Update: According to Montgomery County's Department of Public Safety's Facebook, Verizon reported that service was fully restored at 5:18 a.m.
Previously reported:
Callers to 9-1-1 in Montgomery County may be experiencing "degraded service" Thursday afternoon, officials said, adding that callers should use cell phones if they have problems with land line calls.
The problems were expected to last "several hours to fully restore landline phone service," the county said shortly before 5 p.m.
"Callers using landlines to call 9-1-1 could receive a busy signal. If that happens, the caller should use a cellular phone to call 9-1-1 or hang up and call again," county deputy public safety director John Corcoran said.
He said the problem appeared to originate after a contractor struck a conduit containing communications lines.
"The Department of Public Safety has been alerted that a cable providing phone service in this area has been cut and that is causing degraded service for 9-1-1 calls coming into Montgomery County’s Emergency Communications Center," Corcoran said. "We do not have an estimate for how long it will take phone providers to locate the problem and fix it."
He said additional information would be provided as soon as possible.
Check back for more details as they become known.
Police say the suspects in a smash and grab robbery at a Macy's store in Northeast Philadelphia Thursday may have also used the same stolen getaway vehicle after a theft earlier this week at a Center City clothing store.
Three masked men used a hammer and stole 14 watches worth $16,000 from the Macy’s store inside the Roosevelt Mall on 2311 Cottman Avenue at 2:28 p.m. Thursday. They then fled in a stolen silver 2012 Mercedes-Benz S350 with a Pennsylvania license plate "HVA 3741." It was last seen traveling south on Roosevelt Boulevard.
Police believe the same silver 2012 Mercedes-Benz S350 was also used as the getaway car during a robbery at the high-end Boyds clothing store in Center City Tuesday morning.
Police say one suspect was wearing a black and grey hooded sweatshirt, sweatpants and black Nike sneakers. The second suspect was wearing a red and black hooded sweatshirt and black pants. The third suspect was wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt, black pants and grey sneakers.
Shoppers were evacuated from the mall for about 30 minutes following the robbery. No injuries were reported however.
Police say the suspects dropped a bag during Thursday's robbery and they are currently checking it for fingerprints.
"Although they were wearing gloves during the commission of today's robbery, there still may be some fingerprints that we may get from the bag," said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small.
If you have any information on either incident, please call Philadelphia Police.
For Lisa Stevens rebuilding after Superstorm Sandy meant down-sizing. The storm destroyed her bungalow in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey.
"I didn't build a mansion! I went smaller because that's what I could afford to do with my grant," Stevens said.
But what has surprised Stevens most about the rebuilding process came in an email from the state of New Jersey. It was what has become to be known as a claw back notice. The email demanded that Stevens pay back more than $7,400 of the grant money she was given to help rebuild. It said she received "duplicate benefits."
Stevens counters that her signed approvals show she did not receive duplicate benefits.
“They knew every dollar amount I was getting,” Stevens said. “They signed off on it.”
Stevens is among the 170-plus homeowners who have received similar notices from New Jersey’s Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation or RREM program.
The NBC10 Investigators found some, like Julie Suarez, with far larger refund demands. Suarez, a public school teacher, was told she owes more than $51,000.
“You can send us a cashier’s check at your earliest convenience. No ‘why.’ No ‘how to appeal.’ No ‘how to make a payment plan.’ Just, ‘you owe us 50-thousand dollars,’” she said.
Amanda Devecka-Rinear with the New Jersey Organizing Project (NJOP) describes it as “a gut punch” for Sandy victims. Devecka-Rinear is the executive director of the advocacy organization set up to helping Sandy victims. She believes the number of refund demands will only rise as more families finish rebuilding. She also says better oversight could've prevented over-payments in the first place.
NJOP wants the state to clarify its refund calculations, create realistic repayment options, and open a formal appeal process.
"We've gotta look at what financial capacity folks have -- we don't want them to go further into debt, be threatened to lose these houses," said Devecka-Rinear.
The NBC10 Investigators tried to take those requests to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. After two interview denials, reporter George Spencer and photojournalist Dan Lee went to the agency’s Trenton, NJ office. Commissioner Charles Richman finally agreed to an interview at noon that day. But just two hours later, his communications director Lisa Ryan canceled the interview saying urgent and unexpected business came up.
“He has an obligation to answer questions about it,” Spencer said.
“We’ve provided you with a statement,” Ryan replied.
Spencer and Lee waited for Richman to return to the office but after five hours, he did not return.
New Jersey officials have a legal obligation to recover funds that were duplicated, exceeded costs or were used on ineligible expenses. The DCA says any refund letters relate only to those over-payments.
In a statement the agency points out that all impacted homeowners “were afforded the opportunity to provide us with additional documentation (i.e., receipts, invoices) to offset potential recovery of grant funds.”
The NBC Investigators also reached out to Governor Chris Christie’s office. No one replied.
Suarez gets emotional when she thinks about paying back more than $50,000. She says even on the State’s 36-month payment plan, there won’t be enough time to pay the bill. And for Stevens, there’s still no appeal process mentioned.
“I wish I could say this was just a dream,” Stevens said.
Two trains collided head-on on a stretch of track south of Philadelphia around 8:25 a.m. Friday, leaving four people injured, according to officials.
Two people were taken to Crozer Chester Hospital after the crash on a track interlocking Kerlin Street and Concord Road in Chester, Pennsylvania. Conditions of the victims are not yet available, but emergency responders described their injuries as minor.
Two freight trains owned by CSX Transportation were involved in the crash, according to Rob Doolittle, the transportation company's director of communications and media relations.
Both trains were moving at the time of the accident. One was traveling from Richmond, Virginia to Pavonia, New Jersey with three locomotives and 64 empty freight cars and the other was traveling from Quebec, Canada to Atlanta Georgia with one locomotive and eight intermodal cars carrying consumer goods and food products, Doolittle said.
CSX is cooperating with law enforcement to investigate the crash and understand the circumstances that caused it.
It was not immediately clear what caused the trains to be on the same track.
The Philadelphia 76ers publicly apologized Friday to the singer who wasn't allowed to sing the national anthem at the team's home opener this week because of her "We Matter" jersey.
The team said in a statement that they hope singer Sevyn Streeter will come back and sing at the Wells Fargo Center before another game this season. Streeter was supposed to sing Wednesday evening before the Sixers' nationally-televised opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The team's statement released Friday afternoon read:
“We are sorry that this happened. After receiving feedback from our players, basketball operations staff and ownership group, we believe that the wrong decision was made, and Sevyn should have been welcomed to sing. We apologize to her, and in an effort to move the conversation forward, we have reached out to offer her an opportunity to return and perform at a game of her choice. We are waiting to hear back.”
The controversy began minutes after she was replaced by a Sixers cheerleader for the pre-game ceremony. Streeter posted a short video on Instagram saying she had been told she could not perform because of her attire.
"I'd say two minutes before we were about to walk out ... the organization told me that I could not wear my shirt while singing the national anthem at their game," the R&B singer later told the Associated Press. "I was never given any kind of dress code. I was never asked beforehand to show my wardrobe."
The Sixers initially would not say what caused the franchise to keep Streeter from singing.
"The Philadelphia 76ers organization encourages meaningful actions to drive social change. We use our games to bring people together, to build trust and to strengthen our communities. As we move from symbolic gestures to action, we will continue to leverage our platform to positively impact our community," the Sixers said in an initial statement.
A young humpback whale was found dead early Friday in a berth at the Port of Wilmington, Delaware.
The whale, 25 to 30 feet long and weighing about 37,000 pounds, was found entangled in fishing gear, according to marine life officials.
The cause of death was not immediately known but officials with the Lewes-based Marine Education, Research & Rehabilitation Institute were working to remove the animal from the port to examine it.
Officials said the whale could have died before getting entangled or could have died from being entangled.
Suzanne Thurman, executive director of MERR Institute said whales have been sighted in the Delaware river before.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney took to Twitter on Thursday night wondering about a potential swing demographic in this election -- the Oompa Loompas.
Kenney used Willy Wonka's employees and their appearance to take a shot at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The Democratic mayor cracked wise as he wondered about "the Oompa Loompa vote and where it may be leaning this late in the race."
The mayor is familiar with @realDonaldTrump. Kenney and Trump have clashed before on social media. After Trump ripped "the Philadelphia mayor" for doing a terrible job in September, Kenney shot back that Trump is "a total nincompoop."
Kenney has been particularly active on his personal Twitter account the last week.
"Bye Donald. Here's your hat and don't let the door hit you on the way out." Kenney added.
He had more words for Trump, calling him pathetic after he publicly interviewed current employees. Kenney also extended his views to Trump's family.
We'll have to see if Kenney will raise any other concerns before the election on Nov. 8.
