Family and friends gathered in South Philadelphia Thursday night to mourn William Schmidt, a Penn State student they all knew simply as “Billy.”
Spanning three blocks, loved ones and neighbors sang songs and held back tears on the corner of 20th and Durfor Streets, where a memorial to Schmidt near a fire hydrant where he was shot and killed was covered by candles, flowers, and balloons.
“He was my son, my best friend,” William Schmidt, Billy’s father, said, holding back tears. “How am I supposed to watch the Eagles play without him now? I am heartbroken without him.”
Father Kelly speaks at a vigil in memory of South Philly shooting victim Billy Schmidt Thursday, June 11, 2026, in South Philadelphia.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Trying to find comfort in the outpouring of love surrounding his son’s memorial, Schmidt said the crowd was a testament to Billy’s life and how good a person he was. But it’s not enough to outweigh a father’s pain.
“I’m thrilled he had such a great group of friends. He was a very candid person who never bothered anyone,” Schmidt said. “But I don’t have my son.”
One of those friends, Gino Russo, can’t even remember life without Billy, whom he’d known since kindergarten.
“Every time you call him, he was there,” Russo said. “Billy never let anyone down. I never saw him walk into a room not smiling and making sure everyone is smiling around him.”
Anna, Billy’s sister, called him “my best friend + best brother in one” in a message on a poster featuring lots of memories and a heart made with pictures of the siblings.
“Being your sister is the biggest honor,” she wrote. “Spending every Eagles game with you was so much fun, and you will always be watching the games with me now.”
Video captured on a home surveillance camera obtained and broadcast by 6abc shows a man wearing a hoodie throwing a cell phone down Durfor Street. Schmidt appeared to be chasing him and another man, who shot the Penn State student in the chest as he turned the corner.
Schmidt was pronounced dead at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center a short time later.
“This is senseless,” Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson told the crowd standing beside Schmidt’s father and sister, who held each other tightly.
William Schmidt was studying digital journalism and media at Penn State’s online campus.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Schmidt was a fourth-semester student studying digital journalism and media at the Penn State World Campus, the university’s online campus. Schmidt’s father told 6abc he was shocked his son chased the two men to retrieve his phone, which was found under a car on Durfor Street and turned over to police.
Philadelphia police are still trying to identify the two suspects, who were also captured in security footage both approaching the scene and fleeing the area following the shooting.
One suspect was wearing a light gray custom designed “KONFUSED” brand hooded sweatshirt. The other was wearing dark clothing and a light gray camouflage face mask, which he removed following the shooting.
Anyone with information is asked to call the homicide unit at 215-686-3334, or submit an anonymous tip by calling or texting 215-686-TIPS (8477). The city offers a $20,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
A ceremonial event with members of Congress will convene at Independence Hall during the upcoming celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, the first such gathering in Philadelphia since a ceremonial joint session in 1987 to mark the bicentennial.
The event, set for July 2, will feature visits from members of Congress but is not expected to include all 535 members in a building that, when it was in use in 1776, held only 56 delegates.
It will fall on the anniversary of the day that the Second Continental Congress voted to adopt a resolution for independence. The Declaration of Independence was drafted and formally approved on July 4.
The gathering is years in the making. U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, a Democrat whose district includes the national historic site, introduced legislation starting in 2024 that called for a joint session at the site on July 2.
Congress has convened for a ceremonial session outside of Washington, D.C. on only two other occasions — a 1987 event in Philadelphia with 55 lawmakers, and in September 2002, when more than 300 met in New York City for the one-year anniversary of 9/11.
The congressional event comes as the City of Philadelphia and the Trump administration are engaged in an ongoing legal battle over the federal government’s efforts to remove slavery exhibits from the President’s House, an adjacent site which memorializes the nine people George Washington enslaved in Philadelphia during the nation’s founding.
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle holds a news conference about legislation intended to protect the President’s House in Philadelphia. Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Boyle, whose legislation did not pass, announced this year’s event in a statement that did not describe it as a ceremonial joint session but as a “ceremonial event.” Details about participants and programming would come later, his office said Thursday.
“Exactly two years ago I launched this effort to bring Members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, back to the place where it all began 250 years ago: Independence Hall,” Boyle said in a statement. “I am very proud and excited this historic and special event is happening. It will be a unifying moment for the Congress and our country, at a time when we need it most.”
Dawaun Lewis, 30, has been charged with murder, robbery, and related crimes in the death of 45-year-old Keisha Furlow, police said. He was taken into custody Thursday after being arrested by Highway Patrol officers near his home on West Girard Avenue.
First responders discovered Furlow, a mother of four, in an alley near her North Opal Street home in North Philadelphia early Sunday morning, according to police.
Her face had been badly injured, and investigators believe two bloodied bricks found near her body had been used in her slaying hours before, around 2 a.m.
Furlow was pronounced dead at the scene, and medical examiners determined she died from blunt force trauma.
Investigators said they reviewed surveillance footage showing a person kicking Furlow and beating her head with a brick. That person and another individual fled with Furlow’s purse before ditching it nearby, they said.
There was no word if police have any information about the second attacker. The investigation is continuing.
At least six people were detained in Phoenixville by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thursday, according to a nonprofit that works with undocumented people in the Greater Philadelphia area.
Rachel Rutter, executive director of Project Libertad, said the tips regarding ICE sightings started pouring in at around 7 a.m. Agents were reportedly at an Acme, a Wawa on the other side of the borough, and a car stop at an intersection.
“It really was just kind of a feeling of the town crawling with ICE because it was just kind of coming from everywhere and they’re moving around quickly,” said Rutter, whose organization confirmed the arrests and was still pinning down the locations of where they took place.
ICE did not immediately respond to questions regarding the alleged flurry of activity and arrests.
One Phoenixville resident, who declined to give her name out of privacy concerns, said she was walking her dog when she saw four SUVs with tinted windows and siren lights on their back dashboards in the middle of a car stop just blocks from the borough’s main commercial corridor. About eight plainclothes officers, some in face masks and wearing vests with “police” emblazoned on them, were at the scene, she said.
After dropping her dog off, the woman returned to Washington Avenue, near Star Street, where she saw the officers arrest two of the car’s passengers.
“From the time I saw them until the time I left, I’d say the total time was probably about 10 minutes,” she said, adding the driver of the car would later tell her the group was heading to work.
As of Thursday afternoon, Project Libertad, which has been connecting families of people detained by ICE to legal help, food, and financial assistance, was still in the process of reaching those affected by the arrests.
Some Phoenixville immigration advocates say the timing of the sudden arrests, after what felt like a lull in ICE activity, comes two days after a unanimous Phoenixville Council vote to pass an ordinance amendment that would limit immigration enforcement on borough property.
The mayor’s office and members of the Borough Council could not be reached for comment by publication.
“We’ve seen this in other areas across the country where when a city or a town, especially around sanctuary cities, takes a stand, ICE responds in force,” said Parker Studebaker, director of the Phoenixville Liberation Center, which has been hosting “know your rights” immigration trainings.
Studebaker also expressed concern over how the arrests took place a day after President Donald Trump signed a bill funding ICE and Border Patrol through the end of his term. Many immigration advocates worry that the roughly $70 billion going to the agencies comes with little oversight.
For now, immigration advocates in Phoenixville vowed to continue organizing and educational efforts.
“We really want to make it heard and make it known that the community is coming together and is willing to defend our neighbors, and that will not change, and so that’s the best we can do is show up and meet this where it’s at,” he said.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that six people were detained.
IRVINE, Calif. — There is no question that this U.S. men’s soccer team has players with talent and pedigree like never before. Even some of their predecessors, who are as prone to claiming “back in my day” as in any other sport, have said as much lately.
Now, at last, the time has arrived to prove it. For all the pomp and circumstance that Friday’s World Cup opener against Paraguay (9 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo 62) will bring, it also will serve as the ultimate measuring stick.
This is the 12th men’s World Cup in which a U.S. squad has taken part. In the first 11, going all the way back to the inaugural edition in 1930, the Americans have played 37 games.
They have won just nine.
Christian Pulisic’s goal against Iran in 2022 came in the only U.S. win in that tournament.Alex Grimm
It’s not just that number, sitting alongside 20 losses and eight ties. It’s that the U.S. men haven’t won two games in a group stage since that 1930 tournament. They haven’t won two games in a single tournament since 2002, when they reached the quarterfinals with a round of 16 win over Mexico.
That, in turn, still stands as the only World Cup knockout-round win in program history. And the fact that it came against the opponent the U.S. knows best in the world means that while there isn’t an asterisk, it’s still not the same as beating a team from elsewhere.
Can this be the summer when that finally changes? And if so, what will it take?
“I think the maturity of the group now, I would say,” U.S. midfield star and longtime leader Tyler Adams said at Friday’s practice. “I know we’ve got some faces [for whom] it will be their first experience in the World Cup. But that being said, they’re all playing at a high level somewhere in the world, if not in MLS, and they’re all going to be able to contribute at a high level.”
Tyler Adams (left) speaking with the media before Friday’s practice.Jonathan Tannenwald
The U.S.’s group is easier than others, lacking a European or South American superpower and coincidentally having three rematches of friendlies from last year. A smaller gap in talent means intangibles like mentality and home-field advantage might make a difference.
“I think just continuing to put in good performances, and believing,” said Christian Pulisic, the Americans’ most important playmaker. “I think having the confidence that we’re able to beat anyone, I think that’s what it is. And I think we’ve gained some experience, especially the last World Cup, a lot of guys being around, and now we have an opportunity to prove it.”
Indeed, Pulisic and Adams are among 13 players on this World Cup squad — exactly half the roster — who were also in Qatar in 2022. But the message has also gotten through to players who weren’t, such as fast-rising defender Alex Freeman.
“I feel like for us it’s having, that confidence in ourselves,” he said. “Knowing that we’re on home soil and it’s a different type of environment, knowing that we have the fans behind us. Now it’s kind of just to show what we can do, knowing that on the field it’s going to be a different type of confidence, different type of intensity that we’ll have to show.”
Christian Pulisic (center) getting to work on Friday.Jonathan Tannenwald
And how did they feel on game day eve?
“A good nervous, I feel like,” Adams said “I’ve never get nervous for games, but I just feel like … it just feels really real in the moment. And I’m to get out there with this group of guys, because I’m confident in what we can do.”
Adams wasn’t on the squad when the U.S. beat Paraguay in Chester last November because of an injury suffered a few days before that game. So when asked if that game matters now, his first answer was, “I mean, I didn’t play in it, so to me it doesn’t matter.”
But after the laughs all around that ensued, he agreed that the experience does help the team overall.
“It is nice when you’re breaking down film of an opponent, and you’re breaking down watching with players that we have on the field,” he said. “So I think for a lot of guys, it was probably a good experience.”
Freeman was on the field and became the center of attention when a brawl broke out at the end of the game. That was the latest lesson for the 21-year-old defender, who made a big move from Orlando City to Spain’s Villarreal two months later.
“I think for me and the team, we know how intense it is, right? And aggressive as well,” he said. “We feel like in those games, it’s going to be kind of the battle, who can strike first. I think for us, it’s to be aggressive first — I think we want to be those people that can go and make the game the way we want to do.”
So, here they are, in the final hours before the biggest game of their lives, with the opportunity for more biggest games of their lives afterward.
Final preparations were underway Thursday afternoon at the stadium in Inglewood, Calif., where the U.S. and Paraguay will meet on Friday night.Jonathan Tannenwald / Staff
“It’s not quite here — still got another day,” Pulisic said. “But definitely feeling more real, getting excited.”
And Adams gave one more rallying cry, adding to the list of them he has given.
“This is, for me, the biggest opportunity to just really grow the game, to inspire people, to show that American players are at the level of the rest of the world,” he said. “I’m not going to say it’s difficult to showcase that week in week out when you’re playing abroad, but that’s not the collective. Now you have a group of Americans playing together at a high level — let’s show everyone what we’re capable of doing.”
Earlier today, Tyler Adams was asked about the burden Christian Pulisic has carried on his shoulders for a decade as the biggest #USMNT star.
Here was Adams' eloquent response, and what Pulisic said a few minutes later about whether he feels less of a burden now:
Philadelphia School District officials and public education advocates were relieved Wednesday when Mayor Cherelle L. Parker announced she had reached a deal with City Council that will prevent 340 classroom positions from being eliminated amid the district’s funding woes.
But as limited details about the agreement began to emerge Thursday, it became clear that the deal was less of a schools-funding program than a plan to figure one out over the next year — with the prospect of $216 million in city budget cuts taking effect if Parker and Council cannot eventually agree to adopt a new revenue stream.
“Council President Kenyatta Johnson and I publicly committed to working together to find local, recurring, predictable, and dependable revenue sources for the School District of Philadelphia over the next year to ensure that we keep these critical positions,” Parker said Thursday during a city budget bill-signing ceremony. “That is our shared goal and our commitment.”
But if Parker and Johnson do not make good on that commitment by July 1, 2027, the city will be on the hook for additional funding it has promised the school district between 2028 and 2031, including roughly $50 million in the first year of that time frame.
Council President Kenyatta Johnson speaks during an announcement at the School District of Philadelphia Headquarters on Wednesday, June 10, 2026 in Philadelphia. Philadelphia School District officials will move to restore 340 classroom-based jobs that were slated to be cut, despite top district leaders saying last week that they did not have the recurring funding needed to keep the positions.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Parker, Johnson, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr., and school board president Reginald Streater triumphantly unveiled the agreement to stave off the planned job cuts Wednesday. That announcement followed days of suspense after Council last week refused to pass the mayor’s proposed $1-per-trip rideshare tax, which would have funded schools, and instead advanced a city budget with about $50 million from one-time cuts that would be sent to the district as a Band-Aid for its $300 million budget gap.
Council’s move prompted Watlington, with Parker’s backing, to say the positions would still be eliminated without an explicit promise that the money would be recurring, rather than a one-time allocation.
Officials said they worked “around the clock” between Council’s rejection of the rideshare tax and Wednesday’s announcement, which Johnson jubilantly hailed as “Christmas in June.”
On Thursday, education advocates and labor leaders heaped praise on the administration for the deal.
Several district principals said Thursday they do not yet have details about exactly how much they will get back in their budgets, or how the dominoes will fall once positions are restored.
Watlington had school leaders build their 2026-27 budgets as if the cuts were happening, and many of the affected teachers, counselors, and climate staff secured new positions, some in the district and some outside the system. The restoration will undoubtedly cause vacancies elsewhere, months after other districts filled jobs for the fall.
“The win is making sure that those 340 jobs, with teachers, will not be laid off, and they will not have to second-guess if next year they’re going to come back to work,” Johnson told reporters Thursday. “And I think ultimately we can talk about sometime the ‘how’ we get to a particular end. But it’s always the ‘why.’ … At the end of the day, all of our young people still can have a chance to get a quality education.”
‘Budget sequestration’ comes to Philly?
The agreement between Parker and Johnson in some ways hearkens back to Congress’ 2011 “budget sequestration” debacle, when President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) agreed to severe across-the-board spending reductions that would take effect automatically if lawmakers and the White House failed to reach a “grand bargain” to restructure the federal budget.
They never reached an agreement — and the sequestration cuts, once thought of as too painful to countenance, eventually became reality.
Parker and Johnson are optimistic their arrangement for the school district and the city budget will not suffer a similar fate.
The future city budget cuts will be reflected in the city’s five-year plan, which must be approved by a state oversight board each year but is not binding legislation like annual taxing and spending measures. That gives City Hall more wiggle room to figure out how to find the money officials have now promised the district than Obama and Boehner had.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker is cheered by members of Philadelphia City Council at conclusion of the budget address, Thursday, March 12, 2026. From left are council members Nicholas O’Rourke, Cindy Bass and Katherine Gilmore Richardson. In background is council President Kenyatta Johnson. .Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Parker said her administration has already identified the cuts that will be reflected in the five-year plan when it is up for approval next month at the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority. But she has offered few specifics on what those potential cuts would entail.
Parker said Thursday that the city could make up part of the difference by reducing future debt repayment obligations by reducing the size of planned city bond sales. She mentioned the city’s capital budget, which funds projects like repaving roads and renovating recreation centers, but did not say how much would be cut.
And she said the city could halve its next borrowing related to her signature housing program, Housing Opportunities Made Easy. The city plans to take out a second tranche of $400 million in city bonds next year for H.O.M.E.; the potential cuts to free up money for schools could include taking only $200 million at that time, she said.
“Where did we get the money from in future years?” Parker said Thursday. “In our five-year plan, we made cuts to very important programs associated with our capital budget and even our H.O.M.E. plan — but cuts that will never have to be realized once we all make good on that commitment to generate that approximately $50 million in new, predictable recurring revenue.”
One complication in the negotiations to come is that Parker and all 17 Council members are up for reelection next year, and lawmakers are not eager to approve new taxes before voters head to the ballot box.
The Democratic primary, which effectively decides almost all elections in Philadelphia due to the city’s deep-blue electorate, will be in May 2027. The next city budget, including all tax measures for the following fiscal year, must be enacted by the end of June 2027, leaving several weeks after the election for Council to potentially approve a new tax to provide money for the district next year.
Philadelphia City Council members at City Hall in Philadelphia, Pa. on Thursday, June 11, 2026.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Some possibilities do not involve new or increased taxes for residents. The city, for instance, could speed up its plans to increase the share of property tax revenue that is dedicated to the district. Currently, the district receives 56% of property tax revenue, while the city takes 44%.
Parker said the agreement will allow Philadelphia to present a united front in Harrisburg as officials prepare to ask for more state funding for the city’s school district. State lawmakers in the past have pointed to disagreements among city leaders when rejecting requests for additional support.
“This is the first time … in my lifetime that the city of Philadelphia, the administration, and the legislative branch, along with the superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia and the school board, will all travel [to Harrisburg] in unity, along with all of our union partners and all of our education advocates,” Parker said. “We can stand up when we arrive in Harrisburg and say … ‘Philadelphia’s homework is done.’”
School advocates relieved
Arthur Steinberg, president of the 14,000-member Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said the news of Parker and Johnson’s agreement came just in time. Thursday was the last day of school for 114,000 district students; staff finish the school year Friday.
“It was a very difficult year, and I’m glad that we’re able to tell them now that the positions that were cut due to this will be restored,” Steinberg said at a news conference Thursday morning outside Council chambers. “This means a lot to them. There’s stability over the summer. The communities will know who their teachers will be, and they’ll know where they’re going.”
Arthur G. Steinberg (left), president of the Philadelphia Association of Teachers, and school superintendent Tony B. Watlington, Sr. (right) greet students as they arrive onstage for Mayor Parker’s announcement March 23, 2026, of $1 rideshare tax proposal to fund city schools.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Tiffany Johnson Williams said she was thrilled that cuts at her child’s school — Nebinger Elementary in South Philadelphia — and others would be rolled back.
“I am equally grateful to Mayor Parker, Superintendent Watlington, and the school board for coming back to the table and working collaboratively to reach the solution that restored our critical positions,” Williams said at the news conference. “As a parent and educator and a youth advocate, I know that stability matters.”
Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, who has had a testy relationship with the district and school board over the last several months, suggested it was time to move forward cohesively to push for more funding elsewhere.
“I think where we are at this moment is recognizing that as we come together as Philadelphians, our job now is to use our advocacy initiatives and our leverage to try to get even more resources from Harrisburg,” Thomas said.
Staff writers Anna Orso and Jake Blumgart contributed to this article.
A stampede of tiny Croc shoes displaying ice cream and hamburger Jibbitz raced through an interactive structure at Sister Cities Park in Center City on a sunny Thursday morning.
“Philadelphia changed the world,” read an etching at the front of the play structure. “Ready to see how?”
Little red and blue gingham skirts fluttered in and out of wooden doorframes as 75 preschoolers explored a brand-new play arena that featured a series of colorful, translucent posters highlighting inventions from Philadelphians, including the Slinky, the revolving door, and the public library.
Panels inside the structure showcased inventions spurred by the imaginations of children, such as Popsicles, earmuffs, and trampolines.
The Sister Cities Park installation is one of 11 educational structures geared toward children placedat landmarks around the city. The series is an effort to further the city’s commitment to children’s engagement in public places and solidify its status as a great city for kids, as well as to celebrate the nation’s Semiquincentennial. Itwas unveiled June 11, a day the United Nations designated in 2024 as International Day of Play.
The bundle of installations includes colorful wheels at the Philadelphia Zoo teaching kids about animal species, a set of tabletops at Reading Terminal Market featuring displays about colors and tastes, and arton fencing at the Franklin Institute instructing children how to find different constellations in the night sky.
The final three installations — at Franklin Square, the National Constitution Center, and Elfreth’s Alley — have yet to be installed and are coming soon, according to the project website.
The goal is to keep Philadelphia a city on the forefront of children’s enrichment and one that makes it publicly available for all kids in the city to benefit from, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said at the unveiling of the Sister Cities Park installation.
“This idea that our children can have places and spaces where they can feel safe, supported, and seen, and free to just be children, is extremely important to me,” Parker said. “Truly great cities invest in their children.”
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, right, hugs Raechel O’Neal Coats, director of the Friends Childcare Center, left, at the unveiling of a new playful learning hub at Sister Cities Park in Center City, Philadelphia, June 11, 2026.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Sarah Lytle, executive director of Playful Learning Landscapes, a nonprofit that helps U.S. cities convert ordinary spaces into learning hubs, presented Parker with documentation of a new designation for the city — World’s First Playful Learning City.
Moments later, Parker ripped a red, white, and blue paper-link chain and a procession of kids tore through the new installation, quickly getting to work weaving in and out of its pillars and standing on tippy-toes to doodle on chalkboards affixed to the structure’s middle section.
The Sister Cities event was finished off with words from whom else but the city’s most renowned tinkerer and inventor, Ben Franklin (or, technically, James Longacre, who specializes in lectures, TV commercials, and ribbon-cuttings performing as Ben Franklin).
He thanked Parker for securing Philadelphia’s latest special designation and “for reminding our city that a spark of curiosity is brightest when struck with a bit of play.”
As quickly as the kids barreled toward the structure to inaugurate its first playtime, they returned to teachers and aides — ice pops, toy boats, and bottles of bubbles in hand, ready to be entertained anew. Dozens of tiny hands grasped a rainbow-colored rope and teachers ushered the students back up the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and onto their next adventure.
Philadelphia City Council will hold public hearings to examine the police department’s crowd-control tactics used during Sunday’s Pride festivities in the city’s Gayborhood, a response that drew criticism from LGBTQ+ community leaders who have called the display of force unacceptable.
Councilmember Rue Landau, a Democrat who represents the city at-large and is Council’s first openly LGBTQ+ member, introduced legislation Thursday to authorize Council to hold hearings on the response, citing video and eyewitness accounts of “aggressive police tactics,” such as physical confrontations between police and celebrators, as well as the use of mounted and motorcycle officers to disperse crowds.
A large police presence at a Pride celebration in the Gayborhood on Sunday, June 8, 2026.Courtesy of Joshua Stokem
Images and videos that circulated widely on social media this week showed officers pushing attendees, as well as police on horseback dispersing crowds from the sidewalk. Multiple officers were seen on video with their faces covered, and others barricaded Gayborhood streets. Police said 15 people were arrested.
“It’s clear that this was a lack of communication, a lack of planning, and a lack of clear on-the-ground decision making of what to do in this situation,” Landau said Thursday.
Holding hearings in Council “is not going to heal the pain and trauma that happened on Sunday,” Landau said, but it will “answer strategic and tactical questions.”
”We need to work towards a time when the Gayborhood is safe and open and welcoming to every member of the queer community, but especially to Black and brown queer people and trans people,” she added.
Councilmember Rue Landau on Thursday, March 12, 2026.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
During an acknowledgment of Pride month in Council on Thursday, Mark Segal, the publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News and a fixture of the city’s LGBTQ+ community, said he was looking for accountability and wanted to know: “Who was in charge Sunday?”
“No police should be wearing a mask in Philadelphia,” Segal said to applause. “No motorcycle should be up on the sidewalk. Police on horseback should not be hurting citizens. The police should not be running around with Tasers. People should not be punched. People should not be fenced off like animals.”
Council unanimously approved a resolution to hold hearings. They are not likely to take place until fall, as Thursday was Council’s final meeting before adjourning for summer recess.
The move to hold hearings is a notable step for a Council that has largely steered clear of public criticism of the city’s police department in recent years. While individual members have taken issue with discrete tactics or policies, most have been satisfied with the leadership of the force under Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel, who took the helm in 2024 when Mayor Cherelle L. Parker appointed him to the role.
Bethel said the police department is investigating the agency’s response during the Pride festivities, and a police spokesperson said that five officers who wore facial coverings may face discipline for violating department policy.
Parker said in a statement that senior members of the administration were examining the response. During an unrelated news conference Thursday, she said that “accountability will be reached.”
“Rest assured we’re going to do the research. We’re going to find out what happened and where accountability is appropriate,” Parker said.
People fill the street during the Philly Pride Festival on the Ben Franklin Parkway on Sunday, June 7, 2026 in Philadelphia.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
More than a dozen LGBTQ+ residents and Pride attendees came to Council on Thursday to tell lawmakers about their experiences Sunday and call for an investigation.
Philadelphia resident Jazmyn Henderson, a longtime activist in the city, was in the Gayborhood on Sunday and said she witnessed police using aggressive crowd-control tactics.
She said she did not think Council’s resolution was enough to make her feel safe going forward.
“I think City Council is delusional,” Henderson said. “I think the city is delusional, and they think that that resolution meant anything to any of the Black and brown people who were brutalized, assaulted, hurt, or mistreated by the cops on Sunday.”
Sergio Cea, political director of the progressive political group Reclaim Philadelphia, testified during Council’s public comment section that he was tear-gassed by officers in West Philadelphia during a wave of civil unrest in 2020 and, following Sunday’s events in the Gayborhood, he does not feel safe in the city from what he described as “police violence.”
“I really welcome the resolution that Rue Landau is presenting, but we need to go beyond that,” Cea said. “We are not safe.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — President Donald Trump said Thursday he had called off new military strikes on Iran, claiming a breakthrough in negotiations to end the war just hours after the American leader threatened to escalate the conflict by seizing control of Iran’s oil industry.
Trump has said multiple times in recent weeks that the warring parties have been on the cusp of a deal without anything coming to fruition. A spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a live phone call on state television that mediators were active and nothing had been finalized to end the conflict that began Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel jointly attacked Iran.
Trump opened an Oval Office event Thursday afternoon saying: “We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran.” He offered scant details, other than to say he expects an agreement to extend a fragile ceasefire that started in April to be finalized “over the next few days.”
Extending the terms of the ceasefire gives U.S. leaders more time to negotiate over Iran’s nuclear program, the main reason Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to justify launching the war. Netanyahu’s office said Thursday that Israel is not a party to the emerging agreement between the U.S. and Iran.
The announcement came after two days of back-and-forth attacks between the U.S. and Iran had pushed the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war.
Trump had threatened further escalation earlier Thursday, posting on social media that the U.S. would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and take “total control” of its oil and gas industries. A few hours later, Trump posted on social media that significant points in the negotiations “have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved.”
Esmail Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said in his phone call on state television that text of a deal is “mostly finalized.”
“The problem is that the contradictions in America’s position has caused turbulence to this process,” he said Thursday night.
A major sticking point in negotiations has been Iran’s nuclear program, which the U.S. and Israel fear could lead to an atomic weapon, but which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes. Another key issue is Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane for transporting oil and natural gas.
Trump again moves quickly from threats to negotiating
Trump’s rapid shift Thursday from dire threats to promoting peace negotiations again underscored his whipsaw approach to the war. He suggested on Monday that a deal to end the conflict could be reached in a matter of days.
Then back-and-forth strikes rattled the Middle East this week. The first involved attacks between Iran and Israel, followed by the two rounds of fire between the U.S. and Iran, which targeted countries where U.S. troops are based. The U.S. strikes began after Trump blamed Iran for downing an American attack helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. Both pilots were rescued safely.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. attacks had “effectively rendered the ceasefire … meaningless,” without saying it was abandoning it.
After Trump threatened more attacks were to come on Thursday, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, responded on social media that “wrong strategies and impulsive decisions” would wreak havoc on energy markets and “create an endless quagmire that you will be stuck in for years.”
It wasn’t the first time Trump threatened escalation before giving negotiations another chance. In April, he warned Iran that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if it didn’t agree to his terms, before extending a ceasefire.
Trump threatened to seize Iran’s main oil terminal
Iran’s monthslong disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has crimped global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made food and other basics more expensive well beyond the region.
Trump had threatened Thursday to seize Kharg Island, the heart of Iran’s oil industry, through which 90% of its exports pass.
But Trump himself soon voiced doubts about taking over the oil terminal, saying in an interview with Fox News: “I don’t know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest.”
“I don’t want to have boots on the ground,” Trump said. ”But if I wanted to, we could put a small group of soldiers and take over the place.”
Tensions persist over Iran’s nuclear program, Strait of Hormuz
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post that the U.S. would extract funds from frozen Iranian accounts to offset the costs of damage to American allies and any tolls Iran imposes for ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
Beyond the deadlock over the strait, the two sides also remain at odds over Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran insists its nuclear efforts are peaceful. The U.S. and Israel fear Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium could be used to build an atomic weapon.
Iran has insisted that any deal to end the war must also end fighting in Lebanon between its ally militia Hezbollah and Israel. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears intent on pursuing his goal of destroying the militant group.
Iranian student says hope dwindles as attacks escalate
A 25-year-old student in northern Iran says Iranians are fearing “chaos” amid the war with the U.S. and Israel and multiplying crises at home.
The student, who lives in the city of Babol, said many Iranians are struggling to afford groceries in the face of mass job losses and triple-digit food inflation. He spoke on the condition of anonymity out of security fears.
“Everything is going wrong and there is no hope among the people,” the student added.
The student first spoke to The Associated Press before the war when he participated in widespread anti-government protests. He now says his chief concern is that Iran “maintain territorial integrity and deterrence” in the face of attacks by the U.S. and Israel.
U.S. fires on another merchant ship to enforce blockade
The U.S. military’s Central Command said Thursday that it struck a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker attempting to evade the American blockade on Iranian ports. It said the M/T Jalveer was transporting Iranian oil when it was disabled late Wednesday after its crew failed to obey U.S. orders.
It’s the ninth merchant vessel the U.S. military says it disabled to enforce the blockade.
Three Indian sailors were killed when American forces struck the Palau-flagged M/T Settebello on Tuesday, India’s minister overseeing ports and shipping said Thursday on X.
U.S. Central Command said American forces issued warnings before firing on the ship, which it accused of trying to evade the blockade.
The leader of the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, condemned the attack.
The heat and humidity have transformed the atmosphere into an obnoxious broth — just in time for the World Cup FIFA Fan Festival — and we can do without the fireworks, thank you.
The official temperature at Philadelphia International Airport had reached 97, setting a record for the date, with a heat index of 103 at 4 p.m. It beat the high of 95, reached in 1985, and an encore was expected Friday, when the record also is 95.
In addition, the steaminess has added volatility to a vapor-swollen atmosphere that is even making the windows sweat. The city’s heat emergency remains in effect until 8 p.m. Friday, and the National Weather Service is advising people to stay hydrated and in air-conditioning if possible.
With a front approaching, strong thunderstorms with potent winds are likely at some point during the FIFA fan festivities in Fairmount Park on Friday.
It will still be hot during the weekend, forecasters say, but as the World Cup activities heat up, the humidity will be so comfortable you might think you had moved.
As for game-time conditions Sunday for the Ecuador vs. Ivory Coast match in South Philly, spectators might want to pack an umbrella.
When the storms are expected to arrive in Philly
The government’s Storm Prediction Center warned that the region could be affected by “multiple disturbances,” and the atmosphere is well-juiced with moisture.
Rich Thompson, chief of forecast operations at the storm center, in Norman, Okla., said the center might have to issue a severe watch for the Philly region Friday, when he happens to be on duty.
Those attending the FIFA Fan Festival on Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park will be well-warned in case of severe weather, said Philadelphia Soccer 2026 spokesperson Melissa Ferdinand, via screens, announcements, and text messages.
In short, if you didn’t like the weather Thursday, you won’t like Friday’s, either.
The weather service warned of the “risk of heat-related illnesses for much of the population — especially those without effective cooling or hydration.”
The outlook for the weekend
Temperatures on both Saturday and Sunday are expected to reach 90 or better, but the air is going to be refreshingly drier. All thermal comfort being relative, the differences will be as noticeable as they are welcome.
At game time Sunday — 7 p.m. — it should be quite comfortable in South Philly. However, another system may touch off more showers during the game in advance of what will be a refreshing air mass to start the workweek.
