U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.) has been a member of Congress for nearly a decade, and it is difficult to determine what exactly he has accomplished.
Fitzpatrick, 52, claims to be a problem solver, but he is really part of the problem. Fitzpatrick entered Congress with the MAGA wave that first swept into Washington with Donald Trump in November 2016.
He is a member of a Republican House majority that has been one of the least effective and most dysfunctional in modern times. The GOP controls the House, Senate, and the White House — and still can’t do much to help the American people.
Because Fitzpatrick represents a swing district that covers Bucks County and portions of Montgomery County, he doesn’t always vote lockstep with his Republican colleagues. But when Fitzpatrick’s vote is needed, he backs Trump’s incoherent agenda, which has made life more expensive for everyone.
That agenda speaks for itself: costly tariffs, cruel deportations, unprovoked war, tax breaks for the superrich, massive debt, healthcare cuts, brazen corruption, abuses of power, self-enrichment schemes, and constant chaos.
For Fitzpatrick’s constituents, Republican control in Washington has resulted in higher interest rates, sluggish job growth, and increased prices on everything from gasoline to food, cars, housing, and utility bills. Not to mention a host of constitutional, ethical, and legal abuses with no oversight or pushback.
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.) doesn’t always vote with his Republican colleagues. But when his vote is needed, he backs Donald Trump’s incoherent agenda, the Editorial Board writes.Haiyun Jiang
He did vote against Trump’s signature legislative accomplishment: the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which added trillions to the ballooning deficit, extended tax cuts for the wealthy, slashed Medicaid and other support for the most vulnerable citizens, and added billions to support Trump’s deportation roundups.
But Fitzpatrick’s no vote came only after final passage of the measure was assured. Weeks before the measure’s final passage, he was the deciding vote to advance the bill that ultimately became law.
He often performs this type of calculated two-step to appear not so extreme to his more moderate constituents. But the results spell pure MAGA.
Fitzpatrick, who recently married a Fox News correspondent, pulled a similar switcheroo on Trump’s costly war in Iran. Initially, he voted against limiting Trump’s power to wage war in Iran before voting to block further military action. He even issued a muddled statement about the war that said nothing.
So he was for the war before he was against it. The result of Trump’s strategic blunder that GOP congressional members enabled has been higher gas prices, billions wasted on bombs, and needless death and destruction with no way out.
Fitzpatrick has harmed his constituents in other ways. He repeatedly supported Trump’s tariffs, which have upended trade relations with allies, roiled financial markets, and increased prices for small businesses and consumers.
He is increasingly out of step with his own constituents. He supports data center development, which most voters oppose. He also opposes codifying abortion rights, which a majority of the public supports.
Fitzpatrick has also been largely missing in action in his own district. He has not held a town-hall meeting with voters since 2017, calling them a waste of time.
He has refused to debate his opponent, Bob Harvie, a Bucks County commissioner. Fitzpatrick declined to meet with this Editorial Board to make his case for reelection — even though The Inquirer endorsed him in the past.
If 80% of success is just showing up, Fitzpatrick has failed his constituents.
The problem may rest with who Fitzpatrick really represents. His campaign is largely funded by billionaires and out-of-state corporate PACs backed by Wall Street banks, Big Pharma, and Koch Industries.
More broadly, the GOP-controlled Congress has failed to uphold its sworn oath to support the Constitution and serve as a check on the executive branch of government.
Fitzpatrick’s true character is shining through in the onslaught of attack ads aimed at his opponent. An ally with a checkered past was recently exposed for planting negative articles about Harvie. That’s a Tammany Hall move.
Fortunately, voters in Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District have a more upstanding alternative in Commissioner Harvie.
Harvie, 54, is a Bucks County native who grew up in a blue-collar family (Bristol Borough) and was the first member in his family to go to college. He taught social studies in the public schools there for many years. He is humble, hardworking, and understands the affordability challenges facing Pennsylvanians.
Democratic Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie understands the affordability challenges facing Pennsylvanians, the Editorial Board writes.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
He would bring some much-needed compassion and decency to a Congress that is turning into TikTok performance artists more interested in viral posts than making government work for the people they represent. Even better, Harvie will answer to the people, not Trump.
Unlike Fitzpatrick, who has not held an in-person town hall in nearly a decade, Harvie has held five town halls since April and has four more scheduled this month.
Harvie was elected commissioner twice. He knows how to work with Republicans and Democrats. The three-member commission includes one Republican, yet more than 90% of the votes have been unanimous.
The commissioners have opened mental health care facilities, launched sustainability programs, and passed a bipartisan resolution opposing the use of warehouses as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities.
If elected, Harvie said his top priority would be to address affordability issues facing residents. He also wants to restore trust in government, starting with a ban on stock trading by members of Congress and a clampdown on corporate control of politics by passing a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.
“I was raised to love this country,” Harvie told the Editorial Board. “I cannot stand what’s happening to it.”
Many Americans agree. That’s why The Inquirer endorses Bob Harvie for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 1st District.
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Cavan Sullivan scored his first goal for the U.S. men’s soccer team on Saturday night, and he did it in spectacular fashion.
In the latest edition of the U.S.-Mexico rivalry, the 17-year-old Union phenom stole pass and launched a nearly 35-yard chip shot for the Americans’ second goal of a 3-0 win, electrifying a packed crowd at State Farm Stadium.
It made him the youngest goal-scorer in senior U.S. men’s team history at 17 years and 5 days.
CAVAN SULLIVAN SCORES IN HIS FIRST USA-MEXICO GAME 😤
Sullivan was in the starting lineup for the second time in three games, as U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino fulfilled a pregame promise to have another mix of youth and veterans.
It was no surprise that for a game of this magnitude, Pochettino went with eight veterans instead of a closer-to-even split. The other two newcomers were striker Julian Hall, who impressed with a goal in each of the two previous games, and goalkeeper Diego Kochen.
The veteran contingent included Media’s Auston Trusty, who started at centerback next to Chris Richards. It was Trusty’s second time facing Mexico, two years after his first came in a friendly in Guadalajara.
Almost everything about the surroundings was as expected, including the pro-Mexico crowd. (It was always going to be that way in this part of the country, as it would be at any NFL stadium.) The one surprise was Mexico’s late scratch of its teen sensation, Gilberto Mora, due to an ankle injury.
Mexico had the better of the play for most of the first half-hour, which was also expected with its veteran-laden squad. But the U.S. scored first by hitting El Tri in one of its biggest weak spots: goalkeeper.
In the 28th minute, a rare moment arose when Mexico’s press backed off the U.S. defense. That allowed Americans the Americans to put together one of their first sustained passing sequences of the night.
It led to Sebastian Berhalter sending Alex Freeman up the right wing, and he played a ball between two defenders that Gio Reyna hustled to reach in open space. As Reyna neared the end line, he turned a half-shot-half-pass back toward the middle. Mexican netminder Raúl Rangel completely misplayed it, and Hall pounced for his latest smart finish.
Three games, three goals for Julian Hall, who starts celebration, then gives a little smile like he can’t believe what is happening. pic.twitter.com/vKwTKd0spL
Sullivan didn’t do much attack-wise in the first half, but he was a lively high-presser — which no doubt will have pleased the U.S. coaching staff. He was on the ball much more in the early stages of the second half, and made some incisive runs.
Kochen took the spotlight in the 58th with a leaping save of Roberto Alvarado’s shot off a free kick sequence. There had been some iffy moments for the 20-year-old up to then, in his second national team game and first start. But that play showed why his prospect stock is so high.
Then came the moment that will live on highlight reels for a long time.
Rangel stood on the ball well outside his 18-yard box looking for a teammate to pass to. His eventual play was a softball on the ground that Sullivan jumped on. A turn and first touch settled the ball, and his second touch was a chip shot from nearly 35 yards. It sailed over Rangel and floated right into the middle of the net.
As the crowd erupted, Sullivan screamed, then ran to the corner of the stands near where the U.S. substitutes were warming up — including Union teammates Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield. Within seconds, the entire American squad had swarmed him to celebrate.
Sullivan emerged in the grasp of a big embrace from two of the most experienced veterans, Richards and Robinson. Adams, newly re-appointed as the U.S. captain, arrived next for another bearhug and an exchange of words.
The moment felt with emotional significance. And if that wasn’t enough, the scoreboard told another story to savor. It read 2-0 — dos a cero. The Americans’ favorite score against their favorite rival lived again, thanks to their bright new stars.
But this time, that wasn’t the final score. Malik Tillman capped things off in the 85th, outhustling Mexican centerback Diego Campillo to a loose ball and smashing it first-time from 12 yards.
💥🇺🇸 ¡¡TILLMAN LE GANA LA CARRERA A CAMPILLO Y SENTENCIA LA GOLEADA!!
⚽🔥 Diego Campillo dejó correr el balón, pero Malik Tillman aceleró, le ganó por velocidad y aprovechó el error defensivo para aumentar la ventaja de @USMNT.
Between those goals, there was one of many old-fashioned ruckuses like these teams have always had. In the 69th, Mexico’s Mateo Chávez barged into Yunus Musah off the ball, and referee Selvin Brown of Honduras gave Chávez a straight red card.
Sullivan exited right after his goal, replaced by Yunus Musah. Justin Ellis entered for Hall at the same time. In the final minutes, Pochettino used three more of the eight total subs available to him: Brooklyn Raines for Reyna, Peyton Miller for Berhalter, and Mathis Albert for Tillman.
By the end, most of the crowd was streaming for the exits. But the U.S. fans stuck around, and serenaded the team with a rendition of John Denver’s “Country Roads,” the song that became the team’s anthem at the World Cup.
As Mike Gansey left Saturday’s Sixers Blue x White Scrimmage, fans gathered alongside the fence greeted him with a big cheer.
The Sixers’ new general manager made a massive splash in his first summer in charge, swinging a trade for Jaylen Brown and following it up by signing LeBron James.
On Saturday, fans finally got their first look at this year’s squad, but for Gansey, it’s been a few days of watching the star-studded team he assembled face one another in camp.
“I’ve been in a lot of training camps, and at least like the first four or five days, the intensity, I mean, LeBron’s diving on the loose floor for balls,” Gansey said. “He’s 41 years old. It’s just stuff like that, like he’s really set the tone, and everyone’s been doing the same.”
Ariel Hukporti (left) defends against LeBron James during the Sixers Blue x White Scrimmage at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Even with all the new faces, the Sixers are still relying on their long-time veterans, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid. Gansey said back in Cleveland, he referred to Maxey as the “Cavs killer,” and since coming to Philadelphia, he’s seen Maxey develop both as a player and as a leader.
“[He] and Joel are like the elder statesmen here with the team,” Gansey said. “With Jaylen, LeBron and all the other new guys in here, I think he’s trying to take on a vocal leadership role with our group because, you know, the talent, the skill level, I mean, some of the stuff he does in practice, it’s like ‘Whoa,’ you know, like, ‘I’ve never seen that before.’”
Gansey also provided insight into the future of first-round pick Labaron Philon Jr., who, after the Sixers’ big summer, has a much tougher road to significant playing time. That doesn’t mean he’s not factored into the Sixers’ long-term plans.
Philon started on the White Team, defending against the Sixers’ ideal starting lineup with James, Embiid, Maxey, Edgecombe, and Brown. He stayed aggressive on defense and hit a few tough contested baskets.
“Being a point guard in this league, I think that’s the hardest position for a rookie to come in, and it’s going to take some time,” Gansey said. “But he’s a worker.”
The big story of the scrimmage, though, was seeing that starting five all on the floor together. The Sixers have a lot of skill and personality in the locker room. They’re counting on that high level of skill to win a lot of games, but as this team knows from past experiences, it takes more than talent to win games.
Ariel Hukporti (left) and Joel Embiid share a laugh during the Sixers Blue x White Scrimmage at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
But based on what Gansey has seen so far during training camp, he’s confident the Sixers will figure it out. They’re not starting from zero, given James and Embiid’s experience at the Olympics, and Maxey and James’ time as training partners.
“We have so many good veterans that they’re just kind of figuring it out,” Gansey said. “Like, there’s been a lot of scrimmages we’ve had where we don’t even have to run a play. They just kind of figure it out, and I think that’s what it’s really going to be moving forward. Practice is obviously important this week, and then obviously when the games start, we’ll try to figure it out.”
There was no curbing Philadelphians’ enthusiasm at the first Philadelphia Parallel Parking Association (PPPA) Championship at Headhouse Plaza in Society Hill on Saturday, as hundreds of revved-up spectators gathered to watch 14 competitors put themselves into a tight spot.
After several rounds, one of which involved dodging things like a spontaneous Eagles fan celebration and a snow-shoveling citizen using a folding chair for savesies, Mario “One-Shot Mar” Zucca of West Mount Airy was crowned the Best Parallel Parker in Philadelphia.
“Total bliss,” Zucca said, of the feeling that washed over him when he won the title. “It was amazing.”
Mario Zucca wins the first Parallel Parking Championship at Headhouse Plaza.Bastiaan Slabbers/ For the Inquirer
While his win had a lot to do with skill, it also had a lot to do with flair. Zucca, who is an artist and illustrator, donned a red stuntman suit and, just prior to competing in the final round, opened up the hatchback of his 2012 Mazda and out popped a bunch of balloons, including a gold “1,” which remained tied to his car as he parked. After revealing the balloons, he then ran up and down the crowd with a money gun shooting fake Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) traffic tickets with his nickname on it into the audience.
For winning the title, Zucca received bragging rights for a year, a trophy with a piece of a curb on it, and $76 to pay for his next parking ticket.
The crowd looks on as drivers compete in the first Parallel Parking Championship at Headhouse Plaza on Saturday.Bastiaan Slabbers/ For the Inquirer
Adam Wodka, self-appointed commissioner of the newly formed PPPA, which is not affiliated with the PPA, also made a surprise announcement at the start of the championship that the PPA had reached out to him and promised to give the top three finalists free parking in any Center City garage for the month of October.
Rounding out the finalists were LaTasha “Tasha” Hall of Northeast Philly, a heavy equipment operator who works at the Delaware River Port Authority, and Shafir “Pirate One Shot” Mondal of Norris Square, whose dad owns Mondal Driving School.
Mondal, who outfitted his car with decals from the manga series One Piece and wore a Monkey D. Luffy hat, said even though he didn’t win, the experience was worth it.
The crowd reacts as Shafir “Pirate One Shot” Mondal sticks his hands through the sunroof of his car after competing in the first Philadelphia Parallel Parking Championship at Headhouse Plaza Saturday. Bastiaan Slabbers/ For the Inquirer
“I feel great. I loved the energy that people had for parallel parking and the love they had for Philadelphians,” he said.
Nearly 900 people applied for the first PPPA Championship, which Wodka created earlier this year to promote excellence in parallel parking. Ten finalists were chosen by PPPA’s executive board, which is made up of seven of Wodka’s friends, and five were chosen by a popular vote online.
In classic Philly fashion, one of the competitors didn’t show up (he’s probably still circling the block looking for a space) and most of those who did participate didn’t use their turn signals.
Cynthia Malachi White, aka “Cynthia Strawberry,” of Mount Airy, competes in the first-ever Philadelphia Parallel Parking Championship at Headhouse Plaza on Saturday.Bastiaan Slabbers/ For the Inquirer
As DJ Elevator Machine Room pumped music about cars and emcee Marisa Magnatta and referee Rebekah Rickards pumped up the crowd, competitors faced off in their own vehicles without using their backup cameras in three separate categories:
One shot: Get closest to the curb in one attempt.
Tight squeeze: With 18 inches of clearance, park closest to the curb using the least amount of moves.
Under duress: Park as fast as you can while faced with distractions.
The tight squeeze category was definitely the most challenging, with many competitors giving more than just a light tap to the cars in front and behind them. Those vehicles were owned by Wodka and his partner, who offered them up as a sacrifice.
Under duress was a crowd-favorite category in which drivers had to try to ignore any number of things they might encounter on a Philly road, including a Mummers parade, a spontaneous fan celebration, a trash can fire, Philly Elmo and his drum line, a Ben Franklin impersonator, and, of course, a woman with a folding chair and a serious case of the savesies.
Philadelphia Parallel Parking Association Commissioner Adam Wodka measures a competitor’s distance from the curb during the PPPA Championship Saturday. Bastiaan Slabbers/ For the Inquirer
Competitors were given points based on their closeness to the curb and how many moves they made. The three judges — pub owner Fergus “Fergie” Carey, viral crossing guard Jamele Ransom, and comedian and social media influencer Betsy Kenney — were also able to hand out three points every round to whomever they chose to influence the scores. The top three scorers then went on to the final round, where the winner was chosen by the judges.
“I always say parking is made worse with an audience and this is one hell of an audience,” Carey said.
The crowd of backseat drivers came with kids, dogs, and posters, and residents around the plaza came out on their balconies and rooftops to watch the spectacle.
Philadelphia’s newest mascot also made his debut at the event. Parallel Pete is a giant orange traffic cone with fuzzy dice, rearview mirrors, and an unsettlingly anxious face.
Proceeds from a merchandise table went to Families for Safe Streets Greater Philadelphia, a program of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.
The crowd reacts as a driver who has papered their windshield in parking tickets competes in the Philadelphia Parallel Parking Association Championship on Saturday at Headhouse Plaza. Bastiaan Slabbers/ For the Inquirer
While he made no promises, Wodka said he’d love nothing more than to have the championship become an annual event.
“I love the energy. I love that people had fun with it,” he said. “It’s tough out there and we all have stuff going on, so it was really great for a few hours to just celebrate and be silly and have fun.”
Reynaldo Rivera had little interest in sports betting. He preferred playing slots and table games at casinos around Philadelphia, where he’d unwind a couple times a week after covering the graveyard shift as a tow truck driver.
But when the COVID-19 pandemic left most forms of indoor recreation off-limits in 2020, Rivera downloaded some sportsbook apps, and sampled their digital simulations of casino games.
He soon discovered that he had no reason to ever return to Rivers Casino on Delaware Avenue, or Parx Casino in Bensalem, to play slot machines and Ultimate Texas Hold’em.
“You open your phone,” he said, “and it’s right there.”
Occasional after-work gambling turned into constant on-the-job gambling. Rivera sat for hours in the cabin of his tow truck, the outside world dark and still, while he tapped and tapped on his phone.
Hundreds of dollars in losses became thousands. Then, tens of thousands. By this spring, he’d wagered about $2.4 million, losing $137,000.
As his losses ballooned, the gambling companies made sure he knew how valuable he was to them. They granted Rivera VIP status and supplied him bonus credits and gifts, like a Peloton bike, courtesy of DraftKings.
BetMGM arranged an even more remarkable reward through a sponsorship deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. On a spring evening in May 2022, Rivera was led onto the lush infield grass at Citizens Bank Park, before the Phillies played the Texas Rangers. As thousands of fans watched, Rivera tossed a ceremonial first pitch.
Yet the constant gambling and losing left Rivera feeling ashamed and foolish. He was struggling to get by, instead of living comfortably from the money he made driving a tow truck.
He just couldn’t stop.
“Listen, I don’t have a drug addiction,” Rivera, 56, said in a recent interview. “But if that’s what it feels like, that’s crazy.”
Reynaldo Rivera said he grew addicted to playing online casino games on his phone while working as an overnight tow truck driver in Philadelphia. Earlier this year, his attorney filed a lawsuit against DraftKings and FanDuel over his addiction.Jose F. Moreno / Staff PhotographerAs Rivera’s gambling losses deepened, he said companies granted him VIP status and enviable rewards, like throwing out the first pitch before a Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park in 2022. Courtesy of Reynaldo Rivera
Less than a decade ago, gamblers had to invest time and physical effort if they wanted to bet on sports or play casino games, whether it meant going to Las Vegas or Atlantic City, or meeting up with a bookie. Now, it takes only the flick of a thumb to open an app.
And it’s no longer a fringe activity that needs to be sought out. Nearly everywhere Americans look, there are advertisements about sports betting or prediction markets: billboards alongside highways, banner ads in stadiums, sponsored segments in sports broadcasts, and TV and online pitches featuring global stars-turned-well-paid ambassadors, including Philadelphia 76er LeBron James, tennis legend Maria Sharapova, and Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx.
But a corollary backlash is also taking shape, as the repercussions of nearly unlimited access to gambling have become impossible to ignore.
Lawmakers are demanding greater control over how sportsbooks and prediction markets operate, while a wave of litigation is attempting to hold those companies responsible for their customers’ addictions, echoing similar legal action that’s been taken against social media companies. (Meta agreed in August to pay up to $18 billion to settle lawsuits it faced over claims that it designed its products to be addictive to children and teens.)
The impact of the gambling industry’s skyrocketing growth might be felt more acutely in Pennsylvania than anywhere else. In March, the American Gaming Association wrote in a report that Pennsylvania had the largest online gambling market in the U.S., generating $3.46 billion in revenue in 2025 — a 27.9% increase from the year before.
Pennsylvania recorded $7.7 billion in overall gambling revenue in 2025, a sum that trailed only Nevada, according to the gaming association. Pennsylvania is also one of just eight states that have thus far legalized both online gambling and sports betting.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, is the seventh-largest commercial casino market in the country, having generated $1.4 billion in 2025, the gaming association said, and last year was the top market for online gambling advertisements.
“The casino itself has expanded basically into infinity,” said Timothy Fong, the co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program, which researches gambling disorders and evidence-based addiction treatments.
While brick-and-mortar casinos have long wooed bettors with offers of free meals and hotel rooms, the modern gambling industry bears little resemblance to the neon palaces of past generations.
“If you go back in time, like 25 years ago, and you compare the differences, it’s obviously not the same world,” Fong said. “It’s not even the same universe, and it’s because gambling is frictionless right now. It takes very little effort to get bets down. And you also have a much wider array of choices of how to bet, what types of wagers are out there.”
The state’s Gaming Control Board last week published an annual overview of its regulatory activity, and reported that 30,000 people are enrolled in its self-exclusion programs, which prevent bettors with addictions from being able to legally gamble.
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University’s Criminal Justice Research Center have found that between 60% and 73% of adults in the state had engaged in some form of betting in 2025, with as much as 30% gambling online. The average age of online gamblers was 37, and more than 77% were men, with 61% identifying as white.
Overall, Penn State found that between 2.4% and 6.4% of Pennsylvanians might be problem gamblers — more than double the reported national average of 1% to 3%.
“That’s an inordinate amount of people,” said Eric Webber, a senior behavioral health therapist for Caron Treatment Centers, which offers addiction rehabilitation services in Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia, New York, and Washington, D.C.
Webber, since 2013, has been treating people who have gambling addictions. The number of his patients — who include lawyers, executives, and college students — has climbed steadily since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that states could adopt their own sports betting laws.
He described one young client whose compulsions led him to coordinate a phone, laptop, and tablet to play multiple hands of blackjack simultaneously.
“I tell people this is the new epidemic,” Webber said, and Pennsylvania “is at the epicenter of it.”
Rivera is among a half dozen former customers of FanDuel and DraftKings who have recently sued the companies in Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia. Their lawsuits allege that the apps use “hyper-personalized algorithms” and loyalty programs to target “the most addicted, problem users” that make up a disproportionate chunk of the sportsbooks’ revenue.
Rivera’s lawyer, Jennifer Hoekstra, said her Pensacola, Fla.-based firm, Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz, has retained about 15,000 clients with similar claims, and has filed lawsuits against sportsbook operators in Delaware, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.
“FanDuel and DraftKings have created, essentially, an addiction crisis,” Hoekstra said. “They built an addictive product intentionally.”
Rivera’s attorney, Jennifer Hoekstra, said DraftKings and FanDuel banned him from their apps after he sued the companies. Rivera said he still can’t bring himself to delete the apps. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
The companies have rejected that characterization and said they offer tools that allow players to monitor and set limits on their deposits, wagering, and playing time.
FanDuel “supports and exceeds the comprehensive requirements set by Pennsylvania regulators for how we monitor customer behavior and respond to signs of harm,” a spokesperson wrote in an email.
In 2025, the company spent $158 million on responsible gaming technology, conducted 58,000 account reviews, and removed 5,700 users from FanDuel’s platform, the spokesperson said.
A DraftKings spokesperson wrote that while the company won’t comment on pending litigation, it “takes responsible engagement concerns very seriously” and has a team of more than 50 full-time employees and a chief responsible gaming officer who focus on that issue. “Responsible engagement is embedded across our business and essential to DraftKings’ long-term sustainability,” the spokesperson said.
The sportsbooks have asked judges to dismiss other lawsuits that have accused them of product liability and violating state consumer protection laws. Their attorneys have argued that FanDuel and DraftKings don’t sell an actual product, but instead offer a free app and have no obligation to protect customers from placing lawful bets, even if their gambling becomes excessive.
Shortly after Rivera’s lawsuit reached the court docket in July, DraftKings and FanDuel banned him from their apps, and the friendly VIP managers who had once texted him regularly no longer responded to his messages, his lawyer said. Yet Rivera can’t bring himself to delete the sportsbook apps from his phone. The urge to place a bet remains just under the surface, an itch he can’t scratch. Sometimes, he imagines winning back the money he’s lost.
“If I had access to them apps, I’d probably be on them,” he said. “I know I’d be on them.”
Advertisements for sports betting can now be easily found at professional sports stadiums and during broadcasts of games. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
A bond, broken
On Sept. 23, a cluster of parents walked through the echoey halls of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington to a small, cream-colored room. Once inside, they unspooled personal accounts of how gambling addiction had impacted their lives. Politicians and advocates listened and nodded solemnly, and discussed the urgency of a newly announced gambling reform movement.
Raymond Mikesell described the inseparable bond that he shared with his son, Ray, who at the age of 4 began helping out at Cafe Raymond, the breakfast and lunch spot that Mikesell operated for 17 years in Pittsburgh, beginning in 2007. Ray became a full-time fixture in the restaurant as he grew older, whipping up blueberry ricotta pancakes in the kitchen while his father amiably chatted with customers.
By age 20, Ray had enough money to buy his own house. That picture of success was punctured when Mikesell one day received some of his son’s bank statements by mistake, and discovered that his account had been repeatedly flagged for insufficient funds.
“I said, ‘Ray, what’s going on here? You got to explain this to me,’” Mikesell recalled. “He said he was betting.”
Mikesell wanted to help his son climb out of debt. He began managing his finances, giving him an allowance, and sometimes paying his mortgage. Mikesell said he also avoided mentioning professional sports altogether, for fear that it would drive his son to place more wagers.
“Within a month, he was kicking my door down to tell me I’m ruining his life,” he said. “We all knew what it was. It was the addiction to gambling. He just wanted to bet all his money.”
Mikesell said his son spiraled deeper into addiction. He maxed out his credit cards, and his home fell into foreclosure, and then was sold at a sheriff’s sale.
Among those who had assembled in the senate room with Mikesell were U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) and U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko (D., N.Y.). In 2025 the lawmakers introduced the SAFE Bet Act, which would prohibit sportsbooks from marketing during live games and using artificial intelligence to inform the promotions they offer to bettors.
Blumenthal and Tonko each addressed the parents, who represented a nonprofit, Families and Friends of Gamblers, which was created with the help of the Public Health Advocacy Institute. (Lawyers for the institute in March sued FanDuel, DraftKings, and the NFL on behalf of Terry Thompson and Christopher Sage, men from the Philadelphia suburbs who developed sports gambling addictions.)
Blumenthal accused sportsbook companies and prediction markets of exploiting their customers’ compulsions.
“It drives families apart. Ruins people’s careers,” he said. “It basically decimates lives, because gambling can be an addiction. We know it’s an addiction. It’s a disease, like every addiction.”
Tonko and Blumenthal in August demanded that FanDuel end its VIP services, citing reporting from The Inquirer that revealed that a FanDuel VIP host had sent a personalized video of Phillies star Bryce Harper to Thompson, who earlier this year planned to end his life after gambling away the last of his family’s savings.
A FanDuel executive disclosed to the lawmakers in a Sept. 24 letter that the company has sent approximately 30 personalized videos from athletes and entertainers to its customers during the last two years, but said such perks are not meant to encourage betting.
In response to the congressional scrutiny, the Major League Baseball Players Association has said it would support prohibiting players from doing promotional work for gambling VIP programs.
Such measures arrived too late for Mikesell’s son.
A few days before Thanksgiving in 2024, Mikesell spoke by phone with Ray, who was still staying in his foreclosed-upon house in South Fayette. Neither knew that Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office deputies planned that day to serve Ray with an eviction notice.
When the deputies later arrived and knocked on Ray’s door, they heard a single gunshot.
Ray, 24, had died by suicide.
Mikesell later said that he didn’t believe his son had planned on taking his life — he had already packed his belongings and his two cats in his car — but might have panicked when he saw police at his property.
“We found a note in his garage,” Mikesell recalled. “It said, ‘Please take care of my cats.’”
Raymond Mikesell (right) and his son Ray (left) worked together daily at Cafe Raymond, Mikesell’s restaurant in Pittsburgh. Courtesy of Raymond Mikesell
Grief-stricken, Mikesell contacted Rep. Jason Ortitay, an Allegheny County Republican, to ask if anything could be done to address gambling addiction. Earlier this year, Ortitay introduced a bill that would prevent betting apps from being accessed within Pennsylvania schools.
“I called my wife and daughter, and we cried,” Mikesell said, his voice breaking. “Because it’s a small step in a big thing that’s going to mean a lot someday soon.”
After police closed their investigation into Ray’s suicide, investigators returned his cell phone to his parents. They discovered that a month after his death, Ray’s phone was still buzzing with promotional offers from gambling companies.
“There was one text from DraftKings,” Mikesell said, “asking him, ‘Are you betting with someone else? What’s going on?’”
Advertisements that encourage viewers to try online gambling or prediction markets have become nearly inescapable. Staff Illustration
‘The gambler’s fallacy’
Tales of tragedy and heartache like Mikesell’s have spurred other legislative and legal efforts to rein in sportsbooks and prediction markets.
Pennsylvania lawmakers are drafting legislation to ban in-game microbets and curtail VIP programs, and have introduced additional bills to prohibit consumers from using credit cards to place wagers, restrict gambling entities’ ability to send push notifications to customers, and ban insider trading on prediction markets.
The Sports Betting Alliance — a national advocacy organization whose members include FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, bet365, and Fanatics — has said it would oppose legislation to eliminate microbets, and has likened VIP services to rewards that retailers like Starbucks offer to frequent customers.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi, accusing each of operating illegal gambling platforms. The federally regulated markets are available in 50 states, and customers can be as young as 18, while the legal gambling age remains 21.
Prediction market officials insist that their products are not gambling apps — even after recording tens of billions of dollars in sports wagers during the FIFA World Cup — but rather a financial product similar to the stock exchange.
In early September, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport petitioned the Supreme Court to decide whether states should have the authority to regulate prediction markets as they do gambling.
Amid those legal tussles, researchers are still assessing the complex picture of addiction that has been associated with the widespread growth of online sports betting and prediction markets.
In early September, Bank of America Institute published an analysis that showed the largest share of customers who engaged in online betting in July came from lower- and middle-income households.
FanDuel’s logo can be found next to the entrance of Live! Casino & Hotel, which sits about a block north from Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
The institute said that median account balances of households that participated in online betting was 59% of those that did not, but didn’t include demographic or other details about those customers.
“There’s something called the gambler’s fallacy, which basically goes like this: ‘If I keep doing this, I have to win,’” said Webber, who conducts inpatient rehabilitation at Canon’s 110-acre campus in Berks County.
“From a biological standpoint, it’s a dopamine rush, so even if I’m losing, I’m getting a reward. It’s the excitement of the chance — ‘I might get this. And VIP [rewards] are going to make me feel like the man.’”
In June, researchers from West Virginia University and the University of Oviedo published a study suggesting that the legalization of sports betting could lead to a 3% increase in the annual divorce rate. “Effects emerge gradually and are driven almost entirely by online wagering,” the authors wrote. (The study, which examined state and county data from 2012 to 2024, has not yet been peer-reviewed.)
A 2025 report from the Democrat-leaning Progressive Policy Institute, meanwhile, found a 36% decrease in bankruptcies between 2019 and 2024 in states that legalized online sports betting, with “no sign of a tidal wave of bankruptcies or consumer credit downgrades.”
That same year, The Lancet Regional Health-Europe published a study that showed suicide was the leading cause of death among 6,899 patients in Norway who had a gambling disorder between 2008 and 2021.
Though those patients had a higher suicide risk than the general population, the researchers found that gambling addiction had a lower suicide risk than substance use disorders, alcohol dependence, psychotic disorders, or mood disorders.
None of that research, though, captures how easily even a new gambler’s experience can escalate from a fun diversion to a life-altering obsession.
Hiding his online gambling addiction from those closest to him left John Field feeling like he was living a double life, and ultimately drove him to lose a long-term relationship. Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
A double life
When John Field turned 21, he opened accounts with DraftKings and FanDuel, and occasionally placed football parlay bets when he hung out with friends. Eventually, he tried the apps’ casino offerings, and became hooked on slots — 20 cents a spin at first, then 50 cents, then 5 bucks, then 10 dollars.
He gambled nonstop at a warehouse job that he held in Clifton Heights, but hid this newfound compulsion from those closest to him. He felt like he was leading a double life.
“Have you ever seen the show Severance?” Field asked, referring to the Apple TV sci-fi show in which office workers live separate lives in and out of work. “It was just like that. I had to basically pretend like I was a completely different person.”
One person knew the truth: Field’s mother, Debbie. She still had access to his bank account from when he was younger and observed that Field was regularly moving money to a FanDuel account.
“It started off slow,” Debbie said, “and then every year, it got worse.”
Field recognized that he had a problem, and said he tried several times to close his FanDuel or DraftKings accounts. But then he felt a maddening urge to start gambling again.
“Every time I’d run out of money, I’d see an ad, like, ‘Deposit 50 bucks and get $500 in casino credit.’ So when I was down real bad I’d download the other apps,” Field said. “I knew they’d give me a bunch of money to start with.”
His phone eventually held apps from Fanatics, BetRivers, Borgata Online, BetMGM, Caesars Palace Online, SugarHouse, Stardust, and Bally Bet. Some weeks, he gambled away nearly his entire paycheck.
Debbie Field saw that her son’s bank account was plunging into negative figures, and accruing overdraft fees. She implored him to disclose his addiction to his longtime girlfriend. The couple had started dating when they were sophomores at Penncrest High School in Middletown, Delaware County, and were planning to get an apartment together.
“I was like, ‘John, you can’t move in with your girlfriend without telling her. You tell her, or we will,’” Debbie recalled. “He was petrified.”
Field told his girlfriend about his struggles with addiction. The couple forged ahead and moved in together in February 2025.
“I figured we got our own place, I got rent, bills, I really should probably stop this,” Field said. “And it just, again, got way worse. Because then when I lost money, I was like, ‘Holy s—, I have to pay rent, I have to get groceries.’”
He chased his losses, diverting more money into gambling apps.
After losing his apartment, Field moved in with his parents and began undergoing treatment for gambling addiction. He said he still encounters numerous daily ads for gambling on social media. Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
By March 2025, Field needed his parents to pay his rent. Two months later, he and his girlfriend broke up. Heartbroken, he moved back in with his parents, and agreed to participate in online therapy sessions through ETHOS Treatment.
Field’s therapist, Phil Waibel, said there is so much demand for gambling addiction treatment, he now has a waiting list for his group sessions. “It’s taking the hearts and minds of young people — especially young men — at an astonishingly high rate,” he said.
Waibel has treated patients who discovered that it was difficult to escape gambling marketing and push notifications even when they attempted to quit.
“They’re seeking out even those people who have gone out of their way to block or delete contacts, to self exclude or unsubscribe from email lists,” Waibel said. “They continue to be bombarded, which would indicate a predatory or extremely offensive stance, to loop people back in as soon as possible.”
Field, 27, said he now feels like his addiction is under control. He excluded himself from all gambling activities in Pennsylvania, secured a union job with a construction company, started going to a gym, and began repairing relationships with friends and family members.
“Every aspect of my life is significantly better,” he said.
Yet gambling isn’t out of the picture entirely.
Recently, Field used Venmo to send some money to his sister, and faced a pop-up ad from a casino app that offered a $1,000 deposit match and up to 1,000 spins.
“Sign up today,” the message read.
After opening his Instagram app, he encountered ads for Charming Cat Fortunes — a slots game from PlayLive! Casino whose motto is “Stay entertained 24/7” — in addition to ads for a gold digger-themed slots game from betParx.
Field estimates that he sees nearly 20 gambling ads across various social media platforms each day. “I’d be having a good day, not thinking about it,” he said, “and then boom, you’d see an ad, and feel that little itch, and you just kind of got to get rid of it.”
He now considers the barrage of advertising to be a form of motivation.
“It’s like, ‘F— these guys.’ All they’re trying to do is shove it down my throat,” he said. “It’s just insane how inescapable it is.”
The Inquirer will continue to report on issues related to the growth of gambling addiction — among teens and adults — across Pennsylvania. If you, or someone you know, wants to speak with a reporter, please contact David Gambacorta or William Bender at dgambacorta@inquirer.com and wbender@inquirer.com
BRIGANTINE, N.J. — With its full moon and stacked high tides over multiple days, last week’s nor’easter left Shore towns with some of the worst flooding and erosion since Hurricane Sandy.
In dramatic fashion, the nor’easter produced some feared Shore scenarios: dunes sliced into cliffs, beaches vertically eroded, popular restaurants flooded to the point of closing altogether for the season, water lapping into ground floors, cars ruined. Days later, firefighters were responding to raging electrical fires, at least one of which was linked to a flood-soaked golf cart.
Still, the nor’easter was also a testament of what went right, a test of flood resilience tactics implemented in the 14 years since Sandy — a series of flood pumps in Brigantine, an elevated artery in Ocean City, raised homes throughout the Shore — that prevented a much worse outcome.
During the September 2026 nor’easter, metal floodgates were brought in to the city’s Municipal Boat Ramp by the city of Brigantine to physically block flood waters.John CunnionBrigantine’s municipal boat ramp was previously an entry way to devastating flooding. But city officials installed flood pumps and metal gates to keep the water off the island, and to drain the island between high tides.Amy S. Rosenberg / staff
‘Our girl took a beating’
In parts of Holgate, Brigantine, Atlantic City, and North Wildwood, the storm left cliffs six feet or higher, cutting off access to the beach at multiple street ends. Vertical erosion uncovered old structures including rotting old wooden piers.
Streets in Long Beach Township, West Wildwood, and Atlantic City took on water through multiple days of high tide, damaging residential garages and other ground floor spaces.
Abby Mason, of Pottstown, looks at storm damage in Holgate on Thursday.Tim Hawk / For The Inquirer
On Sigsbee Avenue, contractor Vincent Allen of B. Grigoletto Contractors was ripping out ruined insulation and dry wall on two houses, both second homes.
He noted that since Sandy, a lot of the smaller homes had been torn down and replaced by elevated homes, where the ground floors are not, technically, living spaces. “Basically, if you lived on the bay, you got water,” he said. “This wasn’t as high as Sandy, nowhere near it.”
Owner Mike Franzoni at what’s left of his BLVD Pizza in Beach Haven, which was flood damaged days before a fire broke out.Amy S. Rosenberg / staff
On Long Beach Island and Atlantic City, numerous businesses were mopping up or closing early for the season after flood damage.
“We are truly sick to our stomachs, and it hurts,” Moments at Scannicchios, a restaurant on Fairmount Avenue in Atlantic City, said in a Facebook post. “In the end we will reopen.” The restaurant asked people to help out a nearby corner bodega, El Rinconcito Grocery, it said lacked similar resources.
On Long Beach Island, the ruined insides of the Dockside Diner were strewn across the front of the restaurant. “Our team, our family, is safe,” the owners wrote on Facebook. “But our old girl Dockside took a beating.”
Nearby, Mike Franzoni looked at the charred remains of BLVD Pizza’s Beach Haven location, which suffered flood damage and had a fire a few days later. Another location, in Surf City, was undamaged.
Storm damage in Holgate on Thursday.Tim Hawk / For The Inquirer
On Long Beach Island, the beloved “karaoke garage,” belonging to the family of Diane O’Donnell, 80, of Yardley, Pa., took on two feet of water, half of Sandy levels.
Last week, an Indigo Girls song was playing out of the space where Kelly Kolbjornsen and her family would recruit people to stop and sing karaoke on their way down Long Beach Boulevard.
“It’s part of having a beach house, but it’s a little overwhelming,” Kolbjornsen said.
‘A good gauge’
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew brought representatives from FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers to focus on severe damage to ramps from Brigantine’s concrete promenade in the north end and the near breaching of a private retaining wall that was the only line of defense after surging waves destroyed dunes at the promenade’s edge.
But Mayor Vince Sera also pointed out that neighborhoods devastated during Sandy remained mostly damage-free.
“We put floodgates in before the storm came into Brigantine,” he said. “They closed all of the floodgates and prevented a lot of water from coming in. On each low tide, they let the water out to drain, and closed them again for the next high tide.
“Any water that comes into the streets, we have pumps around the island,” he said. “It pushes the water out over the bulkhead and back into the bay. It drains the island.”
Residents near those points of vulnerability took note.
“Without the pumps, it would have been horrible,” said Terri Cunnion, whose home sits on Bayshore Avenue across from the boat ramp, a major thoroughfare of flooding during Sandy (when the previous home on her lot was destroyed). “Without those gates, this block wouldn’t be.”
Through multiple high tides, last weekend’s floodwaters never got past the lip of the garage in the Cunnion’s house, whose living spaces are built 14 feet to new elevation standards.
Ocean City’s newly elevated Roosevelt Boulevard was also credited with mitigating damage from the nor’easter, staying above floodwaters and allowing an evacuation route, said Mayor Jay Gillian. The road was reconstructed so that portions were raised by 12 to 20 inches.
During Hurricane Sandy, bay waters roared right up Brigantine’s municipal boat ramp and surged across Bayshore Road, totaling houses with four feet of water.
Since the installation of eight permanent flood pumps and two portable flood buster pumps, vulnerable spots like Bayshore Drive and the neighborhood around the town’s golf course are newly fortified. In addition, bulkheads were raised.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, together with federal, state, and local officials, tour storm damage in Holgate on Thursday.Tim Hawk / For The Inquirer
Atlantic City, similarly, installed pumps at its Atlantis Avenue station and rebuilt bulkheads in Chelsea and Chelsea Heights. It has yet to complete similar projects in its Ducktown neighborhood, which saw major flooding last weekend, leaving some businesses with tens of thousands of dollars in equipment and merchandise loss.
Van Drew pointed to other improvements since Sandy that protected utility infrastructure and homes. Homes that were elevated had ground levels that allow water to flow in and then out, he noted. He is advocating a permanent $1 billion “Coastal Trust Fund,” funded by revenue from federal offshore oil and gas leases to provide a stable source of funding for beach fills, dune restoration, and other coastal remediation.
“The good news is we’ve done a lot of good work,” Van Drew said. “We’ve hardened a lot of structures. When you look at electrical substations, in many cases, they’ve been raised. When you look at transmission lines, rather than being on wooden poles, they are now on industrial grade steel lines that are actually put on much, much stronger holes.”
Kelly Kolbjornsen looks at the damaged bar from her garage, where she and her family recuited passers by to sing karaoke, on Wednesday, days after the nor’easter.Amy S. Rosenberg / staff
‘Sacrificial sand projects’
On an Oct. 1 tour from Long Beach Island to North Wildwood, Van Drew made the case for continued beach replenishment funding, despite the storm eating through a good chunk of the $99 million in recent beach replenishment, most recently in Sea Isle City, Strathmere, Ocean City, Avalon, and Stone Harbor.
D. Lee Forsgren, the performing assistant secretary for the Army for Civil Works, who oversees the Army Corps, made a point of calling beach replenishment projects “sacrificial sand projects.” He compared the engineered beaches to your car’s “crumple zones” that are made to take the initial beating.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (left) talks with Holgate Mayor Joseph H. Mancini in front of beach erosion in Holgate on Thursday.Tim Hawk / For The Inquirer
“We don’t put sand on these beaches to make them pretty beaches,” he said. “They are designed for storm damage reduction.”
Still, he cautioned Van Drew that “the best opportunity to really make progress would be with a supplemental appropriation associated with the storm because there’s not a lot of pocket change sitting around in the core budget.”
That will require a disaster declaration from Sherrill, who toured Brigantine on Tuesday.
Aside from more sand, Van Drew said the towns, state, and Army Corps were looking at funding hard structures — like jetties, groins, and seawall extensions — as ways to keep the elevated tides that accompany storms from overwhelming beaches.
A house on Brigantine’s north end belonging to Clay and Lori Goldsmid and other nearby homes were spared major damage during the recent nor’easter.Amy S. Rosenberg / staff
In Brigantine, Mayor Sera rode out the storm at the tip of the promenade, watching railings get blown off, dunes disappear, and the nearby retaining wall nearly buckle. He said city officials had compiled a list of who was in nearby homes in case of an emergency evacuation.
He is seeking to extend the promenade another 250 feet north, and says the state is studying whether adding hard structures to keep the sand in place will help a situation where a sandbar that has in recent years grown into what is now called Horseshoe Island is starving Brigantine of sand.
The city’s flood mitigation efforts since Sandy have resulted in a 25% discount for residents on flood insurance, he said. And he wholeheartedly recommends flood pumps and gates to other municipalities, like Ventnor, whose Ventnor Heights section was cut off at both ends by flooding for hours during high tides.
Sera and other knows the big storms will come again, probably this winter, with the El Niño warming in the equatorial Pacific.
With sea levels rising, some residents who came out to see the federal officials in Brigantine wanted to know about timelines.
“How fast is fast,” interrupted Louise Seitel, of nearby Absecon, as officials spoke of extending the seawall.
“A study is probably going to be 18 months,” Nate Barcomb, an Army Corps deputy district engineer based in Philadelphia, acknowledged.
“Government is tough,” Van Drew said.
Aerial photograph of New Jersey’s Horseshoe Island in June 2021.N.J. Department of Environmental Protection / U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
My father, Russell Byers, a beloved Daily News columnist, believed deeply that the greatest gift we can offer a child is “roots to grow and wings to fly.” He believed in high-quality public education to transform lives. When his life was tragically cut short, our family — his widow, Laurada, my sister, Alison, and me — chose to honor his commitment by founding the Russell Byers Charter School.
The school has grown to serve more than 700 students from 43 neighborhoods. Grounded in expeditionary learning, the school treats the entire city as a living classroom.
As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we know that educating a child in a bustling urban landscape takes a village.
That is why this anniversary must also serve as a profound call to action: We need more mentors.
For a middle schooler navigating the complexities of growing up, having an outside mentor — a caring professional, a retiree, a local artist, or an engineer — can alter their trajectory. You do not need a degree in education to be a mentor; you simply need presence, patience, and a willingness to listen.
As we celebrate our first quarter century of educational excellence, let us honor Russell Byers’ legacy not just with words, but with action.
W. Russell G. Byers Jr.,chair, Byers School Foundation
I was taken aback by the Philadelphia Building Decarbonization Project’s new analysis showing a 67% increase in ratepayer bills since 2012, fueled mainly by utilities’ heavy investments in replacing gas pipes and other delivery infrastructure. Utilities were able to transfer these costs directly to ratepayers due to a little-known state law, Act 11, that gives them broad latitude to impose surcharges. Distressingly, such surcharges now account for about two-thirds of a typical residential gas bill in Pennsylvania. If rates continue to increase, even families that try to conserve energy will end up paying more.
Eliminating Act 11’s perverse incentives to load pipe replacement costs onto ratepayers should be a key part of making Pennsylvania energy more affordable. Utilities should also be required to consider alternative energy sources that avoid harmful emissions — including electrification and thermal networks — before replacing gas pipes. Allowable pipeline investments should focus on safety issues. I have contacted my state representatives to urge reforms along these lines, and I would urge other Inquirer readers to do so, too.
Elaine Fultz, Philadelphia
Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.
ARIES (March 21-April 19). When you feel out of place, you take action. It distracts your mind from spiraling. Helping the host set the table, starting a conversation or a game — movement itself gives your energy a place to go while you settle into the room.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You can shake off self-consciousness by remembering that every single one of your heroes has felt like you feel right now at one time or another. Being a little nervous in new situations is a price of entry for adventurous souls, so you simply push through.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You can walk into a room where everyone speaks a different language and still find one word you share. Start there. Ask what people mean. Tell them what fascinates you and then learn the local customs as you talk with them.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). When your usual move stops working, as surprised as you may be, you rarely show it. Instead, you pause and retrace your path. Did you skip a step? Are you answering the wrong question? Is this the moment for deeper listening? Is there a hint to pick up on?
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). If the role you’ve been cast in feels like a poor fit, you simply give it more flair, more attitude, more you. No shrinking back, only bringing more of the fullness of your personality into view, likely with a fair dose of humor.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). The unfamiliar situation sends you searching for guidance. When none appears, you study how the place works and choose one small job you can do well. Your competence has a way of settling your nerves. You attract an admirer.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Even when you’re not in your place, you’re in your season. You’ll offer a compliment. You’ll introduce yourself. You put smiles on faces. With each one, you feel more woven into the social fabric.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). There’s never a rush to fit in. Watch from the edge until you get a feel for how people are relating to one another. Choose someone you’re interested in knowing. One real connection means more than acceptance from everyone.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Once you realize you have wandered into strange territory, you treat the mistake as part of the trip. Ask where you are and try something the locals recommend. You leave with a killer story.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Once you understand the chain of command, you calm down. Find out who sets the standard and what good work looks like here, then get to fulfilling the order. People will forget your entrance and remember your contribution.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). When you feel out of step with everyone else, you check whether the march itself makes sense. If you can improve the route, speak up. You fit in best by changing the setup enough to make room for more people.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). If a place feels cold, you look for the person who could use an ally. You sit beside them and help them settle in. By making one corner warmer for somebody else, you create a place where you belong, too.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Oct. 4). In your Age of Fresh Happiness, you take part in experiences that were inaccessible before. Some gates open because of what you can do now; others because of what you are free to leave behind. More highlights: Monthly novelty and excitement. People join your work, bringing the resources needed to create wins for all. Family hits a cycle of peace and prosperity. Taurus and Aquarius adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 18, 4, 14, 30 and 22.
DEAR ABBY: I moved 2,000 miles to be near my daughter and her family. One of my granddaughters, “Libby,” was diagnosed with a medical condition and has put on some weight. I was at my daughter’s and was going to mention my concern for my granddaughter’s weight. Before I could finish, my son-in-law came in, told me I shouldn’t be talking about Libby’s weight and walked away. I thought I could talk to my daughter about things I was concerned about. I left feeling very hurt.
I sent a text to my daughter apologizing. My son-in-law came to my house and said I need to filter what I say. He then told me I have made remarks to my grandchildren that hurt them. I love my family with all my heart. I would die for them. Was I wrong to mention my concern about Libby? I’m devastated that my daughter didn’t come to talk with me about it. Am I wrong?
— MEANT WELL IN IDAHO
DEAR MEANT WELL: It is disappointing that your son-in-law had to come and talk to you rather than your daughter. Talk with her, and ask how you can interact with her and her family more positively.
It is generally known these days that weight is a sensitive subject, particularly if it is associated with a medical condition. If Libby is under a doctor’s care, you can be confident that everything that can be done for her is being done. Because you have now been informed that some of the comments you have made have hurt your grandchildren, it may be time to close your mouth and turn on your “listening ears” when you visit. Also, when you want a private conversation with your daughter, make sure that it is, indeed, private.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: I have known “Ralph” for many years and consider him one of my best friends. We share many interests, and through the years we have frequently discussed them over the phone. Ralph retired recently and is bored, so now he calls me three or four times a week, even when there is nothing new to talk about. We rehash the same things over and over again. I’ve dropped subtle hints that my life doesn’t change much from day to day. If I allow his calls to go to voicemail, he leaves a message and asks me to call him back. I don’t want to be rude, but how can I get him to call less frequently?
— DUCKING CALLS IN PENNSYLVANIA
DEAR DUCKING CALLS: If Ralph’s voice message doesn’t contain a reason for you to call him back, you’re not obligated to do so with any urgency. It’s not rude of you to enforce a waiting period between your calls with him. Whenever he does bring up a worn-out topic, say something like, “Oh, yeah, we talked about this a few days ago!” Then immediately change the subject. In this way, you subtly make it obvious that you’re not going to let him drag you into the same conversations time and time again.
