Laura Smythe
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Communications Manager @visitphilly • past: @forbes, @PHLBizJournal @phillygaynews @PhillyInquirer @phillymag • Temple alum 🍒 • opinions my own
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Articles by Laura Smythe
A growing push to regulate Flock | Inquirer Cherry Hill
Hello, Cherry Hill! 👋 Local anti-Flock advocates are hoping bipartisan concerns over privacy mean more regulation for surveillance technology such as automated license plate readers. Also this week, we take you inside the new Asianfresh Food Market, an omakase joint is headed to town this fall, and the Cherry Hill Special Education PTA says it was denied tabling space at back-to-school nights in what it says is a discriminatory decision.
A new fusion restaurant for Glenside | Inquirer Greater Abington
Hi, Greater Abington. 👋 Glenside is among the greater Philadelphia locales expecting a new restaurant soon as 60 eateries prepare to open in the area this fall. In other news, Cheltenham’s new manager sets his sights on taxes and aging infrastructure, some local elementary schoolers will soon have their recess time doubled, and a third-party gubernatorial candidate hails from Abington.
A century-old bowling alley revival | Inquirer Greater Abington
Hi, Greater Abington. 👋 A local developer is revamping Glenside Lanes with plans that include a concert venue. Also on the radar this week, SPS Technologies agreed to a proposed $5 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit over the massive factory fire that roiled the area last year, Abington is exploring possible early exit routes from its remaining Flock contract, and a revered local writer and teacher died at age 99.
Your fall festival plans | Inquirer Cherry Hill
Hello, Cherry Hill! 👋 Fall is upon us, and the upcoming Cherry Hill Harvest Festival and bounty of area apple-picking options prove it. In other news, the district’s board of education will soon hold its first in-person forum since the pandemic, a community center commemorates the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and there’s a new daycare option in town for your pup. — Laura Smythe (cherryhill@inquirer.com) A Weekly Newsletter Want to get Inquirer Cherry Hill straight to your inbox every week?
Local Freedom Fuel operators under scrutiny | Inquirer Cherry Hill
Hello, Cherry Hill! 👋 A local developer was slapped with environmental violations to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars over his Freedom Fuel gas stations in the area and other holdings — and a new lawsuit alleges the outposts have been able to sell gas cheaply because some fuel wasn’t paid for.
Marching to move forward | Inquirer Greater Abington
Hi, Greater Abington. 👋 Cheltenham parents, students, and school district officials marched across town to show support for students ahead of the new academic year as the community continues to grapple with the fallout of the recent football hazing scandal. Also on the radar, a judge ruled Cheltenham’s controversial pool project can continue, Jenkintown may expand its library, and a few nearby kindergartens are below the herd immunity vaccination rate against measles.
Marching to move forward | Inquirer Greater Abington
Hi, Greater Abington . 👋 Cheltenham parents, students, and school district officials marched across town to show support for students ahead of the new academic year as the community continues to grapple with the fallout of the recent football hazing scandal.
Township native stars as Bourdain | Inquirer Cherry Hill
Hello, Cherry Hill! 👋 It’s nice to see you again. Up-and-coming township native Dominic Sessa is portraying a young Anthony Bourdain in a newly released biopic. Also making headlines this week is the new state law banning the use of cell phones during the school day, a new food access program that buses Camden residents to Cherry Hill grocery stores, and disputed claims regarding the local Dick’s Sporting Goods’ outpost’s LeBron James jerseys.
Fighting over Flock | Inquirer Greater Abington
Hi, Greater Abington. 👋 The Abington Township Police Department is ending its contracts with controversial surveillance company Flock Safety after data was leaked about searches from Abington — and Cheltenham, too. The township will decide Thursday whether to replace the Flock network with a five-year contract with Axon Enterprise, another surveillance vendor.
Inside a couple’s ‘peaceful retreat’ of a home | Inquirer Cherry Hill
Hey there, Cherry Hill! 👋 Allow me to introduce myself: I’m Laura Smythe, your new newsletter writer. I’ve been moonlighting in your inbox here and there over the last couple months alongside my colleague Lisa Dukart, but it’s a treat to formally meet you. I’m excited to pick up the baton from Lisa, who will continue to write and edit other Inquirer Local newsletters. One thing about me — I love reader feedback.
Resident sues over public pool deal | Inquirer Greater Abington
Hi, Greater Abington. 👋 A Cheltenham resident has filed a lawsuit against the township alleging a $4.5 million project for a new public pool complex illegally circumvented the standard bidding process. In other news, some families in the township are nervous about the school year fast approaching as the district looks to move past its football scandal. Plus, a new local police chief also led one of the area’s most famous criminal investigations, and more news of the week.
Cheltenham’s got a plan for 2040 | Inquirer Greater Abington
Hi, Greater Abington. 👋 I hope you’ve been surviving the summer heat. This week, we dive into Cheltenham Township’s new comprehensive plan, which lays out a vision for what it could look like by 2040. We also continue to follow the ongoing turmoil in the Cheltenham School District, where elementary school parents now say they’ve flagged concerns about alleged sexual and physical incidents since October.
Some Montco residents are living a lie | Inquirer Greater Abington
Hi, Greater Abington. 👋 It’s nice to see you again. This week, we’re taking a look at the specifics of Bradley Cooper’s Montgomery County origin story. In other news, we look closer at the fallout of two assaults in Cheltenham High’s locker room, Abingtonians can request traffic-deterring devices on some roads, and felony rape and sexual assault charges have been dropped against a Jenkintown physician after his accuser didn’t show up to court.
Family speaks on Cheltenham High assault | Inquirer Greater Abington
Hi, Greater Abington. 👋 Thanks for reading the third edition of this newsletter. It’s been incredibly helpful to hear your thoughts so far. Please keep sharing your insights with us via this survey so we can shape this resource to be the most helpful it can be! This week, we go inside the alleged assaults in the Cheltenham High School locker room that led to the cancellation of two football seasons.
Abington geese vs. lasers | Inquirer Greater Abington
Hi, Greater Abington. 👋 Local and federal officials are on a mission to clear geese out of Alverthorpe Park, which has become an accidental paradise for the bacteria-spreading waterfowl. Also this week, the Cheltenham School District is under federal investigation, SEPTA is trying to reduce congestion between Glenside and Wayne Junction, and we take a closer look at the $1.2 million “Tall Trees” estate.
Jenkintonians rebuild local playground | Inquirer Greater Abington
Hello, Greater Abington! Welcome to the inaugural edition of Inquirer Greater Abington, your go-to weekly roundup of the top stories affecting your community, from updates on your local government leaders and schools to restaurant openings and events. We hope to make your day a little easier with helpful and accurate news you can really use. 👋 I’m Laura, your trusty newsletter writer.
What will Media look like in 2035? | Inquirer Greater Media
Hi, Greater Media! 👋 Wonder what Media might look like in a decade? A new comprehensive plan lays out goals for the borough through 2035. Also this week, filming for the second season of Task — which just scored a handful of Emmy nods — gets underway, local coaches and players reflect on the significance of seeing Auston Trusty play in the World Cup, plus we round up area farmers markets to check out this season.
Lake draining debate | Inquirer Chester County
Skip to content Plus, where to celebrate the Fourth of July. A view of the Township Line Dam along Airport Road in West Goshen. Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer by Lisa Dukart and Laura Smythe Published July 1, 2026, 5:45 a.m. ET Hi, Chester County! 👋 Neighbors of a West Goshen reservoir are concerned about what will be lost if it’s drained by Aqua as planned.
Where to celebrate the Fourth of July | Inquirer Cherry Hill
Skip to content Plus, what to know about BAPS’ planned expansion. by Lisa Dukart and Laura Smythe Published July 1, 2026, 5:15 a.m. ET Hello, Cherry Hill! 👋 Communities throughout the region are pulling out the stops to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary this weekend. We’ve rounded up spots to catch everything from fireworks to parades.
Forbes Daily: ‘The Economy Is Unwell’
This is the last time a Forbes Daily newsletter written by me will land in your inbox. From here, I’ll be moving on to a new opportunity, and leaving the Daily in the very capable hands of my colleagues Sarah Whitmire and Caroline Howard. They'll continue to bring you the same content you crave to jumpstart your day. I’ve so enjoyed starting the mornings with you this past year with the top business, finance and tech news of the day. Thank you for reading along.
Forbes Daily: Banking ‘Repercussions’
Today in hopes of spicing up your week I present you with "Frase by Forbes," our new daily word game that challenges you to unscramble an anagram into a hidden phrase. Our Forbes team has been hard at work developing the brain-stimulating word game, which aims to unite our readers’ affinity for essential news and entrepreneurial journalism with the curiosity, creativity and competitive spirit that pulses through our audience.
Forbes Daily: Arraignment Day
All eyes are on former President Donald Trump, who arrived in Manhattan on Monday and is expected to be arraigned in New York this afternoon over about 30 charges related to an alleged hush-money deal with adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Forbes Daily: Beach Bum Billionaire
Welcome to April. Perhaps most hopeful for a fresh start in the new month is the U.S. banking sector, which lost hundreds of billions in market value in March as several institutions failed and others faltered. A potential good sign: some experts say the most painful days for the bleeding sector have already come and gone. Sign up here to get the Forbes Daily morning newsletter straight to your inbox.
Forbes Daily: Indicted
A federal judge in Texas struck down a provision of the Affordable Care Act that required insurance coverage for a range of preventive services including cancer and diabetes screenings, medications and more. More than 150 million Americans currently benefit from the coverage under the ACA, along with approximately 20 million Medicaid and 61 million Medicare beneficiaries. The Biden administration is expected to appeal the ruling.
Forbes Daily: Indicted
Donald Trump’s lawyers are already building out his legal defense. But the strategy hinges on an assumption that may not be true. Finally faced with …
Forbes Daily: Starbucks’ Schultz: ‘I Earned It’ ☕
More than a week after former President Donald Trump predicted his own arrest, the Manhattan grand jury weighing whether to bring criminal charges against the billionaire is reportedly set to take a break until late April. That further delays a vote for potential indictment in an investigation that has gone on for years. Sign up here to get the Forbes Daily morning newsletter straight to your inbox.
Forbes Daily: Bankman-Fried’s Alleged $40M Bribe
Silicon Valley Bank has been thrown a life raft with First Citizens Bank stepping up to purchase the troubled institution in a government-backed deal that will land First Citizens among the top 15 U.S. banks. That’s a big leap for a bank that previously ranked as the 30th top operating bank in the country. It’s also not the Raleigh-based bank’s first rodeo. First Citizens has previously acquired more than 20 banks via merger or purchase since the 2008 housing crisis.
Forbes Daily: Meet SVB’s New Owners
Even back in 1944, the CIA knew how to ruin a meeting. They listed a few tactics in their Simple Sabotage Field Manual—a guide for undermining enemies during World War II. If you run workplace meetings, or are someone who attends (too many of) them, I’d be willing to bet some of the “tactics” will seem familiar. Such as “haggle over precise wording of communications.” Clearly the CIA had not studied newsrooms… But ineffective meetings can have a significant impact.
Forbes Daily: Bank Stocks Hit New Lows 💸
With birds chirping and trees starting to blossom, the (slightly) warmer weather might have you beginning to daydream about your summer getaways. One analyst has some good news for your wallet as you start trip planning. Gas prices likely won’t return to their all-time high of surpassing $5 per gallon, and might not even reach $4 this summer, says GasBuddy head petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan. That’s despite rising demand and low gasoline inventories.
Forbes Daily: TikTok’s Loss, Rivals’ Gain 📈
Looks like we won’t know more about a possible indictment against former President Donald Trump until at least next week, as the Manhattan grand jury evaluating the case reportedly won’t meet again until Monday. It’s far from the first delay in the probe into alleged hush-money payments by the billionaire, with the investigation spanning years overall. Sign up here to get the Forbes Daily morning newsletter straight to your inbox.
Forbes Daily: TikTok's Hill Showdown đ±
Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok continues to be in the spotlight, and today CEO Shou Zi Chew is on deck to testify before U.S. lawmakers about the appâs safety measures to protect minors and efforts to firewall U.S. user data from foreign access. Itâs largely expected that members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will grill Chew as the app faces bans from governments globally because of security concerns, with the Biden administration threatening to follow suit.
Forbes Daily: ‘Different From 2008’ 🏦
Financial contagion, financial contagion, financial contagion. You’ve likely heard the term nonstop over the last couple of weeks as the banking sector experienced ups and downs not seen since the Great Recession. But what exactly does it refer to? Sign up here to get the Forbes Daily morning newsletter straight to your inbox. BREAKING NEWS Authorities briefly shut down the courthouse at 60 Centre Street in New York City on Tuesday after receiving a bomb threat.
Forbes Daily: First Republic Shares Tumble 📉
All eyes are on former President Donald Trump after the billionaire took to his Truth Social platform over the weekend to claim he expects to be arrested as soon as today in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’ case regarding alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels back in 2016. Sign up here to get the Forbes Daily morning newsletter straight to your inbox.
Forbes Daily: Empty Payroll Promises đź’°
Less than 0.1% of March Madness brackets remained perfect after just one day of this year's NCAA men’s college tournament, and there’s a good chance none of the remaining contestants will last much longer. Don’t feel too bad about it, though, if your brackets aren’t shaping up how you wanted. It’s a tough world out there. Fun fact: the odds of correctly guessing all 67 games of the tournament is literally 1 in 120.2 billion, per the NCAA.
Forbes Daily: Merch Madness ūüŹÄ
Scientists have had a breakthrough. A woman who received a transplant of stem cells from umbilical cord blood appears to have been cured of HIV, which could make her the first woman to be cured of the virus. Researchers are currently being conservative, describing her case as one of long-term remission. Just a few people have been confirmed clear of HIV, all of whom beat the virus after bone marrow transplants from donors naturally resistant to HIV.
Forbes Daily: AI Upgrade š¤
The recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank have investors spooked. Itās no different when it comes to the oil market, with oil prices plummeting nearly 6% Wednesday in their biggest one-day drop in more than eight months. International benchmark Brent Crude also dropped to its lowest point since December 2021, coming amid fears about the banking system as additional big banks experience a decline in market value.
Forbes Daily: AI Upgrade š¤
The recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank have investors spooked. Itās no different when it comes to the oil market, with oil prices plummeting nearly 6% Wednesday in their biggest one-day drop in more than eight months. International benchmark Brent Crude also dropped to its lowest point since December 2021, coming amid fears about the banking system as additional big banks experience a decline in market value.
Forbes Daily: Bank Stock Buy Up
The official start of spring may be next week, but winter wanted to show us who’s boss one more time. The powerful Nor’easter that struck the East Coast Monday evening has since caused more than 1,500 flight delays and 800 cancellations. Massachusetts and New York bore the brunt of it, with LaGuardia Airport put under a “ground delay” because of the weather conditions and Logan Airport experiencing more than 110 flight cancellations.
Forbes Daily: Bank Stocks Crumble
You’ve likely noticed by now that the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank are dominating headlines this week. The closures mark the second and third-largest bank failures in U.S. history, and the fear rippling through the markets is palpable. The White House assured depositors they’d get their money back, but that hasn’t stopped many companies with millions of dollars—or billions—tied up in the banks from worrying.
Forbes Daily: Will Disney Drop Hulu?
The 95th Academy Awards take place on Sunday, with several blockbuster hits in the running for the main categories. Throughout their nearly century-long history, the Oscars have been littered with many politically outspoken moments, and some viewers tune in to the show just to see if any such instances will take place. My Forbes colleague Conor Murray mapped out a timeline of the political protests and outburst over the years, including plenty of anti-war statements and booed speeches.
Forbes Daily: Adidas Faces The Music
Tax Day is creeping up faster than some of us may like on April 18. And while this tax season looks to be a bit smoother than in years past, it's still causing hiccups for taxpayers. If you have questions about your individual tax return, don’t miss your chance to ask and get answers at our free event happening today at 12:30 p.m. ET. We hope to see you there. Sign up here to get the Forbes Daily morning newsletter straight to your inbox.
Forbes Daily: Biden's Medicare Shakeup
In case you missed it, Forbes just published our 30 Under 30 Europe list 2023. Personally, I’m still blown away by some of the facts and figures about this year’s cohort, like that the youngest honoree is only 14 years old. Also pretty wild: the 2023 class cumulatively raised more than $3 billion in funding to further their missions. Of note, 30% of the listers self-identify as a person of color, and the list is made up of 33% women, 66% men and 1% non-binary individuals.
Forbes Daily: JetBlue-Spirit Merger Grounded?
As if enough people don’t already suffer from flying anxiety (yours truly included), two planes clipped each other while moving at low speed on the tarmac at Boston Logan International Airport yesterday, just one week after a plane departing from the travel hub almost collided with another one that was touching down, missing it by 100 feet. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.
Forbes Daily: America’s Tipping Turmoil
Investors latched onto hope at the end of last week that the Federal Reserve will soon give the ax to its aggressive rate hike campaign, causing stocks to rise broadly last Friday on the heels of a massive rally from technology titans.The nation’s biggest tech firms like Microsoft, Tesla and Meta led the surge. Not so on the upswing?
Forbes Daily: America’s Tipping Turmoil
1 hour ago Catch co-founder Kristen Anderson tweeted Monday that the health and retirement benefits company she and co-founder Andrew Ambrosino started six years ago is shuttering. Anderson and Ambrosino created Catch, and as she explained in a Twitter thread and post on the company’s website, “with a crazy …
Forbes Daily: Russia’s Cash Dilemma
The battle for widespread student loan forgiveness reached the Supreme Court this week, and the fate of President Joe Biden’s initiative to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student debt per borrower hangs in the balance. We likely won’t know the Supreme Court’s ruling until June, so while you kick back and wait for the outcome, we bring you six big takeaways from this week’s hearing on the matter. Sign up here to get the Forbes Daily morning newsletter straight to your inbox.
Forbes Daily: A Morning Cup Of… Subpoena?
I’m back from vacation and reporting for duty, though I see I left your morning curiosities in good hands with my colleagues. The latest entity to implement restrictions on the use of TikTok? The social media platform itself. The company announced Wednesday that “in the coming weeks” it will automatically set a one-hour daily screen time limit for users under the age of 18.
Forbes Daily: A Year Of War
As you’ve likely noticed by now, the Forbes newsletters team has been hard at work revamping this morning newsletter so we can better connect with readers like yourself. We rolled out the rebranded Forbes Daily last month, but we don’t want to stop there. To help us keep improving, we invite you to provide some feedback on your experience with our new format. Please find our reader survey here. Sign up here to get the Forbes Daily morning newsletter straight to your inbox.
Forbes Daily: Paging Dr. Amazon
Looks like Pennsylvania’s favorite groundhog Punxsutawney Phil was (unfortunately) correct when he saw his shadow earlier this month, which indicates six more weeks of winter, per tradition. More than 1,000 flights scheduled to leave or arrive in the U.S. were canceled Wednesday as at least another 3,000 were delayed thanks to a massive storm stretching coast to coast.
Forbes Daily: A Biblical SEC Settlement
Today we’ve got eyes out for the release of a summary of the Federal Reserve’s latest minutes, which will likely shed some light on how officials are thinking about the economy as they continue their most aggressive tightening campaign in decades. A glimpse into their logic will give companies and private citizens an idea of what our dollars are up against in 2023.
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