Tela Bio, a Malvern-based medical-technology company, plans to cut about 20% of its workforce.
The layoffs, most of which are to take place this month, will reduce the company’s headcount from 201 full-time employees to 160, according to an SEC filing last week. The locations and types of jobs affected were not specified. Company executives say the move is part of a larger plan to slash Tela Bio’s annual operating expenses by about $17 million.
CEO Heather Getz said in a statement that they are “implementing a broader initiative to strengthen our cost structure and position Tela Bio for long-term success.”
Headquartered in the Great Valley Corporate Center, Tela Bio makes biological products for soft-tissue repairs, including hernia surgeries and ab-wall reconstructions. Among its products: OviTex tissue, made from sheep stomach, which Tela Bio says promotes natural healing while reducing plastic in the body.
Last year, Tela Bio reported more than $80 million in revenue, up 16%, which the company attributed to an increase in customers and higher sales overseas, according to earnings reports. But with $88 million in operating expenses, the company continued to operate at a loss, as it has since its founding in 2012.
Company executives expect these layoffs to cost about $1.5 million in severance and other employee payouts, according to the SEC filing.
On Monday, the company also parted ways with Roberto Cuca, who had served as chief financial officer and chief operating officer since 2021. Per the SEC filing, Getz, the CEO, will become the company’s “principal financial officer.”
Tela Bio executives said they’ll provide more information on cost-cutting efforts on the company’s next earnings call, scheduled for November.
“We are focused on disciplined execution, strengthening the business, and creating a more efficient organization positioned to deliver sustainable long-term growth,” Getz said, adding that executives ”expect this initiative to extend our cash runway into 2028.”
Getz was appointed CEO last month, succeeding Tela Bio cofounder Antony Koblish. Previously, Getz was executive vice president and chief financial and operations officer at Butterfly Network, a portable-ultrasound company.
In announcing Getz’s hiring, Tela Bio executives said she made “transformative changes in [Butterfly Network’s] strategy, capital allocation, cash runway and investor relations while building a performance culture.”
New 76ers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s tenure in Philly is off to a bumpy start.
On TikTok, Caldwell-Pope’s wife, McKenzie, said that just 30 minutes after signing the lease on their new Philly apartment, the building was struck by lightning and started to flood.
“I hear the loudest bang. All of a sudden, [expletive] starts shooting out of the ceiling and water is pouring in, dumping in,” McKenzie said in the video. “So everyone just starts screaming, and we’re like, ‘We have to get out of here.’ When I say it was coming, it was like — there was at least two, three inches of water in there before we got out.”
The fire department had to free their movers who had gotten stuck in the elevator.
“All of the elevators are broken, so we had to climb down 14 floors to get to safety,” McKenzie said. “We get down there (and) no one wants to believe me about what happened. I’m like, ‘Guys, I heard lightning,’ and the front desk is trying to tell me, like, ‘No, something just tripped the sprinklers.’ Girl, you go up there, it’s Niagara Falls. That ain’t no sprinkler, girl. Something bad just happened.”
No one was hurt, but McKenzie said they are currently living in a hotel while the unit is repaired. He could always commute from NYC by helicopter with LeBron James.
“One of the electricians said, ‘Yeah, you got struck by lightning, and there’s a one in 400 million chance of a unit getting struck the way this unit got struck,’” McKenzie said.
Of course, plenty of Sixer fans had jokes about the long series of improbable disasters that have happened to the franchise over the years. But maybe this is just what the Sixers needed to turn their luck around?
Apple’s new CEO John Ternus took the helm of the iconic tech giant on Tuesday, ending Tim Cook’s 15-year tenure during which the company’s value skyrocket to $4.6 trillion thanks to the iPhone’s enormous popularity.
The transition to a new CEO comes at a pivotal time for Apple. Artificial intelligence has unleashed the greatest upheaval within the industry since Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in 2007. Apple has gotten off to a rough start in AI after stumbling in its efforts to deliver new features built on the technology, as promised nearly two years ago.
Earlier this year, it unveiled new artificial intelligence advances, including upgrades to its Siri assistant, emphasizing a focus on privacy and day-to-day use as the iPhone maker tries to catch up with rivals.
Ternus faces challenges that will force him to step outside his comfort zone in hardware engineering. Beyond finding ways to keep Apple competitive in the artificial intelligence race, he will need to navigate supply chain questions and relationships with figures such as President Donald Trump, who offered public praise for his predecessor on Tuesday.
Serving as Apple CEO will also require soft skills, including developing relationships with important figures. Cook cultivated ties with Trump as he navigated the company through business challenges, including Trump’s trade and tariff war targeting countries in Asia, where Apple has extensive manufacturing supply chains. Although he is handing over the CEO reins at Apple, Cook is widely expected to help the company maintain a good relationship with Trump after he shifts to his new role as executive chairman.
Ternus worked on some of Apple’s signature products under Cook, including the Apple Watch, AirPods, and Apple Vision Pro. He will headline next week’s launch of the latest iPhone at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters.
A federal judge said Tuesday that he will not call Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner to testify about his actions in a controversial post-conviction case — despite the fact that some of Krasner’s own staffers have accused him of overseeing the matter in ways they viewed as inappropriate.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond came at the end of a multiday hearing at which two of Krasner’s prosecutors testified about the discord that emerged among lawyers in the office as they worked to determine whether a man’s murder conviction should be overturned.
Both prosecutors who testified Tuesday, David Napiorski and Peter Andrews, largely echoed assertions two of their colleagues made on previous days of the hearing — including that Krasner vehemently opposed referring the case to the state attorney general’s office, and that he threatened unspecified “consequences” for those who didn’t follow his orders.
In earlier testimony, other staffers accused Krasner of calling state prosecutors “Nazis” and growing “apoplectic” when they memorialized their disagreements with him in writing. Diamond last week also suggested that some actions in the case could amount to crimes including perjury, conspiracy, or obstruction of justice.
Napiorski and Andrews continued to paint a portrait of an office consumed by internal conflicts over its actions in the matter. And they accused Krasner of sometimes amplifying the drama.
Despite that, Diamond said at the conclusion of the hearing that he did not intend to hear from any other witnesses, including Krasner. Instead, Diamond said, his next step would be to determine whether Krasner’s office should be allowed to continue participating in the case moving forward. He did not specify how quickly that ruling might come.
Krasner declined to comment Tuesday. He has previously declined to talk about the matter, saying it would violate ethical rules to do so while it remains pending.
The underlying case is the conviction of Dennis Johnson, who was found guilty of second-degree murder in 2009 for fatally shooting Kenyatta Smith outside a North Philadelphia convenience store.
Johnson appealed his conviction, in part because he said his trial attorney was ineffective. And in 2022, a newly hired prosecutor in Krasner’s law division, Jaclyn Mason, filed court documents agreeing with him and saying his conviction should be overturned.
But this spring, some of Mason’s colleagues began reviewing the case and took the opposite view — in part because they said she’d made clear and important mistakes in her brief supporting Johnson’s position.
That set off a sequence of events that has gone on to roil Krasner’s office.
First, Mason’s supervisors said they had to withdraw her brief and apologize to Diamond for her mistakes — an unusual step for lawyers to take in court.
And although they said they offered Mason a chance to join that effort, she resigned instead, saying she’d only filed her brief because her boss, Matthew Stiegler, had pressured her to do so, and that she didn’t want to be used as a scapegoat for the office.
In the weeks that followed, prosecutors testified, Krasner became involved in a series of disputes with those who remained on the case, including Napiorski, Andrews, and two of their colleagues: Katherine Ernst and Steven Wildberger.
All four went on to testify that they believed their office should recuse itself from handling Johnson’s case because their internal discussions had veered into areas of self-preservation rather than the merits of Johnson’s claims.
But Krasner disagreed, they said, at times angrily. He said he would not refer the case to the attorney general’s office because he viewed their staffers as “Nazis,” according to Ernst and Wildberger. And they and Napiorski said Krasner also wanted to keep the case in-house to “protect the office.”
By mid-July — about six weeks after Mason resigned — Ernst, Wildberger, Napiorski, and Andrews filed documents with Diamond saying they could no longer participate in the case due to the behind-the-scenes drama.
Krasner, in a court document of his own, called their assertions unauthorized and “ill-informed.”
As Diamond weighs how to sort out the turmoil, Roy Clark, Johnson’s father, said he’s become demoralized by how attention has shifted away from whether or not his son should be released from prison.
“With all the in-house fighting and stuff for the DA’s Office, it takes the human component out of the case,” he said outside the courthouse Tuesday. “We’re trying to get my boy home.”
Staff writer Jesse Bunch contributed to this article.
Philadelphia’s police union on Tuesday endorsed Gov. Josh Shapiro’s reelection bid, announcing its continued support for the first-term Democratic governor while touting his commitment to law enforcement.
“Every day, he has shown a commendable ability to work with local law enforcement and deliver the resources and support we need to protect and serve our friends, families, and neighbors,” said Roosevelt L. Poplar, president of the Fraternal Order of the Police Lodge 5, which represents over 14,000 active and retired Philadelphia police officers and sheriff’s deputies.
In a statement, Shapiro said he was “honored” by the endorsement.
“I’m going to keep fighting for the brave law enforcement officers who work to keep Philadelphia safe every single day,” he said. “I believe all Pennsylvanians deserve to be safe and feel safe in their communities — and we have focused every day on funding law enforcement and supporting the men and women that protect and serve our Commonwealth.”
It marks the second time the police union has embraced Shapiro for governor after endorsing him in 2022 over Republican candidate Doug Mastriano, who the then-president of the union said couldn’t be trusted to protect their collective bargaining rights. Shapiro, a former state attorney general, was a reliable government official who the union said was “there to help us with whatever we need to do.”
This election cycle, Shapiro holds a commanding lead over his Republican opponent, Treasurer Stacy Garrity, according to a recent poll from The Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Times, and Siena University. The union has previously supported President Donald Trump, but Shapiro attracted its backing over Garrity, who Trump has endorsed in the Pennsylvania governor’s race.
Shapiro has also received support from other organized labor unions, including the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO and the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association. On Monday, he received the backing of the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association.
Shapiro has maintained a comfortable relationship with law enforcement, and his campaign noted that he has signed multiple state budgets funding 2,000 additional officers across Pennsylvania and allocated more than $1 billion in community-based violence prevention grants.
Roosevelt Poplar, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, on Jan. 26, 2024.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
In his statement, Poplar also commended Shapiro for providing funding for police department needs.
“The Governor has delivered on his promise to invest in public safety, he has shown up with us in times of tragedy, and he has proven his commitment to keeping our officers and the communities we serve safe,” he said.
The police union’s endorsement of Shapiro is notable for an organization that just a few years ago was seen by some Philadelphia Democrats as politically toxic.
In the aftermath of the 2020 Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, protests by racial justice activists swelled in Philadelphia and across the country with many of the movement’s participants calling to “defund” or abolish the police. They pressed local lawmakers to redirect police funding to social services, and Philadelphia City Council in June 2020 canceled a planned increase to the Philadelphia police budget.
Amid the calls for reform, the FOP was a major point of contention, as was its bombastic former leader, John McNesby. Activists — and many of their allies in elected office — said the union was too resistant to change and protected bad cops.
Former FOP president John McNesby holds a news conference on Oct. 19, 2022.Joe Lamberti
At the time, Shapiro was running for reelection as the state attorney general, and his campaign presented him as a “progressive reformer” who had established a unit in his office to review criminal convictions that may have been unfairly applied and a council to support people leaving prison with housing and employment opportunities. The FOP endorsed Shapiro’s 2016 and backed his 2020 campaign for attorney general.
Unlike some Philadelphia Democrats, Shapiro — who has rumored ambitions for a presidential run in 2028 — did not embrace the “defund” movement. He argued during a 2020 trip to Philadelphia that addressing structural inequities in the department and having strong law enforcement, especially in communities with high levels of poverty, were not mutually exclusive endeavors.
“We reject that poverty or institutionalized indifference and marginalization should mean that some people don’t get to have a safe community to live in,” he said. “We won’t give up on the belief [of] law enforcement showing up in a community to make people feel safer.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro with Pennsylvania State Police Col. Christopher L. Paris. They were attending the funeral for Philadelphia police officer Jaime Roman at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul on Sept. 19, 2024.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
In the years following 2020, public support for police in Philadelphia appeared to grow. The city saw a historic spike in gun violence, and Republicans nationally portrayed Democrats as soft-on-crime. When a half-dozen Democrats were fighting for the mayoral nomination in 2023, polling showed that most voters saw public safety as the No. 1 issue driving the race. None of the candidates embraced “defund,” and most of them supported proposals to provide additional resources to the police department as it sought to solve shootings.
In the end, the tough-on-crime mayoral candidate — then-City Councilmember Cherelle L. Parker — won decisively.
The Eagles filled out their initial 17-player practice squad Tuesday, officially signing four more players to add to the 13 they signed on Monday.
The additions to the unit are: wide receiver Danny Gray, offensive lineman Kiran Amegadjie, cornerback Robert Longerbeam, and running back Jaydon Blue. Among the four, only Gray — who had stints on the practice squad in 2024 and 2025 — spent training camp with the Eagles.
The other three are all recent draft picks who were cut by their former teams. Amegadjie (6-foot-5, 326 pounds) was a 2024 third-round Chicago Bears pick. Longerbeam (5-11, 174) and Blue (5-9, 198) were 2025 draft picks, Longerbeam in the sixth round by the Baltimore Ravens and Blue in the fifth by the Dallas Cowboys.
Blue had a limited role as a rookie in Dallas, carrying 38 times for 129 yards and one touchdown. The former Texas running back was waived when the Cowboys cut their roster to 53. Longerbeam, meanwhile, suffered a season-ending knee injury in August last year.
The Eagles are allowed 17 players since Uar Bernard, their seventh-round pick, is a designated International Player Pathway program player, a slot that enables the team to keep one extra player on the practice squad.
LAS VEGAS — A jury found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of orchestrating the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur, finally bringing a measure of resolution to a case that had gripped hip-hop fans and lingered in the public imagination for decades.
The 63-year-old Davis was convicted Monday of a single count of murder with a deadly weapon and could be sentenced to life in prison. The jury deliberated for less than three hours after a weekslong trial in Las Vegas.
After the verdict was read, Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, cried and hugged the prosecutors. Davis’ son covered his face with one hand.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors in closing arguments earlier Monday that Davis acquired a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight after the men had beaten up Davis’ nephew earlier that night.
“He is responsible of the murder of Tupac Shakur,” Palal said. “Tell him you hear him. Find him guilty.”
Prosecutors said that while his story had changed over the years, Davis repeatedly placed himself inside a white Cadillac from which the shots were fired. And they said that while he did not pull the trigger, evidence showed he’d called for the gunfire as a powerful gang leader the younger men in the car, including his nephew, were going to listen to.
Defense attorney Michael Sanft asked jurors if there was any evidence that Davis had ever called the shots before or after the shooting.
The panel of 16 jurors, four of whom are alternates, heard testimony from 24 prosecution witnesses and three defense witnesses over nine days.
The prosecution said the state would dismiss a gang enhancement charge due to witness logistics. Prosecutors declined to comment following the verdict, and members of Shakur’s family said they were waiting until sentencing, which is scheduled for October.
Decades-old case has drawn attention of hip-hop fans and crime experts alike
The trial brought to a head a decades-old case that for years has drawn the attention of hip-hop fans and true crime experts alike. Shakur, who was considered one of the most influential rappers of all time, was in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996, and stopped at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up beside him, and shots were fired. He died six days later from his wounds. Knight was also wounded but survived.
For years, nobody had been charged in the rapper’s death until Davis began making public statements, saying he was in the Cadillac and gave the gun to others in the backseat, calling the shooting a retaliation for the earlier beating of his nephew. Davis is the only person still alive among the four men prosecutors say were in the Cadillac.
Defense argued public statements were untrue, physical evidence was lacking
Sanft, Davis’ attorney, argued there was no physical evidence connecting his client to the shooting. He said the book Davis co-authored and the public statements he made were dramatized bravado designed to make money, not to tell the truth.
Throughout the trial, Sanft poked holes in prosecutors’ narrative. He said investigators did not back up the claims made by his client, and he repeatedly pointed out a lack of physical evidence, such as phone records, that showed Davis was the shot caller.
“They have nothing in this case that says that man was here in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996,” Sanft said during his closing argument.
In a rebuttal argument, prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo pointed to a scrapbook Davis kept containing articles about Shakur.
“This guy’s scrapbooking his murder, for God’s sake,” DiGiacomo told jurors.
Davis’ own words were front and center
Palal held up Davis’ 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, and played an interview in which Davis encouraged people to buy it to get the “real truth.” Although the book contains a disclaimer saying some facts were changed, prosecutors argued the central account did not.
Sanft also turned to his client’s memoir during his closing argument. While reading an excerpt, he said the N-word aloud, prompting people watching in an overflow courtroom to recoil and shake their heads.
In multiple interviews, Davis said he handed the gun to the back seat, but in others as well as in his book, Davis wouldn’t say who pulled the trigger.
Gang and record label rivalries provided the backdrop
While insisting Davis’ words alone were enough to convict him, prosecutors said a gang rivalry helped explain why the shooting happened.
Witnesses described the hostile rivalry between the Los Angeles gang sects leading up to Shakur’s death, and how the gangs became affiliated with two rival labels — Mob Piru with Knight’s Death Row Records and the South Side Compton Crips with Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy Records.
The shooting death of Bad Boy’s the Notorious B.I.G. six months after Shakur came up many times during the trial, with law enforcement witnesses saying Davis was briefly a suspect in that killing before being discounted. That case, which has also been an obsession of hip-hop fans, remains unsolved.
An anonymous federal official warned in a disclosure to Congress that a rushed and insufficiently tested U.S. Postal Service system could prevent large numbers of Americans from receiving mail ballots this fall if courts approve President Donald Trump’s plans for the midterm elections.
The disclosure, made public Tuesday morning by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), says the Postal Service has adopted an internal “zero-percent failure policy” under which an entire batch of ballots would be rejected if a single barcode sampled by a postal employee could not be scanned or matched with information submitted through a new online portal. A batch could contain tens of thousands of ballots, according to the disclosure.
“The Postal Service has designed a system to disenfranchise millions of Americans,” Blumenthal said in a call with reporters.
Postal officials and the White House did not immediately provide comment.
In public statements, the Postal Service has previously said information submitted through the portal will be updated immediately. It has said postal employees will not determine voter eligibility or check names and addresses for accuracy. The rule does not disclose the sampling formula or zero-failure policy described in the whistleblower disclosure.
The fight over the Postal Service’s plans is rooted in an executive order from Trump that seeks to overhaul mail voting. A judge has blocked those plans for now, but the administration is seeking to reinstate them ahead of this fall’s midterm elections.
If the administration gets its way, state and local election officials would have to upload lists of voters to an online portal the Postal Service is designing. Postal employees would refuse to deliver to anyone who is not on those lists.
The unnamed official alleged that the portal was assembled under constantly changing requirements and with as few as four working days available for customer testing before a planned launch.
If the Postal Service’s plans go into effect, election officials will confront new challenges when they mail ballots in large batches. Postal workers plan to scan barcodes on a sample of envelopes to ensure the voters appear on the state’s list, according to the whistleblower. If they find even one mismatch, they will refuse to accept the entire batch, the whistleblower said. That means a single mismatch in a batch of 10,000 ballots would prevent the 9,999 other ballots from being mailed until discrepancies were resolved.
“As designed, the process is entirely unforgiving,” the disclosure said. “It could delay ballots by the thousands in repeated verification cycles — and thus prevent states from mailing enormous numbers of ballots.”
State and local officials often mail ballots in large batches to manage them as effectively as possible. Some states send ballots to all registered voters, and they must place millions of ballots in the mail in a short period.
Many election officials have expressed alarm about the Postal Service’s overall plans under Trump’s executive order because they don’t believe they have been adequately thought through for a fast-approaching election.
Among the issues they worry about are potential mismatches for mundane reasons. States constantly update their voter rolls, and the lists they send to the Postal Service could be out of date within minutes as new voters register and existing ones update their registrations because they’ve moved.
The Postal Service has said states can update their voter lists, but election officials have expressed concerns that the new online portal won’t be able to handle a steady stream of updates.
The whistleblower disclosure could add to those concerns and bolster legal challenges to the executive order and postal rules.
The disclosure, dated Sunday, was submitted to Blumenthal by Whistleblower Aid on behalf of an anonymous federal official it represents.
The organization described the unnamed whistleblower as a “federal official with direct knowledge of potentially catastrophic problems in the development” of the Postal Service’s plans and said the official feared reprisal by administration officials if identified.
Blumenthal sent the disclosure late Monday to Postmaster General David Steiner and asked him to provide documents about the Postal Service’s plans.
Blumenthal is the ranking Democrat on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
States and voting rights groups sued over the executive order soon after Trump signed it in March. The Supreme Court last week allowed work on the executive order to proceed for the moment, but days later a lower court blocked it.
The administration is seeking to get it reinstated but faces timing challenges. Officials in North Carolina are preparing to start mailing ballots on Friday under a state law requiring them to send them to those who ask for them starting 60 days before an election. Other states are set to start mailing their ballots in the following days and weeks.
The whistleblower said the Postal Service stopped working on the portal around June 25 after a federal judge blocked implementation of Trump’s directive, then resumed work around July 29 while that order remained in effect.
The disclosure said work continued after the judge issued a new order on Thursday barring the Postal Service for 14 days from taking further preparatory steps that would apply to all states for the November election. In a brief ruling Monday, the judge said the Postal Service could work on the portal for states that want to voluntarily use it.
Postal officials planned to launch the portal on Tuesday, according to the whistleblower. One of the whistleblower’s attorneys, David Kligerman, said work on the portal had continued in recent days but didn’t know whether the Postal Service was sticking with its plan to make it available on Tuesday.
PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial ended a fourth day of deliberations without a verdict Tuesday after earlier saying they couldn’t agree whether the Massachusetts mother is criminally responsible for killing her three young children.
Not long after arriving at the courthouse, the jury sent Judge William Sullivan a note saying they had been unable to reach a unanimous decision despite many hours of back and forth. He told them to keep trying.
It was the jury’s first indication of an impasse in the closely watched trial that has focused on maternal mental health after childbirth, and which has stirred deep divisions among the public.
Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, doesn’t deny strangling her children but says postpartum psychosis led to her actions. Prosecutors argue she knew what she was doing. Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.
Clancy stared straight ahead as the jury entered in the morning to say they were at a standstill, then looked toward them as the judge spoke.
Sullivan told the jurors that he recognized it had been a long trial with more than 80 witnesses and 300 exhibits. “But because of that, I’m going to ask you to go back out,” he said.
They’re expected to resume deliberations Wednesday.
What happens if there’s a hung jury
The jury, which began deliberating Thursday afternoon, could convict Clancy of murder or manslaughter, or acquit her if they believe her deteriorating mental health was to blame.
A conviction could lead to a life prison sentence. If she is acquitted, a judge could still order her confined to a mental health facility if an evaluation determines she is a danger to the public.
If jurors can’t reach a verdict and a mistrial is declared, the charges against Clancy would remain. Prosecutors would need to decide whether to try Clancy again before an entirely new group of jurors.
Prosecutors could offer a plea deal to Clancy, although her attorney is more likely to push for them to drop the charges, said Brad Bailey, a Boston defense attorney and former prosecutor who is not involved in the case.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington called it a good sign that the jury hasn’t given up. “I think that they’re showing that they are more than willing to keep working at it,” he said.
Trial focused on mental health
During more than four weeks of testimony, jurors heard differing views from medical experts.
Clancy’s lawyer argued she loved her children, but killed them because she lost her grip on reality — and on herself — due to bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness that can follow childbirth.
Prosecutors said Clancy was depressed and tired of living, and made a conscious choice to kill the children. A forensic psychologist who testified for the prosecution said he concluded that Clancy killed the children because she wanted to end her life but didn’t want to leave them behind.
Clancy’s mother and sister testified that she became anxious, paranoid, and suicidal after the birth of her third child. She sought treatment for her worsening mental health, including a stay in a psychiatric hospital, in the months before killing Cora, Dawson, and Callan Clancy, ages 5 years, 3 years, and 8 months.
Less than three weeks after being discharged, she sent her husband on an errand and killed the children with exercise bands in the basement of their home south of Boston. She then jumped from a second-floor window and remains paralyzed from the waist down. Her lawyers say she heard a voice telling her to kill the children so she could end her own life.
Lindsay Clancy didn’t take stand during her trial
Clancy chose not to testify. She watched the proceedings from the defense table, occasionally weeping, as when prosecutors showed autopsy photos of the children to the jury.
Jurors spent two days listening to testimony from her former husband, Patrick Clancy, and his anguished 911 call. He was on the phone when he discovered the children’s bodies, minutes after finding his wife.
Patrick Clancy has said in interviews that he forgives his ex-wife, whom he viewed as ill rather than evil. The trial marks the first time he has seen Lindsay Clancy since the killings.
Postpartum psychosis, the condition that Clancy’s attorney says she had when she killed the children, is more serious and less common than postpartum depression. Researchers estimate that the condition afflicts 1 to 2 out of 1,000 women after delivery.
After a summer of nonstop action — the World Cup, Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, the festivities surrounding the nation’s 250th birthday — things have finally calmed a bit in Philadelphia.
But that doesn’t mean there’s not plenty still to come this fall.
The area will once again host a variety of festivals and markets in the coming weeks and months, celebrating everything from food to the arts and everything in between.
Now entering its fourth year, the festival celebrates Muslim-owned establishments in and around Philly. Last year’s version featured more than 100 vendors and 6,000 attendees.
📅 Sept. 19,📍King of Prussia Mall, 160 N. Gulph Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406, 🌐 phillyhalalfoodfest.com
Scene of the swan boats from the 2023 Delaware River Festival held both in Philadelphia and Camden.Partnership for the Delaware Estuary
The event combined two former festivals, the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary’s Coast Day and Alliance for Watershed Education’s River Days Festival. Expect lots of family-friendly activities, from ferry rides and pedal boats to crafts and water-related education. Events take place at both Penn’s Landing on the Pennsylvania side of the river, and Wiggins Park on the New Jersey side.
📅 Sept. 26, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 💵 ,📍101 N. Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia, Pa. 19106 and 2 Riverside Dr., Camden, N.J. 08103, 🌐 delawareriverfest.org.
Held at Allens Lane Park, this fourth-annual festival features live performances, food, an art market featuring the work of local vendors — but also the opportunity to make some art yourself, with stations for painting, printmaking, and ceramics.
📅 Oct. 3, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., 💵 Free,📍601 W. Allens Lane, Philadelphia, Pa. 19119, 🌐 allenslane.org.
First Fridays return to the Cherry Street Pier, complete with artist studio tours, markets, and exhibit openings along the Delaware River. Upcoming dates are Aug. 7, Sept. 4, Oct. 2, Nov. 6, and Dec. 4. Events begin at 4 p.m.
📅 Various dates, 💵 Free,📍121 N. Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, Pa. 19106, 🌐 cherrystreetpier.com
Since 1987, St. Nicholas of Tolentine Parish has held this annual event dedicated to Italian culture. The day kicks off with a 10:30 a.m. Mass and subsequent neighborhood religious procession, and there’s plenty of live music, Italian food, and family-friendly activities.
This three-day event in and around Philly’s Gayborhood celebrates National Coming Out Day. Things kick off Oct. 9, with a variety of pre-parties and kickoff events. The following day, Oct. 10, is a night of dancing at Voyeur Nightclub, and the festival concludes with a parade on Oct. 11.
📅 Oct. 9-11, times vary, 💵 Prices vary by event,📍Various locations, 🌐 phillygaycalendar.com
The fall market this year celebrates its 10th year at Dilworth Park near Philly’s City Hall. Held over three days in October, this pet-friendly event brings a slew of artists and makers together, from jewelry and photography to glassware and woodwork.
📅 Oct. 9-10 (noon to 8 p.m.) and Oct. 11 (noon to 6 p.m.), 💵 Free,📍1 S. 15th Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19102, 🌐 madeinphila.com
A day of celebration in honor of one of Pennsylvania’s most iconic foods: the Dutch breakfast meat, scrapple. Reading Terminal Market turns into a scrapple haven, as vendors offer a variety of scrapple-themed items. There’s live entertainment, cooking demonstrations — even a scrapple-sculpting competition (held Oct. 15, the Thursday before the festival).
📅 Oct. 17, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., 💵 Free entry, pay as you go,📍1136 Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19107, 🌐 readingterminalmarket.org
The fifth annual Philly Bike Ride kicks off at the Philadelphia Art Museum on Saturday, Oct. 17.Courtesy of Philly Bike Ride
Now in its fifth year, this annual ride takes cyclists past some of the city’s top landmarks. The 20-mile course is closed to traffic, making it a great event for riders of all ages and experience levels. Afterward, celebrate with food trucks and a beer garden. Registration is required; early-bird prices (through July 12) range from $43 to $200.
There’s live music all day, pumpkin decorating for kids, and a variety of items from local shops, crafters, and artisans. Local vendors will be on hand, with a beer garden from Wissahickon Brewing.
📅 Oct. 17, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., 💵 Free admission,📍Ridge and Midvale Avenues, Philadelphia, Pa. 19129, 🌐 discovereastfalls.org
Last year’s inaugural event went so well that organizers are running it back. Main Street will be taken over by local artists and vendors, food trucks, live music, and — ahem — a mac and cheese crawl.
The 23rd Street Armory hosts this annual celebration of all things coffee. More than 20 roasters have already been lined up (with more expected soon) for this two-day event that also includes food and live music.
📅 Oct. 17-18, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 💵 Tickets are $25-$73,📍22 S. 23rd St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19103, 🌐 phillycoffeefestival.com
More than 100 artists, crafters, and vendors are expected at this year’s annual family-friendly festival held at Croft Farm. Mechanical Brewery will have a beer garden, plus there’s free pumpkins, a petting zoo, and live entertainment.
📅 Oct. 18, noon- 4 p.m., 💵 Free entry, pay as you go,📍100 Bortons Mill Rd., Cherry Hill, N.J. 08034, 🌐 chnj.gov
This free event gives visitors a peek behind the scenes of the Community Arts Center in Wallingford. There’s 30 vendors, plus demos and tours, art activities for children, and a pumpkin-painting contest — plus live music. For a full schedule of the day’s events, check out the Community Arts Center website.
The Braid Mill in Germantown hosts this fourth annual fall festival, with food trucks, wine and cocktails, local bands and DJs, and a craft marketplace. Early-bird tickets are available at a steep discount if purchased before Oct. 1.
📅 Oct. 25, noon-5 p.m., 💵 $20 for entry ($12.51 before Oct. 1), pay as you go,📍346 E. Walnut Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19144, 🌐 phillyflannelfest.com
The first-ever Inquirer Food Festival was held last year at the Fillmore in Fishtown. This marks the event’s second year.
The city’s premier food festival returns to the Fillmore this fall, featuring a lengthy lineup of top area restaurants. Sao, Pine Street Grill, and The Bread Room are among the participants already confirmed for this year’s event. There’s also an empanada-making workshop from chef Jezabel Careaga, with music from DJ Na$h, plus the chance to try off-menu dishes.
📅 Nov. 14, 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., 💵 Ticket prices vary,📍29 E. Allen St, Philadelphia, Pa. 19123, 🌐 foodfest.inquirer.com
