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NJ Post Office Evacuated for Hazmat

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A post office in Mercer County has been evacuated for a reported hazmat situation.

NFL Star Gives Back to His Philadelphia Community

Convention Center Welcomes "Girl Pop"

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Superstar Taney Dragons pitcher Mo'Ne Davis will join Natalye Pacquin, Alexa Iannace and the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania for a day of empowerment and learning at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Pa. Law Prohibits Needle Exchange That Can Save Lives

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Tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians crave daily injections of heroin. Beyond the threat of overdose is the threat of being exposed to HIV and hepatitis C, both deadly and expensive illnesses that are easily spread through contaminated needles.

But in Pennsylvania, distributing sterile syringes is a criminal act.

For years, Dianna Pagan feared that giving out clean syringes in Reading would land her in jail. Officials there recently agreed to let her needle exchange operate, though she’s faced numerous setbacks for more than a decade, including being shut down following the threat of prosecution.

“There’s no protection,” said Pagan, who contracted HIV while using drugs at age 19. In an effort to help others, she started distributing clean needles more than 15 years ago through Reading Risk Reduction.

Only in Allegheny County and Philadelphia have local leaders publicly supported needle exchanges, essentially ignoring state law out of concern for public health.

Elsewhere, identical efforts expose volunteers to legal hassles and, in the worst case, jail, if police and prosecutors decide they’re violating the state’s drug paraphernalia law.

“We have laws on the books that are causing needless illness and death,” said Caroline Acker, who helped start Prevention Point Pittsburgh in 1995, back before local officials gave it protection.

Most of Pennsylvania’s neighboring states have explicitly authorized at least some needle exchanges, as have other states hit with an injection drug crisis.

Most notably, Indiana lawmakers passed a needle exchange bill after Gov. Mike Pence — previously an opponent to needle exchanges  — authorized a short-term exchange following a sudden and troubling spike in HIV cases.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania has seen an increase in heroin use and in acute hepatitis C, though the state’s health and drug treatment agencies say they lack the authority to fund or implement exchanges.

Reducing harm

Needle exchanges in Pennsylvania are nothing new.

In the midst of an HIV crisis in the early 1990s, volunteers in Philadelphia began passing out clean syringes, targeting a high-risk population at a time when injection drug use was tied to nearly half of all local HIV cases.

Exchanges operate under the assumption that drug use won’t stop just because clean needles aren’t available.

In 1992, then-Mayor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, declared a public health emergency, putting the weight of his office behind Prevention Point Philadelphia, the state’s longest-running syringe exchange.

The state threatened a crackdown, but none came.

Now only about 5 percent of new HIV cases in Philadelphia are spread through syringes, according to the city’s AIDS Activities Coordinating Office.

“People are telling each other, ‘You need to keep yourself safe,’” Jose Benitez, Prevention Point Philadelphia’s executive director, told PublicSource, explaining how drug users embraced the program.

Allegheny County soon followed.

In 1995, volunteers from the unaffiliated Prevention Point Pittsburgh set up card tables to distribute clean syringes and safely dispose of used ones.

Early on, workers faced the threat of arrest and pressure from unhappy neighbors to move elsewhere.

But the county health department eventually embraced the program, giving it regular space to distribute and collect needles. It was authorized by the Allegheny County Council in 2008.

Richard Smith, HIV/AIDS project director for the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, said few new HIV cases in the Pittsburgh area are tied to injection drug use. The foundation was one of Prevention Point Pittsburgh’s first supporters. JHF also provides funding support to PublicSource.

So, the state’s two largest cities accept needle exchanges as effective interventions. But Pennsylvania’s heroin crisis affects small cities and rural areas as well. And when needles are shared, outbreaks of HIV and hepatitis C can follow.

Underground exchanges are operating in Lancaster and Harrisburg, both with implied support from local officials, as well as in Reading.

Scott Burris, professor of law at Temple University, says the flare-up of HIV in the state of Indiana should serve as a cautionary tale.

More than 140 people tested positive for HIV in the state’s Scott County, which has about 24,000 residents and an injection drug problem. Indiana’s governor opposed needle exchanges in the past but signed a bill to authorize exchanges during health emergencies.

“That should be a warning for every small Pennsylvania city and town,” said Burris, who has studied needle exchange and drug paraphernalia laws nationwide.

In rural areas, Burris said, drug users are part of a close-knit community. They tend to know each other, and they tend to inject together.

That means if one person has a bloodborne disease, it can spread quickly to anyone sharing the same needle. HIV and hepatitis C can spread to non-drug users through other means, including sexual contact.

Both HIV and hepatitis C can be deadly and are extremely expensive to treat. Hepatitis C can be even easier to contract than HIV, meaning a new syringe isn’t always enough to stop transmission because other paraphernalia may be contaminated, said Acker, a public health historian and head of the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University.

Nationwide, acute cases of hepatitis C spiked 75 percent from 2010 to 2012, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributes mostly to drug use by young, white people in non-urban areas.

In Pennsylvania — which has a drug problem that includes that exact demographic — acute cases of hepatitis C more than doubled over the same period. The state has not pinpointed a cause for the increase.

Both the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs say they want to prevent the spread of bloodborne diseases. But they also lack the authority to implement or invest resources in needle exchanges.

“We are looking at actions that other states are taking to address mitigating the spread of HIV and hepatitis,” Amy Worden, communications director for the Department of Health, said in an emailed statement on behalf of both agencies.

The federal paradox

Renee Cox, executive director of Prevention Point Pittsburgh, said funding is a major hurdle.

Pennsylvania gives no money to exchanges, and Congress in December 2011 reinstituted a decades-old federal ban on funding exchanges. This means programs are dependent on limited private grant money and local support.

Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), who currently sits on the congressional subcommittee that oversees HIV-related spending, explains why he’d like the ban to continue.

To him, harm reduction means interdicting drugs and getting users to treatment. It doesn’t mean supporting exchanges.

“It does not make sense for the federal government to hold the use of heroin to be illegal while at the same time funding the distribution of the paraphernalia required to use the drug,” Dent said in an emailed statement.

Exchange opponents argue that the programs encourage drug use, saying in essence that fewer people would inject heroin if fewer sterile syringes were available.

The federal funding ban was lifted briefly in 2009, with support from the Obama administration and AIDS activists.

After two years, however, the ban was reinstated, despite the CDC’s embrace of needle exchanges as an effective intervention to control bloodborne diseases.

The research on bloodborne diseases has existed for many years and is backed by public health experts across the country, including those in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

In 2009, the state’s Board of Pharmacy made syringes available without a prescription, a move that signals support for increased access despite state law.

Barriers remain because pharmacists are empowered to decide if they want to sell syringes to customers they suspect of using drugs. Carrying a syringe for illicit drug use is still illegal.

The state has previously said its funding ban keeps it in line with the federal government.

Burris refutes this notion, saying the state should be free to spend its own money as it sees fit, just as Philadelphia spends its own local money on its exchange.

“There’s really no good reason we couldn’t have needle exchanges across the state wherever people are injecting,” Burris said.

Outlaws no more?

With states like Indiana supporting needle exchanges — at least minimally — and Gov. Tom Wolf’s recent embrace of the anti-overdose drug naloxone, supporters are hopeful that needle exchanges can come up from the underground.

Change could come in several ways.

One could be executive action from Wolf, similar to what Pence did in Indiana or what former Gov. Rendell did on a smaller scale as mayor of Philadelphia.

“The governor could say, ‘Look, this is a health emergency,’”  said Benitez, of Prevention Point Philadelphia.

A representative from the governor’s press office did not respond to inquiries about Wolf’s stance on syringe exchanges.

The governor, however, wants to limit the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, deputy press secretary Ajeenah Amir said in an email statement.

That includes working with state agencies and communities to “promote awareness about the dangers of contracting disease through shared needles,” the statement said.

Lawmakers in Harrisburg could also remove the word “syringe” from the state’s paraphernalia law, something several other states have done already.

If syringes aren’t explicitly named, supporters said, programs would have more protection to hand out clean needles without worrying about law enforcement.

Or local governments could follow the lead of Philadelphia and Allegheny County and either declare a health emergency or pass a local ordinance to authorize exchanges.

For volunteers like Pagan, that would mean harm reduction gets an official blessing and public health efforts would no longer be at odds with state law.

“They’ve been doing it here for more than 20 years in Philadelphia,” Burris said. “And the sky has not fallen.”

Reach Jeffrey Benzing at 412-315-0265 or at jbenzing@publicsource.org. Follow him on Twitter @jabenzing.


Take action

Despite public health research that supports needle exchanges, state law continues to say that distributing syringes for drug use is illegal.

If you support or oppose a change in law, let your state senator and state representative know.

If you want to know more about the Commonwealth’s response to the heroin crisis and increased risk for HIV and hepatitis C, contact the Department of Health and the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs.

If you support or oppose executive action, contact Gov. Tom Wolf.

If you support local changes, contact your city and county government.

If you support or oppose federal funding for needle exchanges, contact your senator and representative.

For more information on local harm reduction, contact Prevention Point Pittsburgh, Prevention Point Philadelphia, Lancaster Harm Reduction Project or the Harrisburg Harm Reduction Project.

Visit the CDC online for federal research on HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and needle exchanges.

--Compiled by Jeffrey Benzing



Photo Credit: Illustration by Anita Dufalla

Safety System Is Installed at Derail Site, Wasn't Ready

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The safety system that experts say could have prevented the devastating derailment of Amtrak Regional 188 is installed on the tracks the train was using, but an NBC10 investigation found it simply wasn't ready.

Positive Train Control, or PTC, monitors a train's location and speed using trackside ground monitors that wirelessly communicate with trains and can remotely slow or stop the locomotive if it is speeding or about to collide with another train. A federal mandate requires Amtrak, transit authorities like SEPTA, and freight rail operators to have the technology operational by the end of the year.

Following Tuesday night's deadly derailment when Amtrak 188 jumped off a curve at Frankford Junction in Port Richmond traveling 102 mph — more than twice the speed limit — Amtrak officials said PTC was turned on in some sections of the Northeast Corridor, but wasn't ready to go in that part of Philadelphia.

The crash of Amtrak 188 killed eight people and injured more than 200 others. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board said the derailment would not have happened had PTC been online.

PTC is installed at the curve, but isn’t ready for operation, the NBC10 Investigators have learned.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, said Amtrak officials explained the system was installed, but blamed the Federal Communications Commission for delaying its activation.

"We know the system was not turned on. The question is why was it not turned on. Today, I don’t know that answer," the congressman said.

Since the PTC system communicates wirelessly, the FCC must approve the frequencies over which the data is transmitted. Amtrak also spent years negotiating the purchase of the spectrum with private companies. Something the rail operator says held up the process.

In early March, Amtrak applied to use the frequencies on rails running between New York City and Washington, D.C. and from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, documents obtained by the NBC10 Investigators showed.

Despite being blamed for a delay, an FCC official said the agency approved the application within two days of it being finalized.

“At this moment, I’ll certainly take the FCC at their word that they did what they said they did," Dent said.

Amtrak spokesman Craig Schulz told NBC10 Friday afternoon the PTC system has been undergoing testing all along the Northeast Corridor — including through Philadelphia.

“We are very, very close to full implementation,” Schulz said. “It’s not flipping a switch.”



Photo Credit: AP

Did Projectile Hit Amtrak 188 Before Crash?

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Investigators have asked the FBI to look at whether a projectile, like a rock or bullet, hit Amtrak Regional 188 moments before it sped up and derailed at a curve in Philadelphia Tuesday night, killing eight people and injuring more than 200.

The latest information comes after NTSB investigators interviewed three Amtrak employees — including 32-year-old engineer Brandon Bostian — on Friday.

Bostian remembers ringing the train's bell as it passed through North Philadelphia station, about 4 miles from the crash site, but his memory is blank after that point, NTSB's Robert Sumwalt said. The interview lasted an hour and a half and Bostian, accompanied by his lawyer, was described as "extremely cooperative."

An assistant conductor told the NTSB she heard a SEPTA operator on adjacent tracks radio that his window had been shattered by an unknown projectile. That SEPTA train was one of two trains that NBC10 previously reported were hit by projectiles on the same line around the same time that night.

The woman, who was working in the fourth car that is a cafe car, said she believed she heard Bostian tell the SEPTA engineer their train had also been hit by something.

Moments later, the train careened off a curve at Frankford Junction in Port Richmond as it traveled more than 100 mph in a 50 mph zone. 

"We have not independently confirmed this knowledge. We rely on the FBI for their expertise in such areas," Sumwalt said.

Bostian, who suffered a concussion, head and leg injuries and doesn't remember the crash, did not tell investigators the train was hit by a projectile. A second assistant conductor, interviewed Friday, did not hear the conversation either, but may have been having trouble with his radio.

An outward-facing video feed on the locomotive also did not record a strike, according to Sumwalt.

The FBI will be looking at a damaged windshield on Amtrak 188. Sumwalt said the windshield was shattered in the derailment, but there's one area, on the lower left side, that they will be focusing on and analyzing the fracture pattern.

What About the Speed?

Whether or not the locomotive was hit by a projectile, it still doesn't explain the train's quick acceleration. The train does not have an automatic throttle — meaning a person must move the throttle to control the speed. Sumwalt said investigators are working to rule out all possibilities including a "mechanical anomaly."

Investigators plan to comb through data from the black box which records movement of the throttle.

A 3D scan was made of the interior and exterior of the train. Investigators plan to reconnect the engine's brake lines and conduct tests in the coming days to determine whether they were operating properly. Initial findings showed the train only decelerated by four miles per hour after the emergency brake was applied.

Bostian is well-versed in his job, investigators said, and is described by friends as someone who's loved trains since he was a child.

Brad Watts, a longtime friend of Bostian and former NBC News producer, told NBCNews.com he is a good person who cares deeply about his job.

"He knows the responsibility that it takes for a person to get people to and from their destination safely," he said. "Something happened … catastrophic to cause the train to derail."

Watts has not spoken to his friend since the derailment, but has been in touch with his significant other, he said.

"Knowing Brandon myself, Brandon cares a lot about people and I can imagine that it's tearing him up inside," he said.

The NTSB is wrapping up their on-site investigation and planning to head back to Washington, D.C. to continue the probe. Sumwalt did not have a timeline when the investigation would be complete.

Two Trains Hit Before Crash

SEPTA Regional Rail train 769 heading northbound toward Trenton, New Jersey, was hit by something at 9:05 p.m., the transit authority told NBC10 Wednesday. The impact of the unknown object shattered the engineer's windshield and forced the train out of service just south of North Philadelphia station.

About 10 minutes later, Amtrak Acela 2173 traveling southbound on the same line was also hit by a projectile. Passenger Madison Calvert was sitting next to the window that was damaged.

“I’m like ‘Oh my God, my window’s shattered,’” he told NBC10 Thursday. A photo he shared showed a large circular fracture in the glass.

Johns Hopkins student Justin Landis, who was also traveling on Amtrak Acela 2172, told NBC News, that an object hit the train, shattering the window. He said the train was near the Philadelphia 30th Street Station around 9:20 p.m. when he was startled by the the noise.

City officials said earlier this week they didn't believe the incidents were connected to the derailment.

In SEPTA radio recordings, obtained by NBC10 Friday, police initially thought someone may have fired a gunshot at the regional rail train. That turned out not to be true, according to SEPTA Police.

A SEPTA spokeswoman said regional rail trains running through the same area have been hit by rocks, thrown by kids or vandals, in the past. They continue to investigate.

Sumwalt said investigators have retrieved video from the SEPTA regional rail train and were listening to radio communication recordings. The regional rail employees will be interviewed by the NTSB.



Photo Credit: NTSB
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Mysterious Odor Forces Workers Out of Postal Center

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A mysterious odor forces workers out of a postal center in Hamilton Township, Mercer County.

Man Jailed for Letting Child's Teeth Rot Cannot Withdraw Guilty Plea: Judge

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A judge ruled Kenneth Wanamaker Junior cannot withdraw his guilty plea to reckless endangerment in the case of a Northampton County man sent to jail for letting his daughter's teeth rot.

AAA Offering Bike Coverage

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AAA announced it's offering bicycle coverage to members in all three states in the local area, so if you break down on a bike, a service vehicle will take you and your bike to a shop, your home or other safe place.

Crews Close Part of Bridge to LBI to Repair Hole

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Crews have closed a part of the right-hand eastbound lane on Route 72 Manahawkin Bay Bridge in Ocean Countr which leads to Long Beach Island.

Missing AC Woman Likely Dead: Police

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Sapphire Wiggins was last seen in October. Police now believe she is dead after they say her boyfriend, Kevin Shelton, committed suicide after telling family members he did something bad and was going to jail for a long time.

38 Arrested in Berks Co. Crime Ring Bust

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Berks County police say the biggest criminal organization in recent memory has been busted. Thirty-eight members of the group calling itself the "Sixth Ward Organization" are charged with robbery, theft, fraud and more.

Coast Guard Launches First Boating Safety App

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Jersey Shore waterways are getting a lot busier as the boating season shifts into high gear. The Coast Guard is launching its first boating safety app aimed at preventing mishaps on the water. NBC10's Ted Greenberg shows us how it works.

Crews Make Progress Restoring Amtrak Rails After Derailment

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Amtrak's plan to get rail service up and running may not happen on schedule after the deadly derailment in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia. NBC10's Drew Smith is at the scene with a progress report on the work being done.

South Jersey Restaurant Worker Tests Positive for Hep A

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A restaurant worker who handles food has tested postitive for Hepatitis A at a South Jersey restaurant. NBC10's Cydney Long reports which restaurant and what is being done to protect the people who eat there.

SUV Crashes into NE Philly Home

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SkyForce10 was over Northeast Philadelphia where an SUV punched a hole in a hole along Loney Street.

How to Commute to NY Without Amtrak

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Tuesday's deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia closed a portion of Amtrak's northeast corridor, the most heavily traveled stretch of commuter rail in the country. We sent NBC10's Jesse Gary to explore the alternatives, the time and the cost of getting to New York without Amtrak.

Coach Free on Bond After Facing Sex Assault Charges

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Bethlehem coach Adam Bednarik is free on bond after facing a judge on charges he sexually assaulted a student.

Witness: Couple Threw Baby From Overpass

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A young couple walked onto a Southwest Philadelphia overpass, cuddled and kissed a baby and then leaned over and let the child go as two trains screeched along the tracks below.

Or did they?

Police searched a Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood by ground and air Friday looking for the baby and the couple; hoping there was some other explanation for what one woman believes she saw as she drove across the 68th Street overpass near Kingsessing Avenue.

“She sees the female, she’s got what she described as a light-skinned baby with hair, in her arms, almost cradling it and then she sees the male take the baby, give it a kiss, she believes on the forehead, and then he leans over this cement rail toward the track area," explained Lt. John Walker.

Did that really just happen?

Not absolutely sure that's what she saw, the woman called her boyfriend as she continued driving to the gym. He told her to hang up and call 911.

A short time later, the witness met police back at the scene.

Investigators used dogs to help in the initial search covering a mile-and-a-half near the overpass. The search area expanded once police determined that conductors one of the two CSX trains passing under the bridge also saw the young couple on the overpass.

Both trains were stopped  — one in Chester County and the other in Bucks, while police looked over the cars. An air crew checked the entire stretch of track.

Neighborhood surveillance cameras also captured the mystery couple. One video shows them on the bridge, but from the back, so you don't see what's going on in front of them.

Video from a second camera shows the couple walking away, holding hands.

The couple is described as being between 17 and 21, according to the witness who alerted police. She said the woman was dressed in Muslim garb with a headpiece. The man wore a shirt and bluejeans and was carrying a white item the witness thought was a blanket.

"We're hoping it wasn't what this young lady saw," Walker said, but “if someone knows someone in this area who recently had a child, maybe within the last year, and no longer has that kid, to please alert us.” Walker asked anyone with information to call 215-686-TIPS.



Photo Credit: Surveillance Video

Amtrak Derailment Delays Travel Across Northeast

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The Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia is causing a domino effect across the northeast. Passengers are still scrambling to make it to their destinations from 30th Street Station. NBC10's Keith Jones reports the major impact it's having up and down the east coast.
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