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  • Skill games funded my VFW post. Harrisburg’s inaction could close it.

    Skill games funded my VFW post. Harrisburg’s inaction could close it.

    In a matter of weeks, my Veterans of Foreign Wars post could be facing a decision none of us ever thought we would have to make: closing our doors.

    Not cutting back. Not shortening our hours. Closing.

    Think about that for a moment.

    A place built by veterans, sustained by veterans, and dedicated to serving veterans and our community could disappear because lawmakers in Harrisburg could not find a way to create a set of guidelines to govern skill games — the slot machine-like devices that everything from convenience stores to veterans posts like mine rely on for income.

    And I have one question for them: Why? Why, when there are ways to come up with a solution, would you allow organizations like ours to fail?

    VFWs, American Legions, volunteer fire companies, fraternal clubs, and small businesses across Pennsylvania are looking at their finances and making painful plans for what comes next if skill games go away.

    Back in June, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court gave state lawmakers 120 days to regulate skill games and help businesses and organizations stay open. With less than a month left, they have not acted.

    At our VFW, the revenue from skill games isn’t extra money sitting around waiting to be spent. It has become part of what allows us to keep the lights on, pay our bills, employ people, and continue serving our community.

    It isn’t just us at risk. Jim Brown, state commander of the VFWs, warns that a ban on skill games risks a vital revenue source for these organizations and threatens the survival of many VFW posts across the state.

    Senate Bill 1079, sponsored by State Sens. Gene Yaw and Anthony Williams, or House Bill 2213, sponsored by State Reps. Danilo Burgos and Jonathan Fritz, offers a path forward. They would responsibly regulate skill games and establish a $500 monthly fee per machine.

    That’s a compromise. The state gets revenue — $300 million a year. The games get regulated. And organizations like ours get a fighting chance to survive.

    So why can’t lawmakers get this done?

    I’ve heard the argument that veterans organizations, firefighters, and other nonprofits survived before skill games, so we should simply go back to raising money the way we used to.

    I would invite anyone making that argument to try it themselves.

    Could you go back five or 10 years and live on the income you made then while paying today’s bills?

    Could the state run today on the budget it passed 10 years ago (which notably was less than half of what the state budget is today)?

    We can’t chicken barbecue ourselves out of the coming budget hole. There aren’t enough dinners, raffles, bake sales, and pass-the-boot drives to replace the dependable revenue many organizations now receive from skill games.

    Our volunteer firefighters want to fight fires and keep protecting our communities. They do not want to be full-time fundraisers.

    What scares me most is that this doesn’t end at our front door. When a VFW loses revenue, the community loses revenue. We support food drives, local charities, and families who need a hand. Volunteer fire companies do the same while providing an essential public service.

    Will Harrisburg step in to support the Little League team? Will it help the food bank? Will it support the homeless veteran? Will it replace every donation that disappears when a VFW, American Legion, fire company, or Elks Club can no longer afford to give?

    That is the part of this debate I don’t hear enough about. The consequences don’t stop with the machines. They are far-reaching.

    They reach the bartender or club employee who loses a job. They reach the veteran who loses a gathering place and support system. They reach the firefighter whose organization loses revenue and struggles to find new volunteers.

    They reach every community organization that depended on donations from local clubs.

    Organizations are making plans right now. They are looking at layoffs. They’re deciding what expenses they can cut. They’re considering which donations and community programs they can no longer afford. Some, like us, are wondering whether they can remain open at all.

    The East Wing and Pennsylvania War Veterans’ Memorial Fountain at the main public entrance to the Pennsylvania Capitol on Commonwealth Avenue in Harrisburg. There is still time for legislators to pass legislation on skills games that allows for regulation and a path forward for the small businesses that depend on them, writes Rusty Miller.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    Pennsylvania lawmakers have legislative days coming up. They have an opportunity to prevent a crisis.

    Lawmakers must pass legislation that regulates skill games and gives organizations a workable path forward. This would protect the jobs tied to these establishments. Protect veterans organizations and volunteer fire companies. Protect the community programs those organizations make possible.

    We have spent our lives believing that when our community needs us, we show up.

    Now we need our lawmakers to show up and do their job and find a solution.

    Rusty Miller worked for many years as president of a wireless construction company that specialized in all facets of cell site and switch construction, and retired in 2021. He has belonged to the Mechanicsburg VFW Post 6704 for 25 years.

  • AC/DC did the same thing it always does. Philly fans wearing devil horns lapped it all up.

    AC/DC did the same thing it always does. Philly fans wearing devil horns lapped it all up.

    AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson made a promise shortly after taking the stage at Lincoln Financial Field on Tuesday night: “We’re gonna do the same thing we always do.”

    It was met by a roar of approval from the sea of fans sporting red light-up devil horns, reaffirming that the Australian-born band’s multigenerational audience expects nothing less — or more.

    Throughout its more than half-century history, AC/DC has belonged to a stunted-but-exultant branch of the rock family tree that stubbornly refused to evolve past the bracingly simple riffs, the strutting duckwalk of Chuck Berry, and the lyrical concerns of a hormonal adolescent.

    That these sentiments are coming from a group of men in their 70s has rarely been an issue for rock icons of a certain age, but AC/DC has clung to its aura of misspent youth with an impish fervor that shrugs off questions of dignity with a raised pint and a lascivious grin.

    AC/DC fans sing and dance Tuesday during the band’s “Power Up” tour stop at Lincoln Financial Field.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    At 78, Johnson remains the gregarious, leering charmer with the air of a man perpetually perched on his favorite barstool, even as he skulks around a stadium-size stage. A decade after being replaced on tour by Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose because of hearing loss, Johnson sounded strong despite a few stumbles — swapping verses on “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” which he acknowledged with a chuckle, or missing his entrance on “Whole Lotta Rosie.”

    A voice that in its prime sounded like a junkyard dog snarling double entendres through a barbed-wire fence suffers the ravages of age differently than a more finely honed instrument. But Johnson managed to summon his gloriously serrated howls when he needed them, talk-singing his way through the rough patches as if sharing a private joke.

    AC/DC’s guitarist Angus Young performs during the band’s “Power Up” tour stop at Lincoln Financial Field on Tuesday.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Which brings us to Angus.

    The poster boy for arrested development, Angus Young still sports a schoolboy uniform at 71 (royal blue for this occasion, topped by a bright yellow cap emblazoned with his first initial). With his shock of gray hair, Young looks less like the juvenile reprobate gone to seed of his younger days, more like a student cursed, mummylike, to wander the halls of his school for all eternity.

    The sole remaining member from the band’s 1973 founding, Young is indisputably the star of the show. From the opening riff of “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” to the closing cannon fire of “For Those About To Rock (We Salute You),” the guitarist remained in perpetual motion throughout the two hour-plus show while churning out nearly two dozen indelible riffs. He eventually removed his tie, bashing it against his strings for the solo to “Sin City,” and even took the mic to growl a couple of lines of “Dirty Deeds.”

    AC/DC’s Brian Johnson (left) and Angus Young play on during the band’s “Power Up” tour stop at Lincoln Financial Field on Tuesday.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    The leaps that accompanied each song’s final crashing chord don’t quite achieve the height they used to, and the blistering fretwork on “Thunderstruck” has slowed a step or two, but Young commands attention like few guitarists can. He quite literally eclipsed the rest of the band for an extended solo showcase on “Let There Be Rock”: As the rest of the stage fell into shadow, he first duckwalked to the end of the stage, where he was hoisted skyward on a raised platform, spinning and spasming on the floor as confetti erupted around him; then ascended to a catwalk atop the bank of Marshall amps to engage in an extended call and response with his adoring audience.

    Johnson and Young both have personalities outsized enough to split the spotlight between them, necessarily so as the touring version of the band is otherwise filled out by hired guns. Longtime bassist Cliff Williams and drummer Phil Rudd remain official members of the band and contributed to the most recent album, 2020’s Power Up, but have been replaced for the tour by Chris Chaney, formerly of Jane’s Addiction, and Slash’s Snakepit/Alanis Morissette drummer Matt Laug. From half a football field away, Stevie Young could pass for his late uncle Malcolm, clad in all black and jittering along with the steady chug of his rhythm guitar.

    AC/DC’s Brian Johnson sings during the band’s “Power Up” tour stop at Lincoln Financial Field on Tuesday.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    AC/DC’s first Philly stop in seven years came two and half years into its “Power Up” tour, which finally wraps up Friday in East Rutherford, N.J. Its namesake album was given two nods in the 21-song setlist, with “Demon Fire” and “Shot in the Dark” fitting snugly in with the classics. The title track from 2000’s Stiff Upper Lip was the only other song drawn from the band’s 21st-century output.

    Otherwise they stuck, as promised, to the familiar, accompanied by unobtrusive visuals: columns of flame for “Highway to Hell,” monochrome and static for “Back in Black,” a bell lowered from the rafters for “Hells Bells.”

    Opening the evening, as they have throughout the lengthy tour schedule, was the Pretty Reckless. Led by former child star and model Taylor Momsen, who has been moonlighting recently with the sporadically reuniting Soundgarden, the band shares the headliner’s penchant for amped-up, blues-based rock, if not its gift for memorable riffs.

  • South Jersey’s century-old amusement park is back up for auction

    South Jersey’s century-old amusement park is back up for auction

    The 119-year-old Clementon Park & Splash World is heading back to auction just weeks after announcing its closure and five years after it was purchased at a bankruptcy auction.

    Potential buyers can either continue operating the park, spanning more than 50 acres in Camden County, as an amusement destination or redevelop the property in a variety of ways, including as a hotel or for retail, residential, or entertainment uses, according to the property listing.

    The public auction is set to begin Oct. 19 at noon with bids starting at $1.5 million, the listing shows. The 48-hour auction window is scheduled to close at noon on Oct. 21.

    IB Parks & Entertainment bought the park for $2.37 million in the 2021 bankruptcy auction after financial struggles forced the park to shut down suddenly two years earlier.

    The company operated the park for five seasons before announcing its closure at the end of Labor Day weekend this year.

    Clementon’s century-old amusement and water park is closing again

    “After five memorable years, we are saddened to announce that we have made the difficult decision to close the park and plan to offer the park for sale,” the company said in a statement announcing the closure on its website and social media accounts earlier this month. “It has been a privilege to care for a place that has meant so much to generations of families.”

    At the time of the closure, the park was one of five amusement properties owned by the company, including West Berlin’s Sahara Sam’s.

    IB Parks & Entertainment did not respond to requests for comment.

    Clementon Park opened in 1907 as the brainchild of state Assembly member Theodore B. Gibbs and his sons and quickly became a popular destination for families across South Jersey.

    After years of being independently owned by various families, the park was bought by its first private amusement park operation company in 2007.

    With various management companies at the helm over the next decade, the park expanded significantly with the addition of new thrill rides, children’s attractions, and a 23,000-square-foot wave pool.

  • Main Line cannabis payments operator charged with $9 million fraud

    Main Line cannabis payments operator charged with $9 million fraud

    A Lower Merion businessman who raised $9 million from more than 50 Main Line, pro sports, and Hollywood investors for Kind Financial, his marijuana payment-processing business, was charged by federal prosecutors Tuesday with five counts of fraud.

    The businessman, David Dinenberg, “fraudulently induced dozens of people into buying shares of Kind” by supplying false sales and business information, and “misleading the investors into believing that their entire investments were being used” for the company, not “diverted” for his personal use, according to charges filed in Philadelphia federal court. Dinenberg did not return calls seeking comment.

    The U.S. Attorney also called on Dinenberg to forfeit $9 million prosecutors contend he had raised from investors by fraud.

    Kind worked his networks of friends and business contacts to raise money from singer John Legend; former tennis star Andy Roddick and his actress-model wife, Brooklyn Decker; former Sixers manager Billy King; former Eagles star Brian Westbrook; investor Lindy Snider, whose family once owned the Flyers; and dozens more, according to investor lists.

    Investors had spoken to federal investigators.

    But Snider and others who invested in Kind, then tried to keep the company going after the board confronted Dinenberg about his spending and he left in 2023, said Wednesday that they had no advance notice of the criminal charges.

    David Dinenberg, who headed Kind Financial, hoped to serve cannabis growers at a time when few banks would do business with the industry. He has been charged with fraud and accused of embezzling.Kind Financial

    Instead of using all the money to build his marijuana business, Dinenberg allegedly “embezzled” more than $750,000 to pay for “unauthorized personal expenditures,” including family members’ school tuition, a luxury California rental home, and country club memberships. Prosecutors say he lied to investors by exaggerating sales and prospects for Kind.

    Dinenberg is also accused of stealing $175,000 from Rhode Island, which had hired Kind to collect cannabis fees from growers.

    Prosecutors say Dinenberg was supposed to forward that money to the state, less a small transaction payment, but began keeping the fees, and reported money that should have gone to the state as company revenue.

    Dinenberg started Kind in 2012 to process cannabis transactions that were legal in some states but prohibited under federal law. The legal complexity discouraged national banks from working with cannabis businesses, but also created what Dinenberg persuaded investors was an opportunity for his company to focus on serving legal-cannabis pioneers.

    The prosecutors depict Dinenberg as a successful fundraiser who founded a series of related companies, hiring two friends and a “family connection” to run the business in 2014, and tapping each of the three employees to help fund Kind.

    Kind in 2015 acquired cannabis-farm payments software from Colorado-based Agrisoft Development Group, which had clients in Colorado and a few other states, and used that relationship to land a software development partnership with Microsoft that won national media coverage.

    After the Microsoft deal, Kind won the Rhode Island contract. But Kind’s cash flow from the Rhode Island work was so meager that Dinenberg stopped paying his lawyers and stopped paying Kind employees — while keeping the tax and Social Security deductions he had withheld for them, prosecutors said.

    Dinenberg issued glossy investor documents that projected sales of under $500,000 in 2016 would zoom to over $10 million in 2017 and $40 million in 2018 — with “no factual basis” for the unaudited financial reports, their “false” revenue data, and baseless projections, prosecutors allege.

    Atlantic City’s top cannabis official was charged in a scheme to solicit bribes from a weed business

    In 2019, Dinenberg closed a business deal with pioneering cannabis investor Hartstreet Holdings and Colorado-based Herring Bank to develop a KindPay app to pay cannabis transactions through the Mastercard payment network, according to the prosecutor’s charges.

    At first, it worked: “In 2020 and 2021, KindPay was working and some dispensaries even had KindPay kiosks” to enable sales, according to prosecutors.

    But in 2021, Mastercard figured out that KindPay was used for marijuana sales, and cut the service off, according to prosecutors.

    By 2023, Dinenberg had taken more than $750,000 from Kind bank accounts to cover personal expenses. Confronted by an employee, Dinenberg admitted he’d stolen money but claimed the total was $80,000, according to prosecutors. He resigned May 4 of that year.

    Snider and other investors looked at ways to keep the company going, but its websites have since gone dark.

    “The company has been defunct for some time, and it’s truly a shame what has happened,” said Snider in an email after learning of the charges. She declined further comment.

  • What sparked Mark McKenzie’s return to the Union? Being closer to ‘family,’ on and off the field

    What sparked Mark McKenzie’s return to the Union? Being closer to ‘family,’ on and off the field

    Mark McKenzie still can’t quite put his finger on it, but a return to Chester feels right.

    On Wednesday, his professional career came full circle when the Union officially announced that he will join the team on Jan. 1 via a designated player contract during January’s FIFA transfer window. McKenzie, 27, will return to the club “that took a chance on him” when he joined its first team in 2018, after grooming the central defender for years in its youth academy and developmental teams.

    He will enter coming off a year as a mainstay on the backline of Toulouse in France’s Ligue 1, with performances that caught the eye of U.S. national team coach Mauricio Pochettino. That landed him a spot on this past summer’s 26-man roster for the FIFA World Cup.

    So how did the Union ultimately land McKenzie? It definitely took some convincing. He had options from other clubs in Europe, and his decision to return wasn’t just a simple phone call from Union brass. However, to hear McKenzie tell it, when he was looking for what would come next in his now nine seasons as a professional, Philly checked a lot of boxes.

    “I don’t think it was necessarily a ‘who called who,’” said McKenzie. “It was more of I was looking for something next in my career, and to be honest [initially, I] couldn’t pinpoint exactly what that was. Some players want more money. Some players want to play in certain leagues, or play in the [UEFA] Champions League. Some players just want to go home.

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    “I think for me it was a mix of different things. And my agent and I were on the same page with what I wanted and what I envisioned for that next step. So we were putting out feelers and figuring out what that would look like.”

    With that as the mindset, McKenzie said his agency representation at The.Team met with Union sporting director Jon Scheer and others on whether a move back would even be viable. It took stages, but according to McKenzie, it worked out that Philly felt like the right choice for the Bear, Del., native, with several family members still in the area.

    In May, Mark McKenzie (center, right) battles Senegal forward Sadio Mané during an exhibition match ahead of the World Cup.Scott Kinser

    Scheer told The Inquirer that convincing McKenzie meant a face-to-face with him and his representation, meeting McKenzie outside of the country just before preparations began for the World Cup.

    “We went out to Spain to speak with him and his agent, and for us it was more a gauge to see where his head was at and what he wanted to do next,” said Scheer. “It wasn’t necessarily easy, as he had options, but at the end of the day, I think we offered a package and an opportunity for him to come home and that’s something he wanted.”

    The dollar amount of that total package remains to be seen but could be revealed when the Union holds their official news conference to announce McKenzie, scheduled for a virtual conference later today at 12:30 p.m. For McKenzie, who is expected to rejoin the team on a designated player contract, he says coming home will still allow him to “continue to develop.”

    Mark McKenzie (left) spent three seasons with French Ligue 1 club, Toulouse FC. Emma Da Silva

    Success in bunches

    Even before his departure for Europe, McKenzie knew immense success with the Union. As a homegrown player, he played along the club’s back line for former coach Jim Curtin, and helped guide the team to three consecutive playoff appearances from 2018-20.

    The 2020-21 season saw him head to Belgium’s Genk on a transfer valued at $6 million. He’d celebrate winning the Belgian Cup later that season with Genk, and go on to play two more seasons before a move to France’s Ligue 1 and finding himself a mainstay on Toulouse’s starting 11. It was his performances there that enabled him to earn that spot on the national team roster for the World Cup.

    He says that all of those stops along the way have helped him grow as a player and as a person in his professional career, choosing to go the gradual approach to stardom as opposed to a big splash that felt unnatural.

    “There was the possibility to go to maybe a bigger league or to a different club [from the Union my first time around], but I think for me, I wanted to take steps that were right for me,” McKenzie said. “I feel that too many times, especially young players, they get fixated on the idea of going to maybe a big club or going somewhere that looks optically like the thing to do, and then end up regretting it, or end up going and bouncing along.

    Mark McKenzie (left) battles Australia’s Connor Metcalfe during their international friendly last year. David Zalubowski

    “I wanted to go somewhere where I can develop, where I can play meaningful minutes, where I could be seen for the player I was and the person I was, and still be challenged in the same way. And going to Belgium from Philly was like that first step for me in getting my feet wet in Europe.”

    Dive deeper and McKenzie says the moves all along the way were more strategic, in terms of acclimating to the rigors of European soccer than being thrust into it from the outset.

    “I was able to experience the [UEFA] Champions League, Europa League and Conference League and after going through those years, it was like, all right, well, what’s the next step now? It was a strategic step of how can I make sure that I’m one, playing week in and week out, and two, still playing against some of the best players in the world and showcasing what I can do against the best in the world.”

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    Now McKenzie says he gets the opportunity to do that, surrounded by the familiar confines of the Union’s sprawling complex in Chester and in front of familiar faces of family and friends he had to say goodbye to while plying his trade overseas.

    Union defender Mark McKenzie plays against the New England Revolution in 2020.YONG KIM / Staff Photographer

    Family comes first

    Just before the start of the 2025 Gold Cup, McKenzie and his wife, Carley, welcomed their first child, Micah. For the new father, it meant several sleepless nights, getting acclimated to the rigors of parenting on top of preparing for a major tournament. In November, while McKenzie was back in Philly as a member of the U.S. national team, he noted that he was still balancing fatherhood and his thriving professional career.

    So how much did having family and friends minutes away instead of a world away factor into his decision to return, especially having a new, young family of his own?

    “It’s huge, man,” McKenzie said. “I think about the years that I’ve been in Europe, and you get the opportunity for family to come visit, be together and watch games. But now, the opportunity to walk off the field, to come back home and laugh and talk to a lot of the same people? That adds more to your career or who you are as a player than sometimes the wins and losses do.

    “At the end of the day, when I look back at my career, I’m just a product of who my family is and how strong my support system is. So, for me to come back here, not only make sure that they feel that love, but also my family at the Union … family is a core value, you know, and that’s what’s pushed me to get to where I am today. It’s a big part of the reason why I made the decision to come back here, and it’s going to be a big part of the reason why we’re successful as a club.”

    Mark McKenzie and fellow former Union player Paxten Aaronson bang the ceremonial drum ahead of a match in 2023. Philadelphia Union

    On Saturday, McKenzie was in Chester and watched the Union deliver a 4-2 win over Orlando City, setting a franchise record as they now revel in an unbeaten streak of 12 games. McKenzie opened the match with the ceremonial banging of the drum on the field. It not only started the game, but also the countdown of his return to the field in a few short months.

    When asked what that moment was going to feel like, McKenzie was a man of few words, but he had one that spoke volumes.

    “Surreal,” he said. “Yeah, I think that’s the best way to describe it.”

    Follow the Inquirer’s complete coverage of Union soccer right here!
  • A timeline of the Cornell University assault case

    A timeline of the Cornell University assault case

    Prosecutors in upstate New York this week reopened an investigation into a former Cornell University student’s claims that several men raped her at a campus fraternity house two years ago while forcing her to take drugs.

    The move came after the woman, who was a third-year Cornell student when the alleged attacks occurred and who is identified in court filings as Jane Doe, sued the university, the fraternity, her sorority and seven men who she says assaulted her.

    The woman reported the assault to Cornell police three weeks after she said it happened. The police opened an investigation into her accusations, and asked the Tompkins County, New York, district attorney’s office to review her statement. The district attorney closed the case after determining that there was not enough evidence to bring criminal charges.

    The lawsuit has raised questions about how Cornell administrators and local law enforcement authorities have handled the woman’s accusations to this point.

    Here is a timeline of the events so far.

    Oct. 19, 2024

    Jane Doe leaves Lot 10, an Ithaca, New York, bar at around 11 p.m. She walks about a mile to the Chi Phi house to meet a male Cornell student who is a friend. After arriving, she claims in her lawsuit, she was forced to take ketamine and was sexually assaulted by several men.

    Nov. 8

    Jane Doe reports her accusations of sexual assault and forced drug use to the Cornell police. In a statement to police, parts of which were publicly released by Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten on Monday, she indicated that she had voluntarily participated in some drug use and sexual activity that night.

    Nov. 8

    The university suspends the fraternity temporarily while it investigates the accusations as potential violations of Cornell’s Student Code of Conduct. The university also suspends the students Jane Doe accuses of attacking her.

    November

    Cornell police notify Van Houten’s office that they are investigating the accusations, and then ask the office to review the woman’s claims to determine whether they constitute allegations of crimes. Van Houten decides that there is not enough evidence to support the filing of criminal charges.

    Nov. 26

    Cornell University President Michael I. Kotlikoff issues a statement saying that the university is investigating the accusations and noting the suspensions of the fraternity and the students.

    Jan. 14, 2025

    Jane Doe files a complaint with the university Title IX coordinator, who is responsible for investigating internal accusations of discrimination and harassment of so-called protected classes of people. A Title IX inquiry is opened.

    May

    Cornell’s Title IX committee holds at least 12 hearings involving the accusations.

    Nov. 4

    Cornell releases a statement on the results of its 2025 survey of sexual assault and related misconduct. The survey, taken by both students and staff members, notes an increase in sexual misconduct and says alcohol has a role in more than half of reported cases.

    Sept. 16, 2026

    Jane Doe, in a detailed complaint, sues Cornell, university leaders, the fraternity and seven men who she says assaulted her. Also named in the suit is her sorority, Delta Delta Delta, which she accuses of failing to protect her.

    Sept. 21

    The student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, publishes an editorial identifying the seven men and criticizing university leaders for their handling of the case.

    Sept. 28

    Van Houten says his office is reopening the case and preparing to bring it to a grand jury.

  • The student journalists who never let the Cornell assault case go

    The student journalists who never let the Cornell assault case go

    ITHACA, N.Y. — Editors of The Cornell Daily Sun clustered around their computers late Monday night, getting ready to send out a letter from the editor. They looked bleary-eyed, and one reporter confessed she had skipped her class on Nietzsche that day.

    These student journalists at Cornell University were pressing through a dizzying two weeks following the story of a student’s allegation that she was raped on campus in 2024.

    The case had long had their attention; now it had burst into the national spotlight, and their high-risk decision to publish the names of the accused was being discussed not only in Cornell’s libraries and walkways but in the national media.

    Back in November 2024, students at Cornell were shaken by an alert they received over email: “Crime ALERT: Sexual Assault,” the email read, referring to the case of a woman who told Cornell police she had been assaulted at a fraternity house.

    There was outrage on campus. Students threw eggs at the fraternity house, Chi Phi, that the woman named. The university convened a sexual assault task force, which compiled a series of recommendations for teaching students about consent and the processes for reporting assault. Then much of the campus attention moved on.

    But Cereese Qusba, 22, a senior and reporter for the Sun, couldn’t shake her concerned curiosity about the case. She got in contact with Jane Doe, the plaintiff, and built a relationship with her and her lawyer. Qusba interviewed university administrators about their approach to disciplining students accused of assault.

    Qusba made her obsessive dedication known to the student paper’s higher-ups. When a new editor-in-chief, Sophia Dasser, 20, took over the paper in early 2026, she immediately received a phone call from Qusba, who was studying abroad in Sydney.

    “Sophia, I’m working on this story — I want it to be a focus of the Sun,” Dasser recalled hearing over the phone. She added, “The Sun never really let go.”

    This month, when Jane Doe filed a lawsuit against the university, the fraternity and her sorority, Qusba was ready to hit publish on her investigation, which was 23 months in the making. “Cornell, Chi Phi Sued by Victim of Alleged Gang Rape, Drugging in 2024,” read the headline on her Sept. 18 story, which traced Jane Doe’s allegations in detail throughout the night that she said she was assaulted.

    The Sun is the oldest continuously independent college daily paper in the country. Dasser, who speaks with a cool and quick precision, was adamant that she wanted the paper to dominate the story not just in its reporting, but in its editorial response. Why be financially independent, she wondered, if not to publish sharp-edged views of the biggest campus issues?

    This was the sensibility that emboldened her, days later, when she decided to publish the names of the seven fraternity men named in the lawsuit on the paper’s front page and in a fiery editorial. It was a sensitive decision, she knew, given that the men were named in the suit but had not been criminally charged.

    Dasser said she decided to publish the names to display the transparency that some students felt was lacking from university leadership. On Saturday night, Sept. 19, she was at the Sun’s office in downtown Ithaca celebrating the paper’s 146th birthday. Over cake, she turned to her fellow editors and asked: “Can we just put the names on the front page of the paper?”

    “We called up our lawyer, and we were like, ‘Can we do this?’” she recalled. “He was like, ‘I mean, it’s kind of a risk.’ And we were like, ‘OK, I guess that’s how we’re going to start the editorial.’”

    Dasser and her co-editors got to work designing a print page, with Qusba’s investigative story on top and the list of men’s names underneath in a box colored the Sun’s official shade of red.

    “First it was just a line of the names, and I was like, ‘Wait — this looks like a byline,’” Dasser recalled. She was sitting in her constitutional law class when the headline came to her: “Cornell Won’t, We Will.”

    The Sun has set up a tip line, and Dasser and Qusba said their inboxes have been flooded with emails from students who say they have also been the victim of assaults on campus, or experienced frustrations filing Title IX complaints alleging sexual misconduct or discrimination.

    Dasser gestured around her office — a dimly lit room cluttered with piles of papers and books, including a style manual — and emphasized how seriously the Sun takes its independence from the university administration.

    “The office that you sit in is obviously off campus, and that’s for a reason,” she said. “Our main obligation is accountability. Whether that looks like something that many people do not want to hear, or something that many people do want to hear, it’s our obligation to report on it.”

  • The Philadelphia Film Festival announces first wave of films for its 35th edition

    The Philadelphia Film Festival announces first wave of films for its 35th edition

    The Philadelphia Film Society announced the first wave of films for the 35th edition of the Philadelphia Film Festival.

    On Wednesday, PFS unveiled the first 50 films that will play as part of the film festival, which runs from Oct. 15-25.

    The lineup includes films such as the Venice Film Festival-premiering Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine. Among the star-studded lineup are the Cannes-premiering films Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord and Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, and Beth de Araújo’s Josephine which premiered at Sundance earlier this year. Simon Stone’s Elsinore, which stars Andrew Scott, is also part of the program.

    Outside the filming of David Lynch’s “Eraserhead” at the Film Society Center on Oct. 5, 2025.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

    PFF35 will also host the world premieres of four films by area filmmakers in the Filmadelphia section. That list includes Hoag Kepner’s Big Phan, Doree Simon Hatfield’s Gentle By Birth, Andrew Sullivan’s I Don’t Want to Drink Your Blood Anymore, and Max Korman’s Joy Will Prevail.

    Among other program highlights are Pedro Almodóvar’s Bitter Christmas, Danny Boyle’s Ink, and William and David Greaves’ Once Upon a Time in Harlem, a film that was shot in 1972 by William Greaves but completed by his son David years after his death.

    J. Andrew Greenblatt, PFS CEO and executive director, said this year’s milestone is “incredibly special” and he and other organizers anticipate this year’s edition will be the most expansive in the festival’s history.

    “This one, I think, will be larger, with features and a couple dozen narratives we’ve had for the last several decades. The intention is for it to be larger than that.”

    Like every year, this year’s festival will feature filmmaker Q&As, red carpet events, opening and closing night parties, and surprise guests.

    Moviegoers take in a recent screening at the Philadelphia Film Center.Philadelphia Film Society

    Greenblatt anticipates upward of 110 films will be screened throughout the 11-day festival, across PFS’s three theaters.

    The PFS will also host a preliminary event that honors both the 35th anniversary of the festival and the 25th anniversary of PFS. That event, called Reel October, is a two-week showcase of films projected on 35mm at Film Society Center.

    The series kicks off with screenings of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Robert Rodriguez’s El Mariachi on Sept. 30, and ends on Oct. 11 with The Exorcist.

    Greenblatt said the dual celebration is one he and other programmers have anticipated for years.

    “It’s a lot of fun and something we have been planning for a long time because it’s something special for the industry. And it’s something we haven’t taken lightly,” he said.

    Philadelphia Film CenterPhiladelphia Film Society

    PFS board director Jen Su said these collective efforts are designed to demonstrate how the festival has forged community and continuously sparked viewers’ curiosity.

    “They come because they genuinely want to discover something new, hear from filmmakers and experience films together in a theater,” she said.

    But it’s also a moment, she said, for viewers to look ahead at the next generation of filmmakers and to inspire emerging storytellers to continue pursuing their dreams.

    The full festival lineup will be announced on Oct. 7.

    The 35th Philadelphia Film Festival takes place from Oct. 15-25. Festival badges and passes are available for purchase. filmadelphia.org.

  • WIC is now fully funded through 2026, but another deadline looms | Expert Opinion

    WIC is now fully funded through 2026, but another deadline looms | Expert Opinion

    Last month, I saw a single mother in my medical clinic who had recently lost her SNAP food benefits. She was now struggling to afford enough food for her three children, including solid foods that her 9-month-old baby needed for growth and development. Stories like hers are becoming more common as federal SNAP cuts strain families at a time when food insecurity is higher than at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    As a pediatrician in Philadelphia, I care for many infants and families who rely on the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program for nutritional support. I referred this patient to WIC, but I can’t prescribe her the necessary childcare, transportation, and time off work to visit her WIC office every few months, as required in Pennsylvania to receive benefits. These logistical barriers have long challenged Pennsylvania participants, as well as many of the nearly 12 million people nationwide who are eligible for WIC each year.

    For families already struggling to put food on the table, these are not minor inconveniences. They often determine if a family can access adequate nutrition at all. The good news is the pandemic showed us a path to overcome this.

    In 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued emergency waivers allowing WIC agencies to offer remote appointments and services. Nearly all state agencies reported that the changes made WIC more accessible. They provided a lifeline for WIC families when in-person visits were almost impossible.

    Studies in the years since have suggested that waiving in-person requirements can increase WIC participation. In addition, families who used phone counseling and online education were more likely to stay enrolled. Remote services have modernized and expanded a program long known to promote better diets and health for mothers and children. That is why WIC advocates and policy researchers alike are pushing to keep these services permanent.

    But the federal waivers will expire on Wednesday.

    Earlier this month, Congress passed a temporary funding bill that keeps the program funded through the end of the year. Unfortunately, funding alone is not enough. Without action to extend remote services, families across the country risk losing WIC access due to work obligations, childcare needs, or travel barriers.

    Congress should also support universal adoption of remote benefit loading. Pennsylvania is one of the few states that still does not allow participants to load their WIC benefits remotely, though it plans to introduce a digital WIC card in 2027. Research from the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania in 2021 found a 14% improvement in WIC participation in states that allowed remote benefit transfer, compared to “offline” states.

    Both the Modern WIC Act in the House and the 21st Century WIC Act in the Senate would formalize these changes, but neither has a clear path to passage. Like the National WIC Association and many public health organizations, I urge our lawmakers to prioritize these bills before the end-of-month deadline. All states should also commit to modernizing their WIC systems to make benefits and services easier for families to access.

    In the last few years, WIC still hasn’t reached nearly half of those eligible. Traveling to appointments is consistently cited as a major barrier, especially for working parents, rural families far away from any WIC office, and those without reliable transportation.

    Congress and state agencies must act together soon to protect families’ access to WIC, one of our country’s most valuable investments in maternal and child health. At a time when high cost of living and federal benefit cuts further threaten food security, we should strive to make WIC easier to use. No family should lose out on critical nutrition support because getting to a WIC appointment is harder than it needs to be.

    William Zhuo-Ming Li is a pediatrician in his final year of residency training at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He is interested in neonatal health equity and infant nutrition advocacy.

  • Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield earn their first USMNT starts in a 4-2 win over Chile

    Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield earn their first USMNT starts in a 4-2 win over Chile

    The U.S. men’s soccer team made it two wins in two games to start this season’s stretch of friendlies, beating Chile 4-2 on Tuesday in St. Louis.

    Union defenders Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield were in the U.S. starting lineup, earning their first national team starts after making their debuts as substitutes in Saturday’s win over Peru.

    Both played just over an hour, and while they weren’t perfect they showed their potential. Pierre had 74 touches, four clearances, one tackle, and four defensive recoveries, and completed 60 of 68 passes. Westfield had 46 touches, two interceptions, one tackle, and three recoveries, and completed 27 of 34 passes.

    As with the Peru game, U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino mixed young and old players. But with 10 changes to the starting lineup, it wasn’t surprising that there was a lack of chemistry early.

    Sergiño Dest (left) watches Frankie Westfield battle for the ball with Chile’s Nils Reichmuth (right) during the first half.Jeff Roberson

    Chile looked better, forcing U.S. goalkeeper Chris Brady into four saves before Ben Brereton Díaz hit the crossbar in the 34th minute. Barely a minute later, Darío Osorio hit a post.

    Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield’s USMNT debuts vs. Peru weren’t forgotten amid Cavan Sullivan’s hype

    The U.S. scored first, though, in the 37th. After Gio Reyna and Sergiño Dest combined down the left, Dest uncorked some fancy footwork on a charge forward, then squared for Julian Hall. But the striker deftly let the ball run between his legs, and an onrushing Sebastian Berhalter slammed it home.

    Chile equalized in first-half stoppage time off a second straight corner kick that the U.S. failed to clear. Nearly a dozen players combined from the teams piled into each other in the six-yard box, and Diego Ulloa got the decisive touch.

    The teams agreed to use nine substitutes each. Pochettino made his first at halftime, removing Brady and sending in Brian Schwake of MLS-leading Nashville SC.

    That ensured each of the four goalkeepers on this U.S. roster would have a half of action under their belts heading into Saturday’s showdown with rival Mexico in Glendale, Ariz. (10 p.m., TNT, Telemundo 62).

    For Cavan Sullivan, ‘the dream is reality’ in a successful USMNT debut

    Schwake got a rough welcome. Within four minutes, Maxi Gutiérrez beat a high-pressing Westfield on the flank, then raced away, cut in, and curled a superb 20-yarder around Pierre.

    The U.S. answered just over two minutes later. After a nice passing sequence, Reyna lofted a header from the left flank and Hall jumped to head it in.

    Pochettino made five changes at the hour mark, and all the entrants were veterans: Tyler Adams for Adri Mehmeti, Alex Freeman for Westfield, Chris Richards for Pierre, Auston Trusty for Miles Robinson, and Malik Tillman for Dest.

    Two more swaps came in the 71st: Damion Downs for Hall and Mathis Albert replaced Reyna.

    A look back at the USMNT’s win over Peru

    But for all the attacking moves, a centerback gave the U.S. the lead. Richards was unmarked when Berhalter’s corner arrived in the box, and had a wide-open lane for a thumping header.

    The last substitute was Cavan Sullivan for Berhalter in the 83rd, earning the Northeast Philadelphian native his second cap a day after celebrating his 17th birthday.

    Albert, another 17-year-old, finished off the scoring in the 93rd by getting on the end of a free kick play. Robinson served it, Trusty headed it from the end line into the middle of the box, and the Borussia Dortmund winger charged forward to slam it off the bar and in.

    Mathis Albert slams the door shut 🇺🇸✅

    @usmnt.ussoccer.com

    [image or embed]

    — Soccerwise (@soccerwisehq.bsky.social) September 29, 2026 at 10:13 PM

    Chile took out its anger over the night after that when Leandro Hernández kicked at Schwake after he had picked up the ball. Richards took exception, and within seconds there was a full-scale melee including the benches — even the coaches. Pochettino ended up right in the middle of it.