More than a third of short-term rental properties like Airbnb and VRBO in Philadelphia have licensing issues, according to a new report from the City Controller’s office released Tuesday.
The controller found that of 3,734 analyzed licenses associated with short-term rentals, 1,327 were expired ornoncompliant.
“Short-term rentals are an increasingly important part of Philadelphia’s lodging market, especially during major events that we’re experiencing right now,” City Controller Christy Brady said in a news release.
“The industry’s growth requires a clear, efficient regulatory framework with strong licensing and enforcement tools to identify noncompliance,” her statement read.
In one casehighlighted by the report, the controller found a host operating 50 listings in the city without any of the correct licensing.
In other cases — including one property offering renters the chance to “Chill in Style Anime Themed Escape”— licenses were either absent or associated with unrelated uses like dumpsters or towing companies.
Philadelphia’s short-term rental market has been in the spotlight this summer, as the city hosts major tourism events including the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the World Cup, and Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game.
The city has 121 registered hotels with 19,615 rooms and over 4,000 short-term rentals.
That’s a large reduction from before the licensing regulations took effect in 2023, according to the Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I).
L&I says it has removed 10,452 unlicensed properties from rental sites since the beginning of 2024.
Under the regulations adopted in 2023, short-term rental hosts who live in the properties they are renting have to get a zoning permit and a “Limited Lodging Operators License.”
For those who do not live in the property, a zoning permit and a rental license with a hotel designation is needed. The licenses must be renewed annually.
No short-term rentals are allowed in the Far Northeast section of Philadelphia, where City Councilmember Brian J. O’Neill, a Republican, banned them.
The controller’s report recommends simplifying the “complicated compliance process for hosts” and switching to a more tech-oriented enforcement approach, which could monitor “noncompliant listing across multiple platforms.”
The result, the report suggests, would help the system move away from “complaint-driven enforcement managed by a small staff” of L&I workers.
Nashville and Mount Pleasant, S.C., have outsourced short-term rental regulation monitoring to third-party companies using automated tools to track listings across platforms.
As a result, they both saw over 90% of rentals complying with local laws, a huge increase from the previous status quo.
“The city can benefit from using technology-assisted monitoring tools that can support the identification of potentially noncompliant listings across multiple booking platforms,” Brady said in a statement. “Other cities are already utilizing this technology and significantly improving their enforcement measures.”
In the run up to the World Cup, short-term rental hosts in Philadelphia — as well as hotel leaders — have expressed concern that the anticipated level of consumer interest before this summer’s festivities has not fully materialized.
Just before the games began, the region’s short-term rental market had an occupancy of about 60%, according to AirDNA, which analyzes data from companies like Airbnb and VRBO.
Serving the community is an important mission for Philadelphia native Novar Gadson. After 14 years of playing professional basketball overseas, he is back home to bring his mission to life through the Invitational Clash Movement.
The invitational is a five-day initiative at Drexel from Thursday to Monday in which pro-am men’s and women’s basketball teams from as far away as London will compete in a bracket-style tournament.
The event will also feature other activities, including a youth basketball clinic and mental health workshops.
“The basketball is obviously at the centerpiece of it, but the vision behind it is community wellness, mental health, and youth development,” said Gadson, 36.
Eight men’s teams and four women’s teams will battle it out to decide the best pro-am leagues.
The men’s teams represent Philly’s Brotherly Love League; Drew League from Los Angeles, Rucker Park Streetball from New York; Ball Don’t Stop from Toronto; the Smith League from Cincinnati; Queen City from Charlotte, N.C.; Denard Brothers from Chicago; and Great Britain Select from London.
The four women’s teams represent Brotherly Love, Rucker Park, Queen City, and Swin City League from Dallas.
For Gadson, growing up in the city was not easy. His brother, Omari, was a victim of gun violence. He was 18 when he died in 2001.
“My family has still not recovered from my brother’s murder,” he said.
To stay out of trouble, Gadson said, he started playing basketball.
He attended John Bartram High School, where he broke Kobe Bryant’s father Joe’s scoring record. He played at Rider University before playing professionally in Europe, Asia, and South America.
“Basketball is what saved me from homelessness and sexual assault to everything that I was dealing with as a child,” he said. “I feel like it’s in my heart from Christ to serve people.”
In 2021, he began developing the vision for a Philadelphia-based event that would engage the community with sports and mental health advocacy.
Gadson is the chief executive officer of the Brotherly Love League Pro-Am Foundation, a nonprofit committed to increasing access to mental health resources for underserved communities in the area.
The invitational is an extension of the foundation, he said.
How the tournament works
The competition begins on Friday and follows a bracket-style format with the winning teams advancing to the next round.
The four women’s teams will open play on Saturday.
Attendees will have a wide variety of community-focused activities that are designed to engage and connect community members with mental health resources.
The event will also feature food trucks, gaming trucks where children can play in Madden 2K tournaments, hair-cut stations for children, face painting, crowd giveaways, and youth basketball clinics. The boys’ clinic is on Saturday and the girls’ is on Sunday. Participants in the clinics will receive meals and have access to mental health workshops.
More than 30 resource tables will be available throughout the event with panel discussions focused on mental health in partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness Philadelphia. Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with professionals and sign up for licensed therapy sessions after the tournament.
“People need help,” Gadson said. “I dealt with a lot of PTSD and anxiety from my experiences growing up, so I want to extend help and opportunities for therapy outside the event.”
He noted that increasing access to resources can create change in the city beyond the basketball court.
“If we give a lot of resources and access to kids outside of the basketball event, it will help the city as a whole and the violence go down,” he said.
, Gadson has struggled to revisit the trauma around Omari’s death. He said he has never celebrated his brother’s birthday. But on Monday, Omari’s birthday and the last day of the invitational, Gadson plans to honor his legacy. The foundation will recognize two families who have lost their loved ones to suicide or gun violence.
“The idea for me is to continue to bring light to his name,” Gadson said.
No parent should lose sleep over a condition that doesn’t exist.
Yet every summer, viral headlines resurface the myth of “dry drowning,” the misleading belief that a child can suddenly die days after a normal swim from water hidden in their lungs.
As a pediatric emergency room doctor, I know these rumors are not harmless. Terms like “dry drowning” create anxiety about letting children enjoy the water. They also generate false expectations about the need for long-term vigilance after swimming. Instead, we must help families recognize the real signs of respiratory distress after a water incident.
Water play and swimming are fun ways for kids to stay cool and active in the summer, but water safety should always come first. Drowning is the No. 1 leading cause of death in children 1 to 4 years of age in the U.S., and a major risk for older children as well. Inaccurate information can distract from proper prevention, recognition, and treatment, so we must understand the facts to stay safe around water.
What is drowning?
Drowning occurs when water gets in the way of normal breathing. This can happen quickly (in under 30 seconds) and silently; most kids do not scream and splash like in the movies. Drowning is not always fatal; symptoms can present or persist after a child gets out of the water but they occur shortly after the event, not days later.
Symptoms of drowning include coughing, trouble breathing, chest pain, vomiting, pale or blue-appearing skin, or being unusually sleepy, irritable, or less interested in playing. These symptoms occur as a result of the body’s natural response to drowning; the body tries to clear water from the windpipe and lungs through protective reflexes like coughing before critical organs like the heart and brain suffer from a lack of oxygen. Children who develop concerning symptoms should be promptly evaluated by a medical professional.
Drowning can occur in either salt water or fresh water, or any kind of liquid. And it doesn’t just happen in oceans and pools; young children have drowned in bathtubs, buckets, and even toilets. All it takes is a few inches of water.
Why is ‘dry drowning’ a myth?
“Dry drowning” — the idea that a child can look well after a water incident and then deteriorate days later without warning due to water in their lungs — doesn’t exist. Drowning by definition requires breathing issues caused by water. Since oxygen is necessary for life, the body does not wait days before telling you that something is awry.
So how long should parents monitor their child? Multiple analyses of drowning events have shown that symptoms occur immediately or shortly after water exposure — usually within eight hours. If water reaches the lungs, it can trigger inflammation that may take several hours to become apparent. A child who is acting like their normal self is unlikely to develop symptoms from drowning beyond this initial period.
If we recognize drowning and intervene quickly, we can help a child before breathing issues can lead to organ failure and death. The effects of non-fatal drowning range from no injury at all to severe complications, including brain damage or permanent disability. Swift action, however, can help limit the long-term consequences.
If a child gets sick days after playing in the water, they haven’t drowned, but they still need to be seen by a healthcare professional to be evaluated for other serious conditions.
How to prevent drowning
I once cared for a young child who wandered out of her house without her parents noticing, only to be found unconscious in her neighbor’s unfenced pool. Kids are naturally curious and want to explore the world; it is up to us to keep them safe. Using multiple layers of protection can greatly reduce the risk of drowning:
Swim lessons: Swimming is a life skill; the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children start swim lessons after their first birthday. Similar to putting on your own oxygen mask before helping others in an airplane emergency, supervising adults should know how to swim so they can help others. Check out classes in Philadelphia and the surrounding area for you and your children.
Properly fitted life jackets: Small children and weak swimmers should wear U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets whenever they are near water, including pools and waterparks. Everyone should wear a life jacket when boating or participating in water-based activities in open water, such as lakes, rivers, and oceans. Inflatable aids like “floaties” are not safe substitutes as they can deflate and do not prevent drowning. Refer to the U.S. Coast Guard brochure for guidance on choosing a properly fitted life jacket.
Four-sided pool fencing with a self-latching gate: Fencing that surrounds pools decreases the risk of drowning by a whopping 83% compared to three-sided fencing or no fencing. Barriers should be a minimum of four feet high, and avoid horizontal bars, chain links, or nearby patio furniture that children could easily climb.
Close supervision:Even with a lifeguard present, adults should closely supervise infants, toddlers, and noncompetent swimmers at all times when near water, staying within arm’s reach and avoiding distractions like phones, socializing, or alcohol. This applies to bathtubs, buckets, and toilets as well. Caregivers should always clearly hand off supervision responsibilities.
Emergency preparedness: Parents, caregivers, and pool owners should be CPR trained in case of an emergency. Older children and adolescents can learn too. For the patient I cared for, CPR saved her life. A year later, she is thriving with no residual deficits.
With the right precautions, we can help kids enjoy the water safely all summer long. Talk to your pediatrician or visit CHOP Pediatric Health Chat whenever you have questions about kids’ health.
Priya Shah is a fellow physician in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She earned her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and is board-certified in General Pediatrics. Her work focuses on child injury prevention.
The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily those of CHOP. This information is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional regarding any health or medical concerns.
Gov. Josh Shapiro thinks sports could be the key to unity ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“To me, sports is still one of the few things that allows people from all different walks of life, and different political views, to actually come together and enjoy each other’s company,” Shapiro said in an interview with 6abc while in Philadelphia for Monday’s World Cup match between France and Iraq.
“We worked really, really hard to stack these events up,” Shapiro told6abc. “And I was really purposeful about this, that as we celebrate our history, we have to find ways to come together.”
Shapiro has attended two of the three World Cup games held in the city so far, taking in Ivory Coast’s 1-0 win over Ecuador on June 14 before attending France’s 3-0 victory against Iraq.
VisitPA has committed $31.6 million to Philadelphia Soccer 2026 to help aid World Cup costs. Through this sponsorship, the state, including Shapiro, has access to tickets and suites.
“The Commonwealth has access to a mix of suite, VIP, and general admission tickets, which are being used to host business leaders, prospective partners, and other guests to further strengthen Pennsylvania’s economic development and promote the Commonwealth as the best place to visit, live, and do business,” Rosie Lapowsky, a spokesperson for Shapiro, wrote in an email.
Shapiro said he stopped by the FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill before the game and admired how welcoming Philadelphians were to tourists from all over the globe.
“We are welcoming people,” Shapiro said. “We want you here, and we want you to celebrate not just a great sport; we want you to celebrate the greatest country on the face of the earth at this important moment as we celebrate the 250th birth of this nation.”
Fan fests are being held in multiple locations, allowing Pennsylvanians to bask in the World Cup excitement across the state.
“We were really insistent that this fan fest not be the only one, that we have them across the state,” Shapiro told The Inquirer during that event. “So we got one in Scranton, Reading, and Pittsburgh, and I think we’re going to see a lot of the excitement in there, too.”
Shapiro, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, is among the many possible 2028 aspirants to attend World Cup events. According to Politico, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have all also attended games.
Politico reported that, ahead of the games, Shapiro distributed 700 free tickets to Philadelphia community organizations to make the games as accessible as possible and bring people together.
“I think it [the World Cup] has a great way of allowing us to kind of blur our differences and find our commonalities and come together,” Shapiro told 6abc.
Staff writer Owen Hewitt contributed to this article.
When chef Christopher Kearse was planning Forsythia, the French restaurant he opened in Old City in 2019, he had two ideas that could not fit into the same room.
One was Forsythia. The other opens in Washington Square West on Friday, seven years later.
Phoebe Schuh of PS & Daughters (left) with owners Lauren and Christopher Kearse toast on a banquette at Known Associates.
It’s a 40-seat cocktail bar called Known Associates, taking over the corner space at 10th and Spruce Streets that previously housed Varga Bar. The concept is built around cocktails and a compact food menu rather than full dinner service, though the fare is substantial.
For Kearse, the opening is another chapter in a career that began far from cocktail bars and French dining rooms. He grew up in Levittown, one of eight children, and learned to cook while recovering from a serious car crash at 16 that left him with severe facial injuries. During that long recovery, he cooked for his parents and siblings. He later worked in some of the country’s most exacting kitchens — Charlie Trotter’s and Alinea in Chicago, and the French Laundry in California — before returning to the Philadelphia area to become sous chef at Lacroix and Blackfish, followed by 2½ years as chef de cuisine at Pumpkin. In 2012, at 28, he opened Will BYOB on East Passyunk Avenue, closing it to move uptown to open the French restaurant Forsythia in the former Capofitto space in Old City. Forsythia earned a Michelin recommendation last year.
The tile floor is one of the few elements saved from Known Associates’ previous incarnation, Varga Bar.
Known Associates is not intended to be an extension of Forsythia. Kearse and his wife, Lauren, who is also an owner, said the concept came into focus during their honeymoon trip through Europe, traveling by train from Zurich to Florence and spending time in smaller bars and cafés in places like Lake Como and Milan.
Lauren Kearse said one nearly empty bar in Como became the image they kept returning to: quiet, low-key, hospitable, and free of the sort of self-conscious “experience” building that now attaches itself to so many cocktail bars.
The bar at Known Associates, chef Chris Kearse’s new cocktail bar on 10th and Spruce streets, on Tuesday, June 16, 2026.
That idea is reflected in the room itself, which was rebuilt almost entirely. Phoebe Schuh of PS & Daughters, who also designed Forsythia, said the black-and-white tile floors were among the few elements retained from Varga, an unassuming gastropub with serious beer chops that closed after the unexpected death of owner Rich Colli in February 2025.
The Varga Bar murals painted on the ceiling — the “Varga girls” that were part of the bar’s identity for years — were salvaged and may be auctioned, with proceeds going to a fund in Colli’s memory, Schuh said.
Crudite with potato puffs and caramelized sour cream and onion dip at Known Associates.
The finished room is emphatically café lounge, not neighborhood drinking den. Floral wallpaper wraps the walls. Patterned banquettes line marble-topped tables. Mustard velvet chairs sit beneath wall sconces, with checkerboard flooring underfoot and a red-and-white striped canopy treatment stretched overhead. The overall effect is layered and slightly theatrical.
Schuh said her working relationship with Kearse is built on familiarity. “Chris and I just kind of speak the same language because we’re both artists,” she said. “We’re not that great at talking about our work, but we’re great at producing our work.”
The location — within blocks of Jefferson, Wills Eye, and Pennsylvania Hospitals — also helped shape the project. Lauren Kearse said they envisioned a room that could work for after-work drinks and dinner-adjacent snacking as much as destination cocktail traffic.
That balance shows up on the food menu, which is limited to 10 savory dishes and two desserts. Kearse said the kitchen’s role is to support the bar rather than turn it into another restaurant. Still, the menu is more ambitious than standard bar snacks and has some of Forsythia’s cheffy feel.
Cool ranch peas at Known Associates.
The burger that is a signature at Forsythia appears at Known Associates as burger au poivre, topped with Comté, cut in half, and served cut-side down in a pool of peppercorn reduction ($20). Char siu duck legs ($22) come on a pretzel milk bun with fish sauce and pickles. There’s also a chicken club ($23) with green goddess dressing and Benton’s bacon.
Lighter dishes include black-eye pea falafel with muhammara and green-scallion hummus ($15); hamachi toast with hard-boiled egg and piri piri ($22); pomme frites with Comté cheese foam ($10); and freeze-dried cool ranch peas meant for snacking with drinks. Seasonal crudité ($12) comes with potato puffs and a caramelized sour cream and onion dip. Desserts ($12) are limited to two: toasted rice milk ice cream with sesame and peanut brittle, and triple chocolate mousse with dulce de leche and toasted hazelnut.
The kitchen is led by chef Brandon Brokenbough, formerly of Enswell and Scarpetta.
Chefs Christopher Kearse (left) and Brandon Brokenbough at Known Associates.
Beverage director Chris Harrop’s cocktails are built around prep work and technique. The TNT ($18) — tomato and tonic — uses clarified tomato water made from tomato, red bell pepper, shallot, fennel, and cucumber. The solids left behind after clarification are dehydrated and served as chips alongside the drink. Harrop said the same clarified base can also be used as a zero-proof savory soda.
The Bittered in Bond ($20), a Boulevardier variation, is made with a house mezcal amaro, Bonal Gentiane, Cappelletti Aperitivo, Licor 43, and salt. It is bottled in a small flask with a batch number and bottling date and poured tableside, a nod to bottled-in-bond whiskey labeling.
Between Harvest ($19), meanwhile, is a Martinez variation with Hayman’s Old Tom gin, Luxardo Maraschino liqueur, Nardini Rabarbaro, and muddled cucumber. Harrop said the name came from a Forsythia customer’s observation that rhubarb and cucumber almost never overlap in season — one fading as the other begins. For summer, he said, the bar has a frozen zombie ($19) assembled to order, with the rum blend kept separate from the slush machine so each drink can still be measured and built fresh.
The name Known Associates carries a passing wink to spy movies — the Kearses are fans of Bond films — but Lauren Kearse said the bar is not built as a themed concept.
“We have no interest in doing that,” she said. “We wanted something punchy that had a little bit of mystery to it.”
Known Associates, 941 Spruce St., opens June 26 and will be open daily from 3 p.m. to midnight.
While state and federal lawmakers have blasted the Trump administration for deplorable conditions at Newark migrant jail Delaney Hall, New Jersey’s prisons watchdog has issued a new report detailing overcrowding, intolerable heat, and other deficiencies at Bayside State Prison in Cumberland County.
Bayside, one of the state’s largest lockups, now houses almost 1,300 people, more than twice its capacity, according to the report released Tuesday by the state corrections ombudsperson’s office. The mixed-security prison, which opened in 1971 in Leesburg, was built to hold 504 people.
“Turning single-occupancy rooms into double-occupancy rooms … leaves each incarcerated person with significantly less storage and personal space,” the report says.
The crowding is compounded by the closure of Bayside’s dining hall, which is now used for storage, the report says. That closure forces prisoners to eat all three meals while perched on their beds or foot lockers in their cramped cells, which at 70 square feet are about the size of a parking space.
Inspectors from the ombudsperson’s office also found old, thin mattresses; birds in the kitchen and housing units; and dirty showers, among other problems.
The prison lacks air conditioning, so inspectors also encountered stifling heat during summer inspections, with temperatures reaching 94 degrees in cells and shared spaces and 116 degrees in the kitchen, according to the report.
State health inspectors, who last inspected Bayside in November 2023, also dinged the prison for a “repeat deficiency” for the presence of insects or rodents, the report says.
The ombudsperson’s office recommended that Department of Corrections officials allow people to eat meals outside their cells in a courtyard area or day rooms if they cannot reopen the dining hall, and to improve cleaning of kitchen equipment and showers, among other things.
Officials have tried to improve some problems, such as replacing mattresses and exhaust fans and vents in shower areas, as well as putting up barriers to keep out birds, the report says.
Reopening the dining hall, which has been closed since 1997, is “not logistically feasible” because of cost, staffing, and security concerns, the department said in a response to the report. They said they won’t move meals to common areas, also citing security reasons.
June has been a month of promotions for Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith.
After A.J. Brown was traded to the Patriots on June 1, Smith became the top receiver on the Eagles’ depth chart. Less than two weeks later, on June 13, Smith was promoted from fiancé to husband.
Smith married his childhood sweetheart Mya Danielle at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando in Walt Disney World Resort.
The all-black, black-tie affair reportedly hosted 135 guests, including Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and his wife Bryonna Rivera Burrows. Hurts was notably absent from Brown’s wedding in May, which caused a stir on social media.
I’m glad that we have proof that Jalen Hurts was at DeVonta Smith’s wedding and that we won’t have to deal with any nonsense over that. 😅 https://t.co/GVvQFWkin0
People Magazine, the first to report on the wedding, said that despite his recent trade, Brown was in attendance for Smith’s wedding, along with other former Eagles teammates like Nakobe Dean, Jahan Dotson, Isaiah Rodgers, and Parris Campbell. Smith was among the guests at Brown’s wedding last month.
Smith’s college teammates from Alabama were also in attendance, including Jaylen Waddle, Jerry Jeudy, Jordan Battle, Pat Surtain II, and Mack Wilson Sr.
From the looks of this photo Jalen Hurts was not a groomsmen in Devonta Smiths wedding.
The wedding weekend started by honoring the couple’s Louisiana roots with a “Dukes & Boots Welcome Rodeo” on June 12, that included a crawfish boil. Another nod to their home state included reception music from New Orleans DJ Mannie Fresh.
Danielle and Smith met in middle school and have two daughters together, 2-year-old Kyse and 1-year-old Kali. The couple got engaged on New Year’s Eve in 2024, just over a month before Smith and the Eagles won the Super Bowl.
Now with four rings in his collection — two College Football Playoff championship rings, a Super Bowl ring, and a wedding ring — Smith will be looking to add a fifth, a second Super Bowl title, this time as the Eagles’ top receiver.
In the post-pandemic hybrid-work environment, Philadelphia office space remains cheaper than most other major metro areas, according to a new report from the online real estate platform Commercial Cafe.
Asking rents for Philly offices were $31.26 per square foot on average as of May, the report found. That makes Philadelphia the only major market in the Northeast below the national average of $33.61 per square foot.
Relative to other major U.S. markets, only Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix recorded lower average asking rents.
Elsewhere in the Northeast, Manhattan averaged the most expensive asking rents at more than $69 per square foot, according to the report. Boston’s asking rents were around $44 and New Jersey’s were more than $35.
Philadelphia’s 18.4% office vacancy rate, meanwhile, was slightly higher than the other Northeast markets, as well as the national average of 17.6%, according to the report.
The analysis, released last week, reflected the broader challenges that all office markets are up against. In Philadelphia and elsewhere, the office landscape has shrunk since the pandemic, with many employers downsizing their space amid the rise of hybrid work.
Some Center City office buildings have plummeted in value and are now becoming apartment complexes. Among them: The iconic Wanamaker Building and Centre Square, better known as the “Clothespin building” for the sculpture outside it.
Between January and May, $220 million in office sales were recorded in Philadelphia, according to the Commercial Cafe report, and $387 million in New Jersey. In the Garden State, 630,000 square feet of offices were under construction, found the report, which did not have under-construction data for Philadelphia.
Peter Kolaczynski, the director of Yardi Research, helped compile the report, and noted the trend toward office reuse.
“The destruction of value that we have discussed for years is showing through in the sales data,” Kolaczynski said in a statement. “With this decrease cost in acquisition comes opportunity — whether that is conversions to apartments, repositioning to best-in-class office and coworking, or full-on redevelopment and revitalization projects.”
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Before we delve into his story, let’s set the record straight right away.
Yes, Jack Hextall is a distant cousin of former Flyers general manager and goalie Ron Hextall. No, according to Jack, they have never met. So while some may either embrace or bristle at the thought of another Hextall donning orange and black, their only connection is a shared last name.
For now. Because at the 2026 NHL draft, the center Jack Hextall may join the goalie Ron Hextall as a player drafted by the Flyers.
Beginnings
Jack Hextall grew up in the small northwest Chicago suburb of Rolling Meadows, Illinois, when his dad Cory — a native of Saskatchewan and Ron’s cousin — settled there after playing hockey at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
The father and son would shoot pucks together at a net in the garage. “We got to put some plywood up behind the net, because, actually, my dad shot a puck through the garage,” Jack said with a laugh, adding that the pair thought it was funny. His mom, Jennifer, however, did not agree.
But now that her son is about to be drafted into the NHL, and has a chance of eclipsing his uncle, Donevan Hextall, who was drafted 33rd overall in the second round of the 1991 NHL draft by the New Jersey Devils, maybe she’ll be OK with it. After all, it was all those pucks that have led to this point.
Jack is days away from hearing his name called.
“This opportunity is so exciting, and it’s a really cool opportunity,” Hextall told The Inquirer. “It only happens once, so just trying to do the best I can and enjoy it.”
When asked what animal he would be on the ice, a question usually posed by the Montreal Canadiens at the scouting combine, Jack Hextall said he would have responded: “A wolf. I feel like it kind of resembles me, smart, plays with a bite.”
Hextall interviewed with 25 teams at the NHL scouting combine, including the Flyers, before finishing in the top-25 of five fitness tests — including the right and left-handed grip tests, which have become a staple for Flyers draft picks of late. It’s a hefty number of teams for Hextall, but it makes sense as the 6-foot-½ inch, 195-pound right-shot centerman has built his game into that of a late first or early second-round pick.
And while they do have centers in the prospect pool, the Flyers do not shy away from drafting them. Flyers general manager Danny Brière has said: “I don’t feel like you can have too many centers, because it’s much easier to move a center to the wing.” But unlike some other centers in this draft class, and while he has played center and wing, Hextall’s ceiling is as a middle-six center at the NHL level.
“Just reliable in that 200-foot game,” he said, when asked what he brings down the middle. “Not every center is 200-foot, and takes pride in the defensive side of the puck, and it’s something I’ve always done. I think high hockey IQ as well, not a lot of people have that high hockey IQ, and I think I bring that, and I think that’s special.”
Hextall thinks he reads the game well and pays attention to the little details, which has caught others’ eye.
“I think he’s one of the guys that you look at and you think that’s a center in terms of the details,” The Athletic’s NHL draft and prospects reporter Scott Wheeler told The Inquirer. “His bread and butter is how well-rounded he is. The details off the puck, up-and-under sticks, retrievals, board battles, he’s got pro habits.
“If you talk to the guys in Youngstown [where Hextall played for the Phantoms of the United States Hockey League], the first thing they say about him is that he’s a pro; this isn’t a junior hockey player, like a lot of these kids are. [He] does everything the right way, no selfishness to his game and he doesn’t cheat for offense.”
Although he said it would be funny to go from the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League — as a pit stop to the NHL, of course — he is off to Michigan State this fall. Yes, it’s the same school Porter Martone attended, and the one Brière has continually, and perhaps notably, praised. Hextall’s pro days will have to wait.
But it is what he did this past year that has eyes on him right now.
Feelin’ Stronger Every Day
Ryan Ward has known Hextall since he was 13 years old. The two met when the now Youngstown coach was on the bench for the Windy City Storm, a program that has developed several NHLers, including fellow Illinois native and Flyers assistant coach Todd Reirden.
Skating for the Storm’s 13U AAA team, a Tier I program, Hextall notched 39 goals and 103 points in 58 games.
“I could have told you back then, and I think I’ve told him and his family this, but I could see right away when he played for me, I was like, this kid’s special,” Ward told The Inquirer.
“He was very serious; he wanted to know why we do things, he wanted to learn, he wanted to understand systems, he wanted to watch video, and a lot of 13-year-olds, they’re not interested in that, they play the game or whatever, and then they go home and eat McDonald’s,” Ward added.
“But Jack, he was always interested in watching his shifts with me, or watching film. You couldn’t give him enough, and he’s the same way now, like after every game we sit down and we watch clips, and that’s just who he is.”
Jack Hextall poses with the puck that gave him 100 points for the Windy City Storm in the 2021-22 season.
It was a no-brainer for Ward when the option came to snag Hextall for the USHL. In his first season as a 16-year-old in a league that has an age range of 16-20, Hextall dropped eight goals and 34 points in 53 games. This past season, across 59 games, he more than doubled his goals (20) with 38 assists.
That came after he finished with seven points in five games, including three in the championship game against Sweden, for the gold-medal-winning U.S. side at the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. It was the first time the U.S. won the tournament since 2003.
“He’s a super smart player. He’s obviously a 200-foot center [which is] pretty hard to find nowadays,” said his linemate, Blake Zielinski, a Berlin, N.J., native who is expected to be drafted on Saturday.
“He just played the game so smart and so dynamically, and I think we just worked well together, being that I can shoot the puck, he can pass the puck. He sees the ice very well, and I think I see the guys pretty well, and so we connected a lot.”
Although some believe Hextall’s pace and speed need work — Martone did improve this at Michigan State — to drive plays and forecheck, he is considered a good skater. A self-proclaimed “railroad skater” when he was younger, he has worked on bringing his legs more underneath him, spending time each week in Youngstown with a power skating coach. It is that growth and development that pops for Ward, who sees a player who not only wants to get better and better but is getting better and better.
The Athletic’s senior NHL prospects writer Corey Pronman told The Inquirer that Hextall was one of the best players in the USHL this season and was arguably USA Hockey’s best forward at the Hlinka. He likes his competitiveness, his attention to detail, and his ability to win battles and make plays. Ward calls him a blue-collar player and likes that his “brain is off the charts.”
Guess who else likes these attributes in a player? The Flyers.
“Every time, if his team would lose a small area game, like, he’d be screaming at me that I was cheating for the other team,” said Ward. “He’s just so competitive, he hates to lose. … He’s a leader the moment he steps in the room. He’s going to do his thing, and he’s going to work hard, and he’s going to push people to get better, and that’s ultimately like you’re talking about the Philadelphia Flyers. That’s the type of person you want in the locker room.”
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia announced Tuesday that Joseph Mitchell will succeed Madeline Bell as CEO, when Bell retires Oct. 1 after a nearly 40-year career at the University City nonprofit.
Bell, 65, became CHOP’s CEO in July 2015 following eight years as chief operating officer. During Bell’s tenure as CEO, CHOP more than doubled its annual revenue to more than $5 billion, added a hospital in King of Prussia, and started building a $2.6 billion patient tower on its main campus.
Mitchell, 51, joined CHOP as president in April 2025 following a national search by CHOP’s board for Bell’s successor. In 2024, Bell had notified the board of her intention to retire, CHOP said.
Before coming to Philadelphia, Mitchell was an executive vice president at Boston Children’s Hospital and president of Franciscan Children’s, a specialty hospital that Boston Children’s acquired in 2023.
“The opportunity to lead an institution that is so iconic, impactful, and relevant, and has the opportunity to impact pediatrics and have an indelible imprint on kids and families was just irresistible,” Mitchell said in an interviewthis week. “It was an easy decision to move my family from Boston to Philadelphia.”
CHOP is financially strong as Mitchell assumes the top job, but like other health systems it will face financial pressure from Medicaid cuts starting next year. The nonprofit has also been under fire from the Trump administration for its program that serves transgender youth.
Mitchell trained as a urologist and worked at McKinsey & Co. as a consultant for 14 years before becoming CEO of Franciscan Children’s in 2021. He led a financial turnaround effort there and planned for a dramatic expansion of its campus in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood.
“Joe brings a fresh perspective, a patient-first approach, and a strong strategic mindset,” Greg Davis, CHOP’s board chair, said in a news release. “We are confident he will guide CHOP into its next chapter with continued excellence and impact.”
Bell’s tenure as CEO
Bell, who started at CHOP as a nurse, oversaw substantial growth of CHOP’s footprint in West Philadelphia and on the eastern side of the Schuylkill with two research towers on Schuylkill Avenue near the South Street Bridge. CHOP also expanded its specialty-care network in the suburbs.
CHOP became the pediatric partner for Main Line Health, Lehigh Valley Health Network, and ChristianaCare under Bell’s leadership. Such relationships with systems focused on adults help steer patients needing advanced specialties to CHOP. CHOP has long been Penn Medicine’s pediatric partner.
Madeline Bell sat next to Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie last year during a ceremonial signing of documents for the Lurie family’s $50 million donation to create the Lurie Autism Institute at the University of Pennsylvania and CHOP.
In a prerecorded statement for staff and others viewed by The Inquirer in advance of the transitional announcement, Bell highlighted medical breakthroughs in cell and gene therapy during the past decade, as well as an expansion of behavioral health services. The Lurie Autism Institute, a partnership between the University of Pennsylvania and CHOP, launched last year thanks to a $50 million gift from Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and his family.
Also last year, CHOP received its largest gift ever, $125 million from Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and his wife, Aileen. The new patient tower expected to open in 2028 will bear their name. In 2024, real estate investor Mitchell L. Morgan and his family donated $50 million toward the cost of one of the two research towers near the South Street Bridge.
After retiring, Bell plans to continue as honorary consul of Spain for the Philadelphia region, a position she started last July, and hopes to remain on the board of Comcast-NBCUniversal, she said. Also, she will continue to support CHOP philanthropically and will remain a resource for Mitchell.
CHOP is among the nation’s largest pediatric systems. It has 774 licensed hospital beds and employs 31,000 people. In the nine months that ended March 31, CHOP had 27,643 inpatient admissions and 1.3 million outpatient visits.
Joe Mitchell’s priorities
Since arriving in Philadelphia, Mitchell has immersed himself in getting to know CHOP, visiting primary care and specialty sites, as well as the hospitals, he said. The next step was broadening his responsibilities to the point where most of CHOP’s senior executives are now reporting to him.
He said it’s too soon for him to address specific strategic moves, but emphasized that his priority is expanding access to care for children and families.
Joseph Mitchell will succeed Madeline Bell as CHOP’s CEO this fall.
That could get harder with Medicaid cuts looming next year. Nearly 50% of CHOP’s patients have the insurance for low-income families.
“We’re doing everything we can to preserve access for families, to advocate for funding and resources at the state and federal level,” said Mitchell, who grew up in St. Louis in a family “that was deep into healthcare.”
He moved to Boston for a residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. That’s where he met his wife, Vivian. They have two children, 17 and 14, and the entire family has fallen in love with Philadelphia, he said.
“CHOP has embraced me, but Philadelphia as a community has really embraced us,” he said.
