For a little over a year, Adam Richardson was known among local car thieves as “the title guy,” state investigators said Monday. They could steal a car, visit Richardson’s title shop and resell it, either to a coconspirator or a unwitting bystander.
From his office on Golf Road in Wynnefield, Richardson, 40, created false title, registration, and insurance documents for luxury vehicles stolen from New Jersey, Philadelphia, and its suburbs, including a Ferrari Portofino worth $260,000 and a bevy of Mercedes, BMWs, and similar vehicles.
All told, Richardson facilitated the illegal transfer of 65 vehicles, the street value of which is nearly $4 million, according to state Attorney General Dave Sunday.
Richardson was arrested Friday and charged with racketeering, forgery, tampering with public records, and related crimes.
Sunday, speaking at a news conference in Northeast Philadelphia, said Richardson’s actions — referred to as “title washing” — created “a veil” behind which criminals were able to operate.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said Monday that the title washing of stolen vehicles allows criminals to operate undetected throughout the state.
“What should be most concerning about this conduct to individuals and families in our communities is that title washing enables criminals to move in and out of communities without being detected by law enforcement,” he said.
Sunday declined to disclose whether the 37 vehicles recovered by Pennsylvania State Police were involved in other crimes, but he said that title washing is often linked to drug trafficking and other violent crimes.
The state’s investigation into Richardson is ongoing, he said.
Richardson remained in custody Monday in Dauphin County, denied bail due to the extent of his alleged crimes. There was no indication he had hired an attorney.
He will be prosecuted in Central Pennsylvania, investigators said, given his abuse of his power as a third-party contractor eligible to do business with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
State Police investigators began investigating Richardson in May 2024, when a trooper at the Trevose Station and Barracks impounded a BMW X7 that he suspected held a fraudulent title, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Richardson’s arrest.
The vehicle had been registered in South Carolina, using a VIN that did not conform with the standard for that state and possessed a fake insurance policy, the affidavit said.
The true VIN, investigators said, matched a car reported stolen a month earlier in Montville Township in western New Jersey.
Investigators later interviewed a confidential informant who had facilitated the resale of the car. The informant had gotten the car, knowing it was stolen, from a man who told him to see Richardson, identifying him as “the 24-hour title guy” who had a reputation to meet sellers “anywhere and anytime,” the affidavit said.
The informant told troopers that Richardson helped him put the car in another person’s name, using a photo of their driver’s license.
The investigation into Adam Richardson, codenamed “Operation Hot Wheels,” found that he helped facilitate the sale of luxury cars, including multiple Mercedes sedans.
Using the unique identification number issued to Richardson’s business by PennDOT, investigators were able to identify the 65 cars involved in the title-washing scheme.
During the investigation, investigators spoke with multiple vehicle owners who said they had been paid money in exchange to have the stolen vehicles registered in their names, despite never meeting Richardson, visiting his business or driving the vehicles, according to the affidavit.
Previous audits by PennDOT in 2022 and 2023 found that his title business was violating multiple laws, including issuing plates to salvage vehicles and selling cars without a license.
The fake but authentic-looking Pennsylvania historic marker, erected by two artists who sought to ruefully commemorate a local immigration arrest, disappeared from its post in Philadelphia sometime Monday.
Huston West, one of the artists, said he was walking his dog around 1 p.m. when he noticed that the sign was absent from its spot on Fairmount Avenue near Fifth Street. A neighbor told him the plaque had been there earlier in the day.
“It’s lame,” West said of the sign being removed. “But it got a lot of coverage while it was up.”
West said he could only speculate on who may have taken the marker ― he suspected conservative opponents, people who had criticized the sign on social media, or maybe even the city government.
A city spokesperson said he would check.
This particular, familiar-looking blue-and-yellow marker, similar to the ones that commemorate important people, places, and events in communities across Pennsylvania, was put up at the site of a Feb. 16 ICE arrest.
That morning, masked agents descended on a Gopuff delivery driver who had pulled over to make a quick drop-off in Northern Liberties. After he was taken into custody, the car remained behind for days, set two feet from the curb in an accessible parking space, its hazard lights blinking until the battery died.
West and a fellow artist who goes by the name Emeyewhisky wondered what had happened to the driver, and created a plaque bearing the header “ICE Kidnapping and Ghost Car.”
The ghost car terminology borrows from ghost bikes, the roadside memorials where a bicycle is painted white and placed at the site where a cyclist was hit and killed by a motorist.
Federal immigration authorities say the use of such terms as kidnapping is inaccurate and unfair, that they lawfully arrest migrants who have no permission to be in the United States and who in some cases have committed criminal and even violent offenses.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Philadelphia said that on Feb. 16, officers conducted a targeted action and arrested Abdulasen Nazarkhudoev. They said he was unlawfully in the U.S., and told them that he was a Russian citizen.
He was taken to the Federal Detention Center in Center City and later released by order of a judge, pending further immigration proceedings, records show.
ICE earlier referred questions about the sign to city officials.
As word of the art project spread on social media, some disapproved. Some suggested on a Northern Liberties Facebook group that the delivery driver was rightfully arrested.
West said Monday that he and his art partner had conferred about what to do next. Emeyewhisky is known for projects that place signs with fake wording on Philadelphia streets, and some have been removed.
Don’t be too surprised, Huston said, if an ICE marker should reappear.
Philadelphians are facing a growing affordability crisis, and City Hall needs to act quickly to counter the impact of funding reductions from the federal and state governments, leaders of the progressive group POWER Interfaith said Monday.
“Living comfortably in our city is becoming unattainable,” the Rev. Cean R. James, senior pastor of the Salt + Light Church, said at the gathering at Arch Street United Methodist Church. “The mayor’s recent budget does focus on economic mobility, and that is noble. But it does not go far enough. It’s not sustainable.”
POWER, an influential coalition that includes more than 50 congregations in the city, on Monday released a report based on interviews with 750 city residents at church meetings, neighborhood gatherings, and other events. The informal survey found:
About two-thirds of respondents had to forego another bill to pay mortgage or rent, and 80% struggled to afford property taxes.
A majority of congregations surveyed have seen the number of unhoused members in their congregations increase.
Ninety percent of respondents said the city hasn’t done enough to “invest in their community’s needs.”
POWER leaders on Monday called on City Council to hold a hearing on affordability. But the report did not include policy prescriptions for addressing the crisis it described, and it’s far from clear what city lawmakers or Mayor Cherelle L. Parker can do to make it easier to get by in the city.
Philadelphia already has a relatively small property tax burden, and the city has some of the strongest protections in the nation for people struggling to stay in their homes.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker speaks to City Council, guests, and dignitaries at start of her budget presentation in Council Chambers last Thursday.
But with little ability to affect the cost of goods and state-imposed restrictions on how it can collect taxes — preventing the city from imposing higher rates on wealthier residents — Philadelphia officials have limited options when it comes to addressing affordability.
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The POWER report acknowledged the predicament.
“To be very clear: There are no easy answers to these challenges,” the report said. “We must prepare serious and sober projections about the impacts of the impending revenue losses we face, and then we must develop a menu of policy options to soften those impacts and mitigate harm to residents. And we must ensure that any actions we take do not make the current cost-of-living crisis even worse.”
The city’s limited options on addressing affordability won’t stop it from being a major topic during this spring’s budget negotiations. Affordability has recently become a political buzzword, and Democrats are hoping to win back Congress in November in part by blaming rising costs on President Donald Trump’s administration.
This year, thousands of Pennsylvanians are abandoning the state’s Affordable Care Act insurance exchange after congressional Republicans declined to renew expanded healthcare subsidies. Trump’s efforts to increase tariffs and the war with Iran threaten to increase inflation nationwide. SEPTA last year increased fares and is still facing a fiscal crisis due, in part, to objections by GOP lawmakers in Harrisburg.
It’s unlikely the city could meaningfully address any of those losses without significantly increasing taxes, which would in turn make Philadelphia less affordable. And hiking any of the city’s three major sources of local revenue — the wage, property, and business taxes — all come with significant downsides or political roadblocks.
Increasing the wage levy alone would make the city’s tax structure more regressive, meaning a greater share of the overall tax burden would be paid by poorer workers.
Increasing the real estate tax rate could make the tax structure more progressive, because property owners tend to be wealthier than the average resident. But POWER and other left-leaning groups generally oppose that option due to concerns about displacing low-income homeowners.
And when it comes to the business income and receipts tax, or BIRT, City Hall has recently been moving in the opposite direction of POWER’s goals. Council last year approved a proposal championed by Parker and Council President Kenyatta Johnson that will provide annual cuts to the BIRT rate over the next 12 years.
Philadelphia City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas addresses members of POWER Interfaith during a news conference on affordability at Arch Street United Methodist Church. at Broad and Arch Streets, on Monday.
POWER leaders have called on lawmakers to pause those reductions or even increase the tax. But the political headwinds they face in City Hall were evident at Monday’s news conference. Two of three Council members in attendance voted for the business tax cuts last year: Democrats Jamie Gauthier of West Philadelphia, and Isaiah Thomas, who represents the city at-large.
“It’s very difficult, as we discussed in the past, for local government to be able to step up and address some of these concerns,” Thomas said at the event. “There’s not much we can do as it relates to the catastrophe that we’re seeing around healthcare. There’s not much we can do as it relates to all the tariffs and the cost of living that’s going up significantly. But there are things that we can do, that we control.”
The Rev. Carolyn C. Cavaness, pastor of Mother Bethel AME, said she understands that lawmakers have to deal with complicated political dynamics. But she said she hopes that POWER’s focus on the affordability crisis will reset the conversation.
“I always think about context. … Sometimes we’re in tight spaces,” Cavaness said at the POWER event. “I think also conditions then were much different than what they are now. … We’re really back to ground zero.”
Some of the best and buzziest Broadway shows will make their way to Philadelphia for the 2026-2027 season, including Cole Escola’s camp comedy Oh, Mary!, the futuristic romance Maybe Happy Ending, a newly staged version of the legendary Phantom of the Opera, and Alicia Keys’ semi-autobiographical musical, Hell’s Kitchen.
On Monday, Ensemble Arts Philly announced the lineup of 14 Broadway productions running at the Academy of Music, Miller Theater, and Forrest Theatre this upcoming season. The slate features recent Tony Award winners, anniversary tours, fresh revivals, and Philadelphia premieres.
The season kicks off at the Academy of Music with the ABBA-fueled classic, Mamma Mia! (Sept. 29 to Oct. 4), followed by The Great Gatsby (Oct. 20 to Nov. 1), a musical based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s roaring twenties novel, and BOOP! The Musical (Nov. 17 to 29), about the cutesy cartoon character Betty Boop.
Popular British show Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical, a raucous World War II spy comedy based on an actual secret mission of the same name, makes its Philadelphia premiere at the Forrest Theatre, running Dec. 15 to 20.
The holiday season continues with another British original as STOMP lands at the Miller Theater from Dec. 28 to Jan. 3, 2027. The percussive powerhouse delivers a unique musical experience with eight performers using everything from lighters to hubcaps to make music.
The company of the North American tour of Alicia Keys’ “Hell’s Kitchen,” which will run Jan. 5 to 17, 2027, at the Academy of Music.
Alicia Keys fans won’t want to miss the arrival of Hell’s Kitchen, the singer’s heartfelt story about growing up with her single mom in the artistic community at Manhattan Plaza (which historically housed celebrity residents like Samuel L. Jackson, Colman Domingo, and Angela Lansbury). It earned 13 Tony Award nominations and won two. The musical runs Jan. 5 to 17, 2027, at the Academy of Music.
The Book of Mormon, the Tony Award-winning comedic musical from the creators of South Park, returns to Philadelphia and runs Jan. 26-31, 2027, at the Forrest Theatre.
Two familiar favorites will celebrate major milestones in spring 2027: Riverdance and Waitress. Riverdance 30 — The New Generation (March 4 to 7, 2027, at the Miller Theater) rings in three decades of Irish dance with new choreography and a young ensemble of dancers ages 30 and under.
Waitress, the beloved show with original music from singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, spotlights an overlooked pie maker with ambitious dreams. The musical returns to Philadelphia for its 10th anniversary running Feb. 9 to 14, 2027, at the Academy of Music.
For audiences looking to laugh, Oh, Mary! will be one of the hottest tickets of the theatrical season as the production embarks on its first tour, with a short run at the Miller Theater from March 9 to 14, 2027.
The smartly subversive spoof follows Mary and Abraham Lincoln in the days leading up to the presidential assassination. For the hilariously unhinged role of Mary, creator Cole Escola won the 2025 Tony Award for best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play.
Other comedic stars have taken turns playing Mary, including Tituss Burgess, Jinkx Monsoon, and Jane Krakowski — and Maya Rudolph is up next on Broadway. (The tour’s cast has not yet been announced.)
Maybe Happy Ending, which won six Tony Awards last year, including best musical, is another highly anticipated show set in Seoul, following two humanistic robots who fall in love. It runs March 23 to April 4, 2027, at the Academy of Music.
Helen J. Shen and Darren Criss in the original Broadway production of “Maybe Happy Ending,” which won the 2025 Tony Award for best musical. It runs March 23 to April 4, 2027, at the Academy of Music.
A revival of The Who’s Tommy, the rock opera by guitarist/composer Pete Townshend, runs at the Forrest Theatre April 13 to 18, 2027, where the show’s original North American tour premiered more than 30 years ago.
Phantom of the Opera (June 9 to 27, 2027, at the Academy of Music) also gets a (slight) reexamination in Cameron Mackintosh’s take on the Andrew Lloyd Webber classic. The core of the show remains faithful, but this iteration makes fresh updates to the scenic design with new technology — pyrotechnics! — and choreography.
Rounding out the Broadway season next summer is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (July 28 to Aug. 8, 2027, at the Academy of Music), which follows the unlikely friendship between the sons of Potter and his longtime rival Draco Malfoy.
The 2026-2027 season showcases “the full spectrum of what Broadway is right now,” said Frances Egler, vice president of theatrical programming and presentations at Ensemble Arts Philly, in a statement. “This season was curated to be deeply cohesive, pairing large‑scale Broadway blockbusters with newly acclaimed work, so that audiences can move between spectacular, outrageous, nostalgic, and deeply personal experiences — all within one series.”
Subscription packages, on sale now, start at $29 per show (the same as last year). The bundle includes six shows, down from seven last year: The Great Gatsby, BOOP! The Musical, Hell’s Kitchen, Maybe Happy Ending, The Phantom of the Opera, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
The cost of the package ranges from $169 to $816 for all six shows, varying based on performance dates and seat selection. Individual tickets for each show will be available later this year.
On TV, you may not have been able to see the thrill that went through Chris Kearney when Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings read the clue, “Mrs. Proudie is the domineering wife of a bishop in this Victorian’s The Last Chronicle of Barset and Barchester Towers.”
But five years ago, as he studied up for the possibility of ending up on the long-running game show, Kearney decided to search friends’ names to see if they had a famous counterpart. His freshman roommate happened to be a Trollope — though pronounced slightly differently — which brought Kearney to Victorian author Anthony Trollope. He penned a flashcard on the novelist to add to his ever-growing studying hobby.
Kearney rung in first.
“Who is Trollope?” he said, pronouncing it à la his roommate’s name.
That flashcard scored him $2,000 in the “Recurring Characters” category last week, as the Downingtown High School West teacher competed against two others on Jeopardy! Kearney ultimately placed second, behind then three-day champion James Denison (Denison’s reign ended after his fourth win).
“After the game’s over, Ken Jennings does a postgame chat session with the contestants for about five minutes, and he asked me about getting that clue, because that was a tougher clue,” Kearney recalled. “I just told him … it’s my freshman college roommate’s last name. I just wanted to make sure I knew that. So he got a chuckle out of that.”
Kearney’s appearance on Jeopardy! last Wednesday was the culmination of a lifelong dream for the social studies teacher.
Kearney, 48, grew up watching Jeopardy!, regularly tuning in when he was in middle school and all through high school. But about eight years ago, he decided he was going to try his hand at getting on the show.
To appear on Jeopardy!, first you must take an “anytime test” — a 50-question exam that you can take at any time on the show’s website. If you pass the test — rumor has it, you have to get 35 out of the 50 questions correct — then you may move on to another 50-question test that is proctored online live.
Should you pass that exam, then you could move on to a mock game and interview over Zoom. After that hurdle, you join a pool of candidates who could, at any time in the next two years, get a call inviting you to be on the show. If those two years lapse without a call, you return to the start.
Kearney completed the anytime test almost every year. He ascended to the candidate pool in 2021, but never got the call. In 2023, he tried his hand again, but never heard back. The next year, he took the entry exam again, and did hear back. In January, he was invited to the show.
“It was a dream come true, something that I had been just working on for a long time,” he said. “A feeling of relief too — that, ‘All right, finally.’ So: A lot of emotions, but ones I had to kind of keep quiet.”
Preparing for if he ever got that call became something of a hobby — or perhaps a part-time job, he said. He was constantly reviewing, studying, and learning new things. There’s a strategy to playing the game, which he became familiar with, and there’s major topics and categories that are typically featured. He built up a base knowledge in those areas, and then tried to get more and more specific. Hence, Trollope.
But it was a natural fit for someone who always liked school, and who just likes learning about things.
It helped expose Kearney to new topics, too. He didn’t know much about art and historic art movements, but he began to look at various paintings and sculptures. He hadn’t listened to much classical music, but he became familiar with major composers, listening to their famous pieces. It gave him a new perspective on things.
“I think it just kind of helps me appreciate the world around me a little better,” he said.
Kearney arrived on set in California within about two months of getting the call (he had to lie to his colleagues that he was sick; they have since forgiven him). He was surprised that he wasn’t too nervous. Instead, he felt like he had accomplished his goal — that this was exactly where he wanted to be. He bonded immediately with his fellow contestants, and found it to be a welcoming environment, where people treated it like the special event that it was.
“I was cognizant of the fact that many people want to be there and haven’t been there yet, and so I just appreciated every moment I was there,” he said.
And though he knew the experience of the game would be different from playing from the comfort of the couch, he realized how hard it was to prepare for what it feels like to be on stage.
The first part of the game he was just trying to acclimate to the pace and choosing when to ring in. There was a lot to consider — and to consider quickly. Still, it was “kind of a good stress,” he said.
Friends and family celebrated with a watch party in Downingtown. Surrounded by screens of the show, he watched the people around him root for him. He played the episode for his students the day after, pausing to tell them what was going through his mind at certain points of the game.
Of course, Kearney hadn’t been able to share the results before the show aired. As he watched people around him getting excited, he told his wife he felt bad that they were going to see him lose.
“But they didn’t care. They were just so happy to be a part of it, to celebrate and cheer me on,” he said.
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
For his fourth restaurant on Rittenhouse Square, Stephen Starr said he wants to evoke the jet-set fantasy of Greece of the Onassis era: yacht-club luxury, island sensuality, cosmopolitan polish.
That explains the photos of Jackie O and Aristotle Onassis on the window posters that went up last week on the former Devon Seafood Grill at 18th and Chancellor Streets.
Devon Seafood Grill at 18th and Chancellor Streets, with Stephen Starr’s Parc at rear, on June 8, 2023.
Starr told The Inquirer that the new restaurant, to be called the Pelican Club, is expected to open in October. It will be his ninth restaurant in the neighborhood, his 19th restaurant in Philadelphia, and his 41st in an empire that stretches from New York to Miami.
The Pelican Club will be across the lobby of the Parc Rittenhouse apartment building from his Paris-style brasserie Parc (which opened in 2008), a half-block up the street from steakhouse Barclay Prime (2004), and across the square from Italian powerhouse Borromini (2025). Starr also owns the nearby Continental Mid-town (2004), Butcher & Singer (2008), the Dandelion (2010), El Rey/Ranstead Room (2010), and The Love (2017).
The Pelican Club will occupy nearly 9,000 square feet — slightly smaller than Parc but larger than Barclay Prime. Like its neighbors, it will have outdoor seating facing 18th Street.
The Pelican Club’s concept took shape after Starr reconsidered several possibilities for the high-profile corner space, empty since December 2024 and owned by Starr business partner Allan Domb, the former Council member and mayoral candidate.
“I walked in and started wondering what it should be,” Starr said in a call from Miami Beach, where his steakhouse Slim’s opens Tuesday. “I kicked around several different ideas, but none of them really felt correct for that room. It needed to be something that made sense there.”
Starr said he had considered Middle Eastern and Japanese concepts, but his mind kept returning to Greece. “I know Greek concepts have been done here before, but not in the way I thought it should have been,” Starr said.
To shape the project, he turned to Ken Fulk, who also designed Starr’s old-school revival of the Occidental in Washington, D.C., which opened in March 2025.
A dining room at the Occidental in Washington, D.C., designed by Ken Fulk, as seen in March 2025.
Starr said Fulk “just fell in love with the space and came up with a great idea for how it should look.”
Though Starr wants to keep most details about the Pelican Club close to the vest for now, he said the bar area in front would evoke the living area of a yacht. The back of the restaurant, he added, will feature “very sexy booths.”
The bar at the Occidental in Washington, D.C., designed by Ken Fulk, as seen in March 2025.
Starr said he came across the story of Petros the pelican, long associated with Mykonos, and was drawn to both the image and the symbolism. “It’s this mythical, legendary figure, kind of a protector of the island,” he said. “I thought the name was awesome, and we loved the pelican imagery.”
But he decided against using a plainly Greek name for the restaurant.
“‘Pelican’ kept sticking in my head, and Ken loved the image too,” Starr said. “The Pelican Club gave us the imagery we were looking for, plus something a little more intriguing. You don’t quite know what it is right away.”
Starr said the Pelican Club would be rooted in Greek cooking, with touches extending into the Mediterranean. He said he has been auditioning chefs from Greece — several have already flown in for tastings, and another is due from Athens this week — as he looks for “something authentic” from someone who “really grew up with the food.”
The Transportation Security Administration temporarily closed the Terminal C security checkpoint at Philadelphia International Airport on Thursday morning.
“Due to staffing constraints related to the government shutdown, the TSA, in collaboration with the airport, is temporarily closing the Terminal C checkpoint,” said PHL spokesperson Heather Redfern.
All other security checkpoints remain open, and TSA PreCheck passengers can use the designated lanes at the Terminal A-East and D/E checkpoints. There is no timeline for when Terminal C will be back up and running.
“We encourage you to check the MyTSA app or the airport’s website to find current wait times and to arrive early to the airport,” said an American Airlines spokesperson. “We are grateful for our federal partners at TSA who continue to ensure safe travel for our customers.”
The scene at the TSA checkpoint line in Terminal B at Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday morning, Nov. 9, 2025.
The TSA is experiencing a lapse in funding, alongside other Department of Homeland Security agencies, because its budget has not been passed by Congress.
In January, federal lawmakers narrowly avoided another full government shutdown by approving budgets for all federal agencies except the Department of Homeland Security. Republicans and President Donald Trump agreed to carve out the DHS budget for further negotiations as Democrats want to put more guardrails on federal immigration enforcement.
There have been a couple of attempts at passing the DHS budget, but neither side has budged on its demands. The only Senate Democrat to support funding DHS is Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman.
At this point, there is no end in sight to the DHS shutdown and, by proxy, the lapse in TSA funding that is leading to staff shortages across the country, including Philadelphia’s airport.
The buyers: Katherine Rumble, 38, public engagement manager; Benjamin Rumble, 39, graphic designer
The house: a 960-square-foot-home near South Philly’s Marconi Plaza with three bedrooms and one bathroom, built in 1957
The price: listed for $259,000; purchased for $259,000
The agent: Sue Liedke, Compass
Benjamin and Katherine Rumble pin their new home in South Philadelphia.
The ask: Katherine and Benjamin Rumble were looking to leave Nashville. They wanted a city that was affordable, walkable, and had decent public transit. “Philadelphia was pretty much the only option,” said Katherine. After falling in love with South Philly, they moved in 2023 and rented a place in Point Breeze.
Two years later, they started searching for their forever home. Their wish list was specific: proximity to the Broad Street Line, central air, office space for both of them, and ideally a home that hadn’t been gutted, flipped, and turned “millennial gray.”
“We did not want to live in a doctor’s office,” Katherine said. “We wanted to live in a place that felt warm and welcoming like your grandma’s house.”
Benjamin and Katherine Rumble’s dog, Miller, relaxes in their living room.
The search: The couple already had a habit of checking Zillow regularly, but the listing that caught their attention came through Instagram.
They had long followed the account of Sue Liedke, a Philadelphia real estate agent who highlights vintage homes across the city. “We were obsessed with her account,” Katherine said. When Liedke posted a house near Oregon Station, they reached out.
The home checked many boxes. It was close to the Broad Street Line and near Marconi Plaza, which was a major plus for the couple, who have two dogs. It also had central air and enough space for both of them to work from home.
The appeal: They went to see the house immediately and loved it. “It had vibes,” Benjamin said. “The basement looked like people had been watching Eagles games down there since 1974.”
“The basement looked like someone had been watching Eagles games down their since 1974,” said Benjamin.
Upstairs, there were original wood doors, wood trim, and wallpaper that appeared decades old. The bathroom featured seafoam-green and pink tile and a skylight.
“We loved everything already in it,” Benjamin said. “I thought I wanted to buy a house so I could paint the walls. Then we bought this house and realized we didn’t want to change anything.”
At the front of the house was a small screened-in room sometimes referred to as a Florida room, a term Katherine rejected immediately. “I said, ‘We’re not calling anything Florida in this house,’” she recalled. They renamed it “the eagles’ nest.”
For all its charm, the house did still have its drawbacks. There was only one bathroom, and the kitchen was tiny. But “it had so many of the things we wanted that it felt worth it,” Katherine said.
The deal: The house had been on the market for only a few days when they saw it. The listing price was $259,000, and it was being sold as-is, meaning the seller was not required to pay for any issues uncovered during the inspection. “It was a risk,” Katherine said.
They offered the full asking price and requested a $5,500 seller’s assist to help cover closing costs. The seller agreed and even repaired a plumbing issue that came up during the inspection, despite selling the house as-is. In the end, the appraisal came in $5,000 above the asking price, which reassured the couple that the deal made financial sense.
The money: The couple put down 5%, or $12,590.
The money came from a second retirement account Katherine opened several years earlier. “It wasn’t really making any money,” she said. She decided cashing it out to buy a home was a better investment.
Benjamin and Katherine Rumble and their dogs, Miller and Bambi, in the eagle’s nest.
After the seller credit and deposit adjustments, the couple needed $24,225 in cash to close. They used almost all their personal savings to cover the remaining costs. They are rebuilding their nest egg from $2,000.
One thing boosting their savings is their low mortgage payment. They purchased mortgage points, an upfront fee paid at closing that lowers your interest rate, to get their monthly payment below $2,000. “That was our big goal,” Katherine said. “It’s a miracle.”
The move: To save money, the couple moved themselves. They couldn’t get a full-sized truck down their narrow street, so they rented a U-Haul van and shuttled their belongings back and forth across four weekends. They also had to get rid a lot of their existing furniture, requiring extra trips to 2A Thrift and Philly AIDS Thrift. “It was harder moving 10 minutes down the road in South Philly than it was moving from Nashville to Philadelphia three years ago,” Katherine said.
Benjamin and Katherine fell in love with the home’s original details, like the wallpaper in the dining room.
Any reservations? One thing the couple wasn’t prepared to deal with was a private neighborhood sewer line. It connects all the houses on the block before linking up with the main public sewer line. The couple both grew up in parts of the country where individual houses connect directly to the main sewer line. After moving in, neighbors explained the history of the sewer line. It hasn’t caused any major issues yet, but if something goes wrong, the neighbors will have to pay for the repairs together.
Life after close: The house has influenced their interior design choices. Because it was built in the 1950s, the couple has tried to source furniture from the 1960s and 1970s.
They regularly browse thrift stores, Facebook Marketplace, and vintage shops such as Thunderbird Salvage and Jinxed.
“We’re trying to find things that fit the character of the house,” Katherine said. “It takes time to find the things you want. But it’s really exciting when you do.”
Katherine Rumble behind the bar.
It also helped that the previous owner let them keep somefurniture, including, said Benjamin, “a really rad set of couches.”
I never thought about eating duck with my granola. But adding granola to a leg of duck confit has turned out to be one of the most enduring ideas executive chef Dwain Kalup has brought to La Fia since arriving at this globally inspired bistro in downtown Wilmington, Del., almost six years ago. Kalup, who was recently named a James Beard semifinalist in the Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic category, has plenty of excellent dishes with diverse inspirations on the ever-changing menu, including a fabulous update of old-school shrimp toast (topped with crunch green papaya salad), kojinut squash-stuffed agnolotti, and irresistible deep-fried brioche beignets with herb butter.
But I can understand why this duck is one dish that never changes. It is a classic preparation at its heart, the meaty Pekin duck legs cure overnight in herbed salt with garlic before slowly simmering to tenderness in a crock of molten duck fat. The finished appetizer is all about contrasting modern flavors and textures: A glaze of yuzu koshu blends sweetness and citrusy spice while dabs of miso-mustard aioli add richness and zing. The crunch of savory granola scattered over top — oats and sesame bound with honey and tahini — lends a toasty snap to each bite of that meltingly soft duck. Add the juicy pop of tart pomegranate seeds along with the minty whiff of freshly torn Thai basil for a final flourish, and this duck has it all. La Fia, 421 N. Market St., Wilmington, Del., 302-543-5574, lafiawilmington.com
— Craig LaBan
The Nova salmon bagel from Radin’s Delicatessen topped with tomato and red onion.
Nova salmon bagel at Radin’s Delicatessen
Radin’s in Cherry Hillis known (maybe even notorious) for mind-bogglingly enormous portions that make one question their economic viability, but their bagel sandwiches are perfectly portioned and surprisingly easy to tackle. This Nova salmon bagel was no exception. Baked that day, the pumpernickel bagel was warm and springy, with no need for toasting. The red onion and tomatoes — my accoutrements of choice —were crisp and fresh. The salmon was buttery, and the generous layer of chive cream cheese had just the right amount of fluff. I could taste a little bit of everything in each bite, resulting in bagel perfection. Radin’s Delicatessen, 486 Evesham Rd., Cherry Hill, N.J., 856-509-5492, radinsdelicatessen.com
— Kiki Aranita
The Breakfast Board at the Sunroom at the Borgata with tasty tater-tots and espresso martinis. A pleasant start to a slow Saturday morning.
Breakfast board for two at the Borgata
A habitual nibbler, uncontrollable snacker, and expert nosher, there are few things I love better than a charcuterie board. Having so many options at my fingertips lights up my tastebuds. Up until recently I thought this rush only came from hard cheeses, jellies, and salty processed pork. Then I visited the Sunroom Lounge in Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel and discovered its “Breakfast Board For Two.” I waited for it with bated breath.
Arrive it did. There weregenerous portions of bacon, pancakes, croissants, and sugar-topped blueberry muffins. A buttery, cheesy, melt-in-your-mouth quiche was stacked next to a hefty helping of cornbread muffins. A side of golden tater tots made this a totally-worth-the-guilt breakfast experience.
If you are going all in on a totally lazy Saturday morning, wash it down with the Sunroom Lounge’s espresso martini. The splash of vanilla vodka makes it a breakfast-cocktail winner — as in move over, mimosas. Sunroom Lounge in the Borgata Casino Hotel and Spa, 1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City N.J.; 609-317-1000, borgata.mgmresorts.com
— Elizabeth Wellington
The Bowl de Avena oatmeal at La Jefa.
Bowl de Avena at La Jefa
Mornings at La Jefa are usually reserved for coffee and a little treat, like a hibiscus and raspberry concha or a dulce de leche doughnut dusted with pistachio sugar. But on the first warm Saturday in months, I was feeling alive and craved something heartier. This is where the Bowl de Avena came in, an oatmeal that feels special, much like everything else at the cafe from the family behind the historic Center City Mexican restaurant Tequila’s. The oats are steeped in golden milk, dotted with dollops of ricotta and raspberry jam, and then topped with fresh bananas, green apple, and strawberries. Paired with a natural-process pour-over from Guadalajaran coffee roaster Cafe Estelar, it made for the perfect cozy morning with a book and some sunshine. La Jefa, 1605 Latimer St., 215-475-5500, lajefaphilly.com
Flyers management has long said that the players would dictate how the organization approached the NHL trade deadline and whether the Flyers would be sellers or buyers.
Well, when the clock struck 3 p.m. on yet another deadline for president Keith Jones and general manager Danny Brière, the Flyers were a seller of sorts as Bobby Brink was traded home to Minnesota, and Nic Deslauriers was moved to chase a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Moving Brink from a top-nine spot was necessary to create space on the wing, as the players in the system, notably Porter Martone and Alex Bump — Brière said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the latter gets called up before the end of the season, although reading the tea leaves, it could come sooner than later — are close to being NHL-ready.
But while they added David Jiříček as the return for Brink, and have Oliver Bonk, Spencer Gill, and Carter Amico in the system — all big, right-shot defensemen — Brière did not move his most exploitable trade piece, veteran right-shot defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen.
“You guys [the media] made a big story. I didn’t know I was trying to sell him,” Brière said on Friday after the deadline. “You guys made it sound like we were dumping Risto for next to nothing.
“Look, at the end of the day, Risto has a lot of value to our team. I wasn’t trying to dump Risto. I wasn’t trying to get rid of him. I think the media turned it into a little bit of a circus, to be honest. And that’s OK. I get it. It’s part of my job to deal with that. But the reality is, Risto is an important part of our defense.”
Unlike the winger position, Brière doesn’t think his defensemen-in-waiting are ready to slot into the top four and play the big minutes that Ristolainen has played; he played more than more than 27 minutes on Monday and 22 more on Thursday. “We need to protect them a little bit,” Brière said.
Sources have told The Inquirer that the Flyers wanted a first-round pick for Ristolainen, the physical defenseman who just had an impressive run for the bronze-medal-winning Finnish squad at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics and has been a standout since.
But while several teams did check in on the 6-foot-4 blueliner with term (he has one more year on his contract), no one matched the Flyers’ ask. And Brière would not confirm if a first-round pick was ever on the table, stating, “All I can tell you is, the value wasn’t as high as we needed for us to move forward.”
“I did get a lot of calls, and we took them seriously,” he added. “We went through all the teams that were serious, but at the end of the day, it just did not make sense value-wise. … We listened, but it made more sense to have Risto with us.”
Here are three other questions the general manager addressed.
Why did the Flyers want Jiříček?
The Flyers were in the mix to get the 6-4, 204-pound defenseman when the Columbus Blue Jackets were shopping him a year and a half ago. And Brière was a bit shocked he was available now, but Minnesota recently added Quinn Hughes, which changed the Czech native’s outlook in the State of Hockey.
Although he hasn’t had the track many expected when the 22-year-old was drafted one slot after Cutter Gauthier in 2022, the Flyers see high potential in Jiříček. Patience was asked by Brière, and while he is a different style of player from Jamie Drysdale, the GM sees similarities when it comes to their development arc.
“They both came in at 18 years old, probably a little too early to turn pro yet,” he said. “They go through some ups and downs, probably lose their confidence along the way. So he’s going to need some love. He’s going to need some reps. Especially, he needs time. He needs to play a lot of minutes and build his confidence.”
Jiříček will head to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League to start. The GM said he didn’t make any promises but said that at some point, if they have a chance, they’d like to give him a look with the big club. Jiříček has played 84 NHL games across four seasons with Columbus and Minnesota.
Why did the Flyers not trade for a center?
Another season and trade deadline came and went, and the Flyers are still without a No. 1 center. Sure, these types of players do not grow on trees, and yes, several who were expected to be available as free agents this summer have since signed extensions.
But if the Flyers want to take the next step, they need to upgrade down the middle.
“A few of the high-end centers that were in the trade market, or their name, we checked on that,” Brière said. “We had some discussions right now. It’s been tabled to closer to the draft [and then] we’ll look back into that. But we looked into it.
“We are aware; we know that it’s an area we’d like to improve. It’s all about timing, value, and when is the best time that you can get the best value for it. But, yeah, we’re aware. We’ve never hid from the fact that we’d like to improve that position.”
So the door isn’t shut, and there is some expectation that the Flyers could be busy around the draft. As Brière reiterated on Friday, it took almost two years to acquire Trevor Zegras.
Speaking of Zegras, he came to Philly excited for the opportunity to play center again, but has primarily played on the wing. The door isn’t closed on him pivoting, but it’s not as wide-open as before.
“He’s been at his best when he played the wing this year — that’s just the reality. I wish I could say the opposite,” Brière said. “I wish I could say he’s much better when he plays center, but the reality is, he’s been at his best when he plays with [Travis Konecny] and [Christian] Dvorak. So, that line has been our best line for a while now, so that’s why … when I mentioned the wingers, that [I] put his name on there, because he’s been mostly on the wing.”
What does the future now hold for the Flyers?
With the Flyers selling, the writing is all but permanently inked on the wall that they will miss the postseason for the sixth straight season. They entered Friday six points back of the Boston Bruins for the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and eight points back of the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins for second and third in the Metropolitan Division.
“I think what’s unfortunate about the trade deadline is the moment you start trading players away, is the realization that, unfortunately, you’ve missed your goal in a sense,” forward Garnet Hathaway told The Inquirer on Friday. “In no way am I saying that we’re not in a position to get in, but it changes things. But we were in a spot that we put ourselves in, and I think that’s what’s frustrating, and it kind of adds on to the fact that you’re sending friends, teammates to a different organization.”
The Flyers decided to keep defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen at the trade deadline.
So what happens now?
In the short term, the general manager wants to see his team continue to play the right way, stay competitive, and play hard. Long-term, the Flyers are still a work in progress, and “the plan never changed as far as looking for the future.”
Brière thinks the difference now is that the Flyers can change that.
“Three years ago, we almost had nothing to work with as far as good young players coming,” Brière said. “So it wasn’t enticing for other teams to trade guys to us, but more and more, the way our young guys are coming along and a lot of centers, those are always a lot of value.
“We have more and more assets that are going to hopefully give us the chance to get in on a player. Or sometimes one of those players [in the organization already] is going to come and take it, kind of like [Denver] Barkey did this year.”
News and notes
Barkey and defenseman Adam Ginning were sent down to the Phantoms before 3 p.m. to make them eligible to compete in the Calder Cup playoffs. According to the AHL transactions page, Barkey has already been recalled. The new collective bargaining agreement says players must play one AHL game before being recalled but there is an exception on deadline day.
Brière said they weren’t trying to trade Deslauriers, “but if you want to have the chance to go chase a Cup, we would give you that opportunity.” Deslauriers was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for a conditional seventh-round pick in 2027.
Veteran forward Luke Glendening, 36, was picked up on waivers from the New Jersey Devils to stabilize the fourth line and win face-offs. He has a 55.6% career winning percentage in the circle.
Tyson Foerster is on track with his rehab after surgery to repair an upper-body injury (Brière would not disclose what the injury was). The winger has started skating and shooting pucks, and the GM said, “I know he’s going to start knocking on my door soon to get back in the lineup.” But he is not expected to play again this season unless the Flyers make the postseason.
Defenseman Nick Seeler is day to day with a lower-body injury and is not expected to play on Saturday against the Penguins (5:30 p.m., NBCSP).
