A former Bucks County man who voted twice for President Donald Trump in the 2020 election was sentenced Wednesday to six months of house arrest and three years of probation.
Matthew Laiss was found guilty by a jury earlier this year of casting two ballots in the 2020 election: first by mail in Pennsylvania, where he had once lived in Ottsville, and then again in person in Florida, where he was living at the time.
Laiss, 32, said in court Wednesday that his actions were “stupid” and a mistake. And his lawyer said that Laiss never meant for both votes to actually count — that he had wrongfully assumed election officials would identify he had voted twice and only count one of his ballots.
“In hindsight, it wasn’t good judgment,” Laiss said.
Prosecutors, however, said they did not believe that, in part because they said Laiss misled FBI agents about his actions when he was confronted years later. And Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Dubnoff said Laiss had shown a “striking” lack of remorse for what he did, repeatedly saying it was the result of his age or mental health at the time, as opposed to realizing he had committed a crime.
“Mr. Laiss has not accepted ownership of what he did,” Dubnoff said.
U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Leeson Jr. said Laiss’ crimes were serious and had affected “all citizens of this country.”
But he declined to send Laiss to prison, noting that Laiss had already lost his job as an insurance salesman as a result of the case, and that he would have the felony conviction on his record for the rest of his life.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office charged Laiss last year with crimes including voter fraud and voting more than once in a federal election.
Prosecutors said records showed that Laiss had filled out and returned a mail-in Pennsylvania ballot in October 2020. And less than a week later, they said, he went to a polling place in Florida and voted again.
Laiss later said in court documents that he voted twice for Trump. And as his case progressed toward trial, he sought to claim that his actions were covered by pardons Trump extended to people who tried to help him overturn the results of the 2020 election, which Joe Biden won.
Prosecutors announced Laiss’ case alongside the indictment of a Philadelphia woman, Miya Pack, who was separately charged with voting twice in the 2020 election. She pleaded guilty last month and is awaiting sentencing.
Still, attorneys said cases involving people casting multiple ballots were relatively rare in eastern Pennsylvania. Laiss’ lawyer said the only other comparable case in the region that unfolded in recent years was that of Philip C. Pulley, a Philadelphia landlord who voted in the city, Montgomery County, and Florida in 2020 and 2022. He was also sentenced to probation.
Trump has nonetheless made frequently questionable or false statements about the prevalence of voter fraud, particularly in instances where his opponents or Democrats have won. Election officials and experts generally agree that voter fraud has not historically occurred at widespread rates or in ways that could lead to incorrect outcomes.
Sandra Shachar has been posting news articles on the walls of the President’s House Site almost every day since January.
She was outraged that President Donald Trump’s administration had dismantled the exhibit telling the story of the nine people George Washington enslaved in his executive mansion at Sixth and Market Streets, and sharing information with visitors was her way to push back.
But Shachar, 72, continued with her routine. This time, two park rangers stopped her.
“When I went to tape my sign up, they came and said, ‘You can’t do that. Please stop,’” the psychologist from Center City said.
Sandra Shachar, 72, cited for vandalism at the President’s House site on July 15, 2026 for attempting to post news articles on the walls.Abraham Gutman
The rangers issued Shachar a citation for vandalism, which carried a $305 fine, and warned her that next time she could be arrested.
The news came as a gut punch.
“It was something I could do,” Shachar said. “And now for doing something, I’m issued a citation that says I have created vandalism on federal property.”
The vandalism citation marks an escalation in the National Park Service’s response to protest at the President’s House, and comes as activists promise to keep the fight over the site’s history alive.
“I don’t care whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative … this is some scary [expletive],” Coard said. “Despite being very afraid, we got to keep fighting.”
Fascist leaders throughout history have attempted to rewrite the past as part of their campaign to control the future, the attorney said. And that is the level of threat the Trump administration’s changes to the President’s House represent, Coard said.
The new panels have been criticized for minimizing the brutality of slavery, whitewashing George Washington’s culpability, and shifting the focus away from the nine people who were kept in bondage at the nation’s first executive mansion.
It is outrageous that visitors will see panels that, for example, discuss Washington’s “discomfort” with slavery and suggest the lives of those enslaved in Philadelphia were not too bad, Coard said.
“The fact that the federal government would ignore the hell of slavery for the victim but highlight the president’s ‘discomfort,’” Coard said. “What kind of nonsense is that?”
Avenging the Ancestors Coalition’s goal continues to be the full restoration of the site with the original panels that had been developed through partnership with the city and input from the community. The group is exploring new legal strategies, Coard said.
The city is also not done fighting, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said in a statement.
Security cameras that have been placed at the President’s House site, where new panels have been installed, in Philadelphia, July 15, 2026. Historians and advocates have criticized the new panels for minimizing Washington’s role as an enslaver.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
The case raises “serious legal issues” that go beyond the President’s House, Parker said.
“I will continue fighting on behalf of everyone who supports the core belief: All of our history must be told,” the mayor’s statement said.
It will be up to the Third Circuit to decide whether to grant a second hearing to an issue that three judges had agreed on unanimously.
The efforts to educate visitors about the President’s House continue as well.
Old City Remembers, a grassroots effort, will continue to register volunteers to read aloud the text of the removed signs. And the Black Journey: African-American Walking Tour of Philadelphia will continue to offer tours that tell the story of those enslaved at the site.
Brian Wells, 65, has been putting up protest posters on the President’s House walls since the day after the January removal. On Tuesday, Wells said, national park police stopped him from taping papers and threatened him with arrest.
He thought the heightened security was because of an MLB All-Star event held Tuesday on Independence Mall, but now that the panels have been replaced, he isn’t so sure.
“I will continue with Old City Remembers folks to volunteer to read aloud the text from the former panels,” Wells said Wednesday. “Other actions? I don’t know at this point.”
Wilbert Rosado-Ruiz’s fate was placed Wednesday in the hands of a Delaware County judge, who, in the coming week, will determine whether the shooting he committed where he worked, killing two people and wounding three others, was justified or an act of murder.
At the close of his bench trial on charges of murder, attempted murder, and related crimes for the May 2024 shooting, Rosado-Ruiz, 63, testified that he felt his life was in danger and acted in self-defense. A group of his coworkers at Delaware County Linen had ganged up on him, he said, cornering him in the industrial laundry facility and threatening to kill him and his family.
“I’m a person who would never try to hurt anyone,” he said. “Anyone who is inoffensive to me, anyone who would not try to hurt me, I would not try to hurt.
“Now, if someone does try to make a move on my life, yes, I am someone who is armed, and I would defend myself.”
Wilbert Rosado Ruiz, seen here in June 2024, told a judge that his coworkers had threatened to kill him, and that he shot at them in self-defense.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Rosado-Ruiz’s attorney, Kevin O’Neill, urged Judge Kevin Kelly to acquit his client of all charges, saying he had reacted to what he believed to be credible threats to his life and the lives of his loved ones.
Assistant District Attorney Sophia Polites balked at that explanation during her closing arguments Wednesday. None of the victims were armed, and surveillance footage from the Chester business showed them running for their lives as Rosado-Ruiz chased them from room to room.
Rosado-Ruiz, she said, shot at his fleeing coworkers because he wanted to, not because he needed to. He believed, she said, they had disrespected him.
“This was not a decision made out of fear. This was about his ego,” Polites said. “One by one, the people he perceived to have disrespected him, they became his targets.”
Brothers Leovanny Peña Peña, 30, and Giguenson Peña Peña, 26, were killed by Rosado-Ruiz after he clocked in for his early-morning shift.
Testimony during the trial showed that Rosado-Ruiz had gotten into an altercation with another coworker, Nilamarie Valdivieso, while on a video call with his wife and daughter. Valdivieso testified that she approached Rosado-Ruiz to ask him why he was angry, and he responded explosively, screaming that he was “tired of all these people,” before pulling out his 9mm handgun and shooting Valdivieso in the shoulder.
But Rosado-Ruiz offered a different version of that initial encounter. He testified that Valdivieso had hurled insults at him before threatening to cut his head off.
The Peña Peña brothers, as well as other coworkers, joined Valdivieso, Rosado-Ruiz said, and formed a crowd to block him from leaving the room. He said he saw that the two brothers were carrying knives, and moved toward him in a threatening manner.
That is when, he said, he opened fire.
“I waited, and I really thought nothing would happen,” he said. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”
Rosado-Ruiz remained on the video call with his family throughout the initial encounter and eventual shooting, but his wife and daughter testified that they could not see or hear the shooting as it took place.
But Polites, the prosecutor, said evidence in the case, including surveillance footage of the encounter, showed that the people around Rosado-Ruiz scattered at the sight of his gun.
After shooting Valdivieso, he shot Leovanny Peña Peña three times before chasing the other people who fled. Rosado-Ruiz caught up with Giguenson Peña Peña after he had exited the building, and shot him as he ran away from him, according to prosecutors.
None of the victims were armed, despite what Rosado-Ruiz said he saw, Polites said.
Judge Kelly said he will deliver his verdict on July 22.
Ember, a red fox Labrador working for the Gloucester County Fire Marshal’s Office, and another dog died four years ago when a local official allegedly left them in a hot vehicle in August.
Now, days after a similar case in Salem County resulted in charges, a Gloucester County commissioner is using the case to renew calls for justice.
Eric Campo, Gloucester County’s counsel, said the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office notified the county last week that its investigation into the 2022 incident was closed and returned to Campo’s office with no charges filed. He reported receiving an official letter from Andrew Wellbrock, assistant attorney general, on July 10. NJ.com first reported about the letter last week; Campo later shared it with The Inquirer.
Campo said Gloucester County first received notice that the office had closed the investigation on July 8, one day after the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office charged Salem County Sgt. Cody Henderson with two third-degree counts of animal cruelty resulting in death and more crimes after Henderson allegedly left two K-9s, Boomer and Rip, in a work vehicle for seven hours in May.
Boomer and Rip likely died of heat stroke, prosecutors said. Henderson has since been suspended, and his pay ceased as of Monday, NJ.com reported. A pre-indictment conference for the case is scheduled for Sept. 10 in Superior Court.
The Ember investigation did not move as quickly.
In fall of 2022, residents packed board of commissioners meetings to demand information on how Ember, who was donated to the county fire marshal’s office in 2020 by Joe Nick K-9 Training in Monroeville, had been allegedly left in Chief County Fire Marshal Shawn Layton’s vehicle to die on Aug. 12.
Meeting minutes from the time describe residents reading statements about Ember and calling for memorials. Those records do not indicate that county officials revealed what happened.
Layton, a former Mantua Township Committee member, still works for Gloucester County as chief county fire marshal, according to the county website. A Mantua Township Facebook post from December 2024 detailed that Layton chose not to run for reelection as a committee member to focus on his career.
A representative with the Gloucester County Fire Marshal’s Office reached Wednesday declined to comment on the county’s current K-9 protocols but said that the office no longer has any K-9s.
In 2023, Ember’s investigation was transferred from the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office following conflict-of-interest concerns. The investigation, at least publicly, has been largely silent since.
Chris Konawel, a Republican Gloucester County commissioner, said he was one of the first county officials to find out about the incident back in 2022, when he said an anonymous phone call informed him Layton had buried the dogs in his backyard.
Since then, Konawel said, he has sent about two dozen emails and letters to the attorney general’s office inquiring about the investigation. Some of those messages have received responses, he said, but none contained information about the status of the investigation.
Resident inquiries about Ember have waned over the years, too. Two years ago, a petition among residents demanding accountability slowed at 371 signatures, though some Facebook users are sharing the link again.
“But the incident in Salem County has shined a light back on this,” Konawel said.
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office did not publicly announce the closure of the investigation into Layton, and an official with the office declined to say whether the investigation is over.
The official said the office is not required to provide notice to anyone, but may provide letters “to an entity that would be responsible for taking an administrative action.” It is unclear whether Gloucester County plans to take administrative action against Layton now that the state investigation has been passed back to the county, but the letter said the investigation’s end at the state does not mean Layton has immunity.
The Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment on the record, and several other Gloucester County officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Trail improvements are headed to Burlington County, though it will be years before they can be enjoyed by the public.
The county will be using nearly $500,000 in grant funding for feasibility studies and engineering designs for multiple trail projects.
Awarded at the end of June and funded by the nonprofit William Penn Foundation, the grants are just a fraction of the more than $4.5 million awarded for trail projects in New Jersey and Pennsylvania as part of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission’s Regional Trail Program.
“Burlington County’s parks and outdoor spaces are among our most important assets, and we are excited by the opportunities to expand the County’s network of trails into additional areas,” Burlington County Commissioner Deputy Director Allison Eckel said in a statement announcing the funding. “These new trails will enhance our parks and open spaces and improve mobility throughout our county.”
What’s planned for Burlington County trails?
The majority of the grant funding, about $400,000, will go toward the engineering design costs for a four-mile trail segment through Mount Laurel from the Rowan College at Burlington County campus across Route 38 to the Melvin and Florence Levin Nature Conservancy off Centerton Road.
The grant covers about 40% of the total expected design costs for the project, the county said.
Burlington County intends to cover the remaining design costs in its 2027 capital projects budget and will likely contract with a design consultant for the project in early 2027, according to county officials. During the 12 to 18 months in which permitting work is being done, the county will pursue additional grant funding to cover construction costs, with the goal of breaking ground in 2029.
The remaining $85,000 in grant funding will pay for a feasibility study for an approximately nine-mile route on the Rancocas Creek Greenway Trail from Rowan College at Burlington County in Mount Laurel to Historic Smithville Park in Eastampton. The county will also study a Mount Holly-to-Medford trail spur to connect both communities’ downtown business districts.
The county expects to have a consultant team on board by the end of the year for both studies. The work is expected to take about six months to complete, the county said, with results likely to be published next spring or summer.
Both trails are expected to become part of the Circuit Trails network — a vast regional network of hundreds of miles of multiuse trails planned throughout South Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The county has other trail projects in the works, including a new four-mile trail linking Willingboro Lakes Park with Mill Creek Park, a 13-mile extension of the Delaware River Heritage Trail, and a connecting 3.25-mile extension of the Kinkora Trail.
Earlier this year, the county also completed an initial study to potentially create an additional 50 miles of trails through Mount Laurel, Moorestown, Evesham, Maple Shade, Medford, Tabernacle, Southampton, and Shamong.
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that he is rolling out a new screening program for “testosterone deficiency” among troops, calling it necessary to allow them to operate at their “absolute best.”
The screenings will be conducted annually as part of service members’ required medical screenings for those 30 and older, he said. Troops under 30 can volunteer to be tested. In a video on social media, Hegseth said receiving testosterone replacement therapy would be voluntary.
In the video, Hegseth simply refers to troops, though it appears he is talking about only testing men in uniform for hormone irregularities.
The move comes as other Trump administration officials have begun to advocate for men to have easier access to testosterone replacement therapies, but the messaging from Hegseth and others blends known science on the hormone with broader, and less substantiated, claims.
When asked about what conditions Hegseth was looking to address with the new policy, the Pentagon referred to Hegseth’s remarks in the video that mentioned keeping troops “strong, resilient, and capable” and that the rigors of the modern battlefield demand “maximum psychological and mental readiness.”
Over the past several years, special operations troops — and specifically Navy SEALs — have come under scrutiny for their use of testosterone and similar substances to enhance performance.
The death of a SEAL recruit during training in 2022 led to a discovery of substances in his possession, including testosterone, and revealed far more rampant drug use among the elite program than was previously acknowledged.
A year after the recruit’s death, the Navy said it would begin a drug-testing program to screen for “any hormonal substance, chemically or pharmacologically related to testosterone, that promotes muscle growth.”
Hegseth said his new initiative is “not about artificial enhancement.”
The Pentagon did not respond to questions about what research or academic studies underpinned the move. It also didn’t say if female troops would be able to be evaluated for estrogen-based therapy as they entered perimenopause.
Testosterone levels in men decline naturally with age and have long been linked to issues like erectile dysfunction, low libido, mood changes, and weight gain. But experts have debated for years how to diagnose those problems and whether they should be treated by replacing the hormone.
Hegseth’s announcement comes as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other Trump administration officials are moving to make it easier for doctors to prescribe testosterone. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration proposed easing prescribing limits on testosterone gels, pills, patches, and injections.
The current FDA label specifies that the medications are only for men with hypogonadism, a medical condition that causes drastically low testosterone.
But many influencers and proponents of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement tout testosterone as a way to look younger, build muscle, and stay mentally sharp — although those uses aren’t accepted by most medical experts.
Still, recent studies have bolstered the case for testosterone’s benefits, for certain conditions, while allaying worries about its safety — particularly concerns about heart safety.
Last year, the FDA removed a boxed warning about possible risks of heart attack and stroke from the drugs.
Separately, a series of studies by the National Institutes of Health in older men found that taking testosterone improved erectile dysfunction, libido, and other sexual measures and had a small effect on mood. But there was little or no improvement in other measures like fatigue, memory or overall well-being.
Other studies have shown potential improvements in muscle-building, strength and bone density.
However, current medical guidelines generally recommend against blanket testing of testosterone levels. Typically, doctors are advised to discuss testosterone therapy with men who have troubling symptoms and documented low levels of the hormone on two separate blood tests.
Testing for testosterone is challenging because levels of the hormone fluctuate throughout the day. Accurate testosterone readings are typically measured in the morning after fasting.
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat and Air Force veteran, said the “announcement proves that Secretary Hegseth takes direction from the far corners of the manosphere.”
The congresswoman on the House Armed Services Committee said she hoped testosterone testing “will be available for both men and women and that servicewomen will be afforded access to the same resources to enable them too to be the most elite warriors” on Earth.
He has made other changes related to the medical treatment of troops.
In April, he announced the repeal of the military’s long-standing flu vaccine mandate, citing “medical autonomy” and religious freedom. In June, a flu outbreak at the U.S. Air Force’s boot camp sickened at least nearly 300 people.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump wants Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to keep pulling over vehicles, signaling his opposition Wednesday to plans announced just a day earlier to suspend most traffic stops following another string of fatal shootings.
It’s not clear whether ICE will quickly reverse course and resume most stops, which have been a key tool in Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Ending those stops, Trump wrote, would be “playing right into the criminal’s hands.”
“We CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!” Trump wrote Wednesday on his social media site.
Hours after Trump made his views known, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin issued his own statement saying people illegally in the country would be “arrested and deported wherever they are.” But Mullin didn’t directly say whether ICE officers will be allowed to carry out traffic stops.
Before that, two motorists were shot and killed by ICE officers — one in Texas last week and another in Maine on Monday.
After the Maine killing, Trump administration officials told ICE officers to suspend most vehicle stops, people familiar with the decision said Tuesday.
Since the immigration crackdown began, federal officers confronting drivers have opened fire several times, saying the drivers’ vehicles had posed a danger. Policing experts have long said that shooting into moving cars presents a danger of its own and should almost always be avoided.
There have been at least 10 deaths involving encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched his deportation campaign. At least four of them involved people in vehicles, a trend so troubling that Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine urged Department of Homeland Security leaders “to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.”
Two shootings in a week, she said Wednesday, “raise very serious questions” and warrant a halt in that approach for the time being.
ICE has been under pressure to beef up arrest and deportation numbers. It says people being sought are increasingly staying in their homes, and it often blames immigration advocates who advise immigrants to stay in homes unless ICE produces a warrant signed by an independent judge.
ICE officers say that means they’re forced to find other ways to make arrests.
DHS says the man killed in Maine came to the U.S. illegally
More protests are planned after hundreds gathered Tuesday to remember Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, the 25-year-old Colombian national who was shot in his car Monday.
Karolina Rojas, his partner and the mother of their young daughter, shared a photo on Instagram of the three hugging and smiling.
“I love you, my darling, my life. I love you. I have no words for this pain. You were my everything. Please watch over me. Help me find the strength to carry on. Stay with me always. Don’t leave me alone. I’m begging you, my love,” she wrote.
Durán Guerrero illegally entered the U.S. on Sept. 1, 2023, through the southern border, DHS said Wednesday. Advocacy groups said that when he was killed, he was authorized to work in the U.S.
Sen. Angus King (Ind., Maine) said the Homeland Security secretary told him on Monday that ICE officers were in Biddeford to serve an arrest warrant but that it wasn’t for the person who was shot.
When ICE tried to stop a vehicle driven by someone who came from a home under surveillance, the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon,” the department said.
It its statement Wednesday, DHS said Guerrero was released into the U.S. after crossing the border.
The department didn’t answer questions about the agent who shot him.
Photos showed bullet holes in Durán Guerrero’s car windshield, but the officers involved didn’t have body cameras, leaving many questions.
Maine shooting puts a spotlight on ICE
Outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting of Durán Guerrero a targeted killing “at the hands of the U.S. government.”
In Wednesday’s social media post, Trump told ICE to be “judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job.”
Border czar Tom Homan told reporters that the investigation needs to play out and that officers will be held accountable if they are found to have acted inappropriately or illegally.
Maine’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills, said ICE should be scrapped as a federal agency if it can’t be fixed.
Mills, who has criticized ICE before, said Wednesday that the agency needs changes “before more families are robbed of a loved one.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has installed its own version of history at the President’s House Site, swapping panels on the brutality of slaveryat the site for displays that experts say sanitize George Washington’s role as an enslaver.
The replacement caps a monthslong legal battle over the site on Independence Mall that was the first direct skirmish between Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and the Trump administration.
The change happened overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, hours after the city hosted MLB All-Star Game events near the site, allowing the government to switch out the displays and shut down the television screens without public scrutiny.
Roughly a week prior to the changes, park employees installed security cameras near the site, which one worker explained as being for the All-Star Game festivities. The cameras were still present Wednesday.
A U.S. parks police officer and a visitor at the President’s House Site, where new panels have been installed, in Philadelphia, July 15, 2026. Historians and advocates have criticized the panels for minimizing Washington’s role as an enslaver.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
In a statement, Parker said the city intended to seek a rehearing on “serious legal issues” presented in the Third Circuit’s decision and slammed the federal government for installing the panels ”under the cover of darkness.”
“It was allowed to do this by the decision of the federal court, but that it did so at night shows it understands this action is shameful, that it violates community trust,” Parker said.
The site now features the 11 panels were proposed by the Trump administration in April, in addition to more than a dozen smaller panels that detail governmental processes, the lives of various historical figures, and a panel dedicated to the escape of Ona Judge and Hercules, two people enslaved by Washington who fled to freedom.
Though the panels do mention slavery and the people Washington enslaved, the new exhibits mostly offer a broad timeline of U.S. history that significantly strays from the original intent of the President’s House asoutlined in the park’s foundation document in 2017: “It would explore the historic context of the site in the context of its ties to slavery and the lives of the enslaved who lived at the site.”
Visitors to the President’s House Site, where new panels have been installed, in Philadelphia, July 15, 2026. Historians and advocates have criticized the panels for minimizing Washington’s role as an enslaver.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
The new panels also soften Washington’s role as an enslaver.
For instance, one display says: “Caught between his private doubts about slavery and his public responsibilities as president, George Washington navigated a nation deeply divided over slavery.”
“Privately, George Washington often expressed discomfort with the institution and a desire to see it abolished,” the panel continued. “Yet as a Virginia plantation owner, his wealth and livelihood were deeply tied to it.”
Later in that panel, the Trump administration writes: “Slaves living in the President’s House experienced a greater modicum of autonomy than elsewhere in the South such as to explore the city and sometimes even attend the theater, with Washington buying the tickets.”
Another panel, titled “Enslaved People at the President’s House,” discusses the lives of each of the nine individuals enslaved by Washington, but reframes Washington’s role.
“President Washington knew and trusted his enslaved house staff enough to buy them tickets for the circus and theater and to let them venture out into the city’s markets on their own,” the panel says.
A spokesperson for the Interior Department said in a statement that the “new panels are full of historical context and highlight the momentous events that took place in the President’s House and other sites at Independence National Historical Park.”
The statement said that the panels “acknowledge the evils of slavery, including its injustice and hypocrisies,” and properly tells the story of the nine individuals enslaved by Washington and the “full story” of U.S. history.
Michael Coard, leader of Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, a group that has fought to protect the President’s House, said stakeholders were “not surprised — we saw it coming” and were reviewing all possible legal avenues and advocacy options.
Shortly after noon, Coard and other activists spoke defiantly at the site.
He called the new panels “a complete whitewashing of American history” and said the few references to existence of slavery are a reminder that “the best lie is one that has a little bit of truth.”
Lawyer Michael Coard holds a press conference at the President’s House Site, where new panels have been installed, in Philadelphia, July 15, 2026. Historians and advocates have criticized the panels for minimizing Washington’s role as an enslaver.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
The drastic alterations are a culmination of about a year of turmoil since the Trump administration began scrutinizing the site as part of the president’s executive order to review or remove displays at national parks that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
Removals also happened at national parks around the country.
Sheri Utain, 77, has been coming to the President’s House site since January to read aloud the content of the missing panels. When she arrived Wednesday, she was shocked to learn the exhibit had been replaced overnight.
“How sneaky is that?” Utain said. “What kind of government is that?”
Others also continued with their routines, but the response from National Park Service rangers was harsher.
Sandra Shachar has been posting news articles on the President’s House walls almost every day since January to provide visitors updates on the court battles over the slavery exhibit.
Sandra Shachar, 72, cited for vandalism at the President’s House Site on July 15, 2026 for attempting to post news articles on the walls.Abraham Gutman
But Wednesday, the local psychologist was cited for vandalism and ordered to pay a $305 fine.
“It was something I could do … it feels better than doing nothing,” Shachar said, holding back tears. “Part of free speech and our First Amendment rights is to put up signs. It’s not defacing. It’s not vandalizing.”
An Interior Department spokesperson said “any vandalism, tampering, destroying, or defacing of cultural or archaeological resources is a federal crime.”
The installation of the new exhibit marks the end of a phase in the city’s legal battle against Trump’s administration.
The city sued in January when the slavery exhibit was abruptly dismantled, asking a federal judge to issue an injunction ordering the panels be restored. Judge Cynthia M. Rufe issued a blistering opinion on Presidents’ Day ordering the restoration, comparing the Trump administration’s action to the Ministry of Truth from George Orwell’s 1984 novel.
No changes followed on the ground immediately after the ruling because of litigation in federal court in Boston that challenged the legality of display removals in national parks and historic sites nationwide, leading a district judge to order the Trump administration to restore all removed items.
Visitors to the President’s House Site, where new panels have been installed, in Philadelphia, July 15, 2026. Historians and advocates have criticized the panels for minimizing Washington’s role as an enslaver.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
In the aftermath of the 250th anniversary celebrations, Parker said, examining the paradoxes of liberty and slavery that existed during the founding of the United States is key.
“This paradox reveals core questions we still live and struggle with today — how do we share power for the betterment of all people? That is a hard question, and one that President’s House forced us all to consider,” Parker said.
As activists and the city vow to continue the legal fight, the efforts to educate visitors about the history of the President’s House will also continue.
The House passed a bill Tuesday that would make daylight saving time permanent.
Proponents, including President Donald Trump, say the switch would amount to more daylight during the times when Americans are most active. The act is in turn called the Sunshine Protection Act
Trump called the House’s vote “great news for America.”
But critics say it’s not that simple, citing public safety and health issues.
So, if the change really means more sunlight, what could go wrong? And haven’t we tried this before? Here is everything we know so far about a potential switch to permanent daylight saving time.
What is daylight saving time?
Daylight saving time is the period between spring and fall when clocks in most parts of the United States are set one hour ahead of standard time.
The protocol provides the advantage of pushing back the night, allowing for long summer nights.
So what is standard time?
Standard time is the time without daylight saving in effect.
We are currently observing daylight saving (from March through November). Standard is what most of the country would revert to in November — “falling back” an hour — but not if the Sunshine Protection Act has its way.
Some lawmakers have also proposed a permanent standard time, which is favored by sleep researchers and medical professionals. But that is not on the table right now.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has advocated for year-round standard time, saying moving the clocks forward presents “significant public health and safety risks” from sleep deprivation.
What states honor which time?
Most of the United States alternates between daylight saving and standard time. The exceptions are Hawaii and most of Arizona, which stay on standard time all year long.
What do supporters say about permanent daylight saving time?
The argument for daylight saving time hinges on what could be accomplished with an extra hour or so of sunlight. Supporters say the pros include basics like more time for youth recreational sports in daylight and more time for summer grilling.
Businesses, from outdoor amusement parks and restaurants with patio seating to retail shops, say more sunlight could mean more time for spending money. Experts say a permanent switch could boost retail and tourism spending.
What do critics say about permanent daylight saving time?
Detractors say permanent daylight saving time would lead to darker and potentially more hazardous winter mornings when children would be waiting for school buses and adults would be commuting to work in darkness.
“Millions of Americans will wake up during the winter months in complete darkness, with the sun not rising until long after people get up and travel to school or work or have to go about their days,” said U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D., Pa.), who voted against the bill. Scanlon also advocated for a bill she introduced that would support permanent standard time, which has not gained traction.
U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D., Mass.) voted in favor of the bill, but he questioned whether it was the best way for Congress to be spending its time.
“For folks getting crushed by rent, groceries, utility bills, and healthcare costs, is this really the best the majority can do?” McGovern asked. “Is this really the most pressing issue before the American people at this moment?”
Agricultural advocates also say permanent daylight saving time would negatively affect their crops and livestock, resulting in delayed harvesting, behavioral disruptions, and product loss.
How would permanent daylight saving time look in Philadelphia and across the Northeast?
Pretty dark in the mornings! Because of Philly’s position on the eastern edge of the Eastern time zone, permanent daylight saving time would mean about an hour more of sun before it sets in the evening.
But it would also mean winter sunrises rolling in until as late as around 8:30 a.m. This rings true for areas of New York and New Jersey, too.
Critics caution this would impact morning commutes, circadian rhythms, and general health.
Was the nation ever on year-round daylight saving time? How did it go?
During World War II, the nation moved up the clocks year-round from 1942 to 1945, in what officially was designated “War Time.” The hour switch then became a local option again until 1966, when the Uniform Time Act divided the clock year into standard and daylight saving time.
Later, during the energy crisis of the 1970s, the United States tried year-round daylight saving time, but the experiment was wildly unpopular.
The National School Boards Association called for the experiment’s immediate end because school buses were picking up students in darkness.
The experiment was supposed to last two years — it was abandoned after 10 months.
Where do the House and Senate stand?
The House vote was 308-117.
The Senate’s stance is unclear, with senators expressing mixed feelings so far.
A similar Senate version of the Sunshine Protection Act previously stalled because senators said they needed more time to review the legislation.
Neither of Pennsylvania’s senators has commented publicly about the current legislation. In 2022, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, then Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, said he supported a similar bipartisan bill pushing for permanent daylight saving time.
Sen. Dave McCormick, a Republican, has not voted on the issue previously.
Would permanent daylight saving time happen this year?
It’s a race against the clock. The House approved its legislation to make daylight saving time permanent, but the Senate would have to do the same before the act could get signed into law. If that does not happen by this fall, Americans will still be expected to turn their clocks back to standard time.
As it stands, the current Sunshine Protection Act language does not include a start date. According to the Time and Date website, if the act became law before the November switch, the United States would “lock the clock” where it is. But if it were signed into law during standard time, the nation would perform a final “spring forward” in March and then stay in daylight saving time.
When does daylight saving time end in 2026?
Daylight saving time is scheduled to end when the clocks “fall back” on Sunday, Nov. 1, at 2 a.m. — returning to standard time. This happens on the first Sunday in November.
Staff writer Anthony R. Wood contributed to this article, which contains information from the Associated Press.
The Upper Merion Planning Commission is scheduled to discuss three of Brian O’Neill’s five proposed data centers at its next meeting on Wednesday, July 22, according to Township Manager Anthony Hamaday and a meeting agenda posted online.
After receiving an overview of the project at an initial planning commission meeting in May, the township has “done an official review, and we have forwarded our comments to the applicant,” Hamaday said. The plans “have been revised and sent back.”
Next, Hamaday said, the planning commission will dive into the nitty-gritty, scrutinizing whether the project complies with township code.
Next Wednesday, they will review the proposed 2-million-square-foot data center at the Renaissance Boulevard office park; the proposed 370,000-square-foot data center at the current site of a daycare at 3200 Horizon Dr.; and the proposed 188,000-square-foot data center at an office and lab building on a remediated Superfund site at 2100 Renaissance Blvd.
The other two proposed data centers are set to be reviewed at a meeting on Aug. 12, Hamaday said Tuesday.
At the May meeting, O’Neill, whose MLP Ventures is behind the proposal, called it “an opportunity to change the world for the better” through AI-powered biotech that would complement his existing life-sciences complex, Discovery Labs. He said most of the centers would be leased to tenants, but has not specified which ones.
Anti-data center lawn signs seen in King of Prussia in late May.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Many area residents have rallied against the centers, with some displaying bright orange lawn signs that read: “Five data centers, 100 feet from here. Absolutely not!” Opponents have cited concerns about the potential for noise, light, and other pollution, as well as the general disruption to their daily lives.
Hundreds of people packed the May meeting. Hamaday said the forthcoming meetings would be moved to the Upper Merion Area Middle School to accommodate expected crowds. They will also be broadcast live, potentially on the local TV channel, he said, and streamed on Zoom.
Upper Merion Township isn’t the only place where O’Neill has set his sights.
Across the Schuylkill, on the outskirts of Conshohocken, the developer wants to build another 2 million-square-foot AI data center at the site of the former Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill. He has said the center would be operated by a tenant related to the life sciences.
The closed Cleveland-Cliffs steel Mill, pictured in June, where Brian O’Neill wants to build a 2-million-square-foot AI data center.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
He recently resubmitted a plan to Plymouth Township, and a procedural zoning hearing board meeting was held last month.
The next meeting about the Conshohocken-area project is scheduled for Aug. 6 at Colonial Middle School and via livestream on the township’s YouTube channel.
Both the Conshohocken-area and King of Prussia plans would require multiple recommendations and approvals before construction could begin.
