When Cherelle L. Parker was a City Council member, she championed a strict residency rule that required city employees to live in Philadelphia for at least a year before being hired.
Amid protest movements for criminal justice reform in 2020, Parker said stricter residency requirements would diversify a police force that has long been whiter than the makeup of the city, and ensure that officers contribute to the tax base.
“It makes good common sense and good economic sense for the police policing Philadelphia to be Philadelphians,” she said then.
But today, under now-Mayor Parker, more police live outside Philadelphia than ever before.
About one-third of the police department’s 6,363 full-time staffers live elsewhere. That share — more than 2,000 employees — has roughly doubled since 2017, the last time The Inquirer conducted a similar analysis.
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Today, the percentage of nonresidents is even higher among the top brass: Nearly half of all captains, lieutenants, and inspectors live outside the city, according to a review of the most recent available city payroll data.
Even Commissioner Kevin Bethel keeps a home in Montgomery County, despite officially residing in a smaller Northwest Philadelphia house that he owns with his daughter.
Most municipal employees are still required to live within city limits. Across the city’s 28,000-strong workforce, nearly 3,200 full-time employees listed home addresses elsewhere as of last fall. Most of them — more than 2,500 — are members of the police or fire departments, whose unions secured relaxed residency rules for their workers in contract negotiations. About a quarter of the fire department now lives outside the city.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel speak before the start of a news conference.
Proponents of residency rules in City Hall have long argued they improve rapport between law enforcement and the communities they serve, because officers who have a stake in the city may engage in more respectful policing.
But experts who study public safety say there is little evidence that residency requirements improve policing or trust. Some say the rules can backfire, resulting in lesser quality recruits because the department must hire from a smaller applicant pool.
A survey of 800 municipalities last year found that residency requirements only modestly improved diversity and had no measurable effect on police performance or crime rates.
“It’s a simple solution thrown at a complex problem,” said Fritz Umbach, an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “It doesn’t have the impact people think it will.”
Parker, a Philadelphia native who lives in the East Mount Airy neighborhood, says she would still prefer all municipal employees live in the city.
“When I grew up in Philadelphia, it was a badge of honor to have police officers and firefighters and paramedics who were from our neighborhood,” she said in a statement. “They were part of the fabric of our community. I don’t apologize for wanting that to be the standard for our city.”
‘Where they lay their heads at night’
What qualifies as “residency” can be a little pliable.
Along with his wife, Bethel purchased a 3,600-square-foot home in Montgomery County in 2017 for over a half-million dollars. Although he initially satisfied the residency rule by leasing a downtown apartment after being named commissioner by Parker in late 2023, he would not have met the pre-residency requirement the mayor championed for other city employees while she was on Council.
Today, voter registration and payroll data shows that Bethel resides in a modest, 1,800-square-foot rowhouse in Northwest Philadelphia, which he purchased with his daughter last year. While police sources said it was common for Bethel to sleep in the city given his long work hours, his wife is still listed as a voter in Montgomery County.
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel speaks during the 22nd District community meeting at the Honickman Learning Center on Dec. 2, 2025.
Sgt. Eric Gripp, a spokesperson for the department, said in a statement that Bethel is a full-time resident of Philadelphia, and that while he owns a property outside the city, his “main residence” is the home in Northwest Philly.
Although sources say it was not unheard of for rank-and-file officers to use leased apartments to satisfy the requirement on paper, Gripp said “only a small number” of residency violations had required formal disciplinary action following an investigation by the department’s Internal Affairs Division.
That likely owes to officers’ increasing ability to reside elsewhere legally. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, which represents thousands of active and retired Philadelphia Police officers, won a contract provision in 2009 allowing officers to live outside the city after serving on the force for at least five years.
The union didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Few of the cops who left the city went very far.
While Northeast Philly and Roxborough remain the choice neighborhoods for city police, the top destinations for recent transplants were three zip codes covering Southampton, and Bensalem and Warminster Townships, according to city payroll data.
A few officers went much farther than the collar counties.
Robert McDonnell Jr., a police officer in West Philadelphia’s 19th district with 33 years on the force, has an official address at a home in rural Osceola Mills, Pa., about 45 minutes north of Altoona in Centre County.
A person who answered a phone number associated with McDonnell — who earned $124,000 last year between his salary, overtime, and bonus pay — declined to speak to a reporter.
Asked about the seven-hour round-trip commute McDonnell’s nominal residence could entail, Gripp said the department doesn’t regulate the manner in which employees travel to and from work.
“Our members serve this city with dedication every day,” he said, “regardless of where they lay their heads at night.”
A long and winding history
Versions of residency rules can be found as far back as the 19th century, when police recruits were required to live in the districts they sought to work in.
But when Mayor Joseph S. Clark pushed to reform the city charter in the 1950s, he sought to abolish the rules as an impediment to hiring, saying “there should be no tariff on brains or ability.”
Instead, City Council successfully fought to expand the restrictions. And, for more than five decades, the city required most of its potential employees to have lived in Philadelphia for a year — or obtain special waivers that, in practice, were reserved for the most highly specialized city jobs, like medical staff.
Many other big cities enacted similar measures either to curb middle-class flight following World War II or to prioritize the hiring of local residents. But the restrictions were frequently blamed for causing chronic staff shortages of certain hard-to-fill city jobs.
Officers Azieme Lindsey (from left), Charles T. Jackson, and Dalisa M. Carter taking their oaths in 2023.
Citing a police recruit shortage in 2008, former Mayor Michael A. Nutter successfully stripped out the prehiring residency requirement for cadets. Recruits were required only to move into the city once they joined the force.
A year later, the police union attempted to have the residency requirement struck from its contract entirely.
Nutter’s administration objected. But an arbitration panel approved a compromise policy to allow officers to live elsewhere in Pennsylvania after five years on the job. By 2016, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies secured similar concessions.
But experts say there’s little research showing that to be true.
“I am unsure if requiring officers to reside in the city is a requirement supported by evidence,” said Anjelica Hendricks, an assistant law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who worked for the city’s Police Advisory Commission. “Especially if that rule requires a city to sacrifice something else during contract negotiations.”
FOP leaders have long opposed the rule and said it was partly to blame for the department’s unprecedented recruitment crisis and a yearslong short-staffing problem that peaked in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, facing nearly 1,500 unfilled police jobs, former Mayor Jim Kenney loosened the prehire residency rule for the police department again, allowing the force to take on cadets who lived outside the city, so long as they moved into Philadelphia within a year-and-a-half of being hired.
Since then, recruiting has rebounded somewhat, which police officials attribute to a variety of tactics, including both the eased residency rules and hiring bonuses. The force is still short 20% of its budgeted staffing and operating with 1,200 fewer officers than it did 10 years ago.
Umbach, the John Jay professor, said the impact on recruiting is obvious: Requiring officers to live in a city where the cost of living may be higher than elsewhere amounts to a pay cut, which shrinks candidate pools.
“Whenever you lower the standards or lower the appeal of the job, you’re going to end up with people who cause you problems down the road,” he said. “A pay cut is just that.”
The news was expected to come at some point after the Eagles were knocked out of the playoffs by San Francisco on Sunday.
Two days later, the team announced that Kevin Patullo had been removed as offensive coordinator after one season. But it’s possible that Patullo could remain on the staff in another role.
Patullo has been with the team since coach Nick Sirianni was hired in 2021. He went from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator a year ago after Kellen Moore left to become the coach of the New Orleans Saints.
Now, the Eagles’ next offensive coordinator will be the seventh play-caller Jalen Hurts has had in the NFL in what will be his seventh season in the league. So who might the Birds target as the next offensive coordinator?
Well, there’s no shortage of strong candidates to help fix a star-studded offense, and maybe they’ll look to hire an outside voice, considering that Sirianni’s last two internal promotions — Patullo and Brian Johnson — were finished after one season.
Eagles linebacker Jihaad Campbell started 10 games in his rookie season.
Jihaad Campbell was touted as a versatile defensive weapon who offered the Eagles the ability to line him up in multiple spots. But he saw more opportunity inside during Nakobe Dean’s injury rehabilitation, which led the rookie to start next to Zack Baun for the first seven games of the season.
The Camden County native, a first-round pick out of Alabama, played in all 17 games while starting 10 of them. He excelled in pass coverage and was solid against the run. With his first season in the books, Campbell will likely be utilized and trusted more next season because Dean is a pending free agent whose return to the Eagles seems unlikely.
What we’re …
🤔 Wondering: What folks are saying about the Eagles parting ways with Patullo as the play-caller.
📖 Reading: The viral 11-year-old Eagles fan Sam Salvo wanted Patullo flipping burgers. He says “it worked.”
🏒 Learning: Pro hockey is returning to Trenton after a 13-year hiatus and the new minor league team officially got a name.
Jesús Luzardo made 32 starts and worked 183⅔ innings in his first season with the Phillies, both career highs.
Jesús Luzardo hasn’t spoken with the Phillies yet about a contract extension.
But it’s a conversation he would like to have.
“It’s not something that I’m closed off to,” said Luzardo, appearing as a guest this week on Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast. “I just got married and hopefully eventually have a family, and just being stable in a certain place, knowing that you’re comfortable within an organization … it’s something I would be really interested in.”
Sixers guard Kyle Lowry receives an ovation in what could be his last game in Toronto, where the Raptors legend won an NBA title.
Tyrese Maxey told Lowry at the start of Monday’s matchup against Toronto that his Sixers teammates would “do whatever we’ve got to do to get you in tonight.”
Maxey kept his word and allowed Lowry to check in late, as the 39-year-old soaked in potentially one last ovation from an adoring crowd that watched the North Philly native become a six-time All-Star and 2019 NBA champion. It was a joyous curtain call and “probably one of the greatest basketball moments of my personal career.”
Flyers right wing Nikita Grebenkin was one player who looked to provide energy on Monday.
After two straight sobering losses to perennial powerhouse Tampa Bay, the Flyers need to refocus if they want to stay in playoff contention in the hotly contested Eastern Conference. Here are three lessons that they learned and need to carry with them as they move through a gauntlet before February’s Olympic break.
Rick Tocchet believes the Flyers need to simplify. The first-year coach believes his team, which is considered the fourth-youngest team in the NHL, is trying to make the perfect play too often instead of making the right reads. So he says, “We’re going to have to really dummy it down a little bit.”
Sports snapshot
Since the transfer portal opened, 22 former Iowa State players, including quarterback Rocco Becht, have followed Matt Campbell to Penn State.
Big swings: Penn State and Temple have leaned on the transfer portal to shape their football rosters for next season.
Mourning a coach: Temple assistant men’s basketball coach Bill Courtney, 55, died suddenly, the school announced Tuesday.
Former Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel (left) shown with Eagles coach Nick Sirianni after their matchup in 2023.
Kevin Patullo isn’t the first person to experience the downside of this city’s manic emotional instability when it comes to professional sports. But my point here isn’t to shame anybody. Actually, my point is to lobby the Eagles to spend whatever it takes to hire Mike McDaniel as their offensive coordinator. The Eagles need to bring in a fresh set of eyes and a proven track record of inventive run-scheming. They need to reinvent this offense, and McDaniel is the perfect mind to do it, writes columnist David Murphy.
🧠 Trivia time answer
Who has the most wins in the playoffs as coach of the Eagles?
C) Andy Reid with 10 wins — Mike R. was first with the correct answer.
What you’re saying about A.J. Brown
We asked: What do you think about the prospects of the Eagles trading A.J. Brown? Among your responses:
Possibility is high they try to trade him even if all they can get is a bag of footballs in return. If they can’t trade him they should just cut him. A malcontent is nothing but a cancer on the team and his on the field efforts are highly questionable right now. Can anyone say “Ricky Watters?” — Bob A.
I wish our fans would stand by the team win or lose. That’s what most parents of young athletes do. Pretend it’s your kid out there playing for the Eagles. What would you say when they lose? We are not going to win the Super Bowl every year. But every year we, as fans, get to show our love and support for them. — Cindy F.
It’s time for A. J. to take his show elsewhere. Once upon a time we had another star who also thought he was bigger than the game itself. When he short armed a pass in 1995 his response was “for who for what.” Ricky found out that afternoon what Philadelphia fans were all about. Never happened again and he had 3 super years with the Birds. There’s only 4 reasons we lost that game to the 49ers’ and none of them fall on coaching. The 3 catchable balls A. J. dropped and the extra point Elliott blew. He makes that kick and we’re 3 down. We kick a 20 yard field goal with 5 seconds to play. Games tied and who knows what could happen in OT. Now if AJ catches any one of the three drops and we’re in the Red Zone and no one’s better in the Red Zone than us. The kicker has to go and the dead cap $ will unfortunately keep AJ around for another season. He’ll be a free agent after next season so maybe he’ll be playing lights out for a free-agent contract and leaves his EGO at the door. — Ronald R.
Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown can’t pull in a pass in the playoff loss to the 49ers at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.
The Eagles have multiple problems. 1. Sirianni. He is going to be fired this time next year. To be honest, Nick is not smart. 2. AJ Brown. If he was correct criticizing the play calling, then keep him. 3. Patullo should never have been handed the OC position for a SB team. Nick, again, showing his lack of maturity in hiring an unqualified friend. 4. I read once a coach say, “Every season we change our entire offensive scheme.” Nick hasn’t changed anything in years. This is an abomination of dereliction of responsibility as the head coach. The question is either Nick is lazy, or he is incompetent. 5. Hurts. He is a below average QB if he will not run the ball. Hurts cannot read the field quickly. He simply doesn’t process the coverage. He refuses to throw to where the receiver will be. He waits until the receiver is already there and then passes. — Jack D.
Going to be a long off season, but don’t worry about anything, just put your trust in Howie. Not sure who is ready to deal for Brown, but I think it is time for the Eagles to part with him. An outstanding receiver who needs to play in a Vince Lombardi culture where he knows what the boundaries are. Mike Tomlin and the Steelers can handle him, but would they want him? — Everett S.
It is always easy to trade someone, the key question is who will replace him and will it be an upgrade. — Gary P.
We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Jeff Neiburg, Olivia Reiner, Gina Mizell, Jonathan Tannenwald, Jackie Spiegel, Gustav Elvin, Lochlahn March, Ariel Simpson, Gabriela Carroll, Devin Jackson, David Murphy, and Greg Finberg.
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.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful Wednesday. Kerith will be back in your inbox with tomorrow’s newsletter. — Bella
Philadelphia was the first place many early Irish immigrants saw when their long journey ended. The Port of Philadelphia was the gateway to their new world.
Irish workers built Pennsylvania’s canals, its railroads, and its industries. Irish families helped shape its neighborhoods and the civic institutions where they found their home. Irish solidarity and resilience became part of the life fabric of Philadelphia.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and State Sen. Sharif Street wear green during the annual Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 16.
This transatlantic exchange of ideas continues to define our relationship and enrich our two countries to this day.
Ireland and the United States now share one of the world’s most dynamic relationships: economically, culturally, and politically. Across the 50 states, more than 780 Irish-founded companies employ over 200,000 people, bringing skills, entrepreneurship, and a global outlook to local economies nationwide. In Pennsylvania alone, 29 Irish companies support 12,000 jobs. Foreign direct investment from Ireland into Pennsylvania is growing across critical sectors, including pharmaceuticals, business services, and industrial equipment.
Today, the United States remains Ireland’s largest trading partner and its leading source of investment. American companies have long recognized Ireland as a trusted partner in Europe and a place where global businesses can thrive, innovate, and access the barrier-free single European Union market of 450 million consumers.
My hope is that America 250 will not only commemorate the past but will inspire the future, encouraging new generations of Irish Americans to continue to weave this rich transatlantic tapestry.
Geraldine Byrne Nason is the ambassador of Ireland to the United States.
HARRISBURG — As the rural reporter at The Inquirer for about the last decade, I’ve cuddled bear cubs, rattlesnakes, and alligators, trembled in fear at horses, and been punched by the scent of deer urine farms.
Still, nothing scares me more than the mushroom burger at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
I haven’t really missed a show since I began covering rural Pennsylvania, and I probably never will, regardless. If you’ve been there, you know. If you haven’t, take my advice from last year: Pull your kids out of school, and go there this week. The show runs through Saturday at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center in Harrisburg, and it’s free to get in. It’s an agricultural spectacle you’ll never forget, a place to see show rabbits, hogs, goats, and cows, all while learning where your food comes from.
It’s also a place to eat, with a gargantuan food hall filled with offerings I’m still uncovering. Shannon Powers, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture I pester often during the show, smartly said she didn’t have a favorite meal there.
“But on a cold day, a cup of trout chowder hits the spot,” she told me.
Trout stew? Who knew? There’s also goat stew.
There’s a mind-boggling number of things on the menu at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg.
I do have favorites, though, including the sugared German almonds I end my day with every year. I went on opening day, Saturday (never go on opening day), and took my daughter, sampling some old standbys and interviewing folks about some popular foods there.
4-H brisket sandwich
As a man of tradition, if I like a certain item on a menu, I’ll get it over and over again, for the rest of my life. I still have dreams about the ’90s-era Wawa hot roast beef and cheese sandwiches I ate religiously.
Anyhow, I get a brisket sandwich every year from a 4-H stand that’s actually not in the food hall but rather the main hall, where the famous butter sculpture is. Get a map, seriously. You’ll need it.
Look for the pig in the Main Hall, and you’ll find the 4-H brisket sandwich, plus pork chops on a stick.
Brisket has a special place in my heart. I ate it for Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, and this year, I paid $14 for thick-sliced brisket on a roll, which I slathered in BBQ sauce, while squatting on the floor.
Then, I followed it up with a flu shot, another Farm Show tradition.
This sandwich was not better than my holiday briskets, but I’m easy. Almost everything I’m willing to eat is “pretty good.”
I assumed proceeds of the sales go to Pennsylvania 4-H clubs. The folks cutting the brisket didn’t know, though my receipt credits the Pennsylvania Livestock Association.
If you want to save a few bucks at the 4-H booth, the pork chop on a stick is $8.
Mushroom burger
I know mushrooms grow underground, and that Chester County is one of the nation’s top producers, but I assumed they come from even deeper places.
Pennsylvania is the nation’s top producer of mushrooms, most of them coming from Chester and Berks Counties.
I’m not a fan and can’t be convinced, though I did have somewhat of a revelation about the mushroom burgers for sale at the Mushroom Growers of Pennsylvania booth.
They are “blended” with beef, specifically for big babies like me.
“It’s an introduction, an easy introduction. It’s 75% ground beef and 25% chopped mushrooms,” said Gale Ferranto, of Mushroom Farmers of Pennsylvania. “Would you like to try one?”
I declined.
There are more mushroom offerings, too, something called a “mushroom salad,” which I probably wouldn’t eat for less than $500.
“Somebody back home in Philly wanted the mushroom salad. She’s pregnant, like 7 months pregnant, so you have to do what she says,” said attendee Mark Soffa.
Grilled cheese
The Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association offers up a lot of food during the week, and when I saw grilled cheeses — a parent’s best friend — I grabbed one for my daughter, along with a chocolate milk.
The combo is wallet-friendly, too, just $7.
“Chocolate milk comes from brown cows,” I told my daughter.
She’s too smart for that joke and rolled her eyes, like her mother.
The PA Dairymen’s Association sells grilled cheese, cheese cubes, and, of course, the ubiquitous milkshakes.
The grilled cheese crew actually had crockpots full of melted butter, slathering white bread before sending it off to the grill. You can choose American or pepper jack.
“We’ll at least make a few thousand today,” the cashier told me. “We made 500 yesterday, and that was a half day.”
My daughter’s verdict: “Very gooey.”
Pierogies and sweet potatoes
I’m cheating a bit here, including two items from the PA Cooperative Potato Growers, Inc., which is the oldest potato cooperative in the United States.
I planned on focusing entirely on the sweet potato, which is swimming in butter and brown sugar, with some cinnamon on the side. It’s basically a dessert.
The sweet potato at the Pennsylvania Farm Show is basically a dessert.
My Polish heritage requires that I never turn down a pierogi, though, or never fail to mention their wholesome goodness. I grew up on them, in the way other folks may have grown up on mac and cheese or PB&J. I actually prefer mine fried a bit, but the Farm Show serves them drowning in butter and onions: 5 for $4.
You can’t really mess up a pierogi, particularly in the Keystone State.
“These aren’t like Maryland pierogies,” a woman from Maryland told me.
The potato growers told me they sell 6 tons of baking potatoes at the show, plus 8 to 10 tons for french fries, and about 1.5 tons of sweet potatoes.
Plus, there are potato doughnuts.
The milkshakes
The most well-known must-have item at the Pennsylvania Farm Show are the milkshakes offered up by the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association since 1953.
Three generations with 10 milkshakes at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
On Saturday, the lines were a bit bonkers, more than 100 deep on each of the dozen or so cash registers in the various locations where they’re sold at the farm show complex. I’ve had them before, and I’ll say they are “thick and creamy” as advertised.
Are they different than any other soft-serve-style milkshake in America? I have to work with these people, so yes, I’ll say they’re different.
A colleague who had a milkshake at the Farm Show told me she didn’t “get the hype.”
I ran into a mother and daughter who had ordered 10 of them.
Either way, you have to have one while you’re there.
The Flyers have been one of the NHL’s biggest surprises this season with a 22-13-8 record and are seeking a first postseason appearance since 2019-20. With the midway point of the season having just passed, Jackie Spiegel recently caught up with Flyers president Keith Jones to discuss the team’s strong start, timeline for contention, Matvei Michkov’s development, and more.
While Jones says the Flyers are still focused on building something “sustainable,” he did say the players deserve to be rewarded for their strong start and that the team needs to “enhance what they’ve done” as they push for the playoffs.
Jones called Denver Barkey one of the organization’s biggest bright spots in the prospect pool, and also mentioned Porter Martone, Oliver Bonk, Alex Bump, Jack Berglund, and Heikki Ruohonen as others who are making strides.
While Matvei Michkov’s decreased usage and lack of production have been hotly debated, Jones believes this season and the lessons he is learning will be invaluable to his ultimate ceiling in the future.
Note: This interview, which was conducted on Dec. 31, has been edited for brevity.
The Flyers have been one of the NHL’s biggest surprises this season with a 22-13-8 record and are seeking a first postseason appearance since 2019-20. With the midway point of the season having just passed, Jackie Spiegel recently caught up with Flyers president Keith Jones to discuss the team’s strong start, timeline for contention, Matvei Michkov’s development, and more.
Note: This interview, which was conducted on Dec. 31, has been edited for brevity.
Q: Close to the midway point. How would you assess things so far?
A:It’s been a really good, basically, first half of the season for us. Players have advanced, and have kind of fit in and found chemistry, which you figured would take a little bit of time with the number of new faces that we added. The coaching staff has done an excellent job of trying a few different combinations and then figuring out what worked and sticking with it. I think it’s been, from that perspective, a really good beginning to this season.
Q: What have you liked so far about Rick Tocchet as a head coach with the Flyers?
A: A lot. I like the way he communicates with his players. I like the way that he is straightforward, honest, doesn’t allow things to fester, addresses things immediately, and then works really hard to, from a game-to-game basis, improve on things that we may have struggled with in the previous game. His practices or his video [work] with his assistant coaches are very focused on correcting and encouraging, and I think that’s really important, especially with a young team.
Q: When someone is writing a TV script for a series, they sometimes write the ending in advance. Outside of winning the Stanley Cup, what does the end goal look like?
A: The only plan would be to create something that’s sustainable. And there are all kinds of variables, with any professional sport; injuries play a major part. So you can plan all you want and have things that just kind of change those plans, but overall, our goal is to become a playoff team that is a sustainable one. Not just a one-and-done.
So you build that through the foundation of your team, and I’m really pleased with what Danny [Brière] has done, along with Brent Flahr, in starting to really build up our prospect pool. We’re starting to see a couple of those guys arrive, and others getting closer to arriving. And it’s always good when you can have players develop together, build those relationships that can last them a decade or more, playing in the same organization, and that’s what we envision.
Keith Jones believes this season of learning will be good for Matvei Michkov in the long run.
Q: So you prefer to hold on to the assets right now?
A: Yes. In general, we’re not going to mortgage the future in order to have one year and say, ‘Oh, we figured this out. We’re a playoff team.’ So that’s still something that I know Danny’s very focused on and [governor Dan Hilferty] and I will encourage him to stay on that path.
Q: Is there anyone in the prospect pool who stands out to you?
A: I would have liked to tell you it was Denver Barkey, but he’s already arrived on the scene. We’re obviously very happy with the way that he’s progressed. And Oliver Bonk has started to get into form now with the American League team in Lehigh, and it’s been fun to see that team have some success as well.
Alex Bump continues to push and develop … And then we have Jack Berglund, watching him perform extremely well, which we expected at the World Junior tournament. … [With] his size, he has the ability to play in front of the opposition’s net, so he’s very good on the power play in that regard. So, as you build a team, you’re looking for pieces that can take over roles that you feel are necessary in order for you to advance. And he’s one of those guys.
Porter Martone, obviously, is very similar in that regard. He’s an outstanding playmaker for a player of his size, great set of hands. Another leadership type personality. … Heikki Ruohonen is doing an outstanding job for Finland, learning his way at Harvard, which is awesome.
Keith Jones believes Jack Berglund can be a big part of the Flyers’ future.
Q: Matvei Michkov is always a hot topic. How would you evaluate his season thus far?
A: I think it’s going to be a very important year in his career. I think that there’s going to be a lot of development. I think he’s doing a great job of working on the things that he’s being asked to work on. I love his level of compete. I love his ability to stay in there, stay in the fight, and I’m really pleased with the way he’s started to pick things up lately.
His attitude’s been outstanding, and I think when he looks back on his career in 15 years, he’s going to be pretty happy about some of the things that he went through this year in order to get to where he needs to go.
Q: The free agency market is so different today, with so many players already locked up. And you’ve previously discussed the need to upgrade at center. Is it more via trades now?
A: Yeah, there’s a lot that goes into it. You can see what Danny did this offseason, really calculated, smart additions to the team. And then you get to know the players even better when they’re under your watch. So a lot that has to do with internal growth and then also having the ability, whether it’s cap space, whether it’s prospects, whether it’s draft choices, to jump and go after something that’s really enticing. So we’re always looking.
Q: Can you just take us quickly through the Trevor Zegras trade and how you think his season is going thus far?
A: He’s done a great job. And it’s really proof of Danny’s willingness to wait for the right time, and he was really patient on this one with Anaheim. It’s been well documented that it was a long process. Trevor kind of fit what we were looking for, and he has been all that and more with what he’s done for us. So I give Danny a lot of credit on that one as well as he waited for the right time to find the right deal that worked for both teams at that time, and we’ve been able to really see the benefits of that in our lineup.
The Flyers have been one of the NHL’s biggest surprises this season with a 22-13-8 record and are seeking a first postseason appearance since 2019-20. With the midway point of the season having just passed, Jackie Spiegel recently caught up with Flyers president Keith Jones to discuss the team’s strong start, timeline for contention, Matvei Michkov’s development, and more.
Note: This interview, which was conducted on Dec. 31, has been edited for brevity.
Q: Close to the midway point. How would you assess things so far?
A:It’s been a really good, basically, first half of the season for us. Players have advanced, and have kind of fit in and found chemistry, which you figured would take a little bit of time with the number of new faces that we added. The coaching staff has done an excellent job of kind of trying a few different combinations and then figuring out what worked and sticking with it. I think it’s been, from that perspective, a really good beginning to this season.
Q: What have you liked so far about Rick Tocchet as a head coach with the Flyers?
A: A lot. I like the way he communicates with his players. I like the way that he is straightforward, honest, doesn’t allow things to fester, addresses things immediately, and then works really hard to, from a game-to-game basis, improve on things that we may have struggled with in the previous game. His practices or his video [work] with his assistant coaches are very focused on correcting and encouraging, and I think that’s really important, especially with a young team.
Q: You talk about staying in the moment, but you are sitting in a playoff spot. Are you still looking at things through the glass, that this is still a rebuild?
A: I think we’ve been clear that the players will decide. So obviously, it’s a very important stretch over the next six to eight weeks of play. And the players have done a really good job of putting themselves in a position where we’re going to look to enhance what they’ve done. Previously, that was not the approach. It’s really important that we reward our players for playing so hard for one another and for us.
Keith Jones and Danny Brière say that the team’s rebuild and no upward trajectory has been a collaborative effort.
Q: Two years ago, management had a similar statement about the players deciding the approach. But then Sean Walker was traded, and things kind of fell apart. Do you use that as a warning now?
A: I think it’s just a different time for us now in our development. So I think it’s a combination of things. I think looking back on what we did there was the right thing to do, and that’s why we did it. Same as last year. But this year feels different. And we’re a couple more years into what we’re trying to eventually accomplish. So it’s just about being there for one another to remind each other where we’re at in this process, and having the support of [governor] Dan Hilferty and [Comcast CEO] Brian Roberts on top of that, really makes it a job that we want to get right.
Q: When someone is writing a TV script for a series, they sometimes write the ending in advance Beyond winning a Stanley Cup, what’s the end goal here look like?
A: The only plan would be to create something that’s sustainable. And there are all kinds of variables, with any professional sport; injuries play a major part. So you can plan all you want and have things that just kind of change those plans, but overall, our goal is to become a playoff team that is a sustainable one. Not just a one-and-done.
So you build that through the foundation of your team, and I’m really pleased with what Danny [Brière] has done, along with Brent Flahr, in starting to really build up our prospect pool. We’re starting to see a couple of those guys arrive, and others getting closer to arriving. And it’s always good when you can have players develop together, build those relationships that can last them a decade or more, playing in the same organization, and that’s what we envision.
Q: Do you look at things from the perspective that the first step is playoffs, and then being a sustainable playoff team, and then, after all that, building a Stanley Cup contender? Or does it all happen at once?
A: If you’re a consistent playoff team, you’re a contender in my eyes. There are always tweaks that can take place when you’re in that position. You’ll see teams that are there right now; they’ll trade some of their draft equity and younger players in order to really enhance their opportunity of winning. So eventually we’ll get to that place. We’re not there right now, but I look forward to when we are there.
Q: So you prefer to hold on to the assets right now.
A: Yes. In general. We’re not going to mortgage the future in order to have one year and say, ‘Oh, we figured this out. We’re a playoff team.’ So that’s still something that I know Danny’s very focused on and [Hilferty] and I will encourage him to stay on that path.
Could St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas be the type of player the Flyers cash in some of their future chips for?
Q: In working with Brière, how much is it his vision or is it a team vision with you, Hilferty, and him?
A: Well, he’s the general manager. When it comes to players and acquisitions, that’s Danny’s job. My job is to help him with that, enhance that, give him the resources that he needs to make that happen. But Danny’s a general manager, and he’s a really good one.
Q: Is there anyone in the prospect pool who stands out to you?
A: Yeah, I would have liked to tell you it was Denver Barkey, but he’s already arrived on the scene. We’re obviously very happy with the way that he’s progressed. And Oliver Bonk has started to get into form now with the American League team in Lehigh, and it’s been fun to see that team have some success as well.
Alex Bump continues to push and develop … And then we have Jack Berglund, [we’ve been] watching him perform extremely well, which we expected at the World Junior tournament. He’s the captain of Team Sweden, and he’s producing at a high rate. That’s really exciting for us. With his size, he has the ability to play in front of the opposition’s net, so he’s very good on the power play in that regard. So, as you build a team, you’re looking for pieces that can take over roles that you feel are necessary in order for you to advance. And he’s one of those guys.
Porter Martone, obviously, is very similar in that regard. He’s an outstanding playmaker for a player of his size, great set of hands. Another leadership type personality. He is the captain of the Canadian team. It’s a great honor for him, and we’re thrilled about that.
Just like Denver Barkey, he was the captain of the London Knights that won the Memorial Cup. Oliver Bonk was an assistant captain. These are the type of players that we want in our organization. That’s a handful of them. Heikki Ruohonen is doing an outstanding job for Finland, learning his way at Harvard, which is awesome.
Q: Max Westergård has also looked impressive at World Juniors. What have you seen from him?
A: Yeah, he can fly. Brent Flahr shines in the fifth round. He’s had some great fifth-round picks.
Q: Speaking of the fifth round, let’s talk Alex Bump. Why wasn’t he the one to get the call-up recently?
A: He just needs more seasoning, that’s all. There are just little parts of the game that he’s going to figure out, and it’s much easier to figure out down there before you come up here. He’s doing everything we’re asking him to do. He continues to improve. He’s done some amazing things offensively, which we know he can do, and he’s not far off. But he’s an exciting prospect for us.
He’s showing great patience as well. He demonstrated that last year at the end of his college season, not burning a year on his entry-level contract and electing to go down and play in the American Hockey League. He’s sharp. He gets it. And he’s going to be rewarded for his patience, and we will be for ours as well.
Rookie Alex Bump, who is second on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms with 20 points in 28 games, could be close to earning an NHL debut.
Q: How do you balance development then? Using Alex Bump as an example. He’s building his game, and maybe he is finally ready to make the next step, but there’s no room. How do you balance that?
A: You want the player to force you to make room, so that’s affecting his game in the minors to the point where you can’t keep them down there anymore. So they’ll let you know, just like our team up here lets us know where they’re at. Just by observing and watching, and paying attention, the players will tell you when it’s time to come up.
Q: Matvei Michkov is always a hot topic. How would you evaluate his season thus far?
A: I think it’s going to be a very important year in his career. I think that there’s going to be a lot of development. I think he’s doing a great job of working on the things that he’s being asked to work on. I love his level of compete. I love his ability to stay in there, stay in the fight, and I’m really pleased with the way he started to pick things up lately.
His attitude’s been outstanding, and I think when he looks back on his career in 15 years, he’s going to be pretty happy about some of the things that he went through this year in order to get to where he needs to go.
Q: How would you gauge your defense now with Rasmus Ristolainen back?
A: Solid’s a good word. Underrated is probably another good word too. There’s a really good mix of intelligence and athleticism, size. I like the balance that’s there.
And I like having the option of Noah Juulsen there as well; I like that he brings physicality, has a tremendous attitude, and doesn’t change whether he’s in the lineup or not. He’s a really good team guy, and those are important parts of the puzzle, too, because there are not enough chairs when the music stops on a nightly basis. So you need players who are not so much accepting of that, but are willing to do whatever it takes to get back in the lineup.
Q: Are there any areas you want to improve on with the roster?
A: As it jumps out to me right now, there’s nothing immediately. We’re always looking to get better. If something’s there, we’re going to do it to get better.
Q: The free agency market is so different today, with so many players already locked up. And you’ve previously discussed the need to upgrade at center. Is it more via trades now?
A: Yeah, there’s a lot that goes into it. You can see what Danny did this offseason, really calculated, smart additions to the team. And then you get to know the players even better when they’re under your watch. So a lot that has to do with internal growth and then also having the ability, whether it’s cap space, whether it’s prospects, whether it’s draft choices, to jump and go after something that’s really enticing. So we’re always looking.
Q: How do you handle the salary cap rising? Does it change things?
A: We love it. We think it’s great. I wish it would go up another 50 million. But we’re lucky, because we have great ownership, that’s the one huge advantage that we have. So we welcome it.
Flyers forward Trevor Zegras has been a revelation in his first season with the team.
Q: You were the team’s president when Travis Sanheim almost got traded to the St Louis Blues. He was just named to Hockey Canada’s roster for the Olympics. What’s it been like watching his development and growth, and looking back, are you happy you didn’t make that trade?
A: It’s been awesome. The only reason you would ever make a trade like that is because you’re getting a boatload back, and depending on where you’re at in your evolution, those trades sometimes do happen. But are we surprised that Travis is doing the things that he’s doing? No. So we’re really pleased for him. He’s obviously a huge minute-muncher for us on the back end. It’s a joy to watch him skate and come barreling up the ice. He’s just a super good kid, and we’re all really proud of him.
Q: Brière seems to be finding diamonds in the rough. For example, there was Walker, Ryan Poehling, and now Carl Grundström. Can you explain what Danny Brière is doing?
A: He’s very patient and methodical, thoughtful, and there are 1,000 phone calls a day that he’s making. So it’s from a relentless work ethic and a really high level of intelligence in the hockey world. Yeah, not surprised that he’s doing as well as he is.
Q: Can you just take us quickly through the Trevor Zegras trade and how you think his season is going thus far?
A: He’s done a great job. And it’s really proof of Danny’s willingness to wait for the right time, and he was really patient on this one with Anaheim. It’s been well documented that it was a long process. Trevor kind of fit what we were looking for, and he has been all that and more with what he’s done for us. So I give Danny a lot of credit on that one as well as he waited for the right time to find the right deal that worked for both teams at that time, and we’ve been able to really see the benefits of that in our lineup.
Q: Can you just expand on what you mean by he fit what we were looking for?
A: You’re always looking for high skill level, talented players, and at the time, he was a distressed asset. So that’s what you have to do. You have to be thoughtful and a little bit lucky, and provide an environment where the player can shine. Our players help in that regard, too. So it’s a full organizational effort, starting at the top.
Q: What would be your message to the fans right now?
A: First of all, thank you. I see our fans all the time, and I appreciate them supporting us. I think that we’re trying to get it right for them. We’ve [Danny and I] played in front of them, in playoff positions, and we want our guys to experience that as well because I know they’re just terrific hockey fans that can really bring you to another level when you play in front of a packed house, and that’s what we’re working towards.
I thank them for continuing to come out to games, follow the team, and I just would let them know that, which we do often when we see them, we’re going to do everything we can to try to get this right.
Donald Trump said the only restriction on his power is his own morality. The law, the courts, the Constitution, and the Congress cannot limit his authority or power. This is what a dictator believes. What does Trump’s moral restraint look like? It permits him to have adulterous affairs. It allows him to brag about being able to grab women’s private parts with no consequences. Falsifying financial statements for financial gain is fine. Creating the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen is justified by his need to stay in power. Sending a violent mob to assault the U.S. Capitol and Congress is necessary. Asking his vice president to ignore the Constitution and refuse to certify the vote is just his interpretation of the law. Watching as the mob beats law enforcement officers and then praises them as great patriots and finally pardons them is the right thing to do.
In his second term, Trump has increased his power immensely, thanks to a GOP-controlled Congress that has allowed him to select a cabinet of largely unqualified individuals who are willing to accept his every order. He has eliminated the agency that provided food and medical assistance to those in need around the world and severely limited medical research. He has used the U.S. Department of Justice to persecute officials who previously performed their duties by seeking to prosecute Trump for his crimes. Trump has no morals and no shame. His malicious actions are too numerous to list and too un-American to believe.
William J. Owens,Hammonton
Two shootings
On Jan. 6, 2021, Ashli Babbitt entered the U.S. Capitol as part of a mob and tried to break into the room where members of Congress were trying to be kept safe. She was shot and killed. In May, the Trump administration paid a $5 million settlement to her family, and some consider Babbitt a hero. Judicial Watch has filed a $30 million lawsuit over the killing. On Jan. 7, Renee Nicole Good tried to drive away from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and was shot dead. Vice President JD Vance says she brought it upon herself. That really is all one needs to know.
Robert Franz,Plymouth Meeting
Rush to judgment
For most of my four decades as a lawyer, I have practiced criminal defense. Spontaneous shootings in the street demand the most searching, rigorous analysis of distances, angles, location of shooter and target, time intervals between actions and reactions, and a host of other variables, including motives, agendas, and personal histories. Video helps, but the investigative necessities remain the same. Any conclusion as to the shooter’s culpability depends on such work. No political leader or agency chief can fairly exonerate the shooter without such painstaking analysis, much less blame the victim.
Justin T. Loughry, Haddonfield
Rules of engagement
No warrants. No Miranda rights. No due process. No phone call. No legal representation. No accountability. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bars government representatives from visiting detention facilities. Basically, ICE just disappears you. Separates families. Incarcerates children. And now they shoot you without cause.
Patrick Thompson, Media, pthompson612@gmail.com
Stand for freedom
At an “ICE Out for Good” protest in Philadelphia this weekend, I found myself surrounded by a diverse group of peaceful, patriotic people. Some signs made me laugh; some chants brought me to tears. Outside in the rain, I felt at home. I served for 14 years as a foreign service officer, a role that limited personal political activities. As a diplomat to a kingdom during the 2016 election, I was congratulated by locals; Donald Trump’s disregard for human rights resonated there.
I felt a sense of homesickness for the freedoms of my citizenship, which grew as I moved to countries that were more dangerous and less free. From one U.S. embassy compound, I could hear the government keeping protesters at bay with water cannons and live fire. I’ve seen masked security forces, abductions, communication blackouts, crowds tear-gassed, shipping container piles blocking roadways. To protect and expand our freedoms, we need to keep hold of our democratic experiment and fight for this country to live up to its promises. I know what state-sponsored repression looks like; we’re at a precipice, and we have everything to lose.
Maura O’Brien,Ardmore
Free pass
The Inquirer is to be commended for keeping the spotlight on the corruption, dishonesty, divisiveness, and authoritarianism of the Trump administration. However, the resulting destruction of our democracy, social stability, and relationships with the rest of the world would not occur were it not for the abdication of responsibility by U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick and his Republican colleagues in Congress. On every issue, McCormick is either silent or supportive, never critical. As such, he is complicit in all the madness that is going on. The Inquirer should not let the senator get a pass on his failure to live up to his constitutional responsibility to be a check against this runaway presidency.
Donald Kelly,Havertown
Factually speaking
I write in response to the recent letter to the editor in which the writer reprimands those of us who are not appropriately celebrating the invasion of Venezuela by crafting an argument devoid of a basis in facts. I doubt there are many, if any, people who view Nicolás Maduro as a legitimate leader who gives a whit about the Venezuelan people. He is a dictator who rigged his supposed election and is an alleged drug trafficker. We (as the writer called us) “pearl-clutching and bedwetting” Democrats, independents, and likely a fair number of Republicans, can all agree that any country deserves to be out of the clutches of a fascist, corrupt president. Many of us are feeling some kinship with the Venezuelan people and other oppressed citizens as we watch our own democracy being taken over by a similarly disturbing authoritarian regime.
To address the factual disinformation in this letter, the author states that Maduro is “responsible for magnitudes more American deaths than Osama bin Laden.” Really? Venezuela’s impact on drug deaths in the U.S. has been minimal. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl, the primary cause of overdose deaths, does not come from Venezuela at all. Fentanyl is almost entirely produced by and transported to the U.S. by Mexican criminal cartels, which get needed chemicals primarily from China. Venezuela is used as a transit region for cocaine from Colombia headed for Europe.
As for the comparison between Maduro and bin Laden, the latter founded the violent terrorist group al-Qaeda and launched attacks in multiple countries to further his goal of destroying America. From the late 1990s, al-Qaeda carried out attacks on American interests, including our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. His reign of terror reached an apex of horror with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed thousands of men, women, and children going about their ordinary lives. The attempt to paint Maduro as more dangerous to America than bin Laden is utterly fallacious, especially since Donald Trump has openly acknowledged that this was all about oil, which he intends to keep. The letter writer says we need to “get with the program” and applaud an imperialistic anti-constitutional invasion and a violation of international law. Isn’t this exactly what Russian President Vladimir Putin has done to Ukraine?
Diane C. Lucente,Delran
Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.
ARIES (March 21-April 19). You don’t waste time envying what a friend has when you can simply go out and get your own. It’s when you see something in the world that is not accessible to you that the pangs persist and then turn into something else entirely — motivation, then pure drive.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). A daily ritual is so much a part of feeling like yourself that if you were to skip it, all else would feel slightly askew. This is your ideal moment to level up the practice with a small improvement. It ripples out to the rest of your life.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). If you thought the gray areas were complex, wait until you get into the rest of the crayon box. But you’re the artist of this life. You know that every color can have its place and use in the picture — some you use a lot, some just a dot. You can make this work.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). There’s little to do but plenty to adjust to, which is the harder task. Flexibility is its own form of strength. Give yourself credit for your ability to adapt and settle in.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Just as nutritional needs vary from person to person, so do other needs such as novelty, social interaction, creative generation and physical exertion. So, don’t go by anyone else’s prescription. Only you know what feels right.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Knowledge is as bright as sunbeams and just as tricky to deliver. You can’t hand someone a sunbeam. When you organize your ideas around what lights you up, others come closer to absorb what you know.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You have an instinct about who you can trust, and it’s not always the one who is the right pick on paper. How you feel around people is more important than how their profile reads.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). In the echo chamber of the internet, with its crowdsourced consensus and recycled takes, you have a chance to offer something that wasn’t there before. People are hungry for what isn’t being said. You’re well positioned to say it.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). A well-supported idea in both therapy and relationship research is this: Psychological safety shows up as not having to perform your mood. In other words, the people who let you be you no matter what it looks like at the moment are treasures, and you really feel that today.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Your vitality makes you courageous, and your courage fills you with vitality, so the cycle keeps looping until your head hits the pillow tonight. By then, you’ll have a few stories to tell about this day, which is the happy consequence of your daring.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Maybe you’ll notice that you are the thing that is “not like the others” today, but that’s a good thing. Everything that is different about you is an asset, not a liability. You’ll elevate the scene you’re in just by being you, with minimal filtering.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). As spiritual awareness expands, the ego naturally contracts. Perspective grows and self-importance fades, replaced by curiosity, humility and connection. Today, there will be less of a need to prove, protect or perform, and yet you are more fully yourself.
TODAY’SBIRTHDAY (Jan. 14). This is your Year of Beauty Gone Wild in which you revel in the natural gifts around you. It manifests in enhanced vitality, in profoundly peaceful moments in travel, hobbies and habits. You were never more aware that you, too, are nature’s child empowered to accept what grows and flows through your world. More highlights: You’ll accomplish award-winning feats in a diverse team, you’ll do business all over the globe, and a special relationship will glow up your days. Leo and Libra adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 30, 2, 21, 14 and 8.
DEAR ABBY: I’m a 51-year-old mother and grandmother whose kids don’t talk to me. The reason: My son, “Aaron,” was sexually assaulted by his friend, “Eli,” and I told him his friend was no longer allowed to come over. I spoke to Eli’s mother. She told me she’d take care of it and agreed the two shouldn’t hang out. They were both underage at the time. (Aaron was 10, and Eli was 13.)
A few months later, Aaron told me that it wasn’t Eli but his own uncle “Joe” who sexually assaulted him. I knew better. I talked to Joe and, of course, he knew nothing. I told Aaron to stop lying about his uncle and that Eli still couldn’t come over.
Aaron is an adult now, and he’s got his siblings believing him about his uncle, and he’s still friends with Eli. My husband and I moved next door to Joe, and now all the kids have blocked me from their and their kids’ lives. When I tried to talk to Aaron about the situation, he blocked me completely. Joe knows nothing about what’s going on. How do I get back into my children’s and grandkids’ lives?
— TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
DEAR TURNED: Could the boys have been experimenting with getting familiar with their bodies when all this occurred? Did you see something and confront your son and he admitted it? Aaron may have blamed Uncle Joe because he wanted to continue seeing Eli. Or … was his accusation TRUE? You will not be able to heal the schism in your family until everyone is in agreement about what really happened when Aaron was 10.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: My older brother, age 70, is making his estate plans with his partner. We have no other siblings or children. I told him I’m financially secure and don’t need him to leave me anything, but he insisted on having my Social Security number, saying it’s needed for beneficiary bequests. I called him back before disclosing the information, because I wanted to make sure it was really him.
He later called me and asked for my passport number because his partner has assets in China, and the paperwork required more information. That was too much information for me, and I asked him to take me out of his bequests entirely. He fussed about having to contact the lawyer and change the trust information but said he would take care of it. Now, he’s no longer speaking to me.
Abby, my brother never disclosed that he would need anything beyond a Social Security number. Should I feel guilty about the added expense of editing his trust?
— TROUBLEMAKER SIS IN TEXAS
DEAR SIS: You should absolutely NOT feel guilty for refusing to reveal the information your brother was requesting! Are you SURE it was your brother calling and asking for this highly personal information and not a scammer? I ask because a beneficiary’s Social Security number and/or passport number is NOT REQUIRED when someone is being mentioned in a will, and I think you may have dodged a bullet.
Villanova picked up its fourth consecutive Big East road win Tuesday with an 88-82 victory at Providence.
Villanova (14-3, 5-1 Big East) was able to outscore Providence (8-9, 1-5), which entered the game averaging 89.1 points. Devin Askew led the Wildcats with 20 points and seven assists off the bench.
“I thought we did a good job in the first half of slowing them down,” coach Kevin Willard said. “We gave up a lot of twos, but once a game gets up and down, sometimes you’ve got to find ways to score. And I think against them, you’ve got to get up and down a little bit.”
The Friars were the highest-ranked KenPom offense (36th) Villanova has faced since its 89-61 loss to Michigan on Dec. 9. Providence’s leading scorer Jason Edwards, who is scoring 17.2 points per game, missed Tuesday’s matchup because of a foot injury.
Three Friars — Jaylin Sellers (24), Jamier Jones (23), and Stefan Vaaks (21 points) — combined for 68 of their 82 points.
“You’ve got to match [Providence’s] pace,” Willard said. “[Even] on the road, where I don’t like to do that. They just get out and go so well. And they have so many guys that can hurt you that you’ve got to take advantage and go right back down.”
The Wildcats collected 14 offensive rebounds, with Duke Brennan being responsible for five of them. Brennan totaled 14 points and eight rebounds.
Villanova shot 32-for-64 from the field, 10-for-28 beyond the arc.
Villanova guard Tyler Perkins, shown on Nov. 15, scored 15 points on Tuesday night.
Perkins is rejuvenated
Tyler Perkins scored 15 points for the Wildcats, shooting 6-for-12 from the field, along with eight rebounds.
He came up big in key moments, especially in the second half. Perkins scored on a post-up in the paint while Providence was trying to cut into Villanova’s double-digit lead.
“That was huge because that kind of got us back up [by eight points],” Willard said when asked about Perkins. “I thought [that] was huge at that point.”
Perkins is averaging 14.4 points and 5.4 rebounds on 48% shooting over the last five conference games.
Villanova’s bench helps drive offense
Outside of Askew, Villanova’s bench has been quiet offensively since conference play began. Askew scored eight points during a 10-0 scoring run early in the first half.
He has come off the bench in all of Villanova’s games this season besides the season opener against Brigham Young.
During conference play, Askew has developed into a veteran Willard can lean on in difficult moments. Askew is averaging 10.8 points over his last five games.
Malachi Palmer collected 10 points in the first half to tie his career high, which he set at Maryland last year.
“My mindset is just come in and play as hard as possible and whatever happens, happens,” Palmer said.
Being unselfish
Willard has consistently talked about the unselfishness of his team this season. Acaden Lewis has been the prime example of what Willard has harped on.
The four-time Big East Freshman of the Week dished out a team-high eight assists while scoring only seven points, marking his fourth consecutive and ninth overall game with six or more assists.
Villanova guard Acaden Lewis, shown last week against Creighton, had a team-high eight assists on Tuesday night.
As a whole, Villanova had 21 assists, its second-best total this season. The Wildcats had 28 against Sacred Heart on Nov. 11.
Six of eight Villanova players who played collected at least one assist.
Up next
Villanova will host St. John’s (12-5, 5-1) in its first game at the Xfinity Mobile Arena this season on Saturday (8 p.m., Peacock). St. John’s entered the season ranked in the AP Top 25 poll, but has since dropped out.
Villanova split the regular-season series with St. John’s last year.
David Zandstra, the former Marple Township pastor acquitted last year in the 1975 murder of an 8-year-old girl in Delaware County, has died, and a federal lawsuit has been filed alleging misconduct by two Pennsylvania State Police investigators in the case.
The lawsuit said the 85-year-old Zandstra, who lived in Georgia, “has passed and his family seek redress for this extreme and immoral prosecution.”
No further information about his death was included in the complaint. The Delaware County Daily Times, citing his death certificate, reported that Zandstra died Dec. 15 at a hospice, and the cause of death was skin cancer.
Mark Much, one of Zandstra’s lawyers during the trial but who is not an attorney on the lawsuit, said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday night that “Zandstra passed away last month, peacefully, and surrounded by his loving family.”
Much said that Zandstra “was a God-fearing man, unsuspecting and trustful of law enforcement, naive of their unscrupulous interrogation tactics, all in the name of ‘solving’ a cold case.”
The defendants in the lawsuit, filed Jan. 10 in Philadelphia, are Andrew Martin and Eugene Tray, who were the most recent state police investigators for Gretchen Harrington’s murder.
Gretchen Harrington, 8, was found dead in 1975.
Tray declined to comment on the lawsuit. Martin could not be reached for comment.
The plaintiff is Margaret Zandstra, the administrator of the estate of David Zandstra, who allegedly had his civil rights violated by the defendants, the lawsuit states.
Zandstra, who was held in custody for 18 months, was found not guilty in January 2025 by a Delaware County jury of murder and kidnapping in the killing of Gretchen Harrington. The jury took about an hour to deliberate after a four-day trial.
In 2023, Zandstra was charged after he confessed to driving Gretchen to a secluded section of Ridley Creek State Park and beating her to death. The lawsuit says the investigators “illegally coerced an admission of guilt from Mr. Zandstra, a then-83-year-old stroke and cancer survivor.”
Mark Much argued during the trial that state police investigators had coerced and manipulated Zandstra into confessing to a crime he did not commit. There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime and DNA found on Gretchen’s clothing belonged to two unidentified men and one unidentified woman.
Testimony during the trial revealed that before Zandstra’s confession, the state police had developed several other suspects in the decades since Gretchen’s body was found.
The lawsuit provides alleged details about what the investigators did before finally going after Zandstra.
“These Defendants caused evidence of the alternative suspects and Mr. Zandstra’s exclusion as a contributor of DNA to be withheld until the eve of trial, after Mr. Zandstra had been incarcerated and his cancer had returned and gone untreated,” according to the complaint.
Zandstra was the pastor at Trinity Chapel in Marple Township, a Christian reform church near the Harrington family home. On Aug. 15, 1975, Gretchen was last seen walking to the church for the final session of vacation Bible school before disappearing.
Her unclothed body was found two months later near a walking trail in Ridley Creek State Park. An autopsy revealed she died from blunt-force trauma to the head.
Deputy District Attorney Geoff Paine said during the trial that two state police investigators interviewed Zandstra after a woman who was a lifelong friend of Zandstra’s daughter told police in 2022 that he had groped her at a sleepover at his home in 1975, days before Gretchen’s disappearance. At the time, Paine said, the woman was the same age as Gretchen and looked like Gretchen.
Much told the jury that another suspect who was investigated was Gretchen’s sister, Zoe Harrington, who in 2021 claimed to have killed her sister with a rock during an incident involving her father, who was also a pastor, and members of the congregation he led.
Much said the state police at one point considered Harold Harrington, Gretchen’s father, a potential suspect. Harold Harrington died in 2021.
The prosecutor told the jury that Zoe Harrington’s confession wasn’t credible because she had a history of mental-health illness.
According to the lawsuit, Andrew Martin, one of the defendants, went to the first assistant district attorney in Montgomery County to seek a court order to allow a secretly recorded conversation between Zoe Harrington and her father, who was in poor health at the time.
After several interviews with Zoe Harrington — including with another state trooper who is not named as a defendant — Martin signed an application to the court for a wiretap authorization on Aug. 9, 2021, according to the lawsuit. The next day, however, Zoe Harrington allegedly backed out because she said she was too afraid.
The lawsuit states that when Martin and Tray provided their sworn affidavit supporting the arrest of Zandstra, they summarized their August 2021 activity in the investigation as: “On Aug. 9, 2021, investigators conducted an interview of Zoey HARRINGTON (sister of Gretchen HARRINGTON) relative to this investigation. Zoe HARRINGTON related that ZANDSTRA was the minister at the time, and his daughter was Gretchen’s best friend.”
The lawsuit also says the state police had another suspect, Richard Bailey, who was investigated in 2017. Bailey was a convicted child rapist and kidnapper, who was seen a mile from where Gretchen disappeared on the day she was abducted. Bailey died in state prison in the 1990s.
