When Diane and Keith Reynolds moved back to the Philadelphia area from Austin, Texas, in 2023, and bought their house in Rydal, Montgomery County, they knew immediately that they wanted to remodel the kitchen.
But they also knew that project alone wouldn’t make a home they’d be satisfied with.
“We wanted to keep it craftsman style,” said Diane, referring to the arts and crafts movement of the late 19th century. The style is characterized by simplicity, emphasis on natural materials, and closeness to nature.
An exterior view of the Reynolds’ home. It was originally built as a Cape Cod, and a later addition brought in the craftsman style.
Keith, a software sales engineer for a technology company, said he specifically wanted to avoid a “cutesy” environment in the home. Diane, executive assistant for a trade association, called it “bringing nature inside.” It was the third house they’d lived in since they married.
Through an internet search, the couple found Philadelphia-based Airy Kitchens and designer Sean Lewis for the remodel.
“It was an interesting design dilemma,” Lewis said.
The house was originally built in the Cape Cod style in 1914, but when the previous owner added onto the home, he chose the craftsman style. By 2023, the kitchen needed significant updating for practical use. It had an unusual layout, opening up into a larger great room with high ceilings and a loft built from reclaimed wood towering over one side of the space.
The loft over the kitchen created a unique design task. The range had previously been placed underneath it, but it was relocated to another wall.
The loft was retained, but many other details were changed. “We changed a lot of the symmetry,” Lewis said.
For example, a full bathroom tucked behind the kitchen was made into a powder room, giving Lewis more kitchen space to play with.
The home’s kitchen after renovations. At the upper left, the reclaimed wood loft remains.
The refrigerator and gas range were reused. A new hood, dishwasher, and beverage refrigerator were added. The custom island — larger than its predecessor — is a stained cherry wood that was chosen to match the natural wood trim on the existing windows.
The backsplash is a multicolored earth-toned slate material in a chevron pattern, evoking the outdoors from within their kitchen.
“It’s the first time we’ve seen or used that material as a backsplash,” Lewis said, and it was the jumping-off point for choosing the colors in the kitchen.
“The assignment of rethinking a kitchen space is not unusual for us,” he said. But the home’s disparate styles and unique features, like the loft, beams, and open floor plan, created an “unusual design problem.”
“It’s quite unusual for a 100-year-old home to have a great-room layout with a vaulted ceiling,” Lewis said. “The reclaimed wood loft installed by the previous architect is something I’ve never seen before, and I’m sure will never see again.”
Maximizing storage was a no-brainer, and they accomplished that simply by adding cabinets.
One of the key challenges was providing counter space around the range. The range was previously located below the loft, but is now centered on the kitchen’s longest wall, between two windows, with the sink off to the right, just below a window. This allowed Lewis to add counter space around the range, for more practicality.
The backsplash tiles and wood stain were chosen to match colors from the surrounding yard.
The windows were left untreated in the Craftsman style.
Inside, woodwork was stained to match the outside.
The stove was relocated so it would be surrounded by counter space.The refrigerator was reused in the remodeled kitchen.
Diane said she and Keith looked at the house as a “homecoming” from their time in Austin, “a little bit like reclaiming our roots.” He grew up in the nearby neighborhood of Meadowbrook, and she is from King of Prussia.
“From the second we walked into the house it was so warm — we felt immediately connected. There’s something grounding about watching the seasons change,” she said. “It’s colors and leaves and movement. Every day it just restores me.”
Is your house a Haven? Nominate your home by email (and send some digital photographs) at properties@inquirer.com.
Weeks before she had made the team, South Jersey figure skater Isabeau Levito was confidently saying, “when I go to the Olympics …”
Levito, 18, who lives and trains in Mount Laurel, wasn’t being cocky. She knew; she had done the math.
Qualifying for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics was “definitely a realistic goal for me for the past three years,” said Levito, the 2023 U.S. champion and 2024 world silver medalist. “But I felt like I had to prove myself again after missing a bit of last season with an injury.
“But when the season was going the way it was going, score-wise, internationally, I just had to skate the way I can skate at nationals and have it solidified.”
Isabeau Levito performs during the women’s free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis. She won the bronze medal.
Indeed, with two clean programs and the bronze medal at the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships earlier this month, combined with strong results throughout the season and last year, that spot was hers.
So when she met with Justin Dillon, chief high performance officer for U.S. Figure Skating, who told her reality show-style that she was on the team, Levito seemed happy but not surprised. Her head coach, Yulia Kuznetsova, however, was flooded with tears.
Kuznetsova skated pairs while growing up in Russia and later in Disney on Ice, where she performed with her now-husband and another of Levito’s coaches, Slava Kuznetsov. But she never made it to that top frozen stage — until now as a coach.
Kuznetsova also knew it was within reach. But the duo knew what they needed to do.
Isabeau Levito performs during the women’s free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis. She won the bronze medal.
They opted this season for a triple flip combination instead of a triple Lutz. They thought the flip had a better chance of being called clean. (This worked out, but her individual triple Lutz also has been getting better results lately.)
“Next season, I really want to switch things around and do new things and have more fun with it,” Levito said, “because this season it was a matter of doing all the skills that I honed, all the things that are the most comfortable and the most reliable. But next season, let’s just start risking things.”
She’s looking forward to being fully immersed in the Olympic experience and having her family see her skate. The opening ceremony is Feb. 6.
“I am going to run this [Olympic] village,” she said. “This is going to be so fun.”
She’s read about the village and watched TikToks from the Summer Games.
“But I really have no idea what the Olympic Village is going to look like. That’s why I’m so excited to get there and explore it,” she said.
Most of the ice sports, including figure skating, will be in Milan. The snow and sliding sports, plus curling, will be 250 miles away in Cortina and other mountain regions. This Olympics will be held in six villages across northern Italy.
Before nationals, Levito had a lot of obligations. There were days when film crews came into the rink and stayed all day, cutting into her training time.
The results were viral social media videos for sponsors such as Red Bull (she compares skills with a hockey player) and Everlane (she answers rapid-fire questions while getting ready to get on the ice at the Igloo Ice Rink in Mount Laurel).
Now she’s back to a more typical schedule of skating for hours every day.
“Everything’s exactly the same,” she said of her days on the ice. “What’s different, though, is how exciting it is going to the rink every day, being that I’m actually training for the Olympics right now.”
Does Olympic prep include getting a tattoo of the rings, as so many athletes do?
“I just don’t know if I would get a tattoo in general,” Levito said. “I think I’m going to start with the Olympic necklace,” which many Olympians sport.
“If I did get a tattoo, it would be in such a hidden place, and it would be so tiny and microscopic. And I’m thinking to myself, ‘If that’s the circumstances I would get a tattoo under, maybe I should think about it for a while.’”
Meanwhile, time is ticking, meaning she needs to shop for some formal dresses to wear at Olympic banquets and choose things to pack for any downtime.
Levito said she likely will bring a couple of books as well as her bedazzling kit. Besides all the sparkles she wears on the ice, she enjoys adding rhinestones to her various makeup cases and a comb.
“It’s so soothing,” she said.
Isabeau Levito skates her short program at the Grand Prix de France in October.
There is a lot of talk of extra bling: The three American women have a good chance of earning medals at the Olympics. But Levito isn’t thinking about that.
“The village is what I’m focused on,” she said. “And obviously skating my best, but I can already feel like I will.”
The pressure also is off a bit. With Glenn winning her third consecutive national title and Liu as the reigning world champion, Levito feels she’s less in the spotlight than she was a couple of years ago, when she won nationals and the silver medal at worlds.
But it’s all good.
“Honestly to me right now my life feels like perfect,” she said. “Dare I say I love everything that’s in my life, like personal life, and just like my goals that I’ve achieved, whether I’m under the radar or not?
“I’m just so happy right now. I feel like I really achieved my dream life that I had in mind maybe five or some years ago. I feel like I’m really living what I was wishing for or envisioning for myself, so I’m just beyond proud.”
2026 Nissan Murano Platinum AWD vs. 2026 Volkswagen Atlas SEL Premium R-Line: Midsize SUV comparison
This week: Volkswagen Atlas
Price: $56,800 as tested
What others are saying: “Highs: Roomy interior with seating for seven, compliant ride, capable mid-size SUV tow rig. Lows: Leans too heavily on touch controls, interior quality falls short of rivals, lacks overall pizzazz,”says Car and Driver.
What Volkswagen is saying: “With three rows of seats, there’s room for all kinds of adventure.”
Reality: Kinda nice, but one overarching problem.
What’s new: The Atlas last received a major refresh in 2024, with a turbo and a new interior, and this version is all new to Mr. Driver’s Seat.
Up to speed: The 2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine — whose description sounds suspiciously identical to the Murano’s — creates 269 horsepower, 29 more than the Nissan SUV. Still, despite those extra steeds, it moves the vehicle to 60 mph in about the same time as the Murano, 7.3 seconds, according to Car and Driver. No winner in this department.
Shifty: The shifter is an ugly stepbrother of the Audi toggle, with a flip forward for Reverse, a pull for Drive, and a button for Park. Having the emergency brake button just behind the shifter and the start button just in front of it makes exiting a breeze — press P, pull the brake, and press the button to turn off, all in a neat row, definitely an improvement over the Murano’s console confusion.
On the road: We had a chance to travel hundreds of miles in the Atlas, thanks to a belated holiday visit to Best Friend 1.0’s mom up north.
The Atlas made the trip through Pennsylvania’s Schuylkill valley a pleasant one. It handles highways smoothly and secondary roads with great ease.
On old winding country roads it’s good for a three-row SUV, and you can feel it going where you point it. Six choices among drive modes should satisfy everyone, but sport mode did the job for Mr. Driver’s Seat. Strong advantage Atlas.
The interior of the 2026 Volkswagen Atlas starts out comfortably in the front, but then descends as one moves farther back. But that’s not the most frustrating part about the inside.
Driver’s Seat: The seat is comfortable, with a real sporty feel, not as wide as the Murano’s but grippy and supportive, and the material doesn’t feel cheap at all.
Volkswagen hangs on to its traditional steering wheel buttons, which makes setting the gauge menu info easy.
Friends and stuff: The middle-row captain’s chairs ($695, the only option) in the model tested provided excellent legroom, headroom, and foot room. The seats themselves were not as comfortable as the front and felt a little on the small side. When reclining, both the back and bottom move, and I couldn’t get them set up comfortably. Definitely the Murano wins on comfort and style.
The rear row is nice for a three-row SUV, with plenty of space all around, even for knees, but the seat was smallish and lacked the quality feel so endearing just two rows away.
Cargo space is a cavernous 96.6 cubic feet with everything folded; 20.6 in the back; and 55.5 with the rear row folded.
In and out: Getting in and out for the rear row was less tricky than in most three-row SUVs, allowing passengers to easily maneuver between the seats to the back. The door also opened wide but not so wide that cars next door are in grave danger.
The vehicle height also is good for bad knees and hips.
Play some tunes: The 12-inch infotainment screen handles all the functions, except for a slider control along the frame that “handles” volume, the same way AI “handles” searches, with some hits but many misses.
Sound from the Harman Kardon premium system is good, about an A-, but nothing earth shaking. Still, better than the Murano.
Keeping warm and cool: The Atlas HVAC controls featured ebony sliders with red for warmer and blue for colder worked into the infotainment’s frame. Unfortunately there is no illumination there, so when you hop in at night for an initial journey, you have no idea what to do. And it doesn’t really get better with time.
Fortunately, a couple of temperature numbers on the infotainment display open the full HVAC option screen, as does a button in front of the console. But the icons are so fussy and small I actually considered several times whether it was worth the bother to try switching off the seat heater or change some other setting. This is distressing.
Fuel economy: The Atlas averaged 19 mpg in the long-term average, so it wasn’t just me stomping around.
Where it’s built: Chattanooga, Tenn. The Atlas is made up of 61% parts from the U.S. and Canada, and 28% from Mexico.
How it’s built:Consumer Reports predicts the Atlas reliability to be a 3 out of 5, tying the Murano.
In the end: The Atlas was definitely a nice drive, zooming competently around Pennsylvania and sounding kinda cool doing it. But that HVAC system really killed the experience.
The Outback was going to be my slam-dunk choice, but its controls have gone too far into the touchscreen as well; watch here for a review of the redesigned 2026 model.
Just in time for what figures to be a monumental year for local tourism, the renowned Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia at Comcast Center has introduced a new luxury floor dedicated to what it calls personalized, “residential-style” living.
The crown jewel? A massive two-bedroom penthouse that offers countless amenities, sweeping city views, and a nightly price tag roughly equivalent to that of a new car.
A booking agent on Tuesday said the penthouse suite — which spans some 4,000 square feet and features a sizable outdoor terrace — is currently going for around $25,000 per night (plus tax).
Among the amenities included in the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia’s new Sky Garden floor is artwork curated by the firm Hanabi: Art and Artists.
As for what you get for that price: Guests have access to menus curated by Vernick Fish and Jean-Georges, the floor’s treatment and wellness room, and an art collection curated by the firm Hanabi: Art and Artists.
The penthouse is part of a new floor — located on the building’s 45th floor and dubbed “Sky Garden” — that features eight separate accommodations, including four guest rooms, two one-bedroom suites, and a two-bedroom suite, according to the hotel, along with the two-bedroom penthouse.
In a recent Instagram post, the hotel described the new floor as having “lush terraces and sweeping city views” that “create a true garden in the sky” — and indeed, the views included in marketing photos do appear to be sweeping.
Views from the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia’s new Sky Garden floor.
“This residential-style floor privileges calm over spectacle and intimacy over scale, inviting guests to experience luxury in a way that feels personal and unforced,” according to a press release announcing the new offerings.
In the off-chance the penthouse proves cost-prohibitive, the new Sky Garden level also offers other, not-quite-as-extravagant options.
The Sky Terrace Suite typically goes for around $10,000 per night, according to a booking agent, while the Sky Garden Suite goes for around $3,500, and the additional rooms go for around $1,300 to $1,400 a night.
“It has a country feeling,” said Sruthi Selvam, “but if you walk out the gate, you’re downtown in 10 minutes. And the landscaping is beautiful.”
Selvam and her husband, Kamesh Arumuzam, spent three years in the three-bedroom, 2½-bathroom end-unit condo in the Naval Square community.
The couple bought the unit in 2022 while Selvam, a dentist, was in an international dental program at the University of Pennsylvania. Now the two, both natives of India, and their two young children have returned to California, where she is setting up a practice, and he is a software engineer.
Kitchen
The unit features a private terrace spanning the width of the property. On the first level, it has an open-concept living and dining area and a kitchen with Shaker-style maple cabinetry, stone countertops, a glass tile backsplash, Brazilian cherry hardwood flooring, and a half bath.
There is also a coat closet tucked under the stairs.
The second-floor primary suite includes an exposed brick wall, an oversized walk-in closet, dual sinks, a soaking tub, and a separate stall shower.
The open-concept living and dining area.
Two other bedrooms have French sliders that open to a covered terrace, a laundry area, front-loading washer/dryer, and shared hall bath.
The attached one-car garage has ample storage and an electric car charger, and there are dual thermostats and a Ring alarm system.
The primary bedroom.
The water heater was replaced in 2022, the HVAC system in 2024.
Community amenities include a pool and fitness center, picnic areas, guest parking and a community room.
A private terrace private spans the width of the property.
Naval Square is close to the South Street Bridge, the University of Pennsylvania, Rittenhouse Square, and Schuylkill River Park. It is also pet-friendly.
The unit is listed by Jocelyn Morris of Compass Realty for $749,000.
For most of the season, the 2025 Eagles offense did not pass the eye test.
Execution errors plagued them. The Eagles suffered from negative plays and penalties on early downs, setting themselves up for third-and-longs and ultimately forcing them to punt early and often. Options were seemingly limited in the passing game. Rushing lanes failed to open for a previously dynamic running game.
But what do the underlying numbers reveal about the offense’s performance that could have implications going forward? Here’s one compelling advanced stat about each notable offensive starter, the first installment in a two-part series that will also analyze the defense:
Jalen Hurts ran less, and was less effective when throwing downfield, but was still good on designed runs.
Jalen Hurts
One stat alone can’t sum up the season for Hurts, who plays the most important position on the team. So, let’s dissect two.
First, the rushing component of his previously self-described “triple-threat” ability seemingly went by the wayside this season. Hurts, 27, averaged a career-low 1.7 designed rushing attempts per game this year, according to Next Gen Stats. That’s a notable decrease from his 2024 averages — 3.2 during the regular season and 3.8 during the Eagles’ four-game Super Bowl run.
Even though he had fewer designed carries this year, he wasn’t any less effective. On 27 designed runs, he collected 143 yards and nine first downs, including a touchdown, good for 5.3 yards per carry (his career average is 5.2).
Here’s the $255 million question: Why the decrease? Was it a matter of preserving the franchise quarterback, as Nick Sirianni suggested, or was it just a symptom of Kevin Patullo’s offense, as Hurts said? Will this trend persist in 2026, or will Hurts be called upon to use his legs to help invigorate the offense once more?
Second, the downfield passing game wasn’t nearly as effective for the Eagles in 2025, which hindered an already limited air attack. Hurts completed 47.9% of his downfield passes (10-plus air yards), according to Next Gen Stats, the lowest percentage of his five seasons as the starter.
Wins and losses were often reflected in his downfield completion rates. In the Eagles’ five losses this season (not including Week 18), Hurts went 10-of-17 for 233 yards, a touchdown, and an interception (58.8% completion rate) when targeting open receivers (at least three yards of separation) downfield.
His 65.6% completion rate when targeting open receivers downfield this year was roughly 25 percentage points lower than last season’s (89.3%). Again, can the next Eagles offensive coordinator reverse this trend and improve Hurts’ downfield accuracy in 2026?
The Eagles were fond of one specific kind of route for A.J. Brown.
A.J. Brown
At his end-of-season news conference, Sirianni noted that the next offensive coordinator will help “evolve” the offense. Perhaps that person will refresh the Eagles’ route concepts.
Brown, 28, ran a hitch route on a career-high 24.9% of his total routes run, according to Next Gen Stats. A hitch is a short route that starts vertical, then requires the receiver to plant his foot and turn toward the quarterback for a pass. Brown’s hitch rate this season was the eighth-highest among receivers who ran at least 200 routes.
Despite the lack of variety in his routes, Brown was still effective when targeted on those hitches. He collected 263 receiving yards and a touchdown on hitch routes, which ranked second in the league behind Dallas’ George Pickens (275).
Brown wasn’t the only Eagles receiver who ran a lot of hitches. The entire group ran hitch routes on 22.1% of its combined routes, which was the second-highest single-season rate by a receiving corps since 2016 (23.4% for the 2019 Chicago Bears).
DeVonta Smith showed he was more than merely a slot receiver in 2025.
DeVonta Smith
Smith may primarily line up as a slot receiver, but he was most effective when split out wide this season.
The 27-year-old receiver aligned in the slot on a career-high 57.1% of his routes, according to Next Gen Stats. Still, he posted career bests when he lined up outside in yards per route run (3.1) and yards per target (11.9). Smith trailed only Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba (3.8) and the Los Angeles Rams’ Puka Nacua (3.6) in yards per route run from the outside among 89 receivers (minimum 150 routes).
His yards per target increased when split out wide to the right. He averaged 13.9 yards per target from that alignment, which led receivers (with at least 20 targets). Smith was particularly efficient downfield, as he caught 12 of 17 targets for 300 yards and a touchdown (17.6 yards per target).
Will his efficiency on the outside change how frequently he lines up in the slot going forward?
When the Eagles could prevent defenses from blowing up the backfield, the numbers show that Saquon Barkley was as effective as ever.
Saquon Barkley
Barkley eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards for a second consecutive season (1,140), but he didn’t come anywhere close to his total of 2,005 from 2024.
He didn’t get much help up front. According to Next Gen Stats, Barkley tookhits behind the line of scrimmage on47.1% of his carries, which was the ninth-highest rate among 49 running backs (minimum 100 attempts) this season.
By comparison, the 28-year-old running back was hit behind the line of scrimmage on 37.7% of his carries in 2024.
This season, Barkley averaged 1.1 yards before contact per carry, trailing his 2.4 clip from last year. When he was hit behind the line on 132 carries, Barkley combined for 93 yards (0.7 yards per carry) and produced a single explosive run. On the runs without contact before the line, he averaged 7.1 yards per carry and had a 18.2% explosive run rate (both are above the league averages of 6.5 and 15.8%).
What can the Eagles do to improve their run blocking in 2026? Is it a matter of changing the personnel, banking on the improved health/performance of the existing players, or changing up the blocking schemes?
Dallas Goedert’s red-zone effectiveness was to a league-best standard in 2025.
Dallas Goedert
No player was more sought-after in the red zone this season than Goedert.
With his 10 red-zone touchdowns this season, the 31-year-old tight end accounted for 58.8% of the Eagles’ red-zone receiving touchdowns, according to Next Gen Stats. That was the highest share of any player in 2025.
Goedert’s 11 total receiving touchdowns were tied for the most among tight ends (with Arizona’s Trey McBride) and tied for the second-most among all players (trailing the Rams’ Davante Adams).
Hurts may look to someone else in the red zone next season. Goedert is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year.
The presence (or absence) of Lane Johnson (left) had an every-play effect on the Eagles running game.
Lane Johnson
The Eagles felt the absence of Johnson, the 35-year-old right tackle, in the seven games he missed at the end of the regular season because of a Lisfranc foot injury.
There was a difference in the running game’s efficiency with and without Johnson on the field, especially on carries to the right side. When Johnson was playing, the Eagles averaged 4.6 yards per carry (84 carries) on designed runs to that side, according to Next Gen Stats. Without him, going into Week 17, the Eagles averaged 3.2 yards per carry (97 runs) on those same runs.
In that same span, the Eagles amassed 26 yards before contact on designed runs to the right without Johnson (and 288 yards after contact).
Will Johnson be back for his 14th season with the Eagles, giving an instant boost to the running game? Or will he be unable to overcome his injury and call it a career?
Tyler Steen was up and down in his first year as a primary Eagles starter.
Tyler Steen
Steen, 25, was the only new starter in the 2025 Eagles offense, replacing Mekhi Becton at right guard.
He had his struggles in pass protection. According to Pro Football Focus, he conceded 37 pressures, which were tied for the third-most among guards with at least 500 pass blocking snaps. Those pressures broke down to two sacks, one quarterback hit, and 34 hurries on a total of 626 pass blocking snaps.
Is Steen the long-term starter at right guard? Or will he face competition in training camp again as Howie Roseman retools the roster for 2026?
Cam Jurgens is headed back to the Pro Bowl, but the numbers suggest it wasn’t his best year.
Despite earning a second-straight Pro Bowl nod, Jurgens was seldom dominant in the running game. According to Sports Info Solutions, Jurgens posted a 5.9% blown run block rate on more than 300 run blocking snaps, which reflects the percentage of blocking snaps on which a player had a blown run block. That rate led starting centers.
Can Jurgens’ struggles be attributed to his injuries? Or did the 26-year-old center simply regress, providing cause for concern for next season?
Landon Dickerson’s biggest issues were in pass protection.
Landon Dickerson
Like Jurgens, Dickerson also pushed through myriad injuries in 2025. After playing through a knee injury in the Super Bowl, he dealt with meniscus, back, and ankle ailments this season.
Dickerson wasn’t his sharpest in pass protection, allowing 33 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. That total is tied for the second-highest in his five-year career despite posting a career low in pass-blocking snaps (506). Those pressures broke down to five sacks, seven quarterback hits, and 21 hurries, finishing No. 13 in pressures among guards with at least 500 pass-blocking snaps.
Is the 27-year-old left guard capable of healing up and returning to his three-time Pro Bowl form in 2026?
Jordan Mailata was very good in pass protection in 2025.
Jordan Mailata
While the offensive line struggled as a whole, Mailata fared better than his counterparts in pass protection.
The 28-year-old left tackle conceded28 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, which ranked No. 6 out of 28 tackles with at least 600 pass-blocking snaps. The 28 pressures allowed were the third-fewest of Mailata’s six-year career as a starter. Meanwhile, Mailata’s 602 pass-blocking snaps were the third-highest total of his career.
I drank in the glamorous high-pitched cattiness of Netflix’s soapy reality TV series Members Only: Palm Beach — starring four women with Philadelphia ties — like a bottomless carafe of mimosas, finishing the eight 45-minute episodes in less than two days.
Members Only debuted in the final days of 2025 on Netflix’s Top 10 list. It gives old-school Housewives vibes and throws a spotlight on the women who live in and around President Donald Trump’s 20-acre oceanfront Mar-a-Largo estate.
Maria Cozamanis and Romina Ustayev in episode 101 of “Members Only: Palm Beach.”
The gaudy maxi dresses, overfilled lips, horrible lace front wigs, and the backstabbing. It’s all a hot mess.
Members Only is if Jersey Shore ran into a train wreck. But instead of getting caught up in the mean girl shenanigans of 20-somethings, I was gobsmacked by the ugly behavior of 50+ women acting like petty middle schoolers in the name of preserving high society.
Former Bryn Mawr interior decorator and real estate mogul Hilary Musser, whose fifth wedding to a doorman is one of the ostentatious affairs featured, is the Queen Bee.
Musser now sells million-dollar waterfront mansions in Palm Beach and it’s rumored she joined the rest of the relatively unknown cast to help sell her properties.
Hilary Musser in episode 101 of “Members Only: Palm Beach.”
She holds steadfastly to Palm Beach’s strict dress codes. (It’s improper to show cleavage and leg in the same ensemble as a Palm Beach rule). Four-letter words offend her. Crying in public is a no-no. She’s nice only to New Yorker-turned-wellness-entrepreneur Taja Abitbol, partner of former MLB pitcher David Cone and the only non-Philly-affiliated woman in this core group.
The rest of the Philly-connected ladies smile in Musser’s face and grumble behind her haltered and tanned back.
Maria Cozamanis ad Romina Ustayev in episode 101 of “Members Only: Palm Beach.”
They are: Maria Cozamanis, a DJ who moved from Philadelphia to Florida. As DJ Tumbles, she worked her way onto the Palm Beach society scene DJing lavish charity events at Mar-a-Largo. Roslyn Yellin is a former Bucks County Zumba teacher and grandmother with Cinderella ambitions. “My morals and values start at home with my family and husband,” she said in the first episode, as if reading from Vice President JD Vance’s family value cue cards.
And finally, there’s Yellin’s frenemy, Romina Ustayev, an Uzbeki immigrant and former home care business and fashion line owner in Philadelphia. She calls herself the Kim Kardashian of Palm Beach.
“I love going to Mar-a-Largo and being in the same room as the president and Elon Musk,” she said, near hysterically, in one episode. “You feel like, ‘Oh my God. You’ve made it.’”
Maria Cozamanis and Romina Ustayev in episode 101 of “Members Only: Palm Beach.”
I knew going in that Members Only’s garish opulence and prettied up gluttony was a gold-trimmed Trump fever dream, one where he sits at the center of all things tacky, loud, expensive, and hurtful. (He never makes an appearance in the show, but his name is uttered several times in awe and admiration.)
But the moment Ustayev — an immigrant who is not quite as white as Trump’s favored Norwegian and Danish immigrants — stepped in, I knew I was watching the latest piece of Trump propaganda.
Romina Ustayev, Maria Cozamanis, and Taja Abitbol in episode 101 of “Members Only: Palm Beach.”
Members Only is Trump’s ideal vision of America where obscene wealth is valued and the rest of America can eat cake.
Why is this show in our binging rotation now? Perhaps because Netflix is in the midst of finalizing a merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. The merger, which will give Netflix more than half the streaming market share, needs regulatory approval from the Trump administration.
Thanks to Members Only, the Mar-a-Largo face doesn’t just appear in the context of the White House. Think Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, their plump lips, and heavily Botoxed and made-up faces.
Romina Ustayev and Maria Cozamanis in episode 101 of “Members Only: Palm Beach.”
Now we see these faces as we try to relax and binge-watch trash television. There is no escaping.
Members Only‘s arrival on Netflix is the next logical step in the White House’s messaging and shaping of America’s image. Trump started dismantling America’s diverse optics immediately after he took office and proceeded to remove photos of President Barack Obama from prominent places in the White House in an effort to erase evidence of the first Black president’s existence.
In advance of last Thanksgiving’s travel season, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled the Golden Age of Travel campaign, urging airline travelers to dress natty when flying. At the center of the campaign are black and white pictures of white travelers gussied up like the fictional Main Liners in Katharine Hepburn’s 1940 filmPhiladelphia Story.
Rosalyn Yellin in episode 101 of “Members Only: Palm Beach.”
And then last summer, Department of Homeland Security used Norman Rockwell paintings in its social media marketing. The images — denounced by Rockwell’s family — show mid-20th-century suburban whites living a blissful white picket fence existence paired with the administration’s anti-immigration slogans “Protect our American way of life” and “DEFEND your culture.”
During a tense moment on the show, Ustayev shares with Yellin and her mentor, New York socialite and Palm Beach grand dame Gale Brophy, that Palm Beach society did not respect her culture, which includes asking for money at birthday parties and eating with her fingers. (Clutching my pearls.)
Brophy’s response: “Go back to your country.”
The inclusion of this kind of xenophobia into pop culture is better than anything Fox News can drum up.
Johnny Gould, founder and president of Superluna Studios and the executive producer of Members Only, insists his show is not political.
He admitted Mar-a-Largo is in the zeitgeist. “After all it is the winter White House,” he said. But he made Members 0nly because he was intrigued with Palm Beach society’s social hierarchy, one of the last in America.
The heart of Members Only, Gould said, is its “private club culture and B & T [Bath & Tennis] Boca Beach Resort, Breakers, and Mar-a-Largo [which] are at the center of social circles and drive societal rules and expectations,” Gould said. “That’s what connects these five ladies.”
Romina Ustayev, Rosalyn Yellin in episode 103 of “Members Only: Palm Beach.”
The Philadelphia connection, Gould said, was a coincidence.
“I didn’t set out to make a show about Palm Beach featuring Philadelphia society women,” Gould said.
(Good thing, because except for Musser, some of the Philly ladies-who-lunch crowd say they have no idea who these women are, nor do they want to.)
“It was about the chemistry,” Gould continued. “For example, when I went to Hilary’s house and she came sweeping down the stairs in a beautiful gown on a Tuesday, immediately, I was intrigued.”
Romina Ustayev and Hilary Musser in episode 101 of “Members Only: Palm Beach.”
Everything else, Gould said, “fell into place.”
“[Members Only] is not about curing cancer,” he said. “It’s about pouring yourself a glass of wine [and taking] a really fun ride in a place that none of us will ever have access to and a lifestyle none of us will get a chance to experience.”
That’s true.
Of course, these women don’t care about curing cancer. (Trump’s secretary of health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is shutting down clinical trials that are meant to find cancer treatments.)
The show sells viewers an “aspirational” lifestyle in Trump’s image. And if Trump has his way, soon we will be living in a society where there will be even more haves and have nots, completely robbing the poor — and the middle class— of upward mobility.
A year ago, leaders of Family Practice & Counseling Network feared their health clinic, which has served low-income Philadelphians for more than 30 years, wouldn’t survive past June.
The clinic was part of Resources for Human Development, a Philadelphia human services agency that a fast-growing Reading nonprofit called Inperium Inc. had acquired in late 2024.
As a federally qualified health clinic since 1992, the clinic had received an annual federal grant, higher Medicaid rates, and other benefits.
But federal rules prohibited the clinic from continuing to retain that status and those benefits under a parent company. That meant Family Practice & Counseling Network had two options: close or spin out into a new entity that would reapply to be a federally qualified clinic.
“We had to figure it out,” the organization’s CEO Emily Nichols said in a recent interview.
At the time, the organization’s three main locations had 15,000 patients. They are “very underserved, low-income people that deserve good healthcare,” she said.
Thanks to $9.5 million in financial and operational support from the University of Pennsylvania Health System, a new legal entity took over the clinics in July. They now operate under the tweaked name, Family Practice & Counseling Services Network, and without the federalstatus.
“Penn allowed us to survive,” Nichols said.
Still in a precarious position
The nonprofit, with its name now abbreviated as FPCSN, remains in a precarious position.
Because of the corporate change, the $4.2 million annual grant that Family Practice had been receiving through RHD had to be opened up for other applicants under federal law. FPCSN applied but won’t find out until March the result of the competition.
Natalie Levkovich, CEO of the Health Federation of Philadelphia, a nonprofit that supports community health centers in Southeastern Pennsylvania, expressed confidence that the clinic will regain the funding, which helps cover the cost of caring for people who don’t have insurance.
“FPCSN is a well-run, well-regarded, well-supported health center that has an established, high-functioning practice in multiple locations,” Levkovich said. The clinic received letters of support from all the other federal clinics in the area, she said.
A mural in a conference room at Family Practice & Counseling Services Network’s headquarters in Nicetown shows a timeline of the agency’s history since its founding in 1992.
In return, federally qualified clinics have to accept all patients, including people without insurance. The insurance mix of FPCSN’s patient population is about 60% Medicaid, 20% uninsured, 10% Medicare, and 10% commercial, Nichols said.
Also, half of a federal clinic’s board members have to be patients at the clinic. FPCSN has three main locations, in Southwest Philadelphia, on the western edge of North Philadelphia, and in the West Poplar neighborhood. Its revenue in fiscal 2025 was $31 million.
During the past year, 55 FPCSN staff members have left, leaving 140 employees still at the organization, including 16 nurse practitioners who provide the primary care. The departures may have contributed to a decline in the number of patients seen to 13,500 last year, compared to 15,000 the year before, Nichols said.
Why Penn helped FPCSN
Federally qualified health centers form the core safety net in Philadelphia and across the nation, said Richard Wender, who chairs Family Medicine and Community Health at Penn, which had a longstanding relationship with RHD’s clinics.
Under contract, Penn family practice physicians were providing prenatal care to 400 pregnant patients at the clinics that would have closed abruptly at the end of June if Penn hadn’t provided support. “We wanted them to be able to continue to take care of the patients that they were taking care of,” Wender said.
The money from Penn helped pay startup costs for the new entity and bridged the period until FPCSN was able to secure new contracts with insurance companies.
Penn also didn’t want the clinic’s patients showing up in its already busy emergency departments for basic care. “That adversely affects their health because it’s not a good place to get preventive care,” he said.
But it was important to Penn that there was a pathway back to federal clinic status. “We feel as optimistic as we can,” Wender said.
Wender and Nichols credited Kevin Mahoney, CEO of Penn’s health system, with the preservation of FPCSN’s services for low-income Philadelphians by throwing his full support behind the effort.
“You have to have a CEO, a leader in your health system, who understands that this is the responsibility of large academic health centers,” Wender said.
Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott celebrates an extra point during the third quarter of the Philadelphia Eagles game against the Los Angeles Rams at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025 in Philadelphia.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The Eagles' season ended sooner than expected with a loss to the 49ers in the wild-card round. Now the Birds will try to assemble a roster that can help them get back to their Super Bowl standard. Beat writer Jeff McLane makes his picks on what personnel decisions he sees the team making this offseason.
Make your pick for each player by swiping the cards below — right for Stay or left for Go. Yes, just like Tinder. Finding it hard to decide? We'll also show you how other Inquirer readers have voted so far and what we think the team will do.
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Quarterbacks
The biggest question here (for a second straight year) is whether Tanner McKee will stick around as the backup.
#1
Jalen
Hurts
Crowd says
Height
6'1"
Weight
223lb.
Age
27
Inky Says Stay
We've seen what he can accomplish with a good coordinator. But he needs help in the drop-back game if he's going to elevate.
#14
Sam
Howell
Crowd says
Height
6'1"
Weight
220lb.
Age
25
Inky Says Go
Tanner McKee's broken hand in camp forced the Eagles to trade for him before the season. He's a free agent and should get a backup opportunity elsewhere.
#19
Kyle
McCord
Rookie
Crowd says
Height
6'3"
Weight
218lb.
Age
23
Inky Says Go
He had a rough first camp, but a full season to watch and learn may help. His return may depend on the new coordinator and scheme.
#16
Tanner
McKee
Crowd says
Height
6'6"
Weight
231lb.
Age
25
Inky Says Stay
It's not fair to base an evaluation solely on the finale. But it's unlikely the Eagles will receive attractive enough offers to trade.
A.J. Brown’s long-term future with the Eagles might be the biggest question of the 2026 offseason.
#80
Darius
Cooper
Rookie
Crowd says
Height
5'11"
Weight
210lb.
Age
24
Inky Says Stay
The undrafted rookie was used mostly as a run blocker, but he has some receiving upside. He'll be back.
#11
A.J.
Brown
Crowd says
Height
6'1"
Weight
226lb.
Age
28
Inky Says Stay
His future is the question of the offseason. By his standards, he didn't have a good season and may have lost a half-step. He still projects as one of the best. There's also a significant cap charge.
#18
Britain
Covey
Crowd says
Height
5'8"
Weight
173lb.
Age
28
Inky Says Stay
It took too long, but when he was promoted to the active roster the return game was given a boost.
#2
Jahan
Dotson
Crowd says
Height
5'11"
Weight
184lb.
Age
25
Inky Says Go
It must have been tough running all those for-the-love-of-the-game routes. He was just too slight to make an impact as the third receiver.
#6
DeVonta
Smith
Crowd says
Height
6'0"
Weight
170lb.
Age
27
Inky Says Stay
He was maybe the one guy on offense who met expectations. If A.J. Brown leaves, he should be the bona fide No. 1.
#85
Terrace
Marshall
Crowd says
Height
6'2"
Weight
200lb.
Age
25
Inky Says Go
The Eagles need more young receivers with upside. He doesn't satisfy that need.
#86
Quez
Watkins
Crowd says
Height
6'0"
Weight
193lb.
Age
27
Inky Says Go
After a few post-Eagles years in the NFL wilderness, he returned to the practice squad.
#89
Johnny
Wilson
Crowd says
Height
6'6"
Weight
228lb.
Age
24
Inky Says Stay
The Eagles lost their best blocking receiver in training camp. He should return in that role.
Some big names could be moving on here, as Nakobe Dean and Jaelan Phillips appear set to test the market.
#53
Zack
Baun
Pro Bowl
Crowd says
Height
6'3"
Weight
225lb.
Age
29
Inky Says Stay
He proved that 2024 wasn't a fluke and his contract guarantees he's here through 2027.
#30
Jihaad
Campbell
Rookie
Crowd says
Height
6'3"
Weight
235lb.
Age
21
Inky Says Stay
He handled his demotion with grace, but the former first-rounder needs to be in the lineup next season. Can he be a hybrid?
#59
Chance
Campbell
Crowd says
Height
6'2"
Weight
232lb.
Age
26
Inky Says Stay
He provided good looks on the scout team and should probably get a look-see in training camp. Making the 53-man roster is another thing.
#17
Nakobe
Dean
Crowd says
Height
5'11"
Weight
231lb.
Age
25
Inky Says Go
A few years ago, it would have been a no-brainer to retain him. But the Eagles have Campbell in the wings and their most depth at off-ball linebacker in years.
#58
Jalyx
Hunt
Crowd says
Height
6'3"
Weight
252lb.
Age
24
Inky Says Stay
Eagles' scouting deserves accolades for plucking this former safety out of anonymity. He did it all in his second season. The future is bright.
#48
Patrick
Johnson
Crowd says
Height
6'2"
Weight
248lb.
Age
27
Inky Says Go
Practice squad Patrick has been a loyal soldier for five on-and-off years. He wasn't getting call-ups late in the season.
#42
Smael
Mondon Jr.
Rookie
Crowd says
Height
6'2"
Weight
224lb.
Age
22
Inky Says Stay
He'll be a depth piece who can play special teams for years, if need be.
#13
Azeez
Ojulari
Crowd says
Height
6'3"
Weight
240lb.
Age
25
Inky Says Go
It's hard to see him wanting to be back when it was clear the Eagles slow-played his return from a hamstring injury.
#50
Jaelan
Phillips
Crowd says
Height
6'5"
Weight
266lb.
Age
26
Inky Says Go
He started strong and then leveled out. Vic Fangio likes him, but is he worth the squeeze when others will pay?
#3
Nolan
Smith Jr.
Crowd says
Height
6'2"
Weight
238lb.
Age
24
Inky Says Stay
The triceps injury lingered into the season. He plays with great effort, but size and durability remain concerns.
#54
Jeremiah
Trotter Jr.
Crowd says
Height
6'0"
Weight
225lb.
Age
23
Inky Says Stay
He could probably start at middle linebacker for a number of teams, but will likely have to watch for another season.
#0
Joshua
Uche
Crowd says
Height
6'3"
Weight
226lb.
Age
27
Inky Says Go
The trade for Jaelan Phillips and Brandon Graham's unretirement marginalized him. He'll likely want to explore other options.
#43
Ben
VanSumeren
Crowd says
Height
6'2"
Weight
231lb.
Age
25
Inky Says Go
It will be tough to return from back-to-back season-ending knee injuries, but I wouldn't count him out.
From his machine shop among corn and bean fields on Kurtz Road near Ephrata, Lancaster County, Allen Hoover sells 1970s-style word-processing computers, upgraded to internet speeds, at the rate of more than one a day.
For some, Hoover’s machine fits fast-changing business with timeless faith; others fear the computers have fed into a wave of covert internet use that threatens a formal split among his Amish customers.
Since 2004 the machines, originally priced at $800 each, have been adopted by dozens of Plain religious communities to run local systems, with names like Classic, Chore Boy, and Steward, to accommodate and monitor members’ text notes and business records, without video, corporate media networks, or Apple and Google apps.
A senior member of his Old Order Mennonite congregation and coauthor of a book on Plain responses to family abuse, Hoover agreed to talk to The Inquirer about Mennonite and Amish ideas and tools. The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
What are the tensions around computers in Plain communities?
Our real goal is to live a separate life and not to be so influenced by popular society around us. If morality is decaying in the world, it becomes even more important for us to become a separate people. Well, that’s hard to do.
Everything is tied together. Especially with the internet, and, smartphones. It gets harder and harder for us to be in business and to make a living without some way of being connected.
One of Allen Hoover’s Chore Boy word-processor machines at his workshop in Ephrata, Lancaster County, September 2025.
How are your machines different from normal computers?
For our Plain people, we wanted it to be separate from the world. So it should have no connectivity. Not to the internet, email, or even fax. Just a stand-alone unit. And then of course no amusements of the world, no games, music, nothing like that. Just a business tool.
Couldn’t you do that on a computer?
Well, if it’s in my home, my children will find ways of doing things with it that I have no idea of. And also, if you look at 50 different personal computers in peoples’ homes, you will find 50 different systems. We wanted one like the old word processors, where every unit was exactly alike. No additional programs, no apps that you can put on to listen to music or whatever.
The programs included are a word and a spreadsheet program. And a drawing program, and a computer-aided design program. We developed our own comprehensive business accounting system. With inventory control, invoicing, all that.
We looked at the on-the-shelf programs. They are almost all internet-connected. There are a few that stand alone. But they were so clunky, made for a specific purpose, that they just didn’t fit the bill.
How did you adapt the machines for Plain needs?
We had a few meetings with interested businesspeople, to see what the need was. Probably made a mistake, we never asked the church for permission.
And it took off. In the beginning, it was the only thing out there for the Plain people. Then other people started. This is about the only one that is still going — because of our stance of not making changes. We do upgrade it. It has much more power now. But we wanted to stay away from Windows or Mac.
We ended up using Linux as the operating system. We used Open Office, we now use LibreOffice, another free program, more powerful, more useful. The computer-aided design program is called FreeCAD. There is also something similar to MapQuest, that helps you with planning and mapping trips.
How many machines have you sold?
I’m guessing 400 a year. So if we have been doing this for 20 years, there are a few thousand out there.
How did the community react?
It was mixed. In the beginning, it was a huge whoop of joy: Here is something we can use. Once a year there is an expo in Lancaster County, focused on the Plain people and Plain businesses. I got a booth and it was the star of the expo. People were lined up because it was the new thing.
Some Plain communities reacted by banning them because it was coming too close to the computer world. And I understand that perfectly. No hard feelings about that.
What happened more often was that communities started with it, but then became dissatisfied that we didn’t allow them to put more programs on. So they made their own and eventually drifted into the internet world.
It has not made me a popular person. For the ones that feel we should not have gotten into computers at all, I am the bad boy. For the ones that feel we should have allowed more connections, I am the bad boy.
We really don’t want our people working in General Motors, big factories, all day long. We fear that will influence us too much. And so, we want our own little businesses like mine, Allen Repair Service, we rebuild, repair, and resell woodworking machinery.
And it’s getting harder [without internet]. This was a tool to allow us to stay in those businesses.
What about smartphones?
In Lancaster County, the Amish found loopholes, ways to have their cellphones, smartphones.
The leadership are working through that right now, I’m pretty sure there is going to be a big split.
