A former bouncer with hands like 5-pound hams was peppering Bam Margera with rib punches in a small gym at his Chester County castle.
Every few minutes, Margera waved his hands in surrender. He started looking for a place to sit down. Sweat poured down his face, and he struggled to catch his breath
“I need a second,” he said.
Margera had strung together years of bad days recently, but, despite the pain, this wasn’t one of them. Today, he’s sober, in love, skateboarding, spending some time with his family and son, Phoenix Wolf, and, on this early June afternoon, working out, too.
Fans of the Jackass series will get to see him on Friday, June 26, when Jackass: Best and Last, the fifth and final film in the series, is released.
“I think this is the grand finale of it all,” he said.
While Margera didn’t film new stunts or pranks for the latest film and had no interest in attending any premieres (his parents attended) or promotional events, he signed a deal allowing unseen archival footage and outtakes from early Jackass days to be used in the film.
Margera had a public falling out with the Jackass crew over sobriety demands they placed on him before the release of 2022’s Jackass Forever. (He still blames Johnny Knoxville’s “sharp tacks” stunt in a Viva La Bam episode for damaging his feet and hurting his skateboarding career.)
“I’m not ready to reunite with anybody,” he said recently.
Paramount Pictures alleged Margera broke a “wellness agreement” that required him to undergo regular drug and alcohol tests and take prescribed medication to be in the 2022 film. When the film was released, Margera had a brief cameo, and The Inquirer noted that it suffered without Margera’s trademark heartagram symbol and Philly hoagiemouth accent.
Some stars of the show and films, including Stephen “Steve-O” Glover and Brandon Novak, a longtime friend of Margera’s, have gotten sober. While Margera was seemingly blowing up friendships at his worst, Novak, a former pro skater, said he never took it personally.
“I always have and will still love him, wherever he is in his journey,” he told The Inquirerin June.
West Chester native Bam Margera poses for a portrait at his home in Pocopson Township, Chester County on June 4, 2026. After years of personal struggles, Margera says he is sober, skating again, and reconnecting with the “Jackass” franchise, allowing producers to use archival footage of him in the latest film.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Three years ago, Margera seemed hell-bent on burning his own bridges to a better life. He was in California, a long way from his home and family in Chester County. He was even further from good publicity, from his passion — skateboarding — or any semblance of a normal life. In his own words, he became a professional “piece of s—.”
Margera was mired in a custody battle with his ex-wife, Nikki Boyd, along with a slew of other legal issues and lawsuits in Pennsylvania and beyond, plus the subsequent attorney fees. He was in and out of rehabilitation centers for drugs and alcohol, and dealing with medical and mental health issues.
When The Inquirer spoke to Steve-O about Margera in 2023, he said he was ready to help.
“I just can’t do it for him,” Steve-O said at the time. “I tried everything I could to encourage him to want to get better, and none of it worked, so here we are. He has to want to get better.”
“Jackass” star Steve “Steve-O” Glover has been sober for several years but he says his stunts are better than ever.SteveO.com
Margera was placed on a 5150 psychiatric hold when he was found acting erratically outside Trejo’s Tacos in Los Angeles in June of 2023.When he was released, he checked into the Sunset Marquis hotel with more drugs than he’d ever had. Looking back, Margera said he wasn’t suicidal, but he didn’t really expect to wake up.
Still, he said a little prayer that night.
If he survived, Margera expected God to deliver him the “hottest eye candy with a tan pit bull” to save him. When he woke up, surprised to be alive, Margera went out by the pool, ordered a Bloody Mary, and met Daani Marie, a model and stretch coach he later married.
Margera and Daani Marie, who now spend most of their time in Florida, hit it off immediately.
“I really like you,” she said. “Do you want to walk my dog with me?
“What kind of dog do you have?” Bam asked.
“A tan pit bull.”
He looked up at the sun and smiled.
Former Jackass star Bam Margera walks to the Chester County Justice Center on July 27, 2023, for a preliminary hearing.Jose F. Moreno/ Staff Photographer
While he didn’t get sober immediately, Margera credits that night, that chance meeting with Daani Marie the next morning, for at least putting him on the path. The two were married in New Mexico a year later.
“Enough was enough,” Margera said. “I knew if I continued this lifestyle, I’m gonna die this way.”
Margera said he hadn’t been back to Castle Bam in 10 months, and on this June afternoon, was paying Andrew Mehan, a former bouncer in West Chester, for boxing lessons.
Mehan had to kick Margera out of some West Chester bars back in the day. He’d seen Margera in worse shape.
“Come on, get up,” he commanded.
Bam Margera in his personal skateboard park in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 2011. (Charles Fox/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS)Charles Fox / MCT
Suddenly, Margera would rise from his rest with a groan — he still smokes — and snap a few jabs at Mehan.
His father, Phil, the lovable victim of countless pranks and a few punches from Bam over the years, sat in the wings, beaming with pride as his son countered with a few jabs.
“Yeah, he put me through it, but I’ll sit through anything as long as he’s sober,” Phil said.
Margera’s solo show, Viva La Bam!, was set almost entirely in and around Castle Bam, his notorious home and compound in Pocopson Township, Chester County, and also at his parents’ home. The show ran for five seasons on MTV, from October 2003 to August 2005.
Many of Castle Bam’s mainstays were still there: purple luxury cars — a Bentley and Audi in the driveway — skateboard decks on the walls, and lots of Margera’s paintings leaning against the walls. Margera described his style as “Jackson Pollock-ish.”
Brandon “Bam” Margera (right) of MTV’s “Jackass” was born in West Chester, and friend and costar Ryan Dunn moved there as a teen. Above, they were signing autographs after a screening of the movie “Jackass 3D” at Manayunk’s UA Main Street 6 in October 2010.SCOTT WEINER
One skateboard deck featured Ryan Dunn, another steady fixture at Castle Bam back in the day. Dunn, Margera’s longtime friend and a fellow Jackass star, died in a fiery crash after a night of drinking in Chester County in 2011. The two met at 15, at West Chester East High School, and were nearly inseparable thereafter. In the wake of Dunn’s death, Margera turned to food and alcohol — pints of vodka and Gatorade, food binges followed by purges — to deal with the grief.
Margera was interviewed by a television station at the scene. He was mostly sobbing, and when asked how he would get through it, he said he “couldn’t.”
On this June afternoon, there were people, young and old, everywhere at the Castle: in the pool, putting skateboards together, or doing yard work. His wife doesn’t love the cold, so he didn’t plan on spending too much time back at the Castle or any one place, for very long. Pocopson Township, he said, cracked down on his ability to host big gatherings and do outlandish stunts.
“I love Pennsylvania, but I love to travel, too,” he said. “Boredom is my trigger.”
Friends popped in and out, including Dennis Wood, a West Chester native who used to skate at Margera’s as a teen.
“Obviously, there’s been trials and tribulations throughout the years; he took some steps forward, some steps back,” Wood said. “In the last couple of years, this is the best I’ve seen him.”
Margera had very public fallouts with his family during the worst years, too. He was charged with assaulting his brother at Castle Bam in 2023.
Margera’s mother, April, said his legal issues have been resolved and that he seems to be “out of the darkness.” She went to California with him and Phil recently to visit Phoenix Wolf.
“I would like to say I’m really proud of him. He came a long way. We’ve all been through the fire and brimstone, and we seem to be coming out on the other side,” April said in a text message.
Novak, a former star of Jackass and Viva La Bam! who now owns sober living houses in Delaware and New Jersey, said Margera’s family was always the grounding force, a source of unconditional love, and he was happy to hear the Margeras have made amends.
He also loves that Margera is skating again.
“Where he seems to be now is a healing stage,” Novak said recently. “To what degree, I can’t speak on, but it’s better than it was when he wasn’t speaking to his family or the majority of his friends.”
Margera started skateboarding as a teen, with Phil driving him all over the area to pursue his passion, including the late Love Park and FDR Park. Margera’s earliest stunts appeared in videos for his brother’s alt-metal band, CKY, and he got noticed by MTV. His crew was teamed up with other wild men, like Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O. Jackass was born. Margera and Dunn were featured in the first episode on Oct. 1, 2000, riding — crashing, rather — shopping carts.
Phil watched his son’s recent torturous boxing lesson with pride.
“He’s still cute, even at 46,” Phil said.
When the final sparring round was over, Mehan helped pull Margera’s gloves off. Margera slumped down and took deep breaths. A few minutes later, he shuffled out of the gym and walked straight into the deep end of the pool, fully clothed.
“I need to quit smoking,” he said along the way.
Mehan put the day’s boxing lesson into a deeper perspective while he unwrapped his own hands.
“That’s the worst he’ll ever look,” Mehan said of the boxing lesson. “Here’s the deal: He fought through it. He kept saying he was done, that he wanted to quit, but he kept going.”
West Chester native Bam Margera is filmed by a documentary crew as he rests during a boxing workout at his home in Pocopson Township, Chester County.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
We will learn to believe in these Phillies. These Bryce Harper Phillies. These Kyle Schwarber Phillies. These Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez Phillies.
We will learn that, while they might occasionally lose, they are never defeated.
We will learn that, until the last strike of the last out is recorded, they have not yet lost.
We came to learn this about the core of these Phillies in the dead of summer in 2022, and perhaps we should relearn it as summer begins in 2026. Then, they sparked a drive to the World Series with a handful of exhilarating victories. Now, after a wild midweek series in Washington, they might be doing the same.
We will come to accept that, as long as Harp and Schwarbs and Wheels and Sanchey are active and competing and leading the charge, the rest will follow until the very end.
That quartet might not be the best players in baseball, but they are always the best players they can be, and that’s often all that matters, because it inspires their peers to be the same. That’s how the Phillies manage comeback miracles like they produced in D.C. this past week.
Bryce Harper flashed a finger — which he clarified was his ring finger — toward the upper deck in right field as he rounded the bases of his go-ahead two-run homer on Thursday in Washington. Nick Wass
Then, incredibly, it happened Thursday night, too, a 10-5 thriller that launched them to Queens for three against the last-place Mets, who, despite the presence of duplicitous error machine Bo Bichette, have lost six in a row, costing manager Carlos Mendoza his job on Friday.
They won three of four in D.C. Wheeler was scheduled to start Friday in New York.
“We’re coming. Watch out,” Harper told 94 WIP radio. “Obviously, we have a great ball club.”
Great? Maybe.
The momentum is palpable.
Why?
Because the Phillies hit go-ahead home runs in each of the ninth innings of those games, the first time that’s happened in Major League Baseball history.
Harper, scorching, was in the middle of it all Thursday.
Down 5-0 in the fifth, Harper beat out an infield single and scored the first run on Brandon Marsh’s third home run of the four-game series. Harper drove in the third run in the seventh with a 3-2 bases-loaded walk that began a three-run, game-tying frame. Then Harper drove in the go-ahead runs with a 390-foot blast to left-center, the surest sign that Harper’s hot: When he’s going “oppo,” he’s unstoppable.
Harper is 13-for-31 with three homers and seven RBIs in his last eight games. The Phils entered the weekend having won five of six and sit four games behind the idle Braves, the closest they’ve been to the top of the NL East since tax day, when Rob Thomson was still their manager.
They were 9-19 when Thomson was fired 12 days later, and they’re 36-17 since bench coach Don Mattingly took over as interim manager. Maybe it’s been addition by subtraction. More likely, it’s coincidence, since this core group of Phillies has been winning in heart-stopping fashion since it came together in 2022, when the Phils fired Joe Girardi and Thomson took over as interim manager.
The DNA of this club seems independent of its boss.
“Each team is different,” Harper told reporters afterward. “It’s how we are. It’s who we are.”
There were other big moments from big names Thursday, and all week, really. Schwarber, who didn’t start Tuesday or Wednesday, worked a 10-pitch, two-out, pinch-hit walk in the ninth on Wednesday that framed a bigger moment for a lesser player. Trea Turner put his season from hell on hold for the ninth inning Tuesday, when his two-out single began an eight-run inning in which his second two-out single drove in the eighth run.
How could something like this possibly happen again Thursday?
“You’ve got to keep fighting back,” Harper said.
Sánchez stumbled to a 5-0 deficit after 2⅔ innings but stabilized and faced just one batter over the minimum in recording the final seven outs. That preserved the bullpen, as four relievers pitched a scoreless inning apiece. José Alvarado finally looked untouchable in the seventh, and Orion Kerkering, who’d blown a save two days earlier, earned the win when, in the eighth, he stranded a leadoff double at second base and preserved the tie.
It is contagious.
How contagious?
Derek Hill, who was Wednesday’s hero with a pinch-hit, go-ahead, ninth-inning homer, padded the lead Thursday with a two-run shot for a five-run lead. He’s a journeyman outfielder who has been a Phillie for just two weeks, the roster replacement for the Phils’ latest free-agent outfield bust, Adolis García, who had latissimus dorsi repair surgery and is done for the season.
How contagious?
Edmundo Sosa had the first homer, double, and five-RBI night of his eight-year career in Tuesday’s 14-9 win, when they erased a two-run deficit in the ninth. Sosa has a knack for the dramatic. He ended May with a two-run homer in the eighth inning to complete a late comeback in Los Angeles.
How contagious?
Bryson Stott’s three-run homer on Tuesday was his first go-ahead homer in the ninth inning in four years.
“We just have that never-quit mentality,” said Brandon Marsh, the team’s most consistent hitter this season.
Marsh padded his unlikely All-Star resume with a two-run shot in the ninth inning Tuesday that re-tied the game, 8-8, and set up Stott’s moment. Marsh was 9-for-14 and scored five runs in the three comeback wins.
Marsh knows of what he speaks because he’s lived this life before. It’s all he’s ever known, really.
Marsh landed in Philly as a deadline trade piece in 2022 from the Angels having played just 163 games in the majors. He landed in the middle of the Phillies’ crucial surge.
It began July 25, when Stott’s three-run home run in the eighth inning gave the Phillies a 6-4 lead over the visiting Braves. That was the first of 13 wins in 15 games, which allowed them to play .500 ball the rest of the season and still reach the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
Bryson Stott (right) hit the go-ahead three-run homer on Tuesday in the Phillies’ 14-9 comeback win over the Nationals.Jess Rapfogel
It was the first of five games in that span that crackled with late-game electricity.
On July 29, in the top of the 10th inning, Rhys Hoskins ripped an 0-2 fastball 410 feet over the centerfield wall in Pittsburgh for a 4-2 win. The next night, again in the 10th, Hoskins put a ball in play that the Pirates threw away, and that was the difference.
On Aug. 3, the day after Marsh became a Phillie, he was in Atlanta and saw J.T. Realmuto drive in Hoskins with a fielder’s-choice grounder to tie it at 1 in the eighth, then saw the next batter, Nick Castellanos, blast a two-run game-winner.
A week later the Phils managed six hits and three runs in the bottom of the eighth to win, 4-3, over the visiting Marlins.
Does this recent competence mean that the Phillies will reach the World Series this season? Not necessarily.
What it means is, with this Core Four, the faithful should never forsake the season … and they should watch every game until the very last out.
The Flyers entered the night with the No. 21 pick, but traded down with the San Jose Sharks. The deal also netted them two additional picks: No. 62 and No. 120.
“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.
…
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.”
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.
Flyers take defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii with No. 27 pick
The Flyers selected Maksim Sokolovskii after trading back to the No. 27 overall pick in the first round of the NHL draft.
// Timestamp 06/26/26 9:56pm
Flyers should have some good options at No. 27
A couple of good options should be there at No. 27 when the Flyers now pick.
The list of prospects could include Maksim Sokolovskii, Brooks Rogowski, Jack Hextall, Ryder Cali, Tommy Bleyl, and maybe the first goalie off the board, Tobias Trejbal.
I wouldn’t sleep on Casey Mutryn or William Håkansson, either.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Maksim Sokolovskii go at 27 now. Not a fan personally but there's been a lot of smoke around him and the Flyers, and 27 feels like a slightly more defensible spot for him.
TRADE ALERT: We have acquired the 27th, 62nd and 120th overall picks in the 2026 #NHLDraft from San Jose in exchange for the 21st overall pick. pic.twitter.com/bW46IMZYPE
Flyers are up and all three of the undersized blueliners are still on the board in Ryan Lin, Tommy Bleyl, and Xavier Villeneuve. Let's see if the Flyers buck their norm and believe in one of these guys.
Ducks center Mason McTavish has been traded to the St. Louis Blues, using their No. 15 and No. 29 overall picks.
McTavish was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, and signed a 6-year extension worth $7 million annually ahead of the 2025-26 season, but he fell out of favor in Anaheim with the emergence of Cutter Gauthier and Leo Carlsson.
McTavish had been linked with the Flyers over the past two summers given his pedigree, the team’s need at center, his north-south game, and the team’s well-documented trade history with the Anaheim Ducks.
Swedish center Alexander Command, who at one stage was probably someone the Flyers thought they had a shot at but had been rising, goes at No. 12.
With Tynan Lawrence and Command gone, Oliver Suvanto, Ilia Morozov, Jack Hextall, and Brooks Rogowski make up the next group of centers if the Flyers choose to go that route.
Keaton Verhoeff is heading to San Jose. Craig Lassig
With Keaton Verhoeff off the board at No. 9 to San Jose, that closes the book on the top tier of defensive prospects in a draft class heralded for its blueliners.
Expect a run of forwards to come now with Malte Gustafsson and Ryan Lin highlighting the next tier of defensemen. As Jackie Spiegel noted earlier, Tommy Bleyl, MaksimSokolovskii, and Xavier Villeneuve are among the defensemen the Flyers could consider at No. 21.
Pavel Dorofeyev is headed to the Rangers. Ian Maule
The New York Rangers are making a big addition on the wing, reportedly acquiring Pavel Dorofeyev from Vegas for the No. 26 pick, the No. 92 pick and a conditional 2028 first-round pick (condition on the pick is top-10 protected).
Dorofeyev is a restricted free agent who scored 37 goals this past season, and 35 the season prior, plus 12 goals in Vegas’ Stanley Cup Finals run. Dorofeyev is a restricted free agent, joining the Rangers after they finished last in the Metropolitan Division in 2025-26.
Vegas is reportedly one of the teams on Red Wings center Dylan Larkin’s no trade list. Could they be compiling assets to make a run at the Olympic gold medalist? Or even for Stars winger Jason Robertson? The Stars wouldn’t – would they?
Utah Mammoth right winger JJ Peterka is heading to Boston. Melissa Majchrzak
The Boston Bruins are acquiring forward JJ Peterka from the Utah Mammoth for two first-round picks, including the No. 23 pick in the 2026 draft.
Peterka, 24, managed 25 goals this past season for the Mammoth but his first season in Utah went anything but smoothly. The fit never quite worked out and now Boston will take a chance on the German who has a longstanding connection with Bruins coach Marco Sturm.
Peterka’s best season came in 2024-25 when he notched 27 goals and 68 points in 77 games for the Sabres. He is signed for four more seasons at a cap hit of $7.7 million.
Blue Jackets reportedly taking calls on Zach Werenski. Could the Flyers be interested?
Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski could be on the move. Danny Wild, Imagn Images
The Flyers have said they want to become a destination for top players and believe that Rick Tocchet can help in that aim.
Well, another one seems destined to soon hit the market, as the Columbus Blue Jackets are fielding trade calls on Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski, according to Pierre LeBrun.
The report comes after recent rumblings suggested that Werenski, who turns 29 next month, was growing unhappy in Columbus and was not keen to extend with the Blue Jackets when his contract expires in two seasons.
The Flyers will assuredly check in on Werenski, as he is exactly the type of offensive difference-maker they’ve long lacked on the blue line. Werenski has averaged 23 goals, 82 points, and 23 power-play points over the past two seasons and is universally considered one of the best three defensemen in the NHL. Center and a bona fide No. 1 power-play QB are the Flyers’ two biggest needs, and Werenski would certainly check the second box and then some.
The two big questions are would Werenski be open to Philadelphia – he has a full no-move clause and would need to approve any potential destination – and do the Flyers have the pieces to acquire him? Only Werenski knows the answer to the first question, while the Quinn Hughes trade would be a comparable trade to get a sense of Werenski’s value. In that deal, Minnesota traded the equivalent of four first-round picks with Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, and a first-round pick going to Vancouver for fellow Norris winner Hughes.
The Flyers to this point have said they are unwilling to move Porter Martone and Matvei Michkov, but this is the type of player that would likely require one to go the other way. Danny Brière’s plan all along was to go “big-game hunting” this offseason, let’s see if the Flyers’ GM gets aggresive here.
Could the Flyers actually target someone under six feet tall?
Tommy Bleyl (right) is coming off an impressive first season in the QMJHL where he was named the top defensive rookie.DanielStLouis
The Flyers have prioritized size when drafting – and not drafting – defenseman the past few seasons, but with the 21st pick, and a couple of interesting undersized defensive prospects in that range, could they be more apt to consider someone under six foot this year?
While GM Danny Brière and assistant GM Brent Flahr tried to pour cold water on that idea at their recent pre-draft news conference, could the trade of Emil Andrae have changed things slightly. The Flyers don’t have a truly dynamic offensive defensemen in the system, and Ryan Lin, Tommy Bleyl, and Xavier Villeneuve, while all under six feet, would all fit the bill in some regard.
Jackie Spiegel took a deeper look at the three polarizing defenseman and whether the Flyers could break their mold and target a future potential QB for their power play on Friday night.
While fans have been rapidly refreshing X with the NHL hot stove on fire and the clock ticking closer to the NHL draft on Friday night, the Flyers might have teased something.
At around 2 p.m., the team posted a picture of the team’s draft headquarters in Atlantic City with the following caption:”Ready for action in AC.”
On the floor in the middle of the room was a black Liberty Bell outline in highlighter orange trim. Could this be a new alternate logo for the team’s City Connect jerseys? Hmm …
The Flyers are looking for a power-play quarterback, and with very few available as unrestricted free agents beyond 36-year-old John Carlson, they may need to get creative to find one.
Two days after Bowen Byram was traded from Buffalo to Chicago, another young defenseman came off the board with the Sabres acquiring Olen Zellweger, seemingly as Byram’s replacement, for a second-round pick and forward prospect Anton Wahlberg. The dynamic 22-year-old defenseman is a restricted free agent and will need a new contract from Buffalo.
Known for his effortless skating and silky puck skills, the 5-foot-10, 193-pound Zellweger had seven goals and 22 points last season and has PP1 upside. With Byram and Zellweger off the board, the Flyers will have to look elsewhere if they want to add to their blue line this summer.
We have acquired defenseman Olen Zellweger from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for forward Anton Wahlberg and the 45th overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
Likely No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna on what he learned at Penn State
// Timestamp 06/26/26 3:35pm
Watch our Gameday Central draft preview
// Timestamp 06/26/26 1:59pm
Maple Leafs deal Sam Ersson to Senators
Goaltender Samuel Ersson is with his third team in the last two weeks.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Sam Ersson is on the move again.
Ten days after being traded alongside defenseman Emil Andrae to the Toronto Maple Leafs for goaltender Joseph Woll and depth blueliner Simon Benoit, the former Flyers goaltender’s rights were traded across Ontario to Ottawa on Friday.
TRADE ALERT: The #Sens have acquired goaltender Samuel Ersson from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a 5th round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. pic.twitter.com/MkEuWY9XEt
The Leafs recouped a fifth-round pick for Ersson’s rights, while Ottawa will now likely qualify the restricted free agent goaltender. His minimum qualifying offer is $1.6 million.
Ersson, 26, amassed a 65-50-17 record and .884 save percentage in four up-and-down seasons in Philadelphia. Last year, he posted 14-11-5 record with a .870 SV%, but he was excellent after the Olympic break with a .912 save percentage in nine games. In Ottawa, he could form an all-Swedish tandem with Linus Ullmark.
Maksim Sokolovskii (center) tied forward Brooks Rogowski for the tallest players measured at this year’s combine.Courtesy of London Knights
Who the Flyers will actually select in the first round is now just hours away from being revealed.
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 draft for The Inquirer, we have the Flyers picking a fourth different player.
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 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.
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 and isn’t the big project that other draft picks have been.
Click here for a more in-depth breakdown of Sokolovskii and a look ahead at who the Flyers might take on Day 2.
Will Flyers join Rangers and Blues in Mason McTavish sweepstakes?
Anaheim Ducks center Mason McTavish is reportedly available this summer.Katie Chin
It’s no secret that Danny Brière and the Flyers are poking around the trade market for a top-six center. One name that has come up quite a bit over the past two seasons is Anaheim’s Mason McTavish. The 23-year-old center, who was the No. 3 pick in the 2021 draft, has fallen out of favor in Anaheim is reportedly available this summer.
The latest update from Pierre LeBrun is that Anaheim has offers on the table from the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues for the player but that there is still time for another team to get involved.
On Mason McTavish, Anaheim still talking to Rangers and Blues about their offers. NYR package includes roster player while St. Louis offer is picks. If the Ducks make the Blues trade, the idea would be to flip said pick(s) before tonight to go get roster player(s) in separate…
The appeal with McTavish is obvious: He’s a young player with draft pedigree who two seasons ago tallied 22 goals and 52 points on a bad Ducks team. He’s the exact type of reclamation project the Flyers have been attracted to in recent years — Jamie Drysdale, Trevor Zegras, David Jiříček. He’s also a rugged player who gets to the hard areas and can help a power play as a net-front presence and as a goal scorer. The Flyers and Ducks have also done two recent deals with one another which adds further smoke here.
The question is after slumping to 17 goals and 41 points and being a healthy scratch in the playoffs this season, is McTavish someone you want to commit to for the next five seasons at $7 million per? He’s also been a defensive liability as a pro and is not the most fleet of foot — two things that could sway the Flyers in a different direction.
We’ll keep an eye on this one but for now it looks like McTavish won’t be the answer for the Flyers down the middle.
Nine players the Flyers could target in the first round
Could the Flyers take Maddox Dagenais, a potent right winger, in the first-round?Jonathan Roy
The first round of the 2026 NHL draft is just hours away, and the Flyers are scheduled to pick at No. 21.
Who will be there, before general manager Danny Brière’s turn to face the camera and announce the pick, is anyone’s guess. With the expectation that prospects like Wyatt Cullen, Ryan Lin, and Alexander Command — who really does scream Flyer more than anyone on this list — will be long gone, here are nine players (in alphabetical order) the team could take in the first round.
Senators defenseman Jordan Spence (right) is reportedly returning to Ottawa on a four-year deal. Spencer Colby
One of the top restricted free agent defenseman is off the board as Jordan Spence is closing in on a four-year, $20 million contract extension with the Ottawa Senators, according to multiple reports.
Spence, 25, had 31 points last season and had been mentioned in some recent trade chatter. The undersized blueliner’s extension likely doesn’t take Ottawa out of the Rasmus Ristolainen sweepstakes, as Spence is a very different defenseman to the Flyers’ bruiser.
Ottawa, who are lucky to get bigger on the blue line are one of the teams that have been linked to Ristolainen in recent weeks. Ristolainen, 31, is entering the final year of his current contract and is likely not part of the Flyers’ long-term future. With prices high, the Flyers could opt to cash in on the rugged defenseman now, especially given Ristolainen’s extensive injury history.
South Jersey native Tony DeAngelo re-signs with Isles
Former Flyers defenseman and Sewell native Tony DeAngelo is staying in the Metropolitan Division. Sportsnet reported Friday that DeAngelo will sign a two-year contract to remain a New York Islander.
The offensive defenseman, who played the 2022-23 season for his hometown Flyers, tallied five goals and 35 points in 76 games last season for the Islanders. DeAngelo, 30, had 11 goals, 42 points, and a minus-27 rating in his lone season in Philadelphia before being bought out a season before his contract expired following a clash with former coach John Tortorella.
Mock draft roundup: Lots of options for the Flyers
Ilia Morozov could be an option in the first round.Liv Kakabeeke/Miami Athletics
The Flyers have the 21st overall pick in the NHL draft — they also have three more picks on Day 2 — but there doesn’t seem to be any kind of consensus on who Danny Brière and Co. will select Friday night. Here’s a roundup of who some experts think the Flyers will take …
[Note: In Jackie’s final mock draft, which published after this post went live, she has the Flyers taking defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii]
The Athletic: Ilia Morozov, C, Miami (NCAA) — Philadelphia continues to build out its center depth with a potential middle-six pivot in Morozov. Lawrence and Hextall are also possibilities. — Corey Pronman
ESPN: Maksim Sokolovskii, D, London (OHL) — The Flyers have not been shy about drafting a certain type of player — especially given coach Rick Tocchet’s influence on the organization. [Porter] Martone, Jack Nesbitt, Jack Murtagh and Shane Vansaghi are massive players with a physical edge. … The 6-7 Sokolovskii seems like the prototypical Philadelphia Flyer. He’s enormous, skates well, has a mile-long mean streak and is widely considered the hardest hitter in the draft class. All of that screams Tocchet type. — Rachel Kryshak
NHL.com: Maksim Sokolovskii, D, London (OHL) — Sokolovskii checks a lot of boxes for the Flyers. At 6-7, 240, he was the biggest player measured at the NHL Scouting Combine, and he’s a left-handed shot, an area where Philadelphia is thin among its prospects. He also comes from a London program the Flyers have trusted for player development in the past, including defenseman Oliver Bonk and forward Denver Barkey. — Adam Kimelman
NHL.com: Thomas Bleyl, D, Moncton (QMJHL) — If Bleyl (5-11, 170) is here, it makes sense for the Flyers to grab him to replenish their defensemen prospect pool. The 18-year-old is a dynamic puck-moving defenseman who emerged as one of the draft’s pleasant surprises thanks to his offensive production and elite skating ability. A natural power-play quarterback, he makes plays consistently while still holding his own defensively. — Mike G. Morreale
Bleacher Report: Mathis Preston, RW, Vancouver Giants (WHL) — On our draft board, we have Mathis Preston ranked as a high second-rounder. But draft boards and mock drafts are not the same thing, and it’s believable that a team will choose to select him in the first round. Last go-round, we tried the Vancouver Canucks out as a fit; for this one, we thought the Philadelphia Flyers were an interesting landing spot. He brings incredible speed, he’s a later birthday, and his passing and handling are top-notch. — Hannah Stuart
Porter Martone (left) was one of two first-round picks for the Flyers in the 2025 draft. The team only has one this year.Damian Dovarganes / AP
The 2026 NHL draft officially starts at 7 p.m., but the Flyers won’t be on the clock for a lottery pick.
The first round of the draft will air live on ESPN, hosted by John Buccigross alongside analyst Kevin Weekes, NHL insider Emily Kaplan, and Draft and hockey analytics expert Meghan Chayka. ESPN will also
The second round begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday on the NHL Network, and the draft will end with the seventh round that same evening.
When do the Flyers pick?
After winning a playoff series over Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2026 postseason, the team’s first since 2019-20, the Flyers will pick at No. 21 overall during Friday’s first round.
The Flyers will also have three picks on Saturday: in the second round (53rd overall), fifth round (136th overall) and seventh round (213th overall).
Alexander Command’s coach with Örebro HK U20 called him a game-breaker.Courtesy of Örebro HK U20/Erik Widlund
Flyers beat writer Jackie Spiegel’s No. 1 choice for the No. 21 pick tonight, if he’s available, is 18-year-old Alexander Command, a center for Örebro HK of the Swedish Hockey League.
Unfortunately, Spiegel expects Command to be “long gone” when the Flyers pick. In her most recent mock draft, published last week, Spiegel had the Flyers taking center Jack Hextall, a distant cousin of former Flyers goalie and general manager Ron Hextall.
“This Hextall is a 6-foot-½ inch, 195-pound right-shot centerman who is projected to play a middle-six role,” Spiegel wrote, adding the “Flyers love picking centers in the first round.”
FloHockey draft and prospect analyst Chris Peters is also high on Command, praising his “physicality” and his “doggedness in pursuit of the puck.”
“Just the absolute annoyingness of just getting under your skin, and I think that there’s a lot to like about that player,” Peters said of Command on Flyers Gameday Central. “The comp that I had for him was Brayden Schenn and I think he probably has a higher motor, even there. Brayden Schenn was physical and mean, and he could score, and that’s what I think Command can do, too.”
Flyers land more draft picks by trading veteran forward Garnet Hathaway
Garnet Hathaway was part of a formidable fourth line in the playoffs for the Flyers.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
The Flyers are making a few changes on the fourth line.
The team announced Thursday that Garnet Hathaway has been traded to the Florida Panthers along with a 2026 sixth-round pick for a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft and a 2027 fourth-rounder. The Flyers now own four picks in this weekend’s NHL draft: 21, 53 (second round), 136 (fifth round), and 213 (seventh round).
Signed as a free agent in 2023, the 34-year-old winger played three seasons in Philadelphia and put up three points in 66 games last season, down from his 21 points in 2024-25 and 17 in 2023-24. Alongside Sean Couturier and Luke Glendening, he was part of a formidable fourth line in the playoffs, scoring one goal and recording one assist in eight games while asserting himself physically.
A Maine native who graduated from Brown, the undrafted Hathaway ranked fourth in hits in the NHL across his three seasons in Philly. The past two seasons, for every hit the Flyers recorded, Hathaway and his wife, Lindsay, pledged to donate to local first responders with a match from Flyers Charities through Hits for Hath’s Heroes. Following the 2024-25 season, the Hathaways donated $30,000 to the Families Behind the Badge Children’s Foundation, a Conshohocken-based nonprofit.
Hathaway has one year left on his two-year extension signed last July 1, which is worth $2.4 million annually. A team source has confirmed to The Inquirer that the Flyers will retain 50% of Hathaway’s salary, leaving a cap charge of $1.2 million on the books for 2026-27.
Could the Flyers trade away or acquire more picks?
Flyers general manager Danny Brière (right) and assistant general manager Brent Flahr speak to reporters ahead of the 2026 NHL draft.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Maybe?
In a news conference earlier this month, Flyers general manager Danny Brière did say he was OK with having only four picks now in the upcoming draft — one each in the first, second, sixth, and seventh rounds — and he did call the first- and second-round picks “the key.” But he also said everything is on the table.
“We’ve drafted so much the last few years [so] it might not be quite a bad thing to not have as many this year,” he said. “But, if I had the choice, yeah, I would rather have more picks.”
Fair, because who doesn’t want to keep stocking the cupboard? But what if it meant trading a first-rounder for a young player who could fit into the lineup today?
“Yeah, we’re getting closer to that. I don’t know that we’re quite there yet, but we’re certainly willing to listen on different ideas,” he said. “I’m not too keen on trading future first-round picks, because you never know where it can go, and we’re not at [where] Colorado or Carolina [are] at this point, where you know we’re going to be finishing [high] and picking late first [round]. I don’t think we’re quite there yet.”
Russian air defenses intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones in a major nighttime attack on 12 Russian regions as well as the Russia-held Crimean peninsula, the Black Sea and the Azov Sea, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday.
It appeared to be one of the biggest drone attacks on Russia and the illegally annexed Crimea since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago. The previous biggest Ukrainian attack over the past year was 556 drones on May 17.
In an effort to turn the tables on Russia’s grinding war of attrition, Ukrainian long-range drones have for months been battering targets, including oil production and energy facilities, behind the front line and deep inside Russia. The campaign has choked Russian fuel supplies and military deliveries, stalling Moscow’s efforts on the battlefield, Western officials and analysts say, and heaped pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Initial damage reports from Russia after the overnight attack provided scant information. Russia’s Defense Ministry usually doesn’t say what was targeted in Ukraine’s drone attacks, nor does it detail any damage.
Ukraine’s Security Service said it used drones to strike Russian navy ships and air defense radars in Kerch, an important port city in Crimea.
The targets were two reconnaissance and mine-laying ships, the Volga and the Vyatka, and the cargo-passenger ferry Petropavlovsk, the agency said, claiming that the strikes started a large fire. The claim could not be independently verified.
Successful drone attacks hearten Ukraine
The major attack came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that he had ordered “a 40-day influence operation,” believed to mean an escalation of attacks, aimed at “compelling (Russia) to end the war” after U.S. peace efforts over the past year yielded no breakthrough.
The successful strikes, including hitting targets in Moscow and St. Petersburg, have buoyed Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said he got further promises of foreign support when he attended a recent summit of G7 leaders, including from U.S. President Donald Trump, and that the promised aid will help Ukraine step up its effort to force Putin to the negotiating table.
A NATO summit next month could be another key moment in beefing up Ukraine’s military.
A Russian chemical plant is reportedly hit
In the Tula region just south of Moscow, a private house was damaged by the attack and a woman was wounded, Tula Gov. Dmitry Milyaev said in an online statement, as reports of damage caused by the attack began to emerge.
He also said a power line was damaged and an unspecified industrial facility in the city of Novomoskovsk.
Russian independent online outlet Astra reported that a chemical plant and a hydroelectric plant in Novomoskovsk were attacked and caught fire. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the report, and there was no official confirmation.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin also reported that 47 Ukrainian drones were downed as they flew toward the Russian capital. He did not report any casualties or damage.
Ukraine says 2 civilians were killed in Russian attacks
Two people were killed and seven others injured in Russian attacks on the northeastern Kharkiv region over the previous 24 hours, regional head Oleh Syniehubov said Friday.
Russian forces struck the city of Kharkiv and 16 other settlements across the region using guided aerial bombs and drones of various types, Syniehubov said.
Ukraine’s defenses overnight stopped 174 of 189 Russian drones, the Ukrainian air force said. However, four of seven Iskander-M ballistic missiles that were fired got through air defenses and struck various locations, it said.
Ukrainian officials reported damage to energy facilities, homes and other civilian infrastructure in the capital, Kyiv, the southern Odesa and Zaporizhzhia regions, and Sumy in the northeast. At least six people were wounded, according to authorities.
No Russian military buildup seen on border with Belarus, Ukraine says
Russia is expanding several of its military sites deep inside Belarus, but there is no buildup of forces near the Ukrainian border, a State Border Guard Service spokesman said Friday.
Russia launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine from Belarus, which borders both countries, and Kyiv has kept a close watch on developments there during the war.
Ukrainian intelligence units have detected no grouping or reinforcement of Russian units, equipment or personnel close to the border, spokesman Andrii Demchenko said in remarks to Ukrainian television.
However, Russia has a growing number of training grounds, bases and other sites deeper inside the country, according to intelligence units.
President Donald Trump shocked transit officials last year when he said that he would seize control of the long-delayed renovation of Penn Station, one of the busiest and most maligned transit hubs in the world.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the New York state agency that had been in charge of the project and frequently found itself at odds with Washington, offered a surprising response: It’s all yours.
Now, federal officials may need the cooperation of that same agency, which controls a large portion of the space, if it intends to keep its promise to break ground on the Penn Station revamp by the end of next year. And the partnership is not off to a good start.
On Monday, Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chief executive, wrote a scathing letter to Amtrak, the national rail company that owns Penn Station, and the U.S. Department of Transportation, whose overtures he described as a lot of “blah-blah” and “gamesmanship.”
“When the Trump administration announced it was taking over the reconstruction project, we were cautiously optimistic, despite the typically gratuitous (and fact-free) snipes USDOT and Amtrak took at the MTA,” he said. “But the process since then has been simply bizarre.”
At the center of the dispute is a web of tangled stakeholders. While Amtrak owns Penn Station, the MTA is its busiest tenant, accounting for two-thirds of the riders who pass through each day. They use it to board the subway system and the Long Island Rail Road, both of which are operated by the MTA New Jersey’s rail network, NJ Transit, also runs service there. The labyrinthine station sits beneath Madison Square Garden, the arena controlled by James Dolan, a close friend of Trump’s.
Amtrak announced in April 2025 that it would proceed with a plan to make room for a new, classically inspired train hall, but has yet to disclose the cost. Sean Duffy, the U.S. transportation secretary, has said that the federal government could spend $8 billion on the project.
Lieber said that the renovation plan had the “appearance of impropriety” because the process to select a developer was opaque. The winning proposal involves a plan to buy and demolish a portion of the arena called the Infosys Theater, and replace it with a grand entrance on Eighth Avenue. Amtrak has yet to disclose what it might pay Dolan for the privilege.
In October, Amtrak sent the MTA a “collaboration agreement” that it said would help expedite renovation decisions by granting the federal government more oversight. But the MTA has not signed on to the arrangement, arguing that the deal could compromise an existing and much stronger contract — a prepaid lease that gives the agency more latitude in station design decisions. That pact doesn’t expire for 160 years.
Lieber said that the agreement offered last year by Amtrak would limit the MTA’s ability to influence design decisions, constrain the ways it communicates changes to riders and cede other rights.
“Not interested,” he wrote.
Lieber’s letter this week was a response to a missive from Andy Byford, a former head of the MTA’s transit division. He had been nicknamed “train daddy” by his supporters because of popular changes he put in place. Byford left the transit agency after a public dispute with Andrew Cuomo, who was governor at the time.
But Byford, who has occasionally had a tense relationship with Lieber, is now in charge of Trump’s federal takeover of the Penn Station redesign.
“It is disingenuous for some to continue to assert that MTA has been ‘frozen out,’ ‘sidelined,’ or ‘excluded’ by Amtrak. Rather, it has been MTA’s repeated choice over the past year to opt out of participating in the project,” he wrote in a letter sent to reporters Sunday — a day before the MTA received it.
Like most landlord-tenant relationships, this one is fraught. The MTA in October blamed Amtrak for delaying by three years an expansion of railroad service in the Bronx, because it did not grant enough access to their shared infrastructure. In April, Amtrak sued the MTA for refusing to let some of its new trains ride on the transit agency’s tracks. (A judge sided with the MTA.) And for months, the two groups have clashed over the repair schedule for tunnels under the East River that provide service to Penn Station.
Wednesday, after an MTA board meeting, Lieber said that he was willing to work with Amtrak, but not at the expense of protections guaranteed in their lease, such as the right to challenge construction decisions that could affect LIRR service.
“The idea that we should give away rock-solid rights in favor of a lick and a promise, a hope and a prayer that they might agree to do what we think are the important things to do, is not realistic,” he said.
Byford said in a statement that Amtrak had already made amendments to the agreement, and insisted that the contract would not “water down” the MTA’s lease. NJ Transit has already signed a version of the pact.
MTA officials have raised concerns that the Penn Station redevelopment plan, led by the companies Halmar and Skanska and designed by the architecture firm PAU, could generate costs that might be borne by New York transit riders.
In an interview Wednesday, Byford insisted that the plan would not require ticket surcharges or fare increases for passengers who use Penn Station.
“That’s not how budgets work,” he said, calling that fear unfounded. But he left open possibly finding other ways to fully pay for the project.
The MTA’s reluctance to sign the agreement may cause friction with Gov. Kathy Hochul, who effectively controls the agency. She has said that she supports Trump’s takeover of Penn Station, provided that the cost is not passed on to New Yorkers.
Hochul received a presentation last week from Penn Transformation Partners, the private consortium of developers and architects that the federal government selected to lead the redesign, according to three people familiar with the meeting.
Sean Butler, a spokesperson for Hochul, said the governor believed that delivering a better Penn Station “is too important to not work collaboratively and constructively with all partners.”
When asked about the MTA’s response, Byford said that he liked Lieber, and that the two of them had a good working relationship when they led different divisions of the agency.
“This is just a professional disagreement,” he said.
But Wednesday, in a statement attributed to Byford, Amtrak said that the redesign of Penn Station will continue, with or without the MTA’s help.
“We don’t need them to sign; we will proceed regardless,” Amtrak said. “Gov. Hochul gets that, the MTA does not, it would appear.”
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — In cities across northern Venezuela, neighbors helped each other dig through rubble to search for loved ones, after back-to-back earthquakes killed at least 589 people and left thousands injured.
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez announced the new toll early Friday, surrounded by government and military officials as she welcomed the arrival of rescue crews from all over the world.
“We are going to rescue the people who are trapped,” she said. “We are working tirelessly on this task.”
The number of casualties is expected to climb with thousands reported missing and frantic rescue efforts continuing.
The International Organization for Migration said that up to 6.76 million people in Venezuela could be affected by the quakes, some 2 million of them in Caracas alone. Loyce Pace, the International Red Cross’ regional director for the Americas, said ” people are still terrified to reenter what were their homes.”
The injured were pulled out covered in dust and blood, among them children. Venezuelan state TV showed dramatic images of rescues, including a woman who was trapped under a cement slab with only a bare foot poking out before rescuers slid her out alive. But few government search teams were initially seen outside Caracas.
Venezuelans reeling from quakes
Many were stunned Thursday morning as they saw buildings reduced to skeletons, furniture hanging out of windows and helicopters circling overhead. Buildings were flattened and streets cracked open.
Families posted missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched. Venezuelans abroad struggled to make contact with relatives due to interrupted phone service in the country.
In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, parking lots and other open spaces.
Mother of three Dayana Delgado asked where the heavy machinery was that government officials had promised and said residents were the ones digging through crumpled buildings.
“I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,” she said of her missing 8-year-old son.
One mother sobbed and collapsed in grief as the bodies of her 3- and 10-year-old children were wrapped in blankets and carried away. Others screamed the names of the missing. Some stood in silent shock.
Venezuelan authorities said they were diverting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which is no stranger to natural disasters: A 1999 mudslide killed thousands and is considered one of the country’s worst natural disasters.
In La Guaira, Cristian Carreño stared at his charred apartment building tilting precariously to one side.
“I lost everything,” he said. “There are people still inside, I imagine, that couldn’t get out. It’s incredibly devastating.”
Retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Mendaño climbed through wreckage in La Guaira and past a dead body when he spotted a woman who was trapped and signaling with her hand for help.
“May God rescue her as quickly as possible,” Mendaño said. “When we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.”
Media reports have shared notable moments of hope among the destruction, including a young man brought out on a stretcher in the San Bernardino district of Caracas to the applause of onlookers as his tearful mother said, “Leandro, I love you.”
Venezuelan public television broadcast video of a girl covered in dust and wrapping herself in a dark sweatshirt as she emerged from rubble with the help of rescuers. Caracas metropolitan rescue team head José Luis Núñez said she was found in a 10-story building in La Guaira that collapsed and flattened “like a pancake.”
“We want to highlight this girl’s strength, determination and will to live,” Núñez said.
Government and rescuers face huge challenges
The natural disaster is the latest challenge for acting President Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the capture and removal from power of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the United States. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez represents.
Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes.
She appealed to businesses Thursday to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations.
“We hope to rescue as many living people as possible,” Rodríguez said.
While Venezuela sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America.
The U.S. Geological Survey said both earthquakes were centered near Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) west of Caracas.
The one-two punch of the quakes, combined with the shallow seismic movements, amplified the destruction, said Marcos Ferreira, a geophysicist and researcher at the Geological Survey of Brazil.
“It is as if I am screaming and then someone starts screaming, too. That amplifies the vibration and adds to the potential hazard,” Ferreira said.
Shortly after United Nations officials in Venezuela called on the government to lift social media restrictions so people can get potentially life-saving information, Venezuelans in the country were able to access X. The site had been blocked by Maduro since August 2024 in an attempt to suppress the exchange of information among those who rejected his claim of victory in the July presidential election.
Foreign governments offer assistance
Some 1,000 emergency responders in 25 search-and-rescue teams from across the globe are deploying to Venezuela, said Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke to Rodríguez following the quake, said the United States was immediately deploying assistance.
“We have a whole-of-government response. It’ll be big; it’ll be fast; and it’ll be effective,” Rubio said, while acknowledging the closure of Venezuela’s main airport near Caracas created logistical challenges.
Venezuelan public television on Friday showed the arrival of rescuers with dogs and equipment, including cameras and ground-penetrating radar, from Spain. Teams from Germany, Chile and Switzerland also landed. Turkey announced two flights will leave Istanbul on Friday with rescuers and a pair of search dogs. China also said it will provide assistance. Leaders from Qatar, Brazil, Portugal and Canada vowed to send help.
Rescue teams from El Salvador and the Dominican Republic arrived in Venezuela on Thursday, along with rescuers and material aid from Mexico.
“No country is prepared to provide the response that’s needed. That’s what neighboring countries are there for,” Dominican air force Maj. Carlos Olivares said.
Born above a Philadelphia bakery and forged in Willow Grove, Edward M. Weinrich, 92, died of natural causes at his home beside a Florida river on June 17 surrounded by the sons who keep his beloved cake shop alive.
Weinrich’s parents ran a bake shop on Front Street in North Philadelphia before opening their Willow Grove konditorei — the German word for patisserie — at 55 Easton Rd. in 1952. By the 1970s, Weinrich had graduated from Villanova University, spent two years stationed in Hawaii with the Army, had five children, and taken over the Willow Grove bakery with his wife, Kippy, selling cookies, pies, danishes and cakes — many made from inherited recipes, like their famous butter cake.
“Still today there are recipe books in the bakery archive that are written in German,” said Stephen Weinrich, the youngest of his five sons.
Edward and Kathryn Weinrich pose in Villanova sweatshirts with their four oldest children.courtesy of Stephen Weinrich
He also invented his own: In the 1960s, Weinrich worked with food scientists to develop his signature frosting — a buttercream that doesn’t turn gritty. It’s still used in custom cakes the store makes for birthdays, weddings, and First Holy Communions.
Weinrich learned the trade from his dad, Herman, who left Naumburg in 1913 to help his brother August run a Manhattan bakery, opening his own in 1919. (It is descendants of their cousin, Ludwig, who operate R. Weinrich German Bakery in Newtown Square.)
Weinrich made wedding cakes for many couples over the years. By the end of his career in 2005, he was making wedding cakes for their grandchildren.
“My mother … wouldn’t get dressed to go to the doctors, but she’d call and order and drive down in her nightgown and robe for a curbside pickup,” one social media user wrote. “Her last trip to the hospital, she only worried that we froze her Weinrich order so it didn’t go to waste.”
“We were just blown away,” said Michael Kirby, the bakery’s general manager and Weinrich’s great nephew. “It’s unbelievable how many people had such fond memories of him and the things we made.”
Their products travel far, Kirby added. “We have people come from across the country for our butter cakes because they can’t get them anywhere else.”
Weinrich’s Bakery in Willow Grove.courtesy of Weinrich's Bakery
Three of Weinrich’s sons still work for the bakery, which is now owned by the third son, Herman, and his wife, Beth.
Though they took over the store in the 2000s, Weinrich and Kippy still showed up regularly to offer advice and to greet many of the bakery’s lifelong customers.
After Kippy died of Alzheimer’s disease in 2015, Weinrich retired to Fort Myers, Florida. But he still asked about the bakery daily, Herman and Beth wrote on social media.
Their cousins’ kids are now there full-time, too, Stephen said: “We have a fourth generation of family working every day in the store.”
Weinrich was an active member of his parishes at St. David Roman Catholic Church in Willow Grove and then Immaculate Conception Church in Jenkintown, and a longtime supporter of the Abington Police Athletic League, Stephen said.
“He is and will forever be remembered for his kind presence and loyalty to all of us,” Herman and Beth wrote.
Funeral arrangements will be made after Weinrich is returned to Pennsylvania, the family said.
He leaves behind his sons and their families, including 16 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
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John Serock closed on the historic wedding venue Loch Aerie Mansion on a Tuesday. The first wedding was that Saturday.
It was a natural transition for Serock, whose catering company has exclusively worked with the venue since its former owners, Steven and Dana Poirier, purchased the Malvern mansion in 2016 with the intention of giving the property a new life. Serock had come in early in the process, working with the Poiriers as they restored the historic estate and turned it into its latest iteration: a wedding venue.
But Serock had first laid eyes on the property, which is more than a century old, in 2006. He had a storefront up the street and, one day, with the leaves off the trees, the mansion just appeared before him. He thought it would make a “cool” wedding venue.
Now, 20 years after that first sighting, the mansion has become Serock’s first venue of the sort.
“I was starting to get the itch to maybe look into my own venue, and then COVID hit, and I swore I said it’ll be a long time before I ever sign another piece of paper,” he said. “Then as the few years went on, and we started talking with Loch Aerie, I went back and forth … did we need this next step? But when I really broke it down, this is something I felt I needed.”
Serock closed in mid-May, purchasing the property for $3 million and the business for $1 million. His company took over the existing book of business, honoring all future weddings. It is working on filling up the rest of the calendar, aiming for not a single Saturday off, he said.
Under the new ownership, Serock plans few cosmetic changes — except making more photo-worthy backdrops — but will focus on operational tweaks and increasing business from corporate and nonprofit clients midweek.
The venue is rolling out “Nonprofit Thursdays,“ offering “severely discounted” rates for nonprofits to throw fundraisers during the week.
To appeal more to business leaders, it is looking into putting a central sound system, so clients do not have to bring in a separate company.
More generally, Serock is looking to add a liquor license — Loch Aerie is currently BYOB — with the goal of making things as “easy and turnkey as possible” for clients, he said.
For weddings, which make up 95% of Loch Aerie’s business, the venue lowered its offseason pricing immediately, Serock said. Saturdays in the offseason will run $7,000, compared with about $10,000 during the peak in May, June, September, and October. Fridays and Sundays go from $4,500 in the offseason to $8,000 and $7,000, respectively.
The four-story stone mansion has a newly constructed 5,000-square-foot ballroom addition that accommodates around 200 guests. The venue features billiards and dining rooms, a parlor, an entry hall and dramatic stairway, suites to get ready, and outdoor spaces.
Serock sees this as a first of several venues to come, hoping to build a portfolio out of multiple properties. He is not in a rush, he said, and Loch Aerie has served as a learning experience.
“You couldn’t ask for a better opportunity, because really, like I said, nothing changed,” he said. “It’s an easier transition, because I already understood ‘where’s the circuit breaker,’ or ’how’s this work’ … so that’s a good first step. And even since then, I learned a lot.”
In the years before that, it served as a home or a business space for those “whose occupancies were short lived and rather destructive,” according to the website.
Since first seeing the property in 2006, Serock has heard dozens of stories about it — almost folkloric in its history between historic design and a biker gang — and how it has served as a reference point, a piece of Chester County legacy.
“For me, we’re building these new memories with our couples and families, but I think it’s really important that we’ve been able to also save and maintain this property, especially in the age where everybody wants to just knock down and have the brand, the shiny new toy, and whether it’s a house or car,” Serock said. “I think it’s really cool that we’ve had this opportunity to save this house. The Poiriers saved it, but we’re continuing that legacy.”
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After more than a century as a dry town, Collingswood is considering lifting its ban on alcohol sales within the borough.
For months, the three-person Collingswood Board of Commissioners has been discussing whether to lift the long-standing restrictions on liquor sales both as a potential new revenue source for the borough and as a way to bolster the local restaurant industry.
Per the state’s population-based license cap 一 one liquor license for every 3,000 residents — Collingswood would be able to issue as many as four retail consumption licenses that permit restaurants or bars to serve alcohol, or one distribution license for a liquor store within borough limits.
If liquor sales are eventually permitted, the borough could receive anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 annually through licensing and renewal fees.
But discussions are still preliminary as the commissioners work to determine what is best for Collingswood’s existing restaurant and business owners, borough administrator Cassandra Duffey said.
“There’s a general sense that liquor can be a good thing, but there’s a concern that if it’s done in a way that’s unbalanced, it can also throw people off,” she said.
“Is there strength in the dry-town brand that has been around for years and years?” Duffey said.
Tracing back to its Quaker roots, Collingswood has prohibited alcohol sales by ordinance since the 19th century.
A change to the policy would require public approval through a referendum during the November general election, borough solicitor Caitlin Harney Norcia said.
To begin that process, the borough’s commissioners would need to adopt a resolution by Aug. 21 so that the Camden County Clerk’s Office has enough time to add the question to the ballot. In order to adopt the resolution, at least 15% of voters who participated in the last general election must sign a public petition in favor of putting the question on the ballot, Harney Norcia said.
After that, “repealing any kind of prior restrictions could all be done relatively easily,” Harney Norcia said, describing the logistics of updating local ordinances if a referendum passes.
If voters approve lifting the ban, Harney Norcia said, the borough could either award licenses in a competitive bidding process, which could generate one-time revenue for Collingswood’s budget, or enact an application and review process that includes annual fees and public presentations by prospective licensees.
But if the measure were to fail on Election Day, Collingswood would be barred from holding another referendum on alcohol sales for five years, according to state law.
Some business owners have expressed concern that the public bidding process could result in one of the borough’s few licenses being awarded to an outside business instead of an established Collingswood restaurant, Duffey said.
“The challenge is not to disrupt the balance of businesses that already exist here,” she said. “If you get a bidder that gets a license from outside of town, sure, you get the revenue, but then you’ve added somebody and it doesn’t necessarily benefit one of our businesses.
“The other option is to award [the licenses] directly, but then somebody must make a decision on who gets them, which is also a challenge,” she added.
The commissioners are in continued talks with the borough’s business improvement team, local restaurateurs, and others about the best approach, she said.
“Is there a way to distribute licenses or award licenses that is a boost for everybody?” Duffey said.
The internal debate in Collingswood comes less than two years after residents in neighboring Haddon Heights voted to get rid of its de facto ban on liquor sales. The town has set a $200,000 minimum bid for its first retail liquor license and is currently accepting applications ahead of a public auction sale in September.
Haddon Heights is hoping to leverage the new liquor licenses as a way to help boost a broader revival and redevelopment, Mayor Zachary Houck said.
The licenses “would hopefully draw in one or two additional restaurants or enhance existing restaurants and let us then continue to move that ball forward when it comes to enhancing our downtown historic district,” Houck said.
Making more, and more affordable, liquor licenses available statewide was a goal of legislation then-Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law in 2024. The measure was touted as an unprecedented reform of New Jersey’s liquor laws, long described by critics as arcane and antiquated.
“By easing restrictions and boosting the availability of licenses, we are creating new opportunities for small businesses, especially mom-and-pop establishments, to expand and facilitate development on main streets across New Jersey,” Stella Porter, a spokesperson for Murphy, told The Inquirer that year.
“I had fun doing that,” describing “how AI algorithms were working on a microscopic level,” Mahin said.
Now an Upper Darby graduate, Mahin, 18, was honored at the White House earlier this month for a proposal he created for another use for AI: to combat human trafficking.
First lady Melania Trump praised Mahin and the other five winning teams of the inaugural Presidential AI Challenge at a June 9 ceremony.
“You saw AI’s potential and created ideas that will shape America’s future in many areas, including healthcare, nutrition, public safety, and beyond,” Trump told the winners, who were chosen from a field of 20,000.
Upper Darby graduate Khandakar Mahin, right, poses for a picture with First Lady Melania Trump at a June 9 ceremony honoring Mahin and other winners of the Presidential AI Challenge.Courtesy of Khandakar Mahin
Mahin — who said he got to see the Oval Office and “network with many different types of people” — won for a proposal to use computer vision to match photos from the dark web to a database of 64,000 hotels.
The tool would identify details like carpet designs or headboard features in photos depicting trafficking, then match them to known hotels, using images scraped from the internet. Mahin created a framework and demonstration of the tool, and said hisproposal included ideas for how it could be scaled to be used by law enforcement nationwide.
The award, which Mahin said came with a $22,500 prize, was yet another achievement for Mahin, who will attend Harvard University this fall; he was also accepted to Yale and Princeton.
While at Upper Darby High School, he took 16 Advanced Placement classes and won an array of awards and scholarships, including being selected for the Amazon Future Engineers and the Disney Dreamers Academy earlier this year.
“This is a very bright kid who’s been looking into things like this for a long time,” said Dan McGarry, the superintendent of the Upper Darby School District.
Mahin immigrated to the United States with family from Bangladesh 12 years ago and has attended Upper Darby schools since then.
Mahin has been “heavily invested in being a contributor in a positive way to his school community,” McGarry said, noting that the recent graduate was involved in setting up local libraries. “It’s not just artificial intelligence. He’s also a good kid.”
But Mahin has a particular interest in AI. Mahin, who recently served as a student representative on Upper Darby’s school board, was among a group of students who joined school leaders in meeting with company representatives about the weapons detection system.
The students made a video about the system, which McGarry said was critical in getting student buy-in.
The district also sends students to the Delaware County Intermediate Unit to share their perspectives; Mahin has addressed othersuperintendents about AI, “the good and the bad,” McGarry said.
At Harvard, Mahin hopes to study political science and government with an aim toward creating “more ethical AI policies,” he said.
Mahin, who has already participated in programs at Princeton and MIT, credits teachers in Upper Darby — not just in computer science and math, but English, he said — with teaching him “how to have the grit to do research.” His award-winning AI project was supervised by Roseann Burns, an Upper Darby teacher who McGarry said works with gifted students.
Despite being an underfunded district, Upper Darby “has a lot of opportunities,” Mahin said. “As a student, you really have to seek out the opportunities if you really want it.”
While Mahin may stand out for the level of recognition he has received, McGarry said Upper Darby has many “amazingly talented, bright” students.
“That’s often overlooked, unfortunately,” McGarry said. He said Mahin “represents what I think makes this country great. … Every opportunity that was there, he took it.”
