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  • Is AI’s authoritarianism a bigger threat than Trump’s?

    Is AI’s authoritarianism a bigger threat than Trump’s?

    Like every other beleaguered top editor in a big-city newsroom these days, Chris Quinn — who leads Cleveland.com and the print Plain Dealer — has to deal with assaults from all sides.

    In March 2024, Quinn briefly became a darling of the online left (not easy for a journalist to pull off these days) with a bold manifesto for how Cleveland.com would deal with one of those many threats: An authoritarian president who despises a free press.

    “We tell the truth, even when it offends some of the people who pay us for information,” Quinn wrote that fateful spring in his “Letter From the Editor” column. “The truth is that Donald Trump undermined faith in our elections in his false bid to retain the presidency. He sparked an insurrection intended to overthrow our government and keep himself in power. No president in our history has done worse.”

    Less than two years later, Quinn has gone viral again. But this time, instead of resisting a powerful force aiming to upend American life as we’ve known it, he’s embracing one: The power of artificial intelligence to transform the workplace … and just about everything else.

    Quinn has said that steep job cuts (more on those later) have left just a skeleton crew covering Cleveland’s far-flung exurban counties, and using an AI tool to write stories based on the downsized staff’s reporting will result in more articles about these potential news deserts. When an anonymous college journalism student withdrew her application to Cleveland.com because she said she couldn’t work in a newsroom using AI to perform what was once a human task, the editor went off in his column.

    “Journalism programs are decades behind,” wrote Quinn in arguing that technology is rendering such degrees as worthless. “Many graduating students have unrealistic expectations. They imagine themselves as long-form magazine storytellers, chasing a romanticized version of journalism that largely never existed.”

    Seriously, how dare those young whippersnappers dream of creating beauty in their lives, instead of welcoming their new robot overlords and embracing their future as a cog in a faceless news machine?

    But the dilemma facing Cleveland, Quinn, and the Unknown Job Applicant is the crisis that’s been thrust in the face of all Americans as the brutal winter of 2026 slowly melts into spring, and, it seems, a reality we’re truly not ready to confront — not practically, nor politically, nor morally.

    People forget, but there was a brief moment in the mid-to-late 1990s when the internet was dismissed as a fad — clunky to use (remember dial-up?) and its abilities overhyped by Silicon Valley. But the internet radically changed how we live, as did the arrival of smartphones in the 2000s — not always for good. Yet, these seem like the warm-up acts for the life-altering conniptions caused by omnipresent AI.

    Suddenly, there’s been a flood of essays trying to warn us that whatever one initially thought about programs like ChatGPT — and, yes, AI is still prone to “hallucinations” and other embarrassing errors — we need to adjust to the news that a new generation of AI tools is much more powerful, and better poised to replace many jobs.

    “I am no longer needed for the actual technical work of my job,” an AI executive named Matt Shumer wrote in the most viral of these hot takes, titled “Something Big Is Happening.”

    In describing how new AI programs rolled out by Anthropic, maker of Claude, and ChatGPT’s parent OpenAI can now perform complex coding tasks from the most simple instructions, Shumer warned the earthquake is coming to “[l]aw, finance, medicine, accounting, consulting, writing, design, analysis, customer service. Not in ten years. The people building these systems say one to five years. Some say less.”

    This jibes with dire predictions from Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei, who has warned repeatedly of “painful” white-collar job losses caused by AI, and said in his most recent long-form essay that the new technologies are “acting as a ‘general labor substitute for humans.’”

    Is that bad? It sounds bad.

    In 2026, America needs an anti-AI party | Will Bunch Newsletter

    The sweeping changes in the labor market are already starting, including a sharp drop in entry-level hiring for coders, who seem to be the canaries in this coal mine. January was the worst month for layoffs since the Great Recession of 2009, and analysts say job losses directly attributable to replacement by AI were a significant slice of that. The idea that wiping out millions of jobs might be bad for the overall economy even caught the ADD-addled attention of Wall Street for a day or two.

    I don’t have space here to go deep on the technology, but everyone should take a moment to learn what “vibe coding” and “agentic AI” are, and read the New Yorker on the rise of Anthropic’s Claude, or listen to a really good podcast explanation of AI and the labor market from the New York Times’ Kevin Roose. But we’re already overdue in addressing what this all means for everyday human existence.

    The idea that eventually “everything you think, do, and say is in the pill you took today” — as Zager and Evans sang so presciently in their 1969 No. 1 smash, “In the Year 2525” — has been with us for decades. But there was also a sense that robots performing the worst drudgery of the workplace might be liberating, creating more leisure time and space for human creativity.

    So far, that’s not what’s happening. Avoiding the poverty and deprivation that would be caused by massive job losses would require a government willing to pay people a universal basic income (UBI), but the current government has instead been dismantling the existing welfare state. And the workers creating AI are sleeping in their cubicles.

    And creativity may become a fever dream, not just for that naive journalism student with her “romanticized” visions of telling stories. Did you read the Times profile of the romance novelist who’s relying on Claude to crank out new tomes in as little as 45 minutes? Did you watch the lifelike short movie of an AI-generated “Brad Pitt” fighting “Tom Cruise”?

    Let me get this straight. AI is taking our jobs and ending artistic struggle to liberate us … for what, exactly?

    I haven’t even discussed the other really bad things about AI, including the drain on electricity from massive data centers likely to unleash yet another form of tyranny, unbridled climate change, and the death of critical thinking as reliance on AI decimates the classroom. At a moment when we’re just coming to terms with the downside of smartphones — such as higher rates of anxiety and depression among teenagers — could we learn to avoid similar mistakes with AI before they start?

    And did I mention the whole “robots take over the world” scenario?

    Dealing with all this would take political will. Yet, leaders in both parties — Trump, for sure, but also top Democrats like Josh Shapiro and Gavin Newsom — have embraced the data center and AI ambitions of their donor class, even though the majority of their voters want strict regulation. A pro-AI super-PAC raised $125 million last year to buy the midterm elections. Who is fighting for the about-to-be-starving artists?

    People opposed to a data center proposal at the former Pennhurst state hospital grounds talk during a break in an East Vincent Township supervisors meeting in December in Spring City, Pa.

    It doesn’t have to be like this. The same better-late-than-never push to remove smartphones from classrooms can be used as a model for eradicating AI in K-12 schools as well as college, to give the next generation at least a fighting chance to learn to think for itself. The politicians don’t have to allow data centers that burn fossil fuels instead of clean energy and consume the lion’s share of water available to the communities where they’re located.

    Nor do we need to embrace the late-stage capitalist ethos that if shareholders make more money employing robots than human beings, some invisible law forces us to do this. Remember Chris Quinn back in Cleveland? The reason he feels he needs AI to write up the news is because, back in 2019, he oversaw the layoff of one-third of his unionized newsroom, at the behest of the paper’s corporate parent.

    Maybe robots are now “agentic,” but humans have always had agency. Here’s the perfect chance to use it: by encouraging the uses of AI that will be good for society — diagnosing sick patients and inventing medicines to cure them, for example — but regulating or banning the aspects of AI that will make life worse.

    That’s partly up to the politicians, but it’s also up to us. Societal trends like the outbreak of “neighborism” — strangers forming new community bonds to beat back the fascism of immigration raids — or a rise in union membership are healthy signs that Americans are finally getting tired of technology driving us apart.

    The fight against the authoritarianism of unchecked and often unwanted AI is the battle of the 21st century that will be waged long after the fight against political authoritarianism in Trump’s United States and elsewhere has been won.

  • Sledgehammer-wielding thieves stole $11,000 worth of Lululemon in Ardmore’s Suburban Square

    Sledgehammer-wielding thieves stole $11,000 worth of Lululemon in Ardmore’s Suburban Square

    Two men have been arrested after breaking into a Lululemon store in Ardmore and allegedly stealing nearly $11,000 in merchandise, police said.

    Quran Harmon, 23, and James Jordan, 49, both of Philadelphia, used a sledgehammer to break through the front door of the Lululemon in the Suburban Square shopping center on Jan. 6 at 1:52 a.m., according to the Lower Merion Township Police Department.

    Within five minutes, surveillance footage shows, Harmon and Jordan cased the Lululemon, broke the front door, and grabbed as much clothing from the men’s section as possible, said Lower Merion Police Superintendent Andrew Block. Afterward, police said, they fled the scene in a U-Haul pickup truck.

    Lower Merion detectives soon identified the suspects and, with the help of Philadelphia police, tied them to a similar sneaker burglary at a Famous Footwear store in Philadelphia the night before.

    Police served a search warrant five days after the robbery at a residence in Philadelphia, where merchandise from the Lululemon and Famous Footwear thefts was recovered, authorities said. Harmon turned himself in to Lower Merion police on Jan. 29 and is being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

    Jordan was arrested on Feb. 6 by Upper Moreland police in connection with a separate theft-related crime and is also being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility while awaiting burglary and theft charges in the previous robberies.

  • Philip Korshak returns to South Philly. This time, bagels aren’t on the menu

    Philip Korshak returns to South Philly. This time, bagels aren’t on the menu

    Philip Korshak, the poet-baker who left town after closing his cult favorite Korshak Bagels 2½ years ago, plans to return to South Philadelphia this spring with a new, deliberately modest venture:

    Korshak Picnic Provisions will be a corner shop built around grilled hot dogs, house-made sourdough biscuits, and the idea that food is community.

    “If I had to model this place after something, it’s Mr. Hooper’s store on Sesame Street,” Korshak said. “The weird little corner shop that’s always there.”

    It’s a former animal hospital at the southeast corner of 13th and Reed Streets, across from the old Faragalli’s Bakery and Columbus Square Park. He is targeting a May opening.

    Korshak impressed both the New York Times and Bon Appétit with his bagel shop, which opened in May 2021 at 10th and Morris Streets. But success came at a price. When he closed it in September 2023, he cited financial and personal strain.

    The shop’s popularity brought pressures that clashed with his ideals. Korshak resisted automation and expansion, wary of becoming something other than a neighborhood bakery. His staff was one of the first in the city to unionize at an independent cafe. (Korshak voluntarily recognized the union.)

    “The staff would prefer to continue,” he wrote in his farewell letter, “but the changes to the process in exchange for efficiency … are not changes I think … are on brand for Korshak Bagels.”

    Bagels by Philip Korshak, whose South Philly bagel shop became a gold standard before shuttering in 2023.

    He also wrote that the shop “simply can’t function economically. And provide a living wage. And work/life balance. And reasonable prices.”

    Korshak’s path back to Philly

    After closing Korshak’s Bagels, Korshak first lived in Seattle but relocated to Austin, Texas — his previous stop before Philadelphia. He had no real plans other than working on a memoir and “spinning my wheels,” he said.

    Then the phone rang last fall. It was Pat Duffy, a friend who owned the building where Korshak used to take his pet cat for veterinary care. “He said, ‘I’ve got this spot. The neighborhood misses you. It could use your vibe,’” Korshak said.

    Korshak initially demurred. “I told him I wasn’t in town and I wasn’t ‘doing the thing’ anymore,” he said. “But just to be thought of — in that world of absurdity and hope — meant everything to me.”

    Duffy walked him through the space over FaceTime. The building, which had been outfitted to become a takeout bakery, had little more than a plumbed floor and sinks. There was no ventilation hood or even potential for a sprawling production line.

    Which was exactly what intrigued Korshak.

    “What I already knew how to do wasn’t that interesting to me anymore,” he said. “What I don’t know yet, that’s compelling.” He moved back to Philadelphia on Dec. 20, settling in Conshohocken.

    The idea for a picnic provisions shop, anchored by hot dogs, came quickly. The corner sits near a bike path, a dog run, a playground, and softball fields. Korshak imagined it as a rendezvous point before or after the park: a place to grab a soda, a cookie, a sourdough biscuit with honey from Green Meadow Farm, or a couple of hot dogs “because dinner’s in a couple hours.”

    “I’m an old guy,” the Brooklyn-born Korshak, 58, said. “I’ve had a lot of hot dogs and a lot of picnics. I like both.”

    Korshak’s reasoning is more philosophical than nostalgic. “The hot dog appealed to me because it can’t really be fetishized,” he said. “You can’t put it on a ‘best of’ list in any meaningful way. It’s ubiquitous. It transcends nationality. For me, food is the connector — it’s not the end in itself. A hot dog almost refuses to be the end in itself. It’s silly, fun, quick.”

    Korshak Picnic Provisions will offer four styles of dogs, all grilled: a standard beef or vegan dog with mustard, relish, onion, or kraut; a Coney-style dog with chili, cheese, and onions (with vegan chili available); a Chicago dog with traditional through-the-garden accoutrements on a poppy-seed bun; and a Pacific Northwest dog topped with cream cheese, fish-sauce ketchup, and cabbage. Though he has not yet selected a supplier, he plans to use all-beef dogs.

    He plans to source buns from Mighty Bread Co., around the corner, shifting away from the labor-intensive, in-house production that defined Korshak Bagels. “It’s not about the hot dog I can make — it’s about what happens when we work together,” he said. “I love baking, but I’m not interested in running big production again.”

    Beyond hot dogs, Picnic Provisions will carry crisps, crackers, jams, honeys, sodas, candy, and seasonal produce. Korshak will keep much of the product line local. He said he is talking to Rhonda Saltzman of Second Daughter Artisanal Bakery and Carol Ha of Okie Dokie Donuts about stocking some of their products. He also envisions stocking non-edible picnic goods — kites, blankets, quilts — reinforcing the shop’s central metaphor.

    There will be baking, just not at former volumes. Helen Mirren, his pet name for his long-ferment starter, will inform a sourdough biscuit and a sourdough-spiked cinnamon roll. (Korshak has been testing at the former Conshohocken Bakery, run by longtime friend Danny DiGiampietro, who hosted his first bagel pop-ups.)

    This time around, he says, the sense of risk is different.

    “It’s all exciting to me,” he said of the new venture, which will have three employees. “The only thing that scares me is if this becomes bigger than it’s intended to be — but I don’t think it will.”

    The goal, he said, is durability rather than buzz. “A friend of mine talks about being ‘hot.’ You can only be hot for so long. After that, you’re judged against whether you were hot or not. But the things people truly love aren’t hot — they’re established. They become part of the common language.”

    “I’ve been around,” Korshak said. “Philly doesn’t exist anywhere else. The people here are the reason it’s the way it is. It’s unlike anywhere.”

    He said he found it “unbelievable” that his last name means something positive to Philadelphians. “How do you not keep trying to do something worthy of that?” he asked. “The goal isn’t accolades. It’s helping someone get through their day a little better — even if you never know about it.”

    Sounding more poet than proprietor, he returned to the idea that first drew him back: movement.

    “I’m incredibly lucky,” he said. “And if you’re not moving forward, you’re not moving at all.”

  • State Rep. Chris Rabb isn’t running for reelection to Harrisburg as he goes ‘all in’ for Congress

    State Rep. Chris Rabb isn’t running for reelection to Harrisburg as he goes ‘all in’ for Congress

    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.

    Chris Rabb is trying to be the left’s standard-bearer as he runs for Congress. Will progressives rally around him?

    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.

    Two other state lawmakers from Philadelphia are running in the crowded Democratic primary for the 3rd Congressional District, which is being vacated by retiring U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Philadelphia).

    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 Thursday said 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.)

    Rabb’s decision to fully commit to the congressional race follows the revelation last week that he let go of his campaign treasurer, Yolanda Brown, and reported her to federal authorities after she made “unauthorized withdrawals” from his campaign bank account.

    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.

    Self-funding physicians, candidates trying to keep up, and a frontrunner: Inside the money race for a Philly congressional seat

    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.”

  • Longtime coach Carl Arrigale leads Neumann Goretti back to the Catholic League final

    Longtime coach Carl Arrigale leads Neumann Goretti back to the Catholic League final

    Neumann Goretti’s Deshawn Yates knew the Catholic League boys’ basketball semifinal game was in his team’s favor at halftime Wednesday night, even though the Saints trailed Bonner-Prendergast by four points.

    “[At] halftime Coach was talking to us like, ‘Stay together. It’s a two-possession game,’” Yates said. “So just Coach telling us, keeping us together.”

    The Saints took their first lead of the game with six minutes to play when Yates made a jump shot and went on to defeat Bonner-Prendie, 64-60, inside a roaring Palestra crowd of 9,000 fans. Yates and teammate Marquis Newson finished with 19 points apiece.

    Neumann Goretti will return to the Catholic League championship for the first time since 2023. The Saints will face Father Judge, the defending PCL champion, on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

    Neumann Goretti’s Marquis Newson dunks during the final minutes against Bonner-Prendie during the Catholic League boys’ basketball semifinals on Wednesday.

    While Bonner-Prendie led for almost three quarters, it could not separate itself from Neumann Goretti by more than five points. Newson scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, which included a wide-open statement dunk with 30 seconds left to give Neumann Goretti a 62-57 lead.

    However, the lead changed five times before that. Bonner’s Korey Francis, the league MVP, tied the score at 53 with a pair of free throws with 3 minutes, 56 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Neumann Goretti then went on a 7-0 run to take command.

    Critical charge

    Bonner-Prendie made four free throws to make it a three-point game with over a minute left. Neumann Goretti led, 60-57.

    Francis, who finished with 18 points, recorded a steal at halfcourt and drove to the basket. As he finished the layup, it was waved off. Francis was given an offensive foul for a charge.

    The Bonner fans erupted in disagreement with the call.

    Bonner & Prendie’s Jakeem Caroll (4) huddles the team against Neumann Goretti on Wednesday.

    “I would say we were really excited,” Newson said when asked about the charging call. “That’s something we practice a lot. Just taking charges. We have a whole drill for that. Knowing that what we practice works in the game, it was just a great feeling.”

    Yates added that the team thought it was going to be a foul.

    Father Judge overcomes early deficit to beat Archbishop Wood, earns spot in boys’ Catholic League final

    Two free throws from Stephon Ashley-Wright put the Saints up, 64-60, and sealed the game with 0.9 seconds remaining.

    “I would say I was just worried about the game, getting the win,” Yates said. “It was more so getting to the next round.”

    Arrigale looks to add to his title count

    Neumann Goretti coach Carl Arrigale has the opportunity to extend his all-time PCL title record to 13. He has led the Saints to 19 PCL final appearances since taking the helm in 1999.

    “People ask me about, ‘You’re going back to the Palestra. You’re going back to the Palestra,’ Arrigale said. “This never was about me. It’s never been about me, honestly — I want to do it for these guys to get back. I mean, Deshawn [Yates] played a couple years ago, and we were just banged up beyond belief. One of the worst losses in our history. … I just wanted to have a chance to come back and do it all over again.”

    Neumann Goretti coach Carl Arrigale has made 19 PCL final appearances at the helm.
  • Eagles star tackle Lane Johnson will return to team in 2026

    Eagles star tackle Lane Johnson will return to team in 2026

    Lane Johnson is officially returning for a 14th season with the Eagles.

    The right tackle told The Inquirer on Thursday that he will be back in 2026 after a month of uncertainty about his future following a season-ending injury and significant change in the Eagles’ coaching staff, most notably the departure of offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland.

    Johnson said he would address Stoutland’s sudden resignation and the new staff, led by offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, at his next media availability. But he met with Mannion and new O-line coach Chris Kuper recently and is excited about turning the offense around, sources close to the situation said.

    The return of Johnson, who turns 36 in May, will be key to coach Nick Sirianni’s expressed desire to “evolve” an offense that regressed significantly following a Super Bowl title just a season ago. Mannion is expected to bring with him the “Shanahan” system he both played and coached under as a quarterback and quarterbacks coach.

    There will likely be changes to the Eagles’ blocking schemes, especially in the running game. Stoutland left when it was apparent he would no longer have responsibilities as run game coordinator. Sirianni did want him to return as O-line coach, however, sources told The Inquirer.

    A six-time Pro Bowl player, Johnson was having another strong season until he suffered a Lisfranc foot fracture in Week 11. He had missed parts of other games with various setbacks, but the foot injury shelved him for the final eight games, including the wild-card playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

    Johnson avoided surgery on his foot, but the injury never healed enough for him to return last season. He has continued to rehab and is expected to be at full strength in the near future.

    The Eagles have been a decidedly different team when Johnson is in the lineup vs. when he isn’t over his 13-year career. They are 110-57-1 when he plays and 18-27 when he doesn’t.

    Center Cam Jurgens, (center) and guard Landon Dickerson (right) are among the other Eagles who were banged up this past season.

    Johnson wasn’t the only offensive lineman who was banged up this past season. Left guard Landon Dickerson missed just two games, but he underwent knee surgery in August and played with multiple injuries throughout the campaign.

    Dickerson, 27, expressed some doubt about his future immediately after the 49ers defeat. He has yet to publicly address his plans, but there have been concerns inside the Eagles organization about his health.

    Recent indications are that Dickerson will return for his sixth season. The Eagles will likely have a clearer understanding of his plans ahead of next week’s NFL combine, when Sirianni and general manager Howie Roseman are expected to be available to reporters in Indianapolis.

    Center Cam Jurgens wasn’t 100% following offseason back surgery, especially early last season. He struggled to return to form, although he was the lone Eagles offensive lineman voted to the Pro Bowl in 2025. Jurgens recently traveled to Colombia for stem cell treatment on his back.

    “I’m excited to get healthy and get ready for this next season, so that’s why I’m down here,” he posted on Instagram, referring to the country in South America.

    Left tackle Jordan Mailata and right guard Tyler Steen didn’t miss time to injury, but the unit was clearly affected by the tenuous health of the O-line, particularly in the running game. The Eagles again had one of the better pass-blocking units, according to most metrics.

  • Murray Wolf, Avalon’s legendary beach patrol captain, has died at 87

    Murray Wolf, Avalon’s legendary beach patrol captain, has died at 87

    Murray Wolf, 87, of Avalon, the legendary no-nonsense beach patrol captain whose half-century reign inspired and guided generations of lifeguards, while aggravating some famous and not-so-famous beachgoers along the way, died Monday, Feb. 16, at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City following a stroke.

    “He was probably the most loyal person I’ve known in my life,” said his wife of 43 years, Vicki Wolf. “Anybody who came into contact with him, he made them a better person, no question about it.”

    Murray Wolf was captain of the Avalon Beach Patrol for more than a half-century and spent 65 years on the patrol. “He had the highest of standards,” said John Glomb, who served under him for decades.

    “He had the highest of standards,“ said John Glomb, who served under him for decades. ”When the conditions were not favorable, he drove around the beaches and made sure the guards were on top of their bathers, making sure that nobody was in harm’s way. He had a record where in his 65 years, there was never a drowning. That’s a record that is absolutely spectacular.”

    Not everyone appreciated Mr. Wolf’s brand of beach enforcement. In 1999, he famously tangled with then-WIP sports radio personality Angelo Cataldi over a beach tag, showing him no mercy. Cataldi endlessly railed about it on air, and never truly got over it, saying in 2016, as Wolf entered his 61st year on the beach patrol, “I do harbor ill will toward Murray Wolf, and I always will.” Cataldi did not respond to an email following news of Mr. Wolf’s passing.

    Mr. Wolf brushed off the Cataldi encounter like he did most of his encounters on the beach, a place he patrolled with military precision, complete with nightly wave-offs, stand by stand, from his jeep. Rules were meant to be enforced. But he could laugh about it, even if Cataldi couldn’t.

    There was also Frank Wilson, formerly of Chester County, who sued Avalon in 2001 and won $175,000, driven arguably mad after being repeatedly whistled out of the water when he tried to swim after 5 p.m. “We have the right to protect our bathers,” Mr. Wolf said at the time.

    Murray Wolf, shown here rowing with his son, Tyler, during his final year on the Avalon Beach Patrol.

    Within the ranks of his family — wife Vicki, sons Matthew, Erich, and Tyler, and his 10-year-old black Lab, Ruger — Mr. Wolf’s loyalty, kindness, and appreciation for Avalon’s simple pleasures were deeply admired. The same was true for the ranks of lifeguards, wrestling teams, his Pleasantville school district physical education classes, and the multiple championship South Jersey beach patrol teams he coached in Avalon with the utmost of pride.

    Mr. Wolf rode his bike around Avalon almost to the end, and walked Ruger in the deepest of snows.

    Murray Wolf, pictured here at age 77, longtime captain of the Avalon Beach Patrol. Here, King takes a break from preseason preparations to watch his son coach his baseball team.

    “He was happy to sit home and watch the football game, sit on the couch, yell at the dog for running in and out,” his wife said. “He loved his Avalon. There wasn’t one time we rode over the bridge into town when he didn’t say, ‘Oh, that was the best decision I made, moving to Avalon.’ He was just a content man, satisfied.”

    In his 61st season, Avalon’s Capt. Murray Wolf still rules the beach

    His blunt style could rub some the wrong way. Vicki Wolf, who met her husband at the Princeton, Avalon’s iconic bar, spotting at first his muscular arms, she recalled, said she always knew when someone in town had had an uncomfortable encounter with Mr. Wolf when they would veer away from her in the supermarket. He led his patrols through a pandemic, hurricanes, and new technology: He vowed to fire any guard caught with a cell phone on the stand. “It says Lifeguard on Duty,” he said in 2016. “It’s a duty.”

    “There was nothing phony about him,” Vicki Wolf said. “He was never one to take low blows about him. Not everybody liked him. He had enemies, but they respected him.”

    “He took a lot of pride in Avalon doing well — that was in everything Murray did,” Glomb said. “He ran a tight ship. He ran a tight beach.”

    In the offseason, Mr. Wolf coached championship wrestling teams and was a physical education teacher in the Pleasantville school district for 50 years. His son, Matt, took his place as Avalon beach patrol captain in 2021, and also coaches wrestling in Middle Township.

    Murray Wolf, longtime captain of the Avalon Beach Patrol pictured here in 2016 with some of his lifeguards at the patrol’s headquarters. ED HILLE / Staff Photographer

    Matt Wolf said his father had a stroke on Nov. 11 and was hospitalized until his Feb. 16 death. It seemed to so many that he might live forever, given his lifelong physical fitness and vigor, the devotion to his routines of bike riding and dog walking through town. “I think people saw him as very serious when he was in that public spotlight,” Matt Wolf said. “He had a great sense of humor. He didn’t need to be out with a bunch of people. He was happy to be home with his family.”

    Capt Murray Wolf in his 61st year on the beach

    The generations of guards who worked under him paid tribute to Capt. Wolf following his passing. “It was an honor to work with The Captain — there’s nobody quite like him,” Ryan Finnegan wrote on Facebook. “He taught his guards countless life lessons over the decades. Thousands of lives were saved because of him. The beaches in heaven are much safer now! Rest easy Capt.”

    Murray Wolf was captain of the Avalon Beach Patrol for more than a half-century and spent 65 years on the patrol. “He had the highest of standards,” said John Glomb, who served under him for decades.

    George Murray Wolf III was born Aug. 16, 1938, in Philadelphia to Elizabeth Gerhard and George Murray Wolf II and was raised on the Main Line. He and his family vacationed in Avalon from the time he was a child.

    He graduated from Conestoga High School and, after briefly working in a steel mill, Mr. Wolf attended Western State College in Gunnison, Colo., where he competed in wrestling and won a team national championship. He graduated with a degree in physical education and later earned a master’s in educational administration from Rider University.

    Mr. Wolf spent more than 50 years teaching physical education in Pleasantville. As head wrestling coach, he led the Pleasantville High School Greyhounds to the 1974 District 32 Championship. “He loved his job working with students and his colleagues at Leeds Avenue School,” his son wrote in the family obituary.

    Avalon Beach Patrol Chief Matt Wolf center, with his dad Murray and mom Vicky at the . Lifeguard Championships in Brigantine New Jersey. Monday, August 12, 2024.

    Mr. Wolf served as captain of the Avalon Beach patrol from 1967 to 2020, and served a total of 65 years on the patrol. His teams, competing in the storied lifeguard races every summer, won nine South Jersey Lifeguard Championships, and Mr. Wolf had the joy of coaching his sons in winning boats.

    Mr. Wolf and his wife were fixtures at their sons’ football, wrestling, baseball, and track and field games and meets, when their sons were competitors and, later, when their sons became coaches themselves.

    Ventnor’s retired beach patrol chief Stan Bergman, himself a legendary chief and coach, has called Mr. Wolf “a warrior.” “He’s battle-tested,” Bergman said in a 2016 interview. “They have a tough beach.”

    Murray Wolf was captain of the Avalon Beach Patrol for more than a half-century and spent 65 years on the patrol. “He had the highest of standards,” said John Glomb, who served under him for decades. He took great pride in his teams winning the South Jersey Lifeguard Championships.

    “He was a very staunch competitor,” said Ed Schneider, chief of Wildwood’s beach patrol and also a wrestling coach. “I was always nervous going up against his teams. He commanded a presence around him. He made people push themselves to be the best.”

    After Matt Wolf took his place as captain of the patrol, he would include his dad as much as possible, taking him in the jeep along the beach. Murray Wolf always attended the lifeguard races, talking to the guards about the David J. Kerr Memorial Races, a competition he began in 1984 to honor a guard who died of cancer.

    In his final weeks, when the family came into his hospital room, his wife said, he would look for his boys, and “always blow a kiss and say I love you.”

    “Every night I would get home, the dog would go sit on the deck and look down the street,” Vicki Wolf said. “It broke my heart. He was looking for Murray.”

    In addition to his wife and their three sons, he is survived by another son, George Murray IV, and a sister. A son, Michael, died earlier.

    Services will be at noon Friday, Feb. 27, at our Savior Lutheran Church, 9212 Third Ave., Stone Harbor, N.J. Visitation will be 10 to 11:45 a.m.

    Donations may be made to the Middle Township Wrestling Program or the Helen L. Diller Vacation Home for Blind Children.

    Murray Wolf was devoted to his three black labs, including Ruger.
  • Temple is sliding in the American standings after its third consecutive loss

    Temple is sliding in the American standings after its third consecutive loss

    About a week ago, Temple was in contention for the No. 2 seed in the American Conference. Now, the Owls are on a downward spiral following a 76-71 loss to Alabama-Birmingham Wednesday night at the Liacouras Center.

    Temple (15-11, 7-6) has lost three straight games and is tied for sixth place in the conference standings. The win moved the Blazers (17-10, 8-6) ahead of Temple in the standings.

    Turnovers, missed free throws cost Temple in 65-62 loss to North Texas

    Temple coach Adam Fisher noted he was disappointed with the Owls’ execution.

    “Proud of the effort, not the result,” Fisher said. “Effort doesn’t always get it done. You got to execute. Got to be better at home. You see zone for most of the game, you can’t shoot 1-for-15 [from three-point range] at home. Another game with a free throw line [deficiency]. We got to get better there. We got to do some small things.”

    Statistical leaders

    Temple ended the game winning the rebounding battle 37-31 against the second-best rebounding team in the conference. Guards Jordan Mason (18 points) and Derrian Ford (17) led the team in points, while forward Jami Felt had eight points and 10 boards.

    Temple’s Jordan Mason finished with 18 points on Wednesday night.

    The Owls had just five turnovers, following 16 in their last outing against North Texas, but struggled shooting the ball. In addition to their 1-for-15 three-point performance referenced by Fisher, they went 12-for-19 from the free throw line.

    Guard Chance Westry led the Blazers with 24 points and eight assists.

    What we saw

    Temple pushed the pace on the Blazers’ defense for easy points inside the paint.

    Mason, Ford, and Felt got the Owls out to an early 20-16 lead before UAB woke up. The Blazers snatched a 39-33 lead at the half. Temple continued to get points in the paint, but struggled without any points from the perimeter.

    Chance Westry led UAB with 24 points on Wednesday.

    Temple made just one three-pointer the entire game. Westry, however, got hot and scored 17 second-half points.

    “We tried to be in gaps and constructed it a little bit,” Fisher said. “But [Westry] had a really good night.”

    Game changing play

    Felt delivered a dunk to give the Owls a one-point edge with seven minutes remaining. Then, 20 seconds later, he went to the line to give them a chance at a three-point lead.

    Instead, his shot bounced off the rim, and UAB went back to work.

    Temple’s Jamai Felt secures a rebound against UAB on Wednesday.

    Westry capitalized 24 seconds later by drilling a three-pointer to snatch the lead right back for the Blazers. Felt had another chance to tie the game with more free throws, but both missed. Mason also missed a critical three-pointer.

    UAB knocked down five of its last six shots to seal the victory.

    Up next

    Temple will visit Wichita State (17-10, 9-5) on Saturday (ESPN2, 6 p.m.).

  • The Union won their season opener in a blowout, but Bradley Carnell won a gamble in it

    The Union won their season opener in a blowout, but Bradley Carnell won a gamble in it

    When the Union kicked off their season on Wednesday night, they were the fourth MLS team to take the field in this year’s Concacaf Champions Cup.

    The previous three — San Diego, Nashville, and Los Angeles FC — outscored their opponents by a combined 12-3 over four games.

    LAFC accounted for six of those goals, with star forward Dénis Bouanga scoring three and superstar Son Heung-min tallying one and three assists. San Diego’s biggest name, last year’s MLS Newcomer of the Year Anders Dreyer, led his team to an outstanding 4-2 aggregate win over Mexico’s Pumas UNAM.

    You needn’t have walked through much slush around Philadelphia this week to wonder which MLS team would be first to fall. But surely it wouldn’t be the Union, with such a talent advantage over Trinidad’s Defence Force FC.

    Frankie Westfield (right) defending Defence Force’s Levi Garcia.

    Then the Union’s starting lineup was revealed, and the mood turned to shock. Manager Bradley Carnell chose to start Stas Korzeniowski at forward, Alejandro Bedoya at right attacking midfield, Nathan Harriel at centerback, Andrew Rick in goal, and most surprising, attacking midfielder Jeremy Rafanello at right back.

    Bruno Damiani, Indiana Vassilev, Japhet Sery Larsen, and Andre Blake were all on the bench. Geiner Martínez and Olivier Mbaizo weren’t on the game squad in the first place. Nor was Jovan Lukić, though at least Carnell had signaled that was coming due to an injury.

    Union open 2026 season with 5-0 rout of Trinidad’s Defence Force in the Champions Cup

    Right after kickoff, Concacaf’s world feed broadcast hinted at another unusual circumstance. Jesús Bueno had issues getting a visa to enter Trinidad. He spent Tuesday night in nearby Antigua, got the visa Wednesday morning, and only arrived in Port-of-Spain at lunchtime Wednesday.

    Later in the game, a source with knowledge of the matter told The Inquirer that Martínez also had a visa issue. That helped clarify things a little more.

    Jeremy Rafanello was a surprising starter at right back on Wednesday.

    But it was still a surprise to see this lineup. Was Carnell taking the opponent lightly? He spoke repeatedly after the game about his respect for Defence Force, but his lineup choices also said something.

    Some watchers recalled that another of Bedoya’s teams made choices in Trinidad in 2017, 20 miles down the road in Couva. He was stuck on the bench for the U.S. men’s team’s infamous loss to Trinidad & Tobago that knocked the Americans out of the 2018 World Cup.

    An analysis of the Union’s roster at the start of the season, with many new players in the mix

    At the final whistle, all those thoughts were long gone. The Union won in a 5-0 rout, with Milan Iloski’s 29th-minute free kick opening the floodgates. Ezekiel Alladoh scored his first goal for the Union off a superb Frankie Westfield cross, Olwethu Makhanya slammed in a header off an Iloski corner, and Bruno Damiani scored twice as a substitute.

    Cavan Sullivan also made his first goal contribution for the Union’s first team, with a terrific assist on Damiani’s first goal. The 16-year-old had multiple nifty moments on the ball in his 25-minute run as a substitute, one of which earned a penalty kick after a nice combination play with Westfield. Damiani stepped up to score it.

    On the same night that Westfield’s brother Rocco led Father Judge to a second straight Catholic League boys’ basketball final at the Palestra, Frankie was a strong nominee for the Union’s player of the game. He recorded 39-of-46 passing, five scoring chances created, four clearances, one block, and seven duels won of the 12 contested.

    That was almost all overshadowed in the 70th minute, when the cameras showed Westfield holding his right hamstring. With Harriel off the field, the only other left back option available was midfielder Ben Bender on the bench.

    Cavan Sullivan looks ahead to what should be his biggest year yet with the Union

    Westfield shook off the pain for a while, but he exited in the 84th minute for Vassilev. That meant both outside backs were attacking midfielders. At least at that point it didn’t matter anymore.

    “Rafa’s a guy who is very versatile, he can play anywhere,” Carnell said afterward. “This was just more by need, and we knew he could do the job. We just needed positive guys to give energy, [to] want to do what’s best for the team, and that’s what Jeremy is.”

    The gamble paid off, and with some style in the end. Carnell was rightly pleased at the final whistle, praising his team for surviving Defence Force’s early-game surge before imposing its will.

    “I think we did have a challenge for sure, and I think through the second half performance of our guys — give them credit,” he said. “We showed a real professional performance in the second half.”

    But he had still gambled, and it’s a good thing he won.

  • St. Joe’s women are on a hot streak and could earn a double bye in the Atlantic 10 tournament

    St. Joe’s women are on a hot streak and could earn a double bye in the Atlantic 10 tournament

    Through 20 minutes on Wednesday night at Hagan Arena, St. Joseph’s was in a defensive battle with Duquesne. The Hawks jumped out to a nine-point lead in the game’s first 2½ minutes, but the Dukes’ defense clamped down. By the 8-minute, 3-second mark of the second quarter, that lead was one.

    The Hawks recovered, and behind strong free throw shooting and an 11-2 run, they held a eight-point halftime lead. St. Joe’s pushed its lead into double figures early in the third quarter and never looked back in a 61-46 win.

    “I’m really pleased with the grit and determination that our team came out with today,” Hawks coach Cindy Griffin said. “I thought the beginning of the first and third quarters really set the tone, and it starts with our defense.”

    St. Joe’s coach Cindy Griffin said her team showed “grit and determination” against Duquesne on Wednesday.

    St. Joe’s (18-8, 9-6 Atlantic 10) is riding a three-game winning streak and still competing for a double bye in the A-10 tournament. With three games left in the regular season, the Hawks are tied with Davidson for fourth place, which is the last spot for a double bye.

    Statistical leaders

    Guard Gabby Casey guided the Hawks with 19 points on 7 of 12 shooting along with nine rebounds. Forward Faith Stinson also had a strong performance with 13 points, nine rebounds, and three assists. She was key a factor on defense against the Dukes’ taller frontcourt.

    “I really just took what we have been working on in practice, like slowing down and assessing what the defense is giving me,” Stinson said. “Then, using my multiple post moves to get around the defender and score from the easiest angle.”

    Faith Stinson finished with 13 points and was a key factor on defense Wednesday night.

    The Hawks weren’t efficient — they were 20-for-54 from the field — but made 7 of 18 three-point attempts. Their defense stepped up and held Duquesne (9-17, 2-13) to 31% from the field and forced 13 turnovers. Guard Mackenzie Blackford led the Dukes with 16 points.

    Coasting in the second half

    St. Joe’s made four of its first five shots in its game-opening 9-0 run. But offense became hard to come by after that, opening the door for the Dukes. St. Joe’s struggled to get open looks went more than six minutes without a point, which allowed Duquesne to take a 16-15 lead at the 8:03 mark of the second quarter.

    The Hawks regained control, and Casey scored seven points in the 11-2 run to close the half. St. Joe’s entered the locker room with a 29-21 advantage, extended its lead to 37-27 midway through the third quarter, and never allowed Duquesne back within single digits, largely thanks to sharp free-throw shooting an timely threes.

    Gabby Casey throws the ball towards the net. St. Joe’s made 7 of 18 three-pointers on Wednesday.

    “Nobody really panics,” Griffin said. “I think they trust each other. They trust what we’re doing as a team, and they know that if we just persevere and if we are relentless about what we’re doing on both ends of the floor and stay connected, we know that we’re going to come out of those slumps a little bit.”

    Strong free-throw shooting

    The teams had nearly identical shooting splits from the field and at the three-point line in the first half, but the Hawks held a halftime advantage because they shot 7-for-8 on free throws, while the Dukes did not make a free throw in the first 20 minutes. Overall, St. Joe’s went 14-for-16 on free throws and Duquesne was 3-for-5.

    Aleah Snead gets ready to shoot a free throw against Duquesne on Wednesday.

    “When you’re talking about a low-scoring game and the shooting percentage wasn’t great, you have to find different ways to score,” Griffin said. “Getting to the free-throw line and making free throws, we talked about it all year, layups and free throws.”

    Up next

    St. Joe’s will visit St. Louis (11-17, 5-10 A-10) on Saturday (3 p.m., ESPN+).