State and federal authorities on Friday arrested a man in North Philadelphia who was wanted in connection with a fatal shooting on I-95 last year that left a 21-year-old bystander dead.
The U.S. Marshals Service announced that authorities apprehended Wilfredo Ortiz-Suarez, 47, who is the third person to face charges related to the March 29, 2025, killing of Aiden Zeallor. Investigators described Zeallor, of Levittown, as the victim of errant gunfire that flew into his car while he was driving on I-95 near the Port Richmond section of the city at about 2:30 a.m.
Ortiz-Suarez was wanted by state police — which is handling the investigation — on murder, conspiracy, and related charges. Authorities executed a traffic stop to arrest him at about 1:45 p.m. Friday on the 3700 block of North Broad Street near Erie Avenue.
The apprehension comes about a month after police arrested two others they say were involved in the killing: Alondra M. Lopez, 28, and Joseph G. Toledo-Gonzalez, 27. Both face charges of murder, attempted murder, and related crimes.
It was not immediately clear what role police believe each defendant played in the shooting. State police did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
A photo of Aiden Zeallor.Denise Donahue
Police said previously that Zeallor and a friend were driving northbound on I-95 when someone using a semiautomatic weapon fired more than 50 rounds toward another vehicle, which investigators believe was the intended target. Two bullets went through Zeallor’s windshield and struck him, and he died at an area hospital hours later.
The driver of the other vehicle that was targeted by the bullets was also wounded.
Court documents that have been filed so far in the case do not describe the motive.
Ortiz-Suarez did not yet have an attorney listed in online records.
Federal prosecutors this week charged a former Philadelphia Fire Department supervisor with bribery in connection with what investigators described as a brazen overtime abuse scheme that involved her accepting cash from a colleague in exchange for approving fraudulent time sheets.
Marian Farris, 55, a former supervisor in the department’s payroll unit, faces one felony count of bribery and related theft charges. She was charged Tuesday by information, a process that is typically used when a defendant intends to plead guilty.
Attorneys for Farris, who resigned from the department in March 2025, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the charges.
According to charging papers filed in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Farris accepted multiple payments from a fire department employee that totaled more than $9,000 between 2023 and 2024. In exchange for those payments, prosecutors allege Farris made more than 300 fraudulent entries in the city’s payroll system amounting to more than $139,000 in payments to the employee.
Some of the overtime claims, according to prosecutors, were logistically impossible. Prosecutors wrote that Farris on 16 occasions credited the employee — identified only as “J.M.” in charging papers — with working 22 to 24 hours of overtime in a single 24-hour period. On other occasions, prosecutors wrote, the employee was credited with working overtime while she was vacationing in Bermuda, Cancun, and Las Vegas.
The Inquirer previously reported that Farris was under federal criminal investigation and that she was at the center of two tangled investigations into alleged misconduct at the fire department.
The city’s Office of the Inspector General led one investigation into the overtime abuse and found that Farris conspired with former paramedic Jacqulyn Murphy to defraud the city by abusing the system.
In a separate probe, the city retained a law firm to examine multiple sexual harassment allegations lodged by Murphy and other women against Anthony Hudgins, a former deputy commissioner and the department’s No. 2 in charge. According to court records, several women, including Murphy, told city investigators that Hudgins made sexual advances, including unwanted hugging and inappropriate comments.
Hudgins claimed that the harassment reports were orchestrated by Murphy only after he discovered the overtime fraud. In January, Hudgins sued the city and the women saying that he was defamed and subjected to a “bad faith” investigation that resulted in a demotion and a $75,000 pay cut.
Inspector General Alexander DeSantis had previously declined to publicly release the results of his investigation, citing an ongoing criminal investigation.
But Hudgins’ attorneys included the report in court filings related to his lawsuit, and the OIG investigation appears to confirm Hudgins’ timeline. The report stated that Hudgins had already conducted an overtime review before a November 2024 discrimination complaint was filed against him.
Those findings also align with a June 2025 report authored by attorneys at Campbell Durrant, the outside law firm that the city retained to investigate the sexual harassment claims. Hudgins’ attorneys included portions of that report in a recent court filing.
In the report, investigators reviewed some of the allegations brought by Murphy and her wife, who was also a paramedic in the Philadelphia Fire Department. The women told investigators that Hudgins had openly discussed his desire to engage in sexual activities with other women.
However, the conclusion of the report described the allegations brought by Murphy and her wife as “unsubstantiated” and lacking corroboration. It said that the “connection between the harassment complaints and the overtime investigation raises serious concerns about motive and credibility.”
The report said that the primary concerns regarding Hudgins were that he “has a habit of hugging employees and enforcing policies that are sometimes unpopular.” The investigators recommended that Hudgins receive a formal warning and be required to undergo harassment training.
A spokesperson for the city declined to release the full report on Friday, saying the city generally does not release reports of investigations into allegations of sexual harassment, and that the reports are only disseminated to the subjects of an investigation.
In the fall of 2025, shortly after Campbell Durrant completed its report, Hudgins was demoted from his role as a deputy commissioner to deputy fire chief, and he was reassigned to the Incident Safety Office.
Farris has not yet been scheduled to appear in court.
Staff writer Abraham Gutman contributed to this article.
Just in time for pumpkin spice latte season, Philadelphia City Council members are giving up Starbucks — and they want you to do the same.
Council voted unanimously on Thursday to make Philadelphia one of the first cities in the country to explicitly endorse a nationwide boycott of Starbucks amid a unionization drive, and to pledge not to use city funds at the coffee chain until it reaches a contract agreement with its workers.
Also during Council’s session on Thursday: Councilmember Jamie Gauthier introduced controversial legislation to approve a contract with a trash incinerator that she doesn’t support. We’ll explain.
What was this week’s highlight?
Council puts Starbucks on ice: The expression of solidarity with Starbucks workers is a ceremonial resolution that does not carry the weight of law and does not require approval from Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.
Still, Council’s vote was a formal endorsement of the boycott orchestrated by Starbucks Workers United and targeting the world’s largest coffee chain, which is already reducing its footprint in the city. Starbucks closed six Philadelphia locations last year, and two additional branches — one at 2201 South St. in Southwest Center City and the other at 1018 N. Second St. in Northern Liberties — closed on Sunday.
The only other city to formally support the unionization effort is St. Louis, where last week the city’s board of aldermen approved a resolution to “express solidarity with Starbucks Workers United as they call for a boycott of Starbucks.”
People staying dry at the Starbucks Coffee at Dilworth Park near City Hall in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday, July 9, 2026.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Over the last five years, baristas have unionized at hundreds of individual Starbucks locations, but the company has not agreed to a nationwide contract that the union has sought. The union in August called for a nationwide boycott to last until an agreement is reached.
Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke, a member of the progressive Working Families Party who represents the city at-large, authored the legislation and said its passage is “another affirmation of Philadelphia being a union town.”
“I am always interested in making sure that businesses in the city of Philadelphia and people are thriving,” O’Rourke said. “But my first priority is always to make sure that workers and workers’ conditions are right and that they are respected.”
Council is controlled by a supermajority of Democrats, and the body is largely supportive of organized labor.
Council President Kenyatta Johnson said he backs the Starbucks boycott, even though he is generally not a big coffee drinker.
“Unfortunately, they do have a vegan breakfast sandwich,” said Johnson, who follows a plant-based diet. “But I won’t be having those any time soon.”
A spokesperson for Starbucks said in a statement Thursday that the company is “committed to engaging in productive bargaining.”
What else happened today?
Introducing legislation she doesn’t support: Thursday’s meeting featured another twist in the long-running debate over a Chester trash incinerator and how Philadelphia gets rids of its garbage. Gauthier, a progressive Democrat who has advocated for the city to stop burning its trash, introduced legislation that would allow the city to continue doing so.
Here’s why: The Parker administration is looking to renew its long-held contract with Reworld, the Chester waste-to-energy facility where the city ships about one-third of its trash to be burned. (The rest of the trash is sent to landfills.)
In order to renew the multiyear contract, Council must approve authorizing legislation. Gauthier, who previously floated a bill to ban the city from incinerating trash but did not garner enough support to pass it, is asking her fellow lawmakers to vote against the contract renewal.
Chester Mayor Stefan Roots (at lectern) is joined by Philadelphia City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier (right) at a rally outside City Hall early Thursday morning Sept. 17, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Although it may seem like a reversal of her position, Gauthier introducing the legislation herself — even when she does not support it — will allow her to have some say when a committee holds a hearing on the legislation. She hopes to amend it to strike Reworld from the deal so that the city processes all trash and recycling through landfills.
“It gives me and my coalition an opportunity to be at the table on something that we fought really hard on for more than a year now,” she said in an interview. “We’ve been working really hard to make sure that we’re protecting the health of folks in Chester and in Philadelphia, and protecting our environment.”
Johnson will decide which committee will hear the bill. He said Thursday that he is still reviewing the legislation.
Mamdani-fication: Create a Philly Medicaid Supplement Program. Expand access to programs that provide transit subsidies to low-income Philadelphians. Use city money to buy properties with expiring federal affordable housing subsidies.
These were some of the recommendations included in the Affordable Philly Now report, which was recently released by the Cost of Living Task Force.
O’Rourke, who convened the task force, held a committee hearing Wednesday examining the report’s findings, and he was not shy about noting that it was partly inspired by another progressive a few miles up I-95.
“You cannot deny the profound impact that … Mayor Zohran Mamdani has had,” O’Rourke said, praising the New Yorker for “mixing moonshot municipal goals with sewer socialism” and working to build a “protective hedge” of social safety net programs.
Nicolas O’Rourke, Philadelphia City Council member, during the mayor’s budget address on March 12.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Wednesday’s hearing was a meeting of the Committee on Global Opportunities and the Creative/Innovative Economy, which O’Rourke chairs. As a freshman and a member of a minority party, O’Rourke does not have a high-profile committee leadership post like some of the more senior Democratic lawmakers on Council. His committee was previously led by former GOP Councilmember David Oh and does not naturally align with O’Rourke’s progressive politics.
O’Rourke said at the committee hearing Wednesday — the first time he chaired a Council hearing — that he was shifting the panel’s work.
“The prior version of this committee revolved around corporate investment fitting into global value chains and making Philadelphia an international destination,” O’Rourke said. “In my reflection on the meaning of the committee, I have spent more time focusing on a part of the committee’s mandate that actually seems more in its merit — that is, to consider all matters related to making Philadelphia a world-class city. … And in some seasons, world-class cities show themselves by being bold in providing a protective hedge for its people.”
Quote of the week
Former Mayor John F. Street (right) is acknowledged by supporters of his son, State Sen. Sharif Street (left), in West Philadelphia Monday, May 18, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
That was former Mayor John F. Street, the erstwhile City Council president, who returned to his old workplace Thursday to speak during public comment. He was testifying in support of a resolution to honor Philadelphia Police Lt. Greg Brown, who was, among other assignments, a member of Street’s security detail and is now retiring.
Street said Brown was one of the few people he never got to humiliate, because Brown “always got it right.”
“I never had a chance to put him on any list,” Street said.
Nearly a year after Mayor Cherelle L. Parker announced that Philadelphia would move away from using its long-held diversity goals in awarding public contracts, a City Council committee on Monday formally recommended that the city codify the change.
However, several corporate leaders who advised the special committee’s work testified during a hearing that the shift away from race- and gender-conscious contracting would set the city back.
Craig T. Williams, founder of the construction firm Pride Enterprises, said the city’s move to provide contracting advantages to businesses certified as “small and local” — instead of to businesses owned by women, minorities, and people who are disabled — will make it harder for Black-owned firms like his to grow.
“While the new terminology is intended to retain support for diverse businesses, it also removes the intentional mechanisms that once created predictable access for them,” Williams said. “The shift in terminology will likely result in an increase in opportunities for non-diverse firms, widening the disparity gap.”
And Michael Brown, CEO of The 360 Group, a consulting firm, said “minority businesses across Philadelphia are witnessing a catastrophic erosion of margins, pushing foundational enterprises to the brinks of collapse.”
He cited data showing that the state government awards only a small portion of its contracts to Black- and Hispanic-owned businesses.
“Philadelphia is slowly sleepwalking down the same exact destructive path,” he said.
Council’s Special Committee on City and Private Sector Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policies, which is led by business community leaders, was convened in 2024 by Council President Kenyatta Johnson. The group was charged with drafting recommendations to strengthen the city’s DEI policies and address barriers faced by women, people of color, and people with disabilities who own businesses.
The city also stopped assigning participation “ranges” to publicly funded projects, meaning contractors are no longer given benchmarks for the amount of dollars that should go to subcontractors and suppliers owned by people of color, women, and people who are disabled.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker speaks at Vare-Washington Elementary School in Philadelphia, on July 14.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
The change came amid a broader dismantling of affirmative action-style programs at the federal level led by President Donald Trump’s administration. Parker said a new national legal precedent made the city’s practices vulnerable to court challenges, so the administration will now aim to give preference to businesses that are certified as small and local.
On Monday, Council’s committee agreed. Its report recommends the city move to a more legally defensible, race-neutral framework like the one Parker’s administration is already building. The committee also recommended that the city adopt more aggressive preferences to give those businesses clear advantages when they’re bidding for city dollars.
Still, members of the committee said Monday that they have concerns about implementation.
Michelle Flamer, a former longtime attorney for the city, said she is worried that the city will stop collecting demographic data on businesses that bid for contracts.
“We’re in a time period in this country of great distress, of really unbridled racist behavior, but this will not last forever, and we have to continue to collect this data so we will be prepared for a new day,” she said. “But if we don’t have it, we won’t be able to hold anyone accountable.”
And Harold T. Epps, the city’s former commerce director who co-chaired the committee, said he’s concerned that providing advantages to small businesses — which are defined as those which bring in less than $47 million over a three-year period — effectively puts a cap on how a business can grow.
“It seems the city has fallen into the same old trap of predetermining how large a business that has any elements of diversity can be,” he said.
Nadir Jones, the director of the city’s Office of Business Impact and Economic Advancement, said the Parker administration is exploring implementing a “middle market” program for companies that “graduate” out of the small-business classification.
Philadelphia State Rep. Chris Rabb’s former campaign treasurer, whom he accused of draining his campaign account and disappearing in the middle of his run for Congress, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal fraud charge.
Yolanda Brown, a campaign operative formerly based in Florida who worked for Democratic political candidates and social justice causes across the country, appeared in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. She admitted to embezzling a total of about $1 million from 20 clients, including Rabb, between 2022 and 2026.
Brown, who now lives in Virginia, faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and will be required to pay restitution. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 26.
Rabb, a progressive, went on to win the Democratic nomination in May. He is expected to prevail in the November general election to represent Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District. There is no Republican candidate, though he faces a long-shot independent opponent.
Rabb did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For years, fraud claims from several political campaigns piled up against Brown, who operated Brown Financial & Consulting Services Group and at times worked under her married name, Yolanda Rumph. She was accused of financial impropriety in several states, The Inquirer reported, including shaving money from accounts she controlled and embezzling from a nonprofit client.
But she continued working in politics and, in August 2025, signed on to work for Rabb, who was in the midst of a highly competitive Democratic primary run for an open seat in Congress representing about half of Philadelphia.
State Rep. Chris Rabb at an event with U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna July 28, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The following month, Rabb said that Brown had made a series of unauthorized withdrawals from his campaign. The amount of money embezzled totaled more than $160,000, which constituted most of what was in his campaign’s account at the time, according to paperwork Rabb’s campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Khambrel Davis, Brown’s attorney, said in an interview with The Inquirer in March that Brown was innocent and merely the victim of a rogue employee who had stolen from her clients.
But on Wednesday in court, Brown acknowledged that she executed a scheme to defraud her clients of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Livermore told U.S. District Judge Chad F. Kenney that Brown “embezzled client funds in her control to pay for her own personal expenses without authorization from her clients.”
He added that she “often used client funds to repay other clients from whom she had previously stolen funds.”
In charging documents, prosecutors wrote that in one instance, Brown steered about $19,000 from the account belonging to Rabb’s campaign — identified in court filings as “Political Campaign #1″ — into a separate account that she controlled. She then transferred $6,000 of that money into her personal bank account.
That transfer was one of multiple unauthorized transfers that Rabb’s campaign detected. Prosecutors often formally charge a limited scope of wrongdoing if a defendant has agreed to plead guilty.
Prosecutors described the fraud perpetrated against Rabb’s campaign as part of an “overall scheme” in which Brown defrauded about 20 clients of a total of more than $1.4 million. They wrote that she had repaid clients more than $400,000, for a net loss of about $1 million.
Kendra Brooks, a progressive who made history as the first third-party candidate to win a seat on Philadelphia City Council in 100 years, is considering challenging Mayor Cherelle L. Parker in the spring Democratic primary election, according to two sources familiar with her thinking.
The sources, who were not authorized to speak about the matter publicly and did so on the condition of anonymity, said Brooks is mulling a campaign but has not yet made a decision. She declined to comment Friday.
To run in the Democratic mayoral primary, Brooks would have to resign from her seat on Council. Under state law, she could remain a member of the Working Families Party or switch her party registration to Democrat..
A bid for the mayor’s office would pit Brooks, the de facto leader of the city’s Working Families Party and democratic socialist faction, against Parker, a centrist who has long been aligned with the city’s Democratic Party establishment.
“People want to see leaders fighting for something,” Brooks said at the time, “and right now we don’t see our city fighting for anything.”
Aren Platt, the executive director of the mayor’s political campaign arm, declined to comment.
City Councilmember Kendra Brooks joins Chester Mayor Stefan Roots (right) and protesters at a rally outside City Hall Sept. 17, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Brooks’ supporters see the mayor as potentially vulnerable as progressives have ascended nationally and notched wins over more traditional Democrats. That includes Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s victory last year in New York City and Abdul El-Sayed’s win in the Michigan Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.
Closer to home, the left is emboldened by State Rep. Chris Rabb, who was backed by Brooks’ coalition and in May won the Democratic primary for a seat in Congress representing about half of Philadelphia. He toppled two centrist Democrats who were each supported by party leaders, big donors, and politically powerful labor unions.
Despite the energy on the left, no progressive has officially launched a run for mayor ahead of the May primary election. Shania Bennett, the mayor’s former director of youth engagement, who has never run for office before, said this month that she will challenge Parker. Bennett said recently that she had not yet hired a campaign team or developed a policy platform.
Any challenger to Parker faces significant hurdles. No Philadelphia mayor has lost reelection in modern history, and Parker would be backed by the city’s Democratic Party, which can now spend unlimited amounts of money in coordination with its chosen candidates under a new board of ethics policy.
Parker will also be supported by the deep-pocketed building trades unions that boosted her in the crowded open mayoral primary in 2023.
“We’re going to put all the resources, both financial resources and people resources, to bear to make sure that Mayor Parker has a second term,” said Ryan Boyer, the head of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council. “I want to be clear and vociferous that the Philadelphia Building Trades … are fully and completely behind Cherelle Parker.”
In this March 2025 file photo, City Councilmember Kendra Brooks, left, listens to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker deliver her annual budget address.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Parker is likely to see support from a super PAC bankrolled by city developers, and she also has her own massive war chest. Her campaign had $1.4 million in the bank as of May, according to the most recent campaign finance paperwork available. Brooks had $17,000 on hand as of her last report in January.
But Brooks, who has won citywide election twice to represent the city as an at-large member of Council, could be a formidable opponent. She is one of the most prominent left-wing politicians in the city, and she is well-known in national progressive circles.
The Working Families Party’s chapter in Pennsylvania recently commissioned a poll that showed Brooks as broadly popular with the city’s Democratic primary electorate but with much lower name recognition than Parker, according to polling documents obtained by The Inquirer.
According to the survey of 900 respondents, 35% said they had a favorable view of Brooks, with just 4% saying they had an unfavorable view. Nearly 40% of respondents said they did not know who Brooks was.
Nearly all of the respondents knew of Parker. Forty-eight percent said they had a favorable view of the mayor, and 40% said they had an unfavorable view. Those findings are similar to a June Suffolk University/Philadelphia Inquirer poll.
Nick Gavio, a spokesperson for the Working Families Party, said in a statement that the organization often conducts polling on public opinion in the city and that the survey was “one test among a battery of others that we conducted in Philadelphia ahead of the 2027 elections.”
“We are pleased that the Working Families Party and Minority Leader Brooks are so popular,” he said, “which we believe reflects our focus on the issues that matter to the working people of this city.”
City Councilmember Kendra Brooks talks with Dominique Howell (right) in chambers as City Council returns for its fall session Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. Howell is a long-time constituent and was there with the non-profit Liberty Resources, part of the Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Several other leftist politicians in the city have been rumored to be considering running for mayor against Parker, but none have said publicly that they intend to launch a campaign.
One is District Attorney Larry Krasner, the third-term prosecutor who is one of the most prominent progressive district attorneys in the country. Krasner has been increasingly critical of Parker, and in June said that he would not rule out the possibility of running against her.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the steps Brooks would have to take to run in the Democratic mayoral primary. She could remain a registered member of the Working Families Party or switch her party registration.
After a federal judge said last week that Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner may have committed federal crimes, questions quickly emerged about the prosecutor’s political future.
Krasner, an outspoken Democrat and one of the nation’s most well-known progressive prosecutors, has recently entertained entreaties to run for higher office, including a possible bid for Philadelphia mayor next year.
But in the week since U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond said he had referred Krasner and a top supervisor to the Department of Justice for investigation, Krasner has largely stayed quiet, and few elected Democrats have publicly come to his defense.
Behind the scenes, many insiders asked: Could this episode damage Krasner too much for him to mount a campaign for another office?
In a statement Tuesday, Krasner said he had already told another progressive considering a bid for mayor that he would defer to her.
“I’m a big believer in Councilmember Kendra Brooks,” Krasner said, referring to the City Council member who The Inquirer reported is considering a run for mayor. “Prior to these accusations, I told her that if she runs for mayor, I will not consider running.”
And he framed the legal conclusions by Diamond — a federal jurist appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush — as merely “accusations,” citing others who have been targeted for investigation by the Department of Justice under President Donald Trump.
He referenced the New York attorney general, a former FBI director, and a DOJ employee who was charged after throwing a sandwich at a federal agent and has since become a symbol of resistance to Trump’s administration.
“Ask Letitia James, James Comey, the ‘sandwich man’ or the guy who took peeling paint from the reflecting pool what they have to say about accusations,” Krasner said. “Or ask dozens of innocent people whose exonerations this DA’s office supported what they say about accusations.”
Krasner’s statement Tuesday was one of the first public comments he has made regarding the case since Diamond’s criminal referral, aside from a brief statement last week saying that he disagrees with Diamond’s conclusions and could not comment further because the matter is pending in court.
The uncertainty around Krasner alsohas some city Democrats contemplating a dramatic outcome: Could criminal charges or judicial discipline sweep Krasner from office before the end of his term in 2030?
And if that happened, who would replace him as the city’s chief law enforcement officer?
District Attorney Larry Krasner standing with District Council 33, for the 39th Annual Tri-State Labor Day Parade on Sept. 7.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
At least two elected Democrats have spoken to ward leaders about filling the district attorney’s role if Krasner were to be forced from office, according to sources familiar with the conversations who were not authorized to speak about them publicly.
But some of Krasner’s allies say this is all much ado about nothing. They maintain that Diamond’s legal conclusions and the referral of the matter to the Department of Justice were politically motivated and that Krasner will weather it, as he has past tribulations.
“They’re trying to do something that they’ve been trying to do for years, which is go after Krasner’s head,” said Sergio Cea, political director of the progressive group Reclaim Philadelphia, which has supported Krasner since his first run for office in 2017. “What they’re trying to do is roll back the gains that Philly voters pushed forward.”
Silence from elected officials
Krasner has always been something of a political outsider. He has never been endorsed by the city’s Democratic Party and has been critical of its leadership.
City Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke, a member of the progressive Working Families Party and a longtime supporter of the district attorney, said in a statement Tuesday that he has confidence in Krasner’s ability to lead his office.
“There’s no question,” he said. “DA Krasner can and should be doing the work that Philadelphians have tasked him with through their votes.”
Aside from O’Rourke, most of the city’s top officials have declined requests for comment about Krasner’s recent legal jeopardy, including some of his ardent supporters.
Some say that Krasner has not asked them to weigh in, and that they are hesitant to take a position on a complex legal issue. Others say they do not want to distract from a midterm election that is just six weeks away.
Jack Inacker, a Democratic strategist based in Philadelphia, said he was not surprised that few elected Democrats have spoken on Krasner’s behalf.
“You’ve got these major dustups all the time, it seems now,” Inacker said. “Krasner being so antagonistic to everyone doesn’t get him allies.”
Inacker also said the courtroom allegations are “esoteric in nature,” making it challenging for elected officials to stake a position.
Newly reelected District Attorney Larry Krasner speaks to reporters during a news conference outside the District Attorney’s Office on Nov. 5, 2025.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
The case before the federal judge centers on Dennis Johnson, who has sought for more than a decade to have his 2009 murder conviction overturned. In 2022, a former assistant district attorney working for Krasner filed paperwork to support Johnson’s bid.
But four supervisors in Krasner’s office later testified that they found errors in that 2022 brief, and that Krasner was involved in conversations about attempting to mislead the court to cast the former prosecutor as rogue.
Krasner has denied wrongdoing.
Brian Hart, a Democrat who has been critical of Krasner and served as a media adviser to Dugan’s campaign, said this episode is more fraught for Krasner than his 2022 impeachment.
“The allegations aren’t coming from just Republicans,” said Hart, a public relations strategist. “They’re coming from testimony within his own office.”
The mayor’s race question
Some activists on the left wing of the city’s Democratic Party have said they feel emboldened to mount a serious challenge against Parker, who will be up for reelection next year. They cite recent wins by progressives both in the city and nationally.
And eight months out from the May primary election, several prospective candidates, including Brooks, are mulling whether to launch a campaign.
When asked then whether he might consider a future campaign for mayor — or even U.S. Senate — Krasner responded: “Do I have a plan to run for these offices today? No. But … it would be foolish for me to completely rule out those possibilities.”
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, seen here with Mayor Cherelle Parker at a news conference at Dilworth Park on Dec. 16, 2024.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Larry Ceisler, a public affairs executive based in Philadelphia, said a federal criminal investigation of Krasner could pose a logistical problem if it was conducted while he was running for mayor.
But politically speaking, Ceisler said, it might not be an impediment. An investigation by the Department of Justice under Trump — an entity many Democrats distrust — could rally progressive support.
“I think he would probably run with it as a badge of honor,” he said.
Ceisler pointed to former Mayor John F. Street, who in 2003 was locked in a tight race for reelection when police found an FBI bug in his office. Street blamed Republican President George W. Bush’s administration, and he went on to win the election a few weeks later.
“When these things happen, everybody puts on their respective jerseys, so the Krasner people are going to say, ‘It’s political,’” Ceisler said. “I think to the Krasner constituency, especially if he wants to run for mayor, or do something else, I don’t think this fazes them.”
Weighing a post-Krasner future
It is unclear where any potential criminal investigation or disciplinary probe of Krasner and his office might lead, and legal experts have said that a hypothetical investigation would likely take months.
But some Philadelphia Democrats are already contemplating what would happen if Krasner cannot finish the term that he began this year and that ends in 2030, with some quietly discussing contingency plans to fill the office.
Under state law, in the event of a vacancy, the city’s Common Pleas Court judges vote by secret ballot to appoint a new district attorney. The appointed interim district attorney would serve until the next general election. Those elections take place in even-numbered years.
During the three-week gap between when Williams resigned and Hodge was appointed, the district attorney’s office was led by Williams’ first assistant district attorney, Kathleen Martin.
Krasner does not have a first assistant district attorney. Robert Listenbee, who formerly held the role, retired in January, and the legally required position remains unfilled.
Staff writers Chris Palmer and Ellie Rushing contributed to this article.
Philadelphia City Council members are considering dueling proposals over how the city eliminates its garbage, with one lawmaker leading an effort to immediately block the city from shipping its garbage to a trash incinerator and another taking a longer-term approach.
Councilmember Mark Squilla on Thursday introduced legislation authorizing Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration to, within three years, develop a plan to dramatically reduce the city’s reliance on both trash incineration and landfills over the next 20 years.
Squilla’s proposal, which he drafted with input from Parker’s administration, is something of an alternative for lawmakers to consider as Councilmember Jamie Gauthier has for months pushed for a more aggressive approach to stop the city from incinerating trash this year.
Both lawmakers hosted news conferences this week alongside their allies to rally support for their cause, part of a long list of events Council members hosted as the legislative body returned Thursday for its first meeting of the fall session.
Councilmembers Mark Squilla and Katherine Gilmore Richardson (back to camera) greet each other as City Council convenes for its fall session Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The first meeting after the summer break typically has a jovial, first-day-of-school feel. But the mood briefly shifted Thursday when City Hall was evacuated and Council abruptly adjourned after a suspicious package was found on the floor where Council was meeting.
Police cleared the package, and Council resumed its business Thursday afternoon.
Here’s what else happened this week:
What was this week’s highlight?
Incinerator issue heats up: Gauthier has for months sought to pass legislation that would ban the city from continuing its long-term practice of sending about a third of its garbage to a trash incinerator in Chester, about 15 miles south of the city. She argues that incineration is bad for the environment and harms Chester residents’ health.
Parker’s administration opposed the legislation, called the Stop Trashing Our Air Act, and Gauthier in the spring failed to gain enough support for it in Council.
Now, Gauthier is trying to block the Parker administration from renewing its contract with Reworld, the incineration facility. The administration needs Council approval to enter into a new four-year contract with the firm.
Gauthier has several members on her side, including three fellow progressive lawmakers, as well as Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, who is the Democratic majority whip.
City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier speaks at a rally outside City Hall early Thursday morning Sept. 17, 2026 where protesters called on Council to reject Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s waste disposal contracts. A coalition of elected officials, health and climate experts, and advocates from Philadelphia and Chester gathered to oppose the city’s sending its trash to an incinerator in Chester.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Squilla’s proposal in some ways offers members an off-ramp. His bill calls for a “circular waste” system that includes new techniques for waste disposal, such as composting and “anaerobic digestion,” a process that breaks down organic waste.
Managing Director Carlton Williams said Wednesday during a news conference with Squilla that the city is looking to build out an anaerobic digestion system within four years.
Squilla said that while the administration is already working toward a more modern waste disposal system, passing a law would “codify what we had as plans and resolutions before.”
Gauthier said that she supports Squilla’s goal of moving toward a more sustainable system, but that his legislation “is a plan to create a longer-range plan.”
“It in no way changes the decision in front of Council,” she said. “We can move away from this practice right now.”
What else happened this week?
Severing the law department: The city law department serves as legal counsel for both the mayor’s administration and Council, a dynamic that can sometimes cause friction when the city’s elected officials disagree.
Council on Thursday approved a resolution by Thomas to hold a hearing “to consider the separation of the [law] department’s functions between the administration and City Council.”
Thomas has clashed with Parker’s administration, and he said he became interested in looking at the department’s structure due to concerns that Council was not receiving independent legal advice on some issues.
Lois Williams (left), dressed as a “sick person,” and Shari Hersh (right) in costume as a “smokestack,” join a rally outside City Hall early Thursday to call on City Council to reject Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s waste disposal contracts.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
He pointed to the Philadelphia School District’s controversial facilities plan, which involves the closure of 17 school buildings and was adopted by the school board in April over the objections of many Council members.
And he said recent legal proceedings around the city’s business income and receipts tax were “part of the motivation” to hold a hearing on the law department.
In 2025, after a Massachusetts company sued the city seeking to overturn a popular tax break program that primarily helped small businesses, the law department said it had determined the lawsuit was likely to succeed. The Parker administration eventually settled the case and persuaded Council to eliminate the tax break. Some Council members at the time complained that the city did not defend the tax break more vigorously.
The department already silos off some of the work it does on behalf of Council from the rest of the administration, such as when it drafts bills proposed by lawmakers. Council also may hire outside legal counsel, but must pay for those services out of its own budget.
A law department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Storage wars: Councilmember Mike Driscoll introduced legislation on Thursday that would ban new self-storage facilities from his district in lower Northeast Philadelphia.
The storage industry boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, as consumer spending shifted from services to goods, many families struggled to afford larger homes, and low interest rates juiced development.
Northeast Philadelphia saw a particularly large boom in self-storage buildings because of its rich supply of properties zoned for industrial development. Driscoll said that advocates in the Tacony neighborhood felt their community had become oversaturated.
“They want more affordable housing and [self-storage units] are taking valuable sites for that,” Driscoll said.
ExtraSpace self-storage at Washington Avenue and S. 23rd Street, Philadelphia, Monday, November 4, 2024.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Self-storage facilities are gold mines for developers. They suffer little wear and tear, they have few utility costs, and labor costs are low after construction.
According to online industry search portal StorageCafe, Philadelphia has 89 self-storage sites containing more than seven million square feet of space. About a third of that has been built since 2019.
Other municipalities have moved to limit the spread of self-storage facilities in recent years. New York City banned them from industrial areas to preserve jobs, and Denver blocked them from properties close to light rail lines. Providence, R.I., in 2023 banned new facilities from the city altogether.
Driscoll said that he may further limit his legislation to the Tacony neighborhood.
“I don’t want to hurt another part of my district that maybe wants these things,” he said.
Embracing affordability: Multiple members of City Council said this week that tackling affordability is their primary objective this fall, including Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke, whose office published a lengthy report outlining dozens of proposals aimed at reducing costs.
Some may be more realistic short-term goals than others.
The report, which was drafted by a Cost of Living Task Force made up of community advocates and industry leaders, recommended the city explore everything from opening municipal grocery stores to creating a local Medicaid supplement program.
Councilmember Nicholas O’Rourke with students and activists during a press conference about SEPTA in April.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
It also recommends restructuring existing housing programs to more aggressively target the poorest residents, and establishing a Transit Access Fund that would fund free or reduced-fare transit passes for low-income households.
O’Rourke, a member of the progressive Working Families Party, plans to hold a committee hearing on the task force report this fall.
Council President Kenyatta Johnson will also introduce an affordability measure this fall. He plans to bring forward legislation that would establish a permanent Food and Nutrition Security Coordination Office, he said in a statement.
Quote of the week
Jeffery Young, Jr. (left) with twelve year-old Jack Erfer of Wynnewood and councilmembers and Nina Ahmad (right) in supporting the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University before City Council resumes for its fall session Thursday.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
No bones about it: That was Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr., who called for hearings on the planned closure of the Academy of Natural Sciences.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker on Wednesday ordered a task force largely composed of members of her administration to explore whether the city should place new regulations on the construction of data centers — and to present her with its findings in about nine months.
The mayor, a Democrat who has not staked a position on whether Philadelphia should host the controversial “hyperscale” data centers that power artificial intelligence, signed an executive order establishing the task force on Wednesday.
In a video message posted to social media, the mayor said the issue is of “grave importance.” She said she has heard from residents who are concerned that a large data center in the city could hike utility bills and drive pollution.
“This does not mean that a hyperscale data center is being built now; however, if a firm was to apply to the City of Philadelphia to build one of these hyperscale data centers, we want to make sure that we are fully prepared to know what the impact on Philadelphians would be,” Parker said. “We want the appropriate guardrails in place so that we do everything possible to protect our city.”
The task force will be made up of members of Parker’s administration, as well as a representative from City Council President Kenyatta Johnson’s office. The group is charged with gathering information from neighborhood groups, unions that represent construction workers, environmental advocates, public health experts, and others.
According to the executive order, the task force must present a final report to the mayor by June 30.
The mayor’s move came just two days after dozens of activists held a rally outside City Hall calling on Parker and members of Council to pass a multiyear moratorium on the construction of data centers in Philadelphia. They vowed to make data centers an electoral issue ahead of the May primary election, when the mayor and every Council member will be on the ballot.
The group, called No Data Centers in Philly, said in a statement Wednesday that Parker giving the task force until June to make its recommendations is too little, too late, and that “a task force does nothing to protect us now and takes time that we don’t have.”
“Across the country, data centers have relied on dirty deals to get built, with NDAs, backroom negotiations, and massive tax handouts,” the statement read. “We can’t let that happen here. The communities who will see their health, homes, and wallets hurt by a data center need to be at the table.”
President Kenyatta Johnson (right) is greeted by data center protesters in the hall while he heads toward City Council chambers Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, as the body returns for start of its fall session.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Parker’s order also comes as talks of regulating artificial intelligence have gripped Washington after a handful of tech executives called for a global slowdown on the advancing technology. There has been bipartisan backlash across the country to the data centers that power AI; however, President Donald Trump has said the industry does not need new regulations.
Last month, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order that effectively placed limits on data center construction in the state and required that the projects receive local backing before obtaining a state permit. It would also ban state agencies from using nondisclosure agreements.
In Philadelphia, no member of City Council has said publicly that they would introduce legislation to place a moratorium on data center construction. Lawmakers are not currently considering any specific proposal to construct a data center.
This summer, the city’s planning commission issued a report indicating that there are just two plots of land in Philadelphia that could accommodate a hyperscale data center: the former South Philly refinery site known as the Bellwether District and 2600 Grant Ave., a city-owned plot adjacent to Northeast Philadelphia Airport.
However, building a data center in either of those locations would face hurdles.
District Council members wield enormous power over land-use decisions in their districts, and the Council members who represent the two potential locations said they oppose a hyperscale data center in their jurisdictions.
City Councilmember Mike Driscoll, a Democrat who represents the district where the Grant Avenue site is located, said in an interview Thursday that he “is a no, until we really figure this whole thing out.” He said he is concerned that a data center could drive higher utility bills for his constituents.
“I think we have to participate to be competitive in the global economy,” he said. “But it’s ripe for some problems, and I think we have to sort that out at the federal level.”
And Council President Kenyatta Johnson, who represents the area where the Bellwether district is located, said Thursday: “We don’t support any type of hyperscale data centers.” He cited concerns about environmental impacts and noise.
“I haven’t gotten to the point that it should be a moratorium,” Johnson said. “But we are looking at regulations.”
Bellwether district leaders have said no data center is currently in the works there.
Mia Fioravanti, senior vice president of corporate affairs for the HRP Group/The Bellwether District, said earlier this week at the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia PAGE Real Estate and Construction Summit that there are no “data center users in our current project pipeline.”
The battle over data centers and the artificial intelligence they power has officially reached Philadelphia City Hall.
A coalition of activist groups and environmental advocates gathered at City Hall Monday to call on local lawmakers to pass a moratorium on data center construction in the city, the opening salvo for the group’s public pressure campaign to oppose the projects that it says could hike energy rates and drive pollution.
“There’s way too much at stake to let data centers expand without guardrails,” said Sonya Sanders, board president of Philly Thrive, an advocacy group for racial, economic, and environmental justice.
The coordinated push could put Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and members of City Council in a politically tricky spot as they gear up to run for reelection in the spring. Data centers have proven deeply controversial and have drawn bipartisan backlash, but some unions that see job-creating potential support their construction.
There is no specific data center proposal currently under consideration by City Council, andno member has said that they will introduce a moratorium bill. A spokesperson for Council President Kenyatta Johnson said that Council members and Parker’s administration are in “discussions on the future of data centers in the city.”.
Any data center legislation would have to run through Parker, a centrist Democrat who has not staked a position on the issue. She is allied with the unions that represent construction workers and has generally been pro-development. However, she positioned herself as an opponent of Big Tech earlier this year when she advocated for new taxes on companies like Uber and Airbnb.
Parker said in a statement Monday that she would sign an executive order this week to “formalize” a task force she convened over the summer to explore potential standards for data center development, and she vowed that the city would put “rigorous guardrails in place.” She did not specify a timeline.
Grays Ferry resident Sonya Sanders speaks during a rally at Philadelphia City Hall on Monday, calling on City Council to pass a citywide data center moratorium and kicking off the No Data Centers in Philly campaign.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
The data centeractivists’ event in Philadelphia came as fear of AI’s rapid development and increasingly humanlike capabilities has spread substantially and as leaders of the nation’s largest AI developers over the weekend signaled support for a global slowdown.
On Saturday, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei wrote that the technology is advancing more rapidly than leading companies can implement safeguards. Several of his top rivals, including Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk of SpaceX, endorsed his call for a slower pace of growth.
Meanwhile, talks of regulation have gripped Washington, with lawmakers from both major parties drafting plans to rein in tech companies and add layers of oversight to AI development. Any proposal faces an uncertain future, as President Donald Trump has said the country should remove barriers to AI development and accelerate advancement in order to outpace China.
On Monday morning, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!”
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker start to make her budget presentation to City Council in Council Chambers on March 12. In the background is Council President Kenyatta Johnson.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Inaction in Washington has left an opening for states and cities to regulate the construction of data centers, which produce the massive amount of computing power needed for artificial intelligence. They have become increasingly unpopular — a July poll found that 3 in 4 Pennsylvanians don’t want a data center in their backyard.
Municipalities in Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia, now have more power than ever to slow or halt the development of data centers. Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who is considered a potential presidential contender and who had previously courted data center projects, last month signed an executive order requiring local approval for any project to receive a state permit.
Philadelphia is already home to eight data centers that were constructed before the issue was widely controversial. The existing data centers are far smaller than the newer “hyperscale” projects that are meant to power AI and have faced opposition in communities across the country.
In July, the city’s planning commission said there are only two locations in the city that could support an industrial-size data center: the former South Philly refinery site known as the Bellwether District and 2600 Grant Ave., a city-owned plot adjacent to the Northeast Philadelphia airport.
Planning commission officials emphasized that they were not asked to consider a specific proposal to build a data center at either of those sites.
People hold signs opposing data centers during a rally at Philadelphia City Hall on Monday, calling on City Council to pass a citywide data center moratorium and kicking off the No Data Centers in Philly campaign.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
City Council has thus far not taken action on data centers, aside from passing a resolution authored by Councilmember Rue Landau earlier this year to hold hearings on the issue. A hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Council, which is led by a supermajority of Democrats, will convene Thursday for the first meeting of the fall session.Members are unlikely to green-light a controversial data center project ahead of the primary election in May, when every Council seat will be on the ballot.
But activists said Monday that city lawmakers must take proactive steps to ban data centers temporarily while they draft a regulatory framework and a system for considering public input on proposed projects.
Shawmar Pitts, the managing co-director of Philly Thrive — which is rooted in the communities that surround the former South Philly oil refinery — said Council members are “on notice.”
“Don’t put a moratorium in place, and your seat will be taken,” he warned.
Senia Lopez, a Northeast Philly resident and an organizer with the advocacy group 215 People’s Alliance, said people in neighborhoods surrounding any future hyperscale data center would be saddled with higher utility costs and “increased threats to our health.”
“City Council must chose whose interests it represents,” Lopez said. “It can side with Big Tech companies seeking to extract from our communities, or it can stand with the working people who have built and sustained them.”
