Philadelphia Daily News
DON OF A NEW ERA
At noon on a bright June Tuesday, the scene at Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks & Pizza on the Wildwood boardwalk felt more like a South Philly block party than a soft opening. Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino worked the crowd at his new shop — hugging, shaking...
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HISTORIC REVERSAL
President Donald Trump’s administration can replace the slavery exhibits it removed in January from George Washington’s Philadelphia residence, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third...
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‘I HOPE YOU SUFFER’
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — After decades waiting for justice, relatives of women murdered by New York’s Gilgo Beach serial killer laid into him Wednesday before he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for his admitted crimes. “A million years isn’t...
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STATUE OF LIMITATIONS
When Ecuadorian soccer content creator Leandro de Vera, aka DonFutbol, tied his country’s flag around the Rocky statue’s neck at the top of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s steps, he was unaware of the butterfly effect he had set in motion. De Vera...
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FOUR MORE YEARS?
Through much of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s first two years in office, most political insiders in Philadelphia assumed she would cruise to reelection. After all, no mayor in the last eight decades in the deep-blue city has lost a bid for a second term....
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ARGUMENT ESCALATED
Three Philadelphia police officers were wounded in a shooting late Saturday after an argument with a retired city firefighter escalated, and the man opened fire on them in the street, law enforcement sources and city officials said. The gunman was...
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HOT ON THE WORLD CUP TRAIL
When organizers announced two years ago that Philly’s FIFA Fan Festival site for the World Cup would be at Lemon Hill, many Philadelphians responded with a collective: Huh? Located between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Girard Avenue, the grassy...
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VIVA PHILLY!
OK, this scenario looked easy. Maybe I have what it takes. A passenger approaches you during your shift asking for directions to get to Northern Liberties from NRG station. I took the training class last week for SEPTA Ambassadors alongside about 35...
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ARK OF POSSIBILITY
FloatLab, a public art feature that will offer an eye-level view of the Schuylkill, finished its voyage up the East Coast from North Carolina to Southwest Philly on Wednesday. The 75-foot-wide floating structure arrived at its permanent home at...
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WE LOVE PHILLY
With the World Cup and its influx of fans just around the corner, the Fashion District has a new interactive installation: “Philly Love Stories.” Despite the name, this is not about romance; it’s about Philly love and pride. Two three-dimensional...
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‘PRIDE IS WHERE YOU STAND’
With the sun shining and the grand vista of the Philadelphia Art Museum steps framing a new venue, crowds poured into Philadelphia’s 2026 Pride festivities on Sunday — the first time the LGBTQ+ event was ever hosted on Benjamin Franklin Parkway. “This...
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SPEED BUMPS
White 150-pound cuboids with heart eyes have been delivering meals through Rittenhouse and a chunk of Center City since March, drawing jeers, hugs, endless candids, and numerous viral headlines. Yet for all the attention Philadelphia’s autonomous...
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SUN SCREEN
Highs in the 90s around here in early June aren’t all that special, but by the time this weekend is over Philadelphia may have experienced a climatological rarity. Afternoon temperatures are expect to crest past 90 degrees on Friday and Saturday, with...
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SEPTA REOPENS UNDERGROUND CONCOURSE
Six years after the South Broad Concourse was closed behind padlocked gates, SEPTA reopened the underground pedestrian passageway linking the 15th/City Hall and Walnut-Locust stations on Tuesday. The 1,500-foot stretch was unshackled at 7 a.m., 12...
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A CONCRETE ISSUE
About two weeks after the deadly April 8 collapse of a parking garage in Philadelphia’s Grays Ferry neighborhood, building inspectors shut down a new parking garage at a hospital in Toms River, N.J. “This building is declared unsafe for human...
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BOSS IN BUSINESS
Bruce Springsteen began Saturday night with a speech. Ever since President Donald Trump was elected for the second time, Springsteen has taken the extraordinary step of not letting his music speak for itself at the start of his shows. Instead, when...
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TOURIST TRAP
Tipping in Sweden looks like leaving a few kronor on the table after a meal. Ecuadorians won’t mind a tip for great service, but it is never expected and usually doesn’t exceed a few dollars. In Japan, diners do not tip at all. But in the States,...
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SCHEME TEAM
The Eagles offense is going to look very different under firstyear offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, especially in the backfield. Saquon Barkley and Co. can expect to run the ball from under center far more than they did in past seasons. How did...
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BY AIR & BY SEA
People have been bragging about their trips to the Outer Banks since I moved to the Shore three decades ago. Quieter, cheaper, more laid back, more of a relaxing vacation than anything you’ll find in, say, Sea Isle. Last summer, with an increasingly...
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‘NOT A LUXURY’
At Potter-Thomas Elementary in North Philadelphia, principal Nichole Willoughby is bracing for the loss of five staff members. She does not want to contemplate what comes after cutting educators who help struggling students with reading and math, who...
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THEIR STORIES
Frank Dougherty, a 84-yearold Army veteran in an oversized navy jacket, khaki pants, and a baseball hat, understood the magnitude of the honor he was carrying out on an overcast Memorial Day afternoon. In front of him sat and stood dozens of Vietnam...
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BEAVER FEVER
I was on I-95 somewhere outside of Baltimore when the absurdity truly hit me: Most people stop at convenience stores on a road trip, but I was taking a fivehour road trip to Mount Crawford, Va., just to go to a convenience store. Was it logical?...
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LIFE AFTER MIRACLE
Tylicia Bell named her granddaughter Miracle for a reason. Despite the trying circumstances of her birth, the child is alive. Bell’s days are now dedicated to caring for 18-month-old Miracle, who relies on a machine to breathe. Miracle’s mother,...
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NEW WAVE
State Rep. Chris Rabb’s capture of the Democratic nomination to represent Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District on Tuesday marked a striking triumph for the progressive left, which has over the last decade installed democratic socialists into...
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FEELING THE HEAT
District Attorney Larry Krasner said that all he wanted at Philadelphia’s traditional election day lunch — where local politicians and operatives gather to gab — was some macaroni and cheese. But he didn’t make it in the front door. Krasner, the...
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COOLING HIS JETS
The Philly region is well acquainted with sequences of days with highs in the 90s. Usually they are polite enough to wait until June and July. The temperature reached 96 degrees, topping the 64-year-old record of 94. Another high-temperature record —...
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CROWD CONTROL
The PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club was billed as a boon for the Philadelphia region. The PGA expected more than 200,000 spectators to flock to the Newtown Square course for the six-day event. During a Saturday visit, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh...
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TIME FOR INDEPENDENCE
Philadelphia. May 1776. Finally, the tide has turned. Independence is alive in Philadelphia. And John Adams is ready to pounce. He writes by flickering candlelight in the rented rooms of a Second Street lodging house kept by a Mrs. Sarah Yard. Like...
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THE LONG HAUL
The Eagles’ quest for their third title in franchise history starts with an NFC East rival and a gauntlet of 2025 playoff teams, then features a wild-card rematch in the second-to-last game of the season. In total, the Eagles are scheduled to play...
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GOING FORE IT
They took the bus from Drexel Hill to 69th Street, hopped on the El, and soon stood in what felt like a fantasy for a 5-year-old boy from Georgia who was visiting his grandparents in 1950s Philadelphia. The Grand Court at Wanamaker’s on Market Street...
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NO WAYMO
City Council members and a coalition of religious leaders, labor unions, and rideshare drivers on Tuesday demanded the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation put the brakes on Waymo in Philadelphia. Serious questions remain about the safety of...
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NO UDDER CHOICE?
The future of a family farm in rural Salem County was at stake, and after multiple meetings and hours of presentations, questions, pleas, and complaints, a local planning board was set to vote. Before the vote, one longtime resident of Mannington...
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RECURRING NIGHTMARE
Beloved Overbrook Park kosher bakery New York Bagels was rocked by its second gas explosion in just over two months on Sunday — just hours before its planned grand reopening, according to owner Rayyan Kayyali. Kayyali and Rabbi Yonah Gross had been...
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CLEAN LIVING
Sherron Dudley was a young woman when she picked up her broom, a new mom trying to get on her feet. She hasn’t gotten off them since. The 59-year-old West Philly grandmother has given a lifetime to sweeping Philly streets. Of the 68 sidewalk sweepers...
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LIFE CHANGING
The cheering started the moment physical education teacher David Stokes entered the Paul Robeson High auditorium. Students at the small West Philadelphia school rose to their feet. Pom-pom-waving cheerleaders launched into a spirited routine. People...
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TEMPLE MADE
At age 75, Peggy E. Moore officially became “Temple Made” on Wednesday. That’s what the university calls its graduates, and Moore collected her bachelor’s degree in general studies during this week’s commencement. But Moore’s history with the North...
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BEHIND THE BACKING
Gov. Josh Shapiro is facing questions about whether he tried to help elect a Republican candidate over a member of his own party who had publicly criticized him, after an audio recording of a top labor leader leaked this week alleging that the...
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GRITTY, BUT NOT GRITTY
Dennis Boyle walked the concourse of the sold-out Spectrum, unable to see much of anything thanks to the oversized mascot head he wore. It was his second day as Slapshot, the orange mascot introduced by the Flyers in November of 1978. Day No. 1 was a...
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QUITE A RUN
As 40,000 runners made their way down Broad Street for the 47th edition of the Independence Blue Cross Broad Street Run on Sunday, Josh Izewski led the pack for the second year in a row. Izewski was the top overall finisher in the nation’s largest...
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ANOTHER CHAPTER
People show their school loyalties Thursday when the school board voted to implement the district’s facilties plan. But the board underscored they wanted a “living plan” that will evolve along with “enrollment trends, population movement, programming...
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CAMERA READY
The biggest Flyers home game in 16 years was the best of that mostly dull and empty stretch of time, 77 minutes and 32 seconds of total tension, loads of scoring chances, a near-equal number of stellar saves by the goaltenders, all of the action and...
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WHYY DEBATE
Congressional hopeful Ala Stanford on Wednesday morning announced she was dropping out of a WHYY candidates debate two hours before it was scheduled to begin, saying her campaign could not agree with the public radio station on a format for the debate...
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CALM IN THE STORM
After 11 losses in 12 games, it ceased to be a matter of if Rob Thomson would be fired. It became a simple matter of when. The matter that mattered, then: Why would he be fired? Because the magic was gone. For 3 1/2 seasons, with his calm Canadian...
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FUELED BY PUBLIC FUNDS
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, physician Ala Stanford rented a van to conduct coronavirus testing in parking lots, traveling to Philadelphia’s most underserved neighborhoods, where the virus was raging. For months, she and a group of...
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ALL JOKING ASIDE
WASHINGTON — The man accused of trying to storm the ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner with guns and knives had written about targeting Trump administration officials, and his family raised concerns with law enforcement...
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REFORMED PLAYER?
SCRANTON — On March 8, Nails found God. Barefoot, dressed in a Baltimore Ravens short-sleeved T-shirt and black sweatpants, former Phillies center fielder and 1993 World Series spark plug Lenny Dykstra — nicknamed “Nails” during his playing days for...
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‘ON THE MAP’
City Council on Thursday approved a high-profile legislative package aimed at restricting immigration enforcement in Philadelphia, placing the city at the forefront of local resistance to President Donald Trump’s nationwide deportation campaign. The...
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BRIGHT IDEA
As night falls over South Street, the modern American bistro Banshee glows through its fling-out windows, the restaurant’s earth-toned dining room lit like a lantern. Warm light catches the tambour wood ceiling, candles pool softly on the tables, and...
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CURRENT AFFAIRS
Philadelphia has made progress on some of its most troublesome issues like gun violence and poverty. The city’s major successes have come as it has stagnated in areas that recently have buoyed the city, like income and population growth, according to...
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BUILDING BLOCK
For more than a decade, authorities said, an entrenched drug ring held a Kensington block hostage. The Weymouth Street gang allegedly operated a sprawling criminal network, dealing fentanyl, heroin, and other drugs — until the feds swept in and made...
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COLD SNAP
BOSTON — Against a team like the Boston Celtics, there is a limit to the number of makable shots an opponent can miss before its odds of victory drop to zero. On Sunday, the Sixers seemed to determined to find that limit. There isn’t much to say about...
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‘I’M FROM PHILLY. NOTHING REALLY SCARES US’
The sordid Jeffrey Epstein saga is a Florida story, first and foremost. That’s where Julie K. Brown, a longtime investigative reporter at the Miami Herald, did most of the reporting that led to the Palm Beach billionaire’s arrest in 2019. She has a...
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MAXEY, YOU ARE THE MAN
Tyrese Maxey was looking downright professorial. Maybe he was feeling it, too. Wearing black-framed glasses and a tasteful diamond necklace that classed up a plain T-shirt, the 76ers’ 25-year-old guard laughed as he looked back on how fast the years...
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SHOW OF SUPPORT
Three years ago, State Sen. Sharif Street stood proudly behind Cherelle L. Parker at an election night victory party after voters picked her to be Philadelphia’s first female mayor. At the time, Street was the head of the state Democratic Party, and...
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RAMPING UP
Temple University has a responsibility to keep its campus safe. But what about its responsibility to the teenagers visiting its open, public North Philadelphia campus? Temple students and the Philly Socialist Alternative group hosted a rally on Friday...
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HEAT FOR TRUMP
President Donald Trump’s social media screed against Pope Leo XIV, following the U.S.-born pontiff’s criticism of the war in Iran, is reverberating from Rome to the Italian Market in South Philly. “Someone should take his phone away on Sunday nights,”...
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STILL REELING
As demolition of the partially collapsed Grays Ferry parking garage rolled into Sunday, neighbors struggled to find normalcy. The deadly collapse of the under-construction Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia garage last week killed ironworker Stepan...
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FIRE, BUT NO SMOKE
Tyrese Maxey’s youngest sister was the first to smell something burning on Christmas Eve 2021. The Philadelphia 76ers guard followed his family members outside his Voorhees home when he saw the left side of the house engulfed in flames. No one was...
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MESSAGE OF HOPE
ROME — Pope Leo XIV used his first Easter speech Sunday to deliver a resounding call for peace in times of renewed war, declaring, “Let those who have weapons lay them down!” “Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace!” Leo said. “Not...
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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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