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  • A judge has tossed Cherry Hill schools’ lawsuit against a journalist for filing too many public records requests

    A judge has tossed Cherry Hill schools’ lawsuit against a journalist for filing too many public records requests

    Freelance journalist Benjamin Shore will not have to stop filing public records requests in South Jersey after a judge dismissed Cherry Hill schools’ lawsuit alleging that his requests amounted to harassment.

    The Cherry Hill Board of Education filed a 128-page lawsuit in Superior Court in February claiming that the “numerous, repeated and vexatious” requests that Shore filed under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act qualified as harassment and “substantially interrupted” school operations.

    Shore operates the online outlet Shore Investigates, a news site focused on Cherry Hill. His brother Daniel was also named in the lawsuit.

    The suit sought to bar Shore and his outlet from submitting requests for public documents for one year. It also sought to shut down an online portal that Shore created where the public can file requests instead of using the district’s website.

    Journalist Ben Shore in front of the Cherry Hill Public Schools Board of Education headquarters in the Arthur Lewis Administration Building in Cherry Hill on Thursday April 2, 2026.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    “The Board tried to stop us from requesting records,” Benjamin Shore said in an email following the dismissal. “Instead, the case ended with its complaint dismissed with prejudice and its unsupported allegations rejected. Shore Investigates will continue following the records, asking difficult questions, and keeping the public informed.”

    Cherry Hill Public Schools did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The school board’s lawsuit specifically referenced 18 OPRA requests that Shore had filed over the course of a year and a half, averaging out to roughly one request per month.

    The board claimed that as a result, district personnel, including the custodian of records, spent more than 100 hours reviewing and redacting documents and responding to Shore’s requests.

    Shore argued that the amount and frequency of his requests is in line with standard journalistic practice.

    Superior Court Judge Michael Mikulski agreed, dismissing the suit on July 31 and stating that the district had failed to provide evidence of Shore’s ill intent.

    Instead, the judge found that Shore actually displayed a “willingness to cooperate with the Board in making the requests less intrusive,” he wrote in the seven-page ruling.

    “The Court finds the Board has failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence that Defendants filed their requests with the intent to disrupt agency operations,” the ruling concluded.

    Journalist Ben Shore in front of the Cherry Hill Public Schools Board of Education headquarters in the Arthur Lewis Administration Building in Cherry Hill on Thursday April 2, 2026.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Mikulski determined that the suit met the requirements to be dismissed under New Jersey’s Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, which is meant to shield people from baseless lawsuits meant to silence political speech or engagement.

    The law allows defendants to request an early, expedited dismissal of a lawsuit and to recover legal fees if the suit is ultimately tossed.

    While Shore succeeded in getting the case thrown out, he said it still had its intended effect.

    “The lawsuit nevertheless accomplished something before it was dismissed: it chilled our reporting. We paused records requests and held back stories because every new inquiry appeared to carry the threat of further litigation,” Shore said. “That is what it means to report with a target on your back.”

    New Jersey’s new open records laws

    The district’s lawsuit was possible thanks to a controversial June 2024 bill signed by then-Gov. Phil Murphy that overhauled the state’s existing public records laws.

    The new law enables governmental entities like the Cherry Hill Board of Education to sue someone seeking public information if they can prove the request amounts to harassment or substantially prevents them from doing their jobs.

    The new law also no longer guarantees that people who successfully overturn record request denials in court can recoup their legal fees.

    “We knew when they amended OPRA in 2024 to include this provision that it would sadly be weaponized to retaliate against people who seek public records,” Shore’s attorney, CJ Griffin, said in a statement. “But thankfully the trial court agreed this suit had no merit and that my clients were nothing but polite and had no intention of disrupting agency operations — they simply wanted government records to report on matters of public concern.”

    “No one should be hauled into court for filing public records requests, especially not reporters who keep us informed about the public business,” Griffin said.

  • Monroe Township has requested the dismissal of a $300 million lawsuit against its data center ban

    Monroe Township has requested the dismissal of a $300 million lawsuit against its data center ban

    Monroe Township officials requested in late July to dismiss a $300 million lawsuit by Princeton-based real estate developer Hexa Builders challenging the municipality’s data center ban.

    The Gloucester County case continues as other South Jersey municipalities consider and pass data center bans, including Cherry Hill, Millville, Medford, and, as of this week, Collingswood.

    The request for dismissal came less than a month after Monroe pushed Hexa Builders’ complaint from state to federal court under the claim that some of Hexa’s allegations fell under the U.S. Constitution and should be addressed federally.

    Some of the 20 counts alleged by Hexa include violations of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and freedom of speech under the First Amendment.

    On July 28, Todd Gelfand, the attorney representing Monroe’s mayor and council, filed a four-page letter listing reasons that he said Hexa’s lawsuit against the data center ban is not valid.

    Gelfand rejected Hexa’s constitutional arguments, cited a lack of a physical contract promising data centers to Hexa, and argued Monroe had a right to amend a zoning ordinance based on public objections.

    “[The data center ban] does not regulate the content of speech, a speaker, a message, or Plaintiffs’ ability to engage in expressive activity. The fact that data centers support electronic communications does not transform a land-use regulation into a speech restriction,” Gelfand wrote.

    In response, Jim Maley, the attorney representing Hexa Builders, requested on Monday to push the majority of Hexa’s complaint — the parts that are not based on the Constitution — back to New Jersey state court. The next day, he asked the federal judge currently overseeing the case to reject Monroe’s request for dismissal.

    Maley said state courts have more expertise to consider the local land-use laws that affect Hexa Builders most, and Hexa’s federal claims should be considered second.

    “To further the federal claims, the constitutional claims, there has to first be determination of whether there was a violation of the land-use laws,” Maley said. “If land use wasn’t violated, that will hurt [our] federal claims.”

    U.S. District Judge Edward Kiel has not yet made official moves in reaction to the letters, which Maley said could take a while.

    Sandra Graise, Monroe Township’s solicitor, declined to comment and said the township does not speak about pending litigation.

    Hexa filed the original lawsuit on June 5 in New Jersey Superior Court shortly after Monroe officials denied its application to build a 1 million-square-foot data center and a warehouse at 3043 Black Horse Pike, a property the company has sought to develop since 2022.

    The denial followed months of public outcry at local government meetings after residents discovered that a change to Hexa’s redevelopment plan in early 2025 allowed the developer to propose a data center.

    Collingswood considers ordinance on data centers

    As the parties go back and forth, nearby municipalities have taken initiative to ban data centers before a proposal ever arrives.

    At a Monday night meeting in Collingswood, the Camden County borough’s three commissioners considered an ordinance amending Collingswood’s code to ban data centers and “computing nodes,” which the borough defines as modular units installed at residential or small commercial properties that supply computing capacity to third parties in exchange for payment or credits to the property owner.

    Maley, who represents Hexa in Monroe, is also a member of Collingswood’s board of commissioners.

    Two residents who attended the borough meeting brought up Maley’s connection to the Hexa case and asked whether Maley would recuse himself from the vote based on his employment as a private attorney supporting a potential data center nearby.

    In response, Collingswood solicitor Caitlin Harney Norcia said she could not find evidence that would disqualify Maley from voting under New Jersey’s Local Government Ethics Law, since Maley’s job as an attorney does not directly affect his work in Collingswood.

    While Maley decided to abstain from the vote, he said the borough should have a six-month waiting period to allow the borough planner time to consider standards for data centers, called the move “a ban of reaction,” and said the borough does not have room for a data center anyway.

    “We don’t prohibit airports. OK, that’s a permitted use. We don’t do that because there’s no place you can put an airport. There’s no place in this town you can put a data center,” Maley said in a live recording of the meeting on Facebook. “But the nodes are another issue.”

    When reached for comment Wednesday, Maley said he did not have to abstain from the vote, but he still chose to for nonlegal reasons.

    “Folks in the crowd, they’re working really hard to beat me up on a lot of different things. It’s a group that’s been against me for years. … Whatever my vote would have been, they would have been yelling and screaming about it and impacting my work,” Maley said.

    Collingswood’s two other commissioners voted to approve the data center and computing node ban on its second reading. The ordinance took effect immediately.

  • More than a week into Eagles training camp, Jalen Hurts and the new-look offense are ‘calibrating’

    More than a week into Eagles training camp, Jalen Hurts and the new-look offense are ‘calibrating’

    Jalen Hurts had his strongest showing of a young Eagles training camp on Monday, the fourth day of practice. And after connecting with Elijah Moore near the end zone on a deep post that went for about 40 yards, Hurts celebrated a little more than he normally would during a practice rep.

    It wasn’t the play itself, or even his perfect throw, that had the quarterback feeling good, Hurts clarified Wednesday. The emotion came because of a “mishap” between the two new teammates earlier in practice. Moore, who was getting extra reps with first-round pick Makai Lemon dealing with a hamstring injury, ran the wrong route earlier that practice during seven-on-seven work. The end result was a Quinyon Mitchell interception that would have been an easy pick-six.

    “I just think that was an example of responding,” Hurts said. “That’s what I was so proud of and happy about; not the throw, but that he was able to play the next play, show up in the right window at the right time and rip it in there for a touchdown down the middle of the field.”

    It was the highlight of the day during what was a clean — besides the Mitchell interception — and efficient day from Hurts and the offense, and it showed Hurts’ willingness to throw the ball in the middle of the field, a characteristic of his game that he’ll need to show when the real football begins to silence those who say he isn’t willing.

    Jalen Hurts has had both hot and cold moments within the new offense in the early days of training camp. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    The new-look offense under first-year coordinator Sean Mannion is still in the early days of installation. While it got the best of Vic Fangio’s defense Monday, the defense has the upper hand so far through six days of practice.

    Wednesday’s practice was a run-heavy day, and it was a shorter practice compared to Tuesday’s session that ran nearly two hours. For Hurts, Wednesday was another chance to “continue to take strides.” It isn’t supposed to be easy to install a new offense against one of the best defenses in the NFL.

    “I like to think of the term calibrating,” Hurts said. “This is a time where we’re kind of putting it together and finding out who we are. We’ve got a lot of new pieces, an entirely new approach and MO, philosophy, to our offense. Being able to put that together and make it our own, I’m excited about where we are.”

    Andy Dalton and Tanner McKee are in a competition for QB2 duties. And they’re trying to embrace it.

    The Eagles have a walkthrough on Thursday that is closed to media before returning to regular practices on Friday and Saturday, ending what will be the busiest practice week of training camp. Mannion’s unit has shown a lot of new wrinkles. Hurts is taking more snaps from under center. The run and play action plays are looking the same. The wide-zone blocking scheme is being installed. Hurts has kept the ball on more designed quarterback runs, including a read option Wednesday that he smartly pulled away from the running back and ran up the left sideline for a nice gain.

    Hurts said it was “too soon to answer” how those designed quarterback runs mesh with the new offense. “I think we’re still installing things and putting all aspects of our offense in,” he said. “We haven’t finished installing. There’s still more to come.”

    That’s important context to avoid overreacting to media reports and social media chatter about the offense during camp. Certain days have certain themes. The offense is brand new for most of the roster. There are components of it still not being repped. Lemon, Lane Johnson, and DeVonta Smith have missed multiple practices. Mannion is going through his first training camp as a coordinator and play caller. Oh, and Wednesday was just Aug. 5, more than five weeks ahead of the first meaningful snap.

    Eli Stowers opens up about early camp struggles: ‘It’s a mental challenge’

    There are a lot of adjustments for Hurts, but perhaps the biggest is going under center and using play action from under center. Asked Wednesday how that change impacts the way Hurts goes through his reads, Hurts said that nothing changes.

    “It’s all going to my feet,” he said. “When I’m playing with my feet and I’m getting my eyes to the right place, you just play the position. I just think that’s more of a flow thing. … It’s a sequencing thing. In the end, you’re still playing the position. You want to play the position the same way: play with your feet, sweep through your reads, know exactly where you’re supposed to go with the ball, where your alerts are, whether it’s down the field or a man alert, just trying to play fast.”

    Hurts said he is “letting curiosity lead me” during camp. He has long talked about wanting to know the why behind what he’s being asked to do. With the fresh scheme, he’s also learning about what each player’s responsibility is on a given play and even how Mannion “is seeing the game from a sequencing standpoint” when it comes to calling plays.

    Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion watches the offense during training camp at Jefferson Health Training Complex. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Mannion said on Saturday that Hurts “asks really thought-provoking questions.”

    “It’s been a constant back and forth,” Mannion said. “Jalen’s had a ton of success in this league and has played in a lot of games. I always want to know the things that he feels comfortable with and if there’s something that maybe we need to go into more detail on for him. There are so many things that you love to dive into, the really nitty-gritty of a play, and help him with total mastery. A lot of it is, for me as a play-caller, getting a feel for what are his comfort calls? What are the things that on a second-and-long he feels super confident in?

    “It’s been a great partnership with Jalen since we got here.”

  • Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy hit at least 5 Philly-area pizzerias yesterday for ‘One Bite Pizza Reviews’

    Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy hit at least 5 Philly-area pizzerias yesterday for ‘One Bite Pizza Reviews’

    For more than a year, Giuseppe Tosco tried to get Dave Portnoy’s attention with a giant roadside sign outside his Montgomery County pizzeria that read, “We Want Dave Portnoy.”

    Two months ago, Tosco finally took it down to replace it with a sign advertising the new patio at Italian Delite in Trappe.

    On Tuesday, Portnoy walked in anyway. “The first thing he asked was, ‘Where’s the sign?’” Tosco said. “I told him we’d taken it down. He said, ‘Oh my God, it’s been that long?’”

    The surprise visit was one of at least five stops Portnoy made across Philadelphia and its suburbs Tuesday as the Barstool Sports founder filmed new installments of his influential “One Bite Pizza Reviews,” whose scores can transform the fortunes of a neighborhood pizzeria.

    Besides Italian Delite, the confirmed stops included Johnny’s Pizza in Bryn Mawr, Marina’s Pizza in Fishtown, Liguria Pizzeria in Kensington, and Pizza Di Vita in Fairless Hills.

    In each review, Portnoy samples a plain cheese slice — often taking much more than one bite — and assigns it a score on a 10-point scale. His ratings have become one of the pizza world’s most sought-after endorsements, often drawing long lines and national attention for top-scoring shops.

    In 2019, Angelo’s Pizzeria in South Philadelphia scored a 9.1 — the highest score ever in the region. Del Rossi’s notched an 8.6 in 2024. In 2022, Pizza West Chester and Lillo’s Tomato Pies in Hainesport each got an 8.4.

    Three of Tuesday’s scores became known almost immediately, as onlookers shared them. Johnny’s received an 8.3, Liguria an 8.2, and Marina’s a 7.9. The owners of Pizza Di Vita and Italian Delite said they never heard their scores before Portnoy moved on; they are waiting for the videos to be released.

    Lisa and John Paxia of Lillo’s Tomato Pies in Hainesport with Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy (left) in November 2022.Courtesy of Lillo Paxia

    If Tosco spent more than a year trying to lure Portnoy to the Collegeville suburbs, John Bisceglie initially refused to believe the reviewer was coming to Johnny’s Pizzeria (which has a spot on The Inquirer’s 76 list).

    “Somebody texted me, ‘Dave’s in Philly. Heads up,’” Bisceglie said. “I just laughed it off. I’ve heard that before.”

    Still, he was working at his shop in Wayne when he sent a photo of Portnoy to his employees at Johnny’s Bryn Mawr, just in case.

    Then, manager Jaison Velásquez called.

    “He said, ‘I just got an order for Barstool,’” Bisceglie recalled. “I said, ‘Oh my God. It’s happening.’”

    Bisceglie stayed on the phone coaching his staff. “I told them, ‘Wait about 10 minutes so the pizza comes right out of the oven. Make it crispy. Well done.’”

    He credited Velásquez and manager Dan Bisceglie, his cousin, with staying calm. “He kept telling me, ‘I got this. Relax. I got this,’” Bisceglie said of Velásquez.

    When Portnoy awarded the pie an 8.3 on camera, Bisceglie knew it was significant.

    “Those pizza guys don’t hand out scores like that very often,” he said. “An 8.3 is a big deal.”

    For Tosco, at Italian Delite in Trappe, the visit was memorable before the review even began.

    Tosco said he had tagged Portnoy incessantly on social media. “I told him, ‘If you came, you came. If you didn’t, you didn’t. I just didn’t want to keep bothering you,’” Tosco said.

    The day became even stranger when Portnoy reviewed the wrong pizza.

    Tosco had been away at a catering meeting when his cousin called to say Portnoy had arrived after placing an order under the name “Austin.” By coincidence, the restaurant’s social media team was filming, and Tosco’s cousin had made workers prepare a practice pizza for the camera. That pie came out of the oven before Portnoy’s order.

    “My cousin said, ‘That’s not your pie,’” Tosco recalled. “Dave said, ‘I don’t care. I want that one.’”

    As Tosco pulled into the parking lot, Portnoy was already recording the review.

    Afterward, Tosco asked Portnoy to hang for five minutes. “I told him, ‘I just want to make you a Philly cheesesteak,’” Tosco said. “He said, ‘You seem like a good dude. I’ll come back in for you.’”

    Tosco still doesn’t know what score Portnoy awarded his pizza. “I ended up getting a cheesesteak review, too, which was really cool,” Tosco said.

  • Man in critical condition after being shot in a South Philadelphia home

    Man in critical condition after being shot in a South Philadelphia home

    A 22-year-old man was in critical condition after being shot in a South Philadelphia home Tuesday night.

    Right before 10 p.m., police arrived at the 1900 block of Tasker Street following the report of a person being shot.

    Multiple fired cartridge casings were found outside the home, police said. Inside, the man was in the living room with a gunshot wound to the chest.

    Police believe the man was on the second-floor bedroom when he was struck. A motive remains unknown, and no arrests have been made.

    Officers took him to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition.

    Through Aug. 4, Philadelphia had seen 494 shooting incidents, a 7% decrease compared with the same period last year, according to police crime statistics.

    Anyone with information can contact the Philadelphia Police Department by calling the police tip line at 215-686-TIPS (8477). Tipsters can remain anonymous.

  • ‘The most incredible profession on the planet’: 500-plus new Philly educators kick off their school year

    ‘The most incredible profession on the planet’: 500-plus new Philly educators kick off their school year

    The school year started Wednesday for the 500-plus new Philadelphia School District teachers and counselors who will welcome 113,000 students back to school on Aug. 24.

    Inside the cavernous gymnasium at School of the Future in Parkside, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. pumped up the 575 new hires, telling them he was honored they chose Philadelphia.

    “We’re working hard in this school district to be the fastest-improving large urban district in the entire United States of America,” Watlington said.

    District officials said that they have 94% of teacher jobs filled system-wide, with just under three weeks to go before the beginning of the school year. The district has 100% of principal jobs filled.

    The lowest “fill rate” for school-based jobs across the system is 77%, for building engineers, followed by special-education assistants at 79%.

    This has been a chaotic hiring season for the district, with projected budget cuts forcing staff reductions in the spring, then a scramble to restore hundreds of school-based jobs after Mayor Cherelle L. Parker promised millions to stave off the cuts.

    Some of those 340 teachers, counselors, and other school-based workers whose jobs were cut have been restored to the positions they were initially directed to leave; others have taken new jobs within or outside the system, or are “over-appointments” who do not yet have permanent Philadelphia assignments.

    New teachers and counselors applaud a performer at the Philadelphia School District’s 2026 new hire orientation at School of the Future in Parkside.Kristen A. Graham / Staff

    ‘They saw potential’

    Debora Carrera told the new teachers she would not have risen to become Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s chief education officer if not for people like them.

    Carrera, the daughter of parents who did not finish elementary school, grew up as one of six kids in a single-parent family. Sometimes she was hungry. Sometimes she was unable to bathe.

    But “there were teachers who didn’t use those things as obstacles or barriers,” Carrera said. “But you know what they saw? They saw talent, and they saw potential in me.”

    Research shows that the top factor influencing a child’s academic progress is having a well-supported, stable teacher. And the first few years of educators’ careers are crucial: Nearly half of all teachers leave the profession within the first five years.

    Don’t give up, Carrera said.

    “Being a teacher is the most amazing incredible profession on the planet — don’t let anyone ever tell you differently,” she said. “Are you going to feel like you’re great every day? No? But guess what: Stick with it.”

    After the pep talk, Kwaku Ansah was charged up.

    Ansah, who will teach students with disabilities at Philadelphia Military Academy, a small district high school in North Philadelphia, has a decade of teaching in his native Ghana under his belt. He knows there will be tough days in Philly classrooms, Ansah said.

    “But,” Ansah said, “I’m ready.”

  • Ryan Richter balances wanting a deep Leagues Cup run for the Union with a packed August

    Ryan Richter balances wanting a deep Leagues Cup run for the Union with a packed August

    The question always comes around when the Union enter the Leagues Cup: How seriously will they take it?

    That moment arrived again Wednesday, as interim manager Ryan Richter prepared for Thursday’s group stage opener against perennial Mexican power Cruz Azul at Subaru Park (8 p.m., FS1, UniMás, TUDN, Apple TV).

    In theory, the tournament is the Union’s shortest path to a trophy this season. Each of the 36 teams in the field — 18 each from Major League Soccer and Mexico’s Liga MX — plays three from the opposite league in the group phase. A win is worth three points, and there are no draws: Tied games go to penalty kicks, with the winner earning two standings points and the loser earning one.

    There’s then an MLS standings table and a Liga MX table, and the top four in each advance to the quarterfinals. The goal? Avoid matchups within the same league for as long as possible.

    Kai Wagner (right) and the Union last faced Cruz Azul in the 2024 Leagues Cup.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    But while a full run is six games, the Union have another factor to consider. Saturday’s win over Atlanta was the first of eight games this month, three in the Leagues Cup and five in the regular season. The tournament quarterfinals are Aug. 25-27, the semifinals are Sept. 1-2, with the final and third-place game on Sept. 6.

    That is a truckload of action, and it could easily flatten a team that needs every ounce it can muster just to make the playoffs.

    Jay Sugarman is glad ‘the Union spirit’ is back on the field, with Kai Wagner a big part of it

    “For us, we have to take it one game at a time,” Richter said at his pregame news conference Wednesday. “But we’re going to play a strong team against Cruz Azul. So we’re going to go for the win, and then you see the way the tournament’s structured this year: Then we have to go and see what the next game brings, and see exactly how far we can we can go in this tournament.”

    He later added: “We’re approaching this game against Cruz Azul with our first team, and we’ll continue to progress like that through the tournament until it’s maybe not possible. But we plan on going through this tournament with the first team, and hopefully advancing past this round.”

    The Union are coming off a dramatic win over Atlanta United that has the team on a three-game winning streak in MLS play.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    At the same time, he knows the ideal will collide with pragmatism pretty quickly, and lineup rotation will be necessary.

    “Yeah, we have to, that’s clear,” Richter said. “To ask the same group to play in those six games would be really difficult. But I’m totally confident in the players that we have in the squad, and I know there’s a number of positions that we can rotate and we don’t drop our level at all.”

    For Cherry Hill native Larry Berg, a life in soccer became ‘a calling’ in quest to be MLS commissioner

    He also said he’s “excited to see the opportunities that present themselves for guys, and what they can earn, and the positions that they can earn with the minutes that come from a congested schedule like this.”

    That pointed toward something that has always been among the Leagues Cup’s biggest benefits for the Union: the chance to give young prospects a taste of the big stage.

    Frankie Westfield is one of the players who could have a big opportunity in the Leagues Cup.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    It’s especially important for young American players who might be able to earn looks from the national team. And since U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino has opened the door as he starts his second term, the Union can once again earn a spotlight: on Cavan and Quinn Sullivan, Frankie Westfield, Neil Pierre, Andrew Rick, and so on.

    Playing against Mexican teams is always valuable experience, even if all of the Union’s Leagues Cup games are at home — though it won’t always sound that way, with all three visitors expected to bring lots of fans.

    Ryan Richter’s courage is rewarded in a stunning late comeback win over Atlanta

    If the Union have some good performances, perhaps that will increase the odds their guys get a call from Pochettino for the September and October friendlies.

    “The intensity and the level of these games, when you play against a team like Cruz Azul, you find out who the real dogs are,” Richter said. “You find out a lot about players in the tough games against good teams, against really difficult opponents, in environments like this that are different. … Who can raise their level, and is up to the level of that game? And the only way you find that out is when they’re in that actual situation.”

  • Jon Stewart presses John Fetterman on Israel and playing into ‘Republican caricatures’ when he attacks Democrats

    Jon Stewart presses John Fetterman on Israel and playing into ‘Republican caricatures’ when he attacks Democrats

    U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, in perhaps the most in-depth and toughest interview he has faced in recent memory, defended his unwavering support for Israel and his harsh criticisms of fellow Democrats when pressed by Jon Stewart in a podcast episode released Wednesday.

    The liberal comedian and political commentator repeatedly accused Fetterman (D., Pa.) of “caricaturing” the left wing of his party and the debate around Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza.

    “Jewish community and Israel are not the same thing, brother man. They’re not — that is not the same thing,” Stewart, who is Jewish, said at one point as Fetterman described his full-throated support for the war as being because of “the Jewish community.”

    Asked repeatedly about the United States’ moral obligations about backing the Israeli strikes that have led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, Fetterman stood firm.

    He said — as he often has since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that sparked the conflict — that it was necessary to go after Hamas leaders. The killing of civilians was “terrible” and “collateral” damage but not a genocide, Fetterman said.

    Stewart continued to press — questioning why Fetterman was standing so firmly behind a foreign ally that was “dehumanizing” and slowly killing another population.

    “I don’t understand how you have no criticisms over their actions, over their increasingly messianic, ultra-right-wing government that seems to think relentless war is, like, that you can bomb people out of resistance,” Stewart said.

    The roughly 75-minute interview, on The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart, came a week after Fetterman once again met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.

    Many other elected Democrats have distanced themselves from the Israeli government and criticized its tactics. Fetterman has acknowledged his position has hurt him politically. In the interview with Stewart, he echoed previous comments — which have also become evident in public polls — that he has lost the support of his former Democratic base as his and his party’s stances diverged.

    “I’m aware that if I happen to disagree with the party line, there’s a price to pay,” Fetterman said. “There’s a lot of stories of how I’ve become increasingly more unpopular with Democrats in my state. And I’m aware of it. But these were all very specific choices. … I would rather have people know what I happen to believe.”

    Stewart asked Fetterman several times about how he has voiced those disagreements.

    He said the senator has focused far more on arguing with his own party in a way that has further hurt its brand. And he has broken from the party’s ranks as Democrats try to use even an inkling of leverage that could impact Republicans’ agenda as the GOP controls both Congress and the White House, Stewart said. He pointed to issues like immigration enforcement reforms, which Democrats tried to enact by holding out support for a spending bill earlier this year. Fetterman said he supported the reforms but would not go along with letting part of the government shut down as a strategic move.

    Mark Twain Prize recipient Jon Stewart is introduced at the start of the 23rd annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, April 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File)Kevin Wolf

    Stewart also pressed Fetterman on how his approach to President Donald Trump has softened as he has ramped up his criticism of his own party.

    “You called President Donald Trump a jagoff in 2016,” Stewart said, prompting Fetterman to say that he put the phrase on shirts and sold them.

    “You put it on a shirt. And now you’ve been very complimentary to him. And if your concern with Graham Platner is you didn’t think he was very nice to women, you’re ignoring an awful lot of evidence for the current president about his relationship with women,” Stewart said, referencing Fetterman’s attacks on the Maine Democrat who dropped out after facing allegations of sexual assault. “So my point is, there seems like there’s a way to go about this that embraces, as you said, the 90% of things that you agree with, and try and utilize that energy to reform a party that has a worse public image than herpes in terms of getting things done. This feels like it’s playing into the hands of Republican caricatures.”

    Fetterman pushed back, saying he was trying to stop “extreme” elements of his party in a way that would lead to better success in battleground elections — like in Pennsylvania — after Democratic losses in 2024.

    “We keep losing, and now we keep returning back to some of the extreme things,” Fetterman said. “That’s not a caricature. That is a fair assessment of where we are with these kind of things.”

    Stewart, noting that Vice President Kamala Harris was not the most progressive Democratic option in 2024, rejected the idea that the party lost because of far-left views. In an extended conversation about capitalism and socialism, he also encouraged Fetterman to embrace new ideas presented by democratic socialist candidates who Fetterman, like many Republicans, refers to as communists.

    Fetterman, who frequently appears on Fox News but has not appeared on more liberal programs like Stewart’s Daily Show, described himself as a longtime fan of Stewart and said he believed the interview was “very fair.”

    At the end of the podcast, after Fetterman left, Stewart said he “wasn’t sure what to think” and was “weirdly thrown off right now.”

    “I feel like we all just got out of one of those movies. Do you know those movies where it’s like … there was a weirdly traumatizing scene in the movie,” Stewart said. “And now we’re all just, like, ‘Do you guys, um, do you want to go get something? I guess I’m just going to go get a slice and maybe go home.’”

  • Hackers target two New Jersey municipal water systems in nationwide cyberattack

    Hackers target two New Jersey municipal water systems in nationwide cyberattack

    Two New Jersey municipal water systems were targeted in a cyberattack that affected multiple local water agencies across the U.S. last week.

    The FBI and the Environmental Protection Agency issued a public warning last Thursday to all critical infrastructure operators that hackers are targeting vulnerable internet-connected control systems responsible for delivering drinking water. At least seven states, including New Jersey, Georgia, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin, have reported cyber incidents to the FBI since July 27.

    The two New Jersey municipal water systems targeted in the cyberattack have not been publicly disclosed.

    “Both systems have since been secured with strengthened access controls,” said Christopher Thoresen, spokesperson for the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC), part of the New Jersey Department of Homeland Security. “The NJCCIC continues working with these utilities and with water systems statewide to reduce the risk of similar incidents going forward.”

    A water tower is seen Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Plymouth, Minn. A cyberattack targeted the operating technology at over 30 water systems in Minnesota, including Plymouth’s, earlier this week, state officials said. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)Ellen Schmidt

    Three state officials who were briefed on the cyberattack investigation told the New York Times last week that the methods used to exploit the water systems and the lack of a ransom demand had led some analysts to “tentatively conclude” that the cyberattack could be traced back to Iran, amid the U.S.-Iran war. However, federal investigators have not publicly linked Iran to the cyberattacks.

    Hackers accessed the water systems by exploiting small internet-connected devices, called programmable logic controllers (PLCs), that are used to remotely monitor and control aspects of industrial equipment, according to the NJCCIC.

    In July’s attack, hackers targeted logic controllers in municipal water systems that control the pumps and valves used to deliver drinking water. After accessing these devices, hackers changed IP addresses and set new passwords, locking water agencies out of remote monitoring capabilities.

    In New Jersey’s incidents, the municipal water agencies sent out staff to operate the systems manually, leading to no disruption to service or access to drinking water, according to the NJCCIC.

    A water tower in Flint, Mich., Aug. 20, 2020. Michigan and Minnesota are among at least seven states coping with cyberattacks aimed at disrupting water systems nationwide. (Erin Kirkland/The New York Times)ERIN KIRKLAND

    Cyberattacks were also reported in Minnesota, where 30 water-system facilities were targeted, and in Michigan, where nine were attacked. Similar to New Jersey, state officials said at no point during the attacks was drinking water unsafe.

    To protect from future cyberattacks, the FBI is advising all critical infrastructure operators to remove direct internet connections from PLCs through secure firewalls, stronger passwords, and more secure authorized communication.

    In July’s cyberattack, hackers exploited the MicroLogix 1100 and 1400 series of Rockwell Automation/Allen-Bradley PLCs, but the FBI warned that other branded devices can be vulnerable as well.

  • Eli Stowers opens up about early camp struggles: ‘It’s a mental challenge’

    Eli Stowers opens up about early camp struggles: ‘It’s a mental challenge’

    Eli Stowers sounded like a wily vet, not a rookie, when discussing his slow start to Eagles training camp.

    When asked what the “biggest adjustment” has been since camp began last week, the rookie tight end didn’t dance around the question.

    “Biggest adjustment, I’d say, is probably the mental challenge,” Stowers said following Wednesday’s practice. “I think that the offense and the way that the defenses do their schemes at this level,
it’s a little more complex than it was in college. And so I think it’s a mental challenge, but that’s just about putting the time in and learning it and trying to get better with it.”

    It’s early, but the first six days of camp haven’t been easy for the Eagles’ 2026 second-round pick (54th overall). For a player lauded for his athleticism and catch radius during the pre-draft process, Stowers hasn’t stood out in practices open to the media. This is a troubling sign for a player expected by some to be Dallas Goedert’s eventual replacement.

    Eli Stowers (87) is trying to get acclimated to the NFL along with the rest of the Eagles’ rookies. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Nevertheless, the Eagles refuse to hit the panic button. Speaking about Stowers on Monday, Nick Sirianni focused on the 23-year-old’s pros, rather than his cons.

    “I think Eli has a really good feel for the zone of where to sit in zones and how to get open versus different types of zone coverage,” Sirianni said. “We know that his athletic ability will [help him] shake free on third down when it is man coverage because he’s quick, he’s fast, he’s explosive. But what I’ve been impressed with him is just his ability to kind of read defenses and find the areas of the zone where he needs to sit and be at the right spot at the right time.”

    Time will tell with Stowers. He certainly has a strong college resumé — logging 62 catches, 769 receiving yards and four touchdowns at Vanderbilt last season — though multiple scouts billed him as more of a developmental project than a Day 1 starter.

    But even he acknowledges he needs to put on a better showing at camp.

    “At the end of the day, this is a game where there’s going to be ups and downs and you’ve just got to learn how to bounce back from adversity,” Stowers said. “No one who has ever played this game has ever been perfect. And the ones who are great are the ones that can bounce back from the adversity and go make the next play.”