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  • N.J. cop went to an ATM first when dispatched to a shooting scene and missed a double murder discovered a day later, prosecutors say

    N.J. cop went to an ATM first when dispatched to a shooting scene and missed a double murder discovered a day later, prosecutors say

    A police sergeant in New Jersey has been accused of failing to properly respond to a reported shooting that led to the deaths of a veterinarian and her volunteer firefighter boyfriend, both allegedly killed by a New Jersey State Police trooper, prosecutors announced Thursday.

    Lauren Semanchik, 33, of Pittstown, and Tyler Webb, 29, of Forked River, were found dead the afternoon of Aug. 2 at her home on Upper Kingtown Road in Franklin Township, the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office said.

    The night before, a dispatcher notified Franklin Township Police Sgt. Kevin Bollaro about a report of gunshots and screaming on Upper Kingtown Road.

    Instead of responding directly to the scene, Bollaro went first to an ATM to conduct a transaction, the prosecutor’s office alleged.

    While at the ATM, Bollaro was told by a dispatcher about a second report of gunshots and screaming, the prosecutor’s office alleged. Bollaro then proceeded to the location of the first call, allegedly without activating his lights and siren.

    Around five minutes after the second call, a third call reporting gunshots and screaming was made to police and relayed to Bollaro, who ultimately met with the first caller but not the second and third callers, the prosecutor’s office said.

    Approximately 17 minutes passed from the time of the first dispatch to Bollaro to when he arrived to meet with the first caller, the prosecutor’s office said. Bollaro also allegedly failed to turn on his bodycam while he met that caller.

    After leaving the area, Bollaro immediately drove to Duke’s Pizzeria & Restaurant in Pittstown, where he remained for around 50 minutes, the prosecutor’s office said.

    Bollaro later went to Pittstown Inn, a restaurant, and remained there for nearly an hour engaging socially with patrons, the prosecutor’s office alleged.

    Bollaro then spent five hours — from around 11:27 p.m. until 4:33 a.m. — at a local cemetery, during which no law enforcement activity was recorded by him, the prosecutor’s office alleged.

    Bollaro then allegedly submitted a false report about what he did that night.

    The next day, as detectives were investigating the deaths of Semanchik and Webb, authorities learned that Ricardo Jorge Santos, a lieutenant with the New Jersey State Police and Semanchik’s ex-boyfriend, was found dead inside a white 2008 Mercedes SUV in Johnson Park in Piscataway, Middlesex County, the prosecutor’s office said.

    Santos sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound, which the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office preliminarily determined to be a suicide, the prosecutor’s office said. A semiautomatic handgun was found inside the Mercedes.

    The New York Times and other news outlets reported that Santos had previously served as a supervisor on the New Jersey governor’s protection detail.

    Charles J. Sciarra, an attorney representing the Franklin Township police sergeant, said in a statement Friday morning that “nothing Kevin Bollaro did or did not do that day impacted or could have stopped that tragedy in any way.”

    Sciarra said that “the evidence will show that there were delays in these 911 calls being made and dispatched,” and that “he canvassed the area thoroughly. Sgt. Kevin Bollaro has faithfully served that community for nearly 25 years [and] is not guilty of anything related to this horrendous killing. This prosecution is unfortunate.”

    David Mazie, an attorney representing the families of Semanchik and Webb, said in an emailed statement Thursday evening that the families “are shocked at Sgt. Bollaro’s egregious conduct as charged by the Hunterdon County Prosecutor. We believe this to be the tip of the iceberg of the many failures by the local and state police which will be uncovered and which led to the murders of Lauren and Tyler.”

    Bollaro was charged with second-degree official misconduct “for knowingly refraining from performing his police duties with purpose to obtain a personal benefit,” and disorderly persons tampering with public records or information for knowingly making false entries in his police report, the prosecutor’s office said.

    Bollaro was charged on a complaint-summons and is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Nov. 5.

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    The prosecutor’s office previously said that Semanchik had been in a relationship with Santos that ended around September 2024, but “Semanchik alleged that Santos engaged in continued harassing and controlling behavior.”

    At some point, Semanchik installed a video surveillance recording system in her vehicle, which detectives accessed and reviewed.

    Video evidence showed Semanchik’s vehicle leaving the Long Valley Animal Hospital, where she worked, around 5:25 p.m. on Aug. 1 and a white 2008 Mercedes SUV was seen leaving a parking space and closely following Semanchik to her home on Upper Kingtown Road until she turned into her driveway shortly before 6 p.m., the prosecutor’s office said.

    “At approximately 6:11 p.m., while Semanchik’s vehicle is parked, an individual is seen surreptitiously walking through the wooded area along the driveway leading up to the residence. And at approximately 6:45 p.m., Webb’s vehicle arrives at the residence and parks next to Semanchik’s vehicle,” the prosecutor’s office said.

    Detectives said the white 2008 Mercedes SUV that followed Semanchik was the same vehicle in which Santos was found dead in Piscataway.

    At a news conference in August, Mazie said Semanchik went to the Franklin Township Police Department to report her ex-boyfriend’s behavior but was told no one was available to talk to her. She was given a phone number to call, which she did, Mazie said. No one called back.

    Mazie said that Semanchik’s vehicle was damaged, apparently with a key, while she was at work in May 2025. Semanchik reported the incident to the Washington Township Police Department in Morris County and to a female trooper who worked with Santos, Mazie said.

    Mazie said a report from the Washington Township police indicated that Santos was contacted and denied damaging her vehicle. He was advised to avoid contact with Semanchik, Mazie said.

    Mazie said he plans to sue both the New Jersey State Police and the Franklin Township Police Department for failing to act against Santos.

  • How can Bryce Harper have an ‘elite’ season in 2026? It starts with examining his atypical 2025.

    How can Bryce Harper have an ‘elite’ season in 2026? It starts with examining his atypical 2025.

    Alec Bohm returned from the injured list last month and got eight hits in three games, giving rise to a theory: If Bohm stayed hot, maybe the star hitter who precedes him in the Phillies’ batting order would see more strikes.

    “I doubt it,” Bryce Harper said.

    Harper knew how that sounded, so he made clear that he meant no disrespect to Bohm. But his point remained. Harper faced a lower rate of pitches in the zone (43%) than any hitter in baseball this season (minimum 150 pitches), so the notion that any Phillies lineup protection short of peak Mike Schmidt would affect how he was pitched ranked somewhere between wishful thinking and delusion.

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    It has been this way for most of Harper’s life. He recalls being 11 years old and competing in travel tournaments in which the opposing coach would point to him and direct pitchers not to give him anything to hit. In 2016, the Cubs walked him 13 times, four intentionally, in 19 plate appearances over four games at Wrigley Field.

    Quite simply, teams game-plan against Harper specifically.

    “When we go into a series, we circle guys’ names, too,” Harper said earlier in the season. “It happens that way.”

    Even so, there was something different about this season. When Harper did get pitches in the zone, he didn’t do as much damage. As such, he didn’t produce his typical numbers.

    Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper saw a lower rate of pitches in the strike zone (43%) than any hitter in baseball this season.

    Harper reached base at a .357 clip, his lowest mark since 2014. He slugged .487 with an .844 OPS, his worst totals since 2016. He mashed 27 home runs, despite missing a month with an inflamed right wrist. Although he outproduced the league average by 29%, based on OPS+, he has been 42% better than average over his career.

    So, upon being asked at his end-of-the-season news conference on Oct. 16 — coincidentally, Harper’s 33rd birthday — if the Phillies believe this was a down year and not the start of a downturn for the face of the franchise, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski offered an eyebrow-raising answer.

    “He’s still an All-Star-caliber player,” he said. “He didn’t have an elite season like he has had in the past. And I guess we only find out if he becomes elite [again] or he continues to be good. If you look around the league, Freddie Freeman, he’s a really good player, right? Is he elite like he was before? Probably not to the same extent. Freddie is a tremendous player, and that, to me, is Bryce.

    “Can he rise to the next level again? I don’t really know that answer. He’s the one that will dictate that more than anything else.

    “I don’t think he’s content with the year that he had. And, again, it wasn’t a bad year. But when you think of Bryce Harper, you think of elite, right? You think of one of the top-10 players in baseball, and I don’t think [this season] fit into that category. But again, a very good player. I’ve seen guys at his age — again, he’s not old — that level off. Or I’ve seen guys rise again.”

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    Maybe we just aren’t accustomed to that level of candor from a high-ranking executive, especially at a news conference. Or maybe Dombrowski calculated that challenging a future Hall of Famer to be better would have the effect of poking a grizzly.

    Regardless, it sparked conversation — even idle speculation about Harper’s future with six years and $153.25 million left on his contract and no-trade rights based on more than 10 years of major-league service, more than five with the Phillies.

    “I’ve been reading that, ‘Oh, the Phillies may trade Bryce Harper.’ That couldn’t be further from the truth,” Dombrowski said the other day on Foul Territory TV. “We love him, think he’s a great player. He’s a very important part of our team.

    “When I think of Bryce Harper, it’s a compliment. Because the reality is, there are eight to 10 players in the game of baseball every year when they’re not, let’s say, in the MVP consideration for whatever reason — sometimes it can be an injury factor; sometimes they just have a bad year — it’s not an elite year for them.

    “I’ve seen him have better years. I look for him to have better years.”

    Especially if the Phillies give him more help.

    Bryce Harper hit 27 homers this season, despite missing one month with an inflamed right wrist.

    Missing the mistakes

    Let there be no doubt about Harper’s state of mind in the aftermath of the Phillies’ second consecutive divisional-round knockout.

    “I want [a championship] more than probably a lot of people,” he said. “I want to hold that trophy. On a personal level, I’m going to work my butt off this offseason again and get ready for next year and hopefully take another swing at it and see what we can do.”

    But who will follow Harper in the batting order?

    It was a topic of conversation early this season. Harper got walked intentionally twice with runners in scoring position on April 11 in Atlanta, prompting Rob Thomson to tweak the lineup the next day. Rather than keeping a struggling Bohm — or fellow right-handed hitters J.T. Realmuto or Nick Castellanos — behind Harper, the manager moved Kyle Schwarber into that spot.

    Dave Dombrowski on Nick Castellanos’ future with the Phillies: ‘We’ll see what happens’

    “Just trying to protect Harper the best we can,” Thomson said.

    Schwarber should have represented Secret Service-level lineup protection. He batted behind Harper for 42 consecutive games and hit 12 homers in that span.

    And yet Harper didn’t see many more pitches in the zone.

    “It’s actually gotten worse, which is crazy,” Harper told The Inquirer in May during a series in Cleveland. “Just got to try to hone in as much as possible and hit the mistakes. That’s one thing where [Barry] Bonds was so good at. You get the mistakes and let the other ones go.”

    Usually, it’s a trademark of Harper’s, too.

    Through six seasons with the Phillies (2019 to 2024), he saw only 42.6% of pitches in the zone, tied for second-lowest rate among 293 players who faced at least 500 pitches, according to Statcast. But he punished those strikes, slugging .680, fifth-best behind Aaron Judge (.763), Shohei Ohtani (.710), Yordan Alvarez (.695), and Mike Trout (.695).

    Kyle Schwarber (right) batted behind Bryce Harper early in the season before the Phillies got away from that alignment.

    This year, with opponents still coming after him in the zone only 43% of the time, Harper’s slugging percentage on those pitches fell to .591. His weighted on-base average slipped, too, from .424 to .378.

    Reasons for the drop-off weren’t clear. Harper’s average bat speed wasn’t diminished (74.2 mph vs. 74.0 mph in 2024). His average exit velocity (91.3 mph) and hard-hit rate (47.5%) were consistent with the last two seasons (91.5 mph, 47.5%).

    There was a notable difference in how teams attacked Harper. He faced fewer fastballs (46.7%) and more breaking pitches — curveballs and sliders (41.3%) — than ever before. By comparison, the breakdown last season was 52.9% fastballs and 32.3% breaking stuff.

    Why the change?

    “Because I’m not hitting them,” Harper said. “Like, don’t try to fix what’s not broken, right?”

    Season over. Era over? This Phillies core came up short again, and is poised for change this offseason.

    Indeed, Harper slugged .438 against curveballs and sliders, down from .458 in 2024, .466 in 2023, and .495 in 2022.

    At least Harper didn’t overreact by swinging at many more pitches out of the zone. His chase rate ticked up to 35.6%, according to Statcast, but wasn’t far off his 33.4% mark from each of the previous two seasons. He walked in 12.1% of his plate appearances, nearly identical to his 12% mark from 2024.

    But as the Phillies seek explanations for Harper’s subpar season, they can start by tracing why he didn’t crush as many pitches — of any variety — in the zone as usual.

    Bryce Harper is a two-time Gold Glove finalist at first base. The Phillies haven’t discussed moving him back to the outfield.

    Better protection

    Maybe it would’ve helped if Thomson stuck with Schwarber behind Harper.

    Instead, Schwarber moved into the No. 2 hole while Harper was sidelined in June and stayed there en route to joining Ryan Howard in the pantheon of Phillies’ 50-homer hitters. Once Harper came back, he most often was followed in the order by Realmuto (41 games), Bohm (18), and Castellanos (13).

    Harper was the Phillies’ primary No. 3 hitter (117 games); Phillies cleanup hitters combined to rank 20th in slugging (.408) and OPS (.720).

    Who should return to the Phillies in 2026 and who should move on? See our picks and make your own.

    Scott Boras, Harper’s agent, didn’t respond to messages in recent days. But he told MLB.com that the best way for the Phillies to restore Harper’s elite performance is to “give Bryce Harper more pitches to hit.”

    Translation: Upgrade the lineup protection.

    Maybe it’s as simple as re-signing Schwarber and sticking him in the cleanup spot. Maybe the Phillies can add even more slug by putting the $24.5 million that will come off the books with the departures of Max Kepler, Jordan Romano, and David Robertson into an offer for, say, Alex Bregman, then swapping Bohm for Angels outfielder Taylor Ward.

    But unless 2006 Ryan Howard comes out of retirement, history suggests that Harper will continue to see fewer pitches in the zone than almost any hitter in baseball.

    He needs to get back to crushing them.

    “I think he’s highly motivated to have the best season of his career next year,” Thomson said. “He hasn’t told me this, but that type of person — and I’ve seen it before — they’ve had bad years, they’ll go like gangbusters during the offseason to get better because they want to get back to where they normally are at. I think that’s just Harp’s mindset. I think that’s what he’s going to do.”

  • For one week, Dawn Staley is matching each donation Temple women’s basketball receives

    For one week, Dawn Staley is matching each donation Temple women’s basketball receives

    Temple head coach Diane Richardson has led her program to back-to-back 20 win seasons for the first time since Tonya Cardoza did it from 2014 to 2017. However, Richardson knows in order to maintain success in today’s era of college basketball, money is a major factor.

    So Richardson decided to start a unique fundraising campaign to get donors excited to help the program. She reached out to Philadelphia legend and former Temple head coach Dawn Staley.

    Richardson and Staley made a fundraising campaign called “Match the Momentum,” where Staley would match each donation the Temple women’s basketball team receives from Oct. 20 to 25. Both coaches want Temple to be competitive, even with Staley sitting as the head coach at South Carolina.

    “Just talking with her about the way the landscape is and that, in order for us to be competitive, we need dollars,” Richardson said. “It was my pitch to her that we want to maintain or even get higher than where we are right now, and it’s going to take money.”

    Staley’s area ties run deep. She was born and raised in the city and attended Dobbins Technical High School. She returned to Philly in 2000 to become the head coach for Temple, where she became a coaching legend in her nine years with the program. She guided the Owls to 172 wins and six NCAA tournament appearances before leaving for South Carolina in May 2008.

    Richardson and Staley have a friendship that goes back to when Richardson was the head coach at Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Malboro, Md., and Staley recruited her players.

    Once Richardson had Staley on board to set up the campaign, the fourth-year head coach took the idea to Temple’s marketing department. Staley helped the campaign gain some attention by recording a video talking about what North Philly and Temple means to her.

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    “Her roots are here,” Richardson said. “She understands that if we can put out a product that people can look at and aspire to, all the young girls in the Philly area can say, ‘You know what? I can see myself doing that.’ Her commitment to us at Temple, obviously, she did a lot for Temple when she was here. … She wants young girls to be able to look up to us, just like she did when she was growing up.”

    Temple continued to promote the campaign throughout the week, with videos from guard Tristen Taylor, forward Jaleesa Molina, and Richardson. Taylor and Molina spoke about what it means to be an Owl, their experiences with the program, and how the donations could help the team with traveling, recruiting and nutrition.

    The Owls will open their season on Nov. 3 against George Mason and were picked to finish fourth in the American in the preseason poll.

    “Our players have been doing a great job,” Richardson said. We’ve had back-to-back 20 win seasons, without the notoriety. So now that hopefully we have some fans and we have some donors and we have some more money, we can continue that climb.”

    Richardson is also hoping the campaign will put more eyes on her program. Staley is one of the most popular figures in women’s college basketball, and both coaches want to see Temple back at the top.

    “I think it puts an eye on us,” Richardson said. “Obviously football and men’s basketball is really important, but women’s basketball has really exploded. Now, with Dawn behind it, she’s got name recognition, and people would look at that and say, ‘Well, Dawn’s doing it, then let me take a look at Temple women’s basketball.’ I’m sure we will get some eyes that have never seen Temple women’s basketball, because she put her name out there, her commitment, and her belief in us. Now other people will follow.”

  • Eagles vs. Giants predictions: Rounding up experts’ picks for a Week 8 NFC East rematch

    Eagles vs. Giants predictions: Rounding up experts’ picks for a Week 8 NFC East rematch

    After defeating the Minnesota Vikings on the road, the Eagles return home to host the New York Giants on Sunday. The teams last met in Week 6, when the Eagles suffered their second loss of the season, falling 34-17 to their division rivals.

    The Eagles enter Sunday’s game as 7.5-point favorites after the Giants’ loss to the Denver Broncos last week. Will the Birds get a win over the Giants? Or will the Giants spoil the Eagles’ return to the Linc?

    Here’s what experts in the local and national media are saying …

    Eagles vs. Giants predictions: Our writers pick a winner for Week 8

    Inquirer predictions

    We start with our own beat writers. Here’s an excerpt from Jeff Neiburg’s prediction …

    To read more of Neiburg’s take and how our other beat writers are predicting this one, check out their full predictions here.

    National media predictions

    Now, here’s a look at how the national media are picking Sunday’s matchup …

    • ESPN: In a clean sweep, all 11 ESPN analysts are picking the Eagles.
    • NFL.com: All five analysts are taking the Eagles.
    • CBS Sports: Seven of eight panelists picked the Birds straight up.
    • Sports Illustrated: In another clean sweep, all seven panelists are taking the Eagles.
    • USA Today: Similarly, all six USA Today panelists like the Eagles.
    • Bleacher Report: Five of seven Bleacher Report panelists are choosing the Eagles.
    • Sporting News: Bill Bender has the Eagles winning 31-19.

    Local media predictions

    Here’s what the media in Philadelphia think will happen.

  • An unusual loss shows the USWNT might not have its new No. 1 goalkeeper yet

    An unusual loss shows the USWNT might not have its new No. 1 goalkeeper yet

    When a team gives up a goal on a corner kick, it’s rarely just down to one person. But when a team gives up two goals on corner kicks in one game, there likely will be alarm bells.

    That’s what happened Thursday night at Subaru Park, where the U.S. women were upset by Portugal, 2-1.

    Manager Emma Hayes was frustrated afterward, as were many of her players. There are few things — sometimes nothing — a soccer coach dislikes more than giving up goals on set pieces.

    Nor did it help that this U.S. squad looked unusually disjointed, even for a group that hadn’t been together in four months and had just two days of practice before kickoff.

    “I didn’t recognize us,” Hayes said. “ I felt that we just rushed everything. We went direct. We didn’t look like the team that we’ve been working on, but that’s what happens when you got 113 days apart.”

    She admitted she had “felt it the last two days in training,” seeing “so many misconnections, just taking a bit of time for us to get on the same page.”

    And she offered a few of the rhetorical flourishes that have long made her popular among fans and players.

    The USWNT strike first, but Portugal has their number again in 2-1 loss at Subaru Park

    “Sometimes you need a kick up the back side like that,” she said at one point.

    “I was frustrated this evening because it felt like a game of Whac-a-Mole,” she said at another. ”I felt like I put something out, and then I was whacking that — that’s how the game felt for me as a coach. And I’ve been doing this for so long, I hate them games.”

    Hayes wasn’t going to pick at individual players or positions, to no surprise. She knew, though, that the U.S. team’s decades of success have also earned it the right to be criticized, and she usually doesn’t mind that when it’s warranted.

    There will be questions about the centerbacks and forwards. The latter certainly falls under Hayes’ remark that “there’s so many decisions we made” that felt like the wrong one.

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    “I’m like, ‘Is it the right moment to take a shot? Slip a player in?’” she said. “No, we didn’t make those decisions.”

    And from up in the press box, there were questions about a position that has faced several lately.

    Portugal’s Fatima Pinto (center) celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal.

    Minding the net

    For much of the night, goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce didn’t play badly. She was credited with two saves, the best of which was a close-range stop on Tatiana Pinto after a misplay by U.S. centerback Tara McKeown.

    But Tullis-Joyce didn’t look good on either of those corners.

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    Again, neither solely were her fault. On the first, Diana Gomes jumped amid three U.S. players to win the header and knocked it low, beating Tullis-Joyce on the bounce.

    The second was off an outswinging corner that Tullis-Joyce wouldn’t have gotten to in any circumstance, and Fatima Pinto’s shot bounced off two U.S. players. So it’s nitpicking to say Tullis-Joyce’s reaction time wasn’t ideal. But the standard is high, and it felt like just enough to plant a seed of doubt.

    “Those were tough to take on the chin,” Tullis-Joyce said.

    Asked about her play on those corner kicks, she said: “They had some driven corners into that back post area. I’m sure I’ll take a look at the clips afterward to see whether or not maybe I could play a bigger role in that, but that’s just for me to look and review afterward.”

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    Hayes likely will stick with Tullis-Joyce as her new No. 1 goalkeeper for a while. The 29-year-old New Yorker has generally played well for the U.S., and is playing quite well at club level for England’s Manchester United.

    Still, we’ll see if anyone else gets minutes over the next two games during Sunday’s rematch vs. Portugal (4 p.m., TNT, Universo) — coincidentally Alyssa Naeher’s retirement tribute — and Wednesday’s game vs. New Zealand in Kansas City (8 p.m., TNT, Universo).

    Current No. 2 Claudia Dickey presumably would be first in line for that shot. And if after that, Aubrey Kingsbury leads the Washington Spirit on a second straight run to the NWSL title game, there might be some clamor for her to get a call-up for the first time since June of last year.

    ‘Not locked in enough’

    Otherwise, the blame was spread around.

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    “It felt really individual out there,” said midfielder Rose Lavelle, who scored the U.S.’s goal just 33 seconds after kickoff. “I think everyone was trying to maybe fix it on their own. That’s something that, when the going gets tough, we’ve got to make sure we’re sticking together, playing together.”

    Sam Coffey was particularly miffed about conceding on those corner kicks. Asked how she’d assess the plays, she responded promptly: “Obviously, we got scored on them, so I wouldn’t assess them very high.”

    Sam Coffey (center) on the ball in the middle of the action.

    She credited Portugal, and rightly so. Though the Navegadoras are No. 23 in FIFA’s global rankings, they’ve got more talent than a few teams ahead of them — as they showed in tying reigning European champion England in February, then Italy at this summer’s Euros.

    Those results are more telling than the one that naturally stuck in many American fans’ minds Thursday night, the scoreless tie Portugal pulled against the U.S. at the 2023 World Cup.

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    But Coffey saved most of her words for her own side, which also was the right move.

    “I think whether we’re not locked in enough in those moments or we’re not doing good enough in our man-marking or being alive for a second phase [when a ball is recycled after being cleared], I think that’s an area we’ve always prided ourselves on, and that was not up to our standard tonight,” she said. “Set pieces win championships, win games. And for them to capitalize on those and win the game that way, I think is really disappointing for us, and we have to be better.”

    Diana Gomes (center) celebrates scoring Portugal’s first goal.

    It is obviously better to lose in an off-year friendly than in an actual tournament. And on top of any loss lighting a spark under this group, they know they’ll see the same team again a couple days.

    “The lucky thing for us is we have a second shot at this,” Lavelle said. “There’s no months of time between the next time we can maybe get better from this loss. So we have three days to turn around and show up better.”

    Tullis-Joyce was even more blunt: “Revenge, for sure.”

    It will no doubt get attention, as this team always does.

  • Sixers and Comcast hope to open up a block of East Market for ‘pop-ups’ during the World Cup and America 250

    Sixers and Comcast hope to open up a block of East Market for ‘pop-ups’ during the World Cup and America 250

    The companies that own the 76ers and Flyers earlier this year made a high-profile commitment to help transform the long-distressed East Market Street corridor.

    The first development to come out of that promise? Perhaps a mini-soccer pitch. Or a pop-up beer garden.

    The teams recently hired a contractor to demolish buildings they own on the 1000-block of the beleaguered thoroughfare with the goal of eventually erecting a major development that could help revitalize the area.

    But, until then, City Councilmember Mark Squilla said Friday the teams and city leaders hope to “activate” the lots slated for demolition with “pop-up” opportunities related to the FIFA World Cup and the nation’s 250th birthday being hosted in Philadelphia next summer.

    “The goal was: If they could demolish it by then and fill it, we could program an open space on 1000 Market Street,” Squilla said, tossing out the soccer pitch and beer garden ideas as examples. “This will give us an opportunity to try to do something special for 2026 while we’re doing a longterm plan for East Market.”

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    Jacklin Rhoads, a spokesperson for the teams’ development venture, said Friday the demolitions come as the partners “continue to make progress towards future development on East Market Street.”

    “The demolition of these vacant storefronts improves the streetscape and will give us the ability to work with community partners to activate the site ahead of groundbreaking,” Rhoads said. “We are committed to working with the City to help jump start the revitalization of Market East and this is the next step in that process.”

    The teams’ commitment to work together as Market East boosters stems from the controversial and since-abandoned proposal by the 76ers’ owner, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, to build an arena in Center City.

    The basketball team had pitched that proposal as an opportunity to rejuvenate the blocks east of City Hall. But when the plan crumbled in January — in no small part due to opposition from the Flyers’ owner, Comcast Spectacor — the teams vowed to work as partners both on a new arena in the South Philadelphia stadium complex as well as on a joint development venture for East Market Street.

    The Sixers and Flyers recently hired a joint venture of New York-based Turner Construction Co. and Indiana-based AECOM Hunt to manage construction of the arena, which will be home to the city’s NBA and NHL teams and its planned, as-yet-unnamed WNBA team.

    And the teams have hired Philadelphia- and Norristown-based contractor Pride Enterprises Inc. to demolish the vacant storefronts they own on East Market Street in Center City.

    Tearing down and popping up

    Demolitions are so far only planned for part of the 1000-block, across the street from where the Sixers had previously envisioned building their new home.

    HBSE and Comcast Spectacor — a subsidiary of the Philadelphia-based entertainment, cable television, and internet giant — bought properties on East Market Street in a series of transactions totaling $56 million earlier this year. The buildings were formerly home to Rite Aid, Reebok, and other stores totaling 112,000 square feet.

    The properties currently slated for demolition are 1000-1024 E. Market St. That includes most of the former stores on the block’s south side. The teams also own 920-938 E. Market St., the western half of the adjacent block, but those properties are not currently planned for tear-downs.

    The teams’ plan to flatten the stores, making the space temporarily available for events related to the FIFA World Cup or the nation’s 250th anniversary next summer.

    Squilla said an East Market task force will be announced soon, and that group would have input on what happens at the site assuming it is demolished in time for the 2026 celebrations.

    After that, the teams will redevelop the properties, although plans aren’t finalized, Rhoads said. The teams declined to provide any details about the redevelopment project’s ambitions or scale.

    The city Department of Planning & Development did not respond to a request on the status of the development plans.

    The neighborhoods around East Market, a thriving department store district that has languished for decades, have recently begun to rebound with the development of hundreds of apartments and neighborhood retail to serve new residents.

    Stadium construction vets tapped for South Philly arena

    The new arena in South Philly will replace the Flyers and Sixers’ current home at the recently renamed Xfinity Mobile Arena, which was known as the Wells Fargo Center until this year.

    Currently, Comcast Spectacor owns the building, and the 76ers pay rent. For the next facility, the teams will be joint owners.

    The teams have tapped an outfit with ample experience in stadium and arena construction for the job. Over the past 20 years, Turner-AECOM Hunt joint ventures have built the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the SoFi Stadium and Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, State Farm Arena in Atlanta, and Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

    In Philadelphia, they built the Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field, the FMC Tower, the One uCity Square office building in University City, and the Chubb Center in Center City, the insurance company offices set to open next year.

    For the South Philly project, the partners, doing business as PACT+, have brought on Philadelphia-based union contractors to do much of the work, including Black-owned general construction company Perryman Construction, construction manager Hunter Roberts Construction Group, and Camfred Construction.

    The teams haven’t said how large the arena will be. HBSE and Comcast Spectacor in June hired a design team at the firm Populous and Moody Nolan.

    David Adelman, the Philadelphia student housing developer and investor who chairs the teams’ development venture, in a statement promised “the most technologically advanced and fan-focused sports and entertainment venue.”

    Adelman earlier said the new arena will open in 2030, and the WNBA team will play its first game there.

    The project “is a chance to build something that becomes part of Philadelphia’s fabric,” said Turner’s Philadelphia-based vice president, Dave Kaminski, in a statement.

    Jason Kopp of AECOM Hunt promised “cutting-edge amenities for athletes, performers, and visitors.”

    Although the teams are making moves related to the new arena, they don’t yet appear to have shared much of their plan with City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, whose 2nd District includes the South Philadelphia stadium complex.

    Building an arena at that location will likely require involve fewer legislative and bureaucratic hurdles than the 76ers’ abandoned Center City proposal. But in Philadelphia, Council members hold enormous sway over their districts, and the teams will likely need Johnson’s support if they want a smooth approval process.

    Johnson was asked Thursday what the teams need to do to meet their proposed timeline for opening the arena in 2030.

    “I have no idea,” Johnson told reporters. “That’s not even on my radar at the moment.”

    Staff writer Mike Newall contributed to this article.

  • ✂️ Fall garden to-do list | Outdoorsy Newsletter

    ✂️ Fall garden to-do list | Outdoorsy Newsletter

    Sweater weather is here. I know I’m not the only one who is thrilled to get into cozy mode and crunch more leaves under my shoes.

    • Prep for winter: Let’s go over your autumn garden to-do list before the growing season ends.
    • Squeezed from many sides: A South Jersey soybean farmer shares how rising costs and tariffs are making his job harder.
    • Your outdoorsy experience: Readers share their favorite fall foliage views — and tips on where to find pawpaws around the Philly region.

    🥶 Bundle up: The region is about to experience its chilliest spell in a while.

    — Paola Pérez (outdoorsy@inquirer.com)

    If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

    Fall tasks

    Virginia “Ginny” Smith tends to black-eyed susans in her East Falls garden for the annual fall cleanup.

    Winter is less than two months out. As colder conditions creep over the region, your garden will have to cope with the chill.

    Beyond removing leaves and branches, here are a couple other things to consider to keep your garden healthy:

    🪴 Protect plants from frost: Use old blankets or bubble wrap to insulate containers and pots and keep root systems warm.

    🚰 Not just plants: Freezing temps can also hurt your watering hoses. Remember to unhook and drain them to avoid damage.

    ✂️ Tool care is key: Give your shovels and other tools a proper clean before putting them away, and see if your snips and shears are due for a sharpening. (A local sharpener could help with that.)

    🌱 Paola’s pro-tip: Gardening is a year-round effort, so this is the time of year when I like to reflect on what went right, and what I could improve on next year. Keeping a journal to document these developments can be fun.

    Get more tips to help keep your garden healthy now and throughout the winter.

    News worth knowing

    Feeling the squeeze

    🎤 Now we’re passing the microphone to environmental reporter Frank Kummer.

    Like many farmers, Patrick Giberson feels squeezed from many sides these days.

    His family’s soybean and corn farm in Pemberton, Burlington County, has been flanked by a wave of development — new warehouses, shopping centers, and a Walmart.

    Meanwhile, a Chinese soybean boycott continues in response to U.S.-imposed tariffs. Equipment is expensive. And weather remains, as always, unpredictable.

    Yet Giberson, 57, a fourth-generation farmer, says he’s determined to adapt and endure. The family’s 800-acre farm, owned by his parents, Jo and Pat Giberson, features a restored 18th-century farmhouse and designated wildlife preserve. — Frank Kummer

    Keep reading to hear about the variety of issues impacting this fourth-generation soybean farmer and others like him.

    A foliage view

    Outdoorsy readers submitted these awesome autumnal sights.

    As the trees continue to transform, Outdoorsy readers sent in these stunning shots of fall foliage across our region.

    Shoutout to Dorothy Stiles, who provided the gorgeous picture taken at Valley Forge National Historical Park (left), and to Joseph and Maria Hill, who captured the Blazing Maple showing off its bright colors (right). They told me they first planted it in their backyard five years ago in Media, Pa.: “We took it home from Home Depot in the back seat of my wife’s Mini Cooper Convertible and now it’s 40-50 feet tall!”

    Thank you for sharing.

    I’d love to see more of your autumn photography. Feel free to send them here.

    P.S. This Saturday, Oct. 25 and next Saturday, Nov. 1, fall foliage tree tours are taking place at the Andalusia Historic House, Gardens & Arboretum. Get more details here.

    🌳 Your foraging tales

    Outdoorsy reader Jeff Laughead pictured with a pawpaw.

    Last week, I asked you for tips on finding pawpaws in and around Philly, and you delivered.

    Dan Scholnick recommended going by the Cobbs Creek Environmental Center in West Philly. He also raved about the “outrageously good” fruit along S. Saint Bernard Street by a community garden, with this great tip to boot: “I’ve learned that the best ones are the ones you find on the ground having already fallen off the tree.”

    And Jeff Laughead, pictured above, suggested we check out Ferncliff Wildflower Preserve out in Lancaster County, which he said has a great pawpaw grove: “A bit of an uphill hike to get there, but totally worth it!”

    For yummy fruits, it’s always worth going the extra mile.

    👋🏽 Take care out there, friends. Until next time.

    By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

  • Philly Pigeon Tours offer a bird’s-eye glimpse of South Philly

    Philly Pigeon Tours offer a bird’s-eye glimpse of South Philly

    Early on a recent sky-blue Saturday, 12 people stood rapt at Sixth and Washington, gazing up at a flock of pigeons perched along a telephone wire.

    “What do you see?” a guide posed, as the pigeons cooed, contently.

    The docent’s cheerful query loosened a chorus of replies and conversation, including enthusiastic observations on the birds’ shimmering iridescent hues and micro-feather structure, to discussions on the airfoil-like curvature of their wings, obsessive preening, and seasonal molting.

    Just then, a white-speckled feather drifted down from the high wire.

    “Here’s a feather floating down right here to make a point,” another guide interjected to laughter.

    Avery Breyne-Cartwright, of West Philadelphia, uses binoculars to look at a flock of pigeons on the power lines along Sixth Street and Washington Avenue during a tour.

    Welcome to South Philly’s hottest new excursion: Philly Pigeon Tours. A weekly, 90-minute morning stroll to several of the Italian Market’s most established flocks, offering an engaging and enlightening glimpse into the long-revered — and more recently rocky — relationship between humans and rock doves, the fancy term for urban pigeons. It’s a look at South Philly through a pigeon’s eyes.

    5,000 years of pigeon history

    Founded by partners and pigeon owners (more on that in a moment) Hannah Michelle Brower, 34, and Aspen Simone, 36, Philly Pigeon Tours have quickly transformed into a hot ticket. In June, the pair’s first tour, organized as a one-off, sold out all 25 slots. The crowds keep flocking.

    Casually covering 5,000 years of pigeon history — from the rock doves’ esteemed status in ancient times as symbols of love, sexuality, and war to their more thorny present-day urban existence, dodging hungry hawks and alley cats, and navigating anti-pigeon netting and spikes — the pair ask tour takers to challenge skewed cultural narratives.

    “We teach people everything we know about pigeons,” said Brower, originally from New Orleans, who first moved to Philly to attend Haverford College, and then returned after earning a master’s degree in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. Earlier this year, federal cuts eliminated her job as a public health consultant.

    In August, Simone closed Birdhouse Gelato, after DOGE cuts cost them their day job at an agency that helped improve federal digital efficiency — a gig that helped fund the popular Bella Vista shop.

    Pigeons flying in the sky along Sixth Street and Washington Avenue during a pigeon tour.

    “We debunk a lot of pigeon misinformation and replace it with facts,” Brower said of the tours.

    Having seemingly cornered the Philly pigeon-tour market — the pair will soon start tours in West Philly, with Old City walks coming in the spring, and a podcast just dropping — the outings no doubt appeal to secret pigeon-lovers everywhere. But much of the charm of the pleasant pigeon rambles is found in Brower and Simone’s sincere and catchy love for birds derided by many as “rats with wings.”

    “We often talk about how hating pigeons is a choice,” said Simone.

    Primrose the Pet Pigeon

    The couple weren’t always pigeon boosters themselves.

    Brower had never cared much for pigeons until three years ago, when a neighborhood woman caring for an ailing pigeon called out to her.

    “I was really like, ‘I don’t understand why we have to care about this,’” she recalls. “I figured that the pigeon could be a tasty snack for some city hawk or cat.”

    Convinced by the woman to seek help for the malnourished bird, Brower fell in love with the pigeon before she made it home.

    Hannah Michelle Brower (left) and Aspen Simone do some introductions before heading out for a Philly Pigeon Tour.

    “I remember thinking, ‘Don’t name the pigeon. You’re gonna become attached.’ But then I said, ‘Primrose is her name.’ She just wanted to be close to me. She was very cuddly, and I just completely fell in love with her.”

    Simone recoils when recalling their thoughts upon finding a pigeon stowed in a cardboard box that first night in the couple’s South Philly apartment.

    “That’s kind of gross,” they said. But Primrose quickly won Simone over, too.

    “It turns out she was a baby and might have been left a little too soon by her parents,” Brower said. “The rehabilitator said, ‘This is the sweetest, most cuddliest pigeon I ever met. I don’t think she’s going to survive on the streets. Do you want a pet pigeon?’”

    Pigeon behavior and croissant crumbs

    “She’s very much like a cat or a dog,” Brower said with a smile of Primrose, who favors a sunny spot on a guest-bedroom blanket. “She’s a free-roaming indoor pigeon. People always ask about the poop. She has her favorite spots in the house, so we just put down cage paper and it catches the poop. It doesn’t smell.”

    Primrose the pet pigeon relaxing at home in a favorite sun spot.

    (They are searching the internet for Philadelphia Eagles-themed pigeon poop pants that Primrose can don for guests.)

    Regal and stout, with a scarf of green and purple neck feathers and striking orange eyes, the affectionate pigeon quickly made herself at home, perching on the couple’s shoulders and heads during work-from-home Zoom meetings — and whenever the couple prepare to head out the door, wanting to stay with the family flock.

    “She likes to sit on our laps and we just pet her,” Brower said, adding that Primrose does the same with company.

    Conscientious pigeon owners, Brower and Simone became keen observers of pigeon behavior. Like when Primrose perches near the sink to signal bath time, before luxuriating in a warm bowl of water. Or when she interrupts a TV show or work call to perform a pigeon’s elaborate mating dance, cooing, walking in circles, and running close to the ground, before bowing and elegantly fanning her tail feathers. How she sits atop the unfertilized pigeon eggs she lays, for weeks, until she is confident they will not hatch. Her sweet tooth for croissant crumbs.

    Soon, they couldn’t help but spot the same sorts of behaviors among the pigeons they encountered around the neighborhood. They pored over pigeon books.

    “We began to look a bit more into the science behind it and learned more about pigeon group dynamics,” said Simone.

    Misconceptions based on fear

    Holding aloft guide sticks with small cardboard cutouts of Primrose (a decided homebody, Primrose does not join the strolls), Brower and Simone share their newfound pigeon truths one tour at a time.

    In ancient Mesopotamia rock doves were associated with gods — and viewed as signs of safety in Abrahamic religions, and symbols of status before the French Revolution, Brower said.

    Aspen Simone, of South Philadelphia, leads a Philly Pigeon Tour in the Italian Market.

    By the 1960s, the urban pigeon’s reputation was roundly sullied after a media-fueled panic blamed their droppings for causing meningitis in New York City, she said.

    “Woody Allen repeated the phrase ‘rats with wings’ in Stardust Memories, and that’s when it spread and took hold,” Simone said of the 1980 film.

    A recent tour included two young biologists, a pair of pigeon enthusiast sisters, and a group of young friends. They had all seen advertisements for the tours tacked up in the neighborhood or on Instagram.

    A mated pair of pigeons seen resting on top of a storefront in the Italian Market.

    “We were talking about how pigeons make us feel emotional,” said Tess Cronin, on why she and her friends signed up for the tour. “How pigeons were bred by human beings, and now we think of them as rats and pests.”

    Near Ninth Street, where businesses are outfitted with spikes to keep birds from roosting, Brower and Simone preached pigeon empathy. Starting with the lessons they learned from Primrose.

    Like with all things, Brower said, it’s never just about pigeons.

    “Our misconceptions originated with fear,” she said. “And I think we’ve really been able to catch ourselves better when we notice ourselves maybe stereotyping.”

    With that, the tour set out to find more pigeons.

    A white pigeon seen resting on a sign during the Philly Pigeon tour in Philadelphia, Pa., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.
  • I was an AI scribe-skeptical doctor. And then I actually tried it.

    I was an AI scribe-skeptical doctor. And then I actually tried it.

    It was magical. I clicked the record button on my cell phone, placed it on the exam room desk, turned away from the computer, and began a conversation with my patient. After we completed the visit, I went back to my office and opened her electronic record — and found a clear, concise narrative description of our encounter, complete with my physical exam findings and a numbered problem list, plus assessments and follow up plans.

    I did not write these medical notes — an artificial intelligence scribe called DAX (Dragon Ambient eXperience) Copilot did. And it was nearly perfect.

    AI scribes are new, but not brand new. I am actually a little late to the game. You may have already noticed that some of your own doctors are using this technology during office visits. DAX was developed by an AI and speech recognition company called Nuance that was acquired by Microsoft in 2022. First, clinical conversations are recorded using a cell phone mobile app. AI then processes the recording and generates a progress note, minimizing computer distraction and allowing clinicians to focus more attention on our patients.

    In the last couple of years, I have read everything I can find about AI, a new frontier that will be a growing presence in clinical medicine. Until now, I’ve also done a great job convincing myself not to use an AI scribe — one of the most accessible current AI tools.

    By typing brief notes with lots of abbreviations, I worked hard to make sure chart documentation was not interfering with my ability to develop rapport and engage with patients. I also thought any time saved with DAX would be erased by time that I would have to spend reviewing and editing the AI generated notes. Not so. The AI notes are concise and amazingly accurate. They are a truer representation of what actually occurred during the visit. My truncated notes, or those written or dictated hours after the visit, often missed essential information, patient perspective, or did not capture the nuanced rationale for my medical decisions.

    The scribe notes are not word-for-word transcriptions. This AI has been trained using millions of hours of real-world clinical encounters and medical dictation. The program then takes recorded conversations and converts them into clinical notes, based on what it has learned about how these notes are structured.

    Patients and clinicians have raised some concerns: Where does this data go? Are there privacy concerns? In fact, the data is sent securely from the clinician’s cell phone app to a Nuance company server for processing. Once a note is created, sent to, and stored permanently in the patient’s electronic health record, the data is deleted from the mobile app and servers to comply with privacy standards. Of course, your clinician should always obtain your consent before using DAX or other comparable tools.

    AI scribes are a game changer — in my view, an all-around win. They free clinicians to engage more with patients in the exam room, capture a real-time, accurate synopsis of the visit, and create something cogent and readable. They help your doctor, while better honoring your medical story.

    DAX was an opportunity that stood in front of me for some time before I recognized it as such. Like University of Pennsylvania Wharton School professor Adam Grant writes in his insightful book, Think Again, “anchor your sense of self in flexibility rather than consistency.” How ironic that an AI tool — algorithmic and predictable — taught me a lesson in changing my ways.

    Jeffrey Millstein is an internist and regional medical director for Penn Primary and Specialty Care.

  • 🪶 A pigeon’s perspective | Morning Newsletter

    🪶 A pigeon’s perspective | Morning Newsletter

    It’s Friday, Philly. It’s also time to bring your plants inside, with frost advisories possible through the weekend.

    A local couple is asking you to reconsider the rock dove with their Philly Pigeon Tours.

    And Johnny Doc played a pivotal role electing his brother to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Ten years later, things are different.

    — Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

    P.S. Friday means trivia. Our latest news quiz includes questions on an art theft, a “No Kings” cameo, and more.

    If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

    Preaching pigeon empathy

    Pigeons once enjoyed high status across ancient cultures as symbols of love, safety, and war. Today, they’re more likely to be viewed as another urban annoyance. You might even know them as “rats with wings.”

    🪶 But modern pigeons, aka rock doves, are just misunderstood, according to Hannah Michelle Brower and Aspen Simone. The couple came to appreciate the birds after caring for an ailing one, now named Primrose.

    🪶 Their love for their adopted pet has grown into a popular weekly birding tour in the Italian Market (and soon, West Philly), plus a podcast. “We debunk a lot of pigeon misinformation and replace it with facts,” Brower said.

    🪶 Their story might just give you a new perspective on the city’s winged — and, in two enthusiasts’ telling, surprisingly cuddly — residents.

    Culture reporter Mike Newall has the bird’s-eye view of South Philadelphia.

    A family connection

    Though it’s been a year since former Philly labor leader John Dougherty reported to federal prison on embezzlement and bribery convictions, his name still looms over Pennsylvania’s elections.

    His brother, Kevin Dougherty, is one of three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices up for retention this November. A decade ago, John helped get Kevin elected through the backing of his union, Local 98.

    This time around, labor is still spending big on the justice’s retention, though Kevin says his brother is not involved. Republicans have still sought to tie the judge to John’s misdeeds.

    Politics reporters Gillian McGoldrick and Katie Bernard explain.

    What you should know today

    Plus: Where is the ‘Umbrella Man’ statue that used to reside outside the Prince Theater?

    Welcome back to Curious Philly Friday. We’ll feature both new and timeless stories from our forum for readers to ask about the city’s quirks.

    This week, we’re resurfacing an explainer from 2019 on the fate of Allow Me, the lifelike, 6-foot-10 sculpture colloquially known as “Umbrella Man.” He disappeared after the former Prince Theater — now owned by the Philadelphia Film Society, hosting its 34th annual Philadelphia Film Festival this week — declared bankruptcy in 2010.

    But he didn’t go far. Here’s the full story.

    Have your own burning question about Philadelphia, its local oddities, or how the region works? Submit it here and you might find the answer featured in this space.

    🧠 Trivia time

    The owners of Surfside, the popular Philly-made canned cocktail, are suing Anheuser-Busch over what?

    A) Pretending to own Surfside

    B) The packaging of its own hard teas

    C) Calling Surfside “disgusting”

    D) Stealing its secret recipe

    Think you know? Check your answer.

    What we’re…

    ✈️ Remembering: That time Charles Lindbergh criticized Philly’s airport.

    🇺🇸 Celebrating: “52 Weeks of Firsts” in 2026.

    👻 Buying: Tickets to the Wanamaker Building’s spooky film series.

    🥙 Following: Jersey Kebab from Haddon Township to Collingswood.

    🥫 Considering: How work requirements impact Philadelphians’ SNAP benefits.

    🧩 Unscramble the anagram

    Hint: West Philly rec center closed in 2021

    SCOUR ALEHOUSE

    Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.

    Cheers to Eileen Weigand, who solved Thursday’s anagram: city controller. Christy Brady, seeking her first full term as Philly’s fiscal watchdog, is being challenged by Republican Ari Patrinos in the Nov. 4 general election.

    Photo of the day

    Baptiste Masotti (left) watches Aly Abou Eleinen return the ball during the 2025 Comcast Business U.S. Open Squash Championships at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

    🏓 One last squeaky thing: The biggest squash event in the United States is at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in University City this week. Now is a great time to get into the sport, with the 2028 Olympic Games set to include it for the first time.

    Thanks for ending your week with The Inquirer. Enjoy the weekend.

    By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.