Saturday will bring more wet weather to our region and no sunshine, but Sunday is a different story. Sunday could bring some sunshine and much warmer temperatures to our region.
NBC10 First Alert Weather: Sunshine on Sunday?
Seal Sightings Increasing at the Jersey Shore
Beach-goers at the Jersey Shore have been reporting more and more seal sightings in the sand. But now, ahead of Memorial Day Weekend when crowds will increase at the beach, officials have some tips for you if you do see a seal.
Local Lawmakers React to Texas School Shooting
After students were killed in a school shooting in Texas on Friday, local lawmakers are reacting. And now some say they won't back down from the NRA.
NBC10 Responds: Warning for Medicare Recipients
If you're on Medicare, you can expect a new card to arrive at your home soon. The new card eliminates personal information to help reduce fraud, but now scammers are trying to find a loophole.
The Local Connection to an Attorney's Racist Rant
One attorney's racist rant in New York City went viral, and that attorney grew up on the Main Line. Now, those who know his family are reacting.
Chestnut Hill Home & Garden Festival Kicks Off
Green will line the streets of Chestnut Hill this weekend as the Home and Garden Festival kicks off. From food, to brews, and of course plants, the festival has something for everyone.
Comic Con Kicks off in Philadelphia
From costumes, to props, to character statues, Comic Con is jam packed with all things fictional. More than 50-thousand fans packed into the Convention Center to get in on the fun.
Raging 5-Alarm Inferno Engulfs Defunct North Philly Factory
A massive wind-fanned five-alarm fire has consumed a large industrial building in North Philadelphia.
Huge flames shot from the roof and windows of the 332,600-square-foot brick structure at N. 21st and W. Clearfield streets Friday evening.
Walls of the building, which spans nearly a city block, collapsed the street below taking down live power lines and hampering firefighting efforts. Thick, black smoke was seen for miles.
Firefighters are shooting water from ladder trucks, but keeping their distance because of flying debris and those downed power lines.
The fire spread to nearby buildings with the help of northeasterly 16 mph winds. Fire officials said they're also fighting flames at a building at N. 22nd and W. Indiana streets.
No homes have been evacuated. Amtrak and SEPTA regional rail lines run near the structure, but the fire has not affected service.
Nearly three hours after it started burning, the fire was placed under control just after 9 p.m. Fire Capt. Clifford Gilliam said firefighters will likely be dousing hot spots into Saturday morning.
The building formerly housed the Steele Heddle Manufacturing Complex which manufactured textile loom accessories. The business shutdown in 1983. In 2010, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The property was sold in 2007 for $1 to AM8 Group Steel Heddle, city records show.
Philadelphia's Department of Licenses and Inspections listed the building as imminently dangerous dating back to March 2015, city records say. Inspectors listed loose walls and missing bricks as the reason for the status. The case was closed this March.
Still, the city lists the building as sealed and structurally compromised.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Photo Credit: NBC10
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65,000 Dots: ATF Helps Philly Connect Crimes Through Bullets
Philadelphia police are utilizing bullets at crime scenes more than ever to piece together links between shootings and gunmen.
Investigations of shootings now involve analysis of all bullets and shell casings found as part of detective and street work by local police, according to officials who oversee the lab work.
They are agents with the local division of the federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms law enforcement agency.
"They weren't done efficiently beforehand," ATF Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Robert Cekeda said. He is in charge of the division's crime gun intelligence center.
The policy change is simple, yet constitutes a monumental shift.
For decades, the Philadelphia Police Department only analyzed ballistic evidence needed for trials. Other shell casings collected at crime scenes sat in evidence lockers across the city.
Two years ago, a new collaboration with the ATF meant the collection and analysis of all shell casings. It was extra work, officials have said. In Philadelphia, investigators now analyze roughly 65,000 bullets and shell casings every year.
But it's paid off and solved crimes.
Take the case of Robert Gotwalt, who was shot in 2015 breaking up a robbery on his block in the Kensington section of Philadelphia.
Detectives had few leads initially. But once the ATF investigators began analyzing the bullets found in Gotwalt's attack, they found the same gun had been used in seven different shootings.
Eventually, the gun was traced to a man named Amin Ackridge, investigators said. Officials credited the more comprehensive ballistic analyses with connecting the dots and solving seven violent robberies.
Ackridge is serving 178 years in prison.
"It allows us to take all of our collaborative efforts and to identify, investigate, and incarcerate the trigger-pullers," Cekeda said.
Photo Credit: NBC10
Royal Fans Excited Ahead on Wedding Eve
Just a few hours until Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tie the knot and Royal Family fans are super excited for the big event.
Rainy Saturday With a Weekday Warm-Up Ahead
Keep the umbrella, raincoat and rain boots handy through the weekend. Steady rain is most likely through Saturday morning, with brief periods of heavier rain. In the afternoon, showers and thunderstorms will pass. Temperatures remain cooler than average, in the 60s.
Rep. Lou Barletta Faces Skeptics in Pa. Senate Race
Long before he got into politics, Lou Barletta was an aspiring professional baseball player who, he says, flunked a tryout with Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds because he couldn't hit a curveball.
Now that he's challenging two-term Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in the fall election, Barletta will need to hit a lot of curveballs, politically speaking.
There is no independent poll that puts Barletta within striking distance of Casey. The four-term Republican congressman hasn't received any outside help to boost his image or name, now just under six months until the general election. And he is nagged by questions about whether he is too closely tied to President Donald Trump to make his race about anything else.
Barletta is, after all, one of Trump's earliest backers in Congress and the man who made a name for himself for blazing strict — and ultimately unconstitutional — policies against illegal immigrants more than a decade ago as the mayor of the small city of Hazleton in northeastern Pennsylvania.
In Tuesday night's primary victory speech, Barletta, who got to Congress by beating longtime Democratic Rep. Paul Kanjorski in 2010, seemed to embrace the adversity.
"The media said that Donald Trump could not win in Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania sent Donald Trump to the White House," Barletta told the crowd. "I was also told that I would never be mayor and I was mayor for three terms. They also told me I'd never beat a 26-year incumbent and we beat a 26-year incumbent. And now they're saying that I'm not going to beat Bob Casey, and we're going to beat Bob Casey."
Barletta pinned the media as skeptics, but Republicans themselves are quietly skeptical of Barletta's chances.
On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the Washington Post that he believes nine states will decide the battle for Senate control: Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Tennessee and West Virginia.
To some extent, Barletta's problem is the large number of battleground states for control of the Senate, now held by Republicans by the slimmest of margins, 51-49. That means competition will be stiff for campaign cash from the party's major donors.
Five states — Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia — where Democratic senators are running for re-election gave Trump a double-digit percentage win over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016's presidential election. Those are big targets for Republicans, while Trump eked out a win in Pennsylvania of less than one percentage point.
Trump may deliver millions of dollars to help Barletta's campaign, but Barletta could still be hobbled without substantial outside help from other Republican super PACs like McConnell's.
While major Republican campaign-spenders consider where to spend their money, Barletta hasn't wowed anybody with his own fundraising: he had $1.3 million in the bank at the end of April, compared to Casey's $10 million.
Besides fundraising, Casey — the 58-year-old son of former Gov. Robert P. Casey who has won five statewide elections — has a list of built-in advantages.
For one, Democratic voters are showing more enthusiasm for the November election, according to polls by Franklin and Marshall College and Muhlenberg College. Democrats also have a 5-4 registration advantage over Republicans that has helped Democrats win 18 of the last 24 statewide elections, including Casey's 2012 victory by more than 9 percentage points.
Plus, Casey has approval ratings that reflect no apparent weakness, backlash or scandal that is typically the undoing of an incumbent, pollsters say. Meanwhile, Barletta is so closely identified with Trump that the race may end up being a referendum not on Casey, but on a president whose voter approval rating right now is too low to help Barletta, said Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College.
Barletta insists he can appeal both to the blue-collar Democrats who helped Trump win Pennsylvania and the moderates who typically swing the state's elections.
Two-term Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello, of suburban Philadelphia, said that, at some point, Barletta must send a persuasive message to moderate voters, for instance his experience starting a highway line-painting business as a young man or working in Congress on transportation infrastructure.
"He has a good story to tell," Costello said. "He needs to make sure he can tell it."
Photo Credit: Matt Slocum/AP
Philly-Bound Southwest Flight Diverts Due to Warning Light
A Southwest Airlines flight traveling from Las Vegas to Philadelphia diverted to Indianapolis Saturday afternoon due to a warning light.
Flight 5913 was headed to Philadelphia when the pressurization indicator light turned on, according to a Southwest Airlines spokesperson. The spokesperson said the flight never actually lost pressure however.
The husband of one of the passengers told NBC10 no one needed oxygen masks during the incident though some people experienced panic attacks.
The flight landed safely at Indianapolis International Airport as a precaution. No serious injuries were reported.
The passengers were accommodated and are expected to arrive in Philadelphia about four and a half hours behind schedule. The diverted flight will undergo a maintenance review.
The incident occurred a little more than a month after a Southwest Boeing 737 made an emergency landing in Philadelphia following a mid-flight engine explosion that blew out a window. A woman on the aircraft died after she was partially sucked out of the window.
In response to the explosion, the FAA ordered hundreds of similar Boeing 737 engines to be inspected. Under the April 20 order, all CFM 56-7B engines that went through at least 30,000 takeoffs or landings had to be inspected within 20 days.
Local Women Get Front-Row Seat to Royal Wedding
While many of you watched the Royal Wedding from home, some people from our area had the best view of all.
First Alert Weather: Afternoon Showers Likely
NBC10 First Alert Weather meteorologist Krystal Klei is tracking a system change, which means drying conditions for the start of the work week, but there will be a chance of spot showers Sunday afternoon.
Clean Up Continues After North Philadelphia Factory Fire
A fire that took down portions of a factory in North Philadelphia on Friday still has crews on-site this Sunday morning. Wind blew embers into the second floor of a nearby sanctuary, but nobody was injured.
McDonald's Drive-Thru Shooting in Fishtown
Philadelphia police are looking for the gunman who shot a man in the drive-thru of a Fishtown fast food restaurant early Sunday morning.
Parents Speak Out Against Plan to Move Students
Parents are speaking out after officials announced that some students from an overcrowded Philadelphia elementary school will move to a middle school.
Parents of students at Mayfair Elementary School received a letter from the principal announcing Kindergarten and 1st Grade students will move to Austin Meehan Middle School on August 27, 2018.
Mayfair Elementary is located on 3001 Princeton Ave. Austin Meehan is located a little less than a mile away on 3001 Ryan Ave.
“This important change was necessary due to increasing enrollment within our school’s catchment area, and to ensure our primary years program is able to be offered without interruption,” Mayfair Elementary School principal Guy Lowery wrote to parents.
Mayfair Elementary School was built to accommodate 955 students but currently has 1,657, according to data from the Philadelphia School District. The school’s population has also increased over the past five years.
“We will relocate approximately 400 students to create safe conditions at the school, bringing the population at Mayfair to approximately 1,257,” a spokesperson for the District wrote.
The District will work over the summer to make sure the Meehan building is partially renovated and enhanced to “ensure our younger learners are able to attend class in a facility that is appropriate for primary grade instruction,” Lowery wrote.
Despite the relocation, the Kindergarten and 1st Grade students will still be classified as Mayfair Elementary students and there won’t be any change to their academic program, according to Lowery.
Mayfair Elementary teachers, administrators and support staff, including an Assistant Principal, school secretary, counselor and school police officer, will also move to the new location.
“The Mayfair program will operate completely independently and separate from the Austin Meehan program,” Lowery wrote.
The District spokesperson said a Kindergarten through 1st grade “pod” will be created in the Meehan building with its own entrance, establishing a “school-within-a-school atmosphere for the Mayfair students.”
The pod will have several renovations, including new bathrooms, updated furniture, fresh paint and upgraded lighting. There will also be an indoor and outdoor play space for the students.
The Mayfair students will also be provided daily transportation to and from Meehan.
Some parents created a petition to stop the move, arguing that Mayfair Elementary has classrooms specially equipped for the Kindergarten students and the move is unnecessary.
“This is outrageous,” one parent wrote. “My kids will be separated in two different schools and not to mention my son will be thrown into one of the worst schools around here with middle schoolers with bad behavioral problems!”
A meeting was held Thursday in which officials discussed the planned move with parents.
Photo Credit: Google Maps
31-Yr-Old Man Dies After Being Ejected From Car Near I-76
A 31-year-old man was killed Sunday morning after being ejected from his car and then run over by another vehicle on Roosevelt Boulevard near the ramp to Interstate 76, Philadelphia police said.
The victim, who has not been identified, was taken to Temple University Hospital and pronounced dead around 8 a.m.
It is unclear how or why the driver was ejected from his car.
Editor's note: Officials initially described the victim as a 40-year-old man.
Photo Credit: 511PA
NJ Police Officer Saves Baby Deer By Performing C-Section
A New Jersey police officer saved a fawn by performing an emergency C-section after the baby deer’s mother was hit by a car.
Animal control officer Robert Lagonera was called to the scene of a doe that had just been hit by a vehicle around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, the Washington Township Police Department said in a Facebook post.
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The doe passed away, but still had a moving fawn inside of her, Lagonera said.
“Washington Township police Officer Vernon took the initiative and performed an emergency C-section on the deceased doe saving one of the two fawn inside,” wrote on the department’s page. “I arrived and took it home to dry it off and get it warm while rubbing its chest to help the underdeveloped lungs work.”
Photos posted on the department’s page show the newborn fawn wrapped in a blanket.
While he was attending to the fawn, Lagonera learned that a horse was on the loose not far away, he wrote. The two officers managed to coax it back into its paddock before they shifted their attention back to the fawn.
“Now I’m running around getting the premature fawn the care it needs,” he wrote. “No amount of coffee is too much today lol.”
Photo Credit: Washington Township Police Department
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