For the second year in a row, Comcast Business is looking for the country’s most innovative startup companies to compete in the Innovations 4 Entrepreneurs competition.
Two companies from the Greater Philadelphia area will get the chance to win $10,000 each as well as an additional $20,000 in cash each along with business advice from top industry experts.
Applicants must submit a 250-word essay explaining how they would use $30,000 in technology investment to enhance their business.
Entries will be judged and two winners will be selected in each of the 16 Comcast Business Regions with one winner for startup companies (in business less than two years) and one winner for entrepreneurs (in business for more than two years). The 32 regional winners will each win $10,000 in cash.
From the regional winners, six grand prize winners will be selected (three startups and three entrepreneurs) who will each earn an additional $20,000 in cash along with a trip to Philadelphia and business advice from industry experts, including Celebrity Chef Robert Irvine and Wharton entrepreneurship lecturer and DreamIt Ventures’ Director Patrick Fitzgerald.
Applications are due by March 15, 2015. You can apply by visiting the official website.
Regional winners will be notified starting the week of April 8, 2015. Public voting for the 32 regional winners will be held April 27 through May 10, 2015 while the six grand prize winners will be announced the week of June 1, 2015 with an awards event planned for August, 2015.
Comcast is the parent company of NBC10.
The Peace Corps and CARE are teaming up for a new training program aimed at bolstering the education and empowerment of adolescent girls all over the world. And Philadelphia will play a big role in that effort.
The program is the newest way to help meet the goal of the Obama administration’s Let Girls Learn Initiative, which is to tackle the barriers keeping 62 million girls out of school.
"Few things move us faster toward a more prosperous, peaceful world than educating and empowering a girl," CARE President and CEO Helene Gayle said in a statement before Tuesday's official White House announcement.
Globally, many obstacles keep girls out of the classroom. They range from child marriage and a lack of proper sanitation facilities, to cultural preferences that keep boys in school and girls at home helping with chores.
A new wave of Peace Corps volunteers will come to Philadelphia for training on how to effect change at the grass roots level in communities around the world. Orientation begins March 13th in and continues into April. A major focus of the program’s curriculum will be to teach people how to engage with others and overcome differences that keep them from building strong work relationships.
"CARE’s experience has taught us that it takes a community to educate and empower a girl,” Gayle said.
This is not new territory for CARE. The organization fights the poverty millions of women and girls face around the world. They reached 90 countries just last year, according to their website.
This is also not the first time Philadelphia will host a CARE project. 70 years ago CARE was founded in an effort to send packages containing food and supplies to Europe after World War II. Those packages were put together here in Philadelphia.
A 1-year-old has been rushed to the hospital after being bit by a dog in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, county dispatchers tell NBC10.
The child was bit in the head around 1 p.m. Tuesday at a home along the unit block of Cedar Street in Marcus Hook, officials said.
The child's condition and the circumstances around the biting were not immediately known, officials said.
A Delaware County case worker is in the hospital after she was shot during a robbery in Chester, sources confirmed with NBC10.
Erin Murphy was walking home around 10 p.m. Monday night. As she was walking past the Chester Transportation Center Station on the 500 block of the Avenue of the States, she was approached by an unidentified gunman who robbed her and shot her in the head, sources said.
The gunman fled the scene while Murphy was taken to the hospital. Officials have not yet revealed her condition.
Murphy is a case worker for the Delaware County Children & Youth Services.
This story is developing. Stay with NBC10.com for updates.
A shipment of pineapples that landed in Philadelphia from the Caribbean recently was infested with a "destructive" termite that hasn't been seen in the city before.
Twenty live cryptotermes were found on February 10 at the Port of Philadelphia in wood packaging material holding pineapples coming from the Dominican Republic, officials from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Tuesday.
It was the first time this termite was discovered by agriculture inspectors in Philadelphia, officials said.
The termites infest drywood and have caused $1.5 billion in damage to wooden structures in the southeastern United States, officials said.
Inspectors found similar termites infested in materials from a shipment that arrived on February 5. All of the materials were ordered shipped back to the Dominican Republic, officials said.
The man whose pickup truck cracked through the ice on a frozen New Jersey river and sank with his 2-year-old dog in the backseat, prompting an intensive multi-agency search, has been charged with criminal mischief and careless driving, New Jersey State Police said Tuesday.
Andrew Mayer, 27, is expected to face animal cruelty charges pending the outcome of an SPCA investigation, police said.
Mayer allegedly drove out onto the frozen Toms River around 12:15 a.m. Sunday and started doing donuts. The truck's headlights and brake lights were visible from the shoreline at first; then they disappeared. The man's dog, Rollo, was trapped in the backseat of the truck when it went under.
By the time responders found the submerged vehicle, 10 hours later and 100 feet from shore, the young boxer mix was dead. A friend of Mayer who asked that NBC 4 New York not use his name said Mayer tried to get the dog out of the backseat before the truck crashed through the ice, but the dog was terrified -- and the vehicle sank so quickly.
"He would do anything for that dog, anything," the friend said. "That was his baby."
Mayer, who rents the basement of a home with his friend Daniel Joly, declined to talk to NBC 4 New York Monday. Police said Joly, who was a passenger in the truck at one point, told investigators he argued with Mayer about driving on the frozen river and got out of the vehicle.
Area police and firefighters searched for the truck and were joined by a helicopters dispatched by the Coast Guard and the New Jersey State Police. The multi-agency search cost "hundreds of thousands of dollars," a police source estimated.
Information on an attorney for Mayer wasn't immediately available.
The first part of a three-part storm is upon us as snow is changing to sleet and freezing rain, creating slippery conditions across the region. Yet after a period of rain and warm temperatures Wednesday, the final part of the system is set to hit the area Thursday and has the potential to drop the highest snowfall on the Philadelphia area so far this winter.
After Tuesday’s snow, sleet and freezing rain clear, we’re in for a rainy Wednesday with temperatures in the 40’s. Yet those conditions will soon change Wednesday night as colder air moves in. The rain will change to snow which will be widespread during the Thursday morning rush. By the time the storm leaves, it could drop at least half a foot of snow on the Philadelphia area.
Thursday Snow timeline
Estimated Thursday Snow Totals
After the system leaves, the cold temperatures will remain and we’re in for a bitter cold Friday with a high of 27 degrees. Conditions will warm up again over the weekend with temperatures in the 40’s.
The timeline and snow total estimates for Thursday’s snow are subject to change so stay with NBC10.com for the latest updates.
A man who was arrested for his alleged involvement in the fatal stabbing of rap superstar Nicki Minaj's tour manager is now charged with murder.
Pierce Boykin was charged with murder Tuesday in addition to his previous charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, simple assault and other related offenses.
Boykin was arrested Feb. 23.
Police said the 31-year-old was involved in an argument at Che Bar & Grill along Stenton Avenue in Philadelphia’s West Oak Lane neighborhood Feb. 18 that left Eric Parker injured and De’Von Pickett dead.
An argument over a woman ultimately led to the stabbings, said sources close to the investigation.
Pickett, 29, and Parker, 27, were with a few friends outside the bar around 2:35 a.m. making sure that one of the bartenders, a woman that Parker was dating, made it to her car safely when a group of men approached the woman, according to sources.
Parker apparently asked the woman if she was OK and that’s when the fight broke out, sources said.
Pickett and Parker were stabbed several times. Pickett suffered stab wounds in the torso while Parker suffered stab wounds to his left arm and left side.
A private car rushed both men to Albert Einstein Medical Center. Pickett died from his injuries a short time later.
Police later returned to Stenton Avenue where they found personal items, a cellphone and blood on the sidewalk outside the bar. A Philadelphia police crime camera and business surveillance cameras captured at least part of the incident, said investigators.
Pickett, a tour manager, and Parker, a tour employee, were working on preparations for Minaj's "The Pinkprint Tour," which is set to begin next month in Sweden.
Minaj tweeted that she knew the victims were in Philly to rehearse for her upcoming tour:
Two members of my team were stabbed last night in Philly. One was killed. They had only been there for two days rehearsing for the tour.
— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) Feb. 18, 2015
Pickett's cousin, who did not want to be identified, also confirmed with NBC10 that Pickett was in Philly to work on the tour with local rapper Meek Mill.
"They were all here for her," the cousin said. "I guess they were out celebrating and things went wrong."
During his career, Pickett worked with some of the biggest stars in the music industry, including Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and Hip-Hop artist, Fabolous, who shared his condolences on his Instagram page.
Rihanna also posted photos of her and Pickett on her Instagram page as well.
The City of Philadelphia offered a $20,000 reward for an arrest and conviction in Pickett's death.
Parker remains hospitalized in fair condition.
New surveillance video has been released of a New Jersey school bus aide allegedly stealing bagged lunches and money from dozens of preschool students.
Rosa Rios, 33, of Millville, New Jersey, was arrested last month and charged with robbery and theft. Rios worked as a bus aide for the Sheppard Bus Service.
A Millville Police Officer said she was looking over surveillance footage from a school bus in the company back on Feb. 4 while investigating whether money was stolen from the bus driver. She then spotted Rios on camera going through the students’ backpacks, police said. In all, Rios stole lunch money and bagged lunches from 29 kids between the ages of three and five, according to investigators.
On Tuesday NBC10 obtained one of the surveillance videos of the alleged thefts. Officials told NBC10 there are nine recordings in all. Police said the thefts took place between the beginning of January and the beginning of February.
Rios is currently being held in Cumberland County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail. Police also said she no longer works at Sheppard Bus Service and the company is working with them to obtain more surveillance footage.
We're in the midst of a messy Tuesday evening commute as the beginning of a storm system that's expected to last for three days has moved into the region.
The storm began moving in Tuesday afternoon bringing light snow to areas north and west.
As temps slowly rose the precipitation turned to sleet and freezing rain. It will switch over entirely to rain overnight as temperatures rise into the 40s.
Little snow accumulation is expected in the first round -- an inch or two in Philadelphia and points north and west -- but ice is already causing slippery road conditions during the Tuesday night rush.
"Problem is the timing of all this is during the evening commute," Henley said.
Tuesday Timeline
2 to 4 p.m. — System moves in from the west, starts as snow
4 to 6 p.m. — Snow changes to a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain
6 to 9 p.m. — Wintry mix falls
9 to 10 p.m. — Sleet changes to rain
Wednesday promises warmer, but wetter weather. You should expect to wake up to rain in the morning that will continue throughout the day. The highs are predicted to reach up to 47 degrees.
After the warm-up however, more snow with the potential for significant accumulation, is set to move in late Wednesday night.
"We'll start to see an area of snow developing then spreading through the area overnight into early Thursday," said NBC10 First Alert Weather meteorologist Sheena Parveen.
There is the potential for significant snow with 6 to 10 inches falling before snow tapers off Thursday afternoon, said Henley. The National Weather Service warned that the Thursday commute could be impacted.
Once the snow moves out, expect cold temps to linger into Friday, said the Weather Service.
Stay with NBC10.com for more updates on this week's sleet and snow.
The Eagles are going to trade LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
The Bills drafted Alonso in the second round (46th overall) of the 2013 draft. Out of Oregon.
The trade, according to the report, will be official next week.
This story is developing. Stay with NBC10.com for updates.
