Quantcast
Channel: Local – NBC10 Philadelphia
Viewing all 60435 articles
Browse latest View live

Highway Patrol Receives New Motorcycles

0
0

The Philadelphia Police Department’s Highway Patrol received eight new motorcycles that will be used to escort Pope Francis on his travels throughout the city.

The Philadelphia Police Foundation presented eight new 2015 Harley-Davidson Motorcycles to the Highway Patrol Wednesday.

The ceremony was held at the Philadelphia Police Administration Building on Race Street.

The new motorcycles will be used as replacements for the older motorcycles in the unit’s fleet.

One of the first public appearances for the new motorcycles will be when the Highway Patrol Unit escorts Pope Francis on his travels throughout Philadelphia during the weekend of September 26-27, to culminate the World Meeting of Families Celebration.

Similar escorts will take place in 2016 at the Democratic National Convention.



Photo Credit: NBC10

NJ Teen Accused of Lewd Act Inside Walmart

0
0

A teen is facing charges after he allegedly exposed himself to customers inside a South Jersey Walmart.

The incident happened about 12:50 a.m. Wednesday at the Walmart on Mt. Holly Road in Burlington, New Jersey. The store is open 24 hours.

According to the Burlington Township Police Department, officers were called to the store for the report of a male exposing himself to customers.

When officers arrived, police say the suspect, 19-year-old Stephen Clark Jr., provided a fake name.

Clark Jr. was taken into custody.

Clark Jr., of Sicklerville, New Jersey is facing charges of Lewdness and Obstruction of Justice.

He was held at the Burlington County Jail in lieu of $1,000 bail.



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Philly's Final Preps for Papal Visit

0
0

With Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia planned for next week, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter stepped to the podium Wednesday morning to discuss final preparations for the papal visit.

Nutter talked about next week’s World Meeting of Families that culminates with the Pope in town.

One of the highlights of the news conference is that Nutter said trash collection in the city will be cancelled beginning Friday, Sept. 25 until Monday, Sept. 28.

In addition, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said officers will begin working 12 hour shifts starting midnight on Sept. 25.

In recent days more details have emerged about the public events planned when the pontiff is in the Philadelphia area including that actor Mark Wahlberg will host The Festival of Families event that will feature music from Aretha Franklin, The Fray and Andrea Bocelli.



Photo Credit: NBC10

Man Shot and Killed on Philly Street

0
0

A man was shot several times at Fourth and Cambria Streets overnight in North Philadelphia and died from his injuries. Police are now investigating.

Tuition Cuts

0
0

Rosemont College in Montgomery County announced that tuition will be 43 percent lower for the 2016-2017 school year in an effort to make education accessible to more families.

Former Eagle's Movie Premiere

0
0

Former Philadelphia Eagle Jeremiah Trotter who played 12 seasons with the birds hasn't walked onto the field since 2009 but Thursday night he will walk onto the red carpet for the premiere of the movie The North Star that Trotter stars. Co-star, Thomas Bartley Jr. and writer-director Thomas K. Phillips join him to talk about the independent feature film filmed in the Philadelphia area and based off of a true story.

5K for Childhood Cancer

0
0

September is childhood cancer awareness month and Holly Barilla from St. Jude's Children Research Hospital's Walk Run Committee talks about the event on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 9 a.m. at the Philadelphia Zoo that will be emceed by NBC10 anchor Jacqueline London.

Still Feels Like Summer

0
0

The nights and mornings may be getting chillier but much of today and the rest of the week will be in the mid to upper-80s and will stay dry through the weekend.

Boyfriend Charged in Temple Student's Death

0
0

A Temple University student that investigators initially thought had committed suicide inside a North Philadelphia apartment last month, couldn't have shot herself in the head, the city medical examiner has ruled. Now, homicide detectives have charged her boyfriend with her murder.

Brandon Meade, 29, was arrested Tuesday and charged with the murder of his girlfriend 21-year-old Agatha Hall, police said.

Hall was found dead at 12:35 a.m. on August 31 inside a 1st floor apartment on the 2300 block of N. Park Avenue, police said.

Officers found Hall on the floor with a gunshot wound to the top, left side of her forehead and a handgun underneath her, according to police.

An autopsy conducted earlier this month found it was impossible for Hall to have inflicted the wound that killed her, police said.

The investigation then led detectives to Meade, who was her boyfriend. He has yet to be arraigned on the charges.



Photo Credit: Philadelphia Police/LinkedIn

Manayunk's Philly Mart is Back for the Fall

0
0

Looking for a fun outing as the seasons start to change? Check out Manayunk's popular outdoor artisan market this fall!

The seasonal Philly Mart has returned to its home at the Venice Island Performing Arts and Recreation Center in Manayunk.

Located just behind Main Street, the Philly Mart is a scenic alternative to your average retail experience. The market features a blend of over 30 artists, vendors and entrepreneurs selling art, photography, jewelry, ceramics, furniture and more!

Additionally, each month's market will include a nonprofit. September's nonprofit, Project Home, sold handmade candles, soaps and artwork.

The Philly Mart will be open once a month on the second Saturday, and its grass roots values allow it to commit to high-quality artisan work at the urban Venice Island Recreation Park.

If you need another reason to stop by, check out some of the food! The rotating lineup of food trucks guarantees something sweet and something savory for all hungry customers.

The Philly Mart is free and open to the public, features on-site parking and is accessible by public transportation.
 



Photo Credit: Philly Mart

Free Admission to Mt. Airy Street Fare Thursday

0
0

Come on out for good eats, craft brews, live music and more at the annual Mt. Airy Street Fare Thursday!

The formerly named "Mt. Airy Night Market" drew over 10,000 people to Germantown Ave last year. Admission is free, which allows you access to live music, artisan crafts and a great community atmosphere.

Street Fare features foods from restaurants like Earth Bread + Brewery, Herb Scott Catering, Jyoti Indian Bistro and the Trolley Car Diner, along with over 50 food trucks from the area, including PBandU and Mac Mart!

A full list of vendors can be found on the Fare's website.

In addition to food and live music from School of Rock, Hennessey Bonfire, ReLive and more, there will be a kids' zone with temporary tattoos and arts and crafts, as well as a massage area for parents!

There's more than enough food to go around, so bring your friends and family down to Germantown Ave between Sedgwick and Mt. Airy Ave. for a great time. Be sure to bring your appetite!



Photo Credit: Aversa PR

10 Qs With Rowan's Virtual 3-D Pope Map Programmer

0
0

In a modern office building in South Jersey, a group of college students and staff are working in three-dimensional mapping that is doing everything from studying drone traffic to giving a new perspective on the human body to helping prepare for Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia at the end of the month.

Rowan University’s Virtual Reality Center’s $5-million lab features a large wraparound screen that displays information in a 3-D setting that opened just this past summer.

Rowan – which already worked with NASA, NAVSEA, Cooper Ferry Partnerships, Elekta, the Department of Commerce, United Technologies Research Center and others – teamed up with NBC10 to develop an approximate view of what it will look like to be on the Ben Franklin Parkway during the pontiff’s Sept. 27 Mass.

George Lecakes, director of the Rowan Virtual Reality Center, was at the controls (an Xbox controller) as Rowan showed off “Pope Vision” on a curved, room-sized screen (the largest of its kind at any American university) at the Glassboro, New Jersey lab. The 32-year-old revealed how he got to this point in his career, what it takes to virtually map a scenario and how a common Xbox controller is helping his team do it.

How did you create a virtual look at the Pope’s visit?

"What we did was visualize Philadelphia, that was a start, to create all the difference visual assets you see on (the map). The next phase was to actually create different scenarios, different concept pieces, what if questions: What if you were the Pope? What would that look like? So we created a portion of the stage, the Jumbotrons. We then started doing actual math, the square-footage of the area: How many people can you fit in (the ticketed area) comfortably? Or, not so comfortably? So we looked at scenarios where instead of 150,000 people in that space, you could actually cram a million, although that’s just a hair short of riot conditions at that point, but it can be done. We also started amassing information, all the security information that we could find publicly available, placing all the different routes. Making, basically, a visualization that will allow anyone to understand what the Pope’s impact is going to be to the region and how, as maybe a guest of seeing this event, how you can manage in this location."

What Does It take to Make the Pope program happen?

"This program is a canvass but you have to know how to paint on it. And that’s where a vast variety of different skills come in. The people, textures as they’re called, maybe from Photoshop or … 3-D models, assets made in 3-D modeling programs, the program itself you have to know how to code in several different languages.

"So you have to combine multiple fields together to be able to create any of this content. So if you’re a diverse person and you like both the art and the programming and mixing it all together, this would actually be a great field for you."

What is your role at the VR Center?

"My role as director, basically, is to assist and manage projects – this being one of them – for students of the university…. We train students through the entire pipeline, as it’s called. Pre-graphics, we can create a design, a concept or an idea we translate that to visuals... We can then reprint them for actual design use for individuals. We are a full pipeline for content.

"We are also a service center so we proved these services to anyone who is interested. We have numerous sponsors from government, private, public and so forth – we also have students here who use our service themselves – we also rent out our space for use."

What other projects has the Rowan VR Center worked on?

"We’ve worked with NASA to visualize rocket test engines. We’re working currently with the FAA to visualize unmanned aerial vehicles – drones basically... We’ve worked with Elekta to visualize the human body. We have a program you can run that can take any of your X-ray data, CT and/or MRI and completely recreate you in 3-D – not just portions of you – literally the entire insides of you. We peel it back and see what everything looks like. You use that as a diagnostic tool.

"We do STEM (Science, technology Engineering and Mathematics). We create Monarch butterfly life cycles where kindergartners come in here and see the entire life cycles. We’ve done simulations of flooding for Camden and Vineland where we can actually change from a one-year storm… to a 100-year storm and see the impacts to our region.

"We like to take visualization simulation and apply it to any area that finds use for it. So if you have a problem we would use this to solve it."

Is it awesome playing a video game on this huge screen?

Yes, you can hook them up to the systems. Yes, we’ve had a lot of fun as well. Although, sometimes it’s a double-edged sword because you end up learning how all these things work… you gain an appreciation but also it loses some of the magic.

How did you wind up using an Xbox controller to operate the VR system?

So there’s a number of different controllers we actually use (Xbox, PlayStation, Wii controllers, Nintendo, Logitech). Why do we use this? Why is this here? Because it’s $50, if I break it I can walk down to the local store and buy a new one… But the idea is to make this easy, actually. The real intent behind this is I can hand this to anyone who walks in here and have a pretty good certainty that they would be able to take this controller and start flying around and do what they do naturally when they play games. Granted, they won’t know all the button configurations, but I’ve handed this to second-graders, third-graders and they’ve taken it over… it’s easy, its simple and everybody is familiar with it.

How did you get to your role of director of the Rowan VR Center?

"My path is not one anyone should follow because it’s a lot of happenstance and chance. I happened to make video games with my friends before I came here. I came to Rowan because it’s a smaller college… I was just going to do all the CG, the animation, the Hollywood, movie industry type of thing. There was a virtual reality lab with a single, small screen and I knew a little bit more than everyone else. And basically, you know a little bit more for a lot of years and slowly you just build up your entire skill set."

Do you still take classes as well?

"I just started a PhD program actually. I had labs for about four years while I could finish my masters, now I’m a PhD student. I’ve been here way to long," he said with a smile. "I’ve been here for 14 years."

What would you suggest to someone who wants to code VR?

Go online, to tell you the truth, I have no official training in this area. Everything I’ve learned has been self-motivated through a series of websites that just tons of videos, tutorials and content. But now that I’m here, we also have free internships for anyone here – so any student, any major, can come into the lab and actually work... I teach courses on this now as well. If you want to try it out and can’t get the self-motivation you need, you can (try it out).

So do you stress the open door policy?

We’re not under any one department here at Rowan, we take in everyone – we have marketing interns, we have engineering, computer science interns – it doesn’t matter. If you’re interested in this and want to at least get a feel for this, you can be a volunteer intern.

Before the Pope arrives, George and the VR Center will be loading their virtual papal Mass map online for access for NBC10 users. And, click here for more information on how you can partner (including internships) with the Rowan VR Center in the future.



Photo Credit: NBC10 - Dan Stamm
This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

When Will Pa. Have a Budget?

0
0

For the first time in 2 months, the Pa. Senate is working to end the budget stalemate. Pennsylvania has been operating without a budget since the start of July.

Six Homeless Families Living in Tents in Philly Lot

0
0

Outraged protesters gathered at a lot in Kensington Wednesday after it was discovered that six homeless families were living there. 

NBC10 viewers sent us photos of the families who were living in tents on American and Cumberland streets. The six families, which include small children, say they had to take the drastic measures due to a lack of beds at local shelters and a lack of vouchers for emergency housing.

“That’s how we ended up here,” said Tara Colon, a member of one of the homeless families. “We can’t afford the rent. Two minimum wage jobs aren’t enough! You need food! You need clothes on your kid’s back!”

After the photos spread on social media, protesters came out at the location for a rally Wednesday afternoon. Several residents also gave donations to the families.

Protest organizers said the city is spending millions to host the Pope later this month when they should be spending money to help the homeless. They also called for Philly officials to turn abandoned properties into homes for those in need.

“We think that there’s something wrong with millions of people coming into the Philadelphia area to see the Pope and yet can’t figure out how to feed, clothe and house our children,” said Cheri Honkala of the Poor People’s Human Rights Campaign. “Our city can afford not just to host the Pope! We can afford to house these families!”

Officials with the Philadelphia Housing Authority contacted NBC10 Wednesday and said they planned on placing the homeless families in public housing.
 

Sunny and Warm

0
0

Thin cloud cover today and a high of 85. And low humidity throughout the week.

Who Killed Redner's Markets VP?

0
0

Investigators say tips have taken them to several states but have led to no arrests in the murder of Gary Redner. NBC10's Doug Shimell has an update to the cold case.

New Digs for Homeless Pets

0
0

Dogs and cats will chew the ribbon at the association’s new facility. The campus now has fenced in fields and rooms where families can spend time with the animals.

Death Penalty Papal Appeal

0
0

An Oklahoma inmate won a two week reprieve hours before his execution. Death penalty opponents in Germantown are asking for Pope Francis to support Gov. Wolf’s suspension of executions in PA.

Car Fire on Tacony-Palmyra Bridge

0
0

Lanes reopened on the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge after a car fire Wednesday.

A car on the New Jersey side of the bridge caught fire, officials say. Both northbound and southbound lanes on the bridge were closed as firefighters worked to control the flames. The lanes were later reopened.

No injuries have been reported. Officials have not yet revealed the cause of the fire.

Crews Battle Upper Pottsgrove House Fire

0
0

Firefighters battled a fire in Upper Pottsgrove Township.

The two-alarm blaze started at a home on the 1400 block of Farmington Avenue Wednesday night. Officials have not yet revealed whether anyone was injured or the cause. 

This story is developing. Check back for updates.
 



Photo Credit: Richard Lopez
This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.
Viewing all 60435 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images