By Jack Tomczuk<\/p>\n
As 2025 comes to a close, Metro is revisiting the top local news stories of the year.<\/p>\n
While no list can encapsulate everything that happened in Philadelphia this year, what follows are some of the more memorable and impactful events and trends of the last 12 months.<\/p>\n
76 Place shocker<\/p>\n
Included in last year\u2019s version of this list<\/a> was the heated battle over Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment\u2019s plans to build an arena at Market East \u2013 a project that some activists believed endangered the future of the Chinatown neighborhood.<\/p>\n In December 2024, the $1.3 billion arena proposal, with the strong backing of Mayor Cherelle Parker, cleared a major hurdle when developers received the necessary legislative approvals from City Council.<\/p>\n A month later, following years of strenuous debate, the entire idea was scrapped<\/a>. HBSE in January announced that they had reached an agreement with Comcast Spectacor, owner of the Flyers, to construct a new venue at the South Philadelphia Sports Complex.<\/p>\n 76 Place was pitched as the launching point for a revival of East Market Street, and Parker, in the wake of the abrupt change, has attempted to pivot. In November, she rolled out the Market East Advisory Group<\/a> to reimagine the downtown corridor.<\/p>\n Horrifying scenes on Cottman Avenue<\/p>\n A jet plummeted to the ground<\/a> Jan. 31 in Northeast Philadelphia, causing a fiery crash that killed eight people and injured nearly two dozen others.<\/p>\n One of the victims, 10-year-old Ramesses Vazquez-Viana, returned home earlier this month<\/a> after receiving treatment for severe burns. His father, Steven Dreuitt, and Dreuitt\u2019s girlfriend, Dominique Goods-Burke, died from their injuries.<\/p>\n All six of those aboard the aircraft, including an 11-year-old Mexican girl who was returning home after receiving treatment at Shriner\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital, were killed. Fourteen homes near the Cottman Avenue crash site were badly damaged.<\/p>\n Federal investigators have not yet pinpointed a cause. In March, the National Transportation Safety Board, in a preliminary report, stated that the cockpit voice recorder recovered from the scene<\/a> was not operational.<\/p>\n Transit woes<\/p>\n 2025 was \u201cone of the most challenging years in SEPTA\u2019s history,\u201d the authority wrote in a recent progress report posted to its website.<\/a><\/p>\n Following months of handwringing, Harrisburg lobbying and transit activism, SEPTA\u2019s longstanding fiscal woes reached a crescendo in late August, when the authority eliminated 32 bus routes and slashed service across the board.<\/a><\/p>\n In early September, a judge ordered SEPTA to undo the cuts<\/a>, and the buses were restored Sept. 14<\/a> after Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s administration permitted the transit system to utilize nearly $400 million<\/a> in capital funding to cover its operating budget deficit over two years.<\/p>\n The reprieve was short-lived for many riders. Regional Rail cancellations and delays piled up in October<\/a>, when federal regulators ordered SEPTA to inspect and repair its fleet<\/a> of Silverliner IV train cars in response to a series of fires.<\/p>\n A month later, the authority shut down its Center City trolley tunnel<\/a> after realizing that a newly-installed part was harming the overhead catenary system<\/a>.<\/p>\n City Hall focuses on housing<\/p>\n Parker emphasized housing during her second year in the mayor\u2019s office, asserting that Philadelphia needed to address an affordability crisis.<\/p>\n In March, she unveiled her Housing Opportunities Made Easy, or H.O.M.E., initiative<\/a>, which called for the city to borrow $800 million in an effort to create or preserve 30,000 units of affordable housing.<\/p>\n Not long after, lawmakers and housing advocates began pushing back<\/a> on Parker\u2019s proposal to ease income limits to allow higher earners to access repair programs.<\/p>\n The disagreement came to a head<\/a> this month, as City Council passed a first-year H.O.M.E. budget<\/a> that prioritizes those making no more than 60% of area median income \u2013 about $50,000 a year for an individual and nearly $72,000 for a family of four.<\/p>\n An amended bond ordinance is still pending in Council, meaning the dispute is likely to stretch into 2026.<\/p>\n Larry Krasner defies critics<\/p>\n Larry Krasner, a self-described progressive prosecutor, can be a polarizing figure in some circles, but 2025 again showed that he remains popular among Philadelphia voters.<\/p>\n Running an \u201coutsider campaign,\u201d<\/a> as he called it, Krasner secured a third-term as district attorney<\/a>. He defeated former Municipal Court Judge Pat Dugan in May\u2019s Democratic primary<\/a> and in the November general election, when Dugan opted to run under the GOP banner<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cDonald Trump, are you listening?\u201d Krasner said during a celebratory press briefing<\/a> last month. \u201cYou better turn up the volume, because Philadelphia is talking to you.”<\/p>\n Though his opponents often characterize his office as \u2018soft on crime,\u2019 Krasner has repeatedly noted that rates of gun violence have nosedived in Philadelphia \u2013 and appear to be headed toward a 50-year low.<\/a><\/p>\n DC 33 goes on strike<\/p>\n For the first time in almost four decades, District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees<\/a> went on strike, suspending trash collection in Philadelphia and impacting a host of other city services.<\/p>\n The contentious work stoppage was initiated July 1<\/a> and lasted eight days. During the strike, garbage piled up at the more than 60 dumpster sites<\/a> for residents established by the Parker administration.<\/p>\n DC 33 represents roughly 9,000 city employees assigned to a variety of departments, from sanitation to water to the Free Library.<\/p>\n Members of the union returned to work July 9 after DC 33 leadership and the mayor\u2019s office agreed to a three-year contract<\/a> incorporating 3% annual raises, a $1,500 bonus and an expanded pay scale, among other provisions.<\/p>\n Kada Scott case grips city<\/p>\n The disappearance of 23-year-old East Mount Airy resident Kada Scott made national news, as volunteer search teams combed Northwest Philadelphia in search of the Pennsylvania State University graduate.<\/p>\n Scott was reported missing in early October, when she was last spotted leaving her job at a Chestnut Hill assisted living facility. More than two weeks later, authorities recovered her remains<\/a> on the grounds of a shuttered East Germantown school.<\/p>\n A criminal case is pending involving Keon King, a 21-year-old man with a history of domestic violence allegations who has been charged in Scott\u2019s murder<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lawmakers and others have questioned how the District Attorney\u2019s Office handled King\u2019s prior charges, and Scott\u2019s death has ignited a wider conversation about the treatment of women.<\/p>\n