As a kid, Labaron Philon Jr. mostly played with Steph Curry and the Warriors, or the Wizards, with John Wall and Bradley Beal, on NBA 2K’s video games.
But on Tuesday, he was all Sixers, taking on the challenge of beating 100 fans at NBA 2K27 while locked in a truck outside Geno’s Steaks for an episode of NBAT2’s Stuck in the Truck series.
“I was kind of good back then, but I’m better now,” the Sixers rookie said of his 2K prowess.
So, did he have any trouble beating the fans in the truck?
“Haven’t lost yet,” Philon said.
Only a few of the fans were competitive. Philon took on everyone from seasoned veterans to a 7-year-old in a Jaylen Brown jersey. But it takes time to defeat 100 fans. Philon spent over four hours in the truck.
It was one of Philon’s first opportunities to get out in the community and meet fans since the Sixers selected him No. 22 overall in June’s NBA draft. He has spent time at the Sixers’ facility this summer, but he’s finally getting out and seeing more of the city as the season nears.
“It’s been good just to see all the things happen, but even before that, me being drafted to a team that I feel like is a really good contender, and then just adding on all the other stuff that’s been coming with it, I feel like it was meant to happen, really,” Philon said. “I’m blessed that I’m in the situation that I am, to play with one of the best teams probably in the NBA right now.”
Labaron Philon Jr. had to defeat 100 fans in “NBA 2K27” on Tuesday. It took him over four hours.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
He hasn’t matched up against any of his new teammates in 2K yet, but it was a “surreal” moment to see himself in the game for the first time when he fired it up on Monday to practice.
Ahead of his rookie season, Philon earned a 71 overall, with his highest skill score an 82 for playmaking. NBA 2K27 releases globally on Friday.
“Most people don’t feel like it’s fair, but I feel like it’s fair,” Philon said. “Just because you’re a rookie. You’ve got to climb your way up. I think it should be like that.”
Officially the meteorological fall has begun in Philly, and unofficially it’s beginning to feel a lot like August.
Along with a heat advisory — the heat index hit 100 Tuesday afternoon — the National Weather Service is warning the region may be in for another one of those random storm outbreaks that so characterized August.
The weather service issued a tornado warning around 9:05 p.m. for areas in central Burlington County — including for the weather service office in Mount Holly. The warning was based on radar imaging.
Flood warnings were up for Chester, Delaware, Camden, and Gloucester Counties. The Collings Lakes Fire Department reported that “multiple roads” in Williamstown, Monroe Township, were “under water.”
Storm winds reportedly took down trees and wires in several communities in western Chester County, the weather service said, and a tree fell upon Morgantown Road in the West Nantmeal Township area.
And a severe thunderstorm watch, for storms with gusts approaching 60 mph, was in effect Tuesday until 11:59 p.m.
“Our biggest concern is damaging winds,” said Sarah Johnson, warning coordination meteorologist at the weather service’s Mount Holly office. “But we can’t rule out the potential for a tornado.”
Sound familiar?
What to expect in the Philly region the next few days
Outside of snow, almost anything.
In addition to the Tuesday night watch, strong storms are possible Wednesday, and while probabilities are lower during the day Thursday, Johnson said at least one computer model was showing the potential for a “squall line” of storms to approach the region.
Clouds likely will hold down temperatures Wednesday, but they are expected to reach 90 or better Thursday and the heat index might shoot past 100.
Is August expected to end soon?
The atmosphere is due to start cleaning it up on Friday, and the Labor Day weekend is looking spectacular, with the caveat that it’s only Tuesday.
However, the next three days are looking more like they belong to the August rinse-repeat cycle.
Once again, the region is likely to experience “ring of fire” thunderstorms from storm-generating impulses along the edges of heat-producing high pressure, said Chad Merrill, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc.
The sequence has become familiar since mid-June as the edges of the high pressure retreat and allow the storms to develop.
An overall result has been a remarkable turnabout in the region’s drought fortunes, even though New Jersey remains under a drought “warning.”
During what the weather community calls the “meteorological summer,” the June 1 to Aug. 31 period, Philadelphia experienced 17 inches of rain, Merrill said, good for 14th place for the three-month period in records dating to the 1870s.
The meteorological fall really did begin Tuesday. Not that the atmosphere noticed.
Authorities said nearly 20 people were taken to hospitals for evaluations after they were exposed late Tuesday afternoon to irritating fumes inside a Walmart in Deptford Township, a Gloucester County spokesperson said.
Around 4:15 p.m., people started calling 911 reporting an unknown irritant inside the Walmart on the 800 block of Cooper Street, said Andrew Halter, chief of hazmat for Gloucester County Emergency Response.
Emergency personnel encountered around 24 people exiting the department store showing signs, such as coughing and raspy throats, of exposure to an unknown irritant, Halter said.
The store was being investigated by local authorities and by personnel from Walmart, Halter said.
The store was closed for the night and was scheduled to reopen around 6 a.m. for normal business, though some shelves may be bare because some food, such as produce and baked goods, were removed “out of an abundance of caution,” Halter said.
The symptoms people showed or reported were “minor in nature,” Halter said, though he could not say if some people were admitted to the hospital for more serious concerns.
Investigators were reviewing whether the fumes came from something mechanical, or if the exposures happened in one or more sections of the store, Halter said.
“Right now, there’s no hazards present after everything that we’ve checked, which is key for having the store reoccupied by employees,” he said.
He had a quiet OTAs. He missed the majority of training camp. Then, when he finally played in the Eagles’ final preseason game, he struggled, recording just 3 yards on three catches and a drop that led to an interception.
Time to hit the panic button? The Eagles certainly aren’t.
“He’s done a good job,” said wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead. “I mean, Makai, like any rookie, is going to have things that [they do] really well and things that he is going to have to improve on. … You’re correcting everything, you’re praising everything, and you’re just allowing the guys to be in the best free position to go out there and play their best.”
Moorehead added that Lemon, the Eagles’ No. 20 pick in the first round of April’s draft, is still going through the motions after he missed nearly three weeks of training camp with a hamstring injury. Fellow Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith was sidelined the majority of camp too, but as Moorehead noted, it’s far easier for a veteran like Smith to ramp up than a rookie.
What’s the biggest hurdle Lemon must overcome following his injury?
Makai Lemon was sidelined for nearly three weeks of training camp with a hamstring injury.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
“It’s really just timing,” Moorehead said. “That’s really the big thing is this timing and getting on the same page with everybody and making sure that they’re kind of pressing forward.
“With Makai, we had to come up with creative ways to get him walk-throughs and get him doing different things that he could do while he was out. He couldn’t physically run, but he could walk through things or we could talk through things, and we could have him hear it, break the huddle, and go where he needed to go, just to catch him up that way. It wasn’t the most fun thing in the world. I know he wanted to be out there and we know we all wanted him to be out there, but that’s what you do. You sacrifice your time, you sacrifice your energy to get to where you want to go. He really took it really well.”
It’s clear the Eagles’ top brass isn’t panicking because of Lemon’s college resumé. Lemon starred at Southern Cal last season, earning unanimous All-American honors by finishing with 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns. There’s a reason the Eagles traded up in the first round with the rival Dallas Cowboys in order to pick him.
General manager Howie Roseman raved about Lemon and the rest of position group in a press conference on Monday.
“The receiver core, obviously you would’ve liked them to be together a little bit more here through the summer but have a lot of confidence in that group,” Roseman said. “I think it’s a talented group from top to bottom. All those guys, they play different roles. It starts with Smitty, who I don’t think it’s a secret how high we are on him. Tay’s [Dontayvion Wicks] exactly what we thought he would be. Obviously, prior to the regular season, going into the regular season, have tremendous confidence in Makai Lemon, Hollywood Brown. Everyone saw Coop [Darius Cooper] and the growth that he showed and development that he showed.”
The museum opened in 1828, and moved to its current location on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in 1876. Its last day with regular hours for the public will be Sunday, Sept. 27.
For some, the greatest loss was the sense of wonder children get when they peruse the museum, see bugs squirm, explore enormous nest displays and dioramas and, of course, lay eyes on the gigantic dinosaur skeleton.
“I’ll always remember the first time I went to the museum and I saw the dinosaur bones,” said Sakura Okuri, a 53-year-old retired FBI special agent who grew up in Germantown. “I’m just sorry that young kids aren’t going to be able to have that memory.”
Okuri, who now lives outside Pittsburgh, took comfort in knowing that if he missed something in one of the rich, expansive exhibits he’d have another chance because “it would always be there for me,” he said. “Apparently that’s not the case.”
The exterior of the Academy of Natural Sciences on Aug. 5.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
The news landed hard for 9-year-old Mira Thompson, who was leaving the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Parkway Central branch with her dad Tuesday afternoon when she got word. She’d gone to the Academy museum on multiple school field trips recently and was looking forward to more visits.
“That’s where I learned about pH testing last year,” Thompson said. “I didn’t know how to do that before going. I’m going to miss just being there.”
For many, it was a site of family bonding. Temple University senior Sean McClendon recalled fond memories there with his Opa, his grandfather, who worked at the museum taking care of owls and birds. Michael Ginsberg, a 60-year-old Northeast Philly native, remembers zealously volunteering to hold a hissing cockroach during a presentation at the museum to “get a rise out of my daughter.”
“My wife was not a fan of that,” he recalled. “‘Go wash your hands,’” she instructed.
One of two shell sculptures placed on either side of the entrance on the 19th Street entrance to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Ginsberg’s dad took him there when he was in first grade. Seeing the dinosaur bones in real life was a thrill after only knowing them on the pages of library books. He was shocked to see they were brown and not white like in renderings.
When he became a dad, himself, he started bringing his daughter.
“Dad, why are all the animals dead?” he remembered his then-toddler asking.
“They’re stuffed, hon,” he explained to her. “It’s a really cool art. It’s a way to get you closer. Just trust me, this is really cool stuff.”
The aim , ultimately, is to relocate the Academy’s collections and sell the building, which has a lot of deferred maintenance needs, said a source close to the talks between Drexel and the Academy, who asked not to be identified.
The interactive “Ocean Bound” exhibit at Academy of Natural Sciences in 2023.Courtesy of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
Online, tributes poured in. Some said the museum inspired them to study museum education, others brought their kids there when they learned to walk, they said, or when the air-conditioning in their homes broke in the summer. Some parents considered it a seminal part of parenthood in Philadelphia; others relayed fond memories of bringing their kids with disabilities to the sensory friendly hour.
Kim Lynne, from Drexel Hill, often brought her 18-year-old son, Ethan, who is on the autism spectrum, to the museum starting around age 3. He appreciated the dinosaurs and bugs; she appreciated the discount Ethan’s medical needs access card granted them on the admission fee.
“He loved the third floor where they had the children’s area, the insects,” Lynne said. “He was into it early on.”
Colleen Hall, 45, often marveled at the museum when she passed by it during her years at Community College of Philadelphia. She then ventured in for social events and was wowed by the dinosaurs, butterflies, and polar bears. She enrolled at St. Joseph’s Museum and Cultural Heritage education graduate program in hopes of working there one day.
It’s hard to wrap her mind around the notion that the museum is really closing.
“My brain just isn’t going there yet,” she said when asked how she felt about the closure.
“It’s not the 11th hour yet,” she added.
For longtime Philadelphians, the loss of the museum marks another step in the city losing its character as shiny new facades slowly replace the old and storied institutions closing their doors.
“We are losing some of the things that make us a historic city,” said McClendon, the Temple senior. “I think that’s really something that’s part of Philly’s brand or image, not just cheesesteaks, and I think people might forget how much history there is because it’s so modernized.”
To those who’ve gone with parents and kids like Ginsberg, the facility is a generational treasure and one of the few places that Philadelphians of all ages, races, and socio-economic classes can enjoy.
“Our city is losing abig part of its heart,” he said.
William F. Dunbar Sr., a former confidant to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker who pleaded guilty this week to federal tax fraud charges, also sought to bilk a political campaign out of rent payments he was not entitled to, according to a court document filed Tuesday.
The document does not name the campaign, but it appears to be Parker’s.
Dunbar, 42, never actually received any ill-gotten funds related to the lease with the campaign, prosecutors said, and he was not charged in connection with the matter.
But prosecutors said in court documents that he’s agreed to let a judge consider the episode and two other incidents of “additional misconduct” as she weighs his sentence for tax fraud.
Dunbar, a Philadelphia lobbyist, was an unpaid but important adviser to Parker during her winning campaign for mayor in 2023. He officially joined her campaign, People for Parker, around the time she took office in January 2024.
The mayor let Dunbar go from her campaign in July 2024 in a move that Dunbar at the time described as Parker’s decision.
The campaign made a series of rent paymentstotaling $22,850 to his lobbying firm, Dunbar Public Affairs & Associates, between March 2024 and November 2024, according to campaign finance records. The address listed for the rent payments was an office in the Penn Center complex near Philadelphia City Hall.
According to Dunbar’s plea agreement, in February 2025 he “falsified certain terms of a lease agreement for office space that [he] had entered as the lessor with a Philadelphia political campaign.”
The city’s online database of campaign finance records shows People for Parker as the only campaign that has made rent payments to Dunbar’s firm.
“The facts speak for themselves,” said Aren Platt, executive director of People for Parker, declining to comment further on Tuesday.
Dunbar declined to comment.
William F. Dunbar Sr., a lobbyist and a former informal adviser to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.Courtesy of William F. Dunbar Sr.
The plea agreement, which was signed by Dunbar and his attorney, said he “falsely modified the terms of the lease agreement” to increase the notice the campaign was required to give him to terminate the lease.
Had the campaign not discovered the change, the agreement said, Dunbar would have received money he was not owed. “The defendant’s efforts in this regard did not result in his obtaining any funds, and he ceased making any efforts to obtain these funds before learning of the federal criminal investigation resulting in the charges in this case,” the agreement said.
Dunbar on Monday pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns for himself and his wife between 2020 and 2025 and claiming substantial refunds when, in reality, they owed money. Prosecutors said in court papers that the tax loss related to the fraud was between $350,000 and $750,000. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 16 years in prison, plus supervised release and fines.
Dunbar’s attorney, Brian McMonagle, said in a statement Tuesday that the plea agreement “reflects Mr. Dunbar’s acceptance of responsibility for his own conduct.”
McMonagle said that the agreement “does not include any cooperation obligations” and that Dunbar is “not required under the agreement to provide information or testimony regarding any other individual.”
The four charges to which Dunbar pleaded guilty are unrelated to his firm’s lease with the Parker campaign and the two other incidents of “additional misconduct” that Dunbar stipulated in the agreement. The other incidents involve falsifying a document for a mortgage application and submitting false financial information to receive additional financial aid at a private school.
Although those episodes did not lead to criminal charges against Dunbar, U.S. District Court Judge Kelley B. Hodge will be able to consider them when determining his sentence. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for January.
Staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this article.
WASHINGTON — Oil giant Chevron is planning to expand its operations in Venezuela, a U.S. official said Tuesday, just days after President Donald Trump announced an ambitious deal to develop the nation’s oil reserves and give the Pentagon a stake in the profits.
The official, who briefed reporters on the expected announcement, said the company’s officials and Energy Secretary Chris Wright are expected to visit Venezuela on Wednesday where the new investment will be formally unveiled. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House for the call.
Chevron is the second-largest U.S. oil company and the only one with a major presence in Venezuela. Chevron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The announcement comes after the White House confirmed on Monday it is partnering with North American Blue Energy Partners as part of President Donald Trump‘s push to tap into Venezuela’s oil industry.
The sweeping agreement has been met with skepticism from analysts who say it will take years to revive Venezuela’s production. They have questioned whether Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez has the legal authority to give the company 100-year rights over 17 oil fields with reserves of 65 billion barrels — and whether future Venezuelan or American administrations would overturn the agreement.
Deal being pitched as step toward stability, democracy for Venezuelans
The Trump administration wants elections to happen as quickly as is feasible, but is aiming to maintain stability as it helps Venezuela transition following decades of autocratic rule, the official said.
The official argued that maintaining stability during such transitions “almost invariably requires you to work with elements of the existing structure, even as you are creating a new one.”
The Pentagon’s role in the deal comes through its Office of Strategic Capital, which was created under former President Joe Biden to invest in technology needed for national security.
A second U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity described the Venezuela agreement as “a very standard deal” and said the office has made several similar ones since Trump returned to office.
Trump says other companies are readying for business
Trump has had his eyes on Venezuela’s oil since Maduro’s capture, and his aides call it a path away from reliance on oil from the Middle East. Trump has been pressing to get U.S. businesses to restore a presence in the country. President Hugo Chávez completed the nationalization of Venezuela’s oil industry in 2007, leading major players like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips to leave Caracas.
Talking to reporters at the White House on Monday, Trump suggested that other oil companies were readying for business in Venezuela. “We have Exxon going in, we have Chevron going in. We have our big oil companies going in,” he said. ExxonMobil did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump in January said he was inclined to leave Exxon out of Venezuela after CEO Darren Woods called the country “uninvestable.”
Chevron has been the only major American oil company actively operating in Venezuela since the nationalization.
Trump was scheduled to meet with a group of large and small oil refiners on Tuesday to discuss ways to increase America’s capacity to refine oil into gasoline.
The White House has said that increasing the number of refineries and expanding the capacity at existing facilities would eventually reduce prices for consumers. The administration also sees the need for more refineries to process oil from Venezuela.
The developer of an affordable housing apartment complex in Voorhees expects the same heavy demand from potential tenants that he experienced with a similar complex his company opened nearby in April.
Hundreds of potential tenants fill the waiting list for available apartments at the 81-unit Victory Commons, a $30 million project that held a grand opening on April 30 at 1223 Haddonfield-Berlin Road, saidNicholas J. Cangelosi, regional vice president of The Michaels Organization, the Camden-based national developer of rental properties.
Cangelosi said he expects far more applicants than openings when his firm opens 120 affordable housing apartments on the 6.6-acre site of the now-vacant L&L Redi Mix concrete company at 600 and 602 Centennial Boulevard.
Centennial Housing Associates LLC, owned by Michaels, is scheduled to appear before the Voorhees Planning Board on Sept. 9 for preliminary and final site plan approvals for The Oaks at Centennial, which would feature 120 apartments built in two phases. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. after a 6:45 caucus at the Voorhees Township Municipal Building.
The $50 million Oaks at Centennial project is included in the fourth round of the township’s affordable housing commitment.
A third Michaels project in Voorhees, a $23 million project with 60 affordable units on Sheppard Road, has been approved by the planning board and awaits financing approval by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, Cangelosi said.
The total of 261 units developed by Michaels in the town will be sought because families want to live in Voorhees, he said.
The now-vacant concrete plant on the Voorhees property will be demolished to make way for the apartment complex.Neill Borowski
Rent for the affordable units will be paid by the tenants, whose incomes must fall under a maximum amount.
Many of the Victory Commons units have been rented to “essential workers” in the community who are employed in retail, healthcare, and schools, Cangelosi said.
“They’re the essential backbone of the community,” he said. “They get to live close to where they work,” he added.
Monthly rent for a two-bedroom unit at the proposed Oaks development for a family earning 60% of Area Median Income would be $1,587. Rent for a one-bedroom unit would be $1,323 and $1,834 for three bedrooms.
In the developer’s application to the Planning Board, traffic consultant Shropshire Associates LLC of Atco estimates The Oaks would generate 43 extra trips during the morning peak hour and 60 extra trips during the afternoon peak hour.
New Jersey’s elected leaders are focused on the shortage of housing. Gov. Mikie Sherrill in April signed an Executive Order that called for a housing plan to be delivered in September.
“We can’t make New Jersey more affordable without making housing more affordable,” Sherrill said in a statement when she signed the order. “With this Executive Order, we are aligning every tool at our disposal to accelerate housing production and make it easier for families to put down roots in the communities they love,” she said.
70and73.com is a hyperlocal news site focused on South Jersey, including the communities of Cherry Hill, Evesham, Mount Laurel, Voorhees, Medford, Medford Lakes, and Moorestown.
Drexel University and the Academy of Natural Sciences announced Tuesday that the museum would close for good on Sept. 30. Its last day open to the public with regular hours will be Sunday, Sept. 27.
While the Academy’s research and collections will be unaffected by this closure, here’s how things will change for the museum’s members and its events.
Will museum members get refunds?
Most recently, memberships for the Academy museum cost $65 for individuals. $135 for families.
“Members will receive direct communication in the coming days with information about their memberships, including benefits, expiration dates, and transition options,” Drexel said in a statement.
The Franklin Institute, the university said, will honor Scademy memberships through their expiration dates, so members can visit the institute situated only about a block away from the Academy.
Members could also “adjust the tax-deductible portion of their membership or request a prorated refund for the remaining membership period,” the university said.
The university said it will provide information to members and also post it on the Academy’s website when it becomes available.
What will happen to events scheduled at the museum?
“All programs and events scheduled to take place before the closure will continue as planned,” the university said. The university did not respond to what will happen to events that are rescheduled after Sept. 30 or if there are any.
What happens to the interns and students currently working in co-ops at the museum?
“Five Drexel students are currently working at the Academy in co-op positions. Their roles support the Academy’s research and collections’ activities and are not affected by the closure of the museum,” the university statement said.
Will hours be expanded if the closure announcement drives a high turnout?
The university said visitors should come to the museum through Sept. 27 “and participate in programs and events offering opportunities to experience and celebrate the museum during its final weeks.”
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, is open Friday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ansp.org
David L. Cohen, the former U.S. ambassador to Canada and Comcast executive, said the governor asked him to be his “agent” in helping to broker a deal between Drexel University and the Academy of Natural Sciences.
No one, he said, wanted to see another University of the Arts, which abruptly closed in June 2024, leaving a hole in the city’s arts landscape and sending students and staff scrambling.
“I don’t want to lose the Academy on my watch, and neither does the mayor,” Gov. Josh Shapiro told Cohen, Cohen said. “Can you figure out if there’s a solution here? If there’s a solution, can you help convince the Academy and Drexel to pursue that solution.”
That’s what Cohen said he has been doing, holding 40 or 50 meetings over the last several months in search of an agreement and producing a draft proposal for the future of the Academy.
The two entities, he said, are close to agreeing to terms on governance and finances. While the museum is closing, as Drexel and the Academy announced Tuesday, the larger agreement would allow for the continued operation and growth of the Academy in Philadelphia, without jeopardizing Drexel, which is facing its own financial challenges.
“We want to preserve the Academy,” he said, “but we also don’t want to jeopardize Drexel.”
“Drexel and the Academy are working with my office, with Gov. Shapiro’s office, and with Ambassador David L. Cohen, as the governor’s representative, to preserve the essential mission of the Academy. We are working collaboratively toward the outcome we all seek for the City of Philadelphia,” Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said in a statement.
The governor’s press office did not responded to requests for comment.
The exterior of the Academy of Natural Sciences on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
Cohen has long been a negotiator in many major city issues, formerly serving as chief of staff to former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell and leading the board of trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.
Shapiro, he said, was clear about the objectives.
“The goal that the governor articulated to me and the mayor was to preserve the essential mission of the Academy, all three legs on the stool,” he said citing research, education and public engagement with the collection. “Some of the legs might be a little shorter. They might be a little skinnier. But the goal is that the Academy survives and has a foundation to thrive and grow in Philadelphia. This is a matter of civic importance.”
Drexel and the Academy are exploring establishing another museum, maybe a smaller one, in another location through a third partner, Cohen said.
“That’s a work in process,” he said. “I had an hour and a half meeting yesterday with one of the potential institutions that could serve that function for the Academy and for Drexel.”
Cohen said he hopes ultimately the community rallies around the Academy and helps to support it.
“We don’t need a single savior here,” he said. “This can be a community effort. I know the Philadelphia nonprofit and foundation community, and time and again this community has stepped up, and I have every hope that we, and it’s a we, will step up again.”
Cohen credited both Drexel and the Academy for their cooperation and willingness to “focus on a common need for the community as a whole. They really deserve the credit for doing this.”
The mayor, too, commended Drexel University and the Academy of Natural Sciences “for its significant, ongoing work to preserve the Academy’s educational mission and extraordinary two-century legacy as a natural history institution, including its world-renowned collections.”
Cohen said he first got involved in the matter about a year ago when he was home recovering from back surgery and got a call from two members of the Academy board about the issues they were having with their partner, Drexel.
The Academy was looking at possibly leaving the city, though it really didn’t want to do that, he said. He suggested they talk to the mayor and the governor. The board members told him they had been trying to do that but were unable to get attention.
Cohen texted the governor and mayor on the spot from his living room, he said. Meetings were convened, and that led to the governor seeking Cohen’s help.
“My wife says to me ‘why in the world did you take this on,” Cohen recalled. “Let me tell you, this legacy, this mission, this institution is worth fighting for. There is real history here, real value.”
