Philadelphia Daily News
SEEN & HEARD
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday on one of the most important cases of the age, one that’s expected to define who gets to be a citizen of the United States. Arguments in Trump vs. Barbara started at about 10 a.m. in Washington and...
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NO SMALL STEPS
Humanity could soon return to the moon’s environs for the first time in half a century. Under a mission scheduled to launch Wednesday evening, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen are set to trace a figure-eight...
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NIGHT AND DAY
Frustrating security lines dwindled at U.S. airports on Monday, removing some of the worst bottlenecks as Transportation Safety Administration officers began receiving back pay for working during the government shutdown. What was a four-hour...
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FINDING HOPE
It was a career-defining moment for young Marlon Brando in The Wild One when a dancing girl asked his 1950s bongo-pounding biker-gang character, “What are you rebelling against?” “Whaddya got?” Brando’s Johnny Strabler would have felt right at home...
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WAIT WATCHERS
Transportation Security Administration employees at Philadelphia International Airport have gone weeks without a paycheck, struggling to afford their homes, childcare, or transportation to work. But more than 40 days into a pandemonium-filled...
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AMAZING REUNION TAIL AFTER PUP WAS GONE FOR A DECADE
Jourdyn Koviack fell in love on May 25, 2012, on an unremarkable street corner in Frankford. She was 16, a high school junior. He was two months old, white with a smattering of black spots and soulful eyes — and when she saw him for sale on the side...
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DOWN BUT NOT OUT
After two decades at the base of Philadelphia Museum of Art’s iconic steps, the city’s famed Rocky statue came down from his pedestal just before noon Wednesday. The next time we see him, he’ll be inside the museum — a first for the statue, which has...
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AIRPORT ASSEMBLY
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrived at Philadelphia International Airport, one day after they were deployed at other airports across the country. At the Terminal D security checkpoint Tuesday morning, at least a dozen ICE agents...
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GOSNELL DEPARTS
Kermit Gosnell, the infamous abortion doctor who was sentenced to life in prison in connection with the deaths of three infants and a woman in his care at his so-called “house of horrors” clinic in West Philadelphia, has died. Gosnell, 85, died...
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WRITING ON THE WALL
One Philadelphia school faces losing all of its classroom assistants. Another could cut programs for struggling readers. Others might drop teachers, counselors, and possibly most of their budgets for classroom supplies. Facing a $300 million...
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PICKING UP THE PIECES
Diane Pepe taught at the University of the Arts for 35 years, right up until the day it abruptly closed in June 2024. Her life felt upended, as did the lives of many faculty, staff, and students at the Center City Philadelphia arts school. “I loved...
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HEALTH CARE
In an escalation of the fight over the Philadelphia School District’s plan to close 18 schools, City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier on Thursday introduced zoning bills that would restrict potential redevelopment of four school buildings slated for...
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‘HIS LAST RIDE’
Hundreds of law enforcement officers from across Pennsylvania and beyond filled a Chester County church on Wednesday to honor State Police Cpl. Timothy O’Connor, gathering in a solemn show of tribute to a fallen trooper remembered for his steadiness,...
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READY TO ROLL
The on-ramp from Market Street onto I-95 south reopened to traffic Tuesday afternoon after being closed since last March for work on a $329 million cap over the sunken section of expressway. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials said the...
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‘NO EASY ANSWERS’
Philadelphians are facing a growing affordability crisis, and City Hall needs to act quickly to counter the impact of funding reductions from the federal and state governments, leaders of the progressive group POWER Interfaith said Monday. “Living...
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THEIR OWN MARCH MADNESS
Celeste Russo raced toward the corner, hungry to make a play. Mid-dash, she crashed, toppling over her wheelchair. Bang. A dissonant chord of metal scraping metal echoed throughout the Rhawnhurst gymnasium. “That’s a foul! That’s a foul!” the other...
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NO DRAMA LLAMA
Mezgeron James, a 39-yearold travel agent from Southwest Philadelphia, found herself in Petra, Jordan, with 12 friends when the sirens began Feb. 28. James didn’t panic. In fact, she said, the situation on the ground was much calmer than the news...
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MOVING UP
Since taking office, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has treated her 2023 campaign slogan — to make Philadelphia the “safest, cleanest, and greenest big city in the nation with access the economic opportunity for all” — as a to-do list for her...
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MARKET & SPRUCE
Eight new pop-up businesses are coming to a stretch of Market East, which connects Old City and its historic attractions to the Convention Center and City Hall, ahead of the FIFA World Cup and other 2026 celebrations. The vacant storefronts along the...
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SIGN OF THE TIMES
Everyone recognizes the blueand-yellow historic markers that commemorate important people, places, and events in communities across Pennsylvania, but this one is different. It stands on Fairmount Avenue near Fifth Street in Philadelphia, where it...
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NABBED FOR NYC BOMBS
Two Bucks County men arrested for attempting to detonate homemade bombs at a protest outside Gracie Mansion in Manhattan over the weekend said they were inspired by ISIS, court documents show. Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, were charged with...
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MAN ON THE MOON
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Tanner Banks was watching the World Baseball Classic on Saturday night when Kyle Schwarber stepped up to the plate. It was the bottom of the fifth inning, with one out and a runner on base. Team USA was tied 1-1 with Great...
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SWEET SPOT
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Andrew Painter likes to eat. It has never been much of an issue. The Phillies’ top prospect has a fast metabolism and stands 6 feet, 7 inches. If anything, it is hard for him to add weight. So, the occasional — or frequent — ice...
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NOEM MORE
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday fired his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, after mounting criticism over her leadership of the department, including the handling of the administration’s immigration crackdown and...
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OUT OF FOCUS
As President Donald Trump directs military strikes on Iran, he is also fighting online attacks at home from some of the loudest voices in his MAGA political movement. “This is Israel’s war. This is not the United States’ war,” former Fox News host...
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STATIONED TO STATION
Americans could start paying more at the gas pump, following the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude, an oil produced in the United States, surged 6.2% on Monday to $71.19 per barrel. As of Tuesday, it has spiked another 8%,...
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IN THE RUNNING AGAIN
Philadelphia is one of five cities on a list of finalists to host the 2028 Democratic National Convention, a major gathering that could generate millions of dollars in economic impact for the city. Party officials are also considering Boston, Atlanta,...
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CHEERS & TEARS
Two of the 20 Philadelphia schools originally targeted for closure under Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.’s facilities plan have been spared and will remain open. Conwell Middle School in Kensington and Motivation High in Southwest Philadelphia...
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PRIDE & JOY
It is a simple, sleek storefront in the Gayborhood. And it is now a welcoming spot. On Wednesday, Gov. Josh Shapiro, city tourism and marketing leaders, and LGBTQ+ advocates officially opened the Philadelphia Pride Visitor Center, one of the country’s...
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SWEET GREEN
Inside a large exhibition room at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Monday morning, where workers are setting up next week’s Philadelphia Flower Show, one could be fooled into believing that spring has somehow arrived early in Philly. The scent of...
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HEAVY LIFTING
If it wasn’t an actual blizzard, Philly’s biggest snowfall in a decade sure acted like one, and the weather the rest of this week isn’t expected to be particularly pleasant. But in terms of disruption — not to mention esthetics — this was in a wholly...
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FOR GOODNESS FLAKES!
Before a single wet flake was sighted in the Philly region late Sunday afternoon, what forecasters warned would be a storm of rare severity already was having impacts on the workweek. A blizzard warning remained in effect for Philadelphia and all of...
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TRADING CARD
Pennsylvania lawmakers say Congress should reclaim its power over taxes and tariffs after the U.S. Supreme Court quashed President Donald Trump’s controversial global tariffs. The nation’s high court ruled 6-3 Friday that Trump overstepped with...
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EXHIBITS FREED
Almost a month after abruptly dismantling exhibits about slavery from the President’s House Site, National Park Service employees began reinstalling the panels late Thursday morning ahead of a court-imposed deadline. Just before 11 a.m., four park...
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MISSED MANAGING
When Mayor Cherelle L. Parker stood in the city’s emergency management center last month and announced that her administration was preparing for the worst winter storm Philadelphia had seen in years, she was flanked by the police commissioner, the head...
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‘A SERVANT LEADER’
CHICAGO — The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a protégé of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and twotime presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader’s assassination, died Tuesday. He was 84. As a young organizer...
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RETURN OF EXHIBITS ORDERED
A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to restore the slavery exhibits that the National Park Service removed from the President’s House last month. U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe issued a ruling Monday requiring the...
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VOICE ACTIVATED
The sleek, modern offices of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, sit on the southernmost edge of Independence Square. The enormous glass windows of a conference room called the Marketplace — a nod to the “marketplace of ideas”...
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RECURRING NIGHTMARE
In December, Katrina Williams watched as the man who killed her brother was sentenced to decades in prison and felt, she said, as if a two-year nightmare was coming to an end. But weeks later, another shooting took the life of her only son. Williams’...
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EXTRA MOTIVATION
Confronted with the possible closure of their beloved school, the Motivation High community came prepared to fight back. As community members entered their Southwest Philadelphia school’s auditorium Wednesday night, students waving signs and carrying...
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A LITTLE RIBBING
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Inside a closet at Zack Wheeler’s house, preserved and tucked inside a protective case, is one of his ribs. The Phillies pitcher’s first rib was removed as part of the surgery he underwent in September to treat venous thoracic...
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HIS ACTIVIST ERA
Despite Philadelphia being a deep-blue city dominated by Democrats, local officials have been somewhat cautious in how they talk about President Donald Trump’s administration. That has included the top legislator, City Council President Kenyatta...
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IN A TOUGH SPOT
By the time Taylor Schuler finally freed their car, they were exhausted. It had taken five hours across two days, hacking at the wall of ice encasing their Prius’ bumper, shoveling piles of frozen snow off the tires, to complete the job. As the sun set...
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DOG DAY AFTERNOON
Oscar was the ultimate underdog. Born in a puppy mill in Peach Bottom, Lancaster County, Oscar suffered from “failure to thrive,” his breeder said. By the time the breeder turned the 6-week-old toy poodle over to Phoenix Animal Rescue in Chester...
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PHILLY WATER ICE
Accompanying one of the more-enduring snowpacks in the period of record, ice has continued to build in the Philadelphia region’s waterways, and all indications are that it’s going to intensify in the next three days, perhaps significantly. With...
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FROZEN CAR IN FISHTOWN BECAME A SENSATION
Independence Hall, the Rocky statue, the Liberty Bell, and … a 2016 Honda Civic parked in Fishtown? That odd appendage at the end of the list just became one of Philadelphia’s newest tourist attractions on Google Maps. How does a silver sedan get...
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HANDS OFF
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt on Wednesday rejected President Donald Trump’s false claims about voter fraud in the state as Trump targeted Philadelphia in his push to nationalize elections. The state’s top election official said Trump’s...
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CHIPPING AWAY
Those stubbornly frozen crosswalks with mounds of snow and ice across Philadelphia are getting chipped away with the assist of a 300-person workforce, starting Tuesday. The 300 ambassadors, as they are called, are tasked with manually breaking up ice...
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STORAGE WARS
The exhibits about slavery dismantled from the President’s House have not been “destroyed,” a federal judge said Monday after inspecting the panels in a storage room that’s inaccessible to the public on the property of the National Constitution...
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D.A.Y OF ATONEMENT
He walked toward the cellblock in Riverside Correctional Facility, pulling a cart of books behind him. For a moment, it was quiet. The only sounds that echoed off the jail’s cinder block walls were the squeaks of his cart’s wheels. But as a heavy...
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MOMENT OF TRUTH
Attorneys for the City of Philadelphia and President Donald Trump’s administration sparred in federal court Friday over the abrupt removal of slavery-related exhibits from the President’s House on Independence Mall. The hearing centered on the city’s...
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BURNING ICE
In Philadelphia, lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled legislation that would institute some of the nation’s toughest limits on federal immigration-enforcement operations. In Harrisburg, a top Democrat floated making Pennsylvania a so-called “sanctuary state”...
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GONNA SLIDE NOW!
For the Philly region Monday it wasn’t so much a matter of digging out from the heftiest snowfall in a decade, it was more like a chipping, shaving, scraping, expletive-inducing, and icechunk hurling operation. Public transportation appeared to be...
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DEEPFLAKES
Hours of percussive sleet layered a nasty icing on Philadelphia’s biggest snowfall in five years Sunday, and it may be some time before bare ground resurfaces in the region, if not normality. “We’re going to have a rather glacial snowpack for the...
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SHOVEL READY
Philadelphia could experience more snow this weekend than it did during the entire winter of 2024-25, but the forecast updates Friday suggested that may not be the worst of the storm’s offerings. In issuing a profoundly predictable winter storm...
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DIRTY DEEDS
The National Park Service dismantled exhibits about slavery at the President’s House Site in Independence National Historical Park, provoking a lawsuit from Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration. The President’s House, which serves as...
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WHAT’S AHEAD
The details are likely to remain elusive well into the weekend, but on Wednesday evidence was accumulating that the Philadelphia region could become a winter wonderland for the remainder of January. “We’re definitely going to get some snow,” said Alex...
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SCHOOL ALARM
Computer models are saying with a rather uncharacteristic certainty that the Philadelphia region and much of the Mid-Atlantic can expect a significant snowstorm during the weekend. Now, when have they ever been wrong? On Tuesday, models were in...
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READ IT AND VEEP
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro questioned whether he was being unfairly scrutinized as the only Jewish person being considered as a finalist to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate — and briefly entertained his own run for the presidency —...
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THE KING SPEECH
The limousine door burst open, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of Dennis Kemp’s South Philadelphia school. Kemp was 13 that day in October 1967, a member of the stage crew and the basketball team asked by...
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SHOCK & AWE!
America’s favorite multitalented Founding Father is celebrating his — checks parchment — 320th birthday Saturday, and the Franklin Institute wants everyone to join the party. On Saturday the science museum will debut a new “immersive multimedia show,”...
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TAKING THE STAIRS
Yo Adrian, they did it. The city’s famed Rocky statue has been cleared for installation atop the Philadelphia Art Museum’s iconic steps later this year following an Art Commission vote Wednesday. Four commissioners voted to approve the move, while one...
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HATE TO SEE IT
Union Trinity AME Church, one of Philadelphia’s historic Black religious institutions and known as “The Friendly Church,” was vandalized with racist graffiti over the weekend. Pastor Tianda Smart-Heath was informed of the vandalism shortly after...
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SIGNS OF UNREST
Legions of suburbanites decried federal ICE actions on Sunday in a series of vigils and protests across the Philadelphia area, signaling the breadth of opposition to a central part of President Donald Trump’s agenda. Expressions of anger, sadness, and...
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PETTY CASH
New Jersey has long coveted Petty’s Island, 300 acres in the Delaware River off Pennsauken, as a potential environmental and recreational haven with its grand views of Philadelphia. Originally the hunting grounds of Native Americans, the island was...
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DANCIN’ ON HIS OWN?
It’s only been days since an audacious U.S. raid snatched Nicolás Maduro from a Venezuelan military base and sped him to a Brooklyn prison, yet Detroit-area Trump supporter Aaron Tobin can already see it all playing out on the big screen. It’ll be the...
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BIG COMEBACK
When Larry Krasner was sworn in to his second term as district attorney four years ago, Philadelphia was in a public safety crisis: Murders and shootings were at an all-time high and the homicide clearance rate was at a historic low. On Monday,...
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THEY SMELLED TROUBLE
Robert Flesch was sitting in his first-floor room at the Bristol nursing home shortly after 9 a.m. on Dec. 23 when a staffer poked her head in to tell him he should go to the activity room. There was a gas leak near his room, the staffer told him, and...
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SUNDAY DRIVER
Darius Cooper was the training camp darling. “That’s what they call it?” Cooper asked with a smile Thursday, four months after he dazzled as an undrafted Eagles free agent during practices and preseason games. The wide receiver out of FCS Tarleton...
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ROCKY GROUND
As Philadelphia’s largest visual arts institution heads into the new year, it does so shaken by disorder and strife — reeling under a drama as extraordinary in substance as the public nature with which it is playing out. On Nov. 4, Philadelphia Art...
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