• Lower Merion, Harriton Football at a Crossroads as Parents Push for Merger

    Lower Merion, Harriton Football at a Crossroads as Parents Push for Merger

    Lower Merion Township’s football community is wrestling with a difficult reality, writes Denali Sagner for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Participation has fallen so sharply that Harriton and Lower Merion High Schools can no longer sustain healthy, competitive programs on their own. Harriton went 0–9 last season in the Central League, marking its 10th straight winless campaign,…

  • Lower Merion’s Growth Outpaces Region Amid Affordability Crunch

    Lower Merion’s Growth Outpaces Region Amid Affordability Crunch

    Lower Merion is experiencing yet another population upswing, writes Denali Sagner for the Philadelphia Inquirer. According to the latest census estimates, the township added 455 residents between July 2023 and July 2024. This .71 percent increase brings the population to 64,702. The slow but steady growth marks a continued rebound from decades of stagnation. Since…

  • Lower Merion Parents Push Back on Smartphones With “Wait Until 8th” Campaign

    Lower Merion Parents Push Back on Smartphones With “Wait Until 8th” Campaign

    Over 300 Lower Merion families are saying no to smartphones – for now, writes Beccah Hendrickson for 6ABC Action News. The ‘Wait Until 8th’ movement, a pledge to withhold smartphones from their kids until high school, is gaining momentum. Local dad, John Bellis read The Anxious Generation, which outlines the toll smartphones and social media…

  • A Special Case in Lower Merion May Dictate Gun Sales Across the State

    A Special Case in Lower Merion May Dictate Gun Sales Across the State

    The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court will soon rule on whether Lower Merion can regulate where guns are sold, writes Katie Bernard for the Philadelphia Inquirer. The decision could impact local government authority across the state. While state law prohibits municipalities from regulating firearms, Lower Merion officials argue zoning laws pertain to land use, not gun control.…

  • Lower Merion Skater Among Elite Group Representing Philadelphia at U.S. Figure Skating Championships

    Lower Merion Skater Among Elite Group Representing Philadelphia at U.S. Figure Skating Championships

    Lower Merion’s Blake Gilman and his partner Julia Epps are part of the small but elite group of local skaters who are representing Philadelphia at the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, writes Ellen Dunkel for The Philadelphia Inquirer. The nineteen-year-old Gilman and 15-year-old Epps have been ice dancing together for a decade. “I can take…

  • Broadcaster Audacy Agrees to Pay Lower Merion Township $2 Million in Unpaid Taxes Settlement 

    Broadcaster Audacy Agrees to Pay Lower Merion Township $2 Million in Unpaid Taxes Settlement 

    Audacy has agreed to pay Lower Merion Township $2 million in a settlement over unpaid taxes during the time the broadcaster was based in Bala Cynwyd, writes Nick Vadala for The Philadelphia Inquirer.  The settlement comes as Audacy, formerly known as Entercom, continues to work through bankruptcy proceedings, which started in January. Lower Merion was…

  • Lower Merion Native Writes Soundtrack for New Documentary Highlighting U.S. National Parks

    Lower Merion Native Writes Soundtrack for New Documentary Highlighting U.S. National Parks

    Elizabeth Phillipson-Weiner, a composer born and raised in Lower Merion, was recently tasked with writing original songs for a new documentary called, “Out There: A National Parks Story,” writes Kristen Hunt for PhillyVoice. The documentary allows viewers to indulge in U.S. national parks, which display their wildly different terrains and critters that call them home.…

  • Startup Run By Lower Merion Native Helps Hollywood Studios Improve Efficiency of Their Sets

    Startup Run By Lower Merion Native Helps Hollywood Studios Improve Efficiency of Their Sets

    RABS, a startup run by Lower Merion native Josh Weinberg, is helping movie and television sets run more efficiently, writes Ryan Mulligan for the Philadelphia Business Journal. Since it launched in 2018, RABS — short for Run a Better Set — has managed to land deals with “every single major studio,” said Weinberg, including Netflix,…

  • New Kobe Bryant Sneaker Honoring Philly Roots Released by Nike

    New Kobe Bryant Sneaker Honoring Philly Roots Released by Nike

    Over the weekend, Nike introduced a special edition sneaker honoring Kobe Bryant’s Philadelphia roots, writes Earl Hopkins for The Philadelphia Inquirer. The sneaker was released in celebration of “Mamba Day,” April 13, which marked eight years since the legendary hooper’s last NBA game. The new Kobe 4 Protro “Philly” stays true to its original 2009…

  • Plans Are Underway to Turn Lower Merion’s Bala Plaza into a Live-Work-Play Complex

    Plans Are Underway to Turn Lower Merion’s Bala Plaza into a Live-Work-Play Complex

    Developer Tishman Speyer has big plans for Bala Plaza in Lower Merion, but the long timetable expected to make it has some people concerned, writes Michael Bradley for Main Line Today. The vision is to turn the office park into a live-work-play complex, but it could take 20 years to do it. Lower Merion Township…

  • Nike’s Kobe 4 Sneakers Returning to Honor Lower Merion High School Grad

    Nike’s Kobe 4 Sneakers Returning to Honor Lower Merion High School Grad

    Several sources are reporting that Nike will re-release the Philly-flavored Nike Kobe 4 in 2024 in honor of the late Kobe Bryant who was a graduate of Lower Merion High School, writes Robert Mavi for LeBron Wire. The five-time NBA champion was born in the Philadelphia area, but his family moved soon after to support…

  • Lower Merion Native Is Fighting for Nondiscrimination Protections for All

    Lower Merion Native Is Fighting for Nondiscrimination Protections for All

    Jason Landau Goodman, a Lower Merion native and former director of the Pennsylvania Youth Congress, is helping advance the LGBTQ+ movement to full equality, writes Ivey DeJesus for Penn Live. Goodman has an undergraduate and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and is also a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of…

  • New Lower Merion Program Celebrates Township’s Rich History

    New Lower Merion Program Celebrates Township’s Rich History

    The Lower Merion Conservancy is honoring the historic homes in the township with special brass plaques, writes Paul Jablow for The Philadelphia Inquirer.  The pilot program first started earlier this year in the English Village development in Wynnewood, where the architecture of the manor homes pays homage to not only the rich history of the U.S., but…

  • Lower Merion Restaurateurs Relaunch Upscale Dining Spot; Their Whopper of a Whopper Costs $700

    Lower Merion Restaurateurs Relaunch Upscale Dining Spot; Their Whopper of a Whopper Costs $700

    Lower Merion residents George Tsiouris and his sister, Vasiliki Tsiouris-Balis, have revamped their Sansom Street, Philadelphia, restaurant with a new name and restyled dishes. The former Drury Beer Garden is now DBG. And its overhauled menu offers burgers that range in price from $2.95 to $700. That’s no typo. The top-priced hamburger is seven Ben…

  • Bucks County Leadership: Bryan Fenstermaker, President and CEO, City Ave District

    Bucks County Leadership: Bryan Fenstermaker, President and CEO, City Ave District

    President and CEO of City Ave District, Bryan Fenstermaker crisscrossed the country several times before landing in the Philadelphia area. He grew up in Houston and Connecticut in a tight-knit family with two siblings. He was drawn to the team mentality of sports and had a strong work ethic at a young age, getting his…

  • Plan to Raze Trees at a Villanova Estate Causes Environmentalists to Fervently Bark in Protest

    Plan to Raze Trees at a Villanova Estate Causes Environmentalists to Fervently Bark in Protest

    A century old arboretum on a Gilded-Age era estate is the battleground between preservationists, environmentalists, and Lower Merion School District. Activists say that the school district wants to fell hundreds of trees on Villanova’s Oakwell Estate to make room for auxiliary playing fields for Black Rock Middle School. Stacia Friedman got to the root of…

  • Nike Partners with Vanessa Bryant to Honor Late Husband Kobe and Daughter Gianna

    Nike Partners with Vanessa Bryant to Honor Late Husband Kobe and Daughter Gianna

    The new Nike partnership with Vanessa Bryant aims to honor her late husband, Lower Merrion High School’s Kobe Bryant, and daughter, Gianna, writes Demi Lawrence for the Philadelphia Business Journal. “Kobe Bryant means so much to so many of us, not just NBA fans but globally beyond the game,” said Nike CEO John Donahoe. “His…

  • Local High School Librarian Helped Kobe Bryant Score a Solid Relationship with Philadelphia

    Local High School Librarian Helped Kobe Bryant Score a Solid Relationship with Philadelphia

    Philadelphians might have warmed up to Kobe Bryant recently, but he was not always in good graces of the City of Brotherly Love. The burnishing of his local image was one of the more compelling aspects in author Mike Sielski’s biography The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality. Dan Woike covered the sometimes…