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  • Flyers mock draft 4.0: How things are shaping up heading into tonight’s first round

    Flyers mock draft 4.0: How things are shaping up heading into tonight’s first round

    Who the Flyers will actually select in the first round is now just hours away from being revealed, with the 2026 NHL draft kicking off at 7 p.m.

    Philly picks at No. 21, so there is a lot of intrigue to see who they can get that deep in the draft. And that’s the crux and the reasoning behind why, in the fourth and final mock draft for The Inquirer, we have the Flyers picking a fourth different player.

    In the first mock draft, compiled before the NHL scouting combine, we had the Flyers taking small defenseman Tommy Bleyl. Although he could help on the power play, it doesn’t sound like the Flyers are 100% behind picking an under-6-foot-tall blueliner, and as general manager Danny Brière has noted a player picked today will not impact the team for a few seasons — and the power play needs help immediately.

    After the scouting combine in Buffalo, our second mock draft had Alexander Command. The Swedish center expressed a connection with the organization and just oozed Flyer during his time in Western New York; however, the consensus is that he is rising and will now be long gone.

    So with that, we went for another center in the third mock draft, taking Jack Hextall, a player many see as already having pro habits. And, no, he’s not closely related to Ron, the former goalie and GM; they are distant cousins, and according to Jack, have never met.

    And now we come to our final mock draft, where none of these players are on the list in the first round.

    Maksim Sokolovskii (No. 17) tied forward Brooks Rogowski for the tallest players measured at this year’s combine.Courtesy of London Knights

    First round: Maksim Sokolovskii, LHD, London (OHL)

    Meet Sokolovskii, who checks several boxes for the Flyers’ usual modus operandi at the draft and is the targeted pick for several outlets and insiders.

    For background, since assistant general manager Brent Flahr took over, he has drafted 50 players, with general manager Danny Brière by his side for 26 of those.

    The position Flahr has drafted the most across his tenure is defense, at 15, and he did mention during his sit-down in Buffalo that the Flyers need to add to their defensive depth. He added during his pre-draft presser last week that the Flyers could use some more depth down the left side in particular — he did add “not necessarily being the first round” — and Sokolovskii is a left-handed defenseman.

    Unlike other teams lately, the Flyers are not afraid to draft Russian players, with three taken in the last three drafts. The difference here with Sokolovskii, compared to Matvei Michkov, Egor Zavragin, and Aleksei Kolosov, who is Belarusian and also played in the Kontinental Hockey League, is that while Sokolovskii was born in Kazakhstan and raised in Russia, he spent the past two years playing in North America. And the Flyers tend to stick with North American-based teams under the Flahr-Brière tandem (74%).

    Now here’s where the eyebrows will get raised. After spending the 2024-25 season with the Atlantic Coast Academy, Sokolovskii played this past season for London of the Ontario Hockey League. Yes, that London, where Denver Barkey and Oliver Bonk won a Memorial Cup one June ago. That London where team president Keith Jones has a connection with Mark and Dale Hunter. The Flyers like the system and how they prepare players. Could this be a match just for that reason?

    And then there’s the height. And Sokolovskii is, to put it mildly, a big boy at 6-foot-7¼, 240 pounds. The Flyers like tall dudes, drafting 6-5 Jack Nesbitt, Carter Amico, Luke Vlooswyk, and Matthew Gard all last year. Since Flahr took over, 31 of 50 players are over 6-feet, and 17 of those were taken with Brière as GM.

    The biggest difference compared to several previous prospects is that Sokolovskii is a pretty good skater for a guy his size.

    “He’s 6-foot-8, and he skates like he’s 5-foot-8,” Mike Taylor, the owner and one of Sokolovskii’s coaches at Atlantic Coast Academy, told The Inquirer recently. “… He came here, and I had a skating coach once a month come up and do power skating with our guys, and he does it like with UMass Amherst, and all these other schools. And he saw him skate, and he’s like, ‘Oh my God.’ He couldn’t believe how good his edge work was, and stuff, for being the size that he is.”

    Maksim Sokolovskii first came to North America as a 16-year-old to play for Atlantic Coast Academy.Courtesy of Mike Taykor

    Considered a mean guy with some bite on the ice, Sokolovskii likes to be physical, throw the body around, and play tough. Although Taylor says there is an offensive dimension to his game — as seen from his numbers at Atlantic Coast — he is considered a shutdown defender.

    He had eight points (two goals, six assists) in 44 regular-season games with London; however, everyone agrees there was a ton of improvement in his game as he got more comfortable in the OHL.

    But like most in the draft class, Sokolovskii has his warts, and there are question marks surrounding his game in his decision-making and puck play. He told The Inquirer at the NHL scouting combine that he wants to keep working on his foot speed and make his feet quicker. He’ll need some time to grow into his game, and the Flyers have the time for that.

    Sokolovskii’s name was mentioned to this reporter at the combine as someone the Flyers were interested in, and some pundits think this is their guy. But it does make one wonder that if the two are being connected … is it all smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand? Because outside of maybe Craig Button, no one had Jett Luchanko for the Flyers in 2024. And Jack Nesbitt wasn’t seen as on the radar either, although they did trade up for him.

    So with that, let’s add in that Maddox Dagenais, Jack Hextall, and Ilia Morozov are three players we see the Flyers considering at 21, too.

    Called a “mobile, punishing shutdown defender with NHL-calibre tools” by Elite Prospects, Charlie Morrison’s floor is a third-pair defenseman.Courtesy of Québec Remparts

    Second round: Charlie Morrison, LHD

    The Athletic’s NHL draft and prospects reporter Scott Wheeler’s final mock draft has the Flyers taking Sokolovskii in the first round and right-handed Finnish defenseman Samu Alalauri in the second.

    Wheeler’s colleague, senior NHL prospects writer Corey Pronman, has the Flyers taking 6-4 leftt-handed defenseman William Håkansson in the first and small but dynamic lefty defenseman Xavier Villeneuve — our pick in version 3.0 — in the second.

    Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson has center Oliver Suvanto in the first and defenseman Måns Gudmundsson in the second. And Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis had the Flyers taking center Suvanto in the first and defenseman Timmy Runtso, an overager who is heading to the University of Miami (OH) this fall, in the second.

    It feels like everyone is leaning toward defensemen in the second round, as everyone has the Flyers pegged for stocking the blue line cupboard.

    A few names pop here for us, like Juho Piiparinen, who says he grew up a Flyers fan in Finland, Runtso, who brings some offensive punch and attention to detail the Flyers like, and Ben Macbeath, our pick in version 2.0. Macbeath plays for Calgary of the Western Hockey League, the same team Travis Sanheim was drafted from in 2017.

    For our final draft, we’re going with a defenseman, too, but it’s Morrison, a 6-3½, 200-pound physical left-shot blueliner who plays for Québec of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. Pronman has him going at 44 to the New Jersey Devils, Wheeler at 50 to the Ducks, and Ellis has him at 65 to the Flames.

    And guess who the GM of that team is? Simon Gagné.

    The Inquirer recently spoke with the Flyers legend, and he gave his scouting report on Morrison.

    “A big, strong defenseman. Likes to hit. Likes to [catch] guys [with their] head down, middle of the ice type of defenseman that you don’t see too often in the league anymore. They’re seeing, sure, that Charlie needs to improve — he’s only played two years in our league — but he’s getting better and stronger, and that’s definitely a guy that could be a good pick for the Flyers.”

    Charlie Morrison (27) lays a booming hit during a game against the Charlottetown Islanders.Courtesy of Québec Remparts

    The Flyers have done their homework on the Québec players, which also includes potential first-round pick Maddox Dagenais and late-round option and defenseman Alexandre Taillefer. This past season, Morrison had 13 points in 41 regular-season games before adding another four points in 10 playoff games.

    Morrison does have some pedigree, as Elite Prospects lists his great uncle as Dan Bouchard, a goalie who played 656 NHL games, and Morrison is heading to the University of Connecticut in 2027.

    And one interesting note: last season, the four Flyers taken in the second were listed at 30 (Jack Murtagh), 33 (Vansaghi), 37 (Matthew Gard), and 41 (Carter Amico) in Central Scouting’s final rankings for North American skaters. Morrison is right there, too, at No. 39.

  • Philadelphia Stadium plays its part as FIFA sets World Cup attendance record

    Philadelphia Stadium plays its part as FIFA sets World Cup attendance record

    With the group stage still going strong, FIFA has already set an all-time World Cup attendance record, and Philadelphia has been a major part of that.

    Following Thursday’s slate of group stage games, FIFA announced that 3,605,357 fans had attended matches in this year’s expanded tournament of 48 nations vying for the top prize in the July 19 final.

    The mark passed FIFA’s previous mark of 3,587,538 fans set in 1994, the last time the World Cup came to the United States.

    Philly’s place in all of it hasn’t gone unnoticed as the mark was set during the city’s fourth match on Thursday between the Ivory Coast and Curaçao, which had an announced attendance of 68,324. Across the four matches, Lincoln Financial Field, renamed Philadelphia Stadium for the World Cup, has welcomed 273,296 fans — approximately 7.6% of the total.

    “This was incredible, the whole experience is a memory,” said Mustafa Al-Hasani, a fan from Iowa who attended Monday’s rain-delayed Group I match between France and Iraq. Despite the rain, Al-Hasani lauded both the stadium and the city’s hospitality. “Philly’s great, I’ve been here before, but this is an experience I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”

    FIFA’s attendance record being surpassed was an inevitability, given that this tournament field expanded from 32. FIFA’s increase in the number of nations means more matches and venues. For this World Cup, 104 games are being played in 16 stadiums across the United States, Canada, and Mexico over the monthlong event.

    However, with it being just 14 days into the tournament, this also sets the standard going forward for FIFA reaching an attendance record.

    Patrick Murray, of West Chester, Pa., is with his niece Maggie McDermont, 15, and her sister Cecilia, 12 has contributed to Philly having 273,296 fans attend the four matches that have been played in Philadelphia since Thursday. Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer

    According to FIFA, stadium capacities have been at an all-time high; here in Philadelphia, attendance at all four matches has been an announced 68,324, which is capacity at the Linc.

    That’s a remarkable number when you consider that, with FIFA enacting a dynamic pricing model for the first time in a World Cup, ticket prices have never been higher, including some seats listed in the thousands of dollars in the lower-level seating of stadiums.

    Philadelphia’s World Cup love affair shows just how far we’ve come

    Philadelphia has just two more matches. Croatia and Ghana play in Group L on Saturday (5 p.m., FS1), and then on July 4 the city will host a Round of 16 game, between the winners of two games in the Round of 32.

  • Rachel Maddow recalls her ‘formative’ time in Philly and the city’s most overlooked hero ahead of MS NOW event

    Rachel Maddow recalls her ‘formative’ time in Philly and the city’s most overlooked hero ahead of MS NOW event

    Rachel Maddow’s brief turn as a Philadelphian began with her bicycle being stolen on the first day of a new job.

    “I got to work at 9 a.m. and I got out for lunch before noon, because I didn’t have anything to do,” Maddow said. “My bike was already gone.”

    MS NOW’s top star was in Center City on Thursday night to interview constitutional legal expert Sherrilyn Ifill live in front of nearly 2,000 people at the Academy of Music.

    But prior to the event, she reminisced about her brief time in Philly in the early 1990s, shortly after she came out as gay during her freshman year of college at Stanford University.

    “It didn’t go well at home, so it was a bit of a scramble in terms of like paying for college, figuring out what I was going to do, where I was going to live,” Maddow said. “And I got an internship at a think tank at Penn.”

    Maddow lived in West Philadelphia and basically ate nothing but Ethiopian food for a few months, though she can’t remember the name of the street: “It was in the 40s and it was one of the tree-named streets.”

    In college she was an AIDS activist and focused on healthcare policy, so landing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics seemed liked an ideal fit.

    Maddow said her job was to answer the phone. But the internship didn’t last long.

    “I was not an additive,” Maddow said. “I don’t think I was an asset to the organization.”

    Kiyoshi Kuromiya seen here in 1992, was a gay civil rights activist who helped establish ACT UP Philly. GEORGE REYNOLDS / Staff Photographer, file

    Maddow’s activism began when she was still in high school, when she began working at a hospice for people who were dying during the AIDS epidemic.

    Still, those few months living in Philadelphia influenced Maddow’s developing political voice. She idolized ACT UP Philly, an activist organization fighting for people with HIV/AIDS, and thinks that gay civil rights activist Kiyoshi Kuromiya is the city’s most overlooked hero for the work he did helping connect people with hard-to-find information about the virus and treatment.

    “He saved millions of lives,” Maddow said. “The city needs to build a statue for Kiyoshi Kuromiya.”

    Maddow has returned to Philly a number of times over the years, and every time she does, it makes her feel like she’s 19 again. Things have changed — seeing Indego bicycles to rent on street corners after hers was stolen is pretty jarring — but though her time living here was brief, she didn’t hesitate saying, “Philly was really formative for me.”

    “The thing I loved about Philly at the time, and that I kind of fell in love with, even before I really knew what to do with it, was the really sparky, edgy, impolite activist spirit,” Maddow said. “I think I’m just a middle-class polite kid who doesn’t like to offend anybody, and Philly kind of shook me out of that a little bit, and made me aspire to edgier things.”

    More live events and a new app coming from MS NOW

    Nearly 2,000 people attended Thursday night’s event at the Academy of Music. MS NOW

    A strong Philly current ran through MS NOW’s event Thursday night, which highlighted the messy history of the American experiment leading up to the country’s 250th anniversary next week.

    MS NOW president Rebecca Kutler, who oversaw the event, is a Philly native who grew up in Center City and later Montgomery County. Host Ali Velshi lives in Bryn Mawr and commutes to New York every day to host The 11th Hour, which he recently took over as part of a lineup change.

    Former White House press secretary for then-President Joe Biden and current MS NOW host Jen Psaki was also part of Thursday event, where she interviewed Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was raised in Upper Dublin Township in Montgomery County. Psaki doesn’t have any connection to the area other than friends who live here — and

    “My mother’s best friend of 70 years lives here,” Psaki said.

    Thursday’s event was part of a larger strategy of engagement at the network after breaking away from NBC and becoming part of Versant, hence the name change from MSNBC to MS NOW. Ratings are up, but the cord-cutting trend is undeniable, so MS NOW is attempting to secure a digital future while it remains a popular TV destination.

    The network has now hosted three large fan events since 2024 and another is planned for Sept. 26 ahead of the midterm elections, though further details have not been announced. Attendees in Philly on Thursday night received a free, one-year subscription to MS NOW’s membership product that is set to launch soon. It will act as a streaming platform and online community for the network’s progressive fans and provide access to its biggest stars.

    “We’re always looking for ways to connect with our MS NOW community, to meet more viewers where they are, and to engage them in new ways,” said Lauren Peikoff, the network’s executive producer of live events.

    Cecil Parker, a Philadelphia musician, said the state of affairs in Washington compelled him to attend Thursday’s event.

    “Urgency. That’s the all-encompassing word,” Parker said, who often tunes into MS NOW to get their take on the news. “They have their opinions, but it’s based on the facts. So I dig that.”

    Some audience members traveled from as far as Arizona and California to have a chance to hear Maddow and her MS NOW colleagues in person.

    Tony Clyburn and his wife, Lisa, drove more than 10 hours from West Columbia, S.C., to take part. A radio host back home, Clyburn said it was inspiring being in a room with people from different walks of life who want what’s best for their neighbors and their country.

    “These gatherings are good because they’re as close to a town hall as we can get,” Clyburn said.

  • City officials plan to revamp Market Street from Sixth Street to City Hall

    City officials plan to revamp Market Street from Sixth Street to City Hall

    Philadelphia officials are planning a major renovation of Market Street’s sidewalks, landscaping, and streetscapes, from Sixth Street toward City Hall.

    The announcement of a $2.5 million federal grant to begin the planning and design comes on the heels of the recently completed renovation of the thoroughfare in Old City from Second to Sixth streets. That effort took 18 months of construction and $16 million.

    After 18 months and traffic snarls, Market Street improvements in Old City are complete

    The stretch to City Hall poses more logistical problems and could prove a heavier lift because of its dense use.

    The planned revamp is part of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s pledge to revitalize the Market East corridor.

    Most recently, the row of storefronts on the 900 block of Market owned by Comcast and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment have begun hosting small pop-up businesses for the summer, as the city celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

    The Department of Planning and Development is overseeing the revitalization, and the public-private Market East Corridor Advisory Group is helping to craft a vision.

    The new $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which the city will match, is limited to planning the streetscape along Market Street between 6th and Juniper Streets.

    Construction is years away, said Kelley Yemen, Philadelphia’s director of the Office of Multimodal Planning. Her office is gathering information to evaluate everything from traffic patterns to potential road diets and bike lanes.

    “Everything’s on the table at this point,” Yemen said.

    Safety remains a primary driver, she said, given that the section of Market Street is situated on the city’s “high-injury network.”

    However, she said redesigning the corridor poses unique logistical challenges compared with the recent improvements in Old City.

    Market East serves as a major commercial hub with heavy transit use, requiring planners to balance the needs of transit riders, pedestrians, and cyclists.

    Additionally, the shallow depth of the underground subway system may constrain surface-level landscaping.

    Yemen explained that any trees or plantings must account for the height of the subway ceiling, potentially leading to elevated planters rather than vegetation that’s rooted in the ground.

    The city is working with the consulting firm WSP and a team of subconsultants to develop design options.

    Yemen anticipates the design will take two to three years, as the city also has to navigate federal environmental reviews.

    Though the planning phase is now paid for, the city does not yet have money to fund construction and will likely look to federal or state grants for help in the future.

    Public involvement will be a key next step, she said.

    The planning commission is expected to launch a broader public engagement push this July to gather community input on the larger Market East revival.

  • Philly’s weather forecast has drought-easing rains this weekend, then a heat wave through July 4

    Philly’s weather forecast has drought-easing rains this weekend, then a heat wave through July 4

    The region may be getting some significant drought relief during the weekend, and then it may be some time before it gets relief from heat that could persist through July Fourth.

    Rounds of showers — possible Friday night into Saturday evening when Croatia and Ghana meet in a World Cup match in South Philly — should be more widespread across the region than Monday’s scattershot downpours, said Brian Hurley, senior branch forecaster with the Weather Prediction Center, in College Park, Md.

    The severe storms likely would stay well to the south of Washington, D.C. However, “you always have potential” for a few thunderstorms, he said.

    Then, after two decent days Sunday and Monday, what is looking like the longest-lasting hot spell of the season to date is due to get underway Tuesday as temperatures head to the mid-90s.

    “That’s going to be main story,” said Hurley.

    The wild card for the duration would be the possibility of “ring of fire” thunderstorms, forecasters said, which might have temporary cooling effects. Those are storms that form along the boundaries of high-pressure heat domes, and Philly may be near the eastern edge.

    How hot might it get next week in Philly?

    Expect some tweaking during the next few days, but with “increasing confidence” the National Weather Service in Mount Holly was seeing heat indexes in the triple figures next week.

    Come Tuesday, daytime temperatures should be “off to the races,” said Bill Deger, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc., which has forecast highs up to 98 degrees late in the workweek.

    It also will be steamy, and that will inhibit nighttime cooling as water vapor slows the escape of daytime warning. Readings are unlikely to get lower than the 70s Wednesday through at least next Saturday.

    The heat could lap into the following week, said Deger. “It shows some staying power,” he said.

    The region already has had 14 days with official temperatures of 90 or higher in 2026, about half the average total for an entire year.

    The potential for those ring-of-fire storms would be a wild card, said Hurley and Deger.

    Cooling thunderstorms can break heat waves, although they may come with a price. Ring-of-fire storms in July 2020 wrung out as much as 6 inches of rain that set off widespread flooding.

    As drought continues, the Philly region could use more rain

    Six inches might be a bit over the top, but the region could use more rain to ease the ongoing drought conditions.

    Some areas received close to 2 inches on Monday and Tuesday; however, the jackpot zones eluded areas where the dry conditions have been most intense — parts of South Jersey and Chester County.

    The entire region remained in some state of drought according to the interagency U.S. Drought Monitor, but Chester County was in “severe drought,” along with small pieces of Bucks and Delaware Counties. In “extreme drought” were all of Cape May County, other Jersey Shore towns, and areas bordering Delaware Bay.

    In an analysis based on a network of measuring stations throughout the counties, the weather service’s Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center calculated that Cape May County received less than a half inch of rain, and Cumberland and Salem Counties about 0.6 inches.

    In contrast, Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties weighed in with well over an inch.

    On the other side of the river, Philly’s total was 1.28 inches, compared with 0.71 for Chesco, which, like New Jersey, is under a state-declared drought emergency.

    All this could change next week.

    .

  • Artwork at City Hall honors founders of Philly sports — and offers a preview of the Museum of Sports

    Artwork at City Hall honors founders of Philly sports — and offers a preview of the Museum of Sports

    This summer, there is a creative escape for sports and art fans alike. The opening of a new exhibit, the Founders of Philadelphia Sports, welcomes a free gallery at City Hall.

    The exhibition is a collection of seven mosaic portraits by local artist Jonathan Mandell. Each piece features a groundbreaking figure in Philly sports, as a way to pay tribute to their achievements and keep their name alive, while celebrating America’s 250th anniversary.

    The collection is a joint effort between the City of Philadelphia’s Creative Philadelphia team and the upcoming Philadelphia Museum of Sports.

    An unveiling of the first two mosaics took place Thursday evening, showcasing local baseball legends Effa Louise Manley and Ed Bolden. Manley, a pioneer for women in baseball, co-owned the Newark Eagles, a franchise in the Negro leagues. In 2006, she became the first woman inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Bolden’s portrait is set in front of the Philadelphia Stars stadium, honoring the team he founded.

    The other portraits include Bert Bell, Ed Snider, Billie Jean King, Connie Mack, and Eddie Gottlieb, which are set to arrive in the gallery throughout the summer before eventually finding a permanent home at the Philadelphia Museum of Sports.

    Founders of Philadelphia Sports Exhibition features mosaic portraits of Ed Snider (top left), Bert Bell, Billie Jean King, Connie Mack, Effa Louise Manley, Ed Bolden, and Eddie Gottlieb (bottom right).Courtesy of Brett Mandel

    “This project has been envisioned for years,” said Brett Mandel, executive director of the Philadelphia Museum of Sports. “It’s really exciting to bring something from conception to something three-dimensional and beautiful, and what’s more important is the story of seeing these beautiful pieces of art and asking, ‘Who was Effa Manley? And why is she important?’”

    Mandell, the artist behind each creation, considers that question carefully when precisely cutting and placing each tile and piece of glass.

    “At heart, I’m a storyteller,” Mandell said. “I want to tell stories visually, so that’s what I’m hoping to do with the narrative pieces. It’s not just the portrait, but the narrative tells the story.”

    City Hall will display a collection of mosaic portraits throughout the summer featuring a groundbreaking figure in Philly sports before finding a permanent home at the Philadelphia Museum of Sports.

    Each 36-by-36-inch portrait is accompanied by a 12-by-12-inch mini mosaic that encapsulates a story of each founder’s work. The exhibit was specifically selected as the first to be a part of the Philadelphia Museum of Sports because “the Founders is where you begin any story,” Mandell said.

    This exhibit is a step toward the long-awaited and much-speculated museum. Having been in discussion for more than a decade, the museum is closer than ever to achieving an in-person experience, Mandel says.

    Located at 7th and Market, it will serve as a place for local fans and tourists to learn about the people and moments that have built Philadelphia’s rich sports culture over the past century.

    “We hope the Museum of Sports is going to connect generations and inspire people to fulfill their dreams on and off the field,” Mandel said. “We want to educate and inspire people through the stories of sports, the champions we’ve cheered for, the hometown heroes that we’ve celebrated, and all the ways sports are about more than just sports.”

    Brett Mandel (left), executive director of the Philadelphia Museum of Sports, and Jonathan Mandell (right), a local artist who is designing the pieces, pose together at City Hall on Thursday.Becca O'Reilly

    However, Mandel noted it may be some time before visitors can interact with the full collection in person.

    “Philadelphia waited almost 100 years for the first World Series championship,” Mandel said. “We waited more than a half century for a Super Bowl championship. It is not uncommon in Philadelphia to keep thinking, ‘This is the year, this is the year, this is the year.’ But eventually, if you work hard enough and you keep focused, you’re going to win that championship. So we are telling the world that we are real, and we are here, and we got next.”

    In the meantime, Creative Philadelphia, with the aid of the William Penn Foundation and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, was able to showcase Mandell’s mosaics in new display cases on the first floor of City Hall. The Founders is just one of many free galleries in the building.

    City Hall’s art curator keeps the work in its halls as diverse as the people on our streets | From 2025

    “This is City Hall. It’s the People’s Building,” said Tu Huynh, curator of exhibitions and programs at Creative Philadelphia. “We want to represent all the communities that create the culture here, and this is just one of the exhibits of Philadelphia Stories 250 [a citywide initiative]. They are all local and community driven.”

    Whether you’re celebrating the semiquincentennial or waiting until the Philadelphia Museum of Sports finds its permanent home, the mosaics gives folks a chance to encounter the stories that built the city’s iconic sports legacy, one portrait at a time.

  • Here’s everything to know about the Peco worker strike

    Here’s everything to know about the Peco worker strike

    This article was originally published May 29, and has been updated with recent information about bargaining and IBEW Local 614’s strike plans. This is a developing story, and it will continue to be updated.

    Peco workers plan to strike on the Fourth of July, after three months of working under an expired contract.

    Union members include employees who help restore electric service during outages, such as those sometimes caused by intense summer storms.

    The company and the union have been bargaining since January, and they have reached some agreements, but wages and benefits have become sticking points.

    Bargaining turned ugly in April, as both sides filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board. Peco has suggested using a federal mediator.

    The most recent bargaining session was on June 19. Peco and Local 614 plan to bargain next on July 1.

    When could Peco workers go on strike?

    Workers plan to walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. on the Fourth of July if they have not reached a deal by then.

    They voted at the end of May to authorize a strike if their union called for it, with over 1,000 participating in the vote.

    Have Peco workers gone on strike in the past?

    No. This would be the first work stoppage in the company’s history. Since unionizing, this group has never before seen their contract expire without a new one in place.

    Peco workers voted to join the union in 2004 and ratified their first contract in 2007.

    Who are the union members and what do they do?

    IBEW Local 614 represents roughly 1,500 Peco employees, including call center employees and field workers who maintain electric and gas infrastructure.

    Some members work long hours during outages to help restore electricity to customers. Linemen, who repair and maintain power lines, are some of the union’s highest paid workers, and made on average over $243,500 last year in wages, including overtime.

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

    What does each side want?

    Workers want higher wages and a uniform retirement plan for all members. Some 600 workers who were hired in recent years don’t have a pension, while other groups have pension plans with varying terms.

    Peco has offered a 20% wage increase over five years, as well as “enhanced retirement and medical benefits,” according to company officials, who said their proposals “support our employees while maintaining affordability for customers.”

    What does a Peco strike mean for my electricity? What if there’s an outage?

    Peco has a strike contingency plan in place, chief operating officer Nicole LeVine has said. Customers shouldn’t expect delays or interruptions in service, she said.

    “If there’s severe weather, we’ll be able to restore any service issues,” LeVine has said.

    The company would call in substitutes for the striking workers, LeVine said this week, some of whom are “familiar with our specific system,” while others “are coming in from outside of the region.” She declined to say how many workers are part of the contingency plan.

    “We’re an emergency response company,” LeVine said. “We’ve been working on contingency planning in the event of a strike, and we were well prepared to execute our plan if needed.”

    How many customers does Peco service?

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

  • One year of inspections at Paoli Hospital: April 2025 – March 2026

    One year of inspections at Paoli Hospital: April 2025 – March 2026

    Paoli Hospital was not cited by the Pennsylvania Department of Health for any safety violations between April 2025 and March of this year.

    Located in Chester County, the hospital is one of four owned by Main Line Health.

    Here’s a look at the publicly available details:

    June 18, 2025: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance. Complaint details are not made public when inspectors determine it was unfounded.

    • June 19: The Joint Commission, a nonprofit hospital accreditation agency, renewed the hospital’s accreditation, effective April 2025, for 36 months.
    • Oct. 20: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
    • March 12, 2026: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
  • Josh Shapiro says progressives’ wins in New York show voters ‘are channeling that pain into purpose’

    Josh Shapiro says progressives’ wins in New York show voters ‘are channeling that pain into purpose’

    The Democratic Party should be a big tent and welcoming to a diversity of voices, Gov. Josh Shapiro told MS NOW’s Jen Psaki in a live event in Philadelphia on Thursday.

    Following Tuesday’s primary races in New York that saw the elections of more progressive and socialist candidates, Shapiro said the results there and around the country show that voters are eager for change.

    “I appreciate the passion that we are seeing from voters all across this country,” Shapiro said during the event at the Academy of Music, part of MS NOW’s celebration of America’s 250th birthday.

    People are feeling the strain and opting to support more progressive candidates, Shapiro said, because of rising health insurance costs, struggles to purchase a house, and the feeling that their rights are being stripped away.

    “They are channeling that pain into purpose, they’re channeling that into showing up at the ballot box, they’re channeling that into showing enthusiasm,” he said. “That is a good thing.”

    But he stopped short of explicitly endorsing more left-leaning ideologies. In a separate interview with CNN on Thursday, Shapiro added that the successful candidates must now deliver results.

    “I get that there are some candidates out there that just say a lot words and attract a lot of attention but what we need to do as a party is drill down on how we take those words turn them into actions and make people’s lives better,” he said.

    In Philadelphia, voters elected Chris Rabb, the democratic socialist who has challenged the city’s political establishment, in May’s Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District. Shapiro did not get directly involved in Rabb’s district, despite making endorsements in other races.

    He also dodged direct criticism of Sen. John Fetterman, a fellow Pennsylvania Democrat who has become increasingly unpopular among the party’s voters, after Psaki posed some of the senator’s recent comments to Shapiro.

    Fetterman referred to the New York congressional candidates, endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as “the dirtbag left” and “outrageous” on Fox News. (The phrase “dirtbag left” comes from the leftist podcast Chapo Trap House and refers to a strand of democratic socialism that counters the political right by mimicking its dark humor, among other tactics.)

    Shapiro said “John should answer for himself.”

    In both Philadelphia and New York, the victorious progressive candidates during their campaigns heavily criticized Israel’s war in Gaza and the United States’ role in supporting its material.

    Psaki did not ask Shapiro, who supports Israel but has been critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about the issue during the event. And he did not refer to it when talking about the New York results.

    To show voters that Democrats hear their pain, the party needs to get “real stuff done to make people’s lives better,” he said.

    Sandra Dungee Glenn, who attended the event Thursday, said Shapiro could have been even more forceful against Fetterman, who is viewed unfavorably by 43% of Philadelphia residents, according to a recent poll.

    “Don’t even mention that name,” said Glenn, who lives in West Philadelphia, referring to Fetterman. “He’s a big disappointment.”

    In addition to his own reelection campaign in November, Shapiro is focused on getting Democrats elected in four competitive congressional seats and flipping the Pennsylvania state Senate, which has been under Republican control for three decades.

    Should the chamber flip, Shapiro said his immediate priority would be raising the state’s minimum wage and codifying the right to access abortion — blaming Republicans for standing in his way.

    How the Pennsylvania governor’s race will help decide who controls the U.S. House

    But Shapiro, a first-term Democrat, is also looking ahead, past 2026 and Donald Trump’s presidency, as he builds a national profile and becomes a likely contender for the presidency in 2028.

    He said Congress should pass a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that guards against corruption and gerrymandering, and railed against the 2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision that gave presidents absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions taken within their constitutional authority, following Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

    Shapiro said he is also open to adding more justices to the Supreme Court, which has been set at nine justices since 1869.

    “I think we’ve got to have everything on the table. We’ve got to be bold,” he said.

    Josh Shapiro’s reelection campaign in Pennsylvania starts now — but 2028 looms large

    Expansion has been pushed by progressives as a way to reform the court and end its conservative majority.

    Leslie Berger, 69, who attended MS NOW’s event Thursday said she supports adding more justices to the court.

    “These norms we have aren’t etched in stone,” she said. “We need to change this justice system and more justices would be a great start.”

    Democrats, Shapiro said, need to be aggressive and elevate candidates who will drive down costs, increase access to healthcare, repair the country’s standing in the world and rein in artificial intelligence.

    “We’ve got to understand that our sole mission right now is winning in these midterms and providing a check against Donald Trump at the state and the federal level,” he said. “Then as we go forward, I think we have to understand that rebuilding a federal government like it was before Donald Trump showed up cannot be the answer to the Democratic Party.”

  • People under 30 are most concerned about the environmental impact of data centers

    People under 30 are most concerned about the environmental impact of data centers

    In recent months, the public’s backlash to the artificial intelligence boom has spilled over to a surprising place: college commencement stages. From Florida to California, students have booed speakers who praised AI or highlighted its growing role in today’s society.

    A cohort that historically has supported and quickly adopted cutting-edge technologies is now growing more skeptical.

    The backlash is hardly surprising since AI threatens to wipe out the kind of entry-level jobs that new college graduates depend on. But beneath that immediate threat lies another, less obvious one: the AI boom’s impact on climate change — an issue that young people have grown up worrying about and that has shaped how they view their future.

    In Pennsylvania alone, there are more than 130 AI infrastructure projects either under construction or in the approval pipeline. As demands for AI have increased, utilities and developers are racing to secure enough power to support them. Clean energy projects are already playing an important role in the AI infrastructure build-out.

    But many companies trying to meet energy demands are turning to new fossil fuel plants, reviving coal-fired power, and rolling back their corporate climate goals.

    Shown is the Northampton generating station in Northampton, Pa., in 2024. Gov. Josh Shapiro unveiled a plan to fight climate change Wednesday, saying he will back legislation to make power plant owners in Pennsylvania pay for their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and require utilities in the nation’s third-biggest power-producer to buy more electricity from renewable sources. Matt Rourke

    There is a stark contradiction at the center of this reality. AI is marketed as a 21st-century future-oriented technology, yet much of it is being powered by 19th-century energy sources.

    In addition to the energy demands, data centers can require up to five million gallons of water for cooling per day, including in regions already facing drought and water stress linked to climate change.

    A recent Pew Research Center poll shows that 54% of adults under the age of 30 believe data centers will have negative impacts on the environment. While older cohorts surveyed still express concerns about environmental impacts, it isn’t the majority of respondents as it is with younger people: 44% of those 30 to 49; 35% of people ages 50 to 64, and 26% of those 65 and older.

    The increasing backlash among younger people — which has found expression from college commencement speeches to community forums — points to what research has consistently shown: Younger generations are worried about climate change.

    They are already experiencing the impacts in Pennsylvania: hotter and longer heat waves, more dangerous flooding, worsening drought conditions, and the increase in certain diseases thanks to the territorial expansion of carriers, like ticks.

    Chart shows the rise of tickborne illnesses in Pennsylvania.Pennsylvania Department of Health

    If the growth of AI leads to more fossil fuel use, higher emissions, and worsening air pollution, young people are justified in questioning whether the technological progress is worth the future problems they will inherit.

    Leaders have a responsibility to usher in new development responsibly. One way to do that is to pair data center expansion with investments in clean energy sources. Clean energy is affordable, local, and reliable, and by producing homegrown power, Pennsylvania could potentially lower power bills and protect families from price spikes in the process.

    A clean energy standard for data centers would require that these Big Tech companies use clean energy in increasing percentages over time and that they pay for the required electricity system upgrades to support their operations.

    Another way is for the state to require greater transparency around the electricity and water use of these data centers, so communities understand the tradeoffs required for these proposals in their backyards before agreeing to them.

    Both of these are part of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Standards, approved by the Pennsylvania House on Wednesday, which codify guardrails to protect consumers and hold data center developers accountable. Companion legislation may be introduced in the state Senate in coming days.

    It is a positive move toward responsible development.

    Not all young people skeptical of AI are rejecting it; many are just questioning whether the race to build that future is happening with an understanding of the environmental consequences.

    For the U.S. and Pennsylvania to continue leading in technological innovation while protecting the planet on which young people will build their lives, leaders must take climate change concerns seriously. Young people deserve their future.

    Sanya Carley is the Mark Alan Hughes faculty director of the Kleinman Center. She is also vice provost for climate science, policy, and action at the University of Pennsylvania and presidential distinguished professor of energy policy and city planning at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design.