Philly Valentine’s Day weekend musical options include Diana Krall and the R&B Lovers Tour in Atlantic City, Eric Benet at City Winery, Stinking Lizaveta at the Khyber, La Cumbia Del Amor at Johnny Brenda’s, Marshall Allen at Solar Myth, Langhorne Slim in Ardmore, and a road trip to see Boyz II Men. What could be more romantic?
Thursday, Feb. 12
Lazyacres / Bowling Alley Oop
Philly songwriter Josh Owens doesn’t seem to have a fully functioning keypad. His dreamy indie pop band Lazyacres’ EP is called Nospacebar. He’s playing South Street hotdog nightclub Nikki Lopez with Attic Posture, Bowling Alley Oop, and Dante Robinson. 8 p.m., Nikki Lopez, 304 South St., @nikkilopezphilly
Big Benny Bailey, with Ben Pierce and Shamir Bailey, plays the Fallser Club in East Falls on Friday.
Friday, Feb. 13
Big Benny Bailey
The winning Black History Month programming at the Fallser Club continues with Big Benny Bailey, the duo of South Philly songwriters Shamir Bailey and Ben Pierce. It’s a bluegrass, folk, and country project that promises to be another compelling adventure from the multitalented Shamir, who released his 10th album, Ten, last year. He has a GoFundMe going to get his screenplay Career Queer made into a feature film. Reese Florence and Lars open. 8 p.m., Fallser Club, 3721 Midvale Ave., thefallserclub.com
Umphrey’s McGee
The veteran jam band, which formed at the University of Notre Dame and called its 1998 debut album Greatest Hits, Vol. III, released its latest improvisatory adventure, Blueprints, in 2025. 8 p.m., Fillmore Philly, 29 E. Allen St., thefillmorephilly.com
The Knee-Hi’s
Chicago’s self-described “female fronted garage glam rock band existing as a living love letter to rock and roll” tops a bill with Ione, Star Moles, and Thank You Thank You. 8 p.m., Ortlieb’s 847 N. Third St., 4333collective.com
Boyz II Men
Shawn Stockman, Nate Morris, and Wanya Morris usually stay close to home on Valentine’s Day weekend. This year is a little different, with the Boyz on the road on the “New Edition Way” tour with New Edition and Toni Braxton. The trio of R&B stars will arrive in Philly at the Liacouras Center on March 15, but on this heart-shaped weekend, they’re in New Jersey. 8 p.m., Prudential Center, 25 Lafayette St., Newark, prucenter.com
Iron & Wine
Sam Beam, who leads Iron & Wine, has a free-flowing new album coming Feb. 27, called Hen’s Teeth. “I’ve always wanted to use that title,” he said in a statement. “I just love it. To me it suggests the impossible. Hen’s teeth do not exist. And that’s what this record felt like: a gift that shouldn’t be there but it is. An impossible thing but it’s real.” Noon, World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., xpn.org
Diana Krall
Jazz pianist Diana Krall makes two date-night stops in the region this weekend. On Friday, the vocalist, whose most recent album, This Dream of You, is named after a Bob Dylan song, is in Bethlehem. On Saturday, she’s down the Shore. 8 p.m. Wind Creek Event Center, 77 Wind Creek Blvd, Bethlehem, windcreekeventcenter.com, and 8 p.m., Ocean Casino Resort, 500 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, theoceanac.com
Diana Krall performs in Bethlehem on Friday and Atlantic City on Saturday.
Saturday, Feb. 14
The R&B Lovers Tour
This package tour gathers together stars of 1990s silky pop R&B and soul, with featured sets by Keith Sweat, Joe, Dru Hill, and Ginuwine. 8 p.m., Boardwalk Hall, 2301 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, boardwalkhall.com.
Eric Benet
The R&B love man, formerly betrothed to Halle Berry, and now married to Prince’s ex-wife Manuela Testolini, was a regular hitmaker in the 1990s and 2000s, topping the charts with “Spend My Life With You” with Tamia in 1999. Last year saw the release of his album The Co-Star and a holiday collection. 6 and 9:30 p.m., City Winery Philadelphia, 990 Filbert St., citywinery.com/philadelphia
Stinking Lizaveta
Cozy up to your honey while listening to high-volume doom jazz by the power trio named after a character in Dostoyevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov. The band consists of drummer Cheshire Augusta and guitarist brothers Yanni and Alexi Papadopoulos, whose 1996 debut album Hopelessness and Shame, recorded by Steve Albini, has just been issued on vinyl for the first time. 8 p.m., Upstairs at the Khyber Pass Pub, 56 S. Second St., @upstairsatkhyberpasspub
La Cumbia Del Amor
Philly cumbia klezmer punk band Mariposas Galacticas joins forces with Baltimore-based cumbia ska outfit Soroche and DJ Pdrto Criolla for a dance party celebrating “radical love in all its forms.” 9 p.m., Johnny Brenda’s, 1021 N. Franklin St., johnnybrendas.com
Philly Gumbo
Long-standing rhythmically adept party band Philly Gumbo is now in its 47th year. Fat Tuesday is coming up this week, and the band’s bons temps rouler repertoire is deep. This should be a Mardi Gras dance party to remember. 7 p.m., 118 North, 118 N. Wayne Ave., Wayne, 118Northwayne.com.
Marshall Allen at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia in April 2025. The Sun Ra Arkestra leader plays with his band Ghost Horizons on Saturday at Solar Myth.
Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons
The indefatigable Sun Ra Arkestra leader is back at the former Boot & Saddle with a version of his Ghost Horizons band that includes DM Hotep on guitar, Joe Morris on bass, and Matthew Shipp on piano. 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 S. Broad St., arsnovaworkshop.org
Sunday, Feb. 15
Marissa Nadler
Folk-goth guitarist Marissa Nadler creates dreamy noir-ish soundscapes that have won her a following with folkies and metal heads. Her latest is the haunting New Radiations. 7:30 p.m., MilkBoy Philly, 1100 Chestnut St., milkboyphilly.com
Langhorne Slim
Bucks County’s own Langhorne Slim turns up the volume on The Dreamin’ Kind, his most rocked-out album, produced by Greta Van Fleet bassist Sam F. Kiszka. That album follows 2021’s Strawberry Mansion, named for the Philly neighborhood where his grandfathers were raised. Get there early for Laney Jones and the Spirits, the Nashville quintet whose raucous 2025 self-titled debut is full of promise. 7 p.m., Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, ardmoremusichall.com
The Blackbyrds
The Washington jazz and R&B band, which formed when its members were students of trumpeter Donald Byrd, scored a smash with 1975’s “Walking in Rhythm.” Its music is familiar to hip-hop fans through “Rock Creek Park,” which was sampled by MF Doom, De La Soul, and Wiz Khalifa, among many others. 5 and 8:30 p.m., City Winery Philadelphia, 990 Filbert St., citywinery.com/philadelphia.
VENTNOR, N.J. — They demolished the existing boardwalk from the tennis courts to the fishing pier, north to south, and now they are building their way back up.
Financed mostly with federal funds granted to New Jersey from the COVID American Rescue Plan, Ventnor and other Shore towns like Ocean City, North Wildwood, Atlantic City, and Wildwood have set out to redo or upgrade their iconic pathways.
Ventnor is using $7 million in federal funds and bonded for about $4 million more, officials said.
Will this stretch of boardwalk reconstruction be done by Memorial Day?
Construction continues on the boardwalk on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in Ventnor City, N.J.
“It’s always a worry,” Ed Stinson, the Ventnor city engineer, said in an interview late last month. “We’ve had multiple meetings with the contractor [Schiavone Construction], one as recent as three weeks ago. In all the meetings, he’s said it’ll be complete and open before Memorial Day.”
The reconstruction has delivered a seven-block offseason interruption in a walkway that is popular year-round.
Work will stop for the summer, city officials say. In the fall, a second 13-block section, from Suffolk Avenue to the Atlantic City border at Jackson Avenue, will begin. There is currently no funding or plan for the boardwalk from Cambridge south to the Margate border, said Stinson.
The biggest change people will notice is that the original and distinctive angled herringbone decking pattern of the boardwalk is being replaced with a straight board decking. Ultimately, it came down to cost over tradition.
“There was discussion about it,” said Stinson. “There’s additional lumber that’s wasted when you do the herringbone, and the labor to cut that material. The additional material costs were significant. It’s a waste of tropical lumber. The only reason to go herringbone is tradition and appearance.”
The reconstruction has delivered a seven-block offseason interruption in a walkway that is popular year-round. Work will stop for the summer, city officials say.
Other differences are changes in lighting (lower, more frequent light poles) and some enhancements of accessible ramps. The existing benches, with their memorial plaques, will be back.
To demolish the boardwalk, the contractor cut the joist and the decking in 14-foot sections, “swung it around, carried it over to the volleyball court,” Stinson said, on Suffolk Avenue.
“That’s where they did their crushing and loading into the dumpsters. They worked their way down and followed that with the pile removing.”
The original herringbone pattern can be seen on the left, compared with the new straight decking pattern on the new construction side.
The other massive job was excavating the sand that had accumulated under the boardwalk. “They screened it, cleaned it, and put it down there,” on the beach in piles. It will be spread around above the tide line, Stinson said.
Once the excavation was down, the pile driving crew set out beginning at the south end and working their way toward Suffolk Avenue. “Then the framing crew came in and started framing,” Stinson said. On Feb. 2, the third team began its work: the decking crew.
The weather has slowed the pace, Stinson said. “They were doing about 20 to 24 piles a day,” he said, a pace that dropped to about nine piles a day after the snowstorm and ice buildup.
The framing crew installs pile caps, 8-by-14 beams that run across the boardwalk atop the pilings. The decking crew follows behind them, installing the wood, a tropical wood known as Cumaru. The use of Brazilian rainforest lumber at one time inspired protests, but that has not been an issue this time.
Construction continues on the boardwalk on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in Ventnor City, N.J.
Ventnor’s boardwalk, which links to Atlantic City’s famous walkway, dates to 1910. It was rebuilt twice before: once after the hurricane of 1944 and again after the March storm of 1962. Margate, on the southern end, never rebuilt its boardwalk after 1944.
Stinson said the tropical wood is noted for its “denseness and durability. It does not last forever.”
In all, $100 million of American Rescue funds was set aside by Gov. Phil Murphy for a Boardwalk Fund and awarded to 18 municipalities, including, as Stinson said, “anybody who has anything close to a boardwalk.”
Brigantine, with its promenade, received $1.18 million. Ocean City, in the process of rebuilding a portion of its north end boardwalk, received $4.85 million.
The two biggest recipients were Asbury Park and Atlantic City, each receiving $20 million. Atlantic City has completed a rebuilding of its Boardwalk to stretch all the way around the inlet to Gardner’s Basin. Wildwood, with $8.2 million, has undertaken a boardwalk reconstruction project, and North Wildwood, receiving $10.2 million, is rebuilding its boardwalk between 24th and 26th Streets, combining the herringbone pattern with a straight board lane for the tram car.
Although the timing of the reconstruction was no doubt prompted by the availability of the federal funds, Stinson said Ventnor’s boardwalk had shown signs of age.
“We’ve been into some significant repairs on the boardwalk,” Stinson said. “Those have increased every year. We were getting into pile failures. It was due. I don’t know if the city would have tackled it without the [federal] money.”
Ventnor’s boardwalk, which links to Atlantic City’s famous walkway, dates to 1910. It was rebuilt twice before: once after the hurricane of 1944 and again after the March storm of 1962.
New flights will take off soon from Atlantic City International Airport.
Breeze Airways, an airline launched in 2021, is adding two direct flights from Atlantic City to Charleston, S.C., and Raleigh-Durham, N.C. A flight with a stopover is also being added to Tampa, Fla.
“Atlantic City is not only a great destination for travelers but also a gateway to many other metro areas,” David Neeleman, founder and CEO of Breeze Airways, said in a statement Wednesday. “We know Atlantic City will be a welcome addition to our guests in Charleston, Raleigh, and Tampa, and we look forward to introducing our new guests in Atlantic City to Breeze.”
Breeze, which is focused on underserved markets, will start flying to the new destinations this spring. The Charleston route will begin May 6 and operate on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Raleigh-Durham and Tampa routes will begin June 11 and be offered on Thursdays and Sundays.
Travelers can book their flights at the Breeze Airways website. The airline ranks its ticket tiers from a “No Flex Fare” to “Nice” to “Nicer” to “Nicest” depending on flexibility to change or cancel travel, as well as bags included in the fare, legroom, and other features. A roundtrip ticket to Charleston from June 17 to June 20 costs $118 with no changes and no carry-on bag as of Jan. 29.
“For an airport of our size, expanding service in a way that directly benefits our passengers is especially meaningful, and this announcement reflects our continued focus on delivering a simple, accessible, and customer-friendly travel experience,” Stephen Dougherty, executive director of the South Jersey Transportation Authority, said in a statement.
Breeze has over 170routes including seasonal and year-round flights. The airline’s founder, Neeleman, is also the founder of JetBlue. Breeze reported its first full quarter of operating profit in 2024, the Wall Street Journal reported last year.
Atlantic City’s airport is also serviced by Spirit Airlines, American Airlines, and Allegiant.
American launched a program in 2022 to shuttle passengers on a bus from the Atlantic City airport to Philadelphia International Airport to catch flights. Spirit has seen a decrease in scheduled flights from Atlantic Cityin recent years and announced in 2024 that it would close its crew base there but continue servicing the airport. Allegiant started offering flights out of Atlantic City last year.
The French developer of South Jersey’s first large-scale AI data center made his case to residents on Wednesday, saying his massive under-construction facility will benefit them in ways unprecedented in the emerging industry.
But at a contentious town hall, several residents said they’re not taking his word for it, especially given the timing at which the developer was asking for their input.
“You couldn’t do this before the building was built?” asked one resident, who spoke during public comment but declined to give their name. “You kind of took our voice away.”
Located on South Lincoln Avenue, off State Route 55, the site was formerly a private industrial park.
DataOne, a French company that manages advanced data centers, is the owner, operator, and builder. Its client, Nebius Group, an Amsterdam-based AI-infrastructure company, will operate the center’s internal technology, which will fuel Microsoft’s AI tools.
Located on South Lincoln Avenue, off State Route 55, the site was formerly a private industrial park. It was sold to DataOne in a private transaction, the details of which Charles-Antoine Beyney, DataOne’s founder and chief executive officer, declined to disclose.
At city council meetings and on social media, some residents have voiced concerns about the environmental, financial, and quality-of-life impacts of the site. Prior to Wednesday’s meeting, residents were prompted to submit questions online that were then addressed in a presentation. Dozens also took to the mic afterward.
Beyney said he understood their concerns, but they don’t apply to his center, which will use “breakthrough” technology to reduce its environmental impact.
“Most of the data centers that are being built today suck, big time,” Beyney said Wednesday. “They consume water. They pollute. They are extremely not efficient. This is clearly not what we are building here.”
“No freaking way am I am going to do what the entire industry is doing … just killing our communities and killing our lungs to make money,” he added.
Developers tout promises of data centers
Data centers house the technology needed to fuel increasingly sophisticated AI tools. In recent years, they have been proliferating across the country and the region.
In June, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced a $20 billion investment by Amazon in Pennsylvania data centers in Salem Township and Falls Township.
A 560,000-square-foot data center is being built in Logan Township, Gloucester County, and is set to have a capacity of up to 150 megawatts once completed in early 2027, according to the website of its designer, Energy Concepts. There are also smaller, specialized data centers in Atlantic City and Pennsauken, according to Data Center Map.
In Vineland, Beyney said his gas-powered center will have nearly net-zero emissions, not consume water while cooling the equipment, and generate 85% of its own power. He told residents: “You will not see your bill for electricity going and skyrocketing.”
Opponents of data centers worry their electric bills will rise due to the centers. The developer in Vineland says that won’t happen in South Jersey.
The facility will be 100% privately funded, he said, after the company turned down a nearly $6.2 million loan from the city amid resident backlash. The loan was approved at a December council meeting, and Beyney said DataOne would have paid about $450,000 in interest, money that could have gone back into the community.
“That’s a shame,” Beyney said, “but we follow the people.”
At a meeting next week, Vineland City Council could approve a PILOT agreement that would give DataOne tax breaks on the new construction in exchange for payments to the city.
Beyney said DataOne plans to be a good neighbor. Across the street from the data center, he said they will build a vertical farm — which grows crops indoors using technology — and provide free fruits and vegetables to Vineland residents in need.
Residents voice concerns about Vineland data center
Several residents expressed skepticism, and even anger, about Beyney’s data-center promises, noting that Cumberland County already has plenty of farms.
Regarding the data center itself, they asked how Beyney could be so confident about new technology, questioned the objectivity of his data, and accused him of taking advantage of a city where nearly 14% of residents live below the poverty line.
Beyney denied the allegations.
At least one resident said he was moved by Beyney’s assurances.
“I was a really big critic of [the data center all along], but I think what you said tonight has alleviated a lot of my concerns,” said Steve Brown, who lives about a mile away from the data center. He still had one gripe, however: The noise.
“What I hear every night when I wake up at 2, 3, 4 o’clock in the morning is this rumble off in the distance,” Brown said. “When I get out of my car every day when I get home, I hear it.”
Brown invited Beyney and his team to come hear the noise from his kitchen or back patio. Beyney said they would do so, and promised to get the sound attenuated as soon as possible, certainly by the end of the project’s construction.
This week in Philly music features a tribute to the late songwriter Jill Sobule, a 20th-celebration anniversary of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s debut, a two-night stand by funkateers Lettuce, a golden age of hip-hop rapper, and a host of rising stars. That includes power pop band the Sharp Pins, jazz musicians Kenyon Harrold and Isaiah Collier, and genre-blending maverick Sudan Archives.
Thursday, Jan. 22
Rakim
No list of the most influential rappers of all time is complete without Rakim. He is the golden age of hip-hop MC who set new standards for lyricism and internal rhyme schemes with deejay Eric B. on late 1980s albums like Paid in Full and Follow the Leader. His latest is last year’s The Re-Up. 8 p.m., City Winery, 900 Filbert St., citywinery.com/philadelphia
Gregory Alan Isakov
South Africa-born, Philadelphia-raised, and Boulder, Colo.-based indie folk singer Gregory Alan Isakov’s most recent album is 2023’s Appaloosa Bones. It is a moody evocative set of allusive songs on the Iron & Wine and Fleet Foxes continuum. His North Broad Street show is “an intimate acoustic evening.” 8 p.m., Met Philly, 858 N. Broad St., themetphilly.com
Lamp
In the Grateful Dead- and Phish-adjacent universe, Lamp has legitimate bona fides. Russ Lawton and Ray Paczkowski are the rhythm section in the Trey Anastasio Band and Scott Metzger plays in Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. 8 p.m., Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, ardmoremusichall.com
Friday, Jan. 23
Sharp Pins
Twenty-one-year-old power-pop wunderkind Kai Slater’s Sharp Pins is all the indie rage, with the kinetic Balloon Balloon Balloon drawing from Guided By Voices and the Byrds and sounding downright Beatles-like at times. The band plays two shows at Jerry’s on Front with Atlantic City’s Te Vista opening. 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., Jerry’s on Front, 2341 N. Front St., r5productions.com
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
In 2006, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s self-titled debut’s music blog-fueled buzz helped reshape the indie music business. Singer Alec Ounsworth is marking the milestone with a “Piano & Voice” solo tour that kicks off with hometown Philly shows on Friday and Saturday. Noon, Free at Noon, World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., xpn.org and 7 p.m., Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1906 Rittenhouse Square, r5productions.com
Lettuce, as pictured on their new album “Cook.” The Boston funk band plays two nights at Ardmore Music Hall, on Friday and Saturday.
Lettuce
The Boston funk sextet Lettuce has named its new album Cook, and the members all sport chef’s toques on the album cover. The band, whose musical stew pulls from horn-heavy influences like Tower of Power and James Brown, plays two shows this weekend. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave. Ardmore, ardmoremusichall.com
Saturday, Jan. 24
Isaiah Collier and Keyon Harrold
This Penn Live Arts show pairs two rising stars in the jazz world. They’re both Midwesterners. Ferguson, Mo., trumpeter Keyon Harrold has played with Jay-Z and Common, who guests on the opening track of his album. He has also played the trumpet parts in the Don Cheadle-starring Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead. Isaiah Collier is a Chicago saxophonist whose The Story of 400 Years traces four centuries of Black American history. 7:30 p.m., Zellerbach Theatre, 3680 Walnut St., pennlivearts.org
Keyon Harrold plays the Zellerbach Theatre at the Annenberg Center on Saturday with Isaiah Collier.
Jillith Fair: Loving Jill Sobule
In May, singer-songwriter Jill Sobule tragically died in a house fire in Minnesota. A tribute show at the Fallser Club in East Falls will be co-hosted by Sobule’s friends Jim Boggia and Martykate O’Neill. The evening will feature Tracy Bonham, Jonathan Coulton, James Mastro, and author Tara Murtha. Expect an emotional evening. 8 p.m., the Fallser Club, 3721 Midvale Ave., thefallserclub.com
Daffo
Daffo, the indie pop singer born Gabi Greenberg, went viral with the 2024 single “P:or Madeline.” Their debut, Where the Earth Bends, was recorded with Elliott Smith producer Rob Schnapf. 8 p.m., PhilaMoca, 531 N. 12th St., philamoca.org
Winter Carnival
This package tour brings together several veteran alt-hip-hop luminaries, headlined by Twin Cities rap duo Atmosphere. It also includes Sage Francis and R.A. the Rugged Man and former Ultramagnetic MCs leader Kool Keith. 8 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, 1009 Canal St. brooklynbowl.com/philadelphia.
Sunday, Jan. 25
On a Winter’s Night
In 1994, Christine Lavin produced a folk compilation called On a Winter’s Night, featuring John Gorka, Patty Larkin, Lucy Kaplansky, Bill Morrissey, and others. That album prompted many concert tours with folkies of various stripes, and this reunion features Gorka, Larkin, Kaplansky, and Cliff Eberhardt. 8 p.m., Sellersville Theater, 24 W. Temple Ave., Sellersville, st94.com
Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter is never short on new songs or stories to tell. Having completed a full band tour for his new album, I Believe in You, My Honeydew, he’s now out on a solo tour. On Sunday, it will take him to West Art, the new venue in an old church in Lancaster. 8 p.m., West Art, 816 Buchanon Ave., Lancaster, westartlanc.com.
Brittney Denise Parks, also known as Sudan Archives, plays Union Transfer on Tuesday.
Tuesday, Jan. 27
Sudan Archives
Brittney Denise Parks, who performs as Sudan Archives, is a singer, violinist, and electronic musician. She is at her most dance-floor directed on the excellent and creatively restless The BPM, the follow-up to 2022’s acclaimed Natural Brown Prom Queen. 8 p.m., Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St., utphilly.com.
Greg Freeman
Put Greg Freeman in the category of RIYL MJ Lenderman, Ryan Davis, and Bob Dylan. The latter’s 1978 album Street Legal is the inspiration behind “Curtain” from Freeman’s 2025 album Burnover, which confirmed the buzz generated by the Vermont songwriter’s 2022 debut Looked Out. 8 p.m. Ukie Club, 847 N. Franklin St., 4333collective.net.
Concert announcements
It’s a busy week for tour announcements.
A$AP Rocky was musical guest on Saturday Night Live last weekend. The rapper, who also happens to be Rihanna’s boyfriend, used that appearance to announce a “Don’t Be Dumb” tour that comes to Xfinity Mobile Arena on June 4.
The Human League plays the Met Philly on June 28, joined by fellow 1980s British acts Soft Cell and Alison Moyet. And Tori Amos’ new album, In Time of Dragons, due May 1, will bring her to the Met on Aug. 1.
Snail Mail, the Baltimore indie rocker born Lindsey Jordan, has announced her new album, Ricochet, due in March, and a date at the Fillmore on April 16 with Swirlies and Hall Gallo. Ticket details at r5productions.com.
Next month, the Old City establishment will also roll out a “lighter portions, lighter prices” section of its regular menu.
This is all to keep up with the evolving preferences of Philly-area diners, said Barry Gutin, cofounder of Cuba Libre.
“We said, ‘We should put something on the menu for all sorts of people watching their diet and their money,’” said Gutin, whose staff has noticed GLP-1 users and nonusers alike requesting these options more over the past year. This trend has also been seen at Cuba Libre restaurants in Atlantic City, Washington, and Orlando, as well as at its Paladar Latin Kitchen and Bomba Tacos locations in the Philadelphia suburbs.
For customers, an added perk is that they pay less for these smaller-portioned menu items, Gutin added. He said diners have become more focused on value amid broader financial uncertainty.
“The economy dictates that we have a diversity in pricing that meets more people’s needs,” Gutin said. “You think about the way people look at menus online. They’re scanning through prices as well.”
The dining room at Cuba Libre in Philadelphia. A cofounder says staff has noticed GLP-1 users and nonusers alike requesting smaller-portioned, less expensive options more over the past year.
In August, more than a third of U.S. diners said they were dining out less frequently than they did a year ago, according to a survey from YouGov. Of the less-frequent diners, 69% said they were eating out less in part because of the perceived cost of restaurant meals, the survey found.
Lower-income consumers were most likely to have cut back on dining out, according to the survey, while middle- and higher-income folks hadn’t changed their habits substantially.
This jibes with what executives at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia are hearing, too.
“Even individuals with discretionary income to spend are being careful,” Anna Paulson, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, said Wednesday. “For example, although people are still eating out in Philadelphia, contacts tell us that less expensive options on the menu are becoming more popular.”
“The only exception to this trend is at more upscale restaurants,” Paulson added. “High-income households, bolstered by a strong stock market, appear to be driving elevated consumption growth.”
The Ropa Vieja meal from the GLP-Wonderful menu at Cuba Libre as shown on Jan. 14.
Alcohol use among adults has plummeted, with just 54% of respondents saying they drink in a July Gallup survey. That’s the lowest percentage in at least 90 years. It likely drops even lower this month as some people abstain from alcohol as part of the Dry January trend.
All of these trends are on display at Philly-area bars and restaurants. And owners are trying to keep up.
“We’re definitely at a time of dramatic shift in people’s preferences and tastes,” said Avram Hornik, owner of FCM Hospitality, which runs about a dozen venues in the region. They include Morgan’s Pier, Harper’s Garden, Craft Hall, and Concourse Dance Bar, as well as seasonal cocktail and beer gardens such as the traveling Parks on Tap.
“I don’t think people are spending less or going out less,” Hornik said, “but I just think they are doing it differently.”
Customers dine at Liberty Point, one of Avram Hornik’s restaurants, in 2023.
At Hornik’s restaurants, overall sales have been consistent year over year, he said. Some customers are looking for smaller portions, he said, and late-night business has dropped precipitously. But group dining and special events have made up for losses in other areas, he said.
When customers decide an outing is worthwhile, Hornik said, they generally aren’t sparing expenses.
People are “looking for more of an experience when they go out to eat,” Hornik said. “It’s really about value: Am I getting a good value for the money that I’m spending?”
To retain customers, Hornik said his restaurants are leaning into weekly specials, such as $1 tacos at Rosy’s, and happy-hour deals.
At Cuba Libre, Gutin said he sees the GLP-1 menu, as well as the forthcoming lighter-portions menu, as a way to make his restaurants as appealing as possible for all diners.
At each location, only about a dozen people request the GLP-1 menu each week, he said. But if a group is considering dining at Cuba Libre and one person is on a GLP-1, the special menu could make or break their decision. He said it could keep the GLP-1 user from exercising their “veto vote,” sending the entire group to dine elsewhere.
Dining trends differ by location
In the Philadelphia suburbs, restaurateurs said dining trends vary depending on location and type of restaurant.
The dining room at Joey Chops, the Malvern steakhouse that Stove & Co. restaurants co-owner Joe Monnich said has been least impacted financially by changing consumer habits.
Joe Monnich, co-owner of Stove & Co. restaurant group, said food sales are up at his higher-end restaurants, including Joey Chops steakhouse in Malvern. But farther from the Main Line, in more “blue-collar” Lansdale, he said, Stove & Tap’s business is less steady of late.
There, “I feel more economic up and downs,” Monnich said. He felt similarly about his Al Pastor restaurant in Havertown, which is now closed after a local buyer came in last month and offered Monnich cash on the spot for the building.
At his more casual concepts all over the region, people are spending less on average, he said, and about the same at the higher-end spots. Recently, he added, staff have noticed diners being more mindful of how much they’re consuming.
“People aren’t getting that second drink,” Monnich said. “People aren’t getting dessert. People aren’t getting that appetizer.”
Changing drinking habits have hurt alcohol sales, too, Monnich said. In recent years, many customers have turned away from local microbrews and gravitated toward canned cocktails and “macro beers” like Michelob Ultra and Miller Lite.
“Three years ago I barely sold Michelob Ultra and right now it’s one of my top sellers,” Monnich said. As are canned cocktails. “Surfsides are expensive, and I don’t make a lot of money off them.”
Stove & Co. executives have talked about creating special menus catering to these evolving consumer preferences, Monnich said, but he gets anxious about making portions smaller. So for now, he too is leaning into happy-hour deals and other value-focused items.
“I try not to be too focused on trends because trends come and go,” Monnich said. “I do see the current trend, these weight-loss drugs, I don’t see that going anywhere … [and] people are going to be drinking less-octane alcohol.”
Staff writer Ariana Perez-Castells contributed to this article.
For Shane Hennen, the house of cards keeps folding.
A federal indictment unsealed Thursday accuses the Philadelphia-based professional gambler of acting as a ringleader in a sweeping sports-betting conspiracy now involving the NCAA and the Chinese Basketball Association. Hennen was first arrested last January in connection with a gambling case involving a former Toronto Raptor, and was also charged separately in an October indictment in New York focused on the NBA.
The latest charges against Hennen, known as “Sugar Shane,” brought an international angle to the existing portrait of a high-stakes gambler who prosecutors allege was willing to bribe athletes to throw games, provide devices to fix backroom card games tied to the New York mafia, and use insider betting information to place fraudulent wagers.
In all, federal prosecutors have accused Hennen of conspiring to place fraudulent bets on ex-Raptors forward Jontay Porter and NBA guard Terry Rozier, bribing the top-scoring player in the CBA to throw games, and recruiting college basketball trainers to help rig dozens of NCAA games — much of it orchestrated from Hennen’s favorite Philly casino, Rivers. On top of it all, he is also alleged to have participated in the rigging of mob-linked poker games in New York City.
And while the list of implicated players and conspirators continues to grow by the dozens, Hennen has remained a central figure to the bet-fixing scandals that have rocked the sports world over the past year.
But Hennen’s earlier record for criminality came into clearer view as result of the federal investigations. While growing up in the Pittsburgh area, he did time for drug and gambling related charges that now serve as a kind of prelude to his role in the bet-fixing scandals.
In 2006, the Washington, Pa., native received probation in Allegheny County for charges linked to a gambling scheme. According to court records, Hennen and an accomplice rented adjacent rooms in a Pittsburgh area hotel to hold underground dice games. While gambling in one room, a partner in the next room employed a magnetic device to flip loaded dice to preferred numbers.
Then, early one morning in 2009, a former Duquesne University basketball player was found bleeding from a stab wound in Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood, a popular nightlife area. The man survived and later told police that Hennen had stabbed him in the neck after the athlete confronted him about cheating in a card game. Hennen was also picked up on a DUI less than two weeks later, but was released.
Not long afterward, Hennen was charged with two more felonies after he was caught in a parking lot with 500 grams of cocaine down the street from the Meadows Casino, near Pittsburgh.
In subsequent court filings, Hennen revealed that he had been working with a local drug dealer for more than a year. Facing well over a decade of jail time between the drug and assault charges linked to the stabbing, Hennen agreed to testify against his dealer and participated in a federal drug sting involving a different narcotics supplier based in Detroit, court records show.
He served just less than two-and-a-half years in prison, plus four years of supervised release.
According to court transcripts published by Sports Illustrated in October, Hennen admitted five times under oath that he cheated other people out of money.
During a cross-examination, Lee Rothman, an attorney for his associate drug dealer he was testifying against, stated bluntly that Hennen made “a living out of cheating people out of things.”
“That’s correct,” Hennen said.
After his release in 2013, Hennen traveled to Pensacola, Fla., purportedly to work as a sales rep for a seafood wholesaler. Court records show he almost immediately went back to gambling, even violating his probation to travel out of state to participate in the 2014 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
When Hennen landed in Philadelphia in 2015, it was seemingly to start over. He leased an apartment near the Rivers Casino in Fishtown.
The small casino would become Hennen’s unlikely staging ground for a new, more lucrative gambling scheme that would come to span the globe.
From Philly to China
Local gamblers said Hennen worked the poker and baccarat tables at Rivers, using the action to build a reputation with the house and pave the way for six-figure sports bets, the kind only gamblers with money and a track record at the casino are allowed to make.
By 2022, Hennen had launched an online betting consultancy via an Instagram page called “Sugar Shane Wins.” On social media, Hennen posted his sportsbook picks along with glamorous photos jetting around to Vegas or Dubai, or sitting courtside at Sixers games.
Although he marketed bets on teams familiar to U.S. gamblers, his focus — and income — was overseas, according to federal prosecutors.
He posted courtside photos of himself at Sixers games with a Mississippi-based sports handicapper named Marves Fairley, who prosecutors say connected the gambler with Antonio Blakeney, a former Louisiana State University shooting guard who had done a brief stint on the Chicago Bulls.
Blakeney had subsequently bounced around different international teams, including Hapoel Tel Aviv, in Israel, and the Nanjing Monkey Kings and Jiangsu Dragons, both in China. According to a federal indictment, while playing for the Dragons, Hennen and Fairley bribed Blakeney to underperform in Chinese basketball games in order to fix high-stakes bets against the team and recruit others to do the same.
Suddenly, the slots parlor on the Delaware was seeing six-figure bets placed on multiple Chinese basketball games through its sportsbook, BetRivers, sometimes for upward of $200,000. Representatives for the casino declined to comment Thursday on the latest federal indictment.
The gambit proved reliably lucrative. In a 2023 text message obtained by federal authorities, Hennen reassured an accomplice who had placed big bets against Blakeney’s team.
“Nothing gu[a]rantee[d] in this world,” Hennen wrote, ”but death taxes and Chinese basketball.”
The model would also serve as a template for a similar racket the duo would orchestrate within the NCAA.
By 2024, the duo had recruited basketball trainers Jalen Smith and Roderick Winkler to help convince dozens of college basketball players to rig matches on their behalf.
Ultimately, 39 players on more than 17 Division 1 NCAA teams would participate, with bettors wagering millions on at least 29 rigged games.
Hennen took a behind-the-scenes role, authorities alleged, texting a network of straw bettors who placed big wagers on games featuring star players bribed by the trainers, and sometimes moving bribe money or splitting up winnings back in Philly.
His rising profile started to draw unwanted attention.
Shortly after Hennen relocated to Las Vegas in 2023, he was accused of rigging poker matches by Wesley “Wes Side” Fei, another professional gambler who claimed in social media posts that Hennen had scammed him out of millions.
The next year, gambling industry watchdog Integrity Compliance 360 began flagging bets placed on six Temple University basketball games. One, against Alabama-Birmingham in March 2024, saw the Borgata, in Atlantic City, cancel bets for the game due to suspicious betting activity. Before the end of 2024, the National Collegiate Athletic Association had launched an investigation into the games, as rumors swirled that federal authorities were questioning Temple player Hysier Miller as part of an alleged point-shaving scheme.
Then Porter, the Raptors center, was banned for life from the NBA, after it emerged that the league was investigating yet another bet-rigging scheme. A few months later, Porter pleaded guilty to gambling charges — the first hint at the true scope of a sprawling federal investigation that went on to consume the NCAA and NBA.
Beginning of the end
In January 2025, Hennen’s luck ran out.
Authorities stopped him in Las Vegas as he was boarding a one-way flight to Panama, en route to Colombia. He had $10,000 in his pocket and claimed he was headed to South America for dental treatment.
But investigators had already zeroed in on Hennen as the main orchestrator of the prop betting scheme involving Rozier, the former Miami Heat guard. In October, federal prosecutors in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York unsealed an indictment, accusing Hennen of working with Fairley to have Rozier throw games for a profit, sometimes using Philadelphia as a meeting point to dole out the proceeds to other bettors.
Court records show that since then, Hennen has entered plea negotiations with federal prosecutors and relocated to a residence in South Philadelphia. (His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.)
During the Thursday news conference unveiling the latest indictment, Wayne Jacobs, a special agent in charge of the FBI Philadelphia field office, said that Hennen and his conspirators’ actions had undermined faith in professional sports writ large.
“We expect athletes to embody the very best of hard work, skill, and discipline, not to sell out to those seeking to corrupt the games for their own personal benefit,” he said. “The money that’s used as a tool to influence outcomes does not just taint a single game, it tears up the trust and the results that we cherish.”
We’ve asked where South Philly starts, and about the Eagles-Steelers divide, but now it's time to answer an even more controversial question: Where does South Jersey end and North Jersey begin?
It’s a toughie, even entire movies have tried to answer this question. Is it just Eagles country vs. Giants country? Or maybe area code based? Turnpike exits? Or just simple geography of towns and counties? We want to hear from you.
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Use the sliders below to draw the dividing line. Submit your pick and see how other Inquirer readers voted.
The Rest of New Jersey
Central Jersey
South Jersey
You think South Jersey includes south_city_marker.
If we averaged out the votes from Inquirer readers, South Jersey would include south_city_average.
We’re not done yet, though. Now you’ve told us where South Jersey starts, we have another question for you: If it exists, where does Central Jersey start?
selection_answer
Of those that voted, central_votes believe there is a Central Jersey. The average Inquirer reader placed north_city_average in North Jersey and central_city_avg in Central Jersey.
Thank you for taking our quiz. If you want to weigh in more (like Pork Roll or Taylor Ham) let us know!
Staff Contributors
Design, Development, and Reporting: Garland Fordice
Editing: Sam Morris
Copy Editing: Brian Leighton
Illustration: Julia Duarte
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To hear Anthony Hudgins tell it, overtime fraud at the Philadelphia Fire Department is so brazen that some employees continued abusing the system even after officials started investigating them.
A paramedic was billing the city for overtime hours last May, Hudgins, the former first deputy fire commissioner, contends. But according to a federal lawsuit Hudgins filed Wednesday, there was one problem: That employee was luxuriating on a Norwegian Cruise at the time, not on the clock as a paramedic.
The alleged deception took place after The Inquirer reported that the city was investigating overtime abuse within the 2,800-member fire department and, at the same time, investigating Hudgins over a series of sexual harassment complaints made against him — claims Hudgins says were false and made by employees he’d reported for overtime abuse.
In his complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Hudgins accuses paramedics, the firefighters union president, and top city officials of defamation, subjecting him to a “bad faith” investigation, and ultimately forcing the department veteran of 31 years to lose his rank and take a $75,000 pay cut.
The dueling misconduct investigations have roiled the fire department since late 2024, and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration has declined to release the findings from either probe. Hudgins was demoted last fall.
Hudgins’ lawsuit claims that findings from the sexual harassment investigation conducted by the law firm Campbell Durrant cleared him of “verbal misconduct” and found that he had “hugged co-workers.” The complaint states that Fire Commissioner Jeffrey Thompson told Hudgins that the investigators found: “You were just being you.”
The lawsuit did acknowledge that Parker’s administration found that Hudgins had violated the city’s sexual harassment policy and demoted him as a result. Women who lodged complaints against Hudgins said that his conduct included unwanted touching, inappropriate comments, and intimidation tactics, The Inquirer reported last year.
However, Hudgins contended in his lawsuit that the overtime review conducted by Inspector General Alexander DeSantis concluded that two of the women who’d accused him of misconduct were “proven fraudsters” who also recruited other women to file complaints.
Hudgins claimed that the overtime probe was completed in September. DeSantis told The Inquirer last month that the investigation is “still ongoing and may be for some time.” DeSantis declined further comment Thursday.
Because Parker’s administration and DeSantis have continued to decline to release the results of their investigations, it is difficult to confirm Hudgins’ account.
Parker’s administration declined to comment on the lawsuit.
According to the complaint, Hudgins called for an overtime review in fall 2024 after hearing that paramedic Jacqulyn Murphy had lodged a disproportionately high number of overtime shifts that year. While her peers averaged about 24 overtime payments, Murphy had accrued 238, more than 80% of them without the necessary approval forms, Hudgins claimed.
The department’s payroll supervisor, Marian Farris, rubber-stamped the overtime approvals, according to Hudgins’ complaint. Hudgins alerted Fire Commissioner Thompson.
But before he could finish his review, he asserts, Murphy and Farris retaliated by filing sexual harassment complaints against him and encouraging other female employees to do the same — including Tabitha Boyle, Christina Quinones, and Dana Jackson, who are also named as defendants in the lawsuit. Requests for their comments were not returned Thursday.
Murphy, now a defendant in the lawsuit, did not respond to requests for comment Thursday. Payroll records show she was the ninth highest overtime earner in the department in 2024, more than doubling her $94,549 base salary.
The city paid Campbell Durrant $30,000 to conduct interviews and investigate the claims against Hudgins, who was reassigned to remote work and, later, forced to take a leave of absence.
The city has taken The Inquirer to court to block the release of overtime records related to the overtime investigation, claiming their public disclosure would jeopardize the integrity of the probe led by The Office of the Inspector General, the city’s fraud prevention watchdog.
Hudgins, in his lawsuit, claims to have seen the results of that investigation. According to his complaint, the OIG produced its findings to the city and found that Murphy and Farris had both conspired to defraud the city.
According to the complaint, the OIG report stated Murphy had received an undisclosed sum of overtime pay and then “consistently” paid Farris via CashApp. The payments occurred biweekly for at least six months in 2024.
Farris left the department in March 2025. In a phone interview Thursday, she denied any scheme involving payments with Murphy. Investigators found CashApp receipts on Murphy’s email account, but Farris said those were innocent transactions.
“It ain’t a good thing to say, but Jackie was somebody I could borrow money from when I was in Atlantic City, or I could babysit her son for her or something like that,” Farris said. “I get CashApps from my mother. I’m not doing anything fraudulent with my mother.”
Hudgins’ complaint also accused Murphy of continuing to bilk the overtime system even after Farris left the department last year.
The fire department did not respond to a request for comment on the complaint. Michael Bresnan, president of Local 22 of the International Fire Fighters and Paramedics Union, was also named as a defendant in the suit. He declined to comment Thursday.
Per the complaint, Hudgins received a phone call from Thompson in July, who told him the law firm found no wrongdoing and that he could return to work, saying, essentially:
“Good news! You’re coming back to work. You were just being you.”
Staff writer Samantha Melamed contributed to this article.
ATLANTIC CITY — Elected officials, religious leaders, and community activists gathered Tuesday in City Hall to condemn recent “aggressive” and “appalling” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the resort town.
“The reason I’m here is because just last week, our community was attacked,” said Alexander Mendoza, a community organizer with advocacy group El Pueblo Unido of Atlantic City. “Fathers, friends, family members, hardworking people were taken away from us by an inhumane system called ICE.”
El Pueblo has been highlighting recent ICE activity in Atlantic City on its social media, including a car stop on Dec. 12 that led to the detainment of two men, one of whom subsequently missed the birth of his daughter earlier this week after being taken to Delaney Hall. The group called the car stop illegal and said the Mexican Consulate is working to provide the man with legal help.
“He and his partner had just moved into a new apartment and were ready to begin a new chapter in their lives,” Mendoza said. “That morning changed everything. He was taken by ICE and is now being held at Delaney Hall.”
Mendoza said this and other recent activity, including ICE agents establishing a base of operations at the city’s Bader Field, the former municipal airport, have left community members fearful and officials alarmed and outraged.
“There’s a lot of hysteria, a lot of fear in our community, rightly so,” said Cristian Moreno-Rodriguez, executive director of El Pueblo. There were rumors this week that businesses, particularly laundromats, would be targeted this week in Atlantic City and Pleasantville, he said.
“We strategically placed ourselves throughout different traffic hubs where our community is, our immigrant working-class community,” he said.
Moreno-Rodriguez said his organization has tracked some of the same ICE vehicles conducting activity in Bridgeton, Cumberland County.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding activity in the area.
El Pueblo has been educating community members of their rights and training volunteers to document and respond to reported ICE activity. He said the response time in Pleasantville is about two minutes; in Atlantic City, it’s 4 to 5 minutes.
Atlantic County is home to about 12,000 undocumented immigrants. Moreno-Rodriguez said the volunteers include non-Hispanic allies and young Latinos, “children who are standing up for their parents and neighbors.”
City Council Vice President Kaleem Shabazz said the council adopted a resolution last week condemning the ICE activity, which he said had made his constituents wary of leaving their homes without carrying documentation of their citizenship. He said police had not been informed about the raids or the use of Bader Field.
Moreno-Rodriguez said the city is about 33% Latino or Hispanic, and about 29% immigrant, with most Spanish-speaking immigrants coming from Mexico and the Dominican Republic, and smaller numbers from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Nearby Pleasantville is about 50% Hispanic and has a sizable Haitian population, he said.
Both Moreno-Rodriguez and Shabazz called on businesses, which employ many immigrants, to support their workers. Moreno-Rodriguez said one man who self-deported after being picked up by ICE had worked for one of Atlantic City’s iconic bread bakeries.
“If you go into any of the small businesses of Atlantic City, they are powered by immigrant labor,” Moreno-Rodriguez said. “And we want to put out a call to action to all the business owners of Atlantic City that if you employ immigrants, please be there for them when they are detained. Please be there for them after they’ve given you hours of labor, years of blood, sweat, and tears to your business.”
From left, advocacy group El Pueblo Unido of Atlantic City rapid responders Karen Pelaez-Moreno and Christopher Arellano, executive director Cristian Moreno-Rodriguez, Atlantic City Councilman Kaleem Shabazz, and El Pueblo board president Irvin Moreno-Rodriguez, who was recently appointed a Pleasantville School Board member. The group and elected officials held a press conference Dec. 23, 2025 to condemn recent ICE activity.
Also attending the news conference were the Rev. Collins Days, an Atlantic County commissioner, and religious leaders Imam Amin Muhammad of Atlantic City’s Masjid Muhammad mosque, Cantor Jackie Menaker of Ventnor’s Shirat Hayam synagogue, and the synagogue’s president, Joe Rodgers, a criminal defense attorney.
“I am appalled at what’s been happening in our community by ICE,” Days said. “We stand together because an attack on one group is an attack on all groups.”
“When we see the harms of our government, we are obligated to speak out,” Muhammad said. “We need engagement in the political process to make a change.”
Mendoza said activists believed the targeted raids of last week were “the beginning of a large raid on our community … a major escalation.”
“When we drove down Iowa Avenue, we saw an ICE agent and a Border Patrol agent questioning a woman, attempting to extract information in order to detain her,” he said. “When the agents noticed us, they allowed the woman to walk away.”
One of the agents claimed to be looking for a fugitive, he said.
Activists followed the man to Bader Field, where they saw a transport van and eight other vehicles. “That’s when we knew this wasn’t a small operation,” he said. “As soon as the agents realized they were being watched, they left quickly and quietly. It just took two Latino organizers standing by, holding cameras, for ICE to retreat from Atlantic City. ICE operates in the shadows. When people know their rights and when there is accountability, they scatter.”
