Temple head coach Diane Richardson has led her program to back-to-back 20 win seasons for the first time since Tonya Cardoza did it from 2014 to 2017. However, Richardson knows in order to maintain success in today’s era of college basketball, money is a major factor.
So Richardson decided to start a unique fundraising campaign to get donors excited to help the program. She reached out to Philadelphia legend and former Temple head coach Dawn Staley.
Richardson and Staley made a fundraising campaign called “Match the Momentum,” where Staley would match each donation the Temple women’s basketball team receives from Oct. 20 to 25. Both coaches want Temple to be competitive, even with Staley sitting as the head coach at South Carolina.
“Just talking with her about the way the landscape is and that, in order for us to be competitive, we need dollars,” Richardson said. “It was my pitch to her that we want to maintain or even get higher than where we are right now, and it’s going to take money.”
Staley’s area ties run deep. She was born and raised in the city and attended Dobbins Technical High School. She returned to Philly in 2000 to become the head coach for Temple, where she became a coaching legend in her nine years with the program. She guided the Owls to 172 wins and six NCAA tournament appearances before leaving for South Carolina in May 2008.
Richardson and Staley have a friendship that goes back to when Richardson was the head coach at Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Malboro, Md., and Staley recruited her players.
Once Richardson had Staley on board to set up the campaign, the fourth-year head coach took the idea to Temple’s marketing department. Staley helped the campaign gain some attention by recording a video talking about what North Philly and Temple means to her.
“Her roots are here,” Richardson said. “She understands that if we can put out a product that people can look at and aspire to, all the young girls in the Philly area can say, ‘You know what? I can see myself doing that.’ Her commitment to us at Temple, obviously, she did a lot for Temple when she was here. … She wants young girls to be able to look up to us, just like she did when she was growing up.”
Temple continued to promote the campaign throughout the week, with videos from guard Tristen Taylor, forward Jaleesa Molina, and Richardson. Taylor and Molina spoke about what it means to be an Owl, their experiences with the program, and how the donations could help the team with traveling, recruiting and nutrition.
The Owls will open their season on Nov. 3 against George Mason and were picked to finish fourth in the American in the preseason poll.
In case you missed it 📰
Temple Women’s Basketball is proud to announce the launch of the Match the Momentum campaign a weeklong giving challenge inspired by former head coach Dawn Staley’s generous contribution to the program.
“Our players have been doing a great job,” Richardson said. We’ve had back-to-back 20 win seasons, without the notoriety. So now that hopefully we have some fans and we have some donors and we have some more money, we can continue that climb.”
Richardson is also hoping the campaign will put more eyes on her program. Staley is one of the most popular figures in women’s college basketball, and both coaches want to see Temple back at the top.
“I think it puts an eye on us,” Richardson said. “Obviously football and men’s basketball is really important, but women’s basketball has really exploded. Now, with Dawn behind it, she’s got name recognition, and people would look at that and say, ‘Well, Dawn’s doing it, then let me take a look at Temple women’s basketball.’ I’m sure we will get some eyes that have never seen Temple women’s basketball, because she put her name out there, her commitment, and her belief in us. Now other people will follow.”
After defeating the Minnesota Vikings on the road, the Eagles return home to host the New York Giants on Sunday. The teams last met in Week 6, when the Eagles suffered their second loss of the season, falling 34-17 to their division rivals.
The Eagles enter Sunday’s game as 7.5-point favorites after the Giants’ loss to the Denver Broncos last week. Will the Birds get a win over the Giants? Or will the Giants spoil the Eagles’ return to the Linc?
Here’s what experts in the local and national media are saying …
When a team gives up a goal on a corner kick, it’s rarely just down to one person. But when a team gives up two goals on corner kicks in one game, there likely will be alarm bells.
That’s what happened Thursday night at Subaru Park, where the U.S. women were upset by Portugal, 2-1.
Manager Emma Hayes was frustrated afterward, as were many of her players. There are few things — sometimes nothing — a soccer coach dislikes more than giving up goals on set pieces.
Nor did it help that this U.S. squad looked unusually disjointed, even for a group that hadn’t been together in four months and had just two days of practice before kickoff.
“I didn’t recognize us,” Hayes said. “ I felt that we just rushed everything. We went direct. We didn’t look like the team that we’ve been working on, but that’s what happens when you got 113 days apart.”
She admitted she had “felt it the last two days in training,” seeing “so many misconnections, just taking a bit of time for us to get on the same page.”
And she offered a few of the rhetorical flourishes that have long made her popular among fans and players.
“Sometimes you need a kick up the back side like that,” she said at one point.
“I was frustrated this evening because it felt like a game of Whac-a-Mole,” she said at another. ”I felt like I put something out, and then I was whacking that — that’s how the game felt for me as a coach. And I’ve been doing this for so long, I hate them games.”
Hayes wasn’t going to pick at individual players or positions, to no surprise. She knew, though, that the U.S. team’s decades of success have also earned it the right to be criticized, and she usually doesn’t mind that when it’s warranted.
There will be questions about the centerbacks and forwards. The latter certainly falls under Hayes’ remark that “there’s so many decisions we made” that felt like the wrong one.
“I’m like, ‘Is it the right moment to take a shot? Slip a player in?’” she said. “No, we didn’t make those decisions.”
And from up in the press box, there were questions about a position that has faced several lately.
Portugal’s Fatima Pinto (center) celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal.
Minding the net
For much of the night, goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce didn’t play badly. She was credited with two saves, the best of which was a close-range stop on Tatiana Pinto after a misplay by U.S. centerback Tara McKeown.
But Tullis-Joyce didn’t look good on either of those corners.
Again, neither solely were her fault. On the first, Diana Gomes jumped amid three U.S. players to win the header and knocked it low, beating Tullis-Joyce on the bounce.
The second was off an outswinging corner that Tullis-Joyce wouldn’t have gotten to in any circumstance, and Fatima Pinto’s shot bounced off two U.S. players. So it’s nitpicking to say Tullis-Joyce’s reaction time wasn’t ideal. But the standard is high, and it felt like just enough to plant a seed of doubt.
“Those were tough to take on the chin,” Tullis-Joyce said.
Asked about her play on those corner kicks, she said: “They had some driven corners into that back post area. I’m sure I’ll take a look at the clips afterward to see whether or not maybe I could play a bigger role in that, but that’s just for me to look and review afterward.”
Hayes likely will stick with Tullis-Joyce as her new No. 1 goalkeeper for a while. The 29-year-old New Yorker has generally played well for the U.S., and is playing quite well at club level for England’s Manchester United.
Still, we’ll see if anyone else gets minutes over the next two games during Sunday’s rematch vs. Portugal (4 p.m., TNT, Universo) — coincidentally Alyssa Naeher’s retirement tribute — and Wednesday’s game vs. New Zealand in Kansas City (8 p.m., TNT, Universo).
Current No. 2 Claudia Dickey presumably would be first in line for that shot. And if after that, Aubrey Kingsbury leads the Washington Spirit on a second straight run to the NWSL title game, there might be some clamor for her to get a call-up for the first time since June of last year.
“It felt really individual out there,” said midfielder Rose Lavelle, who scored the U.S.’s goal just 33 seconds after kickoff. “I think everyone was trying to maybe fix it on their own. That’s something that, when the going gets tough, we’ve got to make sure we’re sticking together, playing together.”
Sam Coffey was particularly miffed about conceding on those corner kicks. Asked how she’d assess the plays, she responded promptly: “Obviously, we got scored on them, so I wouldn’t assess them very high.”
Sam Coffey (center) on the ball in the middle of the action.
She credited Portugal, and rightly so. Though the Navegadoras are No. 23 in FIFA’s global rankings, they’ve got more talent than a few teams ahead of them — as they showed in tying reigning European champion England in February, then Italy at this summer’s Euros.
Those results are more telling than the one that naturally stuck in many American fans’ minds Thursday night, the scoreless tie Portugal pulled against the U.S. at the 2023 World Cup.
But Coffey saved most of her words for her own side, which also was the right move.
“I think whether we’re not locked in enough in those moments or we’re not doing good enough in our man-marking or being alive for a second phase [when a ball is recycled after being cleared], I think that’s an area we’ve always prided ourselves on, and that was not up to our standard tonight,” she said. “Set pieces win championships, win games. And for them to capitalize on those and win the game that way, I think is really disappointing for us, and we have to be better.”
Diana Gomes (center) celebrates scoring Portugal’s first goal.
It is obviously better to lose in an off-year friendly than in an actual tournament. And on top of any loss lighting a spark under this group, they know they’ll see the same team again a couple days.
“The lucky thing for us is we have a second shot at this,” Lavelle said. “There’s no months of time between the next time we can maybe get better from this loss. So we have three days to turn around and show up better.”
Tullis-Joyce was even more blunt: “Revenge, for sure.”
It will no doubt get attention, as this team always does.
The companies that own the 76ers and Flyers earlier this year made a high-profile commitment to help transform the long-distressed East Market Street corridor.
The first development to come out of that promise? Perhaps a mini-soccer pitch. Or a pop-up beer garden.
The teams recently hired a contractor to demolish buildings they own on the 1000-block of the beleaguered thoroughfare with the goal of eventually erecting a major development that could help revitalize the area.
But, until then, City Councilmember Mark Squilla said Friday the teams and city leaders hope to “activate” the lots slated for demolition with “pop-up” opportunities related to the FIFA World Cup and the nation’s 250th birthday being hosted in Philadelphia next summer.
“The goal was: If they could demolish it by then and fill it, we could program an open space on 1000 Market Street,” Squilla said, tossing out the soccer pitch and beer garden ideas as examples. “This will give us an opportunity to try to do something special for 2026 while we’re doing a longterm plan for East Market.”
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Jacklin Rhoads, a spokesperson for the teams’ development venture, said Friday the demolitions come as the partners “continue to make progress towards future development on East Market Street.”
“The demolition of these vacant storefronts improves the streetscape and will give us the ability to work with community partners to activate the site ahead of groundbreaking,” Rhoads said. “We are committed to working with the City to help jump start the revitalization of Market East and this is the next step in that process.”
The teams’ commitment to work together as Market East boosters stems from the controversial and since-abandoned proposal by the 76ers’ owner, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, to build an arena in Center City.
The basketball team had pitched that proposal as an opportunity to rejuvenate the blocks east of City Hall. But when the plan crumbled in January — in no small part due to opposition from the Flyers’ owner, Comcast Spectacor — the teams vowed to work as partners both on a new arena in the South Philadelphia stadium complex as well as on a joint development venture for East Market Street.
The Sixers and Flyers recently hired a joint venture of New York-based Turner Construction Co. and Indiana-based AECOM Hunt to manage construction of the arena, which will be home to the city’s NBA and NHL teams and its planned, as-yet-unnamed WNBA team.
And the teams have hired Philadelphia- and Norristown-based contractor Pride Enterprises Inc. to demolish the vacant storefronts they own on East Market Street in Center City.
Tearing down and popping up
Demolitions are so far only planned for part of the 1000-block, across the street from where the Sixers had previously envisioned building their new home.
HBSE and Comcast Spectacor — a subsidiary of the Philadelphia-based entertainment, cable television, and internet giant — bought properties on East Market Street in a series of transactions totaling $56 million earlier this year. The buildings were formerly home to Rite Aid, Reebok, and other stores totaling 112,000 square feet.
The properties currently slated for demolition are 1000-1024 E. Market St. That includes most of the former stores on the block’s south side. The teams also own 920-938 E. Market St., the western half of the adjacent block, but those properties are not currently planned for tear-downs.
The teams’ plan to flattenthe stores, making the space temporarily available for events related to the FIFA World Cup or the nation’s 250th anniversary next summer.
Squilla said an East Market task force will be announced soon, and that group would have input on what happens at the site assuming it is demolished in time for the 2026 celebrations.
After that, the teams will redevelop the properties, although plans aren’t finalized, Rhoads said. The teams declined to provide any details about the redevelopment project’s ambitions or scale.
The city Department of Planning & Development did not respond to a request on the status of the development plans.
The neighborhoods around East Market, a thriving department store district that has languished for decades, have recently begun to rebound with the development of hundreds of apartments and neighborhood retail to serve new residents.
Stadium construction vets tapped for South Philly arena
The new arena in South Philly will replace the Flyers and Sixers’ current home at the recently renamed Xfinity Mobile Arena, which was known as the Wells Fargo Center until this year.
Currently, Comcast Spectacorowns the building, and the 76ers pay rent. For the next facility, the teams will be joint owners.
The teams have tapped an outfit with ample experience in stadium and arena construction for the job. Over the past 20 years, Turner-AECOM Hunt joint ventures have built the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the SoFi Stadium and Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, State Farm Arena in Atlanta, and Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
In Philadelphia, they built the Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field, the FMC Tower, the One uCity Square office building in University City, and the Chubb Center in Center City, the insurance company offices set to open next year.
For the South Philly project, the partners, doing business as PACT+, have brought on Philadelphia-based union contractors to do much of the work, including Black-owned general construction company Perryman Construction, construction manager Hunter Roberts Construction Group, and Camfred Construction.
The teams haven’t said how large the arena will be. HBSE and Comcast Spectacor in June hired a design team at the firm Populous and Moody Nolan.
David Adelman, the Philadelphia student housing developer and investor who chairs the teams’ development venture, in a statementpromised “the most technologically advanced and fan-focused sports and entertainment venue.”
Adelman earlier said the new arena will open in 2030, and the WNBA team will play its first game there.
The project “is a chance to build something that becomes part of Philadelphia’s fabric,” said Turner’s Philadelphia-based vice president, Dave Kaminski, in a statement.
Jason Kopp of AECOM Hunt promised “cutting-edge amenities for athletes, performers, and visitors.”
Although the teams are making moves related to the new arena, they don’t yet appear to have shared much of their plan with City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, whose 2nd District includes the South Philadelphia stadium complex.
Building an arena at that location will likely require involve fewer legislative and bureaucratic hurdles than the 76ers’ abandoned Center City proposal. But in Philadelphia, Council members hold enormous sway over their districts, and the teams will likely need Johnson’s support if they want a smooth approval process.
Johnson was asked Thursday what the teams need to do to meet their proposed timeline for opening the arena in 2030.
“I have no idea,” Johnson told reporters. “That’s not even on my radar at the moment.”
Staff writer Mike Newall contributed to this article.
Virginia “Ginny” Smith tends to black-eyed susans in her East Falls garden for the annual fall cleanup.
Winter is less than two months out. As colder conditions creep over the region, your garden will have to cope with the chill.
Beyond removing leaves and branches, here are a couple other things to consider to keep your garden healthy:
🪴 Protect plants from frost: Use old blankets or bubble wrap to insulate containers and pots and keep root systems warm.
🚰 Not just plants: Freezing temps can also hurt your watering hoses. Remember to unhook and drain them to avoid damage.
✂️ Tool care is key: Give your shovels and other tools a proper clean before putting them away, and see if your snips and shears are due for a sharpening. (A local sharpener could help with that.)
🌱 Paola’s pro-tip: Gardening is a year-round effort, so this is the time of year when I like to reflect on what went right, and what I could improve on next year. Keeping a journal to document these developments can be fun.
Part of the Schuylkill River Trail in Center City is closed after a large sinkhole formed under the asphalt. A temporary detour route is available until repairs are made.
🎤 Now we’re passing the microphone to environmental reporter Frank Kummer.
Like many farmers, Patrick Giberson feels squeezed from many sides these days.
His family’s soybean and corn farm in Pemberton, Burlington County, has been flanked by a wave of development — new warehouses, shopping centers, and a Walmart.
Meanwhile, a Chinese soybean boycott continues in response to U.S.-imposed tariffs. Equipmentis expensive. And weather remains, as always, unpredictable.
Yet Giberson, 57, a fourth-generation farmer, says he’s determined to adapt and endure. The family’s 800-acre farm, owned by his parents, Jo and Pat Giberson, features a restored 18th-century farmhouse and designated wildlife preserve. — Frank Kummer
Outdoorsy readers submitted these awesome autumnal sights.
As the trees continue to transform, Outdoorsy readers sent in these stunning shots of fall foliage across our region.
Shoutout to Dorothy Stiles, who provided the gorgeous picture taken at Valley Forge National Historical Park (left), and to Joseph and Maria Hill, who captured the Blazing Maple showing off its bright colors (right). They told me they first planted it in their backyard five years ago in Media, Pa.: “We took it home from Home Depot in the back seat of my wife’s Mini Cooper Convertible and now it’s 40-50 feet tall!”
P.S. This Saturday, Oct. 25 and next Saturday, Nov. 1, fall foliage tree tours are taking place at the Andalusia Historic House, Gardens & Arboretum. Get more details here.
🌳 Your foraging tales
Outdoorsy reader Jeff Laughead pictured with a pawpaw.
Dan Scholnick recommended going by the Cobbs Creek Environmental Center in West Philly. He also raved about the “outrageously good” fruit along S. Saint Bernard Street by a community garden, with this great tip to boot: “I’ve learned that the best ones are the ones you find on the ground having already fallen off the tree.”
And Jeff Laughead, pictured above, suggested we check out Ferncliff Wildflower Preserve out in Lancaster County, which he said has a great pawpaw grove: “A bit of an uphill hike to get there, but totally worth it!”
For yummy fruits, it’s always worth going the extra mile.
👋🏽 Take care out there, friends. Until next time.
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Early on a recent sky-blue Saturday, 12 people stood rapt at Sixth and Washington, gazing up at a flock of pigeons perched along a telephone wire.
“What do you see?” a guide posed, as the pigeons cooed, contently.
The docent’s cheerful query loosened a chorus of replies and conversation, including enthusiastic observations on the birds’ shimmering iridescent hues and micro-feather structure, to discussions on the airfoil-like curvature of their wings, obsessive preening, and seasonal molting.
Just then, a white-speckled feather drifted down from the high wire.
“Here’s a feather floating down right here to make a point,” another guide interjected to laughter.
Avery Breyne-Cartwright, of West Philadelphia, uses binoculars to look at a flock of pigeons on the power lines along Sixth Street and Washington Avenue during a tour.
Welcome to South Philly’s hottest new excursion: Philly Pigeon Tours. A weekly, 90-minute morning stroll to several of the Italian Market’s most established flocks, offering an engaging and enlightening glimpse into the long-revered — and more recently rocky — relationship between humans and rock doves, the fancy term for urban pigeons. It’s a look at South Philly through a pigeon’s eyes.
5,000 years of pigeon history
Founded by partners and pigeon owners (more on that in a moment) Hannah Michelle Brower, 34, and Aspen Simone, 36, Philly Pigeon Tours have quickly transformed into a hot ticket. In June, the pair’s first tour, organized as a one-off, sold out all 25 slots. The crowds keep flocking.
Casually covering 5,000 years of pigeon history — from the rock doves’ esteemed status in ancient times as symbols of love, sexuality, and war to their more thorny present-day urban existence, dodging hungry hawks and alley cats, and navigating anti-pigeon netting and spikes — the pair ask tour takers to challenge skewed cultural narratives.
“We teach people everything we know about pigeons,” said Brower, originally from New Orleans, who first moved to Philly to attend Haverford College, and then returned after earning a master’s degree in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. Earlier this year, federal cuts eliminated her job as a public health consultant.
In August, Simone closed Birdhouse Gelato, after DOGE cuts cost them their day job at an agency that helped improve federal digital efficiency — a gig that helped fund the popular Bella Vista shop.
Pigeons flying in the sky along Sixth Street and Washington Avenue during a pigeon tour.
“We debunk a lot of pigeon misinformation and replace it with facts,” Brower said of the tours.
Having seemingly cornered the Philly pigeon-tour market — the pair will soon start tours in West Philly, with Old City walks coming in the spring, and a podcast just dropping — the outings no doubt appeal to secret pigeon-lovers everywhere. But much of the charm of the pleasant pigeon rambles is found in Brower and Simone’s sincere and catchy love for birds derided by many as “rats with wings.”
“We often talk about how hating pigeons is a choice,” said Simone.
Primrose the Pet Pigeon
The couple weren’t always pigeon boosters themselves.
Brower had never cared much for pigeons until three years ago, when a neighborhood woman caring for an ailing pigeon called out to her.
“I was really like, ‘I don’t understand why we have to care about this,’” she recalls. “I figured that the pigeon could be a tasty snack for some city hawk or cat.”
Convinced by the woman to seek help for the malnourished bird, Brower fell in love with the pigeon before she made it home.
Hannah Michelle Brower (left) and Aspen Simone do some introductions before heading out for a Philly Pigeon Tour.
“I remember thinking, ‘Don’t name the pigeon. You’re gonna become attached.’ But then I said, ‘Primrose is her name.’ She just wanted to be close to me. She was very cuddly, and I just completely fell in love with her.”
Simone recoils when recalling their thoughts upon finding a pigeon stowed in a cardboard box that first night in the couple’s South Philly apartment.
“That’s kind of gross,” they said. But Primrose quickly won Simone over, too.
“It turns out she was a baby and might have been left a little too soon by her parents,” Brower said. “The rehabilitator said, ‘This is the sweetest, most cuddliest pigeon I ever met. I don’t think she’s going to survive on the streets. Do you want a pet pigeon?’”
Pigeon behavior and croissant crumbs
“She’s very much like a cat or a dog,” Brower said with a smile of Primrose, who favors a sunny spot on a guest-bedroom blanket. “She’s a free-roaming indoor pigeon. People always ask about the poop. She has her favorite spots in the house, so we just put down cage paper and it catches the poop. It doesn’t smell.”
Primrose the pet pigeon relaxing at home in a favorite sun spot.
(They are searching the internet for Philadelphia Eagles-themed pigeon poop pants that Primrose can don for guests.)
Regal and stout, with a scarf of green and purple neck feathers and striking orange eyes, the affectionate pigeon quickly made herself at home, perching on the couple’s shoulders and heads during work-from-home Zoom meetings — and whenever the couple prepare to head out the door, wanting to stay with the family flock.
“She likes to sit on our laps and we just pet her,” Brower said, adding that Primrose does the same with company.
Conscientious pigeon owners, Brower and Simone became keen observers of pigeon behavior. Like when Primrose perches near the sink to signal bath time, before luxuriating in a warm bowl of water. Or when she interrupts a TV show or work call to perform a pigeon’s elaborate mating dance, cooing, walking in circles, and running close to the ground, before bowing and elegantly fanning her tail feathers. How she sits atop the unfertilized pigeon eggs she lays, for weeks, until she is confident they will not hatch. Her sweet tooth for croissant crumbs.
Soon, they couldn’t help but spot the same sorts of behaviors among the pigeons they encountered around the neighborhood. They pored over pigeon books.
“We began to look a bit more into the science behind it and learned more about pigeon group dynamics,” said Simone.
Misconceptions based on fear
Holding aloft guide sticks with small cardboard cutouts of Primrose (a decided homebody, Primrose does not join the strolls), Brower and Simone share their newfound pigeon truths one tour at a time.
In ancient Mesopotamia rock doves were associated with gods — and viewed as signs of safety in Abrahamic religions, and symbols of status before the French Revolution, Brower said.
Aspen Simone, of South Philadelphia, leads a Philly Pigeon Tour in the Italian Market.
By the 1960s, the urban pigeon’s reputation was roundly sullied after a media-fueled panic blamed their droppings for causing meningitis in New York City, she said.
“Woody Allen repeated the phrase ‘rats with wings’ in Stardust Memories, and that’s when it spread and took hold,” Simone said of the 1980 film.
A recent tour included two young biologists, a pair of pigeon enthusiast sisters, and a group of young friends. They had all seen advertisements for the tours tacked up in the neighborhood or on Instagram.
A mated pair of pigeons seen resting on top of a storefront in the Italian Market.
“We were talking about how pigeons make us feel emotional,” said Tess Cronin, on why she and her friends signed up for the tour. “How pigeons were bred by human beings, and now we think of them as rats and pests.”
Near Ninth Street, where businesses are outfitted with spikes to keep birds from roosting, Brower and Simone preached pigeon empathy. Starting with the lessons they learned from Primrose.
Like with all things, Brower said, it’s never just about pigeons.
“Our misconceptions originated with fear,” she said. “And I think we’ve really been able to catch ourselves better when we notice ourselves maybe stereotyping.”
With that, the tour set out to find more pigeons.
A white pigeon seen resting on a sign during the Philly Pigeon tour in Philadelphia, Pa., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.
It was magical. I clicked the record button on my cell phone, placed it on the exam room desk, turned away from the computer, and began a conversation with my patient. After we completed the visit, I went back to my office and opened her electronic record — and found a clear, concise narrative description of our encounter, complete with my physical exam findings and a numbered problem list, plus assessments and follow up plans.
I did not write these medical notes — an artificial intelligence scribe called DAX (Dragon Ambient eXperience) Copilot did. And it was nearly perfect.
AI scribes are new, but not brand new. I am actually a little late to the game. You may have already noticed that some of your own doctors are using this technology during office visits. DAX was developed by an AI and speech recognition company called Nuance that was acquired by Microsoft in 2022. First, clinical conversations are recorded using a cell phone mobile app. AI then processes the recording and generates a progress note, minimizing computer distraction and allowing clinicians to focus more attention on our patients.
In the last couple of years, I have read everything I can find about AI, a new frontier that will be a growing presence in clinical medicine. Until now, I’ve also done a great job convincing myself not to use an AI scribe — one of the most accessible current AI tools.
By typing brief notes with lots of abbreviations, I worked hard to make sure chart documentation was not interfering with my ability to develop rapport and engage with patients. I also thought any time saved with DAX would be erased by time that I would have to spend reviewing and editing the AI generated notes. Not so. The AI notes are concise and amazingly accurate. They are a truer representation of what actually occurred during the visit. My truncated notes, or those written or dictated hours after the visit, often missed essential information, patient perspective, or did not capture the nuanced rationale for my medical decisions.
The scribe notes are not word-for-word transcriptions. This AI has been trained using millions of hours of real-world clinical encounters and medical dictation. The program then takes recorded conversations and converts them into clinical notes, based on what it has learned about how these notes are structured.
Patients and clinicians have raised some concerns: Where does this data go? Are there privacy concerns? In fact, the data is sent securely from the clinician’s cell phone app to a Nuance company server for processing. Once a note is created, sent to, and stored permanently in the patient’s electronic health record, the data is deleted from the mobile app and servers to comply with privacy standards. Of course, your clinician should always obtain your consent before using DAX or other comparable tools.
AI scribes are a game changer — in my view, an all-around win. They free clinicians to engage more with patients in the exam room, capture a real-time, accurate synopsis of the visit, and create something cogent and readable. They help your doctor, while better honoring your medical story.
DAX was an opportunity that stood in front of me for some time before I recognized it as such. Like University of Pennsylvania Wharton School professor Adam Grant writes in his insightful book, Think Again, “anchor your sense of self in flexibility rather than consistency.” How ironic that an AI tool — algorithmic and predictable — taught me a lesson in changing my ways.
Jeffrey Millstein is an internist and regional medical director for Penn Primary and Specialty Care.
Pigeons once enjoyed high status across ancient cultures as symbols of love, safety, and war. Today, they’re more likely to be viewed as another urban annoyance. You might even know them as “rats with wings.”
🪶 But modern pigeons, aka rock doves, are just misunderstood, according to Hannah Michelle Brower and Aspen Simone. The couple came to appreciate the birds after caring for an ailing one, now named Primrose.
🪶 Their love for their adopted pet has grown into a popular weekly birding tour in the Italian Market (and soon, West Philly), plus a podcast. “We debunk a lot of pigeon misinformation and replace it with facts,” Brower said.
🪶 Their story might just give you a new perspective on the city’s winged — and, in two enthusiasts’ telling, surprisingly cuddly — residents.
Though it’s been a year since former Philly labor leader John Dougherty reported to federal prison on embezzlement and bribery convictions, his name still looms over Pennsylvania’s elections.
His brother, Kevin Dougherty, is one of three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices up for retention this November. A decade ago, John helped get Kevin elected through the backing of his union, Local 98.
This time around, labor is still spending big on the justice’s retention, though Kevin says his brother is not involved. Republicans have still sought to tie the judge to John’s misdeeds.
Failures in the domestic assault and kidnapping cases of Keon King, who is accused of killing Kada Scott, go beyond prosecutors withdrawing earlier charges, a review of police and court records shows. Plus, Scott’s death has prompted City Council to probe the Philadelphia justice system’s handling of domestic violence cases.
A sixth person will go to trial over the September 2022 shooting outside Roxborough High School that killed 14-year-old Nicolas Elizalde and wounded four others.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker on Thursday announced a task force to crack down on illegal dumping, the work of which will include hefty violation notices and monitoring common dump sites.
Ursinus College president Robyn E. Hannigan, who is in her fourth year at the small liberal arts school in Collegeville, was abruptly removed from the job Thursday.
This week, we’re resurfacing an explainer from 2019 on the fate of Allow Me, the lifelike, 6-foot-10 sculpture colloquially known as “Umbrella Man.” He disappeared after the former Prince Theater — now owned by the Philadelphia Film Society, hosting its 34th annual Philadelphia Film Festival this week — declared bankruptcy in 2010.
Cheers to Eileen Weigand, who solved Thursday’s anagram: city controller. Christy Brady, seeking her first full term as Philly’s fiscal watchdog, is being challenged by Republican Ari Patrinos in the Nov. 4 general election.
Photo of the day
Baptiste Masotti (left) watches Aly Abou Eleinen return the ball during the 2025 Comcast Business U.S. Open Squash Championships at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
🏓 One last squeaky thing: The biggest squash event in the United States is at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in University City this week. Now is a great time to get into the sport, with the 2028 Olympic Games set to include it for the first time.
Thanks for ending your week with The Inquirer. Enjoy the weekend.
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In May 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh became the first person to fly nonstop between New York and Paris. A feat that launched him and his plane into a level of stardom today reserved for the likes of Taylor Swift.
He was held up as the poster boy for an expanding empire. He epitomized the delicate balance of American exceptionalism and humble appreciation.
So when he returned stateside, there was a nationwide celebration. The victory tour covered nearly 100 cities and ended in Philadelphia.
So maybe he was a little cranky when a gaggle of reporters fawned over the 25-year-old aviator from Missouri.
One problem
Lindbergh landing the Spirit of St. Louis at Philadelphia’s airport on Oct. 22, 1927, was a big deal.
During this PR tour, which also helped sell his forthcoming memoir We, the city saw an opportunity to hype its airport.
Only problem?
Lindbergh said he didn’t like the airport.
His thoughts
After landing, Lindbergh raised Old Glory as part of ceremony to dedicate what was then called Philadelphia Municipal Airport, which is now part of the Philadelphia International Airport. Two years earlier, in 1925, the municipal airport had opened as a training facility for National Guard aviators.
Charles Lindbergh flew nonstop between New York and Paris in the Spirit of St. Louis.
Later, he was honored at a reception at Municipal Stadium, which stood at the site of what’s now Xfinity Mobile Arena. The stadium was originally built for the 1926 Sesquicentennial.
It was followed by a banquet at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, which is where he made his thoughts on the airport known.
“What do you think of Philadelphia’s landing field?” a reporter asked.
“Well,” he paused, “it could be improved.”
He laughed at his frankness, The Inquirer reported.
He thought that the airport needed longer runways and needed to be closer to the city.
“I think that the field is a little far out,” he said.
An Inquirer reporter covering the event observed Lindbergh was not the only out-of-towner to express disdain for the city.
“A stranger finds Philadelphia the most difficult of American cities at first,” Richard Beamish wrote in The Inquirer, “and the most charming after he has become known.”
In fairness, Lindbergh was also advocating for the expansion of airports and expansion of aerial accommodationsacross the country.
BOSTON — The 76ers have grown accustomed to recovering from season-opening losses in their pursuit of successful campaigns.
Not this season.
The Sixers turned TD Garden — the site of many a crushing loss — into the place where they celebrated a hard-fought, 117-116 victory over the Boston Celtics. Afterward, players were amazed to learn that the last time the Sixers started 1-0 was during the 2021-22 season.
“I asked Tyrese [Maxey], I didn’t really remember because last year was in the past, but I was like, ‘Hey, did we win our first game last year?’ ” Kelly Oubre Jr. said. “He was like, ‘Nope.’ He was like, ‘We didn’t win our first game since my second year in the league.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy.’”
Since that road victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Oct. 20, 2021, the Sixers have suffered season-opening setbacks at Boston in 2022-23, at the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023-24, and against Milwaukee at home last season.
“So I think we started off better than we did last year,” Oubre said with a lighthearted chuckle. “So let’s continue to get better, continue to take it game by game, and continue to have a better year than last year.”
The Sixers opened last season with two straight losses and dropped 12 of their first 14. They never recovered and finished with the league’s fifth-worst record at 24-58 after electing to tank the final two months of the season.
Sixers guard VJ Edgecombe (77) drives to the basket for two of his 34 points.
Now, they’re focused on opening with consecutive victories for the first time since 2020-21, Maxey’s rookie season. That squad won seven of its first eight games en route to finishing with the Eastern Conference’s best record at 49-23 during a 72-game pandemic-shortened season.
It’s not out of the question for the Sixers to win four of this season’s first five games.
They’ll entertain the Charlotte Hornets in Saturday’s home opener before hosting the Orlando Magic on Monday. The Sixers then will face the Washington Wizards on Tuesday at Capital One Arena in Washington, then return home to host Boston (0-1) on Oct. 31.
They could be favored to beat the Hornets (1-0), Wizards (0-1), and the Celtics.
But the Sixers felt it was crucial to get Wednesday’s victory regardless of which teams were next on the schedule.
“Coach [Nick] Nurse came in before the game and said we worked our tail off all summer,” Maxey said. ”It was a long summer that we didn’t like. All fall, we worked extremely hard, all training camp. And, like he said, we are going to go out there and reward ourselves. Go out there and play 48 minutes of the new Sixers culture basketball.
“And I feel like we did that. We played to the end.”
Maxey finished with a game-high 40 points, while rookie guard VJ Edgecombe finished with 34 points. It was the third-highest scoring debut in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 43 points on Oct. 24, 1959, and Frank Selvy’s 35 points on Nov. 30, 1954.
Dominick Barlow (25) started at power forward for the Sixers and rewarded them with 13 points, a team-high eight rebounds, and three assists.
Power forwards Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker, who are on two-way contracts, stepped up and made huge plays. Quentin Grimes made some big plays in the fourth quarter. Oubre grabbed huge rebounds and made a clutch three-pointer.
