UPDATE: The GOP-penned measure passed with a 103-91 vote late Wednesday night. It's now being sent to the Senate. New details HERE

Months after Pennsylvania lawmakers adopted a budget without a way to pay for all of the approved spending, the state is finally on the eve of "running out of money," as the Treasurer's office describes it.

Come Friday, Sept. 15, the state coffers will be empty, like a giant treasure chest plucked of its last gold coins.

So what happens to say, state workers' paychecks? Or payouts for services rendered, like medical providers for Medicaid recipients? Or even something like, Pennsylvania's reputation?

The Treasurer's office has some answers about the immediate future. (Uncertainty about longer term spending on things like education, infrastructure projects and other parts of government that falls under the discretion of the governor's office remains. We'll update this list as details become available.)

State payroll: The roughly 104,000 public employees in state jobs will have about $150-160 million coming to them in paychecks Friday. That kind of money, incredibly, won't really break the bank. Some revenue still comes in each month. It's just not enough — $2.2 billion not enough over the course of the 2017-2018 fiscal year. So if the state House doesn't pass a revenue package soon, the mounting deficit could eventually present problems for employees.

Medicaid payments:  Every month, the state pays out roughly $2 billion in Medicaid funds to medical providers throughout the state. That is not an amount that the Treasurer's office will be able to stretch if there is no House revenue plan in place. "There's not enough money to go to all these medical providers who have already provided services," Treasury spokesman Mike Connolly said. 

Credit rating: The fiscal dysfunction in Harrisburg has not been lost on credit rating agencies like Moody's and Standard&Poor's, which have warned that Pennsylvania's rating will be dropped again. Going broke will surely expedite the agency's downgrade, Connolly said. "And that is a backdoor tax, because it then costs more to borrow" for infrastructure, for schools, for preservation projects.

House Republicans, who are in the majority, have been meeting all week to try to get a plan in place to fully fund the 2017-2018 budget. Though lawmakers seemed to inch closer Wednesday afternoon, some had warned earlier in the week that negotiations could stretch into the weekend. By then, the state would already be out of cash.

The state's general fund will hit zero Friday, Sept. 15. Republican lawmakers in the state House, who control the legislative chamber, may hold a vote to approve a funding plan for the 2017-2018 budget and avoid the state going broke. Currently, the budget is $2.2 billion underfunded.

The District Attorney’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force just added their newest, one-of-a-kind member: Charlie.

Charlie, who was introduced by District Attorney Jack Whelan and Special Agent in Charge Marlon Miller of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, is a two-year-old Labrador retriever.

She is the first and only electronic detection forensic K9 in Pennsylvania, not to mention one of less than two dozen with this title in the country.

“Charlie is a great addition to our ICAC team in their daily efforts to bring predators to justice,” said District Attorney Jack Whelan. “In Delaware County, we are constantly looking at how we can advance our abilities and forensic capabilities to catch predators. Amazingly, Charlie can find elements of a crime that even the most seasoned investigator can miss, which are essential for prosecution.”

The ICAC’s goal is to protect against child predators which often includes cases related to child porn. Many of the pornographic images are found on electronic devices.

Charlie’s job is to find the devices that predators hide.

According to the Delaware County's director of Public Relations Emily Harris, Charlie can track the current and previous locations of small electronic devices that have potential to contain pornographic images. These small storage devices such as flash drives and SD cards have a specific chemical smell that humans cannot detect.

Charlie, alongside her handler and forensic analyst of the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division Nat Evans, was trained by Gerald Azzi of Azzi International Service for Dogs who has over 35 years of experience in training.

In 2016 alone, 3,003 cyber tips were received in Pennsylvania leading to 303 arrests. The Delaware County ICAC handled 29 of these arrests. Their work has led to finding the identity of seven pornographic abuse victims. The ICAC team all together consists of three detectives, two forensic analysts, two analysts who investigate cyber tips and now Charlie.

“We are excited to introduce Charlie the first and only ICAC electronic-detection K9 in the state of Pennsylvania," said Marlon V. Miller, special agent in charge of HSI Philadelphia. "Charlie has the ability to detect objects that would be impossible to find. We are excited to have her on the team and look forward to her contributions in helping bring predators to justice."

A Berks County father is accused of murdering his infant son.

Joshua Eric Leas, 31, of Robesonia, Pennsylvania, is charged with criminal homicide, 1st and 3rd degree murder, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children.

The investigation began on June 16 around 11:15 a.m. when Leas contacted South Heidelberg Township Police and reported that his 4-month-old son Logan Jeffrey Leas was unconscious. The baby was taken to the Reading Hospital and Medical Center where doctors discovered he was suffering from a brain bleed. He was then transported to Penn State Milton S. Hershey Center for further treatment.

Physicians determined the child was suffering from a subdural bleed, an injury normally caused by a head injury. They also found old bruising on his back and right side of his body. The baby died from his injuries three days later on June 19.

On June 22, an autopsy revealed the baby died from a subdural hemorrhage caused by a traumatic head injury. On August 31, investigators determined the hemorrhage was caused by “violent shaking of and impact to head.” On September 5, his death was ruled a homicide.

Based on the investigation, police determined Leas killed his son by physically assaulting him. He was arrested Wednesday at his job in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania and is currently awaiting arraignment. Officials say no bail amount will be set due to the nature of the charges.

Police are searching for a gunman who robbed a restaurant in Warminster and may be responsible for a string of other robberies in Bucks County.

The unidentified suspect entered Santucci’s Square Pizza & Restaurant on W. Street Road in Warminster Township late at night on September 1 as the business was closing.

“He broke through our screen door right as I was about to exit my office,” said Nick Carelli, who’s family owns the restaurant.

The armed robber demanded money.

“I tried to negotiate a little bit and told him we’re just employees, we don’t have access to that portion,” Carelli said. “But since I wasn’t by myself and had the kids there I got a little nervous about what he was going to do. He threatened to shoot us in the head if I didn’t open it up.”

Carelli told NBC10 the gunman wasn’t satisfied once the safe was opened up however.

“All we had was this change money, we had like coins and quarters and nickels for the cash register,” Carelli said. “I was like, ‘You can have that if you want.’ So I took all of them. It was like 50 pounds worth of coins.”

The gunman was carrying a plastic shopping bag. Carelli was hoping the weight of the money would break the bag.

“Luckily it actually did rip his bag on his way out and I got most of my coins back which is great,” Carelli said. “They fell like a trail on the street, down Olive Street.”

The suspect has not been found. Police also believe he’s responsible for other robberies in the Bucks County area, including one at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery on York Road in Warminster in late August. During that incident, the manager was forced to the ground at gunpoint.

“The only thing that we really saw was that he had like a brownish reddish beard or a goatee that stuck under his mask,” Carelli said. “He was a big guy. He was about like 6’1, 220.”

Police say the suspect has carried a silver gun during all of the robberies and normally strikes around the same time.

“His hands and his body is covered in all black,” Warminster Township Police Chief Jim Donnelly said. “Same duration of time. Moments in. Moments out.”

If you have any information on the suspect, please call Warminster Township Police.

From family weddings, to grandparents in their younger years, to holiday celebrations and 70s hairstyles, a South Jersey company is restoring precious memories for people devastated by Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey.

Victims of both storms are mailing their waterlogged photos to FotoBridge in West Berlin, New Jersey, one of only a handful of companies in the country that can take physical pictures, scan them and then save them digitally.

Thousands of photos are pouring in to FotoBridge in the wake of both storms.

“We could feel the moisture even through the outside of the box and knew immediately that they needed to be dried,” said Julie Morris, the president of FotoBridge. “They found us on the web by doing a quick search for photo restoration, photo saving.”

One customer was Lilly Warden of Houston’s Willow Meadows neighborhood which was hit hard by Harvey.

“We had 18 to 20 inches of water in our home,” Warden told NBC10.

The water severely damaged her family photos. But thanks to FotoBridge, her memories have been saved.

“I think I started crying like I’m getting ready to do now,” Warden said. “I just felt so compelled to save them. That’s my kids’ legacy. My grandkids’ legacy.”

FotoBridge has laid out thousands of water-damaged photos on a table, dried them, dusted them and finally scanned them so that they can be placed in a digital photo book and saved at a high quality.

“Everyone is gonna go around the clock and as stuff arrives we’re not gonna let anything sit,” Morris said.

Morris told NBC10 they’ve saved about 90 percent of the 3,000 photos that Warden sent to them.

“What other kind of job does someone get to do this? Its smiles. People only do this because they love their families,” Morris said.

To learn more about FotoBridge, Click Here.

As the opioid crisis continues to devastate the nation, a Philadelphia District Attorney candidate is showing his support for an idea that has never been tried in the United States; supervised injection clinics where drug users can self-inject in a safe and sterile environment. 

“I will support properly run and appropriately located supervised injection facilities,” Larry Krasner, the Democratic nominee for Philadelphia District Attorney, announced Wednesday. “No child should have to avoid dirty needles on the way to school. No mother should lose her son to a preventable overdose. No community should have to live with the problems of an entire society on its doorstep.”

The sites are legally-sanctioned facilities with the purpose of reducing public drug use and providing a hygienic and stress-free environment for people to inject drugs. Drug users have access to clean needles, sanitary facilities and medical professionals who can connect them with rehabilitation and other health resources.

There are currently approximately 100 supervised injection facilities operating in 66 cities in nine countries, including Canada. No such facility exists in the United States however. Other U.S. cities, including Seattle, have considered safe injection facilities. The proposals have sparked controversy.

“I don’t think saving lives is controversial,” Krasner told NBC10. “I think when you’ve gotten to the point when someone dies when you wake up and someone dies in the middle of the day and someone dies when you go to bed, we’ve gone too far.”

Beth Grossman, Krasner’s Republican opponent in the Philadelphia District Attorney race, also said it could be a good pilot program with community input. She’s also open to mobile safe injection sites.

“It is a public safety issue,” Grossman said. “It is a public health issue and I think if there could be a safe injection site for those who are addicted it could clean up some issues that go with it.”

One issue is the numerous amount of needles on the ground in Philly’s public parks.

“The safe injection zone I’m up for it for sure,” said Vincent Colon, a resident of Kensington, one of the Philadelphia neighborhoods hit hard by the opioid epidemic.

Colon told NBC10 drug users will usually get their fix no matter what and providing a secure place for them will make it better for neighbors.

“Too many, too many out here,” Colon said. “The kids cannot see that stuff. The kids cannot be around that stuff.”

Nicole Stevens, a Kensington resident who struggles with drug addiction, told NBC10 her neighborhood is one of the most dangerous places for her to be in.

“You walk out your front door and they’re trying, they’ve got this, this, this, it’s like a candy shop of drugs,” she said. “”It’s hard to actually get clean in this environment.”

A petition calling for Philadelphia to create safe injection clinics was made earlier this year. So far it’s gained 1,742 supporters.

More than 900 people died from heroin or opioid overdoses in Philadelphia last year compared to 277 homicide deaths, according to police records.

Nationally, drug overdose deaths involving heroin increased from 8 percent in 2010 to 25 percent in 2015, according to a study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Similarly, overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids increased from 8 percent in 2010 to 18 percent in 2015.

In Philadelphia, more than 55,000 residents are thought to be misusing or abusing opioids, city officials said.

Often users will quickly move from powerful painkillers to heroin when they can no longer afford the legal drugs. NBC10 explored this transition and how the crisis is claiming an increasing number of lives in a special, six-month long investigation, Generation Addicted.

In response to the ongoing crisis, Mayor Jim Kenney formed The Mayor’s Task Force to Combat the Opioid Epidemic. Members of the Task Force said in a report that they’re exploring the idea of safe injection clinics and talking with experts. They also plan to send a delegation to a supervised injection facility in the fall.

A local pharmacist is accused of trying to kill her ailing mother by repeatedly injecting her with insulin with the hopes of "ending her suffering."

Donna Horger, 49, of Feasterville-Trevose, Bucks County, was arrested and charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and neglect of care for a dependent person.

Investigators say Horger’s mother, 74-year-old Mary Horger, suffers from dementia and osteoporosis and is not mobile as a result.

Since February of 2017, Mary Horger has been in and out of nursing homes for rehabilitation due to the effects of her medical conditions, which include broken bones caused by her osteoporosis.

On August 18, Mary was found unresponsive at the Immaculate Mary Nursing Home in Philadelphia. She was taken to Abington Memorial Hospital where doctors determined she was suffering from Hypoglycemia – or low blood sugar -- with a blood sugar level of 42 mg/dl. Hypoglycemia is defined as a blood sugar level of 70 mg/dl or lower. While she was in the emergency room, her blood sugar levels fluctuated from 32 mg/dl to 124 mg/dl.

Severe hypoglycemia over a prolonged period of time can cause irreversible brain damage and heart problems and can even be fatal if not treated. Despite her alarmingly low blood sugar, Mary Horger is not diabetic and did not receive insulin treatments from doctors.

On August 21, at 9:37 p.m., nurses who were checking on Mary found her unresponsive. A blood test revealed her blood sugar was at 11 mg/dl and she was again suffering from Hypoglycemia. Her blood sugar level dropped to 5 mg/dl less than 30 minutes later but rose to 481 mg/dl after hospital staff administered dextrose.

Mary Horger had yet another episode of Hypoglycemia on August 30 with her blood sugar level dropping to 41 mg/dl at 3:15 p.m. and 32 mg/dl about an hour later. She received further treatment from hospital staff and her blood sugar level rose to 155 mg/dl.

Mary Horger’s doctor became suspicious of the repeated Hypoglycemia episodes and ordered several blood tests to determine the cause. Through the tests, the doctor discovered the insulin in Mary’s body wasn’t produced by her own body but was instead coming from an outside source. Staff members then discovered that someone outside the hospital was injecting Mary with insulin. Officials say each insulin injection could have been fatal if the hospital staff had not checked Mary in time.

On September 2, Abington Police interviewed hospital staff as part of their investigation. The staff members told detectives that only someone with a medical background would know what insulin can do to a person who isn’t diabetic. Police then discovered that Mary’s daughter, Donna Horger, was an experienced pharmacist with a license to administer injections. At the time of the interview, Donna Horger arrived at the hospital with her father, police said.

During an interview with detectives in a private room, Donna Horger allegedly admitted to injecting her mother with insulin. Horger told police that she hoped her mother’s blood sugar would drop and that she would not wake up and pass away, according to a criminal affidavit. Horger allegedly said she injected her with the hopes of “putting her mother at peace and ending her suffering.”

Horger was arrested and taken into custody. She was released after posting $25,000 bail.

In addition to being a licensed pharmacist, Donna Horger owns the Brooks Pharmacy on Torresdale Avenue in Philadelphia.

Mary Horger remains at Abington Hospital where she continues to receive treatment.

A friend and neighbor described Donna Horger as a good daughter who has a close relationship with her mother.

A deadly crash slowed traffic on Interstate 95 in Wilmington, Delaware Thursday morning.

Two cars collided around 6 a.m. in the southbound lanes in the area of Frawley Stadium, Delaware State Police said. The wreck left one vehicle backwards and debris all over the roadway.

One person died at the scene while another was taken to Christiana Hospital with undisclosed injuries, police said.

The roadway was closed at one point. More than an hour after the wreck, only one lane got past the crash site.

State police suggested motorists heading south use Interstate 495 as an alternate route. Anyone on I-95 in Wilmington will be diverted off at 4th Street.

Also, be ready to tap the breaks northbound due to a gaper delay, NBC10 First Alert Traffic reporter Jessica Boyington said.

No word yet on what caused the crash.

Twenty-nine people have been arrested in a roundup of alleged gang members on the Jersey Shore after a nine-month investigation prompted by a spike in shootings in several communities along the shore, authorities said Wednesday.

Operation Lights Out has resulted in the arrests of members of the Long Branch-based faction of the Bloods street gang, dubbed "G-Shine," along with gang associates, the Monmouth County prosecutor announced Wednesday. Authorities also seized two semi-automatic handguns, over 200 grams of cocaine, 35 bricks of heroin, about $14,000 in cash and three cars. 

The G-Shine gang allegedly distributed about 150 to 200 grams of powder and crack cocaine each week, with an estimated street value of $225,000, and about 250 packets of heroin each week, with an estimated street value of $22,500. 

The drug activity was linked to a spike in shootings in Long Branch, Asbury Park and Neptune Township, authorities said. 

In addition to the 29 arrested on various drug and weapons charges, authorities are searching for three more suspects in the investigation. 

The investigation was launched earlier this year by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office gang unit, with numerous other police and law enforcement agencies participating. 

There is confusion Thursday morning over tweets from President Donald Trump, saying that there has been no deal on DACA, contrary to earlier reports from Democratic leaders.

5 people were hurt in 2 different late night shootings in Philadelphia Wednesday. One person was shot in Logan around 9:30 then a drive-by left four people shot at 2nd and Lippincott streets in the Fairhill neighborhood.

The man suspected of gunning down a man outside a Delaware County apartment building is due in court Thursday morning.

Derrick Rollins faces the preliminary hearing on criminal homicide and first-degree murder charges. He is accused of gunning down John Le, 29, outside a row of three-story apartment houses in the 2300 block of Haverford Avenue in Haverford.

Derrick Rollins spent weeks on the run after the July 29 shooting before being captured outside Atlanta, Georgia in August.

After Rollins was arraigned earlier this month, Le's mother Huong Le said she is praying for Rollins.

"I forgive him," she said. "I just want to miss John. I just want to, my son is still alive. That’s why, because I miss him every day."

Police also say Rollins fired 17 shots at a group in Philadelphia’s Overbrook Park section, injuring two men, 20 minutes before he killed Le.

Rollins has remained jailed without bail in Delaware County. Court records list no attorney who could comment on his case.

For 100 years the Benjamin Franklin Parkway has connected Philadelphia City Hall to Fairmount Park, hosting American presidents, popes, academics and, even, Beyoncé along the way.

It's the beating heart of Philadelphia's cultural scene and its turning 100 years old.

The Parkway was originally designed to give Philly a little slice of Paris. Construction began in 1917 and took about a year to finish. It was originally called the Fairmount Parkway before being named for Philly’s favorite Founding Father in 1937.

To celebrate its centennial, the city has a full year of events planned including a big one Thursday night, the Cai Guo-Qiang: Fireflies public art performance featuring see a dreamlike orchestra of pedicabs – which are peddled taxi-cabs – mounted with glowing lanterns. The 7:30 p.m. event is free.

For the next year, Parkway 100 has events planned from special museum exhibits to public art installations to concert series. Click here for details.

More than a dozen activists interrupted Philadelphia City Council’s first meeting since summer break Thursday morning.

"Cindy Bass, people are being killed in your district," yelled one woman, who also addressed other members of council during a rowdy public comment section, said Layla Jones, spokeswoman for Councilwoman Bass.

The activist was a member of Philly for REAL Justice, an organization calling for police reform and a better relationship between black communities and law enforcement.

The group assembled earlier Thursday morning and marched from the embattled Frank Rizzo statue across the street to the council meeting in City Hall. 

The activists at times yelled profanity as they interrupted proceedings. City Council President Darrell Clarke allowed them to finish their statements, which were given during public comment.

Sheriff's officers removed some activists and issued citations to five people who were being very disruptive, sheriff's office spokeswoman Luz Cardenas said. The cited people must appear in court within 10 days and could face fines.

Black Lives Matter PA also spoke Thursday afternoon. Carnell Williams-Carney recounted being shot in the back in 2010 by Philadelphia Police Officer Ryan Pownall, who was recently suspended for shooting and killing David Jones in June. 

Williams-Carney was paralyzed and now lives in assisted living.

"If the officer had been charged the first time, there would not have been a David Jones," activist Asa Khalif said.

"It was about making sure [Williams-Carney] had a voice and he could give his account of what happened. People needed to hear his voice. Not only did they hear him, they saw him."

The meeting eventually continued with the council recording votes on measures.

Pennsylvania will go broke Friday and the state treasurer says he would not bail out the state again as it faces the ignominious distinction of failing to pay all its bills for the first time.

The state's general fund will run dry following more than two months of failed efforts in the General Assembly to close a $2.2 billion budget deficit.

The first bill that will not be fully paid is a roughly $2 billion Medicaid payment to eight medical insurance providers, officials said.

For weeks, Treasurer Joe Torsella has warned state lawmakers that the general fund would run out of money Sept. 15. He previously issued a short-term loan to allow the government to meet its financial obligations through August. But he said more recently he would not issue another loan through what is called the Short-Term Investment Program (STIP).

Torsella seemed inclined earlier in the week to issue another loan if the state House approved a funding package by Thursday to close the gap in the 2017-2018 budget. The $32 billion budget was approved in June by the Republican-controlled General Assembly even though lawmakers knew of the revenue shortfall.

The House did narrowly approve a funding package late Wednesday night. But it relies on transfers of money from funds dedicated to transportation, environmental protection and numerous other state programs as well as future expected revenue.

Those funding sources, along with the fact that the state Senate, which is on recess until Monday, did not immediately convene to consider the House package has not persuaded Torsella to look at loan options, his spokesman said.

"As of right now, we are not updating our position," Torsella's spokesman, Mike Connolly, said Thursday. "There is no revenue deal enacted with the House package. This doesn’t fundamentally change anything for the Commonwealth."

Connolly said the treasurer will continue to closely watch for more action by the General Assembly, but no funding moves will be made until a funding package is officially adopted.

Gov. Tom Wolf, who will decide what bills will go unpaid Friday, also expressed dissatisfaction with the House package. His spokesman, J.J. Abbott, told PennLive.com that it "fails the basic test of solving the fiscal problems."

On Thursday, he said more details would be released Friday morning about problems facing the state in paying its bills.

Here's a detailed look at what immediately happens when the general fund goes to zero.

A UPS driver struck an elderly woman in Center City Philadelphia Thursday afternoon.

The truck was going westbound on Walnut Street at 8th Street when it struck the 91-year-old woman, Philadelphia Police said.

The woman’s condition wasn’t known.

The truck stopped in the middle of the intersection. Expect traffic troubles in the area as police had the area roped off.

The circumstances of the wreck weren't immediately available.

'Too Soon'. No.

There have been quotes after the storms: “It’s too early to talk about climate change and these hurricanes.” Or, “It’s very insensitive to the people in ____” (add disaster location here). Ask the storm victims in Texas or Florida if it’s too soon, or insensitive. Maybe we really should ask the victims that question. Chance are, they’d say “no”. It’s natural for people to want to know WHY and HOW their life just changed.

Is it too soon, or insensitive for police to ask victims of a car crash what just happened? Yes, they may be in shock. Yes, it may be uncomfortable. But it is my experience that people who say “It’s too soon….” really mean: “I don’t want this subject to be talked about. Ever!” Increasingly, it’s getting too uncomfortable to try to defend the idea that climate change had no impact on these recent disasters (Oh yes, let’s add the record wildfires out west).

The Non-Alarming Part

* Hurricanes are a part of nature, and probably have been around longer than humans.

* Even “monster” hurricanes (Category 4 and 5) have happened in the past, long before any human influence on climate.

* Previous hurricanes (and typhoons or cyclones, they are all the same thing) have stalled, leading to record flooding.

* Human activities, aside from adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, have clearly led to more flooding and more deaths than before humans existed. Destroying wetlands, farms and trees, and replacing them with concrete has made flooding worse.

* The number of hurricanes in recorded history is too small, and the natural variability of them is so large that it’s hard to prove climate/hurricane connections.

So We Throw Our Hands Up And Can’t Say Anything. Right?

Of course not. Just because we don’t know everything doesn’t mean we know nothing. Not everyone who smokes ends up getting lung cancer. But if you do get lung cancer, chances are high that you are or were a smoker. Science is not always about absolutes and 100 percent certainty. We knew enough back in the 1950s to SUSPECT that smoking led to increased cancer risk. Additional evidence in the 60s led to warnings on cigarette packs.

In this case, no respectable scientist is going to say that climate change CAUSED Harvey and Irma. That’s not the proper question anyway. Climate scientists don’t talk about hurricanes that way. It’s called a “straw man argument.” That means “misrepresenting an opponent’s position to make it easier to refute.”

The analogy of a baseball player using steroids has been used by many climate scientists. A player like Giancarlo Stanton does not need any steroid help to hit home runs. They go so far that the question is absurd. But what about a player who happens to use steroids and hits the ball just over the fence. We can’t prove that he wouldn’t have hit the homer without the use of steroids, but we’re pretty darn suspicious. On the other hand, no amount of steroids would enable me to hit a homer off a major league pitcher (maybe a little leaguer).

So, if it only takes 5 inches of rain to flood your house, getting 20 inches from Harvey probably wouldn’t make you suspect that climate change had any significant impact. But if it takes 18 inches to flood, you might reasonably be suspicious that the extra couple of inches wasn’t all “nature”.

The Climate Change/Hurricane Connection

The world is governed by laws of physics. At least this world is. There are equations to describe those laws. Some are simple, while others are complex. But they have been accepted by the scientific world for centuries. One of them is the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. It shows that there is about a 3-percent increase in average moisture in the atmosphere for every 1 degree (Fahrenheit) of warming. So:

Warmer ocean = more moisture

More moisture = more rain (or snow)

More rain = higher chance of flooding, or more area is flooded

The waters in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and Tropical Atlantic have all warmed in recent decades. The amounts have varied, and daily weather patterns change those numbers, too. But that 3 percent moisture increase per degree is an AVERAGE over the earth. Storms tend to have the moisture gather in small areas. So we don’t know exactly how much more moisture was around for Harvey or Irma due to climate change. But we’re pretty sure it had some effect on increasing rainfall.

There are complicating factors that could add even more to the "moisture effect."

Warmer ocean = more intense storm

More intense storm = more wind

More wind = more “convergence” (winds coming together)

More convergence = more rain

So, this is a “multiplier”, also known as a “positive feedback.” So, what seems to be just a slight increase could be leading to larger ones than even current climate scientists agree on.

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Another factor that can actually be measured is sea level rise. We know how much it has risen over the decades. That amount is added to any storm surge, and increases the number of homes affected. This was calculated for Sandy, for example by the Institute for Environmental Studies in the Netherlands. The extra foot of sea level rise in the past century added about $2 billion extra damage. That didn’t mean anything if you were near the coast and flooded badly, but if you were in the area that flooded by a foot or less, it meant everything.

Harvey: The Storm That Refused to Move. Why?

No, we don’t know the answer to that question. And this is actually where an active climate change debate is happening right now (not the basics of climate change. They moved on from that long ago).

There have been some studies in the past decade that suggest a connection between the rapid ice melt in the Arctic and “blocking patterns” in the atmosphere much farther south. HIGH pressure across Canada, the North Atlantic or Greenland becomes even higher. One possible example was Sandy’s rare, sharp left turn that allowed it to slam into North Jersey. Some climate scientists suspect a connection, and have written peer-reviewed papers showing the reasoning.

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The most recent paper was published earlier this year by Dr. Michael Mann of Penn State, along with climate scientists from Minnesota, Germany and the Netherlands. It’s pretty complex stuff, but they did use real world data, and concluded:

“Both the models and observations suggest this signal has only recently emerged from the background noise of natural variability.”

Their 41 references include some of the biggest names in climate science. Some of their quotes:

Coumou et al.19 showed that the Northern Hemisphere summer jet and associated storm activity have weakened since 1979 and hypothesized that this could lead to more persistent, and therefore more extreme, summer weather.

This adds to the weight of evidence for a human influence on the occurrence of devastating events such as the 2003 European heat wave, the 2010 Pakistan flood and Russian heat wave, the 2011 Texas heat wave and recent floods in Europe.

Weather Channel meteorologist Stu Ostro has followed the Arctic weather pattern changes for more than a decade. No computer models, just weather maps of the actual weather. There are striking similarities in the strength of HIGH pressure well north in many record floods.

Irma: Most Intense

Irma was a borderline Category 4 hurricane when it hit the Florida Keys, with 130 mph maximum winds. But it was a Category 5 with 185 mph winds when it hit part of the Caribbean, including the Virgin Islands. At one point, it was the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin outside the Caribbean. Is it a coincidence that the most intense hurricane in the Atlantic occurred two years after the most intense hurricane in the Eastern Pacific (Patricia-215 mph), and only a few years after the most intense typhoon landfall in the Western Pacific (Haiyan-196 mph)? These “coincidences” are getting out of hand!

Did it really make that much difference that Irma went from 185 mph to 130 mph? It sure did. The chart below was the result of a study of hurricane damage back in 1998 (by Pielke and Lansea). The damage goes up exponentially, so there’s a huge difference!

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So, every bit of wind increase would make the resulting damage a lot worse. A 140 mph storm would cause FIVE times the damage of a 120 mph storm. And it’s not just the wind. The storm surge of an average hurricane would be about FIVE feet higher in the 140 mph storm, and at least TEN feet higher in the 185 mph Irma.

What’s my point? The warmer ocean than “normal” approaching the Caribbean probably intensified Irma somewhat. How much, we don’t know at this time. Research in the coming years may be able to answer that. We also don’t know yet if the unusually large size of Irma was related to the warming ocean (remember Sandy was the largest ever recorded in the Atlantic). If Irma hadn’t hit Cuba first, those winds in the Keys, Marco Island and Naples would have been much higher.

Also, add in the increased rainfall due to the increased moisture in the atmosphere, as explained earlier. The heavy rain in some areas (like Jacksonville) combined with the storm surge to create record flooding.

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The Bottom Line

1. No, it’s not too soon to talk about the climate change/hurricane connection.

2. The warmer ocean probably increased both the strength and rainfall.

3. There is increasing evidence that warming in the Arctic could be helping to stall storms, or steer them in unusual ways. This is a more controversial part of the conversation, but “attribution science” is gradually getting more respect in the climate science community.

4. There is still plenty of push-back on the climate/hurricane connection. But scientists aren’t just making up this stuff. They are collecting evidence and learning more each year.

5. Scientists tend to hesitate on making big pronouncements until they are at least 90 percent sure they are right. With such variable weather normally, it takes a lot of evidence to reach that level of confidence.

Because of all of the above, I have a very long-range forecast:

Twenty years from now, a lot of people will be saying: “What were they thinking back then? It was SO obvious that climate change was affecting extreme weather!”

Philadelphia’s opioid crisis is only getting worse, according to a report issued by the mayor’s task force.

In 2016, 907 people died from overdoses, more than three times the number of homicides in Philadelphia.

But officials project as many as 1,200 people could die from opioid-related overdoses this year, with thousands more suffering from non-fatal overdoses, according to Mayor Jim Kenney’s Task Force to Combat the Opioid Epidemic.

“The opioid crisis is one that strikes all of us,” David T. Jones, the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilities Services, said.

“Only by talking about how it affects us can we help stop folks from becoming addicted in the first place and help those in search of recovery. We need to pull this epidemic out of the shadows and hold everyone accountable to see it end.”

One possible solution for the burgeoning epidemic is supervised injection sites, an idea recently praised by the Democratic nominee for Philadelphia district attorney. It’s an idea that remains untested in the United States, but has shown some success in Canada and Europe.

“If there’s a chance that [these injection sites] can reduce the harms that this national crisis is inflicting, we have a moral obligation,” Larry Krasner said. “I don’t think saving lives in controversial.”

Currently, the only legal safe injection site operates in Vancouver, Canada. But the idea is not new to Philadelphia, where advocates and lawmakers have called for something similar to be placed near heroin hotbeds, such as the Kensington and Fairhill neighborhoods.

A petition calling for Philadelphia to create safe injection clinics was made earlier this year. So far it’s gained 1,742 supporters.

"We're ready to heal," Dan Martino, a local activist who started the petition earlier this year, told NBC10. "We're ready to move forward. We're ready to beat this."

Recently, Martino joined hundreds of people dressed in black as they marched through Kensington on Overdose Awareness Day. Attendees said they felt trapped in their own neighborhoods and judged by people who don’t understand the epidemic.

“They're not junkies. They're not scumbags. They're people that we love," said Ronnie Sue Kiser.

Nationally, drug overdose deaths involving heroin increased from 8 percent in 2010 to 25 percent in 2015, according to a study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Similarly, overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids increased from 8 percent in 2010 to 18 percent in 2015.

In Philadelphia, more than 55,000 residents are thought to be misusing or abusing opioids, city officials said. Nearly 470,000 people used prescription opioids last year, according to report.

Often users will quickly move from powerful painkillers to heroin when they can no longer afford the legal drugs. NBC10 explored this transition and how the crisis is claiming an increasing number of lives in a special, six-month long investigation, Generation Addicted.

While volunteers across the country banded together to collect donations for Irma victims, some of that help is now on hold as organizations struggle to get to Florida. NBC10's Cydney Long explains.