Hours after authorities discovered three of his relatives dead in a Bucks County home, Kevin Castiglia confessed Monday to killing his parents in their sleep and then fatally stabbing his sister when she discovered their bodies, authorities said.
Castiglia, 55, is charged with three counts of criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse, and related crimes in the deaths of his father, Frederick, 90, his mother, Judith, 84, and his sister, Deborah, 53.
Northampton Township police arrested him Monday after he barricaded himself inside his parents’ home on Heather Road for more than five hours with their bodies inside. He was armed with bloody knives as officers surrounded the house and attempted to persuade him to surrender, authorities said.
After his arrest, Castiglia was taken to a local hospital, where, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest, he told a doctor, “I killed my parents in their sleep.” He also said he killed his sister “when she found them,” the affidavit said.
Later at police headquarters, investigators said, Castiglia told officers he had stabbed all three relatives to death.
Castiglia was being held without bail at the Bucks County Correctional Facility.
Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan speaks at a press conference.
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Bucks County prosecutors declined to discuss a possible motive for the slayings. Deputy District Attorney Monica Furber, who is prosecuting the case, said investigators believe Castiglia killed his parents on Friday and his sister on Saturday.
Deborah Castiglia was a longtime teacher in the Centennial School District. She joined the district in 1999, teaching math at Klinger Middle School, according to an email school officials sent to students, parents, staff, and community members. In 2018, she joined the teaching staff of William Tennent High School.
She taught math students with “dedication, care, and compassion,” Superintendent Abram Lucabaugh wrote in the email. “Her loss is profoundly felt across our school community.”
The district is offering counseling and support services for students and staff, Lucabaugh added.
Castiglia’s parents, who had lived in the two-story redbrick home since 1970 and shared it with their son, had recently celebrated a wedding anniversary, Furber said.
Police were called to the home after Deborah Castiglia’s boyfriend reported that Kevin Castiglia had threatened him when he went to the house looking for her, authorities said. He grew concerned after he saw her vehicle parked in the driveway, but could find no footprints in the snow, District Attorney Joe Khan said at Wednesday’s news conference.
When officers arrived, Castiglia greeted them at the front door holding two knives, authorities said.
They used a Taser to try to subdue him — to no avail, according to the affidavit: He pulled the probes from his body and retreated into the house.
Bucks County Detectives and Police are at the Northampton Township home where three people died.
Authorities established a perimeter around the home as negotiators worked to bring the situation to a peaceful end. During the standoff, officers repeatedly attempted to communicate with Castiglia, urging him to come out of the house, police said. But he would not engage, the affidavit said.
A tactical team eventually broke into the house through the front door, as snipers positioned themselves in a nearby house to give on-the-ground officers cover.
“I had no idea what was happening,” said neighbor Erica Titlow, 35. Snipers used the second story of her home during the standoff, she said, calling them “polite” and “grateful.”
The standoff ended when officers took Castiglia into custody, authorities said. No officers were injured.
Police found Deborah Castiglia’s body in the kitchen. The bodies of Frederick and Judith Castiglia were discovered in their bedroom, according to the affidavit, not in the basement as police previously reported.
Furber said one weapon used in the killings was recovered inside the house. Investigators “don’t believe there was any kind of struggle” during the attacks, she said.
Khan praised law enforcement’s efforts to take Castiglia into custody. “Bringing him in alive, despite being faced with an armed and eventually barricaded individual, is truly remarkable,” he said.
Staff writer Jesse Bunch contributed to this article.
Blocking the package would set off a partial government shutdown.
“I will never vote to shut our government down, especially our Defense Department,” Fetterman said in a statement on Monday, which is one of the agencies that is relying on the pending appropriations package.
Even so, Fetterman thinks that changes are needed to President Donald Trump’s immigration strategy. He urged Trump to fire Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and he said immigration agents’ presence in Minneapolis needs to “immediately end,” after federal agents shot and killed two Americans this month.
Fetterman has suggested removing DHS funding from the package under consideration as a compromise, but Senate Republican leaders are unlikely to do that.
If a partial government shutdown kicks off Friday,impacted agencies include the Departments of State, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development.
With a partial government shutdown potentially just days away, here’s what to know about Fetterman’s stance.
Why won’t Fetterman join Democrats in blocking funding for DHS?
Senate Democrats have said they won’t support funding for DHS in the wake of the killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti this month by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. DHS oversees U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol, the two agencies involved in the fatal shootings.
Democrats have also signaled that they want major reforms to federal agents’ conduct as they carry out Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda.
Fetterman said this week that he spent “significant time hearing many different positions on the funding bills,” but will still never vote to shut the government down.
Further, he thinks shutting down the government over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement won’t have much of an impact at all.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border enforcement operations are still likely to be operational even during a shutdown, CBS News reported. Agents have typically been considered essential employees.
“A vote to shut our government down will not defund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” Fetterman wrote in a statement this week, noting that DHS received $178 billion in funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Fetterman opposed.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a news conference at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Washington.
Why did Fetterman call for Kristi Noem to be fired?
On Tuesday, Fetterman made a direct plea to Trump: Fire Noem.
“Americans have died,“ Fetterman wrote in a post on X. ”She is betraying DHS’s core mission and trashing your border security legacy.”
The Pennsylvania Democrat also tried to appeal to Trump by criticizing former President Joe Biden’s DHS secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, saying: “DO NOT make the mistake President Biden made for not firing a grossly incompetent DHS Secretary.”
An increasing number of lawmakers and advocacy groups have called for Noem’s ouster, including Republican U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis, of North Carolina, and Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska.
Fetterman had previously joined six other Democrats in voting to confirm Noem’s nomination for DHS secretary last year, including Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey. (Kim has also called for Noem to be fired).
What constituents and elected officials are saying
The pressure on Fetterman from colleagues and constituents appears to be growing.
Every Democratic member of Pennsylvania’s U.S. House delegation cosigned a letter on Tuesday calling for Fetterman and Sen. Dave McCormick (R, Pa.) to vote against DHS funding, The Inquirer reported.
Anti-ICE activists demonstrate outside U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s Philadelphia office, Jan. 27, 2026, calling for the Pennsylvania Democrat to vote against DHS funding.
“We urge you to stand with us in opposing any DHS funding bill that does not include critical reforms,” the lawmakers said in the letter, delivered Tuesday. “We look forward to working together to advance legislation that both keeps our nation secure and upholds our fundamental values.”
Meanwhile, around 150 protesters gathered in front of Fetterman’s Philadelphia office in freezing temperatures on Tuesday to urge him to vote against the funding.
“What do we want? U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement out,” the crowd chanted.
President Donald Trump endorsed Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity for governor Tuesday evening, awarding her the coveted nod from the leader of the Republican Party as she tries to unseat the popular Democratic incumbent Gov.Josh Shapiro in November.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump declared Garrity “WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN” and stated that as governor, she would work to grow the economy, strengthen the military, keep borders secure, and safeguard elections, among other priorities.
“Stacy is a true America First Patriot, who has been with me from the beginning,” Trump wrote.
Garrity, the state’s second-term treasurer,has led the low-profile office without controversy and boasts that her staff has blocked nearly $2 billion in improper payments. The retired U.S. Army colonel in 2024 broke the record for highest number of votes received in a state-level race in Pennsylvania, and she quickly earned the support of the state party establishment last year.
In a statement Tuesday, Garrity said she was honored to receive Trump’s endorsement, adding that the president has “been a voice for hardworking Americans who have been left behind.”
“Josh Shapiro is President Trump’s number one adversary, and I am looking forward to working with President Trump and his team to defeat Josh Shapiro this November,” Garrity said.
At right is Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro listening to Stacy Garrity, 78th State Treasurer, Forum Auditorium, Harrisburg, Pa., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.
Garrity is a longtime Trump supporter from rural Bradford County, who in 2022 at a Trump rally repeated his false claim that he won the 2020 presidential election — a position she has since walked back, telling reporters earlier this month that she had gotten carried away in the moment when she said that.
Last summer, Trump said he would support another potential candidate — U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Pa.) — if he ran.Weeks later, the Northeast Pennsylvania Republican declined to run andannounced he would seek a fourth term in Congress instead. Meuser quickly endorsed Garrity once she formally joined the race, and she continues to capture more GOP officials’ endorsements as Pennsylvania’s May 19 primary election inches closer.
Garrity is currently running unopposed as the Republican candidate for governor, after State Sen. Doug Mastriano announced he would not run again this year after losing by nearly 15 percentage points to Shapiro in 2022. However, Garrity has yet to announce who she wants as her running mate for lieutenant governor, with largely far-right conservatives — including Mastriano — interested in the job.
Still,Trump’s endorsement of Garrity could draw needed eyes and checkbooks to her campaign, as her fundraising in the early months of the race has lagged far behind the $30 million war chest Shapiro has amassed over the last few years. Earlier this month, Garrity announced that her campaign had raised nearly $1.5 million from August through December.
Republicans are hopeful that Garrity can drive enough enthusiasm at the top of the state ticket to motivate GOP voters to come out to vote throughout Pennsylvania, boosting candidates up and down the ballot in a year where control of Pennsylvania’s General Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives is on the line.
“Pennsylvanians deserve better than a Governor who is nothing more than a rubber stamp for Trump’s chaos and higher costs, and that’s why she will be soundly rejected this November,” Pennsylvania Democratic Party chair Eugene DePasquale said in a statement.
Activists with No ICE Philly demonstrated at Target stores in the city on Tuesday evening, attempting to slow business operations at a company that they say wrongly cooperates with federal immigration enforcement.
Stores in South Philadelphia, Rittenhouse, Fairmount, Port Richmond and on Washington Avenue and City Avenue were among those targeted, the group said.
Advocates say the retailer has failed to speak out against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to safeguard employees and customers, and has allowed the agency to set up operations in its parking lots.
More than 40 people rallied on a frozen, 19-degree night outside the Target at Broad Street and Washington Avenue, holding signs that showed solidarity with Minneapolis residents who have resisted ICE in their community.
“From MPLS to PHL, keep ICE out,” read one sign.
Demonstrators gathered outside of the Target at Broad and Washington on Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Inside, some masked customers bought ice trays and single bottles of table salt. As soon as they paid for the items at the checkout counters, they headed to the “Returns” area to seek refunds.
Items were quickly restocked on store shelves by staff, only to be purchased and returned again.
Demonstrators visited at least seven stores, according to the Rev. Jay Bergen, a leader of No ICE Philly and pastor at the Germantown Mennonite Church.
“Our actions are in solidarity with people across the country responding to the call from Minneapolis communities to pressure Target,” Bergen said Wednesday.
Company spokespeople did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the protests in Philadelphia. Target, founded in 1962, operates 1,989 stores across the United States and has a net revenue of more than $100 billion a year.
At Broad and Washington on Tuesday, members of No ICE Philly handed out pocket-sized fliers that described their goals as they urged shoppers to go elsewhere. Some people turned away after talking to demonstrators. Others who went inside were met with boos.
“Find another store!” the protesters shouted, as a police officer looked on.
Elijah Wald, 66, said the Washington Avenue location was his neighborhood Target.
“Our main hope is that businesses will understand that they need to protect their employees, that they need to not collaborate with a government that right now is targeting everybody,” he said.
Wald, whose mother was a Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Austria, said he has always felt positive about immigration, that the United States was built of “people who are used to moving to find work, moving to find cheaper housing.”
But the discourse over ICE operations in major cities has gone beyond undocumented people, said Wald.
“They’re shooting U.S. citizens now,” he said.
Demonstrators gathered outside of the Target at Broad and Washington Streets on Tuesday.
At the Target at Snyder Plaza, about 20 demonstrators encouraged people to do their shopping elsewhere.
“Protest with your wallet; Acme is right there,” a protester said through a sound system.
Celine Bossart, 34, said boycotts are an effective way to denounce ICE actions.
“As citizens, our power is limited, but a big part of the power that we do have is where we choose to spend our money,” she said, “and at the end of the day, corporations aren’t necessarily going to listen until it hits their bottom line.”
A man in a Flyers jersey stopped to heckle the demonstrators, who responded with words of their own. Bossart said the protest did not aim to make anyone’s day difficult.
“Our neighbors are people who work at Target, people who work at Acme; these are the neighbors who we’re trying to protect,” she said. “So we’re just trying to send a message to upper, upper management.”
Last week, demonstrators held a sit-in at a store in Minneapolis, where the company is headquartered, chanting, “Something ’bout this isn’t right ― why does Target work for ICE?”
At other Minnesota stores, demonstrators formed long lines to buy bags of winter ice melt, then immediately got back in line to return them, slowing the checkout process.
No ICE Philly, which has led demonstrations against the agency, and against the arrests of immigrants outside the city Criminal Justice Center, said Target must:
Publicly call for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to leave Minnesota.
Post signs in its stores that deny entrance to immigration agents, absent a signed judicial warrant.
Train store staff on how to respond if agents arrive.
Publicly call for Congress to end ICE funding.
Chief executives of Target and more than 60 large Minnesota companies issued a public letter on Sunday calling for an “immediate de-escalation of tensions.” It marked the first time, The New York Times reported, that the most recognizable businesses in the state weighed in on the turmoil in Minneapolis.
Critics said the letter offered too little, too late, coming after two local U.S. citizens were shot to death by federal agents.
This week’s Philly music options include 1990s R&B hitmakers 112, newsman-turned-singer Ari Shapiro, pop-punks Say Anything and Motion City Soundtrack, K-pop girl group Unis, and Philly hip-hop blues band G. Love & Special Sauce. Plus, some terrific folk tandem with Loudon Wainwright III and Chris Smither. And the kick off for Black History Month programming at the Fallser Club.
Wednesday, Jan. 28
Tashi Dorji
Bhutan-born, Asheville, N.C., guitarist Tashi Dorji makes alternately tuned instrumental music that never settles for being merely pretty. Sometimes it reads as politically defiant, as on songs like “And the State Sank into the Abyss” and “Meet Me Under the Ruins” on his most recent album on the Drag City label, We Will Be Wherever the Fires Are Lit. 8 p.m., Asian Arts Initiative, 1219 Vine St., r5productions.com
Thursday, Jan. 29
Sunny Day Real Estate
1990s Seattle emo band Sunny Day Real Estate re-formed in 2022 and has stayed busy since with a lineup that included original members Jeremy Enigk, Dan Horne, and William Goldsmith. 8 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, 1009 Canal St., brooklynbowl.com/philadelphia
Atlanta R&B vocal group 112 play the Met Philly on Friday.
Friday, Jan. 30
Dave P.’s Juntos benefit
Making Time impresario David Pianka is DJing an all-night “All I Want for 2026 is PLURT” party for Juntos, the South Philadelphia organization “fighting for the human rights of the Latine community as workers, parents, youth, and immigrants.” PLURT takes “Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect” and adds a Dave P. favorite word: “Transcendence.” 8 p.m., The Dolphin, 1539 S. Broad St, ra.co/events/2351165
Ari Shapiro
Former NPR host Ari Shapiro’s “Thank You for Listening” is a cabaret show adapted from his memoir, The Best Strangers in the World. He’ll flex the musical muscles previously put to use in collaborations with Alan Cumming and Pink Martini. 7:30 p.m., City Winery, 990 Filbert St., citywinery.com/philadelphia
112
R&B’s 112 — pronounced “one twelve” — is the Atlanta group that signed to now-disgraced music executive Sean Combs’ Bad Boy label in the 1990s. In addition to hits like “Cupid” and “It’s Over Now,” the band joined Combs on vocals on “I’ll Be Missing You,” the 1997 megahit that eulogized the Notorious B.I.G. 8 p.m., Met Philly, 858 N. Broad St., themetphilly.com
Unis
K-pop girl group octet Unis comes to South Street, supporting 2025’s album Swicy. The band fronted by lead singer Hyeonju triumphed on the Seoul Broadcasting System reality show Universe Ticket in 2024. 8 p.m., Theatre of Living Arts, 332 South St, tlaphilly.com
Jobi Riccio plays Free at Noon at the World Cafe Live on Friday.
Jobi Riccio
Colorado songwriter Jobi Riccio won praise for her 2023 debut album, Whiplash. That same year, she was awarded the John Prine Fellowship at the Newport Folk Festival. She has a new single, “Buzzkill,”which along with the previously released protest song “Wildfire Season” will be on a forthcoming album. Noon, World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., xpn.org
The Naked Sun
Philly rock quintet the Naked Sun will celebrate a new album, Mirror in the Hallway. It was produced by Brian McTear and Amy Morrissey at Miner Street Recordings. McTear’s Bitter, Bitter Weeks plays a rare full band set as openers. 8 p.m., Fallser Club, 3721 Midvale Ave., thefallserclub.org
Saturday, Jan. 31
Wild Pink
Brooklyn indie outfit Wild Pink comes through for an early show, still touring behind the excellent 2024 album Dulling the Horns. The band then needs to make way for a Taylor Swift DJ night that follows. 6 p.m., MilkBoy Philly, 110 Chestnut St., milkboyphilly.com
G. Love plays the Sellersville Theater on Saturday with his band, Special Sauce.
G. Love & Special Sauce
G. Love’s 2006 album Lemonade was a solo affair, but he’s celebrating its 20th anniversary with Special Sauce, the band with whom he recorded 215-proud staples such as “Philadelphonic” and “I-76.” Hawaiian surfer Makua opens. 8 p.m. Sellersville Theater, 24 W. Temple Ave., Sellersville, st94.com
Pine Barons
KC Abrams’ Philly experimental rock trio Pine Barons released its fourth album TV Movie in September. This week, the band headlines a show in Fishtown, with Special World and Rentboy. 9 p.m. Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave. johnnybrendas.com
Dave P. will DJ all night long in a benefit for Juntos on Friday at the Dolphin in South Philly.
Say Anything / Motion City Soundtrack
Two emo-adjacent bands that emerged in the early 00s are touring together. Los Angeles’ Say Anything’s latest is The Noise of Say Anything’s Room Without …, while Minneapolis’ Motion City Soundtrack recently returned after a decade with The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World. 7:30 p.m., Fillmore Philly, 29 Allen St., thefillmorephilly.com
Riverside / My Favorite / Polaroid Fade
A top-notch trio of indie bands, headlined by 1990s Philly veterans Riverside. Also on the bill are Brooklyn’s My Favorite and Ocean City, N.J.’s, Polaroid Fade, fronted by 20-year-old singer Nicoletta Giuliani, whose sounds draw from shimmery ‘90s bands like the Sundays and the Ocean Blue. 8:30 p.m., PhilaMoca, 531 N. 12th St., PhilaMoca.org
Loudon Wainwright III plays the Zellerbach Theatre at the Annenberg Center with Chris Smither on Sunday.
Sunday, Feb. 1
Loudon Wainwright / Chris Smither
From his 1970 self-titled debut to Lifetime Achievement in 2022, Loudon Wainwright III has always been an unflinching and unfailingly funny songwriter whose acute observations never spare himself or his family members. Pairing him with ever-soulful folk blues guitarist and songwriter Chris Smither, who has had a fruitful career of equal length, is a masterstroke. Hopefully, they’ll play together. 8 p.m., Zellerbach Theatre, 3680 Walnut St., pennlivearts.org
Reef the Lost Cauze
West Philly rapper Reef the Lost Cauze is first up at “A Month of Black Excellence at the Fallser Club,” with an afternoon event featuring “vendors, food, art, community actions.” The series includes African Friends: Bakithi Kumalo, Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa, and Youba Cissokho on Feb. 6 and V. Shane Frederick and Rev. Chris on Feb 17. 4 p.m., Fallser Club, 3721 Midvale Ave., thefallserclub.org
Jon Spencer
Jon Spencer has been playing high-volume blues with exaggerated gusto for three decades. Along with a recent show by Richard Lloyd and Lenny Kaye, this booking is another sign that Nikki Lopez, the South Street venue on the site of the former JC Dobbs, is becoming a welcome home for veteran acts who can still kick out the jams as well as young punk and metal bands. 8 p.m., Nikki Lopez, 304 South St., instagram.com/nikkilopez/philly
Monday, Feb. 2
Ye Vagabonds
Full-on Irish music season doesn’t arrive until March, when Emerald Isle musicians will blanket the Philly region. Get a head start with this stellar band, led by brothers Brian and Diarmuid Mac Gloinn who make haunting music that sounds ancient and brand new at the same time. Philly bluegrass songwriter Daphne Ellen opens. 8 p.m., Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 Frankford Ave., johnnybrendas.com
Concert Announcements
Shows that announced in the past week include a number of enticing double bills.
Sixers guards Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe have landed on the latest cover of SLAM Magazine, marking the second time both players have been featured on the cover page, but the first time together.
Maxey was first featured on the cover of SLAM’s February/March 2024 issue. Meanwhile, Edgecombe made his cover debut as part of SLAM’s 2024 high school all-American team. Now, the young guards share the stage as members of the Sixers.
The Sixers “box office” backcourt has ignited a new hope within the Philadelphia fan base, with the team already surpassing its win total from all of last season. Edgecombe, the team’s third-overall pick, made a historic debut — finishing the night with 34 points, the most in a Sixers rookie’s first game in franchise history, and the most scored in any NBA debut since Wilt Chamberlain.
Maxey will also be at All-Star Weekend. The sixth-year pro was named a starter for the NBA All-Star game, making him the first Sixers guard to be named a starter since Allen Iverson in 2010. Maxey’s second All-Star nod comes after averaging 29.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 6.8 assists.
Maxey and Edgecombe, who have been having fun together on and off the court, are part of a long list of current and former Sixers who have graced the cover, including Allen Iverson, Joel Embiid, Jerry Stackhouse, James Harden, and Ben Simmons.
The possibilities are what make a Gladwyne estate for sale on Country Club Road “a significant property,” said listing agent Lisa Yakulis.
It spans 12.76 “very private” acres, said Yakulis, a broker associate at Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty. “It’s hard to find that size of a property in that area.”
The 9,166-square-foot home sits on about four acres. A future owner could subdivide the lower part of the property to create two roughly four-acre lots. An existing easement would provide access to the additional lots.
The home for sale on Country Club Road in Gladwyne sits on almost 13 acres, which can be broken into separate lots.
Yakulis said she’s seen that on the Main Line in the years since the pandemic, “desirable building lots with that kind of acreage are, No. 1, very hard to find, and No. 2, there’s a fairly large buyer pool out there that’s looking for land in that location to build exactly what they want to build vs. buying a resale home.”
The home on the property was custom built in 1993, and its floor plan is more open than homes of that time. It was designed to host the owners’ family and friends, which it has done for the last three decades.
The house has six bedrooms, eight full bathrooms, and three half bathrooms. Many large windows provide panoramic views of the property. The home has an elevator, six fireplaces, a library, two laundry rooms, and flexible living spaces.
The front door of the home opens to a chandelier and winding staircase.
The primary suite has two separate bathrooms and large dressing rooms. The main kitchen includes two ovens, a large island with a stove, bar seating, and a refrigerator that can be concealed behind sliding wooden panels.
The property has a total of three guest suites on the lower level, in a private section of the main level, and above one of two oversized two-car garages.
The home’s lower level includes another large kitchen, a sauna, entertainment space, and a walk-in safe.
The main kitchen includes three sinks, two ovens, and a large island with a stove.
The property features stone terraces, a pool, landscaped grounds, and acres of open land. A cottage-like utility building equipped with a half bathroom is where the owners cleaned their dogs. But it also could be used as a gardening shed or workshop.
Potential buyers who have toured the home said they like the privacy, views, and location. The Main Line property is near preserved open space, the Schuylkill Expressway, and Philadelphia Country Club. Yakulis said the home is on a quiet street with plenty of space between neighbors.
The property has attracted people of various ages, including empty nesters who like the elevator and the guest suites that offer spaces for visiting children and grandchildren.
“I get the comment when people come through that it’s a happy house, and it’s true,” Yakulis said. “You walk in there and the light pours in, and you can just tell that it’s a happy house. It has a good vibe.”
The property was listed for sale in October.
A gate opens to the circular driveway in front of the home.
Despite frigid temperatures and the specter of the Philly area’s largest snowstorm in years, hundreds of language lovers and grammar nerds gathered in Bryn Mawr on Saturday for a screening of Rebel with a Clause, the hottest “road trip, grammar docu-comedy” on the indie movie circuit.
Rebel with a Clause follows language expert Ellen Jovin as she takes her makeshift “Grammar Table” on a journey across the United States, from Bozeman, Mont., to New York City (and everywhere in between). From behind the table, Jovin asks strangers to divulge their questions, comments, and concerns about the English language, from when it’s best to use a semicolon to how to properly punctuate “y’all.” What starts as an amusing grammarrefresher turns into a moving text on Americans’ shared humanity, even in polarizing times.
Ellen Jovin, subject of “Rebel with a Clause,” signs books at a screening at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute on Jan. 24, 2026.
Jovin, the movie’s star, has written four books on writing and grammar, including Rebel with a Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian, a reflection on her cross-country tour. The movie was directed and produced by Brandt Johnson, a writer and filmmaker who also happens to be Jovin’s husband.
Jovin and Johnson, who are based in New York,are on a second cross-country tour as the Rebel with a Clause movie graces audiences. The Bryn Mawr screening marked the film’s first public showing in the Philly area.
As he handed out optional grammar quizzes and grammar-themed chocolates in the Bryn Mawr Film Institute’s foyer, Johnson said the response to the movie has been “extraordinary.”
“Ellen’s Grammar Table that she started in 2018 was about grammar, for sure, but it turned out to be as much about human connection,” Johnson said.
“Just as a life experience, oh my gosh,” he added. “It’s been something that I certainly didn’t anticipate.”
“Rebel with a Clause” producer Brandt Johnson hands out grammar-themed chocolates to moviegoers at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute on Jan. 24, 2026.
Before the screening, attendees waited for their turn at the table, where Jovin was signing books and answering pressing questions about commas and ellipses.
Mary Alice Cullinan, 76, said she and her friends are fascinated by grammar and how it seems to be losing ground among younger generations.
Cullinan, who lives in Blue Bell, spent her career working in the restaurant industry but always read and wrote on the side.
“I read to live,” she added.
The Bryn Mawr Film Institute was packed with retired teachers, avid writers, and grammar aficionados who came armed with gripes about commas, parentheses, and quotation marks. At five minutes to showtime, an employee plastered a “SOLD OUT!” sign on the box office window.
A sign announcing that the Bryn Mawr Film Institute’s screening of “Rebel with a Clause” was sold out. The grammar-themed documentary played at the Main Line movie theater on Jan. 24, 2026.
Jen Tolnay, 63, a copy editor from Phoenixville, heard about the movie at an editors’ conference. She was so excited that she moved a haircut appointment to be there.
The 86-minute film provoked regular laughter in the audience (and a line about Philadelphians’ pronunciation of the wet substance that comes out of the sink got a particularly hearty laugh).
During a post-screening question-and-answer session, moviegoers complained about the poor grammar of sportscasters, praised Jovin and Johnson, and inquired about the colorful interactions Jovin had at the Grammar Table.
For Katie McGlade, 69, grammar is an art form.
The retired communications professional from Ardmore described herself as a habitual grammar corrector who would often fight with her editors about proper language usage. Now,as an artist, she makes colorful prints that center the adverb.
“I love that’s she’s bringing joy to the word,” McGlade said of Jovin. ”We need joy and laughter, and we need to communicate with each other.”
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.
Six-time Super Bowl champion head coach Bill Belichick didn’t get voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, according to a report from ESPN.
Citing four unidentified sources, ESPN reported Tuesday that Belichick didn’t receive the necessary 40 votes from the 50-person panel of media members and other Hall of Famers. ESPN said Belichick received a call from the Hall of Fame last Friday with the news.
The Hall of Fame declined to comment before its class of 2026 is announced at NFL Honors in San Francisco on Feb. 5.
The report of Belichick’s snub was met with significant criticism, including from Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who posted on social media: “Insane … don’t even understand how this could be possible.”
Belichick was hired by New England in 2000 and led the franchise to six Super Bowl wins and three other appearances in the title game during an 18-year span from 2001-18. Belichick’s 333 wins in the regular season and playoffs with New England and Cleveland are the second most to Don Shula’s 347. He won AP NFL Coach of the Year three times.
Belichick also was one of the game’s top defensive assistants before taking over in New England, winning two earlier Super Bowls as defensive coordinator for the New York Giants.
Belichick’s career did have blemishes. He was implicated in a sign-stealing scandal dubbed “Spygate” in the 2007 season and was fined $500,000 after the team was caught filming defensive signals from the New York Jets during a game.
Belichick’s tenure in New England ended following the 2023 season. He just finished his first year coaching in college at North Carolina.
Belichick was one of five finalists among coaches, contributors and senior players who last appeared in a game in 2000 or earlier. Patriots owner Robert Kraft was the contributor finalist, with Roger Craig, Ken Anderson and L.C. Greenwood the players.
Between one and three of those finalists will be inducted into the Hall along with between three and five modern-era players from a group of 15 finalists.
It’s well-known by now that the Union have a big reputation for player development, perhaps the best of any American soccer club at the moment.
So it shouldn’t be too surprising that a lot of people in that world would like to know how they’ve done it.
At the United Soccer Coaches convention earlier this month in Philadelphia, a presentation by Jon Scheer, the Union’s head of academy and professional development, drew a healthy crowd that hoped to learn the club’s secret sauce.
Scheer didn’t give up all the recipes, but he was happy to take the attendees into the kitchen.
Union director of academy and professional development Jon Scheer speaking at the United Soccer Coaches Convention in Philadelphia earlier this month.
He claimed that the Union “invests more in our academy than any MLS club in the country.” That hasn’t been independently confirmed for a few years, but there’s no question that the Union spend a lot.
Along with youth teams in many age groups, there’s a full-time high school, YSC Academy, across the parking lot from the training facilities in Chester. Those facilities were expanded significantly last year, to much acclaim.
“The value of the young players being able to see the stadium every day, but also being able to look through the fence at the grass on Field One where the first team trains — they can feel it every single day,” Scheer said.
The Union’s training fields in Chester. The grass one on the left is where the first team trains.
There’s high tech all over the campus, from the “Striker Lab” that tracks a player’s kicking technique to a medical scanner called SonicBone that measures a person’s biological age.
“If they’re two years advanced [compared] to their peers and having success only because of their physique, that gives us information,” Scheer said. “Potential for our academy is more important than performance level.”
Scheer echoed a longtime Union talking point when he spoke of “looking for marginal gains that will allow us to have sustainable success in MLS.”
“We think that if we invest in data, we’re not going to have to try to outcompete and outspend the LAFCs, the Torontos, the Atlanta Uniteds of the world,” he said.
Those words did not prompt the kinds of boos from this crowd that they would have from the River End stands. But Scheer, who has become the public face of the front office with sporting director Ernst Tanner on administrative leave, isn’t ignorant of that, either. He’s a West Windsor, N.J., native who played and coached at the University of Delaware, and scouted for U.S. Soccer before joining the Union’s staff eight years ago.
Jon Scheer spoke for more than an hour about the inner workings of the Union’s academy.
Trophies count most for measuring the club, of course, but below that is another way to measure success. The Union now aren’t just viewed as the top American club for developing U.S. national team talent; they can put numbers behind it.
Last year, a total of 57 Union players and prospects were called up to U.S. youth national teams. That is easily the best of any MLS club, with the Los Angeles Galaxy second at 52 and the Chicago Fire third at 40. It’s also a long way past the league’s former standard-bearers, FC Dallas (32) and the New York Red Bulls (24).
“We want to use that as a recruitment tool for the next wave of kids to say if you come here, we’ll be able to push you on to a higher level — whether that be for the national team or beyond,” Scheer said.
“Ultimately, if we have a bunch of kids in youth national teams and nobody in the senior national team, then that’s good, but our goal is to get them into the senior squad,” he said.
Medford native Brenden Aaronson (11) is the best example of a Union product who has made it big on the world stage. Aaronson plays for Leeds United in the English Premier League and the U.S. national team.
‘Everybody has a plan’
It’s also, of course, a goal to have them play for the Union. And yes, it’s another goal to sell players on to European clubs, ideally for big sums.
“If our goal was just for our academy teams to win [youth tournament] championships, that would shape how we would build our rosters week after week,” Scheer said. “But [we’re] knowing that we need to, for our strategy, develop players, place them in the first team, showcase them to the world, transition them on to bigger clubs, and then use those resources to reinvest.
“Not just in the academy, also into player scouting and recruitment for the first team.”
Scheer went deep on how the high school works. He talked about the philosophy of the place, the teachers, and how they educate kids on a combination of soccer and serious academics. Some of the graduates who haven’t turned pro have gone on to major colleges, including Ivy League ones.
He showed a slide with the students’ typical daily schedule, with blocks of training and blocks of classes. He also detailed the residency aspect, for which the Union bought a house in South Jersey not far from the Commodore Barry Bridge. Twelve players and two adults who oversee them now live there.
“About 80% of our academy is from the Greater Philadelphia region,” Scheer said. “We never see it becoming 50-50.”
Union forward prospect Sal Olivas is an example of a player who came to the team’s youth academy from afar — in his case El Paso, Texas.
Later in the presentation, he posted a detailed slide showing an example of an Individual Development Plan. The player on the slide happened to be 16-year-old striker Malik Jakupovic, the team’s second-most-hyped prospect right now after Cavan Sullivan.
“Yes, our top talents have a little bit more of an advanced plan, and a little bit more focus — of course, because that’s our goal, to push players into the first team,” Scheer said. “But everybody has a plan, and this is something we’re trying to improve.”
He talked about Sullivan, too, after an audience member asked.
“At the end of the day, Cavan has to do well here in order to play, in order to maximize his opportunity to try to play in the Premier League for Manchester City, and that’s what we all want,” Scheer said, a rare instance of the Union directly mentioning the future move.
“There’s things that we do, that we talk about, that they’ve taken; and there’s things that they do that selfishly we can take and maybe apply to our environment.”
Cavan Sullivan (left) in action for the Union last year.
And for as much as the Union “want to develop him individually really, really well,” Scheer also made a clear point about the present.
“Cavan’s got to focus on every day,” he said, “and be a good teammate, and be competitive, and play in a great way, to be playing in MLS.”
Some of the coaches in the room surely wanted insight on the Union’s tactics and playing style. Scheer gave it to them, with slide headlines like Active vs. Reactive, Forward First, and Synchronized Sprinting.
Another slide listed six key qualities for a prospect, aligned in a circle: Comfort On The Ball, Psychosocial Characteristics, Game Understanding & Decision Making, Ball Recovery, and Physical Qualities.
Then, over in the corner, there was another: Special Weapon. Scheer stopped there for a moment.
Jon Scheer’s slide detailing much-touted Union striker prospect Malik Jakupovic.
“We value a special skill set [with] talent that might be innate — something that differentiates a player from their peers,” he said. “We think that might give them a better chance to get them through the door of MLS.”
And if that one skill comes with deficiencies elsewhere?
“We’d rather invest time in that player, because that one characteristic is so unique, to then see how they develop in the other areas,” Scheer said. “And we approach our scouting overseas for our first team in the same way as well.”
‘There’s no magic pill’
Those words might have turned on a light in some Union fans’ heads, because they seemed to match the fates of Jack McGlynn and David Vazquez. Both are wonderfully skilled players, but their tenures in Chester were cut short for not ultimately fitting what the first team’s manager wanted.
The Union sold Jack McGlynn to Houston afer deciding he wasn’t going to be a long-term fit in their playing style.
“It doesn’t mean that special weapon is just going to guarantee playing time,” Scheer said. “But a lot of times we’ll interact with the first team manager, they’ll see the player, they’ll provide opinion on the player for years to come, and then they’ll work with the player.”
He added that the coaching staff and front office are doing their best “to try and maximize and make sure we’re aligned on the player pool. If things aren’t working, “it’s about just evaluating each individual and trying to make the best decision.”
At every level of the Union, there’s a balance to strike between the system and the individual. It’s Scheer’s job to find it every day.
“You don’t want the individual to feel like they’re always dispensable, and it’s only the game model that’s valuable,” he said. “You also want players that have personality and that can make mistakes. If we’re going to play forward first, you have to be brave in order to be able to do that.”
Malik Jakupovic has been training with the Union’s first team during this preseason.
The same goes for coaches.
“If we’re screaming at our kids every session and game, or we’re always being deliberate and explicit in terms of the information we give them, that is going to stifle creativity and decision-making, that will affect development,” Scheer said.
“So how we go about teaching, how we go about running our sessions, how we can carry ourselves on the sideline, how we educate ourselves in the ages and stages of development, that’s really, really important.”
He concluded his point on a philosophical note, one that might make sense well beyond soccer.
“There’s no magic pill,” he said. “There’s no magic answer.”
