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  • Penn State’s Kaytron Allen and Olaivavega Ioane named to AP All-American teams

    Penn State’s Kaytron Allen and Olaivavega Ioane named to AP All-American teams

    Four players from Ohio State are among 10 first-team picks from the Big Ten on The Associated Press All-America team released Monday, a group headed by repeat selection Caleb Downs of the Buckeyes and AP Player of the Year Fernando Mendoza of Indiana.

    The AP has named an All-America team every year since 1925, and Notre Dame’s two first-team picks this season increased its all-time lead to 87.

    Downs, the Big Ten defensive player of the year, has made the first team each of his two seasons at Ohio State after landing on the second team as a freshman at Alabama in 2023. He is one of 12 players on the 27-man first team who did not start their careers at their current school. Downs is joined on the first team by fellow Buckeyes Jeremiah Smith, Kayden McDonald and Arvell Reese.

    Mendoza, who won the Heisman Trophy over the weekend, led the top-ranked Hoosiers to a 13-0 record and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff after transferring from California. He has thrown a nation-leading 33 touchdown passes and is the catalyst of one of the most productive offenses in the country.

    A total of 18 schools are represented on the first team, including seven of the 12 in the CFP.

    Iowa has had at least one first-team player seven straight years and in 10 of the last 12. This is the fourth year in a row Miami, Notre Dame and Ohio State have had at least one.

    Punter Cole Maynard gave Western Kentucky its first-ever first-team pick. Defensive lineman Landon Robinson is Navy’s first since 1975 and kicker Kansei Matsuzawa is Hawaii’s first since 1986.

    First-team All-Americans (by conference)

    Big Ten — 10

    SEC — 6

    Big 12 — 3

    ACC — 1

    Independent — 3

    Conference USA — 2

    American — 1

    Mountain West — 1

    ___

    The AP All-America team was selected by a panel of 52 college Top 25 poll voters.

    First-team offense

    Wide receiver — Makai Lemon, Southern California, junior, 5-11, 195, Los Angeles.

    Wide receiver — Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State, sophomore, 6-3, 223, Miami Gardens, Fla.

    Wide receiver — Skyler Bell, Connecticut, senior, 6-0, 185, New York, N.Y.

    Tackle — Francis Mauigoa, Miami, junior, 6-6, 335, Ili’ili, American Samoa.

    Tackle — Spencer Fano, Utah, junior, 6-6, 308, Spanish Fork, Utah.

    Guard — Emmanuel Pregnon, Oregon, senior, 6-5, 318, Denver.

    Guard — Beau Stephens, Iowa, senior, 6-5, 315, Blue Springs, Mo.

    Center — Logan Jones, Iowa, graduate, 6-3, 202, Council Bluffs, Iowa.

    Tight end — Eli Stowers, Vanderbilt, graduate, 6-4, 235, Denton, Texas.

    Quarterback — Fernando Mendoza, Indiana, junior, 6-5, 225, Miami.

    Running back — Jeremiyah Love, Notre Dame, junior, 6-0, 214, St. Louis.

    Running back — Ahmad Hardy, Missouri, sophomore, 5-10, 210, Oma, Miss.

    Kicker — Kansei Matsuzawa, Hawaii, senior, 6-2, 200, Tokyo.

    All-purpose — KC Concepcion, Texas A&M, junior, 5-11, 190, Charlotte, N.C.

    First-team defense

    Edge rusher — David Bailey, Texas Tech, senior, 6-3, 250, Irvine, Calif.

    Edge rusher — Cashius Howell, Texas A&M, senior, 6-2, 248, Kansas City, Mo.

    Interior lineman — Kayden McDonald, Ohio State, junior, 6-3, 326, Suwanee, Ga.

    Interior lineman — Landon Robinson, Navy, senior, 6-0, 287, Fairlawn, Ohio.

    Linebacker — Jacob Rodriguez, Texas Tech, senior, 6-1, 235, Wichita Falls, Texas.

    Linebacker — Arvell Reese, Ohio State, junior, 6-4, 243, Cleveland.

    Linebacker — CJ Allen, Georgia, junior, 6-1, 235, Barnesville, Ga.

    Cornerback — Leonard Moore, Notre Dame, sophomore, 6-2, 195, Round Rock, Texas.

    Cornerback — Mansoor Delane, LSU, senior, 6-0, 190, Silver Spring, Md.

    Safety — Caleb Downs, Ohio State, junior, 6-0, 205, Hoschton, Ga.

    Safety — Bishop Fitzgerald, Southern California, senior, 5-11, 205, Woodbridge, Va.

    Defensive back — Jakari Foster, Louisiana Tech, senior, 6-0, 211, Piedmont, Ala.

    Punter — Cole Maynard, Western Kentucky, senior, 6-1, 180, Mooresville, N.C.

    Second-team offense

    Wide receiver — Carnell Tate, Ohio State, junior, 6-3, 195, Chicago.

    Wide receiver — Malachi Toney, Miami, freshman, 5-11, 188, Liberty City, Fla.

    Wide receiver — Danny Scudero, San Jose State, sophomore, 5-9, 174, San Jose, Calif.

    Tackle — Kadyn Proctor, Alabama, junior, 6-7, 366, Des Moines, Iowa.

    Tackle — Carter Smith, Indiana, junior, 6-5, 313, Powell, Ohio.

    Guard — Olaivavega Ioane, Penn State, junior, 6-4, 323, Graham, Wash.

    Guard — Ar’maj Reed-Adams, Texas A&M, graduate, 6-5, 325, Dallas.

    Center — Jake Slaughter, Florida, senior, 6-4, 303, Sparr, Fla.

    Tight end — Kenyon Sadiq, Oregon, junior, 6-3, 245, Idaho Falls, Idaho.

    Quarterback — Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt, graduate, 6-0, 207, Albuquerque, N.M.

    Running back — Emmett Johnson, Nebraska, junior, 5-11, 200, Minneapolis.

    Running back — Kewan Lacy, Mississippi, sophomore, 5-11, 210, Dallas.

    Kicker — Tate Sandell, Oklahoma, junior, 5-9, 182, Port Neches, Texas.

    All-purpose — Wayne Knight, James Madison, junior, 5-7, 190, Smyrna, Del.

    Second-team defense

    Edge rusher — Rueben Bain Jr., Miami, junior, 6-3, 270, Miami.

    Edge rusher — John Henry Daley, Utah, sophomore, 6-4, 255, Alpine, Utah.

    Interior lineman — A.J. Holmes Jr., Texas Tech, junior, 6-3, 300, Houston.

    Interior lineman — Peter Woods, Clemson, junior, 6-3, 310, Alabaster, Ala.

    Linebacker — Sonny Syles, Ohio State, senior, 6-5, 243, Pickerington, Ohio.

    Linebacker — Anthony Hill Jr., Texas, junior, 6-3, 238, Denton, Texas.

    Linebacker — Red Murdock, Buffalo, graduate, 6-1, 240, Petersburg, Va.

    Cornerback — D’Angelo Ponds, Indiana, junior, 5-9, 173, Miami.

    Cornerback — Chris Johnson, San Diego State, senior, 6-0, 195, Eastvale, Calif.

    Safety — Dillon Thieneman, Oregon, junior, 6-0, 205, Westfield, Indiana.

    Safety — Louis Moore, Indiana, senior, 5-11, 200, Mesquite, Texas.

    Defensive back — Hezekiah Masses, California, senior, 6-1, 185, Deerfield Beach, Fla.

    Punter — Brett Thorson, Georgia, senior, 6-2, 235, Melbourne, Australia.

    Third-team offense

    Wide receiver — Eric McAlister, TCU, senior, 6-3, 205, Azle, Texas.

    Wide receiver — Chris Brazzell II, Tennessee, junior, 6-5, 200, Midland, Texas.

    Wide receiver — Jordyn Tyson, Arizona State, junior, 6-2, 200, Allen, Texas.

    Tackle — Keagen Trost, Missouri, graduate, 6-4, 316, Kankakee, Ill.

    Tackle — Brian Parker II, Duke, junior, 6-5, 305, Cincinnati.

    Guard — Keylan Rutledge, Georgia Tech, senior, 6-4, 330, Royston, Ga.

    Guard — Evan Tengesdahl, Cincinnati, sophomore, 6-3, 320, Dayton, Ohio.

    Center — Iapani Laloulu, Oregon, junior, 6-2, 329, Honolulu.

    Tight end — Michael Trigg, Baylor, senior, 6-4, 240, Tampa, Fla.

    Quarterback — Julian Sayin, Ohio State, redshirt freshman, 6-1, 208, Carlsbad, Calif.

    Running back — Cam Cook, Jacksonville State, junior, 5-11, 200, Round Rock, Texas.

    Running back — Kaytron Allen, Penn State, senior, 5-11, 219, Norfolk, Va.

    Kicker — Aidan Birr, Georgia Tech, junior, 6-1, 205, Kennedale, Texas.

    All-purpose — Jadarian Price, Notre Dame, junior, 5-11, 210, Denison, Texas.

    Third-team defense

    Edge rusher — Caden Curry, Ohio State, senior, 6-3, 260, Greenwood, Ind.

    Edge rusher — Nadame Tucker, Western Michigan, senior, 6-3, 250, New York.

    Interior lineman — Tyrique Tucker, Indiana, junior, 6-0, 302, Norfolk, Va.

    Interior lineman — Lee Hunter, Texas Tech, senior, 6-4, 330, Mobile, Alabama.

    Linebacker — Aiden Fisher, Indiana, senior, 6-1, 231, Fredericksburg, Va.

    Linebacker — Caden Fordham, North Carolina State, graduate, 6-1, 230, Ponte Vedra, Fla.

    Linebacker — Owen Long, Colorado State, sophomore, 6-2, 230, Whittier, Calif.

    Cornerback — Avieon Terrell, Clemson, junior, 5-11, 180, Atlanta.

    Cornerback — Treydan Stukes, Arizona, senior, 6-2, 200, Litchfield Park, Ariz.

    Safety — Michael Taaffe, Texas, senior, 6-0, 189, Austin, Texas.

    Safety — Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, Toledo, senior, 6-2, 202, Tampa, Fla.

    Defensive back — Bray Hubbard, Alabama, junior, 6-2, 213, Ocean Springs, Miss.

    Punter — Ryan Eckley, Michigan State, junior, 6-2, 207, Lithia, Fla.

  • The snow and ice are sticking around the Philly region after an unusual storm

    The snow and ice are sticking around the Philly region after an unusual storm

    What have become the glacial remnants of a picturesque and a meteorologically unusual snowfall that tufted the trees and bushes with a cottony whiteness are likely to stay around for a few more days.

    In what has been quite a chilly December, with not a single day of above-normal temperatures, readings tumbled into the teens for the second consecutive morning on Tuesday and not make it out of freezing in the afternoon.

    Expect more ice and stealth “black ice,” re-frozen snow melt that forms on driveways, sidewalks and other surfaces, again Wednesday morning.

    But if you’re getting tired of salting and chipping ice after those overnight freeze-ups, you’re about to get some help.

    A warm-up is forecast to get underway Wednesday, and come Thursday, which is slated to be the warmest day since before Thanksgiving, the atmosphere is expected to train its snow-removal guns on the region.

    Forecasters see a surge of snow-erasing warmth and a significant — and badly needed — rainfall Thursday night that should restore the landscape to a condition more familiar to Philadelphians and ease precipitation deficits.

    As for the prospects of a winter-wonderland encore, nothing is on the horizon in the near term, said Nick Guzzo, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.

    Said Matt Benz, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc, “For folks looking for more snow, this might have been it.”

    At least for now and perhaps until after Christmas, or later. But, “Winter’s not done yet,” Benz said.

    Willow, a West Highland, is with Amanda and David York on a walk in Maria Barnaby Greenwald Memorial Park in Cherry Hill on Sunday morning.

    The warmup in Philly is expected to be brief

    Temperatures could go as high as 55 degrees Thursday, Benz said. Then after a cold front passes through, temperatures will fall during the day Friday.

    This won’t be an Arctic front like the one that gave Philly its coldest day of the season on Monday, with a high of 28. However, the forecasts call for readings to be no higher than the 30s on Saturday, and mid-40s on Sunday, which is close to the longer-term normal high, followed by several degrees chillier on Monday.

    What’s expected for the next two weeks

    In its updated extended outlooks on Monday, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center had just about the entire country with above-normal temperatures through Dec. 29, with a notable exception — the Northeast, including Philadelphia.

    Predicted upper-air conditions in the Arctic and the North Atlantic would argue against above-normal temperatures around here during the period, climate center forecaster Thomas Collow said.

    The center wisely eschews the snow-forecasting business.

    Philly just had quite the unusual snow event

    Regardless of what happens the rest of the way, the winter of 2025-26 will be snowier than at least seven others in the period of snow records that date to the winter of 1884-85.

    The 4.2 inches measured officially at Philadelphia International Airport Sunday is a half-inch above the long-term average for the season to date.

    How much snow fell near you, mapped

    Granted almost any substantial snowfall would seem exceptional these days around here, but this one truly was, said the weather service’s Zach Cooper, a meteorologist in the Mount Holly office.

    Most of Philly’s significant snows are the result of coastal storms that mine moist air from the ocean.

    That wasn’t the case Sunday.

    ”In some ways it was a bit of a unique situation for us, especially to get the amounts that we did,” he said.

    The snow was generated by a weak “clipper system,” a storm that dives out of southwestern Canada and usually has minor impacts around here, and a disturbance in the upper atmosphere.

    Totals generally ranged from 4 to 8 inches across the region. Totals were less around the city in part because temperatures took their good, old time dropping below freezing.

    Marginal temperatures also were a factor in the spread of accumulations. They added some extra weight and heft to the flakes that glommed on the branches and what remains of the foliage with tenacity.

    While the show will have a limited run, the region learned anew that snow and ice may be a pain, but nothing decorates like nature.

  • Crash caused by man fleeing warrant kills 63-year-old woman in Uber, police say

    Crash caused by man fleeing warrant kills 63-year-old woman in Uber, police say

    A 63-year-old woman riding as a passenger in an Uber vehicle was killed Monday morning when a man allegedly fleeing a warrant crashed a car into the Uber in North Philadelphia, police said.

    Just before 7:15 a.m., the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office attempted to serve a domestic-assault warrant for Joseph Cini, 35, on the 900 block of North Watts Street.

    Police said Cini fled the scene in a Nissan Maxima heading east on Girard Avenue from Watts. The Maxima crashed into a red Jeep Patriot at the intersection of Ninth Street and Girard Avenue, and Cini allegedly got out of the car and ran north on Eighth Street.

    The female Uber passenger was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The 51-year-old driver was taken by medics to Temple University Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.

    Cini is now also wanted for leaving the scene of a fatal accident, and anyone who knows his whereabouts is asked to call the police Crash Investigation Division at 215-685-3181.

    Tips can also be submitted anonymously by calling or texting the police department’s tip line at 215-686-TIPS (8477).

    A spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office said in an email that the agency was “fully cooperating with all investigative authorities.”

    The spokesperson added: “The Office extends its deepest condolences to the victim’s family. Support services have been made available to the deputies involved.”

  • Top Pennsylvania Republicans are projecting relative calm amid 2026 national party panic

    Top Pennsylvania Republicans are projecting relative calm amid 2026 national party panic

    The same week Republican National Committee chair Joe Gruters said history predicted “almost certain defeat” for his party in the 2026 midterms, Pennsylvania Republicans partying in Midtown Manhattan projected relative calm about the election cycle.

    Gruters, President Donald Trump’s handpicked chair to run the party, said on a conservative radio station last week: “It’s not a secret. There’s no sugarcoating it. It’s a pending, looming disaster heading our way. We are facing almost certain defeat.”

    He added that the goal is to win and he “liked our chances in the midterms,” but noted “only three times in the last hundred years has the incumbent party been successful winning a midterm.”

    Pennsylvania could decide which party controls the U.S. House next year, as Democrats eye four congressional districts that Republicans recently flipped while the GOP fights to maintain its majority.

    But Pennsylvania Republicans in New York City for the annual Pennsylvania Society glitzy gathering of politicos last weekend had a less hair-on-fire view.

    “At this point when I was running [for Senate in 2024], the betting market said there was a 3% chance I was going to win,” Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) said after addressing a bipartisan audience at the Pennsylvania Manufacturer’s Association luncheon on Saturday.

    “We’re a million miles from Election Day, and we’ve got a great track record of things to talk about and a great vision for how the president’s policies are going to make life better for working families,” McCormick said. “We just got to go out and make that message happen, but also continue to make the policies that are going to make that a reality happen.”

    The political environment was, of course, far more favorable to Republicans in 2024, when Trump won Pennsylvania by a larger margin than he did in 2016. But with Republicans in power and popular Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro on the ballot for reelection, the headwinds in 2026 in the Keystone State are different.

    Pennsylvania GOP chair Greg Rothman, in an interview outside the PMA event on Saturday, called Shapiro “one of the greatest politicians of my generation” but noted that upsets have happened across various political environments in state history.

    “Anything can happen and the voters are smart, and all I can do is prepare the party to ride the waves and ignore the crashes, but I’m optimistic,” he added.

    Shapiro will likely face a GOP challenge from State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who is a popular politician in her own right and holds the record for receiving the most votes of any candidate for statewide office in Pennsylvania.

    Meanwhile, Rothman predicted that the four Pennsylvania congressional incumbents running for reelection in swing districts will sink or swim based on how Trump and his policies land with voters come November.

    “They will be judged by the national economy and by immigration,” he said, and by Trump’s ability to end some international conflicts.

    But U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a GOP incumbent running for reelection in Pennsylvania’s Eighth Congressional District, which includes Scranton, had a more local view of how to win in 2026.

    “Everything about our job as a member of Congress is about northeastern Pa.,” Bresnahan said.

    “Northeastern Pennsylvania has always been our North Star. We know our district. We are out in our district. We’ve done over 250 public events. Our constituency case work is, in my opinion, one of the best offices in the country.”

    A year ahead of 2026 midterms, Trump backs Scott Perry, Rob Bresnahan, and other Pennsylvania Republicans

    Bresnahan appeared at a rally with Trump in Mount Pocono last week. He was also one of just 20 House Republicans to sign a successful discharge petition to force a vote for collective bargaining to be restored for federal workers.

    “At the end of the day that might have been going against party leadership, but it was what’s right for northeastern Pennsylvania,” he said.

    Democrats have begun a full court press. That was evident at the Pennsylvania Society, where attendees seen mingling with other politicians included: Janelle Stelson, who is running for a second time against U.S. Rep. Scott Perry in the 10th Congressional District, as well as firefighter Bob Brooks and former federal prosecutor Ryan Croswell, both of whom are running for the Democratic nomination to take on U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in the Seventh.

    Bresnahan’s challenger, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, also attended the soiree and walked through the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center with U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.) on Friday night. Coons said the time is now for Democrats to get involved in these races.

    “Given the margin, if there were to be four new Democrats in the House this cycle, as there were in 2018, that’d be the difference maker for the country,” Coons added.

    Staff writer Gillian McGoldrick contributed to this article.

  • A man ‘ransacked’ a 93-year-old’s Philly home before killing him and selling his car for $900, prosecutors say

    A man ‘ransacked’ a 93-year-old’s Philly home before killing him and selling his car for $900, prosecutors say

    In the days after the killing of 93-year-old Lafayette Dailey on Dec. 3, authorities said, street surveillance cameras captured Coy Thomas behind the wheel of Dailey’s white 2007 Chrysler 300.

    Then, they said, Thomas sold the car for $900.

    On Monday, prosecutors with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office released new details in their case against Thomas, who is charged with murder, robbery, and related crimes in connection with a slaying that unfolded quietly inside Dailey’s Logan home.

    Surveillance footage from that day showed a man police believe to be Thomas walking through the front door of Dailey’s house in the 4500 block of N. 16th St. About 10 minutes later, prosecutors said, the man reemerged, slid behind the wheel of Dailey’s sedan, and drove away.

    Two days later, police found Dailey dead inside the home. He had been stabbed several times in the chest.

    His house had also been “ransacked,” said Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski, with “things thrown around,” indicating “there was a struggle” before Dailey was killed.

    Police found no signs of forced entry. Thomas’ unhindered entrance into the home suggested that the men knew one another “in a neighborly way,” Toczylowski said. Thomas, 53, previously lived near Dailey, she said.

    Thomas is also accused of stealing and using Dailey’s debit card before he was taken into custody on Sunday.

    District Attorney Larry Krasner called the killing “evil,” adding: “Even the mob didn’t target seniors.”

    Krasner asked anyone with information about the killing to call police.

    “It’s in your hands to make sure that your energy and your eyes and your ears are tuned in, so that we can prevent this next time and we can get a just and appropriate remedy this time,” he said.

  • Josh Shapiro doesn’t need Pa. Society, the Parker-Johnson relationship, Kim Ward’s budget ballad, and more takeaways from Pa.’s weekend in NYC

    Josh Shapiro doesn’t need Pa. Society, the Parker-Johnson relationship, Kim Ward’s budget ballad, and more takeaways from Pa.’s weekend in NYC

    NEW YORK — Pennsylvania’s political class schmoozed their way across Midtown Manhattan this past weekend, bouncing from cocktail parties to swanky receptions organized to woo the elite ahead of a big midterm election year.

    Hundreds of Pennsylvania politicos made their way for the state’s annual weekend of civility, bipartisanship, fundraising, and more than a few hangovers.

    Pennsylvania’s political elite return to New York’s Waldorf Astoria for ritzy dinner in its 127th year

    Four Inquirer political writers were among those who traveled to the Pennsylvania Society gathering, chatting with lawmakers and interviewing candidates inside the moody bars and penthouse parties. Here are our takeaways.

    Maybe Shapiro doesn’t need Pa. Society anymore

    Gov. Josh Shapiro this year has hosted fundraisers in New Jersey and Massachusetts for his unannounced reelection campaign.

    But he didn’t need to make the rounds this weekend among Pennsylvania’s political elite as he emerges as a top contender for the 2028 Democratic nomination for president.

    Shapiro traveled to New York City only to deliver his annual speech to the Pennsylvania Society and honor former U.S. Ambassador to Canada, David L. Cohen, who received the society’s top award.

    Josh Shapiro has a full-circle moment at Pennsylvania Society dinner in NYC, and David L. Cohen is honored

    Instead of handshaking and fundraising like most incumbent governors would, Shapiro has largely avoided Pennsylvania Society mingling during his time as governor. His reelection campaign did not appear to change that.

    Pennsylvania politicians (from left) Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, Gov. Josh Shapiro and State House of Representatives Speaker Joanna E. McClinton last January attending the swearing-in ceremony of Attorney General David W. Sunday, Jr. in Harrisburg.

    Instead, Lt. Gov. Austin Davis hosted a solo fundraiser for their joint reelection ticket.

    “There’s a lot of demands on the governor’s time,” Davis said following a speech at the annual luncheon hosted by the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association.

    The Third Congressional District race was the talk of the town

    Three of the candidates vying to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans in the Third Congressional District had a busy weekend in New York. State Sen. Sharif Street, pediatric surgeon Ala Stanford, and State Rep. Morgan Cephas made the rounds.

    Sharif Street speaks from the pulpit of Mother Bethel A.M.E. church Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025 as the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity holds a press conference with other community and political leaders to discuss the negative impacts of the ongoing government shutdown. Mother Bethel Pastor Rev. Carolyn Cavaness is at left.

    Stanford held a somewhat star-studded fundraiser Thursday evening, hosted, according to a posted listing for the private event, by Hamilton actor Leslie Odom Jr. (who did not attend but lent his name).

    Candidates for Dwight Evans’ congressional seat hunt for cash and support at the Pa. Society in New York

    Street, the former state party chair and a longtime attendee at Pennsylvania Society, held two fundraisers in Manhattan, fresh off his endorsement last week by former Gov. Ed Rendell.

    Not spotted: State Rep. Chris Rabb, who is running as an anti-establishment progressive.

    “That’s not really my thing,” he said in a text message.

    The Parker-Johnson relationship was a hot topic

    Philadelphia City Council wrapped up its final meeting of the year the day before the Pennsylvania Society began, and the lawmakers gave the chatterati plenty to talk about in Manhattan, with a dramatic close to the session.

    One major topic of conversation in New York: What did Council’s recent conflict with Mayor Cherelle L. Parker over her housing plan mean for the unusually tight relationship between Council President Kenyatta Johnson and the mayor?

    Philly Council votes against Mayor Parker’s vision for her signature housing plan, signaling a win for progressives

    The consensus: Mom and Dad were fighting, but they’ll probably patch things up.

    “Disagreements between Council and mayor — it happens,” said Larry Ceisler, a Philadelphia-based public affairs executive whose firm hosted a packed party in Midtown on Saturday. “It’s the way the system is set up.”

    But Ceisler said he’s not worried that Parker and Johnson will abandon their goal of emulating then-Mayor Rendell’s close working relationship with Council President John F. Street in the 1990s.

    “The fact is they’re certainly in sync more than they’re not,” Ceisler said.

    Mayor Cherelle Parker and Council President Kenyatta Johnson are trying to bring back the ’90s in City Hall
    City Council president Kenyatta Johnson speaking with Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker in June 2024.

    Johnson, he said, likely improved his standing with members by holding firm against a last-minute amendment Parker proposed to alter Council’s version of the housing plan’s budget.

    Parker and Johnson both made the trek to Manhattan, along with Councilmembers Rue Landau, Nina Ahmad, Jamie Gauthier, Jeffery “Jay” Young Jr., Kendra Brooks, Katherine Gilmore Richardson, Jim Harrity, Cindy Bass, and Quetcy Lozada.

    The mayor also took the opportunity to engage in a bit of bipartisanship. She has often touted her ability to build relationships across the aisle, despite Philadelphia politics being dominated by Democrats.

    At the PMA luncheon, Parker embraced former Gov. Tom Corbett and gave a warm greeting to Auditor General Tim DeFoor, both Republicans.

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker (left) and former Gov. Tom Corbett at the luncheon hosted by the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association on Saturday in New York.

    At the same event, Republican U.S. Sen Dave McCormick shouted out Parker multiple times during his prepared remarks. The pair have forged a working relationship despite their partisan differences.

    “We talk about challenges in the city that we’re facing right now, and the hope is that we can count on some folks as allies,” Parker said of meeting with members of the GOP.

    Mayor Parker’s restraint with Trump is both calculation and gamble as the president escalates against blue cities

    She added: “It’s great to try to maintain those lines of communication.”

    Special interests woo political elite

    Many of the events were hosted by special-interest groups and corporations that have business with the government and are looking to win influence over glasses of Champagne.

    There were the usual suspects and big law firms: Duane Morris always hosts a marquee late-night event on Friday in the sprawling Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center. Other firms including Cozen O’Connor, Ballard Spahr, and Saul Ewing also hosted cocktail parties.

    Top Pennsylvania Republicans are projecting relative calm amid 2026 national party panic

    One notable newcomer to the party scene was Pace-O-Matic, the Georgia-based operator of “skill games” at the center of negotiations over regulation and taxing of the machines.

    The company, which has spent millions on political contributions and lobbying, threw a cocktail reception Thursday night at an Italian restaurant attended by a sizable contingent of state lawmakers.

    Legislators have yet to agree on how to regulate and tax skill games, which remain entirely unregulated and untaxed.

    But solutions seemed possible at the Pace-O-Matic party, as Central Pennsylvania Republicans and Philadelphia Democrats milled about the bar in an unlikely alliance.

    Another bipartisan event — this one in a sunny room atop the vintage Kimberly Hotel — was hosted by Independence Blue Cross and AmeriHealth Caritas, insurance companies that have Medicaid contracts with the state.

    Lawmakers often credit the weekend of partying in New York as a time for civil conversations in a neutral territory that ultimately benefit a philanthropic cause at the Pennsylvania Society’s annual dinner.

    But Rabbi Michael Pollack, who leads the government accountability group March on Harrisburg, said the civility seems to come only when special interests are footing the bill.

    “It’s absolutely embarrassing that our legislators can only interact with each other when a lobbyist sets up a playdate for them,” he said.

    A Christmas budget ballad by DJ Ward

    Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward debuted a hidden musical talent on stage at the annual bipartisan Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry breakfast: She can write a Harrisburg holiday hit.

    “I did live in Nashville for six years and no one discovered me,” she joked, before launching into a three-minute budget balladto the tune of “Deck the Halls.”

    Ward (R., Westmoreland) debuted her song after an ugly budget battle that lasted 135 days and ended just last month. Punctuated by fa-la-las, she called out each of the top leaders who were in the closed-door budget talks.

    Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R., Westmoreland) speaking in February 2024 at the Capitol in Harrisburg.

    Ward is among Shapiro’s top critics. The two had hardly spoken since 2023 until Ward joined in-person budget negotiations at the end of October.

    Gov. Josh Shapiro says national Democrats folded in the federal shutdown, while he stayed ‘at the table’ for Pa.’s late budget deal

    During those negotiations, Ward has said Shapiro gave her a special heart-shaped cookie to break the ice. And it appears that she’s not yet letting that go, dedicating a moment in her song to the encounter:

    Mr. Shapiro give me a break

    You know you gave me that heart cookie cake

    Why are you saying that you didn’t do it?

    Ward’s jingle wasn’t the first time a Pennsylvania Republican leader leaned on the power of song during the bitter budget battle.

    At the peak of the clash over transit funding in August, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman quoted heavily from the lyrics of John Mellencamp’s “Small Town” in recalling his upbringing in rural Western Pennsylvania.

    Shapiro will propose a new budget in February, restarting the budget negotiation process. Ward urged the group of leaders to take a break from fighting during the holiday season.

    It’s Christmas and we’re all here together

    Republicans and Democrats, and all who matter

    Let’s celebrate the birth of Jesus

    For the next three weeks, let’s not be egregious

    Perhaps next budget season will inspire a mixtape.

  • Commanders shut down quarterback Jayden Daniels; Eagles will face Marcus Mariota on Saturday

    Commanders shut down quarterback Jayden Daniels; Eagles will face Marcus Mariota on Saturday

    The Eagles won’t face Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels on Saturday in Landover, Md.

    Daniels is being shut down for the Commanders’ final three games of the season, coach Dan Quinn announced Monday. Daniels missed Washington’s game Sunday after reinjuring his left elbow last week during a 31-0 loss to Minnesota. It was the same elbow he injured on Nov. 2 vs. Seattle.

    With Daniels out, the Commanders (4-10) will continue to start Marcus Mariota, who led Washington to a 29-21 victory over the Giants on Sunday. It was the Commanders’ first win since Oct. 5. Mariota went 10-for-19 for 211 yards and a touchdown. He also lost a fumble. The Commanders got one of their three touchdowns on a 63-yard punt return.

    The Eagles and Commanders play twice in the final three weeks of the regular season.

    Daniels’ second NFL season will end after he appeared in just seven games. The offensive rookie of the year in 2024 also missed time this season with knee and hamstring injuries.

    Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota carries the ball during the win against the New York Giants on Sunday.

    Injuries have been a big part of Washington’s decline in 2025 after the Commanders reached the NFC championship game last season. It’s easy to point to Daniels’ availability as a reason for the decline, but the Commanders were just 2-5 in games Daniels played.

    The Commanders were a prime candidate for regression in 2024 for a few reasons. ESPN shared the snap-weighted average age of every NFL team on Monday, and the Commanders are the oldest team in the NFL overall and have the oldest defense in the league (28.9 years old). Age is one part of the poor performance this season, but the Commanders also were abnormally lucky in 2024. The luck also included a low number of injuries.

    That has changed in a big way in 2025, and the age of the team may have caught up to the Commanders.

    Daniels aside — the quarterback turns 25 this week — the Commanders’ season has been marred by injuries to older players by NFL standards.

    The Eagles are on the brink of breaking a 20-year streak in the NFC East

    Washington’s defense alone has three players age 28 or older on injured reserve: defensive end Dorance Armstrong (28), cornerback Marshon Lattimore (29), and defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr. (31).

    Additionally, 33-year-old defensive end Preston Smith has been limited to 10 games, 32-year-old corner Jonathan Jones has played in nine games, 28-year-old defensive end Jalyn Holmes has eight appearances, and 29-year-old safety Will Harris has played in six games.

    Dan Quinn’s second season as head coach of the Commanders has been derailed by injuries.

    Veterans Von Miller (36) and Bobby Wagner (35) have stayed healthy, but asking the two of them to anchor a defense at this stage of their careers is not ideal.

    Only one team, Cincinnati, allows more yards per game than Washington (382.6).

    Then there’s the offense. The latest major injury to the Commanders hit former Eagles tight end Zach Ertz, whose season ended last week after the 35-year-old suffered a torn ACL. But 30-year-old receiver Terry McLaurin, who held out in camp and was later signed to a three-year, $96 million extension, has been limited to seven games, and 29-year-old receiver Noah Brown has played in four. Running back Austin Ekeler, who is 30, was lost to a season-ending injury in Week 2.

    A nightmare season is almost over for the Commanders, and they made the choice to not subject Daniels to any more meaningless football games.

  • UPenn launches a $10 million fund for seed investments in companies founded by Penn researchers

    The University of Pennsylvania launched a fund backed by $10 million from the university to make seed investments in companies founded by Penn researchers, officials announced Monday.

    The fund, called StartUP, will invest up to $250,000 in companies founded by Penn researchers and based on innovations created at the university. Any profits will be put back into the fund, Penn said.

    “This new fund addresses the critical need for seed investment capital at the earliest stages of company formation and will further accelerate innovation across the university,” Penn’s vice provost for research, David Meaney, said in a statement. Meaney is on the faculty at Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science.

    The university’s Office of the Chief Innovation Officer will manage the fund. The innovation office will evaluate applicants with the help of external advisers. Factors in investment decisions include overall feasibility and commercial potential.

    The new investment fund builds on efforts already underway at the Penn Center for Innovation, the Wharton School, and Penn Medicine, which in 2018 started a fund to invest $50 million in biotech companies.

    Penn has led the nation recently in licensing revenue from faculty inventions, thanks largely to revenue from COVID-19 vaccines that were based on mRNA technology developed 20 years ago by Penn researchers Drew Weissman and Katalin Karikó.

  • Five things to know about new Phillies outfielder Adolis García, from his defection to his light bulb-shaped head

    Five things to know about new Phillies outfielder Adolis García, from his defection to his light bulb-shaped head

    The Phillies, who re-signed slugger Kyle Schwarber last week, made their first big free agent addition of the offseason Monday, agreeing with outfielder Adolis García on a one-year deal worth $10 million.

    Here are five things to know about the newest Phillie …

    García defected from Cuba

    García ultimately charted his path through professional baseball by first playing in Japan for Nippon Profession Baseball’s Yomiuri Giants. On his return flight to Cuba, which connected through Paris, García instead disembarked and boarded a flight bound for the Dominican Republic, where he lived for six months to establish residency and to become an international free agent in 2017. He signed with the Cardinals for $2.5 million.

    García appeared in 21 games for St. Louis in 2018, and then was traded to the Texas Rangers in 2019. In his 2021 rookie season with Texas, García appeared in 149 games for the Rangers — he had only played a total of 24 games prior — and made the American League All-Star team, finishing fourth in rookie of the year voting.

    Adolis García could be the new Nick Castellanos, and he looks the part. Uncomfortably so. | David Murphy

    He’s a playoff riser

    If you’re familiar with García already, it’s probably because of his postseason performance for the Rangers in 2023, the year Texas won the World Series, a series the Phillies were one win from reaching before losing two straight to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

    Garcia, who was named MVP of that year’s American League Championship Series, is a confident player who loves the big stage.

    “These types of games, when there’s a lot of emotions, the fans out there, they are rallying for their team, it fuels me,” García told Fox Sports. “It’s motivation that helps me out when I’m playing.”

    Former Ranger teammate Marcus Semien, who García now joins in the National League East, said the outfielder was the most confident teammate he’d ever had.

    “I think so,” Semien told Fox Sports. “He’s got the swag to go with it. It’s just so good for young players to watch him and how he plays with such confidence to just boost up everybody else. I think a lot of young players could learn from that guy.”

    Adolis García won a World Series with the Rangers in 2023.

    El Bombi 💡

    García’s nickname is El Bombi, which, according to the Dallas Morning News, originated in childhood in Cuba, thanks to a friend who thought his head represented a light bulb, or a “bombillo.”

    Baseball is a family affair

    His older brother, Adonis García, played in MLB with the Atlanta Braves from 2015-2017. His father also played professionally in Cuba.

    The Phillies are sticking with a veteran core in 2026. But this time the kids have to play too.

    García is the godfather …

    … to Randy Arozarena’s daughter.

    García and current Mariners outfielder Arozarena defected from Cuba around the same time. They didn’t know each other well in Cuba, but became close friends in the Cardinals’ minor league system.

    “Adolis is kind of like my brother,” Arozarena told The Athletic. “So much (so) that I named him the godfather of my daughter.”

  • Janney Montgomery Scott sheds investment bank under owner KKR and focuses on brokers

    Janney Montgomery Scott sheds investment bank under owner KKR and focuses on brokers

    Philadelphia-based Janney Montgomery Scott LLC has confirmed plans to exit the investment banking business and will focus exclusively on beefing up its wealth advisory business under its private-equity owner KKR, which bought Janney last year.

    The firm has made what CEO Tony Miller called “a strategic decision” to sell the last of its banking units.

    Investment bankers raise money for companies and governments by selling stock shares, bonds, and other financial instruments to investors, for a cut of the proceeds, a sometimes lucrative but hard-to-predict business. Research analysts help attract those clients by writing about their financial prospects.

    Wealth advisors, typically registered with the SEC or licensed through the industry group FINRA, are paid to guide clients’ investments, and may sell exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and other approved products. Business has soared with the U.S. stock markets in recent years. Miller, the Janney CEO, called investing in that business a better road to “long-term success.”

    Janney plans to sell its last bond and investment banking units, including staff in Philadelphia, at its TM Capital in Atlanta, and in other offices, to Ohio-based Huntington Bancshares and its financial institutions banking, research, and sales units to New York-based Brean Capital. Janney officials hope to close the deals in early 2026. The prices haven’t been disclosed.

    Janney, which recently added advisors in Texas among other states, will remain based in Philadelphia. The company employs around 900 in the region.

    Regional commercial banks and other small to midsize financial institutions were among the last industry groups Janney investment bankers and analysts covered. Just last month, Janney bankers announced that they had advised Georgia-based First Southern Bank on its unusual $51 million sale to member-owned Community First Credit Union of Jacksonville, Fla.

    Former Janney employees said Janney’s owners had the option of taking the time and money to build up the investment banking unit, such as regional brokerages Piper Sandler, Raymond James, and Baird & Co. have done in recent years, instead of cutting back and relying entirely on trading and investment volume that rises and falls with market prices.

    Until the late 1900s, Philadelphia was a financial center, and generations of investment professionals — at firms started by Stephen Girard, Jay Cooke, J.P. Morgan’s mentor A.J. Drexel, the predecessors of what’s now Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, the Butcher clan, as well as Janney and smaller firms — raised money for enterprises ranging from the Pennsylvania Railroad to Donald Trump’s ill-fated Atlantic City casinos. Janney notoriously fired critical analyst Marvin Roffman in 1990 at Trump’s insistence.

    Successful investment bankers were paid a percentage of the deals they closed, built Main Line and Shore estates, and established branches in other cities.

    But even locally based companies now bank with giant Wall Street firms. Janney’s wealth advisory office network, juiced by the relentless rise in the U.S. stock markets, has lately accounted for more than 90% of Janney’s revenue, with investment banking only a thin sliver, according to a statement the company gave The Inquirer.

    “The big investment banks are feasting on deals,” said Robert Costello, a veteran Philadelphia-area money manager. “But the small deals have been drying up, and if they are getting rid of the municipal-bond desk, there’s nothing left.”

    “It’s ‘another one bites the dust,’” said Ryan Connors, a Bucks County-based former Janney analyst who covers utility stocks for Northcoast Research.

    “Philadelphia is thriving as a city, but our business has left it,” Connors said.

    Yet investment research has survived the decline in regional investment banking, he added.

    When Connors left Boenning & Scattergood, a Philadelphia investment bank where he had been director of research before it sold and shut down in 2022, “they told us [stock] research was dying.”

    But Connors said research-based firms like his employer are doing well because hedge funds and other large investors have proven willing to pay for financial research.