In another broadside against the board of the Philadelphia Art Museum, ousted director and CEO Sasha Suda has once again portrayed her difficulties at the museum as a struggle for modernizing an institution in the face of the status quo. A new court filing from Suda, filed on Thursday night, argues for a trial with jury rather than settling the dispute with the museum through arbitration.
The opposition brief, a response to the museum’s petition last month stating that the matter should be resolved in arbitration, says that Suda’s employment contract contained “an explicit exception” to the arbitration called for by the museum.
“The Court should therefore deny the museum’s motion and retain jurisdiction over this case — as the parties’ agreement and Pennsylvania law require,” states Thursday’s filing in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
Suda, 45, was fired Nov. 4 for what the museum said was cause. Less than a week later, she filed a lawsuit against the museum claiming she was dismissed without a “valid basis.”
Suda’s lawyer, Luke Nikas, did not immediately comment on the matter Friday. The Art Museum had no comment on the new filing, an Art Museum spokesperson said.
Suda was dismissed after an investigation determined that she “misappropriated funds from the museum and lied to cover up her theft,” the museum alleged in a November court filing in response to her lawsuit.
Nikas, of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, at the time called the accusations false. The money in question, $39,000, came in the form of increases to Suda’s compensation, and these increases were “authorized” and “budgeted” cost-of-living increases that were “fully approved” and “disclosed,” a source close to Suda previously stated.
Much of the new filing repeats the narrative laid out in the initial lawsuit filing, detailing Suda’s unhappiness with former board chair Leslie Anne Miller and current board chair Ellen T. Caplan, as well as a recounting of Suda’s accomplishments at the museum.
Suda and Miller experienced ongoing friction, and Miller “told third parties that Suda was untrustworthy, incompetent, a snake, immature, would not last, and that others were ‘drinking the Kool-Aid’ by supporting her,’” the new filing states.
“Those comments from an officer and agent of the Museum violated the Employment Agreement’s Non-Disparagement Clause,” and that violation entitles Suda to “immediate injunctive relief and a temporary order restraining any threatened or further breach, in addition to or in place of the arbitration provisions,” the filing states.
Miller declined to comment on Friday.
Sasha Suda, former director of Philadelphia Art Museum, Jan. 30, 2024.
Suda’s contract stipulates that any changes in her compensation would be determined at the “sole and absolute discretion” of the compensation committee. In its November petition, the museum said that Suda requested, and was denied, a salary increase from the compensation committee on Feb. 8, 2024. She then “awarded herself the salary increase” effective March 1, 2024, followed by a second “unauthorized” increase in July of that year, the petition claims.
In July 2025, according to the museum’s petition, Suda “awarded herself a third unauthorized pay increase, which she once again failed to disclose to the board.”
The new filing includes text messages of praise and encouragement from board member John Alchin. It says that in September 2023, Alchin — identified in the filing as chair of the finance committee — examined a draft report for a compensation subcommittee meeting and requested “schedules of salaries along with proposed/recent salary increases.”
“Suda’s compensation was also reviewed,” the filing states.
“As the board member with the most oversight of Suda’s financials, Alchin expressed no concerns about Suda’s approach to salary schedules or financial governance, which were discussed openly in committee meetings,” the filing states.
It provides a copy of an August 2025 letter from the museum to Suda outlining her annual salary increase, from $749,087 to $771,560. The letter is not signed by a specific person — only the museum’s human resources department — and was cc-ed to “finance.”
The new filing also includes 2023 correspondence from the museum’s CFO, Katherine Harper, to its HR director, Meredith Clayton, “trying to figure out what increase Sasha might be entitled to,” adding that “prior to finalizing, I will check with John Alchin or Leslie to make sure they are comfortable.”
Suda was in the third year of a five-year contract when she was dismissed in the beginning of November.
On Dec. 1, she was succeeded by veteran nonprofit administrator Daniel H. Weiss, former chief of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who had already been engaged by the museum as a consultant prior to being named director and CEO.
Three local bookstores are among eight in Pennsylvania to win a $500 grant from award-winning author James Patterson’s annual Holiday Bookstore Bonus Program.
Harriett’s owner Jeannine A. Cook thanked Patterson on her Instagram.
“Thank you [James Patterson] for supporting Harriett’s in this way and spreading love to our bookshop cousins all across the country when many of us need it most,” Cook wrote, adding that she will use the money to support her Bookshop Without Borders project that brings books and companionship to people who are lonely.
This year’s winners were announced Wednesday. This is Main Point Books second consecutive bonus and it was Harriett’s first. In New Jersey, Inkwood Books in Haddonfield and Words Matter Bookstore in Pitman also received grants.
Patterson has been doling out cash to bookstores in this holiday bonus program since 2015. The gifts, he said to the New York Times in 2014, are to financially support and recognize the vital work of independent bookstore employees and librarians.
Patterson alludes to the need to fund independent bookstores in his 2024 book The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians, True Stories of the Magic of Reading.
“Our bookstores in America are at risk,” he said in 2014 at the advent of the program. “Publishing and publishers as we’ve known them are at stake. To some extent the future of American literature is at stake.”
When a Southwest Philly resident reported a KKK flier had been taped to a pole outside their home this week, people got angry.
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission looked into the incident and put out a statement denouncing hate. Angry commenters on the 51st Ward’s Facebook page about the flier dared white supremacists to show their faces.
But 51st Ward Democratic leader Gregory Benjamin said while he understands the alarm and does not intend to dismiss people’s concerns, he believes this all may be some kind of misunderstanding.
“We want to calm that,” he said.
On Tuesday, a neighbor called Benjamin to let him know that they’d discovered a flier depicting members of the KKK on an electrical pole outside their home on the 5100 block of Chester Avenue.
A flier posted earlier this week in Southwest Philly is a copy of the cover from a book titled “Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s”.
The flier is black-and-white copy of the cover of a book written by University of Pittsburgh sociologist Kathleen M. Blee, Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s. The cover features a photograph of three generations of klans-people — an older woman, a younger adult woman, and a baby — all wearing white pointed robes, with a cross and American flag behind them.
It’s unclear what message whoever put up the flier intended to send. Blee’s book, originally published in 1991, is a study of the role that women played in the Jim Crow-era KKK and the covert ways they carried out the Klan’s mission, not an endorsement of the group’s ideology. The first page of the book describes the Klan as “one of U.S. history’s most vicious campaigns of prejudice and hatred.”
The flier still raised concerns. Residents contacted the Human Relations Commission, and its Philadelphia advisory council was notified, as well as police. It’s possible another identical flier wasposted nearby around the same time, Benjamin said, but all fliers have since been removed.
No person or group has taken responsibility for the flier so far. While there is no indication the flier was put up by a white supremacist group, the manner in which it was posted can still be harmful, said Chad Dion Lassiter, executive director of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
“These things, they take an emotional toll on individuals,” he said.
Even if the flier was a piece of trolling or a message targeted at white people, Lassiter said it was crucial not to ignore it.
“We take all of these things [seriously]… we’re in a moment where people want to continue to deny the surge of white nationalism and white supremacy,” he said.
Representatives of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission will attend the 51st Ward’s monthly community meeting onSaturday at noon at the Kingsessing Library, located at 1201 S. 51st St.
Benjamin said the meeting would be an opportunity for community members to share more information about the incident and ease any remaining tension. He said he hopes this experience will encourage neighbors to connect more and communicate better.
“Maybe we can bring something constructive out of this. Demonstrate that the community is more interested in [doing] something positive than anything else,” he said.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the publication date of Blee’s book. It was originally published in 1991.
The old saying is if you can’t beat them, join them. For one of the Union’s longtime rivals, it seems that if you can’t beat them, sign one of their strikers.
On Friday, The Athletic reported that D.C. United has offered the Union a $4 million transfer fee to sign Tai Baribo and give him a Designated Player contract.
That is an enormous offer, even for a player who has scored 35 goals over the last year and a half for the Union. Though the Union took Baribo’s contract option for 2026, they had been hedging for a while on giving him a DP deal — especially with two strikers already at that level in Bruno Damiani and new signing Ezekiel Alladoh.
D.C. is looking for a replacement for Christian Benteke, the former English Premier League stalwart who led United’s attack for 3½ years and was MLS’s top scorer in 2023. It wasn’t Benteke’s fault that he lost a lot more games than he won there — D.C. finished 10th or worse in the East in all four of his seasons, and dead last leaguewide twice — but it was certainly noticed.
Christian Benteke departed D.C. United as a free agent.
Time will tell if Baribo suffers the same fate, or if the league’s original dynasty builds a good team around him. It’s been over two decades since United won their last MLS Cup, and nearly three decades since they were the league’s original dynasty.
It also was no secret in Chester, including in the stands, that Baribo isn’t exactly great at creating his own shot. Changing clubs within MLS will show to what degree his success was tied to the Union’s playbook.
The Union already have two examples of that on the record, in their multi-million-dollar sales of Jack McGlynn to Houston and Dániel Gazdag to Columbus last year. Houston didn’t make the playoffs, and Gazdag had six goals and seven assists in 32 games. (Nor, by the way, has Julián Carranza’s move to Europe been a great success.)
Perhaps that was why a fair few fans on social media reacted to the Baribo news without complaint. Everyone will find out together if he burns his old club, but until then, this deal looks like too much money to turn down.
Concacaf schedule set
The dates and times for the Union’s Concacaf Champions Cup first-round series against Defence Force FC of Trinidad & Tobago were announced Friday.
The series will start on Feb. 18, a Wednesday, at 6 p.m. at historic Haseley Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
The Union’s home leg will be eight days later, Feb. 26, at Subaru Park.
The Union’s MLS opener is Feb. 21 at D.C. United, and their home league opener is March 1 vs. New York City FC.
It’s no secret that times are tough for landlords around Temple University.
An eight-bedroom rowhouse at 1734 N. Gratz St., for example, languished on the real estate market after being listed for sale, like many dormlike apartments left in the wake of a rental boom that fizzled amid declining student enrollment.
The property went up for sale in April 2024 for $475,000 — $40,000 less than the owner had paid two years prior. It sat on the market for one year with no takers.
Then real estate agent Patrick C. Fay got involved.
In April 2025, the Gratz Street rowhouse was re-listed for $875,000. The very same day, it was listed as a pending sale, with Fay representing the buyer, according to real estate data from the Realtors Multiple Listing Service.
An Inquirer review of 33 other sales Fay brokered over the last year showed a similar pattern.
After properties went unsold at lower prices, Fay stepped in as the buyer’s agent and almost immediately arranged a sale for anywhere from $290,000 to nearly $550,000 more than sellers originally asked for.
On average, Fay’s clients have paid about double the original listing.
The value of rental properties around Temple has dipped in recent years. Many property owners have sold. Some blocks, like the 1700 block of Arlington St., are lined with for-rent and for-sale signs.
Fay, who worked out of Coldwell Banker’s offices in Old City and Moorestown, Burlington County, has now represented buyers in at least $40 million worth of settled or pending real estate deals involving multifamily properties around Temple.
(After this article published online Friday, the real estate firm cut ties with Fay and his biographical page was removed from its site. “The agent is no longer affiliated with Coldwell Banker Realty,” a company spokesperson said by email.)
Of about a dozen properties in the area that sold for more than $750,000 over the last 90 days, every one listed Fay as the buyer’s agent.
The Inquirer’s examination of the deals found the sales involve a small group of repeat buyers, including two linked to an earlier prosecution over a 2000s-era mortgage fraud scheme. In that case, federal investigators found that the group was involved with purchasing distressed homes using artificially inflated mortgages, pocketing the excess money and allowing the properties to lapse into foreclosure.
Fay, who is one of the top agents in his Coldwell office, said his transactions were all aboveboard. He credited the high sale prices to rebounding demand for student housing in the Temple University area.
“I think it’s a desirable area for sure,” said Fay, who lives in Moorestown. “They just had their biggest enrollment of all time.”
Pat Fay has been one of the top real estate agents this year in Coldwell Banker’s Old City office. His clients have been purchasing properties around Temple University, but at steep markups.
Actually, Temple’s head of admissions resigned last month after the university missed its annual enrollment goal. Its student population remains below 30,000, down from a high eight years ago of more than 40,000.
“This is not a good time for being a property owner around Temple,” said Nick Pizzola, vice president of the Temple Area Property Association, a group that represents many landlords and was formed to “encourage responsible development and property management” in the area.
“Rents are down, vacancies are up,” he said. “It’s a buyer’s market.”
The financing on Fay’s sales is provided by higher-risk private lenders, which grew in popularity as conventional bank lending contracted in the wake of the 2008 real estate crash.
Jon Hornik, head of the National Private Lenders Association, a trade group that represents firms like the ones that lent to Fay’s clients, recently flagged sales around Temple on a watch list the group maintains for suspicious transactions.
He had a simple explanation for these market-defying sales.
“These are bad actors inflating the value of the real estate through the sale structure, and therefore borrowing more money than they really should be able to,” Hornik said in an interview. “There’s real estate there. There’s a borrower there. But the values are off.”
Off-campus housing in North Philadelphia is still popular among some Temple students, but university President John Fry recently announced plans for a new dorm.
Fay, who describes himself on Instagram as a partnerin the upscale Center City Irish bar the Mulberry, has been pursued in New Jersey Superior Court by seven credit card companies or lenders in connection with roughly $57,000 in debts. Most were linked to unpaid credit card bills, and most have ended in default judgments.
Business records show Fay is listed as debtor to an Atlanta-based company called Real Commissions, which lets real estate agents tap into cash based solely on the promise of a forthcoming commission, so long as they have a signed agreement of sale in hand.
In an email Thursday, Fay cited several 2022 student rental sales in the $800,000 to $900,000 range to support his sale prices, insisting that “at no point did either party set or influence those values.” He did not respond to questions about why his clients would pay twice what a seller had initially been asking.
The real estate agent’s narrative of a booming rental market around Temple was also disputed by a recent seller in one of his deals.
The former property owner, who asked not to be named because he feared legal repercussions, acknowledged that he tried to unload his rental property last year but found no takers. He said his real estate agent then brought him Fay’s offer to broker a sale for $875,000, which he said was actually just the amount that would be recorded on the deed.
In reality, he said, he made the sale for only $385,000, or $15,000 less than what it was originally listed for.
The seller said he knew the deal was suspicious, but his agent advised him that he was unlikely to find a better deal.
“I had a mortgage, but I couldn’t get any renters,” the seller explained. “It’s called desperation.”
He took the deal, recording an official sale price that was more than $250,000 higher than any comparable properties recently sold on that block.
Then, anotherproperty across the street sold in June for the exact same price — $875,000 — shortly after being re-listed from $475,000.
The real estate agent on that sale: Pat Fay.
‘Strange stuff’
Historically a commuter school, Temple has long had room for just a fraction of its total student body in traditional dorms. But as Philadelphia’s fortunes improved in the 20th century and more students sought to live on or near campus, the housing shortage intensified.
Private developers stepped in. Blocks that had long served as home to mostly Black working-class residents transformed into rows of student housing units, sometimes prefabricated.
But during the pandemic, the boom in rentals came to a grinding halt. Classes went virtual, driving student renters away. Surging homicide rates — including the 2023 shooting death of a Temple police officer — drove a public-safety crisis for the university.
Recently, Temple president John Fry announced a plan to steer more students back to campus with the university’s first new dorm in years.
Today, even with homicide rates now at historic lows and enrollment creeping up again, many of the blocks once flooded with student housing are underpopulated.
For-rent and for-sale signs line both sides of the 1700 block of Arlington Street. Around the corner, on 18th Street, mailboxes overflow with unopened letters, and the chirps of dying smoke detector batteries in vacant units create an eerie birdsong.
Landlords on the 1900 block of N. 18th St and elsewhere are looking for renters. It is unclear why a small network of buyers is overpaying for nearby properties.
Pizzola said membership is down in the Temple Area Property Association as building owners have looked to get out of the rental business.
“Since COVID hit, it just turned the market upside down,” he said. “If you’re an investor who was buying off-campus housing right before COVID, you got slaughtered.”
Bart Blatstein, a developer who was heavily involved in the mid-2000s Temple-area housing boom, said the recent transactions are highly unusual.
“I’ll give you a commission if you can get twice what my properties are worth,” Blatstein joked.
Officially, more than 40 different corporations have purchased student rental buildings in sales brokered by Fay. But those companies trace back to a handful of purchasers, according to Pennsylvania corporate registries.
Some of these buyers, contacted by The Inquirer, described Fay more as a participant among a loose but unnamed group of “real estate investors,” rather than a mere agent.
Stephen L. Johnson, a Montgomery County resident, was linked to companies involved in six purchases, totaling $5.2 million. Several of the companies were registered to the home of Johnson’s mother, although in an interview she said she was unaware her rowhouse was being used as a nominal corporate headquarters and referred questions to her son.
Reached by phone, Johnson echoed Fay’s enthusiasm for the future of the real estate market around Temple, predicting a surge in values if the university seeks to expand.
“The investment was all about Temple buying up everything and making it better,” Johnson said of his purchases. “In 10 or 20 years, they’ll probably own all of North Philly.”
Johnson could not explainwhy one of his companies, 17th Street Estates LLC, had paid so much for properties like 2113 N. 17th St., which was listed for $475,000 but sold for $900,000.
“I’d have to talk to Patrick about that,” said Johnson, who referred to Fay as “the main guy.”
“It’s like a team,” he added. “We all help each other out.”
Another one of Fay’s clients, Tanjania Powell-Avery of Pottstown, Montgomery County, is a former real estate agent charged in 2010 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office as part of a mortgage fraud ring.
Prosecutors said Powell-Avery aided two men who “purchased distressed properties at low prices, found buyers for the properties at a much higher price, and submitted false documents to the mortgage lender in support of mortgage applications,” according to the federal indictment. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years’ probation and nine months’ house arrest.
Despite this, and a 2012 bankruptcy, companies linked to Powell-Avery appeared in at least two recent sales around Temple, both brokered by Fay. These companies tapped $1.3 million in mortgages to close sales with a combined value of $1.6 million — each for about double its initial listing price.
Powell-Avery did not respond to a request for comment.
Her two codefendants in the 2010 federal indictment, Joseph Tookes and Othniel Tookes, also pleaded guilty. Both men are relatives of Abigail Tookes, a resident of a Norristown apartment complex who was pursued by creditors in 2020 after defaulting on a loan, leading to a $46,067 court judgment against her.
Even so, companies tied to Abigail Tookes were linked to at least $3.4 million in mortgages to finance the acquisition of at least five properties in sales involving Fay. In all five purchases, Tookes’ company recorded sale prices at double the original values.
Reached by phone, Tookes insisted the sales were “totally legitimate transactions.”
“There’s no fraudulent activity. It’s just an investment group,” she said. “There’s no story here. These are real estate transactions between the buyers and sellers. They all agreed to the sale. It doesn’t matter why.”
Other people linked to companies in Fay’s sales — Patrick M. Williams, Miles Fambro, and Angel Rodriguez — did not return calls for comment.
Many of the Temple-area sales featured the same mortgage broker: Viva Capital Group.
Reached by email, Viva president Juan Arguello said his Florida-based company operated “in full accordance with state and federal guidelines, rules, and regulations” and does “not have any contact with the sellers or their agents.”
He also said his company relied on an outside appraisal management company to approve mortgage values. He did not respond to questions about which appraiser had been used to support the Philadelphia sales.
Pizzola, who owns student-rental properties in the area, said these recent sale prices would eventually start driving up neighborhood property assessments, leading to higher tax bills, particularly on blocks where Fay’s clients have purchased multiple properties.
He said he suspects there is fraud involved.
“The fact that you’re seeing multiple sales at twice the average market value, it doesn’t pass the smell test,” he said.
Uncertain future
A prospectus for a property on Cecil B. Moore Avenue, listed for sale at $850,000 in October by several other real estate agents, included a string of Fay’s recent sales as comparable sales to justify the high asking price.
That property has yet to sell.
Over the last three weeks, at least three more properties near Temple have gone under contract — all with Fay as real estate agent.
Fay had been listed as an agent on a large apartment complex on the 1300 block of North Broad Street that was listed for sale at just under $6 million in late October. In November, the property was re-listed for $12 million.
The city has begun placing liens for unpaid water bills on the buildings in some of the earliest deals Fay arranged. Many of the properties have skipped out on biannual commercial trash hauling fees imposed by the city.
Some of the buildings do not appear to be occupied.
Someone appeared to have busted open a door, which was ajar with broken locks. A Temple sticker was on an upstairs window.
Hornik, from the NPLA, said that unless Fay’s purchasers figure out a way to extract enough rental income from these properties to cover mortgage costs, a mass foreclosure by lenders was likely in North Philadelphia — leaving the ownership of dozens of properties up in the air.
“If the loan goes negative, the lender has to foreclose,” he said, “and they’re not going to recover that money.”
With its screen blank, the sculptural art installation that usually connects people in different cities around the world was akin to a void Friday afternoon, idling in the City Hall courtyard as the magic of Center City’s Christmas Village swirled around it.
It’s unclear exactly how long the Portal has been out of commission; according to city spokesperson Leah Uko, a technical issue “has disrupted the live stream in recent weeks,” and Portal officials expect a fix next week. The operators of the Portal did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
“Turn the Portal back on, we demand it,” one onlooker said.
Another scoffed, “It must be nighttime there.”
Pedestrians walk by “The Portal” art installation on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in the Philadelphia City Hall courtyard.
Yonas Legesse, 22, and Martina Gebrail, 24, trekked more than two hours from Secaucus, N.J., and Jersey City, respectively, in hopes of seeing the famous Portal.
“We were definitely gonna stop here, go wave at some people, and now it’s off,” Legesse said. “It kind of hurts.”
Gebrail was amazed by the technology she saw on TikTok: The 3.5-ton circular video screen beams real-time, 24-hour, unfiltered livestreams from and to places like Dublin, Ireland; Vilnius, Lithuania; and Lublin, Poland.
Despite their disappointment, Legesse and Gebrail said they would come back to see an operative Portal. It’s expected to stay in Philadelphia through the country’s Semiquincentennial celebration in 2026.
The odds are almost always stacked against a white Christmas around here, but it is looks like the region will experience a white Dec. 14.
The National Weather Service on Friday said Philadelphia was all but certain to get at least an inch of snow during the weekend, with a general 2 to 4 inches expected, said Joe DeSilva, a meteorologist in the Mount Holly office.
The weather service issued a winter-weather advisory for the entire region from 7 p.m. Saturday through 1 p.m. Sunday.
A storm forming along an Arctic front combined with a strung idsturbance in the upper atmosphere were forecast to begin shaking out snowflakes very late Saturday night or early Sunday. It’s possible that the snow may be mixed with rain, at least at the outset, especially south and east of the city.
And while this may be shocking, computer models continue to tweak outcomes, leaving “still a little bit of uncertainty how this low is going to track,” said DeSilva’s colleague Eric Hoeflich.
However, recent model runs overall have been a shade more bullish on snow amounts than they had been, and the U.S. model has bumped up amounts slightly, said DeSilva.
Timing and duration issues remained to be resolved, and snow could cause commuting issues in the morning. In addition to church-goers, tail-gaters will be commuting commuting to the Eagles game at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philly, and supermarkets typically experience brisk traffic in the run-up to Eagles’s games.
The snow, however, is forecast to end well before kickoff at the Linc, scheduled for 1:15 p.m., DeSilva said.
Some flakes were evident Thursday in the region, with Philadelphia International Airport, where winds gusted past 30 mph, reporting its third “trace” of the season.
The renegade flakes were flying from lake-effect snows, said Bill Deger, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc.
The winds have shut off, and both Friday and Saturday were expected to be tranquil with daytime temperatures mostly in the 30s.
And this time, that holiday least-favorite, the “wintry mix,” wouldn’t be in the mix.
How much snow for Philly?
AccuWeather Inc. was calling for up to 3 inches.
If the storm is a quick mover, expect the inch, but if slows down and ripens a bit, it could be as much as 3, said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Bill Deger.
The weather service was pretty much on board with that estimate.
It painted 3 nches for Philly on its Friday morning snow map.
One near-certainty: This will change.
What time would the snow start?
It is likely to begin very late Saturday night or very early Sunday and continue until mid- or late morning, forecasters say.
Temperatures throughout the day are not expected to get past 30, with wind chills in the teens.
It might feel even colder if the Eagles lose to the lowly Las Vegas Raiders.
Regardless, everyone should be able to make it home.
“We’re not talking a major snowstorm,” Hoeflich said.
But this would be something a little bit different compared with recent local snow history.
Hoeflich noted that, as happened last winter, generous snow has fallen to the north, south, and west, leaving “a giant snow hole” over the Philadelphia area.
Aaron Goldblatt, 70, of Philadelphia, award-winning museum services partner emeritus at Metcalfe Architecture & Design, former vice president for exhibits at the Please Touch Museum, exhibit designer, sculptor, adventurer, and mentor, died Sunday, Dec. 7, of lung cancer at his home.
He joined business partner Alan Metcalfe in 2002 and specialized in constructing canopy walks, glass floors, elevated walkways, net bridges, abstract playgrounds, multimedia exhibits, and other unique designs in prominent locations. Visitors encounter their creations at the Museum of the American Revolution, the Independence Seaport Museum, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem, Pa., and the Whiting Forest at Dow Gardens in Michigan.
He and colleagues built the Lorax Loft on the Trail of the Lorax at the Philadelphia Zoo, the innovative garden and playground at Abington Friends School, and the lobby at Wissahickon Charter School. At Morris Arboretum, they built the celebrated Out on a Limb and Squirrel Scramble “treetop experiences” that Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron called “an irresistible allure, to young and old alike.”
He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sculpture, hitchhiked from adventure to adventure around the country and South America after high school, and said in 2019 that “learning, laughter, and creating genuine connections between people, nature, and history … really inspire my design.”
Play, he said, is one of those genuine connections. “Wherever people are, as long as they are there long enough, play will happen,” he said in 2019. “It happens in schools, museums, and even prisons. Play is fundamental to being human.”
Together, Mr. Goldblatt, Metcalfe, and their colleagues earned design awards from the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the American Association of Museums, and other groups. In 2022, they earned the Wyck-Strickland Award from the historic Wyck house, garden, and farm for outstanding contributions to the cultural life of Philadelphia.
In a tribute, colleagues at Metcalfe said Mr. Goldblatt “transformed our studio into the place we are today.” They said: “His generosity, wisdom, and passion for play emanated throughout every conversation, punctuated only by his wit and sense of humor.”
This photo and story about Mr. Goldblatt appeared in the Daily News in 2013.
From 1990 to 2002, he designed and developed exhibits at the Please Touch Museum. Earlier, he was director of exhibits for the Academy of Natural Sciences, assistant director at the Wagner Free Institute of Science, and studio assistant to sculptor Alice Aycock and other artists.
He helped design the Rail Park and was a cofounder and longtime board member of Friends of the Rail Park. He served on boards at the Print Center, the Wagner Free Institute of Science, and other groups, and taught postgraduate museum studies at the University of the Arts for 20 years.
“He developed a love of the process and philosophy of building,” said his daughter, Lillian. His wife, Susan Hagen, said: “He was always engaged, always asking questions. He was curious, funny, and extremely smart.”
Friends called him “lovely, smart, and witty” and “warm, wise, and creative” in Facebook tributes. One friend said: “He always had a spark.”
Aaron Shlomo Goldblatt was born March 22, 1955, in Cleveland. His father was in the Army, and Mr. Goldblatt grew up on military bases across the country and in Germany.
Mr. Goldblatt and his wife, Susan Hagen, married in 2023.
He graduated from high school in Maryland and earned his bachelor’s degree at Philadelphia College of Art in 1982 and master’s degree at Rutgers University in 1990. Before settling in Philadelphia, he worked on farms, painted houses, and spent time as a carpenter, a welder, and a potter.
He married Diane Pontius, and they had a daughter, Lilly. After a divorce, he married Laura Foster. She died in 2019. He married fellow artist Susan Hagen in 2023, and they lived in Spring Garden.
An engaging storyteller and talented cook, Mr. Goldblatt enjoyed all kinds of art, music, and books. He watched foreign films, wrote letters to politicians and the editor of The Inquirer, and visited the Reading Terminal Market as often as possible. He and his wife started birding during the pandemic.
“Aaron led with his heart, engaging deeply with the people and ideas around him,” his daughter said. “He could burst into song at any moment.”
Mr. Goldblatt smiles with his daughter, Lilly.
His wife said: “He was a family person, and everyone talks about his love and kindness.”
In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Goldblatt is survived by a grandson, a sister, a brother, his former wife, and other relatives.
A nightmarish five-turnover game from Jalen Hurts in the Eagles’ Week 14 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers led some to wonder aloud if it would be beneficial to bench the quarterback for the team’s Week 15 game against the Raiders.
Nick Sirianni called the idea of benching Hurts “ridiculous” Wednesday morning during an interview with 94 WIP, but the coach’s comments did not stop the wave of opinions about Hurts.
“You know what’s really, truly, magnificently ridiculous to think? That any quarterback could play as poorly as Hurts has played in back-to-back losses to the Bears and the Chargers without prompting some level of discussion about whether or not he should continue to start,” Inquirer columnist David Murphy wrote Friday. “As good as Hurts has played in his two Super Bowl appearances, that’s how bad he has played over the last couple of weeks.”
Meanwhile, fellow columnist Marcus Hayes also believes the conversation needs to at least happen, whether the Eagles ultimately go through with it or not — adding that one more bad game and the Birds might really need to consider sitting Hurts. And Eagles writer Jeff McLane opened the week by suggesting there’s “merit” to the idea of starting Tanner McKee against the Raiders, but that “opening that can of worms may cause more harm than good — especially in the long term.”
Needless to say, the national media has had plenty to say about the idea of benching Hurts. Here’s a look a what they’re saying ahead of Sunday’s game in Vegas …
‘We all know Tanner McKee ain’t playing’
Stephen A. Smith addressed the idea of benching Hurts in favor of backup Tanner McKee on Thursday morning’s episode of ESPN’s First Take. Smith dismissed the idea, largely on the basis that it would be irresponsible to give McKee, a 2023 sixth-round pick out of Stanford, his second career start in a pivotal game.
“Jalen Hurts ain’t going to be benched,” Smith said. “The backup quarterback’s name is Tanner McKee, right? We all know Tanner McKee ain’t playing. We just know this, OK? Down the line, in the future, sure, but this year, Tanner McKee is not going to replace the reigning defending Super Bowl champion and Super Bowl MVP.”
Smith said calls for Hurts benching is a way for Philly fans to “light a fire” under the team after a three-game losing streak.
“They’re saying, ‘What do we do? What do we have to do to light a fire under these dudes? Because, [expletive], what’s going on isn’t working, because Sirianni ain’t doing anything about it. [Offensive coordinator Kevin] Patullo ain’t doing anything about it. We got a problem.’ That’s the Philadelphia fan base,” Smith said. “There’s nobody with sense that would think for one second that Jalen Hurts is going to find himself on the bench in favor of Tanner McKee.”
Eagles backup quarterback Tanner McKee’s last start came in the 2024 regular season finale.
‘Do you know how stupid of a question that is?’
Former NFL quarterback — and one-time Hurts critic — Dan Orlovsky agreed with his ESPNcolleague on Thursday’s First Take, calling the talk of benching Hurts “the dumbest conversation of the NFL season.”
“I was probably the most critical person of Jalen Hurts early in his career,” Orlovsky said. “He has gone to the playoffs four times. He’s gone to the Super Bowl twice. He’s won the Super Bowl once, and he was the MVP of the Super Bowl. And 10 months later — 10 months later from doing that — we’re going, ‘Do you think we should bench the quarterback?’ … Do you know how stupid of a question that is?”
.@danorlovsky7 believes Jalen Hurts is being OVERLY criticized right now 👀
"It's still crazy to have the quarterback in the NFL right now, who's fourth in touchdowns, have his job security in question." pic.twitter.com/qLl17wFmif
Orlovsky pointed out the absurdity of Hurts, whose 27 combined rushing and passing touchdowns are the fourth-most in the NFL, having his job security in question. Orlovsky, who has been critical of the Eagles’ struggling offense this season, said the team’s problems are too interconnected to blame on Hurts alone.
“Saquon Barkley is one of two running backs that have over 50 carries this year that have gone for either no yards or negative yards,” Orlovsky said. “Is that because Saquon can’t play anymore? Or is it all connected?”
His criticism of the Eagles quarterback runs deeper than a game or the remaining weeks of the season. Cowherd said on Wednesday’s episode of Fox Sports 1’s The Herd that Hurts’ size may be enough of a reason for the franchise to move on from the quarterback. Cowherd pointed out that many of the league’s best quarterbacks, including Justin Herbert and Josh Allen are 6-foot-3 and above.
“I’m 6-2,” Cowherd said. “I can’t be taller than your franchise quarterback.”
"The truth is: The more Jalen Hurts throws, the worse Philadelphia is. Those are the facts."@colincowherd wonders if the Eagles need to consider a change at quarterback pic.twitter.com/gF2vDqaFZ9
At 6-foot-1, Hurts is the same size as Brock Purdy, Tua Tagovailoa, and Baker Mayfield. Cowherd wondered if the league’s 17-game season is wearing on its smaller quarterbacks.
“[Hurts is] smart, he’s athletic, he’s tough,” Cowherd said. “He’s tiny. It’s not just the size and the length of the quarterback, it’s the length of the season. It’s now 17 games. NFL defensive players are now bigger, stronger, faster. The hits hurt more, they’re more punitive.”
However, Hurts did not shrink — nor did the NFL schedule grow — over the offseason, and neither seemed to be an issue during last year’s Super Bowl run.
This season, Hurts has not missed time due to injury, but he is on pace to finish with his fewest rushing carries since his rookie year. Hurts has carried the ball just 88 times this season.
The Eagles’ move away from running Hurts may protect his long-term health, but the team has struggled with Hurts throwing the ball more frequently. The Birds are 1-5 in games where Hurts throws more than 30 passes.
“The truth is, the more Jalen Hurts throws, the worse Philadelphia is,” Cowherd said. “Those are the facts.”
On Thursday, a three-coin set of the final pennies minted for circulation sold at auction for $800,000. Another of the sets sold for $180,000.
In all, the final pennies sold for a combined nearly $17 million.
Sold by Stack’s Bowers Galleries, the sets represented the 232 years since the penny was first minted in Philadelphia in 1793. Each included some of the last pennies struck for circulation at the U.S. Mint’s facilities in Philadelphia and Denver, plus a 24-karat gold penny minted in Philadelphia. Each coin bears a unique omega symbol (Ω), marking the end of the penny.
The Philadelphia U.S. Mint struck the final circulating one-cent coins in November after President Donald Trump ordered the Mint to stop producing new pennies earlier this year. The last small-change coin the government canceled was the half-cent in 1857.
Costly to produce and displaced by digital payment, the penny had grown almost as irrelevant as the half-cent. Still, pennies aren’t disappearing soon. Americans have hoarded 300 billion pennies, which remain legal tender, officials say. Killing penny production is estimated to save around $56 million a year, experts believe.
Thursday’s auction had been closely watched by collectors and numismatics, who had expected bidding to be high. None more than for the final lot, which eventually topped out at $800,000. The special lot came with the three origin dies used to strike the coins.
“This set represents the VERY LAST cents struck in the classic circulating finishing, the true Omega,” read for the listing for the final pennies. “It is impossible to overstate the historic nature of these three pieces, which are likely the most significant coins to emerge from the United States Mint this century.”
