Rebecca Joyce, a South Jersey native, had the “Best Thanksgiving ever” when her son, Ben Joyce, surprised the family for the holidays after a two-and-a-half-year tour in Bahrain.

“You realize that when they sign up they may not be home for the holidays," Rebecca said. "All you can do is hope and pray they’re safe, but it’s an understanding when they enlist. You don’t think about it until your kid’s in the service and you can’t take having your kids home for the holidays for granted.”

Rebecca sent off Ben, who is enlisted in the Navy, for the first time the day after Thanksgiving in 2013.

In June 2014, Ben signed on for a tour in Bahrain. He chose Bahrain because it was only a two year tour as opposed to the other options that were three-years. When the two years were up, his tour was extended for 90-days and he told his family he would be home in October.

October came and went and Ben had to tell his family he wouldn’t be home until Jan. 3.

“I found out I would be detaching Bahrain in November around mid-September," Ben said. "However nothing is certain until you’re sitting on the plane on your way home. We always do a big Thanksgiving with extended family and I’ve missed the last three Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays so I thought it would be a good surprise to literally surprise everyone.”

“January 3 is my report date to Hawaii where I’ll be working law enforcement at the Barking Sands Pacific Missile Range Facility on the island of Kauai for 18 months. I used that date to convince everyone I wouldn’t be home until after the holidays."

Rebecca told NBC10 she had asked her son if they could send him home a week early.

“He told me there was even a guy getting married and he couldn’t get time off to go get married,” Rebecca said. “We knew with the unrest in the Middle East that his tour could be extended again so we weren’t getting our hopes up."

The family discussed waiting for January or even February to celebrate Christmas so that Ben would be home.

Ben stayed with his cousin when he arrived home on Nov. 22. When he found out his younger brother Tim was celebrating Thanksgiving with his wife’s family, Ben called Tim to tell him he was home so he wouldn’t miss the homecoming.

“We helped him plan the surprise,” Amanda Joyce, Tim’s wife, said. “We knew if we had walked in before Ben, there would be suspicion because we weren’t supposed to be there. We waited with him and filmed the surprise.”

In the heartwarming video, posted on Amanda's Facebook page, Rebecca breaks down in tears when she sees her son.

“When I saw him, I started bawling,” Rebecca recalled. "I had extended family coming for Thanksgiving, but it’s not the same without your own kids.”

Rebecca has another son, enlisted in the Navy, stationed in Texas so she knew he wouldn’t be home for the holidays.

“While I’m home, I will be spending time with family, including some time in Texas where my older brother, also in the Navy, is stationed.” Ben said. “There isn’t anything specifically hard about being away from home but I want to make sure that I more than make up for it with the time I do get with my family.”

While it’s difficult to not have your kids home for the holidays, Rebecca describe it as an understanding, but Ben’s homecoming served as a hard reminder for all of the other military families out there.

“Even though we were happy to see him come home, we think about the other families," Rebecca said. "We would love to see this for every family, at least for their kids to come home alive. You think of the families who don’t get a joyous homecoming.”

A flight from Philadelphia bound for Orlando, Florida, was diverted Sunday after a passenger gave birth on board.

Southwest Airlines Flight 556 took off from Philly International Airport and was headed to Orlando International Airport when a woman on board went into labor, according to an airline spokesperson. Medical personnel who were on the flight helped with the baby’s delivery and the plane was diverted to Charleston, South Carolina.

Once the plane landed, emergency medical technicians transported the parents and the baby to an area hospital. The flight and its 132 passengers then continued to Orlando.

A Philadelphia native who was on board the flight recorded the baby crying and posted the video on Twitter.

The Eagles are circling the drain.

The 2016 season that started off with so much promise has quickly turned into a complete disaster.

In a game that had no juice coming in, the Eagles couldn’t score, couldn’t stop the Bengals and lost, 32-14, at Paul Brown Stadium in front of half-full (half empty?) stands.

The Eagles won the coin toss Sunday afternoon; that was the last thing for a while that went their way. They quickly went three-and-out and the Bengals took their first lead on the ensuing drive. The Eagles then got down big.

With the loss, the Eagles fell to 5-7 on the season as their playoff hopes have all but completely evaporated. They have now lost seven of their last nine games.

After losing to Green Bay, 27-13, last Monday night, head coach Doug Pederson said he thought the Eagles were heading in the right direction and he based that theory on the effort his saw on the field.

Five days later, the Eagles were blown out by a team that entered Sunday with three wins.

Sure, the Eagles put up two touchdowns in the second half, but they let the Bengals build a 29-0 lead beforehand.

Turning point
The Eagles went three-and-out on their first possession and never got anything going.

Key stat
The Bengals’ lackluster offense scored on their first six drives Sunday.

First half

After winning the coin toss, the Eagles switched things up and elected to receive the ball. They promptly went three-and-out and the Bengals, after a bad punt, moved the ball into field goal range and went up 3-0.

And the game was virtually over.

The Bengals tacked on 16 more points in the first half and out-gained the Eagles, 242-104, in the first half. They also doubled them in first downs, 14-7.

Wentz had a tough first half, completed 8 of 18 passes for 67 yards and was lucky he wasn't picked off. Wendell Smallwood had eight carries for 19 yards in the first half.

The Bengals got their first touchdown by marching 81 yards in the first quarter. The big play of the drive was a 50-yard bomb from Andy Dalton to Cody Core, who beat Nolan Carroll in coverage.

After adding a field goal in between, the Bengals went on a 93-yard drive just before the end of the half to go up 19-0 heading into the locker room.

Offensive stud
Paul Turner had his first NFL catch and ended up leading the Eagles in receiving yards. He finished with six catches for 80 yards.

His day Sunday is better than any receiving day Nelson Agholor has ever had in the NFL. Agholor was a first-round pick a year ago; Turner was an undrafted rookie this year who spent most of his rookie season on the practice squad.

Offensive dud
Wentz didn’t have his best performance. He overthrew plenty of his receivers and should have been picked off several more times than he was. Wentz completed 36 of 60 passes for 308 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions. Sunday was the first three-interception of his young career.

His 60 passing attempts are a record for an Eagles rookie in a game. It’s the second-most ever for a rookie in NFL history.

Defensive stud
Bennie Logan and Nigel Bradham each forced fumbles.

Defensive dud
Nolan Carroll had another bad outing. He gave up the 50-yard bomb and just hasn’t looked very good recently. But he of course wasn’t alone. The Eagles’ defense, which was once heralded as the strength of the team, has completely collapsed.

Injury report
Jordan Matthews (ankle) missed the first game of his career after being listed as questionable. Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Ryan Mathews both missed their second straight weeks with MCL sprains.

Up next
The Eagles return home next week to face Washington at the Linc. They lost in Washington, 27-20, in Week 6.

At least six people died from heroin overdoses in Philadelphia Sunday, according to police.

East Detectives confirmed with NBC10 that a 24-year-old man overdosed on the 3000 block of North Broad Street, a 31-year-old woman on the 3300 block of Amber Street, a 42-year-old man on the 3300 of Kensington Avenue, a 40-year-old man on the 2800 block of Kensington Avenue, a 41-year-old man on the 2800 of D Street and a man in his 30s on the 600 block of E. Indiana Avenue.

Investigators say the overdoses appear to be from a bad batch of heroin that is currently circulating in Philadelphia though they have not yet identified the specific brand. They continue to investigate.

Police also say a dangerous batch of heroin may have been to blame for nearly 50 overdoses last month in the departments East Division, an area commonly called The Badlands, that encompasses Kensington and parts of North Philadelphia.

Heroin in Philadelphia is some of the purest in the nation ranging between 80 and 90 percent, officials explained earlier this year as part of our special investigation into the epidemic.

Sometimes, the drugs are cut with dangerous chemicals like rat poison. In other cases, much stronger synthetic opioids like fentanyl or new lab-cooked derivatives are mixed in to produce a stronger high -- often with deadly consequences.

Deaths from fentanyl skyrocketed by 636 percent over the past year in Philadelphia. In May, the city's narcotic's chief said his officers were monitoring a potential infiltration of W-18, another synthetic painkiller that, when mixed with heroin, can be 10,000 times stronger than morphine.

Overdose surges have also been reported in Ohio and parts of the Midwest recently.

People taking opioids can quickly grow tolerant to the highs prescription painkillers and heroin provide. Excruciatingly painful withdrawals follow. These falls get worse with each cycle so users seek out stronger highs, putting them at further risk with every score.

Over the course of our special investigation, heroin users in the throes of withdrawal explained they would, at times, seek out the strongest drug available -- sometimes flocking toward heroin batches that caused others to overdose.

A Montgomery County school district canceled classes for all students Monday amid a police investigation into a threat against students that police said didn't appear to be a threat after all.

The Upper Perkiomen School District in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania received an anonymous direct threat on Instagram, superintendent Dr. Alexis McGloin told NBC10.

"Due to a concern with safety and welfare of our students, school will be canceled for the day," said McGloin in a letter to parents and guardians posted to the district's website and on Facebook around 5:30 a.m. "Currently, state police are investigating a situation that raises enough concern for us to take this action. We will keep you updated, as more information becomes available today."

"The threat is directed solely towards the school district and not the community or any other schools in the area," said McGloin.

Pennsylvania State Police disputed that a threat ever existed saying there was no reason to suspect concern for students or their families.

Pennsylvania State Police became aware of the threat around 1:15 a.m. after a parent's child found something they called alarming on a social media post, said state police.

The social media post referenced a video on a website about the Sandy Hook school shootings and how to spot a potential school shooter.

Police said the district decided to cancel schools.

"Right now it looks like this has been misinterpreted and not an actual threat to the school district itself," said Lt. Christopher Lengle. "They posted something on Instagram that as we see it was not intended to be a threat, it was interpreted by others as a threat. The people that called us never saw the posting -- they were receiving this information form their children of what their child interpreted it to be."

McGloin later revealed more details about the incident:

"Very early this morning the Upper Perkiomen administration was made aware of an ongoing investigation associated with our secondary school students. The safety of students and staff is our first concern. We take all threats of any nature seriously and believe that it is appropriate to always notify the public and act in the best interests of our school community."

As students stayed home, staff was asked to report to work Monday, said McGloin. The district said the source of the threat was determined midday and that all after school activities would go on as normal.

"At this time, the person responsible for the post has been identified," said McGloin. "When the post originated, it was made on a closed group of 79 students from an anonymous source that was attached to a picture of a student potentially of middle to early high school age. The post contained a video, 'Evan, Sandy Hook Promise.' There is no longer a credible threat to the district as the source has been identified by state troopers. All after school activities will continue today and school will be in session tomorrow."

McGloin asked for parents to discuss the incident with their children, "emphasizing the seriousness of this situation and the impact their on-line interactions can have on themselves, their friends, family and community."

Nearly two million pounds of ready-to-eat chicken products have been recalled due to concerns over bacteria, the USDA said Sunday.

National Steak and Poultry has recalled 1,976,089 pounds of poultry because the product is labeled “ready-to-eat” but may have been undercooked, and thus is at risk of containing dangerous bacteria.

Though no cases of illness have been reported, the items were shipped to food service locations nationwide and were sold directly to retail consumers, the USDA said.

The issue of possible contamination came to light after a customer complained to an establishment that their chicken appeared under-cooked.

The recall has been classified as a Class I recall by the USDA. A Class I recall is the most critical and involves a health hazard situation where there is reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences.

The products under recall include five-pound bags of product labeled “Distributed by National Steak and Poultry, Owasso, OK Fully Cooked, Diced, Grilled Boneless Chicken Breast Meat with Rib Meat” or labeled “Hormel Natural Choice 100% Natural No Preservatives Fully Cooked Roasted Chicken Breast Strips with Rib Meat Natural Smoke Flavor Added.” The former contains lot code 100416 and case code 70020; the latter contains lot code 100416 and case code 702113.

The recalled products were produced on various dates from Aug. 20, 2016 to Nov. 30, 2016. The cases containing the products subject to recall have the establishment number “P-6010T” inside the USDA mark of inspection, the USDA said.

Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume or serve them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase, the USDA said.

For more information about the recall, head to the USDA recall page. 

A 19-year-old woman has been arrested for animal cruelty, Newark Police Department officials said.

Officers arrested Tikeemah Lassiter, of Clifton, on Saturday. She was charged with animal cruelty. 

A concerned citizen alerted Newark police Thursday to a social media video allegedly showing Lassiter throwing a cat from a third-floor balcony in the 300-block of South Orange Avenue, authorities said.

Detectives determined Lassiter was a suspect after they discovered she had been visiting relatives in Newark at the time of the incident.

The cat survived the incident and is currently in the care of the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, police said. A veterinarian will examine the cat and determine its appropriate placement.

A $10,000 warrant was previously issued for her arrest by New Jersey Transit Police for an assault. 

A filmmaker from Orange, New Jersey, is among the missing after a deadly fire tore through a warehouse in Oakland, California, during a music festival there on Friday night.

Friends and family of filmmaker Alex Ghassan were holding out hope but fearing for the worst on Sunday, two days after the blaze killed at least 36 people in what has since been deemed one of the country’s deadliest structure fires.

"We don't know anything. We're all prayerful. We're waiting for answers, we have no answers," his mother Emilie Grandchamps told NBC 4 New York Monday in Orange, New Jersey. 

"It's excruciating to wait for him," said Grandchamps, who was going to fly to California with some form of her son's DNA "so that they can tell me something."

“I’m heartbroken, but I’m trying to stay optimistic,” Richardine Bartee, a friend of Ghassan, said.

But Ghassan's aunt, Junie Moscova, got emotional as she told NBC 4 New York that she fears it might be time to accept that he won't return.

"The fact that we've tried to call his phone a couple times and it's gone straight to voicemail, and we're not hearing anything specifically form him," she said. "We're kind of bracing ourselves for whatever the news may be." 

Ghassan posted Instagram video that appears to be from inside the warehouse dance party just an hour before the deadly fire broke out.

Ghassan's fiancee Hannah also has not been seen or heard. A friend of the couple was able to make it out and spoke to Ghassan's family.

"He was really trying to make sure that Alex and Hannah got out, too, but unfortunately by the time he winded up getting out, the ceriling had caved in, and Alex and Hannah were still in the building," said Moscova. 

Ghassan is a director well known in Brooklyn for helping up and coming musicians. He’s also a father of two young girls.

"He has so much to live for," she continued, adding Ghassan worked in the Supreme Court in California and had other up-and-coming businesses. "Alex had a lot to live for, not to die for."

Grandchamps called Ghassan a "bull," describing him as a fighter and a fast thinker. 

"My son is absolutely phenomenol," said Grandchamps. "He's an artist at heart, a wonderful dad, a wonderful son, a wonderful friend. And we're waiting. We're waiting. We're just waiting and we're doing our best." 

Dozens of other families are also still anxiously waiting for news about their loved ones. It’s not known how many people were at the warehouse when the fire broke out.

In Westport, Connecticut, the family of Feral Pines, a transgender woman, received a phone call from the coroner's office Sunday night, according to her father Bruce Fritz. Pines, born Justin Fritz, loved art and music and had just moved to Oakland a few months ago.

"She was an amazingly kind and beautiful person who had the strength to be her true self, even when she knew that was not going to be an easy path," said sister Amanda Parry. 

Also missing is Gridden Madden from Morristown, New Jersey, who is an alumnus from UC Berkeley.

Meanwhile, the death toll continues to rise. The number of victims was nine on Saturday night — by Sunday it hit 33, and then 36 on Monday, with 33 of them identified. The sheriff's department in Alameda County says it doesn't believe the number of victims will grow drastically. Victims range in age from 17-years-old to people in their 30s.

Firefighters are searching night and day through rubble and ash. They said Monday that they had searched about 75 percent of the building.

New concerns have been raised about the warehouse, known as the “Ghost Ship.”

Photos show the artist compound cluttered with wood furniture and art pieces. There were no smoke alarms or sprinklers, and there were only two exits in the building and no easy way to get downstairs from the second floor, where many of the bodies were found.

A criminal investigation was launched Sunday and Oakland officials said something more should have been done.

Two men attacked a SEPTA bus driver Monday morning leaving her hospitalized.

The men threw some sort of liquid on the Route K bus driver after they boarded the bus at Rising Sun and Adams avenues in Philadelphia’s Lawncrest neighborhood around 6:30 a.m., said SEPTA. The men then ran away.

The driver was treated by doctors and released without injury, said SEPTA.

No passengers suffered any injuries and those on board were placed on a following bus, said SEPTA.

SEPTA didn't report any other service interruptions from the incident.

SEPTA tested the liquid and determined it wasn't hazardous.

Two school buses collided after one school bus stopped after two other vehicles crashed along the Schuylkill Expressway in Philadelphia Monday morning. The wrecks left massive delays.

The vehicles – one turned the wrong direction – collided in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 76 near the South Street Exit shortly before 8 a.m. A large school bus managed to stop short of the wreck but a second smaller bus couldn't stop in time and struck the larger bus, said Pennsylvania State Police.

The wreck left at least four people -- including both bus drivers -- hurt, said firefighters and police.

No children were on board either bus, said police.

After 30 minutes, only one lane could squeeze by the crash as delays on the busy highway exceeded one hour, said NBC10 First Alert Traffic reporter Jessica Boyington.

Crews got the scene cleared after a couple hours.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning customers not to eat goat cheese products made by Apple Tree Goat Dairy, a Pennsylvania-based company, over concerns about possible Listeria contamination, which can cause serious and sometimes deadly infections in young children and the elderly.

The FDA says Apple Tree recalled four lots of products made in March and July in September after samples tested positive for Listeria, and that the company expanded its recall to include all of its goat cheeses later that month. The FDA said it wasn't aware of any public notice to consumers about the expanded recall, so issued an advisory Friday warning customers not to eat the cheese. 

The 60-day aged, semi-soft, and hard goat cheeses were sold in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia through Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative, West End Farmers Market in Virginia and Ambler and Doylestown farmers markets in Pennsylvania.

The FDA said it was concerned about the cheese based on a recent inspection of the Apple Tree manufacturing facility that found Listeria in the company's finished products and in its production environment. [[214381121, C]]

There haven't been any reports of illness. The FDA urges anyone who has Apple Tree goat cheeses to throw them away. Consumers are also advised to thoroughly disinfect any area where they may have had the products.

Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. 

Young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems are more susceptible to infection.

A tripped transformer is being blamed for a foamy mess that billowed out of a Center City Philadelphia substation over the weekend and onto streets and yards.

Despite residents in the area hearing "popping" sounds there was no explosion Saturday afternoon at the PECO substation along S. Juniper Street near Lombard Street, said PECO spokesman Ben Armstrong Monday.

"There was this loud bang noise and I was like, 'Oh boy. I hope everything is OK," said witness Christian Bygott.

A circuit breaker in one of two large transformers in the red-brick facility surrounded by row homes and apartments went offline. The tripping of that breaker caused the "pop" and a flash that people mistook for a possible explosion around 1 p.m., said PECO.

Once the system tripped, the building began to pump out a white foam as the station's fire suppression system automatically activated, pouring foam out of the building – some wound up in Bygott's backyard.

"[It was] sort of like that old movie, 'The Blob' except it was its really super slow cousin," he said.

The foam also pushed out of the roof of the empty substation. At one point the foam on the street was around 6-feet high.

The foam suppression system is set to automatically trigger when something goes wrong with the transformers, said PECO. Once it triggers, the foam will continue to pour out until the system is manually turned off or the foam – intended to be at least enough to coat the entire building – runs out, said PECO. It wasn’t clear, which happened in this case.

Around 17 units, including a Hazmat Task Force, were sent to the foam-flooded street. The foam is similar to the substance used in washing machines and is non-hazardous, according to officials. They also say it has no detrimental effects on the environment. Crews washed away much of the foam.

The utility continued to internally investigate the incident Monday, which temporarily knocked out power to about 2,500 customers and left around 650 customers without power for around three hours. Armstrong told NBC10 that PECO was looking into the chronology of events that led up to the incident and what triggered the fire suppression system.

PECO had not reached out to law enforcement, they said. The FBI told NBC10 that they were not investigating the issue and that it appeared to be an electrical issue.

Luckily no one was inside the building at the time and no one was hurt.

Abortions after the fifth month of pregnancy would be banned under legislation being introduced by Republican lawmakers in New Jersey.

Senators Joe Pennacchio and Steven Oroho introduced the measure banning abortions after 20 weeks on Monday at the statehouse complex.

Specifically they say the bill is needed to protect vulnerable unborn children.

The new bill would create exceptions in cases of incest, rape or if the mother's life is at risk.

Unlike some other states New Jersey does not restrict or prohibit abortions in cases of life or health endangerment at a certain points in the pregnancy.

It's unclear whether the legislation would clear the Democrat-led Legislature. Messages left with the Assembly speaker and Senate president were not immediately returned.

Republican Gov. Chris Christie's office did not immediately respond.

Damaging testimony that Bill Cosby gave in an accuser's lawsuit, including admissions that he gave young women drugs and alcohol before sex, can be used at his criminal sex assault trial, a judge ruled Monday.

The defense had insisted that Cosby only testified after being promised he wouldn't be charged over his 2004 encounter with accuser Andrea Constand. But his lawyers at the time never had an immunity agreement or put anything in writing.

"This court concludes that there was neither an agreement nor a promise not to prosecute, only an exercise of prosecutorial discretion," Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill wrote in his ruling.

Cosby, 79, acknowledged in the 2006 deposition that he had a string of extramarital relationships with young women. He called them consensual, but many of the women say they were drugged and molested.

The release of the deposition testimony last year prompted prosecutors to reopen Constand's 2005 criminal complaint.

Cosby, asked about the 2004 encounter at his home with Constand, described being on his couch and putting his hand down her pants.

"I don't hear her say anything. And I don't feel her say anything. And so I continue and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped," he testified.

Prosecutors describe Constand as being semiconscious after Cosby gave her three unmarked blue pills for stress.

The ruling on the deposition is one of two key pretrial issues that will determine the scope of the evidence against Cosby at trial. The other question is how many other accusers will be allowed to testify in prosecutors' attempt to show a pattern of similar conduct. Prosecutors hope to call 13 additional women who say they were assaulted by Cosby as far back as the 1960s. Two days of arguments on that issue are set for next week.

The release of the deposition testimony last year prompted prosecutors in suburban Philadelphia to reopen accuser Constand's criminal complaint and charge Cosby with felony sexual assault.

O'Neill has suggested that Cosby's decision to testify at the deposition could have been strategic. The actor -- known as America's Dad for his top-rated family sitcom, "The Cosby Show," which ran from 1984 to 1992 -- could have invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself. But jurors would have heard of that decision if the case went to trial.

Cosby instead settled Constand's lawsuit, for an undisclosed amount, after finishing four days of testimony about his extramarital affairs, his friendship with Constand and other topics.

In another excerpt, Cosby described a phone call with Constand's mother a year later, when he refused to say what the pills were.

"I'm not going to argue with somebody's mother who is accusing me of something," he testified. "And I'm apologizing because I'm thinking this is a dirty old man with a young girl. I apologized. I said to the mother it was digital penetration."

Cosby also described getting seven prescriptions for quaaludes in the 1970s, which he said he kept on hand to give women he hoped to seduce, "the same as a person would say, 'Have a drink.'"

Constand had met Cosby at Temple University when she managed the women's basketball team. He was a prominent booster and university trustee. She went to police in 2005 to report that he had sexually assaulted after taking what Cosby described as an herbal product.

The defense will fight strenuously to block the testimony of the other women, arguing that their accounts are vague, decades old and impossible to defend. They also say Cosby is legally blind and can no longer recognize his accusers or help with the defense.