Lois Fernandez, the co-founder of Philadelphia’s ODUNDE Festival, the largest and longest running African-American street festival on the east coast, has died at the age of 81.

Fernandez’s daughter and current ODUNDE Incorporated CEO Bumi Fernandez confirmed with NBC10 that her mother passed away over the weekend.

Born in 1936, Lois Fernandez, a South Philadelphia resident, along with her friend Ruth Arthur came up with the concept for the ODUNDE Festival after being inspired by a trip to Nigeria, West Africa in 1972. The name means “Happy New Year” in the Yoruba language native to Nigeria. Fernandez wanted to create an event that celebrated diversified African culture and educated the greater Philadelphia community about the African roots in the area.

After receiving a $100 grant from Philadelphia’s Southwest Center City Community Council and gaining support from her neighbors, Fernandez and Arthur held the first ODUNDE Festival in 1975. The festival, which celebrates the new year for Africans in America and the diaspora, quickly grew in size and popularity.

The festival currently attracts up to 500,000 people each year and covers 12 city blocks in South Philadelphia. The event also draws hundreds of vendors each year from several countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Guinea. It also features live music and entertainment. 

Fernandez’s family has not yet released information on funeral arrangements.

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Co-Founder of Philly's ODUNDE Festival Dies: Lois Fernandez, the co-founder of Philadelphia’s ODUNDE Festival, the largest and longest running African-American street festival on the east coast, has died at the age of 81. Fernandez’s daughter and current ODUNDE Incorporated CEO Bumi Fernandez confirmed with NBC10 that her mother passed away over the weekend. Born in 1936, Lois Fernandez, a South Philadelphia resident, along with her friend Ruth Arthur came up with the concept for the ODUNDE Festival after being inspired by a trip to Nigeria, West Africa in 1972. The name means “Happy New Year” in the Yoruba language native to Nigeria. Fernandez wanted to create an event that celebrated diversified African culture and educated the greater Philadelphia community about the African roots in the area. After receiving a $100 grant from Philadelphia’s Southwest Center City Community Council and gaining support from her neighbors, Fernandez and Arthur held the first ODUNDE Festival in 1975. The festival, which celebrates the new year for Africans in America and the diaspora, quickly grew in size and popularity.

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YOUR FIRST ALERT FORECAST  

Monday could see a chance of showers and rain is expected for much of Tuesday. But Wednesday and Thursday are expected to see sun. Get your full NBC10 First Alert forecast here.

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WHAT YOU MISSED YESTERDAY

Tanker Ignites on NJ Turnpike: A tanker truck carrying liquid asphalt overturned and caught fire in the northbound lanes of the New Jersey Turnpike in Burlington County Sunday afternoon causing a traffic nightmare. The truck overturned in the northbound outer lanes at mile marker 57 in Chesterfield Township, New Jersey just after noon, state police said. That's between Exit 4/Route 73 and Exit 5/Mt. Holly. The impact ignited the payload resulting in a large fire. The truck also leaked  some of the asphalt. Troopers said the driver was able to escape without injury.

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AROUND THE WORLD

Charlottesville Violence Result of Political Pressure Cooker: The videos that rolled across the television screen were startling: Americans beating each other with clubs and sticks on the streets of a quiet college town. White supremacists with torches; anti-fascists pushing back. An improvised flame thrower fashioned from an aerosol can. Bottles of frozen water hurled like bricks at one another's skulls. Kevin Boyle, an American history professor at Northwestern University, watched it unfold, the feeling in his gut both horror and a sense that the racial tension bubbling for years had finally, almost inevitably, begun boiling over. "Given our political moment, I'm not surprised that we've come to this point," he said. "I'm terribly depressed we've come to this point but I'm not surprised. It didn't come out of nowhere.” Historians and political scientists have been warning that American politics had become a pressure cooker, full of racial tension building once again to the point of a deadly clash, like the one in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday that claimed three lives.

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Firefighters Rescue Man from Sinkhole: Philadelphia firefighters rescued a man who fell down an eight-foot sinkhole in the Strawberry Mansion section of the city. Eugene Clarke, a Strawberry Mansion block captain, told NBC10 he was trying to secure a sinkhole on N. Patton and West Norris streets around 11:30 p.m. Saturday after residents in the neighborhood had first reported it to the Philadelphia Water Department Thursday. After the report was made Thursday, the Water Department responded and determined the leak was on the sewer line connected to a private home. Clarke said they had taped the area off but there was nothing covering the hole. “It had fallen down,” Clarke told NBC10. “We’ve got four or five kids who play a lot. So what I did is I tried to secure it.” As Clarke walked in the area late Saturday night, the asphalt gave way and he fell into the hole. Clarke said he was in the hole for 20 to 25 minutes before responding Philadelphia firefighters pulled him out. He was taken to Temple University Hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

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SPORTS SPOT

Phils Lose to Mets: The Phillies lost 2 to 6 against the New York Mets. Get your full sports news at CSNPhilly.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

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THROUGH IGER'S EYES

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@andymack._ captured this cool image along a Philly street.

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TODAY'S VIRAL VIDEO

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How to make chocolate lava cake: Click here to watch.

Find a Participating Animal Shelter Near You: Animal shelters across the country are teaming up with NBC and Telemundo stations to find loving homes for pets in need. The third annual Clear the Shelters event, a nationwide pet adoption initiative, will be held Aug. 19. Hundreds of shelters in 20 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico will waive or discount fees as part of the one-day adoption drive. The goal is to #ClearTheShelters by finding 'furever' homes for as many animals as possible. More than 53,000 pets were adopted during last year’s event. Read more.

That's what you need to know. We've got more stories worthy of your time in the Breakfast Buzz section. Click here to check them out. 

Mostly cloudy this afternoon with some showers overnight. Temperatures are in the low 80's.

Several local communities are taking a stand against hate and racism in light of the violence. NBC10's Pamela Osborne has more on the response.

NBC10 was covering a man being wounded on Logan Way in Delaware County around midnight Sunday when additional shots were fired down the street. 

A couple was found bloodied and beaten in a South Philadelphia rowhouse late Sunday night, police said.

A relative who lives in the same apartment building on the 1300 block of Federal Street found the the two victims - a 23-year-old woman and 50-year-old man - in separate rooms of their first-floor apartment, police said.

Both victims had bruises on their faces and laid in pools of blood. The apartment was ransacked but there was no forced entry.

They were pronounced dead at the scene.

The city of Charlottsville is trying to find peace after a weekend fueled by anger and fighting. James Alex Fields Junior is charged with driving his car into a crowd of people will face a judge Monday. Fields Junior killed one woman and injured 19 others. The mother of the woman killed spoke out and is struggling with her loss.

For the first time ever, five of Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” paintings will be (almost) together.

The famous paintings from all over the globe will be displayed for an exhibit through Facebook Live.

Beginning at 12:50 p.m. (EDT) on Monday, the five paintings from the National Gallery in London, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Nipponkoa of Art in Tokyo will be united. 

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The paintings will be discussed and narrated individually by Willem Van Gogh, the great-grandson of Van Gogh's brother, Theo. The discussion will comprise five consecutive 15-minute Facebook Live broadcasts, starting with the National Gallery in London at 12:50 p.m. (EDT) and ending with with the Neue Pinakothek in Munich and Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Nipponkoa of Art in Tokyo at 2:10 p.m (EDT).

VR technology and a CGI will be used to make the paintings appear as though they are all in one room. Viewers will be able to either interact on Gear VR or see the exhibition as a 360 video on Facebook.

Philadelphia’s live video will begin at 1:50 p.m.

New Jersey police received a unique call on Saturday and now their Facebook page is getting more attention than they ever imagined.

“Just how many cops does it take to lasso a pig? The answer is 3,” Woolwich Township Police Department posted on their Facebook page.

The department received a call about a pig on the loose, so Sgt. Rieger, Cpl. Cook and Ptl. Ouellette responded to the need.

After finding the pig, the three created a makeshift lasso and lured it back into the owner’s yard.

What did they use to lure the pig?

Some Facebook members joked saying it should have been bacon, but, no, they used dog treats.

The team assures that no pigs were hurt in the capture and encourages everyone to post their "best pig/bacon/cop jokes in the comments."

A 36-year-old man secretly filmed women trying on clothes in the dressing room of a South Jersey Target store, police said Monday.

A victim told police she saw a man’s hand creep under her fitting room inside the store, located at 751 South Route 73, on Aug. 9 around 7:41 p.m. The hand was holding a cell phone, she said.

The victim attempted to confront the voyeur, but he ran out of the store.

Police have since identified the suspect as Francis Vain of Williamstown. Investigators found evidence that Vain has taken pictures of this victim and several others in “unknown fitting rooms,” officials said.

Vain was charged with first- and third-degree invasion of privacy, according to Evesham police. He was released on his own recognizance.

Today is staying gray. Skies will be cloudy, but there is no chance of rain until Monday night. NBC10 First Alert Weather Meteorologist Krystal Klei has your complete forecast.

A robber tied up an 84-year-old woman with belts during a home invasion in the Queen Village section of Philadelphia Monday afternoon.

The suspect broke into a home on the 700 block of S. Front Street at 1:59 p.m. He then approached the elderly homeowner from behind, placed his hand over her mouth and tied her up with belts inside her basement. Police say the suspect’s motive was robbery though they are unsure whether he stole any cash or items. The suspect eventually fled through an alley.

The woman managed to untie herself. Tommy Morgan told NBC10 he was walking down the sidewalk when he saw the woman running out of her home and screaming for help, prompting him to call 911.

“Her arms were red and she was screaming, indicating that someone was in her home trying to get money from her,” Morgan said.

The woman was not seriously injured during the incident. Police say she wasn’t sure how the man got in but investigators believe he either entered through a backdoor or window.

Residents told NBC10 Queen Village is a safe neighborhood and they were shocked and baffled by the crime. Police say the incident is especially alarming because it occurred in the middle of the day.

Police have not yet released a detailed description of the suspect but say he is a thin, white male approximately 30 years of age who was wearing dark pants. If you have any information on the incident, please call Philadelphia Police.

A Hazmat team and police officers gathered in West Philadelphia Monday to investigate a marijuana grow operation inside a home, leading to the evacuation of several residents on the block.

Narcotics officers and a Hazmat team arrived at a home on Cedar Avenue to assess the situation and make sure it was safe to enter. Several homes were evacuated on the 4800 block of Cedar Ave during the response and the street has been blocked off to traffic.

“We were just coming home to see everything blocked off,” one evacuated resident told NBC10. “My grandma comes in and she goes, ‘Well, someone has marijuana plants in the basement.’ As far as I know, we’ve never seen anything like this over 20 years we’ve been on the block.”

Officials say they discovered a large operation inside the home and that all four floors contain marijuana plants. Officials are working on removing the plants.
No arrests have been announced in connection to the search.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

Police are searching for a man who was caught on surveillance video urinating on a Northeast Philadelphia synagogue over the weekend.

The unidentified man first approached the front doors of the Congregation Beth Solomon on 198 Tomlinson Road Sunday at 12:30 a.m. Surveillance video shows the man pointing the middle finger towards the synagogue’s surveillance video camera. He then urinates on the walls and sidewalk directly in front of the building’s doors before fleeing in a white four-door sedan.

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The Anti-Defamation League released a statement Monday condemning the vandalism.

“We are revolted by this most recent display of anti-Semitism in Northeast Philadelphia,” said Nancy K. Baron-Baer, ADL Regional Director. “We’ve seen vandalism targeting Jewish institutions in the region before, but this latest incident turns the stomach. The amount of hate a person must feel to desecrate a house of worship in this way is incomprehensible and contemptible.”

The incident is the third time in less than a year Congregation Beth Solomon was vandalized. In September of last year, a vandal stole a large menorah outside the synagogue though it was later returned. In January the shopping center housing the synagogue’s ritual bath was spray painted with graffiti.

The ADL stated in their release that there has been a three-year increase in anti-Semitic activity in Pennsylvania and that the 67 incidents they recorded in 2016 were the most in the state in nearly a decade.

The suspect in Sunday’s vandalism is described as a thin man with a light complexion, approximately 20-years-old, with a short beard and black hair. He was also wearing a white shirt and jeans.

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If you have any information on his whereabouts, please call the Northeast Detective Division at 215-686-3153/3154.

A 13-year-old Jersey Shore boy is the latest victim of the ever-growing opioid crisis after testing found a mixture of heroin and fentanyl killed him.

Vincent Weiner, 13, was found dead on June 4 at his mother's home in Middle Township, New Jersey. He died sometime during the night, discovered in his bed around 10 that morning, authorities said.

The Cape May County District Attorney's Office said Monday that toxicology testing revealed the teen’s death was a direct result of a drug overdose. Both heroin and fentanyl, a much stronger opioid, were found in his system.

Detectives said Weiner was actively taking the illicit substances though they did not reveal the specific method.

Jamie Lund, Vincent's mother, said her "heart is broken, shattered into a million pieces" over the boy's passing. Lund said she's not sure how he got the drug. She's urged anyone who knows to tell her and police.

"If he had been using, it was unknown by all of us...there were no signs of anything," she told NBC10.

Lund described Vincent as a happy, goofy kid, but he was sometimes bullied in school. She learned of the bullying shortly before his death.

"The two weeks or so prior [to Vincent's death] there had been unusual behavior at school, it was discovered that he had been cutting. And stories of bullying in school began to surface," Lund said. He was set to enter 8th grade this fall.

Fentanyl is a powerful opioid approximately 100 times more potent than heroin. When used illegally, it is often converted to a powder form by drug dealers.

Cape May County's forensic lab has recently seen an increase in heroin laced with fentanyl, prosecutor Robert Taylor said.

The proliferation of opioids continues to claim more lives across the nation than car crashes and homicides. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 142 people die from a drug overdose every day. Half of the deaths are linked to opioids.

Over about an hour span last Wednesday, 16 people nearly died during a so-called opioid "free giveaway day" in Camden. All were revived using the overdose reversal medicine, naloxone.

Once rare, adolescent drug overdoses doubled between 1997 and 2012, a Yale School of Medicine Report found. A 2015 survey by the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality found 21,000 adolescents (ages 12 to 17 years old) had used heroin in the past year.

President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national emergency last week at the urging of the presidential opioid commission. The commission is led by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who has focused his last months in office around combating the opioid epidemic.

Taylor urged families to talk with their loved ones about the dangers of illegal drugs and to report any drug or criminal activity to the by visiting the Cape May County Sheriff's Office website or calling the Cape May County Crime Stoppers at 609-465-2800.

The weekend, NBC10 and Telemundo62 are pairing up for the Clear the Shelters Campaign. Here are the reasons why you should consider adopting a senior pet.

This upcoming weekend NBC10 will host the Clear the Shelters Campaign. A South Jersey shelter got a head start by bringing dogs to jail. Inmates had the opportunity to train dogs so that they may become a service dog for veterans. NBC10's Cydney Long has the story.

A viewer contacted Harry Hairston at NBC10 Responds after a year of back and forth with her couch warranty company.

NBC10's Lauren Mayk spoke with locals about their reaction to the violence that occurred at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend. 

We're just one week away from a solar eclipse that is taking the country by storm. NBC10's Tim Furlong finds out how our region is preparing for it and what you need to know to get ready for the big event.