What has been the summer of floods, thunder, and smoke is fortuitously poised for a shower of good fortune upon the reconvened Philadelphia Cycling Classic this weekend.
“I would say it looks good Saturday and Sunday,” said Robert Oravec, a lead forecaster at the national Weather Prediction Center.
The odds strongly argue in favor of the 212 cyclists completing their miles — 120 for the men, 62 for the women — without encountering a drop of rain, a fitting way to end the classic’s 10-year hiatus.
What’s more, the winds should be light, forecasters say, on the order of 6 to 12 mph, from the north on Saturday, and southwest on Sunday.
For Saturday’s fan fest, which begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. near the Philadelphia Museum of Art, it should be sunny throughout, with temperatures in the low to mid-80s.
For race day, it will be a shade steamier than Saturday, but not heat-wave level, said Matt Benz, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc.
Conditions are likely to be more comfortable in the morning during the women’s 62-mile race, which starts at 8:30. Temperaturereadings should be in the 70s, with heat indexes well below 90.
The predicted heat index creeps past 90 during the men’s race, and expect some serious shirt-soaking during the scalings of the iconic Manayunk Wall and by the time the 120-mile course is completed.
Benz said there is a way-outside chance of a shower near the end of the race, but the National Weather Service is listing the probability at under 10%.
Given that on average Philly receives measurable rain once every three days, dry weekends are not the norm around here, especially this summer.
Since June 1, officially Philadelphia has experienced only two weekends without measurable rain.
The rain cups have been overflowing throughout the region, and Philadelphia’s totals for the last two months have been 133% of normal, according to the Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center.
While both Chester County and all of New Jersey remained under state drought “warnings,” conditions have improved markedly in Philly and the seven neighboring counties, according to Thursday’s interagency U.S. Drought Monitor update.
Parts of the region this week were classified as “abnormally dry,” the lowest drought designation on the monitor’s scale.
But portions of Bucks and Montgomery Counties were labeled as completely drought-free.
Showers are possible during the workweek as temperatures approach 90 and humidity increases, forecasters say.
But fortunately for the cyclists, the rain gauges should be empty Saturday and Sunday.
Women in sun hats and men in baseball caps lugged suitcases and scurried up a ramp to board a hulking Norwegian Cruise Line Jewel ship Thursday afternoon. Moments later, thunder cracked, rain drizzled, and lightning lit up the Delaware River.
The passengers on Norwegian’s inaugural voyage out of its new permanent terminal at PhilaPort likely could not get out of the Philly region soon enough. They were headed to sunny Bermuda.
The opening of the $66 million terminal in Tinicum Township, Delaware County, followed Norwegian Cruise Line’s return to the Philadelphia area earlier this year, making it the first cruise line to sail from the region in more than 15 years and marking the return of the industry to the region.
Dan Farkas, EVP & General Counsel with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, speaks on the opening of a new terminal for PhilaPort Cruise Terminal on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Philadelphia.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
The seven-year partnership between PhilaPort and Norwegian will avail residents to journeys to various cruise destinations without having to travel to New York, Boston, or Miami, where Norwegian’s other East Coast ports are based.
The Jewel will make voyages to Bermuda until Sept. 26, and the Pearl will arrive in November, offering five-day to 14-day trips to Bermuda, the Caribbean, Bahamas, Canada, and New England through April 2028. In summer 2028, Norwegian will offer seven-day Bermuda and Atlantic Coast voyages aboard its Gem ship.
The return of the cruise industry to the area is anticipated to contribute around 2,200 new jobs and generate about $300 million in local economic activity annually, said Dan Farkas, executive vice president of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.
“It benefits all. It’s benefiting the local hotels, the restaurants, the transportation providers, as well as the many vendors that provision the ships,” Farkas said at Thursday’s new terminal unveiling, before marking the celebration by enjoying a tiny cheesesteak hors d’oeuvre.
The Norwegian Jewel Cruise ship at the new PhilaPort Cruise Terminal on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Philadelphia.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
The cruise industry evacuated the Philly region about 15 years ago as the ships companies were running outgrew the Navy Yard port, said PhilaPort spokesperson Sean Mahoney. About four years ago, Norwegian approached the port about sailing out of the region again, Mahoney said, but a series of obstacles related to siting, land ownership, and permits cropped up.
“There were times when it did not seem possible,” Pearson said. “But the PhilaPort board and staff pushed against the naysayers and the frozen river and, with the help of our partners, we got this thing done.”
At Thursday’s celebration, Norwegian presented a $20,000 check to Tinicum Township’s fire department and a $30,000 check to the Boys and Girls Clubs to benefit three local branches. The donations were part of the company’s Sail and Sustain program, aimed to benefit the communities where it runs services.
As the final stragglers boarded the ship to Bermuda, they enjoyed a quintessentially Philly send-off — being serenaded by a Mummers band in an unpredictable and muggy rainstorm.
Sheri Herman, 71, formerly of Philadelphia, pioneering internet and cable TV executive, former senior vice president of content and business development for E! Entertainment Television, former president of internet startup American Cybercast, founder of SLH Communications, tech prophet, and dancer, died Thursday, Aug. 6, of heart failure at her home in Telogia, Fla., about 35 miles west of Tallahassee.
A magna cum laude communications graduate at Temple University, Ms. Herman went to New York after college to produce commercials for an ad agency. Over the next 27 years, she relocated to Denver and Los Angeles, successfully marketed, programmed, and developed dozens of TV networks and online companies, and pioneered the integration of TV and the emerging internet.
She was “mesmerized” by Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, her sister, Nadine, said, and predicted in the 1970s that one personal device would eventually take pictures, send messages, stream content, and still make phone calls. Jarl Mohn, former president and chief executive officer at E!, called Ms. Herman “a pioneer in incorporating new technologies and branding in entertainment.”
He said: “She also brought passion and conviction to everything she worked on.”
Ms. Herman founded her own firm, SLH Communications, in 1999. Courtesy of the family
Ms. Herman helped turn the startup Movietime channel into E! Entertainment Television in 1990 and told the Los Angeles Times: “We’re going to totally reposition the network. You won’t recognize us.” Over the next few years, E! grew its subscriber base from two million to 55 million, and Ms. Herman won industry awards for her marketing campaigns.
At American Cybercast, she championed The Spot, a groundbreaking interactiveonline reality show, in 1995, and told the Los Angeles Times in 1996: “We’re creating a new medium, but we’re kind of a cross between publishing and broadcasting in that we’re going to be advertising driven. If we were a movie studio, we’d be Miramax with a little more edge.”
Russell Collins, founder of American Cybercast, said: “Sheri Herman was nothing if not fearless. Her determination was boundless and fierce.”
Ms. Herman was especially effective at fundraising for projects and combining online content with ads and product placement. She trailblazed new internet publishing formats that included text, photos, and videos, and predicted the collision of TV and internet content. In 1996, she told Variety: “Eyeballs will move from TV to PC.”
Ms. Herman (left) oversaw the development of the Discovery Channel, the Fashion Channel, QVC, and other networks.Courtesy of the family
As director of programming for the United Cable Television Corp. in the mid-1980s, Ms. Herman collaborated with dozens of networks and oversaw the development of the Discovery Channel, the Fashion Channel, QVC, and other networks.
As senior vice president of programming and production for the Access Entertainment Network in the late 1990s, she reintroduced popular music videos and, according to Variety in 1998, gained six million subscribers in the network’s first three months of existence.
Shefounded her own firm, SLH Communications, in 1999 and contracted with TV Guide, Barnes & Noble, Hilton Hotels, musicians Quincy Jones and Jon Bon Jovi, and other entertainers and businesses. In New York, in the 1980s, she worked with cosmetics mogul Estée Lauder.
Temple officials noted her “influential career” in a tribute, and longtime friend and colleague Martin Lewis said: “She had a relentless thirst for charting new paths forward. She proselytized new media, new approaches, new everything.”
Ms. Herman (right) enjoyed time with her family.Courtesy of the family
In 2007, Ms. Herman reduced her daily responsibilities after being seriously injured in an auto accident in California. She moved to Florida in 2021.
Lewis said: “She was inventive, creative, exhilarating.”
Sheri Lynn Herman was born May 21, 1955, in Philadelphia. She grew up in Overbrook Park with her parents and older sister, and graduated from Philadelphia High School for Girls.
Her family featured several singers, and she spent many holidays singing songs and playing guitar around the piano at her grandparents’ home in Wynnefield. She loved music, studied ballet when she was young, and performed later with the Janosik Polish Dance Ensemble.
Ms. Herman was a magna cum laude communications graduate at Temple University.Courtesy of the family
Stylish and social, Ms. Herman enjoyed traveling and entertaining. She was a skilled seamstress who made her own clothes, an accomplished chef, and adept at interior decorating. She doted on her cats and dogs.
She married and divorced twice, and, after Philadelphia, lived in New York, Denver, and Los Angeles before Florida. Her sister said: “She was brilliant.”
In addition to her sister, Ms. Herman is survived by other relatives.
A celebration of her life is to be held later. Family, friends, and colleagues can connect at www.SheriHerman.com.
Investigators are in possession of a gun they believe was used in the killing of an off-duty Philadelphia police officer in Southwest Philadelphia and are interviewing the man accused of firing the fatal shots, authorities said.
District Attorney Larry Krasner offered those details Thursday as he gave updates on the investigation into the death of the officer, 29-year-old Alhassane Barry, outside an unlicensed speakeasy in the early morning hours of Aug. 16.
Surveillance video shows Barry, a two-year veteran of the force, and the shooting suspect exchanging words outside the after-hours hookah bar just before 4 a.m. before a third man punches the suspect.
The altercation then spills off-camera, resuming when Barry staggers back into the frame bleeding from gunshot wounds to his abdomen. Another person, a 35-year-old man, was also injured in the gunfire and is recovering in the hospital.
Krasner said during a news conference that investigators have identified the shooting suspect and that prosecutors are speaking with the man and his attorney to learn more about the nature of his role in the deadly encounter.
But police have yet to recommend charges to prosecutors, and Krasner said it could take up to two months for investigators to complete their review and determine what charges would be necessary.
Part of that process includes medical testing and further interviews with witnesses, Krasner said. Investigators also recovered footage of the shooting from multiple camera angles, though a sign blocks a camera angle depicting the moments immediately before shots were fired, complicating the review, according to the district attorney.
The updates came after two law enforcement sources told The Inquirer that self-defense had become part of the discussion about whether charges would be appropriate.
Asked whether the gunman told investigators he had acted in self-defense, Krasner declined to comment. But he said self-defense is “one of the issues under consideration” by investigators.
The shooter “does not dispute that he had a gun” or “that he fired,” Krasner said.
Rather, the man’s version of events “requires additional investigation,” he said.
Prosecutors are also working with police to authenticate whether a firearm handed over by the shooting suspect during discussions was the gun used to kill Barry, according to Krasner.
Meanwhile, the district attorney vowed to fight to shut down the unlicensed club where the incident began, saying that Nipsey’s Hookah Lounge was a nuisance to neighbors and that it may be connected to at least one other death.
The property has a history of violations with the city’s licenses and inspections office and was not permitted to operate as an after-hours club, The Inquirer learned.
In the wake of Barry’s killing, the district attorney’s office has filed a motion to shut down the business, Krasner said. A court hearing on the matter is expected early next month.
Dolly Parton’s literacy program, Imagination Library, has provided nearly 800 children with free monthly books mailed to their homes in West Philadelphia.
In Montgomery County, around 3,500 children have been served in the Norristown and Pottstown areas since 2023, thanks to Parton’s program.
“We don’t anticipate any changes to the program,” said Jennifer Leith, executive director of the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC).
Imagination Library, which Parton started in 1995 in Tennessee, provides deeply discounted books that are mailed each month to any child in a given zip code whose parent or guardian applies to participate. Governments and nonprofits provide funding to cover the remaining costs of the program, which is available for children from birth to age 5.
The Dollywood Foundation said in a recent fact sheet that it has delivered more than 300 million books to children in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Ireland.
WePAC started with one zip code, 19104, in July 2024, then expanded to include four more zip codes in July 2025, Leith said.
“In that time, literally thousands of books have been delivered to West Philadelphia children,” Leith said.
“Anyone from any income level, from any background, can participate,” said Eliza Brumbaugh, executive director of the Literacy Council of Norristown, which helps to run the program, with assistance from the Justamere Foundation, in Montgomery County.
Leith said “it would be great” if Mayor Cherelle L. Parker or Gov. Josh Shapiro “decided to do this in honor of Dolly Parton’s legacy.”
In Delaware County, The Community’s Foundation has provided books from the Imagination Library program to more than 140 children in Eddystone since 2024, said Dierdre Woody Konar, president of the nonprofit.
“The Dolly Parton Imagination Library has shared with TCF and their other partners that they have prepared carefully for this day and for the future of the Imagination Library,” Konar said in an email Wednesday morning.
“TCF is incredibly sad to hear of Dolly’s passing, and we look forward to continuing this important work,” Konar said.
Foundations Inc., a national education nonprofit based in Mount Laurel, ran the first Imagination Library program in Philadelphia for five years, helping to provide books to children in North Philly’s 19133 zip code.
“It was pretty much a book desert,” Casey Jones, executive director of marketing and communications for Foundations, said of the zip code before the program started.
Through Parton’s program, Foundations was able to deliver around 27,000 books to children in that one zip code until the five-year commitment was completed at the end of 2025, said Rhonda H. Lauer, CEO and president of Foundations.
“We went to Dollywood to present it to her in person,” Lauer recalled, saying she had several in-depth conversations with Parton about life and family and the program.
In the end, Lauer said, “all she cared about was getting books in the hands of children.”
People take phone photos as Dolly Parton performed at the Wilmington Public Library, in 2022. She promoted her Imagination Library, a free book gifting program for children.JOSÉ F. MORENO / Staff Photographer
The Pew Charitable Trusts has awarded $1.15 million over the next four years to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to support the next phase of its greening plan in Philadelphia’s Nicetown and Tioga neighborhoods.
The grant will continue funding the horticultural project, including placing more plants, trees, and flowers, and programs aimed at building community connections. Those initiatives will include front porch beautification, adding solar lighting, signage, fence improvements, and more in the neighborhoods.
The funding will also be used to study outcomes from the greening plan, and to continue collecting resident feedback.
L-R: Marilyn Berry, Shirley Anderson, and Dr. Renae Norris-Jones relax in the park. Gardeners and community members came out to a unity dinner at Tioga Hope Park and Garden to celebrate green space and push the city’s agricultural plan.Charles Fox / Staff Photographer
“We believe that Philadelphians need to be able to meet their basic needs, feel safe in their neighborhoods, and have access to public and community spaces and cultural enrichment. Only when these needs are met can people begin to think about gaining skills and finding quality jobs that lead to economic advancement,” said Donna Frisby-Greenwood, Pew’s senior vice president for Philadelphia and scientific advancement in a statement.
PHS president and CEO Matt Rader said the greening plan began in earnest about a decade ago, when the nonprofit shifted its focus toward using horticulture to influence well-being.
“Our core thesis, our core strategy as an institution, is to put horticulture to work to transform the social determinants of health, so that everybody yields a healthier life,” he said.
After researching which Philadelphia neighborhoods could benefit most from a greening plan, in 2019 PHS connected with Nicetown and Tioga residents who were enthusiastic about greening. PHS and community groups Nicetown CDC and Tioga United then collectively engaged with more than 400 residents. Those residents identified reducing trash and crime in the neighborhood and increasing access to healthy food and job opportunities as priorities.
The groups developed a plan based on how greening could address those concerns. Beginning in 2022, they focused on cleaning and greening vacant lots, restoring the neighborhood tree canopy, supporting residents’ gardening and beautification efforts on their blocks, helping residents get green jobs, and mobilizing neighbors and local businesses to build healthy food access.
“It’s not really about [greening]. It’s about how it changes the social, economic, and social environment of the neighborhood,” Rader said. He gave the example of the program’s curbside appeal challenge, which was a contest for residents to develop the best gardens and porches in front of their homes.
Dhavon Thomas goes by the Tioga Hope Park and Garden sign on his scooter on June 28, 2024Charles Fox / Staff Photographer
“You have whole blocks that have organized themselves by participating. … You have people that have gotten to know each other across the neighborhood by trading ideas,” he said. “… It really has helped build a social fabric around gardening and greening.”
Pew and PHS’s strategy is informed by research that suggests greening and connective programming can have wide-ranging benefits, from reducing violence to improving neighborhood mental health and sense of community. A 2018 University of Pennsylvania study found a 29% reduction in gun violence in Philadelphia neighborhoods below the poverty line where vacant land was restored or greened.
Rader said it was critical to build sustainability and longevity for the social and greening impacts. Far too often, he said, nonprofit programming drives positive change that gets eroded as the formal programs end and the funding stops.
“We approach this as a long-term investment in Nicetown and Tioga, to support the residents there to do what they want,” he said.
Estelle Vaughn, 63, lives in the same Tioga home her parents carried her into as a baby. Her mother and their neighbors always maintained some kind of garden along West Tioga Street, but she never got very involved herself until her son was playing baseball at a field across the street, where she noticed there were some underutilized garden planters.
“I’m kind of fidgety, so I was like, well, we got to make this park look good,” she said, and began planting flowers.
Two youngsters pick berries off of a bush in the Tioga Hope Park and Garden on June 28, 2024.Charles Fox / Staff Photographer
Now, she is a member of the Green Team, the community-led steering committee for the greening plan, and an avid gardener. Vaughn said the horticultural society has “been our saviors.” She has appreciated the organization’s willingness to let residents’ concerns drive the plan strategy, particularly since she said she recalls visiting the beautiful horticultural work at the Philadelphia Flower Show over the years, but not feeling like that was something for neighborhoods like hers.
The program has already made positive changes in Tioga, Vaughn said. When PHS hands out new flowers, pots, and soil, her neighbors are so excited “they’re like children,” she said. When Canadian wildfires worsened Philadelphia’s air quality earlier this year, Vaughn went out into the Tioga Hope Park and Garden that was a focus of the first phase of the plan, and said the air felt cooler and cleaner.
“I think that people are just generally happier … it brings our communities together,” she said.
Victory Brewing Company’s Philadelphia taproom was ordered to cease operations over a series of “imminent health hazards” following a Department of Public Health inspection Tuesday.
The Downingtown-based brewery’s three-level bar at 1776 Benjamin Franklin Parkway was ordered to close at 3:20 p.m. Tuesday after a health inspector documented 26 health-code violations.
Among the findings: live roaches, flies, and mice in the first floor bar and prep areas alongside mouse droppings littered throughout the nearly 14,000-square-foot space.
Victory Brewing Co.’s taproom replaced the TGI Friday’s at 1776 Ben Franklin Parkway.Michael Klein / Staff
No soap was available at several sinks throughout the brewery at the time of the inspection, the report stated, and employees were observed working without washing their hands. Black specks and orange residue had accumulated inside the ice machine, while several soda guns were “not clean to sight,” the report said.
Victory Brewing must remain closed for at least 48 hours and cannot reopen until it pays a $315 fine and passes a new health inspection. The bar announced via Instagram that it would be closed Wednesday with plans to reopen Thursday.
“The cleanliness and safety of our taproom are of paramount importance to us. They are ingrained in our daily routines and reinforced by the professional partners we work with. We have always been in compliance with the health department since opening, which is why we take this week’s report extremely seriously,” Matt Reimold, the area operations manager for Victory Brewing, wrote in response to an Instagram comment asking about the closure. “We are taking immediate action to resolve all issues and will reopen only when they have been fully addressed.”
A pest control service is “on site” to address the vermin-related violations, Reinhold wrote. Victory Brewing has maintained regular pest control service throughout doing business, Reimold wrote in the comment.
Health inspections are typically viewed as snapshots in time and may not necessarily reflect an establishment’s day-to-day conditions. That hasn’t stopped at leastone corner of the internet from fixating on Victory Brewing’s violations — which, to some, feel like taproom sins.
The first floor bar at the center of Victory Brewing Co.’s Philadelphia taproom, which opened on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in 2021.Michael Klein / Staff
“A brewery not cleaning their own lines. What a trip,” read one Reddit comment on a post about the cease operations order in the popular subreddit R/PhiladelphiaEats.
Cofounded in 1996 by Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet in the old Pepperidge Farm factory in Downingtown, Victory Brewing has grow into a national craft beer brand known best for its IPAs and easy-drinking Golden Monkey tripel.
The brewery opened its sole Philadelphia location on the Parkway in 2021, and runs two other taprooms in region in Downingtown and Kennett Square. Those remain open.
Frank Spagnuola, 85, formerly of Philadelphia, one of the original American Bandstand dancers, 1957 Chalypso dance champion, longtime interior designer, and gourmet home cook, died Monday, Aug. 17, of congestive heart failure at the Complete Care at Court House nursing center in Cape May Court House.
Born and reared in South Philadelphia, Mr. Spagnuola was lifelong friends with performers Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Fabian Forte, James Darren, and Jerry Blavat, and dozens of other singers, dancers, musicians, and disc jockeys from the neighborhood. He enjoyed socializing as well as music and dancing, and, at 15, became one of the original dancers when the old WFIL-TV station hosted Bandstand and then American Bandstand in the 1950s and ’60s.
The TV station invited local teens to dance to the latest hits in its Studio B on Market Street in West Philadelphia, and Mr. Spagnuola did just that on many afternoons from 1955 to 1963. In 1957, he and partner Dottie Horner finished first in American Bandstand’s first Chalypso contest, spotlighting an original Philly dance that combines the cha-cha and the calypso.
“We would cut classes” to dance on Bandstand, Mr. Spagnuola, a graduate of the old Bishop Neumann High School, said in a 2017 video interview. “We had eight or nine classes, and we would leave, like, the sixth class. Father would say, ‘Where are you going?’ Well, you know where we’re going, Father. The priests watched the show. I mean, everybody watched the show.”
Mr. Spagnuola graduated from the old Bishop Neumann High School in 1958.Courtesy of the family
It was downstairs at Studio B, Mr. Spagnuola said, that he encountered Bandstand guest stars Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, and Sal Mineo. As a teen in the neighborhood, he performed in local skit shows with Rydell and played football and double-dated with Fabian.
On Facebook, Fabian called Mr. Spagnuola “a gentleman and talented dancer,” and said: “Frank Spagnuola was one of the most popular and beloved regular dancers on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand during the show’s iconic Philadelphia era.”
Mr. Spagnuola is profiled at history-of-rock.com and bandstand.cafex.biz, and he and Dottie Horner are on the cover of the 1997 Dick Clark’s American Bandstand souvenir collectors’ magazine. He is featured in the 1997 New Jersey Network documentary Bandstand Days and called the show “part of American history.”
Over the years, as Bandstand’s popularity ebbed and flowed, he routinely reconnected with other original dancers — they were called the Bandstand Regulars — at reunions, public events, and celebrations in the region. American Bandstand went off the air in 1989.
Mr. Spagnuola and his dance partner, Dottie Horner, were on the cover of this 1997 souvenir collectors’ magazine. Courtesy of the family
“Everybody loved Frank,” said longtime disc jockey and music director Tommy McCarthy. “He had an infectious smile. He was a guy you just liked.”
Friends on Facebook called Mr. Spagnuola “movie star handsome,” “a rock & roll soldier,” “a Bandstand pioneer,” and “one of the nicest gentleman you could ever meet.” One said: “Wonderful dancer, wonderful person, wonderful friend.”
After graduating from Bishop Neumann in 1958, Mr. Spagnuola worked in a high-end carpet store, studied interior design, and earned an associate’s degree at the old Philadelphia College of the Arts. He became an interior designer, worked for Sears at the Moorestown Mall for 25 years, and was active with the American Society of Interior Designers.
On his own, he did private design work for Muhammad Ali, former Eagles assistant coach Jon Gruden, and other local notables. “He cultivated an eye for beauty and design,” his family said in a tribute, “shaping spaces with elegance and functionality.”
Mr. Spagnuola (left above) stands with his wife, Janet, and Bobby Rydell. Below, he is flanked by Fabian (left) and Frankie Avalon.Courtesy of the family
Francis Michael Spagnuola was born Nov. 2, 1940. The oldest of three brothers, he liked to hang out at the Jersey Shore and dine on Italian food.
He married Janet Moretti, and they had a son, Stephen, and a daughter, Carrie, and lived in South Philadelphia and Center City. His wife died in 2005.
Mr. Spagnuola moved to Cape May later, became an accomplished home cook, and was known for his crab salad dip. He was passionate, upbeat, and funny, everyone said, and his children called him “a steadfast anchor and a lifelong source of support.”
His family said: “He leaves behind a memory as warm and enduring as the summer shore and the Wildwood days he so dearly cherished.”
Mr. Spagnuola enjoyed time with his children (above) and grandchildren (below).Courtesy of the family
His son said: “He loved life. He loved people. He loved characters.”
In addition to his children, Mr. Spagnuola is survived by three grandchildren and other relatives. Two brothers died earlier.
A day after U.S. marshals captured the man accused of menacing pedestrians in Center City while wearing a Chucky-style mask, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner urged victims to come forward, saying prosecutors are eager to pursue additional charges against the man whose antics terrorized people and went viral.
Zymire Hughes, 22, was taken into custody on Tuesday night in Las Vegas by marshals who tracked him across the country. Authorities said Hughes wore a frightening mask to harass and scare more than a dozen people, including a woman he approached while she was jogging near City Hall earlier this month and asked, “Are you ready to die?”
As the 40-year-old woman ran from him, Krasner said, she fell and suffered injuries that required hospitalization and weeks of recuperation.
Hughes faces aggravated assault and other charges in connection with that incident, the district attorney said, and prosecutors are reviewing as many as 15 other reported incidents involving the masked man that same morning.
“If more victims are identified,” Krasner said, “we look forward to prosecuting him in other cases as well.”
He added: “Who’s scared now?”
Authorities have not identified most of the people who appear to have been confronted or frightened by the masked man. But in a widely publicized incident, Jameka Wilson, a 25-year-old actress, told several news outlets that a man wearing a similar mask approached her on her way to an exercise class near City Hall and that she kicked him in the chest.
Philadelphia police said that Hughes did not display a weapon during the incidents and that the woman who fell was the only person known to have been injured. Investigators have said they believe he may have been frightening people to create social media content.
On Wednesday, Krasner dismissed the idea that Hughes could characterize the crimes as online entertainment.
“You can’t just say, ‘I’m an influencer,’ and commit crimes,” he said. “You can’t just terrorize people, terrorize a community, because the reaction of someone who believes she might die at any second, you find funny.”
Hughes remained in custody Wednesday in the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, court records show, and was scheduled for a court hearing Thursday.
After Hughes is extradited to Philadelphia, prosecutors will seek “very high bail” in an effort to keep him in custody while the case proceeds through court, Krasner said.
“One of the questions that bail answers is: Will this person run?” Krasner said. “I mean, yes. Obviously, he already has. … Running away is the ultimate way to high bail.”
Hughes’ extradition could take as little as a week or stretch into months, depending largely on whether he contests his return, Krasner said.
Hughes’ flight from Philadelphia took him from New Jersey to Florida and then Nevada, authorities said.
He left the Philadelphia area Aug. 19 from Trenton-Mercer Airport in Ewing, N.J., according to the U.S. Marshals Service. He flew to Orlando and then to Las Vegas.
Philadelphia and Las Vegas deputy marshals began working together Friday, said Robert Clark, a supervisory deputy U.S. marshal, and spent the weekend trying to locate him.
Investigators eventually tracked Hughes to an apartment complex in southeast Las Vegas, where they believe he had been staying for about five days, Clark said.
Marshals arrested Hughes about 8 p.m. Tuesday. Clark said Hughes tried to pull away from his handcuffs and had to be subdued by deputy marshals.
Hughes’ arrest followed a week of intense public attention after Philadelphia police released images of him and asked residents for help in finding him. The case had already gone viral because of photographs and videos showing a man wearing a cracked, baby-faced mask resembling the horror character Chucky from the movie Child’s Play.
Prosecutors are continuing to review evidence, Krasner said, and “will be pursuing all charges that apply.”
Anyone who was approached or menaced by the masked man can contact the district attorney’s office at 215-686-8000.
Joan M. Satterthwaite, 92, of Philadelphia, talented tailor and seamstress, longtime office administrator for the Mayor’s Commission on Aging, volunteer, and community caretaker, died Tuesday, Aug. 4, of sepsis at Jefferson Washington Township Hospital in Gloucester County.
Adept at designing, constructing, fitting, and altering garments of all kinds, Ms. Satterthwaite worked at the Botany 500 factory at Broad Street and Lehigh Avenue, and for other clothing manufacturers in Philadelphia, for more than 20 years. She could do every job on the intricate clothing assembly line, her son Kevin said, and she did them fast and well.
She joined the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union in the 1950s and supplemented her weekday work by producing gowns, dresses, suits, and other clothing for family, friends, church choirs, wedding parties, and local businesses.
She made Halloween costumes for her two sons when they were young and tailored suits when they were older. She designed a wedding dress for her daughter-in-law.
She could duplicate many patterns by looking at them just once. Over the years, she collected eight sewing machines. “Her craftsmanship and attention to detail earned her the admiration and loyalty of countless clients,” her family said in a tribute.
Her son Kevin said: “We would call her an entrepreneur today.”
In the mid-1980s, Ms. Satterthwaite left garments and became certified in office administration and computer technology at the old Philadelphia School of Office Technologies. For a decade, she worked for the Joseph Shein Law Firm.
She tried to retire in the mid-1990s. But she impressed officials at the Mayor’s Commission on Aging so much as a client that they recruited her as a receptionist and administrative assistant. Sheleft that job in 2018, at 85.
Ms. Satterthwaite reared her sons in Philadelphia. Courtesy of the family
After that, she volunteered with veterans groups, was active in the community, and opened her home to anyone in need. “If someone asked for help,” her son Kevin said, “she was there.”
Her family said: “Joan’s life was a testament to perseverance, faith, compassion, and determination. Her kindness, generosity, and genuine concern for others became hallmarks of a life well lived.”
A friend said online: “Ms. Joan was the nicest person ever. … Her kind spirit reminded me of my grandmother.”
Joan Marie Watts was born Dec. 28, 1933, in North Philadelphia. Her mother died when she was 2, and she was reared by her grandfather and his wife.
Ms. Satterthwaite doted on her grandchildren.Courtesy of the family
She studied tailoring and sewing at William Penn High School and graduated in 1952. She married Charles Satterthwaite in 1953, and they had sons Kevin and Eric. Her husband died earlier.
Ms. Satterthwaite was a member of Triumph Baptist Church for more than 35 years, and she went to breakfast with others often after Sunday service. She had breakfast with her sons on Saturdays, bowled every week for 30 years, hosted memorable family gatherings on holidays, and pored over puzzle books when she was older to stay sharp.
Her family noted her “warm heart, generous spirit, and love of people” in a tribute and said: “Her kindness, patience, and genuine concern for others left a lasting impression on all who knew her.”
She doted on her family and told them often that education was a key to success. She lived in Nicetown and Logan, and most recently in Washington Township.
Ms. Satterthwaite graduated from William Penn High School. Courtesy of the family
Her son Eric praised her “unwavering belief that nothing in life was more important than family.” Her son Kevin said: “She was welcoming and warm. She liked being around people. Her life force kept her going.”
In addition to her sons, Ms. Satterthwaite is survived by four grandchildren, two sisters, a brother, and other relatives. Two brothers died earlier.
Services were held earlier.
Donations in her name may be made to Triumph Baptist Church, 1648 W. Hunting Park Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19140.
Ms. Satterthwaite bowled every week for decades. Courtesy of the family
