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The city of Philadelphia settled Monday with the parents of Ellen Greenberg, a teacher whose 2011 death was ruled a suicide after she was found with nearly two dozen stab wounds and covered in bruises, and the city’s medical examiner’s office will take a new look at Greenberg’s manner of death, their attorney Joseph Podraza confirmed with Fox News Digital.
It’s been 14 years since 27-year-old Greenberg was found in her kitchen with 20 stab wounds and a knife in her chest with a half-made fruit salad on the countertop during a blizzard on Jan. 26, 2011.
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A judge on Friday ruled that a 2022 lawsuit filed by her parents against the city of Philadelphia could move to trial, and the forensic pathologist with the city medical examiner’s office, Dr. Marlon Osbourne, backtracked on his suicide ruling, according to legal documents.
“It is my professional opinion Ellen’s manner of death should be designated as something other than suicide,” Osbourne wrote.
JUDGE DUMBFOUNDED BY ERROR AT SITE OF ‘SUICIDE’ WHERE TEACHER WAS FOUND STABBED 20 TIMES
A split image shows Ellen Greenberg smiling in an undated family photo, and a computer-generated photo based on an autopsy report showing knives where she had been stabbed 20 times.(Greenberg family)
The former Philadelphia pathologist initially ruled Greenberg’s death a homicide in 2011, according to court documents. Then he reversed course after meeting with police behind closed doors and officially deemed it a suicide.
“Since issuing the amended death certificate, I have become aware of additional information I did not have at the time of issuing the amended death certificate which may have impacted my opinion,” he added in his recent statement.
The Greenbergs entered a Philadelphia courtroom Monday morning to begin the trial in their case, which accuses local officials and the medical examiner’s office, including Osbourne, of covering up their daughter’s death and participating in a “concealed conspiracy for the purpose of disguising Ellen’s homicide as a suicide,” according to legal documents.
The city will pay Dr. Josh and Sandee Greenberg an undisclosed amount in Monday’s settlement, Podraza confirmed.
FIANCÉ OF TEACHER FOUND WITH 20 STAB WOUNDS SUGGESTS WHAT LED TO HER ‘SUICIDE’
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Ellen Greenberg in an undated family photo with fiance Sam Goldberg.(Greenberg family)
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“I don’t think anyone disagrees the crime scene should have been handled differently,” Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Erdos said during oral arguments heard in court in early December, Podraza previously told Fox News Digital. “The fact the death certificate still lists the cause of death as suicide is puzzling.”
“I feel like we’re advocating for her,” Sandee said in a statement to Fox News Digital after the December hearing. “We are getting closer to justice for Ellen. We are very determined and not giving up.”
The Greenbergs have been entangled in legal battles with the government ever since their daughter’s death, fighting the determination that it was a suicide, and they have alleged a “conspiracy” to “cover-up Ellen’s murder in order to hide the authorities’ grossly botched investigation,” according to court records.
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ELLEN GREENBERG PROSECUTORS SAY THEY CAN’T PROVE CRIME IN ‘SUICIDE’ BY 20 STAB WOUNDS
Ellen Greenberg with her parents, Dr. Josh and Sandee Greenberg.(Ellen Greenberg’s family)
WATCH ‘TEACHER DEATH MYSTERY’ ON FOX NATION
At the time of her death, Greenberg had sent out save-the-date notices for her wedding with Sam Goldberg, who said he returned home from a gym, broke down the door and found his fiancée’s body in their shared apartment in Manayunk, a quiet neighborhood in Philadelphia.
Greenberg’s 20 stab wounds included 10 from behind, at least one of which could have been inflicted after she was already dead, according to court documents. She was also found covered in bruises in different stages of healing, implying she had received them over the course of some time, according to the autopsy report.
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The Greenbergs and outside investigators have questioned why authorities allowed the crime scene to be professionally cleaned and sanitized before detectives arrived with a search warrant, and they have also questioned why Goldberg’s uncle, James Schwartzman, a prominent Pennsylvania judge, was allowed to enter the apartment and remove a number of Greenberg’s belongings, including her computer and cellphone, according to court records.
A representative for Schwartzman previously told Fox News Digital that police gave him permission to go in and take Greenberg’s belongings, confirming he had removed her computers and cellphones.
“The door was damaged and unsecure, and he took out items that he thought might be stolen,” the representative for Schwartzman explained on his behalf.
JUDGE TIED TO ELLEN GREENBERG’S FIANCÉ TOOK ITEMS FROM HER ‘SUICIDE’ SCENE BEFORE POLICE SEARCH
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Ellen Greenberg worked as a teacher.(Ellen Greenberg’s family)
In addition to their latest lawsuit, the Greenbergs filed another lawsuit in 2019, aiming to have the designation of “suicide” on her death certificate replaced with “homicide” or “undetermined.” That case is pending before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Philadelphia police did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. They have previously declined to discuss the case, citing the ongoing civil litigation. Goldberg did not immediately respond for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
The Boston City Council is setting out on a new two-year term with a new council president at the helm.
City Councilor Liz Breadon, who represents District 9, won the gavel on a 7-6 contested vote, cobbling together her candidacy just hours before the council was set to vote.
“An opportunity presented itself and I took it,” Breadon said. “We’re in a very critical time, given politics, and I really feel that in this moment, we need to set steady leadership, and really to bring the council together.”
The process apparently including backroom conversations and late-night meetings as City Councilors Gabriella Coletta Zapata and Brian Worrell both pushed to become the next council president.
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Breadon spoke on why support waned for her two colleagues.
“I think they had support that was moving,” said Breadon. “It was moving back and forward, it hadn’t solidified solidly in one place. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the moment.”
Political commentator Sue O’Connell talks about the last-minute maneuvering before the upset vote and what it says about Mayor Michelle Wu’s influence.
Some speculated that Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration was lobbying for a compromise candidate after Coletta Zapata dropped out of the race. Breadon disputes the mayor’s involvement.
“I would say not,” said Breadon. “I wasn’t in conversation with the mayor about any of this.”
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Beyond the election, Breadon took a look ahead to how she will lead the body. Controversy has been known to crop up at City Hall, most recently when former District 7 Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges tied to a kickback scheme involving taxpayer dollars.
Breadon said it’s critical to stay calm and allow the facts to come out in those situations.
“I feel that it’s very important to be very deliberative in how we handle these things and not to sort of shoot from the hip and have a knee-jerk reaction to what’s happening,” said Breadon.
Tune in Sunday at 9:30 am for our extended @Issue Sitdown with Breadon, when we dig deeper into how her candidacy came together, the priorities she’ll pursue in the role and which colleagues she’ll place in key council positions.
Days after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officer fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor reaffirmed that he will not cooperate with ICE.
Former Mayor Ed Gainey had taken the same position.
“My stance never changed,” O’Connor told TribLive on Friday. “We’re not going to cooperate.”
O’Connor said the same thing on the campaign trail, promising his administration would not partner with ICE.
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“My priority is to turn the city around and help it grow,” O’Connor said. “For us, it’s got to be focusing on public safety in the city of Pittsburgh.”
President Donald Trump has sent a surge of federal officers into Minneapolis, where tensions have escalated sharply.
O’Connor said he had spoken this week with Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, who heads the Democratic Mayors Association. The group has condemned ICE’s actions in the wake of Wednesday’s fatal encounter in Minneapolis, where an ICE officer shot and killed 37-year-old Nicole Macklin Good, a U.S. citizen described as a poet and mother.
“Mayors are on the ground every day working to keep our communities safe,” the association said in a statement Thursday. “If Trump were serious about public safety, he would work with our cities, not against them. If he were serious, he would stop spreading propaganda and lies, and end the fear, the force, and the federal overreach.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has come out strongly against the Trump administration and ICE, penning an op-ed piece for the New York Times with the headline, “I’m the Mayor of Minneapolis. Trump Is Lying to You.”
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said an ICE officer shot Good in self-defense. Noem described the incident as “domestic terrorism” carried out against ICE officers and claimed Good tried to “run them over and rammed them with her vehicle.”
The circumstances of the incident are in dispute.
In December, ICE agents were involved in a scuffle in Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington neighborhood as they arrested a Latino man.
According to neighbors, two unmarked vehicles sandwiched a white Tacoma in the 400 block of Norton Street, broke the driver’s side window, pulled a man from the vehicle and got into a physical altercation. Pepper spray was deployed and seemed to get in the eyes of both the man being detained and at least one immigration agent.
At least some of the officers on the scene in that incident belong to ICE.
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They targeted the man, Darwin Alexander Davila-Perez, a Nicaraguan national, for claiming to be a U.S. citizen while trying to buy a gun, according to court papers.
The U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected in December, capping what economists say was the weakest year for job creation since 2009, aside from 2020.
Data from October shows about 73,000 job openings in Connecticut, according to the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. The state’s unemployment rate stands at about 4%, which is historically low.
Here is the topline information from Connecticut’s October and November jobs report released this week, according to the state’s Labor Department (data was delayed due to the government shutdown):
Overall, Connecticut job growth is +1,800 from November 2024 to November 2025.
Private sector payrolls were up 1,900 in November after a 900 decline in October.
Health Care & Social Assistance is up 1,700 in November and recovered September losses.
Construction is at the highest level since August 2008, a trend expected to continue with infrastructure and housing initiatives.
Retail continues a slow downward trajectory. The sector was up 200 jobs in November, not enough to offset September and October losses.
Initial unemployment claims are just under 30,000, slightly higher than last year at this time when they were around 25,000.
In a press release, Connecticut Department of Labor Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo said: “After several years of strong job growth that created a job seekers’ market, the economy is now more competitive—it takes job seekers longer to find employment than it has in the recent past.”
Experts say the experience of finding a job can be very different for job seekers.
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Dustin Nord, director of the CBIA Foundation for Economic Growth and Opportunity, said the state may be seeing what economists call frictional unemployment.
“We’re not seeing huge changes in hiring and quits,” Nord said, adding that it’s possible people who are losing positions are not necessarily seeing positions open in the field that they’re losing their job from.
Although unemployment remains relatively low, Nord said recent trends raise concerns about the direction of the labor market.
“There’s not that many people on the sidelines, but I’d say the trends are definitely not moving in the right direction,” Nord said.
Connecticut faces longer‑term workforce challenges. The state’s labor force has declined by about 19,600 people since January, according to the new data.
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“Federal immigration policies may impact these numbers. Connecticut employers rely on an immigrant workforce to offset retirements in Connecticut’s aging workforce and the state’s low birthrate; 23% of Connecticut workers are born outside of the U.S.,” the state’s Department of Labor said.
Connecticut’s labor force participation rate of 64% is higher than the national rate of 62.5%, the Department of Labor said.
The CBIA said since the COVID‑19 pandemic, Connecticut’s labor force has grown just 0.2%, compared with 4.3% growth nationwide.
That gap is occurring even as wages rise. Average weekly earnings in Connecticut are up 5.4% since November 2024, outpacing inflation.
Still, the CBIA says those gains reinforce the need to address affordability across the state.
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“If we take the right steps, especially over the next six months, to try to find ways to make it more affordable,” Nord said. “I think there’s no reason we can’t continue to see, at least steady economic activity in the state.”
Nord said those steps include addressing costs tied to housing, energy and childcare.
Overall, the data suggests Connecticut’s job growth has been largely stagnant. Looking ahead, what happens in 2026 will depend both on state‑level policy decisions and broader national economic trends.
Patrick Flaherty, director of research at the Connecticut Department of Labor, said in a review of the data that recent numbers suggest the pace of growth could continue, but at a slower rate.
“The November increase suggests modest job growth that Connecticut’s labor market has shown could continue into 2026, although at a slower pace, as long as the nation avoids a downturn,” Flaherty said.
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See the state report here. Read the CBIA’s analysis here.
