A line of thunderstorms are moving across Pennsylvania, bringing heavy downpours, strong winds and a chance of hail to the entire region for Wednesday afternoon.

As temperatures climb to highs in the upper 60s Wednesday, a fast-moving system is heading east across the Keystone State.

Heavy rain will start to fall in the northern and western suburbs of Philadelphia around 2 p.m. 

Expect showers to start in the city around 3 p.m. and the storms to reach the Shore around 4 p.m.

There is a possibility of scattered thunderstorms during the Wednesday rush hour, but most of the rainfall should be over by late afternoon.

The Wednesday storms come the same week as severe weather wreaked havoc on the region, disrupting the Monday morning commute and causing flooding on area roadways.

Temperatures will drop more than 20 degrees as the system pushes past our region. Lows will plunge towards the upper 30s, making for a cold start to Thursday morning.

While the rest of the work week should be dry, the unseasonably cold temps will stick around.

Temperatures will reach highs in the mid-50s and drop to lows in the mid-30s before warming up over the weekend.

The sun returns Saturday and Sunday as we head into the 60s.

A Philadelphia Parking Authority employee is dead after a PPA vehicle struck the father of three Wednesday morning while he was standing in the transit regulation agency's South Philly lot.

A PPA tow truck backed up and ran over 60-year-old Jeff Bayers in the lot, which is located on Weccacoe Avenue between Oregon and Snyder avenues, according to a PPA spokesman.

PPA officials called the deadly accident "tragic," telling NBC10 Bayers, of Maple Shade, is survived by three children.

An employee with the agency for 13 years, Bayers worked in the lot where he was struck.

Authorities are still investigating the circumstances that led up to the crash, which occurred shortly before 7 a.m. near the Ikea located on Christopher Columbus Boulevard, authorities said.

Rescuers rushed the victim to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where the man was pronounced dead at 8:48 a.m., officials said.

No word yet on whether charges will be filed against the driver, who officials have yet to identify.

A Jersey Shore woman will spend the rest of her life behind bars for the murder and dismemberment of her husband, whose remains she kept in a closet for years after his slaying.

"What she did to my brother is what a butcher does to animal," said Raymond Wantorcik in court Wednesday. "It’s killed. It’s bled out. It’s disemboweled and it’s chopped up. My brother was not an animal, yet, he was butchered like one."

Loretta Doyle Burroughs, 63, of Ventnor, was sentenced Wednesday to 55 years in prison as Daniel Burroughs relatives watched in court.

"I pray, I pray that my sins today will give some type of peace for those that have been damaged," said Burroughs while learning her fate.

The victim's family members called the woman a monster as she tearfully accepted responsibility between comments alluding to the possibility that she was a victim of abuse.

"My brother never, ever raised a hand to another person and would absolutely never raise a hand to another woman," said Wantorcik outside the courtroom.

Burroughs, who will turn 64 next month, must serve at least 47 years of her sentence.

After a four-day trial in March, an Atlantic County jury found Burroughs guilty in the 2007 stabbing death of her husband, 66-year-old Daniel Burroughs. The jury also found her guilty of hiding her husband's remains.

Authorities said after slaying her husband in the couple's Hamilton Township home in 2007, the woman stuffed parts of the man into two containers.

She spent the next six years telling people her husband had left her, meanwhile storing his remains in her home. She even moved with the containers several times, prosecutors said. 

"I am sorry for my crime and I’m ready to accept the responsibility," Burroughs said.

In 2013, crime scene investigators found the remains while inside Burroughs' Ventnor home while executing a search warrant for documents related to an embezzlement case. They found the containers in a closet.

"From what I understand, they were there to look for some bank records for embezzlement," said Danny's daughter, Caroline Burroughs. "They weren't there looking for my father. They just stumbled upon him."

Burroughs was found guilty of murder and hindering her own apprehension.

Burroughs said she hoped her sentence would bring closure to her husband's family.

"She’s a sociopath and she’s going to die behind bars where she deserves to be," said Wantorcik.

At least 18 public school teachers who never stepped foot in a classroom last year made more than $1.7 million from the School District of Philadelphia.

Those teachers worked full-time for the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, the local teachers union, but continued to draw a public salary, health benefits and accrued seniority and a pension.

The Fairness Center, a free legal service that represents employees against unions, filed a lawsuit earlier this year on behalf of Americans for Fair Treatment in an effort to bust the practice of placing employees on release time to do union work on grounds they’re paid public money for private work.

“No other school district in Pennsylvania comes close to Philadelphia in size, scope and lack of oversight,” Fairness Center Assistant General Counsel Nate Bohlander said in an email to Watchdog.

“Pittsburgh’s ghost teachers come the closest, making up to $1.02 million annually,” he said. “Importantly, Pittsburgh’s teachers’ contract requires reimbursement; Philadelphia’s does not.”

The practice of release time is written into the teachers’ contract with the school district, allowing for up to 63 Philly teachers to leave their classrooms to work for the union. In many cases, teachers are reassigned as information officers for the union.

One former teacher, PFT Vice President Arlene Kempin, has been on release time since 1983.

Last year, she made $108,000 to work in the PFT’s rent-free office at district headquarters, where Kempin manages human resources requests for members. She was among the eight highest-paid “ghost teachers” who have left the classroom to go work for the union, according to documents obtained by Watchdog.

“Schools should be paying for education, not for union work,” Bohlander said.

Pedro Rivera, who was up for confirmation this week as Pennsylvania Education Secretary, is a graduate of the ghost teacher program. Rivera, a former city teacher, worked for the union from 1999-2000 before he was principal at Sheridan Elementary and then Kensington High School.

“Governor (Tom) Wolf is confident in (his) ability to lead the Pennsylvania Department of Education,” Wolf spokesman Jeff Sheridan said.

Because of Philadelphia’s “last in, first out” policy that protects senior teachers from personnel cuts, the Fairness Center argues that ghost teachers who accrue seniority even while not actively teaching makes younger, and possibly more effective educators, vulnerable to layoffs.

Protecting teachers from seniority-based layoff decisions is also the subject of two bills in play in Harrisburg.

Using ghost teachers for union tasks is not exclusive to Philadelphia or to teachers unions. But the Fairness Center said the system is unchecked in Philly. While some smaller districts, such as Scranton and Allentown, allow only a few teachers to work for the union each year, as many as 63 Philly teachers are eligible to leave the classroom.

Some districts don’t pay their ghost teachers for doing union work and cap their release time, but Philadelphia teachers work for the union for decades and continue to enjoy the benefits of their public employment packages.

Jerry Jordan, president of the PFT, has been on release time from teaching duties for more than 30 years, and half of the 18 ghost teachers working for the union last year had been on extended leave since at least 2008, with most earning north of $100,000 each year.

Since 2003, the Fairness Center estimates PFT ghost teachers have earned a total of $36 million in salary, and union spokesman George Jackson claims it has reimbursed the district, though it’s not required in the language of the teachers’ contract. District spokesman Fernando Gallard has said the SDP does not comment on ongoing legal matters and did not respond to recent inquires about the suit.

The Fairness Center has also targeted the pensions ghost teachers are allowed to continue to build long after they leave the classroom. While the union reimburses the district for teachers’ pensions, the lawsuit charges the state’s costs are allowed to go unreimbursed.

“Philadelphia’s ghost teachers cost the state around $1 million in pension payments since 2003,” Bohlander said, though the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System could not confirm a financing gap connected to ghost teachers.

The lawsuit is ongoing.

“Both the PFT and SDP have requested extensions to file their answers to our complaint,” Bohlander said. “We expect their answers by early May.”

A woman is recovering but still alive after a large tree branch crashed through the windshield of her car during a storm Wednesday afternoon.

The woman was driving on Huntingdon Pike and Albidale Drive in Lower Moreland around 3 p.m. As she was driving, a nearby tree snapped, causing a large branch to fall about 50 feet and crash through her car's windshield.

The woman suffered minor injuries in the accident and was taken to Abington Hospital.

A storm with heavy rain and strong winds struck the area at the time of the incident. The storm caused downed trees and wires throughout the region.
 

Two kids were hurt after a driver, who police say was under the influence, lost control of his car, causing it to flip over in Southwest Philadelphia.

Officials say the driver was traveling on 68th Street and Cobbs Creek Parkway shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday when he lost control of his vehicle, causing it to overturn.

Two children were inside the vehicle at the time and suffered minor injuries. They were both taken to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

The driver was taken into custody. Police say he will be charged with DUI and recklessly endangering children. They have not yet revealed his identity.

Police are searching for a woman accused of stealing clothes from apartments in Philly’s Washington Square neighborhood last month.

A woman told police she was inside her apartment on the 1200 block of Walnut Street March 14 at 10:45 p.m. when she heard noises in her living room by the front door.

When she checked on the noise she saw another woman standing in her apartment holding her roommate’s clothes, police said. The woman told police she confronted the suspect. The suspect then dropped the clothes and walked out of the apartment, police said.

Surveillance video then captured the same suspect outside the door of a second apartment in the complex a short time later, according to investigators. Police said the suspect then went inside and stole several items.

If you have any information on the suspect’s identity, please call Philadelphia Police.
 

A tree crashed through a Gloucester County home as a storm brought in heavy rain and powerful winds Wednesday afternoon.

The tree fell on top of a home on the 200 block of West Olive Street in Westville, ripping down power lines and crushing the top floor.

Witnesses told NBC10 it sounded like a car accident.

“Well I was in my room on the Internet and all of a sudden I heard the wind rip through the neighborhood,” said Stacy Soltys. “When that happened I heard a loud crash. It was pretty jarring. I jumped up. I looked outside and I saw what I saw.”

No one was inside the home at the time and no one was hurt during the incident. Officials say the home is currently unsafe to occupy. Several homes on the block are also without power.

Another Millville Police lieutenant faces charges only a few days after the department’s top cop was arrested for DUI.

A simple assault charge was filed Tuesday against Lieutenant Carl Heger. Heger allegedly assaulted a patron inside Joe Canal’s Liquor Store on N 2nd Street in Millville back on April 9 while off-duty.

Officials say Heger’s case was initially referred to the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office. The Millville Police Department issued the complaint against Heger however one day after receiving notice from prosecutors that they were declining to file more serious charges, according to officials.

The charge comes only a few days after Millville Police Lieutenant Edward Zadroga was charged with driving drunk.

Zadroga, 47, was arrested and charged with DUI Sunday night. Investigators told NBC10 Zadroga was pulling out of the parking lot of the Sidelines sports bar on Sharp and Main streets in Millville around 10 p.m. when he collided with another car.

No one was injured in the crash. Officials say Zadroga failed a field sobriety test and was arrested around 11:15 p.m. He is charged with driving under the influence and reckless driving.

Zadroga is the spokesman for the Millville Police Department and was appointed the officer in charge following the resignation of their police chief.

On Wednesday the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office announced that Cumberland County Chief of Investigators Richard Necelis was appointed the new officer in charge of Millville’s Internal Affairs unit. Necelis will be responsible for the review of all internal affairs reports and will recommend discipline to the appointing authority until further notice.

Millville Mayor Michael Santiago also appointed Lieutenant Daniel Baer to run day to day operations in the department.

Heger will be placed on paid administrative leave at midnight pending the outcome of the investigation, according to Mayor Santiago. Zadroga remains on the force however and has not been suspended.

Last September two other Millville police officers were also accused of drunk driving after a crash on Camel Road.

Zadroga was also at the center of a whistleblower complaint against the city last year.
 

Doctors and prosecutors in the Lehigh Valley don’t know why there has been a sudden uptick of deadly K2 overdoses where patients need to be strapped down to be treated.

In less than a week, more than 50 people in the Allentown and Bethlehem areas required treatment at area hospitals after showing varying levels of intoxication to K2 – a type of synthetic marijuana, said the Lehigh County District Attorney’s office.

“These substances are extremely dangerous,” DA James Martin said. “The green leafy matter in these packets may appear to be innocuous. However, it has been sprayed with chemical compounds that are hazardous.

“There is no way for a user to know exactly what chemical compound has been sprayed on the synthetic marijuana.”

Doctors at Lehigh Valley Health Network hospitals Sacred Heart and Lehigh Valley have treated fever, delirium, agitation and a breakdown of muscle fibers that can be caused by the drug.

"People are extremely agitated, they are delirious," said Dr. Robert Thomso, the director of emergency medicine at Sacred Heart.

Patients have ranged from 13 to 60 years old and many required intubation. The Lehigh County Coroner’s Officer also suspected toxicology results would show eight recent deaths from the drug.

Thomso said the patients on the drug needed to be restrained for their own safety and that often doctors don’t even know what drug the patient took until the patient wakes up after treatment.

Overdoses were also reported in Dauphin, Lancaster, Luzerne and Northampton counties, said the DA.

It wasn’t clear if there was a bad batch of the drug or just an uptick in usage.

Authorities hoped that people will think twice before taking the drug that often comes in a brightly-colored package.

“People think this is a safe substance and underestimate how dangerous it is,” Martin said.

A person was struck and killed by a train in Berks County Wednesday night.

The victim was on the tracks near Furnace Road and Penn Avenue in Wernersville when he or she was struck by a freight train. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police have not yet identified the victim.

A former Philly cop and night club owner is one of three people accused of running a counterfeit credit card manufacturing operation.

Rahim Henderson, 38, Tian Larode, 34, and Waliyda Henderson, 33, all of Philadelphia, are charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, and access device fraud. Rahim Henderson is also charged with several counts of aggravated identity theft.

According to an indictment, Rahim Henderson manufactured counterfeit credit cards and he and the other two suspects used them at several establishments in the Philly region, including several liquor stores as well as the Chickie’s and Pete’s restaurant at Philadelphia International Airport.

Rahim Henderson is a former Philadelphia Police officer who served in the 22nd District for seven years before resigning in 2007, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is also the owner of Atmosphere Lounge, a nightclub located on the 400 block of West Indiana Avenue.

A driver was charged with DUI after police say he struck four children with his pickup truck.

Hector Rios, 48, of Wenolah, was arrested and charged with DUI causing serious bodily injury. 

Police say Rios had left a relative’s house and was driving north on Chestnut Avenue in Woodbury Heights, New Jersey shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday. Rios was intoxicated at the time, according to investigators.

As he was driving, a 4-year-old girl, 15-year-old girl, 8-year-old boy and 4-year-old boy were playing outside a home on the 400 block of Chestnut Ave. Police say Rios lost control of his pickup truck, left the roadway, reentered it and then struck the four children. Rios continued driving in the woods, knocking down several trees that got stuck underneath his vehicle, police said. Police say the pickup truck finally came to a stop just before it entered the rail road tracks. 

Officials say Rios’ foot remained on the accelerator and a nearby resident had to break the passenger window to shut the truck off and get him out. 

All four children were injured in the crash. The 4-year-old girl was treated and released at Inspira Hospital. The teen girl and 4-year-old boy were treated at Cooper Hospital for bumps and bruises and later released. The 8-year-old boy underwent surgery in the trauma unit at Cooper after suffering dental and jaw injuries as well as cuts and bruises. 

Rios is currently lodged in the Salem County Jail in default of $25,000 bail. Police say the investigation is ongoing. 

SEPTA is experiencing service problems possibly due to Wednesday’s heavy winds.

Service on in the inbound side of the Conshohocken, Spring Mill, and Miquon Stations on the Manayunk/Norristown Line is restricted, according to officials. Officials say tilting poles, possibly dislodged by high winds, are creating dangerous conditions for travelers.

Passengers at the stations should board all trains from the outbound (towards Norristown) platforms until further notice. 

“Normal boarding is not expected to resume on the line until Thursday afternoon (4/23),” a SEPTA spokesman said. “Passengers should anticipate the possibility of travel delays during the morning rush hour. Additional updates on the situation will be made as they become available.”

A person was ejected after a dump truck collided with another vehicle in Monroe Township, Gloucester County Wednesday night.

The two vehicles collided at South Black Horse Pike and Whitehall Road around 10:20 p.m. Officials say at least one person was ejected from a vehicle in the crash.

A medical helicopter was called to the scene. The roadway is currently shut down at the location of the crash.

This story is developing. Check back for updates. 

Vincent Michael Fulginiti still remembers what his life was like before the diagnosis.

The 57-year-old Aston, Pennsylvania resident started his own insurance company 30 years ago and planned to retire in 2013. It was right before that planned retirement however when his life changed forever. 

“I went to bed one night,” Fulginiti said. “I was fine. I woke up the next morning and my speech was slurred.”

Fulginiti underwent extensive treatment for the next 12 months and was tested for everything from stroke, to Lyme disease to a blood disorder. It wasn’t until August, 2014 when he found out the truth.

“I was diagnosed with Bulbar Onset ALS,” Fulginiti said. 

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a disorder that involves the death of neurons. It causes muscle weakness throughout the body and those affected are at risk of losing their ability to initiate and control movement. Some people eventually lose their ability to speak, swallow food and walk. The Bulbar Onset impacts breathing and eating. 

There is currently no cure for ALS though a medication known as Riluzole may extend life expectancy for two to three months. Many people with ALS die within three to five years from when the symptoms began. Fulginiti’s family says he was only given six months to two years to live after the diagnosis.

Always a fighter, Fulginiti underwent treatment at several hospitals and clinics but to no avail. 

“I’m now at a dead end,” he said. “It is not in my DNA to do nothing.”

Yet a year and a half after his diagnosis, Fulginiti and his family say they have a new reason for hope. It’s called GM604, a new ALS drug that the family believes will save Fulginiti’s life. 

The drug was created by Genervon, a biotech company based in Pasadena, California. The company released a report stating the drug was used on 12 patients in a 12-week trial and that it slowed down the disease dramatically in at least one of the patients. The company stated the drug showed promise. 

Genervon has urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to grant accelerated approval for the drug. Accelerated approval is a program which allows for earlier approval of drugs that treat serious conditions. Drugs that have been fast-tracked include an Ebola-related drug as well as an AIDS treatment drug. 

“FDA approval processes take years,” said Michael Fulginiti, Vincent’s son. “So when you have increased breathing problems, it’s not something that can wait. The accelerated approval program could allow it to be fast-tracked.”

Fulginiti’s family supported the move and joined hundreds of thousands of people across the nation pushing for the drug to be approved. Fulginiti’s daughter Kerri traveled to Washington to lobby Congress. The family also posted videos on Vimeo as well as EllenTube urging the FDA to approve it. 

“We spent a week in Georgia and the music video was a family idea,” Michael Fulginiti said. “I rewrote the lyrics and Kerri sang lead vocals and we used a cousin’s recording studio in the basement. It was all done over the course of a week.” 

They also created a petition on change.org requesting the FDA to grant accelerated approval for GM604 and other potentially-life-saving treatments for ALS. 

The petition needs to reach 100,000 by April 24 in order for President Obama to respond. So far it has over 21,000. 

The FDA has not made an official decision on GM604 and must determine whether the drug is safe enough to fast-track. The drug has also had its fair share of critics, even in the ALS community, with some stating that the 12-week trial on 12-patients was too small a sample size to determine if the drug actually works. There have also been disputes and conflicting reports regarding whether or not Genervon has actually filed a formal application for FDA approval. 

While the future remains uncertain, the Fulginiti family is confident that Vincent will continue to battle through. 

“My dad’s a fighter,” Kerri Fulginiti said. “He never gives up.” 

CLICK HERE if you would like to sign the petition requesting the FDA to grant accelerated approval for GM604. 

A driver slammed a stolen SUV into a North Philadelphia church early Thursday morning, sending three people -- including a teenager -- to the hospital and destroying a brick wall, police said.

The vehicle crashed into a wall on the Somerset Street side of the Deliverance Evangelistic Church, which is located at 20th Street and Lehigh Avenue, around 4:15 a.m., authorities said.

At least two of the three people injured were badly hurt, officials said, however no conditions were provided at this time.

An investigation is underway.

The Deliverance Evangelistic Church dedicated its North Philly building, which holds more than 5,000 people, in August 1992, according to the church's website.

The church is led by Pastor Glen Spaulding.