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  • Horoscopes: Tuesday, July 7, 2026

    ARIES (March 21-April 19). Peace is not always created through agreement. Sometimes it comes from addressing the issue everyone else avoids. Your gift is courage. Love grows when people know where they stand with you and trust that you’ll speak honestly.

    TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You create peace through steadiness. Others relax when they know what to expect and can rely on your word. Love is built from repeated actions, small comforts and promises kept long after the excitement fades.

    GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Many conflicts begin as misunderstandings. Your gift is curiosity. Before deciding what someone meant, ask another question. Love grows when people feel heard, understood and free to explain themselves without being rushed.

    CANCER (June 22-July 22). You create peace by helping people feel safe enough to be themselves. A warm welcome, thoughtful gesture or shared meal can accomplish more than debate. Love flourishes wherever belonging is offered without conditions attached.

    LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Recognition is one of the most overlooked forms of generosity. You create peace by noticing what others contribute and saying so aloud. Love grows when people feel appreciated, valued and celebrated for who they are.

    VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You create peace by paying attention. While others discuss problems, you’re already spotting practical solutions. Love is expressed through usefulness, follow-through and care for details that make another person’s life easier and smoother.

    LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Peace comes naturally when people feel included in the conversation. Your gift is helping others find common ground without forcing agreement. Love grows through fairness, consideration and a willingness to see more than one perspective.

    SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Resentment thrives in silence. Peace begins when truth is spoken with care and received with courage. Your gift is emotional honesty. Love deepens when people trust that difficult subjects can be discussed without fear.

    SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). You create peace through perspective. Not every disagreement requires a winner, and not every difference requires correction. Love grows when people are allowed room to learn, change and arrive at wisdom in their own way.

    CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Stability is a gift. You create peace by doing what you said you would do and following through when others depend on you. Love grows in the presence of reliability, commitment and steady effort over time.

    AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You create peace by making room for differences. Harmony does not require sameness. Your gift is seeing value in many kinds of people and helping others feel welcome exactly as they are.

    PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Compassion changes the atmosphere around you. You create peace by imagining what another person might be carrying beneath the surface. Love grows whenever empathy softens judgment and kindness becomes the first response.

    TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (July 7). It’s your Year of the Lotus. The lotus rises from muddy water to bloom magnificent. What begins in unlikely conditions will develop into something remarkable. More highlights: Loved ones show up for you in unforgettable ways. A door opens in a prestigious way that suits you. A smart investment from long ago pays in a timely and abundant way. Capricorn and Scorpio adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 19, 26, 30, 2 and 7.

  • Dear Abby | Husband is a mad scientist in the kitchen

    DEAR ABBY: I never want to eat my husband’s cooking again. He refuses to follow recipes because he says they are “too hard.” He doesn’t use seasonings — or he uses the wrong ones. An example: He recently put cinnamon and cloves on zucchini and agreed with me that it tasted terrible. In addition to almost never being tasty, his cooking is usually nutritionally imbalanced — like a meal that has zero vegetables, or a meal that’s all carbs. In the 10 years we’ve been married, he has lit the food on fire twice.

    I adore everything else about him. I wish I could cook every meal, every day, but I can’t. I work full time in a physically demanding job, take classes at the community college and side hustle as a pet sitter. He only works 40 hours. We’re both amateur competitive athletes, so skipping dinner is out of the question. Eating takeout sometimes is OK, but it’s too expensive to do it regularly. Any advice you can offer is welcome.

    — GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN

    DEAR GET OUT: As an athlete, your husband must understand the importance of correct form and practice. There is no reason he can’t learn to cook a simple, balanced menu.

    Explain to him that while you appreciate his willingness to pitch in, you are no longer willing to eat his experiments. Then, next time it’s his turn to cook, walk him through the preparation of the meal. Do not allow him to get creative. Creativity is for those who have mastered the basics, which he has not. If he learns just one easy meal and cooks only that for the rest of his life, it would be an improvement.

    ** ** **

    DEAR ABBY: I have been in a relationship for 25 years. We got engaged after four years, but we have not gotten married. He gives an excuse each year the subject is brought up. He is a good provider and a good liar, as he has had many outside relationships and continues to do so. He’s not aware that I know more than he thinks.

    Each time he gets caught, he starts screaming and doesn’t want to talk about it. His double life is HIS life. Our finances are linked together, including homeownership, and neither could afford to live on their own if we parted. (We are both retired.)

    How do I continue to live this type of life? I was planning on obtaining a lawyer for advice to see where I stand financially in case this blows up on me. I have not forgiven him, nor can I forget his actions. Do you have any advice for me?

    — LOOKING FOR HAPPINESS IN FLORIDA

    DEAR LOOKING: Yes, I do. Forget about raising the subject of marriage with this man. He has no intention of changing a status quo that is working for him. Contact an attorney now, because the question you want to ask is a valid one. Unless you want to spend the rest of your life accepting this unhappy reality, you need to make a change.

  • Peco and worker union reach a deal, ending strike

    Peco and worker union reach a deal, ending strike

    Peco and its worker union reached a tentative agreement on a new contract late Monday, ending the first strike in the company’s history on its third day.

    Roughly 1,500 unionized linemen, field workers, call center staff, and other Peco employees have been without a contract for more than three months, since their most recent five-year agreement expired on March 31. They walked off the job on the Fourth of July.

    The union characterized the five-year agreement as a “historic contract victory” in an announcement late Monday, noting that it included cash balance pension plans, full retirement medical coverage, and “significant wage increases” for all members.

    “We said from day one that our members’ top priorities were restoring pensions and retirement medical coverage for all members, and we won that and more,” Larry Anastasi, president of IBEW Local 614, said in a statement.

    Wage increases for field workers are 4% annually for the first four years and 4.5% in the fifth year, according to the union, and call center workers are to get 3% raises annually throughout the five-year contract.

    Peco announced the agreement Monday night in a company statement.

    “We value our long-standing relationship with IBEW Local 614 and appreciate the efforts of both bargaining teams in reaching this agreement,” Peco’s statement said. “The proposed contract recognizes the contributions of our employees while supporting our responsibility to deliver reliable, affordable service across southeastern Pennsylvania.”

    With the agreement in place, Peco and the union said, the work stoppage will end while union members vote on ratifying the contract. A union spokesperson said members would return to work Wednesday and a date to vote on the contract has not yet been decided.

    Peco and the union had held daily bargaining sessions since last Wednesday to reach an agreement. Over the weekend and into Monday, workers picketed outside Peco’s headquarters in Center City.

    Larry Anastasi, president and business manager of IBEW Local 614, and Stuart Davidson, general counsel for the union, speak with the media Monday amid contract negotiations and day three of the worker strike.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    Meanwhile, Peco has been contending with outages following thunderstorms in recent days. The company had a contingency plan in place, which included workers from outside the region.

    Over 57,000 customers were without power on the night of July Fourth at the height of the outages, Peco said, but within less than 24 hours, that number was reduced to less than 6,000. As of Monday afternoon, the company reported roughly 4,400 outages on its webpage, and the number was just over 100 a day later.

    The tentative deal marks a pivotal moment in what have been challenging negotiations between the union, IBEW Local 614, and Peco. Bargaining turned ugly in April, as each side accused the other of using unfair tactics.

    In addition to raises and better healthcare benefits, the union wanted its contract to include a uniform retirement plan for all members. Currently, roughly 600 of the 1,500 union workers do not have pensions, the union has said, and pension benefits vary for the other 900 or so.

    These Peco employees do dangerous work at all hours. Their union is pushing for a better retirement package.

    Utility companies started moving away from providing pensions to new hires in the 1990s, according to William Dwyer, a professor at the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations, who once worked at PSE&G in New Jersey. That left 401(k) as the typical retirement benefit. At Peco, that happened later — the company stopped putting new hires into its pension plan in 2021, according to the union.

    The tentative agreement includes a requirement that call center workers get 24-hour notice of mandatory overtime, as well as better upgrade pay for union members who complete tasks outside their typical job description, according to the union.

    In Southeastern Pennsylvania, Peco provides electricity to 1.7 million customers and natural gas to 553,000.

  • U.S. fans lament loss to Belgium at watch parties across the area: ‘I had a bad feeling from the get-go’

    U.S. fans lament loss to Belgium at watch parties across the area: ‘I had a bad feeling from the get-go’

    Storm clouds and a looming threat of rain did not stop fans of the U.S. men’s national team from packing FIFA World Cup watch parties across the area on Monday evening for America’s round of 16 match against Belgium in Seattle.

    Fans clad in red, white, and blue packed the FIFA Fan Festival in Lemon Hill and Union Yards outside Subaru Park in Chester. The storms held off, but a deluge of Belgian goals led to a 4-1 loss for the U.S., disappointing much of both crowds.

    The fan fest in Lemon Hill was sparsely populated after the first match of the day between Spain and Portugal, but by the time the U.S. men kicked off at 8 p.m., the crowd at the festival’s main stage stretched all the way back to the corporate activations set up in the middle of the festival.

    That packed crowd was disappointed early, as forward Charles De Ketelaere gave Belgium a 1-0 lead with a strike in the ninth minute. To make matters worse for the U.S. supporters, the stage at Lemon Hill lit up red and yellow as the Belgians celebrated in Seattle.

    They did red and yellow strobes at Fan Fest for Belgium’s first goal. The crowd seems less than amused

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    — Owen Hewitt (@oyounothing.bsky.social) July 6, 2026 at 8:10 PM

    The crowd in Lemon Hill erupted in celebration as Malik Tillman put the States back on level terms with a goal on a free kick in the 31st minute.

    For a brief moment, the U.S. tied it at one-all, and Fan Fest went nuts:

    [image or embed]

    — Owen Hewitt (@oyounothing.bsky.social) July 6, 2026 at 8:47 PM

    Meanwhile, in Chester, fans with toy trumpets complemented the cheers.

    But the celebration didn’t last long, as De Ketelaere reclaimed the lead just two minutes later. It was all Belgium from there, as it added to its lead in the 57th minute, leaving both crowds in shock.

    Fan Fest can’t believe what Matt Freese just did either:

    [image or embed]

    — Owen Hewitt (@oyounothing.bsky.social) July 6, 2026 at 9:27 PM

    Romelu Lukaku added a fourth to seal the win for Belgium in the 93rd minute, and as U.S. fans headed for the exits in Lemon Hill, a small group of Belgian supporters celebrated their country’s win at the center of the festival.

    The Belgians here at Fan Fest are loving it:

    [image or embed]

    — Owen Hewitt (@oyounothing.bsky.social) July 6, 2026 at 10:03 PM

    One of the few Belgians on hand for the match was Bertrand Colla, who traveled to Philadelphia from his home country to visit family and watch France’s win over Paraguay on Saturday at Philadelphia Stadium.

    Bertrand Colla celebrates at FIFA Fan Festival after Belgium’s 4-1 win over the U.S.Owen Hewitt

    While Belgium’s close win over Senegal in the round of 32 worried him, he had renewed confidence in his team after its 4-1 thrashing of the U.S.

    “I didn’t expect it at all,” Colla said. “This game proves it all. We’re going to go there.”

    USMNT blown out of World Cup with a 4-1 loss to Belgium in the round of 16

    U.S. fans, meanwhile, were let down after a second consecutive exit in the round of 16 by the U.S. men at the World Cup.

    “It’s disappointing. They looked like they didn’t have it from the beginning,” U.S. fan J.P. Hochschwender said as he left Union Yards. “They looked slow. The defense looked a little disorganized, and, ultimately, [Belgium] just capitalized on the opportunities they got, but I had a bad feeling from the get-go.”

    Ruben Mendoza holds a replica World Cup trophy while watching the USMNT face Belgium in a round of 16 game.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Lasting effects

    Like the FIFA Fan Festival, the Union’s watch party in Chester was free to enter. Team chief revenue officer Charlie Slonaker hopes the event and the area’s World Cup-powered soccer fever will drive more Philadelphians to their MLS team once the tournament is over.

    “Soccer is the world’s game, it’s a beautiful game, and there’s no bigger event than the World Cup,” Slonaker said. “We’re excited to hopefully capture that, capture that fan excitement and enthusiasm by [having them] come down to these soccer celebrations.

    “We hope they fall in love with the game, as so many of us have, and over the long term, they ultimately want to come out to Subaru Park to watch Philadelphia Union games.”

    The Union looked to take advantage of the World Cup’s draw quickly after North America was awarded the tournament in 2018. Once FIFA approved MLS franchises hosting watch parties, Slonaker’s team sprung into action to gather partners for events. On Monday, that included food trucks Mister Softee, Dos Hermanos Taqueria, and Humpty’s Dumplings as well as Michelob Ultra.

    Before Auston Trusty scored a World Cup goal, he ‘put the work in’ at Penncrest High School and Nether United

    Outside of watching the game — one many U.S. fans will want to forget — the area offered plenty to do for a family-heavy crowd. Before and during the game, kids played soccer scrimmages alongside a plethora of lawn games. Unlike the festivities in Lemon Hill, which drew many young adults, the Union looked to engage the next generation of soccer fans.

    Slonaker is not the only one hoping the buzz around soccer is here to stay in Philadelphia. Some of the Union’s longtime fans are hoping they will have reinforcements in the stands when the team’s season resumes at the end of the month.

    “You see all the international fans mixing with the local fans, and it’s heartwarming,” said Shane Wittkop, a member of Union supporters group Doopin Delinquents. “I hope we have more Union supporters out of this.”

    Soccer fans at Union Yards in Chester watch the USMNT face Belgium in the World Cup.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
  • USMNT blown out of World Cup with a 4-1 loss to Belgium in the round of 16

    USMNT blown out of World Cup with a 4-1 loss to Belgium in the round of 16

    SEATTLE — The game the U.S. men’s soccer team dreamed of for so many years proved to be a nightmare.

    Belgium blew the Americans off the field, 4-1, in the round of 16, as Charles de Ketelaere scored two goals and created the third. Malik Tillman scored the Americans’ game-tying goal in the first half, but it was all they could muster in a game in which they were outshot, 15-7, including 7-2 on target.

    Perhaps it wasn’t surprising that the Red Devils were up for the contest, motivated by a perception that FIFA and President Donald Trump had tilted the scales against them. Nor was it surprising that Folarin Balogun started for the U.S. after FIFA dismissed Belgium’s last shot at an appeal.

    The Red Devils were on the front foot right away, with Timothy Castagne forcing Matt Freese into his biggest save of the tournament after just 45 seconds. At the other end, Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois repeatedly slowed play down when the ball came to him, drawing boos from the packed crowd in Seattle but otherwise quieting the venue.

    The game plan paid off in the ninth minute. After a long passing sequence that pulled the U.S. defense apart, Alex Freeman was short with an attempted headed clearance, Weston McKennie failed to get the loose ball, and Nicolas Raskin slipped a short pass for an unmarked De Ketelare to tap in from close range.

    When the midhalf hydration break arrived, Belgium had a 7-0 advantage in shots. But soon after play resumed, the Americans’ first attempt of the game went in the net in remarkable fashion.

    FIFA overturned USMNT star Folarin Balogun’s suspension vs. Belgium. Was Trump involved?

    Brandon Mechele pushed over Balogun about 22 yards from goal, Tillman stepped up for the free kick, and his shot at goal deflected off the head of a leaping Hans Vanaken. The crowd of 66,925 erupted with so much joy that the stadium stands shook.

    Belgium, however, was unmoved. Not even two minutes passed before De Ketelaere put the Red Devils back in front. Leandro Trossard beat Sergiño Dest off the dribble, sent in a cross, and De Ketelaere jumped between Antonee Robinson and Tim Ream — flat-out overpowering the latter — to head the ball in.

    At halftime, it was 2-1, and the shots were 11-3. Pochettino made his first substitution at halftime, pulling Dest and sending in Gio Reyna. It made the U.S. more lively, but it did nothing to stop Belgium from scoring a catastrophic third goal.

    Over 36 million people watched the U.S.-Bosnia World Cup game, a record for soccer

    Mechele hit a simple long ball out of the back, and Freese gambled by coming far off his line to try to play it. But he failed to, De Ketelaere picked his pocket from behind, and the ball rolled to Vanaken. All he had to do was put a shot on frame, and, though Ream tried to backtrack, he couldn’t block the ball.

    After that, Pochettino withdrew Christian Pulisic, who had been clattered in a challenge that went uncalled a few minutes earlier, and sent in Sebastian Berhalter.

    When the Hershey native sat down on the bench, he put his head in his jersey, disconsolate. But he hadn’t been that effective when on the field.

    Pochettino sent Ricardo Pepi in for Tyler Adams in the 72nd, but the move didn’t produce many chances. The Americans only mustered three more shots the rest of the way.

    Before Auston Trusty scored a World Cup goal, he ‘put the work in’ at Penncrest High and Nether United

    Romelu Lukaku finished the job in second-half stoppage time, taking the ball off Chris Richards and firing past Freese to the far post.

    It was significant that the U.S. men won a World Cup knockout game for the first time in 24 years. But this team, with players hyped as a golden generation of talent, had aimed higher — and so had Pochettino, paid $6 million per year by U.S. Soccer’s big donors from the private equity world.

    In the end, what they produced wasn’t any better than their predecessors: a round of 16 loss to a familiar foe and an exit with a whimper instead of a bang.

  • Pa. officials mourn the death of former State Sen. Shirley Kitchen, who represented North Philly for 20 years

    Pa. officials mourn the death of former State Sen. Shirley Kitchen, who represented North Philly for 20 years

    Pennsylvania elected officials are mourning the death of former State Sen. Shirley Kitchen, the second Black woman to serve in the state Senate and a champion for progressive issues who represented parts of North Philadelphia for more than two decades. She died Saturday at 79. A cause of death was not immediately clear.

    Kitchen represented the 3rd Senatorial District, composed of parts of North Philadelphia, for 20 years. She is remembered by her former colleagues as a pillar and matriarch of her community who worked tirelessly to improve the lives of low-income people, even after she retired.

    “She did so many things for so many people. Now that I’m old enough to appreciate it, I’m not quite sure how she did it — and she did it with such force,” said State Sen. Anthony H. Williams (D., Philadelphia), who served alongside Kitchen in the Senate and had known her for decades. Kitchen was elected to the state Senate in 1996 and served five terms before retiring in 2016.

    Her former colleagues, some through tears, credited many of Pennsylvania’s recent criminal justice reforms as being born under Kitchen’s leadership, with her early legislative proposals paving the way for their passage years later. For example, Kitchen authored early drafts of what is now known as the Clean Slate Act, which automatically seals some nonviolent convictions after 10 years, hiding them from most employer and landlord background checks. She first introduced similar legislation in Harrisburg years earlier and it failed. In 2018, two years after Kitchen retired, the Clean Slate Act became law in Pennsylvania and was heralded as a first-in-the-nation model for criminal justice reform.

    Elected officials across the city shared their condolences, remembering Kitchen as an advocate who cared deeply for her community.

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker in a social media post on Sunday recalled Kitchen as “fighting for people who often had no one else to fight for them,” and as a trailblazer for Black women in politics.

    “Shirley Kitchen cared about working people, and she cared about Philadelphia,” said Parker, the city’s first Black female mayor and a former state representative.

    City Council President Kenyatta Johnson said in a statement that Kitchen “never forgot who she was fighting for,” dedicating her life to making people’s lives better.

    State Rep. Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia), Pennsylvania’s first Black female speaker of the House, wrote in a social media post that Kitchen was “a mentor and her service in the state House and Senate inspired me greatly.”

    Williams added that Kitchen also sought to elevate other Black politicians, like himself, to elected office — and laid the groundwork for much of the city’s current political progressivism.

    “The reality is that a lot of the infrastructure that helps them, Shirley had everything to do with it, and more,” Williams said, noting her advocacy and experience during the Civil Rights Movement. “I would hope the progressives in this generation would tip their hat to a generation that really created the progressive movement.”

    State Sen. Sharif Street (D., Philadelphia) had known Kitchen since he was a child, and said she helped him see the power a Senate seat has in improving the lives of his neighbors. When she decided to retire, Kitchen encouraged Street, who was on her staff at the time, to run to fill the vacancy in the 3rd District following her fifth and final term in the state Senate.

    Williams and Street recalled Kitchen as a fair but demanding mentor.

    “If she told you to do something, you better do it,” Williams said, with a laugh.

    For Street, Kitchen “didn’t limit her advice. She had opinions about everything in my life, including when my wife was right and I needed to listen to her.”

    Street said he spoke with Kitchen weekly, and Williams said he remained in touch with her as recently as last month. She often had ideas or issues she wanted the senators to take up. Street spoke with her last week about a forthcoming Registered Community Organization meeting that she was leading about a new proposed development nearby, emblematic of her continued involvement in her community.

    Prior to her election to the state Senate, Kitchen was involved in the National Welfare Rights Movement, which was a progressive advocacy group for the dignified treatment of women and children, largely led by Black women, during the 1960s and 1970s, Williams said.

    Kitchen served as the minority chair of the Senate Public Health and Welfare committee, in which she often leaned on her social work experience to inform her legislative proposals.

    A Democrat in a time where Republicans controlled the state legislature, she served her entire tenure in the minority party, but was still able to garner bipartisan support for some of her legislative proposals.

    “This image of her being an urban Black woman from Philadelphia would limit her ability to get stuff done in the Senate just wasn’t true,” Williams added. “She could analyze people and figure out what way to approach them with exceptional skill.”

    Born in 1946 in Augusta, Ga., Kitchen attended the Philadelphia School District and graduated from Antioch University in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in human services, according to her Senate Library biography. She went on to work for former Philadelphia Mayor John Street, Sharif Street’s father, before she was elected to the state House in a special election in 1987. After she lost reelection to the seat in 1989, Kitchen returned to Harrisburg a decade later after her election to represent the 3rd Senatorial District.

    “She was a transformational figure that loved her community and understood that the purpose of those of us holding elected power is to be able to make a difference in the lives of the people we serve, in a way that they can feel and see,” Sharif Street added.

    Funeral services will be announced in the coming days, he said.

    Senator Shirley Kitchen in the audience during speeches in honor of the historical marker that was unveiled at Sullivan Progress Plaza September 14, 2016. The plaza was the first black-owned and operating shopping center in America. Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016.Margo Reed/ Staff Photographer
  • Over 36 million people watched the U.S.-Bosnia World Cup game, a record for soccer

    Over 36 million people watched the U.S.-Bosnia World Cup game, a record for soccer

    The U.S. men’s soccer team’s World Cup round of 32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina broke the record for the most-watched soccer game in American broadcast history.

    Fox’s English broadcast drew an audience of 26.395 million viewers, and Telemundo’s broadcast in Spanish drew 9.8 million, between TV and streaming platforms. The combined total of 36,195,000 blows away the previous record of 27,314,274 that watched the 2014 men’s World Cup final between Argentina and Germany on ABC and Univision.

    That record actually has been broken twice this summer. The Mexico-Ecuador round of 32 game, played a day before U.S.-Bosnia, drew an audience of 29.33 million: 24.429 million on Fox’s platforms and 9.1 million on Telemundo’s.

    Fox’s U.S.-Bosnia audience also set a new record for the biggest audience to watch a soccer game on a single network. That mark had been the 25.632 million who watched the 2015 women’s World Cup final between the U.S. and Japan, which was a prime time kickoff, since the tournament was in Canada.

    According to the data published by the networks so far, 27 games in this World Cup have drawn combined audiences of over 10 million viewers. Eleven have drawn audiences over 15 million, and seven have drawn over 20 million — including all of the U.S.’s group games, and Mexico’s group-stage contest vs. South Korea and round of 16 win over England.

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    The data isn’t complete, as the networks haven’t released data for all of their broadcasts. Particularly, there are gaps in the simultaneous games at the end of the group stage and the round of 32.

    More numbers should be published this week.

  • Philly police ID officer and man he fatally shot outside St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children

    Philly police ID officer and man he fatally shot outside St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children

    Philadelphia police on Monday identified both the officer and the 32-year-old man he fatally shot last week during a confrontation outside St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children.

    Joseph Smithers allegedly pulled a Smith and Wesson handgun from his waistband at a bus stop on Erie Avenue when he was shot multiple times by Officer Azieme Lindsey, the police department said.

    “He did not fire his weapon,” Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said Thursday evening about Smithers.

    A 29-year-old woman, identified last week by Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel as Smithers’ girlfriend, sustained a graze wound to her neck. She was taken to Temple University Hospital to be treated. Bethel said Thursday evening that she was in good condition.

    Lindsey and a second responding officer both had body-worn cameras that were activated during the encounter, the department said Monday.

    Lindsey, 28, was placed on administrative duty while the shooting was being investigated by the police department and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.

    Just after 10:20 a.m. Thursday, two police officers responded to the area of St. Christopher’s after being dispatched for a report of a person with a weapon, the department said Monday.

    It was later determined that the original 911 caller, described as a family member, had contacted police out of concern that Smithers was experiencing a mental health crisis and was suicidal, the department said.

    It was also later determined that around the time of the 911 call from the family member, Smithers had been told by security that he was not allowed in the hospital because he had been asked to leave the day before and was no longer permitted on the property, the department said.

    No explanation has been given for why Smithers was asked to leave on Wednesday, but Bethel said last week that Smithers was there because his son was at the hospital.

    Smithers was “left without incident” when hospital security turned him away on Thursday, the department said.

    “The hospital was at no time under threat,” Bethel said Thursday evening.

    When Lindsey and the second officer — who were in full uniform and in a marked police vehicle — arrived at the hospital, they were met by a security officer who directed them to the nearby bus stop where Smithers was last seen, the department said.

    As Lindsay exited the patrol vehicle, Smithers allegedly began moving backward while also pulling the gun, the department said. Lindsay then fired, striking Smithers multiple times.

    Smithers was transported to Temple hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:44 a.m. Thursday.

    The department said the handgun was legally possessed by Smithers, who had a permit to carry a concealed firearm.

  • Former strength coach charged with criminal hazing in death of Bucknell University football player

    Former strength coach charged with criminal hazing in death of Bucknell University football player

    A former strength coach at Bucknell University was charged Monday with criminal hazing in the 2024 death of Calvin “CJ” Dickey Jr., an 18-year-old freshman football player with a known medical condition who collapsed after being required to perform drills until he passed out, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said.

    Mark Kulbis, 34, who worked for Bucknell at the time, surrendered to authorities late Monday morning and was arraigned on the charges, Sunday said. Bail for Kulbis was set at $10,000 unsecured.

    Dickey, originally from Florida, was participating in the first day of freshman football practice for the university in Lewisburg, Pa., on July 10, 2024, “when he was directed to do extensive calisthenics, which put him in risk of death due to his sickle cell trait,” the attorney general’s office said.

    Kulbis allegedly “subjected Dickey to the hazing, even after being made aware of Dickey’s medical condition and receiving training from the university on sickle cell trait and state law and NCAA standards regarding hazing,” Sunday’s office said.

    Dickey was required to perform 100 “up-downs” and several full-body plank drills: “both considered extraneous calisthenic exercises. This was done in spite of training and direction from other coaches that such exercises were not appropriate or safe for use as part of training,” the attorney general’s office said.

    Dickey, who was recruited to play lineman positions, “was visibly struggling with the exercises and Kulbis, the only coach in the training room, did not summon help until Dickey passed out,” Sunday’s office said.

    Photo of Calvin “CJ” Dickey Jr. The 18-year-old died in 2024 after collapsing on the first day of freshman football practice for Bucknell University.Octavio Jones/ For the Inquirer

    Dickey was hospitalized, but died on July 12, 2024. An autopsy determined that Dickey’s death “was caused by Kulbis subjecting Dickey to the exercises in combination with Dickey’s Sickle Cell trait, body weight, and exertional rhabdomyolysis,” the attorney general’s office said.

    “This is an extraordinary tragedy, worsened by the fact that C.J.’s death was preventable,” Sunday said in a statement.

    The sickle cell trait can make intense exercise dangerous in certain situations. It used to be the leading cause of death in college football, but the rate of death associated with it among Division I football players dropped by nearly 90% after the NCAA began requiring testing and education in 2010, according to a report published in Sports Health Journal.

    NCAA guidelines say coaches should allow student athletes to set their own pace, build up slowly while training, and rest and recover between intense bouts of exercise.

    The criminal case was referred to state prosecutors last year by the Union County District Attorney, Sunday said. The campus in Lewisburg, located about a hour north of Harrisburg, is located in Union County.

    In an emailed statement, Bucknell University said Monday that university officials were aware of the criminal charges announced against Kulbis.

    “Bucknell has cooperated with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office throughout its investigation,” the university said.

    “Because this is now an active criminal matter, and related civil litigation remains pending, the university will not comment on the allegations or legal proceedings,” the university said.

    “We continue to remember Calvin ‘CJ’ Dickey, Jr. and extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends,” Bucknell said.

    Barbara Zemlock, an attorney for Kulbis, could not be reached for comment. ESPN reported that Zemlock provided a statement defending Kulbis.

    “While the death of Calvin Dickey is tragic, Mark Kulbis did not contribute to it and is not responsible for it,” Zemlock told ESPN.

    “The strength and conditioning program that was implemented was appropriate and in accordance with the training that Mr. Kulbis received, and with applicable standards.”

    Zemlock added: “There are facts and other circumstances surrounding this matter that, once presented at the appropriate time, will demonstrate that Mr. Kulbis did not commit the crimes charged,” and that “we intend to vigorously defend the charges.”

    Late last month, a federal judge allowed a lawsuit to proceed against Bucknell University filed by Dickey’s parents.

    Kulbis was charged with felony aggravated hazing and misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and hazing. Sunday said.

    The aggravated hazing charge was made into Pennsylvania law in response to the 2017 hazing death of Penn State University student Tim Piazza.

    “This law exists because it recognizes what hazing is: criminal conduct that, in the best possible scenario, humiliates and dehumanizes an individual — and at its worst, takes lives and leaves families and friends forever devastated,” Sunday said.

  • Thunderstorms Monday morning left Camden County with 1,000 emergency calls and intense flooding

    Thunderstorms Monday morning left Camden County with 1,000 emergency calls and intense flooding

    Camden County and city officials are working with the state to assess the damage after severe thunderstorms left the region with heavy flooding Monday morning.

    Mayor Victor Carstarphen said no fatalities or injuries have been reported, but by Monday afternoon, Camden City had received about 90 service calls reporting damages following more than 4 inches of rainfall, and he expected Camden to get more calls as people return home from work to potential flooding.

    “Today, the rainfall exceeded what our stormwater system is designed to handle in such a short period of time,” Carstarphen said.

    Countywide, Camden received about 1,000 911 calls just in the stretch of the morning storm, said Dan Keashen, Camden County’s public affairs director.

    It will take a while for the county to determine how many homes were impacted and the estimated cost of damages. Public assistance teams from the state will work with the city and county to assess damages home by home in affected areas, said Morgan Callan, external communications manager for Camden County.

    Dave Balog of Mullica Hill makes his way to his truck in the flooded parking lot at the Ferry Avenue PATCO station in Camden Monday, July 6, 2026, as a flash flood threat continues for the region. Balog said there were no warnings about a storm when he parked there four hours earlier for an appointment in Center City Philadelphia. His truck did start as it was not in the deepest area of the lot.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    Flooding left vehicles stranded on roadways throughout the county, including two police vehicles and a fire department apparatus in Camden City, Keashen said. But most of the water has receded, according to a press release Monday afternoon.

    Both city pools in Camden will be closed this week, Carstarphen said.

    Camden City residents with damage to their properties can call the city emergency operations center at (856) 757-7132 or (856) 757-7139. Calling in those damages will allow city officials to report them to the state, which then could unlock regional and state disaster aid for residents.

    Residents of other Camden County municipalities can report property damages to their respective offices of emergency management.

    Carstarphen couldn’t confirm the timeline for how long it would take officials to visit properties to assess damages, but he said he encourages residents to file claims with their property insurance providers in the meantime.