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  • Pennsylvania measles cases near 800 in ongoing outbreak

    Pennsylvania measles cases near 800 in ongoing outbreak

    Pennsylvania recorded nearly 100 new cases of measles in the last week, bringing the total case count for this year to 792, state officials said Monday.

    The state’s measles outbreak is the largest in the country in 2026 and is centered in Lancaster County, which has reported more than 300 cases this year.

    Chester County has confirmed 76 measles cases so far this year, the third-highest total in the state behind Mifflin County in Central Pennsylvania, which has reported 93 cases.

    State officials have reported four deaths associated with the outbreak: two infants in Lancaster County, a 40-year-old woman in Jefferson County, and an 18-year-old in Mifflin County.

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    The state defines a “measles-associated” death as one that occurs within 30 days of symptom onset in a person with clinical evidence of infection and a positive laboratory test for measles, and who did not die of another unrelated cause, like a car crash.

    Lancaster County’s coroner said one of the infants died from a lacerated spleen, not measles, though the baby tested positive for the disease. Physicians have noted that measles can weaken a spleen and make it more vulnerable to rupture.

    Federal officials have clashed with the state over its characterizations of the deaths.

    Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has faulted President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, for spreading misinformation about the safety of the measles vaccine and contributing to declining vaccination rates.

    Kennedy, in turn, suggested Shapiro’s administration “fabricated” two of the deaths, though he later acknowledged one death was caused by measles.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still has not listed the deaths on its data dashboard for measles outbreaks.

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    Officials there have suggested the state is not cooperating with the agency and said officials had not requested emergency help from its Epi-Aid program, which provides short-term technical assistance and subject matter expertise during health crises, as other states with outbreaks have. Trump, in a White House appearance with Kennedy on Friday, called Shapiro “close to incompetent.”

    “Incompetence is denying the tragedy of four measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro wrote on X in response.

    Pennsylvania health secretary Debra Bogen said last week the state was already working with CDC staff, and had begun the process of requesting an Epi-Aid team — on the condition that the agency acknowledges the deaths in Pennsylvania.

    Measles exposures in Philadelphia

    Chester County is the only county in the Philadelphia area that has reported measles cases in the current outbreak, which began in April. (Montgomery County confirmed three cases in a separate outbreak in the winter.)

    But Philadelphia health officials have reported two potential measles exposures, at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia International Airport.

    On Sept. 11, city health officials said, a person with measles visited a neonatal intensive care unit and several other areas at the hospital at 3401 Civic Center Blvd. in University City. Infants exposed in the NICU were isolated and treated with antibodies to help decrease their chances of acquiring or becoming seriously ill from the highly contagious disease, CHOP officials said.

    Two days later, on Sept. 13, a person with measles traveled through Terminals B and F at the airport, as well as areas connecting to Terminals C, D, and E, health officials said. The potential exposure was unconnected to the CHOP incident.

    Measles infects up to nine in 10 unvaccinated people exposed to it, and young children are at particular risk for complications from the virus, which can include pneumonia and brain swelling.

    State efforts to vaccinate

    About 95% of a community must be vaccinated against the virus to prevent its spread, but vaccination rates across Pennsylvania have been dropping for years. Hundreds of kindergartens in the Philadelphia region report vaccination rates well below this “herd immunity” rate.

    State officials said in a statement Monday that more Pennsylvanians have expressed interest in getting vaccinated as the outbreak spreads.

    The health department will offer free measles, mumps, and rubella vaccinations from Sept. 26 through Oct. 3 at the Bloomsburg Fair in Columbia County, which has reported two measles cases.

    The clinic is “just the latest way the department is meeting Pennsylvanians where they are, to ensure they have the facts and evidence to make decisions about vaccination for themselves and their family,” officials said.

    State workers have hosted 148 pop-up vaccination clinics and given out more than 4,800 MMR vaccinations in affected areas since April, with “dozens” more scheduled in the weeks and months ahead, officials said, “based on community interest and need.”

    Other healthcare providers have also seen renewed interest in vaccination this year, state officials said. Typically, providers give out about 25,000 MMR doses a month, but in August, more than 46,000 doses were administered, and more than 25,000 doses were given out in the first two weeks of September.

  • Swarthmore College renames hall for two prominent Black scholars with Philadelphia ties

    Swarthmore College renames hall for two prominent Black scholars with Philadelphia ties

    Swarthmore College has renamed the former Trotter Hall and its adjacent lawn for two Black scholars who feature prominently in its history: the school’s first African American professor and an alumnus who served as a policy adviser to several U.S. presidents and formerly led the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

    The move comes after the college last year stripped former professor Spencer Trotter’s name from the hall after the school learned Trotter had dug up a Native American burial ground in Chester County in 1899 and displayed human remains on campus.

    Effective immediately, the hall and its adjoining lawn will be known as Edley-Morgan Hall and Edley-Morgan Lawn, named for Kathryn L. Morgan, the late Swarthmore professor emerita of history, and Christopher F. Edley Jr., the late legal scholar and proponent of affirmative action who worked closely with three Democratic presidents and with six presidential campaigns.

    What’s in a name? Swarthmore College explores new title for a building whose namesake has a troubled past

    “This renaming is an important milestone, but not the end of this work,” Swarthmore president Valerie Smith said in a message to campus Monday. “Our further efforts will also ensure that this reckoning with the past is appropriately documented and acknowledged so our community can continue to learn and heal.”

    The late Christopher F. Edley Jr. is a legal scholar and Swarthmore College alumnus. Swarthmore announced it is naming the former Trotter Hall and its adjoining lawn for Edley and Kathryn L. Morgan, the late Swarthmore professor of history, who was the college’s first African American professor.Courtesy of Swarthmore College

    The college undertook an extensive process that included input from more than 500 students, faculty, and staff through a campus survey, a panel discussion with other college leaders who had gone through renaming processes after controversies, a session with a leader of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, and research on potential new namesakes.

    Through the process, the community concluded the new namesake or namesakes should be someone with a direct connection to the college and honor departments based in the building — history, political science, classics, and the writing associates program. The community also wanted the new namesake or namesakes to be “consistent with or expand the diversity of representation on campus.”

    When the process began, of Swarthmore’s 70 primary buildings, 67% were named for people, and of those, 53% were named for one or more men, 26% for one or more women, and 21% for both, the college had said. All but two of the namesakes were white and about half were Quakers.

    More than 75 names were considered for the hall, which initially opened in 1882, the college said.

    Swarthmore hired Morgan in 1970, and she joined the history department as its first folklorist, according to a 2011 Swarthmore story about her passing in 2010. She got her bachelor’s degree from Virginia State University, a master’s degree from Howard University and another master’s degree and doctorate from Penn.

    Kathryn Lawson Morgan, 91, folklorist and historian

    She taught classes including Folklore and Folklife Studies, History through Folklore and Literature, Black Women in Historical Perspective, and Black Culture and Consciousness, according to the college. Though she initially was denied tenure, she eventually became the first Black woman to get it at Swarthmore and talked about tensions in her department in a 2000 Swarthmore College Bulletin interview, the college said in its piece.

    Her work Children of Strangers: The Stories of a Black Family (1980), was the first work of African American family folklore by a folklorist.

    In 2000, a scholarship was established in her name and a poetry festival in her name was held in 2009.

    “One of the first things I tell my students,” Morgan said, according to the Swarthmore piece, “is to go home, look to your families, to the stories you were told as children. They’re the most important stories in the world.”

    Morgan, who was born and raised in Philadelphia, was described in the Swarthmore piece as “a wise, charismatic woman who intellectually bridged the gap between W.E.B. Du Bois and Malcolm X, a militant yet gentle soul who embraced everything of interest with intensity, and a radiant presence who drew on lessons learned from her ancestors as others draw breath.”

    The late Kathryn L. Morgan, professor emerita of history at Swarthmore College, was the first African American professor at the school. The college is renaming the former Trotter Hall and its adjoining lawn for Morgan and legal scholar Christopher F. Edley Jr., a Swarthmore alumnus.Courtesy of Swarthmore College

    Edley, who died in 2024 and spent part of his youth in Philadelphia, got a degree in mathematics and economics from Swarthmore in 1973 and later a master’s in public policy and a law degree from Harvard. Before serving as law school dean at Berkeley from 2004 to 2013, he was a professor at Harvard. He served on Swarthmore’s board of managers from 1982 to 1993.

    He worked for the White House domestic policy staff in the 1970s when Jimmy Carter was president, advising on issues including food stamps, child welfare and disability, according to an article on the Swarthmore website. During Bill Clinton’s administration, he worked in the Office of Management and Budget and served as special counsel to the president. And in 2008, he worked on Barack Obama’s successful presidential campaign and served on his presidential transition board. Obama had been a student of Edley’s at Harvard, according to Edley’s obituary in the Washington Post.

    When he received an honorary degree from Swarthmore in 1999, Edley talked about what he learned at the school.

    “I learned to face the limits of my intelligence, without fear,” he said, according to the Swarthmore piece. “I learned what it means to really understand something hard, only to realize that I was dead wrong, or that there was another, perhaps better way to understand it … And I learned that when there is trouble, find a grove of lilac bushes, lie down, get drunk on the fragrance, and think about important things.”

    Swarthmore’s renaming process started after a 2022 article in The Inquirer that mentioned how a former Swarthmore professor and student had dug up a burial ground and moved a skeleton and objects buried with it to the college.

    A Native American burial ground in Chester County is returning to its ‘rightful owners’

    Swarthmore researched and discovered the professor was Trotter. The college first checked to make sure there were no remains from Trotter’s collection being improperly handled at the school; there were not. Officials found a collection of unidentified human bones that the college likely had obtained legally — but probably were initially acquired unethically — and moved them into storage.

    The college renamed the building Old Science Hall last December when Smith named a task force of students, faculty, and staff members to consider the next steps.

  • NFL Week 2: A.J. who? Feed DeVonta Smith; Eagles’ opponents having horrible injury luck

    NFL Week 2: A.J. who? Feed DeVonta Smith; Eagles’ opponents having horrible injury luck

    Since 2021, the year he was drafted just ahead of DeVonta Smith, Ja’Marr Chase has been targeted at least 10 times in 38 games. Justin Jefferson has been targeted at least 10 times in 39 games. CeeDee Lamb, 37.

    Smith: 16.

    The most recent: a 13-target, 10-catch explosion Sunday in Tennessee for 117 yards and a touchdown. Four of those targets came during the game-winning, fourth-quarter drive, when everyone in Nissan Stadium knew that Hurts would be looking for Smith on virtually every snap, the way Joe Burrow looks for Chase, Dak Prescott looks for Lamb, and whoever is Minnesota’s flavor of the moment looks for Jefferson, which only underscores Jefferson’s unmatched ability.

    But I digress.

    A number of reasons factor into Smith’s lower frequency of high targets. Among them: the presence of tandem receiver A.J. Brown from 2022-25; the presence of high-volume running back Saquon Barkley from 2024-26; and the presence of Jalen Hurts, a reluctant and limited passer whose 2,307 pass attempts and 1,505 completions since 2021 lag far behind the other nine quarterbacks who have played in at least 75 games.

    The point?

    The Eagles must feed Smith the way the Bengals feed Chase, the way the Vikings feed Jefferson, and the way the Cowboys feed Lamb.

    There no longer is any reason not to.

    There was much hand-wringing after Brown forced a trade to New England, reaction that now seems to have been overwrought. At any rate, he’s gone.

    Barkley clearly lacks the explosion and elusiveness that earned him the Offensive Player of the Year award in 2024.

    Which leaves Smith as the clear and constant No. 1 option.

    Smith beats man-to-man coverage, finds space against zones, makes contested catches and low catches and throws that lag behind him, and he has toe-tap sideline feet like Cris Carter. He has superb speed and is eager to catch in middle-of-the-field traffic.

    NFL rules were rewritten several times over the past three decades to make Smith and his ilk essentially unstoppable. Use him as such.

    Locking on Smith might occasionally lead to ruin, as was the case with Hurts’ first interception Sunday. But Hurts misdiagnosed a zone coverage as man-to-man, so that’s on Hurts. The better throw was probably to the other side, where Dontayvion Wicks was open in the corner. But again, I digress.

    I’m not jumping on a bandwagon here. I campaigned for the Eagles to draft Smith out of Alabama during the first half of the 2021 College Football Playoff title game.

    Before the season began, I predicted that Smith would rewrite the Eagles’ record books in 2026. It still could happen.

    We’ve seen other passers lock onto elite pass-catchers with negative outcomes: Prescott to Lamb, Josh Allen to Stefon Diggs when they were paired in Buffalo, Patrick Mahomes to Tyreek Hill when they were paired in Kansas City. It’s going to happen.

    Hurts’ second interception also was intended for Smith, who was wide open for at least a 30-yard gain, if not a touchdown. However, Cam Jurgens, who’d switched from center to left guard to replace injured Landon Dickerson, got beat cleanly by defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, the Titans’ best player. Hurts failed to step up in the pocket, which continues to be one of his deficiencies, and, like most other quarterbacks, he lacks the arm strength to throw flat-footed through contact.

    If this seems like a lot of Hurts criticism, understand that, for years, I have presented Hurts as a franchise quarterback, full stop. But all except the best of franchise QBs have weaknesses, and Hurts has never been the best player on any Eagles roster.

    Considering the continued regression of offensive tackles Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata, the stalled production of Barkley, and the inconsistency of defensive tackle Jalen Carter, the best candidates for that designation are linebacker Zack Baun, who makes the basic play; cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, who doesn’t intercept passes; and Smith.

    In this moment, Smith wins in a landslide.

    Feed him.

    The Bears’ Caleb Williams was carted off with a hamstring injury Sunday, eight days ahead of a meeting with the Eagles. Nam Y. Huh

    Injury attrition

    Nothing guarantees wins in the NFL, even when the other teams’ best players suffer injuries. But some of the most accomplished players the Eagles were scheduled to face have been beset by a series of misfortunes.

    In August, the Commanders lost five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil to a torn triceps. He was their best player. The Eagles beat the Commanders in Week 1.

    On Sunday, the Bears lost star quarterback Caleb Williams to a hamstring injury. Even if Williams’ injury is minor, there’s a good chance he will not be allowed to start, and if he does start, he certainly won’t be as dynamic a threat as he usually is. The Eagles play in Chicago on Monday night.

    Last Thursday in Australia, Myles Garrett, the best defender on the planet, limped through the Rams’ opening loss, then underwent knee surgery. The Eagles host the Rams in two weeks. Also, Pro Bowl receiver Puka Nacua was questionable for the Rams’ Monday night game with leg injuries that could linger.

    The Rams’ Myles Garrett underwent surgery after his debut with the team. Doug Benc

    On Sunday, the Commanders lost Pro Bowl quarterback Jayden Daniels to a dislocated left elbow. He was their most important player. The Eagles face the Commanders again Nov. 1, in six weeks. He injured the elbow twice last season. He missed three games after the first injury, but aggravated it a few weeks later and was lost for the rest of the year. He’s the No. 2 overall pick from the 2024 draft, and the Commanders might choose to sit him longer to protect him. Will he be back by Nov. 1?

    None of this is cause for celebration, of course, and the same fate could befall the Eagles at any point. There’s a case to be made that it already has, since left guard Landon Dickerson is on IR with a knee injury. But then, Dickerson, for all his accomplishments, isn’t quite as big a loss as Garrett, Williams, Daniels, or Tunsil.

    It was a vintage Patrick Mahomes performance on Monday night. Colin E. Braley

    Extra points

    Prescott broke Tony Romo’s franchise record for TD passes with his 249th in Dallas’ win over Washington. They remain tied in playoff wins, at two. … Patrick Mahomes’ 382-yard passing performance in the Chiefs’ overtime win against the visiting Colts on Sunday Night Football should erase any doubt that Mahomes again is the NFL’s best player. … Don’t sleep on the Jags: Jacksonville had won nine straight regular-season games before losing at Denver on Sunday. … The Raiders, who lost their last nine meaningful games last season and had a trade of pass rusher Maxx Crosby in March nullified after the Ravens gave him a physical, are 2-0 after a road win over the 0-2 Chargers. New starter Kirk Cousins threw for three TDs. Crosby has 1½ sacks. … Controversial QB Deshaun Watson will remain the starter in Cleveland after his two TD passes led to a weird win over the Buccaneers. With 2 minutes to play, the game was stopped due to weather for more than two hours. The Bucs faced second-and-four at the Browns’ 28-yard line when the game stopped, picked up the first down when it resumed, but the drive then fizzled.

  • Jalen Hurts is an ‘absolute dawg,’ and what else they’re saying about the Eagles after Week 2

    Jalen Hurts is an ‘absolute dawg,’ and what else they’re saying about the Eagles after Week 2

    For the second week in a row, the Eagles managed to scrape out a win — improving to 2-0 after a 24-20 comeback victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday in Nashville. Most of the discourse has centered around Jalen Hurts’ clutch gene and the Eagles offense.

    Here’s what the national media is saying about the Birds following their Week 2 win …

    Eagles open as road favorites against the Bears; updated Super Bowl odds

    ‘They stole this win’

    It wasn’t looking great for the Eagles early. Saquon Barkley was injured on the first play and didn’t return until the second half. Hurts threw an interception in the end zone, and Dallas Goedert exited the game in the second quarter and never returned because of a knee injury.

    Despite it all, the Eagles left Music City with a win. Former 49ers quarterback and current ESPN analyst Alex Smith praised the Eagles for their comeback.

    “They stole this win,” Smith said on ESPN’s Get Up. “You had no Saquon, no Dallas Goedert. Jalen Hurts, two terrible interceptions, and then they put this final drive together where they looked unbelievable. … Now, the question is, they need to make some improvements across the board. They didn’t play good. There was some glaring errors on both sides of the ball but to get a W on the road when you shouldn’t have, this goes a long way from an energy standpoint.”

    ‘A win’s a win’

    The Eagles were down 20-17 with less than two minutes left to play in the fourth quarter. After throwing two interceptions, Hurts led a nine-play, 65-yard scoring drive to give the Eagles a 24-20 lead with just nine seconds remaining.

    “Say what you want to say, a win’s a win,” said former Eagles running back LeSean McCoy on The Speakeasy podcast. “There’s some times in football where you play so great, and then you find a way to lose. There’s some times you play bad, but you find a way to win. All this conversation this week about Jalen Hurts this, Jalen Hurts that, make him be a quarterback — it ain’t how you start, it’s how you finish.

    “The way that Jalen Hurts carried this offense today, it wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t perfect. But when we need him most, in clutch moments, you pay quarterbacks to win games late. Check this out. No A.J. Brown, no Saquon Barkley, no Dallas Goedert, no more timeouts. Jalen Hurts, no problem. That’s how you win games.”

    Hurts an ‘absolute dawg’

    Hurts threw for 264 yards and two touchdowns on 26-of-37 passing. Ten-time Pro Bowler Russell Wilson was impressed.

    “I think the big thing was, Jalen kept responding throughout that game,” Wilson said on CBS Sports. “He had a turnover, had another turnover. He stayed calm in the midst of it all and he found a way to win the game. That’s the key about winning in the NFL. Can you win the games late? And he was able to do that.”

    And after sealing the win in the last minute, Hurts received praise on social media.

    “The Eagles would be 0-2 with about 20 other quarterbacks,” Emmanuel Acho wrote. “They’d be 1-1 with about 7 other quarterbacks. They’re 2-0 with Jalen Hurts.”

    “Be an absolute dawg then Jalen Hurts,” Ryan Clark wrote.

    “You mess with Jalen Hurts, you mess with all of us,” Dawn Staley wrote. “How about QB1 on his game winning drive? Now apologize. And DeVonta Smith WR1 you are unreal.”

    “Wow. Wow. Wow,” Nick Foles wrote. “Unbelievable drive by Jalen Hurts and the Eagles. Impressive.”

    ‘I don’t like what I’m seeing’

    Despite the win, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith needs to see more from the Eagles offense.

    “I don’t like what I’m seeing with the Eagles offense,” Smith said on First Take. “I’m not sitting here saying they’re going to miss the playoffs. I’m not sitting here saying they’re scrubs. I’m saying the championship team we saw from a couple years ago, there has been a precipitous dropoff” compared to other NFC teams.

  • Work has started on Camden County’s $3.5M Haddon Avenue safety project

    Work has started on Camden County’s $3.5M Haddon Avenue safety project

    Efforts to create safer conditions along Haddon Avenue began Monday — the first phase of Camden County’s $3.5 million pedestrian safety improvement project that stretches from Collingswood to Haddon Township.

    Starting Sept. 21 at the intersection of Haddon Avenue and Cuthbert Boulevard, crews will be working between Strawbridge and Bryant Avenues for the next six to eight weeks, according to the county.

    Drivers in the area should prepare for lane closures from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays for the duration of construction, county officials advised. During that time, there could also be restrictions and detours on some turns, they said.

    Cuthbert Boulevard is one of four intersections along Haddon Avenue that are slated for traffic signal improvements as part of the project alongside Collings, Crystal Lake, and Maple Avenues.

    Repairs at the intersections will also include upgrades to various pedestrian facilities such as fresh pavement and improved sidewalk ramps.

    For this initial phase of the project, crews will repair the deteriorated pavement at the Cuthbert Boulevard intersection, county spokesperson Morgan Callan said in an email.

    Once the new traffic signals and other equipment arrive next spring, Callan said, construction will then begin at all four intersections and is expected to last two to three months.

  • Camille Joseph left Haiti for a better life in Philadelphia. His family wonders why he was fatally shot in Nicetown.

    Camille Joseph left Haiti for a better life in Philadelphia. His family wonders why he was fatally shot in Nicetown.

    In the wake of the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Camille Joseph and his family left the island for a better life in Philadelphia.

    Joseph found that in the city, said his sister, Ophtanie. But his life was tragically cut short on Sept. 11, when first responders found the 25-year-old in the parking lot of a bustling Nicetown shopping center suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest.

    He was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Temple University Hospital. Police have not identified a suspect or motive as they continue to investigate.

    More than a week after the crime, Joseph’s family members and detectives remain puzzled by the killing.

    Family members say they cannot fathom why anyone would have wanted to hurt Joseph, a mechanic and a security guard at the Center City bar Time.

    “It’s not fair,” said Ophtanie Joseph, who is urging anyone with information about her brother’s death to come forward. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

    Sources close to the investigation said the incident began after Joseph pulled into the shopping center parking lot on the 2800 block of Fox Street in his SUV that evening.

    Meanwhile, another SUV being driven by a person police have yet to identify also pulled into the lot and crashed into a wall, the source said.

    Investigators believe Joseph and the driver of the crashed SUV then got into an altercation before Joseph was shot and killed, though they have yet to figure out why the two parties interacted.

    After the shooting, the damaged SUV fled the parking lot along with Joseph’s SUV, which investigators believe was being driven either by a shooting suspect or someone who was traveling with Joseph.

    Police were called to the scene around 5:20 p.m. and later discovered Joseph’s vehicle abandoned nearby.

    Investigators are now seeking search warrants for security footage from businesses in the shopping center in an effort to piece together the moments before Joseph’s killing and identify a suspect.

    Ophtanie Joseph said her brother’s death was a tragedy.

    A photo of Camille Joseph.Ophtanie Joseph

    He had built a life in Philadelphia after their family left Haiti, she said, attending Benjamin Rush High School, where he played the tuba in the school band and competed in soccer and baseball.

    After graduation, he went to trade school to become a mechanic, following the path of his father, his sister said.

    He worked at auto shops around the city and was quick to help out friends and family when they had car trouble, she said.

    Most recently he worked in security at Time, a whiskey bar and restaurant on Sansom Street. Ophtanie Joseph said her brother loved his job, where he met musicians and local celebrities who passed through the lively establishment and event space.

    Camille Joseph was supposed to clock in at 6 p.m. the evening of his killing, his sister said. She later learned that managers began to worry when he never showed up.

    On Thursday, Joseph’s loved ones will gather at Time at 9 p.m. for a concert and benefit in his memory.

    A GoFundMe drive for Joseph’s funeral expenses and memorial has raised more than $20,000.

    “His life wasn’t supposed to stop here,” Ophtanie Joseph said. “He had a lot of dreams: He wanted to have his own mechanic shop, he wanted to travel. He didn’t deserve this.”

  • Former Flyer Kevin Hayes announces his retirement after 12 NHL seasons

    Former Flyer Kevin Hayes announces his retirement after 12 NHL seasons

    After 12 seasons and 805 NHL regular-season games, former Flyer Kevin Hayes announced his retirement from professional hockey on Monday.

    Hayes, who signed with Russian club Ak Bars Kazan last month, played just five games there before electing to call it a career.

    “I have decided to end my hockey career,” the 34-year-old Hayes said in a statement issued by the Kontinental Hockey League. “I can no longer play at the level I am capable of because my body does not allow me to perform at my best. And I cannot accept not being in top form.”

    Hayes, who was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks but never played for the franchise, tallied 185 goals and 446 points in the NHL with the New York Rangers, Winnipeg Jets, Flyers, St. Louis Blues, and Pittsburgh Penguins. He posted six 40-point seasons in his first nine years, including a 54-point campaign with the Flyers in 2022-23 when he was named an All-Star for the first and only time in his career.

    Signed to a seven-year, $50 million contract in 2019, Hayes experienced an up-and-down four years in Philly, with the highlights being a deep playoff run in the 2020 COVID bubble and his All-Star nod. The centerman averaged 16 goals and 39 points during his time with the Flyers while dealing with a plethora of injuries, as well as the tragic death of his brother and former NHLer, Jimmy Hayes, in 2021. After being traded by the Flyers to St. Louis in 2023, Hayes spent the past two seasons with the Penguins.

    Kevin Hayes (right) with his late friend and former Boston College teammate Johnny Gaudreau during the 2023 NHL All-Star Game.BRUCE BENNETT

    Hayes, who primarily played in a middle-six center role during his career, was also a regular contributor on the power play and penalty kill. He won the Gene Hart Memorial Trophy for being the Flyer who displayed the most “heart” after the 2019-20 season and served as an alternate captain during his time in Philadelphia.

    Known for his sense of humor, the beloved teammate was also a finalist in 2022 for the NHL’s Masterton Trophy, which is given to the player who best displays the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey. That season, Hayes dealt with the death of his brother and returned to play after undergoing multiple core muscle surgeries and a blood infection.

    Before turning pro, the Boston native was a decorated player at Boston College, where he won the 2012 national championship alongside close friend Johnny Gaudreau. Hayes also represented Team USA at the IIHF World Championships in 2014, 2017, and 2024.

  • Some citations against Bellmawr protesters have been dropped after the ACLU intervened, ACLU-NJ says

    Some citations against Bellmawr protesters have been dropped after the ACLU intervened, ACLU-NJ says

    Citations against several protesters were dismissed Thursday after the ACLU of New Jersey intervened in a recent conflict between roadside demonstrators and Bellmawr police, an ACLU official said in a statement.

    Last month, the Bellmawr Police Department issued citations against several people attending or driving past weekly “Roadside Rallies against Fascism” hosted by Cooper River Indivisible, a Camden County grassroots organization, according to ACLU-NJ.

    It is unclear exactly how many people received citations from Bellmawr police while demonstrating against President Donald Trump and his administration. But Maia Raposo, communications director for ACLU-NJ, said the nonprofit is representing six people involved.

    Five of those six people went to Bellmawr Municipal Court on Thursday, Raposo said, and four of the five had their citations dismissed, which included jaywalking and failing to stop at a stop sign.

    “Today, the municipal court in Bellmawr dismissed charges against four individuals who received tickets while they were lawfully exercising their First Amendment rights. We look forward to resolving the remaining charges pending against our other clients,” said Rebecca Uwakwe, ACLU-NJ’s criminal law reform advocacy director, in an emailed statement.

    Raposo did not share the names of those involved or the status of the citations that were not dropped Thursday.

    The Bellmawr Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.

    On Aug. 25, ACLU-NJ emailed a letter to Bellmawr Police Chief Keith Williams alleging that officers had issued “traffic and criminal citations for honking, jaywalking, and other offenses” to rally-goers and supporters gathering at Black Horse Pike and Gloucester Road in Bellmawr.

    “If Bellmawr officers are targeting participants and supporters of lawful protests with citations, Bellmawr is interfering with their constitutionally protected activities and violating their civil rights,” the letter reads.

    ACLU-NJ asked Bellmawr police to investigate the officers’ conduct and to reply to the letter by Sept. 11. Raposo did not say whether the police department had responded to the letter but wrote in an email that ACLU-NJ can provide more information when all relevant cases are resolved.

    Cooper River Indivisible’s next roadside rally was scheduled for Sunday, and the event posting promoting the demonstration warned attendees that they have “been unfairly targeted by local police.” The group did not respond to requests for comment.

    “Do your best to keep the messaging on target — Bellmawr PD is a problem, but our real enemy is tyranny as a whole. Eyes on the prize,” the post reads.

    Correction: This story was updated to correct the date of a roadside rally last Sunday.
  • Why do Pennsylvania elected officials want to take my family’s mineral rights from us?

    Why do Pennsylvania elected officials want to take my family’s mineral rights from us?

    Twenty-five years ago, my father handed me an envelope filled with documents. As he passed it to me, he said, “Now you’re in charge of the mineral rights.”

    Before my father, the envelope had been entrusted to my Uncle Peter, who, in turn, had received it from my grandmother. The contents represented everything our branch of the family possessed relating to mineral rights bequeathed by my grandmother’s great-grandfather, Jonathan Thorne.

    Jonathan’s estate plan reflected remarkable foresight. He instructed his executor to sell his land at a discount so he could retain the ownership of the oil, gas, and minerals beneath it for future generations. Each deed that went to the buyers of these properties included a clause showing they were purchasing only the surface property, and not the mineral rights.

    My father handed me that envelope in 2001, seven years before the Marcellus Shale boom. This is not a story with a happy ending about families passing down a legacy from hardworking forebears. Instead, it is something every Pennsylvanian should be shocked by and want to stop.

    We discovered that an out-of-state entity was making claims to our rights. It claimed to have purchased tens of thousands of acres of Pennsylvania mineral rights in 2000 for a total of $1. Their unwarranted claim was based on a distorted interpretation of a legal theory called “title washing.”

    Others, including the Proctor family, faced a strikingly similar predicament: They had retained their valuable mineral rights and followed the law, only to find that other groups were now claiming them.

    Like my family, the Proctors traced their ownership back generations. After preserving their mineral rights, most of their surface property ended up with the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The Game Commission knew through its own deeds and title research that it was buying only the surface. The mineral rights remained separate. Yet, 100 years after the fact, they sued the Proctors to try to take those rights — twice.

    In this 2008 photo, a drilling rig used to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, located in the Washington County borough of Houston, Pa.Keith Srakocic

    The Game Commission, coincidentally, from rights it does own, is already one of the largest developers of shale gas in the state. It has a reserve balance of $500 million from drilling revenue. That is quite a war chest to sue families for the rights it doesn’t own.

    Last year, however, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously ruled in the Proctor family’s favor, confirming that they continued to own their mineral rights, even noting that the scheme “if not positively fraudulent, is at any rate an attempt to evade the law, to which the courts will lend no countenance.”

    That should have been the end of the story for all our families.

    Instead, Pennsylvania lawmakers quietly inserted a provision into an unrelated property tax bill that retroactively changed the law and effectively overturned the court’s decision. Late in the evening of Saturday, July 11, an amendment changing pre-1947 tax laws was introduced in the Senate. It passed the legislature and was quickly signed into law by Gov. Josh Shapiro the very next day.

    Stunningly, there were no hearings or opportunities for affected families to speak out. Pennsylvania taxpayers (and much of the legislature) had little opportunity to understand what the amendment even meant and what was at stake.

    Now the only way to assure rightful ownership is to go back to court and fight again, not only over property rights that were already settled, but also over whether a government can retroactively change laws to benefit certain parties and take property the Supreme Court had already ruled belongs to families like mine.

    That is deeply troubling.

    The Proctor family spent more than 10 years in litigation and won. Yet, lawmakers, the governor, and certain oil and gas interests decided that wasn’t the outcome they wanted. The Game Commission, in close coordination with those energy firms, started this fight. It lost. Families like ours should not have to spend the next 10 years relitigating.

    The General Assembly can undo this harm. It can reverse this retroactive change to tax laws and ensure these properties are not taken from families who have owned them for generations. If not, we are all targets of this wrongheaded move. If they are willing to rewrite property laws to effect transfers to the state, no one’s property is safe.

    What happened to my family is, I believe, unconstitutional. The litigation created by this secretive 24-hour rapid legislation approval process could end up costing Pennsylvania more than $1 billion if it is forced to reimburse families for property taken from them. That’s also not fair to state taxpayers.

    Pennsylvania can do better. We can protect resources, support responsible energy development, and safeguard public lands without sacrificing the basic principle that private property rights mean something.

    Jeff Sloan is a member of the Thorne family and lives in Berwyn.

  • Eagles open as road favorites against the Bears; updated Super Bowl odds

    Eagles open as road favorites against the Bears; updated Super Bowl odds

    The Eagles left Nashville Sunday with a 24-20 victory over the Tennessee Titans after Jalen Hurts connected with Darius Cooper on a 3-yard touchdown pass with nine seconds remaining.

    Now, the 2-0 Birds turn their attention toward Week 3 as they prepare to travel to Soldier Field to face the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football.

    From the Birds’ chances this weekend to updates on year-end awards, here are some of the latest odds at two of the biggest sportsbooks …

    Gameday Central: Is it time for the Eagles to start Willie Lampkin?
    Video: Gameday Central: Is it time for the Eagles to start Willie Lampkin?

    Eagles-Bears odds

    The Eagles are coming off two games in which they barely escaped with wins over the Washington Commanders and Titans.

    The Bears (1-1) would be the Birds’ toughest challenge to date. However, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams suffered a hamstring injury in the fourth quarter of a 9-3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. He was scheduled to undergo imaging on Monday and his status is uncertain.

    The last time the teams met was in November 2025, when the Bears defeated the Eagles, 24-15, at Lincoln Financial Field on Black Friday. As they prepare to compete again in primetime, the Eagles open as early road favorites.

    FanDuel

    • Spread: Eagles -3.5 (-112); Bears +3.5 (-108)
    • Moneyline: Eagles (-196); Bears (+164)
    • Total: Over 43.5 (-110); Under 43.5 (-110)

    DraftKings

    • Spread: Eagles -4.5 (-105); Bears +4.5 (-115)
    • Moneyline: Eagles (-198); Bears (+164)
    • Total: Over 44.5 (-102); Under 44.5 (-118)

    NFC odds update

    At DraftKings, the Eagles have the fourth-best odds to win the NFC, trailing the Rams, Seahawks, and 49ers.

    DraftKings
    Rams +445
    Seahawks +475
    49ers +500
    Eagles +660
    Packers +1100
    Vikings +1225

    Super Bowl odds

    At both sportsbooks, the Eagles have the seventh-best odds to win the Super Bowl. The Rams and the Bills top the list as early Super Bowl favorites.

    FanDuel
    Rams +600
    Bills +750
    Ravens +1000
    Seahawks +1100
    49ers +1100
    Chiefs +1200
    Eagles +1500

    DraftKings
    Rams +670
    Bills +780
    Ravens +950
    Seahawks +1000
    49ers +1200
    Chiefs +1300
    Eagles +1600