Brandon Ingram and RJ Barrett each scored 22 points and the Toronto Raptors won their fifth straight game, surging in the third quarter to beat the 76ers 121-112 on Wednesday night.
Jakob Poeltl scored 19 points, and Immanuel Quickley had 18 — hitting two three-pointers in the final two minutes — to help the Raptors (10-5) win for the ninth time in 10 games. Scottie Barnes added 16 points, nine rebounds, and five assists.
Tyrese Maxey led the Sixers (8-6) with 24 points. VJ Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes had 21 points each.
The 76ers led 56-53 at halftime behind 15 points from Maxey. Toronto took the lead with an 18-7 run to start the third quarter, powered by seven points from Ingram. The Raptors outscored the Sixers 44-28 in the period.
Toronto shot 2-for-15 from three-point range in the first half, then went 5 for 6 from deep in the third quarter. Toronto is 7-3 on the road and 9-2 against Eastern Conference teams.
Sixers center Joel Embiid (right knee injury management) missed a fourth straight game and his ninth out of 14 this season. Paul George, who made his season debut Monday, was held out as part of management of his left knee injury. The Sixers announced before the game that Kelly Oubre Jr. will miss at least two weeks with a sprained LCL in his left knee.
Sixers’ Dominick Barlow (left) is defended by Toronto Raptors’ Scottie Barnes during the first half of Wednesday’s game.
Raptors rookie forward Collin Murray-Boyles missed the game because of right knee soreness.
Up next
The Sixers will make the trip to Milwaukee to face the Bucks on the second night of a back-to-back on Thursday (8 p.m., NBCSP).
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday identified Jose M. Martinez, 42, of Lindenwold, as the man killed in a crash caused after another man allegedly fled from police in West Deptford Township early last week.
Prosecutors also identified the police officer, West Deptford Police Patrolman Conor Goggin, involved in the attempted stop and the man, George Linard, 28, of Waltham Cross, a town north of London, England, who allegedly caused the crash. Linard initially had been identified by authorities with a different name.
On the evening of Nov. 9, Goggin was driving a marked police vehicle when he turned on his emergency lights in an attempt to stop a vehicle, prosecutors said.
Linard allegedly drove away at high speed and collided in the area of Hessian and Red Bank Avenues with a third vehicle driven by Martinez, who also was known as José M. Martínez Peguero, according to his funeral home obituary.
Martinez died and a passenger in the back seat sustained a leg fracture.
Linard, who also was injured in the crash, was charged with second-degree death by automobile, fourth-degree assault by automobile, and fourth-degree fraudulent possession of a government license.
A 26-year-old Ocean City woman who worked for U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew was charged with falsely reporting that she had been seriously lacerated across her upper body in a politically motivated attack when she actually paid a Pennsylvania body modification artist $500 to cut her, according to a federal criminal complaint released Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Natalie Greene was charged with one count of conspiracy to convey false statements and hoaxes and one count of making false statements to federal law enforcement, acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba said.
In a statement provided Wednesday evening, Van Drew’s office said: “We are deeply saddened by today’s news, and while Natalie is no longer associated with the Congressman’s government office, our thoughts and prayers are with her. We hope she’s getting the care she needs.”
Greene’s lawyer, Louis M. Barbone of the Jacobs & Barbone law firm in Atlantic City, said in a statement released Thursday: “At the age of 26, my client served her community working full time to assist the constituents of the Congressman with loyalty and fidelity. She did that while being a full-time student. Under the law, she is presumed innocent and reserves all of her defenses for presentation in a court of law.”
On July 23, a coconspirator called 911 shortly after 10:30 p.m. to report that Greene had been attacked by three unknown men who knew her name and that she worked for Van Drew, according to the criminal complaint, which identifies him only as “Federal Official 1.”
“They were attacking her. They were like talking about politics and stuff. They were like calling her names,” the coconspirator told 911, reporting that the attack occurred at the Egg Harbor Township Nature Preserve, the complaint said.
The coconspirator, who was not named in the criminal complaint, allegedly said the attackers claimed they had a gun. “They said that if we don’t be quiet they were going to shoot us,” the coconspirator allegedly said, also explaining that she was able to flee the men but they still had Greene.
Egg Harbor Township police arrived with a K9 dog and located Greene just off a nature trail lying on the ground with her feet and hands bound together with black zip ties, the complaint said.
Greene’s shirt was pulled over her head and the words “Trump Whore” were written with black marker on her stomach, and “[Federal Official 1] is Racist” was written on her back, the complaint said.
She had long crisscrossing lacerations on her upper chest, shoulder, back, neck, and lower right side of her face, the complaint showed with included photos.
Greene was transported to a hospital, and then later transferred to a second hospital for treatment.
Before Greene was taken to the first hospital, she was interviewed by police and asked to recount what happened. When police asked to check Greene’s Maserati SUV, her coconspirator became agitated and said she didn’t think the police needed to search the vehicle, the complaint said.
However, Greene consented to a search and police found two black zip ties similar to the zip ties used on Greene, as well as a roll of duct tape, the complaint said.
Investigators later found that location data from Greene’s phone showed that on the day of the alleged attack, she had traveled to the scarification artist’s studio in Pennsylvania, then to Ventnor, where the coconspirator lived, the complaint said.
Two days earlier, someone using the coconspirator’s phone did a Google search for “zip ties near me,” the complaint said.
Investigators later reviewed surveillance video from a Dollar General store in Ventnor that showed the coconspirator at the store 40 minutes after the Google search was made, the complaint said. The store sold black zip ties similar to what was used on Greene and the same duct tape, though the video did not show her purchasing zip ties while she did purchase other items. The surveillance video only showed the cash register area and not other parts of the store, the complaint said.
On July 25, Greene was interviewed by agents from the FBI Joint Terrorism Take Force and Egg Harbor Township police detectives, and she again reported that she was attacked and cut up by three men, the complaint said.
She also was asked to describe any threats made to Van Drew’s office.
“There’s so many. I mean. Yeah, racist um. Windmills belong on your grave. Like stupid, I mean like there, they have a bunch of little things on there that they’ll write on there. We have them all, you can look at all of them. But um. Yeah we keep em just. We keep all of our hate mail. We recently got like, a letter with like powder in it and stuff,” she said, according to the complaint
Greene was asked if the powder incident was recent.
“Yeah very recent. Like maybe a week ago. And are to the point where our Chief of Staff was like you guys need to be using gloves to open the mail. Stuff like that,” she allegedly said.
A review of phone records showed that Greene had a Reddit account that followed communities for “bodymods” and “scarification,” the complaint said.
On July 30, the FBI visited the studio in Pennsylvania and obtained a consent form signed by Greene with a copy of her New Jersey driver’s license that she allegedly provided the day of the reported attack, according to the complaint.
The FBI also obtained the receipt showing that Greene allegedly paid the studio $500 cash, as well as photos the artist took of his work on Greene’s body.
The photos showed the cuts made by the artist matched the cuts photographed at the hospital, the complaint said.
Kelly Oubre Jr. has suffered a sprained lateral collateral ligament in his left knee and will be reevaluated in two weeks, the Sixers announced Wednesday night.
Before the injury, Oubre was enjoying a terrific start to the 2025-26 season. The 6-foot-8 wing is averaging 16.8 points on 49.7% shooting and 5.1 rebounds, and often takes the most difficult perimeter defensive assignment.
Without Oubre, who was logging nearly 35 minutes per game before he was hurt, the Sixers’ options at small forward include Justin Edwards (who started Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors) and Paul George (who made his season debut Monday).
According to Jalen Hurts, scrutiny comes with the territory of being the franchise quarterback.
Hurts isn’t lacking in scrutiny, especially as the Eagles offense is still trying to establish an identity despite being more than halfway through the season. Longtime Eagles reporter Derrick Gunn said on former Eagles linebacker Seth Joyner’s postgame show Sunday night that “there’s a lot of people in that organization that are frustrated with the quarterback situation right now.”
He likened it to “Carson Wentz Part 2,” referring to the 2021 trade when the Eagles dealt the former franchise quarterback to the Indianapolis Colts and took on a $33.8 million dead salary-cap hit — the largest in league history at the time. While Gunn said the Eagles are “not going to eat this kind of money yet” with Hurts, he also asserted that “the quarterback understands he has them over a barrel.” Hurts signed a five-year, $255 million contract extension in April 2023, and his cap figures for 2026 and 2027 total more than $73 million.
When asked for his reaction to the report, Hurts responded that he’s just going to work every day and continue to try to do his best. He also acknowledged that it’s his responsibility to handle criticism as the franchise quarterback.
“I guess I get a lot of attention when things are going well and when things are not going so well,” Hurts said. “So I never run away from holding myself accountable and I think that’s exactly what I’ve taken the approach of doing. Even when I look at this last game, I take great pride in what we do on offense. I take great pride in how we go out there and play as a team and what our flow is.
“So we obviously got work to do, and I think that obviously starts with me. That’s always my approach. That’s always me looking internally first in everything that we do. And in due time, rising above.”
A.J. Brown (11) is among those who have expressed frustrations with the offense, but has not directed complaints to Jalen Hurts, the quarterback said.
Hurts also said that the reported locker room frustrations haven’t been brought to him directly by anyone within the organization. When asked if he would be open to teammates or coaches coming to him with those concerns, he expressed that he didn’t want to entertain a hypothetical situation.
“Ultimately, it’s about coming in here, working, and leading,” Hurts said. ”And bringing good energy and going out there and showing it by how you work. At the end of the day, we are here to play as a team and to play together and go out there and find ways to win. That’s where we all have our focus at.”
Hurts and the Eagles offense will attempt to refocus on the heels of a shaky two-week span. Despite winning their last two games following the bye week, the unit has scored just 26 points, the second-fewest among teams that have played two games in that stretch (and the lowest among teams with two wins).
The Eagles quarterback had his lowest completion percentage of the season against the Lions (50%), although 14.8% of his passes were dropped, according to Pro Football Reference.
The offense showed flashes of potential during the two-week stretch before the bye that included wins over the Minnesota Vikings and the New York Giants. Hurts had a perfect passer rating (158.3) against the Vikings and came close to matching that effort against the Giants (141.5).
Still, the offense’s overall numbers reflect a lack of consistency from week to week. The group ranks 16th in points and 25th in yards. While the efficiency of the passing game isn’t much different from the 2024 Super Bowl season (6.3 net yards per pass attempt in 2025 compared to 6.5 in 2024), the running game has seen a serious drop-off (3.9 yards per rush in 2025; 4.9 in 2024).
“I think a lot of the things are internal wounds a bit,” Hurts said of the offense’s woes. “It’s about correcting those things. It’s a lot of opportunities out there for us. We’ve just got to take advantage of them. I’ve spoken on particulars in what we do, just having alignment in that, having a vision, and then going out there and establishing an identity and committing to it.
“I think over the course of the year, we’ve gone out there and played different styles of games in almost all of the games. It’s about sitting in something, committing to it, and then going out there and saying, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’ And push forward. You watch the course of the season, I watch the course of the season, and I don’t think it’s a capability thing. It’s a matter of having great focus and ultimately pursuing the same thing as an offensive unit and from a bigger perspective as a team.”
Jalen Hurts, head coach Nick Sirianni and offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo have been actively trying to overcome the offense’s inconsistency.
Despite Gunn’s report pointing at internal frustration with Hurts, Nick Sirianni emphasized Tuesday during an appearance on 94 WIP’s morning show that he isn’t among those with concerns.
“Shoot, I’m not frustrated with him,” Sirianni said. “He goes out there and does his job each week and does a great job of putting us in position to win games. That’s the name of the game. Particularly, for the quarterback, what are you doing to help your team win football games? And, shoot, he finds a way to help us win.
“I love his attention to detail and I love his leadership and I love his mindset of, ‘I’m going to do everything I can do to win this game. Sometimes that means handing it off, sometimes that means me running it. And sometimes that means me throwing it where I need to throw it.’ He does a great job of leading this football team.”
Philadelphia’s trolley tunnel has been closed for most of the last two weeks as SEPTA contends with glitches in the connection between the overhead catenary wires and the pole that conducts electricity to the vehicle.
The tunnel will remain closed at least until next week for repairs, and city trolleys will operate from West Philadelphia. Riders can take the Market-Frankford El to get to and from Center City to 40th and Market Streets.
At issue is a U-shaped brass part called a slider that carries carbon, which coats the copper wires above that carry electricity.
“There’s a lot of friction and heat. The carbon acts as a lubricant,” said John Frisoli, deputy chief engineer for SEPTA.
A 3-inch slider (left) and a 4-inch slider, which coats electric-powered wires with carbon to reduce friction. When they fail, trolleys are stranded.
Earlier in the fall, SEPTA replaced 3-inch sliders with 4-inch models in an effort to reduce maintenance costs, but the carbon in the longer units wore out sooner than they should have, causing metal-on-metal contact between the trolley and the copper wires.
Soon after, there were two major incidents when trolleys were stranded in the tunnels. On Oct. 14, 150 passengers were evacuated from one vehicle and 300 were evacuated from a stalled trolley on Oct. 21.
SEPTA went back to the 3-inch sliders.
On Nov. 7, SEPTA shut down the tunnel to deal with the issue, which had cropped up again, then reopened it on the morning of Nov. 13, thinking it was solved. But it discovered further damage to the catenary system and the tunnel was closed at the end of the day.
“It’s just unfortunate that we’re dealing with the damage that decision caused,” said Kate O’Connor, assistant general manager for engineering, maintenance, and construction.
The transit agency is running test trolleys and has found minimal wear of the wires rather than the extensive wear earlier, O’Connor said. Her department is working on a plan to replace wires by sections and will continue test runs until it’s determined the tunnel is safe for passenger traffic again, she said.
“We have far more traffic in the tunnel than on the street — all five routes use it — and the overhead system there is more rigid,” O’Connor said.
Trolleys have been unaffected traveling on the street. Jason Tarlecki, acting chief deputy engineer for power, said that the wires have “a lot more upward flexibility to absorb the shock,” he said, leading to less friction.
The Federal Transit Administration on Oct. 31 ordered SEPTA to inspect the overhead catenary system along all its trolley routes.
It doesn’t look like the Trump administration will begin holding undocumented immigrants at a South Jersey military base anytime soon.
Democratic elected officials said Wednesday that they received a letter from the administration saying there is currently no approved construction plan, nor a timeline, for confining people at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
Estimates are that the base, which spans parts of Burlington and Ocean Counties, could hold 1,000 to 3,000 detainees. Specifics surrounding the when, where, and how of that undertaking remain unknown.
New Jersey U.S. Reps. Donald Norcross and Herb Conaway, Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee, announced that they received a response earlier this week from the Department of Homeland Security after requesting more information about the administration’s plans.
“The Trump Administration’s ongoing disregard for due process and humane treatment of undocumented immigrants has required us to press repeatedly for answers and fulfill our congressional oversight responsibilities,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement. “While we acknowledge that the Department of Homeland Security has finally responded to our questions, we will continue to monitor for any further developments.”
Their priority, the lawmakers said, is to uphold standards of human rights to ensure that plans to detain immigrants do not interfere with military readiness.
The administration’s response said the government’s need for more detention space “reflects the Trump administration’s commitment to restoring the rule of law and ending the catch-and-release policies of prior years that jeopardized American communities.”
Trump administration officials earlier named the base as one of two sites in the country now certified to assist in the president’s plan to remove millions of immigrants. The other is Camp Atterbury in Indiana.
Philadelphia police are seeking to question two men in connection with the death of an American Airlines flight attendant who investigators believe was attacked inside his South Philadelphia home last week, then fell — or was thrown — out of his third-floor window.
Amadou Thiam, 50, was found lying naked on the pavement behind his home, on the 2400 block of Federal Street, with severe injuries to his face, neck, and body on the night of Nov. 10, police said. He was rushed to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries, they said.
The medical examiner has not yet determined the cause or manner of Thiam’s death, but homicide detectives are investigating, said Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore. Vanore stopped short of saying Thiam was attacked, pending the coroner’s decision, but law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation said Thiam’s injuries, coupled with witness interviews and evidence recovered inside his home, suggest he was assaulted.
Residents of the Grays Ferry block this week recalled the harrowing moments when they found Thiam — and the chilling departing words of the men police are now looking to question.
Two neighbors, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal, said they heard loud noises coming from Thiam’s condo around 6:30 p.m. last Monday but assumed he was having guests over.
Then, they said, they heard a loud crash behind the building.
Shortly after, they said, they saw two men walk out of Thiam’s home.
“Is everything OK?” one neighbor recalled asking the men. “They just kind of chuckled and said, ‘We hope so.’”
Amadou Thiam lived on the 2400 block of Federal Street. This image shows the third-story window, second from left, from which neighbors say Amadou Thiam fell on Nov. 10.
The neighbors said they approached Thiam’s door, which was left cracked open, and found blood smeared across his kitchen and third-floor bedroom. Thinking Thiam was not home, they called the police to report a burglary.
As the couple waited for police, they said, they noticed a stream of blood on the sidewalk outside. And then, they said, they saw Thiam’s body on the pavement.
Vanore said it was not clear how Thiam ended up on the ground, but police believe he went through a third-story window.
“We still don’t know if he fell or was thrown,” he said.
Thiam suffered injuries throughout his body, including fractures to his face, ribs, and skull, Vanore said.
Detectives have recovered video from the block showing two men — one older, one younger — in the area around the time Thiam’s body was found, he said.
Vanore described one of the men as a thin Black male wearing a black leather jacket over a red hoodie and jeans and carrying a bag. The second man, he said, was older, bald, and wearing a gray jacket.
Philadelphia police are seeking to question two men who they believe could be connected to the death of Amadou Thiam in South Philadelphia last week.
“We’re looking to talk to them to see if they had anything to do with this,” he said.
Law enforcement sources, who asked not to be identified to discuss an ongoing investigation, said the men appeared to be carrying clothes out of the building. There were no signs of forced entry into Thiam’s home, the sources said.
Relatives of Thiam, who was originally from Côte d’Ivoire, could not be immediately reached.
His Instagram account showed a man who enjoyed exploring the world: standing before Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and eating in Key West, Fla., and Las Vegas.
His death has shocked many who knew him, including his colleagues at American Airlines.
A spokesperson for the airline did not respond to a request for comment. But in a memo shared online, an operations manager for the Philadelphia region said Thiam had worked as a flight attendant with the airline since 2011 and, as a French speaker, he frequented international flights to Paris and Zurich.
“His presence and natural charisma was always something felt throughout a room,” the employee wrote. “He was a loyal friend whose kindness, positive attitude, and radiant smile touched everyone around him.”
John Stanley, a fellow American Airlines flight attendant, said that every July, there is a benefit for flight attendants at Voyeur, a nightclub in the Gayborhood, with dancers and drag performers. He recalled how one year, Thiam dressed up as Glinda from Wicked and performed for the crowd.
“He was as well-liked a flight attendant in Philadelphia as I know exist,” Stanley said.
Thiam’s neighbors also said he was exceptionally friendly, and loved to dress in eccentric clothing. He was also a dog lover, a passion that neighbor Nicole Colamesta said they bonded over.
“Everybody is having a really hard time processing it. This is a really quiet block. Everybody just looks out for each other here,” Colamesta said. “You can’t stop thinking about it because it’s right in our backyard.”
Police asked anyone with information to contact homicide detectives at 215-686-3334 or to call the police tip line at 215-686-8477.
Staff writer Maggie Prosser contributed to this article.
Following one of the toughest divisions in the NFL, one that featured the reigning Super Bowl champions, as well as some of the biggest names in the sport — including the Eagles’ A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts, Cowboys’ Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, Commanders’ Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin, and Giants’ Russell Wilson and Malik Nabers — seemed like appointment viewing.
However, it took a turn after a number of setbacks plagued each team. The Commanders (3-8) lost star quarterback Daniels to a dislocated elbow in Week 9. The Giants (2-9) have started three different quarterbacks and fired head coach Brian Daboll. The Cowboys (4-5-1) have battled inconsistency while adjusting under first-year coach Brian Schottenheimer. Even the Eagles (8-2), who are running away with the division, are still trying to figure out their offense and drama continues to surround Brown.
It’s not exactly the tight race fans were expecting — but there’s still likely to be plenty of drama. Fans can now get an early look at the series after HBO revealed its first trailer.
Hard Knocks: In Season with the NFC East will premiere on HBO on Dec. 2 and can be streamed on HBO Max. New episodes will premiere every Tuesday throughout the end of the NFL regular season and into the playoffs.
Philadelphia City Council is attempting once again to change city law to allow members to keep their jobs while running for higher office, an effort that has already failed three times in the last 20 years.
Maybe the fourth time’s really the charm?
This attempt is a little bit different. A Council committee on Wednesday advanced legislation to change the 70-year-old resign-to-run rule that requires city officeholders to leave their jobs while campaigning for another office.
But the legislation — which must be approved by a majority of voters through a ballot question — doesn’t repeal the rule entirely. It merely narrows it to allow members to keep their seats if they are seeking state or federal office, such as seats in Congress or the state General Assembly.
Under the new proposal, Philadelphia’s resign-to-run rule would remain in place for members seeking a city office, like mayor or district attorney.
That distinction makes the rule change more likely to become reality, said Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, who sponsored the legislation even though voters rejected attempts to eliminate the rule in 2007 and 2014.
More than a year ago, Thomas proposed that the city try again to eliminate the rule entirely. But this week, he amended his proposal to apply only to those seeking state or federal office, calling that a compromise.
“I personally think that you should be able to run for mayor and keep your seat in City Council,” Thomas said. “But that’s not what the majority of people who I’ve talked to feel. And I don’t think that this should be about how I feel. It should be about what’s best for the city.”
A necessary measure or a barrier to entry?
Thomas, a Democrat in his second term who represents the city at-large, is one of several Council members rumored to have aspirations for higher office. But there is not currently an obvious seat for him or his colleagues to seek.
Thomas said he is not currently interested in serving in Washington — he has two young children — but said he has some “amazing colleagues” who may want to run for Congress in the future.
Councilmember Isaiah Thomas speaks during a City Council Committee on Legislative Oversight hearing held at the Museum of the American Revolution in April.
The resign-to-run rule has been codified in the Home Rule Charter since 1951 when the charter was established. Proponents have long said that public servants should not be influencing policy while campaigning for another office.
But others contend that the rule — which applies to Council members, row office holders, and members of the mayor’s administration — creates an unnecessary barrier for people who want to run for higher office but can’t financially withstand giving up their salary.
The rule also recently led to a handful of lawmaker vacancies. In 2022, six of City Council’s 17 members — including now-Mayor Cherelle L. Parker — resigned to run for mayor, at times making it complicated for the city’s legislative body to govern.
Ethics questions emerge
Multiple ethics officers said they oppose the change as it’s currently proposed. Jordana Greenwald, general counsel for the city’s Board of Ethics, said the board was not involved in drafting the rule change, and has a handful of “technical” concerns about its implementation.
“What we don’t want is for this to be passed and then it to become something where there are unintended problems or pitfalls for people who choose to take advantage,” Greenwald said.
Thomas said there is “plenty of time” to address the board’s concerns before passage. He is hopeful the legislation can be passed in time for a question to appear on the 2026 primary election ballot in May.
But Lauren Cristella, CEO of the good-government group Committee of Seventy, questioned the urgency and said Council should give the Board of Ethics time to do its “due diligence.”
While the Committee of Seventy has supported past attempts to repeal resign-to-run, Cristella said she does not understand the purpose of a carveout for members seeking state or federal office.
And she said any repeal should be paired with a three-term limit for Council members, who are currently not term limited.
“Philadelphians deserve comprehensive, not piecemeal, reform here,” she said.
Several Council members said they support Thomas’ legislation, pointing out that state and federal lawmakers do not need to resign from their jobs to seek higher office.
“It’s an issue of consistency across the board,” said Councilmember Cindy Bass, a Democrat who represents parts of North and Northwest Philadelphia. “It’s crazy when everyone’s doing something different.”
