In what's shaping up to be a violent 24-hour stretch in Philadelphia, a man died in a shooting on a city street late Tuesday morning.
The shooting came a little more than 12 hours after a triple shooting in Northeast Philadelphia's Mayfair neighborhood left one teen dead and another teen, as well as a 21-year-old man both in critical condition.
Police said in the latest shooting, an unidentified man in his 20s was found about 11:45 a.m. lying on 11th Street near Venango, in North Philadelphia, suffering from gunshot wounds to his head and neck. Officers took the man to Temple University Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead at 12:09 p.m.
The shooting came hours after police say a 20-year-old woman stabbed her boyfriend's 26-year-old brother to death during an argument in a Southwest Philadelphia home and brought the city's homicide count to three in less than 24 hours.
Police did not say what motivated the shooting, nor did they name any suspects.
No, It's Not Too Soon
Some people who are yet to be convinced of a warming climate have another thing in common: After every natural disaster, they’ll either say: “There is no evidence that _______ was influenced by climate change," or many who describe themselves as “Luke warmers” often say: "It’s too early to tell if climate change had any impact on ______”.
Well, at some point we have to acknowledge that it is NOT too soon to talk about this stuff. And it is not too soon to show concern how climate change may be already helping to make “natural” disasters more disastrous. Matthew is likely one of those examples, and we don’t have to wait months or years before research gives us more quantitative evidence. Those who say it’s “too soon” now are not likely to believe later studies anyway. So, why not talk about it while the storm is still fresh in our minds?
However, as a TV meteorologist, I feel it was too soon to discuss the climate change link during the storm. The priority for us should always be the current situation and dangers in the coming days. There may be some stations or networks that have the extra time to talk about such a complex subject. But most of us sure don’t. We’re already trying to squeeze ten minutes of information into a three minute weathercast. Any talk about the climate change connection means that we have to skip other, more immediate concerns. It’s a different story after the storm, though.[[395816011, C]]
But Don't Go Too Far: Climate Change Didn't Do It All
With a subject as politically sensitive as climate change, we need to be careful about how far we go with the headlines. For example, an article from grist.org under the sub-heading “October hurricanes aren’t supposed to be this scary” was reprinted on slate.com. Their title was: “Climate Change Likely Made Hurricane Matthew Worse”. The word “likely” made it a responsible and accurate headline according to the prevailing science of climate change. But the Facebook and Twitter headlines for the same article were: “Yes, Climate Change is Likely to Blame for Deadly Hurricane Matthew.” That headline was neither responsible nor accurate. Again, this was the same article from the same media organization!
Does this really matter? Yes it does. Why do you think 97% of the climate scientists who publish most agree on the climate change consensus, yet a much lower percentage of the general public does? Part of the reason is that “the other side” uses exaggerations and extreme forecasts that don’t pan out as ammunition. Every wild exaggeration and wild, unsubstantiated forecast hurts the credibility for all. No, the Arctic isn’t going to be ice-free in 5 years, Miami is not going to be under water in 10 years, and the record hurricane activity of 2004 and 2005 is not going to be considered “normal” any time soon. I grimace every time I see one of those headlines. Many people mean well, but end up hurting the understanding and acceptance of climate science.
Climate change isn’t to blame for the existence of Matthew. In case you haven’t heard, there have been hurricanes for hundreds, if not thousands, if not millions of years. And climate change didn’t make Matthew deadly. It could have formed and tracked over the same areas and caused deaths, even if it had occurred in 1816 instead of 2016. But is surely could have made Matthew stronger and deadlier.
So, Slate, please watch your headlines. The article itself was mostly reasonable, as you’ll see.
"Nature on Steroids:" Extra Fuel For Matthew
This isn’t rocket science. An open-minded 5th grader can understand that if:
A. Hurricanes are fueled by warm oceans
then…
B. Warmer oceans help make hurricanes stronger.
Who is going to argue with that? No reasonable person can.
Also: if…
A. More rain falls when nearby oceans are warmer
then…
B. Warmer oceans help lead to more rain from hurricanes
Here is the evidence that these changes are already happening. It’s not just a theory about the future:
Average Global Sea Surface Temperature, 1880–2015
[[396696071, C,696,435]]
Extreme One-Day Precipitation Events in the Contiguous 48 States, 1910–2015
[[396696121, C,696,435]]
Yes, ocean temperatures have been going up for decades. And there are more times when extreme rain falls.
There’s a specific way to measure the amount of moisture in the air ahead of a storm. It’s called “precipitable water”. And yes, records were set for the highest amount ever recorded in Jacksonville, FL and Charleston, SC. We’ve seen similar records ahead of numerous floods in recent years. (Records have even been set in winter ahead of big snowstorms.)
[[396696201, C,667,500]]
So, is it a coincidence that parts of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina set all-time records for storm surge heights, rainfall, and river levels? Remember, Matthew was only a Category 1 hurricane when it finally made landfall in South Carolina. It didn’t stall. It simply dumped more rain than any other tropical or non-tropical system on record.
How was Matthew affected by climate change? Here are the “not yet proved” assumptions:
1. Strengthened 80 mph in just 24 hours-3rd fastest on record in Atlantic (behind only Wilma (2005) and Felix (2007)
2. Stayed Category 4 or 5 for 102 hours-longest stretch in Atlantic in October (ocean not as warm in October, so these storms can stay strong later in the season)
3. Extra warm ocean strengthened it and kept it strong longer
4. Stronger storm for longer time led to record high storm surges
5. Extra precipitable water led to record rainfall, which then led to record flooding
None of the above would have been as likely if greenhouse gases hadn’t increased so much in past decades.
Here’s a great article with an amazing cartoon video explaining the “weather on steroids” concept-from one of the top weather research centers in the world.
A homework assignment has been removed from some Delaware eighth-grade students' to-do lists after one Sussex County parent found it controversial.
The homework assignment involved an article headlined “Blue and Black," which is adapted from The New York Times and is about police-involved shootings of African Americans. One parent, a woman whose husband is a police officer and whose middle schooler brought home the article, told NBC10 that there may be issues to be discussed regarding police shootings, the article sends a message that officers can’t be trusted.
“I think it is totally one-sided promoting racism. It’s pretty much telling young kids that the cops are bad people,” said the parent, who identified herself only as Jill.
She wouldn’t let her daughter use the article as a source to answer the related questions for her homework. When the parent asked school administrators about the article, they told her they were not going to use it again.
NBC10 reached out to Scholastic for comment who responded, "In our Classroom Magazines, Scholastic aims to provide high-quality content about current events in an age-appropriate way so as to spark meaningful discussion among teachers and students. We take special care when addressing issues that are controversial. We are gratified by the positive response that we have received from educators about the most recent issues of Junior Scholastic and The New York Times Upfront, where we explain the Black Lives Matter movement for middle and high school readers."
A tractor-trailer carrying chickens crashed into another tractor-trailer on a Delaware highway overnight, spilling the chickens onto the road.
Police said the crash occurred on southbound Route 1 at exit 119 in Smyrna about 3:45 a.m. Wednesday. No people were injured in the crash, but one of the trucks overturned, spilling the chickens onto the highway.
Southbound Route 1 was shut down in the area of the crash for several hours. It reopened later Wednesday morning.
Fire ravaged a Northeast Philadelphia pizza shop and a nearby garage Tuesday night, and officials are trying to determine what started the fast-moving blaze.
Flames erupted at Non-Stop Pizza, near the intersection of Magee Avenue and Hegerman Street in Tacony, after 11 p.m. Video from the scene shows flames leaping from the fully engulfed building.
Firefighters put the fire out, but not before it destroyed the pizza shop and ravaged a nearby garage. Only the burned-out shop and garage remained when NBC10's Matt DeLucia visited the scene Wednesday morning.
It's unclear what the garage was storing, if anything.
There were also apartments above the pizza shop, but everyone escaped from the building safely, officials said.
Fire investigators are working to determine what sparked the fire. PECO crews arrived Wednesday morning to cut power lines to the building.
