Fairmount’s pup-friendly pub the Boozy Mutt is closing its doors Jan. 3 after just over two years in business, co-owners Sam and Allison Mattiola announced via Instagram on Monday.
“After much thought, we made the difficult decision to close the Boozy Mutt … What began as a dream became something truly special because of our community — our guests, our team, and all the good mutts who walked through our doors,” read the post, which has been shared over 1,400 times. Nearly every comment is from a dejected dog parent wishing for another round of beer and belly rubs.
The Mattiolas, who are married, opened the Boozy Mutt at 2639 Poplar St. in December 2023, transforming former rock-and-roll dive the North Star into roughly 7,000 square feet for pooches and their people to roam across two floors and an outdoor patio. The venture was inspired by pandemic-era trips to a dog park with Bernadoodle Buba, where the couple would camp out with lawn chairs and a pack of beers to make friends.
At the Mutt, as regulars called it, dogs are allowed to mingle off-leash under the supervision of aptly-named “Rufferees” who monitor and facilitate healthy play. All owners had to register their pet’s vaccinations before gaining access to the space, which includes a self-service dog wash room, outdoor TVs, a summertime-only puppy pool, and a menu of bite-sized “human grade” dog treats.
Tess Bodden (left) and Jenn Maher pose with their pet shih tzus Hazel, Hendrix, and Kelce at the Boozy Mutt, a popular third space for dog parents in Fairmount.
The bar felt like a version of Cheers for pet parents almost immediately, regulars told The Inquirer, thanks in part to a rotation of events that ranged from weekly quizzos to breed meetups and Pitch-A-Friend nights for singles. A monthly membership was $40, while an annual Mutt subscription cost $360.
The bar had upward of 100 regular members, Sam Mattiola said, all of whom will receive prorated refunds in the coming days. “People would tell us that this was their third space, that they go home, they go to work, and they go to the Boozy Mutt,” he said. “We walk away with our heads held high knowing that we achieved our goal of creating a place that made people feel at home.”
And yet, the Mattiolas said, running a bar that catered to dogs and their owners in equal measure proved increasingly challenging as the cost of rent, insurance, food, and alcohol continued to increase. While dog-friendly bars and beer gardens have taken off in the South, the concept has had mixed success in Philly: Manayunk dog bar Bark Social closed abruptly last year after its parent company declared bankruptcy. Its replacement, an outpost of the Atlanta-based company Fetch Park, opened in November.
“It’s a pretty overhead-intensive business model that we have, and it’s just gotten pretty hard to make the math work after the last couple of years,” Sam Mattiola explained. “There was just always something new hitting [us] in the face.”
Darby, a 5-year-old shih tzu, sits on a picnic table at the Boozy Mutt in Fairmount during an August 2025 breed meetup.
The Boozy Mutt’s 26 employees were informed of the impending closure before the announcement went public Monday, Allison Mattiola said, and the couple has spent the last three days putting together job recommendations. Neither she or her husband had worked in hospitality prior, and the couple has no immediate plans to revive the business elsewhere.
Where is Fido to go?
Already, the Boozy Mutt’s impending closure has been ruff — pun intended — for Fairmount pet parents.
“It’s a loss for us and a loss for the dogs,” said Sarah Kuwik, whose 2½-year-old pooch Willie “grew up at the Mutt.”
Kuwik started taking what she described as her “50-pound mutt” to the bar almost immediately after it opened. It has given Willie a social life most adults would envy.
Willie goes on dates at the Mutt with his girlfriend Bea, a 3-year-old golden retriever who clings to him like a magnet. And in June, Willie had a joint WrestleMania-themed birthday party with his best friend Levon, also a mutt with boundless energy.
Willie (left) poses with his golden retriever girlfriend Bea (right) and his best pup friend Levon at the Boozy Mutt, where the trio first met.
Kuwik doesn’t know how Willie will handle the news: “He’ll pull us toward [the Boozy Mutt] every time we’re on Poplar [Street] … it’s going to be very confusing.”
The Boozy Mutt is also what drew Valerie Speare to Fairmount in the first place. Speare put an offer on her current rowhouse a mere four blocks from the bar after grabbing brunch there in between open houses last spring. Now she goes to the Mutt four times a week with her pugs Lily and Winston, who are both deeply playful (and deeply codependent).
The Mutt “is exactly the kind of thing I want in a neighborhood,” said Speare, who has lived in the area for a year-and-a-half. “Where else can I go have a mimosa on a Saturday morning and have my dog sitting in my lap?”
Valerie Speare, of Fairmount, and her pugs Winston and Lily lounge with Chihuahua pals at the Boozy Mutt. Speare takes her pugs to the bar four times a week, she estimates.
For others, the bar has fostered connections that extend beyond puppy playdates. Katherine Ross has lived in Fairmount since 2004, but has seen the neighborhood — and the people in it — with new eyes, thanks to her 4-year-old pug Hoagie.
At the Mutt, Hoagie likes to beg for bites of Old Bay and truffle-coated fries or splash in the puppy pool. Ross, meanwhile, has enjoyed getting to meet her neighbors.
“I’ve lived in this neighborhood for over 20 years, and to be honest with you, I didn’t know all that many people until I got a dog,” Ross said. “Having a place like the Boozy Mutt brought a lot of friendships together.”
When Nicole Lauria met Daniele Grovola more than a decade ago, it was clear that the little girl from Upper Darby would one day become a star employee at her karaoke company.
“She was amazing,” said Lauria, the owner of Lucky Music Productions. “A lot of people use the phrase, ‘She lit up a room.’ But she really did.”
Tragedy struck the Grovola family days before Christmas.
Police arrested the young woman’s mother, Diane Grovola, 57, whom they have accused of stabbing her daughter to death in the home. Her husband, John, Daniele Grovola’s father, discovered the horrific scene as he arrived home from an overnight shift at the airport, authorities said.
Friends of Daniele Grovola are shocked by a crime they are struggling to understand.
Photo of Daniele Grovola.
In the week since Grovola’s death, they have launched a fundraiser to support her father and cover the young woman’s funeral costs. The money will also go toward veterinary bills for the family’s dog, Ezra, which police suspect Grovola’s mother also stabbed that morning.
And loved ones are sharing memories of Daniele Grovola, who brought joy and warmth to those she encountered.
Lauria met John Grovola around 15 years ago, when he made the leap from singing karaoke to joining Lucky Music as an equipment manager and DJ. The company hosts events at venues throughout Delaware County and Philadelphia.
Grovola soon began to bring around his daughter, who took a fast interest in her father’s work.
The father and daughter were “immensely close,” Lauria said. Following in her father’s footsteps, Daniele Grovola eventually joined Lucky Music herself, managing the company’s DJ equipment.
She was training to become a bar trivia host before she died.
Her radiant personality shone on the job, according to Lauria, including at a karaoke party the company hosted in 2024 for children who had disabilities and were on the autism spectrum.
“[Daniele] was just amazing at encouraging them to sing, helping them to feel positive about themselves,” Lauria said. “She was just a warm person.”
Hailey Geller, 23, said she and Grovola had been best friends since the third grade. The girls went on to attend Upper Darby High School together.
“She was never a bother,” Geller said. “She was really good to me, and I was good to her.”
Hailey Geller with Daniele Grovola and her father, John.
Grovola had her quirks, Geller said, amusing friends with her obsession with Sharpies. The girls would spend afternoons at the mall, where Grovola would hunt for multicolored markers to use in her artwork.
She was an avid fan of anime shows, Geller added, and, as a music lover, adored her headphones.
Geller said Grovola was always there to confide in. In recent months, however, some of Grovola’s comments about her home life had concerned her.
Grovola told Geller that her mother had been “in and out” of local crisis centers. And Grovola described her mother as having “mental issues,” Geller said, once disclosing she had locked herself in the basement to avoid her.
Still, Geller believes Grovola did not share the complete story of possible tensions with her mother. Police have yet to identify a motive in the killing and continue to investigate.
Friends like Lauria said those who knew the Grovola family did not suspect such a crime was possible.
“It makes no sense,” Lauria said. “[Daniele] was a great daughter to her mother … loved her mother very much. This just came out of nowhere.”
The new pedestrian bridge extension coming to Society Hill and Queen Village, which will better connect the neighborhoods to the Delaware River waterfront, is reaching a milestone.
The South Street Pedestrian Bridge expansion will extendthe existing redbrick footbridge constructed in the mid-1990s with a longer and more distinctive suspended archway bridge, as part of the long-planned I-95 capping project. Construction begins this spring, but the bridge will not be open to the public until 2027, a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesperson said.
A rendering of the South Street Pedestrian Bridge extension that will better connect South Street to the Delaware River waterfront. Construction will begin in Spring 2026 and go through 2027, when the bridge will open to pedestrians and cyclists.
The 250-foot-long bridge will allow pedestrians to cross over Columbus Boulevard and I-95 with entrances at South Street and Lombard Circle that have more accessible walkways for people with disabilities. Pedestrian access to the waterfront is crucial for people on South Street visiting attractions like Penn’s Landing, Cherry Street Pier, and Spruce Street Harbor Park.
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Construction will use an installation method in which the archways are built at a nearby location and then rolled into place, instead of being built on-site.
“The contractor was able to eliminate long-term lane closures and full closures on Columbus Boulevard,” PennDot spokesperson Brad Rudolph said. “While this method is fairly common, it is the first time PennDot has performed it in [Southeastern Pennsylvania] with this type of pedestrian structure.”
An aerial view of the construction site where the South Street Pedestrian Bridge extension will take place. A rendering of the archways in a nearby parking lot show where the bridge structure will be assembled and then later rolled into place where a red line marks its installation site. Construction begins in Spring 2026, with the bridge open to the public in 2027.
The bridge structure will be assembled for about two months in a parking lot near the installation site this spring. The new structure will then be rolled into place by mid-2026, according to PennDot. Additional work, including pouring the bridge deck, will take an additional year, with the span expected to open to pedestrians and cyclists in 2027.
Sitting 258 feet long and 100 feet from the ground to its highest arch, the footbridge will feature 14-foot-wide walkways with lit archways and handrail lighting. The entrance at Lombard Circle will have a spiraling ramp to allow for cyclists to stay on their bikes and to provide easier wheelchair and mobility access.
A rendering of the mass timber building planned for the Penn’s Landing park.
The pedestrian bridge is only a small part of PennDot’s $329 million project to build a cap over I-95 at Penn’s Landing, which will house a 12-acre Penn’s Landing Park with green spaces, playgrounds, and an amphitheater. Construction on the cap is nearly 30% complete as of this month.
Nearby, Old City is getting a revamp of Market Street, where the road will be shrunk and more pedestrian thoroughfares will be added, with the new Tamanend Square plaza at Second and Market Streets to serve as the centerpiece.
A man was hospitalized Wednesday morning and in critical condition after being shot by police in North Philadelphia.
Two officers responded to a 911 call for a “person screaming” on the 1800 block of North Bailey Street about 2:50 a.m. Wednesday. Upon arriving, police said, they found a man, 31, armed with a knife, standing over a 30-year-old woman.
According to the Philadelphia Police Department, the man moved toward police, jumping over a sofa while still armed, which led one officer to shoot the man once in the chest. The man was taken to Temple University Hospital, where he underwent surgery.
Police said the woman was not injured.
The case is now under investigation by the police department’s officer-involved shooting investigation unit and internal affairs bureau, and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. Under police protocol, the officer who shot the man has been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation.
After a year of major shifts in the federal government’s policy toward vaccines, Americans are now more likely to trust the American Medical Association than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when the two conflict on vaccine guidance, a new survey shows.
Trump’s secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is a longtime anti-vaccine activist. Earlier in 2025, he fired a committee of outside experts who advise the CDC on vaccine policy, replacing the committee with a handpicked group that includes other vaccine critics.
The reconstituted panel subsequently changed recommendations on who should receive COVID-19 vaccines, prompting states like Pennsylvania to change their own policies around vaccine distribution to ensure continued access. The panel also recommended delaying hepatitis B shots for newborns, prompting outrage from medical experts who said the move will increase cases of the serious liver disease.
And in November, the CDC website, which for years had noted that decades of research showed no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism, was updated to state the opposite. The site now reads: “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.”
In the wake of those decisions, it is crucial for medical providers and health communicators to understand how the public views vaccination, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Annenberg’s director.
Kennedy’s guidance often encourages patients to make their own decisions with doctors about vaccines, she said. But that often puts the burden on Americans to process scientific research on their own — and makes them vulnerable to misinformation, she said.
“The public doesn’t have time to do research on its own, on average, and in the process, they can get lost in a mire of misinformation and confusion very easily. It requires a skill set to navigate scholarly literature. And it’s easy to think one is doing one’s research when one is way down the rabbit hole,” Jamieson said.
Autism, vaccines, and trust in the CDC
Annenberg researchers wanted to understand where the public is turning for information on vaccines as trust in the CDC has fallen.
Shortly after the CDC changed its website on vaccines and autism, Annenberg researchers asked 1,006 adults about what they would do if the CDC’s advice conflicted with that of a major medical professional organization like the AMA, which strongly condemned the website changes.
While about half of the respondents said they believe the CDC provides trustworthy information on vaccine safety, the survey found that 35% of respondents said they would be more likely to accept recommendations from the AMA if they conflicted with the CDC. Just 16% of respondents said they would side with the CDC in that case.
That preference held true across political parties and was particularly pronounced among older Americans. The only age group more likely to accept the CDC over the AMA was 18- to 29-year-olds: 24% said they would accept the CDC’s recommendations, and 19% said they would accept the AMA’s.
“The fact that, as the CDC began to change statements, the public shifted its trust to other organizations on consequential issues — that’s a statement that says the public intelligence is real,” Jamieson said.
“The public is paying enough attention to say, ‘I can’t necessarily go to the CDC on that topic.’ That’s a statement that says we’re in better shape than you might have guessed that we were.”
Gauging public knowledge on vaccines
In another series of surveys, Annenberg researchers gauged what Americans already know about common vaccines in order to help public health officials communicate with the public more effectively.
“One of the goals of our surveying is to find what kinds of knowledge the public finds helpful and increase the likelihood that people make science-consistent decisions,” Jamieson said.
A survey on whooping cough, also known as pertussis, was conducted in the fall in response to a national rise in cases. The disease is caused by a bacterial infection and can result in a severe cough that lasts for months. It is particularly dangerous for infants, especially those too young to be vaccinated against the disease.
About 30% of 1,637 respondents said they were not sure whether pertussis was the same as whooping cough and 35% said they were not sure whether a vaccine exists for it. Annenberg had reported similar findings a year before — an alarming conclusion, researchers said, because health officials have blamed a rise in cases in part on decreasing vaccination rates.
“Maybe we’re not doing the best possible job in communicating what we know about relative risks of the disease, the relative risks of vaccine, and the ways in which whooping cough is transmitted,” Jamieson said. “These are all questions designed to figure out the equation people are working through.”
Support for measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine
Likewise, a late-fall survey on attitudes toward the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) found that 86% of respondents said they would be likely to recommend that eligible people in their household get the MMR vaccine.
That is a “small but significant” decline from last year, when 90% said they would recommend the vaccine, researchers said.
Respondents are now also less likely to recommend vaccines for HPV and polio.
That may be because the MMR vaccine has been so effective that the public can no longer remember what it was like to contract measles, Jamieson said.
“I am elderly. I have gone through whole periods of my life in which these vaccines did not exist. I know what measles looks like — extraordinarily uncomfortable — with risks that are real and demonstrable,” Jamieson said. “And the vaccine has worked for people I care about in the subsequent generations.”
Support for MMR vaccines is still overwhelmingly high, Jamieson said. But the threshold to maintain herd immunity for measles is also high — about 95% of people must be vaccinated in order to prevent the spread of the disease and protect people who cannot be vaccinated.
And, if people live in communities where vaccines are less accepted, they could be at higher risk than the general population.
“The state of Pennsylvania can be at 95%, but if my church isn’t at 95%, I can get measles if I’ve not been fully immunized or if I can’t be vaccinated,” Jamieson said.
If she makes it on the ballot, Karen Dalton will be U.S. Rep. Scott Perry’s first primary opponent since 2012 – the year he first won the seat.
Dalton, a retired staff attorney for the Pennsylvania House Republicans, knows the odds are against her as she runs a solo campaign operation out of her living room. But she thinks she has a shot.
The 65-year-old Carlisle resident is irked byPresident Donald Trump’s policies both from a faith-based standpoint and a legal one.
She holds many views that align with Democrats, which may draw accusations that she’s a “RINO,” or Republican in name only. But she argues she’s a Republican at heart.
“I was talking to a senior citizen the other day, and the first thing he said to me was, ‘So you’re a RINO,” said Dalton, 65. “And my response to that was, well, if you mean ‘Respect for Individuals and Not Oligarchs,’ I’ll go along with that. He goes, ‘No, no, no, I’m a RINO too. I’m that old school Republican that believes in helping people.’ I’m like, ‘Yes, thank you. That’s what I’m talking about getting back to.’”
Perry, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump whosupported his unsuccessfulattempts to overturn the 2020 election, represents Dauphin County and parts of Cumberland and York Counties in Central Pennsylvania. He appears to be particularly vulnerable this yearas the district has shifted toward Democrats and Republican-turned-Democrat Janelle Stelson, a former local news anchor, had a razor-thin loss against him in the general election last year. She plans to run again in the Democratic primary.
Dalton, in a long-ranging interview with The Inquirer in her living room, called Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act the “Big, Brutal Betrayal of the American Dream Act,” because of its cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
She believes formerVice President Kamala Harris should have pushed back more on Trump’s claims about transgender people in the 2024 election, argued that the term “illegal alien” is factually incorrect, and says on her website that climate change is a real threat.
Karen Dalton, who plans to challenge Scott Perry in the Republican primary, holds materials from a bill she worked on in Harrisburg in her Carlisle home on Monday.
She supports a $15 federal minimum wage anda millionaire’s tax, and wants to raise the corporate tax rate. She supports abortion rightsand believes health care is a human right, though she’s fearful of what she views as over-regulation from Democrats.
Her walls are covered with Republican political memorabilia and a poster of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, a Democrat who was assassinated during his 1968 presidential campaign.
She noted that she was a Republican when Donald Trump was a Democrat.
Her path to victory, she believes, is convincing enough independents and Democrats – particularly former Republicans – to change their registration to support her in the MayGOPprimary.
“You know, independents have been upset many years because Pennsylvania has a closed primary system … if they register as Republicans, they get to vote in a primary against Scott Perry and not wait until November,” she said.
Primary challengers are rarely successful. Dalton reported under $3,000 in contributions – and an approximately $6,000 loan from herself — through September, which is pennies compared to themore than $1 million Perry reported.
But she only needs to gather 1,000 signatures and pay a $150 filing fee to appear alongside him on the primary ballot.
Perry’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment about Dalton as of Wednesday.
U.S. Scott Perry speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington in July 2023.
Rosy eyed about the old Republicans
Dalton grew up in New Jersey and was the first in her immediate family to go to college, attending Montclair State University before getting her politics graduate degree at New York University and later attending law school.
She lives in Carlisle near Dickinson Law — her “beloved alma mater” — in a home she bought just four years ago at age 61. With student loans hanging over her head for the vast majority of her career, she couldn’t afford a down payment until her state retirement payday.
She has no kids and she’s never been married — “I spent a lot of time reading and studying and going to school,” she said. These days, she takes piano lessons and plays pickleball, and does pro bono legal work when she’s not knocking on doors for her one-woman campaign.
Dalton is rosy-eyed about moderates of the Republican Party’s past. She managed former U.S. Rep. Jim Greenwood’s (R., Bucks) successful state Senate campaign in 1986 and worked for New JerseyRepublicanGov. Tom Kean,who wrote The Politics of Inclusion. She later worked as a staff attorney for Pennsylvania House Republicans for 25 years, where she focused on domestic violence and child sexual abuse legislation.
“I’m convinced that if the Republican Party wants to survive and thrive, we need to give up what Donald Trump believes in, and return to our roots,” she said.
Dalton, whose parents were both Democrats, changed her registration from independent to Republican in 1984 at the age of 24 after her first job working for Ralph J. Salerno’s unsuccessful state Senate campaign in New Jersey. When he lost, “amazingly, nobody took up arms,” she said.
“I mean, I cried in his lapel, but you know, it’s just like he conceded, and everybody moved on,” she said. “There was no insurrection, there was no battle, there was no violence, there was no ‘Oh, there was voter fraud.’ None of that stuff happened, because that’s the way things used to be before Donald Trump was president.”
Karen Dalton points to a photo of herself and her old boss Jim Greenwood in her Carlisle home on Monday. A message from Greenwood says: “Now I can prove that I knew you before you were a rock star.”
Tired of yelling at the television
Dalton said she didn’t think she’d become a candidate herself during her years working for politicians. But she said “steam started to come out of my ears” when Trump tried to end birthright citizenship, and again when House Speaker MikeJohnson mused about defunding the federal judiciary.
“I just couldn’t sit back anymore … I got tired of yelling at the television,” she said.
While Dalton argued that Trump’s rise in 2015 has soured the Republican Party, much of her criticism concentrated on the Jan. 6, 2021 riot and what followed.
Dalton worked with Perry in Harrisburg when he was a state representative, and she described him as “an incredibly nice man” despite her misgivings about his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and continued alignment with Trump. (She calls him “morally blind” on her website.)
When asked if she ever supported Perry, Dalton said she wasn’t comfortable talking about who she voted for in the past because “ballots are private.” She did say that she didn’t vote for Trump in 2024, and shevotedfor Stelson, Perry’s Democratic challenger.
“I can tell you that I don’t vote for insurrectionists,” she said.
Karen Dalton, who plans to challenge Scott Perry in the Republican primary, calls a table in her living room her “campaign headquarters.”
Policy informed by faith
Dalton was raised Catholic, confirmed Episcopalian, and has attended the Unitarian Universalist Church. Though she hasn’t converted, she now identifies as Jewish, and was moved to tears while talking about a late mentor who introduced her to the religion – noting that speaking about the subject made her“verklempt,” a Yiddish term for emotional.
“One of the things I love so much about Judaism, in addition to its focus on social justice, is the idea that you get to disagree,” she said, a handful of crumpled tissues in her lap.
Her faith informs her approach to public policy, from opposing cuts to healthcare subsidies to appreciating ideas across the political spectrum.
One of her flagship policy proposals is creating a way for people to borrow up to two years worth of their own Social Security benefits before they reach retirement age to help with things like a down payment, tuition, or medical expenses – one that would have helped her buy a home earlier.
Another is a scholarship program that would allow students in any field to borrow the full amount of their education from the federal government through loans that would be forgiven if they serve “the public good,” a rebuke of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill’s borrowing limit on federal student loans.
She also wants to create a program to pay for the education of students who want to pursue careers in science and guarantee employment at national health or science institutions, including a new foundation for scientific discovery.
Dalton has brought her neighbors into her home to discuss her ideas, and plans to do it again.
She also held a town hall at Central Penn College in Enola that she said drew 15 people.
“That’s 15 more people than Scott Perry looked in the eye and talked to over the past five years at his town halls that didn’t exist,” she said.
Entering Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills, the Eagles were riding high after consecutive wins over the Las Vegas Raiders and the Washington Commanders. There still were plenty of concerns, though, regarding how they would look against a good team led by former league MVP and four-time Pro Bowler Josh Allen.
The Eagles responded to those concerns with a 13-12 win over the Bills at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y. Former Eagles center Jason Kelce praised the team for the win on the latest episode of New Heights.
“I mean, it’s a great win,” Kelce said. “For the Eagles to go into Buffalo and win this game, it just shows how good the Eagles are. Do you know how tough it is to beat the best team in the AFC — some people are saying — do you know how hard it is to beat that team when you don’t get a single pass completion in the second half? Do you know how hard that is? That’s how good the Eagles are. That’s how good we are, Philadelphia.”
Of course, the win didn’t come without drama. After the Eagles took a 13-0 lead in the first half, the offense went silent in the second half. Meanwhile, Saquon Barkley was held to 68 yards on 19 carries against one of the worst run defenses in the league.
“It was a very frustrating game to watch offensively, to say the least,” Kelce said. “The Eagles have been trending better in running the ball, right? They did well against the Raiders; they did well against the Commanders. This was a chance to do it against a team that is going to be in the playoffs.
“It was not a great performance, collectively, up front, to be honest with you. And that was — it’s frustrating, as a former offensive lineman, a guy in that room that knows how good all those players are. We’ve got to do better than this, boys.”
After scoring a touchdown with five seconds left, Bills had a chance to send the game into overtime with an extra point or effectively end it with a two-point conversion. They chose the latter, and Allen missed his open man in the end zone to seal an Eagles win.
The stifling Eagles defense got Jason Kelce’s attention.
Despite the offensive struggles, the Eagles defense remained a bright spot vs. the Bills. They had five sacks and limited NFL rushing leader James Cook to 74 yards on 20 carries.
“The defense played out of their mind,” Kelce said. “That’s the positive coming out of this thing.”
“[In 2023], we decided to go out against [the] New York [Giants in Week 18] because we wanted to get some momentum going offensively because we weren’t playing great,” Kelce said. “And we ended up getting A.J. Brown hurt to where he couldn’t play in the playoff game. Jalen [Hurts] got his finger banged up. Like, it was catastrophic. So I am fully on board with do not risk getting anybody … anybody that you’re not going to be happy about missing in that playoff game, sit them on the bench. Unless you have the chance to get the No. 1 seed, I don’t give a crap who you’re playing, take the rest when you can get it.”
Caitlin Clark expressed her admiration for Patriots quarterback Drake Maye on the “New Heights” podcast.
Playoff picture with Caitlin Clark
Caitlin Clark made her highly anticipated return to New Heights to discuss her new Nike advertisement, her signature shoe, and the NFL playoff picture. The two-time WNBA All-Star asked Kelce who he likes in the playoffs besides the Birds.
“I really liked the Rams until [Monday] night,” Kelce said. “The first half was kind of the first weakness that I kind of saw from them. To their credit, they did bounce back and almost ended up winning there at the end. But, the Rams feel like they have the least questions of everybody that’s in the playoffs.
“Like, everything kind of has an answer. They’re great on the offense. They’re great on the defensive line. They run the ball well. They stop the run. Their quarterback [Matthew Stafford] is a proven — already won a Super Bowl and been around for a long time. So it’s like that’s the kind of the team that I think probably is the safest one.”
When asked about the Eagles’ chances, Kelce responded: “I think they’ll do better than people expect.”
“I mean, I know that the offense struggled in the second half last week and it’s struggled at times this season, but their defense is so good,” Kelce said. “And whoever they get in this first round, they’re probably going to get a team — whether it’s the Rams, who have said they’re going to play their starters, or San Francisco will probably be it. There’s a chance they could be the No. 2 seed and play Green Bay. They’re going to get a team traveling from the West Coast all the way to the East Coast, and the Eagles are probably going to rest. So, I kind of feel good about Round 1. I feel like they’re so talented that they have a chance to beat anybody at this point.”
Clark revealed that she doesn’t have a horse in the race. However, she is a fan of a certain young quarterback in the running for league MVP.
“I mean, I’m not cheering for anybody,” Clark said. “Honestly, I’m a Drake Maye fan. I think he’s been incredible, and I think the Patriots are — I mean, what is it? The NFC, I mean they’re all so good. The 49ers are really good, but they’re the most injured team, but they just still find a way to win, which is pretty crazy. I mean, I’ll probably be pulling for the Patriots. But I think the Rams are really good, too. [The Seahawks’] Sam Darnold seems like a good guy. So I could root for him, too.”
CALGARY, Alberta ― On Monday, Flyers coach Rick Tocchet joked that he was signed to a nondisclosure agreement by Hockey Canada. Travis Sanheim said it has been radio silence on his end.
But the writing has been on the wall since February, and now it’s official: Sanheim needs to brush up on his Italian because the Flyers defenseman will be playing for Canada at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.
He was nervous and didn’t get much sleep, but getting the early call on Wednesday was worth it.
“With the game last night [in Vancouver], we flew to Calgary and got in, I think it was just after 2 o’clock, and then my phone went off just before 8 local time,” Sanheim said via Zoom. “I was up pretty early, not a lot of sleep, and I usually have trouble after games anyway, and I was aware of that potential phone call coming.
“So just the excitement level and receiving that, and it means to represent your country and be a part of something like the Olympics, and I’ll take the sleepless night to take a phone call like that.”
The 29-year-old blueliner grew up on a grain farm in Elkhorn, Manitoba, a small town of less than 500 people — he has about 100 text messages to still get through from back home — and remembers watching Sidney Crosby’s golden goal in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. As a 13-year-old, Sanheim just wanted to make the NHL; he never expected to be lining up alongside the all-time great seeking a gold medal.
However, Sanheim opened a lot of eyes at the 4 Nations Face-Off last February. At first, the American and Canadian media questioned whether he even belonged, then he was a healthy scratch in the tournament opener. But in the end, he was manning the blue line on the opening shift of overtime in the championship game.
“You see these players, you compete against these players, but you don’t really know until you have them. And I’ve always, I’ve really liked his game,” Canada coach Jon Cooper told The Inquirer in November as he tried not to show his cards while complimenting the defenseman with a gleam in his eye and a little smile.
“I’m a big fan of big D that take up a lot of space, and can skate, and he can do all those things. But his ability to jump into plays, he’s got an offensive mind to him.”
The 6-foot-4, 222-pound defenseman also has an edge as a minute-muncher with the versatility to play either the left or right side. He can kill penalties and, as seen lately, he can play on the power play in a pinch.
Travis Sanheim celebrates after Canada’s victory in the 4 Nations Face-Off last February.
“He’s a guy who can play 25 minutes; they’re hard to find, those guys. When he’s on his game, he’s a really tough defender. He wheels the net, good skater,” said Tocchet, an assistant coach on Cooper’s Canada staff. “All I remember from the 4 Nations, when he went in the lineup, he really played well. He impressed Pete DeBoer, the D coach there. He impressed a lot of those guys.”
At 4 Nations, Sanheim was a little wide-eyed at Canada’s first practice in Brossard, Quebec. By the end, he had one assist in three games despite playing with three defensive partners.
“You step on the ice, and you look around and [there’s] guys you idolize growing up, and guys who are superstars in this league, and you don’t think that you really belong out there,” Sanheim told The Inquirer on Monday. “A lot of nerves, and then you start playing and realize that you belong and that you can compete with these guys. You get into a game, and the competitiveness comes out, and it’s just like any other hockey game.
“[I] just really enjoyed playing with those types of players, and they make the game really easy, and they don’t make too many bad decisions and are always in good spots. So you know, if you’re a smart player, I feel like they make it pretty easy to adjust to playing with that type of speed.”
Sanheim has donned the maple leaf several times before, including at the 2013 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge and the 2014 U18 World Championship, snagging a bronze medal at each tournament; the 2016 World Juniors; and, until last season, at the 2022 World Championships, winning silver. Aside from 4 Nations, he also played for Canada at the World Championships in May.
“I was watching the reveal myself today, and just sitting there, as proud as could be that I was one of those names named,” he said on Zoom.
“Just looking back a couple of years, and where my career has kind of come, and never thought that this day would happen. It just goes to show that the work and dedication that I’ve had and put into this game, and just trying to get better each and every day, and I still continue to do that.
“[I] feel like I can continue to grow my game and to get me at the level that I’m at now, and be able to play in an Olympic Games is really special, and something that I never thought was possible.”
Flyers winger Travis Konecny, who played alongside Sanheim with Canada at the 4 Nations, did not make the cut this time around.
But Sanheim is not the only Flyer booking tickets to Italy. In addition to Tocchet, forward Rodrigo Ābols made Latvia’s roster. The expectation is that goalie Dan Vladař and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen will be named to Czechia and Finland’s rosters, too. Sam Ersson is also in the mix for one of the three goalie spots with Sweden.
While rosters are due to be submitted today, the United States, Sweden, and Finland will reveal their rosters on Friday. The NHL will break from Feb. 6-24 for the hockey tournament, which will be played exclusively in Milan from Feb. 11-22.
Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim has been a workhorse for the Flyers over the past few seasons.
In 2025, Philadelphians said goodbye to a beloved group of broadcasters, radio personalities, sports heroes, and public servants who left their mark on a city they all loved.
Some were Philly natives, including former Eagles general manager Jim Murray. Others, including beloved WMMR host Pierre Robert, were transplants who made Philly their adopted home. But all left their mark on the city and across the region.
Pierre Robert
Former WMMR host Pierre Robert, seen in his studio in 2024.
A native of Northern California, Mr. Robert joined WMMR as an on-air host in 1981. He arrived in the city after his previous station, San Francisco’s KSAN, switched to an “urban cowboy” format, prompting him to make the cross-country drive to Philadelphia in a Volkswagen van.
At WMMR, Mr. Robert initially hosted on the weekends, but quickly moved to the midday slot — a position he held for more than four decades up until his death.
— Nick Vadala, Dan DeLuca
Bernie Parent
Former Flyers goaltender Bernie Parent, seen at his home in 2024.
Bernie Parent, the stone-wall Flyers goalie for the consecutive Stanley Cup championship teams for the Broad Street Bullies in the 1970s, died in September. He was 80.
A Hall of Famer, Mr. Parent clinched both championships with shutouts in the final game as he blanked the Boston Bruins, 1-0, in 1974 and the Buffalo Sabres, 2-0, in 1975. Mr. Parent played 10 of his 13 NHL seasons with the Flyers and also spent a season in the World Hockey League with the Philadelphia Blazers. He retired in 1979 at 34 years old after suffering an eye injury during a game against the New York Rangers.
He grew up in Montreal and spoke French as his first language before becoming a cultlike figure at the Spectrum as cars throughout the region had “Only the Lord Saves More Than Bernie Parent” bumper stickers.
— Matt Breen
David Lynch
David Lynch, seen here at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles in 2019.
David Lynch, the visionary director behind such movies as Blue Velvet and The Elephant Man and the twisted TV show Twin Peaks, died in January of complications from emphysema. He was 78.
Mr. Lynch was born in Missoula, Mont., but ended up in Philadelphia to enroll at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1965 at age 19. It was here he developed an interest in filmmaking as a way to see his paintings move.
He created his first short films in Philadelphia, which he described both as “a filthy city” and “his greatest influence” as an artist. Ultimately, he moved to Los Angeles to make his first feature film, Eraserhead, though he called the film “my Philadelphia Story.”
— Rob Tornoe
Ryne Sandberg
Former Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg, seen here at spring training in 2018.
Ryne Sandberg, the Hall of Fame second baseman who started his career with the Phillies but was traded shortly after to the Chicago Cubs in one of the city’s most regrettable trades, died in July of complications from cancer. He was 65.
Mr. Sandberg played 15 seasons in Chicago and became an icon for the Cubs, simply known as “Ryno,” after being traded there in January 1982.
He was a 10-time All-Star, won nine Gold Glove awards, and was the National League’s MVP in 1984. Mr. Sandberg was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005 and returned to the Phillies in 2011 as a minor-league manager and, later, the big-league manager.
— Matt Breen
Bob Uecker
Bob Uecker, seen here before a Brewers game in 2024.
Bob Uecker, a former Phillies catcher who later became a Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Milwaukee Brewers and was dubbed “Mr. Baseball” by Johnny Carson for his acting roles in several movies and TV shows, died in January. He was 90.
Mr. Uecker spent just six seasons in the major league, two with the Phillies, but the talent that would make him a Hall of Fame broadcaster — wit, self-deprecation, and the timing of a stand-up comic — were evident.
His first broadcasting gig was in Atlanta, and he started calling Milwaukee Brewers games in 1971. Before that, he called Phillies games: Mr. Uecker used to sit in the bullpen at Connie Mack Stadium and deliver play-by-play commentary into a beer cup.
— Matt Breen and Rob Tornoe
Harry Donahue
Harry Donahue, seen here at Temple University in 2020.
Harry Donahue, 77, a longtime KYW Newsradio anchor and the play-by-play voice of Temple University men’s basketball and football for decades, died in October after a fight with cancer.
His was a voice that generations of people in Philadelphia and beyond grew up with in the mornings as they listened for announcements about snow days and, later, for a wide array of sports.
— Robert Moran
Alan Rubenstein
Judge Rubenstein, then Bucks County district attorney, talks to the media about a drug case in 1998.
Alan M. Rubenstein, a retired senior judge on Bucks County Common Pleas Court and the longest-serving district attorney in Bucks County history, died in August of complications from several ailments at his home in Holland, Bucks County. He was 79.
For 50 years, from his hiring as an assistant district attorney in 1972 to his retirement as senior judge a few years ago, Judge Rubenstein represented Bucks County residents at countless crime scenes and news conferences, in courtrooms, and on committees. He served 14 years, from 1986 to 1999, as district attorney in Bucks County, longer than any DA before him, and then 23 years as a judge and senior judge on Bucks County Court.
“His impact on Bucks County will be felt for generations,” outgoing Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said in a tribute. U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.) said on Facebook: “Alan Rubenstein has never been just a name. It has stood as a symbol of justice, strength, and integrity.”
— Gary Miles
Orien Reid Nix
Orien Reid Nix, seen here being inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame in 2018
Orien Reid Nix, 79, of King of Prussia, retired Hall of Fame reporter for KYW-TV and WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, owner of Consumer Connection media consulting company, the first Black and female chair of the international board of the Alzheimer’s Association, former social worker, mentor, and volunteer, died in June of complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
Charismatic, telegenic, empathetic, and driven by a lifelong desire to serve, Mrs. Reid Nix worked as a consumer service and investigative TV reporter for Channels 3 and 10 in Philadelphia for 26 years, from 1973 to her retirement in 1998. She anchored consumer service segments, including the popular Market Basket Report, that affected viewers’ lives and aired investigations on healthcare issues, price gouging, fraud, and food safety concerns.
— Gary Miles
Dave Frankel
Dave Frankel in an undated publicity photo.
Dave Frankel, 67, a popular TV weatherman on WPVI (now 6abc) who later became a lawyer, died in February after a long battle with a neurodegenerative disease.
Mr. Frankel grew up in Monmouth County, N.J., graduated in 1979 from Dartmouth College, and was planning to attend Dickinson School of Law to become a lawyer like his father. But an internship at a local TV station in Vermont turned into a news anchor job and a broadcast career that lasted until the early 2000s.
— Robert Moran
Lee Elia
Former Phillies manager Lee Elia, seen here being ejected from a game in 1987.
Lee Elia, the Philadelphia native who managed the Phillies after coaching third base for the 1980 World Series champions and once famously ranted against the fans who sat in the bleachers of Wrigley Field, died in July. He was 87.
Mr. Elia’s baseball career spanned more than 50 seasons. He managed his hometown Phillies in 1987 and 1988 after managing the Chicago Cubs in 1982 and 1983.
After his playing career was cut shot by a knee injury, Mr. Elia joined Dallas Green’s Phillies staff before the 1980 season and was coaching third base when Manny Trillo delivered a crucial triple in the clinching game of the National League Championship Series. Mr. Elia was so excited that he bit Trillo’s arm after he slid.
— Matt Breen
Gary Graffman
Gary Graffman, seen here playing at the Curtis Institute of Music Orchestra Concert at Verizon Hall in 2006.
Gary Graffman, a celebrated concert pianist and the former president of the Curtis Institute of Music, died in December in New York. He was 97.
The New York City-born pianist arrived at Curtis at age 7. He graduated at age 17 and played roughly 100 concerts a year between the ages of 20 and 50 before retiring from touring due to a compromised right hand. Diagnosed with focal dystonia (a neurological disorder), he went on to premiere works for the left hand by Jennifer Higdon and William Bolcom.
Mr. Graffman returned to Curtis as a teacher in 1980, became director in 1986, and was named the president of the conservatory in 1995, with a teaching studio encompassing nearly 50 students, including Yuja Wang and Lang Lang among others. He performed on numerous occasions with the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1947 to 2003.
— David Patrick Stearns
Len Stevens
Len Stevens was the co-founder of WPHL-TV Channel 17.
Len Stevens, the cofounder of WPHL-TV (Channel 17) and a member of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame, died in September of kidney failure. He was 94.
Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Stevens was a natural entrepreneur. He won an audition to be a TV announcer with Dick Clark on WFIL-TV in the 1950s, persuaded The Tonight Show and NBC to air Alpo dog food ads in the 1960s, co-owned and managed the popular Library singles club on City Avenue in the 1970s and ’80s, and later turned the nascent sale of “vertical real estate” on towers and rooftops into big business.
He and partner Aaron Katz established the Philadelphia Broadcasting Co. in 1964 and launched WPHL-TV on Sept. 17, 1965. At first, their ultrahigh frequency station, known now as PHL17, challenged the dominant very high frequency networks on a shoestring budget. But, thanks largely to Mr. Stevens’ advertising contacts and programming ideas, Channel 17 went on to air Phillies, 76ers, and Big Five college basketball games, the popular Wee Willie Webber Colorful Cartoon Club, Ultraman, and other memorable shows in the late 1960s and early ’70s.
— Gary Miles
Jim Murray
Former Eagles general manager Jim Murray (left), seen here with Dick Vermeil and owner Leonard Tose following the 1980 NFC championship game in January 1981.
Jim Murray, the former Eagles general manager who hired Dick Vermeil and helped the franchise return to prominence while also opening the first Ronald McDonald House, died in August at home in Bryn Mawr surrounded by his family. He was 87.
Mr. Murray grew up in a rowhouse on Brooklyn Street in West Philadelphia and watched the Eagles at Franklin Field. The Eagles hired him in 1969 as a publicist, and Leonard Tose, then the Eagles’ owner, named him the general manager in 1974. Mr. Murray was just 36 years old and the decision was ridiculed.
But Mr. Murray — who was known for his wit and generosity — made a series of moves to bring the Eagles back to relevance, including hiring Vermeil and acquiring players like Bill Bergey and Ron Jaworski. The Eagles made the playoffs in 1978 and reached their first Super Bowl in January 1981. The Eagles, with Murray as the GM, were finally back.
— Matt Breen
Michael Days
Philadelphia Daily News Editor Michael Days celebrates with the newsroom after word of the Pulitzer win.
Michael Days, a pillar of Philadelphia journalism who championed young Black journalists and led the Daily News during its 2010 Pulitzer Prize win for investigative reporting, died in October after falling ill. He was 72.
A graduate of Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia, Mr. Days worked at the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers before joining the Daily News as a reporter in 1986, where he ultimately became editor in 2005, the first Black person to lead the paper in its 90-year history. In 2011, Mr. Days was named managing editor of The Inquirer, where he held several management roles until he retired in October 2020.
As editor of the Daily News, Mr. Days played an essential role in the decisions that would lead to its 2010 Pulitzer Prize, including whether to move forward with a story about a Philadelphia Police Department narcotics officer that a company lawyer said stood a good chance of getting them sued.
“He said, ‘I trust my reporters, I believe in my reporters, and we’re running with it,’” recounted Inquirer senior health reporter Wendy Ruderman, who reported the piece with colleague Barbara Laker. That story revealed a deep dysfunction within the police department, Ruderman said, and led to the newspaper’s 2010 Pulitzer Prize win.
— Brett Sholtis
Tom McCarthy
Tom McCarthy, seen here in 2002.
Tom McCarthy, an award-winning theater, film, and TV actor, longtime president of the local chapter of the Screen Actors Guild, former theater company board member, mentor, and veteran, died in May of complications from Parkinson’s disease at his home in Sea Isle City. He was 88.
The Overbrook native quit his job as a bartender in 1965, sharpened his acting skills for a decade at Hedgerow Theatre Company in Rose Valley and other local venues, and, at 42, went on to earn memorable roles in major movies and TV shows.
In the 1980s, he played a police officer with John Travolta in the movie Blow Out and a gardener with Andrew McCarthy in Mannequin. In 1998, he was a witness with Denzel Washington in Fallen. In 2011, he was a small-town mayor with Lea Thompson in Mayor Cupcake. Over the course of his career, Mr. McCarthy acted with Zsa Zsa Gabor, Harrison Ford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Cloris Leachman, Robert Redford, Donald Sutherland, John Goodman, and other big stars.
— Gary Miles
Carol Saline
Carol Saline, seen here at her Philadelphia home in 2021.
Carol Saline, a longtime senior writer at Philadelphia Magazine, the best-selling author of Sisters, Mothers & Daughters, and Best Friends, and a prolific broadcaster, died in August of acute myeloid leukemia. She was 86.
On TV, she hosted a cooking show and a talk show, was a panelist on a local public affairs program, and guested on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Inside Edition, Good Morning America, and other national shows. On radio, she hosted the Carol Saline Show on WDVT-AM.
In June, she wrote to The Inquirer, saying: “I am contacting you because I am entering hospice care and will likely die in the next few weeks. … I wanted you to know me, not only my accomplishments but who I am as a person.
“I want to go out,” she ended her email, “with a glass of Champagne in one hand, a balloon in the other, singing (off key) ‘Whoopee! It’s been a great ride!’”
— Gary Miles
Richard Wernick
Richard Wernick, seen here before a concert at the 2002 Festival of Philadelphia Composers.
Richard Wernick, a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, acclaimed conductor, and retired Irving Fine Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania, died in April 25 of age-associated decline at his Haverford home. He was 91.
Professor Wernick was prolific and celebrated as a composer. He wrote hundreds of scores over six decades and appeared on more than a dozen records, and his Visions of Terror and Wonder for a mezzo-soprano and orchestra won the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for music. In 1991, his String Quartet No. 4 made him the first two-time winner of the Kennedy Center’s Friedheim Award for new American music.
“Wernick’s orchestral music has power and brilliance, an emphasis on register, space, and scale,” Lesley Valdes, former Inquirer classical music critic, said in 1990.
— Gary Miles
Dorie Lenz
Dorie Lenz, seen here on Channel 17 in 2015.
Dorie Lenz, a pioneering TV broadcaster and the longtime director of public affairs for WPHL-TV (Channel 17), died in January of age-associated ailments at her home in New York. She was 101.
A Philadelphia native, Ms. Lenz broke into TV as a 10-year-old in a local children’s show and spent 30 years, from 1970 to 2000, as director of public affairs and a program host at Channel 17, now PHL17. She specialized in detailed public service campaigns on hot-button social issues and earned two Emmys in 1988 for her program Caring for the Frail Elderly.
Ms. Lenz interviewed newsmakers of all kinds on the public affairs programs Delaware Valley Forum, New Jersey Forum, and Community Close Up. Viewers and TV insiders hailed her as a champion and watchdog for the community. She also talked to Phillies players before games in the 1970s on her 10-minute Dorie Lenz Show.
— Gary Miles
Jay Sigel
Jay Sigel, seen here after winning the Georgia-Pacific Grand Champions title in 2006.
Jay Sigel, one of the winningest amateur golfers of all time and an eight-time PGA senior tour champion, died in April of complications from pancreatic cancer. He was 81.
For more than 40 years, from 1961, when he won the International Jaycee Junior Golf Tournament as an 18-year-old, to 2003, when he captured the Bayer Advantage Celebrity Pro-Am title at 60, the Berwyn native was one of the winningest amateur and senior golfers in the world. Mr. Sigel won consecutive U.S. Amateur titles in 1982 and ’83 and three U.S. Mid-Amateur championships between 1983 and ’87, and remains the only golfer to win the amateur and mid-amateur titles in the same year.
He won the Pennsylvania Amateur Championship 11 times, five straight from 1972 to ’76, and the Pennsylvania Open Championship for pros and amateurs four times. He also won the 1979 British Amateur Championship and, between 1975 and 1999, played for the U.S. team in a record nine Walker Cup tournaments against Britain and Ireland.
— Gary Miles
Mark Frisby
Mark Frisby, seen here in the former newsroom of the Daily News in 2007.
Mark Frisby, the former publisher of the Daily News and associate publisher of The Inquirer, died in September of takayasu arteritis, an inflammatory disease, at his home in Gloucester County. He was 64.
Mr. Frisby joined The Inquirer and Daily News in November 2006 as executive vice president of production, labor, and purchasing. He was recruited from the Courier-Post by then-publisher Brian Tierney, and he went on to serve as publisher of the Daily News from 2007 to 2016 and associate publisher for operations of The Inquirer and Daily News from 2014 to his retirement in 2016.
Mr. Frisby was one of the highest-ranking Black executives in the company’s history, and he told the Daily News in 2006 that “local ownership over here was the big attraction for me.” Michael Days, then the Daily News editor, said in 2007: “This cat is really the real deal.”
— Gary Miles
Leon Bates
Leon Bates, seen here at the Settlement Music School in Germantown in 2018.
Leon Bates, a concert pianist whose musical authority and far-reaching versatility took him to the world’s greatest concert halls, died in November after a seven-year decline from Parkinson’s disease. He was 76.
The career of Mr. Bates, a leading figure in the generation of Black pianists who followed the early-1960s breakthrough of Andre Watts, encompassed Ravel, Gershwin, and Bartok over 10 concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra between 1970 and 2002. He played three recitals with Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and taught master classes at Temple University, where he also gave recitals at the Temple Performing Arts Center.
In his WRTI-FM radio show, titled Notes on Philadelphia, during the 1990s, Mr. Bates was what Charles Abramovic, chair of keyboard studies at Temple University, described as “beautifully articulate and a wonderful interviewer. The warmth of personality came out. He was such a natural with that.”
— David Patrick Stearns
Lacy McCrary
Lacy McCrary in an undated photo.
Lacy McCrary, a former Inquirer reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize at the Akron Beacon Journal, died in March of Alzheimer’s disease at his home in Colorado Springs, Colo. He was 91.
Mr. McCrary, a Morrisville, Bucks County native, won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize in local general or spot news reporting as part of the Beacon Journal’s coverage of the May 4, 1970, student protest killings at Kent State University.
He joined The Inquirer in 1973 and covered the courts, politics, and news of all sorts until his retirement in 2000. He notably wrote about unhealthy conditions and fire hazards in Pennsylvania and New Jersey boardinghouses in the late 1970s and early ’80s, and those reports earned public acclaim and resulted in new regulations to correct deadly oversights.
— Gary Miles
Roberta Fallon
Roberta Fallon, seen here in an undated photo.
Roberta Fallon, 76, cofounder, editor, and longtime executive director of the online Artblog and adjunct professor at St. Joseph’s University, died in December at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital of injuries she suffered after being hit by a car. She was 76.
Described by family and friends as empathetic, energetic, and creative, Ms. Fallon and fellow artist Libby Rosof cofounded Artblog in 2003. For nearly 22 years, until the blog became inactive in June, Ms. Fallon posted commentary, stories, interviews, reviews, videos, podcasts, and other content that chronicled the eclectic art world in Philadelphia.
— Gary Miles
Benita Valente
BENI26P Gerald S. Williams 10/18/00 2011 Pine st. Philadelphia-based soprano Benita Valente has sung all over the world. At age 65, she is making her Oct. 29 performance with the Mendelssohn Club at the Academy of Music her last. 1 of 3: Benita goes over some music at the piano in her upstairs music room.
Benita Valente, a revered lyric soprano whose voice thrilled listeners with its purity and seeming effortlessness, died in October at home in Philadelphia. She was 91.
In a remarkable four-decade career, Ms. Valente appeared on the opera stage, in chamber music, and with orchestras. In the intimate genre of lieder — especially songs by Schubert and Brahms — she was considered one of America’s great recitalists.
The Eagles are expected to rest quarterback Jalen Hurts and most of their starters against the Washington Commanders on Sunday, NFL sources said Wednesday.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni declined to say whether he was resting his starters or not when asked during his Wednesday news conference. He said he wanted to first inform his players of his decision during a later team meeting before making it public.
But the team later confirmed that some key starters will get the game off, some will play on a limited basis, and some will dress but not play. The Eagles will need to have a certain amount of players active to meet the league requirement.
The decision to use the season finale as a “bye” week heading into the playoffs shouldn’t come as a surprise based on Sirianni’s other recent comments. The NFC East champion Eagles can still improve their seeding, but he emphasized on Monday the importance of giving players a week off.
“If I look back and how beneficial some of the byes that we’ve had have been, that’s part of the reason why you think through it,” Sirianni said, a day after the Eagles beat the Bills, 13-12. “It’s a marathon of a season. You give your guys some rest, you get some time to think through some different things, even though you’re preparing for an opponent as you go.
“Both times that I’ve been here that we’ve been to the Super Bowl, we’ve had that opportunity for a bye, and that’s ’22 and obviously ’24.”
Sirianni took advantage of resting starters in those seasons, while in 2023, he did the opposite and played Hurts and most of his starters with the NFC East still on the line. The Eagles performed poorly in the first half at the Giants. Most of the starters were eventually pulled when it became apparent the Cowboys would win the division.
The Eagles also suffered a significant injury in that game when wide receiver A.J. Brown left with a knee injury. He missed the first-round game at Tampa Bay, which the Eagles lost, 32-9. Hurts also dislocated a finger on his non-throwing hand in the Giants game.
The Eagles offense has been struggling for most of this season, but it had more success in wins earlier this month over the Raiders and Commanders — two of the worst teams in the NFL.
They had a solid first half at the Bills on Sunday but could do almost nothing in the second half and gained only 17 yards. Sirianni could use a rematch vs. Washington as an opportunity to give his offense some momentum heading into the postseason. Or it could backfire like it did two years ago.
The 11-5 Eagles are the No. 3 seed and would host the 11-5, No. 6 seed Los Angeles Rams or the 12-4 San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round. If they were to beat the Commanders and the 11-5 Bears were to lose to the eliminated Lions at home, the Eagles would be the No. 2 seed and would host the 9-6-1 Packers in Round 1.
Sirianni may believe that No. 2 quarterback Tanner McKee and his backups can still beat the 4-12 Commanders. Washington is expected to start third-string quarterback Josh Johnson, who entered the first meeting with the Eagles when backup Marcus Mariota was knocked from the game.
McKee and the Eagles reserves beat a poor Giants team playing most of its starters in last season’s finale.
