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  • These Philly schools are slated for big upgrades as the district works to modernize buildings

    These Philly schools are slated for big upgrades as the district works to modernize buildings

    Nearly $58 million for South Philadelphia High School. Over $27 million for Forrest Elementary in the Northeast. Almost $55 million for Bartram High in Southwest Philadelphia.

    Ahead of a Tuesday City Council hearing on the Philadelphia School District’s proposed facilities master plan, district officials have dangled the carrot that would accompany the stick of 20 school closings.

    The district released Monday morning how much it would spend on modernization projects at schools in each City Council District if Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.’s plan is approved by the school board this winter.

    The totals range from $443 million in the 9th District — which includes parts of Olney, East and West Oak Lane, Mount Airy, and Oxford Circle — to nearly $56 million for the 6th District in lower Northeast Philadelphia, including Mayfair, Bridesburg, and Wissinoming.

    The district’s announcement comes as the plan has already raised hackles among some Council members, and City Council President Kenyatta Johnson has said he’ll hold up the district’s funding “if need be” if concerns are not answered to Council’s satisfaction.

    Tailoring the release to Council districts — including highlighting one major project per district — appears to be an effort to calm opposition ahead of Tuesday’s hearing.

    Details on every school that would get upgraded under Watlington’s plan — 159 in total — have not yet been released.

    John Bartram High School at 2401 S. 67th St in Southwest Philadelphia.

    Watlington has stressed that the point of the long-range facilities plan is not closing schools, but solving for issues of equity, improving academic programming, and acknowledging that many buildings are in poor shape, while some are underenrolled and some are overenrolled.

    “This plan is about ensuring that more students in every neighborhood have access to the high-quality academics, programs, and facilities they deserve,” Watlington said in a statement. “While some of these decisions are difficult, they are grounded in deep community engagement and a shared commitment to improving outcomes for all public school children in every ZIP code of Philadelphia.”

    But at community meetings unfolding at schools across the city that are slated for closure, Council members have expressed displeasure about parts of the plan — a preview, perhaps, of Tuesday’s meeting.

    Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, represents the 7th District, including Kensington, Feltonville, Juniata Park, and Frankford. Four schools in her district — Stetson, Conwell, Harding, and Welsh — are on the chopping block.

    “The fact that they are being considered for closure is very concerning to me,” Lozada said at a meeting at Stetson Middle School on Thursday.

    Councilmember Quetcy Lozada is shown in a 2025 file photo.

    Councilmember Cindy Bass, speaking at a Lankenau High meeting, objected to closing schools that are working well. (Three schools in Bass’ 8th District, Fitler Elementary, Wagner middle school, and Parkway Northwest High School, are proposed for closure. Lankenau is in Curtis Jones Jr.’s district but has citywide enrollment.)

    “I do not understand what the logic and the rationale is that we are making these kinds of decisions,” said Bass.

    While Council members will not have a direct say on the proposed school closures or the facilities plan, Council wields significant control over the district’s budget. Funding for the district is included in the annual city budget that Council must approve by the end of June.

    Local revenue and city funding made up about 40% of the district’s budget this year, or nearly $2 billion. Most of that is the district’s share of city property taxes which, unlike other school systems in Pennsylvania, are levied by the city and then distributed to the district.

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    Where will the money go?

    Despite city and schools officials saying in the past that the district has more than $7 billion in unmet facilities needs, Watlington has said the district could complete its plan — including modernizing 159 schools — for $2.8 billion.

    Officials said further details about modernization projects and the facilities plan will be released before the Feb. 26 school board meeting, where Watlington is expected to formally present his proposal to the school board.

    Overbrook High School, in West Philadelphia, will get major renovations in preparation for The Workshop School, a small, project-based district school, colocating inside the building.

    Here are the total proposed dollar amounts per Council district and the 10 big projects announced Monday:

    • 1st District: $308,049,008. Key project: $57.2 million for South Philadelphia High, turning the school into a career and technical education hub and modernizing electrical, lighting, and security systems.
    • 2nd District: $302,284,081. Key project: $54.6 million for Bartram High, to renovate the school and grounds, career and technical education spaces, restroom and accessibility renovations, new painting, and new athletic fields and facilities (on the site of nearby Tilden Middle School, which is slated to close). Motivation High School would close and become an honors program inside Bartram.
    • 3rd District: $204,947,677. Key project: $19.6 million for the Sulzberger site, which currently houses Middle Years Alternative and is proposed to house Martha Washington Elementary. (It currently houses MYA and Parkway West, which would close.) Improvements would include heating and cooling and electrical systems, classroom modernizations, and the addition of an elevator and a playground.
    • 4th District: $216,819,480. Key project: $50.2 million for Overbrook High School, with updates including new restrooms, accessibility improvements, and refurbished automotive bays. (The Workshop School, another district high school, is colocating inside the building.)
    • 5th District: $290,748,937. Key project: $8.4 million for Franklin Learning Center, with updates including for exterior, auditorium, and restroom renovations, security cameras, accessibility improvements, and new paint.
    • 6th District: $55,769,008. Key project: $27.2 million for Forrest Elementary, including modernizations that will allow the school to grow to a K-8, and eliminate overcrowding at Northeast Community Propel Academy.
    • 7th District: $388,795,327. Key project: $32.3 million at John Marshall Elementary in Frankford to add capacity at the school, plus a gym, elevator, and schoolwide renovations.
    • 8th District: $318,986,215. Key project: $42.9 million at Martin Luther King High in East Germantown for electrical and general building upgrades and accommodations for Building 21, a school that will colocate inside the King building.
    • 9th District: $442,934,244. Key project: $42.2 million at Carnell Elementary for projects including an addition to expand the school’s capacity, restroom renovations, exterior improvements, and stormwater management projects.
    • 10th District: $275,829,539. Key project: at Watson Comly Elementary in the Northeast, an addition to accommodate middle grade students from Loesche and Comly, and building modernizations. District officials did not give the estimated cost of the Comly project.

    What’s next?

    The facilities Council hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall. It will also be livestreamed.

    Members of the public also have the opportunity to weigh in on the facilities plan writ large at three community town halls scheduled for this week: Tuesday at Benjamin Franklin High from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., Friday at Kensington CAPA from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., and a virtual meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday.

    Meetings at each of the schools proposed for closure continue this week, also; the full schedule can be found on the district’s website.

  • Jersey’s historic diners keep closing. This legislation aims to keep more alive.

    Jersey’s historic diners keep closing. This legislation aims to keep more alive.

    There may be new hope for diners in New Jersey.

    In recent years, a string of the state’s iconic diners have shuttered their doors. New state legislation aims to keep the lights on at those still in business.

    The bill, which was introduced in the New Jersey Senate in January, would provide some diners and other historic restaurants with tax benefits.

    “Diners, and specifically historic diners, are a cornerstone of our great state, having served residents and visitors for many decades. They are part of our culture and our history, and we have a duty to help them thrive,” State Sen. Paul Moriarty of Gloucester County, a sponsor of the bill, said in a statement Thursday.

    The legislation, which would establish a registry of historic diners and restaurants, would give the businesses a tax credit of up to $25,000. Only diners and family-owned restaurants operating for at least 25 years will qualify.

    The bill has been referred to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

    “It has been heartbreaking to see so many of these well-known establishments close or dramatically cut their hours,” Moriarity said.

    Where have diners closed in New Jersey?

    The origin of the modern diner can be traced back to a horse-drawn lunch wagon in 19th-century Rhode Island and the model has evolved since then. New Jersey has been coined the “diner capital” of the U.S. but has seen closures in recent years due to increased operating expenses, the challenge of finding employees, and the impact of the pandemic.

    The Cherry Hill Diner closed in 2023 after 55 years in business and following the co-owner’s unsuccessful search for a buyer. South Jersey’s Gateway Diner in Gloucester County closed that same year amid construction of the Westville Route 47 Bridge and the state’s acquisition of the site. The Red Lion Diner in Burlington County also sold, making way for a Wawa.

    In January 2024, the Star View Diner in Camden County closed. Last year, the Collingswood Diner shut its doors in August, to be replaced by a marijuana dispensary.

    The trend extended in Philadelphia where the Midtown III closed in 2020. Last year, the Mayfair Diner in Northeast Philadelphia was listed for sale.

  • Daughter of man who prosecutors say ran human trafficking ring in Northeast Philly pleads guilty to helping with finances

    Daughter of man who prosecutors say ran human trafficking ring in Northeast Philly pleads guilty to helping with finances

    The daughter of a Northeast Philadelphia man who prosecutors say ran a human-trafficking ring for years that trapped vulnerable women, supplied them with drugs, then forced them to have sex with men across the region pleaded guilty Friday to helping manage the finances of the criminal organization.

    Natoria Jones, 30, pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution after prosecutors with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said she helped her father, Terrance Jones, manage the payments of his sex-trafficking scheme for at least three weeks in 2023.

    In exchange for Jones’ plea, Senior Deputy Attorney General Zachary Wynkoop withdrew felony charges of conspiracy, participating in a corrupt organization, and promoting unlawful activities.

    Wynkoop asked Common Pleas Court Judge Zachary Shaffer to defer Jones’ sentencing until after the June trial of her father, Terrance Jones — the alleged ringleader of the criminal enterprise — and three of his associates.

    The plea marks the latest development in the sweeping indictment brought by the attorney general’s office in 2024 in which officials charged Terrance Jones, 54, and several of his associates with operating a human-trafficking ring across the region for more than a decade.

    For 12 years, Terrance Jones, of Lawndale, marketed what he called “GFE” or “the Girlfriend Experience” online and recruited women in their 20s — many battling addiction and struggling to find stable housing or income, authorities said.

    When women contacted the operation, prosecutors said, Terrance Jones would impersonate a woman, raising the pitch of his voice and introducing himself as “Julie” or “Julia” to build trust. He promised to send a driver to pick them up for “dates” where they could earn more than $250 and obtain drugs, officials said. He used the women to lure other victims who were addicted to drugs into the scheme, telling one confidant that he “could ‘wash em up’ and make money with them,” according to the affidavit of probable cause for Jones’ arrest.

    “He made these women feel worthless. He controlled them, manipulated them, and, in a way, programmed them to feel like this was their only option,” then-Attorney General Michelle Henry said in announcing the charges.

    Prosecutors and Pennsylvania State Police began investigating in 2021 after a woman who they said had been trafficked by Terrance Jones reported the abuse.

    After meeting with the woman, officials conducted wiretaps, acted as undercover sex workers and buyers, and tracked down his clients, the affidavit said. Across the three-year investigation, officials said they found that the operation crossed through the Philadelphia suburbs and into New Jersey, and that over just 10 days in 2023, Terrance Jones arranged 78 “dates” — and pocketed most of the funds.

    He was charged with trafficking individuals, involuntary servitude, running a corrupt organization, conspiracy, and related crimes. He remains in custody, held on $2 million bail.

    Three of Terrance Jones’ business partners — Thomas Reilly, Joseph Franklin, and Raheem Smith — are charged with running a corrupt organization, conspiracy, and related crimes, and are scheduled to go to trial with him in June.

    Another associate, James Rudolph, a driver who officials said transported women to their “dates,” pleaded guilty to conspiracy to promote a house of prostitution last year. He’s scheduled to be sentenced later this month.

    In a rare move, prosecutors as part of the indictment also criminally charged 16 men who paid Terrance Jones for sex with the women. While the charges against some of the men have been dismissed, at least nine have pleaded guilty to promoting or patronizing prostitution and are scheduled to be sentenced next month.

    Among Terrance Jones’ business partners, was also his daughter, Natoria, who handled some of the financials and payments between the women and customers. Her attorney Jonathan D. Consadene declined to comment Friday.

    Senior Deputy Attorney General Erik Olsen said several factors influenced the plea agreement.

    “There’s some mitigation as to how she got pulled into this,” Olsen said, adding that more details would emerge at trial in June.

  • Judge sentences man who decapitated his wife: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen a case like this’

    Judge sentences man who decapitated his wife: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen a case like this’

    Hours before Ahmad Shareef was arrested for killing his wife, he called his mother and confessed.

    “I cut her head off,” he told her, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

    On Monday, Shareef, 37, was sentenced to 16 to 42 years in prison in the decapitation death of Leila Al Raheel inside the couple’s Northeast Philadelphia home. Shareef pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and related crimes in the November 2022 slaying.

    “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a case like this,” said Common Pleas Court Judge Charles Ehrlich.

    New details of the killing also surfaced during the hearing.

    After Shareef confessed to his mother, she asked a neighbor to go to her son’s home in the 300 block of Magee Avenue and check on Al Raheel, according to the affidavit. The neighbor found Al Raheel dead in the dining room, she later told police.

    Officers who responded to the house discovered Al Raheel’s headless body on the kitchen floor, the affidavit said. They found Shareef about four miles away, hiding in bushes in front of a house. His sweatpants, the document said, were stained red with blood.

    Inside a police interview room, Shareef waived his Miranda rights, according to the affidavit. He told detectives he’d argued with Al Raheel after she had called him names.

    Then, he said, he cut off her head with a kitchen knife.

    In court Monday, the neighbor described how discovering Al Raheel’s body upended her life. She said she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. “This isn’t something that time simply erases,” she said.

    No one testified on Shareef’s behalf. His mother, who had been expected to appear, was ill and unable to attend, his defense attorney, Gregg Blender, said.

    Al Raheel, who came to the U.S. with Shareef and his family in 2011, “has no family to speak on her behalf,” said the prosecutor, Maggie McDermott.

    The judge imposed a sentence slightly below the prosecution’s request of 23 to 47 years, after Shareef’s attorney urged him to consider his client’s traumatic childhood and long-standing mental illness, which he said went largely untreated.

    As a child, Shareef moved with his mother from Kuwait to Iraq and later to Syria, fleeing both war and abusive men who, Blender said, subjected them to violence. At the insistence of his family, Shareef later married Al Raheel, a neighbor, Blender said.

    In the U.S., Shareef was treated repeatedly for mental health crises, Blender said. In 2012, he was hospitalized after striking himself and cutting his wrists, and in 2019, Blender said, Shareef stabbed himself in the neck.

    Blender urged the judge to weigh what he described as his client’s “horrific upbringing” against what he acknowledged was “nothing less than a horrific crime.”

    McDermott called the killing the “peak of domestic violence” and “unspeakably awful,” and warned that Shareef posed a continuing danger. If he was capable of such violence toward someone he loved, she argued, then even strangers were at risk.

    Ehrlich said the sentence reflected both Shareef’s traumatic past and the threat he posed going forward.

    “To sever a head with a kitchen knife takes a lot of effort,” he said. “Mr. Shareef, you have lived a life of horrors. I don’t think anyone in this courtroom disputes that.” The question, he added, was what needed to be done to protect others.

    “I’m very concerned about the future — I’m going to be honest with you,” the judge said. “What happened to you as a child was not your fault. But people with this kind of damage can hurt others.”

    After the slaying, neighbors told The Inquirer that several people had been living in the house, which had become an eyesore on the block. Shareef, they said, stood out: He behaved aggressively to other residents, and sometimes appeared outside wearing only underwear.

    Since late 2016, police responded to more than 50 calls on the 300 block of Magee Street for domestic disturbances, reports of weapons, and other complaints. However, police would not disclose exact addresses, and it remains unclear how many of those calls — if any — originated from the home Shareef shared with Al Raheel, where she was eventually killed.

    The city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections also confirmed that inspectors visited the house more than a year before Al Raheel was killed, following reports that the house’s garage was being used as a living space. But the inspectors weren’t able to gain access to the property, according to the department. Instead, they issued violations for weeds and combustible storage.

  • Philly native Mike Petrakis built PowerPay, a fintech company for people who think banks are too slow

    Philly native Mike Petrakis built PowerPay, a fintech company for people who think banks are too slow

    The Philadelphia region, once a banking center, is still home to financial innovators. One of the growing digital lenders based nearby is seven-year-old PowerPay, whose 225 staff members build a software platform to finance home improvement loans, personal loans for hearing aids and other medical needs, and a growing list of services, from its new offices just off U.S. 202 near King of Prussia.

    PowerPay revenues more than doubled to $200 million last year, as the company processed $6 billion in loan applications.

    The company raised its local profile last winter when it cosponsored the Christmas light show at the former Wanamakers in Center City. That got its name out to more prospective employees and borrowers.

    Founder Mike Petrakis, a native of Northeast Philadelphia and Archbishop Ryan High School graduate, played varsity soccer at Drexel University and briefly went pro in England. He settled in Doylestown and a sales career, which led him to start PowerPay in 2017. Early backers included hoteliers Jay Shah and Eustace Mita.

    He agreed to talk to The Inquirer about his company’s growth and prospects. Questions and answers edited for clarity and brevity.

    What’s the difference between your company and a bank?

    A lot of people think banks are inconvenient. Their loan docs are thirty-some pages. With fintechs, someone applies in seconds, and in milliseconds you can get an offer back.

    We collect thousands of data points — email transmissions, phone checks, geotagging, information in databases that is available. Social media, not so much. We make sure we can recognize the device from which they are putting in the application. We put all this into our models.

    We are onboarding more artificial intelligence. We take a driver’s license and check — does the signature match the customer on the platform? is that image theirs? It is done in an instant.

    Lending has become an automated business. Why do you still do so much business by phone?

    You get a loan with us, you are going to be connected to us for the next 15 years, and we need to be connected to each other. We are deploying digital routing that moves them from an initial inquiry to a specialized team member without the traditional “on hold.” And we have engineers on premise and around the world.

    The goal is to work so hard to get the consumer that we can keep them in perpetuity.

    PowerPay has its headquarters just off U.S. 202 near King of Prussia.
    Since you’re not a bank, how do you fund these loans?

    Credit unions financed our loans early on. Now we have KeyBanc and Capital One and other major lenders.

    We aren’t a bank, so we don’t have the same oversight, and we can move faster. But we work with banks, so our processes are built to be fully compatible with bank regulations. We process half a billion dollars’ worth of loans a month, which is larger than most banks.

    What do you do any better than a bank?

    We just built a new product, PowerPay 360. You pay interest only for 12 months, then interest and principal for 14 years. Leaves a little extra cash in their pocket for a year. We set that up in 30 days.

    Banks are so conservative; for them to build that, with their large, core technology systems, it would take them years to get it into the market. Apple tried to get in the consumer financial business and left within two years.

    We are adding credit card and mortgage products, and healthcare loans, too. We just opened a relationship with U.S. Bank to grow that relationship to half a billion dollars.

    Credit cards have moved from plastic into a whole digital landscape for the consumer. We are making it so [in late 2026] you can tap your smartphone or mobile device at Home Depot and not just buy supplies but also hire your installer or service provider, and get an installment loan to pay for the whole project.

    What else are you preparing to sell?

    We now have an insurance business. We sell credit-default insurance for the benefit of our financial sponsors. Our underwriter is domiciled in the Cayman Islands under their financial regulations. We aggregate the risk into asset-backed securities [and sell loans in risk-based pieces to get higher returns]. We sell those to investors, and the insurance comes off.

    We’re going to grow insurance. Involuntary unemployment, disability, credit, life. We would domicile that in the U.S. We are talking to large insurance carriers we could front for and share the risk.

    How did you get into this business?

    In 2017, I was a national contractor, [helping buyers finance] home generators for Generac, Cummins, Kohler, Briggs & Stratton. You pay $99 a month for 10 years, and we’d get them a loan with Synchrony or GreenSky [two online-lending pioneers].

    Generac came to me and said, how can we make these loans, too? I said start a national call center. It took me six months to find a software platform and a credit union to finance us.

    At first we were just a couple of people, sitting in the Whole Foods beer garden in Plymouth Meeting. We’d have breakfast, then set up our laptops that we bought at Best Buy, initiating loans and writing the code on third-party platforms. Then we grew out of Whole Foods, and we got our first office at the Life Time fitness club in Ardmore.

    We took over an auto-loan platform and converted it to make home-equity loans. We were ready to really build it up, and then Generac backed out.

    So we said, what else can we finance with this? We approached the big home improvement companies, Renewal by Andersen window installations, and others.

    What was it like, launching into the pandemic?

    The home improvement companies were sitting on millions in applications they couldn’t get funded. We underwrote those loans and got them funded, at first, by credit unions.

    We onboarded 100,000 users overnight, and we nearly blew up the software platform we were using. So we built our own, and now we own all our intellectual property.

    We went at first to many credit unions, and they shared participation with other credit unions, but then they would get scared and pull out. We still weren’t big enough for Goldman or JPMorgan. Even the second-tier banks would only lend part of the money. Finally, we found one credit union, Chartway [based in Virginia], they kept the doors open.

    In 2023, we were ready to sell loans in our first securitization. We kept servicing rights. That legitimized us in the eyes of the bankers. Capital One agreed to help us with the securitization.

    There were 50 lawyers involved! We only did a $118 million deal. But we have done much larger ones since, and now I can get it done with a lawyer on each side in a couple of days. We underwrite the loans, we insure them, and then we sell them, de-risking.

    It becomes a cost-of-funds game — the lower the cost, the less onerous the rates we can offer consumers.

    We can drive billions more through this platform.

  • PHL CEO steps down to lead another airport across the country

    PHL CEO steps down to lead another airport across the country

    Philadelphia International Airport CEO Atif Saeed is stepping down, just as Philadelphia prepares for an expected influx of tourists this year.

    Saeed has led the city’s Department of Aviation, which also includes the Northeast Philadelphia Airport, since 2022, and plans to step down Feb. 27. He is heading west to be president and CEO of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

    “Under his direction, our airports emerged stronger from the pandemic, advanced critical modernization efforts, and positioned Philadelphia to welcome the world in 2026 and beyond,” Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said in a statement Thursday.

    “We are grateful for his contributions and wish him continued success in this next chapter,” Parker said.

    The city plans to hire a new CEO following a national search. Tracy Borda, PHL’s chief financial officer, will be interim CEO.

    Saeed’s departure comes as Philadelphia expects to be inundated with visitors this year for the United States’ 250th anniversary, the MLB All-Star Game, and the FIFA World Cup games.

    “I will always look back at my time at PHL and PNE fondly,” Saeed said in a statement Thursday. “I am confident that our airports are ready to welcome the world for the events of 2026 and beyond.”

    Saeed came to PHL from the Metropolitan Airport Commission of Minnesota, where he was chief financial officer. The airport was still working to return to pre-pandemic-level travel, and it was continuing to cope with a growing number of people experiencing homelessness and seeking refuge at the airport.

    “From the start, by addressing the unhoused situation at PHL with a caring, multiagency approach, this team was committed to ensuring that through strategic investments and thoughtful planning, PHL and PNE are in a position of strength to continue to enhance airport operations for an even brighter future,” Saeed said Thursday.

    In 2022, Philadelphians voted to create a stand-alone aviation department within city government, which before that had operated under the Department of Commerce.

    During Saeed’s time at PHL, the airport has been updating its master plan, which identified the need for additional gates. The airport has also been positioning itself to capture more cargo activity and has been rolling out a renovation of bathroom facilities.

    Still, PHL continued to rank last in a national survey on traveler satisfaction among similarly sized airports. The airport is over 80 years old and its aging infrastructure has held it back, Saeed has said. In 2025, addressing the last-place result again, Saeed noted: “Admittedly in some places, we look our age.”

    U.S. Sen. Bob Casey spoke during ceremonies to celebrate the continued restroom renovation program at the Philadelphia International Airport in 2023.
  • Unmasking ICE in Philly could test the limits of local power over federal agents

    Unmasking ICE in Philly could test the limits of local power over federal agents

    One of the lasting images of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign will be the masks worn by federal immigration agents.

    The widespread use of facial coverings by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers is among the suite of tactics — agents dressed in plainclothes, wearing little identification, jumping out of unmarked cars to grab people off the street — that have fueled immigration advocates’ use of terms like “kidnappings” and “abductions.”

    Now Philadelphia lawmakers appear poised to pass legislation that would ban all officers operating in the city — including local police — from concealing their identities by wearing masks or conducting enforcement from unmarked cars.

    The question is whether the city can make that rule stick.

    Legal hurdles loom for municipalities and states attempting to regulate federal law enforcement. Local jurisdictions are generally prohibited from interfering with basic federal functions, and Trump administration officials say state- and city-level bans violate the constitutional provision that says federal law reigns supreme.

    Experts are split on whether the bill proposed by Philadelphia City Council members last week would survive a lawsuit.

    There are also practical concerns about enforcement. Violating the mask ban would be a civil infraction, meaning local police would be tasked with citing other law enforcement officers for covering their faces.

    “No doubt this will be challenged,” said Stanley Brand, a distinguished fellow at Penn State Dickinson Law. “This ordinance will be a protracted and complicated legal slog.”

    Philly City Council members will soon consider seven ‘ICE Out’ bills. Here’s what the proposals would do.
    Councilmember Kendra Brooks speaks during a news conference at City Hall to announce a package of bills aimed at pushing back against ICE enforcement on Jan. 27.

    Advocates for immigrants say that unmasking ICE agents is a safety issue, and that officers rarely identify themselves when asked, despite being required to carry badges.

    Mask use can also spur impersonators, they say. At least four people in Philadelphia have been arrested for impersonating ICE officers in the last year.

    “You see these people in your community with guns and vests and masks,” said Desi Bernette, a leader of MILPA, the Movement of Immigrant Leaders in Pennsylvania. “It’s very scary, and it’s not normal.”

    Philly lawmakers want to restrict cooperation with ICE and ban agents from wearing masks

    Democrats in jurisdictions across America, including Congress and the Pennsylvania General Assembly, have introduced legislation to ban ICE agents from concealing their faces. California is the furthest along in implementing a mask prohibition, and a judge is currently weighing a challenge filed by the Trump administration.

    Senate Democrats negotiating a budget deal in Washington have asked for a nationwide ban on ICE agents wearing masks in exchange for their votes to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

    And polling shows getting rid of masks is popular. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 61% of Americans believe federal agents should not wear face coverings to conceal their identities while on duty.

    ICE agents who wear masks are driven by the threat of doxxing, Fetterman says

    ICE officials say agents should have the freedom to conceal their faces while operating in a hyperpartisan political environment.

    Last year, ICE head Todd Lyons told CBS News that he was not a proponent of agents wearing masks, though he would allow it. Some officers, he said, have had private information published online, leading to death threats against them and their families.

    On Sunday, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, defended ICE officers who wear masks and said doxing is a “serious concern.”

    “They could target [agents’] families,” Fetterman said in an interview on Fox News, “and they are organizing these people to put their names out there.”

    Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., participates in a debate on June 2, 2025, in Boston.

    The Council authors of the Philadelphia bills say they are responding to constituents who are intimidated by ICE’s tactics, and they believe their legislation can withstand a legal challenge.

    “Our goal is to make sure that our folks feel safe here in the city,” said City Councilmember Kendra Brooks. “We are here to protect Philadelphians, and if that means we eventually need to go to court, that’s what would need to happen.”

    The constitutional limits on unmasking ICE

    The bill introduced last week by Brooks and Councilmember Rue Landau is part of a package of seven pieces of legislation aimed at limiting how ICE operates in Philadelphia. The proposals would bar Philadelphia employees from sharing information with ICE and ban the agency from using city property to stage raids.

    Fifteen of Council’s 17 members signed on to the package of legislation, meaning a version of it is likely to become law. Passing a bill in City Council requires nine votes, and overriding a mayoral veto takes 12. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has said her team is reviewing the legislation, which can still be amended before it becomes law.

    A veto-proof majority of Philadelphia City Council members have signed onto the ‘ICE Out’ proposal
    Anti-ICE activists demonstrate outside U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s Philadelphia office, Jan. 27, calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement policies.

    One of the two members who did not cosponsor the package was Councilmember Mike Driscoll, a Democrat who represents parts of Lower Northeast Philadelphia. He indicated that he had concerns about whether the “ICE Out” legislation would hold up in court.

    Brooks said Council members worked with attorneys to ensure the legislation is “within our scope as legislators for this city to make sure that we protect our folks against these federal attacks.”

    Brand, of Dickinson Law, said the legislation is a classic example of a conflict between two constitutional pillars: the clause that says federal law is supreme, and the 10th Amendment, which gives states powers that are not delegated to the federal government.

    He said there is precedent that the states — or, in this case, cities — cannot interfere with laws enacted by Congress, such as immigration matters.

    “If I were betting, I would bet on the federal government,” Brand said.

    But there is a gray area, he said, and that includes the fact that no law — or even regulation — says federal law enforcement agents must wear masks.

    Kermit Roosevelt, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who is an expert on the Constitution and conflict of laws, said if there is no agency policy, that is “free space” for states and cities to regulate.

    Roosevelt said Brooks’ legislation steers clear of other constitutional concerns because it applies to all police officers, not just federal agents.

    “If they were trying to regulate only federal agents, the question would be, ‘Why aren’t you doing that to your own police officers?’” he said. “If you single out the federal government, it looks more like you’re trying to interfere with what the federal government is doing.”

    Applying the law to local police

    Experts say part of the backlash to ICE agents covering their faces is because Americans are not used to it. Local police, sheriff’s deputies, and state troopers all work largely without hiding their faces.

    “Seeing law enforcement actions happening with federal agents in masks, that’s extremely jarring,” said Cris Ramon, an immigration consultant based in Washington. “Why are you operating outside of the boundaries of what every other law enforcement agency is doing?”

    Protesters march up Eighth Street, toward the immigration offices, during the Philly stands with Minneapolis Ice Out For Good protest at Philadelphia City Hall on Jan. 23.

    The Council legislation includes exceptions for officers wearing medical-grade masks, using protective equipment, or working undercover. It also allows facial coverings for religious purposes.

    However, the federal government could still raise First Amendment concerns, said Shaakirrah R. Sanders, an associate dean at Penn State Dickinson Law.

    The administration, she said, could argue that the city is only trying to regulate law enforcement officers and claim that would be discriminatory.

    Sanders said defending the legislation could be “very costly” and the city should consider alternatives that fall more squarely within its authority. She pointed to efforts like New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s announcement that the state would create a database for residents to upload videos of ICE interacting with the public.

    “It looks like the city wants to wield big legislative power,” Sanders said. “My alternative is more in the grassroots work, where you are the first ear for your citizens, not the regulator of the federal government.”

  • Philadelphians are frustrated with the city’s snowstorm cleanup. What does that mean for Mayor Cherelle Parker?

    Philadelphians are frustrated with the city’s snowstorm cleanup. What does that mean for Mayor Cherelle Parker?

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker often says she isn’t a fan of “Monday-morning quarterbacks” and “expert AOPs” — her shorthand for so-called articulators of problems who don’t offer solutions.

    Now she has a city full of them.

    After a heavy snowfall followed by a week of below-freezing temperatures, Philadelphia’s streets are still laden with snow, slush, and ice; SEPTA buses are packed; and numerous cars are still stuck in the spots residents left them in 11 days ago.

    The mayor acknowledged residents’ exasperation at a news conference at the Pelbano Recreation Center in Northeast Philadelphia on Wednesday, her first appearance dedicated to the city’s snow response since Jan. 26, the day after the storm walloped the region.

    “For anyone who is frustrated right now about the ice, about the ability for all of the streets to be fully cleared, I want you to know that I understand,” she said. “Everybody can Monday-morning quarterback. … That’s cool. We can’t stop people from feeling the way they feel. But let me tell you something: We were prepared.”

    Parker said the city deployed 1,000 workers and 800 pieces of snow-removal equipment to deal with the emergency.

    “We don’t promise to be perfect, Philadelphia,” she said. “We promise to go to war with the status quo and to fix things, to be doers. … We’re going to continue doing everything that we can to make sure all of this work is done.”

    Philly’s unplowed snow has slowed SEPTA and frustrated residents and businesses
    A pedestrian walks past a large pile of snow and ice along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway days after a fierce winter storm dropped up to 9 inches of snow and sleet, with freezing temperatures leaving large banks of ice and snow on streets and sidewalks in Philadelphia, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026.

    Snowstorms are infamous for their ability to undermine constituents’ faith in their mayors. Over the years, they have been credited with ending political careers in Denver, New York, Chicago, and Seattle.

    The risk of political fallout could be heightened for Parker, who campaigned on a promise to upgrade city services. When Parker ceremonially dropped the puck at Tuesday night’s Flyers game, she was greeted with boos from many fans at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

    “Parker has pitched herself as the can-do mayor. ‘I’m not gonna deal with ideology. I’ve got principles, but I’m here to get the job done,’” said Randall M. Miller, a political historian and professor emeritus at St. Joseph’s University. “There’s that expectation you’re going to get this thing done.”

    Parker also faced questions about her administration’s commitment to delivering core services during the eight-day city workers strike last July, when “Parker piles” of trash mounted around Philadelphia in the hot summer sun. She escaped that ordeal relatively unscathed after winning what she called a “fiscally responsible” contract largely in line with her goals.

    ‘They are my people’: Mayor Cherelle Parker on why she stood firm in the DC 33 city worker strike

    But Miller said the mobility issues associated with snow removal have unique psychological effects for constituents.

    “You’re cold, you’re miserable, and you’re trapped. You’re looking around like, ‘Who is confining me?’” Miller said. “You get angry at the mayor because the mayor said, ‘I’m here to provide public services,’ and public service isn’t being provided.”

    Fred Scheuren shovels snow at 12th Street, near Waverly Street, in Center City, Philadelphia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026.

    The circumstances of this year’s winter weather emergency could also give Parker some breathing room. Municipal leaders in Pittsburgh, New York, Washington, D.C., and Providence, R.I., are all feeling the heat amid the polar temperatures, thanks to an unusually persistent cold snap that has hampered snow-removal operations.

    It’s ‘Groundhog Day’ in Philly this week as snow and ice persist

    A slight reprieve in the weather this week, with highs peaking above freezing Tuesday and Wednesday, could help the city’s cleanup efforts. But officials warned Wednesday that temperatures are forecast to fall again by the end of the week.

    “It’s not hyperbole to consider that we’re still under emergency conditions,” Dominick Mireles, who leads the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management, said Wednesday.

    Lessons from past Philly storms

    By some measures, the city threw more resources at the latest storm than in the past, but got fewer returns.

    After the legendary blizzard of Jan. 7, 1996, then-Mayor Ed Rendell deployed more than 540 snowplows, dump trucks, and other vehicles to clear away the record 30.7 inches of snow that fell over two days, according to an Inquirer report from that year. Officials bragged at the time that the fleet eclipsed the 300 vehicles marshaled by former Mayor W. Wilson Goode Sr. for the last major blizzard, in 1987.

    Four days after the 1996 storm, the city said it hauled away 50,000 tons of snow, including truckloads famously dumped directly into the Delaware River and the Schuylkill. Officials also said that day that about 71% of roadways were passable, including around half of all side streets.

    In February 2003, the city got walloped with 19 inches of snow, followed by days of subfreezing temperatures. Four days after that storm, the city said it had cleared 75% to 80% of city streets.

    In 2016, Mayor Jim Kenney used 10,000 tons of salt and 1,600 city workers to clear away 22.5 inches of snow, clearing 92% of residential streets by day four — with a major assist from warmer temperatures a few days after the storm.

    The 800 pieces of snow-removal equipment Parker cited that were used in the most recent storm are far more than even in the blizzard of 1996. She also said the city brought in a snow-melting machine from Chicago, saying workers had melted about 4.7 million pounds of snow, while scattering 30,000 tons of salt.

    The result: More than a week after the end of the snowfall, about 85% of city streets had been “treated,” which includes salting, plowing, or both, according to the city.

    Heavy equipment clearing snow along S. Broad Street at Dickinson Street, Philadelphia, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026.

    But mobility nonetheless remains limited in much of the city, and officials pointed to the lingering icy conditions.

    The prolonged freeze is “not unheard of, but it is unusual, and that stresses and makes the potential for a lot of not-great things to happen,” Mireles said. “It’s affecting the snow-fighting operation.”

    An analysis of city plowing data shows that after the conclusion of the storm on Jan. 25, vehicles reached about 70% of city streets by the end of Monday. As the snow hardened, activity slowed by about a third on Jan. 27. Some parts of the city — including neighborhood-size chunks of South Philly — saw little plowing until five days after the storm or longer.

    The psychology of snow

    One reason voters punish mayors more harshly for failing to remove snow than for other problems is because of its omnipresence, from getting around the city to small talk about the weather, Miller said.

    Even trash-collection problems tend not to get under residents’ skin to the same degree because they don’t shut the city down, he said.

    “You are furious, and it’s day in, day out,” Miller said. “You’re constantly reminded.”

    Trisha Swed walks with her dog Alberta Einstein at North 30th Street and Girard Avenue in Brewerytown on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026 in Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, 9.3 inches of snow fell, the most in a decade.

    Parker has turned to private contractors to help with the snow-removal operation. And at Wednesday’s news conference, she touted the city’s efforts to deploy 300 “same-day pay and work” laborers earning $25 per hour to help manually clear streets and sidewalks.

    300 ‘ambassadors’ to chip away at ice on Philly’s crosswalks

    Those moves drew criticism Wednesday from the city’s largest union for municipal workers, District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers, which went on strike for higher wages last summer.

    “District Council 33 is deeply concerned by the City’s decision to bring in outside laborers for snow‐removal operations without any consultation or collaboration with our union,” DC 33 president Greg Boulware said in a statement. “Our members deserve better, and the residents of Philadelphia deserve a snow‐removal strategy rooted in safety, foresight, and respect for the workforce that keeps this city running.”

    Miller said those efforts show the city is doing everything it can to clear the city’s streets and sidewalks.

    “There’s been a great effort to try to deal with it, but Philadelphia is a very difficult place to manage in terms of snow because it’s got so many older streets,” he said.

    Man with shovel clearing snow from small park on Main Street in Manayunk on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026.

    But, he said, hearing about the city’s efforts is cold comfort to residents struggling to navigate their neighborhoods.

    “The major thoroughfares, they’ve done a pretty good job. But folks are concerned with their neighborhoods. They’re not concerned with if they go down to Fourth and Market,” he said. “Once you start to hear those kinds of complaints, it’s hard to contain it.”

    Parker said complaints will not deter her team. “Whenever we’ve been dealing with something challenging in government … there are some people who are expert articulators for problems,” she said.

    Her staff, she said, “is not a team of expert AOPs.”

    “This is a team of subject-matter experts who are doers and they are fixers, and we don’t cry,” she said. “Our job won’t be done until every street in the city of Philadelphia is walkable.”

    Staff writers Ximena Conde and Anna Orso contributed to this article.

  • One Philly school went virtual Monday because of the cold, and four others dismissed early due to broken heaters

    One Philly school went virtual Monday because of the cold, and four others dismissed early due to broken heaters

    It was so cold Monday at Farrell Elementary, a Philadelphia public school in Northeast Philadelphia, that middle schoolers — a group seemingly constitutionally averse to bundling up — were wearing coats indoors.

    That was just one example of trouble for the Philadelphia School District amid the prolonged frigid spell bearing down on the region, with a number of schools plagued by burst pipes, broken heaters, and other issues.

    Furness High, in South Philadelphia, moved to virtual instruction Monday “due to ongoing heating challenges.”

    Some classrooms in a storied Philly high school saw ‘untenable’ below-40 temperatures Friday

    “The safety and comfort of our staff remains our top priority,” wrote Teresa Fleming, the district’s chief operating officer. “Moving to virtual instruction for the day allows necessary work to continue while allowing minimal disruption to learning.”

    Though Farrell’s heat was on the fritz for the third school day in a row, the district did not pivot to virtual learning there. Instead, it was one of four schools that dismissed early due to heating issues. For much of the day until classes ended, Farrell students and staff were forced to either bundle up or find space to relocate in more-adequately heated spots in the overcrowded school, according to staffers who asked not be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

    Six Farrell classes camped out in the auditorium, including one class of 38 eighth graders. But the auditorium had to do double duty because the unplowed state of the yard where students typically play meant that students who’d typically be in the yard before or after eating lunch had to be in the auditorium also, Farrell employees said.

    Meaningful learning was “absolutely not” going on in the auditorium, one staffer said. “It’s almost impossible.” Students were instructed to complete work on Google Classroom, and teachers were balancing crowd control and working with students individually.

    In other cases, teachers and students just stayed in cold rooms, bundled up. Small-group instruction had to happen in hallways because of the population overflow; the hallways were also freezing.

    Philly schools reopened Thursday. Some students returned to snowbanks, burst pipes, and frigid classrooms

    “It’s just ridiculous,” said the Farrell staffer, of the school conditions.

    They and others were frustrated that though district officials knew Farrell was plagued by heating issues, students and staff were required to be in the building, especially while other schools were permitted to go virtual.

    District students had a snow day last Monday, learned virtually on Tuesday and Wednesday, then went back for in-person instruction on Thursday, though conditions were tough in many schools. In some places, heating issues have resolved.

    “The safety and well-being of our students and staff remain our highest priorities,” district spokesperson Monique Braxton said. “Due to sustained frigid temperatures following the recent snowstorm, combined with the age of some School District of Philadelphia facilities, several schools are experiencing heating-related challenges.”

    In addition to Farrell, Greenberg Elementary, another school in the Northeast, dismissed early because of heating issues, Braxton said. So did the U School and Parkway Center City Middle College, two district high schools.

    District workers and independent contractors are “actively addressing both ongoing and newly identified facilities issues to ensure that all students can safely return to a full day of in-person instruction as soon as possible,” Braxton said.

    At Farrell, one teacher brought in their own heater to try to keep warm, a staffer said, and one teacher known for wearing shorts every day finally broke down and wore pants.

    And then there were the middle schoolers.

    “Even the older ones have on coats,” the staffer said. “It’s so cold that they wore coats.”

    Younger students, the staffer said, are more curious.

    “They say, ‘Why is it so cold in my classroom?’“ said the Farrell staffer.

    By lunchtime, word started to spread that both Farrell and Greenberg were dismissing early, staff there said.

    But that late call came with its own set of headaches — while some parents would be able to react to the news quickly and pick up their children early, others may be stuck at work and unable to get to school at dismissal.

    Arthur Steinberg, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president, remained frustrated and angry by the district’s call. Steinberg said last week that the district’s return to buildings was “dangerous” given conditions in some places.

    “They shouldn’t have brought people in if they knew the buildings were going to be this cold,” Steinberg said.

    As to why one school was permitted to be virtual while others were brought in with inadequate heat, Steinberg was stumped.

  • Many Philadelphians shelled out for shoveling help last week. What’s a fair price?

    Many Philadelphians shelled out for shoveling help last week. What’s a fair price?

    Denise Bruce paid a stranger $75 to shovel out her Hyundai Venue, which was encased in snow and ice outside her East Kensington rowhouse.

    “My car was really badly packed in on all sides,” said Bruce, 36, who works in marketing. “I just didn’t have the strength honestly to dig it out myself.”

    The West Coast native also didn’t have a shovel.

    So she was elated to find a woman on Facebook who agreed to dig out her compact SUV for between $40 and $60. After the endeavor took four hours on a frigid evening, Bruce thought it was only fair to pay more.

    After Bruce forked over the money — digitally via Cash App — she asked herself: What should one pay to outsource the onerous task of shoveling?

    Snow-covered cars lined Girard Avenue in Brewerytown on Monday.

    As the Philadelphia region shoveled out from the city’s biggest snowfall in a decade, many residents were asking the same question.

    While some shoveled themselves or hired professional snow removal companies with fixed rates, others turned to an ad hoc network of helpers who hawked shoveling services on neighborhood Facebook groups, the Nextdoor app, and the online handyman service TaskRabbit.

    On online forums, strangers agreed to dig out the cars of folks like Bruce, who didn’t have the strength, tools, or time to do so on their own. Others signed up to clear the driveways and sidewalks of older people, for whom shoveling such heavy snow can increase the risk of heart attacks.

    Prices per job vary from $20 to $100 or more. Some freelance shovelers are upfront about their rates, while others defer to what their customers can afford.

    Higher prices now for ‘trying to dig through concrete’

    Alex Wiles stands on North Second Street on Tuesday before taking the bus to another snow-shoveling job.

    On Monday, the day after the storm hit, Alex Wiles, 34, of Fishtown, shoveled out people’s cars, stoops, and walkways for between $30 and $40 per job. As the week went on, he increased his rate to about $50 because the work became more physically demanding.

    “At this point, it feels like trying to dig through concrete,” Wiles said. As of Thursday, he had shoveled for nearly 20 people across the city and broken three shovels trying to break up ice. He said most people tip him an additional $5 to $20.

    “I want it to be an accessible service,” he said, “but I also want to be able to make money doing it and remain competitive with other people,” including teenagers who often shovel for less.

    For Wiles, who works in filmmaking and photography, his shoveling earnings go toward paying rent.

    He said he sees his side hustle as essential service, especially since the city did “a terrible job,” in his opinion, with snow removal.

    “A lot of the city looks like a storm happened 10 minutes ago,” Wiles said Thursday.

    Shoveling is “necessary and people are just otherwise going to be stuck where there are,” he said. “They aren’t going to be able to get to work easily. They aren’t going to be able to walk down the street.”

    Philly threatened shoveling fines. Then it left its own parks and properties snowy and icy.

    Some adults see themselves filling in for ‘the young kids’

    When Max Davis was a kid in Hopewell, N.J., he’d compete with his neighbors to see who could shovel the most driveways during snowstorms.

    Now, the 28-year-old said he seldom sees or hears of kids going door to door when it snows.

    That was part of the reason Davis got off his Northern Liberties couch on Monday and started shoveling out cars for a few neighbors who posted on Facebook that they needed help.

    A snow shoveler on Waverly Street on Monday.

    Davis, a founding executive at an AI startup, said he didn’t need the money, so he accepted however much his neighbors thought was fair. He ended up making about $40 to $50 per car, money he said he’ll likely use for something “frivolous” like a nice dinner out in the city.

    If there is another snowstorm this winter, he said, he’d offer his shoveling services again.

    “Why not?” Davis said. “I’d love to see the young kids get out there and do it. I think they’re missing out.”

    A coastal ‘bomb’ and single-digit temperatures are expected this weekend in the Philly area

    In Broomall, Maggie Shevlin said she has never seen teenagers going door to door with shovels, but some of her neighbors have.

    During this most recent storm, the 31-year-old turned to Facebook to find someone to clear her mother’s driveway and walkway in neighboring Newtown Square. Shevlin connected with a man who showed up at 6:30 a.m. Monday, she said, and did a thorough job for a good price.

    “I figured it would be somewhere around $100. He charged me only $50,” said Shevlin, who works as a nanny and a singer. “Oh my god, [my mom] was so thankful.”

    How a professional company sets snow removal prices

    A snow removal contractor clears the sidewalk in front of an apartment building in Doylestown on Wednesday.

    Some Philadelphia-area residents, especially those with larger properties, use professional snow removal services. They often contract with these companies at the start of the winter, guaranteeing snow removal — at a price — if a certain amount falls.

    In Bristol, Bucks County, CJ Snow Removal charges $65 to $75 to remove two to four inches of snow from driveways, walkways, and sidewalks at a standard single-family home, said co-owner John Miraski.

    The cost increases to $95-$115 for a corner house, he said, and all rates rise about $25 for every additional two inches of snow.

    Last week, he said, several people called him asking for help shoveling out cars, but he was too busy to take on the extra customers. He passed those requests to other companies, he said, and recommended they charge “nothing less than $50 to $60, because you’re dealing with [nearly] a foot of snow plus a block of ice.”

    Miraski said he recommends professionals because they are insured. That’s especially important, he said, in storms that involve sleet or freezing rain, as Philly just experienced.

    “You start throwing ice, who knows where it is going and what it is hitting,” Miraski said.

    Professionals are more expensive, he acknowledged, but often more thorough. “Some of my properties we went back to two or three times to make sure they were cleared.”

    And sometimes, regardless of who shovels, a resident can find themselves unexpectedly stuck in the snow again.

    In Northeast Philadelphia, J’Niyah Brooks paid $50 for a stranger to dig out her car on Sunday night. But when she left for her job as a dialysis technician at 3 a.m. Monday, her car had been plowed in.

    “I was out there kicking snow,” said Brooks, who was eventually able to get to work.