The Delaware Supreme Court ruled to restore Elon Musk’s disputed $56 billion pay package on Friday, reversing another court’s decision that it had been awarded through an unfair process.
The decision comes after a nearly two-year battle over the fate of the then-unprecedented pay deal, following the Delaware Court of Chancery’s ruling that it had been improperly awarded. The earlier ruling said that the process had been unduly influenced by Musk and that members of the board were not independent. In response, Musk reincorporated some of his companies out of Delaware, including moving Tesla to Texas.
Musk said he had been “vindicated” by Friday’s ruling, adding in a later X post: “I try not to start fights, but I do finish them.”
The restoration of the pay package bolsters Musk’s position in Tesla, a publicly traded company in which he holds a massive, double-digit percentage stake that drives much of his more than $600 billion fortune.
Earlier this year Tesla shareholders voted to grant Musk an even larger, $1 trillion pay package — contingent on Musk hitting business milestones — that aims to tie him to the company for the next decade.
At the time of the ruling, the 2018 pay deal was unprecedented in scale. The Delaware judge who struck it down had written that it was “the largest potential compensation opportunity ever observed in public markets … 250 times larger than” the median earnings of someone in Musk’s position. It was also “33 times larger than the plan’s closest comparison … Musk’s prior compensation plan.”
The Delaware Supreme Court’s ruling Friday was succinct.
“We reverse the Court of Chancery’s rescission remedy and award $1 in nominal damages.”
The ruling said the Chancery court had erred in its remedy because reversing the package would leave “Musk uncompensated for his time and efforts over a period of six years.” Musk does not draw a traditional salary for his work at Tesla but instead is compensated through periodic pay packages consisting of stock awards.
Happiness is taking control of a beloved comic strip.
Sony is buying a 41% stake in the Charles M. Schulz comic Peanuts and its characters including Snoopy and Charlie Brown from Canada’s WildBrain in a $457 million deal, the two companies said Friday.
The deal adds to Sony’s existing 39% stake, bringing its shareholding to 80%, according to a joint statement. The Schulz family will continue to own the remaining 20%.
“With this additional ownership stake, we are thrilled to be able to further elevate the value of the Peanuts brand by drawing on the Sony Groupʼs extensive global network and collective expertise,” Sony Music Entertainment President Shunsuke Muramatsu said.
Peanuts made its debut Oct. 2, 1950, in seven newspapers. The travails of the “little round-headed kid” Charlie Brown and pals including Linus, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, and his pet beagle Snoopy eventually expanded to more than 2,600 newspapers, reaching millions of readers in 75 countries.
The strip offers enduring images of kites stuck in trees, Charlie Brown trying to kick a football, tart-tongued Lucy handing out advice for a nickel, and Snoopy taking the occasional flight of fancy to the skies. Phrases such as “security blanket,” “good grief” and “happiness is a warm puppy” are a part of the global vernacular. Schulz died in 2000.
Sony acquired its first stake in Peanuts Holdings LLC in 2018 from Toronto-based WildBrain Ltd. In Friday’s transaction, Sony’s music and movie arms signed a “definitive agreement” with WildBrain to buy its remaining stake for $630 million Canadian dollars ($457 million).
Rights to the Peanuts brand and management of its business are handled by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Peanuts Holdings.
WildBrain also owns other kids’ entertainment franchises including Strawberry Shortcake and Teletubbies.
‘Twas the weekend before Christmas and all through the house I couldn’t find anything about which to grouse.
The Cowboys have Cowboyed, the Commies are done, the Eagles will again be the NFC East’s No. 1.
And not only that but they’ll be better than the Bucs, which means they won’t play the Rams, which really would have sucked.
Why you’d count out the Eagles is really beyond me, and that goes double for the grinches shouting Nick Sirianni.
I like the Eagles’ chances, and you can call me a fool, though I’ll call you a Scrooge if you say, “Bah, humbug … Patullo.”
Three reasons to cheer up about the Eagles as they look to clinch the division against the Commanders on Saturday.
Nick Sirianni’s Eagles get the Commanders twice over their final three games to try to boost their playoff standing.
1. The Eagles can easily end up with the No. 2 seed and host the NFC Championship game.
I’m not going to try to put into words all of the various scenarios that could play out over the final three weeks of the regular season. But there are two important points.
The Rams and Seahawks could be headed for a rubber match in their season series, which they’ve split in two of the more entertaining games of the season. One of those teams will likely enter the postseason as the fifth seed, and the other the one seed, which would put them in position to face each other in the divisional round, given that the second-best team in the NFC West (Rams or Seahawks) looks a lot better than the best team in the NFC South (Bucs or Panthers), whom they’d face in the wild-card round.
The Bears (10-4) close out the season against three potential playoff teams, with home games against the Packers and Lions sandwiched around a road game in San Francisco. They’ve already lost to the Packers and Lions. In a scenario where the Bears lose two or three of those games, the Eagles could finish ahead of them by winning out, or even by winning two of three.
In other words, the Eagles could easily end up hosting the Bears in the wild-card round and then playing someone other than the Seahawks or Rams in the divisional round. They would then host the NFC Championship if the lower-seeded team (Rams at the moment) knocked off the higher-seeded team (Seahawks).
The moral of the story is that the NFC is wide open. Sure, the road is likely to be tougher than it was a year ago, when the Commanders somehow advanced to the NFC Championship. The 49ers have won four straight games since Brock Purdy’s return at quarterback, with an average margin of victory of 16.25 points. Their only losses on the season have come against the 10-4 Jaguars, the 11-4 Rams, the 9-5 Texans, and a Bucs team that was 5-1 at the time. The Lions aren’t dead yet. If they beat the Steelers at home this week, they could easily be playing the Bears in Week 18 with a playoff berth on the line. Rams, Lions, 49ers would be a heck of a collection of wild-card teams.
But none of these teams are great, are they? The Eagles would be no worse than a coin flip in any potential playoff matchup, home or road. Even as the three seed, the Eagles would have a realistic chance at hosting an NFC Championship game.
Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter will miss his third straight game on Saturday following shoulder surgery.
2. Lane Johnson and Jalen Carter could be back on the offensive and defensive lines for the second or third-seeded Eagles.
Anytime Johnson misses a snap we hear about how important he is. The Eagles have lost six of their last nine meaningful games that they’ve played without their All-Pro right tackle, including three this season. But I don’t often hear Johnson’s absence when it comes time to dole out blame for the offense’s underperformance this season. That’s partially because they’ve struggled with him in the lineup. But they were also 8-2 with a bunch of big wins.
Carter’s impact is nearly as big on the defensive line. Over the last three seasons, the Eagles have lost five of the seven meaningful games that Carter has missed. One of the two wins was the season opener against the Cowboys, which easily could have been a loss. Carter clearly wasn’t himself in the Eagles’ loss to the Bears. A healthy return for the postseason alongside Johnson could be massive.
3. The Eagles could be better than we’re giving them credit for.
Rarely is it as easy as it was for the Eagles last season.
That’s something that has been underemphasized by your faithful servants in the chattering classes as we’ve performed our living autopsies on the 2025 season. While the Eagles have offered plenty to critique, a big part of their problem is perception. They set a standard that would have been tough for any team to match, let alone a team that is where they are in their talent cycle. Only five other times in the last 10 seasons had a team score at least 463 points while allowing 303 or fewer. Only once in the Super Bowl Era has a team done it in back-to-back seasons (the 1993-94 49ers). Heck, only five teams have done it multiple times in that 59-year span.
A big part of it is economics. Jalen Hurts’ cap hit jumped from $13.6 million in 2024 to $21.9 million in 2025. DeVonta Smith’s went from $7.5 million to $10.7 million. Jordan Mailata’s went from $11.7 million to $15.2 million. Combined, that’s an increase of about $15 million going to three players. That means the Eagles have $15 million fewer dollars worth of players elsewhere on the roster compared to 2024. In 2024, they spent roughly $15.4 million on the combined cap hits of Darius Slay, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and Mekhi Becton. Economics is known as the dismal science for good reason.
But money isn’t the only element of the story. The NFL carefully structures itself to avoid prolonged runs by teams that were as dominant as the Eagles were last season. Parity is the goal of the draft, and of the scheduling process, and, yes, of the salary cap.
Over the last 10 seasons, the most games any team has won in a 65-game stretch is 53, which the Chiefs did between 2019-23. As of today, the Eagles have won 48 of their last 65, dating back to the start of the 2022 season. They are one of only five teams to accomplish that over the last decade.
Point is, the Eagles’ roller-coaster ride of the last four years is unique only because of the highs. No, they aren’t the steamroller they were last season. But you don’t need to be a steamroller to win a Super Bowl. Right now, the Eagles have as much reason as any team in the NFC to consider themselves the team to beat.
When the Texas Rangers won the World Series in 2023, Brad Miller and Adolis García sprinted from the dugout to jubilate with their teammates behind the pitcher’s mound.
It wasn’t much of a race.
“Adolis has a torn oblique [in his left side] and is still just pulling away from me,” Miller said by phone this week, recalling the celebration. “Like, I can’t keep up with him.”
Nobody could. Not then. García was the hottest hitter on the planet for three weeks in the fall of 2023. He set a record with 22 RBIs in a postseason, including 15 in the American League Championship Series. With the Rangers facing elimination on the road in Houston, he smashed a grand slam in Game 6 and two homers in Game 7 to clinch the pennant.
“I’ve never seen a performance like that,” Miller said. “It was [freaking] insane.”
And it seems like a lifetime ago.
The Phillies signed García this week to a one-year, $10 million contract, and if he’s close to the middle-of-the-order masher that he once was, it will be a steal. From 2021 to 2023, he slugged .472 with a 113 OPS+, tied for sixth among all right-handed hitters with 97 home runs, won a Gold Glove, and was a two-time All-Star.
But in two seasons since his turn as Mr. October, he slugged .397 with a 96 OPS+ and 44 homers.
If that’s the hitter who shows up in Philly, the Rangers will be justified in not offering him a 2026 contract at a raised salary (projected $12 million) in his final year of arbitration. And it will be fair to wonder if García is an upgrade over even the right fielder he’s replacing: Nick Castellanos. Or if a Phillies outfield that is “pretty well set,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said this week, will be any better than it was this year.
OK, before we go further, a reminder: Castellanos isn’t leaving because he’s a free agent. (He’s actually still on the roster, not that you’d know it.) And the Phillies aren’t choosing to move on from him — even while paying all or most of his $20 million 2026 salary — simply because he’s amid a three-year decline as a hitter and one of the worst defenders in the sport.
Quite simply, he has to go — and thus far, the Phillies haven’t gotten much interest, according to a source, even though they’re willing to foot the bill. If they’re unable to trade Castellanos before spring training, they are expected to release him.
Either way, right field will represent upward of a $30 million outlay in 2026, even though it won’t be filled by Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, or another $30 million-plus player. García will step into the payroll space occupied this year by Max Kepler, who got paid $10 million to slug .391 with 18 homers and an 88 OPS+ in a one-and-done Phillies tenure.
The Phillies believe García has more upside than Kepler and Castellanos. It’s a low bar. And even if hitting coach Kevin Long and the slugger-friendly environment of Citizens Bank Park are unable to unlock more production from García, Phillies officials still figure they will come out ahead.
But don’t take their word for it.
“What I would tell people is, Adolis is worth the price of admission,“ said Miller, the bamboo-loving former Phillies utility man and now a Rangers pre- and postgame television analyst. ”It’s not just like, ‘Oh, he’s a good outfielder.’ It’s exciting stuff, like he’ll make diving plays, he’ll throw a guy out from the wall in right field. I can just picture that at the Bank. He’ll have the arm to throw in the air from anywhere in right field and get somebody out.
“He plays with a flair. And he can do everything. I’m excited for him. I think it’s going be a breath of fresh air.”
Adolis García slugged .397 with a .675 OPS over the last two seasons for the Rangers, a drop-off from his .472 and .777 marks from 2021 to 2023.
Tale of the tape
Name the players, based on these numbers over the last two seasons:
Castellanos is Hitter A; García, if you couldn’t guess, is Hitter B. They were strikingly similar in their swing-and-miss tendencies. If anything, García exhibited marginally better discipline while Castellanos struck out slightly less frequently.
But a deeper dive into the quality of the contact each player did make helps explain why multiple Phillies scouts recommended to Dombrowski that García could be poised for a bounce back.
Over the last two seasons, the average exit velocity on balls hit by Castellanos was 88.1 mph, compared to 91.6 mph for García. Castellanos’ hard-hit rate, defined as batted balls at 95 mph or more, was 36.5%; García‘s was 47.6%.
And García‘s metrics weren’t far off his career-best 2023 season, when his average exit velocity was 92.1 mph and his hard-hit rate totaled 49.7%.
“Our scouts had very good reports on him,” Dombrowski said. “Even though some of the stuff may be slightly down, it’s still positive in many directions. The tools are there. The ball jumps off his bat still; bat speed’s still there; exit velocity is very good. Those are all things that we feel encouraged about.
“We think it has more to do with approach than it does with ability.”
In four seasons with the Phillies, Nick Castellanos batted .260 with 82 homers and a league-average OPS+ of 100.
The Phillies’ efforts over the years to tweak Castellanos’ approach weren’t always embraced.
Although Thomson and Long conceded that Castellanos always would be an aggressive hitter, they focused on “controlled aggression,” a happy medium in which he could still swing at pitches early in the count while laying off low-and-away breaking balls in particular. Castellanos often said the emphasis on his chase rate left him stuck between approaches.
The Phillies will soon discover if García is open to adjustments. Long and assistant hitting coach Edwar Gonzalez are expected to drop in on García at his home in Tampa, Fla., before spring training to start “chipping away,” as Thomson put it.
García said he has already had phone calls with Long.
“We believe in the same things,” he said, via assistant general manager Jorge Velandia’s interpretation. “We’re on the same page already. … The focus is not to be a hero. Just [stay] within myself.”
Whereas Castellanos tends to fish for sliders (pitchers fed him almost as many breaking pitches as fastballs this season), García is vulnerable to elevated fastballs. As such, he saw heaters 64.3% of the time and flailed away, batting .215 and slugging only .300 against 95 mph and harder.
“What Adolis did when I saw him hitting at his best is he took most of those pitches,” Miller said. “He laid off the velocity up. He was really hunting a certain spot and not necessarily tomahawking balls and doing anything crazy. He was just laying off those tough pitches.”
Never more than in the 2023 postseason.
“He would take some swings like Adrian Beltré, where he’d fall over and his helmet would fly off because he wanted it so bad,” Miller said. “But then he would recalibrate, take a deep breath. When he was at his best, it was very controlled. Because he has enough power and then some. When he stays within himself, good things happen.”
At least they used to. Since the 2023 playoffs, García’s .278 on-base percentage is the lowest among 120 players with at least 1,000 plate appearances. His .675 OPS is tied for 116th.
Adolis Garcia set a major league postseason record with 22 RBIs in 2023 to lead the Rangers to a World Series title.
Ready for a change
Corey Seager and Marcus Semien were the stars of the 2023 World Series team. But García predated both in Texas.
Acquired from the Cardinals in a cash trade in 2019, García got designated for assignment and outrighted to triple A in 2021 only to make the All-Star team later that season.
“He’s self-made, you know?” Miller said. “He was a fan favorite in Texas, truly. He was kind of ‘The Guy.’”
And when the Rangers stumbled to a 78-84 record in their title defense in 2024, Miller suggested nobody took it harder than García. He painted García as conscientious and “soft-spoken,” belying the fiery emotion that he often shows on the field.
It didn’t get much better this year. The Rangers were 26th in the majors in batting average (.234) and slugging (.381) and 22nd in runs scored (684). They got shut out 15 times and scored less than two runs in 20% of their games. Midway through the season, they fired hitting coach Donnie Ecker.
García conceded he might’ve put too much pressure on himself.
“He’s very self-aware,” Miller said.
In a sense, then, García might benefit from a change of scenery as much as Castellanos. Thomson, with Velandia’s help, delivered a message in their first phone conversation with him this week.
“You have to be yourself and relax,” Thomson said. “Have fun, be yourself, don’t try to do too much. Because we’ve got a lot of really good players around him. I know that Texas had some injuries last year. Maybe he tried to do a little bit too much for the team.”
Said Dombrowski: “We don’t need him to hit the ball out of the ballpark on every swing or every at-bat. He needs to be more under control with the swing. We think he can do that.”
And what if he does?
“There’s going to be some times,” Miller said, “where he is going to make Citizens Bank Park look very small.”
Can you see all four? There is one “real” image of SEPTA trolley operator Victoria Daniels and three different reflections.
I only saw two reflections as I was trying to focus and compose while bracing my camera on the back of a seat to stabilize myself on the moving trolley. I wanted to photograph the light at the end of the tunnel (the metaphor was apt, as tens of thousands of riders are hoping for some relief as service in the Center City Tunnel has been shut down for weeks.)
Trolley slider parts are on display as Jason Tarlecki, acting SEPTA chief engineer of power, talks with the news media at the 40th Street trolley portal.
More than just a “talker” the SEPTA folks first showed lots of equipment parts and then we got to take a field trip, riding a trolley into the closed tunnel to see where they were repairing the overhead wire.
While, for most of the media, the ride was just a way to get to the closed station for the show-and-tell, for me it was an opportunity to take pictures out the windows — something I like to do anytime I am on public transit. And play around with exposures …
…which sometimes just doesn’t work out.
Two things that did work out photographically this week; the first snowfall of the season:
And, on the same day, a firefighter Santa riding through the neighborhood.
Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:
December 15, 2025: A historical interpreter waits at the parking garage elevators headed not to a December crossing of the Delaware River, but an event at the National Constitution Center. General George Washington was on his way to an unveiling of the U.S. Mint’s new 2026 coins for the Semiquincentennial, December 8, 2025: The Benjamin Franklin Bridge and pedestrians on the Delaware River Trail are reflected in mirrored spheres of the “Weaver’s Knot: Sheet Bend” public artwork on Columbus Boulevard. The site-specific stainless steel piece located between the Cherry Street and Race Street Piers was commissioned by the City’s Public Art Office and the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation and created and installed in 2022 by the design and fabrication group Ball-Nogues Studio. The name recalls a history that dominated the region for hundreds of years. “Weaver’s knot” derives from use in textile mills and the “Sheet bend” or “sheet knot” was used on sailing vessels for bending ropes to sails. November 29, 2025: t’s ginkgo time in our region again when the distinctive fan-shaped leaves turn yellow and then, on one day, lose all their leaves at the same time laying a carpet on city streets and sidewalks. A squirrel leaps over leaves in the 18th Century Garden in Independence National Historical Park Nov. 25, 2025. The ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) is considered a living fossil as it’s the only surviving species of a group of trees that existed before dinosaurs. Genetically, it has remained unchanged over the past 200 million years. William Hamilton, owner the Woodlands in SW Phila (no relation to Alexander Hamilton) brought the first ginkgo trees to North America in 1785.November 24, 2025: The old waiting room at 30th Street Station that most people only pass through on their way to the restrooms has been spiffed up with benches – and a Christmas tree. It was placed there this year in front of the 30-foot frieze, “The Spirit of Transportation” while the lobby of Amtrak’s $550 million station restoration is underway. The 1895 relief sculpture by Karl Bitter was originally hung in the Broad Street Station by City Hall, but was moved in 1933. It depicts travel from ancient to modern and even futuristic times. November 17, 2025: Students on a field trip from the Christian Academy in Brookhaven, Delaware County, pose for a group photo in front of the Liberty Bell in Independence National Historical Park on Thursday. The trip was planned weeks earlier, before they knew it would be on the day park buildings were reopening after the government shutdown ended. “We got so lucky,” a teacher said. Then corrected herself. “It’s because we prayed for it.” November 8, 2025: Multitasking during the Festival de Día de Muertos – Day of the Dead – in South Philadelphia.November 1, 2025: Marcy Boroff is at City Hall dressed as a Coke can, along with preschoolers and their caregivers, in support of former Mayor Jim Kenney’s 2017 tax on sweetened beverages. City Council is considering repealing the tax, which funds the city’s pre-K programs. October 25, 2025: Austin Gabauer, paint and production assistant at the Johnson Atelier, in Hamilton Twp, N.J. as the finished “O” letter awaits the return to Philadelphia. The “Y” part of the OY/YO sculpture is inside the painting booth. The well-known sculpture outside the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History was removed in May while construction continues on Market Street and has been undergoing refurbishment at the Atelier at the Grounds for Sculpture outside of Trenton.October 20, 2025:The yellow shipping container next to City Hall attracted a line of over 300 people that stretched around a corner of Dilworth Park. Bystanders wondered as they watched devotees reaching the front take their selfies inside a retro Philly diner-esque booth tableau. Followers on social media had been invited to “Climb on to immerse yourself in the worlds of Pleasing Fragrance, Big Lip, and exclusive treasures,” including a spin of the “Freebie Wheel,” for products of the unisex lifestyle brand Pleasing, created by former One Direction singer Harry Styles.October 11, 2025: Can you find the Phillie Phanatic, as he leaves a “Rally for Red October Bus Tour” stop in downtown Westmont, N.J. just before the start of the NLDS? There’s always next year and he’ll be back. The 2026 Spring Training schedule has yet to be announced by Major League Baseball, but Phillies pitchers and catchers generally first report to Clearwater, Florida in mid-February.October 6. 2025: Fluorescent orange safety cone, 28 in, Poly Ethylene. Right: Paint Torch (detail) Claes Oldenburg, 2011, Steel, Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic, Gelcoat and Polyurethane. (Gob of paint, 6 ft. Main sculpture, 51 ft.). Lenfest Plaza at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts on North Broad Street, across from the Convention Center.September 29, 2025: A concerned resident who follows Bucks County politics, Kevin Puls records the scene before a campaign rally for State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the GOP candidate for governor. His T-shirt is “personal clickbait” with a url to direct people to the website for The Travis Manion Foundation created to empower veterans and families of fallen heroes. The image on the shirts is of Greg Stocker, one of the hosts of Kayal and Company, “A fun and entertaining conservative spin on Politics, News, and Sports,” mornings on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT.September 22, 2025: A shadow is cast by “The Cock’s Comb,” created by Alexander “Sandy” Calder in 1960, is the first work seen by visitors arriving at Calder Gardens, the new sanctuary on the Ben Franklin Parkway. The indoor and outdoor spaces feature the mobiles, stabiles, and paintings of Calder, who was born in Philadelphia in 1898, the third generation of the family’s artistic legacy in the city.September 15, 2025: Department of Streets Director of Operations Thomas Buck leaves City Hall following a news conference marking the activation of Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras on the Broad Street corridor – one the city’s busiest and most dangerous roads. The speed limit on the street, also named PA Route 611, is 25 mph.
When Kevair Kennedy saw Ernest Shelton enter his name in the transfer portal after spending two years at Division II Gannon University in Erie, Pa., the Merrimack College pledge texted his former Father Judge teammate about joining him in Massachusetts.
“I was just telling him, if me and him team up again, we could cause so much damage,” said Kennedy, now a 6-foot-2 freshman point guard. “He’s familiar with my game, I’m familiar with his game. He knows that I like to drive, he like to shoot, so we got a good one-two punch. I also was reminding him about all the good times that we had at Father Judge, and he bought into it.”
That he did. Shelton, a 6-5 junior shooting guard who led Gannon with 17.4 points last season, didn’t have any Division I scholarship offers in high school. But after proving himself in the PSAC, Shelton wanted to move up a level.
His name and background — being a Father Judge product coached by Chris Roantree — stood out to Merrimack head coach Joe Gallo, who heavily recruits the Philadelphia area and has built a relationship with Roantree. So with the push of a former teammate and the familiar ties to his hometown, Shelton landed with the Warriors, where he and Kennedy are the team’s leading scorers, averaging 14.6 and 15.2 points, respectively, for the 6-7 team.
The two have quickly emerged as impact players, and their addition to the program, which lost its top scorer last season in former West Catholic standout Adam “Budd” Clark, now at Seton Hall, has filled a large void.
“I knew Kev would probably have to carry a big load with us losing Budd, and we’re a pretty point guard heavy program,” Gallo said. “We always have a great guard, so I knew he’d have the opportunity to do it. He’s definitely exceeded expectations, and Ern the same thing. You never know when a player goes from Division II and transfers up a level if it’s going to translate. But they both hit the floor running right from the summer.”
Here’s a glimpse of their contributions so far: Shelton tied the single-season program record with 9 three-pointers against Boston on Nov. 15, where he finished with a career-high 33 points and was named MAAC Player of the Week. Kennedy also had his first career double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds) against the Terriers. He’s been selected as Rookie of the Week twice.
A familiar face played a major part in their success. Shelton and Kennedy met while playing AAU together on Philly Triple Threat. Shelton spent his first two years of high school at Bishop McDevitt in Wyncote, before it closed down at the end of the 2020-21 academic year.
He considered going to Archbishop Wood, where Roantree was a longtime assistant under John Mosco. But once Roantree landed the head job at Father Judge, Shelton decided to follow his coach there. He was reconnected with Kennedy, then a freshman who saw minutes. He later became a stater on the varsity team.
The team took some bumps in those first two years as the program underwent a rebuild under a new coach. The Crusaders finished 4-9 in the Catholic League in 2021-22. They were 6-7 in 2022-23. But last season Father Judge made school history, earning a Catholic League and state championship.
Kennedy played a large role in that achievement.
Coach Chris Roantree of Father Judge raises the trophy after his team defeated Roman Catholic in the Catholic League championship. Kevair Kennedy is on the left.
“I feel like I grew a lot in leadership there,” Kennedy said. ”Somebody had to be the leader, be the voice, and get us going on days when they didn’t feel like it. I feel like [Roantree] trusting me at an early age helped me with my accountability, not just hold others accountable, but hold myself accountable too.”
Kennedy, who held one other scholarship offer from Wagner, had the chance to play at the Plaestra as a college player when Merrimack competed in the Cathedral Classic from Nov. 28 to Nov. 30. It wasn’t the same as playing in front of 10,000 fans for the Catholic League championship, but it was “a special moment” as the current Father Judge staff and team attended some of the games.
The Warriors were riding a four-game winning streak before falling to Vermont on Dec. 14, thanks in part because of Shelton and Kennedy. The two would consider themselves to be more reserved, but on the court, they always seem to know where each other are.
“It’s a lot more eye contact then words,” Gallo said. “Kev gets Ern a lot of unscripted three-point shots in transition, where we don’t even have to call a play, because [Kennedy] knows where [Shelton] is.”
They aren’t the only Philly-area players on the team, either. Graduate student Jaylen Stinson is a former Archbishop Wood guard, senior forward Brandon Legris attended Perkiomen School, and next year, Rocco Westfield, a senior at Father Judge, intends to play for Merrimack.
Gallo likes to recruit the area because of the the high-level competition in the Catholic League, and earlier in the season, when Merrimack faced Auburn and Florida, Kennedy and Shelton looked unfazed.
“They’ve just been Philadelphia battle tested,” Gallo said. “Neither one of them blink at any of the competition we played against. I think that’s just going to continue to pay dividends.”
So would Shelton and Kennedy say their time at Father Judge is helping them now?
“For sure, definitely,” Shelton said. “It means a lot to have someone that you grew up with in college.”
Kennedy added: “Having him here, it made me break through the ice even easier than it would have been if he wasn’t here. It was easier for me to get out of my shell, knowing that if I don’t know anybody at least I have Ern.”
During the Christmas holidays, the word peace makes a frequent appearance, in sermons and carols and frequent performances of Handel’s Messiah, with its glorious Hallelujah Chorus praising “the Prince of Peace.”
That makes it even more infuriating to watch President Donald Trump demanding that Ukraine (and American’s European allies) agree to a so-called peace deal by the new year that guarantees more war and killing. Equally depressing is to watch much of the media buy the premise that the U.S. and Russia are actually conducting peace talks.
Baloney. What is going on in Berlin, Miami, Washington, and Moscow is a Trump-led farce. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders are forced to play along lest POTUS cut off crucial U.S. intelligence sharing and halt critical (but limited) sales of U.S. weaponry. They know Trump seeks a deal, any deal, even one on Kremlin terms, in order to claim he achieved peace in Ukraine. Yet the gleam of a Nobel Peace Prize and rare earth business deals with Moscow override any concerns about helping Moscow crush Kyiv.
Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, has shown no interest in negotiating, but just waits for more Trump concessions. Any deal that protects Kyiv’s future will be rejected by Vladimir Putin, but Trump, following past practice, will likely blame Ukraine.
That is why many more Americans, and security conscious Republicans in Congress must recognize that Trump is no worldly prince (or king) of peace. Rather, he is a poseur who must be prevented from sacrificing Ukraine on the altar of his ego and endangering the security of Europe and the United States.
You doubt me? Then read Part Two of the notorious Vanity Fair interviews with Trump’s chief of staff and right-hand woman Susie Wiles, in which sherevealsTrump’s mindset regarding Ukraine. Despite debates within Trump’s team over whether Putin wants the whole of Ukraine, she admits, “Donald Trump thinks he wants the whole country.”
In an interview with Vanity Fair, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said of the president’s talks with Vladimir Putin about Ukraine: “Donald Trump thinks he wants the whole country.”
Vanity Fair asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio if he felt the same. He responded that, after watching Putin repeatedly reject freezing the war at the line of conflict, “You do start to wonder, well, maybe what this guy wants is the entire country.” Presumably, the secretary has bothered to read Putin’s speeches in which the Kremlin leader has said over and over again that Ukraine has no right to be a state,
However, Rubio has been pushed aside as negotiator in favor of the supremely naive and ill-informed real estate mogul Steve Witkoff, who keeps insisting Putin wants peace, an argument repeated by POTUS. Trump initially signed off on a 28-point “peace” plan that was handed by a Putin emissary directly to Witkoff.
Even though Zelensky and European leaders have gotten some of the most egregious points eliminated, the two biggest obstacles still remain: Putin’s demand that Kyiv turn over critical territory that Russia hasn’t been able to capture in nearly four years, and strategic guarantees of Western military aid to prevent Russia from violating any agreement.
On both sticking points, the Trump negotiators continue to play into Putin’s hands.
On the question of territory, what Putin demands is that Kyiv turn over a belt of fortified cities on high ground in the Donetsk region. Moscow has been unable to make major territorial gains in this area since near the beginning of the war, and the gains they have made have incurred terrible Russian casualties.
This belt “is not easy to conquer because [its cities are] well fortified militarily and naturally due to the landscape,” I was told by Yehor Cherniev, deputy chairman of the Committee on National Security and Defense of the Ukrainian parliament. “It would cost the Russians thousands and thousands of lives and months if not years to take it. I don’t see any compromise on this.”
From left, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and French President Emmanuel Macron meet at 10 Downing Street, in London earlier this month.
Yet Putin has persuaded Witkoff to demand that Kyiv turn it over for nothing, which would leave the flat farmlands of central Ukraine open to further Russian attack.
Compounding the insult, Witkoff has proposed that the area be made into a “demilitarized zone” from which Ukrainian troops would withdraw but Russian troops not enter. No one who has read anything on recent history could be unaware that Putin has zero respect for such nonsense. “We know the Russians would just use this to infiltrate soldiers in civilian clothing and then seize control of the area,” Cherniev said by phone from Kyiv. “It would just be a trap.”
The second, enormous sticking point, concerns security guarantees for Ukraine in case Putin violates any agreement.
Putin has broken every accord Russia has signed with modern-day Ukraine. This includes, most notoriously, the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which Ukraine handed over its Soviet-era nuclear weapons in return for pledges from Moscow, Washington, and London that Kyiv’s sovereignty would be respected.
No wonder Zelensky insisted on Monday: “There is one question I — and all Ukrainians — want to get an answer to. If Russia again starts a war, what will our partners do?”
Putin has made clear he accepts no NATO membership, no Western military guarantees and only a shrunken, disarmed Ukrainian military. As for the Witkoff team, they concur on no NATO membership for Ukraine, but have offered only puffery in its stead.
The big headline has been that Trump would agree to “Article 5-like” guarantees, a reference to the provision in NATO that an attack on one requires help from every member. But Trump has played up the ambiguity of Article 5, which doesn’t specify that the help needs to be military. “Depends on your definition,” he said in August. “There’s numerous definitions of Article 5.”
Moreover, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), a golf buddy of Trump, has made clear, that even if the Senate approves security guarantees, it wouldn’t be a treaty but “a congressional blessing, statutory in nature.”
A “blessing” won’t help Ukraine if Russia pauses, regroups, and attacks again.
It fascinated me that, after revealing Trump’s awareness of Putin’s goals, Wiles told Vanity Fair she thought Trump’s greatest achievement of 2025 was acting as “an agent of peace.”
The president’s claim that he ended eight wars is braggadocio: No wars were ended, including in Gaza, where a ceasefire is tottering. The list includes long-standing disputes that remain and outbreaks of fighting that continue, and even a Pakistan-India outbreak, where New Delhi denies Trump played a role in settling it down.
But if POTUS wants to be known as a peacemaker in Ukraine, it will only happen if he helps Ukraine convince Putin that a unified West will not permit Russia to crush Ukraine. That would require arming Ukraine to the hilt with U.S. and European weapons paid for by Europe, backed with frozen Russian assets or the European Union’s shared budget. It would also require U.S. enforcement of current and future sanctions, which the White House isn’t doing.
Most of all it would require Trump to pressure Putin, which he shows no signs yet of doing. The Russian despot is vulnerable economically and militarily, and Ukraine won’t lose if POTUS doesn’t betray the country. But Putin will only be persuaded to cease fire if Trump joins Europe in convincing him he can’t afford to continue the fight.
Tomorrow is the first day of winter, but the snow has already started. I invited two Inquirer staffers who have to shovel their sidewalks to answer the seasonal issue.
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Evan Weiss
Deputy Features Editor
The question is…
I usually shovel beyond my own sidewalk, but my younger neighbor only does his patch. Am I expecting too much from him?
Tommy Rowan
Programming Editor
It depends on the type of youngin' we're talking about. If they have a Doordash order on their stoop after it already snowed 4 inches and it's still coming down, then yes, you're expecting too much.
Sam Ruland
Features Planning and Coverage Editor
Yeah, that’s exactly it. I still feel like a jerk if I only shovel my own sidewalk, that’s just how I was raised. But I also know that’s not the default anymore. Some people are strictly “my patch is clear, my work here is done,” and apparently that’s acceptable now.
Sam Ruland
I just can’t stop at the property line without feeling weird about it… especially when I live on a block where neighbors will bring your trash cans back to your house if they get to them first.
Tommy Rowan
Yeah and if there are elderly people on your block, that should just be automatic. You know, we're trying to live in a society!
Sam Ruland
Once elderly neighbors are involved, pretending you didn’t notice becomes embarrassing.
Evan Weiss
Maybe your neighbor was in a rush one time or their back hurt, but if you know they're physically capable and they always stop at the border… that's being a bad neighbor.
Sam Ruland
Totally. One time, fine. Life happens. But if you’re physically capable and it’s every storm, people notice. And once it becomes a habit, I’m gonna feel a lot less bad about moving your cone and parking in your spot when the snow melts.
Tommy Rowan
I was one of those kids who would grab their plastic shovels during snowstorms and go around with a few buddies to knock on doors and offer our shoveling services for a few dollars. Then we'd get pizza and a few cool, refreshing glasses of Mountain Dew.
Tommy Rowan
I may sound old, but I don't see those kids around anymore.
Sam Ruland
What REALLY gets me is watching the single mom on my block out there shoveling by herself while her three sons are completely MIA. I don’t know about you, but that would not have stood in my house. And Philly notices stuff like that.
Tommy Rowan
Yeah, that ain't right.
Sam Ruland
My dad had three daughters, and if he was home, he took the lead on shoveling. And if he was at work? There was no way my mom (with her forever aching back) was going to be out there alone.
Tommy Rowan
Yeah and if a neighbor saw your mom or you doing it alone they would have yelled at you for not asking for help!
Sam Ruland
That public scolding was mortifying and honestly enough to shape my entire personality. Which is basically how I operate now. I don’t want to shovel. I hate it. But I’d rather suffer for 20 minutes than be silently judged by my neighbors all winter. I don’t shovel because I love it. I shovel because I fear the block.
Evan Weiss
Okay, if a few kids knock on your door asking for money to shovel, how much do you give them?
Tommy Rowan
Depends on the size of the property.
Sam Ruland
I want to say $5.
Evan Weiss
Yeah, $5 seems fair for a rowhouse.
Tommy Rowan
And $10 for a rowhouse if they also dig out the car. If we're talking a Northeast house, with a full driveway, sidewalk, and steps, that's at least $20. And possibly a hot chocolate Mountain Dew break.
Evan Weiss
Any final advice?
Sam Ruland
Snow melts. Reputation doesn’t. Help your neighbors.
This conversation has been edited for length.
What other Very Philly Questions should we address?
Follow the Delaware River north, past the Jersey border, past the Poconos and the Water Gap, and in about three hours, you’ll arrive in Callicoon, at the foot of New York’s Catskill Mountains.
The region has been an iconic American resort destination since the late 19th century, most famously during its Borscht Belt heyday, when Jewish families filled sprawling summer resorts to play tennis, lounge by the pool, and stir up trouble with dirty dancers. Riding the popularity of the neighboring Hudson Valley, the Catskills’ recent revival offers easy access to nature without requiring you to rough it. Think vintage shopping, natural wine, and cedar saunas between snowy walks through the woods.
The Catskills are huge (about 6,000 square miles), so for the purposes of this getaway, you’ll focus on the Western Catskills, which rise from the Delaware River and are less rugged than their eastern counterparts. Nothing on this itinerary is more than 30 minutes apart. Start the car.
There are more than a dozen cool places to stay in the Western Catskills, four of which come from locals Kirsten Harlow Foster and Sims Foster of Foster Supply Hospitality. Their properties blend the idiosyncratic architecture and fine craftsmanship of historical buildings with the luxury finishes and playful amenities you want on a weekend escape.
At Kenoza Hall, perched above the lake of the same name, rooms are split between the Victorian inn and a cluster of cottages with front porches, gas stoves, and arched armoires. Inside, there are plenty of cozy corners for reading or cocktails as snow falls outside. Don’t miss the spa, with its pebble-floored relaxation room and cedar barrel sauna.
📍 5762 Route 52, Kenoza Lake, N.Y. 12750
Shop: Downtown Callicoon
Hugging the New York side of the Delaware River, the riverside village of Callicoon has evolved from its past lives (hunting grounds, timber town) into an artsy retail refuge for Catskills visitors. Browse groovy lamps at Callicoon Vintage, elevated tableware at Spruce Home Goods, hand-dyed yarn at Wool Worth, and more at the new and old boutiques along Lower Main Street. Tucked behind Callicoon Caffé, at the Shell gas station of all places, is an excellent photo op: the Callicoon Bridge spanning the Delaware.
📍 Lower Main Street, Callicoon, N.Y. 12723
Eat: Annie’s Ruff Cut
Rightly famous for its roast beef, Annie’s Ruff Cut in nearby Cochecton might consider a name change to Annie’s Exquisitely Cut. The beef is sliced paper-thin, piled high in cold sandwiches or served open-faced and drenched in warm gravy. The vibe is classic country tavern: old wood, beer swag, and locals mildly surprised you found the place.
📍 90 Forman Rd., Cochecton, N.Y. 12726
Snack: North Branch Cider Mill
Warm apple cider, cinnamony cider doughnuts, and the smell of a smoldering wood stove pull you into North Branch Cider Mill, a rust-red outpost along the North Branch Callicoon Creek. This historic operation has been around since 1942 (and under new ownership since 2022) and while they’re not pressing their own apples yet, it makes an atmospheric stop for a snack and shop along the old-timey general store-style shelves: New York maple syrup, sweet dill pickles, candles, ceramics, and more.
📍 38 N. Branch Callicoon Center Rd., North Branch, N.Y. 12766
A block off Callicoon’s main commercial drag, the Callicoon Theater hides a 35-seat, barrel-ceilinged auditorium behind its art deco façade. Catching a first-run movie here is worth it for the architecture alone. Dating to 1948, it’s the oldest movie theater in Sullivan County.
📍 30 Upper Main St., Callicoon, N.Y. 12723
View: Catskills Art Space
Though the Catskills cachet is a relatively recent phenomenon, its status as an arts haven goes back decades, with the founding of Catskills Art Space in 1971. Housed in a converted theater in the cute downtown of Livingston Manor, half an hour northeast of Callicoon, since 2007, the dynamic gallery features a mix of up-and-comers and heavy hitters — Sol LeWitt and James Turrell both have site-specific exhibits here through 2027.
Another stylish Foster Supply property, the DeBruce sits in the scenic Willowemoc Valley, about 10 minutes east of downtown Livingston Manor. You could stay here — original wood doors and claw-foot tubs make a compelling case — but the award-winning tasting menu is the real draw. In the tranquil, forest-view dining room, bergamot scents a matsutake raviolo, and coal-baked pears meet scallops and parsnips. Cross the storybook bridge over the Willowemoc River to arrive, and if you have time, explore the five miles of trails that wind through the woods behind the property before dinner.
This Wagyu hot dog is one of the finest bar food snacks in the city. Well, it’s a snack if you share it with a friend as I did. A remarkably juicy dog on a pillowy bun, slicked with tonkatsu sauce and dusted with great handfuls of shredded katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and nori, it’s the perfect thing to soak up the booze from one of Almanac’s complex cocktails. Almanac, 310 Market St. Second Floor, 215-238-5757, almanacphilly.com
— Kiki Aranita
Smoked pumpkin tortellini with lobster, leeks, and fennel-tarragon butter at Southwark.
Smoked pumpkin tortellini with lobster at Southwark
I had my best meal in years the other night at Southwark, the Queen Village standby riding a fresh gust of momentum from its recent recommendation by the Michelin Guide. The bar’s Queen of Cups cocktail was a cold-slayer supreme — a steaming hot toddy variation with Jameson whiskey, spiced apple syrup, and a gloss of brown butter floating atop this lemony brew served in a vintage tea cup. The thick Stone Arch pork chop with charred cabbages was impressively moist, and a hearty white ragù with ground pheasant and chestnuts was the most interesting Bolognese I’ve eaten all year.
But the star of the show was a delicate appetizer featuring tender nuggets of lobster, braised leeks, and tortellini stuffed with smoked Marina di Chiogga pumpkins pureed with mascarpone and brown butter. I’ve seen that pairing of lobster and leeks elsewhere around town lately (a real beauty at My Loup) but that extra wisp of applewood smoke in those dumplings, tossed in fennel-tarragon butter, gave this elegant dish a welcome rustic edge. The impressive pasta craft of those tortellini was also a nice reminder that chef Chris D’Ambro and Marina De Oliveira’s other newly Michelin-recommended restaurant, Ambra, shares a kitchen with Southwark for alta cucina dinners right next door. Southwark, 701 S. 4th St., 267-930-8538, southwarkrestaurantphilly.com
— Craig LaBan
Egg chicken 65 at Amma’s, 1500 Walnut St., Philadelphia.
Egg chicken 65 at Amma’s South Indian Cuisine Center City
Chicken 65 — the fiery South Indian snack that traces back to Hotel Buhari in Chennai in 1965 — gets a luxurious spin at the sumptuously appointed, newly relocated Center City location of Amma’s South Indian Cuisine. (It’s in the former Max Brenner space on 15th Street, just below Walnut.) The dish starts with pieces of chicken marinated with red chilis, ginger, garlic, curry leaves, and other spices. After a dip in the deep fryer, it gets topped with soft-scrambled eggs. The crispy heat and crunch from the chicken and the richness of the silky, fluffy eggs provide a pleasing balance. This variation is available only at the Center City location. Amma’s South Indian Cuisine, 1500 Walnut St., 808-762-6627, ammasrestaurants.com
