One person died after two helicopters collided midair Sunday in Atlantic County, according to authorities.
The Enstrom helicopters collided about 11:25 a.m. near Hammonton Municipal Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said. One helicopter was engulfed in flames near U.S. Routes 30 and 206, the Hammonton police department said in a Facebook post.
Only the pilots were aboard each aircraft, the FAA said; police said one person died, and another was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. Their identities were not immediately made public.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating, police said, and no additional details about what caused the collision were immediately available.
The crash drew responses from the state’s U.S. senators on social media.
“Reports of this morning’s fatal helicopter crash over South Jersey are horrifying and tragic,” Sen. Cory Booker wrote on X. “My heart is with those impacted and their families.”
Booker said his office was in contact with the NTSB, requesting more information on the crash.
Reports of this morning’s fatal helicopter crash over South Jersey are horrifying and tragic. My heart is with those impacted and their families. My office is in contact with the NTSB and requesting more information about the details of this tragedy.
“I’m heartbroken to learn of the fatal helicopter crash that occurred in Hammonton, NJ earlier this morning,” Sen. Andy Kim also posted to X. “I know our community will rally behind the family of the individual who lost their life as we navigate this terrible tragedy.”
Hammonton is about 30 miles northwest of Atlantic City.
A powerful winter storm was sweeping east from the Plains on Sunday, driven by what meteorologists describe as an intense cyclone, setting off a chain reaction of snow, ice, rain, and severe weather expected to affect much of the country.
Snow and strengthening winds spread across the Upper Midwest on Sunday, where the National Weather Service warned of whiteout conditions and possible blizzard conditions that could make travel impossible in some areas. Snowfall totals were expected to exceed a foot across parts of the upper Great Lakes, with up to 2 feet possible along the south shore of Lake Superior.
In the South, meteorologists warn of severe thunderstorms expected to signal the arrival of a sharp cold front — sometimes referred to as a “Blue Norther” — bringing a sudden temperature drop and strong north winds that will end days of record warmth across the region.
The snowy holiday season in the Upper Midwest and Northeast comes as springlike warmth continues in much of the nation’s midsection and South, where record high temperatures had Santa sweating in recent days.
The high temperature in Atlanta was forecast to be around 72 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday, continuing a warming trend after climbing to 78 F to shatter the city’s record high temperature for Christmas Eve, the National Weather Service said. Numerous other record high temperatures were seen across the South and Midwest on the days after Christmas.
But that record heat is quickly coming to an end, forecasters say.
A cold front was expected to bring rain to much of the South late Sunday night into Monday, bringing much colder weather on Tuesday. The abrupt change will drop the low temperature in Atlanta to 25 F by early Tuesday morning. The colder temperatures in the South are expected to continue through New Year’s Day.
Over the next 48 hours, the cyclone is expected to produce heavy snow and blizzard conditions in the Midwest and Great Lakes, freezing rain in New England, thunderstorms across the eastern U.S. and South, and widespread strong winds.
The storm is expected to intensify as it moves east, drawing energy from a sharp clash between frigid air plunging south from Canada and unusually warm air that has lingered across the southern United States, according to the National Weather Service.
It follows thousands of flight delays and cancellations across the Northeast and Great Lakes regions over the weekend due to snow, as thousands took to the roads and airports during the busy travel period between Christmas and New Year’s.
On the other side of the country, California was experiencing a fairly dry weekend after powerful storms battered the state with heavy rains, flash flooding, and mudslides. At least four people were killed including a man who was found dead Friday in a partially submerged car near Lancaster, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported.
The link to request plowing on Philly 311’s online portal became “inoperable and experienced technical difficulties” officials learned during Friday’s ice and sleet storm, Philadelphia Managing Director Adam Thiel said in a statement. Residents can call 311 for basic city services — from graffiti cleanup to pothole removal — on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but the portal is available after-hours.
“Our Streets Department is on the front lines of responding to any weather event, including this one,” Thiel said, “and Streets crews, along with many other city workers, have been working 24/7 since [Friday], treating and clearing all roadways in every neighborhood. That critical work continues.”
An acute global shortage of memory chips is forcing artificial intelligence and consumer-electronics companies to fight for dwindling supplies, as prices soar for the unglamorous but essential components that allow devices to store data.
Japanese electronics stores have begun limiting how many hard-disk drives shoppers can buy. Chinese smartphone makers are warning of price increases. Tech giants including Microsoft, Google, and ByteDance are scrambling to secure supplies from memory-chip makers such as Micron, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix, according to three people familiar with the discussions.
The squeeze spans almost every type of memory, from flash chips used in USB drives and smartphones to advanced high-bandwidth memory (HBM) that feeds AI chips in data centers. Prices in some segments have more than doubled since February, according to market-research firm TrendForce, drawing in traders betting that the rally has further to run.
The fallout could reach beyond tech. Many economists and executives warn the protracted shortage risks slowing AI-based productivity gains and delaying hundreds of billions of dollars in digital infrastructure. It could also add inflationary pressure just as many economies are trying to tame price rises and navigate U.S. tariffs.
“The memory shortage has now graduated from a component-level concern to a macroeconomic risk,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, CEO of Greyhound Research, a technology advisory firm. The AI build-out “is colliding with a supply chain that cannot meet its physical requirements.”
This Reuters examination of the spiraling supply crisis is based on interviews with almost 40 people, including 17 executives at chipmakers and distributors. It shows industry efforts to meet voracious appetite for advanced chips — driven by Nvidia and tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Alibaba — created a dual bind: Chipmakers still can’t produce enough high-end semiconductors for the AI race, yet their tilt away from traditional memory products is choking supply to smartphones, PCs, and consumer electronics. Some are now hurrying to course-correct.
Details of the global scramble by tech firms and price increases described by electronics retailers and component suppliers in China and Japan are reported here for the first time.
Average inventory levels at suppliers of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) — the main type used in computers and phones — fell to two to four weeks in October from three to eight weeks in July and 13 to 17 weeks in late 2024, according to TrendForce.
The crunch is unfolding as investors question whether the billions of dollars poured into AI infrastructure have inflated a bubble. Some analysts predict a shakeout, with only the biggest and financially strongest companies able to stomach the price increases.
One memory-chip executive told Reuters the shortage would delay future data-center projects. New capacity takes at least two years to build but memory-chip makers are wary of overbuilding for fear it could end up idle should the demand surge pass, the person said.
Samsung and SK Hynix have announced investments in new capacity but haven’t detailed the production split between HBM and conventional memory.
SK Hynix Inc. 12-layer HBM3E memory chips and a LPDDR5X CAMM2 memory module. MUST CREDIT: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
SK Hynix has told analysts that the memory shortfall would last through late 2027, Citi said in November.
“These days, we’re receiving requests for memory supplies from so many companies that we’re worried about how we’ll be able to handle all of them. If we fail to supply them, they could face a situation where they can’t do business at all,” Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Hynix parent SK Group, said at an industry forum in Seoul last month. OpenAI in October signed initial deals with Samsung and SK Hynix to supply chips for its Stargate project, which would require up to 900,000 wafers per month by 2029. That’s about double current global monthly HBM production, Chey said.
Samsung told Reuters it is monitoring the market but wouldn’t comment on pricing or customer relationships. SK Hynix said it is boosting production capacity to meet increased memory demand.
Microsoft declined to comment and ByteDance didn’t address questions about the chip strain. Micron and Google didn’t respond to comment requests.
‘Begging for supply’
After ChatGPT’s release in November 2022 ignited the generative AI boom, a global rush to build AI data centers led memory makers to allocate more production to HBM, used in Nvidia’s powerful AI processors.
Competition from Chinese rivals making lower-end DRAM, such as ChangXin Memory Technologies, also pushed Samsung and SK Hynix to accelerate their shift to higher-margin products. The South Korean firms account for two-thirds of the DRAM market.
Samsung told customers in May 2024 that it planned to end production of one type of DDR4 chips — an older variety used in PCs and servers — this year, according to a letter seen by Reuters. (The company has since changed course and will extend production, two sources said.) In June, Micron said it had informed customers it would stop shipping DDR4 and its counterpart LPDDR4 — a type used in smartphones — in six to nine months.
ChangXin followed suit in ending most DDR4 production, one source said. The firm declined to comment.
This shift, however, coincided with a replacement cycle for traditional data centers and PCs, as well as stronger-than-expected sales of smartphones, which rely on conventional chips.
In hindsight, “one could say the industry was caught off-guard,” said Dan Hutcheson, senior research fellow at TechInsights. Samsung raised prices of server memory chips by up to 60% last month, Reuters has reported. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who in October announced deals awith Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee during a trip to South Korea, acknowledged the price surge as significant but said Nvidia had secured substantial supply.
Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta in October asked Micron for open-ended orders, telling the company they will take as much as it can deliver, irrespective of price, according to two people briefed on the talks.
China’s Alibaba, ByteDance, and Tencent are also leaning on suppliers, dispatching executives to visit Samsung and SK Hynix in October and November to lobby for allocation, the two people and another source told Reuters.
“Everyone is begging for supply,” one said.
The Chinese firms didn’t address questions about the chip crunch. Nvidia, Meta, Amazon, and OpenAI didn’t respond to requests for comment.
In October, SK Hynix said all its chips are sold out for 2026, while Samsung said it had secured customers for its HBM chips to be produced next year. Both firms are expanding capacity to meet AI demand, but new factories for conventional chips won’t come online until 2027 or 2028. Shares in Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix have rallied this year on chip demand. In September, Micron forecast first-quarter revenue above market estimates while Samsung in October reported its biggest quarterly profit in more than three years.
Consultancy Counterpoint Research expects prices of advanced and legacy memory to rise by 30% through the fourth quarter and possibly another 20% in early 2026.
Smartphone sticker shock
Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi and Realme have warned they may have to raise prices.
Francis Wong, Realme India’s chief marketing officer, told Reuters the steep increases in memory costs were “unprecedented since the advent of smartphones” and could force the company to lift handset prices by 20% to 30% by June.
“Some manufacturers might save costs on imaging cameras, some on processors, and some on batteries,” he said. “But the cost of storage is something all manufacturers must completely absorb; there’s no way to transfer it.”
Xiaomi told Reuters it would offset higher memory costs by raising prices and selling more premium phones, adding that its other businesses would help cushion the impact.
In November, Taiwanese laptop maker ASUS said it had about four months of inventory, including memory components, and would adjust pricing as needed.
Winbond, a Taiwanese chipmaker with around 1% of the DRAM market, was among the first to announce a capacity expansion to meet demand. Its board of directors approved a plan in October to sharply boost capital expenditure to $1.1 billion.
“Many customers have been coming to us saying, ‘I really need your help,’ and one even asked for a six-year long-term agreement,” Winbond’s President Pei-Ming Chen said.
Traders rush in
In Tokyo’s electronics hub of Akihabara, stores are restricting purchases of memory products to curb hoarding. A sign outside PC shop Ark says that since Nov. 1 customers have been limited to buying a total of eight products across hard-disk drives, solid-state drives, and system memory. Ark declined to comment.
Clerks at five shops said shortages had pushed prices sharply higher in recent weeks. At some stores, one-third of products were sold out.
Products such as 32-gigabyte DDR5 memory — popular with gamers — were over 47,000 yen, up from around 17,000 yen in mid-October. Higher-end 128-gigabyte kits had more than doubled to around 180,000 yen.
The hikes are driving customers to the secondhand market — benefiting people like Roman Yamashita, owner of iCON in Akihabara, who said his business selling used PC parts is booming.
Eva Wu, a sales manager at component trader Polaris Mobility in Shenzhen, said prices are changing so rapidly that distributors issue broker-style quotes that expire daily — and in some cases hourly — versus monthly before the crunch.
In Beijing, a DDR4 seller said she had hoarded 20,000 units in anticipation of further increases.
Some 6,000 miles away in California, Paul Coronado said monthly sales at his company, Caramon, which sells recycled low-end memory chips pulled from decommissioned data-center servers, have surged since September. Almost all its products are now bought by Hong Kong-based intermediaries who resell them to Chinese clients, he said.
“We were doing about $500,000 a month,” he said. “Now it’s $800,000 to $900,000.”
No matter how hard we try, there are certain tales we just can’t forget from this roller coaster of a year.
In reflection, Inquirer columnist Stephanie Farr collected a handful of Philly-area stories that captured the peculiar. For example:
💩 At least one kind of tush push was deemed illegal. A viral video of a road rage incident in April “put a stain on Delco that won’t be wiped away anytime soon,” Farr writes.
🗑️ When Philly got trashed over the summer, things went from stinky to strange. A major city workers strike over eight hot days led to dead bodies piling up at the medical examiner’s office, slashed car tires, and plenty of memes.
🐢 And we can’t leave out our “shellebrities” Mommy and Abrazzo, the nonagenarian tortoise couple at the Philadelphia Zoo that fascinated the country in hatching a historic count of 16 kids.
🎤 Now I’m passing the mic to reporter Brett Sholtis.
Driving west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Mary Wright was hoping for a Chick-fil-A. But as she watched the limited options on road signs pass, fond memories of roast beef sandwiches lured her to Roy Rogers.
“My mother liked Roy Rogers,” said Wright, who is in her 60s and from Collingswood. “That’s how long it’s been around.”
That’s pretty typical of the food offerings on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, where old-school brands such as Auntie Anne’s, Baskin-Robbins, and Sbarro dot many of the 17 service plazas.
That puts the turnpike behind the times compared with similar toll roads in New Jersey and New York, where travelers can hold out for newer brands like Chick-fil-A, Pret a Manger, and Shake Shack.
“I think the older generation likes Roy Rogers and all that, but younger people are more likely to like Shake Shack, for example,” said John Zhang, professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
Once on the toll road, people are faced with dining options decided almost entirely by one company. It’s what Zhang called a “captive consumer” environment. The reasons for this involve state policy, a corporate contract, and a little business history. — Brett Sholtis
A New Jersey actor was indicted earlier this month on attempted murder and other charges in connection with accusations he shot a woman in the face following a traffic dispute.
Investigators say the man accused of fatally shooting a Delaware State Police trooper at a DMV office let customers leave, then fired at approaching officers before being killed.
Special interests and donor groups spent at least $18.7 million to influence Pennsylvania’s 2025 Supreme Court retention races, with supporters of three Democratic-elected justices outspending opponents by millions, a Spotlight PA review found.
Cheers to Linda Chaga, who correctly guessed Saturday’s answer: “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” One of America’s great Christmas songs, it was first composed and heard in a Philadelphia church before it spread across the world.
👋🏽 I’ll be back in your inbox in 2026, so I want to take this opportunity to wish you a very happy and bright new year. Julie will bring you Monday’s news. Thanks for reading, and take care.
The lack of it is apparent when the Sixers find themselves trailing, when their offense melts into predictable isolation plays, rushed heaves, and unforced turnovers.
A lack of health is one reason why the odds are against the Sixers’ Big Three ever living up to their lofty expectations. A lack of self-awareness may be another. But the lack of rhythm seems to be the go-to explanation for the team’s 0-4 record when the three maximum-salary players all play.
“I think we need to figure it out and look at it, right?” coach Nick Nurse said when asked if he’s concerned. “I mean, it’s been a little sporadic as far as when they played together. That doesn’t help. I mean, I’d really like 10 or 15, 20 straight games so we can kind of start building some stuff and figuring out when to go where and get a little bit of rhythm and synergy. It’s just so choppy when they play together as far as in consecutive games. It’s hard to build rhythm.”
The trio won’t get an opportunity to build rhythm in Sunday’s matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center.
Embiid will miss the contest with a sprained right ankle and right knee injury management. Meanwhile, George is probable with left knee injury management.
But if we’re honest, the Sixers (16-13) have no business remaining winless in games featuring their three best players.
Sure, George is finally regaining his old form after missing 15 games due to left-knee injury management and another one due to a sprained right ankle. And Embiid, no longer a dominant force on both ends of the court, has lacked his usual bounce and lateral movement. Sunday will mark the 17th game he’ll miss while dealing with injuries to both knees and now his ankle.
The Sixers’ tempo has even suffered when the 7-foot-2, 280-pounder is on the floor. Instead of being a fast-paced and athletic ball-moving squad, the Sixers’ offense becomes stagnant. Defensively, has been a struggle for the 2023 MVP, who is a seven-time All-Star and three-time All-Defensive selection.
No longer fearing him, teams are running pick-and-rolls to get Embiid involved in defensive actions and switching onto him. And they’ve been successful due to his inability to move as quickly as he used to laterally and his constantly appearing out of position. That has led to players feasting on Embiid, who rarely jumps or comes out to contest shots. Nor is he able to consistently prevent players he once dominated from getting to the rim.
But he’s averaged 29 points on 18 for 32 shooting — including shooting 60% on three-pointers — over his last two games, which featured the Big Three. Yet, that didn’t make a difference against two opponents the Sixers should have defeated.
They suffered a 114-106 loss to the struggling Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday at the Xfinity Mobile Arena. At the time, the Sixers could have used the excuse of playing without three of their most athletic players in VJ Edgecombe, Dominick Barlow, and Quentin Grimes due to illness.
Edgecombe, Barlow, and Grimes returned for Friday’s game against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center. The Sixers were supposed to avenge their Nov. 4 loss in Chicago, a game in which they squandered a 24-point lead.
Joel Embiid has not been the same type of defensive deterrent for opposing teams as he has been in past seasons.
Instead, the Sixers suffered a 109-102 loss after shooting 23.8% in the fourth quarter — including missing nine of 10 three-pointers. George scored three fourth-quarter points on 1-for-3 shooting, but that’s a little bit misleading.
Despite George having a hot hand in the third quarter and the start of the fourth, the Sixers stopped involving him in the offense. As a result, George didn’t attempt a shot after re-entering the game with 5 minutes, 26 seconds remaining.
Meanwhile, Maxey made just 2 of 9 shots while scoring six of his 27 points in the fourth quarter. Embiid had four points on 1-for-4 shooting in the final quarter on a night he finished with a game-high 31 points.
This comes after George said on Tuesday that figuring “out how to find rhythm, playing off one another” was the next step for the Big Three to get a victory.
On Friday, he was asked the same question.
“It just comes down to us locking in,” George said. “Again, this was a game that we should have closed. A game we should have won. Just comes down to us locking in down the stretch. Again, this is a possession game, and close the game out. That’s when we need to be at our best.”
But while those three players are “locking in” and trying to build rhythm, the role players have been uninvolved.
Paul George says the Sixers need to start “locking in” and closing out winnable games.
“I think we have to get better on both ends of the floor,” George said. “We have been getting stagnant out there, and that’s made us play a little slower. [Friday], that affected us, especially down the stretch. Chicago was able to dial into us, and they made the plays in the last few minutes. That was the game for us.”
Despite their struggles, the Sixers remained in fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings heading into Saturday’s slate of games. Yet, they are about to face their toughest test of the season in OKC. This is the second stop of a five-game road trip for the Sixers.
The defending NBA champion Thunder have the league’s best record at 26-5 and are 14-1 at home. Oklahoma City is precisely the type of squad that a team still trying to develop rhythm wouldn’t want to face.
“What’s tough is that we haven’t been able to have much practice time with all three of us on the floor,” Maxey said. “And that’s something we need to deal with, because the games are different. They are much different. We missed a lot of shots that we should have made. Those things happen.
The morning glory flower can take months to blossom, but seeing their stunning trumpet-shape blooms finally pop from their spindly tendrils is so worth the wait.
“We call the morning glory ‘happiness,’ because it’s cheerful. It’s blue with a glowing pink center, and it makes you feel like life is good,” said Burpee president and CEO Jamie Mattikow.
To celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday, the Warminster company is partnering with the Museum of the American Revolution to offer a Declaration Bouquet collection, which features seeds for five new flowers inspired by words plucked from the Declaration of Independence and the national anthem.
The collection debuted Dec. 1, and, besides the “happiness” morning glory, includes a “star-spangled” marigold, whose white layered petals signify Old Glory’s stars; the drought-tolerant, butter yellow “independence” gaillardia; the fiery orange “liberty” cosmos; and the calming purple “freedom” verbena that can be started indoors or out, as long as it has full sun.
Burpee’s Declaration Bouquet celebrates the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“We wanted to bring the words to life in a flower that embodied them,” Mattikow said of the full collection, which is available in the museum’s gift shop and via Burpee for $34.95 (you can also get each Declaration Bouquet seed packet individually via burpee.com). The collection contains five seed packets, eight labels, a Declaration of Independence keepsake card, and growing instructions.
“The Declaration Bouquet was part of a larger effort of making America’s 250th special for gardeners,” said Mattikow, who became an avid gardener himself after he joined the company in 2019.
The idea to partner with the Museum of the American Revolution came from Maureen Heffernan, horticulturist and wife of Burpee owner George Bell, after a visit to the Old City institution.
“They were percolating this idea of collaborations for 2026, so she reached out,” said Allegra Burnette, the museum’s chief strategy and growth officer.
They talked through ideas, and the company came up with the flower collection.
“It’s a way for them to showcase new flowers — and the Declaration of Independence spawned a lot of new things, as well,” Burnette said. “It’s also a nice way to come out of our ‘Declaration’s Journey’ exhibit when you are in a thoughtful but celebratory frame of mind. We hope it’s a way to plant a seed and keep something going forward.”
“Freedom” verbenas were bred for Burpee’s Declaration Bouquet in celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
The collaboration was a no-brainer for Burpee. “We recognize the importance of Philadelphia to the birth of the country, and we wanted to partner with somebody who could help us think of a great way to do this,” Mattikow said.
Along with celebrating the nation’s milestone birthday, Burpee has a big one of its own, marking 150 years in business in 2026. One way it’s ringing in the anniversary is with a Historic Breakthroughs collection of heirloom seeds.
“The founding of W. Atlee Burpee has always been about innovation, even today,” Mattikow said. “[Our story] has been largely told in products that were firsts to gardeners and farmers at the time. There are histories behind them that some people aren’t aware of, so we thought it’d be a wonderful opportunity to bundle it together in a collection of historic gardening firsts.”
Burpee’s Historical Breakthroughs seed collection celebrates the company’s 150th anniversary.
The Historic Breakthroughs collection includes nine seed packets and is priced at $29.95, available through Burpee’s website and catalog. This includes iceberg lettuce (first bred in 1894), the first yellow sweet corn (1902), and snowbird sugar snap peas (1978). The collection’s packaging features a nostalgic recreation of a Burpee catalog cover from 1888.
In addition to the Declaration Bouquet, Burpee also launched three other heirloom seed collections for 2026 that tell stories from the iconic gardens of the Monticello Museum, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and the American Horticultural Society. Each collection contains eight packets of seeds and is available at the respective institutions, as well as via Burpee for $49.95.
“Over the years there’s been a lot of choiceful introduction of products that would succeed in the climates of the U.S.,” said Mattikow. “They’re wonderful if you want a little slice of history from a gardener’s standpoint.”
Philadelphia sports fans of a certain age remember the city’s golden era, when all four professional teams advanced to their league’s championship series or title game in the same calendar year.
“The city was crazy that summer,” said Larry Bowa, the former Phillies shortstop who was a member of the 1980 World Series champion team. “Every team went to the finals, and we were the only one that won.”
Yes, the Sixers, Flyers, and Eagles all came up short of the brass ring in 1980 (and January 1981 for the Birds’ Super Bowl loss), but Philadelphia morphed into a sports nirvana during those 12 months.
Bowa said he thinks the 2026 Philadelphia sports scene will be even more electric, when the City of Brotherly Love hosts a bevy of major sporting events throughout the year. It starts with the March Madness men’s basketball opening rounds at Xfinity Mobile Arena, and stretches through the end of August, when the Philadelphia Cycling Classic is staged.
In between those two marquee events, the 108th PGA Championship will be played at Aronimink Golf Club, followed by six FIFA World Cup matches held at Lincoln Financial Field, the last of which is scheduled for July 4, the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress.
If that’s not enough, Citizens Bank Park in mid-July will be the host site for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the fifth time the Midsummer Classic has been played in Philadelphia, but the first at the Phillies’ current home stadium.
Imagine if the four Philly pro teams have a 1980 redux — that would be the cherry on top of Billy Penn’s hat.
“I think it’s going to be awesome,” Bowa said of the upcoming sports extravaganza. “People come from all over, and, whether it’s fair or not, Philly gets a bad rap sometimes. People that don’t live here, they don’t understand the passion that the fans have. It’s a great city. The fans are great. [You] can enjoy some of the history downtown. It’s going to be fun to sit back and watch.”
Houston forward Ja’Vier Francis blocks a shot by Florida center Micah Handlogten during the NCAA championship game on April 7, 2025, in San Antonio, Texas.
March Madness: NCAA men’s basketball tournament
None of the area men’s basketball teams that constitute the Big 5 (now 6 including Drexel University) is currently in the Top 25 rankings as of this writing, but that could change by the turn of the calendar.
Even if no Philly-area team punches its Big Dance ticket, St. Joseph’s will factor in the 2026 NCAA tourney when the school hosts the first- and second-round games at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The Florida Gators are the defending champions, and when March Madness begins, Philadelphia steps into the college basketball limelight for the opening curtain.
Friday, March 20, and Sunday, March 22; Xfinity Mobile Arena; tickets at xfinitymobilearena.com.
Scottie Scheffler lines up a putt on the fifth green on the first day of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black on Sept. 26.
PGA Championship
The 108th edition of one of professional golf’s four majors will be staged on the pristine Aronimink Golf Club links. The last time the PGA Championship was staged here was more than 60 years ago, when Hall of Fame legend Gary Player beat Bob Goalby by a stroke.
More recently, Keegan Bradley won the 2018 BMW Championship at Aronimink. Defending champ Scottie Scheffler will be among the star-studded group of golfers descending upon suburban Philly to play for the Wanamaker Trophy. If you miss out on tickets to the PGA Championship, you have another chance to see high-level golf in the region when the U.S. Men’s Amateur Championship comes to Merion Golf Club in mid-August.
May 11-17; Aronimink Golf Club, Newtown Square; tickets at pgachampionship.com.
The FIFA World Cup Trophy is displayed during the FIFA World Cup 2026 playoff draw in Zurich, Switzerland, on Nov. 20.
FIFA World Cup
Soccer’s premiere event was last staged in the U.S. over three decades ago, when the USMNT advanced to the Round of 16, before losing to perennial powerhouse Brazil. Now the men’s national team has another chance to try to do what no U.S. squad has done before — win soccer’s most prestigious award.
Six of the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches will be played at the Linc, including the final of those matches scheduled to take place on Independence Day.
June 14-July 4; Lincoln Financial Field; tickets at fifa.com.
Tampa Bay Rays’ Junior Caminero reacts during the MLB baseball All-Star Home Run Derby on July 14 in Atlanta.
MLB All-Star Game
Bowa was an All-Star in 1976, when the Midsummer Classic was played at Veterans Stadium. But in that doughnut-shaped ballpark, “you had to hit ’em to get out of there.” Bowa said he thinks the bandbox Citizens Bank Park will be a great venue for baseball’s All-Star gathering, particularly the Home Run Derby.
“This one, they might be taking the upper deck down with these guys as big and strong as they are, and the way the ball jumps in Philly.”
It will be even more entertaining if defending All-Star Game MVP Kyle Schwarber is suited up in a Phillies jersey next year. But if Schwarber departs in free agency, there is still a group of Phillies — Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Cristopher Sanchez — who could star for the National League.
July 12-14; Citizens Bank Park; tickets at mlb.com.
Racers in the 2007 Commerce Bank Liberty Classic climbing the Manayunk Wall.
Philadelphia Cycling Classic
One of cycling’s jewel events, the Philadelphia Classic has had numerous name iterations over the years, going back to its start in 1985 when it was called CoreStates U.S. Pro Cycling Championship. That year, Eric Heiden — yes, the former U.S. Olympic gold medal-winning speed skater — was champion.
Tour de France legend Greg LeMond has also been a past participant. The route snakes west of Center City and includes the famed Manayunk Wall, a cycling test of will on Levering Street.
Aug. 30; Planned 14.4-mile circuit goes from Logan Square up Kelly Drive to Manayunk and back; tickets at philadelphiacyclingclassic.com.
No one throws a “Happy 250th Birthday, America” jammy jam like a Philadelphia museum.
Embedded into the fabric of our nation’s birthplace, Philly cultural institutions are gearing up for high-level deep dives into history, fun, folly, and reflection. Just in time for the Semiquincentennial.
Our museums’ dynamic programming for America’s big birthday kicks off on Jan. 1.
The Philadelphia Art Museum, the National Constitution Center, the Museum of the American Revolution, and smaller outfits like Eastern State Penitentiary and Historic Germantown will, as expected, reimagine the history of our republic in an homage to the forefathers’ ingenuity.
Many are also honoring the perspective of marginalized Americans, upon whose backs this country was built.
Mixed into the Semiquincentennial festivities are other milestone birthdays. Carpenters’ Hall will celebrate the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s 250th with an exhibit, historical marker, statewide town halls, and virtual lecture series.
The new year also marks Germantown’s the Colored Girls Museum‘s 10th anniversary; it will open its fall 2026 season with a rare show from renowned sculptor vanessa german.
Renderings of The Franklin Institute’s world premiere of “Universal Theme Parks: The Exhibition” February 14, 2026 – September 7, 2026.
Philly is America’s birthplace. Our 250th birthday energy can’t be outdone.
From the looks of it, it won’t be.
Philadelphia Art Museum
The Philadelphia Art Museum has three major shows in 2026.
Noah Davis
The art museum’s Morgan, Korman, and Field galleries will feature the work of the late African American artist Noah Davis (1983-2015). Davis’ paintings, sculpture, and works on paper capture the history and intricacies of American Black life from antebellum America through his untimely death. Jan. 24-April 26.
“Untitled Girls” This painting by Noah Davis will be on display in the Philadelphia Art Museum’s 2026 exhibition named after the late artist
A Nation of Artists
Paintings, furniture, and decorative arts from Phillies managing partner John Middleton and his wife, Leigh, will center the “A Nation of Artists” exhibit, telling the 300-yearslong story of American creativity. The exhibit is a joint project between the Philadelphia Art Museum and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and is billed as “the most expansive presentation of American art ever mounted in Philadelphia.” Opens April 12.
Rising Up
2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the first Rocky film. To coincide, the Art Museum in April will open “Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Moments” in the museum’s Dorrance galleries. The exhibit will explore how the Rocky statue outside the museum brings people together. April 25-Aug. 2.
Phillies owner John Middleton is photographed next to a painting to his left, part of his personal collection and soon to be exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Visitors at the Museum of the American Revolution in front of a portrait of Absalom Jones, abolitionist and founder of The First African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. Jones’ writings are on display.
Penn Museum
Spear points dating to 3,000 B.C., centuries-old bowls, and 19th century beaded collars are a few of the items that illustrate the lives Lenape Indians led fishing on the banks of the Schuylkill and hunting in Fairmount Park. These are on display at Penn Museum’s new Native North American gallery. Visiting curator Jeremy Johnson chose these artifacts because, he said, they best “tell the story of his people — who the Founding Fathers tried to erase.” Through 2027.
A gallery of Native American art is displayed at the Penn Museum on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Philadelphia. As celebrations of Native American culture and precolonial Philadelphia plants grow, museums across the city prepare for America’s 250th birthday.
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History
On Nov. 16, 1776, the Andrew Doria brigantine arrived in the Caribbean on the British colony St. Eustatius, waving the first national flag of the United States. The Jewish merchants and English settlers, treated poorly by their antisemitic Anglican monarchs, greeted the newly minted Americans with a 13-cannon salute. In that moment, St. Eustatius became the first country to recognize America’s sovereignty.
Cannon from the shores of St. Eustatius much like those fired in the 18th century that will will be on display during “First Salute.” 250tharts-12-28-2025
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History’s“The First Salute” exhibit will recount this largely untold story — including how the Jewish merchants smuggled the Americans’ gunpowder in tea and rice bags, giving Pirates of the Caribbean meets Hamilton vibes. Artifacts on display will include 18th-century currency, a series of paintings from prominent Jewish Philadelphian Barnard Gratz’s art collection, and an actual cannon shot from the island’s shores. From April 23, 2026, through April 2027.
National Constitution Center
Centered around a rare, centuries-old copy of the U.S. Constitution — a gift from billionaire hedge fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin — the National Constitution Center will present “America’s Founding.“ The gallery will be dedicated to the exploration of our early, colonial principles that led our fight for independence. How do they stand up now? Opens Feb. 13.
This original copy of the U.S. Constitution, one of only 14, was donated to the National Constitution Center by billionaire hedge fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin. It will be featured in the Constitution Center’s upcoming “America’s Founding” exhibit.
A second gallery will explore how the Constitution defines roles and balances power between the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government. Opens in May.
Ruth E. Carter pauses briefly during the “Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design” opening gala at the African American Museum in Philadelphia on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025.
In October 2026, AAMP will premiere the extension of its “Audacious Freedom” exhibit. Currently on the ground floor, the exhibit is a study of Black Philadelphians from 1776 to 1876. The expanded show will bring “Audacious Freedom” up to present day and will include 20th-century artists and educators, from Charles Blockson to Jill Scott.
Woodmere Art Museum
Inspired by Philadelphia illustrator and friend of WoodmereJerry Pinkney, the Chestnut Hill museum’s Semiquincentennial show, “Arc of Promise,” acknowledges America’s painful histories of slavery, injustice, and displacement of its Indigenous people while affirming its capacity to rebuild, renew, and evolve. Featuring art by Philadelphians dating to 1790, “Arc of Promise’s” paintings, sculptures, maps, and flags explore what freedom and justice for all truly means. Opens June 20.
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
In collaboration with California State University ethnobotanist Enrique Salmón, the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University will debut “Botany of Nations: Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery.” These centuries-old plants, collected by explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, were a gift to Philadelphia’s American Philosophical Society from Thomas Jefferson. Organizers hope the selection of now-pressed plants — prairie turnip, camas root, and Western red cedar — will be a vegetative portal to the Indigenous perspective in American frontier life. From March 28, 2026, through Feb. 14, 2027.
Samples from Botany of Nations. Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, March 28, 2026 – February 14, 2027
The Clay Studio: Center for Innovation in Ceramic Art.
Twenty-five artists from 20 Philadelphia cultural institutions will present projects that show how the definition of independence evolved from 1776 through 1876, 1926, 1976, and 2026 under the umbrella of the Clay Studio. The exhibit, “Radical Americana,” will start with a compelling show by Kensington potter Roberto Lugo on April 9. Artists will mount additional shows at participating institutions throughout the year, including at the Museum for Art in Wood and Cliveden Historic House. A full list is available at theclaystudio.org. Opens April 9.
Roberto Lugo is shown working on one of his Greek vases that is now part of a new exhibition, “Roberto Lugo / Orange and Black” at Art@Bainbridge, a gallery project of the Princeton University Art Museum
Mural Arts Philadelphia
Mural Arts is working on several projects that will spruce up the city in 2026. That includes a new focus on the city’s entryways, the restoration of several murals, and a collaboration between Free Library of Philadelphia in a community printmaking project. At least three new murals will debut and include a tribute to artists Questlove (of the legendary Roots crew) and Boyz II Men. A refurbished mural in honor of Philadelphia’s first director of LBGTQ affairs, the late Gloria Casarez, will be unveiled. Mural Arts also is partnering with the Philadelphia Historic District on sculptures for next year’s 52 Weeks of Firsts programming and with the Bells Across PA program to create Liberty Bell replicas in neighborhoods throughout the city.
A rendering of a tribute to Gloria Casarez City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Michelle Angela Ortiz, 12th Street Gym, 204 South 12th Street.
Often found hidden behind two or three levels of locked doors, accessible only to a chosen few with the right credentials, they’re expansive, well-lit, and full of wonder. Mood boards filled with fashion photos, pictures of landscapes and architectural iconography inspire the team. Models of cars sculpted from clay — in various shapes and sizes — fixate the designers.
Then you smell the sulfur.
Traditional modeling clays contain sulfur, a reliable binding agent for the waxes and oils used during the sculpting process, and exudes a pungent smell of rotting eggs. For decades, designers just dealt with the smell until their computers started failing.
“Over 15 years ago, all computer circuit boards switched to a silver compound from lead solder,” said Mark Malewitz, president at Clay Warehouse. “They found out pretty quickly, as any modeler that wore silver jewelry already knew, that sulfur corrodes silver.”
Over the years, some companies such as Chavant and Staedtler have created different formulations without sulfur to try to eliminate the concomitant odor, but new technology such as augmented and virtual reality is significantly reshaping the auto development process. Virtual reality headsets, when combined with digital modeling software, allow designers and engineers to collaborate more quickly and easily. Besides saving money, the technology also reduces the need to sculpt full-size models of cars with clay.
“Before we had virtual reality we were building, for a major project, let’s say a new architecture, around about 80 to 100 vehicles,” said Karsten Garbe, plant director at GM’s Artisan Innovation Center in Warren, Mich. Today, that number is closer to 30 or 40 vehicles, and virtual reality is used in the development of every new car.
From gaming headsets to 3D printing
Like many other auto manufacturers, General Motors first started experimenting with the computer-gaming-focused HTC Vive headsets in the late 2010s. Today, manufacturers use everything from consumer-grade headsets, like Meta’s $499 Quest 3, to more professional units like the Varjo XR-4, which can cost more than $10,000.
Garbe’s team is responsible for piecing GM’s prototype cars together for brands such as Chevrolet and GMC, making sure not only that everything fits but that it can be assembled and serviced in a safe, repeatable way. It’s a little like assembling the world’s most complicated model kit, long before the instructions get written.
Before GM invested in virtual reality, engineers had to wait for prototype components to be manufactured and delivered. Now, they can work from early digital 3D models, checking fit and feasibility months before the first part is cast. Garbe said that this identifies problems early, flagging components that can’t physically be maneuvered into place or that don’t fit properly, dramatically reducing the number of prototype vehicles needed. This process was used to develop GM’s latest electric vehicles, including the Chevrolet Blazer EV and Cadillac Escalade IQ.
When it comes to visual design — the outright style and appearance of the car — there are considerable advantages, too.
Jim Conner, director of 3D process delivery at Ford Design, cited the important task of finding the right wheels. He said designers might go through as many as 35 potential wheel designs for a major model like the Mustang. In the old days, all 35 would have to be crafted by hand from plastic, foam, and paint for evaluation.
Using augmented and virtual reality, designers can narrow it down much more quickly, changing colors, finishes, and shapes instantly. “We’re really getting down to five or six critical ones that really resonated. And then we’ll actually make very nice prototypes of those,” Conner said
Other technologies, like 3D printing, are changing the game, too, speeding up prototyping and the creation of parts out of plastic, resin, or even metal that previously would be meticulously hand-sculpted. “We used to hand model, in clay, seats, including stitches,” Conner said. “You can imagine the technique and the expertise it takes to model a stitch on a seat in clay.”
Larger digital designs can also be brought into reality via milling machines that hone giant slabs of clay into a rough shape. The artisan modelers then come in to finesse the final shapes and details.
“The ability to rapidly mill full-size physical models provides significant advantages in the product development process, primarily by enabling a more dynamic approach to design iteration and validation,” said John Krsteski, senior chief designer for Genesis North America.
“We still do hand modeling, but we’ve taken our clay modelers and put a lot of technology in their hands now, and basically given them different tools,” Ford’s Conner said. “We’re trying to not say that people are clay modelers. They’re actually a model maker where clay is one thing they’re using.”
“A lot of the studios were saying, ‘Let’s just go digital,’” Malewitz said. But the results, he continued, weren’t good, with plenty of “angular lines that don’t have the human touch.”
While the engineers can create near-photo-realistic renderings of objects in augmented and virtual reality, a key part of the process was missing: “The one thing you cannot replace with virtual reality is sunlight,” Malewitz said, echoing a common sentiment among designers that, while they may be investing in fewer models than before, nothing beats a real, full-size clay sculpture for final approvals.
“Virtual and augmented reality are really fantastic developmental tools, but I do believe there will always be a point where you’re going to see a physical thing,” Conner said. “I don’t think virtual reality will replace that.”
