The ribbon was snipped Tuesday, and the first car, a green Audi S5 convertible, rolled down the new “zip ramp” providing direct access from the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Fort Washington interchange to a 536-acre office park redevelopment in Upper Dublin.
“This is a milestone day for Upper Dublin,” said Kurt Ferguson, executive director of the township’s municipal authority, which for 10 years has managed the ongoing transformation of the underused office buildings of the former Fort Washington Industrial Park into the multiuse Greater Fort Washington District.
The authority has invested about $45 million in infrastructure to support the revitalization project, about 70% from state and county transportation and development grants, Ferguson said. That includes the 2,100-foot ramp, designed and built for about $3 million.
A Lifetime Fitness complex, new retail outlets, and TruMark Credit Union headquarters have been built in the district.
Three former office properties have been converted to apartment buildings, with a fourth turned into a storage facility, Ferguson said. Upper Dublin moved the township library to Virginia Drive in the district, which includes a segment of the Cross County Trail operated by Montgomery County.
The new ramp was made possible by the turnpike’s move to open-road tolling, in which motorists pay tolls by E-ZPass or by plate while passing under gantries. Toll booths are being torn down, leaving more room at interchanges for direct-connect projects like the zip ramp.
“Open-road tolling enables us to be a better neighbor,” turnpike CEO Mark Compton said. “In terms of today’s transportation dollars, this project is not large money … [but] it opens up economic opportunity for this community.”
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is designing a roundabout off the Mahoning Valley Interchange (Exit 74) on the Northeast Extension and plans a park-and-ride lot there.
It is also looking to develop truck parking at the Gateway interchange (Exit 2),near the Ohio state line in Western Pennsylvania, spokesperson Marissa Orbanek said.
The Philadelphia region on Wednesday will be under an extreme heat warning, with high temperatures expected to once again hover around the 100-degree mark. But, on the bright side, at least it’s not likely to be record heat for the date.
That dubious honor for July 15 belongs to 1995, when the mercury hit a scorching 103 degrees. Still, Wednesday will be markedly hotter than normal, with typical highs for the date around 86 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
“Any time we put a warning out, it’s telling people this is significant, and you need to take precautions and be aware of this,” said Paul Fitzsimmons, lead meteorologist at the weather service’s Mount Holly office. “Stay in the air-conditioning, do not exert yourself during the hottest parts of the day.”
It will likely also be noticeably hazy, thanks to smoke from wildfires in Western Ontario, weather service forecasts said.
Wednesday’s forecast high marks yet another hot day in an already steamy summer, with 2026 posting 21 days at 90 degrees or higher so far — and three 100-degree days, just two shy of the record number of century-mark days set in 1988, weather service data indicate. If Wednesday hits 100 degrees, we would only need one more similarly hot day to tie the record.
The record number of 90-degree days in a year, meanwhile, stands at 55, set in 2010. But in general, the region typically has only 13 90-degree days by mid-July, and 30 for the entire year, according to weather service data. The area’s temperatures have been about 3.2 degrees above average this month, Fitzsimmons said.
“That’s certainly noticeable,” Fitzsimmons said. “It’s been quite warm to hot.”
So, no, you’re not imagining things — it has been plenty hot for us around here lately.
We’re not in for much relief in the latter half of the week, either. Weather service forecasts indicated a cold front was expected to pass through the area late Wednesday, dropping temperatures slightly, but highs could stretch into the low to mid-90s Thursday and Friday.
And then, the weekend storms may come. Again.
Weather service forecasts indicate another cold front is likely to approach the area Friday, bringing with it the chance for weekend storms. It remained too early to tell Tuesdayhow it would shake out, but early forecasts said that there was potential for severe weather threats Saturday, with a possible risk of heavy rain and flash flooding, similar to what the area has seen the last two weekends.
Meteorologists have said that it is not uncommon for storms to come in seven-day cycles because of the spacing between atmospheric waves that move weather systems across the country, The Inquirer has reported.
“The overall setup is not that different — we’re going to have hot conditions and humidity,” Fitzsimmons said. “And we are at a time of year where severe weather is favorable, so it’s possible.”
Wednesday’s heat serves as yet another day of record-territory temperatures this month. Less than two weeks ago, during the Fourth of July, Philadelphia saw three consecutive days hit 101 degrees or higher, marking the first time that has happened in records dating to 1873, the weather service said.
Severe storms also hit the region late on Independence Day, bringing heavy rain and wind that caused significant delays to the holiday celebrations, which wrapped up around 3 a.m. A week later, severe weather cropped up once again in the form of several microbursts of winds up to 70 mph that toppled trees, damaged buildings, and knocked out power around the area Saturday — and affected the celebration of the Ben Franklin Bridge’s 100th anniversary.
Even the FIFA World Cup festivities have been affected, with the FIFA Fan Fest closing early on a few occasions because of heat and storms since it launched in June.
The heat has also had deadly effects in Philadelphia, as city officials earlier this month confirmed eight heat-related deaths for the season.
Heat deaths in Philadelphia have averaged about five a year for the last decade. That figure is down significantly from the 1990s; in 1993, the city recorded 118 heat-related deaths. But the number of heat deaths this year so far is the most since Philadelphia recorded eight in 2022, health department records indicate.
A United Kingdom man who was shot and killed while doing contracting work in Roxborough last week was a member of the so-called Traveling Conmen criminal organization and was not authorized to be in the country, officials with the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.
The man, 20-year-old Salis Hanrahan, was killed July 8 when George Barr, 75, fatally shot him at his home, according to police. Hanrahan and a group of men were at Barr’s home on the 400 block of Ripka Street that afternoon to work on the property, officials said.
According to the FBI, the Traveling Conmen, also known as Conmen Travelers, are a loosely affiliated group of men from the U.K. and Ireland known to overstay pleasure or tourist visas in the United States, where they travel between cities soliciting contracting work and defrauding property owners.
Police received an emergency call around 2:20 p.m. and arrived to find Hanrahan collapsed on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the chest. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital shortly after arriving.
On Friday, police announced that Barr had been charged with murder and related crimes. They gave no motive for the slaying.
A spokesperson for DHS said Hanrahan was not authorized to be in the country, though officials were unaware how long he had been here.
Hanrahan was previously denied an electronic travel authorization after officials determined he was a member of the Conmen Travelers, a group recognized by the FBI as a transnational criminal organization, according to the spokesperson.
Members of the group have been accused of demanding large payments from customers that had not been initially agreed upon and convincing homeowners that their properties are in need of costly and unnecessary repairs.
And members of the group allegedly threatened the children of a New York woman that year when they demanded a $200,000 loan after failing to complete a bricklaying job at her home.
Within days, the members began showing off expensive jewelry, including a 10-carat diamond, on social media, according to a BBC News investigation.
Traveling Conmen often do not have authorized work permits and have been accused of leaving homes damaged or with incomplete work, according to the FBI.
It was unclear how Homeland Security came to conclude that Hanrahan is affiliated with the group.
Social media posts described him as a young father who shared an infant with his wife, Roseann.
The Cheltenham School District is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education as federal officials target sexual misconduct by teachers that they say schools nationally have been too lax in addressing.
Cheltenham is one of 20public school districts under investigation by the DOE’s Office for Civil Rights based on responses the districts provided to a federal civil rights data collection survey in 2023-24, which “suggest that districts might not be addressing staff on student sexual misconduct appropriately,” the Education Department said in a statement Friday.
The department did not specify which districts were under investigation, but Cheltenham informed community members of the probe Sunday.
The Gloucester Township School District in Camden County is also under investigation, according to a list obtained by ProPublica. Officials in the district, which enrolls about 6,600 students, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The investigations were announcedas part of a broader initiative by the Education Department “to protect students from adult sexual predators in schools,” with guidance sent to all school districts outlining federal legal requirements for responding to sexual harassment and abuse.
In its statement Sunday, Cheltenham said it would cooperate fully with the Office for Civil Rights.
“To be clear, the district is not aware of any instances where allegations of sexual assault or abuse by district employees have not been properly investigated and handled — for the 2023-2024 school year or any other year,” the district said in the statement.
It was not clear what Cheltenham, a district of 4,100 students in Montgomery County, reported as part of the federal survey that triggered the investigation. The Education Department did not respond to questions Tuesday about the investigation.
The department’s website indicates it collects data from school districts about offenses that occurred at schools, including documented incidents or allegations of sexual assaults by staff members, as well as the outcomes of sexual assault allegations — whether staff members were determined to be responsible, and whether they resigned, retired, or had duties reassigned before a final determination.
Kevin Kaufman, a Cheltenham spokesperson, said the district was not aware of any assaults or alleged sexual assaults of students by district staff in the 2023-24 school year.
In a “Dear Colleague” letter to school leaders Friday, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said there was a “a troubling and recurring pattern in schools across the nation of credible reports of sexual abuse and harassment by adults in positions of authority going uninvestigated, institutional cultures that protect employees over students, and administrative indifference that allows predatory conduct to fester.”
The letter cited research from 2003 finding that close to 10% of eighth- to 11th-grade students had experienced sexual misconduct by an educator.
It also pointed to a ProPublica report from May, finding that California had not revoked the professional licenses of at least 67 educators after school districts determined they had committed sexual misconduct.
The letter told school leaders that the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act conditionsfederal funding on rules that prohibit schools “from helping a school employee or contractor obtain a new position when there is knowledge or probable cause to believe that the individual engaged in sexual misconduct involving a student.”
It also said Title IX requires schools “to respond appropriately and address claims of sexual harassment,” independently investigating claims even if it also reports them to law enforcement.
“Institutions that fail to comply with federal law may face the loss of federal funding,” McMahon said in the letter. She said the department ”will fully enforce federal law and employ every resource at its disposal to protect children from sexual predators.”
In its statement, the Education Department said the investigations into Cheltenham and other districts — which it did not name — “will determine if the districts have appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure accurate data collection and reporting of these incidents occurs and if their handling of allegations of sexual harassment, including sexual assault by district employees, complies with federal law.”
Cheltenham’s statement said the district has policies that prohibit sexual harassment and abuse “and outline the investigatory steps that the district will follow in the event that any such allegations are made.”
As details emerge on the personalized video that Bryce Harper says he unknowingly recorded on behalf of FanDuel for a sports-gambling addict, Major League Baseball is confident that the Phillies star didn’t violate any league policies.
“I think the important thing is that Bryce’s activity was not a violation of the basic agreement,” commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday in a meeting with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. “We made sure about that, and we’ll continue to try to figure out exactly how we ended up, where we ended up on that.”
MLB’s collective bargaining agreement, which will expire Dec. 1, allows players to appear in advertisements or make personal appearances for casinos, racetracks, or sportsbook companies, as long as they do not encourage betting on baseball.
The Inquirer obtained a copy of a 21-second video from November 2024 in which Harper offered a greeting to a bettor, Terry Thompson, who wagered $18.5 million with FanDuel and lost $1.5 million, according to a lawsuit that the Public Health Advocacy Institute filed in March in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia.
Harper posted to Instagram on Monday that he thought he was just doing a message on the site Cameo — where celebrities are paid to record videos for fans — but “what happened here went beyond anything I knew about or approved.”
“I did not know this video would be used for commercial purposes,” Harper wrote, adding that he read a script “in good faith” before FanDuel put its own logo on the video and used it as a gambling promotion. “I did not know FanDuel would do this, I did not consent to it, and FanDuel had no right to do it.”
Harper declined to comment beyond his initial statement on the advice of counsel.
Manfred said he’s “aware of the situation” and Harper’s statement about it, but said “I’m not really certain that I know all of the underlying facts well enough to evaluate the behavior.”
Harper will be in the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Citizens Bank Park. He was selected as the commissioner’s “Legends Pick,” one spot on each league’s roster that is filled by Manfred.
Attalon, a company that makes laser weapons for the U.S. Army, plans a new $30 million headquarters in Trevose, Bucks County, and will hire for more than 100 engineering, technical, and management jobs in the next few years, company officials said Tuesday.The headquarters will include a factory.
The company moved its headquarters to Philadelphia from California in January when it was bought by Boston- and U.K.-based private-equity giant Advent from Coherent Corp., which is based in Western Pennsylvania.
The new plant will be “a major expansion of our U.S. manufacturing footprint” and will focus on protective metal coatings and crystal production, chief executive John Bergeron said in a short, recorded presentation that aired at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit on Tuesday in Carlisle, Pa.
Bergeron was named CEO by the new owner in January. He was previously an operating executive at GE, Raytheon, and other military contractors. Attalon also hasfacilities in California, Michigan, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, and central New Jersey.
The company’s laser warfare products and optical assemblies have been deployed along the Mexico border, where the Army shot down a wayward Border Patrol drone last winter. The company has also sought Navy contracts.
In moving to the Philadelphia area, Attalon will locate in a longtime center of the military aerospace industry. The region is home to Lockheed Martin missile and L3Harris military communications factories, as well as helicopter makers Boeing and Leonardo, electronic sensor giant TE Connectivity, and aerospace systems makers Innovative Aerosystems, Triumph Group, and Analytical Graphics Inc., among others.
President Donald Trump is expected to address the chief executives of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and dozens of other military contractors on the summit’s second day onWednesday, and more investment announcements are expected.
The event was introduced by military officers and Sen.Dave McCormick (R., Pa.), an Army veteran and former private equity CEO, who last year hosted Trump at a similar event announcing $90 billion in data center and electric power projects for Pennsylvania.
Along with companies in Pittsburgh and in central Pennsylvania, a pair of Philadelphia-area defense start-ups also announcedexpansion plans at the event Tuesday.
Deepwave, which makesartificial intelligence-backed radio-frequency systems for government and telecommunications companies, will hire 20 business developmentstaff to boost sales after negotiating with the AirNational Guard to improve systems foraging F-16 jet fighter aircraft, chief executive John Ferguson said in a video presentation.
“Ourmanufacturing is all in Pennsylvania,” Ferguson said, noting that state-backed Ben Franklin Technology Partners centers were among Deepwave’s early investors, along with Philadelphia-based NextFab Ventures and Philadelphia-based Robin Hood Ventures.
Deepwave is based on Walnut Street in Center City.
Also, Karman Space & Defense, apublicly traded, California-based missile and hypersonic systems makerwith a facility in Horsham, said it wouldinvest $2.7 million in expanding that plant and add 20 new “high-tech” jobs.
This story has been updated to correct the identify of an investor in Deepwave. It is Robin Hood Ventures of Philadelphia.
Michelle Widgins-Lewis, 69, of Philadelphia, singer-songwriter, founder, president, and executive director of Northwest Counseling Service Inc., longtime community housing and education advocate, lecturer, and mentor, died Monday, June 29, of endometrial cancer at Jefferson Abington Hospital.
Inspired to educate and counsel underserved potential homebuyers about predatory mortgage lending, foreclosure, and other important real estate and housing issues, Ms. Widgins-Lewis founded Northwest Counseling Service on North Broad Street in 1982. For the next 44 years, until recently, she interviewed nearly 5,000 people eachyear seeking mortgage prequalification and, funded by the Philadelphia Division of Housing and Community Development, advised them about insurance, eviction, credit rating, grants, conflict mediation, and inspections.
“She helped transform homeownership in Philadelphia,” her family said in a tribute.
Ms. Widgins-Lewis was appointed to the Pennsylvania Housing Advisory Committee in the 1990s by then-Gov. Ed Rendell and served as a technical adviser on real estate matters for the Philadelphia Division of Housing and Community Development. She worked closely with the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and continually lobbied local, state, and federal government officials for better borrowing and foreclosure laws.
This photo and article about Ms. Widgins-Lewis appeared in The Inquirer in 2007.Newpapers.com
She examined property disputes as a forensic real estate specialist, scrutinized scams as a fraud examiner, testified in federal court as a qualified expert, and was licensed as a real estate broker and appraiser. She monitored local landlord-tenant mediation cases closely and told The Inquirer in 1996 that many tenants “end up with an agreement they can’t live up to.”
People, she said often, are rarely ready to buy their first house. “Instead of considering whether they are prepared to buy a home, people are being propelled into the market by economic pressure that says they should buy because it’s cheaper than renting,” she told The Inquirer in 1995. “That’s not always true.”
She also founded and chaired the Philadelphia Predatory Lending Task Force, which collected and publicized data about unfair lending practices. “This gives us a picture of the type of problems going on in our neighborhoods,” she told the Daily News in 2001.
Ms. Widgins-Lewis was an instructor for the National Real Estate Institute and a leader for the American Society of Certified Housing Executives, the Real Estate Educators Association, and other groups. She wrote articles for journals and forged educational partnerships with colleges and universities.
Ms. Widgins-Lewis performed in several bands and with her sister Dionne.Courtesy of the family
She spoke on panels and at conferences and workshops about homeownership, and was quoted often in The Inquirer and Daily News. Friends called her “truly inspiring” and “a true champion in the mortgage industry” in online tributes. One friend said: “She was a beast in the housing world.”
Ms. Widgins-Lewis sang often as a young girl, got rave reviews on karaoke night when she was older, and went on to perform in several bands and with her sister Dionne at local clubs and festivals. She sang rhythm and blues, pop, standards, and jazz, and wrote at least one song that was recorded and released.
Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky wrote about her dual career as a singer-songwriter and executive in 1995 and said: “She still has trouble calling herself an artist but feels, at the very least, she’ll always be able to get up and sing at fundraisers for her agency.”
Her family said: “From childhood, Michelle drew people in with her light and her voice.” Her daughter Tracey Thomas said: “She would light up the room.” Her son Mike said: “Everybody loved her.”
Her family said Ms. Widgins-Lewis had “an unwavering commitment to education, integrity, and service.”Courtesy of the family
Michelle Widgins was born May 29, 1957, in Philadelphia. She graduated from Martin Luther King High School and earned a bachelor’s degree at La Salle University and a master’s degree in human services at Lincoln University.
She married Michael Brown, and they had a daughter, Anji, and a son, Mike. After a divorce, she married Tyrone Lewis, and they had a daughter, Tracey, and a son, Richard. They divorced later.
Ms. Widgins-Lewis enjoyed reading and writing. She belonged to the Pi Gamma Mu international honor society, was close with Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and former Mayor Wilson Goode, and was guided, her family said, by “an unwavering commitment to education, integrity, and service.”
Her family is hoping to rename a Northwest Philadelphia street in her honor.
Ms. Widgins-Lewis lived with cancer for 10 years.Courtesy of the family
“She was humble but had drive and determination,” her son Mike said. Her daughter Tracey said: “The world was her stage. I can only imagine how her light will shine in heaven.”
In addition to her children and former husbands, Ms. Widgins-Lewis is survived by eight grandchildren, a sister, two brothers, and other relatives. A sister and a brother died earlier.
Genetic testing company 23andMe and a group of attorneys general nationwide have reached a multimillion-dollar settlement following the major data breach that led to the company’s demise three years ago.
More than 40 attorneys general, including Pennsylvania‘s Dave Sunday, announced the national $18 million settlement with the genetic testing company Tuesday.
“This company was trusted by millions of Americans to safeguard very private data and information, but failed to do so, learning about a data breach far too late, then pointing fingers at their own customers,” Sunday said in a statement. “I find it appalling that a company dealing with customers’ personal information would be so lax about their system protections, then have the audacity to deny and attempt to wash their hands of wrongdoing.”
As part of the settlement, Pennsylvania will receive $491,902. Nearly 200,000 Pennsylvanians were impacted by the data breach, according to the state attorney general’s office. About 150,000 customers were impacted in New Jersey, which will receive nearly $410,000, said the state’s attorney general, Jennifer Davenport.
Here’s what else we know.
What happened with the 23andMe data breach?
In October 2023, 23andMe launched an investigation after a “threat actor” claimed to have obtainedmillions of users’ personal data.
By December, the company confirmed through a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that a hacker directly accessed 0.1% of its users’ accounts, or about 14,000 profiles. Still, because of the networks users can build, connecting their information to possible relatives, the hacker was able to view the information of millions of users.
A spokesperson for the company told news outlets at the time that 6.9 million people had been affected: about 5.5 million customers who had opted into 23andMe’s “DNA Relatives” feature and 1.4 million users whose family tree information was accessed.
Of those customers, 192,093 were in Pennsylvania.
What information was accessed?
Information accessed included:
Display name, profile picture, and birth year.
How recently they had logged into their account.
Their relationship status.
Their self-reported location by city and zip code.
Predicted relationships with others.
DNA percentages users share with their “DNA Relatives.”
An additional 1.4 million customers who used the “DNA Relatives” feature had their “Family Tree” profiles accessed, which includes a limited subset of profile data, the company said.
The hacker activity was contained and required existing users to reset their passwords and enable multifactor authentication, 23andMe said at the time. Still, experts warned consumers that they should consider deleting their accounts.
The company declared bankruptcy in March 2025 and eventually was sold.
That’s when states, including Pennsylvania, filed claims related to the data breach investigation. As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, 23andMe’s consumer data was sold to TTAM Research Institute, a nonprofit organization formed by 23andMe founder and former CEO Anne Wojcicki. That sale is bound by new guardrails regarding data security that were put in place with the help of the coalition of attorneys general.
Sundayjoined the lawsuit to prevent 23andMe from selling consumer data as part of its bankruptcy proceedings.
The lawsuit said the California-based genomics biotech company was proposing to sell an “unprecedented compilation of highly sensitive and immutable personal data: a human being’s permanent and everlasting genetic identity.”
The risk of a data transfer was too great, the complaint said, as DNA data are unique to an individual and can be used to identify relatives — past and future. And genomic data live forever, even after a person dies.
“If stolen or misused, it cannot be changed or replaced,” the complaint said.
What happened this week?
A group of 42 state attorneys general announced the $18 million settlement. This is in addition to a $46.75 million class-action settlement arising from the bankruptcy, for affected U.S. consumers who submitted claims by Feb. 17. Impacted customers should have received an email notifying them about their eligibility for the class-action settlement, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.
All 50 states and territories except for California, Hawaii, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Wyoming were involved in the settlement.
A schism between Westtown Township’s elected officials and its historical commission reached a boiling point this week, with the municipality’s supervisors planning to remove the commission over what several members say is a disagreement regarding a historic building that residents have fought for years to preserve.
An email sent to each of the six volunteer commission members Monday alerted them that Westtown’s three supervisors planned to take a vote at their meeting next week to remove them.
At the center of the conflict is the historic Darlington Inn, a 19th-century building that sits on a two-acre parcel at the corner of State Routes 202 and 926. The inn was acquired in 2024 as part of a larger battle, led by the community, to preserve the 206-acre Crebilly Farm and fend off plans for residential redevelopment of the land.
But the township has regarded the inn, which is along the farm tract, as a temporary purchase that it would eventually auction or sell off to recoup the $200,000 in taxpayer funds used to buy it. That has put the officials at odds with its own historical commission, whose members have adamantly fought to preserve the inn.
“It’s really disheartening,” said Pamela Boulos, who has served on the commission for roughly a decade. “It’s really disheartening to know that this is the level that they’re willing to go to.”
In an email, shared with The Inquirer, that included the subject line “Courtesy notice,” Township Manager Mila Carter said she was providing “advance notice, as a courtesy,” that the board’s agenda for Monday’s meeting “will include an item regarding your appointment to the Historical Commission.”
“The Board will be considering a motion to remove your appointment from the Commission,” she wrote. “No action has been taken at this time, and the matter will be discussed and considered during the public meeting.”
She also notified members that the commission’s planned Tuesday meeting had been canceled.
Members said they were told separately they could reapply.
The township did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The board’s decision comes as tensions have been increasing between the commission and the elected officials. Commission members say the relationship has grown more hostile recently, particularly as it pertains to the Darlington Inn.
Commission members felt that the community had largely believed that the inn was to be preserved alongside Crebilly Farm when the township purchased it in 2024. When it became clear the intention was to offload the inn as a separate parcel, the commission began to raise awareness among residents about the possible loss of the building. Members said they wanted to see if there was appetite from private donors to purchase and maintain the property.
“My belief is that some of the supervisors felt that this was untenable, this was an annoyance, this was interfering with what they wanted to accomplish,” said Stephen Wahrhaftig, who has been on the commission for four years. “A few of the people on the commission were viewed as the troublemakers, and to get rid of only one or two people probably would have been bad optics … so the easy thing to do, as other townships have done, is just dissolve the whole thing, just get rid of it.”
At its July 6 meeting, Patrick McDonough, chair of the historical commission, asked the township to consider easements on the land, to preserve the facade of the structure. The commission wanted to guard against “Wawa popping up there, or CVS,” he said separately.
The board of supervisors declined to put any restrictions on the property. Jodi Nawrocki, chair of the board, said at the meeting nothing precluded the township from adding such easements in the future.
“I think the way to use the building to the best use is through changing the zoning,” she told McDonough.
McDonough said he felt that, in the process of the commission arguing its point, the board “thought that we were overstepping our bounds as a historic commission.”
“My own township is willing to just auction this building off with no protection, no easements, and allow it to basically fall into the hands of what everybody else wants to do with it,” McDonough said. “I never thought that my own township would be the one I’d be fighting against the hardest.”
The commission, formed in 2013, was created to help develop community appreciation of the township’s history and to preserve that history. The commission has created Westtown Day, an annual community day; has published a history book about the township; and hosts a litany of lectures. The volunteer-run body is appointed by the supervisors for three-year terms, and serves as an advisory committee to the board.
“You would think, being a municipality in one of the oldest counties in America, that historic preservation, especially here in our year of America 250 … would be top of mind and not something swept aside,” Wahrhaftig said. “But I guess right now that’s not the case.”
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
Less than a week remains in what has been quite the summer of soccer already, thanks to the FIFA World Cup making a pit stop in South Philly and delivering six matches all while bringing a party to the Greater Philadelphia Region.
In fact, Philly hasn’t started basking in an afterglow just yet. The FIFA Fan Festival in Lemon Hill, which already committed to remaining open for the full 39 days of the tournament, is still bringing the noise to the Brewerytown section, with a week of scheduled concerts.
Half a million fans. Estimated $770M+ in economic impact. Over 6,600 jobs created. $51M in tax revenue.
The @FIFAWorldCup showed the world what PA can do—and the Philly Fan Festival is FREE through July 19. ⚽
— PA Department of Community & Economic Development (@PADCEDnews) July 13, 2026
This is in addition to showing the semifinal rounds between France and Spain on Tuesday (3 p.m., Fox29) and England and Argentina on Wednesday (3 p.m., Fox 29), all taking place before Sunday’s final match (3 p.m., Fox 29) at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
Oh, and if you’re into consolation matches, don’t forget the third-place game on Saturday (5 p.m., Fox29).
However, there are a few things that still have an attachment to Philly when it comes to the World Cup. We found three, from the obvious of what’s going on this final week at the Fan Festival, to the not so obvious that you still will want to check out if you’re looking for a lasting piece of the world’s biggest sporting event.
Soccer fans gather to watch Mexico play South Africa on a giant screen during the opening day of the FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill on June 11. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Totally free concerts
Philadelphia Soccer 2026 has been keeping the party going with a free concert series that sold out the event on back to back nights with concerts by Wisin on Sunday and the pop punk group the All-American Rejects, packing the house — on a Monday night.
There are still two more concerts to go, with electronic music legend Deadmau5 slated to arrive on Thursday and pop star Bebe Rexha scheduled to close it down on Friday. Both concerts will start promptly at 7 p.m., with festival gates opening at 5 p.m. on both days.
If you were wondering why your local CVS has been a primary supplier of World Cup gear, so were we. Everything from hats, water bottles and other tchotchkes has been on display for the latter part of a month. However, the retail price of some of that merchandise made it a tough call to pick up any swag.
FIFA World Cup merchandise is on sale for up to 50% off at several CVS Pharmacy locations in the Greater Philadelphia Region.Kerith Gabriel / Staff
Not anymore. As of Monday, several CVS Pharmacy stores are selling FIFA merchandise at up to 50% off, and a manager at a Montgomery County location who preferred to remain anonymous informed this reporter that merchandise could drop to up to 70% by the end of the month. So if you were eyeballing that $30 FIFA baseball cap, or that $35 coffee mug, know that you can get it on the low in the same place you pick up your seasonal allergy medication.
The game is still on
World Cup fever is still here throughout the city courtesy of a number of mini pitches that have popped up all over the city. From Fishtown to Queen Village, people are taking advantage of the fields that have been installed to provide more places to introduce the sport.
Most notably, Bank of America, which installed a series of small fields on the site of the old Tip Top Playground near the foot of the Girard Station stop on the Market-Frankford Line in Fishtown/Northern Liberties, which has had decent crowds coming through for pickup games, particularly during the week.
When you take into consideration that these games are going on under a July heat, not only is it impressive, it also confirms that the game always had a grip on Philly, but with the World Cup, it would appear that grip has gotten a bit tighter.
