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  • They became ‘chosen brothers’ in a maximum-security prison. Then one got out.

    They became ‘chosen brothers’ in a maximum-security prison. Then one got out.

    Scott Harmon and Mark Williams met each other in a maximum-security prison in the heart of Pennsylvania coal country in 2012.

    They had both grown up in the Philly area; both were in their early 20s, at the very beginning of life sentences without the possibility of parole for homicide convictions. Both had sons.

    They were also both desperate to leave State Correctional Institution (SCI) Greene, the isolated prison where they met and which they described as harrowing. They aimed to appeal their convictions and get free.

    They clicked as lifelong friends.

    In 2018, Williams was transferred to the more desirable SCI Phoenix, in Montgomery County, and soon Harmon was transferred there as well. Both saw the reunion as an unexpected gift, and they became cellmates, or “cellies.”

    While organizing with the activist group the Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration and working with the same attorney to appeal their separate cases, they maintained a similar mindset: Despite what the courts said, their sentences would not last the length of their lives.

    “When you’re sentenced to life, there’s really very little reason to hope that you’re ever going to get out again,” said Catherine Trama, an attorney with Wiseman, Schwartz, Cioschi & Trama who represented both men. They showed “a positivity that would be impossible for most people.”

    Harmon was 22 when he was arrested for killing a 24-year-old man, Timothy Haines, in North Philadelphia. In 2011, he was convicted and given a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. He maintained his innocence for the next decade-plus.

    In 2024, his murder conviction was overturned. The District Attorney’s Office stopped short of endorsing his innocence but offered him a plea deal, in which he pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and firearms violations to get out of prison in April 2025. (“When that opportunity is offered to you: you can go home today, or you can take a chance fighting the system again, you don’t fight the system again,” Harmon, 39, said).

    Harmon and Williams, who call each other chosen brothers, had been working toward the same goal, but now one had achieved freedom and the other had not.

    “It was really difficult for a while. I didn’t want him to feel as though I was upset that he was leaving, or wasn’t happy for him,” Williams, 36, said.

    Mark Williams, 36, is currently incarcerated at SCI Phoenix, and challenging his conviction through the Post Conviction Relief Act. He and Scott Harmon call each other chosen brothers.

    Williams is still incarcerated at SCI Phoenix, and is currently challenging his conviction through the Post Conviction Relief Act, claiming the state violated his right to due process. He was 21 when he was convicted of killing a 21-year-old man, Isaiah McLendon, in Darby Borough and also given a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.

    Harmon is now a utility worker at a country club and lives in the Philadelphia suburbs. He has a girlfriend who he met as a teenager and reconnected with while in prison.

    It is against state Department of Corrections policy for Harmon and Williams to meet in person because Harmon was formerly incarcerated, a spokesperson for the PA DOC said. Instead, they speak almost every day by phone.

    The following, as told to Zoe Greenberg in separate interviews, has been edited for length and clarity and combined.

    On meeting at a maximum-security prison in southwestern Pa.

    Mark: Everybody calls Scott “Slim.” I met Slim when he came upstate in 2012. We were young. Just seeing the shock of our new reality setting in with him, I had just experienced that a year ago. I could share how I made it through and hopefully it could help.

    Scott: He seemed like a cool dude. We didn’t dive into each other’s cases, we just both knew that we were sentenced to die at such a young age. We call it death by incarceration, or a “DBI” sentence.

    We had the same intention, which was getting out of prison.

    On boiling water in buckets and grueling workouts together

    Scott: We ate together all the time. The commissary is extremely limited — for the bags of instant rice that they sell, you need really hot water, which we figured out ways to make.

    We would buy an extra bucket, put water and baking soda or denture tabs in it with an extension cord, and it heats up. You put your food inside a trash bag, you put a trash bag over the bucket, and you set your food on it, and it cooks.

    Scott Harmon, who is now a utility worker at a country club, pictured at home.

    We also started working out together. In prison, we work out so hard because it’s stress relief. We punish our bodies physically: 100 burpees may be a warm-up.

    On the outside, I tried to do 10 sets of 10 pull-ups. Mark laughed at me when I told him I couldn’t.

    On being transferred to the same prison, 35 miles from Philly

    Mark: SCI Greene was in a very, very racist part of the state. That environment kind of makes tighter bonds in people.

    I transferred to SCI Phoenix [35 miles from Philly] maybe six months before Slim did. When I got transferred, it was an emotional time. It was hard. I didn’t really understand how close we were, until it was severed in that way.

    Scott: You can’t choose what prison you go to. It’s like rolling a dice.

    For those that were sentenced to “death by incarceration,” you have to stay seven years write-up free to get transferred. Now, mind you, you can get a write-up for having the thing that I just told you that we used to cook with. [The state DOC confirmed this.]

    Mark: When he got here, that was a huge relief. To have someone back where it’s like, I know this is one of my brothers. It’s something I wasn’t expecting.

    At the time, I think I was collecting trash on the walk. He was coming around the walk. And I saw him. We just were yelling and hugging.

    On becoming cellies at SCI Phoenix

    Mark: As soon as he got to Phoenix, we start pulling strings to get in the cell together. We had to talk to the unit managers, talk about why we wanted to be cellmates, how it would make sense for our incarceration. Our argument was all about compatibility: I’m compatible with this person, and I won’t keep asking you to move me from cell to cell to cell.

    Scott: We had bunk beds — two grown men. It’s not normal for two fully grown men to be in such a small space: maybe eight steps to the door, and four steps sideways.

    We talked about being free, and what that freedom will look like, and reaching back for each other. He would say, “If I get out, you don’t have to worry, I’m not gonna be like other guys,” and I’m saying the same thing.

    On trying to stay connected to the outside together

    Scott: I was trying to build a relationship with my son. Mark told me, “Just keep at it, just keep writing, just keep calling.”

    It is extremely frustrating when you want to be there, and you’re not being allowed. Had Mark not been there to advise me about the best way to go about it, I may not have the relationship I have with my son today.

    Mark: Going through COVID was one of the hardest times. We were locked down all the time — we were getting out less than an hour a day.

    The person that you were living with, you had to really be able to tolerate. We were in there, tight, every day, annoying each other, annoyed with what was going on.

    You don’t know what your relationship will be with somebody until you’re actually trapped in a small space with them for a year.

    On freedom — for one of them

    Scott: I get on the phone and my attorney is like, “We heard back from the judge, and they overturned your conviction.”

    I lost my breath, got nauseated, I started crying. Mark is two phones down. He started hugging me. It was a moment, man. I couldn’t even talk to him, snot was running down my nose. He was just happy for me, man. So happy for me.

    Mark: It was a shock to me, just like it was a shock to him. Immediately I just felt joy, and excitement.

    Then as time passed, it was more complicated. It wasn’t anger or jealousy. It was more of maybe sadness, and trying to reconcile the feelings of gain and loss at the same time. The situation was bringing up all types of feelings.

    Scott: It’s never a conversation about him not getting out. The conversation is always like, “You’ll be out here soon.”

    On saying goodbye

    Mark: I think I probably did have a fear that we wouldn’t be as close as we are. Over the years, we experienced a lot of people that we built bonds with who went home. We might still be close with them, but we don’t talk as frequently. It’s not what it was.

    Scott: We both worked in hospice, so the nurse allowed us to come down to the hospital and say goodbye to each other a day or two before I left.

    I left him all my property. I left my TV to him. I left the books and stuff that he wanted, any clothes or sneakers that I had that he might want. I didn’t take anything out with me.

    On keeping in touch now

    Scott: I talk to him every day. I know intimately what type of support he needs. Our conversations have changed in that it’s not about our freedom, it’s about his freedom.

    The experience is like how guys are in the Army: because I was dead to the world. I was maybe in contact with 10 people out of the billions and billions of people on the Earth. He talks to maybe 20 people outside of prison. That’s nothing.

    Scott Harmon takes a call from Mark Williams at his home in the Philadelphia suburbs.

    Mark: We talk about the new realities that he’s facing, and some of the ones that I have to look forward to.

    It might have been harder for me to leave him behind. Survivor’s remorse — that can be tough to deal with.

    Yes, I want my freedom, but it’s not much more than I wanted him to have his freedom.

    This story is part of a new series about life partners across the Philadelphia area.

    If you want to share your story about who you’re navigating life with romantically or otherwise, write to lifepartners@inquirer.com. We won’t publish anything without speaking to you first.

  • This Chesco business wants to create a ‘third place’ between home and work or school

    This Chesco business wants to create a ‘third place’ between home and work or school

    When you walk into Koselig Nook, Aracelis Mullin wants you to feel a wave of calm. She intentionally designed the teahouse that way: From its welcoming furniture to its lighting, its green paint, its scents, it is meant to be a relaxing third space, a stopping point between work and home, where people can gather, craft, focus on wellness, or anything between. Don’t forget to take off your shoes. (Really. It’s a rule.)

    Koselig Nook, a late-night teahouse, plans to open in Exton, at 333 E. Lincoln Highway, later this month. The business is relocating from Coatesville, where it opened in 2024, to be more central for customers within the county and traveling from Philly.

    “The whole idea and the purpose is to bring the people out of their houses and to enjoy another place where they can network or just spend some time or talk,” Mullin said.

    Named for the Norwegian term encompassing contentment and coziness, Koselig Nook’s seating is meant to be secure and comfortable — with plush, downy pillow seating and blankets, oils, and low lighting, inviting people to lounge.

    So much of today’s gathering culture revolves around bars and drinking, Mullin said. Though sober options are opening in metropolitan areas, like Philadelphia, people in the county have fewer places — especially places open later, she said.

    That’s the gap Koselig Nook seeks to fill, she said.

    “I think there’s a big need for third places that are more calm; for introverted people, they can come and network, too, little by little, but they don’t have the pressure of society saying, ‘Hey, do you want to drink?’” she said.

    Instead, customers can sit and study or work from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for $25 on Tuesdays through Fridays. Students spent a lot of time holed up in the Nook’s Coatesville location during finals week in December, Mullin said.

    In the evenings, from 7 to 11 p.m. for $35 on Friday and Saturday, people can go somewhere that is not about drinking.

    During various events offered week to week, people can come to workshops where they junk journal, cutting up pictures and pasting them into notebooks, or take a meditative break surrounded by gongs and chimes and singing bowls in a sound bath session, or spend time with a medium. You can pick up letters from a pen pal in another country or pen your own, facilitated through Koselig Nook. You can silently read your own book and then, in a formal discussion, chat about it with other readers, trading recommendations.

    Some make events out of it. For one 24-year-old’s birthday, she and her friends journaled together, sipping their tea, and had a sound bath.

    Others come alone and leave with connections: During a full moon ceremony, only two of the 15 women who came knew each other. By the end, “they all shared their phone numbers. … It was amazing,” Mullin said.

    The business traces its lineage to when Mullin’s daughter, Victoria, was living in California in 2020. She frequented a teahouse where customers could reserve time and sit and enjoy themselves during the evening hours. After Mullin visited herself, she felt compelled to bring something similar to the East Coast. She picked the brains of the owners.

    With her background — she ran a traveling tea party business for young girls and a birthday party business in Thorndale — Mullin embraced their model; her teahouse is reservation-only. There is unlimited tea, and a selection of premade snacks. Everything is provided without extra charge once you are in the Nook. Socks only.

    “I wanted to have that community place where the people come and gather, regardless of what your politics and your religion, so we did it. I was scared to death,” she said.

    She expected to have to go a bit more slowly in Chester County, for people to understand the business. But she was met with a lot of enthusiasm.

    “The people are so in need of this that they love it,” she said.

  • As a hotel looms, a tiny Ocean City neighborhood behind the old Gillian’s fears losing its small-town feel — and its sunrise

    As a hotel looms, a tiny Ocean City neighborhood behind the old Gillian’s fears losing its small-town feel — and its sunrise

    OCEAN CITY, N.J. — Marie Crawford was immediately charmed in 2021 when she and her soon-to-be-surfer husband Rich moved into their historic house in the literal shadow of Gillian’s Wonderland Pier.

    They’d come from Blue Bell, Pa., to live year-round by the ocean, and landed with an amusement park right up the street.

    “The ball drop, that was what we heard from my house,” she said, referring to the 130-foot-high Drop Tower ride. “It was, ‘Ah, ah, ahhhhhhhh,‘” she said, imitating the screams she would sometimes hear.

    Jack Gutenkunst, left, Marie Crawford and her husband Richard with Shiloh, a 9-year-old soft coated wheaten terrier, walk along Plaza Place, in Ocean City, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026.

    “It was so beautiful and romantic. On our porches, we would hear the ocean, not the amusement park. There were families, babies in strollers, coming up the street, flowing up to Wonderland. We were kind of ambassadors.”

    Now, more than a year after the closing of Gillian’s, the residents are faced with the possibility of a seven-story hotel they fear will block their sun, bring traffic to their streets, and threaten the small-town charm they found in their little pocket of Ocean City.

    “It’s just another example of maximizing, pushing,” said Rich Crawford, Marie’s husband, who programs music for his family’s Christian radio station, WDAC, located in Lancaster, Pa. In his 60s, Rich fell in with Ocean City’s surfing crowd and unexpectedly grew to love his little community.

    The Crawfords’ neighborhood of 100-year-old homes and 153 trees is called Plaza Place, which is one block each of Pelham Place, Plaza Place, and the north side of Seventh Street, between Wayne Avenue and Atlantic.

    Across Wayne Avenue, toward the ocean, was Wonderland. On a clear day, a red ball of sun creeps up above the boardwalk and peeks into their little neighborhood.

    On Pelham Place, residents each also own a two-foot- wide stretch of land across the street from their houses, a quirk of their deeds originally designed to prevent the rooming houses on Plaza Place that backed up against Pelham Place from using Pelham as an alleyway for their trash. There are dedicated gardeners on the streets who turn those strips into showpieces.

    The sun sets behind the Ferris wheel on the final day for the beloved Wonderland Pier in Ocean City Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024.

    Neighbor Barb Doctorman, whose family owns the Islander store on the boardwalk, said she used to take her children up on the Ferris wheel and peer down at their neighborhood. So lush, it looked like a forest, she said.

    “I looked up the impact of a high-rise,” said Doctorman. “We’re going to lose some sun. The airflow is going to be totally changed from what it was. There’s a heat radiant that comes off it.”

    Her husband, Doc, said: “We want something up there, but we know there could be more of a draw to that boardwalk than just the hotel.”

    Marie Crawford (left) holds the leash of Shiloh, a 9-year-old soft-coated wheaten terrier, while standing with her husband Richard (center) and neighbor Jack Gutenkunst at the end of Pelham Place in Ocean City.

    The land is owned by developer Eustace Mita, who has proposed Icona in Wonderland, a 252-room hotel that would preserve the Ferris wheel, carousel, and some kiddie rides.

    So far, the city has not declared the site in need of rehabilitation, as Mita has requested, or otherwise moved to rezone the area to allow a hotel.

    Merchants have begged the city to allow the hotel, and described how their businesses have suffered since the closure of Wonderland. Some residents have clung to the idea that an amusement park can return, though those numbers are dwindling.

    Marie Crawford, her husband Richard, right, along with Shiloh, a 9-year-old soft coated wheaten terrier, and their neighbor Jack Gutenkunst, walk past a sign against the development of a hotel at the site of the old Wonderland Pier on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026.
    After the Gillian’s closure, boardwalk merchants agree it will never be the same. They want a say in what comes next.

    In Plaza Place, the opposition is less sentimental, more practical. They fear traffic, and the shadow from a neighboring seven-story hotel. Like residents in other towns who fought dunes, they fear the loss of the ocean breeze, or a shift in wind patterns that will affect surfing at the popular Seventh Street Beach.

    “It’s got that old feel to it, and everybody’s house is different,” said Marie Crawford, who bought her Craftsman Colonial on the north side of Pelham for $905,000 in 2021. She estimates it’s worth $2.5 million now. There are about 60 homes in the Plaza Place civic association.

    The association is one of several groups that are prepared to go to court if the city tries to change the zoning to allow a hotel, without going through a thorough master plan process, said Jack Gutenkunst, the Plaza Place Association president.

    While Wonderland brought thousands of people on a summer night, the pier itself had no parking. So people parked elsewhere and excitedly walked through their neighborhood on their way to the rides. People on their porches called out, “Have a blessed evening,” and chatted the night away, said Crawford. The hotel proposal calls for parking underneath the structure.

    A sign stands near the historic neighborhood behind the old site of the Wonderland Pier in Ocean City, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. Residents are against the development of a hotel at the boardwalk site.

    Crawford stressed that it’s not a case of selfish NIMBY, Not In My Backyard. Despite Ocean City’s decades-old pattern of replacing single-family homes with duplexes, there are nearly 1,400 homes over 100 years old still left in Ocean City, said Bill Merritt, president of Friends of OCNJ History & Culture.

    Being a block from the boardwalk, and living in a beach town, does not mean the neighborhood’s purpose is primarily hospitality, said Crawford. Its distinct, increasingly rare Jersey Shore character deserves to be valued, she said.

    “It’s height. It’s chaos. It’s the change in culture,” she said, when asked what specifically worries her about the hotel. “It’s a transient population coming through here for three nights at a time. That’s in the hospitality district. We are not the hospitality district.”

    The neighborhood behind the old Wonderland Pier site on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. Residents are against the development of a hotel at the boardwalk site.

    The demolish-and-rebuild mania that took over a lot of the rest of the island has mostly left Plaza Place alone, though residents acknowledge that is also a threat to their way of life. They also fear a hotel will prompt Plaza Placeans to sell.

    “It’s a Norman Rockwell painting, it just is,” Councilman Keith Hartzell says in the documentary Plaza Place: The Enigmatic Street, a locally made short film about the neighborhood. “It’s right here in Ocean City, and you kind of don’t expect it, when there’s two streets away a bunch of duplexes.”

    Hartzell, who is running for mayor against incumbent Jay Gillian, the former owner of Wonderland who sold to Mita, says he hopes to negotiate with Mita over height, parking, and other issues before considering any kind of zoning allowance or rehabilitation designation. A city council-appointed subcommittee tasked with assessing the boardwalk’s usage as a whole is holding a public meeting at 10 a.m. on Feb. 7 at the city’s library.

    The residents of Plaza Place worry about the survival of the hidden little neighborhood by the beach they fell in love with. “The neighborhood is so beautiful and so old,” said Marie Crawford. “If the hotel goes in, the dramatic change that will be for all of us with the traffic, the tone of the neighborhood — you’re going to see people sell. That threatens the neighborhood. The people won’t want to stay.”

  • It only took one day to buy their West Philly dream home | How I Bought This House

    It only took one day to buy their West Philly dream home | How I Bought This House

    The buyers: Malcolm Critcher, 32, creative director; Rhiannon Critcher, 32, communications analyst

    The house: A 1,590-square-foot rowhouse in West Philly with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, built in 1925.

    The price: listed for $425,000; purchased for $410,000

    The agent: Benjamin Camp, Elfant Wissahickon

    Rhiannon and Malcolm Critcher bought their West Philly home after a very short search. They saw only two other homes.

    The ask: After a few years in Tucson, Ariz., Malcolm and Rhiannon Critcher knew they wanted to return to the East Coast. They tested a few cities first. Washington felt “a little too nerdy,” Malcolm Critcher said. New York swung too far in the other direction: “a little too main character.” Philadelphia felt just right. “It was a Goldilocks situation,” Critcher said. “We both came here and instantly fell in love.”

    They moved in 2023 and rented in Center City for a year to get their bearings and explore neighborhoods. They fell in love with South and West Philly, but the latter’s parks and tree-lined streets ultimately won them over. They wanted to start a family soon, and West Philly‘s “green, verdant life,” Critcher said, “just felt like a really cool place to be a kid.”

    Their must-have list was short but specific: a kitchen meant for hosting, an open-concept floor plan, and a basement big enough for Critcher, who is 6-foot-4, to stand in.

    The search: One morning in November 2024, after getting breakfast in West Philly, they decided to walk to nearby open houses. They saw three houses. The third was a recently renovated semi-detached twin with light pouring in from multiple sides.

    One of three bedrooms in Malcolm and Rhiannon Critcher’s home.

    They both wanted to buy it right away, but worried they were being impulsive, so they decided to test the walk to the train. The couple doesn’t have a car and relies heavily on public transportation. It took less than five minutes. On the ride home, they realized they weren’t interested in delaying for the sake of process. “If you find the perfect thing early on, it’s still the perfect thing,” Critcher said.

    Having previously bought and sold three houses, Critcher had the confidence to move quickly. “I know what I’m looking for and what I want,” he said. They called their agent and made an offer that afternoon.

    The appeal: The layout was the first draw. The open first floor flowed naturally from the living room to the kitchen, making it feel larger than its footprint. Then there was the renovation. Unlike the gray-floored, hastily flipped houses they had seen elsewhere, this one felt considered, as if the sellers had remodeled it for themselves, not for resale. They liked the finishes, the flow, and little design choices like the kitchen backsplash. “My wife walked into the kitchen and was just like, ‘Wow, this is my favorite kitchen I’ve ever been in,’” Critcher said.

    The couple wanted a kitchen that would be great for hosting.

    For him, the basement stole the show. It was finished, spacious, and didn’t require him to duck.

    The deal: The house was listed at $425,000 — the very top of the couple’s budget. It had been on the market for just one day when they saw it. They decided to offer $25,000 below the asking price, but they promised to take it as-is, as long as the inspection didn’t reveal anything concerning. The sellers agreed to the terms but requested $410,000, which the couple agreed to.

    Light pours in from multiple sides of the Cratchers’ semi-detached twin.

    The inspection came back spotless. The appliances had all been replaced in 2018. The sewer line had recently been redone. There were no structural issues. “Literally the most perfect housing inspection possible,” Critcher said.

    The money: All told, Critcher and his wife brought a little over $100,000 to closing. Most came from the sale of their previous home in Tucson. They bought that house in early 2020 for $179,000 and sold it in 2024 for $300,000. The proceeds went straight into a high-yield savings account and remained untouched until the couple was ready to buy again.

    The couple’s dog, Pablo, likes to hang out in the second bedroom.

    The down payment on their new house came in just under 20% — about $82,000 — and closing costs were $26,000.

    For Critcher, the exact breakdown mattered less than the total. He approached the purchase with a fixed pot of money and trusted their lender and agent to structure the details responsibly.

    The couple loved the open floor plan on the first floor.

    The move: The couple closed in mid-December 2024 while they were out of town. A notary in Arizona helped them file the necessary paperwork. The move itself happened in mid-January. Compared to moving across the country a year earlier, moving from Center City to West Philly wasn’t too bad. They hired movers to load a U-Haul from their sixth-floor apartment, then unloaded it themselves at the new house. Packing took about a week. The move took two days. Unpacking stretched on for a month.

    Any reservations? Critcher wouldn’t recommend their approach to first-time homebuyers. “It was very impulsive,” he said. “But we both just fell deeply in love with it.”

    Life after close: They’ve kept things simple since moving in. They haven’t undertaken any major renovations or upgrades. “We’re just kind of floating,” Critcher said.

    Did you recently buy a home? We want to hear about it. Email acovington@inquirer.com.

  • Horoscopes: Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026

    ARIES (March 21-April 19). You will be remarkably efficient and complete a task in record time, mostly because you have to. It’s nice to know how cool you are under pressure, and how constraint sharpens you. Next, invest your energy something that actually moves your life forward.

    TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Emotion is linked to memory, and it’s part of the reason that your memory is remarkable. Because you feel things deeply, the lessons will stick. You may forget minutiae, but the essence and meaning resonates deep within you.

    GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Outgrowing relationships is a natural part of life. People evolve, and when your needs shift, it’s normal to notice that some connections no longer work. You’re being honest with yourself and valuing your own growth.

    CANCER (June 22-July 22). Your project is humming along. It’s infused with so much of you now. You’re in the perfect moment to refine things, this time with a fresh set of eyes. Invite outsider feedback. As an old Polish proverb goes, “A guest sees more in an hour than the host in a year.”

    LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Hunger is not a misunderstanding. Yearning is not immaturity. Longing for more is not the problem, especially not for someone like you who is willing to work for the “more” and take the risks necessary to bring home the prize.

    VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Today favors learning through direct experience rather than theory. Ask better questions. Questions meant to confirm a position answer only that. Shift from “Is this right?” to “What’s actually happening?”

    LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Sweep the corners and hang up the broom. A job half-finished drains energy. A job completed gives energy. Today’s joy comes from follow-through. You’ll sleep better knowing you brought it all the way home.

    SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Some small degree of self-sacrifice is all that’s required. The amount is barely detectible to you because you’ve been generous every day for such a long time that it’s natural and automatic. If you feel any loss at all, you’re giving too much.

    SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). You don’t need a grand adventure or sparkling treasure to tell you that you’re lucky. You know it, you feel it, you witness your good fortune everywhere, especially in unassuming blessings that send you straight to gratitude. Your gratitude keeps you oriented toward life.

    CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You’ll bear witness to other people’s wins. You’ll celebrate them because you’re generous. You’ll ache with longing for your own wins because you’re alive. Both truths can be present at the same time. That’s the particular tension you’re living inside.

    AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). In many ways you’re an artist and not paid nearly enough for what you do. Just know that your artistry won’t disappear because it’s underfunded at the moment. Talents wait. Perceptions gather. Sensibilities sharpen. And your payday is coming very soon.

    PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). If a financial investment doesn’t pay off, you can always go make more money. But time is different. Time is a nonrenewable resource. That’s why waiting around feels like a violation of something sacred, and maybe it is.

    TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Feb. 7). Welcome to your Year of the Prosperous Weave, when earning power and enthusiasm combine. Healing and abundance braid together into a most fortuitous situation — you have much to share and the high energy to enjoy it, travel with it, spread it across the world. More highlights: restorative routines, a personal life populated by unexpected characters and activities, teaching moments that change lives. Virgo and Sagittarius adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 5, 10, 33 18 and 2.

  • Dear Abby | Generous favor is rewarded with lies and abuse

    DEAR ABBY: I have grown children, grandchildren and a great-grandchild. I don’t know if they think I am senile, but they seem to think I must cater to their every whim. Most of them are self-centered, thinking only of themselves. They borrow money from me, and sometimes I let them know it is a loan. Other times I give it to them and tell them that it is a gift. Loans are to be paid back. When it’s given to you, it’s yours.

    One daughter, “Marie,” borrowed a large sum of money and agreed to repay it in installments. She paid me back a portion of the money I had loaned her. When the next installment was due, she claimed her first payment was three times more than it had been. When I called her on it, she insisted she had given the higher amount.

    I love all my family, but I don’t intend for anyone to play me. Marie has given me no further payments, and the borrowing has stopped. When Marie tried to get in my face and talk down to me, my wife of 30 years let her know she wasn’t to talk to me that way.

    Since then, Marie has stopped speaking to us and has accused my wife of blocking her email, calls and texts. (That did not happen; I blocked them.) I just cannot see how a grown child could treat her parents the way we have been treated. I am deeply hurt, and I cannot seem to get past it. Your thoughts?

    — OLD MAN IN THE MOUNTAINS

    DEAR OLD MAN: Your hurt is understandable. Not only is your self-entitled daughter a deadbeat, but she’s also disrespectful. You treated her with kindness, and not only did she not repay the money you loaned her, but she attacked you verbally. I hope your other offspring have more character. That said, I don’t think blocking Marie’s ability to contact you was a wise decision. She may wish to apologize in the future, and you have been preventing that possibility.

    ** ** **

    DEAR ABBY: My wife of 10 years has asked for a separation. She is set on divorce. She feels that, during the last four years since we had kids (2 and 4 years old), I have “chipped away at her self-esteem and self-worth.”

    During the past two months since our initial conversation, I have started seeing a therapist, gone on antidepressants and joined an empathy group session for men. I now see the hurt and pain I caused due to my untreated depression and negative self-image, and I have committed to change and save our marriage.

    I stood by her and supported her through a major depression episode a year ago, and now she wants out. I am still in love with her, but she says that while she’ll always love me, she is no longer IN love with me. I’m working on giving her space to heal. What else can I do?

    — DISAPPOINTED HUSBAND IN MAINE

    DEAR HUSBAND: Ask your wife if she would agree to couples counseling with a licensed marriage and family therapist. Remind her that there are children involved, and even if the counseling isn’t successful in healing your marriage, it could benefit all of you in the divorce process and beyond. Whether it will result in you and your wife reuniting is anyone’s guess, but it may improve your relationship later.

  • Penn searching for answers after its loss to No. 23 Princeton: ‘We need to find a little lightning’

    Penn searching for answers after its loss to No. 23 Princeton: ‘We need to find a little lightning’

    For the sixth straight season, Penn took a quiet bus ride home from Jadwin Gymnasium.

    On Friday, the Quakers (13-8, 3-5 Ivy League) took a familiar drive up I-95 to take on No. 23 Princeton (19-2, 7-1 Ivy League). Penn entered the game with confidence after beating Columbia, the only team in the Ivy League to take down Princeton, last weekend.

    How Jordan Mason became Temple’s true point guard and ‘the heart of our team’

    Despite impressive performances from Simone Sawyer (16 points ) and Mataya Gayle (16 points), the Penn women’s basketball team lost to Princeton for the 16th straight time. They fell, 69-50.

    “The seniors haven’t won a game against Princeton,” head coach Mike McLaughlin said. “Instead of pretending that didn’t happen, we addressed it like, ‘You could be the group that gets a win here.’ I think they were just disappointed.”

    Star Power

    A familiar narrative unfolded for Penn in the first half as Gayle jump-started the offense.

    Following a sluggish first frame, Gayle took over in the second quarter, dropping eight points to help Penn take a 30-28 halftime lead.

    “She made plays off the dribble,” McLaughlin said. “They struggled to contain her. She made some attack, kicks, penetration. We just couldn’t convert.”

    Katie Collins, Gayle’s most reliable second punch, didn’t have the same success — finishing with seven points and snapping her 13-game double-digit scoring streak against Princeton.

    Can’t guard Hutcherson

    Sawyer scored seven of Penn’s 11 points in the third quarter, but a flaming hot shooting performance from Princeton’s Olivia Hutcherson broke the game open for the Tigers.

    The 6-foot guard scored nine of her total 19 points in the third quarter. Hutcherson’s efforts were capped off by an assist for a three-pointer and layup from center Fadima Tall, opening the fourth with a 14-point lead and a Penn timeout.

    Penn couldn’t climb out of the hole, scoring only seven points in the final frame to finish with under 60 points for the third time in Ivy League Play.

    “We were tough the first half,” McLaughlin said. “There were moments of really good play there into half time up to start of the third. End of the third quarter started, they start to pull away a little bit… we just struggled to get stops from them.”

    Team Game

    The Tigers played seven players for over 16 minutes in the matchup, with three players scoring over 15. On the flip side, Penn kept a tighter rotation — with only six players playing over 15 minutes despite playing in a physically demanding 3-2 zone defense.

    “We’ve been working with them in practice trying to get that next kid or two,” McLaughlin said. “Honestly, they haven’t been overly productive in practice settings, to really get those minutes.”

    Penn coach Mike McLaughlin says his needs “to find a little lightning here” with less than a month left in the regular season.

    Four players scored in the double digits for the Quakers, but the end of the bench lacked punch as Saniah Caldwell and Brooke Suttle produced two points on six shots in a combined 47 total minutes.

    McLaughlin is actively waiting for someone on the roster to step up and keep the program’s Ivy League Championship hopes alive — and will be expanding the team’s guard rotation next week versus Cornell and Columbia.

    “We need to find a little lightning here,” McLaughlin said. “We need to find someone off the bench to get a basket for us. And I think this week’s a big week for that. We play back to back again. We’re not going to do it without someone stepping up. It’s not just two people. So see what this week looks like. But I’m with you. I think we need another person there, and that’s trying to connect.

    Up Next

    Penn looks to rebound on Friday against Cornell (8-12, 3-4 Ivy League) in Ithaca (6 p.m., ESPN+).

  • Philly teacher whose frozen car went viral gets free car from Carvana

    Philly teacher whose frozen car went viral gets free car from Carvana

    After her frozen car garnered tens of millions of views on TikTok, Tianna Graham is getting a new car for free, gifted to her by Carvana, whose car vending machine tower features prominently in the background of her videos.

    Graham, a 24-year-old fifth-grade math teacher at Community Academy of Philadelphia, had a 2016 Honda Civic. The vehicle became thoroughly encased in ice following the snowstorm and arctic temperatures late last month.

    On Tuesday, Graham reached out to Carvana, hoping she could leverage the car tower’s inadvertent virality in her videos to get a discount on a new car. Carvana soon responded, eager to help.

    When Graham, a Fishtown resident, arrived at the facility on Friday afternoon with her mom and sister, she said, she expected Carvana would offer her some percentage off one of their cars.

    @tiannag444

    Replying to @✨mrs.corby.nails✨ THANK YOU @Carvana MORE COMING SOON!!! I’m so incredibly grateful for this!!!! after all the details get sorted out, i’ll post a full update! and a big thank u to my lovely friends and family who have been helping me through this!

    ♬ original sound – tianna graham

    She was stunned to see a bright blue 2022 Honda Civic descend from the car vending machine with a big bow on it, school supplies inside, and an ice pick, “which I guess I do need,” Graham said with a laugh.

    Carvana spokesperson Hayley Pollack confirmed Friday the car will be free for Graham once all the paperwork is finalized.

    “I was shocked, in disbelief,” Graham said of learning the car would be free. “It’s a beautiful car.”

    Tianna Graham in front of the car Carvana is gifting her.

    The car is used and has about 28,000 miles on it, Graham said. She expects to have it in her possession next week based on initial conversations with Carvana, she said.

    She plans to take it for a spin for the first time next weekend to drive to Ocean City, Md., for a National Federation of the Blind convention, she said. Graham, whose sister is blind, said she is currently pursuing her graduate degree to become an orientation and mobility specialist to help blind people learn to use canes.

    “All things do happen for a reason,” Graham said she learned from this experience. “Anything bad that is happening, something good can always come out of it.”

  • Daryl Morey likes the Sixers’ chances in the East, but he understands skepticism around the Jared McCain trade

    Daryl Morey likes the Sixers’ chances in the East, but he understands skepticism around the Jared McCain trade

    The NBA trade deadline sparked movement among Eastern Conference contenders.

    James Harden was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Nikola Vučević landed with the Boston Celtics. The Detroit Pistons added Kevin Huerter and Dario Šarić. And the New York Knicks acquired Jose Alvarado.

    All these moves were made to bolster those teams’ championship chances.

    Anyone expecting to see the sixth-seeded 76ers do the same were let down. In fact, star center Joel Embiid might have been among them after he expressed hope that the front office would avoid “ducking the tax” and instead focus on strengthening the roster to compete.

    Still, Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey didn’t make any deals that netted a player. Instead, they traded Jared McCain and Eric Gordon in exchange for draft picks in what was viewed as an avenue to get under the luxury tax threshold for the fourth consecutive season.

    The Sixers trading Jared McCain will either be a head-scratcher or an embarrassment

    Morey spoke on Friday as if he wasn’t the least bit concerned about the rest of the conference’s attempts to improve on the margins.

    “We like our chances in the East,” Morey said. “We feel like we’re in the mix with the top teams there. Obviously, we’ve got to prove that on the court. But, just reiterating, we were looking to add, and we didn’t add. But we still believe in this team. … Folks have speculated on the improvements of our East competitors. I don’t see it, personally. I think all the teams made moves at the deadline, but there weren’t any needle-movers, in my opinion.”

    Pressed about his no “needle-movers” comment, Morey was reminded that Harden’s migration to Cleveland from the Los Angeles Clippers is regarded as a blockbuster deal. Does he believe that the Cavaliers trading for Harden, who is familiar with from stints together with the Sixer Houston Rockets, doesn’t move the needle?

    “I don’t want to talk about specific teams,” Morey said. “I’m just saying, I mean, objectively, teams in the East, the array is similar. Like, if you were to look at teams’ chances before and after — that’s my opinion. I think people can have differences of opinion.”

    Former Sixer James Harden is coming back to the East as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

    That said, Morey understands the disappointment among Sixers fans who have witnessed him make moves to duck below the tax threshold for several years at the trade deadline. This gives the impression that saving money for managing partner Josh Harris is more critical than contending for a title. The team comes off looking cheap, especially as Embiid’s championship window continues to shrink.

    “I’d say we were trying to add to the team and we didn’t find a deal that made sense that we thought could move the needle on our ability to win this year,” he said. “The CBA pressures were felt up and down the league.”

    Morey said the Sixers traded Gordon to the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday in exchange for a 2032 second-round pick swap to create space to convert Dominick Barlow’s two-way contract to a standard NBA deal.

    Joel Embiid keeps his reaction to Sixers’ trade deadline politically correct: ‘I believe in myself’

    According to Spotrac, the team is now $1.7 million below the tax level. The Sixers also have $3.9 million in cap space under the first apron. Morey said that because of the first apron, they had to move to create that opportunity for Barlow.

    “But that wasn’t the primary reason for the Jared deal,” he said. “We see Jared as somebody that’s more likely to help a team in the future.”

    Yet the Sixers shipped him to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday in exchange for the Houston Rockets’ 2026 first-round pick and three second-round selections. One of the second-rounders is the most favorable 2027 pick from the Thunder, Rockets, Indiana Pacers, and the Miami Heat. The other second-rounders are 2028 picks that previously belonged to the Milwaukee Bucks and Thunder.

    In June, Morey expressed confidence in the Sixers’ deep and versatile backcourt rotation of Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes, and McCain. He likened it to the guard-heavy style used by the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers to reach last season’s NBA Finals.

    Sixers president Daryl Morey believes former guard Jared McCain has a chance to be a good player in the future.

    McCain was exceptional in his rookie season before suffering a season-ending knee injury in December 2024. But he struggled with consistency this season, leaving him out of the rotation.

    Did the Sixers lose faith in the second-year guard?

    “I wouldn’t say that. No,” Morey said. “I think he has a tremendous future. Sort of the whole thing with people who don’t like the deal is they’ll leave off the return, minimize this draft, which we think is good, and things like that. … That return is for a starter-quality player on a good team. It’s actually above that. We do a lot of analysis on how we think things will play out both here and around the league going forward, in terms of the quality of play. What kinds of returns will there be for what players in the future?

    “And the bottom line is, Jared is a player who’s a great future bet and a potential great player. We wish him luck. We feel that this returns sets us up better to set up the team in the future.”

    Sixers takeaways: Second half turnovers, Joel Embiid’s scoring and more in loss to Lakers

    While it’s not a primary focus, the Sixers think the first-round pick can be used to make moves around the upcoming draft. Morey also believes they can use the three second-rounders to move up the draft.

    But that doesn’t address the team’s needs for the remainder of the season. They offered the picks they received from OKC to other teams.

    “Nothing materialized for a player that we thought could move the needle with those picks now,” Morey said. “But we feel like going forward, those picks will help us build the team in the future in a good way.”

    Sixers guard Eric Gordon during warm ups before the Sixers played the New York Knicks on Saturday, January 24, 2026 in Philadelphia.

    While Morey mentioned that he had authorization to go over the tax, this was the fourth straight year that the Sixers made moves to get under the luxury tax, even after Embiid’s comments.

    “I understand the perception,” Morey said. “I hope to defeat it by finding a deal that I can go to ownership and say, ‘We think this move is the right move to do for that and create those apron issues.’ But I haven’t been able to recommend that move yet.”

    At this moment, however, Morey wants to talk about the solid players that the Sixers currently have on the roster.

    He’ll remind you that Embiid is rounding into form. Morey will mention that Maxey took a leap to becoming an All-Star starter. And he’ll tell you that Kelly Oubre Jr. is playing the best basketball of his career.

    “We love the bigs we have with Joel, [Andre Drummond and Adem] Bona,“ he said. ”We feel like guys are contributing up and down the roster. Coach [Nick] Nurse has done a tremendous job putting us in with the top few teams in the East in terms of how we’re playing. So that’s why we understand the fan reaction. Obviously, the big move was with Jared. Because we’re playing well, we were trying to upgrade the team and add to the team now. That was goal No 1.”

  • Tyrese Maxey, Sixers teammates describe emotions watching Jared McCain traded at deadline: ‘It was a hard day’

    Tyrese Maxey, Sixers teammates describe emotions watching Jared McCain traded at deadline: ‘It was a hard day’

    LOS ANGELES — While on the 76ers’ bus heading to the San Francisco airport Wednesday morning, Jared McCain approached his teammates to reveal that he had been traded.

    “It was just like, ‘All right, whatever. He’s just joking,’” All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey recalled. “Calls start coming in, and then you realize it’s real.”

    That is the human side of the trade deadline, which takes a backseat to the business focuses of asset acquisition, luxury tax ducking, and trying to enhance (or tear down) a roster for the stretch run and playoffs.

    The Sixers trading Jared McCain will either be a head-scratcher or an embarrassment

    The record will show that the second-year guard was dealt to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 2026 first-round pick and other draft compensation. Yet the Sixers abruptly lost a teammate in the middle of a five-game Western Conference road trip more than three months into the regular season. McCain, a fan favorite, also was popular inside the Sixers’ locker room, as somebody who brought positive vibes whether he was enjoying a breakout start to his rookie season or struggling to regain form following knee and thumb surgeries.

    “It’s a harsh business and I know you have to try to take emotions out of it,” starting forward Dominick Barlow said of McCain, on the same day his two-way contract was converted to a standard deal. “But it’s kind of difficult. … It was a hard day.”

    Maxey was the first Sixers to speak publicly about McCain’s “emotional” departure, calling him his “little brother.”

    Jared McCain and Tyrese Maxey looked like the Sixers’ backcourt of the future only one year ago.

    The 25-year-old “veteran” in this relationship was quickly taken by McCain’s combination of personality and diligence to his craft, saying that “anybody that worked that hard, for me, is going to be somebody that I probably gravitate to.” When Paul George was suspended 25 games for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy, Maxey called McCain to encourage him to seize the opportunity. And Maxey said last Saturday that he was proud of how McCain had “fought his way out of a little funk” in his comeback from injury, shooting 15-of-26 from three-point range in his final six games before being traded.

    Also hit particularly hard by the news were Justin Edwards and Adem Bona, who also were part of McCain’s 2024-25 rookie class.

    Edwards has known McCain since they were roommates as teenagers at Steph Curry’s basketball camp. He said McCain has “always been the same person, honestly” (and “more than just a TikToker,” Edwards emphasized to The Inquirer). Even after the Sixers’ loss at the Los Angeles Lakers more than 24 hours later, Bona was “still processing” an “unreal” day.

    “It’s kind of hard to understand,” Bona told The Inquirer, “but it’s part of the business.”

    Joel Embiid keeps his reaction to Sixers’ trade deadline politically correct: ‘I believe in myself’

    Once teammates grasped that McCain was leaving, they tried to “make him laugh, even though it’s a tough situation,” Edwards said. Coach Nick Nurse briefly spoke to McCain as he got off the bus, assuring the 21-year-old that he would be successful with the Thunder. Another member of the traveling party told The Inquirer that McCain shed tears on the tarmac before the Sixers boarded their flight to Los Angeles.

    “Obviously developed enough of a relationship that I care about him and wish him a lot of luck,” Nurse said before Thursday’s game at the Lakers. “ … Then I kind of move on, because there was a lot of people wanting to talk to him.”

    The emotions hit Maxey again when he woke up for Thursday’s shootaround, realizing he would not see “JMac” downstairs at the team hotel. Bona had a similar reaction when he and rookie VJ Edgecombe went to perform a silly pregame ritual of attempting to juggle the basketball, and McCain was not there to join them as usual. Ditto for when it was time for pregame chapel — a staple for several of the Sixers’ younger players — and it felt like the group “wasn’t complete” without McCain, Bona said. McCain would often round up his teammates whenever they lost track of time.

    “Tonight I looked up,” Bona said, “and I’m like, ‘Ah, Jared would have called me right now.’ But he wasn’t here to call me.”

    Sixers players Jared McCain and Adem Bona developed a deep bond as members of the same draft class.

    By tipoff against the Lakers, however, the Sixers needed to move forward with the players still on the roster. Maxey and star center Joel Embiid encouraged McCain to use being traded as a fresh start with the defending NBA champions. They will all reunite on March 23, when the Thunder visit Philly.

    Still, Maxey leaned into the human side of the trade deadline, acknowledging that “a lot of people in this organization were sad to see [McCain] go.”

    “He’s got a fan in me for life,” Maxey said. “A brother in me for life.”