Towering 80 feet above the Schuylkill and shaped by its colossal concrete arches, the Manayunk Bridge is a key connector in the region’s trail system and a link between Philadelphia and its suburban neighbor, Lower Merion Township.
While the trail is beloved by city dwellers and suburbanites alike, a mid-trail traffic pattern switch for bikers and pedestrians has confused some users and prompted one reader to write in, asking The Inquirer to investigate. According to city and township officials, the traffic flow switch-up midway across the bridge is no accident.
The Manayunk Bridge connects Manayunk to Bala Cynwyd. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The Manayunk Bridge connects the 80-plus mile Schuylkill River Trail with the Cynwyd Heritage Trail, a 2-mile multiuse path that runs along an unused segment of SEPTA tracks in Lower Merion. Much of the trail was once SEPTA’s Ivy Ridge line, which connected Philadelphia with Manayunk via Bala Cynwyd, but was truncated in the 1980s due to poor track conditions. The trail’s completion in 2011, and extension in recent years, has marked a major transformation for the previously underutilized corridor of Bala Cynwyd.
Penn Valley resident J.J. Cutuli enjoys running and biking with his kids on the Cynwyd Trail.
“We really love the pedestrian bridge. We really love the trail,” Cutuli said.
But halfway across the Manayunk Bridge, “there’s this curious little thing that happens,” Cutuli said. The trail’s traffic pattern switches. The bicyclist side becomes the pedestrian side, and vice versa.
“I’m kind of a rule-follower. One of my kids is a rule-follower, and he asked me that question. He was like, ‘What side should I be on? Should I be on this side? Should I be on that side? What are the rules of the road?’” Cutuli said.
Unable to summon an answer himself, Cutuli wrote into Curious Lower Merion, The Inquirer’s forum for answering questions about the Lower Merion community.
Chris Leswing, Lower Merion’s director of building and planning, said the traffic pattern switch was a deliberate choice to slow bikers traversing the downward slope from Lower Merion to Manayunk.
It’s “easy to speed through areas where people may linger and watch the river” and the “idea was that bikers would need to be aware of the pavement markings to check their speeds,” Leswing said in an email.
The city concurred.
The switching of the bike and pedestrian zones was designed to slow bikes down and allow users to “experience both sides of the bridge and the amazing views,” Ra’Chelle Rogers, spokesperson for Philadelphia’s parks and recreation department, said in an email.
The traffic pattern switch was in response to “what was heard from the public and stakeholders,” according to Rogers.
Are trail users following the rules? Not completely.
On one Reddit post, cyclists said the traffic pattern change and accompanying signage “makes zero sense” and “could not be more Looney Toons.” Most cyclists and pedestrians just stay to the right, commenters said.
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.
Finn Fremstad left Colorado in late July on a monthlong trip to Swarthmore College. Courtesy of Finn Fremstad
As carloads of students and their families make their way to campuses across the nation, one Swarthmore College freshman has taken a different approach to the journey.
Finn Fremstad spent the past month biking from his hometown of Fort Collins, Colo., to Swarthmore, where he’s slated to start classes next week. A longtime cyclist, the 18-year-old planned the 2,000-mile journey after some of his other summer plans fell through and decided he wanted to see the nation and meet people he wouldn’t otherwise.
Six local communities — the boroughs of Media, Rose Valley, Rutledge, and Swarthmore, along with Nether Providence and Upper Providence Townships — are hosting a meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Strath Haven Middle School to discuss a proposed joint regional emergency medical services authority. Here’s what that could look like.
Longtime Springfield resident, Springfield School District board member, and Springfield High School hockey coach Phillip Eastman died over the weekend in a vehicle crash. The 68-year-old was remembered as a mentor who helped student athletes “develop teamwork, responsibility, perseverance, and other lifelong skills.”
Media resident Florence Lauria was one of 30 artists featured recently at the second annual Older Artists of PA Showcase. Lauria was recognized in the “artist over 60 living with dementia” category for her watercolor of flowers in a vase. She was the only Delaware County resident selected, and at 100, the oldest, the Daily Times reports.
The Walgreens at 51 Baltimore Pike in Glen Mills will permanently close next Thursday. The next closest locations are in Aston and Brookhaven.
A pair of sisters recently gave birth just one day apart at Riddle Hospital, delivering down the hall from one another ahead of their due dates, People magazine reports.
As measles cases continue to climb in the state — resulting in Pennsylvania’s first related deaths in 35 years — several local elementary schools fell under the 95% measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rate among kindergarteners in 2025, a figure needed to reach so-called herd immunity. Rose Tree Elementary School had a 91.8% rate, St. Mary Magdalen School was at 93.8%, and the School in Rose Valley had 89.3%. Here’s a look at local vaccination rates.
Strath Haven High School earned high marks in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of the best public high schools in the state, landing at No. 17. The school came in No. 578 in the nation.
🥾 Full Moon Hike: Adults and teens can hit the trail under a full moon. ⏰ Thursday, Aug. 27, 7:30-9:30 p.m. 💵 $12.75-$20 📍 Tyler Arboretum, Media
🪴 Pokémon Shadow Box Terrarium: Create a mini living ecosystem fit for Pikachu. ⏰ Saturday, Aug. 29, 5 p.m. 💵 $65 📍 Nimble Craft, Media
👨👩👧 Intro to Genealogy Workshop: Learn the basics about tracing your ancestry. Registration is required. ⏰ Tuesday, Sept. 1, 10-11:30 a.m. 💵 Free 📍 Middletown Free Library, Media
🗞️ What other Greater Media residents are reading this week:
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
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.
A coyote killed by Cheltenham police last week was rabid, the police department announced Wednesday.
Cheltenham police responded to reports of an aggressive coyote in the Wyncote area but were initially unable to find the animal, until someone reported a coyote attacking a resident and their dog at Curtis Dog Park on Friday.
Cheltenham Township Police Chief Richard Schaffer said the animal was “humanely dispatched” but declined to say how.
Police are advising township residents who have had contact with a coyote to seek medical or veterinary care.
The incident marks the fifth rabies case in Montgomery County this year, according to the state’s rabies tracking dashboard, and the first in a coyote.
The other four cases were identified in two raccoons, a skunk, and a cat.
Cheltenham officers will continue to work with the Pennsylvania Game Commission to monitor the area, and advised residents who see wildlife acting erratically to call 911.
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.
Vanguard has sold a Tredyffrin Township office complex for $17 million — with no plans of moving out.
Last month, the Malvern-based investment firm sold its 22-acre property at 1041 W. Valley Rd. to another Malvern-based company, E Kahn Development, according to Chester County property records.
But Vanguard plans to continue leasing the 323,000-square-foot space, which sits just off U.S. Route 202, about eight miles from its main campus in Malvern. Hundreds of Vanguard IT employees work at the complex, called the Robert A. DiStefano (RAD) Technology Center.
Vanguard’s RAD complex in Tredyffrin Township has been sold for $17 million, but Vanguard will continue to lease the space for its IT operations.Courtesy Vanguard
The sale and lease-back “reflects Vanguard’s focus on providing work environments that support and inspire our crew as they remain focused on our end investors,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “Vanguard crew will continue to work at the RAD Technology Center through at least 2028, and there are no immediate plans to move crew who work there today.”
Eli Kahn, president and founder of E Kahn Development, said in an email that his company has “no immediate plans for the buildings.”
Vanguard employs about 20,000 employees, 12,000 of whom are based in Malvern. About 600 IT staffers work at RAD, Vanguard’s only complex with a Wayne address.
The company is expanding its IT staff worldwide, including at a new office in India, but has said its U.S. workforce will not be impacted.
Three Willistown Township properties that span a combined 27 acres and have two homes with their own pools are being privately listed for sale.
Known as Sugartown Springs Farm, the properties include a 7,559-square-foot, four-bedroom main house that dates back to the mid-1700s. It has an in-ground pool and a pond.
Another home, this one with six bedrooms and spanning over 6,000 square feet, also has its own pool. Elsewhere on the property, there’s a two-story timber-frame barn with a glass atrium that was once used as an art gallery for Andrew Wyeth’s paintings.
A larger swath of Rock Hill Farm could be preserved under a potential new deal between Willistown Township and the developer looking to build luxury homes on a portion of the 222-acre property.
A proposed settlement agreement between the parties could see upward of 75% of the land put under a conservation easement, while decreasing the number of residential subdivisions, something one township supervisor called a “good ‘best-case scenario.’”
The first phase of SEPTA’s bus network overhaul began Sunday, impacting 30 routes, including along the Lancaster Avenue corridor. Now sure how it affects you? Check out The Inquirer’s interactive map.
A developer’s plans to build a small-scale data center at the Shoppes at Coventry got pushback at Monday night’s meeting, when North Coventry supervisors voted to oppose it. The shopping center’s owner is seeking a special exception to allow for the nearly 86,000-square-foot center to move ahead, the Daily Local News reports.
Lincoln University is suing Lower Oxford Township for what it says is an unconstitutional and racially discriminatory event ordinance that unfairly targets the historically Black school. The township passed the ordinance nearly a year after a shooting during the school’s homecoming left one person dead and several others injured.
Fantasy-themed bookstore Leaves & Lore opened in West Chester on Saturday, and so many people showed up and made purchases that the owners had to close early on Sunday.
It was a tough week for West Chester’s East Side Little League, which lost its opening game and a closely contested follow-up elimination game in the Little League World Series. But making it to Williamsport was still “a dream come true” for members of the team, who also got to hang with pros during the MLB Classic.
A new 42-townhome community could be coming to the former Burger King site at 410 S. High St. after West Chester’s borough council gave preliminary approval for a proposed development there.
Friday is the last day for public comment regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed cleanup plan of the former National Vulcanized Fiber site. Despite community pushback, Kennett Square’s council is considering allowing housing and business development on the 22-acre parcel once it’s remediated.
Women’s boutique Stile by Per Lei is opening its newest location today at Gateway Shopping Center in Wayne.
🏫 Schools Briefing
Coatesville Area School District is partnering with Union Community Care to open the county’s first school-based community health center, which will offer year-round care, including physicals, medication management, and vaccines.
A handful of local football players, including from Malvern Prep, and Coatesville Area Senior, Downingtown East, and Owen J. Roberts High Schools, are among the ones to watch this season, according to coaches, scouts, and recruiting services.
Several Chester County schools earned high marks in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of the best public high schools in Pennsylvania. Downingtown STEM Academy took the top spot in the county, ranking second in the state, followed by Unionville High School (No. 10), Conestoga High School (No. 13), and Great Valley High School (No. 23). Downingtown STEM also ranked highly nationally, taking the No. 19 spot.
Victory Brewing has again teamed up with Longwood Gardens for its citrus shandy, a 5.5% ABV beer with notes of grapefruit and kumquat, available at the Kennett Square mainstay and in Victory taprooms.
🍺 West Chester TAPS: Today is the last installment of the borough-wide happy hour for the season. ⏰ Wednesday, Aug. 26, 5-7 p.m. 💵 Pay as you go 📍 Throughout West Chester
📚 Literary Festival: This inaugural event includes a ticketed community book exchange, local authors, vendors, crafts, and food trucks. ⏰ Saturday, Aug. 29, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 💵 Pay as you go, $17.85 for the book exchange 📍 Downingtown Vintage
🪕 Roots and Blues Fest: The Cris Jacobs Band headlines this third annual show. ⏰ Saturday, Aug. 29, 11 a.m. 💵 $40 in advance, $50 at the door, free for kids 12 and under 📍 Anson B. Nixon Park, Kennett Square
🎶 Yesterday’s Gone: This Fleetwood Mac tribute will take place outdoors on a rooftop. ⏰ Saturday, Aug. 29, 7-9 p.m. 💵 $22 for children, $30 for adults 📍 Kennett parking garage roof
The home has a separate wing for the primary suite and a tree house-inspired porch.Realtour Pilot | Courtesy of Sharon Dienno and Gary Mercer Sr./LPT Realty
This four-bedroom Spring City home has an airy open-concept living area, complete with vaulted ceilings and walls of windows overlooking nature. But its living quarters set it apart — literally. A first floor primary suite is accessed via its own raised bridge, while there are two themed rooms downstairs, complete with a grotto. They’re located behind a hidden doorway and through a secret passage off a living area with a second kitchen. A fourth bedroom, a suite, is upstairs, along with office space. Out back, there’s a tree house-inspired porch off the deck. There’s an open house tomorrow from 5 to 7 p.m.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
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.
Cherry Hill native Dominic Sessa returns to the silver screen in Tony, where he plays a 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain, years before he became an acclaimed chef, writer, and television personality.
If you don’t recognize Sessa’s name from his Critics’ Choice Award-winning breakout role as a troubled prep school student in the 2023 comedic drama The Holdovers, perhaps you do from his ranking as one of Cherry Hill’s most-searched Wikipedia celebrities.
In Tony, Sessa nails a young Bourdain’s “fascination with people who seem more authentic than he feels,” Inquirer food reporter Michael Klein writes in his review of the film, which was widely released last weekend.
A new food access program spearheaded by a South Jersey pastor is transporting residents from the food desert of Camden to Cherry Hill, where they can better source fresh, affordable, and healthy food.
B Positive Plasma, a plasma donation center network that started in Cherry Hill and now operates a dozen locations across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, is on track to see a record year as area residents sell their blood plasma to try to make ends meet.
After a Cherry Hill resident’s dog got into a quarrel with a rabid skunk earlier this month, Camden County officials are advising residents to avoid direct contact with wildlife and other unfamiliar animals and to make sure pets are up to date on vaccinations.
A store manager of Cherry Hill’s Dick’s Sporting Goods disputed reports that the chain was placing official LeBron James Sixers jerseys behind the counter because of theft.
Cherry Hill resident Megan Paier, a volunteer docent at the Philadelphia Zoo, helped bring viral French musician Plumes to serenade the site’s tortoises by DMing him on social media.
As the global outdoor TV market steadily grows, Soccer Post Cherry Hill event manager Zach Kades shared his tips for selecting the right gear to get in on the trend.
🏫 Schools Briefing
New Jersey’s nearly 600 public schools will implement a cell phone-free policy under a new state law this school year. Many will be catching up to Cherry Hill Public Schools, which voluntarily enacted its own cell phone ban two years ago — though this month, the district will vote on whether to amend its existing policy. Here’s what could change.
Cherry Hill remains a stalwart in local Jewish deli culture as another traditional Jewish delicatessen shutters in Philadelphia, The Inquirer’s Michael Klein notes.
Zushi Dozo has some of the best omakase in the state, according to a recent ranking from BestofNJ.com. While the East Marlton Pike eatery doesn’t offer traditional omakase, the outlet lauds its platter selections, including nigiri offerings.
🎳 Things to Do
🎶 Twilight Concert Series: The final concert of the season features the South Jersey Pops Orchestra. ⏰ Thursday, Aug. 27, 8 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Cooper River Park Jack Curtis Stadium
🛼 Endless Summer Glow Skate: This skate night is glow-themed. ⏰ Friday, Aug. 28, 6:30-9:30 p.m. 💵 $14 admission 📍 Hot Wheelz
🍿 Night at the Museum: The library’s outdoor movie night features a screening of the 2006 Ben Stiller fantasy film. ⏰ Friday, Aug. 28, 7:30-10 p.m. (rain date: Aug. 29) 💵 Free 📍 Friendship Grove at the Cherry Hill Public Library
This three-bedroom, three-full-bathroom house built in 1925 features an open-concept layout with oak flooring, a walk-in pantry with a dual-zone wine fridge, and a back deck. The Barlow neighborhood home, which is under contract, also includes a finished basement.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
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.
An event ordinance passed earlier this month by Lower Oxford Township unfairly targets Lincoln University and is unconstitutional and racially discriminatory, the historically Black school said in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.
“The ordinance’s disparate negative impact on the Lincoln University community is the result of deliberate racial gerrymandering — or other illicit gerrymandering — by the Defendants,” the school’s lawyers argued in the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District.
The suit notes that the township’s three supervisors are white and that the population of the township nestled in farm fields with about 5,000 residents is “overwhelmingly white” except for Lincoln’s community.
The ordinance seeks to regulate events with more than 500 people, requires a permitting process, allows the township to revoke permits without a hearing for a violation, and threatens to prohibit an entity from applying for another permit for two years if a violation occurs. In the permit request, applicants will be asked to address security, parking and traffic impact, number of attendees, planned activities, and other elements. Violations will result in fines of up to $1,000, the ordinance states.
Lower Oxford Township supervisors meet and discuss a potential event ordinance to address problems with large events held on Lincoln University’s campus, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025.Steven M. Falk / For The Inquirer
The rural Chester County township began looking at enacting the ordinance following the shooting last October of seven people, one of whom died, on Lincoln’s campus during homecoming festivities. Township officials also had cited ongoing concerns about traffic, trash on neighbors’ lawns, and other disturbances, including crimes, during large events on the 422-acre campus, where 1,650 students are enrolled. The township previously had passed a parking ordinance in response to access issues created during large events at Lincoln.
Deborah Kinney, township secretary/treasurer and codes enforcement officer, said Tuesday she had not been aware of the lawsuit until The Inquirer called. She declined immediate comment.
Lincoln president Brenda A. Allen said the university is seeking to stop the township from depriving members of its community of their First Amendment rights to free speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. The ordinance, she said, is attempting to restrict the university from events that are essential to its academic mission.
“Lower Oxford Township’s ordinance is a targeted, unconstitutional overreach that threatens the hallowed traditions ingrained in the university’s foundation,” Allen said in a statement Tuesday. “Lincoln University will remain on the front lines of protecting, defending, and advancing our community as we take this matter seriously.”
In its ordinance, the township states that “activities associated with special events can constitute a hazard to the public’s health, safety and welfare and that these activities can also create a public nuisance when unregulated.”
Venus Boston, Lincoln general counsel, speaks to the Lower Oxford Township supervisors in December 2025 as they discuss a potential event ordinance to address issues with large events held on Lincoln University’s campus, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025.Steven M. Falk / For The Inquirer
The township’s supervisors, the ordinance states, have “determined that the impact of special events that involve large numbers of attendees on roads and other infrastructure within the Township represents both a traffic hazard and an impediment to the delivery of emergency services to residents of the Township and therefore constitutes a nuisance.”
The shootings that spurred the township to begin considering an ordinance occurred Oct. 25, when thousands gathered on campus for Lincoln’s homecoming. Emergency personnel had to use all-terrain vehicles to transport patients on stretchers because ambulances could not access the campus, given how many cars were parked around the venue, township officials said at the time.
Investigators are on the scene outside Lincoln University’s International Cultural Center Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, where one person was killed and several others were shot the night before during homecoming weekend celebrations.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
While the ordinance applies to other township events, the school’s lawyers argue that it targets Lincoln and specifically names examples of special events subject to regulation as “College homecoming or other similar events, college, university or school commencement, graduation or baccalaureate.”
“It was enacted by the township with the deliberate purpose and with the calculated effect of targeting Lincoln,” the school’s lawyers argued. “Specifically, the ordinance was enacted to interfere with Lincoln’s academic mission and with the speech and other academic activities of the Individual Plaintiffs and their academic colleagues.”
The ordinance targets events with over 500 people “with the knowledge that the Lincoln University community is at all times several times in excess of that threshold” and “with the knowledge that very few — if any — of the events outside of Lincoln would exceed that threshold,” the lawyers said.
The ordinance, the school’s lawyers argued, violates Lincoln’s constitutional rights by imposing restrictions on its speech and “its ability to serve as a marketplace of ideas.” The ordinance also violates the First Amendment right to assembly because it treats events of more than 500 people as a nuisance, the lawyers said. And the lawyers said it infringes on religious freedom by naming baccalaureates, which they said “in general — and baccalaureates at Lincoln in particular — are religious services.”
They objected, too, that the township has sole discretion over whether an event is subject to the ordinance and over whether it should be permitted, and that no objective standards exist. And they disputed the township’s intention to require event holders to have liability insurance subject to approval by the township solicitor.
“The ordinance also makes the sponsor of a special event liable for actions of people over whom it has no control,” the school’s lawyers argued.
The ordinance states that the sponsor “shall be responsible to the township for damages sustained to township property caused by participants in the special event.”
Founded in 1854, Lincoln is known as the first degree-granting historically Black university in the nation. The first presidents of both Nigeria and Ghana are Lincoln graduates, as are Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and poet Langston Hughes.
The school hasreceived $45 million in gifts fromphilanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos. Allen, Lincoln’s president, who in 2020 had survived an internal battle to oust her and had her contract extended to 2030, was named a top leader of a historically Black college by a national nonprofitin 2021.
Township officials had been expressing concerns about events at Lincoln for a while before the homecoming shootings brought renewed attention.
In spring 2023, two women were shot and injured on Lincoln’s campus during its annual Spring Fling event. In 2022, a student was fatally stabbed by the sister of a student during a fight inside a dorm. During an on-campus dance in 2018, 15 students were taken to the hospital following a brawl in which a security officer was assaulted. In 2016, there was a robbery and shooting on Lincoln’s campus following homecoming. And in 2015, Lincoln tightened security after shots were fired in a dorm.
At the homecoming last October, Ju’Juan Jeffers, 20, of Wilmington, was killed, and six others, ages 20 to 25, including a student, were also shot. Jeffers’ mother subsequently filed a lawsuit against the school, and three Wilmington men — William Sells, 20; Makaveli Valera, 19; and Karon Rollins, 17 — were charged with second-degree murder, conspiracy, and related crimes in connection with the shootings.
“We have had meetings with people at Lincoln,” Township Supervisor Noel Roy said last December. “They’ve been somewhat reluctant to do what needs to be done to try and control the situation.”
Allen at that time acknowledged that changes were needed around large events as well as better collaboration with the township.
“We want to come together because we are a part of this community as well,” Venus Boston, Lincoln’s general counsel, said during a supervisors meeting last December.
Before its Spring Fling in April, the university announced new safety plans for large events, including no outdoor events after dusk, screening guests, and allowing only one registered guest per student.
East Side Little League, a 12-and-under baseball team from West Chester, saw its run in Williamsport, Pa., end in a heartbreaker.
On Monday, East Side fell 6-5 to Phenix City Youth Baseball LL and was eliminated from the Little League World Series. Powered by its stellar hitting, East Side came out to an early 5-0 lead. However, a big third inning from Phenix City led the Alabama team’s comeback.
Trailing 5-0 with two outs in the third, Phenix City left fielder Cooper Champion stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and hit a two-run single to right field. Phenix City added two runs before the inning was capped off by an RBI single from pitcher Kinley Rasmus that tied the score.
Rasmus is just the 25th girl to appear in a Little League World Series game.
The game stayed tied at 5-5 through the regulation six innings until Phenix City catcher Brooks Cameron’s single scored Urijah Berklite with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.
For East Side, Cole Warner scored a run in the first inning before hitting a two-run homer to center field in the third. After starting the game at center field, Warner moved to the mound in the fourth inning. He allowed just one run while collecting six strikeouts to close out the game.
East Side outfielder Ryan Hennessey, the son of coach Bob Hennessey, scored two runs and had a two-run double before Phenix City stormed back.
The kids from East Side Little League in West Chester made the trip to Williamsport.Courtesy of Katherine Cowperthwait
The loss marks East Side’s second of the tournament in as many appearances. The team, which battled out of the loser’s bracket in the Pennsylvania state tournament, gained significant support from the Greater Philadelphia area after cruising through the Mid-Atlantic regionals. In West Chester, watch parties, filled with East Side alumni and fans, sprung up around the borough.
In Williamsport, the East Side players were able to interact and befriend peers from all over the world — even bunking with Japan’s 12-and-under team. They also had the chance to meet players from the Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves before the Little League World Series MLB Classic.
“It’s just a dream come true, to be honest,” Bob Hennessey previously told The Inquirer. “That’s every Little Leaguer’s dream. It was my dream growing up to see these boys get here and get to experience it. Nothing but amazing.”
A member of the Lower Merion School District Board of Directors embezzled more than $50,000 from the marketing agency where she works, prosecutors said Monday, and spent the money on family vacations, clothing, and a videographer to film a friend’s son’s bar mitzvah.
Jennifer Rivera, 41, has been charged with theft, receiving stolen property, and related crimes in the theft from SMB Team, a Bala Cynwyd firm that helps lawyers advertise to prospective clients.
She was released on $25,000 unsecured bail. Rivera could not be reached for comment, and there was no indication she had hired an attorney.
Representatives of SMB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rivera used a company credit card issued to her to make the purchases, which began in October, when she had a dress and a bathroom organizer shipped to her home, according to the affidavit of probable cause for her arrest.
Jennifer Rivera (second from left) paid for her family’s vacations using a credit card given to her by her employer, SMB Team, which Montgomery County prosecutors say was a violation of company policy.Denali Sagner / Staff
In a statement Monday, Lower Merion school board president Kerry Sautner emphasized that none of the criminal charges Rivera faces are related to the district or its finances.
“As of this time, I have not had an opportunity to discuss Ms. Rivera’s future on the School Board with her,” Sauter said. “While it is important to note that anyone charged with a crime remains innocent until proven guilty, we must also consider the potential impact of this situation on our Board.”
Her theft from her employer was uncovered in May, when a senior vice president at SMB found that she had used the company card to pay a coworker nearly $1,400 through Venmo, the affidavit said.
When questioned, prosecutors said, she lied and said it was a business expense.
But her coworker, who owns a private videography business, told company officials the payment was for a “last-minute” bar mitzvah gig he agreed to do after the original videographer canceled. He said Rivera told him he had paid her from her personal account, but he realized afterward she had used company money.
He said he knew it was “shady” and was “not sure how she could be so blatantly untruthful,” according to the affidavit.
The coworker said Rivera also used the company card to fly him and his wife to another employee’s wedding, where he was hired to take photos. He said Rivera assured him she was allowed to use the company card for that, according to the affidavit.
After being presented with evidence about the bar mitzvah payment, Rivera said she may have used the wrong Venmo account by mistake. She “became distraught” and said the accusations put her in a “dark place,” the affidavit said.
Rivera was placed on administrative leave, but asked to be fired, saying “the waiting is adding stress,” the affidavit said.
As SMB continued to investigate, the company learned that Rivera had also spent more than $25,000 for airline travel and family vacations, according to the affidavit.
At the time of the investigation, Rivera had booked a forthcoming trip to the Bahamas that was worth more than $9,000 in credit card travel points.
Rivera is scheduled to appear before a district judge for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 2.
Abington Township commissioners are set to vote Thursday on a contract to replace the police department’s controversial Flock Safety surveillance system.
The new, five-year contract with Axon Enterprise would cost $6,576.50 per year and includes two cameras with accessories, installation fees, two licenses for Axon’s automated license plate recognition tool, and warranties for accidental damage or vandalism.
Both Flock and Axon systems aim to store photos of every vehicle that passes their cameras, along with the plate number and other details, for a set period of time. The systems also allow police to search camera data from other jurisdictions, which Abington police say helps solve crimes.
But Flock’s network design and vulnerabilities are leading Abington police to let their Flock contracts expire over data security concerns after the department’s searches on the company’s nationwide network leaked, along with searches by other police departments across the country.
“Flock had told us before that we own the data. Somehow, that turned out not to be the case,” Lt. Joe Blei said Monday.
Abington police will still have access to Flock’s network until the township’s second Flock contract expires in 2028, Blei said, and Abington cannot terminate it early. Its other contract expired this month.
“It’s the terms and conditions,” Blei said. “We can’t get out of it.”
Blei said the department fulfilled The Inquirer’s request for Abington’s Flock contracts last week, but the newspaper still had not received those records from the township by Monday. The township’s Right-to-Know officer did not return calls and emails.
The Axon cameras are set to arrive in mid-September, if approved, and access to Axon’s ALPR tool would begin on Oct. 15, according to the pending contract.
How Abington plans to use new ALPR cameras
The new Axon camera system, known as Axon Outpost, would not connect to Flock’s network. That is part of the appeal, Blei said: “Axon has a much clearer structure for how that data continues to belong to us.”
Axon puts more limits on data sharing so that Abington’s data are not duplicated in the systems of law enforcement agencies that Abington shares information with, Blei said. One of the ways that Abington’s Flock data had leaked was through records requests to police in other states.
The new cameras would also integrate well with the department’s existing Axon technology, officers wrote in an agenda memo for Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting.
Although the Outpost system has a livestream feature, Abington police will not be monitoring feeds in real time, Blei said. Instead, police will search data associated with a specific criminal investigation, as the department has done with Flock.
The department would check officers’ Axon searches randomly, Blei said, and Abington is considering instituting scheduled audits in addition to the random checks.
Oversight is critical, Abington officer says
Police departments in New York, Arizona, and Colorado in recent months have begun swapping Flock for Axon, a company that already supplies body cameras and Tasers for many departments.
But civil liberties groups have continued to raise concerns that without adequate regulation, other systems like Axon still present privacy risks.
Abington will prevent overreach by continuing to log, audit, and limit the department’s searches, Blei said.
“We are not doing generalized surveillance,” he said. “We are only accessing information for very specific reasons.”
The American Civil Liberties Union has criticized the data retention settings on some ALPR systems because of how much information long-term storage could reveal about private citizens, and recommends a 48-hour cap for mass data retention.
Abington police are about to implement a data retention limit of 30 days, Blei said, for data that are not being used in a criminal investigation.
While storing large quantities of accurate information has raised concerns, collecting erroneous data has also caused problems: An analysis by a California police department found that alerts Flock sent their officers in 2023 and 2024 about vehicles that were stolen or used in a crime were wrong more than 70% of the time.
Faulty ALPR readings can lead to unrelated cars getting flagged repeatedly, as happened in the California department. In Florida, a woman spent almost two weeks in jail this year after a Flock camera wrongly tied her car to a fatal hit-and-run.
Abington does not yet have accuracy data from Axon, Blei said, but township police would not act on a camera notification without manually checking the photo of the plate themselves.
“These cameras are not probable cause for us,” Blei said.
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