WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court lifted limits Tuesday on how much political parties can spend on advertising and other expenses in coordination with candidates.
The 6-3 decision, divided along ideological lines, is a major victory for Republicans and could undercut one of the Democrats’ financial advantages going into the midterms.
The question before the justices was whether current federal limits on such spending — called coordinated party expenditures — violate the First Amendment. During oral arguments, Noel J. Francisco, a lawyer for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which brought the legal challenge, told the justices that such limits were “at war” with previous decisions by the court that have found that restricting how money can be spent in politics amounts to limiting speech.
The Republican groups had argued that such spending is necessary to allow political parties to spread their message.
The Trump administration had supported the Republican groups, asserting in court filings that the federal law “abridges the freedom of speech” under the court’s “recent First Amendment and campaign finance precedents.”
The coordinated spending case is the latest in a series of efforts to chip away at campaign finance regulations that were enacted after Watergate to lessen the influence of money in elections. In 2010, the Supreme Court struck down limits on independent spending by corporations and unions in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That decision cleared the way for a flood of new money to enter politics and set the stage for further challenges to spending limits.
The coordinated spending case had been closely watched as the midterm elections approached.
Experts said the decision would immediately cut into one of the Democratic Party’s critical financial advantages in television advertising. That’s because federal law requires that television broadcasters give political candidates low advertising rates, but extends no such requirement to super political action committees, which are often charged double, triple, and even four times as much for the same television time.
Republicans in recent election cycles have been more reliant on super PACs and national party committees than Democrats, whose candidates have tended to outraise Republicans and who therefore often have been able to take advantage of the lower television ad rates.
Allowing unlimited coordinated spending between candidates and parties would essentially permit both to take advantage of the lower rates.
The case began in 2022, when JD Vance, then a candidate for the Senate in Ohio, sued to challenge the campaign coordination limits. He was joined by several Republican groups. The Biden administration defended the limits, and a panel of federal judges agreed they were legal.
After President Donald Trump returned to office, the federal government flipped sides in the case and backed the Republicans challenging the spending caps.
With the government no longer defending the spending limits, the justices appointed veteran Supreme Court litigator Roman Martinez to argue on their behalf. He argued the justices should dismiss the case as moot because Vance is no longer running for office.
Democratic groups intervened in the case, urging the court to uphold the spending limits. They warned that overturning the law would create a system in which political parties would pay candidates’ expenses for everything from flower arrangements to electric bills.
On the eve of free agency, the Flyers agreed to sign one of their depth forwards who could have hit the open market on Wednesday.
No, not the long-speculated Luke Glendening. Carl Grundström has signed a one-year, $1 million deal to stay with the Flyers, the team officially announced Wednesday, a day after The Inquirer had confirmed the deal.
After being acquired from the San Jose Sharks in the deal in which Ryan Ellis’ contract moved in early October (the contract subsequently was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks), Grundström played in 47 games for the Flyers after starting the season with Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League.
The winger notched 15 points in 19 games for the Phantoms before adding another 13 points (nine goals, four assists) with the Flyers. Grundström was inserted into the lineup in the postseason and had one assist in three games against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.
Coach Rick Tocchet often lauded Grundström for his speed and puck pressure. He played up and down the lineup but mostly on the fourth line, where he infused a burst of speed. The Flyers traded fellow fourth-liner Garnet Hathaway to the Florida Panthers last week.
After the season ended, Grundström suited up for Sweden at the IIHF men’s World Championships. He played on a line with Flyers prospect center Jack Berglund and had one goal and four points in seven games. Berglund had the secondary assist on his goal. Sweden lost in the quarterfinals to Switzerland, the silver medalists.
For folks planning ahead, these are roads that will be closed as Philly celebrates the nation’s 250th with the Wawa Welcome America Festival:
Thursday, June 25
Starting at 8 a.m., thenorth traffic lane on Market Street (between Fifth and Sixth Streets) is closed to accommodate the stage buildup for the Independence National Historical Park concert.
The north lane should reopen to traffic by 10 p.m.
Friday, June 26
The stage buildup continues. The north lane on Market Street (between Fifth and Sixth Streets) will be shut down once again from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Reservoir Drive in front of Smith Playground is also scheduled to be closed for Kidchella. Between noon and 11 p.m. the drive will be shut down to accommodate the free music festival with art stations.
The Benjamin Franklin Parkway from 16th Street to 17th Street
Arch Street between 15th and 16th Streets
16th Street from John F. Kennedy Boulevard to Arch Street
All streets are expected to reopen at midnight.
Sunday, June 28
Market Street and its north sidewalk (from Fifth to Sixth Streets) are scheduled to be closed from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for the gospel concert at Independence Hall.
The north traffic lane on Market Street will also be shut down for the concert between 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Tuesday, June 30
The inner lanes of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway from 20th Street to Binswanger Triangle will close starting at 6 a.m. in preparation for the One Philly: Unity Concert for America July 4th concert and fireworks. Closures will remain in place through Monday at 6 a.m.
Market Street north traffic lane from Fifth to Sixth Streets
Closing between 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Walnut Street from Second to Fourth Streets
Closed between 11 a.m. until the parade ends or passes
Chestnut Street between Second and Fifth Streets
Market Street at Fifth Street
Chestnut Street at Fifth Street closure starts at 11:15 a.m.
Closing between 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Market Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets
Sixth Street between Arch and Market Streets
Market Street north sidewalk from Fifth to Sixth Streets
Closing July 2 and July 3
Fifth Street from Race Street to Chestnut Street is closed from July 2 at noon to July 3 at 5 p.m.
Friday, July 3
With the Salute to Independence Parade the Philly Pops concert at Independence Mall, and the Parkway concert and fireworks, Friday brings more road closures. Expect some streets to close as early as 4 a.m.
Closing between 4 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Three streets will be closed between Spruce and Arch Streets:
Third Street
Fourth Street
Fifth Street
Closing between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Market Street from Fifth to Sixth Streets
Closing from 6 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. on Monday
1900 block of Race Street
1800-1900 Vine Street
I-676 off-ramp at 22nd Street
I-676 on-ramp at 22nd Street
I-76 eastbound off-famp at Spring Garden Street
Spring Garden Tunnel
Park Towne Place between 22nd and 24th Streets
20th Street between Arch Street and Pennsylvania Avenue
19th Street between Callowhill and Cherry Streets
Benjamin Franklin Parkway from 17th Street to Eakins Oval (all lanes)
Eakins Oval (all lanes)
Kelly Drive between Eakins Oval and Fairmount Avenue (Kelly Drive inbound closed at Fountain Green Drive beginning at about 5 p.m.)
Rear of Art Museum – Anne d’Harnoncourt Drive
2000-2100 Winter Street
MLK Drive from Falls Bridge to Eakins Oval
Spring Garden Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and 31st Street
23rd Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and Eakins Oval
22nd Street between Winter Street and Pennsylvania Avenue
21st Street between Winter Street and Pennsylvania Avenue
All roads from Arch Street to Spring Garden Street, 18th to 22nd Streets (local access maintained for residents)
All roads from Arch Street to Fairmount Avenue, 22nd to Corinthian Streets (local access maintained for residents)
16th and 17th Streets, between Arch and Spring Garden Streets will be closed only if conditions warrant in the interest of public safety
1600-1700 Benjamin Franklin Parkway will be closed only if conditions warrant in the interest of public safety
Closingfrom 11:30 a.m. until the parade ends
Market Street from Sixth to 17th Streets
Seventh Street between Arch and Walnut Streets
Eighth Street between Arch Street and Walnut Streets
Ninth Street between Arch and Walnut Streets
10th Street between Arch and Walnut Streets
11th Street between Arch and Walnut Streets
12th Street between Arch and Walnut Streets
13th Street between Arch and Walnut Streets
John F. Kennedy Boulevard between Juniper and 17th Streets
North Broad Street between John F. Kennedy Boulevard and Arch Street
15th Street between Cherry and Chestnut Streets
Benjamin Franklin Parkway between Arch and 20th Streets
16th Street between Cherry and Chestnut Streets
17th Street between Race and Arch Streets
18th Street between Vine and Cherry Streets
19th Street between Vine and Cherry Streets
20th Street between Vine and Race Streets
Chestnut Street between 11th and 16th Streets
Closing between 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Sixth Street from Market to Race Streets
North sidewalk on Market Street from Fifth to Sixth Streets
Saturday, July 4
Sealing the 250th festivities, the Celebration of Freedom Ceremony brings few more road closures. Closures related to the Parkway concert and fireworks continue.
Closing between 8 a.m. to noon
Market Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets
Market Street north sidewalk from Fifth to Sixth Streets
Closing between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. on Sunday, July 5
Kelly Drive from Fairmount Avenue to Fountain Green Drive
For Ecuadorians in Philadelphia, seeing their country in the World Cup is not just a chance to watch good soccer but also a way to embrace their culture and community in the face of heightened scrutiny under the Trump administration.
As Ecuador went head-to-head with Germany last week, some Ecuadorian Philadelphians gathered in bars across the city, donning yellow and cheering on their team.
“It’s been nice to be able to see how all the community has come together,” Yvonne Cedeno said at a watch party at Tradesman’s in Center City. “Whether you’re Mexican, Colombian, Ecuadorian, just seeing people in our community getting together, especially within this political environment, is just so great. It makes me happy to be Ecuadorian.”
Though Philadelphia is a sanctuary city with some of the nation’s toughest restrictions on ICE, immigration arrests have still surged in the city and state. In January 2026 alone 802 arrests were made in Pennsylvania, more than tripling the amount just a year prior. Raids have often targeted predominantly Latino communities in both the city and suburbs.
Cathryn Miller-Wilson, executive Director of HIAS Pennsylvania, said these raids have created intense anxiety in the community, with some clients telling staff they have opted to stay home during World Cup celebrations, fearing running into ICE agents at games or events.
“They’re absolutely only watching from home because it’s too scary otherwise,” Miller-Wilson said. “It’s definitely a problem, really since 2025, but especially now, where there’s this confluence of joyful celebration, but also of the threat of increased ICE presence.”
Still, many Latinos, who make up 16% of the city’s residents, have embraced the chance to celebrate their community during the World Cup, which has featured nine Latin American countries. Tuesday evening, Ecuador will face Mexico in a knockout match after last week’s 2-1 win over Germany secured the nation’s spot in the elimination round.
Cedeno, 37, said the World Cup has always given her family a way to express their love for their culture by making traditional Ecuadorian dishes and coming together to cheer for their country.
“Last game we woke up at 6 a.m. just to make a traditional Ecuadorian dish called encebollado, which takes hours to make,” Cedeno said, referring to the traditional stew often made with tuna and yuca. “And we all got together and we watched the game and rooted for Ecuador, so it definitely brings the World Cup definitely brings our family closer”
Ahead of Ecuador’s math against Côte d’Ivoire at Lincoln Financial Field on June 14, a sea of yellow jerseys flooded around the Rocky statue in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Rowan Teran, 24, said the scene filled him with pride — even if the team fell short that game.
“I grew up Latino in a very Jewish-dominated community. I kind of wasn’t proud of who I was,” said Teran, who grew upLower Merionafter his father immigrated from Ecuador.“And then growing up, I became much more proud. And then one day you see thousands of Ecuadorians wearing your jersey, singing the national anthem that you wanted to sing when you were younger, and you just feel proud to be who you are.”
Teran, who also attended the watch party at Tradesman’s, highlighted that the joy surrounding the World Cup feels like an act of resistance against the Trump administration.
”See what we are,“ Teran said. ”You don’t want any of us here, and now there are hundreds of thousands of us here, and the city’s even better.”
Soccer fans watch Ecuador take on the Ivory Coast during a World Cup soccer watch party at Brauhaus Schmitz on Sunday, June 14, 2026.
Christina Barradas, 44, is Mexicanbut came out to Tradesman’s to cheer on Ecuador alongside her Ecuadorian husband. She said while the World Cup has been great for the community, it’s a temporary respite from the struggles they’re facing.
“It’s an opportunity to put on your jersey, to put on the colors, but we still don’t feel 100 percent free and safe,” Barradas said.
On South Street,Nina Cueva-Castillo, 41, sat with the only other two yellow jerseys among a sea of Germany fans at Brauhaus Schmitz.
Cueva-Castillo said the games give Philly’s Ecuadorian community visibility it usually does not have.
“I love how people now know us,” Cueva-Castillo said. “They know our jersey, they know our colors, they know our flag. It’s a breath of fresh air to be ourselves, to be accepted, to be welcome, and for people to be like, ‘You know what, they are just like us’.”
During the Olympic break, Denver Barkey headed back to London, Ontario.
Roughly eight months prior, the forward had captained the Ontario Hockey League’s Knights to the Memorial Cup. Now, he wasn’t just a pro hockey player; he was an NHL regular for the Flyers after being called up in December.
So with some time off during the break, Barkey headed back to see his old club. It was there that the generously listed 5-foot-10, 170-pound Barkey met the accurately measured 6-7, 238-pound Maksim Sokolovskii.
“I only watched two games, but obviously he’s a big boy [who] throws his body around,” replied Barkey, who had no idea in February that the two would one day be wearing orange and black together.
“I think he’s got a lot of raw skill. When I watched him, it seemed like he moved really well, moves the puck well for being [6-7] at that age. It’s pretty impressive, and I think he’s got a really high ceiling.”
And that’s the thing: Sokolovskii, whom Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr described as a “unicorn” this weekend, does have a high ceiling. In the same breath that many fans and draft prognosticators questioned the Flyers’ moving down to take the Nikita Zadorov comparable, they’ve acknowledged his impressive skating for his size. He is considered a prospect who, while raw, will indeed play in the NHL one day.
“He’s 6-foot-8, and he skates like he’s 5-foot-8,” Mike Taylor, the Atlantic Hockey Academy’s owner and one of Sokolovskii’s coaches two seasons ago, told The Inquirer recently. “… He came here, and I had a skating coach once a month come up and do power skating with our guys, and he does it like with UMass Amherst, and all these other schools.
“And he saw him skate, and he’s like, ‘Oh, my God.’ He couldn’t believe how good his edge work was … for being the size that he is.”
A strong first impression
During the first day of Flyers development camp on Monday, as Sokolovskii towered over the coaching staff and most of his fellow defensemen — 6-5 blueliners Carter Amico and Luke Vlooswyk were the exceptions — the long and lean defenseman looked anything but gangly on the ice.
Are there small tweaks that need to be made? Absolutely.
Director of player development Riley Armstrong said he and Flyers skating instructor Lindsay Tilley noticed he was turning his upper body too much during the skating-only drills, which made him a weaker skater. “When your hips and your shoulders don’t stay in a square, it throws you all off balance,” Armstrong noted.
#Flyers first-round pick Maksim Sokolovskii said “I feel amazing” after putting on logo for just time.
“I think great,” he said of first day at development camp. “Good experience first practice with the pro guys,” Mentioned he hadn’t skated in two weeks. pic.twitter.com/qfXm27fbbO
However, Sokolovskii didn’t really do that during the drills with the puck, as he executed puck retrievals with some deception while keeping his feet moving. It was evident to all in attendance, including the several fans who lined the rink, that there was a smoothness to his skating — even though he had been off the ice for about two weeks.
“I feel amazing,” he said when asked about wearing the Flyers logo for the first time.
And how did day one go? “I think great. Good experience, first practice with the pro guys.”
Sokolovskii doesn’t turn 18 until July 12. He’s still shy and reserved, at least off the ice. But on the ice, it is a different story.
“He’s a big, strong shutdown defenseman with a really good stick and a physical side,” London assistant coach Rick Steadman told The Inquirer during a recent phone interview.
“He likes to play hard. He likes to step up and hit guys, and he’s just that big beast back there that’s going to really protect you defensively.”
It wasn’t always like that.
Defense first
Two years ago, when the Kazakhstan-born, Russia-raised blueliner came to the United States to play at the Atlantic Coast Academy, Taylor recalls that the league was a little beneath Sokolovskii because he was bigger and stronger than everyone else. And because of that, he’d get a lot of penalties.
Maksim Sokolovskii first came to North America as a 16-year-old to play for Atlantic Coast Academy.
Despite spending a lot of time in the penalty box, Sokolovskii still put up big numbers, racking up 34 goals and 84 points in 65 games. His issue was in his own end. “He was taking chances and doing things with us that he wouldn’t do at the next level, because the hockey allowed the level of play,” Taylor said.
When Sokolovskii went to London, things changed.
“I think when I started the year, I tried to play more offensive,” Sokolovskii mentioned Monday. “But they told me you need to play more [in the] defensive zone. … You can play in the NHL if you will play more defensive.”
And that was the focus.
“For us, we like our guys to be able to play D first, so we can trust them out there and get more ice time. So we really did push that a lot,” Steadman said. “And we were trying to get him to create offense from the defense, like he’d poke a puck away on a rush or a big hit turned into transition, trying to get him to do offense that way.
“When he was playing a little younger, because he was so big and he got such a big reach, he could really just push guys out of the way … so we tried to teach him that pro-style game, use your teammates, stay at the blue line, get your shots through to create your offense, not stickhandle through everybody, and try to get as close as you can to the net.”
Sokolovskii worked his way up the lineup. He came in as a seventh or eighth defenseman and was rotating in and out at first. But he “dug in,” according to Steadman, and after Christmas, they opted to trade some players, knowing that he was ready to effectively step into the lineup. He started on the third pair, was scratched a few times, but eventually forced the Knights to keep him in the lineup.
Maksim Sokolovskii (No. 17) tied forward Brooks Rogowski for the tallest players measured at this year’s combine.
It was his games against Brady Martin, the fifth overall pick in last year’s draft, in the playoffs that opened many evaluators’ eyes. Martin, a point-per-game player during the regular season, had five points in the series against London; however, his only goal with Sokolovskii on the ice came on a power play. He shut him down at five-on-five.
“That’s just saying that he got that defense system figured out. He was playing hard, big minutes. He was hitting, playing physical, without taking a penalty, which is pretty amazing for a kid that big, and just never backed down, kept going, and really a key guy that way coming in,” Steadman said of the blueliner.
“And it’s one of those things that translates really well to the NHL is that ability to defend and play against top guys. You always hope that offense will come, but you always need guys to keep that puck out of the net.”
It was Sokolovskii’s progression throughout the season that stood out to the Flyers and enticed them to draft the blueliner. “It seemed every month he just kept getting better and better, and figuring out the game more and more,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said on Friday.
According to Steadman, that progression was due to a multitude of factors, but none greater than Sokolovskii becoming more comfortable speaking English. It helped him be more confident on and off the ice.
“Things that we take for granted — just asking somebody for something, or like, where do I get this, where’s this in the dressing room, and then on the ice, just even yelling to your partner, ‘I’m open, I’m open,’ or ‘You’re OK, you’re OK,’ or ‘Someone’s coming, move the puck quickly.’ You just don’t have that. You’re just playing purely on and living on your natural ability to just try to figure it out as you go,” Steadman said.
The Flyers have big hopes for Maksim Sokolovskii, whom the team drafted 27th overall in last week’s draft.
“So that’s why I do think he has a good hockey brain to be able to figure it out when you can’t speak; it is pretty amazing. And then his English got better and better, and he understood and could talk to his teammates.
“From the start of the year, couldn’t have a conversation with him as a coach. You try and use Google Translate, [but the] conversations took forever. At the end of the year, you could sit down and just chat away with him, and then have a conversation about anything — his family, hockey, how he’s doing — and he really progressed that way.”
Now, the next step is building up his offense.
Part of the criticism around Sokolovskii’s selection in the first round was his limited production. He had only two goals and eight points in 44 regular-season games and was without a point in five postseason games.
Sokolovskii told The Inquirer at the NHL scouting combine that he wants to keep working on his foot speed. The hope is that it will all translate to offensive improvement.
“A big guy with skates that big, it takes a while to get that quick twitch going, so he’ll keep working on that; that’ll just help with his game and breakouts better,” Steadman said. “And then we talked to him a lot about just getting his shot off quicker. It’s a long way from his head to his hands to the bottom of his stick, and it takes him a long time to get that puck off.
“But if you can get that off quicker, with how hard his shot is … he will beat goalies and be able to score. So he’s just got to get it off as quick as possible, let it touch his stick, get it off, and hopefully, help him create offense that way,”
He does possess a big-time, hard shot that could become a weapon from the blue line. Sokolovskii is excited to work on building his offense — and he may get some time on the power play in London.
“I would probably guess in London next year you’ll probably see him [add offense], once he has the ability to start joining the rush more,” Armstrong said.
“And now they know that he can defend and he’s good at it — you see some of the bone-crushing hits and a couple of fights he was in — I think he’s going to have more space next year. I think guys are going to probably be a little bit more scared of him going into the season, so I think that’s going to open up the offensive side of his game as well. And I’d like to see him throw a couple in the back then as well, add to his toolbox.”
White House officials last year secretly awarded a no-bid contract worth up to $500 million for the construction of the East Wing ballroom in an unusual arrangement that sidestepped typical contracting procedures designed to control costs, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by the Washington Post.
The White House routed the contract through the Executive Residence, the document shows, an office that is exempt from rules that require federal agencies to solicit competitive bids and disclose details to the public. The office is typically responsible for routine repairs, entertainment expenses, and the purchase of furniture, art, and other items for the executive mansion.
The confidential contract with Clark Construction, along with related correspondence and records obtained by the Post, reveal for the first time how the Trump administration bypassed norms last summer as it set the ballroom project in motion.
Records also show that President Donald Trump was directly involved in negotiating some costs for the East Wing project.
The East Wing contract is the latest example of the administration turning to no-bid deals to hasten a Trump-style makeover of the nation’s capital, which has included handpicking firms to upgrade Lafayette Square next to the White House and to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Competitive bidding is generally required at most federal agencies. Experts said the Executive Residence is exempt from those rules, and the president has legal authority to hire companies of his choosing to make changes to the executive mansion and the surrounding grounds. Those experts said soliciting bids would have ensured the best price for taxpayers, especially given the size and cost of the East Wing project.
“I would certainly expect them to compete a project of this size and complexity,” said Anthony Costa, a former General Services Administration official who oversaw complex government real estate projects during a career that spanned four presidential administrations.
The estimated East Wing construction cost has tripled since last July, when the project was first announced, with half expected to come from taxpayers, the Post previously reported.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the ballroom would be paid for by private donors and once said that Clark executives offered to build it for free.
“They said: ‘Sir, we’ll do it for nothing. This is the greatest honor,” Trump told the New York Times in January.
Clark’s internal cost projections show the McLean, Virginia-based company, the largest general contractor in the D.C. metro area, stands to make tens of millions of dollars from the work.
Clark charged a 3% profit for its early work on the East Wing, records show, a rate that experts said was typical for large government construction projects.
The records reviewed by the Post do not break out Clark’s estimated profit margin for the entire project, but a March document shows the company projected it would receive a total of $65 million in combined profit, overhead, and daily rates for on-site staff and other costs.
A White House official said in a statement that the East Wing contract was issued through the Executive Residence because that office “will be the primary support of the facility.” The Executive Residence is a division of the Executive Office of the President, which the statement said “consistently executes contracts following the law.”
A Clark spokesperson said in a statement that the firm has been a federal contractor for more than 80 years, adding: “We follow established procurement and contracting processes for each project and execute the work consistent with schedule, budget, delivery, and contractual requirements.”
The Trump administration tasked Clark with site preparation and other preliminary work last July, months before the East Wing was demolished, records show. That work was performed under a separate, existing Executive Residence contract the company had won in 2024, during the Biden administration.
The Biden-era contract covered “a wide variety of maintenance, repair, alteration, and construction type tasks” that might arise at the White House over five years. It was awarded to Clark after a competitive bidding process and had a ceiling of $500 million, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by the Post.
The White House official told the Post that Clark’s Biden-era contract was “missing various clauses necessary for construction contracts.”
By mid-August, records show, Trump administration officials began negotiating the new, no-bid agreement for Clark to “fully demolish the East Wing and East Colonnade and construct a modernized East Wing facility.”
In an email exchange in early September, White House officials explained that they could award the no-bid contract to Clark because the Executive Residence is not bound by competitive bidding requirements, although it often follows them.
The email cited a federal law that authorizes the president to freely spend for the “care, maintenance, repair, alteration, refurnishing, improvement, air-conditioning, heating, and lighting” of the White House residence.
In a court case challenging the legality of the ballroom project, the Trump administration has cited the same law as the basis for its authority to undertake the project. The litigation has not surfaced the fact that the contract was awarded without competitive bidding.
A federal judge rejected the administration’s position, concluding in March that the president’s authority to make changes to the White House does not include demolishing the East Wing and building the ballroom. The administration has appealed the ruling.
The Justice Department acknowledged in court filings in the case that the Executive Residence is overseeing contracts for the project, claiming it was “best-positioned” to do so in part because of its expertise in the use of White House for official ceremonies.
Experts told the Post that the GSA or National Park Service are better equipped to handle contracting for large construction projects at the White House, and an internal White House document shows that is the norm.
Major repairs and structural changes to the White House’s East Wing and East Colonnade are the responsibility of the GSA and Park Service, according to the document, a 2024 memorandum of understanding for the maintenance and operations of the White House obtained by the Post.
The role of the Executive Residence “does not include maintenance or repair involving structural building elements or major utility systems for those areas, which are handled by GSA or NPS,” according to the memorandum, which expires in 2029.
An Interior Department spokesperson, responding to questions sent to the Park Service, said in a statement that the Executive Residence is “best positioned to coordinate with all agencies that have equities regarding planning for and implementation of the project.” The GSA referred questions to the White House.
On Sept. 22, Clark signed the White House contract for the East Wing, which included a range of work the company would provide over a five-year period and a nondisclosure agreement.
Joshua Fisher, the director of the White House Office of Administration, indicated on the contract that the administration did not solicit bids for the East Wing work because “the disclosure of the executive agency’s needs would compromise the national security.”
In recent months, Trump has said rebuilding the East Wing is a national security issue, describing an underground military bunker and a rooftop “drone empire … to protect Washington.”
The Trump administration continued to issue work orders to advance the East Wing project under both the 2024 and 2025 agreements with Clark, records show. Clark’s internal construction cost estimates rose from $200 million in July 2025 to $600 million by March 2026, the Post previously reported.
After signing the East Wing contract, Clark officials notified the White House that the company planned to award no-bid deals to at least 11 subcontractors for demolition, abatement, excavation, fencing, and other services, according to copies of correspondence obtained by the Post. Two of those subcontractors are Clark subsidiaries.
On March 4, days after the start of the war with Iran, Trump personally negotiated the price of concrete to be provided by one of Clark’s wholly owned subsidiaries, according to a summary of the terms that notes his involvement. The summary indicates the price, initially more than $47 million, dropped $2.3 million during the negotiation.
Olympic gold medalist Dominique Dawes will expand her chain of gymnastics academies to Mount Laurel in September.
The South Jersey location, at 1180 Nixon Drive in the East Gate Square shopping center, is the first effort in Dawes’ planned expansion into the Philadelphia area. She plans to open five or six additional gyms in the coming years, according to Philadelphia Business Journal.
Along with the Mount Laurel location, Dawes, who’s from Silver Spring, Md., also is opening a second location in the Houston area in August. Her first academy opened in Clarksburg, Md., in July 2020, and there currently are six locations across Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, and Texas.
Dawes is a three-time Olympian who competed at the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Games. She made history as the first Black American woman to win an individual Olympic medal in gymnastics with a bronze medal on the floor exercise in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. She also helped win team gold at those same 1996 Games when her teammate Kerri Strug famously completed her vault exercise on an injured ankle. The “Magnificent Seven” was the first United States women’s gymnastics team to win a team gold at the Olympics. Dawes also won team bronze in 1992 in Barcelona and 2000 in Sydney.
Now a mother of four, Dawes has spoken publicly about the toxicity she endured during her career and how she doesn’t want her children — or any other children — to experience the same. Instead, she hopes to redefine the culture of the sport through her string of academies that have an estimated 7,000 students ranging from toddlers to 18-year-olds.
“We’re trying to do things differently,” Dawes said in an interview with Capital B Atlanta. “It means nothing if your child is a great gymnast — standing on top of the podium — but yet, their self-esteem is shot, their mental health is shot, and they don’t know how to make relationships in this world. I believe that if that is the outcome, then we’ve failed.”
Plans for expansion into the Philly area don’t include specifics on locations yet, but the Philadelphia Business Journal reported that proximity to families is a large factor in Dawes finding spaces for the gyms.
The Sixers didn’t have much money to spend entering the day, as Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George account for nearly $155 million of the projected $165 million salary cap. Here’s a breakdown of some options.
The Sixers picked up the team options for Dominick Barlow and Dalen Terry on Monday, but not Trendon Watford.
Elsewhere in the NBA, LeBron James informed the Lakers he will play for a different team next season. And Kawhi Leonard was traded to the Raptors.
// Timestamp 06/30/26 11:11pm
Source: Sixers, Dean Wade agree to four-year deal
The Sixers are signing Cleveland Cavaliers forward Dean Wade.
Mike Gansey’s first free-agency move as the 76ers’ president of basketball operations is adding a player with whom he is quite familiar.
Dean Wade has agreed to a four-year, $39 million contract with the Sixers, a league source confirmed to The Inquirer late Tuesday. The deal comes out of the nontaxpayer mid-level exception.
Wade was one of Gansey’s success stories in his previous job as the Cleveland Cavaliers’ general manager. Wade evolved from undrafted player to rotation forward, and last season averaged 5.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 22.3 minutes across 59 games. His 6-foot-9, 230-pound frame allows for defensive versatility, and he is a career 36.7% three-point shooter.
Unsurprisingly, multiple reports surfaced over the weekend that the Sixers were among the teams interested in Wade.
Wade’s addition makes it less likely that the Sixers will be able to bring back starting forward Kelly Oubre Jr. and sixth man Quentin Grimes, who also have entered unrestricted free agency. Andre Drummond, Trendon Watford, and Kyle Lowry are the other free agents for a Sixers team with limited financial resournces because Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and Paul George all remain on max contracts.
Wade joins first-round draft pick Labaron Philon Jr., as the Sixers’ additions so far this offseason. They also picked up the team options in Dominck Barlow and Dalen Terry’s contracts for the 2026-27 season.
Starting October 30, all 30 teams will compete for the Emirates NBA Cup with 8 teams advancing out of groups into the knockout rounds, with the Championship held at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, December 11! pic.twitter.com/OiBSSVkxpm
Jalen Duren is from Delaware County and went to Roman Catholic.
After a few days of reports pointing otherwise, it seems Pistons center and former Roman Catholic star Jalen Duren could be staying put in Detroit.
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Marc J. Spears reported that the Pistons have offered the most “lucrative contract possible for their All-Star restricted free agent,” adding that the team will match any other team’s offer.
The Detroit Pistons have offered what the franchise believes is the most lucrative contract possible for their All-Star restricted free agent Jalen Duren, are not interested in any sign and trade deals and will match any potential offer sheet he signs, sources @espn@andscape.
The news comes a day after NBA insider Chris Haynes reported Duren was set to meet with the Sacramento Kings at the start of free agency. Haynes added that Duren’s camp and the Pistons were a “sizable distance apart” in contract negotiations, and Duren was hoping to depart Detroit in a sign and trade.
This past season, the Delco native was an All-NBA Third Team selection, averaging 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds. Duren, 24, helped spearhead the Pistons’ defensive effort, which catapulted the team to the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed. However, Duren struggled to produce in the playoffs as the Pistons fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round.
Because of Duren’s All-NBA selection, he is eligible for a five-year supermax contract worth up to $287 million.
A potential LeBron James return to Cleveland could have a ripple effect on the Sixers.
Could LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers be indirectly holding up the Sixers’ potential free agency moves?
After James told the Los Angeles Lakers earlier Tuesday that he intended to sign with a new team, he naturally became attached to another reunion with his hometown Cavaliers. Cleveland also is reportedly aiming to work on a new multi-year deal with James Harden, whom they traded for at the February deadline.
All of that would require clearing cap space to add James. To do this, The Stein Line’s Jake Fischer reported earlier Tuesday that the Cavaliers were exploring options to trade Max Strus and Dennis Schroder.
How does this potentially connect to the Sixers? One of Philly’s reported free-agency targets is Dean Wade, whom new president of basketball operations Mike Gansey helped uncover as an undrafted player who became a key rotation piece for the Cavaliers. If a James deal with Cleveland does not pan out — or even if it did — re-signing Wade could be part of Cleveland’s Plan B with that cleared-out space.
Where Wade lands, in turn, could impact the likelihood that the Sixers pursue bringing back Kelly Oubre Jr. and/or Quentin Grimes.
The slow start to free agency — other than the massive Kawhi Leonard trade, of course — is an indication that James’ decision could be putting multiple teams’ plans in a holding pattern, which then halts the domino effect across the league.
Previously held in Las Vegas, it will be held in Hinkle Fieldhouse on Butler’s campus in Indianapolis, which holds only 9,100 spectators.
Called Indiana’s Basketball Cathedral, the arena was constructed in 1928 and has hosted the Butler basketball and volleyball programs for nine decades.
The New York Knicks are the reigning champions of the NBA Cup, where they defeated the San Antonio Spurs. That matchup was recreated in the NBA Finals — with the same result.
Sharpshooter Tim Hardaway, who Gina Mizel identified as a possible target for the Sixers, is taking his talents to South Beach, according to multiple reports.
Free agent sharpshooter Tim Hardaway Jr. will be signing with the Miami Heat to provide the organization with the spacing needed for Giannis Antetokounmpo, league sources tell me. pic.twitter.com/ZS5wLdcCeG
Timberwolves guard Bones Hyland is staying in Minnesota.
Delaware native Bones Hyland, a potential option for the Sixers, was one of the first signees of free agency, inking a one-year, veteran-minimum deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Bones Hyland has agreed to return to the Minnesota Timberwolves next season, sources told @TheAthletic. Hyland established himself as a rotation player, teaming with Ayo Dosunmu in the "Twin Turbos" backcourt.
Hyland agreed to return next season after reinventing himself as part of a stacked backcourt with Anthony Edwards and Ayo Dosunmu. LaMelo Ball was also added to that group in a trade that sent Naz Reid and picks to the Charlotte Hornets.
After a few tough seasons with the Denver Nuggets, he averaged 8.5 points and 2.6 assists in Minnesota. He also shot 38.8% from three.
Free agent DeAndre Jordan has agreed to a deal to return to the New Orleans Pelicans for his 19th NBA season, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/gmAULFUi2r
The National Basketball Association announced today that the Salary Cap for the 2026-27 season has been set at $164.961 million. The Tax Level for the 2026-27 season is $200.428 million. pic.twitter.com/1bp31NCH8c
Get ready for the 6 p.m. frenzy. Will the Sixers be involved?
Sixers President of Basketball Operations Mike Gansey greets reporters as he sits down to speak about the Sixers first round draft pick, Labaron Philon Jr., from the teams practice facility in Camden, N.J. on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.
Though we are about 30 minutes from the official opening of free agency, agreed-upon deals between players and their current teams have been trickling in for the past few days. Teams can begin negotiating with their own free agents when the season ends, aka once the New York Knicks won Game 5 of the NBA Finals to clinch the title.
None of that news has involved the Sixers, who have five free agents in Kelly Oubre Jr., Quentin Grimes, Andre Drummond, Trendon Watford, and Kyle Lowry.
That is not entirely surprising, given the Sixers have limited financial flexibility. The front office must weigh how much it would cost to bring Oubre and/or Grimes back vs. outside players it could get on a midlevel exception. And depending on how all the dominoes fall, the Sixers could have the non-taxpayer midlevel exemption of about $15 million (plus the $5.5 biannual exception), or the taxpayer midlevel of about $6.1 million.
The Sixers did pick up the team options for Dominick Barlow and Dalen Terry, and declined Watford’s team option, by Monday’s deadline.
Will the typical flurry of reported moves right at 6 p.m. include the Sixers? Stay tuned.
But after news broke of the Sixers’ decision, Watford posted to his Instagram story. The photo inside a UCLA gym — where several NBA players train and play pickup games during the offseason — was nothing out of the ordinary. But his song choice was Future’s “Ain’t Coming Back.”
A screenshot of Trendon Watford’s Instagram story suggesting he’s moving on from the Sixers after they declined his team option.
It all could be a massive coincidence. But now, Watford is set to hit the open market as an unrestricted free agent Tuesday evening, after averaging 6.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 53 games last season.
It is well known that Watford has been one of All-NBA guard Tyrese Maxey’s close friends since they were teenagers. But he also became a lively presence throughout the Sixers’ locker room. During the playoffs, he was the unofficial DJ who set the mood with his playlist before games.
That was most apparent before the Sixers’ Game 7 upset at the Boston Celtics. Before shootaround, he coaxed strength and conditioning coach Emily Zaler (who typically sets the tunes for that morning session) to put on Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” And as the pregame locker-room period open to the media wound down that evening, teammate Justin Edwards eagerly asked Watford, “Where’s the music?!”
“Not the time,” Watford said, waiting for reporters to leave. “Gotta keep the routine.”
What Kawhi Leonard’s reported return to Toronto means for the Sixers
Most Sixers fans would rather forget Kawhi Leonard’s time with the Toronto Raptors, especially the 2019 playoffs.
If the Kawhi Leonard trade from the Los Angeles Clippers to Toronto Raptors crosses the finish line — and it reportedly has — that is good news for the Sixers. Not necessarily in the short term, given that could catapult the Raptors into the upper tier of the Eastern Conference.
But if the Clippers go into a full rebuild, the 2028 unprotected first-round pick and 2029 pick swap that the Sixers acquired in the 2023 James Harden blockbuster will become much more valuable.
Even before this potential Leonard deal, the Clippers were trending in this direction. They traded Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers and standout center Ivica Zubac to the Indiana Pacers at the deadline. They also have lost Norman Powell and, of course, Paul George in recent years.
Consider that consolation for Sixers fans who may already be having four-bounce flashbacks to the last time Leonard was a Raptor.
LeBron James’ decision to leave the Lakers will have ripple effects that shudder throughout the league for years to come.
One immediate impact in Los Angeles will be the loss off LeBron fans who have already started to share their disenchantment with the franchise.
One fan called Luka Doncic a “fraud” for deciding to sit out of the Lakers’ postseason series with a hamstring injury. Another shared social media posts of LeBron taking off a Lakers jersey with the caption, “Ight, Lakers fans. It’s been real. WE OUT.”
The latter chorus was a common refrain as many fans followed James as he played for the Cavaliers and Heat and intend to do the same when he leaves the Lakers.
Ironically, the late Kobe Bryant was the only other player to earn that status, bringing fans from all over the country to the Lakers’ fan base.
Remembering the time the Sixers had a chance to land LeBron
LeBron James embraces Ben Simmons before the start of a 2019 game between the Sixers and Lakers.
For the first time since the 2018 offseason, LeBron James is on the move, after informing the Lakers he won’t return and will look to play his 24th NBA season elsewhere.
The last time James was seeking a new team, the four-time MVP gave Philadelphia a look.
Although many considered James to Los Angeles to be a done deal at the time, he did consider joining the 76ers in 2018. In an interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols after signing with the Lakers, James mentioned that he chose the Lakers over the likes of the Sixers and the Houston Rockets — two teams that boasted more talent than LA at the time — to help cement his legacy as a great.
“I definitely thought long and hard about the possibilities of lining up alongside Ben [Simmons] and [Joel] Embiid, or lining up alongside [James] Harden and Chris [Paul],” James told ESPN in 2018. “I felt like at this point in my career, the ultimate for me — just like when I went to Miami, everyone kind of looks at me joining a super team.
“I like the challenge of being able to help a team get to some places they haven’t been in a while, and obviously the Lakers haven’t made the playoffs in a few years,” he added.
Representatives from the 76ers did meet with James’ camp but James did not attend the meeting. The meeting was led by then-Sixers head coach Brett Brown, who was also serving as the team’s interim president following the resignation of Bryan Colangelo.
Leading up to free agency, Philadelphia made an all-out push for James with Embiid taking to social media to pitch his team to James. The then-24-year-old center wrote on Twitter (now X), “Trust The Process!!!! Find a new slant @KingJames.”
Meanwhile, Philadelphia-based company Power Home Remodeling purchased three billboards outside of Cleveland to court James, who played for the Cavaliers at the time. Two of the billboards read “Philly Wants Lebron” and “Complete The Process” — referring to the Sixers’ motto spearheaded by former president Sam Hinkie. The third billboard featured LeBron’s number 23 on the court alongside the numbers of the Sixers’ starting lineup.
The rumor mill around James joining the Sixers mainly revolved around his well-known relationship with Simmons, who was known to workout with James on occasion. Both former first overall picks, the two shared an agency in Klutch Sports — founded by James’ longtime friend and agent Rich Paul. Coming out of the draft and early in his career, Simmons, a 6-foot-10 point guard, also received a hefty comparison to James because of his playmaking ability and size.
While James landing with the 76ers this time around is almost certainly not happening, Simmons recently displayed interest in returning to Philadelphia in an interview with Men’s Health.
LeBron James informed the Los Angeles Lakers that he will not re-sign with the team after 8 seasons and one title in Tinseltown.
So where could he land? A number of suitors have emerged through various reports, including the two franchises with which he spent the first 15 seasons of his career.
According to NBA Insiders Chris Haynes (NBA on Prime), Jake Fischer (SteinLine), and Brian Windhorst (ESPN), the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors could all be in play.
Windhorst previously discussed rumors of the move for a Big 4 in Golden State — a pairing of James, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Washington Wizards forward Anthony Davis — as a “leverage play” for James and Davis to gain better standing with their current teams, but has since reversed course.
“I think the focus right now is can they get LeBron James away from the Los Angeles Lakers? That’s something they’re going to try to get done, today,” he said on ESPN’s Get Up.
James’ son, Bronny, appears set to stay with the Lakers. His contract with the team became fully guaranteed on Monday. He will play out the remaining year of his deal at $2.3 million.
Sixers center Joel Embiid (right) drives to the basket against New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson.
We are still hours away from free agency officially opening, and the backup center market is already shrinking.
Robert Williams and Jock Landale earlier Tuesday reportedly agreed to terms to return to their respective teams, the Portland Trail Blazers and Atlanta Hawks. Landale’s deal is for one year and $14 million and Williams’ is for three years and $44 million, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
So who else could still be in play for the Sixers?
Mitchell Robinson, an elite rebounder and rim protector, is perhaps the sexiest name, given his role on the NBA champion New York Knicks.
Sandro Mamukelashvili, coming off a strong season for the upstart Toronto Raptors, is a sneaky option.
Veteran Nikola Vucevic was once an All-Star, but his decline was glaring during the Sixers’ upset of the Boston Celtics.
Marvin Bagley, the former second overall draft pick who was productive for the Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks, is a solid rebounder (and his brother, Marcus, was a Delaware Blue Coat and on two 10-day contracts with the Sixers).
And, of course, there is Andre Drummond, whose role fluctuated last season with the Sixers.
John Collins and more frontcourt options for the Sixers
Los Angeles Clippers forward John Collins is an option for the Sixers.
As the Sixers search for ways to bolster their roster, keep an eye on these six players as options at forward and center …
John Collins
Collins could slide into a starting forward spot if Oubre leaves. The sensational athlete has become an improved shooter since getting off the perpetual trade block with the Atlanta Hawks, connecting on 40.6% of his three-point attempts last season with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Rui Hachimura
The 6-foot-8, 230-pound Hachimura boasts a more traditional power forward frame and versatile skill on both ends of the floor. He shot 44.3% on 3.9 long-range attempts per game last season with the Los Angeles Lakers, while averaging 11.5 points and 3.3 rebounds. The Lakers reportedly committed to signing Austin Reaves to a max contract, and must make a free-agency decision on all-time great LeBron James.
Robert Williams III
Another supreme athlete who can rebound (7 per game last season) and finish lobs. But the 28-year-old now has a lengthy injury history with the Celtics and Portland Trail Blazers, which might be a risky investment for a center to play behind Embiid.
[Update: Williams is returning to the Blazers on a three-year deal worth $44 million.]
Marvin Bagley III
Bagley’s career has fallen far below original expectations as a former No. 2 overall draft pick. Yet he is coming off a productive season for the Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks, averaging 10.5 points per game. His career average of 6.5 rebounds — including 2.3 on the offensive end — in 22 minutes is also a sound number.
His brother, Marcus, played 10 games for the Sixers and also played for the G League’s Delaware Blue Coats during the 2024-25 season.
Jock Landale
A floor-spacing big man with defensive versatility, Landale was an impactful trade-deadline pickup for the streaking Hawks until an ankle sprain prematurely ended his season. He averaged 5.7 rebounds in 22.1 minutes with the Memphis Grizzlies and Hawks last season.
[Update: Landale is returning to the Hawks on a one-year, $14 million deal.]
Mitchell Robinson
The competition could be steep for the newly crowned NBA champion — including from the Knicks. Robinson is a fantastic rim protector and rebounder, especially on the offensive end (4.2 per game last season). The knocks on him are his injury history and poor shooting, prompting the Hack-A-Mitch strategy for opposing teams.
Other options: Sandro Mamukelashvili, Nikola Vučević, Mo Wagner, Jaxson Hayes, Kelly Olynyk, Nick Richards
BREAKING: LeBron James will continue his NBA career for the 2026-27 season and has informed the Los Angeles Lakers that the franchise can move on without him because he will play elsewhere, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/zzVk6xUVF1
What kind of contracts can the Sixers actually sign?
Sixers managing partner Josh Harris and HBSE president of sports Bob Myers meet with the media.
This is tricky to determine right now, because it could be dependent on if Kelly Oubre Jr., and/or Quentin Grimes returns.
If both players depart, the Sixers are likely to have the non-taxpayer midlevel exception (approximately $15 million) and the biannual exception ($5.5 million). If they re-sign one or both players, they likely will only have the $6.1 taxpayer midlevel exception.
For what it’s worth, earlier this month Bob Myers specifically referenced the non-taxpayer midlevel exception as a free-agency tool, suggesting the Sixers are using that as a starting point and will weigh the players they could sign on that deal vs. the return of Oubre or Grimes. And if the Sixers cross into the “apron” penalties, it will limit their ability to make in-season trades because of new collective bargaining agreement rules.
The Sixers will also have veteran minimum contracts to fill out their 15-man roster.
New Sixers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey is looking to improve his roster with little money to spend.
If the Sixers are going to improve, it’s going to need to be on the margins.
That is the reality facing new 76ers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey, whom Myers led the search to hire, and the remaining front office as NBA free agency begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday. All-NBA third-team guard Tyrese Maxey ($41 million), along with former perennial All-Stars Joel Embiid ($59.5 million) and Paul George ($54.1 million), remain on max contracts accounting for nearly $155 million of the projected $165 million salary cap. And the latter two players are considered difficult to trade because of their age and recent injury history.
So the Sixers must again hope for better health with that top-heavy roster during the 2026-27 season, which could turn that flash from the playoff upset of the Boston Celtics into more consistency. Yet that postseason run, which ended in being swept by the eventual NBA champion New York Knicks, also exposed that the Sixers must bolster their depth, requiring shrewd around-the-edges moves with limited financial flexibility.
The Sixers already have begun to build their roster by drafting Alabama guard Labaron Philon Jr., in a potential first-round steal, and picked up the team options for Dominick Barlow ($3.4 million) and Dalen Terry ($2.6 million, nonguaranteed until Jan. 10) on Monday. They will aim to address positional needs at wing and in the frontcourt, as well as with shooting and rebounding.
“You can make a great [draft] pick, [or] you can sign a minimum player that really moves things further,” Myers said. “ … You can have minimum players that really do a great job for your team. You can have a $4 million [player]. It doesn’t have to be the big-spending guys. You get 5%, 10% 15% better, it makes a big difference.”
These five Sixers are headed for free agency (or retirement)
Sixers wing Kelly Oubre Jr. is one of the team’s five unrestricted free agents.
The Sixers don’t have much money to spend in free agency this offseason, and what little they do have could be used to re-sign some of their own players who are about to hit the open market when the negotiating period begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Here’s a look at the members of last year’s Sixers squad who will be unrestricted free agents …
Kelly Oubre Jr. — Oubre, 30, averaged 14.1 points, 5 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in 50 games last season and shot a career-best 36% from three-point range. The 6-foot-8 starting forward spent the last three seasons with the Sixers, and made $8.3 million in 2025-26.
Quentin Grimes — Grimes, the Sixers’ sixth man for most of last season, averaged 13.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.3 assists, all down from his breakout season in 2024-25 after the Sixers shifted into tank mode. The 26-year-old, who struggled to find a match last free agency period before returning to the Sixers, shot a career-low 33.4% from three-point range.
Andre Drummond — The 32-year-old center made $5 million while taking on an odd role most of last season: starting in place of Joel Embiid when the former MVP was injured, but falling out of the rotation entirely when Embiid was healthy. Drummond, one of the games best rebounders, averaged 6.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 63 regular-season games.
Trendon Watford — Watford, who has been a close friend of Tyrese Maxey’s since they were teenagers, averaged 6.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 53 games last season, but injuries played a role. The Sixers declined Watford’s $2.8 million team option for next season on Monday.
Kyle Lowry — The former Cardinal Dougherty and Villanova star is expected to retire after 20 NBA seasons. Following the 2024-25 season, Lowry, a North Philly native, said he wanted to play one more year.
What amazes me about the fact that America turns 250 on Saturday is that I’ve been alive now for 27% of U.S. history. When I was 17 and watched the Bicentennial parade of tall ships down the Hudson River from my dad’s conveniently located Manhattan skyscraper office on July 4, 1976, I thought I was celebrating ancient history. I was wrong. In a big, diverse world, the United States remains a young adult among nations. Like most young adults, we have a lot of issues.
Trump thinks anything besides stealing the election is ‘a big yawn’
Voting booths are set up at a polling place in Newtown in 2024.
Donald Trump gets a lot of flak, and deservedly so, for telling so many lies. On Monday, he held an Oval Office press availability, and much of what he said — false claims that other nations don’t have birthright citizenship or mail-in voting — was flat-out untrue.
But nothing is scarier than when the 47th president speaks the truth about what’s really on his mind. Because the only thing that’s in Trump’s brain right now is stealing the November midterm election by changing the rules in his favor … or worse. If Trump’s vocal cords were not so weak and diminished, he’d have been screaming the quiet part out loud.
“Here’s what I would like to say,” Trump said of the still-unsigned housing bill, which passed in the House by a 396-13 vote. “It’s a yawn. Some people say it’s wonderful. To me, compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.”
In quainter times, Trump’s disrespect for the housing bill — a grab bag of measures all geared toward encouraging contractors to build more units, which would lower both purchase prices and rents — might be the political gaffe of the year. Currently, only 29% of Americans think it’s a good time to buy a house, and nearly two-thirds are more likely to vote for a Congress member who helped lower prices. Republicans who voted for the bill are desperate for a win.
Trump doesn’t care. He’s forgotten his “forgotten Americans” who think the rent is too damn high, not to mention the GOP members of Congress who’ve followed him off the cliff. But that’s not even close to the most alarming thing about Trump’s Oval Office moment of truth.
The president says the only thing he cares about — even with his conflict in Iran becoming another “forever war,” and with the economy down the toilet for everyone who’s not a tech trillionaire — is a bill that critics say would be a disaster for free and fair U.S. elections. One report found that some 12 million people who fairly and successfully voted in the 2020 presidential election don’t have the documentation — such as a birth certificate or passport — that the bill requires.
We don’t know how such a massive drop in turnout would change the election results, or whether a weakened Trump can pressure theGOP to find a way to pass a bill with zero Democratic support. But we do know this: The president’s maneuvers are not even the worst thing Trump has done this month on the steal-this-election front. Not by a long shot.
The Trump regime has been signaling for months that it sees the U.S. intelligence community — spy agencies like the CIA — not as a tool for finding out what comes next in the Persian Gulf, or if or when China is invading Taiwan, or when Vladimir Putin’s Russian empire will fall. No, Trump wants secret agents who can creatively invent theories of foreign-born election fraud that would demand a strongman response.
We saw this coming back in January, when the regime dispatched Trump 47’s first director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, to Fulton County, Ga., to oversee an FBI raid of voting materials from the 2020 election that Trump, with no evidence, continues to dispute. That link made it clear the regime is looking to create links to foreign actors.
When Gabbard left the administration this spring, Trump named a temporary replacement who can serve through the November election: Bill Pulte, who also continues to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Pulte lacks a key prerequisite for his new job — any experience in intelligence whatsoever — but has the only quality that matters to Trump: undying loyalty. Pulte’s main focus in the housing job has been combing through the mortgage records of the president’s political enemies, looking for undotted i’s and uncrossed t’s that could be used to manufacture criminal charges from nothing.
In just a few days at intelligence, Pulte has not disappointed his boss. He showed up Monday and immediately began firing current staffers, with a rumored list of hundreds. The steep reduction in eyeballs on the world’s trouble spots is disturbing, but what’s even more alarming is the one person Pulte has hired.
The newsletter SpyTalk described Pulte’s new chief of staff, Christina Norton, as “a party-loving MAGA activist with no background in national security issues but who last year boasted of running ‘the largest election integrity operation the Republican Party has ever seen’ …”
The pairing of Pulte and Norton is an alarm bell that the national intelligence team under Trump will have one job: investigating fantastical “foreign election plots” that will be cited to justify radical measures like sending troops to polling places, seizing voting machines, or worse.
SpyTalk noted that Norton, in her active Instagram feed, “talks about supervising more than 200,000 Republican poll watchers ‘standing guard’ at polling booths and vote-counting stations across the country” during her 2024 stint at the Republican National Committee.
Yet, intelligence is just one of many tools in the federal government that the obsessive Trump is working to activate ahead of a November election that polls suggest will be a “blue wave” for Democrats hoping to retake Capitol Hill. Trump has issued several executive orders seeking to assert federal control over voting, which has been a state and local function throughout 250 years of American history.
That effort suffered a bit of a setback Monday, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states can continue to count mail-in ballots that are postmarked before Election Day but arrive after the polls have closed. But that will not stop the Trump regime from politicizing the U.S. Postal Service ahead of November.
Last week, Postmaster General David Steiner told Congress that USPS plans not to deliver mail-in ballots in states that don’t turn their voter rolls over to the Trump regime, a demand many governors have resisted so far. “President Trump does not believe that elections he loses are valid,” Democratic Michigan Sen. Elisa Slotkin said after the hearing. “It’s all part of his authoritarian playbook.”
This all feels very familiar. In the lame-duck days after Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, the 45th president — instead of packing up to return to Mar-a-Lago — got busy putting in a new team at the Pentagon, ordering the U.S. Department of Justice to probe alleged voter fraud, challenging vote count certifications in court, and urging state lawmakers to seat rival slates of electors. Most pundits laughed this off, but I wrote a column — “So, is President Trump staging a coup, or what?” — that ran on Nov. 10, 2020, nearly two months before the actual attempted coup on Jan. 6, 2021.
Now Trump is not only staging another coup, but he is yelling about it, in your face. There is nothing he won’t try over the next five months to prevent a Democratic Congress from investigating how he and his family have made billions of dollars off the American presidency.
When Trump says anything that’s not election meddling is a “big yawn,” this should be our wake-up call. The time for a full-court press — lawsuits, public hearings, and investigative journalism — can’t wait until after the election. The new putsch has already begun.
Yo, do this!
If you didn’t think I raced to download the new audiobook of Zayd Ayers Dohrn’s tale of growing up in the radical Weather Underground in the 1970s and ’80s — Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground — then you must be new around these parts. Dohrn had already used his unique access to his parents — Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, revolutionary royalty — and their friends to tell a history of that era’s far left in 2022’s award-winning podcast, Mother Country Radicals. His new book aims to go deeper into the psychology of what it was like to be raised as a toddler on the run from the FBI, or whether bombings and bank robberies can change the world. That’s a question — also explored in this viral essay — with new resonance in the Trump era.
A few weeks ago, I suggested that folks see the new movie The Sheep Detectives. The film is already streaming on Amazon Prime (which produced it), and Sunday’s rare night off for the World Cup offered the excuse to finally watch. I can now highly recommend it. The movie — with an adapted script by the acclaimed showrunner of HBO’s Chernobyl, Craig Mazin — manages to merge police procedural cliches with moving thoughts about prejudice, existentialism, and what it means to belong to a flock. Even a flock of talking sheep.
Ask me anything
Question: Is Markwayne [Mullin, the Homeland Security secretary and former Oklahoma senator] the least qualified cabinet level official in American history? — Richard McGovern (@richardmcgovern.bsky.social) via Bluesky
Answer: Good question from Richard, a fellow long-suffering Philadelphia Union fan. Not because I know the answer, when there are rivals for the title like Donald Trump’s war-losing “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth, to name just one. But Mullin is now behind a move so outlandish that it showed me I haven’t lost my capacity for shock after all. This weekend, Trump nominated a previously unknown former Oklahoma state trooper named Lance Schroyer to run U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a powerful agency with 22,000 agents and a budget of around $30 billion a year. It turns out that just recently, Schroyer was heading a security detail for Mullin in Washington, D.C., and has become a close enough friend that he is an occasional dinner guest. Yes, he hired his bodyguard to run the equivalent of a large corporation. Stay tuned for all of this to unravel.
What you’re saying about …
I guess we’re not as close as we thought, as very few of you were eager to share your July Fourth plans with me or discuss what America’s 250th birthday means at such a dark moment. The ones who did reply are looking forward to spending time with family and friends, but all that patriotic jazz, not so much. “Probably, we will have our usual picnic and take the grandkids to see the local fireworks, but I have no intention to watch any special programming or parades, etc.” Marianne Zollers wrote. “It will just make me sad. Such a different feeling compared with the Bicentennial which was such a joyous and happy occasion for my entire family.”
📮 This week’s question: One of the big stories of 2026 that’s finally getting a lot of attention is the success of more progressive Democrats, including democratic socialists, in key primary races against party moderates. Is this a good thing, lifting up candidates who’ll fight against Trump and for the working class? Or do you worry Republicans will capitalize against their opponents with more left-wing views? Please email me your answer and put the exact phrase “2026 progressive Democrats” in the subject line.
Backstory on crossing the World Cup off my bucket list
The Ivory Coast team celebrates their win in the middle of the field against Curaçao with a score of 2-0 for the FIFA World Cup at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Thursday.
I can’t say exactly when, but at some point during my first-ever in-person World Cup match between Côte d’Ivoire and Curaçao, watching from the thin air of the top deck of the temporarily renamed Philadelphia Stadium, it struck me: My decades-long dream of being there for the world’s greatest sporting event was not like what I’d imagined.
And yet, in some weird, quasi-religious acid test kind of way, it was even better.
I’ve been to countless sporting events going back to 1968, but never one where the vibe was basically: So happy to be here. I’ve certainly never been to a game where the PA announcer uttered something before the match about giving a big hand to both teams — and the sold-out crowd obliged. Fans would have burned down Section 220, Row 27, where I was sitting, if this had happened during an Eagles-Cowboys game. During a tense match with a place in the Round of 32 on the line, the gathering repeatedly did the wave and threw their vocal cords more behind the halftime singalong of the Bruce Channel 1961 oldie “Hey! Baby” than either of the two decisive goals by Côte d’Ivoire’s Les Éléphants.
Up in nosebleed country, many of the fans repped soccer jerseys, but they were for club teams like Liverpool or Christian Pulisic’s USA No. 10, joined by me in my Philadelphia Union T-shirt. We were Philly’s soccer aficionados, desperate to be a part of maybe the only time in our lives the World Cup would take place in the City of Brotherly Love. A match pitting the smallest nation to ever qualify for the FIFA tourney (Curaçao, population 158,000) and an African underdog was pretty much the only way to crash the party without a bank loan. (Full disclosure: I paid about $280 apiece for two seats on StubHub — much like buying a stock, it could have been more or less, depending on how one timed it.)
No, this wasn’t much like the Eagles games played here, where excitement merges with pins and needles of anxiety. On a picture-perfect late afternoon in June, bookended by the Philadelphia skyline and a lazy Delaware River, it felt more like a rock concert. It wouldn’t have seemed out of place if folks had started batting a beachball around at this soccer Woodstock. There was a mind-meld of the faithful, who saw FIFA and its commercialization as the devil, with the loudest boos for the TV-ad-laden “hydration breaks,” but with — I swear to God — a loud roar for the announcement of the attendance: 68,324. In a city where a 1976 Bicentennial match of some of the world’s best players took place in a mostly empty stadium, soccer is indisputably here to stay.
Fans walked out of Philadelphia Stadium beaming less over the final score and more about the instant karma of the afternoon. After years of tavern taunts and ridicule from sports-talk radio, localsoccer die-hards lived long enough to see America’s founding city become the world’s co-capital of the sport that, for its true believers, passes all understanding. It was all too beautiful. If I can somehow make it to Spain or Portugal or Morocco in 2030 (because, hey, I need a new bucket list now), I will be sure to wear some flowers in my hair. Soccer time will be a love-in there.
What I wrote on this date in 2019
I’ve been writing about the topic of journalism reform since the mid-2000s, or around the time it became clear to me and a lot of other folks that newsrooms needed to change or die. My fear, circa 2006 or so, was that we’d start seeing entire communities without newspapers or the accountability journalism that flows from that — which is exactly what happened in Youngstown, Ohio, when its paper closed seven years ago. I wrote: “The loss of the Youngstown Vindicator every morning doesn’t mean that the region’s 200,000 people will no longer be getting information. It just increases the likelihood they’ll be getting bad information — intentionally manipulated, and sometimes out-and-out fakery.”
Only one column this week, as I took a well-deserved day off to attend the World Cup. In that piece, I looked at the sorry state of justice in America on the eve of its 250th birthday, with an emphasis on the outrageous sentences — ranging from 30 to 100 years — handed down to left-wing anti-ICE protesters convicted of rioting in North Texas. The U.S. Department of Justice that pushed these virtual life sentences is also pardoning the right-wing rioters of Jan. 6, 2021, as well as billionaire fraudsters who donate money to MAGA players and causes. They’ve made a mockery of liberty and justice for all.
Let’s be honest: People — not to mention sheep (see above) — can’t get enough of a murder mystery, especially a real-life true crime. It’s been a while since a crime saga has riveted Philadelphia readers as much asthe stench of possible foul play that is growing at a home on West Chew Avenue in the city’s Olney section that police have branded a crime scene as they search for clues in the disappearance of two local women. Since the case broke open last week, nearly a dozen Inquirer reporters have produced riveting articles about the discovery of drugs, chemicals, and “a significant amount of blood” at the Horsch family residence, profiles of the two missing women — Amy McHale and Blair Tonzelli — and interviews with neighbors who talked about living next door to “a house from a scary movie.” The backstory here is that — whatever you may have heard about AI — it still takes a lot of human shoe-leather to get to the bottom of a story like this. Subscribing to The Inquirer is a twofer: You get to hurdle the paywall to read compelling journalism and feel good about being a supporter.
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City Hall just can’t quit abusing a retirement perk known as the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, or DROP, that was supposed to be self-sustaining but costs Philadelphians millions of dollars a year.
Now, along comes City Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. and his wife, City Representative Jazelle Jones, to take it up a notch.
The power couple plans to collect up to $752,000 in combined retirement payouts. But rather than ride off into the sunset, they both plan to keep their respective six-figure jobs.
The scheme raises a question that has long plagued DROP: What is the point of a retirement incentive if the person doesn’t retire?
The problem goes back to 1999, when former Mayor Ed Rendell pitched it as a good government idea when it was really nothing more than a sweetheart enrichment program for city workers at taxpayer expense.
At the time, Rendell said DROP would not cost the city any additional revenue. But one study found that in its first 11 years, DROP cost the city $258 million, which is almost enough to cover the school district’s $300 million budget deficit this year.
For those unfamiliar with DROP, it is a program that allows eligible municipal employees to select a mandatory retirement date up to four years in advance. While they continue to get paid to do their job, the city makes pension payments into a special interest-bearing account that results in a lump-sum payout upon retirement.
After retiring, they receive their standard monthly pension. City workers contribute to the pension fund, but that does not cover all the pension fund liabilities, let alone the added costs of DROP, which are ultimately borne by taxpayers.
The added costs prompted several cities to eliminate or heavily restrict their DROP programs, including San Diego, San Francisco, Houston, and Baltimore.
In Philadelphia, more than 12,000 municipal employees collected DROP payments totaling $1.5 billion from 1999 to 2018. The payments have since topped $2 billion, according to one recent report by former Inquirer reporter Ralph Cipriano, who has long followed the program as an independent journalist.
Bottom line: DROP is not revenue-neutral.
Rendell’s other claim was that by entering DROP, the city would have four years to find or train a replacement for the retiring worker.
It was always ludicrous that it would take years to find or train a replacement when most places of employment manage to survive when a person gives two weeks’ notice. But that was the story, and the city stuck with it.
Mayor Ed Rendell delivers his State of the City address in Lincoln Hall at the Union League in February 1999. Rendell claimed the Deferred Retirement Option Plan would not cost the city any additional revenue. Instead, around $2 billion has been spent since 1999.
In the case of Jazelle Jones, four years’ notice was apparently not enough.
She was set to retire in September 2024, but Mayor Cherelle L. Parker asked her to stay on the job and issued a special exception so she could be rehired.
Following a one-day retirement, Jones, 70, received a $97,000 payout for unused sick and vacation time, in addition to a DROP payment of nearly $320,000. She was then rehired with a $4,000 pay bump.
Jones, whose annual salary is $199,000, serves as the city’s chief ambassador and director of special events, such as parades, concerts, festivals, and athletic events.
Parker defended the move because of Jones’ experience overseeing major events like the current World Cup games.
But there is no defending her Council member husband’s plan to collect his DROP payment and continue serving in office.
DROP was never intended for elected officials, since voters determine whether they get to keep their seats.
Controversy erupted in the early 2000s after several elected officials collected large DROP payments, retired for a day, and returned to office. City Councilmember Frank Rizzo Jr. lost his election bid in 2011 after he accepted a DROP payment.
In 2010, Council barred future elected officials from participating in the program — but grandfathered anyone already in office. That included Curtis Jones Jr., 68, who was first elected in November 2007.
He enrolled in DROP in August 2024 but plans to run for a sixth term next year. If Jones is reelected, he could then retire for a day in 2028, collect his $432,221 DROP payment, and then serve another four-year term. The Council member told The Inquirer he instead plans to retire in December 2027, collecting a reduced DROP payment closer to $350,000.
What a mensch.
Jones has publicly discussed delaying bridge repairs in his district to avoid traffic jams that may rankle voters during his reelection campaign.
Perhaps voters should beat a path to finding candidates who put the public’s interest before their personal gain.
