A thief in Philadelphia has taken the expression “taking a cab ride” to a whole new level.
Police are searching for the suspect they say stole eight taxi cabs in a one-week span in West Philadelphia and Southwest Philadelphia.
The thefts happened between June 7 and June 15.
All of the stolen taxi cabs bear the logo of "215 Get A Cab."
One of the thefts was caught on surveillance video, which you can view here.
The suspect is described as a black male with a thin build and beard.
Anyone with information is urged to call 911.
For the first time since carrying the anti-overdose drug Naloxone, Pennsylvania State Troopers administrated it to an unresponsive male, likely saving his life.
Troopers from the Troop B, Uniontown Station, successfully administered the anti-overdose drug to an unresponsive male on June 12.
Troopers found the male lying on a lawn, breathing shallowly and he appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance, investigators said.
"Troopers administered the anti-overdose drug Naloxone on scene prior to EMS arrival and the subject immediately became conscious and communicative," said Captain Harry B. Keffer, the commanding officer for Troop B.
The male was transported to Uniontown Hospital by EMS for treatment.
Naloxone, also known by brand names “Narcan” or “Evzio,” is a prescription medicine that rapidly reverses heroin and other opioid overdoses.
In April of this year, Governor Tom Wolf announced that State Troopers would begin carrying the life-saving opioid overdose reversal antidote. This is the first time Naloxone was administered by the State Police since it was distributed.
Philadelphians and visitors to the city for the World Meeting of Families and visit by Pope Francis should be prepared to walk for miles when the events take place, Mayor Michael Nutter said Tuesday.
"Private vehicles will not be a viable option," the mayor said as city leaders and event organizers detailed some of their transportation plans for the events set for September 22-27.
City officials expect an additional 1.5 million people to visit — many coming to see the pontiff over the weekend of September 26 and 27.
The use of public transportation was stressed. SEPTA will operate its normal service during the World Meeting conference, but once the weekend arrives that all will change.
"During the weekend, it will present a significant challenge for us," SEPTA General Manager Joe Casey said.
The transit authority will close 251 of its 282 rail stations -- subway, regional rail and trolley -- to essentially convert the network to express service. Trains will be fully-loaded at one of 31 stops and travel directly into Center City Philadelphia. The empty train will then be turned around and sent back to pick up more people.
Casey said this will allow SEPTA to double capacity. The drop-off locations in Center City have yet to be announced. SEPTA officials said they are working with security officials to decide the best locations.
Passengers of the subway, trolley and bus lines are being offered an unlimited three-day ride pass for $10. On regional rail, however, the passes will only be good for one day.
Increasing parking capacity at suburban regional rail stations is another issue SEPTA is working on, Casey said.
PATCO will be providing similar express service into the 9th and Locust Station in Center City from its Lindenwold, Woodcrest, Ferry Avenue and the Walter Rand Transportation Center.
As for road closures around Philadelphia, officials were not ready to release that information.
Donna Farrell, executive director of the World Meeting of Families Philadelphia, said the conference is creating two public information campaigns to help residents and visitors get around the city.
The 'Know Before You Go' campaign will provide transit schedule information and walking routes for visitors, Farrell said. They're also creating a 'Papal Visit Playbook' for citizens to help them get around the mess. The playbook isn't ready, Farrell said, and would be coming later.
Evan Mathis is off doing whatever it is that unemployed Pro Bowl guards do when they’re looking for a new team and a paycheck. If things had gone differently, he could have been at the NovaCare Complex when minicamp opened on Tuesday. But things did not go differently. Things deteriorated — slowly at first, then with more speed.
The Eagles cut Mathis last week. Given the increasingly tense relationship between Mathis and Kelly, it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise. Not to mention that we’ve learned quite a few times in the last few months what happens when — as Zach Ertz put it — you go against Kelly.
Tuesday marked the first time since dismissing Mathis that Kelly addressed the situation. So why Mathis, and why before minicamp?
“We were asked by his agent for a release on multiple occasions,” Kelly said. “We weren’t going to come to a conclusion in terms of a contract extension. We weren’t going to extend any contract or adjust any contract. So we granted him what he asked for.”
As Kelly bluntly explained a while ago, the Eagles evidently tried to trade Mathis for the last two years without any takers. Mathis, meanwhile, was unhappy with his contract. He signed a five-year deal in 2012 worth more than $25 million. He would have made $5.5 million this year and $6 million next year. Would have. Now he won’t. Not with the Eagles, at least.
By cutting Mathis, the Eagles save $9.5 million over the next two seasons. They also lose yet another starter from last year’s team. The Eagles let Todd Herremans walk early in the offseason. And now they’ve dismissed Mathis.
The timing here is interesting. Mathis didn’t report for voluntary (in name, if not in expectation or execution) OTAs. But according to what he told CSNPhilly.com Eagles Insider Geoff Mosher via text last week after getting cut, Mathis had a flight to Philly scheduled for Monday and planned to attend minicamp. When asked why he chose to cut Mathis rather than let him show for minicamp, Kelly said the discussion about Mathis honoring his contract had gone on for a while and it was time to move on. He said it was made clear to the team that Mathis wanted to be traded or get a new deal. Absent that, Kelly said the only move was to release him.
“Hopefully I was seeing if he could catch on with someone for the minicamp so he could make a team,” Kelly said.
You can decide for yourself whether to believe the altruistic spin Kelly put on the situation. What happened with Mathis is similar to what’s happened with other players and Eagles personnel over these last few months. Kelly and Howie Roseman didn’t agree. Kelly won. Roseman was pushed aside. Same with LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson and Cary Williams and on and on. Mathis was simply the latest person to learn a hard lesson that Kelly has taught quite a few times now.
It is Kelly’s prerogative to keep the players he likes and punt the ones he doesn’t off into the distance. He is the head coach and the head honcho and Jeffrey Lurie wants it that way. That's fine. But that doesn’t change the reality: The Eagles are absent two-fifths of last year’s starting offensive line. That, by itself, is troublesome — and it’s even more worrisome when you consider that the refurbished line will protect a new quarterback with two ACL injuries and a new starting running back coming off last year’s impossibly heavy workload.
“We obviously are down a good football player,” Kelly allowed. “We’re confident in the guys we have. That’s why we made the decision we made.”
Kelly and his coaches and the players have dutifully repeated this refrain. If nothing else, their devotion to the talking points about being confident in the players they have is impressive. They might even believe it. And it might even be true. Allen Barbre figures to be one of the guards. The other position is more uncertain. Dennis Kelly, Matt Tobin and Andrew Gardner are currently jockeying for the spot. Maybe one of them wins the gig. Or maybe they bring in someone else between now and training camp or training camp and the season. As Chip Kelly is fond of reminding us, it’s June. A lot can change between now and September.
Still, it’s hard to imagine that the Eagles are better without Mathis than with him. Even if you believe that Barbre/Kelly/Tobin/Gardner are starting-quality offensive linemen, simply bumping them up a spot on the depth chart hurts the team’s depth. And, as we saw last year, depth was a problem for the Eagles' line.
“Depth is an issue for everyone in this league,” Kelly said. “That’s just part of the deal.”
He’s right. But if depth is a problem for everyone, and it is, then purposefully thinning out the talent pool — rather than, say, coming to some sort of professional (if not monetary) truce with Mathis — is hard to fathom. The two men didn’t need to like each other. They just needed to work together. And the Eagles held the upper hand. They could have fined Mathis $30,000 a day for not reporting to mandatory workouts. They could have forced his position and made him report — or forced him to hemorrhage money while sitting out. He probably wouldn’t have been happy about it, but he’s also a better on-paper option than the guys who served as his backups.
Couldn’t that have been an option? Couldn’t the Eagles have just done the same thing countless other teams have done with countless other players countless times before and told him to report? Wouldn’t Mathis have eventually played for the current contract because he had no other reasonable option?
“I don’t know,” Kelly said.
And now he never will.
A threat prompted the U.S. Navy to evacuate workers from two Philadelphia facilities Tuesday morning and raise the threat level to imminent.
U.S. officials told NBC News they heightened security measures at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in South Philadelphia and Naval Support Activity Philadelphia center in Northeast Philly after the FBI informed the military of a potential terror threat.
In turn, officials raised the threat level for those facilities from Bravo to Charlie — the second highest level — while evacuating workers around 10:20 a.m. Some workers said they were suddenly told they had to leave without being given an explanation.
By noon, SkyForce10 captured crews blocking the entrance to the Northeast Philly facility with concrete barriers.
The Navy took the lead on the investigation as NCIS confirmed that they were looking into a threat at the Northeast Philly supply facility. None of the agencies described the nature of the threat.
#BREAKING: #USNavy confirms force protection increased at Naval Support Activity #Philadelphia due to potential threat. MTF.
— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) June 16, 2015
Shortly after noon, Homeland Security gave the all clear but didn't reveal any further details. The FBI deemed the threat non-credible.
The facilities provide "operation ready, secure shore infrastructure," according to the Navy.
Other businesses in the Philadelphia Navy Yard remained open Tuesday as Philadelphia Police and federal authorities investigated.
If you travel on I-95 to the Blue Route in the overnight hours, be prepared to seek an alternate route due to construction.
When construction starts, the northbound I-95 ramp to northbound I-476 and MacDade Boulevard will be closed and detoured from 9:00 p.m. Tuesday, June 16 to 5:00 a.m. Wednesday, June 17, for the installation of concrete barriers in the gore area and along the left shoulder. Crews will also paint new traffic lines.
The project is designed to enhance travel along northbound I-95 by providing additional capacity on the exit ramp to northbound I-476.
PennDOT will expand the off-ramp to two lanes at its connection with I-95 north to allow more vehicles to access the ramp and reduce backups that currently occur on the northbound I-95 exit lane.
Local fans of Target will soon be able to shop in a shrunk down version of the discount department store as the Minneapolis-based company is set to open a TargetExpress in the former Boyd Theatre.
The same day Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) announced it is selling its store pharmacies and clinics to CVSHealth, a company spokeswoman confirmed the smaller shop would be coming to Philadelphia to The Inquirer.
The Minneapolis-based company will open a TargetExpress store at 19th and Chestnut Streets in July 2016, offering fresh groceries, cellphone supplies, beauty items, and other goods in a retail building near the 1920s-era movie palace's facade, company spokeswoman Erika Winkels said Monday.
For more business news head to PBJ.com
Police say a man looking for cash to replenish his crack supply threatened store clerks with a sharpened barbecue fork and a large kitchen knife during a string of robberies in Pennsylvania.
Timothy Burns was charged Monday with robbery, resisting arrest and aggravated assault on a police officer in connection with a pair of heists in Wilkes-Barre.
The Citizens' Voice reports that police say the 31-year-old is also a suspect in three other robberies.
Burns is jailed on $100,000 bail pending a June 25 preliminary hearing. Online court records don't list a lawyer to comment on the charges.
One of the clerks says the man banged a barbecue fork on the counter, lunged at him and demanded money. The clerk says the man bragged he'd never be caught.
Katie Cincotta and a group of friends nearly saw their graduation getaway derailed by a flat tire along one of Philadelphia’s busiest rush hour thoroughfares.
Luckily, Mayor Michael Nutter was there to lend a hand.
Katie, three friends from Our Lady of Mercy in Maple Glen, Pennsylvania and one of the girl’s mothers were on their way to Atlantic City International Airport Monday morning for a six-day trip to Naples, Florida to celebrate 8th grade graduation when their tire blew along Martin Luther King Drive in Fairmount Park around 8:30.
"Pray we get it fixed and make the flight," Katie texted her mother Christy Cincotta.
Katie, 14, said there was nowhere to pull over and that they were stuck on the roadway as cars buzzed by at up to 50 mph.
“We were all panicking because we thought we were going to get hit,” she said.
Suddenly a black SUV – very official looking – pulled up behind their disabled vehicle.
“We all thought it was the CIA,” said Katie with a laugh. “All of a sudden we see three guys get out of the car in suits and we were panicking, we thought we were getting in trouble but then suddenly we saw Mayor Nutter.”
Nutter, who was on his way to work, approached the broken-down vehicle to check on everyone inside.
“He was making sure we were OK and he called the police for us… he was really nice,” said Katie.
Nutter worked his magic and called for officers to direct traffic.
“He was concerned for us,” said Katie.
As he made his calls, the excited friends – Katie said they screamed for joy once they saw it was the Mayor – grabbed photos of Nutter. After about 10 minutes, police showed up and the mayor left the girls in good hands as AAA arrived to fix the flat.
Luckily, the flight was delayed until 10:40 so Katie, Elizabeth, Maggie and Bryn and Elizabeth’s mom got on the flight on time and didn’t lose any days in sunny Florida.
“He really saved the day for us,” said Katie. “Without him calling the police and stuff we would have been taking our flight today.”
Nutter’s office pointed out this isn’t the first time the mayor came to the rescue along MLK Drive. A couple years back, he even called 911 to help a cyclist struck along the road.
Authorities continue to search New Jersey's Passaic River for a worker swept away by a storm surge while inspecting a bridge Monday, authorities say.
Several workers with a private company were in shallow canal waters inspecting underneath the President Street Bridge Monday when it started raining profusely, according to Passaic Mayor Alex Blanco and witnesses.
The canal, which sits at the entrance to a Home Depot store and flows into the Passaic River, flooded within minutes, according to witness Jeremy Rodriguez. Rodriguez and another bystander, Valentin Beltran, helped to pull one worker out, but couldn't get to the other one quickly enough.
The worker was swept away by floodwaters in Weasel Brook, witnesses and authorities said. A 911 call was made at about 2:45 p.m.; a helmet and two flashlights were found in the water, the mayor said, but the man, who was not wearing a life jacket, could not be located.
A source close to the search identified the man as 47-year-old Efrain Crajeda, of Monroe Township.
"It started raining so fast and the tide came up, and it happened so quick," said Rodriguez. "I feel bad, because we couldn't do nothing about it."
The one worker who was rescued was grateful.
"When he came out, he said, 'Thank you, thank you, thank you,' and he was just crying," said Rodriguez. "He said, 'I was born again."'
Firefighters and other responders were on boats in the water searching for the man, and they were also using sonar and infrared equipment.
The search extended at least a mile.
A police officer in New Jersey was injured after an alleged drunk driver smashed into the back of his patrol vehicle, authorities said.
The Hanover officer was responding to a crash on the southbound lanes Interstate 287 when a black Jeep traveling at a high speed struck the back of his patrol car, the department said Sunday on its Facebook page.
The officer was taken to a nearby hospital with back, shoulder and elbow injuries.
The Jeep driver, who was unidentified, was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence.
The Severe Thunderstorm Warning for parts of Atlantic and Cape May counties was canceled after storms moved offshore.
The NBC10 Weather Team issued a First Alert Weather Day for Tuesday afternoon due to the possibility of some quick severe scattered storms. Heavy rain and wind hit parts of Atlantic and Cape May counties, causing trees to fall in Estell Manor and Ventnor.
The storms moved out late Tuesday afternoon.
Quick bursts of rain also fell in the region mid-afternoon as temps pushed into the high-80s.
As scattered showers taper off, drier air should push in giving the region a break from the humidity.
“Tomorrow will be a very comfortable day… with low humidity,” said NBC10 First Alert Weather Chief Meteorologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz.
Expect the possibility of more rain on Thursday before a break from rain on Friday. The weekend could bring more drenching rain as the remnants of Bill could come this way.
The Philadelphia Police Department's public affairs unit is at it again.
After the Philadelphia Public Schools announced early dismissal due to heat Tuesday, Philadelphians and parents began voicing dismay over the idea. As posted on the official Facebook page of the department, the announcement "led to a plethora of fantastic 'Back in my day...' stories in our comments."
Sergeant Eric Gripp, who is the voice of the Philadelphia Police social media accounts, then posted four "Philadelphia-area early closings that have caused me great distress."
Check out the post and how Sgt. Gripp has continued the conversation. As of Tuesday afternoon, the post had more than 1,600 shares and nearly 5,000 likes.
A firefighter was hurt during a house fire in North Philadelphia Monday afternoon.
The fire started around 3:20 p.m. at a two-story home on the 600 block of West Schiller Street. Firefighters were able to bring the flames under control at 3:43 p.m.
At least one firefighter was taken to the hospital after suffering minor injuries. Officials have not yet revealed how he was injured.
