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  • Philly’s airport is the worst again, and the Eagles go back to school | Weekly Report Card

    Philly’s airport is the worst again, and the Eagles go back to school | Weekly Report Card

    The Eagles go back (and give back) to school: A+

    Apparently, being an Eagle now comes with homework.

    On Tuesday, Jalen Hurts showed up at Northeast High with $600,000 for air-conditioning, while Jalyx Hunt headed to Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls to announce three scholarships and an endowment.

    Not a bad day for Philly schools. Hurts got involved three years ago after seeing a TV report that Philly schools were closing because they were too hot. He has since helped bring down the number of school with out AC, but 52 schools still lack full air-conditioning. His response this week: “Let’s get it to zero.”

    Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts as he appears at a rally in the auditorium at Northeast High School Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026 to give the school $600k for an air conditioning system. With him onstage in the auditorium Northeast principal Andrew Lukov, School Superintendent Tony B. Watlington, Sr. and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    Hunt, meanwhile, has basically been adopted by Little Flower. What started with a fundraiser for its basketball team during his rookie year has turned into basketball-game visits, Little Flower sweatshirts on Eagles road trips, and hundreds of students he calls his “little sisters.”

    Philadelphia asks a lot of its Eagles — win football games, mainly. Air-condition the schools and help pay kids’ tuitions weren’t technically on the list, but please, keep going.

    “Love Awaits You” artwork by Philadelphia artist Terrance Woolford in the Terminal B Baggage Claim at Philadelphia International Airport on Nov. 9, 2025. The artist is known for using recycled, trash-picked objects as a source of inspiration.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    Stop bullying our airport: B

    For the sixth year in a row, Philadelphia International Airport finished dead last among similarly sized airports in J.D. Power’s customer satisfaction survey.

    The terminals are old. The waiting areas are cramped. There isn’t enough natural light. Even the people from J.D. Power basically said PHL needs a new building.

    But last? Again? This is where Philadelphia must become defensive about an airport we complain about constantly ourselves.

    PHL is easy to get around in without boarding some weird little airport train. And have these people eaten there lately? We’ve got Middle Child, Federal Donuts, Oyster House, and Elixr. The lounges are legitimately good, there’s local art everywhere, and you can find places for your dog to pee. Kiki Aranita made this entire case last year when PHL got snubbed from another airport ranking.

    Yes, PHL needs work, and nearly $2 billion in upgrades are underway. But outsiders calling our airport the worst? Only we get to say that.

    Sue’s Produce Market, 114 South 18th Street in Philadelphia on Wednesday, September 16, 2026.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Rittenhouse shows up for Sue’s: A

    Philadelphia is very good at mourning the places we love after they close, but this time, Rittenhouse is trying something different: keeping one open.

    Sue’s Produce Market has been part of the neighborhood in one form or another since 1976, when Sue Shin started selling fruit from a cart at 18th and Walnut. Now, after falling behind on rent, the family-owned market needs $40,000 to avoid eviction.

    The neighborhood apparently heard that as a challenge. A GoFundMe has already raised more than $25,000, with hundreds of people chipping in. Rittenhouse Row is rallying businesses, and Her Place Supper Club is planning an entire Korean-inspired dinner next month, with the proceeds going to Sue’s.

    It makes sense once you hear how this place operates. Tina Shin, 63, gets up at 2 a.m. to make the kimchi and kimbap before spending the day behind the register. People have been buying their fruit and groceries from this family for generations, and Rittenhouse clearly can’t imagine 18th Street without Sue’s.

    Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler throws during the first inning of the Philadelphia Phillies game agains the Houston Astros at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026 in Philadelphia.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Phillies, please start hitting: C

    Here we go again. The Phillies are approaching October, the pitching is doing its part, and everyone in Philadelphia is once again staring at a very expensive lineup and asking: Are you guys going to hit or what?

    Jesús Luzardo is on the injured list with shoulder inflammation. The bullpen is an adventure. The defense and baserunning have provided their usual opportunities to yell at the television. And yet, the Phillies still have enough starting pitching to win. Zack Wheeler reminded everyone of that Wednesday, throwing seven scoreless innings against Washington.

    The offense responded by drawing 13 walks, leaving 13 runners on base and scoring three runs. It was the most Phillies way imaginable to win 3-0.

    Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto, Alec Bohm, and Luis Arraez are making a combined $111.2 million this season. Nobody expects all six to be hot every night. But Phillies fans have watched some version of this movie for four straight Octobers: great pitching, enough chances, and a lineup that suddenly forgets how to score when the games matter most.

    By the time you read this, maybe the bats have woken up (please!). Because the Phillies have the pitching to make another October run, it would just be nice if the guys holding the bats came along this time.

    Philly’s 57-year-old typo: A

    Philadelphia has a typo carved into a monument outside the Art Museum, and after 57 years, somebody is asking whether we should fix it, reported Billy Penn. Absolutely not.

    The Eli Kirk Price Fountain, installed in 1969, honors the man whose “wisdom and dedication were responsible for the developement of the parkway and art museum.” Yes, developement.

    The best part is that the Association for Public Art dug up a photo from the fountain’s 1969 unveiling showing men literally pointing at the mistake. The inscription approved two years earlier had “development” spelled correctly, but somewhere between paper and stone, an extra “e” slipped in.

    Monument companies say fixing it would probably mean replacing the entire stone and it would be costly. So at this point, fixing the typo would be the mistake. Millions of people have walked past that fountain on their way to run up the Rocky Steps, and almost nobody noticed. Now it has a story.

    The Lobster francese at the Bomb Bomb Bar in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. .Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer

    Bomb Bomb gets a Best of: B-

    Philadelphia has apparently reached the point where having only one of the best restaurants in America feels like a slight.

    The New York Times released its annual best-restaurants list this week, and just one Philly spot made it: Bomb Bomb Bar, the nearly 90-year-old South Philly tavern that chef Joey Baldino took over and reopened last year.

    Philly spent years demanding the rest of the country recognize how good our food scene is. Now we have Michelin stars, James Beard Awards, and enough national acclaim that one restaurant on the Times list suddenly feels stingy. We got two last year and three in 2023!

    Bomb Bomb is a pretty great one, though. Baldino took a neighborhood bar that dates to 1936 — and was literally bombed twice in its early days — and made it better without scrubbing away what made people love it.

    Congratulations to Bomb Bomb, and the rest of Philly will try to cope with the snub.

  • As measles cases grow in Pennsylvania, some parents are speeding up vaccinations and avoiding Lancaster County

    As measles cases grow in Pennsylvania, some parents are speeding up vaccinations and avoiding Lancaster County

    Leah Santos still wears a mask during her daily Regional Rail commute into Philly.

    The 35-year-old nurse from Springfield, Delaware County, never stopped implementing COVID-19-era precautions. And she’s just as careful with her 1-year-old son.

    So when Santos learned in May about the growing measles outbreak in nearby Lancaster County, she started asking a new question of friends and family who regularly make excursions around the region for shopping and dining: Have you been to Lancaster lately?

    “I have a child to protect at all costs. So I’m making sure I’m not in contact with anyone who’s been traveling out to Lancaster,” Santos said.

    Measles alert signs in English and Spanish are posted on the front doors of an urgent care facility this month in Lancaster County amid a measles outbreak that has affected local Amish and Mennonite communities.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    A spreading measles outbreak in Pennsylvania has sickened 767 people already this year, and hospitalized 45 children under age 18. State officials have announced four deaths related to the outbreak: two infants in Lancaster County, a 40-year-old in Jefferson County, and an 18-year-old in Mifflin County.

    Chester County remains the only Philadelphia-area county with confirmed cases — more than 65 this year, the third-highest in the state.

    But in a densely populated region where crossing county lines for work and socializing is the norm, some worried parents are vaccinating babies early, delaying daycare, and weighing the risks of attending crowded festivals with their kids or visiting family in affected areas.

    Measles can be more dangerous for some

    Young children are especially at risk from the vaccine-preventable disease, which in severe cases can cause pneumonia, blindness, and brain swelling that can lead to brain damage.

    None of the Pennsylvania residents who died were vaccinated against a virus so contagious that it will infect nine in 10 unvaccinated people who are exposed.

    Measles deaths are rare, and the four deaths confirmed as “measles-associated” by Pennsylvania health officials, sparked a political standoff between Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and President Donald Trump’s Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist.

    Experts say that life shouldn’t change much for families whose children are vaccinated and otherwise healthy. But it’s important to take the disease seriously at a time when declining vaccination rates have left communities across the state increasingly vulnerable, including in the Philadelphia region.

    Even as countywide immunization levels in the area remain relatively high, hundreds of kindergartens across Philadelphia and four surrounding suburban counties dropped below the “herd immunity” threshold — a vaccination rate of 95% or higher — for the 2025-26 school year, an Inquirer analysis of state data found.

    This is the level at which a given population must be fully vaccinated against measles to prevent the spread of disease. In the Philadelphia region last school year, about 40% of kindergartens failed to meet that threshold, up from about a third the year before.

    What are the pediatric guidelines to protect against measles?

    Pediatricians typically recommend a child’s first vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella at 1 year old, unless the child is likely to travel overseas, and then a second between 4 and 6 years old.

    But Pennsylvania health officials are now encouraging a “dose zero” for children as young as 6 months old in counties affected by the state’s worst outbreak in three decades. Children can then get a second dose at 1 year old and another at 4 to 6 years old. The state is also recommending that children older than 1 who haven’t started their MMR vaccine series get two doses of the vaccine at least 28 days apart.

    Santos said her son recently had his first vaccination, and her son’s pediatrician recommended he get his next shot at just 15 months old.

    “We have gotten so far from knowing what vaccinations have done for us that we have no idea how terrifying this disease is,” Santos said.

    ‘One of those things you never think would affect you’

    Caitlin Buttery of Kennett Square, in Chester County, recalls her trip, earlier this summer, to Lancaster when she was nine months pregnant, only to regret it after learning about the measles outbreak.

    Now, with a healthy 6-week old baby, as well as an 18-month old, she’s avoiding the Lancaster area and also monitoring cases in her own county, where measles is circulating.

    She worries about taking her children to public spaces like the YMCA or Kennett Square’s annual Mushroom Festival, which earlier this month drew thousands to the rural town.

    “Measles is definitely one of those things you never think would affect you,” she said. “Now, I need to be a lot more cognizant of the chance that it could.”

    Caitlin Buttery in East Passyunk with her daughter this month. The Chester County mother is avoiding the Lancaster area, the epicenter of the state’s outbreak, and also monitoring cases in her own county, where measles is circulating.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

    The 33-year-old said she plans to get her youngest the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine at 6 months old.

    Public health experts have warned that there are likely far more measles cases circulating in Pennsylvania than have been recorded by the state. And the disease doesn’t confine itself to county or state borders. Across the United States, more than 3,100 people this year have tested positive for the disease, the CDC said last Thursday.

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    Amina Lowery lives in Upper Darby. No cases have been reported in Delaware County, but health officials there did identify measles in a wastewater sample earlier this summer, meaning someone with the disease used a bathroom connected to the county’s public water supply.

    Lowery opted to get her 6-month-old daughter vaccinated early. She also quit her job in the insurance industry to keep her daughter out of daycare, “since we can’t control what other parents decide.” She said the plan now is to enroll her child when she’s closer to 2 years old.

    She feels safer having her child vaccinated ahead of a family trip later this year to Florida, which is also dealing with a measles outbreak.

    “We have the research and documentation to show that vaccines work and are for the greater good. It feels like we are in the midst of societal decline,” Lowery said.

    Like Lowery, Shelby Steele of Springfield opted to keep her daughter out of daycare. Her daughter is now nearly 2 years old, but Steele, a consultant who works from home, isn’t any closer to enrolling her.

    “We obviously worry about the socialization aspect of things, but measles is no joke. We’d rather find more creative ways to socialize her safely for now,” Steele said.

    Steele and her partner want to have another child if possible. But she said the measles outbreak “and just the current state of things overall” makes them think twice about the risks a child could face.

    Steele said she’d like to send her daughter to school, but the outbreak even has her considering homeschooling. “We are having to reconsider a lot of things, schooling being one of them,” she said.

    Physicians advise parents on navigating the outbreak

    Pediatrician Katie Lockwood says parents coming to her Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia practice in Montgomery County say they’re changing childcare and vacation plans to avoid measles exposures.

    Montgomery County has reported three measles cases this year.

    “If you’re fully vaccinated and healthy, I don’t think there’s a change in how you need to operate right now,” Lockwood said.

    “But if you have someone in your family who is particularly vulnerable, if they’re immunocompromised, pregnant, or unvaccinated because they’re too young, then you may want to change your behaviors.”

    She advises parents to talk to school officials and daycare providers about their vaccination policies, keep sick kids home to avoid spreading illness, and make sure children are up to date on all recommended vaccines.

    “It’s awful that now parents are having to make a decision between work and childcare for something that we can prevent safely with vaccination,” she said. “Not everyone has the ability to quit their job or stay home, and they may not have an alternative childcare resource.”

    Like many practicing physicians today, most schools and daycares have never had to deal with a measles case. Lockwood recently had several childcare providers refer children with rashes to her practice, worried about measles.

    None of the children had the disease, but “I would rather a school or a daycare overreact,” she said, explaining that keeping a child out of school to evaluate a rash that proves harmless prevents “potentially exposing a bunch of kids to measles.”

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    In Bucks County, pediatrician Toni Richards-Rowley often counsels parents frustrated about having to navigate the outbreak.

    She also serves as president of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which has been working to educate doctors about measles and how to recognize it.

    In her own practice, Richards-Rowley is also offering “dose zero” shots for children whose parents work or plan travel to affected counties.

    “If a parent asks for it, even though there’s not community spread in Bucks yet, we’re not going to turn a family away,” she said.

    “Measles doesn’t respect borders. Just because we don’t have an index case doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen. You do have to be fairly vigilant wherever you go.”

    Correction: This story has been updated to delete an incorrect reference to Upper Darby’s geography in the region.

  • From milk to snack foods, more products are going ‘regenerative’

    From milk to snack foods, more products are going ‘regenerative’

    When Michael Ham first began handing out samples of his company’s tea to Whole Foods shoppers in 2024, explaining that it was grown using regenerative farming on South Korea’s Jeju Island, he was often met with blank stares.

    That didn’t last long. By the following year, “People were coming up saying, ‘Oh, you’re regenerative!’” says the co-founder and president of Westchester, N.Y.-based Wild Orchard Tea Co.

    Regenerative agriculture, an approach to farming that aims to improve soil health through practices like reduced use of pesticides and plowing, is having a moment. Championed by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement and propelled by increasingly health-conscious consumers, regenerative products now generate some $2 billion a year in retail sales, and some in the industry are positioning the fast-growing category as the next organic.

    Big food producers and retailers like Nestlé SA, PepsiCo Inc., General Mills Inc., and Walmart Inc. have made regenerative agriculture commitments, often as part ofenvironmental, social, and governance goals. And late last year agencies including the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a $700 million pilot program to support regenerative agriculture projects on farms.

    But unlike organic, regenerative agriculture is only lightly regulated at the federal level in the U.S. To earn U.S. Department of Agriculture organic certification, producers must comply with detailed federal standards, including strict rules about synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, and undergo annual inspections. There’s no such equivalent for regenerative agriculture, and many products can be labeled as regenerative without having to verify their claims.

    With the boom have come increasingly pressing questions from within and outside of the industry about what the label actually means and concerns from advocates about consumers being misled, especially because regenerative products tend to be more expensive.

    Nora Brown, a 47-year-old who works in international development in Washington, D.C., buys regenerative products when they’re available. She sees them as healthier for the environment and herself, especially since recovering from breast cancer.

    But “I do have a fear of, we just love to label stuff for marketing. There’s pink washing, there’s greenwashing,” she said. “And I hope it doesn’t go the way of that.”

    Certifying organizations like Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) aim to bring more rigor to the space. Last year, dollar sales of ROC-labeled products grew faster than those labeled certified organic, fair trade, and non-GMO, according to the data provider SPINS. But across the broader landscape, regenerative agriculture standards can vary widely, differences that are not always evident to shoppers. As more of them encounter the label at grocery stores, experts worry that this variability could undermine the growing category.

    The term regenerative agriculture dates back to at least the 1980s, but it didn’t pick up steam until the 2010s. Backed in the early days by organic farming advocates, regenerative agriculture may also cut down or eliminate synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, but puts a sharper focus on soil health and biodiversity. Proponents say in some ways it’s a return to old-school practices, including rotating crops and using plants like hedgerows as a living fence around fields.

    Advocates “started to use the term, ‘We’re regenerating our landscapes, we’re regenerating our farms, regenerating the ecosystem,’” said Gabe Brown, a retired farmer sometimes credited as the movement’s godfather, who co-founded and serves as a board member of a certification program called Regenified. “And now you hear the word regenerative everywhere. Before, the buzzword was sustainability.”

    The term’s appeal has been rapidly expanding. With products from baby food to snacks, bath care, and pet food bearing the label, the regenerative agriculture category saw in-store retail dollar sales grow 10% over the last year and nearly 22% the year before, according to NielsenIQ data. Dairy is the largest category by dollar sales, and some of the fastest growth has been in regeneratively grown produce.

    Advocates for regenerative agriculture say that it’s healthier for the planet and people. Among the environmental benefits they cite is that by deploying practices like no-till farming, which avoids plowing the land, and planting cover crops between growing seasons, farm soil can store more carbon. Other regenerative farming techniques include moving grazing animals around pasture to let the remaining portions recover, and planting trees and shrubs on working agricultural land next to crops or livestock. Experts, however, say that the climate change benefits may have been oversold.

    A rancher opens up a new section of tall grass for his cattle to graze in Lufkin, Texas, in 2023. Moving grazing animals around pasture lets the remaining portions recover.David Goldman

    The term regenerative has also been embraced by MAHA advocates, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Calley Means — an adviser to Kennedy — and Kelly Ryerson, who goes by the moniker “The Glyphosate Girl,” a reference to a widely-used herbicide that many in MAHA want to restrict.

    “There was so much press that went around vaccines, but actually this is just as, if not more core to the issues that we really care about,” said Ryerson, who is co-executive director of the advocacy group American Regeneration.

    MAHA supporters say food grown using regenerative agriculture has more nutrients and fewer chemicals and is therefore healthier, but those claims are challenging to evaluate, scientists say, including because regenerative practices aren’t applied evenly across farms.

    Even as the U.S. government pushes to facilitate such practices, there is still little regulation for products bearing regenerative claims. Where federal oversight does exist, it remains limited: Meat and poultry sellers making claims like “raised using regenerative agriculture practices” have to submit documentation to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, but critics note that it’s an honor system and third-party certification is recommended but not required.

    The new federal pilot program, meanwhile, will offer technical assistance and financial support to implement regenerative practices and requires participants to test soil to track changes over time, but it does not include certification.

    Some retailers are requiring certification or other proof for regenerative claims. Whole Foods, for example, has had such a policy in place since 2021, and so does the Seattle-based PCC Community Markets.

    But even third-party certification programs vary widely in terms of what they measure, according to reports released this year by the European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture and Friends of the Earth.

    The Environmental Working Group, a health and agriculture-focused nonprofit, has warned consumers of “misleading” regenerative claims. While some labels, including ROC, indicate that food has been grown without synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and require farm audits, other certifications allow continued use of synthetic chemicals, don’t require audits, and don’t publicly disclose soil test results, the nonprofit said.

    “Our biggest concern is that all of the momentum and buy-in and enthusiasm that’s been built around the term regenerative agriculture over the past number of years is frittered away because of greenwashing,” said Adam Kotin, managing director of the Soil & Climate Initiative, which offers its own certification.

    For makers of these products, the biggest barrier might be their higher price tags and consumers’ lack of exposure.

    Regenerative farming is still more expensive than conventional agriculture, with higher upfront costs, greater labor needs, and a lack of scale. And because grocers try to reach as many shoppers as possible, a pricey, regeneratively grown olive oil is unlikely to be the first or even the second one on the shelf.

    At online grocer Thrive Market, for example, regenerative products such as coffee beans, coconut oil, muffin mix, and cans of sparkling green tea make up just 5% of the membership-only online platform’s offerings, and customers are 20 times more likely to filter for organic products than regenerative ones, said April Lane, chief merchandising officer.

    “We’re starting to see more and more brands come out with regenerative options,” she said. “But it’s still much, much smaller than organic or non-GMO certifications or gluten-free.”

    Though awareness of regenerative agriculture roughly doubled between 2023 and 2024, only 10% of U.S. consumers are actively seeking out such products, estimates Kristine Root, chief executive officer of Socha Branding, a strategy and growth marketing agency that works with natural, organic, and regenerative brands.

    To expand that share, companies have to do more than just slap the word regenerative on the package, she said.

    “It takes more than just putting a seal on the pack to get the support of a consumer,” Root said. Shoppers “will pay more if they understand the story behind it. But you have to do the work.”

    Ann Choi contributed to this article.

  • What do I do about the worst helicopter parent I’ve ever met?

    What do I do about the worst helicopter parent I’ve ever met?

    This week’s question (Have your own? Submit it here.):

    At school drop-off, a mother likes to hover around the kids and discipline all of them for every little thing. If there were any actual issues, we’d step in, of course, but if they’re bumping into each other on purpose and laughing, for example, she tells them things like “Stop doing that, it’s almost school time!” or “Francesca doesn’t like that!” (Not the kid’s real name.) Also it’s very clear that Francesca does in fact like it, so we just tell our kids it’s fine. The mom stands right over her daughter and says things like, “We don’t do that, right?” It’s very performative and very annoying.

    Now I respect that she can parent her kid however she wants to, but forcefully talking to our kids is driving some of us nuts. I believe kids usually can and should work out issues amongst themselves (again, though, we haven’t actually seen an issue!). She’s not only a helicopter parent, she’s a military-helicopter parent hovering over her kid and attacking the rest. Do we just keep telling our kids it’s fine and maybe, in private, tell them to not listen to her or do we take her aside and tell her what’s what?

    Zoe Greenberg, Life & Culture reporter

    Francesca is caught between a rock and a hard place.

    So, Mike, how would you approach this very annoying and very performative military-helicopter parent?

    It seems to me that the obviously “right” thing to do is to take her aside and talk things out kindly and compassionately.

    Mike Newall, Life & Culture reporter

    Oh yes. I think we can cut the preliminary “see it from both sides” stuff on this one. Time to confront. And, Zoe, you’re right: the only question is how. Public humiliation? Or private intimidation?

    Zoe Greenberg

    You’re not entertaining the private, gentle-parenting conversation with the parent?

    Mike Newall

    No, I am. When I first started reading this question, I thought: “Classic kiss-up parent.” You see them often in the wild. The endlessly chatty and performative parent who hovers near the teacher every morning. Those parents can be handled with a quick joke or snarky comment. But this seems like something more. Something deeper. More ingrained. This demands a gently stern talking to.

    You don’t parent other people’s kids. Unless the kid is in danger or a danger to someone else.

    Zoe Greenberg

    I don’t know that I would have the courage of my convictions to take this parent aside myself, although I would know in my heart it’s what should be done. But if I did, I would say something along the lines of, “Hey, I notice that you’re concerned about what’s happening between the kids and often telling them to stop. To me, it looks fine. I wonder if we can let the kids work it out amongst themselves unless there’s a major issue.”

    What motivates a performative parent do you think?

    Mike Newall

    Insecurity is the main motivator.

    Zoe Greenberg

    Right. Insecurity! And I wonder if taking the parent aside would ramp the insecurity up. They become defensive. They say “Your kid is terribly behaved!” “Your child is coming for my precious Francesca!”

    Mike Newall

    That’s why I do think the parent needs a little compassion.

    Here’s what I would do:

    Linger. The insecure parent kissing up to the teacher, telling every kid what to do always lingers. So wait them out. Until every kid has entered and it’s just the helicopter mom, the teacher, and you. Then, with a smile: confront.

    Zoe Greenberg

    With a SMILE!!!

    Newall goes in for the kill.

    Mike Newall

    Here’s a basic script you can follow: Hey, whoever. Just so you know my wife/husband and I have spent a lot of time carefully teaching our precious Johnny or Katie how to behave. We have somehow made it this far — to be a little snarky, add exactly how far — to the third grade of whatever elementary without your help. We appreciate the consideration but would feel much more comfortable if you would stop talking to our child like that.

    Zoe Greenberg

    It sounds like there are multiple parents and multiple kids involved here, but I feel a one-on-one is best. Otherwise it becomes a bit of a gang-up, fueling insecurity further.

    Mike Newall

    One-on-one is best. If the teacher is there as a witness though, that’s not a terrible thing. The parent will likely be stunned into quiet after your initial salvo. Fill that pause politely but firmly. Be an adult. But lay the line down.

    If the teacher is cool, they’ll be silently cheering you on.

    Zoe Greenberg

    And then let the children figure it out! Let them create their utopian society together, where they work through conflict with patience and calm, from each according to her ability to each according to her need etc.

    Mike Newall

    Exactly, Zoe!

    This is their turf. I used to marvel at the social intricacies my son was dealing with in pre-K. Every day, on the ride home, he’d rattle off from the back seat about who was whose best friend on any given day. Who was mean. Who was nice. Who was acting like the king of the seesaw. And he had to figure it all out on his own.

    Zoe Greenberg

    Good training for life.

  • A ‘rare treat’ of an 1873 tapestry at PMA, Fringe Fest picks, and other best art we saw this week

    A ‘rare treat’ of an 1873 tapestry at PMA, Fringe Fest picks, and other best art we saw this week

    A copy of the Bayeux Tapestry dating from about 1873 is part of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s collection and on display for the first time in decades.Peter Dobrin

    A Bayeux Tapestry seen nearly after a century

    “Bayeux mania” struck London last week. Throngs filed through the British Museum to see the Bayeux Tapestry, the famed 220-foot tapestry from the 1070s that returned to England from France for the first time in centuries.

    Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, a Bayeux Tapestry has returned to public view for the first time in decades.

    The piece is one of the stars of “Workshop of the World,” which opened at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in July and runs another few weeks. With 270 textiles, ceramics, pieces of furniture, works in stained glass, as well as paintings and prints, the exhibition takes a deep dive into the Arts and Crafts movement and industrial design in Philadelphia. The material is thoroughly Philadelphia, starting with the Centennial Exposition and following the city’s art schools, including the various iterations of the University of the Arts, and explores the idealistic craft communities of Bryn Athyn, New Hope, Rose Valley, and, in Delaware, Arden.

    Designed by Violet Oakley, “The St. George and the Gertrude Mosaic” c. 1911-1913, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s “Workshop of the World” show.Philadelphia Museum of Art

    It’s also a show that probably packs in more beauty for beauty’s sake than any other at the museum in recent years while spanning an incredibly diverse aesthetic. It’s not often you see Golden Age book illustrator Maxfield Parrish, contemporary stained glass artist Judith Schaechter, and fabric swatches from the 19th century pulled together in one place, much less threaded into a story this convincingly.

    The Bayeux Tapestry on view is gorgeously rendered and quite old, but not a millennium old. It is, rather, a full-scale reproduction from about 1873 both mechanically produced — with photography — and handmade.

    “It was a project overseen by the South Kensington Museum in London,” said PMA curator of American decorative arts David Barquist. “They sent a photographer to France and made hundreds of glass plate negatives to print this out [on paper, mounted on cloth], and it was hand-colored because, of course, they didn’t have color photography at that point.”

    Six copies were made, one of which was acquired by the Art Museum in 1888. Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts owned another copy. It was bought by the Bayeux Museum from Watts’ estate in 2023.

    You can see only a relatively short stretch of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s facsimile. It’s been unfurled to the scene of King Harold’s coronation and a visit from Halley’s comet, which was seen as a bad omen.

    Still, to see it at all is a rare treat. The museum displayed the piece when the museum was housed in Memorial Hall, but when the PMA moved into its current building, in 1928, the Bayeux reproduction was put into storage and wasn’t seen again until now, said Barquist — nearly a century later.

    “By the time we moved here, Fiske Kimball was the director. This is not Fiske Kimball’s cup of tea,” said Barquist. “He was about modernism and Duchamp and all that stuff.”

    Duchamp, by the way, promises to take the spotlight once again, with a major show opening at the museum Oct. 10. Call it “Duchamp mania.”

    “Workshop of the World” continues at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Oct. 11. philamuseum.org.

    — Peter Dobrin

    Philly Fashion Week pleats, tucks, seams seen up close

    I’ve watched Kevin Parker and Kerry Scott build Philly Fashion Week for 21 years.

    Each year, I’m more impressed with the way they’ve made the biannual four-day style event not just a runway extravaganza but also a teaching opportunity. Fashion is an industry and Parker and Scott are dedicated to helping Philadelphia designers not just be fabulous but sell their fabulosity.

    Philly-based special occasion designer Jeanette Limas’ dramatic gowns featured during Philly Fashion Week in Tuesday night’s Immersive Show. This is Philly Fashion Week’s 21st year.Ana Photography

    Tuesday night’s Immersive Fashion Show, the kick-off event to this fall’s Philly Fashion Week “From the Runway to the Streets: Philadelphia is Fashion” was another example of that. The show featured collections from five designers whose models did more than walk a runway: They walked up to the audience, allowing onlookers to see each pleat, tuck, seam, and swish of a hemline close up.

    “We wanted to give the audience a chance to see the clothes, admire them, take pics, talk to the models, interact with the designers,” said Parker. “It’s a different way for designers to see the clothes.”

    Among my favorites were Jeanette Limas’ romantic, yet no-nonsense silhouettes. I think there is a red gown appropriate for every occasion, and those with billowing sleeves, cinched waists, and ruffled hemlines give feminine energy with a powerful twist. Melani Von Alexandria’s hot girl looks were tailored and sharp in black and white. Sculpted hair designs by Kia Sterling took the gowns up an avant-garde notch.

    Philly-based avant-garde designer Melani Von Alexandria’s designs were featured in Philly Fashion Week’s Immersive Fashion Show. Tuesday night’s production is part of Philly Fashion Week’s 21st year. This year’s theme is “From the Runway to the Streets.”Ana Photography

    Philly Fashion Week culminates Saturday, Sept. 19. The Business of Fashion Panel will be Saturday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., featuring a fireside chat with celebrity stylist KJ Moody — whose clients include Beyoncé — followed by the Runway II show, with more than dozen looks by national and local designers. The show will be outside between Market and Filbert Streets on Ninth. Tickets are available here.

    — Elizabeth Wellington

    Greek tragedy meets an American tragedy at Philadelphia Fringe

    Remember when you got paired up with two other kids to present a history project in middle school? That is the premise of little ghost party’s 2026 Fringe production: three awkward middle schoolers having to put on a presentation about Greek playwrights. The three protagonists take turns hilariously recreating some of the best Greek tragedies, which unearths emotional moments for each.

    A still from ghost party’s “Offstage Onstage: Everything You Didn’t See the Greeks Do,” playing Philadelphia Fringe through Sept. 28 at the Asian Arts Initiative Black Box. Sam Dellert

    Many Greek tragedies are considered violent, and the brutality makes it difficult to adapt in modern times. However, little ghost party smartly sets this middle school presentation in the wake of a neighboring school shooting. The students use that grief, along with raised alertness and fear, which makes the violence in some of these tragedies seem more contemporary.

    Great performances from the three creators of the piece and some nostalgic projection work makes for a wonderfully unique Philadelphia Fringe experience.

    “Offstage Onstage: Everything You Didn’t See the Greeks Do” is running at the Asian Arts Initiative Black Box until Sept. 28.

    — Frank Schierloh, For The Inquirer

    Liam Gallagher (left) and Noel Gallagher of Oasis during their reunion tour in Toronto, Aug. 24, 2025. “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger,” the new documentary about the band’s 2025 reunion tour, is in Philly-area theaters. (Sammy Kogan / The Canadian Press via AP, File)Sammy Kogan

    An Oasis documentary that’s much more than a band biography

    I first saw Oasis at J.C. Dobbs on South Street in 1994. And then in 1996 at the first-ever show at the CoreStates Center — now, several name changes later, Xfinity Mobile Arena.

    Then in 2025, battling brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher finally made peace after more than 15 years of not speaking to each other. But when the biggest Brit-pop band in the world reunited, they didn’t come any closer to Philadelphia than MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. That time, I didn’t make the trip up the Jersey Turnpike to see them.

    And now that I’ve seen the new film, Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger, I’ve come to see the error of my ways.

    The documentary, which is directed by Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, is an excellent concert film that captures the majestic roar of the Mancunian band’s guitar-army wall of sound.

    Liam Gallagher from the band Oasis performs during their reunion concert on July 4, 2025, in Cardiff. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)Scott A Garfitt

    But as it follows the Gallaghers as they fill stadiums in the U.K., U.S., and around the world, with 50,000 and more at every tour stop, it also achieves something improbable.

    Don’t Look Back in Anger, which credits Peaky Blinders’ creator Steven Knight as a writer, also tells a moving story about reconciliation.

    That’s because it’s not just about the brothers, who were so completely estranged that their children had never met. It’s also about the fans to whom Oasis obviously means so much. And the kick is that so many of those ardent enthusiasts seen in the movie — particularly those in Asia and South America — are much, much younger than the band.

    “Supersonic,” the first-ever Oasis single, from 1994, opened with the line “I need to be myself, I can’t be no one else.” The under 30 fans in the film who have taken that credo to heart and have waited most of their lives to finally see their favorite band live, include a Korean haenyeo, a “diving woman,” like the swimmer in the Japanese Breakfast song of that name.

    There’s also a young Brazilian woman who finds her identity through an Oasis fan group and names her German shepherd after the band’s guitarist, Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs. And a Manchester priest fashions a compelling sermon about forgiveness around Oasis finally making peace. If the Gallagher brothers can put their acrimony aside and love one another, he reasons, perhaps there’s hope for us all.

    Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger is playing at Philly-area theaters and expected to stream on Hulu and Disney+ later this year. The band has announced Oasis ’27 tour dates. Once again, Philadelphia is not on the itinerary, with the band doing 11 hometown dates in Manchester next June and the only U.S. shows are three each in Boston and Las Vegas in August. Anyone up for a road trip?

    — Dan DeLuca

    Philly playwright/comedian Liv Shoup in a reading of her play “Trauma Queen” at Plays and Players Theatre as part of the 2026 Philadelphia Fringe Festival.Courtesy of the Lemonade Stand

    Trauma Queen holds court at Philly Fringe

    What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you? Tell the Trauma Queen and she’ll make a hilarious joke out of it. Philadelphia playwright/comedian Liv Shoup presented a reading of her work in progress, Trauma Queen, to a packed house at Plays and Players’ Skinner Studio as part of the Fringe Festival’s Lemonade Stand hub. And, despite the dark subject matter, she had the audience snort-laughing almost the entire time.

    Shoup’s titular queen brimmed with charisma in bright pink hair and compelling stage presence, despite the binder holding the script in front of her. She puts herself out there by trying stand-up at open mic nights, only to get kicked out for trying to tell rape jokes.

    Her trauma, the sheepish stage manager tells her, isn’t funny, it just makes people uncomfortable (she excels in evoking both humor and discomfort in revealing, fascinating ways).

    Then when she tries presenting in group therapy, she’s dinged for taking such a light tone about such serious topics. Doctor’s suggestion? Try stand-up. Instead of digging through her personal history, she turns it over to the audience (and the internet) to solicit their bad experiences so she can poke fun at them — and it leads to her surprise success.

    The script was smart and biting, with Shoup delivering stream-of-consciousness rants with sharp barbs and excellent comedic timing. Her recovery journey provides pointed critiques of the perils of becoming an internet personality and the challenges of finding true friends who support and believe victims of sexual assault. It was refreshing, hysterical, and heartbreaking. I can’t wait to see where the play goes next.

    The final performance of “Trauma Queen” is 1 p.m. Sept. 27, Plays and Players’ Skinner Studio, 1714 Delancey St., Philadelphia.

    — Rosa Cartagena

  • Horoscopes: Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026

    Horoscopes: Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026

    ARIES (March 21-April 19). Sure, you’re obsessed with what’s going on today, and understandably so. Arguably, “now” is the only moment. The future gets built from here. So you’ll fix this thing to the best of your ability today instead of putting it off a moment longer.

    TAURUS (April 20-May 20). When two pieces of advice pull you in opposite directions, pause before choosing either one. Wise sayings can be too broad for the exact people, timing and stakes in front of you. Start with particulars, then make your own call.

    GEMINI (May 21-June 21). The empathetic are well aware that everyone has private pain, so we try to regard others as they seem to want and at least pretend to see them in the light they prefer, even if we also sense the kind of tears that only fall on the inside.

    CANCER (June 22-July 22). People can lose the rhythm of a relationship, even with plenty of goodwill. Your warmth can help find it again. A small jiggle may be all it takes: a question, an invitation or a silly reference, until something clicks.

    LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). You care a lot. That does not require worry or a big display. Your care will look practical today: doing what needs doing and handling the small thing that makes everyone’s lives easier.

    VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Everything you do today will be a dance. Work, play, relationships — move in for support, move out of self-expression. The disparate ideas will come together to form an arrow pointing to what’s next.

    LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Explaining what you believe is not that simple. You’ll find yourself explaining around it. Some convictions are hard to articulate. Words don’t seem to do them justice, but they still guide your choices, even if you can’t make a tidy argument of it.

    SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Red is the color of passion. It rises up in the cheeks and seems to glow in the heart. To care more than others can feel embarrassing, but that doesn’t mean you care too much. When it matters to you, it matters period.

    SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Before you suit up for a fight, decide whether there’s anything worth winning. A match with a tiny purse can eat up more time and energy than it pays. Save yourself for the bout that matters.

    CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Some conversations have only one participant, even when two people are present. You may find yourself in one today. You may have to engineer that well-timed interruption or polite escape route to keep the afternoon from becoming a hostage situation.

    AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). To know what a person’s deal is, look at their work — the clean edge, the missed detail, the extra care in not-so-obvious places. Unlike speeches, resumes and promises, a person’s work says it all without claiming a thing.

    PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Everyone judges by a different set of rules. Your project may earn a high score from you and a different score from someone else. Notice the difference, then decide which standard you mean to meet.

    TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Sept. 19). In your Year of Exquisite Balance, you have a lovely way of working different areas, distributing the responsibilities and offsetting elements so nothing is ever scarce or too much. Perfect pairings are your specialty. More highlights: You attract a brilliant mentor, and you will be one, too. You’ll get around in style, and you’ll have a new way of saving up for the remarkable investment in your fun and future. Leo and Sagittarius adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 30, 10, 6, 48 and 7.

  • Dear Abby | Tensions rise after workplace romance breakup

    Dear Abby | Tensions rise after workplace romance breakup

    DEAR ABBY: I am a man in my 40s. A woman and I had a relationship that ended badly. We met on the job, though we work in different departments. Everyone knows about our previous relationship, and it is extremely awkward. Every time I walk by, there are lots of smiles and chattering; when I approach my co-workers’ desks, I’m greeted with silence and intense stares. I still have strong feelings for her, and I know they are reciprocated because she has verbalized it and shown it with her actions and behaviors.

    After she ended things, I was upset and gave her the silent treatment. I know she feels hurt by my pretending like she doesn’t exist. I am a stubborn man, but I really miss her. After the breakup, she mentioned being friends. I cannot be friends with her. Despite the amount of time that has gone by, I still want to fix things. However, I know my real intentions and illusions about getting back together are misguided fantasy. I would appreciate your insights.

    — AWKWARD AT WORK

    DEAR AWKWARD: Do you understand that it’s you, not your co-workers, making things awkward? By resorting to the silent treatment, you’ve made everyone uncomfortable. You say you want to fix things, but you’ve made no attempt to do so. You don’t believe you can reconcile with your ex, but on what grounds? You won’t even talk to her! I don’t think you’re “stubborn”; I think you’re afraid. You’ve kept up this unseemly behavior because you don’t want to be hurt again. If you can’t muster the courage to tell this woman you want another chance, you have two options left: Either speak with her purely as a colleague and bury the hatchet so you can at least be cordial in the workplace, or start looking for another job.

    ** ** **

    DEAR ABBY: My father’s girlfriend, “Jane,” has started soliciting money for her causes from everyone she knows, especially our family members. After the first request, I donated a modest amount to support her, not knowing the deluge of requests that would follow. I have a set amount of money I can use for charity and would rather decide for myself how to spend it.

    Jane and my father are sensitive about her being accepted into our family. They both tend to look for slights and then blow them out of proportion. Dad has made it clear that unless my siblings and I fully embrace Jane, he won’t be part of our lives. I admire him sticking up for her, but I know if I decline the next donation request it’s going to get ugly. I feel like I’m being held hostage. How do I get out of this situation?

    — HELD HOSTAGE IN VANCOUVER

    DEAR HELD HOSTAGE: Talk to your father privately and tell him you love him. Remind him that you don’t have an unlimited amount of money to donate to charity, that you have causes of your own that are important to you, and that you have already donated to Jane’s more than once. Ask him to explain that to her and that it isn’t a rejection of her — just fiscal responsibility on your part. He needs to know you feel like you won’t be able to have a relationship with the father you adore if you refuse these solicitations.

  • José Urquidy navigates life as a ‘hired gun’, the wild-card race gets wilder and the Phillies lose to the Mets

    José Urquidy navigates life as a ‘hired gun’, the wild-card race gets wilder and the Phillies lose to the Mets

    NEW YORK — José Urquidy lost one job Tuesday, found another Thursday, and barely sat down in the Phillies’ bullpen here Friday night when he was told to warm up.

    “Hired gun,” interim manager Don Mattingly said.

    Swell. How many more can the Phillies find?

    Because with eight games left in the season, 11 days before the start of the wild-card miniseries, they are down one ace starter (Jesús Luzardo) and one setup reliever (Jonathan Bowlan). A pitching staff that was never deep in the first place is leaking oil.

    And even though Urquidy introduced himself with 4⅔ scoreless innings, the Phillies lost, 6-3, to the Mets on three first-inning runs against opener Tim Mayza and Juan Soto’s three-run homer in the sixth against embattled Orion Kerkering.

    Phillies reliever Jonathan Bowlan has a right groin strain. Here’s why he won’t go on the injured list.

    “Just a rough last couple of months,” Kerkering said, and he might have been understating the depths of an 8.84 ERA since July 22, including runs in seven of his last eight appearances. “I think tonight was a lot better executing besides one pitch to Soto. But it’s just the turnaround, hopefully here soon.”

    Soon, or never.

    Zoom out, and the Phillies stayed tied for the top National League wild card because the Cubs blew a one-run lead in Cincinnati. But the Padres forced a three-way tie with a win at home over the Marlins.

    How’s that for putting the “wild” in wild-card race?

    Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly, second from left, pulls pitcher Tim Mayza, left, out of the game during the first inning.Seth Wenig

    It wouldn’t be quite as wild as Urquidy’s week. He got designated for assignment by the White Sox and was back in Chicago with his family when his agent called Thursday with an offer from the Phillies.

    But there was one catch: Urquidy won’t be eligible for the postseason, assuming the Phillies get in, because he wasn’t in the organization on Sept. 1.

    “I threw a little bit, and they told me to plan to come here [Friday] and throw,” said Urquidy, a 31-year-old righty who faced the Phillies in the 2022 World Series. “They asked me if I was ready for the day, and I said yes and everything was good.”

    Wait, he threw Thursday? With whom?

    “I found an academy in Chicago,” Urquidy said. “The academy was behind the airport, and I threw there. I was watching the time to see when my flight. It was a very crazy afternoon, actually.”

    Andrew Painter and Christian Scott were high school teammates. Saturday, they will face off in a ‘special’ matchup.

    The only thing crazier would’ve been if Urquidy started the game. Instead, the Phillies went with Mayza, who delivered three scoreless innings last Saturday night in Atlanta after Luzardo was scratched with an inflamed left shoulder.

    This time, Mayza faced five batters and got one out.

    Soto and Bo Bichette put up back-to-back 10-pitch at-bats against Mayza before Carson Benge smashed an RBI single. And by the time Urquidy could get ready, the bases were loaded with one out.

    Nice to meet you, too.

    A.J. Ewing greeted Urquidy with a two-run single. But Urquidy set down 10 of the next 11 batters, and the Phillies chipped away at a 3-0 deficit against lefty Zac Thornton.

    “José was really good today,” Mattingly said. “It was fun to watch, actually. It just seemed calm all day and no real panic in any situation. Yeah, it was fun to watch.”

    The Mets’ Juan Soto celebrates his three-run home run in the sixth inning.Seth Wenig

    Mattingly could choose to start Urquidy next Thursday when Luzardo’s turn in the rotation comes up again.

    By then, the Phillies hope to have secured a wild card.

    Unless the bullpen keeps melting down. It would help, of course, if the Phillies scored more than three runs, which has happened twice in the last eight games. But Mattingly is also running out of relievers that he can trust, especially with Bowlan sidelined now by a strained right groin.

    Kerkering was making his first appearance in six days because of a case of turf toe. He gave up a leadoff infield single and a one-out single before hanging a sweeper to Soto with two outs.

    Brandon Marsh has struggled to make adjustments, and it’s broken his breakout season

    Three Septembers ago, Kerkering made a meteoric rise to the majors because of his sweeper. It will always be his best pitch, but even he wonders if he has become too predictable.

    “It’s maybe a factor of guys sitting on it more,” he said, noting that he throws his sweeper nearly 50% of the time. “It’s just been my bread and butter. I think most guys, if they shouldn’t know, they probably already know that’s my pitch now. I’m just trying to figure out how to attack guys a little bit better and go from there.”

    Whatever the case, the Phillies need Kerkering to figure it out. Because Mattingly has little choice other than to keep using him.

    “The one thing I can’t do is look backwards, right? And he can’t either,” Mattingly said. “And obviously, with Bow going down, we’re going to need good innings out of Kerky.

    “Anybody that gives up runs, when things aren’t going good, your confidence is not sky high like when you’re getting all your outs and everything’s going smoothly. But we’ve got to get past that at this point.”

    After all, there are only so many hired guns available.

  • CHOP’s measles exposure shows the growing danger of Pa.’s outbreak, experts say

    CHOP’s measles exposure shows the growing danger of Pa.’s outbreak, experts say

    The visitor arrived at a neonatal intensive care unit at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in University City last Friday morning.

    Then they visited a family lounge. An atrium. A cafeteria.

    At each stop, the person, now known to be infected with measles, potentially exposed others to the highly contagious disease that is particularly risky for young children, city health officials announced this week.

    Hospitals have spent years preparing for such incidents, no longer a theoretical concern as Pennsylvania now deals with the nation’s largest measles outbreak this year, which has already sickened more than 760, experts in infectious disease prevention say.

    Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington reported an exposure in its emergency room in February, although the state has seen only 23 cases of measles all year.

    And across the state in Allegheny County, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children’s Hospital has reported several possible measles exposures this summer.

    Health officials did not specify how many babies and others were potentially exposed at CHOP in announcing the exposure late Thursday. Philadelphia health officials have issued only general details on the infected person’s visit, along with guidelines for anyone potentially exposed to the virus over the course of several hours on Sept. 11 at the hospital at 3401 Civic Center Blvd.

    The hospital is working with NICU families to ensure its patients are protected, Julia Sammons, vice president and associate chief medical officer of CHOP’s Office of Preparedness, Prevention and Response, wrote in an email.

    The hospital took “immediate action” after being notified of the exposure to identify babies who might have been exposed and offer preventive treatments to protect them from the virus, Sammons said. Exposed patients have also been placed in isolation and doctors are monitoring them for symptoms.

    The hospital is also working with staff and patients outside the NICU to ensure they understand the situation, Sammons said, and partnering with the state and city health departments “on contact tracing, timely testing, and safe quarantining practices for all the areas served by the CHOP enterprise.”

    Infectious disease experts say hospitals around the country have been monitoring an explosion of measles cases in the last several years.

    Pennsylvania as of Friday had seen 767 cases of measles in 2026, with 93 reported in the last week. One in five people with reported cases has been hospitalized.

    State officials have confirmed four measles-associated deaths in the last several weeks, the most seen in the nation in more than three decades, sparking a clash with federal officials over how to characterize the deaths.

    “Measles has been up and coming. It’s definitely on the radar of hospitals,” said Ericka Kalp, who directs Drexel University’s infection prevention and control academic programs. “Your risk has increased when you have multiple measles cases within your vicinity.”

    Every year, hospitals work on an infection control risk assessment, monitoring rising diseases around the country and internationally, and developing plans on how to treat sickened patients.

    That could include triaging patients with respiratory illnesses and isolating those with suspected cases in special rooms, said Kalp, who was not involved in the response at CHOP.

    Screening visitors to a hospital is tricky, she said.

    “We can ask visitors and the public not to visit if you’re sick, and visitors need to take it upon themselves to not go to the facility if they’ve been around a particular exposure,” she said.

    But some may not know they are ill: A person can be contagious for four days before measles’ telltale rash appears.

    Sammons said that CHOP screens visitors daily for signs or symptoms of illness at the hospital’s welcome desks, and signs remind visitors that no one with symptoms should be admitted to the NICU. She did not say whether the NICU visitor who exposed others on Friday was symptomatic.

    “We have been in constant communication with families in our NICU to discuss guidance to keep them safe,” she said. “As the measles outbreak continues to evolve, we continue to review and update our screening processes to reduce the risk of exposure to our patients and families.”

    The virus can linger in the air for up to two hours and infect nine in 10 unvaccinated people exposed to it.

    Pregnant women, babies under six months, and some immunocompromised people are among the groups who cannot be vaccinated. Their protection depends on nearly everyone else in a community being vaccinated to prevent the disease from spreading.

    But more parents have opted against vaccinating children for religious or philosophical reasons in recent years, The Inquirer has found, leaving hundreds of area schools and communities vulnerable to the spread of the virus.

    “When you see fewer people are becoming vaccinated and they have less immunity, it opens up a portal of spread,” Kalp said. “We’ve always trained for this type of thing.”

    Sammons said CHOP has stepped up public health education for families and is offering early MMR vaccines for eligible children amid the outbreak, as state health officials have recommended. The hospital is also improving its measles screening capabilities and “developing contingency plans for more widespread community transmission in our area,” she said.

    “The best way to control measles outbreaks remains vaccination with the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, which is safe and highly effective in preventing measles,” she said, noting the hospital’s long-running Vaccine Education Center, aimed at debunking misinformation about the safety of vaccines.

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    Treating those exposed

    CHOP is offering post-exposure treatments “in the form of antibodies” to infants who may have been exposed to the virus, Sammons said.

    Doctors can administer immunoglobulin, a treatment made from the plasma of adult donors, that helps boost a baby’s antibodies to infectious diseases like measles, said Sarah Long, a Drexel pediatrics professor and a physician specializing in infectious disease at the Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J.

    In an outbreak, she said, hospitals can consider limiting visitors to prevent exposures, especially for a virus like measles, which is particularly dangerous for young children and kills about 1 to 3 for every 1,000 infected.

    But responding to measles cases or exposures can require hospitals to expend extensive resources.

    “It’s an enormous number of meetings, manpower, education about IDing cases early, and sequestering as soon as a patient comes in with a fever,” she said. “It’s an enormous amount of money, gowning, gloving, and masks.”

    The latest rise in cases — and rising anti-vaccine sentiment — frustrates Long, who treated children during Pennsylvania’s last major measles outbreak in the early 1990s, which sickened 1,400 people and killed nine children.

    Now she’s worried again about vulnerable children. Nearly one-third of Pennsylvania’s cases this year have been reported in children under the age of 18, and two of the measles-associated deaths involved infants.

    “It makes me just angry, angry, angry. There are so many catastrophes in children’s healthcare that are not preventable,” she said. “To have catastrophes that are preventable is just unconscionable.”

  • Temple University cop under internal investigation for allegedly making racist statements

    Temple University cop under internal investigation for allegedly making racist statements

    A police officer at Temple University is under internal investigation for allegedly making a “series of reprehensible comments to several young members of the Philadelphia community on our campus,” university officials said in a statement Friday night.

    John Fry, the university’s president, and Richard Sobieray, a senior vice president and chief operating officer at Temple, offered no further explanation of what the officer allegedly said except to describe the allegations as “deeply troubling.”

    Fry and Sobieray said that Temple and the university’s public safety department have launched an investigation and that the officer, who was not identified, has been reassigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of the probe.

    Temple was responding to a video posted on TikTok this week that is more than 11 minutes long and claims that a Temple officer made racist comments to young Black males riding dirt bikes on campus. The audio is not clear, but the person recording the video claims the officer said the males “don’t know their fathers” and “couldn’t afford a car” and “aren’t real men.”

    Fry and Sobieray said the comments attributed to the officer “run counter to this university’s values as well as the high standards that we hold for our Temple Police Officers.”

    The university leaders said that Temple’s public safety department “takes pride in serving not just the Temple community but also the North Philadelphia community. Let us be clear, the alleged behavior is unacceptable, not just for a Temple Police Officer but for any Temple employee. Please know that we take this incident extremely seriously.”

    The internal investigation will review all available evidence, including witness statements and incident reports, Fry and Sobieray said.

    “We know trust between our university, our police officers and our North Philadelphia community must be earned continuously, and we intend to hold ourselves accountable to that end,” Fry and Sobieray said.