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  • The Academy of Natural Sciences is closing its museum after nearly two centuries

    The Academy of Natural Sciences is closing its museum after nearly two centuries

    Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University is closing its museum after nearly two centuries in existence, citing financial pressures and dwindling attendance.

    The museum, which opened to the public in 1828, will cease operations at the end of the business day Sept. 30. Its last day open to the public with regular hours will be Sunday, Sept. 27, staff were notified on Tuesday.

    Visitorship at the museum had slipped in recent years, according to a statement signed by Drexel president Antonio Merlo and Academy board chair Suzanne Biemiller. Though the Academy had worked to rebuild attendance after the pandemic, “patterns of visitation and audience behavior changed in lasting ways, while the costs of operating the museum continued to rise,” the statement said.

    “Over time, it became clear that these were not temporary pressures, but fundamental changes in the economics of the Academy’s operational model, costs that have imperiled the Academy’s ability to discharge its overall mission and preserve its legacy.”

    Closing the current Parkway museum, was, therefore, “a difficult decision taken to concentrate resources on the Academy’s enduring scientific assets and research,” said the statement.

    The aim is ultimately to relocate the Academy’s collections and sell the building, which, is owned by the Academy, and has a lot of deferred maintenance needs, said a source close to the talks between Drexel and the Academy, who asked not to be identified.

    The Academy building on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 19th Street, “will continue to house collections and laboratories while we consider possible pathways forward that place the utmost priority on preservation and support of the collections, library, archives, and research initiatives,” a Drexel spokesperson said.

    Biemiller declined to comment on the potential relocation of the collections.

    The museum cut back its hours of operation from five days a week to three — Friday through Sunday — as of last Oct. 1 (though it added back Thursdays in July and August for its Dino-Mite Summer program).

    One of two shell sculptures placed on either side of the 19th Street entrance to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University on Aug. 17.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    Drexel said 27 of the Academy’s 80 employees — about a third — will be “impacted” by the closure. The university did not say whether that meant they would be laid off or transferred, and did not respond to a question on how much money the move will save.

    Simultaneously Tuesday, the university and science institute announced that Scott Cooper, Academy of Natural Sciences president and CEO for nearly nine years, is stepping down immediately.

    The Drexel and the Academy boards will “continue working together to identify an appropriate governance structure and interim and permanent leadership for the Academy,” the statement said.

    Former Comcast executive and U.S. Ambassador to Canada David L. Cohen, who has been helping to broker an agreement between Drexel and the Academy, said the two institutions are close to striking a deal on a “term sheet” on governance and finances. He has been tapped by Gov. Josh Shapiro to serve as a third-party facilitator in the process, the university said in its message.

    “We want to preserve the Academy,” he said, “but we also don’t want to jeopardize Drexel.”

    Collections and research will remain unaffected

    The Academy, which became affiliated with Drexel in 2011, is known to the general public for its museum that features a Dinosaur Hall with dinosaur bones and full-scale replicas. Its exhibitions have explored environmental issues and centered on the Academy’s collection of approximately 19 million specimens, as well as historically significant items associated with Thomas Jefferson and Lewis and Clark.

    It offers hands-on science experiences, like a “big-dig” fossil exhibit, and old-school dioramas of bison, bears, tigers, and other animals in their ecosystems. The museum’s current “Botany of Nations” show “reshape[s] the historic tale of Lewis & Clark through Indigenous perspectives,” says an exhibition description.

    Closure of the museum does not affect the rest of the institution, which builds and maintains the collections and conducts research through departments such as the Patrick Center for Environmental Research, all housed in the Parkway structure. All of that will remain there, the university said.

    Biemiller said that “the trustees of the Academy know that this news about the closure of the museum is going to be a blow to Philadelphians, and I would love for them to know we share their feelings of loss about this beloved space and place. And we also know that work remains to develop and fund a new strategic and operating model that will ensure that the Academy’s important centuries-long mission to understand the world and inspire us to care for it continues.”

    Asked whether the intent was to reopen a museum, Biemiller said: “I would hope so. That’s the goal. I think we have not given up on that part of our mission. The Academy is research, it is [specimens and library] collections, and it is public engagement.”

    While she said it was “incumbent upon us to find places and ways” for the museum to continue, what form it would take has not been determined.

    “It could be at the current location in a different configuration, it could be a new location, it could be imagined in different ways.”

    What’s important, she said, was the “fundamental goal to ensure that people have access to the natural world, can see these birds from North American or dinosaur bones and fossils the Academy scientists have collected and understand how they connect to the world.”

    “It’s a sad day to see it close,” said Franklin Institute president and CEO Larry Dubinski of the Academy museum, which is about a block from the institute. “It’s a profound loss for the community and for the city and the region. And it’s one of those days that I hope the community takes stock in. This is a city driven by arts and culture. We have a phenomenal city of arts and culture, unlike almost any other in the United States.”

    However, Dubinski said, the arts here are “underresourced and underfunded, and that does continue to challenge the ability to have a sustainable arts and culture community. I think today’s another wake-up call to that issue.”

    Dinosaur Hall at the Academy of Natural Sciences Aug. 5, 2026.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer

    Ongoing financial challenges at Drexel

    The museum closure comes amid financial challenges at Drexel University, which has been seeking to overcome a budget deficit, overhaul academic programs, change from a quarter-based calendar to semesters by fall 2027, and cope with another national dip in high school students beginning this year.

    Over about the last decade, the West Philadelphia university has lost about 20% of its enrollment. Last fall, Drexel saw a 19% drop in freshmen; numbers for this fall aren’t yet available, though the school is projecting a 16% jump in first-year students. And the school, which enrolled 20,868 undergraduate and graduate students in 2025-26, is projected to continue to run deficits through fiscal year 2028, according to a report from Moody’s, a global financial services company that releases credit ratings.

    Drexel’s new president must tackle a deficit and declining enrollment. He sees it as a ‘moment of reinvention.’

    Merlo, Drexel’s president, told The Inquirer in April that the school projected ending the year with a $20 million deficit, down from almost $40 million last year and $63 million in 2024. In May, the school said it had implemented $93 million of “permanent strategies” to deal with the “structural imbalance” and had identified $11 million more.

    The Academy has become a drain on the university, a source familiar with the situation, who was not authorized to speak about the matter and asked not to be identified, told The Inquirer in April.

    The university has provided the Academy with substantial support — $8,288,000 and $8,914,000 for operations in fiscal years 2025 and 2024, respectively, according to financial statements posted on the Academy website. These numbers include in-kind support that Drexel is providing to the Academy.

    Friction between the Academy and Drexel became public in April, The Inquirer reported, revealing Drexel’s wish to totally take over the Academy, or end the partnership.

    Uncertain long-term future for the Academy

    Talks are continuing between the two institutions, with the offices of Gov. Shapiro and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker involved, underscoring the importance of the Academy to both the city and the state.

    “I don’t want to lose the Academy on my watch, and neither does the mayor,” Shapiro told Cohen, according to Cohen, who has led dozens of meetings over the last eight months and created a draft proposal for an agreement between Drexel and the Academy.

    “Drexel and the Academy are working with my office, with Governor Shapiro’s office, and with Ambassador David L. Cohen, as the governor’s representative, to preserve the essential mission of the Academy,” Parker said in a statement.

    “We are working collaboratively toward the outcome we all seek for the City of Philadelphia.”

    The governor’s press office did not respond to The Inquirer’s request for comment.

    Cohen has long been a negotiator in many major city issues, formerly serving as chief of staff to former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell and leading the board of trustees at the University of Pennsylvania.

    “Together, we are advancing discussions focused on the Academy’s long-term future and identifying new opportunities to strengthen its scientific mission, ensure access to its world-renowned collections, expand public engagement in the natural sciences, and maintain the Academy’s enduring presence in Philadelphia,” the statement said.

    The Academy of Natural Sciences on the Parkway, Aug. 5, 2026.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer

    The Academy’s affiliation with Drexel is 15 years old. It announced a partnership agreement with Drexel in 2011 that blended the two organizations somewhat, but stopped short of being a full merger. The two groups maintain separate boards.

    According to a 2013 Drexel audit, the 2011 affiliation agreement between the two institutions stated that the Academy would retain its status as separate nonprofit organization, but that as of September 2012 it would become a Drexel subsidiary owned 100% by the university.

    A Drexel spokesperson said in April that the school had “invested a substantial amount annually in the Academy to maintain access to the Academy’s collections while we worked with the Academy and the community to identify a sustainable path to keep this resource in Philadelphia.”

    Cooper was named the Academy’s leader in 2017 after serving as vice president of collections, knowledge and engagement at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, Canada. Before that, he was director of museums at the Qatar Foundation in Doha, Qatar.

    From 2018: Inside Academy of Natural Sciences’ historic diorama renovation

    Under his leadership, the Academy “renewed its public and scientific mission,” Tuesday’s joint statement from Drexel and the Academy said. “It revitalized galleries, developed original exhibitions showcasing its collections and research, and advanced co-curatorial approaches that brought new voices into programs and interpretation.”

    Cooper, who will remain for a time as a consultant to the Academy, was not available for comment, a spokesperson said.

    “We’re sorry he’s leaving, but understand his decision,” said Biemiller.

    “It’s a competitive world that museums inhabit, and people make choices every single day,” Cooper told the Inquirer after his 2017 announcement. “We need to ensure that when they come to the Academy they are getting a reward for their investment of time.”

  • John Fetterman backs Donald Trump on data centers, blames China for ‘misinformation’ on AI

    U.S. Sen. John Fetterman said Monday he agreed with President Donald Trump’s call to “Let Data Reign” after the president made a lengthy post criticizing the widespread backlash to data centers.

    “There’s nothing more damaging to a Democrat than agreeing with Trump AND data centers — but what’s right is right,” said Fetterman, who has repeatedly angered members of his own party by backing Trump’s agenda.

    “We must win the war for AI supremacy over China. They foment the ‘anti’ argument through misinformation,” Fetterman said on X.

    The issue has increasingly taken center stage ahead of the midterm election, including in Pennsylvania. Fetterman, who does not face reelection until 2028, blamed China for fueling the public outcry against data center development in the U.S. as the two nations compete in the AI industry.

    Fetterman has remained supportive of development even as voter sentiment has turned sharply against the industry. Six in 10 likely Pennsylvania voters said they opposed the construction of data centers to support artificial intelligence in a poll released last week by The Inquirer, New York Times, and Siena University.

    Trump made similar arguments on his Truth Social platform earlier in the day, saying that China “could not be happier” with the political movement against data centers.

    “The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign,” Trump said.

    That Fetterman backed the president on data centers may not have come as a surprise to voters who’ve been following the senator’s moves.

    Two-thirds of Pennsylvania Democrats who are likely to vote this year believe Fetterman supports Trump too frequently, according to last week’s poll.

    Overall, 69% of Democratic voters have an unfavorable opinion of him, which could be trouble if he seeks reelection as a Democrat in 2028.

    And Democrats were also the voters most likely to oppose data centers — with 77% opposing their construction in the Pennsylvania poll.

    Fetterman’s post in support of data centers comes as the state’s other top Democrat, Gov. Josh Shapiro, has been backing away from his previous support.

    Shapiro issued an executive order two weeks ago enacting a host of restrictions for new projects. And the governor has traded attack ads with his Republican opponent Stacy Garrity over who has been more supportive of the industry.

    Fetterman, on the other hand, said in a post last week that China would benefit from an overreaction by U.S. politicians.

    “I reject the political pandering and hyperbole over data centers or AI doomsdaying,” he said.

  • Links exposed physician cell numbers and work schedules at health systems in Philly and nationwide

    Links exposed physician cell numbers and work schedules at health systems in Philly and nationwide

    Philadelphia-area health systems have been moving swiftly to pull offline web links that publicly revealed the daily work schedules and cell phone numbers of healthcare workers, information that hospitals traditionally do not make available online.

    The information for thousands of medical workers at Penn Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, ChristianaCare, and dozens of hospitals nationwide was published online through a popular scheduling service, QGenda.

    Experts said the online availability of internal information raises serious security and privacy concerns at a time when healthcare workers increasingly face the threat of workplace violence and doxing.

    The Philly-area health systems took down the schedules in late August after The Inquirer alerted them that the information was publicly available. Penn and CHOP did not respond to questions about whether they were aware the link was accessible without a log in.

    A spokesperson for ChristianaCare said the system “recently became aware” the pages were public, and “immediately” worked with the QGenda to “eliminate the vulnerability.”

    “We are not aware of any impact to caregivers, clinicians, patient care, or operations,” Christiana’s statement said. “Protecting the privacy and security of our caregivers, clinicians, patients, and information systems remains a top priority.”

    Other Philadelphia-area systems did not appear have publicly available links.

    The web pages managed by QGenda, an Atlanta-based workforce management software company, exposed months of schedules of physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers, and other hospital employees.

    The links don’t appear on Google searches, but anyone with access to basic AI chatbots could pull up live schedules showing the hours and assigned hospital service for on-call doctors and other providers.

    “That’s very concerning,” said Lane Kantor, a fourth-year medicine-pediatrics resident at Penn and CHOP, explaining that healthcare providers’ work “sometimes comes with patients who can harass and threaten us.”

    Kantor, a leader at Penn’s resident union, said the public information of providers who work with undocumented immigrants or in the areas of gender-affirming or abortion care was especially concerning.

    QGenda is used by more than 4,500 organizations, according to the company’s website, including many hospitals that use the software as a one-stop source of information about providers who are on-call and available for consult at any given moment.

    It is not clear how the schedules became public, how long the information was available online, to what extent hospital administrators knew the information was not safeguarded with a log in requirement, or whether anyone — let alone someone wishing to inflict harm — accessed the information.

    QGenda did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

    The Hearst-owned company offers “QuickLinks” to allow “any staff member without a QGenda account” to easily access the schedule, according to the company’s website. The site also notes that “on-call schedules may contain sensitive information” and that there is risk of “unauthorized access or data breaches” without proper safeguards.

    The platform also enables healthcare systems to restrict access, “so that only devices on your practice’s secure network can access schedule data on the public-facing landing page,” the company’s site says.

    Health systems in the Philadelphia area and across the country have taken steps in recent years to minimize doctors’ publicly available information in response to the growing politicization of many health services, especially those involving diversity, equity and inclusion, abortion, and gender-affirming care.

    CHOP, for example, removed provider names from the webpage of its gender and sexual development program in 2022 as the clinic received threats because it provides gender-affirming care for teens. But information on clinic’s providers was available through the now-removed public schedule.

    Security experts say releasing public work times and locations alongside cell numbers leaves providers vulnerable to being targeted by dissatisfied patients, or individuals who disapprove of the type of medicine a doctor practices.

    “This is really alarming,” said Will Owen, a spokesperson for Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, a New York-based privacy nonprofit. “Hospitals must scrutinize the platforms they work with in their data collection to minimize information that can be weaponized.”

    Live hospital schedules exposed

    After receiving a confidential tip that three East Coast health systems had public QGenda web pages, The Inquirer identified public landing pages for nearly 50 health systems or hospitals nationwide, including Veterans Affairs hospitals, using OpenAI’s Codex.

    For some, like Penn and CHOP, the landing pages for the entire system were public. For other hospitals, schedules for only one department or service surfaced.

    Some of the United States’ largest and most prestigious institutions had public QGenda links, including Johns Hopkins Medicine and the University of California-San Francisco.

    The Inquirer attempted to reach out to each hospital or system for which it found schedules before publication. At least 10, including Hopkins and UCSF, have removed the public link completely or added a password requirement.

    A spokesperson for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles said it was “unaware” that its anesthesia department’s schedule was public. The schedule has since been removed.

    The call schedule for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and dozens of hospitals nationwide, was available online through a public QGenda link. CHOP updated the web page’s permissions to require a login after being alerted by The Inquirer.Screenshot

    CHOP informed hospital staff last week about security updates made to QGenda “out of an abundance of caution.”

    “We are taking a precautionary step to update access to the QGenda platform used to display CHOP on-call schedules,” CHOP said in an email to staff obtained by The Inquirer.

    QGenda’s platform does not contain patient information, and CHOP “continually assess our systems, processes, and technologies with an eye toward privacy, security, and operational needs,” a CHOP spokesperson said in a statement.

    Penn said it uses QGenda to support communication among care teams.

    “We continually monitor the risk environment surrounding online information and, as it continues to evolve, we are adding controls that both preserve appropriate protection and provide reliable access for those who need the information to coordinate patient care,” Penn said in a statement.

    Privacy concerns rattle doctors

    Healthcare workers have been reporting increased rates of online harassment and workplace violence since the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The problem has become so pronounced that Colorado, for example, enacted in 2021 an anti-doxing law that made it a crime to share the personal information of health workers and their families online.

    An American Medical Association policy from 2024 says the organization supports data privacy and anti-doxing laws to prevent threat and harassment.

    Gennadiy Ryklin, a hospitalist at ChristianaCare, was surprised to learn a colleague had done a work-hour analysis for ChristianaCare’s attending union using an AI model.

    “I asked him, ‘well, how’d you do that without having Claude get access to our private schedules?’ And, well, it’s not private, there’s a public link here,” Ryklin said.

    Privacy and data security are principles are drilled into physicians through policies, procedures, and training courses, Ryklin said.

    “We understand that patient information in the wrong hands can cause a lot of harm,” the doctor said. “Where’s that same concern for us?”

    A June shooting that killed one IT intern and left another injured in ChristianaCare’s Wilmington Hospital underscored for Ryklin the threat of violence within health systems. Law enforcement charged a third intern in connection to the incident.

    Suspect in custody after shooting inside Wilmington Hospital leaves 1 dead, another injured

    He reached out to hospital administrators and last week the hospital began removing the public web pages.

    Employee privacy exists in a legal gray area, with protections often dependent on institutional policies, said Matthew Bodie, a law professor at the University of Minnesota.

    Publicly sharing schedules and cell numbers does “feel invasive,” Bodie said, “especially if employees didn’t know about it.”

    The combination of cell numbers and work schedules could be used to cause harm, whether by patients, politically motivated individuals, or stalkers, said Sharona Hoffman, a co-director of the Law-Medicine Center at Case Western Reserve University.

    The lack of any sweeping federal employee privacy requirements makes the online availability of the information, “not surprising though very disturbing,” the professor said.

  • ICE’s policy to detain nearly all undocumented immigrants is unlawful, a Philly-based federal appeals court ruled

    ICE’s policy to detain nearly all undocumented immigrants is unlawful, a Philly-based federal appeals court ruled

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s controversial policy mandating detention for nearly all undocumented immigrants is unlawful, a split Philadelphia-based federal appeals court ruled Friday.

    In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that ICE violated the federal immigration law and the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by holding undocumented immigrants who have been in the country for years in detention without a hearing. The policy, enacted last summer, has been a key part of efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration efforts to ramp up deportations across the country.

    The ruling will take immediate effect in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

    Undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United States for decades “are entitled to due process rights beyond those provided to noncitizens at the border,” Circuit Judge Patty Shwartz wrote in the majority opinion.

    The government has a legitimate interest in keeping dangerous noncitizens in custody, the judge said, but a “neutral decisionmaker” should make that assessment on a case-by-case basis — rather than a practice of detaining all undocumented immigrants indefinitely.

    Circuit Judge Theodore A. McKee, who was appointed by Bill Clinton, joined the opinion written by Schwartz, who was appointed by Barack Obama.

    In a dissent, Circuit Judge Jennifer L. Mascott said the ruling was inconsistent with federal immigration law.

    “A bond hearing focused on flight risk and dangerousness would generate irrelevant facts, not material to individual determinations,” wrote Mascott, who was appointed by Trump.

    The Justice Department disagrees with the ruling and believes its position will “ultimately be vindicated,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

    “This is a huge win for due process,” said Rachel Rutter, a lawyer and executive director of Project Libertad, a Phoenixville-based nonprofit that provides free legal and social services for migrant youths facing deportation. “The Third Circuit has joined a chorus of other circuit courts striking down the Trump administration’s inhumane practice of mandatory detention of people who have spent years building lives in the U.S.”

    The decision “reaffirms decades of case law stating that these people have the right to challenge their detention through a bond hearing,” Rutter said.

    Nine other circuit courts have issued rulings on mandatory detention, and seven found the policy unlawful. The Justice Department petitioned the Supreme Court in June, asking the high court to resolve a split it said was “disrupting the orderly administration of immigration law.”

    The mandatory detention policy was rolled out by the Trump administration last year, and has led to an avalanche of lawsuits by immigrants who challenged their incarceration and demanded a bond hearing.

    These requests, known as habeas corpus petitions, were rare not long ago, but since the policy change, they’ve dominated the docket in Philadelphia’s federal courthouse. More than 1,100 such petitions have been filed since September. Between 2020 and 2024, by contrast, only 11 such suits were filed.

    Philadelphia’s federal judges have granted these requests at near-universal rates, often chastising ICE for continuing the practice despite the overwhelming judicial pushback.

    The Third Circuit case involved two undocumented immigrants who have been in the United States for over a decade and were picked up by ICE after the mandatory detention policy took effect. Neither has a criminal history. Federal judges in Philadelphia ordered their release, finding their detention was unlawful.

    Christopher Casazza, a Philadelphia-based immigration lawyer who represented one of the immigrants at the center of the case, called the court’s decision a “great ruling that will help thousands of people.”

    The benefit for immigrants, he said, would come primarily in two forms: Anyone still being detained in the region after being arrested under the Trump administration policy can now apply for a bond hearing. And going forward, anyone who is arrested will be able to ask an immigration judge for bond.

    That doesn’t guarantee release, Casazza said, but it provides people the opportunity to make a case to an immigration judge, as had been the practice before the new policy took effect after Trump began his second term.

    “We’re going back to the rule of law that’s been the case for 30 years,” he said.

  • A federal judge suggested actions by DA Larry Krasner’s office in a controversial case could amount to crimes

    A federal judge suggested actions by DA Larry Krasner’s office in a controversial case could amount to crimes

    A federal judge on Thursday said actions city prosecutors took in a controversial post-conviction case could ultimately amount to perjury, conspiracy, or obstruction of justice — a stunning suggestion that inserted the threat of potential criminal consequences into a matter that has already roiled District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office.

    U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond did not say whom he was referring to when he made that remark during an unusual hearing in his courtroom. But he raised the issue while an assistant district attorney was testifying about conversations she had with Krasner about the case, in which she said Krasner told her to “protect the office” and, by extension, violate her ethical obligations as a lawyer.

    “If what they say is true,” Diamond said, “potential wrongdoing abounds.”

    Diamond, as a judge, does not have the ability to file criminal charges himself. But his remarks from the bench were another new development in the case, which had already featured a host of explosive accusations about how prosecutors have behaved while determining whether a man’s murder conviction should be overturned.

    And it was not the only notable moment during Thursday’s hearing.

    During a full day of testimony, three prosecutors made a series of striking statements about the interoffice drama behind the case. And some of their assertions directly accused Krasner of questionable conduct.

    Assistant District Attorney Katherine Ernst said Krasner repeatedly told her and others to protect the office and avoid additional scrutiny from the courts. She and colleague Steven Wildberger also said Krasner threatened “consequences” — which they believed to be potential firings — for those who resisted his preferred method of handling it.

    Krasner also rejected their advice to ask the state attorney general’s office to take the lead on the matter, they said, because, according to Ernst, Krasner “hated” everyone in that office and said “everybody in that [office] is Nazis.”

    And all three prosecutors said Krasner and another supervisor, Matthew Stiegler, tried to persuade them to effectively find a way to protect Stiegler’s reputation at the expense of a prosecutor he supervised, Jaclyn Mason.

    As Ernst recalled it, Stiegler said he wanted to make it seem as if any mistakes in the case were “100% [Mason’s] fault and 0% his fault.”

    In Ernst’s view, the events demonstrated that Krasner cared “more about the reputation of the office than competently handling this case.”

    Wildberger said he was so disillusioned that he stepped down as a leader of the law division to move to a different unit because “I have lost faith in the administration of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.”

    The testimony from Ernst, Wildberger, and their colleague David Napiorski served as an extended rebuke of the office where all three still work. Ernst at one point acknowledged that some of her relationships in the office have become “icy.”

    Ernst and Wildberger accused Krasner in court documents last month of some of the conduct they testified about Thursday.

    Krasner’s office responded by saying their filings were unauthorized and “ill-informed.” He also said that he had taken steps to alleviate their concerns with how the case was being handled, and that they were in no position to comment on behalf of his office.

    The prosecution at issue is the conviction of Dennis Johnson for second-degree murder. In 2009, a jury found Johnson guilty of fatally shooting Kenyatta Smith during a robbery outside a North Philadelphia convenience store two years earlier. He was sentenced to life in prison.

    Johnson appealed, in part because he said his trial attorney was ineffective. And in 2022, Mason filed court documents agreeing with one of his post-conviction petitions and saying Johnson’s conviction should be overturned.

    But this spring, Ernst and some of her colleagues reviewed the case and took the opposite view, saying they had discovered clear and important errors in Mason’s brief. They then took the unusual step of filing another brief to ask that Mason’s recommendation be withdrawn.

    In the days after that development, Mason resigned, a decision she later said was an attempt to protect herself from what she viewed as a plot to turn her into a scapegoat.

    Ernst and her colleagues denied that they were seeking to blame Mason. And in the weeks after Mason’s resignation, Ernst said, she and other supervisors got into an extended series of arguments with Krasner over how to handle the situation — which is what formed the basis of much of their testimony Thursday.

    Most of the disputes concerned whether the office should recuse itself from handling Johnson’s case at all. Ernst said she repeatedly tried to get Krasner to let the attorney general’s office take over the case because the internal discussions had veered into areas of self-interest rather than the merits of the case.

    Krasner consistently refused, she said. And Wildberger said Krasner once grew “apoplectic” when they attempted to memorialize their concerns in writing, because that would make their memos and emails potentially discoverable in future litigation.

    Wildberger said Krasner threatened “consequences” if they continued to resist his preferred method of proceeding, which was to hire an outside lawyer to handle the matter on the office’s behalf.

    But neither Wildberger nor Ernst saw that path as appropriate, and last month both signed on to a brief before Diamond saying they could no longer participate in the case because of their ongoing debates with Krasner.

    Diamond paused Thursday’s hearing in the middle of Napiorski’s testimony. He plans to continue the proceedings next week.

    He has not ordered Krasner to testify.

    Krasner said it would violate ethical rules to comment while the hearing remains ongoing.

    “As much as I would like to speak right now,” he said, “my comments will have to come at a later time.”

  • South Jersey Freedom Fuel stations racked up big fines before being promoted by White House

    South Jersey Freedom Fuel stations racked up big fines before being promoted by White House

    Six South Jersey gas stations that the White House promoted in July, touting below-market fuel prices, have racked up environmental violations with the state dating back to 2023.

    The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection issued close to $430,000 in fines in May to operators who run 17 gas stations, including the six Freedom Fuel locations, for the violations accrued over the years, according to an administrative order first reported by Politico and obtained by The Inquirer. The fines were issued before these stations rebranded to Freedom Fuel.

    The Freedom Fuel stations, which made their debut this summer, accrued more than $202,000 in fines, according to department records. All 17 stations are owned by asset manager Blue Owl Capital and operated by Cherry Hill developer Shamikh Kazmi and his brother Syed Kazmi.

    Blue Owl and the Kazmi brothers could not be reached for comment.

    The owner-operators have requested a hearing, according to DEP spokesperson Larry Hajna, but no date had been set as of Wednesday.

    The violations include failing to properly register underground storage tanks, failing to provide overfill prevention for some tanks, failing to cut and cap lines that lead to out-of-service tank systems, and violating delivery bans.

    A Freedom Fuel location at 6801 Tilton Rd. in Egg Harbor was issued a fine of $50,000, the maximum penalty for the violation. The location received four deliveries in November 2023, despite having been banned from doing so because it did not properly register its storage tank.

    In its justification for the fine, the department described the operator’s actions as a “deliberate and knowing act,” noting it was a major violation.

    The Kazmi brothers have been embroiled in at least two lawsuits related to previous gas station ventures, including a 2021 trademark dispute with BP American Inc. and BP Products North America Inc. Additionally, Petroleum Marketing Group Inc., a fuel distribution company, accused the brothers of stealing thousands of gallons of gas from the company.

    City won’t shut down Philly Freedom Fuel station

    The Freedom Fuel station on Bustleton Ave. in Philadelphia.Dana Munro / staff

    The Freedom Fuel Network expanded to 29 locations earlier this month, but one Philly station was nearly shut down by the city.

    The network’s Bustleton Avenue station — also linked to the Kazmi brothers — failed a license renewal inspection at the end of July that could have forced its closure. But the owners remedied the issue and can continue to operate the station, according to a city spokesperson.

    More than two months after having been loudly promoted by the White House and President Donald Trump, Freedom Fuel’s owners have remained silent about their discount gas operation.

    Baltimore Ravens assistant coach Randy Brown and former commodities trader Yoni Gontownik signed the company’s certificate of formation in Delaware and have not spoken publicly about the highly touted enterprise.

    Freedom Fuel launched with prices 40 to 50 cents a gallon cheaper than nearby stations, frustrating competitors and confusing experts who follow the notoriously low-margin business.

    “With every new site, we’re driving down gas prices at the pump for more communities,” reads a message on the network’s website.

    In recent weeks, prices across Freedom Fuel locations have risen closer to other discount locations.

    Take the location on Dreshertown Road in Upper Dublin Township, which was promoted in a video shared by the White House. When it launched at the beginning of July, the station sold gas for $3.47 a gallon — a nod to Trump being the 47th president. But as of Tuesday, the station was selling gas for $3.89 a gallon, about a dime cheaper than a nearby Citgo station and slightly more than Sam’s Club, according to gas-tracking website GasBuddy.

    The average cost of a gallon of gas in Philadelphia on Tuesday was $4.15, according to AAA. That was up more than 28% from this time last year, when the cost averaged $3.23.

  • Top Trump official blasts Larry Krasner over comments about blowing up White House ballroom

    Top Trump official blasts Larry Krasner over comments about blowing up White House ballroom

    Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner drew a rebuke Wednesday from Attorney General Todd Blanche after he said President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom, which is currently under construction, should be blown up and pieces of debris sold as paperweights.

    Krasner, a progressive Democrat who has centered much of his political identity on opposing Trump, made the initial comments Tuesday during an event at the President’s House Site, George Washington’s Philadelphia home. The Trump administration this year removed educational panels about slavery from the site and replaced them with an exhibit that experts say sanitizes history.

    According to NBC Philadelphia, the district attorney said during his remarks at the annual Slavery Commiseration ceremony on Tuesday that “there is a beautiful time coming [when] the memorial will be here.”

    “Let me tell you what will not be here: There will not be a ballroom,” Krasner said, referring to the ballroom and military bunker that Trump wants to replace the demolished East Wing of the White House. “What is going to be happening is that, in about 10 or 15 years … I’m gonna have a paperweight sitting on my desk. You know what that paperweight’s going to be? It’s gonna be a piece of the ballroom after we all blow it up.”

    Krasner paused, then added: “In an official ceremony, just so we’re clear. In an official ceremony, we’re gonna blow it up, and we’re gonna give the taxpayers their money back by selling all the pieces as paperweights.”

    The remarks by the Philadelphia district attorney, a third-term prosecutor who has recently flirted with running for higher office, were the latest in a long line of provocative comments he has made about Trump and other GOP officials. Earlier this year, the White House press secretary and Republican members of Congress ripped Krasner after he called federal immigration enforcement agents “wannabe Nazis” and said Trump’s administration is orchestrating a “fascist takeover” of the country.

    And last month, Krasner rallied with protesters in Washington and slammed House Republicans after they subpoenaed documents from his office related to the city’s immigration policies.

    Video of Krasner speaking at the event in Independence National Historical Park rocketed around social media this week, drawing condemnation from prominent supporters of the president, some of whom said his comments were inciting violence.

    The White House’s “rapid response” account wrote Tuesday on X that Krasner’s comments were “sick” and that “Democrats are the party of violence.”

    Attorney General Todd Blanche listens as President Donald Trump speaks at the David Mack Center for Training and Intelligence, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026, in Garden City, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)Julia Demaree Nikhinson

    On Wednesday, Blanche, who was confirmed earlier this month, appeared on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom to discuss a range of issues. Host Dana Perino asked him about Krasner’s comments and the timeline for the controversial ballroom, which had been briefly on hold amid litigation contending the Trump administration needs congressional authorization for the project. The Supreme Court this week allowed construction to proceed while justices consider the case.

    “The ballroom is being built,” Blanche said. “And it’s disgusting that a district attorney in Philadelphia, who, by the way, has a city with its own problems, is so focused on what the president is doing in the White House.”

    In an interview Wednesday, Krasner said he stands by his initial comments about the ballroom “100%” because “when you demolish a building, you do it with explosives and/or wrecking balls.”

    Krasner added that he sees Blanche’s opposition to his rhetoric at the Slavery Commiseration event as part of the Trump administration’s broader project of stripping historical sites like the President’s House of references to slavery.

    “I support the permanent existence of this historically important memorial in Philadelphia. I know that may be disturbing to white supremacists, but too bad,” Krasner said. “Philly is going to stand up for its history, and Philly understands that being an elected official is not about making everybody your friend. It’s about having the right enemies.”

  • ICE inked a $9 million contract with a Montco firearms manufacturer — and is spending $17 million at Philly area businesses

    ICE inked a $9 million contract with a Montco firearms manufacturer — and is spending $17 million at Philly area businesses

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has awarded more than $17 million in contracts, mostly to businesses, in the Philadelphia area since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, with more than half of that money going to a firearms manufacturer in Montgomery County.

    The local data, compiled by The Appeal, highlights the Trump administration’s spending related to raids and enforcement operations as the agency carries out the president’s mass deportation agenda, including its purchases of weaponry.

    Geissele Automatics, a firearms manufacturer based in North Wales, has the largest and perhaps most consequential contract with ICE in the Philadelphia area.

    The company — which specializes in selling high-grade, AR-15-style semiautomatic weapons and parts to consumers, law enforcement agencies, and the military — entered a contract with ICE for nearly $9.1 million in September 2025, according to federal data.

    The payment was for the delivery of “precision long guns and accessories” to support ICE agents as well as the agency’s tactical programs, the data show. It’s unclear where the equipment is being used.

    Neither the company’s founder, Bill Geissele, nor a representative from the company’s sales team returned a request for comment.

    Nationwide, ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection has dramatically increased spending on firearms in Trump’s second term, according to a report earlier this year from U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.), leading to outcry from Democratic officials and voters who say the agency has become a militarized force with little oversight or accountability.

    That outrage continued this month when Democrats voiced their opposition to ICE’s plan to provide ICE officers with electric shock gloves. Schiff’s oversight report, released earlier this year, called ICE and CBP’s contracts for weaponry a “misuse of taxpayer dollars to maximally arm federal immigration agents.”

    A spokesperson for Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that $17 million in contracts in the Philadelphia region is “simply not accurate” and “conflates nationwide ICE contracts” with spending in the area.

    “ICE contracts with vendors across the country to support its law enforcement mission. The existence of a federal contract, a vendor located in a particular region, or a nationwide contract vehicle does not mean that the full value of that contract was spent in Philadelphia,” the spokesperson said

    “Reporting should accurately distinguish between nationwide contract values, vendor locations, places of performance, and actual federal expenditures before presenting a misleading figure as fact,” they added.

    The details on the contracts come as residents and advocates in the Philadelphia region and nationwide are continuing to remain vigilant of ICE’s presence in their communities. Earlier this year, ICE struck deals to retrofit warehouses in Pennsylvania and New Jersey into mass detention centers before later backtracking after residents and leaders in both states voiced opposition.

    Bill Geissele — who hosts the manufacturer’s podcast Shots Fired in Anger —has donated to Republican elected officials in Pennsylvania, including U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick and U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser. Geissele’s contract, while not the company’s first with the federal government, is by far the most significant contract between the gun manufacturer and the federal agency on record.

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    In August 2024 for example, under former President Joe Biden’s administration, Geissele Automatics entered a $12,224 contract with ICE for equipment to support a “sniper sustainment” course, according to data compiled by The Appeal.

    By 2025, when Trump returned to the White House and significantly ramped up ICE operations nationwide, those contracts ballooned.

    On top of the $9.1 million contract that year, Geissele was paid $27,936 to provide training rifles and magazines for the agency’s Office of Firearms and Tactical Programs, as well as $16,544 for rifles and accessories required for testing and evaluation.

    ICE also took its spending across the river to Burlington County in New Jersey, where it awarded George J. Petronis Enterprises Inc., a gun shop, slightly more than $505,000 since the start of Trump’s second term for training ammunition and ink cartridges for 9mm training ammo to support ICE’s Office of Firearms and Tactical Programs in Fort Benning, Ga.

    George J. Petronis Enterprises Inc. did not return an email requesting comment.

    The Appeal’s dashboard also shows a contract for rental of a firing range between ICE and the county’s fire academy, located in Conshohocken, that has existed since at least 2021. But Montgomery County officials said Friday that the contract is with the broader Department of Homeland Security — which ICE is a part of — and not with the federal immigration enforcement agency directly.

    County Commissioner Jamila Winder, a Democrat, said that the academy is used by local, state, and federal agencies for law enforcement training but “this facility is not available for training for those engaged in immigration enforcement activities.”

    Other contracts highlighted by The Appeal dashboard may also be directly tied to DHS, instead of ICE.

    Earlier this year, Montgomery County’s Board of Commissioners passed a resolution restricting federal immigration enforcement from using county property or resources for noncriminal investigations.

    Other local contracts with ICE include a roughly $50,000 contract with the Philadelphia Parking Authority for rental spaces for 16 vehicles and more than $78,000 to Ricoh USA Inc., an office technology company headquartered in Chester County that was also used under the Biden administration. Coast2Coast Shredding LLC, which is headquartered in Montgomery County but shreds documents in California, received more than $94,000 from ICE.

  • WHYY’s ‘Fresh Air’ host Terry Gross is at the center of catfish-style scams targeting stars and media personalities

    WHYY’s ‘Fresh Air’ host Terry Gross is at the center of catfish-style scams targeting stars and media personalities

    Comedy writer Bruce Vilanch was enamored.

    He had received an email from WHYY’s Terry Gross, herself, asking to be interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air.

    “It was so articulate and so like her,” the writer told the Hollywood Reporter. She laid out talking points and a run of show, according to Vilanch. “It felt real.”

    But when Vilanch jumped on their scheduled video call, Gross was nowhere to be found. It finally dawned on Vilanch: He had been scammed. And he was not alone.

    A recent string of scams and catfish-style attempts targeting stars and other media personalities are using Philly’s own Gross as the bait. Vilanch says he was the latest victim.

    “If somebody claiming to be Terry Gross contacts you for an interview, it is a scam,” the comedian said in a Facebook post last week. He encouraged other potential victims to contact NPR and WHYY.

    Online forums reveal a number of recent catfishing attempts involving someone purporting to be Gross.

    “These impersonation scams are increasingly common,” said Siwei Lyu, digital media forensics expert and director of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. “Authors are a particularly attractive target because an unexpected invitation from a prominent host or podcast can seem both flattering and plausible.”

    It is unclear if one person is behind all of the Fresh Air-centered fraud or if multiple impostors are responsible. Lyu says scam scripts and techniques are easily shared, adapted, and copied, “so the same premise can be used by many unrelated actors.”

    On a Facebook group for authors, a writer posted in July about being approached by Fresh Air and asked to donate money. Months earlier, psychologist Steven Pinker, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature, said he was similarly approached by “Terry Gross” via a fake Gmail account as part of a scam targeting authors.

    In Vilanch’s case, he said “Gross” asked him for money to support NPR’s nonprofit public radio efforts amid government cuts. He told the Hollywood Reporter that he thought the request was odd, but that enough credibility within the email chain had been established. So he went for it.

    From there, the scammers prepped him for Fresh Air, sending interview questions and scheduling their virtual interview. When the big day arrived, Vilanch was greeted by two video boxes: a screen that read “NPR,” and one with a man who identified himself as “Mike,” the new interviewer. When Vilanch eventually bailed, he sent a final message, according to the Hollywood Reporter: “Whoever you are, I hope you enjoy the paltry sum that I sent.”

    Then he reached out to NPR and WHYY. WHYY confirmed it was aware of the scams and investigating.

    “WHYY, NPR and Fresh Air with Terry Gross & Tonya Mosley are aware of fraudulent emails in which individuals have impersonated Terry and members of the Fresh Air team attempting to deceive potential guests,” the news organization said in a statement. “As the article in The Hollywood Reporter mentions, other programs and podcasts have also been the subject of these scams.”

    The Fresh Air situation is one of several podcast/radio scams targeting Hollywood. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Broadway actor Seth Rudetsky was targeted by a scammer posing as Nikki Glaser who solicited a podcast interview in exchange for a fee. Later, Rudetsky also received an invitation from someone supposedly working on Amy Poehler’s podcast, Good Hang.

    In addition to money, some of the scams also target the victim’s social media accounts or login credentials.

    Sportswriter Jemele Hill said someone once lied and claimed to be booking her for a new Facebook show hosted by Rob Dyrdek of Ridiculousness. She handed over her Facebook credentials. It took weeks to get them back, she wrote in an X post. “It’s a very sophisticated operation.”

    In April, figure skater and personality Adam Rippon told a story on his podcast about being similarly catfished by someone purporting to be on Katie Couric’s podcast via Facebook Live. The follow-through scammed him out of his own Facebook credentials.

    “I know I made a grave error,” he said. His Facebook account was ultimately suspended.

    A spokesperson for WHYY added that Fresh Air cohost Tonya Mosley has been the named catfish in similar scams, imploring would-be guests to send money in exchange for a radio slot. As a nonprofit organization, WHYY says, it never requests payment for interviews, nor does it pay guests to be interviewed on any of its programs.

    “Any communication asking a prospective guest to pay a fee — or offering payment for an interview while claiming to represent WHYY or Fresh Air — should be treated as suspicious,” the statement said.

    It is unclear if any of the scams are connected. What they all have in common, though, is their apparent leverage of a celebrity figure along with heavy use of AI to capture the alleged host’s voice and flatter victims with deep-cut knowledge about their work. Lyu said generative AI’s rise in popularity and usage makes hoaxes like this even easier, allowing scammers to quickly personalize messages and operate at a greater scale.

    “The technology is new, but the underlying strategy is classic social engineering,” Lyu said. “Establish trust through a recognizable identity, then use that trust to obtain money or account credentials.”

    WHYY said it is concerned about its own brand and credibility being used in this case.

    “We take the misuse of our journalists’ and programs’ names seriously and are concerned that scammers are exploiting the trust audiences and guests place in Fresh Air,” WHYY said. “We are working with law enforcement to address the situation.”

  • Human error, gaps in FAA oversight seen as possible factors in last year’s Northeast Philly medical jet crash

    Human error, gaps in FAA oversight seen as possible factors in last year’s Northeast Philly medical jet crash

    A series of human and oversight failings is being eyed by federal investigators as possible contributors to the fatal crash of a medical jet in Northeast Philadelphia last year, according to documents filed by the National Transportation Safety Board.

    The federal agency does not identify a cause of the Jan. 31, 2025, crash of the Mexican-owned medical transport that crashed near the Roosevelt Mall just after takeoff, killing all six people onboard and two on the ground.

    But among the factors it has found during a 1½-year probe are possibly fatigued pilots who had never flown in or out of the airport, an improper setting on the Learjet tail’s elevators, and a lack of Federal Aviation Administration safety checks on a workhorse foreign-owned carrier.

    Images released by the NTSB as part of their investigation show the scene along Cottman Ave. where a medical plane that crashed, in Northeast Philadelphia on Jan 31, 2025.Courtesy of NTSB

    Upon impact, the 1982 Learjet 55 erupted into flames that spread to homes and cars in the heavily populated area. At least 24 people were reported injured. The jet took off just after 6 p.m. that Friday and within a minute had begun a swift nosedive into the sidewalk near Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard.

    On board were 11-year-old Valentina Guzmán Murillo, who had just received care at Shriners Children’s Philadelphia before returning home to Mexico; her mother; a pilot; a copilot; a flight physician; and a paramedic.

    Investigators going through the debris on Cottman Avenue Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in Philadelphia. A medical jet with six people on board crashed Friday evening near the Roosevelt Mall in Northeast Philadelphia.Charles Fox / Staff Photographer

    Potentially fatigued pilots and potential training weaknesses

    As investigators try to piece together what might have gone wrong in the cockpit, they are focused on the two pilots.

    One factor that could have played a role was their workload in the days leading to the fatal crash. They had flown multi-leg trips all four days before the accident.

    NTSB investigators also looked into the effects of “spatial disorientation,” a phenomenon pilots experience when their perception of motion and relation to the Earth’s surface becomes mismatched.

    During the ascent from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, the pilots rolled the plane to the right by 12 degrees. Air traffic controllers then communicated with the pilots, and the pilots responded just as the plane began to rotate back to zero degrees. According to the NTSB, within 10 seconds of their last communication with the air traffic tower, the plane continued rolling to the left at a rapid speed until the plane stopped climbing.

    “Pilots who are properly trained and current in instrument flying can normally use instrument information to overcome misleading sensations, however, even well-trained pilots experience sensory illusions from time to time,” NTSB investigators wrote.

    When there is a delay, it can take a few seconds or more for a pilot to regain spatial awareness. But during that delay, a pilot may make inappropriate control inputs that place an airplane in “an unrecoverable trajectory.”

    In interviews with the pilots’ most recent training instructors at Flight Safety International in Tucson, Ariz., the pilot in command demonstrated a “tendency to react before thinking through a problem,” the report says. The instructor noted that the same pilot would select modes of operation when the autopilot system was off, something the pilot in command is supposed to delegate to the second-in-command pilot.

    “That allows the pilot to concentrate on actually flying the aircraft. So what happens is, if the autopilot’s off and the pilot flying goes to select modes of operation, it’s distracting him from flying the aircraft, which typically results in deviations of altitudes, speeds, and headings,” said the flight instructor, who was not identified in the report.

    Images released by the NTSB as part of their investigation show the wreckage of a medical plane that crashed in Northeast Philadelphia on Jan 31, 2025.Courtesy of NTSB

    The second-in-command pilot’s training report also showed that his lack of recent experience in flying a similar-model Learjet “was evident.”

    A spokesperson for Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, the Learjet 55’s operator, could not be immediately reached Wednesday for comment on the new release of documents.

    Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB investigator, wondered if the low visibility that night, made more hazardous by overcast and lightly choppy weather conditions, could have exacerbated a phenomenon called somatogravic illusion.

    That happens when rapid acceleration or deceleration, or other changes in gravity, can cause pilots to falsely believe a plane is pitching up or down when it is not.

    “When you look at those four things — the low cloud ceiling, nighttime conditions, high velocity descent, less than a minute after takeoff — that could be consistent with spatial disorientation,” he said. Add in other distractions, like changing radio frequencies, and even experienced pilots have lost their bearings while relying solely on their instruments to navigate, Guzzetti said.

    Images released by the NTSB as part of their investigation show the medical plane that crashed in Northeast Philadelphia on Jan 31, 2025.Courtesy of NTSB

    Investigators search the jet

    The extreme impact, and a debris field scattered across more than a dozen city blocks and a shopping center, has hampered the investigation. Nearly all parts of the plane, from its engines to the mechanical and electrical systems that controlled the jet, were found in damaged condition.

    Even so, the NTSB has reported that the jet’s pitch trim, which would have aided the angle of flight and airspeed, was not in optimal position. That meant the pilots would have had to exert up to 50 pounds of force against the controls during takeoff and 12 pounds for level flight, investigators said.

    Arthur Alan Wolk, a Philadelphia-based aviation attorney and pilot, was dubious. “They blame the pilot for the trim,” he said. “I don’t think you can rely on that record” because the impact makes interpreting the damaged parts difficult.

    Wolk also said the pilot could have corrected for this by hitting an electrical trim switch. “Could it have happened? Yes. Is it a factor? In my opinion, I don’t think so.”

    The investigation devoted extensive research into tanks filled with oxygen and other gases the medical jet had on board, which could have led to a fire or impaired the flight crew. Investigators said cameras that caught the airplane’s descent did not show trailing smoke or any visible internal fire.

    In all, 11 gas cylinders were recovered with various states of damage. In previous incidents, investigators noted, flight crews had become incapacitated by carbon dioxide exposure. The Learjet’s carbon dioxide tank was found with its valve stem fractured, though the NTSB did not say if it believed there had been a leak prior to the crash.

    Jet Rescue Air Ambulance told the NTSB that the company had no record of the raft for this jet and believed it was installed by a crew member without authorization.

    Despite the NTSB stating in March 2025 that the cockpit voice recorder had not worked in years, investigators were able to repair its analog tape and listen to the audio. But the recordings were of a prior landing.

    The report did not say why the device failed to record the final takeoff. This jet was not required to carry or maintain a cockpit voice recorder, though it was listed on the preflight checklist.

    The NTSB also examined the Learjet’s logbooks and maintenance reports and found they were largely in order, though they could not determine if any new maintenance was done prior to the final flight.

    From left Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, Sean Patrick Duffy, United States Secretary of Transportation turning to acknowledge Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s work at press conference. These three and others tour the scene of medical jet crash, Cottman Avenue on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. The plane crashed Friday evening, Jan 31, 2025.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

    Lack of FAA oversight

    A major piece of the investigation rests on the FAA’s Dallas International Field Office, which oversaw the U.S. operations of the medical jet operator.

    Because the operator flew unscheduled, non-U.S. registered flights, FAA personnel said they were limited to performing “ramp checks,” or unannounced inspections of the aircraft and crew on the ground, as a safety measure. But when investigators searched the FAA’s safety assurance system for any record of ramp checks, they found none prior to the fatal crash.

    Asked by NTSB investigators if there was a requirement to perform ramp checks or other surveillance on operators like Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, the primary inspector stated: “Oh, I’m not sure.”

    The primary inspector continued that there was no surveillance plan in place before the time of the crash and that FAA staff in charge of Jet Rescue Air Ambulance’s operations had no knowledge of the operator’s previous crashes. The operator experienced a fatal accident in November 2012 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a nonfatal accident in February 2019 in Toluca, Mexico, and a fatal accident in November 2023 in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

    Jet Rescue Air Ambulance was not on the FAA’s Heightened Surveillance List, which would have flagged the operator for additional inspections.

    Unscheduled operators like Jet Rescue Air Ambulance are required to notify the Dallas FAA field office before operating in the United States, which the FAA would use to determine when inspections are needed. But Jet Rescue Air Ambulance did not notify the office of its operations before the accident flight, according to the NTSB findings.

    The NTSB release of evidence comes as federal probers complete their investigation phase and prepare their final report, followed by a review process that can take up to six months.