Shania Bennett was the director of youth engagement in Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration until she resigned in May. The mayor, she said, once treated her as a protégé.
Now, Bennett, 26, says she plans to run against Parker next year — the first candidate to publicly announce an intention to challenge the mayor’s reelection bid in next May’s Democratic primary.
“Sometimes, you have to be willing to hold people you love accountable,” Bennett said in an interview Tuesday. “To be honest, I’m the change that I want to see. I think a lot of Philadelphians [are] waiting on it.”
She released a video on social media Tuesday announcing her campaign with the slogan, “Leadership you can trust.”
A Parker campaign spokesperson declined to comment.
Bennett, who lives in her native South Philadelphia and graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 2020, said she resigned from Parker’s cabinet in May after realizing the administration would not give her office the budget or authority it needed to accomplish its mission.
“My hands were tied. I couldn’t do anything on behalf of young people,” she said. “It was an opportunity for me to put all of my passion into something I really believed in, just to end up disappointed.”
In July, she posted on social media that working for the administration was “the worst experience of [her] life” and that she had quit after “unprofessional harassment.”
No Philadelphia mayor has lost reelection since the city’s Home Rule Charter was adopted in 1951, and Bennett has her work cut out for her if she wants to break that streak in her first run for office.
Parker, 54, has spent 21 years in elected office, and her campaign had more than $1.4 million in the bank as of May 4, according to her most recent campaign finance report.
Bennett said she has not yet put together a campaign team and is still ironing out her policy platform. She said she plans to conduct listening sessions so she can craft proposals that address Philadelphians’ needs.
“Let me see the things you want me to talk about as a candidate,” she said. “I haven’t seen a candidate that really reflects the people’s choice in Philadelphia.”
Bennett said she was alarmed by last weekend’s “teen takeovers,” when police officers arrested three people after confrontations erupted between large groups of teenagers who congregated near City Hall on consecutive nights.
“It’s just young people acting out, and we have to get to the root cause,” Bennett said. “Is what we’re funding effective, and is it giving us the outcome that we want?”
Parker, a moderate Democrat with strong support among the local party establishment, is seen by some as potentially vulnerable to a challenge from a progressive politician such as District Attorney Larry Krasner.
Bennett said her platform will reflect the problems facing the city, not ideology.
“Some of it might be progressive, but some of it might be: You have to put your foot down,” said Bennett, who founded the anti-violence nonprofit Reach4Peace as a teenager. “Philly has some unique challenges. It is not one party or one ideology that can fix them.”
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, speaks at the ribbon cutting for the newly renovated skate plaza at the Municipal Services Building in Philadelphia, Pa., on Friday, April. 17, 2026.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Bennett said she understands that many powerful politicians and deep-pocketed groups like labor unions are unlikely to endorse her challenge to Parker. But she is holding a launch event on Sept. 26 and hopes to gain momentum from there.
“It’s still extremely early, but I’m hoping to announce early to do the hard work of fundraising and listening sessions,” she said.
Parker took Bennett under her wing during the 2023 mayor’s race.
Bennett had previously worked for State Rep. Jordan Harris and State Sen. Nikil Saval, both Philadelphia Democrats, but had no previous ties to Parker before showing up at a campaign office offering to help, she said.
Bennett stood out as a hardworking volunteer as she knocked on doors and organized neighborhood canvasses, and she caught Parker’s eye.
“Every time I saw her, she was hard at work,” Parker said when she appointed Bennett to lead the Mayor’s Office of Youth Engagement in early 2024.
After leaving the administration, Bennett briefly worked for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party as a regional organizing director before resigning to launch her mayoral bid.
“When you leave somewhere with your integrity intact, it’s like, ‘OK, you can do something about it,’” Bennett said. “I was just like, ‘Know what? I’mma press play.’”
Exton-based Bentley Systems International, the software company with the highest market capitalization in the Philadelphia area, has opened a Center City office as its new base for 150 engineers and other tech and business staff, replacing two smaller outposts in the city.
Bentley customers use what’s now its Cesium Ion mapping platform to show sites and buildings in complex detail on office computers and hand-held devices.
A Penn State grad, who also earned a master’s and taught programming and architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, Cozzi says he sees Philadelphia as a “magical place” for tech companies.
“When I was CEO raising capital on the West Coast, some of the investors told me the best tech entrepreneurs want to move to the [San Francisco] Bay area. I said no, we can build a great tech company in Philadelphia,” he said.
Philadelphia was an early computing industry center. ENIAC, the pioneering system built at Penn to help plan World War II artillery attacks, and other early Philly-built computing systems relied on the vacuum tubes mass-produced for radio manufacturers in Philadelphia and Camden.
But by the 1970s, the industry committed to far more efficient silicon-based microprocessors developed in California’s “Silicon Valley.” Investor-rich cities such as Boston, Seattle, and Austin also became important computer hardware and software centers. Few large tech companies are now based in the Philadelphia region.
Cozzi says Philadelphia’s affordability is now an asset.
“We have reasonable cost of living and fantastic schools, graduates who want to stay here, great restaurants and quality of life, it’s an awesome place for the tech community,” he said, as he prepared to welcome Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, State Rep. Jordan Harris (D., Phila.), and 200 other guests to the new space for a grand opening celebration Thursday evening.
Cozzi said neither the city or state provided incentives for the new office.
Invited guests at Thursday’s event include Bentley clients from Center City-based Pennoni Engineering; Ansys, the Pittsburgh-based owner of AGI, and Earthbrain, a Japanese construction equipment and computing joint venture, which uses Philadelphia as a U.S. base.
Bentley went public in its 2020 IPO at $22 a share. The stock peaked in the low $60s the next year and ran almost as high last summer. It has lately tradedaround $35 a share.
It employs more than 5,000 at offices in 42 countries. The company is worth nearly $11 billion on the Nasdaq stock exchange. That compares to around $6 billion for Newtown, Bucks County-based software-outsourcing provider EPAM, $2 billion for King of Prussia tax-accounting software maker Vertex Inc., and $200 million for Blue Bell legacy hardware and software provider Unisys.
Bentley’s 10th-floor space in the Curtis Center includes a public-meeting area to host events.
The building was built in 1910 for Curtis Publishing and its mass market magazines, led by the Saturday Evening Post and Ladies’ Home Journal. Curtis moved its press operations to Delaware County in 1949 and shut both Philadelphia offices and Delco operations by the time of its 1969 bankruptcy.
The Curtis building’s owner, Keystone Development + Investment, has in recent years added apartments, biotech labs, and other specialized units to help fill the block-long complex.
On Christmas mornings while growing up in Northeast Ohio, Matt and Scott Campbell were excited to fulfill what became a yearly tradition. Most kids raced toward the Christmas tree to open presents and celebrate the holiday, but not the two brothers, who were born four years apart. They raced out the door to get a football game in, even when snow covered the ground.
Those games were one-on-one, mano a mano. Matt “had quite an impressive [size] advantage on me,” Scott said. The memory proved instructive of his older brother’s competitiveness, as Matt steps into his third college football head coaching job.
“It was not uncommon to get your favorite football jersey for a Christmas present. And then Riddell was giving out all those football uniforms that came with shoulder pads, leg pants, and helmets,” Scott Campbell told The Inquirer of his earliest football memories with Matt. “Then you go outside [to play against Matt].
“I never won these games.”
Football runs deep for the Campbells. Rick Campbell, Matt and Scott’s father, was a high school coach at Jackson High School in Massillon, Ohio, and later went into administration.
The sport quickly became the center of Matt’s life, too.
He would attend two-a-days with his dad before his school day started.
“My greatest childhood memories are being in the locker room and being on the football field with my dad, watching him lead and coach a football team,” Matt Campbell told The Inquirer in July. “I wanted to help give back and make a difference [as a coach] because so many people had done that for me.”
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From those early days in their backyard, to stops at Pittsburgh and Mount Union as a player, then coach, and several other stops before landing his highest-profile opportunity yet at Penn State, Campbell has remained the same, his former teammates, players, and coaches across his 24-year coaching career say.
“Anybody that knew younger Matt or played with him or crossed paths with him, I don’t think anybody is surprised [by] the success he’s had,” Indianapolis Colts tight end coach Tom Manning said by phone shortly after Campbell was hired at Penn State. “Obviously, he’s a very good football guy in terms of X’s and O’s, but I think the thing that makes Matt dynamic is his ability to inspire others, certainly a great teacher, but he has this ability to have a relationship with everybody that is authentic and real.
“He creates this culture of unification, of toughness, of having a chip on your shoulder. And I think that every person that’s ever played [in] his football program or coached for him, they just feel like they’re part of something a little bit bigger than themselves.”
Matt Campbell (center) makes a tackle during a game for Mount Union during his playing days.Courtesy of Cockrill’s Studio
Embracing the ‘abnormal’
Campbell, now 46, developed into a standout defensive end at Perry High School in the 1990s. Matt was coached there by Keith Wakefield, who is “as inspirational as anybody in his life,” Scott said.
Out of high school, he accepted a scholarship from Pitt, but after the team went 2-9 his freshman season in 1998, he transferred to Division III Mount Union — a move that not only defined his playing and coaching career, but moved him closer to home.
Campbell won three D-III titles from 1999 to 2002 at Mount Union, was named an All-American twice, and was the Ohio Athletic Conference defensive lineman of the year in back-to-back years in 2001 and 2002. But it was during his playing days there, under legendary coach Larry Kehres and alongside lifelong friends and coaching contemporaries, where Campbell first showed an inkling toward his future career.
Matt Campbell played defensive line at Division III school Mount Union after spending his freshman season at Pitt.Courtesy of Cockrill’s Studio
“The connection of understanding the value of ‘People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,’ and you go back and you say, ‘Man, why? What made the great coaches that you had impactful in your life?’” Campbell said. “It was a transformational experience rather than a transactional journey. And you’re talking about two of the winningest coaches in the history of Ohio high school football, and certainly in all of college football [in Wakefield and Kehres].
“I think their greatest gift was their gift to connect … and find a way to help make their players better, because their belief [of], ‘Man, they cared about them and they wanted to have a real relationship with them.’ So I think that foundation has been huge.”
Often understated about Campbell’s background is how impactful he was on the field for the perennial title contender. His 182 assisted tackles and 55 tackles for loss rank fourth in school history, his 26 career sacks are seventh, and he is 19th in total tackles (256).
Matt Campbell played and coached at Division III Mount Union.Courtesy of Cockrill’s Studio
His on-field success, though, was anchored by film study. Campbell would know “the play that was coming by whether it was the formation or certain motions that they do into the boundaries, and he was calling the plays out,” said Scott, who joined his older brother on Mount Union’s football team in 2002. Campbell’s teammates also took notice.
“All of them knew the way that Matt prepared for football games was abnormal,” Scott said.
But what made what Matt was doing abnormal?
“I don’t think it’s uncommon for a player to be obsessed at watching film,” Scott said. “Some people get really good at honing their skills and they want to do it. It’s abnormal when they bring people along with them. So when you might get a kid, like a very talented defensive tackle … and some of these guys that he played with, they’re meeting on a Sunday night and doing hard core [film study] because they want to be ready for the next week.
“When you have gravitational pull to bring the people that either you’re leading, which we are seeing it with him as a coach, or the ones that you’re going to war with as a football player … for them to match your intensity, they were buying into that and they saw, ‘Well, Campbell’s doing that. We have to do it.’”
Added Manning, Matt’s teammate for two years at Mount Union: “He was always in the film room. He was always trying to find an edge, in terms of being a player, and he was a guy that was probably more talented than most of the people that he played, and he still had the work ethic and the attention to detail as a player that I think helped him separate himself even further.”
Matt Campbell was twice named to the College Football All-America team and named Ohio Athletic Conference’s defensive lineman of the year at Mount Union.Courtesy of Cockrill’s Studio
‘Just as authentic’
When Campbell finished his playing career at Mount Union in 2002, he went to Bowling Green to work as a graduate assistant, but returned to Mount Union in 2005 and was its offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for the next two seasons.
The program won back-to-back titles, with a staff that included Eagles coach Nick Sirianni (2004 to 2005), Campbell’s college teammate and former roommate, as defensive backs coach in that first year. Connecticut coach Jason Candle (2003 to 2008), another former teammate, and Syracuse defensive coordinator Vince Kehres (2000 to 2019), Larry Kehres’ son, were on the staff both seasons.
Campbell returned to Bowling Green for two more seasons before landing at Toledo in 2009, first as an offensive line coach and run game coordinator. By 2012, he was the program’s head coach at 32 years old, making him the FBS’s youngest coach at the time.
Colts tight ends coach Tom Manning was teammates with Matt Campbell for two years at Mount Union.Phelan M. Ebenhack
What impressed Manning, who also worked at Toledo as a graduate assistant (2009) and later as its director of football operations and offensive line coach, was how quickly Campbell connected with players and recruits.
“What I really recognized the most was that he was different in recruiting, [he had a] dynamic personality, but I was always impressed, and probably what stuck out the most was that when he had recruits, whether up on campus or visiting him, he had a real relationship with a ton of kids,” Manning said. “I was like, ‘Man, I don’t understand how this guy after just a couple brief contacts, has the ability to know so much about him, have real conversations with him.’ … I knew Matt as a younger guy, and now I knew him in the professional world. I was like, ‘Man, the biggest thing about Matt is he’s just as authentic as he was the day that I met him.’”
And that started with his own teammates. Mount Union was “a player-led program,” and Campbell — along with other leaders like Sirianni, Candle, and Kehres — would open their house and “nurture the young kids because that’s the next generation of leaders in that program.”
Jason Candle followed Matt Campbell to Toledo in 2009 as slot receivers/tight ends coach.Carlos Osorio
“That’s what that whole program was,” Scott said. “It was a program that was giving way before we even knew it was giving to us.”
Matt Campbell worked closely with Candle, who followed him to Toledo in 2009 as slot receivers/tight ends coach, especially when the former assumed play-calling duties under Tim Beckman.
Candle, who considers Campbell a “true friend” and a “great mentor,” recalled the early “camaraderie of the young assistant coaches that we had at the time.”
“Lots of times you don’t get to work with or alongside with or for your college teammates,” Candle said. “And we’ve been through a lot of battles together as players and certainly as young assistant coaches. [Matt’s] been a guy that I’ve learned a lot of football from and a guy that has certainly earned the right to lead one of the top programs in the country.”
Campbell went 9-4 in his first season leading Toledo, and he compiled a 35-15 overall record before moving on to Iowa State at 36 years old.
Matt Campbell compiled a 35-15 overall record while at Toledo.Nick Wass
Campbell “surrounded himself with young and hungry people,” Manning said, particularly on his offensive staffs at Toledo — which featured future Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield, future Auburn coach Alex Golesh, and Candle. But it was Campbell “doing things the right way” and never being “anybody that he’s not” that stood out.
“Working for him is was one of the greatest experiences of my life,” said Manning, who worked with Campbell for a total of 12 years between Toledo and Iowa State. “You felt like you were doing something. … You were coaching the whole player. It was about character. It was about teaching kids attitude and effort, the ability to be consistent, and to give a little bit more themselves and to play in a unified front — that’s what he does so well.”
Matt Campbell was the head coach at Toledo from 2012 to 2015.David Richard
‘Dog mentality’
In the 10 years before Campbell took over Iowa State, the program had just one winning season and had finished with more than seven wins once since 2000.
He accomplished those milestones by Year 2. In 2017, the Cyclones went 8-5, their best record in 16 years, and upset No. 3 Oklahoma, 38-31, a memory that is forever etched in the mind of Manning, who was the team’s offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.
“That week, we kind of put in a whole new defense,” Manning said. “We had our middle linebacker who [also] was a quarterback. He played about 40% of the snaps at quarterback. He’s playing both ways. We got a walk-on quarterback who essentially ends up winning us the game, and [Matt’s] belief the whole week, his belief during the game, never wavered. A lot of guys tell themselves like, ‘Hey, we’re going to win this game.’ My man thought we’re going to win the game the entire week, and then we end up winning the game.
Matt Campbell became the Iowa State’s all-time winningest coach.Matthew Putney
“… And to me, it was culture over scheme. Maybe our players collectively weren’t as talented and as good, but, ‘Hey, if we’re united, we have this culture of winning, we do things the right way.’”
That unwavering belief was reflected by his players, too. Among them was former Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy, a four-year starter who could sense Campbell’s “loyalty” and praised his former coach “who had a vision for [him in] place.”
“Coach Campbell’s coaching style is huge on culture. It’s important because he sets up an organization that is able to withstand adversity, the good, the bad,” said Purdy, who’s now the San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback. “And it’s all about being a real team that trusts in each other, goes through things with each other. And then at the end of the day, he is going to prepare us better than anybody in the country in terms of scheme and making sure our bodies are right for a long season.”
Former Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy gets a hug from Matt Campbell against TCU on Nov. 26, 2021.Charlie Neibergall
Those Iowa State teams often punched above their weight. Campbell’s highest-ranked recruiting class with the Cyclones was the Class of 2026, which was 48th before he departed for Penn State, taking much of that class with him.
Wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson, who played three seasons at Iowa State from 2020 to 22, said Campbell recruited players that were “like-minded.”
“Everybody went to Iowa State either because you were underlooked, you weren’t valued, or just people thought [other players] were better,” said Hutchinson, who’s now on the Houston Texans with four other former Cyclones who played for Campbell. “We all had like a dog mentality — and I felt like that’s Coach Campbell’s mentality. It’s like the rough side of the mountain. … He wanted guys who have something to prove and had a chip on their shoulder.”
Matt Campbell congratulates former Iowa State wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson on his touchdown against Southeast Missouri State on Sept. 3, 2022.Matthew Putney
There were plenty of highs in his 10-year run at Iowa State: Two Big 12 championship appearances (2020, 2024), the most wins in a two-year stretch (19 wins across 2024 and 2025) and double-digit wins for the first time in program history. Twelve of his 17 Associated Press Top 25 wins came in that time frame, and he became the program’s winningest coach.
Even in the down years — Campbell and Iowa State missed bowl games just twice in 10 years, once in his debut season (2016) and another in 2022 — Hutchinson says his former coach “never let the success or the failures define him as a coach.”
“He’s taken them all on the chin,” Hutchinson said. “When we’ve had the greatest success, he was there. He still had the same motto even when we started [struggling] a little bit. He was still the same guy every day. And I think when your head coach is the same guy, and he doesn’t get frazzled by the success or the failures — it’s going to bleed into the into the team.”
Matt Campbell led Iowa State to two Big 12 championship appearances.Charlie Neibergall
‘The best version of me’
Campbell will emerge from the Beaver Stadium tunnel for the first time this weekend, marking the next chapter for him and the program. His team has 24 former Iowa State players who followed him to Happy Valley.
At the root of his confidence in leading Toledo, Iowa State, and now Penn State is what he learned from his father, Wakefield, and Kehres, his coaching mentors: “Not trying to be somebody else.”
“I love learning. I love being humble and growing, but I’m just trying to be me, the best version of me,” Campbell said. “What I found is we’ve been able to build trust, loyalty, togetherness in our football program, whether it was at Toledo, whether it’s at Iowa State, and obviously that’ll be a great challenge as we build this Penn State program.
Matt Campbell during Penn State’s first practice of training camp on Aug. 5.Craig Houtz / For The Inquirer
“The attitude and the effort and the consistency to show up every day, and be able to be the same person every day, and allowing your staff and the players on the team to know exactly what they’re going to get … I think those are what I learned and took as a player and a coach from [Kehres and Wakefield], and it’s what I’ve tried to emulate everywhere I’ve been as a football coach.”
His former players, Purdy, Hutchinson, and offensive lineman James Neal III, have no doubts Campbell is ”going to give [Penn State] everything he has” to help it reach new heights. It begins with Marshall on Saturday (3:30 p.m., FS1).
Scott, who joined Wakefield at a Penn State practice on Aug. 13, says his older brother is doing “what he loves.” And it’s why he believes Campbell has sustained success throughout his career.
“If somehow you’re able to get, say, the 400, 500 people that at some point came across Matt Campbell at Mount Union College that played with him or whatever, I would probably say in the high 95 percentile range, every one of them would have told you he was going to be a head coach and a successful head coach at some point,” Scott said. “Matt’s elite trait that he has is that he is beyond competitive.
“He just doesn’t say, ‘We’re going to do this’ because why else would you do it? No. Matt envisions this and believes it. He’s not going to tell you if he doesn’t [believe it.].”
Ron Avery, 85, of Philadelphia, retired eclectic reporter and columnist for the Daily News, Philadelphia historian, volunteer city tour guide, author, high school history teacher, veteran, and canoe enthusiast, died Sunday, Aug. 2, of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at his home in East Falls.
Reared in Fairmount, Mr. Avery graduated from Thomas Edison High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Pennsylvania State University. He was assigned to the ship newspaper in the Navy after college, found a creative niche in journalism, and went on to work for more than 30 years at the Associated Press, the Bucks County Courier Times, the Courier-Post in South Jersey, and the Daily News.
He wrote for the Daily News as a correspondent in 1981, joined the staff in 1982, and, until his retirement in 2000, wrote thousands of stories about crime, casinos, war orphans, historic houses, the MOVE bombing, local notables, and other subjects. His columns, “Poor Ronald’s Almanac” and “One of Us,” hammered away at local issues and featured everyday people doing exceptional things.
“He covered every nook and cranny of the city,” said his son Serge. “That burning curiosity sustained him till his last days.”
He wrote three books about Philadelphia, including A Concise History of Philadelphia in 1999. He produced a series of video guides he called the Urban Explorer for local TV in 2004 and posted blogs about the city from 2017 to 2019 on a website called Philadelphia Cracks Me Up.
“Like all cities,” he said in a 1995 Daily News column, “Philadelphia is honeycombed with hidden spaces and forgotten places.” In a 1997 review of his book, City of Brotherly Mayhem: Philadelphia Crimes and Criminals, The Inquirer’s Thomas Brady said: “The book … is decidedly a fun read.”
Alex Strang, his director on the Urban Explorer videos, called Mr. Avery an “unforgettable legend” and “a walking encyclopedia of the city’s history and eccentricities” in a Facebook tribute. Other former colleagues said he was “a clever journalist” and “a true Philadelphian.”
Longtime Daily News colleague Robin Palley said on Facebook: “He had an amazing knack of finding quirky people with fascinating skills or habits and making them come to life on our pages.”
Mr. Avery (left) mans a Salvation Army donation kettle in 1999.Steven M. Falk / Staff Photographer
Before the Daily News, Mr. Avery wrote news and feature stories for the Courier-Post in the 1970s, and the Courier Times and the AP in the 1960s. He moved to Israel for six months in 1972 but returned to work for the Courier-Post in 1973.
He also wrote freelance pieces for the Hidden City Daily, PhillyHistory.org, UShistory.org, and op-eds later for The Inquirer and Daily News. He served in the Navy from 1964 to 1966, joined the Philadelphia Canoe Club later, and led water trips in the New Jersey Pine Barrens and elsewhere.
Knowledgeable, energetic, and naturally affable, he was a tireless promoter and volunteer guide in Philadelphia. He led walking tours throughout the city for students, civic groups, and other organizations, and his explanatory video tours featured cobblestone alleys, urban gardens, museums, statues, and other features of city life.
He was a stickler for details and historical accuracy, and he helped spur City Council to pass an ordinance in 2008 to educate and certify paid Center City tour guides. “They score high as Philadelphia ambassadors of good will,” he said in a 1995 column about uneducated guides, “but as historians they often flunk out.”
Mr. Avery wrote a column for the Courier-Post in 1974.Newspapers.com
Ronald Avery was born June 10, 1941, in Strawberry Mansion. He joined the Boy Scouts, earned his bachelor’s degree at Penn State in 1963, and taught history at Bensalem High School for a year.
He was a boxer in college and, mesmerized by the sport, later worked as a referee for amateur matches.
He met Suzet Habif in Israel in 1967, and they married in 1968. They had sons Serge and Ben, and lived for years in a rowhouse in Oxford Circle.
Mr. Avery cared for his wife during her long illness in the 1980s and ’90s. She died in 1993.
Mr. Avery liked to hang out with Benjamin Franklin and other historic figures. Alex Strang
He lived later in Pennsport and East Falls, was diagnosed with ALS in 2015, and proudly outlived its average life expectancy of 18 months by nearly a decade. “He defied that diagnosis and did not let it define him,” his son Serge said. “He always said he had a lot to live for.”
Mr. Avery was an avid reader and street photographer. He liked poetry, wrote limericks on birthday cards, and posted hundreds of his photos on flickr.com. One of his photos won a contest and was displayed at the airport.
He enjoyed jazz and jokes, led the prayers at family gatherings, and gave Yiddish quizzes to his two grandsons. He shared favorite recipes with Daily News colleagues and whipped up memorable homemade soups, especially white bean.
“I’ll greatly miss his endless anecdotes about all things Philadelphia,” said his daughter-in-law, Rebecca Houlding, “the stories about the local criminals, and his love of his family and friends.”
Mr. Avery wrote about his life in Northeast Philadelphia for the Daily News in 1997.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
His son Serge said: “He loved chasing the stories from the back alleys and driveways, highlighting the working people of our town.”
In addition to his sons, daughter-in-law, and grandsons, Mr. Avery is survived by other relatives. A sister died earlier.
A teen sought in connection with the killing of a Pennsylvania State University student in South Philadelphia surrendered to police on Tuesday, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
Kadafi Fleming, 19, is also a suspect in the theft of a Philadelphia police officer’s car during a Monday morning robbery that ended in a shootout, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
Fleming surrendered around 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Philadelphia Police Department’s headquarters at 400 N. Broad St., the U.S. Marshals Service said.
Authorities previously charged Azzubair Outen-Fleming, 16, and Kaiseem Smith, 16, with murder, robbery, and related crimes in the killing of 22-year-old William “Billy” Schmidt, who was robbed of his cell phone and shot on June 6 on the 1900 block of Durfor Street. This week, the marshals announced that they were seeking Fleming on a robbery charge in connection with the killing.
Fleming is Outen-Fleming’s older brother, authorities said.
The announcement of the marshals’ manhunt for Fleming came after another crime in South Philadelphia: About 3:15 a.m. Monday on the 6900 block of Grosbeak Place, authorities said, thieves stole a green Dodge Charger belonging to an off-duty police officer.
Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Clark said the officer found the thieves a few blocks from where his car had been stolen and exchanged gunfire with them before they fled.
Fleming has been named a person of interest in that theft, Clark said.
It was unclear Tuesday whether anyone had been injured in the shootout. Philadelphia police did not respond to requests for information about the incident.
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Clark added that he did not expect the search to last long, noting that marshals had captured Fleming’s brother in June more than 1,700 miles away at a home in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Smith, who is accused of being the triggerman in Schmidt’s killing, turned himself in to authorities shortly after Outen-Fleming’s arrest. Outen-Fleming’s stepfather, Donte Abdulmalik, 35, has also been arrested and charged with helping his stepson evade the authorities.
Terry Thompson’s spiral into gambling addiction offers a window into the human destruction Pennsylvania lawmakers unleashed when they legalized online betting.
Before sports gambling was legal, the Montgomery County resident placed occasional bets through bookies. But in 2020, shortly after Harrisburg legalized sports betting, Thompson created an account with FanDuel Sportsbook to bet on the Eagles.
He began placing numerous microbets through FanDuel and DraftKings, the two main gambling apps, and soon became addicted. Within five years, he wagered more than $22 million between the two companies, and lost more than $1.8 million.
To feed his gambling addiction, Thompson sold his company and took out additional mortgages on his home. He hit rock bottom in February, gambling away his last dollar and planning to take his own life, according to a lawsuit filed in the Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia against FanDuel and DraftKings, and detailed by Inquirer investigative reporter David Gambacorta.
Thompson’s story lines up with many others who get hooked on gambling. But it included a new wrinkle that adds to the insidious way gambling companies entice people to keep betting.
In November 2024, Thompson received a personalized video message from Phillies superstar Bryce Harper.
In the video, Harper references Thompson by name, mentions his young son, and thanks him for his support. Harper adds that he was reaching out on behalf of the VIP manager at FanDuel who wanted to make sure Thompson had an “extra special Thanksgiving.”
In a personalized video that was sent to a problem gambler, Phillies slugger Bryce Harper said he was reaching out on behalf of an official at FanDuel.Obtained by The Inquirer
A few days after Gambacorta’s story was published, Harper issued a statement claiming he was not aware of FanDuel’s involvement even though he mentions the company’s VIP manager by name.
Harper said he joined the messaging site Cameo to engage with fans by providing paid video messages. Indeed, there is no evidence Harper was paid by FanDuel or aware of Thompson’s addiction.
Strategic ignorance aside, it seems pathetic for a star athlete paid roughly $25 million a year to work a side hustle shilling videos to strangers. Talk about not elite.
Clearly, everyone is finding a way to make money off gamblers, including state lawmakers, sports leagues, gambling apps, and former and current players.
It’s all about the fans, right?
More disturbing is how the apps entice gamblers.
In Thompson’s case, FanDuel rewarded him with perks, including champagne, hotel stays, and Super Bowl tickets. His VIP manager texted him about the Eagles as well as personal exchanges about family and travel plans.
FanDuel said its VIP managers do not work on commission. The company has a number of systems in place to help gamblers bet responsibly, including a dashboard so customers can track spending, real-time check-ins if players deviate from usual habits, and devices that let gamblers set limits on losses or time spent on the app, as well as cooldown periods or formal self-exclusions.
That’s well and good, but gamblers find workarounds, and the VIP perks sure seemed designed to keep high rollers gambling. Expecting gamblers in the throes of addiction to police themselves is not a serious solution.
One recovering gambling addict not involved in this case told me how FanDuel and DraftKings would send him numerous incentives a day to keep betting.
Indeed, the gambling business model depends on a small percentage of gamblers making frequent bets. One study found 5% of sports gamblers generate 86% of the industry’s revenue.
The ease of online gambling has turned everyone’s mobile phone into a casino. Nearly 40% of men and 20% of women gamble online daily, according to the American Psychiatric Association.
Online betting has enabled companies to attract younger gamblers. Two-thirds of 18- to 22-year-old men surveyed by the NCAA had bet on sports. Many teens and adolescent children have become hooked on gambling, including some as young as 11.
In a statement, FanDuel said it “is committed to fostering a culture of responsible gaming and protecting our customers” and that “employees are trained to recognize and flag signs of problem gambling.”
Thompson’s experience, as alleged in his lawsuit, indicates otherwise.
“There are millions of Terry Thompsons out there,” Harry Levant, a former Philadelphia attorney who is now the director of gambling policy for Public Health Advocacy Institute, told me.
Levant, an addiction recovery coach, said he gets frequent calls from spouses, parents, and children seeking help for loved ones addicted to gambling. He said he has clients who gamble in the shower or before they get out of bed in the morning.
Harry Levant, an addiction recovery coach, said he has clients who gamble in the shower or while they’re lying in bed in the morning.Courtesy Harry Levant
Levant said the surge in online sports gambling has been fueled by a partnership between professional sports leagues and sports betting companies that provide a nonstop stream of in-game betting opportunities on everything from the next pitch to the next home run.
Microbets — such as betting on the outcome of the next pitch or play — and same-game parlays — where gamblers make a single bet that requires multiple events to happen — keep bettors engaged throughout a game. When the game is over, there is always another game somewhere in the country or across the world.
Levant said microbetting is designed to be addictive. “We are dealing with a fundamentally different form of gambling,” he told me. “It’s machine vs. humans, and no way can humans keep pace.”
Levant has called on Congress to pass the Safe Bet Act, which would require operators to conduct “affordability checks” on customers before accepting wagers; prohibit microbetting and the use of AI to track individual gambling habits and offer individualized promotions; and prohibit sportsbooks from marketing during live sporting events.
Even for us non-bettors, prohibiting sports gambling ads — the same way tobacco ads are not allowed — would be a welcome relief. The incessant ads from casinos and sportsbooks, as well as the in-game promotions, are beyond annoying.
The problem is the sports leagues, the TV networks, and the gambling companies are essentially in business together. The state lawmakers who are sworn to protect the public enjoy campaign donations from the gambling lobby and hefty taxes for state coffers.
But it is up to the 39 states and Washington, D.C., that have legalized sports betting to implement real safeguards to protect citizens from a system designed to keep people gambling. The states ignore the reality that all of their betting-related tax revenue comes from the pockets of gamblers.
Last year, Americans bet more than $166 billion on sports — and billions more at casinos and state lotteries. Before the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way in 2018 for states to legalize sports betting, sports betting amounted to $4.9 billion.
Now, up to 30% of Pennsylvania adults engaged in some form of online gambling in the past year, researchers at Penn State University found.
The Philadelphia-area market leads the country in online gambling. The rapid growth has resulted in a doubling of calls to a problem gambling hotline.
Anthropologist Natasha Schull wrote a book years ago that explained how slot machines were designed to addict gamblers. The industry jargon was to get gamblers to “play to extinction.”
Now, online gambling saves a trip to the casino, but the endgame remains the same.
After three days of dealing with smoky, particulate-filled air, many Philadelphians went outside Sunday to enjoy the sunshine, gentle winds, and relatively clear horizons.
But hundreds of miles northwest in Ontario, wildfires continued to burn, posing a life-threatening emergency to some Canadians and leaving much of the United States susceptible to more rounds of smoke.
Experts say the ongoing wildfires will threaten air quality in the region, while the longer dry seasons, droughts, and high winds associated with climate change mean that such fires — and the smoke they send downwind — may become more common.
“I think we are headed into an era where we are likely to see more periods of air pollution from wildfire smoke reaching the East,” said Erica Smithwick, a Penn State geography professor. “We are not immune to these dangers anymore, and we’re going to have to learn to live with them.”
Outdoor enthusiasts are on the Schuylkill River Trail Sunday, July 19, 2026, taking advantage of sunny, clear skies and moderate air quality after three days of bad air from the Canadian and Great Lakes wildfire smoke.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Walking along the Schuylkill on Sunday morning, Dion Carmichael was coming to terms with this.
“You can tell everyone feels excited to be here today,” said Carmichael. The 29-year-old said her Fairmount neighborhood felt a bit “like a ghost town” the past few days as people stayed inside.
She and her partner had to cancel a camping trip in New York, Carmichael said. She said it’s had her thinking about “the future of our planet.”
“Global warming is a big factor in this. We should take care of our planet,” Carmichael said.
Her partner, Canice Okereke, noted that he could still smell faint wood smoke in the air. That didn’t worry him personally. But it remains a threat for some of the people with health issues he helps in his job managing in-home care services for seniors. The past few days, simple tasks like walking to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription became a challenge for those with respiratory issues.
A biker is on the Schuylkill River Trail Sunday, July 19, 2026, taking advantage of sunny, clear skies and moderate air quality after three days of bad air from the Canadian and Great Lakes wildfire smoke.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Sean Conway just finished leading a three-mile group run. The 26-year-old personal trainer said he never thought about wildfire smoke or air quality until Thursday, when one of his running partners told him he was better off staying indoors. He begrudgingly took to the treadmill, and then admitted his friend was right.
“If you’re running for your health, why would you run in smoke? It’s like smoking a cigarette,” Conway said.
In the short term, the worst of the wildfire smoke has passed, said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Bill Deger. But sensitive groups such as children and those with respiratory issues could still be affected, he said.
Sunday’s moderately clean air is the result of a cold front from eastern Canada, he said. “Now we will have shifting wind directions over the next couple days. If the wind comes out of the west, we can have more of an uptick in that smoke, though I don’t expect it to be as bad as it was,” Deger said.
As for weather, temperatures will drop into the 60s in Philly and into the 50s in the suburbs Monday night, giving air conditioners a break, he said. Higher humidity and “heavy, gusty thunderstorms” are forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Hazy skies certainly look like a possibility, but as far as that ground-level pollution is concerned, it should not be as bad,” Deger said, adding that it is difficult to predict air quality beyond two or three days out.
Boaters are on the Schuylkill Sunday, July 19, 2026, taking advantage of sunny, clear skies and moderate air quality after three days of bad air from the Canadian and Great Lakes wildfire smoke.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Smithwick said broader trends make more fires likely. High winds, droughts, and long dry seasons are all on the rise due to climate change. She noted, in addition to Ontario, wildfires are burning in Minnesota.
“In the East, you don’t need large periods of drying to have wildfire conditions — two weeks or less. And when it happens upon an extended period of drought, those create the conditions for the wildfires,” Smithwick said.
Canada and the Midwest have seen extensive fires before, Smithwick said, “but not at the frequency and scale that we’re seeing now.”
This increase brings both ecological peril and human health risks, she said. These risks are often worse for disadvantaged communities where people may lack things like air conditioners and indoor air purifiers.
In addition, some of the needed changes must occur on a larger scale, Smithwick said. One example: She said schools should be fitted with air monitors and purifiers.
Smithwick encouraged people to monitor air quality indoors and outdoors, follow guidelines, stay indoors when needed, and stay cool.
“Adjusting your behaviors to meet the moment can be difficult, but finding alternative activities can work.”
Mikin Patel, 25, hangs in his hammock joining other outdoor enthusiasts on the Schuylkill River Trail Sunday, July 19, 2026, taking advantage of sunny, clear skies and moderate air quality after three days of bad air from the Canadian and Great Lakes wildfire smoke. Patel, who often bikes from his home in Fairmount to the river “just to chill,” said he hadn’t done so in the past few days. He was just on the phone telling his brother in California how great the weather was. “It finally got nice again,” he told him.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The Pennsylvania State University board of trustees on Friday unanimously approved a 15% performance bonus for president Neeli Bendapudi for the 2025-26 academic year — the top amount available under her new contract approved last September.
Under the resolution, the percentage is on her base salary, which was $1.4 million. That would make her bonus $210,000.
Board chair David M. Kleppinger praised Bendapudi’s leadership, noting the second consecutive year of a balanced budget, a $1.44 billion research enterprise, the integration of the health system and College of Medicine, and efforts to improve the Commonwealth campus system — seven campuses are set to close at the end of the next academic year.
“Throughout all this, Neeli, you’ve led with optimism, with purpose, and an unwavering commitment to Penn State’s mission,” Kleppinger said at the meeting. “You’ve challenged the university to think boldly, and we’ve tried … We’re proud of what we’ve done under your leadership and we’re excited about what lies ahead.”
Bendapudi oversees two dozen campuses across Pennsylvania including a health system and the Hershey Medical Center and a major research enterprise. The state flagship university enrolls 86,500 students.
She is one of the highest paid public college presidents in the country. In 2024, she ranked seventh in total compensation among public university presidents, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Schools with presidents who earned more included the University of Houston, Ohio State University, and University of Kentucky.
The board last September voted to give Bendapudi, who has led Penn State since 2022, a $1 million increase in compensation and extend her contract to 2032. That increased her total compensation for 2025-26 to $2.8 million, up from $1.8 million. The performance-based incentive, which allows the board to award Bendapudi up to 15% of her base salary if she meets mutually agreed upon goals, was part of the new contract.
In supporting the vote, board member Jay Paterno noted the short tenure of presidents in the Big Ten Conference.
“Retention of presidents is vital,” he said. “It’s important that we understand the marketplace that we are in and why these things are meaningful and important to do … We’re fortunate that we have a president who’s been here for four years already because that’s not the norm.”
Kleppinger agreed.
“It’s clear that stability in leadership is very important right now in a higher education space, which is changing rapidly, and we’re fortunate to have a president that’s committed to being with us for the long term,” he said.
The board also voted to accept Bendapudi’s performance goals for the coming year, but those were not made public.
Also at the meeting, the board approved tuition and room and board increases for 2027-28. The finance committee approved the rates on Thursday and recommended them to the full board. Penn State sets its rates a year in advance.
Among the rates approved was a 2.5% tuition and room and board increase for undergraduates on the University Park campus.
Under the plan, undergraduate freshmen and sophomores at University Park would pay $21,400 in annual tuition for 2027-28, up $522 over last year. Room and board would rise 2.5% to $15,896 annually.
During remarks, Bendapudi said the university raised $662.7 million in 2025-26, more than the average annual amount of $360 million raised in the last fundraising campaign.
“That I would say is a wonderful commitment,” Bendapudi told the board.
Penn State had been planning to publicly launch a multibillion-dollar fundraising campaign in April, its largest ever and first under Bendapudi. But the school decided to delay that public launch amid a change in leadership in its development office.
A Pennsylvania State University board of trustees committee on Thursday voted to recommend a 2.5% tuition and room and board increase for undergraduates on the University Park campus in 2027-28.
That’s a larger increase than the 2% tuition hike already approved for 2026-27. Penn State sets its costs a year ahead of time; rates for 2026-27 were set last year.
Meanwhile, in-state undergraduates at the Commonwealth campuses would see no tuition increase for the fifth consecutive year and smaller increases for room and board than those at University Park.
The full board will vote on the proposed rates on Friday.
Under the plan, undergraduate freshmen and sophomores at University Park would pay $21,400 in annual tuition for 2027-28, up $522 over last year.
For those out-of-state, the annual tuition rate would rise 4% to $46,356, up $1,782.
Room and board for both would rise 2.5% to $15,896 annually, which the university said was its lowest increase in the last nine years.
The proposed tuition increases will raise $59 million in additional revenue, said Sara Thorndike, senior vice president for finance and business.
While the proposal was passed unanimously by the committee, several board members raised questions.
“I’m going to reluctantly support the tuition increase,” said board member Brandon Short. “We’re dealing with an existential crisis, and it’s not unique to Penn State that the cost of education is increasing at a … faster rate than what people think the value of a college diploma is … We all hold our noses and vote for the increase, but at some point, it’s not an easy answer, but we’ve got to come together and figure it out.”
The university needs to make tough decisions and engage in “outside-the-box” thinking, he said.
“Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity,” he said.
Thorndike said the university has been cutting costs and continues to look for more efficiencies as it maintains a balanced budget.
“We’re doing individual unit budget cuts,” she said. “We’re doing budget cuts associated with inflation, finding new revenues, and then asking for a modest tuition increase, so it’s a combination of all of those things to get to this point.”
New board member Joseph S. DeRenzo questioned if in-state tuition increases could be kept lower at the expense of larger hikes for out-of-state students, or if larger increases could be charged for high-demand degrees in business and engineering.
“Our out-of-state rates are actually very similar or high compared to our peers, and we’re already seeing an impact again on how much they’re discounting compared to what we’re discounting and how that’s affecting enrollments,” Thorndike said. “If we start to see a decline in out-of-state enrollments, that will not help us be able to keep our in-state rates low. It will actually have the opposite effect.”
Thorndike also said that tuition revenue is projected to be $37 million under budget this year because of lower enrollment at the Commonwealth campuses, as well as international and graduate enrollments.
Other local colleges also are raising tuition. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, which oversees 10 universities including West Chester and Cheyney, last week raised tuition 4.3% — the largest percentage increase in a decade. Also last week, Rutgers University increased tuition 3% for in-state and out-of-state students, which the school touted as its lowest increase in four years. Meals and housing on average were increased 4%.
And Temple University voted to raise tuition an average 3.4% for both in-state and out-of-state students.
The 2027-28 budget includes a 3% pool for merit-based salary increases for employees and 4% for graduate assistant stipends, the university said.
Undergraduate tuition for students from out of state would increase by 4% at University Park and 1% at the Commonwealth campuses.
As for graduate students, those in-state at Commonwealth campuses would pay a 1% increase in tuition and 2% for those out of state. At University Park, in-state students will see a 2% hike and out-of-state students 4%.
There’s a 1920s house for sale in Abington whose previous residents may have included a shoe heir.
The 4,328-square-foot-home has five bedrooms, three full bathrooms and two half bathrooms on just under an acre across from Abington Senior High School. One of the bedrooms sits separately above the three-car garage as a suite with a half-bath and a kitchenette. The asking price is $1.2 million.
The Canterbury Road house sits beside a wooded area owned by a property management company, according to county records, which describe the house as a Tudor.
But the house also has Norman Revival features, said Brian Whetstone, a historian at the University of Pennsylvania, including a rounded tower and stucco elevations: “This building is certainly taking a grab bag of references from Tudor and Norman influences in the final product.”
A 1920s Tudor home is for sale on Canterbury Road across from Abington Senior High School.Donkin Media Group
The two-story house is nicknamed “Tall Trees” for the woodsy feel it used to have, but anyone who’s ever paid an arborist can rest easy — the current owners have removed many of the trees.
An added bonus is how much sunlight now enters the house, said Tim Owen of Compass Real Estate.
The main floor of the 1920s Tudor for sale in Abington Township.Donkin Media Group
“Often with Tudors, the houses feel really dark with the wood and all,” Owen said, but several potential buyers have mentioned how bright it feels inside, even on a gloomy day.
The home is filled with original amenities, including wood-burning stone fireplaces, hardwood floors, carved woodwork, and sconces that may date back to the late 1920s. The house was built by Tudor-loving real estate mogul Wayne Herkness.
An interior view of a 1920s Tudor for sale in Abington.Donkin Media Group
Herkness “studied a great deal from books about English architecture,” reads the description of survey plans held in the Penn State University Libraries collection. “He developed the houses in his favorite styles, English Tudor and stone colonial, with grand center halls and on large lots.”
A 1920s real estate survey by Albright & Mebus for the former Harte property in Abington includes Canterbury Road, where a Tudor home is on the market.W&M Herkness
The current owners have restored original features and made several updates, Owen said, adding high-velocity central air-conditioning and a heated, in-ground, saltwater pool, replacing the windows, and re-staining the wood moldings.
“They’ve definitely been very busy in the 13 years they’ve been there,” Owen said. “It truly is a move-in ready home.”
The current owners of the Tudor home for sale on Canterbury Road in Abington added an in-ground, saltwater pool to the property.Donkin Media Group
The previous owners who sold the house in 2013 passed on a framed print from the early days of Laird & Schober Shoes, a Philadelphia company that rose to international prominence in the early 20th century, Owen said.
The company won an award from the Franklin Institute in 1900 for shoe manufacturing, and collaborated with famed Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli.
The kitchen of the home for sale on Canterbury Road in Abington.Donkin Media Group
The print may be a nod to one of the home’s first owners, George S. Laird. The name matches the son of the shoe company’s founder who also worked for the family business, according to a 1920 passport application.
“It’s a cool house and has a cool story as well,” Owen said.
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