Sen. John Fetterman on Tuesday urged President Donald Trump “to immediately fire” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after federal agents killed two citizens in Minneapolis this month during an immigration enforcement operation.
“Americans have died,” Fetterman (D., Pa.) said in a statement. “She is betraying DHS’s core mission and trashing your border security legacy.”
The senator’s call for Noem’s firing comes after federal agents killed two Americans during the Minneapolis operation. On Saturday, a Border Patrol agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse at a VA hospital. An ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old poet and mother, on Jan. 7.
Fetterman referenced Noem’s predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, who served under former President Joe Biden and faced impeachment by the Republican-led House in 2024 amid a backlash over increased border crossings under Biden.
Sen. Andy Kim (D., N.J.), who also voted for Noem, joined the growing chorus of Democrats calling for Noem to step down on Tuesday. The South Jersey lawmaker has previously called the vote a mistake.
Fetterman’s plea to fire Noem comes a day after he called for the withdrawal of federal agents from Minneapolis. And it comes as the U.S. Senate is poised to vote this week on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both ICE and the Border Patrol.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats would vote against it, which could trigger a partial federal government shutdown.
About 150 protesters gathered outside Fetterman’s office in Philadelphia in the snow on Tuesday to urge him to join the effort, but the senator said on Monday that he will never vote to shut down the government. He also argued that doing so would not pull the $178 billion dedicated to DHS through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he did not support.
“I would like him to listen and actually represent us, because that’s his job,” said James Pierson, 42, an Exton resident attending the demonstration.
Fetterman suggested pulling the DHS bill from the package of bills under consideration by the Senate this week rather than another shutdown vote.
“I reject the calls to defund or abolish ICE,” he said. “I strongly disagree with many strategies and practices ICE deployed in Minneapolis, and believe that must change.”
Temple’s hopes of beating Charlotte on Saturday seemed lost in the third quarter’s closing seconds. The Owls were trailing by 26 points, and they looked far from the team that had beaten South Florida just four days earlier.
But something changed. A technical foul against Charlotte guard Princess Anderson with 17 seconds left in the third quarter seemed to be the catalyst of the Owls finding some momentum.
Temple coach Diane Richardson found a lineup that worked and stuck with it through the final frame as the Owls mounted a furious comeback. They chipped away at the 49ers’ lead and were within one possession in the final three minutes. Temple took its first, and only, lead with three seconds remaining, when guard Tristen Taylor made two free throws to put her team up, 83-82.
Charlotte’s halfcourt heave at the buzzer fell short, giving Temple (9-10, 3-4 American Conference) a spot in history. The Owls’ 26-point comeback was the largest in program history and tied for third-largest in NCAA women’s basketball history.
“It showed the resilience we had; it showed we weren’t giving up,” Richardson said. “They just rallied together, not looking at the score, and executed. I’m really proud of them.”
The Owls also showed resilience in their previous game against South Florida on Jan. 20, when they overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to snap a three-game skid.
Aside from a much larger deficit vs. Charlotte, Temple looked disengaged on defense and was getting outworked for rebounds. The energy that helped push the Owls past South Florida was nonexistent for 30 minutes on Saturday — until their fourth-quarter lineup took the court.
Richardson played Taylor, guards Kaylah Turner, Savannah Curry, and forward Saniyah Craig for all 10 minutes and forward Felicia Jacobs for nine minutes. Those five ignited spark the Owls’ comeback.
Jacobs and Curry came off the bench and made an impact, which Richardson has been wanting to see in conference play. Jacobs recorded three rebounds and was a team-best plus-23 in her minutes, while Curry made two three-pointers.
“That’s why you saw subs,” Richardson said. “The people on the bench have to fight for minutes and they’ve got to show some kind of impact when they get in there to prove they are worthy of the minutes. They’ve been doing that all week.”
While Jacobs and Curry made an impact, the comeback was powered by Taylor, who had the best game of her career.
Taylor was playing well before the fourth quarter. She had 15 points and three assists through 30 minutes, but she took her game to another level in the final 10 minutes.
Temple’s Tristen Taylor made the game-winning free throw against Charlotte on Saturday.
Taylor poured in 17 points and made all six of her field-goal attempts, three of which were three-pointers. She also assisted on three of the other four made baskets in the quarter. When Temple needed her most, Taylor stepped up in the final minutes.
She scored the Owls’ final 10 points and made the biggest play of the game to set herself up for the go-ahead free throws. Turner missed a jump shot, but Taylor soared in for the offensive rebound and was fouled on her putback attempt. Taylor made both free throws to close out Charlotte and finished with a career-high 32 points on 10-for-13 shooting from the field.
“I think I went 50% from the free-throw line last game,” Taylor said. “I’ve been in the gym shooting free throws a lot this week, and I feel like when I stepped up there, I didn’t have any nerves just from practicing and being confident all week.”
Despite winning, the Owls failed to play a complete game through four quarters, and it nearly cost them against Charlotte. Next up, Temple has a road test on Wednesday night (8 p.m., ESPN+) against first-place Rice (17-3, 9-0).
Richardson knows her team can’t wait until the fourth quarter to play.
“They’re playing really great basketball, but I think we’re playing good basketball right now, too,” Richardson said. “So we’ve got to go in there on their home court, and we’ve got to play Temple basketball from the top to the finish.”
The federal commission seeking personal contact information for faculty and staff at the University of Pennsylvania has accused the school of engaging in an “intensive and relentless public relations campaign” to avoid complying with the subpoena.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in a court filing Monday, defended its subpoena seeking potential witnesses and victims of antisemitism at the university and said therequest is not unusual forsuch investigations. The commission is seekingemployees’ names, home addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses to further an investigation it began in 2023 over the school’s treatment of Jewish faculty and other employees regarding antisemitism complaints following Hamas’ attack on Israel.
The commission’s request has spurred a backlash from student and faculty groups, including Penn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the Penn Faculty Alliance to Combat Antisemitism, arguing that the information should not be turned over. Penn has refused to provide the information, prompting the EEOC to file the lawsuit in November.
Penn’s response to the lawsuit, along with filings by other groups,“forecast highly speculative and deeply nefarious outcomes should the EEOC’s subpoena be enforced,” the commission said. “This dark prognosticating has been predictably (and immediately) reported in national, local, and campus outlets.”
The university, in a filing earlier this month, said the commission’s request was “disconcerting” and “unnecessary” and could pose a threat to employees.
“The EEOC insists that Penn produce this information without the consent — and indeed, over the objections — of the employees impacted while entirely disregarding the frightening and well-documented history of governmental entities that undertook efforts to identify and assemble information regarding persons of Jewish ancestry,” the university wrote in its filing.
The commission argued in response that Penn’s assertion of potential danger to employees is “untethered from both the law and the reality of these proceedings.”
“The EEOC seeks only to investigate allegations of serious, widespread antisemitic harassment in Respondent’s workplace,” the commission argued.
The commission, the group said, is only seeking information on faculty and staff “who complained of antisemitic harassment, who belonged to Jewish affinity organizations, or who worked in the Jewish Studies Program.” They could have knowledge of potential problems, the commission said.
Penn can provide the contact information without listing the employees’ organizational affiliations, the commission said.
Penn did not immediately comment on the latest EEOC filing.
Penn has said it provided over 900 pages of materials to the commission and offered to send notices to all employees about the EEOC’s request to hear of antisemitism concerns with the commission’s contact information, so they could reach out themselves if interested in participating.
But the commission called that offer “unworkable” and said it “would undermine the integrity of the agency’s investigation.”
“Messages from EEOC to employees filtered through an employer always risk creating confusion, fear, and mistrust among recipients,” the commission said.
That path could increase the possibility of retaliation against employees for cooperating with the investigation, the commission argued.
The university has challenged the validity of the EEOC’s charge, asserting that the commission has not identified a “single allegedly unlawful employment practice or incident involving employees.” It also “does not refer to any employee complaint the agency has received, any allegation made by or concerning employees, or any specific workplace incident(s) contemplated by the EEOC,” the university said.
While EEOC complaints typically come from those who allege they were aggrieved, this one was launched by EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas, now chair of the body, on Dec. 8, 2023, two months after Hamas’ attack on Israel that led to unrest on college campuses, including Penn’s, and charges of antisemitism. It was also just three days after Penn’s then-president, Liz Magill, had testified before a Republican-led congressional committee on the school’s handling of antisemitism complaints; the testimony drew a bipartisan backlash and led to Magill’s resignation days later.
Lucas, according to the EEOC complaint, made the charge in Penn’s case because of “probable reluctance of Jewish faculty and staff to complain of harassing environment due to fear of hostility and potential violence directed against them.“
The commission in its filing Monday said its practice is within itsregulations.
“This charge alleges a time frame, an unlawful employment practice (hostile work environment), the individuals potentially affected by that alleged unlawful employment practice (Jewish employees), and the publicly available sources,” the commission said.
The commission also criticized Penn’s concerns about potential leaks of employees’ contact information through the EEOC, noting the data breach that occurred at Penn last year, exposing employees’ information.
“Its concerns about the security of EEOC’s IT systems are disingenuous,” the commission said.
In the month since Philadelphia Councilmember Jeffery Young introduced a bill banning residential development around the former Hahnemann University Hospital, 824 apartments have been permitted in the area.
The latest zoning permits include 163 units at 1501-11 Race St., which were issued Monday. Brandywine Realty Trust purchased the former Bellet Building office tower in 2021 for $9.7 million.
Brandywine did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is not clear whether Brandywine is seeking to develop the apartments or to just secure permits to preserve the option for a future buyer.
Last week, zoning permits were issued for 300 units at 300-304 N. Broad St., known as Martinelli Park, the last piece of the former Hahnemann Hospital site that has yet to be sold. The last bid for the site came from the HOW Group, which offered $5.5 million and planned multifamily housing there. But the sale did not go through.
Attempts to reach Hahnemann’s representatives were unsuccessful. It is likely the permits are being secured to preserve the property’s value.
A City Council Rules Committee hearing on Young’s bill is scheduled for Feb. 3.
The rush for permits began on Dec. 24, two weeks after Young introduced his bill, when the Dwight City Group received a zoning permit for 222-48 N. Broad St. to builda 361-unit apartment building.
When “an overlay is placed like this … even though we have our zoning permit already from one of the buildings, the message that it sends is that this area is closed for business,” Judah Angster, CEO of Dwight City Group, said at a January meeting of the Philadelphia Planning Commission.
He said the project now includes 90,000 square feet for commercial use, which would be dedicated to local small businesses.
Why does Young want to ban housing?
Young’s bill would create a new zoning overlay covering the area “bounded by the north side of Race Street, the east side of North 16th Street, the south side of Callowhill Street, and the west side of North Broad Street.”
This covers the former Hahnemann campus, which included seven medical buildings, a parking garage, and some surface lots. The hospital dated to the 19th century and had been operating from this location for 90 years before its bankruptcy.
A handful of other buildings are in the proposed overlay as well, including a PHA apartment building and a homeless shelter.
What once was the Hahnemann campus sprawls over nearly six acres, centered on Broad Street along the Vine Street Expressway, comprising seven medical buildings, a parking garage, and surface lots.
Young said that he wanted to ban new homes from the site to preserve job opportunities in the city, hopefully prompting the reuse of the site for office, medical, or educational use.
At the Planning Commission meeting, the bill was largely discussed as Young’s effort to force developers to meet with him over their plans. The Hahnemann site is zoned with Philadelphia’s most flexible land use rules, which means that under normal circumstances, residential conversions would not require neighborhood meetings or political approvals.
“I look forward to continuing dialogue that brings community stakeholders to the table for this important section of Center City,” Young said in an email Tuesday.
Dwight Group has said that it is having productive conversations with Young.
The legislation is considered by some legal experts as a blatant use of spot zoning, when a change in land use rules is targeted to a limited geography. Such legislation is often introduced to help or hurt a particular project.
“In my time as a zoning lawyer for 27 years, I don’t think I’ve seen a greater example of illegal spot zoning,” Matt McClure, head of law firm Ballard Spahr’s land use practice and a lawyer for developer Dwight City, said the January meeting. “It is targeted at a particular property, targeted around a certain transaction that was talked about. It’s just illegal.”
Hahnemann University Hospital has been closed for more than six years, and attempts to preserve medical and educational uses in its former buildings so far have faltered. Most are still vacant.
Is this actually an honest-to-goodness turning point in the war for the soul of America? Monday night, the deny-everything-admit-nothing Trump regime surprised observers by revealing that violence-provoking Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino has been sent home from Minneapolis and may even be retiring. That’s a giant win for the power of everyday people resisting, but turning around the battleship of tyranny will still take much more work.
Corporate America may pay a steep price for its cowardly ICE neutrality
Protesters gather Friday at Target’s corporate headquarters in Minneapolis.
One of the many remarkable and lasting ideas the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. placed into the national conversation was the concept of something he called “negative peace.”
Although the phrase began appearing in the writings of the civil rights leader in the late 1950s, King made the idea famous in his 1963 “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” where he was locked up for fighting segregation in Alabama’s largest city. He was annoyed by a letter from eight local white clergymen, titled a “Call for Unity,” that begged King to end a civil disobedience crusade for racial integration and seek progress through negotiations and the courts.
When an aide smuggled the newspaper into King’s cell, he began furiously scribbling his response in the margins of the ad before writing more on any scrap of paper he could find. His key passage argues that the white moderate was a greater threat to Black freedom than the KKK, because he was someone “more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice,” and who wants African Americans to wait for a “more convenient season.”
Flash-forward 63 years, and the grand pooh-bahs of U.S. capitalism have learned nothing from this. On Sunday, 60 major corporations based in Minnesota — feeling caught in the crossfire of the federal immigration raids tearing apart Greater Minneapolis and the growing resistance movement — issued a cowardly and pathetic call for a negative peace to reduce the tensions.
The open letter that was released through the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce was signed by the CEOs or equivalents of almost every major Gopher State brand that you could think of — including Target, 3M, General Mills, Hormel, UnitedHealth (yes, that UnitedHealth), and all five major sports franchises. Some of these firms are beginning to see real economic fallout from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and protest activities, which have kept some frightened Black and brown workers at home and triggered a large general strike last Friday.
The letter reads little differently from the Birmingham ministers’ “Call for Unity.”
“With yesterday’s tragic news” — a vague, bloodless reference to the 10 shots fired by federal officers into a 37-year-old intensive care nurse named Alex Pretti — “we are calling for an immediate deescalation of tensions and for state, local and federal officials to work together to find real solutions,” the letter states. It notes that Minnesota business leaders have been in touch with Gov. Tim Walz, the Donald Trump White House, and others in pleading for what it hopes would be a solution to the state’s crisis.
Pretti is never mentioned in the letter. Neither is Renee Nicole Good, the 37-year-old mother of three who was gunned down behind the wheel of her family SUV by an ICE agent as she attempted to drive away from a confrontation. In fact, ICE is never mentioned, nor are the federal agency’s most outrageous tactics, such as the seizure of a 5-year-old boy as “bait” to detain him and his father, or dragging a barely dressed Hmong refugee who is a U.S. citizen out of his home in frigid weather.
The entire letter is remarkable not for what it says — since it says very little beyond praying this whole mess somehow goes away so they can go back to making money without thinking about such dreadful things — than for what it doesn’t say.
There is no condemnation of the murders of two U.S. citizens who did nothing beyond legally monitoring the federal officers and their activities while on public streets. There is no condemnation of the ICE tactics in seizing hardworking migrants with no criminal records who are the backbone of the Minnesota community. There is nothing about what MLK would have called “positive peace” — a desire for real justice.
That’s probably because positive peace requires bold choices and displays of real courage — qualities that modern corporate America seems to have misplaced in a giant warehouse somewhere.
Exhibit A would have to be Target, the large national retailer that, with its hundreds of stores and its name slapped on the NBA’s Timberwolves’ arena, is now to many Americans the corporate face of Minnesota. Under pressure from demonstrators, including more than 100 clergy who protested outside Target’s Minneapolis headquarters on Friday, the retailer still said nothing — before the tepid group letter — about the ongoing ICE raids, or why agents have been allowed to stage operations in its parking lots and even inside stores.
There’s a bleak history here. In 2020, Minnesota became the epicenter of the fight for racial justice when the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd was captured on video. That time, the state’s CEOs not only expressed moral outrage but pledged to spend heavily on diversity initiatives. Five years later, the local news site Racket reported many of these firms had backtracked, and that barely a third of the pledged $550 million had been spent.
This time, the business leaders just want the “tension” to disappear. That’s not so easy. Just ask Target. Its early 2025 move to end its diversity initiatives as Trump took office sparked calls from Black leaders for a boycott that has cut into store traffic and lowered Target’s stock price. It seems that moral surrender actually does have a price.
Also on Sunday, the team chaplain for the Timberwolves — ironically, one of the teams that signed onto the corporate letter — issued a personal statement with loud echoes of the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” calling out any churches that had prayed that morning for peace and unity but not for justice.
“Peace is what the powerful ask for when they don’t want to be interrupted,” Matt Moberg wrote in a short piece that went viral on social media, adding, “Unity that refuses to name violence is just loyalty to the ones holding the weapons.”
This wouldn’t be the first time corporate America misread the room. Sunday’s statement suggested a continued deer-in-the-headlights reaction from the shock of Trump’s return to office — even as the CEOs ignore not just the power of the Target boycotts but the recent success of economic justice campaigns against firms from Disney to Avelo Airlines, not to mention the solidarity that drove the Minneapolis general strike.
Already, there is growing talk of a national general strike or expanded boycotts by millions of citizens who are also consumers, and who are both furious over the Good and Pretti murders and now flabbergasted by the corporate cone of silence. America’s business leaders don’t understand that cowardice has a steep cost attached.
Yo, do this!
There’s no better writer about the long fight for social justice in America than historian Heather Ann Thompson. Her searing 2016 book about the 1971 Attica prison uprising — Blood in the Water — won a well-deserved Pulitzer Prize, and locals were thrilled when it was reported that the next book from Thompson, who taught for a while at Temple, would be on the 1985 MOVE bombing. Instead, she has taken a detour. Her Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage is out today. I just downloaded the audiobook, and cannot wait to listen.
It’s Academy Award season, and so — hopelessly snowed in on Sunday — I took a family break from football (!) to rent a movie … from 2009. Given my obsession with 1960s rock and roll radio, it’s weird that I’d never seen Pirate Radio, a fictional homage to the U.K.’s government-defying offshore radio stations of the British Invasion era that stars the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. The plot can be muddled at times, but it’s maybe the best movie soundtrack ever!
Ask me anything
Question: Why do Dem Leaders want to save ICE, when nobody really else does? What’s the motivation? — @keynesaddiction.bsky.social via Bluesky
Answer: I wonder this, too. Both ICE and the current crew at U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been simmering for far too long in a toxic, unredeemable culture that cannot be reformed. What’s more, the shocking abuses on display in Minnesota and two killings have now convinced a plurality of U.S. voters that ICE should be abolished. Still, I can understand the Democrats’ bind, since at the moment the party has no other political leverage beyond the ability to block most Senate legislation with the filibuster. It might be best to push hard for as much as can be done in 2026, while running in the midterms on a platform of abolishing ICE when they gain power on Capitol Hill.
What you’re saying about …
LOL — remember that whole Greenland thing? It feels like that was five years ago, but some of you had some good responses on dealing with Trump’s bluster about an American takeover, even if things have temporarily cooled down. Tom Desmond said the Europeans “need to quit pretending that they can ‘manage’ him through flattery and soft words. Instead, they need to apply threats — i.e., whatever tariffs he imposes on Europe over Greenland they will return against the U.S. three-fold.” Jo Parker said Congress needs to reassert its powers over tariffs and declaring war, but “With the spineless [Dave] McCormick and [John] Fetterman representing us, I’m not sanguine that such actions will take place, however.”
📮 This week’s question: Things are coming to a head in Congress over funding for ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Should Democrats make a deal for ICE reforms, such as unmasking and requiring arrest warrants, or must they push for bigger concessions, or even abolishing ICE? Please email me your answer and put the exact phrase “ICE funding” in the subject line.
Backstory on the day (a) Fetterman spoke out
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, await the arrival of President Joe Biden at Philadelphia International Airport in July 2024.
I must confess that keeping up with the downward spiral of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Sen. John Fetterman since he took office in 2023 can get tiresome. At first, Fetterman’s rightward tack seemed largely a function of his zealous support for Israel, which caused him to wave off allegations of war crimes by Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government. Soon, others pointed to his health woes — hospitalizations for a stroke and depression, among other things — as he endorsed more and more Trump-flavored ideas.
Amid mounting outrage over Trump’s aggressive immigration raids, Fetterman made some comments that had his growing legion of critics wonder if the senator’s real heart issue was whether he had one. “ICE performs an important job for our country,” the Democrat posted on X last July, adding that any calls to abolish the agency were “inappropriate and outrageous.” Even after the Jan. 7 ICE killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, Fetterman’s middle-of-the-road stance was this: “Secure the border. Deport all the criminals. Stop targeting the hardworking migrants in our nation.” In the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents, even Pennsylvania’s GOP Sen. Dave McCormick had called for a congressional investigation before Fetterman said anything.
On Sunday night, though, Fetterman issued a heartfelt and moving statement. Well, a Fetterman did.
“For more than a decade, I lived undocumented in the US,” the senator’s wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, a native of Brazil, posted on X. “Every day carried the same uncertainty and fear lived in my body — a tight chest, shallow breaths, racing heart. What I thought was my private, chronic dread has now become a shared national wound. This now-daily violence is not ‘law and order.’ It is terror inflicted on people who contribute, love, and build their lives here. It’s devastatingly cruel and unAmerican.” Her post ended with an emoji of a broken heart.
Sen. Fetterman finally issued a statement nearly a day later. He called for “an immediate end” to the ICE operations in Minnesota, adding, “It has become an ungovernable and dangerous urban theatre for civilians and law enforcement that is incompatible with the American spirit.” But Fetterman still disappointed critics of Trump’s immigration policy, insisting that while he wants ICE reforms, he still supports the embattled agency, and won’t join other Democrats in shutting down the federal government if those reforms aren’t happening.
Pennsylvanians thought they were getting a progressive voice and a moral leader when they elected Fetterman in 2022. It feels now like we elected the wrong Fetterman.
What I wrote on this date in 2010
It was only 16 years ago, but at the dawn of the 2010s, there was still a robust conversation about how to save the traditional journalism outlets— especially newspapers — that had flourished in the 20th century. On Jan. 27, 2010, I criticized an idea coming from Apple that a new kind of $1,000 iPad, nicknamed “the Jesus tablet,” would fix everything. I wrote: “To survive, we need to change our whole worldview — finding ways to encourage more dialogue with readers and more community involvement so that local readers feel they have a stake in this thing. And we also need to do a better job at the thing we claim to be already good at — real journalism that makes a difference.”
On the national beat, there’s no bigger story than the fallout from the inhumanity of the Trump regime’s mass deportation policies. In my Sunday column, I looked at the other way people are dying in ICE’s reign of terror: inside the growing network of squalid and overcrowded jails and detention camps. The death rate in these facilities so far in 2026 is already 10 times higher than it was in the last year of the Biden administration. Over the weekend, I quickly shifted gears and turned a planned column about faith leaders in Minneapolis and an America yearning for morality into a lament over the shocking ICE murder of a 37-year-old observer, Alex Pretti. The contrast between good and evil in America has never been more stark.
The many tentacles of the mass deportation story stretch well beyond Minneapolis and other hot spots like Maine, including stepped-up ICE enforcement activity here in Philadelphia since Trump returned to office. The Inquirer’s veteran immigration reporter, Jeff Gammage, has drilled deeply into the human stories on the front lines here. Written with colleague Michelle Myers, this week’s installment was both poignant and infuriating. A local family of four is returning to Bolivia after the dad — the prime caregiver for his 5-year-old son, being treated at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for brain cancer — has stopped fighting his deportation after five months in ICE detention. As his family prepares to leave, the child’s future in a South American country with substandard medical care is highly uncertain. Old-school beat reporting like this is what local community journalism is all about. You support this vital work when you subscribe to The Inquirer.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
Milton Williams, Jason Peters, and more Philly connections to Super Bowl LX
While the Eagles’ playoff run has long concluded, Philadelphians may notice a number of familiar faces on each team competing on Super Bowl Sunday.
From former Eagles players and coaches to Philly-area natives, both teams feature local connections. Here are the names and faces that may ring a bell when they pop up on TV …
New England Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins (13) celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Seahawks cornerback Josh Jobe
Eagles cornerback Josh Jobe stops New York Giants tight end Darren Waller at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on Sunday, January 7, 2024.
Josh Jobe spent two seasons with the Eagles from 2022 to 2023 and appeared in 28 games, primarily on special teams. The 2022 undrafted free agent out of Alabama served as a depth cornerback behind Darius Slay and James Bradberry.
He got buried on the Eagles depth chart and was released at the end of training camp in 2024. Jobe, now 27, signed with the Seahawks two days later and earned a starting job this season in Mike Macdonald’s defense.
Seattle Seahawks cornerback Josh Jobe, left, celebrates after stopping a pass intended for Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Katie Chin)
Seahawks long snapper Chris Stoll
Penn State place kicker Jordan Stout (98) celebrates with Chris Stoll (91) after kicking a 50-yard field goal in the fourth quarter of their NCAA college football game in State College, Pa., on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021. Penn State defeated Indiana 24-0. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)
Chris Stoll (left) spent six years at Penn State from 2017 to 2022 and played in 48 games. In 2022, he won the Patrick Mannelly Award, given to the nation’s top long snapper. Stoll signed with Seattle as an undrafted free agent in 2023.
Seahawks assistant head coach Leslie Frazier
Seattle Seahawks assistant head coach Leslie Frazier looks on after practice during the NFL football team’s training camp Saturday, July 26, 2025, in Renton, Wash.
Leslie Frazier has been the Seahawks’ assistant head coach since 2024, serving as a mentor to first-time coach Mike Macdonald. Frazier, 66, was the head coach of the Vikings from 2010 to 2013 and has had multiple defensive coordinator jobs.
But the veteran coach got his NFL coaching start with the Eagles as the defensive backs coach from 1999 to 2002 under defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. Among the players Frazier coached with the Eagles were Brian Dawkins and Troy Vincent.
Cincinnati Bengals’ new defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, former defensive backs coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, answers questions during a news conference Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2003, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/David Kohl)
Seahawks running game specialist Justin Outten
Seattle Seahawks run game specialist/assistant offensive line coach Justin Outten walks the sideline before an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. The Seahawks defeated the Jaguars 20-12.
Justin Outten, 42, is in his first year as the Seahawks’ running game specialist and assistant offensive line coach. He hails from Doylestown and graduated in 2002 from Central Bucks West, where he won a state championship as a sophomore.
Seahawks ‘veteran mentor’ Jason Peters
Former Eagles and current Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Jason Peters meets with Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox during warm ups before the Eagles play the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field in Seattle on Monday, December 18, 2023.
Jason Peters, the two-time All-Pro Eagles left tackle, was hired by the Seahawks front office last offseason to serve in what the organization called a “veteran mentor” role after a 19-year NFL playing career.
Peters was the oldest active NFL player (41) when he signed to Seattle’s practice squad in 2023. He was promoted to the active roster in November, and the following season, he re-signed to the practice squad to cap off his playing career. Peters spent 11 years with the Eagles (2009-2020), earning a Super Bowl ring in 2018.
Eagles offensive guard Jason Peters (left) talks to Eagles offensive tackle Jordan Mailata (right) at the Philadelphia Eagles football practice at the NovaCare Complex in Philadelphia, Pa. on September 17, 2020. The Eagles are preparing to play the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
Patriots defensive tackle Milton Williams
Milton Williams, (93), Defensive tackle, speaks to press after practice at the Novacare Complex in Philadelphia, Pa., on Tuesday, July 30, 2024.
Milton Williams spent the first four years of his career with the Eagles, the team that drafted him out of Louisiana Tech in 2021. He had a breakout year in 2024, amassing a career-best five sacks and starring in the Birds’ Super Bowl win.
He signed a four-year, $104 million contract with the Patriots in free agency, making him the second-highest-paid interior defensive lineman on an average annual basis ($26 million per year). Williams, 26, missed five games late this season with an ankle injury, but returned in time for the playoffs and has made his mark.
New England Patriots defensive end Milton Williams (97), linebacker Christian Elliss (53) and linebacker Robert Spillane (14) celebrate Williams’ sack of Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (10) in the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins
Eagles wide receiver Mack Hollins stretches on the turf at Lambeau Field during warmups prior to the game against the Packers on Thursday September 26, 2019.
Mack Hollins also began his career with the Eagles, selected in the fourth round of the 2017 draft out of North Carolina. He was a member of the Eagles team that beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl that season.
Since that year, the 32-year-old Hollins has been a member of four teams and joined the Patriots on a two-year deal this season. Hollins, who came off injured reserve to lead New England with 52 yards in the AFC championship, had 550 yards and two touchdowns in 2025, the second-best receiving total of his career.
New England Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins, top, catches a pass over Buffalo Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White (27) during the first half of an NFL football game in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss
Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Noah Elliss celebrates after tackling Cleveland Browns running back Demetric Felton Jr. in an NFL preseason football game against the Browns at Lincoln Financial Field, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023, in Philadelphia.
Christian Elliss spent nearly three seasons with the Eagles from 2021 to 2023. He served in a depth role, even in 2023 on a struggling defense under Sean Desai, and he appeared in 19 total games, primarily on special teams.
The Eagles waived Elliss in December 2023 after signing Shaquille Leonard, and the Patriots claimed him. Elliss, 27, started 13 games this season (and played 15 games total) and ranked second on the Patriots with 94 tackles.
New England Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss celebrates after recovering a fumble by Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert in the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore
New England Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore (90) during an NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass.
Christian Barmore grew up in Philly, starting in high school at Lincoln before transferring to Neumann Goretti. The 26-year-old was the Patriots’ second-round pick in 2021 and became a full-time starter this season, recording two sacks.
Patriots offensive tackle Caedan Wallace
New England Patriots offensive tackle Caedan Wallace (70) reacts after defeating the New York Giants in an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass.
Caedan Wallace hails from Robbinsville, N.J., and won three straight prep state championships at the Hun School. Wallace, 25, played for Penn State and in 2024 was drafted by New England, where he has served in a depth role.
Philadelphia lawmakers are set to consider legislation that would make it harder for ICE to operate in the city, including limiting information sharing, restricting activity on city-owned property, and prohibiting agents from concealing their identities.
Among the package of bills set to be introduced Thursday is an ordinance that effectively makes permanent Philadelphia’s status as a so-called “sanctuary city” by barring city officials from holding undocumented immigrants at ICE’s request without a court order. Another bans discrimination based on immigration status.
Two City Council members are expected to introduce the legislation as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is facing mounting national scrutiny over its tactics in Minneapolis, where federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens this month.
Councilmembers Rue Landau, a Democrat, and Kendra Brooks, of the progressive Working Families Party, said in an interview that the violence in Minneapolis hardened their resolve to introduce legislation to protect a population that includes an estimated 76,000 undocumented immigrants in Philadelphia.
“It’s been very disheartening and frightening to watch ICE act with such lawlessness,” Landau said. “When they rise to the level of killing innocent civilians, unprecedented murders … this is absolutely the time to stand up and act.”
The package of a half-dozen bills is the most significant legislative effort that Council has undertaken to strengthen protections for immigrants since President Donald Trump took office last year on a promise to carry out a mass deportation campaign nationwide.
Left: City Councilmember Rue Landau. Right: City Councilmember Kendra Brooks. Landau and Brooks are introducing legislation this week to make it harder for ICE to operate in Philadelphia, including by limiting city cooperation with the agency.
ICE spokespeople did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Jasmine Rivera, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, said it’s not the job nor the jurisdiction of the city to enforce federal law.
The goal of the legislation, Rivera said, is ensuring that “not a single dime and single second of our local resources is being spent collaborating with agencies that are executing people.”
Now, the mayor could be forced to take a side. If City Council passes Landau and Brooks’ legislation this spring, Parker could either sign the bills into law, veto them, or take no action and allow them to lapse into law without her signature. She has never vetoed a bill.
Joe Grace, a spokesperson for Parker, declined to comment on the legislation.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker speaks at a news conference earlier this month. It is unclear how she will act on upcoming legislation related to ICE operations in Philadelphia.
It’s unclear what fate the ICE legislation could meet in Council. The 17-member body has just one Republican, but Parker holds influence with many of the Democrats in the chamber.
City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, a Democrat who controls the flow of legislation, has not taken a position on the package proposed by Landau and Brooks.
But he said in a statement that “Philadelphia has long positioned itself as a welcoming city that values the contributions of immigrants and strives to protect their rights and safety.”
“I have deep concerns about federal ICE actions directed by President Donald Trump’s administration that sow fear and anxiety in immigrant communities,” Johnson said, “underscoring the belief that enforcement practices should be lawful, humane, and not undermine trust in public safety.”
Making sanctuary status the law
Border Patrol and ICE are both federal immigration agencies, which are legally allowed to operate in public places and subject to federal rules and regulations. Some cities and states —not including Pennsylvania and New Jersey — actively cooperate with ICE through written agreements.
Since 2016, Philadelphia has operated under an executive order signed by former Mayor Jim Kenney, which prohibits city jails from honoring ICE “detainer requests,” in which federal agents ask the city to hold undocumented immigrants in jail for longer than they would have otherwise been in custody to facilitate their arrest by federal authorities.
Undocumented immigrants are not shielded from federal immigration enforcement, nor from being arrested and charged by local police for local offenses.
Some refer to the noncooperation arrangement as “sanctuary.” As the term “sanctuary cities” has become politically toxic, some local officials — including in Philadelphia — have backed away from it, instead declaring their jurisdictions to be “welcoming cities.”
Parker administration officials have said several times over the last year that Philadelphia remains a “welcoming city.”
Protesters march up Eighth Street, toward the immigration offices, during the Philly stands with Minneapolis Ice Out For Good protest at Philadelphia’s City Hall on Jan. 23.
But advocates for immigrants have said they want an ironclad city policy that can’t be rescinded by a mayor.
Landau and Brooks’ legislation would be that, codifying the executive order into law and adding new prohibitions on information sharing. The package includes legislation to:
Strengthen restrictions on city workers, including banning local police from carrying out federal immigration enforcement and prohibiting city workers from assisting in enforcement operations.
Prohibiting law enforcement officers from concealing their identities, including by wearing masks or covering up badges with identifying information.
Banning ICE from staging raids on city-owned property and designated community spaces such as schools, parks, libraries, and homeless shelters. (It would not apply to the Criminal Justice Center, where ICE has had a presence. The courthouse is overseen by both city and state agencies.)
Prohibiting city agencies and contractors from providing ICE access to data sets to assist in immigration enforcement.
Restricting city employees from inquiring about individuals’ immigration status unless required by a court order, or state or federal law.
Peter Pedemonti, co-director of New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, an advocacy organization that partnered with the Council members to craft the package of bills, compared ICE to an octopus that has multiple arms reaching into different facets of American life.
The proposed legislation, he said, is a means to bind a few of those arms.
“The whole world can see the violence and brutality,” Pedemonti said. “This is a moment where all of us need to stand up, and Philadelphia can stand up and speak out loud and clear that we don’t want ICE here to pull our families apart, the families that make Philadelphia Philadelphia.”
An impending showdown that Parker hoped to avoid
Homeland Security officials claim that sanctuary jurisdictions protect criminal, undocumented immigrants from facing consequences while putting U.S. citizens and law enforcement officers in peril.
Last year, the Trump administration named Philadelphia as among the jurisdictions impeding federal immigration enforcement. The White House has said the federal government will cut off funding to sanctuary cities by Feb. 1.
Some of Parker’s supporters say the mayor’s conflict-averse strategy has spared Philadelphia as other cities such as Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis have seen National Guard troops or waves of ICE agents arrive in force.
Residents near the scene of a shooting by a federal law enforcement agent in Minneapolis on Saturday.
Critics, including the backers of the new legislation, have for months pressed Parker to take a stronger stand.
Brooks said she “would love to have the support of the administration.”
“This should be something that we should be working collaboratively on,” she said. “Philadelphia residents are demanding us do something as elected officials, and this is our time to lead.”
But Parker has not been eager to speak about Philadelphia’s immigration policies.
For example, the city is refusing to release a September letter it sent to the U.S. Department of Justice regarding its immigration-related policies, even after the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records ruled its reasoning for keeping the document secret was invalid. The Inquirer has requested a copy of the letter under the state Right-to-Know Law.
The new Council legislation and the increasing tension over Trump’s deportation push may force Parker to take a clearer position.
Notably, the city sued the federal government last week over its removal of exhibits related to slavery from the President’s House at Independence National Historical Park, potentially signaling a new willingness by Parker to push back against the White House.
But even then, Parker declined to take a jab at Trump.
“In moments like this,” she said last week, “it requires that I be the leader that I need to be for our city, and I can’t allow my pride, ego, or emotions to dictate what my actions will be.”
Back at sea level, it looks like the Flyers left their energy in the Rocky Mountains.
Coming off a three-game road trip, with wins against two Stanley Cup contenders, the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche, you would have thought the Flyers would be amped to get back in front of the hometown faithful, especially since they had left town on a six-game slide.
But they came out with a lackluster effort, and the result was a 4-0 loss to the New York Islanders and goalie Ilya Sorokin. It marked the second time this season the Flyers were shut out and ended the team’s three-game point streak.
Had the Flyers won the game, they would have jumped ahead of the team from Long Island via tiebreakers into third in the Metropolitan Division, as each team would have had 59 points in 51 games.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead in the first period while shorthanded against the unit with Trevor Zegras, Travis Konecny, Christian Dvorak, Bobby Brink, and Jamie Drysdale.
Off the offensive-zone faceoff to start the power play, which was won by Dvorak back to Drysdale, the puck ended up on Brink’s stick down the boards. He tried to pass it to Dvorak, but it went to Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech, and he knocked it away.
Pageau picked up the loose puck and dumped it in off Ersson, who steered it into the right corner. Islanders forward Casey Cizikas was first on the puck, despite having Brink and Drysdale there, and fed it back to Pageau, who was skating alone through the slot. It was the fifth short-handed goal the Flyers have allowed this season.
The Flyers left goalie Sam Ersson mostly hung out to dry on Monday night in a 4-0 defeat.
Philly fell into a 2-0 hole in the second period when Mathew Barzal deflected a point shot past Ersson. The line of Dvorak, Konecny, and Nikita Grebenkin got pinned in their own end with Dvorak out there for 2 minutes, 12 seconds, Konecny for 1:42, and Grebenkin for one minute.
Drysdale was also out there for 1:42, skating with Travis Sanheim for over a minute as the Islanders kept the puck to one side of the ice, with the Flyers unable to recover. In the end, Barzal pushed off Drysdale in front and moved into the slot to deflect the shot by Isaiah George.
Later in the second period, former Flyers defenseman and Sewell, N.J. native Tony DeAngelo made it 3-0 with a power-play goal.
Ahead of the goal, the Flyers had a chance to get on the board when Rasmus Ristolainen, activated before the game from injured reserve, got the puck to Owen Tippett while shorthanded. Tippett went one-on-one with DeAngelo, even making a between-the-legs move, but couldn’t get a shot off and sent it back to Emil Andrae at the point.
Andrae couldn’t control the pass, and the Islanders broke out three-on-two with Anthony Duclair carrying the puck up the ice. Duclair passed it back to Barzal on the right wing, and he found DeAngelo in the middle for the one-timer.
Pageau added another goal in the third on a pass by Maxim Tsyplakov. The forward got behind the defense after the puck came off the wall in the neutral zone, and fired one upstairs off the pass.
Philly had 21 shots, but only four from high-danger areas, according to Natural Stat Trick; two of those were on the power play. Sorokin entered the game with an 11-3-3 career record, 1.61 goals-against average, and .944 save percentage against the Flyers.
Breakaways
Ersson started his fourth straight game for the first time since Feb. 8-27, when he went 3-0-1. With Ristolainen activated, defenseman Hunter McDonald was loaned to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League. … The 2nd Annual Gaudreau Family 5K will be held on May 16 at Washington Lake Park in Sewell. Registration will open on Feb. 13.
Up next
The Flyers are on the road again for two games in two nights. First up, they see old teammate Egor Zamula and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., TNT, truTV, HBO Max) before going to Boston to face the Bruins on Thursday (7 p.m., NBCSP+).
There I was, by myself late at night, manning the inspection point at a pedestrian border crossing in Nogales, Ariz., when a shifty-looking man approached. He had short-cropped hair and a good 30 pounds on me. I asked him for ID, and he failed to comply.
“I forgot my ID,” he said aggressively, coming in close. “Why you wanna do me like this? Just let me cross.”
I thought back to my training — mainly the Police Quest series of computer games — and put some distance between us as I attempted to talk him down. A few seconds later, he had stabbed me in the ribs, and I had shot him dead.
“You see what happened there?” I was asked by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection official who ran me through the scenario as part of the CBP media academy.
“I tried to engage and de-escalate the situation,” I said. In lieu of a head shake, he smiled.
“You have to exert control,” he told me.
In the 11 years since I went through my crash course on what CBP does — from officers manning the ports of entry to agents out on the border line — the mock use-of-force examples remain top of mind. It was a deadly five days, after all, as I also shot and killed a man who was throwing rocks at me in the desert. Control exerted, I guess.
It was no accident that these scenarios involved unavoidable use of lethal force. It was undoubtedly a way to show the bleeding-heart media types who participated in the academy what law enforcement could encounter in the field, day to day.
They needn’t have bothered with me. Yes, I was a bleeding-heart type, but I already knew law enforcement was dangerous. I also knew Border Patrol agents, liked them, and believed most of them were genuinely trying to do good out there.
I also knew that excessive use of force was bad, and that a desire for control can curdle.
U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino arrives as protesters gather outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Jan. 8 in Minneapolis, Minn.
That’s what I see in videos of Border Patrol and of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who are smashing car windows or clashing with protesters. In recordings of interactions that quickly turn violent, I see the operational need for control (in theory, to ensure the safety of both civilians and law enforcement) devolve into the personal need for dominance.
It was that need to be the big man in charge that likely made ICE agents stop their vehicle and confront Renee Good almost three weeks ago — when she was neither an obstacle nor a threat inside her SUV — on a residential Minneapolis street. It was the anger and frustration at being questioned, at being disobeyed, that placed both agents and civilians in danger and ultimately cost Good her life. Shot in the head because … how dare she.
Before Alex Pretti was shot and killed Saturday by federal forces, he was defending two women who were being violently shoved after challenging Border Patrol agents. The minute that agent started pushing those women with little provocation beyond whatever words were exchanged, Border Patrol relinquished control of the situation.
The scrum that followed — as multiple agents pounded Pretti on the ground — was chaos. Chaos that eventually turned deadly, as agents saw that Pretti was carrying a gun.
Much as they did after Good’s death, administration officials tried to control the narrative of what happened, blaming the victim. Good was a “terrorist” who, according to Homeland Security head Kristi Noem, tried to run over federal agents. Pretti was a “would-be assassin,” according to Stephen Miller, Trump’s homeland security adviser, who was out to “massacre law enforcement,” according to Border Patrol operations chief Greg Bovino.
Multiple videos from the scene disprove the government’s story.
This sad quest for dominance, regardless of the consequences, comes from the top, of course. The latest example: Barely three days before Pretti was killed, Donald Trump apparently gave up on his bid to control Greenland. This came after days of speculation over whether the U.S. would invade a NATO ally over the president’s deranged demands.
In that case, Western allies came together and held firm in the face of Trump’s bullying. In Minneapolis, and whatever city is next on the White House’s hit list, Americans need to remind the administration of what it couldn’t and can’t control.
It could not control Good’s First Amendment right to speak out and stand up for what she thought was wrong, nor Pretti’s Second Amendment right to carry a firearm.
And it can’t control our Fourth Amendment right to protection from unreasonable use of force by law enforcement.
Chefs’ travels inspire their menus — for example, the konbini in Japan that Jesse Ito and Justin Bacharach visited for Dancerobot and the trattorias in Italy that Stephen Starr’s team scouted for Borromini, to name two just in the last year.
For Greg Vernick, the culinary inspiration for his first new restaurant in 6½ years — the casual Emilia, opening Tuesday in Kensington — was from a trip to Rome a few months ago with Meredith Medoway, Emilia’s chef de cuisine, and Drew Parrasio, culinary director for his restaurants.
Before they left, Vernick called chef friends like Marc Vetri, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Hope Cohen for recommendations: “Where do I need to eat? Street food, markets, trattorias, all of it.”
Carta di musica with butter, bottarga, and roasted chili at Emilia.
Emilia’s must-try dish came from a culinary school. Cohen’s suggestions included the American Academy in Rome. “We walked up one day thinking we’d just say hello and ended up spending the entire day there,” Vernick said. “They grow their own herbs and produce. We were eating arugula straight from the ground, picking rosemary and thyme — it felt cinematic.” Chef Sara Levi, who oversees the academy’s program, asked the three to join the students for the day’s family meal.
“One of the dishes was a simple chicken ragù pasta — hand-cut chicken, livers, hearts, very little sauce,” Vernick said. “Light, savory, a little gamey. We didn’t even talk much while we were eating it. Later, walking back into central Rome, we all realized: That was one of the best pastas we had on the trip, and we’d eaten three to five pastas a day for three days.”
Chefs Meredith Medoway and Greg Vernick at Emilia.
Back home in Vernick’s kitchen, they tweaked it to “just honor the idea,” Vernick said. It’s on the opening menu as “rigatoni, ragù bianco.” It’s also Emilia’s lone chicken dish — a somewhat daring move.
Emilia, just north of the York Street roundabout on Frankford Avenue, seats 60 in the dining room, with an additional 10 seats at the bar and 20 in a lounge area; in keeping with Vernick’s desire to make this a neighborhood place, some tables are held for walk-ins.
Canno Design’s Carey Jackson Yonce, working with California-based designer Bob Bronstein, has the lighting set to “subdued.”
“I wanted it to feel like the kind of place where you walk in and exhale and relax,” Vernick said. “Industry-friendly, not precious. We want to hit two markets from day one: the neighborhood and the industry. If you get those right, everything else falls into place.”
Arranged flowers in the dining room at Emilia.
Italian is a new turn for Vernick, who started here in 2012 with the New American Vernick Food & Drink before adding Vernick Coffee Bar in 2018 and Vernick Fish in 2019. The developers of Emilia’s building were keen on having an Italian restaurant, and Vernick’s thoughts naturally turned to Medoway, the longtime chef de cuisine at his flagship.
The bar program focuses exclusively on Italy, with low-intervention wines, amari, spritzes, and a rotating seasonal negroni, along with Italian sodas and zero-proof cocktails.
Sea scallop crudo and burrata at Emilia.
Much of the menu is coursed and priced as smaller plates (figure teens and $20s). The few entree-sized dishes, such as golden tilefish ribollita and grilled sea bream, start in the high $30s; top price is $53 for crispy veal with broccoli di ciccio.
There’s other house-made pasta on the menu, such as capellini with pesto, and radiatore in mushroom Bolognese. Much of Medoway’s cooking is centered on a 48-inch charcoal- and oak-fired grill. Each table receives complimentary breads — house-made focaccia, Mighty Bread’s sesame ciabatta, and the thin bread sticks known as grissini.
The bar area at Emilia.
Another anchor main course dish is rabbit Emiliana, a regional take on cacciatore from Emilia-Romagna that Medoway devised after a trip of her own. The braised rabbit is finished with roasted peppers, green olives, fresh orange, and vinegar, giving it a punchy, slightly sweet-sour profile.
Several smaller plates lean into texture and contrast. Carta da musica, a paper-thin Sardinian cracker, is spread with soft butter, dusted with grated bottarga, and topped with a relish of fire-roasted peppers. You crack it at the table and share the shards. “It’s about breaking bread together,” Vernick said.
A sea scallop crudo pairs raw scallop with burrata and a caper-chili vinaigrette, a combination Vernick said surprises people at first because of the similar textures. “It works, though,” he said. “It’s simple but exciting.” Grilled cabbage, blanched and then charred over the wood fire, is tossed with a colatura vinaigrette and finished with pecorino. “It reads ‘boring,’ but it eats incredibly well,” he said.
Emilia, 2406 Frankford Ave., 267-541-2360, emiliaphilly.com. Reservations open on Resy. Hours: 5 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday to Wednesday, 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday to Saturday.
