Deli Boys, a crime dramedy set in Philadelphia, has been canceled after two seasons, according to Deadline.
The Hulu series followed a pair of Pakistani American brothers, Raj and Mir (played by Saagar Shaikh and Asif Ali, respectively), as they took over their deli-magnate father’s empire — and reckoned with his secret criminal enterprises.
Created by Temple University alum and former Philadelphia Weekly journalist Abdullah Saeed and executive produced by South Philly native Michelle Nader, Deli Boys packed plenty of Philly references into its 16-episode run, from SEPTA jokes to expired Tastykakes and a Super Bowl watch party.
And the titular delicatessen, “ABC Deli,” was inspired by a real Philly institution at Third and Poplar Streets in Northern Liberties.
The show, however, was filmed in Chicago.
Deli Boys also centered on South Asian characters, with the core cast being of South Asian descent — a “rarity in Hollywood in 2026,” Deadline wrote.
“Thank you to every brown and Muslim and Pakistani and immigrant person who saw themselves in my show,” Saeed wrote on Instagram. “I created this world and these characters for YOU.”
Saeed told the next generation in his post: “I hope I helped you see that you deserve the airwaves, no matter how hard you have to fight for your rightful place.”
Queer Eye star Tan France, who played a British Pakistani gang leader on the show’s first season, previously told The Inquirer that the show “represents us [South Asians] so beautifully.”
France reprised his role for season two, and Saturday Night Live alum Fred Armisen also joined the cast as a Philly gambling savant.
Deli Boys “gives us a chance to be real, fully formed humans,” France said.
The show “failed to find a wide enough audience” to justify a third season, according to Variety, and sources told Deadline the show’s cancellation was due to ratings.
Service is accused of breaking into and stealing cash from 26 stores in South and Northeast Philadelphia. According to police, he allegedly burglarized the businesses early in the morning and took the money from offices, safes, or cash boxes.
Police had been the investigating a slew of commercial burglaries since early 2025.
“This arrest stops a serial burglar from continuing to victimize Philadelphia businesses and brings his repeated criminal activity to an end,” Supervisory Deputy Robert Clark said in a statement.
The Philadelphia Police Department did not immediately respond to an email Sunday seeking additional information.
Service was also wanted in connection withother crimes in Montgomery County as well as Georgia and New Jersey, the U.S. Marshals said.
He is currently being held in a Florida jail, where he awaits extradition back to Pennsylvania, the agency said.
When 8-year-old angler Seamus Coffey reeled in a 2-pound, red-bellied creature with menacing teeth last weekend, he knew exactly what he had caught.
“That’s a piranha!” Mike Coffey recalled his son screaming on the banks of Ridley Park Lake.
Surely, his father thought, Seamus was mistaken — this must just be a bluegill or sunfish or a bass. A quick reverse image search confirmed Seamus’ hunch.
“No, Dad,” Seamus, who loves watching fishing videos on YouTube, insisted, “that’s a piranha.”
Pictured here, the piranha at the center of Seamus Coffey’s recent virality.Courtesy of Mike Coffey
Now, Seamus is a budding influencer and wannabe YouTuber. Brands are sending him fishing gear, according to de facto manager and agent Mike, who is fielding media requests and running a GoFundMe for filming equipment. Their new Instagram persona, @ReelTalkPiranha, bills them as the “father-and-son duo who took down the infamous Delco Piranha.”
“I understand it’s an extremely, extremely rare circumstance to catch the fish that we did, but we did not expect anything like this,” Mike Coffey said of their virality.
Seamus, meanwhile, has not quite internalized his newfound fame. His bashful TV appearances have been clipped for social media — “I’m everywhere,” Coffey recalled his son saying while scrolling on the couch — but he “doesn’t really understand how big it is.”
Saturday, Aug. 8, started as a normal day of fishing for the Coffeys. Armed with frozen shrimp, they cast their reels hoping to maybe catch a catfish. After a little more than an hour, Seamus pulled in the piranha.
Mike Parker, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, said biologists visually confirmed it was a “species of piranha.” No other piranhas have been reported at the lake.
The South American tropical fish was likely a pet whose owner dumped it in the Delco lake — a crime punishable by misdemeanor charges or fines, according to Parker.
“If you have one of these exotic pets and you can no longer take care of it … you have to understand you’re responsible for that animal,” Parker warned. “Releasing it isn’t only illegal, but it’s really cruel.”
While the catch was concerning and unusual, Parker said, his agency does not believe this is a serious or ongoing threat. Frankly, he said, tropical fish cannot survive a Pennsylvania winter. (Mike Coffey said he killed the fish humanely and threw it back into the water.)
“A lot of things happen for a reason,” Coffey said. Seamus “had a lucky catch that day and it took off.”
A labor strike in Northeast Philadelphia stretched into its fourth day Sunday after a food distributor failed to meet truck drivers’ demands for a pension plan.
Members with Teamsters Local 500 have been picketing around-the-clock at Quaker Valley Foods’ warehouse since Wednesday night, according to union officials.
The union represents about 70 Quaker Valley employees, including roughly 35 truck drivers whose contract expired Aug. 1. They have said they will not return to work until the food distributor agrees to administer a pension plan as part of a new five-year contract.
In an emailed statement, Quaker Valley Foods said it “cares deeply about its employees and their welfare and remains committed to reaching an agreement with the union.” The company said it presented a “generous contract settlement” with “significant and unprecedented wage increases and provides enhanced retirement benefits for our workers and their families.”
On Sunday afternoon, about a dozen unionmembers werestationed outside Quaker Valley’s Red Lion Road facility, braving blistering heat and humidity as passersby honked car horns in solidarity.
According to labor leaders, the drivers’ union has been vying for a pension in recent contract negotiations, which they believe would provide more security than the company’s 401(k) retirement plan. However, management earlier this week issued a steadfast refusal, Local 500 president Doug Edwards said.
Picketers walk outside the Quaker Valley Foods warehouse in Northeast Philadelphia on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2026. Teamsters Local 500 members are on strike demanding the food plant administer a pension plan.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
“These are hardworking guys, and many of them have been here for a long time,” Edwards said, noting that many of the workers drove food deliveries into New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic without personal protective equipment.
“These guys risked everything to get food out to people, and now it’s time that the company should give us guarantees in our retirement,” he said.
Edwards said members rejected a prior contractdeal that did not include a pension plan; as of Sunday afternoon, he said the union had not heard from the company.
Quaker Valley distributes meat, deli, and specialty foods along the East Coast. The company said it had “implemented contingency plans across the business during this time and will continue working to meet the high standards our customers and vendors have come to expect.”
Doug Edwards (right), president of Teamsters Local 500, and Juan Lafuente (left), a Quaker Valley driver for 12 years and shop steward, join the picket line outside the Quaker Valley Foods warehouse in Northeast Philadelphia Sunday, Aug. 9, 2026. Union members are on strike demanding the food plant administer a pension plan.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Shop steward Juan Lafuente, who has worked for Quaker Valley Foods for 12 years, said the union is striking for its future security. At 40, he’s worried about the state of Social Security and whether traditional retirement funds will sustain him for a lifetime.
“We want to retire here,” he said, “we’re not trying to grab money and run — we’re trying to stay. You got a whole bunch of guys who are going to commit the rest of their lives to this company and make it grow.
Would you go months without talking to your bestie if they didn’t congratulate you on an Eagles win?
Well, die-hard fan Rob Evors did. And the fallout was captured by camera crews.
The Bala Cynwyd native stars in House of Stassi, a new Freeform and Hulu unscripted show that follows former Bravolebrity and Vanderpump Rules “It girl” Stassi Schroeder as she attempts to come back from cancellation and cement herself as the next Kris Jenner. There’s relationship and friendship drama, explosive fights and humble reconciliations, and elaborate parties — all the trappings of binge-worthy reality TV.
Rob Evors is captured Tuesday, July 28, 2026 , at a cocktail party celebrating Freeform and Hulu’s “House of Stassi” in New York City.Courtesy of Disney/Arthur Gareev
But a through line of the inaugural eight episodes is an ongoing rift between Evors and Schroeder’s husband, Beau Clark, sparked by a perceived slight against the Philadelphia Eagles.
An exasperated Clark explained in episode two: “I haven’t talked to [Evors] in nine months because during football season, I didn’t congratulate him on his team’s wins on a couple group chats.”
Schroeder declared, “This is not about f-ingfootball, and I won’t let either of them convince the world that it is.”
What was left out, however, is that Clark, a Rams fan, actually failed to congratulate Evors — who “bleeds green” and has Boathouse Row and the Eagles logo tattooed on his arm — on the 2025 Super Bowl win.
“It wasn’t like it was Week Six and I was like ‘you’re not texting me about my football team’ — it was winning the Super Bowl,” Evors said in a phone interview.
“I might as well have given birth to a child and you didn’t reach out.”
So, yeah, the snub went deeper than pigskin: Evors and Clark’s decades-long friendship has ebbed and flowed, and Evors ultimately just wanted Clark to take an interest in his life, he said. (Spoiler: The men hashed out their evolving dynamics on camera, and Evors said the duo are cordial — even after a tumultuous season finale.)
Evors, 50, moved to Bala Cynwyd as a toddler and grew up a “stone’s throw” from City Avenue, he said. He graduated from Episcopal Academy and left the Philadelphia region for Syracuse University, eventually landing in Los Angeles to pursue acting full-time. He now lives in Austin, Texas.
His career, however, started on the Main Line doing community theater and training at the Actors Center in Old City. Evors remembers stopping at Roy Rogers on weekly drives to New York City and eventually taking the Peter Pan Bus alone to the Big Apple for auditions; he landed a Dorney Park commercial that “paid for college.”
Rob Evors pictured in his Philly gear.Courtesy of Rob Evors
Reality TV is a new world for Evors, who has since racked up acting credits in scripted shows like Criminal Minds, All American, and FBI: International and the 2012 movie Project X, according to IMDb. He also won a game on Wheel of Fortune.
The tour bus heaved and weaved through the residential streets of Mount Airy, rolling over speed bumps, slowing for passing cars, and pulling over for the occasional gawking.
“I invite you to look around,” tour guide Marianne Ruane said, gesturing out the window as her voice echoed from a transmitter microphone into the audiences’ earpieces. The attendees murmured as they admired the homes of the streetcar suburb.
This was “Neighborhood Jawnts,” a free, hyper-localized tour running throughout a diverse swath of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods this summer and into the fall. The “jawnts” — get it? like “jaunts” but Philly-style — are an effort by the city’s tourism arm to engage every locale, from Africatown to the Far Northeast, during the Semiquincentennial.
“Philadelphia’s a city of neighborhoods,” said Kathryn Ott Lovell, president and CEO of Philadelphia Visitor Center Corp. and Philadelphia250, the nonprofit in charge of planning the 250th celebrations. The series is a collaboration between Ott Lovell’s organizations, with sponsorships from the city and Fulton Bank, which allow the tours to be offered at no cost.
“We wanted to make sure that people have the opportunity to get to know the whole city and to get to know the city through the neighborhoods and the diversity of our city — the cultures, the communities, the histories,” Ott Lovell said.
The tours, which began in late May and will run until October, feature a different area weekly, totaling 20 neighborhoods in the series. The tours are offered once on Fridays and twice daily on Saturdays and Sundays, and launch from the Independence Visitor Center.
Passengers board the PHLASH bus at the start of the “Neighborhood Jawnts” tour in Philadelphia on July 24.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
On a recent Friday in July, a commandeered PHLASH bus carted about 30 people around Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy. Each tour is led by a professional tour guide — someone who gives the “play by play” — and a community host — a resident who can add “color commentary” — Ott Lovell said.
Attendees visited the French and English Villages; the country’s oldest country club, Philadelphia Cricket Club; and the Wissahickon Inn, and they tasted “midnight chocolate” ice cream from Mount Airy institution Zsa’s Ice Cream, all while learning about the area’s history and how architecture has shaped the community and its landscape.
“I really love how Philadelphia 2026 has been about celebrating the city as a whole, not just Old City and downtown, but all of the neighborhoods that give Philadelphia its identity,” said Philip Dawson, community host and executive director of Mount Airy Community Development Corp.
Dawson added: “This tour really helped to highlight Mount Airy’s history, its housing and architecture, its businesses, its people, its diversity. It was really meaningful.”
Surprisingly, Ott Lovell said, Philadelphians — not out-of-towners — have capitalized on the tours. The majority of July 24 attendees were from the Philly area and most had already gone on a “jawnt.”
It was Janice Rudd’s fourth such tour. The 60-year-old recently moved from Houston to South Philadelphia and has been using the series as a way to familiarize herself with her new home city.
“I’m learning so much,” Rudd said. “It’s such a big city, there’s much to do downtown, in South Philly, out to the [Philadelphia Museum of Art] … but people just never go beyond there. … It’s nice to see real neighborhoods.”
While ambitious, “Neighborhood Jawnts” is paying off: Forthcoming tours are nearly full or completely sold out with a waiting list to join, according to organizers. Ott Lovell said they are brainstorming ways to keep low-cost and affordable tours going past the summer of the Semiquincentennial.
“We are a city of neighborhoods and it’s something we should celebrate as much as we celebrate our history,” she said.
The “Neighborhood Jawnts” series runs until Oct. 25. Tours start at 2 p.m. on Fridays and at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Tours are free, but online registration is required.
An off-duty Philadelphia police officer has been charged in connection with a fatal shooting this weekend in Northampton County, according to Pennsylvania State Police.
Kenroy Cummings, 25, faces charges of criminal homicide and attempting to elude an officer in connection with the killing of a 27-year-old man.
Troopers found the man suffering from gunshot wounds, and he was taken to a local hospital where he died. His identity has not been made public.
The alleged shooter fled in an orange Kia, which authorities later spotted in Hanover Township. After a brief car pursuit, the suspect returned to the residence and was taken into custody, state police said.
Cummings did not immediately appear in court records, and it was unclear if he had an attorney.
A spokesperson for the Philadelphia Police Department said the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau had been notified and an investigation was initiated.
T-shirt hawkers have captured LeBron James’ name, image, and likeness.
The face of the newly minted Philadelphia 76er and all-time NBA legend has already wound up on unauthorized merch outside stadiums and down the Jersey Shore, as seen in social media posts.
“coming to you live from the wildwood boardwalk,” they wrote, alongside a photo of two T-shirts with LeBron’s face (likely) photoshopped onto No. 23 Sixers jerseys. The tweet has more than 3,500 likes.
A video from TickPick, a ticketing marketplace, also showed LeBron gear being peddled outside the Phillies’ game Saturday.
For decades, hawkers have been a fixture outside stadiums before and after games and concerts. And at the Jersey Shore, the staple mildly offensive and oft-vulgar garb has taken on its own culture.
These merchandisers are not beholden to trademark restrictions, capitalize on fan — not corporate — interests, and press catchy slogans onto cotton at lightning speeds.
That’s probably how King James landed at the Shore before the ink dried on the deal.
That was the fanfare Saturday morning as Franklin Square, the once-forgotten green space at Sixth and Race Streets, celebrated a milestone: This July marks 20 years since the square’s dramatic revitalization, which transformed it from a dusty and dim outpost to a destination for family-friendly fun.
The pomp and hordes of young children playing with sidewalk chalk, kazoos, and streamers amid the daylight remnants of the annual Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival were far removed from the Franklin Square of yore, when it was publicly described as part of the city’s “skid row.”
“It did not look good,” Amy Needle, president and CEO of Historic Philadelphia Inc., said of Franklin Square’s image in the early aughts. “It was really neglected. … There was no reason to go there.
“And I think we all saw the potential.”
Franklin Square (originally dubbed North East Publick Square and later renamed in honor of Benjamin Franklin) dates back to 1682, when William Penn designed Philadelphia. Penn anchored the city around a quintet of parks that would become Franklin Square, Washington Square, Rittenhouse Square, Logan Square, and Centre Square (City Hall).
An undated watercolor of Franklin Square.Courtesy of Historic Philadelphia, Inc.
While Franklin Square’s 7½ acres may have been heavily used by Philly’s earliest settlers because of its proximity to the Delaware River, its condition started to decline in the early 20th century, when broad swaths of homes on the park’s perimeter were razed to make way for the on-ramps to the Ben Franklin Bridge and, later, the Vine Street Expressway and I-95 feeder, according to The Inquirer’s archives. The park’s greenery was replaced by a brick desert, and the isolation and inaccessibility led to disarray.
Famed urban theorist Jane Jacobs said of Franklin Square: It was “where the homeless, the unemployed and the people of indigent leisure gather amid the flophouses, cheap hotels, missions, [and] second-hand clothing stores.” Occasionally, tai chi groups and area daycares used the expansive lawns and shady respite, after brushing away debris and drug paraphernalia, according to Needle.
“It was a dump,” recalled Keith Owens, 69, of Cherry Hill, who was visiting Saturday with his family. “I just remember it was not a place you went to.”
By the early 2000s, a movement to reinvent the square gained traction, coinciding with the opening of the National Constitution Center, a new flood of tourists to the long-vacant “third block” of Independence Mall between Arch and Race Streets, and a residential housing boom. The effort, led by Historic Philadelphia and then-Gov. Ed Rendell, sought to to revamp Center City’s “most underutilized” square footage and enhance tourists’ trips between Old City destinations, The Inquirer wrote at the time.
The rehab included fixing the 1800s fountain and installing lighting, new playground equipment, a carousel, and an 18-hole miniature golf course featuring Philadelphia iconography — landmarks that set Franklin Square apart from other, “passive” parks like Rittenhouse or Washington, according to Needle. Although the park is owned by the city, it is operated and maintained by Needle’s group.
“We had to have attractions there and give people a reason to go there,” she said. “We wanted to create experiences.”
Union mason (Local 592) Ronald Valenciano of Upper Darby works on fresh concrete around the new fountain being restored in Franklin Square on July 10, 2006, even as the brand-new Philadelphia Park Liberty Carousel (rear) is unveiled to the press. The fountain and carousel were two of the highlights of the renovated park, which will opening later this summer. Once the carousel-making capital of the world, Philadelphia will once again have working Merry-go-Round within city limits. The Philadelphia Park Liberty Carousel is one of the highlights of the new Franklin Square, which reopened later that summer.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
“I just feel like it’s exploding — every time we come back, there’s more stuff here,” attendee Brooke Duane said.
“And the bathrooms, which are great.”
Despite living in Chester County, Duane — who said she staged her maternity photos at the square and celebrated her nephew’s birthday there — finds herself routinely coming back.
For 22-year-old Sabrina Owens, Franklin Square stands as a testament to the importance of investing in public spaces: “With so many diminishing third spaces … to know that this is here, and it’s such a revamped space, and it’s very welcoming, is very encouraging.
“It’s a good sign for the city.”
When asked about the Franklin Square of the future, Needle said she hopes it “continues to be a wonderful public space for people.”
Nike’s newest Air Force 1 shoes look a lot like … Gritty?
The footwear giant recently unveiled part of its upcoming “Horse of a Different Color” collection, which reimagines the popular sneakers in shaggy “campfire orange” pony hair, a material eerily similar to the coat of the beloved Philadelphia Flyers mascot.
The collection is — allegedly — inspired by the Shakespearean idiom, which was also referenced in The Wizard of Oz, according to Hypebeast and Women’s Wear Daily. But internet sleuths were quick to point out the resemblance to Gritty, or the Lorax, or a ‘70s shag carpet, or red-headed singer Ed Sheeran.
Nike did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Gritty served as an inspiration.A spokesperson for the Flyers could not immediately be reached.
“I will become indebted to Klarna for the [opportunity] to wear these to Flyers games this year,” another X poster wrote, referring to the financial company’s “buy now, pay later” service.
Another said, “lol these would be great for the Gritty 5K.”
The sneakers are expected to retail for $140, according to Hypebeast. While an exact release date hasn’t been announced, the shoes are likely to drop this fall.
