Jason Kelce must have learned that “no shirt, no shoes, no service” applies to pants as well.
After starting last year’s fundraiser with tear-away shorts and a Speedo, Jason Kelce was comparatively reserved this year for his entrance when he and wife Kylie Kelce hosted the sixth annual “Shore Birds” event at the Ocean Drive in Sea Isle City benefiting the Eagles Autism Foundation on Wednesday.
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) June 24, 2026
Local social media influencer Katie Begley, also known as Popstar Katie, led the workout, which took place on the grass at Sea Isle City’s Excursion Park.
While most of the other current and former football players opted to sport their own names and numbers on their jersey, Allen, who played with the Eagles across four seasons from 2014-17, instead represented one of his former teammates.
Allen, a staple at the Team 62 fundraiser, not only had a new jersey, but he also had a new job this year, helping Donna Kelce serve — or in Allen’s case, eat— water ice, alongside Eagles edge rusher Jalyx Hunt.
Cornerback Cooper DeJean, defensive tackle Ty Robinson, and safety Andre’ Sam were also in attendance, along with chief of security for the Eagles Dom DiSandro, and Cole Peterson, assistant to the head coach.
The notice, filed Wednesday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, seeks to insert the attorney general’s office into the case of Marc Brittingham, Rasheed Turner, and Jermal Shuler, whose convictions in a 1997 killing were vacated in May after prosecutors and defense attorneys said key evidence presented at their trial was unreliable.
But last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said in a forceful ruling that District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office had displayed a pattern of misleading judges while seeking to overturn murder convictions. Moving forward, the justices said, the state attorney general’s office should be given the opportunity to review such cases before a judge can decide whether to grant relief.
The filings raise a procedural question at the heart of the new ruling. The Supreme Court’s decision requires judges to notify the attorney general and gives the office “the right to intervene in the case before ruling on the concession.” But in this case, that moment had already come and gone; the judge had accepted the district attorney’s position and overturned the convictions.
What may have allowed the attorney general back in was timing: The 30-day window to appeal the decision had not closed yet. The office filed its notice of intervention and an appeal on day 29.
Krasner, in a brief phone call Wednesday, said, “I hope the public will watch this case carefully.”
“I hope they will watch what our attorney general’s office stands for and what the district attorney’s office stands for,” he said. “Stay tuned. It’s going to tell us a lot about what’s really going on.”
Deputy Attorney General Hugh Burns did not say in court documents how or why the office believed it had authority to intervene in this case, saying only that it was taking the action in response to the state Supreme Court’s order from last week.
A spokesperson for the office declined to comment.
Wednesday’s filing seeks to reopen a case in which many of the facts underlying the district attorney’s decision to join defense lawyers in seeking to vacate the convictions remain obscured by extensive redactions in court filings.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys said the case was undermined by newly uncovered information about the work of Bennett Preston, a former assistant medical examiner whose testimony helped establish the prosecution’s timeline of Essie Mae Thomas’ death.
Thomas, 73, was found stabbed to death inside her Northwest Philadelphia home in November 1997. A jury convicted Brittingham, Turner, and Shuler the following year, after hearing testimony from a neighbor who placed them at the home and from Preston, who linked Thomas’ time of death to the witness’ account. Nearly three decades later, Krasner’s prosecutors said that the testimony of the witness and Preston was questionable, and that disciplinary action had been taken against Preston.
The details of those disciplinary actions, however, were redacted from filings.
Officials with the district attorney’s office have said that the discovery of previously unknown disciplinary action involving Preston helped prompt the reinvestigation. But prosecutors have declined to publicly detail much of that information, and court records filed in the case concealed significant portions of the evidence that led them to conclude the convictions could no longer stand.
When Common Pleas Court Judge Jennifer Schultz vacated the convictions in May, she found that the newly uncovered evidence would likely have changed the outcome of the trial. Prosecutors then withdrew the charges, ending the case and allowing the men to walk free.
Jules Epstein, a criminal law professor at Temple University, said “this is unknown territory.” Because a court order is not final for 30 days, he said, the office could have a right to appeal.
“What disturbs me is did they actually look at the merits of this decision? Or did they just knee jerk and say, ‘It’s Krasner, we’re going to challenge it’?”
Marissa Boyers Bluestine, assistant director of the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania‘s law school, said the language of the high court’s order did not appear to leave room for retroactivity.
Bluestine, who worked on Brittingham, Turner, and Shuler’s case in her previous role leading the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, said it was also curious that the attorney general’s office was involving itself without the judge’s invitation.
“They’re saying that they are intervening, not requesting permission to intervene, which is an interesting way to put it,” she said.
A 36-year-old survivor of slavery said he has tried to follow all the rules since fleeing Mauritania, a mostly desert land in West Africa, and seeking asylum in the United States in 2023.
But when Ousmane Soumare arrived at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Philadelphia in November for a routine check-in, he was detained by officers.
Now Soumare, who was released by a federal judge’s order, and two other immigrants who fear a similar fate in their forthcoming appointments are suing ICE and the Department of Homeland Security over the policy change that led to such arrests.
The Philadelphia ICE field office violated federal law when it “unlawfully rescinded” a longstanding policy that largely allowed immigrants to pursue their immigration cases without fear of rearrest, the suit says. ICE then “began re-arresting and re-detaining people previously determined to pose no risk of flight or danger to the community and still in full compliance with all conditions of their release,” the suit says.
Soumare, Lassana Dianifaba, and a third immigrant, who was not named in court documents, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Philadelphia.
“When the government releases a person from custody, there is an implicit promise that their liberty will be honored as long as they follow what is asked of them,” said Vanessa Stine, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Pennsylvania, which represents the immigrants. “These rearrests disregard a decades-old policy and sow fear and chaos.”
ICE does not comment on pending litigation, a spokesperson said.
‘Unheard of’
In Philadelphia, ICE arrests of people who arrive for what they thought would be routine check-ins and appointments have gone from rare to common.
That is because “sometime toward the middle of 2025,” the suit says, the local ICE office rescinded its policy that required individualized evaluation of new circumstances that would indicate an immigrant is a danger or flight risk.
Each year thousands of people report to ICE or related immigration agencies for the mandatory check-ins. Some immigrants are required to appear every couple of weeks, some once a month, others once a year.
The appointments help immigration officials keep track of people who in the past have been low priorities for deportation, allowed to live freely as they pursue legal efforts to stay in the United States. Now that landscape has shifted.
The changes have put immigrants in risky positions, making every visit to the ICE field office a gamble, because they have little choice but to show up.
Six immigration attorneys filed affidavits in support of the new proposed class-action lawsuit that detail an explosion of cases. Christopher Casazza estimated his firm has represented roughly 190 people who were detained at ICE check-ins since September.
Before 2025, it was “unheard of” for a law-abiding immigrant to be detained at a routine check-in, Casazza said.
Steven Morley, who served as an immigration judge between 2010 and 2022, said in an affidavit that he could not recall “any circumstance” of people being re-detained unless they had committed a crime.
Philadelphia federal judges responding to the flood of lawsuits by immigrants challenging their detention have also taken notice of the shift.
In February, U.S. District Judge Gail A. Weilheimer wrote that ICE had set a “trap” for “thousands of noncitizens” by arresting immigrants who were following instructions.
ICE offices in other cities have similarly reversed course on requiring a material change in circumstance to re-detain released immigrants, and federal judges in California and New York found the lack of individual assessment unlawful.
The proposed class action in Philadelphia asks a federal judge to certify the class, and declare the rescission of the changed circumstances policy unlawful.
Soumare’s next check-in is scheduled for July, and he is anxious about visiting the ICE office again.
“When I think of the risk of being re-detained at my next check in, it scares me,” he said in a court filing. “But I will still attend because I want to follow all the necessary steps to stay here.”
Visa holders and green card applicants
Even people who are seeking legal status through lawful government processes are in danger of arrest.
Green-card applicants, asylum seekers, and others who have ongoing legal or visa cases to stay in the United States have been unexpectedly taken, part of a Trump administration strategy, lawyers and advocates say, to boost the number of immigration arrests and to deport anyone who can possibly be deported.
Arrests have occurred not just at ICE offices, but also at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and at private offices of federal contractors.
ICE says that all immigrants who do not hold legal immigration status may be subject to arrest and removal. They say that arrests undertaken at federal agencies are safer for officers, because visitors have been screened for weapons when they enter the buildings.
Chester County’s only enclosed mall will soon shut its doors for good.
After five decades as a retail hub, the nearly 1-million-square-foot Exton Square Mall is set to close Tuesday, June 30, according to mall owner Abrams Realty & Development. The Elkins Park-based company has been mired in a legal dispute with local officials over its redevelopment.
Once a bustling destination that sparked a commercial boom in Exton, the complex has been languishing for years with a desolate interior and only a handful of stores.
Peter Abrams said his firm had no choice but to shutter the mall.
“Operating the interior of the property has become untenable due to deteriorating conditions and rising utility costs,” he said in a statement.
A handful of shoppers walk into the Exton Square Mall in November.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
The Boscov’s, Main Line Health offices, and Round 1 entertainment venue will remain open.
Brian Dunn, chair of the West Whiteland Township Board of Supervisors, declined to comment on the mall’s closure, citing the ongoing litigation.
Abrams, who bought the mall from PREIT for more than $34 million, wants to transform the site into a mixed-use complex with hundreds of townhouses, rental apartments, a 55+ community, and a town center with shops, restaurants, medical offices, and green space.
This fall, despite the planning commission’s recommendation, Dunn and fellow Township Supervisor Rajesh Kumbhardare rejected Abrams’ proposal over sewer, traffic, and density concerns. Abrams then sued the supervisors in an attempt to reverse their decision, saying the plan meets the township’s zoning requirements.
Litigation between Abrams and the supervisors was ongoing as of Wednesday, according to the company, which wants to complete the project by 2028.
The Exton Square Mall opened in 1973 with more than 100 stores, including a Strawbridge & Clothier.
The mall’s construction would prove a harbinger of Exton’s commercialization. “Developers seem bent on heaving this lazy rural area into the mainstream of metropolitan Philadelphia,” The Inquirer reported in 1973.
In the 1990s, the Exton Bypass made the area easier to access from the city and other suburbs. And by the 2000s, more retail complexes, including the Main Street at Exton town center, had opened near Exton Square Mall, which also underwent an expansion.
The Exton Square Mall is shown in 2022, when tenants were already starting to dwindle.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
The community has seen a subsequent rise in residential development, with millennials and baby boomers fueling demand for high-end, low-maintenance living. In the past five years, about 3,000 luxury apartments and townhouses have been built in the 13-square-mile township, supervisor Kumbhardare said this fall, and each new complex is at least 90% occupied.
On Tuesday, as word spread about the mall’s closing date, one user posted a video on Facebook with the caption: “It’s official. They’re tearing down the Exton Square Mall, and with it, my entire childhood.”
“They can tear the building down, but they can’t take away the memories of buying graphic tees at Wet Seal and CD shopping at FYE. RIP.”
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision to limit Philadelphia prosecutors’ ability to seek to overturn old convictions not only took aim at one of District Attorney Larry Krasner’s defining initiatives — it altered the work of an office he will one day leave behind.
The high court’s ruling adds an extraordinary new layer of oversight to an issue that helped make Krasner one of the nation’s most prominent progressive prosecutors: correcting what he has described as injustices of decades past.
But the newly established changes to the appellate processes in Philadelphia will outlive Krasner’s tenure and reshape the way the office reviews post-conviction cases for years to come. It could not only apply to high-profile exonerations in murder convictions, but also extend to cases that even Krasner’s more conservative predecessors were eager to undo, like drug and gun convictions linked to corrupt cops.
It also deepens a yearslong conflict between Krasner and his critics in the justice system. Several justices, in dissenting opinions, raised concerns that the change could inject politics into a high-stakes legal process.
Since taking office in 2018, Krasner has made post-conviction review a centerpiece of his reform agenda. His office said it has overturned the wrongful convictions of 59 people — almost all of them Black men. It has also struck deals that allowed defendants to plead guilty to lesser charges in dozens of other cases in which prosecutors did not say those charged were innocent, but agreed their original trials were unfair, often because of prosecutorial or police misconduct.
But the high court, in a forceful majority opinion written by Justice Kevin Dougherty, said Krasner’s prosecutors had misled judges in several of those cases, that the prosecutors were not acting as the necessary adversaries to test the cases’ merit, and that the courts could no longer trust his prosecutors’ word when deciding whether to overturn a conviction.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty greets supporters during an election night party in November 2025.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Moving forward, the justices ruled, if the district attorney’s office agrees to alter a sentence or overturn a past conviction, judges must ask the state attorney general’s office to review the case before proceeding. The ruling applies only to Philadelphia; prosecutors in every other Pennsylvania county can continue to evaluate cases on their own.
Krasner declined to comment this week. While it was not immediately clear whether he had a legal path to challenge the ruling, he said in a video statement last week that it “undermines the value of a vote in Philadelphia.”
He compared criticism of his post-conviction review efforts to attacks that have been leveled against other social and racial justice movements.
“We know where we are in the fight,” he said, “and once we get past the fight, we all win.”
But the Supreme Court’s ruling sharply curtails part of that effort, and it is expected to significantly reshape — and likely slow — one of the most consequential parts of Krasner’s agenda.
It was “an extraordinary remedy for something the court thought was an extraordinary problem,” said Aaron Marcus, chief of the appeals division at the Defender Association of Philadelphia.
But, he added, “the remedy might go beyond what was necessary in the court’s mind to address the problem in front of it.”
While the decision gives the attorney general broader authority to intervene when city prosecutors support post-conviction relief, it remains unclear how often — or when in the process — it will weigh in.
Brett Hambright, a spokesperson for the office of Attorney General Dave Sunday, a Republican, said in a statement this week that officials were still evaluating the order and its potential impact. Because of the many unknowns, he said, “it may be difficult to fully assess … until the process truly begins.”
Still, on Wednesday, Sunday’s office filed a notice of intervention in a murder case that Philadelphia prosecutors helped overturn just last month — setting up a potential test case for the new legal landscape around the issue.
Marcus, of the Defender Association, said the ruling could cause confusion — and delays — in cases that the conviction integrity unit does not typically handle, such as weapons and drug-possession cases, as well as more routine matters, like correcting prison sentences that had been miscalculated.
“There’s already too few attorneys with too little time and insufficient resources,” he said.
Marissa Boyers Bluestine, assistant director of the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania’s law school, said that because the courts did not set a timeline for how quickly the attorney general’s office must review each case, the added oversight could draw out an already yearslong appellate process filled with delays. And, she said, it could create “confusion on who exactly is representing the state.”
“Now you have two entities who are potentially in opposition to each other,” she said. “It raises confusion and diminishes the real trust in the criminal legal system.”
Dozens of people have been released from prison in Philadelphia after prosecutors agreed their trials were unfair. In this 2021 photo, Christopher Williams, center, gathered outside the Criminal Justice Center to announce a lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia, police and prosecutors. Williams was exonerated and released from prison in February 2021 after more than 25 years on death row.JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer
Several defense lawyers who handle post-conviction cases were similarly concerned about the unknowns of the ruling — and said the majority opinion did not address the decades of problematic police and prosecutorial behavior that led to this moment.
Michael Wiseman said Krasner’s office has opposed most of his clients’ petitions over the years. Like other district attorneys before him, Krasner is not perfect, Wiseman said, but the high court “is vexing in its willingness to ignore all the times when Krasner’s office got it right.”
At the same time, he said, “It is similarly vexing for not recognizing the imperfections of past administrations, who, unlike Krasner, defended every conviction without regard to innocence or unconstitutional convictions.”
Adding to the complexity of the issue, some justices believed the majority’s decision could threaten to reignite long-running feuds between Krasner and prosecutors he has clashed with in the past.
In one of his first actions after taking office in 2018, Krasner fired dozens of veteran prosecutors, effectively describing them as unfit to serve in a reform-oriented administration. Some who were ousted then went on to work in the state attorney general’s office, and Krasner, in a remark that was widely criticized, jokingly referred to that office as “Paraguay,” a South American country where Nazis fled after World War II.
Justice Christine Donohue warned in a dissenting opinion that the majority’s ruling could threaten to inject personal disputes between rival lawyers into a process that is supposed to be unbiased. In addition, she said, giving the attorney general’s office authority in those cases could give some state prosecutors a role in defending convictions they helped obtain when they worked for the city.
“This is in stark contrast to acting as a friend of the court,” she said.
Ben Lerner, a former Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge and former chief defender, said Krasner deserves credit for creating a meaningful system to revisit convictions — something he said previous administrations largely failed to do.
But state and federal courts have repeatedly raised concerns about the office’s methods, he said, including allegations that prosecutors excluded investigating officers and former trial attorneys from parts of the review process, and focused disproportionate attention on cases tied to prosecutors Krasner had clashed with during his years as a defense lawyer.
“In my view, it’s a shame,” he said, “because this was basically a very important thing that he was doing that previous district attorneys had had no interest in doing.”
This inaugural citywide arts festival has been running strong since late-May, but the coming weeks offer a deep slate of programming ahead of the July 4 weekend.
Launched to “foreground our city’s artists as interpreters of this complex moment in American history,” the multidisciplinary festival includes puppetry, dance, music, books, film, and more through July 2.
The lead-up to Independence Day features multiple exhibitions and events, many of them free, making it an affordable way to celebrate the nation’s milestone birthday.
The Brandywine Valley Symphony will perform “Masterworks 3: Made in America” in the open-air venue at Longwood Gardens. Before the concert, organizers for Dare to Declare will attempt the region’s largest public reading of the Declaration of Independence.
🕒 June 25, 7 p.m., 💵 $20-$65, 📍 1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square, PA 19348, 🌐 bvsymphony.org
Play trivia, test your knowledge against a historian, and attend a town hall on the “shared principles at the heart of the American idea.” It’s all free and part of the weeklong lead-up to July 4, when the National Constitution Center celebrates America’s 250th birthday.
🕒 June 29-July 4, times vary, 💵 Free, 📍 525 Arch St., Philadelphia, PA 19106, 🌐 constitutioncenter.org
Headlined by 20-time Grammy winner Kirk Franklin, this two-hour gospel music celebration features a choir of more than 250 voices against the backdrop of Independence Hall. Seating is first-come, first-served.
🕒 June 28, 7 p.m., 💵 Free, 📍 599 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19106, 🌐 july4thphilly.com.
A worker prepares to raise the head of a fire-breathing dragon lantern in preparation for the Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival at Franklin Square this year.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
The festival is back with a special nod to the global events arriving in Philadelphia this summer. Handmade sculptures take over Franklin Square, with nightly performances held on three stages: face-changing, table foot-juggling, and head-balancing.
🕒 Open daily between now and Aug. 2, 💵 Adults $28-$32, with discounts for children and seniors, 📍 200 N. Sixth St., Philadelphia, PA 19106, 🌐 phillychineselanternfestival.com
Cam Gorman, 23, of Gilbertsville, Pa., cheering with Philly Sports Guy at the FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill, as USA beats Australia on June 19.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
With the U.S. team still battling for a title, what better way to celebrate the lead-up to 250th birthday than by cheering on the team in the World Cup?
The tournament, with several matches hosted in Philadelphia, has transformed the city into a summer-long party. Much of the action centers on the Fan Festival at Lemon Hill, where visitors can enjoy music, food, drinks, and watch parties. Admission is free, though preregistration is required.
Two Round of 16 matches are scheduled for July 4, at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., though the participating teams have yet to be determined. The 5 p.m. game will be played at Lincoln Financial Field.
🕒 Various dates and times, 💵 Free (registration required), 📍 Lemon Hill Park, 1 Lemon Hill Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19130, 🌐 phillyfwc26.com.
Philadelphia’s Historic District goes all out with a full day of events welcoming visitors to America’s “most historic square mile.” Highlights include a giant human Liberty Bell, plus a block party and street music festival featuring more than two dozen acts. At 7 p.m., Queen Latifah performs with the Army Field Band and Soldiers’ Chorus on Independence Mall. A 13-minute drone show follows later that evening.
🕒 July 2, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., 💵 Free, 📍 Philadelphia’s Historic District, 🌐 july4thphilly.com
Dan St. Mary poses for a portrait with his bubble dispenser during the Salute to Independence Parade on July 4, 2025, in Center City.Kaiden J. Yu / Staff Photographer
This year’s parade features an extended route, along with 50 marching bands, 19 floats, and tributes to all 50 states and U.S. territories. The event begins at 5th and Chestnut Streets and winds through Center City before ending near Broad and Chestnut Streets. Feel like skipping the crowds? Catch it live on NBC 10.
🕒 July 3, noon to 4 p.m., 💵 Free, 📍 Independence Hall to Benjamin Franklin Parkway, 🌐 july4thphilly.com
The Philly Pops are joined by Broadway legend Idina Menzel for a two-hour concert on the eve of Independence Day. A pre-show block party featuring food trucks and giveaways begins at 5 p.m. Seating is first-come, first-served.
🕒 July 3, 7 p.m., 💵 Free, 📍 599 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19106, 🌐 july4thphilly.com
Musket firing will be a part of the Independence Day Celebration at Valley Forge National Historical Park.
Valley Forge marks 50 years as a national historical park with three days of commemorative programming, including Revolutionary War reenactors, musket firings, and artillery demonstrations.
SEPTA Bus 125 will get you to the park, and a park shuttle runs throughout the celebration from July 3-5. Plus, there are bike rentals on-site. All events are free to attend, and you can find a complete schedule of the weekend’s events at the National Park Service website.
🕒 July 3-5, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, 💵 Free, 📍 North Outer Line Drive in Valley Forge National Historical Park, 🌐 nps.gov.
A three-day slate of activities begins July 3 with extended First Friday hours at the Heritage Center and an evening car show at the East Greenville Fire Co. The next day features a parade, a reading of the Declaration of Independence, performances by the Brandywine Colonials Fife and Drum Corps and the Red Hill Band, followed by fireworks. On July 5, the Heritage Center hosts a free family-friendly event from noon to 4 p.m. with exhibits and refreshments.
🕒 July 3-5, times vary, 💵 Free, 📍 Various locations, 🌐 schwenkfelder.org.
In addition to musical performances from Yolanda Adams and DJ Diamond Kuts, a collection of speakers — including Philly Mayor Cherelle L. Parker — are slated to reflect on the nation’s history on the morning of its 250th birthday.
🕒 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., July 4, 💵 Free, 📍 599 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19106, 🌐 visitphilly.com
The courtyard of the Betsy Ross House will be filled with animals on the morning of July 4, during the annual patriotic pet parade and costume contest. Pets will be judged in five categories — Most Patriotic, Best Betsy Ross Influence, Best Duo with Owner, Best Non-Canine, and Best in Show — so make sure they arrive dressed to impress.
🕒 10:30 a.m., July 4, 💵 Free (pet registration required), 📍 239 Arch St., Philadelphia, PA 19106, 🌐 historicphiladelphia.org
Christina Aguilera, pictured here in 2016 in Morocco, is one of several musicians performing at this year’s One Philly: Unity Concert for America on July 4. Abdeljalil Bounhar
This July 4 star-studded concert on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway features Christina Aguilera, The Roots, Jill Scott, Meek Mill, Will Smith, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Seal, and others.. Comedian Wanda Sykes serves as host. Doors open at 3 p.m., and performances begin at 5 p.m.
🕒 5 p.m. to midnight, July 4, 💵 Free, 📍 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, 🌐 visitphilly.com.
A new landscaped median under construction for months in front of the Kimmel Center has reached completion — the down payment on a promised major redo of the Avenue of the Arts streetscape.
The leafy ribbon down the middle of Broad Street from Spruce to Pine Streets was officially unveiled Wednesday morning with speeches and a ceremonial sprinkling from blue watering cans onto the new plantings.
“We aimed high and we met our lofty expectations, and we’re off and running,” said Carl Dranoff, chair of Avenue of the Arts Inc., which is spearheading the project.
There is a practical, traffic-calming intention behind the raised median: It leaves less space for drivers to make U-turns on the block occupied by the arts center and residences, and creates a barrier to thwart pedestrians jaywalking across Broad Street.
Attendees watering the new redesign of the South Broad Street median outside the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Pa., on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
But the slender, shapely strip of trees, shrubs, and ground cover atop a granite base with metal skirt signals a larger transformation to come.
In spring of 2027, work is expected to begin on an ambitious beautification of the heavily trafficked block. Sidewalks will be landscaped, sculptures installed, and pop-up performance space carved out, creating what planners say will be a markedly different vibe.
That will give the project’s leaders something tangible to point to when raising money for the entire streetscape project, which is envisioned as eventually stretching from City Hall south to Washington Avenue.
“The idea of a beta block was to get everybody on board and excited about what can be accomplished — the doability and to create buzz,” said Dranoff, who said the median was the first step in turning South Broad Street into “one of the great streets of the world.”
Oliver Schaper, Ubran Designer for the Project with the New York office of Architecture/Design Firm Gensler, waters the plants in the redesign of the South Broad Street median outside the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Pa., on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
That larger, 10-block effort is expected to cost about $150 million and take years to design and complete, with funds anticipated from both government sources and philanthropy.
The design of each segment will vary, said Oliver Schaper, an urban designer for the project with the New York office of architecture/design firm Gensler.
“The requirements of adjacent buildings are different on every block, the left-turn lanes are different, even the length of the median is different from block to block,” Schaper said. “We wanted to make sure that all the design elements can act as a kit of parts and adjust, so each design of a block will be an application of that kit of parts so they feel like cousins, but specific.”
Some design professionals have criticized the median as intrusive to sight lines, but the design and landscaping were chosen to preserve sight lines, Dranoff said.
Carl Dranoff, Chair of Avenue of the Arts Inc., speaks about the redesign of the South Broad Street median outside the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Pa., on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
“All of the trees were specifically selected to have long trunks and very narrow canopies, all the vegetation.” The designs adhere to standards for safety, he said, “so we are very confident that we will not block views.”
The flora — about three dozen kinds of native and adaptive plants — were chosen by OJB Landscape Architecture to withstand “the abuse that they will be subject to in terms of the winters and the salt and all that,” Schaper said.
Looking ahead, the blocks farther north from Spruce Street are anticipated as having fewer trees, to preserve the view of City Hall.
“We even designed, as you get closer to City Hall, standing areas for brides and photo ops, so that we’re not taking anything away from people,” Dranoff said. “We have parade areas so that Mummers and other parades have performance areas between the medians.”
City Hall seen in the back near the new redesign of the South Broad Street median outside the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Pa., on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
But more immediate is the work from Pine to Spruce, where Dranoff’s 47-story Arthaus residential condo tower sits. The $5 million needed to pay for the median and work on the infrastructure beneath the street “is accounted for and that was utilized,” Dranoff said, “and of the $10 million for the sidewalks, we have several million lined up and more to go, and we’ll have it all by the end of the year.”
Construction on the sidewalk portions is expected to begin in 2027 and be completed by the end of the year “or thereabouts,” he said.
Schaper said part of the goal is to rebalance the dynamic between pedestrians and other factors.
“I think as designers at some point we take a position, and our position was, ‘Let’s design for pedestrians.’ There are, of course, very specific requirements that we need to adhere to — for example, it’s reflected in conversations that we had with the Kimmel Center about their bus queuing, and we made adjustments to continue to allow that to happen.”
The new redesign of the South Broad Street median outside the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Pa., on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
But, he said, the plan sets out to be “an advocate of the pedestrian experience, and not think that private car access is the model of the future for cities.”
Dranoff said construction of this first median phase, running much of the block from Spruce to Pine, was delayed by the unusually harsh conditions of this past winter, but workers made up for lost time.
“Philadelphia’s going to be a hotbed this summer, and the whole point of this was to show what we can do and be more beautiful and more attractive and more compelling to Philadelphians and to suburbanites and to the world.”
This Fourth of July will be unlike any in recent memory. As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, Philadelphia and the surrounding region are packed with celebrations — and fireworks displays. From the city and suburbs to South Jersey and the Shore, there are dozens of opportunities to catch a show.
Whether you’re staying in Philadelphia, heading to the suburbs, or spending the holiday down the Shore, here’s where to find Fourth of July fireworks across the region.
Wawa Welcome America: 🕙 July 4, 5 p.m. 📍Christina Aguilera and Philadelphia native Jill Scott headline a concert followed by fireworks, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, Pa., 19130, 🌐 july4thphilly.com
Conshohocken Fireworks Display: 🕙 July 3, 9:15 p.m., 📍The fireworks will take place at Sutcliffe Park, but the borough is closing the park and surrounding areas to the public due to the size of the display. (They advise you to watch the show from another vantage point in town.), 🌐 conshohockenpa.gov
Gov. Josh Shapiro is by far the most popular political figure among Philadelphia residents, a boost as he looks toward November and beyond.
In a new Suffolk University/Philadelphia Inquirer CityView poll,62% of Philadelphians have a favorable opinion of Shapiro, double digits above any other political figure included in the survey.
Not only did the Democratic incumbent running for reelection win over three-quarters of his own party’s votersin the blue stronghold, he also got positive reviews from almost halfthe city’sindependents and more than one-third of Republicans.
“He has strong bona fides within his own party, 76% favorable and 11% unfavorable, but he’s also at least somewhat competitive among independents and even some Republicans, so that’s an amazing profile for a candidate who’s an incumbent these days,” said David Paleologos, the polling director at Suffolk.
Just 16% of residents have an unfavorable view of Shapiro, and only 8% have never heard of the one-term governor, who was on former Vice President Kamala Harris’ short list of potential running mates in 2024.
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The poll of 500 residents in the city, which was conducted by phone from June 16 to 20, had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. Pollsters reached residents in all 66 wards in the city.
Shapiro clobbers his Republican opponent,Treasurer Stacy Garrity, whom just 9% of the poll’s respondentsview favorably.
That’s not unexpected in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 6-1. But it’s Garrity’s lack of name recognition that plays a larger role. A whopping 61% of those surveyed had never heard of Garrity, a glaring figure less than five months until the November election.
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“She’s kind of a blank slate, and that works to the challenger’s advantage, but if you’re Stacy Garrity you want to start defining yourself quickly before someone else does,” Paleologos said.
Shapiro can drive up his statewide total if voters in Philadelphia, an overwhelming Democratic electorate, turn out in large numbers — though that has been less reliable in recent years.
His broad favorability could also help him stretch his bank account further. Shapiro, who hails from nearby Montgomery County, has spent the least amount of money so far in the Philadelphia television market and the most in Pittsburgh, which could show his campaign knows where he is already strong.
Fetterman is far less popular in Philly, particularly among young voters
Shapiro’s popularityin the city stands in stark contrast with the state’s other top Democrat: U.S. Sen. John Fetterman.
Less than one-quarter, 24%, of Philly residents have a favorable opinion of Fetterman, compared with 43% with an unfavorable view. The numbers are even worse within his own party, withjust 17% of Democrats holding a favorable view of the senator, who has often feuded with progressives and repeatedly crossed party lines to cast key votes in support of President Donald Trump’s nominees.
His numbers are particularly sour among voters ages 18 to 24 and 25 to 34.
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A strong majority of Republican voters, 60%, view him favorably in the poll, but the Pennsylvania Democrat has repeatedly insisted he has no interest in switching parties heading into 2028, when he is likely to face a primary challenge if he runs for another term.
While slightly more Philadelphians have a favorable view of Fetterman than his GOP colleague, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, a greater share of Philly voters have an unfavorable view of the Democrat.
McCormick earned 17% favorable views compared with 25% unfavorable views, while the rest had not heard of the freshman senator or were undecided.
But the least popular politician in Philly was Trump, who had just 12% favorability in the city.
Ninety-two percent of Democrats view Trump unfavorably, and 31% of Philadelphia Republicans do, too. The poll also found that nearly 70% of Philly voters had grown less confident in American democracy under Trump’s presidency.
Trump made inroads in the deep-blue city in 2024, but Harris still won Philadelphia handily with 78% of the vote.
The president is a frequent target of Shapiro, who has blamed Trump’s tariffs and other policies for exacerbating the cost of living.
Taking on Trump may be boosting Shapiro’s popularity as he pursues reelection. His numbers show opportunity as he continues building a national profile, likely with ambitions for higher office. In a city where voters favor liberal and left-leaning candidates, Paleologos said, the polling results could be somewhat extrapolated to a national Democratic primary for president in 2028.
“In a Democratic primary, you really want to be strong among women, and he is,” Paleologos said. “If 60% of women are voting a Democratic primary, that really plays to his strength.”
He also ranks in the 70s for favorability among people ages 45 to 74.
“Those are people who are bill payers, they’re raising children, they’re taking care of sick parents, they’re very stretched in terms of economics. Just terrific numbers,” Paleologos said.
Shapiro’s favorability is far above that of other Democratic politicians in the city, including Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and State Rep. Chris Rabb, who won last month’s competitive primary to represent the 3rd Congressional District, which stretches from Northwest Philly to parts of South Philly.
A majority of respondents had not heard of Rabb despite his recent win. But 26% of respondents said they had a favorable view of the progressive lawmaker, compared with only 7% with an unfavorable view.
The mayor was viewed favorably by nearly 44% of respondents, compared with nearly 35% who viewed her unfavorably — a net positive rating but a much closer split than Shapiro.
“There are there are pockets of strength that make her electorally strong, but I wouldn’t call it broad-based,” Paleologos said of Parker.
Philadelphia’s police union issued a statement criticizing city officials for failing to promptly reimburse expenses incurred for officers who died in the line of duty, and disputed the city’s claim that it did not use tax dollars to cover a roughly $11,500 funeral luncheon, which included a 94% “gratuity.”
The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5’s statement, which was posted on Facebook last week and emailed to its members, followed an Inquirer investigation that found the union has for years billed the city following an officer’s death for expenses that are unrelated to funeral home and cemetery costs.
“The problem has always been and continues to be the city of Philadelphia’s ineptitude to pay bills in a timely fashion,” the FOP wrote. “Which leads to the survivors’ families having to make large financial decisions for funerals, services, luncheons, transportation, cemeteries, funeral attire, and cremations within days of suffering a traumatic life-changing event.”
Since 2014, the city has contributed up to $75,000 in tax dollars for each line-of-duty death, up from $15,000. The FOP’s contract with the city calls for the union to be reimbursed for “reasonable and necessary funeral expenses.” But there is no further explanation of what would qualify, and The Inquirer found the union has asked the city to pay tens of thousands of dollars for everything from bar and restaurant tabs to socks and underwear.
The FOP has also billed the city for at least eight events at its own bar, 7C Lounge, located inside its sprawling headquarters in Northeast Philadelphia. One of those events was a luncheon in May 2020 for Cpl. James O’Connor IV, a 23-year veteran and married father of two, who had been shot and killed in March of that year.
His funeral had to be postponed for eight weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic and only a limited number of people, all in masks, were permitted inside the church.
Pallbearers carry the body of slain Philadelphia Police Cpl. James O’Connor IV outside Our Lady of Calvary on May 8, 2020. O’Connor was killed in the line of duty.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Even though the city had restricted bars and restaurants to takeout and delivery service, the FOP held a 2½-hour lunch for O’Connor at its own bar.
Records show the FOP billed the city for $5,700 worth of bottled beer, an open bar, and food for 160 people. The union added a $5,375 gratuity.
Sharolyn L. Murphy, the city’s risk manager and deputy finance director, wrote in an email to The Inquirer that the city did not reimburse the FOP for the O’Connor luncheon.
The FOP statement claims otherwise. The union wrote that it provided the city with comprehensive documentation and was fully reimbursed.
The FOP statement also says that the $5,375 was not all a gratuity — which is how it is listed on the bill — but just $925 for a tip while the rest was payment for kitchen and catering workers, bartenders, servers, and managers.
“This was the only way to add the payroll and gratuity expense to the catering invoice,” the FOP wrote. “This was all documented and explained in timestamped email records and provided to the city which is why they approved the reimbursement.”
The FOP attached to its statement copies of six emails listing the amounts paid to the staffers, all of whose names are redacted. Names of the senders and recipients are also redacted, except for then-FOP president John McNesby’s.
The emails were not included in the Right-to-Know records The Inquirer received from the city. The city did not respond to questions about whether the risk management team had gotten them and, if so, why they were not among the documents previously provided to the newspaper.
But Murphy on Tuesday e-mailed The Inquirer a breakdown of the items the city denied from a $32,600 reimbursement request, including the cost of the O’Connor luncheon, as well as liquor bills totaling $800 and $50 in miscellaneous beverages.
“The city provides expeditious payment of funeral expenses to support families of those who made the ultimate sacrifice to service to Philadelphia,” Murphy wrote in an e-mailed response to The Inquirer. “At the same time, the city has a responsibility to ensure that taxpayer funds are spent appropriately.”
Current FOP president Roosevelt Poplar and McNesby, who served as the union’s president for 16 years before stepping down in 2023, did not respond to multiple requests for comment before The Inquirer published its investigation. In its June 13 statement, the FOP called The Inquirer’s investigation a “hatchet job hit piece.”
The Inquirer’s examination of the funeral expenses underscored questions about the FOP’s nonprofit Charitable Foundation, commonly known as the Survivors’ Fund, which raises money to pay for funerals and support the families of officers who were killed or seriously injured in the line of duty.
A 2025 Inquirer investigation found that the FOP reported spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on “funerals and special events” in years when no officers died in the line of duty, and that its expenditures and cash donations had been loosely documented and were difficult to track.
The Inquirer sought further clarity by filing Right-to-Know requests with the city for more than 1,000 pages of invoices, bills, emails, and other public records concerning 17 police line-of-duty deaths since 2014. Eight of the deaths were attributed to COVID.
The FOP publicly criticized The Inquirer’s records request.
Included in the documents were FOP submissions of receipts from businesses such as Target, Home Depot, Walmart, Acme, 7-Eleven, and CVS that include no explanation as to why they were funeral expenses. The union has also forwarded statements of corporate credit cards requesting reimbursement for restaurants and beer stores.
Some reimbursement requests lacked receipts or itemized breakdowns, and at least two were for cash. The FOP did not address the cash requests in its statement.
The Inquirer found that the city has covered the bulk of the FOP’s requests, although in almost all cases, the documents do not point to which specific reimbursements were approved or denied. An FOP request for $1,870 to cover two bar tabs and pipes and drums after a dinner is the only explicit denial in the records.
The FOP wrote in its statement that its “finance office and accounting firm have comprehensive, accurate, and detailed records for all financial transactions for our multiple accounts. There are no missing or incomplete records.”
