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  • Councilmember Cindy Bass will remain the Democratic ward leader in Mount Airy. But she agreed to share power with progressives.

    Councilmember Cindy Bass will remain the Democratic ward leader in Mount Airy. But she agreed to share power with progressives.

    After a week of heated conflict that left both sides looking worse for wear, the race to become the Democratic leader of Mount Airy’s 22nd Ward came down a tie.

    Philadelphia City Councilmember Cindy Bass and her progressive challenger, Octavius Price, each received 27 votes from their fellow committeepeople in the initial rounds of voting during Wednesday night’s redo of the race for ward leader, an influential party position in one of the most voter-rich neighborhoods of the city.

    A series of closed-door meetings followed, including a one-on-one meeting between Bass and Price.

    Ultimately, Price agreed to allow Bass to remain as ward leader as part of a power-sharing agreement in which he will become ward chair, the No. 2 position. They also agreed to elect a joint slate of officers to fill out the ward’s executive committee.

    “We both had supporters who weren’t here today, so we would have just kept tying, essentially,” said Price, a fiber optic engineer and a member of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. “And because I’m committed to the ward, I decided to take a position that was not necessarily a ward leader, but still gives me the time and the capacity to work with my constituents.”

    Bass described the outcome as “a win.”

    “We’re looking forward to working with everybody,” Bass told reporters. “We’ve got some new members who have joined the ward, and we’ve got some other folks who will be the staples of the organization who can help keep it going.”

    The drama began on the evening of June 8, when Bass declared herself the victor of the ward leader race after a divided voice vote of committeepeople during a meeting at the Germantown Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Inquirer published a video of the meeting showing Bass refusing requests to hold a roll-call vote that could have clarified the results, prompting the Democratic City Committee to order a redo of the race.

    Both sides spent the ensuing week attempting to win over committeepeople for the rerun.

    On Wednesday morning, progressive activist Nate Holt visited committeeperson James Harrison at his home and offered him money while encouraging him to vote against Bass, videos of the encounter obtained by The Inquirer show.

    Octavius Price, a fiber optic engineer and member of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, ran for 22nd Democratic Ward leader. (Photo courtesy of Octavius Price)Sean Walsh

    Price condemned Holt’s behavior and said he had “cut all ties with him” in a statement Wednesday evening before the vote.

    Holt has not responded to questions about why he offered money to Harrison, but said in a statement he did not court committeepeople at the direction of any ward leader candidate.

    As it happens, Harrison’s vote could have been decisive. But he did not attend Wednesday’s meeting.

    Additionally, one committeeperson who did show up abstained, declining to vote for either candidate.

    Another key vote came from former Councilmember Derek S. Green, a committeeperson in the ward who briefly considered running for ward leader and said he abstained during the initial vote last week, ultimately sided with Bass.

    Green said the incident with Holt and Harrison swayed his vote.

    “I learned about the video,” Green said, explaining his decision. “I’ve never seen that in the history of politics.”

    The redo election took place Wednesday night at party headquarters. The party’s organization committee, which is made up of other ward leaders and chaired by former Councilmember Sharon Vaughn, oversaw the election.

    Bass is often at odds with progressive activists in her Northwest Philadelphia-based 8th Council District. She narrowly won reelection in 2023 and likely faces another stiff challenge in next year’s Council race.

    Ward leaders and committeepeople, the front-line workers of the party, are charged with getting out the vote for party-endorsed candidates and fielding constituent services requests.

    Control of the voter-rich 22nd Ward could play a big role in next year’s Council race.

    The 22nd Ward was one of three elections the party ordered to be rerun Wednesday night. In both other races, the candidates who won the initial votes also prevailed in the redos.

    In North Philadelphia’s 14th Ward, Valerie Williams defeated the incumbent, Arthur Green, in a 10-8 vote.

    And in an open race for the Northwest Philadelphia-based 17th Ward, Tyrone Barge beat Melissa Schley, a former ward leader.

    Barge said that his race did not involve significant ideological differences. Instead, committeepeople supported him because he promised “hard work” and increasing efforts to drive turnout for Democrats.

    “We’re gonna do some exciting things in the ward,” Barge said in an interview. “It’s gonna be different.”

    The results put an end to a dramatic party election cycle that saw longtime Democratic City Committee chair Bob Brady reelected to an 11th term with a new roster of lieutenants led by Vaughn, the party’s new first chair.

    Brady said after Wednesday’s election that party leaders at one point considered deciding the race through a coin toss.

    “We didn’t know what to do with it. And then the two got together and made an agreement and made life a lot easier,” Brady said. “The best thing can happen is those two factions that they had all agreed on this … and the two are going to work together, and I told them I would come and work with them.”

  • A former supervisor in DA Larry Krasner’s office has been suspended in federal court

    A former supervisor in DA Larry Krasner’s office has been suspended in federal court

    A former supervisor in Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office has been suspended from the region’s federal courts, a development that came just one day after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court sharply curtailed the office’s ability to seek to overturn old convictions and accused its lawyers of misleading judges.

    Nancy Winkelman was suspended for three years by a panel of federal judges who found that she was complicit in efforts to mislead a federal judge while seeking to overturn the death sentence of a man convicted of killing an East Mount Airy couple in the 1980s and allow him to serve life in prison instead.

    The ruling, made public this week, adds to the mounting judicial scrutiny of post-conviction work in Krasner’s office. On Tuesday, the state Supreme Court imposed remarkable new restrictions on prosecutors’ efforts to reverse potentially problematic convictions.

    In a forceful and scolding opinion, the high court said Krasner’s office misled judges, submitted false statements, and “violated its duty of candor” in asking a judge to vacate a 2004 murder conviction.

    The court wrote that prosecutors’ actions in the case were part of a troubling pattern of conduct in seeking to overturn murder convictions and ordered that, going forward, the state attorney general’s office must be asked to review and weigh in on all such cases.

    The panel of federal judges, in ordering Winkelman’s suspension, echoed some of those concerns.

    Winkelman, who had led the office’s law division since 2018 before moving into a part-time role handling legal matters in state court last year, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Her attorney, Andrew Hellman, declined to comment.

    Winkelman is appealing the decision. In an earlier request that the findings remain under seal, Hellman described the ruling as having “findings and conclusions infected by serious errors.”

    Krasner said in a statement Wednesday night that Winkelman is an exceptional attorney who left a lucrative private law practice to serve the public. He said she always showed “exceptional competence and integrity and contributed mightily to needed reform.”

    “On the eve of Juneteenth,” he said, “we should all remember that reform is necessary in every era. And that those who bring needed reform sometimes are made to pay a price.”

    The three-judge panel, in a ruling issued in March and unsealed this week, said Winkelman and a subordinate, former assistant district attorney Paul George, misled a federal judge by misrepresenting parts of the case while attempting to reverse the death sentence of Robert Wharton.

    Wharton was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for the 1984 strangulation and drowning deaths of Bradley and Ferne Hart inside their East Mount Airy home.

    The jury found that Wharton, angry over a disputed debt, spent months terrorizing the family before he forced his way inside the home at knifepoint and killed the couple. Afterward, he turned off the heat, leaving the couple’s seven-month-old baby, Lisa, to freeze to death — but she survived.

    Decades later, prosecutors in Krasner’s office, in seeking to vacate his death sentence, suggested in court that the victims’ family backed their effort. But it was later discovered that they had consulted only one relative and never contacted Lisa Hart-Newman, the couple’s surviving daughter, who strongly opposed the move.

    George later acknowledged that was a mistake, and U.S. District Judge Mitchell Goldberg ordered Krasner to write apology letters to the Harts’ relatives.

    Goldberg, who denied the request to reduce Wharton’s sentence, later said that George’s and Winkelman’s review of the case was “patently deficient” and that they had violated federal rules of procedure in a manner that was “egregious” and “exceptional.”

    The two prosecutors then faced federal disciplinary proceedings to examine whether they had been intentionally deceptive.

    Last year, the three-judge panel found that George had lied to Goldberg about key facts, “flouted the interests of the public and the victims’ families,” and acted as the “quarterback” of efforts by the district attorney’s office to undo or undermine all death penalty cases.

    George, 75, was disbarred in federal court. He has denied the accusations and filed an appeal. His attorneys said his disbarment was “highly disproportionate and offends basic tenets of justice.” Krasner also defended George’s work and said he believed the appeals court would find that the opinion criticizing George was filled with “factually and legally incorrect” statements.

    The panel’s probe into Winkelman’s conduct continued, and the judges said they determined she “was willfully blind to, and complicit in,” George’s misrepresentations to Goldberg.

    Winkelman, the judges said, “knowingly made misrepresentations” as part of the district attorney’s office “policy of vacating all death sentences.”

    Krasner and his staff have long denied that the office has any such policy.

    But the panel appeared to reject that, writing: “We do not credit [Winkelman’s] testimony that there is no such policy.”

    According to the order, after Krasner was elected in 2017, he asked Winkelman, who had spent decades in civil appeals work but had no criminal law experience, to lead his office’s law division, a unit that handles hundreds of appeals and post-conviction cases in state and federal court each year.

    George, a veteran attorney in the office, was made her assistant supervisor “to fill what she described as the ‘very big gap’ in her resume,” the order said.

    The judges wrote that while Winkelman “betrayed the public’s trust,” she “has had a long and distinguished career.” George was the “quarterback of the DAO’s misrepresentations,” they said, and he alone misled Goldberg in the office’s communication with the Hart family.

  • Trump and Iran’s president sign deal to end war as details emerge

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he signed an agreement with Iran Wednesday that U.S. officials say calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and waive sanctions on the country, immediately allowing Iran to sell its oil freely in a major concession from Washington.

    Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who helped mediate the initial deal to end the war, said it is taking “immediate effect” after leaders from both countries signed it, but that there will still be a formal signing ceremony on Friday.

    The agreement would open the Strait of Hormuz toll-free for two months and affirm a commitment to Lebanon’s territorial integrity in the face of Israel’s invasion against the Hezbollah militant group, according to officials from both countries.

    U.S. officials dictated draft language to journalists after days of secrecy, speaking on condition of anonymity. Iranian state TV later released text that largely tracked what the U.S. put out.

    Though officials had said Trump and Vice President JD Vance digitally signed the agreement Sunday and that a ceremonial signing would be held Friday in Switzerland, Trump said he signed the deal while in France on Wednesday.

    “It’s signed,” Trump said as he left Versailles, the historic palace where he dined with French President Emmanuel Macron following a trip to the Group of Seven summit in France.

    A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share details about the agreement, said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also signed it Wednesday, though Iran did not immediately comment. It wasn’t immediately clear if that act started a 60-day negotiating clock to reach a final deal. It was also not clear how Trump’s signing of the deal at Versailles differed from his digital signing on Sunday.

    In a video posted online by a White House aide, Trump is seen seated at a table next to Macron signing a paper copy of the agreement. Trump then hands the document and pen to Secretary of State Marco Rubio as people in the room applaud.

    Text of the agreement has not been formally released. The draft read by U.S. officials includes language that Iran agrees not to develop or procure nuclear weapons and requires that Iran’s highly enriched uranium be downgraded on site as a minimum.

    In return, the U.S. will move to waive, but not eliminate, some wide-ranging sanctions against Iran. The agreement also secures free passage of the strait for only 60 days, and it does not preclude fees in future, according to the U.S. officials and the Iranian draft.

    The deal will stop the fighting and start more negotiations

    The U.S. and Israel went to war on Feb. 28 in part to prevent Iran from ever getting a nuclear weapon. Trump has cited various goals for the war, including at times vowing it would end Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and its support for Hezbollah and other proxy groups in the region. He also suggested it could lead to toppling the Iranian government.

    The interim deal falls short of all those goals, but Trump hailed it Wednesday.

    “Nobody knows what it is, but it’s very strong,” Trump said in France, where he attended a Group of Seven summit.

    But he also opened the door to abandoning it: “It’s a memorandum of understanding, and if I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs.”

    Much of the agreement would restore the status quo before the war, including ending hostilities, restarting talks between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, and reopening the strait, the crucial passage for the world’s oil and natural gas and whose closure created a historic energy crisis.

    It opens a two-month period for nuclear negotiations and appears to offer Iran several benefits up front while extracting little in return.

    The U.S. agreement to immediately allow Iran to sell its oil freely and the offer to eventually lift all sanctions represent major concessions that go beyond the terms of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Trump withdrew America from that Obama-era pact in his first term, declaring it the “worst deal ever.”

    The Islamic Republic maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful.

    The accord likely will draw intense opposition in Washington, and it appears to be a major setback for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has come under criticism at home from the media, his opponents and even some allies as details emerge.

    Under the Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran that Trump pulled out of, Iran also agreed to restrictions on its nuclear program and promised never to build an atomic weapon.

    The new U.S.-Iran deal includes an end to the fighting in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah. That is one of the most delicate parts of the agreement because Israel has maintained it will continue to defend itself and to occupy vast swaths of Lebanon. Iran has said Israel must withdraw under the deal.

    The document also has provisions to ensure the territorial integrity of Lebanon after Israel’s latest attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanese territory. Israel has rejected the prospect of withdrawing from Lebanon, but the agreement expressly states that military operations in Lebanon must stop with the signing of the memorandum.

    Major concessions have been offered to Iran

    Some concessions to Iran — including the full lifting of sanctions and the release of frozen assets — would happen gradually and be linked to progress in the nuclear talks, according to officials from Pakistan, a key mediator. They outlined some of the deal’s major points on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

    But in the meantime, the U.S. will issue waivers to sanctions that allow Iran to sell oil freely.

    The Islamic Republic’s oil export revenues in 2024 were more than $46 billion. Its main buyer of oil, China, is believed to have bought at below-market prices because of its willingness to ignore the sanctions.

    Granting oil waivers at the start of the 60-day talks strips the U.S. of a major point of leverage. Only at the conclusion of the overall deal in 2015 were sanctions on Iran’s oil lifted.

    The interim deal also opens the door to ending all sanctions Iran faces from the U.S. and at the U.N. — including those over Tehran’s weapons programs and human rights abuses — though it says the schedule for that will be worked out later. Still, that far surpasses the 2015 deal, which only lifted some sanctions in exchange for Iran drastically reducing its enrichment and stockpile of uranium.

    The accord would also provide Iran with at least $300 billion to rebuild — an extraordinary figure and another major benefit for Iran. The money also appears dependent on the progress of further negotiations.

    Vance has said Gulf Arab nations would invest that amount. But Gulf countries would likely be reluctant to help Iran after Iranian attacks in the war destroyed oil facilities and other sites in their territory.

    Trump reiterated Wednesday that the U.S. would not contribute and said it was up to other countries if they wanted to invest.

    The pact would provide relief to the global economy

    The deal provides a major win for the global economy — the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas once passed before the war began. Since then, Iranian attacks on shipping and the threat to vessels effectively shut the strait.

    The strait’s closure drove up energy prices around the world and made many basics, including food, more expensive. Iran let through some vessels that paid tolls, something never done before in the strait, which has long been considered an international waterway. The U.S. later provided military support to get other tankers out, but traffic was nowhere near levels before the war.

    The deal also says the U.S. will lift a blockade imposed on Iranian ports and that the strait will return to its prewar traffic levels in 30 days, while acknowledging Iranian mines may need to be destroyed.

  • Activist offered money to committeeperson and asked him to vote against Councilmember Cindy Bass in Northwest Philly ward, videos show

    Activist offered money to committeeperson and asked him to vote against Councilmember Cindy Bass in Northwest Philly ward, videos show

    A progressive activist on Wednesday offered money to a Democratic committeeperson while attempting to convince that person to vote against City Councilmember Cindy Bass in Wednesday night’s 22nd Ward leader election, videos obtained by The Inquirer show.

    The activist, Nate Holt, is a former 22nd Ward committeeperson working to support progressive candidate Octavius Price’s bid to unseat Bass from the party leadership post.

    The 22nd Ward leader election has already generated considerable controversy. Wednesday night’s vote will be a redo of the contested initial election, which was last Monday.

    The Inquirer last week published a separate video in which Bass declared herself the winner of the first election following a contested voice vote. That prompted the Democratic City Committee to order the vote being held at party quarters Wednesday night.

    Both sides have been working to win over committeepeople in advance of the rerun.

    In the new videos, Holt is standing on the porch of committeeperson James Harrison. Holt knocks, but Harrison doesn’t immediately come to the door. Holt then appears to shout to Harrison through a window.

    “James, this is Nate. Nate Holt, tall white boy. I got your money, man,” Holt says in the videos, which are filmed from a car parked on the street outside the home. “Yo, you know me.”

    Holt, who is not a committeeperson, at one point tells Harrison he’s “from the committee.”

    Harrison eventually comes to the door.

    “Yeah, so you know about this vote tonight? I have some money for you from the previous election,” Holt says in part. “We’re trying to get Cindy Bass out. … Were you going to attend tonight, or do you want to sign a form so that somebody else can vote for you?”

    It was not clear what previous election Holt was referencing.

    At one point, Harrison says, “Where the money at?”

    “Look, I’m going to give you 30 right now,” Holt responds in part.

    The audio then becomes difficult to discern as the person shooting the videos — a 12th Ward Democratic committeeperson supporting Bass named Earl Graham — gets out of the car and ends the recording.

    Graham confirmed he took the videos and said he went to Harrison’s house while also trying to win his support in Wednesday night’s election.

    “I saw somebody at his house banging on the door saying, ‘Hey, I got some money for you,’” Graham said. “I just pulled over and just recorded.”

    In a statement, Holt confirmed he “visited the house of a 22nd ward committeeperson” on Wednesday morning and encountered a Bass supporter.

    He emphasized that he acted alone and did not approach committeepeople at the direction of any candidate.

    Holt did not respond to questions about the money he referenced in the videos.

    Bass and other Democratic leaders respond

    Ward leaders and the committeepeople that elect them are the neighborhood-based front line soldiers of the Democratic Party, working to get out the vote for party-endorsed candidates and field constituent services requests.

    Bass was heavily criticized for her handling of the initial vote, in which she declared herself the victor after a contested voice vote and refused to honor requests for a roll-call vote that could have clarified the results.

    Now Bass is saying it is her opponents who are using underhanded tactics.

    “It’s very clear what the intent was of this transaction or attempted transaction, and I don’t even know what to say. I’m flabbergasted,” Bass said in an interview after viewing the videos Wednesday.

    She added that the videos have been shared with the district attorney’s office election integrity unit.

    Spokesperson Marisa Palmer said that, under the office’s policy, she could neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.

    “The Philadelphia DAO takes seriously the democratic rights of the residents of Philadelphia and protects those rights even-handedly,” Palmer said.

    At his house Friday evening, Harrison on Friday evening declined to talk at length about the ordeal but said Holt did not give him any money.

    “He ain’t give me nothing,” Harrison said. “He came asking me to sign for somebody else. … Everybody wants me to do what they want.”

    Price on Wednesday said he was “saddened and outraged today when I learned of the video showing community member Nate Holt knocking on a [committeeperson’s] door, and offering him money in an attempt to get him to come to the door and participate in tonight’s election whether in person or by proxy.”

    “I did not, nor did anyone on my campaign, advise Nate Holt to offer any committee person money in exchange for their support,” Price said in a statement. “We had no knowledge of his plan to do so. Nate Holt is not a committee person and we have since cut all ties with him. ”

    Price also said his “resolve remains stronger than ever … to give voice to all those doing the work to build a stronger and more effective Democratic Party.”

    The election will take place at party headquarters on Spring Garden Street, but committeepeople can vote by proxy if they sign affidavits giving their support to one side.

    Democratic City Committee chair Brady said the committee had already planned to independently verify all proxies submitted at the meeting before the videos surfaced.

    “Any effort to improperly influence these elections, financially or otherwise, is an affront to our democracy and our values in the party,” Brady said in a statement.

    Holt’s history with Bass

    In a statement, Holt confirmed he “visited the house of a 22nd ward committeeperson” on Wednesday morning and encountered a Bass supporter.

    He emphasized that he is not a committeeperson and was not at the moment attempting to get Harrison to sign a proxy voting affidavit.

    “I did not coordinate this visit to the committeeperson with anyone else, neither other committeepeople, nor any candidates for ward offices,” Holt said. “I acted alone. I am not currently a committeeperson. I am not voting in any ward election, and I have not collected any proxy votes for any candidate, nor handled any proxy vote forms either physically or digitally.”

    But in the videos, Holt at one point explains proxy-voting to Harrison.

    “You don’t have to go. You can just sign the form, and somebody else can vote for you,” Holt tells Harrison. “I can get you that form.”

    Holt and Bass have history.

    Bass in 2024 had the party remove Holt and several others as 22nd Ward committeepeople for allegedly backing Working Families Party candidates for Council. Party bylaws prohibit committeepeople from backing non-Democrats.

    Holt has previously worked on a State House campaign for State Rep. Chris Rabb, a progressive who won last month’s high-profile race for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District race.

    Rabb said he was unaware of the incident Wednesday and declined to comment.

  • Rep. Madeleine Dean says she was blocked from speaking to detainees during oversight visit to Pennsylvania’s largest ICE detention center

    Rep. Madeleine Dean says she was blocked from speaking to detainees during oversight visit to Pennsylvania’s largest ICE detention center

    Three weeks after members of Congress listened to and then publicly shared concerns from inside Pennsylvania’s largest immigrant detention center for the first time, U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean said she was blocked from speaking with detainees while visiting the same facility on Wednesday.

    Dean (D., Montgomery) said she was given “a relatively complete tour” and gathered information at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center — a 1,900-bed facility in Clearfield County that is the largest of its kind across the entire Northeast.

    But while attempting to speak with detainees, as she has done during other oversight visits, Dean said, she was told that required advance permission from the detainees themselves.

    Dean questioned the credibility of that prohibition — especially, she said, after she had informed the facility of her plans ahead of time, and after two of her colleagues were recently permitted to speak with detainees during a similar, but unannounced, oversight trip.

    “Let’s put it this way, I got a scoop of the BS,” Dean said in an interview.

    The four-term lawmaker’s fact-finding trip came after several weeks of escalating tensions around the conditions facing undocumented immigrants in detention centers such as Moshannon Valley and Delaney Hall in Newark, N.J. Both facilities are privately run by the same company, GEO Group, and have faced allegations of providing inadequate medical care and nutrition while allowing little outside oversight.

    U.S. Reps. Summer Lee and Chris Deluzio, both Pittsburgh-area Democrats, said they heard “real concerns” after emerging from Moshannon Valley on May 28.

    Their roughly two-hour tour and discussion with detainees was the first time any member of Congress had successfully entered the facility since President Donald Trump took office. It also followed reports of both poor medical care and a hunger strike led by detainees to protest the food.

    Lee and Deluzio said women in particular approached them to say they had not received proper prenatal care. At least one told them she had been sexually assaulted at the center. And watching lunches of chicken, rice, and beans being served did not make them less concerned about the quality of the food, the lawmakers said.

    A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, later said that ICE “welcomes congressional oversight” and that it provides all detainees with comprehensive medical care as well as proper meals and living conditions.

    Dean said Moshannon Valley appeared to be clean and spacious during her trip Wednesday. The medical unit was active — unlike a larger facility in Dilley, Texas, that, after she visited earlier this year, she called “inhumane” for its lacking treatment of both adults and children.

    But Dean said she questioned what the facility would have looked like if she had not announced her visit ahead of time, and she was not dissuaded from her position that the facility should be closed.

    “This administration has just so successfully, cancerously dehumanized certain populations that we warehouse them now,” Dean said. “And we allow others to profit from it using our taxpayer dollars.”

    GEO Group referred a request for comment to ICE, which did not immediately respond.

    Dean said she was particularly alarmed that the GEO Group’s contract with ICE, as well as Republican-sponsored federal budget language, appears to incentivize filling detention center beds rather than targeting those charged with violent crimes, as Trump pledged to do. She said a copy of the contract she obtained Wednesday explained GEO Group is paid $10 per individual every day they are detained, up to the first 800 detainees. The cost goes up to $40 per individual per day for every additional person detained, she said.

    “It is so perverse. It says nothing about need, nothing about detaining the worst of the worst,” Dean said. “It says pick up as many people as you can, regardless of what they have done or haven’t done, so that every bed is charging and collecting from U.S. taxpayers to keep these people in that population.”

    With Clearfield County commissioners expected to vote in September on whether to renew the contract with ICE and GEO, Dean said she hopes the commissioners choose not to extend the facility and instead shut it down.

    Lee, who has gone further than other Pennsylvania Democrats by calling for the elimination of ICE entirely, also said last month she hoped the Moshannon Valley facility would close. One of the three Clearfield County commissioners, meanwhile, said he was inappropriately denied entry to the facility and said he does not believe the county should be part of the contract, WJAC reported.

    Shutting down immigrant detention centers, however, is rare and difficult. More than 200 centers hold about 60,000 people, and Trump has been determined to increase capacity rather than reduce it.

    Dean said there were 1,666 individuals detained at Moshannon Valley on Wednesday, which is more than the 1,417 that Deluzio reported on May 28. According to Deluzio, about 1,100 of those were classified as “low security.”

  • Delaware County detected measles in wastewater samples, health officials say

    Delaware County detected measles in wastewater samples, health officials say

    Measles was detected in wastewater samples taken in Delaware County on two days last week, local health officials said Wednesday.

    This means someone infected with measles used a bathroom connected to the county’s public water supply, although no one in the county has been officially diagnosed with measles, said Lora Siegmann Werner, director of the county’s health department.

    Detecting the highly contagious disease in wastewater can serve as a reminder for parents to vaccinate their children, and for health providers to be on the lookout for people experiencing measles symptoms.

    “We’re not trying to scare people, but we thought it was a good opportunity to raise awareness,” she said.

    Health officials around the country regularly monitor wastewater for various diseases, including measles and COVID-19.

    The treatment plant where measles was detected in samples on June 9 and June 11, DELCORA Western Regional Treatment Plant in Chester, serves about 500,000 people in Delaware and Chester Counties.

    Health officials were able to determine the positive samples came from Delaware County, Siegmann Werner said. But it was impossible to tell whether that person was passing through the county or lives there.

    It was also unclear whether the infected person was connected to a measles outbreak in four counties west of Philadelphia, including Lancaster County, just over the border from Chester County.

    As of Wednesday, state health officials had identified 55 cases in that outbreak, with 32 in Lancaster County. Physicians there have said they fear more cases are circulating in the community among people who avoiding seeking medical care or notifying the state health department.

    “We’ve been tracking the outbreaks that occur, knowing it’s likely a matter of time before we have our own cases,” Siegmann Werner said.

    The county is engaging in planning exercises and reaching out to healthcare providers to prepare for potential cases in the area.

    More than 200 Philly-area schools are vulnerable to measles outbreak

    Measles spreads through the air, lingering in a room for up to two hours after an infected person has left it. About nine in 10 unvaccinated people who come into contact with the virus will contract it themselves.

    Two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine are 97% effective against the disease.

    The virus’ early symptoms include a fever, cough, runny nose, red and puffy eyes, and a rash. In serious cases, measles can lead to pneumonia, brain infections, and death.

    There is no evidence it is spread through contact with untreated wastewater, Delaware County health officials said.

    Without a confirmed measles case in Delaware County, Siegmann Werner said, the detection of measles in its wastewater will not trigger an investigation into its origin.

    “It’s really limited to saying there was someone who was ill” who either passed through the county or lives there, she said. “Please be vigilant and get vaccinated.”

  • Transit police union and SEPTA have a tentative deal on a 3-year contract

    Transit police union and SEPTA have a tentative deal on a 3-year contract

    The union representing transit police and SEPTA reached a tentative deal on a new three-year contract Wednesday that includes a 12% raise and avoids a possible strike during the region’s summer of big events.

    Officers had been working without a contract since March 31, and the police union said on June 4 it was willing to walk off the job if there was no progress in talks. Leaders said the two sides were at an impasse.

    Since then, negotiators traded new proposals and met several times.

    Members of Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge 109 are scheduled to hold a ratification vote on the agreement Thursday, with SEPTA’s board scheduled to consider it next week.

    “SEPTA believes the agreement is fair to our hard-working Transit Police officers and responsible to the fare-paying riders and taxpayers who fund the authority,” spokesperson Andrew Busch said in a statement.

    “I can confidently say that a strike has been averted at this time,” FOTP Lodge 109 president Omari Bervine said in an interview.

    He credited SEPTA general manager Scott A. Sauer with getting talks moving.

    “We were able to actually sit down to direct talks, with the general manager [involved], and that was instrumental in getting a tentative deal worked out,” Bervine said.

    A 12% raise is in line with the deal Transport Workers Union Local 234 received in its contract agreement last year. SEPTA engages in pattern bargaining, using contracts with TWU Local 234 as a guidepost.

    Officers would get a 5% pay hike in the first year and 3½% in each of the next two years, according to sources familiar with the agreement. They also would receive a $2,500 signing bonus.

    Officers are scheduled to get the first installment of the pay bump on June 28, if the contract is ratified and approved. Normally, pay increases for transit police did not kick in until the next anniversary of the start of the contract year — in this case, April 1, 2027.

    Lodge 109 has pressed to change the timing so members would start receiving raises as soon as possible after the signing of an agreement, as happens with other SEPTA unions.

    The union represents 203 rank-and-file officers who patrol SEPTA’s stations and transit vehicles across its five-county service area.

    Bervine had offered to waive the right to strike if SEPTA voluntarily agreed to submit their dispute to binding arbitration.

    Most union-represented police officers in Pennsylvania can use binding arbitration, which involves an independent arbiter deciding the final terms of a contract. In turn, those officers are barred from striking.

    But state law does not allow transit police and some other state law enforcement officers to use binding arbitration.

    Bervine said there was no agreement to include binding arbitration in the contract. There is proposed legislation in Harrisburg to extend it to officers employed by state agencies like SEPTA. “Hopefully, common sense will prevail,” he said.

    Union and SEPTA negotiators met on Tuesday and Thursday last week and exchanged new proposed contract language. They met for a third time Saturday.

    The union has exercised its right to strike before.

    In December 2023, the transit officers union went on strike for three days seeking wage increases matching those given to Transport Workers Union Local 234 and other SEPTA employee unions.

    In 2019, transit officers walked out for six days, in part over whether members could review body-camera footage before filing incident reports. They struck in 2012 over a 15-cent difference between the FOTP’s demand and SEPTA’s offer for an increase in the hourly rate that members received for annual recertification as police officers.

  • Christian Pulisic’s calf injury is the USMNT’s biggest story at the World Cup. Here’s what to know.

    Christian Pulisic’s calf injury is the USMNT’s biggest story at the World Cup. Here’s what to know.

    IRVINE, Calif. — In the traditional American sports, there are rules requiring teams to publish injury reports.

    Sure, a coach might just say a player has a “lower-body injury,” especially in hockey. But there still are rules, and many Philadelphians (especially 76ers fans) might know them by heart these days.

    At the World Cup, there are no rules — and there’s even less incentive to tell the truth. There’s a long history of subterfuge, from Brazil’s Ronaldo in 1998 to Canadian star Alphonso Davies’ hamstring and U.S. star Christian Pulisic’s calf today.

    So if you’re wondering why the U.S. staff haven’t said much about the matter, the answer is simple: why should they? All it would do is give things away to the tournament’s other teams, including the Americans’ next opponent, Australia.

    Christian Pulisic did some exercises in the workout tent at the start of Friday’s practice.Jonathan Tannenwald

    “When I’m in England, they tell you exactly what it is with stuff like this,” said midfielder Brenden Aaronson, whose Medford and Union roots make him as well-versed in American ways as the world’s game. “With this situation, I can’t tell you what it is because I’m not a part of the medical staff and stuff like that. But it is different, and it is a different part of the game when it’s at club and in international football.”

    Officially, Pulisic remains day to day. He trained on his own during the first 15 minutes of Wednesday’s practice, which was the portion that was open to watch. Most of that time was spent in the team’s workout tent, but he emerged toward the end and walked across a field to kick a ball back and forth with a coach.

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    This was the extent of the day’s drama, even though Pulisic’s absence from Friday’s game (3 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo 62) obviously would be a huge deal.

    There was a lighthearted moment when a reporter used a pair of binoculars to try to spot Christian Pulisic.Jonathan Tannenwald

    What do Pulisic’s teammates think of all this? Everyone who has spoken this week hasn’t said much, and that continued Wednesday.

    “I’m not sure the exact sort of terminology of his injury,” defender Antonee Robinson said. “I mean, he’s been taking it day by day, and he’s not been training fully with the group yet. We’ve still got a couple of days to see where he’s at, and thankfully we’ve got a lot of boys on the bench who are eager and ready to get involved in helping the team, and a lot of quality.”

    As the USMNT returns to work at the World Cup, Australia’s big win sharpens the focus

    A few hours later, the caravan flew north to Seattle to get ready for Friday’s big game (3 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo 62). The U.S. will train at the University of Washington on Thursday, then get ready for a thunderous atmosphere at the stadium downtown on Friday.

    Along the way, the ritual likely will be repeated: questions about Pulisic, vague answers, and a collective shrug. This is how it is, and how it has been, and it’s just another part of the World Cup’s spectacle.

    And would you believe that Christian Pulisic has WALKED OUT OF THE TENT and is now DOING A DRILL on the field.

    (In all seriousness, he’s got some kind of wrapping on his left leg. But otherwise, this whole thing is yelling into a molehill.)

    #USMNT

    [image or embed]

    — Jonathan Tannenwald (@jtannenwald.bsky.social) June 17, 2026 at 11:16 AM

    In awe of Messi’s hat trick

    Speaking of spectacle, they don’t come any better than Lionel Messi’s dazzling hat trick in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria. The 38-year-old tied the World Cup’s scoring record with his 16th goal in the tournament, sending a jam-packed crowd in Kansas City into rapture — and the rest of the world, too.

    “For the fans watching, obviously Messi’s probably the greatest footballer who’s ever lived, and he’s still going, still showing quality,” Robinson said. “As a fan, I’m sure it was amazing to watch him. That’s the magic of the tournament: you want to see the world’s best doing what they do on this stage, and hopefully every game like that keeps giving those moments, and it’s enjoyable the whole way through.”

    The USMNT-Paraguay game was the most-watched soccer broadcast in U.S. history

    Aaronson has also watched Messi plenty, including in person last year at Subaru Park when Inter Miami visited the Union. He admitted that “the fanboy comes out of all of us,” even though he also knows that if the U.S. finishes second in its group and reaches the round of 16, it could play Argentina.

    “If we do play Argentina, we’ll all be ready to go,” Aaronson said.

    Messi’s next chance to break the scoring record, which has stood since Germany’s Miroslav Klose set it in 2002, will come Monday against Austria in Arlington, Texas.

    But he isn’t the only player chasing history at this World Cup. France’s Kylian Mbappé’s two goals against Senegal on Tuesday took his tournament total to 14, and made him his country’s record scorer with 58 all-time.

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    Mbappé’s next game is in Philadelphia, on Monday against Iraq. And if there wasn’t already enough hype around Les Bleus’ visit, their 3-1 win in the Meadowlands raises the hype around what might be this World Cup’s most star-studded squad.

    Mbappé and Messi’s heroics were expected to draw big TV audiences, along with Norway star Erling Haaland’s two goals in his World Cup debut, a 4-1 win over Iraq. It was quite a sight to have all three stars play on the same day.

    Expect another big number for Cristiano Ronaldo’s debut in the tournament with Portugal, in Wednesday’s 1-1 upset tie with the Democratic Republic of Congo. That game joined Cape Verde’s tie with Spain (featuring former Union midfielder Jamiro Monteiro), Jordan’s hard-fought loss to Austria, and Curaçao’s goal against Germany as great moments by underdogs so far.

    “You see the results in the last couple of days, of teams who definitely weren’t the favorites managing to get points, and I think that’s what the World Cup’s about,” Robinson said. “It’s about bringing lots of different cultures together and giving them moments like this, and experiences, and it’s really nice to see.”

  • More people in Philly and region struggle with insufficient food after Trump cuts: ‘Hunger has never been higher’

    More people in Philly and region struggle with insufficient food after Trump cuts: ‘Hunger has never been higher’

    Shelly Gaither, 51, of Cheltenham, makes sure her three sons, ages 6, 9, and 18, get their meals while she manages with whatever is left over — if anything ever is.

    “Oh, my God, groceries are too expensive,” said Gaither, a former data analyst who suffers from a disability that makes working difficult. She visits a food pantry regularly to make sure her kids eat chicken when they can. Her monthly SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits were reduced from $400 to $200 earlier this year because of changes to the program under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

    “I don’t think there’s hope,” she said. “I feel guilty for bringing children into a world that doesn’t want them to exist because the government makes cuts that take away their food and their healthcare.”

    For people like Gaither throughout the United States, levels of food insecurity have seen a “remarkable” rise since the pandemic in 2020, according to a national survey taken earlier this year and released in late May by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

    Around 10% of 1,300 heads of households polled in February reported a lack of enough food and said their children were missing meals, according to the survey. Nearly 16% relied on food donations. Among families taking in less than $50,000 a year, almost 20% reported being forced to skip meals or go without.

    In 2020, when the federal government stepped in to help families at the height of the pandemic, just 4% of households reported missing meals, including less than 7% of families earning less than $50,000 a year, according to the survey.

    At that time, temporary supplemental unemployment benefits, expanded SNAP payments, and direct government relief payments helped stave off hunger among Americans. Food insecurity increased after COVID-19 relief expired, according to the Urban Institute.

    But the recent surge in hunger has also been attributed to the sweeping law Trump signed last year, which reduces SNAP benefits and other safety net programs to help pay for his tax cut.

    Findings in the bank’s report also reflect Gaither’s sense of despair, a pessimism about personal finances and the overall economy among people with low incomes. That same group exhibits diminished expectations for finding a job and declining levels of consumer confidence, the survey says.

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    According to the reserve bank’s report, non-white Americans have been especially hard hit. The number of such households that reported missing meals increased from 4% in 2020 to 19% in February. At the same time, the number of non-white people receiving SNAP benefits jumped from 14% to more than 26%.

    Overall, the survey found food insecurity was particularly acute among lower-educated and lower-income households, as well as households with young children. Many families are experiencing financial stress due to the high cost of living, persistent inflation, and high interest rates, even as the stock market has been steadily rising, according to the survey.

    Pantries struggle to keep up with demand

    More people are flocking to food pantries, but they are not equipped to take up the slack of reduced SNAP benefits.

    “Pantries across the state are in perpetual crisis mode,” said Stuart Haniff, CEO of Hunger-Free Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. Add to that the advent of summer, when kids are no longer receiving free breakfast and lunch at school. “Families must now provide those 60 to 80 meals a month,” Haniff said.

    In Norristown, “immense need” has increased the number of people frequenting Martha’s Choice Marketplace, the largest food pantry in Montgomery County, by 100% since 2022, said Patrick Walsh, director of programs. “And I don’t expect things to get better.”

    Food prices are also up 3.2% this spring over last, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures, exacerbating the issue.

    In South Jersey, “we are seeing record numbers at our food distributions,” said Jane Asselta, president and CEO of the Food Bank of South Jersey, in a statement to The Inquirer. “Life is getting harder to afford for more and more people.”

    Matt McDevitt (left) and Michael Hickey load their vehicle at the Food Bank of South Jersey Thursday, June 11, 2026. The men are volunteers at the Temple Lutheran Church in Pennsauken and their food bank is open from 5-6 p.m. every Thursday.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    Asselta said the Federal Reserve Bank’s report “mirrors” what her organization has observed through its network of 300 community partners.

    “Hunger has never been higher,” said Pastor Sonita Johnson, who runs the food pantry at St. John’s Pentecostal Outreach Church in Salem City, Salem County. “Food prices are high, and the lines you see you would not believe — a 50% increase in people just over the last two months.”

    Nationwide, between January 2025 and January 2026, SNAP rolls decreased by more than 4 million people — from 42 million to 38 million — according to USDA figures.

    Between last September and April of this year, nearly 90,000 Pennsylvanians lost SNAP benefits due to new eligibility requirements stipulated by the Trump administration, according to an analysis by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS).

    And between December 2025 and last month, more than 32,000 Philadelphians lost benefits, DHS figures show.

    In New Jersey, SNAP participation has fallen by more than 50,000 individuals between March 2025 and March of this year, New Jersey Department of Human Services figures show.

    The Trump administration’s SNAP changes include an expansion of work requirements for people who receive SNAP benefits and increased documentation requirements “designed to make maintaining eligibility increasingly difficult,” according to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), the largest anti-hunger lobby in the United States.

    Deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement that Trump signed the changes to strengthen SNAP and to ensure that it is “sustainable for future generations.” She added that Trump was “elected to eliminate runaway spending across the federal government.”

    William Meo works on the loading dock at the Food Bank of South Jersey Thursday, June 11, 2026. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    For people like Shelley Gaither, how her reduced SNAP benefits could be seen as part of “runaway spending” is tough for her to figure, given her needs. To survive this precarious moment, Gaither said, she will do whatever she can.

    “We eat more vegetarian meals and I don’t buy my kids cookies or snacks,” she said. “If I drink enough coffee, maybe I just need one meal a day. This is our existence now. This is how we live.”

  • Trea Turner gets ‘on a good track’ with three hits in return to the Phillies lineup

    Trea Turner gets ‘on a good track’ with three hits in return to the Phillies lineup

    Trea Turner didn’t waste any time in his return to the Phillies lineup.

    The shortstop sat out Tuesday’s game with a bruised wrist after getting hit by a fastball the day prior. But once the swelling went down, he was back in the lineup on Wednesday — and was back atop the order for the first time since May 25.

    Turner singled to lead off the first inning against Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara and then picked up two more hits, including a double, to finish 3-for-5 in the 12-4 loss. It marked his first game with at least three hits since May 9.

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    For the past three weeks, Kyle Schwarber has been leading off for the Phillies, and interim manager Don Mattingly even used Brandon Marsh in the No. 1 spot for a one-game experiment on Tuesday. But Mattingly said he always planned for Turner to return to being his long-term leadoff hitter because of his base-stealing ability.

    “He’s able to run up there,” Mattingly said. “He gets behind Schwarb, and he’s on, he’s not able to run. Always wanted him there.”

    Turner’s three hits on Wednesday raised his season batting average to .233, and he also stole his 15th base of the season. There’s still work to be done for him to dig out of this slump, but he saw positive signs on Wednesday.

    “I think I did a lot of good things today from my standpoint, just kind of competing, and two-strike hitting,” Turner said. “Fouled off some pitches I probably would’ve swung and missed at, and I feel like I was doing what I wanted up there. I felt like real positive individually today from just my at-bats standpoint, and felt like I’m on a good track.”

    Phillies pitcher Jesús Luzardo allowed two runs in seven innings in an 8-2 victory over the Marlins on Tuesday.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Luzardo’s splits

    Jesús Luzardo describes himself as a “creature of habit.”

    A lot of it is because of superstition. The glasses Luzardo wears on the mound don’t actually correct his vision, but he wears them because in the past, he didn’t pitch well without them.

    The lefty is strict about his routines, so he would know better than anyone if there was an underlying change causing the discrepancy in his home and road splits.

    And this year, the difference between the numbers has been stark: he has a 1.55 ERA in seven road starts, compared to a 6.60 ERA in eight starts at Citizens Bank Park. His strikeout and walk numbers are around the same, but the contact that Luzardo has given up has been much harder at home. Of the nine homers he’s allowed this season, eight were at home.

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    Luzardo doesn’t have an explanation for it.

    “I just really think it’s a coincidence,” Luzardo said. “It’s unfortunate, obviously. No one wants to pitch bad, especially at home, but the routine stays the same.”

    Luzardo was slightly better on the road in 2025, his first season as a Phillie. He posted a 3.67 ERA in 16 away games compared to 4.16 in 16 home games. But the difference has never been this extreme.

    Luzardo hopes the start he made at home Tuesday, when he held the Marlins to two runs over seven innings, could be the beginning of a new trend.

    “Obviously, I know I can do it,” he said. “I felt really good. So, hopefully, just keep building on that.”

    Brandon Marsh is third among National League outfielders in All-Star voting.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    Marsh on All-Star vote

    MLB released its first voting update for the 2026 All-Star Game, and Brandon Marsh is on track to make it to the next phase.

    Marsh, who entered Wednesday with a .327 batting average, good for third in baseball, accumulated 668,191 votes as of June 15. That places him third among National League outfielders, behind the Dodgers’ Andy Pages (800,496) and the Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. (693,472).

    Once Phase 1 of voting concludes on June 25, the top two position players and top six outfielders in each league will advance to the second round. After Phase 2, the top position player and top three outfielders will be named starters.

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    If his trajectory holds, Marsh will be an All-Star for the first time in his career. He said last week that it would be “really, really cool” to be included in the group, especially at home in Philadelphia. But for now, he isn’t paying much attention to the voting.

    “I really haven’t even looked at it, to be honest with you,” Marsh said. “Really, just trying to enjoy now, and just take it day by day, and see where it all falls out at the end.”

    Extra bases

    Aaron Nola (3-4, 5.86 ERA) is scheduled to start Thursday’s series opener against the Mets’ Sean Manaea (1-2, 4.78 ERA). It marks the Phillies’ first meeting against the Mets this season. … Shane Victorino and Larry Bowa will serve as managers for the All-Star Futures Game on July 12 at Citizens Bank Park, Major League Baseball announced Wednesday.