Brand Campaign Full

Arena plan caught in corporate crosshairs

The Sixers and Comcast Spectacor are dueling in public and behind closed doors over the team’s $1.55 billion proposal for a facility downtown.

By Jeff Gammage and Sean Collins Walsh Staff Writers

The 76ers recently trumpeted a

The team did not provide the analysis behind the figures.

Within hours, the X (formerly Twitter) account of the Wells Fargo Center — the Sixers’ home court — shared an image of the team’s tax-windfall news release, freshly stamped with a single word in bright red letters: Myth The Sixers soon leveled their own denunciation, with lead developer David Adelman accusing Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Wells Fargo Center, of “lurking in the shadows, hiding behind others, while it lobbies decision-makers and twists arms to try to stop the Sixers from building our own privately funded arena.”

For months, the controversy over the Sixers’ plans for a dazzling, $1.55 billion arena stood as a

David-and-Goliath battle between a wealthy NBA team and a Chinatown neighborhood that has long fought for its survival against outside development. Now it’s expanding into a clash between two of Philadelphia’s corporate giants and the uber-rich personalities who run them.

“I never got lobbied more by two sides on anything,” said Councilmember Mark Squilla, who will play a pivotal role in the outcome because his City Council district includes the site of the proposed arena. “My meetings have tripled since this was announced.”

Owned by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the Sixers are a disgruntled tenant at the Wells Fargo Center, the South Philadelphia → SEE ARENA ON A6

The Wells Fargo Center disputed on social media the Sixers’ estimates of tax revenue that their arena plan would bring to the state, city, and Philadelphia school system. Steven M. Falk/ Staff Photographer

Good enough

Surrounded by family, Jimmy Carter turns 99

World leaders and pop culture figures sent tributes, focusing on the former president’s four decades of global humanitarian work.

By Bill Barrow Associated Press

ATLANTA — Jimmy Carter has always been a man of discipline and habit. But the former president broke routine Sunday, putting off his practice of quietly watching church services online to instead celebrate his 99th birthday with his wife, Rosalynn, and their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in Plains.

The gathering took place in the same one-story structure where the Carters lived before he was first elected to the Georgia Senate in 1962. As tributes poured in from around the world, it was an opportunity for Carter’s family to honor his personal legacy.

“The remarkable piece to me and I think to my family is that while my grandparents have accomplished so much, they have really remained the same sort of South Georgia couple that lives in a 600-person village where they were born,” said grandson Jason Carter, who chairs the board at The Carter Center, which his grandparents founded in 1982 after leaving the White House a year earlier. Despite being global figures, the younger Carter said his grandparents have always “made it easy for us, as a family, to be as normal as we can be.”

At The Carter Center in Atlanta, meanwhile, 99 new American citizens, who came from 45 countries, took the oath of allegiance as part of a naturalization ceremony timed for the former president’s birthday.

“This is so impressive, and I’m so happy for it to be here,” said Tania Martinez after the ceremony. A 53-year-old nurse in Roswell, Martinez was born in Cuba and came to the U.S. from Ghana 12 years ago.

“Now, I will be free forever,” she said, tears welling. → SEE CARTER ON A6

CAMPAIGN 2023

What kind of mayor does Parker want to be?

The Democrat is known as a dealmaker. She’s urging people to work with

her now or give up a right to complain later.

By Sean Collins Walsh Staff Writer

It sounds at first like a laudable if unexceptional plan, something many mayors have promised to do. Democratic mayoral nominee Cherelle Parker wants to create advisory councils of industry heavyweights, faith leaders, and policy stakeholders to help guide her administration if she wins the general election.

But there’s an underlying message in Parker’s recruitment of stakeholders across the city: Get on board now — or forfeit your right to complain later.

“I need a structure and an organized vehicle that has anyone who has a nickel in the quarter in that industry at the table, so no one is left out,” Parker said in an interview last week at her campaign headquarters in Stenton. “You may not like the ultimate outcome of the decision, but I will never give anyone the opportunity to say, ‘I have a nickel in the quarter, and this administration didn’t even bother to hear me.’”

The plan is emblematic of how Parker operated as a legislator in Harrisburg and on City Council,

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Gaetz to seek McCarthy’s ouster

The Florida Republican’s vow follows passage of a stopgap measure to avert a shutdown. “Let’s have that fight,” the House speaker replied.

By Marianna Sotomayor, Leigh Ann Caldwell, and Mariana Alfaro Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The decision was always going to be his.

With a Democratic-led Senate ready to fund the government in a bipartisan fashion and a Democratic president in the White House, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) would ultimately have to make the determinative choice about whether to avert a government shutdown.

Having exhausted every option to fund the government with just conservative votes, McCarthy sided with Republicans who suggested he skirt a procedural hurdle that obstructionists have previously used against the conference and propose a bill that would appease Democrats enough to keep the government running.

That proposal became law. But it may come with a price: his job.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.) said Sunday that he is determined to try to oust McCarthy from his leadership position after McCarthy passed a stopgap measure to fund the government with Democratic support.

The Florida Republican told CNN’s State of the Union that he plans to introduce a measure to remove McCarthy sometime this week, marking a dramatic escalation of the long-simmering tensions between the men. Once he does so, the House will have 48 hours to vote on the matter.

“I think we need to rip off the Band-Aid. I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy,” Gaetz said.

Hard-right obstructionists in the House GOP have made clear for weeks that they would try to oust McCarthy if he relied on Democrats to pass any funding legislation. Under the move Gaetz is planning, called a motion to vacate, a single person can force the House to consider removing the speaker. Such a motion has never succeeded before.

→ SEE HOUSE ON A4

Jake Elliott (4) celebrates with his teammates after kicking a 54-yard field goal in overtime to give the Eagles a 34-31 victory over the Washington Commanders on Sunday at the Linc. The Birds improved to 4-0. Coverage in Sports, Section C. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

Democratic candidate for mayor Cherelle Parker sat down with The Inquirer for an interview last week at her campaign office. During the discussion, she addressed last week’s episodes of looting throughout the city. To see a video of her remarks, go to Inquirer. com/news/video. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

BUSINESS LESS HAPPY HOUR, MORE NIGHTLIFE IN PHILLY

Philadelphia has been trying to rebuild its nightlife since COVID-19 shut it down. In 2022, the city appointed Raheem Manning, cochair of City Council’s Arts and Culture Task Force, to be director of nighttime economy, a role that came with a broad mission to attract and retain businesses operating at night. Is it working?

OPINION WHY PHILLIES SHOULD CUT TIES WITH SCHILLING

Trump makes big push in Iowa

The former president is aiming to solidify support in counties that he flipped from Democrats in 2016.

By Thomas Beaumont Associated Press

OTTUMWA, Iowa — Former President Donald Trump was in southeast Iowa Sunday in the middle of a fall campaign push aimed at locking in supporters with large organizing events.

As he has with his other recent travels to the leadoff caucus state, Trump was campaigning in an area that formerly supported Democrats but has embraced him, as the influence trade unions once held has shrunk and lost voters to Republicans.

Trump was headlining an afternoon event in Ottumwa, where 2,500 packed the inside of an event hall at the Bridge View Center in Ottumwa. The small city is a hub in eastern Iowa and the seat of Wapello County, one of 31 counties Trump carried in 2016 that Democrat Barack Obama had won four years earlier.

It was Trump’s second trip in two weeks to eastern Iowa, where he was drawing large crowds, as his campaign has sought to step up their press to urge voters to commit to support him in the Jan. 15 caucuses, where more than a half-dozen other Republicans are vying to rise as a threat to his popularity within the party.

“With your support on Monday, Jan. 15, we’re going to win the caucuses in a historic landslide,” Trump told the packed event hall in Ottumwa Sunday.

Trump is expected back to the Waterloo and Cedar Rapids areas next week.

decades. His administration’s renegotiation of the U.S. trade pact with Canada and Mexico remains popular.

Rick Anderson and his wife, Nancy, who were filing into the hall, are the kind of voters whom Trump’s campaign would like to persuade to caucus for the candidate on Jan. 15. They used to vote Democratic but switched in 2016 to support Trump. They have not attended Iowa’s Republican precinct caucuses in the past.

Rick Anderson, a retired union millwright who co-owns a small business with his wife, is among the many longtime union members who kept Wapello County and others in Iowa’s once-robust, eastern manufacturing corridor reliably Democratic-performing until Trump.

“We like what he says. He says ‘Drill, baby, drill,’ and that’s got my heart. Because that’s what’s wrong with the country is energy. Solve that problem and you solve so many other problems,” Anderson said. “Democrats have lost touch with people like us.”

As Trump maintains a strong lead in Iowa, his Republican rivals are scrambling for backing, hoping a strong showing can help them consolidate the non-Trump support.

Trump volunteers at the site held clipboards stacked with pledge cards and asked attendees whether they would commit to support Trump at the caucuses.

Trump arrived in Iowa after a two-day trip to California, where he picked up 6 million of his 74 million votes in 2020 while losing the state by 30 percentage points to Democrat Joe Biden.

his awards sit on the kitchen counter next to a Virgin Mary statue and a framed prayer. We have more details, including the asking price.

CULTURE

MEET THE KING OF PA. DEMOLITION DERBY

Pennsylvania’s greatest demolition derby driver sat alone on the roof of an apocalyptic-looking Lincoln, taking long drags from a cigarette. The midway lights of the Great Stoneboro Fair began to pop against the purple sunset, and the wheels were turning in his head. Demolition derby is a lot like chess, Pete Hansen said, except sometimes you’re on fire.

Curt Schilling, one of the franchise’s best pitchers, somehow still has a plaque on the Phillies’ Wall of Fame at Citizens Bank Park. He has one in Fenway Park. too. They should be removed, says columnist Marcus Hayes, who describes Schilling as a “transphobic, Nazi-supporting religious bigot” and adds, among other things: “Take his advice: ‘Pull a trigger.’”

Trump, the first Republican to capture the county since the Eisenhower administration, campaigned the week before in northeast Iowa. There, he drew about 1,400 to rural Jackson County along the Mississippi River and almost 2,000 to Dubuque County to the north. Like Wapello, Dubuque County had been a Democratic stronghold for decades before 2016.

Though aides said they were not specifically targeting counties that Trump flipped in 2016, they noted that he has had success in the eastern part of Iowa where manufacturing has declined sharply in the past two

In a fiery speech that delighted Republicans dejected after decades of Democratic control, Trump escalated his long-standing tough-on-crime message with calls for violent retribution for against criminals. People caught robbing stores should be shot, Trump said to applause. He raised money during his trip to Orange County, once a bastion of conservatism in Southern California that has become increasingly competitive.

While Trump’s would-be Republican challengers sparred in the second primary debate earlier in the week, Trump was in another key blue-collar county in the general election battleground of Michigan. Trump spoke during Wednesday night’s debate in Macomb County, Michigan, north of Detroit at a nonunion manufacturing plant, where he blasted Biden’s push for electric cars amid an autoworkers’ strike. Trump carried Macomb County twice, after Obama did in 2008 and 2012.

Turkey strikes targets in Iraq after suicide attack

By Suzan Fraser Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish warplanes carried out airstrikes on suspected Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq on Sunday following a suicide attack on a government building in the Turkish capital, Turkey’s defense ministry announced.

Some 20 targets of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, were “destroyed” in the latest aerial operation, including caves, shelters, and depots, the ministry said, adding that a large number of PKK operatives were “neutralized” in the strikes.

Earlier on Sunday, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device near an entrance of the Interior Ministry, wounding two police officers. A second assailant was killed in a shootout with police.

The PKK, which maintains bases in northern Iraq, claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, according to a news agency close to the rebel group. Turkey’s Interior Ministry also identified one of the assailants as a member of the outlawed group. It said efforts were still underway to identify the second attacker.

The attack happened hours before Turkey’s Parliament reopened after its threemonth summer recess with an address by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The two assailants arrived at the scene inside a light commercial vehicle, which they seized from a veterinarian in the central province of Kayseri, according to the Interior Ministry. The pro-government daily Sabah reported that they shot the man in the head and threw his body into a ditch by the side of the road. They then drove the vehicle to Ankara, roughly 200 miles away.

“Our heroic police officers, through their intuition, resisted the terrorists as soon as they got out of the vehicle,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told reporters. “One of them blew himself up, while the other one was shot in the head before he had a chance to blow himself up.”

“Our fight against terrorism, their collaborators, the [drug] dealers, gangs and organized crime organizations will continue with determination,” he said.

Police found plastic explosives, hand grenades, and a rocket launcher at the scene, a ministry statement said.

Erdogan gave his speech in Parliament as planned and called the attack “the last stand of terrorism.”

“The scoundrels who targeted the peace and security of the citizens could not achieve their goals and they never will,” he said.

The president reiterated his government’s aim to create a 20-mile safe zone along Turkey’s border with Syria to secure its southern border from attacks.

A supporter waits for former President Donald Trump to speak at a rally Sunday in Ottumwa, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall / AP

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House

→ CONTINUED FROM A1

On multiple Sunday show appearances, Gaetz accused McCarthy of lying during the negotiations over the stopgap government funding talks, and of lying to the Republican conference in January during the lengthy speakership fight that saw him going through 15 rounds of House votes before being elected speaker.

“Look, the one thing everybody has in common is that nobody trusts Kevin McCarthy,” Gaetz told CNN. “He lied to Biden, he lied to House conservatives. He had appropriators marking to a different number altogether.”

McCarthy, Gaetz said, broke a promise made to hard-right conservatives during the speakership fight that the chamber would move to pass individual spending bills rather than bundling them all together. Gaetz also said McCarthy promised the conference 72 hours to read the bill, and that the budget would return to pre-COVID spending levels.

McCarthy and Republicans have passed four appropriation bills thus far and plan to pass the remaining eight this month. While McCarthy did not give his conference 72 hours to review and vote on the stopgap bill to keep the government funded, his leadership team has followed that rule on a majority of bills passed this year.

“There is almost no promise he hasn’t violated,” Gaetz told ABC News’ This Week.

On Sunday morning, McCarthy was defiant when asked about Gaetz’s potential effort to remove him from his seat.

“I’ll survive. This is personal with Matt,” he told CBS News’ Face the Nation. “If he’s upset because he tried to push us in a shutdown, and I made sure government didn’t shut down, then let’s have that fight.” Despite McCarthy’s confidence; however, in interviews over the past week, a handful of Republicans indicated an openness to Gaetz’s move.

On Saturday night, both the House and Senate passed a “continuing resolution” that keeps the government funded through Nov. 17 and includes disaster relief funds, an extension of a federal flood-insurance program, and

→

and how she would likely govern as mayor if she defeats Republican David Oh in the Nov. 7 general election, as she’s heavily favored to do given the city’s overwhelmingly Democratic electorate.

Parker, 51, is known as a dealmaker. But instead of forcing her will on others during negotiations, her style is to force everyone to the table, whether they like it or not, and to stay at the table until the deal is done.

That approach has led to some of her most notable accomplishments, as well as some head-scratching moments. It’s also opened her up to a narrative — fueled by her second-to-none credentials as a Philadelphia political insider — that her vision doesn’t go far enough in challenging the status quo. After all, plans tend to get watered down once everyone has a say.

Parker’s insistence on hearing from numerous stakeholders also reflects a core aspect of her personality. She is a meticulous planner, often to the frustration of her own staff, and she abhors surprises.

“I need structure,” she said. “I have watched leaders who prefer and thrive in chaos and confusion. Some people do well with that. My mind doesn’t work that way.”

Kyle Darby, a lobbyist who worked as a policy adviser on Parker’s primary campaign, said “there’s no detail that’s too small for her.”

“She’s not someone that feels comfortable when she’s in the dark about things,” he said. “Some leaders like plausible deniability or some leaders don’t care for some of the details. She is not that.”

In one of her first extensive interviews since winning the Democratic nomination in May, Parker said her insistence on structure and preparation has everything to do with her background. She is on track to become Philadelphia’s first female mayor, and she overcame a series of tragedies in her childhood, including being raised by a single mother who died when she was 11.

“I am Black, I am a woman who comes from humble beginnings, and I don’t have the luxury of giving a knee-jerk reaction that will be accepted coming from someone else,” she said. “My homework always has to be done.”

reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, but did not include additional aid for Ukraine.

The bipartisan votes came only after McCarthy tried repeatedly to craft legislation that would attract enough House Republicans to pass the bill without Democrats by slashing spending. He fell short despite giving in to many of the demands of his most hard-line conservative members.

Gaetz was one of six Republicans who never supported McCarthy in his fight to take the speaker’s gavel in January, at the beginning of the new congressional term. Those six members eventually voted “present” in the 15th round of voting, lowering the threshold needed for McCarthy’s victory.

But those Republicans and others on the far right have successfully blockaded efforts by the majority of House Republicans who have tried to govern under the constitutional constraints of having to pass bills with a Democratic-majority Senate and Democratic president.

On Sunday, some of those farright Republicans appeared to welcome Gaetz’s approach. Rep. Byron Donalds (R., Fla.), a member of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News that it was clear McCarthy is in “trouble.” Asked how he would vote on a motion to vacate, Donalds said, “I got to really think about that.”

“There are a lot of trust issues in my chamber right now,” he said.

A majority of the GOP conference still staunchly supports McCarthy and would vote to keep him as their speaker. Rep. Jason T. Smith (R., Mo.) told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that Gaetz would need more than 200 Democrats to join him to remove McCarthy “because more than 200 Republicans are 100 percent behind Speaker McCarthy.”

With Republicans holding such a narrow majority in the House, if more than five hard-liners vote in favor of deposing McCarthy, Republicans will need Democrats to help overcome that margin. But their help, if it is even given, would come at a significant price.

Knowing the role they play in this scenario, House Democrats are beginning to discuss how they would handle a potential challenge

‘A high-energy person’

Philadelphia mayors are often remembered for their strengths and weaknesses. And for decades, perceptions about the primary failure of the outgoing mayor have aligned with a defining strength of his successor. Ed Rendell was a cheerleader for the city in one of its darkest hours, but he was biased toward Center City and big business. John Street then focused on neighborhoods, but his administration suffered corruption scandals. Michael Nutter was a reformer, but he couldn’t get along with Council. Jim Kenney pushed major initiatives through Council, but he appeared to run out of gas when crisis struck and the city needed an energetic leader. Energy would not be a problem in a Parker administration.

“I’m naturally a high-energy person. I literally was a cheerleader,” Parker said. “I was the athlete, I ran track, and I was a cheerleader.”

Parker speaks with a booming voice, and says she would “not apologize” for so many things — her upbringing, her tough-on-crime policies, her thoughts on the parking tax — that it has become a joke among political insiders.

And she doesn’t want to be compared to Philadelphia’s first 99 mayors. “There is some added value that I can take from each of them,” she said. “But because no one like me has ever gotten an opportunity to get as close to doing this — if the people decided to choose me — no one should expect me to act like and or be like, walk, talk, govern like any of them.”

Parker keeps a tight inner circle. Since winning the primary, she has been making decisions in consultation with two key staffers: Sinceré Harris, who left a job at the White House to manage the campaign; and senior adviser Aren Platt, a political consultant with experience in state politics who was involved in the earliest conversations about Parker’s campaign. Parker, a former Council staffer and a ward leader, has an enormous network of political relationships. She rewards those who have stayed loyal to her, and like many politicians, she has a reputation

to McCarthy’s speakership, as their participation — or lack thereof — will determine whether he remains as speaker of the House.

Multiple people familiar with the private conversations have said that no plan is final and that McCarthy’s own last-minute scramble to force consideration of a clean short-term spending bill that averted a government shutdown angered many Democrats.

Gaetz said he expects Democrats to protect McCarthy.

“If at this time next week, Kevin McCarthy is still speaker of the House, it will be because the Democrats bailed them out and he can be their speaker, not mine,” Gaetz said on This Week.

Some moderate Democrats signaled that they might help McCarthy because they distrust Gaetz more.

“Every time we all work together, he loses his mind,” Rep. Greg Landsman (D., Ohio) said in a statement. “He doesn’t want the center left and center right to work together because he has to be the center of attention. When we do, he creates chaos to grab attention back. Matt Gaetz has no interest in governing. This is all about TV appearances for him.”

However, some Democrats welcomed the idea of helping Gaetz oust McCarthy. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), one of the prominent progressives in the House, said she would “absolutely” vote to end his speakership.

“I think Kevin McCarthy is a very weak speaker,” she told CNN on Sunday. “He clearly has lost control of his caucus … It’s not up to Democrats to save Republicans from themselves.”

Some Republicans expect several Democrats to vote present out of goodwill, after McCarthy changed his weeks-long posture of passing only conservative bills through his ranks and introduced the short-term funding bill that passed Saturday.

Biden to Congress: ‘Stop playing games’

The president urged lawmakers to negotiate an aid package for Ukraine as soon as possible.

By Kevin Freking and Colleen Long Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Sunday that American aid to Ukraine will keep flowing for now as he sought to reassure allies of continued U.S. financial support for the war effort. But time is running out, the president said in a warning to Congress.

“We cannot under any circumstances allow American for Ukraine to be interrupted,” Biden said in remarks from the Roosevelt Room after Congress averted a government shutdown by passing a short-term funding package late Saturday that dropped assistance for Ukraine in the battle against Russia.

“We have time, not much time, and there’s an overwhelming sense of urgency,” he said, noting that the funding bill lasts only until mid-November. Biden urged Congress to negotiate an aid package as soon as possible.

“The vast majority of both parties — Democrats and Republicans, Senate and House — support helping Ukraine and the brutal aggression that is being thrust upon them by Russia,” Biden said. “Stop playing games, get this done.’’

But many lawmakers acknowledge that winning approval for Ukraine assistance in Congress is growing more difficult as the war grinds on. Republican resistance to the aid has been gaining momentum.

While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y), has begun a process to potentially consider legislation providing additional Ukraine aid, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) faces a more difficult task in keeping the commitment he made over the objections of nearly half of his GOP

Cherelle Parker, Democratic candidate for mayor, at her campaign office last week. The former state legislator, Council member, and ward leader has an enormous network of political relationships. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

for remembering those who don’t. Lately, Parker seems to be going out of her way to be magnanimous. She appeared at an event last week with Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson, the only veteran Council member who did not endorse her primary run. And she’s spoken favorably about the 76ers’ plan to build a Center City arena, despite the team apparently funding a “dark money” group that backed Jeff Brown in the primary.

“A narrative that has been promoted that I’ve heard from people is that Cherelle Parker is vengeful, and she holds grudges,” she said. “And nothing could be further from the truth. We can’t afford to hold a grudge about something that occurred in the primary election. We have to think bigger, quite frankly, stand taller.”

Good deals and no deals

As a legislator, Parker rose to leadership positions and thrived behind the scenes.

In 2014, when she was chair of the Philadelphia delegation to the state House, the city was struggling to recover from the recession and needed a cash infusion for schools. Parker played a key role in legislation that authorized the city to create a new cigarette tax for that purpose, no simple task in a GOP-controlled legislature.

Parker knew that Republicans would use any hint of division among Philly leaders as an excuse

majority. He told CBS’s Face on the Nation that he supported “being able to make sure Ukraine has the weapons that they need,” but that his priority was security at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“I firmly support the border first,” he said. “So we’ve got to find a way that we can do this together.”

By omitting additional Ukraine aid from the measure to keep the government running, McCarthy closed the door on a Senate package that would have funneled $6 billion to Ukraine, roughly one-third of what has been requested by the White House. Both the House and Senate overwhelmingly approved the stopgap measure, with members of both parties abandoning the increased aid in favor of avoiding a costly government shutdown.

Now Biden is working to reassure U.S. allies that more money will be there for Ukraine.

“Look at me,” he said turning his face to the cameras at the White House. “We’re going to get it done. I can’t believe those who voted for supporting Ukraine — overwhelming majority in the House and Senate, Democrat and Republican — will for pure political reasons let more people die needlessly in Ukraine.”

Foreign allies, though, were concerned. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Sunday from Kyiv that he believed it wouldn’t be the last word, but he noted the EU’s continued substantial financial support for Ukraine and a new proposal on the table.

The latest actions in Congress signal a gradual shift in the unwavering support that the United States has so far pledged Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and it is one of the clearest examples yet of the Republican Party’s movement toward a more isolationist stance. The exclusion of the money for Ukraine came little more than a week after lawmakers met in the Capitol with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He sought to assure them that his military was winning the war, but stressed that additional assistance would be crucial.

supports more progressive candidates than Parker, a centrist, but it had worked with her for years.

In this year’s primary, she won their endorsement, a major coup that boosted her and likely deprived candidates running to her left of needed resources.

Transparency concerns

Parker admits that her insistence on preparation can have downsides, including making her appear inaccessible.

As a candidate and a Council member, Parker was far from the least accessible of her peers, and she almost always responded to media inquiries. But she almost never responded quickly.

not to pass the legislation. At the time, City Council President Darrell Clarke and then-Mayor Nutter were barely on speaking terms. Parker cajoled them into signing a joint letter to state lawmakers, who approved of the new tax, and the schools opened on time in September. “She’s a convener. Everybody knows that. She’s been in this business for a long time,” Darby said. But Parker’s insistence on forging a compromise with all sides is also visible in her defeats.

Parker in 2021 pushed for a cut to the city parking tax. She was hoping to strike a bargain between wealthy parking lot owners who would benefit from the cut and Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, which represents lot attendants. The deal: Council wouldlower the tax from 25% to 17% if the lot operators improved pay for their workers.

For Parker, it would have been a win-win. But progressives opposed cutting taxes, urbanists didn’t want to encourage car-friendly infrastructure, and many of her Council colleagues saw it as an unnecessary distraction during high-stakes budget talks. Parker abandoned the bill when she couldn’t get all lot operators on board, but it’s not clear that it could have passed.

It was a bad day for Parker, but it helped to cement her relationship with Local 32BJ. The union often

“You don’t know how many times I fought with my team when [reporters] called and they want to call back in two minutes,” she said. “No, I’m not calling back right now. I asked for some information — can you please go and get the information I asked? Let me read it. And then I will give you what my response is.”

Parker’s commitment to accessibility is already being questioned.

Last month, a campaign staffer accidentally forwarded to a journalist an internal discussion about how to handle media inquiries that included demeaning comments about smaller and diverse news outlets.

Parker apologized for her staff’s actions and has said the episode doesn’t reflect who she would be as mayor. Others have doubts, given her lack of public appearances over the summer and her team’s reluctance to agree to debates with Oh. As she looks toward January, Parker is asking Philadelphians to judge her not by how she handles the media, but by how she changes the city.

“I want you to be able to say, ‘Well, you know what, I see something different in my community or my neighborhood,’” she said. “Not because Cherelle gave a speech, not because something she said, but because people can tangibly touch it, see it, taste it and feel it.”

swalsh@inquirer.com

Parker

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Celebrating the longest-lived U.S. president this way was inconceivable not long ago. The Carters announced in February that their patriarch was forgoing further medical treatments and entering home hospice care after a series of hospitalizations. Yet Carter, who overcame cancer diagnosed at age 90 and learned to walk after having his hip replaced at age 94, defied all odds again.

“If Jimmy Carter were a tree, he’d be an towering, old Southern oak,” said Donna Brazile, a former Democratic national chairperson and presidential campaign manager who got her start on Carter’s campaigns. “He’s as good as they come and tough as they come.”

Jill Stuckey, a longtime Plains resident who visits the former first couple regularly, cautioned to “never underestimate Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.”

His latest resilience has allowed Carter a rare privilege even for presidents: He’s been able to enjoy months of accolades typically reserved for when a former White House resident dies. The latest round includes a flood of messages from world leaders and pop culture figures donning “Jimmy Carter 99” hats, with many of them focusing on Carter’s four decades of global humanitarian work after leaving the Oval Office.

Katie Couric, the first woman to anchor a U.S. television network’s evening news broadcast, praised Carter in a social media video for his “relentless effort every day to make the world a better place.”

She pointed to Carter’s work to eradicate Guinea worm disease and river blindness, while advocating for peace and democracy in scores of countries. She noted he has written 32 books and worked for

Arena

arena owned by Comcast Spectacor, which also owns the Flyers.

The local sports arm of global telecommunications giant Comcast, led by Philadelphia billionaire Brian L. Roberts, sorely wants the Sixers to stay. It’s trying to avoid the loss of its major tenant and avoid having to fight a competitor for bookings of concerts and shows.

It doesn’t believe that Philadelphia needs a second major arena and wants the Sixers to instead be part of a huge, four-team transformation of the Sports Complex.

Comcast Spectacor is frustrated by the team’s harsh — it says false — criticisms of the Wells Fargo Center, now completing a $400 million top-to-bottom renovation. And it insists that a project that would impact Center City for decades must be scrutinized.

The Sixers, meanwhile, think it’s unfair that a landlord would try to stop a tenant from leaving at the end of its lease. They say that, like any company, they deserve the right to run their own business in their own building, to gain control over everything from scheduling to T-shirt sales.

Owning an arena would dramatically increase the value of a team already worth more than $3 billion.

And the Sixers insist that a Center City arena would move Philadelphia forward while generating foot traffic and spending on a desolate stretch of Market Street East.

Council is expected to decide whether to approve the project in the coming months, and lawmakers such as Squilla are caught between powerful coalitions.

Colossal Comcast is frequently a target of the progressive movement, but now its local division finds itself aligned with activists on the left, a group of urban design experts, and the ardent defenders of Chinatown’s rights as a neighborhood. The 76ers, meanwhile, benefit from support from building trades unions that want thousands of construction jobs, as well as from some members of the Black clergy and the business community.

As Council members reconvened for their fall session last month, Comcast Spectacor distributed a two-page document headlined “Myths and Realities: The Truth

About the Wells Fargo Center.”

It sought to refute assertions from Adelman that the Sixers have been treated poorly, rejecting his criticism of the center’s services, sight lines, and game scheduling.

The confrontation between Philadelphia institutions is becoming more pointed and public by the day. It’s also become a bonanza for City Hall lobbyists and public-affairs consultants, as both Comcast Spectacor and the Sixers build armies of hired pros.

Visitors pass a portrait of President Jimmy Carter during a celebration of his 99th birthday at The Carter Center in Atlanta on Saturday. Ben Gray / AP

decades with Habitat for Humanity building houses for low-income people.

“Oh, yeah, and you were governor of Georgia. And did I mention president of the United States?” she joked. “When are you going to stop slacking off?”

Bill Clinton, the 42nd president and first Democratic president after Carter’s landslide defeat, showed no signs of the chilly relationship the two fellow Southerners once had.

“Jimmy! Happy birthday,” Clinton said in his video message. “You only get to be 99 once. It’s been a long, good ride, and we thank you for your service and your friendship and the enduring embodiment of the American dream.”

Musician Peter Gabriel led concertgoers at Madison Square Garden in a rendition of “Happy Birthday,” as did the Indigo Girls at

a recent concert.

In Atlanta, the Carter Library & Museum and adjacent Carter Center held a weekend of events, including the citizenship ceremony. The museum offered 99-cent admission Saturday. The commemoration there was able to continue Sunday only because Congress came to an agreement to avoid a partial government shutdown at the start of the federal fiscal year, which coincides with Carter’s birthday.

Jason Carter said his grandfather has found it “gratifying” to see reassessments of his presidency. Carter’s term often has been broad-brushed as a failure because of inflation, global fuel shortages, and the holding of American hostages in Iran, a confluence that led to Republican Ronald Reagan’s 1980 romp.

Yet Carter’s focus on diplomacy,

Both sides — all sides — await the findings of arena studies being conducted by the city and its public-private economic development agency Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. City officials earlier said that three analyses, funded by the Sixers, would examine economics, community impact, and design. Two reports are expected by the end of the year.

Clash of personalities

The two men at the center of the dispute say they’re friends. And now those friends disagree, with potentially billions of dollars at stake.

Comcast Spectacor is led by Daniel Hilferty, the staid, grayhaired former CEO of Independence Blue Cross and a driver behind some of Philadelphia’s most important civic efforts.

The Sixers’ push is guided by the younger Adelman, the long-haired billionaire developer and team part-owner, widely known as the CEO of student-housing empire Campus Apartments, one of the nation’s largest providers of on- and off-campus housing.

Hilferty was hired to run Comcast Spectacor in February, given the key responsibility of fixing the struggling Flyers and moving quickly to name a new president of the Wells Fargo Center, a new Flyers president, and a new team general manager.

He became more publicly involved in opposing the arena over the summer, bristling at digs that Adelman leveled against the Wells Fargo Center in the media.

Those jabs have not ceased.

Recently, Adelman dug in over a dispute about a potential Philadelphia concert by the Eagles, the venerable rock group that’s now mounting its “Long Goodbye” tour. He shared a Pollstar story with comments from famed Los Angeles concert promoter Irving Azoff, who said he was unable to secure a Wells Fargo Center booking.

“We tried multiple times on the Eagles, and they can’t clear the day,” he said.

The Wells Fargo Center social-media account then turned its focus on Adelman.

“This ‘story’ is simply not true, and Mr. Adelman knows it,” it posted on Twitter, adding that in eight years, the center had turned away a total of two concerts.

Adelman responded two weeks ago, sharing a letter from Azoff to Hilferty in which the promoter chastised Comcast Spectacor, backed Adelman’s statements as being “completely accurate,” and threatened to no longer work with the Wells Fargo Center.

“I wouldn’t have come out of the gate saying an industry icon like

his emphasis on the environment before the climate crisis was widely acknowledged and his focus on efficient government — his presidency added a relative pittance to the national debt — have garnered second looks from historians.

Indeed, Carter’s longevity offers a frame to illuminate both how much the world has changed over his lifetime while still recognizing that certain political and societal challenges endure.

The Carter Center’s disease-eradication work occurs mostly in developing countries. But Jimmy and Roslaynn Carter were first exposed to river blindness growing up surrounded by the crushing poverty of the rural Deep South during the Great Depression.

The Center’s global democracy advocacy has reached countries that were still part of various European empires when Carter was born in 1924 or were under heavy American influence in the decades after World War II. Yet in recent years, Carter has declared his own country to be more of an “oligarchy” than a well-functioning democracy. And the Center has since become involved in monitoring and tracking U.S. elections. Carter has lived long enough finally to have a genuine friend in the Oval Office again. President Joe Biden was a young Delaware politician in 1976 and became the first U.S. senator to endorse Carter’s campaign against better-known Washington figures. Now, as Biden seeks reelection in 2024, he faces the headwinds of inflation that Republicans openly compare to Carter’s economy. Biden had a wooden birthday cake display placed on the White House front law to honor Carter. The year Carter was born, Congress passed sweeping

Irving Azoff has no idea what he’s talking about,” Adelman tweeted, adding that “the biggest ‘myth’ being debunked is that Comcast actually controls Philadelphia like some think it does.”

Sean Coit, a Comcast Spectacor spokesperson, said the company would continue pushing back on Adelman’s claims as city lawmakers prepare to take up the arena issue.

“The Sixers — and Mr. Adelman, in particular — have apparently made a strategic decision to spread distortions and even outright falsehoods about the Wells Fargo Center, to try to force their project through City Council,” Coit said. “We’re not going to allow that to go unchecked.”

The big question

The dispute around booking the Eagles speaks to a central point of the debate: Does Philadelphia need a second arena?

The Wells Fargo Center now hosts nearly every big concert and show, operating about 220 days a year and saying that it accommodates 98% of all requests by booking agents.

The Sixers say their arena would have about 150 events a year, or about 110 beyond the team’s 41 home games. They say there exists a big untapped market of artists who have been unable to play Philadelphia — which Comcast Spectacor disputes.

The arena footprint would reach from Market Street to Filbert Street and 10th and 11th Streets, with the north end of the project abutting Chinatown.

The 76ers have promised not to seek city taxpayer support for the arena but have not ruled out accepting state or federal aid, such as grants or tax breaks.

immigration restrictions, sharply curtailing Ellis Island as a portal to the nation. Now, the naturalization ceremony to mark Carter’s 99th birthday comes as Washington continues a decades-long fight over immigration policy. Republicans, especially, have moved well to the right of Reagan, who in 1986 signed a sweeping amnesty policy for millions of immigrants who were in the country illegally or had no sure legal path to citizenship.

Carter also was born into Jim Crow segregation, at a time when the Ku Klux Klan marched openly on state capitols and in Washington. As governor and president, Carter set new marks for appointing Black Americans to top government posts. At 99, Carter’s Sunday online church circuit includes watching Georgia’s first Black U.S. senator, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, preach at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Yet, at the same time, some white state lawmakers in Carter’s native region are defying the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to curtail Black voters’ strength at the ballot box.

Jason Carter said understanding his grandfather’s impact means resisting the urge to assess whether he solved every problem he confronted or won every election. Instead, he said, the takeaway is to recognize a sweeping impact rooted in respecting other people on an individual level and trying to help them.

Emily Sparvero, who taught sports marketing at Temple University and now at the University of Texas at Austin, said that if a team’s ownership is truly willing to pay for a new venue from its own pockets — the Sixers say they are — taxpayers may have little to lose. But that doesn’t mean the Sixers’ projections for filling their arena’s calendar with high-profile acts would come true, she said.

“There is the potential to attract events,” she said, “but when you already have multipurpose events facilities, it is likely you are just moving the events from one facility to another.”

Public, private feuding

The showdown between the two companies simmered all summer, with the Sixers frustrated that their landlord has been welcomed into the debate over the team’s future home. Usually when a lease expires, a renter is free to move. Adelman was unhappy to see Comcast Spectacor representatives at a June gathering of the Washington Square West Civic Association in which the team was scheduled to make its pitch.

“Not sure what their standing is related to this,” Adelman told the neighborhood group.

The next month, according to emails obtained by The Inquirer, Adelman’s frustration grew as he tried to schedule a meeting to promote the arena to the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia. The chamber repeatedly delayed the date — and invited Hilferty to speak.

“At this point,” Adelman wrote this month to the chamber’s leaders, “I would prefer you just be

honest with me and tell me that the chamber has no intention of allowing us to present.”

The chamber now has scheduled separate appearances by Adelman and Hilferty.

To the Sixers, the episode showed that Comcast Spectacor, a division of Philadelphia’s most important company, was playing tough behind closed doors.

The chamber has long borne a reputation for being influenced by Comcast, although it has sought to combat that perception amid leadership changes in recent years.

Chamber president and CEO Chellie Cameron said the scheduling issues reflected the business group’s desire to provide its members with as much information as possible, not an effort to hamper the Sixers.

She said the team was told, “We’d love to have you present, but we’ve heard that there is potential development at the stadium district, and we feel like there should be different perspectives to this that would also be valuable.”

Cameron said the chamber has not decided whether it will take a position on the arena after hearing from both sides.

Growing tension

Hilferty’s pique with his biggest tenant has been rising for months, as the Sixers criticized their home court as old and outdated.

The Sixers brushed aside his offer of a 50⁄50 partnership, with which the team could own half the Wells Fargo Center and reap half the revenue. The Sixers intend to open the new arena when their lease expires in 2031.

Comcast Spectacor still hopes that will change.

“We hope to work with them to build something truly great in South Philadelphia,” Coit said, “without displacing neighborhoods and disrupting the Market East community for years to come.”

The team said in its news release that a study by its consultant, MuniCap Inc., showed that the project would generate $472 million in new, net state tax revenues. That, in addition to $1 billion for the city and the schools.

The Sixers declined requests to share its consultant’s reports.

Asked whether the team’s tax figures were accurate, PIDC referred to the pending studies, saying that “is what the economic-analysis study will review and so we won’t know until that is completed.”

Staff writer Jake Blumgart contributed to this article.

jgammage@inquirer.com and swalsh@inquirer.com

215-854-4906 and 215-854-5914

t JeffGammage and sbcmw

Fans arrive at the Wells Fargo Center on May 30 for the first of two concerts by country star Zach Bryan. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Carter

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Wawa will open stores in Ohio, Ky., Ind. by 2025

It plans 160 new locations in those states in the next 8 to 10 years, as Wawa continues to expand beyond the East Coast.

By Ariana Perez-Castells Staff Writer

Wawa is coming to Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky in 2025. This week, Wawa announced that it has sites under contract in numerous counties across the states and expects to break ground by mid2024 on several site locations.

As part of its continued expansion beyond the East Coast, the company announced plans for the Midwest last year and now says it plans to open 160 stores across Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana in the next eight to 10 years.

The first stores are expected to open by 2025, which could include up to 10 locations each in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. Wawa hosted events across the three states this week to introduce itself to new audiences. Those in attendance got a taste of Wawa coffee and hoagies coming soon to their areas. Stops along the tour included Cincinnati, Dayton, Louisville, Lexington, and Indianapolis.

“Whenever we enter a new market, we always strive to get to know our new communities long before we put shovels in the ground,” Chris Gheysens, CEO of Wawa, said in a news release.

Each new store is expected to cost $7 million to build. The projects, once completed will create an estimated 5,800 jobs across all three states. Each store will employ about 35 staff members.

The company has grown from its origins as a dairy business in Wawa, Pa., to a company with around 1,000 convenience stores and gas stations in multiple states.

Today Wawa has locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware,

Maryland, Virginia, Florida, and Washington, D.C. The expansion to the Midwest and South is part of Wawa’s larger goal of having almost 2,000 stores by 2030. The company has plans to open stores in Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. Wawa has been closing stores in Center City in recent years, citing safety and security challenges. The company’s Headhouse Square location was the latest to close in July, after neighbors had complained about crime and drug use inside the store and directly outside of it.

aperezcastells@inquirer.com t arianapeca2

High-risk problem gambling eased in New Jersey, according to report

The slight decline in 15 types of wagering occurred even as sports betting grew, but it was still 3 times higher in the state than nationally.

New Jersey than the national level.

Compiled between Dec. 2020 and April 2021, the report examines 15 types of gambling, including in-person or online casino gambling; buying lottery tickets or scratch-off instant tickets; betting on sports or horses; playing bingo, keno or fantasy sports; and engaging in high-risk stock trades, which it considers a form of gambling.

“We are taking a comprehensive look at the pervasiveness of gambling across the state,” said Attorney General Matthew Platkin, adding that the report may better identify challenges for at-risk populations and spur the creation of programs to help them.

Lia Nower of Rutgers University’s School of Social Work, Center for Gambling Studies, said the state is trying to learn as much as it can about gamblers’ activities to spot

problems and offer help.

“New Jersey has led the nation in evaluating every bet placed online, and addressing the impact of wagering on its residents,” she said.

“This report provides evidence to guide prevention and education efforts for those at highest risk for gambling problems: Younger adults, members of ethnic and racial minority groups, and those who gamble on multiple activities and bet both online and in landbased venues.”

It is the first such report since 2017, an initial study commissioned to evaluate the impact of internet gambling, which began in the state in Nov. 2013.

The report found that even as sports betting grew rapidly in New Jersey — whose U.S. Supreme Court challenge to a federal gambling law cleared the way in 2018 for an explosion of such activity in more than two-thirds of the country — the overall rate of high-risk problem gambling decreased from 6.3% to 5.6%.

But that’s still three times the national rate, the report said. Low to moderate-risk gambling also decreased from about 15% to about 13%.

New Jersey has taken several steps to address problem gambling, including making it easier for people to self-exclude themselves from betting; naming a statewide coordinator in charge of all responsible gambling efforts; setting advertising standards for casinos and sports betting companies; and working with companies to use technology to monitor online betting and to offer assistance to at-risk patrons. The report found that 61% of New

Jerseyans took part in at least one gambling activity in the previous 12 months, down from 70% in the earlier report. It also found that participation in sports betting increased from 15% in 2017 to over 19% in 2021, and that the percentage of people doing all their gambling online tripled over that period, from 5% to 15%.

At the same time, the percentage of people whose gambling was done solely in-person at casinos dropped from nearly 76% to 49%, mirroring concerns from Atlantic City casino executives worried about the fact that many of the nine casinos have not yet returned to pre-pandemic business levels in terms of money won from in-person gamblers.

The most popular form of gambling remained purchasing lottery tickets (73%), which declined

Jefferson’s

insurance arm to offer Obamacare plans

The company now will compete with Independence Blue Cross by providing private plans to low-income people.

By Harold Brubaker Staff Writer

Jefferson Health is expanding its reach into the insurance business by offering Obamacare health plans to residents of Philadelphia, Bucks, and Montgomery Counties for the first time, according to information released Thursday by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.

The move puts Jefferson in competition with Independence Blue Cross, the region’s largest health insurer, in the public markets created under President Barack Obama’s signature law to provide health coverage to Americans who don’t have insurance through their jobs and cannot otherwise obtain it.

While buying up hospitals across the Philadelphia region, Jefferson also added insurance products to its business profile in recent years. The nonprofit health system acquired full control of an insurance business, now called Jefferson Health Plans, in November 2021. Since then, it has been Jefferson’s most profitable line of business, providing private plans to low-income people who qualify for the government-funded Medicaid program.

Now the expansion into individual plans sold on the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace, known as Pennie, gives Jefferson a chance to retain some of the customers it is likely to lose in its Medicaid business.

The Medicaid review process was suspended nationwide for three years during the COVID-19 pandemic, but restarted in April. Hundreds of thousands could lose coverage. Denise Napier, CEO of Jefferson Health Plans, said in a statement that the company was offering a “high-quality, cost effective” plan. “This is especially important during this time where the public health emergency has ended, people are losing Medicaid eligibility and are in need of quality health insurance options,” she said.

Open enrollment for 2024 insurance plans starts Nov. 1 through Pennie’s website, and Dec. 15 is the deadline to sign up for coverage that begins in the new year.

A new era for Jefferson and the former Health Partners Plans

A group of Philadelphia hospitals founded Health Partners in 1984 as part of an effort to manage the cost of caring for people who get their health coverage through Medicaid. Jefferson Health’s parent, Thomas Jefferson University, took full ownership of Health Partners in November 2021. It paid Temple University $305 million for the half of the nonprofit insurer that it didn’t already own and rebranded the business Jefferson Health Plans.

about

Researchers from the Rutgers University School of Social Work,

Since the acquisition, Jefferson Health Plans has been Jefferson’s most profitable division, with operating earnings of $48 million in the year that ended June 30. During that time, Jefferson’s clinical and academic divisions lost money. The insurance business is based on Market Street in Center City, just a couple blocks east of Jefferson’s headquarters at 11th Street. Jefferson Health Plans provides insurance for 376,548 people, almost all of them under Medicaid, according to the latest data from the state and Jefferson. The company already competes with Independence in the Medicaid and Medicare markets. Under former CEO Stephen K. Klasko, Jefferson expanded from three to 18 hospitals. It also → SEE JEFFERSON ON A9

The Inquirer offers news, which strives to present unbiased, factual reporting, and opinion, which showcases viewpoints. Here is what you’ll find on these opinion pages.

Editorial

An opinion about a matter of public interest or policy that is researched and written by our Editorial Board, a group of journalists separate from the newsroom who meet frequently to discuss and debate issues. Unlike news stories, which are fact-driven and written by reporters, editorials advocate, champion, argue, critique, and offer solutions.

Column Columnists are allowed to include their opinions and viewpoints when presenting their reporting.

Inquirer columnists include Will Bunch, Trudy Rubin, Helen Ubiñas, and Jenice Armstrong.

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An op-ed — a name taken from their traditional placement in newspapers “opposite the editorial page” — is an essay or commentary piece that presents the opinion or perspective of the author. Many are submitted to us by Inquirer readers and writers with insight on the news, but we also solicit op-eds from authors on specific topics.

Letter to the Editor

A reader’s written opinion submitted in response to an article in The Inquirer or another issue.

For more on how we work

The Editorial Board includes the managing

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Send letters to letters@inquirer.com.

Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters are published in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online at www.inquirer.com/ opinion/letters/

Fight to survive

Thanks to The Inquirer for putting the childcare crisis on the front page last week. However, the article only mentions large centers. Like hundreds of others in the Greater Philadelphia area, I run what’s known as family childcare: delivering quality childcare in my home. I teach babies to talk, walk, potty train, feed themselves, listen, and share. The children in my care enjoy a positive introduction to their educational journey of K-12 and beyond. For eight to 10 hours a day, I provide loving care right in their neighborhood, so parents can work full-time jobs.

I am also a trusted resource in my community, a block captain leading neighborhood cleanups and unity events. I will continue to invest in my program and provide the best quality care. But I am a part of the least compensated industry. Parents can’t afford to pay more, and government subsidies do not pay the true cost of care. In fact, we are paid poverty-level wages. We would never abandon our families by going on strike. But we depend on everyone in our society to support our important work, speak out on our behalf, and get us the compensation we deserve.

Timmi Kilgore, owner, Kilgore Family Childcare, Philadelphia

Restore order

The vandalism and looting that occurred around the city of Philadelphia last week were completely predictable and preventable. After watching the noon news Tuesday and hearing about the protests that would happen later that day, I commented to my wife that people would use the occasion to trash the city. Why didn’t Mayor Jim Kenny and his administration realize this and post a squadron of police officers around the

shopping district in Center City? Once again, the mayor was asleep at the wheel.

If Cherelle Parker becomes mayor, I hope she takes a more proactive approach to maintaining peace in our city, because the hoodlums are taking over. This is evident in the car meetups where drivers block Broad Street or the Parkway and do dangerous doughnuts, where ATVs roar illegally down city streets in packs of 50 or more, where dangerous carjackings occur more frequently, and where there are so many ruthless killings of innocent people. The city is becoming more and more lawless, and our leaders need to take definite steps to restore peace and order.

William Cooney, Philadelphia

Inciting speech

What is missing from Jonathan Zimmerman’s column on free speech, and from related letters to the editor, is the question asking where the line is between perceived hate speech and incitement. On Jan. 6, 2021, we saw what incitement speech can do. Listening and attempting to judge for oneself is one thing, but acting on incitement is another.

Concerning Penn law professor Amy Wax, who invited white nationalist

Jared Taylor to her class (a person who claimed that Black people have a higher tendency toward “psychopathic personality”), it must be remembered that even law students can be somewhat intimidated by their professors, and may accept their views. As a former college professor, I believe the First Amendment is critical to a free society, but we also must be aware of what inciting speech can cause.

Marlyn Alkins, Warrington

Social graces

Some lawmakers are weighing a ban on TikTok for all Americans. Such a ban would impact millions of small businesses such as mine. The social media platform levels the playing field, giving a small business an equal footing with an industry giant. I opened Mrs. Robinson’s Tea Shop, a retail location in Kennett Square, in 2010. My business steadily grew as a special place where neighbors visit frequently, and out-of-towners quickly become friends. When the pandemic hit, my business was devastated. With little online presence at the time, I was heavily reliant on foot traffic. Not only was the financial challenge real, but the loss of community was heartbreaking. But I was lucky. I found TikTok and with it a new global Main Street where I could share my passion for tea and keep my business afloat. I was able to transition my little shop into an online business, which allowed me to pay my bills and employees. Today, I have 100,000 followers, and my business has grown to four times what it was before. With a simple phone and passion to tell my story, the magic of TikTok makes it feel like we’re all standing in my shop spilling tea. I don’t have to be slick or perfect, I just have to be authentic. Were TikTok banned, I would also feel a tremendous personal loss

of community. America has always been a place where we celebrate entrepreneurs. TikTok has given a voice to local entrepreneurs like me in a way no other social media has done before, and to lose the chance to hear those voices would be heartbreaking.

Marlene Robinson, Kennett Square

Missed the mark

I appreciate former Gov. Ed Rendell’s service to our city and our commonwealth throughout his career; he remains a well-respected voice in City Hall and in my office. However, he is absolutely missing the mark with his analysis of Bill No. 230410 in a recent letter to the editor. This bill codifies the necessity of community input. Every resident of every district that is named in this bill now has an opportunity to hear and give testimony in their neighborhoods if an injection site is proposed there. Not the other way around. There is one Council district that is not named in the bill, and it is the only area in the city where an injection site can be built without community input. That is the one he praised for having the right to consideration. I recommend his letter be amended with a note to clarify his misunderstanding of the bill.

Quetcy Lozada, Philadelphia City Council member, 7th District

Will to learn

Attitude is the difference between learning and not learning. When I went to school, my family and other families in my neighborhood were considered somewhere between poor and very low middle class. Today, the school we attended would be condemned. It had two separate classrooms. The upstairs room had one teacher who had to teach second grade through fourth grade. Every single student (approximately 50) passed and eventually graduated from high school. Junior high school, because of a lack of classroom space, had both morning and afternoon sessions. That cut back significantly on the hours of schooling for each student. Money, or a lack of it, did not play a part in our learning. Attitude was the deciding factor. Today, a lack of school funding seems mainly like a built-in excuse for poor performance.

Don Landry, Franconia

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.), joined by the popular app’s supporters, leads a rally to defend TikTok at the U.S. Capitol in March. J. Scott Applewhite / AP, File

Philadelphia police car sits outside the Lululemon store on Wednesday. Unrest stretched across the city, including Center City, the Northeast, and West Philadelphia. Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

Smaller districts keep the government close to the people and allow for outsider candidates to level the playing field against incumbents.

By Kyle Sammin

Pennsylvania’s legislature is big — and that’s beautiful

With 203 House members and 50 senators, Pennsylvania has the largest full-time state legislature in the country. The commonwealth’s outlier status has inspired many calls for reform over the years, and nearly every legislative session features a bill to reduce its size.

But critics are wrong: Pennsylvania’s supersized legislature is good for the people.

Efficiency in government is a virtue, but it is not the only virtue a state should pursue. While no one can honestly argue that Pennsylvania should waste money for no reason, the desire to “run government like a business” should be balanced against the positive aspects of our big legislature.

The most important positive is that smaller districts keep the government close to the people. This idea goes back to the nation’s founding — a time when, admittedly, there were a lot fewer Americans and even fewer who could legally vote.

In the early years of the republic, the federal House had one representative for every 30,000 people.

At the time, one of the main objections noted by the authors of the Federalist Papers was that there should be more representatives — that is, that the ratio should be even lower. A proposed amendment to the Constitution (part of the original Bill of Rights) would have mandated tiny House districts into the future, but it failed to be ratified.

Of course, the original ratio was unsustainable — at 30,000-1, the federal House would now have more than 11,000 members — but some pundits today believe the federal House should be enlarged, restoring its place as the “people’s house.”

In Pennsylvania, we’re much closer to that ideal. The average state House district contains just over 64,000 people. That means that if something is happening in your neighborhood, it isn’t that hard to get your state rep to pay attention. If there is an event nearby, he or she will quite possibly be there. And Pennsylvania’s strict rules on residency mean your representative must live in the district, so these legislators are quite literally close to the people.

It’s good for ensuring real representation, which is good for democracy.

Even beyond that, another reason small districts are beneficial to Pennsylvania is that the barriers to entry for potential candidates are much lower. If you want to run for a statewide office, you need a war chest and a political party organization — things most of us don’t have. For the bigger legislative districts in other states, it’s similar: California’s state Senate districts, for instance, contain almost a million people each.

Outsider candidates stand little chance of connecting with the voters in a district that requires mass media spending to do so. That may be fine for an office like governor or president — we don’t really want every candidate to run for the top spot right away. But a state House is — or should be — the entry point for a citizen-legislator, a local leader who wants to make a difference without having to join up with a political machine and all its baggage.

Consider one recent Democratic

primary race in Philadelphia. In 2022, first-time candidate Tarik Khan defeated incumbent Pam DeLissio in a district she had represented for a dozen years. How? By walking the district and knocking on 10,000 doors. In a primary where fewer than 12,000 people voted, that was enough for an impressive victory. This was not a pure grassroots victory — Khan had a ton of outside money from progressive groups — but money alone doesn’t win races. In 2016, Jared Solomon — now a candidate for attorney general — defeated longtime incumbent Mark Cohen in the same fashion (and without the outside money) after falling just short of victory in 2014. He did it by connecting directly with the people in a way the incumbent had long since stopped bothering to do.

Knocking on doors, meeting the people, discussing their concerns — that can happen in a bigger district, but it’s a lot harder. Pennsylvania’s massive state House allows for outsiders to level the playing field against incumbents.

The same holds true in other elections. In Central Bucks, the sprawling school district is divided into nine regions, each electing one member. With 121,000 people living in the entire school district, that makes for manageable regions in which candidates without lavish funding can campaign.

However, that traditional scheme is being challenged in court by plaintiffs who want to make three large, multimember districts in Central Bucks with roughly 40,000 people each. This, for a part-time job that does not pay a salary.

The bigger the district, the harder it is for an outsider to challenge the power of a political machine. This is not a right vs. left point, it’s about insiders and incumbents vs. outsiders and new ideas. Pennsylvania’s system isn’t the most efficient in the world, but efficiency isn’t the only value in a republic. Effective, locally focused representation matters even more.

Kyle Sammin is editor-at-large at Broad + Liberty.

t KyleSammin

Even in his twilight, Jimmy Carter is still just being himself

Seven months after entering hospice, the 39th president continues to beat the odds.

By Chris Matthews

Jimmy Carter is once again beating the odds.

Seven months into hospice care, the former president is celebrating his 99th birthday with the same style that characterized his time in the Oval Office. I spoke with him in my last long interview to reflect on our shared time in the White House, when I was one of his speechwriters, and on the lasting impacts of his presidency, more than four decades after his term ended.

As a young writer from Philadelphia not long out of Holy Cross, I remained in awe of the White House. My most vivid memory of those days is of walking through the West Wing in the predawn hours with a speech draft I had spent much of the night trying to get right. I still recall the aroma of coffee already brewing and realizing that the only person up that early was Jimmy Carter. He was still the farmer, still the fellow who gets up early to do his job alone. Besides, he liked it when he could think and write by himself.

“For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.”

The first thing Carter said in his inaugural address in 1977was to offer that personal tribute to his predecessor, Gerald Ford. Next, he and Rosalynn got out of the limousine to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue and greet the inaugural day throngs. He had gotten the idea from William Proxmire, the longtime Democratic senator from Wisconsin who was a physical fitness buff.

“I told the Secret Service what I was gonna do,” he told me with pride. “I didn’t ask their permission. I think it broke the ice. It showed that I trusted the American people, that I thought it was time for animosity and hatred in our country’s politics to be over.”

On his first day in the Oval Office, Carter was to pardon those who had gone to Canada to avoid the draft.

“I just thought it was time to get that bad episode in America’s history out of the way and not to have to fight about it again,” he said.

That was the note on which he began his presidency. As with Watergate and Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon, he didn’t want to kick the problem of the perpetual conflicts in the Middle Eastonce again down the road. He wanted it over and done with.

“Nobody ever asked me, for instance, to try to bring peace between Israel and Egypt,” he told me all those decades after his 1978 Camp David meetings that led to a peace treaty between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

The inspiration, Carter said, came from Sunday school. “It was

just an idea that I had because I taught half the time in the Old Testament and half the time in the New Testament,” he recalled. “I decided to take on the task which nobody asked me to do, of bringing peace between Israel and Egypt, and I was ultimately successful.”

What those three gutsy men achieved has met the test of time. Before those 13 days at Camp David in Maryland, Egypt had led four warsagainst Israel — 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973. Since then, there have been none. Next came the Panama Canal Treaty. It was another case of avoiding future problems. Getting the treaty approved by two-thirds of the Senate, Carter said, was even “more difficult than getting elected president.” Holding on to the canal could

well have meant years of fighting hemispheric terrorism.

From the 1976 victory to every footstep down Pennsylvania Avenue to his emphasis on human rights with Russia, it was the former Georgia governor himself, along with his wife, Rosalynn, driving the stagecoach.

But ultimately, Jimmy Carter’s campaign shaped his presidency.

The Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr. had been killed. Vietnam and Watergate had added to the sense of turmoil, and all of it a prelude to what we face today.

Unlike Donald Trump, who’s running for president a third time trying to exploit the horrors, Carter was bent on ending them.

He had campaigned and governed as a candidate of peace. He praised his successor, granted pardons to the Vietnam draft resisters, brought Egypt and Israel together, and avoided an endless, costly war over the Panama Canal.

When American hostages were taken by Iran in 1979, he could have threatened war. He ended up losing the presidency because an armed conflict would have simply made matters worse. He believed it would undoubtedly have cost the lives of the 52 American hostages.

Carter made the decisions himself. On Oct. 1, he celebrated his 99th birthday. Rosalynn is 96. Having worked for him as a speechwriter, covered him in his life post-presidency, I asked him what had driven him all these years.

“You’re a writer, and you say that nobody had asked you to do it,” he replied. “Well, I just thought it was the best thing for me to be me, to be the best I could with the life that I had.”

Chris Matthews worked all four years in the Carter White House, the last two as a presidential speechwriter. He later covered Carter as a journalist for the San Francisco Examiner and MSNBC.

Former President Jimmy Carter, pictured here in 2016, entered hospice care at his home in Georgia in February. John Bazemore / AP

Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives attend a session at the state Capitol in Harrisburg in June. The state has the largest full-time state legislature in the country, and that’s a good thing, writes Kyle Sammin. Matt Rourke / AP

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Rescue dog’s tale inspiring children, veterans

Cole, a deaf pit bull from South Jersey, is an ambassador for acceptance. He has been named 2023 ASPCA Dog of the Year.

By Rita Giordano Staff Writer

Chris Hannah had no idea he was meeting a superhero that day in April 2017 — just a white pit bull puppy with dangly ears and huge paws that no one wanted.

The South Jersey Regional Animal Shelter website said the little stray, born deaf, was “special needs”. That made the public school music teacher want to meet the puppy even more. Then when the

shelter staff brought the dog in, he jumped straight in Hannah’s arms and looked him right in his eyes. That pretty much sealed the deal. Hannah named his new pal Cole.

Then things began happening Hannah never would have imagined - including big time acclaim.

But we’re getting ahead of the story.

From the start, Cole was one smart pup. He picked up hand signals quick enough. But soon, dog and owner were mastering a whole new way to communicate: American Sign Language. With the help Hannah’s nephew Kevin Guinan, also born deaf, Cole nailed that, too.

Meanwhile at Dr. William Mennies Elementary in Vineland, the kids’ curiosity about their music teacher’s new puppy quickly turned into conversations about big questions like: What does it mean to be “special needs”? To be disabled?

What does it mean to be accepting?

And because pit bulls like Cole are often prejudged because of their breed, he became a way for kids to talk about tough topics like bias and discrimination.

Just how special Cole was came out when he started meeting the Vineland students. He had a way with kids, especially the ones with differences of their own. His gentleness drew them out of themselves.

It was like the saying kids at one Swedesboro school had printed on their t-shirts the day he came to visit them: “Cole the Deaf Dog hears with his heart.”

Cole and Hannah started getting requests to do assemblies at lots of other schools. Decked out in a cape and superdog gear, Cole’s mission was to spread the message: “A disability isn’t an inability. It’s a superpower.”

Before long, Cole, who became a certified therapy dog, also started

volunteering with veterans and hospice patients. And now Cole is about to become even more well-known.

Cole the Deaf Dog has been named 2023 ASPCA Dog of the Year. He and the recipients of the ASPCA’s other Humane Awards will be honored at an awards luncheon in New York City on October 12.

“Following a nationwide search for animal heroes, the ASPCA was moved by Cole the Deaf Dog’s inspiring story, encouraging thousands of people from all walks of life to view their disability as a superpower,” said a statement by the ASPCA. “The Dog of the Year has been a longstanding award for the ASPCA, and Cole perfectly represents the values of service and heroism used to make a large impact on everyone he meets.”

Cole’s owner is thrilled about his → SEE COLE ON B5

A spotlight on Polish heritage

Spectators join parade marchers from different Polish American dance groups for a traditional celebratory folk dance at the finale of the 90th annual Pulaski Day Parade, on the Parkway. The event Sunday was a celebration of the history, culture, and traditions of the Polish American community. The parade is named in honor of Gen. Casimir Pulaski, considered the “Father of the American Cavalry.” He was born in Poland in 1745 and came to join the Americans to fight for independence. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

POKC: Musicians rejected ‘generous’ proposal

Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center Inc. said it was disappointed that orchestra players rejected its latest offer.

By Juliana Feliciano Reyes Staff Writer

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center Inc. said it was “disappointed” that its musicians had rejected its latest contract proposal Saturday night.

“This proposal is generous, reflective of their world-class status, and addresses the issues they have deemed most important,” POKC spokesperson Ashley Berke said in a statement Sunday. “It places them amongst the highest-paid orchestra musicians in the country, in one of the most affordable big cities in the US, and is compatible with the Orchestra’s financial realities and responsibilities as a non-profit organization.”

The Philadelphia Musicians’ Union Local 77 voted 81-8 against the proposal. It was the second time the union had shot down a proposal during this round of bargaining.

Union officials say that the proposed wage increases are not enough to account for inflation and are not on par with peer orchestras. They intend to again ask that a federal mediator reconvene negotiations.

“We remain hopeful for a positive start to the season that includes a strong and fair contract that puts our wages on par with our peers

→ SEE ORCHESTRA ON B2

Phillies’ wild-card series weather is forecast to be a grand slam

pitchers

It’s going to feel more like June in South Philly next week. The conditions could be a score for hitters, too.

By Anthony R. Wood Staff Writer

It may be shy of “hittin’ season” conditions, but the weather for the wild-card series at Citizens Bank Park should be a grand slam, with June-like temperatures, light winds, unblemished skies, and a 100% chance of about 43,000 bodies per

game generating considerable heat and noise.

“There’s basically no chance of rain,” said Alex Staarmann, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly. In fact the agency was listing a 0% chance for Games 1 and 2, Tuesday and Wednesday, rising to all of 3% for the “if-necessary” Game 3 Thursday. Highs all three days are

For the pitchers

Alan

Sylwia Szewczyk of Warrington marches with her 8 month-old daughter, Emilia, and a group from the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown. The parade also marked the 415th anniversary of the first Polish settlers in America, who arrived in Jamestown, Va., in October 1608.

Chris Hannah, a South Jersey school music teacher, and Cole the Deaf Dog have visited many schools, spreading a message of inclusion and acceptance.

Courtesy of Chris Hannah

SCENE THROUGH THE LENS

Forecast

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difference in the flight of the ball. Paul Dorian, a meteorologist and lifelong Phillies fan, sees winds as the most important factor in the home run forecasts that he posts daily, which assesses how well the ball would be carrying on a given day. (For $5 a month, premium customers can get 48-hour outlooks.)

With rain-repelling high pressure over the region, said the weather service’s Staarmann, the winds will be light, but they will work against the hitters since they’ll be mostly from the north, blowing in from centerfield.

Dorian’s outlooks use a 1-to-10 scale, with 10 being the most favorable for homers, and 1, the least. He said the forecasts can be useful for the over-under bettors (he isn’t one), since the scale has “a strong correlation” with runs scored per game. High-homer games usually are higher scoring.

The wind forecasts this week would argue for the lower end of the scale, but his wild-card outlooks this week are likely to wind up in the middle ranges.

For the hitters

While Dorian considers barometric pressure and moisture levels in the air, his second most important variable after the wind is temperature.

Alan Nathan, a University of Illinois professor emeritus, has calculated that every degree Fahrenheit on average means about a 4-inch difference in the flight of the ball.

And although the warmth won’t measure up to the level of heat evoked by former Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel’s concept of ”hittin’ season,” afternoon and evening temperatures around the 80s aren’t exactly a cold wave.

Last year, the high on Oct. 4, 54, set a record for the date for the lowest daily maximum temperature.

That would be about a 25-degree difference compared with this year. Using Nathan’s calculations, that’s a factor of more than 8 feet.

Wild cards and stitches

Ultimately, says Nathan, the “drag coefficient,” or air resistance, and how the ball interacts with the molecules in the atmosphere is a key to how far a ball is going to travel.

Dorian uses drag estimates in his forecasts.

The molecules impede the progress of the ball significantly:

Nathan and an associate estimated that a ball traveling 400 feet in the air would sail about 700 feet in a vacuum.

In the study that he led of baseball’s 2015-17 home run surge,

Nathan and his team found that it was driven by subtle changes in drag coefficients that couldn’t be readily explained. He discounted

conspiracy theories, including a popular one that the balls were juiced because fans love homers.

The home run numbers returned to earth in 2021 and 2022. In terms of launch angle and velocities, “the balls were hit more optimally,” he said, but for some reason, the drag increased.

His own hypothesis is that it all had to do with unscripted changes in how the balls were stitched. They are sewn by hand, and imperceptible differences are all but inevitable.

They affected, and still affect, the drag, he reasoned. He’s also convinced this is nothing new.

“There are things in the manufacturing of the baseball that simply can’t be controlled all that

well,” he said last week. “My guess is it’s always been that way. We’re noticing it now because we have all this information at our fingertips.”

Drag coefficients, winds, barometric pressure, and the waning moon notwithstanding, the biggest factors will be the pitchers and catchers. On Saturday, Sept. 23, the winds were howling in from right to left field, it was chilly enough for a fire, but Bryce Harper somehow managed to hit a 450-foot home to right center. “That was through the teeth of the wind,” said Dorian. “That was quite amazing.”

twood@inquirer.com

t @woodt15

Orchestra

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and at pace with the rate of inflation, so we can continue to produce the finest sound and remain the best orchestra in the world,” David Fay, double bassist and chair of the orchestra’s members’ committee, said in a statement Sunday.

POKC said its offer “represents an additional investment of $11.9 million in the musicians during the three years of the agreement.”

The offer, the result of months of negotiations, brings average compensation to $212,000 in two years’ time, orchestra management said, adding that it increases wages by 13.5% over three years.

The $212,000 figure is an “artificial inflation” of compensation, union spokesperson Melissa McCleery said Sunday, as it factors in rates that principals negotiate for themselves on top of base salary. In year two, the minimum salary proposed would be $167,000, according to the offer document, shared with The Inquirer.

The next orchestra performance is Tuesday in Verizon Hall with Audra McDonald. There has been no official announcement from the union that musicians would not perform that day.

Musicians performed at the orchestra’ opening night gala last Thursday despite the ongoing labor dispute.

The very next day, the union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that orchestra management has been negotiating in bad faith. POKC called the complaint “meritless.”

The current contract expired Sept. 10; the union voted in August to authorize a strike in the event of a contract stalemate.

jreyes@inquirer.com

Drawn daily unless otherwise noted. Those drawn after 8 p.m. are too late to make our print deadline.

Members of the news media are outside — looking in — at the Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice. Journalists jockey for position at a window since cameras are not permitted inside the courthouse in Center City. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

More of staff photographer Tom Gralish’s visual exploration of our region can be seen in his blog at Inquirer.com/sceneontheroad

Bryce Harper connecting on that dramatic two-run homer against the San Diego Padres in last year’s National League Championship Series at Citizen Bank Park. David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

Rudy Perez, 93, choreographer and trailblazer of postmodern dance

By Deborah Vankin Tribune News Service

Groundbreaking choreographer

Rudy Perez, a pioneer of 1960s postmodern dance, died Friday, according to Sarah Swenson, a fellow choreographer, friend, and member of Mr. Perez’s company.

Mr. Perez died of complications from asthma. He was 93.

Mr. Perez’s minimalist but wildly experimental work, marked by spare, precise movements, helped ignite a budding Los Angeles dance scene after he moved west from New York in the late 1970s. L.A.’s open spaces and natural landscapes inspired his innovative, site-specific works; and his interpretive abstract expressionism was so revelatory at the time, it opened up the dance landscape to new approaches.

“He came to L.A. as a major artist, a choreographic genius known for making his own rules,” choreographer Lula Washington told the Los Angeles Times in 2015, adding that Mr. Perez was an influence on her. “There was nobody here doing that type of experimentation then. He allowed other people to see the possibilities.”

Mr. Perez told the Los Angeles Times that his work sprang from the unconscious.

“Nothing is planned,” he said in 2015. “When I put things together, unconsciously, it comes from my lifetime experience up to that moment. Then ultimately, it turns out to be about something for someone, certainly for me. But I don’t expect for it to be the same for the audience.”

Mr. Perez was born Nov. 24, 1929, the son of a Peruvian immigrant and a Puerto Rican, and grew up in East Harlem and the Bronx with three younger brothers. He began improvising on the dance floor at an early age, with cha-cha and the samba, at family gatherings. His father was a merchant marine who

traveled frequently; his mother died of tuberculosis when he was 7, at which point he contracted the disease and spent the next three years in the hospital, mostly bedridden.

“I think a lot of the pain you see in some of my work that’s very sort of contained comes from that experience, from being in the hospital and hardly having any visitors,” he once said. “It’s all very suppressed, but it’s there in my work.”

Mr. Perez studied with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham in the 1950s, as well as Mary Anthony, but found his voice in New York’s ‘60s-era, avant-garde dance scene. He was part of the experimental collective Judson Dance Theater with Yvonne Rainer, Steve Paxton, Lucinda Childs, and Trisha Brown. His first choreographed work, Take Your Alligator With You (1963), parodied magazine modeling poses. Three years later, he put together his first solo piece, Countdown , which featured Mr. Perez in a chair smoking a cigarette. He recalled that initially audiences weren’t sure what to make of his unique form of dance. But eventually, he broke through the largely white dance establishment of the time and won over audiences.

Mr. Perez moved to L.A. in 1978 for a yearlong substitute teaching job at the University of California, Los Angeles, and formed a dance company shortly thereafter.

“In L.A., I felt freer; I was able to go beyond,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I wanted to get away from the emphasis on dance, and work more with theater and natural movement.”

In recent years, Mr. Perez’s vision had been severely impaired because of glaucoma and macular degeneration. He continued working every Sunday with his Rudy Perez Performance Ensemble at the Westside School of Ballet. During the early days of the COVID19 pandemic, several dancers in Mr. Perez’s ensemble kept the

workshop going over Zoom. They have since moved it to MNR Dance Factory in Brentwood.

“Rudy was so pleased that we continued the workshop,” said Anne Grimaldo, who danced in Mr. Perez’s ensemble for 35 years.

“Even when his eyesight was going, [Mr. Perez] could still ‘see’ like a fine-toothed comb. He’d say, ‘point your toes.’ ... He could see everything with extreme detail.”

Shortly after she graduated with her master’s degree in dance from UCLA in 1988, Grimaldo met one of Mr. Perez’s dancers at an audition. He told her to come to his class. Grimaldo hesitated; she had heard Mr. Perez had a reputation for being tough. She eventually ended up going. “Right away he said he wanted me in the company,” Grimaldo said. “And I never left.”

“Rudy changed all of our lives,” Grimaldo added. The workshop “wasn’t just dance: It was theater, it was choreography, it was improvisation. It was up to a performance level and professional. You didn’t sit down during a break and lean against the bar. When we first started out we’d always wear black.

And the company was very tight. It was like a collaboration with all of us and Rudy and his direction.”

“Rudy was a titan of minimalist movement,” Swenson said, “achieved by just being himself, unique in his approach and product. Fierce and demanding in the studio, he secretly had a tender heart, and I’ll miss that more than anything.”

Mr. Perez insisted his dancers take Pilates, Grimaldo added. “Now I’m a Pilates instructor,,” she said.

“I met my husband, Jeff, in the company and we have a daughter.

... I mean, everything I do and what I have is because of Rudy and my connection with him.”

Throughout his career, Mr. Perez created dozens of pieces, including work for the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival. He was also a teacher whose influence — at the

University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts and the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, among other places — lives on in generations of choreographers and dancers.

Dance critic Lewis Segal told the Los Angeles Times that Mr. Perez’s vision sparked “a real firestorm in L.A.” in the late ‘70s. “Teaching it and choreographing [in his style], he made a difference,” Segal said. He added: “It encouraged people to really go with their instincts, to go for broke.”

In November 2015, University of California, Irvine, presented Mr. Perez with a lifetime achievement award during “The Art of Performance in Irvine: A Tribute to Rudy Perez.” Mr. Perez’s dance ensemble debuted work there that he’d choreographed for the event: the three-piece performance Slate in Three Parts. A month later, Colburn School restaged Mr. Perez’s 1983 piece Cheap Imitation Among his many honors, Mr. Perez was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and L.A.’s the Music Center/Bilingual Foundation’s ¡Viva Los Artistas! Performing Arts Award. He held honorary doctorates from the Otis College of Art and Design in L.A. and the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, and his archives are part of the USC Libraries’ Special Collections.

“I’ve been very fortunate,” Mr. Perez said in 2015 of his long-running career. “I’ve always been told, ‘Grow old gracefully’ — and I’m good at that. At this stage of my life, sure, it’s hard, but I’m striving for excellence. I wanna go out with a flash.”

He is survived by his brother Richard Perez, his niece Linda Perez, and nephews Stephen and Anthony Perez, as well as numerous former Rudy Perez Ensemble Members, collaborators, and friends. A memorial for Mr. Perez is being planned.

BALL JOHN H.

Age 92, of Gladwyne, PA died on September 23rd, 2023, attended by his family. He was predeceased by his wife of 67 years, Barbara, as well as his sister, Patsy. He is survived by his brother, Dick. John and Bobbie had love-filled relationships with their 4 children: John (Elinor), Curt (Deena), Kimberly Bucci (Mike) and Roger (Paula), their 11 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Nothing brought them more happiness than gathering with family at Fox Point, their Kent County, MD retreat. His Memorial Service will be held on Fri., October 20th at 3 P.M. at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 625 Montgomery Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to The Salvation Army. Obituary and Condolences www.chadwickmckinney.com

CONNAHAN

ELSIE V. “BIG ELS”

On Sept. 27,2023 of Malvern. Mother of the late Michael. Survived by her children Elizabeth “Liz” (James) Bernstein and Mark (Lynda Kissel) Connahan, and 4 grandchildren; Maddie, Jonathan, Sarah, and Rosie and her partner John Gilligan. Visitation 10 AM and Mass at 11 AM at SS. Philip & James Church 107 N. Ship Rd. Exton 19341 on Wednesday Oct 4, 2023 Int. Private. Contributions in her memory for St. Mary’s Chapel at the above address. Further details via

FINE

ROBERTA (NEE PRESSER)

Age 85, passed away October 1, 2023. Beloved wife of the late Stanley Fine. Loving mother of Deborah Fleekop (Kenneth), and Stephen Fine. Adoring grandmother of Ross Fine, Remi Fine, Gabrielle Millman (Robert), Julia Riskowitz (Sean), Sydney Fleekop (Christopher Monsen) and great-grandmother of Hadley, Isabelle, Amelia, and Madeline. Family and friends are invited to her Graveside Service on Tuesday October 3, 2023, at 10:00A.M. precisely at Shalom Memorial Park, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006. Shiva to be observed at the Millman residence immediately following interment and Wednesday after 3P.M. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Ronald McDonald House. www.goldsteinsfuneral.com

HIRSCH

TOBY

Died Friday, September 29th at the age of 102 at Elan Skilled Nursing and Rehab in Scranton, PA. She was born in Reading PA, November 4th 1920. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law Judi and Gary Corr, her son and daughter-in-law Jay and Stella Ludwig; Grandchildren Michael and Brook Corr, Brad and Sara Corr, David Ludwig and Sammy Ludwig; and Great Grandchildren Hannah, Charlie, Mallory and Tanner Corr. Funeral Services were held October 1st at King David Memorial Park.

Always in your memory.

When it’s time for a death notice, we’re here for you.

Call 215-854-5800 to place a notice.

Transport Workers vote to authorize a strike

By Thomas Fitzgerald Staff Writer

Members of Transport Workers Union Local 234, SEPTA’s largest, voted Sunday to authorize its leadership to call a strike against the transit agency as bargaining enters a crucial phase 30 days before the local’s current contract expires.

About 1,000 workers met briefly at the Sheet Metal Workers hall in South Philadelphia for the vote, which union officials said was unanimous. The 4,500-member Local 234 represents bus, trolley, and transit-train operators, mechanics, and other SEPTA personnel.

“This doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a strike called,” union president Brian Pollitt said in a statement. “The TWU bargaining team will continue to bargain in good faith. Our hope is management also will bargain fairly. However, the clock is ticking.”

Local 234 leaders said they’re prioritizing public safety in the talks, demanding that SEPTA do more to protect its members and the public from crime and disorder on the system, including with more policing. Assaults on transit

Cole

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dog’s big accolade.

“Winning the ASPCA Dog of the Year is an absolute dream come true,” said Hanna, 45, who is still a full-time music teacher in Vineland. “Being recognized for our work with disability awareness and breed discrimination is a humbling solidification of the mission we strive to accomplish.”

This isn’t the first time Cole has gotten national recognition. Last year, he was the top therapy dog in the American Humane Hero Dog competition. He’s also the first canine to receive the Phillies’ AllStar Teacher Award in 2019.

operators have risen dramatically over the last five years, and antisocial behavior is rampant on the Market-Frankford El.

Not only is the job of operating a bus or trolley harder and more stressful than ever, but Pollitt says pay has not kept up with inflation. SEPTA has a shortage of operators and TWU Local 234 members are working mandatory overtime.

The union is also seeking other provisions it says would combat staffing shortages, including an increase in pay rates for those early in their careers and changes to aspects of the work, such as reducing unpredictable schedules for less-senior operators.

It also says SEPTA has emphasized production goals and scheduling, and overlooked members’ safety concerns. The Federal Transit Administration is reviewing safety protocols and maintenance logs after a series of crashes of buses and trolleys in the summer, and SEPTA has launched mandatory safety refresher courses for all employees.

The union’s current two-year contract expires at midnight Oct. 31.

Cole comforts hospice patients. Cole and Hanna appear at school assemblies throughout New Jersey and in Delaware, New York and Maryland. And he is the official mascot of the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home in Vineland, after the residents there petitioned the state. He’s has his own military K9 dog tag.

Cole has learned about 32 commands in sign language, and he and Hannah work together just about every day to increase the dog’s knowledge. Cole has mastered special signed commands, like “visit.”

When Hannah signs that, Cole knows to hop up and put his front

SEPTA is known as one of the most strike-prone large transit systems in the country — unions have walked off the job at least 11 times since 1975. This year, SEPTA ridership remains depressed and its own financial future depends on coaxing more money from state and local governments.

The authority projects an annual operating deficit of $240 million beginning next July 1 as the last of its federal pandemic aid is spent, a situation dubbed the “fiscal cliff” that afflicts most transit systems in the United States.

SEPTA and the state’s other public transit agencies are pushing for the legislature to adopt a measure that would give them a greater share of the sales tax to support operations.

“We really need this budget relief to know that we have a solid [base] for years so that we can give our best contract to those who make our system work,” SEPTA CEO Leslie S. Richards said recently during a hearing of the state House Transportation Committee. Local 234’s current contract, from 2021, included 3% annual raises, pandemic hazard pay, and

paws on the side of a hospital bed. That way, the person can reach him and pet him. Some patients want him to get into their bed so they can snuggle with Cole. He is happy to do that, too.

Another command in Cole’s vocabulary is “drive.” When Hannah signs that, Cole races to the door, ready to hop into the car and go to work.

That’s because Cole loves his job.

“A lot of therapy dogs, they’re being trained to be loved on by a couple of people at a time, or one individual at a hospital at a time. Cole is literally loved on by hundreds of students every single day,”

Otis Barnes of Southwest Philadelphia, a bus operator for SEPTA (center right), chatting with Brian Pollitt, president of TWU Local 234, (center left), along with coworkers at the Callowhill Depot in West Philadelphia in July. Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer

two weeks of paid parental leave (alongside a separate leave provision for pregnancy and childbirth.)

The transit authority is also in contract talks with three other unions: the Fraternal Order of Transit Police, Lodge 109; the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Division 71, which represents Regional Rail engineers;

Hannah said. That is something a lot of dogs would find overwhelming. Not Cole. “All I can say is when he’s not working, he’s looking to work,” Hannah added.

Cole, for one, hated the pandemic; it kept him away from people.

“He went through a bit of a depression,” Hannah said. Zoom made it a little better until he could make in-person visits. “He would jump up next to me in his chair.”

Hannah has started a not-forprofit Cole the Deaf Dog & Friends Foundation to bring their Team

and the union that represents conductors on the commuter-rail system, Local 61 of the International Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Union (SMART).

tfitzgerald@inquirer.com 215-854-2718

t tomfitzgerald

Cole Project’s mission of kindness and acceptance to more people. That includes granting scholarships for enrichment programs to special needs children.

In their Millville home, Hannah, his wife Nicole and Cole have added to their family with two more rescue dogs, CeCe and Alice, who is also deaf, has one eye and a cleft palate. They are following Cole’s superhero lead; they are also therapy dogs.

rgiordano@inquirer.com

609-217-8357 t rgiordano725

Cole the Deaf Dog with some of his friends at Dr. William Mennies Elementary School in Vineland, where his owner, Chris Hannah, is a music teacher. Photo by Kaitlyn Esposito

Cole gets a hug from one of his young friends. Cole’s mission is to spread the message: “A disability isn’t an inability. It’s a superpower.” Courtesy of Chris Hannah

A grocery that takes on SNAP

Food stamp recipients are denied hot food. These Penn grads found a hack with a new kind of corner store.

Gooden, 56 and unemployed. “Most corner stores sell processed foods. This’ll be different. I applaud it.”

U.S.

As a result, said Imbot, “Kids can buy Skittles for breakfast, but not scrambled eggs.”

At the Community Grocer (TCG), Imbot and Moraru will create a grocery with the usual staples.

But the store will also be selling the raw ingredients of portioned-out meals in kits, like chicken with potatoes and vegetables. After the customer buys the uncooked food with their SNAP benefits, they will leave

the grocery and walk to the rear of the building, into a separate shop that contains a kitchen.

The customer will hand over the meal kit to a worker, who will, in turn, give them a recently cooked version of the raw meal at no charge. The uncooked ingredients will then made into another meal, for another customer.

“This is a new one, isn’t it?” said Charles Reeves, executive director of Resident Action Committee II (RAC2), a Grays Ferry education and nonviolence nonprofit for which Imbot and Moraru volunteered for more than four years. “These guys are excited about it. And I know it can work.”

Social conscience

Imbot and Moraru grew up in Washington, three blocks from one another, but they never met until they were at Penn.

At school, the two recognized they thought alike. “We were college students dedicated to creating a world we wanted to be part of,” Imbot said.

They began working as volunteers for Reeves.

“When you come into an African

We’re challenging the system as well as creating a retail experience.

Eli Moraru

American community and you’re white, it’s not easy,” Reeves said.

“But Alex and Eli became part of the fabric, taking kids on trips, refereeing games. They’re special, caring young men. They want to save lives.”

At RAC2, the two helped haul boxes of food from the USDA being delivered for distribution in the community. But many of the neighbors, Imbot said, didn’t have proper kitchens to cook in.

And throughout the neighborhood, lots of unhealthy foods were still bought at corner stores. So, the D.C. duo decided to reinvent the form.

They presented their TCG idea to Penn, which rewarded Moraru with the President’s Sustainability Prize of $100,000, plus $50,000 in living expenses in 2022. Imbot graduated in 2020 with a degree in environmental management and sustainability; Moraru graduated in 2021 with a degree in political science.

“We’re challenging the system as well as creating a retail experience,” Imbot said. Pointing to architectural plans for the grocery, he added, “This is a protest right in front you.”

Still, problems developed. The men were unable to find a suitable building in Grays Ferry. They searched Cobbs Creek, and lighted on a 1920s-vintage, two-story building on South 60th Street last May.

But how to augment the $100,000 prize to pay the needed $220,000 to buy the building?

“We started cold-emailing people,” Moraru said.

The M&T Bank Charitable Foundation liked the idea enough to donate $300,000.

But would there be trouble circumventing SNAP regulations? The pair cold-emailed the Harvard Food

SZA ANNOUNCES A FREE

Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School to find out.

“They said our model was legal, and that it’s never been done before,” Moraru added. Imbot and Moraru solicited local attorneys and got enthusiastic responses and free legal help. Similarly, architect Richard Stokes is donating his firm’s talents to designing TCG, including a second-floor community room. “An architect chooses clients carefully,” Stokes said. “But with these guys, I said right away, ‘I’m in.’”

The TCG cofounders knew nothing about cooking, so they sent an Instagram message asking help from local chef Aziza Young.

“I immediately said, ‘Yes,’” said Young, who works as a personal chef to local professional athletes. “I’ll create their menu as their food director.”

Young said the TCG pair has

SZA

made a point of meeting neighbors, learning their names, playing football with the kids.

“When new stores pop-up, owners don’t bother to learn the community,” Young said. “But these guys want to be part of the neighborhood.”

Indeed, Imbot and Young have knocked on doors, attended street fairs, and spoken at churches to ask people what kinds of food they’d like.

“These outside people are building community,” said Lamont Gordon, a maintenance worker from the area. “Somebody cares about us. I feel blessed.”

alubrano@inquirer.com

215-854-4969

t AlfredLubrano

do it in Philly the same way — it’ll be just open, first-come, first-serve. I can’t wait to see you then, by then the deluxe will be out. I love you so much. I’m SZA, have a blessed night.”

Keep an eye on social media for more details.

hqureshi@inquirer.com t itshiraqureshi

Imbot and Eli Moraru expect to open the Community Grocer, on South 60th Street, in 10 months.

Alex Imbot (left) speaking with Bashir Gooden, a Cobbs Creek resident, about the Community Grocer. “I applaud it,” Gooden said. Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

FOUNDER OF PHILLY’S FRINGE FESTIVAL IS STEPPING DOWN

years.

Zoe Greenberg

Fringe. “We didn’t know jack in ‘97 — it was all pure naivete,” Stuccio told The Inquirer in 2011. Over time the festival grew from a five-day event to a four-week

qFringeArts said it will begin a national search for a new director in the coming months.

Edinburgh Festival

By Michael Klein Staff Writer

The

with an 18-seat bar and an 80-seat restaurant in the rear.

The second floor, with 80 seats, will be balconied, giving patrons a direct view of the square across the street. There also will be a 14-seat bar on the second floor. The building’s third floor will house office and storage.

Starr also will apply to use 10

feet of Walnut Street’s 23-foot-wide sidewalk for a 32-seat outdoor cafe, according to plans. “It’s beachfront property on Rittenhouse Square,” Allan Domb, Starr’s business partner and the owner of the building, said.

The timeline is unknown beyond “fall 2024.” Construction is due to begin in January, the plans say.

After a hearing Tuesday, the CCRA’s zoning board said it would not oppose the plan, now scheduled to go before the city Zoning Hearing Board on Nov. 1.

“It’s a Starr project,” said Richard Gross, the CCRA president. He called the non-opposition “a

bonanza featuring about 1,000 independent performances and bringing in half a million in ticket sales, the organization said. The theater, music, dance, and performance art at Fringe “transcended conventional norms,” as FringeArts board chair Mark Dichter put it. Artists have performed avantgarde shows in a Market-Frankford El car, in the front seat of a Cadillac (with four audience members squeezed into the back), and on the deck of a 75-foot schooner docked at Penn’s Landing. Former Gov. Ed Rendell has frequently said the Fringe Festival helped revitalize Center City and make Philly cool.

Describing how he curated the festival lineup, Stuccio explained to The Inquirer in 2014: “We like innovation and experimentation. Also …

‘what can Philadelphia tolerate?’”

In 2013, under Stuccio’s watch, after years of nomadic performances, FringeArts moved into its current building in Old City, transforming a historic pumping station filled with tanks and electrical equipment into an arts center with a theater for 300 people, a restaurant, and a beer garden. This year’s festival ticket sales were up 22% over last year, the organization said, with 912 performances overall. FringeArts said it will begin a national search for a new director in the coming months.

zgreenberg@inquirer.com t zoegberg

By Carolyn Hax Washington Post

Adapted from an online discussion.

Question: My brother’s wife is not a bad person, but she’s really insecure and sensitive to the point that it’s really hard to be myself around her. My husband and parents feel the same way.

Some examples: I once referred to a “waitress.” I got text messages for hours that night telling me I was horribly sexist for not using the term “server” instead. (I’m a woman, if that matters.) I apologized profusely for the sake of keeping the peace, but the texts didn’t stop. I ended up muting my phone.

Another time, she got upset that my brother didn’t like some song on the radio that she liked. More recently, on a family vacation with our kids, I teased my brother with a childhood nickname. He laughed, and we moved on. She thought I was making fun of him, was upset my brother didn’t agree, and stormed out of the condo we were renting.

I never know what’s going to set her off. It happens frequently enough that my parents, husband, and I are all always nervous about saying something she will find offensive.

I’m walking on eggshells around her, but if I upset her, my parents will be mad at me for not making an effort. My brother and I used to be close but have drifted apart because we can’t really talk about anything substantive. He usually brings her everywhere. Do I have any options other than just avoiding her, or staying silent when I’m near her?

Answer: It must feel impossible to be yourself around her, but that’s exactly who you need to be. Not the one who wants to say aaaaaaagh whenever this happens, but the self who isn’t reacting

For example, when you get the “server” text, don’t “apologize profusely for the sake of keeping the peace.” That’s not being true to yourself. Instead, ignore the text, or reply, “Oh right, thanks!” or hit the magic conversation-ending thumbs-up. Then no further engagement. When she’s upset about a song or nickname or whatever, try a non-sarcastic “Thanks for letting us know,” and change the subject. When she storms out, let her, and resume your vacation.

Refusing to tiptoe around her is an appropriate course of action regardless. It’s also the best way to salvage your relationship with your brother. Go back to talking about substantive and important things with him, as you kindly, warmly, firmly hold to your nonreactive responses to her eruptions. This is for his sake as much as yours; you say she’s “not a bad person,” but her behavior is disturbing and manipulative — just look at how many knots she got you to tie yourself into.

He “didn’t agree” with her on the nickname, which is promising, but it’s possible in other ways — out of your sight — that he also adjusts and edits and suppresses himself. The “brings her everywhere” hints at her control issues.

So commit to this course of action: Hold to your baseline self under her pressure; keep communication lines to your brother open.

Reader suggestion:

It sounds like the sister-in-law is having serious mental health issues. This doesn’t change the need for boundaries, but knowing that might add some specific understanding of both what is going on with her and how to most effectively hold those boundaries, and allow for compassion to balance the annoyance. NAMI (nami. org) might helps. Chat with Carolyn Hax online at noon Fridays at www.washingtonpost.com.

Nick Stuccio has led FringeArts for 27

Nick Stuccio, the founder of the Philly Fringe Fest, in the FringeArts building’s theater in 2022. Alejandro A. Alvarez / File Photograph

EAGLES 34, COMMANDERS 31 (OVERTIME)

Brown stars, but Elliott kick delivers victory

A 54-yard field goal in overtime kept the Birds undefeated after an uneven effort against Washington.

By EJ Smith Staff Writer

The jubilation of what seemed like an A.J. Brown game-winning touchdown gave way to the nervous silence of a last-second, game-tying Jahan Dotson touchdown catch.

It took an extra few minutes, but the Eagles beat the Washington Commanders, 34-31, on a walk-off field goal from Jake Elliott from 54 yards out in overtime. The win moved the Eagles to 4-0 on the season and kept them atop the NFC East.

The Eagles were 90 seconds away from a regulation win, but Washington quarterback Sam Howell led

the Commanders 64 yards down the field for a 10-yard touchdown pass to Dotson as time expired and forced overtime. The defense made up for it in extra time, stopping a Commanders drive to open the period after the visitors won the coin toss. Jalen Hurts and Co. responded with a 10-play, 34-yard drive to give Elliott

My whole career has kind of been a roller-coaster in terms of being in different and unique, unprecedented moments.

Jalen Hurts

a chance to win the game, and the kicker obliged. “Jake showed up big time,” Hurts said. “I hate sending him on the field, but he showed up and made the game-winning field goal for the team. Those moments like that — I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a game where a guy’s kicked a game-winner and I’ve had to witness that in my career.”

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni added, “We won in a different way than we’ve had to win so far this year. I think that builds character, I think that builds a tighter team, I think that builds trust. ... It is good when you’re able to win different ways, that tells you a lot about the character of your football team. I think we showed that today.”

Here’s our instant analysis off the game:

A.J.’s Big Day

A week after relenting to the “No Fun League,” Brown stood his

ground in some pink cleats. The star wide receiver finished with an eye-popping nine catches, 175 yards, and two touchdowns all while sporting some brightly colored cleats less than a week after the NFL insisted he change out of highlighter-green shoes on Monday Night Football. After the game, Brown said the cleats he wore this week had the NFL’s blessing. Brown, who wears distinctive cleats so his daughter can spot on him on the field, went into the game without a touchdown but made up for lost time Sunday. His first score came on a stutter-and-go route from the slot, toasting Washington cornerback Emmanuel Forbes and managing an impressive run after the catch for the 59-yard scamper. After the game, Brown said Washington gave Forbes the unenviable task of following him around the field in one-on-one coverage and the Eagles capitalized.

“Shoutout to my teammates for

→ SEE EAGLES ON C6

By Mike Sielski Staff Columnist

The press box at Lincoln Financial Field early

MLB POSTSEASON

Phillies will face Marlins

By Scott Lauber Staff Writer

NEW YORK — Do the Phillies have a first-round playoff opponent? Go Fish.

The Phillies will face a familiar foe — the rival Miami Marlins — in the best-of-three wild-card round, a matchup that became increasingly likely over the last few days but wasn’t sealed until after Sunday’s regular-season finales. The series will begin at 8:08 p.m. Tuesday, with all games being played at Citizens Bank Park.

“Nothing’s going to be easy,” Kyle Schwarber said after the Phillies thumped the Mets, 9-1, to secure their first 90-win season since they won 102 games in 2011. “Miami’s a good team. We’ve got to do what we do.”

Although the Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks clinched wildcard spots Saturday, they entered the last day of the season tied with 84 wins and jockeying for seeding. Both teams lost — Miami, 3-1, at Pittsburgh; Arizona, 8-1, at home against Houston — but the Marlins could point their plane toward Philadelphia by virtue of a tiebreaker.

The Phillies will be heavily favored, but it’s doubtful they will take the Marlins lightly. They lost the season series, 7-6, despite outscoring the Marlins by a 64-55 margin. The Marlins took two of three games in Philadelphia on April 10-12 and Sept. 8-10.

“They’re a good club,” manager Rob Thomson said. “They match up well with us. They can beat you in a lot of different ways. They’ve got pitching. We’ve got a lot of prep to do.”

But Miami’s roster is decidedly weaker than even a month ago.

Neither ace Sandy Alcantara nor 20-year-old phenom Eury Pérez → SEE PHILLIES ON C4

Bowl. The expectations change everything. Yeah, we know the Eagles are really good. So why are they struggling so much to be really good?

And they are struggling to be → SEE

Miami’s Jazz Chisholm Jr. (right) celebrates after hitting a solo home run as the Marlins clinched a playoff spot Saturday. AP

A.J. Brown’s 28-yard touchdown reception with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter gave the Eagles a 31-24 lead. Washington scored as time expired to force overtime. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

ON DECK

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Home

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MONDAY

COLLEGE GOLF

The Blessings Collegiate Invitational: First

MLB

Blessings Golf Club, Fayetteville, Ark.,

(GOLF)

Awards, 8 p.m. (MLBN)

NFL Seattle at N.Y. Giants, 8:15 p.m. (6abc, ESPN)

NHL PRESEASON Boston at Flyers, 7 p.m. (NBCSP, WPEN-FM, 97.5) Ottawa at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m. (NHLN)

MEN’S SOCCER Premier League: Chelsea at Fulham, 3 p.m. (USA)

WOMEN’S SOCCER

NWSL: Orlando at Angel City FC, 10 p.m. (CBSSN)

TENNIS

Astana-ATP Semifinals; Beijing-ATP Quarterfinals; Beijing-WTA Early Rounds, 6 a.m. (TENNIS)

LIVE EVENTS

Boston at Flyers, 7 p.m. Wells Fargo Center

Europe wins another Ryder Cup on home soil

Associated Press

The best collection of players at Marco Simone had flags from their eight countries draped around their shoulders as they took turns clutching and thrusting the gold Ryder Cup, the very trophy that turns them into one nation, one team, with one purpose.

The celebration was familiar on European soil, this time in Guidonia Montecelio, Italy, and so was the winner of the Ryder Cup.

Team Europe, embarrassed two years at Whistling Straits when it suffered its worst loss to the Americans, got their payback Sunday, along with that 17-inch trophy.

“Not many people gave us a chance, I don’t think, especially two years ago,” European captain Luke Donald said. “Well, we proved them wrong.”

Europe now has seven straight wins at home dating to 1993.

This one wasn’t even particularly close, from the opening session Friday, which Europe swept for the first time in history, to the Sunday singles that led to a 16 1⁄2-11 1⁄2 victory.

Rory McIlroy, in tears two years ago after his shabby performance, was among Europe’s top players who quickly doused any American dreams of a rally. He beat Sam Burns to go 4-1 for the week, the first time he was Europe’s top scorer in his seventh appearance.

“I was so disappointed after Whistling Straits — we all were,” McIlroy said. “And we wanted to come here to Rome and redeem ourselves.”

Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, and Tyrrell Hatton also picked up key points early in the singles lineup, leaving Europe needing only a halfpoint to reach the winning total.

Tommy Fleetwood delivered the clincher, hitting a signature shot on the signature hole at Marco Simone — a drive to 25 feet on the reachable 16th against Rickie Fowler Fowler, now with a 1-8-5 road record in the Ryder Cup, hit into the water and wound up conceding the birdie to Fleetwood, who raised both arms to the loudest cheer of the week.

“I really didn’t want to come down to one of us at the back,” said Fleetwood, in the 11th spot in the lineup. “Just so happened to play a part — it was a bit bigger than I thought I was going to have when we saw the draw. But just so proud of being part of this team.”

“I think the European team played some phenomenal golf. I think it really is quite that simple,” U.S. captain Zach Johnson said, his voice choking to the point that it was hard for him to complete a sentence. “Team USA will be better for it. We’ll figure it out.”

Max Homa was a rare bright spot for the U.S. team, going 3-1-1 in his Ryder Cup debut.

College Football

Unbeaten Penn State remained ranked sixth in the Associated Press college football poll, fresh off a 41-13 rout of Northwestern.

The Nittany Lions (5-0, 3-0 Big Ten) will take a week off before their last nonconference game of the season when Massachusetts visits

Beaver Stadium on Oct. 14 at 3:30 p.m. On Oct. 21, Penn State will visit Ohio State for the Lions’ toughest test yet this fall.

Georgia’s hold on No. 1 loosened as the Bulldogs received a season-low 35 first-place votes out of possible 62 while extending their streak atop the rankings to 16 straight weeks.

The Bulldogs needed a late touchdown to escape with a win at Auburn on Saturday and that sent many in the media panel looking for a new No. 1 team. Georgia had 55 first-place votes and 1,562 points last week but was down to 1,501 points in this week’s AP Top 25.

No. 2 Michigan got 12 first-place votes and 1,436 points but nearly was passed by No. 3 Texas, which received 10 first-place votes and 1,426 points. Both the Wolverines and Longhorns won big on Saturday.

* Indiana Hoosiers coach Tom Allen fired offensive coordinator Walt Bell less than 24 hours after yet another dismal offensive performance in Saturday’s 44-17 loss at unbeaten Maryland. Allen said Rod Carey, the program’s quality control coach since 2022, will take over play-calling duties.

Auto Racing

Ryan Blaney beat Kevin Harvick to the Talladega Superspeedway finish line by 0.012 seconds to advance into the round of eight of NASCAR’s playoffs and keep Harvick winless in his final season before retirement.

Blaney used a crossover move from the outside lane to the inside to nudge ahead of Harvick with two laps remaining at Talladega, Ala. Blaney in his Ford for Team Penske and Harvick in a Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing finished essentially in a drag race with both drivers refusing to lift as a crash broke out behind them.

Blaney joined William Byron as the two drivers locked into the round of eight. The field of 12 will be pared next Sunday to eight following the race on The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Gymnastics

Simone Biles led a dominant performance by the U.S. women at the world gymnastics championships in Antwerp, Belgium, posting an allaround total of 58.865 to lead qualifying through two subdivisions.

The 26-year-old, who is a fivetime all-around world champion and seven-time Olympic medalist, registered the best scores on floor exercise, vault, and balance beam, and the second-best score behind teammate Shilese Jones on uneven bars through the first portion of qualifying.

The American team of Biles, Jones, Skye Blakely Leanne Wong , and Joscelyn Roberson combined for a total of 171.395, which figures to be the best by a considerable margin by the end of qualifying. Italy was second at 162.230 through two of the 10 subdivisions.

The U.S. will be heavily favored to win the team title on Wednesday. The all-around finals are Friday, with event finals scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.

Wheeler

By Scott Lauber Staff Writer

Zack Wheeler thinks about it — a lot. He talks about it often. And he used it as fuel whenever the season felt too long and the days monotonous. But rewatch it? No, he won’t do that. “Nah,” the Phillies ace said, smiling. “What’s done is done.”

Sure, but not really. Because as long as he pitches, and probably well after he’s finished, Wheeler will remember Game 6 of the 2022 World Series, that Saturday night in Houston sticking like a Post-it note on his gilded right arm as a reminder of what was and what could’ve been.

And now, 11 months later, Wheeler finally has a chance to set it right. After a regular season that merited Cy Young Award consideration, he will start Tuesday against the upstart Miami Marlins in the opener of a best-of-three wild-card series, the first step toward what Phillies players and team officials believe will be the third World Series triumph in their 141-year history.

It’s the only outcome that would make Wheeler forget, even a little bit.

”That’s what you grow up playing baseball for, to pitch in the playoffs,” he said. “Getting that first game is special. It means a lot to me. We’ll be ready to go.”

Wheeler, 33, has been ready for, oh, about 331 days — and he was definitely counting.

After being lifted from Game 6 with one out and two on in the sixth inning and a 1-0 lead and watching José Alvarado allow a three-run homer to the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez, Wheeler went home to Georgia. He rested his arm and adhered to Phillies head athletic trainer Paul Buchheit’s plan to keep him healthy after working an extra month and pitching 35⅔ high-stress innings in the postseason. It worked. Wheeler made 32 starts and posted a 3.61 ERA in 192 innings. He had 212 strikeouts, 39 walks, and led all pitchers in the Fangraphs version of wins above replacement (6.0).

The Phillies have come to expect such excellence. They signed Wheeler to a five-year, $118 million contract in the 2019-20 offseason, and since then, he has a 3.06 ERA in 101 starts. Over the last four seasons, he leads all pitchers in WAR (19.6) and ranks fourth in innings

(629⅓) and eighth in strikeouts (675).

Good luck finding a better freeagent signing in Phillies history. ”He’s my favorite guy in the league to watch pitch,” Aaron Nola said. “He’s really the first guy I ever played with that threw 98, 99 a lot, but he commanded that. And he knows how to pitch. You see a lot of guys that throw that hard and just throw. He knows how to move the ball around.” But nobody, not even Wheeler, knew what to expect last October. He missed 31 days, or roughly five starts, down the stretch last season with inflammation in his forearm. He threw 58, 62, and 77 pitches in his last three regular-season starts.

Layered on top of that, neither Wheeler nor Nola had pitched in the postseason before. Wheeler heard about the heightened intensity. He even witnessed it in 2015, when the Mets reached the World Series while he was injured, but didn’t experience it firsthand. Wheeler dazzled for 6⅓ scoreless innings in Game 1 of the wildcard round in St. Louis. He gave up one hit in seven scoreless innings to begin the NL Championship Series in San Diego and started the pennant-clinching Game 5 against the Padres at home.

But he gave up five runs in five innings in Game 2 of the World Series and dealt with what the Phillies vaguely characterized as arm fatigue. By the time Game 6 came around, the Phillies gave Wheeler six days’ rest and hoped for the best.

”Yeah, we didn’t really know,” pitching coach Caleb Cotham recalled. “I know he’s a competitor. I know he’s going to leave it all out there. I thought definitely anything was possible. And it didn’t surprise me, honestly.” Wheeler had “lightning bolts coming out of his hands,” as catcher J.T. Realmuto described it later. He threw 70 pitches, the last a 96 mph sinker that Jeremy Peña grounded up the middle for a hit. Wheeler said he was “caught off guard”

when manager Rob Thomson took him out.

Thomson and Wheeler didn’t litigate the decision in the offseason. Neither deemed it necessary. Wheeler brings it up every so often with Cotham, mostly to needle him. ”I’ll give Caleb some crap sometimes,” Wheeler said. “I know it probably wasn’t even his call.”

Said Cotham: “I’ve turned the page. It was really tough to turn the page. You try to make good decisions to win the game. I’ve told him from the start, it’s never a comment on the starter. It’s always a comment on also loving the relievers. That one didn’t work out. It still stinks, you know? A guy that’s pitching as well as he was and that happened.”

Maybe there are lessons to learn. Not so much about lengthening the postseason rope for ace pitchers, because modern managers almost reflexively turn to the bullpen earlier than normal when the stakes are highest.

But in plowing through the postseason for the first time in a decadelong major-league career and posting a 2.78 ERA in six starts, Wheeler maintains that he learned what it takes to be effective in October.

”Everything matters,” he said.

“Every out counts. Growing up watching it, you think you know. But going through it, you come to learn that every out, every pitch literally matters. Baseball’s a great sport when it gets to October. That’s when you’ve got to turn it on.”

Eleven months passed in a flash, said Wheeler, propelled forward by the memory of an abrupt end to a 70-pitch gem in the game of his life.

Now, he gets a chance at a rewrite.

”I felt like I could’ve gone 100 pitches that night,” he said. “It still feels a little fresh. But we’re making a new path this year, and hopefully can just do a little better.”

slauber@inquirer.com

t ScottLauber

Wheeler is “my favorite guy in the league to watch pitch,” says teammate Aaron Nola. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

Zack

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Sixers didn’t improve; other East powers did

By Keith Pompey Staff Writer

One has to wonder whether the 76ers’ NBA championship window has closed.

With reigning MVP Joel Embiid and rising star Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers are supposed to be one of the league’s elite teams. One would expect the duo to answer questions about the team’s level of excitement during media day on Monday.

Instead, the Sixers are set to be bombarded with questions about James Harden’s uncertain future with the team.

They’ll probably give mostly positive responses whether Harden, who wants out, reports Monday or not. The Sixers were not sure whether Harden attends media day or this week’s training camp at Colorado State. The players will tell you they experienced this two seasons ago when Ben Simmons missed media day and held out at the start of training camp.

They may voice their admiration for Harden and say this is part of the business. The Sixers still expect to compete against the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics for Eastern Conference supremacy.

One problem: The Bucks added future Hall of Famer Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers. On Sunday, the Celtics added Jrue Holiday, a two-time All-Star and fivetime All-Defensive selection, in a trade with the Blazers. The Sixers’ most notable offseason happening involved Harden calling team president of basketball operations Daryl Morey “a liar.” Doubling down, there was a “Daryl Morey is a liar” sign at Harden’s party last week.

So the Sixers head into the season with dysfunction while the Bucks and Celtics have revamped rosters. And one has to wonder how the inability to upgrade the roster will impact Embiid’s desire to remain a Sixer.

Phillies

→ CONTINUED FROM C1

will pitch in the playoffs because of injuries. Second baseman Luis Arraez, the National League batting champ, hasn’t started since Sept. 23 because of a sprained left ankle that worsened when he slipped on the dugout steps when the lights at Marlins Park were dimmed during a pitching change. Through it all, the Marlins won five of their last seven games — and 10 out of 16 — to overtake the swooning Cubs in a four-team wildcard pileup behind the Phillies. They clinched a playoff spot with a victory in the penultimate game of the season.

And as banged up as they are, they could still present a matchup challenge for the Phillies because of their collection of left-handed pitchers — two starters and four relievers.

Here, then, are a couple of questions heading into the series:

Getting it right vs. left(ies)

For Brandon Marsh, a matchup with the lefty-heavy Marlins likely means a seat on the bench for the first two games. Marsh entered play Sunday batting .221/.315/.358 against lefties. He hasn’t started against a lefty since Aug. 30. It doesn’t bode well for him that the Marlins have Jesús Luzardo (3.63 ERA) and Braxton Garrett (3.66) lined up to start Games 1 and 2, respectively, and a lefty-loaded bullpen with Tanner Scott, Steven Okert, Andrew Nardi, and A.J. Puk.

“I think, in time, he’s going to be consistent against left-handed pitching,” Thomson said. “Lately, he hasn’t seen the ball very well against them.”

But Marsh did take Mets reliever Anthony Kay deep in the ninth inning Sunday, his first homer against a left-hander since April 23.

Too little, too late?

“It makes you think, for sure,” Thomson said. “I’ll get with the staff and see where we’re at with lineups and rosters [Monday].”

If not Marsh, who would play left field?

The Phillies called up righty-hitting utilityman Weston Wilson over

The eighth-year veteran is in the first season of a four-year, $213.2 million contract extension. Asked in July at a promotional appearance with businessman Maverick Carter what we can expect from him, Embiid responded, “I just want to win a championship … whether it’s Philly or anywhere else.” He and the Sixers tried to downplay those comments. But after the Celtics landed Holiday on Sunday, Embiid tweeted, “This off-season was fun ...”

That drew more than 1,738 replies in the first hour. One person said, “Request a trade.” Another comment read, “It’s been real brother” followed by “see you later” and crying emojis.

The Sixers acquired Harden in February 2022 from the Brooklyn Nets to form an All-NBA tandem with Embiid. The hope was that he would help catapult the team into an NBA Finals appearance. Now, two postseason appearances later, the team still has a second-round ceiling. Added to that, Harden is upset

because Morey didn’t trade him to the Los Angeles Clippers this summer. The problem is the Sixers want an All-Star player or assets that will enable them to acquire one in return. At age 34, a $35.6 million salary, and perhaps an unrealistic self-evaluation, Harden doesn’t have a lot of trade value.

In addition, the Sixers were relatively silent in free agency.

Their most notable offseason moves were matching the Utah Jazz’s three-year, $23.5 million offer to restricted free agent Paul Reed and signing Kelly Oubre Jr. to a $2.8 million one-year veteran minimum deal.

Sixers coach Nick Nurse is excited about Reed’s versatility. He was Embiid’s backup last season. He’ll also see some time at power forward.

Meanwhile, Oubre is coming off a career-high 20.3 points last season with the Charlotte Hornets. However, the reserve small forward didn’t garner a lot of free-agency attention, leading to his recently settling for a below-value deal with

the weekend and played him in left field for a few innings Sunday in New York. Wilson had a 31-homer, 32-steal season — and a 1.025 OPS against lefties — in triple A. But Thomson hinted that he might opt for Cristian Pache’s defense in left field, even though the righty-swinging Pache was 4-for-35 with 15 strikeouts since coming back from the injured list in early September.

“If you end up playing Miami and you get those left-handed starters — those starters are pretty good, too — you want to eliminate giving up runs as much as you can,” Thomson said. “So, [Pache] becomes maybe a factor. I haven’t talked to the rest of the staff, but that’s something that I’m thinking about.”

Will Arraez be ready?

Check back Tuesday.

Arraez didn’t play Sunday and has gotten only one at-bat in the last nine days. But he did take grounders over the weekend, and Marlins manager Skip Schumaker sounded a positive note. “He looked a lot better,” Schumaker told reporters Saturday. “The ground-ball work and the range, and the double-play plantand-throw, the first step to get to attack the play, he checked a lot of boxes.”

The Marlins improved their offense around Arraez with deadline trades for Jake Burger and Josh Bell, a notorious Phillies tormentor.

Entering play Sunday, they were slugging .423 and averaging 4.3 runs per game since the beginning of August, compared to .399 and 4.1 runs per game before that.

Does familiarity matter?

In some ways, the Phillies’ season turned Aug. 2 in Miami.

They lost, 9-8 in 10 innings, after Trea Turner booted a routine ground ball. Turner punished himself with a late-night hitting session that went public, and when the teams returned home two nights later, the struggling star shortstop got standing ovations that sparked his two-month torrid streak.

But something else happened in that game. The Marlins scored twice against Craig Kimbrel and appeared to uncover a tell that enabled them to steal his signs when they got a runner to second base. Kimbrel even intentionally balked to move a runner to third.

Kimbrel appears to have fixed the problem. But the point is, there won’t be any secrets between the division rivals, which may level the playing field if the talent is skewed toward the Phillies.

“It doesn’t need to look pretty, it doesn’t need to look sexy,” Schwarber said. “We’ve just got to find a way to win a game at the end of the day.”

Two, actually. It starts Tuesday. slauber@inquirer.com

t ScottLauber

the Sixers. But the Bucks are Celtics made blockbuster moves. Milwaukee was the overwhelming favorite to win an NBA title Wednesday. That’s when Milwaukee agreed to acquire Lillard from the Trail Blazers in a three-team deal that included the Phoenix Suns. In Lillard, the Bucks get a bona-fide closer to pair with two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and three-time All-Star Kris Middleton. At that time, the Blazers received Holiday from Milwaukee and Deandre Ayton and Toumani Camara from the Suns. Those players were packaged with the Bucks’ 2029 first-round pick along with draft swap rights in 2028 and 2030. The Suns received Grayson Allen from the Bucks and Jusuf Nurkić, Nassir Little, and Keon Johnson from Portland. However, Portland made it known that they would trade Holiday to another team in exchange for young players and draft picks. The Sixers were among the teams

trying to make a deal for the twotime All-Star who began his career in Philadelphia.

But the Celtics acquired him in exchange for Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon, the 2024 Golden State Warriors first-round pick, and Boston’s 2029 unprotected first-rounder.

With Holiday, the Celtics might have overtaken the Bucks as the favorites to win the NBA title.

Not only is Holiday a solid defensive matchup against Lillard; he fits well with Boston’s core players in All-NBA wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. He’s viewed as a better fit than Marcus Smart, who Boston dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies in this summer’s three-team trade. That trade enabled the Celtics to land Kristaps Porziņģis from the Washington Wizards.

Boston is expected to sign Holiday to a long-term deal next summer. And the Bucks acquired Lillard, in part, to make sure Antetokounmpo remains with the franchise long-term. Meanwhile, there’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Sixers roster.

Embiid, P.J. Tucker, Paul Reed, Jaden Springer, and Filip Petrusev are the only Sixers with standard NBA contracts that go beyond this season. The Sixers intend to have enough cap space available next summer to sign Maxey and an A-list free agent to lucrative contracts.

But there’s no guarantee they’ll get an A-list free agent. Nor is there a guarantee that Embiid, 29, would want to stick around, especially if this season is a struggle. Sure, the Sixers are banking on having a bright future. They’ve been banking on the future for some time.

The problem is Embiid’s in his prime, now.

Yet, the two-time scoring champion sees the Celtics and Bucks making major moves while he’s dealing with his second disgruntled co-star in three seasons. And unless things drastically change this season, the Sixers will, once again, have a second-round ceiling.

That leads to the belief that their championship window has closed ... unless Morey can make a major move.

kpompey@inquirer.com

t PompeyOnSixers

Wild-card playoff matchups are set

Associated Press

Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson and the hard-hitting Atlanta Braves have earned a couple days of rest and relaxation after Major League Baseball’s long 162-game regular season. So have Jose Altuve, Justin Verlander and the defending World Series champion Houston Astros — who won the AL West on the season’s final day — along with the Los Angeles Dodgers and feel-good story Baltimore Orioles.

As for the other eight teams that qualified for Major League Baseball’s 12-team October showcase?

The action comes in a hurry. MLB’s postseason bracket is set, with the American League and National League wild-card matchups beginning Tuesday. It’s the second year for the new October format, which includes an opening round, best-of-three series with all of the games at the higher seed’s ballpark. In the AL, the No. 6 seed Toronto Blue Jays will face the No. 3 Minnesota Twins and the No. 5 Texas Rangers travel to the No. 4 Tampa Bay Rays. The NL features the No. 6 Arizona Diamondbacks against the No. 3 Milwaukee Brewers and the No. 5 Miami Marlins at the No. 4 Phillies. The Braves, Astros, Dodgers and Orioles will get about a week off before the division series begin.

Mets fire Showalter

For the fifth time in six years, the New York Mets are in the market for a new manager. Buck Showalter was fired Sunday after a disappointing season in which baseball’s highest-spending team tumbled from contention by midsummer. The Mets finished 74-87. On Monday, New York is expected to announce the hiring of David Stearns as president of baseball operations above general manager Billy Eppler.

Wakefield dies

Tim Wakefield, the knuckleballing workhorse of the Red Sox pitching staff who bounced back after giving up a season-ending home run to the Yankees in the 2003 playoffs to help Boston win its curse-busting World Series title the following year, has died.

He was 57.

The Red Sox announced his death in a statement Sunday that detailed not only his baseball statistics but a career full of charitable endeavors. Wakefield had brain cancer, according to ex-teammate Curt Schilling, who outed the illness on a podcast last week — drawing an outpouring of support for Wakefield.

The Red Sox confirmed an illness at the time but did not elaborate, saying Wakefield had requested privacy.

Season leaders

Miami’s Luis Arraez joined DJ LeMahieu as the only players with undisputed batting titles in both leagues, winning the National League crown Sunday as Yandy Díaz sat out Tampa Bay’s season finale and overtook Corey Seager for the American League championship. Arraez won the NL title at .354, a year after earning the AL crown at .316 for Minnesota. LeMahieu won with Colorado in 2016 and the New York Yankees in 2020.

Atlanta’s Matt Olson slugged his way to the major league home run title with 54 as well as the RBI title with 139.

San Diego’s Blake Snell led the big leagues with a 2.25 ERA to win the NL title after pacing the AL at 1.89 for Tampa Bay in 2018. Yankees ace Gerrit Cole won his second AL ERA title at 2.63 after winning for Houston at 2.50 in 2019.

Atlanta’s Spencer Strider was the only 20-game winner at 20-5, while Toronto’s Chris Bassitt and Tampa Bay’s Zach Eflin tied for the AL lead with 17 wins each.

Joel Embiid tweeted after the Celtics acquired Jrue Holiday: “This off-season was fun ... .” Yong Kim / File

Righty-hitting Cristian Pache could wind up starting in left field for the Phillies in Game 1 of the wild-card series. Yong Kim / Staff

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INSIDE THE EAGLES

‘D’ survives by skin of Blankenship’s forearm

By Jeff McLane Staff Writer

Reed Blankenship held out his left arm — the one that might have saved the Eagles. There was an imprint from Terry McLaurin’s left cleat. It was inflamed and obvious, more so than the Washington receiver’s foot landing out of bounds, or the notion that Blankenship’s arm kept him from staying inbounds.

But the Eagles safety’s tight coverage on a key third-down stop in overtime was clear as it helped propel the once-again uneven Eagles past the pesky Commanders, 34-31, on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.

“I guess the football gods were looking out for us,” Blankenship said. “It was just a bang-bang play and luckily my arm was in the right spot.”

After the defense forced a punt, quarterback Jalen Hurts and the offense drove into Washington territory where the ever-reliable Jake Elliott booted a 54-yard field goal to advance the Eagles to 4-0. Only the San Francisco 49ers have won as many in the first four weeks of the NFL season.

“It’s been an ugly 4-0 start, to be honest,” cornerback Darius Slay said.

The Eagles have yet to put together a complete performance.

Last week, the defense shut down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and looked as dominant as the unit has looked in years in doing so. This week, the offense carried the load and finally delivered the type of passing outing that has come to be expected of Hurts and company since last year.

But overall consistency has been elusive. And on Sunday, Sean Desai’s defensive unit took a step back. Was it just a one-game blip?

Perhaps. But that it came against a Washington offense that was downright dreadful last week in a 37-3 loss to the Buffalo Bills could be cause for concern.

Eagles

blocking downfield,” Brown said.

“And shoutout to [passing-game coordinator Kevin [Patullo] and Nick for calling it against the right defense at the right time. It had been marinating all game. ... I just got the ball and my teammates showed up for me.”

The wide receiver’s second touchdown was even more impactful. Brown, seemingly taking exception with an attempted tackle from Forbes as he went out of bounds a few plays earlier, made the rookie corner pay with a 28-yard touchdown catch on a go route.

Brown was called for a taunting penalty in the aftermath of the touchdown because he dropped the ball into Forbes’ lap, something that caught the ire of Hurts a few minutes later on the sideline, he said.

“I’m a vet, I can’t do stuff like that,” Brown said. “It cost us some yardage on the kickoff, so I have to be better than that.”

DeVonta Smith made his share of plays as well, most notably managing an acrobatic 37-yard catch to set up an Eagles field goal at the end of the first half. He finished with seven catches for 78 yards.

Crunch-time Hurts

With three minutes left in the fourth quarter and the game in the balance, Hurts delivered.

He made timely throws, including a crucial completion on the final drive of regulation to slot receiver Olamide Zaccheaus on third-and-eight.

Hurts finished 25-for-37 for 319 yards and two scores while contributing 33 yards on the ground as well.

After the game, Brown and Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata both said they noticed a more animated Hurts than usual. Brown called it a “fire” that the team could sense as the game tightened late, which Hurts said comes from his experiences throughout his career.

“My whole career has kind of

Quarterback Sam Howell, a week after tossing four interceptions and getting sacked nine times, looked the complete opposite that he did vs. Buffalo. The second-year quarterback completed 29 of 41 passes (71%) for 290 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 40 yards.

“He was making a lot of plays with his legs,” Slay said. He made as many with his arm — early and then late in the fourth quarter with two touchdown drives. Desai had his moments. He dialed up some timely blitzes that helped lead to three Nicholas Morrow sacks. And he made some adjustments at the half that temporarily stalled the Commanders’ first-half success.

But new Washington offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy was often a step ahead — just as his former team, the Chiefs, were in Super Bowl LVII vs. the Eagles. His pre-snap motions often revealed Desai’s disguises and the secondary was late to adjust.

“We knew going into the game they were going to motion a lot,” cornerback James Bradberry said, “but it’s different once you get out on the field.”

But unlike Jonathan Gannon’s unit in February, the Eagles were able to get some stops after the half. Linebacker Haason Reddick, who had the cast from his surgically repaired right thumb removed last week, had his first sack of the season which led to a Commanders punt in the fourth quarter.

Facing off against Andrew Wylie

— just as he did in Arizona on the slippery State Farm Stadium grass — Reddick burned the right tackle with an outside speed rush.

“After the Super Bowl, it’s time to let it go when you talk about that,” Reddick said of the controversial field conditions. “But based on the conditions … I was happy to be out there today and help my team and contribute to a win.”

The Eagles went ahead, 31-24, on their ensuing drive with A.J. Brown’s 28-yard touchdown grab. But the defense couldn’t put Washington away as Howell hit receiver Jahan Dotson in the end zone against cornerback Josh Jobe and safety Terrell Edmunds as time expired.

The Commanders won the toss in overtime. On third-and-5, Howell went to his linchpin, McLaurin, with the Eagles in man coverage.

“It was something they don’t like

to do a lot of on first and second down, but on third down they will play a little more man coverage,” Howell said. “The safety … he was playing man on Terry, so I knew I was going to Terry the whole time.”

McLaurin, who finished with eight catches for 86 yards, ran an out pattern.

“As soon as he broke out, I was like, ‘I got to go,’” Blankenship said. “I got to get on my horse and go.”

McLaurin made a leaping, overthe-shoulder catch, but Blankenship arrived at the same time and wrapped the receiver up around the waist. He used his arm to brace himself as he landed and McLaurin’s foot landed squarely on it, which propelled it forward seemingly onto the sideline. It was ruled incomplete.

There was a review.

“The explanation I got,”

been a roller-coaster in terms of being in different and unique, unprecedented moments,” Hurts said. “[It’s] what you may call pressure, and stormy and ‘fire,’ but that’s what I’ve warranted. It’s a unique feeling being in those situations because you work so hard and you prepare so hard and you go through so much to put yourself in a position where you’re comfortable in those moments.”

When asked what went into the decision to take a shot to the end zone on the fourth-quarter touchdown to Brown, Hurts said it boiled down to instinct. “It’s a feel thing,” Hurts said. “In those moments, high-intensity and pressure moments, it comes down to feel. I think winners find a way, and we found a way to win.”

Safety check

The Eagles’ woes at safety

continued with Terrell Edmunds filling in for injured starter Justin Evans.

With Evans out with a neck injury and rookie safety Sydney Brown sidelined with a hamstring injury, the Eagles went into the game with just three healthy safeties, one of whom was practice-squad call-up Tristin McCollum.

The Eagles had nowhere to turn even as Edmunds struggled and the lack of any trustworthy depth behind him was apparent.

The 26-year-old committed costly penalties, missed several tackles, and dropped an interception in the end zone. Edmunds was called for two unnecessary roughness penalties, one for a hard hit on Washington tight end Logan Thomas over the middle of the field in the first quarter and the second coming in the fourth quarter when he shoved a scrambling Howell to the ground as the quarterback

Washington coach Ron Rivera said, “was that they couldn’t see it clear enough.” It wasn’t Blankenship’s lone standout play. He had another pass breakup and finished with eight tackles. He’s kept the safety position, ahem, afloat despite an assortment of injuries. He missed Week 2 with a rib injury, and starter Justin Evans (neck) and Sydney Brown (hamstring) were sidelined on Sunday. Edmunds, who dropped a would-be interception and was flagged for two unnecessary-roughness penalties, had a rough day. Howell’s quick release often offset the Eagles’ pass rush, and the Eagles’ zone-heavy coverage was often unable to take away first reads.

“Yeah, we made some mistakes out there,” Blankenship said. “But

at the end of the day … we still got a good team.”

But do they have a good defense under Desai?

“I feel like we’re comfortable,” Blankenship said. “We make mistakes, but we’re the type of team where we’re going to go in and correct them. Everybody’s open for it. We communicate real well with each other.”

As for Blankenship’s cleated-up arm, he said he was fine. “I’m still walking around,” he said before slipping on a pair of cowboy boots.

And the Eagles are still undefeated — by the skin of their teeth.

jmclane@inquirer.com

t Jeff_McLane

stepped out of bounds. The team went into the season with question marks at safety and those questions loomed large over Sunday’s game.

Sack Party

The Eagles linebacking corps has settled in nicely after a shaky start to the season largely thanks to the disruptive play of Nicholas Morrow.

Morrow, who started the season on the practice squad after signing with the Eagles in free agency last spring, had a team-high three sacks and 11 tackles, second behind only Zach Cunningham’s 13. The 28-year-old linebacker was stout against the run and was an effective blitzer when new defensive coordinator Sean Desai called his number, particularly out of the “double mug” look lined up over the A-gap with another linebacker threatening to rush next to him. Cunningham, Morrow’s running mate, was also solid when coming downhill against the run. It wasn’t all perfect, as Cunningham was called for defensive holding on a pivotal third down early in the game that may have actually been on Morrow, but it’s a long way from the porous play the Eagles got at both linebacking spots in the season opener against the New England Patriots.

The pass rush in general was effective in key moments, with edge rusher Haason Reddick logging his first sack of the season in the fourth quarter to thwart a Washington series. Morrow got his third sack on the final Washington drive of regulation as well, getting some help from Reddick on the rush.

Fourth-down forays

The Eagles weren’t very efficient on fourth downs against the Commanders, both in decision-making and execution. An offsides penalty — however questionable it may have been — wiped away a quarterback sneak

in the second quarter and led to Sirianni deciding to punt on fourthand-six from the Eagles’ 45-yard line. According to opensourcenfl. com analytics writer Ben Baldwin, the Eagles would have increased their win probability by 1% by choosing to go for it.

Sirianni stayed conservative relative to the analytical suggestion in the third quarter when he chose to send the field-goal unit out on a fourth-and-three from the Washington 30. Baldwin’s model gave the Eagles a 50% win probability when going for it and just a 45% chance to win with the field goal.

It’s important to note the Eagles did have two successful conversions on fourth down, one coming on a Hurts fake quarterback sneak from the Eagles’ 34-yard line in the second quarter to sustain a drive that ended in a field goal and then again on fourth-and-1 in overtime when Hurts converted a vital quarterback sneak on the game-winning drive.

Injuries

Cam Jurgens was sidelined coming out of halftime with a foot injury, giving way to Sua Opeta filling in at right guard to open the half. Jurgens was limited in practice earlier in the week with a groin injury following the team’s Monday night game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The second-year interior lineman has been a mostly seamless replacement for Isaac Seumalo on the starting offensive line, sandwiched between All-Pro duo Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce.

Jurgens was ruled out midway through the third quarter and wasn’t on the sideline for the remainder of the game and had a walking boot on his right foot in the locker room after the game.

Jalen Hurts looked like himself on Sunday while throwing for over 300 yards. David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

Eagles safety Reed Blankenship defends Commanders receiver Terry McLaurin for a incomplete pass in overtime. David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

Hurts

touchdown by the Washington Commanders, he appeared to have done it in regulation, too.

Really, he did it twice.

As you might expect from one of the NFL’s brightest stars, the moments — end of the first half, end of regulation, end of the game — were brilliant.

“Just clutch,” said coach Nick Sirianni. “Whether it was the overtime drive, whether it was the drive when we scored with a minute-plus left. And we needed that end-of-half drive to get going. Clutch.”

Enjoy the pressure, Jalen? Ha. He’s been in Texas high school state playoff games, college playoff and championship games at Alabama and Oklahoma, NFL playoffs games for the Eagles, and a little annual dustup called the Super Bowl.

Pressure?

“That’s what I was born in,” he replied.

It suits him.

Hurts gave the Eagles a late lead when he dropped a 28-yard dime into A.J. Brown’s bucket with 1 minute, 43 seconds to play in regulation. That broke a tie and, after an overtime field goal, it helped preserve the Eagles’ unbeaten record four games into a season in which they’re favored to return to the Super Bowl.

The Eagles won, 34-31.

More than that: Hurts took another step toward commanding the club.

After the TD to Brown, the receiver taunted cornerback Emmanuel Forbes, which cost the Eagles 15 yards of precious field position on the kickoff and helped

Birds

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drives in the fourth quarter. They committed 11 penalties Sunday, though, in fairness, as cornerback Darius Slay put it, “They was booty.” (The Barbara Billingsley-style translation: Slay thought several of the calls were suspect.)

One of those penalties, a taunting infraction by A.J. Brown, cost the Eagles 11 yards of field position on the Commanders’ final possession, which culminated in the game-tying TD catch by Jahan Dotson as regulation ended. The play-calling by offensive coordinator Brian Johnson was puzzling at times, particularly his ongoing infatuation with running the ball on third-andlong and his insistence on using Kenneth Gainwell to do it.

There was a crispness to the Eagles last season that they have rarely shown this season. Maybe they’ll regain it as Johnson and defensive coordinator Sean Desai, both new to their positions here, settle in. As Haason Reddick, who Sunday recorded his first sack after putting up 16 last year, recovers fully from the broken thumb that hampered him throughout Weeks 1-3. As Jalen Hurts grows more accustomed to Johnson’s likes, dislikes, and tendencies in orchestrating the offense.

Right now, though, the Eagles are winning mostly because they have

the Commanders force overtime as time expired. Hurts found Brown on the sideline, where they’d had a confrontation about Brown’s inclusion weeks earlier. This time, there was no debate.

“He said, ‘You can’t do that,’ ” Brown said. Brown bowed his head and agreed.

Hurts is all about accountability from his teammates, but even more so from himself. The Eagles’ 3-0 record entering Sunday fooled no one, not the least Hurts himself. They’d beaten three duds, and Hurts hadn’t been anything close to the quarterback who finished as runner-up in MVP voting last season, and the runner-up in Super Bowl LVII.

He’d looked slow. He’d looked indecisive. He looked ... average. Against an astonishingly stout Commanders club, he looked like none of those things Sunday. He looked like a top-five QB. Like a $255 million franchise QB.

Like a playmaker. Plays, made.

“Whether a 300-yard passing game, a 300-yard rushing game, a 150-yard rushing game by D’Andre Swift, or a DeVonta Smith day, a Dallas Goedert day, A.J. Brown day — that doesn’t really matter to me,” Hurts said. Hurts finished 25-for-37 with two touchdowns and no interceptions. The 319 passing yards gave him his first 300-yard game of the season. The performance should lessen the doubts of whether his breakout 2022 campaign was a mirage.

What did Brown see from Hurts on Sunday? “Fire,” the wide receiver

said. “He kind of woke up a little bit. That gave everybody a boost. That fire showed up today.” His spirit showed. It was infectious.

“A win like this does so much for the spirit of the team,” Hurts said. Sirianni said it was Hurts’ best game this season. Hurts seemed most pleased that he didn’t commit a turnover for the first time this season.

“It’s always good to protect the ball,” he said. Hurts wasn’t perfect — he missed a few targets, misdiagnosed a few pressures, and wasn’t particularly frisky — but perfect is never necessary of any quarterback. His first job is to secure the ball; done. His second job is to give his playmakers chances to make the plays they can make; done, and done, and done.

The Eagles had been a groundand-pound club while Hurts warmed to the campaign.

“Today, the run game wasn’t there the way it has been the last two weeks,” said center Jason Kelce. “Jalen, A.J., and those guys carried the bulk of the load today.” He lofted a bomb to Smith, and Smith came down with a 37-yard, double-teamed prayer with 44 seconds to play in the first half that led to a field goal that cut the Washington lead to 17-10.

Playmaker. Play, made.

In the third, Hurts pumped to Goedert in the flat, reset, and floated a butterfly that traveled 36 yards in that air to Brown. Brown had outrun Forbes, he immediately eluded Darrick Forrest, followed Smith’s block on Benjamin St-Juste, then cut back to set up Olamide

Zaccheaus’ block of Forbes, both of whom had streaked down the field to better witness Brown’s greatness. Playmaker. Play, made. From near midfield, late in the third, Hurts fired to Goedert over the middle. Kamren Curl first illegally contacted Goedert, for which he was penalized, then got a hand on the pass. No worries. Goedert caught it anyway. Playmaker. Play, made.

Again from midfield, midway through overtime, on second-and-11, Hurts found Swift, his running back, in the flat. Swift made two moves, ran through a tackle, and gained just enough yardage for a first down. Playmaker. Play, made. That play helped set up Jake Elliott’s game-winning, 54-yard field goal. Biggest play made.

There was some classic Jalen, too. With the score tied late, Commanders left defensive end James Smith-Williams charged into the backfield, unblocked by Swift. Hurts sensed danger, stepped up and to his left, and all Smith-Williams got was a handful of towel. Hurts was off for a 24-yard scamper, by far the longest of his season. Maybe that will awaken the Hurts who averaged 772 rushing yards in his first two seasons as a starter.

Maybe this will bury the passive, deferential Hurts. Maybe Fiery Jalen is what the Birds need right now.

“We’re headed in the right direction,” Brown said. “And he’s leading us.”

so much high-end talent at so many important positions: offensive line, defensive line, wide receiver, tight end. Brown, his unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty notwithstanding, was a monster Sunday, with nine receptions, 175 yards, two touchdowns, and enough zig-zaggy yards after his catches that he probably covered the distance from the Linc to Atlantic City. DeVonta Smith made as acrobatic a play as a wideout can make, leaping to haul in a 37-yard completion from Hurts late in the first half. The offensive line allowed Hurts to carry the ball twice for first downs on fourth-and-short (but only once via a quarterback sneak). This is fine, for now. Yes, the Eagles are 4-0. But this early stretch of their schedule is supposed to be the easier stretch of their schedule — no Dallas yet, no San Francisco yet, no Buffalo yet, no Miami yet, no Kansas City yet — and little about it has been smooth. Their play has been choppy, and even they acknowledge as much.

“People have to understand,” Reddick said. “Right now, we’re playing guys in positions they normally don’t play. We’re playing with a lot of young guys who we didn’t expect to have to play with, but here we are. We have to play with them. It’s just about everybody continuing to come along. We were in a defensive system last year. We’ve got a new DC this year. We’re playing some techniques a little bit

differently, so we’re still finding our way. We’re still figuring it out.

“But the one thing that’s undeniable about us — and we know this is Eagles football, but just from seeing it last year — that guys are still going out there and being relentless, no matter the situation at all. That’s our identity, to continue to go out there and attack and be dogs, and no matter how it looks, I could see and I could feel it that guys are still going out there, under any type of situation, and attacking and attacking and attacking. And as long as we keep with that, I know all

the other stuff will fix itself and get better.”

They are capable of that, for sure. It just would be nice, would just be reassuring, to see more of it sooner than later. Yes, they are 4-0, and no, that doesn’t get them ripped apart in this town, not really. But it does put them on notice: There’s a standard here that they themselves set, and they still have a good way to go to meet it.

msielski@inquirer.com t MikeSielski

Eagles linebacker Haason Reddick (7) sacks Washington Commanders quarterback Sam Howell in the fourth quarter Sunday. David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

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Eagles cornerback Josh Jobe defends Commanders receiver Terry McLaurin during the first quarter. David Maialetti / Staff

Allen’s 4 TD passes help Bills rout Dolphins

Associated Press Josh Allen threw four touchdown passes and ran for a score, and the Buffalo Bills brought Miami’s unbeaten start to an emphatic end, beating the division rival Dolphins, 48-20, Sunday in Orchard Park, N.Y.

A week after Miami had one of the most impressive offensive performances in NFL history in a 70-20 win over Denver, Buffalo (3-1) showed the Dolphins (3-1) a thing or two about efficient offense while taking over first place in the AFC East.

Stefon Diggs caught three touchdowns and finished with six receptions for 120 yards. Allen went 21 of 25 for 320 yards and had his 10th game with four passing TDs.

Miami moved the ball reasonably well, finishing with 393 yards of offense, but the Bills forced two turnovers and sacked quarterback Tua Tagovailoa four times.

The Bills suffered one major setback when cornerback Tre’Davious White was carted off in the third quarter with what the team said was an Achilles tendon injury. White pulled up while covering Tyreek Hill and was unable to put any weight on his right leg.

Buffalo (3-1) never trailed and finished with 414 yards of offense, scoring on eight of its first nine possessions. The three-time AFC East champion Bills have won three straight since a season-opening loss at the New York Jets.

The Dolphins (3-1) squandered chances to open a season with four wins for the first time since 1995 and to take a two-game lead over Buffalo in the division.

Cowboys 38, Patriots 3 — In Arlington, Texas, DaRon Bland returned one of his two interceptions for a touchdown, Leighton Vander Esch scooped up a fumble for a score, and Dallas beat New England.

Mac Jones was responsible for all three turnovers and was pulled in the second half after the Patriots faced their biggest halftime deficit (28-3) under Bill Belichick.

The Cowboys (3-1) spoiled former star running back Ezekiel Elliott’s Dallas homecoming with their 10th consecutive home victory.

The Patriots (1-3) trailed by just seven early in the second quarter when Jones was sacked from behind by Dante Fowler, leading to the easy 11-yard scoop-and-score from Vander Esch.

In the final seconds of the first half, Jones tried to throw across the field to Kendrick Bourne when Bland stepped in front and ran 54 yards untouched for a 28-3 Dallas lead.

49ers 35, Cardinals 16 — In

Santa Clara, Calif., Christian McCaffrey scored a career-high four touchdowns as San Francisco won its 14th straight regular-season game. McCaffrey gained 177 yards from scrimmage, scoring on three runs and one catch to help the 49ers get off to their fifth 4-0 start in franchise history. He also broke Jerry Rice’s franchise record by scoring a TD in his 13th straight game, including the playoffs.

Brock Purdy went 20 for 21 for 283 yards with a TD run and pass, setting a 49ers franchise record for completion percentage in a game. He won for the ninth time in nine career regular season starts, leading the 49ers to their fourth straight

game with at least 30 points to open the season. Joshua Dobbs threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns to Michael Wilson for the Cardinals (1-3).

Rams 29, Colts 23, OT — In Indianapolis, Matthew Stafford overcame a hip injury that left him limping at times to throw a 22-yard touchdown pass to record-breaking rookie Puka Nacua in overtime to give Los Angeles the win.

The Rams (2-2) have won four straight in the series, three in a row in Indy — this one coming after they blew a 23-point lead in the final 21 minutes of regulation.

Stafford was 27 of 40 with 319 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Nacua had nine receptions for 163 yards.

Indy (2-2) was trying to win its second straight overtime game behind rookie Anthony Richardson’s remarkable rally. He threw a 35-yard TD pass to Mo Alie-Cox before scoring on a 1-yard run. Then he capped the performance with a 5-yard TD pass to Drew Ogletree and the tying 2-point conversion throw to Michael Pittman Jr. with 1:56 to go.

Vikings 31, Panthers 13 — In Charlotte, N.C., Kirk Cousins threw two touchdown passes to Justin Jefferson and D.J. Wonnum returned Bryce Young’s fumble 51 yards for a momentum-changing touchdown, as Minnesota beat Carolina for its first win of the season.

Cousins overcame two interceptions, including one that was returned 99 yards for a touchdown by Sam Franklin, and finished with 139 yards passing. Jefferson beat a Carolina secondary playing without three starters for 85 yards on six catches.

Bryce Young was 25 of 32 for 204 yards for Carolina (0-4).

Titans 27, Bengals 3 — In Nashville, Tenn., Ryan Tannehill threw for 240 yards and a touchdown as Tennessee rebounded from the franchise’s worst offensive performance in 49 years by routing Cincinnati.

The Titans (2-2) managed only 94 yards in losing last week in Cleveland, and they bounced back strongly. They scored 27 unanswered points and led 24-3 at halftime, giving coach Mike Vrabel his first win in four tries against Cincinnati (1-3).

Derrick Henry ran 29 yards for a touchdown, and he also found rookie tight end Josh Whyle for a 2-yard TD on a jump pass from the wildcat just before halftime. Henry, held to just 20 yards rushing last week, finished with 122 yards on 22 carries.

Ravens 28, Browns 3 — in Cleveland, Lamar Jackson ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more against Cleveland’s topranked defense, leading Baltimore past Cleveland, which played without injured quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Jackson scored untouched on runs of 10 yards and 2 yards and threaded a 7-yard scoring pass to tight end Mark Andrews with 11 seconds left before halftime as the Ravens (3-1) opened a 21-3 lead.

Baltimore’s electrifying QB added an 18-yard TD pass to Andrews in the fourth quarter to put an exclamation point on the blowout.

Buccaneers 26, Saints 9 — In New Orleans, Baker Mayfield threw

three touchdown passes for Tampa Bay, but Derek Carr’s surprise return from a shoulder injury did little to help New Orleans’ anemic offense.

Mayfield completed 25 of 32 for 246 yards including TDs to Cade Otten, Trey Palmer, and Deven Thompkins as the Bucs (3-1) took over first place in the NFC South.

Broncos 31, Bears 28 — In Chicago, Russell Wilson threw for three touchdowns, Wil Lutz kicked a tiebreaking field goal with just under two minutes remaining, and Denver bounced back from one of the most lopsided losses in franchise history.

Denver (1-3) was coming off a 70-20 blowout by Miami that was franchise’s second-worst loss of the Super Bowl era, behind only a 51-0 pounding by the Raiders in 1967.

Lutz’s 51-yarder capped a comeback from a 28-7, third-quarter deficit. Kareem Jackson then intercepted Justin Fields with the Bears

Poconos: MostlysunnyandwarmMonday; foginthemorning,thennice.High73to80. MainlyclearMondaynight.

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Delaware: PatchyfogMondaymorning; otherwise,mostlysunny.High73to81.Mainly clearMondaynight.

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Albany78/55/s84/60/s81/61/s Albuquerque79/51/s73/50/s74/52/pc Allentown80/53/s83/57/s81/54/s Anchorage47/31/r46/30/s46/33/s Atlanta84/62/s83/62/s82/62/s AtlanticCity72/57/s73/60/s73/62/s Baltimore84/59/s84/59/s83/58/s Boston70/56/s79/64/s72/59/s Buffalo79/61/pc83/59/pc87/65/s Charleston,S.C.84/61/s82/63/s81/65/s Charlotte85/59/s83/58/s82/59/s Chicago85/63/s86/69/s83/63/pc Cincinnati85/60/s87/61/s86/63/pc Cleveland80/60/pc83/61/pc86/66/s Dallas94/72/s94/76/pc88/70/t Denver84/44/t69/42/pc64/42/pc DesMoines89/66/s88/63/pc77/53/t Detroit82/59/s83/61/s84/65/pc Harrisburg85/61/s87/62/s85/59/s Helena64/44/c53/39/sh64/41/pc Honolulu87/73/sh88/71/sh86/73/r Houston95/71/s89/75/t88/73/t Indianapolis86/60/s87/62/s86/64/pc Jackson,Miss.91/60/pc90/62/s91/63/pc JacksonHole52/35/sh46/33/sh55/29/pc Jacksonville85/64/c84/68/s84/69/pc KansasCity91/66/s86/66/pc78/56/t

LasVegas75/60/s79/62/s84/61/s Lincoln92/71/s80/59/t74/48/t LosAngeles74/57/s79/59/s85/61/s Memphis91/67/pc91/67/pc90/69/pc Miami87/77/t89/74/t89/76/t Milwaukee84/63/s83/69/pc79/64/c Minneapolis87/68/pc82/62/t70/55/sh NewOrleans87/74/s91/71/sh91/73/pc NewYork76/61/s82/66/s80/64/s Orlando88/72/pc90/73/pc86/72/t Phoenix87/65/pc90/67/s95/69/s Pittsburgh82/59/pc82/59/pc83/61/s Portland,Maine72/50/s80/58/s70/54/s Portland,Ore.57/53/r65/52/c70/51/pc Richmond83/58/s83/59/s83/56/s St.Thomas90/81/r88/81/r89/81/t St.Louis89/65/s90/68/pc87/66/pc Salisbury80/55/s83/56/s81/55/s SaltLakeCity51/47/t56/45/c65/45/s SanDiego73/60/s76/61/s79/61/s SanFrancisco73/55/pc80/60/s90/63/s SanJuan91/81/pc90/80/t90/79/t Scranton79/57/s84/60/pc84/57/s Seattle57/50/r60/50/c66/51/pc Tampa90/72/pc90/72/s90/73/pc Washington84/62/s85/62/s85/60/s Wilmington81/57/s83/57/s81/55/s

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(0-4) near midfield.

Texans 30, Steelers 6 — In Houston, rookie C.J. Stroud had another big game, throwing for 306 yards and two touchdowns to lead Houston past Pittsburgh. Stroud, the second overall pick in the draft, continued his strong start and he threw a TD pass to get things going in a first half where the Texans built a 16-0 lead. Sunday was his second 300-yard passing game and he has thrown six touchdown passes with no interceptions in his first four games. Kenny Pickett threw for 114 yards with an interception and struggled to move the offense before leaving late in the third quarter with a knee injury. The loss ends a two-game winning streak for the Steelers (2-2) and will likely increase the pressure on third-year offensive coordinator Matt Canada after another subpar offensive performance.

Mitch Trubisky threw for 18 yards after Pickett left.

Chargers 24, Raiders 17 — In Inglewood, Calif., Khalil Mack set a franchise single-game record with six sacks, Justin Herbert accounted for three touchdowns, and Los Angeles (2-2) held on to beat Las Vegas (1-3).

It was the sixth time since sacks became an official statistic in 1982 that a player had at least six in a game. The record is seven, by Kansas City’s Derrick Thomas in 1990. Herbert completed 13 of 24 passes for 167 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He also had 30 yards rushing and a pair of scores.

Jaguars 23, Falcons 7 — In London, Josh Allen had three sacks and Darious Williams returned an interception for a 61-yard score to help Jacksonville (2-2) halt a twogame skid.

Bills receiver Stefon Diggs, center, celebrates his touchdown with offensive tackle Spencer Brown, left, and quarterback Josh Allen. Diggs caught three TD passes in the game. AP

Harriel steps up to help exhausted Union

By Jonathan Tannenwald Staff Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Chalk it up to the innocence of youth, perhaps, that the Union’s Nathan Harriel reads his own press clippings.

Not that we discourage him from reading The Inquirer, of course. Veterans usually stay away from what’s written about them, though, in soccer like every other sport.

Harriel said after Saturday’s 1-1 tie at the Columbus Crew that he knows there’s been criticism of his lack of attacking savvy. The 22-yearold right back doesn’t move up the flank as often as Olivier Mbaizo, and Mbaizo is a better passer when he gets there.

But just as the morning paper has many sections, a right back has many ways to contribute. Thanks to a tactical switch by manager Jim Curtin, Harriel played a game that earned him headlines.

Curtin lined Harriel up at right centerback in a 3-5-2 formation meant to lessen the burden on other regulars. It’s risky to back off a Columbus squad with an MLS joint-best 62 goals scored this year, but it was necessary amid seven games in 21 days — with home games vs. Atlanta and Nashville coming this week.

The Crew piled on attackers: Cucho Hernández, Diego Rossi, Darlington Nagbe, Christian Ramirez, and more. Harriel repelled them repeatedly, often smashing the ball halfway upfield to make sure of it.

“We sat back tonight, and we had to do anything we can do to survive,” Harriel said. “If it wasn’t safe to play it through the lines, the best thing to do is boot it up, regroup, step your lines up, and just get ready for the next wave to come down.

When there’s time to play it through, you play it through, but if it’s not there, there’s no need to risk anything.”

Then came his perfectly-placed header off Kai Wagner’s 50th-minute corner kick for the Union’s goal. Harriel was surprisingly unmarked among the crowd, and he made Columbus pay.

“Teams still don’t mark me in the box, and I probably have the highest vertical on this team even though I’m one of the smallest guys,” Harriel said. “Everyone says I can’t contribute to the attack, and tonight I had a goal. So it’s just nice for people to be able to see I can contribute.”

Message duly sent. Curtin sent one too, with his postgame praise.

“To watch the growth of a player [to] play outside back, play center back on the right, play center back on the left, and do a lot of jobs for us,” he said, “he’s kind of become a Swiss Army knife. You can plug him in anywhere.”

Blake’s big night

Harriel wasn’t the night’s only hero. Goalkeeper Andre

Blake was exceptional even by his standards, registering eight saves and two high claims in the air. But it raised alarms that he didn’t take goal kicks, a sign of a potential groin injury. Curtin and Blake confirmed that there’s a concern.

“It’s tight, it’s not pulled,” Curtin said. “With the amount of kicks he would have had to make tonight, you start to run the risk.”

Blake told The Inquirer that the pain started nagging him in pregame warmups before Wednesday’s 1-1 tie with Dallas. So this was precautionary, not reactionary. And it was clear from a lot of those saves that Blake wasn’t hurting too much overall.

“I’m just trying to be smart and see if I can calm it down,” he said. “If I can save my legs, I’ll just do that.”

Along with the Union’s three remaining games, Blake has two big ones coming with Jamaica in the mid-October FIFA window.

The Reggae Boyz have Concacaf Nations League group stage road contests vs. Grenada and Haiti as they seek to win their group and reach the knockout rounds, which serve as qualifiers for next year’s Copa América.

Both the Union and Jamaica deserve to have Blake at his best for their games that matter most. If that means he doesn’t take goal kicks, it’s a small price to pay.

Everyone is exhausted

This was the Union’s 45th game of the year. Six more are guaranteed to come in the regular season and playoffs. If the Union return to the MLS Cup final, the total will be nine.

Playing 54 games with a 30-player roster is not right, and it’s not just the Union who are suffering. Saturday’s results across MLS showed there’s fatigue leaguewide:

seven ties and two 1-0 games among the night’s 13 contests.

This can’t stand forever.

If the Leagues Cup is to remain a summer insertion that causes traffic jams elsewhere, MLS must either expand its rosters and the salary cap significantly or suffer a lesser product.

If the league office and Apple think they can get away with the latter because Lionel Messi is hogging the spotlight, they’re wrong. Fans are smart enough to know where to put their money — especially when they’re being asked for ever more of it. Season ticket prices for next year are skyrocketing in Miami, D.C., and elsewhere.

Jack Elliot spoke for a lot of people when he shared his frustrations.

“I’ve lost count of what number game this is so far this season,” the veteran centerback said. “It’s the longest season we’ve ever had, and we see that now with the amount of injuries we’re getting from players who are playing a lot of minutes.”

There’s some relief coming. Curtin signaled that Jakob Glesnes and José Andrés Martínez will return Wednesday vs. Atlanta (7:30 p.m., Apple TV, paywalled). Kai Wagner will get a night off due to yellow card accumulation, even if it’s not how he intended to rest.

But that won’t solve the bigger problem. Only leaguewide changes this winter can.

“Everyone within the teams know something has to be done about that,” Elliott said. “I think there will be probably be some conversations about it with the amount of games that go on.”

A lot of people hope he’s right.

jtannenwald@inquirer. com t thegoalkeeper

Nathan Harriel celebrates his goal in the Union’s 1-1 tie at the Columbus Crew on Saturday. Philadelphia Union

WONDERWORD

WORDGAME

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CROSSWORD:“Something’sUp”

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Saturday’sAnswers: 1.MASTERPIECE2.SEVEN3.NEFARIOUSLY 4.PRESSES5.KLONDIKE6.DEICED7.HAWKE

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Saturday’sCryptoquote: Lovethetreesuntiltheirleavesfalloff, thenencouragethemtotryagainnextyear.—ChadSugg

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