (once again) that the hype for Friday Saturday Sunday is absolutely legit.
Steelhead Trout “En Croûte” with beurre cancalaise served at Provenance.
When you’re paying $225 to sit down for a 2½ hour dinner (figure between $700 or $800 for two all-in with tip and tax, depending on what you drink), there isn’t much room for error. And there are still too many menu missteps at Provenance, where only about half of the 47 compositions I tasted over two meals were a complete success.The focal point of Provenance is an 11-seat counter wrapped around a gleaming steel kitchen that is also a stage — where chefs and servers are the protagonists. And the drama is high at Provenance, the most ambitious French fine-dining project to open in Philly since Jean-Georges in 2019.Such a grand tasting should, ideally, paint a picture with a compelling narrative and a distinct point of view. For Bazik, who has spent 15 years in local kitchens, including Fork, Bistrot La Minette, Good King Tavern, and Lacroix at the Rittenhouse, that portrait is clearly of his passion for updating French classics with influences from the Korean pantry, introduced to him by his wife, Eunbin Whang.Details, however, too frequently marred the bigger picture. With such intricate compositions, where there are bull’s-eyes of sauces within sauces within sauces, the slip of a knife, the rapid cooling of a protein meant to be served hot, or the miscalculated intensity of any one element, can tip the balance.
Notable Michelin snubs include Kalaya, Royal Sushi & Izakaya
Chef-owner Jesse Ito at work at Royal Sushi & Izakaya.
Giving Kalaya and Vetri Cucina a recommended but not a star was a notable snub. But perhaps the spiciest choice of the night was awarding a Bib Gourmand to Jesse Ito’s Royal Sushi & Omakase, long considered a star contender.
One wonders if the inspectors had trouble getting into the vaunted omakase.
Another notable snub: Phila and Rachel Lorn, owners of Mawn and Sao, were nowhere to be seen. Nor was Northeast restaurant impresario Stephen Starr.
Provenance, open less than a year, awarded a Michelin star
Chef Nicholas Bazik, of Provenance with wife Eunbin Whang, is awarded a star at Tuesday’s Michelin ceremony.
Provenance, chef Nicholas Bazik’s hushed atelier across from Headhouse Square, was awarded a star — a stunning development for a restaurant open less than a year.
Michelin international director Gwendal Poullennec asked Bazik what his inspiration was. He pointed to his wife, Eunbin Whang.
First-ever Philly Michelin star goes to Her Place Supper Club
Chef and owner Amanda Shulman sweeps between seatings at Her Place Supper Club.
For the first time ever, Philadelphia has a Michelin star.
Amanda Shulman and Alex Kemp won the prestigious Michelin star for Her Place Supper Club. She started in the biz by cooking for friends at her Penn campus apartment.
Shulman started in the biz by cooking for friends at her Penn campus apartment.
The energetic and anxious crowd of chefs and restauranteurs during the Michelin ceremony at the Kimmel Center Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.
// Timestamp 11/18/25 7:13pm
Watch live: Michelin awards ceremony in Philly
// Timestamp 11/18/25 6:50pm
Jean-Georges Vongerichten hopes to add to his Michelin star collection
(From left) Kateryna Brooke, Jean Georges Vongerichten, and Marc Vetri during the cocktail hour at the Kimmel Center.
Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten drew a crowd of onlookers.
Vongerichten is one of the most decorated restaurateurs ever, and recalled his first Michelin experience in 1973 when his parents took him to dine at the three-starred Auberge de l’Ill in Alsace.
I asked him how many Michelin stars he had among his restaurants and he said, “I don’t know. My whole head is full of stars. I hope to pick up more tonight.”
Kimmel lobby getting crowded ahead of Michelin ceremony
Chef Marc Vetri (left), and Chad Williams, of Friday Saturday Sunday, during the cocktail hour at the Kimmel Center.
The Kimmel lobby is becoming a crush of people, photographers, and cater-waiters, handing out wine and hors d’oeuvres.
There is a lot of French being spoken in the crowd, befitting Michelin.
“I always get nervous before an awards ceremony,” said chef Marc Vetri, here with his wife and a crew of five people, including his business partner, Jeff Benjamin.
“These events are great,” Vetri said. “I can say, ‘hey, chef,’ and not worry about their name.”
The lobby of the Kimmel Center ahead of the Michelin ceremony Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.
Michelin has editions of its Red Guide to cover regions around the world. It started in France.
There are a lot of factors at play, but to get an estimate, let’s look at how other cities fared in 2024’s guides.
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With almost two decades of guides under its belt and a population of almost 8.5 million, it’s no surprise that New York City topped the list of cities with the most starred restaurants in 2024. New York City was the first American city to get a Michelin Guide, in 2006.
In this top ten both Atlanta and Washington, D.C., serve as a better comparison to Philly. Atlanta, with about 513,000 residents, earned five one-star ratings in 2023, the first year that Michelin awarded stars there. Washington’s population was about 700,000 in 2017, the same year the Michelin Guide was introduced there and awarded 15 restaurants with star ratings. Population isn’t always a good indicator though. Houston, with 2.3 million residents, earned six stars in its first year.
Kiki Aranita, a food writer (and former chef and restaurateur) for The Inquirer, predicts four or five Philadelphia restaurants will earn a Michelin star this year. She also thinks we might see a Bib Gourmand or two.
Will Philly get any two- or three-star ratings?
Paula Forbes, a senior writer and restaurant critic at Texas Monthly who has reported on the Michelin Guide in Texas, says that “generally speaking, I think that there is sort of an attitude towards, you have to kind of grow into it. You have to get your first star, then your second star, and then your third star.”
Restaurants often don’t earn a two- or three-star rating the first time they achieve a rating and it often takes several years for a restaurant to move up a rank, if at all. Texas has yet to earn a two- or three-star rating. In its third year, Colorado gained its first two-star rating.
Michelin’s guide to France. The tire company premiered its guides in 1900 as a promotional tool.
City and state tourism boards partner with Michelin — the French-based tire company that has been publishing the influential dining guides for decades — as food tourism plays a growing role in travel planning.
Michelin has expanded rapidly in the United States over the last several years. Besides the American South region — covering Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee — there are guides for Texas and Colorado. Atlanta’s 2023 guide has since been rolled into the South. The Florida guide, launched in 2022, now includes Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. Internationally, it recently arrived in Qatar, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
The Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau cites an Ernst & Young study, commissioned by Michelin, showing the guide’s influence: 74% of travelers consider Michelin’s presence a decisive factor when choosing a destination; 76% say they would extend a trip to dine at a recommended restaurant; and 80% report being willing to pay more for what they view as a Michelin-level dining experience.
For restaurants that receive distinctions, the impact is immediate as restaurants append “Michelin” to their social-media profiles.
The reservations boost can be dramatic. In Charlotte, the 18-seat Counter sold about 900 reservations in the days after earning a star at the 2025 American South ceremony on Nov. 3, booking out through mid-February, chef-owner Sam Hart told Axios. About half the reservations came from out-of-town guests, including some international travelers.
In many U.S. markets, the guide is explicitly part of tourism strategies: Axios has reported that the states included in the South edition are collectively paying Michelin $5 million over three years. PHLCVB has not disclosed how much it paid for Michelin’s partnership, which was announced in May.
Not only can reservations rise, so can menu prices at the winning restaurants. A widely cited 2018 analysis by Carly Shin of George Washington University found that a one-star rating increases menu prices by about 15%, two stars by 55%, and three stars by roughly 80%.
Michelin says that 82% of chefs report increased revenue after receiving a distinction, 60% add new staff, and 58% say a nod boosts team motivation and morale — though anecdotally, some chefs acknowledge enormous pressure to maintain such a high level.
In connection with Michelin, the PHLCVB Foundation is sponsoring the Philabundance Community Kitchen program, a 16-week culinary vocational training and life-skills program for adults with low or no income, offering hands-on kitchen experience, ServSafe certification, and post-graduation employment support in the food service and restaurant industry. The foundation will connect the recognized chefs and restaurateurs to the PCK program.
Rittenhouse Square weighs in on which spots deserve Michelin stars
// Timestamp 11/18/25 12:20pm
What to expect at tonight’s Michelin ceremony
Gwendal Poullennec, the Michelin Guide’s international director, will help emcee tonight’s ceremony.
Awards will be presented live with TV host Java Ingram serving as emcee alongside Gwendal Poullennec, the Michelin Guide’s international director. Gregg Caren, president and CEO of the PHLCVB, will open the evening.
Lillia Callum-Penso, a reporter who covered the American South awards for the Greenville News earlier this month, said she was struck by the atmosphere onstage during the ceremony. Many of the chefs already knew one another from festivals or previous jobs. “There was a lot of conviviality among the chefs when they were called on stage,” she said. “It was kind of moving — that to me was a very telling and interesting part of the ceremony.”
Michelin may be a huge part of the foodie lexicon, but it might not be a household word everywhere. Because Michelin North America’s headquarters are in Greenville, “people in Greenville know Michelin as the tire company,” Callum-Penso said.
Many residents, she said, were surprised to learn “there’s a whole lifestyle component to Michelin.”
Philly in the spotlight as chefs gather for prestigious Michelin awards
Gwendal Poullennec, Michelin’s international director, attends a dinner in Michelin’s honor in May at Philadelphia’s Her Place Supper Club.
Philadelphia will be thrust onto the world culinary stage tonight as chefs, restaurateurs, tourism officials, sponsors, and international media gather at the Kimmel Center for the unveiling of the Michelin Guide’s expanded Northeast Cities edition. It covers restaurants in Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., and, for the first time, Boston and Philadelphia.
The ceremony, marking a milestone for Philadelphia’s profile as a dining destination, is the city’s highest-profile appearance since 2018, when the James Beard Foundation announced that year’s finalists for its annual chef, restaurant, and media awards.
Given that five cities are involved — with two newcomers — it’s likely that more than a hundred restaurants will be honored tonight overall. The results will appear online only; there will be no published book.
Michelin, which operates in secrecy, bases the selections on its anonymous inspectors. Stars denote excellence: one star signals very good cuisine that’s “worth a stop,” two stars indicate excellence “worth a detour,” and three stars represent exceptional dining “worth a special journey.” Below the star level is the Bib Gourmand, highlighting restaurants offering high-quality food at good value, usually in a more casual format. The broader Recommended (or “Selected”) category includes restaurants deemed noteworthy and reliably good. There also is a Green Star, given to restaurants that demonstrate commitments to sustainability. Restaurants, not the chefs, get the award.
In Philadelphia, speculation on who will win — and even who was invited to the ceremony — is all chefs have been talking about for the last several weeks. Michelin does not inform winners beforehand (though early this month, the list of the American South winners was accidentally leaked 12 hours before the ceremony in Greenville, S.C.).
Last week, Michelin did inform the owners of three three-star restaurants — Alinea, the Inn at Little Washington, and Masa — that they would each lose a star at tonight’s awards.
As Philadelphia City Hall was lit up in Michelin red last night, the partying began. OpenTable took over Sao, a hot, new South Philadelphia restaurant, for a cocktail reception for chefs who use the reservation platform. Guests included Ian Graye of Pietramala, Omar Tate of Honeysuckle, and Chad and Hanna Williams of Friday Saturday Sunday.
Late this afternoon, chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten will host a private reception at Jean-Georges Philadelphia at the Four Seasons, with chefs shuttled to the ceremony by private bus. A cocktail hour will precede the awards, and multiple after-parties are scheduled, including a gathering at the Arts Ballroom sponsored by OpenTable and Evian, and a Resy/Amex and Visit Philly takeover at Dancerobot — the new Center City izakaya from Jesse Ito and Justin Bacharach — featuring drinks, food, and karaoke.
Michelin Stars are finally coming to Philly. How well will the city’s restaurants fare?
A Michelin star is a coveted award among restaurants and chefs and is the most prestigious of the awards the Michelin Guide bestows. Only 259 restaurants in the United States earned a star rating in 2024. In addition to the star ratings, the Michelin Guide also awards the Bib Gourmand to recognize restaurants that are serving high-quality meals at a reasonable price and a Green Star to symbolize excellence in sustainability.
Restaurants are not nominated nor do they apply to be evaluated. Stars are awarded annually and can be lost or gained year-on-year. Michelin keeps most details of the process secret, but we know a few vague details.
Anonymous inspectors visit restaurants multiple times to evaluate the restaurant during different dining periods, different days of the week, and different seasons. Restaurants around the world are evaluated by the same inspectors, to ensure that restaurants are judged by the same standards, and those inspectors make decisions to award stars as a collective.
Inspectors evaluate based on the following criteria:
South Philly weighs in on what spots deserve Michelin stars
What will Michelin mean for the Philly restaurant scene?
Provenance chef-owner Nicholas Bazik greets guest in the Headhouse Square restaurant on Oct. 17, 2024.
Dining rooms in Philly are abuzz with talk of Michelin’s impending arrival in Philadelphia —whose stars (or lack thereof) are set to be announced on Tuesday.
On a recent night, while celebrating my wedding anniversary at the elegant Friday Saturday Sunday, diners at tables on either side of mine discussed the potential of the restaurant winning a star. That same week, at the hushed, luxe soapstone counter at Provenance, where spotlights shine precisely upon the parade of twenty-some courses (which costs $300 inclusive of tax and service charge, but not beverages) placed in front of diners, Michelin was brought up by every single guest to chef Nich Bazik as he made his rounds.
“I’ve been to a lot of Michelin-starred places and they’ve been mediocre. But I think you’re going to get one,” I overheard one diner telling Bazik.
Anticipation is high. But what would getting Michelin recognition actually mean to Philadelphia restaurants? In at least one case, it might translate to survival. For the rest of the city, the guide’s arrival is both foreboding and exciting.
I’m always reluctant to talk about upcoming columns, because in this twisted era everything changes at the drop of a MAGA hat, and I hate to jinx things. But as of now, I’m booked for a trip to Charlotte (or Raleigh?…I’ve already jinxed it, maybe) this coming weekend, where I hope to report from the front lines of the Border Patrol’s latest big-city invasion that has terrorized the immigrant community in North Carolina. So I’m going to spend a couple days reading up on what to do in a tear-gas attack, and I’ll see you again this weekend.
Fearless college kids are saving journalism. Grown-ups? Not so much
Editions of the Indiana Daily Student in the student media area in Franklin Hall on Indiana University’s campus on Oct. 14.
In American journalism’s year of the bended knee, nobody would have been surprised if the student editors of the Harvard Crimson followed the sorry example of major outlets like CBS News or the Washington Post in groveling before the rich and powerful — in this case, their ex-university president and still plugged-in professor Larry Summers.
Earlier this month, Summers took to social media (the Elon Musk-owned X, of course) with a rant against the student-run paper at the Ivy League school he once helmed, linked to an article by conservative commentator (and former Crimson editor) Ira Stoll accusing the Crimson of biased coverage in favor of Palestine. Summers said ominously, “I do hope alumni trustees will investigate and take any necessary steps lest a problematic situation deteriorate any further.”
But instead ofbacking down, Harvard’s student journalists stepped up. When the emails of the late financier and sex fiend Jeffrey Epstein, released last week by a House committee, proved to be riddled with his communications with Summers — long after Epstein had pleaded guilty to teen sex trafficking in Florida — the Crimson produced the most in-depth takedown of any media outlet, anywhere.
“As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’” was the blistering headline on the article by undergraduates Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava. It described, in excruciating detail, the married Summers’ missives to Epstein about his efforts to woo a much younger Chinese economist on campus whom he was mentoring (and whom the former U.S. treasury secretary and his felonious friend code-named, with a racism they thought would remain forever private, as “peril.”)
Take that to the alumni trustees, Mr. Summers!
With a devastating kicker that shows Summers still emailing Epstein up until 1:27 p.m. of the day before his pal was busted on new federal sex charges in 2019, the Crimson article went viral over the weekend. By Monday morning, Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren was calling for Summers’ ouster from his faculty post. By Monday night, a “deeply ashamed” Summers announced that he’s pulling back from his public commitments, although he plans to continue teaching.
The students’ reporting was another win for truth, justice, and the American way — but not an isolated incident. In recent years, as mainstream journalism looks increasingly weak and flabby in the face of U.S. authoritarianism, and with college campuses on the front lines of a culture war, scribes in their teens and early 20s — burning with youthful idealism and the freedom of not much to lose — have raced into the void.
Some 3,000 miles from Harvard Square, the student journalists at the Stanford Daily stood their ground after one of its reporters was charged with three felonies, at the behest of a top university administrator, for attempting to cover a pro-Palestinian protest on the California campus. Under increasing public pressure, the charges were dropped in March — another triumph for the paper whose 2022 investigative reporting into research irregularities took down the university president.
In the heartland, the editors of the Indiana Daily Student at that state’s flagship public university last month stood up to school administrators banning their print editions, blasting the move in a front-page editorial that said “telling us what we can and cannot print is unlawful censorship.” The students, who worked with their peers at nearby Purdue University to publish a special issue that circumvented the ban, rallied support from prominent alums and got the school to reverse course.
“I think that many of these college journalists are laser-focused on their beats, are developing great sources among administrators, faculty and students, and are unfazed by the possibility that their stories might piss off a valued source or two,” Columbia Journalism School professor Bill Grueskin, who covered the Stanford fracas for Columbia Journalism Review, told me Monday. “In other words, they’re doing the things that the best reporters do. They’re just not able to buy a beer (legally, at least) when their story shakes up the world.”
I know what some of you are thinking here. Investigating corruption or misconduct among university leaders, or fighting for a free press…aren’t these college students just doing what any journalist worth their saltwould do? Well, yes and no.
Consider those Epstein emails that continue to dominate the news. It turns out that two prominent journalists corresponded frequently with the convicted sex creep: the “palace intrigue” access journalist Michael Wolff, and a soon-to-be-fired New York Times business reporter, Landon Thomas Jr. The missives suggest they had zero interest in reporting on Epstein’s proclivity for underage girls but very much wanted the access to the rich and famous that jeevacation@gmail.com offered.
And it gets worse. Thomas actually solicited a $30,000 donation from Epstein to a favored charity — a severe ethical breach that cost him his job in America’s most prestigious newsroom. Wolff, meanwhile, was offering Epstein advice on how to leverage — in essence, blackmail — the sitting U.S. president, Donald Trump. At the same time, he was pushing a business venture that would link him not only with Epstein but another man later convicted of sex crimes, filmmaker Harvey Weinstein. It seems like both conflicted journalists wanted to play in the big leagues with the much richer people they were supposed to watchdog.
This is something that too many elite journalists share with the increasingly conflicted corporations that employ them: a desire to comfort the comfortable in return for access, or prestige, or money — and to avoid getting sued, which might jeopardize those first three things.
How else to explain major TV networks like CBS or ABC, owned by corporations with myriad issues before the federal government, settling frivolous lawsuits by Trump for millions of dollars, or the similarly conflicted Jeff Bezos telling his Washington Post to spike its endorsement of Kamala Harris, or the mealy-mouthed “both sides” reporting on rising authoritarianism that plagues so many elite newsrooms of the traditional media?
The late, great Kris Kristofferson told us that freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose, and maybe that simple explanation has a lot to do with the bravery of college journalists — that they are freer to question authority than folks with a mortgage and worries about paying for their own kids to attend a top school.
Still, it’s important to understand that most of the rot in modern mainstream journalism — too much consolidation in the hands of too few conglomerates with too much at risk to be seen as anti-regime — is institutional. We should strive to make something great out of the fact that the next generation of American journalists has arrived with smarts, savvy, and a moral compass yet to be worn down by late-stage capitalism.
Our challenge, as a society, is to tear down the decrepit structures of the corrupted old media and build a new one that rewards independent journalists who actually afflict the comfortable, and offers them incentives to keep doing that instead of cutting venture-capitalism deals with the folks they allegedly cover. Most of today’s college journalism majors would never trade emails with the likes of Jeffrey Epstein — except to take him down.
Yo, do this!
The stroke of timing behind Ken Burns’ latest documentary epic, The American Revolution, which is currently running this week on PBS stations like WHYY here in Philadelphia and also streaming, was supposed to be the 250th anniversary of the conflict that created the United States. But the project has taken on much greater relevance in a fraught present, when folks are heatedly arguing just what the Founders’ American Experiment is really all about. Critics have praised Burns and his skilled team for blending the ideals and leadership of the George Washingtons and Thomas Paines with the realities faced by everyday folk, including indigenous and enslaved people.
Personally, I’ve been embroiled in my nostalgia for a more recent revolution — the cultural and musical explosions that occurred in 1966. I’ve been listening to the audiobook about that tumultuous year — 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded — by the British author Jon Savage, whose later book on the year 1971 was the basis for an outstanding but largely ignored documentary series on Apple TV, But 1971’s classic rock wouldn’t have happened without the cultural pioneers and a youthful clamor for liberation that came five years earlier. The book is an engrossing reminder that change is possible.
Ask me anything
Question: Now that People Magazine has revealed the disgusting “piggy” story, why isn’t this atop every news outlets coverage? We spent 3 full weeks on Biden’s age, a week on his pardon of his son with such moral outrage from every outlet. This doesn’t even get covered? — BigTVFan (@bigtvfan.bsky.social) via Bluesky
Answer: The episode that BigTVFan is referring to occurred with a gaggle of journalists about Air Force One, but just started getting viral attention Monday night. It is, indeed, shocking to watch. When a Bloomberg woman journalist pressed Donald Trump on the Epstein files, the president erupted. “Quiet! Quiet, Piggy!” Yes, this should be a front-page story in the traditional media, and not only because of the stunning sexism (when the subject is Epstein, no less!) and the regal arrogance, but also this: the man who’s followed around by the nuclear suitcase seems to be losing his grip on reality. Monday afternoon, Trump spoke to a gathering of franchisees of the fast-food addiction that may be just one reason why nobody believes he only weighs 16 ounces more than Jalen Hurts, McDonald’s, and was at times beyond incoherent. Yet Trump’s rapidly deteriorating mental state remains mostly off-limits for the elite media. It’s a massive error of omission that the world will look back on and regret.
What you’re saying about…
It’s funny how one week can feel like a decade in 2025. Last week’s question about the eight senators (seven Democrats and an independent) who cut a deal to end the long government shutdown drew a huge response from folks fired up about an issue that now almost feels like ancient history after the Epstein email release. Readers were passionate but divided. Certainly many felt the eight senators had caved in the worst possible way. An outraged Freddi Carlip wrote that “most people wanted to do what was best for Americans who are hurting and that is to stand up to bullies.” But a number of you thought the opposition had few real options but to deal from a weak hand. “This was always going to end with the government opening under the black flag of the Big Ugly Bill,” wrote Kent Dietz. “Oft repeated but true: elections have consequences.”
📮 This week’s question: It’s all Epstein all the time, so let’s talk about it. Do you think Trump has sincerely flip-flopped and the relevant files will soon be released? Or is the White House still playing a long game aiming to keep Epstein’s secrets buried with him? Please email me your answer and put the exact phrase “Epstein files” in the subject line.
History lesson on ‘Charlotte’s Web’…and fascism
U.S. Border Patrol Commander at large Gregory Bovino, right, looks on as a detainee sits by a car Monday, in Charlotte, N.C.
Nobody reads any more, at least not to the end. That’s been driven home this autumn by several efforts from tech bros and other leaders of our dystopia falling flat on their face with their attempts at literary allusions. A viral post on Bluesky recently mocked the Icarus Flying Academy, whose founders may be blissfully unaware that their Greek mythological namesake flew too close to the sun and crashed. On Monday, gazillionaire Jeff Bezos also invoked ancient Greece by announcing his AI startup Project Prometheus, invoking an inventor who was ultimately bound to a rock by Zeus for his overreaching. Then there’s the bad people behind the U.S. Border Patrol and its inhumane mass deportation drive, who took their horror show to North Carolina this past weekend with their “Operation Charlotte’s Web.”
The “brains” behind the BP’s masked goon squad, Gregory Bovino, named the operation — which netted 81 detainees in its first Saturday during a chaotic surge through suburban lawns and Home Depot parking lots — after the 1952 classic children’s novel by E.B. White about a farm, a pig, and the compassionate spider, Charlotte, who saves the pig’s life. Why? Because Bovino’s secret police force are ensnaring scores of immigrants in their web. In Charlotte, N.C. Get it? Bovino even took to social media’s X with a wildly out-of-context quote from the novel: “Wherever the wind takes us. High, low. East, west. North, south. We take to the breeze, we go as we please.”
In a viral essay, the writer Chris Geidner of the excellent site LawDork demolished Bovino’s literary aspirations for his police-state operation. His piece went well beyond the obvious point that a children’s novel that centers on a spider’s quest to protect someone different from her — a pig — from his human predators is the 180-degree polar opposite from the web of inhumanity that Team Bovino is spinning in Charlotte, terrorizing the Latino community there. Geidner notes that much of E.B. White’s wider work was in opposition to the very fascism that’sbehind the mass deportation drive of Bovino and his ultimate boss, Donald Trump.
Geidner quotes White from a 1940 essay, as Adolf Hitler’s stormtroopers were advancing across Europe: “I am in love with freedom and that it is an affair of long standing and that it is a fine state to be in, and that I am deeply suspicious of people who are beginning to adjust to fascism and dictators merely because they are succeeding in war. From such adaptable natures a smell rises. I pinch my nose.”
White, and his fictional Charlotte, would have done more than pinch their nose from the stench of this operation in a proud city that shares its name with a heroic spider. For sure, Bovino’s crimes against literature pale in comparison to his ongoing crimes against humanity. But he may discover that the rapidly spinning American thread of community and common decency that is resisting mass deportation is the true sequel to Charlotte’s Web.
What I wrote on this date in 2018
It was Mississippi’s most famous writer, William Faulkner, who wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Seven years ago on this date, I wrote about how a justice-denied 1955 murder of a Black man trying to deliver absentee ballots to the county courthouse in Brookhaven, Miss., haunted the modern Senate campaign of that town’s GOP U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. I wrote: “Four years after [Lamar Smith] was killed, a baby girl was born in Brookhaven named Cindy Hyde. Over the next 59 years, she immersed herself in the politics of a community that bitterly refuses to concede the just cause that Lamar Smith died for.” Read the rest from Nov. 18, 2018: “Why the blood of a 1955 Mississippi murder drenches today’s U.S. Senate race.”
Recommended Inquirer reading
Only one column this week, and as you might expect it drilled deeply into the true meaning of the Jeffrey Epstein emails that have dominated the headlines. I went beyond the suggestive comments about Donald Trump to look at the deeper moral decay of the rich and famous who continued to seek out Epstein and his connections years after his Florida guilty plea to child prostitution charges. The missives from billionaires and political insiders also reveal their growing — and justified — worries that the public may be reaching for pitchforks.
The John Fetterman saga never ends, nor does Pennsylvania readers’ bottomless fascination with his decade-plus odyssey from outspokenly progressive mayor of struggling Braddock, Pa., to the U.S. Senate, where he is increasingly at odds with his fellow Democrats about practically everything. The Inquirer’s coverage of revelations in Fetterman’s new autobiography, including his long-running feud with Gov. Josh Shapiro, was one of the most widely read stories last week. So was what happened next, as renewed heart problems caused Fetterman to fall flat on his face and again be hospitalized. There’s three more years until the end of Fetterman’s term and an all-but-certain primary challenge from his political left. No one is going to cover this better than The Inquirer, so why not subscribe today?
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It’s official. Medicare costs will eat up much of older Americans’ Social Security cost-of-living increase next year.
The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B, which covers outpatient care, doctors’ services, durable medical equipment and preventive service, will be $202.90 in 2026, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said on Nov. 14. That’s up $17.90, or nearly 9.7%, from $185.00 in 2025.
It’s smaller than the $21.50 increase the Medicare Trustees had forecast earlier but still the second largest dollar jump in program history behind 2022’s $21.60 gain and almost 3.5 times the 2.8% Social Security raise for next year. That means seniors will probably see a drop, again, in their standard of living, experts said.
Seniors were the only ones who saw an increase in poverty in 2024. All other age groups saw a decrease or stayed the same.
“The public is likely to perceive this Part B increase as taking a significant chunk of or even most of their COLA,” said Mary Johnson, independent Social Security and Medicare policy analyst. “In other words, another continuation in relentless cost increases battering consumer finances.”
Monthly Social Security checks will rise $56, on average, starting in January because of the 2.8% COLA, the Social Security Administration said. After the $17.90 increase in Medicare Part B, the average monthly COLA increase is cut to $38.10.
Hold-harmless provision
Such a large increase in Medicare Part B will likely trigger the hold-harmless provision for Social Security recipients with a Social Security benefit of $640 or less, Johnson said.
The Medicare hold-harmless provision prevents the Part B premium increase from being larger than the Social Security COLA. If a premium increase is higher than the COLA, the rule prevents the beneficiary from paying the full increase. The portion of the increase those beneficiaries don’t pay is spread out among others who aren’t protected by the rule.
For those people with a Social Security benefit of $640 or less, the 2.8% COLA next year would mean just less than an $18 per month increase in their Social Security checks. Without the hold-harmless rule, the Part B premium increase would swallow the entire COLA.
In 2022, only about 1.5% of Medicare beneficiaries had their Part B premiums limited by the hold-harmless provision, government data showed. Part B rose $21.60 to $170.10 in 2022 while the average monthly COLA increase boosted Social Security checks by $92.
In 2017, when Medicare premiums jumped 10%, or $12.20, to $134.00 and far outpaced the 0.3%, or $5 average, monthly COLA increase, 70% of Medicare Part B enrollees paid a lower-than-standard Part B premium due to the hold-harmless provision.
Hold-harmless rule isn’t panacea for all costs
The hold-harmless provision can protect seniors from Part B premium surges, but other costs may bite, Johnson said.
“If individuals have other automatic deductions such as for Medicare Advantage or Part D premiums, increases in those premiums could reduce Social Security benefits,” Johnson said. The optional Part D covers prescription drugs.
Some Part D plans are increasing premiums by as much as $50 in 2026, the maximum allowed under a Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration Program, according to the nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization KFF.
“To complicate things, there are fewer stand-alone Part D plans to choose from,” Johnson said. The total number of prescription drug plans has dropped by half since 2024, KFF said.
Is everyone eligible for hold harmless?
Those who aren’t eligible for the hold-harmless provision include:
New Medicare enrollees
People who aren’t receiving Social Security benefits
High-income earners
What about deductibles?
In addition to higher premiums, higher annual deductibles next year will make health insurance even more expensive for Medicare enrollees.
The annual deductible for all Medicare Part B beneficiaries before insurance covers costs will be $283 in 2026, up $26 from $257 in 2025, CMS said.
Could it have been worse?
The Part B premium could have been higher, CMS said.
“If the Trump Administration had not taken action to address unprecedented spending on skin substitutes, the Part B premium increase would have been about $11 more a month,” CMS said. “However, due to changes finalized in the 2026 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, spending on skin substitutes is expected to drop by 90% without affecting patient care.”
Skin substitutes are materials like biologic, synthetic or biosynthetic products that mimic human skin and are used to cover and treat chronic wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers. The Trump administration reclassified these bandages so they aren’t billed separately. CMS estimates the change would reduce Medicare spending on these products by nearly 90% in calendar year 2026.
Medicare Trustees also estimated earlier this year the standard monthly Part B premium would rise $21.50 to $206.50 in 2026 from $185 in 2025. That would have been more than the $17.90 increase to $202.90 in 2026.
The turning point in Pennsylvania’s budget impasse, by Gov. Josh Shapiro’s telling, came just before Halloween, when he and leaders in Harrisburg gathered in his stately, wood-paneled office to meet twice daily to hash out a deal to end the bitter, monthslong stalemate.
The long grind eventually led to compromises 135 days in, and a deal Shapiro said he thinks is far better than what national Democrats, hoping to extend healthcare subsidies, got in Washington at the end of the federal shutdown.
“Sometimes you’ve got to show that you’re willing to stay at the table and fight and bring people together in order to deliver,” Shapiro told The Inquirer in an interview Friday, touting the state budget agreement finally signed that week.
“I think it’s a stark contrast, frankly, with what happened in D.C., where they didn’t stay at the table, they didn’t fight, and they got nothing,” he said.
Washington is controlled by Republicans, while in Pennsylvania, Democrats control the state House and governorship, and Republicans hold a majority in the Senate.
Both state and federal budgets were signed the same day, offering Pennsylvanians relief from more than a month of government dysfunction at two levels. But for Shapiro — an exceedingly popular Democratic governor facing reelection in 2026 as whispers swirl over his potential 2028 presidential ambitions — the moment was bigger than a procedural win. In the end, Shapiro, preaching his oft-used slogan of “getting things done,” cast the outcome as proof he can muscle through gridlock of a divided legislature, cut deals under pressure, and hold firm where others cave.
So what if it took almost five months? Shapiro argues. At least he didn’t fold.
“I would have hoped to have gotten this budget done, you know, 100 or so days earlier,” Shapiro said, putting pen to paper in the state Capitol building’s baroque reception room last week. “But I think what you also saw was the result of having the courage to stay at the table and keep fighting for what you believe in. And we got a lot more than we gave in this budget.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro signs the fiscal year 2025-26 budget surrounded by General Assembly members on Nov. 12 at the Capitol in Harrisburg. The state budget had been due June 30, and Pennsylvania the final state in the country to approve a funding deal.
Critics are quick to note it took the self-proclaimed dealmaker so long to get a deal. Counties, school districts, and nonprofits struggled through four months without state payments while officials remained at loggerheads.Pennsylvania was the last state in the nation to pass a spending plan for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
“He’s five months late. He’s the governor of the fifth-biggest state in the country and the last state to get a budget done,” GOP consultant Vince Galko said. “It’s not a failing grade because it got done, but it’s still a D.”
‘A tremendous cost’
The $50.1 billion budget includes several key priorities for Shapiro and Democrats: significant increases in public education funding, a new tax credit for lower- and middle-income residents, continuation of a popular student-teacher stipend, and other economic and workforce development initiatives.
House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) heaped praise on Shapiro during a Monday news conference celebrating the budget’s new Working Pennsylvanians tax credit. “I am grateful that here in Harrisburg we have a hero among us for working families, and his name is Josh Shapiro.”
State Rep. Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) is on the rostrum in the House chamber on Jan. 7 after she was reelected speaker of the House despite an initial 101-101 tie vote along party lines.
State Sen. Nikil Saval, a progressive lawmaker who represents part of Philadelphia, was one of a handful of Democrats to vote against the bipartisan Pennsylvania budgetbill that was largely lauded by Democrats and Republicans in Harrisburg and beyond. Saval applauded the school funding, anti-violence grant funding, and childcare support but slammed the absence of transit funding and Democrats’ agreement to end their pursuit to join a key climate program.
“Unfortunately, it comes at this tremendous cost,” he said.And ultimately, Saval said, the finished product didn’t seem to justify the time it took to get there.
Gov. Josh Shapiro visits SEPTA headquarters on Aug. 10 to discuss funding for the transit agency. To his right, from left, are state Democratic legislators Sen. Anthony H. Williams; Sen. Nikil Saval; Rep. Ed Neilson; and Rep. Jordan Harris.
It was not just transit funding that took a back seat to get the budget deal over the line. To thedelight of Republicans — and the chagrin of some progressive Democrats and the climate-conscious — the deal also pulled the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cooperative among states to reduce carbon emissions.
“For years, the Republicans who have led the Senate have used RGGI as an excuse to stall substantive conversations about energy,” Shapiro said. “Today, that excuse is gone.”
The powerful Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council had lobbied heavily for lawmakers to walk away from the initiative, and it was a top win for state Republicans, who have long said the state should not join the multistate cap-and-trade emissions program they see as hamstringing Pennsylvania’s energy industry from accessing the state’s plentiful natural resources.
‘Two-a-days’
Shapiro said he spent months “running back and forth” to broker a deal between Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) and House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery). The three met on-and-off in private talks, attempting to hammer out a compromise between the Democratic House and Republican-controlled Senate. But the week of Oct. 27, more than four months into the stalemate, Shapiro said a “breakthrough” finally came when he broadened the talks to include McClinton and Ward.
Minority leaders Rep. Jesse Topper (R., Bedford) and Sen. Jay Costa (D., Allegheny) also joined the group, as it became clear that neither of the tightly controlled chambers would have the votes needed to pass a final budget deal.
The group met twice daily in a conference room in Shapiro’s office. Shapiro, always a fan of the sports metaphor, called the meetings “two-a-days.”
“We would come in the morning, go over the issues. We’d have our homework for a few hours, then come back in the afternoon and talk about, you know, the progress that we made,” Shapiro said. Coming out of that week, the governor said, leaders “had a clear direction on where we were going to go.”
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis and Gov. Josh Shapiro show a budget document moments after it was signed Nov. 12 while surrounded by legislators at the state Capitol. A deal struck Nov. 12 ended a budget delay that lasted more than four months.
At the negotiating table, Shapiro served as “referee and facilitator” between House Democrats and Senate Republicans, McClinton said in an interview Monday.
“The man is nothing if not dogged and determined,” Bradford said of Shapiro last week.
Two officials in the closed-door talks said Topper’s presence, as the House minority leader who understands House Democrats and Senate Republicans, helped change the dynamic and got leaders on track toward a deal. Other officials in negotiations noted that once the state’s two top leaders — McClinton and Ward, who are both the first women to serve in their roles — the breakthrough deal swiftly came together.
Topper, for his part, didn’t try to take credit for striking the final budget deal, calling himself “a neutral arbiter” and “someone all sides can trust to have an honest dialogue.”
There were other signs of tensions easing as the legislators worked through the fall. Ward, a top critic of Shapiro since he reneged on a promise he made over school vouchers during his first budget negotiations, joined the conversations. The two had not met in person since 2023, and had barely communicated. Suddenly, they were sitting across from one another.
Kim Ward, president pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate, talks with her chief of staff Rob Ritson in her office Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, before heading out to preside over the swearing-in of Lt. Gov. Austin Davis in the Senate chambers.
Ward said her criticisms of Shapiro still stand — she wants him to be more transparent, among other disagreements. But she described the conversations as “very cordial, very professional.” And there were moments of levity that helped, said the top Republican leader in the Senate, who is known for her wry humor.
“He did leave me a sugar sprinkle heart [cookie] one day at my seat, and I told him, ‘You know, I’m too old for you, and we’re both married,’” she joked.
“I can’t understand why all these legislators think they did a great job,” she said on The Conservative Voice radio program, breaking with GOP leaders, like Ward and Pittman, who lauded the deal. “… Next year, they’re going to have to dip into the Rainy Day Fund to plug a budget, and then taxes are going to go up.”
Because of how long this budget took to finalize, Shapiro will already need to introduce his next budget in just three months, and in proximity to the 2026 midterms and Pennsylvania governor’s election. But it’s unclear whether those negotiations will be as fraught, given budgets tend to get resolved faster in election years with both parties eager to focus on the campaign trail.
“In this day and age, I would not downplay the fact that there was compromise,” said Berwood Yost, a pollster with Franklin and Marshall College. “People want their problems solved. They want politicians to do things that help their everyday lives and that, for most people, means some kind of compromise. Getting this problem solved fits with his narrative.”
Galko, the GOP consultant, looked further ahead to a potential 2028 presidential election. The budget impasse, he said, could provide material for Democratic rivals on the national stage. The possible field is filled with other governors, several from blue states, like Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, where in-state dealmaking is easier among a uniform legislature.
“If he’s unable to negotiate with the Pennsylvania Senate, what’s he gonna do when he goes up against China or Russia?” Galko asked, previewing the possible attack.
Ultimately, history suggests Shapiro’s political success is likely to hinge less on the nuts and bolts of a budget only some Pennsylvanians — and even fewer outside Pennsylvania — are familiar with, and more on his ability to bolster his image as a bipartisan governor in a purple state.
On Friday morning in South Philadelphia, Shapiro sported a bomber jacket while posing for selfies with Eagles fans, nodding along to a rock band’s cover of “Santeria” in a tent outside the Xfinity Mobile Arena at an event hosted by radio station WMMR.
Casually, almost as a throwaway line, Shapiro mentioned to radio hosts Preston and Steve during an interview that he planned to bring Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — a fellow swing-state governor seen, too, as a possible 2028 Democratic contender — as his guest to the Eagles-Lions game at the Linc that Sunday.
“She actually said, ‘Is it OK if I wear Lions stuff?’” Shapiro told the kelly green-clad crowd in Philadelphia, riffing on the friendly football rivalry — the undercurrents of national politics left unspoken. “And I’m like, ‘No problem. You’re on your own in the parking lot. I can’t protect you.’”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro at Sunday’s game between the Eagles and Detroit Lions at Lincoln Financial Field.
The event was a food drive but also served as a tribute to the station’s beloved late host, Pierre Robert. Shapiro brought along a commendation from the governor’s office for the occasion.
“He created community, created joy, brought people together,” Shapiro said of Robert. “You think about just how divided we are as a world, there’s a few things that still bring us together, right?”
“By the way, I’ve learned those lessons. That’s what I try and do governing with a, you know, divided legislature.”
Music and sports, the governor mused before the crowd of Philadelphia fans, are two things that bridge the gap. “Go Birds,” he added with a grin.
Staff writer Katie Bernard contributed to this article.
Fishtownresidents and business owners Shannon Leocata Figueras and Justice Figueras will sell no wine before its time. This much is clear because LeoFigs, their winery and restaurant, has been “coming soon” for months at Frankford and Susquehanna Avenues.
Recently, the LeoFigs signs came down and a new one appeared in the window, showing a drawing of a cat wearing a space helmet while watching a rocket circling the moon.
Justice and Shannon Figueras at LeoFigs, their future winery, restaurant, and cocktail bar at 2201 Frankford Ave. on Jan. 2, 2025.
Nope. The sign was a ruse, Justice Figueras said. When anything opens in Fishtown, “everybody’s like, ‘Is it going to be another Rocket Cat?’ So we thought it was a little bit cheeky — maybe get us some awareness before we posted some jobs.”
LeoFigs — whose opening is sorta-kinda-definitely set for mid-December, probably — is now hiring for all positions in the front and back of the house, including executive chef.
The Rocket Cat sign, coming down soon, will also serve as LeoFigs’ first real post on its newly scrubbed Instagram account. “I basically erased all of our old [posts] because we went through a rebrand,” he said. “It was good timing for the Rocket Cat situation.” The original logo, designed by their children, has been subbed, as well.
The original LeoFigs logo, designed by the owners’ children.LeoFigs’ new logo.
“We definitely put the neighborhood in a tizzy,” said Shannon Figueras, an executive with Bacardi. “We didn’t realize everybody would get so excited, but we feel like we probably should say something.”
The tactic worked perhaps too well.
“We really can’t walk out on the sidewalk without somebody being like, ‘What’s going on?’” said Justice Figueras, a Jersey Shore-bred wine-business lifer, adding: “We didn’t think we could really offend anybody.”
Since the spring, months after it was first mentioned, LeoFigs’ concept has evolved substantially. The couple expanded their winemaking operation, including a recent trip to the Finger Lakes, where they purchased about three tons of grapes.
Up front, the design has shifted from a simple host counter to a full working counter that will become a showpiece for making fresh pasta. They said they’re doubling down on scratch pastas, breads, and even some pastries.
Despite the café buzz the Rocket Cat ruse generated, LeoFigs will not be a morning destination. “I don’t think there’s a crowd for lunch — there are a million cafés and coffee shops over here,” Justice Figueras said.
Instead, the plan is to open in the late afternoon and focus on dinner service, with “medium” plates inspired by a trip from Barcelona to Sicily. “We almost want to be more of a food hall for wine,” he said.
