From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch.

Each morning, Brian Gerber Jr. climbs up 150 metal stairs to a trap door that leads to his 7-by-7-foot office 100 feet above the Wharton State Forest in South Jersey. It’s here, in a painted red and white steel tower that he spends eight hours a day looking for smoke.

“It’s awesome,” said Gerber, a fire observer with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. “I just love the view, it changes every morning you come up here. It’s always such a gorgeous view. You can see the Pine Barrens, and on a crystal clear day you can see smoke almost anywhere in the state and in our division.”

Turkey vultures float by the windows that line all four sides of his perch, which provides a 360-degree view of the pitch pine and oak forests below. On a clear day, he can see for 20 miles in all directions, including the Philadelphia skyline to the west.

“Pepperpot, smoking hot!”

That is what Black women reportedly sang in the streets of 18th-century Philadelphia, ladling out cups of pepperpot soup from a bucket to customers on the cobblestones and in taverns.

Composer Kendrah Butler-Waters imagined those peddlers’ cries as a suite of modern, jazz-infused songs as part of “Pepperpot,” a multidisciplinary performance debuting this weekend on Cherry Street Pier as part of ArtPhilly’s “What Now: 2026” festival.

“The music mixes jazz, Caribbean elements of reggae, soca. There are elements of R&B,” she said. “I’m drawing on the African American experience of music, trying to convey a story through not only the lyrics but through the melodies.”

We only have a hint of the peddlers’ songs from the 1810 publication, “The Cries of Philadelphia,” a contemporaneous book of street peddlers in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania archives. But that was enough to set modern poets and musicians flying.

It’s hot! (It’s hot!)
It’s fresh! (It’s fresh!)
I’m calling you to taste it.
Taste the best around!
The best in town!

Terry Gross marked the 50th anniversary of her longtime WHYY radio show “Fresh Air” by putting herself in the hot seat. During a fundraising event at WHYY on Sunday, the tables were turned as Philadelphia Orchestra conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin interviewed Gross.

“I’m thrilled, and I’m a tiny, teeny bit nervous,” Nézet-Séguin said as he sat down with Gross in front of an audience.

Nézet-Séguin is a frequent guest on “Fresh Air,” having been interviewed by Gross five times over the last seven years. The two have spoken about many subjects, including Nézet-Séguin’s musical upbringing, the healing role of music during the COVID-19 pandemic, the music that inspires him, and how he helped bring Leonard Bernstein’s life to the big screen.

“I want to ask Terry Gross, the best interviewer in the world: How does an interview differ from a conversation?” he asked.

“When I’m interviewing somebody, I want to put the spotlight on them. It’s my job to ask questions that will, hopefully, provoke interesting and revealing answers,” Gross said. “In a conversation it’s about me, too.”

The conversation started with a question about the music Gross heard while growing up in Brooklyn, New York.

“My parents listened to WNEW-AM,” she said. “They played a mix of Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra and ‘How Much is That Doggie in the Window?’ and ‘Hot Diggity Dog Ziggity Do.’ It was a mix of great stuff and really horrible stuff, and I hated all of it because it wasn’t rock and roll.”

As a conductor with a particular affinity for choral music, Nézet-Séguin was interested in how Gross prepares her voice for radio to maintain her signature warm sound. She does nothing to maintain her voice, Gross said, other than quitting smoking years ago out of a deep-seated fear of laryngitis.

From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch.

The city of Camden has suspended EMR’s junkyard license for its scrap metal shredding facility along the Delaware River following a 2-alarm fire at the site late last month. 

A notice from the Department of Code Enforcement to EMR Metal Recycling provided to WHYY News cited a history of “up to 12 fires” on EMR property in Camden in the past five years. A 4-alarm fire in February 2025 caused about 100 people to voluntarily evacuate their homes and stay in hotel rooms that were paid for by the company. The incident left some nearby residents with concerns about their health.

The notice references the impacts of the two-alarm fire on May 29 as the grounds for the suspension.

“The resulting smoke, airborne discharge of hazardous materials, noise, and overall disruption caused by the fire created a condition that is harmful, offensive and obstructive to the reasonable use and enjoyment of property and constitute an emergency endangering the health and safety of Camden City Residents,” reads the formal notice of suspension dated June 4 and signed by the city’s code enforcement director Gabriel Camacho.

The June 4 suspension of the junkyard license for the property at Front Street and Atlantic Avenue, listed under the name Camden Iron & Metal, Inc., means EMR must “cease all junkyard operations” at the site, according to the city’s notice. The suspension will be reevaluated after 30 days.

Last week, the city posted a cease operations order citing “public nuisance conditions” at the site and the section of city code outlining conditions for nonissuance of junkyard licenses. The June 4 notice of license suspension includes greater detail on the cause for suspension.

Violet Grohl brought her first headlining tour to Philadelphia on Friday night, performing to a sold-out crowd at The Lounge at World Stage.

Grohl, daughter of Foo Fighters frontman and Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, released her debut album, “Be Sweet to Me,” on May 29.

On Friday, Violet Grohl performed alongside a quartet. Grohl sang lead vocals while the band handled guitar, bass, drums and synths. Shortly before she took the stage, a crew member added a star to setlists posted onstage between the songs, “Applefish” and “Sun Is Blind,” the latter of which was her final song.

The Daughters of the American Revolution has installed a permanent plaque in Yellow Springs in  Chester County, Pennsylvania, to commemorate heroic acts of the Revolutionary War.

But not on the battlefield.

“All the time we have had people asking us if we’re going to do battle scene reenactments at Yellow Springs,” said Historic Yellow Springs Executive Director Tom Compton. “That’s not historically relevant in any way to this site.”

Yellow Springs was the site of a hospital during the Revolutionary War, the only purpose-built hospital of the war, a fact that was lost on Karen Christen when she was growing up in Berwyn, not far from Valley Forge.

“The focus was mostly on Valley Forge, that I recall. We never really heard about a hospital,” Christen said. “We heard about the men and how ill they were and how many deaths there were, but I don’t recall ever hearing where they were treated.”

Christen is the regent of the Great Valley chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, or DAR, which installed the bronze plaque at the stone ruins of the Yellow Springs hospital. It is part of a push by DAR chapters across the country to sprinkle plaques among significant sites to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Other plaques are installed at locations including Paoli Battlefield Historical Park in Malvern, Washington Crossing Historic Park in Upper Makefield Township and the Old Eagle School in Tredyffrin, where many Revolutionary soldiers are buried.

At Historic Yellow Springs, there are plenty of existing signs that explain its historic significance, but Compton says the DAR plaque, gleaming in the sun at the top of a hill, is a standout.

“What I’m so excited about with the DAR signage is its prominence and the appearance of it,” he said. “It really gives the monumental presence that that place deserves.”

Saving the memory of Abigail Hartman Rice

The hundreds of plaques being installed around the country all use the same words to commemorate “the men and women who achieved American independence.” They do not name specific people or places.

Many amateur and professional historians have been asking the DAR to officially recognize one woman in particular who is believed to have done her patriotic duty at Yellow Springs: Abigail Hartman Rice.

Rice was a nurse at the hospital, according to Sandra Momyer, the former director of Yellow Springs.

“She started bringing over hot food for the patients, thinking that would help them. But when she saw the conditions here and saw how ill and in dire need of support, she started coming over more often,” Momyer said. “She bathed the men, she changed the bedding, she changed their clothing. It became a regular thing.”

Rice tended to soldiers suffering from disease, which was far more deadly than combat wounds during the war. Through her work, she contracted typhus, which ultimately killed her at 47 years old, leaving behind 21 children.

During the war, she was believed to have received into her home Gen. George Washington, fresh from his defeat at Brandywine. The tired general stopped at the Rice home where, according to published family lore, Abigail gave him a refreshing rum flip cocktail.

“We have no titles here, we are all brothers,” a defeated Washington is believed to have told her. “My heart is with my poor men who lie in the battlefield at Brandywine.”

During that visit, the general was believed to have held Rice’s young daughter, Susan, which caused subsequent generations to name their children Susan.

“There are a lot of Susans in the descendants,” said Holly Trostle Brigham, a Philadelphia-based artist and one of Rice’s fourth-great-grandchildren. “It comes down from that story, whether or not it was true.”

The DAR once recognized Abigail Rice as a patriot. In 1915, the Washington, D.C., chapter was named after her, and a plaque with her name was installed in the Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge.

But after the 1976 bicentennial flooded membership to historically high levels, the DAR began to adopt more exclusive historical requirements to declare someone a Revolutionary War patriot. Family lore was no longer accepted, only explicit historical documents could prove an ancestor offered “material aid” to the war of independence.

By the 1990s, Rice’s name was stripped from the DAR chapter and from its official registry of patriots. The DAR database now lists Abigail, under her full name Maria Appolonia Abigail Hartman Rice, with the caveat “Future Applicants Must Prove Correct Service.“

“We don’t have that definitive piece of information that says she was 100% here,” Christen said. “We got a lot of — for lack of a better word — hearsay, stories that are handed down through families, which oddly enough are not always true.”

“I certainly am not saying that about Abigail, because I personally believe she was here. I think she was here. I think she was probably integral in what was going on here,” she said. “We just haven’t been able to find the piece of documentation to say ’yes’ for a fact.”

Philadelphia’s neighborhood resource hubs, which opened as a COVID-19 pandemic measure to increase access to free masks, test kits and hand sanitizer, will close June 17. Some locations also offer food distributions, naloxone, wellness screenings and other public health services.

Federal emergency pandemic relief funding that supported the four centers is expiring, but public health officials say the goal is to maintain services by moving hub operations to the city’s newer neighborhood community action centers.

However, some residents are fighting to keep the hubs, which are located within nearby wellness centers, health organizations and churches, where they are now.

The resource sites have supported people who continue to take precautions against COVID and other health threats, said Remy Campbell, who is an emergency room nurse and has a heart condition.

As a nurse who is frequently exposed to the virus and someone who is at a higher risk of COVID complications due to health issues, Campbell said they continue to mask and test frequently, “and it’s not totally unaffordable, but it’s also not free.”

Campbell discovered the resource hub at Bethany Baptist Church a couple years ago.

“They were giving out free tests and I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ It changed my life so much,” they said.

Dismantling and moving these hubs could create a disruption in services for people who depend on them, Campbell said. Advocates are calling on the city to fund the current locations with other city dollars.

An online petition has garnered about 500 signatures as of June 5 in support of that action.

“What we’re trying to sell to the city on is the idea that, yes, this still matters even though now it’s going to come out of your pocket,” Campbell said. “And that’s what makes it hard. It was a magical service that fell from the sky, and the magic is going away. So, do we have the interest as a city to preserve it?”

If the hubs and services do need to move to the community action centers, which include 10 sites throughout Philly, Campbell said people want to see more communication and transparency from the city on how that will happen.

“What is the plan? We need to see a plan,” they said.

Former President Joe Biden made a surprise appearance in Philadelphia on Sunday to accept an award recognizing his LGBTQ+ advocacy.

“There’s nothing more American than the fight for equality,” Biden said to the crowd.

The Stonewall Awards recognize Philadelphia LGBTQ+ leaders, pioneers and allies annually during Pride Month.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcom Kenyatta, the first openly LGBTQ+ person of color elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, introduced Biden and highlighted his long record of supporting LGBTQ+ rights. Kenyatta cited Biden’s appointments of Pete Buttigieg and Dr. Rachel Levine, who made history as the first openly gay Cabinet member and the first openly transgender person confirmed by the U.S. Senate, respectively.

“He signed laws and executive orders to not just talk about standing up for LGBTQ folks, but to ensure that the entire weight of the federal government was put to work making lives better for every single member of our community,” Kenyatta said.

Stonewall Award recipients were hand-selected by Mark Segal, a participant in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City, and founder and publisher of Philadelphia Gay News, one of the nation’s oldest LGBTQ+ publications. Segal, who is one of the last living Stonewall participants, said he created the awards to celebrate Philly’s LGBTQ+ community and empower future generations.

“Stonewall means something special to everyone in our community, and luckily, I’ve had the honor and opportunity to travel around the world and speak about what happened to Stonewall,” Segal said. “Often, people come up to me and just start crying or grab me and cry, and so I know the significance of that word, and I wanted to bring that word and use it to celebrate our own community.”

WHYY and the Willingboro Community Development Corporation brought together more than 100 residents on Saturday for an afternoon of food, conversation and community building. At the Willingboro Library Park, adjacent to the Public Library, attendees met neighbors, connected with local organizations and shared barbecue from a local restaurant.

Strengthening community ties outside the newsroom

The barbecue was part of WHYY’s ongoing effort to deepen community connections in South and Central Jersey and across the region, said Sarah Glover, WHYY’s vice president of news and civic dialogue.

“Our news team is one of the most trusted news sources in the Delaware Valley,” Glover said. “How we build that trust with our audience is meeting them where they are. Our community engagement efforts are interwoven in our news operation.”

Patricia Lindsay-Harvey, president of the Willingboro Community Development Corporation Board of Directors, said the event created an opportunity for people to come together.

“This is a wonderful environment, and I’ve met a lot of people I didn’t even know,” she said. “We’re really appreciative that WHYY sees value in Willingboro and wanted to partner with us.”

The Willingboro CDC is a nonprofit organization that works to improve residents’ quality of life, by promoting engagement, economic development and sustainable initiatives that benefit people.

Youth leadership on display

During the event, the Conglomerate Performance squad, a team of about a dozen girls and young women, ages 6 to 18, delighted the crowd with a drill, majorette and step performance.

Ariel Grinnage, the squad’s coach and one of the choreographers, said the performers come from all over Burlington County.

“I love the youth, and I love my community,” Grinnage said. “My mother and I, we work on the team together. We decided to make it our mission not just to uplift the youth and uplift the community, because these children, they are our future.”

Willingboro Mayor Samantha Whitfield said the town values community engagement. “So this kind of event contributes to the sense of community that we are trying to nurture,” she said.

“Our neighbors can be outside, get together and connect, and they don’t have to spend a lot of money,” she said. “We appreciate the kind of a get-together on so many levels.”

As the official start of summer draws near, movie buffs can rejoice over a stacked season of action, comedy and drama. “The Odyssey” is highly anticipated, but there are other titles worth seeing. Here are the top spots to catch a movie in Philadelphia, as well as a few of the flicks you don’t want to miss this summer.

Where to see a movie in Philadelphia

• AMC Fashion District 8
  1001 Market St., Suite 3050
• Landmark’s Ritz Five
  214 Walnut St.
• Philadelphia Film Society Center
  1412 Chestnut St.
• Philadelphia Film Society Bourse
  400 Ranstead St.
• Philadelphia Film Society East
  125 S. Second St.
• Cinemark University City Penn 6
  4012 Walnut St.
• AMC Broadstreet 7
  1600 N. Broad St.

June

‘Jackass: Best and Last’: June 26

Johnny Knoxville, fresh off hosting the return of “Fear Factor,” is back with the fifth — and final — “Jackass” installment.

Although included in the trailer, Brandon “Bam” Margera is not involved in the latest film.

The “Jackass” family has local ties that include Ryan Dunn, who died in a car crash in 2011 in West Goshen Township, Chester County.

Fans of the franchise can look forward to meeting one new member of the “Jackass” family — a robot.

“I would like to introduce you to our new cast member … Larry!” Knoxville says in the trailer before Larry hits Knoxville in the groin.

‘The Invite’: June 26

A new film from director Olivia Wilde starts with a simple concept: A married couple invites their neighbors over for dinner. What’s the worst that could happen? Starring Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton and Wilde, the trailer leaves much to ponder. Is this a comedy? A potential horror movie? Something mysterious is afoot.

“It’s the sort of one-location, star-driven ensemble piece that could have merely been a theatrical exercise, and somehow manages to avoid being either stagy or stodgy,” David Fear wrote in Rolling Stone.

The movie currently has a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

‘Supergirl’: June 26

Milly Alock, of “House of the Dragon” and the Netflix series “Sirens,” stars as Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, embarking on an interstellar journey with a surprising accomplice.

“I have no people,” Zor-El says in the trailer. But she does have a cute dog named Krypto. “Home is wherever you are, buddy.”

Jason Momoa, Emily Beecham and Eve Ridley also star.

Rebuilt from salvaged scraps, the amusement park Phoenix Wheel that once carried riders high above the shoreline at Asbury Park, New Jersey, now rises again in the Pennsylvania town where it was forged more than 130 years ago.

The 78-foot-tall Ferris wheel flamed red in the late morning sun Saturday, the center of attention for about 1,000 people who gathered to celebrate its return to Phoenixville. Manufactured in 1893, it is one of four Phoenix Wheels from the Phoenix Iron and Steel Company. Town officials say it is the oldest standing Ferris wheel in the world.

Phoenixville Mayor Peter Urscheler told the crowd Saturday that the wheel is “a symbol of craftsmanship, resilience and renewal.”

“There was once a sign that stood at the entrance of the Phoenix Steel Company, and that sign read, ‘At Phoenix, it’s the people that make the difference,’” Urscheler said. “That was very true then, and still even more true today. This wheel stands before us because people believed in what was possible and because they were willing to work together over many years to make that possibility real.”

A ‘magical’ ride at the Jersey Shore

The wheel was installed in Asbury Park in 1895. Known as the Asbury Park Wheel, it became a centerpiece of Palace Amusements.

“It was a grand view at that time,” Phoenixville historian Ryan Conroy told the crowd Saturday. He said the wheel was electrified and covered in at least 150 colored lights.

“It stood so high in the air, with this observation deck that it was originally built with, that it was referred to as one of the best viewpoints on the East Coast of the United States,” Conroy said.

A defining fixture of the shoreline, the wheel makes a cameo appearance in Bruce Springsteen’s 1987 “Tunnel of Love” music video, and it is visible in the background in photos of the homegrown superstar taken before the wheel was disassembled in 1989.

For Brian Maher, the last person to operate the wheel, seeing the structure rebuilt, albeit not as a functioning ride, “feels like going back in time,” he told WHYY News on Saturday.

“I was the one that locked the doors on the last time on Nov. 27, 1988, 6 p.m. And it was raining that night,” Maher recalled.

The wheel was “magical,” he said. “We knew it was special at the time.”

In his time operating the ride, Maher helped people stage proposals and anniversary celebrations at the top. Even his own romantic history connects to the wheel: Maher and his wife met as teenagers at the amusement park and would ride it together.

“It’s the oldest wheel on earth. It’s the last one. And there’s so many times it could have been just sold for scrap, and it wasn’t. And it’s now here in this beautiful town, and it’s just going to go on and on. Memories,” he said.

“We’ll see what happens, maybe years down the road we can get it turning again,” Maher said. “I would love to turn that crank one final time, and I wouldn’t even need to ride it. I would just like to start it up, do what I used to do, and that would just be a wonderful thing.”

The Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, unveiled a site-specific, permanent work from artist Roberto Lugo on Thursday night to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

“Permanence: We Were Here” is a 4-foot-tall ceramic vessel that commemorates the museum’s location within the walls of the former Bucks County Jail, which opened in 1884.

“The piece blends the museum’s history as the former Bucks County Jail, its future in its mission to elevate and diversify our collection through the work of some of the most notable contemporary artists in our region, and it commemorates our nation’s shared history at the moment of its 250th year,” Anne Corso, executive director and CEO of the museum, said at the unveiling.

From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch.

The city of Camden issued a cease operations order Thursday to EMR, the scrap metal recycling company that runs a shredding facility along the Delaware River waterfront where a two-alarm fire occurred on May 29.

The order covers the company’s scrap metal shredder and material separator, where the company receives, shreds and processes junk cars, construction debris, old appliances and other scrap so it can be remelted, EMR USA CEO Joe Balzano said Friday. The company had already voluntarily paused receiving and shredding material at the site where the fire on May 29 occurred.

“We’re looking for a cooperative solution with the city,” Balzano said Friday. “We’re hoping we can sit down and then have a conversation, and see if we can resolve it.”

The cease operations order cited “public nuisance conditions” at EMR’s location at Front Street and Atlantic Avenue, according to a photo posted on social media by the group Camden for Clean Air.

City, county and state elected officials called on EMR to fully cease operations in Camden following last Friday’s blaze, which was the latest in over a dozen fires that have occurred at sites operated by EMR in the city since 2020, according to a lawsuit filed by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General earlier this year. The officials called on the Environmental Protection Agency, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and “every other regulatory agency” to shut down EMR’s operations at its scrapyard in the Waterfront South neighborhood.

“We will not stand idly by while residents are exposed to fires on a regular basis and have to bear the burdens of an operation that clearly cannot function in a safe manner,” the joint statement from Camden County Commissioner Jeffrey Nash, Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen, Camden City Council President Angel Fuentes, Camden City Council Vice President Arthur Barclay and state Sen. Nilsa Cruz-Perez read.

Some nearby residents had called for EMR to shut down after previous fires left them with concerns about the health impacts of the smoke.

Xiente, a Philadelphia nonprofit focused on helping families move out of poverty through programs like guaranteed income, subsidized housing and financial coaching, held its “Prosperity Breakfast” on Thursday, discussing economic mobility and long-term financial stability.

Held at Billy Penn Studios, the sold-out event brought together national and local experts for  conversations about poverty, housing, workforce development and the systems that either help or hinder families with their finances.

Michelle Carrera Morales, Xiente’s outgoing executive director who oversaw the launch of the new programs, told the group that those programs were born out of rising economic inequality.

“I think that in this nation we talk about the American dream and it has been lost,” she said. “Many of our families have lost that simple ability to dream. I think we take that for granted.”

Moderated by Sarah Glover, vice president of news and civic dialogue at WHYY, the panel featured Félix Quiñones, who will serve as Xiente’s interim CEO; Soneyet Muhammad of Episcopal Community Services; Olivia Montana an economic mobility mentoring specialist at the South Hills Interfaith Movement; and Brendan Perry, director of Padua National at Catholic Charities Fort Worth.

Throughout the discussion, panelists emphasized that helping families achieve economic mobility requires more than short-term assistance. Instead, they argued for long-term relationships built on trust, flexible funding and individualized support.

Quiñones said that many seeking help from Xiente come to the organization for financial guidance, but raise concerns that reveal deeper challenges like domestic violence or legal issues.

“It will end in some completely different area,” Quiñones said, adding those are often the issues where trust must be built before families can begin addressing other aspects of economic mobility.

Panelists repeatedly stressed that pathways out of poverty require a long-term process that involves coaching, relationship building and support systems that can respond to setbacks along the way.

Montana described working with participants to build financial skills and confidence over time. Rather than solving problems for families, coaches help them learn how to plan for the future and navigate challenges independently.

One participant entered the program hoping to save hundreds of dollars each month but had little understanding of where her money was going, Montana said. Through coaching, she developed a realistic savings plan, eliminated debt and became more proactive in preparing for emergencies, Montana said.

“A lot of participants, individuals and families are operating from a stress response,” Montana said. “When I’m coaching a participant in that first year, I’m often very much guiding them in how to break down their goals.”

Darryl Brown, a sergeant in the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, was caught with the missing items after the photojournalist used a geo-tracking device to trace her missing gear to his home, the state’s attorney general said Thursday.

The journalist, Angelina Katsanis, was on assignment for The Associated Press at Delaney Hall on Saturday night when she was struck in the knee by a wood beam during a clash between police and demonstrators.

As she hobbled to a medical tent to seek attention, Katsanis left behind her gear bag, which was marked with her name and contact information. When she was eventually allowed to return to the area — now in a wheelchair — the bag was gone.

“I checked my Airtag and the bag was already on a highway pretty far away at that point,” Katsanis recalled. “Right away, I had a feeling it was the police because they were the only ones with access to that area.”

As Katsanis sought treatment in a nearby hospital, the Airtag pinged to a home in Sparta, New Jersey, which was listed as belonging to Brown, according to the attorney general’s office. The device was later recovered on the side of a road, miles away from the home where it was initially taken.

A subsequent review of Brown’s body camera footage showed him “interacting” with the bag at the protest location, according to the attorney general’s office. A search warrant executed at his home Wednesday turned up several of the missing items, some bearing Katsanis’ name and phone number, the complaint said.

A series of recent water emergencies in New Jersey and Pennsylvania is drawing renewed attention to the dangers of swimming in open water.

Authorities are continuing to search for two people reported missing off the New Jersey coast. Fourteen-year-old Davoris Carter was swept into the ocean off Wildwood during a class trip earlier this week, while a 20-year-old man disappeared off the coast of Ocean City while boogie boarding with friends last month.

A third incident occurred early Friday morning in the Delaware River near Philadelphia’s Torresdale section. Rescue efforts shifted to recovery operations after a man who entered the water while boating with friends reportedly told them he could no longer swim, struggled to return to the boat and never resurfaced.

The incidents serve as a reminder that open-water environments can become dangerous quickly, even for experienced swimmers.

So, what should someone do if they find themselves in a dangerous situation in the water?

WHYY’s “Morning Edition” host Jennifer Lynn spoke with Jennifer May, founder and swim coach at Water Ready Swim School in Montclair, New Jersey. As concerns about water safety grow, the school is expanding its curriculum to include ocean-safety instruction.

Note: This transcript has been edited for clarity.

From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch.

Toxic PFAS chemicals are pervasive across the Delaware River, as well as in the fish that swim along the waterway and its tributaries, according to a Delaware River Basin Commission report published in May.

The study finds that PFAS concentrations are increasing at a faster rate than the volume of water moving downstream toward the Delaware Bay. Researchers say the lack of dilution downstream suggests the so-called “forever chemicals” continue to be discharged from potential sources like industrial and wastewater facilities.

The chemicals were detected at higher levels in the river between Chester, Pennsylvania and Pea Patch Island, located across from Delaware City, Delaware — indicating that there are sources of PFAS contamination south of Chester.

“We will continue our decades-long active monitoring of PFAS and heighten our focus on targeted tracking, trend modeling and data communication, ultimately allowing DRBC to help reduce PFAS prevalence throughout our shared waters,” said Kristen Bowman Kavanagh, DRBC’s Executive Director, in a statement.

The results are the latest in a three-part study marking more than 20 years of PFAS research in the Delaware River Basin, which provides drinking water to more than 14 million people in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.

Members of the public can use a new interactive application that maps out PFAS hotspots around the basin. The public is invited to learn more about the study during a webinar on Monday, June 15.

PFAS are commonly used in the manufacturing of household products such as nonstick cookware and waterproof clothing, as well as in firefighting foam. The toxic chemicals have been linked to serious health problems, including some cancers.

PFAS have tainted water, air and soil in the U.S. for decades. The so-called “forever” chemicals don’t break down naturally in the environment, and can remain in the human bloodstream for years.

A bill to prohibit the Trenton Police Department from working with federal immigration officials on civil enforcement was tabled by the City Council until its next meeting on June 16 after tensions flared between activists and council members during their Thursday night meeting.

At the center of the conflict are immigration detainers, which are issued by federal officials when they identify someone as “potentially deportable.” Activists want the proposed ordinance to include language that prohibits the police department from honoring them.

“We want the Trenton police to stop collaborating with [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement], unless there is a judicial warrant,” said David Schraeger, vice president of Resistencia en Acción New Jersey, an immigrant advocacy group in Mercer County. “[Trenton Police] should not be putting up perimeters for ICE and they should not be helping ICE arrest anybody without a judicial warrant.”

According to the American Immigration Council, compliance with detainers is voluntary and at the law enforcement agency’s discretion.

One person who expressed disapproval of some council members saying they would vote against the measure was arrested for refusing to leave the council chambers. She was later released on a summons.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker took shots at rideshare companies Thursday after her proposed $1 tax on Uber and Lyft rides was struck down by City Council in the preliminary budget.

City Council approved a $7.1 billion preliminary budget, rejecting many of Parker’s tax proposals, including increases to hotel taxes and delivery services. A final vote on the budget will take place June 11.

Mayor says ‘billionaire tech companies’ win ‘round 1’

Parker addressed what she called the “elephant in the room” after the rideshare tax increase was cut. The tax would have generated $48 million in recurring funding for the School District of Philadelphia, which is facing a $300 million structural deficit. The district will instead get a one-time payment of $48 million from the preliminary budget.

Parker called out the rideshare companies’ business practices and lobbying efforts, such as Uber’s six-figure advertising campaign, which said it would affect citizens facing a high cost of living, senior citizens and people with mobility issues.

“Asking and expecting them to contribute more to the city that they profit from is not unreasonable or illogical. It is fair,” Parker said. “It is the right thing to do, and I want you to know that I have no intention of stopping.”

Why Council struck down the tax proposals

In addition to the school budget deficit, Parker’s tax proposals also aimed to pay for pothole repairs and fund homelessness prevention. Councilmember Katherine Gilmore-Richardson said striking down the rideshare tax doesn’t mean her colleagues are against the school district.

“I reject anyone who will rise anywhere to say that this Council did not stand up to do what we needed to do for our children,” Gilmore-Richardson said.

The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is restoring state arts funding to smaller organizations.

Last year, the council renamed itself Pennsylvania Creative Industries and reorganized its funding criteria, making organizations with budgets under $100,000 ineligible for grants. Organizations that operated under fiscal sponsorships were also not eligible.

The move alarmed arts organizations across the commonwealth.

“We pushed back,” said Patricia Wilson Aden, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. “We said that if the PA Council on the Arts was to fulfill its originating mandate, they needed to reconsider.”

In a vote Thursday morning, the council approved a new program called Spotlight, which makes state funding available to organizations with budgets between $10,000 and $100,000, and allows for fiscal sponsorships.

“We saw measurable change from our advocacy from our outreach,” said Eric César Morales of Restoring Opportunities for Artists and Residents, which was formed in response to PCI funding cuts.

About 70 people logged into the online council meeting Thursday, with many representing regional arts organizations across Pennsylvania. While they voiced satisfaction with PCI’s decision to restore funding to smaller organizations, they criticized the decision to eliminate the regional partnerships program, which used county-level arts associations to help grassroots artists and organizations apply for state grants.

Amy Elliott Gabriele, chief financial officer, said the council is obligated to use state funding as efficiently as possible. Streamlining and centralizing the application process will lower administration costs.

“Over the past two years, Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts and the Arts in Education partners returned $450,000 in grant funds,” she said. “In many cases, funds were returned because there were not enough applications to distribute the grants. In one area, 70% of residency funds were returned.”

In response, Susannah Faulkner, executive director of Erie Arts and Culture, said that many smaller organizations need direct, personal support to navigate the complex application process.

“We really pride ourselves on being great stewards of those taxpayer dollars,” she said. “Many of these organizations that will qualify do not have any paid staff. They’re all-volunteer run and it is essential for them to have the trusted messengers of folks like us.”