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  • Mayor Parker’s former DEI chief sues the city for discrimination in tell-all lawsuit

    Mayor Parker’s former DEI chief sues the city for discrimination in tell-all lawsuit

    Philadelphia’s former chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer has said before that Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and top administration officials scapegoated her after she reported sexual harassment in City Hall and then fired her “unjustly.”

    But in an explosive new lawsuit filed in federal court in Philadelphia this week, that officer, Brandee Anderson, claimed her termination was part of a coordinated effort to “suppress” or rebrand diversity work and came as a top Parker administration official made derisive comments about other DEI leaders.

    She claimed Parker — a centrist Democrat who is Black and the city’s first female mayor — said in 2025 that she “did not care about Ms. Anderson’s ‘DEI ideology,’ only minority business.”

    And she alleged in the lawsuit that the mayor threatened to remove any administration official who expressed dissenting views, telling a gathering of senior officials that no one “has a right to have an opinion about where we are going.”

    The suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, seeks unspecified damages and payment of lost wages as a result of her firing. Parker is named as a defendant, as are Deputy Mayor Vanessa Garrett Harley, Inspector General Alexander DeSantis, and communications director Joe Grace. Anderson claimed DeSantis and Grace defamed and retaliated against her in statements to the media after her firing.

    Anderson served as Parker’s chief DEI officer beginning in 2024, advising the mayor and administration on matters such as workforce diversity, community engagement, equitable budgeting, and minority business opportunities. She also oversaw offices that serve LGBTQ+ residents and people with disabilities.

    She was fired in 2025 after Tyrell Brown, then the director of the Philadelphia Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs, reported to Anderson that they had received a “semi-nude” photo from a senior administration official. Anderson says in the lawsuit that she was fired days after elevating the matter to Garrett Harley and human resources officials.

    Why Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration fired its top DEI and LGBTQ affairs officials due to a ‘semi-nude’ photo neither sent

    The city declined to comment on the lawsuit and generally does not answer questions about pending litigation.

    The lawsuit was the second filed against the city by a former DEI official during Parker’s tenure. Leslie Marant, the Philadelphia Police Department’s first DEI chief, who was fired in the first days of Parker’s administration, said in a federal lawsuit filed in October that she was a victim of the systemic discrimination that she was tasked with addressing. That litigation is ongoing.

    It was also the second time this month that a former Parker administration official accused senior administration members of fostering a toxic work environment.

    Shania Bennett, the former director of the Philadelphia Office of Youth Engagement, last week posted on social media that working for the city was “the worst experience of [her] life” and that she had quit her job after “unprofessional harassment.”

    Bennett could not be reached for comment.

    ‘Stand down’ on DEI matters

    Anderson, an attorney who founded a firm that creates anti-racist trainings, was hired in October 2024 to lead the city’s DEI efforts. In the lawsuit, she alleges that Parker officials undermined her authority from the outset.

    She claimed Parker forbade her from contacting members of City Council with whom she had existing relationships. And she said Garrett Harley, one of Parker’s most senior officials, told her and other DEI leaders to “stand down” if they expressed dissenting views, saying “if you can’t align with the mayor’s strategy, DEI may not be the job for you.”

    Deputy Mayor Vanessa Garrett Harley speaks during a news conference in Philadelphia, Pa., in June 2024.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer

    Anderson also claimed Garrett Harley made discriminatory comments about a transgender official, Celena Morrison-McLean, former director of the Philadelphia Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs, who reported to Anderson. Garrett Harley, the lawsuit alleges, instructed Anderson to “document Celena [Morrison-McLean] out,” or create a paper trail leading to her dismissal.

    According to the lawsuit, the deputy mayor also mocked Morrison-McLean during a meeting with several other officials, saying she used a “deep male tone” to intimidate staff.

    Morrison-McLean left her post in November 2024, roughly eight months after she was pulled over by a Pennsylvania State Police trooper in a traffic stop that went viral and resulted in her and her husband’s arrest.

    She is now a consultant, according to her LinkedIn profile. She could not be reached for comment.

    Celena Morrison-McLean reads a statement with Darius McLean (rear) Thursday, Mar. 7, 2024. The married LGBTQ leaders were arrested during a contentious traffic stop over the weekend.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    Anderson said in the lawsuit that Garrett Harley also made comments to her in early 2025 that she saw as fostering a hostile work environment. She claims she disclosed to Garrett Harley that she was the victim of rape and asked for time off to attend a hearing in the criminal case against her alleged assailant.

    “Ms. Garrett-Harley responded,” the lawsuit says, “by questioning how one woman could rape another.”

    In a separate instance, Garrett Harley also instructed Anderson to delete emails documenting dangers to children in the city’s care, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit did not elaborate on the content of the emails.

    Harassment report and press fallout

    Brown was appointed in March 2025 to succeed Morrison-McLean as the city’s director of LGBTQ+ affairs. In July 2025, Brown reported to Anderson that Christopher Dailey, then a deputy chief of staff in the mayor’s office, had sent them a sexual image on a cruising app.

    At the time, Anderson said Brown told her they did not feel harassed by the photo, partly because it was not clear whether Dailey knew to whom he had sent the image, which included Dailey’s face. Brown’s profile was anonymous, Anderson said, but the app used geolocation, meaning that users would have known they were contacting someone in or near City Hall.

    Anderson elevated Brown’s report to human resources roughly a week later, the complaint says, leading DeSantis, the city’s inspector general, to launch an investigation.

    By July 22, Anderson was fired. DeSantis has said Anderson never possessed the photo, but allowed Brown to display it while another employee besides Anderson, their supervisor, was in the room. That decision, DeSantis said, constituted a violation of the city’s sexual harassment policy.

    Mayor Cherelle Parker, right, hugs Tyrell Brown, left, the new Director of LGBTQ+ Affairs, during a press conference to announce new appointments, at City Hall, in Philadelphia, March 21, 2025.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

    Brown was fired the same week as Anderson. Parker tasked Garrett Harley with handling the office’s work through March, when the administration named a replacement.

    Anderson’s lawsuit claims racial discrimination, noting that Dailey, who is white, was not fired, but was instead moved to a new role in a different office. Brown and Anderson are both Black.

    Brown could not be reached for comment.

    Additionally, Anderson claimed that Parker, DeSantis, and Grace each made “false and defamatory” statements in the media after she was fired.

    She cited a July 2025 Inquirer article in which Grace said Anderson’s allegations about the reason for her termination included “outright misstatements of fact.”

    The lawsuit also mentioned an interview with iHeart Radio’s WDAS 105.3 FM that DeSantis participated in last year about the firings, during which he said that Anderson had “mishandled the photograph” and “did something wrong.”

    Anderson, in the lawsuit, said those statements were false.

  • Investigators in Comey seashells case omitted key facts and distorted others, defense lawyers allege

    Investigators in Comey seashells case omitted key facts and distorted others, defense lawyers allege

    WASHINGTON — Federal officials involved in the prosecution of James Comey misled judges, submitted false statements and withheld key facts during the course of the investigation, according to new defense filings that seek the dismissal of a case charging the former FBI director with threatening President Donald Trump on social media.

    Lawyers for Comey made the allegations of misconduct in motions filed late Tuesday that also call the case a vindictive and selective prosecution, request access to transcripts of grand jury proceedings to expose what they say are “irregularities” in how the indictment was secured, and describe “unlawful” surveillance of Comey by the Secret Service.

    Taken together, the new motions, along with an earlier one this week that called Comey’s social media post protected speech and not a threat, represent a multiprong defense effort to dismantle a case that defense lawyers say exemplifies a Trump administration retribution campaign targeting one of the president’s most vocal critics.

    “Ample objective evidence — much of which comes directly from government officials’ own public statements and admissions — establishes that the President’s animus toward Mr. Comey led to this vindictive and selective prosecution,” Comey’s lawyers wrote in one of the filings.

    A picture of seashells on the beach

    Comey was charged in April with threatening Trump through a photo he posted on Instagram a year earlier depicting seashells he said he found on the beach in North Carolina in the numerical arrangement of “86 47.”

    The Justice Department has said the photo constituted a threat against Trump, the 47th president. Comey deleted the post shortly after he put it up, saying he did not know that anyone interpreted the numbers as a call to violence. His lawyers have said that the slogan has long meant to “get rid of” or “eject” and has been featured on thousands of items sold online and regularly displayed at protests.

    Defense lawyers say investigators who tried to prove that Comey intended a physical threat, or knew that the number “86” suggested violence, repeatedly came up empty but withheld that from federal magistrates as they applied for warrants to search the digital accounts of Comey and his wife.

    For instance, the FBI searched an internal database of information about open and closed investigations for any indication of an association between Comey and the term “86” but found inconclusive results. An FBI agent also requested a review of the FBI file for the case against reputed mobster John Gambino, which Comey worked on as a young prosecutor, but found no references to the term “86.”

    Investigators also interviewed a key government cooperator in the case, Salvatore Gravano, who said he did not recall ever discussing the term “86” with Comey or hearing it in connection with the trial.

    “Evidence obtained during discovery supports at least a substantial preliminary showing that the affidavits submitted in support of two of the search warrants contained intentionally false statements and material omissions, and that those defects vitiate any conceivable showing of probable cause,” Comey’s lawyers wrote.

    Defense lawyers say case is rooted in Trump’s personal animus

    In addition, defense lawyers say the warrant applications distort statements made to investigators by a person who knew Comey but has been now estranged from him for years.

    The person, whose name is not revealed in the court filings, is described in the affidavit as saying that they immediately perceived Comey’s post to have a violent meaning. But investigators omitted from the affidavit that the person had said their initial impression was that “86” referred to being “out of something on the menu” and only later concluded that it could be understood as a call to violence.

    The person said that view was influenced by having listened to an episode of Rudy Giuliani’s online show in which the Trump loyalist claimed that Comey had worked on mob cases as a prosecutor in which mafia members used “86” to mean “kill.” But the FBI’s own investigation determined Giuliani’s claims to be untrue, defense lawyers said.

    The seashells case against Comey was the second in months targeting the ex-FBI director, a long-running Trump foe whom the president over the years has called a “corrupt piece of garbage” and other epithets.

    An earlier case in Virginia accusing Comey of lying to Congress was dismissed in November after a judge concluded that the prosecutor who charged him and another Trump adversary, New York Attorney General Letitia James, was illegally appointed to the job.

    Comey’s lawyers describe the prosecutions as rooted in Trump’s own personal animus, with the Secret Service closely coordinating with the Justice Department and with Trump, who received frequent updates on Air Force One.

    As Comey returned to Washington with his wife to be interviewed by law enforcement about his post, Secret Service agents were directed to conduct “unlawful” electronic surveillance, “including as they stopped to visit the grave of their deceased son,” his lawyers said. The surveillance had been requested by a senior Justice Department official.

    Comey was the FBI director when Trump took office in 2017, having been appointed by then-President Barack Obama and serving before that as a senior Justice Department official in President George W. Bush’s administration. Trump fired Comey in May 2017 during an FBI investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign. The men have been openly at odds ever since.

    The Justice Department will have an opportunity to respond to the defense filings. The department has not elaborated on any evidence of intent the government has. But acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said earlier this year that prosecutors in every case prove intent with “witnesses, with documents, with the defendant himself to the extent it’s appropriate.”

    “And that’s how we’ll prove intent in this case,” Blanche said in April, shortly after he was elevated to lead the department after Pam Bondi’s ouster.

  • Sixers’ LeBron James passes Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani for most jersey sales after switching teams

    Sixers’ LeBron James passes Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani for most jersey sales after switching teams

    LeBron James’ 76ers merch was selling out almost as soon as the 22-time NBA All-Star decided to sign a two-year, $8 million contract with the team.

    After James shocked the sports world, choosing the Sixers over Cleveland and Miami, the future Hall of Famer’s jersey has been the highest-selling of a player joining a new team across all sports — surpassing Shohei Ohtani’s move to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023, according to Fanatics.

    The sports merchandise giant also said that within the first 24 hours after news broke, more James Sixers merchandise was sold than the first week after his announcement that he was joining the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018. This should come as no surprise, since roughly two hours after his decision, all first editions of the No. 23 jersey were sold out on the Fanatics website. The company also is selling a signed James trading card by Topps (which it acquired in 2022) and plans to release other items.

    Mitchell & Ness, which is another part of Fanatics’ portfolio, declined to give hard sales numbers on James merch.

    “However, outside of recent marquee events in our Philly market, the launch of the LeBron Witness T-shirt and all Sixers gear was one of our strongest single-day retail performances, exceeding internal expectations compared to event-driven activations like the 250th celebration, FIFA, and MLB All-Star,” said Dexter Childs, Mitchell & Ness’ manager for cultural marketing and partnerships.

    Mitchell & Ness said Thursday that its black T-shirt featuring James and a Sixers logo was back in stock and that it would be dropping more merch next week.

    Fanatics is owned by Michael Rubin, a Lafayette Hill native who previously was part-owner of the Sixers.

    Since Friday, James merchandise has accounted for eight of the top 10 selling products across all sports throughout the Fanatics network of sites, which includes NBAStore.com, SixersShop.com, and Fanatics.com.

    Inquirer staff writer Emily Bloch contributed to this article.

  • Don Mattingly on Bryce Harper’s belief the Phillies need ‘help’ at deadline: ‘Players like being GMs’

    Don Mattingly on Bryce Harper’s belief the Phillies need ‘help’ at deadline: ‘Players like being GMs’

    MIAMI — Less than an hour after the Phillies suffered their fourth consecutive series loss after the All-Star break, Bryce Harper threw down the proverbial gauntlet.

    “I think we need some help,” Harper said. “I think we’ve proved pretty much all year, we’ve done a pretty good job, but anytime you can get some help in here and reinforcements, I think it helps.”

    With the trade deadline approaching at 6 p.m. on Monday, Harper said he thinks the Phillies need upgrades in the pitching staff and the lineup. It was a clear message to president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and the front office.

    The Phillies must go through the Dodgers. To do it they’ll need to find a lefty reliever at the trade deadline.

    It’s a message that interim manager Don Mattingly doesn’t necessarily like. Mattingly, whose son Preston works under Dombrowski as the Phillies’ general manager, said he doesn’t think the rest of the team is focused on the upcoming deadline.

    “I sense Bryce thinking about it, I don’t really sense anybody else thinking about it, honestly,” Mattingly said. “And you’ve been through this. Guys want to be GMs. What you need, without a real understanding of where the organization is, exactly where this thing goes, not only this year, but moving forward. So again, players like being GMs and making calls and spending other people’s money, so just let it go at that.

    “I mean, they’ve been doing this a while. Never really backed away trying to get guys. We’re trying to get better. We’re going to try to get better at the deadline.”

    Bryce Harper was batting .165 with 28 strikeouts in 79 at-bats in July going into Wednesday’s game.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    As manager, Mattingly’s focus is on getting improvements out of the players who are on the 26-man roster until the point that additions or subtractions are made.

    And despite the Phillies’ recent struggles — they entered Wednesday’s series finale in Miami with a 3-8 record since the All-Star break — he believes those improvements will come.

    “How do I feel right now about how we’re playing, that hasn’t been great,” Mattingly said. “I feel good about our team. I felt that way the whole time. … Obviously, we’re in a period of time that we haven’t played great since the break.”

    Two players who could help the Phillies address their biggest trade deadline need

    He added that he wasn’t necessarily bothered by Harper’s comments, but he didn’t like that they could be construed as criticism of the players currently on the team.

    “I think you’re always trying to get better. You should always incrementally try to get better, no matter who you are,” Mattingly said. “If you’re the Dodgers, who won two straight [World Series], they’re trying to get better in different ways. We’re in the same boat, right? You’re always trying to get better, but if you say something about our team, then you’re saying something about one of our players that you don’t like.”

    Mattingly said he doesn’t feel the need to discuss this with Harper, though.

    “I mean, Bryce is going to say what he wants, so I’m not really concerned about it,” he said. “I take it kind of with a grain of salt, and knowing how players are over the years. It’s not the first time I’ve heard this. … I always look at it internally. I got to get better. We got to get better, and it’s as simple as that.”

    Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber was out of the lineup again on Wednesday due to an illness.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

    Schwarber out again

    Kyle Schwarber was out of the Phillies lineup Wednesday for the second consecutive game with a gastrointestinal illness. Mattingly said he wasn’t sure if Schwarber would improve enough to be available off the bench in an emergency situation.

    “[He’s] kind of the same. Yeah. He may be a little better, but obviously not in there,” Mattingly said.

    Schwarber missed three games in May with a similar issue. In his absence on Wednesday, Trea Turner got the start at designated hitter. Edmundo Sosa took over at shortstop against Marlins right-handed starter Ryan Gusto.

    Andrew Painter had a solid week in triple A. Is he an option to rejoin the Phillies’ rotation soon?

    Mattingly said giving Turner a day to reset from his defensive struggles this season — in the series opener, he committed his 19th error of the season and seventh since the All-Star break at shortstop — was not a factor in his decision. Instead, he wanted to get Turner a day off the turf at loanDepot Park, after previously giving Harper a day at designated hitter on Tuesday.

    “More just getting him off his feet,” Mattingly said. “Kind of feel like we’re getting him back to the point where his legs are good and all that, so try to keep it there.”

    Derek Hill, who has not appeared in a game since July 25 with “lower body stuff,” according to Mattingly, has improved, but the Phillies manager was unsure if he would be available off the bench Wednesday.

    Extra bases

    The Phillies announced that reliever Brad Keller underwent successful surgery on his right elbow in Texas on Wednesday. Keller is expected to return to pitch in 13-16 months. … Outfielder Bryan De La Cruz got another start against a right-hander on Wednesday after a two-hit night on Tuesday.. … The Phillies have not yet announced who is set to open Friday’s series opener against Baltimore, which is expected to be a bullpen game. Right-hander Brandon Young (8-2, 3.13 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Orioles.

  • A guard at the Fort Dix federal prison had a yearlong sexual relationship with a prisoner, feds say

    A guard at the Fort Dix federal prison had a yearlong sexual relationship with a prisoner, feds say

    A guard at a federal prison in Fort Dix, Burlington County, had a lengthy sexual relationship with a prisoner and sometimes paid other inmates to act as lookouts while the two had sex in an office, according to federal authorities.

    Jordan Pensak of North Brunswick was charged this week with sexual abuse of a person in custody, court records show.

    Pensak’s relationship with the prisoner — whom authorities did not identify — began after she started working on his unit in 2024, according to a criminal complaint. A witness reported the pair’s suspected encounters to law enforcement, the complaint said, saying Pensak and the man had sex “multiple times” in an office as the paid lookouts stood nearby and watched for other corrections officers.

    Investigators found more than 100 sexually explicit photos and messages that Pensak and the prisoner shared on Instagram and on cell phones the man apparently possessed while behind bars, the complaint said.

    At times, the document said, Pensak was overt in the messages about her relationship with the prisoner, writing in a January message to an unidentified recipient that she had been in the relationship “for the past year” and that she didn’t intend to end it.

    A month later, the complaint said, when someone else asked Pensak if she knew she could be criminally charged and go to jail for her actions, she wrote back: “Yes I know.”

    Pensak also sent messages to people earlier this year in which she detailed a pregnancy scare, the complaint said. At one point, she said that if she were pregnant, the baby would be a different race than her husband, and that it “ain’t good for this investigation.”

    A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on the allegations against Pensak, but did say Pensak had been placed on administrative leave.

    Attempts to reach Pensak’s lawyer for comment Wednesday were not immediately successful.

  • Rich Paul explains the Tyrese Maxey asterisk and how the Sixers learned LeBron James’ decision

    Rich Paul explains the Tyrese Maxey asterisk and how the Sixers learned LeBron James’ decision

    The Sixers’ leaders found out that they landed LeBron James in a group text.

    The team’s ownership, front office, and Klutch Sports client Tyrese Maxey received a four-word message from Rich Paul, Klutch CEO and James’ agent.

    “Congrats,” the text said. “Sixers it is.”

    “I didn’t have time to text everybody,” Paul said on the Game Over podcast. “I had to put them all in a group chat.”

    With LeBron James joining the Sixers, NBC Sports Philadelphia looks to staff up

    Maxey, who occasionally works out with James during the summer and is one of Klutch Sports’ key clients, played a big role in the decision. During an earlier podcast episode, in which Paul broke down potential destinations for James, he put a star next to Maxey’s name.

    “Maxey led the charge on the Sixers,” Paul said. “He was starred on there because, number one, the Sixers went through a change. It became Tyrese Maxey’s team. It’s still Tyrese Maxey’s team.

    “Additionally, there was a star beside Tyrese’s name because, the fact that I represent Tyrese, I’ve been around him for seven years now, we talk all the time. LeBron has spent time with him. I know that that’s a positive, based on the type of person.”

    When assessing potential landing spots, James and Paul broke down numerous teams and tried to identify the potential issues with each spot. Maxey’s demeanor ultimately helped the Sixers earn much more consideration.

    Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey (right) played a key role in luring James to Philly.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Paul said that Anthony Davis, who played with James on the Lakers, was an example of the type of personality that meshes well with James. Davis was unconcerned about taking the spotlight and stayed focused on his family and on basketball.

    “Same thing with Tyrese, I know that it’s a positive because he’s been around; they work out together,” Paul said. “He’s embracing the fact that, ‘Hey, if we can land this guy, I understand what comes with it, and I’m comfortable in my own skin and by the way, I want to win. I want the best chance of winning.’”

    James met with Cleveland brass in Akron, Ohio, over the summer before signing, ESPN insider Shams Charania said. While many perceived Cleveland to be the favorite going in — so much so that Sixers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey told ESPN that his neighbors got mad at him for “taking” James — Paul said far more teams were under consideration than he discussed publicly.

    “We never really heard from the Sixers, because the Sixers never really thought there was even a chance,” Paul said. Once Jaylen Brown was traded to Philadelphia, his conversations with James about the Sixers took a total 180.

    Draymond Green is right about VJ Edgecombe. But he couldn’t be more wrong about LeBron James.

    Paul also told ESPN that he thinks the move could end with James playing for longer than just his two-year contract.

    “I think Philadelphia’s going to energize him,” Paul told ESPN. “Maybe we get two [seasons]. Maybe we get four.”

    But despite all the hype around James’ signing, Paul still doesn’t believe this makes the Sixers frontrunners for an NBA title.

    “The Sixers aren’t favorites to win it all,” Paul said. “I don’t think they are the best team in the league.”

  • A new live stream camera at the Liberty Bell increases access, but raises questions for privacy experts

    A new live stream camera at the Liberty Bell increases access, but raises questions for privacy experts

    Strangers took photos of families in front of the Liberty Bell, as others took close-up photos of the iconic symbol of U.S. independence.

    A little boy in blue shorts and curly hair ran up to the bell to point out the crack. A National Park Service staffer looked at his watch. It was almost closing time at the Liberty Bell Center and the crowd began to dwindle as 5 p.m. approached Tuesday.

    The boy posed next to a little girl for the last photo of the day, and the room cleared.

    The bell received a reprieve from visitors until 9 a.m. Wednesday, when it all started back up again.

    These moments were captured by a new camera that transmits a 24-7 live stream of the Liberty Bell on EarthCam, a website that live streams various iconic sites around the world.

    “At Independence National Historical Park, the livestream provides the public with a real-time virtual view of one of the nation’s most iconic historic sites, expanding public access and engagement,” said a spokesperson for Independence National Historical Park in a statement.

    The Liberty Bell live stream is Philadelphia’s second on EarthCam. A camera set at the Franklin Institute that points toward the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway has been live on the internet since 2018.

    The Eagles Super Bowl parade down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway as captured by EarthCam from the Franklin Institute. February 14, 2025.EarthCam

    The camera pointing at the Revolutionary-era relic was set up ahead of the United States’ 250th anniversary celebration earlier this month, and adds to the website’s collection of iconic travel destinations that includes Times Square in New York City, the Temple Bar in Dublin, and the crosswalk at Abbey Road, London. There is also a camera streaming Andy Warhol’s grave in Bethel Park, Pa., outside Pittsburgh.

    The streams, while an effort to increase access to historic sites, also raise questions for surveillance experts and are part of a growing number of live streams in public places.

    “The general trend of video surveillance [is] becoming pretty ubiquitous in common public spaces and across cities,” said Jake Laperruque, deputy director of the Security and Surveillance Project at the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology.

    EarthCam, a New Jersey-based web-camera technology company, installed the Liberty Bell camera and live stream as part of a donation of 250 cameras for the United States’ 250th birthday.

    “Taking people to that park and showing that view is amazing,” said Brian Cury, EarthCam’s founder and CEO.

    The Liberty Bell cam has racked up more than a quarter million streams since it was installed about a month ago, Cury said, including 80,000 virtual visits on July Fourth.

    Cury said EarthCam donated the camera to the National Park Service at no cost. The company streams from national parks throughout the country, including the Flight 93 National Memorial in the Shanksville, Pa., area.

    The streams are a way to bring iconic sites to people in a way that is more compelling than a photo, Cury said. And hopefully, he said, they can entice people to step outside.

    “There are lots of kids that should get out of the house and go explore our amazing country,” the CEO said. “But they are online.”

    Visitors to the EarthCam website can view the live stream, a video archive of the last 24 hours, and a collection of still images from previous days since the camera has been installed (a “hall of fame” of sorts, Cury says.)

    Still images from recent days show the bell at night, families visiting, and groups gathering in front of the bell for photos.

    Also on the “hall of fame”: a park ranger taking a photo of a law enforcement officer in a black uniform posing in front of the bell after hours.

    A law enforcement officer poses in front of the Liberty Bell after hours.EarthCam

    Some surveillance experts say the archive raises privacy concerns, especially because people are identifiable in the image.

    “The longer those pictures are kept, the more it makes me uneasy,” said Rachel Levinson-Waldman, director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program.

    “The more it’s susceptible to even a private company just collecting those pictures and using them for some other purpose,” she said. “Or just people scrolling through and seeing the pictures for who knows what purposes people might use them.”

    There is no information posted at the site about the live stream, but a security sign at the center’s entrance advises: “video surveillance in effect.” Online, the live stream is advertised via a small link at the top of the National Park Service’s Liberty Bell web page.

    EarthCam does not place cameras in private locations where people have an expectation of privacy, Cury said. And the camera itself — on the wall in front of the bell — is not hidden, he said. Visitors, the CEO said, view the camera as an attraction.

    “When you are looking at a lot of our cameras,” Cury said, “people are standing in front of them and waving.”

  • Joe Girardi enjoys broadcasting, but he’d like to manage again. He’ll get a chance next month in Philly.

    Joe Girardi enjoys broadcasting, but he’d like to manage again. He’ll get a chance next month in Philly.

    Joe Girardi was driving earlier this month when he spotted a youth baseball game near his home in New York. He had to stop. Girardi, the former Phillies manager, stood in the outfield and watched the group of 7- and 8-year-olds.

    “I was a little worried about the kids,” Girardi said. “Because I coached my son when he was in coach pitch and the thing I hated to hear the most was the ice cream truck. Because I knew at that point that I lost him. The ice cream truck was there and I was a little worried about these kids, but they only had a half inning to go and they got through it.”

    It’s been more than four years since Girardi last managed in the majors, but the 61-year-old has yet to leave the game. He works as a TV commentator for Yankees broadcasts, was in the booth Sunday for the Yankees-Phillies game, and is sometimes the guy in the outfield hoping no one hears the ice cream truck.

    Kyle Kendrick feared the worst after his son was hit by a car. Now Kyle Jr. is back on the field and hitting homers.

    He’s open to managing again, a job he did for 14 seasons. He won a World Series in 2009 with the Yankees against the Phils, was the National League Manager of the Year in 2006 with the Marlins, and guided the Phillies for two-plus seasons before being fired early in the 2022 season.

    “If I had an opportunity, I would love to listen to that,” Girardi said. “But I’m happy with what I’m doing, and if I never get an opportunity, I’m OK with that.”

    Next month, Girardi will return to the dugout in South Philly to manage a team in the Perfect Game All-American Classic on Aug. 16 at Citizens Bank Park. The annual showcase brings together the country’s 60 best high school seniors, many of whom will be drafted next summer. Girardi will manage in his old ballpark.

    Joe Girardi will be back in his old ballpark, Citizens Bank Park, on Aug. 16 managing in the Perfect Game All-American Classic.ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer

    “This is a thrill for me,” Girardi said. “This is a celebration of what they’ve accomplished so far, but it’s just the surface of what they can accomplish. I’m excited to see it because I’m amazed at the young talent that’s out there right now and how good these young players are and how physical they are.

    “I’m excited to see this game and just be a part of it. These kids dream about playing in the big leagues, and you’ll have a lot of first- and second-round picks from this game in 2027. They’re a lot closer than they think. It will be enjoyable for me one day to say, ‘Oh, I managed that kid four years ago and now he’s in the big leagues.’ That’s exciting for me.”

    No regrets

    Girardi’s broadcasting work reminds him of the one thing he does not miss about managing a big-league club.

    “We got to the hotel here in Chicago at 2:15 a.m., and I don’t miss that,” Girardi said Monday before calling that night’s Yankees-White Sox game.

    He approaches his TV work with the same detail he brought to the dugout. He was armed Sunday night with stats and data to support his analysis during the Phillies-Yankees game on NBC, sounding a lot like the manager who came prepared to afternoon sessions with reporters.

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    “I enjoy studying the other team and how to beat them,” Girardi said. “That’s what I love. I watch a ton of games. I watch the home broadcasts so I watched the Phillies for a week and picked up little things about their club and what’s going on. I just feel like that’s the best way to scout. And I dig into the numbers heavily. That’s what I love about it.”

    The Phillies missed the postseason on the season’s final day in Girardi’s first year, a 60-game season in 2020 without fans that was delayed after the pandemic halted spring training. Girardi was hired because of his pedigree with the Yankees and wonders if things would have been different in Philly under normal circumstances.

    “Yes, I do,” Girardi said. “Just that everything was so closed down and I felt like we couldn’t be people. We weren’t supposed to slap high fives with guys if they scored or hit a home run. I remember the time that Miami got sick and they were at our ballpark and we had to shut down for a few days. I drove into the parking lot and they handed me the thing to spit in. A guy in a Hazmat suit. Then I drove around after I spit and gave it to another guy out the driver side window. I was like ‘This is the life we’re living.’ It was just so strange.”

    “I don’t look back with any regrets. I enjoyed my time in Philadelphia.”

    A masked Joe Girardi greets then-Marlins manager Don Mattingly in their season opener for the 2020 season that was reduced to 60 games because of the COVID pandemic.CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

    The Phillies fell short again in 2021, and Girardi was fired in June 2022 after a slow start. Rob Thomson, Girardi’s bench coach, took over and guided the Phillies to the World Series. The Phillies fired Thomson in April and replaced him with Don Mattingly. He seemed to have the same touch as Thomson four years ago as the Phils inched toward first place before stumbling the last few weeks. Girardi knows how it feels to be the guy at home watching your team win without you.

    “I felt bad for him,” Girardi said. “It’s hard because I know how much Rob put into it. They got off to a slow start and were playing two teams who were extremely hot in the Cubs and the Braves, and he got let go. I feel really bad for him.

    “It’s hard to just be let go. Because you give up so much to manage. You’re rewarded handsomely as a manager, but you give up a lot of family things and you dedicate yourself to the team, and I always felt a huge responsibility for everyone because if we didn’t do well, it affected a lot of people. It wasn’t just me. It could affect my coaches, the front office, other people. It’s just hard to be let go because you put your heart and soul into it.”

    Full circle

    Girardi was between managing jobs when he spent the summer of 2018 coaching his son’s youth baseball team. He drove his SUV to Perfect Game tournaments across Florida and up to Georgia while his son Dante folded the back seats to make a bed.

    “I was driving and he was sleeping,” Girardi said. “It was so enjoyable for me because my favorite thing in the game of baseball is to see people have success, and I got the chance to do that. With these Top 60 players, these kids have had a lot of success. And I want to see them have some more.”

    Girardi had already won a World Series as a player and a manager by then, but he learned something that summer managing teenagers.

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    “It was a term that I never heard before,” Girardi said. “Our manager said ‘We have a P.O. coming in.’ I’m going ‘What’s a P.O.?’ For us, that meant something different, right? But it meant ‘Pitcher only.’ They would fly in, pitch a game, and leave. It was like Roger Clemens.”

    Dante Girardi, who played high school ball with Phillies pitcher Andrew Painter, will be on his dad’s coaching staff next month in Philly. It’s full circle, his dad said. The ice cream truck used to ruin his practice, and now they’ll be in the dugout together. And the Perfect Game All-American Game reminds Girardi of an All-Star Game for college summer-league players he played in at Veterans Stadium in the summer of 1984.

    Girardi’s Cape Cod League team shared the visiting clubhouse with the Cubs, who were in town to play the Phillies. The Cubs drafted Girardi two years later, and he reached the majors in 1989. His first manager was Don Zimmer, who he saw that day at the Vet. It all happened so fast.

    “The one thing I want these kids to realize is they’re not that far away,” Girardi said. “In a blink of an eye, you can be an All-Star in the Major League All-Star Game. This is fun for me.”

  • Schools are adding pepper-spraying drones to help combat active shooters

    Schools are adding pepper-spraying drones to help combat active shooters

    Schools in at least three states will be equipped with drones this year that can zoom through halls, smash windows, and pepper-spray active shooters if teachers report a threat.

    At least nine schools — three in Florida, five in Georgia, and one in Colorado — will have storage boxes that house the plastic, nonlethal aircraft made by Austin-based Mithril Defense. The drones, which can be activated by teachers, are capable of reaching a shooter within 15 seconds.

    The aircraft are designed to distract their targets by flashing strobes, blaring sirens, spraying them with pepper gel, or ramming into them at 60 mph.

    “Once I get the drones on you, you just can’t escape them,” said Bill King, a retired Navy SEAL and Mithril Defense co-founder.

    The programs continue a wave of spending on high-tech security on campuses — a multibillion dollar industry fueled by threat of school shootings. Nearly 400,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since the 1999 attack at Columbine High School in Colorado, according to a Washington Post tracker, which has recorded 435 shootings over that period.

    Deltona High School, a public school just north of Orlando, with about 1,700 students, became the first campus to install the system at the end of last school year. Two more Florida schools — Boyd H. Anderson High School near Fort Lauderdale and Godby High School in Tallahassee — were also tapped by the state to complete the $557,000 pilot spearheaded by state legislators.

    Five schools in Georgia will also test the drone systems after state legislators there approved a roughly $500,000 pilot program with Mithril Defense. The state has not finalized the schools that will participate, but Mithril said the systems will come online during the upcoming school year.

    Georgia state Rep. Matt Dubnik (R), chairperson of the House appropriations education subcommittee, said the technology could protect schools that don’t have resource officers on campus. The pilot will be tested in schools with and without the officers, he said.

    “I’m a believer in the technology,” Dubnik said, adding that hundreds of other state legislators agreed when they voted to pass the budget, which included the funding for the program.

    And in Colorado, John Adams Academy — a public charter school in Sterling Ranch for students in kindergarten through grade 12 — will self-fund a drone program for its inaugural year.

    Teachers will have an app or classroom panic buttons to summon the drones. Mithril Defense’s professional drone pilots can then fly them remotely.

    The drones have been tested in simulations but never by a shooting.

    Justin Marston, Mithril’s founder and CEO, said the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were killed in 2022 as law enforcement waited over an hour to enter the classroom, inspired the project.

    When he learned of the Russian and Ukrainian military forces using cheap drones to attack each other, Marston said he figured a nonlethal version might have saved lives in Uvalde.

    “The first 120 seconds are incredibly critical, because that’s when most of the shooting happens,” Marston said.

    While the drones could be activated any time, they’re meant specifically for potentially lethal situations. The drones wouldn’t break up a schoolyard fight, Marston said. But if one of the students pulled a knife, they could.

    Schools across the country have embraced a range of defense technologies from artificial intelligence-powered cameras to weapons detectors amid the threat of campus shootings. But some say military-grade equipment, like Mithril’s drones, don’t belong on campuses packed with children.

    School security consultants have, for years, cast doubt on high-tech solutions to school shootings, arguing that low-tech measures, like simply locking external doors, are just as effective.

    Curtis Lavarello, who leads the School Safety Advocacy Council, a security consultancy firm, said he worried that Mithril’s drones might accidentally target a fleeing student instead of a shooter. Or that remote pilots, in a split-second decision, might mistake a law enforcement officer for a shooter, especially if teachers initiate a false alarm.

    “It’s almost like where gaming and school safety collide,” Lavarello said. “I have some really serious reservations about the deployment of drones in schools.”

    Mithril isn’t the first company to attempt to place anti-shooter drones in school. In 2022, Axon Enterprise halted development of taser-equipped drones after a mass resignation of its ethics board, which worried that the devices would stun innocent students or be abused by hackers.

    Jaclyn Corin, who survived the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17, said she’d prefer to see officials prioritize policies that help prevent gun violence instead of responding to it.

    “School districts have finite budgets and limited attention,” said Corin, executive director and co-founder of March for Our Lives, a youth-led organization advocating for strict gun control. “If we spend significant resources on technologies designed to respond after shooting begins, we have to ask what we’re not investing in instead.”

    Nicole Lawrence said she found out from a local TV news story that her child’s Atlanta-area high school was solicited by Georgia to host Mithril’s drones this year. (District officials said they do not yet have specific plans for installing the devices.) Lawrence said she’s unsure whether the drones will be effective but is willing to give them a chance.

    “I’ve put $100,000 toward worse things,” Lawrence said.

    Florida plans to review the number of violent incidents at the schools and measure response times to threats. The state will also survey parents, students, and staff about whether they feel safer under the pepper-spraying, window-smashing devices.

    As the drones sat in Deltona High School this summer awaiting their first action, the state approved another $564,000 for the following school year.

  • How LeBron James could impact Philadelphia’s economy, according to local experts

    How LeBron James could impact Philadelphia’s economy, according to local experts

    LeBron James is set to make $8 million over two years with his move to the Philadelphia 76ers. But how much money will the city’s economy get out of the deal?

    “It’s hard to precisely quantify, sitting here today, what that exact number is going to be,” said Ethan Conner-Ross of Econsult Solutions Inc., a Philadelphia-based economics policy consulting firm.

    Of course there’s James’ own money as a high-earning professional coming into the region — including any local taxes he’d pay, and the money he would spend to rent or buy a place in the Philly region, though rumors suggest he might commute from New York.

    The greater economic impact depends on how many consumer dollars come into the city that wouldn’t have without James joining the Sixers.

    “The level of interest in the team, and then ultimately the success of the team, could definitely play out in more economic activity in a few different ways,” including short- and long-term outcomes, Conner-Ross said.

    History provides some idea of how this athlete could financially benefit the city.

    A 2017 Harvard study found that James’ presence in Cleveland and Miami was tied to an increase in the number of food and beverage businesses within a mile of the arenas in those cities and a boost in employment at those establishments.

    Moody’s Analytics economist Matt Colyar says James’ presence won’t increase housing prices in the area or lower the unemployment rate, but if the team performs well and ends up playing more playoff games, that could fill up restaurants, bars, and hotels with Sixers fans on additional days.

    “All that is serious dollars,” Colyar said, “but not the kind of thing that makes us revisit our forecast for Philadelphia’s long-term trajectory.”

    Where will money be spent?

    In the short-term, James’ move could mean more ticket sales and jerseys bought, Conner-Ross said. It likely means more media and more fans coming to town for games.

    Early signs suggest this is already happening. Fanatics, the sports apparel company, sold out of some LeBron James Sixers jerseys within hours of the announcement Friday that he would join the team. Preseason ticket prices have risen as well, 6abc Action News reported.

    LeBron James Sixers jerseys are already selling out on Fanatics — but more merch is on the way

    How much money stays in Philadelphia will be a “tourism story,” Conner-Ross said. Hotels, restaurants, and bars near the arena or downtown could benefit.

    Some of the money spent by locals on James-related experiences and merch may have been spent locally anyway, Conner-Ross said. That could still be positive for the city, he said.

    A billboard welcome sign for new Sixers LeBron James along Packer Avenue in South Philadelphia on July 24.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    “Philadelphia entertainment activities are not the only things competing for those dollars,” he said. “These folks have the ability to spend their entertainment dollars at the Shore or going to New York, or what have you.”

    If “they’re excited about the Sixers and spend more in town, it’s probably a net positive,” Conner-Ross said.

    Boosting Philly’s reputation

    Some of the James effect — like more media exposure and nationally televised games for the Sixers — will make money for non-Philly beneficiaries.

    “Those aren’t dollars that are going to support public parks in Philadelphia,” Colyar said.

    But there could be a reputational gain, Conner-Ross said. Hosting the World Cup, the All-Star Game, and other events have helped Philadelphia be seen in a positive light, he noted, and James could similarly contribute to the city’s image.

    “Philadelphia is … competing with other East Coast cities, other places in the country, in the world for residents, for visitors, for businesses, and that reputation really does matter,” Conner-Ross said.

    That kind of influence can have financial consequences, even if it’s hard to measure in exact dollars.

    LeBron James could live in NYC while playing for Philly. He wouldn’t be the first Sixer to do it.

    International soccer star Lionel Messi, for example, helped raise Miami’s profile in the soccer world as well as attract tourism, and the Wall Street Journal says some have estimated that his presence on Inter Miami has generated billions of dollars for the city.

    To be sure, Messi’s and James’ situations are like apples and oranges — or soccer balls and basketballs — in part because they’re playing out in different cities.

    In any case, the influence of a star like James could have a trickle-down effect.

    People aren’t “going to necessarily point to LeBron James and say, ‘Now I have to live there,’” Conner-Ross said. But “it affects their perception of Philadelphia as a place that people choose.”