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  • Rally House plans to open its first Center City store

    Rally House plans to open its first Center City store

    It’s your city. It’s your (Ritten)house. It’s your Rally House.

    The sports apparel store with the earworm of a jingle plans to open its first Center City location in a former Rite Aid near Rittenhouse Square.

    The Kansas-based chain has asked the city’s art commission for approval to put up signage outside the nearly 13,000-foot storefront at 17th and Chestnut Streets, according to its application, which is set to be reviewed at a Wednesday meeting. Rally House spokespeople did not return requests for comment Tuesday.

    The company’s application was first reported Monday by the Philadelphia Business Journal.

    How is Center City retail doing? It depends what street you’re on.

    The storefront is situated in the historic Provident Trust Co. building, the upper floors of which are home to the Club Quarters Hotel.

    The ground-floor retail space was occupied by a Rite Aid until January 2024, when the Chestnut Street store became yet another casualty of the Philly-based chain’s financial struggles. Rite Aid closed all its stores over the summer amid its second bankruptcy in less than two years.

    Since the Rittenhouse Rite Aid closed, Spirit Halloween has occupied the storefront in the months leading up to Halloween.

    Since Rite Aid closed two years ago, the ground-floor retail space in the Provident Trust Co. building has been occupied seasonally by Spirit Halloween, but is otherwise vacant.

    The building is owned by a partnership registered to Philadelphia-based developer Neal Rodin, according to property records. Rodin did not return requests for comment Tuesday.

    Rally House already has about two dozen locations in the Philadelphia region, but the vast majority of them are in the suburbs. It has three city locations — on Temple’s campus, in West Philadelphia near Drexel and Penn, and in Roxborough.

    If Rally House opens at 17th and Chestnut, it would bring continued momentum to the retail corridor around Rittenhouse Square, which has recently welcomed a slew of new businesses, including the luxury women’s fashion company Aritzia and North America’s first Nike Jordan World of Flight store.

    It would also mark the latest example of how zombie Rite Aids can be resurrected.

    From 2024: What’s become of Rite Aid zombies

    Over the past three years, more than 170 Rite Aids have shuttered across the Philadelphia region, with dozens of stores closing even before the chain announced it was going out of business.

    Like the Rittenhouse space, former Rite Aids are often 8,000 to 16,000 square feet, which is not ideal for many potential tenants, experts say. But some of these pharmacy shells have found new life as small grocers, discount stores, and medical offices.

    Soon, sports apparel store may be added to that list.

  • Philly Police Officer Andy Chan, who died six years after a motorcycle crash, is laid to rest

    Philly Police Officer Andy Chan, who died six years after a motorcycle crash, is laid to rest

    Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel stood at a podium behind a cherry wood coffin inside the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul on Tuesday and told mourners how Highway Patrol Officer Andy Chan had arrived in the afterlife: on his motorcycle, boots shining, smiling.

    Then he turned to the highway patrol officers standing in the front pews. “And how,” he asked, “did Andy Chan announce himself when he arrived at the gates of heaven?”

    “Highway!” they answered in unison.

    Chan, 55, was laid to rest Tuesday morning, six years after a 79-year-old driver struck his patrol motorcycle near Pennypack Park, catapulting him more than 20 feet away onto the pavement and causing brain injuries from which he never fully recovered.

    A highway patrol motorcycle leads the procession to the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul for the funeral of Philadelphia Police Officer Andy Chan.

    Chan served 24 years on the Philadelphia police force before the crash on a quiet stretch of Rowland Avenue irrevocably altered the course of his life.

    A highway patrol officer for nearly his entire career, Chan spent his working days on two wheels, patrolling neighborhoods and highways astride the bike he was known for riding with pride.

    He greeted his fellow officers not with “Hello,” but with “Highway!”

    Officers towed Chan’s motorcycle, still bearing his name, in a procession that stretched nearly 18 miles, from North Philadelphia to Center City and finally, to the cathedral.

    Inside the gilded building, photos of Chan streamed on TVs: Beside his wife, Teng, dressed in their wedding attire, hands clasped and raised triumphantly as they walked into their reception. In a portrait studio, cradling the youngest of his three children. Standing on the grass of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., surrounded by fellow officers. His arm around a gray-haired Sylvester Stallone. On his bike, over and over again.

    The body of Philadelphia police officer Andy Chan is lifted from Caisson after arriving at the Cathedral Basilica St. Peter and Paul, Tuesday, December 16, 2025.

    Chan had wanted to be a police officer since childhood, he once said in a radio appearance. From his parents’ restaurant in Chinatown, he listened with reverence to the uniformed officers who came in to eat and swap stories with his father. “I kind of looked up to police officers,” he said.

    But he was drawn especially to the thunder of their motorcycles as they passed.

    After joining the department, Chan spent eight years riding the streets of the 39th District as a bicycle officer before being promoted in 2004 to the department’s elite Highway Patrol Unit.

    When he introduced himself to the woman who would become his wife, he did so simply with the words: “I’m Highway.”

    The casket of Philadelphia Police Highway Patrol Officer Andy Chan arriving at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul on Tuesday.

    Teng Chan described her husband’s “unwavering sense of purpose” as rivaled only by his love of his family. On road trips, she said, he gave long lectures to their eldest son about life, inspiring him to become a volunteer firefighter and later, join the U.S. National Guard, she said.

    As for her, his wife said, “He pushed me out of my comfort zone. He made me who I am today: a better person. A fighter.”

    After the Jan. 3, 2019, crash, Chan remained in a coma for weeks, reliant on a ventilator. When he awoke, he required 24-hour care from family, friends, and fellow police officers, who regularly sat by his side. Though he could no longer speak, those close to him said he showed recognition and response when loved ones were present.

    “We were heartbroken every day after the accident,” Teng Chan said. “We prayed every day for recovery, for him to be restored. With his unbreakable spirit, he stayed with us.

    “But,” she said, “it was time. He has a higher calling.”

    Chan was buried in Laurel Hill West Cemetery.

  • ‘Delco Pooper’ gets counseling, community service as part of program for first-time offenders

    ‘Delco Pooper’ gets counseling, community service as part of program for first-time offenders

    When it’s time to go, it’s time to go, and perhaps nobody knows that better than Christina Solometo, whom the region nicknamed the “Delco Pooper” after she was captured on video rage-pooping on a car during a roadway dispute in April.

    And so, when Solometo’s time in Delaware County Court came on Tuesday, she went, but instead of bringing her case to trial, she entered into a rehabilitation program for first-time offenders.

    As part of the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, Solometo must complete 24 months of probation, community service, anger management classes, and not post about her case on social media. If she meets those conditions, the charges against her, which include indecent exposure and depositing waste on a highway, will be dismissed and she could have her case expunged and her record wiped clean.

    In courtroom gallery conversations with her attorney prior to the hearing, Solometo at times seemed torn about the conditions of the program and the facts of her case as detailed by the Prospect Park Police Department. She could be heard cursing and, at one point, left the courtroom in tears.

    This was a marked change in her demeanor from shortly after her arrest, when she smiled in her mugshot and laughed in front of news cameras as she was led away in handcuffs.

    Solometo, 44, of Ridley Park, said little before Judge Richard Cappelli as he agreed to enter her into the diversionary program and she declined to speak to The Inquirer after the hearing, except to say “The truth will come out” and that her story would cost money. The Inquirer does not pay for interviews.

    It was a rather subdued ending to what was perhaps the most absurd local news story of the year.

    Prospect Park Police said it was around 4 p.m. on April 30 that Solometo got into a dispute with another driver at the intersection of Fourth and Madison Avenues in the borough.

    Solometo told police that she was in a line of cars to turn left at a light and honked at a driver in front of her who did not move when the arrow was green.

    According to her affidavit, Solometo said the other motorist mocked her in her rearview mirror. Solometo said she was having stomach issues, so she drove around the car and turned left. She told police she believed the other vehicle started following her, which is why she got out to confront them. The driver of the other car allegedly insulted Solometo, which she told police made her angry.

    “Solometo said, ‘I wanted to punch her in the face, but I pooped on her car instead and went home,’” according to the affidavit.

    Police said she later told them: “It was a clean poop. I didn’t even have to wipe.”

    Cell phone video of the incident was taken by 17-year-old Greg Ferrari who testified in May at Solometo’s preliminary hearing that he was driving to his friend’s house when he was forced to stop his vehicle because two motorists were arguing in the intersection.

    “I thought they were going to fight so I pulled out my phone to take video,” he said. “And one of the people ended up going to the bathroom on the other’s car.”

    Ferrari’s video, which he said he shared with his baseball group chat and was then posted to Facebook by someone else, subsequently went viral and was picked up by outlets like TMZ, the New York Post, and People.

  • Jalen Hurts gave a fan a touchdown ball. What happened next led to a lawsuit.

    Jalen Hurts gave a fan a touchdown ball. What happened next led to a lawsuit.

    First and goal from the New York Giants’ 10-yard line at MetLife Stadium. Jalen Hurts in the gun. Jason Kelce snaps the ball. Hurts takes off running, sneaks through a lane paved by a Kelce block, and dashes into the end zone for a touchdown.

    The quarterback who led the Birds to a win that December 2022 game and a Super Bowl at the end of the season then handed the ball to a bearded fan in a Philadelphia Eagles jersey.

    It should have been a memory for the ages. With that touchdown, Hurts became the first quarterback in NFL history to score 10 or more rushing touchdowns in two consecutive seasons. And Paul Hamilton, a lifelong Eagles fan, had the record-breaking game ball in his hands.

    But the events that followed led Hamilton, 34, to shed his Eagles fandom and file a lawsuit accusing the Eagles, Giants, stadium security, New Jersey State Police, and others of assault, false imprisonment, and other charges.

    After the touchdown celebration ended, various security, team, and NFL officials approached Hamilton and asked for the ball back, according to the lawsuit initially filed in 2023 in New Jersey state court. The officials told Hamilton that the Hall of Fame needed the ball, and he would break the law if he didn’t return it.

    A representative from the Eagles, accompanied by two New Jersey State Police troopers, offered Hamilton an “alternative gift opportunity” in exchange for the ball, the suit says. Hamilton declined and decided to leave the stadium with his friend.

    On the way out of MetLife, the suit says, security officers grabbed him from behind. They pinned Hamilton to a gate and radioed state police their location. Hamilton told a police officer that he was assaulted by security officers, according to the complaint.

    The security officers told Hamilton he was free to leave, but he was swarmed by about 10 New Jersey officers a few moments later, the suit says. Police escorted Hamilton to a gated area, where he says he was detained and feared for his life. The fan was threatened with arrest if he didn’t return the ball.

    An officer was told over the phone to let Hamilton go, a command that the fan overheard, the suit says, and he was released.

    Hamilton left MetLife with the ball and emotional scars that required psychotherapy.

    “He is so hurt by what happened and disappointed, he’s not an Eagles fan anymore,” said Adam Thompson, Hamilton’s attorney.

    The attorney for New Meadowlands Stadium Company and the Giants, and the attorney for the New Jersey State Police, did not respond to requests for comment. The Eagles, who have been dismissed from the case, declined to comment.

    The litigation is in discovery, which is set to continue through April, according to the court docket. Thompson said depositions of witnesses and officials from the teams, stadium, and NFL should begin soon.

    Philadelphia Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert tosses a touchdown ball into the stands during the third quarter at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025 in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Las Vegas Raiders 31-0.

    Game balls are precious commodities in the NFL, which has penalized players for handing them out to fans or throwing them into the stands. But there is no policy that requires fans to return balls, an NFL official told The Athletic.

    Touchdown balls can also be meaningful to players, leading to retrieval efforts.

    Last year, a hyped-up A.J. Brown threw a touchdown ball into the stands only to realize seconds later that it was Tanner McKee’s first NFL touchdown throw.

    “Dude, no!!!!,” a miked-up McKee said on the sideline when he learned the ball was gone.

    But the wide receiver did good, offered a fan his jersey in return for the ball (“I got you,” the fan responded), and gave McKee his prized possession.

    Thompson said Hamilton went through a roller coaster of emotions that day in MetLife.

    “Fans have rights, fans have a voice, and fans should be respected by the game,” Thompson said.

  • A West Philly man is on trial this week for setting a fire that killed his ex’s disabled sister

    A West Philly man is on trial this week for setting a fire that killed his ex’s disabled sister

    When Aaron Clark’s soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend ignored his 200 calls in December 2022, he sent her a simple text message: “Pick up before I do something crazy.”

    Clark, unable to handle the impending end to what Delaware County prosecutors described Tuesday as a toxic, abusive relationship, later made good on that threat, they said.

    The West Philadelphia resident set fire to Amira Rogers’ home in Darby Township, killing Olivia Drasher, her wheelchair-bound sister, and forever tearing her family apart, Assistant District Attorney Danielle Gallaher said at the beginning of Clark’s trial for murder and related crimes.

    “The breakup was the match that lit this fire, and the defendant was going to burn her and everything she cared about down to the ground,” Gallaher told jurors in her opening statement.

    Just after midnight on Dec. 4, 2022, Clark, 33, sprayed accelerant on the front porch of Rogers’ home on Sharon Avenue, directly underneath her sister’s bedroom, the prosecutor said. Witnesses told 911 dispatchers that the fire spread quickly, and soon the entire house was engulfed.

    Rogers’ mother, other sister, and Drasher’s full-time nurse were able to escape. But Drasher died in the blaze.

    Gallaher promised the jury that “physical evidence, digital evidence and the defendant’s actions” will prove Clark was the only one who had the motivation and will to target Rogers and her family.

    A man wearing distinctive clothing similar to what Clark was seen wearing that day was recorded on surveillance footage near the scene of the fire, Gallaher said. And cellphone data shows he was in the area of the blaze when it was set.

    But Clark’s attorney, Michael Dugan, challenged Gallaher’s theory of the case, saying investigators had “tunnel vision” and focused in on Clark at the insistence of Rogers and her family.

    Authorities failed, Dugan said, to find any witnesses who said he set the fire, and instead relied on “assumption and supposition.”

    “At the end of the day, this is a tragic case,” the defense lawyer said. “But also at the end of the day, you have to understand that emotion doesn’t prove a case, evidence does.”

    At the start of testimony, prosecutors chronicled the tumultuous 10 months during which Rogers and Clark dated. They met as co-workers at the United States Postal Service’s facility in Southwest Philadelphia.

    But their relationship turned sour toward the end of 2022.

    Hours before setting the deadly blaze, prosecutors said, Clark attacked Rogers when she confronted him over his infidelity and ended their relationship. He choked her so hard, she testified Tuesday, that she was afraid he was going to kill her.

    “I begged him to stop,” Rogers said, her voice filled with emotion. “I felt terrified, because I didn’t know what he was doing.”

    That attack came weeks after another, similar assault, she said, in which Clark struck her so hard that he bent the laptop computer she was carrying at the time.

    Rogers later took steps to avoid Clark, changing her scheduled shift at work and reporting his continued harassment to their supervisors, she said Tuesday.

    For hours on the day of the crime, Clark called her nonstop, his requests to speak with her turning to demands and, eventually, threats, according to text messages displayed in court.

    Clark made an Instagram account through which he shared nude photos of Rogers, and shared the account with her family and friends.

    Rogers continued to ignore Clark. Then he sent her a cryptic message not long before the fire was set: “Hope you don’t miss the show.”

    The trial is expected to last through Friday before Delaware County Court Judge Deborah Krull.

  • Penn receiver Jared Richardson is a second-team FCS All-American

    Penn receiver Jared Richardson is a second-team FCS All-American

    Fresh off the best season of his career at Penn, Jared Richardson was named Tuesday as a second-team Football Championship Subdivision All-American by the Associated Press.

    The senior wideout posted a career-best 1,033 receiving yards for the 6-4 Quakers this season. He ranked in the top five in the FCS in receptions (80) and receiving touchdowns (12).

    Richardson’s breakout performance came against Marist on Oct. 10. The Monroe County native tallied 15 catches for 190 yards and two touchdowns in Penn’s 28-9 victory.

    Richardson was a finalists for the Walter Payton Award, given each year to the outstanding offensive player in the FCS. He finished 23rd in voting by the media and sports information directors.

    In addition to Richardson, three Villanova players earned honorable mention on the AP All-America team. Left guard Temi Ajirotutu and center Jake Picard were honored along with all-purpose player Ja’Briel Mace.

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

    Mace has starred as the Wildcats’ kickoff return specialist this season. The speedy running back ranked third among FCS players in kickoff return yards (723) and No. 12 in all-purpose yardage. He also has 887 rushing yards and 152 receiving yards.

    After last week’s 26-21 victory over Tarleton State, Villanova (12-2) will host Illinois State in a national semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Villanova Stadium. The winner advances to the FCS championship on Jan. 5.

  • Eagles must be wary of old friend Marcus Mariota, whose legs pose a threat they have struggled with

    Eagles must be wary of old friend Marcus Mariota, whose legs pose a threat they have struggled with

    The biggest obstacle standing between the Eagles and clinching another NFC East championship on Saturday was probably going to exist whether Jayden Daniels played or not.

    Daniels was shut down for the rest of the season Monday by the 4-10 Commanders. Washington’s season is basically over. A trip to the NFC championship game last season was followed up with a miserable 2025 campaign that featured injuries and a regression to the mean by the oldest team in the NFL.

    But Daniels being out doesn’t change what is arguably the biggest challenge facing the Eagles defense on Saturday: the quarterback running game. Sure, Daniels is more fleet of foot than Marcus Mariota, who will continue to start with Daniels done for the season. But Mariota is an effective runner.

    The Eagles know that well. Mariota was in the building in 2023 and has been in the league since 2015. The running and scrambling abilities have always been a big part of his game.

    What we know (and don’t) about the Eagles entering Week 16 vs. the Commanders

    That should worry Vic Fangio as the Eagles prepare for a Commanders team that is coming off a 29-21 victory over the Giants on Sunday, Washington’s first victory since Oct. 5. Mariota was just 10-for-19 through the air, but he racked up 211 passing yards because he went 7-for-11 for 181 yards and a touchdown on throws greater than 10 air yards, according to Next Gen Stats. Couple that with his 10-carry, 43-yard performance when carrying the ball and the Eagles have plenty to worry about.

    This isn’t Kenny Pickett, another backup, leading a woeful Raiders offense. The Commanders are where they are in the standings in large part because they are second in yards allowed per game and give up nearly 27 points per game on defense — only six teams allow more points per game.

    Eagles quarterbacks Jalen Hurts (1) and Marcus Mariota before a game against the Miami Dolphins at Lincoln Financial Field on Oct. 22, 2023.

    Mariota has started seven games for Washington this season as Daniels has dealt with multiple injuries. The Commanders are 2-5 in those games, but Mariota has had some solid individual performances. In his last start before Sunday, a 27-26 overtime loss to a Broncos team that now has 12 wins and sits atop the AFC standings, the 32-year-old went 28-for-50 for 294 yards through the air — with two touchdowns and one interception — and rushed 10 times for 55 yards.

    “Marcus obviously had played a lot of football and he’s been in this league for a long time,” Nick Sirianni said Tuesday. “I have so much respect for Marcus — the person, first and foremost, the player, the teammate. Marcus was just a great pro.”

    Great pros tend to know how to play their position and when to do certain things. Example A is Justin Herbert, who was under duress for most of the game vs. the Eagles in Week 14 but found a way to move his team down the field by utilizing his legs. Herbert, who rushed 10 times for 66 yards, was just the latest quarterback to hurt the Eagles in the scramble game or with designed runs.

    The Eagles’ success has been riding on the defense this year. The 1991 team remembers what that’s like.

    Patrick Mahomes amassed 66 yards on seven carries in Week 2. Jaxson Dart rushed 13 times for 58 yards in Week 6, although the Eagles schemed a way to stop him two weeks later. Other opposing quarterbacks haven’t reached that type of yardage, but some of them have had impactful scrambles. Dak Prescott’s game-tying 8-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter of Week 12 was a scramble. Carson Wentz kept a Minnesota drive alive with a 16-yard scramble on a fourth-quarter third-and-10 near midfield in Week 7.

    The Eagles, according to Pro Football Reference, have allowed 329 total rushing yards this season to opposing quarterbacks. Only one team, the Giants, has allowed more (357).

    The Eagles are allowing more than 5 yards per carry to quarterbacks. Mariota, meanwhile, is picking up 6.1 yards per carry on his 49 rushes so far in 2025.

    His legs will have an impact Saturday one way or another. Either he successfully extends drives and keeps the Commanders in the game, or the Eagles contain him.

  • Zelensky says proposals to end the war in Ukraine could be presented to Russia within days

    Zelensky says proposals to end the war in Ukraine could be presented to Russia within days

    KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says proposals being negotiated with U.S. officials for a deal to end the fighting in Russia’s nearly four-year-old invasion of his country could be finalized within days, after which American envoys will present them to the Kremlin before possible further meetings in the U.S. next weekend.

    A draft peace plan discussed with the U.S. during talks in Berlin on Monday is “not perfect” but is “very workable,” Zelensky told reporters hours after the discussions. He cautioned, however, that some key issues — notably what happens to Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces — remain unresolved.

    U.S.-led peace efforts appear to be picking up momentum. But as the spotlight shifts to Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin may balk at some of the proposals thrashed out by officials from Washington, Kyiv, and Western Europe, including postwar security guarantees for Ukraine.

    Zelensky said that after the Berlin talks, “we are very close to [a deal on] strong security guarantees.”

    The security proposal will be based on Western help in keeping the Ukrainian army strong, an official from a NATO nation said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

    “Europeans will lead a multinational and multi-domain force to strengthen those troops and to secure Ukraine from the land, sea, and air, and the U.S. will lead a ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism, with international participation,” the official said.

    Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated Tuesday that Russia wants a comprehensive peace deal, not a temporary truce.

    If Ukraine seeks “momentary, unsustainable solutions, we are unlikely to be ready to participate,” he said.

    “We want peace — we don’t want a truce that would give Ukraine a respite and prepare for the continuation of the war,” he told reporters. “We want to stop this war, achieve our goals, secure our interests, and guarantee peace in Europe for the future.”

    American officials said Monday there is consensus from Ukraine and Europe on about 90% of the U.S.-authored peace plan. President Donald Trump said: “I think we’re closer now than we have been, ever,” to a peace settlement.

    Plenty of potential pitfalls remain, notably the land issue.

    Zelensky reiterated that Kyiv rules out recognizing Moscow’s control over any part of the Donbas, an economically important region in eastern Ukraine made up of Luhansk and Donetsk. Russia’s army does not fully control either, but Trump has previously indicated that Ukraine will have to cede territory.

    “The Americans are trying to find a compromise,” Zelensky said before visiting the Netherlands on Tuesday. “They are proposing a ‘free economic zone’ [in the Donbas]. And I want to stress once again: A ‘free economic zone’ does not mean under the control of the Russian Federation.”

    Putin wants all the areas in four key regions that his forces have seized, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory.

    Zelensky warned that if Putin rejects diplomatic efforts, Ukraine expects increased Western pressure on Moscow, including tougher sanctions and additional military support for defense, such as enhanced air defense systems and long-range weapons.

    Zelensky said that what is driving Kyiv officials in the negotiations is for Russia to be “held accountable for what it has done — for this war, for all the killings, for all the suffering.”

    Ukraine and the U.S. are preparing up to five documents related to the peace framework, several of them focused on security, Zelensky said.

    He was upbeat about the progress in the Berlin talks.

    “Overall, there was a demonstration of unity,” Zelensky said. “It was truly positive in the sense that it reflected the unity of the U.S., Europe, and Ukraine.”

  • Montco school in shadow of toxic landfill finds PFAS in its water

    Montco school in shadow of toxic landfill finds PFAS in its water

    Residential waste, construction and demolition debris, as well as sewage treatment plant sludge, were dumped for decades at the 30-acre Boyertown Sanitary Landfill in northern Montgomery County until it was capped in 1987.

    As state and federal officials mull whether to add the landfill to the national Superfund list, a well used by nearby Gilbertsville Elementary School has tested positive for human-made polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS.

    The school is about 3,000 feet from the landfill property border and is within the Boyertown Area School District. Minister Creek passes through the property, and two residential neighborhoods are nearby.

    Scott Davidheiser, the district’s superintendent, sent a letter to staff and students’ families Monday alerting them to the test results, which were made known during a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) public information session on the landfill on Dec. 10.

    Gilbertsville Elementary tested at an annual average of 6.7 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFAS. That falls under acceptable limits by current state standards of 14 ppt.

    However, it would exceed federal maximum contaminant level standards of 4 ppt set to go into effect in 2031 if not addressed.

    Davidheiser’s letter said the district “remains committed to safety in all areas, including water safety.” The district has hired Suburban Water Technology Inc. to develop a water safety plan to lower annual average PFAS levels to within federal standards.

    District officials plan in January to discuss a plan to lower the levels.

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    What are PFAS?

    PFAS are a group of chemicals manufactured by industry for use in consumer products since the 1940s. There are thousands of different PFAS, some of which have been more widely used and studied than others.

    Exposure to them has been shown to impact the health of humans and lab animals, but the extent is still being studied.

    Standards for maximum acceptable levels of the compounds in drinking water have created confusion in recent years.

    The EPA was slow to set standards, so states began setting their own. Pennsylvania set different levels to start in 2024 for various types of PFAS: 14 ppt for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and 18 ppt for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS).

    However, the EPA, under the Biden administration, then set the first federal standards, which would supersede state standards. The rule said that PFOA and PFOS can’t exceed 4 ppt. And, it set standards for other compounds within the PFAS family. The regulations were set to go into effect in 2027.

    However, the EPA, under the Trump administration, rolled back some provisions by announcing it would keep the standards for PFOA and PFOS, but delay enforcement until 2031. And, it said it would reconsider the limits on the other compounds.

    As a result, the PFAS level at Gilbertsville Elementary School’s current level would exceed the federal level if not brought down by 2031.

    What’s the Boyertown Landfill?

    Officials with the state Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have been deciding since 2023 whether the Boyertown Landfill, in Douglass Township, should be named a Superfund site after test samples showed PFAS in nearby private wells.

    The landfill and surrounding property are owned by the Boyertown Sanitary Disposal Co. It is set on a wider 60-acre parcel at 300 Merkel Road in Gilbertsville. The property contains raw and pretreated leachate storage lagoons, buildings housing leachate pretreatment facilities, and stormwater management basins and swales.

    The unlined landfill stopped accepting solid waste in 1985. It had accepted municipal waste, office trash, and construction debris. It took in significant amounts of municipal sewage treatment plant sludge and industrial waste.

    In last week’s informational session, the DEP said water sampling around the area of the landfill in 2024 and 2025 showed multiple locations containing various PFAS compounds.

    State officials said they have installed carbon-activated filtration systems in residential wells within a half-mile of the landfill that tested above 4 ppt, according to an account of the meeting in Pottstown’s local newspaper, The Mercury.

    The newspaper reported that the DEP, however, will not provide similar assistance to Gilbertsville Elementary School because it is part of a small public water system and is required to remediate contamination.

  • Joe Ely, a Texas songwriter whose legacy touched rock and punk, dies at 78

    Joe Ely, a Texas songwriter whose legacy touched rock and punk, dies at 78

    AUSTIN, Texas — Joe Ely, 78, the influential Texas-born singer-songwriter whose blend of honky-tonk, rock, and roadhouse blues made him a favorite among other musicians and led to collaborations with Bruce Springsteen and the Clash, has died.

    Mr. Ely died in Taos, N.M., of complications from Lewy body dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and pneumonia, with his wife and daughter by his side, according to a post on his Facebook account Monday night and later confirmed by his representatives.

    Mr. Ely was considered a key figure in the progressive country music movement as a founder of the influential country-rock band the Flatlanders with Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, and later as a solo artist.

    “Joe Ely performed American roots music with the fervor of a true believer who knew music could transport souls,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

    “But his true measure came through in the dynamic intensity of his powerhouse live performances, where he could stand his ground aside fellow zealots Bruce Springsteen, who recorded duets with Ely, and the [Rolling] Stones and the Clash, who took Ely on tour as an opening act,” Young said.

    After signing with MCA, Mr. Ely released his first solo album in 1977. He would release more than 20 albums over his career, including Love and Freedom earlier this year.

    Born in Amarillo, Texas, Mr. Ely stayed connected to his Texas roots through decades of recording and performing that lacked a mainstream breakthrough but made him a favorite of other artists.

    “Every time I start a new album I head up to West Texas and drive around, you know, drive on those old cotton roads and in the wide-open spaces, and every once in a while I’ll come across a place where I’ve spent some time,” Mr. Ely told Texas Monthly in 2011.

    It was a soundcheck for a show in London that led to the collaboration with British punk band the Clash. Mr. Ely would later open for the Clash at several shows and sang backup vocals for their hit song “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”