Black Friday shopping is often chaotic, but for anyone tired of store-hopping to find the best deal, a new report has dubbed the best places to shop for savings.
The report from personal finance website WalletHub surveyed 8,000 Black Friday store deals from 35 of the biggest U.S. retailers. WalletHub then identified the stores offering the biggest discounts in various categories, including appliances, jewelry and toys.
Macy's topped the list with the highest overall discount rate at 63.35 percent.
Other department store giants Kohl's and Sears, took sixth and tenth place, respectively.
Wallethub also warned against Black-Friday "traps" -- customers should aim for a 39 percent discount or higher when shopping Black Friday deals.
It's that time of year again and we're getting ready for one of the area's biggest fall traditions -- The National Dog Show.
Each year, the show airs Thanksgiving Day on NBC, right after the parade coverage. And it gets taped beforehand at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pa.
This year's show will be taped on Saturday, November 19, hosted by The Kennel Club of Philadelphia and sanctioned by The American Kennel Club. That's the day where you get to see Breed, Group and Best in Show judging.
Sunday's show -- November 20 -- features enhanced athletic dog exhibitions as well as family-friendly activities and hands-on fun.
Here are hours and ticket information:
Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016: 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016: 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
A wreck at a Delaware County intersection left a car wedged under a sport utility vehicle Thursday morning.
The vehicles collided at State and Clarendon roads in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania around 11:20 a.m., said county dispatchers.
There were reports of injuries but it was unclear how severe.
As SkyForce10 hovered overhead you could see a tow truck pull the silver SUV off the red sedan.
No word on what led to the wreck.
Since 2011, NBC10 and Widener University have partnered for the annual High School Leadership Awards, a program that recognizes high school juniors in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware who exhibit strong leadership skills, academic excellence, and exceptional character. This character can be shown through participation in extracurricular activities, volunteering, and/or demonstrating a positive influence on their peers.
Together, NBC10 and Widener University have honored nearly 600 high school students and provided these award recipients with the opportunity to attend a celebratory breakfast at the National Constitution Center, participate in a leadership experience at Widener University, and receive a $20,000 scholarship over four years if they enroll at Widener University as undergraduates.[[401758445,C]]
Award winners who enroll at Widener University are named Apogee Scholars through the Oskin Leadership Institute, where they will hone their leadership skills to enact positive change on campus and beyond.[[401757345,C]]
Each year, high school principals and administrators are encouraged to nominate one junior from their school to be considered for the High School Leadership Award. More information can be found on Widener University’s High School Leadership Awards website.
Annual Awards Program Timeline
[[373231771,C]]
Recent Coverage
[[400307731,C,600,420]]
Montgomery County property owners would see an 11-percent tax increase next year in the proposed budget introduced Thursday by the county commissioners.
The increase would pay for $3 million in pay raises for non-Union county employees, $4 million in new funding for the county college and a $6 million contribution to the county surplus.
The $3 million in salary increases translates to a 2.75 percent raise for workers.
If approved next month, the budget would be the second straight to raise taxes following three years of no increases. Last year, taxes increased 9 percent.
Commissioners Val Arkoosh, Joe Gale and Josh Shapiro unanimously approved introduction of the budget and scheduled two public hearings on Dec. 1. One hearing will be at 11:30 a.m. Another will be 4 p.m.
The commissioners will then vote on the budget Dec. 15.
The tax increase would fund $18 million in new spending, as the 2017 budget would increase to $409 million from $391 million last year.
County Finance Director Dean Dortone said the salary increases bring Montgomery County workers closer to what workers in other counties make.
"The pay scales are a lot lower in Montgomery County than in other counties," he said.
Arkoosh said the increase in funding to Montgomery County Community College is long overdue. [[238427591, C]]
Total county funding for its community college system would increase from $18 million last year to $22 million in 2017.
Arkoosh also said officials at the college said the increase would allow for a tuition freeze. She did not know exactly how long such a freeze would last, saying the college’s board would release details about that at its next meeting.
"The intent of the community college code was to fund those colleges with a shared approach," Arkoosh said of funding for county colleges in Pennsylvania. "We have not been meeting our one-third obligation. I’m not sure if we ever have."
She was referring to how county colleges are supposed to be funded: one-third by counties, one-third by the state and one-third by student tuition.
Arkoosh became chairwoman of the three-commissioner governing body at the meeting. Shapiro, who was elected state attorney general last week, resigned as chairman, but said he would remain as commissioner until Jan. 1.
In January, he will be sworn in as attorney general.
Gale, the lone Republican among the three commissioners, said he was worried that the county was entering an "endless cycle of tax-and-spend."
He added that he has spent “a lot of hours to see where we can cut spending,” but did not provide any details at the meeting about potential cuts to the proposed budget.
An action group urged students around the country, dressed in black, to walk out of class Thursday afternoon in response to racist messages that were sent to African-American students at the University of Pennsylvania last week.
Organizers planned the #StandWithPenn walkout to take place at 2:15 p.m. ET, according to Facebook event hosted by the UPenn chapter of Black Graduate Students (BGAPSA) and Students Organizing for Unity and Liberation (SOUL).
"We are organizing in response to Black freshmen who were added to GroupMe chats that scheduled 'Daily Lynchings' and threatened them with racial slurs," said event details. "We all refuse to attend universities or live in a country where people threaten our safety and silence us. We need your help to make this possible."
SkyForce10 captured Penn students gathering at College Green along Walnut Street in University City -- some wearing black and carrying signs. The plan is to then have the campus' black community read a statement of solidarity.
Students who can't make the initial walkout are urged by organizers to join the crowd later.
"Being that the walk-out will ultimately lead to a speak-out about our different experiences regarding marginalization on our campuses, that will most likely take several hours, one can finish up their academic obligations and then come into the space later on," said organizers. "Bring your school work to the space if necessary."
Black students at Penn received racist texts Friday from an account on an app called GroupMe, with the messages and images causing fear among the student body.
The university said its police and cybersecurity departments determined the origin of the GroupMe account to be based in Oklahoma.
More than 100 students were placed into a group "N----- Lynching" and sent a series of racial epithets and photos of African-Americans hanging from trees by nooses from users like "Daddy Trump." An event invitation called "Daily Lynching" also went out to the students added to the group message.
"I just felt uncomfortable," said freshman Nate Morris, one of the students who received the messages. "What was said was 'We're going to find and hunt down all African-Americans at this college."
Sunday afternoon, the University of Pennsylvania announced the criminal investigation had concluded and that three Oklahoma residents, including the University of Oklahoma student, were linked to the messages. They also said no students at Penn were involved in the messages.
Students posted on social media about the fear and sadness that they felt upon reading the texts.
The Penn College Republicans called the incident "absolutely despicable" while university President Amy Gutmann called the messages "simply deplorable."
There has been a rash of hate speech and rhetoric across the country in the wake of the presidential election, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate crimes.
Road closures and extra precautions will be in place for this weekend's Philadelphia Marathon, which is expected to attract about 30,000 runners, twice as many spectators and thousands of volunteers.
Something is very different for the 2016 race as the half marathon and Rothman Institute 8K and Kids Fun Run are held on Saturday with only the full marathon going off on Sunday. That means more road closures than in past years.
Expect traffic delays in the in the Art Museum area Friday through the end of the race Sunday as race events and road closures are implemented.
The outer lanes of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in front of the Art Museum will be closed Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to get the area ready for the race. The area will then be reopened for the evening rush, said the City of Philadelphia.
The Parkway from 20th to 25th street both river drives and numerous city roads will be closed for parts of Saturday and Sunday, starting at 2 a.m. each day. Click here for a full list of road closures.
"Motorists and pedestrians can expect significant delays when trying to cross roads or streets that are adjacent to the course," said a news release from the city. "Police will allow traffic through intersections along the course, when possible, depending on the flow of the race participants."
Roads should reopen by 2 p.m. Saturday and by 4 p.m. Sunday, said the city.
"No-parking" restrictions will also be strictly enforced and cars blocking the race will be relocated, said the city.
Runners and spectators should also extra time entering and exiting the race grounds along the Parkway each day. Click here for the best "Cheer Zones" to capture the action.
All the races start and finish in the Art Museum vicinity. The full and half marathons use both the Kelly and Martin Luther King drives as well as Center City streets.
Streets to be impacted on Saturday, Nov 19:
• 18th Street, from Arch to Callowhill Streets
• 19th Street, from Arch to Callowhill Streets
• 20th Street, from Arch to Callowhill Streets
• 21st Street, from Spring Garden to Arch Streets
• 22nd Street, from Spring Garden to Arch Streets
• Benjamin Franklin Parkway, from 16th to 22nd Streets
• Arch Street, from 6th to 16th Street
• 6th Street, from Race to Market Streets
• Market Street, from 5th to 17th Streets
• East Penn Square
• John F. Kennedy Blvd., from Juniper to 17th Streets
• 15th Street, from Race to Chestnut Streets
• 16th Street, from Chestnut to Race Streets
• Lansdowne Drive, from Girard Avenue to South Concourse Drive
• Lansdowne Drive, to Centennial Circle
• Black Road
• Martin Luther King Drive
• Green Drive, Ford Road, Chamounix Drive
• Strawberry Mansion Drive, Dauphin Drive, Reservoir Drive
• Edgely Drive, Randolph Drive, Mt. Pleasant Drive, Fountain Green Drive
• Kelly Drive
Streets to be impacted on Sunday, Nov. 20:
• 18th Street, from Arch to Callowhill Streets
• 19th Street, from Arch to Callowhill Streets
• 20th Street, from Arch to Callowhill Streets
• 21st Street, from Spring Garden to Arch streets
• 22nd Street, from Spring Garden to Arch Streets
• Benjamin Franklin Parkway, from 22nd to 16th Streets
• Arch Street, between 16th to 3rd Streets
• 4th Street, between Arch to Vine Streets
• Race Street, from 6th Street to Columbus Boulevard
• Columbus Boulevard (Southbound lanes), from Vine Street to Washington Avenue
• Southbound off-ramp, from I-95 at Washington Avenue
• Washington Avenue, from Columbus Boulevard to Front Street
• Front Street, from Washington Avenue to South Street
• South Street, from Front to 7th Streets
• 6th Street, from Bainbridge to Market Streets
• Chestnut Street, from 6th to 34th Streets
• 34th Street, Chestnut Street to Girard Avenue
• Lansdowne Drive, from Girard Avenue to South Concourse Drive
• South Concourse Drive, from Lansdowne to West Memorial Hall Drives
• West Memorial Hall Drive, from South Concourse to Avenue of the Republic
• Avenue of the Republic, from West Memorial Hall Drive to Catholic Foundtain
• Belmont Avenue, Montgomery to Parkside Avenue
• Black Road
• Martin Luther King Drive
• Kelly Drive
• The Falls Bridge
• Ridge Avenue, from Schoolhouse Lane to Manayunk Avenue
• Main Street, from Ridge Avenue to Green Lane
Tune into NBC10 News at 6 and 11 p.m. Thursday to watch chief meterologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz unveil his Long-Range Winter Weather Forecast.
HAS IT REALLY BEEN 20 YEARS?
People have always wanted to get an idea what the coming winter will look like. Meteorologists had been unwilling to even make an educated guess, since there wasn’t any accepted science to help us. The public had to turn to the incredibly unreliable Old Farmer’s Almanac (proven to be worse than flipping a coin), or rely on myths like looking at acorns and wooly caterpillars.
It all changed in 1997, when we saw the Tropical Pacific warm up like never before. There had been some recent studies correlating strong El Niño’s with certain weather patterns the following winter. So I simply said: “Expect an unusually mild winter with very little snow.” And that’s what happened. Then people wanted a forecast every year, and with more and more detail as we learned more about factors influencing our winters.
HOW WAS THE FORECAST LAST YEAR?
Glad you asked. This has turned into something weird, in that some people only seem to care about the amount of seasonal snow predicted. But I’ve tried to tackle monthly temperatures and snow, along with expected highlights of the coming winter.
Here are some of the quotes from my forecast a year ago:
”Few days with snow”
”Most of our snow in only a couple of storms”
”Snow melts quickly”
”Record warmth”
Those things happened, although we got most of our snow from only ONE storm. That gave us 22.4” out of our seasonal total of 27.2”, which was above “normal”. I had predicted above normal snow: 30-38” total.
We ended up with our warmest December ever recorded, BY FAR. It was more than 13 degrees above normal-an incredible number! And we set record high temperatures on EIGHT separate days in December 2015.
WHAT’S DIFFERENT THIS YEAR? FIRST: THE PACIFIC
Last year, a near record El Nino was raging-very much like 1997. All that orange and red in the Tropical Pacific represented a WAAAY warmer than normal ocean (see below). Along with other factors, this helped lead to our very warm winter, few snow days, and one giant snowstorm.
Now, the Tropical Pacific looks dramatically different (see below). The blue area represents ocean temperatures below normal-called La Nina. It’s only classified as a “weak” La Nina at the moment.
In a La Nina influenced winter, there tends to be fewer and weaker Nor’easters. That lowers the chances of huge snowstorms. Winters don’t tend to be extra warm, as they can with strong El Nino’s. So with this change alone, I expect more snow days and an overall colder winter than last year.
STRONG EL NINO TO A LA NINA: WHAT’S THE TENDENCY?
Next, we need to look back to other years that featured this rather rare combination of a strong El Nino evolving into a La Nina for the next winter. Our tax dollars help make that easy, courtesy of NOAA’s Earth System Research Lab.
Here are the weather maps for the “composite years” (or “analogs”):
The best way to look at overall global weather patterns is to look high up in the atmosphere. Meteorologists focus on an area close to 20,000 ft. up (known as 500mb). Look at the composite pattern over North America. That purple area is waaay below normal pressures, and waaay above normal pressures are found in the upper right-over Greenland.
An experienced meteorologist can spend one second looking at this map before the eyebrows go up. That anomaly over Greenland represents a classic “negative NAO”, or –NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation). And the large region of high pressures over the Arctic represent a classic “negative AO” or –AO (Arctic Oscillation). Both the –AO and –NAO have often been connected to cold and snowy patterns around here.
While I don’t expect the whole winter to have a –AO pattern, that has been the trend throughout the fall. But so far, the super cold air has been on the other side of the world-near Siberia. There are suggestions that the coldest air will work its way around to Alaska and then to Canada and the Plains in the next month.
The map below shows what the analogs to the strong El Nino to La Nina patterns have been like: lots of cold in Alaska and Canada (where it happens to be unusually warm this month). This does NOT show super cold air dominating our part of the country, but suggests there will be enough cold air eventually to lead to several snow threats. Let’s see if that big shift happens this winter.
IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT THE PACIFIC
Of course, there are many other factors in play each year. A few trends over recent years may be leading to our snowier winters of late. In the past 8 years, we’ve had our two snowiest winters ever recorded, and 2 of the 3 biggest snowstorms ever recorded in Philadelphia. If the earth is warming, why would this happen?
1. Ice is melting in Arctic at record levels. Some years are exceptions, but the trend is clearly down, as shown in a typical map below (this trend has happened in summer, too). Some have theorized that:
The increased melt leads to more open ocean
Which absorbs more heat than ice and warms the arctic
Which leads to more patterns of –AO
Which favor colder and snowier periods
2. More October snow has been falling on the other side of the world-especially in Eurasia. Studies have shown that years with more snow in October there are associated with snowier winters for us. Seven of the past 8 years have seen well above normal snow in Eurasia. This October was the snowiest of them all.
3. Warmer oceans off the East Coast in recent years have led to more moisture in the air. The water vapor has increased as a result. This allows any given storm to produce more precipitation. And when the air is cold enough for snow, it can mean more snowfall. Here are the current ocean anomalies in the Atlantic. That’s a lot of unusually warm water off our coast!
There are several more things I look at-things called the EPO, PDO, QBO, and AMO, but I’ve already gone on too long. Needless to say, I have factored them into the forecast.
First, some highlights
*overall colder and snowier
*no monster snowstorms (more than 15”)
*sharp change from warm Nov. to cold December
*January-snowiest month
*February-mildest month (compared to normal)
*Winter return in March
THE SPECIFICS- for Philadelphia
| SNOW | TEMPS | |
| DEC | 4" | -2 (below normal) |
| JAN | 14" | near normal |
| FEB | 8" | +2 |
| MAR | 6" | -2 |
| TOTAL | 28-36" | -2 |
As for other cities in our area, here are my estimated seasonal snow forecasts:
| Allentown | 44" (11" above normal) |
| Downingtown | 36" (8" above) |
| Wilmington | 26" (7" above) |
| Atlantic City | 17" (near normal) |
| Millville | 15" (2" above) |
| Poconos | 75" (6" above) |
Local and federal law enforcement in two states are eyeing a group of men in an series of alleged thefts at Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Boyds department stores and an auto dealership.
Four men were arrested in North Philadelphia Tuesday by the FBI Violent Crimes task force after city officers spotted a stolen SUV used as a getaway car parked along the 3200 block of Turner Street, officials said.
They were nabbed after FBI agents and local police set up surveillance of the stolen SUV, which had a distinctive license plate for the DARE program.
The suspects -- 46-year-old Louis Mathis; 30-year-old Hasan Knight; 39-year-old Jermaine Ricky Johnson; and 27-year-old Marquis Taylor -- are charged in a theft at Macy's in Moorestown, New Jersey.
Surveillance video captured three men walking into the Moorestown Mall store on Sunday and grabbing $5,300 worth of Polo Ralph Lauren coats from a display, police said. The men then got into a dark colored SUV and sped off.
A short time later that day, the same SUV was spotted outside the Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Store security told police the same group of men cased the store's Polo Ralph Lauren display twice -- entering and exiting the Market Street store in between. They then left without taking anything.
The next day, the men were spotted casing the same display, and again left without taking anything, officials said. The piled into the black SUV once again.
Law enforcement believe the SUV was one of two vehicles stolen from the service center at the Faulkner Infiniti in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania earlier this month. The SUV, a black 2011 Infiniti QX56, and a slate blue 2013 Infiniti G37 sedan went missing from the dealership on November 6th.
Investigators are now looking into whether the men were involved with two other high-profile thefts in recent weeks at three other department stores.
In a brazen, early morning theft at Boyds in Center City this October, a group of men used a red Toyota to smash into the Walnut Street store's display window. They took $45,000 in handbags and accessories from the high-end clothing store, police said.
The group sped off in that red sedan and a silver Mercedes sedan.
Police believe the same Mercedes was used as a getaway car after a theft at the Northeast Philadelphia Macy's on Election Day. The suspects used a hammer to smash open a watch display case, taking Movado watches worth $16,000, according to police.
The both the Toyota and Mercedes were later recovered by Philadelphia Police.
The third theft happened at the Bloomingdale's in Willow Grove on November 7th. Police said men snatched 35 Burberry coats before jumping into a black Infiniti SUV waiting outside. Investigators believe the SUV is the same one stolen from the nearby dealership the day before and later used in the other incidents.
As of now, each suspect only faces one count of theft, but officials are determine if there is a link between all of the crimes. It's not clear if the men have retained legal counsel.
Passaic Mayor Alex Blanco pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges in a Newark court on Thursday and has resigned from office.
Blanco, 44, admitted to taking $110,000 from two unnamed developers for an affordable housing project in 2011. He signed a plea agreement in September.
"He regrets his actions. He takes responsibility for his actions. He will submit a letter of resignation today," Blanco's attorney told NBC 4 New York.
The Democratic mayor will be sentenced Feb. 23.
The U.S. Attorney's office said Blanco, a podiatrist who was first elected in 2008, approached developers about a project for low-income housing on Paulison Avenue in 2011 and told them they would have to give him a sizeable payment for the project to go forward.
Then, after the city released $216,4000 in federal Department of Housing and Urban Development money for the project, prosecutors said that Blanco arranged another meeting with the developers and accepted $65,000 in bank checks. A few days later he took another $40,000 in cash. He received the final $5,000 several months later.
Prosecutors said that most of the money Blanco took came out of HUD money provided to the developers. U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said that Blanco's behavior "demonstrates aggressive and appalling greed."
"By soliciting these payments from developers, he took for himself federal money that was intended to help provide housing for the city's poorest residents," Fishman said. "We expect our public officials to behave differently."
As part of the plea agreement, Blanco will pay $110,000 in restitution.
He won office on a platform of fighting corruption after his predecessor Samuel Rivera was convicted of taking bribes in 2008 and made history as the first Dominican-American mayor elected in the U.S. Yet Blanco now becomes the third Passaic mayor in the last 25 years to be convicted of, or plead guilty to, a federal crime.
Former Mayor Joseph Lipari was found guilty of extortion and income tax evasion in 1992.
The community of 70,000 people bills itself as the fastest-growing city in New Jersey.
In a statement, the Passaic City Council said it is moving swiftly to assure the continuity of local government and would be scheduling an emergency meeting to discuss the appointment of an acting mayor.
"Today is a very sad day for us all. Mayor Blanco has been a friend, but his actions constitute a violation of the public trust, and that is simply unacceptable," the statement on behalf of the seven councilmembers said. "His guilty plea today will hopefully allow us all to move forward in the best interests of all of Passaic's residents."
