Parking restrictions along a 1½-mile stretch of South Broad Street will take effect at 7 a.m. Tuesday so the Streets Department can begin removing piles of curbside snow, the city said.
Snow removal has gone slowly since the storm more than a week ago because of the ongoing deep freeze across the region.
Parked vehicles must be moved from Broad between Washington and Oregon Avenues ahead of 7 a.m. to clear the way for a Streets Department “lifting operation” that will remove the snow, the city said.
Free off-street parking will be available at lot U near Citizens Bank Park between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesday, the city said. All vehicles must be moved from the parking lot by 6 p.m.
The operation, which will involve excavators and loaders, may temporarily disrupt traffic, the city said.
“The Streets Department urges everyone traveling near this lifting operation, and others taking place across Philadelphia, to plan extra travel time, slow down, and help keep our crews safe by giving them plenty of space to do their work,” the department said.
Sean Couturier hasn’t scored a goal since Dec. 7, a long, 27-game drought. He has only five goals and 21 assists this season, and just five points since the New Year, all assists.
He knows the skidding Flyers are looking for him to contribute more offensively.
“Probably gripping the stick at times when I get really good quality chances, I’m not finishing,” Couturier said. “Definitely need to be better and help out this team more offensively, producing goals. I think I’m still making plays out there. I just need more out of myself.”
Couturier hasn’t been scoring much, but he has been generating chances. According to Natural Stat Trick, Couturier’s expected goals for percentage of 57.08% at five-on-five ranks second on the team, behind rookie Denver Barkey. In other words, the Flyers have been outchancing their opponents with Couturier on the ice.
Part of his issue is luck — his shooting percentage sits at just 5.9%, down from 9.7% last year and well below his career average of 10.7% entering this season. The Flyers have generated 52% of the scoring chances with Couturier on the ice, but have been outscored by 32-28. Coach Rick Tocchet also pointed to Couturier’s movement as part of the reason for his struggles.
“I think with Coots, when he gets it in the offensive zone, especially behind the net, he doesn’t move his feet,” Tocchet said. “… When you move your feet, options open, when you stand still, options close, and that’s really what it comes down to. I think he has a habit of staring his option down. He doesn’t move his feet, and that’s habits.”
Tocchet and Couturier had a long conversation on the ice before practice Monday, and Couturier spent the practice working to implement those changes.
Over the last two games, Tocchet has moved the Flyers captain back down to the fourth line in order to test out Trevor Zegras at center. Moving Couturier down ultimately helped permanently sour his relationship with former coach John Tortorella, but Couturier said his communication with Tocchet has been positive. The two have had a number of conversations about his role and how he can best help the team.
“He’ll get his minutes,” Tocchet said. “I’ve just got to move him around.”
That includes using him on the penalty kill and for key late-game faceoff situations. Against Los Angeles on Saturday, Couturier started the game with Garnet Hathaway and Nic Deslauriers, but in the third was moved up to play shifts on Owen Tippett’s line and Travis Konecny’s line. Couturier ended up with 16 minutes, 29 seconds of ice time, fourth among Flyers forwards.
Flyers center Sean Couturier has played with Garnet Hathaway and Nic Deslauriers the last two games.
For his part, Couturier has been embracing the change as an opportunity to refocus on the fundamentals and get his offensive touch back.
“Getting back to the basics, it’s not a bad thing,” Couturier said. “Playing with [Hathaway] and [Deslauriers], they’re pretty hardworking guys that are structured, and they play hard and win battles. So I try to use that to my advantage and simplify my game.”
Breakaways
Konecny and Sam Ersson were the only Flyers missing from Monday’s skate. Konecny took a maintenance day, while there’s an “outside chance” Ersson could return before the Olympic break. Tocchet said the injury was “not super serious.” … Fellow goalie Aleksei Kolosov was recalled from the AHL. … Konecny was named the NHL’s third star of the week behind Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jared McCann.
Founder Danielle Jowdy announced in December 2024 that she planned to end her 14-year run at the end of 2025. She called the wind-down a “grand closing” to allow customers to enjoy a final full season of scratch-made scoops and staff time to prepare for transitions. But as Jowdy considered the future, she decided to try selling the business to someone with roots in the neighborhood.
Zsa’s Ice Cream Shop, 6616 Germantown Ave.
That someone is Liz Yee, a pastry chef at the nearby Catering by Design who also creates desserts for Doho restaurant, also in Mount Airy. Yee plans to reopen Zsa’s (6616 Germantown Ave.) on Saturday, Ice Cream for Breakfast Day.
For Yee, the opportunity was both personal and professional. From the moment she saw the sale announcement over the summer, she began exploring the idea of keeping Zsa’s alive, not just as a retail store but as a community hub.
Keeping the business in Mount Airy was a major part of the appeal for Yee, who lives in Roxborough. “I work down the street, and I’ve always loved coming here,” she said. “It’s just special.”
She plans to keep it as Zsa’s — a nickname that Jowdy and her sister, Rebecca, shared since childhood — and will offer the same menu, plus twists and specials. Yee also wants to bring back the wholesale business.
For Saturday’s return, Yee will lean into her pastry background, offering fresh croissants paired with cereal-milk ice cream. She’s also bringing back favorites such as Black Magic (coffee ice cream with chocolate cake swirled in).
Erica Dixon, 38, of Mount Airy, Pa., is with her son Owen Redmond-Dixon, 4, enjoying some ice cream at Zsa’s along Germantown Avenue.
“I know when people sell a business, there are often mixed feelings, but I’m honestly over the moon right now. It feels terrific,” said Jowdy, who will work with Yee during the transition. Jowdy said she was still deliberating her next professional steps but hopes to stay involved in food and community work.
Jowdy fell into ice cream years ago. When she and her mother were packing up the family home in Connecticut for sale, they found a hand-cranked ice cream machine the parents received as a wedding gift in 1980. As kids, Jowdy and her brother, Christopher, poured in skim milk and Hershey’s syrup “and we’d have at it,” she said.
Jowdy brought the machine back to Philadelphia and, armed with a 1980s-era Ben & Jerry’s cookbook, began making ice cream to take to parties and cookouts. She was working at a stained-glass studio as her dessert hobby grew. When she was laid off 14 years ago, she went professional.
Yee’s path to Zsa’s is equally windy. Back in the 2010s, she was studying math at Drexel University when she decided to turn her baking hobby into a career. She headed the pastry department at the Rittenhouse Hotel and in 2018, she joined Walnut Street Cafe as executive pastry chef and baker before she joined Catering by Design six years ago.
Yee, whose 6-year-old son and 7-month-old daughter enjoy Zsa’s, said she would fit the business in with her personal and professional lives. “I work down the street and I run like a little 10-mile circuit around [the area],” she said.
Zsa’s, 6616 Germantown Ave., 215-848-7215, instagram.com/zsas. Winter hours starting Feb. 7: 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, or sell-out.
If it appears that the tenacious meringue of snow and ice that landed on the region two weekends ago hasn’t budged, it hasn’t.
Among Philadelphia winters, this one is approaching a rarefied status.
Not long after Phil predictably saw his shadow in Punxsutawney, the National Weather Weather Service contractor at Philadelphia International Airport reported a snow depth of six inches on Monday.
That marked the eighth consecutive day of a snow cover of at least six inches, a streak unmatched since February 2010 — which included a five-day period in which 44 inches of snow had fallen.
And what’s out there now may get a fresh frosting on Tuesday night that could affect the Wednesday morning commute, and perhaps snow squalls on Friday with the approach of another Arctic front as the freezer reopens.
Don’t be surprised if next Monday morning looks a lot like this one.
“The snowpack is not going anywhere,” said Amanda Lee, meteorologist at the weather service office in Mount Holly.
What explains the durability of the snow cover
The primary factor locking in the regional glacier has been the obvious — the cold. Sunday marked the ninth consecutive day that temperatures failed to surpass freezing, the longest stretch since 2004. The temperature did reach above freezing at Philadelphia International Airport on Monday.
Temperatures since Jan. 24 have averaged 14 degrees below normal in Philly. January temperatures ended up finishing 2.2 degrees below normal, even though the month had a nine-day warm spell in which the highs went past 55 on five days.
In addition to the cold, the icy layers of sleet that have put a cap and a patent-leather sheen on the several inches of snow that fell Jan. 25, have limited melting. Ice is way slower to melt than snow.
Eight days after an official 9.3 inches of snow and ice was measured officially, about two-thirds of it has survived.
The forecast for the next several days
The region is in for a modest — very modest — warming trend. Readings cracked freezing Monday, reaching 35 degrees at 4 p.m. and are forecast to top out near 32 on Tuesday and Wednesday, and hold in the upper 20s Thursday. Those readings still would be several degrees below normal.
Some light snow is possible Tuesday night, “maybe up to an inch,” Lee said. The weather service on Monday was listing a 72% probability of something measurable — defined as 0.1 inches or more — falling in Philly.
Given the cold and the solidly frozen paved surfaces, “it could make things slippery for the morning commute on Wednesday,” said Matt Benz, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc.
Friday afternoon, he said, the region could see snow squalls — brief, mini-blizzards that can come on without notice and reduce visibility dangerously.
Then it’s back to the freezer with expected weekend lows in single digits and highs struggling to reach 20.
For those ready for something completely different, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center on Monday suggested the potential for significant pattern change, although this may require a little patience around here.
Its extended outlook for the six-to-10 day period that begins Sunday has most of the nation warmer than normal, with odds strongly favoring below-normal readings in the Philadelphia-to-Boston corridor. But a “rapid warmup” in the Philly region is possible around mid-month, the climate center says.
How does Philly celebrate Philly’s food scene? With an awards show that includes a special category for condiments, an honor for the best neighborhood restaurant, and an after-party with an Italian Market-themed speakeasy.
Those were some of the highlights from the Tasties, the second edition of the Philly-based culinary awards for hospitality professionals. The party is thrown by the hosts of the Delicious City podcast (James Beard award-winning chef Eli Kulp, food influencer Dave Wez, and 93.3 WMMR radio host Marisa Magnatta). Chefs, bartenders, and dishwashers were among the more than 600 attendees at Sunday night’s event at South Philly’s Live! Casino.
Here are the Tasties’ 2026 winners, from Philly’s best new restaurant to city’s best hospitality experience, frozen dessert, and breakfast. Read on for more background on this now-annual awards ceremony.
Best New Restaurant & Craft Cocktail Excellence: La Jefa
It was a big night for La Jefa, the “Guadaladelphian” all-day cafe and cocktail bar from the Suro family that functions as the trendier sibling to the more distinguished Tequilas next door. The restaurant, which opened in May, took home two honors — for Best New Restaurant and Craft Cocktail experience — making it one of two restaurants to do so. La Jefa beat out Little Water, Emmett, and Amá in the Best New Restaurant category, as well as Kampar, Messina Social Club, and Next of Kin for craft cocktails.
By day, La Jefa is a destination brunch and coffee spot, with a menu that spans omelette-style chilaquiles, huevos verdes, conchas, and experimental lattes with flavors like burnt corn tortilla and guava caramel. At night, the space transforms into a sleek cocktail bar with light bites and easy-drinking cocktails, like tepache highballs, agua frescas spiked with aged El Dorado rum, and cilantro gimlets. Its back bar, La Jefa Milpa, is a more serious drinking experience, with a cocktail list designed in consultation with James Beard award-winning mixologist Danny Childs.
The Lovers Bar at Friday Saturday Sunday, which won Excellence in Hospitality at the The Tasties in 2026.
Friday Saturday Sunday won Excellence in Hospitality, an award that celebrates the front of the house, said Kulp. The Michelin-starred, James Beard award-winning restaurant helmed by Chad and Hanna Williams is notably unstuffy, with its downstairs walk-ins-only bar taking on a reputation of its own as the perfect place to fall in love or become a regular. Friday Saturday Sunday was up against Her Place Supper Club, Honeysuckle, and Kalaya.
Standout Bakery or Pastry Chef: Emily Riddell, Machine Shop
Machine Shop owner and pastry chef Emily Riddell took home the Tasties’ award for Standout Bakery or Pastry chef, adding to the South Philly bakery’s honors from Food & Wine magazine and the New York Times. Riddell, who honed her pastry skills at Le Bec-Fin, is known equally for her savory laminated pastries (think everything bagel croissants and shakshuka-esque danishes) as she is for her sweets, which include ginger-spiced cookies and lemon tarts topped with torched meringues. Riddell beat out Majdal Bakery’s Kenan Rabah, Baby Kusina’s McBryan Lesperance, and Provenance’s Abby Dahan.
Chef-partner at Emmett Evan Snyder grills a halibut over charcoal. Snyder won Breakout Chef at the 2026 Tasties awards.
Chef-owner Evan Snyder took home the Tasties’ Breakout Chef award for his work at Emmett, the Levantine-inspired restaurant he opened on Girard Avenue last January. Named after his toddler, Emmett is a forum for Snyder to revamp flavors of his childhood: His grandmother’s stuffed cabbage become malfoufs stuffed with foie gras, and traditional boreks are reimagined with braised short rib and melted comté cheese. It’s a menu that landed Emmett on Esquire’s best new restaurant’s list, plus praise from Inquirer critic Craig LaBan. Snyder has a knack for “artfully layering multiple components into a dish that eats like a journey,” LaBan wrote in April.
Others in the Breakout Chef category were Dane DeMarco of Gass & Main, Jacob Trinh of Little Fish, and Sam Henzy of Fork.
La Jefa didn’t steal all the thunder from its older sibling. Tequilas, the fine-dining Mexican restaurant from David Suro-Piñera, took home the night’s Icon Award. Suro-Piñera first opened Tequilas in 1986 to celebrate traditional Mexican cooking and agave spirits beyond its namesake alcohol. After a kitchen fire closed the Locust Street restaurant in 2023, Suro-Piñera and family spent two years rehabbing Tequilas (and creating La Jefa inside of its adjoining Latimer Street space). The original restaurant reopened last spring, with the same ornate decor and a menu that reaches far beyond Suro-Piñera’s native Guadalajara to other regions of Mexico. Tequilas “not only came back” Kulp said, “they came back bigger and better.”
Fork, Monk’s Cafe, and Oyster House were the other Philadelphia institutions vying for the Icon Award.
From left: The Banh Mi Xiu May, Bun Bo Hue Dac Biet, and the chicken curry at Cafe Nhan, which received the Best Neighborhood Gem award at the 2026 Tasties.
Vietnamese restaurant Cafe Nhan won the Neighborhood Gem award. Run by mother-son duo Nhan Vo and Andrew Dinh Vo, Cafe Nhan is a West Passyunk go-to for hearty bowls of soup and crispy fried chicken wings. The restaurant’s signature bún bò hue dac biet — a spicy lemongrass soup from Central Vietnam loaded with brisket and pig’s feet — and gluten-free pho — rank among the best in the city.
Other contestants for Neighborhood Gem included Cafe Nhan neighbor Stina, as well as Baby’s Kusina in Brewerytown and the Breakfast Den on South Street.
Restaurant and Chef of the Year: Phila Lorn & Mawn
The Mawn team, including chef-owner Phila Lorn, added another feather to their caps at the Tasties, taking home top honors for both Restaurant and Chef of the Year. According to Kulp, Lorn brought the entire staff of both Mawn and its sister oyster bar, Sao, to the Tasties Sunday night.
Mawn co-owner and executive chef Phila Lorn accepts the award for Chef of the Year at the 2026 Tasties.
Blue Corn, Her Place Supper Club, and Royal Sushi were also nominated for Restaurant of the Year. Royal Sushi owner Jessie Ito rounded out the Chef of the Year category alongside Thanh Nguyen of Gabriella’s Vietnam and Omar Tate and Cybille St.Aude-Tate of Honeysuckle.
Celebrating excellence in all matter of frozen desserts (ice cream, gelato, and water ice), the Brain Freeze Bestie people’s choice award went to Milk Jawn. Co-owned by Amy Wilson and Ryan Miller, the small-batch ice cream purveyor started as a hobby before spawning two storefronts in South Philly and Northern Liberties. Milk Jawn beat out Franklin Fountain, Coco’s Gelato, John’s Water Ice, Siddiq’s Water Ice, and Cuzzy’s Ice Cream.
The Migas breakfast taco from Taco Heart, which won the people’s choice Breakfast of Champions Award at the 2026 Tasties.
The Breakfast of Champions pitted breakfast sandwiches against tacos against diner plates. Austin-style taqueria Taco Heart and its flour-tortilla wrapped breakfast tacos ultimately won, beating out Fishtown diner Sulimays, and breakfast sandwiches from Fiore, Gilda, Paffuto, and Homegrown215.
The Sauce Boss is the Tasties’ people’s choice award for best condiment. Sea Isle City hot sauce brand Hank Sauce took home the prize, likely pushed over the edge by an Instagram endorsement from their new investor Jason Kelce, who called it the perfect condiment for “eggs without any f— flavor.” Other nominees included boutique mayo brand Jawndiments, Willow Grove’s Mammoth Sauce Co., Sunny Chili Oil, Kensington Food Co., and Chili Peppah Water from Inquirer food writer Kiki Aranita’s sauce brand Poi Dog.
Pho with steak, flank, fatty brisket, tendon, and tripe from South Philadelphia’s Pho 75, which received the people’s choice Supreme Slurp Award at the 2026 Tasties.
The Supreme Slurp is exactly what it sounds like: A people’s choice award for soup. Washington Avenue pho shop Pho 75 took home the prize, beating out potato soup from dive bar Cherry Street Tavern; French onion soup from Forsythia; matzo ball soup from Hershel’s East Side Deli; ramen from Terakawa; and the Souper Bowl from Sang Kee Peking Duck House.
Deliberations started in October, when a 14-member nomination committee of local food writers, content creators, and past winners whittled down a list of hundreds of restaurants. From there, a smaller panel of judges (including Inquirer food desk editors Margaret Eby and Jenn Ladd) rate the finalists. People’s choice voting occurs for sillier categories; more than 1,200 people cast ballots for the people’s choice awards this year, Kulp said.
From left: “Delicious City” podcast cohosts Dave Wez, Eli Kulp, and Marisa Magnatta post onstage at the Tasties culinary awards at Live! Hotel & Casino on Feb. 2, 2026.
The Tasties includes all the standard award show categories, as well as more bespoke accolades. At Sunday’s ceremony, Miriam Bautista of Vernick Fish won the Dish Wizard award, an honor bestowed upon the city’s best dishwasher. Sous chefs at La Croix, Little Water, and Pesto all took home Future Tastemaskers awards, which come with $1,000 grants for professional development.
At the Tasties, “there are no losers,” Kulp said. “It’s so cliche, but it’s really an award [show] where you can throw a dart to pick a winner and no one would argue.”
Philadelphia’s bombastic district attorney, Larry Krasner, is no stranger to opposition from within his own party, but the anger directed at him last week after he said ICE agents are “wannabe Nazis” was more pronounced than usual.
After making the comparison, Krasner faced a wave of criticism, including from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, who called the comments “abhorrent” and said the rhetoric doesn’t help “bring down the temperature.”
But the progressive district attorney said Monday that he would not back down, saying “these are people who have taken their moves from a Nazi playbook and a fascist playbook.”
“Governor Shapiro is not meeting the moment,” Krasner said in an interview. “The moment requires that we call a subgroup of people within federal law enforcement — who are killing innocent people, physically assaulting innocent people, threatening and punishing the use of video — what they are. … Just say it. Don’t be a wimp.”
Krasner pointed to a speech by Rabbi Joachim Prinz at the March on Washington in 1963: “Bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful, and the most tragic problem is silence.”
In invoking that speech, Krasner said: “A reminder, Mr. Governor: Silence equals death.”
Krasner’s defense came after days of criticism from across the political spectrum, ranging from the White House press secretary to Democratic members of Congress. And it punctuated a yearslong history of conflict with Shapiro.
The governor and Philadelphia’s top law enforcement official have feuded politically,sparred in court, and disagreed on policy. In 2019 — when lawyers from Krasner’s office decamped to work for then-Attorney General Shapiro — DA’s office staffers referred to Shapiro’s office as “Paraguay,” a reference to the country where Nazis took refuge after the war.
Last week, during a news conference about proposed restrictions on immigration enforcement in Philadelphia, the district attorney said he would “hunt down” and prosecute U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who commit crimes in the city.
“There will be accountability now. There will be accountability in the future. There will be accountability after [Trump] is out of office,” Krasner said. “If we have to hunt you down the way they hunted down Nazis for decades, we will find your identities.”
During an interview Thursday on Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier, Shapiro was asked about Krasner’s comparison of ICE agents to Nazis and called the comments “unacceptable.”
“It is abhorrent and it is wrong, period, hard stop, end of sentence,” Shapiro said.
Several other Democrats in political and media circles weighed in. U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who has at times sided with Trump on immigration matters, appeared on Fox News and said he “strongly” condemned Krasner’s language.
He said that “members of ICE are not Nazis.”
“That’s gross,” Fetterman said. “Do not compare anyone to Nazis. Don’t use that kind of rhetoric. That can incite violence.”
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, a Democrat who represents parts of Western Pennsylvania, in an interview with the Washington Examiner contrasted his own approach with Krasner’s, saying: “I reserve throwing the phrase Nazis at actual Nazis. I don’t just throw that around.”
And State Rep. Manuel Guzman Jr., a Democrat who represents a significant Latino population in Berks County, wrote on social media Friday: “I really, really want Krasner to chill tf out.”
“I get it. We want to protect our immigrant community,” Guzman wrote, “but I question if constantly poking the bear is the right strategy. At the end of the day it’s my community that is under siege.”
And U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, a Republican who represents parts of Northeast Pennsylvania, appeared on Newsmax and called Krasner a “psychopath with a badge.”
Meuser — who considered challenging Shapiro for governor with Trump’s backing but ultimately decided not to run — also on social media decried “the Left’s silence and, in many cases, encouragement of this rhetoric.”
Krasner doubled down. In an interview on CNN on Thursday, he criticized Fetterman as “not a real Democrat” and also said, “There are some people who are all in on the fascist takeover of this country who do not like the comparison to Nazi Germany.”
He said that when he promised to “hunt down” federal agents who kill someone in his jurisdiction, he was attempting to make a point that there is no statute of limitations on homicide.
The interviewer, Kaitlan Collins, asked Krasner whether he could have made that point without comparing agents to Nazis.
“Why would I do that?” Krasner responded. “They’re taking almost everything they do out of the Nazi playbook.”
A freshman football player at Villanova University texted the woman he is accused of raping to apologize for the encounter,according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest,offering new details about the incident.
D’Hani Cobbs, 20, was charged with rape, sexual assault, and related crimes after police say he assaulted a woman who also attends the university. He was removed from campus following the Dec. 7 attack, school officials said in a statement. The student newspaper the Villanovan first reported his arrest.
According to the affidavit, Cobbs allegedly assaulted the woman in Good Counsel Hall on the Main Line school’s South Campus.
The early morning attack began after Cobbs and the woman, whom police did not identify, met at an off-campus event and exchanged phone numbers, the document said.
The two later got a ride with others back to South Campus, according to the affidavit. Sometime between 1 and 2 a.m., Cobbs and the woman entered a residence hall room along with another person, whom the filing did not identify. That person left, the document said, leaving the woman alone with Cobbs.
Cobbs asked the woman for a hug, and then he “tried to kiss her, and she said no,” the filing said. Cobbs then “pinned her up against a desk” and began touching her buttocks and genitals and penetrated her with his fingers, the affidavit said. He then grabbed her and lifted her on top of his bed and allegedly raped her, according to the affidavit.
The woman later told police she was screaming and crying during the attack. She said she left the room in tears and asked Cobbs to call a friend to pick her up.
Cobbs later contacted the woman twice, according to the filing.
Around 2 a.m., he texted: “Are [you for real] good tho? That was random [as hell]” and “U were jus fine.”
Just before 5:30 p.m., Cobbs texted: “Yoo Wsp, u ok? My apologies if I made u feel uncomfortable in any way last night I didn’t have any intentions on making u feel uncomfortable. If u want to talk about it over the phone or in person we can just to come to more of a understanding.”
When investigators interviewed Cobbs that week, he did not deny that he had sexual contact with the woman but said it was consensual.
Cobbs’ defense attorney, Thomas G. Masciocchi, did not immediately return a request for comment.
Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said in a statement Monday that prosecutors had reviewed evidence in the case and swiftly brought charges.
“The message here is as simple as it is clear — when it comes to other people’s bodies, no means no, and stop means stop,” Rouse said. “That’s what we tell our kids and it holds true throughout life, no matter who you are or how talented an athlete you might be.”
As of this week, Cobbs’ player bio page on Villanova’s website is out of service with an error message.
Cobbs’ profile on ESPN is still active, and lists the New Jersey native as a wide receiver. He returned one punt last season, according to the page. A post from the Instagram account for Villanova’s football team announced Cobbs’ signing in 2024.
A Villanova spokesperson said in a statement that in addition to ordering Cobbs to leave campus, the school is “committed to both supporting the victim and fostering a safe environment for all of our students.”
Cobbs was arraigned Friday and was released on unsecured bail, according to court records. He is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 12 and is ordered not to have contact with the woman.
“I did not see anything that concerned me about the condition, because there are some marks, but I can’t portray where they are from, and I do not believe that they’re in a worsened condition now,” Judge Cynthia M.Rufe told reporters after spending about 30 minutes in the storage facility, which is controlled by the National Park Service even though the center is not part of the agency.
After the inspection, Rufe ordered the government to safeguard the removed exhibits and mitigate any potential harm to them.
The suit came after National Park Service employees took down educational panels about slavery from the President’s House at Independence National Historical Park on Jan. 22.
It also follows a hearing in federal court Friday in which city attorneys and U.S. attorneys sparred over the removal of the exhibits. During the hearing, Rufe, a George W. Bush appointee, chastised a U.S. attorney representing President Donald Trump‘s administration for talking out of “both sides of his mouth” and making “dangerous” arguments.
Rufe issued an order Monday preventing further removals or changes to the President’s House until further notice. The judge also instructed the city to file a new injunction request to clarify what it is seeking, and gave the U.S. attorney’s office another week to respond.
Michael Coard, leader of advocacy group Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, which helped develop the President’s House in the early 2000s and is providing legal backing to the city’s suit, told reporters that he didn’t see any damage to the panels, but “there was desecration.”
What he saw was“completely disrespectful, demoralizing, defiling, and desecration,” Coard said, noting that the signs, many of which are fragile, were not cushioned and that some were against the wall on a cement floor.
Coard joined the judge and attorneys in the storage facility as a representative for the coalition’s legal support of the lawsuit.Members of the press were not allowed to review the exhibits.
Before going to the storage facility Monday, Rufe and the attorneys gathered in the lobby of the Constitution Center, which has a direct view to Independence Hall from Arch Street to Chestnut.
Rufe invoked the iconic building Friday to set the stakes for the city’s suit against Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron, and their respective agencies.
“It’s threatening to think that that could happen to Independence Hall tomorrow,” Rufe said during the hearing. “It’s frightening to think that the citizenry would not be involved in such an important change.”
After having been in limbo for months, the informational panels were removed by Park Service employees using wrenches and crowbars onorders from the Trump administration, provoking outrage from Philadelphians. The displays were then piled into the back of a pickup truck and transported to the storage facility.
Mijuel Johnson (left), a guide with The Black Journey: African-American Walking Tour of Philadelphia, shows Judge Cynthia Rufe (right) around the President’s House in Independence National Historical Park on Monday.
The exhibits are stored by the National Parks Service in a room accessible through the National Constitution Center, but the civics-nonprofit “does not oversee that space, and Center staff have no knowledge of what materials may be stored there,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
After reviewing the removed exhibits for roughly 30 minutes, Rufe and her law clerks walked across Independence Mall toward the President’s House, a block away at Market Street. The judge stood at the site of the former home of Presidents George Washington and John Adams, as a guide from The Black Journey explained the historical significance of the slavery exhibit.
“This is the first of its kind memorial on federal property to the enslaved people of the United States,” said Mijuel Johnson, who led the tour.
Johnson directed the judge’s attention to panels telling the story of the presidency and the enslaved Africans who lived on the property, part of the routine tour script, but the walls were bare.
Rufe asked questions about the removed panels and what exhibits could be further removed. She walked around the site, still not cleared of the previous weekend’s snow, to review a wall in which the names of the President’s House enslaved residents are etched into the stone.
Judge Cynthia Rufe views the “Memorial to Enslaved People of African Descent in the United States of America,” during a visit to the President’s House in Independence National Historical Park on Monday. This exhibit was not removed with other panels at the site on Jan. 22. The judge visited the site while hearing the Parker administration’s suit to have President Trump’s administration restore the panels.
Outside the location that served as the slaves’ quarters, adjacent to the Liberty Bell, Rufe paused and took out her glasses to read a memorial panel.
“This enclosed space is dedicated to millions of men, women and children of African descent who lived, worked and died as enslaved people in the United States of America,” the panel read. “They should never again be forgotten”
Relevant to the core disagreement in the lawsuit, about who has the right to change the site, the bottom of the memorial panel bears the names of two entities: the National Park Service and the City of Philadelphia.
Expect the deep cold Philadelphia has been experiencing to continue for the next six weeks, at least according to Punxsutawney Phil.
The weather-predicting groundhog saw his shadow Monday outside his hole at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney. If you believe such things, that means the entire country — including our snow-covered section of the Northeast — can expect below-average temperatures for the next six weeks.
That won’t come as a surprise to folks in Philadelphia, where the temperature hasn’t made it past the freezing mark of 32 degrees for more than a week.
Despite the frigid temperatures in Punxsutawney, thousands of Phil’s biggest fans gathered early in the morning for what remains the weirdest celebration of meteorology and marmots.
What do forecasters say?
It’s been so cold, Emily Street and much of Philadelphia remains covered in snow.
Predicting the arrival of spring beyond the vernal equinox on March 20 is tricky business, especially when trying to apply it to a regionally diverse country as large as the United States.
As of Sunday, NOAA was predicting below-average temperatures in February along most of the East Coast all the way west to the Mississippi River. But that’s counterbalanced by above-average temperatures predicted along the West Coast inland as far as Texas.
NOAA’s weather outlook for February, forecasting colder-than-normal temperatures across much of the East Coast.
As for the Philadelphia region, temperatures are expected to remain near or below freezing for at least the next week, with another cold snap possible for the weekend.
The temperature reached above freezing at Philadelphia International Airport on Monday, ending a frigid nine-day streak dating to Jan. 23, the longest since 2004.
If you need to get out, the warmest day of the week is expected to be Tuesday, with highs forecast to reach the mid-30s.
“Outside of that, our high temperatures through the week are looking to be below freezing,” said Amanda Lee, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Mount Holly office, where it dipped to minus-1 degree Sunday morning.
For sake of comparison, the normal high temperature in Philadelphia in the beginning of February is 42 degrees. So we have a ways to go before anything approaching spring reaches the city.
How accurate has Punxsutawney Phil been over the years?
Jim Means holds up Punxsutawney Phil at daybreak on Groundhog Day in 1980.
Were you actually expecting a four-legged creature to accurately predict the weather?
In short, no, I wouldn’t peg my plans over the next six weeks on Phil’s prediction. According to a 2025 analysis by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Phil’s forecast has been accurate only 35% of time, based on data of more than a century.
Last year, when Phil predicted six more weeks of winter, temperatures in Philadelphia were 1.8 degrees above normal for the six weeks following Phil’s forecast, with a high of 48 degrees and a balmy low of 30. Nationally, the contiguous U.S. saw near-average temperatures in February and much-above-average temperatures in March 2025, according to NOAA.
“Phil’s forecast was incorrect,” NOAA said bluntly.
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A dead groundhog in Lancaster has been more accurate than Phil
Richard Rankin, Governor of the Groundhog Lodge, poses for a photo with Octoraro Orphie in 2012.
Why brave frigid temperatures in the early morning hours to wait on Phil when you can just pull a stuffed groundhog out of the closet?
That’s what the folks in Lancaster do. Every Groundhog Day since 1907, handlers at the Hibernating Governor of the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge in Quarryville fetch the remains of Octoraro Orphie — often sporting a top hat and bow tie — to offer some weather divination.
They do get outside, celebrating with a parade that ends at the so-called Pinnacle of Prognostication (their tongue-in-cheek description of a manure spreader), where Orphie’s forecast is delivered to the faithful.
What’s wild is the stuffed groundhog is surprisingly accurate, nailing its prediction more than 52% of the time, according to a NOAA analysis done last year.
Orphie did not see his shadow Monday, predicting an early spring. We’ll see which groundhog ends up being right.
Lancaster is a hotbed for groundhog activity, sporting several weather-predicting furballs, including Mount Joy Minnie (who did not see her shadow), M.T. Parker (who did), and a pair of actual living groundhogs in Elliott and Lilly at Acorn Acres who were set to offer their predictions Monday evening.
Staten Island Chuck, seen here at the Staten Island Zoo in 2025.
But none of Pennsylvania’s native groundhogs have been as accurate over the years as Staten Island Chuck. Since his first forecast in 1981, Chuck (formally Charles G. Hogg) has accurately predicted an early spring or six more weeks of winter an astounding 85% of the time, according to NOAA’s analysis.
On Monday, Chuck agreed with Phil, predicting six more weeks of winter, which seems like a safe call.
Chuck has been able to remain accurate despite dealing with much more harrowing conditions than his Pennsylvania counterpart. In 2009, Chuck bit then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg and was secretly replaced by granddaughter Charlotte for the 2014 ceremony. Unfortunately, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped Charlotte, and the groundhog died several days later.
How did this whole marmot-predicting-the-weather thing start?
According to the Pennsylvania Tourism Office, Romans took the early Christian holiday Candlemas to Germany, where it was said that if there was enough sun on Candlemas Day for a badger to cast a shadow, there would be six more weeks of bad weather.
German immigrants brought this tradition to Pennsylvania, and in 1886 the editor of Punxsutawney’s newspaper teamed up with a group of groundhog hunters to begin the legend of Punxsutawney Phil’s weather prowess. So in the United States and Canada, we celebrate Groundhog Day on the same date Christians across the globe celebrate Candlemas.
Good luck trying to stream Groundhog Day today
Bill Murray in a scene from “Groundhog Day.”
You’re not wrong if you remember seeing Groundhog Day on Netflix the other day. It’s just not there now.
The beloved 1993 comedy, staring Bill Murray and directed by the late Harold Ramis, left Netflix as of Sunday. Other than renting the film through a host of streaming platforms, the only other place to stream Groundhog Day on Groundhog Day is AMC+, a subscription service few have that’ll set you back $9.99 a month (though it does have a seven-day free trial).
If you still have a cable subscription, Groundhog Day is airing all day on AMC beginning at 8:30 a.m. Philly time, so set your DVR.
Are there any other Groundhog Day movies?
If you’re looking for another good time loop flick, check out 1998’s “Run Lola Run.”
Listen, we all love Groundhog Day, but to some watching it each and every year is starting to feel a bit like the movie’s repetitive plot.
There are plenty of Christmas, Halloween, and even Valentine’s Day movies for us to choose from. Aren’t there any other films that take place on Groundhog Day?
Sadly, no. About the best you’ll get are a few animated short films, such as the early Disney flick Winter (featuring Walt Disney’s uncredited voice as a raccoon) and 1947’s One Meat Brawl from Warner Bros. And that’s only if you can find them.
Now, if you’re looking for a movie swiping Groundhog Day’s premise — someone living the same day over and over again — there are a few options, from Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow to the sci-fi comedy Palm Springs, staring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti.
There’s also 1998’s Run Lola Run, a German thriller where Franka Potente’s protagonist gets three chances to re-run the same 20 minutes to save the life of her boyfriend.
It was so cold Monday at Farrell Elementary, a Philadelphia public school in Northeast Philadelphia, that middle schoolers — a group seemingly constitutionally averse to bundling up — were wearing coats indoors.
That was just one example of trouble for the Philadelphia School District amid the prolonged frigid spell bearing down on the region, with a number of schools plagued by burst pipes, broken heaters, and other issues.
Furness High, in South Philadelphia, moved to virtual instruction Monday “due to ongoing heating challenges.”
“The safety and comfort of our staff remains our top priority,” wrote Teresa Fleming, the district’s chief operating officer. “Moving to virtual instruction for the day allows necessary work to continue while allowing minimal disruption to learning.”
Though Farrell’s heat was on the fritz for the third school day in a row, the district did not pivot to virtual learning there. Instead, it was one of four schools that dismissed early due to heating issues. For much of the day until classes ended, Farrell students and staff were forced to either bundle up or find space to relocate in more-adequately heated spots in the overcrowded school, according to staffers who asked not be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
Six Farrell classes camped out in the auditorium, including one class of 38 eighth graders. But the auditorium had to do double duty because the unplowed state of the yard where students typically play meant that students who’d typically be in the yard before or after eating lunch had to be in the auditorium also, Farrell employees said.
Meaningful learning was “absolutely not” going on in the auditorium, one staffer said. “It’s almost impossible.” Students were instructed to complete work on Google Classroom, and teachers were balancing crowd control and working with students individually.
In other cases, teachers and students just stayed in cold rooms, bundled up. Small-group instruction had to happen in hallways because of the population overflow; the hallways were also freezing.
“It’s just ridiculous,” said the Farrell staffer, of the school conditions.
They and others were frustrated that though district officials knew Farrell was plagued by heating issues, students and staff were required to be in the building, especially while other schools were permitted to go virtual.
District students had a snow day last Monday, learned virtually on Tuesday and Wednesday, then went back for in-person instruction on Thursday, though conditions were tough in many schools. In some places, heating issues have resolved.
“The safety and well-being of our students and staff remain our highest priorities,” district spokesperson Monique Braxton said. “Due to sustained frigid temperatures following the recent snowstorm, combined with the age of some School District of Philadelphia facilities, several schools are experiencing heating-related challenges.”
In addition to Farrell, Greenberg Elementary, another school in the Northeast, dismissed early because of heating issues, Braxton said. So did the U School and Parkway Center City Middle College, two district high schools.
District workers and independent contractors are “actively addressing both ongoing and newly identified facilities issues to ensure that all students can safely return to a full day of in-person instruction as soon as possible,” Braxton said.
At Farrell, one teacher brought in their own heater to try to keep warm, a staffer said, and one teacher known for wearing shorts every day finally broke down and wore pants.
And then there were the middle schoolers.
“Even the older ones have on coats,” the staffer said. “It’s so cold that they wore coats.”
Younger students, the staffer said, are more curious.
“They say, ‘Why is it so cold in my classroom?’“ said the Farrell staffer.
By lunchtime, word started to spread that both Farrell and Greenberg were dismissing early, staff there said.
But that late call came with its own set of headaches — while some parents would be able to react to the news quickly and pick up their children early, others may be stuck at work and unable to get to school at dismissal.
Arthur Steinberg, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president, remained frustrated and angry by the district’s call. Steinberg said last week that the district’s return to buildings was “dangerous” given conditions in some places.
“They shouldn’t have brought people in if they knew the buildings were going to be this cold,” Steinberg said.
As to why one school was permitted to be virtual while others were brought in with inadequate heat, Steinberg was stumped.
