Toys R Us, the once-beloved children’s retail chain that filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and closed all of its nearly 800 U.S. stores soon after, is now opening more than two dozen flagship stores and holiday pop-up stores across the country by the end of the year.
The new seasonal stores include two in the Philadelphia area: one at the Deptford Mall in South Jersey, and another at the King of Prussia Mall, according to the company. Toys R Us is already in many Macy’s department stores across the region.
Before Amazon and Walmart took over the toy scene, the retail giant was the most dominant toy seller in the country, with 25% of all toys sold in the U.S. in 1990 purchased at Toys R Us, according to Bloomberg. The company wooed families with its mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe, and gleaming aisles filled with every kind of toy, from dolls to bikes to board games.
But after sales fell dramatically and debts piled up, Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy and then shuttered its brick-and-mortar shops. At the time, customers said they would miss being able to look and touch toys in an actual store.
“I’m going to miss the magic,” one customer told the New York Times in 2018. “I want to cry right now because we had so much fun there.”
Since then, the company has tried various comebacks, with its parent company WHP Global reopening flagship stores around the country.
The new holiday and flagship stores this year represent “a significant milestone in the brand’s growth,” the company said in a statement.
The seasonal holiday shops, opened in partnership with Go! Retail Group, promise kids (and their parents) shelves of popular toy brands, from LEGO and Barbie to Hot Wheels and Paw Patrol.
Independent toy shop owners in Philly said last season that the simplest toys, from wooden blocks to spinning tops, were proving to be the most popular, perhaps in response to AI-equipped plushies and other futuristic gadgets flooding the market.
The Eagles suffered their worst loss of the season at MetLife Stadium against the Giants just two weeks ago. One week later, the Giants suffered their worst loss of the season, a fourth-quarter collapse against Denver.
New York is winless on the road in 2025, and headed into the NFL’s most hostile environment with a rookie quarterback. Can the Birds get their revenge?
Here’s what the national media is saying about Sunday’s game …
How good are the Eagles?
The Giants’ star rookies gained a confidence boost after blowing out the Eagles two weeks ago. But a total collapse in Denver may have stalled that progress, NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky said on Get Up, so he still expects an Eagles win.
Though the Eagles might win, Orlovsky isn’t bullish on the Birds’ chances in the long term, although he’s “intrigued” by what Jalen Hurts showed in the passing game against Minnesota.
“This team can’t win a Super Bowl the way they’re running the football,” Orlovsky said. “They can win games, they can beat good teams, but they can’t run the football. My question is, is what we saw offensively last week going to be who you’re going to be for the rest of the season?”
Can the Giants rebound?
The Giants’ collapse against Denver is the type of loss that can cause a team to emotionally spiral. But Manti Te’o said on NFL Network that he doesn’t expect that to linger for New York on Sunday.
“When I see a team fall off like that, that’s just situational,” Te’o said. “Let’s be honest, I don’t think the Giants even anticipated they would be up that much. There’s a way to play the game, and there’s so much youth there that it may have slipped by them. I am buying that they will respond and build off of it.”
Manti Te'o thinks the Giants will bounce back this week from their tough loss against the Broncos. pic.twitter.com/RiHpSyQUmZ
Even after Jalen Hurts, DeVonta Smith, and A.J. Brown dominated in the passing game in Sunday’s win, there’s still drama with Brown’s social media posts.
On Instagram following Sunday’s game, Brown posted a photo with the caption, “using me but not using me.” Brown caught two touchdowns on four catches for 121 yards, his best game of the season. So what exactly does he mean by that caption? On First Take, Orlovsky said he believes Brown is indicating he still wants to be traded.
“I believe A.J. Brown prefers to be traded,” Orlovsky said. ”There’s been this consistent disconnect, whether it’s the lack of production, they don’t throw the ball enough, or they go on the road, he has [four catches for 121 yards], the game-sealer, and he’s still tweeting that out. I’m not trying to read too much into it, this is a Super Bowl-contending team, but for that to continuously happen, I do think there’s parts of A.J. Brown that would prefer to be traded.”
Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown stiff arms Minnesota’s Isaiah Rodgers during Sunday’s game.
Ryan Clark didn’t go that far, but said that Brown was opening himself up to those rumors with his actions.
“He also has to understand the consequences of his actions,” Clark said. “When you tweet out ”using me but not using me,” read books on the sidelines, said certain things you’ve said in postgame interviews, people are going to try to connect the tea leaves and come to their own conclusions. It could honestly be, finally in this game they used me.”
For all the attention on Brown, Smith also had his best game of the year against the Vikings, with a 79-yard touchdown as the highlight among his nine catches for 183 yards.
“Because of all the attention on A.J. Brown, because of the drama, DeVonta’s kind of being overlooked as a top-10 receiver in the NFL,” Mina Kimes said. “I think he’s capable of that.”
A sixth person will go to trial over the September 2022 shooting outside Roxborough High School that killed 14-year-old Nicolas Elizalde and wounded four others.
Zaakir McClendon, 20, will be tried for his alleged role in the deadly ambush, which began when five young men armed with handguns burst from an SUV and sprayed more than 60 bullets at a group of boys who had just finished junior varsity football practice.
Police said a sixth person was driving the SUV. Police arrested five people in the months after the incident but did not charge McClendon until August.
At a preliminary hearing — a court process to decide whether there is enough evidence for someone to go to trial — Judge David H. Conroy reviewed video footage and cell phone records and heard from detectives.
A painting of Nicolas Elizalde, that his mother Meredith Elizalde is bringing with her as part of a small colleciton of her sons things as she packs to start a new life in Montana, two years after Nicolas was killed in a shooting, in Aston, PA, August 15, 2024.
Citing text messages, Philadelphia Police Detective Robert Daly said the shooting happened after McClendon told another defendant in Elizalde’s killing that a Northeast High School football player had assaulted a girl he knew. The Northeast and Roxborough junior varsity teams were playing a scrimmage on the day of the shooting. Elizalde, a freshman at Walter B. Saul High School who played football for Roxborough, had nothing to do with the girl, police said.
“It’s clear to me that this defendant set this all in motion,” Conroy said of McClendon.
Stephen Grace, who was a detective on the case, said police found DNA on one of the 64 cartridge casings left at the scene among the bullet fragments and discarded football equipment.
For nearly three years, police searched for the person whose DNA was found on the 9mm casing. After police in July charged McClendon with killing a 16-year old boy, and his DNA was uploaded into a criminal database, they got a match, Grace said.
Two men have already pleaded guilty and been sentenced to decades in prison for their involvement in the shooting. Three others will soon go to trial — and now, McClendon is likely to join them.
“The goal now is to link these cases and try these defendants together,” said Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski.
OTTAWA, Ontario — There’s a lot to be said for a coach who has been in the shoes — or skates — of his players.
Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said he is “sensitive to it, when you pull people in and out,” of the lineup. On Thursday, he’s making another shift, with Rodrigo Ābols going in for Jett Luchanko as the fourth-line center.
“I mean, it’s obviously tough,” Ābols said. “Not even the physical part, it is just more like the timing and the feeling kind of, once you do get in, like five-on-five tonight, to not overthink too much [the] situations, because you haven’t been in those situations for a while. So that’s, I guess, the goal is to just kind of not overthink, keep it simple, and just do the things that make me an effective hockey player.”
One thing that will certainly help is that the Latvian will be skating alongside Garnet Hathaway — who he has played with on a line for the majority of his 24 NHL games, all with the Flyers — and Nikita Grebenkin.
The latter two played together last year for Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League once the Russian was acquired in March from the Toronto Maple Leafs. There is familiarity and chemistry, but that doesn’t mean Ābols won’t be on the ready.
“It may be similar with [Matvei Michkov] to expect the unexpected, I guess. So you see the pass he had last game that went to Garnet there, across the blue, so you kind of just always be ready with the stick on the ice,” said Ābols, who played with Michkov a few times last season and can communicate with Grebenkin in Russian, one of four languages the Latvian speaks fluently.
“You see him in the corners, there’s so many times you feel like he’s lost the puck, and then he somehow comes out with it, said Ābols of Grebenkin. ”So that’s just an exciting player to play with, because that means you can get more offensive zone time.”
Hello old friends
The Senators have several familiar faces slated to skate on Thursday.
Of course, there is Claude Giroux, the former Flyers captain who skated in his 1,000th game before being traded two days later to the Florida Panthers — Owen Tippett was part of the return — in March 2022.
“It’s always going to be special playing against Philly,” Giroux said on Thursday. “Played a lot of years there, and not a lot of players left when I played, but the organization, and Danny Brière being the GM, so it’s always special to play them.”
Ottawa’s Claude Giroux played 15 seasons for the Flyers, including several as the team’s captain.
The players still in Philly are forwards Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny, and defensemen Nick Seeler, Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Egor Zamula (two games).
Nick Cousins skated in 107 games for the Orange and Black after being selected in the third round of the 2011 draft. The forward won a Stanley Cup with the Panthers in 2024.
But while those guys left Philly long ago, Olle Lycksell was with the team last season. The Swede, who had dinner Wednesday night with Adam Ginning, Sam Ersson, and Ābols, was recalled from Belleville of the American Hockey League on Tuesday and is slotted into the fourth line for the Senators.
“I just felt like I maybe needed a little change of scenery, and trying to find myself in a lineup,” he said of making the move to Ottawa. “I felt like we had good talks, and felt like they believed in me. And yeah, I got the opportunity now, and I’m really happy that I got here.”
Lycksell has played three games this season for the Senators, registering three shots on goal while averaging 10 minutes, and 58 seconds of ice time. A sixth-round pick of the Flyers in 2017, the 26-year-old Swede had one goal and 11 points in 45 games for Philly.
“I’m so honored of being a Flyer for a long time,” he said. “And even though I didn’t play that many games, I [had] still been in the organization for a while, and it’s great people. And it’s going to be special [tonight].”
And there’s also a familiar face for Tocchet, who was a teammate of Travis Green’s for a year in the desert.
“There’s always some coaches that you talk to a lot, even when one of us isn’t working, or one of us got fired, or one of us got hired, we’ve always kept in touch and just pick each other’s brain,” said Tocchet, who gave Green a ton of credit for how things have gone in Ottawa.
So, any bets or dinners on the line?
“We had dinner last night. He paid. It was a cheap one,” said a grinning Tocchet. “Philly’s gonna be an expensive one, but that’s all right.”
Breakaways
Dan Vladař will start for the third straight game. “He’s been playing pretty good, right? That’s why I’m starting him,” Tocchet said. Sam Ersson’s last game was a week ago, in a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Any concerns? “No, not at all,” Tocchet said. “I could easily go with Sam and be comfortable. Sam will get in there.”
Around the Rinks
Between now and March 31, girls and women in the ball hockey community — players, organizers, referees, etc., and in Philly or beyond — can apply for the 2 AND 10 Women’s Ball Hockey Scholarship via their Facebook account. The scholarship, which “recognizes women who give their all to the game, both on and off the rink, and are ready to take the next step as athletes, leaders, and role models” can be used toward college or trade school. … Submit entries for Around the Rinks, which highlights the local ice, ball, and inline hockey scenes, Thursdays online and Fridays in the paper, by noon every Thursday with Around the Rinks in the subject line to jspiegel@inquirer.com. Entries can include information about your league, big moments on the ice, upcoming rivalry games, favorite players, and more.
Lee Maniatis, 58, was one of several senior employees of Mark 1 Restoration who participated in the crimes. But prosecutors said he played a central role, influencing the Amtrak project manager, Ajith Bhaskaran, to sign off on a series of additional contracts worth tens of millions of dollars.
His prison term will be followed by three years of supervised release. Maniatis has already paid a $278,000 restitution fee, though he will also be required to contribute to a restitution fund of more than $2 million alongside his former associates.
In all, Maniatis and his colleagues funneled gifts worth more than $323,000 to Bhaskaran between 2016 and 2019, buying him luxury wristwatches and cigars, pricey vacations to India and the Galápagos Islands, Bruno Mars concert tickets, lavish dinners in Center City, and rides in limousines.
In exchange, Bhaskaran helped secure tens of millions of dollars in extra government-funded work for Mark 1 Restoration, ultimately doubling the cost of what began as a $58 million project to renovate the historic train station’s limestone facade.
While the firm did legitimate work on the property, most of the gifts were effectively subsidized by the government because Mark 1 falsely inflated its invoices by $2 million to cover the bribes. And Amtrak explicitly prohibits firms from offering gifts in exchange for favorable contracts.
Prosecutors had ample evidence linking Maniatis to the bribes. Around the time of a January 2017 dinner between Maniatis, a colleague, and Bhaskaran, the Amtrak employee was considering whether to authorize an additional $13.4 million work order for the firm. Maniatis, prosecutors said, gave Bhaskaran a Tourneau worth more than $5,000 during that meeting.
Bhaskaran approved the contract days later, and “[d]inner was worth it,” Maniatis texted an associate. Later he texted his boss: “$ ding.”
Maniatis, accompanied by his wife, appeared in federal court in Philadelphia Thursday and teared up as he read a statement to U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone.
“I’m completely ashamed,” he said. “I was sick about it then, I’m sick about it now.”
The judge said the former executive’s remorse was palpable. But she said Maniatis had a choice to go to authorities over those three years — and didn’t.
“Only when federal agents raided his home” in 2019 did Maniatis admit to his wrongdoing, Beetlestone said.
“He could have resigned,” she continued. “He could have reported it to the FBI.”
Theodore T. Poulos, one of Maniatis’ defense attorneys, said he still recalls the day after that raid, when the former executive told the lawyer he’d “ruined his life.”
Poulos said Maniatis had been a victim of “misguided loyalty” to Mark 1’s owner and president, Marak Snedden, who pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and making a false claim in the scheme.
Still, U.S. Attorney Jason Grenell said, Maniatis “made a choice” to siphon public taxpayer money to “line people’s pockets.”
The attorney commended Maniatis for being the first defendant in the case to plead guilty for his crimes, swiftly admitting his guilt while his coconspirators fended off the government’s allegations in court, Grenell said.
Maniatis is not the first Mark 1 employee to face prosecution.
Early this month, Snedden, was sentenced in Beetlestone’s courtroom to 7½ years in prison. The admission made Snedden the sixth person involved to face consequences for the scheme.
Bhaskaran had been charged with unrelated wire fraud in 2019 but died of heart failure a year later.
Court documents show Bhaskaran had outsized power to approve work on behalf of the transit agency — and that his signature on “substantially overbilled” work routinely corresponded with sumptuous treatment from Maniatis and Mark 1 employees.
One such instance came in December 2017, when Bhaskaran authorized an additional $5.6 million in work for the firm. That same month, court records show, Maniatis paid $9,500 for him to visit India with a relative.
Maniatis emailed Bhaskaran tickets the following year priced at $766 for a New Year’s Eve party at Stratus, a rooftop lounge at Kimpton Hotel Monaco — a purchase investigators said Maniatis had made on his own credit card.
And when Bhaskaran decided that the Tourneau watch was not to his liking, Maniatis was ready to return it and purchase Bhaskaran an even more expensive timepiece, spending $11,294.
Beetlestone denied Poulos’ request that Maniatis be allowed to spend the entirety of his sentence on probation. He will serve his term at a prison in Lewisburg, Pa.
“Lack of fortitude is not an excuse for criminal conduct,” Beetlestone said.
Staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this article.
A sports betting scandal involving Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier has roiled the NBA and threatens to undermine the $13 billion sports betting industry.
Billups and Rozier are among 34 people across 11 states charged in connection with two separate schemes — defrauding sports gamblers and a rigged poker game run in connection with New York City Mafia families.
Among those said to be involved was Shane Hennen, 40, a professional gambler originally from the Pittsburgh suburbs who allegedly handed off cash to his coconspirators in Philadelphia.
Former Cleveland Cavaliers player-turned-coach Damon Jones was also arrested for allegedly selling inside information on injuries and participating in the illegal poker scheme.
“This is the insider trading scandal for the NBA,” FBI Director Kash Patel said during a news conference Thursday announcing the charges, which include wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and conspiracies to commit extortion and robbery.
Officials accuse Rozier and others of altering their performance to get big payouts
Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier.
In the sports betting case, Rozier and others are accused of leaving games early or altering their performance to make hundreds of thousands of dollars on prop bets, defrauding both sportsbooks and other legitimate gamblers.
In one example, provided by New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Rozier, then with the Charlotte Hornets, allegedly told his coconspirators he was planning to exit a 2023 game early due to a supposed injury.
“Using that information, members of the group placed more than $200,000 in wagers on his under statistics,” Tisch said. “Rozier exited the game after just nine minutes, and those bets paid out, generating tens of thousands of dollars in profit.”
“The proceeds were later delivered to his home, where the group counted their cash,” Tisch added.
Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, described it as “one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the U.S.”
Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, told CNN in a statement his client “looks forward to winning this fight.”
The accusations mirror the actions that led the NBA to ban former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter from the league for life after its investigation revealed he leaked “confidential information to sports bettors” to win under bets. Porter later pleaded guilty to charges that he faked injuries or illnesses to leave games early.
The NBA had investigated Rozier and announced in January it “did not find a violation of NBA rules.” The league said Thursday it takes the new allegations “with the utmost seriousness.”
Nocella said the indictment also details the actions of unnamed players on teams that include the Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Lakers. The indictment remained sealed online Thursday.
Two of the unnamed coconspirators were from Pennsylvania, according to the indictment.
Cash was handed off in Philly, officials said
Philadelphia skyline as seen from Lancaster Avenue.
Prosecutors allege Rozier colluded with Hennen, who figures prominently in the most recent indictment — and in an earlier gambling probe involving Temple University’s basketball team, which led to his arrest in January.
Hennen, known as “Sugar” in gambling circles, used nonpublic information that he obtained through his NBA contacts to facilitate a series of fraudulent bets over the last three years, according to one of the complaints unsealed Thursday. In one instance, he allegedly used Philadelphia as a meeting point to dole out the ill-gotten proceeds to other bettors.
On March 28, 2023, Mississippi-based sports handicapper Marves Fairley traveled to Philadelphia to meet Hennen to collect proceeds from wagers the duo had placed on one of Rozier’s games earlier that month, federal authorities contend.
Rozier had, according to the complaint, planned to “exit prematurely” from the March 23 matchup between the Hornets and the New Orleans Pelicans. Rozier played the first nine minutes of the game but then withdrew, citing a foot issue.
Authorities say the scheme involved other men. De’Niro “Peyso” Laster, a former college linebacker, allegedly met with Fairley in Philadelphia on March 28 to collect tens of thousands of dollars in cash based on more fraudulent winnings linked to the same game.
The suit alleges that Rozier paid for the costs of Laster’s travel to the city, and that Fairley and Laster then drove from Philadelphia to North Carolina to meet with the player at his home and count their winnings.
On March 29, the day after prosecutors allege they met up in the city, Hennen posted a photo of himself and Fairley sitting courtside at a Sixers game.
Hennen also appears to be linked to a point-shaving scheme involving former Temple University basketball player Hysier Miller, in what is likely a related investigation, according to reports by Sports Illustrated and ESPN.
Earlier this year, the NCAA revealed it was investigating unusual bets placed around a March 7, 2024, game between Temple and Alabama-Birmingham. An ESPN report linked that game to Hennen, who was arrested by federal authorities in January while attempting to board a flight to Panama.
Damon Jones appears to have sold inside info on LeBron James while a coach for the Lakers
Damon Jones (left), seen here with LeBron James in July 2010. The two were teammates on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Jones, who served as an unofficial assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2022-23 season, is accused of tipping off the team’s decision to rest a “prominent NBA player” ahead of a matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks on Feb. 9, 2023.
The unnamed player appears to be LeBron James, who sat out that game due to a sore left ankle. James had played with Jones on the Cleveland Cavaliers, but there is no indication the NBA superstar was aware of the illegal betting scheme.
“Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out!” Jones texted, according to the indictment.
According to the indictment, Jones leaked inside information he had to coconspirators multiple times during the season, including before a January 2024 game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Billups accused of teaming with mob figures for illegal poker game
Chauncey Billups was used to make the illegal poker games seem fair, officials said.
In a second case, Billups is charged with participating in a nationwide scheme involving New York City Mafia figures to rig illegal poker games.
Officials said members of the Bonanno, Gambino, and Genovese crime families rigged the poker contests in their favor, cheating players out of millions of dollars and resorting to violence when victims wouldn’t pay up.
Tisch said Billups’ presence at the games was meant to lull victims into thinking it was a legitimate game, making them think “they were sitting at a fair table.” Officials said he was aware and in on the scam.
Losses totaled more than $7 million, with one victim losing nearly $2 million, Tisch said.
Hennen also figured prominently in the second case. According to the indictment, he provided the “cheating technology” for the illegal poker scheme in exchange for a portion of the proceeds.
“Bringing four of the five families together in a single indictment is extraordinarily rare,” Tisch said. “It reflects how deep and how far this investigation reached and the skill and the persistence it took to get here.”
That’s the message Philadelphia city officials want to send to people considering illegally dumping garbage in the city as a new enforcement unit hits the streets.
The officers are armed with violation notices that could cost dumpers $5,000 per item. That means that tossing four tires into a vacant lot — which several years ago would have resulted in a ticket for a couple of hundred bucks, max — can now run a violator the price of a Honda and result in arrest.
The new unit of 40 officers focused on identifying the people who dump is part of an expanded task force that Mayor Cherelle L. Parker announced on Thursday. The group also includes a dozen people who monitor 400 surveillance cameras placed near frequent dumping sites, as well as partners in the police department who investigate severe cases.
“Part of the reason why people think it’s open season to illegally dump in the city of Philadelphia … it’s because they never thought that enforcement would occur,” Parker said. “Besides it being unsightly and unhealthy for people, it’s a crime.”
City officials said they have brought 17 cases against people who dumped waste illegally so far this year, resulting in more than $3.7 million in collected fines.
The mayor said her administration would ramp up that effort with the initiation of the task force.
“Philly ain’t playin’,” she said.
Members of the new Illegal Dumping Task Force stand during an introductory press conference with Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, at 10th and Courtland Streets in Philadelphia.
Parker made the announcement while standing in North Philadelphia’s infamous Logan Triangle, the 35-acre plot that has been an eyesore for the better part of 50 years. It was once home to hundreds of rowhouses, but the families moved out in the 1980s when it became clear their homes were sinking into the bed of the Wingohocking Creek.
Today, the triangle is a cautionary tale of failed redevelopment — a place where ideas like a basketball center or a dirt bike track or an apple orchard have never been realized. It is now, and has long been, a dumping site.
It’s also the site where, last week, two people were arrested for unloading trash, said Carlton Williams, the city’s director of clean and green initiatives.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker (right) and Carlton Williams (left) of the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives announce stricter laws to combat illegal dumping during a news conference at Logan Triangle, a frequent dumping site at 10th and Courtland Streets, on Thursday in Philadelphia.
Not only could those people face criminal penalties, but the administration is focused on levying hefty fines and holding dumpers responsible for cleanup costs. The city is also newly fining people who hire contractors to short dump.
“We’re gonna hit you where it hurts: in the pocketbook,” Parker said.
Despite the spending, many in the city say dumping sites are a major problem. A 2023 Lenfest Institute for Journalism/SSRS poll of 1,200 Philadelphians found that six in 10 residents believed reducing dumping should be a top priority for the mayor. Concern was most acute among residents who are low-income, Black, and Latino.
City Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, a Democrat and a Parker ally whose district borders Logan Triangle, said the administration’s focus on illegal dumping can begin to remedy what she described as “extremely stressful” situations for residents who have long watched waste pile up near their homes without abatement.
“Our residents have done their part, and those calls for help went unanswered for a really, really long time,” Lozada said. “But today feels different.”
How to report illegal dumping
Anyone who sees illegal dumping happening can call 911. Residents who want to report illegal dumping after the fact can file a complaint through 311.
If you aren’t watching squash, now might be the time to start.
With the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles set to welcome the sport for the first time, an early look at American hopefuls arrived this week during the U.S. Open Squash Championships at the Arlen Specter Squash Center.
The event, located on Drexel’s campus in University City through Saturday, serves as a precursor to Los Angeles and showcasing that the work begins now for top competitors and youth prospects.
Sisters Amanda (left) and Sabrina Sobhy play against each other during the 2025 Comcast Business U.S. Open Squash Championships at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center on Tuesday.
“If you really think you can be an Olympian in two-and-a-half years, then come on, prove it,” Nick Taylor, head coach of U.S. Squash, told The Inquirer this week. “Get the hard work done.”
This year, the semifinal and final rounds of the Open will be streamed for the first time live on Peacock, with the broadcast deal marking a big step forward for the continued growth and exposure of the sport.
“It’s millions of millions of potential viewers,” Taylor said, “ … that in itself is just amazing for us.”
Hunting season
The U.S. Open fields 32 male and female players from the Professional Squash Association, ranging from U.S team members like No. 4-ranked Olivia Weaver to wild cards like men’s U.S. junior champion Alex Carnell, who attends Penn.
As players compete in best-of-five sets to see who moves onto the next round, the focus is on players’ rankings ahead of the Olympics.
“These players have to just continue to work day in, day out, and just have the Olympics as a massive goal,” Taylor said. “I’m not overly concerned about, you know, the hard decisions of having to select players. I think that will look after itself to a degree.”
Philly native Olivia Weaver, seen here in earlier competition, will compete in the semifinal of the U.S. Open this weekend at the Specter Center.
The early rounds of the event have already seen major drama, with No. 9-ranked Yousef Ibrahim downing No. 4-seeded Joel Makin this past Wednesday, securing Ibrahim’s place in the semifinals. Weaver, a Philadelphia-born-and-raised competitor, will also feature in the semifinals after defeating No. 18-ranked Sana Ibrahim.
As the competition roars on, Lee Beachill, chief operating officer of the Professional Squash Association, hopes fans tune in to see how entertaining the sport can be.
“To make our debut on such a massive platform like NBC, Peacock specifically, is a big deal for our sport,” Beachill said. “It’s a perfect event to do it. The center has been fantastic. It highlights just what a good position U.S. Squash is in at the moment.”
Finally recognized
The squash community has pleaded for a bid to the Olympics for years, only to face rejection after rejection. When the sport finally received its ticket to the big stage in October 2023, U.S. coaches and players were surprised.
“I didn’t even know there was a bid,” said Marina Stefanoni, competing this week and currently the No. 25-ranked women’s player in the sport. “I didn’t even know we were still vying. Someone must’ve slipped it under the door, and all of a sudden, we are in the Olympics. It was a shock.”
Top women’s squash player Amanda Sobhy (right) poses with 13-year-old Laila Robison during the 2025 Comcast Business U.S. Open Squash Championships at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center on Tuesday.
With the Specter Center acting as the home of U.S. Squash, special in-house preparations have already begun to train Olympic hopefuls ahead of 2028.
“We have done a lot of tweaking and changing of how we think the program needs to exist,” Taylor said. “ … the Olympics are two-and-a-half years away, which is not that long.”
Beat Egypt
Egypt has dominated the professional scene for decades.
Since 2003, an Egyptian athlete has won the men’s world championship 15 times, while also winning 10 straight times on the women’s side. Reigning world champions Mostafa Asal and Nour El Sherbini are set to meet in the U.S. Open final, with semifinal bouts scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
Aly Abou El Einen (left) yells out while playing Baptiste Masotti during the 2025 Comcast Business U.S. Open Squash Championships at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center earlier this week.
As the USA stays on Egypt’s heels, Taylor hopes to overtake Egypt at the world championships in 2027, just in time for the team’s chance for a gold medal at the Summer Games.
“I think we have a really good shot at becoming world junior champions and beating Egypt in 2027,” Taylor said. “That would be a game changer.”
Coming off a big win over the Minnesota Vikings, the Eagles (5-2) will return to Lincoln Financial Field to host the New York Giants (2-5) on Sunday. As both teams prepare for their second matchup of the season, here are updated odds and interesting prop bets from two of the biggest sportsbooks…
Eagles vs. Giants updated odds
The Eagles and the Giants are meeting for the second time in two weeks, following a 34-17 Eagles loss to New York at MetLife Stadium in Week 6.
Earlier in the week, both sportsbooks had the Eagles listed as 7.5-point favorites. Since then, the odds haven’t changed as they enter Week 8.
JalenHurts is coming off an excellent performance in which he threw for 326 yards and three touchdowns to earn a perfect passer rating, making this the third consecutive week the quarterback has thrown for over 270 yards.
Jaxson Dart is coming off a Giants’ loss to the Broncos where he threw for 283 yards and three touchdowns. Dart has thrown for over 200 yards in two of his last four games.
For this week’s matchup, both sportsbooks have Hurts’ over/under set at around 205 passing yards, and Dart’s over/under is set at just under 200 passing yards.
Hurts has thrown for eight touchdowns in his last four games, while Dart has thrown for seven. In their last matchup, both quarterbacks recorded one passing touchdown. For this week’s matchup, both sportsbooks have Hurts’ over/under set at 1.5 passing touchdowns and Dart’s over/under set at 0.5.
In six of seven games, Saquon Barkley has rushed for under 70 yards. Last year’s NFL Offensive Player of the Year is coming off a game that saw him rush for 44 yards in the Birds’ win over the Minnesota Vikings.
Giants’ running back Cam Skattebo is coming off a game that saw him rush for 60 yards against the Denver Broncos.
A.J. Brown missed practice on Wednesday due to a hamstring injury. The receiver played 46 offensive snaps against the Vikings, recording four receptions for 121 yards. Meanwhile, DeVonta Smith also stood out with nine receptions for 183 yards.
However, neither sportsbook has player props listed at the moment. Instead, they have the odds for Dallas Goedert and Barkley’s over/under in receiving yards. In the team’s last game against the Giants, Goedert finished with nine receptions for 110 yards and one touchdown. Barkley had two receptions for 9 yards.
For the Giants, Wan’Dale Johnson is coming off a game that saw him finish with six receptions for 95 yards. Giants tight end Theo Johnson added to that with three receptions for 66 yards.
In Week 7, Smith and Brown scored for the Eagles. For the Giants, Tyrone Tracy Jr., Dart, Daniel Bellinger, Johnson, and Skattebo found the end zone.
In their last meeting, Hurts and Goedert scored for the Eagles. Skattebo dominated on the ground, rushing for three touchdowns. Dart and Robinson also made their way into the end zone.
A month after Keon King was charged with breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s home and attempting to strangle her, police say, his violence escalated: In January, he returned to her home with a gun, then kidnapped and assaulted her.
A warrant for his arrest was issued days later.
In the weeks that followed, King twice appeared in Philadelphia court and stood before a judge in the initial strangulation case. But no one in the courtroom seemed to know he was wanted for kidnapping.
So both times, King walked out.
In February, despite the warrant for King’s arrest, prosecutors — seemingly unaware that police said he had recently attacked their key witness — withdrew the burglary and strangulation case when the victim failed to appear in court.
Police did not go to either hearing to take him into custody, and do not appear to have alerted the prosecutor about the new arrest warrant.
And King was not formally charged with the kidnapping until April, when, for reasons that are unclear, he turned himself in.
Kada Scott, 23, was abducted from outside her workplace on Oct. 4, police said.
A review of King’sprevious criminal cases raises questions about whether police and prosecutors could have been more vigilant in holding him accountable for the earlier crimes they say he committed.
City Council has since vowed to hold a hearing examining how the city’s criminal justice system handles cases of domestic violence.
But even before the charges were withdrawn, police and court records show, there were missteps.
Marian Grace Braccia, a former Philadelphia prosecutor who is a law professor at Temple University, said she found it alarming that law enforcement failed to take King into custody when he twice stood before them in court while wanted for a violent felony.
“If this is supposed to be a collaborative effort — if there is a shared mission of public safety and victim advocacy — it sounds like everyone dropped the ball,” she said.
Detectives and prosecutors, she said, should have been aware of the arrest warrant and had officers take him into custody.
Then, she said, prosecutors could have cited the alleged kidnapping to ask a judge to increase King’s bail and keep him behind bars.
Instead, she said, “it passed by everybody, and he came in and walked out, and slipped through the cracks of the Philadelphia legal court system.”
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner discusses the killing of Kada Scott at a news conference earlier this week.
Krasner said there is no system to automatically notify prosecutors when a defendant in one of their cases is arrested anew.
Similarly, there is no system to let police know that suspects in new cases have outstanding criminal matters, said Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Eric Gripp.
“Detectives are not automatically notified when a wanted subject is physically present in court on a different active case,” he said.
Krasner said the issues in the case underscore a lack of communication among law enforcement agencies that happens in part because their digital information systems are decades old. He said his office and other law enforcement agencies should work to update those systems.
“That is something that we can all improve together if we have the will and if we have the resources,” he said.
A wanted man walks free
Police said King first attacked his ex-girlfriend in early November of last year. He broke into her Strawberry Mansion home, then tried to strangle her, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
He was taken into custody in December and charged with burglary and strangulation, and bail was set at $50,000. King immediately posted the necessary 10%, $5,000, and was released.
About a month later, police said, King returned to the woman’s home and tried to break in. When he could not gain entry, they said, he waited for her to step outside, then grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into his car. He drove for at least four miles, beating her along the way, before dropping her off in Fishtown, according to the affidavit for probable cause for his arrest.
A judge approved the warrant for King’s arrest on charges of kidnapping, strangulation, and related crimes on Jan. 19, court records show.
The Justice Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice in Philadelphia.
King — now wanted for a violent felony — appeared in court the following week for a preliminary hearing in the earlier burglary case, records show. But when the victim did not show up in court a second time, Municipal Court Judge Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde ordered that the case had to proceed at the next listing. Prosecutors agreed.
King left court.
Meanwhile, police said, officers tried at least once to arrest him. On Feb. 11, Gripp said, police went to a home where they thought King might be, but he was not there.
Two weeks later, King was again in court for the burglary case — but police did not go there to arrest him. Once again, the victim did not show up, and prosecutors withdrew the charges
King walked out of court a free man.
Braccia, the Temple law professor, said the detective assigned to the case should have been aware of the hearing. When seeking to charge King for the kidnapping, she said, the detective should have pulled up King’s arrest history and noticed the ongoing case. He then could have flagged it to the prosecutor in the first case and gone to the hearing to arrest him.
At the same time, she said, the prosecutors who approved the kidnapping charges against King should have noticed the earlier case and told the prosecutor — particularly because it involved the same victim.
In April, King turned himself in to police to be charged with kidnapping, strangulation, and related crimes in connection with the January attack. Prosecutors asked for bail of $999,999, but the magisterial judge, Naomi Williams, set bail at $200,000, court records show. King posted the necessary $20,000 and was released.
The following month, after the victim again did not appear in court at two hearings, the kidnapping charges were also withdrawn.
Since prosecutors have refiled the charges, Krasner’s office said it has been back in touch with the woman and hopes she will testify. She declined to comment about King’s alleged crimes and the previous handling of the cases by police and prosecutors.
Six months later, King is back in custody, this time charged with murder. He is being held without bail.
