Federal prosecutors have charged a Montgomery County rail parts supplier and its owner with participating for eight years in a bid-rigging conspiracy involving SEPTA contracts.
Hatfield-based Qual-Tran Products Co. LLCand owner Cathleen Shive colluded with competitors and others, including a former SEPTA employee, to manipulate the transit agency’s competitive bidding process, according to a charging document filed July 23 in theU.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania.
Invoices show SEPTA did $20.3 million worth of business with Qual-Tran from 2007 to 2025, authority spokesperson Andrew Busch said. The transit agency says it bought a variety of train and railway parts from the company, many of them for Regional Rail.
A person answering the phone at Qual-Tran’s listed telephone number declined to comment. Lawyer Fortunato Perri is representing the company according to court records and declined to comment Friday.
“SEPTA’s Office of Inspector General has been working closely with the Department of Justice on this matter and will continue to do so as the investigation moves forward,” Busch said.
Qual-Tran distributes after-market parts to transit systems and freight railroads across the country.
The company specializes in overhead catenary wires, which transfer power to passenger trains, as well as other equipment such as current sensors and third-rail contacts, according to its website and coverage in trade publications.
SEPTA won’t have a complete picture of how much money was involved in the alleged scheme until the government reveals more details as the case progresses, Busch said.
Qual-Tran was able to reverse-engineer replacement parts no longer made for older rail cars in SEPTA fleets, he said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern Pennsylvania declined to comment on the case beyond court records.
Qual-Tran and Shive,prosecutors allege,conspired with five people and two corporations, noneidentified by name in court records. They created the appearance of competition for SEPTA work while deciding among them which company would win some contracts, the charging document says.
The alleged scheme ran from 2016 to 2024, according to the charges. Shive, the documents say, joined Qual-Tran in 2011 and became the president and owner of the company in 2024.
They face antitrust charges of unlawful restraint of trade in interstate commerce.
Prosecutors described five transactions.
In one September 2023 instance, the government said, Shive asked a senior resource controller with SEPTA to arrange for a second corporation to deliberately submit a higher bid of $3,310 each for “30 manhole frames and lids.” Qual-Tran won the contract by quoting a lower price.
SEPTA confirmed that the senior resource controller mentioned in the charging documents is no longer employed by the agency.
A developer is planning to build 807 housing units on 30 acres of Manayunk’s Venice Island, bringing an end toyears of questions by residents about what would become of the land.
Manayunk Renaissance LLC told members of local neighborhood groups about the plan during an informal meeting Wednesday. Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., who represents Manayunk, also attended.
The company confirmed the plans to The Inquirer on Thursday.
“Venice Island is one of the most unique areas in Philadelphia, with water views on both sides, proximity to trails and outdoor space, and easy access to both SEPTA and I-76, all within walking distance of one of Philadelphia’s great neighborhoods — Manayunk,” Hercules W. Grigos, an attorney for the company, said in a statement.
The meeting with community leaders was meant to solicitfeedback on the project, which is on the former PaperWorks mill site. Neighborhood input would then be used to “refine the proposal,” Grigos said.
Manayunk Renaissance LLC said in a statement that it plans to build multiple types of housing at what it calls The Flat Rock at Venice Island. The proposal includes 159 townhouses, 126 duplexes (with 252 units), and 396 apartments.
John Hunter, an architect and zoning chair of the Manayunk Neighborhood Council, who attended the briefing, has long argued at community meetings against more waterfront housing because he’s concerned about flooding and overdevelopment.
“It’s unfortunate. It follows a trend,” Hunter said of the plan. “It’s more suburbanization of Manayunk, more residential. There’s no commercial there; it’s not balanced.”
The company noted that it would be the fifth residential project on Venice Island, although it would still require a zoning change.
Flat Rockwould also be its largest development, by far.
Apex Manayunk has about 128 units, the Locks has 60 townhouses, and the Isle has roughly 160 apartments. A 181-unit project is also planned by Rock Urban Development, a scaled down version of an earlier proposal.
Where would the new housing be built?
The 30-acre site at 5000 Flat Rock Rd. lies on the northwestern side of the island. Manayunk Renaissance LLC purchased the property in 2021 for $23 million, according to city records. The property takes up about 45% of the island’s land mass.
Some area residents had been hoping for either open space or less dense development with commercial uses mixed in.
The developer plans 500 parking spaces for the 800 proposed residential units, according to Hunter. That would fall short of the typical one-to-one standard in Manayunk, he noted.
Manayunk Renaissance LLC did not respond to a question about the parking.
It was not immediately clear who is backing Manayunk Renaissance LLC. The company shares an address with A.P. Construction, a South Jersey-based construction company, with an office at the Navy Yard.
A.P. Construction boasts a portfolio of big projects in the region, including work on bridges, stadiums, and the Manayunk Bridge Connector Trail and Park.
Hunter said the developer told residents at Wednesday’s meeting that Philadelphia-based Varenhorst would be the architect. The company also designed the Locks, an earlier residential project on the island.
Map of planned development on a 30-acre site on Venice Island in Manayunk.John Duchneskie
Flooding concerns
Hunter said residents are particularly concerned about flooding. Hurricane Ida in 2021 hit Manayunk hard and inundated some of the buildings on the island.
Hunter and others fear more building will leave Venice Island residents trapped in another big storm, while contributing to even more flooding as runoff flows into the river and canal.
The 5000 Flat Rock Rd. property lies just below the Flat Rock Dam.
Venice Island, one of the lowest-lying areas of the city, is a narrow wedge of land, just shy of 70 acres and roughly 1.7 miles long between the Schuylkill River and Manayunk Canal.
In September 2021, as Manayunk experienced flooding from Hurricane Ida, people take in the view from Rector Street of the fast running water at the canal that runs along Main Street and feeds into Schuylkill River.ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer
In a statement — also shared with neighbors — Manayunk Renaissance LLC said it had hauled in 400,000 cubic yards of soil to raise the site between 9 and 11 feet, bringing it at least 18 inches above flood elevation.
The company said it had approvals from FEMA, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and the Philadelphia Water Department for the new grading and height.
Manayunk Renaissance also said it razed a dilapidated 512,000-square-foot mill building and is working to clean up lead and asbestos.
Manayunk Renaissance said in its statement that it is finalizing an agreement with SEPTA to create an emergency exit fromthe island via Umbria Street, where the Ivy Ridge railway station is. The company said it would pay all construction costs.
Hunter said he and others were told during the meeting that the route includes building a bridge over the canal that leads to an on-grade crossing at the railway equipped with three gates. That new road would be reserved for emergencies.
Zoning is an issue
The property is zoned for industrial uses, so the developer would either need City Council to change the land use rules legislatively or seek relief from the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
“After five-plus years of work and planning, Manayunk Renaissance is ready to present its vision to the community and seek city approval to change the zoning,” the company statement said.
Community support would be a boon for the developer in either case. Having the backing of neighborhood groups is often a positive factor at the zoning board and could sway Councilmember Jones if they go the legislative route.
The company argues that the existing zoning allows warehouses, data centers, and other projects that “would be inconsistent with the community’s direction.”
The child-sized figure with robot-like qualities was the brainchild of Canadian researchers in the mid-2010s.
The goal was to try and better understand human-robot relationships, and to generally gauge how humans would interact with robots.
He was carried across the Northeast by the kindness of strangers who were kept up to date through social media posts.
Nicknamed hitchBOT, the oddity developed quite a following, moving through the Netherlands, Germany, andCanada.
When he hit the United States, he crossed through the northeastern part of the country over a two-week span.
And he was making — and having — a good time. He took in a Boston Red Sox game, visited an aquarium, and was gleefully photographed in Times Square in New York.
And then he arrived in Philadelphia.
hitchBOT’s creators said their baby had been mugged while taking a break at Elfreth’s Alley on Aug. 1, 2015, and stripped for parts.
They said he had been horrifically decapitated.
The creators later quipped, “sometimes bad things happen to good robots.”
In 2015, Laura Blankenship, cochair of the Computer Science Teachers Association, wrote a post about the lessons from the experiment.She remarked that the creators got an answer to their existential question:
“Humans might treat robots just like humans,” Blankenship wrote.
hitchBOT became fodder for late-night talk shows, gossip websites, and ammunition for the usual folks who enjoy taking cheap shots atPhiladelphia and its inhabitants.
The New York papers ate it up, as did CNN.
“This is why we can’t have nice hitchhiking robots,” CNN wrote.
As far as Philadelphia’s role in the episode, the city still holds a special place in its heart for the headless kind-hunter. On the 10th anniversary, a memorial service and a remembrance were held at the famous alley where hitchBOT met his end.
Today, hitchBOT’s body is on display at the Heinz Nixdorf Museums Forum in Paderborn, Germany.
Think you know your news? There’s only one way to find out. Welcome back to our weekly News Quiz — a quick way to see if your reading habits are sinking in and to put your local news knowledge to the test.
Question 1 of 10
Which top official resigned from Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration this week?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Philadelphia Managing Director Adam K. Thiel, a top appointee who supervises many of the government’s day-to-day operations, is resigning, the mayor announced Tuesday.
Question 2 of 10
A University of Pennsylvania professor has sold over a million copies of her highly praised translation of this story:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Professor Emily Wilson of West Philly thought she’d sell 1,000 copies of her Odyssey translation. She has sold more than a million, thanks to Christopher Nolan. Her translation was cited by Nolan as a reference for his blockbuster film version.
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Question 3 of 10
Philly band Snacktime performed at the Newport Folk Festival last week. While there, they also made a guest cameo, performing as the horn section for this popular singer:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
The band — wearing their trademark black faux Sixers jerseys — joined Lauryn Hill as the Fugees singer’s horn section, on “Doo Wop (That Thing),” from her 1998 classic album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which was released on Conshohocken’s Ruffhouse Records.
Question 4 of 10
Philly’s Academy of Natural Sciences was the first public venue with a complete dinosaur skeleton on view. What kind of dinosaur is the 15-foot-tall skeleton of?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
In 1868, the Academy made paleontology history when Benjamin Waterhouse unveiled a complete dinosaur skeleton of Hadrosaurus foulkii built from bones of the plant-eating dinosaur excavated in Haddonfield 10 years before.
Question 5 of 10
A new art gallery at the vintage shop At My House features pieces all falling into this theme:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
All of the art on display at “Mini Mini” is about 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches — no larger than a postage stamp. On the wall are displays of tiny clothing items, makeshift houses and rooms, and some original drawings. The artwork is for sale, with items ranging from $60 to $300.
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Rising pop singer Audrey Hobert recently told a crowd at one of her shows that if she could haunt any place in the world, she’d select this Philly bar:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
“Such a great question,” responded Hobert, in a lime green zip-up and gym shorts. “I would probably haunt this bar in Philly which [inspired] my song ‘Silver Jubilee.’ … It’s the best bar I’ve ever been to.” A blog post on Hobert’s website detailing the backstory of “Silver Jubilee” explains it was inspired by a Halloween weekend in 2024 she spent at Drinker’s Pub.
Question 7 of 10
New details have been released about the Star Wars: The Experience exhibit, which is touring North America and launching at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute next year. The experience will include a range of interactive displays and original artifacts used in the films. Which character’s original lightsaber has been confirmed as part of the exhibit?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
A variety of rare artifacts used in the films — like Darth Vader’s costume and Darth Maul’s lightsaber — will be on display, along with various robots and aliens from the universe, like R2-D2 and Grogu.
Question 8 of 10
Oroshi, a budget-friendly omakase, has opened on Broad Street. The restaurant still uses plenty of high-end ingredients and cuts. But it’s also playful at times, food writer Kiki Aranita noted. What unexpected ingredient was torched on top of a piece of salmon when she dined there?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
A nigiri on Oroshi’s opening menu that they’ve since phased out consisted of premium Bakkafrost salmon from Scotland, topped with mayonnaise and a tiny square of Kraft American cheese that was torched multiple times.
Question 9 of 10
LeBron James’ move to the Sixers sparked major jersey sales. According to Fanatics, the move marks the highest-selling jersey of a player joining a new team (across all sports). What player held that record until now?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
After James shocked the sports world, choosing the Sixers over Cleveland and Miami, the future Hall of Famer’s jersey has been the highest-selling of a player joining a new team across all sports — surpassing Shohei Ohtani’s move to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023, according to Fanatics.
Question 10 of 10
A rising senior at La Salle University built an app to help him and other athletes on his team excel in their sport, using a collection of stats and artificial intelligence. What sport is the app specialized for?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Will Tran, a rising senior rower and computer science major, created RowIQ, which provides an in-depth look at how rowers can improve with “data that’s never been seen before.”
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Khlood Hammad was at the drive-thru lane of a Northeast Philadelphia Dunkin’ on the evening of Jan. 31, 2025, when a private medical transportation jet nose-dived into the ground a block away.
The sheer force of the blast and the gruesome scene still haunts Hammad, she said in a lawsuit filed this month against the jet’s operator.
Hammad suffers from dizziness and imbalance because of injuries to her head and ears, the suit says, and she developed post-traumatic stress disorder that has been impacting her ability to work.
“It’s just miraculous that anyone that close survived,” said Joseph Russomanno, Hammad’s attorney.
The lawsuit is the latest against Med Jets, the Mexican air carrier that operates specialized airplanes for medical transport, and the second this month by a witness of the crash that killed eight people, injured dozens, and impacted hundreds of homes.
The new suits, filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, expand the circle of crash victims pursuing claims against Med Jets, vying for a chunk of the company’s $10 million insurance policy.
Med Jets — which operates under the name Jet Rescue Air Ambulance — is already facing two wrongful death lawsuits brought by families of Mexican nationals who were killed and a lawsuit brought by a man who was severely burned near the crash site.
“There’s a lot of people in line for the $10 million,” said attorney Michael Hanamirian, who represents another witness who is suing the company. “It sounds like a lot of money, but in this case it’s not a lot of money.”
Hanamirian sued Med Jets this month on behalf of Yunelly Cervera, who saw the crash from her home and had plane debris land on her property.
Cervera has been experiencing troubling dreams and panic attacks, among other symptoms of post traumatic stress, the suit said.
The crash took place shortly after 6 p.m. on a Friday. The Med Jets-owned Learjet 55 plummeted 1,650 feet at more than 235 miles per hour within a minute of taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport.
All six people aboard the jet died, including 11-year-old Valentina Guzman Murillo, who was heading home after having spent four months undergoing treatment for a spinal condition at Shriners Children’s Philadelphia.
Map of where a small jet crashed near Roosevelt Boulevard and Cottman Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia on Jan. 31.John Duchneskie
Med Jets did not respond to a request for comment.
The company’s insurance provider, El Águila Compania de Seguros, filed a lawsuit in Philadelphia’s federal court last summer saying claims would far exceed the remaining liability limits” the company’s $10 million insurance policy.
It is unknown how many more people have viable claims similar to Cervera and Hammad, attorneys said.
Once the insurance funds are exhausted, those who weren’t compensated — at all or sufficiently — could attempt to obtain a judgment directly against the company, Hanamirian said.
But the value of Med Jets’ assets remains an open question, the attorney said,and enforcing any award issued in a U.S. court on a company across the border can be tricky.
“The judgment has to be significant enough to enforce because of all the time and steps involved,” Hanamirian said.
Resident physicians at Temple University Health System and Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals have ratified their first contracts with their health systems after having voted to unionize last year.
The 2,200 Temple and Jefferson residents organized with the Committee of Interns and Residents, affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, and are among the 86% of Philadelphia resident physicians who have joined a union in the last several years.
The contracts were ratified July 1 and announced Thursday.
The new contracts include “substantial” raises and “greater investment in resident education,” the union said Thursday in a news release.
In addition, residents at different hospitals in the same health systems will now receive similar salaries, the union said.
Residents at Jefferson Einstein Hospital will be paid the same as other Jefferson residents, and those at Temple’s Chestnut Hill Hospital will “achieve near pay parity” with residents at Temple University Hospital and Fox Chase Cancer Center by the second year of their contract, the union said.
Resident physicians and fellows have completed their medical degrees and spend three to seven years training in a clinical specialty, working up to 80-hour weeks for, on average, $61,000 a year. That’s a lower salary than other professionals who require special training, like flight attendants and electricians.
Union members said their new contracts would help them afford living expenses as they train. Many live paycheck to paycheck, and some take on debt to get by, Linda Li, a resident physician at Chestnut Hill Hospital, said in a statement.
“I’m incredibly proud that we stood together and won a contract that will make a material difference in our lives and for residents who come after us,” she said.
In a statement, a Jefferson spokesperson said: “We look forward to moving ahead together in support of the patients we serve.”
A Temple spokesperson said the contract “appropriately supports our residents and Temple Health and preserves our ability to provide our patients with the high-quality care they deserve.”
“We take great pride in the skill and compassion our Residents and Fellows demonstrate in caring for our patients, and in their tireless dedication to the pursuit of knowledge,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “We remain committed to a positive working relationship which supports the finest and most rewarding physician training experience for them.”
Philadelphia-area physicians have been part of a wave of unionization efforts for years. Residents at Penn Medicine signed their first contract in 2024, just before roughly 3,000 residents at Temple, Jefferson, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Delaware’s ChristianaCare began a unionization push. ChristianaCare’s attending physicians are also unionized and signed their first contract earlier this summer.
Adrian Kase, a resident physician in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Jefferson, said in a statement that she and fellow residents were inspired by unionization efforts at Penn.
“We saw how residents at Penn were able to raise the bar for physician training and patient care by organizing and winning their first contract, and we’re thrilled to build on what they achieved,” Kase said.
While CHOP’s medical residents ultimately voted against unionizing, residents at the other health systems opted to organize with the Committee of Interns and Residents. ChristianaCare residents are still negotiating their first contract.
Neysa Adams, 104, of Philadelphia, 1971 chair of the local United Fund women’s committee, former president of the Rebecca Gratz Club, onetime vice president of the women’s council for the Federation of Jewish Agencies, former associate trustee at the University of Pennsylvania, scientist, high school teacher, investment adviser, and philanthropist, died Friday, June 26, of heart disease at the Hearth at Drexel.
Born and reared in Philadelphia, Mrs. Adams graduated from Olney High School and lived over the years in East Oak Lane, Germantown, and Elkins Park. She earned a degree in biochemistry with honors at Penn, did scientific research for a time, and taught English and history for two years at Philadelphia High School for Girls.
Smart, friendly, and energetic, she joined the Philadelphia United Fund volunteer speakers bureau in 1963, became active with the fund’s public relations committee, schools committee, and women’s committee, and organized many community fundraising campaigns. In 1971, she told The Inquirer she had a “deep feeling for community work.”
Mrs. Adams also served on the board at what is now Penn’s School of Social Policy and Practice and was active with the Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania Foundation, the National Conference on Social Welfare, and state and federal women’s advisory commissions. In 2003, then-Gov. Ed Rendell recognized her as a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania for her “outstanding service and contributions to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
She also established Neysa Adams’ Library Fund at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park. Friends called Mrs. Adams “wonderful,” “outstanding,” and “one of life’s brightest lights” in tributes.
One friend said: “Neysa was one of the kind.”
This story about Mrs. Adams appeared in The Inquirer in 1971.Newspapers.com
Neysa Norma Cristol was born Aug. 7, 1921. She met Arlin Adams in high school, and they married in 1942 while he was on leave from the Navy. They had daughters Carol, Judy, and Jane. Her daughter Jane died in 2017.
Mrs. Adams and her husband, a state secretary of public welfare and longtime federal judge, traveled the world, mostly through his work, and she met a queen, a pope, several U.S. presidents, and other international notables. “Her resilience, intellectual curiosity, and dedication to serving others stand as a testament to a life well lived,” friends at the Hearth at Drexel said in 2024.
She was active at Keneseth Israel, enjoyed cooking, and was an avid reader. She also worked as an investment adviser.
She was featured on 6abc TV last August on her 104th birthday and said: “Get those things that make you happy. Enjoy them while you can.”
Mrs.Adams and husband, Arlin, married in 1942 while he was on leave from the Navy.Courtesy of the family
Her daughter Carol said: “She was outgoing and had lots of friends. It seemed like she knew everyone in Philadelphia.”
In addition to her daughters, Mrs. Adams is survived by four grandchildren, one great-grandson, and other relatives. A sister and a brother died earlier.
Mrs. Adams (second from right) doted on her husband and three daughters. Courtesy of the family“It seemed like she knew everyone in Philadelphia,” said Mrs. Adams’ daughter Carol (left). Courtesy of the family
Disney has come out swinging in its defense of 6abc and seven other owned-and-operated ABC TV stations the Trump administration is threatening to take off the air.
In a new filing Thursday, Disney claims President Donald Trump is using the Federal Communications Commission to go after the local stations’ broadcast licenses in “retaliation” for comments made by ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
“There is no question why the commission is singling out these eight stations: Each is owned by ABC, and the administration has openly and repeatedly called for the revocation of ABC’s licenses, because it dislikes the content and viewpoints expressed on ABC network programs,” Disney wrote.
The FCC did not address Disney’s criticism, but in a statement a spokesperson said the agency “is going to hold broadcasters accountable to the full extent of the law.”
“The retaliation against ABC is a signal to every media company in the country: accommodate the administration’s view of what news coverage should look like or pay the price,” Disney wrote.
FCC chairman Brendan Carr also said the agency would include in its review the network’s decision not to air Trump’s prime-time address on election security earlier this month, in which the president repeated the baseless claim he won the 2020 election, despite losing to former President Joe Biden.
“I think that’s something that broadcasters should be carrying,” Carr said.
NBC also passed on carrying the speech live, while some local Fox affiliates picked up cable coverage from Fox News. CBS aired Trump’s address, but broadcast networks are not required to preempt their programming when the president addresses the nation.
Could the Trump administration really take 6abc off the air?
Rick Williams anchors 6abc’s 11 p.m. edition of “Action News.” 6ABC
The short answer is yes, but experts say it would be a messy, complicated battle that could take years, a process likely extending beyond the end of Trump’s second term in office.
6abc’s current broadcast license, renewed in 2023, runs through 2030. The FCC’s next step would be a referral for an official hearing, which could take place as early as next month.
So far, the FCC has not presented evidence 6abc or the other seven ABC stations owned by Disney have violated any public interest requirements.
“The FCC has spent the last 18 months searching for some pretext for revoking the Stations’ licenses,” Disney wrote. “The commission has found none, because the Stations easily meet the standard for license renewal — which under the law means that the Commission cannot revoke their licenses or order a hearing on their renewal applications.”
If the FCC does move to revoke all eight of ABC’s local broadcast licenses, the case would be decided by an administrative law judge, according to the FCC’s website. Even then, the decision would be subject to appeals to the full commission and federal courts.
6abc going dark would be ‘a significant loss to the Philadelphia region’
6abc’s “Action News” has been the city’s most-watched local news program for decades. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Last month, 6abc called on viewers to weigh in on the early review of its broadcast license and support the station. That public comment period ended Wednesday, with over 152,000 people sounding off on the FCC’s move.
Responders overwhelmingly supported the station, according to an analysis of public comments posted to the FCC’s website, with 6abc widely praised for its local news coverage.
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), who represents Bucks County, called on the FCC to give 6abc “full and fair consideration” on its early license renewal, calling the station “an important part of our region’s public safety, cohesion, and civic life.”
Among the organizations weighing in was the Philadelphia Zoo, which called 6abc a “steady, trusted presence in this community for decades.”
“The loss of 6ABC would be a significant loss to the Philadelphia region and to organizations like ours that rely on the station’s local news, weather, and community coverage to reach the public,” Jo-Elle Mogerman, the Philadelphia Zoo’s president and CEO, wrote in a letter to the FCC.
The Philadelphia Police Foundation called 6abc an “indispensable partner” and “vital contributor” to the quality of life across the city, praising the station’s support of police officers, first responders, and Philly children.
“The loss of 6ABC broadcasting would deeply impact the Philadelphia region, removing a trusted journalistic voice and a critical pillar of support that local nonprofits and public safety organizations rely upon,” the organization wrote.
Local residents were also overwhelmingly against removing 6abc from the air. Faith Paffett-Lugassy cited 6abc’s coverage of weather events and emergency information, pointing to Action News’ live coverage during severe thunderstorms that swept through the Philadelphia region earlier this month.
“ABC stayed on the news channel the entire time until a tornado watch was finally canceled,” Paffett-Lugassy wrote. “ABC is my favorite channel to watch, please don’t take it off the air.”
Bucks County resident Donald O’Keefe is not a cable TV subscriber, and said he relies on 6abc’s broadcast signal for local news and weather updates. According to O’Keefe, taking the station off the air “would directly compromise the public safety and awareness of Lower Makefield Township” and deprive residents of “critical safety warnings.”
Others, like David DeGrace, looked beyond Action News to all the other programming on ABC that would be unavailable if the FCC followed through on its threat.
“Don’t take away my Jeopardy!” DeGrace wrote. “This is ridiculous.”
Convicted former Philadelphia labor leader John Dougherty will remain in prison after a federal judge again denied Dougherty’s request to be released on house arrest to provide care for his gravely ill wife.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl wrote in a memorandum filed Thursday that Dougherty and his lawyers had failed to demonstrate that he was the only person who could provide adequate care for his wife, Cecelia, who for years has suffered from a debilitating brain injury.
In addition, Schmehl wrote, Dougherty did not sufficiently specify when a trust fund established to support his wife’s care would run out of money. Those factors, coupled with the “minimal amount of time” Dougherty has served in his six-year sentence, Schmehl wrote, “do not weigh sufficiently in favor of relief.”
The decision was a blow to Dougherty, 66, who for months has been contending in court documents and in testimony before Schmehl that his wife’s condition has significantly worsened while he has been imprisoned, and that if he is not released to care for her, she will likely die.
Dougherty’s attorney, George Bochetto, said in an interview Thursday that he was “deeply, gravely disappointed” by the ruling, and that he disagreed they had not shown the acute nature of the emergency that should qualify Dougherty for release.
“I thought the evidentiary hearing we had in front of Judge Schmehl was extraordinary, and it left no doubt in anybody’s mind” about the merits of Dougherty’s petition, Bochetto said.
The ruling followed another rejection in Dougherty’s ongoing bid for freedom. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump denied Dougherty’s request for a commutation, a legal avenue that could have cut Dougherty’s prison term short.
Schmehl, in his memorandum, did say that Dougherty could file a renewed motion in the future, “should the facts materially change.”
Bochetto said he would not wait that long. He was already working on his notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, he said, and he intended to ask the court to consider the case on an emergency basis.
“This is why God invented appellate courts,” Bochetto said.
Dougherty was sentenced in 2024 to six years in prison after being convicted in separate bribery and embezzlement trials that centered on actions he took while serving as the head of his politically powerful union, Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
But last year, Dougherty — known colloquially as Johnny Doc — filed emergency motions asking Schmehl to allow him to serve the remainder of his prison term on house arrest so he could be his wife’s primary caregiver.
In his first request, filed in the summer, Dougherty said that the trust fund established to pay for her care was about to run out of money, and that his daughters and other relatives were unable to provide the kind of around-the-clock assistance she needed.
Then, in December, he filed another motion, saying the situation had become more dire after the death of his father-in-law, who had been serving as the primary caregiver in his absence.
Prosecutors opposed Dougherty’s requests, saying that although they were sympathetic to his wife’s plight, they did not believe he had served enough of his sentence to merit release.
And in January, Schmehl denied Dougherty’s request, writing that he, too, recognized the significant health challenges, but that they did “not outweigh, at this point in time, the need for punishment that has been adjudged.”
Bochetto appealed that ruling. And in May, Schmehl held an evidentiary hearing to learn more.
At the hearing, Dougherty took the stand for more than an hour, and occasionally choked back tears as he described his wife’s myriad complications and detailed the efforts he had made in prison to help her, including by sending her dozens of letters and using all of his allotted monthly phone minutes to call her.
But prosecutors argued that Dougherty and his relatives had not sufficiently looked into alternative care arrangements that might be covered by Medicaid or other insurance. And they said that while many families across the country could benefit from having an incarcerated defendant released to help care for their relatives, Dougherty had not shown that he was the only person who could do so for his wife.
Schmehl, in his order, said that Dougherty’s wife is being cared for by private nurses and her two daughters, and that “neither party suggests that her current care is inadequate.” Beyond that, the judge said, Dougherty did not sufficiently specify when her trust fund would run out of money and did not adequately explain what would happen once it did.
The ruling will leave Dougherty, for now, to serve out the remainder of his term, which he is serving at a federal prison in Lewisburg, Pa. His projected release date is in June 2029, according to the Bureau of Prisons website.
For Minara Rahman and her husband, a move to Philadelphia was supposed to be a fresh start.
She and Md Mahfuzul Haque met while attending medical school in their native Bangladesh in 2000, married soon after, and remained nearly inseparable for 21 years,most of them spent in Canada.
Their love story came to a tragic conclusion early this month when Haque, a 43-year-old doctor who was driving for DoorDash to support Rahman’s optometry career, was shot and killed during a robbery outside a Southwest Philadelphia home.
It was one of at least three shootings involving delivery drivers in the city this summer.
“I still can’t believe it,” said Rahman, 43. “I’m crying, I’m mourning, I’m in grief, but I’m still not believing he’s not with me.”
Philadelphia had only recently become home for Rahman, Haque, and their 14-year-old son.
In 2023, the family moved from Vancouver, where much of Haque’s extended family lives, as Rahman began her studies at Drexel University’s optometry school, she said.
She and Haque had both been practicing physicians in Bangladesh and worked in the healthcare industry in Canada, where they moved in 2011 after receiving skilled immigration visas.
In Philadelphia, Rahman saw the opportunity to get an American medical license and earn enough to support her family.
Haque, she said, sacrificed his own professional ambitions to support that move, doing odd jobs and driving for DoorDash to earn money while she completed school.
Rahman graduated from Drexel last year and began practical training while the family worked to extend their U.S. visas. Part of her work involved conducting eye exams forpolice and security guards, she said.
“It was me who wanted to do something more, and he always supported me,” Rahman said of her husband. “Without him, it would have been impossible.”
A photo of Md Mahfuzul Haque.Minara Rahman
Though Rahman worried that Philadelphia could be dangerous, she said, she and Haque believed that life in the United States would offer their family safety and security.
She no longer thinks so.
Just days after Haque’s killing, police made an arrest in a separate homicide case involving a food delivery driver. They accused a 14-year-old Queen Village teen of luring the man, Anshul Kuncha, to an abandoned North Philadelphia rowhouse, where he was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head.
And on Tuesday, police said, a 31-year-old delivery driver was shot in the hand after getting into an argument with two women in Northern Liberties. He was placed in stable condition at a nearby hospital.
Since the July 7 shooting of Haque, Rahman has been in touch with police seeking to gather more information about her husband’s killing.
Officers responded to the 1000 block of South Ithan Street in the city’s Kingsessing neighborhood around 9:30 that evening to find Haque on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head.
His car was still running, investigators said, and a bag of delivery food was found nearby. They soon identified three suspects, masked men wearing dark clothing.
Johnson, of East Mount Airy, was charged with murder in Haque’s killing last Friday while he was in custody in connection with an unrelated crime. He is being held in prison without bail.
The teen is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 10.
Rahman said she was struck by the fact that the gunman who police say took her husband’s life is so young — just a year older than her own son.
“I can’t imagine any boy like my son’s age treating anybody else like that,” she said. “I have no idea what they were thinking — what was their motive, and how did they get that firearm that easily?”
Haque was buried in Vancouver, where Rahman and her son moved to be near his extended family, and she has abandoned her pursuit of a medical career in the United States.
In an interview, she spoke sorrowfully of plans abandoned: a family trip to Florida, an Atlantic City wedding anniversary celebration set for the last week of July.
And each day, Rahman said, she struggles with nagging worry that by moving her family to Philadelphia for her career, she was somehow responsible for her husband’s death.
The only thing she wants now is justice.
“We both did counseling for tons of patients,” Rahman said, recalling the years of challenging medical work caring for people at their worst moments.
“Now I’m in that situation,” she said. “I can’t take it anymore, and I need help.”
