Pittsburgh has topped Philly for a dubious distinction.

Philadelphia is now second to the second largest city in Pennsylvania when it comes to texting and driving.

According to a recent study by AAA Mid-Atlantic, 91 texting-while-driving citations were written in Philly in 2013 – down from 202 the year before. Pittsburgh drivers got 126 tickets in 2013.

AAA said Philly was one of only a few counties to see a large drop in tickets.

The City of Brotherly Love might be trailing the Steel City but when you include Philly’s suburban counties, the Philadelphia five-county area still leads the state with the most violations with 428 -- 125 coming from Montgomery County alone -- a drop of nearly 130 tickets from the year before. The metropolitan Pittsburgh area came in with 232 citations last year.

Analysts hope the drop in ticketing means drivers are getting the message.

“Are Philadelphians putting the phones down more when they drive?  We hope so,” said AAA Mid-Atlantic spokeswoman Jenny Robinson. “Drivers are getting the message: it’s dangerous to text behind the wheel. Enforcement is important as well, but the goal is to change behavior and get people to stop driving distracted -- not just wait until they do it and then see them get a ticket.”

Authorities in New Jersey say they've found the body of a woman who was reported missing three weeks ago, and her husband has been charged in her death.

Police found 32-year-old Karla Jose Villagra Garzon's body inside an abandoned house on Southern Boulevard in Chatham Township in Morris County late Tuesday, about 11 miles away from her Elizabeth home, prosecutors say. 

Garzon, the mother of a 2-year-old child, was reported missing by her husband, Abayuba Rivas, 39, on Feb. 23. Rivas told police she left their home on East Jersey Street to walk to a local pharmacy and never returned.

Neighbors say they had always been suspicious of that account.

"They've got two cars. How's she going to walk away that late at night?" said Diana Giraldo. 

Giraldo described Garzon as a "very nice person" and "a very, very lovely mom." 

"We are in shock," she said.

Giraldo said there was never any indication Rivas was violent. 

An autopsy revealed Garzon died of asphyxiation, with blunt force trauma contributing as a factor, authorities said. 

Rivas has been arrested on charges of first-degree murder and other offenses. Bail has been set at $2 million, prosecutors say. 

Attorney information for Rivas was not available. 

-- Michael George contributed to this report. 

Neighbors heard the gunshots but they didn’t see a shooting that left a man dead on a Philadelphia street.

Shots rang out just after 1 a.m. along the 3200 block of Defense Terrace in the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s Abbottsford Homes development in the East Falls neighborhood of the city.

When police arrived a short time later they found a 36-year-old man shot twice in the head with a semi-automatic handgun, according to Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small.

“Medics on the scene pronounced him dead on the sidewalk,” said Small.

The man was later identified as James Chandler. Investigators found two spent shell casings near Chandler’s body leading them to believe he was shot at point-blank range.

Both Philadelphia Police and PHA police searched for clues in the nieghborhood.

Small said some neighbors heard the shooting but didn’t see the shooting.

“At this time we don’t not have a motive on the shooting, we do not have a description of any shooter or shooters,” said Small.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Philly Police.

New Jersey's attorney general has ordered the State Police to stop photographing protesters at Gov. Chris Christie's town hall meetings on the brink of Christie’s latest meeting with voters.

In a statement issued to The Star-Ledger of Newark, acting Attorney General John Hoffman said the State Police is responsible for the safety and security of the governor and public at town hall meetings. In doing so, Hoffman said troopers are careful to guarantee First Amendment rights are respected whether positive or negative toward the governor and his policies.

A spokesman for the governor said Christie was unaware that his critics were being photographed.

Wednesday's order came a day after a man who identified himself as a member of the State Police photographed protesters at a Christie event.

Christie is scheduled to hold another town hall meeting on Thursday, this time in Hunterdon County.

Christie is expected to talk about state finances on Thursday.

Christie's last two town halls were disrupted by hecklers affiliated with groups that have opposed him.

At least a dozen people were thrown out of a town hall in South River on Tuesday after shouting criticisms at Christie. They complained about how his administration is distributing federal recovery money and questioned Christie's role in a political payback scandal orchestrated by his aides.

A traffic-blocking plot and other possible wrongdoing are under criminal investigation, perhaps undermining Christie's potential as a 2016 Republican presidential candidate.

Christie's town halls have become less predictable since the scandal broke, but audiences remain mostly supportive.

Spring is here and that means more people will be using their bicycle to get around.

But with more bikes on the streets and parked on the sidewalk, comes the opportunity for more thefts.

Bike thefts are on the rise -- more than five bikes are taken a day, on average, in the city -- and there is something everyone can do to try and turn things around: Lock up their bikes the right way.

According to the most recent FBI Uniformed Crime Report statistics, nearly 200,000 bikes were stolen in 2012, up 3 percent from 2011. Overall, 3.4 percent of all reported thefts or larcenies in the northeast region of the United States involve bikes.

Experts estimate the number of actual bicycle thefts to be far higher. Some predict more than one million bikes are stolen nationwide annually since people don’t report bike thefts believing that they won’t get their ride back.

“Bike thefts are a problem,” said Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition spokesman Nicholas Mirra. “We are on an ongoing process trying to work with the police department.”

Despite efforts to decrease thefts, bike thefts have increased annually over the past five-plus years from 1,787 in 2008 to 1,976 last year a 10.6 percent increase overall, according to Philadelphia Police. This year the trend seems destined to continue since nearly 1,800 bikes have already gone missing.

Many bikes get locked up but go missing because the cyclist doesn’t properly lock the bike. The Bicycle Coalition says to "make sure your wheels (and seat post if it’s quick-release) are locked to your frame, and your frame is locked to something sturdy over which your bike cannot be lifted."

(For an example of proper techniques check out the photo above.)

Part of proper locking techniques include looping a U-lock through not only the tire but also the frame and using a cable lock to link in the other wheel. Heavy duty chain locks are also an option. Basically, you want to ensure that you make it difficult for a thief to remove the frame from the wheel or vice-versa.

According to the Bicycle Coalition, bikes get clipped -- another way to say taken -- for a variety of reasons besides not properly locking up or not locking at all including locking your bike to a place it doesn’t belong.

“In Philly you are allowed to lock to what’s called ‘street furniture,’” Mirra said. “You are allowed to lock to parking meters, poles and bike racks that are in the sidewalk, that’s public space, so if it’s a sign that says ‘2-hour parking’ you’re allowed to lock your bike to it as long as you’re not blocking the pedestrian right of way.”

It is also a smart to park in well-lit areas, Mirra said.

“What you’re not allowed to lock to is private property,” Mirra said.

Some of the common spots where people leave bikes where they don’t belong include railings up to doors, fences around gardens and fences around sidewalk planters.

If you park your bike there don’t expect it to be there when you get back.

Philadelphia Police spokeswoman Officer Jillian Russell said that police don’t ticket improperly parked bikes, but private citizens, in cases where the bikes are left attached to their property, have the right to remove the bikes.

A teenage boy is recovering after police say he was struck by a stray bullet during a shooting outside of an apartment complex in Coatesville.

The 15-year-old, who was shot when several men began fighting in the parking lot of the Regency Park Apartments Tuesday, is out of ICU and in stable condition, according to police.

Investigators say the men began fighting in the lot of the complex on Victoria Drive shortly before 5 p.m.

The fight soon escalated and at least one of the men pulled out a gun and opened fire.

Police say two of the bullets traveled to an apartment unit about 150 feet away. One of those bullets went through the window of a second floor unit and struck a the boy who was standing inside.

"We had a report of shots fired in the area," said Coatesville Police Chief Jack Laufer. "Apparently the child also heard the shots and went to the window when he was struck by a round."

The teen was struck once in the abdomen. He was rushed to Paoli Hospital where he underwent surgery.

"It's a shame," said Earlene Jones, a neighbor of the teen. "A stray bullet. They don't care about these kids. They know the kids are getting out of school. It's a shame." 

Investigators say the men involved in the gun fight fled the scene in white vehicles.

The vehicles were located and processed, police announced on Thursday, but now they're asking for information about the drivers or passengers.

"At this point we don't have any identification on any of the suspects," said Laufer. "Other than males that were seen fleeing the area. Nothing solid as far as physical descriptions or clothing or vehicles at this time."

Families who live in the area say they're concerned for their safety.

"I have a daughter and she should be able to come outside and play whenever she wants," said Erica Dillard.

Police are currently searching for witnesses and continue to investigate.

If you have any information on the identity of the gunmen, please contact the Coatesville Police Department.

The parents of 25-year-old Rachel Kennedy and 26-year-old Dennis Delany will meet for the first time Friday, about 10 weeks before the pair will walk down the aisle in the bride’s hometown of Atlanta. But the engaged couple -- set to graduate from Temple University’s School of Medicine in May -- is less worried about their future in-laws’ initial get-together than the results of the National Residency Matching Program announced the same day.

“I feel really nervous,” said Kennedy, who will specialize in psychiatry. “I’ve been dreaming about it all week.”

“It is our year of transitions,” added Delany, a Lancaster County, Pa. native who plans to be a pediatrician.

The medical students are just two of the more than 32,000 people who find out their professional fate Friday – commonly referred to as Match Day among medical students.

"This was the first big decision we had to make together and totally take the other person’s opinions to heart,” said Kennedy, who accepted Delany’s marriage proposal in November 2013.

• WATCH: School District Offers Trust Funds for Medical Care

After initial applications are submitted in mid-September, hospitals with medical residency programs conduct in-person interviews. Then the interviewees create a list ranking the programs as they see fit, according to the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) website.

Residency program directors create a similar list ordering the candidates according to their preferences.  Finally, a computerized mathematical algorithm aligns the lists to fill the training positions at teaching hospitals across the country, the NRMP website says.

For couples, the lists can be even more complicated as they submit their preferences in pairs.

“The top of our list is really focused on the southeast. For me, location was major,” Kennedy said.

“I was open to anywhere...but one of the locations she was fixed on wasn’t quite as strong a program for me," said Delany, who explained there were some negotiations to meet both their wants.

The combination of launching one’s career, potentially relocating to a new city and getting married in such a short period time is stressful, but one expert says the couple, as medical students, can likely handle the pressure.

“It is a huge decision to make right out of the gate, the marriage gate,” said Dr. Frank Farley, a psychologist at Temple University and a former president of the American Psychological Association. “But a marriage involves shared decision making, discussion over important issues and compromise. So some of the key ingredients in a happy, healthy marriage are in front of them right now.” 

They submitted their final list – 13 programs for her and 15 for him – to the NRMP about an hour before they were due.

The algorithm will weed through the pair’s nearly 80 possible combinations across nine different cities -- including Philadelphia, Atlanta, Nashville, Tenn., Charlottesville, Va., Charleston, S.C., and the Raleigh-Durham region in North Carolina -- before making a match.

“We are both making compromises,” Kennedy explained. “It is a matter of each of us forgoing what some of our top choices were to be with each other.”

The soon-to-be husband and wife will find out where they will begin their medical career Friday at noon on Temple’s campus in front of their families and all their peers.

“I’m going to be emotional,” said Kennedy, before adding that she knows it will turn out for the best. “Our list has the greatest amount of combined happiness.”

Investigators returned to a Montgomery County neighborhood Thursday to determine if a spurned lover put even more people's health in jeopardy by dumping ricin in a manhole.

Hazmat crews recovered a package from under the cover of a gas main shut off valve on South New Street, Hatboro -- near the Bybery Street apartment of 19-year-old Nicholas Todd Helman, who was arrested Wednesday on attempted murder charges.

"Late this afternoon we became aware of some information that the individual may have secreted some evidence into a gas main cover," said Hatboro police Chief James Gardner. "We believe we have located something of interest."

Investigators are working to identify the substance the package contains.

Even though officials emphasized there is no threat of imminent danger, residents were asked to stay in their homes while crews worked to recover the package. Authorities gave neighbors the okay to go outside around 6:15 p.m.

Police arrested Helman at his home Wednesday after he allegedly sent a scratch-and-sniff birthday card laced with ricin to a man dating his ex-girlfriend.

Officials searched the suspect's home for any traces of the substance Wednesday, but determined the scene was safe.

A man has died after shooting himself in the lobby of a Gloucester County hospital emergency room.

The unidentified 26-year-old man walked into the lobby of Inspira Medical Center Woodbury at 509 N. Broad Street in Woodbury, N.J. around 11:40 a.m. on Thursday, pulled out a handgun and fired on himself, a spokesperson for the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office said.

Sources tell NBC10 Philadelphia the man planned to commit suicide in front of his girlfriend, who works at the medical center, which was formerly known as Underwood Memorial Hospital.

The man was given treatment and was eventually flown by medical helicopter to the trauma unit at Cooper Medical Center in Camden, N.J. He died at 5:15 p.m., officials said.

A detective with the district attorney's office tells NBC10 Philadelphia there were 10 people in the ER at the time of the shooting and that the suspect did not make a threat towards any person.

Police were able to recover the gun and no evacuations were necessary, contrary to initial reports.

In a statement, hospital officials commended its staff for their reaction to the shooting, saying they regularly conduct drills for such incidents.

Philly's papal visit dream team leaves for Rome on Sunday and some (if not all) of the delegates are imagining what that moment might be like when they get to meet Pope Francis.

"I wake up every day and I pinch myself! Believe me when I tell you that," said Bob Ciaruffoli.

He's the President of the 2015 World Meeting of Families, which is being held in Philadelphia that September. Ciaruffoli, who is also the chairman and CEO of accounting firm, ParenteBeard, is one of the civic leaders traveling to the Vatican. Archbishop Charles Chaput leads the team, which includes some of the city and region's most influential political, religious and civic leaders. They'll travel to Rome next week and meet first with the Pontifical Council for Families at the Vatican, sign a celebratory contract and announce the theme for Philly's World Meeting of Families.

Then comes the most anticipated part of the visit which is their face-to-face time with Pope Francis

"As I read about this pope, this is a world-changing individual," said delegate Dan Hilferty, president and CEO of Independence Blue Cross. "The fact that I’m going with a group of folks who represent various faiths, various cultures, to meet with an individual who has stepped out of traditional bounds and said, ‘I’m about healing, I’m about reaching across traditional boundaries and I’m about helping the world understand that we need to be there for those who are less fortunate.’ So for me and for my wife Joan, this is very, very exciting."

The Philly delegates may get their first opportunity to meet Pope Francis during lunch on Tuesday. The delegates will dine in the Vatican's cafeteria, where Pope Francis almost always eats when he's home. According to local Catholic commentator and Whispers in the Loggia blogger Rocco Palmo, the pope not only likes to serve himself, he enjoys working the room and often sits down at different tables to visit with folks.

"I don’t know anything about the logistics, but just being in the cafeteria and having a lunch and being able to look over and see the pope, hopefully he will stop over and say hello," said Hilferty.

On Wednesday, March 26, the delegates and their spouse have a private audience scheduled with Pope Francis early in the morning before he holds his General Audience in St. Peter's Square. It's expected to be brief -- no more than 20 minutes. But even in that short amount of time, they hope to be able to impress and persuade Pope Francis to commit to a Philadelphia visit. It's expected that he will come, because traditionally, the Pope says mass at the World Meeting for Families, which is held every three years. 2015 will be the first time it's been held in the United States and if Pope Francis says mass in Philadelphia, Ciaruffoli expects upwards of one million people.

"It’s expected with the charisma and the buzz that Pope Francis has generated, we expect out-sized crowds; more than we’ve ever had in the city," Ciaruffoli said.

So how does persuading the pope work, as a team? Have they all been practicing their pitches?

"I can answer that very simply," Ciaruffoli said, with a good-natured laugh. "It’ll be off the cuff because almost none of us has ever met a pope before! So we’re gonna have to call it as we see it."

Officials have reopened several roadways running through Valley Forge Park two days after a broken sewer drain spewing thousands of gallons of sewage per minute forced the closure. 

• NEW: True Impact of Sewage Leak Unknown, Fish Kill Possible

Routes 252 and 23 in Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, Pa. reopened around 5:30 p.m. Thursday after a break occurred in the Valley Creek Trunk Sewer Force Main Tuesday morning.

Crews finished replacing the 30-inch main shared by Tredyffrin Township, Easttown Township, East Whiteland Township, Malvern Borough and Willistown Township about 30 minutes before traffic was allowed to pass.

An investigation into the cause of the break is underway, but officials say it will take at least several weeks before they get any answers. Officials say the same main also broke six weeks ago, though they have not yet determined the cause of that break.

Park rangers and police said water from the broken sewer main pushed through Route 23 in the park around 11 a.m. Tuesday and spilled off the side of the road, forcing officials to close the following roads for the past two days:

• Route 23 eastbound from Davis Road to Rt. 252
• Route 23 westbound from N. Gulph Road to Rt. 252
• Route 252 is closed northbound from the Pa. Turnpike
• North and South Outer Line Drives
• Gulph Road is closed from Thomas Road to Rt. 23
• Yellow Springs Road is closed at the Covered Bridge

A PennDOT official told NBC10 that the broken main caused thousands of gallons of sewage per minute to leak into the Valley Creek, which feeds into the Schuylkill River. Officials say more than three million gallons of sewage may be in the creek.

Officials say the sewage leak doesn't pose a threat to humans but could be a safety concern for wildlife in the area.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane has retained legal counsel to represent her in a potential defamation lawsuit against The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Philadelphia power attorney Dick Sprague tells NBC10.com the Commonwealth's top lawyer plans to file suit against the paper over a series of reports ran in The Inquirer this week regarding the AG's handing of a corruption investigation involving state lawmakers.

"The attorney general contacted me to see about representing her and ultimately suing whoever was responsible for the malicious words," he said adding that Kane plans to sue.

Earlier this week, Kane told NBC10 her office did nothing wrong and that the reports were "inaccurate and sensational," calling the paper's anonymous sources "cowardly."

Sprague and a source at the Inquirer confirm Kane, Dick Sprague and his son, Tom Sprague, visited the paper's editorial board on Thursday afternoon.

During that meeting, which was scheduled before the attorneys were hired, Dick Sprague informed the editors that he and Kane are concerned about potential defamation issues related to their reporting.

Citing the defamation concerns, the attorney told the editors the attorney general would cease to answer any questions from the Inquirer, the attorney said.

"I didn't want to cancel, but I did not think she should walk into the lions den with them prepared to attack her," Dick Sprague said.

The Inquirer ran a series of reports, the first of which was printed Sunday, questioning why Kane's office decided not to pursue criminal charges against eight Democratic state lawmakers, four of whom were from Philadelphia. Kane is also a Democrat from Philadelphia.

"My view of this matter is that there are real issues concerning the investigation done by previous prosecutors and it was going to come out," Dick Sprague said.

That investigation, which began under Gov. Tom Corbett when he served as AG, involved lawmakers allegedly accepting illegal payments.

Kane said she shut down the investigation after her office found serious flaws in the probe including possible racial targeting.

Philadelphia Inquirer Editor Bill Marimow on Thursday defended the paper's reporting telling NBC10.com the paper interviewed many people with in-depth knowledge of the investigation. He said some of those sources included members of Kane's staff.

"The Inquirer coverage of this sting investigation was really meticulously and carefully reported," he said. "The stories were the product of months diligent and dogged reporting. They weren't a leak of someone with a political agenda."

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