Authorities said nearly 20 people were taken to hospitals for evaluations after they were exposed late Tuesday afternoon to irritating fumes inside a Walmart in Deptford Township, a Gloucester County spokesperson said.
Around 4:15 p.m., people started calling 911 reporting an unknown irritant inside the Walmart on the 800 block of Cooper Street, said Andrew Halter, chief of hazmat for Gloucester County Emergency Response.
Emergency personnel encountered around 24 people exiting the department store showing signs, such as coughing and raspy throats, of exposure to an unknown irritant, Halter said.
The store was being investigated by local authorities and by personnel from Walmart, Halter said.
The store was closed for the night and was scheduled to reopen around 6 a.m. for normal business, though some shelves may be bare because some food, such as produce and baked goods, were removed “out of an abundance of caution,” Halter said.
The symptoms people showed or reported were “minor in nature,” Halter said, though he could not say if some people were admitted to the hospital for more serious concerns.
Investigators were reviewing whether the fumes came from something mechanical, or if the exposures happened in one or more sections of the store, Halter said.
“Right now, there’s no hazards present after everything that we’ve checked, which is key for having the store reoccupied by employees,” he said.
He had a quiet OTAs. He missed the majority of training camp. Then, when he finally played in the Eagles’ final preseason game, he struggled, recording just 3 yards on three catches and a drop that led to an interception.
Time to hit the panic button? The Eagles certainly aren’t.
“He’s done a good job,” said wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead. “I mean, Makai, like any rookie, is going to have things that [they do] really well and things that he is going to have to improve on. … You’re correcting everything, you’re praising everything, and you’re just allowing the guys to be in the best free position to go out there and play their best.”
Moorehead added that Lemon, the Eagles’ No. 20 pick in the first round of April’s draft, is still going through the motions after he missed nearly three weeks of training camp with a hamstring injury. Fellow Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith was sidelined the majority of camp too, but as Moorehead noted, it’s far easier for a veteran like Smith to ramp up than a rookie.
What’s the biggest hurdle Lemon must overcome following his injury?
Makai Lemon was sidelined for nearly three weeks of training camp with a hamstring injury.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
“It’s really just timing,” Moorehead said. “That’s really the big thing is this timing and getting on the same page with everybody and making sure that they’re kind of pressing forward.
“With Makai, we had to come up with creative ways to get him walk-throughs and get him doing different things that he could do while he was out. He couldn’t physically run, but he could walk through things or we could talk through things, and we could have him hear it, break the huddle, and go where he needed to go, just to catch him up that way. It wasn’t the most fun thing in the world. I know he wanted to be out there and we know we all wanted him to be out there, but that’s what you do. You sacrifice your time, you sacrifice your energy to get to where you want to go. He really took it really well.”
It’s clear the Eagles’ top brass isn’t panicking because of Lemon’s college resumé. Lemon starred at Southern Cal last season, earning unanimous All-American honors by finishing with 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns. There’s a reason the Eagles traded up in the first round with the rival Dallas Cowboys in order to pick him.
General manager Howie Roseman raved about Lemon and the rest of position group in a press conference on Monday.
“The receiver core, obviously you would’ve liked them to be together a little bit more here through the summer but have a lot of confidence in that group,” Roseman said. “I think it’s a talented group from top to bottom. All those guys, they play different roles. It starts with Smitty, who I don’t think it’s a secret how high we are on him. Tay’s [Dontayvion Wicks] exactly what we thought he would be. Obviously, prior to the regular season, going into the regular season, have tremendous confidence in Makai Lemon, Hollywood Brown. Everyone saw Coop [Darius Cooper] and the growth that he showed and development that he showed.”
The museum opened in 1828, and moved to its current location on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in 1876. Its last day with regular hours for the public will be Sunday, Sept. 27.
For some, the greatest loss was the sense of wonder children get when they peruse the museum, see bugs squirm, explore enormous nest displays and dioramas and, of course, lay eyes on the gigantic dinosaur skeleton.
“I’ll always remember the first time I went to the museum and I saw the dinosaur bones,” said Sakura Okuri, a 53-year-old retired FBI special agent who grew up in Germantown. “I’m just sorry that young kids aren’t going to be able to have that memory.”
Okuri, who now lives outside Pittsburgh, took comfort in knowing that if he missed something in one of the rich, expansive exhibits he’d have another chance because “it would always be there for me,” he said. “Apparently that’s not the case.”
The exterior of the Academy of Natural Sciences on Aug. 5.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
The news landed hard for 9-year-old Mira Thompson, who was leaving the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Parkway Central branch with her dad Tuesday afternoon when she got word. She’d gone to the Academy museum on multiple school field trips recently and was looking forward to more visits.
“That’s where I learned about pH testing last year,” Thompson said. “I didn’t know how to do that before going. I’m going to miss just being there.”
For many, it was a site of family bonding. Temple University senior Sean McClendon recalled fond memories there with his Opa, his grandfather, who worked at the museum taking care of owls and birds. Michael Ginsberg, a 60-year-old Northeast Philly native, remembers zealously volunteering to hold a hissing cockroach during a presentation at the museum to “get a rise out of my daughter.”
“My wife was not a fan of that,” he recalled. “‘Go wash your hands,’” she instructed.
One of two shell sculptures placed on either side of the entrance on the 19th Street entrance to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Ginsberg’s dad took him there when he was in first grade. Seeing the dinosaur bones in real life was a thrill after only knowing them on the pages of library books. He was shocked to see they were brown and not white like in renderings.
When he became a dad, himself, he started bringing his daughter.
“Dad, why are all the animals dead?” he remembered his then-toddler asking.
“They’re stuffed, hon,” he explained to her. “It’s a really cool art. It’s a way to get you closer. Just trust me, this is really cool stuff.”
The aim , ultimately, is to relocate the Academy’s collections and sell the building, which has a lot of deferred maintenance needs, said a source close to the talks between Drexel and the Academy, who asked not to be identified.
The interactive “Ocean Bound” exhibit at Academy of Natural Sciences in 2023.Courtesy of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
Online, tributes poured in. Some said the museum inspired them to study museum education, others brought their kids there when they learned to walk, they said, or when the air-conditioning in their homes broke in the summer. Some parents considered it a seminal part of parenthood in Philadelphia; others relayed fond memories of bringing their kids with disabilities to the sensory friendly hour.
Kim Lynne, from Drexel Hill, often brought her 18-year-old son, Ethan, who is on the autism spectrum, to the museum starting around age 3. He appreciated the dinosaurs and bugs; she appreciated the discount Ethan’s medical needs access card granted them on the admission fee.
“He loved the third floor where they had the children’s area, the insects,” Lynne said. “He was into it early on.”
Colleen Hall, 45, often marveled at the museum when she passed by it during her years at Community College of Philadelphia. She then ventured in for social events and was wowed by the dinosaurs, butterflies, and polar bears. She enrolled at St. Joseph’s Museum and Cultural Heritage education graduate program in hopes of working there one day.
It’s hard to wrap her mind around the notion that the museum is really closing.
“My brain just isn’t going there yet,” she said when asked how she felt about the closure.
“It’s not the 11th hour yet,” she added.
For longtime Philadelphians, the loss of the museum marks another step in the city losing its character as shiny new facades slowly replace the old and storied institutions closing their doors.
“We are losing some of the things that make us a historic city,” said McClendon, the Temple senior. “I think that’s really something that’s part of Philly’s brand or image, not just cheesesteaks, and I think people might forget how much history there is because it’s so modernized.”
To those who’ve gone with parents and kids like Ginsberg, the facility is a generational treasure and one of the few places that Philadelphians of all ages, races, and socio-economic classes can enjoy.
“Our city is losing abig part of its heart,” he said.
William F. Dunbar Sr., a former confidant to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker who pleaded guilty this week to federal tax fraud charges, also sought to bilk a political campaign out of rent payments he was not entitled to, according to a court document filed Tuesday.
The document does not name the campaign, but it appears to be Parker’s.
Dunbar, 42, never actually received any ill-gotten funds related to the lease with the campaign, prosecutors said, and he was not charged in connection with the matter.
But prosecutors said in court documents that he’s agreed to let a judge consider the episode and two other incidents of “additional misconduct” as she weighs his sentence for tax fraud.
Dunbar, a Philadelphia lobbyist, was an unpaid but important adviser to Parker during her winning campaign for mayor in 2023. He officially joined her campaign, People for Parker, around the time she took office in January 2024.
The mayor let Dunbar go from her campaign in July 2024 in a move that Dunbar at the time described as Parker’s decision.
The campaign made a series of rent paymentstotaling $22,850 to his lobbying firm, Dunbar Public Affairs & Associates, between March 2024 and November 2024, according to campaign finance records. The address listed for the rent payments was an office in the Penn Center complex near Philadelphia City Hall.
According to Dunbar’s plea agreement, in February 2025 he “falsified certain terms of a lease agreement for office space that [he] had entered as the lessor with a Philadelphia political campaign.”
The city’s online database of campaign finance records shows People for Parker as the only campaign that has made rent payments to Dunbar’s firm.
“The facts speak for themselves,” said Aren Platt, executive director of People for Parker, declining to comment further on Tuesday.
Dunbar declined to comment.
William F. Dunbar Sr., a lobbyist and a former informal adviser to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.Courtesy of William F. Dunbar Sr.
The plea agreement, which was signed by Dunbar and his attorney, said he “falsely modified the terms of the lease agreement” to increase the notice the campaign was required to give him to terminate the lease.
Had the campaign not discovered the change, the agreement said, Dunbar would have received money he was not owed. “The defendant’s efforts in this regard did not result in his obtaining any funds, and he ceased making any efforts to obtain these funds before learning of the federal criminal investigation resulting in the charges in this case,” the agreement said.
Dunbar on Monday pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns for himself and his wife between 2020 and 2025 and claiming substantial refunds when, in reality, they owed money. Prosecutors said in court papers that the tax loss related to the fraud was between $350,000 and $750,000. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 16 years in prison, plus supervised release and fines.
Dunbar’s attorney, Brian McMonagle, said in a statement Tuesday that the plea agreement “reflects Mr. Dunbar’s acceptance of responsibility for his own conduct.”
McMonagle said that the agreement “does not include any cooperation obligations” and that Dunbar is “not required under the agreement to provide information or testimony regarding any other individual.”
The four charges to which Dunbar pleaded guilty are unrelated to his firm’s lease with the Parker campaign and the two other incidents of “additional misconduct” that Dunbar stipulated in the agreement. The other incidents involve falsifying a document for a mortgage application and submitting false financial information to receive additional financial aid at a private school.
Although those episodes did not lead to criminal charges against Dunbar, U.S. District Court Judge Kelley B. Hodge will be able to consider them when determining his sentence. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for January.
Staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this article.
The developer of an affordable housing apartment complex in Voorhees expects the same heavy demand from potential tenants that he experienced with a similar complex his company opened nearby in April.
Hundreds of potential tenants fill the waiting list for available apartments at the 81-unit Victory Commons, a $30 million project that held a grand opening on April 30 at 1223 Haddonfield-Berlin Road, saidNicholas J. Cangelosi, regional vice president of The Michaels Organization, the Camden-based national developer of rental properties.
Cangelosi said he expects far more applicants than openings when his firm opens 120 affordable housing apartments on the 6.6-acre site of the now-vacant L&L Redi Mix concrete company at 600 and 602 Centennial Boulevard.
Centennial Housing Associates LLC, owned by Michaels, is scheduled to appear before the Voorhees Planning Board on Sept. 9 for preliminary and final site plan approvals for The Oaks at Centennial, which would feature 120 apartments built in two phases. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. after a 6:45 caucus at the Voorhees Township Municipal Building.
The $50 million Oaks at Centennial project is included in the fourth round of the township’s affordable housing commitment.
A third Michaels project in Voorhees, a $23 million project with 60 affordable units on Sheppard Road, has been approved by the planning board and awaits financing approval by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, Cangelosi said.
The total of 261 units developed by Michaels in the town will be sought because families want to live in Voorhees, he said.
The now-vacant concrete plant on the Voorhees property will be demolished to make way for the apartment complex.Neill Borowski
Rent for the affordable units will be paid by the tenants, whose incomes must fall under a maximum amount.
Many of the Victory Commons units have been rented to “essential workers” in the community who are employed in retail, healthcare, and schools, Cangelosi said.
“They’re the essential backbone of the community,” he said. “They get to live close to where they work,” he added.
Monthly rent for a two-bedroom unit at the proposed Oaks development for a family earning 60% of Area Median Income would be $1,587. Rent for a one-bedroom unit would be $1,323 and $1,834 for three bedrooms.
In the developer’s application to the Planning Board, traffic consultant Shropshire Associates LLC of Atco estimates The Oaks would generate 43 extra trips during the morning peak hour and 60 extra trips during the afternoon peak hour.
New Jersey’s elected leaders are focused on the shortage of housing. Gov. Mikie Sherrill in April signed an Executive Order that called for a housing plan to be delivered in September.
“We can’t make New Jersey more affordable without making housing more affordable,” Sherrill said in a statement when she signed the order. “With this Executive Order, we are aligning every tool at our disposal to accelerate housing production and make it easier for families to put down roots in the communities they love,” she said.
70and73.com is a hyperlocal news site focused on South Jersey, including the communities of Cherry Hill, Evesham, Mount Laurel, Voorhees, Medford, Medford Lakes, and Moorestown.
Drexel University and the Academy of Natural Sciences announced Tuesday that the museum would close for good on Sept. 30. Its last day open to the public with regular hours will be Sunday, Sept. 27.
While the Academy’s research and collections will be unaffected by this closure, here’s how things will change for the museum’s members and its events.
Will museum members get refunds?
Most recently, memberships for the Academy museum cost $65 for individuals. $135 for families.
“Members will receive direct communication in the coming days with information about their memberships, including benefits, expiration dates, and transition options,” Drexel said in a statement.
The Franklin Institute, the university said, will honor Scademy memberships through their expiration dates, so members can visit the institute situated only about a block away from the Academy.
Members could also “adjust the tax-deductible portion of their membership or request a prorated refund for the remaining membership period,” the university said.
The university said it will provide information to members and also post it on the Academy’s website when it becomes available.
What will happen to events scheduled at the museum?
“All programs and events scheduled to take place before the closure will continue as planned,” the university said. The university did not respond to what will happen to events that are rescheduled after Sept. 30 or if there are any.
What happens to the interns and students currently working in co-ops at the museum?
“Five Drexel students are currently working at the Academy in co-op positions. Their roles support the Academy’s research and collections’ activities and are not affected by the closure of the museum,” the university statement said.
Will hours be expanded if the closure announcement drives a high turnout?
The university said visitors should come to the museum through Sept. 27 “and participate in programs and events offering opportunities to experience and celebrate the museum during its final weeks.”
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, is open Friday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ansp.org
David L. Cohen, the former U.S. ambassador to Canada and Comcast executive, said the governor asked him to be his “agent” in helping to broker a deal between Drexel University and the Academy of Natural Sciences.
No one, he said, wanted to see another University of the Arts, which abruptly closed in June 2024, leaving a hole in the city’s arts landscape and sending students and staff scrambling.
“I don’t want to lose the Academy on my watch, and neither does the mayor,” Gov. Josh Shapiro told Cohen, Cohen said. “Can you figure out if there’s a solution here? If there’s a solution, can you help convince the Academy and Drexel to pursue that solution.”
That’s what Cohen said he has been doing, holding 40 or 50 meetings over the last several months in search of an agreement and producing a draft proposal for the future of the Academy.
The two entities, he said, are close to agreeing to terms on governance and finances. While the museum is closing, as Drexel and the Academy announced Tuesday, the larger agreement would allow for the continued operation and growth of the Academy in Philadelphia, without jeopardizing Drexel, which is facing its own financial challenges.
“We want to preserve the Academy,” he said, “but we also don’t want to jeopardize Drexel.”
“Drexel and the Academy are working with my office, with Gov. Shapiro’s office, and with Ambassador David L. Cohen, as the governor’s representative, to preserve the essential mission of the Academy. We are working collaboratively toward the outcome we all seek for the City of Philadelphia,” Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said in a statement.
The governor’s press office did not responded to requests for comment.
The exterior of the Academy of Natural Sciences on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
Cohen has long been a negotiator in many major city issues, formerly serving as chief of staff to former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell and leading the board of trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.
Shapiro, he said, was clear about the objectives.
“The goal that the governor articulated to me and the mayor was to preserve the essential mission of the Academy, all three legs on the stool,” he said citing research, education and public engagement with the collection. “Some of the legs might be a little shorter. They might be a little skinnier. But the goal is that the Academy survives and has a foundation to thrive and grow in Philadelphia. This is a matter of civic importance.”
Drexel and the Academy are exploring establishing another museum, maybe a smaller one, in another location through a third partner, Cohen said.
“That’s a work in process,” he said. “I had an hour and a half meeting yesterday with one of the potential institutions that could serve that function for the Academy and for Drexel.”
Cohen said he hopes ultimately the community rallies around the Academy and helps to support it.
“We don’t need a single savior here,” he said. “This can be a community effort. I know the Philadelphia nonprofit and foundation community, and time and again this community has stepped up, and I have every hope that we, and it’s a we, will step up again.”
Cohen credited both Drexel and the Academy for their cooperation and willingness to “focus on a common need for the community as a whole. They really deserve the credit for doing this.”
The mayor, too, commended Drexel University and the Academy of Natural Sciences “for its significant, ongoing work to preserve the Academy’s educational mission and extraordinary two-century legacy as a natural history institution, including its world-renowned collections.”
Cohen said he first got involved in the matter about a year ago when he was home recovering from back surgery and got a call from two members of the Academy board about the issues they were having with their partner, Drexel.
The Academy was looking at possibly leaving the city, though it really didn’t want to do that, he said. He suggested they talk to the mayor and the governor. The board members told him they had been trying to do that but were unable to get attention.
Cohen texted the governor and mayor on the spot from his living room, he said. Meetings were convened, and that led to the governor seeking Cohen’s help.
“My wife says to me ‘why in the world did you take this on,” Cohen recalled. “Let me tell you, this legacy, this mission, this institution is worth fighting for. There is real history here, real value.”
Tony Romo pleaded no contest Tuesday to operating a vehicle while intoxicated and said he planned to return to CBS “in time.”
The Dallas Cowboys quarterback-turned-NFL broadcaster confirmed the no-contest plea and called the incident a “personal failure” in a statement shared on his Instagram account.
Romo was arrested in Wisconsin on July 23 for suspicion of operating a vehicle while under the influence. Body camera video released by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office showed Romo denying he was drinking while struggling at times to follow the officers’ instructions.
As a result of the plea, Romo will be forced to give up his driver’s license for six months and pay a fine of $784, according to court records. He’s also required to complete an alcohol assessment program and install a Breathalyzer to the ignition of any car he owns.
Romo also admitted to using alcohol to cope with the multiple injuries he suffered during his 13-year NFL career.
“Multiple back surgeries ended my career earlier than I expected and left me with constant debilitating pain,” Romo wrote. “That pain led to a dependence on pain medication, and my efforts to get those medications led to an over-reliance on alcohol.”
“None of this is an excuse,” Romo added. “These are my failures, and I take responsibility for them.”
Romo also asked for privacy and said he was turning his attention to his health, family, and “in time, my return to CBS.”
CBS declined to comment.
Romo is on leave at CBS, and will be replaced by former Houston Texans defender J.J. Watt in Week 1. Replacing Watt in the network’s No. 2 booth will be Eagles preseason announcer Ross Tucker.
The network hasn’t announced its Week 2 lineup.
Tony Romo (right) has been calling games alongside Jim Nantz since 2017. CBS Sports
During a media day event with reporters last month, CBS Sports President David Berson called Romo’s status an “evolving situation” and said there was “no timetable or final decision” on when — or if — the network’s top NFL analyst could be back in the booth.
“Fortunately, we have a very deep bench, and I’m really proud of the way everyone’s stepping up and responding,” Berson said.
Romo isn’t the first high-profile announcer to be involved in a drunk driving incident.
In 2009, former Sixers star and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley spent three days in jail and was suspended six weeks by TNT after pleading guilty to having driven under the influence on New Year’s Eve.
Romo joined CBS in 2017 and immediately became a fan favorite, thanks to his lighthearted tone and ability to predict plays. But in recent years Romo has faced criticism for appearing to be unprepared and chemistry issues with his partner, veteran play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz.
“He was everything we made him out to be in those first three years,” The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand said of Romo on this week’s The Varsity with John Ourand podcast. “He’s gone backward, and we’ve seen things that just haven’t sounded right … The fact is he hasn’t been good, and the work ethic’s been questioned.”
Staff writer Abraham Gutman contributed to this article.
South Philly butcher shop Heavy Metal Sausage Co. indefinitely paused its after-hours Italian dinners last weekfollowing a failed health inspection that ordered the shop to removeall indoor seating. Co-owners Patrick Alfiero andMelissa Pellegrino say the resulting loss of revenuecould close the business.
An inspector with Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health ordered the shop to remove itseightseats and cease all food prep in the basement on Aug. 21. The inspection found Heavy Metal’s setup did not align with the restaurant’s plan review, a document detailing operating procedures that all restaurants must submit to the health department in order to receive a food license.
Among the three-hour inspection’s other findings: flies, mouse dropping, and unauthorized kitchen equipment, plus evidence that Heavy Metal was canning foods and dry-aging meat without an FDA-mandated food safety plan.
The most consequential violation on the report, however, is that “the food facility does not have a handwash sink conveniently located in the customer dining area” because “access to the toilet room is located through the kitchen.”
The location of Heavy Metal’s bathroom renders the space unsuitable for indoor dining, according to the health department. The recent determination — which came four years into Heavy Metal’s run as a hybrid butcher-restaurant — could cost Heavy Metal thousands of dollars in renovations and lost revenue, Pellegrino said.
Alfiero and Pellegrino opened Heavy Metal Sausage Co. at 1527 W. Porter St.in 2022. By day, it’s a deli where Alfiero uses local ingredients and artisanal cured meats to create hearty, inventive sandwiches. By night Thursday through Sunday, the 500-square-foot space transforms into an intimate trattoria. Tables are pressed against deli cases and seats are tucked into empty corners, lending a vaguely illicit, punk-rock aura to what’s otherwise a traditional prix fixe meal.
The$98 dinners are also a moneymaker, accounting for well over half of Heavy Metal’s revenue, Pellegrino said. Without them, the duo have already had to lay off a cook and a server.
“When the [health inspector] asked if we could stop dinner, I told him we might not be here in six weeks to be reinspected,” Alfiero said. “I was just like, ‘How are we going to survive this?’”
Heavy Metal Sausage Co. chef/co-owner Patrick Alfiero prepares the antipasto course during the trattoria dinner on Nov. 17, 2022.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Same setup, new violation
Pellegrino and Alfiero told The Inquirer that they were blindsided by the findings in August’s health inspection. Heavy Metal has never hidden how it operates.
The couple started offering the after-hours dinners just six months after opening as a way to offset the costs of running a niche butcher shop, which has never been profitable.
A copy of the business’ plan review, reviewed by The Inquirer last week, shows that some form of indoor seating has been always accounted for. It also showsthat the deli’s bathroom is accessible to customers via a hallway that runs parallel to the kitchen.
The issue is brand-new despite Heavy Metal’s layout remaining static for months, according to a review of city records. The business has had an active food preparation and serving license since 2022. Heavy Metal has also passed all previous health inspections, including one in April 2026, whose report makes no mention of unauthorized seating, kitchen equipment, or food prep. It also doesn’t touch on sink or bathroom access.
Heavy Metal Sausage Co. chef/co-owner Patrick Alfiero preps food before a trattoria dinner on Nov. 17, 2022.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Health inspections are considered “snapshots in time” that may not necessarily be indicative of day-to-day operations, department spokesperson Jason Brooks said over email. During Heavy Metal Sausage’s prior inspections, inspectors only noted a basement storage space, “indicating that no food prep activities were taking place there — at that time,” Brooks wrote.
“In April, our inspector did not observe any seating for indoor dining. Inspectors are investigating what they can physically observe and document during the inspection,” he wrote. “During this most recent inspection, our inspector observed, in real time, food preparation in an unapproved space and unapproved indoor dining. For this, the food business was cited for violations of its approved plan.”
Pellegrino disputes the idea that Heavy Metal’s seating is a new development. “We were inspected four months ago, and we have done absolutely nothing different in those four months,” Pellegrino said. “Not a single thing has changed.”
The deli’s inspection comes amid other notablehealth department shutdowns.
The front window is reflected in the top of the meat case inside of the Heavy Metal Sausage Co., 1527 W. Porter St. in Philadelphia, on Aug. 9, 2024.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Last week, Victory Brewing Co.’s three-level taproom on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway was ordered to temporarily cease operations after an inspector documented 26 health code violations that included live roaches, mice, and flies. And in mid-August, the health department failed Stargazy over “two unapproved countertop deep fryers without adequate mechanical ventilation,” a violation that has forced the East Passyunk Avenue restaurant to stop serving fish and chips.
How can Heavy Metal fix this?
Since Heavy Metal’s violations didn’t pose an imminent health hazard, the restaurant is allowed to remain open without indoor dining, Brooks confirmed.
The butcher and deli counters are still open during normal daytime hours (11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday) for takeout only. Pellegrino and Afiero said they’ve addressed most of the violations by creating the required food safety plans and limiting the basement to storage only.
The only hitch: What to do about the sink?
Heavy Metal Sausage Co. co-owner Melissa Pellegrino (left) greets diners Jeannette Armstrong (center) and Liz Rissover as chef/owner Patrick Alfiero prepares meals in the kitchen during the trattoria dinner on Nov. 17, 2022.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Heavy Metal must submit a new plan of review to the health department for approval. If the plan is approved and the restaurant passes reinspection, Brooks said, they will be allowed to restart indoor dining.
But to do so, Pellegrino said the health department recommended Heavy Metal install a customers-only sink at the front of the restaurant, a change that would require a separate, weeks-long permitting process and a contractor. When Pellegrino asked the health department if she could add curtains or room dividers to more clearly separate the bathroom hallway from the kitchen — which she considers a more cost-effective solution — she said they didn’t respond.
“All of these things take time and money,” Pellegrino said, “and we will have to make a calculus of what’s worth doing.”
Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University is closing its museum after nearly two centuries in existence, citing financial pressures and dwindling attendance.
The museum, which opened to the public in 1828, will cease operations at the end of the business day Sept. 30. Its last day open to the public with regular hours will be Sunday, Sept. 27, staff were notified on Tuesday.
Visitorship at the museum had slipped in recent years, according to a statement signed by Drexel president Antonio Merlo and Academy board chair Suzanne Biemiller. Though the Academy had worked to rebuild attendance after the pandemic, “patterns of visitation and audience behavior changed in lasting ways, while the costs of operating the museum continued to rise,” the statement said.
“Over time, it became clear that these were not temporary pressures, but fundamental changes in the economics of the Academy’s operational model, costs that have imperiled the Academy’s ability to discharge its overall mission and preserve its legacy.”
Closing the current Parkway museum, was, therefore, “a difficult decision taken to concentrate resources on the Academy’s enduring scientific assets and research,” said the statement.
The aim is ultimately to relocate the Academy’s collections and sell the building, which, is owned by the Academy, and has a lot of deferred maintenance needs, said a source close to the talks between Drexel and the Academy, who asked not to be identified.
The Academy building on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 19th Street, “will continue to house collections and laboratories while we consider possible pathways forward that place the utmost priority on preservation and support of the collections, library, archives, and research initiatives,” a Drexel spokesperson said.
Biemiller declined to comment on the potential relocation of the collections.
The museum cut back its hours of operation from five days a week to three — Friday through Sunday — as of last Oct. 1 (though it added back Thursdays in July and August for its Dino-Mite Summer program).
One of two shell sculptures placed on either side of the 19th Street entrance to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University on Aug. 17.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Drexel said 27 of the Academy’s 80 employees — about a third — will be “impacted” by the closure. The university did not say whether that meant they would be laid off or transferred, and did not respond to a question on how much money the move will save.
Simultaneously Tuesday, the university and science institute announced that Scott Cooper, Academy of Natural Sciences president and CEO for nearly nine years, is stepping down immediately.
The Drexel and the Academy boards will “continue working together to identify an appropriate governance structure and interim and permanent leadership for the Academy,” the statement said.
Former Comcast executive and U.S. Ambassador to Canada David L. Cohen, who has been helping to broker an agreement between Drexel and the Academy, said the two institutions are close to striking a deal on a “term sheet” on governance and finances.He has been tapped by Gov. Josh Shapiro to serve as a third-party facilitator in the process, the university said in its message.
“We want to preserve the Academy,” he said, “but we also don’t want to jeopardize Drexel.”
Collections and research will remain unaffected
The Academy, which became affiliated with Drexel in 2011, is known to the general public for its museum that features a Dinosaur Hall with dinosaur bones and full-scale replicas. Its exhibitions have explored environmental issues and centered on the Academy’s collection of approximately 19 million specimens, as well as historically significant items associated with Thomas Jefferson and Lewis and Clark.
It offers hands-on science experiences, like a “big-dig” fossil exhibit, and old-school dioramas of bison, bears, tigers, and other animals in their ecosystems. The museum’s current “Botany of Nations” show “reshape[s] the historic tale of Lewis & Clark through Indigenous perspectives,” says an exhibition description.
Closure of the museum does not affect the rest of the institution, which builds and maintains the collections and conducts research through departments such as the Patrick Center for Environmental Research, all housed in the Parkway structure. All of that will remain there, the university said.
Biemiller said that “the trustees of the Academy know that this news about the closure of the museum is going to be a blow to Philadelphians, and I would love for them to know we share their feelings of loss about this beloved space and place. And we also know that work remains to develop and fund a new strategic and operating model that will ensure that the Academy’s important centuries-long mission to understand the world and inspire us to care for it continues.”
Asked whether the intent was to reopen a museum, Biemiller said: “I would hope so. That’s the goal. I think we have not given up on that part of our mission. The Academy is research, it is [specimens and library] collections, and it is public engagement.”
While she said it was “incumbent upon us to find places and ways” for the museum to continue, what form it would take has not been determined.
“It could be at the current location in a different configuration, it could be a new location, it could be imagined in different ways.”
What’s important, she said, was the “fundamental goal to ensure that people have access to the natural world, can see these birds from North American or dinosaur bones and fossils the Academy scientists have collected and understand how they connect to the world.”
“It’s a sad day to see it close,” said Franklin Institute president and CEO Larry Dubinski of the Academy museum, which is about a block from the institute. “It’s a profound loss for the community and for the city and the region. And it’s one of those days that I hope the community takes stock in. This is a city driven by arts and culture. We have a phenomenal city of arts and culture, unlike almost any other in the United States.”
However, Dubinski said, the arts here are “underresourced and underfunded, and that does continue to challenge the ability to have a sustainable arts and culture community. I think today’s another wake-up call to that issue.”
Dinosaur Hall at the Academy of Natural Sciences Aug. 5, 2026.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
Ongoing financial challenges at Drexel
The museum closure comes amid financial challenges at Drexel University, which has been seeking to overcome a budget deficit, overhaul academic programs, change from a quarter-based calendar to semesters by fall 2027, and cope with another national dip in high school students beginning this year.
Over about the last decade, the West Philadelphia university has lost about 20% of its enrollment. Last fall, Drexel saw a 19% drop in freshmen; numbers for this fall aren’t yet available, though the school is projecting a 16% jump in first-year students. And the school, which enrolled 20,868 undergraduate and graduate students in 2025-26, is projected to continue to run deficits through fiscal year 2028, according to a report from Moody’s, a global financial services company that releases credit ratings.
Merlo, Drexel’s president, told The Inquirer in April that the school projected ending the year with a $20 million deficit, down from almost $40 million last year and $63 million in 2024. In May, the school said it had implemented $93 million of “permanent strategies” to deal with the “structural imbalance” and had identified $11 million more.
The Academy has become a drain on the university, a source familiar with the situation, who was not authorized to speak about the matter and asked not to be identified, told The Inquirer in April.
The university has provided the Academy with substantial support — $8,288,000 and $8,914,000 for operations in fiscal years 2025 and 2024, respectively, according to financial statements posted on the Academy website. These numbers include in-kind support that Drexel is providing to the Academy.
Friction between the Academy and Drexel became public in April, The Inquirer reported, revealing Drexel’s wish to totally take over the Academy, or end the partnership.
Uncertain long-term future for the Academy
Talks are continuing between the two institutions, with the offices of Gov. Shapiro and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker involved, underscoring the importance of the Academy to both the city and the state.
“I don’t want to lose the Academy on my watch, and neither does the mayor,” Shapiro told Cohen, according to Cohen, who has led dozens of meetings over the last eight months and created a draft proposal for an agreement between Drexel and the Academy.
“Drexel and the Academy are working with my office, with Governor Shapiro’s office, and with Ambassador David L. Cohen, as the governor’s representative, to preserve the essential mission of the Academy,” Parker said in a statement.
“We are working collaboratively toward the outcome we all seek for the City of Philadelphia.”
The governor’s press office did not respond to The Inquirer’s request for comment.
Cohen has long been a negotiator in many major city issues, formerly serving as chief of staff to former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell and leading the board of trustees at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Together, we are advancing discussions focused on the Academy’s long-term future and identifying new opportunities to strengthen its scientific mission, ensure access to its world-renowned collections, expand public engagement in the natural sciences, and maintain the Academy’s enduring presence in Philadelphia,” the statement said.
The Academy of Natural Sciences on the Parkway, Aug. 5, 2026.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
The Academy’s affiliation with Drexel is 15 years old. It announced a partnership agreement with Drexel in 2011 that blended the two organizations somewhat, but stopped short of being a full merger. The two groups maintain separate boards.
According to a 2013 Drexel audit, the 2011 affiliation agreement between the two institutions stated that the Academy would retain its status as separate nonprofit organization, but that as of September 2012 it would become a Drexel subsidiary owned 100% by the university.
A Drexel spokesperson said in April that the school had “invested a substantial amount annually in the Academy to maintain access to the Academy’s collections while we worked with the Academy and the community to identify a sustainable path to keep this resource in Philadelphia.”
Cooper was named the Academy’s leader in 2017 after serving as vice president of collections, knowledge and engagement at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, Canada. Before that, he was director of museums at the Qatar Foundation in Doha, Qatar.
Under his leadership, the Academy “renewed its public and scientific mission,” Tuesday’s joint statement from Drexel and the Academy said. “It revitalized galleries, developed original exhibitions showcasing its collections and research, and advanced co-curatorial approaches that brought new voices into programs and interpretation.”
Cooper, who will remain for a time as a consultant to the Academy, was not available for comment, a spokesperson said.
“We’re sorry he’s leaving, but understand his decision,” said Biemiller.
“It’s a competitive world that museums inhabit, and people make choices every single day,” Cooper told the Inquirer after his 2017 announcement. “We need to ensure that when they come to the Academy they are getting a reward for their investment of time.”
