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  • Venezuelans search rubble for survivors after 2 strong quakes kill at least 188

    Venezuelans search rubble for survivors after 2 strong quakes kill at least 188

    LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — Venezuelans searched for survivors beneath collapsed buildings Thursday and rescue teams raced to northern areas rocked by a pair of powerful earthquakes that officials say killed at least 188 people and left more than 200 trapped.

    More were feared dead from the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck Wednesday evening — among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and felt throughout the region. Some 1,500 people were injured, thousands were reported missing, and buildings were evacuated as far away as Brazil’s Amazon.

    In cities across northern Venezuela, panicked residents poured out into the streets and searched for the missing in the debris. Injured children, animals and civilians covered in dust and blood were pulled out of concrete rubble.

    One mother sobbed and collapsed in grief as the bodies of her 3- and 10-year-old children were wrapped in blankets and carried away. Others screamed the names of missing loved ones. Some stood in silent shock.

    The coastal region of La Guaira — north of the capital, Caracas — suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties, and it’s there that the country’s main airport was damaged and closed, complicating aid efforts.

    Retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Mendaño climbed through wreckage in La Guaira and past a dead body when he spotted a woman who was trapped and signaling with her hand for help.

    “May God rescue her as quickly as possible,” said Mendaño. “When we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.”

    Offers of help poured in from around the world, including from the United States, which seized Venezuela’s then-president Nicolas Maduro at the beginning of the year in a surprise military operation.

    The natural disaster is just the latest challenge for acting President Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after Maduro’s capture. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodriguez represents.

    Rescue teams head to heavily damaged coastal region

    Venezuelan authorities said they were diverting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which is no stranger to natural disasters; a 1999 mudslide there, considered one of the country’s worst natural disasters, killed thousands.

    Rodríguez appealed to businesses Thursday to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations, while a United Nations spokesperson said search and rescue teams were just hours away.

    “We are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” said Rodríguez, who referred to La Guaira as a “disaster zone.”

    Jorge Rodriguez, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly and brother of the acting president, gave updated figures for the numbers of dead, trapped, and injured.

    While Venezuela sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America.

    The U.S. Geological Survey said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2, hit west of Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 105 miles west of Caracas. It had a depth of about 14 miles. Just a minute later, USGS reported a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake, with a depth of about 6 miles and an epicenter 10 miles southwest of Moron.

    The one-two punch of the quakes, combined with the shallow seismic movements, amplified the destruction, said Marcos Ferreira, a geophysicist and researcher at the Geological Survey of Brazil.

    “It is as if I am screaming and then someone starts screaming, too. That amplifies the vibration and adds to the potential hazard,” Ferreira said.

    Venezuela residents reeling from two strong quakes

    During the quakes, people ran from swaying buildings. Many were stunned Thursday morning as they saw buildings reduced to skeletons, furniture hanging out of windows and helicopters circling overhead.

    In La Guaira, Cristian Carreño stared at his charred apartment building tilting precariously to one side.

    “I lost everything,” he said. “There are people still inside, I imagine, that couldn’t get out. It’s incredibly devastating.”

    Dayana Delgado, mother of three children, said she was desperate because her 8-year-old son was missing. Delgado asked where the heavy machinery was that government officials had promised, pointing out that neighbors were the ones digging through the rubble.

    “I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,” she said.

    Authorities warned people against returning to homes with structural damage. In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, parking lots and other open spaces.

    “We were afraid the buildings would collapse on us,” said María Cristina Díaz, a 41-year-old janitor. “My mother, my daughter, and I were cold. We didn’t sleep a wink.”

    “It was awful. We cried, we screamed. Thankfully, we’re alive,” she added.

    Parts of the capital lost power and cell phone service, Rodríguez said. Subway services were suspended and natural gas was shut off, she said. Classes will also be canceled for several days, and the Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters and donation centers.

    Families began posting missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones, while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched for those still unaccounted for. Venezuelans living abroad struggled to make contact with relatives.

    Shortly after U.N. officials in Venezuela called on the government to lift social media restrictions so people can get potentially life-saving information, Venezuelans in the country were able to access X. The site had been blocked by Maduro since August 2024, in an attempt to suppress the exchange of information among those who rejected his claim of victory in the July presidential elections.

    Several governments offered assistance

    Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes.

    Countries from across the world — from Qatar to Mexico — began to send aid to Venezuela.

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had spoken to Rodríguez following the quake, said the United States is “immediately” deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources other assistance, though he acknowledged the closure of the country’s main airport was creating some logistical challenges.

  • A West Philly man was sentenced to up to 40 months in prison for seeking to make bombs in support of a terror group

    A West Philly man was sentenced to up to 40 months in prison for seeking to make bombs in support of a terror group

    A West Philadelphia man who was convicted last year of seeking to build bombs in support of Islamic extremist groups was sentenced Thursday to 20 to 40 months in prison and six years of probation.

    Muhyyee-Ud-din Abdul-Rahman, 20, was found guilty in September of charges including attempting to possess weapons of mass destruction after jurors concluded he had experimented three years ago in and around his Wynnefield home with dangerous chemicals often found in high-volume explosives.

    Authorities said that Abdul-Rahman had done so after he communicated with Syrian extremists on Instagram, and that their arrest of Abdul-Rahman in 2023 had prevented him from unleashing a terror attack on the region.

    Jurors, however, found Abdul-Rahman not guilty of the more serious charge of possessing weapons of mass destruction, suggesting they believed he intended to build a bomb but had never succeeded. Common Pleas Court Judge Michele Hangley also threw out a conspiracy charge after ruling that prosecutors had not proved Abdul-Rahman had been working with anyone else.

    Abdul-Rahman told Hangley after being convicted that he had matured during his time in custody, much of it spent in a juvenile facility because he was arrested as a teen. And he said he had come to reject the radical beliefs promoted by the group he was following, Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad, or KTJ.

    Still, District Attorney Larry Krasner said Thursday that he was “deeply concerned” by what he cast as an insufficient penalty for a would-be terrorist. Krasner said his office had asked that Abdul-Rahman serve at least 10 years behind bars because prosecutors believe he remains “an extreme danger” to the city.

    “We ought to be able to live in a city where a terrorist is kept off the streets for a reasonable amount of time,” Krasner said.

    Federal investigators looking into KTJ’s activities in the United States in 2023 found that Abdul-Rahman was the only person in the country exchanging messages with some of its key online propagandists. Further investigation later revealed that Abdul-Rahman, around that time, had also applied for his first passport, tried to reach out to a Syrian border-crossing office, and purchased or possessed wires and chemicals common in homemade bombs.

    When authorities went on to conduct surveillance of Abdul-Rahman, officials said at trial, officers tailing him at a Lowe’s store saw him buy muriatic acid, a key component in a violent explosive dubbed TATP, also known as “the mother of Satan.” And a review of his internet search history around that time showed he had been looking up Philadelphia parade routes, trash can bombs, and nuclear power plants — something authorities said was consistent with “target and tactic” research.

    When federal agents questioned Abdul-Rahman inside a police station, an official testified, he admitted conducting bomb tests near his house and said he wanted to become a “bomb guy” for KTJ in Syria.

    Authorities arrested Abdul-Rahman in August 2023, just as he was to begin his senior year in high school. At the time, he was a promising wrestler with a college scholarship offer, and his father, Qawi Abdul-Rahman, is a well-known criminal defense lawyer who has mounted unsuccessful campaigns to become a city judge.

    Abdul-Rahman’s attorneys said at trial that he had made mistakes, but that he was an impressionable teen who had fallen down a “rabbit hole” of online propaganda. They also said he had never succeeded in building a bomb and did not take serious, in-person steps to advance the radical views he expressed online or in his house.

    At a hearing last month, one of his attorneys, Donald Chisholm, urged Hangley to consider that Abdul-Rahman’s path to the crime began when he was 16 years old.

    “Even at the age he is now,” Chisholm said, “he’s not fully matured.”

    Chisholm, said Thursday that he thought the sentence was fair, and that Krasner’s continued insistence on casting his client as dangerous was “disingenuous” and did not account for factors such as his client’s age at the time of arrest, or his growth over the last several years.

    The case attracted attention in part because it was a rare example of the district attorney’s office seeking to convict someone it described as a would-be international terrorist. Although federal counterterrorism agents were heavily involved in the investigation, juveniles are rarely prosecuted in federal courts.

    Krasner said Thursday that Abdul-Rahman likely would have faced a significantly harsher penalty if he had been convicted of similar conduct in the federal system, and he criticized the state’s sentencing guidelines, which prosecutors said Hangley cited when imposing her penalty.

    Abdul-Rahman has already served about 34 months in custody, meaning he will face a maximum of another six months in prison under the penalty Hangley imposed.

    Krasner said his office was weighing whether to appeal the sentence.

    Staff writer Jillian Kramer contributed to this article.

  • Unionized doctors at ChristianaCare finalize new contract

    Unionized doctors at ChristianaCare finalize new contract

    Unionized ChristianaCare doctors — members of the first healthcare union in Delaware — ratified their first contract with the Wilmington-based health system this week.

    The contract covers three years and includes provisions to establish “formal structures for physician input on issues affecting clinical practice and patient care,” the union said in a statement.

    The contract also establishes a procedure for physicians to file grievances if they feel the contract has been violated, and forms labor management committees to address workplace safety concerns, union officials said.

    One 19-year-old was killed and another injured in a shooting at ChristianaCare’s Wilmington Hospital last week.

    “This is a major step forward in ensuring physicians have a meaningful voice at ChristianaCare,” Nisha Gandhi, an advanced heart failure cardiologist at the health system, said in a statement.

    A ChristianaCare spokesperson said the contract also included provisions against striking and “a mutual commitment to collaboration, stability and long-term partnership.”

    ChristianaCare has medical locations in Delaware, Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

    Attending physicians at ChristianaCare voted to unionize in 2024, citing increased workloads with little support for added administrative tasks. They were the first group of attending doctors to unionize in the Philadelphia area.

    Since the 1980s, doctors have shifted from owning their own practices to opting for employment at hospitals and health systems. Just a quarter of physicians were self-employed in 2022, and unionization among physicians is growing.

    Last year, hundreds of medical residents across several Philadelphia hospitals also voted to unionize, but unions of attending physicians, who have completed their medical training, are rarer.

  • The Delco jail chief resigned after just months on the job

    The Delco jail chief resigned after just months on the job

    The chief warden of the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Delaware County has resigned after less than six months on the job, according to a statement released by the county government.

    Willie Bonds’ decision was motivated by family considerations and the opportunity to pursue other interests, according to the Delco officials. Bonds will continue to serve as the chief of the facility until an interim warden is appointed.

    The George W. Hill facility has been mired by scandal in recent years. The last chief to run the facility was ousted following a no-confidence vote by the labor union representing the prison’s guards. In the last two years, guards have been charged with smuggling fentanyl and K2 into the facility; inmates were accidentally released; and an inmate was killed by his cellmate, who was considered high-risk and supposed to be placed alone.

    Bonds was appointed to his position as chief of the facility in February. Last year, he served as the interim warden of the facility and he has worked in the facility since 2024, starting as deputy warden of security and training. He began his career in the New Jersey Department of Corrections in 1998.

    During his time as deputy warden, a federal lawsuit alleged that county officials fired guards without due process.

    After the Pennsylvania Prison Society conducted a walk-through of the facility and interviewed inmates in 2025, Bonds responded to the facility’s detailed shortcomings in a letter. The nonprofit advocacy group characterized his response, which added details about the prison’s conditions, as candid.

    The group said in a report that the facility had made significant improvements with a $50 million commitment from the county in 2025, but noted that the prison did not have enough staff for the number of inmates in the facility. At the time that the report was researched, there were 1,125 inmates, according to a response sent by Bonds. The total staff number was not reported.

    The Prison Society‘s report noted “the fundamentally unsafe conditions that Bonds now has the responsibility for fixing — conditions will not be fixed with building repairs alone but will require major shifts in organizational culture.”

    Delaware County hopes to continue efforts to improve the facility, the county’s statement said.

  • Roundup cases led to eye-popping Philly verdicts. Will that change because of the Supreme Court?

    Roundup cases led to eye-popping Philly verdicts. Will that change because of the Supreme Court?

    The largest verdict issued by a Philadelphia jury in recent years came out of a trial in which a Pennsylvania man accused agricultural giant Monsanto’s weedkiller, Roundup, of causing his blood cancer.

    The jury awarded John McKivison $2.25 billion in 2024.

    The Lycoming County man was not the only one who has sued the German company. Thousands of cases are pending against Monsanto nationwide, including 462 active lawsuits in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia alone.

    But on Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the types of claims that people who believe they developed cancer because of Roundup can argue in state courts.

    Here is what you need to know about the Monsanto Co. v. Durnell ruling and how it will affect Monsanto litigation in Philadelphia.

    What did the Supreme Court decide in ‘Monsanto v. Durnell’?

    In a 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court held that lawsuits against Monsanto in state courts cannot include a failure-to-warn claim.

    The case arose out of Missouri, where a state court jury found that Roundup use caused John Durnell’s cancer, and that Monsanto should have included a cancer warning on the product’s label. Durnell was awarded $1.25 million for the company’s failure to warn him.

    Monsanto appealed, arguing that the Environmental Protection Agency had concluded that glyphosate — the main chemical in Roundup — is not cancer-causing, so the label did not need a warning.

    The case went all the way to the highest court in the land, which decided that states cannot force Monsanto to add anything to the EPA-approved label. So failure-to-warn claims cannot proceed in state courts, the Supreme Court said.

    “In sum, federal law requires Monsanto to sell Roundup with the label that EPA approved at the initial registration and that EPA has subsequently reapproved on multiple occasions — that is, the label without a cancer warning,” Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote for the majority.

    When it comes to pesticide labeling, Kavanaugh said, federal law preempts any state labeling requirement because it would force companies to deviate from the EPA-approved label.

    Not all justices agreed. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in a dissent, which Justice Neil M. Gorsuch joined, that adding a cancer warning would be in line with the federal law’s prohibition on misbranding.

    What does the ruling mean for lawsuits in Philadelphia?

    The ruling does not erase the 462 lawsuits in Philadelphia overnight.

    Lawyers usually included multiple claims in each lawsuit in an attempt to advance different theories that could convince a jury a company is liable.

    In the $2.25 billion case, the jury found that Monsanto did not adequately warn McKivison of Roundup’s cancer risk. But jurors also found that the company was negligent and that it sold a defective product.

    While the ruling prohibits failure-to-warn claims from moving forward, Monsanto can still face lawsuits under other claims.

    The Supreme Court ruling “narrowed the playing field,” said Tom Kline, the Kline & Specter attorney who represented McKivison. But “it’s not the end. It’s not lights out. It’s not game over,” he said.

    Juries will have to answer fewer questions moving forward, Kline said.

    Whether the ruling affects trial outcomes remains to be seen. So far Monsanto has lost four of the seven Roundup trials held in Philadelphia.

    The ruling could also affect other product liability lawsuits against pesticide manufacturers, such as those against manufacturers of weedkillers that contain paraquat, a toxic chemical that has been linked to Parkinson’s disease.

    “I think it’s part of a larger part of an industrywide strategy to piece-by-piece dismantle the tort liability for defective products,” Kline said.

    What is Monsanto saying about the ruling?

    The company said that the ruling would result in a dismissal of failure-to-warn claims, which according to Monsanto make up the “vast majority” of the litigation.

    Bill Anderson, the CEO of Monsanto’s parent company, Bayer, said in a statement that the decision provides “regulatory clarity” and brings “overdue justice on an issue that should have been clarified much earlier.”

    “This litigation has enormous costs for the company and has impacted public trust,” Anderson said.

    The executive affirmed the company’s commitment to a proposed nationwide class-action settlement of up to $7.25 billion as part of the company’s “multi-pronged containment strategy” on Roundup lawsuits.

    How does ‘Monsanto v. Durnell’ relate to the MAHA movement?

    The case has put President Donald Trump’s administration in an uncomfortable position with the Make America Healthy Again movement.

    Trump courted the movement during his campaign by recruiting Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom he later appointed as his Department of Health and Human Services secretary. Before his turn to politics, Kennedy was an environmental lawyer who, in 2018, helped secure a $289 million verdict in the first Roundup cancer trial.

    And while the Trump administration has adopted some of the MAHA movement’s rhetoric on ultraprocessed foods, it took a different approach to pesticides.

    Trump’s solicitor general, John Sauer, filed briefs to the Supreme Court in support of Monsanto’s position on behalf of the White House, which drew the ire of MAHA supporters.

    After the ruling, MAHA influencers expressed anger at the administration.

    Kelly Ryerson, who is known online as Glyphosate Girl, posted Thursday on X that “never in history has an administration so blatantly and willingly sold out our fertility, vitality, and health to corporate interests.”

    Vani Hari, another MAHA influencer who posts to millions of followers as the Food Babe, said on Instagram she was “devastated” by the ruling.

    “We will remember who fought with us and who didn’t.”

  • SEPTA approved contracts with the transit police union and other workers

    SEPTA approved contracts with the transit police union and other workers

    The SEPTA board on Thursday approved new labor contracts with the Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge 109 and three unions representing workers in the Regional Rail Division.

    Transit police officers had threatened earlier this month to walk off the job while Philadelphia was hosting World Cup soccer matches, Major League Baseball’s All-Star week and events celebrating the 250th birthday of the U.S.

    Lodge 109 and SEPTA agreed on a three-year deal that gives the officers a 12% raise over the life of the contract, as well as a $2,500 signing bonus, longevity bonuses, and an increase in differential pay for evening and overnight shifts.

    Union members ratified the contract last week.

    Omari Bervine, president of Lodge 109, said the agreement was “fair to the hardworking men and women of the transit police” and thanked SEPTA General Manager Scott A. Sauer for helping restart negotiations.

    The transit police union represents 203 patrol officers who protect the regional agency’s transit and commuter rail networks, trolleys, buses and property, including stations and transportation hubs.

    “Historic reductions in crime over the last two years have come amid an unprecedented effort to bolster our transit police,” Sauer said at the board meeting. “Staffing is at its highest level in more than a decade.”

    Fifteen new officers joined the force this month after graduating from the police academy, and 18 cadets are scheduled to start their studies next month, SEPTA says.

    Officers had been working without a contract since March 31.

    The new agreement is retroactive to April 1 and runs through March 31, 2029.

    Lodge 109 members will receive a 5% increase in their hourly rates Sunday, with 3½% raises in June of each of the following two years. Longevity bonuses will range from $2,901 for officers with three years of experience, up to $9,552 for those who have 25 years or more of service.

    SEPTA’s board also approved new two-year contracts with the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers that together represent about 145 rail vehicle mechanics, welders, millwrights and maintenance custodians working on Regional Rail.

    The board also ratified a new contract with the Transportation Communications Union, which represents 76 Regional Rail clerical staff.

    Each deal with the three Regional Rail unions is for two years and gives workers raises totaling 7%, the same as the contract reached last year with the Transport Workers Union Local 234, SEPTA’s largest.

  • Measles detected in two more counties in Pennsylvania as health department recommends early vaccination

    Measles detected in two more counties in Pennsylvania as health department recommends early vaccination

    Pennsylvania health officials have now detected measles cases in York and Northumberland Counties as cases in Lancaster County, the center of an ongoing outbreak, continued to rise.

    And the state health department is now recommending early measles vaccinations for infants beginning at 6 months in affected areas in an effort to protect them against the spread of the highly contagious disease, which is particularly risky for young children. The same precautions should be taken by families with infants traveling to these areas.

    Six Pennsylvania counties have now seen measles cases since an outbreak was first confirmed in Lebanon County in April. In all, the state has reported 81 measles cases across eight counties in 2026, more than five times the cases reported in 2025.

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    State health officials said it was too early to tell how the latest cases in York and Northumberland Counties are connected to others in the region, but that contact tracing investigations are continuing. All cases were among people who had not received at least two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) or whose vaccination status was unclear.

    As of Wednesday, six cases had been confirmed in Northumberland County, to the north of Dauphin County, and one case had been detected in York County, along Lancaster’s western border.

    Lebanon County has reported 20 cases and Dauphin and Berks Counties have reported two cases each.

    Lancaster County has seen 38 cases of measles since late April, with health officials confirming seven cases in the last two weeks. The area was at the center of a prior measles outbreak in January, when state health officials confirmed eight cases in Lancaster County and an additional four between Chester and Montgomery Counties.

    Vaccination rates among kindergarteners have decreased across Pennsylvania in recent years, and some counties affected in the current outbreak have particularly low rates, including Lancaster, where about 88.5% of kindergarten students are vaccinated. Health experts say that 95% of a community must be vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease.

    A map showing vaccination rates in kindergarteners for the 2024-2025 school year. Counties in yellow have vaccination rates between 95% and 90%. Counties in red have vaccination rates below 90%. To halt the spread of measles, at least 95% of a community must be vaccinated against the disease.

    Health officials have been conducting contact tracing to detect as many cases as possible. In the current outbreak, they have twice warned Lancaster residents that they could have been exposed to measles.

    Shoppers and employees at a local Kohl’s were potentially exposed to the virus over four days after a staffer tested positive in late May, LancasterOnline reported. And a person with measles visited the Lancaster County Courthouse on June 3.

    But doctors in Lancaster County say they fear some measles cases are going unreported, either because patients don’t understand the importance of tracking measles cases or because they fear repercussions.

    No cases have been confirmed in the Philadelphia region during this outbreak. But Delaware County health officials said last week that they had detected measles in two wastewater samples, indicating that someone with measles had used a bathroom connected to the county’s public water supply. It was unclear if that person lived in the county or was passing through.

    Early vaccination recommended

    On Wednesday, a statewide health alert urged physicians to accelerate vaccination schedules to protect children against measles. Officials had said they were considering the measure earlier this month as cases continued to rise.

    Measles can infect nine in 10 unvaccinated people who are exposed to it, and can linger in the air for up to two hours and incubate in patients for three weeks. The disease typically presents with a fever and a rash but can cause brain inflammation and pneumonia in serious cases.

    Typically, children receive the first of two MMR vaccines at 1 year old, then a second between 4 and 6 years old.

    But children as young as 6 months can receive an additional “dose zero” to protect them from the disease amid an outbreak. In its alert, the state health department said parents should vaccinate infants between 6 and 11 months with the “dose zero” if they live in affected areas or if they’re planning to travel there.

    Those children should then receive additional MMR doses at 12 to 15 months and 4 to 6 years.

    This “dose zero” is less effective than doses given at 1 year old, officials cautioned. But it’s 58% effective against measles when given at 6 to 8 months, and 83% effective when administered at 9 to 11 months.

    “Early MMR vaccination is safe and provides modest protection when measles is spreading,” officials wrote in the alert.

    Children older than 12 months who haven’t been vaccinated should get an MMR dose immediately, and a second 28 days later, health officials said. Unvaccinated adults, or those without evidence of immunity, should also get two MMR doses.

    And anyone who has received one dose of the MMR vaccine in the past should get a second at least 28 days after their first, officials said.

    Usually, children who received a first dose at around 12 months wait to get their second dose until they’re 4 to 6 years old. But in an outbreak situation, those children should get their second doses early — at least 28 days after their first shot.

    Adults born before 1957 are typically considered immune, but healthcare workers in that age group who don’t have lab evidence of immunity or prior infection should consider getting vaccinated, state officials said.

    Adults who received an inactivated measles vaccine between 1963 and 1967 are considered unvaccinated during an outbreak, and should also get two doses of the current MMR vaccine.

    Pregnant people, people with severely weakened immune systems, and people who have a history of experiencing severe allergic reactions, like anaphylaxis, to a vaccine ingredient or to a previous dose of MMR cannot receive the vaccine.

  • Flyers prospect Matthew Gard commits to Michigan State, following fellow 2025 draft picks Porter Martone and Shane Vansaghi

    Flyers prospect Matthew Gard commits to Michigan State, following fellow 2025 draft picks Porter Martone and Shane Vansaghi

    Pretty soon, the Flyers will need to add some green to the white on their jerseys.

    On Thursday, Matthew Gard announced he will become the third Flyers prospect from the team’s 2025 draft class to play for Michigan State when he heads to East Lansing in 2027.

    “Over the past year and a half, since the rule change, I’ve been on multiple visits,” the 19-year-old told The Inquirer via a phone interview. “I’ve talked to a lot of schools, and just going to visit Michigan State, and what they do, and how they develop, and the way that their program is run, it was a perfect fit for me, and I saw that, and I decided that’s where I wanted to go.”

    Gard — a 6-foot-5, 194-pound, 200-foot center — likes how the Spartans develop bigger players into power forwards. But two of the biggest selling points for Gard were Will Morlock, the hockey team’s highly regarded director of athletic performance, and the blue-collar mentality at the program, that nothing is given and everything is earned.

    Those are two of the reasons Porter Martone, taken sixth overall in the same draft where Gard was picked in the second round, opted to go the college hockey route last summer. He spent the past year building himself up to be NHL-ready with the Spartans and came out like gangbusters with the Flyers, making his NHL debut in late March.

    Porter Martone’s fast start with the Flyers was forged in Michigan State’s gym: ‘The best decision I ever made’

    Martone notched 10 points in nine regular-season games, including the overtime winner against the Boston Bruins for his first NHL goal, putting the Flyers in a playoff spot. He then potted five points in 10 playoff games, registering the game-winners in the first two games of the opening round against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

    “The one thing I’d like to say is how thankful we are to Michigan State, the coaching staff, his teammates there,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said at the press conference after Martone signed his entry-level contract. “How Porter embraced the role of going there, and also how much he developed this year. We give Michigan State a lot of credit for that. The whole staff there was really impressed with what they did with Porter.”

    Forward Shane Vansaghi, who was also drafted in the second round by the Flyers in 2025, is returning for his junior year at Michigan State. Gard, who has been in Voorhees for a few weeks in advance of his second development camp, did talk to Vansaghi about Michigan State.

    “Obviously, both those guys [Vansaghi and Martone] are really good power forwards in the way they play,” Gard said. “I think Shane just loves the blue-collar mindset there, and that it’s hard work, but everything is earned, and it’s really rewarding if you succeed there.”

    Matthew Gard (second from left) stands with his brothers (right to left) Luke, Graham, and Jack, who is a Flyers fan after his brother was drafted last June.

    Adam Nightingale is hoping Gard can succeed. Gard said the Spartans coach, who will be behind the bench for USA Hockey at the 2026 World Juniors, told the young centerman that they believe he can come in and help them and be a player who helps them win games in a year from now.

    This past season, Gard split the year between Red Deer (Alberta, Canada) and Seattle of the Western Hockey League. He combined for 33 points (17 goals, 16 assists) in 55 regular-season games before adding another goal and four points in five playoff games. He’s going back for one more season in Seattle to get ample ice time because of Michigan State’s roster already being jam-packed with guys like Arizona State transfer Cullen Potter, Ethan Belchetz, who is expected to go in the first round, and Jack Hextall, a possibility for the Flyers with the 21st pick in Friday’s NHL draft.

    “I think I took another step in my development this year,” Gard said. “I feel like I grew as a player and as a person once again. There’s lots I’ve got to work on, and that’s part of why I’m going back. And I think for me, going into this year to take that other step, I want to produce more and help my team win more games.”

  • Warwick Rittenhouse Square hotel reached a deal with its worker union, averting a strike

    Warwick Rittenhouse Square hotel reached a deal with its worker union, averting a strike

    Unionized staff at Warwick Hotel Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia have reached a deal with hotel management for a new labor contract, avoiding a strike that would have begun Friday.

    The hotel workers unanimously ratified an agreement that will deliver a $30 minimum wage by 2028, easier access to healthcare for their children, pension increases, and new regulations protecting immigrant workers, union officials said Thursday. It covers 50 union workers, including housekeepers.

    It’s the latest win for union hotel workers in Center City pushing for a pay and benefits package their union, Unite Here Local 274, calls “the citywide standard.”

    “Last year, people thought it was crazy that hotel housekeepers could make $30 an hour,” said union President Rosslyn Wuchinich at an event Thursday supporting union Peco employees, who are planning a work stoppage for July 4.

    The hotel union has shown it will go on strike to achieve its goals, Wuchinich said.

    The nearby Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown has been on strike since June 21. On Wednesday, some of its striking workers paraded around the Warwick, playing drums and singing union songs — giving Warwick management a sense of what could be in store.

    “We have been fighting these greedy hotel companies, private equity companies, real estate investment trusts, since last year for justice for hotel workers,” Wuchinich told a crowd of union members Thursday.

    New York-based Bluesky Hospitality Solutions, which manages the hotel, did not respond to requests for comment Thursday. Property owner Navika Capital could not be reached.

    The contract expires in January 2028, according to Mat Wranovics, an organizer with Unite Here Local 274. In addition to the changes to wages and benefits, the contract lowers the maximum number of hotel rooms that housekeeping workers can clean per shift from 16 rooms to 15 rooms, he said.

    The contract also includes protections for immigrant workers, Wranovics said. The new rules set limits to how much information the employer may share information with law enforcement.

    Six unionized Center City hotels have now bargained similar contracts:

    • The Warwick Hotel Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia
    • Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing
    • Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District
    • Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square
    • Sheraton Philadelphia University City Hotel
    • Hampton Inn Philadelphia Center City-Convention Center

    That leaves the striking Sheraton Downtown workers, as well as those at Hilton Garden Inn Center City, who are not on strike and continue to work under an expired contract. Both are pushing for a similar wage raise to $30 an hour, Wranovics said.

    “We are in negotiations, but there is a real possibility of strike there,” he said of the Hilton Garden Inn Center City.

  • A Philadelphia high schoolers’ production of ‘1776’ is former Gov. Ed Rendell’s dream come true

    A Philadelphia high schoolers’ production of ‘1776’ is former Gov. Ed Rendell’s dream come true

    In tricorn hats and tail coats, their locs, microbraids, and wavy tresses gathered into 18th-century low ponytails, 27 Philadelphia-area high school students transformed into America’s Founding Fathers on Wednesday evening at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts.

    The young thespians debated and deliberated the benefits of forming a sovereign nation. Their well-practiced Southern accents and New England inflections echoed in the full auditorium.

    In 2½ hours, Massachusetts congressman John Adams (played by Jackson Preisser), Ben Franklin (Jayden Duvene), and Thomas Jefferson (Maxwell Henderson) made the case for liberty, overcoming the petty aristocratic concerns of Pennsylvania delegate John Dickinson (Greg Rist).

    Former Mayor Ed Rendell meets cast members (L-R) Abigail Adams (played by Chloe Chau), John Dickinson (played by Greg Rist) and Ben Franklin (played by Jayden Duvene) during opening night of 1776: The Musical at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.

    On a set that looked remarkably like Independence Hall, the students staged the Tony Award-winning 1969 Broadway musical 1776 and argued for and against liberty with witty songs and sophisticated dialogue.

    The reenactment of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was everything Ed Rendell, the elder statesman and the brain behind the production, wanted it to be.

    “It’s been my dream for quite some time to see this production happen,” Rendell said to The Inquirer, his voice a raspy whisper, worn and weary from Parkinson’s disease. Sitting in his wheelchair at the red, white, and blue step and repeat, Rendell smiled as CAPA’s lobby was turned into a dining room for dignitaries hours before the play began.

    “In honor of America’s 250th birthday, we wanted to use 1776 to teach high school students the sacrifices and compromises it took to form this great nation,” he said.

    Rendell’s love for 1776 is rooted to the night in 1969 when he watched the colonial drama unfold on Broadway, starring William Daniels as John Adams, Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson, and Howard da Silva as Benjamin Franklin. Daniels, Howard, and da Silva starred in the 1971 Oscar-nominated film of the same name.

    “I loved it,” Rendell said, whose favorite ballads from the play are Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson’s quirky performance of “The Egg,” in which the forefathers humorously choose the bald eagle as America’s national bird. (That didn’t really happen during the Second Continental Congress, but it’s a nice touch.)

    Another of Rendell’s favorite songs is “Is Anybody There?,” a melancholy number during which Adams asks himself if his dedication to the cause of independence is worth it.

    “It struck the right chord, giving all the facts about how we came to our freedom, our independence,” Rendell said. “When I became mayor, I went back and studied it and began to think of it as an important civics lesson. There were so many things I didn’t even know.”

    A former president, a mayor, a speaker walk into a play

    The 1776 opening night saw the attendance of a who’s who in Philadelphia politics, business, and civics.

    Former President Joe Biden was in the house on the opening night of Rendell’s theatrical milestone. After he was presented with a copy of the declaration signed by the cast, the former president delivered a nine-minute speech about the importance of teaching American history in present-day America, although he did not mention President Donald Trump by name.

    “What I can tell you is that from the moment the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, we have been in a consistent battle for the soul of the nation,” Biden said as guests prepared to dig into barbecued chicken, brisket, and ribs, Rendell’s favorite.

    Former President Joe Biden displays a signed poster from the cast as former Mayor Ed Rendell looks on during the opening night celebration of 1776: The Musical at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.

    “Even when there is darkness,” Biden said, “we’ve summoned our angels and crawled back from the brink. We are trying to do that now.”

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia), and State Rep. Joe Ciresi (D., Montgomery) were also in attendance. Philadelphia School Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.; Temple University president John Fry; and David L. Cohen, the former senior executive vice president to Comcast and U.S. ambassador to Canada, were on hand, too.

    “When Mr. Rendell calls, people come out,” said Adrian R. King, a partner at Philadelphia-based law firm Ballard Spahr and a former Rendell staffer.

    Their attendance reflected their respect for Rendell, a former governor of Pennsylvania and mayor of Philadelphia who, in his political heyday in the 1990s, led the efforts to reimagine South Broad Street as the now-bustling Avenue of the Arts. CAPA’s 1997 opening was a part of that plan.

    John Adams (played by Jackson Preisser, middle) and John Dickinson (played by Greg Rist, right) are seperated during a scene from the opening night of 1776: The Musical at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.

    Rendell’s baby

    Rendell has dreamed of this production for years. He began working on it in earnest last year, bringing on veteran Philadelphia arts administrator Karen Corbin to executive produce. Phillip Sean Brown, director of theater at Bryn Mawr’s Shipley School, was roped in to direct.

    “The governor had very specific ideas of what he wanted,” Brown said. “He wanted to show the history of our country, show the drama of the birth of a nation, and have the students learn everything they could about the craft of theater.”

    The first order of business was securing the rights to the late composer Sherman Edwards’ script and music. That will cost about $45,000 by the end of the run, Corbin said.

    Casting began in February and auditions began in March. Forty actors from eight area high schools were picked for the multicultural, gender-fluid rotating cast, giving the revival of the 57-year-old production Hamilton vibes.

    In addition, Brown said, more than 30 students were hired as musicians and production crew.

    Cast members posed with guests before opening night of 1776: The Musical at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.

    “They worked with professionals in theater lighting, costume, sound, and props,” Brown said.

    Students were paid $150 a week during rehearsal weeks, and will make $300 a week through the eight-week performance. The entire production cost $850,000 including a $150,000 grant from the state.

    There will be 50 shows through Aug. 15 at CAPA. Actors will also perform vignettes of the musical throughout Philadelphia’s historic district, including Carpenters Hall.

    ‘All good things take compromise’

    Students’ exposure to the arts and history has been priceless.

    “This experience represents striving forward — as an actor with my cast,“ said Mason Daly, a CAPA graduating senior whose biting Southern accent for South Carolina congressman and segregationist Edward Rutledge was chilling.

    Daly’s role as Rutledge is particularly eye-opening. 1776 tells us that Jefferson’s original draft of the declaration included a clause abolishing slavery in America. Rutledge, however, would support America only if that part of the declaration were struck.

    Jefferson laments to Franklin, saying, “Mark me, Franklin … if we give in on this issue, posterity will never forgive us.” But he does give in.

    “Playing him, I learned to value the nuances of the perspectives of even those we disagree with,” Daly said.

    “It’s about his personal compromises to get to the yea vote that allowed independence to go forward. That dialogue, that discussion, that back-and-forth between him and the various colonial representatives is the basis of our democracy and government.”

    Former Mayor Ed Rendell during opening night of 1776: The Musical at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.

    The actors’ parents bubbled with excitement.

    “My child is really being taken seriously as an actor in this production,” said Justina Barrett, chief learning and engagement officer at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and mother to Sage Wentz, who played Col. Thomas McKean of Delaware. “This whole play is about the messy business of making the United States. It was hard. These guys weren’t nice. It wasn’t pretty. In many ways, we are divided then as we are now.”

    Although difficult, this idea of forming a new nation through compromise is what Rendell hopes is the ultimate lesson for all involved.

    “We can’t get anything done without compromise,” Rendell said. “We have to get back to a government that is working toward the good of the government. The Civil Rights Act took compromise. Women’s rights took compromise. All good things take compromise.”

    “1776″ will be performed at CAPA, 901 S. Broad St., through Aug. 15. Tickets start at $11. For more information, go to the Celebrating 1776! website.