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  • Americans’ pride in U.S. history and democracy drops, polls find

    Americans’ pride in U.S. history and democracy drops, polls find

    WASHINGTON — Americans have grown less proud of their country’s history or the way its democracy works over the past decade, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

    Americans’ pride in the U.S. on several key attributes has dropped since 2017 — including the nation’s military and its political influence around the globe — according to the survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. This poll was conducted in April, as the United States and Iran fought over the Strait of Hormuz in a prolonged war that started with the U.S. and Israel launching strikes on Iran.

    New Gallup polling also finds that only 53% of U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” proud to be an American, the lowest reading in the trend dating back to 2001.

    The findings point to a broad decline in patriotic sentiment over a tumultuous period that included most of President Donald Trump’s first term, the COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation that contributed to a backlash against President Joe Biden. That timeframe also covers Trump’s return to the White House, where he’s taken more aggressive actions on immigration and issues abroad.

    Much of the falling positivity comes from Democrats, who have become increasingly disenchanted with the country since Trump’s first term.

    At the same time, most U.S. adults say that being an American is “extremely” or “very” important to their identity, highlighting an enduring connection, even as some become increasingly critical of the country’s past or the government’s current actions.

    American pride declines on the armed forces, democracy

    Americans’ pride in the way democracy works in the U.S. has declined 14 percentage points, falling from 42% in February 2017 to 28% now.

    In addition, Americans’ pride in their armed forces has dropped 19 percentage points since 2017, and pride in the U.S.’s history has declined 14 percentage points. In each case, the drop is largely driven by Democrats, with some movement among independents as well.

    Karla Galdamez — a 48-year-old Democrat who used to teach U.S. history — believes America has regressed under the Trump administration. While the Californian is not proud of Trump, she is pleased with how far the U.S. has come in 250 years.

    “It’s a country that really wanted to be different and really wanted to be better,” she said. ”Despite some of the very ugly history that we have of segregation and slavery … if you look at the trajectory of the last 250 years, we’ve done nothing but get better and move toward a more egalitarian nation.”

    Only 14% of Democrats and 28% of independents say they are “extremely” proud to be an American, according to Gallup’s new poll, compared with 70% of Republicans.

    The AP-NORC poll found that Republicans are especially likely to be proud of the nation’s armed forces. About 9 in 10 Republicans say the military makes them “extremely” or “very” proud, compared with about 6 in 10 U.S. adults.

    Samantha Fulks, a 40-year-old in San Antonio, Texas, says she’s proud to be an American and doesn’t hide it. The Texas Republican showcases that pride with an American flag in her front yard — as well as Trump flags in the back yard — and she plans to wear red, white, and blue on the Fourth of July. Fulks comes from a military family, and while she believes the country’s involvement in Iran is unnecessary, she remains a proud supporter of the military.

    “I still support our troops no matter what they do,” Fulks said.

    Being an American matters more for identity among Republicans, older adults

    Matt Stafford, a 39-year-old in Massachusetts, is proud of being an American, even if the U.S. political system frustrates him.

    He has a bald eagle tattooed on his back to represent the United States, its freedoms, and “all the things we’re supposed to stand for as a country.” But despite that national pride, he often finds himself frustrated by politicians on both sides. Stafford — a centrist who identifies as “politically homeless” — wants Democrats and Republicans to come together to look out for their constituents in middle America.

    “I love America, but our biggest problem is how we’re pushing both sides — like the left and the right — to the extremes,” he said.

    For many Americans, their partisanship is often intertwined with their national identity. The poll finds that Republicans are much likelier than Democrats or independents to say being an American is “extremely” or “very” important to their personal identity.

    Younger people are also much less likely than older people to say being an American is highly important to their personal identity. About three-quarters of Americans ages 60 and older say being an American is highly important to them, compared with only about one-third of U.S. adults under 30.

    Race or ethnicity matters more to Black Americans

    The AP-NORC survey found that the vast majority of Black Americans — 73% — say their race or ethnicity is “extremely” or “very” important to how they see themselves, higher than the share that say that about being an American.

    Vincent Harris, a 60-year-old in California, says his identity as a Black man rises above other attributes for him because of how Black men are treated in America.

    “A lot of people are scared of Black men just because we are Black and we are male. And that’s crazy,” Harris said. “People don’t even take you for who you are as a person; they just look at your race.”

    About half of Hispanic Americans say their race or ethnicity is highly important to them, compared with 22% of white Americans.

    Black and Hispanic adults are also more likely than white adults to say their family’s ancestry or country of origin is highly important to their personal identity.

    Harris, who identifies as a gay man, says being an American is “a wonderful thing” because of the freedoms that Americans have, despite the obstacles he’s had to overcome.

    “It’s great to be an American — regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or whatever. As long as you have that freedom of choice as an American, that’s a great thing,” Harris said. “Right now, I wouldn’t live in any other country in the world. I’m here. I love it.”

  • Medicare is about to cover GLP-1 drugs for weight loss. Here’s what to know.

    Medicare is about to cover GLP-1 drugs for weight loss. Here’s what to know.

    Beginning Wednesday, Medicare will cover GLP-1 drugs for weight loss for the first time, with patients responsible for a $50-a-month co-payment that makes it far cheaper than cash prices without insurance.

    The move will unleash a surge in prescriptions for patients 65 and older and younger people with disabilities who are covered by the government health insurance program.

    Generally, insurance coverage has been spotty for the revolutionary weight-loss drugs, largely because of the budget-busting impacts of high costs and huge demand. Coverage under Medicare, which covers 70 million Americans through the traditional insurance and privatized Medicare Advantage, will go a long way to plugging gaps.

    But there are important considerations under the Trump administration’s initiative. The coverage is temporary, set to expire at the end of 2027. It is not known whether, or how, Medicare will continue coverage after its 18-month pilot, which is called the Bridge program.

    “It’s certainly good news for Medicare beneficiaries who have been essentially shut out of the market for GLP-1s for weight loss if they wanted to use insurance coverage,” said Juliette Cubanski, vice president and director of Medicare policy at KFF, the nonprofit health care research organization. “However, it is a temporary program. It is not a permanent change in Medicare coverage.”

    Unless the coverage is extended, millions of patients who are expected to benefit will face a choice beginning in January 2028 of paying higher cash prices for the drugs or stopping taking them ― which, based on the current GLP-1s, would probably cause their weight to rebound.

    Additionally, coverage is not automatic. It is subject to preapproval under a process known as “prior authorization,” which can slow down access even for patients who qualify. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has outlined a process requiring multiple steps between providers and pharmacies and its insurance contractor for the project, Humana.

    “I think that is going to cause a bit of friction in the process,” Cubanski said.

    CMS said it expects preapprovals to take under 72 hours. Here are answers to essential questions about how the program will work.

    What drugs will be covered?

    Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, the manufacturers of brand-name GLP-1 drugs, are the suppliers through a deal with President Donald Trump’s administration. Eli Lilly’s weekly Zepbound injection and Foundayo daily tablet will be covered, as will Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, both in weekly injection and daily pill form.

    “These treatments are a major medical advancement, but too many seniors are currently unable to access them due to high cost,” CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said, announcing the plan last month.

    People taking Zepbound on average lost 21 percent of their body weight over 72 weeks in clinical trials. Wegovy injection patients lost 15 percent over 68 weeks, and Wegovy pill patients lost 13.4 percent after 64 weeks. Foundayo patients attained 11.1 percent weight loss over 72 weeks.

    Who qualifies?

    The government’s criteria for coverage is aimed at making sure beneficiaries whose health is at risk because of obesity get access through Medicare. Patients looking to lose weight for lifestyle or cosmetic reasons won’t qualify.

    The criteria is based on an individual’s “body mass index,” which is a calculation that takes into account height and weight. People will qualify if their BMI is equal to or greater than 35.

    Someone with a BMI of 30 or above will qualify if they also have one or more of these other health conditions that puts them at risk: heart failure, uncontrolled high blood pressure or kidney failure.

    A person can qualify with a BMI as low as 27 — which is considered overweight, not obese — if they also have prediabetes, a history of heart attack, a previous stroke or symptomatic peripheral artery disease.

    Crucially, even if someone’s BMI is below the threshold, if they started one of the weight-loss drugs before the CMS program started when they were within the qualifying range, they still will be covered.

    For example, if patient had a BMI of 38 when they began taking Zepbound, but are now at 31, they will still qualify for the benefit.

    Who handles prior authorization?

    Winning coverage approval could prove to be an ordeal, and doctors are bracing for bottlenecks — especially with a huge volume of prescriptions flooding the system starting Wednesday.

    “It’s going to be a lot all at once: the number of prescriptions, the paperwork, the prior authorizations, the work for the clinics, patients and pharmacies,” said Christopher Weber, medical director of bariatric services at Ascension Wisconsin and a board member of the Obesity Medicine Association.

    CMS is expecting prior authorization requests to be approved within 24 to 72 hours.

    “I would not be surprised if it’s substantially longer,” Weber said.

    The 18-month pilot is being operated outside the Medicare Part D drug benefit, so the private health insurance companies that offer Part D plans are not involved. Instead, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has selected Humana to serve as the central processing point for deciding coverage. Humana declined to comment.

    CMS said in response to questions that it is working to avoid delays.

    “CMS has disseminated educational materials and will provide ongoing support to pharmacies and providers on the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge to ensure that clinicians and pharmacies have the resources that they need to engage with beneficiaries,” the agency said.

    Why is this program temporary?

    Federal law prohibits Medicare from covering weight-loss drugs, so the Trump administration is doing it under its authority to conduct a temporary “demonstration” project.

    The relatively short-term nature of the benefit — called the Bridge program — is raising practical and policy questions.

    “When it expires, it is unclear how beneficiaries will access GLP-1 medications at an affordable price,” Stacie B. Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University wrote in a New England Journal of Medicine article published Saturday. That raises the prospect, she said, that patients will stop taking the drugs and regain weight, which will lead to “poor clinical outcomes.”

    “The Bridge program could result in substantial additional governmental and beneficiary spending without providing longer-term health benefits,” she wrote.

    Will the co-payment apply to my Part D deductible?

    The $50-a-month co-payment cost will not count toward annual deductibles in Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, because the pilot program is separate from Part D. It also will not count toward the $2,100 Medicare out-of-pocket spending cap for drug coverage.

    The Trump administration had planned another pilot where Part D plans would have managed the coverage, but not enough of the private plans expressed interest, because they were concerned about exposure to unknown costs with the anticipated burst of new prescriptions, Cubanski said.

    “There is no evidence right now for making assumptions about how many additional beneficiaries will come into this market,” she said. “It left them with a lot of uncertainty.”

    What if I was already getting the drug for diabetes under Medicare?

    Patients who are already receiving Medicare coverage for one of the GLP-1 drugs for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and sleep apnea will continue to be covered by their Part D plan. They are not eligible to switch to the weight-loss pilot.

    How much will covering these drugs cost taxpayers?

    Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have agreed to sell the drugs to the government for $245 a month. That is in the middle of the range of what drug companies charge consumers without insurance, depending on dosage.

    The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has not released estimates of the total numbers of patients expected to take advantage of the program, or the expected spending.

    Some clues are contained in a previous estimate released by the Biden administration, which proposed offering similar, long-term coverage in late 2024. It said the cost would be $25 billion over 10 years. That would equal $2.5 billion a year, which is likely to be a low estimate, given the explosion in national demand.

    The Congressional Budget Office estimated it could cost $35 billion over eight years, with 12 million newly eligible people in 2026. That estimate has more generous criteria than what Medicare has adopted.

    Medicare spending on the new breed of weight-loss drugs has been skyrocketing already, without weight-loss coverage, according to an analysis by KFF. It reached $27.5 billion in 2024, although that gross spending was reduced by up to 50 percent by manufacturer rebates.

    Cubanski estimated that weight-loss coverage could add another $4 billion to $5 billion a year to Medicare’s tab. “It’s essentially all additional spending by the federal government,” she said.

    Of course, the hope is that helping millions of Medicare beneficiaries lose weight will reduce diseases linked to obesity, ultimately lowering costs. But when those savings will be realized, and how large they might be, remains unknown. The CBO estimated the savings for a longer-term program at $1 billion a year by 2034, a small fraction of the new spending.

  • DACA and TPS recipients pump billions into the U.S. economy. Trump wants them gone anyway.

    DACA and TPS recipients pump billions into the U.S. economy. Trump wants them gone anyway.

    Immigration is complicated. That makes polling on the topic difficult, as the same Americans who will tell you they support mass deportation one day will turn around and say they back a path to citizenship the next. So, which is it? Well, it depends.

    As crowded scenes of immigrants clustering at the southern border were endlessly repeated on TV, many Americans felt the Biden administration was not taking national security seriously and had flung open the golden door to anyone with a pulse and a sob story.

    Then, as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descended on Minneapolis, masked, heavily armed, and dangerously encouraged to ignore people’s constitutional rights — ultimately killing two U.S. citizens because they dared to question authority — even many Donald Trump supporters rose up to say this is not what they voted for.

    Unsurprisingly, most Americans fall somewhere in the middle — where balancing immigration control with humanitarian values looks at what makes the most sense for the country and for the people who are looking for a better life here.

    But that’s illegal immigration. On legal immigration, most Americans are all in, with only one in five opposing it. Why, then, is the Trump administration hell-bent on making life miserable for legal immigrants?

    DACA under threat as Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown comes for the Dreamers | Luis F. Carrasco

    Earlier this month, a court ruled against an administration decision that froze processing of immigration benefits like work permits and green-card applications for nationals of 39 countries targeted by a travel ban. These are people already in the United States legally who found themselves in limbo for months — many losing their jobs and risking deportation — after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services determined in January it would keep the $1 billion in fees these immigrants paid and give them nothing in return.

    Meanwhile, renewals under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for immigrants brought here as children have been hit with delays, and approvals of legal permanent residency applications, known as green cards, have fallen by around 16% — all part of the administration’s strategy of bureaucratic sabotage in the guise of “enhanced security.”

    The administration has also banned permanent legal residents from qualifying for government-backed small-business loans, while some immigrants, including DACA recipients, can no longer hold commercial driver’s licenses, regardless of possessing a legal work permit.

    Two U.S. Supreme Court decisions released last week will only continue to embolden the administration’s anti-legal immigrant push.

    Members of the Supreme Court sit for a group portrait in 2022. Bottom row, from left, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, and Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts. Top row, from left, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, and Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

    On Tuesday, the court’s conservative justices affirmed that border officers do not need “clear and convincing evidence” that a green-card holder seeking to reenter the U.S. has committed a crime to deny them entry. While I hope that one day the Clarence Thomas “border vibe check” joins the “Kavanaugh stop” in the annals of legal ignominy surrounding immigration enforcement, the court’s 6-3 decision makes a mockery of the idea that someone is innocent until proven guilty.

    Perhaps even more immediately concerning is the high court’s ruling Thursday allowing the president to end Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for roughly 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians.

    The TPS program, a bipartisan congressional creation under President George H.W. Bush, gives immigrants work permits and protection from deportation if they come from countries determined to be too dangerous to go back to. While the word temporary is right there in the name, some program participants have been in the country for decades and have built lives here. For others, the nations they fled are still unsafe to return to, including Haiti, which is in the grip of gang violence and widespread hunger.

    How an anti-immigrant and antisemitic conspiracy theory became U.S. policy | Luis F. Carrasco

    That the conservative justices also found that Trump’s comments against Haitians were not “overtly racial” is absurd. Trump infamously referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries” in the same 2018 meeting in which he wondered aloud why America couldn’t have more immigrants from places like Norway. For context, this is the same administration that considers white South Africans the only persecuted minority worthy of asylum in the U.S.

    For the moment, the court’s decision applies only to Haitian and Syrian immigrants with TPS, but it has opened the door for the president to do what he has wanted to do since his first term, which is to end the program wholesale. That would impact the 1.3 million TPS holders from around 17 nations and their families, many of whom are U.S. citizens.

    While the human impact on communities of this mass de-legalization effort is immeasurable, the economic damage of Trump’s anti-immigrant policies is not.

    The 500,000 or so DACA recipients, for example, contribute nearly $17 billion to the U.S. economy annually, also paying into federal social safety net programs they are not legally able to access themselves, according to the immigration rights group FWD.us. TPS recipients contribute about $29 billion a year to the economy and pay $7.8 billion in combined federal, payroll, state, and local taxes.

    An immigration policy calculator produced by the Manhattan Institute finds that the kind of policies favored by the administration would add $618 billion to the national debt over 10 years, and leave every American poorer.

    Reasonable people can disagree on immigration, but at the very least, Trump’s exclusionary ideas are an economic dead end.

  • Incyte is built to grow, says the company’s CEO, who sold previous biotechs for billions

    Incyte is built to grow, says the company’s CEO, who sold previous biotechs for billions

    Bill Meury got the call early last year after the last company he ran got sold for $3 billion. Billionaire biotech investor Julian C. Baker asked Meury: Would you be interested in running Incyte, a 2,800-person, publicly traded drug developer in Wilmington with $5 billion in yearly sales?

    Under its previous CEO, Hervé Hoppenot, Incyte had multiplied sales of its breakout drug Jakafi (“JACK-ah-fye”), which treats blood cancers and transplant conditions. The company plowed revenues into hiring scientists, building labs, buying smaller businesses, and testing new products against the day Jakafi’s key patent runs out in 2028.

    But new Incyte products were coming to market slowly. Shares peaked at over $130 in 2017, then fell into the $50s by early 2025, when Meury took over that June.

    Meury’s signing-year compensation at Incyte was valued at over $30 million, mostly in stock grants and in options vesting over six years. (Hoppenot was given $17 million for his retirement year.)

    With Meury as CEO — and Baker, whose firm is its largest investor, succeeding Hoppenot as board chair — Incyte shares have again topped $100 a share. Investors are hoping that Incyte delivers the drugs it has been readying for market — or that the company gets sold at a premium price like Meury’s previous employers Anthos, Karuna, Allergan, and Forest Labs.

    Baker is also a director and investor in Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, a $1 billion (yearly sales), $12 billion (stock value) company based in Conshohocken, best known for Rezdiffra, which treats liver disease.

    Meury, who has been building a top management team with new chief financial, human-resources, and strategy officers, took questions from The Inquirer in his office atop Incyte’s glass-fronted hillside headquarters near U.S. Route 202.

    The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

    Why did you take this job?

    I did a great deal of diligence. I found their pipeline [of new therapies] was fundamentally under-appreciated. The company has excellent R&D and commercial capabilities. It has excellent potential products in three of the strongest areas of biotech — oncology, hematology, immunology — really good areas for long-term growth.

    That’s ultimately what companies solve for. When you have products, you win.

    Don’t all big pharma companies have that?

    Incyte has top-10 pharma scientists without the bureaucracy. Our researchers punch above our weight. Incyte is not a diversified giant, but it’s not a small start-up either. We avoid the downsides of both.

    Just for one example, Patrick Mayes, our chief scientific officer, is out of the University of Pennsylvania. We have a very capable group of scientists — biologists, chemists, translational researchers, drug developers. We are able to colocate here in Wilmington, which results in faster iteration.

    We have a lot to prove over the next couple of years. If we can advance half our assets through Phase 3 [clinical trial] to FDA approval of some scientifically and medically important products, Incyte will be much larger.

    I believe we have the potential to double or triple [sales] in five to seven years.

    For example?

    We are developing the first oral-targeted treatment for pancreatic cancer, which has been considered an undruggable target for decades.

    This is the Everest of oncology. Our scientists designed a small molecule to target KRAS G12D, a protein that causes [cancerous] cells [to reproduce uncontrollably]. We are in a race to be No. 1 with an approved treatment.

    And we have therapies for a group of blood cancers and for colorectal cancer. These are first-in-class molecules that can make a pronounced difference for those cancers.

    How can anyone avoid the ‘bureaucracy’ you say slows successful organizations?

    You can’t solve bureaucracy through structure and process. You have to solve through the attitudes of exceptional leaders. Hervé built a great culture on good hiring decisions. You have a bunch of people that trust each other.

    Failure is always right around the corner. Management has to be self-aware, to know the strengths and weaknesses of the employees. We are not running the company from 30,000 feet.

    Do you expect your board and major shareholders will want you to sell Incyte, like your previous companies?

    In general, companies can have two value-creation paths: There’s the independent path, and then there’s merger and acquisition.

    The only path that a management team controls is the independent path. We are focused on running the company, building a great business for the employees, customers, physicians, and patients — and for the shareholders.

    It hurts companies when there is a merger and acquisition theme all around them. If [buyers with offers] approach us, we have to listen. But we are building this company for the next decade. Most people want to work with a company that wants to be around in 10 years.

    You’re not antimerger. On June 16, you agreed to buy Vega Therapeutics for up to $2 billion.

    Vega has a novel compound [a treatment for an inherited blood disease] that we believe has potential sales of over $1 billion. If we can do several deals like this that fit one of our categories, in this case hematology, we will do them. These will never be more important than internal R&D, but each can be a multiplier for our business, with the right risk-and-reward profile.

    By the time Jakafi loses exclusivity in December 2028 — and it may go beyond that — we will have $3 billion to $4 billion in non-Jakafi revenues.

    Americans aren’t happy with the cost and availability of medical care, including drugs. Do you see any hopeful signs?

    Three things have to be in place for biopharma to thrive: First, patent and trademark laws have to be predictable. Second, pricing policy has to be balanced. Third, FDA has to run effectively. There have been headwinds, but I think those pillars will be in place as disruption settles.

    Are U.S. consumers and employers subsidizing world drug development with our high prices?

    It’s true there’s an imbalance. But Americans have access to the best medical care in the world, such as novel cancer treatments.

    But we have to get a better framework for global pricing. You’d like to see prices outside the U.S. come up, if they are going to moderate inside the U.S.

    Can the U.S. compete with China?

    China will be a source of innovation and competition. We have four or five major biotech centers in the U.S. They have 15. China is here to stay. For the U.S. to remain the leader, we have to create an environment where biotech can continue to thrive.

    Incyte was founded in 2002 by scientists from Wilmington-based DuPont, but recent plans to grow your space stalled. Will Incyte keep growing here?

    In the last two years we have added more than 150 [in Delaware] and anticipate adding another 250 [by 2031]. We will be here for as long as I’m here. The biotech labor market is not as strong as Boston, but it is strong here, with Thomas Jefferson and Penn in Philadelphia, and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.

    We’ll grow somewhere else if we have to. I’m not religious about it. But the base of this company is here in Wilmington.

  • After bankruptcy and a kiln disaster, Felt and Fat is remaking itself

    After bankruptcy and a kiln disaster, Felt and Fat is remaking itself

    The vibrant, paint-flecked, confetti-esque glazed bowls are Philly icons. But at the end of January, these and hundreds of other ceramic dishes lay in ruins inside Felt and Fat’s kiln.

    The wreckage after a winter cold snap destroyed Felt and Fat’s kiln in January 2026.

    Philly’s back-to-back snowstorms and cold temperatures froze the ceramic producer’s warehouse’s sprinkler lines, causing sprinkler heads to crack.

    Mist blanketed Felt and Fat’s kiln — and kilns are not supposed to ever get wet — for 12 hours. The kiln was just over a year old, custom-ordered from the Netherlands. It cost over $300,000 and was the keystone of founder Nate Mell’s plans for expansion.

    The kiln took a year to arrive and was outfitted with a specialized rack system that made loading and unloading pieces — up to 250,000 per year — easy.

    “The kiln company told us they couldn’t repair it and with high-pressure gas going into the kiln, even if they could, they couldn’t speak for it in terms of liability,” said Mell, 40. The electrical components were all soaked and frozen. The inside was completely destroyed. “We still haven’t quantified our revenue loss,” he said, despite getting his old kiln back in use about a month after the disaster.

    The kiln explosion came on the heels of Felt and Fat filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. “We were really struggling in 2024 and 2025, which was a terrible time to raise money. The early 2020s for us were all about growth,” said Mell.

    To get out of bankruptcy, Mell had to come up with a reorganization plan for his creditors. It required getting back to Felt and Fat’s roots.

    It all started in 2013, when Ellen Yin and Eli Kulp commissioned custom ceramics from Mell for the original High Street restaurant, which opened in September of that year. He officially formed the business in 2014, and over the next decade, Felt and Fat grew from a two-person ceramics studio — encompassing Mell and former business partner Wynn Bauer, who left the company in 2017 — into one of the region’s most recognizable dinnerware manufacturers. Their plates were seemingly at every award-winning Philadelphia restaurant, from River Twice to Tesiny to the now-closed Laurel.

    “We had been growing the same way everyone else grows: build a factory, add people, add machines,” said Mell, a Temple grad who admitted that this trajectory had little to do with what he had been trained in. “I went to the Tyler School of Art and Architecture and studied glass but took classes in ceramics. I worked as a server in Philadelphia restaurants for eight years and started delving deeper into ceramics by working part-time at the Clay Studio back when it was in Old City.”

    Felt and Fat provides Provenance with custom ceramic dinnerware.

    He realized that what he and his team does well is “great design, really interesting glaze work with relatively low minimum-order quantities, and interesting collaborations.” His expansion plans were taking him away from that design and glaze work. “The bulk of what we were doing, and what every other factory does, is taking clay and turning it into a shape.”

    Collection of canapés served at Provenance in 2024 on Felt and Fat ceramic dinnerware.

    He reached out to an old contact, the company Anfora, located outside of Mexico City, which has been making ceramics for over a century. “They do massive volume, making stuff the way we do. They treat their people well and make the same quality dinnerware with the same porcelain clay we use.”

    Food from Zahav on Felt and Fat dishes.

    His restructuring plan meant Anfora would produce the shapes for Felt and Fat, and they would be glazed by hand in Philadelphia. Mell has just received the first of his shapes from Anfora, with more to come.

    “We’re going to have our standard shapes formed at Anfora. But we’re going to expand our high-touch, low-output forming — hand thrown and slip cast,” he said. “We’re going to be even more handmade than we were before. And we’ll be able to lean into that. But we’ll also have the consistency of our standard pieces.”

    Felt and Fat dishes are stacked and lined up at the ceramic company’s Kensington facility.

    These days, Felt and Fat has just seven employees, including Mell. “Everybody gets their hands in everything. We’re a tight little team,” said Mell, though he hopes to add more employees at a more sustainable rate than before.

    “The two years leading up to this were tortuous,” said Mell. But he hopes the future will be brighter, with slower, more purposeful growth.

    Felt and Fat’s studio is open for browsing by appointment from Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 3750 M St., Philadelphia, Pa., 19124. To make an appointment, email support@feltandfat.com or call 215-259-8773. Orders can also be placed online at Felt and Fat’s website and picked up at the studio.

  • U.S. refinery accidents, including in Pa., raise questions about cost impact as fuel demand rises

    U.S. refinery accidents, including in Pa., raise questions about cost impact as fuel demand rises

    A leak and then a fire that stalled production at Delta Air Lines’ Monroe Energy oil refinery in Delaware County is just one of several unplanned stoppages that have dented U.S. oil production this summer, even as companies work to keep up with shifting supply and demand from the Iran war.

    A welcome drop in U.S. gas prices “masks” a string of U.S. supply issues that put stress on fuel markets, Industrial Info Resources told clients in a note last week.

    Beyond the stoppage at the 200,000-barrels-a-day Trainer plant, problems include:

    Fire at Delta Air Lines’ Monroe Energy refinery in Trainer, Delaware County, on Friday.

    In all, U.S. refineries can produce up to 18 million barrels a day.

    Refinery margins tripled after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February and the Strait of Hormuz closed, and refineries felt pressure to boost production during what is normally the spring “maintenance season” of reduced production, said Stephen Schork, cofounder of the daily Schork Report on energy markets, based in King of Prussia.

    Three injured in a fire at Delta’s Monroe Energy refinery in Delco

    During the missile attacks, “crude oil went as high as $120-$130 a barrel; jet fuel traded at $180-$190 a barrel,” tripling the usual profit margins, Schork said. “More than half the jet fuel on the East Coast comes from the Monroe refinery.”

    Gasoline and diesel was also in high demand, he said.

    “When you can make $50 [in profit] a barrel, you will be running that refinery as hot as you can,” Schork said. But “when you run as complex a piece of engineering as a refinery at nearly 100% capacity, the risk of unscheduled maintenance is increased.”

    With prices now dropping, pressure from short-term shutdowns should be less, he said.

    Overall, petroleum prices that spiked during the war have dropped since the U.S.-Iran ceasefire began bringing back oil refining and shipping in nations that had been attacking each others’ oil infrastructure.

    The Brent crude benchmark price of oil fell to near prewar levels for the first time since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February and Iran retaliated with attacks on U.S. allies.

    U.S. gasoline prices fell below $4 a gallon in late June, according to AAA.

    But with the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve half depleted to prevent prices from rising higher in the near future and oil-thirsty countries scouring the globe for new supplies, the industry is sensitive to slowdowns. President Donald Trump’s energy adviser, Kevin Hassett, has said he’s confident reserves are adequate.

    Delta’s Monroe Energy refinery in Delco shuts due to internal leak

    Monroe confirmed an internal leak at the Trainer facility on Tuesday, six months after addressing a long-running gasoline leak at its Aston tank farm.

    Industry sources say the plant leak shut the plant’s distilleries, which process up to 200,000 barrels of oil a day, much of it for jet fuel, to help Delta control the cost of keeping its commercial jets flying.

    According to a Monroe Energy statement, a process pump at the Trainer plant caught fire Thursday, injuring a worker. County officials said two others were treated for heat effects after refinery staff and volunteer fire companies mobilized to fight the blaze. Monroe said air monitoring showed no risk to people outside the plant. The fire is under investigation.

    Firefighters outside the plant noticed smoke rising from the refinery at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, even before reports began flowing in from neighboring fire companies and Delaware County emergency workers, who urged residents to shelter in place, according to a statement by the Upper Chichester Volunteer Fire Co.

    The fire was declared under control, and the shelter order lifted at 2:54 p.m.

    In line with company policy not to discuss operations, a Monroe spokesperson declined to estimate when the plant would be fully back online.

    The earthquake this week in Venezuela, an oil source for East Coast U.S. refiners, did not disrupt production at the nation’s main Paranagua oil complex, but the second-largest concentration, at Morón, was temporarily stopped, Reuters reported. The loss of electric power and other infrastructure damage across Venezuela is expected to slow tanker shipments out of the stricken nation.

  • Pa.’s Medicaid rollback on obesity drugs is a crisis in slow motion

    Pa.’s Medicaid rollback on obesity drugs is a crisis in slow motion

    The assault on healthcare for America’s most vulnerable is not only coming from Washington. It’s creeping into statehouses across the nation — even here in the commonwealth.

    In Pennsylvania, Medicaid beneficiaries rang in the New Year without the obesity treatments they previously had access to, thanks to the actions of policymakers who moved to prohibit Medicaid coverage to meet tighter state budget benchmarks.

    As a cardiologist who has spent my career treating many Black and brown patients, I have witnessed the consequences of unmanaged obesity play out in the most brutal and preventable ways: men in their 40s having heart attacks, women with decades of life ahead of them receiving stroke diagnoses, and heart failure caught too late for treatment to make a real difference. I have sat with families and explained that the disease that took their loved one was manageable — if caught earlier, with the right treatment. It’s devastating.

    That’s why Pennsylvania’s decision to strip Medicaid coverage for obesity medications, effective Jan. 1 of this year, is a sign of further catastrophe that may be coming.

    Pennsylvania has long been heralded as a champion of health equity, but our legislature is unintentionally sending a message that advances in medicine should be reserved for the privileged, the justification being cost. However, this rationale suffers from tunnel vision — the cost of untreated obesity and its complications is far greater. Treating obesity prevents its complications and saves money.

    Obesity is not a lifestyle failure. It is a chronic disease that exacerbates cardiovascular conditions, already killing Black and brown Pennsylvanians at disproportionate rates. Obesity costs the U.S. nearly $173 billion annually in direct medical costs and more than $1.4 trillion in total economic impact. Cutting access to treatment will only worsen the obesity epidemic and continue to drive up costs.

    Nearly 60% of Black women live with obesity, along with half of all Black and Latino adults. Pennsylvania is home to approximately 3.5 million adults living with obesity — one in three residents, irrespective of race or ethnicity. That number is projected to reach one in two by 2030. But for Black and brown communities, already burdened by decades of systemic underinvestment in preventive care and access to healthy food, the cardiovascular consequences of untreated obesity are the daily reality of emergency rooms and cardiac units across Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and everywhere in between.

    Gaps in state budgets shouldn’t be closed by compromising the health of the underserved, communities of color, those with disabilities, and millions of others who depend on public healthcare coverage. Access to healthcare should be more than just a budget debate — it’s both a civil rights and a human rights issue.

    At the same time, when patients cannot access FDA-approved obesity medications through Medicaid, they resort to whatever fills the void. Right now, that means a predatory market of unregulated, potentially unsafe, compounded GLP-1 drugs aggressively marketed to low-income communities.

    Attorney General Dave Sunday has already warned Pennsylvanians about the dangers of these products. The Shapiro administration itself fined a Chester County pharmacy $1 million for producing unauthorized injectable weight-loss drugs. The state knows this market exists, but fails to see how cutting Medicaid coverage for FDA-approved treatments drives patients straight into it.

    State Rep. Justin Fleming (D., Dauphin) has introduced the GLP-1 Safety Act, which would crack down on illegal compounders and protect Pennsylvanians from dangerous counterfeit medications. His bill deserves passage.

    However, enforcement without access is not a health policy. It forces patients to choose between nothing and something dangerous. For Black and brown patients in Pennsylvania, this is not hypothetical, but their current reality.

    Pennsylvania once led the nation by expanding Medicaid to cover chronic conditions like obesity. But now, with Washington dismantling Medicaid at the federal level — 310,000 Pennsylvanians are projected to lose coverage under federal cuts beginning this year — it’s important that the state moves in the right direction at the state level.

    Choosing exclusion and shortsighted cuts is weak policy and will not achieve future healthcare savings. Pennsylvania can once again lead in equitable access to obesity treatment. Our shared progress in the fight against obesity is not negotiable.

    Marietta Ambrose is a cardiologist in Philadelphia and is affiliated with the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. She is a member of the Association of Black Cardiologists.

  • Cheryl Reeve, Elena Delle Donne join Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame: ‘I ate, drank, and slept everything WNBA’

    Cheryl Reeve, Elena Delle Donne join Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame: ‘I ate, drank, and slept everything WNBA’

    KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — With Tennessee’s Candace Parker among the eight inductees in the 28th class of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the site of Tennessee Theatre, which opened in 1999, seemed perfect.

    But Philadelphia could have worked equally well as a magnet attraction, considering the number of people at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame with ties to the area.

    South Jersey native and former La Salle star Cheryl Reeve, longtime coach of the Minnesota Lynx who, with 379 victories, is one away from being the all-time league leader in a 17-year career, became the second WNBA mentor to gain induction.

    She already is the combined leader when playoff appearances are factored.

    Reeve is tied with former Houston Comets coach Van Chancellor at four WNBA titles and is in the hunt again this season. She also guided the 2024 USA Olympic team in Paris to its eighth straight gold medal.

    Kahleah Copper is ‘just a kid from Norf Philly.’ Now, it’s immortalized on her shoes.

    The former high school hoops star at Washington Township was presented by one of her assistants, former Lynx great Lindsay Whelan. Among her supporters were recently retired Northwestern coach Joe McKeown, a Father Judge graduate who had Reeve as an assistant at George Washington, and Taj McWilliams-Franklin, who played for her in Minnesota and was also on the ABL Philadelphia Rage.

    “She always treated everyone the same,” McWilliams-Franklin said of playing for Reeve.

    Delaware grad Elena Delle Donne, out of Wilmington, now retired and the first managing director of USA 3×3 women’s national team, was also in the class and was introduced by former Immaculata star Marianne Stanley, who was an assistant coaching her on the Washington Mystics’ 2019 WNBA championship team.

    Delle Donne was the No. 2 draft pick by the Chicago Sky in 2013, earning WNBA Rookie of the Year that season. She was twice league MVP and was the first member of the 50/40/90 club in 2019, shooting 51.5% from the field, 43% from three-point range, and 97.4% from the line.

    “That’s a whole season,” Stanley said of Delle Donne’s shooting accuracy.

    Elena Delle Donne was a two-time WNBA MVP and Olympic gold medalist. She retired after the 2023 season.

    Acclaimed ESPN broadcaster Doris Burke, who could not attend but earned induction as a contributor, has lived in Ardmore since 2018. She has been a pioneering woman on NBA broadcasts besides having done WNBA and NCAA national women’s games earlier in her career as an analyst.

    The late Barbara Kennedy-Dixon out of Clemson, whose husband accepted the award on her behalf, was presented by all-time Kentucky great Val Still, who lives in Palmyra, N.J.

    Kennedy-Dixon, one of eight players in NCAA history with 3,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, still holds a slew of ACC single season marks. and in 1982 playing against Penn State, she scored the first basket in the inaugural NCAA women’s tourney.

    Meanwhile, taking over as the Hall’s executive director this year is former Tennessee star Michelle Marciniak, known as “Spinderella” in her high school days as a point guard in Allentown, and who also played on the Philadelphia Rage at the same time as Dawn Staley.

    Ex-Villanova star Lucy Olsen continues her growth with the WNBA’s Washington Mystics

    Parker and Delle Donne are also headed for Springfield, Mass., in August as part of the Naismith inductee class as is former Tennessee notable Chamique Holdsclaw, who was Parker’s presenter.

    “She changed the game,” Holdsclaw said of Parker, who then saluted likewise in her acceptance speech.

    The other inductees Saturday night were Amaya Valdemoro, a former WNBA star in Houston and the first Spanish star inducted here, former Colorado star Isabelle Fijalkowski, the first French player into the WNBA, drafted in the inaugural 1997 season and whose daughter 6-foot-7 Alicia Tournebize now plays for Staley at South Carolina, and recently retired Kirkwood Community College coach Kim Muhl, who is the NJCAA leader with a 1,108-178 record and nine titles. He holds the NJCAA D-II women’s record of 39 straight wins.

    One of the more opinionated individuals in the WNBA, Reeve during Friday’s media session got emotional, shedding a few tears talking about playing for Speedy Morris at La Salle and how much of his coaching she has taken with her to her career.

    Taking about her high school coach Dawn Schilling, later married to Eagles star John Bunting, Reeve, who also played softball, credited Schilling for steering her to continue basketball “with more opportunities.”

    In Saturday’s speech, she made references on working Immaculata coach Cathy Rush’s camps and mentioned John Miller, who also coached her at La Salle.

    Reeve, who was taking a 5 a.m. flight Sunday to rejoin the Lynx at Dallas, has had her share of controversy with WNBA officials and talking about seeing some listed as inductees here, quipped “I can’t wait to get one.”

    Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve is in her 17th season with the team.

    Talking about her first WNBA job as an assistant to Anne Donovan at a $5,000 salary and later with Dan Hughes and Bill Laimbeer before hired with the Lynx, Reeve said, “From 2001 until today, I ate, drank, and slept everything WNBA. I experienced teams folding, I collected unemployment, and hearing my dad wonder when I was going to get a real job.

    “This game has given me a fulfilling lifetime of joy. To share the Hall with so many women’s basketball greats makes me glad I never got a real job.”

    Marciniak, doing her first welcome, noted her number was retired.

    “I had No. 3 before Parker, so yes my number is retired.”

    Delle Donne, who had a short commitment at UConn before landing home at Delaware to be closer to her sister Lizzie, who was born deaf, blind and cerebal with cerebral palsy, brought the house down in her opening remarks, expressing the warmth she felt from Knoxville.

    “I’m not sure if it’s because of this Hall of Fame honor or because I left UConn after 24 hours.”

    For Kahleah Copper, the WNBA’s offseason went from slow to a sprint after the CBA got done

    Saluting her sister, Delle Donne was emotional, saying, “Although you can’t hear me, I hope you can feel the impact you made on me. For the challenges most people couldn’t begin to understand … you’ve shown me that the hardest battles are met head-on without self-pity.”

    On her recent retirement after dealing with back issues late in her career, dealing with the pain, she decided it was time and was at peace with herself.

    She described her career as “a love story, that even had a brief divorce for volleyball until I came back.”

    Parker wore a suit designed as a tribute to her coach, the legendary Pat Summitt, who 10 years ago Sunday, died from complications of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

    “My continued desire to imitate Pat and how she attacked life every day proves there’s nobody like her,” Parker said. “Though she’ll be gone 10 years ago tomorrow, she’s still leaving a lasting impact that we all can and should draw from.”

  • Bryce Harper has proven he is still elite. Now, it’s Dave Dombrowski’s turn.

    Bryce Harper has proven he is still elite. Now, it’s Dave Dombrowski’s turn.

    The funny thing about Bryce Harper’s 2026 world-wrecking tour is that he has somehow managed to both vindicate his boss and hang him over the dunk tank. There isn’t an executive in Major League Baseball that should be feeling more pressure than Dave Dombrowski now that Harper has answered fully and satisfactorily the infamous question that the Phillies president posed this offseason.

    “Can he rise to the next level again?‚” Dombrowski asked about Harper after the Phillies’ postseason loss to the Dodgers. “I don’t really know that answer.”

    Eight months later, Dombrowski should know it better than anyone. The Phillies’ personnel boss has spent 84 games watching Harper bail him out of another failure of an offseason. One year after the Phillies’ superstar posted an .844 OPS that was his lowest since 2016, his current .915 OPS would be his best since 2021, when he hit .309/.429/.615 with 35 home runs en route to winning his second MVP.

    Kyle Schwarber launches 30th homer of the season to lift Phillies past Mets

    Harper’s 19 home runs in his first 83 games were his second-most as a member of the Phillies. His .391 wOBA ranked eighth in the major as of Saturday. His .278/.379/.536 batting line is pretty much exactly his career baseline. It is a lofty baseline. You might even call it elite.

    While Harper might argue that retribution is a dish best served raw (like milk), his performance this season actually lends some credence to his boss’ offseason critique. Harper isn’t proving Dombrowski wrong. He is proving him right.

    Fact is, Harper wasn’t an elite player in 2025. Between 2021 and 2024, Harper was one of five players in the majors with a wOBA of .390+. The other four were Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto and Yordan Alvarez. Add in Ronald Acuña Jr., Freddie Freeman, and Mookie Betts, and those were the truly elite hitters in Major League Baseball.

    Bryce Harper has hit 19 home runs this season.

    In 2025?

    Harper’s .361 wOBA ranked 25th, behind guys like Ramon Laureano (.364), Pete Alonso (.368) and Geraldo Perdomo (.370). That was Dombrowski’s whole point. You can certainly question whether it was an appropriate one to make. The under-the-hood numbers suggested that Harper’s “down” year was mostly attributable to chance.

    There weren’t any significant dips in his hard hit rate or his strikeout rate or his bat speed. He showed fewer signs of regression than most 32-year-old hitters. The Phillies could not have hoped for a better return on the first seven years of the 13-year, $330 million contract that Harper signed in 2019. As the old saying goes, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth and tell him he isn’t elite.

    At the same time, Dombrowski’s assessment was correct. In 2025, Harper’s production wasn’t in the same realm as a Judge or a Soto or an Ohtani. It just wasn’t. He was still a very, very good player. He just wasn’t a singular one.

    Here in 2026, Harper is reminding us just how much of an impact he can make when he is elite. The Phillies have been the best team in baseball since the beginning of May despite a lineup that has five regulars who have been 30% worse than league average as measured by OPS+. Harper’s 146 OPS+ is more than twice as high as those of four of the six guys who hit behind him in the lineup.

    The onus is now on Dombrowski to do his part.

    How active will Dave Dombrowski and the Phillies be at the MLB trade deadline?

    As good as the Phillies have been since replacing Rob Thomson with Don Mattingly, any realist should wonder how good they’d be with a roster that wasn’t completely reliant on two MVP seasons at the plate, two Cy Young seasons in the rotation, and one of the best closers in the game … and Brandon Marsh. It would be foolish for anybody to think that formula can carry them through a month of playoff baseball.

    With just over a month to go until the trade deadline, Dombrowski and his front office better have a serious plan for broadening the team’s potential contributors for a postseason series against the Dodgers or Braves.

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    Even with Marsh’s All-Star-worthy season, the Phillies’ outfield entered Sunday with the sixth-worst collective OPS in the majors. At catcher, theirs is the second-worst OPS. They rank in the bottom five at third base and shortstop and are 23rd at third base. But, hey, other than that they’ve been great.

    Right now, Dombrowski’s offseason looks like a near-total failure. Adolis García, J.T. Realmuto, Andrew Painter, Brad Keller, Justin Crawford — all received his stamp of approval as he tinkered with a roster that had suffered three straight playoff disappointments.

    Phillies won’t rush Andrew Painter’s return to majors. Instead, it’s about ‘getting himself’ right.

    Even if you are willing to credit Crawford with being a perfectly adequate bottom-of-the-order hitter at a premium position in center field, the aggregate output of the offseason maneuvering still qualifies as a man-made disaster.

    It may not be now or never. But it is getting close. The Phillies owe it to Harper, Schwarber, Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez and Jhoan Duran to aggressively address the holes that threaten to undermine one of the greatest efforts we’ve ever seen from five superstars in one season.

    Harper is still elite.

    The jury is out on Dombrowski.

  • Public vs. private sports | Sports Daily Newsletter

    Public vs. private sports | Sports Daily Newsletter

    For years, there’s been a rift between Pennsylvania’s public high schools competing against private schools in state playoffs.

    Since the Catholic League and Public League moved under the jurisdictional umbrella of the PIAA in the fall of 2008, complaints have become common among public school coaches, administrators, parents, and players about issues of fairness.

    But this fierce debate could soon be cast in stark relief, writes Mike Sielski.

    Back in April, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow the PIAA to “establish separate playoffs and championships for athletics for boundary schools and non-boundary schools.”

    However, it has yet to be voted by the state’s senate. In the meantime, local coaches share their thoughts on the divide between public and private schools in the PIAA.

    — Isabella DiAmore, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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

    ❓Should high school state playoffs be split between non-boundary and boundary schools? Email us back for a chance to be featured in the newsletter.

    Time for change

    Folarin Balogun (center) running with teammates during a United States men’s national soccer team practice at Great Park in Irvine, California on Sunday.

    Leading up to Wednesday’s round of 32 contest with Bosnia & Herzegovina, it’s good to remember that the U.S. men’s soccer team has won just one World Cup knockout game ever.

    So while it may feel cliché to say this is one of the biggest moments in U.S. men’s history, it’s also true.

    And now that the World Cup knockout bracket is set, let’s take a look at the 32 games left to go between now and the July 19 final.

    What we’re…

    ⚽ Reminiscing: The best moments from Philly’s World Cup group stage matches, which ended Saturday night.

    🥊 Learning: Philly’s Jaron Ennis knocked out Xander Zayas to become junior middleweight champ at the Barclays Center on Saturday.

    🤔 Wondering: What grade writer Jackie Spiegel gave Flyers general manager Danny Brière after the first round of the NHL draft.

    📖 Reading: Cheryl Reeve and Elena Delle Donne reflect on what it means to be inducted to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

    Historic homer

    Kyle Schwarber hit the 30-homer mark in the Phillies’ 84th game, which is faster than any player in franchise history.

    Kyle Schwarber reached the 30-homer mark on Sunday in the Phillies’ 84th game, faster than any player in franchise history. His 408-footer to right-center field against Mets righty Kodai Senga in the seventh inning also gave the Phillies the lead to power a 5-4 victory that drew them to within three games of first place in the NL East.

    After a wildly successful road trip, the Phillies’ flaws still bubbled to the surface: they’re vulnerable to left-handed pitching; the middle relief can be exposed when the starter doesn’t go six innings; the defense isn’t good. Ideally, the Phillies will address a few areas before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, writes Scott Lauber.

    Also, Andrew Painter made his first start for triple-A Lehigh Valley on Sunday. While Don Mattingly is counting on having the 23-year-old back, the interim manager doesn’t have an outlined timetable for Painter’s return.

    Meet the newcomers

    Eagles quarterback Andy Dalton (left) was brought in to compete for a role behind Jalen Hurts. Will he emerge as QB2 during training camp and preseason?

    With the Eagles training camp on the horizon, let’s take a closer look at the more than three-dozen new faces who are expected to report along with the rest of the team on July 28.

    Our writers will roll out two players per day in a mostly unscientific order that balances offense and defense, bigger names with mysteries, and locks with longer shots to be chosen for the 53-man roster — starting with Andy Dalton and a lesser-known name, defensive back Kapena Gushiken.

    Underwhelming draft

    Maksim Sokolovskii, right, stands with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, left, after being drafted by the Flyers with the 27th pick in the draft.

    The feelings after the Flyers’ 2026 draft doesn’t feel fantastic. It doesn’t feel terrible. It just feels there.

    The Flyers did, however, stick to their usual script of prioritizing size and two-way responsibility over offensive flash. It will take a few years before we know if that was the right course.

    And here’s everything to know about the Flyers’ development camp, which starts this week.

    David Murphy’s take

    Right now, Dave Dombrowski’s offseason looks like a near-total failure.

    There isn’t an executive in Major League Baseball that should be feeling more pressure than Dave Dombrowski now that Bryce Harper has answered fully and satisfactorily the infamous question that the Phillies president posed this offseason.

    “Can he rise to the next level again? I don’t really know that answer.”

    With just over a month to go until the trade deadline, Dombrowski and his front office better have a serious plan for broadening the team’s potential contributors, writes columnist David Murphy.

    We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from David Murphy, Mike Sielski, Jonathan Tannenwald, Matt Breen, Mel Greenberg, Jackie Spiegel, Scott Lauber, Olivia Reiner, and Kerith Gabriel.

    By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

    Thanks for getting your morning started with me. Have a wonderful Monday, we’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow. — Bella