Three-year-old Hope Jones weighed 24.5 pounds, less than 99% of children her height and age, just a month before she died in July 2022.
The child was starved and beaten up by her foster parent, a distant relative from Southwest Philadelphia who pleaded no contest to third-degree murder over Hope’s death.
A new federal lawsuit is pointing a finger in another direction. It accuses medical providers from Philadelphia FIGHT, a community health nonprofit based in Center City, of failing to investigate or report abuse despite a series of red flags from Hope’s wellness checks.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, is against the United States because FIGHT is a federally qualified health center and thus receives funding and operates with requirements from the government.
Philadelphia’s U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment. FIGHT did not respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit is not only the latest legal fallout from Hope’s death, but the latest in litigation brought after children who were part of the city’s child welfare system have been harmed.
The city and its affiliated agencies were sued nearly 70 times between 2012 and 2024 after kids in their care were killed, sexually abused, or injured, an Inquirer/Resolve Philly investigation found. And at least 50 of these lawsuits led to settlements or verdicts of $1 million or more.
The new lawsuit on behalf of Hope’s biological family extends the circle of litigants to include medical providers.
“It’s another group of professionals that failed Hope,” said Sherrell Dandy, one of the Kline & Specter attorneys representing the family.
Child welfare services were involved in Hope’s life from her first days on Earth, according to the complaint. Her mother and the infant tested positive for marijuana after the delivery, and the Philadelphia Department of Human Services placed the infant under its care.
Hope became a FIGHT patient, and her first few visits as a baby went well, the lawsuit says. She was “well-developed and well-nourished,” the complaint says, and had a “good appetite.”
Hope’s weight reached the 98th percentile at her 15-month wellness visit, in the summer of 2020, but she fell off the growth chart steadily after the following November when she was placed in foster care with a distant relative, the complaint says. Hope failed to meet developmental milestones and lost teeth, a couple times without explanation and another time following an alleged fall.
The child’s medical records note that she developed an abnormal gait, ate her own feces, and was eating extremely fast followed by periodically vomiting, the suit says.
The FIGHT physicians did refer Hope to an orthopedic specialist because of her gait, but the lawsuit says that they failed to recognize it as “clinical indicators of severe weight loss and underlying caloric deprivation, starvation, and neglect.”
Hope’s weight fell to the single digits as summer 2022 approach. She was rushed to the hospital that July and was pronounced dead. The Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office determined that her cause of death was multiple blunt impact injuries, and the manner of death was homicide.
“The hallmark for health is growth,” said Nadeem Bezar, another Kline & Specter attorney. “During those visits there were alarming things that were never followed up on.”
A previous version of the lawsuit was filed against FIGHT in federal court in February. A judge dismissed that case in March because Hope’s estate had other administrative remedies to pursue before filing a lawsuit, and said that the appropriate defendant would be the United States.The new lawsuit says that all administrative remedies were exhausted and the government is the only defendant.
If you’re heading to grandma’s house ahead of Thanksgiving this week, you might want to pack an umbrella — but other than that, it looks like relatively smooth sailing for Turkey Day.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service station in Mount Holly predict a period of rainy weather ahead of the holiday, with a warm, wet Tuesday and Wednesday giving way to a dry, breezy Thursday. The weekend, meanwhile, looks to be colder, with some potential rainfall Sunday, but no severe weather appears to be on tap, weather service meteorologist Nick Guzzo said.
“It looks to be just some rain and a possible isolated rumble of thunder,” Guzzo said.
Showers are expected to arrive in the Philadelphia region Tuesday afternoon, bringing periodic bouts of rain that will stick around through Wednesday, producing around a half-inch of rain, the weather service estimates. Forecasters do not expect any severe weather, but local rainfall totals could hit up to an inch in some areas, and some thunder in the morning is possible.
Along with the wet weather comes a warm front resulting in milder temperatures likely nearing 60 degrees that will continue through Wednesday evening.
By late Wednesday, forecasters predict, a cold front is likely to move in, dropping temperatures and drying out the rain. By Thanksgiving morning, high temperatures are expected to reach only the 40s, with breezy weather throughout the day that will likely bring wind chills in the 30s.
Thursday’s windy weather could bring gusts around 30 mph, Guzzo said. Representatives for Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving Day parade said they were keeping a close eye on the weather and anticipate the balloons will fly.
“But should the weather not cooperate, we have contingency plans in place,” said Mike Monsell, spokesperson for parade sponsor 6abc.
Balloons in Philly’s Thanksgiving parade were last grounded due to high winds in 2019 — though wind gusts that year reached high speeds of up to 50 mph. Before that, the parade’s balloons had not been grounded since 1997, when similarly high winds kicked up on Thanksgiving Day.
Friday and Saturday are expected to bring a preview of winter weather with morning lows in the upper 20s — roughly 4 to 6 degrees below average for this time of year. That is thanks to the cold front moving through the area, Guzzo said, which will keep highs in the low to mid-40s.
As for weekend rain, Saturday looks dry, but as milder conditions take hold, there is a slight chance of rain Sunday to close out the weekend.
The HBO crime thriller Task will return to Pennsylvania along with star Mark Ruffalo for a second season, thanks in part to generous support from the state.
On Monday, the Pennsylvania Film Office announced that Task will receive a record $49.8 million tax credit, the largest amount the state has granted to a single production.
The effort is expected to bring about 3,700 jobs to Pennsylvania as HBO estimates investing $194.1 million into the state economy, including hiring local crews and paying for hotel accommodations.
Task comes from Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby, the writer from Berwyn who has developed a reputation for putting Delco (and Philly) crime stories on national television. Last week, HBO announced the popular show would return for a second season, which is expected to film primarily in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
The tax credit is part of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s efforts to bring more TV and film productions to Pennsylvania.
“This is the largest tax credit we’ve ever awarded to one show, and we’re proud to support another returning series by homegrown storyteller Brad Ingelsby through the Film Production Tax Credit Program,” said Pennsylvania Film Commissioner Gino Anthony Pesi in a statement.
“The Shapiro administration understands that supporting productions like Task have a powerful impact on Pennsylvania’s creative economy through the creation of thousands of direct and indirect jobs, while also giving new opportunities to local businesses in the southeastern region.”
“Task” showrunner Brad Ingelsby and star Mark Ruffalo on set.
Ingelsby has been committed to “investing in authenticity” through not only writing film and TV scripts that are based in the Philadelphia region, but pushing for his productions to shoot on location as much as possible.
“There is value in shooting something where it’s set — it will bring something to the production, to the characters, to the emotion that you just can’t emulate somewhere else,” Ingelsby told The Inquirer in September.
“The locations in and around Philadelphia add an invaluable level of authenticity to the series,” said Janet Graham Borba, HBO’s executive vice president of production, in the statement. “Furthermore, the opportunity to bring a production of this caliber to Pennsylvania and provide jobs to its citizens and businesses is extremely gratifying to Brad Ingelsby and all of us at HBO.”
Shooting with Pennsylvania crews also had an impact on the Task cast: Some actors, including Emilia Jones, who played Maeve Prendergrast, bonded with crew members, who also helped them learn that difficult-to-nail Delco accent.
Last year, Arcadia University transformed a basketball gymnasium on campus into the home of its newest athletic programs: men’s and women’s wrestling.
“Compared to most wrestling rooms, we have a very open facility,” men’s coach David Stevens said. “We have three full-size wrestling mats and a turf field. We have treadmills, standalone bikes, and a weight room. [Arcadia] did a really good job of supporting us.”
As the facility was under construction, women’s coach Michael Childs gave prospective members of his 11-athlete squad an up-close look at the progress.
“I took [recruits] through a construction site with our facility that was being built,” Childs said. “There were certain days that they had to wear hard hats when they went through the building. I could show them pictures on my phone, and the education piece kind of sold itself. … The more difficult part was selling them a vision for the program.”
“Wrestling is very popular in the state of Pennsylvania and has very passionate fans, but countrywide, it is still a niche sport,” Childs said. “So introducing that to the Arcadia community in general and the administration, it’s been a growing year for us.”
Focus on ‘family’
The men’s roster features 32 wrestlers, primarily freshmen. The team leadership comes from a group of older wrestlers who entered the season nationally ranked.
Senior Caden Frost was ranked No. 15 in the 149-pound weight class, graduate student Logan Flynn (285) was No. 6, and senior Jacob Blair (133) was No. 8.
Blair and Flynn followed Stevens, their former assistant coach, to Arcadia from Delaware Valley University, while Frost transferred from New England College.
“It’s a lot of leading by example,” Blair said. “We’re trying to build something here with longevity and make an impact not only this year, but also down the road. We’re trying to create good team camaraderie and spirit because this is something none of us have ever experienced. We’ve never wrestled on a team with 25 freshmen.”
Arcadia wrestling is in its first season.
The Knights (1-3) secured their first team win on Nov. 8 over Eastern, 27-20.
Stevens believes the young roster will grow significantly over the course of the season, which begins in November and culminates with the NCAA championships in March.
“We tell every recruit that if you join this team, you become part of a family,” Stevens said. “We haven’t had the early success that we expected or that we wanted. But I think that’s what a family does, is that even through the hardships, we don’t give up on each other. We truly believe that we’re going to do something special here in our first year.”
The three leaders went undefeated in Arcadia’s most recent competition at Misericordia University.
“We talked about how you either have to buy in now or hop off,” Blair said. “But the fire under these guys is that they truly want to be here and want to be college wrestlers. They know it’s going to take hard work, because it’s a grueling sport, both mentally and physically.”
While the Arcadia women’s team (0-2) is a MAC member, there are fewer than 100 NCAA women’s wrestling programs nationwide. The limited number means that all programs, regardless of division, will vie for the same national championship.
In addition to helping freshmen adjust to the rigors of college athletics, Childs must also prepare his team to face some of the country’s top wrestlers.
“I think that the biggest challenge for us is bringing our student-athletes along to understand what this commitment is,” Childs said. “It’s not just your morning lifts and your daily practices. It’s a lifestyle. We’ll potentially be seeing world team members in competitions, All-Americans, and Olympians. So it’s really exciting, and it’s really challenging.”
Taylor McCue, a junior, is the only non-freshman on the Arcadia women’s wrestling roster.
Junior Taylor McCue is the only non-freshman on the women’s roster. From goal-setting meetings to decorating the locker room before competitions, the team is establishing its identity.
“The best thing that I can do for the success and growth of this program is to surround it with good people, and that’s what I’m trying to do,” Childs said. “We had our first tri-meet a couple weeks ago on our floor. After our event, we had a parent social, and over a hundred people were there. It was pretty cool to see.”
Freshman Molly Lubenow (right) in action for Arcadia.
A sport on the rise
Arcadia’s addition of a women’s wrestling program follows the rapid expansion of the sport nationwide. According to the NCAA, 17 schools began offering women’s wrestling programs in 2024-25 alongside its promotion to a championship sport.
The inaugural NCAA women’s wrestling championship will take place this spring.
Both Arcadia programs see themselves as leading the growth of wrestling. They also aim to bring national attention to the small university through success in Division III.
“Why I’m grateful to be at Arcadia is the support they give us,” Stevens said. “High school and even college programs are usually focused on other sports that more people are familiar with. But here at Arcadia, we feel like they’re really investing in us and giving us a great opportunity. This is a place that I want to continue to grow.”
With the winter holiday season seeming to start before Thanksgiving turkey has even been served, it’s easy to feel like the Grinch. But if there’s one thing that can cure those early holiday blues, it’s over-the-top decorations and a novelty cocktail.
Luckily, these Philadelphia-area bars have already begun to their deck their halls (or booths) with garlands, nutcrackers, and more string lights than we can count.
One tip: Regardless of which holiday bars you chose, plan ahead and snag a reservation. The only thing worse than a stocking full of coal is waiting in the cold for a seat at the bar.
Wine Garden co-founders Nazaret Teclesambet and Favian Sutton are taking over three rooms inside Suburban Station through Dec. 31 for a luxe limited-edition holiday bar, not unlike last year’s at the Divine Lorraine. This go-round, the theme is diamond and pearls: Think gold-mirrored walls, grand Christmas trees, and enough bows and pearls for a tea party. Guests can sip on spiked hot chocolates rimmed with crushed candy canes, bourbon and apple cider holiday punches, and marshmallow-topped espresso martinis, among other cocktails. General admission is $14.64 per person for a 90-minute reservation. A $42.39 VIP ticket includes a welcome glass of sparkling rosé and a mini vintage cake. All other food and drinks are pay-as-you-go.
Unfortunately, Santa cannot call in favors to get you a table at High Street, one of Philly’s first-ever Michelin-recommended restaurants. The big guy, however, does recommend you spend $5 per person to snag a reservation at High Street’s holiday pop-up inside the Franklin Residence’s grand lobby. Ever Eve in the Back Bar runs Saturdays only through Dec. 27, and features a cocktail partnership with specialty spirits purveyor BOTLD alongside a menu of upscale bar snacks like crispy oysters, brown butter shoestring fries, and deviled eggs topped with trout roe.
Cocktails from a partnership with BOTLD will be served at Ever Eve in the Back Bar, a holiday pop-up from High Street taking over the lobby bar inside the Franklin Residences on Saturdays through Dec. 27.
Dining at this indoor-outdoor restaurant near Rittenhouse Square is far more low-key than most of the city’s holiday bars — mostly because it’s not marketed as a holiday bar at all. Instead, diners can spend two hours inside one of Harper Garden’s private heated outdoor cabins, which can seat four to six people. Something about eating warm bowls of pasta under woodsy garlands screams cozy.
There’s something about snow on the beach, at least according to that one Taylor Swift song. For a dose of holiday spirit down the shore, shoobies can check out the Jingle Bar inside Harry’s Ocean Bar & Grille. The beloved holiday pop-up bar inside the Montreal Beach Resort will run through Dec. 31 this year, with some new additions, like outdoor fire pits overlooking the ocean and a $90 Christmas tree cocktail tower that comes with six libations of your choosing.
Juno’s Holly Jolly Bar is a collaboration with events company Bucket Listers that converts an outdoor summertime hot spot into a winter wonderland — with a roof. From Nov. 26 to Dec. 28, Juno’s patio will be draped in rows upon rows of string lights and ornaments designed as Instagram bait. Don’t expect any Mexican inspiration on the menu beyond a winter marg and some sangria. Tacos and ceviches have been swapped for giant french fries, chicken tenders, and a charcuterie-inspired snack board. Tickets cost $22.50 for a 90-minute seating and a welcome drink. All other food and beverage is pay-as-you-go.
Is nostalgia on your Christmas list this year? The Library Bar inside The Prime Rib at South Philly’s Live! Casino and Hotel has transformed into a swanky-yet-quirky holiday pop-up with drinks inspired by classic holiday movies ranging from Elf to Die Hard. Guests can sip on an Ovaltine espresso martini and spiked sea salt caramel eggnog, among other cocktails, while cozying up by the fireplace through Jan. 10.
Prime Rib inside the Live! Casino & Hotel at 900 Packer Ave. has been transformed into a cozy living room for Holiday Rewind, a pop-up inspired by nostalgic Christmas movies.
Philly’s first minigolf bar has also partnered with Bucket Listers to overload their course with a hefty dose of Philly-ified holiday spirit. From now through Jan. 31, guests can play nine or 18 holes of holiday-themed putt-putt with decor like a greased North Pole, snow globes, and a golf cart covered in Philadelphia Parking Authority tickets (of course). Libertee Ground’s seasonal menu features a standout tomato soup and grilled cheese duo alongside several holiday cocktails, including a cranberry and cinnamon mule and an orange-plum punch made with Stateside Vodka. Those looking to tee off can expect to pay $20 for nine holes of minigolf, plus a cocktail in a souvenir cup.
It’s a gift from Santa himself: A walk-ins only holiday bar. Every holiday season, McGillin’s covers itself in floor-to-ceiling Christmas decorations. (That’s roughly 1,200 feet of lights and 1,000 feet of garlands for number-crunchers.) Holiday barflies can expect a lineup of festive drinks that include an eggnog martini and a spiced rum hot apple cider. Just around the corner from the bar at Sansom and Juniper Streets is holiday pop-up shop that sells McGillin’s merch (stocking stuffers, anyone?). The shop is open noon to 6 p.m. daily.
All 18 holes of mini golf at Libertee Grounds have been updated with string lights, ornaments and other holiday decor for a collaboration with Bucket Listers that runs through Jan. 31, 2026.
It takes roughly 60,000 ornaments and 20,000 lights to transform Craftsman Row Saloon into the Miracle on 8th Street, its annual holiday pop-up bar best known for over-the-top milkshakes. This year’s shake lineup includes the seasonally confused Pumpkin to Talk About — blended pumpkin ice cream topped with a whole slice of pumpkin pie — and Santa’s cookies, a chocolate chip cookie dough variety rimmed with chipwiches. Reservations are recommended for Miracle on 8th Street, which runs through mid-January.
For the first time since its 1978 opening, Bridget Foy’s will transform into the aptly titled North Pole on South Street, a Christmas bar that will run from Nov. 28 through Jan. 4. The devil (or Santa) is in the details: The bar’s new Instagram account shows footage of craftsmen freezing tiny nutcrackers into custom ice cubes for a lineup of cocktails that includes a peppermint tea-infused negroni and honey-chili margarita floated with aperol. Reservations also include access to several holiday-themed photo backdrops.
Take in views of the ice skating rink and the Delaware River from the lodge inside the Independence Blue Cross RiverRink Winterfest, a festival of all things festive that runs from Nov. 28 to March 1. Guests can choose to warm up inside the pop-up ski lodge or sip spiked hot chocolates and ciders around private fire pits or cabins available for rent.
Annual pop-up bar Tinsel runs from Nov. 28 through January with the same over-the-top shtick in new dressing. Sip on cocktails in novelty cups (that you can take home!) under a blinking neon Santa tracker, oversized ornaments, and illustrations of pop culture’s wackiest holiday characters. This year’s naughty beverages include punch served in an adult juice pouch and a duo of festive red and green shots.
Evil Genius regulars secured their spot on Santa’s nice list by painting larger-than-life gingerbread houses and cutting hundreds of paper snowflakes for the bar’s Twas an Evil Christmas holiday pop-up. Ornaments and wrapped presents hang from the ceiling while guests can sip on the brewery’s signature holiday saison Santa! I Know Him!, a 7.5% ABV Belgian-style brewed with rose hips, dark candy syrup, and chamomile.
The brewery is hosting a 0.5K (a run around the block) on Dec. 3, where $30 scores runners free beer and a Santa Hat. All proceeds will go toward buying Christmas gifts for families in need.
This Manayunk Tex-Mex restaurant will dress up for any occasion, and the winter holidays are no exception. Taqueria Amor has transformed into its signature Señor Grinch pop-up for the sixth year in a row, playing classic holiday movies via projector every evening through New Year’s Eve, no reservations required. Taqueria Amor’s very-merry cocktail lineup includes a shot that purportedly tastes just like a gingerbread cookie and several margaritas the color of Rudolph’s nose or the Grinch.
Santa’s workshop is taking over Center City’s Uptown Beer Garden through the end of 2025, and with it comes inflatable elves, oversized nutcrackers, snow globes, and fire pits for s’mores. All of the pop-up’s holiday cocktails are served in souvenir cups, including the Polar Espress-o — a peppermint bark-flavored cold brew martini — and the Apple Spice and Everything Nice, a caramel apple mule.
1500 John F. Kennedy Blvd., 267-639-4493, uptownbeer.com
This popular Rittenhouse Square beer garden is winterized through Dec. 31 and features a 22-foot tall Christmas tree alongside plush life-sized penguins, a playhouse pulled by reindeer, and lots of neon lights. Also included inside Walnut Wonderland: make-your-own gingerbread house and s’mores kits for $9 each, plus $12 holiday drink specials that include a maple whiskey sour and a banana-flavored vodka and hazelnut liqueur number that’s meant to taste like banana bread.
Santa greets guests at Walnut Garden at 1708 Walnut St., which is offering table side s’mores and gingerbread house decorating kits this holiday season.
Spend the winter inside Butcher Bar‘s heated covered patio, which looks kind of like a man cave inside a contemporary ski cabin. Butcher Bar’s seasonal cocktails make up for the macho decor. This reporter’s favorites include the Die Hard is a Christmas Movie (rye whiskey, sweet potato, marshmallow, toasted almond bitters) and the Christmas in Paradise (citrus almond spiced rum, mango, lime, herbal liqueur topped with a teeny drink umbrella).
A congressional committee is investigating allegations of antisemitism in the Philadelphia School District.
U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R., Mich.) said this week that the House Education and Workforce Committee — which he chairs — would probe “disturbing reports of Jewish students being harassed and subjected to open antisemitism in their classrooms and hallways” in three school systems: Berkeley Unified in California, Fairfax County in Virginia, and Philadelphia.
Walberg and U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a freshman Republican who represents the Lehigh Valley, informed Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. of the investigation in a letter sent Monday.
The committee, the lawmakers said, “is deeply concerned” that since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, it has “received allegations that SDP is rife with antisemitic incidents, including allegations of teachers spreading antisemitism in the classroom and SDP approving antisemitic walkouts that isolate Jewish students.”
Monique Braxton, a spokesperson for the district, said she cannot comment on ongoing investigations.
The Office of Civil Rights found in December 2024 that despite “repeated, extensive notice” of acts of antisemitism and other harassment in its schools, the district did not adequately investigate the claims, take appropriate steps to respond to them, or maintain all necessary records.
Walberg and Mackenzie’s letter said that even after the Office of Civil Rights settlement, antisemitic incidents have continued unanswered.
Allegations of antisemitism against certain educators
The representatives also referred to the district’s director of social studies curriculum, who they said “has been widely condemned by Jewish advocacy groups in light of his ‘pattern of denying the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, refusing to speak about peace or coexistence, and downplaying the lived experiences of Jewish people in the face of violence.’”
Philadelphia, the letter said, failed “to exercise oversight of antisemitic materials in the classroom.” Officials also took issue with what they said was a partnership between the district and the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Philadelphia. (The organization this summer announced it was available to partner with local schools and administrations to provide religious accommodations and build inclusivity.)
Ahmet Tekelioglu, executive director at CAIR-Philadelphia, said it “takes pride in offering these resources” but had no special partnership with Philadelphia’s school district. Instead, it was broadly offering its educational materials and training to any school, educator, or district, he said.
Tekelioglu dismissed the investigation as the machinations of “wild, right-wing” congresspeople.
“It’s a continuation of McCarthyism, what they are trying to do against colleges,” Tekelioglu said. “They are trying to quell and suppress academic freedom in school districts.”
What are the representatives calling for?
The committee requested documents “to assess SDP’s compliance with Title VI and determine whether legislation to specifically address antisemitism discrimination is needed.”
The district was given a deadline of Dec. 8 to produce documents including an anonymized chart of all allegations of antisemitism against students, faculty, or staff since Oct. 7, 2023; all documents and communications since that date “referring or relating to walkouts, toolkits, workshops, curricula, course materials, educational material, guest speakers, lecture series, partnerships, teacher training, or professional development, referring or relating to Jews, Judaism, Israel, Palestine, Zionism, or antisemitism, in the possession of SDP schools or offices”; and more.
Twenty-five years of running a small business teach you a lot. I have owned the Night Kitchen Bakery since 2000, and worked in the food business for over 40 years, at hotels, restaurants, and for caterers. In that journey, you start to see patterns as to how the economy and major events affect the business.
Anyone who has ever worked in the food and/or hospitality business will tell you it is incredibly hard work, but often rewarding and sometimes exciting. Anyone who has owned a food business will tell you that owning one is even harder, but can also be the most satisfying work.
Food is love
Feeding people is a beautiful love language. For those of us lucky enough to keep our small businesses going for so long, we know that, as my grandmother used to say, “It is a nickel-and-dime business.” The bottom line is so small that price fluctuations in raw product, broken equipment, or increases in other business expenses can be the difference between a tiny profit, zero profit, or a significant loss.
Large losses can be impossible to recover from for a mom-and-pop shop, or even a medium-sized restaurant. We learn to keep an eye on the small details every day. We often change the way we operate with new technologies to help become more efficient. Our staff often have skills and knowledge we learn from to improve our operation. We watch as sales patterns emerge every day of the week, every season, every holiday, and every year.
Most people love to have a treat or entertain on weekends, so most food businesses are busier Friday through Sunday. Our biggest expense is staffing, and we adjust schedules to account for slow and busy times of the year. Much of it is an educated guessing game.
The 12 finalists in the 2021 Holiday Cookie Challenge.
People tend to celebrate holidays at the same time, and want pies for Thanksgiving and cookies in December. Spring and warmer weather demand fruitier flavors. Buying seasonal products helps keep costs lower. Raw products constantly fluctuate, so we adjust our prices when we can without alienating our customer base. All this is challenging, but I’m used to it.
We have not been able to increase the prices of some of our products to match the rise in the cost of ingredients. In my 25 years here, I have never seen costs fluctuate so wildly and frequently. The cost of raw products, such as chocolate, coffee, jams, and other imported ingredients, is going through the roof. My vendors tell me this is largely due to tariffs.
We cover the cost of health insurance for some employees, which is also one of our biggest monthly bills. We just received our rate sheet for 2026, and the increase is over 20% — the largest hike I have ever seen. This is another expense that will make doing business extremely difficult. Other business owners I know are also struggling.
Growing stress
I see the job market changing fast, and I am seeing more applicants than ever before. Several customers have confided in me that they have government jobs and are worried they will not receive back pay when they return to work. It is very stressful for them, and stress has a trickle-down effect.
This all adds up, not only in expenses for the business, but in time spent adjusting to all the factors. We are lucky. We have a loyal customer base and, so far, have been able to accommodate ourselves to the changing market, if barely.
But it can’t go on forever.
Small businesses make up the vast majority of all U.S. businesses. So I offer this not as a personal problem, but an alarm about what is happening to the economy as a whole.
What can be done? Everyone has to decide this for themselves, but I think action is needed. I am in touch with our government representatives regularly to express my concerns. Whatever your situation, everyone is affected and burdened by the choices our politicians are making.
After all, our business is your business, too.
Amy Beth Edelman has been co-owner of the Night Kitchen Bakery and Cafe in Chestnut Hill for 25 of the shop’s 44-year history. She lives in Bala Cynwyd.
Last week was a busy one for our food desk: Michelin announced its first-ever stars and honorees in Philadelphia’s food scene, a much-anticipated reveal sandwiched between The Inquirer’s inaugural food festival and Thanksgiving week. To cap it all off, we solicited subscribers’ questions on our site. No surprise, there were lots of Michelin questions, along with a slew of requests for restaurant recommendations.
Our team had answers. Read on for our musings on Michelin, where Philly’s restaurant scene is going, and staff picks for red gravy joints, BYOBs, and Philly’s best roasted duck.
The Philadelphia chefs acknowledged at the Michelin Guide announcements at the Kimmel Center Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, in Philadelphia.
Michelin machinations
Can you give us an idea how much the [Philadelphia Convention and] Visitors Bureau had to pay Michelin to come to Philadelphia? It was shocking to find out these awards are “pay to play,” but now I understand why decades of world-class dining in Philadelphia have never garnered a Michelin star until now. Is it possible James Beard awards are more highly regarded, which I doubt, since they are not pay to play.
Michael Klein, food & dining reporter: We don’t have any idea how much Michelin was paid. As a private nonprofit, the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau does not have to release that. It’s rolled into its budget, and it likely will be rolled into unspecified marketing fees. Its most recent tax return, which covered July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, was filed in February 2025. The deal for this year’s other new Michelin city, Boston, also was not made public; one report pegged it as over $1 million for the three-year partnership. Typically, small markets and individual cities pay $70,000 to $300,000 per year, typically in three-year deals. For the 2025 American South regional guide that came out Nov. 3, cities and states across the South collectively are contributing $1.65 million per year for three years (about $4.95 million total).
Why wasn’t Mawn recognized by the Michelin Guide? Are you surprised by fact there was no recognition for Mawn?
Jenn Ladd, deputy food editor: Michelin’s decision-making is famously secretive, but we are operating with an informed assumption that an inspector could not get a table/reservation there (or perhaps couldn’t get more than one, since they are supposed to make repeated visits) and so did not include it. You can find more thoughts in our writers’ reactions to the Michelin picks.
As a team, we definitely were surprised by that choice. While it’s understandable (to at least some on the food desk) that Royal Sushi’s omakase wasn’t considered due to how difficult it is to get a reservation there, Mawn’s lunch is walk-ins only. Will you have to arrive early and wait in line? Yes, but it’s not impossible to dine there without connections. Hopefully next year, Michelin’s inspectors have a longer timeline during which to consider our city’s food scene.
Chef-owner Jesse Ito makes “Industry Chirashi” (a late night bargain chirashi they make in a plastic tub with scraps from the nigth’s omakase, at Royal sushi and Izakaya, in Philadelphia, Friday, August 11, 2023.
Is there a general concern that higher-end restaurants will get even more expensive and perhaps “one-dimensional” in a way in striving to impress Michelin with more tasting menus and the like? What do we not want to see in prospective changes?
JL: This is a concern we share. As Craig wrote earlier, “My only hope is that restaurateurs keep cooking from the heart, and that they don’t alter what they do simply in pursuit of a star.”
We were heartened by the fact that Michelin gave such a spotlight to Her Place Supper Club, which had a characteristically Philly start (from Penn dorm room to BYOB pop-up residency to full-fledged restaurant). I also think there are plenty of restaurant chefs and owners in Philadelphia who aren’t aspiring to Michelin-star status, who just want to cook good food for people. I’m an admitted Michelin skeptic, but even I would have to say, I don’t think Philly will lose its restaurant-scene identity anytime soon, even if we do see more awards-bait menus.
The bean and prosciutto-stuffed farfalle, center, at Her Place Supper Club on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024 in Philadelphia. Her Place is located at 1740 Sansom Street in Center City.
If each of you could pick your top 5 restaurants that didn’t make any of the Michelin Philly selections, what would they be?
Bea Forman, food & dining reporter: First off: There’s a lot more than five restaurants I wish Michelin would’ve selected. All the honorees are so deserving, but I couldn’t help but feel like the Bib Gourmand selection especially painted a white-washed version of Philly’s dining scene. They hit up at least three cheesesteak places but couldn’t find it in their hearts (or stomachs) to find a gem in Chinatown? Or a Vietnamese restaurant? Or more restaurants that speak to Philly’s rich tradition of excellent Mexican, Latino, and African food? Lame. Tomato. Tomato. My five picks for Bibs or recommendations would be:
Rice & Sambal: The Liwetan Platter from chef Diana Widjojo is worth a Bib alone, tbh.
The Ghee Roast Dosa at Amma’s on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024.
Hira Qureshi, food & dining reporter: I’d love to have seen these five/six restaurants get a Bib or Recommended: Amsale Cafe for their beautiful injera-lined platters with kitfo and gomen wat; Samson Kabob House for their insane chapli kababs alone; and Kabobeesh for their mutton karahi that’s just as good as my mom’s. Apricot Stone or Al-Baik Shawarma & Grill have the best hummus and falafels in Philly. And Black Dragon Takeout really does nail personality like no one else in the city.
A saturated restaurant scene?
There are so many good and great restaurants in the city — many moving into neighborhoods that are still deep into renovation/gentrification (i.e. near the York/Dauphin station for example), and there are quite a few empty seats especially on non-prime evenings. Is the Philly restaurant scene reaching a point of saturation?
JL: Hard to speak for our entire team on this one, but my best guess — from years on the food beat here and from reading my colleagues’ work very closely over the past 7 years — is not a chance. Year after year, there have been more restaurant openings than the last, even post-pandemic. There IS more out-of-town interest in opening in Philadelphia (a theme that’s been building all year and is sure to play out more in 2026), which could affect our restaurant scene in all sorts of ways.
We are seeing fewer BYOBs open and more capacious, expensive restaurants, but there are plenty of neighborhoods left in Philadelphia — I live in one! — that could use more restaurants. I for one hope that as the rents go up in the saturated neighborhoods, the scrappy entrepreneurs and chefs that have defined our culinary scene start to consider properties in those pockets of town.
A rendering of the bar at Flueur’s, 2205 N. Front St.
Craig LaBan, restaurant critic: I think only time will tell on this question. There is a lot of new construction going up in these very neighborhoods, and some extremely ambitious restaurants to match. I’m thinking of Fleur’s, for example, which is farther north than many of the earlier Fishtown hits. It was quite the midweek night I visited, but that is totally normal for a new restaurant. Once it starts to get press and social media buzz, if it is positive, that will change. They have to be well-capitalized to weather the storm of early months as they build their audience. If they do a good job, Philly diners will come. Restaurant-goers’ enthusiasm for excellent new places, in fact, almost always helps boost gentrification.
Helm, for example, was one of the few destinations on its block, save for a good neighboring taqueria, when it opened there… Now it is completely surrounded by new development. Same for Que Chula es Puebla at Second and Master. The new Honeysuckle is dealing with the same dynamic on North Broad Street. It is very much a residential neighborhood in progress of being built. It’s all about timing, capitalization, and performance. So far the quality the food is there for Honeysuckle. Hopefully the business will follow.
Restaurant recommendations
As an old-timer, I go back to the days of the great Django with BYOs. Are there some underrated BYOBs that didn’t make your 76 list?
JL: There are quite a few — 76 spots gets awful tight when you’re considering the full range of the Philly region’s restaurants! Illata in Grad Hospital, Little Fish in Queen Village, Helm in Kensington, and Elwood in Fishtown, not to mention a slew of suburban gems like Spring Mill Cafe in Conshy, Maize in Perkasie, Charcoal in Yardley, for starters.
Ravioli with meatballs from Villa Di Roma on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Philadelphia .
In addition to Dante and Luigi’s, what other old school “red gravy” joints have best survived the passage of time?
MK:Ralph’s, Victor Cafe, Villa di Roma. You might also count Ristorante Pesto, whose owner Giovanni Varallo had the long-ago Io E Tu on Passyunk. (Craig LaBan adds: “Scannicchio’s! But technically a ‘post-red gravy’ generation restaurant, not unlike Pesto.”)
Where are the best places in Philly for college students to eat at? (Besides food trucks)
BF: Penn class of ’22 grad here, so I would be silly to not shout out our campus bar Smokey Joe’s for having sneakily excellent and oversized pizza and burgers. If you go for lunch or dinner early in the evening, it’s kind of the platonic ideal of a dive bar.
Michael Wirzenberger, managing partner at Sampan Philly, mixes a scorpion bowl of cucumber margarita at the restaurant’s Graffiti Bar. Wirzenberger came up with the recipe. ( Abi Reimold / Staff Photographer )
Otherwise, you and your friends should be taking advantage of happy hour deals throughout Philly and far, far away from your campuses. Food is cheaper that way. My faves:
Rosy’s Taco Bar: Happy hour is 3 – 5 p.m so it’s always been mostly other college students. Everything is $5, and deeply reliable.
Sampan: Very yum pan-Asian small bites all under $10. Split a scorpion bowl with your friends if everyone is of drinking age.
La Chinesca: This is for when you want to feel classy and cool and adult, eating tacos from a retrofitted mechanic’s shop.
Harp & Crown, Giuseppe & Sons, and Bud & Marilyn’s all felt the right amount of fancy for a college student for happy hour. Very solid small bites, lots of young people.
If you are actually looking for places to to eat and not experiences with good enough food like I wanted in college, I would recommend just exploring Reading Terminal Market and a lot of the mom-and-pop or hole-in-the wall restaurants in Chinatown and the Italian Market. You’ll feel like you actually live here.
Is it fair to say that the very best roasted duck in Philly is sold at Ting Wong on 11th Street in Chinatown??
CL: Ting Wong reopened earlier this year after a short closing and everyone rejoiced because it’s such a neighborhood standby for Hong Kong-style noodles, soups, and BBQ meats — including a stellar roast duck. It’s still very good, but I’ve long been a bigger fan of two others in Chinatown: Siu Kee, the takeout-only duck shop just across 10th Street from Ting Wong, which supplies many of the best restaurants in Chinatown with their ducks (including Tai Lake, which I revisited this year), but also Lau Kee, a cozy little storefront on the 900 block of Race Street owned by the longtime former duck chef of Sang Kee. It’s great!
The Peking duck is pictured at Lau Kee in Philadelphia’s Chinatown on Thursday, April 1, 2021.
One more: While these previously mentioned shops are examples of the savory, marinated Hong Kong duck style, a newer entry called Beijing Peking Duck and Seafood Restaurant on Arch Street makes one of the best Peking-style ducks I’ve had — with a cracker-crispy golden skin that gets carved dramatically tableside. You have to order a whole duck, but it is an event worth the splurge.
I miss Gigi Pizza and Nomad Pizza so much. Are there any casual pie spots with great sides and salads like them in Center City or in the works? Vetri Pizza is missing something lately and Pietro’s is good but Rittenhouse gets SO crowded anymore…
MK: Gigi and Nomad had a good thing going. A little fancier is Sally at 23rd and Spruce Streets, which just was awarded a Bib Gourmand by the Michelins. Charcuterie boards, fab meatballs, really nice salads (the green salad with miso and pickled shallot), and crispy pies, like the Loud Red, whose arrabbiata sauce is perfect for the spice fans… Wilder at 20th and Sansom has a raw bar, a few salads, and seasonal wood-fired pies, like the lamb bacon…. Clarkville at 43rd and Baltimore has a warm cauliflower salad that supplements the pizza list… I’m also really fond of the new-ish Corio at 37th and Market, not only for the pizza, pasta, and salads, but the inviting vibe.
The Zucchini Pizza and Stuffed Long Hots at Corio on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025 in Philadelphia.
When I lived and worked in Philly in the ’90s, Caribou was near the top of my dining list. The menu still looks fine. What is your take on this restaurant?
CL: Caribou is still kicking! This Center City standby — going on 33 years in its current Walnut Street location — had a change of ownership over a year ago, with chef Townsend Wentz’s group taking it over. I’ve not been since a solid lunch in the early weeks of Wentz’s takeover, but here’s a few basic observations: They’ve largely kept the classic brasserie vibe intact, including that fantastic long bar with its art deco statuettes, and they’ve simply made an effort to update and improve some of the classic French bistro fare. Wentz is good at that, and I loved the initial French onion soup I tasted there. But I’d like to return for a check-in. As the weather gets cold, a good stewy plate of boeuf bourguignon or a hearty choucroute garnie sounds good to me. But you never know until you go. With the unfortunate closing of Bistrot La Minette last year, Center City needs all the great French bistros it can hold onto.
Since taking office for his second term, President Donald Trump has moved to cancel tax incentives and spending for clean-energy technology and prioritized expanded production of oil and natural gas.
But the federal government apparently is not 100% out of the green fuels business.
Last week, SEPTA won a $43 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration to replace 35 diesel-powered 30-foot buses with an equal number of cleaner diesel-electric hybrid buses that are 32 feet long.
When the new buses are delivered, expected to be in 2028, SEPTA no longer will have diesel-only buses in its fleet.
Most SEPTA buses are 40 feet long or 60-foot articulated models (the ones with the accordion in the middle). The shorter hybrids will be used on the LUCY Loop in University City and Routes 310, 311, 312, and Route 204, which runs from Eagleville to Paoli Station.
“These new hybrid buses will increase operational efficiency and help ensure that SEPTA can continue to provide reliable service for customers,” general manager Scott Sauer said.
SEPTA applied for the grant in July, a spokesperson said.
“This is a major win for Philadelphia,” U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle of Philadelphia said. “These new hybrid buses will mean more reliable service, a stronger transit system, and cleaner air for the hundreds of thousands of riders who depend on SEPTA every day.”
Boyle, a Democrat, said the money came from President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law, which Boyle helped champion. The grants were given from the fiscal year 2025 federal budget.
“Delivering new-and-improved bus infrastructure is yet another example of how America is building again under President Trump,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said in a statement. “More people travel by bus than any other form of public transportation.”
SEPTA’s grant was part of $1.1 billion distributed from the fiscal year 2025 federal budget. The U.S. Department of Transportation said in the announcement that $518 million would be added to the low- and no-emission bus grant program from the fiscal 2026 budget.
Pennsylvania State University and the Pennsylvania Department of Education want the state’s highest court to overturn a recent lower court ruling that sided with Spotlight PA and stop the release of internal Board of Trustees documents.
The case could have major implications in the state for public access to documents stored in cloud-based services.
Last week, the university and state agency each filed a “petition for allowance of appeal,” asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to hear the public records case. There is no timeline for the court to decide whether it will hear the arguments, and the court denied 87% of requests to review a lower court decision in 2024, according to the court’s annual report.
Spotlight PA is represented pro bono by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic. Paula Knudsen Burke, the Pennsylvania attorney for RCFP, said in a statement: “The Commonwealth Court rightly made clear that Penn State trustees cannot shield certain records from the public simply by storing them in a file-sharing system or alleging they contain proprietary information. We will continue to push for access to these records on behalf of Spotlight PA so that all Pennsylvanians can better understand how a prominent state-related institution — supported with millions of dollars of public money — is operating.”
A Penn State spokesperson told Spotlight PA in an email that the university does not comment on “pending litigation.” The state education department did not respond to a request for comment.
In May 2023, Spotlight PA filed public records requests with Pennsylvania’s agriculture and education departments for documents the agencies’ secretaries used while serving on Penn State’s governing board. While the university is largely exempt from the state’s Right-to-Know Law due to a legal carveout, a 2013 court ruling said records that the agencies’ secretaries used as trustees could be accessed by the public.
The Office of Open Records ruled in 2023 that some of the records the newsroom requested should be made public. Penn State and the education department appealed the decision to Commonwealth Court.
Penn State, in legal filings and in court in September, argued the state agencies did not possess or control the records Spotlight PA sought because Penn State housed the files on Diligent, a cloud-based file-sharing service. The online system allows the university to control who can access which files and whether the records can be downloaded.
The court sided with Spotlight PA in its decision last month, ruling that Penn State’s argument was “without merit.” Taking the university’s position, the court said, would contradict the intent of the state’s open records law for transparency and would “perversely incentivize Commonwealth agencies, local agencies, and affected third parties like Penn State to utilize remote servers and/or cloud-based services, in order to ensure that they would no longer need to disclose what would otherwise constitute public records.”
Penn State was also ordered to unredact portions of a 2022 document given to trustees about the university’s “fiscal challenges” and altering the budget to better align with Penn State’s “priorities and values.”
In its petition to the state Supreme Court, Penn State said the lower court wrongly determined that the agency secretaries received the records and therefore could provide them to the newsroom. By providing documents to trustees through Diligent, the university controls who can “download, print, forward, or otherwise obtain the document.”
The file-sharing service, the university wrote, “is the electronic equivalent of a Penn State official holding a physical document in their hand and inviting the Secretaries to look at the document. Importantly, in this analogy, the Penn State official never lets go of the document, and the Secretaries never possess the document.”
The education department, in its filing, said the lower court’s decision ignores the intent of, and improperly expands, Pennsylvania’s open records law.
Spotlight PA, through its legal team, will file its response to the petition in the coming days.
Earlier this year, the Penn State board settled a separate lawsuit that Spotlight PA brought against it over alleged violations of Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act, the state law mandating transparency from governing bodies.
As part of the settlement, the board agreed to release more information about its private meetings, including who is leading the gatherings and the topic discussed. The board also participated in a legal training in September on the open meetings law and what governing bodies must do to comply with it. The terms of the settlement will last for five years. Read the full agreement here.
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania.
SUPPORT THIS JOURNALISM and help us reinvigorate local news in north-central Pennsylvania at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability and public-service journalism that gets results.
