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SEPTA Ready for Flower Show Rush

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The transit authority will ramp up service at stations and on Regional Rail trains as the Pa. Flower Show gets underway.

Photo Credit: Chicago Flower and Garden Show

Driver Strikes Pole, Kills Power

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A driver suffered a medical emergency as he careened off a Philadelphia road and into a utility pole.

The elderly man was driving along the 1500 block of S Warfield Street, which runs along the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76), in the city’s Grays Ferry neighborhood around 4:45 a.m. Thursday when he suffered some sort of medical event that caused him to lose control of his sports utility vehicle, according to Philadelphia Police.

The SUV crashed into a utility pole on the right side of the road before coming to rest on the embankment next to the highway.

Investigators say the elderly man was hooked up to a breathing apparatus at the time of the wreck.

Emergency crews rescued the man from the crashed SUV and rushed him to the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania in stable condition.

The leaning utility pole knocked out power to about a handful of businesses in a nearby industrial park. PECO crews worked for hours trying to safely remove the utility pole, which leaned on power lines.

Police hoped to have the scene cleared before the morning commute but by daybreak the closure and outage remained.

In the meantime, NBC10's Jillian Mele suggested using 32nd or 33rd Streets as alternates.

The driver wasn't identified.



Photo Credit: NBC10.com

Medical Marijuana Changes

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A South Jersey resident is seeking changes in the laws for medical marijuana use for her daughter.

King of Prussia Traffic Mess

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A car accident in King of Prussia leads to big traffic jams on multiple highways including Route 422, Route 202 and the Schuylkill Expressway. The crash was cleared around 7:30 a.m. Thursday.

Ex of Mom Found Dead in Car Returns

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The ex-boyfriend of a missing Delaware County woman who was found dead in her car outside of Philadelphia's 30th Street Station will return to Pennsylvania today.

Nadia Malik, 22, of Broomall, Pa. went missing Feb. 9. Her sister, Mona Malik, told NBC10 she spoke to her the day of her disappearance.

According to Mona, Nadia was with her ex-boyfriend, Bhupinder Singh, while she was on the phone. Mona also says she heard her sister saying, “let me go," before she was cut off.

Singh, 25, was arrested on Feb. 12 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio on a probation violation. Investigators say Singh violated his parole by failing to report to his probation officer in Pennsylvania, changing his residence without permission and traveling outside the state without permission.

He has remained behind bars in Ohio for the past two weeks. At the time of his arrest, Singh had a black eye and scratches on his face, police said. He allegedly told investigators Malik inflicted those wounds on him, but said he had no idea where she was.

Marple Township Police Chief Tom Murray told NBC10.com that he expects Singh to be returned to the area late Thursday. Singh will be taken to the county jail.

Singh, who had an on- and off-relationship with Malik, hasn't been charged in her disappearance. Malik and Singh had three children together, one of which died as a baby under suspicious circumstances, according to Delaware County authorities.

Investigators said that they found Singh by using Malik’s cell phone.

When questioned earlier about Malik’s disappearance, Singh told investigators that he last saw Malik in a parking lot with her car, according to police.

Malik's body was found inside her black Nissan along S. 30th Street last Thursday.

Parking enforcement officers had posted several parking tickets on the car and it was even towed from another location at one point because of a snow emergency. Questioned on why Malik's body went unnoticed for so long, police say the car has tinted windows and was covered in snow.

Sources tell NBC10 several pill bottles were found inside the car, some of which contained antibiotics prescribed to Singh.

An autopsy was performed on Malik on Friday, but the Philadelphia Medical Examiner said her cause of death was pending further testing. Officials say there were no obvious signs of trauma -- they are waiting for the results of additional tests, including toxicology, that could take another six to eight weeks to obtain.

School District Hiring Principals

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The Philadelphia School District is on the hunt for some good leaders for its schools.

Superintendent William Hite announced the district’s 2014 Principal Recruiting Plan Thursday morning.

“We know that strong school leaders contribute significantly to student achievement and the development of powerful learning environments,” said Hite in a press release. “We are looking for principals who have a passion for working with students, families and communities and who are committed to ensuring all students achieve.”

Hite didn’t reveal how many principal positions will be open for next school year but did say that applications are already being accepted (apply by clicking here) and will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

The school district will be holding information sessions for interested educators. The first is being held from 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday in the Atrium at the school district’s building at 440 N Broad Street.

The school district said it’s looking for “creative persistent problem-solvers” who will be visible and consistent leaders. Principals will also be expected to “develop positive, collaborative relationships with students, teachers, families and the community,” according to the school district.

In an attempt to reach qualified applicants beyond the city, the school district will also be holding information sessions in New York City and Washington, D.C. in the spring.

Hite sees the opportunity as a great one for educators.

“The diversity of our schools provides an incredible opportunity for committed and visionary school leaders to exercise creativity and innovation, and I look forward to meeting candidates who are enthusiastic about making all School District of Philadelphia Schools great.”



Photo Credit: NBC

St. Joseph's Univ. Students Protest Cuts

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Some students and faculty at St. Joseph's University gathered to protest the school's recent decision to increase enrollment and cut faculty due to the school's budget woes.

The Roman Catholic Jesuit school is faced with an $8.7 million shortfall in 2014, according to the university's student-run newspaper, The Hawk.

Standing behind a statue of Mary, a group of about 75 people stood together calling attention to their disdain for the recent changes. The gathering took place just before lunchtime Thursday outside a board of trustees meeting at McShain Hall.

The St. Joseph's University Faculty Senate this week gave a vote of no confidence for two high-level administrators. The group called for their resignations as, they believe, the financial picture has had an adverse impact on the quality of life.

Despite the chilly temperatures and patches of snow on the ground, the group emplored for the board of trustees to reverse their decision. Chanelle Greene tweeted in part: "Dress warm with plenty of layers and faith!"

With posters in hand and using the hashtag #ListenSJU, the protesters took to Twitter where their efforts began trending in Philadelphia at noon.


Contact Sarah Glover at 610-668-5580, sarah.glover@nbcuni.com or follow @skyphoto on Twitter.
 

 



Photo Credit: @essaydoctor/Twitter

Curbing Addiction With a Story

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Can telling a story to emergency room doctors help cut down on the number of people addicted to prescription painkillers?

A new study suggests yes.

Emergency rooms can be a place where addicts come to help facilitate their need for the next fix by faking injuries in exchange for a prescription from a doctor. Or where new, unintended addictions begin.

"The ER is really at the tip of the problem. We have a lot of patients who both have suffered the consequences of overdose and addiction to prescription drugs, particularly opioids and painkillers," said Dr. Zachary Meisel, assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at Penn Medicine. "We also have a lot of patients with pain who need painkillers."

Conducted in Philadelphia by Meisel and a team of researchers, the study looked at how well doctors remembered guidelines for prescribing addictive painkillers, also called opioids, like oxycodone and Vicodin, when they read a story about a patient versus when they were given a summary of those recommendations.

"ER docs are sort of right in the nexus of this problem where we have to figure out how to treat pain, but we also need to be very wary of potential for abuse and diversion and overdose," the doctor said. "We’re going to use stories, what we call evidence-based narratives, to get people and physicians in particular to pay attention."

Meisel and his team took 82 emergency room doctors from the city. They had half of them read a statistic-heavy summary of prescribing guidelines. The other half read a story about a man who came into the emergency room experiencing back pain.

In the story, the man complained that his pain persisted, despite using over-the-counter painkillers like Advil and heat packs. Researchers also weaved in five of the opioid prescribing recommendations, including a check of the man’s prescription history in a state database, prescribing a low dose of painkillers and fully explaining the risks of addiction that come with using the drugs.

Two hours later, following lectures on other topics, the doctors were asked to remember what they read and write it down. Meisel says the study found the doctors who were told the story remembered at least one more guideline than physicians who read the summaries. On certain themes, like checking the state database, which is not available to doctors in Pa., and considering the addiction risks, the ER doctors were three times more likely to recall that information, he said.

Drug overdosing is the leading cause of injury death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2011, the most recently available data, about 921,000 visits to U.S. emergency rooms involved the non-medical use of anti-anxiety, insomnia or opioid prescription medications, the CDC found.

The Penn Medicine research team believes this is the first study of its kind to be conducted with doctors. Meisel says the storytelling method of delivering critical information has the ability to make doctors more vigilant about how they prescribe these drugs. It also opens the door for helping physicians remember guidelines in a way they historically have been skeptical of for fear the story may not have relevant statistics, according to the Meisel.

"Marketers and private sector entities use stories all the time to get people to pay attention and make ideas sticky," Meisel said. "In medicine, we are behind the eight ball, I believe in this concept."

Testing the use of stories on physicians to remember guidelines was an initial study. The team is now conducting a much larger study, involving 60,000 emergency room doctors across the U.S., which aims to measure how doctors use what they learned in the stories into practice.

"We’re constantly getting recommendations thrown at us from a variety of different sources all the time," Meisel said. "I’m particularly interested in how in using this idea that there may be alternatives and innovative ways to getting physicians to pay attention to evidence-based recommendations."


Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter.



Photo Credit: AP

New Questions Cast Shadow on Sheriff's Office

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It’s been more than three years since John Green, who held the office of Philadelphia Sheriff for over two decades, stepped down from his post amid political pressure and intimations of cronyism, mismanagement and possible corruption within his office.

But, despite promises of reform, some of the problems that plagued the office in the past seem to have continued under the watch of current Sheriff Jewell Williams, according to new findings in a continuing series on the office by AxisPhilly.

Many of the issues revolve around the office’s Real Estate Division, which handles the public auction of properties foreclosed upon by banks or for failure to pay taxes.

FBI raid

In August, the FBI raided the office and removed an unknown number of records—records related not to the administration of former Sheriff Green, as suggested by the Sheriff’s Office itself and other news outlets at the time, but, as AxisPhilly has reported, to practices dating from 2011, after Green left office. After the raid, Michael Riverso, a worker in the real estate office brought on full time in 2011, was suspended. Subsequently, AxisPhilly has learned, he was terminated.

Riverso is the cousin of Barbara Deeley, who served as interim sheriff in 2011, after Green stepped down. Another company doing title work for the office under Williams, Patriot Land Transfer, at times has employed Riverso’s sister, Joann Riverso-Natalone.

A city executive order prohibits the hiring of relatives, but the independently elected Sheriff’s Office isn’t bound by it. As a rule, the office operates under the patronage system.

The FBI has made multiple visits to the office since August, removing additional records. Meanwhile, AxisPhilly has learned of the termination of a second employee who worked beside Riverso in the Real Estate Division: Phillip Kemmerer, who was dismissed December 20.

The sheriff declined to confirm or comment upon that dismissal, which AxisPhilly confirmed via knowledgeable sources and city personnel records.

What these terminations mean isn’t clear—but they suggest ongoing concern over how the office has handled sheriff sales.

Bid assignments

Sources with direct knowledge of the August FBI raid say that among the materials sought were records related to “bid assignments,” the practice by bidders at a sheriff’s auction of selling their bid interest in a property before—or possibly without—actually purchasing the property itself.

Normally, a successful bidder at a sheriff sale is required to pay 10 percent of the purchase price as a deposit, with the remaining 90 percent balance to be paid within 30 days. If the sale is not closed by then, the Sheriff’s Office has granted buyers an additional 30 days to settle.

Joe Blake, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said in a statement that the sheriff issued a new policy on September 1st, explicitly ending the 30-day extensions and requiring all bidders to settle within 60 days at the most, and only after an extension request is approved in writing by the sheriff.

“The extension policy before September 1st, which goes all the way back to the administration of John Green,” he added, “granted extensions across the board and was not discriminatory in any way”—meaning that all bidders were allowed the full 60 days to pay.

But, in examining records of sales from earlier last year, AxisPhilly found many examples of cases, usually involving a select handful of bidders, in which the file remained open much longer than 60 days, sometimes more than half a year.

Nearly a dozen sources with whom AxisPhilly spoke, some who have worked inside the Sheriff’s Office, others frequent bidders well acquainted with the sheriff sale process, say that some prospective buyers placed their bids with every expectation that the Sheriff’s Office would grant them indefinite time to settle up. They then took advantage of this extra time to find third parties to buy their bid interests.

“They were buying huge blocks of property—and over time they built relationships,” with the Sheriff’s Office, says one developer who spoke on the condition of anonymity, “which afforded them the ability to not have to settle for any period of time.”

In these cases, the winning bidders were effectively able to engage in low-cost, or virtually no-cost, speculation on the property by paying only the 10 percent down payment, then nothing until they were able to sell the property, presumably at a price that recovered the initial down payment as well.

Long extensions

The reselling of a bid isn’t by itself against the law, according to multiple legal experts with whom we spoke. And while the Sheriff’s Office might be expected to abide by its own stated rules when it comes to the enforcement of time limits to settle a property, it’s doubtful that the office was violating the law by permitting these long extensions, according to Irwin Trauss, a Philadelphia attorney long acquainted with sheriff sales.

That said, a sale that has gone over its allotted time, or otherwise failed to meet the requirements of the Sheriff’s Office is supposed to be marked “Terms of Sale” not met in the sheriff’s computer system, which in theory ends the sale. The property is then effectively placed back in the queue for later sale.

But sources say the Sheriff’s Office had no process to automatically mark sales that had exceeded the time limit. The power to extend a sales deadline, they say, lay in the hands of the employees of the sheriff’s Real Estate Division.

A preliminary review of sales from earlier last year by AxisPhilly showed that most bidders appear to have settled with the normal deadlines. However, some buyers not only held onto their bids indefinitely, but marketed the properties which they bid upon—but not purchased—as being for sale in real estate listings, often advertising them for periods of six months or longer.

Coincidentally or not, it was just a week after AxisPhlly first sent a list of questions to the sheriff in August, including some involving its policy around settlement extension requests, that the office announced its new policy on extensions.

New internal policy

Sources say that the sheriff also announced a new internal policy restricting which employees would be permitted to mark sales as “Terms of Sale” not met, or incomplete, in its computer system.

Despite recent protestations by Sheriff Williams that his office “welcome[s] any questions and inquiries of our operation,” the office has been unwilling to comment on other aspects of its operations.

The office has not, for instance, become any more forthcoming about firms and individuals whom it has contracted for outside services, a question AxisPhilly raised three months ago, when we found that the Sheriff’s Office had failed to send many of its contracts to the city’s Law Department for approval, as required by the city charter.

An examination of new reports shows the office reporting even fewer contracts since then. The most recent quarterly report by the city’s Finance Department listing “non-competitively bid contracts,” includes not a single company as working for the sheriff, though the office has by its own admission several contractors.

This practice continues despite the fact the sheriff signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the administration explicitly promising to have all contracts approved in this way.

In a statement, city spokesman Mark McDonald wrote that “The Nutter administration acknowledges that there is some number of contracts signed by the Sheriff’s Office that have not gone through the Finance Department and Law Department,” but that “since his election, Sheriff Williams has been rebuilding the business practices and other policies of the Sheriff’s Office and the administration supports him in this effort.”

An audit of the sheriff’s compliance with the Memorandum of Understanding promised by City Controller Alan Butkovitz in this fall has yet to be released. Bill Rubin, a spokesman for the Controller’s Office, says that it has been outsourced to a consultant and that the audit was being reviewed for quality and compliance. Rubin said the audit was “a priority” and that he expects it to be released soon.


The story was published through a news content partnership between NBC10.com and AxisPhilly.org

Long, Bumpy Road for Pileup Victims

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In the wake of the massive pileup on the Pennsylvania Turnpike nearly two weeks ago, Steven Coney says his life has been turned upside-down.

"This car pileup has been very stressful. I am depressed," he said. "It’s been hard financially."

The 29-year-old was lucky to escape serious injury when his Mitsubishi was crushed under a tractor trailer in the mess, but his car was left unusable.

Since then, he’s been renting a car, at his own expense, because he says a Pennsylvania State Police report he needs to provide to his insurance company isn’t done. Coney said police told him it might not be completed until April. This is an issue others involved in the pileup, like Coney, are likely facing as the investigation into the incident draws on.

"The State Police have not started a police report yet. They have not said who is at fault yet. It’s just a big mess," Coney said. "I have to work overtime just to cover expenses. I am basically doing everything on my own with no help."

It was around 8:25 a.m. on Feb. 14 when five tractor trailers and 10 cars collided in the eastbound lanes of the Turnpike about a mile from the Bensalem, Bucks County, Pa. interchange. Behind that first crash, a number of other collisions followed with some vehicles spinning out, catching fire, flipping over and being lodged under trucks. Area hospitals accepted 27 drivers who were hurt in the pileup, some seriously, but none suffered life-threatening injuries.

The limited access highway was closed for more than eight hours and more than 75 vehicles were involved. Most had to be towed away, according to the Pa. State Police.

Cpl. Richard Dean, public information officer for Troop T, which patrols the Pa. Turnpike, says troopers are working as fast as possible to complete their final report, but could not provide a timeline for when the investigation will be finished. He says investigators continue to get new information.

"Every time we get something finished another person comes forward and says 'I was involved in it,'" he said. "It turned into a big snowball, no pun intended. It was not one two vehicles here. It’s not 10 vehicles. It’s more complicated."

The Pa. Turnpike Commission is conducting an inquiry into the incident and the Pa. Senate Transportation Committee will also hold hearings on the pileup and the response by police and emergency personnel.

Attorney Robert Braker, head of the motor vehicle department at Philadelphia law firm Satlz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky, says trying to determine who is at fault in the crash is an uphill battle as some cars were smashed into groups of tangled metal along the roadway.

"It’s going to be very complicated and it almost seems impossible to say who was stopped and who was pushed into somebody else," he said. "A lot of times you could [more easily] make the argument whether you’re stopped or moving. But in this you’re still going to have damage from being hit from behind or hit from the front, so it’s going to be very difficult to tell…"

Braker has tried and overseen thousands of cases, although no massive pileups, which he calls rare. He said with major accidents like the pileup, police typically call an accident reconstructionist to the scene to try and determine how the crash happened and who is at fault.

"Police officers who are not certified in accident reconstruction are not permitted to testify about their opinions about an accident in a courtroom," he said.

However, Dean says State Police did not dispatch one of their three accident reconstruction investigators to the scene, because the crash, although high-profile, did not match their criteria.

"It has to meet the criteria of serious injury or a death and this doesn’t meet that," he said.

Once police do finish their report, Braker says motorists will have a tough time suing for damages.

"You hope that the police did a great job sorting it all out, but it is going to be a challenge when there’s upwards of 50 cars that in theory you could point the finger at," he said. "The injured folks will be hoping that you’ll be able to prove that the fault is by a commercial vehicle that would be able to have the bigger policy."

Questions have been raised as to whether the Turnpike was properly plowed and salted prior to the accident. However, Braker says suing the state for that issue is out of the picture.

"Failing to salt a roadway is not a recognizable exception to government immunity so an injured person wouldn’t be able to sue…for failing to salt a public road," he said.

For Coney, however, the here and now is more of an issue for him as he tries to get his life back on track.

"I just want a car so that I can get back and forth to work," Coney said.


Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter.



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Montco Holds G+ Hangout, Wants to Hear From You

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Want to ask your Montgomery County Commissioner a direct question? Well, you can this evening in person or via a Google+ Hangout if you can't make the meeting.

Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro and the board are hosting its third "Conversation with Your Commissioner" town hall meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at the Norristown Municipal Hall, 235 East Airy St.

“These conversations with the commissioners are another in a series of ways we are trying to keep residents informed about what we are doing. We also live stream our meetings online and use social media a great deal to inform everyone about what is going on in the county," said Shapiro.

"Tonight is the first time we will be utilizing a Google+ Hangout so constituents can participate in the conversation virtually in real time.”

The gatherings usually draw 50 neighbors into the room. 

Shapiro urges residents to attend these conversations either in person, or online this evening, so they can hear what has been accomplished during the first two years in office. The meetings are an opportunity to "hear what issues are most important to residents."

In addition to participating in person or by the Google+ Hangout livestream, the commissioners will take questions submitted by email. You may reach the commissioners and submit your question by emailing commissioners@montcopa.org

In order to use Google+ Hangout, you need a Gmail email account. More details on how to participate can be found here

Additional town hall conversations are scheduled for 7 p.m. at: 

  • March 11 - Lower Merion Township building
  • March 22 - Abington Township building
  • March 24 -  Lower Pottsgrove Township building

 

Faulty Railwork Led to Derailment

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CSX released their findings on what caused a train derailment over the Schuylkill River last month Thursday afternoon.

According to the transportation company, the derailment was caused by faulty work on the tracks.

Prior to the January 20 derailment on the Schuylkill Arsenal Railroad Bridge, a scheduled upgrade was performed on the track, says CSX. The upgrade involved replacing track crossties. The work, according to the company, was finished without following CSX engineering protocol -- the temporary fastners to the crossties were not properly secured causing the derailment.

The derailment left a tanker car, a boxcar and five others leaning off the side of the bridge for days.

Six of the cars were carrying crude oil and all of them had to be emptied before being removed from the bridge.

The bridge itself, CSX reports, is structurally sound.

The Federal Railroad Administration is now reviewing the CSX findings.
 

2 Arrested in Beating Death

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Two teens were arrested for the beating death of 18-year-old Julio Lopez-Cruz on his way home the store in Trenton two weeks ago.

Photo Credit: Trenton Police Department

Excitement Swirls Around Astra-Zeneca Buyout Rumor

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The stores in the Fairfax Shopping Center is excited by reports JP Morgan-Chase might buy half of Astra Zeneca's huge north Wilmington campus.

Cold Affecting Local Businesses?

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Local florists are sweating the cold weather. NBC10's Deanna Durante has the story.

Man Gunned Down on Street

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A young man is dead after being shot multiple times outside a home in the city's Germantown section Thursday night.

Police say that a 24-year-old man was shot five times at point-blank range outside of a home on the 4900-block of Pulaski Street around 6 p.m.

"It's just a shame," one resident told NBC10. "These streets is just crazy."

Neighbor Linette Bey, who's moving from her Pulaski Street apartment on Saturday, agrees.

"Since we've been here there have been a couple of things that have happened, so it's not where I want to be."

Residents say the murder in the normally quiet neighborhood is just one in a recent rash of crime.

"Around here someone got beat in the head with a hammer, just down there, and they're doing home invasions," said Dina McCullough. "It's just getting worse."

Detectives are working on getting to the bottom of the Germantown crime wave including Thursday's deadly shooting, but they're asking for the public's help in finding the shooter who ran from the scene through the Happy Hollow Playground.

Anyone with information is urged to call police.



 

Residents Rescued From Balconies

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Residents were rescued from their balconies as a fire burned through their Montgomery County apartment building Thursday night.

The fire at the Audubon Court Apartments on Egypt Road broke out around 8 p.m. forcing approximately eight people onto their balconies for rescue, according to officials on the scene.

Thirteen apartments were affected by the fire.

Residents of the affected apartments most likely won't be able to get back into their homes before morning, says the building's manager.

No injuries have been reported and there's no word on what caused the fire.

Heroin Epidemic Rages

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The Philadelphia region’s heroin epidemic is in the spotlight. NBC10’S George Spencer tells us about a community forum that gives us the clearest sense yet of what’s being seen on the streets and in the schools.

Photo Credit: Getty

ion Contract Talks Heat Up

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Philadelphia's blue collar union will resume conctract talks with the city Friday.

Photo Credit: Bloomberg

Accused Sexting Teacher in Court

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A suspended Montgomery County high school math teacher who allegedly admitted to having sex with a student and sending him explicit phone messages is set to be in court today.

Erica Ann Ginnetti, 33, surrendered to authorities last month after allegations arose that the Lower Moreland High School teacher and married mother of three had sex with a 17-year-old male student over the summer.

On Friday afternoon, Ginnetti is set to be in Magisterial Court for a preliminary hearing on a slew of charges including having sex with a student, corrupting a minor and disseminating explicit material to a minor, according to court documents.

Ginnetti allegedly sexted the student as well, according to investigators.

A video sent to NBC10 through a third party shows a woman removing a bikini top and tight pants. NBC10 confirmed the video was sent to the 17-year-old student. However, officials have not confirmed whether the video came from Ginnetti.

NBC10 called prosecutors and went to Lower Moreland Police for comment. No one would talk about the video or any other details in the case however. Ginnetti’s defense attorney also told NBC10 he could not comment on the striptease video because he had not seen it.

According to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, the relationship between Ginnetti and the student began in May when Ginnetti approached the boy at prom and asked him if he would like to work out at her gym. A few days later the boy allegedly emailed Ginnetti and she replied with her cell phone number.

Ferman said that after that the two communicated on a daily basis over several months. During that time, investigators say that Ginnetti sent a series of sexually-charged messages, including videos of her undressing and performing sex acts on herself as well as “sexually-suggestive” photos of Ginnetti in her underwear and a bikini.

Investigators say the two met up at a coffee shop in July in Northeast Philadelphia. From there they went to a nearby industrial park and had sex in Ginnetti's car, according to the police report. Ginnetti then drove the teen back to the coffee shop, investigators say, and asked him not to tell anyone about the incident.

According to investigators, Ginnetti admitted to having sex with the teenage boy.

Lower Moreland police said they were tipped off via a phone line used for reporting possible abuses against children. The caller left a message saying they'd overhead students at the school talking about "inappropriate pictures of the minor and the teacher doing 'sexual things.'" Police then approached the 17-year-old who they say gave them a detailed account of how the relationship began and then evolved.

It isn't clear what details could come out in court Friday. An earlier preliminary hearing was continued.

Ginnetti was arraigned on Jan. 24 on 13 counts and released after posting $50,000 unsecured bail, according to court records.

As part of her bail conditions, Ginnetti is not permitted to have contact with any children except for her own kids -- ages 8, 11 and 14. She also surrendered her passport and has been electronically monitored.

According to her teaching page, Ginnetti taught AP Calculus, AP Statistics, Calculus and Honor Algebra at Lower Moreland.

The District says Ginnetti was suspended without pay and will be fired.

An attorney representing the district also told NBC10 that the school is concerned about the video and any photos that may have been shared by students. He said the district would examine the school computer hardware system to determine if any of the materials were shared on school owned equipment but that there is little the district can do beyond that, especially if the images are being shared on personal devices. 



Photo Credit: NBC10.com - Deanna Durante
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