Pennsylvania's auditor general wants to stop a planned ride-hailing surcharge in Philadelphia before it starts.

The Philadelphia Parking Authority wants to impose a 50-cent fee on each hailed trip that starts within city limits. The money, $10 million or more annually, would go to the school district and monitoring of ride-hailing vehicles, the PPA said.

On Tuesday, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale formally asked the PPA to scrap the surcharge plan.

"Before the PPA imposes new fees on the citizens of Philadelphia, it should provide a full and thorough accounting for where it stands on implementing the 117 recommendations for improvement made in my audits last December," DePasquale said in a news release Tuesday.

That audit found more than $77.9 million in revenue the Philadelphia school district possibly missed out on from 2012 and 2017.

"While the PPA claims the fee will generate additional funds for the city and the School District of Philadelphia, the PPA needs to completely clean up its operations and rebuild some trust with residents before adding fees," he said.

The fees could also unfairly target Uber and Lyft riders, especially minorities, DePasquale said.

"I support the Philadelphia NAACP, Urban League of Philadelphia and the African-American Chamber of Commerce in raising concerns that the PPA’s proposed 50-cent-per-ride fee could have a huge impact on people in communities of color where ridesharing services have increased access to transportation."

PPA executive director Scott Petri disagreed with "the substance" of Pasquale's statement.

"I welcome the chance to review this issue with him as I have with many other businesses, community groups and elected officials," Petri told NBC10. "The 50-cent surcharge proposed for TNC service in Philadelphia will replace the fee now charged by Uber and Lyft."

The PPA plans to continue to push lawmakers to adopt the surcharge.

"It will properly fund the regulation of the additional 20,000 vehicles now in service in Philadelphia and provide well over $10 million to the schools each year," Petri said. "The surcharge is consistent with emerging practices in other major cities and is the most equitable and auditable process available."

Many people look past the safety of wearing a life vest when on the water. The US Coast Guard recently gave  tips on how to properly wear and utilize a life vest and how it can ultimately save your life.

A modern oyster bar will soon be added to Philadelphia's extensive food scene in Center City's newest skyscraper.

The Four Seasons announced Wednesday that Vernick Fish will open inside the Comcast Technology Center this fall. It's one of four restaurants coming to the new tower and the first concept to be unveiled.

Helmed by the award-winning Chef Greg Vernick, the eatery will serve seafood and have a selection of other proteins and vegetables for guests.

The new Comcast Technology Center is located at the intersection of Arch and North 19th streets, and is the tallest building in Philadelphia standing at 1,121 feet. The building will become the new home of NBC10 and Telemundo62.

Although the Four Seasons Hotel will be located between the 48th and 60th floor, Vernick Fish will remain at street level, offering accommodations for up to 200 guests both day and night, including both indoor and outdoor patio seating, communal and private dining and an energetic bar.

Chef Vernick is excited to bring his his latest eatery to the City of Brotherly Love.

"I’ve had a modern take on an American oyster bar in mind for the last several years, and I’m grateful to be able to open another restaurant in Philadelphia, a city that I will forever call home,” he said.

Comcast is the parent company of NBC10.

Betsy DeVos, the Secretary of Education said it should be up to an individual school to decide whether to call immigration officials on undocumented students in their classrooms. Local families react to her comments.

A teen wanted for gunning down a Philadelphia high school student along South Street on Easter Sunday is behind bars.

Police arrested Zahmir White without incident in West Philadelphia around 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Police didn't immediately reveal exact details on how they tracked down the 18-year-old wanted for shooting and killing 16-year-old William Bethel on April 1.

White was in trouble with the law before but nothing as serious as this, police said. He is expected to be charged with murder and weapons charges.

White got into an argument with Bethel and some other people shortly before 6 p.m. on the 800 block of South Street, police said. White then took out a gun and opened fire, striking Bethel in the buttocks and pelvis and shooting two other people, investigators said.

Bethel died two days later at the hospital.

“Disputes and fights used to get settled with fists,” Philadelphia Police Capt. John Ryan said at an earlier news conference. “It gets settled with guns now. That’s not what to teach your children and it’s going to ruin lives.”

Bethel was a student at Boys' Latin of Philadelphia Charter School where he played football. He also boxed and loved to ride his bike.

“Whether it was football, basketball or school, everybody that’s around Will just flat out loved the kid,” Bethel’s former youth football coach Shawn Oliver said.

No word yet if White has an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

May 28 marks not just one, but two holidays for those who love a juicy burger. If you are looking to make your Memorial Day a bit more special, Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse is debuting its new Surf and Turf Burger and Beer special.

In honor of National Hamburger Day on the 28th, Davio’s has taken their famous steakhouse burger to another level by combining 8 ounces of Kobe beef with Maine lobster, ruffle-champagne fonduta and butter lettuce inside a toasted brioche bun. The burger can be washed down with a Victory DirtWolf Double IPA which is brewed locally in Chester County.

The Surf and Turf Burger and Beer pairing can be purchased through May 28 at Davio's located at 17th near Sansom Street.

Did we mention it'll cost you $50?

At least two people were hurt in a crash on the Atlantic City Expressway ahead of the busy Memorial Day weekend.

A box truck crashed off the roadway and into a tree around 1:50 p.m. Wednesday along the westbound expressway near milepost 33.5 in Winslow Township, New Jersey, state police said.

Two people were trapped inside the vehicle but were later rescued. The AC Expressway was closed temporarily as a medical helicopter landed on the highway.

Both victims were taken to the hospital. Officials have not yet revealed their conditions but say they suffered significant injuries.

Partial closures are still in place at the scene of the crash but cars are still getting by.

This weather might make you think of the beach. Down in Delaware, everyone is already getting ready for a busy and hopefully profitable summer season.

Former Phillies great Lenny Dykstra was arrested early Wednesday morning for allegedly threatening to kill an Uber driver and having multiple types of illegal drugs, police in New Jersey said.

The 55-year-old, who helped the Phillies to a World Series in 1993 and won a championship with the New York Mets in 1986, allegedly had cocaine, MDMA and marijuana on him when officers found him about 3:30 p.m., police said.

The arrest occurred in Linden, which police there described as Dykstra's current home.

Officers busted Dykstra out front of the police department, which is where the Uber driver drove after the retired ballplayer allegedly threatened him.

The whole incident began because the driver refused to change the initial destination that Dykstra requested, police said. The driver, a 47-year-old Roselle man, abruptly stopped in front of the police headquarters, beeped his horn repeatedly, then ran from the car.

He later told police that Dykstra allegedly pointed a weapon at his head, though officers said no weapon was recovered.

The drugs, however, were found, police said.

Dykstra is charged with terroristic threats and various drug offenses. He was released on a summons to appear in Union County Superior Court next month.

Some of the bravest people among us gathered in one room in Philadelphia Wednesday. Some are police officers, others are regular citizens. All of them are heroes.

A senior citizen says he's been trying to get a refund for months from SEPTA. So he contacted Harry Hairston and NBC10 Responds for help.

So-called sunscreen pills are fakes and people should not fall for the scam, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday, NBC News reported.

“There’s no pill or capsule that can replace your sunscreen,” FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in a statement.

The agency specifically called out the companies that make Advanced Skin Brightening Formula, Sunsafe Rx, Solaricare and Sunergetic, saying they should stop claiming people are protected from the sun's rays.

None of the companies contacted by NBC News for comment responded immediately.

A staff member brought a firearm to a Center City charter school Wednesday morning.

Police were called to the Russell Byers Charter School on the 1900 block of Arch Street after faculty at the school learned the staff member had brought a weapon.

Police escorted the staff member out of the building for questioning. No one was injured during the incident.

“We are thankful that at no time was the safety of our students in jeopardy,” school Principal Kareem Goodwin wrote to parents.

The school’s counselor spoke with students who saw the weapon. Other students were encouraged to reach out to the counselor if they wanted to talk.

“As a parent myself, I know this incident can cause alarm but please rest assure that your child’s safety is our first and top priority,” Goodwin wrote.

The staff member, who was placed on indefinite suspension, has not been identified.

A spokesperson with the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office told NBC10 they're aware of the incident and investigating but charges have not been filed.

Twenty years ago, the rape and murder of doctoral student Shannon Schieber proved to be the tragic turning point in the way the Philadelphia Police Department investigates sexual attacks.

Schieber, 23 at the time, was killed inside her city apartment by a man later deemed "the Center City rapist" for a heinous series of rapes in 1997 and 1998. Schieber was his fifth of six victims in Philadelphia. Troy Graves, who is serving life in prison, went on to commit another eight sexual assaults in Colorado, where he was eventually caught.

"If you look in the city of Philadelphia, there were positive developments," Schieber's father, Syl, told NBC10 in a interview. "For us, it came at a tremendous cost."

Her mother agrees.

"We think our daughter was the poster child for a lot of the good that has come since then and we're very happy about that," Vicki Schieber said.

The city police department has since overhauled what was once called the Sex Crimes Unit into the Special Victims Unit, and the way SVU detectives conduct investigation has shifted drastically as well.

One of the biggest changes is a once-a-year review process. Volunteers with women's groups and children's advocacy organizations spend three days reviewing about 400 cases handled in the past year.

Since it began more than a decade ago, "the Philadelphia Model," as it's known, has spread to other cities, including New York and Ottawa, Canada, where independent groups also review with detectives how investigations are conducted.

The Ottawa Rape Crisis Center in Canada has launched 12 pilot programs since 2016, with several more in the works, all based on the Philadelphia Model. The New York Police Department launched a case review last year. It’s also based on the Philadelphia Model, but it’s called the Timoney Review for John Timoney, who is a former Philadelphia police commissioner and former NYPD first deputy commissioner.

Carol Tracy, longtime executive director of the Women's Law Project in Philadelphia, has been part of the confidential review process since its creation 18 years ago. She says the outside volunteers lend a different perspective to the investigative process that helps detectives see their cases in different ways.

Often, the emphasis is on how detectives handle the victims of sex crimes.

"How has the person been questioned? It's very easy to slide into an interrogation instead of an interview," Tracy said.

In other ways, the independent perspectives have opened the eyes of commanders, who, as with the case of the Center City Rapist, realize they're not making obvious connections.

"The whole goal behind the whole thing is to improve the quality of our investigations," SVU Captain Mark Burgmann said. "So if you have someone coming in with a different perspective, with a different set of eyes looking at it, it's good because sometimes they see things we don't."

At the time of serial rapist Troy Graves's rampage, city detectives assigned to the case didn't notice the pattern that played out in rapes during the prior year.

A retired SVU supervisor, former Lt. Tom McDevitt took part in the initial case reviews more than a decade ago. While the Philadelphia Model became a model for police departments across the country, McDevitt said its initial effect on the unit was shocking.

"I remember the day I said, 'How did we get this bad? What did we do?' It was eye-opening, like a smack in the face to us," he said during a recent trip back to the area of Center City where Graves, who is serving life in prison, committed his crimes. "It was a humbling thing that we said, 'Wow, if we really want to be this good, we have to change.'"

Police captured the suspect in an armed carjacking and found two children following a wild chase in Northeast Philadelphia Wednesday night.

A woman told police she was driving her white Toyota Camry on the 1000 block of Van Kirk Street shortly before 10:15 p.m. when a gunman approached her vehicle.

The gunman stole her car and then drove off while her 1-year-old child and 6-year-old child were In the backseat, police said.

SkyForce10 was over the scene as police chased the speeding suspect for about two and a half miles before capturing the suspect at Whitaker and Wyoming avenues. The children were not inside the car at that point however.

Police later found both children on the 4700 block of Darrah Street. They were reunited with their mother and are doing okay, according to investigators.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

A Chester County family reunited with the firefighters and police officers who saved their lives during a house fire.

The U.S. version of Red Nose Day debuted in 2015, about eight months after the last Muscular Dystrophy Association Labor Day Telethon and five years after Jerry Lewis’ final bow as host.

Red Nose Day, now an hour-long special capping a night of themed programming on NBC, hardly qualifies as a telethon. But the British import, due for its fourth annual U.S. installment on Thursday, is slowly becoming a tradition on these shores.

The U.S. edition of the day of entertainment and red clown noses has pulled in a total of $100 million to fight childhood poverty so far, which is nothing to sneeze at. 

Still, the challenge remains staggering: 385 million children live in extreme poverty, UNICEF reported in 2016. Some 15 million kids in the U.S., about one out of every five, live below the federal poverty line, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty.

Red Nose Day also arrives this year in the shadow of the latest evidence of our failure to protect our children from gun violence – another public health crisis that underscores how we treat our youngest citizens.

The tenor of Red Nose Day, filled with people around the country wearing bright clown-like schnozzes sold by Walgreens, belies the seriousness of the cause. The live-from-New-York broadcast, hosted by Chris Hardwick, promises a mix of heart-tugging videos and humor. Julia Roberts, Ed Sheeran, Kelly Clarkson and Kristen Bell are among the stars expected to be part of the big night.

Jerry Lewis, who helped raise a reported $2.5 billion for the MDA over 44 years, knew how to put power of celebrity, too often abused, to good use. He also realized the potential impact of being silly for an important cause. Donning a red nose is no longer just a clown act.

Hester is Director of News Products and Projects at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is also the author of "Raising a Beatle Baby: How John, Paul, George and Ringo Helped us Come Together as a Family." Follow him on Twitter.

A five-vehicle crash stopped traffic on one of Montgomery County’s busiest highways for more than an hour during the Thursday morning rush.

The wreck happened around 5:45 a.m. in the ongoing construction zone along Route 422 eastbound near Trooper Road in Upper Merion. A minivan wound up partially on top of a barricade.

It took emergency crews a while to get to the scene since there is no shoulder where it happened. Traffic backed all the way up to Oaks, where drivers were forced off the road.

No injuries were reported, Montgomery County dispatchers said.

Drivers heading toward King of Prussia should try avoid the roadway entirely and stick to surface roads.

Employees at Harley-Davidson's Kansas City, Missouri, plant were shocked in January when the company announced that the plant would close next year, NBC News reported. 

Operations are being moved to the motorcycle manufacturer's facility in York, Pennsylvania. The company is also building a new plant in Thailand. A Harley-Davidson spokesman said the Bangkok plant is "separate and unrelated" to the decision to close the Kansas City plant. 

Harley-Davidson, like other corporations, is benefiting this year from the tax cut law passed in 2017, which slashed the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. Soon after announcing the Kansas City plant's closure, the company announced a dividend increase, as well as a stock buyback plan to reward shareholders, repurchasing 15 million of its shares — valued at nearly $700 million. The company says that the dividend increase and stock buyback is not related to the tax savings. 

When he visited a Harley-Davidson plant in Wisconsin in September, House Speaker Paul Ryan said, "Tax reform can put American manufacturers and American companies like Harley-Davidson on a much better footing to compete in the global economy and keep jobs in America."

PATCO is making upgrades to its Freedom Fare system over the next few days, which will cause outages for debit and credit cards, until Tuesday morning.