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  • Philly congressional candidate Chris Rabb called Netanyahu a ‘war criminal’ at a New York protest

    Philly congressional candidate Chris Rabb called Netanyahu a ‘war criminal’ at a New York protest

    State Rep. Chris Rabb, the Philadelphia progressive running as a Democrat for Congress, called Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” at a protest in New York on Thursday, as the Israeli prime minister gave a speech to the United Nations.

    “I’m here in solidarity with all these brave souls who want their country to be on the right side of history and who acknowledge that Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal and should be in the Hague,” Rabb said at the protest, captured in a video posted on social media, referring to the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court.

    “We have to make a decision about where our taxpayer dollar goes. We should not be funding atrocities overseas,” said Rabb, who is running to replace U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans.

    In his speech, Netanyahu called allegations of Israeli genocide in Gaza not only false, but “the biggest lie of the century,” the Associated Press reported.

    As he arrived for his speech, scores of delegates trooped out before he started speaking.

    Zohran Mamdani, New York’s first Muslim mayor and an outspoken supporter of Palestinian rights, has urged Netyanhau’s arrest, asserting that the U.S. should honor a war crimes warrant for Netanyahu issued by the International Criminal Court.

    Netanyahu released a video earlier this week directed against Mamdani, saying he was coming to the U.N. “to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers” and “to tell the truth about you.”

    The U.S. is not a party to the International Criminal Court, and New York City does not have the authority to arrest the prime minister. Israel denies that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide, saying that they are a military response targeting Hamas for the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that killed about 1,200 Israelis, including hundreds at a music festival. More than 73,000 Palestinians have died in the war in Gaza, according to the Gaza health authority.

    Among the other participants in the New York protest was Hannah Einbinder, the Emmy-winning actress whose father was born in Doylestown. She famously shouted “Go Birds, f— ICE, and free Palestine!” during her Emmy acceptance speech last year.

    Rabb was recorded standing next to two other Democratic congressional candidates, Adam Hamawy of New Jersey and Melat Kiros of Colorado.

    Another congressional candidate, New York Democrat Darializa Avila Chevalier, was arrested at the protest, according to reports.

    Rabb posted to Instagram Thursday evening to let supporters know he was not after misinformation spread on social media.

    “I wasn’t arrested, but Netanyahu should be!” Rabb said in one post.

    Correction: This article has been updated to correctly reflect the year Einbinder made her Emmy acceptance speech.
  • Drexel wants to sell the Academy of Natural Sciences museum. A Council bill could restrict its redevelopment.

    Drexel wants to sell the Academy of Natural Sciences museum. A Council bill could restrict its redevelopment.

    A new zoning bill by City Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr. would restrict the redevelopment potential of the Academy of Natural Sciences museum after Drexel University this month announced plans to shutter the centuries-old institution.

    Young, whose 5th District includes the museum property on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, introduced the ordinance at Thursday’s Council session.

    It would limit the allowed uses of the property and others around it to specific categories, including hospitals, government uses, libraries and cultural exhibits, and “community-supported” farms.

    Under Young’s legislation, residential and commercial uses would not be allowed. The property is currently zoned to allow multifamily residential development, unlike the other museums on the Parkway.

    Young said his legislation would simply change the museum’s zoning to reflect what has long been on the site.

    “It’s always been a cultural and civic use, so [my bill] would match the land use with the actual zoning to allow only cultural and civic type uses,” Young said. “But it wouldn’t prevent the academy from closing.”

    Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Drexel did not immediately offer comment on Young’s legislation.

    If the bill passes, it will make it much harder to convert the building to other uses. The owner would need to secure a variance from the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment, an often lengthy and costly process with no guarantee of success.

    During that process, any prospective developer would also be required to meet with community groups in advance of a zoning board hearing.

    Young said the purpose of his bill is to allow “the community some input on a site that has been a cultural use for centuries.”

    Instead of changing the property’s zoning to match those of neighboring museums and libraries, Young has proposed adding the restrictions to what is known as a zoning overlay — a kind of hyperlocal patch of the code — that covers his district and allows him to precisely describe what he wants to restrict and allow.

    Young said he is also considering changing the underlying zoning to match that of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Barnes Foundation, and other cultural institutions on the Parkway.

    “We are looking to do that, but the issue is that the planning commission doesn’t work for me and so they’re not on my time,” Young said. “Ultimately, we had to do what we could do from our office’s standpoint.”

    To become law, the bill would need to be approved first in the Committee on Rules and then by the full Council before heading to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s desk.

    If Young pushes forward, the bill is likely to pass in Council thanks to a practice known as councilmanic prerogative, in which the rest of Council defaults to the wishes of the member whose district includes a property when it comes to land-use decisions.

    Young, whose district includes parts of Center City and much of North Philadelphia, has abandoned zoning legislation that stirred controversy in the past, such as a housing ban around the former Hahnemann University Hospital campus.

    But the closure of the Academy of Natural Sciences is unpopular, and the new legislation is likely to have broad support from Council members.

    If enacted, the bill would take effect immediately.

    A surprise closure

    Founded in 1812, the Academy of Natural Sciences is the oldest institution of its kind in the nation, and its museum, which opened in 1828, is the country’s oldest natural history research museum. It houses 19 million biological specimens, including bones, carcasses, and plants.

    Drexel announced earlier this month that it was closing the museum effective Sept. 27, citing a decrease in attendance since the COVID-19 pandemic and the university’s financial woes. The decision caused an immediate uproar, including a protest on the Parkway attended by hundreds. Young vowed to “protect and preserve” the building.

    Matt LeBlanc, of Manayunk, and his wife, Alyssa, show their children, Miles and Clara, the Dinosaur Exhibit at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University earlier this month.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer

    Leaders of Drexel and the academy have said that the “collections and their use to advance scientific knowledge will be the focus of our work for the near future” and that no final decision had been made on the building’s future.

    A source told The Inquirer the university’s ultimate aim is to relocate the collection and sell the building.

    After the announcement, Deputy Mayor Patricia Wellenbach, a top official in Parker’s administration, was named the academy’s temporary leader, serving as senior adviser while on loan from the city.

    Young and other members of Council have been attending rallies against the closure.

    “This academy has been there for over 200 years. It’s dedicated to civic and cultural education, to science,” Young said in a speech during Thursday’s meeting. “If we take that away, how will our kids learn?”

    Correction: An earlier version of the story inaccurately attributed plans to sell the museum building and relocate the academy’s collection.

  • Girls’ High students protested overcrowding, including multiple classes with 50-plus students

    Girls’ High students protested overcrowding, including multiple classes with 50-plus students

    Sa’Mya Cook is a bright, eager 10th grader at the storied Philadelphia High School for Girls, but second period is tough for everyone.

    Cook is crowded into a classroom with 50 other teenagers. It’s hot, and there are not enough desks, with spillover students grabbing seats in folding chairs lining the classroom.

    “It’s too much,” Cook said of her Girls’ High African American history class. “My mom offered to take me out, she said it’s a fire hazard.”

    Cook and 150 of her classmates converged on Philadelphia School District headquarters Thursday to protest conditions at their school, a magnet where rising enrollment has not been met with matching resources, students and teachers said.

    Girls’ High lost enrollment for several years. But, under Principal KaTiedra Argro, the school has reversed the trend. (The school had nearly 900 students in 2022-23, and nearly 600 last school year.)

    As early as April, Girls’ High projected a bumper 9th-grade crop for 2026-27. But the staff allocated by the central office was inadequate, those inside the school said.

    “This is not OK,” said Brooklyn Robinson, a Girls’ High 9th grader. “I am saying this because there is one teacher teaching two classrooms worth of students. We cannot hear the teacher over the amount of students that are conversating in a class. We are not fish in a barrel.”

    Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr., addressing the Girls’ High students at a Thursday evening school board meeting, said he would ensure fixes.

    “We want more schools to grow their enrollment, and I was not aware of the class size imbalance, but it will get immediate attention,” Watlington said.

    Students and teachers said they were not presenting new information — they had begun taking their concerns to Watlington’s team shortly after school began on Aug. 24.

    “I hope this can be a teachable moment for us when the enrollment does grow,” said school board president Reginald Streater.

    Nowhere for students to sit

    Though the Girls’ High students secured promises of relief, they were clearly frustrated that the process had taken this long, and wary of the district’s promises.

    “It’s been like this for a month,” 11th grader Jazaiah Smith said. “Nothing has changed.”

    Huge classes tax students and teachers, said Smith.

    “There’s not even enough room for everyone to sit — we have to sit on the floor,” she said.

    Philadelphia School District Deputy Superintendent Brenda Elliott (center, holding megaphone) speaks to Girls’ High students who came to district headquarters to protest overcrowded conditions at the school.Kristen A. Graham / Staff

    Prior to the board meeting, Brenda Elliott, Watlington’s deputy superintendent for academics, waded into the crowd of Girls’ High students gathered outside district headquarters to offer assurances.

    After getting precise enrollment counts, the district added two teachers to Girls’, Elliott said, but has not been able to change students’ schedules to add classes because a new roster chair was unable to complete the work. Central office support should arrive Friday, Elliott said.

    “The report I received was that all of the positions had been added,” Elliott said.

    Students holding signs that said “53:1 since 8/24″ and ”Gazelles, Not Sardines,” a nod to the Girls’ High mascot, the gazelle, shook their heads.

    “We shouldn’t have to come up here and do this to get answers,” one student shouted at Elliott. “That’s ridiculous!”

    Students and teachers said there’s been shifting, inconsistent messaging from the district on how much help is forthcoming, and when it will arrive.

    Nyjera Choice, a 10th grader, has Advanced Placement (AP) African American history, a class with 40 students. Under district policy, classes are supposed to be capped at 33 students.

    The overcrowding “affects learning,” Choice said. “It affects how you focus. There’s students not receiving the proper attention that they need. We’re the next generation of Philadelphia leaders, and we expect better.”

    Christopher Canary, a history teacher who has several oversized classes, including one with 53 students, said luckily, classroom management isn’t a problem for him, even in rooms that have nearly double the number of students they should.

    “But the students are being shortchanged,” Canary said. “They have to rely on a 50th of my attention, when they deserve more.”

    Canary said he is frustrated that when Girls’ delivered on the district’s challenge to enroll more students, the district failed it — and even, for a time, said it was cutting at least one AP class to fix the issue. (It has since reversed that decision.)

    For nearly 180 years, Girls’ High has promised young Philadelphia women an excellent education.

    “And now that our new administration has done what they thought impossible, reigniting public enthusiasm for Girls’ High and miraculously raising enrollment to levels not seen in years, the district has refused to provide us with the staff necessary to adequately serve those students,” Canary said, “effectively setting us up to fail.”

  • Jesús Luzardo feels good after bullpen session, ‘chances are good’ he will return for the playoffs

    Jesús Luzardo feels good after bullpen session, ‘chances are good’ he will return for the playoffs

    Don Mattingly tried to downplay it at first, but even he was unable to hold the poker face.

    “I mean,” he said, “it was a regular bullpen.”

    Everyone knew there wasn’t anything “regular” about the 30-ish pitches that Jesús Luzardo threw in the Phillies’ bullpen Thursday, the first time he pitched from a mound in 13 days because of inflammation in his left shoulder.

    And it couldn’t have gone much better.

    The Zack Wheeler conversation: Why he expected to thrive after surgery, and how much longer he wants to play

    Luzardo wasn’t about to make any declarations, noting that Friday is “a big day to see how I bounce back.” But all signs point to the All-Star lefty being ready to pitch in the postseason, with the Phillies on the precipice of locking up a National League wild card.

    “I feel really good, healthy,” Luzardo said. “Everything keeps trending in the right direction, so I think the chances are good.”

    Barring a setback, Luzardo is expected to face hitters, likely in a simulated game setting, over the weekend. He’s eligible to come off the injured list Sunday before the regular-season finale.

    It’s unclear whether Luzardo will be ready to start a game in the best-of-three wild-card series. He hasn’t appeared in a game since a 109-pitch shutout of the Braves on Sept. 7. But the Phillies are hopeful that he will at least be able to come out of the bullpen.

    Jesus Luzardo’s last start was a 109-pitch complete-game shutout of the Braves on Sept. 7.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

    “Whatever role they need me at,” Luzardo said. “If they need me [for] one inning, two innings out of the bullpen, three innings, I could start, I could be the bat boy. Whatever they ask of me, I’ll do. I just want to win, so it doesn’t matter.”

    Just having Luzardo available at all would be a relief.

    “I think it’s realistic,” Mattingly said. “If everything keeps going good, yes.”

    The Phillies’ strength is their trio of ace starters: Zack Wheeler and lefties Cristopher Sánchez and Luzardo. The team is 63-25 in their starts, including 21-8 with Luzardo on the mound.

    Luzardo has been among the best pitchers in the sport for five months. Only the Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski, favored to win the Cy Young Award, has a better ERA than Luzardo’s 1.93 mark since May 11.

    Overall, Luzardo has a 2.87 ERA and 221 strikeouts in 178⅔ innings.

    Winning a World Series ‘changes everything.’ And the Phillies legacies for this veteran core are riding on it.

    But Luzardo was unable to get loose during a bullpen session Sept. 11 in Atlanta, and the Phillies scratched him from a start the following night. He was hopeful of playing catch Sept. 15 in Washington but instead went on the injured list. It wasn’t until last Sunday that he resumed throwing.

    Even Luzardo wasn’t sure he would progress so rapidly.

    “I feel like I’m a pretty optimistic thinker, so I think this was the plan in my head,” he said, crediting physical therapist Alex Plum, strength coach Morgan Gregory, and the athletic training staff. “Obviously, injuries are hard to really tell where they’re going to go and how your body’s going to react. But I was pretty optimistic the whole way, and I was hoping that it would go as it is now.”

    Mattingly doesn’t typically oversee bullpen sessions. But he stood alongside pitching coach Caleb Cotham to observe Luzardo, who threw every pitch in his repertoire in the bullpen with his normal intensity.

    Jesus Luzardo has a 1.93 ERA since May 11.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

    “I don’t think he was out there just like tossing the ball trying to get it to the plate,” Mattingly said. “The strikes felt good. He’s feeling good. He wasn’t shaking his shoulder during the bullpen or anything like that, so all signs are going in the right direction.”

    Said Luzardo: “I was letting it go like a normal bullpen, kind of treating it as if we were ramping up for a normal start. It was coming out well, nice and easy, and I definitely wasn’t soft-tossing it up there. There was some intent behind it.”

    Wheeler and Sánchez, in some order, are expected to start Game 1 and 2 of the wild-card series. Aaron Nola would be lined up for Game 3. Luzardo could continue to build stamina during the wild-card round while aiding a bullpen that lacks dependable setup options for closer Jhoan Duran.

    “I already had 180 innings and built up to 100 pitches a lot of times this year,” Luzardo said. “I think it was six days off from throwing. So, I don’t think it creates that much rest.

    “Definitely the last two weeks have been pretty stressful. I want to compete and be there for the guys, so it was frustrating at times. But definitely a relief just feeling good.”

    Matt Klentak breaks down how the Phillies acquired Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez
    Video: Matt Klentak breaks down how the Phillies acquired Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez

    Extra bases

    Setup reliever Jonathan Bowlan (groin) played catch after a light bullpen session Wednesday. Bowlan hasn’t appeared in a game since Sept. 17, but Mattingly said he would be comfortable using the big righty in a postseason game even if he doesn’t pitch over the weekend. … Double-A shortstop Bryan Rincon, who received the Phillies’ Paul Owens Award as the top position player in the farm system, credited major-league hitting coach Kevin Long for “a couple of tips” in spring training. Rincon finished with 26 homers and 30 steals and led Reading to the Eastern League championship. … Sánchez (18-6, 2.93 ERA) is lined up to start at 6:40 p.m. Friday against Rays righty Freddy Peralta (9-11, 4.56).

  • Energy Department will spend $2 billion to squeeze more electricity from the aging power grid

    Energy Department will spend $2 billion to squeeze more electricity from the aging power grid

    ALLENTOWN — The Energy Department said Thursday that it will spend almost $2 billion to try to squeeze more electricity out of the nation’s aging and stressed power grid, as President Donald Trump’s administration steps up efforts to avoid blackouts amid skyrocketing energy demand spurred by artificial intelligence.

    The money will go toward 31 projects across 26 states that are expected to produce more than 23 gigawatts of additional electricity capacity — enough to power 16 million homes. The projects will use new technologies such as sensors to measure real-time weather conditions to ensure safe transmission or direct power away from congested paths, the department said.

    The upgrades could improve power reliability and lower electricity costs for about 100 million Americans, officials said.

    “This is a quick way to lower electricity prices and increase reliability: using fibers that are already in the transmission lines to analyze what’s the temperature out, what’s the wind out, how can we use this transmission line to distribute more power, but safely and only in the right conditions,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a news conference promoting the grants Thursday at a PPL Corp. facility in Allentown.

    The eastern Pennsylvania electric utility says two data centers in its territory came online this year and six more are under construction, with enough other data centers in the advanced planning stages that its peak electric demand could quintuple by 2032.

    PPL said it is receiving $71.5 million to modernize an existing high-voltage transmission line across roughly 30 miles in northern Pennsylvania.

    The announcement comes amid warnings that AI’s voracious demand for power is threatening to overwhelm U.S. power supplies, as massive new data centers come online faster than new power plants can be built. It also comes as electricity bills rise faster than inflation in many parts of the U.S., blamed in some areas on demand from data centers.

    The snowballing opposition to data centers in communities across the country has thrown a wrench into the plans of the world’s richest companies and transformed the midterm election landscape.

    Trump continues to stick up for data centers, even as politicians from both major political parties criticize them and many communities try to block them.

    In the meantime, Congress and some states are trying to push utilities to use new technology to make grids more efficient, lessening the need to build new power plants.

    Julia Selker, the executive director of the WATT Coalition, a trade association for grid-enhancing technologies, said both the projects and the scale of the investment are significant. Utilities in the U.S. are lagging places like Europe in adopting the technologies, despite federal investment in the past to develop and test them.

    Wright said that work on the projects should begin right away and that he hoped some efficiencies are in place before this winter to tamp down price spikes when extreme weather sends demand skyrocketing.

    He said he didn’t know whether the projects would have gotten done without federal funding. Many, he said, had been under consideration before the grants were offered, but the grant recipients hadn’t “quite pulled the trigger” on them.

    Projects being announced Thursday will involve component enhancements on more than 1,500 miles of transmission lines and technological enhancements across nearly 21,000 miles, the department said.

    Projects were prioritized based on those that can be put into operation quickly, officials said. Money for the grants comes from the bipartisan infrastructure law enacted by Congress under then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat. The government’s $1.9 billion in funding will be matched by $3.35 billion in cost-share funding from the recipients, the Energy Department said.

    Recipients include utilities, cooperatives and four state agencies. The state agencies — in Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, and Oklahoma — were the biggest recipients, collectively drawing at a total of $810 million, with the Colorado and Oklahoma projects promising improvements to the wider regional grid.

    Trump has vowed to “unleash” the nation’s energy sector in his second term, aiming to drive up record-setting domestic oil and gas production, strip away pollution restrictions on power plants and keep expensive coal-fired power plants operating past their retirement dates.

    The administration also has pledged nearly $4 billion to buy back offshore wind leases as Trump seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels.

    His administration has pushed to help tech giants build and connect data centers to power plants and high-voltage power lines and convert Cold War-era uranium enrichment plants into data center and power plant complexes.

  • Nor’easter is likely to cause significant flooding at the Shore, and winds may gust to 60 mph

    Nor’easter is likely to cause significant flooding at the Shore, and winds may gust to 60 mph

    With moderate flooding already has been reported at the Jersey Shore, along with wind gusts to 50 mph, the beach towns were left to wonder Friday what may happen when the extraordinary early-season nor’easter gets closer.

    And forecasters were warning that the storm almost certainly would overstay its welcome.

    “It could be slow to pull out,” said Lee Robertson, a lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Mount Holly. “We really may not be out of the woods until Monday.”

    In a major shift, strong winds and signifcant rains were expected during the weekend all the way to Philadelphia, where winds could gust to 45 mph.

    Updated computer-model runs were favoring a storm track closer to the coast than previously anticipated, said Bill Deger, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc., which would increase both the flooding and the wind potential. Beaches already have endured a long-duration assault of onshore winds, he added.

    “Our beach is going to suffer,” Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. said at a Thursday afternoon briefing. “We’re going to see a lot of beach erosion.”

    The more westward track also would increase the potential for weekend rainfall throughout the region during a time typically busy with hayrides, corn mazes, and other autumn activities, Deger said. “Mother Nature looks like it isn’t going to cooperate very much,” he said.

    He said the nor’easter could even become a “bomb cyclone,” a term for an especially intense storm.

    Potentially road-closing moderate flooding was forecast Friday into Saturday for the Jersey Shore. If the storm tracks further west, some places could see “major flooding,” said the weather service’s Robertson.

    A flood warning was in effect for the Jersey Shore towns until 2 a.m. Saturday, and flood advisories along the Delaware River until 4 a.m. Friday.

    Chances were excellent both would be extended. The storm, which was gaining strength off the Southeast coast Thursday afternoon, could take its good old time as it travels northward, which would increase the duration of flooding and the strongest winds.

    In addition, a high-wind watch was in effect at the Shore from 6 p.m. Friday into Saturday afternoon, with gusts that could reach 60 mph.

    Expected timing of the storm impacts

    Very much subject to change, the government’s National Ocean Service predicted oceanfront high tides at Atlantic City at or near moderate flood levels at 7 p.m. Friday and at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday.

    Warning that what was anticipated was more than “nuisance flooding,” Small said the critical periods in Atlantic City would be a few hours before and after the high tides.

    In the back bay areas that are a chronic source of flooding in Ocean City, tides are forecast to hit moderate levels at 8 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Monday.

    At moderate levels, some roads become impassable, and building damage is possible, the weather service said.

    In Philly, minor flooding was forecast along the Delaware River for at least five consecutive high-tide cycles, which occur roughly every 12 hours, starting at 1 a.m. Friday.

    In Atlantic City, Small said he expected the streets to fill with up to a foot of water.

    Scott Adams, the city’s emergency chief, said the duration of the winds and waves were prime concerns. “It’s not a one-two punch,” he said.

    Just how much rain the storm would generate in the region was uncertain. The rains likely would reach the Shore late Friday and the immediate Philly area sometime Saturday afternoon, Deger said.

    The winds were likely to peak Friday afternoon into the evening; however, that would depend on the career of the storm.

    The beaches should get a break Saturday as the winds become more northerly than onshore, Deger said, which would at least slow the erosion, but the strong winds likely would continue.

    Isn’t this early for a nor’easter?

    Coastal storms of this magnitude typically occur later in the fall and winter, as colder air from the north country interacts with the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. Storms form on frontal boundaries of warm and cold air.

    In this case, a major player is an area of higher pressure, or heavier air, centered over eastern Canada that has been exporting cold air southward. That has kept temperatures several degrees below normal in Philly this week.

    It is working in tandem with the storm, providing the necessary cold air to contrast with the warm waters. In addition, winds circulate clockwise around centers of low pressure, so it also was generating winds from the northeast, which is why they are called nor’easters.

    Meanwhile, the intensifying storm also was generating winds from the northeast; winds circulate counterclockwise around centers of cyclones.

    The high may be as impressive as the storm, said Steve Decker, atmospheric science professor at Rutgers University. In data dating to 1979, it might be the strongest high over Quebec on record.

    He noted that while a nor’easter did develop in mid-September last year, “it was quite weak.” All indications are that this one won’t be.

    Incidentally, this was to be the last weekend of open swimming in Atlantic City, but if you were hoping to take a dip, better wait until Memorial Day.

    Small announced the beach would be closed, and all the equipment has been moved out of harm’s way.

    Besides, the water might be a little rough.

  • A Delco man was convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of an Upper Darby teen

    A Delco man was convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of an Upper Darby teen

    It took a Delaware County jury about 30 minutes Thursday to convict a Clifton Heights man of first-degree murder in a random, unprovoked stabbing that killed a 15-year-old boy as he was walking home.

    Marson Weh, 39, was also convicted of possession of an instrument of crime in the April 2023 death of Michael Garr, a sophomore at Upper Darby High School.

    Weh will be sentenced in November to life in prison for stabbing Gar 11 times, including once in the throat, according to District Attorney Tanner Rouse.

    The two were strangers, Rouse said, and had “no earthly connection.” The DA said Weh offered no motive for the stabbing.

    Michael Garr was killed in April 2023 as he walked to his home in Upper Darby.Handout

    A passerby, Ian Coughlan, tried to help Garr, but his injuries were too severe, and he died of cardiac arrest before medics could arrive.

    The prosecutor said the case would make the “worst episode of Dateline,” one without any twists and leaves no room for alternate theories or interpretation.

    No one else was near Garr that night, he said, as Weh was seen “hunting, stalking” the teenager for more than a mile.

    When Weh was arrested, he was still wearing parts of his “kill suit,” nondescript clothing that included thermal underwear stained with Garr’s blood, Rouse said. And he was still carrying the murder weapon, a folding knife that matched the dimensions of Garr’s fatal wounds and still had his dried blood caked in its handle.

    “See this for what it is,” Rouse said. “Because when you only consider the blood on his pants, the blood on his knife, that alone proves he is guilty. There is no other explanation, no reasonable doubt.”

    After the killing, investigators quickly identified Weh through surveillance footage, which recorded him following Garr for more than a mile. Gradually, prosecutors said, he closed the distance between them, and attacked Garr as they approached Brunswick Avenue near Bridge Street in Drexel Hill.

    Weh’s attorney, Ian McCurdy, conceded in his closing arguments that it would “strain credulity” to say there wasn’t evidence to prove that Weh killed Garr.

    Still, he urged jurors to consider that prosecutors had failed to explain his intent in doing so.

    “As horrible as this situation is, the death of a young man killed way too early his life, this boils down to did the Commonwealth prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said

    McCurdy supported his contention by citing a two-minute window of time where neither Garr nor Weh were recorded on surveillance video.

    “The point is we just don’t know what happened in that small bit of time,” he said. “And that’s why I suggest to you the Commonwealth hasn’t proven that Marson Weh killed Michael Garr with malice.”

    In responding to McCurdy’s theory of the case, Rouse, the district attorney, did not mince words: The evidence that Weh intentionally killed Garr, a crime that constitutes first-degree murder, he said, is overwhelming.

    Beyond that, he said, Weh confessed to killing Garr during an interview with detectives. And he showed what Rouse described as a consciousness of guilt by soaking the hoodie and he gloves he wore on the night of the attack in ammonia — detectives found the items in that condition when they searched his home days later.

    Rouse urged the jurors to convict Weh of first-degree murder, likening doing so to parents protecting their children from the evils of the world.

    “There is simply no getting around the evidence,” he said. “You cannot stab someone in the throat and not mean it.

    “That kid had no chance.”

  • Cubs clinch second straight playoffs trip by beating Marlins as Crow-Armstrong joins 40-40 club

    Cubs clinch second straight playoffs trip by beating Marlins as Crow-Armstrong joins 40-40 club

    CHICAGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong joined the 40-40 club by stealing his 40th base to go along with his major league-leading 45 home runs, and the Chicago Cubs clinched their second straight postseason berth a 2-1 victory over the Miami Marlins on Thursday.

    Seiya Suzuki homered for the Cubs (88-71), who assured themselves of one of the NL’s three wild-card berths.

    Chicago also was a wild card last year, when the Cubs beat San Diego in the first round and lost to Milwaukee in a Division Series. The Cubs will be making consecutive postseason appearances for the first time since four straight from 2015-18, which in 2016 included their first championship since 1908.

    The Cubs clinched their berth shortly after the White Sox earned their postseason trip with a 9-1 win at Kansas City.

    Miami (78-81) was assured its third straight non-winning season.

    A favorite to win the NL MVP award, Crow-Armstrong became the seventh 40-40 player, joining a group that includes Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. Jose Canseco was the first with the 1988 Oakland Athletics.

    Crow-Armstrong hit his 45th homer during Sunday’s 9-1 win at Cincinnati, extending his career high. The 24-year-old drew a leadoff walk from former Phillie Tyler Phillips in the first inning and swiped second base on the next pitch to Suzuki for his 40th steal in 47 attempts. Fans chanted “MVP” as the Wrigley Field videoboard proclaimed the feat.

    Ohtani was the previous player with a 40-40 season, hitting 54 homers and stealing 59 bases for the 2024 Dodgers. Acuña hit 41 homers and swiped 73 bases for Atlanta in 2023. Alfonso Soriano (2006 with Washington), Alex Rodriguez (1998 with Seattle) and Barry Bonds (1996 with San Francisco) are the other 40-40 players.

    Matthew Boyd (10-5) allowed one run, five hits and two walks over seven innings, and Ryan Zeferjahn pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save to finish a five-hitter.

    Ian Happ tripled off Jack Ralston (0-2) to start the sixth and came home three pitches later on Nico Hoerner’s single, breaking a 1-1 tie.

    Miami’s Jakob Marsee had an RBI single in the third and Suzuki hit his 26th homer in the fifth, a drive off Jack Ralston.

  • Union alum Auston Trusty embraces being a USMNT role model for Cavan Sullivan and Neil Pierre

    Union alum Auston Trusty embraces being a USMNT role model for Cavan Sullivan and Neil Pierre

    FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — When Auston Trusty turned pro with the Union a decade ago, the club’s youth academy was just starting to find its footing.

    Now everyone knows about it, and the waves of players it has produced for the club and the U.S. national team. Trusty knows better than most, as the Media native is on the academy’s board.

    But the scale of how far things have come in less than a decade has hit especially hard this week. The 28-year-old is sharing the field with the newest Union youngsters to break through: Cavan Sullivan, Neil Pierre, and Frankie Westfield.

    “Yeah, it’s crazy. I still think of myself as the young kid from Philadelphia, but now these guys are,” Trusty told The Inquirer on Thursday in an interview at U.S. Soccer’s national training center, before the team headed to Orlando to prepare for Saturday’s game against Peru (4:30 p.m., TNT, Telemundo 62).

    Cavan Sullivan (second from left) on the ball in front of Auston Trusty during a drill at Thursday’s practice.Jonathan Tannenwald

    “The way they look at me, they all know my history,” he said. “They all know where I came from, how I came from it, and I’ve been that person they’ve been trying to aspire to be. I’m really appreciative, I’m really grateful, and it’s a blessing that I’m able to be that person for them.”

    It feels long ago, at least in soccer terms, that Trusty turned down a scholarship offer to the University of North Carolina in the summer of 2016. He signed with the Union just days before he’d have headed to Chapel Hill. Back then, such a move was seen as unusual.

    Before Auston Trusty scored a World Cup goal, he ‘put the work in’ at Penncrest High and Nether United

    “College, at the time, was probably the smarter move to other people,” he recalled. “To me, signing pro, I was taking a risk for myself. So it kind of opened that pathway for all these kids to come after me, and it’s pretty cool.”

    A year after Trusty’s move, Mark McKenzie left Wake Forest following his freshman season, and Brenden Aaronson backed out of a verbal commitment to Indiana.

    Auston Trusty (left) and Mark McKenzie together during their playing days with the Union.

    The tide had turned, and there was no going back. By the time Frankie Westfield turned pro in 2024 instead of going to Penn State, no one batted an eye.

    On Thursday, Trusty and Westfield had lunch together after teaming up in one of the morning’s training drills.

    For ‘brothers’ Cavan Sullivan, Frankie Westfield, and Neil Pierre, getting called up to the USMNT together is ‘another level’

    “From what I’ve known from him, and from what I’ve heard, he’s a great player [with a] great mindset,” Trusty said. “Him, along with the other players from [the] Union, it’s really cool to see how far they’ve come, together and individually, and also their mindsets. … It’s their first time, so maybe they’d be hesitant, but they have great mindsets, and that’s what I really want to see.”

    It was obvious to ask about Pierre, a fellow centerback with so much potential. Trusty hadn’t talked with him much yet as of Thursday, mainly due to travel delays coming over from his club home at Celtic in Glasgow, Scotland. But Trusty has seen highlights, including of Pierre’s four goals for the Union this year, and is happy to have another Union centerback with the national team.

    Neil Pierre (third from right) is always easy to spot in a crowd thanks to his 6-foot-6 frame.Jonathan Tannenwald

    “He seems [like] a really good guy, seems good as a person, as a player, seems like he has a lot of talent,” Trusty said. “Obviously, his physical attributes — he’s really tall, and I think a lot of times people can focus on physical attributes. I’m really excited to see how he is on the ball, how he is as a player.”

    And of course, there’s Sullivan. Trusty has known the 16-year-old and his family for a while, so he hasn’t just seen the player through Union games.

    Neil Pierre could be on the cusp of his next star turn as he heads to his first USMNT camp

    “He’s a humble kid, and he’s a grinder,” Trusty said. “He has that Philadelphia Union mindset where you know you don’t take it for granted, you go out there and grind, and you make the most of it. But he’s a humble kid, and he comes from a good family as well.”

    It will strike some people that Trusty focused on Sullivan’s humility. To outsiders, the talk is of cockiness and a hype train. But Trusty knows the difference between that and the right kind of confidence.

    Cavan Sullivan (right) cracking a smile at the start of Thursday’s practice.Jonathan Tannenwald

    “You see him off the pitch, see how he approaches a game, how he starts a game, how he approaches his transactions with teammates and coaches, and the game itself with his own play,” he said. “But during it, if someone’s going to do stepovers, someone’s scoring goals, and they’re celebrating, or if they show confidence on the pitch, that is exactly what you want to see. I don’t want an attacker, or any player, on the pitch that’s not confident.”

    Given that, he concluded: “So if someone’s feeling themselves, someone’s confident in their ability and backs themselves, all power to him.”

    For all the hype, Cavan Sullivan has genuinely earned his moment on the USMNT’s biggest stage

    Now the time has come for Sullivan and the other newcomers to make their first marks at a new level.

    “It’s for the more veteran, more established players to lead the young guys, and guys who could possibly get their first caps, to make sure they know what this team’s about,” Trusty said. “When you wear this crest, you’re not just representing yourself. You’re representing your teammates, your coaches, but everyone that’s ever believed in you, and an entire nation that’s behind you. So it really means a lot.”

  • More than 160,000 pounds of meat bearing false USDA inspection labels recalled

    More than 160,000 pounds of meat bearing false USDA inspection labels recalled

    NEW YORK — More than 83 tons of meat are being recalled across the U.S. because the products were not properly inspected by federal authorities and were shipped out with falsified inspection stickers, the Department of Agriculture said.

    Star Meat Delivery Inc., based in Lucama, N.C., is recalling more than 167,000 pounds of raw pork, beef, and goat nationwide. The USDA said that number could grow as it continues its investigation.

    Food produced without inspection may contain undeclared allergens, harmful bacteria, or other contaminants, the agency said Tuesday in announcing the recall. So far, there have been no confirmed reports of illnesses or injuries from the meats, according to the USDA.

    The meat in question was produced “on various dates” before Sept. 22 and has USDA inspection stickers falsely bearing an establishment number — EST. 1363 — that the agency said “does not have a federal grant of inspection.” However, some packages people purchased may not bear that labeling because retail stores may have applied their own stickers with pricing and safe handling instructions, the agency warned.

    The products were shipped to Georgia distributor A&D Foods to send to retail and restaurant locations nationwide.

    The USDA said the products should be considered misbranded and unsafe to eat and be discarded or returned to the place of purchase.

    The agency said the problem was discovered during the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service’s routine checks. It’s not clear whether anyone has been arrested or criminally charged.

    Star Meat Delivery, in a statement posted on its Facebook page Thursday, pushed back at the notion that the inspection stamps on its products were somehow falsified. It said the establishment number in question was “legitimately reserved” as part of the USDA application process while it seeks approval to process and package meat for the Georgia distributor.

    That approval process is still underway, Star Meat said, although the meat involved was sourced from a USDA-inspected supplier.

    “No other products sold by Star Meat Delivery were mislabeled, and no other products sold by Star Meat Delivery are part of the recall that has been issued,” the company said. “We are cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities to finalize the application and are following the recall procedures that have been put into place.”

    The USDA didn’t immediately respond to Star Meat’s statement.

    Recalls triggered by forged inspection stamps are relatively rare, according to Keith Schneider, a food safety professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

    “This is someone taking a shortcut,” he said. “Systems are in place to catch these sorts of things and it appears the system worked as intended. You can’t skip inspections.”

    Last year, some 32,000 pounds of meat, including chorizo, pork chops and ribs, produced by Sabrositos Hondurenos, of New Jersey, were recalled after the USDA determined they had fake inspection stickers.