Villanova University was one of several colleges nationwide that saw its operations disrupted Thursday by a series of hoax threats.
The Main Line Catholic university with 6,700 undergraduates closed the campus early Thursday morning, advised students on campus to stay in their residence halls, and warned others to stay off campus while authorities investigated. The move followed an undisclosed threat about one of its academic buildings.
By 2 p.m., the private university gave the all-clear and said while in-person classes would remain canceled, students could leave their residences and get into some buildings, including the library, main dining halls, the health center, and the Connelly Center.
Villanova’s threats were part of a swatting pattern nationwide. In September, the Associated Press reported that about 50 college campuses had been hit with hoax calls nationwide in recent weeks. The U.S. Department of Education put out tips on how to recognize fake calls, including questions to ask callers to determine if there are inconsistencies.
Locally, colleges including Temple, Drexel, and Villanova said in September they had taken steps in response to the spate of swatting incidents nationwide, including upgrading training on how to handle them.
On Thursday, another wave of calls appears to have occurred. New York University received threats against two school buildings, the school announced around the same time as Villanova. One threat included mention of bombing an NYU building. NYU did not go on lockdown.
The FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office said in a statement that it was aware of the threats made to universities on Thursday.
“We continue to stay in close coordination with our law enforcement partners,” an FBI spokesperson said. “As always, the FBI encourages members of the public to remain vigilant and immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement.”
Villanova said the FBI was investigating, alongside state and local law enforcement. There were no reports of activity posing a danger to the campus.
In its 2 p.m. update, the schools said that classes that are fully online could continue on Thursday and that graduate courses meeting in the evening could be “offered remotely at the discretion of the professor.”
Intramurals scheduled for Thursday evening, the school said, also would be held.
University spokesperson Jonathan Gust declined to say which Villanova building was targeted or describe the nature of the threat, given the investigation is ongoing.
“In an abundance of caution, the university made the decision to close,” he said earlier Thursday.
Additional police will remain on campus, the school noted.
A backpack sits around toppled chairs at the Villanova University campus where an active shooter was reported Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in Villanova, Pa.
Villanova students and staff on Thursday were trying to cope with another disruption to their campus life.
At First Watch restaurant just off campus, freshman finance major Nolan Sabel said he woke up to a university alert on his phone, warning him of “an unknown threat of violence.”
Sabel said he was disappointed to learn that an academic building had been targeted — for the third time in a year.
“It’s kind of crazy,” Sabel said. “You hear that Villanova is really safe. It doesn’t feel that way.”
Now, he and his lacrosse teammates are wondering whether a scrimmage set for Thursday afternoon would be canceled.
The university told the students they were “on lockdown,” Sabel said. But that didn’t stop them from walking just off campus to get breakfast.
“We needed food,” he said. “We have a game today.”
Villanova senior James Haupt said he learned of the threat and class cancellation about 7:30 a.m. He lives off campus and had not yet headed to the school for his morning class.
“After the last incident, it’s hard to take it completely seriously when we know that was a hoax,” said Haupt, 21, a communications major from Long Island. “But it’s still a little scary knowing this can happen at any point.”
He said he was glad that the school canceled classes.
“It’s a great gesture by the school,” he said. “I’d rather not have to go into class and be worried.”
Haupt had one class scheduled for Thursday and an intramural basketball game in the evening.
While students seemed to be taking the incident in stride, parents were expressing concerns on private Villanova Facebook pages, said one staff member who was not authorized to speak to the media and asked not to be named.
“Terrible sign of the times we live in,” one parent wrote, according to the staff member. “Thinking of everyone. These poor kids and us parents having to deal with this. Hope it’s nothing and all are safe and whoever is behind this is brought to justice.”
Dana Edwards was sworn in as mayor of Narberth earlier this month.
Narberth’s new mayor may have only lived in the 4,500-person borough for five years, but he’s already got a vision for it.
Dana Edwards, 53, was sworn into office earlier this month after securing the backing of Narberth’s Democratic committee and running unopposed in both the primary and general elections.
Now the Puerto Rico native who’s lived in several other parts of the U.S. before settling in Narberth is focused on sustainable growth while maintaining the borough’s “hometown feel,” The Inquirer’s Denali Sagner reports.
When the late Kobe Bryant came to Lower Merion, he helped shape a rivalry with Chester that endured.
Decades may have passed, but a longtime rivalry between two high school basketball teams, begun in part by legend Kobe Bryant, still lives on today.
When Bryant joined the Lower Merion Aces his freshman year, the school wasn’t a basketball powerhouse. But as the program improved, it soon built a rivalry with the much-more-stacked Chester High School, so much so that their matchups would often sell out venues.
Saks Fifth Avenue’s parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, leaving some questions about the future of its stores. For the time being, the Saks on City Avenue in Bala Cynwyd will remain open while the company restructures. Here’s what we know so far.
Women’s apparel and accessories store Francesca’s, which has a location at Suburban Square in Ardmore, is reportedly closing its remaining stores after years of financial turmoil. Francesca’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late 2020. (Fox Business)
Villanova University is among a handful of Pennsylvania colleges that are now paying some of its athletes directly. The move comes after a federal class-action lawsuit last year regarding student athlete compensation. Villanova said it will primarily pay athletes on its basketball teams.
Coulter Place, an apartment community at Suburban Square, is now open. The 131-unit, five-story building has a fitness center, clubroom, game room, pool, coworking spaces, and pet-care spaces with rents ranging from about $3,030 to $7,035 per month.
A handful of Philadelphia Police Department employees live in and around Lower Merion, according to a new Inquirer analysis. An increasing number of Philadelphia police employees — about a third of full-time staff — live outside the city, with four who reside in Bala Cynwyd, three in Bryn Mawr, and two each in Ardmore, Narberth, Villanova, and Wynnewood. See a map of where employees live here.
Bala Cynwyd resident Jenny Sved has been named the new executive director of Teach PA, the statewide affiliate of Jewish education advocacy organization Teach Coalition, which represents Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy and Perelman Jewish Day School.
A new pet boutique, Mila’s Pup Tienda, is coming to Ardmore, taking over the space at 18 E. Lancaster Ave.
6abc recently caught up with Carolyn Vachani, the owner of Plant 4 Good in Ardmore. When the former nurse was ready to retire, she decided to open the shop at 100 Cricket Ave. to help connect others to plants and gardening. See the segment here.
Wynnewood’s English Village recently marked a milestone, turning 100 last year, and a century later still remains a coveted, if under-the-radar spot for homebuyers. The village sits between Cherry Lane and Wister Road and spans 29 Tudor-style homes. (Main Line Today)
🏫 Schools Briefing
The district is hosting its third strategic plan community input meeting on Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Lower Merion High School cafeteria. There, members of the community can share their thoughts on the district’s strategic plan for 2026 to 2031.
Tonight is Welsh Valley’s winter choral concert. The school board will meet from 7 to 9 p.m. on Monday, and there will be tours of Harriton High for eighth grade students and their families on Wednesday, which is also course selection night. See the district’s full calendar here.
Lower Merion High School’s wrestling team recently took home third place overall in the Central League Championship Tournament, held at Harriton High School. It was the team’s best overall performance. Senior Sam Soeffing also took home first place in his competition.
🍽️ On our Plate
With a more than 700-person waitlist, a Gladwyne restaurant is surprisingly tough to get into, but it’s the best meal The Inquirer’s Kiki Aranita has eaten on the Main Line. Why’s it so difficult to score a table? Partly because Carlton Commons is in senior-living community Waverly Heights and requires residency. For those with friends or relatives there, it’s worth tagging along for the osso buco, butternut squash risotto, rigatoni alla vodka, or the signature tomato aspic.
Bikini Burger, a new eatery at 44 Rittenhouse Place in Ardmore, is hosting a ribbon cutting today at 11:30 a.m. to mark its official opening. Its menu includes burgers, milkshakes, and fries.
Looking for a non-alcoholic cocktail? Char & Stave in Ardmore has a barrel-aged “Old Fashioned,” which Philadelphia Magazine says is among the best alcohol-free sips on area menus currently, noting its barrel-aged espresso base gives it “a bourbon-like, oaky smoothness.”
🎳 Things to Do
🎶 The Music of Beyoncé and More for Kids: This kid-friendly show will feature music from the iconic artist. ⏰ Sunday, Jan. 25, 11:45 a.m. 💵 $20.44 📍 Ardmore Music Hall
🎥 The Awful Truth: Catch a screening of this Cary Grant and Irene Dunne screwball comedy. ⏰ Wednesday, Jan. 28, 7:15 p.m. 💵 $11.75-$16.25 📍 Bryn Mawr Film Institute
The stone Colonial was built in 1925 and spans over 4,000 square feet.
Built in 1925, this spacious Wynnewood stone Colonial has a classic exterior and a contemporary updated interior. The home’s first floor features a living room with a fireplace, and a dining room that opens onto the kitchen, which has a waterfall peninsula with a breakfast bar. There are four bedrooms and three full bathrooms on the second floor, and a “bonus room” on the third floor. The home also has a finished basement with a half bathroom.
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At local colleges with major sports programs, some student athletes are now getting paychecks — from their athletic departments.
Pennsylvania State University, Temple, Villanova, St. Joseph’s, Drexel, and La Salle are among the Pennsylvania schools that have begun to directly pay athletes following a settlement last year in federal class-action lawsuits over student athlete compensation.
The move arguably ends college athletes’ status as amateurs and begins to address long-standing concerns that players haven’t fairly profited from the lucrative business of some college sports.
It also raises questions about how schools will fund the athletes’ pay and whether equity complaints will arise if all athletes are not comparably awarded. Some also question how it will impact sports that are not big revenue makers.
Locally, most colleges have been mum on how much they are paying athletes, and some have also declined to say which teams’ athletes are getting money through revenue sharing, citing competitive and student privacy concerns. Villanova, a basketball powerhouse that has 623 athletes across 24 sports, said it will provide money primarily to its men’s and women’s basketball teams.
Erica Roedl, Villanova’s vice president and athletic director, speaks during a news conference at the school’s Finneran Pavilion in 2024.
“Our objective is to share revenue at levels which will keep our basketball rosters funded among the top schools in the Big East [Conference] and nationally,” Eric Roedl, Villanova’s vice president and director of athletics, said in a June message after the court settlement.
St. Joe’s, another basketball standout, said its arrangement is also with men’s and women’s basketball athletes, like its peers in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Temple University established Competitive Excellence Funds that allow all of its 19 teams to raise money for revenue sharing, but declined to say which teams are currently distributing money to athletes.
“Donors could, if they wanted to, make sure their money went to a certain sport,” said Arthur Johnson, Temple’s vice president and director of athletics. “They have that ability.”
Other local colleges, including St. Joseph’s and Villanova, also launched funds to help raise money for revenue sharing. And all three schools also plan to use athletic revenue.
Under the revenue-sharing framework established by the court settlement, each college can pay its athletes up to a total of $20.5 million this academic year. Football powerhouse Penn State, which has about 800 athletes, has said it intends to reach the cap, according to a June 7 statement from athletic director Pat Kraft.
“This is a rapidly evolving environment that we are monitoring closely to ensure our approach remains consistent with applicable rules, while supporting the well-being and academic success of our student-athletes,” said Leah Beasley, Penn State’s deputy athletic director for strategic engagement and brand advancement.
Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft gives two thumbs up to the student section following a 31-0 win in a football game against Iowa in 2023.
‘It’s a job’
To athletes, revenue sharing seems only fair, given many are so busy practicing and playing through summers and other breaks that they don’t have time to work.
“It is a job at the end of the day,” said former Villanova University basketball player Eric Dixon, who holds the Wildcats’ record as all-time leading scorer. “You put a lot of time into it every single day, every single week.”
Players get hurt and can see their sports careers harmed or halted, said Dixon, who grew up in Abington and played at Villanova from 2020 to 2025. College may be their only time to earn money for their sports prowess.
Villanova’s Eric Dixon drives against Alex Karaban of UConn during the 2025 Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Dixon didn’tbenefit from revenue sharing. But he got money through external name, image, and likeness (NIL) endorsements and sponsorships that the NCAA began allowing in 2021. Dixon declined to specify how much he received, but said it was “seven figures” over four years and allowed him to help his family.
Like some other schools, Villanova, he said, provided players with financial guidance so they could make wise decisions on how to use their money.
External NIL arrangements, though, he said, were a little “like the Wild West.”(NIL compensation is allowed to continue under the lawsuit settlement, but deals of more than $600 have to be reported.) Revenue sharing from colleges will offer athletes more predictable income, said Dixon, who now plays for the Charlotte Hornets’ affiliated team in the G League.
Tyler Perkins, a Villanova junior from Virginia, currently plays for the Wildcats, who won national championships in 1985, 2016, and 2018. While he declined to say how much he is receiving, he said revenue sharing is helping him prepare for his future and “set up for the rest of my life.”
Maddy Siegrist, also a former Villanova basketball player who now plays for the Dallas Wings in the WNBA, is pleased universities are able to share revenue directly with athletes.
“It will be interesting to see how it all plays out,” said Siegrist, the Big East’s all-time leading scorer in women’s basketball and Villanova’s overall highest scorer, of men’s and women’s basketball.
Dallas Wings forward Maddy Siegrist celebrates a three-point shot during a WNBA basketball game against the Chicago Sky in 2024 in Arlington, Texas.
While the big revenue sports are likely to see the money first, she said, “I would hope there will be a trickle-downeffect where almost every sport is able to benefit.“
A lawsuit spurs changes
For years, there have been growing concerns that athletes were not getting their fair share of the profits from college sports, which make money onbroadcast rights, ticket sales, and sponsorships. Meanwhile, coaches can be among the highest paid in a university’s budget.
In 2020, former Arizona State swimmer Grant House became the lead plaintiff in House vs. NCAA, a class-action antitrust lawsuit that argued athletes should be able to profit from the use of their name, likeness, and image and schools should not be barred from paying them directly.
The settlement approved in June of that suit and two others against the NCAA requires the NCAA and its major conferences to pay $2.8 billion in damages to current and former Division 1 athletes. Another provision gave rise to the revenue sharing.
It initially applied to the major sports conferences: the Big Ten, Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference, and the Big 12. Penn State belongs to the Big Ten and the University of Pittsburgh to the Atlantic Coast.
But other athletic conferences, along with many of their members, decided to opt in to the agreement to remain competitive in select sports. St. Joseph’s, La Salle, Villanova, Drexel, and Temple all are part of conferences participating in revenue sharing with athletes this year.
“We support student-athletes’ ability to pursue value among their peers and to leverage commercial opportunities that may benefit them or the institution,” said Maisha Kelly, Drexel’s vice president and director of athletics and recreation.
Temple belongs to the American Athletic Conference, which said its members must agree to pay at least $10 million over three years to its athletes. Johnson, Temple’s athletic director, noted that total also includes new scholarships, not just pay.
No tuition, state dollars to be used
Pitt alumnus J. Byron Fleck has called on the Pennsylvania State Board of Higher Education to advise three state-related colleges — Penn State, Temple, and Pitt — not to use tuition dollars, student fees, or state appropriations to fund athlete payments.He also asked lawmakers to take action.
“It doesn’t relate to any educational or academic purpose,” said Fleck, a 1976 Pitt alumnus and lawyer in California.
Karen Weaver, an expert on college athletics, higher education leadership, and public policy, said the same concerns about public funds being used to pay athletes have risen in other states, including Michigan and Washington.
But Penn State, Temple, and Pitt all said in statements that they would not use tuition, student fees, or state appropriations to fund revenue sharing with athletes.
“Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics is a self-sustaining unit of the university,” said Beasley, Penn State’s deputy athletic director.
Pitt said it would use athletic revenues.
In addition to donations, Temple, too, is using athletic department revenues, such as ticket sales, but it is also looking at other “nontraditional ways” to raise money, Johnson said.
“We’re turning over every stone,” he said.
Weaver, an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said she worries that as the caps on revenue sharing get higher and costs grow, schools, especially those tight for cash, may start raising recreation and other student fees. The University of Tennessee added a 10% student talent fee for season ticket renewals, according to the Associated Press, while Clemson is charging a $150 per semester student athletic fee, according to ESPN.
Roedl, the Villanova athletic director, said in a statement that it had launched the Villanova Athletics Strategic Excellence (VASE) Fund to raise money for the payments.
“Additionally, we are looking for other ways to maximize revenue through ticketing, sponsorships, and events, and identifying cost efficiencies throughout our department,” he said.
St. Joe’s, which has about 450 student athletes, said that it started a Basketball Excellence Fund to raise revenue and that payments also are funded by the basketball program. Athletes that receive funds “serve as brand ambassadors for the university,” the school said in a statement. “… These efforts have included community engagement — particularly with youth in the community — and marketing initiatives that directly support the Saint Joseph’s University brand.”
La Salle declined to say how much student athletes receive or in what proportion.
“We can share that any funds provided to students come from external sources and not tuition dollars,” said Greg Nayor, vice president for enrollment management and marketing.
Weaver, author of a forthcoming book, Understanding College Athletics: What Campus Leaders Need to Know About College Sports, said plans that call for the bulk of revenue sharing to go to football and basketball players would lead to legal action, charging that female athletes are not being treated equally.
“Any day now I expect we’ll see a huge Title IX lawsuit,” she said.
Rosemont College’s accrediting body has asked the school for information on its student records and finances and policies “to ensure truthfulness in public relations announcements.”
The private, suburban liberal arts college has until Tuesday to submit a report to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, according to an announcement on the accrediting body’s website.
Rosemont announced last spring that it was planning to close for good in 2028 and that nearby Villanova University is purchasing its campus. The college’s enrollment for thefall semester stood at 428, down about 45% from last year.
The freshman class of 21 students is just a quarter of the size of last year’s first-year enrollment. And it will be the last freshman class to enter the 104-year-old Catholic college.
It’s unclear what prompted Middle States to ask Rosemont for the report; the body doesn’t elaborate on its posted actions. Rosemont President Jim Cawley did not respond to a request for comment.
The questions are a likely indicator that more action is coming, which could be as basic as accepting the college’s report, or could be more serious, such as an accreditation warning. Colleges need accreditation to keep their students eligible for federal aid.
Middle States also asked Rosemont to provide evidence of “fair and transparent policies and procedures regarding the evaluation and acceptance of transfer credits, policies and procedures for the safe and secure maintenance and appropriate release of student information and records, including student athletics” and “full disclosure and financial information … that includes realistic enrollment and budget projections and the assumptions on which they are based, is adequate to support educational purposes and programs.”
The college in 2022 received a warning from the commission that its accreditation could be in jeopardy because it did not appear to be meeting requirements around planning, budget and academic assessment. But in 2023, the warning status was removed and the school’s accreditation was reaffirmed through 2028-29.
It could become increasingly challenging for the school to operate as it enrolls fewer students each year until its closure. Another hit could come next year, when NCAA sports are discontinued and more athletes may transfer. Under the merger agreement, Rosemont is expected to receive some financial support from Villanova through 2028.
Rosemont was one of 13 colleges The Inquirer examined in 2024 and found was in poor financial health, using an index developed by a finance executive at a small college in Illinois. The school had reported operating losses for five straight years through June 2023.
On Creighton Road in Lower Merion, it’s not unusual for residents to buy the house next door.
The owners of the 3.85-acre property at 648 Creighton Rd. did just that when they purchased the home but wanted a pool. They decided to put one on the neighboring property.
The century-old main house with seven bedrooms, seven full bathrooms, and three half bathrooms is available for $7.9 million. And the one-bedroom, one-bathroom carriage house next door that was rebuilt in 2015 is on the market for $2 million.
Creighton Road “has become the estate street,” said listing agent Lavinia Smerconish with Compass Real Estate.
The property is 3.85 acres and includes a sprawling yard.
The owners are open to selling their properties separately, but they won’t sell the carriage house before the main one in case a buyer wants both.
The fieldstone main house is 11,418 square feet. It used to have a series of small rooms for staff and a giant entrance that looked like a banquet hall that no one knew what to do with, Smerconish said. A previous owner reimagined the home with larger rooms, more natural light, and more functional space.
The home has a commercial kitchen with a large island with seating.
The front door opens to an entrance tower with a chandelier and winding staircase. Living and dining rooms branch off from the foyer with the family room straight ahead.
The home has a commercial kitchen with an island with seating. The property includes an exercise room, solarium, four fireplaces, suite above the attached garage for guests or a nanny, sprawling yard lined with trees and hedges, terraces, and detached garage. The sitting room off the primary bedroom could be kept as is or turned into a huge closet, Smerconish said.
The finished basement spans 1,538 square feet and includes a wine cellar.
The basement includes a sports bar with TVs, wine cellar for up to 3,000 bottles, movie room, gym, and bathroom.
The property “is both impressive and cozy at the same time,” Smerconish said.
The carriage house on the market for $2 million on Creighton Road in Lower Merion is being sold as a package along with the $7.9 million house next door.
The carriage house next door spans just over 1,000 square feet on an almost one-acre lot. It has a bedroom, bathroom, laundry room, eat-in kitchen, and living room. A flagstone patio leads to the heated saltwater pool.
The properties are walking distance from the Appleford estate, which is an event venue, bird sanctuary, and arboretum with gardens and walking paths. They are minutes from Villanova University and Stoneleigh, a public garden of the nonprofit Natural Lands.
And they’re also minutes from the Schuylkill Expressway and I-476.
The carriage house includes a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom.
The properties were listed for sale on Dec. 5. Now that the holidays are over, Smerconish said, she will start accepting appointments to tour them. She said photos of the main house especially don’t do it justice.
“You get more with a physical tour and experiencing it,” she said.
Flagstone surrounds the carriage house’s heated saltwater pool.
Way back in 2022, when Philadelphians gathered on an abandoned pier to watch a man eat a rotisserie chicken, folks on social media began to wonder: “Is Philadelphia a real place?”
Sure, that perception has a lot to do with an unbelievable event that actually happened in the suburbs (Delco never fails to carry its weight), but Philly also saw its fair share of the bizarre this year, too.
As we prepare for what may be one of the most important (and hopefully weirdest!) years in modern Philadelphia history, let’s take some time to look back on the peculiar stories from across the region that punctuated 2025.
Five uh-oh
Kevon Darden was sworn in as a part-time police officer for Collingdale Borough on Jan. 12 and hit the ground running, landing his first arrest just four days later.
The only problem? It was his own.
Pennsylvania State Police charged Darden with terroristic threats and related offenses for an alleged road rage incident in 2023 in which he’s accused of pointing a gun at a driver on the Blue Route in Ridley Township. At the time of the alleged incident Darden was employed as an officer at Cheyney University.
A Pennsylvania State Police vehicle. The agency provided two clean background checks for a Collingdale police officer this year, only to arrest him four days after he started the job.
Here’s the thing — it was state police who provided not one but two clean background checks on Darden to Collingdale officials before he was hired. An agency spokesperson told The Inquirer troopers had to wait on forensic evidence tests and approval from the District Attorney’s Office before filing charges.
Darden subsequently resigned and is scheduled for trial next year in Delaware County Court.
For the Birds
The Eagles’ second Super Bowl win provided a wellspring of wacky — and sometimes dicey — moments on and off the field early this year.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker started the championship run off strong by going viral for misspelling the most popular chant in the city as “E-L-G-S-E-S” during a news conference. Her mistake made the rounds on late night talk shows and was plastered onto T-shirts, beer coozies, and even a license plate. If you think the National Spelling Bee is brutal, you’ve never met Eagles fans.
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts at the line of scrimmage during the fourth quarter of the NFC divisional playoff at Lincoln Financial Field on Jan. 19. The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Los Angeles Rams 28 to 22.
Then there was the snowy NFC divisional playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams at Lincoln Financial Field; continued drama around the Tush Push (which resulted in Dude Wipes becoming an official sponsor of the team); and Cooper DeJean’s pick-six, a gift to himself and us on his 22nd birthday that helped the Birds trounce the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX.
As soon as the Eagles won with Jalen Hurts as MVP, Philadelphians let loose, flooding the streets like a drunken green tsunami. Fans scaled poles and tore them down; danced on bus shelters, medic units, and trash trucks; partied with Big Foot, Ben Franklin, and Philly Elmo; and set a bonfire in the middle of Market Street.
Eagles fans party on trash trucks in the streets of Center City after the Birds win in Super Bowl LIX against the Chiefs on Feb. 9.
Finally, there was the parade, a Valentine’s Day love letter to the Eagles from Philadelphia. Among the more memorable moments was when Birds general manager Howie Roseman was hit in the head with a can of beer thrown from the crowd. He took his battle scar in pride, proclaiming from the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum: “I bleed for this city.”
As we say around here, love Hurts.
Throngs of Birds fans lined the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for the Eagles Super Bowl Parade on Feb. 14.
A $40 million goodbye
As far as inanimate objects go, few have experienced more drama in recent Philly history than the SS United States, the 73-year-old, 990-foot luxury liner that was docked for nearly three decades on the Delaware River waterfront.
Supporters spent more than $40 million on rent, insurance, and other measures to keep the ship in Philly with the hopes of returning it to service or at least turning it into a venue. But a rent dispute with the owners of the pier finally led a judge to order the SS United States Conservancy, which owned the vessel, to seek an alternate solution.
Workers on the Walt Whitman Bridge watch from above as the SS United States is pulled by tug boats on the Delaware River.
And so in February, with the help of five tugboats, the ship was hauled out of Philly to prepare it to become the world’s largest artificial reef off the coast of Okaloosa County, Fla.
If the United States has to end somewhere, Florida feels like an apt place.
The ‘Delco Pooper’
While the Eagles’ Tush Push was deemed legal by NFL owners this year, a Delaware County motorist found that another kind of tush push most definitely is not after she was arrested for rage pooping on the hood of a car during a roadway dispute in April.
Captured on video by a teen who witnessed the rear-ending, the incident quickly went viral and put a stain on Delco that won’t be wiped away anytime soon.
Christina Solometo, who was dubbed the “Delco Pooper” on social media, told Prospect Park Police she got into a dispute with another driver, whom she believed began following her. Solometo claimed when she got out of her car the other driver insulted her and so she decided to dump her frustrations on their hood.
A private security guard holds the door open for alleged “Delco Pooper” Christina Solometo following her preliminary hearing Monday at Prospect Park District Court.
“Solometo said, ‘I wanted to punch her in the face, but I pooped on her car instead and went home,’” according to the affidavit.
I’ve written a lot of stories about Delco in my time, but this may be the most absurd.
Hopefully, she won’t be clogging up the court system anymore.
The Delco pope
Delco is large, it contains multitudes, and never was that more clear than when two weeks after the Delco Pooper case broke, a Delco pope was elected.
OK, so Pope Leo XIV is technically a native of Chicago, but he attended undergrad at Villanova University — which, yes, technically straddles Delco and Montgomery County — but Delco’s had a tough year so I’m gonna give it this one.
This video screen grab shows Pope Leo XIV wearing a Villanova University hat gifted to him during a meeting with an Italian heritage group.
Born Robert Prevost, Pope Leo is the first U.S. pope in history and also a citizen of Peru. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Villanova in 1977 and an honorary doctor of humanities from the university in 2014.
Center City Sips, the Wednesday Center City happy hour program, long ago earned a reputation as a rite of passage for 20-somethings who are still figuring out how to limit their intake and want to do so in business casual attire.
Things seemed to calm down after the pandemic, but then Philadelphians took Sips to another level and a whole new place this year — the streets.
Videos showed hundreds of people partying in the streets of Midtown Village on Wednesday nights this summer. Granted, the parties look far more calm than when sports fans take over Philly after a big win, but the nearby bar owners who participate in the Sips program said their places sat empty as people brought their own alcohol to drink.
Jason Evenchik, who owns Time, Vintage, Garage, and other bars, told The Inquirer that “No one is inside, and it’s mayhem outside.”
“Instead, he claimed, people are selling alcohol out of their cars and bringing coolers to make their own cocktails. At one point on June 11,Evenchik said, a Tesla blocked a crosswalk while a man made piña coladas with a pair of blenders hooked up to the car,” my colleague Beatrice Forman wrote.
In no way am I condoning this behavior, but those two sentences above may be my among favorite this year. Who thinks to bring a blender — with a car hookup — to make piña coladas at an unauthorized Center City street party on a Wednesday night?
Philly.
Getting trashed
Philadelphians experienced a major city workers strike this summer when Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and AFSCME District Council 33 couldn’t agree on a new contract for the union’s nearly 9,000 members.
Residents with trash arrive at garbage dump site at Caldera Road and Red Lion Road in northeast Philadelphia during the AFSCME District Council 33 workers strike in July.
As a result, things got weird. Dead bodies piled up at the Medical Examiner’s Office; a striking union member was arrested for allegedly slashing the tires of a PGW vehicle; and for eight days in the July heat, garbage heaped up all across Philadelphia. The city set up temporary trash drop-off sites, which often overflowed into what were nicknamed “Parker piles,” but that also set off a firestorm about whether using the sites constituted crossing a picket line.
Wawa Welcome America July Fourth concert headliners LL Cool J and Jazmine Sullivan even pulled out of the show in support of striking workers, resulting in a fantastic “Labor Loves Cool J” meme.
It was all like something out of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. In fact, the gang predicted a trash strike in the 2012 episode “The Gang Recycles Their Trash.”
The real strike lasted eight days before a contract was reached. In true Philly form, AFSCME District Council 33 president Greg Boulware told The Inquirer “nobody’s happy.”
A large pile of trash collects at a city drop-off site during the AFSCME workers strike this summer.
97-year-old gives birth to 16 kids
A local nonagenarian couple became national shellebrities this year for welcoming seven babies in April and nine more in August, proving that age ain’t nothing but a number, as long as you’re a tortoise.
Western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoise Mommy, and male Abrazzo, left, are shown on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at the Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia, Pa. The hatchlings’ parents, female Mommy and male Abrazzo, are the Zoo’s two oldest animals, each estimated to be around 100 years old.
Mommy and Abrazzo, Western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoises who reside at the Philadelphia Zoo, made history with their two clutches, becoming the first pair of the critically endangered species in the zoo’s 150-year history to hatch eggs and the first to do so in any accredited zoo since 2019.
Mommy is also the oldest known first-time Galapagos tortoise mom in the world, so it’s safe to say she doesn’t have any time or patience for shenanigans. She’s got 16 heroes in a half shell to raise.
Western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoise egg hatchling.
Phillies Karen
Taking candy from a baby is one thing — babies don’t need candy anyway — but taking a baseball from a kid at a Phillies game is a deed so foul and off base it’s almost unimaginable.
And yet, that’s exactly what happened at a Phillies-Marlins game in September, when a home run from Harrison Bader landed in the stands and a dad ran from his seat to grab it and give it to his son. A woman who was sitting near where the ball landed marched over to the dad, berated him, and demanded the ball be given her. Taken aback, the father reached into his son’s baseball glove and turned the ball over.
The entire scene was caught on camera and the woman, with her Kate Gosselin-esque hairdo, was immediately dubbed “Phillies Karen” by flabbergasted fans.
While the act technically happened at the Marlins stadium in Miami, Fla., it captured the minds and memes of Philadelphians so much that it deserves inclusion on this list. Phillies Karen has made her way onto T-shirts and coffee mugs, inspired skits at a Savannah Bananas game and the MLB Awards, and she even became a popular Halloween costume.
To this day, “Phillies Karen” remains unidentified, so it’s a safe bet she lives in Florida, where she’ll have better luck with alligators than with people here.
Institutional intrigue
Drama at area institutions this year had Philadelphians sipping tea like we were moms on Christmas morning, and sometimes, left us shaking our fists in the air like we were dads putting up tangled lights.
David Adelman with the Philadelphia 76ers makes a statement at a press conference in the Mayor’s Reception Room in January regarding the Sixers changing directions on the controversial Center City arena. At left is mayor Parker, at right City Council President Kenyatta Johnson and Josh Harris, Sixers owner.
It started early in January, when the billionaire owners of the Sixers surprised the entire city by announcing the team would stay at the South Philly sports complex instead of building their own arena on Market East. The decision came after two years of seemingly using the city, its politicians, and its people as pawns in their game.
Workers gathered outside World Cafe Live before a Town Hall meeting with management in July.
In June, workers staged a walkout at World Cafe Live due to what they claimed was “an unacceptable level of hostility and mismanagement” from its new owners, including its then-CEO, Joseph Callahan. Callahan — who said the owners inherited $6 million in debt and that he wanted to use virtual reality to bolster its revenue — responded by firing some of the workers and threatening legal action. Today, the future of World Cafe Live remains unclear. Callahan stepped down as CEO in September (but remains chairman of the board), the venue’s liquor license expired, and its landlord, the University of Pennsylvania, wants to evict its tenant, with a trial scheduled for January.
Signage at the east entrance to the Philadelphia Art Museum reflects the rebrand of the institution, which was formerly known as the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Finally, late this year at the Philadelphia Art Museum, things got more surreal than a Salvador Dalí painting, starting with an institutional rebrand that surprised some board members, didn’t land well with the public, and resulted in a lot of PhART jokes. In November, museum CEO Sasha Suda was fired following an investigation by an outside law firm that focused, in part, on increases to her salary, a source told The Inquirer. Suda’s lawyer called it a “a sham investigation” and Suda quickly sued her former employer, claiming that “her efforts to modernize the museum clashed with a small, corrupt, and unethical faction of the board intent on preserving the status quo.”
Nobody knows where all of this will go, but it’s likely to have more drama than a Caravaggio.
Pennsylvania’s fledgling State Board of Higher Education on Thursday rolled out itsfirst strategic plan, setting goals addressing affordability, increased degree attainment, the state’s workforce and economic development needs, and the fiscal health of colleges.
The board voted unanimously to post the 10-year plan for public comment.It will consider adoption in February.
“The plan will strengthen partnerships, break down silos, and enable effective reinvestment in the sector,” Cynthia Shapira, chair of the board, said in a statement introducing the plan.
It comes as the sector faces perhaps its greatest challenge in decades. Both private and public universities have been losing enrollment as the number of high school graduates falls — with another dip beginning next year and a 12% decline expected in Pennsylvania by 2037. Public trust in colleges has faltered, while concerns about cost and student debt have mounted.
They are also facing scrutiny from President Donald Trump’s administrationand a forecasted gap in workers who require a postsecondary credential in essential areas, such as healthcare, teaching, and advanced manufacturing.
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, which oversees the state’s 10 universities, endorsed the plan’s emphasis on collaboration across private and public colleges and universities.
“Within our own system, we have learned that when universities work together, they can innovate, overcome challenges and better serve students and the Commonwealth,” the system said in a statement. Shapira is also the chair of PASSHE’s board.
The 21-member higher education board includes college presidents, administrators, legislators, and students.It was formed in 2024 by the governor and General Assembly to help public and private colleges work more cohesively and better serve students and the state’s workforce needs. The plan rollout follows public hearings that drew comments from more than 1,200 people, the board said.
The plan outlines the challenges facing the higher education sector including another coming decline in the high school population, financial constraints, and the lack of coordination among institutions. Student debt averages more than $40,000 per student in Pennsylvania, the plan notes.
“Multiple comparative state-level analyses … place Pennsylvania at or near the bottom in terms of affordability, attainment, and state investment per capita,” the report stated. “Adding to these challenges are a large and growing postsecondary workforce credential gap, and a range of closures and mergers that threaten to reduce access to postsecondary education.”
In the Philadelphia region, Cabrini University and the University of the Arts closed in 2024 and Rosemont College announced earlier this year that it would cease operations in 2028 and that Villanova University would purchase its campus. Salus University was merged into Drexel University. Six of Pennsylvania’s state universities were merged into two entities in 2022, and St. Joseph’s University absorbed the University of the Sciences the same year.
Other local colleges have struggled with enrollment declines and deficits. Temple University, for example, has gone from more than 40,000 students in 2017 to less than 30,000 this year.
What are the specific goals in the plan?
The new plan set six goals:
Increase postsecondary attainment.
Ensure affordable pathways to postsecondary credentials.
Support the economic development needs of the state.
Support the workforce development needs of the state.
Ensure accountability and efficient use of state funds.
Strengthen the fiscal health and stability of the higher education sector.
How will the board work toward those goals?
To meet the goals, the board proposes a “strategic communications plan” that touts the benefits of postsecondary education and how it impacts employment outcomes.
It also emphasizes expanding funding for dual credit programs and enrollment in those programs to streamline the path from high school to college and allow students to accumulate more credits before they graduate high school. In addition, the plan proposes studying how to improve retention rates and focusing on reenrolling adults who started college but didn’t finish; there are more than 1.1 million Pennsylvanians with some college experience.
Among its plans for addressing affordability are support of policies that “expand financial aid and forgive debt for in-demand, high-quality credentials,” take advantage of new federal Pell grants for workforce programs, and boost access to “open educational resources” to reduce the cost of course materials.
The report also discusses the intent to “maximize the impact of research universities,” recruit out-of-state students to broaden the talent pool, and increase access to paid work experiences for students.
To promote fiscal health, the plan recommends identifying and promoting best practices for fiscal efficiency and cost savings, and developing resources and an advisory group to help financially struggling colleges.
“If institutions decide to close or merge, tools and expertise to assist in this process will help maximize savings, retain access to critical academic programming, and mitigate negative effects on students and communities,” the plan states.
Another advisory group is recommended to help communities where colleges close maintain access to postsecondary education.
What comes next?
After the public comment period and the plan’s final adoption, the board intends to report annually on progress toward the goals and to consider revisions to the plan every five years.
Philly theater darling James Ijames, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Fat Ham, will return to local stages with a special spotlight next spring, with a slate of three plays running at three theaters.
Recognizing this scheduling synergy, the venues are partnering to offer a three-ticket pass, called “The Citywide James Ijames Pass.”
The first collaboration of its kind dedicated to a contemporary playwright, the pass covers the Philadelphia premiere of Good Bones at the Arden Theatre (Jan. 22 to March 8), The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington at the Wilma Theater (March 17 to April 5), and the world premiere of Ijames’ latest work, Wilderness Generation, at Philadelphia Theatre Company (April 10 to May 3).
Ijames wrote all of these plays in South Philadelphia, which he considers his artistic home. This year, he left his teaching position at Villanova University to run the playwriting program at Columbia University. While that means he’s spending most of his time in New York now — though his husband, Joel Witter, still works for the Philly school district — Ijames says Philadelphia is “still very much a place where I want to continue to make art.”
“I’ve lived in Philly more than I’ve lived anywhere in my life, so it is incredibly special to me,” said the Tony-nominated playwright, a founding member of the local playwriting collective Orbiter 3.
After growing up in North Carolina and attending Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ijames got his MFA in acting at Temple University. He performed on stages all over the city, including at the National Constitution Center, People’s Light, and all three theaters featured in the pass.
It was during the 2012 production of Angels in America at the Wilma where he wrote Miz Martha Washington, one of his earliest plays, in the dressing room. Ijames went on to serve as one of three co-artistic directors of the Wilma, which premiered the digital production of Fat Ham — his incisive and irreverent queer reimagining of Hamlet — that earned him the 2022 Pulitzer Prize.
Flashpoint Theatre Company’s Barrymore-nominated “The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington.” From left: Darryl Gene Daughtry Jr., Steven Wright, Taysha Canales, and Jaylene Clark Owens surround Nancy Boykin as Martha Washington.
Photo by Ian Paul Guzzone.
In the sharp satire Miz Martha Washington, the titular first lady is on her deathbed, surrounded by the people she and her husband enslaved. With freedom inching closer — George Washington’s will promised them liberty upon his widow’s death — the Black characters appear in various hallucinations, putting Martha and her family on trial.
The play will come back to town amid Philadelphia’s celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, apt timing for a sharp satire on the Founding Fathers’ legacy of slavery.
“I think we were all kind of hoping that the world and the politics would be a little different when we first started thinking about it,” said Ijames. “But I always say, we have to look at the history directly in the face and, from that, try to imagine something different.”
Good Bones is a more contemporary story about the development of a new stadium that stands to disrupt a city neighborhood (sound familiar?). The upper-class newcomer, haunted by those who were pushed out, gets into fiery debates over gentrification with her contractor.
The Philly premiere will be directed by Ijames’ longtime friend and collaborator Akeem Davis, who starred in the Ijames-directed production of August Wilson’sKing Hedley II at the Arden earlier this year.
Arden Theatre producing artistic director Terry Nolen hopes audiences will come out to cheer on a “hometown hero.”
“Philly audiences love Philly artists, and there is so much pride for James’ success,” Nolen said in a statement.
Philly playwright James Ijames attends the 76th Annual Tony Awards at United Palace Theater on June 11, 2023, in New York City. His play “Fat Ham” had five nominations, including best play. (Photo by Cindy Ord /Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
The playwright’s newest work, Wilderness Generation, examines the relationships between cousins as Ijames, who’s close to his own cousins, wanted to spotlight that kind of family dynamic. Five cousins reunite at their grandmother’s house in the South to help her downsize; while there, they unpack a painful family history and confront the damage of their relatives’ behavior as they try to forge a future together.
Ijames wrote the work with Philadelphia Theatre Company co-artistic directors Taibi Magar and Tyler Dobrowsky in mind. Though Ijames has performed at PTC before, this world premiere marks the first time a play he wrote will grace its stage.
“I am where I am because a lot of theaters in Philadelphia took a chance on me,” said Ijames. He hopes future collaborations can highlight more “really brilliant folks” writing new plays in Philly.
“I hope a thing that happens as a result of this is a Jackie Goldfinger package one day, a Michael Hollinger package, an Erlina Ortiz package, [and] an AZ Espinoza package.”
The three-play pass costs $130, about $43 per ticket, and includes preferred seating, flexible ticket changes, parking discounts, and member benefits at each theater, as well as exclusive swag — a yellow beanie, inspired by Ijames’ personal style. Passes are available online or at the TKTS booth at the Independence Visitor Center.
Villanova professor Ana Santos Rutschman would describe the current state of vaccine policy as a game of chess.
When the federal government does something, some states — primarily Democratic-led states including Pennsylvania—respond immediately to counter.
A prime example followed the federal government’s move, through the Food and Drug Administration, in August to limit eligibility for the updated COVID-19 vaccine. Previously, the annual shot was recommended for all Americans 6 months and older. The new guidance was for people 65 or older and those at high risk of complications from COVID-19.
Pennsylvania’s regulatory body for pharmacists opened up access by allowing pharmacists to follow the broader recommendations of professional medical societies.
“It’s kind of [like] ‘Harry Potter’ chess. Remember when they climb on the gigantic pieces and then try to kill one another?” Rutschman said, referring to the fictional scene where chess pieces violently smash the opposing side’s pieces.
“There’s a certain violence to this from a political perspective,” she added.
States are allowed to diverge from the federal government on vaccine policy because our system of government, known as federalism, divides power between the federal government and the states.
With vaccines, states historicallyhave chosen to align in large part with the federal government’s recommendations.
Rutschman says recent actions byHealth and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have ushered in a new era of what’s being called “vaccine federalism.” Kennedy is a longtime anti-vaccine activist now serving as President Donald Trump’s top health official.
Many states, especially those with Democratic governors, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, saw recent changes under his leadership as a sign that they “need to do something in direct opposition to the federal government,” Rutschman said.
Now it’s a “head-on collision,” she added.
The Inquirer spoke with Rutschman, who researches vaccine federalism as a health law professor and director of the Health Innovation Lab at Villanova University, to learn more about this new era and its possible consequences in a conversation lightly edited for length and clarity.
What is vaccine federalism?
For vaccination and everything else, our system is split in two. You have the states and then you have the federal government.
There is room for tension between the federal level and the state level. Historically, that tension has been, I would argue, limited. It has existed, but it’s not been the defining feature. Now, particularly in the context of vaccines, it has become probably the most salient feature.
How are states allowed to differ from the federal government as far as vaccine policy?
States don’t have the power to authorize a new vaccine to come to market.
But then you have a lot of things that the Centers for Disease Control have done that are more informational. The federal government recommends which shots children or adults should get, and the time frame for most children to get these shots.
The federal government offers this kind of informational support, and then states set their own policy.
How has vaccine federalism played out in the past?
Examples from the past are not as salient or blatant as the ones you’re seeing right now.
There was a lot of variability around the country, but the overall message was harmonious. Everybody was trying to get, by and large, most of the population vaccinated past herd immunity.
What is happening now?
Now it’s a head-on collision.
States are saying, ‘We’re not going to implement requirements to restrict access to these vaccines.’ The Board of Pharmacy in Pennsylvania decided not to be bound by the CDC’s recommendations. This is a direct clash. We hadn’t had this before between the federal government and the states in the field of vaccines.
What are examples of this new era of vaccine federalism?
One example would be the formation of state clusters. These are a lot of neighboring states in agreement. They’re trying to share data and think of best practices, which is almost that informational function that traditionally fell to the [federal health agencies].
The states are saying, ‘Well, you’re not doing that, so we will.’
‘We will pull resources and information to come up with our own advisory role.’ That’s unprecedented.
You have sort of two speeds in the country. Some states are collaborating and very active in setting regional vaccine policy. And then you have a bunch of states that go completely the other way. You have the, for now, isolated case of Florida saying, ‘We’re going to just basically do away with all vaccination mandates,’ which is going further than the federal government.
Now it’s a much messier situation, legally, philosophically, politically, etc.
They are accomplishing something. You see fewer restrictions in access to vaccines in a place like Pennsylvania than other states.
Whereas states who are not part of these kinds of coalitions — typically excluding the likes of Florida — a lot of them are waiting to see what happens, because this has never happened in the history of vaccination in the United States.
In the meantime, there are a lot of people falling through the cracks who would have been indicated for a vaccine last year. Now they’re wondering what to do, and their providers are not entirely sure.
There’s a lot of confusion about what happens now that federal policy has taken a completely different direction.
What impacts do you see coming from this new era of vaccine federalism?
People hearing one thing out of the CDC and another one out of the state of Pennsylvania may think, ‘Who’s correct? Who should I listen to?’ You start aggregating all the people who might forgo vaccination just because they don’t understand what’s going on.
I think it continues to accelerate the overall phenomenon of vaccine mistrust, and we’re already seeing levels of herd immunity come down for many vaccine-preventable diseases.
If I were a provider, I would be similarly confused and concerned, because nobody takes lightly the idea that from now on, ‘I’ll be doing something that’s in direct opposition to what the federal regulators are suggesting I should be doing.’ So I think there’s a fear factor and confusion.
Lastly, I think there’s an overall chilling effect with regard to vaccines. Yes, some vaccines make money, but they don’t make a whole lot of money to begin with. They’ve never been one of the preferred products for manufacturers. These are not the most profitable things they can be doing.
I think that we will see much less focus on vaccine development in years to come, because that’s the logical position for pharmaceutical companies, and for some funders even to take, which is unfortunate.
What do you think of Pennsylvania’s response?
I think it’s to Pennsylvania’s credit, and I think it’s to some degree reassuring for Pennsylvanians. Although it obviously makes me sad that we have sort of this two-speed mode in the country. Some part of this national fabric has ruptured.
For now, Pennsylvania has protected itself as it can, but states alone don’t control everything. You have Pennsylvanians going to other states where you may have an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease. We don’t have real borders. We cross them all the time.
