The Love Run on Sunday, March 29 starts and ends at Eakins Oval, taking participants past the city's most adored landmarks and causing road closures throughout Center City and parts of West Philadelphia.
Runners wil take off at 8 a.m. from the starting line on the north side of Eakins Oval. From there, they trek east on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway until hitting a three-way intersection at 16th Street. They continue east on Arch Street before turning south on 6th Street until they reach Market Street.
The route continues west on Market Street and the runners will circle around City Hall before continuing west on John F. Kennedy Boulevard to 16th Street. Racers will head on 16th Street north to the Parkway, where they will turn west to continue running on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
Next the participants will run west on Sweet Briar Drive, turning north on Landsdowne Drive, then west on South Concourse Drive, followed by north on East Memorial Hall Drive.
Runners weave through Fairmount Park, heading east on the Avenue of the Republic then following Lansdowne Drive/Black Road from the circle to MLK Drive.
Turning south on MLK Drive, runners will sprint towards the finish line along Eakins Oval and in front of the Art Museum steps.
Eakins Oval and all other roads should reopen around noon, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.
Drivers should expect delays in the race area. Officers will be along the route to assist motorists.
The exotic cat that went missing in a Delaware neighborhood for two weeks last year instilling fear in nearby residents can stay with his family, according to officials.
Boo, the African Savannah Cat, who has lived with Richard Todd and his family for nine years, went missing from a north Wilmington neighborhood right before Halloween 2014. He was found two weeks later and returned to his family.
Since then, whether or not Boo could remain with his longtime family was a point of contention among neighbors because some feared the cat was dangerous.
"He is not a ferocious cat in any way, he is a standard domesticated cat," said Todd. "He just looks different."
"He sleeps with my children."
Boo just looks scary, said Todd.
Still, at the time of Boo's brief disappearance, residents insisted on taking extra precautions.
"I have a 2-year-old daughter at home and she is staying inside til they catch this thing," said one neighbor.
This week, officials in North Wilmington determined that Boo is indeed a domesticated cat and granted the family a permit, allowing him to stay with the Todds.
Two men were killed when a small plane plummeted to the ground near a suburban Philadelphia airport Sunday afternoon, police said.
The plane -- a Piper PA28-- crashed into a wooded area near Saunders Lane and Andrews Drive in West Goshen, Chester County killing both people on board around 1:45 p.m., officials confirmed.
"Shortly after taking off the plane started to sputter and then basically took a nosedive and came down in the woods," said Bob Fleming, of Goshen Fire Company.
It had taken off minutes earlier from the Brandywine Airport, which is roughly two miles from the crash site, police said. Officials said the last deadly accident out of Brandywine Airport was 10 years ago.
Witnesses on the ground suggested the plane may have lost power and then stalled before crashing and bursting into flames.
"We couldn't see anything, just heard a big band," said Frank Kraus, a neighbor.
Kraus added he was thankful the tragedy was not any worse, considering the proximity of several homes and a large senior living housing complex to the crash site.
"Thank God for the pilot," he said. "But then the pilot and his passenger didn't make it which is sad. Sad to hear that people didn't make it."
The identities of the victims have not been released and it's unknown at this time what caused the plane to crash. Authorities confirmed at least one of the victims is a West Goshen Township resident.
Local authorities and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating. Officials with the National Transportation and Safety Board are expected to arrive Monday to aid in the investigation.
The City of Brotherly Love doesn’t always garner the positive attention it deserves, but a new report indicates that's all about to change.
Having been ranked the ugliest, fattest and most miserable city in America in the past, Philly is moving in a new direction and slowly making a more positive name for itself and locals are taking advantage, according to results from a new Pew report, "Philadelphia 2015: The State of the City."
Over the past year, the city welcomed lots of brand-new public spaces like the Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk (we're coming for ya, Jersey Shore!) and Dilworth Park.
Philadelphia received top marks for dining and tourism and was selected by Forbes as the permanent home of its annual 30 Under 30 Summit.
Unemployment fell to 7.8% last year and the city gained nearly 9,000 jobs – the biggest single-year increase in job creation since 1999. said the report.
Public safety also saw improvements.
The number of homicides in 2014, 248, went up by just one from the previous year – an all-time record low in nearly half a century – and major crime continued to decline, according to the findings.
And though the School District of Philadelphia continued its ongoing struggle with finances, the election of Governor Wolf brought back hope to residents that more state aid is on the way.
With all this improvement, more and more Philadelphians are optimistic that the best is yet to come.
And people outside the city agree that Philly has a bright long-term future, according to the stats.
A man was shot in his stomach, leg and butt on a North Philly street Sunday afternoon, police said.
Medics rushed the 37-year-old victim to Temple University Hospital, where he was placed in critical condition, authorties said.
The incident occurred on the 900 block of West Huntingdon Street around 2 p.m., officials said.+
No arrests have been made. An investigation is underway.
More than 500 people were aboard an Amtrak train Sunday when it struck and killed a person who was trespassing on the tracks in New Jersey.
The deadly crash occurred just west of the Hamilton station around 5:45 p.m., according to an Amtrak spokesman.
The Northeast Regional service train was heading to Boston from Washington D.C. with 541 passengers, along with crew members, on board when the accident occurred, he said.
No passengers nor crew members reported any injuries.
The train was held at the scene while local authorities investigated. A single track remained open, allowing other trains to pass, however, there were some congestion-related delays through the evening, the spokesman said.
No word yet on the victim's identity.
An alleged peeping Tom is in police custody after a victim said he secretly recorded her changing inside a dressing room in a Montgomery County Target store.
Police confirmed Sunday they apprehended a man accused of spying on women in dressing rooms at the Target located on Old York Road in Abington Township.
Authorities have yet to release the name of the alleged peeping Tom.
One woman, who did not want to be identified, said the suspect returned to the store Saturday -- a week after she spotted him spying on her.
“As I was picking up my clothes I noticed a pen-like instrument with a blue light,”she told NBC10 last week. “When I went to grab it, it got pulled away from me."
The woman believes a man was using a camera to watch and record her. When she went to confront him he was already gone however.
Abington Township Police reviewed store surveillance video and said Target is cooperating with the investigation.
“The safety and security of our guests is a top priority for Target,” a spokesperson for the store said. “We take these matters very seriously and we are partnering with local law enforcement on this incident."
The woman described the man as a white male with a normal build around 35-years of age, standing 6-feet with a crewcut. She also says he was wearing a white hat.
If you have any information on this incident, please call Abington Township Police at 215-885-4450.
Cyberattacks apparently originating from China and Ukraine interrupted Rutgers' computer network during the past two days, university officials said Sunday.
Firefighters rushed to a North Philly home Sunday night to battle a fire that caused part of the house to collapse.
Crews responded to the 2-story home located near 30th and Page streets, near Ridge Avenue, around 8 p.m., officials said.
As firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze, the 2nd floor of the property collapsed, authorities said.
The fire was brought under control just before 9 p.m.
There were no reported injuries.
Authorities identified Sunday the off-duty Darby Borough police officer, who died Saturday after he was shot in the chest in his Delaware County home.
Darby Borough Police Chief Robert Smythe confirmed 26-year-old Mark Hudson, a 4-year department veteran, was killed Saturday. Sources told NBC10 the slain officer was shot by his own service revolver from several feet away.
A woman, who was inside the home when officers arrived, was taken away in handcuffs. Neighbors identified the woman as Hudson's girlfriend and told NBC10 police were called to the home for domestic disputes several times over recent months.
Sources said that woman, suffering from an unrelated medical issue, was taken to a local hospital -- where she is expected to be arraigned on previous domestic violence charges Sunday night. Hudson's handcuffs will be placed on her wrists when the bedside arraignment takes place, according to multiple sources.
The slain officer -- called a "shining star" in the Darby Borough Police Department by Smythe -- was one of 50 volunteer firefighters in Yeadon Borough. He joined the fire company at the age of 16 and volunteered for the past 10 years.
"At first he was a little shy and then he opened up and he's everybody's friend," said Yeadon Fire Co. Chief Michael DiIenno. "He's go this infectious smile. He's just goofy and he's fun to be around. Everybody at the firehouse here loved him."
DiIenno said his crew members are distraught over Hudson's death and spent Sunday adorning the firehouse with black and purple bunting.
He added that Hudson's mother planned to attend Palm Sunday church services and then spend the rest of the day with the minister's family.
The off-duty officer was at his Magnolia Street home in Darby Township Saturday afternoon when he was shot in the chest in a 2nd floor bedroom around 4:30 p.m.
Medics rushed him to Penn Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia, where he was later pronounced dead.
Richard Womack, Darby Township's police commissioner, said detectives processed the scene overnight and that a gun was recovered.
Hudson worked part-time for the police department, said Smythe, who planned to recommend him for full-time duty due to the quality of his work.
DiIenno said he hopes others will honor Hudson.
"Remember him," he urged. "Let the community know that we lost one of our brothers."
