The man who was arrested in the Lincoln Tunnel sniper hoax lived in Philadelphia, according to records obtained by NBC10.com.
Donald Wallace, 39, was arrested on Tuesday after he allegedly called 911 and warned that "the DC sniper is here in your city" while cautioning authorities to "get your hospitals ready."
The call came during rush hour Tuesday evening and was traced to a cell phone near the Lincoln Tunnel, setting off a massive law enforcement response and snarling transit in the area, police said.
The signal was pinpointed to Waterfront Terrace in Weehawken, near the light rail. Authorities went there and couldn't find anything, but SWAT teams stopped an NJ Transit Hudson-Bergen train and entered with their rifles drawn, removing more than a dozen passengers.
The signal was later tracked to 47th Street and 11th Avenue in Manhattan, where Wallace was arrested.
Wallace faces terroristic threat charges as well as a charge of creating false public alarm.
Wallace has a lengthy criminal history. Records obtained by NBC10 show that his most recent address was in West Philadelphia.
It was not clear why he allegedly referenced the DC sniper. For three weeks in 2002, two men went on a random shooting spree in the DC area, killing 10 people and wounding three others. One of the suspects was executed in 2009 and the other is in prison.
Renowned Theologian and Assistant Professor of Pastoral and Theological Studies at Neumann University Mary Beth Yount has been named the director of content and programming for the 2015 World Meeting of Families (WMOF). The World Meeting, which was last held in Milan, Italy in 2012 is expected to draw a global audience to the U.S. when Philadelphia hosts the international event of prayer, celebration, and Catholic church teachings on family in Sept., 2015.
We talked to Yount about her recent appointment, and she shared what she is most looking forward to in her new role, and why she thinks Philadelphia will be a great host for the event.
What will some of your responsibilities be in your new role as director of content and programming for the World Meeting of Families?
I’ll be responsible for overseeing the development of fun, educational programs and activities during the event. I have a lot of support in all of this, since I work in conjunction with Donna Farrell, the Executive Director of the WMOF, and under the guidance of John J. McIntyre, the Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia. Everyone on my team is working together to make sure that the experience of the WMOF will be unforgettable for everyone who participates—both because it will be so fun and because their hearts and minds will be fed.
How did you feel when you learned you’d been chosen for this position?
I was elated. Prior to me being offered this position, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had asked me and nine other people across the nation to co-write a document called the Preparatory Catechesis, an important collection of Catholic Church teaching on the family. Then I was offered the WMOF position. In this role I get to help plan the historic event itself, making sure that the important topics from the Catechesis are included in the fun daily activities.
What do you like most about living in Pennsylvania? What's your favorite thing about your hometown?
I just moved to my Media parish in August of this year. My family and I have been welcomed into all of our various communities with a wonderful enthusiasm, but of course the move is still an adjustment. We miss the dynamic, joyful church to which we belonged in Pittsburgh, the place from which we most recently moved. Before that, we lived in Texas—Houston and San Antonio. My favorite thing about Houston is that my parents and twin brother are still there. My favorite thing about San Antonio is the culture of the people who live there. It is very close to Mexico and has its own kind of style.
What are you most looking forward to at the World Meeting of Families?
My kids are going to love the activities, and I can’t wait for them to get to experience it all. Particularly the “Ask a Saint” game (people that look like their heroes will be walking around), playing in the family game shows, and the food-related activities like making your own cookbook (and yes, I admit it, anything involving eating will be a highlight for my family too). Also, the speakers, panelists, and workshop leaders will be top-notch.
What makes this opportunity so special for you?
I know the joys and challenges both of being single and of raising a family. I also know the ups and downs of faith struggles. I am honored to be able to work with people worldwide and their families who, like all of us, are trying to learn and grow. Additionally, since I moved to Philly in August, I have seen the struggles of Catholics here. There have been painful closings of parishes and schools, leaving some feeling like they may not have a spiritual home or are lacking a faith community. Hopefully the WMOF can help bring people together in faith and give comfort and encouragement to those who are wounded locally and internationally.
Why do you think Philadelphia is the right place for the World Meeting?
Very few cities have the support that we have in Philly. Faith leaders of all denominations along with city and state leaders and the rest of the community have rallied to make this happen—it cannot be anything but amazing with all of this support!
What do you hope families in Philly will take from this event?
I want to be sure that we have programming for everyone so that every person leaves feeling inspired and with some new ideas to incorporate into his/her life. The content of the World Meeting of Families highlights what is joyful and hopeful about human beings, families, and societies and also strengthens families in their very real struggles with things like addictions, disabilities, financial crises, divorce and separation, and more. All are welcome at the WMOF 2015 –all faiths, ages, and walks of life, and everyone will grow.
What will you miss most about your job at Neumann University while working on the World Meeting of Families?
Actually, I do not have to leave Neumann at all. I was worried about that, but Dr. Rosalie Mirenda, the president of Neumann University and a WMOF board member, worked with Bishop McIntyre so that I will work out of my Neumann office much of the time and still teach two classes at Neumann as well. I get to combine everything I love this coming year—program management, theology, teaching, and ministering to families!
What is your favorite thing to do with your family?
Having a cookout in the sunshine! This involves me playing with the four kids in the backyard and chatting with my husband while he cooks. My children are still little (ages 9, 7, 4, and 2), and so we play tag, cuddle, blow bubbles, draw with chalk, and generally chase each other around. My husband is really good at cooking on the grill, so by the time we eat, the anticipation has everyone starving.
What is one unique thing that you've done that most people don't know about?
During graduate school I started a free preschool in a low-income neighborhood at a Presbyterian church. I loved working with the families and children.
Police say a man stole a city truck in New Jersey and drove onto the Bayonne Bridge toward Staten Island, where he swerved into oncoming traffic and caused several crashes before jumping out of the truck waving a knife.
Port Authority police in Bayonne were pursuing the man in the stolen truck as he crossed southbound onto the bridge after 11 a.m. Wednesday.
He crossed into northbound traffic and sideswiped one vehicle, then collided with two others and hit a fourth before coming to a stop and jumping out.
Police say he appeared to be under the influence of something. He is charged with multiple counts, including assault, reckless endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident.
Five people in the cars on the bridge had injuries, but only one sought medical attention, police said.
A South Philadelphia couple took some time out of their day to make way for ducklings on Monday, guiding a family of waterfowl waddling through the streets out of harm's way.
Danielle McCloskey said she was at home with her husband when a neighbor knocked on their door to alert them that something unusual was happening outside.
“He said to me, ‘Danielle you need to see this!" she said. "There are ducks walking along our street!’”
Sure enough, what appeared to be a mama duck and her nine ducklings were trotting along the 2400 block of Juniper Street. Knowing the family faced the danger of South Philly traffic, McCloskey, her husband and her neighbor took action.
“I knew I had to get them somewhere safe since they were in the middle of a tiny street,” McCloskey, a self-described animal lover, said. “I figured if we got them to the park that’s close to us, they would be safer.”
The couple, who say they don't go out of the house much because of disabilities, and neighbor ran into the street and began to guide them towards the park. The journey proved to be a bit more difficult than expected. At various points, the ducks gathered under parked cars to get out of the blazing sun or made sharp turns to beeline toward heavy traffic.
The trio steered the ducks up the 2600 block of Juniper towards the nearby park, throwing pieces of bread to lure the ducklings out from under a car at one point.
“The little babies were going for it but they were basically doing whatever the mother was doing," McCloskey said. "She was very protective of them.”
As the group approached oncoming traffic on Oregon Avenue, another neighbor joined them and used a pink umbrella to direct traffic so the ducks could cross safely. Even once they got to the park's edge, McCloskey and the others had to navigate getting the ducks over a foot-high ledge. They initially planned to guide the group around the wall, but that plan was scuttled when a passerby inadvertently startled the ducklings.
“Some guy comes along, oblivious to what we were doing and he sort of sits down on the ledge.” McCloskey said. “He scared the mother by accident and the mother flew up over the ledge into the park. Now the babies are trying to get to her and they’re scrambling, trying to get up this wall!”
With few other options left, McCloskey and one of her neighbors scooped up the ducklings and gently tossed them into the park, reuniting them with their mother. McCloskey’s daughter Maria told NBC10 that she later learned that the mother and ducklings were captured and transported to a lake at another park.
Even with the obstacles, McCloskey said she was happy to get the chance to help.
“We’re animal lovers,” McCloskey said. “We have kitty cats and we just love any animal. It was an amazing feeling.”
Hundreds gathered to mourn the Westchester comedian killed in the New Jersey Turnpike crash that critically injured "30 Rock" star Tracy Morgan at his funeral Thursday, paying homage to him on the very stage where he made audiences laugh for years.
A service for James "Jimmy Mack" McNair was held at the Paramount Theater of the Hudson Valley in Peekskill, according to the E.O. Curry Funeral Home. The marquee outside the theater was lit Thursday morning in his honor as mourners lined up outside, recalling their favorite memories of the 63-year-old star.One woman said she'd miss his smile -- and the way he always joked with her and her husband.
McNair and Morgan were riding to New York City after a show in Delaware when a Wal-Mart truck smashed into the back of Morgan's limo, causing it to flip and slide into several other vehicles.
McNair was pronounced dead after the crash. Morgan suffered a broken leg, broken nose and several broken ribs. He's expected to remain hospitalized for "several weeks" according to his spokesman. Two other passengers were seriously injured, and another was treated and released from the hospital.
McNair is remembered as a friend and mentor to Morgan and was active in Peekskill as a frequent volunteer. Friends and relatives say the two met 20 years ago and stayed close.
He also helped care for his sister, who has cancer, associates said, and served as a role model to his son and daughter. A relative said McNair's son was able to comfort mourners at the funeral Thursday, but his 18-year-old daughter was having more trouble coping with the loss of her father.
"He'd drive her to school every day and take her to get her nails done," the relative said, calling McNair "the perfect dad."
McNair's family set up a donation fund to help pay for his daughter Denita's college tuition. She is set to graduate from Peekskill High School this spring.
The truck driver, Kevin Roper, pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide and assault by auto charges Wednesday in state Superior Court. A criminal complaint alleges that he hadn't slept for 24 hours before the accident.
-Tracie Strahan contributed to this report
A fire gutted a popular neighborhood tavern overnight in Delaware County.
Flames tore through the historic Toll House Tavern along Chester Pike (U.S. Route 13) at McKinley Avenue in Norwood, Pa.
According to the tavern’s Facebook page, there was Quizzo at the bar Wednesday night. A little after midnight, an apparent grease fire began in the kitchen and quickly spread into the ventilation system, according to firefighters.
The intense flames caused the roof to collapse and left firefighters on the outside looking in as they tried to douse the flames. It would take more two hours to extinguish the flames.
All the workers and patrons made it out OK. Norwood Fire Chief Chris Givens said the only injury was to a firefighter who hurt his knee.
By sunrise, crews began tearing down the badly damaged bar, which opened in 1961. Fencing is expected to be put up around the charred remains so crews can continue demolition.
A message posted to the tavern's Facebook page stated that the owners were happy no one was hurt in the fire:
"Can not believe the Toll House is gone! Thank you to all of our great customers who have made this a fun place to go for 52 years. So many memories and good friends."
Fire officials said an exact cause is pending further investigation.
Parents and students will rally outside a city council meeting where inside, Philadelphia School District leaders and the council will be discussing ways to get schools the funding they need.
The purpose of the rally is to warn Philly government of what classrooms could look like if the district doesn't receive the more than $440 million it needs a year to be fully functioning.
Parents will use life-size cut-outs of children, according to a press release sent out by the Public Citizens for Children and Youth.
Meanwhile, inside city council chambers, one of the main issues being discussed is whether or not lottery revenue will go to school district to help with the budget crisis.
An ordinance to further authorization of imposing a tax on the use or occupancy of school district-owned real estate will also be on the table.
The meeting starts at 10 a.m.
Police in a New Jersey town will not get paid for the time it takes to put on their uniforms.
That's the ruling released this week by a federal appeals panel.
In 2009, 88 current and former Teaneck police officers filed a suit claiming they were being cheated out of overtime pay. They argued they should have been paid for the time they spent attending daily roll calls and changing in and out of their uniforms.
A lower court rejected the claim in 2012. The 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals based in Philadelphia upheld that decision Tuesday.
Teaneck Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin tells The Star-Ledger (http://bit.ly/1hQWdBo) the town was confident it would prevail in court, but the "sad part" is defending the lawsuit cost taxpayers about $500,000.
Good news, golf fans, you can watch the U.S. Open on NBC10 today and Friday! The even better news? You can still catch The Ellen Show, just at a different time.
Here's the schedule for the afternoon and evening of Thursday, June 12 and Friday, June 13 on NBC10:
NBC10.COM HEADLINES:
Manhattan-bound lanes on the George Washington Bridge's upper level were closed for hours Thursday morning after a truck carrying poultry crashed into another transporting refrigerators, killing one person and causing miles-long backups on roads leading to the span.
The tractor-trailers crashed shortly before 2:30 a.m., blocking the upper deck's eastbound lanes, according to the Port Authority. An agency spokesman said the driver of one truck apparently rear-ended the other. That driver was killed.
The driver of the truck that was hit did not have major injuries, the Port Authority said. It was not immediately clear whether the chicken shipment was made up of live animals.
The eastbound lanes on the bridge's upper level reopened hours later, just before noon. Earlier, delays to the bridge had climbed up to three hours.
All lanes on the lower level and the upper level's westbound side were open, but there were heavy delays to those lanes as well.
"Avoid the bridge at all costs," a Port Authority spokesman said during rush hour.
Bus service to and from the George Washington Bridge Terminal was also plagued by delays, according to NJ Transit, and delays of up to two hours were reported at the inbound Lincoln and Holland tunnels.
A bear spotted in one South Jersey community seems to be on the move.
Waterford Township, Camden County, police received multiple reports from people in the area of Raritan Avenue, Ellwood Avenue and 3rd Street about a bear wandering in yards Thursday morning.
Waterford Police posted a video to Facebook where they tracked the bear in an attempt to steer the animal towards the Wharton State forest. They said the drove parallel to the bear, blowing air horns in hopes of getting the bear out of the neighborhood.
In the Facebook video you see the bear walking across yards and past some school buses before darting across the road.
Police said the bear hasn’t been seen since 10 a.m. Thursday.
Investigators told NBC10 they believe it’s the same black bear that was spotted Wednesday in Winslow Township.
Investigators say the animal was first spotted Wednesday morning along Wharton Avenue in the Elm section of the town. The second sighting took place around 4 p.m. in the Waterford Works section of the township.
New Jersey wildlife officials told NBC!0 that the sighting of bears this time of year, especially male bears, is because the animals are trying to stake out their territory before they mate. They said that sightings are possible until weather cools in the fall.
If you spot the bear, please call the Winslow Township Police Department at (609) 561-3300 or the Division of Fish and Wildlife at 1 (877) 927-6337.
Click here to view bear safety tips.
To grasp Medicare's staggering bill for ambulance rides in New Jersey, just visit the busy parking lot of the DaVita St. Joseph's dialysis clinic in the town of Paterson.
More than 20 ambulances and a handful of wheelchair vans were parked outside on a recent morning there. Emergency medical technicians wheeled patients in and out on stretchers. As soon as one ambulance departed, another took its place.
For each one-way ride, Medicare pays ambulance companies nearly $200, plus $6 a mile. The program only covers ambulance rides if a doctor certifies that other modes of transportation would endanger a patient's health. That happens rarely in most parts of the country. But not here.
Dozens of New Jersey ambulance companies -- most of them headquartered within 15 miles of Paterson -- billed Medicare for unusually large numbers of non-emergency ambulance rides in 2012, a ProPublica analysis of recently released Medicare payment data found.
Some 37 operators claimed an average of 50 trips or more per patient, collecting more than $46.5 million from Medicare that year. By comparison, in 33 other states, not a single ambulance company billed Medicare for that many rides per patient, the analysis showed.
In interviews, New Jersey ambulance providers insisted they followed Medicare's eligibility rules, but several acknowledged hearing of others who inflate the bill for rides by signing up patients who don't need the service2014a form of fraud. Competition for rides has become so cutthroat, one operator said, that some providers pay patients up to $4,000 in cash to switch to their companies.
"A couple of providers have said that there's other providers who are paying patients," said Robert Davis, owner of Alert Ambulance Service in Lakewood, N.J., and president of the Medical Transportation Association of New Jersey, an industry trade group. "That would be illegal."
Davis' company bills for fewer rides per patient than many. "The patients we won't take by stretcher, you see somebody else doing it," he said.
Evidence has been building for years that Medicare is likely overpaying for ambulances to ferry New Jersey dialysis patients to and from their thrice-weekly treatments. The number of dialysis-related ambulance rides increased 857 percent in the state from 2002 to 2011, more than three times the national average, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced recently that it would begin requiring prior authorization for certain types of ambulance rides in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, states with unusually high utilization rates and costs.
But the new program won't begin until the fall -- and for now, business continues as usual.
The DaVita center in Paterson is the state's largest, with 60 treatment stations that sometimes run 19 hours a day. By 9 a.m. on a recent day, ambulances were coming and going every few minutes as the first shift of patients was departing and the second arriving. Patients were wheeled in, some with blue bags labeled "DaVita" sitting beside or behind them.
Ambulance usage appears substantially higher at the Paterson facility than at other large clinics, including those run by DaVita, the nation's second-largest dialysis chain. Ambulance companies dominate the list of service providers that most frequently see Paterson patients within 30 days of a treatment there, Medicare data shows. That's not the case at large DaVita centers outside of Northern New Jersey, where doctors, labs and hospitals are more likely to see patients after treatments.
In a statement, DaVita said it does not "have a financial interest in how a patient is transported to and from treatments," but acknowledged it was aware of concerns with ambulance providers' practices.
"We understand that this particular geographic area has a fiercely competitive ambulance services market and that some of these companies have resorted to aggressive and questionable tactics in the fight for market share," DaVita's statement said. "As a matter of fact, we have sent cease-and-desist letters to companies that have attempted to solicit business inside our centers."
Doctors who oversee dialysis clinics in other regions called the ambulance traffic jam at DaVita St. Joseph's highly unusual.
At Kennedy Dialysis Center, a hospital-based facility in southern New Jersey, just 12 of the clinic's 170 patients arrive for their appointments by ambulance, said Dr. Joseph Pitone, its medical director, and Jeffrey Jin, its lead social worker. Only a dialysis facility whose patients come predominantly from nursing homes would need so many ambulances2014an unlikely scenario, Pitone noted.
Philadelphia nephrologist Joel Glickman, medical director at one of Penn Medicine's dialysis centers, agreed.
"That really, really sounds excessive," he said of the ambulances outside DaVita St. Joseph's in Paterson. "I'll tell you that one of our facilities has 36 stations, and three or four ambulances at a time is what I'll see outside. We don't have room for 25. That sounds shocking to me, that number, shocking."
People typically qualify for Medicare because of their age or disabilities, but because of a special provision established by the federal government in 1972, dialysis patients qualify because of their diagnosis, end-stage kidney disease.
Medicare spent almost $24 billion on their care in 2011, of which more than $890 million was for ambulance rides.
The bill for ambulances varied widely by state. According to the U.S. Renal Data System, Medicare spent about $3,300 per hemodialysis patient nationally on ambulance rides in 2011. It spent $10,000 per patient in New Jersey.
ProPublica's analysis showed Freedom Emergency Medical Services of Hillsborough, N.J., billed for the most rides per patient in the country in 2012, frequently taking people to and from the DaVita St. Joseph's clinic. Freedom transported only 14 Medicare patients that year, but each received an average of 275 rides, the data shows. Medicare paid the company $829,000.
"My patients are all qualified to ride in an ambulance because of the kind of illness they have," said Sunny Ewere, the company's chief executive. "I have sick patients."
But Ewere said some patients switch companies and give vague reasons for doing so. Rumors abound about inducements, though he says he has no direct knowledge of this. "The rate at which patients switch to other companies is alarming. What happens, why they change, nobody will tell you."
He said he does not pay patients to choose his company. "As a Christian, I will never, never give a dime to a patient to follow me because it means I'm taking food from somebody else's table...don't know what they are doing, but I will never do that."
In a follow-up statement, Ewere said his company had been audited four times by Medicare and found to meet its requirements.
Speedy Mobility Services also ranked among the top billers for ambulance rides per person in 2012. The company's owner, Faiz Abdulatif, said its rides were all legitimate, but acknowledged he's heard of other companies giving cash to patients in exchange for business. He said he lost a patient earlier this year when an EMT he fired for drinking on the job signed the patient on with his new company.
"A patient will cost you up to $4,000 to switch from one to another," he said, adding he does not pay patients.
Speedy Mobility collected $561,000 from Medicare in 2012 for providing 14 patients with an average of 186 rides apiece.
Abdulatif and other ambulance company owners said the competition for Medicare patients partly reflects changes in New Jersey's Medicaid program, for which many dialysis patients also qualify because of low income and disability.
In 2009, state Medicaid officials hired an outside contractor to administer the benefit for ambulance rides. Ambulance owners say the contractor lowered reimbursement rates and embraced cheaper modes of transportation, such as liveries, causing some transport companies to drop out of Medicaid and focus on Medicare.
Over roughly the same period, the number of licensed EMS agencies and companies in New Jersey has increased rapidly, jumping from 350 in 2008 to 472 this year, according to the state Department of Health.
Medicare officials said in a statement that the agency's billing contractors "analyze claims to determine provider compliance with Medicare coverage, coding and billing rules and take appropriate corrective action when providers are found to be non-compliant." That includes educating providers and trying to "correct the behavior."
Davis, president of the Medical Transportation Association of New Jersey, said he supports Medicare's new push to verify that patients need the rides the program is covering.
"The ones that need it will get it and the ones that don't won't," he said.
Medicare has reined in ambulance rides elsewhere. About five years ago, in Puerto Rico, it began requiring that two physicians agree that ambulance transportation was needed. Medicare's average cost per patient for rides plummeted from $25,401 in 2009 to $3,409 in 2011, U.S. Renal Data System records show. The requirement remains in place.
Separately, a Medicare contractor limited dialysis patients in Texas to 12 transports a year to and from clinics beginning in 2010. Ambulance transports dropped 64 percent from 2007 to 2011, compared to an 18 percent increase nationally, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) reported.
CMS also has issued a moratorium preventing new ambulance companies from signing up for Medicare in and around Houston and Philadelphia, citing widespread allegations of fraud.
In Philadelphia, the U.S. Attorney's office has filed eight criminal cases against transport companies and/or their employees, accusing some of paying patients to bill for unneeded rides to dialysis. All but two of the defendants have pleaded guilty or have been sentenced. One person was acquitted and the other had charges dropped against him.
Prosecutors had video showing some patients walking to and from ambulances, or even being driven to dialysis in personal vehicles instead of the ambulances for which Medicare was billed, Assistant U.S. Attorney Beth Leahy said.
"It's direct evidence that these patients are ambulatory," she said, "that they don't need to be transported by ambulance, yet the companies are submitting claims to Medicare stating that the transport by ambulance is medically necessary for their wellbeing."
