Eastern Pa. News - The Morning Call https://www.mcall.com Get Lehigh Valley news, Allentown news, Bethlehem news, Easton news, Quakertown news, Poconos news and Pennsylvania news from The Morning Call. Sat, 03 Jan 2026 08:00:01 +0000 en-US hourly 30 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://www.mcall.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/favicon.png?w=32 Eastern Pa. News - The Morning Call https://www.mcall.com 32 32 208786764 Pennsylvania high school basketball scores from Friday, Jan. 2 https://www.mcall.com/2026/01/02/pennsylvania-high-school-basketball-scores-from-friday-jan-2/ Sat, 03 Jan 2026 02:08:10 +0000 https://www.mcall.com/?p=11082115&preview=true&preview_id=11082115 Pennsylvania boys and girls high school basketball scores from Friday, Jan. 2.

BOYS

Archbishop Wood Catholic High School 63, Father Judge High School 58

Berks Catholic 67, Wyomissing 39

Bermudian Springs 46, Kennard-Dale 40

Blue Mountain 60, Tamaqua 30

Carlisle 47, Central Dauphin East 33

Cedar Crest 67, Conestoga Valley 63

Devon Preparatory School 45, Cardinal O’Hara 38

Coventry Christian School 51, Conestoga Christian 40

Eastern Lebanon County High 46, Pottsville 41

Elizabethtown 50, Cocalico 46

Environmental 76, Wilmington 72

Erie 54, Fairview 39

First Christian 78, Iroquois 70

Governor Mifflin 46, Lampeter-Strasburg 32

Halifax 45, Columbia 44

Imhotep 73, West Philadelphia 41

Jersey Shore 49, Wellsboro 47

Juniata Valley 56, Bellwood-Antis 51

Karns City 62, West Shamokin 37

Lebanon 55, Donegal 48

Mercer 56, Greenville 43

Millville 55, Columbia-Montour 44

Mohawk 66, Deer Lakes 59

Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast 77, Lansdale Catholic 59

New Covenant 55, Christian School of York 52

Lehighton 73, Northern Lehigh 48

North Schuylkill 56, Palmerton 44

Notre Dame-Green Pond 72, Northwestern Lehigh 70

Old Forge 69, Scranton Holy Cross 48

Philadelphia West Catholic 63, La Salle College High School 47

Pittsburgh Central Catholic 42, Penn Hills 31

Robeson 69, Great Oaks Charter School, Del. 52

Roman Catholic High School of Philadelphia 66, Archbishop Carroll 38

Saints John Neumann & Maria Goretti Catholic High School 93, Archbishop Ryan 80

Science Leadership 52, Masterman 51

South Williamsport 62, Bucktail 35

Southern Lehigh 53, Salisbury 51

St. Joseph’s Prep 69, Conwell-Egan 62

State College 52, Chambersburg 50

Turkeyfoot Valley 68, Hancock, Md. 67

W. Carrollton, Ohio 55, Ringgold 49

Warwick 43, Ephrata 36

Wilson 49, Manheim Township 43

GIRLS

Cocalico 56, Elizabethtown 27

Council Rock South 47, Bensalem 45

Dunmore 51, Western Wayne 27

Eastern York 47, Littlestown 31

Friends Select 61, Martin Luther King High School 37

Governor Mifflin 52, Lampeter-Strasburg 42

Grove City 41, Fort LeBoeuf 34

Hughesville 65, Southern Columbia 53

Lakeview 44, Franklin 37

Lebanon 62, Donegal 35

Lehighton 49, Northern Lehigh 31

Lewisburg 28, Mifflinburg 24

Manheim Central 39, Lancaster Catholic 34

Manheim Township 55, Conestoga Valley 46

Marian Catholic High School 47, Schuylkill Haven 39

Mars 40, Peters Township 31

Mountain Ridge (MD), Md. 71, Chestnut Ridge 41

New Covenant 48, Christian School of York 20

Pottsville 35, Eastern Lebanon County High 17

Red Lion 50, Hempfield 15

Scranton Prep 55, Scranton 46

Selinsgrove 40, Jersey Shore 29

Solanco 47, Garden Spot 36

South Fayette 75, Akr. Hoban, Ohio 65

Southern Lehigh 53, Salisbury 51

Susquehannock 38, Northeastern 28

Tulpehocken 45, Pottsville Nativity 33

Twin Valley 37, Wyomissing 26

Warwick 46, Ephrata 41

Some high school basketball scores provided by the Delaware County Daily Times, The Morning Call, the Reading Eagle and Scorestream.com, https://scorestream.com/

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11082115 2026-01-02T21:08:10+00:00 2026-01-03T03:00:01+00:00
US Coast Guard searches for survivors of boat strikes as odds diminish days later https://www.mcall.com/2026/01/02/coast-guard-boat-strikes/ Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:33:12 +0000 https://www.mcall.com/?p=11080281&preview=true&preview_id=11080281 By BEN FINLEY and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday it’s still searching for people in the eastern Pacific Ocean who had jumped off alleged drug-smuggling boats when the U.S. military attacked the vessels days earlier, diminishing the likelihood that anyone survived.

Search efforts began Tuesday afternoon after the military notified the Coast Guard that survivors were in the water about 400 miles southwest of the border between Mexico and Guatemala, the maritime service said in a statement.

The Coast Guard dispatched a plane from Sacramento to search an area covering more than 1,000 miles, while issuing an urgent warning to ships nearby. The agency said it coordinated more than 65 hours of search efforts, working with other countries as well as civilian ships and boats in the area.

The weather during that time has included 9-foot seas and 40-knot winds. The U.S. has not said how many people jumped into the water, and, if they are not found, how far the death toll may rise from the Trump administration’s monthslong campaign of blowing up small boats accused of transporting drugs in the region.

The U.S. military said earlier this week that it attacked three boats traveling along known narco-trafficking routes and they “had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes.” The military did not provide evidence to back up the claim.

U.S. Southern Command, which oversees the region, said three people were killed when the first boat was struck, while people in the other two boats jumped overboard and distanced themselves from the vessels before they were attacked.

The strikes occurred in a part of the eastern Pacific where the Navy doesn’t have any ships operating. Southern Command said it immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search and rescue efforts for the people who jumped overboard before the other boats were hit.

Calling in the Coast Guard is notable because the military drew heavy scrutiny after U.S. forces killed the survivors of the first attack in early September with a follow-up strike to their disabled boat. Some Democratic lawmakers and legal experts said the military committed a crime, while the Trump administration and some Republican lawmakers say the follow-up strike was legal.

There have been other survivors of the boat strikes, including one for whom the Mexican Navy suspended a search in late October after four days. Two other survivors of a strike on a submersible vessel in the Caribbean Sea that same month were sent to their home countries — Ecuador and Colombia. Authorities in Ecuador later released the man, saying they had no evidence he committed a crime in the South American nation.

Under President Donald Trump’s direction, the U.S. military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific since early September. As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes is 35 and the number of people killed is at least 115, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.

Trump has justified the boat strikes as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

Along with the strikes, the Trump administration has built up military forces in the region as part of an escalating pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the United States.

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11080281 2026-01-02T19:33:12+00:00 2026-01-02T19:35:00+00:00
Fans mourn closure of cupcake vending machine company Sprinkles Cupcakes https://www.mcall.com/2026/01/02/sprinkles-cupcake-closure/ Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:29:54 +0000 https://www.mcall.com/?p=11080162&preview=true&preview_id=11080162 NEW YORK (AP) — Sprinkles Cupcakes, a company famous for selling sweet treats in vending machines known as “cupcake ATMs,” has shut down after 20 years of operation around the United States, according to its former owner.

“Even though I sold the company over a decade ago, I still have such a personal connection to it, and this isn’t how I thought the story would go,” said Candace Nelson, who started the company after she lost her job in 2005. The closure was announced Dec. 30.

Nelson started Sprinkles Cupcakes in her own kitchen, and the first location was in a small Beverly Hills storefront that had previously been a sandwich shop. The brand would go on to ascend to national fame, and fans took to social media following the company’s announcement to lament the closure.

Sara Cebulski arranges a custom box of cupcakes at Sprinkles
FILE – Sara Cebulski arranges a custom box of cupcakes at Sprinkles, where a 24-Hour Cupcake “ATM,” will be continuously restocked to dispense fresh cupcakes, in Beverly Hills, Calif., March 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

The company’s cupcake-dispensing machines in malls and airports briefly went viral on TikTok for the not-so-subtle “I love Sprinkles” jingle that played repeatedly while a mechanical arm delivered the dessert.

The company no longer has any products for sale on its website, which also has removed all operational locations across the country.

Nelson sold her business to private equity firm KarpReilly LLC in 2012 after the company had expanded to 10 locations across the country. The firm owns dozens of other companies for products including a health food home delivery service, kombucha and protein wellness shakes.

KarpReilly did not respond to an emailed request for comment Friday evening. Neither the firm nor Nelson provided a reason for the cupcake company’s closure.

Private equity has dramatically expanded its influence in restaurants over the last decade, investing $94.5 billion between 2014 and 2024, according to data from capital market company PitchBook.

Some outraged Sprinkles Cupcakes fans said on social media that the closures were part of a larger trend where private equity firms purchase restaurants and retail brands — like Red Lobster or TGI Fridays — that later file for bankruptcy or close altogether.

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11080162 2026-01-02T19:29:54+00:00 2026-01-02T19:32:00+00:00
President Trump orders divestment in $2.9 million chips deal to protect US security interests https://www.mcall.com/2026/01/02/trump-chips-divestment-order/ Fri, 02 Jan 2026 23:47:49 +0000 https://www.mcall.com/?p=11079213&preview=true&preview_id=11079213 WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the unraveling of a $2.9 million computer chips deal that he concluded threatened U.S. security interests if the current owner, HieFo Corp., remained in control of the technology.

The executive order cast a spotlight on a business deal that drew scant attention when it was announced in May 2024 during President Joe Biden’s administration. The deal involved aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp. selling its computer chips and wafer fabrication operations to HieFo for $2.92 million — a price that included the assumption of about $1 million in liabilities.

But Trump is now demanding that HieFo divest that technology within 180 days, citing “credible evidence” that the current owner is a citizen of the People’s Republic of China.

HieFo was founded by Dr. Genzao Zhang and Harry Moore. According to a press release that came out after the deal closed, plans for the technology acquired from Emcore were to be overseen by largely the same team of employees in Alhambra, California.

Zhang, who was a vice president of engineering at Emcore before becoming HieFo’s CEO, pledged to “continue the pursuit of the most innovative and disruptive solutions” with technology designed for purposes that would include artificial intelligence.

HieFo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s order.

Emcore was a publicly traded company at the time of the HieFo deal, but was taken private last year by the investment firm Charlesbank Capital Partner.

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11079213 2026-01-02T18:47:49+00:00 2026-01-02T18:51:00+00:00
Minnesota must provide documents to US government in child care fraud probe by next week https://www.mcall.com/2026/01/02/child-care-fraud-minnesota-probe/ Fri, 02 Jan 2026 23:30:42 +0000 https://www.mcall.com/?p=11078959&preview=true&preview_id=11078959 By CHARLOTTE KRAMON, Associated Press/Report for America

Minnesota officials have until next week to provide the Trump administration with information about providers and parents who receive federal child care funds or risk losing potentially millions of dollars in federal funding, state officials said Friday.

In an email sent Friday to child care providers shared with The Associated Press by multiple providers, Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families said it has until Jan. 9 to provide a set of verifying information about recipients. The announcement earlier this week by the Trump administration that it would freeze child care funds to Minnesota and the rest of the states comes after a series of fraud schemes at Minnesota day care centers, many run by Somali residents. The move came after a right-wing influencer alleged there were widespread abuses.

The Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides $185 million in child care funds annually to Minnesota, federal officials have said.

The email instructed providers and families who rely on the frozen federal child care program to continue the program’s “licensing and certification requirements and practices as usual.” It does not say that recipients themselves need to take any action or provide any information.

“We recognize the alarm and questions this has raised,” the email said. “We found out about the freezing of funds at the same time everyone else did on social media.”

The state agency added that it “did not receive a formal communication from the federal government until late Tuesday night,” which was after Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill posted about the freeze on X. All 50 states will have to provide additional levels of verification and administrative data before they receive more funding from the Child Care and Development Fund, which is designed to make child care affordable for low-income families.

 State Sen. Michelle Benson reacts at a news conference
FILE – State Sen. Michelle Benson reacts at a news conference on Wednesday, April 10, 2019 at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul to a report by the state’s legislative auditor on combatting fraud in Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski,File)

Minnesota is a target

The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing Wednesday to discuss the allegations of fraudulent use of federal funds in Minnesota. An HHS spokesperson said that the child care fraud hotline put up by the federal agency earlier this week has received more than 200 tips.

Minnesota has drawn ire from Republicans and the Trump administration over other fraud accusations.

Administration for Children and Families Assistant Secretary Alex Adams told Fox News on Friday that his agency sent Minnesota a letter last month asking for information on the child care program and other welfare programs by Dec. 26, but didn’t get a response. The state did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler posted Thursday on X that the agency suspended 6,900 Minnesota borrowers of COVID-19 era loans because of suspected fraud. Trump has also targeted the state’s large Somali community with immigration enforcement actions and called them “garbage.”

Minnesota Democrats say the Trump administration is playing politics and hurting families and children as a result. Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth and Families said in a press release Friday that inspectors conduct regular oversight activities for the child care program, noting that there are 55 related open investigations involving providers.

It also said that investigators did spot checks and reviews on nine centers and found they “were operating as expected.” One center was not yet open at the time.

“DCYF remains committed to fact-based reviews that stop fraud, protect children, support families, and minimize disruption to communities that rely on these essential services,” the department said. “Distribution of unvetted or deceptive claims and misuse of tip lines can interfere with investigations, create safety risks for families, providers, and employers, and has contributed to harmful discourse about Minnesota’s immigrant communities.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing
FILE – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing, June 12, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

It is unclear how recipients will be impacted

Maria Snider, director of a child care center in St. Paul and vice president of advocacy group Minnesota Child Care Association, said providers currently get paid at least three weeks after services are provided. Some 23,000 children and 12,000 families receive funding from the targeted child care program each month on average, according to the state.

“For a lot of centers, we’re already running on a thin margin,” she said. “Even centers where 10 to 15% of their kids are on childcare assistance, that’s a dip in your income.”

Any child who attends a child care center with attendees who receive federal funding could be impacted, Snider said.

According to the Friday email from Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families, HHS sent a letter to Minnesota asking for data from 2022 to 2025, including identifying information of all recipients of the child care funds, a list of all providers who receive the funds, how much they receive and “information related to alleged fraud networks and oversight failures.” It’s unclear whether Minnesota already has the data the administration is asking for.

HHS said five child care centers that receive funds from the child care program or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families would have to provide “specific documentation” such as attendance, inspections and assessments, according to the email.

HHS said it would provide Minnesota with more information by Jan. 5, but the state agency wrote that it’s unclear what kinds of funding restrictions it faces.

“Our teams are working hard to analyze the legal, fiscal, and other aspects of this federal action,” the email says. “We do not know the full impact.”

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11078959 2026-01-02T18:30:42+00:00 2026-01-02T19:05:24+00:00
Diane Crump, the first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby, dies at 77 https://www.mcall.com/2026/01/02/diane-crump-obituary/ Fri, 02 Jan 2026 23:23:35 +0000 https://www.mcall.com/?p=11078810&preview=true&preview_id=11078810 By LYNN BERRY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Diane Crump, who in 1969 became the first woman to ride professionally in a horse race and a year later became the first female jockey in the Kentucky Derby, has died. She was 77.

Crump was diagnosed in October with an aggressive form of brain cancer and died Thursday night in hospice care in Winchester, Virginia, her daughter, Della Payne, told The Associated Press.

Crump went on to win 228 races before riding her last race in 1998, a month shy of her 50th birthday and nearly 30 years after her trailblazing ride at Hialeah Park in Florida on Feb. 7, 1969.

Diane Crump, apprentice jockey, kisses her mount Tou Ritzi
FILE – Diane Crump, apprentice jockey, kisses her mount Tou Ritzi, after winning a Churchill Downs race in Louisville, Kentucky, April 29, 1969. Crump, who in 1969 became the first woman to ride professionally in a horse race and a year later became the first female jockey in the Kentucky Derby, died Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. She was 77. (AP Photo/Gene Herrick, File)

Crump was among several women to fight successfully at the time to be granted a jockey license, but they still needed a trainer willing to put them in a race and then for the race to run. Others were thwarted when male jockeys boycotted or threatened to boycott if a woman was riding.

Photographs of Crump’s walk to the saddling area at Hialeah show her protected by security guards as a crowd pressed in on all sides. Six of the original 12 jockeys in the race had refused to ride, Mark Shrager wrote in his biography, “Diane Crump: A Horse Racing Pioneer’s Life in the Saddle.” Among them were future legends Angel Cordero Jr., Jorge Velasquez and Ron Turcotte, who four years later would ride Secretariat to win the Triple Crown.

But other jockeys stepped up, and as the 12 horses made their way onto the track, the bugler skipped the traditional call to the post and instead played “Smile for Me, My Diane.” Crump, on a 50-1 longshot called Bridle ’n Bit, finished 10th, but the barrier had been broken. A month later, Bridle ’n Bit gave Crump her first victory at Gulfstream Park.

Jockey Diane Crump poses for a photo with Fathom
FILE – In this undated 1970 photo, jockey Diane Crump, 21, poses for a photo with Fathom in Louisville, Kentucky. Crump, who in 1969 became the first woman to ride professionally in a horse race and a year later became the first female jockey in the Kentucky Derby, died Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. She was 77. (AP Photo, File)

She again made history in 1970 by becoming the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby. She won the first race that day at Churchill Downs, but again her mount for the history-making race was outclassed. She finished 15th out of 17 on Fathom.

It would be 14 more years before another female jockey would ride in the Derby, with only four more to follow in the decades since.

The racetrack president at Churchill Downs, Mike Anderson, said in a statement on Friday that Crump “will be forever respected and fondly remembered in horse racing lore.”

He noted that Crump, who had been riding since age 5 and galloping young Thoroughbreds since she was a teenager, “was an iconic trailblazer who admirably fulfilled her childhood dreams.”

Chris Goodlett, of the Kentucky Derby Museum, said “Diane Crump’s name stands for courage, grit, and progress.” He added: “Her determination in the face of overwhelming odds opened doors for generations of female jockeys and inspired countless others far beyond racing.”

After retiring from racing, Crump settled in Virginia and started a business helping people buy and sell horses.

In later years, she took her therapy dogs, all Dachshunds, to visit patients in hospitals and other medical clinics. Some with chronic illnesses she visited regularly for years.

Payne said when her mother went into hospice in November, she was already “quasi-famous” in the medical center because of how much time she had spent there, and a “steady stream” of doctors and nurses came to see her. One of the last people to visit her was the man who mowed her lawn.

Her daughter said Crump would never take “no” for an answer, whether it was becoming a jockey or helping someone in need.

“I wouldn’t say she was as competitive as she was stubborn,” Payne said. “If someone was counting on her, she could never let someone down.”

Late in life, Crump’s mottos were literally tattooed on her forearms: “Kindness” on the left, “Compassion” on the right.

Crump will be cremated and her ashes interred between her parents in Prospect Hill Cemetery in Front Royal, Virginia.

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11078810 2026-01-02T18:23:35+00:00 2026-01-02T18:40:06+00:00
BTS announces March comeback date, putting an end to a nearly four-year hiatus https://www.mcall.com/2026/01/02/bts-comeback-date/ Fri, 02 Jan 2026 20:37:12 +0000 https://www.mcall.com/?p=11076165&preview=true&preview_id=11076165 By MARIA SHERMAN, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — They’re going to light up 2026 like dynamite: K-pop group BTS’ comeback has an official date.

According to a note shared to social media by the entertainment company BigHit Music, the mega popular group will return on March 20.

That’s after a nearly four-year hiatus, as all seven members of BTS — RM, Jin, Jimin, V, Suga, Jung Kook and j-hope — completed South Korea’s mandatory military service.

“March 20th comeback confirmed,” BigHit Music wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Rapper Suga was the last group member to be released — from his duties as a social service agent, an alternative to serving in the military that he reportedly chose due to a shoulder injury. That was in June 2025.

The six others, RM, V, Jimin, Jung Kook, Jin and j-hope, served in the army.

BTS tiered their enlistments, giving ample time for its members to focus on solo projects while the group was on a break.

Last summer, the group teased a world tour and announced that a new album would be released in the spring of 2026. At the time, they said they would begin working on the project in July 2025.

“Since it will be a group album, it will reflect each member’s thoughts and ideas,” they said in a statement. “We’re approaching the album with the same mindset we had when we first started.”

The 2026 album will mark their first since 2022’s anthology, “Proof,” their 2021 Japanese compilation album “BTS, the Best,” and their last studio album, “Be,” released in 2020.

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11076165 2026-01-02T15:37:12+00:00 2026-01-02T15:41:00+00:00
Ex-MLB star Lenny Dykstra to be charged after traffic stop https://www.mcall.com/2026/01/02/ex-mlb-star-dykstra-to-be-charged-with-drug-possession/ Fri, 02 Jan 2026 19:28:34 +0000 https://www.mcall.com/?p=11074695&preview=true&preview_id=11074695 Former Major League Baseball star Lenny Dykstra was in possession of narcotics and drug paraphernalia during a state police traffic stop on New Year’s Day, according to police.

Pennsylvania State Police at Blooming Grove stopped an SUV on Route 507 in Greene Twp. for a traffic violation just after midnight on Jan. 1.

During their investigation, they found Dykstra, 62, of Scranton, a passenger in the vehicle, to be in possession of “narcotics and narcotic related equipment/paraphernalia.”

During an interview with The Times-Tribune of Scranton in October of 2024, Dykstra admitted to abusing drugs, but said he didn’t consider himself an addict.

Dykstra’s 11-year-baseball career was split between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, including winning a World Series championship as a member of the 1986 Mets and a successful transition to the Phillies in 1989.

Dykstra played his final game with the Phillies and as a Major League Baseball player in 1996.

State police plan to file charges.

Attempts to reach Dykstra were unsuccessful.

 

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11074695 2026-01-02T14:28:34+00:00 2026-01-02T19:07:42+00:00
Pancreatic cancer is among the deadliest cancers. A new drug being tested at Penn is giving patients and doctors hope https://www.mcall.com/2026/01/02/pancreatic-cancer-is-among-the-deadliest-cancers-a-new-drug-being-tested-at-penn-is-giving-patients-and-doctors-hope/ Fri, 02 Jan 2026 19:20:24 +0000 https://www.mcall.com/?p=11074672&preview=true&preview_id=11074672 By Kayla Yup, The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA — Irene Blair was expected to have another six to eight months to live in June, after her pancreatic cancer rapidly advanced to stage 4 less than a year after her initial diagnosis.

A new drug being tested in clinical trials around the world, including at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center, was the 59-year-old grandmother from Newark, Del.’s best hope for more time.

The drug belongs to a class of pharmaceuticals long considered the holy grail of cancer research. It is a KRAS inhibitor, capable of blocking a protein that fuels an especially deadly cancer. Only 13% of pancreatic cancer patients are still alive five years after their diagnosis, the highest mortality rate of all cancers.

Called daraxonrasib, the drug is not considered a cure. But the results emerging from clinical trials point to the first major advancement in decades for a devastating cancer usually caught in late stages. Former Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse last week disclosed in a blunt social media post that he was recently diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer and is “gonna die.”

In recent months, the federal government has sped up the review timeline for the drug made by California-based company Revolution Medicines, Inc., based on early clinical trial results.

Across 38 patients in a phase 1 trial, the drug appeared to double the survival time for at least half of patients compared to standard chemotherapy, from roughly seven months to 15.6 months.

“In pancreatic cancer, for too long, we haven’t had effective therapies beyond just chemotherapy,” said Mark O’Hara, Blair’s oncologist who leads multiple clinical trials testing KRAS inhibitors at Penn.

Blair started the therapy through a phase 3 trial in July. Within three weeks, her cancer-associated pain went away.

In October, her tumors looked stable or decreasing on scans. Her most recent December scan showed her cancer had not progressed.

Aside from occasional facial rashes, she feels normal. It’s a big improvement from how she felt previously on chemotherapy, which caused her to lose 35 pounds and become so weak she couldn’t walk.

The question now is how long the therapy can remain effective. Blair seeks extra time to “start living life.”

She officially retired from her job in real estate in May and wants to travel, with trips planned to see family in California and Florida.

Holidays have been especially hard for her.

“You just wonder, ‘Will I be here next year?’” she said.

How does the therapy work?

Cancer researchers have worked to design a drug targeting KRAS, a protein that acts like a “gas pedal” for cancer growth when mutated, since its discovery in 1982.

The mutant protein is like a pedal stuck in the down position, driving uncontrolled proliferation — which tumors thrive on. These mutations are found in a quarter of human cancers, mostly aggressive cancers of the pancreas, lung, and colon.

Scientists finally succeeded in 2021, when the first drugs capable of blocking KRAS were approved by the FDA for lung cancer. Dozens of KRAS inhibitors are now in various stages of development.

Daraxonrasib is one of the first tested for pancreatic cancer, a tumor type where nearly 90% of cases have these mutations. Also called a ‘pan-RAS inhibitor,’ it not only targets KRAS, but two other related proteins that drive cancer when mutated, HRAS and NRAS.

More than 90% of the 83 patients in a phase 1 trial saw their pancreatic cancer stall during treatment, and roughly 30% saw shrinkage.

While taking the drug, at least half of patients gained more than eight months before the cancer started progressing again.

The drug comes in the form of three pills, taken daily at home.

The most prevalent side effect is a rash — 91% of patients in a phase 1 trial experienced this symptom, with 8% having severe cases. It often shows up on the face or scalp and is similar to acne, O’Hara said.

Diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and mouth sores are other common symptoms.

O’Hara said these are manageable with medications for most patients and still allow them to have a better quality of life than chemotherapy.

“I want to be able to give KRAS inhibitors to all my patients right now,” he said.

Looking forward

O’Hara runs multiple trials of KRAS inhibitors at Penn.

Some of them are testing the inhibitor as a treatment for patients with metastatic cancer after other options have stopped working. Another is evaluating its use in combination with chemotherapy as an initial approach.

“I’m looking for more tools to put in that toolbox, and I think this provides a new tool,” O’Hara said.

Ben Stanger, a gastroenterologist and scientist at Penn, has led experiments in mice that showed combining a KRAS inhibitor with immunotherapy may be more effective than using the former alone.

If this approach makes it into clinical trials as well, it could still take years to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the combination.

He believes KRAS inhibitors could be “a game-changer” for pancreatic cancer if approved, particularly if paired with other anti-cancer drugs.

“Goal number one would be to make pancreas cancer, instead of a death sentence, into a more ‘chronic’ disease that is treated over time,” he said.

The federal government has granted the drug Breakthrough Therapy and Orphan Drug designations.

In October, the drug was also one of the first selected for a new program that aims to accelerate review times for drugs from one year to as short as a month, potentially putting it on a faster path to approval.

Limited options

When Blair first started having back pain around May 2024, she thought it was a pulled muscle from kickboxing.

She put a heating pad on the back of her chair and went on with life.

After her father had a stroke that July, she got it checked out at the hospital where he was admitted.

A day later, she was diagnosed with stage 2B pancreatic cancer.

“My first thought is, ‘I’m dying,’” she said.

Had she been diagnosed earlier, she would have retired early, instead of worrying about saving money.

Instead, she spent her final working year undergoing surgery to remove part of her pancreas, spleen, and several lymph nodes, followed by 12 difficult sessions of chemotherapy.

When she finished her last session in March, Blair’s scans showed no evidence of the cancer. But by late April, her back pain returned.

Two months later, more scans showed that the cancer was now considered stage 4, as it had metastasized to her liver, forming 10 to 15 new tumors.

Her best option was to enter a clinical trial of daraxonrasib at Penn.

Much to her relief, she was chosen to receive the drug in July upon enrolling in a study in which half of patients are randomized to receive chemotherapy.

“It’s enabled me to start living again,” she said, but knows eventually the therapy will likely stop working.

In that case, doctors may try the standard chemotherapy — which usually works for three to four months — or test a different therapy based on her cancer’s genomic profile, O’Hara said.

For now, she described herself as “living scan to scan,” seeking as much time as possible with her son, grandchildren, and husband.

Blair’s next evaluation is in February. She hopes it shows her disease remains stable, and she can stay in the trial.

“The alternative, honestly, is death,” she said.

©2026 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Visit at inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Judge refuses to order release of man charged with planting pipe bombs on eve of Capitol riot https://www.mcall.com/2026/01/02/riot-pipe-bomb-investigation/ Fri, 02 Jan 2026 19:11:59 +0000 https://www.mcall.com/?p=11074559&preview=true&preview_id=11074559 By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal magistrate judge on Friday refused to order the pretrial release of a man charged with planting two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national parties on the eve of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh ruled that Brian J. Cole Jr. must remain jailed before trial. The magistrate concluded there are no conditions of release that can reasonably protect the public from the danger that Cole allegedly poses.

Justice Department prosecutors say Cole confessed to placing pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee headquarters only hours before a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol. According to prosecutors, Cole said he hoped the explosives would detonate and “hoped there would be news about it.”

“Mercifully, that did not happen,” Sharbaugh wrote. “But if the plan had succeeded, the results,” he said, could have been devastating, “creating a greater sense of terror on the eve of a high-security Congressional proceeding, causing serious property damage in the heart of Washington, D.C., grievously injuring DNC or RNC staff and other innocent bystanders, or worse.”

After his arrest last month, Cole told investigators that he believed someone needed to “speak up” for people who believed the 2020 election, which Democrat Joe Biden won, was stolen and that he wanted to target the country’s political parties because they were “in charge,” according to prosecutors.

If convicted of both charges against him, Cole faces up to 10 years of imprisonment on one charge and up to 20 years of imprisonment on a second charge that also carries a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence.

Cole’s attorneys asked for him to be released on home detention with GPS monitoring. They said Cole doesn’t have a criminal record, has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and lives in a stable home that he shared with his parents in Woodbridge, Virginia.

“Mr. Cole simply does not pose a danger to the community,” defense attorneys wrote. “Whatever risk the government posits is theoretical and backward-looking, belied by the past four years where Mr. Cole lived at home with his family without incident.”

Cole continued to purchase bomb-making components for months after the Jan. 6 riot, according to prosecutors. They said Cole told the FBI that he planted the pipe bombs because “something just snapped.”

“The sudden and abrupt motivation behind Mr. Cole’s alleged actions presents concerns about how quickly the same abrupt and impulsive conduct might recur,” Sharbaugh wrote.

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