Philly Fromage Expert Emilia D’Albero Explains How to Live Your Best Cheese Life

Cheesemonger Olympics gold medalist Emilia D’Albero / Photograph by Stevie Chris

South Philly’s own Emilia D’Albero recently became the first American ever to win a gold medal at the Cheesemonger Olympics in France. Here, she talks Cooper Sharp, living in Point Breeze, and the one huge mistake you’re making with your pecorino.

I was named after … my great-grandmother, who came over on the boat from Italy when she was a teenager.

My job is … spreading knowledge and passion for cheese. I handle sales and marketing for a company that sells cheese packaging and storage and tools.

One cheese I do not like is … industrial-produced Brie that has the rind sprayed on and tastes how I imagine diaper to taste.

The stinkiest cheese you can eat is … Foxglove from Tulip Tree Creamery.

When I want to relax … I watch any hospital TV show. I love watching stressful situations on TV. Watching stressful situations somehow makes me feel less stressed.

My partner, Tommy, is … also a champion cheesemonger, and he is the category manager of cheese and charcuterie for DiBruno’s.

When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up to be … a marine biologist, but it turned out that science wasn’t my strong suit.

I became a cheesemonger by … accident. I was working for Eataly corporate in New York and wanted to become a butcher, and they told me to start on the cheese counter and learn some knife skills. Then I fell in love with cheese, and that was eight years ago.

When I am not thinking about cheese, I am … playing with our dog, Bruna Alpina, named after a brown Swiss dairy cow breed.

A cheesemonger is … someone who specializes in the sale of cheese, butter and other dairy products. But we also tell the stories of the cheese and represent the producers and connect customers with their favorite cheeses. We are stewards and educators.

If you ask me to play Fuck, Marry, Kill with Cooper Sharp, Cheez Whiz, and provolone, I would … kill Cheez Whiz, obviously. I’d marry provolone. And I would absolutely fuck Cooper Sharp. I’m such a Cooper Sharp girl. It’s the only cheese I always have in my fridge.

The most expensive cheese I have encountered is … a Smeraldo white truffle pecorino for around $100 per pound.

People like cheese so much because … there is a cheese for every palate, and also, cheese is a taste of the moment in history when it was made and the place where it was made. Every cheese tells a different story.

If you want me to talk about something other than cheese, you should probably ask me about … sharks or 2000–2010 emo music.

Emilia D’Albero wins the gold medal earlier this year (photo by Alexandre Alloul)

One cheese you should consider for a holiday gift is … Gruyère Alpage, a raw cow’s milk cheese made at a super high elevation in Switzerland. The cows eat such a lush mix of grasses, flowers, and herbs. It comes from a tradition that has lasted hundreds and hundreds of years. And it’s very labor intensive keeping this tradition alive.

The best cheese for a grilled cheese is … Comté, a younger profile but still with that oniony, savory note, and it melts well.

I celebrated my big win by … traveling through France and Italy with my partner, my best friend, and my boss – and eating more cheese.

If you want to try making cheese at home, I would start with … not doing it. Leave the cheese to the professionals. Seriously.

One mistake most people make with cheese is … wrapping it in plastic wrap. That suffocates your cheese and makes it mold faster. Also, buying too much cheese all at once. The key is buying less cheese more often.

The most beautiful space in Philadelphia is … Suraya. Whenever someone visits me, I take them there. And their brunch is unreal.

Living in Point Breeze is … better than I ever dreamed it could be. My quality of life is one I never thought I would have.

On New Year’s Eve, you will find me … dipping nontraditional things into a very high-quality fondue.

The second-best food to cheese is … steak.

A local cheesemaker you should visit is … Birchrun Hills Farm and Perrystead Dairy.

I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but … I love eating puffy Cheetos. As a cheese professional, that feels sinful.

Published as “One of Us: Emilia D’Albero” in the December 2025/January 2026 issue of Philadelphia magazine.

Sylvester Stallone Decides to Let Philly Keep Original Rocky Statue

Sylvester Stallone with the original Rocky statue, which he has decided to let the city keep (Getty Images)

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Sylvester Stallone Decides to Let Philly Keep Original Rocky Statue

Oh, what a difference a day makes! Yesterday, I told you that Sylvester Stallone wanted his original Rocky statue back – the one that has been sitting at the bottom of the Art Museum steps every day and night for two decades – and that the city intended to give it back to him. Stallone had loaned the city another casting of the same Rocky statue, which has been sitting at the top of the Art Museum steps since last year (for the inaugural, month-long RockyFest,) and the plan was for Philly to keep that one. Not the original and not the one that has so much history and selfies and Philly grit behind it.

But at a Philadelphia Art Commission meeting on Wednesday morning, city officials revealed that they had met with Stallone and that based on “strong and heartfelt feedback from the public, Mr. Stallone has graciously decided that we will no longer move forward with the proposed statue swap.”

Also of note from the meeting: the Art Commission approved the city’s conceptual proposal of finding a permanent location for the Rocky statue – now meaning the original Rocky statue – on top of the steps close to where the replica temporarily stands.

More on this as it develops.

Shapiro Watch

A Pennsylvania Senate committee wants to know how Governor Shapiro is using taxpayer dollars to make security updates to his personal home in Abington following the arson attack on his official government residence, so they have subpoenaed the administration. “No administration — Republican or Democrat — should be allowed to operate in the shadows when public funds are involved,” wrote the Republican chair of that panel in a statement. “Are we just going to give every future governor a blank check to spend on security without any oversight?” Some Democratic members of the committee expressed concerns over the issuing of the legislative subpoena, a rarely used tool in the state.

From the Department of Lists

Another day, another national food list that Philly makes. This time, Mawn’s banh chow salad has landed on “The 23 Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025” in the New York Times. For more on what makes Mawn tick, check out Philly Mag restaurant critic Jason Sheehan’s deep dive into that very subject in the November issue of the magazine.

By the Numbers

2: Brothers in South Jersey arrested on Tuesday for allegedly taking to social media and threatening to “shoot ICE on sight.” However you feel about ICE, pretty sure this is a bad way to proceed.

12-1: Odds now on the Philadelphia Eagles to win the Super Bowl, according to online gambling sites. That’s not good. Let’s see how they do this Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders, who are tied for the second-worst team in the entire league, in the good company of the Tennessee Titans. So, can we still win the NFC East? Yes, we can. Our main competition? Yep, the Cowboys. Ugh.

28,979: Chickie’s & Pete’s Crabfries served at Xfinity Mobile Arena over a recent stretch of nine days when the area, formerly known as the Wells Fargo Center, hosted ten big events. And because Crabfries go so well with beer, I should mention that 6,247 gallons of it were served.

Local Talent

Why play one Philly venue in one weekend when you can play two? That seems to be the philosophy of Philly punk rock stalwarts The Starting Line, who will play the TLA on Friday night and then hit the Fillmore on Saturday. The band recently released their fourth studio album, Eternal Youth, and I quite like this single. For more info on the shows, go here.

Sylvester Stallone Wants His Rocky Statue Back. And the City Is Giving It to Him

Then-mayor Jim Kenney and Sylvester Stallone pose with the original Rocky statue outside of the Philadelphia Art Museum in 2018. (Getty Images)

Update: On Wednesday morning, city officials announced that Sylvester Stallone has decided to let Philadelphia keep the original Rocky statue. More on his reasoning here.

Original:

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Sylvester Stallone Wants His Rocky Statue Back. And the City of Philadelphia Is Giving It to Him

Philadelphia has changed a lot over the last two decades, but a very important, very Philly thing has stayed the same. Since 2006, the Rocky statue has sat at the foot of the Philadelphia Art Museum’s steps, just to the right, where hordes of fans of the movie franchise queue up for selfies with a statue of the Italian Stallion. Long before “Instagrammable moments” were a thing, Rocky was there, 24/7, ready for his close-up with whoever wanted to mimic his raised, ripped arms. But that could soon change.

The city intends to remove the statue – which was made as a movie prop for Rocky III (think Hulk Hogan as Thunderlips and Mr. T as “Clubber Lang”) – and return it to its original owner, Sylvester Stallone, who commissioned the eight-and-a-half foot bronze in 1982 and eventually donated it to the city. They plan to swap it out with a replica – made from the exact same mold by the exact same artist who Stallone commissioned in the first place.

Which begs the question: Why?

“He asked for it back, for reasons I don’t know,” says City of Philadelphia chief cultural officer Valerie Gay. “And we are happy to respect his wishes. We are extremely happy to have him swap it out with this other statue.”

That “other statue,” as you may or may not know, is already on Art Museum property, standing awkwardly at the top of the museum’s 72 steps (within sight of the other Rocky statue below) where it was placed in December 2024 to celebrate the city’s inaugural RockyFest, a month-long event dedicated to the film that won best picture at the Oscars in 1977. It’s Stallone’s personal casting of the statue, which he lent to the city for the fest (does he keep extras in his garage?), and its placement was reportedly supposed to be temporary.

Now, though, the loaner will belong to the city, and the original – the one that was in the actual movie – will go home with Stallone. The matter is up for discussion at a Philadelphia Art Commission meeting on Wednesday.

The city says it intends to use $150,000 of taxpayer money to install the knock-off Rocky statue in a permanent location on top of the steps. Which is funny. Because, for a while, the original statue actually did sit at the top of the steps but was removed amid debates over its cultural worth. After all, said naysayers back then, the bronze was a movie prop for a not particularly good movie sequel. Plopping it directly in front of our world-class art museum felt like an insult to the Cézannes and Duchamps inside. The statue was exiled for a while to a spot outside the Spectrum (RIP!), then moved back to the museum for the filming of the nausea-inducing Rocky V. After that? Back to the Spectrum. And then, officials moved it to its present, less showy location off to the right of the steps.

And now comes word that Rocky will be right back where he started, at the top of the steps, this time for good.

The Rocky statue atop the Philadelphia Art Museum steps in 1990 (Getty Images)

Gay and Anglin noted the seeming irony in their letter, but offered new insight about the statue’s cultural relevance and worth, writing:

We also see this as an opportunity to lean into the evolving conversation about what is considered ‘art,’ and what deserves a place in our most treasured civic spaces. The Rocky statue is a clear example of this evolution. Its artistic significance has not been shaped by institutions, but by the millions of people who engage with it year after year. By formalizing its placement at the top of the steps, we are seeking to honor that public connection, strengthen this iconic site, and enhance the experience for residents and visitors.”

As a longtime Rocky fan and city booster, I’m not opposed to the placement at the top of the steps. But let’s be real: the statue that actually belongs up there is the one that was actually created for the movie. I don’t care that the replica was created from the exact same mold that the exact same sculptor used for the original. That’s like saying that taking a selfie with Stallone is the same as taking one with the wax Sly at Madame Tussaud’s. The replica is missing all the original’s history, grit and heart. It feels like a cheat.

“I’m agnostic as far as which statue we have,” insists Kathryn Ott Lovell, head of the Philadelphia Visitor Center, who describes herself as the world’s biggest Rocky fan. “Just so we have a statue. And they are really identical statues. I never really understood how intertwined Philly and Rocky were until I started working in the tourism industry here. People love that statue.”

TrumpWatch

The president turned up at Mount Airy Resort Casino on Tuesday morning. Here’s what he had to say.

Snow Savings

Your kids may be lamenting the fact that Philadelphia is in the middle of a years-long snow drought. But one thing is for sure: The lack of snow is saving the state lots of money, an estimated $2 million over the last six years.

By the Numbers

8: Number of youth football players from Philadelphia facing charges in Polk County, Florida, for allegedly stealing more than $2,000 of merch from a sporting goods store before their championship game there. Police in the Sunshine State actually held a press conference about all of this. Must be a sleepy town.

$150 million: Amount that Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber will make over the next five years, per the contract he and the Phillies just reportedly hammered out.

9th: Ranking of Pennsylvania on a list of states with the most expensive gasoline in the nation, at an average of $3.20 per gallon. But, hey, at least we’re not in California, where gas is averaging $4.51 per gallon. Way down yonder in Oklahoma, the cheapest state? $2.40.

Local Talent

If you’re looking for some holiday fun, look no further than Philly actor Chris Davis and the return of his One-Man Nutcracker. It’s exactly what it sounds like. A must see! The show runs through January 5th at the Drake.

Judge Gives Philly Writer Even More Prison Time Than He Was Supposed to Get in Child Sex Offense Case

Left: Philadelphia writer and journalist Michael Hochman in a provided photo. Right: Michael Hochman in his most recent Pennsylvania Megan’s Law registry photo.

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Philadelphia Writer Michael Hochman Gets 20 Years In Child Sex Offense Case

Longtime Philadelphia writer Michael Hochman, who worked for Visit Philly and Crossing Broad and penned at least one piece for the Inquirer, is now a two-time child sex offender. Late last week, a judge sentenced Hochman to 20 years in federal prison on a charge that he possessed child sex abuse materials, five years more than he was expecting.

The FBI arrested Hochman in June after a two-year investigation that began in St. Louis, where a woman reported that her 15-year-old daughter had been engaged in sexually explicit chats with a man, chats that included the exchange of sexually explicit images and videos. That investigation eventually led authorities to identify Hochman as the man behind the messages, and they executed a search warrant on him in August 2024, seizing devices that prosecutors alleged contained thousands of images and videos depicting child sexual abuse.

Last April, as investigators continued to build their case, Hochman solicited generic letters of support from employers and other organizations he’d worked with, including two letters that came from Visit Philly executives. Philly Mag probed these letters for a story we published in late October, determining that the writers were unaware that their letters were to be used to support the character of a sex offender. The FBI determined the same after interviewing the authors, who withdrew their letters of support after reading our story.

Hochman, of Huntingdon Valley, was already in Pennsylvania’s sex-offender registry at the time of his arrest. That dates back to 2002, when a court in Kansas convicted Hochman of aggravated indecent liberties with a child.

“What I have learned from the court documents is truly some of the most vile stuff I’ve ever heard of in my life, and I’m a licensed therapist of more than 20 years,” says Jessica MacNair, a longtime friend of Hochman’s. “I only found out about who he really is from your first article about him in June. He truly led a double life.”

In the latest case, prosecutors and Hochman’s attorney made a plea deal of 15 years, but at sentencing last week, the judge decided 15 just wasn’t enough and added on another five years, also labeling Hochman’s acts “vile.”

A SEPTA Strike?

Nope. Governor Josh Shapiro convinced the parties to return to the negotiating table on Monday, and a tentative deal has been reached. So expect SEPTA service to stay normal for now – whatever normal means for SEPTA these days.

By the Numbers

$47,000: Current bid on the 2024 Super Bowl ring belonging to some guy named Laekin Vakalahi, who apparently played for our championship team. It’s estimated to be worth at least $80,000. Heck, I’ll pay you $20 if you can tell me what his position was without peeking at the story.

1: Golden Globe nominations involving Task, the critically acclaimed, locally shot HBO series by Main Line writer Brad Ingelsby. Task is Ingelsby’s followup to Mare of Easttown, which received two Globe nominations and won one.

$8.6 million: Grants just awarded to 28 local arts organizations (those grants range from $80,000 to $360,000) and 12 Philly-area artists ($85,000 each) by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

Local Talent

Congrats to Philly drag queen Mandy Mango, who is joining the 18th season of RuPaul’s Drag Race on MTV, which still exists (?!). Season 18 kicks off in January with Mango, a registered nurse by day, battling it out with 13 other queens for the $200,000 prize.

Josh Shapiro Puts Kamala Harris on Blast Over “Blatant Lies”

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro | Former United States Vice President and presidential contender Kamala Harris (photos via Getty Images)

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Josh Shapiro Puts Kamala Harris on Blast Over “Blatant Lies”

If you’ve yet to consume the new, nearly 8,000-word piece about our governor Josh Shapiro in The Atlantic — “The Operator – Josh Shapiro has spent his life preparing to lead an America that might no longer exist” — I suggest adding it to your weekend reading list.

There’s plenty to absorb there, but one of the most remarkable moments in the article is when Shapiro – usually an imperturbable leader who speaks in measured, Obama-like tones — loses his cool when he learns (for the first time, claims the reporter) what Kamala Harris said about Shapiro in her new memoir, <em<107 Days. Our governor, of course, had been in the running to be Harris’ running mate (she eventually selected folksy Minnesota Gov. Tim. Walz).

In her book, she described Shapiro as “poised, polished, and personable” before claiming that the guv told her that he wanted to be in the room for each and every decision that she made. “I told him bluntly that was an unrealistic expectation,” Harris wrote. “A vice president is not a co-president. I had a nagging concern that he would be unable to settle for a role as number two and that it would wear on our partnership… I had to be able to completely trust the person in that role.”

Josh Shapiro and Kamala Harris share a moment in happier times (Getty Images)

Then there was this: Harris also shared that before she even had the chance to sit down with Shapiro, he asked the manager of the official vice presidential residence how many bedrooms there were in the compound and whether the Smithsonian would loan him art from its collection to decorate the place.

When previously asked about the claims Harris made in the book, Shapiro basically shrugged them off. His responses were always studied. Apparently, he has now taken off the gloves.

In the Atlantic article, Shapiro refers to some of her claims as “complete and utter bullshit” and adds that “her accounts are just blatant lies.” He also said that Harris wrote what she wrote because “she’s trying to sell books and cover her ass.” He then caught himself and said, “I shouldn’t say ‘cover her ass,’ I think that’s not appropriate… She’s trying to sell books, period.”

Should Shapiro and Harris both decide to run for president in 2028, well, the debates should be fun.

Oh Look: We Made Another List

It seems like publications can’t stop putting Philadelphia on their lists, fortunately for good reasons (even though we sometimes disagree with those designations). The latest list to feature Philadelphia? Travel + Leisure’s 50 must-visit destinations around the world. Philadelphia made the cut thanks to (what else?) our food scene.

SEPTA Watch

You know those SEPTA Silverliner Regional Rail cars that have an unfortunate propensity to catch fire and that the federal government has ordered SEPTA to repair? Well, there’s reportedly a delay in the repairs because SEPTA can’t find the wires (yes, wires) it needs to comply with the order.

Top Cop

In this just-published in-depth interview, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel talks plummeting homicides, horrible drivers, and the rise of ICE raids.

Making New Friends

What would it be like to attend a dinner party at a Center City restaurant where you know no one at the party and where you can’t look at your cell phone even once during the entire dinner? My colleague Laura Brzyski answers that question for you in this fascinating personal essay.

By the Numbers

12 p.m.: Time on Friday when something called the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw will take place. Apparently, there are watch parties for the announcement. Then, on Saturday, we’ll find out which teams will play in Philadelphia next year, including on July 4th. I dunno. Wake me when baseball season starts.

37,000: Number of abandoned vehicle complaints the city has received each year (on average) for the last four years. WHYY has this informative piece on what to do if there’s an abandoned car in your neighborhood.

$76 million: Appraised value of Northeast Philly’s Franklin Mall (nee Franklin Mills), which is for sale. That value in 2012 was north of $200 million. Ouch. That said, there’s still a Cinnabon there, so all is not lost.

7,297 (and counting): Strangers that this Philadelphia man has met over the last seven years. His goal is to hit 10,000.

Local Talent

If you’re a Meek Mill fan, you’ll want to know that the hometown rap hero is taking to the stage at Xfinity Mobile Arena (fka Wells Fargo Center) on Friday night with some unspecified friends. And if that’s not exactly your cup of tea, here are plenty of other ideas for how to spend your weekend. My personal suggestions: Hadestown at the Forrest, Homo for the Holigays (imagine a comedy show hosted by a gay bee) at Punch Line, and Sunday’s Open Streets event, which will see Walnut Street from Broad to 19th and 18th Street from Locust to Chestnut closed to vehicular traffic.

Philly’s Top Cop Talks Plummeting Homicides, Horrible Drivers, and ICE Raids

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel / Photograph by Kyle Kielinski

He started as a beat cop in 1986 after dropping out of Temple. Nearly 40 years later, he’s at the helm of the force at a time when homicides are set to hit record lows, even as the perception of Philadelphia as a place where “bad things happen” persists. Here, Kevin Bethel explains what the department is doing right and what it so desperately needs (you!), and pushes back on our suggestion that Kensington is as bad as it ever was.

Good morning, sir.
Hey, man. Good morning. How are you doing?

I think you could say that I’m hanging in there. Thank you for asking. I’m curious — what time does the police commissioner of the sixth-largest city in the nation have to set his alarm for in the morning?
Oh, man. Well, I’m up around five, try to do a workout [laughs], on the road at a quarter to seven, and get here no later than 7:25, in plenty of time for the 8:10 call.

8:10 call?
That’s a call I do with all of the commanders in the field reporting out any incidents, any trends; we do district reports. There are about 160 of us on the call. It’s important to keep everybody engaged and have everybody knowing what happens everywhere in the city.

Your official bio says you live in Philly, but I seem to have found a home you own in North Wales.
Well, I moved to North Wales but then moved back into the city. I lived downtown at 16th and Race for a year but wasn’t fond of that at all, and so I got a place in Roxborough. My daughter’s my landlord! And my wife is still out in North Wales.

You originally came from Southwest Philly and grew up in the 1960s at a time when the distrust of cops was becoming a real “thing.” What was your family’s position on policing?
Listen, I was born in 1963 and grew up with the following three pictures on the wall: Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, and JFK. I started out at Catholic school, where we read the Ten Commandments every day. I was an altar boy. My point is that I was taught respect. At home and at school. Respect for all adults, police or no police. I also didn’t have any negative interactions with the police, though certainly some in my neighborhood did. My impression was always that if you weren’t doing anything wrong, the cops left you alone, but if you were doing stuff, the cops would be on you.

So did you grow up wanting to be a cop?
Not at all, man. I went to Temple for a year but didn’t make it through, so I dropped out of college and was then working two jobs, one at UPS and one as a porter and laborer at Misericordia Hospital. This was the early ’80s. Then came the consent decree, where the department was actively recruiting more officers of color. I saw a couple of my friends going to the academy, and I said, you know what, let me give this a shot. That was 1986. Best decision I ever made in my life. And years later I went back to college, and then got my master’s at St. Joe’s.

What did your earliest years as a cop teach you?
My dad left my life when I was nine, and my mother worked very hard to raise four boys. We were evicted twice. And I used to think we were poor. But then I became a cop and started walking through the doors of people in the community and realized, oh shit, I am not poor at all. It wasn’t until then that I really understood poverty.

And what’s the biggest change for the better between being a cop in 1986 and in 2025?
There is a lot, but I have to say the technology. I remember reading years ago about how one day we were going to have this or that. It was George Jetson stuff. That’s never gonna happen! And now I look at the technology we have today. It’s just amazing.

The worst?
I wouldn’t use the word worst but … we are one of the most powerful entities in the world. We have the ability to walk up and take somebody’s liberty away. The president of the United States cannot do that. We can —

— Er, I think the president thinks he probably can do that.
[Laughs] You’ll notice I didn’t name a president. But when I originally left the force in 2016 for the first time, I felt like we were hitting our stride and doing enforcement the way we should. We had a great relationship with the community. So then to watch the profession be vilified, to see all the defund the police stuff, that was hard. We lost the trust of the community, but then again, they do not trust anybody. They don’t trust politicians. They don’t trust doctors. Nobody. But I think we are starting to turn things around and hope that we never go into that dark space again.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel speaks with reporters after an April shooting. / Photograph by Ryan Collerd/Getty Images

We’re on track to end 2025 with fewer than 240 homicides. Should that happen, this would be the lowest number of homicides we’ve seen since LBJ was in the White House, and drastically fewer than the hellscape that Philly was in 2021, when we hit 562. I realize that we’re seeing homicide rates fall similarly in other major cities around the country, but what are we doing right here?
There are many factors. You have to remember that when we hit 562 — I wasn’t here then, as I was the chief of school safety for the district — we had lost so many men and women from the department. Staffing continues to be a problem, and we are still 1,000 officers short of where we need to be, which is 6,300, but since I arrived, we keep graduating officers from the academy.

So more police on the street. What else?
You have to look at our improved clearance rates in both homicides and nonfatal shootings. This is one of the key reasons that numbers are dropping in those areas.

You’re talking about the percentage of cases solved.
Yes. It’s one of the main ways a department measures investigative effectiveness and community cooperation. During COVID, our clearance rates for homicides were hovering between 40 and 50 percent after years of averaging in the 60s. Meanwhile, our nonfatal shooting clearance rates were between 10 and 15 percent.

I had no idea they were so low.
Well, as of today, our homicide clearance rate is at 84 percent, and our nonfatal shooting clearance rate is around 40 percent. Those are huge jumps. Our best numbers in decades. And since nonfatal shootings could lead to homicides, making arrests quickly in those cases helps prevent retaliation and future violence.

Why did the department suddenly get so much better at solving serious crimes?
In part, advances in technology. Then there is the creation of our Shooting Investigations Group, which focuses almost exclusively on nonfatal shootings. Also, we have more time and resources to properly handle each case. During COVID, our investigative capacity was stretched to the limit.

Clearly, what you are doing is working. One area where your department could really use improvement is traffic enforcement. I drive in the city almost daily, and since COVID, it’s just become the Wild West. People do not care about traffic laws or safety. We’re never going to achieve the Vision Zero goal of zero traffic deaths with people flouting the traffic laws so egregiously.
I fully understand. I hear the complaints often. It will take a process. We need to meet our staffing goals. And also, please understand that we are serving 1.4 million people over 135 square miles. We get 2.5 million calls annually into our 911 system. So we are trying to balance all of that. We are working to reset the norms.

I hear that, but I see cars literally blowing through red lights — not pink lights! — and thundering down Walnut Street in West Philly at 50-plus miles per hour, right past cops who do not turn on their lights or do a thing. What gives?
Again, there are the realities of our staffing issues. And we need to make a decision of whether we make a car stop that involves two officers and takes a period of time when 911 is being flooded with other kinds of calls. We have to prioritize.

What do you bring from the school district into your role as commissioner?
We have a plethora of community members out there working with young people to make sure they are in the right direction. We know that within two hours after school within one mile of the school presents the greatest danger to juveniles, and this is why PAL and programs like it are so important.

Some believe that due to leadership changes at ICE on the local level, Philadelphia could experience some of the more extreme ICE activity that we’ve seen around the country. How exactly is the Philadelphia Police Department interacting with ICE, if at all, and how will you in the future?
More than 20 years ago, the commissioner at the time recognized that we needed to work with the immigrant community. We realized that many people from that community were not reporting offenses because they were scared. So we have built strong relationships with the immigrant community. We do not and will not enforce immigration laws. That said, we recognize that ICE agents are coming under attack, and we are charged as law enforcement to protect everyone — citizens of Philadelphia and others. Fortunately, we have not encountered those scenarios where ICE has come under attack.

What about protecting immigrants who’ve done nothing illegal but seek their shot at the so-called American dream?
Listen, man. I will say to you that I do not have control of federal law enforcement. But I fully expect that my colleagues in all of law enforcement, including immigration, will abide by the laws and systems and processes that we have in place. There are checks and balances to deal with inappropriate behavior and operating outside the boundaries.

It feels like there are fewer and fewer checks and balances, federally.
I understand the frustration.

Speaking of frustration: shoplifting. It’s flagrant and seems to go virtually unchecked. One common narrative I hear is that cops don’t bother making arrests in shoplifting cases — and stores don’t even bother calling 911 — because the DA’s office isn’t going to do anything about it. Fair?
It was fair at one point, but in 2024, we made a full effort to reengage our business communities and also worked with the DA’s office to set up a task force. We started to go after prolific thieves and rings, recognizing that there is a big difference between stealing a $2 candy bar and stealing thousands and thousands of dollars of merchandise over a period of time.And we realized that 25 individuals were responsible for 70 percent of retail theft in Center City. We told the business owners that we wanted them to call us and that we wanted to identify core individuals. So you actually saw the “incidents” of retail theft go up because we pushed them to report. We will never stop retail theft, but we are doing what we can to minimize it.

One of your biggest chal­lenges is Kensington, and we’ve now had a deputy police commissioner whose only responsibility is Kensington for almost two years. But I don’t know. I’m in Kensington a fair amount, and I just had a walk around the other day. And I have to say, I’m still seeing people defecating on the street. I’m still seeing people buying drugs in the open and with needles in their toes. And I’m still seeing prodigious amounts of prostitution going unchecked. Don’t get me wrong: There are more cops. But what are they actually doing?
I don’t know where specifically you go, but I get down there quite often, and it seems far different. It’s better than it was, and I am not seeing that level of what you describe. And I believe that with what we are doing and with what others are doing in terms of prevention and intervention and with what those in the health community are doing, we are going to win down there.

So in 10 years, Kensington is going to be a completely different place?
Man, 10 years is too long for me! We are going to stay the course and stay focused on the work. We are down in the community every single day. And we are feeling shifts. We are creating order. The best policing is when communities police themselves, and so we are working to build the community.

So murders are way, way down and crime, overall, is getting better. Kensington is going to be the next hot neighborhood. What do you say to suburbanites who still refuse to come to dinner or see a show in the city?
You can’t go through challenging years and all the shootings and not have that perception out there. But we are changing those perceptions. We are cheerleading the city. We are just going to put our foot on the gas and keep pressing.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Published as “Top Cop” in the December 2025/January 2026 issue of Philadelphia magazine.

Quinta Brunson Wants to Send Your Kids on Free Field Trips

Quinta Brunson, Philadelphia teachers, a student, and others outside Andrew Hamilton School in Philadelphia (Getty Images)

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Quinta Brunson Wants to Send Philly Kids on Free Field Trips

You’ve gotta love Quinta Brunson. Not only is she the West Philly born-and-bred creator and star of Abbott Elementary, one of the most endearing family-friendly shows on network television, but she’s also constantly looking for ways to give back to Philly and its students. Her latest endeavor? Free field trips.

We all know the budgetary woes facing the School District of Philadelphia, and field trips are virtually nonexistent, depending on the school. So Brunson is partnering with the Fund for the School District of Philadelphia (the nonprofit that raises money to support district schools) to launch The Quinta Brunson Field Trip Fund.

“Field trips were some of the most memorable parts of my own education, growing up in Philadelphia,” Brunson said in a statement on Giving Tuesday, the charitable antidote to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. “They opened my world, sparked my creativity, and helped me imagine a future beyond what I saw every day. Going somewhere new shows you that the world is bigger and more exciting than you believe, and it can shape what you come to see as achievable. I’m proud to support Philadelphia students with experiences that remind them their dreams are valid and their futures are bright.”

Well said.

According to the nonprofit, Brunson’s fund will support trips to 100 city destinations and about 200 museums and national landmarks outside of Philly.

To get things started, Brunson tossed $20,000 into the pot — and you can make your own donation here.

As for Abbott Elementary, which has been on a mid-season hiatus, it returns tonight with a new episode at 8:30 p.m. on 6ABC. For you cord-cutters and anti-antenna people, catch it on Hulu thereafter.

The Future Is Here… And Not Un-Scary

Self-driving car company Waymo has unleashed its robot vehicles on the streets of this fair city. At least a self-driving car can’t have road rage, right?

Time for an Island Getaway?

Baby, it’s cold outside. Look no further than Puerto Rico for the warmth you seek. You don’t need a passport. The island is full of adventure, culture, charm, and gorgeous beaches, as I detailed in this travel feature earlier this year. Bonus: Budget carrier JetBlue just announced new nonstop service from Philadelphia to San Juan, with flights starting at $99 each way.

Here Come the Christmas Movies

Are you ready to feel old? Brace yourself: the original Home Alone — one of the most memorable Christmas movies of the modern era – just turned 35 years old. To celebrate, Ocean Casino Resort is screening the film this Sunday at 4 p.m. with none other than Macaulay Culkin there to talk about it. Sounds like fun!

By the Numbers

1st: Ranking of Philadelphia on a list of places where people want to travel specifically for the purposes of eating food, making us America’s top dining destination, according to Food & Wine. And what dish, what cuisine is it that has people willing to spend hundreds of dollars to fly here and get a hotel room here? Is it, say, one of the Philadelphia restaurants that just picked up a Michelin star? Nay. They all want … a cheesesteak. Ugh.

1: Philadelphia restaurants that landed on Esquire‘s new list of the Best New Restaurants In America. No, it’s not a Michelin star restaurant. And, no, it’s not a cheesesteak joint. Thank God.

19 degrees: Forecasted low for next Monday and Tuesday. Yikes! It’s a good thing I finally got my heater up and running yesterday.

Local Talent

2025 has not been a fun or funny year. But the comedy and theatrical masters at 1812 Productions have somehow managed to put a fun and funny spin on it with their annual tradition, This Is the Week That Is, an evening of musical numbers and political and social satire. The show just opened at Plays & Players Theater and runs through New Year’s Eve. Bit of Philly theater trivia for you: This Law & Order: SVU actor used to play Michelle Obama in the show, which is in its 20th year.

Amazon Launches 30-Minute Delivery in Philadelphia

An Amazon delivery truck (Wikimedia Commons)

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Amazon Launches 30-Minute Delivery in Philadelphia

I have to admit it: We’re an Amazon household. As much as I tried to resist, once I realized that I could get an air raid siren (long story) delivered in two days, milk delivered the same day, and our English breakfast tea for $5 less than it was at the Ack-a-me, I just gave up trying. Now, the so-called “evil empire” has made its service even more convenient and expedient by debuting 30-minute delivery in just two cities: Philadelphia and Seattle, the latter being home to the company’s headquarters.

Amazon’s 30-minute service launched on Monday here, though it’s not citywide. (Where, exactly, are the service boundaries? My impression, based on plugging in various delivery addresses across the city, is that the geographic availability can change throughout the day.) And you can’t get just anything in 30 minutes. That air raid siren will still take two days. But if you want any of the other “tens of thousands” of items Amazon says are available for 30-minute delivery in Philly — say, milk or juice or diapers or pet treats, certain electronics, ibuprofen, tortilla chips, and/or a bag of carrots — you got it. For a fee, of course. That’s $3.99 if you’re a Prime member, and $13.99 if you aren’t. Oh, and a $1.99 “small-basket fee” if your order is below $15.

Convenient and cool as this may be, it also makes you wonder if the city is going to be littered with even more delivery vans and trucks that insist on double parking during rush hour. Maybe worth walking to the neighborhood bodega, after all …

Bird Bombs

After the Eagles tanked in their game against the lousy Bears on Black Friday, somebody egged the Moorestown home of Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. Yikes. (But also: C’mon Birds, yer killin’ us.)

Bibliophile Alert

A Rittenhouse Square estate sale features more than 100,000 books from the collection of the late Philadelphia attorney Bill Roberts. Some of the books cost as little as $3. If you’re looking to spend bigger bucks, there’s an auction this Thursday of some of his more prized literary possessions.

More Michelin

Two weeks ago, we told you about the restaurants that received stars and other nods from the Michelin guide. Today, there’s still a lot of talk among the local food intelligentsia about the awards and how they might change Philadelphia’s dining landscape as we know it. In this new Philly Mag Today podcast, Philly Mag food editor Kae Lani Palmisano and our longtime restaurant critic, Jason Sheehan, weigh in with their thoughts. (Meanwhile, the first available table at one-star winner Friday Saturday Sunday is currently in mid-January.)

Like What You’re Reading?

If the answer is yes, then, on this Giving Tuesday, we’re asking you to please make a donation to support what we’re doing. (In case you missed the news, Philly Mag is now part of the Citizen Media Group, a nonprofit journalistic enterprise.) If the answer is no, shoot me a message tell me what we can do better.

By the Numbers

$50: Maximum fee that Philadelphia landlords can charge for a rental application under a new law first proffered by Councilmember Rue Landau. Apparently, some landlords were charging upwards of $200 to simply apply for the privilege of renting an apartment.

$45: Roughly the cost of two pre-flight Bloody Marys OR what you’ll soon be spending at PHL (and other airports) to get screened by TSA agents if you don’t have a REAL ID or passport. (I know where I’d rather spend my money … )

$2.6 million: Additional funding that Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is seeking from City Council to go after “big-time criminals” and to try to prevent law firms from poaching his best and brightest. In case you’re wondering, Krasner earns $226,411. His second-in-command gets $190,914. And the DA’s office pays new ADAs about $70,000. A first-year associate at Blank Rome, for instance, can pull in close to what Krasner makes.

Local Talent

A familiar face has bid adieu to 6ABC: Reporter Annie McCormick just left the station after 13 years, as she announced on social media on Monday. “For our viewers, I just wanted to do the job the [C]onstitution gave us the right to do in the most fair and respectful way,” she wrote. “I am most thankful for the everyday people who have let me into their lives on even their worst days. I’ve learned my greatest life lessons from our viewers. I will continue to tell the public’s stories in a variety of mediums, stay tuned.”

Unclear what’s next for McCormick, though she does have a book due out in 2026. Restless Ghosts is a true crime tome about the mysterious 1929 deaths of two South Jersey socialites. It’s not her first go at the genre: In 2020, she published The Doctor, the Hitman, and the Motorcycle Gang: The True Story of One of New Jersey’s Most Notorious Murder for Hire Plots. Who knew?

Is This the End of WMMR as We Know It?

Former Preston and Steve cast member Kathy Romano (photo courtesy of Chorus Photography) | the late WMMR DJ Pierre Robert (Getty Images) | Nick McIlwain, who announced his resignation from WMMR last week (photo courtesy of Chorus Photography)

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Listen to the audio edition here:

Is This the End of WMMR as We Know It?

Last Wednesday morning, I watched the sun rise at French Creek State Park, where my family rented a cabin for Thanksgiving week. I sipped hot coffee from a metal camping mug as I did my best to complete a New York Times crossword puzzle – on paper, I should add – from the covered porch. This trip was meant to be a 99-percent phone-free experience, which was, believe it or not, the idea of my two teenaged kids, and we all did our best to honor this, hence the paper crossword. But I couldn’t help but notice my phone going crazy at some point that morning. So, what was all the hubbub about?

As text after text and DM after DM told me when I eventually gave in and peeked, longtime Preston & Steve morning-show cast member Nick McIlwain had announced, during Wednesday’s show, that it would be his last day on the air. He’d been with the show since Bill Clinton was in the Oval Office. And then on Wednesday, without advance notice to listeners, poof. That was it. His announcement came one month after the death of Pierre Robert and six months after the station terminated Kathy Romano as a Preston & Steve cast member.

On air, McIlwain made it clear that he wasn’t being forced out and that this was his own decision made after much contemplation.

“I took Preston out to lunch a month or so ago,” McIlwain recalled for listeners. (I listened to a recording following my return from the woods.) “And then Pierre died. Our entire lives have been thrown into chaos over the last few months. It really started for us here in this room – and anybody who is a fan of the radio station – back in May, with Kathy. So it’s just been a lot. A lot of ups and downs. And lately, for me anyway, more downs than ups.”

Later, he did his best to fight back tears.

“I feel like a change might help me improve my life, my physical and mental health,” he shared. “And make me feel a little more like a human being… Mental health is important. Full stop. I’ve dealt with depression and anxiety most of my adult life… and if you know someone with depression, reach out to them. Human interaction is a wonderful salve.”

McIlwain’s contract reportedly wasn’t set to expire until 2030, which is when the contracts for the show’s namesakes are also due to end. He didn’t say specifically what the next chapter of his life would hold – or even indicate if he himself knows.

His departure from the immensely popular (relative to terrestrial radio, anyway) show that he had been a part of for so long would be newsworthy in and of itself. But what makes his announcement even more important is the context surrounding it.

While many radio stations are essentially run by robots these days, WMMR has always been a much more personality-driven endeavor and one where the community of listeners and fans is so important in a way that you just don’t see at other major FM stations in the region. You start pulling out pieces of the puzzle, and the effects are palpable. WMMR listeners care.

The real trouble at WMMR began in 2022, when Beasley Media Group, the Florida-based corporate overlords who own WMMR, fired late-afternoon DJ Jaxon, who had been a fixture at the legendary station for close to 20 years. At the same time, the company also eliminated the overnight live broadcast, which had been a real rarity in the industry. “Today was a really dark day in the station’s history,” one longtime WMMR employee told me on the day of those decisions.

“We’ve been live and local 24/7 and used that for all the good it brings us for 54 years,” another WMMR source told me following Jaxon’s termination. “But corporate ownership simply doesn’t care. And that’s the real punch to the gut. They are completely profit-driven. And they don’t care about history or legacy or what the station and the people who work there mean to Philly and to the listeners. They care about one thing and one thing only: money.”

Then came 2024, when Pierre Robert’s producer and sometimes sidekick known as Pancake, lost his job, as did at least two other WMMR staffers on the same day. A station insider referred to that as a “terrible fucking day.”

But 2022 and 2024 were to have nothing on 2025. In May, Beasley fired Preston & Steve cast member Kathy Romano, who had also been with the show for decades.

“It’s really hard, man,” Preston Elliot said on the air during his announcement that Romano would be no more. “We are profoundly sad about this.” (Romano has since landed her own morning show at B101.1 – in the exact same time slot as Preston & Steve.)

As for what was going to come next, nobody could have predicted it: the untimely death of Pierre Robert, WMMR’s most iconic (by far) personality. From a business standpoint, the implications of that are immeasurable. Folks didn’t tune in to hear “Ramble On” or the latest from the Foo Fighters. They tuned in to hear Pierre serve those songs up. And now? McIlwain departs, leaving Elliot, Steve Morrison, Casey “Casey Boy” Fosbenner, and Marisa Magnatta as the remaining cast members.

All of which begs the question: Is this the end of WMMR as we know it?

“We have been absolutely gutted,” says a current station staffer who insisted on remaining anonymous out of concern for their own job. “Things are just dismal.”

Don’t get me wrong: There is still a lot of talent at WMMR and the Preston and Steve Show will continue to entertain. But you can’t lose a guy like Pierre Robert and a third of the on-air talent of a show like Preston and Steve and think that things are normal. But perhaps Beasley is looking for a new normal, one that doesn’t rely so much on “personalities” – with their pesky agents and pricey contracts – and prefers one that is, plain and simple, cheaper.

My prediction, as someone who for decades has closely followed the radio industry in Philadelphia and WMMR in particular? After 2030 (at the absolute latest), WMMR will be virtually unrecognizable.

From the Department of Highly Questionable Lists …

Is Philly really the fourth most sinful city in the entire republic? If so, shoot me a tip and let me know where all this alleged sinning is happening.

From the Department of Not-So-Questionable Lists …

Congrats are in order for Joan Shepp, which the New York Times just named one of the 50 best clothing stores in America. For more on Joan Shepp, check out this feature we just ran.

Did Somebody Say Snow?!

Yeah, yeah, it looks like we might see a little of the white stuff on Tuesday. And by a little, I mean a little. There’s no need to dash off to Ack-a-me for panic shopping. Check here for the latest weather alerts.

We Have a Winner!

If you bought a PowerBall ticket at the Wawa on Frankford Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia recently, you might want to check it out. Turns out a winning $1 million ticket was sold there. In case you’re wondering, you could cash that in and buy 131,752 of these.

By the Numbers

$100: What it will cost you to attend an Eagles-Chargers watch party hosted by law firm Zarwin Baum next Monday at Live! Casino & Hotel in South Philly. Yes, there’s lots of food and drink and a bunch of big TVs, including one measuring 4,000 square feet. But the real hook here? Attendees get to pelt Santa Claus with snowballs. Fake snowballs, yes. But still a fun homage to the lore of Eagles fans and their bad behavior.

$105.50: The price for a five-foot-tall Fraser fir Christmas tree, a tree stand, and multi-colored tree lights, delivered to you by GoPuff. This is the first time that GoPuff is delivering Christmas trees in Philly. Me, I’ll be standing in the freezing cold in the coming days as my son cuts a live tree down at Linvilla. On December 26th every year, he declares, “I call cutting the Christmas tree down next year.” As if any of the rest of us would want to lay down on frozen ground in December. For more farms where you can get a tree, consult this.

15.5 acres: Size of a site along the Delaware River that will soon feature a Norwegian Cruise Line terminal. The company has committed to making more than 40 ship visits there each year. I’ve never been on a cruise ship, and I think after watching Train Wreck: Poop Cruise on Netflix, I won’t be buying tickets anytime soon. But you do you.

Local Talent

No, there’s no Eagles Christmas album this year. So what do you get for that Eagles fan in your life? How about holiday plush dolls of the golden-throated trio of Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata, and Lane Johnson? Proceeds benefit local charities. For this and other ideas of gifts that also do good, consult our 2025 Do Good Gift Guide here.

Thanksgiving Tips From Philly Chefs

Tired of the same old turkey? Get some Thanksgiving tips, tricks, and recipes from our favorite Philadelphia chefs. (Getty Images)

Want to know how to tell if your turkey is actually done? (Don’t trust that pop-up thing!) Not sure if you’re supposed to take that bag containing the weird looking stuff out of the cavity before putting your bird in the oven? (You are.) For queries like these, there’s the tried-and-true Butterball Turkey Talk-Line, 1-800-BUTTERBALL. But if you want advice from some of our favorite Philly food people on how to spark new life into America’s biggest food holiday and not go totally bonkers in the process, you’ve come to the right place. Happy Thanksgiving!

Ryan LaFrance on Maximizing Time With Family

Heavily prep the days leading up to Thanksgiving. The holiday should be fun and spent with the family, not stuck in front of the stove! Anything you can do ahead to make the day of easier, do. This will also cut down on clean-up time the day of. Ryan LaFrance is the executive chef at Wilder.

Sam Henzy of Fork on Getting Perfectly Crispy Skin

For me, the key to having your turkey come out nice and juicy inside with perfect crispy skin on the outside lies in the brine. Of course, a brine needs to have good salt content, but I like to get some sweetness in there as well. I make one that has plenty of salt but also apple cider, soy sauce, and even a little brown sugar, which all help with caramelization on the skin. Add a bunch of aromatic herbs and spices, and gone are the usual complaints of dry, flavorless turkey. Sam Henzy is the executive chef of Fork.

Tyler Akin on Adding Zest to Your Holiday

Thanksgiving growing up was rich on top of rich: lots of low bass notes but few high ones. A lemon or orange squeeze, lemon zest, and especially grilled citrus, which is a little more muted, can lift up so many parts of a holiday spread. Tyler Akin is the chef-partner of Bastia and Caletta.

Nick Kennedy on Non-Traditional Sides

I like to have something acidic and punchy with our Thanksgiving meal, which the traditional spread is missing. If you can plan two weeks in advance, homemade sauerkraut is an option. A good quality store-bought option is always on our table. Another option is roasted onions or scallions with balsamic vinegar, getting them a little bit charred and then finishing with vinegar so it reduces and coats them. Make extra; there never seems to be enough. Nick Kennedy is the partner and chef of Defined Hospitality.

Steve Cook on Using the Whole Turkey

I recommend you do everything in advance except for the turkey, and then when it’s turkey time, don’t cook the turkey whole. Cooking it in parts ensures that the bird actually cooks evenly, and that the process is relatively simple. First I cure the whole bird so the skin gets extra crispy. Then when I break it down, I keep the breast on the rib cage, reserve the back for stock and gravy, and cook the legs separately. After the meal, I toss the whole cage into a big pot for soup. This year’s turkey is coming from Mike Lehman of Locust Ridge Farm in Hammonton, NJ. Steve Cook is the co-owner of CookNSolo Restaurants.

Jose Garces on Deep-Fried Turkey

I’ve been frying my turkeys for a long, long time. It’s a tricky thing. And it’s kind of dangerous. But it’s also the most simple and effective way to do it. The end product is great. And it’s fast. For a 20-pound bird, I fry it for 45 minutes to an hour. And by frying the turkey, the oven is freed up. When you’re entertaining, the hardest thing is to get all of your sides hot. This solves that problem. Jose Garces is chief culinary officer of Garces Group.

Ellen Yin on Turkey Being Overrated

Turkey was never a big thing in our house. It was always just symbolic. My mother used to stuff a chicken with rice and Chinese sausage and braise it in soy sauce. People will eat turkey. But what people really want are the fixings. Ellen Yin is the owner of Fork, A.Kitchen, and High Street Market.

Jennifer Zavala on Gift-Giving

If you’re going to someone’s house for Thanksgiving, you absolutely need to bring a gift, whether that’s a bottle of wine or a joint. You can also bring some pre-made items from a small, local business. These are great conversation starters. Go to Isgro’s and get cannoli. They’ve been making those cannoli for 120 years! Bring them and tell all the guest the Isgro’s story. Jennifer Zavala is the owner of Juana Tamale.

Joe Cicala on Turkey Soup Recipes

In the Abruzzo region, they use a lot of turkey for Christmas. And there are wild turkeys running all over the place. They have a turkey soup recipe with escarole, stracciatella style. They mix an egg with pecorino and black pepper and use that as the protein. It’s kind of like egg drop soup. And then with all of the cooked meat, they pick it off and make a turkey salad as a secundo. They dress it with pomegranate seeds. The seeds are tart and sweet and take away some of the gaminess. I sprinkle my roasted turkey with pomegranate seeds. They’re in season. Joe Cicala is the executive chef and owner of Cicala at the Divine Lorraine and Sorellina.

Keith Taylor on Planning Ahead

Do as little cooking as possible on the day of Thanksgiving. Make a list of everything you are going to make. And start early. There’s no reason you should be baking pies on Thanksgiving Day. Pies are the last thing you eat and the first thing you make. They hold beautifully. And with turkey, do a lazy man’s turkey. A day or two before Thanksgiving, roast a whole brined turkey and then cool it down to 40 degrees. Then deconstruct it. Slice down the breast meat. Take off all the dark meat. And refrigerate the whole thing. Forty minutes before it’s time to eat, put the turkey in the oven, covered with wet paper towel and then foil. Roast it for 40 minutes at 400 degrees. And that’s it. Doing things like this will take so much stress out of Thanksgiving Day. You can sit back and listen to some beautiful R&B. Keith Taylor is the owner of Zachary’s BBQ Soul Kitchen & Catering.

Jennifer Carroll on the Perks of Being Efficient

Clean out and organize your fridge before you go shopping for ingredients. This ensures you have enough room to properly store things. Make a shopping list and prep list. This will make you more efficient and focused. Clean while you cook so you don’t have a major mess at the end of cooking. Read your recipes from top to bottom before you start cooking it. Jennifer Carroll was featured on Bravo’s Top Chef and is the owner of the experiential dining company Carroll Couture Cuisine.

Rich Landau on Color in Your Thanksgiving Recipes

Most Thanksgiving food tends to be brown. Bubbling brown gravies. The stuffing. I always think of it as ugly food. We try to bring in colorful squashes. And the green vegetables that we do use, we don’t cook them to death. We also believe in the centerpiece, even at a vegetarian Thanksgiving. Many vegetarians just do the side dishes. But psychologically, we all grew up with this giant carcass as a centerpiece. So we might do a giant roasted squash, a whole roasted eggplant, or giant portabellas with gravy in the center of the table. The key for us is color and variety. Rich Landau is chef and owner of Vedge.

Marc Vetri on Why You Should Never Roast a Whole Turkey

I’ve never roasted a whole turkey with the stuffing and all that. I’m just not into it. I like to break it up and do different things with it. This year, I take the breasts, leaving them on the bone and smoking them. The thighs and legs, I’ll debone and then I’ll salt it for three to four hours. Then I kind of hammer it out and cook it between two sheet pans in the oven until it’s almost finished. After that, I’ll let them cool down and then stick them on the grill. And then I’ll use another turkey for turkey sausage and I’ll make a turkey sausage pizza. I like to have fun, mix and match. Marc Vetri is the chef and owner of Vetri Cucina.

Bryan Sikora on Avoiding Excess

Don’t overdo it. Everybody ends up with too much food, spending too much money, and too much time on Thanksgiving. Leftovers are nice. But there are really only a couple of things that people actually want. You don’t have to go out and spend $500 to feed eight people, with most of the food going to waste. You can be more focused on doing things right, buying the right wines. Because when it comes down to it, less really is more. And you always wind up with more no matter what. I don’t think anyone has ever run out food on Thanksgiving. Bryan Sikora is the owner of Noble Goat, La Fia, Merchant Bar, Crow Bar, and Hearth Kitchen in Wilmington and Chester County.

[Editor’s note: Some of these tips appeared in a previous version of this story.]

Frank Rizzo Supporters Can’t Find Someone Willing to Fix the Statue

The Frank Rizzo statue in Philadelphia prior to its removal and the lawsuit that followed (Getty Images)

It’s been more than five years since Jim Kenney ordered workers to rip down the Frank Rizzo statue from its longtime home outside the Municipal Services Building under the cover of night amid widespread civil unrest, thus sparking a legal battle between the city and Rizzo advocates represented by prominent attorney George Bochetto (who is also a founding donor of Citizen Media Group, Philly Mag’s parent company). The Frank Rizzo Monument Committee, which donated the statue to Philly in 1998 after fundraising and commissioning it, sued the city a month after its removal, arguing that Kenney was wrong to jettison the statue and demanding its return to the group.

The supporters won that battle, and the city transferred ownership to them in August. The agreement was that Philadelphia would pay to repair the statue, which was damaged in the removal process, and then the supporters would find a new home for the 10-foot-tall bronze. There’s just one problem: finding a foundry in the area to fix the statue has turned out to be no easy task.

“They don’t want to touch it,” says Bochetto. “We went to one foundry, and they said they wouldn’t go near it. Second one, same story. And then a third. The artistic community has put the word out there that no foundry should repair it.”

Rizzo, for the uninitiated, served as the city’s police commissioner from 1967 to 1971 and then mayor from 1972 to 1980. He died in 1991. A hero to many, he was a villain to others who considered him a symbol of racism and police brutality. The statue representing him was first vandalized in 2017. Then, in 2019, someone painted the word “fascist” across it. And after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, the monument became the object of endless vandalism, protests, and vitriol, leading Kenney to issue the removal order. (“I never liked the statue,” Kenney said in the days that followed. “And I didn’t put it there.”)

Bochetto says he expects the fixes to the statue today to cost upwards of $75,000; the city has already placed money in an escrow account. But those funds don’t mean much if there’s no one who will accept the job.

Xenos Frudakis, the Glenside-based artist who sculpted the piece, isn’t equipped with a foundry capable of completing the repairs demanded. He says he’s heard the buzz and understands why foundries are reluctant to get involved.

Xenos Frudakis with the Frank Rizzo statue he created (photo via Wikimedia Commons)

“It’s easily the most controversial statue I’ve ever made,” he observes. “And these days, people are crazy. Someone finds out that a foundry is working on it, are they going to vandalize it, burn it down? We live in an age where someone will show up with a gun at a pizza shop because they read on the internet that children are being held captive there.”

Frudakis thinks he does have the solution, though: Just don’t repair it. “The damage is part of the statue’s history,” he argues. “The Japanese have an art of repairing cracked pottery with gold to highlight the cracks and showcase the history. Not try to eliminate it.”

In an interview with Philly Mag prior to the statue’s removal in 2020, Frudakis argued that nixing the statue wasn’t the right thing to do. His idea was to put up a plaque adding context that explained Rizzo’s complicated and polarizing legacy and add a “contrasting” statue that would “redefine” the Rizzo statue in that space. He offered up Leon Sullivan, the Black civil rights leader and anti-apartheid activist who was prominent in Philadelphia at the same time as Rizzo, as a subject.

Bochetto believes that the group will eventually find a foundry that wants the money and isn’t afraid of being associated with the lightning-rod piece of art. Once that happens, the commission, which includes such Democratic political luminaries as Bob Brady and John Street, has to figure out where to stick the thing. The agreement between the city and the commission reportedly held that the statue could only be displayed on private property and behind a wall, so it cannot be seen by passersby. But Bochetto says that’s not quite right.

“Actually, we think it can be in public view,” he told me in an interview that appears in the November issue of Philly Mag. “It will have a very prominent, appropriate setting.” He hinted that Oregon Avenue’s Marconi Plaza, home to the other controversial sculpture Bochetto saved — a monument honoring Christopher Columbus — could be the Rizzo statue’s final resting place.

Meet the Man Who Beat SEPTA and Saved the Columbus and Rizzo Statues

George Bochetto, who scored legal victories over SEPTA cuts and the Frank Rizzo and Christopher Columbus statues, at his Center City office / Photograph by Kyle Kielinski

He came from quite literally nothing to become one of Philadelphia’s wealthiest lawyers and most prominent local Donald Trump supporters. And before jetting off to vacation in Italy, Temple Law alum George Bochetto sat down with us to talk U.S. troops on Philly streets, the return of the Frank Rizzo statue, and how he beat SEPTA. (Full disclosure: Bochetto is a founding donor of Citizen Media Group, Philly Mag’s parent company.)

Thanks for squeezing me in before you dash off to Italy. Is it a regular destination for you and your wife, Christy?
We go there twice a year, ever since I discovered my biological family.

Okay, hold up. You must elaborate.
[Laughs] I grew up in an orphanage in New York. The state always had a ban on learning who your biological parents were. But I went back to the orphanage about 12 years ago and brought a donation check, and they gave me a little bit of information. Nothing improper. But it was helpful. And then I hired one of the country’s leading ancestry researchers, and we found them.

Why was it so important for you to figure this out as you were approaching 60?
If you grow up in an orphanage, you want to know the who, what, why, where, when, and how.

So you figured out the who. What about the rest?
My biological mother and biological father grew up in Postiglione, Italy, on opposite ends of town, my mother on the poor end and my father on the wealthy end. They had a relationship that neither of their parents approved of. My mother planned to immigrate alone to the U.S. to work at a seamstress shop in Brooklyn. There was a going-away party for her in town, and that’s where I was conceived. But she didn’t know it. She got on a ship and went to Brooklyn, and it wasn’t until three months after the party that she realized she was pregnant.

Back then, an unwed, pregnant young girl was shameful, so she placed me in an orphanage. She eventually wound up married in Texas with children. My biological father went about his life and got married and had three children of his own. So I have two half-brothers and a half-sister in Italy and two half-brothers in Texas.

George Bochetto at his first meeting with his biological father, Francesco Langone, in 2015 in Battipaglia, Italy, along with his biological siblings

How much was that check for?
[Laughs] $25,000.

My son asked me who I was interviewing. I told him George Bochetto. Being 19, he has no idea who you are. I said, “He’s the guy who just made your daily Regional Rail commute much easier than it would have been.” And he said to say thank you.
You tell your son that I am so glad that it worked out the way that it did, for him and the rest of the region, especially people who need SEPTA for survival.

You persuaded the judge to force SEPTA to reverse course on its drastic cuts, and you did it right quick. How?
My team and I discovered so much misinformation in the SEPTA narrative of “the sky is falling,” which was basically all to blame Republicans in Harrisburg so Democrats could flip the Senate at next year’s midterms. And to do that, they pushed these rollbacks, which punished so many people: workers, students, employers.

I know you had a two-day hearing in front of the judge. We don’t have two days here. Can you briefly sum things up?
In 2007, Senator Vincent Fumo sponsored Act 44, which essentially set up a stabilization fund for SEPTA to account for any betwixt and between that happens after SEPTA passes its budget and before Harrisburg passes its budget — the Harrisburg budget almost always being late. SEPTA can tap that fund to keep the services going. I discovered the fund, discovered it had over $300 million in it. I put Fumo on the stand, he explains all this. Then I questioned the head of SEPTA and their CFO, and SEPTA completely fell on itself. If you read the transcript, you will see what buffoons they were. They couldn’t get out from under themselves.

Another recent case of yours involves the Frank Rizzo statue. You sued the city over its removal, and the city is now going to return it to the committee that fundraised to create the statue in the first place. What happens next?
The city has to pay for some repairs, and then we will be making an announcement as to its placement. Our committee includes former mayor John Street, Bob Brady, and other luminaries.

My understanding is that it cannot be in public view.
Well, actually, we think it can be in public view. It will have a very prominent, appropriate setting.

Facing the Columbus statue in South Philly’s Marconi Plaza?
[Laughs extensively] Well, I didn’t say that. [More laughing] You’re very, very close. Warmer than lukewarm.

Rizzo: best mayor ever?
I dunno about that. I think Ed Rendell has to be taken into consideration. And this may sound unlikely for a Republican to say, but I have a great deal of respect for John Street. He’s smart. He’s savvy. He knew how to get shit done, quote unquote. I’m also happy to talk worst mayor.

Do, please.
Well, it used to be Wilson Goode, but he was surpassed in virtually every respect and dimension by Jim Kenney.Don’t mince words, George. You also “saved” the aforementioned Columbus statue in South Philly and the incredibly ugly Columbus monument at Penn’s Landing—
I also, by the way, got Columbus Day back as a city holiday. The Commonwealth Court agreed 7–0 that Kenney had no authority to cancel Columbus Day.

The Christopher Columbus monument at Penn’s Landing / Photograph by Maurice Savage/Alamy Stock Photo

So did that ruling also eliminate Indigenous Peoples’ Day?
Technically, it does eliminate that, but only because Kenney established that date as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the same order that has now been invalidated. But listen, we Italian Americans are 100 percent in favor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. It just doesn’t need to be on the exact same day as Columbus Day.

It’s clear to me that you and I have much different politics, for the most part, but I actually agree with your overall legal position when it comes to these statues. There was a time when people were just ripping down statues left and right all across the country, without following any kind of process.
You’re exactly right. Couldn’t have put it better. Kenney had zero authority to tear down the statue in the middle of the night.

But now we see that President Trump is targeting monuments and exhibits across the country, including “The Dirty Business of Slavery” at Independence National Historical Park, because he doesn’t like the narrative that they present; they don’t conform with his version of history. Does that give you pause in the same way?
I think the narrative shown in exhibits like that is incredibly important and needs to be told. In decades past, it hadn’t been adequately told or told at all. Slavery and the role it played in society and economics, that needs to be shared.

Did you vote for Trump each time he ran?
No. I voted for him in 2016 and Biden in 2020 because, foolishly, I believed Biden was going to unify two extremes — the far right and the far left — but he did a terrible job and turned out to be incompetent.

Unlike some of my liberal friends, I haven’t purged my address book of all Trump voters, only some. And I have to say, some of my more conservative friends are wondering if they made a mistake, when they see things like Trump putting himself out there as Robert Duvall’s character in Apocalypse Now, saying, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” with a graphic of military helicopters flying over Chicago —
Listen, unfortunately, we have major urban areas with hyper-progressive district attorneys who are refusing to prosecute criminals properly, who are advocating for cashless bail, who are putting criminals back on the street who shouldn’t be back on the street, and what Trump is saying is enough is enough. If our local government can’t protect its own citizens, isn’t that what the federal government is for?

Actually, no. I don’t think that the president should be rolling troops into American cities to deal with crime, and the Constitution might back me up on that.
I don’t want American troops in American cities, but we also don’t want dangerous gangs full of illegal immigrants roaming the streets and destroying businesses and torturing our women.

I’m sorry, but do you actually believe that we have gangs full of quote-unquote illegal immigrants roaming the streets of Philadelphia and torturing our women?
Yeah, I do. I also think some of those gangs are inspiring domestic gangs as well, and there is gang warfare out there as a result. How many people want to take a walk down North Broad Street at midnight?

There are many streets in the city that I don’t feel comfortable walking down at midnight, and that has nothing to do with gang warfare or immigrants, but neither do I want to see American troops lining Broad Street with M16s slung on their shoulders.
I’m not saying that’s what I want, either. But crime is out of control.

George Bochetto at a forum for Republican candidates for U.S. Senate at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference in 2022 / Photograph by Matt Rourke/AP Photo

But George, are you aware that the homicide count this year in Philadelphia is on track to be the lowest it’s been since the 1960s? Or are you one of those Republicans who think that the city is fudging the numbers?
I don’t think the city is fudging the numbers. I am delighted that those numbers are down as much as they are. But then you have the complete lack of illegal gun enforcement, the total lack of enforcement of people just walking into stores and taking things —

I literally see that all the time.
Right. And then there is the total failure to stop what’s happening with all the prostitution in service of drug addiction that is happening in Ken­sington. Larry Krasner doesn’t want people arrested for prostitution. It’s the law! Why won’t he enforce the law?

I think there are many good reasons to not just start locking up prostitutes left and right.
I’m not saying you need to lock them up. The arrest is what is important, and then they can be put in treatment centers. But we aren’t even making the arrest. We are just letting it happen. And as far as violent crime goes, the reality is that so much of it is Black on Black, and that’s just not acceptable. This is affecting so many people and families who are trying to take part in the American Project and are overwhelmed by drug dealers and gang members and bad influences.

Trump’s crackdown in D.C. has clearly impacted the crime problem there, and I’ve seen more than a few people of color from “bad” neighborhoods in D.C. saying that they welcome what Trump is doing.
Absolutely.

But that also reminds me of one time that I visited Haiti, and some of the older Haitians said they were nostalgic for the days of Papa Doc, because the streets were safer.
Right.

Of course, Papa Doc was also a cruel dictator, and you might have gotten kidnapped and tortured or killed in the middle of the night by his Tonton Macoute.
Well, I am certainly not in favor of cruel dictators or people being kidnapped in the middle of the night. What I am saying is that we need solutions, and if the leadership isn’t going to attempt to find the solutions, that’s an invitation for the president to step in.

George, we’re just going to have to disagree on this and move on.
Okay.

I’m not going to ask you your net worth, but my research shows me that you own multiple properties in Rittenhouse. And then there’s that multimillion-dollar beachfront condo in Florida. So how did you go from an orphanage to significant wealth?
Hard work. Hard work. And hard work. Plus a few lucky breaks along the way. But you can in this country come from nothing and become very wealthy. I have made a great deal of wealth, and I also spread it around pretty good too. But the opportunities are there. Unfortunately, there are folks in some situations that don’t get a fair opportunity because of their skin color, which can play such a big role in who gets to work hard and get ahead and who has a harder time doing so. But as someone who does not hold an elected position, I can only do so much.

I have to be honest: I don’t know if you are making an argument in favor of people of color or if you are making some anti-DEI argument in favor of white people.
No. I’m talking about people of color who genuinely have a harder time participating.

Okay, phew. Because otherwise, this interview was about to go off the rails. You mentioned elected positions. You once ran for mayor but dropped out in favor of Sam Katz becoming the Republican nominee. And in 2022, you, for some reason, ran for United States Senate and got barely one percent of the vote —
[Laughs] Thanks so much for reminding me, Victor.

A Philadelphia Daily News article on Bochetto’s ending his mayoral campaign in 1998. / Image via newspapers.com

Sure. What I wanted to ask you was: Why on earth did you make that run?
I just wanted to be an alternative. I think I would make a fantastic United States senator. And I have the fiscally conservative rule-of-law conservatism properly balanced with the appreciation of the struggles less fortunate people go through. I was working in gas stations and washing dishes while other kids were going on ski trips or trips to Florida. Me, I never went on any of those. I never had a birthday party as a kid. So I get it. That’s an unusual balance to have in public service these days. So, yes, I put up $1 million of my own money, and then Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormick each put up many millions more than that, and you cannot downplay the significance that money plays in political contests. It’s unfortunate.

What’s your report card on the guy who did fill that spot, Democrat John Fetterman, someone who has pissed off a lot of his own party?
It’s refreshing that he’s gotten away from the ultra-progressive far left. He’s being sensible and not letting ego get in his way. He’s not afraid to admit that a Republican can have a good idea. And He’s willing to at least listen. With some Democrats, they won’t even listen to your ideas. It’s just lunacy.

Other than the more recent cases we already spoke about, one prominent case of yours I am very familiar with — and, as a journalist, very interested in — is when you sued Sports Illustrated for writing that Philly boxer Tex Cobb fixed a fight and then did cocaine after it. You won a judgment of $10.7 million for Cobb, but that was overturned on appeal. Can you explain why?
The court did find that what Sports Illustrated wrote was false. The reporting was a completely incompetent canard. But Sports Illustrated appealed on the basis of New York Times v. Sullivan. Basically, in a libel case, an ordinary citizen only has to prove falsity.

A public figure has to prove that the statement was intentional, deliberate lying. I tried that case for four weeks in front of a federal jury and won. And an appeals court overturned it after a 15-minute oral argument. New York Times v. Sullivan is horrible, and the Supreme Court needs to overturn it.

Trump agrees with you on that, and, once again, I couldn’t disagree with you more, but we’re running out of time.
[Laughs]

I know that Christy is a practicing lawyer as well. What’s it like having two lawyers in the same house?
It’s … interesting.

I bet.
We talk about many different subjects, and we disagree about many different subjects and issues, so all of that disagreeing really hones your advocacy skills. Hers are extremely good. And mine? Well, she’s made mine better.

Spoken like a good husband. Thanks for your time, George, and enjoy your trip.
I thank you. You are a great interviewer. The magazine should really give you a raise.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Published as “Fight From the Right” in the November 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.

Philly Singer Launches Concert Series for Cool People Who Don’t Want to Be Out Late

Philadelphia singer PJ Brown, who is launching a new early concert series this Sunday at the Fallser Club (photo courtesy PJ Brown)

In 2023, actor Jamie Lee Curtis put out a plea to bands asking them to have earlier shows, explaining to Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie on the TODAY show: “I love Coldplay. I would love to go see Coldplay. The problem is, I’m not going to go see Coldplay when the show is at 9 p.m., and there’s an opening act.”

Philadelphia singer PJ Brown saw the clip and took this to heart. Brown has been a fixture of the local music scene for more than three decades, having played to sold out crowds at places like the TLA and Union Transfer. So, naturally, she has fans that aren’t quite as, shall we say, resilient as they were in the 1990s or 2000s when it comes to rocking out to a late night of live music. Brown, who grew up singing in church and attended the High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, is herself a grandmother. So she understands the value of good sleep as much as anybody.

“I can’t tell you how many times, in recent years, people hear that I’m playing a show, and they see the time and tell me, ‘I wish you were starting earlier!'” she says.

Thus “Dusk” is now born. Brown launches the new monthly Philadelphia concert series this Sunday at the intimate, Best of Philly-winning Fallser Club in East Falls – with a yawn-free start time of 6 p.m. and an end time of 8 p.m. She’ll be performing with her longtime soul band, The Resistance, which features Philly music veterans Joe Boyle, Justin Hallman, Brian Potash, and Stephanie Ostrov along with guest drummer Alec Meltzer. Each month, she’ll invite a different singer or group from Philly to open the show, with a DJ in between their sets. (This month’s guest is Best of Philly-winning vocal coach and belting cabaret singer Shannon Turner.)

“Yes, there are a lot of older folks out there who still love live music, and I want this to be the solution for them,” Brown explains. “But I also just know so many people of younger ages who just don’t want to be out late. Times have changed!”

The model is well-suited for the Fallser Club, a non-profit that aims to make live music more accessible — and that includes people for whom doors-at-eight-and-show-at-nine might not work so well. “Live music should be available to everyone,” insists the venue’s executive director, Ashana Larsen. “We want you to be able to enjoy a show and still be able to get home and put the kids to bed.”

Is the Last Penny Really Worth $5 Million?

Treasurer of the United States Brandon Beach holds the last penny stamped at the US Mint on November 12, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Beach pressed the final pennies at an event held at the facility. The pennies pressed bear a special ‘Omega’ and will not be put in circulation, but will be auctioned off. (Photo by Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)

Check phillymag.com each morning Monday through Thursday for the latest edition of Philly Today. And if you have a news tip for our hardworking Philly Mag reporters, please direct it here. You can also use that form to send us reader mail. We love reader mail!

Listen to the audio edition here:

Is the Last Penny Really Worth $5 Million at Auction?

News quickly spread worldwide yesterday that the United States Mint in Philadelphia, the first mint in the country, was producing the last pennies ever on Wednesday, after Donald Trump ordered them to be discontinued. News cameras came. Treasurer of the United States Brandon Beach showed up to give the lowly, unwanted penny a proper sendoff. So what happens to the last penny ever minted in the country, the one that Beach held up for the cameras?

It turns out that the five final pennies made in Philadelphia were minted with a special omega mark on them. They’ll remain uncirculated and go up for auction by the government at some unspecified time in the future. Details on that to come. Meanwhile, it begs the question: What will those pennies be worth?

Some estimates out there put the auction value of each of the five pennies at anywhere from $2 million to $5 million, with the very last of the last pennies possibly hitting that $5 million mark. (And there’s also the possibility that some obsessed collectors would be willing to pay even more if they could obtain all five, because why would you want just one when you could hoard them all like a good capitalist?)

Philadelphia-area numismatist Richard Weaver, however, has his doubts. Weaver, owner of Broomall’s Delaware Valley Rare Coin Company and the first guy in modern times to come across a 1943 Antimony Lincoln Cent and the only 1786 New Jersey three-pound Colonial note known to exist, opines that some of the estimates out there are likely to be overblown. And Beach himself, Weaver notes, may have devalued the last penny.

“If you look at that photo, he is holding the penny with his fingers on the coin,” Weaver told me, his voice tinged with incredulity. “You just don’t do that. Copper is very reactive to sweat and the oils of the skin, and any serious collector is going to take this photo into consideration.”

On top of that, Weaver adds, he doesn’t consider the last five pennies to be a true collector’s dream. Yes, there are only five of them in existence, which might suggest rarity to us laypeople, but Weaver’s not fully buying it.

“You see, they were made for this purpose,” he explains. “They were made to be rare. When you see people paying in the millions for coins, they are paying for coins that are 100 or 200 years old, of which only a handful are known to exist and that have survived for so many years without anyone making them for that purpose in 1933 or 1794.”

Then again, he admits, it’s not easy to know what is going to happen at an auction, particularly with a coin has produced such big headlines.

“One thing that is hard to predict with something like this is ego,” Weaver says with a chuckle. “And there are a lot of egos out there these days.”

SEPTA Just Can’t Catch a Break

Now it’s signal problems on top of all the delays caused by mandated inspections.

From the Department of Questions You Never Thought You’d Be Asked

“What Does Freedom Taste Like?”

What Are You Doing Tomorrow?

The answer should be “Going to the 8th annual Ideas We Should Steal Festival” at the Comcast Technology Center.

By the Numbers

$193 million: Funding increase that Philly schools are set to receive thanks to the just-passed Pennsylvania budget. The total state budget came in at $50.1 billion, and Governor Shapiro approved it on Wednesday after months of legislative wrangling and delays.

35 percent: Portion of city contracts that were supposed to go to “minority, women, or disabled-owned enterprises” after the city developed new guidelines in 2016. But Mayor Parker has quietly done away with this practice.

$120: What it will cost you and up to three of your friends to enjoy a pop-up barrel sauna in FDR Park, starting on December 13th. Reservations just opened!

Local Talent

If you’re a fan of Law & Order: SVU, you’ve probably noticed some new characters in the last few years. One of those characters is Captain Renee Curry, and she’s more prominent than ever in this season.

Mariska Hargitay and Aimé Donna Kelly during a Law & Order: SVU shoot in New York in September. (Getty Images)

It so happens that Curry is played by UArts grad and former Center City resident Aimé Donna Kelly. I sat down with Kelly recently to learn what it’s like to work with Mariska and Ice-T and also got to hear about the awkward moment when she bumped into Barack Obama at Famous 4th. You can read the full interview here.

From UArts to Law & Order: SVU, Meet Aimé Donna Kelly

Aimé Donna Kelly from Law & Order: SVU / Photograph by Emily Assiran

If you, like me, are one of the millions of people who watch Law & Order: SVU each week and have been doing so for years and years, you’ve no doubt noticed some new faces in recent seasons. One of them is Aimé Donna Kelly, who plays Captain Renee Curry alongside such Law & Order: SVU legends as Mariska Hargitay and Ice-T. This season, her character has risen to such a prominent level that she’s now unlocked a golden badge in SVU-land: her name and photo in the opening credits. Here, the UArts grad and former Washington Square West resident tells us all about it.

My first name is pronounced … like “I may” get a margarita this Friday. My family is Cuban on my mom’s side, and my grandmother named me. It’s a French name, but she actually named me after a friendly grade school rival of hers who always pushed her to be the best. They were the two smartest girls in class. She wanted me to have that fire. And I think I do.

My childhood nickname was … La Directora, because I was always dictating to my family what we should do.

When I was a little girl in Brooklyn, I wanted to grow up to be … an actor and a teacher, and I have become both of those things. My grandmother was a teacher before becoming a therapist in a women’s prison. So many stories.

I came to Philly … in 2005 to study acting at the University of the Arts. It wasn’t my first choice, but then I came to visit. We drove over the Ben Franklin Bridge and into the city and saw all these murals, and it was the murals that made me realize this is an artists’ haven, this is where I need to be. I auditioned for UArts and then canceled all my other auditions. I lived in Center City for all 11 years I was there, and I was most proud of my little apartment at 9th and Clinton.

Whenever I come back to Philly … it’s to do Christmas shopping with my mom, Elizabeth. She loves the Wanamaker Organ and the light show. When I was in college, she would come visit me and just go sit there and listen to the organ recitals.

When I heard that UArts was closing, I thought … this is a travesty. It was devastating for so many reasons. That school really changed me as an artist. I’m getting emotional thinking about it now.

One thing I really miss about Philadelphia is … Mixto on Pine Street. The drinks and ropa vieja are so good.

My favorite stage role in Philadelphia was … anything I did with Jen Childs at 1812 Productions. Working with Jen is a masterclass in the art of acting. Once, for 1812’s annual production of This Is the Week That Is, I got to play both Herman Cain and Michelle Obama.

Mariska Hargitay and Aimé Donna Kelly during a Law & Order: SVU shoot in New York in September. (Getty Images)

I joined SVU in … 2020, just as a one-time character. I met Mariska and was in awe of her. And I learned so much on just that one day. Then they invited me back. And then again. Last season I did 16 of 22 episodes, and this season is the first time my photo appears in the opening credits. It all happened so fast, and I feel truly blessed.

My first memory of Law & Order is … my grandmother, Hilda, and my mom watching religiously and me telling them they are going to desensitize themselves to all of these horrible things. And now I’m in the show. It’s such a big deal for my family. They cry during those opening credits. It’s very emotional.

My shooting schedule is … constant. Yes, constant, grueling, and fun.

If I had to choose between Mariska Hargitay or Ice-T for my zombie apocalypse survival team … I would honestly have to pick both, Mariska to be the leader and Ice to like come out guns a-blazin’. I’d be worthless. I can’t even deal with the cold or bugs let alone a zombie apocalypse.

My secret junk food obsession is … those honey wheat twisted pretzels.

One actor I’d really like the chance to work with is… Ayo Edebiri from The Bear. She’s just so genuine and funny. And Giovanni Ribisi. But, really, there are so many.

Some of the TV shows I’ve done previously include … The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Chicago Med, Blue Bloods, Blacklist, and The Sinner.

When people recognize me in the grocery store … I’m always surprised because the real me doesn’t look very much like Captain Curry.

Aimé Donna Kelly and other cast members on the streets of New York during a Law & Order: SVU shoot in 2024. (Getty Images)

If you really want to piss me off … you will say “those who can’t do teach.” The saying should be that those who teach are superheroes. The true masters. Selfless.

If you’re coming to my house for dinner, I will make … rice, grilled chicken, and a salad that came out of a bag. As for the chicken, I’m just putting some olive oil in the pan and hoping for the best. Maybe flip it five times and just pray it’s not pink.

The most famous person I ever met was … Barack Obama, when he was president, at Famous 4th Street. I was all the way in the back, and he was greeting each table, so I had plenty of time to figure out something important to say to him, and when he gets around to me all that comes out of my mouth is “People tell me I look like your wife.” He steps back, looks at me, smiles, and says, “Yeah, a li’l bit, a li’l bit.”

Published as “Aimé Donna Kelly” in the November 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.