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County Battles Mosquitoes With Thousands of Zika-Fighting Fish

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More than 10,000 fish are set to be released into New Jersey retention basins this week as a way to combat disease carrying mosquitoes. 

The Mosquito fish -- the first of which were released Tuesday -- are natural predators to mosquito larvae and Gloucester County plans to use them to reduce the Zika-carrying mosquito population throughout the area by releasing them into stagnant bodies of water. The Gambusia fish loves to feed on the larvae.

"They're very veracious in terms of eating and breeding," said Wayne Wurtz with Gloucester County Mosquito Control.

The fish are also more environmentally-friendly than chemical options, said officials.

"It's a very clean way to control the mosquito population," said freeholder Heather Simmons.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been tracking Zika-carrying mosquitoes since the threat first arose. The Center's monitoring system show the mosquito is present in the New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware region.

However, officials report that these mosquitoes will not necessarily cause disease and that they would have to bite someone who already contacted Zika before spreading it to others.

So far, the CDC is reporting 472 cases of Zika in the United States, however every case can be traced back to travel, which officials report is the biggest threat in contracting the virus. 

More information on the Zika virus can be found on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website.


Dad Finds Son, Girlfriend Dead in Home: Police

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Police say a man found his son and the younger man's girlfriend dead in a home in northwestern Pennsylvania.

The Erie Times-News reports Erie police were called to a residence along E 31st Street in east Erie shortly before 4 p.m. Tuesday.

An Erie County dispatcher says the dead man was 28 and police Chief Randy Bowers says the woman was in her 20s.

Police didn't immediately say how the couple might have died, and County Coroner Lyell Cook says the bodies will be examined Wednesday before determining whether autopsies are necessary.

Police didn't immediately release the names of the dead couple and were continuing to investigate.



Photo Credit: Google Maps

Being Prepared to Help People With Disabilities

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The Delmarva Power Conference is partnering with emergency businesses to educate those who may need extra help in case of an emergency.

Transformer Blows, Knocks Out Power to Thousands in NJ

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A transformer blew early Wednesday knocking out power to thousands of customers in Burlington County, New Jersey and delayed the school day for some students.

The transformer break caused wires to come down along the Pemberton Browns Mill Road in Browns Mill around 4:40 a.m., said county dispatchers.

At the height of the outage around 2,600 customers lost power, said Jersey Central Power & Light. By 6:30 about half those customers had power restored.

The Pemberton Township Schools District website wasn't working at one point Wednesday morning but a Twitter feed connected to the district claimed that due to detours, bus pickups and school drop-offs would be delayed.

On his Twitter feed, superintendent Tony Trongone thanked the office of emergency management for opening all roads as of 7:40 a.m. and allowing schools to operate normally.

Crews hoped to get the lights back on for everyone within several hours, said the power company.



Photo Credit: SkyForce10
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Drexel Breaking Ground on New Apartments

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The 'Vue 32' building is expected to be completed by Spring 2017 and will provide housing for students, faculty and staff.

Payless Pulls Light-Up Shoes Suspected of Sparking Fire

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Payless ShoeSource said Tuesday it's pulling all of its boys' Jake Lighted Runner light-up shoes from store shelves while authorities investigate a report that the shoes sparked a fire inside a Texas family's SUV.

Attila and Jovan Virag of Katy, Texas, told NBC affiliate station KPRC of Houston that their 2-year-old son left his Jake and the Neverland Pirates shoes in the SUV Friday. 

They found the backseat charred on Saturday morning. 

"I saw the shoe on the ground with the wires sticking up and it was a lightbulb, I knew immediately that's what it was," Jovan Virag told KPRC. 

The family believes the shoes' penny-sized lithium battery sparked the fire. The cause is still under investigation, Captain Dean Hensley with the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office told NBC News on Wednesday. 

Payless said in a statement: "Out of an abundance of caution we have removed the Boys' Jake Lighted Runner from our shelves until we can thoroughly investigate a customer claim regarding that shoe. First and foremost, safety is always a top priority at Payless and we take the claim made by the customer seriously. We have contacted the family, and we will work with them and local authorities to better understand the circumstances of the fire and what may have caused it."



Photo Credit: KPRC

3-D Printing Helps Those Needing Hair Prosthetics

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Louise Damiano Gavigno has a disorder which causes her to pull her hair out, but thanks to 3-D technology hair loss is not an issue anymore for her and thousands of others with trichotillomania and other disorders.

Photo Credit: NBC10

Delegates 'Shocked' by Philly DNC Cost

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Sandy Watters remembers when she first heard of Bernie Sanders last year, and how quickly her excitement about his progressive platform turned into an eagerness to act.

"We started looking up how to be involved in your party and what to do in the primary. I came across how to become a delegate," said Watters, 21, of Willmar, Minnesota.

Watters went through a couple rounds of competition at the local and state levels, and in the end was elected to be a delegate to the Democratic National Convention for her 7th Congressional District in south-central Minnesota.

The next, and harder, step, she realized, was getting to Philadelphia for the weeklong convention in July.

For many across America who became hands-on political for the first time in this presidential election — energized by an anti-establishment candidate like Sanders — the cost of being a delegate isn’t an obstacle they foresaw.

"I’ve got a few fundraisers in my hometown," said 27-year-old diesel mechanic Dylan Parker, who will represent Illinois’ 17th Congressional District as a Sanders delegate. "Otherwise, it’s going to come out of me and my family’s pockets."

Roughly 4,800 delegates, representing every congressional district, state, and U.S. territory, will gather July 25-28 in Philadelphia to officially nominate the party’s candidate for president. Delegates are expected to arrive by July 24.

Combine a five-night hotel stay in an expensive East Coast city with airfare from places across the country, and many delegates have been told by their state Democratic Party officials that the trip will cost anywhere from $4,000 to $8,000.

"If I went the route the party has set aside for me, I’m looking at $4,000 to 5,000," Wisconsin delegate Matthew LaRonge said.

LaRonge, a Sanders delegate from the town of Plover, and Wisconsin’s other 85 Democratic delegates have been assigned a convenient — if pricey — hotel by the Democratic National Committee for convention week. Each state and territory was assigned hotels by the national party organization in December. Some states, like Wisconsin, are lucky — relatively speaking. LaRonge and his cohort were assigned the Homes2 Suites by Hilton in Center City, across from Reading Terminal Market.

The privilege of staying downtown will cost the 29-year-old Autozone salesman $369 a night.

"We are not required to stay at the Hilton. So if fundraising doesn’t work out, there are AirBnBs and other hotels a little further away," LaRonge said.

Others like Watters and her fellow Minnesotans will stay at the Radisson Hotel Valley Forge — 21 miles from Center City and 30 miles from the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia, where the convention will take place.

Watter, LaRonge, and more than 260 other delegates have taken to the crowdfunding website GoFundMe, asking for support from anyone willing to help send them to Philadelphia. Most of those spaeeking help through the site are Bernie Sanders supporters, and tend to be younger.

They come from far-flung places like Hana, Hawaii; Sioux County, South Dakota; and Nevada City, California.

One of the more successful, Jason Eno of Maui County, Hawaii, has raised more than $3,800. And that was just to help himself and other Hawaii delegates get to the state convention on the island of Oahu.

"In addition to our time (two days at the convention plus travel), we will be paying for airfare ($200), lodging in Honolulu (500), and the cost of the convention itself ($125). We need every Bernie delegate to be there to support our cause," Eno wrote at his GoFundMe page. "Unfortunately the cost of the trip may be more than some can afford. Please help us get there for Bernie, Hawaii, and the nation. Mahalo."

Watters has raised $792 of a $7,000 goal. LaRonge has raised $668 of a $3,500 goal, while Parker has raised $1,215 of $5,000.

"You do only live once, and we are the future of American politics, or America in general," said Parker. "And we want to help out. You have to be willing to put your money where your mouth is."

Despite a perception among some delegates that their state political organizations are not allowed to finance delegates’ trips to convention, federal election law does not prohibit state political organizations like the Democratic Party of Illinois from paying.

But the financial strain of paying the way for Illinois’ 182 delegates is a constraint.

"I’m not aware of any legal prohibition," said Democratic Party of Illinois spokesman Steve Brown. "You can do the math. Hotel rooms are close to $760 a night with taxes. And with hotels limiting stays to four or more nights, plus airfare, it’s an expensive commitment."

Elected officials who are delegates can use candidate funds to pay for their trips.

The Federal Election Commission also alluded to sections of federal campaign finance laws that allow presidential candidates to help pay for delegates’ trips, so far as the delegates spend the contributions only on travel expenses.

"The candidate will want to make sure that the money is used to further the delegate’s participation in the convention and is not converted to personal use," according to the FEC.

Democratic National Convention officials "understand and appreciate the commitment" the delegates will make this summer to spend thousands on the trip to argue vehemently for Sanders or front-runner Hillary Clinton, a spokesman for the DNC said.

He added that crowdsourcing sites like GoFundMe potentially ease the burden on the delegate themselves.

"Our process encourages state parties to give delegates information and tools to help to put together the resources to participate," DNC spokesman Lee Whack said in an email. "Over the last three cycles, in particular, the Internet has lowered the bar for participation by making it easier for potential delegates to get their message out and to leverage tools for crowdfunding to help them perform this vital role."

In Colorado Springs, south of Denver, writer Jené Jackson followed that 21st century blueprint to a successful bid for delegate in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District.

She started by giving an emotional speech in support of Sanders to a group of Colorado Democrats, which she then posted to YouTube. Weeks later, she was told to start planning for Philadelphia.

"I was absolutely shocked," Jackson said. "What I realized is there are different ways of working for a candidate and your beliefs. One is making tons of phone calls and putting fliers out. Another, I realized is standing on a stage and giving a speech."

Jackson has raised $1,205 on GoFundMe, and is planning local fundraisers like her fellow first-time Democratic delegates.

"I sing too, so we’re planning some performances to help raise money," she said. "I’m buying my flight this week."



Photo Credit: Photos supplied by DNC delegates
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Allentown Businessman Pleads Guilty to Bribing City Leaders

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At least seven people have now pleaded guilty in an FBI pay-to-play corruption probe of city officials in Reading and Allentown.

On Tuesday, federal prosecutors unsealed the guilty plea of Matthew McTish to conspiracy to commit bribery.

Prosecutors say the 57-year-old engineering firm executive made thousands of dollars in campaign contributions under pressure from unnamed officials in Reading and Allentown to keep his company in line for municipal contracts.

McTish's lawyer, Laurel Brandstetter, says her client participated in the pay-to-play scheme to keep his firm competitive.

The case became public last summer when FBI agents raided both city halls as well as the homes of Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski and then-Reading Mayor Vaughn Spencer.

Spencer and Pawlowski haven't been charged, but they match descriptions of the unnamed public officials in court papers.

Suspicious Death in New Jersey Home

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Police responded to a Trenton, New Jersey home to investigate what they called a suspicious death.

Trenton Police went to the home along S. Clinton Avenue near Hudson Street in the Mercer County city.

Trenton Police ruled it a suspicious death and did not announce any immediate arrests or reveal any other details.



Photo Credit: NBC10

How Is Massive Vine Street Expressway Project Going?

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PennDOT says the construction and replacement of bridges along the Vine Street Expressway (Interstate 676) will not be completed until Fall 2019.

New Coast Guard Ship Hamilton Makes Stop in Philly

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The Coast Guard cutter named 'Hamilton' will be docked at Philadelphia's Penn's Landing until Friday.

Pet Turkey Ran Down in Delaware?

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Jody Clark of Frankford, Delaware says her pet turkey way deliberately run over by a car because neighbors complained it was a nuisance.

Photo Credit: NBC10

Soda Tax Battle Bubbles Up at City Council

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City Council held a hearing Wednesday on the controversial "soda tax."

The Council heard testimony on Mayor Jim Kenney's proposed sugary-beverage tax, aka "soda tax," which would be used to help fund educational initiatives, rehab recreation centers and better-equip police and fire departments, according to Kenney.

Earlier, Kenney told city council that the soda tax would provide $400 million to be split among several initiatives. 

The soda tax is part of Kenney's proposed $4.17-billion spending plan, which exceeds last year's budget by $100 million. It is now in the hands of the city council, which has opposed similar sugary drinks taxes twice before under Kenney's predecessor Michael Nutter.

Cyclist Keeps Pedaling at 96

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Wesley Enhanced Living Doylestown resident Bill Grun celebrated his 96th birthday with his regular 10-mile bicycle ride. His friends at the Central Bucks Bike Club surprised him with a commemorative membership.

Sketch Helps Nab Blue Route Road Rage Shooting Suspect

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Pennsylvania State Police charged a suspect Wednesday morning in a road rage incident on the Blue Route (Interstate 476) last week thanks to a tipster.

Police nabbed Anthony Richardson of Pennington Road in Philadelphia's Overbrook Park neighborhood after a tipster saw a police sketch released following the shooting, said state police.

The shooting happened at 3 p.m. Thursday in the northbound lanes of I-476 around mile-marker 16 in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, state police said.

The driver of a dark blue Lincoln sedan with tinted windows and a red and silver Lincoln emblem opened fire on a blue Mitsubishi Lancer while on the highway, officials said. A Pennsylvania State Police spokeswoman said the shooter pulled alongside the Mitsubishi, rolled down his window and began shooting.

A bullet narrowly missed the 26-year-old Mitsubishi driver, lodging in the car dashboard, police said. The driver was not hurt.

The sedan driver took off after the shooting. On Wednesday, troopers made the arrest of a man who they planned to identify at a 12:30 p.m. news conference.

Police called the incident a road rage. They charged Richardson with attempted murder, aggravated assault, simple assault and reckless endangerment.



Photo Credit: Composite Photo

Drunk Toddler Found With Unconscious Dad

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Georgia authorities say 3-year-old consumed mixed drink after underage father passed out. WXIA's Jon Shirek reports.

Walnuts Recalled for Possible Listeria Contamination

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United Natural Trading LLC is recalling several walnut and walnut-containing products sold under the Nature’s Promise, Woodstock, Market Basket and Woodfield Farms brands due to a possible listeria contamination.

The recalled items, which were purchased from Gibson Farms, were distributed in limited quantities to retailers and distributors throughout the United States. Only specific lot numbers and sell dates are included in this recall; click here for a full list. 

The recall was issued as a precaution after a single sample was tested positive for listeria monocytogenes. No illnesses have been reported, according to the recall announcement. 

Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious infections in children and those that are frail or elderly, or those with weakened immune symptoms. It can also cause miscarriages or stillbirths in pregnant women. Affected individuals may experience fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. 

The Company is working with regulatory officials and has contacted its customers to ensure that any remaining recalled products are removed, the announcement said. 

Consumers who purchased the product should dispose of it, but retain their receipts, packaging or other proof of purchase. They may contact Melissa McCullough at Woodstock Farms Manufacturing customer service at 732-650-9905 with questions. 



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Pediatrician Accused of Indecently Assaulting Patient’s Mother

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A Lehigh Valley pediatrician was arrested after he allegedly indecently assaulted the mother of one of his patients.

Dr. Jarret Royce Patton, 43, of Exeter Township, is charged with indecent assault.

A woman told police she was at a scheduled visit for her child in an exam room of the Lehigh Valley Hospital back on February 25. The woman said Dr. Patton came into the room and looked at her child. He then allegedly straddled over the woman’s legs and rubbed against her several times with his genitals, according to officials.

The woman told investigators she tried to move away but Dr. Patton continued to rub against her. She also said at one point Dr. Patton reached behind her to get a piece of equipment and started grinding onto her leg while rubbing her back.

Officials say Dr. Patton’s employer, the Lehigh Valley Physician Group/Lehigh Valley Health Network is fully cooperating with law enforcement throughout the investigation.

Dr. Patton will be arraigned in the Lehigh County Central Booking Center.



Photo Credit: Brian Curtis

State Trooper Recognized by National Anti-Bullying Organization

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A South Jersey State Trooper and Camden native was honored Wednesday by a nationally recognized anti-bullying organization. NBC10’s Cydney Long has that story.
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