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  • Bradley Carnell likes what he’s seen from Union newcomers Ezekiel Alladoh and Japhet Sery Larsen

    Bradley Carnell likes what he’s seen from Union newcomers Ezekiel Alladoh and Japhet Sery Larsen

    Union manager Bradley Carnell did not hesitate to send new signings Ezekiel Alladoh and Japhet Sery Larsen into the fray of game action.

    Just two days after the team arrived in Marbella, Spain, for its preseason camp there — which started just a week after the players reported to Chester — the duo played the first half Tuesday in a 1-1 tie with Czech club SK Sigma Olomouc.

    Alladoh hadn’t seen live action since the end of the Swedish league season in November, timing that allowed the Union to move to sign him in December.

    Larsen’s last game was Dec. 11 in the UEFA Europa League, and when he arrived in Chester, he spent a few days training on his own.

    Ezekiel Alladoh (center) has quickly gotten to know his new Union teammates.

    Game reps for a centerback are especially important for building chemistry within the defense. So it mattered that Larsen paired with Olwethu Makhanya to form the Union’s expected centerback duo. They were challenged not just by the opposition but by Carnell’s decision to start reserve team prospect Giovanny Sequera at right back and midfielder Ben Bender at left back.

    Neither Alladoh nor Larsen looked out of place, which is fine at this point. The Union’s next scrimmage is Friday in Marbella against Danish club Nordsjælland at 8 a.m. Philadelphia time. (Nordsjælland will stream the game behind the paywall on its website; there’s no word yet if there will be a free option.)

    New Union striker Ezekiel Alladoh speaks softly but hopes to carry many goals

    “I think both of them have integrated seamlessly in all sides of the game with us,” Carnell said in a news conference on Thursday. “I think we got to see Ezekiel’s qualities in the game the other day, and potential threats. I think you could see that he’s a real weapon in behind, and just his speed and power and holdup play.”

    Carnell praised Larsen, a native of Denmark who, at 25, is the Union’s oldest centerback, for having “come in here and had such a calmness about him, and a real professional working manner about him, and hit the ground running. … I think he’s already establishing some form of foundational leadership capabilities here as well.”

    Japhet Sery Larsen (center) on the ball in a practice in Spain this week.

    Two transactions

    The Union promoted reserve team striker Stas Korzeniowski to the first team this week, a reward for the former Penn striker’s good work with Union II last year and with the first team in preseason this year.

    Korzeniowski scored the Union’s goal Tuesday with a well-taken finish, though his promotion was in the works before then.

    “Stas has certain qualities and a skill set that we really like,” Carnell said. “And, for sure, it’s far from polished right now, but that’s the journey that he started to take now with us and having him in these environments and just around the team and playing in our way.”

    ‘We aren’t done:’ The Union contends there are still more additions to come as preseason begins

    The Union also loaned 18-year-old centerback Neil Pierre to Lyngby of Denmark’s second division, a club in which the Union have had an investment stake for a year and a half. A move like this is a big part of why the Union did the deal, but this marks the first of a transaction of this kind on the books.

    Pierre is a marquee prospect, better than the reserves’ level in MLS Next Pro but not ready physically for the top flight. Lyngby is currently atop Denmark’s second division, pushing for promotion after being relegated a season ago.

    Cavan Sullivan looks ahead to what should be his biggest year yet with the Union

    “Closing the gap between Next Pro, MLS, and then there’s a mid-station there with Lyngby,” Carnell said. “Also going out of your comfort zone is a big one. … Very important for Neil to go and get those experiences, and I think he’ll grow as a person and as a player as well.”

    It’s also notable that the loan is just through June, instead of the full year. With MLS stopping for the World Cup after Memorial Day, it really means Pierre won’t be available until the season resumes in mid-July. But perhaps he’ll get a chance in the Leagues Cup in late summer.

    Neil Pierre (right) has played just once for the Union’s first team so far.

    Another prospect’s next chance

    Malik Jakupovic, the 16-year-old striker who’s getting a lot of hype, was named Thursday to the United States squad for Concacaf’s under-17 World Cup qualifiers next month.

    There’s a long history of major Union prospects showing their skills at the under-17 level. The next under-17 World Cup, which now is an annual event, will be played in Qatar in November.

    Bradley Carnell orchestrated the Union’s success in 2025. His second season in charge matters more.

    “We’ve seen a couple of good glimpses in training here in preseason that he comes to life and you think, ‘Wow, this is amazing,’” Carnell said of Jakupovic. “And then you just get to remember, ‘Oh right, he’s just joined us for three, four days already in camp.’”

    The Union’s coaching staff is well-aware of the hype and is trying to not add too much more.

    Malik Jakupovic at a practice last week.

    “We don’t want to put any sort of crazy amounts of pressure on him,” Carnell said. “We want him to have fun, we want him to develop, we want him to learn and grow.”

    Goalkeeper Matthew White also made the 21-player roster, and midfielder Willyam Ferreira was picked as an alternate.

    As the Union begin their preseason, the World Cup puts Danley Jean Jacques in an even bigger spotlight

    News from MLS HQ

    MLS announced its roster rules for the year on Thursday, and they included two significant changes.

    A year after finally allowing teams to sell players within the league for cash instead of allocation money (basically extra cap space), the league axed its cap of two sales per team per season.

    The Union’s sale of Tai Baribo (right) to D.C. United for more than $4 million in December wouldn’t have been allowed in MLS a few years ago.

    That certainly will benefit the Union, who’ve taken full advantage in selling Jack McGlynn, Dániel Gazdag, and Tai Baribo for big sums. But it also will be welcome leaguewide because it’s a better measure of players’ market values than allocation money’s limits.

    MLS also adjusted its transfer windows, the times of year when teams can buy players. The winter window will run from Jan. 26 to March 26, and the summer window will run from July 13 to Sept. 2. The latter has been shifted later in the year, bringing it in line with windows used by other big leagues worldwide.

  • The promise, peril, and whimsy of a potential double-digit snowfall in Philly

    The promise, peril, and whimsy of a potential double-digit snowfall in Philly

    Informal plans for a snowball fight in Rittenhouse Square. Debates on the best snow to craft the most aerodynamic orb.

    A run on ice salt. Public denunciations of said runs.

    Searches for snow shovelers.

    Love it or hate it, Philadelphia could be racking up its first double-digit snowfall since 2016, and residents are bursting at the seams of their snowsuits with the peril and promise of a real, old-school winter wonderland.

    Alex Janconski, a manager at Stanley True Value, a hardware store in Roxborough, said the recent snow dustings in the city had already proved to be good for business but this weekend’s forecast had made it hard for suppliers to keep up. People seem to be stocked up on shovels at this point, Janconski said, but in recent days salt has been a hot commodity.

    People are taking whatever they can get — rock salt, fast melt, magnesium chloride.

    Janconski said the urgency felt by his customers is reminiscent of the COVID-19 days. Three pallets of ice melt sold within 15 minutes of opening Thursday. He suspects the demand has to do with the significant snow projections.

    “In terms of the inches, it’s hard to get away from that number and feel like, oh, I can get away with just having nothing,” he said.

    While the traditional run on stores before a storm is a strongly held American tradition, there is an added novelty in a city like Philadelphia, where some generations can still wax poetic about staring at the TV waiting for school closure announcements that would give them the all-clear to sled down the Art Museum steps, at Clark Park, or on Fairmount Park’s Belmont Plateau.

    Snowfall in the digital age, as the rarity that it is, has lost much of the whimsy.

    The specter of a dusting feels more like a chore. The kids can learn virtually and the responsibilities for homeowners and renters are the same — six hours to shovel or risk up to a $300 fine in Philadelphia.

    And is it true that the teens no longer do shoveling side-hustles anymore?

    The online space has also given the cynics multiple platforms from which to thumb their nose at the forecasts.

    Meteorologist Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz, formerly of NBC10 and legendary for his bow tie collection, is one voice pushing back.

    “Forecasts of any type are going to be imperfect,” he said in a TikTok video, after announcing Wednesday that he would be doing two weather updates a day until the storm hits.

    “You got any sports forecasts that are correct? Political forecasts? Economic forecasts? It’s hard to predict the future.”

    @hurricane.schwartz i’ll be back later today with a more detailed update… #winterstorm2026 #philly ♬ original sound – Hurricane Schwartz

    Fans delighted in Schwartz’s coming “out of retirement,” even if it meant sharing his prognostication talents with the rest of the country.

    Whether or not the storm ends up being more modest than expected, there are plenty in Philadelphia who want to make the most of the occasion.

    A Reddit thread echoed childlike wonder as a poster asked if there was chatter of a collective snowball fight Sunday.

    “Dual [sic] at high noon?” asked the poster, whom, sadly, The Inquirer could not reach to ask about what makes a great snowball fight setting.

    Another thread pitched a pond hockey game at FDR Park should the ice be thick enough. Supportive commenters already began work to get the Philadelphia Flyers and Gritty to join.

    Meanwhile, contingency plans abound ahead of the potential weekend dump. Businesses are calling it and closing their doors, and state agencies are fully activated, adjusting their various plowing and emergency response plans.

    Even the 25th Annual Keystone Sacred Harp Convention at the Rotunda finds itself adjusting to potential snow.

    The members of the group, who don’t actually play any harps, practice a style of early American a cappella singing called shape-note singing that uses a series of different shapes rather than typical oval-shaped note heads. The notation was invented in Philadelphia in the 1700s, according to the convention’s chair, Rachel Hall.

    About 200 people from across the country were originally slated to come to the events over the weekend, Hall said. But, if the snow falls as predicted, Hall plans on hosting the singers in the living room of her West Philly home Sunday for those willing to make the trudge. She said she likes how the activity brings people together.

    “We have a lot of traditions that enable us to come together and think about things that are beyond ourselves,” Hall said.

    Besides, what’s an inch (or 14) of snow?

  • New Jersey officials confirm 2026’s first case of bird flu in a commercial flock

    New Jersey officials confirm 2026’s first case of bird flu in a commercial flock

    Federal and state agriculture officials announced Thursday that they have identified a case of highly pathogenic avian flu on a commercial bird farm in Burlington County.

    The New Jersey Department of Agriculture said in a news release that the case was the first confirmed in the state in 2026.

    The farm’s owner contacted agriculture officials after birds on the farm began dying, and highly pathogenic avian influenza was later found in samples submitted to state officials.

    The farm has been quarantined and no new birds will arrive there until a “thorough cleaning and disinfection” to eliminate the virus, officials said in a news release.

    Health and agricultural officials have been monitoring outbreaks of HPAI in commercial flocks across the country since 2022, including in the Philadelphia area. Though the virus has also spread in dairy cattle elsewhere in the country, it has not been detected in cattle in Pennsylvania or New Jersey.

    HPAI has infected humans, although none in either state, and New Jersey officials said there is little risk to the public.

    Human infections typically occur after close or lengthy unprotected contact with infected birds or cattle, or the places they have touched, officials said.

    People who have had unprotected contact with infected birds should monitor themselves for symptoms for 10 days, including fever, cough, a sore throat, eye irritation or redness, aches, and diarrhea. If symptoms emerge, they should call a doctor.

    Poultry farmers should notify state officials if they notice their birds exhibiting symptoms of avian flu, including coughing, sneezing, lethargy, eating or drinking less, or dying suddenly, officials said.

    State officials said they are also monitoring cases of avian flu in wild birds after “an outbreak of wild bird deaths in various parts of the state.”

    The rise in cases in wild birds, which started in November, affects a number of species of wild birds, “including but not limited to waterfowl, raptors, and scavenger birds,” officials said.

    The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection asked residents to avoid directly touching sick or dead wildlife. If they find a dead wild bird on their property and want to dispose of it, residents should wear personal protective equipment and thoroughly wash their hands and disinfect non-disposable gear afterward.

    Dead birds should be double-bagged in trash bags with a zip tie and placed in an outdoor trash can that pets or other wildlife cannot access.

  • The Philadelphia school district’s facilities plan did not go over well in City Council

    The Philadelphia school district’s facilities plan did not go over well in City Council

    City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier said the Philadelphia School District showed “just a complete lack of thought and consideration for really important programs” when crafting its long-anticipated facilities plan, released Thursday.

    Council President Kenyatta Johnson said his members had “a lot of concerns.”

    And City Councilmember Jeffery “Jay” Young Jr. went so far as to propose amending the city Home Rule Charter to allow Council to remove the school board members who will consider the proposed closures.

    “If you are closing schools during a literacy crisis, then you should be held directly accountable to the people you serve,” Young said.

    To put it mildly, the district’s plan did not go over well in Council.

    Live updates: 20 schools slated for closure as school district unveils master plan

    In many ways, it’s unsurprising Council members would speak out against a plan that would close or consolidate schools in their districts. But the pushback from lawmakers Thursday was notably strong, and Young’s proposal to allow Council to remove school board members could dramatically reshape the politics of the district.

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    Currently, the mayor appoints the nine members of the school board, and Council votes to confirm them. Allowing lawmakers to remove board members would shift the balance of power toward the legislative branch and effectively leave the district’s leaders with 18 bosses — the mayor and the 17 Council members.

    Significantly, Johnson immediately endorsed Young’s plan, which would have to be approved by city voters in a ballot question.

    “It’s a good check-and-balance in terms of the process, and also allows us to have the ability and the opportunity to make sure that anything that the school board does is done with transparency,” Johnson told reporters. “I‘m always for, as members of City Council and this body in this institution, having the opportunity to provide accountability.”

    What’s happening to your Philly school under the proposed facilities master plan?

    Left unsaid was that the long-awaited facilities plan did not come from the school board — its members have yet to approve the proposal, which was presented to lawmakers this week by Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.

    Still, the pushback was notable in part because it came from lawmakers who are often on opposite sides of debates about education policy. Johnson is an advocate for charter schools, while Gauthier is a progressive ally of the teachers union who is often critical of the so-called school choice movement.

    Gauthier said the plan would limit opportunities in her West Philadelphia-based 3rd District. She pointed to changes including Robeson High School and Parkway West ceasing to exist as standalone schools (Robeson would merge into Sayre and Parkway West into SLA Beeber), and the Workshop School colocating with Overbrook High. (The Workshop, however, would remain a distinct school, just in a new location.)

    “What are people supposed to do for good high school options in West Philadelphia?” Gauthier said in an interview.

    Jamie Gauthier. First day of fall session, Philadelphia City Council, Thursday, September 11, 2025.

    Gauthier added that while Watlington has talked at length about the district avoiding the mistakes of its widely criticized 2012 school closure plan, it appears doomed to repeat that history.

    “That’s a great thing to hold up every time we have this conversation, but how are you solving for it?” Gauthier said. “You can’t state all of the things that went wrong and then present a plan that seems to lack care in the same way as the plan in 2012.”

    Johnson said the discussion over the plan was far from complete.

    “I’m sure it’s going to be a very, very robust process,” he said. “These are only recommendations. This isn’t the final product.”

    Watlington’s plan will touch every part of the city. It includes 20 school closures, six colocations, with two separate schools existing inside a single building, and more changes. It also includes modernizing more than 150 schools over 10 years, though officials have not yet revealed which buildings will get the upgrades.

    In total, the blueprint would cost $2.8 billion — though the district is proposing funding only $1 billion of that with capital borrowing. The rest of the money would come from the state and from philanthropic sources, and if those dollars don’t come through, fewer repairs could happen.

    Nearly all Council members on Thursday said they understood the need to consolidate schools, but each had concerns about how individual closures would affect the communities they serve.

    Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., whose district includes parts of West and Northwest Philadelphia, said some of the changes are encouraging, including an expansion of career and technical education planned for some schools, including Overbrook High.

    But, he said, others could combine students who come from different neighborhoods and backgrounds, and the district must consider the social impacts of merging those populations.

    “The places where the kids come from, that is always a dynamic that is under-considered,” Jones said. “If I live in this neighborhood and got to travel to that neighborhood, what are the historical dynamics?”

    And Councilmember Cindy Bass, who represents parts of North and Northwest Philadelphia, said two of the schools in her district slated for closure — Fitler Academics Plus School and Parkway Northwest High School — “are models of great public education.”

    “I don’t understand why they are targeted when they are very well-regarded and lots of kids want to go there,” Bass said. “If it’s not broken, why are we trying to fix this?”

    It’s unclear how much sway members will have over where the district ultimately lands. Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, who chairs the Education Committee and represents the city at-large, warned of a “long and emotional” journey ahead.

    “There’s always an emotional attachment to schools,” he said. “They are a pillar in a lot of neighborhoods.”

    Staff writer Jake Blumgart contributed to this article.

  • The slavery exhibits at the President’s House have been removed following Trump administration push

    The slavery exhibits at the President’s House have been removed following Trump administration push

    The National Park Service dismantled exhibits about slavery at the President’s House Site in Independence National Historical Park, provoking a lawsuit from Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration.

    The President’s House, which serves as a memorial to the nine people George Washington enslaved there during the founding of the United States, has come under increased scrutiny from President Donald Trump’s administration. The president and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum last spring ordered displays at national parks that “inappropriately disparage” the U.S. to be reviewed and potentially removed.

    Around 3 p.m. Thursday, an Independence Park employee who would not give his name told an Inquirer reporter that his supervisor had instructed him to take down all the displays at the iconic site earlier that day. Three other individuals later joined the employee to help remove the educational exhibits. The final display was removed at 4:30 p.m. The displays were then loaded into the back of a white Park Service pickup truck.

    Here is what the Trump administration removed from Independence Park

    “I’m just following my orders,” the employee repeatedly said, not acknowledging if he was tasked with removing the displays because of the executive order.

    Workers remove the display panels about slavery at the President’s House site in Independence National Historical Park Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. The fate of exhibits at the site, which serves as a memorial to the nine people George Washington enslaved there during the founding of America, had been in limbo since President Trump’s executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” directed the Department of the Interior to review over 400 national sites to remove or modify interpretive materials that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

    One by one, the exhibits — including those titled “Life Under Slavery” and “The Dirty Business of Slavery” — were taken down.

    The demolition Thursday, with wrenches and crowbars, elicited questions — and exclamations, like “this is crazy” and “damn shame” — from a few passersby.

    At least one asked if the exhibits are coming down “because of this administration.”

    Another, Jali Wicker, 74, was walking through Independence Mall when he stopped and asked why the content was being removed.

    Wicker, who recorded as NPS workers unscrewed bolts from the brick walls, said the sight overwhelmed and disturbed him.

    “You can try to erase our history, but we’re still going to survive,” Wicker said. “History has shown that, slavery has shown that. … And you want to go back?”

    Michael Coard, leader of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, which has helped lead an effort to protect the President’s House from the Trump administration, said in an interview Thursday that the removal of the displays is an “abomination” and called Trump a “monstrosity in the White House.”

    Trump can try to hide it, but slavery is part of America’s story | Opinion

    “It’s a disgrace, and that’s an understatement,” Coard said. “I cannot say what I’m thinking, because as a criminal defense attorney, I know better. What’s going on now is absolutely unheard of in the history of the United States of America.”

    Jack Williams, 47, shouted at NPS workers as they loaded the panels into the bed of a department pickup truck.

    “It’s absolutely sickening,” Williams said. He took issue with workers complying with the executive order, and urged defiance by federal employees.

    Williams’ message: “Take a day off, call in sick. Don’t be the one on the news … whitewashing history.”

    Mijuel Johnson, a community organizer who leads the Black Journey: African American History Walking Tour and works with Avenging the Ancestors, called the action “outrageous.”

    “We see how brave [NPS employees] are,” Johnson said. “My ancestors were brave enough to run from tyranny and these guys can’t be brave enough to oppose an order to take down some plaques.”

    Johnson added: “Our history will be taught — it’ll be taught as it should be, warts and all.”

    Representatives of the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service did not immediately return a request for comment.

    The move comes in advance of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States on July Fourth, when Philadelphia and its historic exhibits will be in the national spotlight.

    The fate of exhibits at the President’s House has been in limbo for months since the Department of the Interior signaled it would review and potentially remove flagged displays.

    More than a dozen displays about slavery were flagged for the Trump administration’s review, with the President’s House coming under particular scrutiny, The Inquirer reported. Removal of noncompliant displays was initially slated to come on Sept. 17.

    But that didn’t happen — until now.

    Instead, Philadelphians continued their advocacy and efforts to protect the President’s House. Leading the charge is the President’s House/Slavery Memorial Alliance, spearheaded by Avenging the Ancestors and other stakeholders who helped shape the site in the early 2000s.

    Coard said Thursday that his team anticipated something like this happening and that “we have a plan.”

    Elected officials, including Gov. Josh Shapiro and members of Philadelphia City Council, previously condemned the sanitization of historical exhibits.

    Parker on Thursday, after her administration filed its lawsuit, said that the city and federal government in 2006 signed a cooperative agreement that may require advance notice for changes to the site. The city is reviewing its options, she said.

    “We are right now researching and reviewing the cooperative agreement between the City of Philadelphia and federal government that dates back to 2006,” she said. “It requires parties to meet and confer if there are any changes to be made to any exhibit, so anything that is outside that agreement, it requires that our Law Department review it.”

    Parker, the city’s first Black female mayor, has avoided confrontation with Trump since he took office last year. Asked what her personal feelings are about the federal government removing material on slavery, Parker demurred.

    “In moments like this, it requires that I be the leader that I need to be for our city, and I can’t allow my pride, ego, or emotions to dictate what my actions will be,” she said.

    The city’s lawsuit names Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron. The complaint asks a judge to order that the removal of “interpretive panels referencing slavery” was an “arbitrary and capricious” act, making it unlawful.

    There is no dispute over the fact that slaves resided at the President’s House or that Washington owned slaves, the suit says.

    Furthermore, the President’s House has been designated a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site pursuant to a 1998 act of Congress. In removing exhibits referencing slavery, the Trump administration acted without statutory authority, the city argues.

    “Defendants have provided no explanation at all for their removal of the historical, educational displays at the President’s House site, let alone a reasoned one,” the lawsuit says.

    Independence Park employees were tasked with evaluating displays for content that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living,” according to Trump’s March 2025 executive order.

    A total of 13 items across six exhibits at the President’s House were initially flagged for the Trump administration’s review, but on Thursday everything was taken down.

    This included parts of displays titled: “Life Under Slavery,” “History Lost & Found,” “The Executive Branch,” “The Dirty Business of Slavery,” “The House and the People Who Worked & Lived In It,” and an illustration with the words “An Act respecting fugitives from Justice.”

    Other exhibits across the park were flagged for review, but it is unclear if there are plans for park employees to also remove those displays.

    Staff writers Abraham Gutman and Sean Collins Walsh contributed to this article.

  • 🥶 A snowy, sweet, and boozy weekend | Things to do

    🥶 A snowy, sweet, and boozy weekend | Things to do

    Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the great blizzard rolling into Philadelphia this weekend.

    We’re expecting more than a foot of snow, people! I’m from Ohio and I don’t remember an arctic blast forcing me to wade through that many blockades of ice.

    But if you have any memories of the record-setting blizzard of 1996, when the city literally hauled out snow and dumped it into the Schuylkill and Delaware River, then you know the weather won’t stop Philadelphians from enjoying their weekend plans.

    Lucky for you, I have a list of events that will make your time out in the cold worthwhile. (As long as your car doors aren’t frozen shut, and you’ve put enough salt down to open your front door, that is.)

    — Earl Hopkins (@earlhopkins_, Email me at thingstodo@inquirer.com)

    If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

    (From left to right) Philadelphia Zoo Garden Service workers Joseph Mineer, of Fairmount, Naeem Price, of North Philadelphia, and David Wallace, of Southwest Philadelphia, are shoveling snow on the sidewalks near the bus drop offs in Philadelphia, Pa., on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026.

    A major winter storm is looking inevitable for Philly, with snow expected to stick around

    Philly is getting SNOW this weekend — some forecasts are even calling for 17 inches. A winter storm watch is in effect for the entire region this weekend, meaning you might be spending a lot of time at home.

    Expect canceled plans, back pain from shoveling, and empty grocery store shelves. The Inquirer’s weather expert, Tony Wood, has you covered with what to know about the impending storm.

    We also have a full breakdown of what you need to do once the snow lands. Shoveling rules (and the possible fines if you disobey), and what you need to know if you’re parked along a snow emergency route.

    The best things to do this week

    🍫 Chocolate and booze, please: Want a warm and sweet buzz? Take a trip down to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center on Saturday for the Philly Chocolate, Wine & Whiskey Festival. This trio will make for a luscious and savory time.

    🎤 The return of an opera classic: For the first time in 15 years, Capriccio returns to the Academy of Vocal Arts stage. The Piet Mondrian-inspired run of Richard Strauss’ final opera runs through Sunday.

    🔍 Here’s a Clue: Three words: Murder, mystery, and mayhem. That’s what’s on the menu for the theatrical whodunit, Clue, based on the classic board game and 1985 movie of the same name. The musical runs at Walnut Street Theater through Sunday. Are you in?

    🎋 Honoring an iconic landscape designer: A documentary honoring Piet Oudolf, the man responsible for shaping the beautiful varieties at Calder Gardens, will play at the meditative green space starting Thursday through Jan. 30.

    📅 My calendar picks this week: Lucky Girl Market at Bok, Dinos After Dark, World Sportscar Champion Demo Day

    Four of the Philly area’s 15 James Beard semifinalists in 2026 (clockwise from top left): chefs Greg Vernick, Omar Tate, Amanda Shulman, and Frankie Ramirez.

    The Philly area receives 13 James Beard Award semifinalist nominations

    The momentum continues for Philly restaurateurs.

    After Philly was granted Michelin honors this past November, the James Beard Foundation has handpicked 13 local award semifinalists for 2026.

    According to my colleague Michael Klein, this year’s list of James Beard Award semifinalists reads like a who’s who of the local dining scene, including a few surprises. Namely, Russ Cowan or Cherry Hill, N.J.’s Radin’s Delicatessen.

    The list of semifinalists will be gleaned, and finalists will be announced on March 31. Winners will be announced at a gala on June 15 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

    Read the full list of nominees.

    Winter fun this week and beyond

    🖌️ It’s ink o’clock: Bring your wildest ideas to the tattoo table. Dozens of tattoo artists are setting up shop at the Pennsylvania Convention Center this week at the annual Villain Arts Tattoo Festival.

    🎭 A new James Ijames creation: Arden Theatre Company’s Good Bones, the latest creation of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames, explores the soul of a city in the face of looming gentrification. The play runs through March 15.

    ‘Face to Face’ with artistic greatness: Staged at Isaiah Zagar’s most famed masterpiece, the Magic Gardens Museum, comes another example of his artistic wizardry. The iconic artist’s new exhibition, “Face to Face: Isaiah Zagar’s Mosaicked Portraits,” displays intimate artworks of the people who influenced his life, work, and imagination. The exhibition is on view through April 12.

    The take: Don’t be the neighbor who doesn’t shovel their sidewalk

    Is it technically fine to shovel just your own patch of sidewalk? Sure. Is it how you earn a good reputation on a Philly block? Absolutely not. So we debated it for you — and the consensus is this: one missed storm happens, but making a habit of stopping exactly at the property line (especially when elderly neighbors are around) is how people quietly clock you as that neighbor.

    Snow melts. Reputations don’t. And in Philly, your block definitely notices. What are your thoughts?

    Staffer picks

    Pop music critic Dan DeLuca lists the top concerts this weekend and a few holiday pop-up jams happening this month.

    🎤 Thursday: Rakim, arguably the most influential rapper during hip-hop’s golden age, takes over the Main Stage at City Winery on Thursday.

    🎸 Friday: Singer and guitarist Alec Ounsworth, known as the face of the iconic indie band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, kicks off his solo tour, “Piano & Voice,” in his hometown. Ounsworth plays at World Cafe Live on Friday and the Philadelphia Ethical Society on Saturday.

    🎤 Saturday: The “Winter Carnival Tour,” headlined by rap duo Atmosphere, and featuring hip-hop luminaries such as R.A. the Rugged Man and Kool Keith, kicks off at the Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday.

    🎸 Sunday: After completing a full bank tour for his new album, I Believe in You, My Honeydew, singer-songwriter Josh Ritter makes his way to Lancaster’s West Art for his solo tour.

    The weather may temporarily halt your weekend plans, but as you can see, there are plenty of things to do before and after the storm hits. Stay warm and diligent, folks!

    – Earl Hopkins

    Courtesy of Giphy.com
  • Three people targeted, two of them Temple University students, in armed robberies near campus this week

    Three people targeted, two of them Temple University students, in armed robberies near campus this week

    A Temple student and another individual not associated with the university were robbed by armed men near the school’s North Philadelphia campus early Thursday, according to university officials.

    Around 1:30 a.m., the Temple student was walking near the 1500 block of Oxford Street when two men approached with a handgun and stole the student’s phone, Jennifer Griffin, Temple’s vice president for public safety and chief of police, said in a statement.

    The men ran off and fired one shot in the air as they fled.

    Minutes earlier, in a separate incident several blocks away, those men robbed another individual, stealing that person’s phone, near the 1300 block of Carlisle Street.

    The robberies were the second instance of phone theft near Temple’s campus this week.

    Around 6:15 a.m. on Wednesday, a man with a handgun approached a Temple student walking on the 1800 block of West Montgomery Avenue and stole that person’s phone, Griffin said in an earlier statement.

    The robber fled north on 18th Street. No arrests have been made in the incidents.

    On Thursday, Griffin announced that Temple and Philadelphia police would be coordinating a concentrated presence in the area as both departments investigate the robberies.

    “Incidents like this are deeply troubling,” Griffin said.

    Later in the day, Temple’s public safety department released an image of two suspects wanted in connection with Thursday’s robberies, urging anyone who recognized them to contact Investigations@temple.edu or call 215-204-6200.

    Griffin also highlighted that students who were affected by the incidents may use the campus’ walking escort program, its nighttime fixed-route shuttle service, and the school’s personal safety app.

  • Villanova one of several colleges hit with threats nationwide, as university declares ‘all clear’

    Villanova one of several colleges hit with threats nationwide, as university declares ‘all clear’

    Villanova University was one of several colleges nationwide that saw its operations disrupted Thursday by a series of hoax threats.

    The Main Line Catholic university with 6,700 undergraduates closed the campus early Thursday morning, advised students on campus to stay in their residence halls, and warned others to stay off campus while authorities investigated. The move followed an undisclosed threat about one of its academic buildings.

    By 2 p.m., the private university gave the all-clear and said while in-person classes would remain canceled, students could leave their residences and get into some buildings, including the library, main dining halls, the health center, and the Connelly Center.

    Villanova students process trauma as school seeks ‘return to normalcy’ after active shooter hoax

    “It is safe to be out on campus,” the university said in an alert.

    The campus will resume normal operations Friday, the school said.

    For Villanova, it was the third time in less than a year that threats had upended the school.

    In August, the university went into lockdown during an orientation session after reports of an “active shooter” on campus.

    Officials later learned that it was what the university president called a “cruel hoax.” But that was not before panic spread throughout the region, with students and faculty fleeing the school in tears and Pennsylvania’s top officials, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, weighing in. And days later, Villanova experienced a second hoax threat.

    Villanova’s threats were part of a swatting pattern nationwide. In September, the Associated Press reported that about 50 college campuses had been hit with hoax calls nationwide in recent weeks. The U.S. Department of Education put out tips on how to recognize fake calls, including questions to ask callers to determine if there are inconsistencies.

    Temple University police provide training on swatting incidents following spate of fake calls at colleges this year

    Locally, colleges including Temple, Drexel, and Villanova said in September they had taken steps in response to the spate of swatting incidents nationwide, including upgrading training on how to handle them.

    On Thursday, another wave of calls appears to have occurred. New York University received threats against two school buildings, the school announced around the same time as Villanova. One threat included mention of bombing an NYU building. NYU did not go on lockdown.

    The threats, according to Gay City News, included anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.

    Alcorn State University, a historically Black college in Mississippi; Dallas Baptist University; and Wiley University in Texas, which is also an HBCU, got threats as well, according to news reports. The message to Wiley was sent from outside the United States, according to KTAL news.

    The FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office said in a statement that it was aware of the threats made to universities on Thursday.

    “We continue to stay in close coordination with our law enforcement partners,” an FBI spokesperson said. “As always, the FBI encourages members of the public to remain vigilant and immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement.”

    Villanova said the FBI was investigating, alongside state and local law enforcement. There were no reports of activity posing a danger to the campus.

    In its 2 p.m. update, the schools said that classes that are fully online could continue on Thursday and that graduate courses meeting in the evening could be “offered remotely at the discretion of the professor.”

    Intramurals scheduled for Thursday evening, the school said, also would be held.

    University spokesperson Jonathan Gust declined to say which Villanova building was targeted or describe the nature of the threat, given the investigation is ongoing.

    “In an abundance of caution, the university made the decision to close,” he said earlier Thursday.

    Additional police will remain on campus, the school noted.

    A backpack sits around toppled chairs at the Villanova University campus where an active shooter was reported Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in Villanova, Pa.

    Villanova students and staff on Thursday were trying to cope with another disruption to their campus life.

    At First Watch restaurant just off campus, freshman finance major Nolan Sabel said he woke up to a university alert on his phone, warning him of “an unknown threat of violence.”

    Sabel said he was disappointed to learn that an academic building had been targeted — for the third time in a year.

    “It’s kind of crazy,” Sabel said. “You hear that Villanova is really safe. It doesn’t feel that way.”

    Now, he and his lacrosse teammates are wondering whether a scrimmage set for Thursday afternoon would be canceled.

    The university told the students they were “on lockdown,” Sabel said. But that didn’t stop them from walking just off campus to get breakfast.

    “We needed food,” he said. “We have a game today.”

    Villanova senior James Haupt said he learned of the threat and class cancellation about 7:30 a.m. He lives off campus and had not yet headed to the school for his morning class.

    “After the last incident, it’s hard to take it completely seriously when we know that was a hoax,” said Haupt, 21, a communications major from Long Island. “But it’s still a little scary knowing this can happen at any point.”

    He said he was glad that the school canceled classes.

    “It’s a great gesture by the school,” he said. “I’d rather not have to go into class and be worried.”

    Haupt had one class scheduled for Thursday and an intramural basketball game in the evening.

    While students seemed to be taking the incident in stride, parents were expressing concerns on private Villanova Facebook pages, said one staff member who was not authorized to speak to the media and asked not to be named.

    “Terrible sign of the times we live in,” one parent wrote, according to the staff member. “Thinking of everyone. These poor kids and us parents having to deal with this. Hope it’s nothing and all are safe and whoever is behind this is brought to justice.”

  • WIP host worries bad fans are hurting Eagles’ OC search, but national reporter says there’s more to it

    WIP host worries bad fans are hurting Eagles’ OC search, but national reporter says there’s more to it

    It has been nine days since the Eagles removed first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. Since then, some of the team’s prime candidates have fallen off the board.

    The Athletic’s Dianna Russini first reported that former Giants head coach Brian Daboll, who the Eagles interviewed on Tuesday, is focused on the Bills’ head coaching job. If Daboll does not land in Buffalo, where he served as Josh Allen’s offensive coordinator from 2018 to 2022, he is “expected” to take over as the offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans, per Russini.

    Former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, another one of the Eagles’ prospective candidates, is now expected to be hired as the Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator, per ESPN. Meanwhile, former Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, a Philadelphia-area native and Penn graduate, has been hired to take over head coaching responsibilities for the Atlanta Falcons.

    Resetting the Eagles’ options at offensive coordinator: Declan Doyle, Jim Bob Cooter, and the other remaining names

    The Eagles have recently requested to interview 29-year-old Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Doyle joins former Chiefs offensive coordinator and Bears head coach Matt Nagy, who the Eagles interviewed on Wednesday, as a prospective candidate. Additionally, former Commanders offensive coordinator and Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury is still available.

    With some fans growing impatient over the Eagles search and candidates falling off the board every day, local and national media members have been looking to answer: Is the job as valuable as Eagles fans believe? Why have the Eagles not hired a candidate yet? What type of coordinator should they bring in?

    Local talk radio blames bad fan behavior

    In late November, following the Eagles’ 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears, Patullo’s South Jersey home was vandalized.

    A video of vandals throwing eggs at Patullo’s home went viral on social media, sparking an investigation by the Moorestown Police Department. At the time, Patullo explained that he knew that “part of [his] job is to handle criticism,” but the egging of his home “obviously cross[ed] a line.”

    Reports: Top OC picks Mike McDaniel, Brian Daboll spurn Eagles. Are they ‘dumb,’ ‘stupid,’ or justified? | Marcus Hayes

    Now, 94 WIP host Joe DeCamara is wondering if the that has turned likely candidates away from the Eagles job.

    “Every coordinator in football knows it. Every one. And you know who also knows it? The wives of the candidates,” DeCamara said. “Because when the wives talk to the candidates, the men who are their husbands, it’s ‘OK we’ve got seven openings, maybe there’s four we’re interested in, honey let’s put together pros and cons, let’s put the ledger on a piece of paper.’

    “There’s pros here. Three guys in the last three years have gotten a head coaching job here. Two on offense, one on defense. There’s a lot of success here. A lot on the pro side of the ledger. But don’t kid yourself. Those kids that egged the house, that is a [expletive] setback in hiring a coordinator. The wives know the last guy’s house got egged. That’s tough, man. That’s tough for the dude who’s going to be OC, tough for the wife.”

    ‘Hard decisions’ loom, making job less attractive

    Russini argued on WIP earlier this week that the Eagles’ job may come with too many “hard decisions,” leading to candidates not ranking it first among their available options.

    “I don’t [think the Eagles offensive coordinator job is an attractive job]. I think coordinators that are on this list are aware that navigating Philly is difficult because of the way it’s set up right now — who’s on the team and really what it’s going to look like in the next few months,” Russini said.

    “I think this offseason, of any team right now in the NFL, I think this Eagles group has to probably do the biggest revamp of figuring out what they are. … What is going to come with it are some hard decisions and figuring out who wants to be there and maybe perhaps who they need to bring in.”

    The Eagles have 10 free agents on offense, including tight end Dallas Goedert, wide receiver Jahan Dotson, and tackle Fred Johnson. Additionally, there has been a lot of dialogue around whether the Eagles will bring back star wideout A.J. Brown, who has made his frustration well known throughout the season.

    Chris Long, Brandon Graham want a ‘Vic Fangio’ on offense

    Eagles past and present are also weighing in on the team’s coordinator vacancy.

    On The Rich Eisen Show, former Eagles defensive end and Super Bowl LII champion Chris Long urged his former squad to hire a “cheat code” at offensive coordinator.

    “You need to hire a cheat code offensive coordinator. We talk about this thing a lot — bring somebody out of retirement, or find somebody who’s aged out,” said Long. “Find yourself a [former Saints and Raiders coach] Dennis Allen, because you have one on defense and his name’s Vic Fangio. He’s not getting a head coaching job. He doesn’t want one.”

    Jason Kelce says Broncos QB situation is different than ’17 Eagles; Greg Olsen praises Nick Sirianni on ‘New Heights’

    Long went on to explain that the Eagles should hire a coordinator who will not leave for a head coaching vacancy to assist Hurts’ further development. Famously, Hurts has had nine offensive coordinators in 10 years, a trend dating to his time at Alabama.

    Meanwhile Eagles legend Brandon Graham, who came out of retirement to play for the team this past season, seems to agree.

    “I feel like you got to have someone that’s experienced,” Graham said on his podcast. “I like what someone said about a Vic Fangio [on offense] … You really do have to have that command. Because if A.J. [Brown], and all the guys that [were], you know, disgruntled last year, we got to get everybody believing it. …

    “I think a veteran person, or someone that got respect in the league will just have everybody kind of [have a] change in belief and get a re-energized feeling.”

  • A Philly lawmaker refused to advance her colleague’s reproductive healthcare legislation. Now she’s promoting her own.

    A Philly lawmaker refused to advance her colleague’s reproductive healthcare legislation. Now she’s promoting her own.

    They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Kendra Brooks isn’t taking kindly to a recent gesture of duplication by one of her colleagues.

    The progressive City Council member is incensed at Councilmember Nina Ahmad, a Democrat who has been in something of cold war with Brooks for months over stalled legislation related to reproductive healthcare access.

    It all came to a head Thursday when Ahmad introduced a resolution to hold a hearing examining access to such care in Philadelphia — legislation that would, under most circumstances, be uncontroversial in a body where Democrats hold a supermajority.

    But Brooks and Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke, both of the progressive Working Families Party, voted against it — a highly unusual move in a body that almost always unanimously approves legislation to authorize hearings.

    The backstory: Brooks had already authored legislation to hold a hearing on threats to reproductive healthcare, and City Council approved it five months ago.

    But the hearings have not happened. Ahmad, who chairs the Public Health and Human Services Committee, has refused to schedule Brooks’ hearing, citing scheduling difficulties. That was despite pleas from advocates to move swiftly amid new federal restrictions on reproductive care and clinics closing due to funding loss.

    Now, Ahmad is poised to call up her own legislation on the matter, leaving Brooks and her allies feeling squeezed out.

    Ahmad said her legislation is far more broad than Brooks’ and would allow Council to examine the entire reproductive healthcare landscape, not just access to abortion care.

    The Council member who authors a resolution to hold a hearing typically has sway over how the hearing is conducted, including steering the tenor of it by lining up witnesses to testify. In turn, that can drive the creation of more concrete legislation.

    “You have to be comprehensive,” Ahmad said in an interview. “I’m evidence-based. I’m a scientist. I want to look at the whole breadth of things.”

    City Councilmember Kendra Brooks stands in Council during the first day of the fall session in September.

    But Brooks said she is focused on all forms of reproductive healthcare and criticized Ahmad’s legislation for failing to acknowledge the role of the city’s Reproductive Freedom Task Force, which Brooks leads. Members of that group called for Council hearings after local Planned Parenthood leaders said they were disappointed that the most recent city budget did not include a $500,000 line item for sexual and reproductive healthcare, as it did the previous year.

    Brooks said Ahmad was engaging in “foolishness.”

    “This is a level of petty that turns people off from politics,” she said. “It’s really unfortunate that she would play politics on an issue that’s this important.”

    And Brooks intimated that the saga could cause her and her progressive allies to target Ahmad next year, when every City Council member is up for reelection.

    “I’m not going to forget this,” Brooks said. “We’re very close to reelection to be playing this game.”

    The veiled threat from Brooks, the face of the city’s Working Families Party, is notable and could put the WFP on a collision course with the local Democratic Party — which tends to endorse incumbents such as Ahmad. The WFP has previously said its efforts to win minority-party seats on Council are no threat to Democrats.

    However, in 2023 when both Brooks and Ahmad were running for seats on Council to represent the city at-large, Ahmad said that the WFP was trying to “poach” Democratic voters and that its political strategy was “lazy.”

    But Ahmad said Thursday she is not playing politics.

    “She’s the one,” Ahmad said of Brooks. “I’m the chair of the Public Health Committee, and I need to be aware of what work is going on in these respects. And if people don’t want to share, that’s up to them.”

    Brooks said she plans to hold her own hearing in March — what she is calling a “people’s hearing” that will take place outside the walls of City Hall.

    Some advocates say they will participate in both that event and Ahmad’s traditional hearing.

    Signe Espinoza, the vice president of public policy and advocacy at Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania, said she is supportive of any legislation that elevates the issue — no matter the author.

    “We are committed to keeping the doors open, and we also recognize that this is the most hostile environment we’ve ever been in,” Espinoza said, noting that clinics have closed across the country. “The clock is ticking.”