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  • Eagles news: Nick Sirianni regrets sideline outburst; Tom Brady will call Birds next game; injury updates

    Eagles news: Nick Sirianni regrets sideline outburst; Tom Brady will call Birds next game; injury updates


    // Timestamp 09/29/26 12:57pm

    Tom Brady heading back to Philly to call Eagles-Rams

    Tom Brady during pregame warmups before the Eagles’ season opener against the Commanders.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Tom Brady will be back in Philly Sunday to call the Eagles’ Week 4 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams, which kicks off at 1 p.m. on Fox.

    Joining Brady in the booth is play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, while Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi will report from the sidelines.

    Brady’s on something of a hot streak in the booth. On Sunday, the Hall of Famer joked about his dominance over the Buffalo Bills in their old stadium (“I had two losses in that stadium, which would leave a bitter taste in my mouth if I didn’t beat them 33 other times.”) and described an interception thrown by Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert as a “meatball sub.”

    In Week 3, Brady’s colorful reaction when Jayden Daniels dislocated his left elbow quickly went viral on social media. Later in the game, he used language so colorful to describe Dak Prescott’s missile of a pass to receiver CeeDee Lamb we couldn’t print it in our family newspaper.

    CBS has the 4:25 p.m. national window in Week 4 with Chiefs-Raiders, and Tony Romo remains on leave. It’ll be Jim Nantz and J.J. Watt again on the call.

    It’s unclear when or if Romo will be back, and so far CBS hasn’t publicly commented about the former Cowboys quarterback’s intention to return.

    — Rob Tornoe


    // Timestamp 09/29/26 12:55pm

    Giants are releasing Odell Beckham Jr., reports say


    // Timestamp 09/29/26 11:51am

    Brian Baldinger breaks down ‘complete ineptitude’ of Eagles screen play


    // Timestamp 09/29/26 11:25am

    Eagles safeties under the microscope again

    After missing three tackles last week, Eagles safety Marcus Epps struggled getting the Bears on the ground early Monday night. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    The Eagles defense on Monday allowed 375 total yards to a Bears offense led by third-string quarterback Case Keenum, who last started a game 1,009 days ago.

    Some of the blame can be placed on the Eagles’ safeties.

    Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio had a curious game plan for safeties Marcus Epps and Michael Carter II in the team’s 27-7 loss. It appeared that Epps — who has struggled this season — was benched for Carter on the second drive of the game, but he returned just five plays later. This was the start of a rotation that even left Epps confused after the game.

    “I don’t really know,” Epps said when asked about the rotation. “Yeah, I mean, we kind of just go back and forth in practice. However, the coaches want to call it, that’s how they call it. And [we’ll] do whatever the coaches of the team ask us to do.”

    In fairness to Fangio, Epps should have seen a demotion coming. The 30-year-old veteran had three missed tackles in Week 2, which prompted questions about his starting status, and then missed two tackles on the opening drive vs. Chicago. Epps spoke about this unprompted on Monday.

    “You just got to tackle better,” Epps said. “We got to work on it in practice. So we got to take it upon ourselves to get better and continue to grow in that aspect.”

    It wasn’t just the tackles. The rotation clearly led to communication issues in the defensive backfield, with Keenum, 38, routinely attacking the safeties downfield. On Chicago’s second scoring drive, Keenum connected with Luther Burden III for a 25-yard gain (with safety Andrew Mukuba in coverage), then hit Rome Odunze for a 22-yard gain (with Epps in coverage) one play later.

    Epps and Mukuba were also at the center of two Bears touchdowns. Burden dragged a gaggle of Eagles defenders, Epps included, on Chicago’s opening drive touchdown. Mukuba slipped while in coverage late in the third quarter, which led to Kalif Raymond’s 41-yard score.

    — Jeff Neiburg


    // Timestamp 09/29/26 9:55am

    Nick Foles praises Case Keenum’s performance vs. Eagles

    Case Keenum defeated the Eagles in his first start since 2023.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Read the room, Nick.

    On Monday, Nick Foles praised Bears third-string quarterback Case Keenum’s play. Keenum passed for 247 yards and two touchdowns. He also found the endzone on the ground.

    “My friend Case Keenum is playing lights out tonight; he looks unreal,” Foles wrote on social media. “He is getting the ball out quickly and accurately, even when under pressure.”

    “There are several QBs around the league who are struggling and should watch how Case Keenum is playing tonight,” he added. “He is on time, in rhythm, and throwing extremely catchable balls.”

    Foles and Keenum spent the 2015 season together on the St. Louis Rams roster, and the two remain close friends. However, most Eagles fans associate the two for their matchup in the 2017 NFC Championship Game — when Foles and the Eagles defeated Keenum’s Minnesota Vikings 38-7.

    On The SZN podcast after the game, Foles addressed Eagles fans in panic mode after Monday’s blowout loss.

    “It’s only Week 3. So if you’re an Eagles fan and you’re listening, don’t freak out, it’s early,” Foles said.

    — Conor Smith


    // Timestamp 09/29/26 9:37am

    Nick Sirianni has a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it

    Eagles coach Nick Sirianni is 0-2 against Bears coach Ben Johnson.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Nick Sirianni took it on the chin.

    Down 13 points late in the third quarter, the Eagles faced fourth-and-1 on their own 49-yard line. Sirianni had his offense line up as if it would attempt the Tush Push with Jalen Hurts sneaking for the first down.

    But it was a long yard and the Bears weren’t fooled into jumping offside. The Eagles took a delay-of-game penalty and punted.

    “As I look back at that, I probably should have went for it there,” Sirianni said. “Didn’t like that decision.”

    It was one of many that backfired on the coach and his team in a dreadful 27-7 loss to the Bears on Monday night. Sirianni’s regrets were isolated to the game — from his fourth down turtling to his sideline behavior — but it’s unclear how he felt about larger decisions that have affected this season’s Eagles.

    It’s too early to make sweeping generalizations. But the first three games have suggested the following: the defense isn’t as good as many had expected, first-time offensive coordinator Sean Mannion isn’t yet the “mad genius” some had suggested, and general manager Howie Roseman’s roster has more holes than it has had in years.

    And that may be why, in that moment, Sirianni didn’t roll the dice on fourth-and-1. He didn’t believe his offense could convert or his defense could hold if they didn’t. In 2025, it might have been the offense that held him back. In 2023, it was often the defense.

    For the first time since maybe his first season, he may not have either side to lean on. And that’s a scary thought with the Rams coming to town Sunday and a trip to London to face the Jaguars the following week.

    — Jeff McLane


    // Timestamp 09/29/26 8:48am

    ‘An absolute embarrassment’: Reaction to Eagles blowout loss

    Saquon Barkley walks off the field following Monday night’s loss.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
    • The Inquirer’s Mike Sielski: “The Eagles are 2-1, sure, but so far they haven’t been the team anyone expected them to be. They are asking so much of Hurts, perhaps too much. Their defense hasn’t been close to the shutdown unit it was presumed to be. And the Los Angeles Rams, 1-2 and dangerous, are ahead on Sunday.”
    • NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Michael Barkann: “That was an absolute embarrassment. That was a team that looked unprepared to play. That was a team that was sloppy. That was a team that had no passion, no juice… and got pushed around.”
    • 94.1 WIP’s Jon Ritchie: “[The Bears] beat us soundly both times. That was a drubbing. We didn’t tackle. The defense sucked. The pass rush was non-existent… And we had Jonathan Greenard out there. Meant nothing, did nothing.”
    • NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Barrett Brooks: “The offensive line stayed getting their asses kicked, especially the inner guys, the two guards… I don’t know if it’s because [former offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland] is gone, I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s just not a good offensive line. Period.”
    • ESPN’s Jeff Saturday: “Way too cute… Saquon Barley – my goodness, I could have run through those holes. He wasn’t getting touched until [he was] four and five yards down the field. And for whatever reason, they decided they wanted to throw this thing around the yard. I think they had four called runs in the last 20 plays of the game in the second half.”
    • NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Reuben Frank: “I’m most concerned about the absence of playmaking on defense…. They don’t have a takeaway in three games. First time in franchise history that’s happened… They’re the only team in the NFL hasn’t forced a turnover.”
    • Ex-Eagles quarterback Nick Foles on The SZN podcast: “I always find a positive – there’s not one person to blame. You can just blame the whole team.”

    — Rob Tornoe


    // Timestamp 09/29/26 7:23am

    Nick Sirianni regrets sideline outburst

    Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni let his emotions get the better of him again.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Midway through the second quarter, Jalen Hurts was briefly knocked out of the game after being hit out of bounds by Chicago Bears linebacker D’Marco Jackson.

    After the play, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni had some choice words for Jackson that made it to Fox’s broadcast.

    Sirianni getting emotional during a game isn’t new. Last season, he taunted Buffalo Bills fans after a narrow Eagles win at Highmark Stadium. In 2024 he jawed with Eagles fans and later apologized, while in 2023 he went after Kansas City Chiefs fans following a Birds victory.

    After the game, Sirianni told reporters he regretted the outburst.

    “You want to always fight for your players and protect your players,” Sirianni said. “I always come away when I have a moment like that with remorse, ‘Man, I shouldn’t have let my emotions get the best of me.’”

    “I know nobody is trying to hurt anybody out there,” Sirianni added. “So the emotion of the game probably got the better of me today and I have to learn from that. In that particular moment I have to be more steady in that situation. Be able to move on and go to the next play. I didn’t like how I handled that.”

    — Rob Tornoe


    // Timestamp 09/29/26 7:20am

    Quick turnaround as Eagles travel home to face the Rams

    Matthew Stafford and the Rams will face the Eagles in Week 4.Jack Dempsey

    Things aren’t going to get much easier for the Eagles.

    After being blown out by the Chicago Bears, the Birds will head home to host the Los Angeles Rams (1-2) Sunday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field.

    The Rams are coming off a last-second loss to the Denver Broncos, who overcame a 16-0 halftime deficit to win at Empower Field at Mile High Sunday.

    The Eagles have won their last three games against the Rams, including a 33-26 victory at the Linc in Week 3 last year. In that game, the Eagles blocked two field goals, including a potential game-winner blocked and returned for a touchdown by Jordan Davis.

    — Rob Tornoe


    // Timestamp 09/29/26 7:18am

    Eagles injury report: Jalen Hurts evaluated for concussion

    Jalen Hurts at the end of the fourth quarter Monday night.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    The Eagles entered Week 3 a bit banged up, with tight end Dallas Goedert inactive with a knee injury and wide receiver Hollywood Brown ruled out with an ankle injury.

    But the Eagles survived their Week 3 loss to the Chicago Bears without suffering any other major injuries.

    Jalen Hurts was forced to leave the game midway through the second quarter after being knocked down hard on a late hit out of bounds. He visited the medical tent briefly for a concussion evaluation but quickly returned to the field, but not before backup quarterback Andy Dalton threw an interception at the goal line.

    When asked after the game if he felt like he had suffered any kind of head trauma on that hit, Hurts responded with a no. He said he watched Dalton’s pick from outside of the tent, but at that point, he was waiting to be cleared. He said he wished the concussion spotter could have “expedited things.”

    “I think practically, emotionally, and competitively, I’m in the right place to go out there and compete,” Hurts said. “So it’s a situation that hopefully we can learn from.”

    — Rob Tornoe, Olivia Reiner


    // Timestamp 09/29/26 7:15am

    Eagles coaching staff had a rough night

    Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio had no answers for Bears’ offense.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Coach Nick Sirianni is ultimately responsible for the Eagles losing to a Bears team without its top two quarterbacks. He got a dismal effort from his team.

    Should he have called a timeout to buy time while Hurts was getting looked at for a possible head injury? It’s easy to say in retrospect. But the whole ordeal proved costly for the Eagles.

    He had a couple of head-scratching game management moments. The fake Tush Push on a long fourth-and-1 in the third quarter wasn’t fooling anyone. Whether Sirianni should have gone for it or not, his defense forced a punt on the ensuing possession. But Sirianni’s roll of the dice on fourth-and-5 a drive later was confounding in context and Hurts tossed an interception.

    Offensive coordinator Sean Mannion called a questionable screen to Smith with 19 seconds left before the half, but Hurts bailed him out. Whatever the reason, the designs and execution on passes behind the line of scrimmage have mostly been disasters. Another bubble screen to Lemon resulted in a loss.

    Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio got schooled by Ben Johnson. The Bears coach was one step ahead of his esteemed counterpart almost the entire game. A year ago, Chicago killed the Eagles on the ground. This time they did it through the air with no less than a third-string 38-year-old quarterback at the helm. Fangio might have had his worst game since coming to Philly. His defense can’t do the simple things like tackle.

    — Jeff McLane


    // Timestamp 09/29/26 7:12am

    Jason Kelce apologizes to Bears fans for Eagles homerism

    Former Eagles center Jason Kelce is in his third season as an analyst on “Monday Night Countdown.”Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Jason Kelce is in his third season as a studio analyst on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown. Still, it has been difficult — at times — for the longtime Eagles center to shake his fandom while reporting. He made reference to this during a humorous exchange with Sirianni before Monday’s game.

    “Jalen Hurts has been off to a really hot start,” Kelce said to Sirianni. “He’s playing awesome for us — for the Eagles. Should say that. Unbiased media member.”

    At halftime, Kelce continued to refer to the Eagles as “we.” ESPN personality Pat McAfee took notice.

    “We played really well offensively,” Kelce said. “We had opportunities. We shot ourselves in the foot, but we’ve moved the ball. We ran the ball well. Jalen Hurts is throwing the ball well. I think [with] them getting the ball coming out of half, I got a feeling they got a lot of momentum going in there.”

    Added McAfee: “A lot of ‘we’ talk out of Jason for Philly. If we are the Chicago Bears, we are very pumped with how Case Keenum is operating this offense.”

    “Sorry, Bears fans,” Kelce said.

    — Conor Smith


    // Timestamp 09/29/26 7:10am

    NFC East standings

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    // Timestamp 09/29/26 7:09am

    Photos from Eagles’ loss against the Bears


    Eagles 2026 TV schedule

    • Week 1: Eagles 24, Commanders 22
    • Week 2: Eagles 24, Titans 20
    • Week 3: Bears 27, Eagles 7
    • Week 4: Rams at Eagles — Sunday, Oct. 4, 1 p.m. (Fox)
    • Week 5: Eagles at Jaguars (London) — Sunday, Oct. 11, 9:30 a.m. (NFL Network)
    • Week 6: Panthers at Eagles — Sunday, Oct. 18, 1 p.m. (CBS)
    • Week 7: Cowboys at Eagles — Monday, Oct. 26, 8:15 p.m. (ABC, ESPN)
    • Week 8: Eagles at Commanders — Sunday, Nov. 1, 8:20 p.m. (NBC)
    • Week 9: Giants at Eagles — Sunday, Nov. 8, 1 p.m. (Fox)
    • Week 10: Bye week
    • Week 11: Steelers at Eagles — Sunday, Nov. 22, 4:25 p.m. (CBS)
    • Week 12: Eagles at Cowboys — Thursday, Nov. 26, 4:30 p.m. (Fox)
    • Week 13: Eagles at Cardinals — Sunday, Dec. 6, 4:05 p.m. (Fox)
    • Week 14: Colts at Eagles — Sunday, Dec. 13, 1 p.m. (Fox)
    • Week 15: Seahawks at Eagles — Saturday, Dec. 19, 5 p.m. (Fox)
    • Week 16: Texans at Eagles — Thursday, Dec. 24, 8:15 p.m. (Prime Video)
    • Week 17: Eagles at 49ers — Sunday, Jan. 3, 8:20 p.m. (NBC)
    • Week 18: Eagles at Giants — TBD (TBD)

    // Timestamp 09/29/26 7:05am

  • How a planned steel mill in Iowa reveals Trump’s midterm strategy

    How a planned steel mill in Iowa reveals Trump’s midterm strategy

    President Donald Trump, staring down a rough midterm season for Republicans, unveiled plans for an Iowa steel mill project Monday that he said would plug billions into the economy and create construction jobs in a state hit hard by his policies.

    Voters in Midwestern states were crucial to delivering a second election win to Trump, but now, those voters are among the hardest hit by tariff-driven manufacturing costs and a rise in fuel prices driven by the war in Iran. When a reporter in the Oval Office asked him Monday why several Republican candidates in Iowa were working so hard to protect their seats, Trump seemed mystified.

    “I don’t know,” said Trump, who is traveling to several states this week ahead of the midterm elections. “I love Iowa. I’ve always been very strong with Iowa.”

    The project in Iowa is one of several job-creation announcements Trump is expected to make as he traverses the country. He will travel to several reliably conservative states this week, including Oklahoma and Alabama. He is also scheduled to visit Ohio this weekend in support of Republican Sen. Jon Husted, an embattled incumbent facing several challenges, including a lack of name recognition among some of the state’s most devoted conservatives.

    Trump said Monday that he would also visit Iowa, where he hopes the planned steel mill will boost prospects for Republicans in tight races — and perhaps his own fortunes as a kingmaker who has asked supporters to pretend he is on the ballot in November. Americans have signaled that they are doing just that, but in a way that could backfire on him. The war in Iran and the cost of living have both eroded his support.

    So Trump has leaned into the promise of the mill, which is part of an $18 billion investment from Mesabi Metallics. Supporters of the project say it will be one of the largest steel mills in the world when it is completed.

    In the Oval Office on Monday, Trump, several Cabinet members and Iowa Republicans said the project would remind voters that Trump’s policies have created jobs. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, who is facing a tough reelection race and who last week voted to curb Trump’s war powers, appeared to be behind Trump, telling reporters that the steel mill could create some 6,000 construction jobs and 1,750 permanent jobs, with salaries that could exceed $100,000 a year.

    “We’re going to mine it in America. We’re going to mill it in America, and we’re going to make it in America,” Miller-Meeks said.

    Mesabi Metallic is owned by Essar Group, a Mumbai-based conglomerate controlled by one of India’s wealthiest families. The Iowa mill project follows another initiative led by Mesabi: a $2.5 billion iron-ore mine and pellet plant in Nashwauk, Minnesota.

    That project, described as the first new operation of its kind in the state in about 50 years, has been supported by EXIM Bank, a U.S. federal import-export bank that announced it would extend loans to the company worth up to $10 billion. Some analysts consider the EXIM loan to be risky because Mesabi has faced financial problems and significant delays over the years.

    Alec Varsamis, a spokesperson for EXIM, said that Mesabi had so far been granted a $770 million loan for the iron-ore mine in Minnesota.

    “We are operating at no cost to the taxpayer, and we are on track to repay our congressional appropriations to the U.S. Treasury,” Varsamis said.

    In the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said that the project would go forward even if control of Congress changed hands, or if a “less friendly” president took over. Rewant Ruia, chair of Mesabi’s executive board, and Ravi Ruia, co-founder and vice-chair of the Essar Group, were also in the Oval Office for the announcement.

    The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2016 and has been entangled in a lawsuit with Cleveland Cliffs, another steel manufacturer.

    Mesabi executives have leaned on a Trump-world insider as the company has sought to expand its footprint in the United States. The company hired Jason Miller, a longtime Trump adviser, as its lobbyist, paying him at least $240,000 through his company SHW Partners, according to lobbying disclosure records. The government of India also hired Miller’s company, paying $150,000 per month for “strategic counsel, tactical planning and government relations assistance on policy matters before the U.S. government,” according to federal filings under the Foreign Agent Registration Act.

    On Monday, Miller said in a text message that he had stopped his work as a lobbyist for Mesabi and deregistered at the end of July. He has since joined the administration as an unpaid special government employee. He was not present in the Oval Office.

    Rewant Ruia, chair of Mesabi Metallics, spoke in the Oval Office on Monday, and said the new steel plant in Iowa “will use the latest technology and will compete head-to-head with any steel plant in the world on size, quality and on cost.”

    Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that tracked Miller’s lobbying on behalf of Mesabi and the Indian government, said that the extension of potentially billions in taxpayer-backed loans from EXIM Bank deserved more scrutiny because of Miller’s role.

    “In any other administration, this would be treated as a monumental scandal,” Weissman said. “But in this one, it’s just another day.”

    Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican who attended the Oval Office event, said in a statement that the deal would be transformative for her state.

    “Our commitment in Iowa to fiscal responsibility, tax competitiveness, and long-term economic stability has created one of the nation’s strongest environments for business investment,” she said. “Now, this opportunity will fundamentally change the economic trajectory of our state and the entire region for decades to come.”

    The steel mill project is part of a broader election-season attempt by Trump to push back against widespread voter frustration with his policies, including tariffs that have been punishing for American manufacturers, particularly in the Midwest.

    Trump and his advisers believe that any polling predicting a blowout for Democrats is overrated, and to some degree, they have history on their side. On Monday, Trump again called recent polling “fake,” and complained that the news media had not appropriately trumpeted employment numbers, 401(k) account gains and a host of other accomplishments.

    “Nobody talks about all of the incredible things,” Trump said.

    But this is not 2016, or 2024. In 2026, Americans are deeply unhappy with the cost of living and frustrated with the war in Iran, which has driven up prices further. In response, Trump has taken to calling the concept of affordability a Democratic hoax, while promising that prices will come down as soon as the war ends.

    “We’re going to win that war very soon. That’ll be over, and the gasses, gas prices, will come tumbling down,” Trump said, forecasting the future. “So nobody else could have done that. Nobody else.”

    Trump’s self-congratulatory messaging on the war has done little to help GOP candidates in tough races across the country. In the past week, Republicans running for Senate seats in Iowa and Michigan have called on Trump to end the conflict. A slate of other candidates, including two running for governor in Wisconsin and Michigan, and Husted in Ohio, also have said that the war needs to end, and soon.

    This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

  • OpenAI says it will not release newest AI model over safety concerns

    OpenAI says it will not release newest AI model over safety concerns

    SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI said on Monday that it would not release its newest artificial intelligence model because of security concerns raised by its researchers, in the company’s latest move to slow down the pace of its technology.

    During the testing phase for the new model, known as GPT-6.1 Astra, it showed high levels of what the company saw as deception, or a willingness to mislead users about its actions. The model was also willing to go beyond the original scope of what it was asked to do, without checking back for directions or instructions.

    “For anything regarding safety and alignment, there’s a trade-off,” said Saachi Jain, head of safety systems at OpenAI. The new model “didn’t quite meet the bar in terms of staying within scope and authorization, and how it communicates back to the user about the type of work it’s done.”

    OpenAI’s move followed weeks of reports that its AI models went rogue during testing, hacking into websites without the company’s knowledge or exhibiting other behavior that the lab said was “concerning,” such as hiding mistakes and making up data. Among the incidents, OpenAI’s systems breached AI startup Hugging Face and an Australian government website, and meddled with the websites of the U.S. Departments of Education and Commerce and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

    Last week, OpenAI announced that it was pausing training for its most advanced models. The company has said that it has embarked on an extensive review of actions taken by its new models during testing, and that it was possible it would discover more incidents.

    Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, said in a social media post Friday that the company had “not been as fast as we would have liked” in disclosing A.I. incidents. “We are prioritizing as best as we can based on severity,” he said, adding that the Hugging Face breach remained “the most severe event” the company had discovered.

    The Wall Street Journal earlier reported OpenAI’s decision to hold back the model.

    (The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement of news content related to AI systems. The two companies have denied those claims.)

    This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

  • Penn and Community College of Philadelphia launch an academy for West Philadelphia businesses

    Penn and Community College of Philadelphia launch an academy for West Philadelphia businesses

    A new, free educational program for West Philly small businesses is launching this fall, giving them access to faculty from the University of Pennsylvania, through a partnership with the Community College of Philadelphia.

    The deadline to apply is fast approaching, with instruction starting next month.

    Students of the Penn-CCP Entrepreneurship Academy will learn from Penn faculty, other entrepreneurs, and business advisers in three-hour weekly classes, as well as coaching sessions and office hours.

    The initiative aims to increase the opportunity for businesses that are connected to the West Philadelphia area. Participants should be registered in the neighborhood, have operations there, or its owner can live there.

    But the rules seem flexible: Because the program’s priority and focus is to help Philadelphia-based businesses, including nonprofits, interested owners are encouraged to apply even if they do not live in Philadelphia. Even businesses with no revenues can apply, but priority will be given to those generating revenue.

    West Philadelphia has “no shortage” of entrepreneurial talent, said Franne McNeal, executive director of the academy, but what it lacks most is resources.

    “Business owners here have less access to strategy, legal fluency, capital networks, and the kind of advice that turns a small business into a bigger one,” McNeal said. “The biggest gap I see is the owner with four employees who cannot figure out how to get to 14.”

    The academy’s curriculum is divided into four stages: build the foundation, strengthen the structure, prepare for growth, and put the plan into action.

    Students will learn about creating a business strategy, the right structure for their company, branding, and protecting intellectual property. Instruction will also cover financial literacy, workforce management, marketing and sales, and how to present to a potential investor.

    “We’re going to cover the foundational elements of growing a business,” faculty director Praveen Kosuri said. “Everything from business planning and strategy to structuring and branding.

    Besides learning how to build a business, participants are expected to gain confidence in identifying business risks, asking the right questions, and knowing when to seek specialized advice. The program is also intended to foster meaningful relationships between founders, faculty, practitioners, and members of Philadelphia’s entrepreneurial community.

    Each business owner will submit a business plan and pitch, along with a 90-day action plan, for faculty feedback.

    “They’ll have a funder-ready plan, the financial fluency to defend it, and practitioners in the room helping who know the Philadelphia capital landscape,” she said.

    While the academy is tuition-free, McNeal and Kosuri noted that participants will have to put in significant time.

    The 10 weekly sessions in West Philadelphia will take place from 6-9 p.m. beginning in late October through January.

    “Participants need to show up each week to learn, to work on their businesses, and to support the others in the class,” said Kosuri. “We hope it sets them on a path that continues to lead them to their goals.”

    Although start-up businesses can apply, the program seems more geared toward already established companies, whose owners want to take their companies to the next level.

    Unlike other programs I’ve seen, the academy is establishing a specific measurable goal that will hold both its leaders and students accountable: getting the businesses involved to achieve between $1 million to $10 million in revenues within three years.

    McNeal says the program is a pilot and its success will be measured by participants’ success.

    “Attendance and satisfaction scores are easy to report but revenue and employment are slower and harder, and they are the only numbers that mean anything, so those are the ones we are building the tracking for,” she said.

    “We will be judged on whether we come back,” she said.

    Applicants can apply online.

    The priority deadline is Oct. 1, but applications submitted later will be reviewed on a rolling basis if space remains.

  • News organizations ask court to bar White House enforcement of access ban until case is resolved

    News organizations ask court to bar White House enforcement of access ban until case is resolved

    Three news outlets that President Donald Trump abruptly banished from White House grounds this month asked a federal court to block the action until the case is resolved, saying the administration has “persisted in unpredictably and inconsistently implementing its ban” despite a judge’s restraining order — including selectively keeping CNN from participating in White House pool duties.

    “The White House’s words and actions leave little doubt that it will immediately reinstitute a complete ban of CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO if allowed the opportunity,” lawyers for CNN, MS NOW, and Politico wrote in a filing late Monday.

    ”Because the ban is an unlawful assault on the most fundamental First Amendment freedoms and will inflict irreparable harm on Plaintiffs and the public if not restrained, this Court should preliminarily enjoin its enforcement pending the resolution of this case,” the filing said.

    It was the latest development in the back-and-forth saga of the Trump administration and the news media during the second term of his presidency. It has been a contentious relationship that has raised multiple First Amendment questions, produced sanctions and restrictions on White House and Pentagon reporters and led to several lawsuits that are winding their ways through the federal court system.

    A two-week temporary restraining order on Trump’s ban of the three organizations, issued by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly last week, restored the outlets’ White House access, but expires Oct. 8. The preliminary injunction requested in Monday’s filing would extend the White House access until the case is finally resolved.

    In a statement emailed to the Associated Press immediately after the filing, the lead attorney for the three news outlets called the ban “a blatant violation of the First Amendment and due process.”

    “The president and his administration have continued to make clear that this ban has only one purpose: to punish reporting he doesn’t like,” said the lawyer, Theodore J. Boutrous Jr.

    “That’s retaliation and viewpoint discrimination, pure and simple,” Boutrous said. “With the district court’s temporary restraining order expiring this week, it is critical to ensure that the White House continues to be prevented from implementing this unconstitutional ban on the free press.”

    On Tuesday, the ACLU of the District of Columbia filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the news outlets and suggesting the president’s residence is different from a private property.

    “The White House is the people’s house, not the president’s private golf club,” wrote Arthur Spitzer, senior counsel for the ACLU of D.C.

    White House still says access is a privilege, not a right

    The filing came a day after the Trump administration made clear it was not backing down from its contention that the sudden ban, which began Sept. 19, was justified.

    “When it comes to the White House, it is the people’s house,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said on ABC on Sunday, invoking an argument the administration has made since the beginning. “It is a privilege, and not a right, to be there.”

    Monday’s 42-page filing reiterated many of the arguments that the news outlets made in their original lawsuit against Trump and the White House, filed two days after the reporters were banned.

    It also added mention of the White House broadcast pool rotation, which has become a battleground in the last few days in the standoff between Trump and the media.

    The White House, it said, “has persisted in unpredictably and inconsistently implementing its ban, including by barring CNN from fulfilling its role as designated television network pooler on Sept. 26 — to the detriment of CNN, its fellow pool members and, ultimately, the American public.”

    When the ban was implemented, CNN was removed from its duties as part of the broadcast pool, which consists of the five main networks: CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News. In solidarity, the other networks decided to suspend the pool until CNN was allowed back in.

    On Friday, CNN was allowed to cover the president with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the National Archives. But in a new setback Saturday, the White House banned the network from Air Force One, preventing it from covering Trump’s trip to a college football game in Tennessee. The rest of the pool declined to provide a replacement, in solidarity with CNN.

    Blanche defended that decision, too. “The president has every right to decide who gets to fly on his plane,” he said in the Sunday interview. He added that Trump was “sick and tired of certain media outlets just refusing to report accurate news.” He added that news coverage he described as “misinformation” amounted to a national security issue.

    “That is what is a national security problem, when you have complete misinformation coming out of the White House,” he said.

    Kelly threw cold water on that argument in his ruling last week granting the temporary restraining order against the White House ban. “The court is skeptical … that defendants’ interest in safeguarding national security is the actual motivation” for removal of access, Kelly wrote.

    His ruling did not directly address the TV pool rotation. In the new filing, the plaintiffs describe the important function the pool provides and make the case that it’s an important part of the regular access to the president, and his activities, that the media has traditionally had — and must be restored.

    It singles out the Air Force One case. “CNN received no official communication from the White House explaining its exclusion,” the filing says. “Because CNN was excluded and no replacement designated, no primary television network pooler accompanied the President on the trip.”

    Pool access issue has presented tough choices

    For now, networks in the pool have decided to address the ongoing standoff on a case-by-case basis, according to a person familiar with the pool’s operation, speaking on condition of anonymity to give details of ongoing discussions.

    On Sunday, Fox covered a pool event; on Monday, NBC was covering the president in the Oval Office. CNN is not in the rotation until Thursday. If the network is again barred from a pool event, the networks will decide together, presumably based on the newsworthiness of the situation, whether to provide a replacement or to refrain from coverage as they did previously.

    The issues at stake are difficult. On the one hand, the networks want to take a stand on behalf of press freedom and against efforts to intimidate coverage. On the other, media outlets have an obvious purpose of providing news to their audiences.

    “There are not a lot of good options,” said David A. Schulz, director of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School.

    Should the White House continue to bar CNN, Schulz said, networks may choose “to exert their market power and say, ‘We’re not going to play ball with you.’”

    The question, Schulz added, is: “Who’s going to back down first?”

    The networks “may well feel like they’re between a rock and a hard place,” noted RonNell Andersen Jones, a law professor at the University of Utah.

    “Capitulation might be perceived as abandonment of core components of press freedom,” Andersen Jones said. “But the practicalities of lengthy White House news blackouts are also complicated, and refusing to cover major news at the highest levels of government might itself feel like a failure to serve the goals of democracy.”

  • Rubio says U.K. air base incident ‘clearly involved’ a foreign actor

    Rubio says U.K. air base incident ‘clearly involved’ a foreign actor

    LIVERPOOL, England — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a “foreign actor” was behind an incident over the weekend at a British air base used primarily by U.S. military forces, calling it a “very serious situation” without providing details or evidence.

    Five men were arrested early Sunday on suspicion of explosives violations and of preparing a terrorist act after local residents tipped off the police. The men were released Monday evening on bail, an unexpected development that suggested British authorities had not found enough evidence to link the suspects to a specific act.

    The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Britain’s national news agency, PA, reported without citing sources that police had not found viable explosives.

    Speaking on Fox News on Monday evening, Rubio praised British officials for working closely with the United States. He said that “a lot of people are disturbed” by the news that the suspects were released on bail but indicated that the release did not minimize the severity of what happened at the base.

    “I have to be careful — there’s some things I cannot say on the air for a lot of different reasons,” he said. “Suffice it to say that what happened, what almost happened, what could have happened in the U.K. over the weekend is a very serious situation.”

    He added, “It’s one that clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor,” without providing evidence or details for that claim.

    Rubio did not identify what country he believed was behind the incident. But he mentioned Iran, which is at war with the United States, as the kind of country that could be capable of such an attack. Many national security experts have suggested Iran is a possible culprit.

    “We are dealing with elements in the world, and in the case of Iran, for example, who have openly threatened to attack American interest globally — we’re going to always take that very seriously,” Rubio said.

    The Iranian Embassy in London said in a statement Monday that it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns” what it called “unfounded and malicious speculations” that Iran was involved.

    British officials, including Prime Minister Andy Burnham, have urged people not to speculate about who might be responsible while the investigation is ongoing.

    If Iran was involved, plotting to commit an attack inside Britain would be a major escalation against a Western country in apparent retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli-led war against Iran. In July, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened the base, RAF Fairford, which U.S. long-range bombers have been using to conduct strikes since the spring. The Revolutionary Guard warned at the time that the British government’s decision to allow strikes from there would make it “a legitimate target for our forces.”

    President Donald Trump told reporters Monday evening that the suspects might be connected to Iran but refused to elaborate, adding: “I know the answer. I can be very specific, but I’d rather not say it.” He also expressed surprise at the decision to release them.

    Rubio, in the Fox News interview, said “There’s a lot more news that will come out on this in the days to come.”

    This article originally appeared in the New York Times.

  • Eagles grades vs. Bears: Nick Sirianni, entire defense culpable in blowout loss

    Eagles grades vs. Bears: Nick Sirianni, entire defense culpable in blowout loss

    CHICAGO — Instant grades on the Eagles’ performance in their 27-7 loss to the Chicago Bears:

    Quarterback: D

    Jalen Hurts started slow, rebounded after an odd series of events took him out of the game, and then folded under the weight of an overall terrible performance by the Eagles. Hurts held the ball too long once he was forced to drop to pass in the second half. After two strong outings to open the season, he took a step back.

    Hurts was nearly picked off by former Eagle T.J. Edwards on a third-down pass to returning former Eagle Zach Ertz to open the second half. But Edwards made sure to hang on the next time the ball came his way, intercepting Hurts on a late third-quarter fourth down when the quarterback only had eyes for DeVonta Smith.

    He had to leave the game for a potential concussion after Bears linebacker D’Marco Jackson nailed him out of bounds in the second quarter. While Hurts was getting checked out in the medical tent, his replacement Andy Dalton tossed an interception in the end zone.

    Like the entire Eagles team, Hurts had a rough start. He committed an intentional grounding penalty on the first series and threw short of an open Saquon Barkley, who had all kinds of green in front of him, on the second series. But he bounced back, especially after the cautionary trip to the medical tent. Hurts wisely snuck in for a touchdown with the clock winding down to 1 second just before the break.

    Running back: D+

    Saquon Barkley had all kinds of space and lanes to burst through on outside zone runs in the first half. He was decisive and rushed for 73 yards on 11 carries. He spun out of a would-be tackle on a 7-yard rush to open the second half, but Barkley was stifled the rest of the way and finished with 82 yards on 15 carries.

    Eagles running back Saquon Barkley got off to a good start before the Birds abandoned the run due to the score in the second half.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Tank Bigsby fumbled after a short catch in the first quarter, but the Bears failed to convert good field position into points. Will Shipley was often on the field on third downs and caught an 11-yard pass out of the backfield.

    Receiver / Tight end: D+

    It’s hard to blame this group for the loss, but they didn’t do enough to offset the mistakes of others. Receiver DeVonta Smith led the Eagles with six catches for 65 yards. He made a breathtaking 30-yard grab over Bears corner Jaylon Johnson in the second quarter. He had a 13-yard catch on third down in the second quarter, and he drew a 21-yard pass interference penalty on the next play.

    Makai Lemon caught a 19-yard pass at the second level on a crossing route to open the game and finished with three grabs for 29 yards. Dontayvion Wicks pulled in just 2 of 5 passes for 32 yards. He had a 19-yard reception in the third quarter.

    With tight end Dallas Goedert out with an MCL knee injury for at least the next two weeks, the Eagles brought back Zach Ertz. He was activated off the practice squad despite having just a week of practice and being less than seven months removed from knee surgery.

    Ertz was occasionally the receiving tight end in 11 personnel. His first catch back in midnight green went for nine yards just before the half. Ertz missed a block on a bubble screen to Lemon.

    Blocking tight end Johnny Mundt led the way on a Barkley 8-yard run in the second quarter. Elijah Moore dressed for his first game as an Eagle with Hollywood Brown out with an ankle injury. He was the motion man on several plays.

    Offensive line: D

    The first-half run game will have to be a silver lining. The Eagles finally got the ground game going after two miserable performances. But they struggled to counter the Bears’ second-half adjustments. The pass protection was often sound for Hurts, as it was on Hurts’ 19-yard pass to Wicks. But the offense was often out of whack in the second half.

    Drew Kendall had some nice run blocks in his second start at center. He had a key block on Bears veteran defensive tackle Grady Jarrett on Barkley’s 12-yard outside zone run. Kendall did well to climb to the second level on Barkley’s 7-yard tote in the second quarter. But he had a few breakdowns, as well. Cam Jurgens looked stronger in his second career start at left guard. It helps to not have to face Jeffery Simmons. But he had errors, too, and gave up a pressure late in the second quarter.

    Tackles Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata were once again the best of the unit. But when Hurts was forced to drop on almost every play as the Eagles trailed, it became too difficult to hold up. On a Barkley 17-yard rush off the right in the second quarter, Johnson had a kick-out block.

    Right guard Tyler Steen had a key block on Barkley’s 17-yarder, but a holding penalty brought back a Barkley 19-yard scoot in the first quarter. Markel Bell was the sixth O-lineman on a run play that resulted in a loss.

    Defensive line: D

    The big storyline coming in was how the Eagles would stop a run attack that stomped all over them a year ago. They did, for the most part, as Bears running backs D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai were held to under a combined 100 yards until late in the fourth quarter. Instead, they got torched through the air by no other than Case Keenum, who hadn’t started at quarterback in nearly three years.

    It wasnt a good night for Eagles defensive tackles Jalen Carter (left) and Moro Ojomo.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    The D-line was solid in run defense, but they failed to get to Keenum enough and didn’t notch a sack. Jalen Carter has yet to show he’s a $152 million defensive tackle. He has a wrist injury, but he’s seemingly always banged up. Carter’s run tackle for loss in the second quarter helped keep the Bears from converting a turnover into points.

    Jordan Davis didn’t record his first run tackle until the second half. Moro Ojomo had a couple pressures, but his neutral zone infraction on fourth down in the fourth quarter was an egregious mistake. Byron Young made a run stop for no gain on the Bears’ first possession.

    Jonathan Greenard was active for his first game with the Eagles. He was on a pitch count after missing the first two weeks with a pectoral injury. Greenard still made his presence felt with some pressure off the edge. Jalyx Hunt is still without a sack this season. He’s played well, but can’t seem to finish. Hunt appeared to be out of his run gap on a third-down conversion in the fourth quarter. Nolan Smith Jr. was just as quiet as a pass rusher. Greenard’s presence meant that A.J. Epenesa was inactive for the first time this season.

    Linebacker: D

    The Eagles just didn’t do enough at the second level. Zack Baun and Jihaad Campbell led the Eagles in tackles, but they were often just cleaning up messes or missed tackles. Baun was victimized on a fourth-and-1 play-fake on the Bears’ first drive. He could have done more to bring down Luther Burden on his 8-yard catch when he kept his legs churning and muscled into the end zone later on the possession.

    Campbell finished with a joint-team high nine tackles, but he struggled at times to get off blocks. The Eagles had little choice but to let Nakobe Dean walk, but his replacement has been a downgrade so far this season.

    Cornerback: D+

    Quinyon Mitchell might have been the only Eagles defender who came to play. He deflected a fourth-down pass near the goal line in the second quarter. He later made a tackle for loss on a run play that was strung out. Mitchell broke up a third-down pass in the third quarter.

    Riq Woolen had a great first two games, but he can get handsy and it cost him this week. He committed holding and illegal contact penalties in the first half. The second flag, which came on third down, was a little nitpicky. Woolen blitzed several times off the edge in the first half, but Keenum was able to take advantage with one less cornerback in coverage.

    Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell was the one defender who could hold his head up high after Monday’s loss.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Cooper DeJean did well not to bite on a fake reverse end around and made a tackle after a short gain in the first quarter. DeJean snuffed out a screen pass for no gain in the second quarter. He appeared to have busted his coverage when Kalif Raymond was wide open over the middle and ran for a 41-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

    DeJean bounced back and broke up back-to-back passes on the next series.

    Safety: D-

    The Eagles safeties had back-to-back poor outings. Marcus Epps was shaky to start, while Andrew Mukuba was mistake-prone at the end. Epps missed two tackles on the Bears’ touchdown drive that opened the game. He missed one in the open field and then another in between the tackle box on a run.

    Epps split time with Michael Carter II in nickel personnel. It was unclear if this was always part of the plan or an in-game demotion. Carter looked out of position on tight end Colston Loveland’s catch that was originally ruled a touchdown in the second quarter. But the score was taken off the board and ultimately the Eagles denied the Bears any points.

    Mukuba appeared to bite the cheese on a play-fake that resulted in a 25-yard catch in the second quarter. He slipped chasing Raymond on his 41-yard score. Mukuba took a brutal third-down holding penalty in the fourth quarter.

    Special teams: C

    Kicker Jake Elliott didn’t have much to do with the lack of scoring opportunities. Braden Mann shanked his first punt out of bounds for only 30 yards. He was better on his other tries and averaged 38 net yards on four kicks.

    A Kelee Ringo holding penalty brought back a Britain Covey 21-yard punt return.

    Coaching: D-

    Coach Nick Sirianni is ultimately responsible for the Eagles losing to a Bears team without its top two quarterbacks. He got a dismal effort from his team. Should he have called a timeout to buy time while Hurts was getting looked at for a possible head injury? It’s easy to say in retrospect. But the whole ordeal proved costly for the Eagles.

    He had a couple of head-scratching game management moments. The fake Tush Push on a long fourth-and-1 in the third quarter wasn’t fooling anyone. Whether Sirianni should have gone for it or not, his defense forced a punt on the ensuing possession. But Sirianni’s roll of the dice on fourth-and-5 a drive later was confounding in context and Hurts tossed an interception.

    Offensive coordinator Sean Mannion called a questionable screen to Smith with 19 seconds left before the half, but Hurts bailed him out. Whatever the reason, the designs and execution on passes behind the line of scrimmage have mostly been disasters. Another bubble screen to Lemon resulted in a loss.

    Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio got schooled by Ben Johnson. The Bears coach was one step ahead of his esteemed counterpart almost the entire game. A year ago, Chicago killed the Eagles on the ground. This time they did it through the air with no less than a third-string 38-year-old quarterback at the helm. Fangio might have had his worst game since coming to Philly. His defense can’t do the simple things like tackle.

  • 25 years later, the anthrax threat not only has not gone away — it may be worse

    25 years later, the anthrax threat not only has not gone away — it may be worse

    Twenty-five years ago this month, America was still reeling from the attacks of Sept. 11 when another, quieter threat arrived in our mailboxes.

    Letters laced with anthrax spores were sent to news organizations and members of Congress. The weaponized anthrax in those letters killed five Americans and sickened 17. And a nation already on edge confronted a terrifying new reality: Someone could use an invisible biological agent to attack Americans in their workplaces, in their homes, and through one of the most stalwart institutions in our society — the U.S. Postal Service.

    I remember those days vividly.

    I had only recently arrived in Washington to serve President George W. Bush as his homeland security adviser. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was brand new, created in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001. We focused on preventing and protecting Americans from other catastrophic terrorist attacks and events affecting our national security.

    Then came anthrax.

    FBI officials in protective suits prepare to enter the Chester home of anthrax attack suspects in 2001.DAN LOH / Associated Press

    Suddenly, the question was not how terrorists might hijack airplanes or attack buildings. We had to confront the possibility that a small amount of biological agents could create fear and disruption far beyond the physical damage it caused.

    That experience has stayed with me for 25 years.

    It is also why I, along with my colleagues at the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council, remain deeply concerned about the biological threats facing America today.

    In some respects, the threat remains the same. Bad actors still send white powder letters through the mail (some containing ricin) to threaten others, including elected officials like President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama. In other respects, the challenge is more difficult than it was in 2001.

    Science has advanced dramatically. Biotechnology produces extraordinary breakthroughs in medicine, agriculture, and human health. And now we have artificial intelligence accelerating biology and every other field of science.

    AI can analyze enormous datasets, identify patterns, model structures, and assist with design at speeds that were unimaginable when those anthrax letters arrived in 2001.

    A letter and envelope that were mailed as part of the anthrax mail attacks of 2001 are displayed at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in July 2025 in Washington.Mark Schiefelbein

    The National Academies of Sciences has warned that AI-enabled tools can accelerate biological discovery and design while creating new opportunities for misuse. That should concern every American.

    The danger is not that an AI system will suddenly decide to manufacture a biological weapon on its own. The danger is that AI can lower the barriers that once separated a determined individual, terrorist organization, or hostile government from highly specialized biological knowledge.

    Fewer people, with less time and greater computational assistance, can now accomplish what once required teams of scientists, years of research, and enormous resources.

    That is the vulnerability we cannot afford to ignore.

    Our commission made artificial intelligence a major new priority in the Apollo Program for Biodefense precisely because the technology is changing both the offensive and defensive sides of biological security. Our latest issue brief released this summer warned that AI can compress timelines and make sophisticated biological capabilities more accessible, while also offering powerful new tools for surveillance, diagnostics, medical countermeasures, and attribution.

    The answer is not to stop AI or biotechnology. That would sacrifice enormous benefits to humanity.

    The answer is to get ahead of the threat.

    We need stronger safeguards around AI systems and biological design tools. We need better screening of synthetic DNA. We need dramatically improved disease surveillance to detect unusual outbreaks before they become national crises. We need to ensure federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, academia, and industry are prepared to respond together.

    We need to recognize that biodefense is national defense.

    Twenty-five years ago, anthrax arrived in envelopes. We could see the envelope, but not the danger inside it.

    Tomorrow’s threat may be far less visible.

    It may emerge from a laboratory, criminal network, terrorist organization, or hostile nation-state, aided by technologies that did not exist when I started at the White House in 2001. Those possibilities should not paralyze us. They should motivate us.

    The lesson of those anthrax attacks is not simply that biological weapons are frightening. It is that threats that seem remote can become real with astonishing speed.

    I learned that lesson personally a quarter century ago.

    I have not forgotten it.

    Neither should America. Our responsibility now is to make sure that when the next biological threat emerges — whether natural, accidental, or deliberate — we are not looking backward and asking why we failed to prepare.

    Tom Ridge is cochair of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council, part of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. He served as the first secretary of Homeland Security from 2003 to 2005, the first homeland security adviser from 2001 to 2003, and the 43rd governor of Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2001.

  • Attorneys botched a case against Amtrak over the deaths of two young boys, lawsuit says

    Attorneys botched a case against Amtrak over the deaths of two young boys, lawsuit says

    The mothers of two Chester kids who were struck and killed by a train in 2023 are accusing their former attorneys of botching their wrongful death lawsuit against Amtrak.

    Jahaad Atkinson, 9, and Ah’Yir Womack, 12, were walking on the railroad tracks and hit by a southbound Acela train. Amtrak operators knew people had been on the tracks at least 20 minutes prior, but the Acela proceeded as scheduled, according to the legal malpractice complaint.

    That information shows Amtrak acted “wantonly and recklessly,” the suit says, but the attorneys who initially represented the mothers failed to include it in their case until it was too late.

    Emeka Igwe (second from left) discusses the lawsuit he filed on behalf of Siani Gordon (third from right) and Wydeia Kimble (fourth from right). The two mothers both lost their sons when they were struck and killed by an Amtrak train in Chester in April.Vinny Vella / Staff

    Atkinson’s mother, Siani Gordon, and Womack’s mother, Wydeia Kimble, say lawyers Emeka Igwe and Daniel Purtell, as well as their respective firms and colleagues, were professionally negligent when pursuing their case against Amtrak.

    “This was an avoidable result,” says the suit, which was filed last month in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia. “Defendants failed to present necessary evidence in their possession to pursue valid legal theories that would have led to a successful recovery.”

    Aaron Freiwald, the mothers’ current attorney, declined to comment.

    Igwe said in a statement he disagreed “in the strongest terms possible” with the notion he did not represent his clients “competently and diligently.”

    “The case is in active litigation and we are unable to substantively comment outside of the fact that we continue to support our former clients’ best interests,” Purtell said in a statement.

    The wrong theory

    Atkinson loved to play Roblox, the color red, and dressing up as Spider-Man to get his siblings to laugh. Womack had an infectious smile, a similar proclivity for a funny bit, and couldn’t dance to save his life.

    That’s how family members and other community mourners remember the children who on April 29, 2023, took a fateful shortcut on the way to a park in Chester’s West End.

    Atkinson, Womack, and other children passed through a hole in the fencing and walked along the tracks of Amtrak’s ultra-busy Northeast Corridor. It was a popular route for neighborhood children.

    Mothers Gordon and Kimble sued the National Railroad Passenger Corp., the entity that operates Amtrak, in Philadelphia federal court in July 2023. Igwe hitched the case to the hole in the fence, and sought $20 million in damages.

    “Amtrak knew this was a danger, which is why they erected this fence in the first place,” Igwe said in August 2023.

    Jahaad Atkinson, 9, and Ah’Yir Womack, 12, used this hole in a fence to climb onto the Amtrak tracks in Chester, according to their families’ attorney.Courtesy Emeka Igwe

    Amtrak argued Pennsylvania law does not require railroads to erect or maintain fencing around tracks. And because the boys were trespassing, Amtrak cannot be held liable for injuries caused by negligence, the rail company asserted.

    A federal judge sided with Amtrak in March 2024, dismissing the mothers’ complaints but saying they could file an amended pleading.

    Roughly two weeks later, Igwe filed an updated complaint that argued the tracks heading to the collision area were straight and provided “unrestricted visibility,” so the train operators “should have observed” the children.

    In March 2025, Igwe was deployed to Kuwait as part of his service as an attorney with the Delaware National Guard. He turned the case over to Purtell and his firm.

    The McEldrew Purtell attorneys blamed Igwe for deficiencies in the case, according to the malpractice lawsuit.

    Igwe did not follow up on deposition requests, the attorneys said in one court filing. In another, they attributed the case’s “general malaise” in part to Igwe’s “lack of diligence.”

    Locator map of the site where two children were fatally struck by an Amtrak train while on the tracks in Chester.John Duchneskie

    The malpractice suit also claims Igwe and Purtell declined an offer by the railroad to mediate, without informing the mothers.

    In a May 2025 hearing, U.S. District Judge Mary K. Costello asked a McEldrew Purtell attorney directly: “Is there willful and wanton conduct?”

    “On this record, no,” the attorney said, according to a recording of the hearing.

    “I think that kind of seals it up,” Costello responded.

    Two months later, the judge sided with Amtrak and ended the case.

    Family of Jahaad Atkinson and Ahyir Womack gather for a vigil for the two boys at Martin Luther King Park in Chester, Pa. on Friday, May 5, 2023. The boys, who were 9 and 12-years-old, were killed after being struck by an Amtrak train.Heather Khalifa / Staff Photographer

    Doomed case or legal malpractice?

    But according to the legal malpractice complaint, the attorneys did have evidence to allege willful or wanton conduct by Amtrak: the Amtrak Police incident report, which notes over-the-radio discussions of someone on the tracks.

    McEldrew Purtell neglected to raise that “vital record” at the hearing, the malpractice suit says, and the firm’s lawyers filed a separate lawsuit in April 2025, which relied on the Amtrak Police investigation findings.

    Costello earlier this year dismissed the case for the final time.

    The malpractice lawsuit says Igwe’s and McEldrew Purtell’s representation of the mothers amounted to professional negligence.

    Igwe has asked a Philadelphia judge to dismiss the malpractice lawsuit.

    The dismissal happened because of Pennsylvania law and the facts of the case, Igwe said in a statement, not any issue with the representation.

    “No amount of additional discovery could have altered the Court’s determination that a railroad has no duty to fence its property, that moving trains are not hidden dangers to children, and that longitudinal walkers along tracks are not licensees,” Igwe said.

  • A Voorhees resident has been crowned Pancheros’ Queso Queen. She ordered queso 235 times in the past year.

    A Voorhees resident has been crowned Pancheros’ Queso Queen. She ordered queso 235 times in the past year.

    Marynelle Milanese didn’t pick up when Pancheros Mexican Grill called her this month. She thought a message crowning her the nation’s first “Queso Queen” was surely a scam.

    But when the Mexican fast-food chain followed her on Instagram, the Voorhees resident realized it was true: Milanese, 33, is the first woman dubbed queso royalty. Her family, which runs Milanese Brothers Pizza in Stratford, couldn’t believe it either.

    “We all still just can’t get over it, that this is even a thing,” Milanese said.

    Pancheros honors its rewards member who buys the most queso in a given year on Sept. 20, National Queso Day, with a trophy, a personal party at the chain, and a prize box — featuring merch, a helping of burrito coupons, and a signed poster of retired WWE wrestler Big E, who has a partnership with the brand.

    She also gets free queso for a year.

    Pancheros debuted the award in 2019, and Milanese is the second New Jerseyan to win it. She bought queso 235 times since last September and has visited the chain 434 times over the past six years.

    The trophy, which calls Milanese the “Queso Cup Champion,” currently sits on her entertainment center at home, five minutes down the road from her local Pancheros in Voorhees, Camden County. Milanese started eating at the chain 12 years ago, when her husband’s family introduced her to “Panch” and gave her a lifetime love of the burrito bowl, which she orders with cilantro rice, pinto beans, extra steak, queso (of course), and sauteed veggies.

    More than 200 queso orders might look like a lot in a year, but Milanese has a reason for buying so much.

    Debbie Milanese, 63, is somewhat of a queso queen herself. Milanese’s mother-in-law, who lives with Milanese and her husband, can’t stomach most foods due to various health conditions.

    “Not everything sits right with her,” Milanese said. “But Pancheros always does.”

    Milanese orders queso for the both of them, and they split it, since it’s something her mother-in-law can enjoy. Plus, it gives the pair something to do.

    “It has always brought us together,” she said.

    With Debbie’s birthday coming up in November, Milanese said she hopes to turn the 20-person Pancheros party, a perk of her queso win, into a family get-together.

    Pancheros has about 70 locations across 12 states, including 10 in New Jersey and three in Pennsylvania. The chain has more than a million rewards members.

    Last year, Josh Davis of Iowa won the Queso King trophy for the third time with 326 queso orders, less than he ordered in 2023 and 2021 for his previous queso victories.

    In 2022, a resident of Bedminster, Somerset County, became Pancheros’ first New Jersey Queso King with 230 orders.