Each Friday, Inquirer photo editors pick the best Philly sports images from the last seven days. This week, there’s nowhere better to start than on the hardwood with the boys’ and girls’ high school basketball playoffs in full swing. There’s plenty from the college game and Phillies spring training as well.
Everyone is asking the wrong question with regard to A.J. Brown.
It isn’t, “Should the Eagles trade him?”
It’s, “Who will replace him?”
You have to start there. It is the independent variable. You have to define it in order to solve the rest of the equation. You can’t have an opinion on how the Eagles should proceed with their All-Pro wide receiver if you don’t first have an opinion on what they should do without him.
Feel free to take as much time as you need. Just make sure that you don’t dwell too long on the internal options. Right now, there aren’t any.
Almost literally.
Aside from DeVonta Smith, the Eagles have exactly two pass-catchers under contract who had a target for them last season. Darius Cooper and Britain Covey combined for 11 catches on 112 yards. Other than that, your options are limited to 2024 sixth-round pick Johnny Wilson, who missed last season with a knee injury. The tight end room doesn’t even have anyone to turn on the lights.
So … what’s the plan?
The draft is not a serious option. Not where the Eagles are picking, at least. Last year’s draft yielded 11 wide receivers and tight ends who played at least 50% of their team’s snaps. Four of those players were selected before pick No. 23. Five others played for the Titans, Browns or Jets. Maybe they’ll be in a position to draft this year’s Emeka Egbuka (No. 19 to the Bucs in 2024). But they could just as easily end up with this year’s Matthew Golden (No. 23 to the Packers). The best way to get yourself in trouble on draft day is to try to solve this year’s problems.
That’s not to say they shouldn’t be looking. Nor that they won’t find some help. Alabama’s Germie Bernard would make a worthy target, even at No. 23. Whatever he measures at the combine, the game speed is there, as is the hybrid 6-foot-1, 204-pound frame. It isn’t outlandish to think he could do what Deebo Samuel did as a rookie after the 49ers drafted him at No. 36 overall in 2019: 57 catches, 802 yards, 14 carries, 159 yards. But to feel comfortable trading Brown, you need a lot more certainty than “isn’t outlandish.”
Free agents? Sure, let’s talk. Alec Pierce would be a no-brainer. At 25 years old, the Colts wideout caught 47 passes for 1,003 yards with Daniel Jones, Philip Rivers and Riley Leonard at quarterback. He isn’t anywhere close to Brown as a singular talent. Still, if you combine him with a draft pick like Bernard, he could be part of a radical and positive identity shift in both the short- and long-term.
Only one problem: The Eagles are one of 32 teams that can bid on free agents. A team like the Patriots can offer more cap room and a better quarterback and an acute need at the position. I’m skeptical the Eagles would win out.
The free agent crop is interesting even beyond Pierce and presumptive Cowboys franchisee George Pickens. Jauan Jennings and Mike Evans could replace some of Brown’s physicality in traffic and in 50/50 situations. Again, though, you have to wonder. Will players who have multiple options err on the side of a team with a run-heavy approach and Jalen Hurts at quarterback?
The conundrum is the same as it was three months ago, when the annual pre-trade-deadline nonsense reached its crescendo. The dream that the Eagles might part ways with their WR1 died in a head-first collision with reality. However disgruntled Brown was, however diminished his skills were, nobody else on the roster would have done enough in his stead to survive such a move. To suggest otherwise was to betray a fundamental misunderstanding of how this Eagles passing offense works. It would not have functioned without him.
True, the Eagles barely functioned with Brown. But that only matters if you think they should have given up on the season at the trade deadline. That’s what they would have been doing by trading Brown. Look at their track record without him. Brown missed four (meaningful) games in his first three seasons with the Eagles. The Eagles lost three of them, and they scored 15 points in the game that they won. In 2025, the Eagles scored 38 points against the Giants without Brown. They also threw the ball 20 times. Smith was the only wide receiver to catch more than one of them.
Plenty of NFL teams have managed to win without two WR1 types. But we’ve never seen Hurts have to do it. Right now, the Eagles don’t even have a WR2 who is better than replacement level. Keep in mind, the Eagles already have a hugely pressing need at tight end. They could need to spend big bucks to retain Jaelan Phillips, or to sign a replacement. In the draft, they will be hard-pressed to turn down an opportunity to add another offensive lineman to their feeder system.
The preponderance of the circumstances says the Eagles probably shouldn’t trade Brown. Life would be a lot easier if they didn’t need to. The onus is on the case for how they can do so and survive. If you can make one, I’m sure they’d love to hear it.
After the drama of the U.S. women’s ice hockey team’s come-from-behind win in the gold medal game Thursday, the spotlight now shifts to the men’s tournament for the rest of the Olympics.
The quality of the United States’ 2-1 overtime win over Sweden in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, and the other three games that day, showed why it’s so great to have NHL players back on the big stage.
On Friday, the tension will rise even more. The Americans will face a Slovakia squad that has just seven NHL players but topped a group with Sweden and Finland and routed Germany in the quarterfinals, 6-2.
The San Jose Sharks’ Pavol Regenda scored twice, and Flyers fans might recognize a few names from rival NHL teams: New Jersey’s Šimon Nemec, Washington’s Martin Fehérváry, and Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovský.
NBC will carry the U.S.-Slovakia game live at 3:10 p.m. Philadelphia time. USA Network will have the other semifinal, a star-studded Canada-Finland matchup, joining it in progress at 11:50 a.m. It starts at 10:40 a.m., with the entire game streamed on Peacock.
Other big events Friday include a U.S.-Switzerland women’s curling semifinal, starting at 8 a.m. on Peacock. USA will join it in progress at 8:45. It’s the first time that a U.S. women’s curling team has made an Olympic semifinal in 24 years — and this group includes a Delaware County native, Broomall’s Taylor Anderson-Heide.
There’s also women’s speedskating’s 1,500 meters. The United States’ Brittany Bowe will hope to challenge Dutch star Femke Kok, who won gold in the 500 meters and silver in the 1,000. Bowe might also hope for a little stardust from her new fiancée, U.S. women’s hockey star Hilary Knight, after Knight popped the question in Milan earlier this week.
As a general rule, our schedules include all live broadcasts on TV, but not tape-delayed broadcasts on cable channels. We’ll let you know what’s on NBC’s broadcasts, whether live or not.
NBC’s TV coverage will have live events from noon to 5 p.m. Philadelphia time on weekdays and starting in the mornings on the weekends. There’s a six-hour time difference between Italy and here. The traditional prime-time coverage will have highlights of the day and storytelling features.
As far as the TV channels, the Olympics are airing on NBC, USA, CNBC, and NBCSN. Spanish coverage can be found on Telemundo and Universo.
NBCSN is carrying the Gold Zone whip-around show that was so popular during the Summer Olympics in 2024, with hosts including Scott Hanson of NFL RedZone. It used to be just on Peacock, NBC’s online streaming service, but now is on TV, too.
Every event is available to stream live on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app. You’ll have to log in with your pay-TV provider, whether cable, satellite, or streaming platforms including YouTube TV, FuboTV, and Sling TV.
On Peacock, the events are on the platform’s premium subscription tier, which starts at $10.99 per month or $109.99 per year.
Here is the full event schedule for the entire Olympics, and here are live scores and results.
A high-stakes fight is brewing between President Donald Trump’s administration and states such as Pennsylvania and New Jersey over the regulation of prediction markets, the online platforms that allow users to wager on everything from sports and elections to the weather.
States that have legalized sports betting in recent years say prediction markets amount to unauthorized gambling, putting consumers at risk and threatening tax revenues generated by regulated entities like casinos.
But the Trump administration this week said the federal government was the appropriate regulator, siding with the industry’s argument that the markets’ “event contracts” are financial derivatives that allow investors to hedge against risks.
The chair of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tuesday said the CFTC had filed a brief in federal court to “defend its exclusive jurisdiction” to oversee these markets, amid litigation between state governments and platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.
Prediction markets “provide useful functions for society by allowing everyday Americans to hedge commercial risks like increases in temperature and energy price spikes,” CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said in a video posted on X.
New Jersey collected more than $880 million in gaming tax revenues last year, while Pennsylvania brought in almost $3 billion, according to regulators. The revenues fund property tax relief programs and the horse racing industry, as well as programs for senior citizens and disabled residents.
Pennsylvania’s gaming regulator has previously warned that prediction markets risk “creating a backdoor to legalized sports betting,” without strict oversight.
The state Gaming Control Board’s Office of Chief Counsel told The Inquirer Wednesday that it sees a distinction between certain futures markets — like those for agricultural commodities, which have long been regulated by the CFTC — and “event contracts” tied to “the outcome of a random Wednesday night NBA basketball game.”
Representatives for Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gov. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, both Democrats, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
But former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — a Republican who worked to legalize sports betting while in office and who’s now advising the American Gaming Association — said Tuesday on X that the Trump administration is trying to “grow the size of the federal government & their own power while trying to crush states rights and take advantage of our citizens.”
Beyond the courts, the GOP-led Congress could also choose to step in. Some Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns about a “Wild West” in prediction markets, notwithstanding Trump’s support for the industry.
Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) welcomed the CFTC’s announcement, writing on X that prediction markets “offer tremendous benefits to consumers and businesses.”
“A consistent, uniform framework for derivatives is essential to supporting U.S. markets,” he said.
The CFTC’s action means the federal government is backing an industry in which the Trump family has a financial stake. The agency’s brief supports Crypto.com, a platform that last year partnered with the Trump family’s social media company to launch a prediction market.
Ethics experts have said the Trump family’s ties to Crypto.com create a conflict of interest. The White House denies that and says the president’s holdings are in a trust controlled by his children.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 struck down a federal law that prohibited sports betting in most states, paving the way for states to legalize it. Pennsylvania and New Jersey both enacted laws authorizing sports gambling and imposing requirements on betting operators such as taxation on gaming revenues, consumer protection rules, and licensing fees.
Despite state laws, prediction markets now operate nationwide — even in states that prohibit gambling altogether, like Utah.
New York-based Kalshi launched its platform in 2021. The CFTC initially opposed Kalshi’s election-related contracts, but in the fall of 2024 the company won a case in which courts found the regulator failed to show how the platform’s “event contracts” would harm the public interest. Kalshi users proceeded to trade more than $500 million on the “Who will win the Presidential Election?” market.
Then came sports contracts. In January 2025, following the CFTC’s protocols, Kalshi “self-certified” that its contracts tied to the outcome of sports games complied with relevant laws.
The company has since offered event contracts on everything from the Super Bowl to Olympic Male Curling. Some established sportsbooks like Fanatics and DraftKings have also jumped into prediction markets.
About 90% of Kalshi’s trading volume is tied to sports, the Associated Press reported.
States have tried to intervene. In March, New Jersey’s gaming regulator ordered Kalshi to cease and desist operations in the Garden State, alleging the company issued unauthorized sports wagers in violation of the law and state Constitution.
Kalshi filed a lawsuit, and a federal court issued an injunction prohibiting New Jersey from pursuing enforcement actions. Kalshi and other platforms have filed suits against other states, and courts have issued conflicting rulings.
The CFTC said it filed a brief in one such suit this week.
“To those who seek to challenge our authority in this space, let me be clear: we’ll see you in court,” Selig, the Trump-appointed CFTC chairman, said Tuesday.
It could ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
At issue is whether the “event contracts” offered by prediction markets amount to gambling — regulated by states — or, as Selig says, financial instruments “that allow two parties to speculate on future market conditions without owning the underlying asset.”
Platforms like Kalshi say they are similar to stock exchanges, where people on both sides of a trade can meet — and therefore subject to federal regulation of commodities. Unlike a casino, the platforms say, they don’t win when customers lose.
Pennsylvania regulators see it differently.
The state Gaming Control Board told The Inquirer Wednesday that it takes issue with “‘prediction markets’ allowing any consumer, age 18 years old or older, to purchase a ‘contract’ on any potential future event occurring, even when that event does not have any broad economic impact or consequence, such as the outcome of a random Wednesday night NBA basketball game.”
(Under Pennsylvania law, gambling is limited to those who are 21 or older.)
“The Board believes that is not what the Commodities Exchange Act contemplated when it was enacted by Congress and established the CFTC and is, in fact, gambling,” the board’s Office of Chief Counsel said in a statement.
If the courts side with the Trump administration, states worry that tax revenues from regulated sportsbooks would fall and customers would be vulnerable to markets they say are easily exploited by insiders.
“If prediction markets successfully carve themselves out of the ‘gaming’ definition, they risk creating a parallel wagering ecosystem where bets on sports outcomes occur with significantly less oversight regarding potential match-fixing,” Kevin F. O’Toole, executive director of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, wrote in an October letter to the state’s congressional delegation.
For example, the gaming board has the ability to penalize licensed operators if they violate state regulations, O’Toole wrote, “something that an operator who ‘self-certifies’ their contracts/wagers [under CFTC rules] would never be subjected to.”
O’Toole said the board’s regulatory role in this area is limited to sports wagering, but he added that markets on non-sports related events — he cited examples from Polymarket such as whether there will be a civil war in the United States this year — are equally “if not more troubling.”
The CFTC says it is capable of overseeing the industry. “America is home to the most liquid and vibrant financial markets in the world because our regulators take seriously their obligation to police fraud and institute appropriate investor safeguards,” Selig wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece this week.
This week’s Shackamaxon is all about the numbers.
As I write this column, that’s Philadelphia’s total number of homicides for the year so far. It is a 50% decrease from this time in 2025, and a stunning 79% drop from the pandemic-era spike in violence. While it is much too early to make projections, and snowy and freezing weather the last few weeks undoubtedly played a role in keeping people indoors, the decline is genuinely remarkable. Especially when it is accompanied by a similar decline in shooting victims, and double-digit declines in overall violent and property crimes.
In fact, on a per-capita basis, Philadelphia’s homicide rate is currently not that different from Bucks County’s.
Given the city just notched its safest year since the 1960s, this progress is exciting. So far, no one has an explanation for why homicide is declining. It may simply be a national trend back to normalcy. If so, it is time to extend it to more parts of life.
Killings may be down, but homelessness is rising. SEPTA’s Metro system is still overrun with smokers. And the melting snow has revealed that much of the city is covered in too much everyday grime.
That’s how many additional minutes trolley trips to Media could take after implementing something called “communications-based train control” at a cost of $75 million. This system takes away discretion from operators, resulting in slower acceleration, longer braking periods, and slower overall speeds. SEPTA says a similar installation on its Regional Rail system also led to initial delays, but those challenges were overcome in time.
There’s a better solution. SEPTA should restore the gate system that was removed back in 2009. This would eliminate many of the needed slowdowns.
That’s how many daily rides SEPTA provided on average last month, an increase of 1% over 2025. Given the struggles the agency went through last year, the fact that ridership continues to grow is remarkable.
In August, SEPTA scaled back overall service by 20%, before reversing the cuts weeks later under court order — and after a gubernatorial funds transfer. State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman essentially called the agency (and our entire region) a bunch of greedy moochers and blocked a plan for sustainable support.
The Regional Rail network was severely curtailed for months because of aging, exploding train cars. The Center City trolley tunnel was closed for weeks because of maintenance issues. In January, a brutal winter storm made getting to — and on — the bus a struggle. And yet, ridership grew.
In fact, since the pandemic, SEPTA has routinely been one of America’s strongest transit agencies when it comes to ridership growth. Given there have been zero additional dollars invested in operations for years, the system’s resilience may prove that Philadelphians need mass transit so badly that they’re willing to keep riding through the chaos.
That’s how much investment, in billions of dollars from pharmaceutical companies, is coming to Eastern Pennsylvania, according to Gov. Josh Shapiro. While this is great news for the Keystone State, it’s hard to avoid noticing that none of these investments are coming to Philadelphia itself. Neither is Merck’s $1 billion new biotech center, which is being built in Delaware. Given our city’s status as a hub for eds and meds — with multiple colleges and medical schools, and a high concentration of skilled workers — this is disappointing.
That figure, also in billions of dollars, is how much economic growth Pennsylvania needs in order to bridge the deficit without raising taxes or cutting services, according to an analysis by Athan Koutsiouroumbas, managing director of the Harrisburg-based lobbying and consulting firm Long Nyquist.
The easiest way to accomplish this is by being bolder on housing policy. As Shapiro has pointed out, Pennsylvania is currently 44th in the nation when it comes to new housing production. Unfortunately, current plans aren’t bold enough to meet the moment. They lack the significant forays into statewide zoning standards that have been embraced by figures like Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Shapiro likes to say he’s tired of losing to “frigging Ohio,” but without a more audacious approach to housing policy, he may have to add “frigging Illinois” to the list of states eating our lunch.
If we’re being optimistic, let’s call it almost 14%. That’s how much job growth Philadelphia has experienced since 2020. That’s better than the 11.7% average for the nation’s 25 most populous counties. It is better than the collar counties, and puts Philadelphia ahead of Montgomery County in office employment for the first time in decades.
Still, economist Mark Zandi urges caution. In the pages of The Inquirer, he points out that much of this has to do with the fact that the national economy is struggling. Given the city has lagged on growth for decades, even incremental steps forward may look more significant here than elsewhere.
There’s also the fact that much of this growth is in relatively low-paid work, rather than the high-wage “tradeable industries” the city needs to escape decades of economic stagnation.
Simply put, while working as a home health aide and working in a drone factory both put food on the table, only the latter helps make the regional economy healthier.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — On the eve of spring training games, an annual reminder: They don’t count.
Not really. Stats are kept, but mostly as a formality. Hits don’t carry over into the season. Strikeouts are little more than a sugar rush for a pitcher. Win some, lose some, even tie some, and everyone’s record resets on March 25.
What do you do, then, if you’re Dylan Moore? A veteran of seven major league seasons, the 33-year-old utility man must have a good camp to make the Phillies’ opening-day roster after signing a minor-league contract 17 days ago.
Try telling him Grapefruit League games aren’t really real.
“To make an impression, you’ve got to be able to take it seriously and play it like it’s a game that’s meaningful,” Moore said Thursday after facing pitchers in live batting practice. “Because it is, you know? You want to see where you’re at, which is why you never want to go less than [full effort] just because it doesn’t matter. But yeah, it’s a balancing act.”
The Phillies will play 30 spring training games, including a March 4 exhibition against Canada’s entry in the World Baseball Classic. That’s a lot of faux innings for a team that has few jobs up for grabs.
Here, then, is an attempt to answer a few roster questions entering Saturday’s opener against the Blue Jays in neighboring Dunedin, based on reporting from the first eight days of camp:
Zack Wheeler played catch from 120 feet the other day and is scheduled to do so again Friday while incorporating more spin on the ball. The Phillies haven’t said when he will progress to a mound.
“He’s doing very well,” manager Rob Thomson said.
But nothing has changed. Five months after having a rib removed to relieve pressure on a vein that was compressed between his collarbone and rib cage, Wheeler won’t be ready to start the season on time, which creates a vacancy in the starting rotation.
Upon returning from the World Baseball Classic, Cristopher Sánchez (Dominican Republic), Aaron Nola (Italy), and Taijuan Walker (Mexico) will join Jesús Luzardo in the starting rotation. Nobody will say it, but the last spot is Andrew Painter’s to lose.
Painter didn’t pitch in 2023 or ’24 because of a torn elbow ligament that necessitated Tommy John surgery. But after a healthy, 118-inning season in the minors, most of which came in triple A, he’s unburdened by usage restrictions this spring.
Ideally, the Phillies want Painter to not only earn his spot but also to keep it once Wheeler returns. Either way, it’s time for the 22-year-old (turning 23 in April) to step forward.
“Obviously Painter had a tough year in triple A,” Bryce Harper said, referring to a 5.40 ERA in 22 starts. “That first year coming back from Tommy John is really tough. I’m hoping he bounces back this year. We need him to.”
Get to know this name: Kyle Backhus.
The Phillies acquired Backhus from the Diamondbacks for a minor-league outfielder on the same day in December that they sent Matt Strahm to the Royals for reliever Jonathan Bowlan. Backhus has minor league options, but Thomson mentioned him last month as a bullpen candidate.
And the hitters, including Trea Turner, who faced Backhus in live batting practice Thursday were impressed with the sidearming lefty, who had a 4.62 ERA in 32 games last season for Arizona.
“They said he was tough to pick up,” Thomson said. “He starts from the third base side. He’s a crossfire guy. It’s a really low slot, so you don’t see that. It’s tough, really tough to pick up.”
The Phillies haven’t had a lefty reliever with such a low arm slot in years. Thomson would like a third lefty in the bullpen, although he said it isn’t a necessity. Backhus would fit in behind José Alvarado and Tanner Banks.
Orion Kerkering has been slowed in camp by a hamstring injury. But health permitting, closer Jhoan Duran, Brad Keller, Alvarado, Kerkering, Banks, and Bowlan have seats in the bullpen.
That leaves two spots for a pool of candidates, including Rule 5 pick Zach McCambley and out-of-options righty Zach Pop. Veteran lefty Tim Mayza and righty Lou Trivino are also in camp as nonroster invitees.
But Backhus might have the early inside track.
“Backhus is a completely different look for people,“ Thomson said. ”You want good stuff, you want strikes, but when you have different looks like that, it makes it a lot better.”
All the health-related caveats apply, but the opening-day lineup appears set: J.T. Realmuto (catcher), Harper (first base), Bryson Stott (second base), Turner (shortstop), Alec Bohm (third base), Brandon Marsh (left field), rookie Justin Crawford (center field), Adolis García (right field), and Kyle Schwarber (designated hitter).
Edmundo Sosa and Otto Kemp are expected to claim seats on the bench, with another going to incumbent backup catcher Rafael Marchán or veteran Garrett Stubbs.
That leaves one spot.
Johan Rojas would provide speed on the bases and elite outfield defense, although the latter is less important without Nick Castellanos in right field. Marsh, Crawford, and García are all solid defenders. Also, Rojas has minor-league options and might benefit from everyday at-bats in triple A.
Veteran outfielder Bryan De La Cruz has 58 career major league homers, seven of which came against the Phillies. De La Cruz and Pedro Leon are intriguing right-handed bats, but Sosa and Kemp bat from the right side. And as outfielders, De La Cruz and Leon lack positional versatility.
And then there’s Moore, who has played everywhere except catcher and won a Gold Glove as a utility man for the Mariners in 2023. He said he signed with the Phillies to work with hitting coach Kevin Long. But he also recognized an opportunity.
“In past experience, having two utility guys — one who’s more depth to infield and one who’s more depth to outfield — is huge,“ Moore said. ”A guy that can do both is great. Sosa plays an awesome infield everywhere you put him, so maybe I could be more of the outfield guy.
“This has been my career in a nutshell — play some, play not so much, and just stay ready. I feel like I’ve gotten pretty good at it, and I still have more in me.”
With Harper, Schwarber, Sosa, and Rojas away at the WBC next month, there will be ample opportunity for Moore to prove it.
And that’s the meaning of spring training games.
The Flyers and Penn Medicine have partnered up to donate 13,750 pounds of food, which accounts for over 9,000 meals, so far this season as part of their Penn Medicine Assist program.
The initiative, which started during the 2023-24 season, donates 50 pounds of food to local hunger-relief organization Philabundance for every Flyers assist — increasing last year’s amount by 20 pounds per assist. So far, the Flyers have tallied 275 assists.
“We needed to do more, plain and simple,” said Todd Glickman, the chief revenue and business officer for Comcast Spectacor. “We felt like we needed to do more and give more because food insecurity is such a big thing in the region. It was important to Penn Medicine and it was important to us. And it was an easy thing to do.”
The program’s numbers continue to grow each year. During the 2023-24 season, the Flyers’ 396 assists donated 11,880 pounds of food. The following year, the Flyers’ 403 assists donated 12,090 pounds of food — making it over 37,000 pounds of food, and over 25,000 meals, that have been donated over the last three years.
“I think we’ll see the numbers go up significantly from last year just by increasing the amount by 20 pounds per assist,” said Lori Gustave, the chief strategy officer of Penn Medicine. “I personally hope they get a lot of assists so that we can donate a lot of food.”
The initiative will benefit Philabundance, which has been operating for 41 years, growing across two states in nine counties, with the mission to bridge the gap between a surplus of food and those in the community struggling with food insecurity.
The foundation started from the back of Pam Rainey Lawler’s Subaru in 1984. Since then, it has grown tremendously — delivering over 40 million pounds of food to the community over the past year.
“Of the nine counties, which includes Philadelphia, there are approximately 700,000 neighbors that are food insecure,” said Amy Galette, the director of corporate relations at Philabundance. “If you think about the amount of people we serve a week, it’s enough to fill five stadiums full during Flyers games. It’d be like selling out five Flyers games per week.”
As part of last year’s Penn Medicine Assist program, Gritty and some of the Flyers players, including Jamie Drysdale and Bobby Brink, joined the assembly line at Philabundance to help package some of the meals.
“It was fun,” Brink said. “I mean it was nice to get a little day-in-the-life kind of vibe and help out. The environment was great, a lot of great people, and it’s always nice just giving a few hours to help.”
Drysdale added: “We are very fortunate to be in this position that we’re in. And I don’t think it takes a lot for us to give a few hours wherever we can to kind of help out and just show some love back to the community that treats us so well.”
The Philadelphia Housing Authority embarked on a strategy last year unlike anything it has done before.
The agency is known as the largest affordable housing provider in the city. But in 2025, under the leadership of CEO Kelvin Jeremiah, it began buying struggling private-sector apartment buildings all over the city to expand the affordable housing supply.
Over the last 14 months, the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) has spent $280.6 million to acquire 17 multifamily properties, totaling 1,515 units. Some have been student apartments or largely empty new buildings. But most have been full of tenants paying market-rate rents, ranging from $1,106 to $2,323.
That’s a new demographic for PHA, whose renter base often makes less than $30,000 a year.
PHA plans to fill these buildings with Section 8 voucher holders, who often have a difficult time finding rentals in higher income areas.
“It’s part of the strategy … to give residents the broadest possible options in terms of their housing choice and one that is not limited to particular neighborhoods,” Jeremiah said.
In an innovation, the agency intends to keep renting some units in the newly acquired buildings at the market rate, using the income to support operating expenses.
The first PHA purchase in 2025 was The Dane, a 233-unit building in Wynnefield. It now houses some tenants paying market-rate rents and others using government subsidies.
Last year, several tenants contacted The Inquirer with concerns about what they described as a rocky transition to PHA ownership. Since then, interviews with 18 tenants at The Dane have laid out challenges within PHA’s new model — and the potential difficulty of retaining renters with options elsewhere.
Eighty-six people have moved out of The Dane over the last year. That’s about half the original occupants as the building was only 75% occupied when purchased.
The overwhelming majority of tenants interviewed by The Inquirer said PHA is a better landlord than the previous owner, Cross Properties. But most have moved out or are planning to.
“The management staff that are there now are better than what we had, but they’re still pretty mediocre,” said one resident, who, like many of the tenants, asked that their name be withheld to preserve relations in the building.
“Everybody’s very polite; everybody’s very cordial, but it’s only maybe one or two maintenance people,” this multiyear resident said. “The trash pileup is very bad right now … I plan to move elsewhere.”
Jeremiah noted that most of the properties PHA acquired have not experienced the kind of turnover that The Dane has seen. The building is now almost completely occupied with both market-rate and subsidized tenants, said a PHA spokesperson.
He said some tenants moved out after the agency began collecting rent again. Many had been withholding payments to Cross, which lacked a rental license at the end of its tenure.
It’s possible that the turnover at The Dane is largely the result of a difficult property transfer from a troubled previous owner. (Cross Properties is no longer in business.) In that case, the tenant exodus may not be a predictor for PHA’s larger ambitions.
But given the skepticism PHA faces in many neighborhoods, outside observers say, the agency’s new expansion strategy faces high expectations to get everything right.
“PHA is under a tremendous amount of pressure,” said Akira Rodriguez, a professor of housing policy at the University of Pennsylvania. “There’s going to be experiences that are uneven for tenants as they navigate this new model of housing provision … [and The Dane] is a really high visibility example.”
In November 2024, residents of The Dane were fed up. Their hot water wasn’t working — again — in apartments where many households paid over $2,000 a month in rent.
“The owner [Cross Properties] was not the best,” said Akeesha Washington, who has lived in The Dane since 2020. “He just didn’t maintain the building. Over the years, you saw the amenities dwindle.”
Cross Properties acquired the building in 2016 when it was the Penn Wynn House and converted the rent-subsidized building into market-rate apartments.
When Washington moved in, she was impressed. The staff were kind to her in 2020 when she contracted COVID-19. They coordinated care with Washington’s mother so she had access to medication without infecting anyone.
“It was a really nice community. It’s luxury in the 19131 section, where not everyone feels like they can afford it,” said Washington, who loves the diversity of the tenants, which included university students, working-class residents, and doctors and lawyers.
“You had so many layers of people living and coexisting in this building,” Washington recalled. Rents ranged from $1,100 for a studio to $2,200 for a two-bedroom unit with two bathrooms.
But by 2024, most tenants said, building management had fallen off. Trash wasn’t picked up regularly; lawns went unmowed and snow unshoveled, and basic amenities like the parking garage door often didn’t work.
Shortly after another hot water outage, tenants got news in late 2024 that Cross Properties was out.
“When residents heard it was being acquired, we were excited because we won’t have to deal with not having hot water, especially during the holidays,” Washington said.
When PHA purchased The Dane, the building had many unresolved issues, said Tonya Looney, who worked for Cross Properties as the building’s manager. And she said there was scarce planning for the details of the transfer.
“To be fair, this is something new and I understand from a real estate professional’s perspective that there’s going to be hiccups,” said Looney, who stopped working at The Dane last May, although she still manages 15 apartments for long-term corporate stays in the building.
Looney is in a legal dispute with PHA, which says she owes substantial back rent. “We do not intend to renew the leases that she has in her name,” Jeremiah said. “I do not think she is a good arbiter of the facts in this case.”
Both Jeremiah and Looney say that after the sale closed, Cross Properties shut down the operating software, cutting off tenants’ ability to pay rent online, see their rental histories, and submit maintenance requests.
“We had 200 people with no way to log in to pay their rent, no way to submit a maintenance ticket, no idea who to talk to about any issues at the building unless they came downstairs to see what’s going on,” Looney said. “Needless to say, it was chaotic.”
For much of 2025, residents had to pay with checks, which sometimes went uncashed, according to Washington and Looney.
Jeremiah says that Cross Properties’ owner asked PHA to pay to access the former tenant management system, although PHA eventually figured out how to get the records.
Despite the chaotic transition, many tenants said PHA’s ownership brought improvements from previous conditions, especially after Maryland-based HH Redstone was brought in to operate The Dane in August. (That’s when online payments, for example, started working again.)
“HH Redstone is doing what they can, and I’ve re-signed my lease for one year because I am willing to see what change they can continue to make,” said another tenant who asked not to be named.
Other tenants say property services continue to suffer.
Trash pickup is still persistently late, several tenants said. Pest outbreaks such as bedbug, mouse, and cockroach infestations flare up, which is new in the building, according to Washington and two other tenants. The dog washing station and the dog run are often messy. The garage door continues to break down. This winter, a rash of burglaries spooked residents.
Jeremiah said PHA is addressing these concerns, and in some cases — such as the dirty dog run — residents are expected to clean up after themselves. He also noted that the agency installed 24-hour security.
“The idea that this is a new phenomenon to that building, given where it’s located, is just nonsense,” Jeremiah said of the security concerns. “We have a very robust set of layered access control systems in place [and] CCTVs.”
As PHA was negotiating to buy The Dane, it also sought to save the Brith Sholom House, a dilapidated nearby senior complex linked to a national fraud scheme. After assessing the depths of the building’s issues, PHA determined that to repair it, tenants would have to move out.
When they first arrived at The Dane, some elderly residents were not getting the care they need, Washington said.
One man she ran into frequently often smelled of urine and would walk around with visibly wet pants. She said building management addressed the issues by spraying Febreze on benches the tenant used after he left an area. He has since died.
Another man screamed for help from his balcony and has since been moved out of the building.
“We are very used to all kinds of things happening here, from the students being wild to elderly being wild, but not to the level of being unable to take care of themselves,” Washington said.
Jeremiah says that PHA keeps tabs on the rehoused Brith Shalom residents — who previously were living with no oversight, although there are limits to what it can do. He encouraged tenants to report anyone who needs aid.
“We provide a robust set of social services to residents we inherited at Brith Shalom,” Jeremiah said. “PHA is not a healthcare provider. We are a housing provider, though we provide access to opportunities for residents who are interested in aging in place.”
A former Brith Shalom resident had no complaints with The Dane and praised PHA for the improvements in his life.
“I have no problem with them. I’m happy,” said Barry Brahn, who is blind and has AIDS. “They’re slow at getting things fixed, but they can only do so much and they’ll eventually get on it.”
Some aspects of the rocky transition from Cross Properties to PHA have eased. Since October, tenants were able to pay their rent online and submit maintenance requests. Washington says she does not see obviously distressed elderly residents any longer.
But tensions remain.
“The transition to PHA has been challenging, and their communication has been sorely lacking,” said Lanese Rogers, who has lived in The Dane for two years. “As someone who pays unsubsidized rent, they deal with us in a condescending manner.”
Jeremiah says he believes some of the pushback against PHA is due to class prejudice and bias against subsidized tenants.
“I don’t believe that there is anywhere any Philadelphian, whether or not they’re high income, middle income, low income, shouldn’t be permitted to live,” Jeremiah said.
He is committed to providing accessibility and affordability throughout the city, he said, and he hopes to retain mixed-income residency in newly acquired buildings with existing tenants.
So far at The Dane, many of the market-rate tenants are leaving.
“If I could pick up my apartment and move it to another location, I would,” Rogers said. “The building is changing, and I don’t like the direction it’s moving in.”
I am an avid Eagles fan. I was convinced they would be in the Super Bowl this year, but it was not to be. However, I still love to watch the game and did so a couple of weekends ago with friends and family.
For millions of Americans, Super Bowl Sunday is a welcome day of celebration. This year’s game was watched by about 125 million people. In any given year, many Americans take “sick days” on the Monday after the game, including this year: An estimated 26 million people were expected to miss work, up from 16 million in 2025 when the Birds won.
Here’s an idea: Instead of holding the Super Bowl on the second Sunday in February, the NFL should move the game to the third Sunday of the month. Why? The following day is Presidents Day, a national holiday, always observed on the third Monday of February — and a day in which millions of Americans don’t have to go to work.
The number of people taking part in “Super Sick Monday” would be greatly reduced, and it would be a change welcomed by many.
Ed Vreeswyk, Yardville
While the Trump administration continues to fail to keep the Jeffrey Epstein scandal out of the headlines, I keep thinking of my favorite Maya Angelou quote: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”
As director of Sudan and South Sudan Programs at the U.S. Agency for International Development, my firsthand experience of the Epstein class came in the form of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The U.S. Department of Justice’s latest release of the Epstein files featured more than 1,000 mentions of Musk.
As the president, another one of the Epstein files’ main characters, allowed the unelected billionaire to go about “feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” Marco Rubio promised USAID’s “lifesaving” programming would be spared. My colleagues and I desperately argued that our work saved lives. It wasn’t a hard case to make — Sudan and South Sudan represent two of the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophes.
By the end of February 2025, DOGE had cut 90% of USAID’s programming. Estimates indicate approximately 762,000 people have died, including more than 500,000 children. One study warns that the dismantling of USAID could lead to more than 14 million deaths by 2030.
These lives, like the lives of those trafficked by Epstein, were of no consequence to the Epstein class. They have shown us who they are. We need to believe them.
Maura O’Brien, Ardmore
The present administration has worked hard to discredit science and remove scientific researchers from any government positions. They have labeled climate change as a liberal hoax and claimed that children receive too many vaccinations. Measles, all but eradicated, has made a strong resurgence. As a result of this “war on science,” more than 10,000 science workers have left the government. In an effort to profit from these foolish policy decisions, the European Union has created a fund to attract these scientists to Europe. We are driving away the occupations that have created the greatness that was America.
Edward Hackett, Phoenixville
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.
DEAR ABBY: I met “Bobbie” when we were in college in the early 1970s. We fell in love, got married, and stayed together for seven years. Things changed; our divorce was amicable. We went on to successful professional lives and happy second marriages. We stayed in touch over the years, mostly through holiday cards.
A few years ago, I started getting emails from Bobbie about things and ideas we shared together. She lost her husband earlier this year, and I lost my wife about the same time. I stopped by to see her last summer during a visit with some other friends, and we had a nice visit over brunch. She looked good.
Would I be crazy to see if I could rekindle our relationship after 50 years? She lives a long way away now, but I’ve thought several times about moving back to the area where I grew up. It’s clear we still share the ideals of our youth, and I’ll admit I’ve always had a soft spot for her. I don’t have much to offer these days, but I get kind of lonely.
— LOOKING BACK IN WYOMING
DEAR LOOKING BACK: I don’t think it would be crazy at all to explore rekindling your relationship with her, but please take your time. If you want to move back to the area where you grew up, keep that issue separate from the romance. It would be unfortunate if you relocated, things didn’t work out as you hoped, you had given up all of your social contacts and you had to start completely over solo.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: My son married my daughter’s best friend, “Kayla.” I have loved this young lady since she was a little girl. When Kayla became part of the family, I was overjoyed.
Kayla and my son now have had a baby, and I am not allowed to see the child. The only people who get to see the baby are Kayla’s mother and her mother’s family. Kayla’s parents are divorced, so her father doesn’t see his grandchild often either, but it’s far more often than my husband and I do. I wrote a text to my son. It wasn’t a nice one, but please remember I haven’t been able to see my grandchild.
I don’t know what to do. I’m heartbroken. I did tell them I was sorry and I shouldn’t have written what I did, but they still keep me at arm’s length. In addition, they have just announced that I’m going to be a grandmother again.
I’m not overjoyed about the news, knowing what it’s been like with this first child. I’m sure it will be more of the same with the new baby. I love my grandchildren and their parents, but I’m tired of being the bad guy. Advice?
— KEPT AWAY IN TENNESSEE
DEAR KEPT AWAY: It is not unusual for new mothers to gravitate toward their own mothers after the birth of a child. Why do I suspect there may be more to this estrangement than one nasty text written to your son? I wish you had mentioned what may have caused a rift between you and Kayla, whom you say you have loved since she was a little girl.
Because apologizing to your son and daughter-in-law was not enough to assuage their anger, you are finally going to have to accept that this regrettable situation is one you cannot change on your own.