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  • Bucks man charged with homicide in wife’s strangling death

    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.

  • Cheltenham is starting a new school year just weeks after locker-room assault charges. Parents and kids are nervous.

    Cheltenham is starting a new school year just weeks after locker-room assault charges. Parents and kids are nervous.

    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.

    Cheltenham is trying to move past its football scandal. Here’s what happens next.

    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.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO

    Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO

    NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty on Friday to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, admitting matter-of-factly that he trailed the executive to an investor conference in 2024 and gunned him down on a New York City street.

    Mangione, 28, said he even used a ruse to glean information about the event, contacting the health insurance company ahead of time under the guise of being an investor at a multibillion-dollar firm.

    “On the morning of Dec. 4, 2024, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan, and he died,” Mangione told the court as Thompson’s wife, Paulette, took several deep breaths and repeatedly wiped tears from her eyes. A supporter put an arm around the wife and held her tight.

    Mangione is set for sentencing Dec. 18. When U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett asked whether he understood that he could spend the rest of his life in prison, Mangione answered neutrally: “Yes.”

    Mangione entered the plea at a hastily scheduled hearing in Manhattan federal court, resolving one of two cases against him in connection with Thompson’s death. Mangione’s lawyers could now seek to have his separate New York state murder case thrown out on double jeopardy grounds.

    Surveillance video of the ambush showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson, 50, from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny,” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims. That detail — and revelations that Mangione’s private writings lambasted health insurers as greedy, according to authorities — made the case a fulcrum for debate about the industry and made Mangione a cause célèbre for some of its critics.

    Mangione told the court Friday that he pursued Thompson “after years of enduring severe pain from a broken back and navigating the obstacles of the health insurance system.”

    Mangione never was a UnitedHealthcare customer, according to police and the company. A University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, he was arrested five days after the shooting, when he was spotted at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa. It’s about 230 miles west of Manhattan.

    Thompson led one of the United States’ largest health insurers, but he wasn’t well known outside the industry. Trained as an accountant, he had worked at parent company UnitedHealth Group Inc. for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm, UnitedHealthcare, in 2021. He and his wife had two sons, who were in high school when their father was killed.

    Both the federal and state cases could lead to a life prison sentence for Mangione. A federal judge earlier this year tossed out additional charges that could have exposed him to a potential death penalty.

    Mangione had complained about the prospect of two trials, telling a judge in February: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”

    Under New York law, a state prosecution could potentially be barred if the federal case is resolved first.

    The state’s double jeopardy protections kick in if a jury has been sworn in a prior prosecution, such as a federal case, or if that prosecution ends in a guilty plea. Mangione’s cases involve different charges arising from the same course of conduct.

    In a letter last month, state prosecutors objected to the possibility of a guilty plea in the federal case wiping out the state case.

    Garnett has delivered some setbacks to the defense, including ruling in January that prosecutors could use items collected from Mangione’s backpack during his arrest as evidence against him.

    They included a 3D-printed pistol that investigators said matched the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which authorities say Mangione described his intent to kill an insurance executive.

    In June, Mangione’s lawyers said they would pursue a psychiatric defense in the state case but reversed course a day later. The defense, involving claims that he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the killing, isn’t allowed in federal court.

  • Trump asks Supreme Court to let White House ballroom construction continue during appeal

    Trump asks Supreme Court to let White House ballroom construction continue during appeal

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the White House to continue construction on its $400 million ballroom project while it appeals a lower court’s order to halt the work.

    Trump’s solicitor general petitioned the high court to suspend last week’s decision by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

    The divided panel ruled last week Trump must stop the White House ballroom’s construction because Congress has not approved the project. The panel’s majority said Trump doesn’t have the unilateral authority to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom where the White House’s East Wing stood before he ordered its demolition last fall.

    The lower court suspended its own ruling for two weeks to give Trump’s Republican administration time to appeal to the Supreme Court. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the Supreme Court to rule on its stay petition before the appeals court panel’s decision takes effect on Aug. 21.

    “This case involves an extraordinary and unlawful injunction that will halt the ongoing construction of the integrated military complex, including a totally secure ballroom space, at the East Wing of the White House, which is vitally required by national security,” Sauer wrote.

    The lower court’s 2-1 decision upheld an order to pause aboveground construction on the project, siding with historic preservationists who sued to stop construction of the ballroom.

    “Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,” wrote the majority’s two judges, both appointed by Democratic presidents.

    A third judge disagreed, finding that the preservationist group that challenged the project had no legal right to sue.

    “The district court elevated the aesthetic displeasure of a single passerby over the government’s security interests in the ballroom,” wrote Judge Neomi Rao, who was appointed by Trump.

    The Trump administration argues that the president, not Congress or the courts, has unimpeded authority to renovate the White House. The current state of the project, essentially an open construction site, makes it harder to protect the White House, the Justice Department contends.

    The administration also says the National Trust for Historic Preservation does not have the legal right, or standing, to sue over the ballroom, which is part of Trump’s plans to quickly remake Washington. The solicitor general said the ballroom project “should be a matter for the President and the political process, not construction-by-injunction.”

    During an appeals court hearing in early June, an administration lawyer defended a broad view of presidential control over iconic public facilities. The government could bulldoze the Statue of Liberty and the White House, Justice Department lawyer Yaakov Roth said in response to a hypothetical question, and the descendants of immigrants who came through Ellis Island and the enslaved people who built the White House would not have standing to sue.

    The D.C. Circuit panel upheld a ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush. Leon concluded that a pause wouldn’t jeopardize national security. He also exempted any construction work that is necessary for the safety and security of the White House.

    The ballroom has been under construction for 10 months. The administration says the work is roughly 65% finished.

    “Given those developments, the injunction promises chaos in service of nothing,” Sauer wrote.

  • Homeland Security paid $464M for airplanes, then it parked them

    Homeland Security paid $464M for airplanes, then it parked them

    WASHINGTON — Starting last fall, the Department of Homeland Security spent $464 million on a no-bid contract to buy 10 used airplanes from a firm in northern Virginia.

    That was an enormous price tag, but the department said it had no time to consider other offers. The planes were needed urgently for deportation flights.

    But since then, the department has barely used this new fleet — for deportations, or anything else.

    Three of the aircraft are luxury business jets. Just months after acquiring them, the department sought to loan or lease two to other agencies, including one for the use of FBI Director Kash Patel, according to a letter to the department sent Wednesday by top Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

    The other seven are older Boeing 737 passenger jets, which the government has left parked at an airport in Lake Charles, La., for months at a time. An internal government document, obtained by the New York Times, said the agency did not have the staff necessary to operate them.

    The acquisitions were part of a surge of rushed contracts handed out recently by the Homeland Security Department, which has repeatedly used the need for “urgency” to bypass regular contracting procedures. The idled planes highlight the risks of that approach. The agency rushed headlong to spend nearly half a billion dollars, only to end up with planes it did not fly.

    The contract also illuminated a broader trend within the second Trump administration: no-bid contracts awarded to people with connections to Trump or his cabinet secretaries. The company that received this contract, Daedalus Aviation Corp., is led by a chairperson who had donated to a political committee supporting the previous Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem.

    The department’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has long outsourced its deportation flights by chartering planes from private companies. It also uses military and Coast Guard aircraft. Because of that, former immigration officials said, there seemed to be little need for the department to take on the expense of buying and maintaining a significant number of its own aircraft.

    “If you asked me to write a list of the things ICE needed to increase the number of deportations, buying its own fleet of airplanes would absolutely not make the top 10,” said John Sandweg, a former acting director of ICE during the Obama administration.

    In a written statement, the Homeland Security Department sought to shift responsibility for the contract to Noem. President Donald Trump fired her in March, and appointed Markwayne Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma, as secretary.

    “The contract for Daedalus was made and approved by department leadership before Secretary Mullin was sworn in,” the department said in a statement. The agency said it “reserves the right to adjust course in an environment with evolving requirements and demands.”

    A spokesperson for Noem sought to place the responsibility on Mullin instead, saying the purchase was “finalized” under his leadership.

    Contracting records show that the size of the contract increased by $303 million on the day that Mullin was sworn in as secretary.

    The agency said that the idle 737 passenger jets had been undergoing maintenance checks, and that there were plans for two of them to begin deportation flights later this month.

    The situation with the planes was reminiscent of the department’s about-face on a plan to acquire warehouses to hold detainees. The department spent heavily on those when Noem was secretary, but reversed itself just months later under Mullin. The department is now giving away or selling seven warehouses that it bought for more than $700 million.

    A letter sent to the department Wednesday by Democratic Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Christopher Murphy of Connecticut, who sit on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Homeland Security officials had already conceded to the committee that most of the planes would not be used for deportations.

    “The American people deserve a full accounting of this gross misuse of their tax dollars,” the letter, which was reviewed by the Times, said.

    The senators asked for details about the purchase price of each plane and how they would be used.

    Federal law generally requires government agencies to seek competing bids before awarding a contract, to ensure taxpayers get the best deal. But the department sidestepped that requirement for the planes contract, by invoking an exemption for cases of “unusual and compelling urgency.”

    That exemption can be used only when delaying the contract would result in “serious injury, financial or other,” to the government. Historically, it has been used during natural disasters, war, and the coronavirus pandemic.

    The department declined to answer questions about what serious injury it was trying to prevent. Contracting regulations require agencies to publish the rationales for no-bid contracts, but the department refused to release this one, saying it “would compromise national security or create other security risks.”

    The department has invoked the urgency exemption to justify more than $29 billion in spending across about 500 contracts awarded during Trump’s second term, according to an analysis of federal data by the Times. Much of that total came from border wall spending. Urgency claims were also used to justify projects like the $220 million in media contracts awarded to firms tied to Noem and her allies, scrutiny over which contributed to her ouster.

    The exemption accounts for nearly two-thirds of the $34 billion that the department has spent on contracts signed in 2026. That’s up sharply from past years. In 2025, the figure was about one-quarter. In 2024, it was less than 1%.

    No other major agency has used the exemption for urgency as frequently as Homeland Security, even in an administration that has turned to no-bid contracts repeatedly — for event planning, fountain repair, and the troubled makeover of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

    Lorna Tedder, a retired contracting expert who spent more than three decades at the Defense Department, said that, “Some things truly are urgent — people are going to die if you don’t do this.” But if agencies claim the exemption all the time, “it will eventually be abused.”

    The contract for the planes was first awarded in late November. At the time, the government was already paying other contractors hundreds of millions to operate a network of charter flights called “ICE Air.”

    The immigration agency has chartered about 25,800 flights in Trump’s second term, shuttling immigrants between detention centers domestically and deporting them abroad, mainly to Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the ICE Flight Monitor tracking project at Human Rights First, a nonprofit advocacy group. The department sometimes has 25 or more planes in the air in a day, according to the nonprofit’s tracking.

    But at the time, the Homeland Security Department said it still needed its own planes.

    Last fall, Tricia McLaughlin, a department spokesperson, told the Washington Post that purchasing the planes would allow “ICE to operate more effectively, including by using more efficient flight patterns.” McLaughlin has since left the agency. The department did not respond directly to a question asking about her comments.

    Daedalus, the Arlington, Virginia-based company the government hired to find the planes, had not previously held a federal contract. However, a company spokesperson said it had worked as a subcontractor to other companies evacuating Afghans who had done work for the U.S. government.

    Daedalus’ chair is William Walters, a doctor who until 2021 led a State Department office that evacuated Americans from outbreaks of Ebola, COVID-19, and other crises. In 2024, after leaving government, Walters donated $10,000 to a political committee connected to Noem, then the governor of South Dakota.

    Last year, with Noem in charge, the agency gave a separate company run by Walters a contract worth nearly $700 million to encourage immigrants to leave the U.S. voluntarily.

    A Daedalus spokesperson said that Walters was unaware that the political committee was tied to Noem.

    Daedalus declined to say how much each of the 10 planes had cost, or what its profit margin was for acting, essentially, as a broker. It provided a written statement that it was proud to provide “the best value to the American taxpayer.”

    One of the planes is a Boeing 737 luxury jet, now painted in the color scheme of Trump’s new Air Force One. Two others are smaller Gulfstream business jets, each seating about 14 people.

    Those planes flew only sporadically after the agency acquired them, according to flight records from airplanes.live, an independent flight tracking service. And the department soon moved to jettison two of them to other agencies, according to the account from Senate Democrats and the internal document reviewed by the Times.

    One of the luxury jets “has already been leased to the FBI for 12 months to support director Patel’s travel — despite the fact that the FBI already has its own jets to support the director’s travel,” the Senate Democrats wrote.

    The FBI confirmed that it is using one of the Gulfstream jets, saying it was paying the Homeland Security Department significantly less than it had paid a private company to lease a similar plane and that the aircraft was being used to support a range of agency operations, in addition to Patel’s travel.

    The Homeland Security Department also wanted to lend the larger Boeing luxury jet to the Pentagon, according to the senators’ letter and the internal document. But a Pentagon spokesperson said no agreement had been signed.

    One Gulfstream jet will remain with Homeland Security, for the use of its top leaders, according to the letter.

    The other 737s seemed more suited for deportation flights. Flight records show they had been in active use by Avelo Airlines, a low-cost carrier that also flew charter flights for ICE.

    But when the government bought them, it parked them.

    Daedalus said that two were used briefly to evacuate Americans from the Middle East at the outbreak of the Iran war in early March.

    Senate Democrats said they were told by Homeland Security staff that four of the 737s were no longer expected to fly detained immigrants. The senators said the department said it would use them to fly members of Congress on overseas trips, a job now handled by commercial carriers or military aircraft.

    For the long term, the agency said it needs a contractor to provide crews and mechanics to operate its new fleet. A recent solicitation said that contract would start next summer.

    This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

  • Following Tun Tavern drama, Old City’s Lucha Cartel building finally has a fate

    Following Tun Tavern drama, Old City’s Lucha Cartel building finally has a fate

    The owners of two Port Richmond restaurants plan to open a moderately upscale Mexican restaurant in Old City, banking in part on the impact of the forthcoming Park at Penn’s Landing, which will cap I-95 and — they hope — send crowds to their doorstep.

    “It was an opportunity, and we decided to take a chance,” said chef Jesus García, a former executive chef at Lucha Cartel, which occupied the building at 207 Chestnut St. from 2013 until it closed last year. It was Philadelphia Fish & Co. from 1983 to 2009.

    Chef Jesus Garcia (center) and Alejandro Fuentes (right) with Jasper Alivia at their restaurant Nemi in 2019. Charles Fox / Staff Photographer

    García and Alejandro Fuentes, his partner in the Mexican restaurant Nemi and the cross-cultural La Roma, bought the property this week and plan to open a yet-to-be-named Mexican restaurant similar to Nemi, which Inquirer critic Craig LaBan has praised, particularly for its creative tacos.

    Fuentes and García opened Nemi at Ann and Thompson Streets in 2018, and followed in 2022 with La Roma at Allegheny Avenue and Mercer Street, where the menu crosses Mexican, Italian, and other influences.

    Their new restaurant will enter a pocket of Old City that already has several Mexican restaurants. La Catrachita Taqueria opened next door in May. Across Second Street, Buena Vista Mexican Restaurant & Bar opened last summer at 123 Chestnut St., while South Street’s Las Bugambilias moved to 15 S. Third St. in 2021.

    Fuentes and García’s purchase of 207 Chestnut marks the end of a saga that had entangled the property in competing efforts to resurrect the name of Tun Tavern, considered the birthplace of the U.S. Marine Corps.

    Montgomery Dahm, the Marine veteran who has operated a Tun Tavern in Atlantic City since 1998 and owns the trademark to the name, moved into Old City amid a trademark fight with the nonprofit Tun Legacy Foundation, which was planning its own historically accurate re-creation of Tun Tavern nearby.

    In September, Dahm announced an agreement to take over Lucha Cartel at 207 Chestnut, about 400 feet from the foundation’s proposed site around the corner on Second Street. He told The Inquirer that he intended to spend $2.5 million to $3 million to turn the property into a Tun Tavern.

    In November, Dahm added bunting and lightly renovated the restaurant for a party commemorating the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary. Less than three months later, in February, Dahm and the foundation settled their trademark dispute. Dahm subsequently decided not to proceed with the Tun Tavern at 207 Chestnut, leaving the property available.

    Billy Creagh of National Realty Commercial brokered the sale, whose terms were not immediately disclosed.

    Fuentes and García’s timing coincides with one of the largest public-space projects in the city’s recent history. The Park at Penn’s Landing, being built over I-95 and Columbus Boulevard between Chestnut and Walnut Streets, will reconnect portions of Old City and Society Hill with the Delaware River waterfront for the first time since the 1970s. The project, anticipated to be completed in 2029, is expected to create nearly 12 acres of parkland and dramatically change the pedestrian approach to the waterfront.

    For 207 Chestnut, the significance is geographic: The restaurant will sit only a few blocks from the new park, along one of the principal east-west streets connecting Center City and Old City with Penn’s Landing.

    The Old City project will put Fuentes and García in a considerably different restaurant market from Port Richmond, with heavier tourist traffic, historic attractions, nightlife, and increasing competition for Mexican food.

    “I think it’s a great neighborhood, even if sometimes it has some ups and downs,” Fuentes said. “But there are a lot of local customers, and there are also a lot of tourists who visit Old City.”

  • Meet Soupy Island’s longtime caretaker | Inquirer South Jersey

    Good morning, South Jersey. It’s Friday! It looks like a mixed bag in the weather department this weekend. Saturday seems promising, but storms (potentially severe) are forecast for Sunday.

    Have you heard of Soupy Island? It’s a fun, quirky play spot for kids in West Deptford that is open only about one month a year. One man has been running it for nearly 30 years.

    Speaking of children, young athletes will participate next week in an international baseball tournament in Marlton.

    Plus, nearly 30 dead sharks washed ashore in Sea Isle City, and more news of the day.

    — Ellen Dunkel (southjersey@inquirer.com)

    P.S. Thank you for your continuing support. We want your thoughts! Tell us your opinion of the newsletter by taking our survey or replying to this email.

    If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

    A quirky hidden oasis for children

    Armando Roberto Perez, 70, is the caretaker for Soupy Island, a public pool and park in West Deptford. It is known for its century-old carousel, free soup, and the tall, enclosed slide guests glide down on wax paper, crashing into sand.

    Perez, fondly called Mr. Soupy, has been running Soupy Island for 28 years. It’s a family calling. His father-in-law was the previous caretaker and his grandfather-in-law before that.

    Part of Soupy Island’s appeal is that it’s open only about one month a year, three days a week from July to mid-August. Admission is free. Not surprisingly, soup is on the menu.

    Inquirer reporter Sarah Nicell explored Soupy Island with Perez.

    Very young international athletes

    International competition doesn’t usually involve 8-year-olds, most of whom are prepping for second or third grade.

    But next week, young athletes will be playing in an international youth baseball tournament in Marlton.

    The field in the 2026 Cal Ripken 8U World Series will include 11 U.S. teams as well as teams from Mexico, Curaçao, Bonaire, and Latin America.

    Inquirer reporter Becca O’Reilly has the details.

    What to know today

    🧠 Trivia time

    Where is Michelin headed for its 2026 award ceremony?

    Hint: Sorry to say, but it’s not near us

    A) Chicago

    B) New York City

    C) Baltimore

    D) Los Angeles

    Think you know? Check your answer.

    What we’re …

    🏠 Touring: The Underground Railroad Museum of Burlington County.

    🛍️ Shopping for: Unique decor at Clutter Vintage in Collingswood.

    🏺 Exploring: Cafes and cozy inns in Lambertville and Stockton.

    🏖️ Down the Shore

    This “Ask Down the Shore” feature appears as part of our weekly summertime series from Shore reporter Amy S. Rosenberg. Subscribe to her free Down the Shore newsletter here.

    A reader asked what effect all the teardowns of smaller cottages were having on the Shore. We asked our Shore Line texters. Here’s a sampling of the replies, lightly edited.

    1. The classic old shore homes are disappearing. It is sad. Most of the new homes look alike. We should try to protect the old charm. It can’t be replicated.
    2. The shore is already overbuilt and has been for years. Adding ginormous sized houses only depletes the natural resources that make the shore unique. When my family drove to the shore when I was a kid in the ’60s you could smell the sea air before you could see anything that looked like the shore on the Expressway. I remember that smell fondly (mostly) and miss it greatly. I can’t pinpoint when it stopped. It gradually decreased in the ’90s and now it no longer exists.
    3. It is unrealistic to expect people not to tear down older homes. Yes there will be more traffic but maybe that will be self limiting.

    What do you think? Do you like the look of the old homes? Do you prefer the newer houses? Is it realistic to ask homeowners to update older homes? Be part of conversation and email Rosenberg at downtheshore@inquirer.com.

    📸 Photo of the week

    Teacher Grey Hamilton (on his back) instructs students in the Cooper River Yacht Club’s summer Learn-to-Sail program on the Cooper River in Collingswood. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    Enjoy your weekend!

    By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

  • Three Philly men stole government checks worth $68 million and then resold them online, feds say

    Three Philly men stole government checks worth $68 million and then resold them online, feds say

    Three Philadelphia men worked together to steal about $68 million worth of government-issued checks out of the mail and then reroute them to buyers they found online, according to federal prosecutors.

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in an indictment filed last month that Nyeem Anderson stole hundreds of Treasury Department checks between 2024 and 2026 — checks that were printed and to be mailed from a facility in Philadelphia, and that were intended for people expecting payments from the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, or other federal agencies.

    Prosecutors did not specify how Anderson came to possess the checks, saying only that he received them “from an unknown source.” But once he had them, they said, he advertised them for resale online, including on a Telegram channel he oversaw, where he would post pictures of the checks and large piles of envelopes containing others.

    Once he negotiated a sale price, prosecutors said, Anderson worked with Zaahir McGough and Qadir Pettus to mail the stolen checks to their chosen buyers, who would often send payments to accounts he had with systems such as Cash App or Zelle.

    Prosecutors did not say how much the trio made from their scheme. But they said the checks were often sold for a fraction of their face value. Last May, for example, Anderson agreed to sell a check worth nearly $11,000 to an unidentified buyer for $299.

    And sometimes Anderson would advertise multiple checks for sale at once, with the checks’ face values occasionally exceeding $200,000, prosecutors said.

    Anderson’s attorney declined to comment Friday. Attempts to reach McGough’s lawyer were not immediately successful, and Pettus did not have an attorney listed in court records.

    In a document filed this week, prosecutors said that when Anderson was arrested last week, he appeared to realize he was facing significant trouble.

    Authorities found him holding $16,000 in stolen checks, prosecutors said. And as he was taken into custody, they said, he made a parting remark to onlookers.

    “They finally got me,” Anderson said, according to prosecutors. “Tell everyone I am going away for a long time.”

  • 70-year-old man shot and killed in East Germantown, police say

    70-year-old man shot and killed in East Germantown, police say

    A 70-year-old man was shot and killed in East Germantown on Friday morning, authorities said.

    The shooting took place around 8:30 a.m. on the 5900 block of Ogontz Avenue, according to police.

    Responding officers took the victim ― whom police did not identify ― to Jefferson Einstein Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

    A man is in custody and is being questioned by investigators with the homicide unit, police said.

    Anyone with information is urged to call the Philadelphia police tip line at 215-686-TIPS (8477).

  • Kids keep getting hurt and killed on e-bikes. Should parents be held responsible?

    Kids keep getting hurt and killed on e-bikes. Should parents be held responsible?

    NEW YORK — As traumatic injuries and deaths surge among children involved in crashes on e-bikes and other electrified vehicles, one California prosecutor is cracking down by pursuing criminal charges against some of the young riders’ parents.

    It is just one way officials across the country are trying to tackle the growing issue, while families navigate a patchwork of local laws and guidance on what kind of souped-up cycles and scooters are safe or even legal for their kids to ride.

    New York City’s mayor recently sent cease-and-desist notices to dozens of online retailers for selling products marketed as “e-bikes” that aren’t street legal after a 17-year-old died in a crash on an illicit vehicle. In neighboring New Jersey, new regulations require e-bike riders to be at least 15 and obtain a license and vehicle registration.

    But do the measures hit the mark? Cycling advocates worry regulations might be too broad — demonizing low-powered e-bikes instead of speedier motos — while some parents question whether localized, piecemeal strategies are enough.

    Monica Stafford, a San Francisco-area mother whose teen daughter fractured her skull falling off an e-bike, said officials are “missing the mark” if they’re seeking to lay the blame solely on parents. The San Rafael resident said a unified, national set of rules is needed.

    “We’re in a total Wild West of laws,” Stafford said. “Being for common sense laws doesn’t mean that you’re against e-bikes, just like you can be for cars but not think that it’s safe to put keys in the hands of a 10-year-old.”

    E-bike injuries disproportionately impact children, experts say

    The two-wheeled machines have become nearly ubiquitous in recent years, from packs of teens zipping around California beach towns to the army of delivery drivers dodging traffic on the congested streets of Manhattan.

    Hospital visits for injuries from e-bike, e-scooter and other motorized rides have, as expected, soared as they have grown in popularity, study after study has shown. But researchers stress that the more concerning trends are the severity of the injuries and the fact that they’re especially pronounced among children.

    “The big takeaway is that people are generally more severely injured than they would be if they were on a traditional, pedal bicycle,” said Dr. John Austin, a doctor at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine who led a recently published statewide study. “Overall, these patients tend to be younger, they tend to be unhelmeted and, in turn, be more severely injured.”

    Recent youth deaths prompt officials to take action

    Most e-bikes are classified as nonmotorized vehicles akin to traditional bicycles under federal law, meaning riders don’t need a license, insurance or to even wear a helmet. Most states, though, have enacted additional requirements for higher powered machines, including minimum age and helmet requirements.

    In New York City, the death of the 17-year-old just steps from City Hall has spurred renewed debate about the bikes. Gabriel Nacato had been riding a vehicle advertised as an “e-bike” but wasn’t legal on city streets.

    Earlier this month, Mayor Zohran Mamdani warned more than 40 online retailers, including Amazon, Walmart and Target, that they could face fines of up to $2,000 for each sale of an e-bike that exceeds city regulations.

    New York state requires riders of all forms of e-bikes to be at least 16, and New York City imposes additional restrictions, including a 15 mph speed limit. California, in contrast, has no statewide minimum age for lower-powered bikes, though riders must be at least 16 to use e-bikes that can go up to 28 mph.

    New Jersey and Illinois are among the states that have enacted statewide regulations recently, and Massachusetts is weighing measures. Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in June vetoed a 10 mph speed limit and other e-bike regulations, saying the measures would lead to “enhanced surveillance” of citizens.

    Other jurisdictions seek to hold parents accountable

    In Southern California, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer says his office has more than two dozen open investigations against parents after launching a new unit focused on e-bike and e-motorcycle cases involving children.

    The office has already brought charges against four, including the mother of a 14-year-old boy accused of killing an elderly pedestrian while riding an e-motorcycle.

    That mother’s attorney declined to comment, but Mitchell Krems, the lawyer for another parent, dismissed the charges against his client as “absurd,” suggesting his client was being made a “scapegoat.”

    Richard Eyssallenne pleaded not guilty to child endangerment charges after prosecutors say he bought his 12-year-old son an e-motorcycle and helped him illegally modify it to make it go faster. The boy ran through a red light and was injured by a car.

    Other jurisdictions have also taken steps to hold parents liable. In Ohio, a Columbus suburb recently issued new e-bike rules making it clear that parents who knowingly allow their children to break the rules are subject to the same penalties as the rider.

    Cycling advocates blame electronic motorcycles

    PeopleForBikes, a national bicycle advocacy group that tracks state e-bike regulations, stressed that many of the problematic vehicles are actually electronic motorcycles with heavy frames, sturdy tires and sizable motors that are falsely marketed as e-bikes.

    Lower-powered and pedal-assisted e-bikes have been used safely for decades on U.S. streets and are key to reducing society’s reliance on cars, advocates argue.

    “Many of the dangerous behaviors people cite — running red lights, riding on sidewalks, not wearing helmets — are already illegal,” added Chloé Lauer, executive director of the San Diego County Bike Coalition. “We’d rather see those laws enforced than add new restrictions that limit mobility for kids who are riding responsibly.”

    Anya Dalal, a San Francisco-area high school senior who has been advocating for better safety measures, believes the problem requires multiple solutions, including setting age limits.

    “It should be a mix of parental accountability, accountability from the manufacturers and retailers and also education for kids to understand e-bike laws and road rules,” said the 17-year-old Hillsborough resident.

    Sharon Franke, a San Diego-area mother, agreed, though she said the first step starts at home, with parents doing their research, accompanying their children on rides and reinforcing safety once they set off on their own.

    “We want them to have fun, but we also want them to come back safe and we don’t want them to hurt anybody,” she said as her 15- and 12-year-old sons prepared to attend a safety training last weekend. “How do you balance all of it? It’s just overwhelming right now.”