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Taxi Driver a Person of Interest in Hit-and-Run

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Police say they brought in a person of  interest in the hit-and-run of a woman in Philadelphia.

Investigators say a surveillance video shows a taxi dragging the woman along a street in an apparent hit-and-run crash early Sunday morning in West Philadelphia.

Police were called to 48th Street and Osage Avenue shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday. They found the 23-year-old woman unconscious in the street with severe head injuries and broken bones, according to police.

She was rushed to the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania for treatment where she was listed in critical condition.

Surveillance video of the crash shows a taxi with a large lit-up advertisement on top dragging the woman along the street.

Police didn't released the woman’s identity and as of Monday no update was given on her condition.

On Monday police interviewed a taxi driver who they say is a person of interest. No charges have been filed at this time however.

The incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information should contact Philadelphia Police.



Photo Credit: NBC10.com

Parishioners Find Miracle in Church Fire

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Parishioners of Saint Mary the Protectress Ukrainian Orthodox Church say the four-alarm fire that destroyed millions of dollars in furniture and artifacts and left a gaping hole in the center of the historic building also revealed a miracle.

"The fire was blazing, so when we saw the fire, we thought everything burned," church treasurer and parishioner Pasha Prasko said. "But now that we can see inside, we looked at it and said it’s amazing so many icons are still there."

Although a large portion of the church’s roof collapsed, and although more than 100 firefighters doused the building in efforts to tame the blaze, several icons remained untouched by the flames at the historic church in the East Oak Lane section of the city on Sunday.

"It's a holy place, you know, and it's just not damaged the way we thought it would be," Prasko said. "We even talked about it yesterday and said it would be a miracle if her icon would be saved; and here it is, saved. I think it’s a miracle."

According to local historian Marita Krivda Poxon, in the Ukrainian Orthodox community, Saint Mary the Protectress is recognized as the protector of all Ukrainian people. A large painting of the Protectress and several other icons could be seen from the front door of the burned building in what appeared to be good condition.

"The church has a large icon, and in the center of it is the Saint Mary the Protectress herself. Apparently she was the saint in the Ukraine that protected the people of the country of the Ukraine," Poxon said.

"I think it’s a miracle that a few of the icons survived because they are mostly made of wood. I could only say that for believers they'll believe that it miraculously survived the fire; I mean the church burned, but her icon survived, and the congregation will survive. That's what it means to me."

Philadelphia firefighter Arthur Davis said he's never seen anything like it before.

"Not one of those pictures caught on fire; not the ones on the wall, not the ones on the stage, not one of them was damaged," Davis said.

"What happened was it started on the roof, the fire. But it's still amazing that with the collapse and all, this stuff is not burned. They could take it right off the wall; a lot of the pictures are still on the wall, the glass isn't broken or nothing. When it comes to fires, I've seen it all, but I've never seen nothing like this before."

At one point, 125 firefighters and 33 engines were on the scene trying to get the fire under control. The cause of the fire has not yet been identified, but officials believe it was electrical.

Father Taras Naumenko, pastor of St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral on 5th and Independence Street, says his parish will be supporting St. Mary's members while its leaders work to determine a plan forward.

"Their congregation will be holding their services at my parish until they figure out their future," Naumenko said.

When asked what he thinks the future could hold for St. Mary's, he said, "I think it’s too soon to even think about what their future will be."

John Prasko is chair of the parish board. He says the church is considering starting a fund to raise money, but says he's still unsure of any exact plans for rebuilding.

"Tomorrow we will have a meeting with the board to see what we will do," he said. "At that time we will have to make several decisions about moving and rebuilding, but I don't know exactly what they'll be yet."

Poxon says any attempt to rebuild would be difficult because of the historic elements of the church.

"The interior could never be rebuilt the way it was," Poxon said. "My hope is that they don't tear it down, that they don't bulldoze it and somehow portions of it can be salvaged and rebuilt because it’s a beautiful building. There are just so few stone masons that could even do the work to rebuild here."

Firefighters were still on the scene this afternoon removing large debris from the premises. Davis says church leaders should be allowed to enter the building to retrieve artifacts and mementos sometime this evening.



Photo Credit: NBC10.com

Charges Filed Against Mom of Baby Found Alone in Car

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The mother of a 1-year-old baby girl has been charged after police say she left the girl alone inside a car parked in a Walmart parking lot.

Police say the baby was inside a car in the parking lot of the Walmart on the 9700 block of Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia. Police suspect the child was alone inside the vehicle for a half hour.

Anthony Lopez says he was in the parking lot when he heard the child's cries for help.

"She's screaming and she's yelling," Lopez said. "She's sweating really bad. It's hot and the windows are up."

"The baby was hurt," said his wife, Ruqayah Lopez. "The way that baby was screaming you could tell. You saw the sweat through the window before she came out."

The couple called police and tried to get help from inside the store. They then tried to break into the locked car themselves.

"I panicked," Lopez said. "I went into my truck, grabbed a bat and tried to break the window." 

Police soon arrived and rescued the baby. She was taken to a local hospital where she was examined. Officials say she is doing "okay."

The girl's mother, 24-year-old Jasmin Ingram of Philadelphia, was taken into custody. She was later charged with endangering the welfare of a child and child endangerment, according to sources close to the investigation. Ingram told police she was only inside the store for a few minutes, according to investigators. Police suspect the child was inside alone for half an hour however.

DHS is currently investigating the case. Officials say the child is now in the care of her biological father.

Also on NBC10.com:

Mom Suffocates Baby With Plastic Bag; DA

Man Hides Gun Used to Kill Baby in Couch: Police

WATCH: Burglars Ram Truck Into Pawn Shop, Steal Firearms



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Closing of Historic "Dinky" Sparks Controversy

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For over a century, the “Dinky” train station has been a cultural landmark in Princeton, New Jersey. But that all could soon change thanks to an ambitious redevelopment plan from Princeton University.

The Dinky, first constructed in 1865, is being decommissioned and is set to turn into a café and restaurant. The University plans to develop the downtown area along University Place and Alexander Street into an arts hub, complete with a new arts center and other attractions. University officials also say a new train station would open about 400 feet away from the old one.

The plan has been in the works for years and so has the opposition. A group known as the “Save Dinky Campaign” wants the historic station to remain a station. They even filed lawsuits and petitioned for work stoppages.

In October, a judge will make a final decision on the plan. Despite this, the University still closed the station over the weekend. Shuttle bus service is currently being provided for passengers at the location.

“The University knows they are proceeding at their own risk,” Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert said. “So if they lose in court they will have to go back and rebuild everything to where it was.”

Princeton spokeswoman Kristen Appleget did not speak on the upcoming court decision.

“I cannot comment on any litigation or the outcome of that litigation,” she said.

Commuters at the train station had mixed reactions to the closing.

“To be perfectly honest it hasn’t been a train station for a while,” Ben Baker said. “The interior hasn’t been open for years. It’s really just a building that’s been sitting there. I don’t see any reason to preserve it as a station when it hasn’t been a station.”

“I think they should have refurbished the old one,” Martha Love said. “It’s a lot of money and a lot of expense to make something brand new.”

Mayor Lempert says she understands why some in Princeton are against the redevelopment.

“When you have a community like ours, change is always hard,” she said. “But it’s even harder when people love the way things are.”

Even if the judge rules in the University’s favor in October, the entire transformation will take years. The new station would be up by next fall while the art center would debut in 2017.
 



Photo Credit: NBC10.com

Your Dreams Commemorate the March on Washington

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The March on Washington took place 50 years ago. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of approximately 250,000. 

NBC10 viewers are asked to share their own dreams by answering the sentence: "I have a dream that..." 

Tweet, post to Facebook or Instagram your dream statement using the hashtag #DreamDay. Read more about NBC's #DreamDay here. Below are some of the dreams shared by viewers. 

 



Photo Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Man Shot, Killed at North Philly Playground

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A man is dead after a shooting in North Philadelphia.

Police say the 29-year-old man was at a playground on 25th and Diamond Streets at 8:37 p.m. when an unknown gunman opened fire.

The man was struck several times in the chest and back. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:44 p.m.

No arrests have been made and no weapon has been recovered. Police continue to investigate.

Stay with NBC10.com for more details on this developing story.

Also on NBC10.com:

Baby Found Alone Inside Car Outside Walmart

Can Strippers Save Atlantic City?

Parishioners Find a Miracle in the Fire



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Temple University Cancels Spring Fling

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A long-running tradition at Temple University is no more.

Officials at the university announced that the school’s tradtional Spring Fling won't happen next April due to excessive drinking among students. The decision comes in the aftermath of the death of a University of South Carolina student who died after falling from a roof during this year’s Spring Fling event.

Last April, 19-year-old Ali Fausnaught fell three stories from the roof of a North Philadelphia row house on the 1900 block of North 18th Street during a Spring Fling party.

Fausnaught, of Brownstown, Pa. (Lancaster County) was once a student at West Chester University who then transferred to the University of South Carolina. She was visiting her boyfriend, who attends Temple. According to investigators, Fausnaught tripped over a 10-inch high ledge and fell about 40 feet, landing in an alley near the back of the property. She was taken to Temple University Hospital around 5 p.m. where she was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

School administrators say their decision to cancel Spring Fling wasn’t because of Fausnaught’s death though they described the incident as “devastating.”

Spring Fling is an annual event at Temple University that features numerous events, music and parties. After the most recent Spring Fling, school administrators conducted a series of meetings where they discussed the event’s future. According to the Temple News, the university officials determined that the event was not meeting the goals the school had set for it in the past. They also called the event a “detriment to the academic climate.”

Stephanie Ives, the Dean of Students, told TTN the event became “something where students perceive it as an excuse to drink and a drinking holiday.” Officials also said many students also skipped classes the day of the event and that professors even canceled classes.

Several student groups at Temple are currently working on finding other events to replace Spring Fling. 



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Spraying for Mosquitoes

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Montgomery County municipalities are spraying to try and combat mosquitoes after the first human case of west Nile Virus was reported in the county.

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Made in America Preps Ramp Up

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NBC10's Katy Zachry is live on the Ben Franklin Parkway as crews work to prepare this weekend's Budweiser Made in America concert.

Photo Credit: NBC10

Car Smashes Into Surf Shop

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A woman lost control of her car and crashed into a popular Jersey Shore surf shop overnight.

The damage to Heritage Surf & Sport was obvious Tuesday morning with a section of the building at Ventnor and Washington Avenues in Margate, N.J. damaged, debris and police tape blocking part of the sidewalk.

According to Margate Police, a woman somehow lost control of her car around 11:30 p.m. Monday and smashed into the shop.

The woman suffered minor injuries and was taken to Shore Medical Center for observation, according to police.

No charges were filed and the cause of the crash remained under investigation.

Heritage Surf Shops has four Jersey Shore locations. The Margate store has been a staple since relocating to the town about 25 years ago.



Photo Credit: Ted Greenberg - NBC10

District Changing Shuttered Schools Sale Process

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The School District of Philadelphia is changing the way it plans to sell more than two dozen shuttered school buildings.

District officials announced Wednesday they will now lean on the city to help sell 31 properties that were closed under the district's Facilities Master Plan. Twenty-four of those buildings were shut down forever in June.

Called the Philadelphia Schools Repurposing Initiative, the new plan will allow the district to expedite the sale of "highly marketable" properties to generate funding more quickly.

The district will work with Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Alan Greenberger and other officials to identify possible reuses for the buildings.

The plan was announced as the district continues to try and close a budget deficit of $304 million. That deficit forced the layoff of more than 3,800 employees and ending of art programs and sports.

City officials have guaranteed $50 million in emergency funding to the district under two plans. One proposal, put forth by Philadelphia City Council, would generate cash through the sale of these buildings.

Under the district's old facilities sale plan, the Adaptive Sale and Reuse Policy, an evaluation team of up to 10 people -- including community members -- would have been put together for each school. That team would then review potential buyers and recommend the best.

The new plan gets rid of that process. Instead, city officials will assess each property and provide recommendations for reuse. A series of meetings will also be held by City Planning Commission officials to listen to public input before facilities are sold, according to the district.

Information about each facility, potential buyers and ways to provide feedback will be available on a website to be created for the process.

The closing of school buildings has been a hotly debated topic over the past year.

Residents and parents have voiced concerns the buildings, many of which are large parcels that need expensive repairs, will sit vacant for a long time and become a haven for dangerous and illicit activities. There's also been fears that the community will not get a proper say in how the buildings are developed.

Officials say the new plan, while "streamlining" the process, will also provide transparency.

“We will work diligently with all of our partners, including the residents of Philadelphia, to ensure that we identify appropriate and productive uses for these buildings that are in keeping with the character of the neighborhoods and communities of which they are such an important part,” Greenberger said in a statement.


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



Photo Credit: Vince Lattanzio, NBC10.com

Pickup Smashes Through Iconic Main Line Deli

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A truck smashed through one of the most popular Jewish-style delis in the area this morning.

The pickup smashed right through the front window of Hymie’s Merion Deli on Montgomery Avenue in Merion Station, Pa. just before 6 a.m. startling employees inside who were preparing for deli pickups.

"It was a large, loud sound like an explosion," said employee Harry Zeisler. "It was very scary."

Lower Merion Police remained mum through the morning about the cost as they investigated what caused the driver to lose control of his pickup, jump the curb and smash into the deli.

Employees, however, did explain what they saw.

"I saw a gentleman getting out of the truck, staggering a little bit with some blood coming down his face," Zeisler told NBC10's Monique Braxton.

The driver of the red Dodge Ram was taken away by ambulance, employees said.

None of the three Hymie's employees inside was hurt.

The pickup took out the entire front seating section of the restaurant. The restaurant will remain closed until at least tomorrow, according to employees.

The Barson's deli counter opened shortly after 7 a.m. but was shut down by the Montgomery County Health Department shortly before noon.Tha+damage+done+when+a+pickup+truck+slammed+into+Hymie%27s+Deli+in+Merion+Station%2C+Pa.+on+Aug.+29%2C+2013.

Customers who showed up to find employees sweeping up glass, bricks and other debris were grateful things were not worse.

"Good thing it wasn't an hour later," said one customer. "Usually right now this whole place has a lot of people in it."

When the restaurant reopens could depend on what building inspectors find. Late in the morning crews could be seen putting up boards over the damaged section of the facade.

Hymie's, an institution in the neighborhood since 1955, is known for its pickle bar, breakfast, sandwiches and deli counter. It is also a popular catering spot for private events.



Photo Credit: NBC10

And the 'Game of the Week' Winner is...

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After more than 55,000 votes, we have the winner of the very first NBC10 "Game of the Week."

And the winner is...

Avon Grove at Kennett High School

The Avon Grove/Kennett game won with 48-percent of the votes. Coming in a close second was Easton at Pennsbury with 42-percent and third was Northeast at Neshaminy with just 10-percent of the votes.



Friday's season-opener will be the first time Kennett's Blue Demons play a home game under their brand-new stadium lights which makes the fact that their game won "Game of the Week,' even more special.

"In a word tremendous," said Kennett High's Athletic Director Jeff Thomas, "There's a huge buzz in our school...Everyone's very happy and excited to hear that we won.

"Both Avon Grove and Kennett have supportive communities (and love their athletic teams) and mobilized them to make this happen!" Rob Devers, Avon Grove's Athletic Director said.

Devers received the news of his season opener winning the first "Game of the Week" around the same time that his wife was giving birth to a baby girl. Weighing in at 9 lbs, 13 oz., the doctor dubbed her Devers' "lady linebacker."

The season opener between Kennett and Avon Grove has been tradition since Kennett's Varsity football program began seven years ago.

Avon Grove's program hasn't been around much longer -- just about 15 years.

The "Game of the Week" is chosen exclusively by viewers through online voting. The winning game is announced on the news every Wednesday and the matchup will receive extended post-game coverage on NBC10 News Fridays at 11 p.m. as well as on our brand-new show "NBC10 High School Blitz" which airs on Saturdays at 7 p.m.

Voting for Week 2's "Game of the Week" begins on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Get all your high school football highlights and more by checking out our High School Blitz page.

Philly Councilwoman Krajewski Dies

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A former giant of Philadelphia politics has died.

Longtime City Councilwoman Joan Krajewski was 79 years old.

Krajewski, famous for her fiestiness, gravely voice and willingness to speak her mind, served from 1980 until she retired last year.

Mayor Michael Nutter remembered Krajewski as "straightforward and honest, sometimes brutally so, lawmaker and friend.

"She was a person whose word you could really trust," Nutter said. "I very much admired her record of service to the City and in particular how she served her constituents in the 6th Council District who will miss her"

She represented the 6th district in Northeast Philly.

Council President Darrell Clarke remembered his former colleague.

“Joan was a great champion of Northeast Philadelphia,” Clarke said in a statement. “She was an unfailingly supportive colleague. And more importantly, she was my friend.

“Our friendship began well before I was elected to office. The unsung, lowly staffer did not exist in Joan’s world. She treated City Hall employees as equals. Joan took the time to get to know everyone she encountered here, no matter their position or station.

“But Joan also was tough as nails. She was one of the most effective Council members in recent memory. The skill with which she leveraged her office to deliver for constituents and for the 6th District was masterful.

“I hope what Philadelphians remember most about Joan is she was a genuinely caring, warm, good human being...”

Krajewski was ill recently, according to friends, and suffered from breathing problems.

Funeral arrangements are pending.



Photo Credit: NBC10

Children Fear Their Parents Will be Deported

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It didn't take Rocio long to figure out why people were coming in and out of her new neighbor's house.

This woman, who asked to be identified only by her first name, lives in a row home on a block of Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood. For the past two years, she has kept her children indoors to play.

"They don't play outside because of the fear that something bad would happen," she explained in Spanish. "All of the time, people are coming to knock on the door of my neighbor's house to buy drugs."

She has never called the police because she's afraid her name will somehow come to the attention of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known colloquially as ICE.

Officials in New Orleans, Newark and Princeton, N.J., all have recently announced they will limit their collaboration with ICE.

In Philadelphia, immigrant activists renewed calls on local police to scale back their collaboration with federal law enforcement, saying the relationship discourages immigrants from calling police.

"This situation would get better if we all talked about it to everyone in the neighborhood, talk together, to get together and denounce everything that's happening," Rocio said. "Because of the law between the police and ICE, the fact that I don't have legal status, I can't denounce it."

That's not a unique sentiment, according to immigration attorney David Bennion. And it's fueled by the fact that police and ICE do sometimes work together.

"My clients still feel that they cannot trust the police too often when often they are actually often victims of criminal activity and they are sometimes most in need of that police protection," he said.

Police share information with immigration in different ways, but immigrant advocates have focused in on an agreement that gives the agency access to a real-time database of police arrests, the Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System, called PARS. The ICE contract for access is due to be renewed Saturday, the last day of the month.

City: We do not agree

"I know that there are a lot of people in the community that feel that having this somehow destabilizes their entire relationship," acknowledged Philadelphia's Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Everett Gillison.

"We do not agree."

Gillison said Philadelphia wants dangerous individuals, who pose threats to public safety, out of the area, whether they're living in the country legally or not.

He pointed out that, in response to complaints, Mayor Michael Nutter ordered victim information scrubbed from the database back in 2010. By then, ICE had already had access to that information for two years.

"The immigration authorities, they cannot see victim information. They cannot see information for, let's say, domestic violence witnesses and whatever," Gillison said. "What they can see is the person who's arrested, a short, brief, literally probably even less than a Twitter summation of what is alleged to have caused this person to be arrested."

He pointed out that immigration authorities can attain much of the same information through the "secure communities" program, which gives ICE access when an individual's fingerprints are run against a database maintained by the FBI. ICE agents, however, can probably browse more freely in the automatically updating PARS system, he said.

Gillison said he has concerns about ICE seizing low-level offenders, because deporting people for minor offenses has an oversize impact on the families left in Philadelphia. According to Gillison, the city is lobbying Washington to change enforcement practices.

"As I have said, and the mayor has said many times, we are a welcoming city. We have made that quite clear," he said.

Gillison said the city will renew ICE's subscription to PARS.

Unsecure communities?

A major complication in all of this is that rumor can spread as quickly as fact and the nuances of the city's position do not always spread with them.

In July, the Latino organization Juntos organized a rally in South Philadelphia after a raid by Philadelphia police and the FBI in which they'd gone house to house collecting wanted suspects and probation violators. A woman who said officers had taken away her husband cried as she told her story to the small crowd.

Police say they only alerted ICE afterwards that at least one person arrested was in the country illegally but Juntos organizer Erika Almiron says that, in the panicked aftermath of the raid, residents readily believed they had seen a return of joint raids that police and immigration used to hold together.

"Local law enforcement, when they work with ICE, you cannot build trust with our community, but rather you break it apart and you make an unsecure community, not a secure community," she said.


This story was reported through a news coverage partnership between NBC10.com and NewsWorks.org



Photo Credit: Emma Lee | NewsWorks.org

City's Trying to Flip Shuttered Schools Quickly

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The city of Philadelphia and its cash-strapped school district are joining forces to sell some shuttered school buildings. The new partnership is moving forward now that the School Reform Commission has approved a new policy to repurpose some of the city's defunct schools. Under the new policy, the most marketable properties will be identified and fast-tracked for sale. That could help generate money to help close the District's massive budget gap.

Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Alan Greenberger said the plan will be good for neighborhoods that are home to the shuttered buildings. "In our discussions with the district we've recognized that there are probably a handful of properties for which there has been significant interest expressed and which we would like to put out into the marketplace quickly, try to come to transactions quickly," he said.

Greenberger said he expects "conditions of sale" will be placed on each building. They could restrict what the building can be used for and how quickly it must be re-occupied. Those conditions will likely vary building to building.

Plenty of experts and neighbors have already given the buildings a once-over.

Harris Steinberg is the Executive Director of PennPraxis, the clinical consulting arm of the School of Design at Penn. He said the new plan looks very close to one developed by students at the school.

"The community engagement aspect of this is really critical to get right to ensure that communities understand the market realities and have a really strong input into kind of what the community needs are but weigh that against what the realities are for these buildings, many of which don't have a very strong market for them," said Steinberg.

Superintendent William Hite has said the district is committed to making sure communities are involved in the process. The city and the school district said the process will be transparent and include community input through public meetings as well as a website that's being created to list information about the properties, their condition and local demographics.


This story was reported through a news coverage partnership between NBC10.com and NewsWorks.org



Photo Credit: Brad Larrison | NewsWorks.org

Alcohol May Be Factor in Villanova Student's Death: Police

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Police are investigating whether alcohol may have played a factor in the death of an 18-year-old Villanova University student.

Kinara Patel, a sophomore business student from North Jersey, was discovered around 10 a.m. Thursday morning inside Sullivan Hall on the university's main campus in Radnor Township, Pa., according to officials.

Radnor Township Police Lt. Andy Block says investigators believe Patel died overnight after spending a night out with friends in Bryn Mawr, Pa. Her body was discovered by a friend.

Police are investigating whether alcohol played a role in Patel's death. When asked if police believed she was drinking in a bar Wednesday night, Lt. Block said that was one possibility police were investigating.

There were no signs of foul play, indications of suicide or any underlying health problems that could have contributed to the teen's death, police said.

An autopsy will be performed by the Delaware County Medical Examiner on Friday morning.

In an email message to the Villanova University community, Vice President for Student Life Fr. John Stack called Patel's death "tragic."

"All of us here at Villanova are saddened to learn of this tragedy and extend our deepest sympathy and prayers to family and friends of this student," Fr. Stack said in the short message.

Patel's death comes just three days after undergraduate classes for the Fall 2013 semester began.

In a second message, Fr. Stack said a prayer service will be held in the St. Thomas of Villanova Church at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Sullivan Hall is a residence building reserved for 400 sophomore students on the school's Quad section, according to the university's website. The dorm is co-ed and sexes are split by floors.

Founded in 1842, Villanova University is a Catholic university with an undergraduate and graduate enrollment of more than 10,000 students.

Its campus stretches into two townships -- Lower Merion and Radnor -- in both Montgomery and Delaware Counties, respectively.


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



Photo Credit: NBC10.com - Matt Pantaleno

Smoke From Manhole Blocks Center City Intersection

Man Involved in Piazza Murders Facing 60 Years

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One of the men involved in the 2009 double murder at the Piazza Apartments in Northern Liberties is scheduled for sentencing on Friday.

Langdon Scott, now 30, faces up to 60 years in prison. Scott was one of the eight people arrested in the murders of Rian Thal and Timothy Gilmore back in June of 2009. He pleaded guilty to robbery, conspiracy, and burglary.

Thal, 34, a popular party planner, and her friend, Timothy Gilmore, 40, were shot to death during a botched drug-related robbery attempt inside the 1050 Building in June of 2009. The last seconds of the victims' lives were caught on surveillance tape when they got off the elevator of at the Navona, right before they were ambushed.

Police found four kilos of cocaine and $100,000 inside Thal's apartment.

On Tuesday, Katoya Jones was sentenced to probation after spending three years in jail before pleading guilty to two counts of third-degree murder, according to The Inquirer.

Prosecutors say he was promised a payoff of $50,000 to 60,000 to let the three gunmen through a locked door of the building were she lived.

Thirty-seven-year-old Caesar Holloway, the alleged getaway driver, was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in July after he pleaded guilty to murder, robbery, criminal conspiracy and other related offenses, according to court records.

One of the admitted triggerman in the killings, Donnell Murchison, is serving life in prison without the chance for parole, as are other triggermen Antonio Wright and Edward Daniels. While others convicted in the case are serving various sentences.

In Murchison’s statement shortly after the killing, he told police how the men ambushed Thal and Gilmore from all sides. With a gun to her head, Thal pleaded, “Don’t hurt me! Don’t hurt me! I’ll give you everything you want!”

Gilmore decided to fight back grabbing Antonio Wright’s gun. Wright, the “young boy,” shot him three or four times -- aiming low and shooting him in the back. “Young boy stopped shooting," Murchinson told police before one last shot was fired leaving Thal dead on the ground.

 

 



Photo Credit: The Navona/Piazza at Schmidt's

Fire at Store Along Fabric Row in Queen Village

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Firefighters are called out to a fire along Fabric Row in the Queen Village section of Philadelphia.

The fabric store at 4th and Catherine is three stories, with apartments located above the shop.

Firefighters were able to get the fire under control in less than 20 minutes.

No injuries have been reported. The Red Cross is helping two families displaced by that fire with financial assistance. One of those families is staying at the Red Cross House.

This fire is just one block away from where Philadelphia Fire captain Michael Goodwin died in April. Goodwin was on the roof of Jack B. Fabrics at 4th and Fitzwater, when the roof of the building collapsed, trapping him inside.

Goodwin was a 29-year veteran of the Philadelphia Fire Department.

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