A three-year ban on puppy breeding in Philadelphia is likely to become law after City Council members on Thursday passed a bill to relieve overcrowded animal shelters.
Tightening the leash on backyard breeders: The bill was authored by Councilmember Cindy Bass, a Democrat who represents parts of North and Northwest Philadelphia.
Bass was sick and absent from Council on Thursday, but she has previously said that her bill is aimed at limiting people from breeding more puppies than they can sell.
“Every litter means more dogs in our shelter, more cost for taxpayers, and more suffering that we can prevent,” Bass said last year. “This isn’t about punishment; it’s about compassion and responsibility.”
Under the bill, it would be illegal to sell puppies or post ads to sell them within city limits. Breeders who violate the moratorium could face a $1,000 fine, with the proceeds going to the city’s Animal Care and Control Team, also known as ACCT Philly. The animal control agency would also enforce the ban.
Sammi Craven, a local animal welfare advocate, testified Thursday about overcrowding at ACCT Philly’s North Philadelphia shelter. She named the dogs that were recently euthanized or are scheduled to be put down: Stella, Cheese Burrito, Luna, and Muffin, among others.
“Philadelphia’s current animal welfare policy is ineffective,” Craven said, “and infrastructure and prevention have not kept pace with intake.”
In this 2022 file photo, Brian Martin, 31, and Vanessa Green, 29, look at their new dog they plan to adopt while Green holds Autumn, 1, at ACCT Philly, which was hosting a pet adoption event.
Critics of the moratorium say it will be challenging to enforce and could harm smaller, responsible breeders as opposed to those already operating illegally.
Charley Hall, a government relations official with the American Kennel Club, called on Council to hold the bill and establish a working group to draft new regulations.
“Working together, we can stop the flow of irresponsible breeders and improve animal welfare and fewer dogs ending up in Philadelphia’s shelters,” Hall said. “The question is how to achieve that goal in a way that is effective, fair, and legally sound.”
What else happened today?
Resign to run gets amended: City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas has been trying for more than a year to pass legislation amending a rule that requires city employees quit their jobs to run for higher office.
He’s attempting to amend the rule so that city officeholders can keep their jobs only if they are running for a state or federal office. That means Council members running for mayor would still have to give up their seats.
Councilmember Isaiah Thomas makes a statement at the start of a hearing last week.
But Thomas has run into roadblocks, including opposition from the city’s Board of Ethics, which asked him to make changes to the legislation in December, just before it appeared poised to pass.
On Thursday, he introduced an amendment that made a series of tweaks, including clarifying that sitting city officeholders may only run for one public office in any election.
Jordana Greenwald, general counsel for the city’s Board of Ethics, testified that the board still has concerns and requested more amendments, including prohibiting certain forms of politicking in the workplace.
She also said the legislation should clarify that the mayor can’t run for another office while serving as the city’s chief executive, a rule that is already enumerated elsewhere in the city charter.
However, making additional amendments could require Thomas re the legislation entirely. He said he would prefer for the bill to be called up for a final vote next week.
Amending the resign-to-run rule requires changing the city’s Home Rule Charter, meaning voters would have to approve it through a ballot question. Voters have rejected earlier attempts to repeal resign-to-run.
Codifying the youth watchdog: Council members also approved legislation to make the city’s Office of the Youth Ombudsperson permanent.
The office was created through an executive order signed by former Mayor Jim Kenney and is responsible for monitoring child welfare, juvenile justice, and behavioral health residential placement facilities in the city.
Making the office permanent also requires an amending the charter. A ballot question is likely to appear in the May primary election.
Quote of the week
Councilmember Jim Harrity in Council Chambers in September 2025.
That was Councilmember Jim Harrity, an Irish Catholic who in a speech Thursday honored the sacrifices made during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
State Rep. Chris Rabb announced Thursday he will not seek reelection to Harrisburg this year while he runs for a seat in Congress.
State lawmakers are allowed to simultaneously run for two offices. But Rabb, a Democrat, said he is fully committed to his campaign for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, which covers roughly half of Philadelphia and is, by some measures, the most Democratic district in the nation.
“I’m so inspired and overwhelmed by the tremendous outpouring of support we are seeing all across the city, and today I want to send a message loud and clear: I am all in on this race for Congress,” Rabb said in a statement.
Rabb served five terms in the Pennsylvania House’s 200th District in Northwest Philadelphia, a seat once held by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker. A progressive who often operates as a political lone wolf, Rabb has frequently clashed with the city’s Democratic establishment, especially Parker and her allies in the Northwest Coalition political organization.
In his first election, Rabb in 2016 defeated Tonyelle Cook-Artis, Parker’s close friend who now serves as an aide in the mayor’s office. Two years later, he bested Melissa Scott, who is now the Parker administration’s chief information officer. In 2022, redistricting forced Rabb to run against fellow incumbent State Rep. Isabella Fitzgerald, and he won again.
Map of Pennsylvania’s Third Congressional District.
State Sen. Sharif Street, of North Philadelphia, is not up for reelection this year, meaning he will keep his seat in Harrisburg if he loses the congressional race without having to run two campaigns. Street last year resigned as chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party after facing questions about whether his congressional campaign would conflict with his party leadership role.
State Rep. Morgan Cephas, who chairs the Philadelphia delegation in the state House and represents a West Philadelphia district, is up for reelection this year. Her campaign on Thursdaysaid she intends to simultaneously run for another term while vying for the congressional seat.
(left to right) Alex Schnell, physician Dave Oxman, State Sen. Sharif Street, physician Ala Stanford, State Rep. Morgan Cephas, and Pablo McConnie-Saad appear during a candidate forum for the 3rd Congressional District seat at Church of the Holy Trinity on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 in Philadelphia. The seat vacancy comes from Rep. Dwight Evans’ retirement.
It is common for state legislators to run two simultaneous campaigns while seeking federal office. Their reelection bids often require little effort, as incumbents rarely face serious challenges. (Rabb’s career as an anti-establishment legislator in the backyard of one of Philadelphia’s most powerful political factions, however, has made him an outlier in that regard.)
He declined to say how much money went missing. In his most recent campaign finance report, Rabb reported raising $127,000 in the last three months of 2025 and entering the year with $99,000 in cash on hand, which at the time represented the fifth-largest reserve among the 3rd District hopefuls.
Rabb’s decision not to run for reelection means the Northwest Coalition now has its best opportunity in a decade to recapture the 200th District state House seat. Northwest Philadelphia’s liberal voter base, however, also opens the door for another progressive to follow in Rabb’s footsteps.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve Philadelphia families across the 200th House District for the past 10 years and I look forward to seeing the great candidates who will run,” Rabb said. “In the coming weeks, I’m committed to working with my fellow progressive leaders and advocates across this district to ensure that this seat continues to be held by a true champion for Philadelphia’s working families.”
Anyone hoping to succeed Rabb in Harrisburg will have to act quickly. Candidates must submit petitions to appear on the ballot. The window to gather signatures opened this week and closes March 10.
Rabb said Wednesday that his congressional campaign collected the required 1,000 signatures in just 12 hours, which he said makes him the first candidate in Pennsylvania to submit qualifying petitions and shows that his campaign “continues to build strong grassroots support across Philadelphia.”
Jefferson Health oncologist Jennifer Johnson had exhausted all the standard treatment options for her 49-year-old patient with esophageal cancer, who was likely to die within months.
Surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy had kept the Northeast Philadelphia woman alive for six years after her diagnosis, but no longer were enough to stop her cancer from spreading.
Johnson knew her patient needed something novel. She recalled a presentation several years prior at a conference for head and neck cancers, where a doctor discussedan experimental treatment called T-cell receptor (TCR) therapy.
This type of cancer immunotherapy works by engineering the immune system to fight cancer, and falls into the same family of treatments as CAR-T, or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, an approach pioneered at the University of Pennsylvania that has revolutionized treatment for blood cancers.
She thought TCR therapy’s clever approach could work against solid tumors, where CAR-T had not been effective.
“I just remember sitting in the room and watching him present, thinking, I’m gonna use that one day,” the oncologist and cancer researcher recalled.
As it would happen, the approach was being tested in a phase II clinical trial at Rutgers Cancer Institute against tumors just like her patient’s: metastatic cancers driven by a virus called human papillomavirus 16. One of the most common strains, HPV16 causes roughly half of cervical cancer cases worldwide, as well as cancers of the head and neck area, anus, and genitals.
Cases that reach the metastatic stage like Johnson’s patient often run out of treatment options. Whether T-cell receptor therapy would work was unknown, but the alternatives were expected to fail.
“Anything that you might offer them would definitely not be expected to make their cancer go away completely and do it for a long time,” said Christian Hinrichs, the oncologist and scientist heading the trial whose presentation Johnson saw.
But interim results from the first half of the trial showed improvement in six out of 10 patients, whose tumors at least partially shrank. And two of them had no evidence of cancer after treatment.
Johnson’s patient, Maria Pascale, was one of thetwo whose promising early results were presented at a medical conference and highlighted in a research abstract in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer in November.
She arrived at the health system in New Jersey in the summer of 2024 in such poor health thather lungs were starting to collapse.
The therapy has enabled her to celebrate two birthdays, start martial arts classes, reunite with old friends visiting from Argentina, and see her 23-year-old son get engaged.
“Imagine the wedding, then later the grandkids, I’m always thinking about [that],” she said.
What is a T-cell receptor therapy?
In the immune system, T cells act as frontline defenders against viruses, bacteria, and other threats.
Sometimes, these cells aren’t great at their jobs.
In the face of cancer, T cells can become exhausted over time, and fail to recognize invaders or mount attacks.
The idea behind immunotherapy is to transform these regular immune cells into cancer-fighting super-soldiers.
The Rutgers approach, an engineered TCR therapy, involves collecting T cells from a patient’s blood and genetically engineering them to better target a cancer cell for attack.
Afterward, the scientists grow more of the enhanced T cells in the lab and infuse them back into the patient.
The “prototype” for this style of therapy is CAR-T, a treatment that has saved tens of thousands of lives since the first FDA approval in 2017. Scientists have not yet been able to replicate the therapy’s success in blood cancers in solid cancers, although some early stage trials have shown potential.
TCR therapy is thought to be more promising against the latter cancer type — which is what’s being treated in the Rutgers trial — due to differences in the way the engineered T cells identify cancer cells.
CAR-T therapy uses what’s called a chimeric antigen receptor, a protein that recognizes a cell as cancer based on what’s on the outside of the cell.
It’s like knowing you’re at your friend’s house because of a specific doormat or set of house numbers on the exterior.
TCR therapy uses what’s called a T-cell receptor, which can recognize cancer cells based on what’s inside the cell.
It’s like knowing you’re at your friend’s house because you can see your friend inside.
Sometimes cancer cells have more unique identifiable elements on the outside, but other times they don’t. Imagine if multiple houses had the same doormat.
“That target would be on other cells that aren’t cancer cells and cause lots of toxicity,” said Carl June, the pioneering cancer scientist at Penn who developed the first FDA-approved CAR-T therapy and was not involved in the Rutgers trial.
That’s been the problem that’s held back CAR-T’s use in solid tumors.
The target in the Rutgers trial is a protein called HPV16 E7, found inside the cell. In tumors driven by the virus HPV16, it plays a key role in turning a cell into cancer.
“That’s like going after its Achilles’ heel,” June said.
Swarming the cancer
Pascale first arrived at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Center City in 2018 after suffering injuries in a car accident.
Doctors found a mass in the 43-year-old’s neck that turned out to be cancer.
Surgeons removed the mass,and she was fine until 2021 when doctors, including Johnson, found the cancer at the top of her esophagus.
They treated her with a combination of chemotherapy and radiation, which worked until March of 2022, when the cancer started appearing in Pascale’s lungs.
“All bets were off,” Johnson said.
Doctors gave Pascale chemotherapy and immunotherapy over the next couple of years, but in the spring of 2024, she developed an allergy to one of her chemotherapy drugs.
Around the same time, the cancer spread to the skin on Pascale’s back.
That’s when Johnson transferred her care to Hinrichs’ team at Rutgers.
Pascale started preparations for the treatment in July 2024, spending a couple weeks in the hospital.
The Rutgers team took T cells from her blood, gave her chemotherapy to knock her immune system down, and then transfused the engineered cells back into her body.
Within 48 hours, Pascale started feeling horrible.
“It was painful. It was my whole body, like I had pneumonia,” she said.
She had trouble breathing as the cells fought the cancer in her lungs. Hinrichs described it as “the T cells swarming the cancer,” leading to an inflammatory reaction.
The same thing occurred on her back. When Pascale’s sister came over, she saw one of the tumors in her skin was suddenly the size of a lemon.
Another one appeared red and felt like someone was burning a cigarette on her back.
The pain continued for three days, and then she felt well enough to go home. Pascale and her sister could see and feel the nodules on her back get smaller, until eventually they were gone.
Roughly five months later, Pascale’s scans showed no evidence of cancer. As of last month, a year and a half after she received the treatment, that was still true.
“What’s three days of pain compared with the opportunity that I have to live a lot of beautiful things with my family and friends?” Pascale said.
Maria Pascale walks with her sister Maria Durante and her doctor Christian Hinrichs at Rutgers.
The future of the treatment
Hinrichs said his team is working to figure out why two of the patients, including Pascale and a patient with anal cancer, responded better to the treatment.
He cautioned that it’s too early to draw sweeping conclusions since the sample size is small. (Researchers will seek to recruit another 10 patients for the ongoing trial.)
The patients who had complete responses will need follow-up scans every few months to make sure their cancers have not returned.
It will still take years to finish evaluating safety and efficacy. Treatments tested in clinical trials often do not advance to become standard practice.
June, the Penn scientist, called the trial’s early results promising and noted that there weren’t any major safety problems reported.
Adverse effects seen in the trial were mainly those caused by the chemotherapy.
However, the drawback of using TCR therapy is that patients need a certain genetic background for it to work, June said. This is similar to how not every organ donor would be a good match for a recipient.
The genetic profile chosen for the Rutgers therapy is the most common in America. However, it is less common in Black and Asian people compared to white people.
Scientists hope it could one day be possible to manufacture the therapy witha warehouse approach, where TCR therapies that work across genetic backgrounds could be mixed and matched.
“It’s a practical issue that the drug companies face,” June said.
CAR-T, in comparison, canbe used more broadly across different genetic backgrounds.
What matters most, since the treatment is expensive to make, is that the responses hold up over time, June said.
(The TCR therapy’s cost has not yet been set, Hinrichs said, since it is currently manufactured individually for each patient.)
“If they’re long lasting, then it’s really going to be a huge advance because nothing else works in the patients he’s treated,” June said.
At Jefferson, Johnson is cautiously optimistic about the treatment that has kept her patient alive.
If the therapy makes it through the rest of the trial process and proves effective, she hopes it could become “another thing in our armamentarium against this type of cancer.” (A type that doctors would hope to see less of since the introduction of the HPV vaccine in 2006.)
“I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have a patient responding and living well when you saw things going the wrong way,” Johnson said.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify where the research has been presented and a reference to the prevalence of the genetic profile used in TCR therapy.
Phil Sumpter, 95, formerly of Philadelphia, celebrated sculptor, artist, art teacher, TV station art director, veteran, mentor, urban cowboy, and revered raconteur, died Thursday, Jan. 1, of age-associated decline at his home in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
A graduate of John Bartram High School and the old Philadelphia College of Art, Mr. Sumpter taught art, both its history and application, to middle and high school students in Philadelphia for 27 years. He was an engaging teacher, former students said, and a founding faculty member at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts in 1978.
He started teaching in 1955 and, after a break in the 1960s and ’70s, finally retired in 1992. “You are very lucky to have a teacher in your life that believed in you, nurtured you, challenged you, and loved you,” a former student said on Facebook. “Mr. Sumpter did all that and more.”
Other former students called him their “father” and a “legend.” One said: “You did a lot of good here on earth, especially for a bunch of feral artist teenagers.”
Mr. Sumpter (left) talks about his sculpture of Underground Railroad organizer William Still in 2003.
Outside the classroom, Mr. Sumpter sculpted hundreds of pieces and painted and sketched thousands of pictures in his South Philadelphia stable-turned-studio on Hicks Street. Prominent examples of his dozens of commissions and wide-ranging public art presence include the bas-relief sculpture of Black Revolutionary War soldiers at Valley Forge National Historical Park in Montgomery County, the action statue of baseball star Roberto Clemente in North Philadelphia, the Negro Leagues baseball monument in West Parkside, and the Judy Johnson and Helen Chambers statues in Wilmington.
He worked often in clay and paper, made murals, and designed commemorative coins and medals. He especially enjoyed illustrating cowboys, pirates, Puerto Rican jibaros, and landscapes.
His statue of Clemente was unveiled at Roberto Clemente Middle School in 1997, and Mr. Sumpter told The Inquirer: “I think I’ve captured a heroic image, an action figure depicting strength plus determination.”
He was among the most popular contributors to the Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Franks bar, and his many exhibitions drew crowds and parties at the Bacchanal Gallery, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Plastic Club, and elsewhere in the region and Puerto Rico. He hung out with other notable artists and community leaders, and collaborated on projects with his son, Philip III, and daughter, Elisabeth.
Mr. Sumpter worked often in clay and paper, made murals, and designed commemorative coins and medals.
He even marketed a homemade barbecue sauce with his wife, Carmen. His family said: “He is remembered for mentorship, cultural fluency, and presence as much as for material works.”
He founded Phil Sumpter Design Associates in the 1960s and worked on design and branding projects for a decade with institutions, educational organizations, and other clients. He was art director for WKBS-TV, WPHL-TV, and the Pyramid Club.
“The word for him,” his son said, “is expansive.”
Mr. Sumpter was friendly and gregarious. He became enamored with Black cowboys and Western life as a boy and went on to ride horses around town, dress daily in Western wear, and depict Black cowboys from around the world in his art. His viewpoints and exhibits were featured often in The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Tribune, Philadelphia Magazine, Dosage Magazine, and other publications.
Mr. Sumpter (in white cowboy hat) views his statue of Roberto Clemente in 1997.
He was an air observer for the Air Force during the Korean War and later, while stationed in England, studied sculpture, ceramics, and drawing at Cambridge Technical Institute. His daughter said: “He taught me how to open the portal to the infinite multiverse of my own imagination, where every mind, every soul can be free.”
Philip Harold Sumpter Jr. was born March 12, 1930, in Erie. His family moved to segregated West Philadelphia when he was young, and he earned a bachelor’s degree in art education at PCA.
He married and divorced when he was young, and then married Florence Reasner. They had a son, Philip III, and a daughter, Elisabeth, and lived in Abington. They divorced later, and he moved to Hicks Street in South Philadelphia.
He met Carmen Guzman in Philadelphia, and they married in 2001 and moved to San Juan for good in 2003. He built a studio at his new home and never really retired from creating.
Mr. Sumpter (second from left) enjoyed time with his family.
Mr. Sumpter enjoyed singing, road trips to visit family in Pittsburgh, and bomba dancing in San Juan. He was a creative cook, and what he called his “trail chili” won cook-offs and many admirers.
“He was a larger-than-life person,” his son said. “He was fearless in his frontier spirit.” His wife said: “His joy for life was contagious, as was his laughter.”
In addition to his wife, children, and former wife, Mr. Sumpter is survived by other relatives.
A celebration of his life was held earlier in Puerto Rico. Celebrations in Philadelphia are to be from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 14, at Dirty Franks, 347 S. 13th St., Philadelphia,Pa. 19107, and from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, March 15, at the Plastic Club, 247 S. Camac St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19107.
Mr. Sumpter’s work was featured in The Inquirer in 1994.
When we first meet Bok High graduate Ozzie Phillips — one of three protagonists in Sadeqa Johnson’s latest novel, Keeper of Lost Children — a block party on South Philadelphia’s Ringgold Street is just winding down. In between the last dollops of creamy potato salad and sips of clear corn liquor, Ozzie’s friends and family wish the young serviceman a bon voyage.
He spends the last few weeks with his girlfriend, Rita, picnicking at the Lakes in FDR Park and walking through Center City department stores like Wanamaker’s and Strawbridge’s. One night the couple go to Ridge Avenue’s Pearl Theater to see Pearl Bailey perform.
The next morning, Ozzie’s Uncle Millard picks him up in a Vagabond-blue Oldsmobile and the two cruise down Broad Street, Count Basie tunes playing on WHAT AM. Uncle Millard circles City Hall, depositing Ozzie at Reading Terminal Station, where he hops on a train to Trenton’s Fort Dix Army Base before embarking on a steam boat to Germany.
It’s Ozzie’s time in Germany that fuels the plot of the sentimental historical novel.
“It’s such a joy for me to write the Philly scenes,” Johnson said, during a recent video chat. The book publicist turned New York Times best-selling author was born in South Philadelphia, grew up in North, and graduated from George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science. Today, the married mom of three writes from her home in Virginia, right outside Richmond.
“I left Philly when I went to Marymount Manhattan College in New York,” Johnson said. “But where you grow up is always in your DNA. Philly is in my soul. When I sit down and paint pictures of historical moments in Philadelphia, I get to go home.”
Cover art for Sadeqa Johnson’s 2026 novel, “Keeper of Lost Children” One of the main characters, Ozzie Ozbourne grew up in 1940s South Philadelphia.
Johnson has six books out in the world. She self-published her first,Love in a Carry-On Bag, in 2012.
Her books center young Black women in old-school and modern times trying to do the best with what they got. But in most of her works — especially the captivating historical fiction novels through which she’s made a name for herself on BookTok, podcasts, and traditional bestseller lists — her heroines face overwhelming odds.
Take theYellow Wife’s Pheby Delores Brown. Set in antebellum Virginia, Brown’s story is based on the harrowing real-life experience of enslaved woman Mary Lumpkin, who is forced into a relationship with her enslaver for whom she bears five children.
“I have this propensity to tell the story of young women 15, 16, 17, who are in a situation that feels insurmountable,” said Johnson, who, until 2023, taught creative writing in Drexel University’s master’s of fine arts program. “And I really love developing those stories that show how those young women get to the other side.”
The House of Eve, a 2023 New York Times bestseller and a Reese Witherspoon Book Club of the Month pick centers 1950s North Philadelphia teen Ruby Pearsall who falls in love with a Jewish boy whose family runs a corner store. In the book, Ruby must choose between a free ride to Cheyney University and motherhood.
“I love the research,” Johnson said. “I love learning interesting things about this city that I was brought up in.”
In Keeper — released this month by 37 INK, a division of Simon & Schuster — Ethel Gathers, a journalist and wife of an Army officer, also stationed in post World War II Germany, is the central character. There, she chances upon a group of multiracial children who she learns are the offspring of Black servicemen and German women.
Gathers, whose story is based on the life of journalist Mabel Grammer, adopts eight of the “Brown Babies” and starts an adoption agency, ultimately placing hundreds of the children with Black families in the United States. In the book, Grammer visits Philadelphia from her Washington home and books a room at the Divine Lorraine, the country’s first fully racially integrated hotel.
“I stumbled upon Ms. Grammer while researching The House of Eve,” Johnson said.“And in that moment, I knew I wanted to tell that story.”
Johnson breathes life into her fictional characters through extensive research, adding vivid details that take the readers back in time and thrust them into the rich tapestry of her story. Fans will often find connections to characters from previous books where they least expect it.
Ozzie’s military time and South Philly swag is based on Johnson’s great-uncle, 94-year-old Edgar Murray, who, like Ozzie, grew up in South Philly and spent the latter part of the 1940s in Germany. (For the record, Johnson said, her uncle didn’t suffer with alcoholism like Ozzie does in the book.)
It was Murray who suggested Ozzie live on Ringgold Street and take his date to the Pearl Theater.
“I like the factual things she puts in there,” said Murray, who lives with family in Denver, Colo. “It makes it more interesting.”
Philadelphia readers with an eye for history will enjoy seeing the city unfold through Ozzie’s eyes after his 1952 return.
He leafs through The Philadelphia Inquirer, reading detailed accounts of white veterans securing “large mortgages and moving out to lofty suburbs” on the GI bill that he too applied for. He works a job at the Navy Yard, gets married at Tasker Baptist Church, and experiences a miracle at West Philly’s Mercy-Douglass Hospital.
Tanner family members gather on the front steps of the Tanner House, at 2908 W. Diamond St. in Philadelphia, in this photo taken circa 1920. They are: Bottom row (l-r) Aaron A. Mossell Jr., and his wife, Jeanette Gaines Mossell; Middle row (l-r): Sadie T. M. Alexander, her mother, Mary L. Tanner Mossell, and Sadie’s sister, Elizabeth Mossell Anderson. Top row: Page Anderson, Elizabeth Anderson’s husband.
Halfway through Keepers, Ozzie attends a party thrown by elite Civil Rights husband-and-wife-team Raymond Pace Alexander and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander at their swanky home at 17th and Jefferson.
Attorneys John Francis Williams and Lewis Tanner Moore Sr., cofounder of the Pyramid Club and whose son, art collector Lewis Tanner Moore Jr. died in 2024 — shoot the breeze about an NAACP fundraiser and Buddy Powell, a 1940s jazz musician who was so severely beaten by the Philadelphia railroad police that he ended up in an asylum.
“In The House of Eve, I got to dig around in my mom’s memory for Ruby,” Johnson said. “This time around I got to dig around in my dad and Uncle Edgar’s head to get South Philly down. Let’s see what happens in the next book.”
Sadeqa Johnson will give an author’s talk at the Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1906 Rittenhouse Square, Friday, Feb. 13, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 and include a copy of “Keeper of Lost Children”
Philadelphia’s Democratic Party has endorsed State Sen. Sharif Street for the city’s open congressional seat.
The endorsement Monday came as no surprise, given Street’s insider connections. He previously chaired the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and is close to party leaders in the city. And Bob Brady, who chairs the Democratic City Committee, said last fall that he expected his fellow ward leaders to vote to endorse Street.
But it nonetheless strengthens Street’s status as the favorite in the race among the local Democratic establishment. Street, the son of former Mayor John F. Street, was endorsed by the politically powerful unions in the Philadelphia Building & Construction Trades Council last year.
“I am deeply honored to have received the overwhelming support of the grassroots leaders who power our party,” Street, who represents a North Philadelphia district in the state Senate, said in a statement. “This endorsement is more than just a vote of confidence — it is a demonstration that we are building a broad-based coalition.”
Street has also emerged as the front-runner in the financial race. Recently disclosed campaign reports showed he raised $348,000 from donors in the last quarter of 2025, the largest haul among the candidates.
The 3rd Congressional District is, by some measures, the most heavily Democratic district in the U.S. House, and includes West and Northwest Philadelphia and parts of Center City, Southwest, South, and North Philadelphia.
The winner of the Democratic primary in May is all but guaranteed victory in November. Democrats hold a 7-to-1 voter registration edge over Republicans in Philadelphia.
Map of Pennsylvania’s Third Congressional District.
Earning the party nod may help Street stand out in a crowded field and will bolster his ground game for campaigning, activating the party’s hundreds of committeepeople to get out the vote for him.
But it doesn’t guarantee victory. Insurgent candidates have defied the party’s dominance several times in recent city elections, and the district includes several progressive pockets that could open the door for a candidate who can coalesce the left against Street.
The endorsement followed a vote by the Democratic ward leaders in the district. A candidate must receive at least 50% of the vote to win the party endorsement.
If no candidate reaches that mark, each ward prints its own sample ballots with its preferred candidates, which often happens in open contests like this year’s primary.
The party’s endorsement of Street means all ward leaders are now encouraged to include him in the literature distributed to voters before and on election day. Some wards, however, choose to print their own slates anyway.
The party did not immediately disclose the final vote tally at the endorsement meeting.
Northwest Philadelphia’s 50th Ward, which is led by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, has not yet made an endorsement in the race, said Aren Platt, executive director of the mayor’s campaign, People for Parker.
Top candidates in the race, including Street, were scheduled to face off at a candidates forum hosted by the Center City Residents Association on Monday night.
A man died Thursday morning in a fire inside a North Philadelphia home.
The fire started around 5:15 a.m. on the 2500 block of North 12th Street, where crews found heavy smoke and fire coming from the two-story rowhouse, according to the Philadelphia Fire Department. Firefighters witnessed fire coming from the second floor, where they found a person dead inside the home.
Philadelphia fire department personnel at scene of fatal fire 2500 block N. 12th Street, early Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.
Firefighters placed the fire under control by 5:45 a.m. The cause of the fire remained under investigation.
The Thursday morning blaze followed a fatal house fire in Kingsessing on Wednesday morning, which the fire marshal’s office determined was intentionally set, and another fatal fire in early January that claimed the life of a woman in the Ogontz section.
Najee Williams, 27, is considered armed and dangerous, police said. Homicide investigators say Williams is connected to the fatal shootings of 20-year-old David Garcia-Morales in December and 25-year-old Aaron Whitfield in January.
Williams faces charges of murder, conspiracy, and related crimes. There is a $20,000 reward for information that leads to his arrest and conviction.
The killings of Garcia-Morales and Whitfield, who police say worked for the Jenkintown-based towing company 448 Towing and Recovery, rattled the city and put a focus on the competitive business of towing.
Williams is the owner and operator of N.K.W Towing and Recovery, of North Philadelphia, according to a police source who asked not to be identified to discuss an ongoing investigation.
A Facebook page for N.K.W features photos of car accidents and messages urging potential customers to call the company.
“INVOLVED IN A ACCIDENT OR SEE ONE CALL ME” one message says.
Another post from 2024 says: “Left the streets in a patty wagon, came back home and got right to it! Been home for 2 years now & as I sit here and think how bless I’m to have my freedom back.”
It was not immediately clear who made the post.
Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom, commanding officer of the homicide unit, said forensic evidence collected from a stolen Honda used in the shooting of Whitfield led investigators to Williams.
The department’s fugitive task force and U.S. Marshals are assisting in the search for Williams, whose last known whereabouts were in Montgomery County, authorities say.
On Dec. 22, police were called to 4200 Torresdale Avenue to find Garcia-Morales shot and injured inside a Ford F-450 towing vehicle. He was struck in the neck and thigh, and died four days later at Temple University Hospital.
The second shooting, which took place on Jan. 11 on the 2100 block of Knorr Street, left Whitfield dead at the scene after he was struck by gunfire in the head and body.
Whitfield had also been sitting in a tow truck, according to police. His 21-year-old girlfriend was shot in the leg and survived her injuries.
Philadelphia’s towing industry is competitive and drivers often traverse the city in search of car accidents, hoping to be the first to arrive at the scene.
That practice persists despite a city policy that requires police and dispatchers to cycle through a list of approved towing companies to contact when responding to accidents.
Philadelphia has many thousands of vacant properties, and historically, some local politicians have sought to encourage razing such structures to prevent fire risks or eliminate drug havens.
But in the last couple of decades, as real estate development heated up in many neighborhoods, concerns emerged that potentially historic olderbuildings were being destroyed to make the vacant land more valuable.
“We know that when these properties are demolished in certain communities, that typically is a sign of gentrification,” Councilmember Jeffery Young, who represents much of North Philadelphia, said at a Tuesday hearing.
“When you demolish that property and you build up, you’re trying to make more money than the property was originally stated as a shell,” said Young, whose district also includes parts of Center City.
Young introduced a bill last year that would ban demolition permits from being issued in his district unless a property owner had secured building permitsfor a new project.
He said he saw the legislation as a means to encourage property owners to repair existing buildings and to ensure that vacant lots would not scar his district.
“When you rehab a property, the price is typically lower than a brand-new house, and so we’re trying to keep homes affordable,” Young said, “and prevent blight from our communities.”
Young’s bill would not apply to buildings deemed imminently dangerous by the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections.
Last year Councilmember Jamie Gauthier passed a law containing a similar provision, but for a more tightly proscribed area that covered properties held by large higher education institutions in University City.
The Building Industry Association (BIA) presented a litany of concerns about Young’s bill at Tuesday’s Rules Committee hearing.
The BIA feared the legislation would delay projects, as many developers demolish structures while they are waiting for their building permits. The additional months in limbo would increase insurance, security, and financing costs, the group argued.
The bill could also encourage bad actors to engage in dangerous behavior, the BIA said.
“To qualify for an exception based on structural danger, certain property owners may be compelled to intentionally incur code violation or enforcement action to demonstrate instability,” said Kenn Penn, a local developer, who spoke on the BIA’s behalf. It “incentivizes the very condition that the city seeks to avoid.”
Penn also warned about the danger of preserving long-vacant properties.
“The bill would prevent demolition of vacant and unsecured structures that are highly susceptible to unlawful occupation,” Penn said. “Philadelphia has already experienced multiple fires this winter, many historically linked to squatters and abandoned buildings.”
Penn asked Young to limit the legislation to properties that do not have a vacant property license.
But the bill passed from the committee with only technical amendments.
“I understand the impacts this will have on the development community,” Young said. “But what I think this bill does is ensures that property owners maintain their properties in a prudent manner.”
State Sen. Sharif Street maintained his financial advantage. Physicians Ala Stanford and David Oxman have turned to self-funding their campaigns. And State Reps. Chris Rabb and Morgan Cephas are low on cash — but one might be getting help soon.
The crowded Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District is beginning to come into focus after the candidates this weekend filed new campaign finance reports. The filings cover the last three months of 2025, providing insights into the candidates’ resources as the campaign heats up.
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Fundraising will not be the only factor that determines the outcome of the May primary election, which will ultimately be decided by voters. But the 3rd District candidates need money to pay staff and buy advertisements to spread their message, and the beginning of an election year is often a pivotal time for campaigns to prove their viability.
Map of Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District.
After U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Philadelphia) last year announced he would not seek reelection to the nation’s bluest district, more than a dozen candidates tossed their hats in the ring. It’s likely some will not stay in the race long enough to appear on the May 19 primary ballot.
The 3rd District includes all of Northwest and West Philadelphia, as well as parts of Center City and North, South, and Southwest Philadelphia.
Street led the field by raising about $347,000 from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 of last year, according to his report. His campaign spent $193,000 during that period, and he had $527,000 in cash on hand at the start of 2026.
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Campaign manager Josh Uretsky said Street’s fundraising totals “demonstrate that our strong track record of progressive leadership — from lowering health care costs to leading the fight to legalize recreational cannabis and reform our justice system — is resonating in every corner of the district.”
State Sen. Sharif Street speaks in front ofthe engraved names of nine enslaved people who lived and worked at President George Washington’s home, as the 15th anniversary of the President’s House exhibit in Independence National Historical Park is celebrated Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025.
Street has benefited from contributions from the deep-pocketed building trades unions, which endorsed him last fall. In the past, those unions have also funded outside spending committees, or super PACs, to support their preferred candidates, and it’s likely they’ll do the same for Street this spring.
Street collected more than $40,000 from labor groups in the most recent reporting period.
First-time candidates Ala Stanford and David Oxman turn to self-funding
Last month, it appeared that Stanford,a pediatric surgeon, was raking in cash when her campaign released a statement saying she had raised more than $467,000, a significant haul for a first-time candidate. The campaign said at the time that her fundraising prowess “solidifies [her] leading role” in the race.
But it turns out that more than half of the money the campaign brought in came from Stanford herself. The new report showed that Stanford lent her campaign $250,000 on Dec. 31, the last day of the reporting period, bringing her total cash on hand to about $392,000 at the end of the year.
Physician Ala Stanford at a forum hosted by the 9th Ward Democratic Committee Dec. 4, 2025.
In a statement Monday, Stanford emphasized her humble upbringing in North Philadelphia public housing, saying she “never imagined being in this position, but this city has given me so much.”
Her campaign noted that she also invested her own money in her nonprofit organization, the Black Doctors Consortium, to bolster the city’s COVID-19 testing and vaccination programs during the height of the pandemic.
“I’ve stood up and led during a crisis before — and spent my own money to do it — so I’m going do whatever it takes to fight for our city,” Stanford said. “I’m incredibly grateful that in just the first few months of our campaign, that commitment has been matched with amazing grassroots financial support, too, and we’re just getting started.”
Stanford is not the only doctor self-funding their congressional campaign. Oxman, another political outsider and physician, brought in just over $107,000 between October and December — including $75,000 that he lent to his own campaign.
Oxman, an intensive-care physician and professor at Thomas Jefferson University, has lent his campaign $175,000. At the end of the year, he had $357,000 in the bank.
Physician David Oxman at a forum hosted by the 9th Ward Democratic Committee Dec. 4, 2025.
In a press release Sunday, Oxman emphasized that he was not accepting corporate PAC donations.
“You cannot fight for the health of the people of the 3rd district while you are taking money from nursing home companies and health insurance PACs,” Oxman said. “The corporatization of medicine is just a piece of a larger corporatization of American life that is hollowing out our economy as well as our democracy.”
Chris Rabb and Morgan Cephas enter 2026 low on cash
Both Cephas and Rabb raised less money in the fourth quarter of 2025 than in the opening months of their campaigns, and they both closed the year with roughly $100,000 in cash on hand.
Cephas, who represents a West Philadelphia district and chairs the city’s delegation to the Pennsylvania House, entered the year with about $109,000 in cash on hand.
State Rep. Morgan Cephas at a news conference Sept. 3, 2025.
“The residents of the 3rd Congressional District are more concerned with the skyrocketing cost of living, fewer health care options, and making sure their communities are safe than who raised the most money,” Cephas campaign manager Salvatore Colleluori said. “Rep. Cephas has only one priority in this race, the residents of Philadelphia’s 3rd Congressional District.”
“I’m incredibly proud of the thousands of people in Philly and across the country fueled by a movement so much bigger than electoral politics,” Rabb said. “Our momentum is undeniable. We always knew we wouldn’t outraise the corporate-backed and self-funded campaigns — and we don’t need to.”
Pablo McConnie-Saad, a 39-year-old South Philly resident who worked in Biden’s administration, entered the race to represent Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District.
Meanwhile, Pablo Iván McConnie-Saad — a Bella Vista resident who worked in Delaware politics before serving in the Treasury Department under former President Joe Biden — brought in a fundraising haul similar to the sitting state representatives last quarter despite his campaign largely flying under the radar.
McConnie-Saad collected $119,000 in contributions last quarter, and he had $69,000 on hand at the start of the year.
In a statement, campaign field director Matt Cárdenas said McConnie-Saad offered voters a “different choice.”
“This campaign is entirely people-powered,” he said. “No corporate PAC money, no AIPAC, just everyday people investing in a different kind of politics. We’re proud of what we’ve built so far. Politicians have failed us, and Washington won’t change unless we challenge it.”
The Democratic Socialists of America’s Philadelphia chapter recently endorsed him, as did two liberal wards in South Philadelphia. And Reclaim Philadelphia leaders are recommending that its members back Rabb in the progressive group’s internal endorsement process.
The Working Families Party of Pennsylvania, which often funds super PACs to back left-leaning candidates, has not yet weighed in.
Candidates (from left) State Reps. Morgan Cephas, and Chris Rabb; and physician David Oxman appear at a forum hosted by the 9th Ward Democratic Committee in Mt. Airy Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.
“We’re still going through an active endorsement process, but we’re confident that we will land on a progressive who will fight for working people, not billionaire donors, big corporations, or special interests,” said Nick Gavio, a spokesperson for the party.
Additionally, the Justice Democrats, a national group founded by operatives from Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, may also get involved. In the past, the PAC has backed candidates with similar platforms to Rabb’s.
Justice Democrats “will likely come to a decision with news to share in the very near future in support of a candidate we can be confident will represent the values of the everyday people in this district,” spokesperson Usamah Andrabi said.
Data reporter Joe Yerardi contributed to this article.
