Kensington High School students and staff are being relocated to the vacant Austin Meehan school building through the end of the calendar year, after an asbestos “concern” arose during an HVAC project, Philadelphia school district officials said.
While workers were installing a new heating and cooling system, “an asbestos inspector identified a concern about the demolition of the old system,” Oz Hill, the district’s deputy superintendent of operations, said in a letter to the high school community Thursday — a little more than a week before the new school year begins Aug. 24.
Hill said the district “immediately stopped the project and has been working cooperatively with the city’s Air Management Services and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers while the building is thoroughly cleaned and air quality tests are conducted to show the space meets standards to be reopened.”
Arthur Steinberg, president of the PFT, said he was told that “a contractor broke into some space … disturbed some asbestos, and tracked it all over the building.”
“That essentially contaminated the entire building, by them moving around after the asbestos material was disturbed,” Steinberg said in an interview Friday.
Steinberg said the relocation to Austin Meehan, a vacant middle school in Northeast Philadelphia, would mean “turmoil.”
Austin Meehan, which closed in 2022, is more than seven miles away from Kensington High School.
In the message, Hill said the district had considered closer options, but they “did not meet the space or accessibility needs for Kensington’s more than 400 students and 90 staff.” He said “details about the schedule, transportation, and all logistics will be forthcoming.”
A district spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Steinberg said the relocation “creates logistical nightmares for everybody,” with new commutes for staff and families.
“But it’s better than trying to make them occupy a building that’s contaminated with damaged asbestos,” Steinberg said. He said the PFT will be on site as Kensington staff report to Austin Meehan Monday to hear and address concerns.
The PFT also has an occupational hygienist at Kensington High School supervising the district’s work, to ensure the asbestos is properly cleaned up and tested, Steinberg said.
The union “will ensure that building is suitable for occupancy, or our members will not go back in,” he said.
Hill said the district “will also work to address other Kensington building needs, including maintenance repairs and the continued proactive removal of asbestos materials where we can minimize future risk of damage.”
“When Kensington students and staff return to the building in January, they will be welcomed back to a healthy, more comfortable space for learning,” Hill said.
The Delaware County District Attorney’s Office said Friday that Aldan borough police were justified in fatally shooting a man last week.
District Attorney Tanner Rouse called the shooting a “tragedy” at a news conference Friday but said the Aldan Borough police officer who shot him was justified, “not just legally, but as a person.”
“What you will see is a young man who unfortunately seemed very intent on this outcome,” Rouse said.
The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office identified the man police shot as 23-year-old Ugochukwu Ilodigwe.
Police were responding to a “request for service” 911 call the morning of Aug. 7, Rouse said. Such calls are a public service in which residents request that police take them somewhere, Rouse said.
The DA’s office played body camera footage that showed the chaotic, deadly incident.
When the officer arrived, she was attacked and fell to the ground, video shows. Ilodigwe could be seen holding a “meat-cutting” knife in the footage, Rouse noted. He said the knife was about a foot long. Ilodigwe could be heard shouting, “shoot me, don’t shoot me” in the video.
The officer shouted “Taser, Taser, Taser!” and shot Ilodigwe with the stun gun, video shows. He fell to the ground, and she repeatedly ordered him to put his hands behind his back. Rouse pointed out that Ilodigwe could be seen reaching for the knife as he lay on the ground. He also could be heard saying he had a gun, Rouse said.
“She pleads with the decedent, pleads with him to stop. He makes no indication that he is going to relent,” Rouse said. “We have every reason to believe that he intended her grave bodily harm, life threatening bodily harm.”
Eventually, Ilodigwe got up and was shot again with the Taser. When it did not stop him, the officer shot him twice, the video shows.
The officer has been cleared to return to active duty, said Aldan borough Mayor Michael Ceci.
“This was a tragic event all around. The conclusion of this investigation doesn’t change the fact that a family has lost a loved one, and we recognize the grief they are experiencing,” Ceci said.
By Friday afternoon, Ilodiwge’s family had raised more than $4,500 for burial costs on GoFundMe. Contacted Thursday, Ilodigwe’s sister, Kenechukwu, declined to comment and did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
“I am creating this fundraiser to help my family lay my brother to rest after his sudden and heartbreaking death. He was killed recently in a situation with the police, and our lives have been changed forever,” said a post attributed to his sister, Kenechukwu Ilodigwe.
She said Ugochukwu was a “bright, giving person” who loved football, jokes, “and how big his dreams and aspirations were.”
“He had the kind of heart that could brighten anyone’s day, and he would give to someone in need even if it meant going without himself. Losing him so abruptly has left us in deep pain, and it is especially hard knowing I did not get the chance to say goodbye.”
The Union will want to forget their Leagues Cup finale, a lethargic 2-0 loss to Santos Laguna on Thursday night at Subaru Park.
Fortunately for Ryan Richter’s squad, there isn’t long to dwell on the loss or its Leagues Cup run, which ended with a win and two losses.
The Union will travel to Yankee Stadium to face New York City FC on Sunday (6 p.m., Apple TV), kicking off a crowded stretch of the schedule that features three games in seven days.
“We have to take this one on the chin,” said Richter, the Union’s interim manager. “We have to have some honest conversations tomorrow, and we have to start preparing right away and get ready to start MLS play again in the way we left off in the last game against Atlanta.”
The Union already had considered their busy schedule before getting the ball rolling against Santos Laguna.
While they weren’t mathematically eliminated from the Leagues Cup entering Thursday, they would have needed to win by at least four goals and have favorable outcomes in other matches.
“That is something that we’re capable of, but not many games are going to go exactly that way,” Richter said of winning by four goals. “If you push for that, you win, 3-0, and you don’t get it, that leaves you now tired on Sunday.”
So Richter took the opportunity to rest many key players. Quinn Sullivan and Japhet Sery Larsen put in 90-minute shifts, but the likes of Milan Iloski, Cavan Sullivan, Danley Jean Jacques, Frankie Westfield, and Kai Wagner rested their legs as the Union prepare to enter a key stretch.
“Including tonight, that’s four games in 10 days,” Richter said. “That’s tough, to play with the same team through that kind of stretch. … We turn around Sunday against New York City. [It is] a big game to try and keep the form that we’ve had in the league. To keep that going, we wanted to make sure that we were fresh going into that.”
Quinn Sullivan (left), on the ball as Santos Laguna’s Salvador Mariscal defends in the first half, was among the Union’s regulars who played a full 90 minutes in Thursday’s Leagues Cup group-stage finale.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
After they travel to NYCFC, the Union will host Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami on Wednesday. The Union then travel to Texas to face Austin FC next Saturday.
While Richter was disappointed not to get a better effort from his Thursday night selections, based on how Thursday night’s games played out, there was no way for the Union to advance, even with a win against Santos Laguna, as Real Salt Lake, the fourth-place MLS team and the last one to advance, finished with seven points.
NYCFC found itself in a similar situation to the Union when it came to its Leagues Cup finale, but manager Pascal Jansen took a more aggressive approach.
NYCFC needed to win big against Necaxa and get some help from the out-of-town scoreboard to move on to the knockout rounds and set its lineup accordingly. Jansen started usual MLS starters like Nicolás Fernández, Keaton Parks, and Andrés Perea.
NYCFC lost, 2-1, to Necaxa and was eliminated.
The approach each team took to their Thursday night Cup games could give the Union a rest advantage when it comes time for the two sides to meet on Sunday, with the Union needing every point they can get to claw back into the playoff picture.
The Union (4-10-4, 16 points) won one game before the league’s summer FIFA World Cup break, leading to the dismissal of manager Bradley Carnell in May. Richter took over as interim and coached the Union to three consecutive league wins after returning from the international break in July.
Despite their recent run of good form, the Union are still chasing the rest of the Eastern Conference. They sit seven points behind D.C. United, which currently occupies the ninth and final playoff spot in the East.
The Union will play three matches against the East before the end of August, two of which are away.
Since their return to the league schedule, the Union have looked like a different team than the one that lost, 2-1, to NYCFC (7-6-5, 26 points) in March.
But can the momentum the team built through its first three post-international break league matches carry through a poor Leagues Cup campaign? Richter hopes so, but he didn’t see it in his team on Thursday.
“I didn’t see that fire, in the end of the game, that I saw in the last few weeks,” Richter said. “We can’t lose that. We can’t lose that piece.”
The Union currently are 13th in MLS’s 15-team Eastern Conference.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Thora Jacobson, 77, of Philadelphia, award-winning former chief executive officer at the Fleisher Art Memorial, former executive director at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, former director of design review for Mural Arts Philadelphia, former chief operating officer for Philagrafika, former chair of the Philadelphia Art Commission, onetime adjunct instructor at Drexel University, independent curator, artist, mentor, Mummers Parade judge, and much more, died suddenly Sunday, Aug. 2, at her home. The exact cause of her death has not been determined.
Born and reared in Ridley Park, Delaware County, Ms. Jacobson became interested in art education, administration, and conservation at Trinity Washington College in Washington in the 1960s. She settled in South Philadelphia after college in the 1970s and spent the next 50 years organizing, promoting, and inspiring local artists and art organizations.
“Philadelphia richly deserves to be known as a place that honors its own,” she told The Inquirer in 2006.
She joined Fleisher in 1972, rose to CEO in 1983, and left in 2006 to work over the next two decades at Philagrafika, Mural Arts Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Art Alliance, and elsewhere. During her 34 years at Fleisher, she developed its Center for Works on Paper, the Community Partnerships in the Arts program, and the Challenge series juried competition.
She also oversaw three capital campaigns and told The Inquirer that her priority was “seeing connections and possibilities between and among artists, institutions, and their constituencies.” A colleague said on Facebook: “To many of us she was Fleisher.”
John Ittmann, former curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, told The Inquirer in 2006: “Thora is a real firecracker. She has a wonderful type of energy that is really infectious.”
Ms. Jacobson was also chair of the Philadelphia Art Commission for a decade, interim director of operations for the Asian Arts Initiative, vice president of the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, trustee of the National Guild of Community Arts Education,member of the American Swedish Historical Museum,and, most recently, a visual arts management consultant.
Ms. Jacobson and fellow curator Warren Angle admire an exhibition at the Fleisher Art Memorial in 2002. April Saul / Staff Photographer
“Thora was kind and clear,” colleagues at Social Impact Studios said on Facebook, “but firm as she pushed us to keep tweaking things until they were as strong as they could be.”
She was an adjunct instructor at Drexel University from 2010 to 2014 and led research projects at Drexel and the University of Pennsylvania on social impacts of art in Philadelphia neighborhoods. Her first job out of college was coordinator of the student center at the Art Museum.
She curated and juried shows, and wrote forwards and essays for art books and catalogs. She drew in her spare time and judged the Mummers Parade for years.
She was featured in The Inquirer and Daily News, and appeared in the 1992 TV art documentary Monuments in Love. In 2006, she earned the Visionary Woman Award from Moore College of Art and Design, and was honored for lifetime achievement by Tri-State Artists Equity.
Ms. Jacobson, standing between Jim Straw, to the left, and Ralph Wellington to her right, earned the Visionary Woman Award from Moore College of Art & Design in 2006.Gary Horn Photography
“She’s really respected throughout the arts community in Philadelphia,” Happy Fernandez, then president of Moore, said in 2006. Anne d’Harnoncourt, then director of the Art Museum, said Ms. Jacobson’s “impact has been enormous.”
William Valerio, director and CEO of the Woodmere museum, said: “Thora was a towering figure in the arts of Philadelphia, a builder of institutions whose accomplishments are lasting.”
Thora Elizabeth Jacobson was born Feb. 19, 1949, in Ridley Park. She was the youngest of three children; her father died when she was 3. She played field hockey in high school, was fascinated by words and language, and graduated from the old Holy Child Academy in Sharon Hill.
She met her husband, Antonio Sorgini, when he was taking classes at Fleisher, and they married in 1980 and had a son, Antongiulio. Her husband died in May.
Ms. Jacobson, her husband, Antonio Sorgini, and their son, Antongiulio, lived in South Philadelphia.Courtesy of the family
Ms. Jacobson was a talented seamstress and baker. She did humorous impersonations, collected art, and enjoyed working with young people.
Friends noted her “many kindnesses” and “decades-long advocacy for artists and the cultural community” in online tributes. Woodmere’s Valerio said: “She was both a strong voice and a warm friend to many.”
Her son said: “She had a sharp wit and relished cheerful banter among friends and colleagues. Above all, she took the work of mentorship very seriously.”
In addition to her son, Ms. Jacobson is survived by a sister and other relatives. A brother died earlier.
Friends noted Ms. Jacobson’s “many kindnesses” and “decades-long advocacy for artists and the cultural community.”Courtesy of the family
A celebration of her life is to be held later.
Donations in her name may be made to the Fleisher Art Memorial, 719 Catharine St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19147; and Mural Arts Philadelphia, 1727-29 Mount Vernon St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19130.
Ms. Jacobson was a talented seamstress and baker. Mark Garvin, / Philadelphia Museum of Art
SEPTA said a production company is making a TV docuseries for A&E on the work of the transit police, shadowing officers in Philadelphia as they patrol trains, buses, and streets.
An email was sent to SEPTA employees last week explaining what’s behind filming they might see on the system.
The documentary will ”offer viewers a unique perspective of SEPTA law enforcement, allowing the audience to get to know some of the men and women of SEPTA’s 200-plus strong police force,” the internal message said.
Screenshot of a post on X of an internal email sent to SEPTA employees about the A&E documentary.X.com
The production company has editorial control but has SEPTA’s permission to embed with police units. The transportation authority says it is not receiving any compensation from the production.
SEPTA senior press officer John Golden said the eventual series will not be so-called reality TV.
“There is nothing scripted about this,” he said, and the action as crews follow officers is not staged. It also is not focused only on arrests or confrontations.
Alastair Cook, cofounder and owner of Double Act Productions, emailed that he was traveling and not able to immediately discuss the show.
The company, headquartered in the Brixton district of London, has produced dozens of documentaries and fact-based dramas for outlets like A&E, the BBC, National Geographic, and Discovery+.
A representative for A&E Global Media did not respond to a request for comment.
The Justice Department filed two felony charges against the woman accused of vandalizing the World War II Memorial in Washington, according to court records.
“Vandalizing our World War II Memorial is a despicable attack on a sacred monument honoring the Americans who fought and died for our freedom,” U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said in a statement announcing the charges on social media. “Those Americans include my father and grandfather.”
On Thursday afternoon, part of the memorial on the National Mall was tagged with graffiti, and soapy bubbles overtook a fountain. Red graffiti spelled out “Clean hands dirty $” beneath the Atlantic Arch, and red and green paint was splattered on some of the granite stonework.
Pirro said the woman suspected of vandalizing the memorial, Melissa L. Farris, was in custody. Two felony charges — depredation against U.S. property and destruction of veterans’ memorials — were filed against her, according to court records. Both charges carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Around 2 p.m. on Thursday, members of the U.S. Park Police and U.S. Park Rangers responded to a call about a disorderly person at the memorial, according to court records.
On her Facebook account, Farris livestreamed herself at the memorial. In the video, she alternated between narrating her actions and getting emotional about the state of her life and of the country. She said she has autism and ADHD but that she was not suffering from psychosis.
Farris also said that Thursday was her 41st birthday. Her current address is listed in Kentucky, according to public records.
Later, Farris filmed herself dropping an item into the fountain near the Atlantic Arch. “Oops,” she said. Then, she shook spray-paint cans and livestreamed herself adding graffiti to the granite.
“It was me. I’m doing it. I’m on camera,” she said.
She said she was willing to be arrested because she wanted her day in court. The court filing said that as a ranger approached her at the Atlantic Pavilion, she fled.
After spraying the graffiti, she said, “It’s time for a tea party, kids.”
“This is democracy sometimes, guys,” she said as the livestream showed the fountain filling with bubbles. “And I didn’t have to shoot somebody. I didn’t have to go to war. I didn’t have to make choices that harmed another human being.”
Shortly before 4 p.m., according to the court filing, Farris posted another video to Facebook, in which she said: “I was just allowed to deface Federal f—ing property, and nobody batted an eye, and that is very strange.”
The Interior Department condemned the incident Thursday as an “utter disgrace” that “will not be tolerated.”
The incident comes weeks after the White House blamed vandals for disturbing the nearby Reflecting Pool after President Donald Trump’s renovations quickly degraded, causing algae blooms and a peeling liner.
Pirro eventually dropped the vandalism charges against four people and blamed the damage on flawed installation.
In response, Trump said Pirro “folded like an umbrella.”
“I just think she was totally wrong,” Trump told reporters earlier this month, noting that National Park Service employees had told authorities they saw vandals in action. He described problems with the contractor as “a couple of little things.”
It’s unclear what material was used to create the bubbles in the fountain. Ryan Compton, owner of Domain Aquascapes in Northern Virginia, said adding standard bubbles to a fountain generally doesn’t cause system damage but is a “maintenance nightmare.” It requires draining, cleaning out, and rinsing the fountain and pump system.
“That’s going to be a lot of man hours and work involved,” he said.
Trump denounced the World War II Memorial vandalism in a Friday morning post on Truth Social.
“THERE CAN BE NO GREATER INSULT TO THOSE AMERICAN HEROES WHO DIED IN WORLD WAR II,” Trump wrote. “First the Reflecting Pool, now this. We are on their trail! Where do these animals come from???”
A preliminary estimate of the costs to clean and restore the memorial already exceeds $1,000, according to court records.
The Washington Post was unable to immediately reach a representative of Farris for comment. Her sister declined to comment.
President Donald Trump signed an order Wednesday authorizing select private companies to carry out government-sponsored cyberattacks against foreign criminal hacking groups — actions that have until now been the domain of U.S. national security agencies.
The memorandum enables the government to contract with U.S. firms to hack into and disrupt overseas digital networks belonging to “cyber-enabled transnational criminal organizations.”
The memo stipulates that the companies, under the supervision of the federal government, may breach computer systems to conduct surveillance and manipulate or destroy digital or physical infrastructure “controlled by information systems” but are barred from targeting foreign governments or taking actions that result in the “loss of life” or “serious injury.”
The move marks a significant shift from the more restrained approach of previous administrations, which prohibited companies that suffered intrusions from “hacking back” into their attackers’ systems for fear of geopolitical blowback. Now the Trump administration wants to enlist the private sector to help take the fight to criminal hackers.
“President Trump is unleashing every available tool to stop foreign-based organized criminal organizations that exploit Americans in cyberspace,” the White House said in a fact sheet accompanying the memo.
Some analysts and industry executives hailed the move, saying it should help the government degrade foreign criminals’ abilities to hack Americans. “Cyberattacks are cheap to launch and expensive to defend against,” said Joe Lin, co-founder and CEO of a Northern Virginia startup that builds large-scale cyber offense platforms for the U.S. government. “The more we can disrupt adversaries at scale using vetted commercial partners, the less our adversaries will be able to attack the United States.”
Other experts say it could pose legal and geopolitical risks for the federal government and the companies themselves.
“What if a company carries out an operation against what it thinks is an Iranian or Russian criminal group, but that group is actually controlled, influenced, or protected by Tehran or Moscow?” said Matt Curtis, who served as White House senior director for cyber policy in the Biden administration.
“Suddenly, what was intended as an operation against criminals could be viewed as a U.S.-authorized cyber operation against a nation-state actor … and potentially trigger retaliation or escalation,” he said.
The memo establishes a national coordination center to be run jointly by the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, which will vet participating companies. The firms could be fined up to $1 million for contract violations.
The order raises questions about potential liability for companies under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which makes it a federal crime to gain unauthorized access to internet-connected computers. If the company is acting as an agent of the U.S. government, it probably would not be bound by this law, some analysts say, but would still have to comply with Fourth Amendment protections requiring a warrant to hack into a domestic system. The order does not directly address this issue.
The FBI’s top cyber official says the memo is an effort to normalize what is currently “ad hoc” collaboration between industry and government.
Just last month, for instance, the FBI and Google disrupted a botnet used by hundreds of criminal and nation-state hackers who didn’t want their attacks traced back to Beijing, Tehran, and Moscow, and so routed them through at least 2 million proxy IP addresses to TV streaming boxes and home routers, FBI Assistant Director for Cyber Brett Leatherman said in an interview with the Washington Post.
Armed with a court order, the FBI seized hundreds of proxy domains and Google disabled accounts on its own networks that the botnet was using to control the malware.
The presidential memo, he said, is about “providing additional authority and capability” to “empower” U.S. industry in helping the government battle foreign cybercriminals.
Leatherman pointed to the Chinese state-sponsored Salt Typhoon espionage hack, discovered in late 2024, which compromised several of the largest American telecommunications firms and targeted the cellphones of U.S. political figures, including then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance. At least one Chinese company assisted the campaign and was punished by the Treasury Department last year, Leatherman said.
China and Russia often leverage private companies to carry off hacks that provide a measure of state deniability.
“They are industry people [in China] that are doing this,” Leatherman said, referring to Salt Typhoon. “If we don’t close the gaps … we’re going to continue to fall behind.”
U.S. agencies such as the FBI, the military’s U.S. Cyber Command, and the National Security Agency may legally hack systems overseas. But private-sector companies do not have such independent authority.
Jason Kikta, a former U.S. Cyber Command operator, said using contractors to perform government work “makes us no better than China and Iran,” where, he noted, industry has conducted ransomware operations, attacked U.S. banks, and carried out indiscriminate cyberspying operations.
“The U.S. has fought against such abuses for years, and this now makes us look hypocritical,” said Kikta, now chief technology officer at Automox, a cybersecurity firm.
Former military cyber lawyer Gary Corn noted that Cyber Command’s primary focus is on countering foreign nation-state threats — not criminals. The command lacks the numbers and resources to take on the criminal threat. So the administration’s move could help fill that “big gap,” said Corn, who was formerly the command’s top lawyer and now directs American University’s Technology, Law & Security Program.
Former White House aide Curtis, now CEO of the cybersecurity firm 190 Intel, said private companies have tremendous technical capability, data, and speed. With the right guardrails, he said, “this could be a very effective way to disrupt criminal networks that are otherwise hard to reach.”
Charlie “Tuna” Moore, a former deputy commander of U.S. Cyber Command, has long called for the government to team with the private sector in conducting cyber offense. “It’s the only way to scale quality and quantity to defend the nation,” said Moore, now a visiting professor at Vanderbilt.
The memo contains a classified annex, which describes how the companies and law enforcement agencies will coordinate their actions with the military and intelligence agencies, a process known as “deconfliction.”
Moore noted that the military and spy agencies have extensive deconfliction rules, and it will be “critical” to see how well thought-out the new process is, he said.
“The overarching approach is very good,” he said. “The devil’s in the details.”
The five-and-a-half-hour, three-band odyssey that was the Foo Fighters’ “Take Cover Tour” stop at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday started with a bang.
It came courtesy of a hellacious opening set by Mannequin Pussy for what was the Dave Grohl-led band’s first show in Philadelphia in 15 years.
The Philly punk rock-plus band earned a position of prominence in this review with an absolutely ripping performance that Foo fans who didn’t arrive at the sports complex by 5:30 p.m. on a weekday afternoon should be kicking themselves for missing.
I’m being effusive about Mannequin Pussy not simply to cheer on one of the best bands to emerge from the Philly music scene in the last decade. The Marisa “Missy” Dabice-led quintet did make the most of their biggest hometown show ever.
Marisa “Missy” Dabice, lead singer of Mannequin Pussy, performs as the first opener during the Foo Fighters’ “Take Cover Tour” at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. Mannequin Pussy is from Philadelphia and performing their first stadium tour.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
Nor is the cheerleading an inappropriate response, especially after the band performed in the home of its favorite football team all dressed in green and ending its action-packed set by leading the crowd in “Fly, Eagles, Fly” and an “E-A-G-L-E-S” chant before leaving the stage flapping their arms as if they were wings.
In 30 minutes, in a less than half full Linc, Mannequin Pussy found time to emphatically deliver seven songs from their top notch 2024 LP I Got Heaven, plus career highlights like “Drunk II,” “Control,” and “Romantic.” They also paid tribute to stage hands and support staff at the Linc while sharing several Go Birds! exclamations along with less friendly words for Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. John Fetterman.
With a take-no-prisoners attitude driven by bassist Colins “Bear” Regisford and drummer Kaleen Reading, Mannequin Pussy repeatedly displayed a knack for constructing compact songs that — much like a band that Grohl used to play drums with called Nirvana — move from passages of real beauty to explosions of fury.
Mannequin Pussy performs as the first opener during the Foo Fighters’ “Take Cover Tour” at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. Mannequin Pussy is from Philadelphia and is performing their first arena tour.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
I’m making a point of Mannequin Pussy’s concise, impactful approach because it contrasted so sharply with the Foo Fighters’ sprawling headlining set, which stretched over three hours.
In between, Josh Homme’s desert rock band Queens of the Stone Age was also excellent in an hourlong set. The band lived up to its stoner rock rep while riding a slinky, sometimes downright sexy groove, particularly on “Make It Witchu.”
It was impressively locked in, though Homme — which rhymes with “mommy” — sounded a little woozy at times. It was hard to tell if he was kidding when he quipped: “Wow, it was the wrong day to take mushroom before the show.”
Dave Grohl, lead singer of the Foo Fighters, performs during their “Take Cover Tour” at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
The Foo Fighters hit the stage a few minutes after 8 p.m. Grohl trotted down the runway that extended onto the field of the stadium, by then filled with 60,000-plus fans of the band who first performed in Philadelphia at the Trocadero in 1995. They last played South Philly at what was then the Wells Fargo Center, in 2011.
The Foos’ return features new drummer Ilan Rubin, who formerly pounded the skins for Nine Inch Nails. Earlier this year, Rubin replaced Josh Freese, who had replaced Hawkins in 2023.
On the “Take Cover Tour,” which kicked off in Mexico in January and runs through March, the Foos are exerting themselves as one of the world’s biggest bands, playing stadiums all over the globe.
Grohl — who sang and played guitar, except for one brief stint in which he switched places with Rubin and got behind the drum kit — repeatedly mentioned the Linc was the largest venue the band has played in Philadelphia. He also name-checked the Electric Factory, where the band performed three times in the late 1990s and early ’00s.
The Foo Fighters during their “Take Cover Tour” at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
The stature of the band was also expressed by the length of the show.
Playing for three hours means you’ve attained epic status. Bruce Springsteen has done it for decades. It comes naturally to jam bands like Phish, whose identity is built around extended improvisation. And Taylor Swift also crossed the threshold with her career-spanning “Eras Tour.”
The marathon set gave the Foos — that also includes guitarists Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett, bassist Nate Mendel, and keyboard player Rami Jaffee — time to visit all its own eras.
That meant reaching back to the 1995 self-titled release on which Grohl played all the instruments, which is still the band’s best album. Of the two songs from that record, “This Is the Call,” was included in extended version. The other, “Big Me,” was part of a acoustic set and brimmed with a welcome melodic sweetness and light.
The stripped-down set also included a breezy “Wheels” and “Marigold,” a rarity that Grohl put out on a cassette-only release in 1992 using the band name Late! And when he briefly dismissed the band to do a solo, “Under You,” from the band’s 2023 album, But Here We Are, Grohl delivered a not-on-the-set-list surprise.
Queens of the Stone Age performs as the second opener during the Foo Fighters’ “Take Cover Tour” at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
In April, the Foos released its 12th album, Your Favorite Toy, a bracing, disciplined record that benefits from brevity, with its 10 songs clocking in under 33 minutes.
For whatever reason, only one of those songs — the hard-hitting title song — made the cut on Thursday. Perhaps Grohl was worried about performing too much material unfamiliar to the crowd — a significant portion of which was in his mid-50s age cohort, but also with many fans a generation or two younger.
The show had its highlights, from crowd-pleasers like the crunchy “Monkey Wrench” to “The Teacher,” a tribute to Grohl’s mother, Virginia, who died in 2022. It was a heartfelt, lengthy elegy in which he played a double-necked guitar and sang: “You taught me how to be / Never showed me how to say good bye.”
Also entertaining was a medley where the band members were introduced, and got to play a song by a band they used to be in. It was especially fun since Mendel was once in Sunny Day Real Estate, Jaffee played with the Wallflowers, and Smear was a member of L.A. punks, the Germs.
Dave Grohl, lead singer of the Foo Fighters, performs during their “Take Cover Tour” at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
Grohl was, as always, an ingratiating presence. He drops F and MF bombs at an astounding rate without seeming the slightest bit subversive or mean-spirited. The joy he takes from being on stage is infectious, and was reciprocated by a singing-along audience pleased to be hanging out on what turned out to be a pleasant and not-too-crushingly-humid of a summer evening.
The Foos have a number of memorable songs that the band has made stick over its 30-year career — such as “The Best of You,” “Learn to Fly,” and “Everlong,” which was the final encore, with fireworks.
But the band doesn’t have an endless supply, nor much variety in their meat-and-potatoes approach. Many songs like “Run” were burdened by drawn out arrangements that turned into a slog.
Early on, Grohl promised that as the evening went on the Foos would be generous in performing “song after song after song after song … three hours isn’t enough!”
On the contrary, it was more than enough.
The crowd watches the Foo Fighters perform during their “Take Cover Tour” at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
A Bristol Borough man was charged with homicide and related crimes in the strangling death of his wife this week, authorities said.
Michael Myers, 59, was arrested Thursday in the killing of his wife, Dawn, in their Lower Bucks County home, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
Around 6:30 a.m. that morning, police found Dawn Myers, 54, dead in a room on the second-floor of the Wood Street property. She appeared to have been be strangled, and had multiple men’s ties wrapped around her neck and her shirt was pulled up, the affidavit said.
It was not the first time police responded to the property, the document said.
Officers first arrived shortly after 6 a.m. after receiving a security alert from the Myers’ alarm company. But the door was locked and no one answered when they knocked, according to the document.
They returned just before 6:30 a.m. after Dawn Myers’ son, Brendan Murray, arrived at the home to find his mother dead, the affidavit said. There, Murray also found Myers, his stepdad, who had been released from the hospital the previous day after being admitted for making suicidal threats, according to the document.
Myers had been in and out of the hospital for those concerns, the affidavit said, and was released after medical professionals determined he was not a threat to himself, the affidavit said.
Murray told investigators he arrived to find Myers sitting outside the home in a parked car with blood on his face. He said he asked where his mother was, and Myers led him to the front door and unlocked it.
He soon found his mother upstairs and as he tried to descend the stairs, he said, Myers blocked his way with arms outstretched, the document said.
Murray said he fought past him, ran out to the front lawn, and yelled for his wife to call 911.
After police arrived, the document said, Murray pointed to Myers ― who was standing behind the front glass door― and accused him of killing his mother.
Police took Myers into custody as investigators began gathering evidence from the alarm system and security cameras that indicated Myers had been inside in the home.
The cameras captured Dawn and Michael Myers returning home together on Wednesday afternoon. They also captured the last time Dawn Myers was seen alive, when she let their dogs out in the backyard around 6:40 p.m.
The next time they recorded activity, Myers was leaving the home around 6 a.m. on the morning of the killing.
He is being held at the Bucks County Correctional Facility and was denied bail.
In addition to homicide, Myers was charged with strangulation, aggravated assault, intimidation of witnesses, possessing instruments of a crime, and false imprisonment.
He is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 26.
Some Cheltenham families are anxious about the new school year that begins Aug. 31, because it feels like the last year, marked by uncertainty and pain for many, hasn’t ended.
After a 15-year-old football player was allegedly assaulted twice in the locker room last August and September, the community hung in limbo for months, with no punishments for anyone involved while district and county investigations rolled out.
Now, Cheltenham is heading into what would have been a fresh start just as a flurry of conclusions finally arrived: criminal charges for four coaches and six players, a grand jury report finding the district mishandled the assaults, and the superintendent’s resignation.
Five of those charged are set to appear at a preliminary hearing on Aug. 27.
“We are coming to school in the next three weeks. What is the plan for the morale of all the kids that have been affected?” Francis Brown, the parent of a senior, asked at a school board meeting this week. “Should the seniors expect to come and sit on the lawn for Senior Sunrise and see news cameras in their face?”
Some families are afraid to say they’re from Cheltenham, residents said at Tuesday’s board meeting, which was the first public forum for the school community since the charges were brought.
“Half our parents don’t want to wear anything that says Cheltenham on it, because they’re embarrassed,” Shelley Gaither, the president of Cheltenham Elementary’s parent-teacher association, said at the board meeting. “Because they get asked questions, they get looked down upon.”
And the interim superintendent Chris McGinley, whose selection was announced at the meeting, will lead an administration that many families say has repeatedly failed to address safety concerns across grade levels.
This year’s staff may include three people referred to the Montgomery County grand jury report as Employee #1, #2, and #3, one of whom texted about dissuading the victim’s mother from visiting the school. Texts also downplayed the assault allegations, according to the grand jury report.
The district has not answered questions about the status of the three employees.
Officials emailed parents on Aug. 13 that Vice Principal Mark Hoff — to whom the victim’s mother said she first reported the assault allegations — will be staying at the high school, instead of moving to Wyncote Elementary as planned, for continuity during a turbulent time.
The school board said Tuesday an outside attorney will be reviewing all safety policies and the board will review all sports programs in the district in the coming weeks.
The district has also enlisted the Bucks County Intermediate Unit to audit the human resources department, and Cheltenham is checking that all staff have current child abuse and criminal history clearances after the grand jury report found five of the coaches weren’t up to date last year.
But families are still worried what the school climate will be like in September.
“I asked [my kids] how they felt about going to school, and they’re nervous,” a member of the high school’s parent-teacher association said at the Tuesday meeting. “Not just for safety concerns, but for the environment of the school … My oldest said ‘I’m worried the teachers will be upset.’”
A coalition of parent groups presented a list of joint demands at the meeting that includes a town hall on school safety, first-day assemblies on sexual assault, hazing, and bullying by age group, and a community-wide survey assessing district leadership.
And the Saturday before schools starts, the Cheltenham African American Alliance plans to hold a “Together We Can Change Their Tomorrow” march at 8 a.m. from the administration building to the high school, president Ikysha Dearry announced Tuesday.
“We have to take back our power as people,” Dearry said. “We have kids who will be coming through these doors in the next two or three weeks.”
Staff writer Maddie Hanna contributed to this article.
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