A police investigation is underway after a newborn baby was found critically injured at an Atlantic City casino on Memorial Day.

An EMS dispatch reporting a 2-month-old child in respiratory distress was made shortly after 7:30 p.m. Monday night for the Bally’s Atlantic City Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. When crews arrived they found an injured infant who had been born prematurely, according to investigators. The baby was first taken to the Atlanticare Regional Medical Center and then airlifted to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The child is currently in critical condition.

Police, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office and New Jersey’s Division of Child Protection and Permanency are all investigating the incident. No arrests have been made.
 

A $7.2 million project to repair and resurface 11 miles of Route 611 in Montgomery County began Tuesday night.

“We are eager to begin construction to repave this heavily traveled highway in Montgomery County that suffered extensive pavement damage over the past two winter seasons,’ said Acting PennDOT District Executive Christine Reilly. “Motorists will soon enjoy a much smoother ride when traveling on Route 611.”

This pavement improvement project stretches from the Bucks County line to the Philadelphia line, covering all of Route 611 in Montgomery County.

PennDOT’s contractor will begin on southbound Route 611 at Edge Hill Road in Abington and proceed south to Cheltenham Avenue. The operation will then shift to the northbound lanes and work north to the Bucks County line, and finish by looping around to the southbound side of the highway and continue south to the Edge Hill Road intersection. Paving is expected to start in early June.

Crews will resurface Route 611 weeknights from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following morning. The resurfacing operation is expected to be completed in late July.

Motorists are advised to allow additional time for travel on Route 611 during daytime and nighttime construction.
 

A woman is in the hospital after she was shot in the chest in Middle Township, New Jersey Tuesday night.

The unidentified woman was on Church Street and Railroad Avenue in the Rio Grande section of the town around 7 p.m. when an unidentified gunman opened fire. The woman was struck at least once in the chest.

She was airlifted to the hospital. Police have not yet revealed her condition or what led to the shooting. 

No arrests have been made. Police continue to investigate.
 

Nearly 20 teenagers and one adult were arrested after a sexting investigation at a local high school.

On April 23, officials at Lower Cape May Regional High School and the Richard M. Teitelman Middle School, both in Cape May, New Jersey, were alerted by a female student that naked pictures of her friend were being texted to male students around the school. The officials notified the Lower Township School Resource Officer and the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office and Lower Township Police Department began to investigate.

Police seized and analyzed 27 cell phones during the investigation. Officials say several nude and partially nude pictures of female students were exchanged between male students via text messages and social media.

Police say 19 juveniles and one adult were charged with invasion of privacy in connection to the photos.

“The prevalence of "sexting" among our High School and Middle School children is concerning,” a spokesperson for the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office wrote. “The Cape May County Prosecutor's Office offers a free seminar to every school within Cape May County on the dangers and consequences of cyberbullying and sexting. It is imperative that these students understand the severity of their actions and the impact that their actions have on themselves, their victims, and the community. Students in other Cape May County schools should be aware that these actions are criminal and can lead to prosecution.”
 

Janelle Johnson broke down in tears as she discussed a hit-and-run accident in the Kingsessing section of Philadelphia that sent her 8-year-old daughter Nyfeisah to the hospital.

"She just wants to know what happened," Johnson said. "She don't understand. She don't remember what happened." 

Nyfeisah was near her home on the 1200 block of South 52nd Street around noon on Memorial Day. As she tried to get into her family’s car which was double parked at the time she was clipped by a vehicle speeding by

Witnesses say the impact sent the girl flying 20 feet into the air and she landed on the road. The car, which witnesses believe was a newer model Grey Ford Taurus with tinted windows, fled the scene after the crash, according to police.

"Some people jumped in the car and went after him," said James Colman, a witness. "He was going so fast. He just kept going." 

Johnson told NBC10 she witnessed the entire incident and ran to her daughter moments after she was struck.

"When I got to her, her eyes were rolling in the back of her head," Johnson said. "She wasn't moving. She wasn't saying anything." 

The girl was taken to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where she will undergo surgery on her arm.

No arrests have been made. Police continue to investigate.

The incident was the third time a child has been struck in a hit-and-run in Philadelphia since April. The drivers who struck and killed 4-year-old Latif Wilson and 2-year-old David Alicea still haven't turned themselves in. Johnson told NBC10 she's praying for a different outcome for the incident involving her daughter.

"Please, please just turn yourself in," she said. "Because I'm not going to stop until I find out who did this to my baby." 
 

Bottles of methadone were found in the car that crashed into a power pole last month, killing a 3-year-old girl, a San Diego County Medical Examiner’s report reveals.

The toddler, Carlee Ramirez, was not buckled in properly before the deadly crash on April 4 in El Cajon, a city in east San Diego County, the ME said. Her mother Brandy Teague was behind the wheel and now faces a number of felony charges in the girl’s death.

Carlee was sitting in a booster seat in the left rear passenger side of the Hyundai Elantra when Teague veered off Broadway and into the pole. While Carlee’s lap belt was secure, the shoulder belt was behind the back of the seat, according to the report.

Although emergency crews performed CPR on Carlee and took her to Rady Children’s Hospital, she died soon after. Her cause of death was blunt force injuries to her head and a neck fracture, the ME said, and her manner of death is an accident.

When ME investigators examined the scene of the crash, they found a bottle of methadone behind the driver’s seat and another on the ground beside the car, placed there by officers.

Teague’s sons, 1 and 10 years old, both survived the crash with minor to moderate injuries. El Cajon police believe Teague fell asleep at the wheel before she crashed.

She is now in jail, charged with gross vehicular manslaughter, DUI causing injury, driving on a suspended license and other felonies. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and her next court appearance is scheduled for June 16.

Carlee’s father, Carlos Ramirez, spoke with NBC 7 not long after he lost his daughter. He said he did not want Carlee to go with Teague because he suspected she was under the influence of drugs, but he did not have full custody of her. According to the ME’s report, Carlee’s maternal grandmother was her legal guardian.

Philadelphia Police hope surveillance video helps them track down a man wanted in at least two home invasions and sex assaults in South Philadelphia.

During the most recent attack, a 35-year-old resident of the 1800 block of S Rosewood Street, woke up to find a man wearing a ski mask hovering over her. The man then sexually assaulted the woman before making off with her vehicle, said Philadelphia Police.

Video of the Monday's attack, released by police Wednesday, shows the suspect in the victim's hatchback. You see him park in front of a fire hydrant a few blocks from the victims home around 5:30 a.m. Monday. You then see the man – who appears to be in his 20s and stands between 6-feet and 6-feet, 2-inches tall who was wearing black pants, a black long-sleeved zip-up jacket and a hat – get out of the vehicle and appear to quickly look around before reaching back into the vehicle.

The man emerges from the vehicle then crosses the street. He then is seen on another angle heading down the street as a white sport utility vehicle appears to be looking for parking.

The man, who wore red gloves, can then be seen walking away.

In between he broke into a home and attacked a sleeping woman before making off with $10 in cash and her keys, said police.

Before leaving the home, the masked man took the woman's roommate's identification and threatened her if police were contacted.

Someone may have tried to break into the same home where the assault occurred on Wednesday morning, sources with knowledge of the investigation said.

Police have yet to say if that reported attempted burglary is connected to the earlier attack.

On Tuesday, did connect an earlier sex assault on a 35-year-old mother of two inside her South Philly home back in March. During that incident on S Chadwick Street the suspect was also wearing red gloves and choked the woman, police said.

"This individual is dangerous and he may be looking through the neighborhood and has the time to case the area and look for any weaknesses in the neighborhood in regards to security," said Philadelphia Police Captain John Darby.

Overnight, police questioned a person of interest in the home invasions but they released that person without filing any charges.

If you have any information on the suspect's identity, please contact Philadelphia Police. If you spot him, police want you to call 911 immediately.

Excessive heat caused Allentown City Hall and Public Safety Building to close Wednesday.

The Mayor's office announced offices would close due to a temporary failure if the air conditioning system.

The temperature in some rooms reached up to 86 degrees.

A portable chiller would arrive in time for buildings to open tomorrow, according to the Mayor's office. But, it could take until next week to get the AC fixed.

A SWAT team member shot and killed a 39-year-old man allegedly holding his 13-month-old son hostage at a home in central New Jersey overnight, authorities say.

Scott McAllister was fatally shot after a five-hour standoff at his home on Bayside Avenue in the East Keansburg section of Middletown, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office said. 

McAllister was killed hours after were called to the home after getting a 911 call about a domestic dispute inside the home, the attorney general's office said. 

The mother of McAllister's son was outside the home when officers arrived, and told them that the man was drunk and had beaten her. She added that the man, who was still inside the home, had a knife and was threatening to hurt the boy. 

A SWAT team and a hostage negotiator responded to the home and tried to get McAllister to surrender peacefully and turn over the child. 

When the negotiations failed, the SWAT team forced their way into the house. That's when authorities say one of the officers shot McAllister.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The infant, who was near his father, was not hurt in the standoff.

Nearby residents were evacuated from their homes during the standoff. One neighbor told NBC 4 New York the suspect worked on a fishing boat.

Call in the pizza guy!

That’s what the crew of a Delta flight from Philadelphia did after the Atlanta-bound aircraft landed in Knoxville, Tennessee instead Tuesday afternoon.

Bad weather in Atlanta caused the crew of Delta Flight 561, which took off from Philly just after 2 p.m., to land more than 200 miles from their destination.

The diverted flight landed in Knoxville around 3:50 p.m. As dinner time began to approach, the pilot announced to the passengers that they ordered pizza. A short time later dozens of pizza pies arrived.

“It’s part of a standing procedure at Delta to get food and beverages to delayed customers – whether it be a severe weather event that drove the diversion last night or a delay in airport due to an aircraft mechanical issue,” said Delta Air Lines spokesman Morgan Durrant.

The pizzas came from Marco's Pizza in Maryville, Tennessee. The pizza chain, which also has locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, delivered about 65 pizzas to the airport Tuesday.

The Philly flight, originally scheduled to last about two hours, finally took off from Knoxville around 6:15 p.m. and passengers, with bellies full of pizza, arrived in Atlanta just after 7 p.m.

The Philly flight wasn’t the only Atlanta-bound Delta plane forced to land in Knoxville that got pizza delivered Tuesday.

Delta continues with class. Stuck due to weather and the crew ordered everyone pizza. #deltaairlines pic.twitter.com/yMeBCFF0qL

— Bill Wittenmyer (@BillyTheKidWitt) May 26, 2015

Wittenmyer was on an Atlanta-bound plane from California.

We are sitting on a runway stuck on a @Delta flight because of weather. So they're throwing us a pizza party! pic.twitter.com/QO0ntZvs4I

— Riley Vasquez (@RileyVasquez) May 26, 2015

Vazquez, who was on a diverted flight from Denver, told NBC10 that the delivery “made everyone so much happier. When they announced they ordered pizza the plane erupted in cheer and applause.”

Delivering pizzas to diverted planes was a “team effort with the flight crew and our airport representatives,” said Durrant.

Delta even delivered pizza to passengers on an Atlanta-bound flight that wound up diverted to Columbia, South Carolina.

And, in case you were wondering, passengers had their choice between plain, pepperoni or supreme, according to passengers.

A caught-on-camera hot tea attack on a worker inside a Philadelphia takeout left a female employee hospitalized with burns on her chest and face.

Three men began arguing with a 42-year-old woman working at Panda Chinese at 5441 Baltimore Avenue in the city’s Kingsessing neighborhood around 930 p.m. Thursday, said Philadelphia Police.

While inside one of the men – believed to be in his 20s and having a thin build and beard who was wearing a black hoodie with a distinct pattern across the front and left sleeve – began to argue with the worker, said police. The fight escalated to the point where the man threw a Styrofoam cup of scalding hot tea onto the woman behind the counter, said investigators.

The attack left the women with burns to her face and chest that required treatment at Mercy Hospital.

The men then quickly fled the store – the one who threw the tea darting across the street.

Police hoped someone recognizes not only the tea tosser but also the two guys he was with – one a heavier guy wearing a bright orange vest and the other a guy wearing a black coat with gray sleeves and dark shirt.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Southwest Detective Division Det. Gilson at 215-686-3183/84.

A fight over cab fare led to a pair of Burlington County police officers being assaulted on Memorial Day.

Evesham Police officers responded to the unit block of Dorset Drive for the report of a man who refused to pay his fare.

Wade Smith pushed one of the officers and took a swing at the other, said Evesham police.

Both officers suffered minor injuries. Smith, 43, also suffered injuries that required treatment at a local hospital.

Police charged the Marlton, New Jersey resident with resisting arrest, aggravated assault on an officer and related counts. He was sent to county jail unable to post $5,000 bail.

Conservative culture warrior Rick Santorum launched a 2016 White House bid on Wednesday, vowing to fight for working-class Americans in a new election season that will test his influence — and focus on social issues — in a changing Republican Party.

The former Pennsylvania senator may have exceeded his own expectations by scoring a second-place finish in the race for the Republican presidential nomination four years ago. Yet as he enters a more powerful and diverse 2016 field, he may struggle even to qualify for the debate stage in his second run.

"I am proud to stand here, among you and for you, the American workers who have sacrificed so much, to announce that I am running for president of the United States," the 57-year-old senator said, flanked by factory workers and six of his seven children in a cinderblock warehouse near his western Pennsylvania hometown.

"The last race, we changed the debate. This race, with your help and God's grace, we can change this nation."

Santorum opens this political season as a heavy underdog in a race expected to feature more than a dozen high-profile Republicans — most of them newcomers to presidential politics. He is among the nation's most prominent social conservatives, having dedicated much of his political career to opposing same-sex marriage and abortion rights, while advocating for conservative Christian family values.

He mentioned cultural issues only briefly on Wednesday, however, in remarks designed to broaden his appeal to working-class Americans. "As president, I will stand for the principle that every life matters — the poor, the disabled and the unborn," said Santorum, a Catholic.

He ultimately won 11 states in the GOP's 2012 primary election after an unexpected and narrow victory in the opening contest in Iowa, where he emerged as a conservative favorite after touring the state's 99 counties in a pickup truck.

His road to relevancy this time won't be easy.

"It's going to be much more competitive," said Foster Friess, a prominent donor who was standing near the podium during Wednesday's announcement.

Santorum has acknowledged his challenges in 2016, but says his experience could pay dividends the second time around. Most of the GOP's recent presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and President Ronald Reagan among them, needed more than one campaign to win the nomination.

He faces considerable competition for his party's social conservatives in particular. The list of Republicans already courting religious voters includes former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist pastor who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. And like Santorum, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is a Catholic.

Polling suggests a shift in voter attitudes about the importance of social issues, particularly gay marriage, which has long been a defining issue for Santorum. Like others in his party, he has appealed to religious voters recently by criticizing what he calls President Barack Obama's "war on religious freedom," which includes the broader debate over whether private businesses can deny services to same-sex couples.

Santorum's longshot status may keep him out of presidential debates altogether.

Only those who place in the top 10 of national polls will be allowed to participate in the first Republican presidential debate in August, according to guidelines released by network host Fox News. Santorum is on the bubble.

While advisers suggest he will benefit from a donor network that has grown in recent years, questions remain about Santorum's ability to raise money as well.

Friess, who previously gave more than $2 million to a pro-Santorum super PAC in 2012, said he would continue to support Santorum's White House ambitions, although he plans to avoid donating large amounts directly to the campaign or a supportive super PAC, both of which would disclose their donors.

"Any giving I'm doing is going to be lower-profile and less noticed," Friess told The Associated Press.

Santorum immediately launches a rollout tour that begins in Iowa on Thursday and Friday and moves to South Carolina on Saturday and Sunday. He is not scheduled to appear in New Hampshire, where voters typically don't favor candidates who focus on social issues.

A crowd of hundreds watched Santorum's announcement at Penn United Technologies, an employee-owned manufacturing company based in the western Pennsylvania county where Santorum grew up.

Wallace Cypher, 54, who lives a half mile away, said he's backing Santorum because he wants a true conservative to win the GOP presidential nomination.

"I think he'd be a whole lot better than what we've got in there right now," Cypher said.

HURRICANES, TYPHOONS, AND CYCLONES

Every hurricane season is different. Some have lots of storms. Some have few storms. And some parts of the earth have a lot more storms than others. We, who live near the North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico call them “Hurricanes." Storms in the Eastern Pacific Ocean are also called Hurricanes, although there are those who don’t believe it (I have actually settled bar bets on whether they’re called Hurricanes or Typhoons).

They indeed are called “Typhoons” in the Western Pacific Ocean, and more form there than any other place on Earth. Meanwhile, in the Indian Ocean, and in the South Pacific, they’re called “Cyclones” (which is really confusing, since all storms, tropical or not, are cyclones). Here is a map showing the areas they form, and in which areas they are the most common:

Each area of tropical formation, called “basins” gets its own list of storm names, plus a different place that is responsible for warnings. For example, The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami is responsible for hurricanes in the North Atlantic and East Pacific. That’s it. For the rest of the world, it’s a combination of various countries and the U.S. Navy’s JTWC (Joint Tropical Warning Center). This causes plenty of confusion, especially since each warning center uses ITS OWN NAMES for the storms! I don’t know how other centers get their names, but I did work at NHC way back in the ‘70s, and I worked next to the guy who personally named hundreds of storms. So I know the secrets!

“CAN I HAVE A HURRICANE NAMED AFTER ME?”

Yes, there were women (it was still all male names when I worked at NHC) who asked us to name hurricanes after them. Some sent their requests directly to the Director of NHC, Dr. Neil Frank. And some included pictures. Yes, the kind to get noticed. “Aren’t I worth having a hurricane named after me”? Dr. Frank never passed around the pictures, but he told us about them, blushing at the same time.

Men called and wrote to us also. Some wanted us to name a storm after their wife or girlfriend. Others called from bars, asking (or at times, begging) me to name one after a woman they were trying to pick up. “Look, I promised this girl that I could get this done. Help me out, friend!” It sure was interesting answering phones at NHC, especially at night when I wasn’t supposed to.

THE MAN WHO NAMED THE STORMS (at least some of them)

His name was Gilbert Clark, and he was quite a character. Gil had a strong Texas accent, and would often cackle after saying something he thought was funny. If you ran into him at the grocery store, you would never believe he was one of a handful of Hurricane Specialists at NHC. He made some of the official forecasts for 40 years. And he LOVED storms of all kinds, with a childlike glee.

He was once quoted in a local magazine interview: “People ask me all the time if I can do anything about the weather. But they don’t know that if I could do anything about the weather, it would be bad ALL the time!” Just about all meteorologists can identify with that feeling, but wouldn’t have the guts to say anything close to that in print.

Needless to say, I loved hanging around Gil and hearing his stories. And one of them was how he was pulled aside by the NHC Director (the one before Dr. Frank) and asked to come up with the list of ALL tropical cyclone names for an entire decade. It wasn’t easy, but he did it. Many of the names came right out of a baby naming book. But some came from his relatives, the secretaries at NHC, and even his favorite movie stars. NHC always said storms were not named after specific people, but that wasn’t the full truth.  One was named after his daughter Roxanne. Another was “Anita”, after the sexy actress from the era, Anita Ekberg.

Gil got the ultimate compliment many years later-he had a storm named after him. And “Gilbert”, in 1988, was, at the time, the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. He wouldn’t have had it any other way.

MEN’S NAMES ALTERNATE

It was the first woman Secretary of Commerce (the department that runs NHC) who changed the history of only naming storms after women. Juanita Kreps changed that, as I recall, immediately after taking office. The original naming was inspired by World War II, when pilots put names of their wives, girlfriends on their planes. Now, in 1979, the order was to alternate men’s and women’s names.

Soon after that, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) took over naming worldwide. They used a list of six years’ worth of names, and then started over. A name could be used over and over, unless it was a big enough disaster to have the name retired. And there are many retired names, including Sandy, Katrina, Andrew, Agnes, Hugo, Floyd, and Camille.

WHY NAME THEM AT ALL?
There actually is a good reason tropical cyclones have names. There are times when there are two or more storms on the map. It is much easier to follow when each storm has a simple, memorable name.

THE YEAR THEY RAN OUT OF NAMES

It was 2005, and the season started early, with Arlene in early June. By the end of September, Rita became the 17th named storm. And the season just kept on going. The last pre-determined name was Wilma, in October. Then they went to the Greek names “Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and ended with the 28th storm, Zeta, which formed December 30 and continued until 2006.

THIS YEAR’S NAMES

You’ve probably seen the list of names for 2015 in the Atlantic. But here is the list with the pronunciation of each:

2015
Ana AH-nah
Bill bill
Claudette klaw-DET
Danny DAN-ee
Erika EHR-ih-kuh
Fred frehd
Grace grayss
Henri ahn-REE
Ida EYE-duh
Joaquin wah-KEEN
Kate kayt
Larry LAIR-ree
Mindy MIN-dee
Nicholas NIH-kuh-luss
Odette oh-DEHT
Peter PEE-tur
Rose rohz
Sam sam
Teresa tuh-REE-suh
Victor VIK-tur
Wanda WAHN-duh

By the way, there never has been, and never will be, a Hurricane Schwartz. Except on TV in Philadelphia, that is…..

You can watch Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz every weekday on NBC10 at 11 a.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Follow him on Twitter @HurricaneNBC and stay informed when weather changes on the NBC10 app and with the NBC10 First Alert Weather Team on Facebook: NBC10Weather.