Bear sightings aren't unusual in New Jersey, but cruising around car dealerships? That's a new one.
A business manager at Prestige Volvo in East Hanover was sitting in his office Thursday afternoon when he looked up and "the bear just happened to walk next to him" outside the window, general manager Matthew Haiken told NBC 4 New York.
The bear ambled toward a cat running around in the back of the dealership, and the spooked feline dashed away, Haiken said.
East Hanover police responded and shut down the street until the bear went back into the woods.
The same bear has emerged in town from time to time over the past several months, but does not pose a threat to residents, according to police.
In the last few months alone, bears have been spotted lounging in backyard pools, wandering near schools and climbing up trees in New Jersey. State Department of Environmental Protection officials say the increased human and bear interaction has prompted the state to extend its annual bear hunt to six days.
The hunt kicked off Monday, when over 200 bears were killed the first day.
A 17-year-old died after an altercation with staff members at a Philadelphia school geared toward students with behavioral challenges and disabilities.
The yet-to-be-identified teen died Thursday night around 9 after becoming unresponsive on the 4th floor after the incident inside Wordsworth Academy along Ford Road in Wynnefield Heights, according to authorities. The school houses some students.
Philadelphia Police refused immediate comment but sources close to the investigation told NBC10 that the student -- who had a iPod that didn't belong to him -- began fighting with staff and became unresponsive as workers restrained him.
Medical staff and school staff were in the room as staffers administered first aid and called for Philadelphia medics, said sources.
At no point was the student left alone while unresponsive, said sources.
"Although we are shocked and saddened by this event, it is an ongoing investigation, and we are unable to comment further at this time," said Wordsworth spokeswoman Debbie Albert.
NBC10 has a crew on the scene of the school, which dates back to 1952, in an attempt to gather more information.
"The mission of Wordsworth is to provide education, behavioral health and child welfare services to children and youth who are experiencing emotional, behavioral and academic challenges so that they are empowered to reach their potential and lead productive, fulfilling lives," says a message on the school's website.
A South Jersey community college was put on lockdown for a brief period Friday morning due to a “hostile intruder.”
“Cumberland County College is on LOCKDOWN,” said a message on the Vineland community college’s website.
The lockdown was put in place before 10 a.m. due to a robbery at an off-campus Subway restaurant, said campus security. The lockdown lasted only a briefly as Vineland Police gave the all clear by 10:10 a.m.
Before the lockdown was lifted, the school suggested students “remain in a safe location until additional instructions are received. Silence and mobile devices. If you are not on campus please stay away.”
No word yet if the Subway robber was captured.
Editor's Note: Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput is among leaders in the Catholic church reacting harshly to "anti-Catholic" emails from the Clinton campaign that were leaked. Here is his weekly column, in its entirety:
Back in 2008, in the weeks leading up to the Obama-McCain presidential election, two young men visited me in Denver. They were from Catholics United, a group describing itself as committed to social justice issues. They voiced great concern at the manipulative skill of Catholic agents for the Republican Party. And they hoped my brother bishops and I would resist identifying the Church with single-issue and partisan (read: abortion) politics.
It was an interesting experience. Both men were obvious flacks for the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party — creatures of a political machine, not men of the Church; less concerned with Catholic teaching than with its influence. And presumably (for them) bishops were dumb enough to be used as tools, or at least prevented from helping the other side.
Yet these two young men not only equaled but surpassed their Republican cousins in the talents of servile partisan hustling. Thanks to their work, and activists like them, American Catholics helped to elect an administration that has been the most stubbornly unfriendly to religious believers, institutions, concerns and liberty in generations.
I never saw either young man again. The cultural damage done by the current White House has — apparently — made courting America’s bishops unnecessary.
But bad can always get worse. I’m thinking, of course, of the contemptuously anti-Catholic emails exchanged among members of the Clinton Democratic presidential campaign team and released this week by WikiLeaks. A sample: Sandy Newman, president of Voices for Progress, emailed John Podesta, now the head of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, to ask about whether "the bishops opposing contraceptive coverage" could be the tinder for a revolution. "There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages [sic] dictatorship," Newman writes.
Of course, Newman added, "this idea may just reveal my total lack of understanding of the Catholic church, the economic power it can bring to bear against nuns and priests who count on it for their maintenance." Still, he wondered, how would one "plant the seeds of a revolution"? John Podesta replied that "We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this . . . likewise Catholics United" (emphasis added).
Another Clinton-related email, from John Halpin of the Center for American Progress, mocks Catholics in the so-called conservative movement, especially converts: "They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy." In a follow-up, he adds "They can throw around 'Thomistic' thought and 'subsidiarity' and sound sophisticated because no one knows what . . . they’re talking about."
On the evening these WikiLeaks emails were released, I received the following angry email myself, this one from a nationally respected (non-Catholic) attorney experienced in Church-state affairs:
"I was deeply offended by the [Clinton team] emails, which are some of the worst bigotry by a political machine I have seen. [A] Church has an absolute right to protect itself when under attack as a faith and Church by civil political forces. That certainly applies here …
"Over the last eight years there has been strong evidence that the current administration, with which these people share values, has been very hostile to religious organizations. Now there is clear proof that this approach is deliberate and will accelerate if these actors have any continuing, let alone louder, say in government.
"These bigots are actively strategizing how to shape Catholicism not to be Catholic or consistent with Jesus’ teachings, but to be the ‘religion’ they want. They are, at the very core, trying to turn religion to their secular view of right and wrong consistent with their politics. This is fundamentally why the Founders left England and demanded that government not have any voice in religion. Look where we are now. We have political actors trying to orchestrate a coup to destroy Catholic values, and they even analogize their takeover to a coup in the Middle East, which amplifies their bigotry and hatred of the Church. I had hoped I would never see this day — a day like so many dark days in Eastern Europe that led to the death of my [Protestant minister] great grandfather at the hands of communists who also hated and wanted to destroy religion."
Of course it would be wonderful for the Clinton campaign to repudiate the content of these ugly WikiLeaks emails. All of us backward-thinking Catholics who actually believe what Scripture and the Church teach would be so very grateful.
In the meantime, a friend describes the choice facing voters in November this way: A vulgar, boorish lout and disrespecter of women, with a serious impulse control problem; or a scheming, robotic liar with a lifelong appetite for power and an entourage riddled with anti-Catholic bigots.
In a nation where "choice" is now the unofficial state religion, the menu for dinner is remarkably small.
A school bus crash in Delaware left 14 children hospitalized Friday morning.
The bus collided with a minivan around 7:05 a.m. at Pulaski Highway (U.S. Route 40) near Scotland Drive in Bear, said Delaware State Police.
The injuries to the children appeared to be minor as the children were taken to A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children as a precaution, said police.
No word yet on what caused the wreck.
A school bus also crashed in Pemberton, New Jersey Friday morning leaving the driver of a car injured, said Burlington County dispatchers. No one on the bus was hurt.
A frosty start to the weekend as parts of the greater Philadelphia region possibly deal with the first frost of the season Saturday.
After a chilly start to Friday as a cold front pushed eastward off the east coast a great day could be expected with mild winds, plenty of sunshine and comfortable temps (mid-60s). But get ready for another chilly night and chilly morning Saturday.
We do have all the ingredients needed for frost, and if you recall NBC10 First Alert Weather Team made note of this likely frost Thursday. Here's why we called for that frost: calm winds, a clear sky and a few other technical factors. Anyhow long story short, we have a Frost Advisory starting at 1 a.m. until 9 a.m. Saturday for parts of Bucks, Chester, Montgomery, Berks, Lehigh and Northampton counties in Pennsylvania and Atlantic, Burlington, Cumberland and Ocean counties in New Jersey. The frost will be the first for neighborhoods outside of the Lehigh Valley.
Friday brings us lots of sunshine and that's the trend through the weekend. Building clouds late Sunday and possible scattered shower Monday THEN things get very INTERESTING and here's why:
Looks like we'll hit upper 70s on Tuesday possible lower 80s on Wednesday with a southerly push of air.
Two long range models (including Canadian and Euro) show a developing system in The Atlantic later next week. The GFS shows a low developing offshore, but generally speaking the GFS doesn't do a great job picking these systems up. I'll post a technical forecast, so keep an eye out for that.
Despite innovative technology for detection and treatment of breast cancer, black women continue to have the highest rate of mortality, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed.
The report released on Thursday found that black and white women now have roughly similar incidences of breast cancer. For black women, this is bad news; for the past 40 years, they have had the lowest prevalence of breast cancer. That health advantage has disappeared, with increased incidences of cancer.
In addition to increased frequency of breast cancer, the death rate is higher for black women than white women by about 40 percent. White women are seeing a faster decrease in mortality.
The CDC report noted that the prevalence of cancer for white women has steadily decreased, and increased for black women, especially for those 60-79 years old. These trends are unique to black women; overall, the trends for the last few decades have shown less incidence and mortality from breast cancer.
While the relationship between obesity and breast cancer is unknown, the incidence of both have increased in black populations, according to the report. Increased physical activity and healthy diet to maintain a healthy weight may help in subsiding the incidence of breast cancer, the report says.
But above all, the report suggested that if care for all women was equal, there might be less exaggerated differences between black and white women.
“Measures to ensure access to quality care and the best-available treatments for all women diagnosed with breast cancer can help address these racial disparities,” it said.
