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  • Philly’s 250th celebration will feature the biggest parade anywhere, six days of fireworks, and Floridian Segway riders

    Philly’s 250th celebration will feature the biggest parade anywhere, six days of fireworks, and Floridian Segway riders

    Philly will have the largest Semiquincentennial parade in the country this summer to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, along with six nights of fireworks to keep things lit well into the evening.

    Sure, Philadelphians find a reason to set off fireworks every night (what are you celebrating at 9:37 p.m. on a Thursday in February?!?), but the big difference is these will be professional.

    There is new information about first-time and returning events for the 2026 Wawa Welcome America Festival, Philly’s annual 16-day Independence celebration, but details about other events — like who’s going to headline the July 4 concert on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway — still remain under wraps.

    New this year will be the Salute to Independence Semiquincentennial Parade on July 3, which will feature people, performers, and personalities representing the country’s 50 states, its territories, and the District of Columbia.

    Miss Philadelphia 2023 Jacqueline Means waves to the crowd near Independence Hall during the Wawa Welcome America Salute to Independence Day Parade in 2023.

    Among them will be all Miss America state titleholders, several fife and drum corps, historical reenactors, dancers, 50 marching bands, unicycle riders, stilt walkers, a jump rope team from Maryland, a steel drum band from Michigan, a circus troupe from Illinois, the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, and the Philly Drag Mafia.

    The Louisiana LunaChicks, a group whose members will dress like Mrs. Roper from Three’s Company, will also be performing in “patriotic caftans,” according to a news release. The LunaChicks may want to stay clear of the Segway Riders Club of The Villages, Florida, which is exactly what you think it is and will also be rolling in the parade.

    Not to be outdone, three Star Wars cosplay groups — Garrison Carida, Kyber Base, and the Mav Oya’la Clan — are teaming up to represent the lighter side of Pennsylvania (and the dark side of the force).

    A storm trooper with the Garrison Carida dances during the Philadelphia Independence Day Parade in 2014.

    The parade will also feature international bands from Ghana to Ireland; more than a dozen floats, including those celebrating Indigenous people and women’s right to vote; and a 20-by-40-foot Declaration of Independence.

    Wawa Welcome America’s six nights of fireworks begin June 20 (and on June 21) at a new event that has not yet been announced, according to a news release.

    Fireworks will also take place on June 25 at the Celebration of Black Music Month at the Dell Music Center, June 26 at the Kidchella Music Festival at Smith Memorial Playground, June 27 at a concert on the waterfront, and July 4, “following the star-studded concert” on the Parkway, absolutely no details of which were included in the release.

    Fireworks over the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the statue of George Washington at Eakins Oval during the Wawa Welcome America Festival on July 4, 2023, following a free concert featuring Demi Lovato and Ludacris on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

    Returning events include:

    • June 19: Juneteenth Block Party at the African American Museum
    • June 24: Five Points Night Market at Cottman and Rising Sun Avenues in Northeast Philly
    • June 27: Concillio’s Annual Hispanic Fiesta at LOVE Park
    • June 28: Gospel on Independence at Independence National Historical Park
    • July 1: Wawa Hoagie Day on Independence Mall
    • July 2: Red, White, & Blue To-Do parade, block party, and folk festival at sites across the Historic District
    • July 2: Salute to Service: The U.S. Army Field Band & Soldiers’ Chorus at Independence National Historical Park.
    • July 3: Pops on Independence at Independence Park
    • July 4: Celebration of Freedom Ceremony outside of Independence Hall

    For more details about Wawa Welcome America, visit july4thphilly.com/events.

  • Former Villanova professor says she was fired after accusing the law school of racial discrimination

    Former Villanova professor says she was fired after accusing the law school of racial discrimination

    A former Villanova professor says in a federal lawsuit filed this week she was fired from the Catholic university after accusing its law school of racial discrimination involving one of her students.

    Stephanie Sena, who had been an anti-poverty fellow in the law school and taught at Villanova for more than 20 years, was dismissed in 2024 for what the school said were “student complaints,” according to the lawsuit.

    But Sena’s lawyers say the dismissal was due to her filing an ethics complaint against the school for racial discrimination for comments that administrators made around a decision not to give her student a financial award that would have alleviated her debt, citing a speech the student made at a law school symposium.

    The student, Antionna Fuller, accused Villanova of racial discrimination and failing to appropriately support her with financial aid during a 2021 symposium speech at the university, titled “Shifting the Poverty Lens: Caritas in Focus.” Sena hosted the symposium, during which Fuller also publicly asked for an apology from Villanova.

    “How can you say caritas [which means love and charity in Latin] and Black lives matter with no thought to a Black life in front of you, systematically oppressed by your hands?” Fuller said, according to a video of the speech. “It’s not only hypocritical, but it’s embarrassing. We cannot talk about oppression and white supremacy without acknowledging its very presence here.”

    Her speech drew a standing ovation, but later caused consternation among law school leadership.

    Sena found out that law school dean Mark Alexander, in a letter to the scholarship committee, asked that Fuller not receive the debt relief award because she “maliciously maligned” the law school, according to the suit.

    Sena‘s lawsuit alleges that then-law school vice dean Michael Risch said after the student’s speech that the student was “lucky” to have gotten into the law school and that she would not be there if she were white.

    Villanova said in a statement Wednesday that Sena’s lawsuit “lacks merit” and that the university “will vigorously defend against these baseless allegations.”

    “We look forward to presenting the actual facts surrounding the plaintiff’s separation from Villanova. To be clear, Villanova University does not tolerate discrimination or retaliation of any kind, and the allegations in Plaintiff’s lawsuit are contrary to our written policies and conflict with the core values of our University.”

    Sena, 46, of Media, declined to comment.

    Fuller, 29, who now lives with her mother in the South, said in an interview Wednesday that she feels both relieved and anxious about seeing the issue aired publicly.

    “I am happy, at least relieved, that truth is coming out,” said Fuller, who graduated summa cum laude from the University of South Carolina and got her Villanova law degree in 2022. “I’ve been in such an isolated place and just carrying this trauma for so long.”

    She said she sought therapy after the reaction she got to her speech from Villanova administrators and last year wrote a book, I Almost Sued My Law School, about her journey as a first-generation, low-income Black student. She no longer wants to practice law, she said, and is still figuring out her next steps.

    But she said she was grateful to Sena, whom, during the symposium speech, she called “my hero, advocate, and my friend.”

    “She was the first person to publicly stand up for me,” Fuller said.

    Stephanie Sena stands at site of an encampment along Kensington Avenue in 2021.

    Fallout from symposium speech

    Sena, a longtime activist who has worked to help people experiencing homelessness and opened a homeless shelter in Upper Darby in 2022, was fired in 2016 from her job as an adjunct professor at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts after defending students who accused a classmate of rape. She sued PAFA and the case ended in a confidential settlement.

    She also led activists in lawsuits against the city in 2021 over its intentions to remove homeless people in a Kensington encampment. In 2023, the head of Norristown’s municipal council planned to bus homeless people to Villanova’s campus because of Sena’s advocacy for the homeless in Norristown. Villanova at the time was criticized for not defending Sena and making a stronger response.

    Sena was hired to teach at Villanova in 2003 and began to work at the law school in 2020, serving as a full-time faculty member and anti poverty fellow. She was also an adjunct professor at Villanova’s Center for Peace and Justice.

    In her lawsuit against Villanova, Sena asserts that law school leadership met with her in 2022, several months after Fuller’s symposium speech, and asked her if she had known what Fuller planned to say. Matthew Saleh, former assistant dean for admissions, told her it would be harder to attract Black students to the school because of the speech, according to the suit. Risch, the vice dean, made the comment about Fuller not being at Villanova if she had been white, the suit says.

    Saleh, who now is the senior associate dean of enrollment management and financial aid at Rutgers’ law school, said in an interview that he does not recall making that comment and that he doesn’t think it’s even the case that Fuller’s speech would hurt recruiting.

    “That would not have even come to my mind,” he said. “I couldn’t reasonably see a way that it would impact recruiting.”

    Sena “objected to the race discriminatory and retaliatory comments” made to her in that meeting, according to the suit.

    In October 2023, she complained again about the comments in an email to two administrators who headed diversity, equity, and inclusion at Villanova, according to the lawsuit complaint. Then came the award committee meeting on Jan. 30, 2024, where the dean in a letter argued against Fuller’s receiving the award, according to the suit.

    Students who were in the award committee meeting and were upset about the law school dean’s reaction approached Sena and asked what they could do, according to the suit. Sena said the students, who are not named in her lawsuit, could contact the diversity, equity, and inclusion office and file a climate complaint.

    Sena, according to the suit, complained again one day after the award committee meeting that Villanova “had engaged in a dangerous pattern of race discrimination” and filed an ethics complaint with the university. She also expressed her concerns in an email to faculty and in a meeting with a law professor, who told her the students had committed an ethics violation by revealing confidential details of the awards meeting they were in, according to the suit.

    After filing the complaint, Sena said in her lawsuit, she was “treated differently,” “unjustly criticized,” and “blamed for issues outside her control.”

    In June 2024, human resources informed her that she was under investigation after students said she had pressured them to file complaints against the deans, which Sena denied, the suit said.

    She was fired July 30, 2024, even though, the suit said, she had no prior performance or disciplinary issues and had received awards and promotions. She is seeking damages including economic loss, compensatory and punitive, and attorneys’ fees and costs.

    An apology and acknowledgement

    During the symposium, Fuller had said she wished Villanova would apologize and acknowledge what happened. She said that the school had given her $15,000 in financial aid toward her annual $65,000 cost, but that she subsequently learned other students had gotten more, even though her mother worked multiple jobs as a nurse’s aide to support the family.

    “I was confused,” she told the audience. “How can a student with seemingly the most need graduate with the most debt?”

    She learned of a free-tuition public interest scholarship that Villanova awards to incoming students and sought it after she was enrolled, she said. She was turned down repeatedly, she said, even though Villanova had recently awarded its largest group of the scholarships.

    “Am I invisible?” she asked. “To walk into this law school building every day, to be surrounded by wealth and prestige, while struggling and burdened with debt, and while expected to perform like those who are not feels inhumane.”

    She said during the speech she would graduate with almost $200,000 in student debt. Villanova officials, she said Wednesday, later accused her of exaggerating because she was including her undergraduate debt, too, and maintained that the total was really $160,000 — $126,000 of which was from the law school.

    Fuller said Wednesday she had apologized to law school leadership, hugged them at graduation, and thought everything had been resolved. She said she was surprised to hear that the dean wanted to block her access to the debt award, she said.

    “My intent wasn’t to harm, attack or mislead,” Fuller wrote in her book, “but to share my personal experience — my fears and financial anxieties — as part of the larger conversation about finding solutions to reduce poverty, which the conference was centered around.”

    Staff writer Abraham Gutman contributed to this article.

  • Flyers hit the Olympic break at a crossroads. Will they sell for the future or try to push for the playoffs?

    Flyers hit the Olympic break at a crossroads. Will they sell for the future or try to push for the playoffs?

    Two roads diverge in Philadelphia

    And, sorry, the Flyers cannot travel both.

    Looking down one, the Flyers are buyers, trying to make a playoff push beyond the NHL trade deadline on March 6.

    The other road is more well-trodden by this organization: the one where they are sellers. In the distance, maybe one can make out a third road, the one general manager Danny Brière has mentioned, that entails a quiet trade deadline.

    But Flyers president Keith Jones and Brière have long said “the players will decide” which road the organization will take. It’s hard to gauge where things are right now.

    Standing pat doesn’t make sense, but which direction are the Flyers heading? Are they the team from the beginning of the season or the team that has three wins in the past 15 games? And what about the future, with players like Porter Martone, Alex Bump, and Oliver Bonk waiting in the wings?

    The Flyers closed out the unofficial first half of the season with a 2-1 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. Jamie Drysdale scored late to tie the game after a master class by the Flyers’ six-man unit before Tim Stützle dipped the puck around Dan Vladař in overtime.

    “Obviously a huge point for us,” defenseman Nick Seeler said. “But, man, it would have been great to get that extra point. But you know what? I give our group a lot of credit. Fight till the very end.”

    The loss left the Flyers with a 25-20-11 record through the first 56 games, as the NHL is on a break for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. They sit eight points out of two different playoff spots — third place in the Metropolitan Division, behind the New York Islanders, and the Eastern Conference’s second wild card, which the Boston Bruins occupy. The Flyers also have two games in hand on the Islanders and one on the Bruins.

    “Some good, some bad,” coach Rick Tocchet said when asked to assess the first 56 games.

    It’s fair for a team that at one point boasted one of the best penalty kills, conceded among the fewest goals, and, for once, has a power play that didn’t completely stink. But after their massive January slide, the Flyers are tied for 16th on the penalty kill (79.1%), tied for 21st in goals allowed per game (3.16) — on Jan. 1, they were 10th (2.85) — and are ranked 28th on the power play (16.1%).

    But like a famous ex-Phillies pitcher once said with another team that shall remain nameless, the Flyers are saying: “Ya gotta believe.”

    “The season’s not over,” captain Sean Couturier told The Inquirer on Wednesday. “People seem almost like we’ve thrown in the towel, but we haven’t. We still believe in our group, and it’s really on us to just kind of step up and take our game to the next level.

    “We’re still in the mix here. A little behind, but we still have [26] games left, so lots of hockey left. Anything can happen from now on, and we’ll just control what we can control.”

    Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim will be playing for Canada at the upcoming Olympics in Italy.

    No, Couturier hasn’t gone off the deep end. The Flyers may be a handful of points out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, but they really do control their own destiny.

    Of their remaining 26 games, 18 are against Eastern Conference teams, with just three against the two teams below them in the conference, the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils. After returning on Feb. 25, they have seven games against one of the 10 teams below them in the overall NHL standings.

    “We’ll need to get red-hot, I think that that’s kind of it,” Drysdale said. “I think we’re capable of it. Everyone, take this break and reset — good luck to [Travis Sanheim and Vladař] and the guys who are playing in the Olympics — but we’ve got to come out swinging right away, not waste a game.”

    Time is definitely not a-wastin’. It’s a bit bonkers to think that the season has just 26 games remaining and will end in 67 days on April 14 against the Canadiens. Where the Flyers will be at that moment is the biggest question mark.

    When the majority of the team reconvenes on Feb. 17 in Voorhees for practice, it will be the same squad. There is a leaguewide trade freeze until 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 22. Across the 12 subsequent days — until 3 p.m. on March 6 — there’s a good chance teams, including the Flyers, will start wheeling and dealing.

    But sellers or buyers? The recent slide, and with how poorly the Flyers have played this month, are good indicators that the team isn’t in a spot to add pieces; however, as expected, they certainly aren’t giving up inside the room.

    “I think just everything we learned in this first half, kind of put it all together and go on a run,” defenseman Cam York told The Inquirer on Wednesday after the team’s final practice.

    “We’re young, but we’re an experienced group at the same time, I think, and I think we all want that pressure almost and we expect to make it.”

    Yes, teams can go on runs and make pushes. Heck, the St. Louis Blues were last in the NHL on Jan. 1, 2019, and then, after that fateful day in South Philly where they sang “Gloria” at The Jacks NYB, they went on a magical run ending with the team hoisting the Stanley Cup

    Of course, we’re not saying the Flyers are heading there, but the point is: As much as losing streaks can happen, so can winning ones. Can the Flyers dig themselves out of the hole they dug themselves and get back to who they were just a month ago?

    Flyers general manager Danny Brière will have some tough decisions to make ahead of the March 6 trade deadline.

    And who will be there for that?

    There is no denying that the Flyers need to make room for the future. So with a team that isn’t far outside the playoff picture, do you upset the apple cart now or wait until, what most expect, the offseason?

    Regardless, it’s a tough call to make with the team kind of there but not fully there in the playoff race. While Jones and Brière have said the players will dictate how they go, right now, it’s sell. Because while the message from the players is that they believe, the play on the ice right now is telling a different story.

    So, two roads diverge in Philadelphia. Will they take the one less traveled? Or the one that they’ve gone down before?

    And, in the end, will it all make a difference?

  • Lou Capozzoli, steward of Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar in South Philly, has died at 86

    Lou Capozzoli, steward of Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar in South Philly, has died at 86

    Lou Capozzoli, 86, of Southwest Philly, a dive bar owner and band front man with a penchant for telling jokes, died Sunday, Feb. 1, after battling a brief illness at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital while surrounded by family.

    Mr. Capozzoli, born April, 4, 1939, was just one year younger than the bar he would eventually take over at the intersection of East Passyunk Avenue and Federal Street, then called Ray’s after the nickname bestowed on his father, Anthony.

    Almost immediately, the bar became the center of Mr. Capozzoli’s life. He grew up in the apartment upstairs and as a toddler would sit quietly on the bar downstairs, eating cornflakes, while his mom poured beers. His dad, meanwhile, would wish every customer a happy birthday, even if it wasn’t theirs to celebrate.

    It was a gesture that stuck with Mr. Capozzoli, who would go on to spend the rest of his life doing whatever he could to earn smiles from strangers, whether it meant serving birthday shots of cake-flavored vodka with a candle or performing to crowds as a singer and saxophonist across Las Vegas, the Jersey Shore, and South Philly.

    Mr. Capozzoli with a drawing of his father, Anthony “Ray” Capozzoli, who opened Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar in South Philadelphia in 1938. Mr. Capozzoli took over the bar when his father died in 1997.

    “That’s all he wanted, for his father to be proud of him,” said Rose Capozzoli,Mr. Capozzoli’s wife.

    And he would be, Rose is certain. Mr. Capozzoli took over the bar when his father died in 1997, rechristening it Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar in honor of his dad’s slogan. Under his stewardship, Ray’s would go on to become the gold standard of Philly dive bars, known for $4 citywides, Friday night karaoke, staying open on Christmas, and an unwavering adherence to theme. Mr. Capozzoli would call regulars on their birthdays to wish them well and maintained a calendar of seemingly all the birthdays in the world to help his staff keep tally on the outdoor chalkboard.

    As a boss, Mr. Capozzoli was “pretty silly,” said bartender T.C. Cole, who also played guitar in Mr. Capozzoli’s band. “He would call you at 1:45 in the morning when you’re trying to close just to tell you a joke.”

    The inside of Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar. Mr. Capozzoli was known for calling regulars on the mornings of their birthdays.

    If jokes were a currency, Mr. Capozzoli was a billionaire, friends and family said. He’d fire them off incessantly — during closing shifts, band performances, family dinners — and had enough discretion to whisper the most risqué in your ear. Mr. Capozzoli’s style was modeled after that of Buddy Hackett and Rodney Dangerfield, his favorite comedians, but the punch lines didn’t matter as much his delivery.

    Mr. Capozzoli “would laugh with the person he was telling the joke to,” his son Anthony Capozzoli, 55, said. “If you weren’t laughing with the punch line, you were laughing at how much he enjoyed getting to it.”

    More recently, Anthony said, his father would call him just to workshop material, most of which isn’t fit to print. Mr. Capozzoli’s favorite jokes were set to music in 2023 for a five minute-long comedy track as part of a studio EP for the Rage Band, the seven-piece group that Mr. Cappozoli sang with for 41 years alongside a rotating cast of characters.

    Low Cut Connie front man Adam Weiner recorded the EP. He and Mr. Capozzoli grew close after Weiner played a gig at Ray’s in 2012, bonding over their shared love of captivating a crowd.

    “Not everyone is about joy when they perform … People care about their ego, people care about fashion,” Weiner said. “But Lou was always about fun, just radiating 100% joy.”

    Mr. Capozzoli started performing professionally when he was 14, sneaking into clubs to accompany bands on the alto sax. The stage was a calling that helped him fall in love. It also took him to the edge of celebrity.

    After serving in the military in the early 1960s and playing for Sophia Loren as part of an army band, Mr. Capozzoli told jokes and sang standards at the Stardust and Flamingo casinos in Las Vegas. At the peak of his fame, he opened for Diana Ross at the Riptide Club in Wildwood in 1965. That same year Mr. Capozzoli met his wife, Rose, who was charmed by his talents at another Wildwood concert. They wed three years later.

    Mr. Capozzoli bonded with Low Cut Connie’s Adam Weiner over their shared love of performing.

    Mr. Capozzoli’s steadiest gig began in 1984 with the Rage Band, once the house act for Sea Isle City’s now-shuttered Springfield Inn. There, Mr. Capozzoli settled into his larger-than-life style, commanding a crowd of roughly 1,000 people a night on summer weekends. He’d serenade Burt and Ernie puppets for a medley of Sesame Street songs and show tunes, or don outlandish masks for a Mummers tribute. Both brought down the house, but never as much as when Mr. Capozzoli would cover “Those Were The Days” or ”Sweet Caroline,” which were always punctuated with jokes.

    “I call him the showman’s showman,” said Brian Saunders, one of band’s saxophonists. Tony DiMattia, a bassist for the band, concurred: “He didn’t just entertain the crowd. He entertained us as musicians.”

    The Rage Band stopped their Sea Isle residency in 1999, only to pick up at new one at Ray’s in 2003, where they have performed on the first Saturday of every month from October through April ever since. The band never rehearsed, DiMattia said. Mr. Capozzoli’s stage presence could smooth over just about any kink.

    Mr. Capozzoli played in The Rage Band for 42 years, performing for packed houses at the Springfield Inn in Sea Isle City and Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar.

    “There is no Rage Band without Lou,” Saunders said. “He was the glue that kept us together.”

    Outside of music, Mr. Capozzoli’s greatest loves were his wife and children. He was a dedicated father who enjoyed cooking large French toast breakfasts, organizing tee ball games, and ensuring the family always had a rescue dog to snuggle. Laughter — and his wife’s minding — kept Mr. Capozzoli going, even as the decades of working in a smoking bar wore on him.

    “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lou angry,” said Saunders. “I don’t think he’d ever not had a smile on his face.”

    Mr. Capozzoli was an accomplished saxophonist who started playing professionally when he was 14 years old.

    In addition to his wife, Rose, and son, Anthony, Mr. Capozzoli is survived by his daughters, Dyan Wixted and Luann Capozzoli, and three grandchildren: Louis, Daniel, and Delaney.

    Visitation with the family will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Feb. 6, and from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Feb. 7 at Pennsylvania Burial Company, 1327-31 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa., 19147. Services will follow Saturday at 11 a.m.

    Donations in Mr. Capozzoli’s name may be made to an animal shelter of your choosing or ACCT-Philly, c/o Development, 111 W. Hunting Park Ave, Philadelphia, Pa., 19140. Alternatively, his wife said, stories about Mr. Capozzoli or jokes he would’ve enjoyed can be sent to the family via email at rayshappybirthdaybar1@gmail.com.

  • Man dies in North Philadelphia house fire

    Man dies in North Philadelphia house fire

    A man died Thursday morning in a fire inside a North Philadelphia home.

    The fire started around 5:15 a.m. on the 2500 block of North 12th Street, where crews found heavy smoke and fire coming from the two-story rowhouse, according to the Philadelphia Fire Department. Firefighters witnessed fire coming from the second floor, where they found a person dead inside the home.

    Philadelphia fire department personnel at scene of fatal fire 2500 block N. 12th Street, early Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.

    Firefighters placed the fire under control by 5:45 a.m. The cause of the fire remained under investigation.

    The Thursday morning blaze followed a fatal house fire in Kingsessing on Wednesday morning, which the fire marshal’s office determined was intentionally set, and another fatal fire in early January that claimed the life of a woman in the Ogontz section.

  • What to know about the too-close-to-call race to replace Mikie Sherrill in Congress

    What to know about the too-close-to-call race to replace Mikie Sherrill in Congress

    The Democratic primary to replace N.J. Gov. Mikie Sherrill in Congress remains too close to call as of Friday afternoon, but the early results already signal a major breakthrough for progressives in the state.

    Analilia Mejia, a progressive who’s worked for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and the Working Families Party, led former U.S. Rep. Tom Malinowski by less than 1 percentage point, with more than 91% of votes tabulated in the crowded primary.

    Some outlets, including Decision Desk, called the race for Malinowski, who dominated mail ballots, Thursday night before issuing retractions as Mejia gained ground. The Democratic National Committee had even issued a premature congratulations to the former House member before Mejia took the lead.

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    Sherrill represented North Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, which includes parts of Essex, Morris, and Passaic Counties, and stepped down after being elected governor. A field of 13 Democrats competed in the special election for the open seat from various factions of the Democratic Party.

    Only two broke through as serious contenders, and they represent two sides of the New Jersey Democratic Party: the establishment and progressives.

    Democrats were so invested in the race, turnout exceeded the 2024 primary for the seat, which signals the high level of motivation for Democratic voters going into this year’s midterms.

    Sherrill stayed neutral in the race

    Analilia Mejia, center, speaks during a rally calling for SCOTUS ethics reform, May 2, 2023, in Washington.

    Analilia Mejia is supported by national progressives like AOC

    Mejia, 48, is the daughter of Colombian and Dominican immigrants. She has called to “abolish ICE” and spoke in both English and Spanish at a news conference Friday.

    The progressive candidate has most recently worked as the co-executive director of Popular Democracy, a network of organizations across the country that call for “transformational change for Black, brown and low-income communities,” according to its website. She worked as the national political director for Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, the state director of the New Jersey Working Families Party, and as a union organizer before launching her bid for the seat.

    Mejia was endorsed by national progressives, including Sanders (I., Vt.), U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.). She also had the backing of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, whose progressive campaign landed him in second place behind Sherrill in the six-way gubernatorial primary last year.

    Mejia leaned into her underdog status Thursday night when addressing supporters, noting the race had been called for her opponent before she took the lead.

    “Here’s the bottom line,” she said. “We know that our movement, this party, this moment, calls on every one of us to be big and bold and brave. And that is what we are about.”

    She later declared: “I think we’ll listen to some Bad Bunny!”

    Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski, center right, arrives during his election night party in Garwood, N.J., Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022.

    Tom Malinowski was backed by the local party apparatus

    Malinowski, 60, started as a freshman House Democrat alongside Sherrill in 2019 before losing his seat to Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Kean Jr. in the 2022 election after he faced pushback for undisclosed stock trading and his area was redistricted to be less favorable to Democrats.

    His former district is right next to the 11th District and encompasses parts of Union, Somerset, Morris, and Sussex Counties, and all of Hunterdon and Warren Counties.

    He recently chaired the Hunterdon County Democratic Committee and previously worked as former President Barack Obama’s assistant secretary of state for democracy and human rights.

    He had the endorsement of the Morris County Democratic Committee, which would have had more sway before the state got rid of its county line ballot system last year.

    U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, the Burlington County Democrat who led the legal fight that led to the county line’s demise, endorsed Malinowski in this race, saying he trusts him.

    The Essex and Passaic County parties backed other candidates who were far behind Malinowski and Mejia.

    DNC Chair Ken Martin said in the premature Thursday night statement that Malinowski has “the experience to serve New Jersey once again.”

    AIPAC’s involvement in the race backfired

    Malinowski faced attacks from a super PAC funded by American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel national lobbying group, even though the group supported him in the past, The New York Times and other outlets reported.

    Those attacks likely pulled support away from Malinowski, who is far less critical of Israel than Mejia.

    Mejia called AIPAC’s tactics against Malinowski “disgusting” in a news conference on Friday and said it underscores her broader concerns about money in politics.

    “Big money can actually silence voters … In many ways, I’m glad that NJ-11 voters got to see the terrible tactics so that we could reject it in the future,” she said.

    The district, which used to be Republican, is now viewed as safely blue

    Sherrill flipped the 11th congressional district blue as a first-time candidate in 2018, defeating Republican Assemblymember Jay Webber after the GOP incumbent retired. The incumbent, former U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen had held the seat since 1995. The district went from leaning Republican to leaning Democratic when its lines were redrawn in 2022.

    Sherrill won her last general election race for her House seat with 56.5% of the vote in 2024.

    The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the district as solidly Democratic. Former Vice President Kamala Harris won the district decisively by nearly 9 points in 2024, but it still swung to the right from Biden’s 2020 victory in the district by almost 17 points, according to Cook data.

    Joe Hathaway, the former mayor of Randolph in Morris County, was unopposed in the Republican primary.

    Hathaway, 38, said in a video on social media Thursday that the election brings an opportunity for “a new generation of leadership …one focused more on the hard work than the headlines.”

    He is a former aide to former Republican Gov. Christopher J. Christie and has worked in various roles in the private sector, and has branded himself as a “workhorse” throughout his campaign.

    Hathaway and the winner of the Democratic primary will face off on Thursday, April 16, less than two months before the regular primary election on June 2 for the midterms.

    When will the race be called, and will there be a recount?

    It’s unclear when the race will be called by The Associated Press (which The Inquirer relies on for election results), but it may not be this week.

    Mail ballots that were postmarked by Election Day on Thursday and received by the county Board of Election by next Wednesday can be counted in New Jersey.

    Provisional ballots in the state cannot be officially counted until after the eligible mail ballots are received to ensure the voter has not voted by mail. These ballots are used in specific situations, such as when a person registered to vote moves within the county without updating their address.

    Voters also have until the following Tuesday, Feb. 17, to cure a ballot flagged by election officials. This happens when there is a potential issue with a voter’s signature, which can happen when someone forgets to sign their ballot or whose signature has changed over time. The voter then has to verify their identity for their ballot to be counted.

    As for a recount, New Jersey doesn’t have an automatic recount system, so a candidate would have to request one and cover the expenses. The candidate would receive a refund if the result changed.

  • Jamie Drysdale scores late to force overtime, but Flyers lose to Senators, 2-1

    Jamie Drysdale scores late to force overtime, but Flyers lose to Senators, 2-1

    The Flyers nearly headed into the Olympic break with a whimper after they managed just 13 shots through three periods.

    After what looked like a lifeless effort for much of the first two periods, the Flyers stormed back late to tie the game with their net empty. Jamie Drysdale scored in his second consecutive game, after scoring the game-winner on Tuesday.

    But ultimately, Travis Konecny missed the net on another overtime breakaway, and Ottawa’s Tim Stützle came back to deliver the win for the Senators. Dan Vladař made 25 saves in the loss.

    “We had the two-on-one, last game against [the Los Angeles Kings], we hit the post,” Tocchet said. “We had another two-on-one, and we missed. They get it. It’s execution, Stützle goes around and scores. It’s hard to work on that stuff. We’re getting some chances.”

    Former Flyer Nick Cousins scored the first goal of the game just over halfway through the second period. Ottawa’s Shane Pinto took the first shot on Vladař, who made the save, but the puck bounced off his pad right toward Cousins, who scored in an empty net to take the 1-0 lead.

    The Flyers got their best offensive possession of the game late into the second — with a little assist from Senators’ center Dylan Cozens’ skate blade, which fell off on a blocked shot, making it basically a power play.

    The Flyers took eight shots on goal and missed 15 shots through two periods. Against Senators goaltender James Reimer, who entered Thursday’s game with an .862 save percentage in six appearances, the Flyers couldn’t generate enough traffic to take advantage of the weak matchup.

    In the third period, Rick Tocchet put the Flyers’ lines in a blender, moving Trevor Zegras back to wing to play with Christian Dvorak and Konecny, moving Denver Barkey to center to play with Carl Grundstrom and Garnet Hathaway, and slotting Nikita Grebenkin with Sean Couturier and Owen Tippett.

    Couturier drove to the net and got a one-on-one with the Ottawa goalie deep in the crease, but couldn’t get the puck past Reimer. His goal drought extended to 29 games.

    “There was just a lack of support, puck support, a lot of one and dones,” Drysdale said. “They did a good job defending as well. We were able to break through at the end, but just too little too late.”

    But struggling with offensive ineptitude for most of the game, the Flyers finally put it together on the 6-on-5, with Drysdale delivering on a low shot from the point, just like his game-winner on Tuesday.

    Ultimately, though, the Flyers’ luck didn’t last for long. After Sanheim took down Brady Tkachuk to give the Flyers their first breakaway of overtime, Konecny could not deliver on the two-on-one, and Stützle beat Sanheim and Vladař for the win.

    Breakaways

    The Flyers’ two shots in the first period were tied for the fewest they’ve had in a period all season. The last time that happened was on Dec. 13 against Carolina … Drysdale scored in consecutive games for the first time since March 9 and 11, 2025, against Seattle and Ottawa … The Flyers played their third one-goal game against the Senators this season, after losing 2-1 on Oct. 23 and 3-2 in overtime on Nov. 8.

    Up Next

    The Flyers will break for three weeks for the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina. The men’s hockey tournament will begin Feb. 11, with Rasmus Ristolainen and Finland taking on Slovakia (10:40 a.m. ET, USA Network).

    The team returns to play on Feb. 25 against the Washington Capitals (7 p.m. ET, NBCSP).

  • A frozen car in Fishtown became a tourist attraction on Google Maps

    A frozen car in Fishtown became a tourist attraction on Google Maps

    Independence Hall, the Rocky statue, the Liberty Bell, and … a 2016 Honda Civic parked in Fishtown?

    That odd appendage at the end of the list just became one of Philadelphia’s newest tourist attractions on Google Maps.

    How does a silver two-door get minted a must-see site in the birthplace of America?

    It gets completely covered in ice.

    In photos of the car now seen around the world, a sheet of ice wrapping around the roof and hood of the car extends all the way down to the pavement. Paralyzed windshield wipers propped up perpendicular to the dashboard look like a pair of arms flailing frantically for help as the car suffers a frigid death. Passersby might easily mistake the sight for an ice sculpture of a car rather than a real one.

    A screenshot of the frozen car in Fishtown on Google Maps.

    The journey from plebeian commuter vehicle to local celebrity has been a source of both humor and headache for 24-year-old Tianna Graham, the car’s owner.

    At first she wasn’t terribly worried about the situation.

    “It’s fine. I’ll figure it out,” she remembered thinking.

    Then the shock wore off.

    “Now I’m like, ‘OK, what do I actually do now?’”

    The saga starts at the intersection of North Front and East Allen Streets, under the El tracks, where Graham first parked her car on Jan. 23. She knew a major snowstorm was looming, so when she found an open spot near her apartment, she leaped at it.

    After the deluge of flakes and sleet left the city coated with 9.3 inches of snow and ice, her girlfriend helped her shovel her car out of the spot on Tuesday so they could run a few errands, she said.

    When they returned, they found the spot still vacant, so Graham parked there again.

    A car parked in Fishtown becomes completely encapsulated in ice.

    On Wednesday, Graham, a fifth-grade math teacher at Community Academy of Philadelphia, noticed the street she had parked on was cordoned off with caution tape.

    She asked a nearby police officer if she should move her car, she said, and he advised her to leave it there.

    What happened next, Graham, the city, the people of Philadelphia, and frozen-car fanatics worldwide may never fully know.

    On Thursday, the Philadelphia Water Department repaired a leak on a six-inch water main at North Front and East Allen Streets around 2:30 p.m., said department spokesperson Brian Rademaekers.

    The department did not receive any reports of water gushing dramatically from the pipe, Rademaekers said. It is not clear if water from the pipe, from the highway overpass, or from another source led the car to become enveloped in ice.

    But, when Graham returned from work last Thursday around 3:30 p.m. during what turned out to be a weeklong Arctic freeze and checked on her Honda, she saw it frozen absolutely solid.

    A car parked in Fishtown becomes completely encapsulated in ice.

    “I was freaking out a little bit,” Graham said. “I was just like, ‘I don’t even know where to start.’”

    So she started where many Gen Zers start — on Instagram.

    Graham posted the photo on her private Instagram story, asking friends what she should do.

    Her first instinct was to try to break apart the ice. So she and her friend came at it with a small shovel and an ice pick but quickly found it a futile effort.

    Graham was, however, able to pry open the passenger-side door and look inside.

    “There was water everywhere,” she said. “The inside of my car is soaked. The floors are soaked. My seats were soaked. Everything is wet inside.”

    On Friday, she was able to turn on the ignition, she said, but had no such luck when she tried again this week.

    She filed a claim through her insurance company, Geico, which dispatched a tow truck Monday, she said. It is now awaiting inspection.

    A car parked in Fishtown that got covered in ice gets towed.

    “It’s really just overall inconvenient,” she said. “I understand that it’s like hilarious and everyone’s loved it, but nobody has been offering any kind of valid help at this point.

    “I don’t really know where to go from here,” she said.

    As Graham was dealing with the logistics of trying to save the car, the car itself was skyrocketing toward social media stardom.

    Photos and videos of it began circulating online. Area residents began posting clips of themselves visiting the car, some even climbing on top of it.

    When 23-year-old Abbigail Erbacher came up to Philly to visit her friend on Sunday, the frozen car was quickly added to the day’s itinerary.

    The Egg Harbor Township, N.J., resident had seen the videos of the car on TikTok, identified the location with her friend based on landmarks around it, and headed to Fishtown.

    “My first thought was, ‘Oh, my god, this is real.’ And then my next was, ‘I feel so bad for her,’” Erbacher said. “It had to have been encased in anywhere from an inch to two inches of ice.”

    Shortly after the visit, Erbacher took to TikTok.

    @abbiani The famous Philly frozen car is encased in INCHES of ice after a pipe burst nearby. I am so honored we got to see this piece of Philadelphia history #frozencar #philly #phillytiktok #northernliberties ♬ original sound – abbiani

    Her video starts with her screaming upon seeing the car and gently knocking on the frozen solid driver’s-side mirror. The overlaid text: “philadelphias newest monument.”

    As of Wednesday the video had 22 million views.

    Erbacher was surprised to see her clip become so widely viewed, but was not at all shocked to see the story itself gaining traction.

    “I think our generation is so unserious,” she said. “These sort of things feel like the type of things that only happen to our generation.”

    Between the political climate and the pandemic, Erbacher said, she and many others Gen Zers feel particularly prone to bad luck.

    “I think we definitely feel a bit victimized,” she said. “And so when things reinforce that, we’re like, ‘OK, cool. That would only happen to us, so we just kind of got to go with it.’”

    And Graham did, indeed, go with it. She started documenting the journey on TikTok herself late last week beginning with a simple video featuring the camera panning around the frozen car to the Rob49 song “WTHELLY.” That post got 8 million views.

    @tiannag444

    and there she goes! yes it is totaled btw! if you feel inclined to help, go fund me in bio! no i’m not begging for money, but people have been asking how they can help and anything is appreciated to help w rental (which is not covered) and the difference to a new car! btw yes, the inside it soaked. yes, it did start but now will not (even after a jump)

    ♬ Vroom Vroom – Charli xcx

    On Monday, she posted two more videos: one of her girlfriend and friend gingerly cracking the ice off the car with hammers to the No Doubt song “Just a Girl,” which was viewed more than 27 million times, and another of the car getting towed away to the song “Vroom Vroom” by Charli XCX that was watched more than 12 million times.

    “Bye ice car!” she wrote over the video of its immobilized tires cutting through hefty chunks of ice as the tow truck dragged it across the street.

  • A South Philly garage is reborn as a date-night destination for oysters, cocktails, and polished vibes

    A South Philly garage is reborn as a date-night destination for oysters, cocktails, and polished vibes

    My chatty Uber driver was born and raised in South Philly and so, as we threaded our way through the cozy rowhouse blocks east of South Broad Street, he reveled in reciting the personal histories behind every deli, seafood market, corner taproom, and red-gravy pasta joint we passed. But even he seemed to be momentarily flummoxed as we pulled up to Tesiny, on the 700 block of Dickinson Street.

    A century-old corner brick building that for much of its life was an auto-repair shop had been completely transformed. Its garage doors were replaced with broad paned windows that glowed amber with the inviting tableau of a bustling restaurant inside. Diners clinked glasses of pink martinis. Chefs were illuminated by the flicker of a live-fire grill in the central open kitchen, where oysters were being shucked at the U-shaped counter, to be dispatched on icy plateaus to date-night duos across the room.

    Large seafood plateau with shrimp cocktail, clams ceviche with peach and jalapeño, three types of oysters, scallop crudo with melon water, and bluefin tuna with corn vinaigrette. Sauces are cilantro tarragon aioli and rosé mignonette, at Tesiny.

    The long bar near the entrance, deftly lit to illuminate its soigné design touches — the rich walnut wood accents, the purple-and-white tiled floor, the smooth curves of a backbar stocked with uncommon sherries — radiated a magnetic glamour.

    “Let me know how it is!” he said, as I exited the Uber. I promised a full report.

    In a dynamic old city constantly reinventing itself, we could do far worse than watching an industrial space be reborn as such a lovely restaurant. More specifically, you should be so fortunate to have Lauren Biederman be the one to do it.

    The exterior of Tesiny on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026 in Philadelphia.
    The bar at Tesiny on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026 in Philadelphia.

    Biederman, 30, is a bright talent who knows how to turn her quirky hunches into success. She’s best known as the area’s lox-and-caviar queen, after pursuing a “weird idea that popped into my head while driving” — that what Philly really needed was an old New York-style boutique market for hand-cut smoked salmon, fresh bialys, and brunch boards. In fact, we did. Five years after opening Biederman’s in the Italian Market, she’s now also serving caviar bumps from a kiosk beside the Four Seasons Hotel and about to open another Biederman’s near Rittenhouse Square, where Jewish prepared foods will be sold alongside the smoked fish.

    But Biederman was a restaurant person before her retail success. The Vermont native worked at Oloroso, where she found her passion for wine, then got into bartending, working at Zahav and several Schulson Collective restaurants, including Osteria, where she met Devon Reyes-Brannan, 30, now her longtime boyfriend and partner at Tesiny. (The name, pronounced “TESS-iny,” is a reference to her late grandmother’s address in Connecticut. The two shared a love of seafood.)

    Co-owners Lauren Biederman and Devon Reyes-Brannan at Tesiny on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026 in Philadelphia.

    Biederman designed the room and nailed the elegantly sultry mood, with the dark brown ceiling and light floors keeping it cozy while the mellow soundtrack shifts throughout service from Sinatra to Sadé, then to hip-hop beats for the livelier later hours. Good spacing between tables keeps conversation possible.

    There’s an admittedly amorphous, on-trend quality to Tesiny — the raw bar, craft cocktails, and a chef’s-counter grill turning out shareable plates that resist easy classification as appetizers or entrees — that could just have easily landed in a buzzier restaurant district like Fishtown or Rittenhouse Square. But there’s an extra pulse of intimacy in finding this polished 50-seat oasis in the heart of residential Dickinson Narrows, a hotly debated neighborhood within a neighborhood just east of East Passyunk. It’s upscale, averaging $80 per person for food and drinks, but already resonating as a destination, with up to 100 diners on busy nights.

    The Iberico pork at Tesiny on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026 in Philadelphia.
    Chef Michael Valent works in the open kitchen at Tesiny on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026 in Philadelphia.

    It succeeds on its posh vibes, but also the skill of its players to strike the right tone, from the well-informed (but never pushy) servers to chef Michael Valent, 36, with whom Biederman worked at Zahav. There’s nary a noodle on his menu — a rarity in this neighborhood.

    Valent instead deftly draws on an array of multicultural influences without the food ever feeling overly contrived, largely due to the breadth of his experience, including time in Boston, New Orleans, and Philly (at the French-themed Good King Tavern, Superfolie, and Supérette). One moment you’re savoring a tuna crudo dusted with coconut and aji chile spice. The next you’re savoring a tender grilled Ibérico pork collar with silky pureed squash and smoky collards that recall Valent’s stint in New Orleans working for Donald Link at Cochon. Another favorite, a crispy-skinned branzino fillet over a Basque-style pipérade of Jimmy Nardello peppers, is an inviting jaunt to the Mediterranean.

    The branzino at Tesiny on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026 in Philadelphia.

    The raw bar is always a smart place to start. The trio of ever-rotating East Coast oysters, from Canadian Eel Lakes to Sunken Meadows from Massachusetts, comes with a classic mignonette that benefits from being composed à la minute every time, so the shallots retain their bite (rather than pickle) in the rosé vinegar and still-fragrant fresh-cracked peppercorns. The shrimp cocktail was notably tender and flavorful from a citrus-scented poach. And the crudos were also tasty, although I preferred the juicier early version of the scallop crudo, bathed in jalapeño-spiced honeydew-cucumber water, to the more sparely dressed current setup, with smoked olive oil and Korean chile flakes.

    A starter of creamy crab salad laced with chorizo oil conveniently cradled in endive spears was solid, but also perhaps a bit boring in a passed-hors d’oeuvres kind of way. It reflected an occasional finger-food aesthetic here, a propensity to lend familiar favorites extra polish for elevated, no-fuss nibbling; that never, however, came with any culinary shortcuts.

    The tidiness impulse is especially clear with Tesiny’s labor-intensive chicken lollipops. Drumsticks of Green Circle chicken are “Frenched” to offer a clean bone handle for the poultry mallets that are double-crisped in rice flour, like Korean fried chicken. Glazed in an orange hot sauce made with Fresno chilies and infused with seafood trim (shrimp shells and scallop “feet”), the lollipops are visually appealing. But for a dish that also wants to evoke Buffalo wings, the sauce’s subtle flavors aren’t quite punchy enough for the maximum impact.

    The chicken lollipops at Tesiny are double-fried and glazed in a chile-tomato sauce that’s also infused with seafood trim.
    The broiled oysters at Tesiny on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026 in Philadelphia.

    Restraint was not the issue with my favorite seafood starter here: a platter of charbroiled Indian Cove oysters that arrive in a pool of Calabrian chile butter, which requires at least one order of Mighty Bread sourdough to mop up from the shells. Whatever crusts are left over, you can swipe through the silky white bean purée that sits beneath the tender grilled octopus topped with harissa-spiced olives and fennel.

    Valent’s winter green salad was also remarkably and unexpectedly delicious, its crunchy Little Gem and frisée greens dressed in a citrusy Champagne vinaigrette balanced by toasted almonds and the nutty Alpine richness of shaved Comté.

    The bar at Tesiny on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026 in Philadelphia.

    What to order from Tesiny’s gorgeous bar to accompany all this food? The well-crafted cocktails, many infused with fortified wines, are the most popular place to start. I especially enjoyed Not a Fender, a briny pink riff on a Gibson martini made with pickled red onions, olive oil-washed gin, and a splash of manzanilla sherry. And Tesiny’s thoughtful nonalcoholic offerings were so appealing that we ordered the blood orange-thyme fizz topped with creamsicle foam — and loved it — after spotting another couple order it across the chef’s counter.

    The pink Gibson: Olive-oil washed vodka and gin, pickled red onion brine, manzanilla sherry.
    The Return of Saturn cocktail and Fizz mocktial at Tesiny on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026 in Philadelphia.

    To pair with the handful of larger plates clustered at the bottom of the menu, it’s worth exploring the wines, an interest of both Biederman (who’s passed her Level 3 Wine and Spirits Education Trust exam) and Reyes-Brannan, a front-house veteran from Tria and Laser Wolf. Reyes-Brannan is partial to the food-friendly acidity of high-altitude wines from Europe, but he’s also been an enthusiastic ambassador for a Mexican version of nebbiolo from Casa Jipi. Lighter and juicier than Italian iterations, it’s a fine match for the juicy Wagyu culotte steak topped with cornmeal-fried oysters. It works equally well with the earthy grilled mushrooms that came dusted with chimichurri over a plate of warm polenta (recently updated to farro risotto).

    The nebbiolo was also a good match for Tesiny’s single best bite: a 5-ounce burger special called the Lil’ Kahuna, made from the trim of bluefin tuna belly and Ibérico pork shoulder. It’s a remarkably meaty patty with a subtle shade of rich tuna on the finish that shows off Valent’s ability to experiment with something new. It’s limited to just eight or so per night, which means it’s worth coming early. The effort also bodes well as Tesiny prepares to grow its menu and take some chances with larger plates for two, perhaps as soon as this spring.

    The Lil’ Kahuna burger from Tesiny, a blend of bluefin tuna and Ibérico pork.

    Dessert for two here is already a thing. And you’ll likely be dueling spoons for the espresso-chocolate mousse that Valent serves like a sundae topped with a wave of whipped cream, caramel cocoa nibs, and real maraschino cherries. Order a raisiny sweet pour of Pedro Ximénez from the impressive list of fortified wines — another quirky passion of Biederman’s, rooted in her days of studying abroad in Mallorca and her time at Oloroso.

    Is Philly ready for a renaissance of Bual Madeira and vintage Kopke Port? If Lauren Biederman has a hunch, I wouldn’t bet against her. Tesiny is more proof she has a vision worth paying attention to.

    The Chocolate Coffee Mousse at Tesiny on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026 in Philadelphia.

    Tesiny

    719 Dickinson St., 267-467-4343; tesiny.com

    Dinner Wednesday through Saturday, 5-10 p.m.

    Sharing plates, $15-$38

    Wheelchair accessible

    Menu highlights: raw bar (raw oysters, shrimp cocktail, tuna crudo); broiled oysters; winter salad; chicken lollipops; charred branzino; Ibérico pork; grilled mushrooms; Lil’ Kahuna tuna burger special; chocolate-coffee mousse.

    At least 75% of the menu is gluten-free or can be modified.

    Drinks: Creative and well-crafted takes on classic cocktails, frequently made with fortified wines, are the main draw. The wine program is deliberate in its focus on oyster-friendly Euro classics (Sardininian vermentino; muscadet), with an appealing collection of sparklers (try Red Tail Ridge from the Finger Lakes). Finish with a pour of vintage port or Madeira from one of the city’s better collections of fortified wines.

    The logo on the door at Tesiny on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026 in Philadelphia.
  • Who owns Pennsylvania’s digitized history? We’re a step closer to an answer.

    Who owns Pennsylvania’s digitized history? We’re a step closer to an answer.

    Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters.

    HARRISBURG — A long-simmering dispute over who owns digital copies of millions of Pennsylvania’s treasured historical records landed before a state appellate court this week.

    The ruling could determine whether those belong to the public or are under the control of a privately owned genealogy powerhouse.

    On Wednesday, Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court heard legal arguments in the case, in which a New York City-based professional genealogist faces off with a little-known but important state agency, as well as online genealogy giant Ancestry. The latter is a private company used by millions of people to search for family and other records.

    The genealogist is Alec Ferretti, a director at Reclaim the Records, a nonprofit that advocates for governments to make genealogical documents more accessible. In 2022, he submitted a public records request to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), the state’s “official history agency” that is responsible for collecting, conserving, and safeguarding the commonwealth’s historical records and objects.

    At the time, Ferretti sought all records the state agency had provided to Ancestry as part of a 2008 agreement that, up until Ferretti’s request, had attracted sparse attention. That agreement allowed Ancestry to digitize a long list of Pennsylvania historical documents belonging to the commission and make them available on its website.

    According to the agreement, those documents include birth and death certificates, veterans’ burial cards, records about enslaved people, and naturalization forms, as well as Civil War border claims and muster rolls. Those records would then be free to Pennsylvania residents who create user profiles with Ancestry, which requires a paid subscription to access the breadth of its records. An Ancestry lawyer on Wednesday said it has about 18 million digitized images in all.

    Since Ferretti is a New York state resident, he requested the information directly from PHMC. He also asked for the metadata on the digitized records, as well as any index lists that Ancestry created when performing that work.

    PHMC denied the request, saying it didn’t have any responsive records in its possession. Ferretti appealed, arguing that the state agency was required to obtain them from Ancestry under a section of Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law that allows public access to documents held by a private contractor hired to perform a governmental function on behalf of a government agency.

    Lawyers for Ancestry soon intervened in the fight, contending the company was not carrying out a government function for PHMC. They also argued that although Ancestry had agreed to license back the digitized records to the state, its work product is proprietary.

    Translation: It owns the digital records.

    The case has spent nearly four years in a complicated spiral of appeals before the state’s Office of Open Records, which sided with Ferretti. The matter could wind up in front of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, depending on Commonwealth Court’s decision.

    During oral arguments on Wednesday, Commonwealth Court judges asked both sides pointed questions about whether the digital images constitute a public record accessible under the state’s Right-to-Know Law, as certain archival materials (while public) don’t fall under the law’s jurisdiction. They also asked whether maintaining digitized copies of historical records amounted to a governmental function.

    The judges seemed to agree on one thing: The case raised interesting dilemmas.

    “We just love Right-to-Know Law, so this is great,” President Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer told lawyers when legal arguments came to a close.

    BEFORE YOU GO… If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.