Christians are observing Good Friday and getting ready for Easter Sunday. NBC10’s Pamela Osborne is surveying the long lines and congestion caused by holiday preparations.
Easter Preparations on Good Friday
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Chester, Widener Team Up to Offer Workers Cheaper Tuition
Widener University and the City of Chester have partnered to provide a more affordable education for city employees.
The announcement came Thursday at Chester City Hall. A 45 percent discount will be given for undergraduate courses through the Center for Continuing Studies, while a 50 percent discount will be given for the online Master of Education programs, the city said.
"Widener University is pleased to extend this educational benefit to the city of Chester," Widener President Julie Wollman said. "As neighbors, we are proud to share these academic opportunities with the men and women who contribute to the city’s progress through their work in public service."
In total, the discounts can be applied to over one dozen concentrations. Spouses and dependents of employees are also eligible.
Chester Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland praised the partnership: "Widener University has helped to create a medium where our employees are able to better themselves through higher education, thus manifesting into ways that will better serve our community."
Applicants must fill out an employment verification form which is available online.
Photo Credit: Google Street View
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Gov. Wolf Vows Not To Give Up Fighting Opioid Abuse
Opioid and heroin abuse is an epidemic Pennsylvania struggles to overcome every day. In 2015, more than 3,300 people in Pennsylvania died as a result of an overdose, on average 10 people per day.
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Governor Tom Wolf signed legislation in 2016 limiting emergency room doctors to a seven-day limit on any opioid prescription. In order to manage and control how many people are using prescription drugs, the legislation also requires prescribers to check a drug database everytime doctors prescribe opioids.
“I chose to fight the opioid crisis head on,” Wolf said.
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The plan of action his administration has developed in response to the opioid crisis includes:
- Holding 91 opioid roundtable discussions
- Development of 45 treatment centers for those battling addiction
- Working to limit opioid prescriptions to minors
- Improving education for opioid prescribers
- Strengthening the prescription drug monitoring program
- Limiting opioid prescriptions to emergency room patients
- Expanding drop-off locations for unwanted prescription drugs
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Wolf notes that his concern about drug use in the state extends beyond opioids. He's been reluctant to pass a recreational marijuana bill, he says, because, “I don’t think Pennsylvania is ready for it.”
During his tenure, however, medical marijuana has been legalized in the commonwealth.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
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'We Should Not Tolerate' Gun Violence: Pa. AG
Ten-year-old Faheem Thomas-Childs was on his way to school in 2004 when a drug deal went wrong. The little boy was caught in the crossfire and shot in the face. He held on for five days but eventually died. Some 2,000 people attended his funeral. For a short time, Thomas-Childs became a symbol for what needed fixing in Philadelphia, but ultimately nothing changed.
Thirteen years later, gun violence remains rampant throughout the state. Addressing a room full of doctors and public health advocates at the University of Pennsylvania’s annual trauma symposium, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro called for a more holistic approach to reducing gun deaths.
"I believe in the Second Amendment and I defend those rights, but I also believe people have a right not to be shot," Shapiro said.
Just four months into his new attorney general post, Shapiro plans to combat firearm deaths by expanding Philadelphia’s Gun Violence Task Force into neighboring communities.
Of particular interest is Chester, which was recently deemed the most dangerous city in Pennsylvania. The Delaware County city has a violent crime rate more than double that of any other city in the state, according to a study by the FBI, U.S. Census Bureau and local law enforcement.
Since its creation in 2006, Philadelphia’s task force has removed 275,000 guns from the streets, Shapiro said.
Veteran police officers and assistant district attorneys are the primary actors behind the task force, but the attorney general plans to bring in additional undercover agents to target illegal gun sales and straw purchases, or lying about the owner of a firearm.
"Gun violence remains a daily tragic problem in our country," Shapiro said. "[The crisis] extends beyond the gunshot victim and beyond the person who pulls the trigger. The numbers are truly staggering."
In 2015, more than 9,500 Americans were killed by guns and another 20,000 people took their own lives using firearms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than three times that number were shot but did not die from their wounds.
In Philadelphia, 85 people have already died as of April 13, the vast majority as a result of shootings, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.
Additionally, Pennsylvania’s gun death rate is the highest in the region with more than 1,400 gun deaths in 2015, according to the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
"My job is go out and deal with crime in our communities and … I can do that every day and have success, but we’re still not going to solve the root cause of the problem, which is a lack of economic opportunity, a lack of educational opportunity and the public health crisis that occurs as a result of this trauma," Shapiro said.
As the Philadelphia Police Department said in a recent interview with NBC10, policing is not the only answer to reducing gun crimes. Higher than average poverty rates and a lack of educational resources conspire to create a volatile environment for many people, especially youth.
For instance, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has treated more than 1,800 people under the age of 24 for gunshot wounds between 2007 and 2016. That translates to roughly 15 firearm victims per month.
Youth who are exposed to violence and trauma at an early age are less likely to succeed in school and more likely to exhibit behavioral and developmental problems later in life, according to the CDC. With this in mind, Shapiro hopes to collaborate more fully with schools, community centers and local leaders to curb neighborhood-specific violence.
"We know zip codes are determining factors in future success," he said. "We, as a community, should not tolerate this."
Photo Credit: NBC10
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Easter Traditions Throughout Philadelphia
Local residents spent Good Friday celebrating different ways in our region. Some spent the day at church and some spent the day preparing for Easter Sunday. NBC10's Rosemary Connors highlights some local Easter traditions.
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NBC10 First Alert Weather: Easter in the 80s
If you have outdoors on Easter, you won't need your jacket. Temperatures are expected to reach the 80s, but will we see any rain? NBC10 Chief meteorologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz has the details.
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'Big Momma' Halts Rush Hour Traffic
Philadelphia police tracked Big Momma, a horse, through Strawberry Mansion on Friday after she broke out of her stall. Her owner says he rescued Big Momma and brought her to Philadelphia to live with other urban horses.
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Chuck Todd Talks North Korea Threat
NBC's Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd joined NBC10's Jim Rosenfield and Jacqueline London to talk about President Trump and the threat concerning North Korea. You can catch Chuck Todd every Sunday morning at 10:30.
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Looking Into Danger on Roosevelt Boulevard
More than 60 people died in crashes on Roosevelt Boulevard between 2011 and 2016. The road, which is known as one of the most dangerous in the country, is now being looked at to see what can be done to make it safer for drivers.
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Everything You Need To Know About the NFL Draft in Philly
The 2017 NFL Draft is quickly approaching in the City of Brotherly Love.
What a better way to welcome the newest NFL members than the first ever outdoor ceremony at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Did you know? The very first NFL Draft occurred in Philadelphia on February 8th in 1935 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. At that time the football league only had nine teams.
Since the mid-1930’s the NFL has now added 23 more teams to their roster.
The 2017 Draft consists of seven rounds over the course three days, where 32 teams will have one draft pick per round.
After winning a coin toss with the Indianapolis Colts the Philadelphia Eagles with pick 14th.
The timeline of events start Thursday, April 27.
The first round of the draft will begin at 8 p.m. where each team will have 10 minutes to select their pick.
Friday, April 28, the second and third rounds of the draft will start after 7 p.m. Teams will only have between 5-7 minutes to announce their picks.
The seventh and final round of the draft will begin at noon on Saturday where teams will have only 4 minutes to choose their players.
How did the 2017 NFL Draft end up in Philadelphia?
Our city was chosen out of 31 cities that applied to host the renowned event. As part of the application process, the city had to submit a written proposal for the NFL Draft.
Photo Credit: NBC 10
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Colonel Talks Military, North Korea
North Korea has said they will go to war with the United States if provoked. Colonel Rick Kiernan joined Keith Jones and Erin Coleman to talk about those possibilities.
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Abington Township Police Search for Missing Uber Driver
Abington Township Police are searching for a missing woman who was last seen before starting her shift as an Uber driver on Tuesday.
45-year-old Krysten Laib was last seen on April 11 at 4:45 a.m. in Philadelphia. According to police, she was working as an Uber driver when she last spoke to her family members.
Police say she has not answered her cell phone or made any attempt to contact family since her disappearance.
Laib is described as 5'4, 135 pounds, with blue eyes and blonde hair. She was driving a 2003 olive green Subaru Legacy with PA registration HJA8582.
Police are asking anyone with information on Laid to contact Abington Township Police at 267-536-1100 and press option #3.
Photo Credit: Abington Township Police Department
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Taser Sparks Panicked Stampede at Jam-Packed Penn Station
Crowds fled Penn Station on Friday evening in a chaotic scene sparked by what some people thought was a gunshot, but what turned out to be police using a Taser on a man in the station.
Tourists, commuters and New Yorkers alike were hiding behind garbage cans, diving behind pillars and leaving belongings as they scrambled to escape the calamity. Rumors of a shooter spread to nearby Macy's at Herald Square, where people were seen rushing from the exits.
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At a press conference Friday night, the FDNY said 16 people were treated for non-life-threatening injuries after the Penn Station stampede. The NYPD said police received dozens of 911 calls to report shots fired at Penn Station, reports that were ultimately unfounded.
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Tensions were already high at the busy station after power problems caused a NJ Transit train carrying 1,200 passengers to get stuck in a Hudson River tunnel, leading to cancellations and delays for NJ Transit, Amtrak and LIRR trains just a week after a minor derailment led to days of service disruptions.
The stuck train spent three hours in the tunnel before it returned to Penn Station, where six people were treated for minor medical issues, officials said. As people were leaving the train they witnessed what one person described as a "wave of screaming and falling people."
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A man near the Amtrak waiting area of the station had become belligerent and Amtrak police used a Taser on him, authorities said. News 4 video shows the man being led away in handcuffs.
The pop of the Taser and the reactions of people nearby spread fear through the Amtrak waiting area. Some people thought there was a shooter and ran. Others followed, unsure why hordes of people were fleeing.
In the panic, people left bags and other belongings behind. Clothing, food, books, and even golf clubs, phones and laptops, littered the station in the moments after crowds fled. Some people tripped and fell as they scrambled for the exits.
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"People were dropping luggage, kids, everybody was just running," one witness said. "Everybody was really scared. It was a stampede."
People were seen crying and screaming as they ran out of the station. Those still inside the waiting area stood around in shock or disbelief as the mayhem began to subside.
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Misinformation about a shooter at Penn Station spread to Macy's several blocks away, leading to panic there as well. People were seen rushing out of the store's exits around 7 p.m.
NYPD Counterterrorism said multiple reports of "shots fired" near Macy's were unfounded.
Authorities said an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
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Ostrich Captured After Chase Following ChesCo Barn Fire
Photo Credit: Christopher Mulcahy
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Local Students Prepare for Scrabble Competition
Local students are preparing for a scrabble competition, but they need your help getting there. NBC10's Tracy Davidson spoke with organizers about how you can help.
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Summer-like Easter Sunday
It will stay seasonable and cloudy on Saturday with a low chance of rain, but get ready for a major warm-up on Sunday when some areas could see 85 degrees. Passing showers Easter evening.
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Pentagon Papers Whistleblower Warns History Is Repeating
More than 45 years after he first leaked the Pentagon Papers, whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg sees history repeating.
The biggest threat now is raising an armed conflict with a nuclear power as President Donald Trump intercedes in Syria.
"This week, things are looking very ominous to me," he said.
Speaking with alumni at the Haverford School outside Philadelphia, the 85-year-old former Marine recounted his journey from alleged traitor to celebrated patriot credited with helping to end the war in Vietnam.
The Pentagon Papers comprised a complete documentation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967, including civilian bombings in Cambodia and Laos and the potential for nuclear war. It was ordered by the acting presiding general, who kept the study secret from then-President Lyndon B. Johnson.
“I felt it shouldn’t be just me who knew this history,” Ellsberg said of his leaking the top secret documents. “It changed my mind so much as to the legitimacy of what we had been doing from the start. In fact, I saw no legitimacy.”
But perhaps the biggest secret contained therein was the U.S. military’s knowledge that the war could not be won.
“What I saw was that my country was on a wrong course, had been lied into it and was going to continue to … get worse with the public being very deceived,” he said.
The story of how Ellsberg copied these documents is the stuff of Hollywood movies. The former first lieutenant had been working as a high level nuclear war strategist at the RAND Corporation after being honorably discharged. Through his time in Vietnam and at the Pentagon, Ellsberg sensed the war could not be won by foreign forces.
“I assumed that the war was justified … however hopeless it might be,” Ellsberg said. “But when I read the study I thought ‘No, it had never been justified.’ We had no business, no right, to be killing anyone in [the region].”
Disenchanted with U.S. leadership, Ellsberg took the documents out of a safe in his office, volume by volume, and copied all 7,000 pages at a small advertising company owned by a colleague’s girlfriend. It took all night to Xerox the documents, he said.
Ellsberg turned the evidence over to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee expecting a hearing. When his revelations went ignored, he turned to the next best thing: the New York Times.
A nine part series ran in 1971 after being delayed for two weeks by the Nixon administration. During the delay Ellsberg leaked the documents to the Washington Post and other media outlets. Eventually, freedom of speech won out and the world was finally privy to the Pentagon Papers.
Ellsberg was charged under the Espionage Act but later acquitted under the First Amendment. He was Edward Snowden before wiretapping. Julian Assange before Wikileaks. The Pentagon Papers were an embarrassment not just to the armed forces, but to former presidents Johnson and Richard Nixon, both who vowed to negotiate an end to the bloody conflict during their respective administrations.
It would take another several years before the conflict would officially end. When it finally did, the U.S. had spent 20 years at war. Countless of lives were lost or changed forever.
Despite Ellsberg’s best efforts, the United States continues to pursue a policy of dirty wars into present day, he said. Current conflicts in the Middle East feel all too familiar to the whistleblower.
“We were essentially lied into a war in the same egregious way,” he said. “And we’re still there. It’s been 16 years that we’ve been in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Now the United States is poised dangerously close to yet another quagmire. Trump’s recent missile strike against Syrian forces could signal the beginning of another prolonged and deadly conflict that will cost more American lives. Ellsberg is calling for a more nuanced approach.
“Any president who has gone that far will find it hard to get out of it,” Ellsberg said. “Unless we reach some arrangements with the Russians there is the danger, in this case, of a much greater war than was true even in Vietnam.”
Photo Credit: NBC10
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National Parks to Visit in Philadelphia Area
Check out some of the National Parks you can visit around the Philadelphia region.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
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Wild Ride: Horse Escapes Stable, Makes Way Across Philly
Philadelphia Police returned a horse to its owner after the animal got loose Friday morning and made its way across much of the city as a man gave chase on a bicycle.
Photo Credit: NBC10 - Derrick Cheston
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NBC10 First Alert Weather: A Warm Easter
If you have outdoor plans on Easter Sunday, you're in luck! Temperatures will top out in the 80s, but what about the following work week? NBC10 meteorologist Krystal Klei has the details.
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