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Philly Woman Battles City Over Chickens

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A Philadelphia woman is fighting the city to keep her chickens in her backyard. As NBC10's Denise Nakano explains, its part of a bigger movement to help feed families.

Hit-and-Run Driver Crashes on I-76, Then Blvd: Officials

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A woman was taken to the hospital after she allegedly crashed into vehicles on the Schuylkill Expressway, fled the scene and then crashed into another vehicle on Roosevelt Boulevard about ten minutes later.

Officials say the unidentified woman struck three cars in the westbound lanes of the Schuylkill Expressway at Girard Avenue in Philadelphia at 9:42 p.m. Monday. She then allegedly fled the scene of the crash and continued northbound.

She then collided with another vehicle on Roosevelt Boulevard at 9th Street at 9:52 p.m., officials said. Both the woman and another person were taken to Temple University Hospital where they are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

No one was seriously injured in the first crash on the Schuylkill Expressway, according to officials.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

Double Shooting on Philly Side of City Avenue

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Police found a pair of gunshot victims blocks apart along a busy thoroughfare that divides Philadelphia and the Main Line late Monday night.

Philadelphia Police officers rushed to the City Avenue Shopping Center at 77th and City Avenue in the city's Overbrook section around 10:40 p.m. after receiving calls about gunfire.

"Officers responding found a male laying on the ground... just outside a car," said Lt. John Walker with Southwest Detectives.

The man, who is in his 20s, was rushed to Penn Presbyterian Hospital where he was listed in critical condition with three gunshot wounds, said Walker.

"(Officers) find a second victim at 75th and Haverford suffering from a gunshot wound to his chest," said Walker.

The second victim was taken to Penn Presbyterian Hospital in stable condition, said Walker.

No arrests have been made and police have not yet revealed what led to the shooting but investigators believe the car near where the man was found played a role.

"We know that something happened inside this car but we're not quite sure what and we're not quite sure how the second victim wound up from here to up there at 75th Street," said Walker as he stood near the car.

It's possible the men shot each other, said police.

Investigators asked anyone with information to contact Philadelphia Police.



Photo Credit: NBC10

Robbers Steal Cash From Airport Cart Workers: Authorities

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Police are looking for the two masked robbers who tied up two luggage cart workers at Newark Liberty International Airport and stole about $100,000, according to authorities.

Police got a call about a robbery inside Terminal B at the airport on Sunday afternoon, near a prescreening and arrival area, according to the Port Authority.

When they arrived, officers found two Smarte Carte workers tied up, according to the Port Authority.

The robbers made off with the cash behind the counter, officials said.

No one was injured in the robbery and airport operations weren’t interrupted.

No arrests have been made in the case. 

New Transgender Student Policy

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A New Jersey school board has unanimously passed a policy allowing students to use bathrooms and participate in school programs based on their gender identity.

Highland Park schools are the latest district in the Garden State to pass progressive policies for transgender students, and it comes in the wake of controversial bills passed in some states that have passed laws mandating that people use the bathroom that matches their sex at birth.

But school administrators say that their policy goes one step further than others in the region that allow students to pick bathrooms based on their gender identity.

The policy also goes beyond New York City schools' own, which allows students to keep their transgender status confidential in restrooms and lockerroms. Tansgender students in the city can also participate in physical education and sports in accordance with their gender identity, but a student's participation in competetive and contact sports is determined on a case-by-case basis. 

Highland Park’s measure allows students to use locker rooms and participate in gendered student activities – such as sports – based upon the gender with which they identify.

“What we’ve heard from students is it just makes this a more welcoming place for them,” said school board president Darci Cimarusti.

Cimarusti said that the measure has been in the works for three months – before North Carolina passed its so-called “bathroom law.”

Mother Lauren Picciano, whose 12-year-old transgender daughter is a student at Highland Park schools, says she welcomes the policy.

“We’re talking about a child, a beautiful child,” she said.

The policy goes into effect Tuesday. 



Photo Credit: Getty Images/Flickr RF

Bernie Sanders Says DNC Could Get 'Messy'

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Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., says he has earned the right to have a strong influence on the party's platform at the DNC in Philadelphia this summer.

Photo Credit: AP

Tonight at 11: Where It's Most Dangerous to Bike

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The NBC10 Investigators are looking into how Philadelphia Police may begin addressing the spike in fatalities of city bikers.

Photo Credit: NBC10

Easton School Board to Vote on Narcan

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School leaders in Easton will vote on whether to introduce the drug antidote naloxone, aka Narcan, into schools following an increase in heroin use.

Jitneys Expanding to Margate

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Atlantic City's Jitney service is expanding its route just as the summer visitor season begins.

The bus service is launching a trial this Memorial Day weekend which brings the Jitney service past its usual final stop, then through Ventnor and into Margate. The trial runs through Labor Day weekend. 

Both Atlantic City and Margate agree that the expansion will help reduce traffic and alleviate parking concerns, as well as reduce intoxicated driving. Local businesses will also benefit as people now have an efficient way to travel to the city. 

Rides will range from $3-$4 and multiple stops along Margate will be available. Depending on the success of the expansion, the service could be repeated on an annual basis. 



Photo Credit: NBC10

SEPTA Launches Positive Train Control on Fox Chase Line

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SEPTA this week launched a train-control system that enforces locomotive speeds and reduces the chance of human error on its Fox Chase Regional Rail Line.

Positive train control, commonly referred to as PTC, is the most up-to-date system in signal safety and is designed to detect potentially unsafe conditions. The system can reduce the chance of accidents by enforcing speed levels and regulating out-of-service equipment, among many other measures.

SEPTA is working to install the technology in both its Silverliner IV and Silverliner V fleets, which transport more than 100,000 riders every day. Last year's deadly derailment of Amtrak 188 in at Frankford Junction in Philadelphia sparked new requirements for installation of the system on tracks.

SEPTA shares some tracks with Amtrak in the area.

The U.S. Rail Safety Improvement Act, which mandated that PTC be implemented on many train routes across the country, was passed in 2008. SEPTA launched PTC on the Warminster Regional Rail line in April, and calls the introduction of PTC a safety milestone for passengers and employees. 



Photo Credit: NBC10

Driver Looks at Dead Victim After Slamming Into Bus Shelter: Police

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A speeding hit-and-run driver, injured, looked at his victim before fleeing on foot after slamming into a SEPTA bus shelter, killing a man, while rain fell overnight.

The crash near the Roosevelt Mall at Cottman and Bustleton avenues in Northeast Philadelphia around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday launched the victim and the bus shelter about 100 feet, said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small.

"The metal canopy was hit with such force that it was torn from its base, torn from the sidewalk," said Small. "The metal canopy as well as the victim were launched and traveled about 100 feet south."

The unidentified victim, who was believed to be around 50 years old, suffered from heavy trauma to his head, his body and his legs and medics pronounced him dead a short time later, said police.

"According to a witness, the driver of the vehicle, exited the car, walked over to where the victim's body was laying on the sidewalk, looked at the victim then fled on foot south on Bustleton Avenue, " said Small.

"He was hit hard, he was hit very hard."

The wreck shattered the windshield of the Lexus and caused severe damage to one of the wheels leaving the vehicle inoperable, said police.

"We did find some blood on the driver air bag... we believe the operator of the vehicle sustained some injuries," said Small.

Police collected DNA from inside the vehicle, which wasn’t stolen, and tracked the car’s registration in hopes of tracking down the driver.

"We’re going to find the registered owner and we’re going to talk to the owner(s) of this vehicle to see who was driving," said Small.

The suspected driver turned himself into police Tuesday morning around 8 a.m., said police. The suspect would be taken to the hospital to be treated before police would file charges, said a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Investigators believe speed played a role in the wreck along the 30-mph stretch of road.



Photo Credit: NBC10

Sports Authority to Close All of Its Stores

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Sports Authority is getting ready to close all of its 463 stores and has launched a big going-out-of-business sale, according to NBC's "Today" show. 

The chain filed for bankruptcy protection a few months back, but its attempts to restructure its debt failed.

The final sale in Sports Authority stores is expected to start this weekend and last until end of August. 



Photo Credit: Getty Images
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Fire Breaks Out at Large Montco High School

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A fire caused students to be dismissed early from a massive Montgomery County high school Tuesday and left some wishing they had their keys.

Flames broke out at North Penn High School on Valley Forge Road around 11:45 a.m., said Montgomery County dispatchers. Preliminary information had the fire burning in a maintenance room.

Images shot by students showed people calmly leaving the building and waiting outside on some fields as firefighters entered the school.

No word yet on what caused the fire. No injuries were reported.

The North Penn School District announced early Tuesday afternoon that students would "eventually be dismissed." The district released dismissal guidelines on its Facebook page around 12:45 p.m. as they began sending students home:

"Buses will transport students home for those who need rides. Parents who have made arrangements to pick up their students can get them from Calvary Baptist parking lot, on the left side, closest to Rite Aid. Students drivers who have their keys will be able to drive home"

The problem for some students was not having their keys with them when they were evacuated.

"No students will be allowed back into the school to retrieve keys or other belongings," wrote the district.

The fire was under control in under an hour, said school officials.

North Penn is known as one of the largest high schools in the area with more than 3,000 students in grades 10 to 12, said U.S. News & World Report.



Photo Credit: Jason Zeenkov
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Montco Mom: YMCA Shamed Me for Breastfeeding

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A Montgomery County mom is speaking out after she says employees at a local YMCA shamed her for breastfeeding her son during a class for toddlers Monday morning.

Kate Haslam, 35, takes her 19-month-old son, West, to a toddler gym class every Monday morning at the Spring Valley YMCA in Limerick. This Monday started off just like any other, but little West was hungry, so Haslam sat on a balance beam along the wall in the classroom and breastfed her son.

That's when she says things went downhill. A YMCA employee asked Haslam to leave the classroom and breastfeed outside because she was making people "uncomfortable," Haslam said. When the mom protested, telling the employee it's against the law to tell her to breastfeed elsewhere, Haslam said, two other YMCA officials got involved, pressuring her to move.

"It just kept getting deeper and deeper," Haslam told NBC10. "That's what's upsetting."

Haslam said one YMCA official told her women don't breastfeed at the Y -- which she says isn't the case -- and that she needed to breastfeed in the locker room if she chose to feed there.

"It was just such a weird thing. I told [the employee] the locker room is coed," Haslam said. "They said, 'Well, we have curtained areas.'"

She said the employees backed off requiring her to move when they looked up the law and realized that it is indeed illegal in Pennsylvania to ask a breastfeeding mother to move, then saying the YMCA preferred that she breastfeed in private.

"Why should I have to go somewhere different?" the mother asked. "I didn't do anything wrong."

Haslam took to Facebook Monday night and wrote a post about her experience. By Tuesday morning, more than 300 people had shared her post, and people began writing on the Spring Valley YMCA's page to express their outrage over the incident.

Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA President & CEO Shaun Elliott, who oversees the Spring Valley YMCA, called the incident a misunderstanding.

Elliott said the employee wanted Haslam to move from the balance beam she sat on to breastfeed so that children in the class could use it, and that the employee is "distraught" that Haslam interpreted the request in the way that she did. Haslam said that the employee did also point out that "a couple of members had expressed to her that they were uncomfortable" with Haslam breastfeeding.

"But that, quite frankly, is a challenge for them to deal with," Elliott said of the other members who expressed concerns. "She was just being honest with the woman. In no way, in her mind, was she communicating that it was inappropriate for her to breastfeed."

Elliott said breastfeeding is accepted anywhere in the facility and that the Y's policy is clear. He said the staff "tried to do the right thing" and will improve the way it's communicated in the future.

"The Y is an inclusive place where we want to make everybody feel comfortable, and to the extent we can get better, we're always happy to try to improve," he said.

The YMCA also posted a message from Elliott on its Facebook page in response to angry comments from members and others about the incident.

Haslam disputed Elliott's explanation, saying that nobody asked her to move because she was on the balance beam. She said employees specifically told her multiple times that she should breastfeed elsewhere, and that another Y member had complained of being uncomfortable with it.

"That's not even true. At least if you're going to post an apology, don't shame me more," Haslam said of the Facebook statement the Y posted. "I wasn't doing anything wrong."

Haslam said that when she breastfeeds West outside of her home, she generally wears two shirts and West sits up to nurse, blocking the view of her breast.

"It's not like I'm sitting there topless," Haslam said. "People have less on at the pool and in workout gear."

Not that it would matter if it wasn't -- the Pennsylvania Freedom to Breastfeed Act, signed into law in 2007, reads in part, "A mother shall be permitted to breastfeed her child in any location, public or private, where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be present, irrespective of whether or not the mother's breast is covered during or incidental to the breastfeeding."

Haslam said that YMCA officials have reached out to her to talk more about the incident, and that she hopes to set up a meeting to get to the bottom of why it happened.

"I'm just shocked by it. I just can't believe the stuff that they said," Haslam said. "The only reason I went public was because they need training. They need a dedicated facility for moms nursing who want privacy, they need to train their staff on customer service and laws, they need signs saying they're breastfeeding friendly. It's a family facility."

Haslam said that since she had West, Monday's incident was the first time she felt discriminated against for breastfeeding in public. As someone whose family has been involved with local YMCAs for decades, she said Monday's incident disheartens her.

"I felt very unwelcome, and very shamed for doing something that's natural," the mom said. "I'm still in shock by the whole situation ... I'm hurt in 2016 that we're still fighting this battle, especially in a family facility."



Photo Credit: Kate Haslam
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Councilwoman Joins Fight for School Funding in Rideshare Bill

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Philadelphia Councilwoman Helen Gym is joining city advocates demanding the Philadelphia Parking Authority stop lobbying against a deal that would help the city's public school funding. 

The PPA is working on Senate Bill 984-- a bill that gives regulations to ridesharing companies, like Uber and Lyft. Under the original draft, regulations were designed to bring money back into Philadelphia schools. 

However, the bill has recently been modified to redirect the initial $4 million in revenue gained to the PPA, according to public school advocates. The advocates say school revenue has declined from $13.9 million to a projected $8 million in the 2017 fiscal year.

Councilwoman Gym, a public poverty and public education supporter, says forward movement on the bill would continue the cycle of putting children's education second.

"The new provisions of this bill show that the Parking Authority has once again cut a deal that appears to provide resources for our children but, in actuality, promises the District mere leftovers once PPA has taken its cut," said Gym.

We reached out to PPA spokesperson Martin O'Rourke for comment but have not yet heard back from him.



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Philly's New Plan to Deal With Homelessness

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Liz Hersh, director of Philadelphia's Office of Supportive Housing, says the city is focusing on "hot spots at prime times" to care for Philadelphia's homeless population.

Toxic Water Questions Addressed Tonight

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The U.S. military and government agencies will answer questions this week for people in Montgomery and Bucks counties who are worried about their drinking water and their health.

Last week, residents in Warminster, Horsham and Warrington were offered free bottled water by the government after the Environmental Protection Agency issued new guidelines for what’s considered safe levels of two unregulated chemicals -- Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) -- in the public water supply. Those chemicals were in firefighting foam used at Willow Grove Naval Air Station and Warminster’s Naval Air Warfare Center.

Testing results for Horsham Township’s water supply, made public Monday, were deemed safe. State Representative Todd Stephens said results complied with the EPA’s new, more stringent standards which are now 70 parts per trillion instead of 600 parts per trillion.

While bottled water is no longer being given out to Horsham residents on the public water, the number of private wells affected has doubled, according to a Philly.com report. The Navy continues to provide water to people with private wells that exceed the new levels for PFOS/PFOA.

“The new more stringent EPA standards serve to validate the need for a health risk assessment and blood testing so we can be informed about our exposure level and protect our families if necessary,” Stephens, who lives in Horsham, stated in a press release Monday.

Concerns about contaminated groundwater on and around the military facilities have grown in recent years as more information was revealed about the harmful effects of PFOS/PFOA toxicity, which include links to cancers, low birth weights and liver problems. More than a thousand people -- enlisted and civilians -- have joined a private Facebook group to share information primarily about health concerns. Many worked at Willow Grove and are now battling cancer. A good number of others are family members whose loved ones have died of cancers. In the last week, some have written heartwrenching accounts of their diagnoses to Senator Stewart Greenleaf who expects to host a meeting of all local, federal and state agencies involved this week at his district office.

"We must do whatever is necessary to ensure the safety and health of the people in these communities," said Greenleaf. 

The open house informational sessions are being held at the Horsham Township Community Center at 1025 Horsham Road Tuesday, May 24, 2016 from 5 - 7 p.m. and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Here’s what you can expect, according to the public notice put out by Horsham Township:

Attending these public information sessions will be representatives from the U.S. Navy, Air National Guard, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 3, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, Montgomery and Bucks County Health Departments, and local water authorities. These sessions will be held in an Open House format with multiple information displays staffed by the various agency representatives, who will be available to talk one-on-one with residents and answer questions about PFOA and PFOS. Residents are encouraged to attend either session; the presented information will be the same at both sessions.


Photo Credit: AP

50 Years of 'Days of Our Lives'

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Vai Sikahema sits down with 'Days of Our Lives' star, Deidre Hall, and co-executive producer, Greg Meng, to talk about the lasting influence the show has had. Vai's love for the show goes back to his college football days.

NBC10 Responds: Furniture Deposit Refund

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A South Jersey woman hoping to get a new couch ran into delays and when she asked for her deposit back, the furniture store wouldn't give up the cash. That's when she called NBC10 Responds.

Abington PD K9 'Organizes' Running Man

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Who said humans are the only ones that could challenge folks to do the 'Running Man?'

After hearing Abington Township Police's top brass talk about ways to better connect with the community, K9 officer Bella decided to round up officers to take on the dance challenge sweeping through police departments across the nation. Of course, her escapades were recorded on video.

Bella leads her fellow officers to Abington High School where police and students take to the court and dance away.

Abington Township police chief William Kelly ended the video by challenging all other Pennsylvania departments to do the 'Running Man.'

We're looking at you Philly!

You can watch the cute video above.



Photo Credit: Abington Township Police Dept.
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