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  • Josh Shapiro will be in Bucks County this weekend to campaign for Democrats in key races

    Josh Shapiro will be in Bucks County this weekend to campaign for Democrats in key races

    Gov. Josh Shapiro will be in Bucks County on Saturday to campaign for Democrats up and down the ballot in the key swing county.

    Shapiro, who kicked off Democrats’ general election campaigns at a space centrifuge in Warminster this past spring, is returning to Bucks, emphasizing the important role that the perennially purple county will play in November’s midterms with competitive contests for Congress and state Senate on the ballot.

    The governor will appear at a canvass launch in Langhorne organized by Planned Parenthood PA PAC, the organization’s state-level political action committee. The PAC has endorsed Bucks County Democrat Eileen Hartnett Albillar, who is running for state Senate in the 6th District, a crucial seat for the party, and state House candidates Bryan Allen, Kristin Egan, and Monica Weninger.

    Shapiro will also appear alongside Democratic County Commissioner Bob Harvie, who is challenging GOP U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in the Bucks-based 1st Congressional District — one of four seats in the state being targeted by both parties. Harvie is endorsed by Shapiro and Planned Parenthood’s federal PAC.

    Democratic U.S. Reps. Madeleine Dean, of Montgomery County, and Mary Gay Scanlon, of Delaware County, will also be in attendance.

    Democrats are hoping to win control of the state Senate — which they haven’t had for 33 years. The GOP currently holds 27 seats in the 50-member state Senate.

    To take control of the chamber with the lieutenant governor’s tie-breaking vote, Democrats would need to flip at least two seats and maintain control of the governor’s office. With a trifecta in Harrisburg, Democrats hope to advance legislation on issues that haven’t gained support in the Republican-controlled Senate, like codifying abortion protections.

    The Shapiro-endorsed candidates have an opportunity, if successful in November, to give Democrats more governing power, whether that’s winning party control in the U.S. House, the state Senate, or giving Democrats an expanded majority in the state’s lower chamber.

    Shapiro is running for a second term as governor, but he’s spending much of his time using his political prowess to bolster other Democrats ahead of the midterms. Recently, he was in Philadelphia with Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to energize volunteers. Earlier this month, he was in Montgomery and Chester Counties campaigning for down-ballot candidates.

    Shapiro has invested more than $5.7 million in the state party since fall 2025, his campaign said last month.

    Gov. Josh Shapiro poses with Democratic Pa. Senate candidate Chris Thomas (left) and his supporters after a rally in Towamencin, Montgomery County before heading out to canvass Sunday, Sept. 29, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    In July, he launched an effort — “Rise Up Pennsylvania” — that is aimed at pooling donations to fund campaign resources for key state Senate and U.S. congressional races.

    Abortion protections remain a key piece of the party’s platform, even as Democrats have refocused their messaging on affordability ahead of November.

    “Bucks County will be critical to building a pro–sexual and reproductive health care trifecta in Pennsylvania,” Signe Espinoza, executive director of Planned Parenthood PA PAC, said in a statement Friday.

    “We endorsed these candidates because we know they will stand up to fight to protect every Pennsylvanian’s freedom to make their own decisions about their body, health and future.”

  • The second Delco 10 Miler is bigger than last year and will close some county roads. Here’s what to know.

    The second Delco 10 Miler is bigger than last year and will close some county roads. Here’s what to know.

    The Delco 10 Miler will take off again Sunday, cutting a partially different path across the county that organizers hope is safer, more driver-friendly, and more fun for participants.

    In addition to a new course, the race will host up to 2,500 runners, up from 1,200 last year, and benefit some new groups in the community.

    Here’s what to know about the second Delco 10 Miler.

    The Delco 10 Miler’s new course

    Last year’s race followed a mostly straight line down Providence Road from Rose Tree Park before taking a few turns on Widener University’s campus, crossing I-95, and then carrying on through Chester toward Subaru Park.

    The start and end are the same this year, but organizers made a few improvements. Runners will turn off Providence Road at West Rose Valley Road and take a few turns through neighborhoods in Nether Providence. There, the route will meet up with its original course on Widener’s campus.

    Here are the runners to look out for at this year’s Delco 10 Miler

    This change will free up more of Providence Road to drivers and will make it easier for parishioners to attend church services along the route. It is also more runner-friendly, said Diana Shacklock, director of special projects at Visit Delco, the race’s organizer.

    Last year’s course brought runners to a spot where they could see the finish line, but made them run several blocks past it before looping back, Shacklock said. Some runners commented on it after the race, so the loop was eliminated.

    “It is no longer an ugly finish,” race director Kevin Nolan said.

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    Road closures for the race

    Roads along the route will be closed between 7:30 and 10 a.m. Police will have rolling openings and closings, meaning some roads will be open before runners reach that part of the course and after they pass.

    The ramps from the Route 1 Media Bypass to Providence Road/Route 252 will be closed at 7:30 a.m.

    Organizers asked for patience and recommended planning ahead if you need to travel along the route.

    The Delco 10 Miler is back with a new course and twice as many runners

    What runners need to know

    Organizers recommend parking at Subaru Park lot G before the race and taking the shuttle from Subaru Park to the starting line. Shuttles run between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. Runners can also be dropped off at Springton Lake Middle School near the starting line, but any cars left there will be ticketed and towed, Shacklock said.

    Runners can stow their items in mobile lockers, which will be delivered to the finish line. Unwanted clothing can be donated.

    The first group of runners will take off at 8 a.m. and the rest will be staggered over three- to five-minute intervals. Runners pushing wheelchairs will be able to leave a few minutes before the first corral.

    Runners will be treated to refreshments from Delco Steaks and 2SP Brewing at the finish line.

    What groups are partnering with the Delco 10 Miler this year?

    The race will benefit the HEADstrong Foundation, the Riddle HealthCare Foundation, Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, the Greenhouse Project, and Delco Volunteers.

    Delco Volunteers was created as an effort to give back during America’s 250th, and funding from the race is intended to help the group continue beyond 2026, organizers said.

    There will be a simultaneous festival at Wallingford Elementary School, with food, games, and a station where attendees can make signs for runners, who will pass directly in front of the school. The school is working with the Kyle Pease Foundation and accepting donations at givebutter.com/wes-loves-pease. Proceeds will go toward making the school’s playground inclusive for children with disabilities.

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

  • Pennsylvania confirms a fifth death associated with widening measles outbreak

    Pennsylvania confirms a fifth death associated with widening measles outbreak

    A fifth person has died amid Pennsylvania’s growing measles outbreak, state health officials confirmed on Wednesday.

    The Pennsylvania Department of Health said in a news release that an unvaccinated resident of Lancaster County tested positive for measles and has died.

    Health officials said they would not release any additional identifying details about the person who died, citing state privacy laws.

    The state has confirmed two other measles-associated deaths this year in Lancaster County residents, both involving infants in the Amish community.

    Mifflin and Jefferson Counties have also reported two measles-associated deaths involving an 18-year-old and a 40-year-old, respectively.

    The announcement came as confirmed measles cases in Pennsylvania reached 943 so far this year, the largest outbreak in the state in three decades and the highest case count nationwide this year. The state has confirmed 40 new cases in the last two days.

    The outbreak is centered in Lancaster, where nearly 400 people have been sickened so far this year, but also expanding in other counties, including Chester County in suburban Philadelphia, which had reported 83 cases as of Wednesday, the third-highest countywide case count in the state.

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    The death toll reported in Pennsylvania is also the nation’s highest since 1992, but state and federal officials have clashed over how to characterize the four previous deaths reported in the state, all in people who were unvaccinated and confirmed to have measles infections.

    The CDC’s public tracking of the toll of measles outbreaks nationally currently only shows two deaths from measles, reflecting decisions made under the leadership of President Donald Trump’s Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist. The CDC’s website does not say where the two deaths occurred.

    Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, has accused Kennedy of spreading misinformation about the safety of the measles vaccine, contributing to declining vaccination rates statewide. Kennedy has faulted Shapiro for politicizing the deaths and initially said his administration may have “fabricated” two deaths.

    Pennsylvania officials said the latest death also fits the criteria for the state’s definition of a measles-associated death: One that occurred within 30 days of symptom onset in a person with clinical evidence of a measles infection and a positive lab test, that wasn’t due to an unrelated cause, like a car crash.

    In confirming measles-associated deaths, the state also considers medical records and whether the person was exposed to measles before their death.

    Statewide, nearly one in five people with reported cases have been hospitalized.

    About a third of confirmed measles cases have occurred in children under 18.

    Physicians and local officials in affected counties have warned that there are likely far more cases than have been officially reported.

    Nearly all of the confirmed cases of measles have been in unvaccinated people, state officials said. The state confirmed four cases involving extremely rare “breakthrough” infections in people who were vaccinated, less than 1% of the total cases reported.

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    Lancaster County coroner Stephen Diamantoni said state officials called him Wednesday to inform him of the latest measles-associated death, but provided no additional information on the case.

    He said his office had not handled any recent deaths involving a person who tested positive for measles.

    State officials have noted that not all deaths are referred to a coroner. They did not specify whether the latest death occurred in Lancaster County.

    Diamantoni, an elected Republican who is also a physician, had questioned the state’s conclusions about an earlier death in Lancaster County, in an infant who tested positive for a measles infection acquired before birth.

    The baby died shortly after birth from a lacerated spleen, Diamantoni said, adding that he did not believe the child’s death was caused by measles.

    State officials have said that the baby’s death fits their definition of a measles-associated death, and physicians have noted that measles can weaken the spleen, putting it at risk for rupture.

    Diamantoni also investigated the death of a second infant, which was not initially reported to his office. The six-week-old had a fatal genetic condition that made her particularly vulnerable to respiratory illnesses. That death was caused by measles, Diamantoni said.

    The other two deaths, in Mifflin and Jefferson Counties, involved an 18-year-old who died from a rare neurological complication of measles and a 40-year-old woman with serious respiratory issues that also put her at higher risk of death from measles.

  • Black Panther-style group members arrested in Chester, as mayor decries their presence

    Black Panther-style group members arrested in Chester, as mayor decries their presence

    The leader of a Philadelphia offshoot of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was charged with a firearms crime for carrying a concealed gun without a permit in the city of Chester — and the group’s growing visibility in the Delaware County community is sparking a clash with the city’s mayor.

    Paul Birdsong, who founded Philly’s Panther group, was arrested this summer during what the group says was an armed community patrol of Chester’s streets.

    Birdsong had been carrying two holstered handguns, one of which police said was partially obstructed by his waistband and constituted carrying a concealed weapon, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

    Birdsong, 40, is out on bail and appeared earlier this month in Magisterial District Court, where a judge ruled he should stand trial for that crime.

    The judge dismissed two counts of disorderly conduct and one count of resisting arrest stemming from the July 11 incident, court records show.

    Birdsong’s arrest, as well as the arrest of another Panthers member in Chester in August, marked the latest run-in between police and the armed citizens group, which is styled after the 1960s political and militant organization. The Panthers first made headlines this winter during anti-ICE protests during which they carried assault-style weapons in Center City.

    Panthers members say they are Second Amendment advocates and regularly conduct patrols in the name of public safety. They say the guns are not meant to intimidate, but to deter crime and encourage responsible firearms ownership. The group also holds weekly giveaways of food and essential supplies for those in need.

    But Chester Mayor Stefan Roots has decried the group’s foray in the city, saying its presence has created “horrible optics” as officials try to reduce gun violence, especially among young people.

    To address the Panthers’ presence, Roots and members of Chester City Council met with Birdsong and other members in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday.

    Councilmembers appeared to have left the meeting with supportive views of the group. But tensions flared when Roots grew frustrated during talks and abruptly left the gathering early, according to Birdsong.

    Roots declined to comment Tuesday, saying only that he had not been aware of the Panther members’ arrests. He did not immediately respond to an additional request for comment Wednesday.

    Birdsong made headlines in May when Philadelphia police revoked his city-issued gun license along with those of four other Panthers.

    The following month, in an unusual show of federal oversight, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division opened an investigation into whether the police department violated the Second Amendment by revoking gun licenses without proper cause. The filing did not name Birdsong or other Panthers in the inquiry.

    A spokesperson for DOJ did not return a request for comment on the status of the investigation. A police spokesperson referred The Inquirer to the city’s law department, which declined to comment.

    After the restrictions in Philadelphia, Panthers became active in Chester, where members have patrolled in the past.

    In July, Birdsong was armed when he was stopped by a police officer near Barclay and West 5th Streets, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

    The officer said that he recognized Birdsong from a past encounter in Chester, and that he stopped him after seeing one of his handguns holstered “inside his right pants pocket with the majority of the firearm being concealed from view,” the document said.

    Birdsong questioned why he was stopped and began to record the interaction, the affidavit said. He began to “curse and yell” when additional officers arrived, and he was detained, the document said.

    In an interview this week, Birdsong disputed the officer’s account. He said that the gun was clearly visible and that he believes the enforcement was racially motivated.

    “They’re arresting us as an effort on their part to bully us, to scare us,” he said.

    Carrying a firearm in the open without a license is legal in Pennsylvania — but not in Philadelphia, where a license is required to carry either open or concealed.

    Birdsong’s lawyer, Lyandra Retacco, said the matter would be resolved in court.

    The July incident was not the only time Panthers have clashed with Chester police.

    On Aug. 28, member William Ozah was charged with disorderly conduct and evading arrest after police said he ran from an officer who attempted to stop him for having a knife protruding from his pants pocket, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

    The officer used a Taser to subdue Ozah, the document said. During the chase, the officer said, Ozah tried to reach into a satchel, which he believed concealed a firearm.

    After detaining Ozah, officers recovered a knife and a Bryna SD pepper-ball pistol — a less-lethal firearm that uses compressed gas to shoot projectiles filled with a chemical irritant.

    He was held for court on both charges, court records show.

    Meanwhile, Panthers have continued their Chester presence.

    In addition to armed patrols, the group is handing out informational pamphlets to those curious about the group’s mission: to “protect and defend ourselves and our beautiful Black people,” it said.

    The group had arrived, the pamphlet said, because “people reached out to us for help.”

    This article has been updated to reflect comments made by Birdsong’s attorney.

  • Attorneys botched a case against Amtrak over the deaths of two young boys, lawsuit says

    Attorneys botched a case against Amtrak over the deaths of two young boys, lawsuit says

    The mothers of two Chester kids who were struck and killed by a train in 2023 are accusing their former attorneys of botching their wrongful death lawsuit against Amtrak.

    Jahaad Atkinson, 9, and Ah’Yir Womack, 12, were walking on the railroad tracks and hit by a southbound Acela train. Amtrak operators knew people had been on the tracks at least 20 minutes prior, but the Acela proceeded as scheduled, according to the legal malpractice complaint.

    That information shows Amtrak acted “wantonly and recklessly,” the suit says, but the attorneys who initially represented the mothers failed to include it in their case until it was too late.

    Emeka Igwe (second from left) discusses the lawsuit he filed on behalf of Siani Gordon (third from right) and Wydeia Kimble (fourth from right). The two mothers both lost their sons when they were struck and killed by an Amtrak train in Chester in April.Vinny Vella / Staff

    Atkinson’s mother, Siani Gordon, and Womack’s mother, Wydeia Kimble, say lawyers Emeka Igwe and Daniel Purtell, as well as their respective firms and colleagues, were professionally negligent when pursuing their case against Amtrak.

    “This was an avoidable result,” says the suit, which was filed last month in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia. “Defendants failed to present necessary evidence in their possession to pursue valid legal theories that would have led to a successful recovery.”

    Aaron Freiwald, the mothers’ current attorney, declined to comment.

    Igwe said in a statement he disagreed “in the strongest terms possible” with the notion he did not represent his clients “competently and diligently.”

    “The case is in active litigation and we are unable to substantively comment outside of the fact that we continue to support our former clients’ best interests,” Purtell said in a statement.

    The wrong theory

    Atkinson loved to play Roblox, the color red, and dressing up as Spider-Man to get his siblings to laugh. Womack had an infectious smile, a similar proclivity for a funny bit, and couldn’t dance to save his life.

    That’s how family members and other community mourners remember the children who on April 29, 2023, took a fateful shortcut on the way to a park in Chester’s West End.

    Atkinson, Womack, and other children passed through a hole in the fencing and walked along the tracks of Amtrak’s ultra-busy Northeast Corridor. It was a popular route for neighborhood children.

    Mothers Gordon and Kimble sued the National Railroad Passenger Corp., the entity that operates Amtrak, in Philadelphia federal court in July 2023. Igwe hitched the case to the hole in the fence, and sought $20 million in damages.

    “Amtrak knew this was a danger, which is why they erected this fence in the first place,” Igwe said in August 2023.

    Jahaad Atkinson, 9, and Ah’Yir Womack, 12, used this hole in a fence to climb onto the Amtrak tracks in Chester, according to their families’ attorney.Courtesy Emeka Igwe

    Amtrak argued Pennsylvania law does not require railroads to erect or maintain fencing around tracks. And because the boys were trespassing, Amtrak cannot be held liable for injuries caused by negligence, the rail company asserted.

    A federal judge sided with Amtrak in March 2024, dismissing the mothers’ complaints but saying they could file an amended pleading.

    Roughly two weeks later, Igwe filed an updated complaint that argued the tracks heading to the collision area were straight and provided “unrestricted visibility,” so the train operators “should have observed” the children.

    In March 2025, Igwe was deployed to Kuwait as part of his service as an attorney with the Delaware National Guard. He turned the case over to Purtell and his firm.

    The McEldrew Purtell attorneys blamed Igwe for deficiencies in the case, according to the malpractice lawsuit.

    Igwe did not follow up on deposition requests, the attorneys said in one court filing. In another, they attributed the case’s “general malaise” in part to Igwe’s “lack of diligence.”

    Locator map of the site where two children were fatally struck by an Amtrak train while on the tracks in Chester.John Duchneskie

    The malpractice suit also claims Igwe and Purtell declined an offer by the railroad to mediate, without informing the mothers.

    In a May 2025 hearing, U.S. District Judge Mary K. Costello asked a McEldrew Purtell attorney directly: “Is there willful and wanton conduct?”

    “On this record, no,” the attorney said, according to a recording of the hearing.

    “I think that kind of seals it up,” Costello responded.

    Two months later, the judge sided with Amtrak and ended the case.

    Family of Jahaad Atkinson and Ahyir Womack gather for a vigil for the two boys at Martin Luther King Park in Chester, Pa. on Friday, May 5, 2023. The boys, who were 9 and 12-years-old, were killed after being struck by an Amtrak train.Heather Khalifa / Staff Photographer

    Doomed case or legal malpractice?

    But according to the legal malpractice complaint, the attorneys did have evidence to allege willful or wanton conduct by Amtrak: the Amtrak Police incident report, which notes over-the-radio discussions of someone on the tracks.

    McEldrew Purtell neglected to raise that “vital record” at the hearing, the malpractice suit says, and the firm’s lawyers filed a separate lawsuit in April 2025, which relied on the Amtrak Police investigation findings.

    Costello earlier this year dismissed the case for the final time.

    The malpractice lawsuit says Igwe’s and McEldrew Purtell’s representation of the mothers amounted to professional negligence.

    Up to $10 million in fencing will be installed along rail tracks in Chester, where two children were killed last year

    Igwe has asked a Philadelphia judge to dismiss the malpractice lawsuit.

    The dismissal happened because of Pennsylvania law and the facts of the case, Igwe said in a statement, not any issue with the representation.

    “No amount of additional discovery could have altered the Court’s determination that a railroad has no duty to fence its property, that moving trains are not hidden dangers to children, and that longitudinal walkers along tracks are not licensees,” Igwe said.

  • Bankrupt Chester City is getting nearly $100 million in state and private funding

    Bankrupt Chester City is getting nearly $100 million in state and private funding

    Approaching the fourth anniversary of its rare and historic bankruptcy, the City of Chester is about to get $97.1 million in public and private investments, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Thursday.

    “I might just be the happiest mayor in America,” said Chester Mayor Stefan Roots, among those who joined Shapiro for the announcement in Delaware County’s only city.

    Shapiro, noting that the resolution of the protracted and often acrimonious bankruptcy “would take far longer than I’d like,” said “the time to invest in Chester is now.”

    Roots said the money would go toward beautifying neighborhoods and dealing with blighted properties in the city of 33,000. “We’re going to be repairing homes. … We’re going to be improving roads and sidewalks,” he said.

    The majority of the funding, $52.6 million, will go to “revamp and redesign” a section of Route 291/U.S. 13, part of the old “Industrial Highway,” which separates the riverfront from the city neighborhoods. The bulk of that money would come from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Council.

    The highway has long been a serious safety hazard for motorists and people who live along it, Roots said in an interview after the event. Speeding has been a major issue, he added.

    PennDot also would be putting up $7.3 million for new sidewalks and walkways to Widener University, at the north end of town, in an effort to integrate the campus with the rest of the city.

    “How do you be a city with a college, and not be a college town?” Roots said.

    He said major efforts would be made to spruce up the Avenue of the States, which is a thoroughfare from City Hall to the campus about 10 blocks away.

    Mayor of Chester Stefan Roots speaks at a Philadelphia City Council meeting in January regarding the incinerator, which has been an important source of Chester’s revenue and a source of protests. Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer

    The state and the Philadelphia Union soccer team are putting up $27.5 million to build “new outdoor fields, a 100,000-square-foot field house, indoor courts, academy space, and a performance center to expand youth programs and support school and community sports” at the riverfront Sportsplex in the city’s West End, according to a state news release.

    Wawa, Essential Utilities Inc., Power Home Remodeling, and Delaware County are contributing $2 million for demolition work and to acquire 10 lots and two buildings, along with fixing up 25 other structures.

    Shapiro said that Chester was now an “enterprise zone,” a Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development program in which tax breaks and grant money would be made available to investors.

    The department is overseeing the city’s bankruptcy process, which began in fall 2022, in part due to several years of missed pension payments.

    But the city’s financial distress has been about 70 years in the making, as it has struggled to pay bills with the loss of businesses and its once-formidable industrial base. Among its prime sources of revenue today are an incinerator and a casino.

    Among the nation’s more than 35,000 municipalities, only about 30 have filed for bankruptcy.

    Neither Shapiro nor Roots made any mention of the bankruptcy beyond the governor’s opening comments.

    State-appointed bankruptcy receiver Vijay Kapoor said in a statement: “We are very grateful for the commonwealth’s and the private sector’s investment in the City of Chester’s future.”

  • Officials believe it was a missing Chester woman whose body was recovered from a car submerged in the Delaware

    Officials believe it was a missing Chester woman whose body was recovered from a car submerged in the Delaware

    The body believed to be that of a missing 33-year-old Chester woman was recovered Sunday from a vehicle submerged in the Delaware River, divers and family members said.

    Kortney Staples, a home healthcare nurse, was last seen by her family on July 11. She was reported missing on July 18 and since then her family has waged a tenacious public campaign to find her.

    Official confirmation that Staples has been found will be determined by the Delaware County Medical Examiner’s Office.

    “The individual’s preliminary description is consistent with that of Kortney Staples; however, formal identification is pending and will be made through the appropriate investigative and medical procedures,” Chester officials said in a statement.

    Chester police said there were no initial indications of foul play, but the investigation is ongoing.

    Chaos Divers, a volunteer sonar search-and-recovery team, reported that they found her body inside a gray Nissan Altima in the waters off Chester. Officials said the location was near Front and Norris Street, not far frome the Commodore Barry Bridge.

    The dive team said they found the car almost immediately on Sunday afternoon and they posted a photo of the license plate taken from the sunken car. The plate matches the woman’s vehicle.

    “Working in conjunction with Chester Police Department law, fire departments, Station 77 Dive and Rescue, and Rob’s Towing, Kortney and her vehicle were recovered flawlessly,” Chaos Divers posted on Facebook.

    Police said the vehicle was removed from the water around 7:45 p.m.

    “To Kortney’s family, friends, and everyone who knew and loved her, we offer our deepest and most heartfelt condolences. We hope that bringing Kortney home provides some measure of answers as her loved ones begin the incredibly difficult journey ahead,” said Chaos Divers, who are based in Illinois.

    Chester Mayor Stefan Roots called the discovery of the body “a heartbreaking development, and our entire Chester community stands with Kortney’s family and loved ones during this extraordinarily difficult time.

    Family members also said they believe that their search is over.

    “Yall no longer have to share the missing post…..it warms my heart to see my sister up & down my timeline & kno that she was much loved,” Koron Staples, Kortney’s brother, wrote on Facebook.

    Chester police urged anyone with information about what happened to Kortney Staples or her gray Nissan Altima, particularly on the days between July 5 and 18, should contact Capt. El’lan Morgan at 484-745-6662 or Emorgan223@chesterpolice.org, or Det. Astrid Cottrell at835-220-9549 or acottrell321@chesterpolice.org.

    “Even information that may appear insignificant could be helpful to the investigation,” the police department said.

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  • Commodore Barry Bridge is getting a paint job and restoration, and traffic is jammed

    Commodore Barry Bridge is getting a paint job and restoration, and traffic is jammed

    Canvas shrouds the Commodore Barry Bridge as workers blast clean and repaint the high steel trusses holding up the roadway.

    The $220 million project, expected to finish in 2028, has caused havoc this summer with commuter and Shore-bound traffic on a crucial link between Delaware and Gloucester Counties.

    Traffic is squeezed into one lane in each direction from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., and residual morning delays have been reported. Crews sometimes also have to close lanes or temporarily stop all traffic during daytime to move equipment and materials.

    It is a major undertaking for the Delaware River Port Authority, the bistate agency that owns and runs the Commodore Barry, as well as the Walt Whitman, Ben Franklin, and Betsy Ross Bridges.

    As they move along the 13,912 feet of the bridge, industrial painting crews first sandblast layers of old paint and protective coatings that have built up over the years.

    They work from suspended platforms in enclosed spaces of canvas, with containment systems that capture the gritty material used to clean the steel, lead-based paint, and other grime.

    Although that up-in-the-air work is most visible to motorists, massive repairs are going on underneath, on the deck, and in the support structures below that, including the piers in the river.

    Crews are removing crumbling concrete and replacing it, repairing the drainage system, and installing 14,000 feet of new electrical conduits and wire, DRPA officials say.

    The rehab began in spring 2025, with replacement of the movable “zipper” barrier that separates lanes of bridge traffic. It was finished last summer.

    The bridge opened in 1974 after five years of construction.

    Earlier, people relied on ferries to cross from one state to another.

    In 1930, the Chester-Bridgeport Ferry began running, with a capacity of 60 cars per trip. Six years later, the ferry’s boats were added to the federal highway system, as moveable parts of U.S. Route 332.

  • Judges reinstate convictions for ‘Chester Trio,’ who say they were wrongly accused of woman’s 1997 murder

    Judges reinstate convictions for ‘Chester Trio,’ who say they were wrongly accused of woman’s 1997 murder

    The Pennsylvania Superior Court has reinstated the murder convictions of three men who were granted new trials after being imprisoned for nearly 25 years for a crime they say they did not commit.

    The men, known as the “Chester Trio,” were convicted in separate trials in the 1997 beating death of 70-year-old Henrietta Nickens in her Delaware County home and are serving life in prison.

    Derrick Chappell, 44, Morton Johnson, 46, and Samuel Grasty, 49, have insisted for decades that they were not responsible for the death of Nickens, whose battered body was found face down in the bedroom of her Chester home, her bed and walls stained with blood.

    In 2024, a Delaware County Court judge vacated the three men’s convictions, saying newly tested DNA from the crime scene cast doubt on their culpability and might have persuaded jurors to reach a different conclusion had they been presented with that evidence at trial.

    But late last month, a panel of Superior Court judges disagreed and reversed that outcome.

    In a 2-1 decision, the judges said that they did not consider the evidence presented by defense lawyers to be new, and that it therefore would not have changed jurors’ minds.

    Judges Maria McLaughlin and Megan Sullivan said in a 41-page opinion that the newly tested DNA — recovered from Nickens’ dress and bedsheet, a green jacket found at the scene, and items in the jacket’s pockets — did not offer any revelations because it matched an unknown DNA profile that had been presented to the jurors who decided the trio’s fate.

    “This same information was previously considered by all three separate fact-finders and rejected,” the judges said of the verdicts in three trials.

    During the trials, they said, jurors were told that the DNA found at the scene was not a match for any of the defendants.

    And they said the newly tested DNA did not alter the argument defense lawyers made at the earlier trials that someone other than the three men had broken into Nickens’ home, raped her, and beaten her to death.

    Prosecutors relied on witnesses who testified that they had overheard the men discussing their involvement with the crime.

    Their star witness, 15-year-old Richard McElwee, testified that he had acted as a lookout while the men robbed Nickens of $30. He pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in exchange for his testimony and was sentenced to six to 12 years in prison.

    The men’s lawyers have long contended that the prosecution’s witnesses were unreliable and that the investigation was flawed. And they emphasized the lack of a DNA match for the men.

    Paul Casteleiro, legal director of the nonprofit law center Centurion Ministries and Grasty’s attorney, said he was dismayed by the court’s decision and, along with attorneys for Chappell, has filed an appeal.

    “We’re going to fight this every way possible,” he said.

    A spokesperson for Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said the office appreciated the Superior Court’s affirmation of the jury verdicts.

    As the men continued to assert their innocence, the possibility that Nickens was raped and beaten by a single assailant was central to defense arguments during 2023 hearings in which they sought to overturn their convictions.

    In presentations before Delaware County Court Judge Mary Alice Brennan, the attorneys called on forensic experts who testified that the new tests showed a sample of Nickens’ blood and semen from the unknown assailant were deposited on her bedsheet at the same time, lending credence to their theory that she had been raped and beaten by the same person.

    Prosecutors rejected the contention that Nickens had been sexually assaulted, and suggested the semen found on the sheet and in her body was from an earlier consensual encounter.

    Brennan sided with the defense lawyers when she vacated the murder convictions the following year.

    Jack Stollsteimer, then the Delaware County district attorney, swiftly appealed that decision, leading to the Superior Court decision reinstating the convictions.

    Defense lawyers, in turn, have appealed that decision, saying the Superior Court panel had erred. Their arguments mirrored a strongly worded dissent by Superior Court President Judge Anne Lazarus, who said she believed that the recent DNA testing constituted a new finding — and that it was exculpatory.

    The evidence, she wrote, “does significantly more by excluding the petitioners from being present at all in Nickens’ home.”

    But her colleagues rejected that view in the majority opinion, which was sharply critical of the lower court’s decision to overturn the men’s convictions.

    That decision, they said, was based on “erroneous conclusions.”

    Because of that, the judges said, “we reverse.”

  • Rob Mac and Wrexham fans take over Subaru Park: ‘It’s just Philly but across the world’

    Rob Mac and Wrexham fans take over Subaru Park: ‘It’s just Philly but across the world’

    Subaru Park looked a tad different on Sunday morning. The navy blue, gold, and signal blue jerseys that would typically decorate the Union’s stadium were replaced by pools of red and white jerseys as it became a temporary home to Wrexham A.F.C.

    The football club based in Wrexham, Wales, finished its three-game United States tour in Chester, with a preseason friendly against Sunderland.

    Here’s everything you missed from the Wrexham takeover:

    Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo grabs a corner kick by Sunderland on Sunday.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

    The gang takes on Pongadelphia

    With one large pong cup remaining, the Always Sunny star Rob Mac, a Philly native and co-owner of Wrexham alongside Ryan Reynolds, grabbed a soccer ball, lined up his shot, let it go — and missed.

    “Right on line,” Mac said. “ I mean that was right on line.”

    Ahead of the game, Mac joined former Wrexham players Ben Tozer and Ben Foster on Team Wrexham Lager for Pongadelphia, a large beer pong game that was a nod to the Always Sunny Flipadelphia, competing against Team Garage Beer, which featured Eagles kicker Jake Elliott, Jim Cramer, and Fit Dad CEO.

    Surrounded by dozens of Wrexham fans, Team Wrexham Lager took the lead early and never looked back — the same couldn’t be said about Wrexham A.F.C., who suffered a 1-0 loss to Sunderland.

    But no matter the result, Sunday’s game was a full-circle moment for Mac, who took over the team in 2021. Before the game started, a prerecorded message was displayed on the jumbotron to all the fans in attendance.

    What’s it like to be a player in the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ fishbowl?

    “I got into football … it was when I first heard the opening song from the Sunderland ‘Til I Die docuseries,” Mac said. “When I heard it, I immediately thought of my grandfather who worked over at the shipyards, just over there.

    “And just like the shipyard workers and Sunderland, were the coalminers of Wrexham, were the construction workers who built Liberty Place and the Ben Franklin Bridge. What I love so much about this game is that you can be Sunderland, Wrexham, or Philly, or any working-class town in the entire world and still discover that same connection to each other through a game that mirrors our biggest ups and downs.”

    A passionate fanbase that travels

    Passionate. Caring. Friendly. Amazing. Family.

    These were the words used to describe Wrexham’s fanbase. And all of that was on display Sunday. Wrexham fans traveled from New York, Pittsburgh — and even as far as Okinawa, Japan — to watch the team in action.

    Tessa Michael, 46, joined the team on their three-game tour, flying from Japan to Tampa to New York to Pennsylvania to watch the team.

    “Like most American fans I got into it from watching Welcome to Wrexham,” Michael said. “Now, I’ve been out on every summer tour. I’ve been out to Wrexham. This is my second one now where I’ve done all three games.”

    Tessa Michael, 46, (second from right), of Okinawa, Japan, watches “Pongadelphia,” an oversized beer pong game before the Wrexham and Sunderland match.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

    After watching Welcome to Wrexham, a documentary following the club, which was released in 2022, she instantly fell in love with the fanbase.

    “Honestly it’s the people,” Michael said. “It’s the people of the town. They have great stories. They’re just like any town in America. You go to any sports town in Pennsylvania, in Florida, in Virginia or even out West, anywhere, they have the same struggles. They’ve dealt with the same things. They’re very relatable and the town is what keeps you a Wrexham fan.”

    To Rob Mac, the devout Eagles fan, there’s only one ‘football.’ To the rest of us, it’s called soccer.

    Michael has tried to bring the Wrexham fandom with her to Japan, her home for the last two years, but she’s found it to be more difficult with games airing between 11 p.m. and midnight — something she doesn’t seem to have an issue with.

    “I’m staying up and watching them,” Michael said.

    Wrexham to Philly crossover

    The Welcome to Wrexham documentary led to many new eyes on the team — making them one of the most popular teams in the English Football League, famously owned by both Mac and Reynolds.

    “It definitely helped this team,” said 31-year-old Chester native Evan Voicheck. “When you have two people that have an insane amount of money that are willing to put it into something they care about, then it helps.”

    Voicheck, who wore a Wrexham scarf, two red-and-white chains, and the Wrexham mascot around his neck, also became a fan through the Welcome to Wrexham documentary.

    The fanbase is so passionate, it reminds him of Philly sports fans.

    A Union and Wrexham fan shows their support during the Wrexham vs. Sunderland match on Sunday.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

    “Just like us in Philly,” Voicheck said. “Wrexham, from what I’ve seen, it’s just Philly but across the world. It’s like a family. Everybody here knows each other. And if they don’t, then they will at the end of the day.”

    Although Voicheck made the comparison to Philly sports fans, Buffalo native John Kania, 49, compared them to the Bills.

    “Being from Buffalo, we’re very similar to what Wrexham is,” Kania said. “It’s a small — used to be a much bigger city, and just kind of went down in the drain. We have the Bills, like Wrexham has their football team. There’s a natural connection there.”

    Rob McElhenney has changed his name to ‘Rob Mac’

    However, there is one glaring difference between Wrexham fans and American football fans.

    “Everyone here is so friendly and nice,” said Chad Bemiller, of Derry, Pa. “It’s almost like a college football atmosphere here. Everyone is happy here and I don’t think we have that here with the NFL.”

    Rob Mac and his wife, actress Kaitlin Olson (center), watch the match between Wrexham vs. Sunderland on Sunday.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

    Wrexham will start the season against Cardiff City on Aug. 17, as they prepare to make another push for the Premier League. And 14-year-old Logan Bemiller, who went to a Wrexham soccer camp in Long Island last year, has high hopes.

    “I think we can get a promotion,” Logan said.