Trump wasn’t the only one who saw similarities between the two presidents. In his tribute to Roosevelt, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum noted, “The parallels between Theodore Roosevelt and President Trump just keep adding up.”
Today, by contrast, Trump is creating a 21st century Gilded Age by empowering business titans through reduced regulation, approval of mergers and handing them plum government positions. Moreover, he is undoing environmental laws and opening previously protected land, policies Ted Roosevelt IV says his great-grandfather would find “appalling.” Aaron Weiss, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, maintains that the Trump administration’s record “reads like a checklist assault on everything that Teddy Roosevelt has built.”
The differences between Trump and Roosevelt are starkest when it comes to character — and the role it plays in executing public policy.
When Roosevelt ran for a seat in the New York State legislature in 1881, he was endorsed by the powerful men in his district for his “high character, honesty, and integrity.” These traits were essential to Roosevelt’s vision of leadership. Yet, few would apply these adjectives to Trump.
Roosevelt’s vision of character and integrity guided his policy and actions on everything from treatment of racial minorities to his handling of the business interests who dominated American society when he entered the White House.
Assessing his presidency, Roosevelt wrote in his autobiography, “The one bond of interest among all of us was the desire to make the Government the most effective instrument in advancing the interests of the people as a whole.” The then British ambassador to the U.S. agreed, telling Roosevelt that he had never seen “a more eager, high-minded, and efficient set of public servants, men more useful and credible to their country than the men doing the work of the American Government.”
While historians praise Roosevelt for his role in taking on the wealthy and the powerful, these testaments speak to how integral his character — and his ability to surround himself with high character individuals — was to these efforts.
In 1910, Roosevelt delivered one of his most famous speeches — what became known as the “Man in the Arena” address — at the Sorbonne in Paris. It summarized his thinking on the importance of virtue in a republic.
The former president argued that the success of a republic was contingent upon the character of its citizenry and its leaders. Speaking of the broader public, Roosevelt likened the character of a country’s average citizen to a stream, noting that “the stream will not rise higher than the main source.” National greatness, therefore, could only be achieved if the average citizen adhered to a high moral standard.
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But if the average citizen must be of sound character, it was up to the nation’s leaders to maintain an even higher standard.
According to Roosevelt, danger lurked when voters chose “men of inherited wealth and position” for elected office. Such men, Roosevelt declared, could yield to a “cheap temptation” to set aside one’s morality and become a cynic to whom “good and evil are as one.” And when those amoral leaders exploited the less fortunate, Roosevelt maintained they were “at heart the same as the greedy and violent demagogue who excites those who have not property to plunder those who have.” In such cases, those wealthy officials were no longer of “useful service.”
Roosevelt’s warning represented his view toward the wealthy more broadly. He neither admired nor accorded them high status merely based on wealth alone. To him, those whose sole purpose was to accumulate money without returning any “corresponding benefit to the nation as a whole” were “unworthy citizens.”
Roosevelt’s audience surely would have caught his allusions to the titans of the Gilded Age like Rockefeller and Morgan, who he had taken on during his presidency.
Trump brings to the presidency a very different understanding of the role of wealth and diversity in society. Running for a second term, he declared that minority groups are “poisoning the blood of our country,” and are “genetically disposed” to commit crimes. Rather than risking backlash to model inclusivity, Trump stoked prejudices to advance his electoral fortunes.
When it comes to wealth, the president often spends weekends at Mar-A-Lago and Trump Bedminster, private clubs with hefty buy ins and dues, surrounded by elites. He has also elevated wealthy and powerful businesspeople to important government positions, including selecting the wealthiest man in the world, Elon Musk, to head what became known as the Department of Government Efficiency. As if to advertise his admiration for the wealthy, Trump assembled the richest Cabinet in U.S. history with a combined net worth of $7.5 billion.
Trump’s glorification of the wealthy has extended to his own behavior during his second term in office. In May 2025, the president hosted an exclusive dinner for top sellers of the $TRUMP$ meme coins, which brought $148 million into his family’s coffers. This was just one example of how Trump has profited from the presidency. One investigation estimated that he and his family made more than $2 billion in profit during the first year of his second term. Ironically, to get to North Dakota to fete Roosevelt, Trump rode on a $400 million airplane gifted by the Qatari government.
Trump has long aspired to add his face to those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Roosevelt on Mount Rushmore. But Trump fundamentally misunderstands what made Roosevelt such a great president, worthy of having his face carved into granite on one of the nation’s most famous monuments: character and the willingness to focus on the needs of the less fortunate, not the rich and powerful. In his 1910 speech, Roosevelt asserted that presidents must surround themselves with people “who possess the gifts of sympathy with plain people and devotion to great ideals.”
Every American, including Trump, should read Roosevelt’s address. He challenges all of us to maintain high standards in our personal and public conduct. And in times of crisis, Roosevelt argued that both ordinary citizens and national leaders must exhibit “heroic virtues.”
Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of The Inquirer.
President Donald Trump’s political operation has unleashed its vast financial resources to try to save the Republican Party’s control of Congress, reserving nearly $138 million over the past 10 days to help the party’s midterm candidates.
The planned spending linked to Trump’s $400 million super political action committee has grown by the day and is set to fuel a massive ad campaign supporting battleground Republican candidates beginning this month. Some Republicans for months have criticized Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., for not seriously engaging in the midterms despite its huge war chest.
But now a blitz of spending tied to the group has arrived.
A new super PAC that The New York Times previously reported was linked to MAGA Inc., No Going Back PAC Inc., has booked more than $95 million worth of ads, according to data from AdImpact, a media tracking firm.
Another $27 million worth of ads is slated to come from another new super PAC called Safety and Affordability PAC Inc. The group is financially backed by MAGA Inc., according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose a confidential arrangement. The group has not yet begun advertising.
The paperwork for No Going Back and Safety and Affordability was filed with the Federal Election Commission six minutes apart by the same treasurer.
So far, Safety and Affordability PAC has appeared to focus on helping House Republicans. It has booked ads in 15 races for the lower chamber. No Going Back PAC, by contrast, has booked two-thirds of its ad reservations on Senate races. And MAGA Inc. itself has booked another $9 million in ads — so far, only in the Texas Senate race.
The three super PACs seem to have essentially carved up the midterm map; so far, their only overlapping advertising spending is in just two House races: New York’s 17th District and Michigan’s 4th District.
In addition to the ad reservations, the super PACs have also spent about $6.5 million on direct-mail efforts and about $80,000 on text messages, according to FEC records. Together, the three groups are slated to spend about $138 million on ads, mail and texts to help Republican candidates in about 50 general-election races, spending the most on Senate contests in Michigan, Ohio and Alaska.
The House races with the most planned spending by the Trump operation are in New York’s 17th District, Florida’s 25th District and Michigan’s 4th District.
Details on the precise financial arrangement between MAGA Inc. and the two newer super PACs remain unknown and could be revealed in future filings with the FEC.
The two newer super PACs appear to be so-called pop-up groups, appearing late in an election cycle and spending heavily before they are legally required to disclose their donors.
The two groups were formed in quick succession on Sept. 1 by Charles Gantt, a Republican political operative who specializes in campaign finance, according to FEC disclosures. Both of the super PACs’ websites are nearly identical in design, down to the same boilerplate text that each group “makes independent expenditures in U.S. federal elections in support of candidates who share the values of the founders and funders” of each group.
Gantt did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The spending should quiet Republicans who harbored suspicion that Trump’s political group would hold close to its resources for his own political projects. The trio of Trump groups are, together, slated to be the biggest ad spenders in the November elections outside the super PACs tied to congressional leadership, according to AdImpact data.
About 12.5 trillion tons of ice from glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica have melted since 1979, which is enough frozen water to stack ice 5 feet deep across the continental United States, according to a major scientific report.
A warming Earth is accelerating the melting of the planet’s two major ice sheets, with five-sixths of the melt not coming from hotter air, but from warmer waters eating away at the ice sheets from below and the sides, with glaciers flowing into the oceans, according to a study in Wednesday’s journal Scientific Data. That’s bad news for future sea level rise, the study’s authors said.
“The ice sheets are melting away fast,” said study co-author Eric Rignot, an ice scientist at University of California, Irvine. “We are melting the polar regions, sea level is rising worldwide and will exacerbate the vulnerability of coastal regions.”
Huge numbers for ice melt, people flooded
The numbers behind the melt are both mind-bogglingly huge and deceptively small.
All that melted ice turned into nearly 3 quadrillion gallons of water, which pushed global sea levels up about an inch since 1979, on top of other climate factors raising ocean heights, the report said.
An inch may not sound like much, but for every third of an inch (or centimeter) of sea level rise, another 2 to 3 million people get flooded at least once a year, said lead study author Ines Otosaka, an ice scientist at Northumbria University in England.
The Jakobshavn glacier in Greenland is now retreating up to 164 feet a day, Otosaka said.
The international collaboration of polar scientists, headed by the European Space Agency, had in the past only looked at ice sheet melt since the 1990s based on European satellite data. But by incorporating NASA satellites, the scientists were able to chart ice sheet volumes in Antarctica back to 1979 and in Greenland back to 1972.
The melting is accelerating
“There is a clear trend that the ice sheets are losing more mass and it has been increasing from decade to decade, especially if you look at the ice being discharged to the ocean,” Otosaka said. “And that’s quite clear that there’s a link to climate change.”
It showed that in the 1970s, 1980s and into the 1990s, the ice sheets were relatively stable, but then melt started happening and it really kicked in during the 2010s, Otosaka said.
“That’s something to be concerned about as it shows that the changes are tracking decades behind global warming, which means we can expect them to continue for decades more — even if we are able to stop heating the planet,” said study co-author Andrew Shepherd, also of Northumbria.
The accelerating numbers seemed to pause from 2020 to 2023, but the study’s authors said it more reflected short-term weather variations not long-term trends. Otosaka said the study stopped with 2023 data, but she’s looked at measurements since and found the accelerating trend has picked back up.
A lot of the stability in Antarctica was because East Antarctica had record snowfall, which compensated for the rapid melting in the less stable West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the authors said.
The three-year hiatus was “just a bump in the record,” Rignot said. “The long rise is climate and the threat is crystal clear.”
Worrying about a collapse scenario
The biggest changes scientists saw are in what they call dynamic processes, which are more abrupt and active than the slow steady melting from the air, and that’s something prone to trigger runaway “tipping points,” Otosaka said.
New York University ice scientist David Holland said that’s what concerns him “because most of the ice loss is dynamical and that is exactly what you would expect in an ice sheet instability collapse scenario.”
The international team used 45 independent surveys and 27 different satellites. “The use of relatively independent methods gives me greater confidence in the result,” said Holland, who wasn’t part of the study. “The upward trend is real.”
“The ‘wild cards’ of Antarctic mass loss continue to pose a challenge for human management of the planet — a clear and present danger, but many decades in the future,” said University of Colorado ice scientist Ted Scambos, who wasn’t part of the study. “We are now as a society smart enough to know the future, but not prudent enough to act upon the knowledge.”
The House on Tuesday passed a largely symbolic measure intended to halt the war in Iran — the latest bipartisan attempt to limit President Donald Trump’s war powers.
The vote, which advanced by a margin of 220 to 204, came after similar efforts this summer. Seven Republicans joined Democrats in supporting it, the largest number of GOP lawmakers so far to publicly oppose the war.
Rep. Zach Nunn and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa and Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina joined four Republican lawmakers who had voted for previous measures: Reps. Tom Barrett of Michigan, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
The measure, led by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Massachusetts), directs the administration to “remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran” except for personnel needed to defend American or allied bases in the Middle East.
The vote relects Democrats’ months-long strategy to force votes on war powers resolutions in order to highlight Republican support for the unpopular conflict, which after seven months has roiled global energy markets and depleted the Pentagon’s stocks of precision weaponry.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a report Tuesday estimating that the war had cost about $38 billion through July, and an additional $2 billion to $3 billion per month depending on the intensity of the fighting.
The Pentagon did not respond to the CBO’s requests for information and has previously estimated the war would cost $37.5 billion through the end of September — though that total does not account for the substantial damage to U.S. bases targeted by Iran throughout the region.
In June, the House and Senate passed a similar measure calling on Trump to end the war in Iran, though the White House has asserted that the measure is not legally binding and Democrats and Republicans disagree on whether it has the force of law. The House again voted to limit Trump in July, but a similar measure failed in the Senate.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees America’s military operations in the region, has maintained a footprint of around 50,000 troops in the Middle East and has periodically struck Iran following the collapse of a ceasefire the Trump administration reached with Tehran in June.
The Trump administration has cut or frozen up to $177 billion in federal grants since the president took office for his second term, according to a tracking tool released Wednesday by a pro-democracy nonprofit and a group of researchers and scientists.
The cuts affected all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with health, nutrition, the environment, and disaster relief making up the largest share of cuts, the States United Democracy Center and Grant Witness organization found.
Among the grants that were eliminated, frozen, or delayed were ones related to maternal health in Michigan, education research in Mississippi, and assistance to minority farmers in Iowa, the researchers found. California, Texas, New York, Illinois, and North Carolina saw the highest amounts of interrupted grant money. The tracking tool is called Lost Funds.
“By bringing thousands of funding disruptions from the Trump administration together in a publicly accessible, verified database, Lost Funds puts the magnitude of their impact on full display,” Scott Delaney, co-founder of Grant Witness, said in a statement.
The $177 billion finding represents nearly 10% of federal discretionary spending, the groups said.
The tracker’s organizers said the disrupted grants were beyond the kind of cuts that typically happen when administrations change.
“Lost Funds shows the extraordinary scale and real human impact of these disruptions, and how states are once again on the front lines protecting their residents,” said Kelly Rader, States United Democracy Center’s research director.
In some cases, courts have ruled against the administration’s grant funding cuts.
The new tool, which is being made available for public use, relies on data from USASpending.gov, an open data source of federal spending information, according to the groups’ methodology. They said the tracker would be updated regularly as the administration takes new action and lawsuits move through the courts.
States United bills itself as a nonpartisan group dedicated to the rule of law and free, fair, secure elections. It was cofounded by Norm Eisen, an attorney who has been involved in prominent lawsuits against the Trump administration, including over the Kennedy Center. Eisen left the States United center in 2024.
Grant Witness is a group of scientists, researchers, and attorneys who document how funding is changing under President Donald Trump’s administration.
A message seeking comment on the analysis was sent to the White House.
LOS ANGELES — A motorist was arrested on murder charges after authorities say she slammed her SUV into a city bus in Los Angeles, killing at least two people and injuring six others in a prelude to a second deadly tragedy: the fiery crash of a TV news helicopter that was covering the collision.
Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, of Simi Valley, was arrested Monday night and is being held at a Los Angeles jail with bail set at $4 million, police said. The case is being forwarded to the district attorney’s office, which will decide whether to file the charges in court or pursue different ones. Information on a lawyer who could speak on her behalf wasn’t immediately available.
The helicopter, which was used by NBC and Telemundo, crashed about two hours after police say Rios drove her 2004 Ford Expedition the wrong way down a busy avenue, ran a red light and struck a vehicle before hitting the bus. One passenger was fully ejected from the bus and another was partially ejected, police said.
NBC4 Los Angeles reported that two people aboard the helicopter — reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw — were killed when the chopper went down Tuesday in the Chatsworth neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley north of downtown. A person on the ground, identified as 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia, died in a parking lot, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
The crash happened as news crews were reporting on the collision.
There were no immediate details on what caused the helicopter crash, but an alarm could be heard sounding inside the helicopter’s cockpit as it lost altitude in the final seconds of video the crew broadcast before the crash.
Just after the beeping noise starts, a woman’s voice says “uh oh.” The helicopter moves quickly away from the bus crash site and starts losing altitude. The woman says “You can’t pull up?” before the video stops as the chopper nears the ground.
The helicopter, a Eurocopter AS350, went down near a large storage facility. At least four cars and two storage containers burned after the helicopter caught fire. NBC4 reporter Robert Kovacik was at the bus scene, saw black smoke, and rushed to the helicopter crash site.
News station identifies those on the helicopter
The station identified the helicopter crash victims as Moreno, a familiar voice for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 during the station’s aerial coverage, and Marciniw. Both were employees of Angel City Air, which operated the chopper for the station.
Moreno, born in Orange County, joined Angel City Air in 2010, the same year she earned a broadcast journalism and political science degree from Chapman University. She reported for several news outlets and began flying with Marciniw in 2023, the NBC4 website said.
Marciniw grew up in Southern California and graduated from Burbank High School in 1974.
“I think a lot of us are still trying to process what happened, this terrible loss,” NBC4 reporter Lauren Coronado told viewers early Wednesday as she stood near the crash site. A hazmat crew was cleaning up jet fuel, she said.
In a tribute to Moreno and Marciniw, the newscast referred to them as “the team in the sky,” saying Moreno would often post videos from her job and was in awe of the view.
In an interview with the station, Esteban Jimenez, a pilot, said he had known Marciniw since the 1990s. He said Marciniw had been his instructor.
“I just talked to him on Sunday. We were talking about the aviation business and retiring,” he said.
Expert talks about what may have caused the crash
Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said the alarm sounding in the helicopter’s final video sounds like the low rotor RPM warning horn that signals the main rotor is no longer spinning enough to keep the helicopter in the air.
“It just has all the earmarks of a potential loss of engine power and a dangerous decrease in the main rotor speed,” said Guzzetti, who used to investigate crashes for both the NTSB and FAA.
Guzzetti said the pilot appeared to be trying to perform an emergency maneuver to use the wind to force the rotor to spin again much like a breeze turns a windmill. Doing that can create a bit of lift that could help cushion the impact, but Guzzetti said there would have been little opportunity to do that because the helicopter had been hovering at a low altitude beforehand.
There are risks to news helicopters particularly in a major city like Los Angeles where multiple helicopters respond to an incident, but the pilots all coordinate closely over the radio to ensure they maintain a safe distance from each other. The industry also shares best practices to help keep these news flights safe.
Condolences for the victims and their families
NBC4 and Telemundo 52 Los Angeles said in a statement they “are deeply saddened” and extended “heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those who lost their lives.”
“Losing five Angelenos is very painful,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. “And I know this community of Chatsworth, hit hard, will be grieving for some time.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom thanked the emergency crews responding to both crashes and said in a post on X that “our hearts are with the victims and families.”
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration said personnel will arrive Wednesday to begin an investigation into the cause of the helicopter crash.
Cacia’s Bakery in Haddonfield shut its doors after two years in business, and the property is now on the market.
And South Jersey Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew accused state Democrats of a “cover-up” over New Jersey’s noncitizen voter registrations during a Tuesday congressional hearing.
Cacia’s Bakery in Haddonfield has a “closed” sign on the front door, and the property on South Haddon Avenue is up for sale.
The original location in South Philly is a family-owned operation that is more than 70 years old. It’s known for its square pizzas and rolls with thick crusts.
The name has since expanded across the bridge with locations in Williamstown, Cherry Hill, and Hammonton.
South Jersey Republican Jeff Van Drew re-upped New Jersey’s noncitizen voting issue during a Congressional hearing Tuesday without anyone directly involved in the matter to testify.
The hearing comes a day after the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s mail ballot restrictions, which means states can continue their standard procedures related to how they send ballots.
Meanwhile, there’s still an ongoing investigation. Gov. Mikie Sherrill hired an independent firm to conduct it and said she will release the findings publicly.
On the local level, Burlington County has confirmed there were ineligible voters who were removed from rolls and Gloucester County has not been notified of any questionable voters.
The Camden Planning Board approved 44 market-rate townhouses to be built on the waterfront as well as a related development of 16 more townhouses on Penn Street, according to TAPinto Camden.
Empire Buffet will soon take over the former Tang Asian Cuisine restaurant on Black Horse Pike in Audubon, 42 Freeway reports.
Former WMMR music director Erin Riley wrote a newly published book that shares the history of the Philadelphia rock station, which includes anecdotes about Bruce Springsteen.
🎉 Congratulating: Tom Pelphrey from Howell Township, who won an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series for his role as Robbie Prendergrast in Task.
🎧 Listening to: The latest episode of unCovering the Birds, in which Jeff McLane and David Murphy discuss Jalen Hurts’ performance.
🥣 Perusing: The ceramic dinnerware seen on The Bear made by designer Jono Pandolfi, whose studio is based in New Jersey.
The standouts of this three-story, five-bedroom home with five bathrooms are a kitchen with a breakfast nook and quartz countertops, a family room with a gas fireplace, a finished basement, and a fenced backyard.
The new construction also includes a primary suite with two walk-in closets and its own bathroom complete with a double vanity and a soaking tub.
A new head of the county’s economic engine recently took over and he’s focused on balancing development with conservation. We get to know him and his goals. Also this week,a deal to preserve part of Willistown Township’s Rock Hill Farm looks tenuous, the first day of fall is on the horizon and we’ve rounded up the best local spots to view peak foliage, plus People’s Light has scored over a dozen Barrymore Award nominations.
Earlier this summer, Mike Grigalonis took over as CEO of the Chester County Economic Development Council. It’s an organization the Upper Uwchlan Township resident is well acquainted with — he interned there 27 years ago and went on to serve as its chief operating officer and executive vice president before being named to the top role.
As he looks to the county’s future, he wants to balance growth with land conservation, while keeping an eye on changes in office development and farming, as well data centers and Superfund sites.
Chester County History Center has named Kim Collison its next president. She has over 20 years of museum and nonprofit experience, including at nearby Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.
More roadwork projects are getting underway this week, including a two-week closure on part of Paoli Pike. Here’s what to know.
💡 Community News
The future of a deal to preserve a swath of Rock Hill Farm while allowing homes on a portion of it looks much less certain after a Monday meeting during which Willistown officials tabled a vote and the developer’s attorney threatened that the “deal is off.” The Inquirer’s Brooke Schultz has the latest.
People’s Light in Malvern received 19 Barrymore Award nominations for its 2025-26 season, including for outstanding overall production of a musical and outstanding ensemble in a play. Here’s a look at its full slate of nominations.
One member of the cast of hit HBO show Task, which was created by Berwyn native Brad Ingelsby, took home an Emmy Award Monday night. Tom Pelphrey, who played Robbie Prendergrast, won in the supporting actor in a drama series category. Task is returning for a second season, though a release date hasn’t been announced yet.
The Inquirer recently released its “25 Under 25” list of the best local athletes under 25, including several from Chester County: West Chester’s Reese D’Ariano; brothers Colton Hiller and Maxwell Hiller from Coatesville; and Jordyn Palmer, a Westtown School athlete. See why they made the list.
East Vincent Township will continue discussions tonight at 6:30 p.m. for AQ Dev’s conditional use application to develop the Ruth Farm property into 53 single-family homes.
Willistown Township has acquired the 12-acre Nike Site, formerly a command and radar control area during the Cold War, with plans to make it open space.
A new IV therapy spot, IV Nutrition, is now open at 1506 Paoli Pike in West Chester.
🏫 Schools Briefing
Some districts are closed Monday, which is Yom Kippur.
A number of schools are pulling back on screen time amid backlash from parents. Tredyffrin/Easttown School District stopped assigning iPads to kindergartners, and elementary students won’t take home tablets. In the Phoenixville Area School District, a one-to-one device program for kindergarten through third graders has ended. The Inquirer’s Maddie Hanna explains the changes and why they came about.
Coatesville Area School District is breaking ground on its North Brandywine Middle School project this afternoon. The 144,000-square-foot addition and 21,000-square-foot renovation is expected to be completed for the 2029-30 school year.
The tracks at Downingtown High Schools East and West will remain closed a while longer as they undergo renovations. East’s track is expected to be closed through the end of this month and West’s track through the end of October.
Registration is now open for Octorara Area High School’s Room-2-Bloom early learning program for 3- to 5-year olds. The two-day program starts Sept. 29.
🍽️ On our Plate
Nottingham-based Herr’s has released a new product — and it was a big hit with Inquirer food reporter Kiki Aranita. The four cheese mac ‘n cheese curls have “achieved what no other puffed cheese curl has,” she said. Here’s why.
🎳 Things to Do
🎞️ Phoenixville Film Festival: Catch some independent films during this four-day festival. ⏰ Thursday, Sept. 17-Sunday, Sept. 20, times vary 💵 Prices vary 📍 Colonial Theatre, Phoenixville
🏇 Plantation Field International: See horses and riders compete in this annual event. ⏰ Thursday, Sept. 17-Sunday, Sept. 20, times vary 💵 $25 per car 📍 Plantation Field, Coatesville
🌃 Craft & Mercantile: Browse local artisan goods, listen to music, and grab a bite to eat at this evening market. ⏰ Friday, Sept. 18, 5-8:30 p.m. 💵 Pay as you go 📍 Burke Park, Malvern
🍻 Moo and Brew and Grapes Too: Sip local brews from Victory Brewing, Saucony Creek Brewing, and Suburban Brewing, plus grab a bite to eat and listen to live music — all benefiting Brandywine Valley Active Aging. ⏰ Saturday, Sept. 19, 5-9 p.m. 💵 $70 📍 Historic Buck Run Farm, Coatesville
🍽️ West Chester Restaurant and Food Truck Festival: Now in its 45th year, the festival features entertainment, artisans, a beer garden, and plenty of food from area eateries. ⏰ Sunday, Sept. 20, noon-5:30 p.m. 💵 Pay as you go 📍 Downtown West Chester
The home has a stone front and sits on about half an acre.Brian Castro/Virtual Vista | Courtesy of The Stein Team
Located in the Bradford Pointe Estates neighborhood, this six-bedroom Downingtown home has ample space to spread out. The first floor has living and dining rooms, an office, an eat-in kitchen, and a family room, while the lower level features a gym, a family room with a wet bar, and a theater room complete with seats and a projection screen. There’s a bedroom and bathroom downstairs, while five other bedrooms, including the primary suite with a soaking tub, are on the second floor. There are open houses Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m.
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This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
Cherry Hill Mall is among the swath of sites with automated license plate readers across New Jersey, where 523 of the state’s roughly 530 law enforcement agencies are using the technology from Flock and other surveillance companies.
Over the last year, Flock has generated 2.2 million alerts in Cherry Hill alone. The 10 Flock readers in the township have helped police identify vehicles involved in crimes committed both in and out of the township, they say.
Use of the cameras doesn’t sit right with activist group DeFlock South Jersey, which formed this summer amid growing bipartisan concern around how the license plate-reading technology impacts privacy — worries shared by both progressive organizers and national conservative figures.
Cherry Hill’s new Asianfresh Food Market held its grand opening last weekend, pulling in shoppers with its array of produce, seafood, and specialty items from Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and other Asian countries.
The outpost taps into growing demand for these offerings across the nation, including in the township, where the Asian population grew 32% between 2014 and 2024.
Cherry Hill contractors, landlords, and residents are among the most common offenders illegally dumping in Camden, according to police, who are using drones and resident-provided footage to hold them responsible.
Childhood education and daycare network Lightbridge Academy recently broke ground on its second Cherry Hill center, which it plans to open next summer, the Courier-Post reports.
Mosquito spraying was slated to take place throughout the township this morning, including on Evans Mill Road, Bortons Mill Road, and South Kings Highway. See the full list of affected sites. Officials also advised residents to remove standing water on their properties to reduce mosquito breeding.
🏫 Schools Briefing
The Cherry Hill Special Education PTA filed a grievance with the school board alleging discrimination after the group says it was blocked from setting up an information table at back-to-school nights for the first time in 12 years.
Akira 70 Omakase, a new Japanese fine-dining concept complete with an omakase experience, is coming to a former Cherry Hill fur salon on Marlton Pike this fall. It’s one of the 60 restaurants launching in the area in the coming months, The Inquirer’s Michael Klein reports.
🎳 Things to Do
🤡 Flip Circus: Marvel at the lineup of aerials, acrobatics, comedy, and live music. ⏰ Wednesday, Sept. 16-Sunday, Sept. 20, various times 💵 $22.88-$84.97 📍 Cherry Hill Mall
💉 Cherry Hill Tattoo Expo: Get some new ink — or watch others who do — at the sixth annual iteration of this event. ⏰ Friday, Sept. 18-Sunday, Sept. 20, hours vary 💵 $24.71-$47.47 📍 DoubleTree by Hilton Cherry Hill Philadelphia
🧵 Cherry Hill Autumn Craft & Vendor Market: Check out wares from local vendors, including seasonal home goods, tasty treats, and candles. ⏰ Saturday, Sept. 19, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 20, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. 💵 Pay as you go 📍 Cherry Hill Mall
This 1990 estate brings a dose of French Provincial flair to Cherry Hill’s Hunt Tract neighborhood, complete with a curved staircase in the foyer, a marble-crafted fireplace and floors, and a three-car garage with side entry. The five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home also features a guest suite on the first floor and a conservatory with a view of the surrounding foliage. There is a heated in-ground pool as well as a pool house with a full bathroom.
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Vigilante Jack Reacher's shadowy dealings spilled out across Philadelphia for the Reacher’s fourth season, which is now available in full on Amazon Prime. Starring actor Alan Ritchson as the hulking retired Army investigator, the series was spotted filming around town in 2025.
Based on Lee Child's 2009 novel Gone Tomorrow, the fourth season of Reacher has its titular character facing off against he CIA, federal agents, and international mercenaries following a woman's suicide. And while much of the on-screen action appears to have been filmed elsewhere — namely Toronto, which looks a lot like Philly, but with space — the City of Brotherly Love does show up quite a bit.
Here, we've rounded up all the Philly spots we could identify in season four. Check out the map below for where Reacher and his cohorts went in the city.
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Seen in episode 1
City Hall
Michael Bryant / Staff Photographer
Reacher's fourth season immediately sets the scene with a shot of the William Penn statue atop City Hall as a nightscape of Center City shines in the background.
Seen in episode 1
Uptown Beer Garden
Erin Blewett / For The Inquirer
We catch our first glimpse of our hero, Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson), as he exits Uptown Beer Garden, walking out of the establishment silently with a beer in hand.
Seen in episode 1
LOVE Park
Michael Bryant / Staff Photographer
Reacher speaks for the first time this season, ordering a "wiz wit" from a nondescript food truck in Love Park.
Seen in episode 1
Avenue of the Arts
Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Here, Reacher strolls down the sidewalk on the west side of Broad Street, chomping on his cheesesteak. Canonically, it is just after 2 a.m., and the street is deserted as he descends into the Walnut-Locust entrance of the B line, which runs along Broad Street.
Seen in episode 1
Walnut-Locust Station
Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
As he enjoys his cheesesteak, Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) heads down into the Broad Street Line at this Center City station. Several interior shots of the station are shown, including one in which a rat munches on a hot dog.
Seen in episode 1
Benjamin Franklin Bridge
Thomas Hengge / Staff Photographer
Philly is shown off in all its nocturnal glory in episodes one, and seven with a low-light shot of Center City from the Ben Franklin Bridge. Episode five features a skyline shot from the bridge, showing the One Water Street Apartments building.
Seen in episode 1
Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
For the first time in the season's first episode, the sun rises on Philadelphia. And it does so in this stunning aerial shot showcasing many of the Ben Franklin Parkway's gems — Logan Circle, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the works.
Seen in episode 1
Parkway Central Library
Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
We get a great glimpse of the exterior of the Parkway Central Library before heading inside, where Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) and Jacob Merrick (Christopher Rodriguez-Marquette) do research on Congressman John Sampson (Marc Blucas), a North Carolina representative who is launching a presidential bid.
Seen in episode 1
Parc
Courtesy of HughE Dillon
Parc briefly plays host to Reacher, Lila Hoth (Agnez Mo), and Jacob Merrick (Christopher Rodriguez-Marquette) as the trio settles in at an outdoor table to evade police.
Seen in episode 3
Walt Whitman Bridge
Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Reacher and his cohorts travel back into Philly via this bridge after escaping Washington, D.C. In the background, the old Southwark Generating Station is clearly visible.
Seen in episode 3
Schuylkill Expressway
Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
As Reacher and his crew traverse Philly at night, the action leads to a shot of the west end of Center City near 30th Street Station from the Schuylkill Expressway.
Seen in episode 3
Schuylkill Expressway
Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Here, we get another nightscape shot of Philly's skyline, again from I-76 near 30th Street Station looking east. In the foreground, Locust on the Park is lit up green and is featured prominently.
Seen in episode 4
Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The Philly skline is again featured in a sprawling shot from the Parkway. In the lower left, the Parkway House is visible.
Seen in episode 4
City Branch tunnel
Ed Hille / Staff Photographer
Fresh off a victory over some goons following a battle in the subway, Reacher makes his way back above ground here as he evades police.
Seen in episode 5
Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens
Margo Reed / Staff Photographer
While on the run from the police, Reacher and Tamara take refuge here, only narrowly avoiding capture in the Gardens' maze-like interior.
Seen in episode 5
The Rail Park
Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Reacher and Tamara continue to evade capture, cutting through the Rail Park before dangling from its side to hide.
Seen in episode 6
12th and Market Streets
Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Reacher and Tamara's mugshots appear on a screen at the corner of 12th and Market, which they see after passing by the Hard Rock Cafe.
Seen in episode 6
Italian Market
Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Yet another Philly skyline shot, but this time from South Philly. If you look closely, you can see St. Paul Parish, as well as the seating area for the Di Bruno Bros. 9th Street Bottle Shop.
Seen in episode 7
56th and Market Streets
Kate McCann / Staff Photographer
This skyline shot looks east along the Market-Frankford El line, with one of Steve Powers' "A Love Letter For You" murals clearly visible.
Seen in episode 7
Highmark Mann Center for the Performing Arts
Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
The Mann becomes a plot point as a potential demonstration site for a toxin being sold on the dark web thanks to an orchestral concert of movie scores.
Seen in episode 8
Schuylkill Expressway
Tamara, Reacher, and Jacob travel along I-76 in South Philly, with a clear view of Kindy's Christmas Factory Outlet in the background. Reacher and his cohorts continue their journey on I-76, getting off at exit 349 and crossing over Packer Avenue. If you squint, you can just make out the Chickie's & Pete's sign in the background.
Seen in episode 8
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
We get another aerial shot of the Parkway zooming into City Hall, but this time the camera travels over the roof of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The building's bronze winged horses and griffins are the stars of the shot.
Seen in episode 8
45th and Market Streets
The season closes out on, you guessed it, an aerial shot of Center City. This one looks east from West Philadelphia as Reacher rides the subway to parts unknown, Drexel University's Vidas Field barely visible to the left.
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That was every location we could spot in this season of Reacher. Explore the map of all locations featured. Tap onHover overa pin to learn more.
Staff Contributors
Design and Development: Garland Fordice and Sam Morris
