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  • ‘It’s putting Delco on the map’: The Festival of Lights returns to Media this week

    ‘It’s putting Delco on the map’: The Festival of Lights returns to Media this week

    Rose Tree County Park in Media will once again transform into a winter wonderland this holiday season for the 50th annual Festival of Lights.

    Starting Thursday, some 300,000 lights will adorn over 125 trees at the center of the 118-acre park, which will also play host to vendors, musical performances, and food trucks on select nights during the festival’s run through Jan. 3.

    More than a beloved tradition, the free festival is “putting Delco on the map,” says Delaware County Parks and Recreation Interim Director Anne Stauffer. The festival drew about 97,000 visitors last year, according to Visit Delco data, and Stauffer expects more than 100,000 this year.

    Over the past few years, the festival has significantly grown its footprint. While it used to largely attract residents from in and around Media, a major change in 2021 helped attract more visitors from across the region.

    ARPA funding helped grow the Festival of Lights to include larger trees.

    Using funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, organizers grew the number of lights on display — including extending it to the park’s tallest trees — and added pop-up shopping elements, a format that has been replicated each year since. With a refreshed display, the festival went from a local event to a “regional draw,” Stauffer said.

    Now, the annual festival is one of the park’s biggest undertakings, with work beginning in mid-October.

    This year’s festival will see a return of many favorite displays, like a lighted archway, Snoopy and other Peanuts characters, a gingerbread family, and Santa and his reindeer. A Visit Delco selfie station featuring a giant Adirondack chair will be moved to the front of the park. There will also be musical performances on Delco’s Fare & Flair nights, along with a selection of food, drinks, and other vendors.

    New this year will be the unveiling of a “Delco Bell,” which will make its debut at 4 p.m. Thursday, and remain on display through next December, even after the festival wraps up. It’s one of many bells being displayed statewide as part of America250PA’s “Bells Across PA” initiative, which began rolling out in April in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

    “I think it’s a beautiful opportunity to be able to show the public artistry and history,” Stauffer said.

    This is also a milestone year for Rose Tree County Park, which opened in 1975 and is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

    Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s Festival of Lights:

    When will the Festival of Lights be open?

    This year’s festival kicks off on Dec. 4 at 5 p.m., when the entire park will be lit up for the first time this season. As part of the festivities, the Springton Lake Middle School Select Choir will perform seasonal songs, and Santa will help light the park before zipping around on one of Delaware County Parks and Recreation’s electric ATVs. He’ll remain on site until 8:30 p.m.

    In addition to the ceremonial lighting, opening night will also be the first of this year’s Delco’s Fare & Flair Nights, which include music, food, drinks, and other local vendors.

    From Dec. 4 to Jan. 3, the park will be lit nightly at 5 p.m. and remain lit until 9:30 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

    Who are this year’s vendors?

    There will be vendors, food, drinks, and live entertainment on Delco’s Fare & Flair Nights, weather permitting. These will take place Dec. 4, 6, 7, 13, and 14 from 5 to 8:30 p.m.

    Expect a selection of food and drinks vendors each night, including Albie’s Fresh Burgers and Crabcakes, Auntie Anne’s, Brick & Brew, Calaveras Street Tacos, DonutNV, Dos Gringos Mexican Kitchen, The Munchy Machine, Napoletano Brothers, Owl’s Water Ice and Treats, Pizzeria La Familia, Rollin’ Phatties BBQ Smokeshack, and Savannah’s Southern Cuisine.

    Artisan vendors will also be selling goods including clothing, home decor, and candles.

    On Delco’s Fare & Flair Nights, local bands will perform at 5 p.m., followed by a DJ spinning tunes until 8:30 p.m.

    You can see the vendors attending each Delco’s Fare & Flair night on the county’s website here.

    What’s new for 2025?

    While visitors will find a similarly festive display to years past, there will be a few additions for 2025, including one celebrating the nation’s semiquincentennial. A Delaware County-themed bell will be unveiled at 4 p.m. on Dec. 4, and remain on display through the festival and next year.

    Where to park when you get there

    Delaware County Park Police will be directing traffic on Delco’s Fare & Flair nights, with parking available in the main lots at the front of Rose Tree County Park, closest to Nether Providence Road. The rear lot, near the Hunt Club building, will have additional parking on nights when Delco’s Fare & Flair is not taking place. There will be overflow parking on the grass, as weather permits.

    📍 1671 N. Providence Rd., Media 💵 Free

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • Chester County might be the only Philly suburb not raising taxes next year

    Chester County might be the only Philly suburb not raising taxes next year

    Chester County may be the only county in Philadelphia’s suburbs that will avoid a property tax hike next year.

    In the proposed 2026 budget, released last month, Chester County’s commissioners projected $666.3 million in operational spending, roughly 4.7% more than the county budgeted for 2025. The budget is expected to pass the three-member board of commissioners with bipartisan support.

    Despite the increased spending and more limited state and federal resources, county officials said, they expected to avoid a tax increase next year thanks to budget cuts across nearly every department and delayed projects.

    “This budget was really difficult for us, but we did what we had to to keep it at zero,” said Chester County Commissioner Marian Moskowitz, a Democrat.

    David Byerman, the county’s CEO, described the county as being in a “defensive crouch” financially.

    “We are in a very unpredictable environment in which we have a lot of conflicting information that we’re dealing with,” Byerman said, citing federal funding uncertainty under President Donald Trump. “We were charged by our commissioners in Chester County with crafting a budget that held the line in terms of tax increases.”

    How does Chester County compare with the rest of the region?

    The decision sets Chester County apart from its peers in a year that has been marked by budget uncertainty at the state and federal levels. In recent weeks, Delaware County’s executive director proposed a 19% property tax hike to address the county’s structural deficit. Montgomery County’s commissioners are proposing a 4% increase. Bucks County’s commissioners have floated a tax increase to address a deficit in next year’s budget.

    But on the heels of a 13% property tax increase that took effect in January, Chester County’s commissioners said they were eager to keep taxes flat for residents.

    “This is a pared-down budget because we didn’t know what the federal and state government were going to do,” said Josh Maxwell, a Democrat, who chairs the county board of commissioners.

    The biggest cost increases, he said, came in the form of employee and inmate healthcare.

    How did Chester County cut its budget?

    In the first quarter of this year, Chester County officials asked each county department to reduce non-personnel spending by 5% for the 2026 budget. By and large, officials said, they responded to the call, freeing up significant funds even as overall personnel costs increased.

    “We asked them to cut back, and some of them really did,” said Eric Roe, the lone Republican on the board of commissioners. “I’m really happy with how they helped us get to this point.”

    In this year’s budget, officials said, they opted to delay projects like park maintenance and computer system upgrades that could be put off.

    “The cuts are giving us an opportunity to prioritize and rethink our discretionary spending,” Maxwell said. “They may have to go to some of the things that the federal and state government used to do that they’re getting out of the business of doing.”

    Additionally, Byerman said, the county instituted a soft hiring freeze by requiring all new hires to be approved by top-level management.

    Can Chester County avoid tax increases in future years?

    Heading into next year, Maxwell said, he is bracing for cuts to federal social service programs that will result in larger expenditures from the county to serve its neediest residents.

    For example, anticipated cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care program could leave 70 more families on the streets in Chester County, Maxwell said.

    “This is a year where we’re going to look at all of our programs and make sure that we’re investing in the areas that the community wants us to,” Maxwell said.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • Kathleen A. Case, longtime writer, pioneering medical journal editor, and award-winning historian, has died at 80

    Kathleen A. Case, longtime writer, pioneering medical journal editor, and award-winning historian, has died at 80

    Kathleen A. Case, 80, of Bryn Mawr, longtime writer, pioneering medical journal editor, award-winning historian, researcher, and volunteer, died Friday, Nov. 14, of heart failure at Bryn Mawr Hospital.

    A natural wordsmith who was interested in the origins and nuances of language as well as its use, Ms. Case spent 24 years as a top editor for the Annals of Internal Medicine and vice president for publishing at the Philadelphia-based American College of Physicians. Later, for 15 years, she was publisher, archivist, historian, and director of strategic planning for the publishing division of the Philadelphia-based American Association for Cancer Research.

    She was adept at understanding and organizing complex research and other medical information, and helped Annals of Internal Medicine digitize its production process and content, expand its reach, and become one of the world’s most influential and cited medical journals. “She loved precise, concise, and unambiguous writing,” her family said in a tribute.

    She was one of the few female editors in the medical publishing industry when she joined Annals as an assistant editor in 1977, and she rose to managing editor, executive editor, and senior vice president for publishing by 1998. She attended many international medical publishing conferences around the world, and other journals tried unsuccessfully to lure her away from Philadelphia.

    Ms. Case and her husband, Jacques Catudal, married in 1995.

    “She set the highest editorial standards in medical publishing and expected the best from everyone around her,” a former colleague said in an online tribute. “But she also took the time to teach. … The lessons I learned from her have shaped my work ever since.”

    Ms. Case joined the American Association for Cancer Research in 2001, served two stints as head of the publishing division, and supervised its marketing campaigns, advertising sales, and product development. She retired in 2008 but continued part time as the AACR archivist, historian, and director of strategic planning until retiring for good in 2016.

    Away from her day jobs, Ms. Case was past president of the Society for Scholarly Publishing and what is now the Council of Science Editors. She also served on boards and committees for the American Medical Association, the American Chemical Society, the American Heart Association, and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

    Even in retirement, she continued to work as a board member, writer, researcher, and historian for the Haverford Township Historical Society. She served on the Haverford Township Historical Commission, was a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, chaired the Friends of the Polo Field, and helped establish the Brynford Civic Association.

    Ms. Case graduated from Radnor High School and Pennsylvania State University.

    “She was always busy, always involved with some project,” said her husband, Jacques Catudal. She edited his published academic papers, he said, and routinely marked up her two sons’ school reports in red ink for years.

    In 2019, she won a historic preservation award from the Heritage Commission of Delaware County. “She was an endlessly inspiring woman whose intelligence was matched only by her sharp wit and her extraordinary cultural sensitivity,” a friend said in a tribute.

    Survivors give advice about mourning their loved ones, as told to The Inquirer’s obit writer

    Kathleen Ann Case was born Sept. 13, 1945, in Westfield, N.J. The youngest of three children, her family moved to Omaha, Neb., and then Radnor when she was young.

    She graduated from Radnor High School, studied journalism at Pennsylvania State University, and earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1967. She was a reporter and editor for the Penn State student newspaper and so active that school officials waived their prohibition of female students living alone off campus so she could reside near the paper’s office. In 1987, she earned a master’s degree in technical and science communication at Drexel University.

    Ms. Case (second from left) enjoyed time with her family

    She married D. Benjamin van Steenburgh III, and they had sons Ben and Jason. After a divorce, she married Peter Moor. They divorced, and she married Catudal in 1995.

    Ms. Case raised her sons as a single mother in Avondale, Chester County, for years and moved to Bryn Mawr in 1979. She read voraciously about history, collected antiques, and enjoyed travel, classic rock, and Irish folk music.

    When parents die, even the mundane memories comfort their children. Here are their tales, as told to The Inquirer’s obit writer.

    She rode horses, was an expert archer, and followed the local sports teams. She tended her garden and investigated her genealogy.

    She liked to refinish and paint furniture and discuss current events. She and her husband camped, hiked, and canoed all over the world.

    Ms. Case enjoyed hiking and the outdoors.

    She also dealt with metastatic breast cancer and three heart attacks. “She always gave as much honesty, opinion, perspective, experience, literary acumen, word knowledge, help, advice, comfort, and love as could be needed,” said her son Jason.

    Her husband said: “She was brilliant and extremely funny. She was an organizer and always giving of herself.”

    In addition to her husband, sons, and former husbands, Ms. Case is survived by four grandchildren, a sister, a brother, and other relatives.

    A celebration of her life was held earlier.

    Donations in her name may be made to The American Association for Cancer Research, 615 Chestnut St., 17th Floor, Philadelphia, Pa. 19106; and the Haverford Township Historical Society, P.O. Box 825, Havertown, Pa. 19083.

    Ms. Case (right) rode horses, was an expert archer, and followed the local sports teams.
  • Eastern University to purchase nearly half of Valley Forge Military Academy’s property

    Eastern University to purchase nearly half of Valley Forge Military Academy’s property

    Eastern University has entered an agreement to buy nearly half the Valley Forge Military Academy property, which is less than a mile from the Christian university’s St. Davids campus in Delaware County.

    The planned purchase, announced by Eastern on Tuesday, includes 33.3 acres encompassing the football stadium, track, and athletic field house, as well as multiple apartment buildings that will be used to house students. Eastern had been leasing the athletic properties from the academy since 2021. The purchase also includes additional fields, buildings, and a pickleball court, the school said.

    The academy announced in September that it planned to close at the end of the 2025-26 academic year amid declining enrollment, financial challenges, and lawsuits over alleged cadet abuse, but that its college would continue to operate on the main campus. The boarding school announced last month it would go virtual after Thanksgiving and resume in-person classes on the 70-acre campus in January.

    Valley Forge Military College aims to join Trump’s anti-‘woke’ compact amid uncertain future

    Eastern’s current campus is 114 acres, so the addition of the Valley Forge property will substantially increase its footprint.

    “For Eastern, expanding our campus through this new property is a pivotal step in EU’s growth and vision for a flourishing future,” said Eastern president Ronald A. Matthews. “… We will be able to provide the space for our expanding student body to call Eastern’s campus ‘home.’”

    The sale is subject to approvals and regulatory requirements and is expected to be completed over the next five months, the school said.

    How Valley Forge Military Academy fell apart nearly a century after its founding

    “Valley Forge Military Academy & College has enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with our neighbors at Eastern University for many years,” academy president Col. Stuart B. Helgeson said in a statement.

    Eastern’s enrollment has continued to grow over the last six years, reaching nearly 10,000 students this fall, up 14% from last year. The growth is largely fueled by its low-cost, online “LifeFlex” programs, including a $9,900 master of business administration. But on-campus enrollment also has been rising in part due to the addition of new athletic and arts programs, the school said. Its football team is competing in the NCAA Division III championships on Saturday.

  • John Borodiak, Hall of Fame pro soccer player and longtime dental lab owner, has died at 89

    John Borodiak, Hall of Fame pro soccer player and longtime dental lab owner, has died at 89

    John Borodiak, 89, of Philadelphia, Hall of Fame Argentine American professional soccer player, popular coach and sports center volunteer, and longtime Center City dental lab owner, died Saturday, Sept. 13, of complications from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases at Graduate Post Acute nursing facility.

    Born and reared in Buenos Aires, Argentina, of Ukrainian descent, a young Mr. Borodiak was such a star that, in 1960, at 24, he was invited to leave South America and play soccer in the United States for the Ukrainian Nationals in Philadelphia. So, for seven seasons, through 1966, he played fullback for the Ukrainian Nationals and won four American Soccer League championships and four U.S. Open Cup titles.

    As a 5-foot-8, 160-pound defensive whiz, Mr. Borodiak didn’t score many goals or race down the field on breakaways. But, said his son, Ivan, also a former pro soccer player: “He was smooth, quick, and good up in the air.”

    He played on the 1964 U.S. national team and was inducted into the Horsham-based Ukrainian Sports Museum and Hall of Fame in 2017. Over the years, he played against Brazilian superstar Pele and other international stars, and former colleagues called him “a living legend.”

    Mr. Borodiak (left) played against Pele (center) and other international stars.

    He also played with the Philadelphia Spartans in the National Professional Soccer League and the ASL’s Newark Ukrainian Sitch in 1966 and ’67. He spent the 1968 season with the Cleveland Stokers and 1969 with the Baltimore Bays in the North American Soccer League. He retired after playing a final season with the Spartans in 1970.

    He made headlines after a game in 1967 when he blocked the game-tying goal after his goalie was caught out of position. “After I saw [the goaltender) go out, I expected something to happen in that corner,” he told the Daily News. “I moved up there, and the shot bounced off my chest.”

    Affable and engaging off the field, Mr Borodiak became a favorite of teammates, fans, and sportswriters. He hosted instructional clinics for young players and, after learning English himself, served as a translator for other players and the media. He spoke Ukrainian, English, Spanish, and Italian.

    In 1967, Daily News sports writer Dick Metzgar published his Christmas wish list and asked for “more hustling performers like little fullback John Borodiak.”

    Mr. Borodiak (left) passed his athleticism on to his son and grandson.

    He helped anchor a Spartans defense in 1967 that Metzgar called “impenetrable” and was known for his aggressiveness. He was ejected for fighting in a game against Baltimore that season, and he told the Delaware County Daily Times that his opponent hit him in the back. “Naturally,” he said, “I hit back.”

    He was a team cocaptain in Cleveland and named a NASL all-star in 1968, and his Stokers lost a heartbreaking playoff game to Atlanta in overtime that season. After the game, a disappointed Mr. Borodiak told the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “I’m sorry.”

    He rejoined the Spartans in 1970 when they entered the American Soccer League, and The Inquirer covered their big win over the Syracuse Scorpions. “A strong defensive cog, John Borodiak, was added to the Spartans lineup,” The Inquirer said, “and he played fullback in impressive style.”

    In a 1969 story after the Bays tied the Dallas Tornado, the Baltimore Sun said: “Borodiak made one of the best saves of the day when he blocked a shot after [the goalie] had been pulled out of the net.” In 1966, he played briefly for Roma in the Eastern Canada Pro Soccer League, and a teammate told the Toronto Star: “Borodiak is a fine fullback and fits in well with our style of play.”

    Mr. Borodiak (rear, third from left) and teammates on the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals pose during the 1966 season.

    He coached soccer teams after he retired, played with amateur teams into his 40s, and was active for years at the Ukrainian American Sports Center in North Wales.

    He earned certification at Temple University in dental cosmetics in the 1960s and owned a lab in the Medical Arts Building in Center City until he retired in 2018. At 50 years, Mr. Borodiak was the longest-tenured tenant ever in that building, his son, Ivan, said.

    “He was a wonderful person,” his family said in a tribute, “He was a best friend, a champion, and a legend of his sport and in life.”

    Born July, 13, 1936, Ivan Gregorio Borodiak changed his name to John when he came to the United States. He met Betty Pilari in Argentina, and they married in 1962, and lived in Bensalem and Queen Village.

    Mr. Borodiak and his wife, Betty, married in 1962.

    Mr. Borodiak was generous and gentle, his son said. He enjoyed fishing and car shows, and he built his own Mercedes-Benz from the tires up.

    Friends noted his “kindness, gratitude, and warmth” in online tributes. One said: ”He was always a people person, and his smile could light up the darkest room.”

    His son said: “He was a great man. He never had an enemy, and he overcame every adversity.”

    In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Borodiak is survived by four grandchildren, a great-granddaughter, and other relatives. A sister died earlier.

    Mr. Borodiak (left) doted on his grandchildren.

    Private services were held earlier.

    Donations in his name may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave. Floor 17, Chicago, Ill. 60601.

  • French water giant Veolia buys King of Prussia waste recycler

    French water giant Veolia buys King of Prussia waste recycler

    Veolia, the French water and sewage giant with R&D labs in Trevose, has agreed to pay $3 billion for Philadelphia-based Enviri’s Clean Earth division, which treats contaminated materials for big manufacturers.

    Clean Earth, based in King of Prussia, serves manufacturers such as Boeing, Merck, computer-chip makers, and hospitals. Veolia operates local water utilities in towns across the U.S., including a slice of Delaware County and northern Delaware.

    Clean Earth employs around 1,800, and already uses Veolia incinerators to burn hazardous medical waste and other refuse. Enviri bought that business for $625 million in 2019. Veolia says it plans to cut $120 million in spending as it integrates Clean Earth, to make the deal more profitable.

    Combined with Veolia’s existing hazardous-waste business, Veolia says it will be among the largest businesses of its kind. Veolia also bought medical-waste companies in New England and California earlier this year, and it has incinerators in Texas, Illinois, and Arkansas.

    Clean Earth includes tar-contaminated soil collection treatment centers on the Schuylkill in Southwest Philadelphia; in Morrisville, Bucks County; and New Castle, Del.; and a hazardous-waste and chemical disposal site in Hatfield, Montgomery County, among 82 waste-management and 19 federally-permitted treatment sites, along with hundreds of trucks. Veolia has industrial facilities in Bridesburg and Pennsauken, among other area locations.

    Veolia will pay cash worth around $15.50 a share, or $1.3 billion, to Enviri shareholders for Clean Earth; plus $1.35 billion to pay down some of Enviri’s debt load; and around $400 million to help finance Enviri as it restructures as a smaller company and issues new shares. Both boards have approved the deal, pending a vote by Enviri shareholders next spring.

    The price to shareholders is a premium to Enviri’s recent share value, and triple what it was worth at its recent low in March. But it’s also less than the stock was worth as recently as 2022, before the company changed its name from Harsco and moved from central Pennsylvania to Philadelphia, where its leaders said it’s easier to recruit engineers and managers.

    The sale leaves Enviri with two remaining business lines: steel-mill slag management and railroad track equipment and maintenance. The latter business faces large environmental expenses, and Enviri had earlier tried to sell it.

    After selling Clean Earth to Veolia and reducing management costs, Enviri will spin off the remaining businesses into a new company, under the same name.

    Announcing the deal, Enviri chief executive F. Nicholas Grasberger also said he’ll be stepping down from the company’s top job, to be succeeded by Russell Hochman, a ten-year Enviri veteran who already serves as the company’s senior vice president, top lawyer, and compliance officer.

    F. Nicholas Grasberger, chairman & CEO of Enviri, at the company’s Philadelphia headquarters in 2023. He will be stepping down as the company sells its hazardous-waste division to France’s Veolia.

    The restructured Enviri will have more cash to invest in its businesses and lower finance costs, Grasberger said in a statement. He praised successor Hochman’s “deep business acumen and proven ability to navigate mergers and acquisitions, regulatory matters, and transformation efforts.”

    The boost in Enviri’s capital “will create enhanced opportunities” for both slag and rail, Hochman said in a statement.

  • Rape crisis centers are finally getting funding from Pennsylvania’s budget, but advocates say it’s not enough to support survivors

    Rape crisis centers are finally getting funding from Pennsylvania’s budget, but advocates say it’s not enough to support survivors

    Rape crisis centers in the Philadelphia region are sounding the alarm that the slight increase in funding in the recently passed state budget won’t be enough to sustain or improve crucial services for survivors of sexual assault.

    The Pennsylvania Coalition to Advance Respect (PCAR), which funds rape crisis centers via the state allocation, estimates centers will only see an average increase of $5,300 from the state to support their work assisting victims of sexual violence.

    The Philadelphia Center Against Sexual Violence had to lay off most of its staff and reduce services due to the nearly five-month state budget impasse. And while leaders in the region appreciate the funding — the first increase for rape crisis centers in years — it’s only a fraction of what Philly’s only rape crisis center says it needs to survive.

    “Even with the budget now passed, the funding increase is minimal compared to the overwhelming need,” said LaQuisha Anthony, senior manager of advocacy at the center, in a news release last week. The center is known as WOAR, the initials of its former name, Women Organized Against Rape.

    Now advocates in Philadelphia and the suburbs are turning their focus to next year’s budget, pushing for an $8 million increase in state funding to rape crisis centers, which, among other services, offer victim advocacy, legal services, and crisis hotlines. A surge in funding will help provide stability for survivors and adequately compensate staff who dedicate their lives to this work.

    “An $8 million increase would help ensure that every survivor across the Commonwealth, urban, suburban, and rural, has access to care, advocacy, and prevention,” said Joyce Lukima, coalition director and chief operating officer at PCAR, in a statement.

    More than $12 million of a $50.1 billion state budget was allocated to rape crisis this year, a $250,000 increase from last year. Lukima said this $250,000 will be split among 47 rape crisis centers in the state.

    In a statement, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, which oversees rape crisis center funding, highlighted Gov. Josh Shapiro’s history of support for survivors of sexual violence.

    Gov. Josh Shapiro signs the fiscal year 2025-26 budget surrounded by General Assembly members on Nov. 12 at the Capitol in Harrisburg. The state budget had been due June 30, and Pennsylvania is the final state in the country to approve a funding deal.

    “The final budget reflects the realities of working with one of the only divided legislatures in the entire country – but Gov. Shapiro will continue to fight for survivors and the Commonwealth’s rape crisis centers,” said Ali Fogarty, the DHS spokesperson.

    Victim services centers in the suburbs, which also offer rape crisis services, are echoing WOAR and PCAR’s message, highlighting the urgent need for greater funding. These suburban centers receive funding from additional sources because they support victims of other crimes.

    “For now, we’re doing OK, but another year of no increase in funding while the cost of living is going up has a significant impact on our staff as well as our organization,” said Penelope Ettinger, executive director of Network of Victim Assistance – Bucks County.

    Trying to stay afloat

    While Pennsylvania lawmakers were failing to come to an agreement on a far overdue state budget last month, rape crisis centers in Philadelphia and the suburbs were trying to make ends meet and provide services to survivors of sexual violence.

    For instance, the Victim Services Center of Montgomery County had to use a line of credit, delay bill payments, institute a hiring freeze, increase the number of interns, and commit to “triaging services,” said Mary Onama, executive director.

    “If they hadn’t passed the budget the time that they did, by December or January, we would have had to close, because we couldn’t go much longer,” Onama added.

    At the Crime Victims’ Center of Chester County, it “added a layer of stress to an already very stressful job,” though the center did not have to reduce services, said Christine Zaccarelli, the organization’s CEO.

    And at WOAR, the changes were drastic.

    The nonprofit cut their 30-person staff and paused counseling and therapy services and prevention-education programs. Other programming was kept afloat by the handful of staff members that remained.

    WOAR’s release last week said the closure of therapy and counseling services left “106 individuals wait-listed, 33 group clients waiting for services to resume, and eight child clients referred elsewhere for care.”

    The center has been serving Philadelphia since 1971 and was one of the first rape crisis centers in the United States, according to the organization. Between January and October, the center said it responded to 3,820 calls on its crisis hotline.

    But there have been recent shake-ups at the nonprofit, including the hiring of Gabriella Fontan, WOAR’S executive director, which was announced roughly a week before layoffs began in October. Prior to Fontan, the center had two interim executive directors since 2022.

    The dysfunctional approval of the state budget, though, will have lingering effects on WOAR, warning in the news release that without a “long-term, sustainable investment,” the center won’t be able to meet a rising demand for resources.

    The Bridge Loan, from the Pa. Treasury Department, provided WOAR funding owed for July through September, but it still wasn’t enough to return WOAR to full capacity, said Demetrius Archer, PCAR’s communications director. The center also brought back two employees this month, but it’s still in need of community support and is hoping to bring back more staff when possible.

    “When services are underfunded, survivors and entire communities feel the impact,” said Fontan in the news release. “In a city as large and diverse as Philadelphia, every minute counts when someone is in crisis. Survivors deserve to know that when they reach out for help, someone will be there to answer.”

    All eyes on Harrisburg

    At Temple University’s campus Tuesday, student advocates bundled up in their coats, hats, and scarves and gathered at the Bell Tower to discuss an anti-sexual violence state bill they helped develop.

    The Every Voice Bill, which primarily focuses on sexual violence prevention resources on college campuses, is even more important now that survivor services from WOAR are “unstable,” said Bella Kwok, a senior criminal justice major and president of Temple’s Student Activists Against Sexual Assault, in an interview prior to Tuesday’s event

    “This bill would ensure that stability at least on an institutional level,” Kwok said.

    Temple University students Emma Wentzel, left, and Bella Kwok speak at a podium on Polett Walk on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, about campus sexual assault and a state bill they helped craft to strengthen protections against sexual violence at colleges.

    Kwok is not the only one who is turning their attention to Harrisburg. PCAR and other rape crisis centers are continuing their push for next year’s budget to include an $8 million increase in the Pa. DHS line item for rape crisis.

    As the first increase for rape crisis centers in a few years, the new budget’s funding gives advocates “hope,” even if the amount is “disappointing,” said Zaccarelli, of the Crime Victims’ Center of Chester County.

    “Maybe our advocacy is making a little bit of a difference and shining a light on survivors and their needs and how important our centers are in the community,” Zaccarelli said.

    Ettinger said that Bucks County’s state lawmakers have been supportive of NOVA Bucks, which had to place a hiring freeze on some positions and issue “significant” restrictions on spending due to the impasse, but that a lack of increased funding from the state is “very telling.”

    “I believe that the fact that the state did not allocate a significant increase is very telling to what they believe, where they put it on the priority list,” Ettinger said.

    For his part, Shapiro signed Act 122 in October 2024, which aimed to increase transparency by requiring a statewide electronic system to track evidence kits for sexual assaults, Fogarty, the DHS spokesperson said. And in December 2023, he signed Act 59, which aims to improve access to treatment for survivors of sexual assault.

    It’s a “societal” problem, not a government problem, said Vincent Davalos, interim executive director of the Delaware County Victim Assistance Center.

    “When we talk about sexual violence, the first thought is, of most people, is to say ‘Maybe this didn’t happen,” Davalos said. “And even if they do believe it happens… it’s just a really difficult topic for people to engage and talk about it plainly.”

    This week, victim services leaders across Pennsylvania will gather in Harrisburg for an annual conference to address funding challenges among other concerns, Davalos said, noting that with more funding, his center could improve staff retention.

    But this year, the newly passed state budget is likely to be top of mind.

    “I think money is going to be a big topic,” Davalos said.

  • Head of Delco nonprofit traded cash for sexual favors from women in addiction, DA says

    Head of Delco nonprofit traded cash for sexual favors from women in addiction, DA says

    After losing his son to a heroin overdose in 2017, Lawrence Arata devoted his life to helping people in addiction, founded an Upper Darby nonprofit to further that mission, and even ran a failed congressional campaign in which the opioid crisis was his tent-pole cause.

    But behind the scenes, prosecutors in Delaware County said Wednesday, Arata twisted that mission, trading cash, gift cards, and other services from his nonprofit, the Opioid Crisis Action Network, for sexual favors from women who were desperate for help.

    One woman told investigators that she saw the relationship as transactional: “He had what I needed, and I had what he needed,” she said, according to court filings.

    Arata, 65, has been charged with trafficking in individuals and patronizing prostitutes, as well as witness intimidation for trying to coerce some of the women he victimized to recant their statements to police, court records show.

    Arata, of Villas, Cape May County, was freed after posting 10% of $500,000 bail.

    His attorney, Ronald Greenblatt, said Arata had done nothing wrong.

    “The evidence that will come out in court will show his innocence,” he said. “Mr. Arata is a pillar of the community who turned the personal tragedy of losing his son to a drug overdose into a career of helping people.”

    Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, in announcing the charges, said Arata “cynically and cruelly” misused opioid settlement funds to “satisfy his sexual desires.”

    “I want to thank the courageous women in recovery who fell victim to Mr. Arata, as well as those working to help others find their way into recovery, for having the courage to come forward and trust law enforcement to stop this predator,” Stollsteimer said. “We heard you and we support you.”

    Stollsteimer said he believes other people may have been victimized by Arata and urged them to contact his office.

    Investigators learned of Arata’s alleged crimes in August, when a former program director at his nonprofit gave a statement to Upper Darby police, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

    The woman said Arata behaved inappropriately with his clients, kissed, them, touched them, and asked them to stay in hotel rooms with him. Some of the clients left the program because his behavior made them uncomfortable, she said, and she resigned from her position because of similar concerns.

    Detectives later interviewed one of the women Arata had initiated a relationship with. She said that during one encounter in 2024, Arata approached her after a group meeting and said she “looked like she could keep a secret.”

    At the time, the woman said, the weather had started to turn cold and, in need of a coat, she agreed to perform oral sex on Arata inside his car in exchange for gift cards. The woman told police she could not refuse, because she needed the benefits offered by OCAN to survive.

    The woman said she saw Arata again in March, when he was doing outreach on 69th Street in Upper Darby. Hungry and in need of resources, she told police, she approached Arata and again performed oral sex on him inside his car.

    Another woman, who lives in Atlantic City, said she and Arata had a yearslong sexual relationship. Arata met the woman while she was living in a recovery house in Chester, and she told him about her years of addiction and the time she spent as a sex worker in order to survive.

    Arata began trading gift cards and cash for sex with the woman, she told police. Later, when she returned to Atlantic City, she said, Arata continued their relationship.

    The woman said she needed the cash and gift cards to survive, and saw the arrangement as mutually beneficial. Earlier this month, Arata texted her from an unfamiliar phone number, saying police had confiscated his cell phone and urging her not to speak with investigators.

    But Arata didn’t just assault women in recovery, police said. A therapist who worked for his organization said Arata repeatedly told her she was beautiful, asked her to visit his hotel room in Chester, and once kissed her against her will.

    Later, after police had begun to investigate Arata, he pulled the woman aside, accused her of making “false allegations” against him, and demanded she retract her statement, authorities said.

    Other employees of OCAN said they had raised concerns to Arata about his methods, saying the repeated use of gift cards as an incentive to clients felt tantamount to a bribe, the affidavit said. He ignored or dismissed those concerns.

    Arata told The Inquirer in 2017 that the death of his son, Brendan, inspired him to raise awareness on the lack of resources for people in active addiction.

    “Getting very busy on this issue was a way for me to deal with my grief,” Arata said. “This is not a partisan issue. This disease has killed Republicans and Democrats.”

    Arata ran unsuccessfully for Pennsylvania’s Fifth Congressional District seat in 2018 as a Democrat, receiving just 925 votes.

  • Delco homeless shelters prepare to reopen after state budget impasse stretched limits of regional nonprofits

    Delco homeless shelters prepare to reopen after state budget impasse stretched limits of regional nonprofits

    For the first time in months, the director of the Community Action Agency of Delaware County, which operates three homeless shelters and a rental assistance program, isn’t thinking about service cuts.

    The organization was forced to reduce capacity at one of its shelters to 50% in October and close the other two on Nov. 1 as a result of the state budget impasse. Delaware County, which had been backfilling for missing state dollars, had to cut the funds it delivered to social service organizations in half last month.

    Now, the agency is beginning to reopen its doors and its rental assistance program.

    “[Employees] have been busy kind of preparing for the residents to come back,” said Ed Coleman, the nonprofit’s executive director.

    The Community Action Agency is one of several nonprofit organizations across the region that were stretched and stressed over the last several months as state dollars stopped flowing in the absence of a budget. Since January, they have grappled with uncertainty over federal funds as President Donald Trump’s administration cancels grants and Congress considers major cuts to social service programs.

    The dynamics exposed the vulnerabilities facing philanthropic organizations while threatening the assistance they provide to those they serve.

    Last week the Pennsylvania General Assembly finally passed a budget, ending one source of uncertainty. At the Community Action Agency, this meant employees began swapping out bedding and restocking toiletry bags given to incoming residents this week, undoing significant reductions in service.

    By Wednesday, Wesley House Shelter, a facility for families and single women that Community Action manages, was able to take in a senior citizen whom a church had placed in a hotel amid the budget stalemate. A former resident who had to stay with a relative until the shelter could reopen also returned to the facility.

    The promise of state funds could not have come soon enough.

    Coleman said since Nov. 13, the agency received a little more than 250 rental assistance requests — including almost 80 on Tuesday alone.

    The organization, Coleman said, is now assessing how much it can spend on services as it waits for state dollars to begin flowing again — which is expected to happen in the next 30 to 90 days as state agencies catch up on millions in missed payments to counties, schools, and nonprofits.

    “We really don’t get paid very quickly with most of the contracts we have,” Coleman said.

    The rebuilding mirrors what nonprofits across the Philly region are managing after the state budget impasse. Several nonprofit organizations told The Inquirer they had to freeze hiring and take out lines of debt. Nearly all reported burnout among staff as need increased and uncertainty over funding loomed large.

    The federal government shutdown, which saw a pause in federal food subsidies, only exacerbated the problem.

    “In many ways, it felt similar to the early months of COVID,” said Jennifer King, executive director of the Council of Southeast Pennsylvania.

    The Bucks County Opportunity Council was forced to reduce the number of individuals it could provide rent assistance to.

    And at A Woman’s Place, a domestic violence shelter in Montgomery County, more people were showing up at the shelter door, even if they weren’t domestic violence survivors, asking for help the shelter was not equipped to provide. Often, she said, staff did not even have an answer of where to send people because of the reduction in services across the board.

    “That takes a toll on staff, and they start thinking, ‘Do I really want to do this work?’” said Beth Sturman, the shelter’s executive director.

    Providers worried most about the impact the freeze had on those they served. Jill Whitcomb, president and CEO of Surrey Senior Services in Delaware County, said older adults are facing greater stress and anxiety as a result of state and federal services being rolled back.

    “Our mission is to help people remain at home and independent and engaged as long as they possibly can or want to,” Whitcomb said. “That becomes really hard on a limited income when those incomes are already tenuous, and then they’re living with the anxiety about losing their Social Security.”

    Jeannine Litski, president of Mental Health Partnerships, said the closure of shelters in the region resulted in greater trauma to unhoused people.

    “Imagine you’re just holding on by a thread, and you have at least a place you can lay on a cot for the night and you have a little food, and now that’s taken away,” she said.

    While philanthropic organizations were grateful for the state budget deal, they remained anxious about the possibility of another federal government shutdown at the end of January and questioned how much more they could take.

    “We got through COVID. Let’s see if we can get through this,” Whitcomb said. “It’d be interesting to talk five years from now and see where everybody is.”

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • Delco GOP reports vandalism to Media police in second incident in 13 months

    Delco GOP reports vandalism to Media police in second incident in 13 months

    Staff members arrived at the Delaware County Republican Party headquarters in Media on Wednesday morning to find the building’s glass door shattered.

    The apparent vandalism appeared to have occurred overnight, said Frank Agovino, the party chair. The Media Police Department, he said, is investigating.

    The incident comes a year after the local party had to call police to the same office when protesters cornered two volunteers ahead of the presidential election.

    “It’s just a sign of the times, unfortunately,” Agovino said. “There’s some people who just refuse to be civil about political disagreements.”

    It was unclear who damaged the office or their motive. However, according to photos shared to Facebook by the Delaware County GOP, a sign identifying the office as a Republican office was posted on the door above the broken glass.

    The Media Police Department did not immediately comment on the incident.

    Political violence has become increasingly common across the United States in recent years, including the September killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

    Agovino called for state and federal officials to consider stricter penalties for the perpetrators of such violence.

    “People that are working in the political arena need to be protected,” he said.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.