Twenty-five years ago, my father handed me an envelope filled with documents. As he passed it to me, he said, “Now you’re in charge of the mineral rights.”
Before my father, the envelope had been entrusted to my Uncle Peter, who, in turn, had received it from my grandmother. The contents represented everything our branch of the family possessed relating to mineral rights bequeathed by my grandmother’s great-grandfather, Jonathan Thorne.
Jonathan’s estate plan reflected remarkable foresight. He instructed his executor to sell his land at a discount so he could retain the ownership of the oil, gas, and minerals beneath it for future generations. Each deed that went to the buyers of these properties included a clause showing they were purchasing only the surface property, and not the mineral rights.
My father handed me that envelope in 2001, seven years before the Marcellus Shale boom. This is not a story with a happy ending about families passing down a legacy from hardworking forebears. Instead, it is something every Pennsylvanian should be shocked by and want to stop.
We discovered that an out-of-state entity was making claims to our rights. It claimed to have purchased tens of thousands of acres of Pennsylvania mineral rights in 2000 for a total of $1. Their unwarranted claim was based on a distorted interpretation of a legal theory called “title washing.”
Others, including the Proctor family, faced a strikingly similar predicament: They had retained their valuable mineral rights and followed the law, only to find that other groups were now claiming them.
Like my family, the Proctors traced their ownership back generations. After preserving their mineral rights, most of their surface property ended up with the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The Game Commission knew through its own deeds and title research that it was buying only the surface. The mineral rights remained separate. Yet, 100 years after the fact, they sued the Proctors to try to take those rights — twice.
In this 2008 photo, a drilling rig used to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, located in the Washington County borough of Houston, Pa.Keith Srakocic
Last year, however, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously ruled in the Proctor family’s favor, confirming that they continued to own their mineral rights, even noting that the scheme “if not positively fraudulent, is at any rate an attempt to evade the law, to which the courts will lend no countenance.”
That should have been the end of the story for all our families.
Instead, Pennsylvania lawmakers quietly inserted a provision into an unrelated property tax bill that retroactively changed the law and effectively overturned the court’s decision. Late in the evening of Saturday, July 11, an amendment changing pre-1947 tax laws was introduced in the Senate. It passed the legislature and was quickly signed into law by Gov. Josh Shapiro the very next day.
Stunningly, there were no hearings or opportunities for affected families to speak out. Pennsylvania taxpayers (and much of the legislature) had little opportunity to understand what the amendment even meant and what was at stake.
Now the only way to assure rightful ownership is to go back to court and fight again, not only over property rights that were already settled, but also over whether a government can retroactively change laws to benefit certain parties and take property the Supreme Court had already ruled belongs to families like mine.
That is deeply troubling.
The Proctor family spent more than 10 years in litigation and won. Yet, lawmakers, the governor, and certain oil and gas interests decided that wasn’t the outcome they wanted. The Game Commission, in close coordination with those energy firms, started this fight. It lost. Families like ours should not have to spend the next 10 years relitigating.
The General Assembly can undo this harm. It can reverse this retroactive change to tax laws and ensure these properties are not taken from families who have owned them for generations. If not, we are all targets of this wrongheaded move. If they are willing to rewrite property laws to effect transfers to the state, no one’s property is safe.
What happened to my family is, I believe, unconstitutional. The litigation created by this secretive 24-hour rapid legislation approval process could end up costing Pennsylvania more than $1 billion if it is forced to reimburse families for property taken from them. That’s also not fair to state taxpayers.
Pennsylvania can do better. We can protect resources, support responsible energy development, and safeguard public lands without sacrificing the basic principle that private property rights mean something.
Jeff Sloan is a member of the Thorne family and lives in Berwyn.
Philadelphia talent was on full display at the 2026 Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Monday night, but only one of the nominated actors, crew members, or shows took home trophies.
The big, surprise exception was Tom Pelphrey, a Rutgers University alum from Howell Township, N.J., who won for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series for his performance as Robbie Prendergrast on Season 1 of the Delco-set HBO crime thriller Task.
“I thank God for my life and my sobriety. I thank my family and my friends for all your love and support all these years, from Emmys to, you know, black box theaters and everything in between,” said Pelphrey in his acceptance speech before thanking Task creators including directors Jeremiah Zagar (son of South Philly mosaicist Isaiah Zagar) and Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and fellow cast members Mark Ruffalo, Emilia Jones, and Raúl Castillo.
Ruffalo was nominated for outstanding lead actor in a drama for his role as Tom Brandis but lost to Noah Wyle of The Pitt. The Pittsburgh-set emergency room drama received a whopping 25 nominations and took home seven Emmys, including outstanding drama series; Pelphrey beat out three supporting actor nominees from The Pitt for his win.
Brad Ingelsby, writer/executive producer of “Task” and “Mare of Easttown,” in his office in Berwyn on July 17, 2025. Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
“Thank you to Brad Ingelsby for this incredible role and this opportunity and your friendship. You are an amazing human being. I’m so proud to be your friend,” Pelphrey continued onstage as the camera showed a beaming Ingelsby, the Berwyn-based showrunner. Ingelsby is the writer/executive producer behind Task, which is currently shooting its second season in the Philadelphia area, and the Emmy-winning Mare of Easttown.
In Task, Pelphrey played a heartfelt but troubled trash collector who begins stealing from drug houses in Philadelphia’s collar counties run by a local motorcycle gang that killed his brother. Starring alongside two-time Emmy winner Ruffalo, Pelphrey was a complicated foil to Ruffalo’s priest-turned-FBI agent who hunted him down. The recognition marks Pelphrey’s first Emmy win after he was previously nominated for outstanding guest actor in a drama in 2022 for his role in Ozark.
“Brad is desperately insistent upon each individual’s humanity, so every character he writes is justified, in some sense, with a reason why they’re doing everything that they do — and that’s incredible, because usually that stuff gets sacrificed for plot,” Pelphrey told The Inquirer in a 2025 interview.
Tom Pelphrey accepts the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for “Task” at the Television Academy’s 78th Emmy Awards telecast at the Peacock Theater at L.A. LIVE on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Content Services)AP Photo/Danny Moloshok
Task received six Emmy nods, including outstanding writing for a drama (recognizing Ingelsby’s heart-wrenching finale), directing, picture editing, and cinematography. The dystopian Apple TV+ show Pluribus won for outstanding writing and picture editing, while the directing trophy went to the British spy show Slow Horses and cinematography went to Spider-Noir.
“Abbott Elementary” cast and crew pose with the Phanatic and Phillies player Kyle Schwarber at Citizens Bank Park on Aug. 28, 2025.Vaughn C. Page Jr.
However, the horror-tinged newcomer Widow’s Bay swept nearly all the comedy categories, dominating the stage with a record-breaking 14 wins. Abbott Elementary actors Tyler James Williams and Janelle James were up for outstanding supporting acting in their respective categories but both lost to Widow’s Bay.
Previous two-timeEmmy-winner Brunson was briefly in the spotlight when Emmys host and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay asked celebrity attendees about their first jobs.
“Oh, I was a student dance schoolteacher,” Brunson answered. Fellow West Philly-raised star Colman Domingo, who was nominated for outstanding guest actor in a drama for Euphoria and outstanding supporting actor in a comedy for Tina Fey’s The Four Seasons, also joined in. His first job, he said, was working the fries station at McDonald’s. (Domingo lost the former category to The Pitt and the latter to Widow’s Bay.)
Tina Fey as Kate and Colman Domingo as Danny in Season 2 of the Netflix comedy series “The Four Seasons.”Emily V. Aragones/Netflix
To celebrate the 30-year anniversary of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Villanova-raised actor and Malvern Prep alum David Boreanaz joined star Sarah Michelle Gellar for a reunion moment onstage. The son of famous 6abc weatherman Dave Roberts, Boreanaz played the vampire with a soul Angel and later received his own spinoff show. (He’s also a diehard Philly sports fan.)
“You know, Sarah, I always thought that Buffy and Angel would end up together,” Boreanaz said as the pair reflected on the groundbreaking show. “Well, I guess we won’t find out,” Gellar replied in a pointed critique of the recent cancellation of the Buffy reboot that had been in the works.
Actor David Boreanaz, wearing a Randall Cunningham jersey, and his son, Jaden, in a Saquon Barkley jersey, at Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans.Courtesy of David Boreanaz
Ahead of the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences hosted the Creative Arts Emmys in two events honoring artists behind the scenes in technical categories. Winners from those ceremonies included South Philly comedian Rob Mac — the showrunner behind It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia — whose FX show Welcome to Wrexhamwon for outstanding sound mixing for a reality program. (It was also nominated for outstanding picture editing and outstanding unstructured reality program.)
Bucks County pop star Sabrina Carpenter also won during the Creative Arts Emmys earlier this month for performing in and executive producing the 50th anniversary special of The Muppet Show, which earned a gold statue for outstanding variety special (prerecorded) — putting her halfway to EGOT status.
Another Philadelphia-connected nominee was Tires, the Shane Gillis-led Netflix comedy recognized for outstanding sound mixing for a half-hour comedy or drama; the trophy went to Widow’s Bay.
At Monday night’s ceremony, one more Pennsylvania celebrity made a cameo: Superstar singer Taylor Swift, who grew up in Reading was not in attendance, but appeared in a prerecorded skit with Hargitay spoofing Law & Order along with Swift’s cat, named for Hargitay’s character, Olivia Benson.
While Steve Gerben is known for having cocreated one of the year’s most popular Netflix comedy series, his friends and the internet are attempting to crown him with a more ribbing title: The “King of West Chester Golf.”
The Berwyn-born actor, comedian, and costar of Netflix’s Tires says the nickname is just a joke created by his costar and fellow Pennsylvanian Shane Gillis after Gerben “broke 80″ for the first time, scoring 79 on 18 holes of golf last year. It’s something that fewer than 10% of golfers worldwide reportedly do in their lifetime.
“I thought I would just get my friend to start videotaping in case it happened on the 18th hole. And then I did it,” Gerben, 43, remembers with fondness. “So Shane saw that video and was making fun of it on his podcast, calling me the ‘King of West Chester Golf.’”
Gerben’s character on Tires, Will, an anxious go-getter who sees the best in those around him, is not unlike Gerben in real life. Even when receiving praise for his golf prowess or growing television career, Gerben is more comfortable sharing credit with others and not taking the spotlight. And while he downplays his claim to the West Chester golf throne, Gerben does play golf every week in the Philadelphia region — from West Chester courses to the occasional charity event at Ardmore’s Merion Golf Club.
As his profile has grown with the success of Tires, Gerben continues to live in West Chester, cultivating a life around golfing near home and creating a local television production alongside his best friends.
“I can’t see myself leaving the area. I really love it here and it’s home,” he said. “Also, just given how I feel about golf, suburbs make way more sense — it’s just scratching the right itch for me.”
It also helps that the hit show Gerben cocreated with Mechanicsburg-born Gillis and Philadelphia’s John McKeever is filmed in West Chester off East Gay Street, inside an addition to the real-life tire shop of Gerben’s father.
Tires, which had its season three premiere Aug. 13, follows two cousins, Will (Gerben) and Shane (Gillis) as they run the fictional Valley Forge Automotive Center, named after the previous real-life automotive business of Gerben’s father, which was sold in 2011.
“I remember after season one, my dad was on the boardwalk and he saw a Valley Forge Auto shirt in one of the stores, and he was just like, ‘This is insane,’ because it’s this company that he had for 20 years, and then gone, and now we brought it back in a way,” Gerben said.
With Gerben and Gillis on screen, and McKeever as the magic behind the camera, the Tires crew navigates the world of a Pennsylvania small business, rivalries with a national tire chain, and coming to terms with life and romance in your late 30s and 40s.
Tires was recently renewed for a fourth season. That renewal, along with the suburban life he’s created with his girlfriend and cat, has Gerben doubling down on the Philly region. One factor that now rules his life is golf, and how to keep enjoying the sport that eases his mind and boosts his confidence.
“Playing golf is a flow state for me. I get out of a perfect golf swing what I’m sure people that meditate get out of meditation or when people feel a piece of art really speaks to them,” Gerben said.
What started as something to do as a senior at Conestoga High School, joining the Valley Forge Golf Club for $8 after school, has grown into a passion that has seen him playing alongside Eagles players like Jason Kelce and appearing in vlog-style golfing videos with comedian Andrew Santino.
Golf feels like meeting up with an old flame for Gerben, who essentially gave up on the pastime as he attempted to make it in the East Coast stand-up comedy circuit in the 2010s. That’s where he met Gillis and McKeever, doing open mics at the now-closed Raven Lounge and Helium Comedy Club.
While Gillis would continue to rise in stand-up comedy, Gerben said he struggled to find footing. Yet, constants in his life were Gillis and McKeever, who reportedly were known to not take on certain projects unless Gerben could be involved.
But one thing that always sat in Gerben’s back pocket was a script for a show based on his experience working at his father’s Valley Forge tire shop that he initially wrote nearly 15 years before Tires would premiere on Netflix in 2024. Two years later, Tires’ third season debuted in the No. 9 spot on Netflix with 2.4 million views in its opening weekend.
The success doesn’t get to Gerben’s head, as he’s focused on enjoying life in the burbs and golfing as much as possible, he said. With golf swinging back into his life, the sport brings a chance of pace in a busy work schedule and/ allows Gerben, who has had arthritis since he was 2, to stay active.
“I feel so unbelievably healthy because I think it’s about like a five- or six-mile walk each golf session, and you’re not even paying attention to that, given you’re doing this thing that you just absolutely love doing, and is a little bit easier on the joints,” Gerben said.
Gerben also sees golf as a way to meet friends.
“Golf is just a weird addiction that some people have that cuts across generational barriers because you spend so much time with people on the course who have the same passion as you,” he said.
In the meantime, Gerben will continue flirting with the idea of starting his own golfing YouTube career, like “Bryan Bros Golf.” But until Tires is wrapped, Gerben said there would be no official online golf career on the horizon.
Besides, if Gillis finds Gerben’s golf videos, Gerben will never hear the end of it from his best friend, he said.
After 20 years of cooking other people’s food around the region, Carolyn Nguyen is finally telling her own story.
Carolyn’s Modern Vietnamese opens Wednesday at 2015 Walnut St. with a menu that draws from Nguyen’s personal history: the Vietnamese and Louisiana foods Nguyen grew up eating, the French techniques she learned in culinary school and restaurant kitchens, and the freewheeling combinations that defined her food trucks and Revolution Taco, the fast-casual restaurant she co-owned in the space for a decade.
Chef Carolyn Nguyen adds butter to a pan while cooking curry duck potato gnocchi.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Bánh canh, a thick Vietnamese noodle soup, is presented as a seafood boil with poached shrimp, mussels, fried potatoes, and scallions. Thịt kho tàu, a Vietnamese braised pork dish, becomes slow-cooked grits topped with pork belly, a soft egg, and pickled vegetables. Hoi An chicken comes with ginger dirty rice, braised collards, and herb remoulade.
Other large plates include lemongrass smoked beef short rib with fish sauce-caramel jus, warm potato salad, and cabbage slaw; corn and crab congee with crispy shallots, and herbs; and a salt-and-pepper cornmeal-crusted whole fish with ginger sauce.
Carolyn Nguyen sprinkles Chinese chives onto her potato gnocchi.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Curry duck potato gnocchi with Thai basil pesto carries a memory from Nguyen’s time at Old City’s Fork, where she worked for chef Terence Feury. At midday, she said, they would stop and make gnocchi together.
The small plates ($12 to $22) include tofu hummus, mushroom and leek dumplings, polenta-daikon fries, dry aged beef in betal leaves, chicken liver mousse, and tasso-crab spring rolls.
Pandan bread pudding dessert at Carolyn’s Modern Vietnamese.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Large plates are priced from $24 to $46, plus a market-price whole fish. Desserts include coconut rice pudding with bananas Foster sauce and pandan bread pudding with coconut sauce.
“It’s both coming home to the food that I grew up with and then the food that I’ve cooked and learned how to cook,” she said. “It’s food that I love.”
Nguyen was born and raised in Amelia, in Louisiana’s St. Mary Parish. Her parents, Paul and Mai Nguyen, were born in Vietnam but met in the United States. Her father arrived in the late 1960s and later helped Vietnamese refugees settling around New Orleans. He met Nguyen’s mother while driving her to appointments. The family moved to South Carolina when Carolyn was 16.
Lotus root salad with watermelon, corn, heirloom tomatoes, and Thai basil as served at a preview for Carolyn’s Modern Vietnamese.Kiki Aranita / Staff
“I always knew I wanted to pursue cooking,” she said. “Unfortunately, in South Carolina, there wasn’t really any fine-dining environment.” When her sister moved to Philadelphia to go to dental school around 2005, Nguyen moved north with her and enrolled in the culinary school at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. The goal was working in New York, “but I fell in love with Philadelphia because of the food environment,” she said.
Her first restaurant job was as a cook at Susanna Foo on Walnut Street. Besides Fork, she later worked at such restaurants as Nectar in Berwyn (also with Feury), Maia in Villanova, and Russet in Center City. At Peachtree & Ward catering, she met her initial business partner, Michael Sultan.
Chef Carolyn Nguyen in her dining room at Carolyn’s Modern Vietnamese.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
In 2012, Nguyen and Sultan entered the food-truck business with Street Food Philly. Taco Mondo followed, and in January 2016, Nguyen, Sultan, and Alan Krawitz opened Revolution Taco, whose taco fillings included pork belly, duck, beef tongue, Korean fried chicken, smoked mushrooms, and curried cauliflower.
The other partners moved on, but Nguyen still owns the Revolution location at the Comcast Center’s concourse. Eight months ago, she closed the Walnut Street location but kept the lease, figuring that converting its counter-service format into a full-service experience would be “easy-peasy – maybe a month.”
Instead, the concept and design evolved as Nguyen worked through permitting and paperwork, much of which she handled herself. Carolyn’s has 28 seats at tables and along a banquette, plus five at a counter.
The dining room is spare and contemporary, with cream-colored walls, butcher-block-style tables, black upholstered chairs, and a deep-green banquette. An arched brass-framed mirror and two narrow pieces of preserved-moss botanical art soften the black track lighting.
Carolyn’s Modern Vietnamese, 2015 Walnut St., replaces Revolution Taco.Gab Bonghi
Pale-green cloth napkins, metal chopsticks, and wooden rests carry the palette to the tables. The Louisiana connection extends to the soundtrack, with ragtime- and blues-inflected New Orleans jazz by early figures such as King Oliver and Buddy Bolden.
Nguyen wanted the room to feel relaxed and unhurried. Green “represents growth and new beginnings for me,” she said.
The bar will emphasize locally produced wines and spirits. Two cocktails are inspired by Nguyen’s parents: a tropical Mama Mai Tai for her mother and the Ông Xuyên (Mr. Xuyen) for her father, an avid gardener who grows dozens of plant varieties and keeps chickens at the family home.
Her father once returned from a shrimping trip with fish bones and used them to make fish sauce in a barrel. Nguyen plans to put a small amount of house-made fish sauce in his namesake cocktail for a savory undertone.
Carolyn’s Modern Vietnamese, 2015 Walnut St.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Carolyn’s will start with dinner Wednesday to Saturday. Nguyen eventually hopes to add Tuesday dinner and a more casual lunch or brunch, potentially with more traditional Vietnamese dishes.
If you’re taking a run through Wissahickon Valley Park next week and spot those signature Mark Ruffalo curls and determined glint in his eye through the tree leaves, worry not! The HBO series Task is filming its second season in the Northwest Philly park Monday through Friday.
On Monday, the Bells Mill West Lot will be closed to the public for filming and will reopen the next day. Visitors can park instead in the Bells Mill East Lot.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the trail entrance at Manatawna Avenue will not be accessible. Houston Meadow can be accessed through the Houston Playground entrance on the Yellow Trail.
The film crew is slated to park vehicles and equipment on some parts of Forbidden Drive. The trail will remain open, but hikers and runners may see stop signs warning them of “equipment ahead” or to go “slow ahead.”
The Delaware County-set series Task byMare of Easttown creator and Berwyn resident Brad Ingelsby centers on FBI agent Tom Brandis, portrayed by Ruffalo. In the second season, Brandis is leading a new task force and confronting his rival Philadelphia DEA agent Eddie Barnes, played by Mahershala Ali, the Oscar winner who starred in Moonlight, Green Book, and the third season of the HBO crime show True Detective.
The show’s first season also made its way around the city and suburbs. It featured scenes at the Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard in Collingdale, the Willowbrook Shopping Center in Boothwyn, and Marsh Creek State Park in Downingtown.
It’s been a long time since Samantha and Mike Garbose have been able to truly enjoy the same pizza together. Ever since Mike discovered an intolerance to gluten in 2019, their pizza dates have resulted in this married couple ordering a “his” and “hers” situation with separate pies.
Being relegated to the gluten-free alternative is not a fate Mike begrudges: “We both agree that each of us is totally entitled to the food that our diets and preferences warrant.” Then again, the contrast in quality between standard wheat-flour crusts and those made with gluten-free ingredients can be hard to ignore.
“At places that have both gluten [-full] and gluten-free pizza,” says Samantha, “usually I get something that looks phenomenal and Mike gets something that looks like a cardboard circle — and then I feel guilty about that.”
Gluten-free pizza with summer corn at Barclay Pies in Cherry Hill.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
But there would be no guilt tonight at Barclay Pies. Not once the first gluten-free pizza arrives at our table, its airy puff of a crust crisped around the edges to a tawny snap that beckons from under a crown of molten mozzarella topped with sweet summer corn, bacon, and chile peppers. Another pie arrives, this one zesty with a layer of red sauce bursting with bright California tomatoes and a whiff of oregano;fistfuls of cup-and-char pepperoni rounds arescattered over the top, then finished with honey and freshly ripped basil.
“Oh wow, that does not even look gluten-free!” says Samantha.
That’s been my exact reaction every time I’ve visited this pizzeria in Cherry Hill, initially with my daughter, Alice, who has celiac disease. Barclay also makes standard pizzas with glutinous flour, but it has generated a serious buzz within the gluten-free community over the course of its first year — for good reason.
Gluten-free pizza with pepperoni at Barclay Pies in Cherry Hill.Tyger Williams / Staff PhotographerCo-owners Thomas “TJ” Hunton (left) and Daniel Romero at Barclay Pies in Cherry Hill.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Barclay Pies was launched last summer by friends Thomas “TJ” Hunton, a regional director of operations for Shake Shack, and Daniel Romero, a vice president in engineering for Aramark. Its remarkably good pizzas, careful protocols to avoid cross contamination, and outgoing hospitality have helped change the narrative about what’s possible in a fast-casual setting with gluten-free options that go beyond just the pies.
Indeed, a mozzarella stick was the first bite to turn heads at our table. A safe-to-eat mozzarella stick is rare and coveted in the gluten-free community because deep fryers are common culprits for cross contamination. Not only are Barclay’s fryers completely gluten-free, these delicately hand-breaded sticks encrusted in potato starch, rice flour, and gluten-free panko crumbs are perfectly crisped. There is also a hunk of milky fresh mozzarella inside (another rarity: most use standard low-moisture varieties) that offered hot cheese-pull satisfaction from one side of the table to the next.
Gluten-free mozzarella sticks at Barclay Pies in Cherry Hill.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
The chicken wings were also superb, tender and juicy from a dry brine and par-bake, sealed inside a sheer crust of egg whites and rice flour, available in several good flavors, from punchy Buffalo sauce shaded with the richness of brown butter to lemon-pepper that sparkled in its craggy breading.
My encounters on previous visits with boneless chicken tenders were far less inspired, including some overly brined meat so rubbery they gave me a refund. But I was heartened by a 360-degree turnaround on this latest visit. The team recently reworked their recipe, and the final results — expertly verified by Hunton’s 6-year-old daughter, Amelia — are stellar: a perfectly tender baton of meat in a flavorful crust ready for various house-made dips. The tangy ranch with buttermilk and fresh herbs was a favorite, though classic honey mustard also did the trick.
Barclay Pies, located along Route 70 in Cherry Hill, has become known for its gluten-free pizzas.Craig LaBan / StaffJulie Romero (center right), of Cherry Hill, and Claire Ryder, of Collingswood, are enjoying some gluten-free pizza at Barclay Pies in Cherry Hill on July 21.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
But pizza, of course, is the restaurant’s prime magnet. The duo decided to tackle the daunting gluten-free genre because Romero’s wife, Julie, has celiac disease. Making a gluten-free pizza worth the trouble is a major challenge. Gluten is a key protein found in certain grains — namely wheat, barley, and rye — that provides the structure to hold gas bubbles during fermentation and fosters a chewy, complex crust. Until recently, most GF versions of pizza I’ve tasted, whether made from alternative flours or cauliflower — and commonly outsourced in restaurants to avoid cross contamination — have been less than exciting, with textures ranging between pressboard and Styrofoam.
Barclay’s gluten-free pies are not that. The Romeros worked for nine months to perfect a high-hydration crust that puffs like a supple focaccia. With a light dusting of cornmeal adding a delicate bottom crunch and the Detroit-style crispy frico cheese band around the edges, the pie achieves textural contrasts this gluten-free dough itself would not otherwise form. The pan-based format is helpful to prevent cross contamination, but having grown up in the Midwest, where deep-crusted pies are common, I found these to be completely satisfying platforms for Barclay’s toppings. I was impressed by the mushroom pie that blends thin-shaved creminis with caramelized onions over a white base of seasoned heavy cream and mozzarella. I also enjoyed the locally inspired combo of fennel sausage, broccoli, and zesty cherry pepper hoagie relish, the addition of Cooper Sharp lending the base of molten mozzarella some extra South Philly flow.
The gluten-free broccoli and sausage pizza at Barclay Pies in Cherry Hill also comes topped with hoagie pepper relish.Craig LaBan / Staff
I appreciate that Barclay is continuously tweaking its recipes, increasing the size of its fresh sausage chunks from the dried-out crumbles I found early on to the porky nuggets that dotted the roasted pepper-sausage pie we ordered on a traditional gluten-full round. That pizza had a perfectly fine, well-developed crust that was solid by neighborhood pizzeria standards. But the gluten-free pies are the draw, special enough to merit a regionwide pilgrimage.
Samantha Garbose agreed: “Usually when we get gluten-free food together, I’m pretending it’s good, but I actually thought [Barclay’s] gluten-free pizza was better than the one that had gluten.”
Standard gluten-full pizza with sausage and peppers at Barclay Pies in Cherry Hill.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Barclay’s sales numbers are starting to bear this out. Hunton says they initially anticipated selling only 10 gluten-free pies a day to supplement their traditional pizza sales. But gluten-free pies now account for a third of the pizzas they bake.
“By the end of the first month we realized we’d really struck a chord,” says Hunton. “There’s a market need for a pizzeria that was truly inclusive.” Barclay also offers vegan pizzas with a cheese substitute made in-house from oat milk and tofu, deliberately avoiding nuts, an allergen ingredient commonly used in vegan cheese.
There’s still a catch. One reason this dough is so good is because it uses Caputo Fioreglut, an Italian gluten-free flour blend that contains wheat starch whose gluten proteins have been removed. Fioreglut performs closer to wheat flour than most GF blends and is considered safe for most celiacs, but not for those who have an allergy to wheat.
“We need to be pizza for everyone and we’re not fully there quite yet,” concedes Romero. “But that’s our North Star.”
The gluten-free broccoli and sausage pizza at Barclay Pies in Cherry Hill also comes topped with hoagie pepper relish.Craig LaBan / Staff
The past few years have been a vibrant era for local experimentation with better gluten-free pizza alternatives, though few compare to Barclay Pies’ crust. Emmy Squared has long made gluten-free versions of its standard Detroit pies in Queen Village. Corio in University City has been working on a potato-based dough for thin-crusted counterparts to its Neapolitan-style pizzas. Gluten-free pasta specialist Settantatré has mastered an airy gluten-free focaccia base for the tomato pies it sells at local farmers market stands and its Berwyn market-cafe. Perhaps the best gluten-free pizza I’ve ever eaten was created by 13th Street Cocktails caterer Aaron Gordon for the exceptional pan pies at his Agricola in Passyunk Square, but this quirky corner pizza atelier is not a reliable source for frequent orders, limited now to only private charity events (but perhaps reopening to the public this fall).
Hunton and Romero have drawn on their professional experiences to quickly build Barclay Pies into the region’s most accessible hub for gluten-free pizza satisfaction. With its 50 indoor seats, 25 on its patio, and a bright pink-and-green makeover for the former Seasons Pizza, they’ve created a pleasant dining space with user-friendly systems for a cheerful and well-trained staff to operate efficiently while the owners, who are frequently there, also retain their day jobs. (Hunton, a Garces alum, still oversees operations at 70 Shake Shacks from New York to Virginia.)
Most importantly, gluten-free customers can take comfort in knowing protocols have been put in place to minimize risks of cross contamination. The gluten-free dough is mixed first thing each morning in a separate GF-only mixer, prepped at a separate station, run through a dedicated conveyor belt oven, and finished at a separate station with color-coded cutters and spatulas. The gluten-free pies are also proofed and cooked in round pans to clearly distinguish them from the gluten-full Detroit pies that are cooked in square pans.
Co-owner Thomas “TJ” Hunton making gluten-free pizza with summer corn at Barclay Pies in Cherry Hill.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
While there will never be 0% risk as long as products with gluten are made in-house, and that may not suit those who are especially sensitive, my daughter ate there three times without incident. Hunton and Romero also strongly believe there is a broader community benefit to offering both options, as opposed to being entirely gluten-free. This way groups of diners with diverse needs and preferences can feel seen and safely served together without being singled out.
This works especially well for the Garboses.
“We’d prefer to go to a restaurant that has great options for both of us,” says Mike. “Life is too short for either of us to eat bad food.”
But in the case of Barclay Pies, their “his and hers” pizza night had a different, guilt-free twist: “It’s been so long since Mike and I got to actually enjoy the same pizza,” says Samantha. “This was really a thrill.”
Gluten-free pizza with pepperoni at Barclay Pies in Cherry Hill, N.J., on Tuesday, July 21, 2026.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Barclay Pies
450 Marlton Pike, Cherry Hill Township, N.J. 856-712-1900; barclaypies.com
Open Sunday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, until 9:30 p.m.
Pizzas, $19-$24 (plus $4 for gluten-free crust).
Wheelchair accessible.
Menu is almost entirely gluten-free. Standard pizzas with gluten-full flour are made in the same facility but extreme care and protocols are taken to prevent cross contamination.
BYOB. There are several excellent liquor stores nearby. The restaurant also provides good-quality stemless plastic drinkware.
Menu Highlights: Gluten-free pizzas; mozzarella sticks; wings; chicken tenders.
Barclay Pies boxes in Cherry Hill.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Editor’s note: This story contains spoilers for season one of “Task.”
The cast and crew of the HBO crime drama Task will descend on Manayunk next week to begin filming Season 2, according to notices posted around the neighborhood and on a local Facebook group.
The company Random Productions wrote that filming is scheduled for July 7-9, when certain streets will be closed to accommodate trailers, equipment vehicles, cast, and crew members. Parking restrictions, however, will begin earlier on specific blocks, starting Sunday, July 5.
“We will try to keep these closures as minimal as possible and will not prevent residents from accessing driveways or parking lots,” the notices state.
Actors Tom Pelphrey (left) and Mark Ruffalo, from HBO’s “Task,” do interviews before the Philadelphia Eagles game against the Los Angeles Rams at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Philadelphia.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
What fans need to know
The Mark Ruffalo-led series from Mare of Easttown creator and Berwyn resident Brad Ingelsby will again center on the dogged and empathetic FBI agent Tom Brandis, this time as he spearheads a new task force where, as the logline reads, “the deeper the operation runs, the harder it is to tell who’s the target.”
Brandis’ rival this season will be Philadelphia DEA agent Eddie Barnes, played by Mahershala Ali, the Oscar winner who starred in Moonlight, Green Book, and the 2019 HBO crime show True Detective. (Season 1 saw Brandis face off against robber Robbie Prendergrast, played to critical acclaim by Ozark actor Tom Pelphrey, who grew up in Howell Township, N.J.)
Joining Ali as fellow DEA agents are Pillion and Harry Potter actor Henry Melling, who will play a hothead named Brennan Boylan; The Assassination of Gianni Versace star Edgar Ramirez, cast as second-in-command Miguel Contreras, described as a “devoted family man … torn between duty and guilt”; and Star City actor Adam Nagaitis, playing loyal agent Luke Clemmons.
On the FBI side, 1923 actor Aminah Nieves will play Nataly Zamora, who Deadline described as “a no-nonsense FBI agent and dedicated young mother who fights hard to protect the community that raised her.”
It’s not yet clear whether other cast members from Season 1 will return. That includes Silvia Dionicio and Phoebe Fox, who played Brandis’ daughters, and Andrew Russel, their incarcerated brother who killed their mother accidentally during a schizophrenic episode. The emotional and bittersweet finale concluded with Brandis testifying at his son’s trial and affirming that he would be welcome home whenever he’s released.
Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) hugs his family after his son Ethan’s parole hearing in the “Task” finale.HBO
Season 1 received millions of viewers — and, of course, a strong Philadelphia following — with the finale alone reaching an audience of 4 million in the U.S. within three days of airing. HBO has said that Task was one of its “top three fastest-growing, debut seasons.” Viewership overall outpaced Ingelsby’s Emmy-winning Mare of Easttown, which broke HBO viewership records in 2021 and may return for a second season. (It’s likely that Task, too, will receive Emmy Awards attention when nominations are announced July 8.)
Returning to Task behind the scenes are South Philadelphia native Jeremiah Zagar, who was a director and executive producer on Season 1; the son of late Philadelphia mosaicist Isaiah Zagar will serve as executive producer. Ruffalo will again executive produce the show, alongside Ingelsby and others, including Mare of Easttown executive producer Mark Roybal.
The first season of Taskfilmed in and around Philadelphia, including Delaware, Montgomery, and Chester Counties, and further out into rural Pennsylvania. Creator Inglesby has proudly said that the show is a Delco story, and his team aims for authentic portrayals of the region, down to the signature Delco accent.
Part of that effort means hiring local crews and background actors. In Season 1, the production hired 777 Pennsylvanians as cast and crew for 177 days, investing $230 million in the regional economy.
Actor Mark Ruffalo (right in black suit) shoots for the HBO series ‘Task’ at the Delaware County Government Center and Courthouse on June 17, 2024.Courtesy of Delaware County Government Center and Courthouse
Last fall, Task received a record-breaking $49.8 million tax credit from Pennsylvania, the highest amount the state has ever granted a single production. HBO estimates that Season 2 will bring some 3,700 jobs to the state and the studio expects to invest an estimated $194.1 million in Pennsylvania’s economy as it pays for local crews and hotel accommodations, among other expenses.
Kensington-based casting agency Heery Loftus has led local casting efforts for the show, most recently announcing a call for “Latino men who can portray organized crime figures” and “men and women of all ethnicities who can portray law enforcement personnel.”
A premiere date for Season 2 has not yet been announced.
“Task” showrunner Brad Ingelsby and star Mark Ruffalo on set.Warner Bros. Discovery
What Manayunk residents need to know
Per two notices from Random Productions, “No Parking” signs will be posted on these streets during these dates:
Sunday, July 5 at 6 p.m. to Wednesday, July 8 at 11 p.m.:
Cresson Street between Cotton Street and Gay Street
Monday, July 6 at 6 p.m. to Wednesday, July 8 at 11 p.m.:
Grape Street between Silverwood Street and Cresson Street
Levering Street between Cresson Street and Silverwood Street
Cotton Street between Cresson Street and Main Street
Main Street between Cotton Street and Levering Street
Grape Street between Main Street and Cresson Street
Levering Street between Main Street and Cresson Street
Wednesday, July 8 at 6 p.m. to Thursday, July 9 at 10 p.m.:
Dupont Street between High Street and Smick Street
Baker Street between Dupont Street and Green Lane
Baker Street between Dupont Street and Mallory Street
These streets will be closed during these dates and approximate times:
Tuesday, July 7 from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and Wednesday, July 8 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.:
Grape Street between Silverwood Street and Cresson Street
Cresson Street between Cotton Street and Gay Street
Thursday, July 9 from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.:
Dupont Street between Smick Street and High Street
Please note: This breakdown of parking restrictions and street closures may not be comprehensive as the company released multiple neighborhood notices.
Hours before Steve Jahn shot Megan Nieberle to death on a March evening this year, prosecutors said, he drove around Tredyffrin Township for hours with a gun in his hand.
In dashcam videos played in a Chester County courtroom Monday, Jahn is seen gripping a semiautomatic handgun in his Chevy Silverado truck, muttering to himself and glancing back and forth erratically as cars pass by.
Those utterances, prosecutors said, offer a view into the mindset of a man about to commit murder.
“Get out of the [expletive] way,” Jahn says an one point, one hand on the wheel, another on his firearm. “You don’t belong here.”
“Ya’ll [expletive] are dead,” the 44-year-old says in another clip.
Though it would be hours before Jahn, who police said was homeless, encountered Nieberle, a 53-year-old mother of three and a nurse at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, prosecutors used the videos from Jahn’s dashcam to bolster their contention that he had been prepared to harm someone that Saturday.
Jahn, a Berwyn native, was arrested a day after the March 7 shooting and charged with first- and third-degree murder, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment.
The hearing marked the first time Jahn appeared in a case that shocked the Chester County community and kick-started a conversation about mental illness and firearms.
Some residents questioned why police did not act more forcefully to ensure that Jahn, who had been in a mental health crisis that day, was checked into a nearby psychiatric unit.
Jahn, wearing a red prison jumpsuit and sporting a beard, showed little emotion during the hearing, as Nieberle’s loved ones looked on, some in tears.
Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Wright said prosecutors had linked Jahn to the crime scene using GPS data from his vehicle, gunshot residue recovered from his hands and clothing, and remarks he made while in police custody.
Though the footage of Jahn was illuminating, Wright said, the shooting itself was not captured on the dashcam because Jahn had removed the device shortly before the shooting.
Wright called Tredyffrin police officers and county detectives to the stand to testify about the scene they had encountered near the intersection of Old State Road and Contention Lane, where Nieberle was found in the driver’s seat of her silver Acura SUV around 10:47 p.m. with a gunshot wound to the head.
She was bleeding heavily, the officers said, and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died the next morning.
Chester County Det. Matthew Shumway of Chester County said data recovered from Jahn’s truck allowed investigators to identify him driving down the dimly lit residential street that night.
Approaching Nieberle’s vehicle, Jahn slowed his truck to 6 mph, Shumway testified. He fired once through her driver’s side window, the detective said, a shot captured on a neighbor’s doorbell camera.
Played in court, the short video showed Jahn’s headlights cut through the darkness and illuminate an approaching vehicle. Within seconds, a loud bang rang out.
Jahn’s attorney, Brian McCarthy, did not contest many of prosecutors’ assertions about how events unfolded that night, but he argued that first-degree murder was not appropriate because Jahn had not shown premeditation and intent to kill, conditions required to meet the threshold for that crime.
“What we did see does not establish murder in the first degree,” McCarthy said of the dashcam footage. The person in that video, he said, was a “troubled man looking back and forth, not a cold-blooded killer.”
Wright, the prosecutor, countered that Jahn’s actions were premeditated. She said Jahn had rolled down his window, aimed his weapon, and would have “had to have known” that there was someone inside an oncoming vehicle.
Of Nieberle, Wright said, Jahn “snuffed her life out and left her there to die.”
District Judge Patricia A. Zaffarano ruled that prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence for the case to proceed to trial on all charges.
Jahn will be formally arraigned on July 2. He remains in custody in the Chester County Correctional Facility after being denied bail in March.
Elon Musk’s company that runs the Starlink communications network, launches rockets for NASA, and develops artificial intelligence software raised more than $75 billion from investors last week — a record initial public stock offering (IPO) for a company fast-burning through billions in investor dollars in hopes of future profit.
SpaceX is just the flashiest of a string of industrial stocks that have soared as orders for missiles, drones, and other war machines, as well as civilian aircraft and rockets, pile up. S&P’s Aerospace and Defense Select Industry Index is up 44% over the past year vs. 24% for the broader S&P 500 stocks, even with Google, Nvidia, and other AI-linked stocks leading the 500.
The share price for Philadelphia-based Carpenter Technology is up 125%, almost three times as much as that index of aerospace and defense stocks.
Carpenter does $3 billion in annual sales, melting or grinding iron, tungsten, cobalt, and other metals into super hard or relentlessly flexible alloys used in stainless steel and other specialty parts by military, commercial airliner, medical, industrial, and space equipment makers.
The company operates plants in Reading, Berks County; Latrobe and other Western Pennsylvania towns; and around Athens, Ala. It has a finishing plant in China and distributors worldwide. Carpenter’s large customers include passenger jet and military aircraft maker Boeing and European aerospace giant Airbus.
CEO Tony Thene has said space is a fast-growing growing part of Carpenter’s customer base, exciting some investors into expecting the company will share SpaceX’s gains.
Thene, who is stepping down at the end of the month, hasn’t said SpaceX is a customer. Chief operating officer Brian Malloy will take over leading the company.
Investor Louis Navellier was quoted last month as saying he’d rather own Carpenter, which makes the metals used by SpaceX and other aerospace companies, and its larger customer, Pittsburgh-based Howmet Aerospace, than SpaceX itself, at recent valuations.
That price is above the targets set by analysts at Bala Cynwyd-based Susquehanna International Group and Wall Street brokerages after Thene reported earnings at the end of April. At that time, Carpenter officials predicted stronger than expected sales and higher profits, to be split between investor dividends and new furnace equipment.
Carpenter at recent valuations is worth around $30 billion, roughly as much as Hershey or Kraft Heinz, whose sales are much larger, and almost as much as gas-drilling giant EQT, based in Pittsburgh.
Shares of area aerospace manufacturers such as Ametek, which has its headquarters in Berwyn and plants around the world, and Innovative Aerosystem, of Exton, are also up significantly over the past year.
Howmet, with $8 billion in yearly sales to Carpenter’s $3 billion, hasn’t boosted its share value as fast in past year, but it has risen enough to become the most valuable company in Pennsylvania, the only company whose shares are worth over $100 billion on the stock market.
That’s more valuable than companies with much larger sales, such as Philadelphia-based media giant Comcast; mega-drug distributor Cencora of Conshohocken, or Pittsburgh’s PNC, the nation’s fifth-largest bank.
At today’s share prices, many times earnings or projected future profits, investors are gambling that suppliers like Carpenter and Howmet — and SpaceX, the spaceship builder — will grow a lot faster than the economy as a whole.
