The Eagles and Giants should be pretty familiar with each other, having just played two weeks ago at MetLife Stadium.
It’s likely that game film is not something the Eagles want to see ever again. They got beat up in a 34-17 defeat, and that stinging loss to a team that entered with one win led to a self-evaluation during the mini-bye.
The Eagles looked like they learned some things during their Week 7 victory at Minnesota. How will their rematch with the Giants go? Here’s how our writers see it:
Giants rookie running back Cam Skattebo gashed the Eagles for 98 yards rushing and three touchdowns in Week 6.
Jeff Neiburg
The lasting image from Week 6 was the sequence where Cam Skattebo lowered his shoulder and plowed over Zack Baun and then scored on the next play. While Jaxson Dart waited for an official to make a signal, he offered a playful high-five. A few moments later, after the touchdown was confirmed, Skattebo did a backflip.
The Eagles were tormented by two rookies at MetLife Stadium two games ago. How much will those memories impact Sunday? Maybe a little, or maybe not at all.
What we know is that the Giants have been a much different offense since they handed the reins to Dart and Skattebo. The Eagles struggle with scrambling quarterbacks, and few this season have had as much success as Dart has when he’s on the move. The Eagles are struggling to make tackles, and only Christian McCaffrey has caused more missed tackles since Week 3 than Skattebo.
Contain those players, which is easier said than done, and you’ll likely win the game.
The Broncos and Eagles tried to blitz Dart over the last two weeks, but he was a blitz-beater. What the Eagles could learn from the Denver tape is how often Dart was held under wraps when the Broncos sent four or fewer rushers.
They’d be wise to make the rookie win with his arm and not let him move the pocket and get things going with his feet. They have the athletes to spy on him and move around.
On the other side of the ball, there were plenty of moments from Week 6, especially in the first half, that showed the Eagles could move the ball at will against a defense that gives up the fourth-most yards per game (376). The Eagles showed some new looks Sunday in Minneapolis, and we’ll see if the offense continues to look more dynamic moving forward.
There are reasons to worry about the Eagles’ front line given the injury to Cam Jurgens, and A.J. Brown missed his second consecutive practice Thursday. Brown is expected to play, and the Eagles have enough talent to move to 6-2 before their bye.
Prediction: Eagles 30, Giants 18
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles will try to go into the bye on a two-game win streak.
Olivia Reiner
Who would’ve thought that the second meeting between the Eagles and the Giants would be so highly anticipated?
Certainly not me when the schedule came out back in May, when I predicted that the Eagles would easily roll their NFC East foes twice within a span of just more than two weeks. That wasn’t the case. The Giants upset the Eagles on Thursday night in Week 6, extending Philadelphia’s losing streak at the time to two games.
It seems unlikely that the Eagles will lose to the Giants twice. While their offensive issues are by no means fixed after one game, the Eagles showed some encouraging signs of evolution against the Vikings with their uptick in under-center runs and the play-action passes that were set up off them.
The Eagles will also be healthier in the rematch than they were two weeks ago. Jalen Carter and Landon Dickerson are back. Nakobe Dean took his first defensive snaps last week, which should help keep Dart and Skattebo from running all over them.
But the offensive line will likely be down Jurgens as he deals with a knee injury. Still, the Eagles are the team with the better talent and better coaches.
Start spreading the news: The Eagles will go into the bye week on a two-game win streak.
Prediction: Eagles 31, Giants 24
Matt Breen
Jalen Hurts was excellent last week, but it’s hard to feel good about the Eagles when they continue to have trouble running the football. Saquon Barkley said he’ll take the blame for the Birds’ run troubles, but he’s getting hardly any room to run.
Barkley’s average of 1.8 yards before contact ranks 31st in the NFL and 2 yards less than last season’s mark of 3.8 Yes, Barkley was electric in 2024, but he was also powered by an offensive line regarded as the NFL’s top unit. That’s not the case in 2025.
The line has been banged up but needs to tighten up if the Eagles are going to move the way they did in the second half of last season. Maybe that starts Sunday at home against a defense that allows the fourth-highest rushing yards per attempt.
The Giants limited Barkley two weeks ago to 58 rushing yards, but it’s hard to see them doing it again. The Eagles finally figured out their passing attack last week. This week is a chance to get their running-game right. A big-game for Barkley would be the perfect way to enter the bye week.
Think you know your news? There’s only one way to find out. Welcome back to our weekly News Quiz — a quick way to see if your reading habits are sinking in and to put your local news knowledge to the test.
Question 1 of 10
The jewel heist at the Louvre this week caused a stir, marking one of the highest-profile museum thefts in living memory. But Philly’s seen its own fair share of heists over the years. In 2017, a man attending a party at the Franklin Institute broke this body part off a life-size Chinese terracotta warrior statue.
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
While attending an after-hours ugly sweater party at the Franklin Institute, Michael Rohana broke the thumb off the warrior statue. He described the incident as a “drunken mistake” and returned the thumb, which he had taken home. Still, it caused international turmoil, with Chinese officials accusing the Franklin Institute of carelessness with the artifact. Rohana was eventually sentenced to five years’ probation, a $5,000 fine, and community service.
Question 2 of 10
In an interview on Switch the Play (with Roger Bennett of Men in Blazers), Joel Embiid said this sport was his first love:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
A young Embiid had dreams of being a footballer (as in soccer, not the NFL) until the 7-footer grew too tall for that to be in the cards. Even though he doesn’t play anymore, he’s still a passionate fan of Real Madrid and the Cameroonian national team.
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Which supermarket is opening at the former Walgreens in South Philadelphia at Broad and Snyder Streets in early 2026?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
New York-based Met Fresh is on track to open its first Philly location. The 13,000-square-foot supermarket will include a pharmacy, a fresh-cut produce department, and a deli counter. It is also applying for a license to sell beer and wine.
Question 4 of 10
In its review of HBO mini-series Task, the New York Times describes Delaware County as a ___ stretch of rural America.
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
In the opinion piece, television journalist Alan Sepinwall, a New Jersey native who went to Penn, says show creator Brad Ingelsby — who grew up in Chester County — “transports us to a downtrodden stretch of rural America where a guy like Robbie has to resort to stealing from drug dealers in order to make ends meet.” But statistically, there’s really no argument to support that Delco is rural.
Question 5 of 10
Prime Video’s three-part series on this Philly-tied athlete premiered at the Philadelphia Film Festival this week:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Prime Video’s Allen Iv3rsonfollows the journey of 11-time NBA All-Star Allen Iverson from Newport News, Va., to his career in the NBA, covering his life both on and off the court.
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Question 6 of 10
The popular phrase among Gen Z and chronically online crowds, “six-seven” (or “6-7”), has ties to Philly. Which local rapper kicked off the trend through lyrics in their song?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Skrilla, 27, has more than 130 million streams across platforms and continues to rise in popularity. The Kensington-based artist’s song “Doot Doot (6 7)” features the first reference to “6-7.”
Question 7 of 10
This popular musician made an appearance in the crowds at Philadelphia’s installment of the “No Kings” rally against President Donald Trump and his administration. Who was it?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Former Talking Heads singer David Byrne, amid three solo shows at the Met Philadelphia, told a fan at the "No Kings" march that “he wanted to be here for this.”
Question 8 of 10
Barry Leonard, 87, formerly of Philadelphia, known for pioneering legal change to allow unisex hair salons, died this month at his home in Hallandale Beach, Fla. Leonard was best known as this term:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
In the late 1960s, Mr. Leonard gave local advertising whiz Elliott Curson a haircut, and Curson, delighted with the result, suggested rebranding Mr. Leonard as “a crimper,” British slang for hairdresser. What followed was a hugely successful ad campaign and a friendship that lasted more than 50 years.
Question 9 of 10
As the United States women's national soccer team took on Portugal at Subaru Park this week, it’s worth noting that this USWNT player is an “honorary Philadelphian” due to her local ties — and Inquirer reporter sister.
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Sam Coffey, 26, is a product of Penn State and now one of the U.S. team’s certifiable stars: an Olympic gold medalist, defensive midfield stalwart, and even a captain for a few recent games. She’s also the sister of Inquirer sports writer Alex Coffey.
Question 10 of 10
What is the title of Josh Shapiro’s upcoming memoir?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
On Tuesday, Harper — an imprint of HarperCollins Publishing — announced the release of Shapiro’s forthcoming memoir, Where We Keep the Light: Stories From a Life of Service, which will hit shelves on Jan. 27, 2026. The book will detail Shapiro’s career and personal life, including when a man firebombed the governor’s mansion while Shapiro and his family slept inside and his place on the short list for Kamala Harris’ vice president.
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Seems like you’ve been skimming more than reading there, buddy. There’s always next week.
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Despite the public fall from grace, the voter said he missed John Dougherty’s leadership in Philadelphia, adding that he believed Dougherty had been good for workers in the city. They are brothers, Kevin Dougherty confirmed.
Justice Kevin Dougherty (left) canvasses with his son, State Rep. Sean Dougherty (center) in Fox Chase Sunday Sept. 7, 2025, stopping at the home of a voter. The elder Dougherty is one of three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices up for retention.
But in this year’s unusually high-profile state Supreme Court retention race, the connection has, in some circles, become unavoidable. Republicans seeking to oust Kevin Dougherty and two of his colleagues, all initially elected as Democrats, have sought to tie the judge to his brother’s misdeeds. The justice, a son of South Philadelphia who previously led Philadelphia’s Family Court, has sought to distance himself, and has seen the continued support of labor unions in his retention campaign.
“Over the course of 25 years as a judge, including ten years as a Justice on the Supreme Court, Justice Dougherty has had the privilege and the benefit of meeting a multitude of Pennsylvanians including the working men and women of organized labor,” Shane Carey, Kevin Dougherty’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “Our campaign is proud to receive their support, as well as the support from almost 5,000 other individual donors.”
How Johnny Doc helped elect his brother to the Supreme Court in 2015
Kevin Dougherty didn’t choose to be related to one of the city’s most prominent power brokers, but he certainly benefited from his brother’s former union’s help, with significant support from the politically powerful Local 98 during his 2015 campaign for the state bench.
Local 98, where John Dougherty was the longtime business manager, contributed more than $620,000 during Kevin Dougherty’s 2015 campaign for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Local 98’s spokesperson at the time also served as Kevin Dougherty’s campaign manager and appears from campaign finance filings that year to have been paid by Local 98. The union also spent more than $480,000 on in-kind contributions for “professional services,” mailers, merchandise,and more.
Justice Kevin Dougherty talks with volunteers before they head out the canvass in Fox Chase Sunday Sept. 7, 2025. Dougherty is one of three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices up for retention.
Kevin Dougherty is the only justice up for retention from Southeastern Pennsylvania. The other justices, Christine Donohue and David Wecht, live in Pittsburgh. They will each appear on the November ballot with no party and no home county. Voters will simply be asked “yes” or “no” whether each individual justice should be retained for another term.
Republicans working to oust the three justices this year have tried to leverage Kevin Dougherty’s past support from his brother to encourage voters to oppose his retention.
Scott Presler, an influencer aligned with President Donald Trump who has more than 2.4 million followers and runs a political action committee aimed at registering Republican voters, posted an AI-generated image of John Dougherty behind bars, tying, without evidence, Local 98’s contributions to Kevin Dougherty’s 2015 campaign to his brother’s convictions.
“Coincidence?” Presler wrote.
Johnny Dougherty, the former IBEW business manger, and his attorney Gregory J. Pagano as they leave the U.S. District Court, Reading, Pa. on the day he was sentenced to 6 years in prison Thursday, July 11, 2024.
For months, the conservative influencer has posted on social media urging followers to vote against retaining Kevin Dougherty and his colleagues, citing the times his name was mentioned during John Dougherty’s trials, such as when prosecutors alleged the justice received free home repairs or snow removal on the union’s dime. Kevin Dougherty’s lawyer at the time of the embezzlement trial said the judge never knowingly accepted services paid for with union funds.
While door-knocking in September, Kevin Dougherty dismissed attacks against him related to his brother as “misinformation,” noting his decades-long career as a judge.
Kevin Dougherty, 63, spent more than a decade as a Common Pleas Court judge in Philadelphia before his election to the state Supreme Court. During his tenure on the state’s highest court, he has authored majority opinions and is leading a statewide initiative to improve how Pennsylvania’s judicial system interacts with people with behavioral health issues.
“I spent close to a quarter of a century being a judge,” Dougherty said on a sidewalk in Northeast Philly. “I just don’t accept people’s comments and judgment. I want to know what the motive behind those comments are. Some of these comments are just partisan … and I believe in my reputation.”
The justice should be vetted on his own merits, said John Jones, a former U.S. District Court judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania who was appointed to the bench by former President George W. Bush.
“You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your relatives,” Jones, now president of Dickinson College, added. “You have to judge the justice on his own merits. This is not a country where we favor guilt by association.”
Kevin Dougherty still has broad union support, including from Local 98
With John Dougherty no longer at the helm of Local 98, labor unions in Pennsylvania this year still overwhelmingly supported the justice for retention, contributing $665,000 to Kevin Dougherty’s campaign as of September. While trades unions contributed the most of any interest group to all three justices — for a total of $903,000 as of the latest filings — Kevin Dougherty is the largest beneficiary of that support.
Among those contributors: Local 98. The union, which has reorganized and distanced itself from John Dougherty since he was first convicted in 2021, gave $70,000 to Kevin Dougherty’s retention campaign.
“IBEW Local 98 does not support candidates based on personal relationships,” said Tom Lepera, Local 98’s political director, in a statement. “We support candidates who understand and stand up for the needs of working men and women in organized labor. Justice Dougherty, along with Justices Donohue and Wecht, have consistently demonstrated their commitment to protecting the rights and interests of middle-class workers across this commonwealth.”
Kevin Dougherty’s campaign did not respond to several questions this weekabout his brother’s role in his 2015 campaign or whether his brother’s reputation has influenced the retention campaign.
Anti-retention material featuring President Donald Trump as Uncle Sam was on display at Republican rally in Bucks County last month headlined by Treasurer Stacy Garrity, a candidate for governor. The material is from Early Vote Action, a group led by GOP influencer Scott Presler.
Union leaders insist their support for Kevin Dougherty this year has nothing to do with his brother and is a reflection of his quality work in the judiciary. Labor unions often support Democratic candidates, who are often seen as more beneficial to unions and their priorities.
“It’s about keeping good judges on the bench,” said Ryan Boyer, leader of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, an umbrella organization of local trades unions once commanded by John Dougherty. This year, the building trades gave just over $33,000 to each justice.
“We don’t live on Mars where we don’t know that sometimes familial connections can be there,” Boyer said, “and they try to exploit those things.”
Nonpartisan and Democratic groups favor Dougherty’s tenure on the bench
Like his colleagues running for retention, Kevin Dougherty has earned broad support from nonpartisan and partisan groups alike.
Lauren Cristella, CEO of the Committee of Seventy, the Philadelphia-based good-government group, noted that the justice was never charged or found guilty of wrongdoing.
Justices David Wecht, Christine Donohue and Kevin Dougherty sit onstage during a fireside chat at Central High School on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025 in Philadelphia.
“The Committee of Seventy relies on the findings of law enforcement and professional oversight organizations, such as the Bar Association, when evaluating judicial candidates. This year, the Pennsylvania Bar Association has evaluated Justice Dougherty and recommended him for retention. Our focus remains on transparency, accountability, and maintaining public trust in Pennsylvania’s courts,” Cristella said in a statement.
Dougherty and his fellow justices have also gained the support of Gov. Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s popular Democratic governor, who in a fundraising email to Pennsylvania Democrats on Thursday urged voters to mark “yes” on retaining Dougherty, Donohue, and Wecht.
Justice Kevin M. Dougherty listens during a Courtroom Dedication Ceremony at the Supreme Court Courtroom in Philadelphia City Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025 in Philadelphia.
“The threats to our freedoms are coming from all directions, and we need a Court that stands up for what’s right,” Shapiro said in the email. “Justices Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht have proven that we can count on them to protect freedom, reproductive rights, and the rule of law.”
In a statement to The Inquirer, Kevin Dougherty didn’t mention his brother by name.
“With regard to my personal relationship I love my big brother. For obvious reasons, my brother is not participating in my Retention campaign,” he said.
Pennsylvania and New Jersey turnpike officials have settled on two alternative plans for replacing the Delaware River Bridge that has linked their toll roads for 70 years.
Traffic has mushroomed since the interchange with I-95 opened in 2018, and the four-lane span is often congested, along with highways and roads in Bucks and Burlington Counties.
“We have a lot more traffic here … and it will keep growing,” said engineer John Boyer, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s project manager. “We need additional capacity.”
Before the I-95 connection was finished, about 42,000 vehicles a day crossed the Delaware River Bridge. Now, that’s up to around 67,000. Average daily traffic is projected to be 90,000 vehicles by 2050.
What are the two ‘finalist’ options for a new bridge?
In one scenario, the new bridge would be constructed at once about 75 feet north of the existing span over four years. Pennsylvania- and New Jersey-bound lanes (six in all) would be built 15 feet apart. When finished, all traffic would be moved to the new bridge. The existing bridge would be removed.
The other option: constructing the new bridge in stages, about 40 feet north of the existing bridge — over eight years. Initially, the first half of the new span would go up. Then four lanes of traffic would be diverted to the new half while the old bridge is demolished, after which the second half of the new bridge would be built. When complete, there would be six traffic lanes.
What are the next steps?
Turnpike officials are preparing a new environmental impact statement, required for federal approval and funding. The 2003 version is outdated.
The plan is to unveil the site decision in the spring. Then would come final design and the rest of the bureaucratic steps in building transportation infrastructure.
Construction could start in 2031.
The final cost of the project has not yet been estimated, officials said, but it won’t be cheap.
What’s the history of the project?
Talk of fixing the crossing started more than 30 years ago, and by 2003, after exhaustive environmental impact and engineering studies, authorities proposed building a modern bridge alongside the old one, which would be refurbished.
Federal highway officials signed off, but it never came together.
In 2010, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission formally deferred the project “due to funding constraints,” spokesperson Marissa Orbanek said.
A crack in a steel truss supporting the bridge closed the span for six weeks in 2017 and rekindled the idea. Engineers combed through nine possible sites north and south of the bridge and decided to replace rather than refurbish the span, as first planned.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and New Jersey Turnpike Authority are working together on the project.
In addition, the turnpike prioritized the connection to I-95 and widening the roadway to accommodate the additional traffic, as well as other projects — including removal of toll booths and switching to gantries that charge drivers by reading an EZ-Pass or snapping a picture of a vehicle’s license plate.
Act 44 was a workaround for a state constitutional prohibition on the use of the gas tax for public transit and legislators’ reluctance to hike that tax for highways and bridges.
The turnpike would contribute $750 million a year to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, split evenly between transit and roads.
That formula was tweaked in 2013 with Act 89, which raised the gas tax to finance roads and bridges and cut the turnpike’s annual payment to $450 million — with all of it going to transit — through 2022.
The toll road’s obligation to PennDot then dropped to $22 million a year.
Will the Pa. Turnpike need to acquire properties? Where?
It’s too early to say. Officials working on the project said they would have a better idea after the final proposal is chosen, expected in spring 2026. The two northern options are seen as likely to have fewer impacts than other alternatives considered.
What about a shared-use path for bikers and walkers?
Pennsylvania Turnpike officials have ruled that out, citing regulations barring pedestrians or nonmotorized vehicles on turnpikes and interstates — the connector is part of I-95 — as well as future maintenance costs. Advocates still want access.
John Boyle, a staffer for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, pointed to several toll bridges with free paths that accommodate cyclists and pedestrians.
The Great Egg Harbor Bridge on the tolled Garden State Parkway, for instance, has bike and pedestrian lanes.
And the Gordie Howe International Bridge, a toll facility between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, nearing completion, will have separate shared-use lanes.
What considerations guide the choice?
Boyer said they boiled itdown to picking a site that would have the lowest negative impact on the built and natural environments.
“We’re looking at it from a 10,000-foot view in the entire corridor: commercial impacts, industrial impacts, residential impacts, and potential impacts to billboards or cell towers in the area,” Boyer said.
As a professional economist, I have the opportunity to weigh in on many issues. In some of my views I’m highly confident, some less so. When it comes to artificial intelligence and its impact on the economy, I’m less confident.
Having said this, AI has — at least so far — been mostly beneficial for the economy. It has provided a strong tailwind to economic growth since its commercial introduction with the release of ChatGPT nearly three years ago. Over the past year, an estimated more than one-third of the growth in real GDP — the value of all goods and services produced by the economy — has been powered by AI.
One could make a strong case that without this tailwind, the economy would be in or near a recession. The higher tariffs, the highly restrictive immigration policy, large cuts to federal government jobs, and the interminable federal government shutdown are stiff headwinds to growth.
But the economy hasn’t buckled — thanks to AI. It is lifting growth via the massive investments being made to erect the AI infrastructure. This includes data centers that are being feverishly built across the country, electric power capacity that is needed to keep the data centers humming, and the fabrication plants that make the semiconductors powering AI‘s intense calculations.
Even more important to economic growth is the blockbuster increase in the stock prices of AI companies. Stocks for the “magnificent seven,” the seven most iconic AI companies, are up some 40% over the past year and 300% since the unveiling of ChatGPT. Investors are anticipating huge profits from these companies.
These gains equate to trillions of dollars in increased stock wealth, owned mostly by well-to-do Americans. The wealthy, with suddenly much larger nest eggs, are able and happily willing to spend more, and that’s what they are doing. Consumer spending by those in the top part of the income distribution is on a tear.
AI has not eliminated lots of jobs as feared, at least not yet. Most businesses are cautious in their hiring, but that has more to do with the uncertainty created by the wild swings in economic policy, the poster child of which is the up-and-down tariffs. Businesses are also waiting to hear from the Supreme Court about the legality of these policies before making any expansion decisions.
There is some indication that younger workers, those just entering the workforce, may be feeling the early ill effects of AI on their job opportunities. The unemployment rate for those aged 20-24 exceeds 9%, up more than 3 percentage points during the past couple of years, and is on the rise despite a decline in labor force participation. But even here, it is tough to connect the dots from AI to this group‘s difficulties landing a job.
Of course, it is still early days in the adoption of AI. Just how disruptive AI will be to the job market depends on how quickly companies adopt it. So far, it has been slow going. Less than one-tenth of U.S. companies, mostly large companies, have begun to meaningfully incorporate AI into their workflows. It stands to reason that the most intensive users of AI would be information-technology companies, but even here, the adoption rate is no more than one-fourth.
AI adoption by businesses is slow because it is hard. Companies don’t have employees with the right skills, their information-technology systems aren’t set up to take advantage of AI, and they are fearful of releasing AI-driven products and services, given that they might cannibalize their existing offerings. A range of compliance and legal issues must also be resolved before adoption.
If the history of the adoption of pathbreaking technologies is a guide — for example, electricity and the internal combustion engine more than a century ago, or the personal computer and the internet several decades ago — it’s only when new businesses form and optimize around that technology that its economic impact is truly felt. But this takes years.
AI’s adoption rate is sure to be faster than that of other technologies, but you get my point. There will be disruptions as AI replaces some jobs, and the nature of work will change as AI assumes some of the more menial tasks done by workers. But all of this should happen slowly enough to allow disrupted workers to gain new skills and new jobs.
This isn’t to say AI raises no concerns for the economy.
Most immediately, I worry about those high-flying AI stock prices. If I’m even close to right about slower AI adoption rates, this will come as a disappointment to euphoric investors, and stock prices will quickly come back to earth. Wealthy investors will take it on the financial chin, and so too will the economy.
And abstracting from the near-term gyrations in the stock market, there is a reasonable concern that the financial benefits of AI will accrue largely to the well-to-do. Our already highly skewed income and wealth distribution will become even more so. The economic and political struggle between the haves and have-nots will intensify, to everyone’s detriment.
Of course, there are even more dystopic views of where AI is set to take us, and they can’t and shouldn’t be dismissed when thinking about legal and regulatory guardrails.
But when it comes to the economy, AI should be much more friend than foe.
But SNAP was already in jeopardy before the shutdown.
Even as families scramble to find a way to keep food on the table right now, many must also take immediate action to protect their SNAP in the long run. The federal budget bill enacted in July threatens to take food away from millions of people with disabilities, caregivers, and older adults who cannot afford food. In fact, tens of thousands of Philadelphians are in danger of losing their SNAP this winter.
But it’s not too late to ensure families can avoid hunger when SNAP resumes.
For the first time ever, Philadelphians must satisfy harsh and ineffective work requirements that impose a time limit on SNAP benefits for many adults. People who do not meet an exemption or cannot prove they work at least 20 hours per week will be able to get only three months of SNAP every three years.
This time limit began on Sept. 1 for adults ages 18-54 who do not receive a disability benefit and who do not live in a SNAP household with a child under 18. On Nov. 1, the clock starts for older adults ages 55-64 and parents of children ages 14 and older.
Very soon, DHS will issue its first cutoff notices, alerting people ages 18-54 who have not been found exempt or compliant with work requirements that they will lose their SNAP effective Dec. 1.
Moreover, many humanitarian immigrants who came to the United States seeking safety and prosperity will no longer be able to get SNAP at all. Under the new law, the only groups eligible for SNAP will be United States citizens, some green-card holders, certain Cuban or Haitian entrants, and a very few others. These devastating restrictions also take effect for new applicants on Nov. 1.
Refugees, people granted asylum, and victims of trafficking and abuse who don’t yet have green cards will be left to worry about where their next meal is coming from, and there are no exceptions to these rules.
As paralegals at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia (CLS), we have advocated for hundreds of clients who have been wrongfully denied SNAP because of red tape and paperwork errors. Without a citywide effort to protect access to SNAP, work requirements will leave Philadelphians without food on the table.
DHS has estimated that as many as 65% of Pennsylvanians subject to work requirements will lose SNAP. We cannot accept this fate.
The best way to protect SNAP is to help eligible people claim an exemption from work requirements. Many adults meet at least one exemption, which will allow them to keep their SNAP until their next annual renewal. Importantly, workers who earn at least $217.50 per week before taxes are exempt as long as the County Assistance Office (CAO) knows about their work. Many others must claim an exemption.
Our client J.P. (we are using client initials to protect their privacy) was immediately distressed when told about work requirements. J.P. would love to be able to work, but he can’t. A 56-year-old, he gets dialysis three to four times a week to treat chronic kidney disease. He and his 76-year-old mom, V.P., survive on SNAP and her meager retirement benefit.
Even with food assistance, V.P. has just $49 to her name each month after paying the bills.
To preserve his SNAP and V.P.’s razor-thin budget, J.P. must ask his doctor to complete Pennsylvania’s SNAP medical exemption form (PA 1921) to prove he has a medical condition that limits his ability to work. Many people, including workers pushing through conditions like pain, fatigue, and depression on the job, will qualify for this exemption. Healthcare providers should readily complete the PA 1921 so that their patients can make healthy decisions without fear of losing access to adequate nutrition.
DHS has estimated that as many as 65% of Pennsylvanians subject to work requirements will lose SNAP. We cannot accept this fate, write Daryn Forgeron and Anaga Srinivas.
The medical exemption form is one of many exemptions available to SNAP recipients who cannot satisfy work requirements. Adults are also exempt if they are taking care of a sick family member, pregnant, unable to work because of domestic violence, participating in a drug or alcohol treatment program, receiving unemployment compensation, or are experiencing homelessness.
CLS has trained thousands of service providers on how to help people claim exemptions and how to ensure eligible green-card holders do not lose their SNAP. We hope many others will join this collective effort.
Accessing SNAP has never been easy for families like J.P.’s, and for other hardworking Philadelphians we all depend on — restaurant workers with irregular hours, school bus drivers, and dedicated caregivers. Work requirements and the paperwork burden that comes with them punish workers for their lack of stability. If their hours fall below 20 hours per week, they will be required to report this change to their caseworker within 10 days, and the three-month time limitation will begin.
Most SNAP recipients who can work already do work. But job seekers who have applied for hundreds of jobs to no avail, perhaps because of their age, a suffering job market, or a criminal record, get no credit for their efforts, and are considered not to be complying with work requirements at all. They must meet an exemption to keep their SNAP.
Without SNAP, families are likely to fall behind on bills, causing collateral consequences like utility shutoff or eviction. Our communities will bear the cost of SNAP cuts through higher healthcare costs and loss of income for local businesses.
Philadelphia can’t afford to leave anyone behind. From legal advocates and community organizations to city government, medical care teams, and neighbors next door, our city must come together to ensure fellow Philadelphians do not lose SNAP.
Daryn Forgeron and Anaga Srinivas are paralegals in the Health and Independence Unit at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia.
Continued budget delays in Harrisburg are, unfortunately, again part of this week’s Shackamaxon. But first, all you ever wanted to know about the Land Bank (but were afraid to ask), including the mayor’s recent board shake-up.
Running on empty
Ever since Philadelphia lost more than a quarter million residents between 1970 and 1980, blight and vacancy have been a problem. Abandoned, deteriorating homes, schools, and factories provide a convenient staging ground for criminal activity, cost the city millions in annual maintenance, and don’t contribute property taxes to city coffers.
For years, the city struggled to find a way to repurpose this land. While some residents admirably turned lots into community assets like gardens, most of the space sat unused. Some properties languished because potential buyers considered them unprofitable, with expected rents or sale prices that were too low to justify the cost of construction. But other lots were in high demand, drawing interest from developers, nonprofits, and community groups.
Like a deer caught in the headlights, City Council members often opted against selling to anyone.
To shake that inertia, City Council created the Land Bank in 2013. Yet, despite a push from then-Councilmember Maria Quiñones Sánchez, Council did not cede control of land sales. This meant the analysis paralysis continued. So did side arrangements, like when then-Council President Darrell L. Clarkesteered city land to a developer through a no-bid process.
Some parcels that were allocated to the Land Bank became the subject of fierce debate. Municipal policy wonks urged Council to sell the most valuable plots as a way to underwrite the city’s subsidized housing efforts. Meanwhile, advocates for affordable housing called for the creation of homes for people at the lowest income levels.
City Council seemingly found common ground in 2022, nearly a decade after the Land Bank was first authorized, with a compromise called “Turn the Key.”
Under the terms of that program, land would go to what’s often called “workforce housing,” available to residents of modest means who earn up to 100% of our area’s median income ($119,400 for a family of four).
This would still come at a cost, mostly the millions of dollars in potential revenue from auctioning off the land, but it did ensure plots would return to productive use, rather than attracting trash and crime.
It also offered a quicker timeline for reuse than federal affordable housing programs like the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which can take four to seven years to get to construction.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker holds a news conference at City Hall in August. Parker replaced her two appointees on the Philadelphia Land Bank board recently.
Poor results
Despite the new program, the same old problems remain. Namely, that most Council members have been reluctant to disburse land.
The program, which was intended to yield 1,000 homes, has only managed to produce 202, per the Philly360 dashboard. Even though Turn the Key is a Council-designed program, only about half of the city’s 10 districts have participated. In the 5th District, which accounts for most of the homes, all 120 sales were approved in the last Council term.
In addition to Council, the Land Bank board has also served as an obstacle to selling land, because of a faction of board members who would prefer an approach that prioritizes deeply affordable housing (for people at or below 30% of our area’s median income) and are concerned the program could cause gentrification.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, who has doubled down on Turn the Key as a key component of her own housing plan, seems to have decided that it is time for a change, replacing two of her own appointees, both of whom tended to balance their own support for workforce housing with a preference for avoiding conflict.
The two new board members, Chief Housing and Urban Development Officer Angela Brooks and community development expert Alex Balloon, are likely to have a “full steam ahead” approach to the program. Parker has also pressed Council to supply a list of “preapproved” parcels, where development can proceed without an ordinance. For those of us who want to see city-owned vacant land returned to productive use, these appointments are a win.
Philadelphia needs quality housing options at all income levels, and the extreme appreciation in home prices over the last five years has made it harder for the working-class families who are the focus of Turn the Key to afford a home. While few households in the city have a white picket fence, achieving the Philadelphia dream of a move-in-ready rowhouse should not be out of reach for the sanitation workers, teachers, and others eligible for the program.
The idea that workforce housing will foment gentrification is also hard to accept. The income levels for Turn the Key are designed for first-time home buyers with below median incomes. According to a Riverwards Group analysis of their Clifford Street project in North Philadelphia, all their buyers identified as African American, and most came from either the same zip code or a neighboring one. How can working-class people buying homes close to where they already live drive gentrification?
Furthermore, the Land Bank’s remit is to implement city policy, not to make it. If advocates want to prioritize nonprofit developers, community gardens, or deeply affordable housing, the right venue is City Council, not the Land Bank board.
With the mayor now putting her stamp on both the Philadelphia Historical Commission and the Land Bank, the Zoning Board of Adjustment, which has seen monthslong delays since the pandemic, should be next.
Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) speaks during a 2024 news conference in Harrisburg.
Budget doublespeak
Pennsylvania continues to suffer the consequences of the nearly four-month delay in the state’s budget. Counties, school districts, and nonprofit organizations across the commonwealth are struggling to pay their bills. Beleaguered residents might have seen a recent state Senate vote approving a nearly $48 billion spending plan as a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, it represents the opposite of progress.
That’s because the Senate still refuses to consider any proposals that might stand a chance of passing the House or garnering Gov. Josh Shapiro’s signature. While Democrats have shrunk their initial $52.5 billion proposal to just over $50 billion, Republicans have yet to make a serious offer. In fact, the budget they approved is nearly identical to last year’s.
Their insistence on sticking to this number is curious, especially given that Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, who was selected as their negotiator, publicly stated a willingness weeks ago to pass a budget in the $49 billion range. I asked Kate Flessner, Pittman’s spokesperson, for an answer to this disparity more than a month ago.
Just like the many Pennsylvanians, counties, school districts, and nonprofit organizations who rely on state support, I have yet to receive anything from Pittman.
Woodmere Art Museum director and CEO William R. Valerio never thought he’d be standing in a former second-floor bedroom turned into a cozy, copper-hued art gallery, admiring Violet Oakley’s famous series of paintings: Building the House of Wisdom.
Yet, there he was.
Two weeks before the new Frances M. Maguire Hall for Art and Education opens on Nov. 1, Valerio was brimming with excitement.
The Victorian mansion and former convent is the new home to the 112-year-old Chestnut Hill museum’s permanent collection, the most definitive group of paintings, sculptures, and prints by Philadelphia artists in the region — if not the world.
William R. Valerio surrounded by Violet Oakley’s seminal work “Building the House of Wisdom” in the Frances M. Maguire’s second floor Violet Oakley Gallery. Valerio recreated this gallery as a replica of Charlton Yarnall’s early 20th century Rittenhouse Square home where the 12-piece series was commissioned for the mansion’s music room.
“I’ve been at the museum for 15 years and I’ve always wanted to build a space to show House of Wisdom the way Oakley intended it to be shown,” Valerio said. “But I never could have imagined this.”
This is a four-story, 17,000-square-foot,gleaming house museum.
The Violet Oakley Gallery is particularly noteworthy. The 375-square-foot space is a recreation of early 20th-century banker Charlton Yarnall’s music room, where Oakley’s vibrant murals were nestled in the Rittenhouse Square mansion’s vaulted ceilings.
At Maguire Hall, Oakley’s allegorical interpretations of wisdom in the arts and sciences are fixed in lunettes positioned at eye level, allowing museumgoers to sit in a meditative gaze under a glowing replica of Italian designer Nicola d’Ascenzo’s stained glass dome.
Oakley’s House of Wisdom has been on and off view at Woodmere since 1962, when the museum’s then director — and Oakley’s life partner — Edith Emerson brought the 12-piece series to the museum. Yarnall’s mansion was being converted to an office building, and Emerson feared her late partner’s seminal work would be carelessly discarded.
“The House of Wisdom is among the roughly 11,000 pieces of art we’ve acquired over the decades that now have a place to shine like never before,“ Valerio said.
View of hallway between six second-floor galleries at Woodmere’s soon-to-be-opened Frances M. Maguire Hall.
‘Philadelphia’s great masterpieces’
Charles Knox Smith opened the Woodmere Museum — what is now the museum’s Charles Knox Smith Hall — in 1913. It holds Woodmere’s vast 18th- and 19th-century collections, including Smith’s beloved Philadelphia landscapes, and is open Wednesday to Sunday.
A few houses down and across the street, Maguire Hall’s 14 galleries hold paintings, sculptures, illustrations, photographs, and mixed media murals centering 20th-century Philadelphia artists.
William R. Valerio, director and CEO of Woodmere Museum, chatting in front of George Biddle’s 1966 oil on canvas “Evocation of the Past.”
“The idea is to show off Philadelphia’s great masterpieces,” Valerio said.
He and his four-person curatorial team spent months mounting golden frames on the monochromatic walls, so closely together they nearly touched. It gives Maguire Hall the intimate vibe of a 19th-century home.
Every major 20th-century art movement is represented, but the curation is a nod to 21st-century diversity.
African American realist Ellen Powell Tiberino’s striking nude Repose shares gallery space with Martha Mayer Erlebacher’s stunning life-size portrait The Path. Both are only a few feet away from a work by George Biddle — of the illustrious Philadelphia family that traces its roots to the 17th century — the thoughtful Evocation of the Past.
Black Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts scholar Charles Jay’s meticulous floral still life paintings from the early 1980s line Maguire Hall’s grand staircase. It leads to the second-floor galleries, where lauded 1920s impressionist Walter Elmer Schofield’s bucolic renderings of snowy Wissahickon trails coolly hang.
William R. Valerio, director and CEO of Woodmere Art Museum in conversation with Syd Carpenter’s arresting “Frank as the Sun King,” paying homage to Carpenter’s brother who served in the Army during the 90s during Desert Storm and returned to Philadelphia as a quadriplegic.
An entire gallery is dedicated to female artists, featuring portraits by Oakley and Emerson. They are in conversation with an arresting sculpture by Syd Carpenter, Frank as the Sun King, an homage to Carpenter’s brother, who served in Desert Storm and came home to Philadelphia as a quadriplegic. Carpenter curated the Colored Girls Museum’s Livingroom Garden in 2024.
“These diverse backgrounds and social experiences reshape and expand the canon of 20th-century art through a Philadelphia lens,” Valerio said.
A major gift
Maguire Hall was built in 1854 as a country estate for the family of William Henry Trotter, an importer of steel, copper, and tin. In the 1890s, the house was renovated by sugar merchant Alfred C. Harrison.
The Sisters of St. Joseph bought the stately home from developers in the 1920s to serve as the Norwood-Fontbonne Academy dorm. The nuns lived there until 2021, when Woodmere purchased it for $2.5 million.
“It gave us the opportunity to take items out of storage and show the beauty of Woodmere to the world,” Valerio said.
Overview of the former Sisters of St. Joseph Convent that’s been transformed to Woodmere’s Frances M. Maguire Hall for Art and Education in Chestnut Hill.
James J. Maguire Sr. built a string of small insurance companies into a national conglomerate in the mid- to late 20th century. In 2008, he completed a $5 billion merger with a Japanese firm and, with his wife, Frances, became one of the region’s largest philanthropic donors.
An artist and patron of the arts, Frances Maguire died in 2020. Three years later, the Frances M. Maguire Art Museum was opened at the former home of the Barnes by St. Joseph’s University, which had received a $50 million donation from the Maguire Foundation in 2017.
Frances Maguire also spent a lot of time at Woodmere, taking classes and serving on the board of trustees. In her honor, the Maguire Foundation gave the museum $10 million. Valerio raised an additional $18 million from donors, state, and federal funding. The $28 million was used to renovate the mansion and start an endowment.
Entrance way of the Frances M. Maguire hall. To the left is a portrait of Maguire by Kassem Amoudi. The chandelier Chestnut Street’s Boyd Theater open from 1928 to 2002.
A portrait of Frances Maguire by Kassem Amoudi hangs in the foyer.
“In creating the Frances M. Maguire Hall and supporting Woodmere, we are assuring that her legacy is shared with current and future generations,” said Megan Maguire Nicoletti, one of the Maguires’ nine children and CEO of the Maguire Foundation.
All the details
Krieger Architects worked with New York-based Baird Architects to turn the ramshackle convent into a modern museum, complete with wheelchair-accessible ramps and a shiny glass elevator overlooking the art trail connecting Maguire Hall to Charles Knox Smith Hall.
Mammoth sculptures by 1959 Penn graduate Robinson Fredenthal are visible from the elevator as well as chokeberry, bayberry, and pawpaw trees, planted in Woodmere’s perennial Outdoor Wonder garden in honor of the Lenape Indians. Maguire Hall boasts a brand-new porch dotted with bright Adirondack chairs that once belonged to the University of the Arts.
Detail of Belgium carver Edward Maene’s work in The Frances M. Maguire Hall breakfast nook. During the renovation, the carvings original red, green, and golden hues were discovered.
In the mansion’s dining room, breakfast room, and central staircase are exquisite woodcarvings from 20th-century master and Belgium immigrant Edward Maene.
“He went all out and carved fantastical medallions with images of fish that turned into birds and humans that turned into lions,” Valerio said of Maene’s work.
There is the MacDonald Family Children’s Art Studio, where little ones can try their hands at finger painting, watercolors, and perhaps a bit of jewelry making. Right across from it is a jewelry vault, where an ankle-length Henri David coat sparkles with jewels from local Victorian-era jewelry houses: Bailey, Banks & Biddle and Caldwell.
Tyler School of Art and Architecture graduate Theophilus Annor fashioned hand mannequins for the baubles. (Annor also carved Adinkra symbols into John Rais’ decorative wrought iron)
Jewels shown on a hand mannequin fashioned by Ghanian artist Theophilus Annor in the Frances M. Maguire jewelry vault. (L) Theophilus Annor, Holding On, 2024, Gold & faceted gemstone. (R) Richard Reinhardt, Ring, date unknown.
Housing history
The second-floor illustrative arts rooms feature wartime drawings from 1940s issues of the Saturday Evening Post and framed TV Guide images of Kojak’s Telly Savalas and Columbo’s Peter Falk. (TV Guide was owned by former Inquirer and Daily News publisher Walter Annenberg.)
“This part of our history is often forgotten,” Valerio said. “But it was important to artists who lived here and made a living in what was then a big media city.”
The first floor gallery of the Frances M. Maguire Hall featuring (left) Ashley Flynn’s stark mural of drug culture in Kensington and “Madre del Nene” a1990, oil on linen from Bo Bartlett
But the bottom floor is the star. Housed here are Maguire’s most evocative pieces, like an abstract collage by Danny Simmons — brother of hip-hop luminaries Russell and Joseph “Run” Simmons — titled Hocus Pocus, which interrogates magic in the Black community. Ashley Flynn’s gripping mural depicting drug abuse in Kensington and gay artist and collage maker Stuart Netsky’sHave Your Cake and Eat it Too, which puts a naughty twist on Victorian-era prudishness, radiate under the Boyd Theatre’s chandelier.
With this work, Valerio hopes Maguire Hall plays a role in shaping a more inclusive future in Philadelphia — and around the world — through the arts.
“We do what no other museum does in exploring the art and culture of this city in depth,” Valerio said. “And we welcome everyoneto take part in the conversation.”
Woodmere’s Frances M. Maguire Hall for Art and Education, 9001 Germantown Ave., opens to the public on Nov. 1 and 2. Charles Knox Smith Hall is located at 9201 Germantown Ave. Both are open Wednesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $10. Free on Sundays. woodmere.museum.org
The article was updated to reflect the new name of the children’s art studio at Woodmere Museum, and the last name of Maguire Foundation’s CEO.
Phoenixville Hospital was not cited by the Pennsylvania Department of Health for any safety violations between August 2024 and July of this year.
The hospital, located in Phoenixville, is owned by Tower Health.
Here’s a look at the publicly available details:
Sept. 12, 2024: Inspectors followed up on two citations from May and June, and found the hospital was in compliance. In May, the hospital had been cited for discharging a patient to another facility without proper transfer orders. In June, the hospital was cited for using physical restraints on two patients without documenting that staff had first tried less restrictive ways to subdue them.
Feb. 18, 2025: Inspectors came to investigate two complaints but found the hospital was in compliance. Complaint details are not made public when inspectors determine it was unfounded.
April 17: The Joint Commission, a nonprofit hospital accreditation agency, renewed the hospital’s accreditation, effective February 2025, for 36 months.
Brent Urcheck was in his early 20s with a nice apartment in Washington and a well-paying job. But that’s not what he wanted. Mr. Urcheck wanted to chase a dream, not sit in a cubicle.
He flew to New Orleans in December 2003 for the winter meetings — an annual gathering of nearly everyone who works in professional baseball — to find a way to work in the game. He didn’t have many connections, but Mr. Urcheck was determined to get in.
He handed out his resumé, landed an internship with the Cleveland Indians, and quit his finance job to chase his dream in a tiny office in the basement of the ballpark.
Mr. Urcheck spent 20 years in the game and helped build the Toronto Blue Jays into pennant winners this season as a player personnel manager. His dream became his job. His rise was no surprise to anyone who knew Mr. Urcheck, who died Oct. 8 in his South Philadelphia apartment just 12 days before the Blue Jays reached the World Series. Mr. Urcheck died of natural causes, his family said. He was 49.
“He knew. He just knew that’s not what he wanted to do” said Jon Watts, Mr. Urcheck’s childhood friend and roommate in Washington. “He did a lot of self-examination and realized that ‘My passion is baseball, so that’s what I’m going to do.’ It was so admirable that he went after it like that and knew what he wanted. As soon as you met him, you knew he would be special.”
Mr. Urcheck grew up outside Cleveland, studied finance at the University of Richmond, and moved to Philadelphia in 2006 while working as a scout for Cleveland. The city provided a centralized location for his travel-heavy job. It quickly became home. He frequented concerts at venues like the Highmark Mann Center and Union Transfer, played the jukebox at Doobies Bar, and was a card-carrying member of the Palizzi Social Club.
“The jukebox still played CDs, and it was a dollar for four plays,” said Frankie Garland, a friend of Mr. Urcheck. “We would spend a lot of nights there, just taking turns on the jukebox and having great conversations. He was just such a calming presence. If you invited him to a show with another group of friends, he would fit in seamlessly like he knew them forever.”
Urcheck wasn’t from Philadelphia, but Garland said the guy from Shaker Heights, Ohio, epitomized everything Philly was about. He was loyal, dependable, and honest. Mr. Urcheck, said another friend, Frank Spina, simply was “solid.” He didn’t care for the Philly teams — he somehow never wavered in loving the Cleveland Browns — but he loved Philly.
“He just showed up for people,” said a friend, Julie Spragg. “Like the people at Palizzi became his family. One of the bartenders is in a band, and he would go far away to go see them play. He was all in.”
Julie Spragg said Brent Urcheck was “all in” with everyone he knew.
Mr. Urcheck graduated from Richmond in 1998 and was a seldom-used backup catcher on the baseball team. A three-sport athlete in high school, Mr. Urcheck could have switched colleges to play more. That was never a thought.
“He showed up with a level of humility that you don’t often see in Division I sports,” Spina said. “A nonscholarship player who had tons of high school accolades. He knew he had to earn it and he approached his collegiate career the same way I would characterize his rise through the scouting world. He started at the bottom and worked without an ego and learned.”
Mr. Urcheck’s internship with Cleveland (now known as the Cleveland Guardians) came with no guarantees. His career in professional baseball could have lasted just a few months. But he didn’t need any promises. Mr. Urcheck knew that’s where he belonged.
“Brent was real subtle,” childhood friend Jason Lowe said. “He would just do things. He was like, ‘Yeah, I got a job as a scout with the Indians.’ We’re like, ‘What?’ He just did it. It was never about him.”
Brent Urcheck (left) with his friends at the Mann to see Phish.
Mr. Urcheck paired his playing career with his finance background to become a good fit in Cleveland’s forward-thinking front office. But it was his personality — the same qualities that made him the linchpin of his many friend groups — that helped him climb the major league ladder.
“He had this uncommon ability to get along with everyone he meets,” Watts said. “By showing respect, he immediately commanded respect. He was just the person you wanted to be around and respect. He was as true and genuine as they come. He wasn’t selling anything. Plus, the guy was smart, too. That didn’t hurt.”
Mr. Urcheck spent 14 years with Cleveland before leaving for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2018. The Jays are run by two people — president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins — for whom Mr. Urcheck worked in Cleveland. Toronto won the American League East this season after finishing 2024 in last place. A guy who lived at 13th and Reed Streets had a hand in a magical season.
The Blue Jays held a moment of silence for Mr. Urcheck before a playoff game earlier this month and tweeted that Mr. Urcheck “left a lasting impact on the organization” and “has been crucial in helping build a successful Major League roster this season.”
Before today's game, we held a moment of silence to remember Brent Urcheck.
Brent left a lasting impact on the organization through his work in the Pro Scouting department. His work has been crucial in helping build a successful Major League roster this season.
“Brent was just really smart,” said Jason Morris, a college teammate. “He was a smart kid. You combine that catcher’s mentality with being a really sharp dude plus being so enjoyable to be around, I don’t think anyone was really surprised by what he did.”
Mr. Urcheck had friends from every stop: Shaker Heights, Richmond, Washington, Cleveland, Philly, and Toronto. He found a way to be everyone’s friend. He was always there, Lowe said.
Spragg was nervous two years ago to teach a fitness class, and there was Mr. Urcheck sitting in the back of each class waiting to support her. Garland wasn’t sure how he’d fit into Philly after moving here from California. One night with Mr. Urcheck was enough to know he had someone to lean on. When Watts went to West Virginia last fall to spread his brother’s ashes in the fast-moving Gauley River, Mr. Urcheck was in the boat with him.
“That’s just how he was,” Watts said. “He showed up for everything. And I know he did that for everyone. I don’t know how he did it. He just did it. He was that kind of dude.”
Mr. Urcheck’s friends will watch the World Series begin Friday and think of the guy who was planning a yacht-rock themed 50th birthday party. They’ll wear Blue Jays hats and root for the team that their buddy — the guy who helped them score a membership to Palizzi — helped build. Mr. Urcheck talked so little about his success that his childhood friends had to be the ones who mentioned in their group chat how the Blue Jays went from worst to first. His friends rooted for the Guardians, Yankees, and Phillies. They’re now rooting for a new team.
“We’ve all bought Blue Jays gear,” Spragg said. “We’re all so pumped for them. It’s bittersweet because he’s not seeing this. But it’s amazing that we can all rally around it.”
A South Philly man helped the Blue Jays reach the World Series. And it started because he was determined to make a dream come true.
“We were living in a nice apartment in D.C. in our early 20s,” Watts said. “It was an easy, comfortable situation to stay in. So it wasn’t an easy decision. He did the work to figure out what it was that he needed to do.”
Mr. Urcheck is survived by his mother, Sara Jane Sargent, and her husband, Jack; his father, Gary Urcheck, and his partner, Patty Arendt; his sister, Stephanie Urcheck, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins.
A memorial reception will be held from 2-4 p.m. Sunday at Debonné Vineyards in Madison, Ohio. A Philadelphia gathering is planned for Nov. 15 at a location to be determined. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Mr. Urcheck’s honor to the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society.
